Data cooperation system, method and program

Abstract

To convert data handled by one system into data capable of being handled by another system, to realize data cooperation between the systems.SOLUTION: A data cooperation system that allows data handled by one system A to be handled by another system B, comprises an acquisition unit 71 that acquires data of a first individual specification from one system A, and a storage unit 72 that stores forward conversion rules for converting individual specification data into standard specification data. The data cooperation system also comprises a conversion unit 73 that converts the data of the first individual specification into the data of the standard specification by referring to the forward conversion rules. The storage unit 72 is configured to store the converted standard specification data.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 9

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a data linkage system, and in particular to a data linkage system that links data between multiple systems that handle data with different specifications. The present invention is also suitable for a product purchase support system that integrates products sold on different sales sites and presents them to consumers, allowing consumers to compare and select products from the integrated multiple sales sites. [Background technology]

[0002] There are two types of sales sites that sell products on the Internet: online malls with multiple online shops lined up, and EC sites that mainly sell their own products on independently operated websites. The products sold on EC sites include attractive local products. However, compared to major online malls (e.g., Non-Patent Document 1), products on EC sites have fewer opportunities to catch the eye of consumers, which leads to a problem of slow sales growth. On the other hand, when EC site operators try to increase sales opportunities by exhibiting at major online malls, they end up paying more for fees and other expenses, which can result in a loss.

[0003] In addition, consumers may compare multiple online malls and EC sites when purchasing a certain product. However, the interface for finding the desired product differs depending on each online mall or EC site. This means that consumers have to go through a lot of effort to find and compare the desired product from multiple shops.

[0004] For example, the inventor of the present application once compared 10 reservation sites to reserve a hotel for a business trip, and found it extremely difficult. In particular, many small and medium-sized hotels are not included in major reservation sites, and it is difficult to reach a reservation site for a small or medium-sized hotel. In addition, there is no sales site that consolidates products from major product sales sites.

[0005] Furthermore, in order to enable data from one site, A, to be handled at another site, B, which has different data specifications, traditionally one integration system is needed to integrate the data between sites A and B. To further increase the number of sites and integrate three sites, A and B, which have different data specifications, three systems are needed: an integration system between sites A and B, an integration system between sites B and C, and an integration system between sites A and C. To integrate X sites with different specifications, X (X-1) / 2 integration systems are needed, making it difficult to integrate a large number of sites.

[0006] Many online malls also offer affiliate services, which may be provided by the mall itself or by an affiliate service provider (ASP).

[0007] In this application, the term "goods" includes services. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0008] [Non-Patent Document 1] Rakuten, Inc., "Rakuten Ichiba", [online], [searched February 21, 2015], Internet <URL: http: / / www.rakuten.co.jp> Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0009] The present invention aims to improve the inconveniences of the conventional example, and in particular to convert data handled by one system into data that can be handled by another system, thereby realizing data linkage between systems. [Means for solving the problem]

[0010] In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a data linkage system that enables data handled by one system to be handled by another system, and includes an acquisition unit that acquires data of a first individual specification from the one system, and a storage unit that stores a forward conversion rule for converting data of the individual specification into data of a standard specification.The data linkage system also includes a conversion unit that converts data of the first individual specification into data of the standard specification by referring to the forward conversion rule, and the storage unit stores the converted data of the standard specification.

[0011] According to this, various individual specification data obtained from individual systems is uniformly converted into standard specification data. Effect of the Invention

[0012] Therefore, according to the present invention, data handled by one system can be converted into data that can be handled by another system, thereby enabling data linkage between systems. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0013] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram showing one embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] Figure 2 shows the configuration of the cross-search function. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a data structure diagram of product-related information of a product that is the subject of an affiliate service. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a data structure diagram of product-related information for products that are not subject to affiliate services. [Diagram 5] FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a product addition function for adding products that are the subject of an affiliate service. [Figure 6] Figure 6 is a block diagram of the product addition function, which adds products that are not subject to the affiliate service. [Figure 7] Figure 7 is a diagram showing the configuration of the personal information provision function. [Figure 8] Figure 8 shows the configuration of the ranking function. [Figure 9] FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a data linkage system according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 10] Figure 10 is a block diagram of a product purchasing system that uses a data linkage system. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0014] The data linkage system of the present invention is also incorporated into the product purchasing support system described below. However, the data linkage system of the present invention is not limited to being applied to the product purchasing support system described below, but realizes data linkage between various systems. Below, we will first explain the product purchasing support system, and then explain the configuration of the data linkage system incorporated therein. [Product Purchasing Support System] An embodiment of a product purchase support system will be described below with reference to the drawings. As shown in Fig. 1, a plurality of online mall systems 200, 300 and a plurality of EC site systems 400, 500 are connected to the Internet. Also, a product integrated site system 100 and a purchaser interface system 600 are connected to the Internet. In the following description, the word "system" will be omitted.

[0015] The online malls 200 and 300, the EC sites 400 and 500, and the integrated product site 100 each include a web server. The purchaser interface 600 executes a web browser and displays a web page on the display device in accordance with a program received from the web server of the integrated product site 100. The purchaser interface 600 also displays a web page on the display device in accordance with a program received from the web server of the online malls 200 and 300 or the EC sites 400 and 500 as necessary. The purchaser interface 600 also transmits predetermined information to a predetermined web server based on an input operation by a user.

[0016] The online malls 200 and 300 provide affiliate services. The product integrated site 100 uses the affiliate services provided by the online malls 200 and 300 to post products sold at each online mall 200 and 300 on a web page. The product integrated site 100 also stores information on products sold by the EC sites 400 and 500, and posts the products sold by the EC sites on the web page.

[0017] The purchaser interface 600 displays the web page obtained from the web server of the product integration site 100, integrating and displaying the products sold at the online malls 200, 300 and the products sold at the EC sites 400, 500 on a single web page. This allows users of the purchaser interface 600 to easily compare products from different sellers. The product integration site 100 has a function of searching across the products of the online malls 200, 300 and the EC sites 400, 500 according to the conditions sent from the purchaser interface 600, and integrating multiple products selected from the products of each online mall and each EC site on a single web page.

[0018] Here, it is not common to try to integrate products from multiple EC sites that do not have affiliate services into a single web page. The reason for trying to integrate products from multiple sites into a single web page (hereafter referred to as an integrated page) is that the provider of the integrated page has an incentive to receive rewards from the affiliate service. However, since affiliate rewards cannot be expected even if products from multiple EC sites that do not have affiliate services are integrated, as mentioned above, a service that integrates products from multiple EC sites that do not have affiliate services into a single web page and allows them to be searched is not usually provided.

[0019] [Hardware for each system] Each of the systems 100-600 includes a processing device, a storage device, an input device, a display device, and a communication device. The operation and functions of each system are realized by the processing device executing a program. Information used by the processing device for processing is read from the storage device. Information processed by the processing device is stored in the storage device. Information is input by a system user via the input device. Information is presented to the system user via the display device. Information is sent and received between the systems via the communication device. The processing device, storage device, input device, and display device may cooperate in a distributed state in a network environment. A plurality of processing devices and storage devices may be provided. A plurality of processing devices or a plurality of storage devices may cooperate in a distributed state in a network environment.

[0020] [Cross-search function] The product integrated site 100 executes a cross-search function. Fig. 2 is a configuration diagram of the cross-search function. The search condition acquisition unit 11 acquires search conditions from the purchaser interface 600 and passes them to the search unit 12. The search unit 12 searches an integrated product DB (database) 13 for product-related information that matches the search conditions passed from the search condition acquisition unit 11, and passes the searched product-related information to the search result generation unit 14.

[0021] 3 and 4 are data structure diagrams of product-related information stored in the product integration DB 13. FIG. 3 shows the data structure of product-related information for products sold at sites that provide affiliate services. In this embodiment, the products are those sold by the online malls 200 and 300, and the data association shown in FIG. 3 is stored for each product. That is, each product is associated with product-related keywords, category, product name, price, product description, affiliate tag, number of product searches, number of clicks, and selection flag. The selection flag is a flag that serves as a marker for integrating only products with a common flag into a single web page.

[0022] Fig. 4 shows the data structure of product-related information for products sold by sites that do not offer affiliate services. In this embodiment, this applies to products sold by EC sites 400 and 500, and the data associations in Fig. 4 are stored for each product. That is, each product is associated with the product URL (URL of the product sales page), product name, price, store name, product description, keywords, category, product image URL, store URL, sales site name, sales site URL, production area (prefecture), production area (city / town), historical information related to the product, festival information related to the product, tourist information related to the product, number of searches for the product, number of clicks, and selection flag.

[0023] When the search unit 12 receives a search word or a search image as a search condition from the search condition acquisition unit 11, it searches the integrated product DB 13 for product-related information including a word that matches the search word or an image that matches the search image. That is, it searches the product-related information of each product having the data structure of Figures 3 and 4 for product-related information including a word that matches the search word or an image that matches the search image. The image is acquired from the image URL included in the affiliate tag in Figure 3 or the product image URL in Figure 4.

[0024] Furthermore, when the search unit 12 receives a selection flag as a search condition from the search condition acquisition unit 11, the search unit 12 searches for product-related information associated with a selection flag that matches the selection flag from the integrated product DB 13. That is, the search unit 12 searches for product-related information with a matching selection flag from the product-related information of each product having the data structure of Fig. 3 and Fig. 4. The selection flag indicates a group such as "recommended product" or "campaign product".

[0025] Furthermore, when the search unit 12 receives a price range as a search condition from the search condition acquisition unit 11, it narrows down the search results to only product-related information whose prices are included in the price range.

[0026] When the product-related information hit as a result of the search is the product-related information in FIG. 3 corresponding to the affiliate service, the search unit 12 extracts an affiliate tag from the product-related information and passes it to the search result generation unit 14 .

[0027] In addition, if the hit product-related information is the product-related information of Figure 4 that does not correspond to the affiliate service, the search unit 12 reads out the product URL, product name, price, product description, and product image URL from the product-related information and passes them to the search result generation unit 14.

[0028] When the search result generation unit 14 acquires an affiliate tag from the search unit 12, the search result generation unit 14 inserts the affiliate tag (affiliate part) into the search result display web page. When the search result generation unit 14 acquires multiple affiliate tags from the search unit 12, the search result generation unit 14 inserts each affiliate tag into the search result display web page to list multiple products.

[0029] Furthermore, when the search result generation unit 14 obtains a product URL, product name, price, product description, and product image URL (hereinafter referred to as "product listing materials") from the search unit 12, it generates a product listing tag (product listing part) equivalent to an affiliate tag using these product listing materials and inserts it into the search result display webpage. One example of a product listing part is configured to display a product image read from a product image URL as well as the product name, price, and product description, and to display a product sales page corresponding to the product URL in a separate frame of the browser when the product listing part is clicked. When the search result generation unit 14 obtains product listing materials corresponding to multiple products from the search unit 12, it generates multiple product listing parts for each product and inserts them into the search result display webpage to list the multiple products.

[0030] The sorting condition acquisition unit 15 receives conditions for sorting the search results from the purchaser interface 600, and passes them to the search result generation unit 14. Based on the sorting conditions received from the sorting condition acquisition unit 15, the search result generation unit 14 sorts the affiliate parts and product listing parts to be listed above in order of price, number of searches, or number of clicks.

[0031] In this manner, the search result generating unit 14 generates a search result display webpage in which products from the online malls 200 and 300 that offer affiliate services and products from the EC sites 400 and 500 that do not offer affiliate services are mixed on a single webpage. The search result display webpage may span multiple pages.

[0032] The search result generating unit 14 then transmits the generated search result display web page to the purchaser interface 600 via the web server. This allows the user of the purchaser interface 600 to view the search result display web page in which products from the online malls 200, 300 offering affiliate services and products from the EC sites 400, 500 not offering affiliate services are mixed on a single web page, and the user can easily compare the multiple products displayed there. Furthermore, the user can transition to a product sales page from a link attached to the displayed affiliate parts or product listing parts and purchase the product.

[0033] The operations of the search condition acquisition unit 11, the search unit 12, the search result generation unit 14, and the sort condition acquisition unit 15 are realized by the processing device of the product integration site 100 executing a program. The integrated product DB 13 is stored in the storage device of the product integration site 100.

[0034] [Online mall product addition function] Next, a description will be given of a function for registering products from the online malls 200 and 300 that provide affiliate services in the integrated product DB 13. Fig. 5 is a block diagram of the product addition function.

[0035] (First Action) The affiliate tag acquisition unit 21 of the product integration site 100 receives a product addition instruction from any system that has the authority to add a product. A previously acquired affiliate tag is attached to the product addition instruction. The affiliate tag acquisition unit 21 acquires the affiliate tag attached to the product addition instruction and passes it to the tag analysis unit 22. The tag analysis unit 22 acquires an identifier (e.g., a domain) of the affiliate service from the description of the affiliate tag. For this purpose, it is conceivable that the identifiers of multiple affiliate services are registered in a dictionary in advance, and when the tag analysis unit 22 finds an identifier in the affiliate tag that matches an identifier registered in the dictionary, the identifier is acquired as the identifier of the affiliate service.

[0036] The tag analysis unit 22 extracts the product name, price, and product description from the affiliate tag by referring to the affiliate tag structure dictionary 23. For this purpose, the affiliate tag structure dictionary 23 registers beforehand for each affiliate service an identifier of the affiliate service in association with the structure of the affiliate tag (information on where in the tag the product name, price, and product description are written).

[0037] The tag analysis unit 22 associates the affiliate tag added to the product addition instruction with the product name, price, and product description extracted from the affiliate tag, and registers them in the integrated product DB 13. As a result, the record of the product-related information shown in Fig. 3 is added to the integrated product DB 13. The initial values ​​of the number of searches and the number of clicks for the added product-related information are set to 0. If a keyword, category, or selection flag is added to the product addition instruction, the keyword, category, or selection flag may be associated with the affiliate tag and registered in the integrated product DB 13.

[0038] The above operations of the affiliate tag acquisition unit 21 and the tag analysis unit 22 are realized by executing a program on the processing device of the integrated product site 100. Furthermore, each dictionary is stored in a storage device.

[0039] (Second Action) The affiliate tag acquisition unit 21 of the product integration site 100 receives a product addition instruction from any system that has the authority to add a product. A search word for searching for a product from an affiliate service is added to the product addition instruction. The affiliate tag acquisition unit 21 acquires an affiliate tag of a product that matches the search word added to the product addition instruction from the affiliate service by an automatic acquisition process such as a crawler or autopilot. The affiliate tag acquisition unit 21 passes the affiliate tag acquired by the automatic acquisition process and the identifier of the affiliate service that generated the tag to the tag analysis unit 22.

[0040] The tag analysis unit 22 extracts the product name, price, and product description from the affiliate tag by referring to the affiliate tag structure dictionary 23. The affiliate tag structure dictionary 23 registers in advance for each affiliate service an identifier of the affiliate service and the structure of the affiliate tag (information on where in the tag the product name, price, and product description are written) in association with each other.

[0041] The tag analysis unit 22 associates the affiliate tag acquired from the affiliate service with the product name, price, and product description extracted from the affiliate tag, and registers them in the integrated product DB 13. As a result, the record of the product-related information shown in Fig. 3 is automatically added to the integrated product DB 13. The initial values ​​of the number of searches and the number of clicks for the added product-related information are set to 0. If a keyword or selection flag is added to the product addition instruction, the keyword or selection flag may be associated with the affiliate tag and registered in the integrated product DB 13.

[0042] The above operations of the affiliate tag acquisition unit 21 and tag analysis unit 22 are realized by the processing device of the product integration site 100 executing a program. The dictionary is stored in a storage device. The search word added to the product addition instruction is stored in the storage device, and the processing device periodically repeats the second operation based on this search word, thereby making it possible to periodically update the product-related information records to the latest data. When updating the records, the values ​​of the number of searches and the number of clicks are not reset, but are maintained as they were before the update.

[0043] (Third Action) The online malls 200 and 300 may provide a WebAPI. In this case, the processing device of the product integration site system 100 receives a product addition instruction from any system that has the authority to add a product. The product addition instruction includes a WebAPI identifier and input parameters to be passed to the WebAPI. The processing device transmits the input parameters to the WebAPI corresponding to the WebAPI identifier, and receives output parameters including affiliate data from the WebAPI in response. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the product-related information associated with each data shown in FIG. 3 can be received as output parameters according to the specifications of the WebAPI. The processing device registers the product-related information acquired from the WebAPI in the product integration DB 13.

[0044] 3 is automatically added to the integrated product DB 13. The initial values ​​of the number of searches and the number of clicks for the added product-related information are set to 0. If a keyword or selection flag is added to the product addition instruction, the keyword or selection flag may be associated with an affiliate tag (affiliate data) and registered in the integrated product DB 13.

[0045] The above operations are realized by the processing device of the product integration site 100 executing a program. Also, the association between the WebAPI identifier added to the product addition instruction and the input parameters given to the WebAPI is stored in a storage device, and the processing device periodically repeats the third operation based on the WebAPI identifier and the input parameters given to the WebAPI, thereby periodically updating the product-related information records to the latest data. When updating the records, the values ​​of the number of searches and the number of clicks are not reset, but are maintained as they were before the update.

[0046] [EC site product addition function] Next, a description will be given of a function for registering products from the EC sites 400 and 500 that do not provide an affiliate service in the integrated product DB 13. Fig. 6 is a block diagram of the product addition function.

[0047] (First Action) The product-related information acquisition unit 31 of the product integrated site 100 receives a product addition instruction from an arbitrary system that has the authority to add a product. The product-related information described in FIG. 4 is added to the product addition instruction. The product-related information acquisition unit 31 acquires the product-related information added to the product addition instruction and registers it in the product integrated DB 13. As a result, the record of the product-related information shown in FIG. 4 is added to the product integrated DB 13. The initial values ​​of the number of searches and the number of clicks in the added product-related information are set to 0. Here, the system that issues the product addition instruction may be a computer operated by the operator of the EC site. The function of the product-related information acquisition unit 31 may be provided by a "capture Web API" provided by the integrated site 100. That is, the "capture Web API" refers to a Web API (Web Application Programming Interface) that acquires product-related information from an arbitrary system that has the authority to add a product and registers the acquired product-related information in the product integrated DB 13. Until now, there was no technical mechanism for acquiring the contents of small and medium-sized sites, making it difficult to acquire the contents, but by using this new mechanism, it becomes possible to acquire information from small and medium-sized sites (EC sites) that do not implement affiliate marketing. The computer that sends the product addition instruction may obtain the product-related information by importing information that the user of that computer inputs to the screen via a GUI.

[0048] The above-mentioned operation of the product-related information acquisition unit 31 is realized by the processing device of the integrated product site 100 executing a program.

[0049] (Second Action) The product-related information acquisition unit 31 of the product integrated site 100 receives a product addition instruction from any system that has the authority to add a product. The URL of the EC site to which the product is to be added is added to the product addition instruction. The product-related information acquisition unit 31 acquires the sales page of each product sold on the EC site to which the product is to be added by an automatic acquisition process such as a crawler or autopilot, and passes the acquired sales page to the page analysis unit 32. Here, the system that issues the product addition instruction may be a computer operated by the operator of the EC site. The function of the product-related information acquisition unit 31 may be provided by the "import Web API" provided by the integrated site 100. The page analysis unit 32 analyzes the source code of the sales page of each product, and extracts the product-related information shown in FIG. 4 from the page.

[0050] The page analysis unit 32 refers to the page structure dictionary 33 when extracting the product-related information from the source code of the sales page. The page structure dictionary 33 associates the identifier of an EC site with the structure of the sales page of the EC site (information on where each product-related information in FIG. 4 is described in the page) and registers it in advance for each EC site. The page analysis unit 32 reads out and refers to the structure of the sales page associated with the identifier of the EC site to be added from the page structure dictionary 33. The page analysis unit 32 may extract each product-related information by referring to metadata, tags, or identifiers in the tags described for each product-related information in the sales page. In addition, if the sales page uses semantic web technology, that is, if the product-related information is extracted from a sales page described using RDF or the like or a sales page accompanied by tags (back data) that describe the meaning of data, the page structure dictionary 33 may not be necessary. In this case, the page analysis unit can interpret the meaning of data using semantic web technology and extract the product-related information.

[0051] The page analysis unit 32 registers the extracted product-related information for each product in the integrated product DB 13. This automatically adds the product-related information records shown in Fig. 4. The initial values ​​of the number of searches and the number of clicks for the added product-related information are set to 0.

[0052] The above operations of the product-related information acquisition unit 31 and page analysis unit 32 are realized by the processing device of the product integrated site 100 executing a program. The page structure dictionary 33 is stored in a storage device. The URL (identifier) ​​of the EC site added to the product addition instruction is stored in the storage device, and the processing device periodically repeats the above second operation based on the URL of the EC site, thereby making it possible to periodically update the product-related information records to the latest data. When updating the records, the values ​​of the number of searches and the number of clicks are not reset, but are maintained as they were before the update.

[0053] Here, in the above-mentioned second operation, when extracting the product-related information shown in FIG. 4 from the sales page of each product, the processing device of the product integration site 100 may use the semantic web technology. The semantic web technology is a technology that enables a computer to efficiently collect and interpret information by adding information (metadata) that indicates the meaning of a Web page and the contents described therein according to a certain rule. In this case, it is possible that the product-related information automatically extracted from the product sales page is incorrect. In this case, therefore, it is preferable that the processing device of the product integration site 100 has a proofreading function that displays the product-related information extracted by the semantic web technology on the user interface of the terminal that transmitted the above-mentioned product addition instruction, receives an instruction to correct the product-related information from the terminal user who confirmed this display, and registers the product-related information corrected according to the received correction instruction in the product integration DB 13.

[0054] [Personal information provision function] After browsing the web page displaying the search results of the product, the user of the purchaser interface 600 clicks on the affiliate part or product listing part of the product displayed on the page, and transitions to the sales page of the product. Furthermore, if the user of the purchaser interface 600 decides to purchase the product, he or she proceeds with the purchase procedure for the product from the sales page of the product. In the purchase procedure, the address and name of the delivery destination of the purchased product must be input. In addition, if electronic payment is used, payment information must be input. The product integration site 100 provides the purchaser interface 600 with personal information such as the address, name, and payment information of the delivery destination of the product, and an automatic input program that automatically inputs the personal information into the order form of the sales site. Software that automatically inputs information into a web form is known to be used, for example, for inputting information into a contest entry form. This personal information provision function will be described below.

[0055] Fig. 7 is a configuration diagram of the personal information provision function. Hereinafter, the online malls 200, 300 and EC sites 400, 500 that carry out the purchase procedure are collectively referred to as "sales sites". In Fig. 7, the purchaser interface 600 comprises a browsing processing unit 41 and an automatic input processing unit 42. The operations of the browsing processing unit 41 and the automatic input processing unit 42 are realized by the processing device of the purchaser interface 600 executing a program provided by the product integration site 100. The automatic input program may be pre-installed in the purchaser interface 600.

[0056] The product integrated site 100 comprises a personal information providing unit 43 and a personal information DB 44. The operation of the personal information providing unit 43 is realized by the processing device of the product integrated site 100 executing a program. The personal information DB 44 is stored in a storage device. The personal information DB stores an individual's identifier in association with personal information that is requested to be input when purchasing a product, such as the individual's address, name, telephone number, and payment information. The personal information may be information about a person in charge of an organization when the organization purchases a product.

[0057] Here, it is assumed that a user of the purchaser interface 600 who uses the product integrated site 100 has previously logged in to the product integrated site 100 using a personal identifier, and thus the product integrated site 100 is able to identify the personal identifier of the user of the purchaser interface 600.

[0058] In the purchaser interface 600, the browsing processing unit 41 displays the search result display webpage on the display device. When the browsing processing unit 41 detects an event in which an affiliate part or a product listing part displayed on the search result display webpage is clicked on by an input device, the browsing processing unit 41 acquires a product sales page from the link destination attached to the part, and displays the sales page in a frame separate from the display area in which the search result display webpage is open.

[0059] A user of the purchaser interface 600 moves from a sales page to an order page (personal information input page) and then to a payment page (payment information input page) in a frame in which a sales page of the online mall 200, 300 or the EC site 400, 500 is opened. At this time, when the browsing processing unit 41 detects an event requesting automatic input from the input device, it requests the product integrated site 100 to provide personal information of the user of the purchaser interface 600. An event requesting automatic input is, for example, an operation indicating consent performed by the user from the input device in response to a question "Do you want to input automatically?" displayed on the user interface. The requested personal information may be only a part of the registered personal information, such as only the address or only the name. Here, the browsing processing unit 41 may be configured to request the product integrated site 10 to provide the above personal information regardless of whether or not it detects an event requesting automatic input.

[0060] In response to this request, the personal information providing unit 43 of the product integrated site 100 reads out the personal information associated with the identifier of the user of the purchaser interface 600 from the personal information DB 44, and transmits it to the purchaser interface 600. The browsing processing unit 41 of the purchaser interface 600 acquires the personal information transmitted from the product integrated site 100, and passes it to the automatic input processing unit 42.

[0061] The automatic input processing unit 42, which has acquired the personal information, automatically inputs the corresponding personal information into the form of the order page or payment page displayed in the frame. The user checks the automatically input personal information, makes any additions or corrections as necessary, and proceeds with the purchase procedure. This personal information provision function makes it possible to provide personal information that is centrally managed outside the sales site to the sales site, thereby eliminating the need for users of the purchaser interface 600 to go through the trouble of inputting personal information when purchasing products.

[0062] [Ranking function] Next, the ranking function will be described. In the above description of the cross-search function, it has been described that the search results can be sorted by the number of searches or the number of clicks. Here, the function of updating the parameters of the number of searches and the number of clicks of each product-related information stored in the integrated product DB 13 will be described.

[0063] 8 is a configuration diagram of the ranking function. The product integration site 100 includes a count processing unit 51 in addition to the above-mentioned search unit 11 and integrated product DB 13. The operation of the count processing unit 51 is realized by the processing device of the product integration site 100 executing a program.

[0064] In the integrated product site 100, the count processing unit 51 adds 1 to the value of the number of searches in the product-related information for each product searched by the search unit 11 using the cross-sectional search function described above, and updates the value in the integrated product DB 13.

[0065] Furthermore, when a user clicks on an affiliate part or a product listing part on the purchaser interface 600, the browsing processing unit 41 detects the click event and transmits the identifier of the clicked affiliate part or product listing part to the integrated product site 100. On the integrated product site 100, the count processing unit 51 acquires the identifier of the clicked part, increments the value of the number of clicks in the product-related information corresponding to the part identifier by 1, and updates the value in the integrated product DB 13. For this purpose, the part identifier is associated in advance with each piece of product-related information in the integrated product DB 13, and the part identifier is associated in advance with each affiliate part or product listing part on the web page displaying the cross-search search results. As described above, the search result generating unit 14 sorts the affiliate parts and product listing parts to be listed in order of price, number of searches, or number of clicks based on the sorting conditions received from the sorting condition acquiring unit 15. At this time, the number of searches and the number of clicks are calculated by referring to the number of searches or the number of clicks added by the above process. Furthermore, since each piece of product-related information in the affiliate parts and product listing parts is linked to a keyword and a category, the product integrated site 100 may compile a ranking of keywords or categories with a high number of searches or clicks based on each piece of product-related information and provide it to the purchaser interface 600. This makes it possible to provide product purchasers with a ranking of keywords or categories compiled across the online malls 200, 300 that offer affiliate services and the EC sites 400, 500 that do not offer affiliate services.

[0066] [Integration with transaction management systems] The present inventors have invented a transaction management system disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-178147. Transactions at sales sites such as the EC sites 400 and 500 may be managed by this transaction management system.

[0067] [ASP function included] The product integration site 100 may have the following features as an affiliate service provider.

[0068] That is, the system includes a memory unit that stores IDs of multiple partners and affiliate rewards corresponding to each partner ID, a transmission unit that generates a link code linking product-related information requested by a partner with the partner's ID and transmits the link code to the partner, and an execution unit that, when a product corresponding to the link code is purchased by accessing the link code, registers an affiliate performance reward in the memory unit in association with the partner ID linked to the link code.

[0069] By providing the product integration site 100 with the functionality of an affiliate service provider, it is possible to increase sales by utilizing affiliate services, particularly for products on EC sites that do not have affiliate services.

[0070] [Affinity with IoT (Internet of Things)] When a device connected to the Internet (e.g., a refrigerator) purchases products on behalf of a consumer, the places where the products can be purchased are limited depending on whether the specifications of the device match those of the sales site where the products are purchased. Usually, a specific major shopping mall becomes a purchase destination due to an alliance between a refrigerator manufacturer and a well-known sales site (e.g., Rakuten Ichiba or Amazon), and it is unlikely that other small and medium-sized sites will also become purchase destinations. On the other hand, when the product integration site of the present invention becomes a purchase destination, the product integration site includes products sold at major shopping malls as well as products from small and medium-sized sites, and it is also easy for new small and medium-sized sites to register products on the product integration site, so that the device connected to the Internet can automatically purchase products from a wide selection of purchase destinations including small and medium-sized sites.

[0071] Similarly, by connecting a vending machine installed at a station or the like to the Internet, the vending machine can purchase products from the product integration site of the present invention (in this case, the vending machine sells products that are not in stock inside the machine). In this way, the vending machine can cross-sell products sold by local sites, products sold by chamber of commerce sites, and so on.

[0072] [Data Linkage System] Next, an embodiment of a data linkage system that is also used in the above-mentioned product purchase support system will be described. In FIG. 9, the data linkage system 700 includes an acquisition unit 71, a storage unit 72, a conversion unit 73, and an output unit 74. The acquisition unit 71, the conversion unit 73, and the output unit 74 are realized by a processor executing a program. The storage unit 72 is provided in a storage area of ​​a storage device such as a hard disk drive. The data linkage system 700 may be realized by the cooperation of multiple processors. Systems A and B process data with different specifications. Data with different specifications handled by each of systems A and B is called data with "individual specifications." In addition, the unified specifications of data managed by the data linkage system 700 are called "standard specifications." There are multiple systems on the Internet that can be systems A and B. A certain system can be system A or system B.

[0073] The acquisition unit 71 acquires from system A, via a communication device (not shown) and the Internet (I-NET), the first individual specification data, a system identifier A of system A from which the data was acquired, and a system identifier B of system B to which the converted data is output, and links these together and stores them in the storage unit 72. The system identifier is an identifier unique to each system, which is system A or B. The acquisition unit 71 may automatically extract and acquire the individual specification data from the web page of system A by an optimized artificial intelligence (AI) process.

[0074] When there are multiple systems that are output destinations, multiple system identifiers may be linked. When the output destination is always limited to one system, the output unit 74 only needs to always send data to a specific system B, and it is not necessary to link a system identifier B to each piece of data. Also, when the pair of source and destination systems is predetermined, it is sufficient that the combination of system identifiers A and B is registered in advance in the storage unit 72, and it is not necessary to link this combination to each piece of data.

[0075] Furthermore, the memory unit 72 stores system identifiers and data conversion rules in association with each other. The data conversion rules include forward conversion rules and inverse conversion rules. The forward conversion rules are rules for converting individual specification data into standard specification data. The inverse conversion rules are rules for converting standard specification data into individual specification data. The forward conversion rules for converting individual specification data of system A into standard specification data are associated with the system identifier of system A. The inverse conversion rules for converting standard specification data into individual specification data of system B are associated with the system identifier of system B.

[0076] The conversion unit 73 reads out the first individual specification data linked to the system identifiers A and B from the memory unit 72, converts the first individual specification data into standard specification data by referring to the forward conversion rule linked to system A, links it to the system identifier B of system B to be the output destination, and stores it in the memory unit 72.

[0077] In addition, the conversion unit 73 reads out the standard specification data and the system identifier B linked to it from the memory unit 72, and converts the standard specification data into second individual specification data by referring to the inverse conversion rules linked to the system identifier B, and stores the data in the memory unit 72 linked to the system identifier B.

[0078] Conversion refers to changing the data type, the number of digits, the representation of data, etc., without changing the meaning of the data.

[0079] Furthermore, the memory unit 72 registers the system identifier of system B in association with the timing (output timing) for outputting data to system B. The output timing may be real time or at a fixed cycle. Real time means that the second individual specification data is output from the output unit 74 to system B immediately after it is stored in the memory unit 72. Fixed cycle means that the second individual specification data linked to the system identifier B is output from the output unit 74 to system B on a regular basis, such as at a specified time every day or on a specified day of the week every week.

[0080] The output unit 74 monitors the output timing, and when the time to output data to system B arrives, it reads out the second individual specification data linked to the system identifier B from the storage unit 72 and outputs it to system B. If system B is located remotely on the Internet, the output unit 74 transmits the second individual specification data to system B via a communication device and the Internet. On the other hand, if system B is in the same computer as the computer that executes the data linkage system 700, the process of the output unit 74 passes the second individual specification data to the process of system B. Also, if system B is in the same local area network as the computer that executes the data linkage system 700, the output unit 74 transmits the second individual specification data to system B via a communication device and the local area network.

[0081] As a result, data with individual specifications in system A is converted and transmitted to data with individual specifications that can be handled by system B without changing the meaning of the data, so that data can be linked between systems A and B to proceed with processing. Conventionally, for example, medical record data of a medical institution could not be shared because the data specifications differ between the systems of one medical institution and the other medical institution. In order to share data, it was necessary to change the existing system of one of the medical institutions and match the data specifications. However, changing the existing system required a high cost. In addition, even if a data sharing system is built between multiple systems, a new system that joins the system cannot join if the existing system has different data specifications, and cannot join unless a new system with a compatible data specification or a system that links with the existing system is prepared. On the other hand, by using the data linkage system of the present invention, multiple existing systems can share data through the data linkage system as long as they are linked to this data linkage system. By using this mechanism, there is no need to build a link for each other, and as long as a link to a standard system is built, it becomes possible to freely link with any system through the linkage system. Since data can be shared with existing systems, new systems can be added to an already established data sharing system without changing their existing systems, and large-scale data sharing systems can be realized relatively easily.

[0082] The output unit 74 may read the standard specification data from the storage unit 72 and output it to the system B. In this case, conversion from the standard specification data to the second individual specification data is not necessarily required. For example, in the above-mentioned product purchase support system, the individual specification data acquired from the affiliate service as the system A may be converted into standard specification data that conforms to the product integrated DB 13. Also, the individual specification data acquired from the EC sites 400, 500 as the system A may be converted into standard specification data that conforms to the product integrated DB 13. In FIG. 5, the affiliate tag acquisition unit 21 corresponds to the acquisition unit 71. The affiliate tag structure dictionary 23 corresponds to the storage unit 72 that stores the forward conversion rules. The tag analysis unit 22 corresponds to the conversion unit 73 that refers to the forward conversion rules and converts the individual specification data into the standard specification data. Also, in FIG. 6, the product related information acquisition unit 31 corresponds to the acquisition unit 71. The page structure dictionary 33 corresponds to the storage unit 72 that stores the forward conversion rules. The page analysis unit 32 corresponds to a conversion unit 73 that converts the individual specification data into standard specification data by referring to the forward conversion rules.

[0083] [Application of data linkage systems] In FIG. 10, a data linkage system 700 is connected to a shop system 710, a sales agent system 720, a content distribution system 730, and a viewing terminal 740 via data communication paths, either wired or wirelessly.

[0084] The shop system 710 is a system for a store that sells products over the Internet or in a brick-and-mortar store, and provides product information about the products it sells to the sales agent system 720 via the Internet and the data linkage system 700 .

[0085] The sales agent system 720 includes a product information storage unit 721 , a processor 722 , and a communication unit 723 .

[0086] The product information storage unit 721 is a storage area of ​​a storage device such as a hard disk drive, and stores a product identifier, product information, a product introducer identifier, a sales shop identifier, and a distribution ratio of the sales price in association with each other.

[0087] The product identifier is an identifier that can uniquely identify a product. The product information is product information obtained from the shop system 710 via the data linkage system 700 and the Internet, and includes the product name, product image, product description, product price, etc. The product introducer identifier is the identifier of the trader who introduces this product to the consumer. The sales shop identifier is the identifier of the shop system 710 that sells this product or the system operator. The distribution ratio indicates the ratio P:Q:R of the product price when this product is sold distributed to the product introducer P, the operator Q of the shop system 710, and the operator R of the sales agency system 720.

[0088] The processor 722 executes various processes by executing programs, and realizes the operations of a product information providing unit, a purchase processing unit, and a payment processing unit. The processor 722 may be realized by a plurality of processors working together.

[0089] The product information providing unit causes the content distribution system 730 or the viewing terminal 740 to acquire product information stored in the product information storage unit 721 for the product introducer via the Internet and data linkage system 700. The purchase processing unit completes the purchase processing of the product in response to a product purchase request made from the viewing terminal 740. When the payment processing unit detects that the price of the purchased product has been settled, it executes processing to distribute and pay the product price to the product introducer, the operator of the shop system 710, and the operator of the sales agency system 720 according to the distribution ratio.

[0090] The communication unit 723 is a communication device for communicating with the data linkage system 700 via a computer network such as the Internet, and transmits and receives data to and from the shop system 710, the content distribution system 730, and, if necessary, the viewing terminal 740 via the data linkage system 700. Here, the sales agency system 720 may be mounted on the system of the above-mentioned product integrated site 100. In this case, the above-mentioned product-related information of the product integrated site 100 may be used as the product information. In addition, the content distribution system 730 may acquire product information searched based on search conditions provided to the inspection condition acquisition unit 11 from the content distribution system 730.

[0091] The content distribution system 730 distributes viewing content to the viewing terminal 740 directly or via the data linkage system 700. The content distribution system 730 is, for example, a television receiver, a set-top box, or a taxi signage as the viewing device 740. Communication between the content distribution system 730 and the viewing terminal 740 is performed by a transmission path and a protocol according to the characteristics of both devices. In the following description, the viewing terminal 740 is a television receiver compatible with terrestrial digital broadcasting, and the content distribution system 730 includes a content server for data broadcasting.

[0092] The content distribution system 730 receives product information from the sales agency system 720 via the Internet and the data linkage system 700, and transmits the product information to the viewing terminal 740 by data broadcasting.

[0093] The viewing terminal 740 receives product information related to a program selected by a viewer from the content distribution system 730 via data broadcasting during the broadcast of the program, and displays the product information in a display section of the data broadcasting content. Furthermore, the viewing terminal 740 is adapted to accept a purchase operation for the displayed product from a remote control.

[0094] To describe this in further detail, in this embodiment, the sales agency system 720 provides the content distribution system 730 in advance with product information of products related to a program to be broadcast, linked to a product identifier. The content distribution system 730 links the product information received from the sales agency system 720 to the product identifier and stores it in a storage device. The content distribution system 730 also links the received product identifier to a broadcast program in advance and stores it in a storage device. The content distribution system 730 links the product information corresponding to the program being broadcast to the product identifier and transmits it to the viewing terminal 740 by data broadcast. The viewing terminal 740 displays the product information of products related to the program in a data broadcast column during the broadcast of the program, and accepts a purchase operation for the product from a remote control.

[0095] For example, Hakone goods are sold by data broadcasting during a program introducing Hakone. The viewing terminal 740 does not guide the viewer to an Internet search to find the goods, but rather confirms the purchase of the goods through data broadcasting communication.

[0096] The content delivery system 730 acquires from the viewing terminal 740 the product identifier of the product whose purchase is confirmed by the operation of the viewing terminal 740. Here, the content delivery system 730 may have multiple computers, the computer for data broadcasting may be different from the computer that accepts the purchase, and the communication between the computer that accepts the purchase and the viewing terminal 740 may be via the Internet. In addition, the transmission of product information to the viewing terminal 740 may be performed directly from the sales agency system 720 via the Internet and the data linkage system 700 by a method such as hybrid casting, and the identifier of the purchased product may be similarly transmitted directly from the viewing terminal 740 to the sales agency system 720. When the identifier of the purchased product is notified to the content delivery system 730, the content delivery system 730 transmits the product identifier to the sales agency system 720 via the data linkage system 700.

[0097] The sales agency system 720 receives an identifier of the purchased product from the viewing device 740 or the content delivery system 730. The purchase processing unit notifies the viewing terminal 740 that the purchase of the product has been accepted, either directly or via the content delivery system 730. The purchase processing unit also notifies the shop system 710 corresponding to the purchased product of the purchase details. Here, the purchase processing unit may obtain the identifier of the viewing terminal 740 via the viewing terminal 740 or the content delivery system 730, and obtain the address and name of the delivery destination linked in advance to the terminal identifier from a database and display them on the purchase details.

[0098] When the payment processing unit detects a predetermined payment made by a viewer of the viewing terminal 740, it executes processing for distributing and paying the product price to the introduction fee to the product introducer (the operator of the content distribution system 730, the broadcasting station), the sales of the operator of the shop system 710, and the commission of the operator of the sales agency system 720 according to the distribution ratio corresponding to the purchased product. However, if the sales agency system 720 and the data linkage system 700 are operated integrally, the commission of the operator of the sales agency system 720 may be regarded as the commission of the operator of the data linkage system. Here, the payment made by the viewer may be made by transferring the product price to a transfer account displayed on the television screen. The data linkage system 700 converts the communication between the above systems into data in real time and links the systems.

[0099] According to the above-mentioned system, since products related to the contents being viewed, such as a broadcast program, can be purchased immediately on the spot, the purchase rate of the products can be increased compared to when the viewer is directed to an internet search and then the products are sold. Furthermore, by using this mechanism to link data between IoT devices such as televisions, refrigerators, and vending machines and each sales site, the products and services of each site can be widely and easily sold by others. The others include television stations, vending machine vendors, taxi companies, stations, airports, other companies and individuals, etc. Furthermore, the profits of the site operator, the seller, and the operator of the linked system can be shared. However, the linked system and the profit sharing system may be integrated, or may be separate systems that work together, or the two systems may be operated by different companies.

[0100] [Conclusion] The scope of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, but is the scope of the invention described in the claims. The specific information processing technology on each system and the information communication technology between each system can be replaced by technologies known to those skilled in the art. For example, the system may be configured with a serverless architecture. In addition, the same processing result may be obtained even if the processing order of the process is partially changed. In addition, in the above-mentioned product purchase support system, products of multiple sales sites that provide affiliate services and products of multiple sales sites that do not provide affiliate services are integrated into an integrated site, a cross-search of products between each sales site is realized, and the searched products can be purchased. However, the invention of the product purchase support system is not limited to this, and it is sufficient that at least products between each sales site that does not provide affiliate services are integrated into an integrated site and a cross-search of products between the sales sites is realized. In addition, the data linkage system may not take the form of an integrated site, but may be a mechanism that converts data of system A into standard data as a single linkage system and converts it into individual specification data of system B. [Explanation of symbols]

[0101] 11 Search condition acquisition section 12 Search section 13 Product integration DB 14 Search result generation unit 15 Sorting condition acquisition section 21 Affiliate tag acquisition section 22 Tag Analysis Unit 23 Affiliate Tag Structure Dictionary 31 Product related information acquisition unit 31 32 Page Analysis Section 33 Page Structure Dictionary 41 Browsing Processing Unit 42 Automatic input processing section 43 Personal information provision department 44 Personal information DB 71 Acquisition Department 72 Memory section 73 Conversion unit 74 Output section 100 Product Integrated Site System 200,300 Online Mall System 400,500 EC site system 600 Buyer Interface System 700 Data Linkage System 710 Shop System 720 Sales Agent System 721 Product information storage section 722 processor 723 Communications Department 730 Content Distribution System 740 Viewing Devices

Claims

1. A data linkage method for enabling data handled by one system to be handled by another system, comprising: an acquisition step of acquiring, from the one system, an identifier A of the one system, data (first individual specification data) handled by the one system, and an identifier B of the other system; a first conversion step of reading out a forward conversion rule associated with the identifier A of the one system from a storage area and converting the first individual specification data into standard specification data; a second conversion step of reading out an inverse conversion rule associated with the identifier B of the other system from a storage area and converting the data of the standard specification into data of a second individual specification handled by the other system; a storage step of linking the data of the second individual specification to an identifier B of the other system and storing the data in a storage unit; an output step of reading out data of the second individual specification linked to an identifier B of the other system from the storage unit and outputting the data to the other system; A data linkage method, wherein the forward transformation rule used in the first transformation step is identified only by the identifier A, and the inverse transformation rule used in the second transformation step is identified only by the identifier B.

2. A data linkage program that enables data handled by one system to be handled by another system, an acquisition step of acquiring, from the one system, an identifier A of the one system, data (first individual specification data) handled by the one system, and an identifier B of the other system; a first conversion step of reading out a forward conversion rule associated with the identifier A of the one system from a storage area and converting the first individual specification data into standard specification data; a second conversion step of reading out an inverse conversion rule associated with the identifier B of the other system from a storage area and converting the data of the standard specification into data of a second individual specification handled by the other system; a storage step of linking the data of the second individual specification to an identifier B of the other system and storing the data in a storage unit; an output step of reading out data of the second individual specification linked to an identifier B of the other system from the storage unit and outputting the data to the other system; a data linkage program in which the forward transformation rule used in the first transformation step is identified only by the identifier A, and the inverse transformation rule used in the second transformation step is identified only by the identifier B;

3. A data linkage system that enables data handled by one system to be handled by another system, an acquisition unit that acquires, from the one system, an identifier A of the one system, data (first individual specification data) handled by the one system, and an identifier B of the other system; a conversion unit that reads out a forward conversion rule associated with an identifier A of the one system from a storage area to convert the first individual specification data into standard specification data, and that reads out an inverse conversion rule associated with an identifier B of the other system from a storage area to convert the standard specification data into second individual specification data handled by the other system; a storage unit that stores the data of the second individual specification in the storage unit while linking it to an identifier B of the other system; an output unit that reads out data of the second individual specification linked to an identifier B of the other system from the storage unit and outputs the data to the other system, A data linkage system, wherein the forward transformation rule used in the first transformation step is identified only by the identifier A, and the inverse transformation rule used in the second transformation step is identified only by the identifier B.

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