Determination device, determination method, and program

Abstract

To provide a management device, a management method, and a program for considering purchase of a specific product on an EC site.SOLUTION: In a transaction management system, a packaging support unit of a sales support server comprises a specification determination unit which determines respective specifications of one or more comparisons which are delivered together with a packaging material for packaging an article and are used to determine a state of the article. The specification determination unit determines the respective specifications of the one or more comparisons on the basis of a type of the article, a delivery distance of the article, a time required for delivery of the article, a weather at a delivery destination of the article, an attribute of a sender of the article, an attribute of a receiver of the article, an attribute of a deliverer of the article, and at least one of a pattern and a color of a surface of the packaging material, or combinations thereof.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 10

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a management device, a management method, and a program.

Background Art

[0002] Patent Document 1 discloses an EC server that provides an environment in which evaluations according to product genres are posted. (Prior Art Document) (Patent Document) (Patent Document 1) International Publication No. 2017 / 094169

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0003] Properly determine the state of the product It is difficult to do.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0004] In a first aspect of the present invention, a determination device is provided. The determination device described above includes, for example, a specification determination unit that is delivered together with packaging materials for packaging an article and determines the specifications of each of one or more comparison references used for determining the state of the article. In the determination device described above, the specification determination unit determines the specifications of each of one or more comparison references based on, for example, (i) the type of the article, (ii) the distance to which the article is delivered, (iii) the time required for delivering the article, (iv) the weather at the delivery destination of the article, (v) the attributes of the sender of the article, (vi) the attributes of the recipient of the article, (vii) the attributes of the carrier of the article, and (viii) at least one of the pattern and color on the surface of the packaging material, and combinations thereof.

[0005] In the above-described determination device, the specifications of each of the one or more comparison references may include (i) the type of each determination target of the one or more comparison references, (ii) at least one of the size, shape, pattern, and color of each of the one or more comparison references, and (iii) at least one of the hardness of each of the one or more comparison references. In the above-described determination device, each of the one or more comparison references may be arranged on a part of the surface of the packaging material or at least a part of the contents accommodated inside the packaging material. The above-described determination device may include an arrangement determination unit that determines the position or range in the packaging material for each of the one or more comparison references. In the above-described determination device, the packaging material may include at least one of a box, a partition member, a packaging material, and a cushioning material.

[0006] In the above-described determination device, the specification determination unit may determine the attributes of the sender based on the evaluation of other articles or the sender by the recipients of other articles sent by the sender in the past. In the above-described determination device, the specification determination unit may determine the attributes of the recipient based on the evaluation of other articles received by the recipient in the past by the recipient. In the above-described determination device, the specification determination unit may determine the attributes of the delivery person based on the evaluation of other articles or the delivery person by the sender or recipient of other articles delivered by the delivery person in the past.

[0007] In the above-described determination device, the state of the article is determined, for example, based on the comparison result between the article and at least one of the size, shape, pattern, color, and hardness of each of the one or more comparison references. In the above-described determination device, the state of the article includes, for example, at least one of the appearance state of the article and the delivery state of the article. The appearance state of the article includes, for example, at least one of the size, degree of bending, and color of the article.

[0008] In a second aspect of the present invention, a determination method is provided. Each step of the determination method described above is executed, for example, by a computer. The determination method described above includes, for example, a specification determination step of determining the respective specifications of one or more comparison references that are delivered together with packaging materials for packaging an article and are used to determine the state of the article. In the determination method described above, the specification determination step is, for example, based on (i) the type of the article, (ii) the distance to which the article is delivered, (iii) the time required for delivering the article, (iv) the weather at the delivery destination of the article, (v) the attributes of the sender of the article, (vi) the attributes of the recipient of the article, (vii) the attributes of the carrier of the article, and (viii) at least one of the pattern and color on the surface of the packaging material, and combinations thereof, and includes a step of determining the respective specifications of one or more comparison references.

[0009] In a third aspect of the present invention, a program is provided. The program described above may be a program for causing a computer to function as the determination device according to the first aspect described above. The program described above may also be a program for causing a computer to execute the determination method according to the second aspect described above. A computer-readable medium storing the program described above may be provided. The computer-readable medium may be a non-transitory computer-readable medium. The computer-readable medium may be a computer-readable recording medium.

[0010] Note that the above summary of the invention does not list all the necessary features of the present invention. Also, sub-combinations of these feature groups can also be inventions.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0011]

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Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0012] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described through embodiments of the invention. However, the following embodiments do not limit the invention according to the claims. Also, not all combinations of features described in the embodiments are essential for the solution means of the invention. In the drawings, the same or similar parts may be given the same reference numerals, and redundant descriptions may be omitted.

[0013] (Overview of the Transaction Management System 100) FIG. 1 schematically shows an example of the system configuration of the transaction management system 100. In the present embodiment, the transaction management system 100 includes, for example, a management server 110. In the present embodiment, the management server 110 has, for example, a transaction management unit 112 and a distribution management unit 114.

[0014] The transaction management system 100 may further include at least one of a production robot 120, a fruit selection system 140, and a logistics system 160. In the present embodiment, the production robot 120 has, for example, a base unit 130, one or more (sometimes simply referred to as one or more) moving units 132, one or more imaging units 134, one or more sensor units 136, and one or more work units 138.

[0015] In the present embodiment, the transaction management system 100 includes, for example, a sales support server 180. The transaction management system 100 may include the management server 110 and the sales support server 180. The owner or operator of the management server 110 and the owner or operator of the sales support server 180 may be the same or different. The management server 110 and the sales support server 180 may operate on the same physical machine or virtual machine, or may operate on different physical machines or virtual machines.

[0016] In the present embodiment, the details of the transaction management system 100 will be described by taking as an example the case where the transaction management system 100 manages the transactions of products 12 and 14. In the present embodiment, the details of the transaction management system 100 will be described by taking as an example the case where the product 14 is an article of the same or similar type as the product 12, or an article produced by the producer 20 of the product 12.

[0017] In addition, in this embodiment, the details of the transaction management system 100 will be described by taking as an example a case in which the product 12 and the product 14 are (i) fresh food products or (ii) agricultural products, marine products, or livestock products. Examples of fresh food products include fruits and vegetables, fresh flowers, seafood, and meat. Examples of agricultural products include grains, vegetables, fruits, tea, flowering trees, mushrooms, and mycelium. However, the product 12 and the product 14 are not limited to fresh food products, agricultural products, marine products, or livestock products.

[0018] In the transaction of product 12 and product 14, producer 20 produces product 12 and product 14. Producer 20 transfers produced product 12 and product 14 to consumer 40, with or without compensation. Producer 20 may transfer product 12 and product 14 to consumer 40 via one or more distributors 30. In this case, for example, first, producer 20 transfers product 12 and product 14 to distributor 30, with or without compensation. Next, distributor 30 transfers product 12 and product 14 to consumer 40, with or without compensation.

[0019] In this embodiment, the producer 20 performs various tasks to produce the product 12 and the product 14. The producer 20 may be a natural person or an organization. The organization may or may not have legal personality. The producer 20 may access the management server 110 using a communication terminal 22. The producer 20 may use, for example, the communication terminal 22 to transmit information indicating a record of various tasks related to the product 12 and the product 14 to the management server 110. The producer 20 may use a production robot 120 to produce the product 12 and the product 14.

[0020] In this embodiment, the distributor 30 mediates transactions between the producers 20 and the consumers 40. Examples of the distributor 30 include transport companies, warehouse operators, wholesalers, and retailers. A producer group consisting of multiple producers 20 may have an aspect as a distributor 30 in addition to an aspect as a producer 20. Examples of the producer group include a collection and shipping group and a cooperative.

[0021] In this embodiment, the consumer 40 receives the product 12 and the product 14 from the producer 20 or the distributor 30, with or without payment. The consumer 40 uses or consumes the product 12 and the product 14. The consumer 40 may inspect or evaluate the product 12 and the product 14 before using or consuming the product 12 and the product 14. The consumer 40 may inspect or evaluate the product 12 and the product 14 after using or consuming the product 12 and the product 14.

[0022] (Overview of information processing in transaction management system 100) An example of information processing in the transaction management system 100 will be described using as an example a case where consumer 44, an example of consumer 40, purchases product 12, and then consumer 46, another example of consumer 40, purchases product 14. In this embodiment, the transaction management system 100 collects various data in the transaction process of product 12. The transaction management system 100 may execute processing to support the collection of the above data.

[0023] Various data collected in the transaction of the product 12 is used in the transaction of the product 14. In one embodiment, the transaction management system 100 executes a process for presenting data on evaluations of the product 12 or the producer 20 collected in the transaction of the product 12 (which may simply be referred to as evaluation information on the product 12) to a consumer 46 who is considering purchasing the product 14. In another embodiment, the transaction management system 100 executes a process for determining selling points of the product 14 based on the characteristics of the product 14 that is the subject of a current or future transaction and the evaluations of the product 12. The transaction management system 100 also executes a process for notifying sales promotion information for the product 14 to consumers 46 who are likely to be interested in the selling points of the product 14.

[0024] Evaluation information regarding a product (which may sometimes be simply referred to as product evaluation information) may be information indicating the type and quality of the product. For example, product evaluation information may include information indicating the type of the product and information indicating the evaluation of the product. Product evaluation information may be information in which the type of the product and the evaluation of the product are associated. The type of the product may be identified by the item of the product. The item of the product may be the name of the type of the product. The evaluation of the product may be an evaluation of the quality of the product. The quality of the product is determined based on various characteristics related to the product, for example. According to the present embodiment, since the transaction management system 100 acquires evaluation information regarding product 12 at a plurality of time points in the transaction process of product 12, the quality of product 12 at the production time or the shipping time can be evaluated more accurately.

[0025] Producer 20 may be evaluated based on the evaluation regarding product 12 or may be evaluated based on the evaluation regarding producer 20. In the present embodiment, for the purpose of simplifying the explanation, the details of the information processing in the transaction management system 100 will be described by taking the case where consumer 44 evaluates product 12 as an example.

[0026] In the present embodiment, the transaction management system 100 acquires evaluation information regarding product 12 at a plurality of time points in the transaction process of product 12. For example, the transaction management system 100 acquires evaluation information regarding product 12 at at least one of the inspection time or the evaluation time of product 12, the production time or the shipping time of product 12, and a specific time point in the distribution process of product 12.

[0027] In particular, fresh food products, agricultural products, fishery products, livestock products, etc. are likely to deteriorate in quality compared to industrial products, for example. Therefore, the quality may deteriorate during the period from when producer 20 ships the product until it reaches the hands of consumer 40 (which may be referred to as the distribution process).

[0028] (Overview of Evaluation Information) As evaluation information regarding product 12, for example, data indicating subjective evaluation results based on the results of sensory tests of product 12 by producer 20, distributor 30, or consumer 40, and data indicating objective evaluation results based on measurement results of product 12 by various sensors are exemplified. Examples of the above sensors include: (i) sensors arranged on at least one of one or more production robots 120; (ii) sensors arranged at the production site; (iii) sensors arranged in a fruit selection system 140 or a logistics system used by at least a part of one or more distributors 30; and (iv) sensors arranged on communication terminal 22, communication terminal 32, or communication terminal 42.

[0029] Examples of the above sensors include: (i) measuring instruments for measuring the characteristics of product 12; and (ii) measuring instruments for measuring the state of the surrounding environment of product 12. Examples of the surrounding environment of product 12 include the production environment of product 12 and the distribution environment of product 12. When product 12 and product 14 are fresh food products, or agricultural products, fishery products, or livestock products, examples of the production environment of product 12 include the growth place, hunting ground, etc. When product 12 is an agricultural product, examples of the production environment of product 12 include the field, medium, etc. When product 12 is a livestock product, examples of the production environment of product 12 include the ranch, livestock shed, etc. When product 12 is a fishery product, examples of the production environment of product 12 include the aquaculture farm, fishing ground, etc.

[0030] The above sensors may be various simple measurement kits for physical properties. Examples of the simple measurement kit include materials whose color changes according to various physical properties. Examples of the above physical properties include temperature, humidity, etc.

[0031] For example, as a simple measurement kit for temperature, a material whose color changes with temperature (which may be referred to as a temperature indicating material) can be used. Examples of the form of the temperature indicating material include labels, seals, tapes, etc. The simple measurement kit for temperature may be an irreversible temperature indicating material. The irreversible temperature indicating material has the property of changing color when it reaches a specific temperature and not returning to its original color once it has changed color. Thereby, for example, the maximum or minimum value of the temperature during delivery can be simply measured.

[0032] The characteristics of product 12 include, for example, (i) at least one of the shape, pattern, color, and gloss of the appearance of product 12, (ii) at least one of the size and mass of product 12, (iii) at least one of the hardness and elasticity of product 12, (iv) the amount of at least one of the radiation and aroma components emitted from product 12, and (v) the content of specific components contained in product 12. Examples of the specific components include hydrogen ions, moisture, nutrient components, or functional components. Examples of the nutrient components or functional components include sugars, proteins, lipids, dietary fibers, glutamic acid, sodium ions, potassium ions, calcium ions, magnesium ions, nitrate ions, phosphate ions, vitamins, amino acids, and the like. Examples of the various sensors described above include image sensors, 3D scanners, hardness testers, dosimeters, odor sensors, pH meters, moisture meters, refractometers, and taste sensors.

[0033] The state of the surrounding environment of product 12 (which may be referred to as the production environment) during the production process of product 12 includes, for example, (i) the temperature, illuminance, and / or pressure of the surrounding environment of product 12, (ii) the concentration of specific components in the surrounding environment of product 12, and (iii) at least one selected from the group consisting of the type and / or amount of materials and / or energy input during the production process. Examples of the specific components described above include water, hydrogen ions, and nutrients required for the growth of product 12. When product 12 is an agricultural product, examples of the nutrients required for the growth of product 12 include nitrogen, phosphoric acid, potassium, and the like. Examples of the various sensors described above include thermometers, illuminance meters, pressure gauges, hygrometers, pH meters, nitrogen concentration meters, phosphoric acid concentration meters, potassium concentration meters, and the like.

[0034] As the state of the surrounding environment of product 12 (which may be referred to as the distribution environment) in the distribution process of product 12, at least one selected from the group consisting of (i) the temperature, illuminance and / or pressure of the surrounding environment of product 12, (ii) the concentration of specific components in the surrounding environment of product 12, and (iii) the acceleration applied to product 12 during the distribution process (such as impact, vibration, etc.) is exemplified. As the above specific components, one or more substances selected from the group consisting of water, oxygen, carbon dioxide and ethylene are exemplified. As the above various sensors, a thermometer, an illuminometer, a pressure gauge, a hygrometer, a pH meter, an oxygen concentration meter, a carbon dioxide concentration meter, an ethylene concentration meter, an accelerometer, etc. are exemplified.

[0035] Evaluation information regarding product 12 is transmitted to the management server 110 from, for example, the communication terminal 22 used by the producer 20 or various sensors (such as the imaging unit 134 or the sensor unit 136) arranged in the production robot 120. Evaluation information regarding product 12 is transmitted to the management server 110 from, for example, various sensors arranged in the fruit selection system 140 or the logistics system used by at least a part of one or more distributors 30. Evaluation information regarding product 12 is transmitted to the management server 110 from, for example, the communication terminal 32 used by the distributor 30. Evaluation information regarding product 12 is transmitted to the management server 110 from, for example, the communication terminal 42 used by the consumer 40.

[0036] (Structure of Evaluation Information) In this embodiment, the transaction management system 100 stores by associating the basic information of each product with the evaluation information of each product. As the basic information of each product, the identification information of each product, the information indicating the type of each product, the information indicating the producer of each product, the information indicating the production date or the shipping date of each product, etc. are exemplified. In this embodiment, the evaluation information of each product includes information indicating the evaluation for each of a plurality of items (which may be referred to as evaluation items) regarding each product. For example, the evaluation information of each product is configured to be able to store the evaluation for each of P (P is an integer of 2 or more) evaluation items.

[0037] In the present embodiment, P evaluation items (where P is an integer of 2 or more) are classified into a plurality of categories (which may be referred to as evaluation categories). Examples of the above categories include (i) categories related to size or mass, (ii) categories related to appearance, (iii) categories related to taste, (iv) categories related to texture, (v) categories related to contained components, (vi) categories related to freshness, (vii) categories related to ease of use or consumption, (viii) categories related to production processes, (ix) categories related to environmental impact, (x) categories related to regional contribution, (xi) categories related to price, and the like.

[0038] The categories related to size or mass include, for example, evaluation items related to size, evaluation items related to mass, and the like. The categories related to appearance include, for example, evaluation items related to shape, evaluation items related to the presence or degree of damage, evaluation items related to color and luster, evaluation items related to cleanliness, and the like. The categories related to taste include, for example, evaluation items related to sweetness, evaluation items related to saltiness, evaluation items related to sourness, evaluation items related to bitterness, evaluation items related to umami, evaluation items related to deliciousness, and the like. The categories related to texture include, for example, evaluation items related to hardness, evaluation items related to tenderness, evaluation items related to moisture content, and the like. The categories related to contained components include, for example, evaluation items related to the content of nutritional components, evaluation items related to the content of aroma components, evaluation items related to the content of functional components, and the like.

[0039] The categories related to freshness include, for example, evaluation items related to the number of days elapsed since the production date or the shipping date. The categories related to ease of use or consumption include, for example, evaluation items related to ease of cooking. The categories related to production processes include, for example, evaluation items related to the presence and / or usage mode of chemical fertilizers, evaluation items related to the presence and / or usage mode of agricultural chemicals, evaluation items related to the presence or absence of certification for organic cultivation or pesticide-free cultivation, and the like.

[0040] The classifications related to environmental load include, for example, the presence or absence of use of at least one of chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides, evaluation items related to the type and / or usage amount of at least one of chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides used in the cultivation process, evaluation items related to carbon dioxide emissions, evaluation items related to the disposal method of agricultural materials, and the like. The classifications related to regional contribution include, for example, evaluation items related to guidance or cultivation for new farmers or producers with little experience, evaluation items related to contribution to the local food culture, and the like. The classifications related to price include, for example, evaluation items related to cost performance, evaluation items related to the relative price level of the same kind of products, and the like.

[0041] (Overview of each part of the transaction management system 100) In this embodiment, each of the communication terminals 22, 32, and 42 is used by the producer 20, the distributor 30, and the consumer 40, respectively. Each of the communication terminals 22, 32, and 42 transmits and receives information to and from the management server 110 via a communication network (not shown).

[0042] Examples of the communication terminals 22, 32, and 42 include personal computers, mobile terminals, and the like. Examples of the mobile terminal include mobile phones, smartphones, PDAs, tablets, notebook computers or laptop computers, wearable computers, and the like.

[0043] The communication terminals 22, 32, and 42 may function as user interfaces when the producer 20, the distributor 30, or the consumer 40 accesses the transaction management system 100. The producer 20 may use the communication terminal 22 to transmit information indicating various measurement results regarding the state of the production environment described above to the management server 110. The producer 20 may use the communication terminal 22 to transmit evaluation information regarding the products 12 and 14 to the management server 110. The distributor 30 may use the communication terminal 32 to transmit information indicating various measurement results regarding the state of the distribution environment described above to the management server 110. The distributor 30 may use the communication terminal 32 to transmit evaluation information regarding the products 12 and 14 to the management server 110. The consumer 40 may use the communication terminal 42 to transmit evaluation information regarding the products 12 and 14 to the management server 110. The consumer 40 may use the communication terminal 42 to obtain various information including the evaluation information regarding the products 12 and 14 from the management server 110.

[0044] Note that the above communication network may be a wired communication transmission line, a wireless communication transmission line, or a combination of a wireless communication transmission line and a wired communication transmission line. The communication network may include a wireless packet communication network, the Internet, a P2P network, a dedicated line, a VPN, a power line communication line, etc. The communication network may (i) include a mobile communication network such as a mobile phone line network, and (ii) include a wireless communication network such as a wireless MAN (e.g., WiMAX (registered trademark)), a wireless LAN (e.g., WiFi (registered trademark)), Bluetooth (registered trademark), Zigbee (registered trademark), NFC (Near Field Communication). Wireless LAN, Bluetooth (registered trademark), Zigbee (registered trademark), and NFC may be an example of short-range wireless communication.

[0045] In this embodiment, the management server 110 manages transactions of various products. Further, the management server 110 manages the distribution of various products.

[0046] In this embodiment, the transaction management unit 112 manages transactions of various products. For example, the transaction management unit 112 collects various data in the transaction process of product 12. The transaction management unit 112 may execute processes to assist in the collection of the above data. For example, the transaction management unit 112 uses various data collected in the transaction of product 12 to assist or mediate the transaction of product 14. The transaction management unit 112 may determine the evaluation of product 14 based on the evaluation of one or more products 12. The transaction management unit 112 may transmit information indicating the evaluation of product 14 to the communication terminal 42 used by the consumer 40 who is considering purchasing product 14. The transaction management unit 112 may transmit information indicating the evaluation of product 14 to the communication terminal 42 used by the consumer 40 who matches the characteristics of product 14. Details of the transaction management unit 112 will be described later.

[0047] In this embodiment, the distribution management unit 114 manages the distribution of one or more products. The distribution management unit 114 manages, for example, the state of each of the one or more products in at least a part of the distribution process of the product.

[0048] In one embodiment, the distribution management unit 114 acquires information (which may be referred to as distribution state information) indicating the state of product 12 in at least a part of the distribution process of product 12. Examples of the distribution state information include information indicating the characteristics of product 12 in the distribution process and information indicating the state of the distribution environment of product 12.

[0049] The distribution management unit 114 may acquire information indicating the measurement results of product 12 by various sensors arranged in the sorting system 140 from the sorting system 140. For example, the distribution management unit 114 acquires information indicating the measurement results of a mass meter and / or a refractometer arranged in the sorting machine constituting the sorting system 140 from a control device (not shown) that controls the sorting system 140. The distribution management unit 114 may also acquire the image data of the image of product 12 captured by a camera arranged in the sorting machine constituting the sorting system 140 from a control device (not shown) that controls the sorting system 140.

[0050] The circulation management unit 114 may acquire information indicating measurement results of the product 12 by various sensors arranged in the logistics system 160 from the logistics system 160. For example, the circulation management unit 114 acquires information indicating measurement results of an acceleration sensor arranged in a truck constituting the logistics system 160 from a control device (not shown) that controls the logistics system 160. The circulation management unit 114 may also acquire image data of an image of the product 12 captured by a camera arranged in a warehouse management system constituting the logistics system 160 from a control device (not shown) that controls the logistics system 160.

[0051] In another embodiment, the circulation management unit 114 acquires information (which may be referred to as circulation period information) indicating the length of a period (which may be referred to as the circulation period) between the production date or shipment date of the product 12 and the inspection date or evaluation date of the product 12 by the consumer 40. For example, the circulation management unit 114 acquires information (which may be referred to as production information) indicating the production date or shipment date of the product 12. The circulation management unit 114 may acquire the production information from the communication terminal 22 or the production robot 120. Further, the circulation management unit 114 acquires information (which may be referred to as inspection information) indicating the inspection date or evaluation date of the product 12 by the consumer 44. The circulation management unit 114 may acquire the inspection information from the communication terminal 42. The circulation management unit 114 may determine the length of the circulation period based on the inspection date or evaluation date of the product 12 indicated by the inspection information and the production date or shipment date of the product 12 indicated by the production information. Thereby, the circulation management unit 114 can acquire the circulation period information.

[0052] The circulation management unit 114 may store in association identification information for identifying each of one or more products and at least one of the circulation status information and the circulation period information of each product. For example, in response to a request from the transaction management unit 112, the circulation management unit 114 extracts the circulation status information and / or the circulation period information regarding the product that matches the request, and transmits the extracted information to the transaction management unit 112.

[0053] In this embodiment, the production robot 120 produces products 12 and 14. The production robot 120 may have an autonomous movement function. The production robot 120 may have a communication function. For example, the production robot 120 transmits and receives information to and from the management server 110 via a communication network. The production robot 120 may transmit, via the communication network, information indicating records of various operations related to products 12 and 14 to the management server 110. The production robot 120 may transmit, via the communication network, information indicating various measurement results related to the state of the above-described production environment to the management server 110. Details of the production robot 120 and its respective parts will be described later.

[0054] In this embodiment, the fruit selection system 140 classifies products 12 and 14. For example, when products 12 and 14 are agricultural products, the fruit selection system 140 classifies products 12 and 14 according to quality, size, mass, etc. The fruit selection system 140 includes various sensors for measuring the quality, size, mass, etc. of products 12 and 14. The above sensors may include an image sensor that images the exteriors of products 12 and 14. The fruit selection system 140 may transmit, via the communication network, information indicating measurement results by the various sensors to the management server 110.

[0055] In this embodiment, the logistics system 160 stores and transports products 12 and 14. The logistics system 160 includes various sensors that measure at least one of the states of products 12 and 14 and the state of the surrounding environment of products 12 and 14 during storage and transportation of products 12 and 14. The above sensors may include an image sensor that images the exteriors of products 12 and 14. The logistics system 160 may transmit, via the communication network, information indicating measurement results by the various sensors to the management server 110.

[0056] In this embodiment, the sales support server 180 supports the sale of product 12 or product 14 by the supplier of product 12 or product 14. Examples of the supplier of product 12 or product 14 include the manufacturer 20 and the distributor 30. Details of the sales support server 180 will be described later.

[0057] (Specific configuration of each part of the transaction management system 100) Each part of the transaction management system 100 may be realized by hardware, may be realized by software, or may be realized by hardware and software. At least a part of each part of the transaction management system 100 may be realized by a single server, or may be realized by a plurality of servers. At least a part of each part of the transaction management system 100 may be realized on a virtual machine or on a cloud system. At least a part of each part of the transaction management system 100 may be realized by a personal computer or a mobile terminal. Examples of the mobile terminal may include a mobile phone, a smartphone, a PDA, a tablet, a notebook computer or a laptop computer, a wearable computer, etc. Each part of the transaction management system 100 may store information using a distributed ledger technology such as blockchain or a distributed network.

[0058] When at least a part of the components constituting the transaction management system 100 is realized by software, the components realized by the software may be realized by starting software or a program that defines the operations related to the components in an information processing apparatus having a general configuration. The above-mentioned information processing apparatus having a general configuration may include (i) a data processing apparatus having a processor such as a CPU or a GPU, a ROM, a RAM, a communication interface, etc., (ii) an input apparatus such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a touch panel, a camera, a voice input device, a gesture input device, various sensors, a GPS receiver, etc., (iii) an output apparatus such as a display device, a voice output device, a vibration device, etc., and (iv) a storage device such as a memory, an HDD, an SSD (including an external storage device).

[0059] In the information processing apparatus having the above general configuration, the above data processing apparatus or storage device may store the above software or program. When the above software or program is executed by a processor, the information processing apparatus is caused to execute operations defined by the software or program. The above software or program may be stored in a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium. The above software or program may be a program for causing a computer to function as a transaction management system 100 or a part thereof. The above software or program may be a program for causing a computer to execute information processing in the transaction management system 100 or a part thereof.

[0060] In one embodiment, the above information processing may be a management method for managing evaluations of articles. The above management method has, for example, an evaluation information acquisition step of acquiring evaluation information indicating evaluation results for at least one of P (P is an integer of 2 or more) items related to an article. The above management method has, for example, a viewer information acquisition step of acquiring viewer information indicating the behavior characteristics, interests, or preferences of a viewer who views evaluations of an article. The above management method has, for example, a first item determination step of determining Q (Q is a positive integer less than or equal to P) items to be presented to the viewer from among the P items based on the viewer information acquired in the viewer information acquisition step. The operation subject of each step of the above management method may be a computer.

[0061] In other embodiments, the above information processing may be a management method for managing evaluations of articles. The above management method has, for example, an evaluation information acquisition step of acquiring evaluation information indicating the result of an evaluation for at least one of P (P is an integer of 2 or more) items related to an article. The above management method has, for example, a second item evaluation step of calculating an evaluation value for each of the P items based on one or more pieces of evaluation information related to the article acquired in the evaluation information acquisition step. The above management method has, for example, a second item determination step of determining Q (Q is a positive integer less than or equal to P) items to be used for determining the evaluation of the article from among the P items based on the evaluation values for each of the P items calculated in the second item evaluation step. The above management method has, for example, a recipient extraction step of extracting recipients having behavioral characteristics, interests, or preferences related to the Q items determined in the second item determination step with reference to a recipient information storage device that stores one or more pieces of recipient information indicating the behavioral characteristics, interests, or preferences of each of one or more recipients capable of receiving information related to the article. The above management method has, for example, a generation step of determining an evaluation of the article using the Q items and generating information related to the article including information indicating the evaluation of the article. The above management method has, for example, a transmission step of transmitting information related to the article to the communication terminals of the recipients extracted in the recipient extraction step. The operating entity of each step of the above management method may be a computer.

[0062] In still other embodiments, the above information processing may be a management method for managing evaluations of articles. The above management method has, for example, a support data transmission stage of transmitting, to a communication terminal of a consumer who has received a first article traded in the past or who has used or consumed the first article, input support data for assisting the input of an evaluation result of the first article by the consumer. The above management method has, for example, a support data generation stage of generating the input support data. The above management method has, for example, a distribution information acquisition stage of acquiring at least one of (i) distribution state information indicating the state of the first article in at least a part of the distribution process of the first article and (ii) distribution period information indicating the length of a period between the production time or the shipping time of the first article and the inspection time or the evaluation time of the first article by the consumer. In the above management method, for example, the support data generation unit includes a stage of determining the types of one or more evaluation items for the consumer to evaluate the first article based on at least one of the state of the first article indicated by the distribution state information and the length of the period indicated by the distribution period information. The operating entity of each stage of the above management method may be a computer.

[0063] In still other embodiments, the above information processing may be a management method for managing evaluations of articles. The above management method has, for example, an evaluation storage stage for storing evaluation information indicating an evaluation of an article. The above management method has, for example, a first evaluation information acquisition stage for acquiring first evaluation information indicating an evaluation result of a first article by a consumer who has received the first article traded in the past or who has used or consumed the first article. The above management method has a distribution information acquisition stage for acquiring at least one of (i) distribution state information indicating the state of the first article in at least a part of the distribution process of the first article and (ii) distribution period information indicating the length of the period between the production time or the shipping time of the first article and the inspection time or the evaluation time of the first article by the consumer. In the above management method, the first evaluation information acquisition stage includes, for example, a stage of determining to store the first evaluation information in the evaluation storage unit when at least one of the state of the first article indicated by the distribution state information and the length of the period indicated by the distribution period information meets a predetermined condition. In the above management method, the first evaluation information acquisition stage includes, for example, when at least one of the state of the first article indicated by the distribution state information and the length of the period indicated by the distribution period information does not meet a predetermined condition, (i) not storing at least a part of the evaluation result indicated by the first evaluation information in the evaluation storage device, (ii) correcting at least a part of the evaluation result indicated by the first evaluation information, or (iii) determining to store the first evaluation information and information indicating that at least a part of the evaluation result indicated by the first evaluation information may not be appropriate in the evaluation storage device in association with each other. The operating entity of each stage of the above management method may be a computer.

[0064] In still other embodiments, the above information processing may be an information generation method for generating information used for advertising or promoting the sale of products. The above information generation method may include, for example, an evaluation information acquisition step of acquiring evaluation information indicating the results of the evaluation of a product by the supplier of the product for each of one or more evaluation items. The above information generation method may include, for example, an evaluation item determination step of determining, based on the evaluation information acquired in the evaluation information acquisition step, the evaluation items to be used for advertising or promoting the sale among the one or more evaluation items. The above information generation method may include, for example, a text extraction step of extracting at least one text associated with the evaluation items determined in the evaluation item determination step by referring to a first text storage device that stores, in association with each of the one or more evaluation items, one or more texts to be used for advertising or promoting the sale. The operating entity of each step of the above management method may be a computer.

[0065] In still other embodiments, the above information processing may be a determination method for determining the specifications for comparison. In the above determination method, the comparison is used, for example, to determine the state of an article and is delivered together with the packaging material for packaging the article. The above determination method may include, for example, a specification determination step of determining the specifications for each of one or more comparisons. In the above determination method, the specification determination step includes, for example, the steps of determining the specifications for each of one or more comparisons based on (i) the type of the article, (ii) the distance to which the article is delivered, (iii) the time required for delivering the article, (iv) the weather at the delivery destination of the article, (v) the attributes of the sender of the article, (vi) the attributes of the recipient of the article, (vii) the attributes of the carrier of the article, and (viii) at least one of the pattern and color on the surface of the packaging material, and combinations thereof.

[0066] The time required for delivering the article may be a typical value of the time or a predicted value. The weather at the delivery destination of the article may be a typical weather at the time of delivery or a predicted value.

[0067] Product 12 may be an example of an article or a first article. Product 14 may be an example of an article or a second article. The second article may be an article of the same or similar type as the first article, or may be an article supplied by the same supplier as the first article. Producer 20 may be an example of a supplier. A part of distributor 30 may be an example of a supplier. A part of distributor 30 may be an example of a consumer, viewer, or recipient. Consumer 40 may be an example of a consumer, viewer, or recipient. Consumer 44 may be an example of a consumer. Consumer 46 may be an example of a viewer or recipient.

[0068] Transaction management system 100 may be an example of a management device. Management server 110 may be an example of a management device. Transaction management unit 112 may be an example of a management device. Distribution management unit 114 may be an example of a distribution information acquisition unit, production information acquisition unit, or inspection information acquisition unit. The production date may be an example of the production time. The shipping date may be an example of the shipping time. The inspection date may be an example of the inspection time. The evaluation date may be an example of the evaluation time. Inspection information and production information may be an example of distribution period information.

[0069] Transaction management system 100 may be an example of an information generation device or a decision-making device. Sales support server 180 may be an example of an information generation device or a decision-making device. The supplier of Product 12 or Product 14 may be an example of the shipper of the article. Producer 20 may be an example of the shipper of the article. Distributor 30 may be an example of the shipper or recipient of the article. Consumer 40 may be an example of the recipient of the article. The owner or operator of logistics system 160 may be an example of the deliverer of the article.

[0070] (An example of another embodiment) In this embodiment, an example of the transaction management system 100 has been described by taking as an example the case where the transaction management system 100 acquires information indicating various measurement results regarding the state of the production environment of the product 12 and / or the product 14 from the production robot 120. However, the transaction management system 100 is not limited to this embodiment. In other embodiments, the transaction management system 100 acquires information indicating the measurement results of the fixed sensor arranged in the above-described production environment from the fixed sensor.

[0071] In this embodiment, an example of the transaction management system 100 has been described by taking as an example the case where the producer 20 ships the product and the consumer 40 receives the product. In this case, in the distribution process, the distributor 30, the sorting system 140, and the logistics system 160 are involved. However, the usage environment of the transaction management system 100 is not limited to this embodiment. As described above, examples of the distributor 30 include an association of producers, a transporter, a warehouseman, a wholesaler, a retailer, and the like. In other embodiments, the transaction management system 100 can also be used, for example, when an association of producers ships the product and a wholesaler or a retailer receives the product. In this case, the association of producers may use the sorting system 140 to transmit various information regarding the product to be shipped to the management server 110. Note that the group shipping the product may have the same configuration as the producer 20. The wholesaler or retailer receiving the product may have the same configuration as the consumer 40.

[0072] FIG. 2 schematically shows an example of the internal configuration of the production robot 120. As described in relation to FIG. 1, in this embodiment, the production robot 120 includes a base unit 130, a moving unit 132, an imaging unit 134, a sensor unit 136, and a working unit 138. As shown in FIG. 2, in this embodiment, the production robot 120 further includes a control unit 220, one or more power supply units 230, one or more vibration damping units 250, and one or more balance adjustment units 280.

[0073] In this embodiment, the production robot 120 may be a working machine that performs arbitrary work. The production robot 120 performs, for example, various agricultural operations, monitoring operations, etc. The production robot 120 may be fixed or mobile. The production robot 120 may have an autonomous driving function or an autonomous navigation function, may be controlled by remote operation, or may be controlled by an operator who gets into the production robot 120. The production robot 120 is preferably an unmanned working machine having an autonomous driving function or an autonomous navigation function.

[0074] The production robot 120 may be a small robot. For example, the volume per unit of the production robot 120 may be 3 less than or equal to 2 m 3 less than or equal to 1 m 3 less than or equal to 0.5 m 3 less than or equal to 0.25 m. As a result, the production robot 120 can freely move around the production site. As a result, for example, the production robot 120 can observe the products being produced even from an angle that is difficult for humans to observe.

[0075] In this embodiment, the base unit 130 holds a moving unit 132, an imaging unit 134, a sensor unit 136, a working unit 138, a control unit 220, a power supply unit 230, a vibration damping unit 250, and a balance adjustment unit 280. In this embodiment, the base unit 130 removably holds at least one of the moving unit 132, the imaging unit 134, the sensor unit 136, the working unit 138, the vibration damping unit 250, and the balance adjustment unit 280. Thereby, the production robot 120 can cope with a plurality of different types of work.

[0076] In this embodiment, the base unit 130 includes a control unit 220 and a power supply unit 230. The control unit 220 and the power supply unit 230 may be built into the base unit 130. At least one of the control unit 220 and the power supply unit 230 may be detachably arranged on the base unit 130. In one embodiment, at least one of the control unit 220 and the power supply unit 230 is detachably arranged inside the base unit 130. In other embodiments, at least one of the control unit 220 and the power supply unit 230 is detachably arranged outside the base unit 130.

[0077] In this embodiment, the moving unit 132 moves the production robot 120. The power of the moving unit 132 may be electric power, an internal combustion engine, or a steam engine. For example, the moving unit 132 converts the electric power supplied from the power supply unit 230 into power to move the production robot 120. In this embodiment, the moving unit 132 may incorporate a power source that generates power using the electric power supplied from the power supply unit 230. Examples of the power source may include a motor, an actuator, and the like.

[0078] In one embodiment, the moving unit 132 includes wheels for moving on land and a power source for driving the wheels. In other embodiments, the moving unit 132 includes an endless track for moving on land and a power source for driving the endless track. In still other embodiments, the moving unit 132 may include a screw for moving on water or underwater and a power source for driving the screw. The moving unit 132 may further include a buoyancy material for obtaining buoyancy. In still other embodiments, the moving unit 132 may include a propeller for moving in the air and a power source for driving the propeller. The moving unit 132 may further include a balloon or an airbag for floating in the air.

[0079] In this embodiment, the imaging unit 134 images various subjects. For example, the imaging unit 134 images at least one of (i) the product 12 and / or the product 14, (iv) the surrounding environment of the product 12 and / or the product 14, (iii) the producer 20, and (iv) the production robot 120. Examples of the surrounding environment of the product 12 and / or the product 14 include the inside or the periphery of the production site. When the product 12 and / or the product 14 is an agricultural product, the imaging unit 134 may image the soil or the medium at the position where the product 12 and / or the product 14 is growing as the surrounding environment of the product 12 and / or the product 14.

[0080] In one embodiment, the imaging unit 134 is detachably arranged outside the base unit 130. In other embodiments, the imaging unit 134 is arranged in another unit. For example, the imaging unit 134 is incorporated in the work unit 138. The imaging unit 134 may be incorporated in the control unit 220.

[0081] The imaging unit 134 may be arranged in front of the advancing direction of the base unit 130, or may be arranged behind the advancing direction of the base unit 130. The imaging unit 134 may be arranged on the side surface of the production robot 120. The imaging unit 134 may be arranged on the upper surface of the base unit 130, or may be arranged on the lower surface of the base unit 130. The imaging unit 134 may have an illumination unit that emits illumination light. Examples of the illumination unit include a light.

[0082] In this embodiment, the imaging unit 134 images at least one of a still image and a moving image. It is preferable that the imaging unit 134 can image a moving image. The imaging unit 134 may be a visible light camera or an infrared camera. The imaging unit 134 may have a manipulator and an imaging device attached to the tip of the manipulator. The manipulator can direct the above imaging device in any direction using the power supplied from the power unit 230.

[0083] The data of the image captured by the imaging unit 134 may be stored in the storage device of the production robot 120, or may be transmitted to the management server 110. The production robot 120 may analyze the data of the image captured by the imaging unit 134 and transmit the analysis result to the management server 110.

[0084] In the present embodiment, the sensor unit 136 measures various physical quantities. For example, the sensor unit 136 measures at least one of a physical quantity related to the producer 20, a physical quantity related to the production robot 120, a physical quantity related to the product 12 and / or the product 14, and a physical quantity related to the surrounding environment of the product 12 and / or the product 14. Thereby, information regarding the growth environment of the product 12 and / or the product 14 can be obtained.

[0085] Examples of the physical quantity related to the product 12 and / or the product 14 include the color, gloss, shape, pattern, size, weight or mass, composition, content of a specific component, hardness, elasticity, etc. of each product. Examples of the physical quantity related to the surrounding environment of the product 12 and / or the product 14 include information regarding the culture medium, information regarding the atmosphere, information regarding the intensity of light, etc. Examples of the information regarding the culture medium include pH, temperature, moisture content, particle size distribution, hardness, and components, bacteria, viruses, etc. contained in the culture medium. Examples of the components contained in the culture medium include organic substances (carbon), nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, calcium, sulfur, iron, manganese, boron, zinc, molybdenum, copper, chlorine, etc. Examples of the information regarding the atmosphere include air temperature, atmospheric pressure, humidity, carbon dioxide concentration, nitrogen concentration, oxygen concentration, ethylene concentration, wind direction and wind volume, etc.

[0086] In one embodiment, the sensor unit 136 is detachably arranged outside the base unit 130. In other embodiments, the sensor unit 136 is arranged in another unit. For example, the sensor unit 136 is incorporated into the work unit 138. The sensor unit 136 may be incorporated into the control unit 220.

[0087] The measurement results of the sensor unit 136 may be stored in the storage device of the production robot 120, or may be transmitted to the management server 110. The production robot 120 may analyze the measurement results of the sensor unit 136 and transmit the analysis results to the management server 110.

[0088] In this embodiment, the work unit 138 may be an attachment specialized for a specific work. According to this embodiment, a work unit 138 corresponding to the application is attached to the base unit 130. Thereby, the production robot 120 can perform a plurality of different types of work.

[0089] When the products 12 and 14 are agricultural products, the work unit 138 may be an attachment for agricultural work. In this embodiment, the work unit 138 may be a unit specialized for one or more agricultural works. Examples of the work unit 138 include a chemical liquid spraying device for pest control, a fertilizer spraying device for spraying fertilizers, a gas spraying device for spraying gases, a ridging device, a seedling dropping device, a seeding device, a tilling device, a manipulator having a jig for trimming unnecessary branches and leaves, a manipulator having a jig for picking agricultural products, a mowing device (for example, a mowing device for an abandoned field), a watering device, a bird and animal scaring device (for example, a device for scaring birds and animals by sound and light), a thinning device, a flower picking device, a fruit tree picking device, a bag hanging device (for example, a bag hanging device for fruit trees), and the like.

[0090] In this embodiment, the work unit 138 is detachably held by the base unit 130. The work unit 138 may incorporate a power source for generating power for driving the work unit 138 by using the power supplied from the power unit 230. Examples of the power source include a motor and an actuator.

[0091] In this embodiment, the work unit 138 includes an information processing device that executes the firmware 294 and controls the work unit 138. The above information processing device may be a processor such as a CPU or a GPU. The above information processing device may include (i) a data processing device having a processor such as a CPU or a GPU, a ROM, a RAM, a communication interface, etc., (ii) an input device such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a touch panel, a camera, a voice input device, a gesture input device, various sensors, a GPS receiver, etc., (iii) an output device such as a display device, a voice output device, a vibration device, etc., and (iv) a storage device such as a memory, an HDD, an SSD (including an external storage device).

[0092] The latest version of the firmware 294 is managed by, for example, the management server 110. The management server 110 transmits the latest version of the firmware 294 to the work unit 138 or the control unit 220 in response to a request from, for example, the work unit 138 or the control unit 220. Thereby, the work unit 138 or the control unit 220 can update the firmware 294.

[0093] In this embodiment, the control unit 220 controls the production robot 120. In one embodiment, the control unit 220 communicates with each unit and controls the operation of the unit according to the type of the unit. The control unit 220 may control the operation of one or more units according to a combination of a plurality of units.

[0094] For example, the control unit 220 communicates with at least one of the moving unit 132, the work unit 138, and the balance adjustment unit 280. The communication method may be wired communication or wireless communication. When the communication method between the control unit 220 and other units is wired communication, the base unit 130 may have a communication path (sometimes referred to as a bus) for transmitting information between the control unit 220 and other units. The above communication path may be an example of a communication unit.

[0095] In other embodiments, the control unit 220 communicates with the management server 110 and transmits information regarding the production robot 120 to the management server 110. For example, the control unit 220 acquires the position information of the production robot 120 and transmits the position information to the management server 110. According to another example, the control unit 220 associates the position information of the production robot 120 with the information acquired by the sensor unit 136 at the position indicated by the position information and transmits the associated information to the management server 110.

[0096] In the present embodiment, the control unit 220 includes an information processing device that executes a control program 222 to control the production robot 120. The above information processing device may be a processor such as a CPU or a GPU. The above information processing device may include (i) a data processing device having a processor such as a CPU or a GPU, a ROM, a RAM, a communication interface, etc., (ii) an input device such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a touch panel, a camera, an audio input device, a gesture input device, various sensors, a GPS receiver, etc., (iii) an output device such as a display device, an audio output device, a vibration device, etc., and (iv) a storage device such as a memory, an HDD, an SSD (including an external storage device).

[0097] In the present embodiment, the control program 222 may operate on the OS 224. One or more control programs 222 may operate on one or more OSs 224. The OS 224 controls the production robot 120 via one or more drivers 226 for controlling various hardware included in the production robot 120. For example, the OS 224 recognizes a specific unit (e.g., the moving unit 132, the working unit 138, etc.) via a specific driver 226 and controls the operation of the unit. By updating at least one of the control program 222, the OS 224, and the driver 226, for example, the production robot 120 can use a new unit, or the production robot 120 can use the unit more efficiently.

[0098] The latest control program 222, OS 224, and driver 226 are managed by, for example, the management server 110. The management server 110 transmits at least one of the latest control program 222, OS 224, and driver 226 to the control unit 220 in response to a request from the control unit 220, for example. Thereby, the control unit 220 can update at least one of the control program 222, OS 224, and driver 226.

[0099] The position information may be any information indicating the position of the production robot 120, and the content and acquisition method of the position information are not particularly limited. The control unit 220 may identify the position of the production robot 120 by any self-position estimation method. The control unit 220 may receive a GPS signal and identify the position of the production robot 120 based on the GPS signal. The control unit 220 may receive a beacon signal from a beacon transmitter installed around the production site (for example, a farm, ranch, livestock shed, aquaculture farm, fishing ground, hunting ground), and identify the position of the production robot 120 based on the beacon signal. The position of the production robot 120 may be determined based on the radio field strength of radio waves. The control unit 220 may analyze an image around the production robot 120 captured by the imaging unit 134 and identify the position of the production robot 120 from the angles formed by the production robot 120 and a plurality of landmarks with known positions.

[0100] The control unit 220 may obtain information for controlling the production robot 120 from the management server 110. The information for controlling the production robot 120 may be information regarding the work that the production robot 120 should perform now. The information for controlling the production robot 120 may be control data uploaded by the know-how provider to the management server 110. The information for controlling the production robot 120 may be data indicating the output result of the control data uploaded by the know-how provider to the management server 110. The control unit 220 may control the operation of the unit related to the information based on the information obtained from the management server 110.

[0101] In this embodiment, the power supply unit 230 supplies power for driving at least one of the moving unit 132, the working unit 138, and the balance adjustment unit 280. The power supply unit 230 may supply power to at least one of the vibration damping unit 250, the imaging unit 134, and the sensor unit 136.

[0102] In this embodiment, the vibration damping unit 250 controls vibrations. For example, the vibration damping unit 250 controls vibrations of at least one of the imaging unit 134, the sensor unit 136, and the working unit 138. The vibration damping unit 250 may control vibrations according to instructions from the control unit 220. The vibration damping unit 250 may have a power source that uses the power supplied from the power supply unit 230 to generate power for driving the vibration damping unit 250. Examples of the power source include a motor and an actuator.

[0103] In this embodiment, the balance adjustment unit 280 has a weight. The balance adjustment unit 280 is detachably held on the base unit 130. Depending on the weight and the position of the center of gravity of the unit attached to the base unit 130, the weight balance of the production robot 120 deteriorates and the production robot 120 becomes unstable. Therefore, by attaching the balance adjustment unit 280 to an appropriate position on the base unit 130, the weight balance of the production robot 120 can be adjusted.

[0104] The balance adjustment unit 280 may be a manipulator having a weight at its tip. By changing the relative position between the weight and the base unit 130 of the manipulator, the position of the center of gravity of the production robot 120 can be changed.

[0105] FIG. 3 schematically shows an example of information collection processing in the management server 110. As shown in FIG. 3, the transaction management unit 112 of the management server 110 acquires various pieces of information regarding the evaluation of product 12 at a plurality of time points in the transaction process of product 12. As described above, examples of the evaluation of product 12 include (i) a subjective evaluation based on the results of sensory tests of product 12, etc., and (ii) an objective evaluation based on measurement results of product 12 by various sensors, etc.

[0106] In the present embodiment, the transaction management unit 112 acquires information regarding evaluation in the production process (which may be referred to as supply-side evaluation information). For example, the transaction management unit 112 acquires, as supply-side evaluation information, information regarding the characteristics of product 12 in the production process of product 12 and / or information regarding the production environment of product 12. The transaction management unit 112 may acquire production information indicating the production date or shipment date of product 12.

[0107] In one embodiment, the transaction management unit 112 acquires supply-side evaluation information from the communication terminal 22 used by the producer 20. For example, the producer 20 inputs an evaluation for each of one or more evaluation items displayed on the evaluation input screen in accordance with the guidance of the evaluation input screen displayed on the display device of the communication terminal 22. The producer 20 may input a subjective evaluation for each evaluation item regarding product 12 during production or product 12 to be shipped. The producer 20 may operate the communication terminal 22 to transmit information indicating the above evaluation results to the management server 110. Thereby, the transaction management unit 112 can acquire information indicating the evaluation results of product 12 by the producer 20.

[0108] The producer 20 may operate the communication terminal 22 in a similar procedure to transmit information regarding the production environment of product 12 to the management server 110. Also, the producer 20 may transmit production information to the management server 110 in a similar procedure. Note that the method of acquiring supply-side evaluation information and / or production information by the transaction management unit 112 is not limited to this embodiment.

[0109] In other embodiments, the transaction management unit 112 obtains supply-side evaluation information from the production robot 120 used by the producer 20. For example, the production robot 120 measures various characteristics of the product 12 using various sensors arranged on the production robot 120. The production robot 120 may transmit information indicating the measurement results to the management server 110. Thereby, the transaction management unit 112 can obtain information regarding the characteristics of the product 12 in the production process (for example, the production time or the shipping time).

[0110] The production robot 120 may transmit information regarding the production environment of the product 12 to the management server 110 by a similar procedure. Also, the production robot 120 may transmit production information of the product 12 to the management server 110 by a similar procedure. Note that the method for the transaction management unit 112 to obtain the supply-side evaluation information and / or the production information is not limited to this embodiment.

[0111] In this embodiment, the transaction management unit 112 obtains the above-described distribution status information. For example, the transaction management unit 112 obtains, as the distribution status information, information regarding the characteristics of the product 12 in the distribution process and / or information regarding the distribution environment of the product 12.

[0112] In one embodiment, the transaction management unit 112 obtains distribution status information from the communication terminal 32 used by the distributor 30. The distributor 30 may input and transmit a subjective evaluation for each evaluation item regarding the product 12 in the distribution process by a procedure similar to the procedure by which the producer 20 inputs and transmits the supply-side evaluation information. As described above, in the management server 110, the distribution status information is managed by the distribution management unit 114. In this case, the transaction management unit 112 can obtain information indicating the evaluation result of the product 12 by the distributor 30 and / or information regarding the distribution environment of the product 12 by accessing the distribution management unit 114 as necessary. Note that the method for the transaction management unit 112 to obtain the distribution status information is not limited to this embodiment.

[0113] In other embodiments, the transaction management unit 112 obtains distribution status information from at least one of the fruit selection system 140 and the logistics system 160. The fruit selection system 140 and / or the logistics system 160 may obtain and transmit the distribution status information in a procedure similar to the procedure by which the production robot 120 obtains and transmits the supply-side evaluation information. As described above, in the management server 110, the distribution status information is managed by the distribution management unit 114. In this case, the transaction management unit 112 can obtain information regarding the characteristics of the product in the distribution process and / or information regarding the distribution environment of the product 12 by accessing the distribution management unit 114 as necessary. Note that the method for obtaining the distribution status information is not limited to this embodiment.

[0114] In this embodiment, the transaction management unit 112 obtains information regarding the evaluation by the consumer 44 who has received the product 12 (which may be referred to as demand-side evaluation information). For example, the transaction management unit 112 obtains information regarding the characteristics of the product 12 on the inspection date or evaluation date of the product 12 as the demand-side evaluation information. The transaction management unit 112 may obtain inspection information indicating the inspection date or evaluation date of the product 12.

[0115] The inspection date and / or the evaluation date may be the same day as the receipt date of the product 12, or may be a date after the receipt date of the product 12. The inspection date may be the day when the consumer 44 received the product 12, or may be the day when the consumer 44 used or consumed the product 12. The evaluation date may be the day when the consumer 44 used or consumed the product 12, or may be the day when the consumer 44 input the evaluation regarding the product 12 to the transaction management system 100.

[0116] The transaction management unit 112 may obtain supply-side evaluation information from the communication terminal 42 used by the consumer 44. For example, the consumer 44 inputs an evaluation for each of one or more evaluation items displayed on the evaluation input screen according to the guidance of the evaluation input screen displayed on the display device of the communication terminal 42. The consumer 44 may input a subjective evaluation for each evaluation item regarding the product 12 to be evaluated. The consumer 44 may operate the communication terminal 42 to transmit information indicating the above evaluation result to the management server 110. Thereby, the transaction management unit 112 can obtain information indicating the evaluation result of the product 12 by the consumer 44. Further, the consumer 44 may transmit inspection information to the management server 110 by the same procedure. Note that the method for the transaction management unit 112 to obtain the demand-side evaluation information and / or the inspection information is not limited to this embodiment.

[0117] The transaction management unit 112 may output production information and inspection information to the distribution management unit 114. The distribution management unit 114 may determine the length of the distribution period based on the inspection date or evaluation date of the product 12 indicated by the inspection information and the production date or shipment date of the product 12 indicated by the production information. The distribution management unit 114 may store distribution period information indicating the length of the distribution period. The transaction management unit 112 may access the distribution management unit 114 to obtain the distribution period information of the product 12.

[0118] (An example of another embodiment) As described above, the transaction management system 100 can also be used, for example, when a group of manufacturers ships products and a wholesaler or retailer receives the products. In this case, the transaction management unit 112 may obtain supply-side evaluation information from, for example, the fruit selection system 140 used by the group of producers. Further, the transaction management unit 112 may obtain demand-side evaluation information from, for example, the communication terminal 32 used by a wholesaler or retailer.

[0119] The supply-side evaluation information may be an example of the evaluation information or the second evaluation information. The demand-side evaluation information may be an example of the evaluation information or the first evaluation information.

[0120] FIG. 4 schematically shows an example of the internal configuration of the transaction management unit 112. In the present embodiment, the transaction management unit 112 includes a sales management unit 420, a customer management unit 440, and an evaluation management unit 460. In the present embodiment, the sales management unit 420 includes an EC site management unit 422, an input unit 424, an order management unit 426, and a product management unit 428. In the present embodiment, the customer management unit 440 includes a user information acquisition unit 442 and a user information storage unit 444. In the present embodiment, the evaluation management unit 460 includes an evaluation acquisition unit 462, an evaluation correction unit 464, and an evaluation information storage unit 466.

[0121] In the present embodiment, the sales management unit 420 manages the sales of one or more products. The sales management unit 420 may sell products through various sales channels. Examples of sales channels include stores, mail-order sales, and e-commerce sites (which may be referred to as EC sites).

[0122] In the present embodiment, the EC site management unit 422 manages an e-commerce site (which may be referred to as an EC site) for mediating transactions of one or more products. The EC site management unit 422 may manage information regarding the images, specifications, prices, etc. of each of the one or more products. The EC site management unit 422 may manage the screen data of the product description screens of each of the one or more products. Details of the EC site management unit 422 will be described later.

[0123] In the present embodiment, the input unit 424 receives the input of orders from sales channels other than the EC site. For example, a mail-order sales operator receives an order from a person who wishes to purchase a product and inputs information indicating the content of the order to the input unit 424 via an input device such as a keyboard, a touch panel, or a microphone. Thereby, the input of the above-mentioned order is received.

[0124] In this embodiment, the order management unit 426 manages orders for each of one or more products handled by the sales management unit 420. In one embodiment, the order management unit 426 manages orders received by the EC site management unit 422. In other embodiments, the order management unit 426 manages orders received by the input unit 424.

[0125] In this embodiment, the product management unit 428 manages the inventory of each of one or more products. The product management unit 428 may manage the settlement of products for which orders have been received. The product management unit 428 may manage the shipment of products for which orders have been received. The product management unit 428 may manage the delivery of shipped products.

[0126] In this embodiment, the customer management unit 440 manages various types of information regarding the users of the transaction management system 100. Examples of users of the transaction management system 100 include the producer 20, the distributor 30, the consumer 40, and the like.

[0127] In one embodiment, the producer 20 that produced the product 12 that was transacted in the past, the distributor 30 that mediated the transaction of the product 12, and / or the consumer 44 that purchased the product 12 inputs an evaluation of the product 12 using the transaction management system 100. In other embodiments, the consumer 46 who is considering purchasing the product 14 browses the product description screen of the product 14 using the transaction management system 100. For example, the consumer 46 browses the evaluation of the product 14 included in the above product description screen and considers purchasing the product 14. In still other embodiments, the consumer 40 who is a potential customer of the product 14 receives various notifications from the transaction management system 100. For example, the consumer 40 obtains information regarding the product 14 based on the above notification. The information regarding the product 14 includes, for example, information regarding the evaluation of the product 14. The consumer 40 considers purchasing the product 14, for example, with reference to the evaluation of the product 14.

[0128] In this embodiment, the user information acquisition unit 442 acquires various types of information regarding the users of the transaction management system 100. For example, the user information acquisition unit 442 acquires information indicating the behavioral characteristics (which may be referred to as competencies) of each of one or more users, interests, or preferences (which may be referred to as user information). The behavioral characteristics indicate, for example, patterns of behaviors, thoughts, attitudes, etc. (which may be referred to as behavioral patterns) that each user characteristically has. The behavioral characteristics may be information indicating in what situations each user takes what actions, thoughts, or attitudes. The behavioral characteristics may be information in which the situations in which the user is placed are associated with the user's actions, thoughts, or attitudes in those situations.

[0129] In one embodiment, the user information acquisition unit 442 acquires, with the consent of each user, the usage history of the EC site operated by the EC site management unit 422 as user information. Examples of the usage history of the EC site include search history, browsing history, purchase history, etc. In other embodiments, the user information acquisition unit 442 acquires, with the consent of each user, (i) the browsing history of the website and / or (ii) the search history of the website or keywords recorded in the communication terminal used by each user as user information.

[0130] Note that the user information may include various types of information other than the information indicating the behavioral characteristics, interests, or preferences of each user. For example, the user information may include information regarding the location of the place where each user produces goods (which may be referred to as the production site), the region to which the production site belongs, etc.

[0131] The user information acquisition unit 442 may analyze the usage history of the EC site, the browsing history of the website, the search history of the website or keywords, etc., to estimate the behavioral characteristics, interests, and / or preferences of each user. The user information acquisition unit 442 may acquire, as user information, information indicating the estimation results of the behavioral characteristics, interests, and / or preferences.

[0132] In this embodiment, the user information storage unit 444 stores the user information acquired by the user information acquisition unit 442. For example, the user information storage unit 444 stores, for each of one or more users, identification information for identifying the user and the user information of the user in association with each other. The user information storage unit 444 may extract the user information of the user that matches the request in response to a request from the sales management unit 420 and / or the evaluation management unit 460. The user information storage unit 444 may output the extracted user information to the sales management unit 420 and / or the evaluation management unit 460.

[0133] In this embodiment, the evaluation management unit 460 manages the evaluation for each of one or more products. The evaluation management unit 460 manages the acquisition of the evaluation for each of one or more products. The evaluation management unit 460 manages the use of the evaluation for each of one or more products.

[0134] In this embodiment, the evaluation acquisition unit 462 manages information regarding the evaluation for each of one or more products. In one embodiment, the evaluation acquisition unit 462 acquires information regarding the evaluation for each of one or more products. In other embodiments, the evaluation acquisition unit 462 generates various types of information using the information regarding the evaluation for each of one or more products. Details of the evaluation acquisition unit 462 will be described later.

[0135] In this embodiment, the evaluation correction unit 464 corrects the evaluation for each of one or more products acquired by the evaluation acquisition unit 462. For example, when the state of the product at the production time or the shipping time is significantly different from the state of the product at the inspection time or the evaluation time, the evaluation by the consumer 40 may not accurately represent the state of the product.

[0136] Therefore, in this embodiment, the evaluation correction unit 464 corrects the evaluation by the consumer 40. For example, when the consumer 44 evaluates the product 12 that has been traded in the past, the evaluation acquisition unit 462 acquires the demand-side evaluation information indicating the evaluation of the product 12 by the consumer 44. The evaluation correction unit 464 acquires the demand-side evaluation information from the evaluation acquisition unit 462, for example. As described above, the demand-side evaluation information includes information indicating the results of evaluations for one or more evaluation items related to the product 12.

[0137] In addition, the evaluation correction unit 464 acquires the distribution status information and the distribution period information from the distribution management unit 114. As described above, examples of the distribution status information include information indicating the characteristics of the product 12 in the distribution process and information indicating the state of the distribution environment of the product 12. The evaluation correction unit 464 may acquire production information and / or inspection information. The evaluation correction unit 464 may calculate the length of the distribution period based on the production information and the inspection information.

[0138] The evaluation correction unit 464 corrects the evaluation results for at least one of one or more evaluation items (for example, P evaluation items) related to the product 12 indicated by the demand-side evaluation information acquired by the evaluation acquisition unit 462. The evaluation correction unit 464 may correct the evaluation results for at least one of one or more evaluation items related to the product 12 based on the inspection date or the evaluation date of the product 12 indicated by the inspection information. The evaluation correction unit 464 may correct the evaluation results for at least one of one or more evaluation items related to the product 12 based on the length of the distribution period.

[0139] For example, when at least one of the state of the product 12 in the distribution process indicated by the above-described distribution status information and the length of the distribution period indicated by the distribution period information does not meet a predetermined condition, the evaluation correction unit 464 corrects the evaluation results for at least one of one or more evaluation items related to the product 12 indicated by the demand-side evaluation information acquired by the evaluation acquisition unit 462. Examples of the above-described predetermined conditions include the condition that the state of the product 12 in the distribution process is worse than a predetermined state and the condition that the length of the distribution period is greater than a predetermined value.

[0140] The evaluation correction unit 464 corrects the evaluation result for at least one of one or more evaluation items regarding product 12 indicated by the demand-side evaluation information acquired by the evaluation acquisition unit 462, based on at least one selected from the group consisting of, for example, (i) at least one of the origin and item number of product 12, (ii) the state of product 12 in at least a part of the distribution process of product 12, and (iii) the length of the period indicated by the distribution period information. The evaluation correction unit 464 may correct the evaluation result for at least one of one or more evaluation items regarding product 12 indicated by the demand-side evaluation information acquired by the evaluation acquisition unit 462, based on at least one of (a) at least one of the origin and item number of product 12 and (b) at least one of the state of product 12 in at least a part of the distribution process of product 12 and the length of the period indicated by the distribution period information.

[0141] For example, when product 12 is fresh food, agricultural products, fishery products, or livestock products, depending on the origin and / or item number of product 12, the quality may be more likely to deteriorate compared to products from other origins and / or other item numbers. Therefore, when the origin of product 12 is a predetermined origin, the evaluation correction unit 464 may correct the evaluation result so that the evaluation for the predetermined evaluation item is better than the evaluation by the consumer 44. When the item number of product 12 is a predetermined item number, the evaluation correction unit 464 may correct the evaluation result so that the evaluation for a specific evaluation item is better than the evaluation by the consumer 44.

[0142] The above specific evaluation item may be determined based on the origin or item number of product 12. A correspondence relationship between the origin or item number of product 12 and the evaluation item to be corrected may be predetermined.

[0143] For example, when the state of product 12 is poor in at least a part of the distribution process of product 12, the quality of product 12 is likely to deteriorate. In particular, depending on the origin or item of product 12, when the state of product 12 is poor in at least a part of the distribution process of product 12, the quality of product 12 significantly deteriorates. Also, it is expected that the degree of deterioration of the quality of product 12 increases as the state of product 12 in the distribution process becomes worse. Therefore, the evaluation correction unit 464 may correct the evaluation result so that the evaluation for a specific evaluation item becomes better than the evaluation by the consumer 44 as the state of product 12 in the distribution process becomes worse.

[0144] The above specific evaluation item may be determined based on the origin or item of product 12. A correspondence relationship between the origin or item of product 12 and the evaluation item to be corrected may be predetermined. The above specific evaluation item may also be determined based on the matters that were poor in the distribution process among the states of product 12. A correspondence relationship between the matters representing the state of product 12 and the evaluation item to be corrected may be predetermined.

[0145] For example, when the distribution period of product 12 is long, the quality of product 12 is likely to deteriorate. In particular, depending on the origin or item of product 12, when the distribution period of product 12 is long, the quality of product 12 significantly deteriorates. Also, it is expected that the degree of deterioration of the quality of product 12 increases as the distribution period of product 12 becomes longer. Therefore, the evaluation correction unit 464 may correct the evaluation result so that the evaluation for a specific evaluation item becomes better than the evaluation by the consumer 44 as the distribution period of product 12 becomes longer.

[0146] The above specific evaluation item may be determined based on the origin or item of product 12. A correspondence relationship between the origin or item of product 12 and the evaluation item to be corrected may be predetermined. The above specific evaluation item may also be determined based on the length of the distribution period of product 12. A correspondence relationship between the length of the distribution period and the evaluation item to be corrected may be predetermined.

[0147] The evaluation correction unit 464 may store information indicating the corrected evaluation result in the evaluation information storage unit 466 as the evaluation of product 12. When the state of product 12 or the length of the distribution period in the distribution process meets the above-mentioned predetermined conditions, the evaluation acquisition unit 462 may store the demand-side evaluation information indicating the evaluation of product 12 by the consumer 44 in the evaluation information storage unit 466 as the evaluation of product 12.

[0148] The sales management unit 420 may be an example of a management device. The EC site management unit 422 may be an example of a management device. The user information acquisition unit 442 may be an example of a viewer information acquisition unit or a receiver information acquisition unit. The user information storage unit 444 may be an example of a viewer information storage unit or a receiver information storage unit. The user information may be an example of viewer information or receiver information. The evaluation management unit 460 may be an example of a management device or a support unit. The evaluation acquisition unit 462 may be an example of a management device or a support unit. The evaluation correction unit 464 may be an example of a correction unit. The evaluation information storage unit 466 may be an example of an evaluation storage unit.

[0149] FIG. 5 schematically shows an example of a product description screen of a product on sale. Using FIG. 5, an example of the generation process of the product description screen by the EC site management unit 422 will be described. In the present embodiment, the EC site management unit 422 adjusts the content displayed on the product description screen according to the browsing behavior characteristics, interests, or preferences of the viewer. For example, the EC site management unit 422 determines the evaluation items used for evaluating the product on the product description screen according to the browsing behavior characteristics, interests, or preferences of the viewer.

[0150] As described above, the evaluation items used for evaluating the product can be classified into a plurality of evaluation categories. The EC site management unit 422 may determine the above-mentioned evaluation items by determining the evaluation category used for evaluating the product on the product description screen according to the browsing behavior characteristics, interests, or preferences of the viewer. The EC site management unit 422 may determine the evaluation category and the evaluation items according to the browsing behavior characteristics, interests, or preferences of the viewer.

[0151] In FIG. 5, the product description screen 540 shows an example of the product description screen of product 14 when the first consumer 40 views the EC site. Similarly, the product description screen 560 shows an example of the product description screen of product 14 when the second consumer 40 views the EC site. In the present embodiment, the second consumer 40 is a consumer 40 whose behavior characteristics, interests, or preferences are different from those of the first consumer 40.

[0152] As shown in FIG. 5, the product description screen 540 includes a product description text 542, a product image 544, and a product evaluation image 546. Also, the product description screen 560 includes a product description text 542, a product image 544, and a product evaluation image 566.

[0153] In the present embodiment, the product description text 542 may be text for explaining the features, specifications, price, etc. of product 14. The product image 544 may be a photograph or illustration of product 14.

[0154] In the present embodiment, the product evaluation image 546 includes, for example, a graph showing the characteristics of product 14 when product 14 is evaluated using evaluation categories A, B, C, D, E, and F. The above graph shows, for example, the evaluation values of product 14 in each evaluation category. The product evaluation image 546 includes, for example, the evaluation value of product 14 (which may be referred to as the overall score in some cases) when product 14 is comprehensively evaluated using evaluation categories A, B, C, D, E, and F.

[0155] On the other hand, the product evaluation image 566 includes, for example, a graph showing the characteristics of product 14 when product 14 is evaluated using evaluation categories H, B, J, K, D, and F. The above graph shows, for example, the evaluation values of product 14 in each evaluation category. The product evaluation image 546 includes, for example, the evaluation value of product 14 (which may be referred to as the overall score in some cases) when product 14 is comprehensively evaluated using evaluation categories H, B, J, K, D, and F.

[0156] In the product evaluation images 546 and 566, the evaluation items for deriving the evaluation values of each evaluation category may be calculated based on the evaluation values of all the evaluation items constituting each evaluation category, or may be calculated based on the evaluation values of some of the evaluation items constituting each evaluation category. The above-mentioned some of the evaluation items may be determined based on at least one of the behavioral characteristics, interests, and preferences of the consumer 40 who views the product description screen.

[0157] In the product evaluation images 546 and 566, the arrangement of each evaluation category in the graph showing the characteristics of the product 14 may be determined (i) based on a predetermined rule, or (ii) based on at least one of the behavioral characteristics, interests, and preferences of the consumer 40 who views the product description screen. Examples of the predetermined rule include the order of the names of each evaluation category and the magnitude of the evaluation values of each evaluation category. The arrangement of each evaluation category in the graph showing the characteristics of the product 14 is determined, for example, based on the correspondence between the degree of matching or the order of the degree of matching with the behavioral characteristics, interests, and preferences of the consumer 40 who views the product description screen and the arrangement in the graph.

[0158] According to the present embodiment, the evaluation items used for evaluating the product on the product description screen are adjusted according to the behavioral characteristics, interests, or preferences of the user who views the product description screen. Thereby, the user can quickly obtain the information he / she needs. As a result, the efficiency of product transactions is improved.

[0159] The evaluation items for deriving the evaluation values of each evaluation category in the graph showing the characteristics of the product 14 may be an example of Q items. The overall score may be an example of the evaluation value of the article.

[0160] FIG. 6 schematically shows an example of an evaluation input screen for a product after delivery is completed. Using FIG. 6, an example of the generation process of the evaluation input screen by the evaluation acquisition unit 462 will be described. In the present embodiment, the evaluation acquisition unit 462 determines the types of evaluation items to be displayed on the evaluation input screen based on at least one of the state of the product in the distribution process and the length of the distribution period. The evaluation acquisition unit 462 may determine the types of evaluation items to be displayed on the evaluation input screen based on predetermined settings and / or the item of the product, and the state of the product and / or the length of the distribution period in the distribution process.

[0161] In FIG. 6, the evaluation input screen 620 shows an example of an evaluation input screen presented to the consumer 44 for inputting an evaluation of the product 12 when the state of the product 12 in the distribution process is good. Similarly, the evaluation input screen 640 shows an example of an evaluation input screen presented to the consumer 44 for inputting an evaluation of the product 12 when the state of the product 12 in the distribution process is not good.

[0162] As shown in FIG. 6, the evaluation input screen 620 includes an input form 622 for inputting an evaluation regarding the evaluation category A and an input form 624 for inputting an evaluation regarding the evaluation category B. On the evaluation input screen 620, input fields for inputting the evaluation items Aa, Ab, and Ac are arranged in the input form 622. Similarly, input fields for inputting the evaluation items Ba, Bb, and Bc are arranged in the input form 624. Examples of the input fields include a text field, a text area, a checkbox, a radio button, a pull-down box, and the like.

[0163] On the other hand, the evaluation input screen 640 includes an input form 642 for inputting an evaluation regarding evaluation category A and an input form 644 for inputting an evaluation regarding evaluation category C. On the evaluation input screen 640, input fields for inputting evaluation items Aa, Ad, and Af are arranged in the input form 642. Similarly, input fields for inputting evaluation items Ca, Cb, and Cc are arranged in the input form 644. Examples of the input fields include a text field, a text area, a checkbox, a radio button, and a pull-down box.

[0164] In the present embodiment, the evaluation input screen 640 is different from the evaluation input screen 620 in that it does not include an input form for inputting an evaluation regarding evaluation category B. Also, the input form 642 for inputting an evaluation regarding evaluation category A on the evaluation input screen 640 is different from the input form 622 for inputting an evaluation regarding evaluation category A on the evaluation input screen 620 in that input fields for inputting evaluation items Ad and Af are arranged instead of input fields for inputting evaluation items Ab and Ac.

[0165] According to the present embodiment, the evaluation items displayed on the evaluation input screen are adjusted according to the state in the distribution process of the product to be evaluated or the length of the distribution period. Thereby, the burden on the user's input is reduced. Also, since input / output of unnecessary data is suppressed, the load on the management server 110 is reduced.

[0166] FIG. 7 schematically shows another example of the evaluation input screen for the product after delivery is completed. In FIG. 7, the evaluation input screen 740 shows an example of an evaluation input screen presented to the consumer 44 for inputting an evaluation of the product 12 when the state of the product 12 in the distribution process is not good.

[0167] In this embodiment, the evaluation input screen 740 is different from the evaluation input screen 640 in that it includes an input form 744 for inputting evaluations related to evaluation category B. In this embodiment, a message 750 indicating that it is not necessary to input an evaluation related to evaluation category B is displayed on the input form 744. A message 750 indicating the reason why it is not necessary to input an evaluation related to evaluation category B may be displayed on the input form 744.

[0168] FIG. 8 schematically shows an example of the internal configuration of the EC site management unit 422. As described above, in this embodiment, an example of the EC site management unit 422 is described by taking as an example the case where the EC site management unit 422 uses various data collected in the transaction of product 12 in the transaction of product 14. In this embodiment, for the purpose of simplifying the explanation, the details of each part of the EC site management unit 422 are described by taking as an example the case where the item and producer of product 12 are the same as the item and producer of product 14. As described above, the relationship between product 12 and product 14 is not limited to this embodiment.

[0169] In this embodiment, the EC site management unit 422 includes a transaction support unit 820, a matching support unit 840, and a data transmission unit 860. In this embodiment, the transaction support unit 820 includes an evaluation information extraction unit 822, a user information extraction unit 824, a first item determination unit 826, a first item evaluation unit 828, a product evaluation unit 830, and a transaction screen generation unit 832. In this embodiment, the matching support unit 840 includes a second item evaluation unit 842, a second item determination unit 844, a recipient extraction unit 846, and a notification generation unit 848.

[0170] The transaction support department 820 supports the transactions of products on the EC site. For example, the transaction support department 820 generates screen data for various screens (which may be referred to as transaction screens) used in the product transactions. Examples of transaction screens include a product search screen, a product description screen, a product purchase screen, a settlement screen, and the like. The transaction support department 820 may support product transactions by managing evaluations of products. For example, the transaction support department 820 generates screen data for a product description screen for presenting evaluations of a product to viewers.

[0171] In the present embodiment, the evaluation information extraction unit 822 acquires evaluation information regarding the product 12. For example, the evaluation information extraction unit 822 accesses the evaluation information storage unit 466 and extracts one or more pieces of evaluation information regarding one or more products 12 that have been transacted in the past. As described above, the evaluation information regarding the product 12 indicates an evaluation result for at least one of P (P is an integer of 2 or more) evaluation items regarding the product 12. Also, in the transaction management system 100, the P evaluation items are classified into a plurality of evaluation categories.

[0172] The user information extraction unit 824 acquires user information of a user who accesses the EC site. For example, the user information extraction unit 824 accesses the user information storage unit 444 and extracts user information regarding a user who accesses the EC site. As described above, the user information includes information indicating the behavior characteristics, interests, or preferences of the user.

[0173] In the present embodiment, the first item determination unit 826 determines Q (Q is a positive integer less than or equal to P) evaluation items out of the P evaluation items regarding the product 12 for use in generating the product description screen based on the user information acquired by the user information extraction unit 824. For example, a correspondence relationship between at least one of the behavior characteristics, interests, and preferences of the user and the evaluation items used in generating the product description screen is predetermined. The first item determination unit 826 determines Q evaluation items for use in generating the product description screen based on at least one of the behavior characteristics, interests, and preferences indicated by the user information acquired by the user information extraction unit 824 and the above correspondence relationship.

[0174] The Q evaluation items are used, for example, to derive the evaluation value of product 14 in generating the product description screen. The evaluation value of product 14 indicates the degree of evaluation for product 14. The evaluation value of product 14 may be expressed by continuous numerical values or may be expressed by stepwise classification. The evaluation value of product 14 is used, for example, in generating the graph displayed in the product evaluation image 546 and / or calculating the overall score displayed in the product evaluation image 546 in the product description screen 540 described in relation to FIG. 5.

[0175] The first item determination unit 826 determines one or more evaluation categories used in generating the product description screen from among a plurality of evaluation categories based on at least one of the user's behavioral characteristics, interests, and preferences indicated by the user information. For example, a correspondence relationship between at least one of the user's behavioral characteristics, interests, and preferences and the evaluation categories used in generating the product description screen is predetermined. The first item determination unit 826 determines one or more evaluation categories used in generating the product description screen based on at least one of the behavioral characteristics, interests, and preferences indicated by the user information acquired by the user information extraction unit 824 and the above correspondence relationship. Thereby, the evaluation categories used for presenting the evaluation to the user are determined.

[0176] Similarly, the first item determination unit 826 may determine one or more evaluation categories used in generating the product description screen from among a plurality of evaluation categories based on at least one selected from the group consisting of (i) the type of product 14, (ii) the user's instruction, and (iii) the behavioral characteristics, interests, and preferences of the viewer indicated by the user information. Thereby, the evaluation categories used for presenting the evaluation to the user are determined.

[0177] The first item determination unit 826 may determine Q evaluation items by determining, for each of one or more evaluation categories used for generating the product description screen, the evaluation items used for generating the product description screen among one or more evaluation items included in each evaluation category. The first item determination unit 826 may determine Q evaluation items including one or more evaluation items included in one or more evaluation categories based on at least one of the behavior characteristics, interests, and preferences of the user indicated by the user information.

[0178] In the present embodiment, the first item evaluation unit 828 calculates an evaluation value for each of the above Q evaluation items based on one or more evaluation information regarding the product 12 acquired by the evaluation information extraction unit 822. For example, the first item evaluation unit 828 calculates an evaluation value for each evaluation item by calculating a statistical value of the evaluation values of each evaluation item included in one or more evaluation information. Examples of the statistical value include an average value and a median value. When the evaluation value of a specific evaluation item is expressed by a stepwise category in one or more evaluation information, the first item evaluation unit 828 may calculate the above statistical value by replacing each category with a numerical value.

[0179] The first item evaluation unit 828 may calculate an evaluation value for each of one or more evaluation categories determined by the first item evaluation unit 828. For example, the first item evaluation unit 828 calculates an evaluation value for each evaluation category by calculating a statistical value of one or more evaluation items included in each evaluation category. Examples of the statistical value include an average value and a median value. When the evaluation value of a specific evaluation item is expressed by a stepwise category in one or more evaluation categories, the first item evaluation unit 828 may calculate the above statistical value by replacing each category with a numerical value.

[0180] In the present embodiment, the product evaluation unit 830 calculates an overall evaluation value of the product 12 based on the evaluation value for each of the Q evaluation items calculated by the first item evaluation unit 828 and the weight assigned to each of the Q evaluation items. The overall score described in relation to FIG. 5 may be an example of the overall evaluation value of the product 12.

[0181] The product evaluation unit 830 may determine the weight values assigned to each of the Q items based on at least one of the user's behavioral characteristics, interests, and preferences indicated by the user information. For example, the product evaluation unit 830 may determine the weight values such that the weight value assigned to at least one of one or more items related to the user's behavioral characteristics, interests, and / or preferences is greater than that assigned to at least one of one or more items not related to the user's behavioral characteristics, interests, and / or preferences.

[0182] The product evaluation unit 830 may determine each weight value such that the greater the degree of the user's interests and / or preferences, the greater the weight value assigned to the item related to the interests and / or preferences. The product evaluation unit 830 may also determine each weight value such that the greater the tendency of the user to take a specific action, thinking, or attitude, the greater the weight value assigned to the item related to the specific action, thinking, or attitude.

[0183] For example, when product 12 is an agricultural product, the balance of flavors such as sourness and sweetness, the texture, etc. vary depending on the variety. Therefore, the product evaluation unit 830 determines the weight values assigned to each of the Q items according to the user's preference for flavor and / or texture. For example, the product evaluation unit 830 determines the weight values assigned to each of the Q items such that the item that matches the user's preference for flavor and / or texture has a greater weight value.

[0184] More specifically, the product evaluation unit 830 determines the weight values assigned to each of the Q items based on the user's evaluation of the flavor and / or texture of agricultural products that the user has traded in the past and that are of the same or similar variety as product 12. The product evaluation unit 830 may determine the weight value assigned to at least one of the Q items such that the item with a higher evaluation in the user's past evaluation has a greater weight.

[0185] The product evaluation unit 830 may estimate the user's evaluation of the taste and / or texture of agricultural products of the same or similar varieties as product 12, and determine the weight values assigned to each of the Q items based on the estimated evaluation. For example, the product evaluation unit 830 determines the reference value of the evaluation for each variety based on the evaluations from a plurality of users for variety A and variety B. In addition, the product evaluation unit 830 obtains the evaluation of user X for variety A. The product evaluation unit 830 estimates the evaluation of user X for variety B based on the evaluation of user X for variety A, the reference value of the evaluation for variety A, and the reference value of the evaluation for variety B.

[0186] For example, when product 12 is a strawberry of variety B, and the evaluations of the sweetness of strawberries of variety A and variety B are represented on a 10-point scale from 0 to 9, if the evaluation of user X for the sweetness of variety A is 3 and the reference value of the evaluation for the sweetness of variety A is 5, the product evaluation unit 830 estimates that user X has a tendency to evaluate the sweetness of strawberries low. Therefore, when the reference value of the evaluation for the sweetness of variety B strawberries is 8, the product evaluation unit 830 outputs a value smaller than 8 (for example, 5 to 6) as the estimated value of the evaluation of user X for the sweetness of variety A. Similarly, the product evaluation unit 830 estimates the evaluation of user X for each item related to taste and / or texture.

[0187] The product evaluation unit 830 determines the weight values assigned to each of the Q items such that, for example, the larger the estimated value of the evaluation of user X for each item related to taste and / or texture, the larger the weight value assigned to that item. The product evaluation unit 830 may also determine the weight values assigned to each of the Q items such that the greater the deviation between the estimated value of the evaluation of user X for each item related to taste and / or texture and a predetermined value, the larger the weight value assigned to that item. Thereby, the product evaluation unit 830 can assign values corresponding to the preferences of the user as the weights for each item based on, for example, the evaluation history of agricultural products that the user has eaten or purchased in the past.

[0188] Similarly, the product evaluation unit 830 may determine the weight values assigned to each of the Q items based on the characteristics in the production process of the agricultural products purchased by the user in the past. For example, when the frequency with which the user purchases organic agricultural products is greater than a predetermined value, the product evaluation unit 830 increases the weight assigned to the item regarding the presence or amount of chemical fertilizer and / or pesticide used in the production process, and determines the weight values assigned to each of the Q items.

[0189] The product evaluation unit 830 may also determine the weight values assigned to each of the Q items based on the use of product 12. For example, the quality requirements for fresh strawberries and strawberries for jam are different. For fresh strawberries, appearance, freshness, etc. are emphasized. On the other hand, for strawberries for jam, low price is emphasized. Therefore, the product evaluation unit 830 determines the weight values assigned to each of the Q items such that, for example, the items emphasized in the use of product 12 have larger weight values.

[0190] In the present embodiment, the transaction screen generation unit 832 generates screen data for various transaction screens. The transaction screen generation unit 832 may generate data (sometimes referred to as screen data) for causing the communication terminal 42 of the consumer 46 to display a product description screen for explaining product 14. For example, the transaction screen generation unit 832 generates a product description screen 540 and a product description screen 560.

[0191] More specifically, the transaction screen generation unit 832 generates data for causing the communication terminal 42 to draw a graph showing the characteristics of the product 14 (that is, the product 12) based on one or more evaluation categories determined by the first item determination unit 826 and the evaluation values of each evaluation category regarding the product 12 determined by the first item evaluation unit 828. Further, the transaction screen generation unit 832 generates data for causing the communication terminal 42 to draw the overall score of the product 14 (that is, the product 12) based on the overall evaluation value of the product 12 determined by the product evaluation unit 830. As described above, each evaluation category regarding the product 12 is information related to Q evaluation items regarding the product 12, and the evaluation value of each evaluation category is information related to the evaluation value for each of the Q evaluation items.

[0192] In this embodiment, the matching support unit 840 supports the transaction of the product 14 by matching the product 14 or the producer 20 with one or more users. For example, the matching support unit 840 extracts potential customers who match the characteristics of the product 14 or the producer 20 from among one or more users based on the demand-side evaluation information regarding the product 12 and / or the supply-side evaluation information regarding the product 14. The matching support unit 840 notifies the extracted users of the information regarding the product 14. The information regarding the product 14 may include information regarding the evaluation of the product 14.

[0193] As described above, in this embodiment, an example of the matching support unit 840 is described by taking the case where the item and the producer of the product 12 are the same as those of the product 14 as an example. Further, in this embodiment, for the purpose of simplifying the explanation, an example of the matching support unit 840 is described by taking the case where the matching support unit 840 extracts potential customers who match the characteristics of the product 14 or the producer 20 from among one or more users based on the demand-side evaluation information regarding the product 12 as an example. As described above, the matching support unit 840 is not limited to this embodiment.

[0194] In this embodiment, the second item evaluation unit 842 calculates an evaluation value for each of the P evaluation items regarding the product 12 based on one or more pieces of evaluation information regarding the product 12 acquired by the evaluation information extraction unit 822. The second item evaluation unit 842 may calculate an evaluation value for each of the P evaluation items regarding the product 12 by the same procedure as the first item evaluation unit 828.

[0195] In this embodiment, the second item determination unit 844 determines Q (Q is a positive integer less than or equal to P.) evaluation items to be used for determining the evaluation of the product 12 from among the P evaluation items based on the evaluation values for each of the P evaluation items calculated by the second item evaluation unit 842. The Q evaluation items are determined, for example, for the purpose of promoting the sale of the product 14.

[0196] In one embodiment, the second item determination unit 844 compares the evaluation values of each of the P evaluation items and determines Q evaluation items in descending order of the evaluation values. In another embodiment, the second item determination unit 844 determines Q evaluation items consisting of S (S is a positive integer greater than or equal to 1 and less than P.) evaluation items of a predetermined type and T (T is a positive integer calculated as P - S.) evaluation items selected based on the evaluation values calculated by the second item evaluation unit 842. T evaluation items may be determined in descending order of the evaluation values from among the evaluation items other than the S evaluation items.

[0197] In the present embodiment, the recipient extraction unit 846 extracts users who can become customers of the product 14 from among one or more users who can receive information regarding the product 14. For example, the recipient extraction unit 846 refers to the user information storage unit 444 and extracts users who have behavioral characteristics, interests, or preferences related to the Q evaluation items determined by the second item determination unit 844. The recipient extraction unit 846 may refer to the user information storage unit 444 and extract users who do not have behavioral characteristics, interests, or preferences related to evaluation items other than the Q evaluation items determined by the second item determination unit 844. The recipient extraction unit 846 may refer to the user information storage unit 444 and extract users who (i) have behavioral characteristics, interests, or preferences related to the Q evaluation items determined by the second item determination unit 844 and (ii) do not have behavioral characteristics, interests, or preferences related to evaluation items other than the Q evaluation items determined by the second item determination unit 844.

[0198] For example, when comparing the product 14 with other products, if the evaluation of the appearance of the product 14 is low and the evaluations of the taste and texture of the product 14 are high, the second item evaluation unit 842 selects taste and texture as the Q evaluation items. The recipient extraction unit 846 extracts, from among one or more users, users who have a strong preference for taste and texture and / or users who have a weak preference for appearance as potential customers of the product 14.

[0199] In the present embodiment, the notification generation unit 848 generates information regarding the product 14 (which may be referred to as notification information) to be notified to the users extracted by the recipient extraction unit 846. For example, the notification generation unit 848 determines an evaluation of the product 14 using the Q evaluation items determined by the second item evaluation unit 842. The notification generation unit 848 may determine an evaluation of the product 14 by the same procedure as the product evaluation unit 830. Further, the notification generation unit 848 generates notification information including information indicating the evaluation of the product 14. The notification generation unit 848 may generate the notification information by the same procedure as the transaction screen generation unit 832. The notification information may include the URL of the EC site or the URL of the product description page of the product 14.

[0200] In the present embodiment, the data transmission unit 860 transmits the notification information generated by the notification generation unit 848. The data transmission unit 860 transmits the above notification information, for example, to the communication terminal used by the user extracted by the recipient extraction unit 846.

[0201] The transaction support unit 820 may be an example of a management device. The evaluation information extraction unit 822 may be an example of an evaluation information acquisition unit. The user information extraction unit 824 may be an example of a viewer information acquisition unit. The product evaluation unit 830 may be an example of an article evaluation unit. The notification generation unit 848 may be an example of a generation unit. The data transmission unit 860 may be an example of a transmission unit. A user who accesses the EC site may be an example of a viewer who views the evaluation of an article. The overall evaluation value of product 12 may be an example of the evaluation value of an article.

[0202] FIG. 9 schematically shows an example of the internal configuration of the evaluation acquisition unit 462. In the present embodiment, the evaluation acquisition unit 462 includes a distribution state determination unit 912 and a distribution period determination unit 914. In the present embodiment, the evaluation acquisition unit 462 includes an evaluation support unit 920. In the present embodiment, the evaluation support unit 920 has an input item determination unit 922, an input screen generation unit 924, and an input screen transmission unit 926. In the present embodiment, the evaluation acquisition unit 462 includes a supply-side evaluation acquisition unit 932, a demand-side evaluation acquisition unit 934, and an evaluation data control unit 936. In the present embodiment, the evaluation acquisition unit 462 includes a deviation determination unit 942 and a deviation notification unit 944.

[0203] In the present embodiment, the distribution state determination unit 912 acquires the distribution state information of each of one or more products 12 that have been traded in the past. For example, the distribution state determination unit 912 accesses the distribution management unit 114 to acquire one or more pieces of distribution state information. The distribution state determination unit 912 determines the distribution state of the product 12 based on the state of the product 12 in the distribution process indicated by the distribution state information of each of one or more products 12 that have been traded in the past. For example, the distribution state determination unit 912 expresses the state of the product 12 in the distribution process by continuous numerical values or stepwise classifications. For example, the distribution state determination unit 912 calculates a statistical value of the state of the product 12 indicated by one or more pieces of distribution state information, and expresses the state of the product 12 in the distribution process by continuous numerical values or stepwise classifications based on the statistical value.

[0204] In the present embodiment, the distribution period determination unit 914 acquires the distribution period information of each of one or more products 12 that have been traded in the past. For example, the distribution state determination unit 912 accesses the distribution management unit 114 to acquire one or more pieces of distribution period information. The distribution period determination unit 914 may acquire production information and inspection information as the distribution period information. The distribution period determination unit 914 determines the length of the distribution period of the product 12 based on the length of the distribution period indicated by the distribution period information of each of one or more products 12 that have been traded in the past. For example, the distribution period determination unit 914 expresses the length of the distribution period of the product 12 by continuous numerical values or stepwise classifications. For example, the distribution period determination unit 914 calculates a statistical value of the length of the distribution period of the product 12 indicated by one or more pieces of distribution period information, and expresses the length of the distribution period of the product 12 by continuous numerical values or stepwise classifications based on the statistical value.

[0205] In the present embodiment, the evaluation support unit 920 supports the input of the evaluation result of the product 12 by the consumer 44. For example, the evaluation support unit 920 generates the screen data of the evaluation input screen described in relation to FIGS. 6 and 7. The evaluation support unit 920 transmits the screen data of the evaluation input screen to the communication terminal 42 of the consumer 44. The screen data of the evaluation input screen may be data for causing the communication terminal 42 of the consumer 44 to display an evaluation input screen for inputting an evaluation of the product 12.

[0206] In this embodiment, the input item determination unit 922 determines evaluation items for which input of evaluation by the consumer 44 is required on the evaluation input screen. For example, the input item determination unit 922 determines the types of one or more evaluation items for the consumer 44 to evaluate the product 12 based on at least one of the state of the product 12 indicated by the distribution state information and the length of the distribution period of the product 12 indicated by the distribution period information.

[0207] In one embodiment, when the state of the product 12 is worse than a predetermined standard, the input item determination unit 922 determines the types of one or more evaluation items so that the number of evaluation items for the consumer 44 to evaluate the product 12 is smaller compared to the case where the state of the product 12 is better than the predetermined standard. In other embodiments, when the length of the distribution period of the product 12 is greater than a predetermined value, the input item determination unit 922 determines the types of one or more evaluation items so that the number of evaluation items for the consumer 44 to evaluate the product 12 is smaller compared to the case where the length of the distribution period of the product 12 is smaller than the predetermined value. Thereby, the burden of input by the consumer 44 is reduced.

[0208] The input item determination unit 922 may determine the types of one or more evaluation items for the consumer 44 to evaluate the product 12 based on at least one of the state of the product 12 indicated by the distribution state information and the length of the distribution period of the product 12 indicated by the distribution period information, and at least one of the origin and item of the product 12. For example, when the origin of the product 12 matches or is included in a predetermined region, the input item determination unit 922 determines the types of one or more evaluation items by the same procedure as the above-described procedure. For example, when the item of the product 12 matches or is included in a predetermined item, the input item determination unit 922 determines the types of one or more evaluation items by the same procedure as the above-described procedure.

[0209] In this embodiment, the input screen generation unit 924 generates the screen data of the evaluation input screen. In this embodiment, the input screen transmission unit 926 transmits the screen data of the evaluation input screen to the communication terminal 42 of the consumer 44. As described above, the evaluation input screen is a screen for the consumer 44 to input the evaluation result for the product 12, and is a screen for assisting the input of the evaluation result for each of the one or more items determined by the input item determination unit 922.

[0210] In this embodiment, the supply-side evaluation acquisition unit 932 acquires supply-side evaluation information. As described in connection with FIG. 3, the supply-side evaluation acquisition unit 932 acquires supply-side evaluation information from, for example, the communication terminal 22 or the product 12. As described above, the supply-side evaluation information includes, for example, information indicating the evaluation result for the product 12 by the producer 20.

[0211] In this embodiment, the demand-side evaluation acquisition unit 934 acquires demand-side evaluation information. As described in connection with FIG. 3, the demand-side evaluation acquisition unit 934 acquires demand-side evaluation information from, for example, the communication terminal 42. As described above, the demand-side evaluation information includes, for example, information indicating the evaluation result for the product 12 by the consumer 44.

[0212] In this embodiment, the evaluation data control unit 936 controls the output destinations of the data of the supply-side evaluation information and the demand-side evaluation information. For example, the evaluation data control unit 936 acquires the supply-side evaluation information from the supply-side evaluation acquisition unit 932 and stores the supply-side evaluation information in the evaluation information storage unit 466. For example, the evaluation data control unit 936 acquires the demand-side evaluation information from the demand-side evaluation acquisition unit 934 and outputs the demand-side evaluation information to the evaluation correction unit 464 or the evaluation information storage unit 466.

[0213] For example, when at least one of the state of product 12 indicated by the distribution state information and the length of the distribution period of product 12 indicated by the distribution period information meets a predetermined condition, the evaluation data control unit 936 determines to store the demand-side evaluation information in the evaluation information storage unit 466. In this case, the evaluation data control unit 936 outputs the demand-side evaluation information to the evaluation information storage unit 466. Examples of the above-mentioned predetermined conditions include the condition that the state of product 12 in the distribution process is worse than a predetermined state, and the condition that the length of the distribution period is greater than a predetermined value.

[0214] On the other hand, when at least one of the state of product 12 indicated by the distribution state information and the length of the distribution period of product 12 indicated by the distribution period information does not meet the above-mentioned predetermined condition, there is a possibility that at least a part of the evaluation result indicated by the demand-side evaluation information is not appropriate. Therefore, the evaluation data control unit 936 decides: (i) not to store at least a part of the evaluation result indicated by the demand-side evaluation information in the evaluation information storage unit 466; (ii) correct at least a part of the evaluation result indicated by the demand-side evaluation information; or (iii) associate the demand-side evaluation information with information indicating that at least a part of the evaluation result indicated by the demand-side evaluation information may not be appropriate and store it in the evaluation information storage unit 466.

[0215] When it is determined not to store at least a part of the evaluation result indicated by the demand-side evaluation information in the evaluation information storage unit 466, the evaluation data control unit 936 deletes a part of the demand-side evaluation information and then outputs the demand-side evaluation information to the evaluation information storage unit 466. As a result, the demand-side evaluation information with a part of the evaluation result deleted is stored in the evaluation information storage unit 466. The evaluation data control unit 936 does not necessarily have to output the demand-side evaluation information to the evaluation information storage unit 466.

[0216] When it is determined that at least a part of the evaluation result indicated by the demand-side evaluation information needs to be corrected, the evaluation data control unit 936 outputs the demand-side evaluation information to the evaluation correction unit 464. In this case, the evaluation correction unit 464 corrects at least a part of the evaluation result indicated by the demand-side evaluation information, and stores information indicating the corrected evaluation result in the evaluation information storage unit 466.

[0217] When it is determined that the demand-side evaluation information and information indicating that at least a part of the evaluation result indicated by the demand-side evaluation information may not be appropriate are to be stored in the evaluation information storage unit 466 in association with each other, the evaluation data control unit 936 outputs the demand-side evaluation information to the evaluation information storage unit 466. Further, the evaluation data control unit 936 stores the demand-side evaluation information and information indicating that at least a part of the evaluation result indicated by the demand-side evaluation information may not be appropriate in the evaluation information storage unit 466 in association with each other.

[0218] In the present embodiment, the divergence determination unit 942 determines whether the degree of divergence between the evaluation result based on the supply-side evaluation information and the evaluation result based on the demand-side evaluation information exceeds a predetermined degree for each of one or more items for evaluating the product 12. When the divergence determination unit 942 determines that the degree of divergence exceeds the predetermined degree, the divergence notification unit 944 notifies at least one of the producer 20 and the consumer 44 of information indicating at least one of the state of the product 12 indicated by the distribution state information and the length of the distribution period of the product 12 indicated by the distribution period information.

[0219] The distribution status determination unit 912 may be an example of the distribution information acquisition unit. The distribution period determination unit 914 may be an example of the distribution information acquisition unit. The evaluation support unit 920 may be an example of the support unit. The input item determination unit 922 may be an example of the evaluation item determination unit. The input screen generation unit 924 may be an example of the support data generation unit or the screen generation unit. The input screen transmission unit 926 may be an example of the support data transmission unit. The supply-side evaluation acquisition unit 932 may be an example of the second evaluation information acquisition unit. The demand-side evaluation acquisition unit 934 may be an example of the first evaluation information acquisition unit. The evaluation data control unit 936 may be an example of the first evaluation information acquisition unit. The deviation determination unit 942 may be an example of the deviation degree determination unit. The deviation notification unit 944 may be an example of the notification unit. The evaluation input screen may be an example of the input screen. The screen data of the evaluation input screen may be an example of the input support data or the input screen data.

[0220] FIG. 10 schematically shows an example of the internal configuration of the sales support server 180. In the present embodiment, the sales support server 180 includes a sales promotion support unit 1020 and a packaging support unit 1040.

[0221] In the present embodiment, taking the case where the seller 50 sells the product 12 as an example, the details of the sales support process by the sales support server 180 will be described. Examples of the seller 50 of the product 12 include the producer 20, the distributor 30, and the like.

[0222] (Support process for creating advertising materials or sales promotion materials) In one embodiment, the seller 50 of the product 12 creates (which may simply be referred to as creating) advertising materials or sales promotion materials for the product 12 for the purpose of advertising or promoting the product 12. The advertising materials or sales promotion materials may be POP (Point of purchase advertising). The POP may be a physical object such as a poster, or may be an intangible object such as video data.

[0223] In this case, the sales promotion support department 1020 supports the creation of advertising materials or sales promotion materials by generating information used for advertising or promoting the sale of product 12. For example, the sales promotion support department 1020 supports the design of advertising materials or sales promotion materials and outputs data of the advertising materials or sales promotion materials (which may be referred to as advertising data). The seller 50 can create the in-store advertisement 1022 using the advertising data output from the sales promotion support department 1020. Details of the sales promotion support department 1020 will be described later.

[0224] (Support process for packing operation) In another embodiment, when the consumer 44 purchases the product 12, the seller 50 of the product 12 packs the product 12 in the box 1052 and ships the packed product 12 to the consumer 44. The product 12 is delivered, for example, using the logistics system 160.

[0225] At this time, the seller 50 ships one or more evaluation samples 1054 to the consumer 44 together with the product 12. The seller 50 may ship the various physical property simple measurement kits described above to the consumer 44 together with the product 12 and one or more evaluation samples 1054.

[0226] The evaluation sample 1054 is used to determine the state of the product 12. The evaluation sample 1054 may be a physical object different from the product 12. The evaluation sample 1054 may be printed or pasted on the surface of the box 1052 or may be housed inside the box 1052.

[0227] Examples of the state of the product 12 include at least one of the appearance state of the product 12 and the delivery state of the product 12. In the present embodiment, the appearance state of the product 12 means various states regarding the surface of the product 12.

[0228] As the appearance state of product 12, at least one of the size, degree of bending, pattern, and color of the article is exemplified. For example, like commercial vegetables or fruits, the grade of product 12 may be determined by the size, degree of bending, pattern, and / or color of product 12. The purchaser of product 12 can evaluate at least one of the size, degree of bending, pattern, and color of product 12 using the evaluation sample 1054, and based on the evaluation result, determine the grade of product 12.

[0229] Another example of the appearance state of product 12 is the hardness of product 12. The hardness of product 12 may be the hardness of the surface of product 12. The hardness may be represented by the elastic modulus. In particular, when product 12 is a food product, it is preferable that the hardness of product 12 is represented by the elastic modulus of product 12.

[0230] For example, when product 12 is a fresh food product, the freshness of product 12 and the hardness of product 12 have a certain correlation. For example, when product 12 is a seafood product, vegetable, fruit, meat, etc., as the freshness of product 12 decreases or aging progresses, the elasticity of product 12 may decrease and it may become soft. The purchaser of product 12 can evaluate the hardness of product 12 using the evaluation sample 1054, and based on the evaluation result, determine the freshness of product 12. For example, when product 12 is a vegetable or fruit, as the ripeness of product 12 progresses, product 12 may become soft. The purchaser of product 12 can evaluate the hardness of product 12 using the evaluation sample 1054, and based on the evaluation result, determine the right time to eat product 12.

[0231] As the delivery state of product 12, at least one of the temperature and humidity during the delivery period of product 12 is exemplified. The delivery state of product 12 may be at least one of the maximum value and the minimum value of the temperature at the time of delivery of product 12, or may be at least one of the maximum value and the minimum value of the humidity at the time of delivery of product 12.

[0232] Examples of the evaluation sample 1054 for determining the appearance state of the product 12 include (i) a linear scale or a grid scale with one or more graduations, (ii) a curvature scale with one or more curves each having a specific curvature, (iii) a color chart with one or more color samples or pattern samples, (iv) a hardness scale with one or more resins or gels each having a specific hardness or softness, and the like. The hardness or softness of the above resin or gel may be represented by hardness or elastic modulus. A plurality of types of evaluation samples 1054 corresponding to the specifications of the product 12 may be prepared.

[0233] The linear scale and the grid scale are used, for example, to determine the size, or the shape or degree of bending of the product 12. The curvature scale is used, for example, to determine the shape or degree of bending of the product 12. The hardness scale is used, for example, to determine the hardness or elastic modulus of the product 12. The color chart is used, for example, to determine the pattern or color of the product 12.

[0234] In the evaluation sample 1054, at least one of the above linear scale, grid scale, curvature scale and hardness scale may be a colored scale. Thereby, for example, the transaction management unit 112 can determine (i) at least one of the color and pattern of the product 12 and (ii) at least one of the size, shape and hardness of the product 12 from a single image by analyzing the image of the product 12 arranged near the colored scale.

[0235] A single color may be assigned to a single scale, or a plurality of colors may be assigned to a single scale. The color of the above colored scale may be determined based on the type of the product 12. The color of the above colored scale may be determined based on the color when the state of the product 12 is good, or the color when the state of the product 12 is bad.

[0236] Examples of the evaluation sample 1054 for determining the delivery status of product 12 include materials whose color changes with temperature, materials whose color changes with humidity, and the like. The material whose color changes with temperature may be an irreversible temperature indicating material. The evaluation sample 1054 may have a plurality of irreversible temperature indicating materials with different temperature indicating regions. The material whose color changes with humidity may be an irreversible humidity indicating material. The evaluation sample 1054 may have a plurality of irreversible humidity indicating materials with different humidity indicating regions.

[0237] Depending on the situation at the time of shipping or packaging, a plurality of types of evaluation samples 1054 may be sent to the consumer 44. For example, when product 12 is a product that easily changes color like a banana, a plurality of types of color charts are sent. For example, a color chart rich in green color samples, a color chart rich in yellow color samples, and a color chart rich in brown color samples are sent.

[0238] The state of product 12 is determined based on, for example, the comparison result between product 12 and at least one of the size, shape, pattern, color, and hardness of each of one or more evaluation samples 1054. When the state of product 12 is determined based on the comparison result between product 12 and at least one of the size, shape, pattern, and color of each of one or more evaluation samples 1054, the state of product 12 is determined, for example, by the computer or the consumer 44 analyzing the image of product 12 arranged near each of one or more evaluation samples 1054.

[0239] According to one embodiment, when the consumer 44 receives the box 1052, the consumer 44 opens the box 1052 and takes out the product 12. The consumer 44, for example, places the product 12 near the evaluation sample 1054 and uses the camera function of the communication terminal 42 to image the product 12 and the evaluation sample 1054. The consumer 44, for example, uses the communication terminal 42 to transmit the data of the image (which may be referred to as image data) of the product 12 and the evaluation sample 1054 that have been imaged to the management server 110.

[0240] When the management server 110 acquires the image data, for example, the evaluation management unit 460 of the transaction management unit 112 analyzes the image data and evaluates at least one of the size, shape, pattern, color, and hardness of the product 12. As a result, the size of the product 12, the degree of bending of the product 12, the luster or discoloration of the product 12 can be evaluated.

[0241] According to another embodiment, when the consumer 44 receives the box 1052, the consumer 44 opens the box 1052 and takes out the product 12. The consumer 44 compares the product 12 with the evaluation sample 1054 and transmits data (which may be referred to as evaluation data) indicating the comparison result of the product 12 and the evaluation sample 1054 to the management server 110 using, for example, the communication terminal 42. When the management server 110 acquires the image data, for example, the evaluation management unit 460 of the transaction management unit 112 stores the evaluation data in the evaluation information storage unit 466. The evaluation management unit 460 may analyze the evaluation data as necessary and store the analysis result in the evaluation information storage unit 466.

[0242] In this case, the packaging support unit 1040 supports the selection, creation, and / or packaging of the evaluation sample 1054. For example, the packaging support unit 1040 determines the specifications of the evaluation sample 1054. Examples of the specifications of the evaluation sample 1054 include (i) the type of the determination target of the evaluation sample 1054, (ii) at least one of the size, shape, pattern, and color of the evaluation sample 1054, and (iii) at least one of the hardness of the evaluation sample 1054.

[0243] In addition, when packaging the product 12 and the evaluation sample 1054, the packaging support unit 1040 determines the position or range where the evaluation sample 1054 is arranged (which may be referred to as the position or range of the evaluation sample 1054 in the box 1052). Examples of the position or range where the evaluation sample 1054 is arranged include (i) a part of the surface of the box 1052 and (ii) at least a part of the articles (which may be referred to as the contents) accommodated inside the box 1052. Examples of the contents include instruction documents, letters, message cards, delivery documents, etc.

[0244] In one embodiment, the evaluation sample 1054 is disposed on the surface of the outer surface of the box 1052. In other embodiments, the evaluation sample 1054 is disposed on the surface of the inner surface of the box 1052. In still other embodiments, the evaluation sample 1054 is disposed on the surface of the overlapping portion of the members constituting the box 1052. For example, when a lid and a flap (which may be referred to as a top flap) are disposed on the upper part of the box 1052, the evaluation sample 1054 is disposed on the surface of the outer surface of the top flap or the surface of the inner surface of the lid. Note that the outer surface of the lid may be an example of the outer surface of the box 1052. The inner surface of the top flap may be an example of the inner surface of the box 1052.

[0245] The packaging support unit 1040 outputs data (which may be referred to as instruction data) indicating the specifications of the evaluation sample 1054 and / or the position or range where the evaluation sample 1054 is disposed. The seller 50 can use the advertisement data output from the packaging support unit 1040 to package the product 12 using the box 1052 in which an appropriate evaluation sample 1054 is disposed at an appropriate position or range. Details of the packaging support unit 1040 will be described later.

[0246] The product 12 may be an example of an article. The seller 50 may be an example of a shipper. The consumer 44 may be an example of a recipient. The box 1052 may be an example of a packaging material. The evaluation sample 1054 may be an example of one or more comparison references. The advertisement data of the in-store advertisement 1022 may be an example of information used for advertising or promoting the sale of the product.

[0247] (Example of another embodiment) In this embodiment, the case where the box 1052 is used as an example of the packaging material is taken as an example, and an example of the sales support server 180 or the evaluation sample 1054 is described. However, the sales support server 180 or the evaluation sample 1054 is not limited to this embodiment. In other embodiments, instead of the box 1052 or together with the box 1052, at least one of a partition member, a packaging material, and a cushioning material may be used as the packaging material. In this case, the evaluation sample 1054 may be disposed on at least one of the partition member, the packaging material, and the cushioning material.

[0248] FIG. 11 schematically shows an example of the internal configuration of the sales promotion support unit 1020. In the present embodiment, the case where the sales promotion support unit 1020 generates advertisement data of the in-store advertisement 1022, which is an example of advertisement materials or sales promotion materials for the product 12, will be taken as an example to explain the details of the sales promotion support unit 1020.

[0249] In the present embodiment, the sales promotion support unit 1020 includes a user information acquisition unit 1122, a target attribute determination unit 1124, an evaluation information acquisition unit 1132, an evaluation item determination unit 1134, an advertisement data generation unit 1140, and a storage unit 1160. In the present embodiment, the advertisement data generation unit 1140 includes an appeal mode determination unit 1142, a text extraction unit 1144, a layout extraction unit 1146, an image extraction unit 1148, a candidate presentation unit 1152, and an advertisement determination unit 1154. In the present embodiment, the storage unit 1160 includes a text template database 1162, a layout template database 1164, an item image database 1166, and a background image database 1168.

[0250] In the present embodiment, the user information acquisition unit 1122 collects various types of information regarding the target of the in-store advertisement 1022 of the product 12. For example, the user information acquisition unit 1122 collects various types of information regarding users related to the product 12 or the in-store advertisement 1022. Examples of users related to the product 12 or the in-store advertisement 1022 include (i) users who have purchased the product 12 or products of the same or similar type as the product 12 in the past (which may be referred to as the same type of products), (ii) users who are customers of the store where the in-store advertisement 1022 is posted, and (iii) users who are relatively likely to visit the store where the in-store advertisement 1022 is posted.

[0251] As users who are relatively likely to visit the store or other place where the in-store advertisement 1022 is posted, examples include (i) users whose distance between the store or other place where the in-store advertisement 1022 is posted and their home is less than a predetermined value, and (ii) users whose distance between the store or other place where the in-store advertisement 1022 is posted and a facility or the like that the user regularly or frequently visits is less than a predetermined value. Examples of facilities that the user regularly or frequently visits include (i) facilities of an organization to which the user belongs, and (ii) facilities arranged on the route between the user's home and the facilities of the organization to which the user belongs. Examples of organizations to which the user belongs include companies, schools, and enterprises that provide services of which the user is a member. Examples of facilities arranged on the above route include stations and commercial facilities arranged near the stations. Such information is, for example, acquired in advance by the user information acquisition unit 442 and stored in the user information storage unit 444.

[0252] For example, the user information acquisition unit 1122 refers to the user information storage unit 444 of the customer management unit 440 to acquire user information of users related to the product 12 or the in-store advertisement 1022. As described above, the user information includes (i) information indicating the behavior characteristics, interests, or hobbies of each user, (ii) the usage history of each user on the EC site, and (iii) the browsing history and / or search history of each user on the website. For example, the user information acquisition unit 1122 refers to the evaluation information storage unit 466 of the evaluation management unit 460 to acquire the past evaluation history of the above users. The user information acquisition unit 1122 outputs the information acquired from each unit to, for example, the target attribute determination unit 1124.

[0253] In the present embodiment, the target attribute determination unit 1124 determines the attributes of the target for advertising or sales promotion. For example, the target attribute determination unit 1124 first extracts at least a part of the users related to the product 12 or the in-store advertisement 1022 described above as the target of the product 12. Next, the target attribute determination unit 1124 determines the characteristics common to the users extracted as the target (which may be referred to as the attributes of the target).

[0254] In one embodiment, the target attribute determination unit 1124 analyzes the information acquired by the user information acquisition unit 1122, using users related to the above-described product 12 or in-store advertisement 1022 as the above targets, and determines characteristics common to the users who are the targets. In other embodiments, the target attribute determination unit 1124 may determine to target some of the users having common characteristics among the users related to the above-described product 12 or in-store advertisement 1022. In this case, the target attribute determination unit 1124 determines the above common characteristics as the attributes of the targets.

[0255] The target attribute determination unit 1124 may extract one or several of the above-described one or more evaluation items as the attributes of the targets. For example, the target attribute determination unit 1124 extracts, from among the above-described one or more evaluation items, the evaluation items that match the characteristics of the targets as the attributes of the targets. This facilitates the matching between the characteristics of the users who are the targets and the characteristics of the product 12.

[0256] The target attribute determination unit 1124 outputs information indicating the determined attributes of the targets to, for example, the evaluation item determination unit 1134. The target attribute determination unit 1124 may output information indicating the determined attributes of the targets to the advertisement data generation unit 1140.

[0257] In the present embodiment, the evaluation information acquisition unit 1132 collects various types of information regarding the product 12 being advertised. For example, the evaluation information acquisition unit 1132 refers to the evaluation information storage unit 466 of the evaluation management unit 460 and acquires, for each of the above-described one or more evaluation items, evaluation information indicating the results of the evaluation of the product 12 by the supplier of the product 12 (the manufacturer 20 or the distributor 30). The evaluation information acquisition unit 1132 outputs the acquired evaluation information to the evaluation item determination unit 1134.

[0258] In the present embodiment, the evaluation item determination unit 1134 determines features among the features of the product 12 that are expected to have a high appeal effect. The evaluation item determination unit 1134 may determine the above features by extracting at least one evaluation item expected to have a high appeal effect from among the one or more evaluation items described above. For example, the evaluation item determination unit 1134 determines at least one evaluation item characteristic of the product based on the evaluation information acquired by the evaluation information acquisition unit 1132. For example, the evaluation item determination unit 1134 determines at least one evaluation item for which an appeal effect on the target is expected based on the attributes of the target determined by the target attribute determination unit 1124.

[0259] In one embodiment, the evaluation item determination unit 1134 determines, based on the evaluation information acquired by the evaluation information acquisition unit 1132, an evaluation item to be used for advertising or sales promotion among one or more evaluation items. For example, the evaluation item determination unit 1134 extracts, as an evaluation item expected to have a high appeal effect, an evaluation item that has received a more positive evaluation than a predetermined criterion among one or more evaluation items related to the product 12. The evaluation item determination unit 1134 may extract, as an evaluation item for supplementally improving the appeal effect, an evaluation item that has received a more negative evaluation than a predetermined criterion among one or more evaluation items related to the product 12.

[0260] In another embodiment, the evaluation item determination unit 1134 determines, based on the attributes of the target determined by the target attribute determination unit 1124, an evaluation item to be used for advertising or sales promotion. For example, the evaluation item determination unit 1134 extracts, as an evaluation item expected to have a high appeal effect, an evaluation item for which the degree of interest shown by the target is greater than a predetermined criterion among one or more evaluation items.

[0261] In still other embodiments, the evaluation item determination unit 1134 determines evaluation items to be used for advertising or sales promotion based on the evaluation information acquired by the evaluation information acquisition unit 1132 and the attributes of the target determined by the target attribute determination unit 1124. For example, the evaluation item determination unit 1134 extracts, as evaluation items with high expected appeal effects, (i) evaluation items among one or more evaluation items regarding product 12 that have received a more positive evaluation than a predetermined criterion, and (ii) evaluation items in which the degree of interest shown by the target is greater than a predetermined criterion. Thereby, among one or more evaluation items, evaluation items that are characteristic of the product and have an expected appeal effect on the target can be determined as evaluation items to be used for advertising or sales promotion.

[0262] The evaluation item determination unit 1134 outputs information indicating at least one evaluation item determined as an evaluation item to be used for advertising or sales promotion among the one or more evaluation items (for example, P evaluation items) described above to the advertisement data generation unit 1140. The number of at least one evaluation item may be less than P. An upper limit may be set for the number of evaluation items to be output. When an upper limit is set for the number of evaluation items to be output, the evaluation item determination unit 1134 may adjust the threshold for extracting evaluation items so as to satisfy the condition regarding the upper limit of the evaluation items.

[0263] (Overview of Advertisement Data Generation Unit 1140) In the present embodiment, the advertisement data generation unit 1140 generates advertisement data for the in-store advertisement 1022. The advertisement data generation unit 1140 determines the appeal expression of the in-store advertisement 1022 based on the evaluation items determined by the evaluation item determination unit 1134. Examples of the appeal expression include text and / or design.

[0264] Examples of designs include (i) at least one of the size, shape, pattern, and color of the text, (ii) a photograph or illustration corresponding to the text, (iii) the layout of the text and the photograph or illustration, etc. Examples of the photograph or illustration corresponding to the text include a photograph or illustration that matches the impression of the text, a photograph or illustration that emphasizes the impression of the text, a photograph or illustration that evokes an event related to the text, etc.

[0265] In the present embodiment, for example, the advertisement data generation unit 1140 determines the appeal expression of the in-store advertisement 1022 based on (i) the content that the provider of the product 12 (such as the producer 20, the distributor 30, the seller 50, etc.) wants to appeal to the purchaser of the product 12 (such as the distributor 30, the seller 50, the consumer 40), and (ii) the degree of sensitivity or interest of the purchaser of the product 12 to various types of information.

[0266] For example, consider the case where the content that the tomato producer A wants to appeal to the tomato purchaser is the characteristics of high sugar content and completely pesticide-free cultivation. On the other hand, it is conceivable that the degree of sensitivity or interest to various types of information varies depending on the customer base of the store. For the purpose of simplifying the understanding of the advertisement data generation procedure in the advertisement data generation unit 1140, the details of the advertisement data generation procedure used for sales promotion in store B will be described using the case where many customers of store B are interested in the size, color, and taste of tomatoes as an example.

[0267] As described above, the transaction management unit 112 acquires information indicating various evaluations regarding the tomatoes produced by the producer A at the time of tomato production or shipment, or at a specific point in the tomato distribution process. In this case, regarding the tomatoes produced by the producer A, it is highly likely that a high evaluation is given to the evaluation item related to "sugar content" included in the evaluation category of "taste" compared to the tomatoes produced by other producers. Similarly, regarding the tomatoes produced by the producer A, it is highly likely that a high evaluation is given to the evaluation item related to "the presence or absence of the use of at least one of chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides" included in the evaluation category of "environmental load" compared to the tomatoes produced by other producers.

[0268] The advertisement data generation unit 1140 first accesses the transaction management unit 112 and analyzes various evaluations regarding the tomatoes produced by producer A, thereby determining the selling points of the tomatoes. For example, the advertisement data generation unit 1140 determines that the selling points of the tomatoes produced by producer A are features such as "high sugar content" and "completely pesticide-free cultivation".

[0269] Next, since the customers of store B show interest in the size, color, and taste of the tomatoes, the advertisement data generation unit 1140 determines to create an advertisement in which the feature related to taste, "high sugar content", among the features of "high sugar content" and "completely pesticide-free cultivation" is the most prominent. Also, the advertisement data generation unit 1140 determines to create an advertisement in which the feature of "completely pesticide-free cultivation" is explained in association with the size and / or color of the tomatoes.

[0270] For example, the advertisement data generation unit 1140 creates a POP advertisement in which the content related to the sugar content is prominently displayed in the most prominent part, and a story is displayed to convey how difficult it is to ensure a large size while being pesticide-free and still produce a vivid red color, and how the difficulty was overcome. The advertisement data generation unit 1140 may also create a POP advertisement in which a message conveying how to use the tomatoes is further displayed to consumers. The advertisement data generation unit 1140 may create the above POP advertisement by adopting keywords according to the season, keywords related to the trends in the world, and the like.

[0271] (Overview of each part of the advertisement data generation unit 1140) As shown in FIG. 11, in this embodiment, the advertisement data generation unit 1140 includes an appeal mode determination unit 1142, a text extraction unit 1144, a layout extraction unit 1146, an image extraction unit 1148, a candidate presentation unit 1152, and an advertisement determination unit 1154. The above-described advertisement data is created by information processing in each part of the advertisement data generation unit 1140.

[0272] In this embodiment, the appeal mode determination unit 1142 determines the appeal mode of the in-store advertisement 1022 (which may be referred to as an appeal pattern). The appeal mode determination unit 1142 determines the appeal mode based on at least one of the evaluation information acquired by the evaluation information acquisition unit 1132 and the information indicating the attributes of the target determined by the target attribute determination unit 1124. For example, the appeal mode determination unit 1142 determines the appeal mode based on at least one evaluation item output by the evaluation item determination unit 1134. As described above, the evaluation item determination unit 1134 outputs at least one evaluation item based on at least one of the evaluation information acquired by the evaluation information acquisition unit 1132 and the information indicating the attributes of the target determined by the target attribute determination unit 1124.

[0273] Examples of the appeal mode include (i) a mode of appealing by an image associated with the text of the evaluation item determined by the evaluation item determination unit 1134 (which may be referred to as an image appeal type), (ii) a mode of appealing by the meaning of the text of the evaluation item determined by the evaluation item determination unit 1134 itself (which may be referred to as an impact appeal type), etc. Note that the appeal mode is not limited to the above modes.

[0274] For example, when an evaluation item related to "in season" or "freshness" is input from the evaluation item determination unit 1134, the appeal mode determination unit 1142 determines to create an in-store advertisement 1022 of the image appeal type. Examples of the image associated with the text of the above evaluation item include events related to the current season or the in-season of the product 12, dishes related to the current season or the in-season of the product 12, and representative dishes using the product 12.

[0275] For example, when an evaluation item related to "taste", "texture", or "cost performance" is input from the evaluation item determination unit 1134, the appeal mode determination unit 1142 determines to create an in-store advertisement 1022 of the impact appeal type. Examples of the meaning of the text of the evaluation item itself include "sweet", "good texture", etc.

[0276] The claim mode determination unit 1142 outputs information indicating the determined claim mode to, for example, the text extraction unit 1144. The claim mode determination unit 1142 may output information indicating the determined claim mode to the layout extraction unit 1146. The claim mode determination unit 1142 may output information indicating the determined claim mode to the image extraction unit 1148.

[0277] In the present embodiment, the text extraction unit 1144 determines a claim statement (which may be referred to as a catchphrase, catch copy, etc.) used for the in-store advertisement 1022. The text extraction unit 1144 determines, for example, a claim statement used for the in-store advertisement 1022 based on the evaluation items determined by the evaluation item determination unit 1134.

[0278] In one embodiment, the text extraction unit 1144 refers to the text template database 1162 and extracts at least one text associated with the evaluation items determined by the evaluation item determination unit 1134 as a candidate for the claim statement (which may simply be referred to as the claim statement). As will be described later, the text template database 1162 stores, in association with each of one or more evaluation items, one or more texts used for advertising or sales promotion.

[0279] In another embodiment, the text extraction unit 1144 refers to the text template database 1162 and extracts at least one text associated with the product type of the product 12 as the claim statement. As will be described later, the text template database 1162 stores, in association with each of one or more product types, one or more texts used for advertising or sales promotion.

[0280] In yet another embodiment, the text extraction unit 1144 refers to the text template database 1162 and extracts at least one text associated with the evaluation items determined by the evaluation item determination unit 1134 and at least one text associated with the product type of the product 12 as the claim statement. In this case, a plurality of texts are extracted as the claim statement. At least one of the plurality of texts may be a text associated with the evaluation items determined by the evaluation item determination unit 1134.

[0281] In this embodiment, the text extraction unit 1144 may extract at least one piece of text based on the mode of the claim determined by the claim mode determination unit 1142. Thereby, the text extraction unit 1144 can narrow down the number of pieces of text to be extracted. For example, when the claim mode of the image claim type is determined, the text extraction unit 1144 preferentially extracts emotional text. For example, when the claim mode of the impact claim type is determined, the text extraction unit 1144 preferentially extracts text that prompts attention.

[0282] In this embodiment, the layout extraction unit 1146 determines the layout of the in-store advertisement 1022. The layout extraction unit 1146 determines the layout of the in-store advertisement 1022 based on, for example, the evaluation items determined by the evaluation item determination unit 1134.

[0283] For example, the layout extraction unit 1146 refers to the layout template database 1164 and extracts at least one layout associated with the evaluation items determined by the evaluation item determination unit 1134 as a candidate for the layout of the in-store advertisement 1022 (which may simply be referred to as a layout). As will be described later, the layout template database 1164 stores, in association with each of one or more evaluation items, one or more layouts related to advertising materials or sales promotion materials.

[0284] In this embodiment, the layout extraction unit 1146 may extract at least one layout based on the mode of the claim determined by the claim mode determination unit 1142. Thereby, the layout extraction unit 1146 can narrow down the number of layouts to be extracted.

[0285] In this embodiment, the image extraction unit 1148 determines the image to be used for the in-store advertisement 1022. For example, the image extraction unit 1148 determines the image to be used for the in-store advertisement 1022 based on the evaluation items determined by the evaluation item determination unit 1134. The image may be a moving image or a still image. The still image may be a photograph or an illustration.

[0286] For example, the image extraction unit 1148 refers to at least one of the item image database 1166 and the background image database 1168, and extracts at least one image associated with the evaluation items determined by the evaluation item determination unit 1134 as a candidate for the image to be used for the in-store advertisement 1022 (which may simply be referred to as an image). As will be described later, the item image database 1166 and the background image database 1168 store by associating each of one or more evaluation items with one or more images used for advertising or sales promotion.

[0287] In this embodiment, the image extraction unit 1148 may extract at least one image based on the mode of appeal determined by the appeal mode determination unit 1142. Thereby, the image extraction unit 1148 can narrow down the number of images to be extracted.

[0288] In this embodiment, the candidate presentation unit 1152 generates candidates for the in-store advertisement 1022. The candidate presentation unit 1152 may present the candidates to the seller 50. For example, the candidate presentation unit 1152 presents the candidates to the seller 50 by transmitting the data of the candidates for the in-store advertisement 1022 to the communication terminal used by the seller 50.

[0289] The candidate presentation unit 1152 generates one or more candidates for the in-store advertisement 1022 based on at least one appealing statement extracted by the statement extraction unit 1144 and at least one layout extracted by the layout extraction unit 1146. The candidate presentation unit 1152 may generate one or more candidates for the in-store advertisement 1022 based on at least one appealing statement extracted by the statement extraction unit 1144, at least one layout extracted by the layout extraction unit 1146, and at least one image extracted by the image extraction unit 1148.

[0290] In the present embodiment, the advertisement determination unit 1154 determines the in-store advertisement 1022 based on one of the one or more candidates generated by the candidate presentation unit 1152. For example, the advertisement determination unit 1154 determines, based on an instruction from the seller 50 presented with the one or more candidates, one of the one or more candidates generated by the candidate presentation unit 1152 as a draft of the in-store advertisement 1022. For example, the advertisement determination unit 1154 modifies the draft of the in-store advertisement 1022 based on an instruction from the seller 50 and completes the in-store advertisement 1022. The advertisement determination unit 1154 may output the data of the completed in-store advertisement 1022 to the information processing terminal used by the seller 50.

[0291] In the present embodiment, the storage unit 1160 stores various types of information. In one embodiment, the storage unit 1160 stores various types of information used in the information processing in the sales promotion support unit 1020. In other embodiments, the storage unit 1160 stores various types of information generated by the information processing in the sales promotion support unit 1020.

[0292] In the present embodiment, the statement template database 1162 stores, for example, each of one or more evaluation items in association with one or more statements used for advertisements or sales promotion. The statement template database 1162 stores, for example, each of one or more product types in association with one or more statements used for advertisements or sales promotion.

[0293] In the present embodiment, the layout template database 1164 stores, for example, by associating each of one or more evaluation items with one or more layouts related to advertising materials or sales promotion materials. In the present embodiment, the item image database 1166 stores, for example, images of one or more products for each of the one or more products. The item image database 1166 may store, for each of one or more products, by associating each of one or more evaluation items with one or more images of the product. In the present embodiment, the background image database 1168 stores, for example, by associating each of one or more evaluation items with one or more background images used for advertising or sales promotion.

[0294] The text template database 1162 may be an example of the first text storage unit or the second text storage unit. A user related to the product 12 or the in-store advertisement 1022 may be an example of a target of the advertisement or the sales promotion. The in-store advertisement 1022 may be an example of an advertising material or a sales promotion material for a product. The appealing text may be an example of text.

[0295] (Example of another embodiment) In the present embodiment, as an example, a case where the text extraction unit 1144 determines a catch copy or a catch phrase based on the appealing mode determined by the appealing mode determination unit 1142 and the layout extraction unit 1146 determines a layout based on the appealing mode determined by the appealing mode determination unit 1142 has been described as an example of the sales promotion support unit 1020. However, the sales promotion support unit 1020 is not limited to the present embodiment. In other embodiments, the sales promotion support unit 1020 may not include the appealing mode determination unit 1142.

[0296] In the present embodiment, as an example, a case where the text extraction unit 1144 extracts one or more appealing texts by referring to the data stored in the text template database 1162 has been described as an example of the sales promotion support unit 1020. However, the sales promotion support unit 1020 is not limited to the present embodiment.

[0297] In other embodiments, the text extraction unit 1144 may input the evaluation items determined by the evaluation item determination unit 1134 into a learned estimation model, and use at least one piece of text output by the estimation model as a candidate for the above-described claim text. The text extraction unit 1144 may input the evaluation items indicated by the evaluation information acquired by the evaluation information acquisition unit 1132 and / or the evaluation items indicating the attributes of the target determined by the target attribute determination unit 1124 into a learned estimation model, and use at least one piece of text output by the estimation model as a candidate for the above-described claim text.

[0298] The above-described estimation model is created, for example, by performing machine learning using teacher data in which claim texts used in past in-store advertisements are associated with evaluations by the suppliers of the products in the in-store advertisements and / or evaluation items indicating the attributes of the targets of the in-store advertisements. The learning method of the estimation model is not limited to the above-described method.

[0299] In this embodiment, an example of the sales promotion support unit 1020 has been described by taking the case where the layout extraction unit 1146 extracts one or more layouts with reference to the data stored in the layout template database 1164. However, the sales promotion support unit 1020 is not limited to this embodiment.

[0300] In other embodiments, the layout extraction unit 1146 may input the evaluation items determined by the evaluation item determination unit 1134 into a learned estimation model, and use at least one layout output by the estimation model as a candidate for the above-described layout. The layout extraction unit 1146 may input the evaluation items indicated by the evaluation information acquired by the evaluation information acquisition unit 1132 and / or the evaluation items indicating the attributes of the target determined by the target attribute determination unit 1124 into a learned estimation model, and use at least one layout output by the estimation model as a candidate for the above-described layout.

[0301] The above-mentioned estimation model is created, for example, by performing machine learning using teacher data in which the layout used in a previously created in-store advertisement is associated with the evaluation by the supplier of the product for the product in the in-store advertisement and / or the evaluation items indicating the attributes of the target of the in-store advertisement. The learning method of the estimation model is not limited to the method described above.

[0302] In the present embodiment, an example of the sales promotion support unit 1020 has been described by taking the case where the image extraction unit 1148 extracts one or more images with reference to the data stored in the item image database 1166 and the background image database 1168. However, the sales promotion support unit 1020 is not limited to the present embodiment.

[0303] In other embodiments, the image extraction unit 1148 may input the evaluation items determined by the evaluation item determination unit 1134 into the learned estimation model, and use at least one image output by the estimation model as the candidate image described above. The image extraction unit 1148 may input the evaluation items indicated by the evaluation information acquired by the evaluation information acquisition unit 1132 and / or the evaluation items indicating the attributes of the target determined by the target attribute determination unit 1124 into the learned estimation model, and use at least one image output by the estimation model as the candidate image described above.

[0304] The above-mentioned estimation model is created, for example, by performing machine learning using teacher data in which the image used in a previously created in-store advertisement is associated with the evaluation by the supplier of the product for the product in the in-store advertisement and / or the evaluation items indicating the attributes of the target of the in-store advertisement. The learning method of the estimation model is not limited to the method described above.

[0305] FIG. 12 schematically shows an example of the content of an instruction indicated by instruction data. As described in relation to FIG. 10, the instruction data indicates the specification of the evaluation sample 1054 and / or the position or range where the evaluation sample 1054 is arranged. FIG. 12 schematically shows a specific example of the position or range (which may be referred to as a presentation mode) where the evaluation sample 1054 indicated by the instruction data is arranged.

[0306] According to one embodiment, the instruction data indicates that the evaluation sample 1054 should be printed or pasted on the box 1052 in the manner shown in the presentation mode 1222. According to the presentation mode 1222, the evaluation sample 1054 is arranged on the surface of the outer surface of the top flap of the box 1052. In this case, since the evaluation sample 1054 is protected by the lid of the box 1052, the evaluation sample 1054 is prevented from being soiled. Also, soiling of the evaluation sample 1054 by soil or mud adhering to the product 12 or the product 12 is prevented.

[0307] According to another embodiment, the instruction data indicates that the evaluation sample 1054 should be printed or pasted on the box 1052 in the manner shown in the presentation mode 1224. According to the presentation mode 1224, the evaluation sample 1054 is arranged on the surface of the inner surface of the top flap of the box 1052. In this case, since the evaluation sample 1054 is protected by the lid of the box 1052, the evaluation sample 1054 is prevented from being soiled. Also, when the evaluation sample 1054 is arranged as part of a simple measurement kit, the simple measurement kit can more accurately measure the internal state of the box 1052.

[0308] According to still another embodiment, the instruction data indicates that the evaluation sample 1054 should be printed or pasted on the box 1052 in the manner shown in the presentation mode 1226. According to the presentation mode 1226, the evaluation sample 1054 is arranged on the surface of the outer surface of the box 1052. In this case, the consumer 44 can easily place the product 12 in the vicinity of the evaluation sample 1054.

[0309] FIG. 13 schematically shows another example of the content of the instruction indicated by the instruction data. According to the present embodiment, the instruction data indicates that the first evaluation sample 1054 should be enclosed with the product 12 inside the box 1052. In the present embodiment, the evaluation sample 1054 is printed or attached, for example, to a part of the enclosed document 1320 which is a document to be enclosed with the product 12 inside the box 1052. Further, the instruction data indicates that the simple temperature measurement kit 1330 with the second evaluation sample 1054 arranged therein should be enclosed with the product 12 inside the box 1052. In this case, together with the enclosed document 1320 with the evaluation sample 1054 arranged therein, the simple temperature measurement kit 1330 is enclosed with the product 12 inside the box 1052.

[0310] As shown by the specific examples related to FIGS. 12 and 13, the seller 50 can arrange the appropriate evaluation sample 1054 at the appropriate position in the box 1052 by performing the packaging operation of the product 12 according to the instruction from the packaging support unit 1040. Thus, the packaging support unit 1040 can support the packaging operation of the product 12.

[0311] FIG. 14 schematically shows an example of the internal configuration of the packaging support unit 1040. In the present embodiment, the packaging support unit 1040 includes an order information acquisition unit 1422, a user information acquisition unit 1424, an evaluation information acquisition unit 1426, a specification determination unit 1442, an arrangement determination unit 1444, and a determination criterion storage unit 1446.

[0312] In the present embodiment, the order information acquisition unit 1422 accesses, for example, the order management unit 426 of the sales management unit 420 to acquire various information related to the product 12 to be shipped. For example, the order information acquisition unit 1422 acquires information such as the type of the product 12, the producer 20 who produced the product 12, the distributor 30 who distributed the product 12, the operator of the logistics system 160 that delivers the product 12 (sometimes referred to as the deliverer), the shipping origin of the product 12, and the delivery destination of the product 12.

[0313] In the present embodiment, the user information acquisition unit 1424 acquires various types of information regarding users related to the product 12, for example, by referring to the user information storage unit 444 of the customer management unit 440. Examples of users related to the product 12 include the producer 20 who produced the product 12, the distributor 30 who distributed the product 12, the operator of the logistics system 160 that delivers the product 12, and the consumer 44 who purchased the product 12.

[0314] In the present embodiment, the evaluation information acquisition unit 1426 acquires various types of information regarding users related to the product 12, for example, by referring to the evaluation information storage unit 466 of the evaluation management unit 460. Examples of users related to the product 12 include the producer 20 who produced the product 12, the distributor 30 who distributed the product 12, the operator of the logistics system 160 that delivers the product 12, and the consumer 44 who purchased the product 12.

[0315] In the present embodiment, the specification determination unit 1442 determines the specifications of each of one or more evaluation samples 1054 to be delivered to the consumer 44 together with the product 12. The specification determination unit 1442 determines the specifications of each of the one or more evaluation samples 1054, for example, based on the determination criteria stored in the determination criteria storage unit 1446.

[0316] As described above, the one or more evaluation samples 1054 are delivered together with the box 1052 and are used to determine the state of the product 12. Therefore, by delivering the evaluation samples 1054 with appropriate specifications together with the box 1052, the state of the product 12 can be appropriately determined.

[0317] For example, the specification determination unit 1442 determines the specifications of each of the one or more evaluation samples 1054 based on (i) the type of the product 12, (ii) the distance to which the product 12 is delivered, (iii) the time required for the delivery of the product 12, (iv) the weather at the delivery destination of the product 12, (v) the attributes of the seller 50 who ships the product 12, (vi) the attributes of the consumer 44 who receives the product 12, (vii) the attributes of the deliverer who delivers the product 12, and (viii) at least one of the pattern and color on the surface of the box 1052, and combinations thereof.

[0318] The time required for delivering Product 12 may be a typical value of such time or a predicted value. The time required for delivering Product 12 may be determined based on the delivery means of Product 12. The weather at the delivery destination of Product 12 may be typical weather at the time when Product 12 is delivered or a predicted value. Examples of the weather include weather conditions, temperature, humidity, and the like. Examples of the attributes of the deliverer include careful handling of articles and delivery records of articles that are easily damaged.

[0319] Examples of the specifications of each of the one or more evaluation samples 1054 include (i) the type of each determination target of the one or more evaluation samples 1054, (ii) at least one of the size, shape, pattern, and color of each of the one or more evaluation samples 1054, and (iii) at least one of the hardnesses of each of the one or more evaluation samples 1054.

[0320] The specification determination unit 1442 determines the attributes of the seller 50 based on, for example, evaluations by recipients of other articles previously shipped by the seller 50 for such other articles or the seller 50. The specification determination unit 1442 determines the attributes of the consumer 44 based on, for example, evaluations by the consumer 44 for other articles previously received by the consumer 44. The specification determination unit 1442 determines the attributes of the deliverer based on, for example, evaluations by the seller or consumer of other articles previously delivered by the deliverer for such other articles or the deliverer.

[0321] In the present embodiment, the arrangement determination unit 1444 determines the position or range in the box 1052 for each of the one or more evaluation samples 1054 delivered to the consumer 44 together with Product 12. The arrangement determination unit 1444 determines the position or range in the box 1052 for each of the one or more evaluation samples 1054 based on, for example, the determination criteria stored in the determination criterion storage unit 1446.

[0322] As described above, in one embodiment, the evaluation sample 1054 is arranged on a part of the surface of the box 1052. Also, in other embodiments, the evaluation sample 1054 is arranged on at least a part of the contents accommodated in the box 1052.

[0323] In this embodiment, the determination criterion storage unit 1446 stores information indicating criteria for the specification determination unit 1442 to determine the specifications of each of one or more evaluation samples 1054 delivered to the consumer 44 together with the product 12. In one embodiment, the determination criterion storage unit 1446 stores information indicating criteria for the specification determination unit 1442 to determine the specifications of each of one or more evaluation samples 1054 delivered to the consumer 44 together with the product 12. In other embodiments, the placement determination unit 1444 stores information indicating criteria for determining the position or range in the box 1052 for each of one or more evaluation samples 1054 delivered to the consumer 44 together with the product 12.

[0324] The determination criterion storage unit 1446 stores, for example, by associating the type of the product 12 with the type of the specifications of each of one or more evaluation samples 1054 delivered to the consumer 44 together with the product 12. Thereby, the specification determination unit 1442 can determine one or more evaluation samples 1054 delivered to the consumer 44 together with the product 12 based on the type of the product 12.

[0325] For example, when the product 12 is an article that is likely to change color due to time or external force, the determination criterion storage unit 1446 stores by associating the information indicating the type of the product 12 with the information indicating a color sample capable of determining the degree of color change of the product 12. The color sample capable of determining the degree of color change of the product 12 may be a combination of a plurality of color samples. For example, the determination criterion storage unit 1446 stores by associating the information indicating the type of the product 12 with the identification information of the color sample regarding the original color or the preferred color of the product 12 and the identification information of the color sample regarding the color after the color change of the product 12.

[0326] The determination criterion storage unit 1446 stores, for example, associating the type of packaging material with each position of one or more evaluation samples 1054 in the packaging material. The determination criterion storage unit 1446 may store, associating the type of packaging material with positions where the evaluation samples 1054 can be arranged in the packaging material. Thereby, the specification determination unit 1442 can determine the arrangement of each of one or more evaluation samples 1054 in the packaging material based on the type of packaging material.

[0327] FIG. 15 schematically shows an example of the data configuration of the data table 1500. The data table 1500 may be an example of the determination criterion stored in the determination criterion storage unit 1446. In one embodiment, the data table 1500 is used to determine the type of the evaluation sample 1054. In other embodiments, the data table 1500 is used to determine the arrangement of the evaluation sample 1054 in the box 1052.

[0328] In the present embodiment, the data table 1500 stores, associating the product type 1520, the evaluation sample type 1540, and the arrangement 1560 of the evaluation sample 1054. Examples of the arrangement 1560 include the position of the evaluation sample 1054 in the box 1052 (which may be referred to as the presentation position), the means for arranging the evaluation sample 1054 at the presentation position (which may be referred to as the arrangement mode), and the like.

[0329] Examples of the arrangement mode of the evaluation sample 1054 include a method of printing the specified evaluation sample 1054 on the box 1052 or a method of preparing the box 1052 on which the specified evaluation sample 1054 is printed, a method of pasting the specified evaluation sample 1054 on the box 1052 or a method of preparing the box 1052 on which the specified evaluation sample 1054 is pasted, a method of enclosing the specified evaluation sample 1054 in the box 1052, and the like.

[0330] Examples of the presentation position of the evaluation sample 1054 include a part of the surface of the box 1052, at least a part of the enclosed materials, and the like. Examples of the enclosed materials include various documents, various simple measurement kits, and the like.

[0331] FIG. 16 shows an example of a computer 3000 in which multiple aspects of the present invention may be embodied in whole or in part. At least a portion of the transaction management system 100 may be implemented by the computer 3000. For example, the management server 110 may be implemented by the computer 3000. For example, the control unit 220 of the production robot 120 may be implemented by the computer 3000. For example, the sales support server 180 may be implemented by the computer 3000. For example, the control device of the fruit selection system 140 may be implemented by the computer 3000. For example, the control device of the logistics system 160 may be implemented by the computer 3000. Also, at least a portion of the communication terminal 22, the communication terminal 32, and the communication terminal 42 may be implemented by the computer 3000.

[0332] The program installed in the computer 3000 can cause the computer 3000 to function as an operation associated with the device according to an embodiment of the present invention or as one or more "parts" of the device, or execute the operation or the one or more "parts", and / or cause the computer 3000 to execute a process according to an embodiment of the present invention or a stage of the process. Such a program may be executed by the CPU 3012 to cause the computer 3000 to execute certain operations associated with some or all of the blocks of the flowcharts and block diagrams described herein.

[0333] The computer 3000 according to this embodiment includes a CPU 3012, a RAM 3014, a GPU 3016, and a display device 3018, which are interconnected by a host controller 3010. The computer 3000 also includes input / output units such as a communication interface 3022, a hard disk drive 3024, a DVD-ROM drive 3026, and an IC card drive, which are connected to the host controller 3010 via an input / output controller 3020. The computer also includes legacy input / output units such as a ROM 3030 and a keyboard 3042, which are connected to the input / output controller 3020 via an input / output chip 3040.

[0334] The CPU 3012 operates according to programs stored in the ROM 3030 and the RAM 3014, thereby controlling each unit. The GPU 3016 acquires image data generated by the CPU 3012 in a frame buffer or the like provided in the RAM 3014 or within itself, and causes the image data to be displayed on the display device 3018.

[0335] The communication interface 3022 communicates with other electronic devices via a network. The hard disk drive 3024 stores programs and data used by the CPU 3012 in the computer 3000. The DVD-ROM drive 3026 reads a program or data from the DVD-ROM 3001 and provides the program or data to the hard disk drive 3024 via the RAM 3014. The IC card drive reads programs and data from an IC card and / or writes programs and data to an IC card.

[0336] ROM 3030 stores therein a boot program or the like executed by computer 3000 at activation, and / or a program dependent on the hardware of computer 3000. Input / output chip 3040 may also be connected to input / output controller 3020 via various input / output units through a parallel port, a serial port, a keyboard port, a mouse port, etc.

[0337] The program is provided by a computer-readable storage medium such as DVD-ROM 3001 or an IC card. The program is read from the computer-readable storage medium, installed in hard disk drive 3024, RAM 3014, or ROM 3030, which is also an example of a computer-readable storage medium, and executed by CPU 3012. The information processing described in these programs is read by computer 3000, resulting in cooperation between the programs and the various types of hardware resources described above. The apparatus or method may be configured by realizing the operation or processing of information according to the use of computer 3000.

[0338] For example, when communication is executed between computer 3000 and an external device, CPU 3012 may execute a communication program loaded in RAM 3014 and instruct communication interface 3022 to perform communication processing based on the processing described in the communication program. Communication interface 3022 reads transmission data stored in a transmission buffer area provided in a recording medium such as RAM 3014, hard disk drive 3024, DVD-ROM 3001, or an IC card under the control of CPU 3012, transmits the read transmission data to the network, or writes received data received from the network to a reception buffer area or the like provided on the recording medium.

[0339] In addition, the CPU 3012 may cause all or necessary portions of files or databases stored in external recording media such as a hard disk drive 3024, a DVD-ROM drive 3026 (DVD-ROM 3001), an IC card, etc. to be read into the RAM 3014, and may perform various types of processing on the data on the RAM 3014. Next, the CPU 3012 may write back the processed data to the external recording media.

[0340] Various types of information such as various types of programs, data, tables, and databases may be stored in the recording media and may undergo information processing. The CPU 3012 may perform various types of processing on the data read from the RAM 3014, including various types of operations, information processing, conditional judgment, conditional branch, unconditional branch, information search / replacement, etc. described throughout this disclosure and specified by the instruction sequence of the program, and write back the results to the RAM 3014. Also, the CPU 3012 may search for information in files, databases, etc. within the recording media. For example, when a plurality of entries each having an attribute value of a first attribute associated with an attribute value of a second attribute are stored in the recording media, the CPU 3012 searches for an entry that matches the condition where the attribute value of the first attribute is specified among the plurality of entries, reads the attribute value of the second attribute stored in the entry, and thereby may obtain the attribute value of the second attribute associated with the first attribute that satisfies a predetermined condition.

[0341] The programs or software modules described above may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium on or near the computer 3000. Also, a recording medium such as a hard disk or RAM provided within a server system connected to a dedicated communication network or the Internet can be used as a computer-readable storage medium, whereby the above programs are provided to the computer 3000 via the network.

[0342] As described above, the present invention has been explained using embodiments. However, the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the scope described in the above embodiments. It is obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes or improvements can be made to the above embodiments. Also, within a technically consistent range, matters described for a specific embodiment can be applied to other embodiments. It is clear from the description of the claims that forms with such changes or improvements can also be included in the technical scope of the present invention.

[0343] In the claims, the specification, and the drawings, the execution order of each process such as operations, procedures, steps, and stages in the apparatus, system, program, and method shown should be noted that it is not explicitly stated as "earlier" or "preceding" etc., and can be realized in any order unless the output of the previous process is used in the subsequent process. Regarding the operation flow in the claims, the specification, and the drawings, even if it is described for convenience using "first," "next," etc., it does not mean that it is essential to implement in this order.

[0344] This specification discloses, for example, the following matters. Each step of the control method shown below may be executed by a computer. (Item A-1) A management device for managing the evaluation of an article, An evaluation information acquisition unit that acquires evaluation information indicating the evaluation result for at least one of P (P is an integer of 2 or more) items related to the above article, A viewer information acquisition unit that acquires viewer information indicating the behavior characteristics, interests, or preferences of a viewer who views the above evaluation of the above article, Based on the viewer information acquired by the viewer information acquisition unit, a first item determination unit that determines Q (Q is a positive integer less than or equal to P) items used for deriving the evaluation value of the above article, which indicates the degree of evaluation of the above article, from among the above P items, A management device comprising the above. (Item A-2) The P items related to the above article are classified into a plurality of categories, Based on at least one of the browsing behavior characteristics, interests, and preferences of the browser indicated by the browser information, the first item determination unit determines one or more categories from among the plurality of categories to be used for presenting the evaluation to the browser. The management device according to item A-1. (Item A-3) The P items related to the article are classified into a plurality of categories. The first item determination unit Based on at least one selected from the group consisting of the type of the article, the instruction of the browser, and the browsing behavior characteristics, interests, and preferences of the browser indicated by the browser information, the first item determination unit determines one or more categories from among the plurality of categories to be used for presenting the evaluation to the browser, Based on at least one of the browsing behavior characteristics, interests, and preferences of the browser indicated by the browser information, the first item determination unit determines Q items including one or more items included in the one or more categories. The management device according to item A-1. (Item A-4) A first item evaluation unit that calculates an evaluation value for each of the Q items based on one or more pieces of evaluation information related to the article acquired by the evaluation information acquisition unit; An article evaluation unit that calculates an evaluation value of the article based on the evaluation value for each of the Q items calculated by the first item evaluation unit and the weights assigned to each of the Q items; The management device further includes: The management device according to any one of items A-1 to A-3. (Item A-5) The article evaluation unit determines the values of the weights assigned to each of the Q items based on at least one of the browsing behavior characteristics, interests, and preferences of the browser indicated by the browser information. The management device according to item A-4. (Item A-6) The evaluation information acquisition unit A first evaluation information acquisition unit that acquires first evaluation information indicating a result of evaluation of at least one of the P items regarding the first article by a consumer who has received the first article traded in the past or who has used or consumed the first article; A distribution information acquisition unit that acquires distribution state information indicating the state of the first article in at least a part of the distribution process of the first article; A correction unit that corrects the result of evaluation of at least one of the P items regarding the first article indicated by the first evaluation information based on the state of the first article indicated by the distribution state information; further comprising; The management device according to any one of items A-1 to A-5. (Item A-7) The evaluation information acquisition unit A first evaluation information acquisition unit that acquires first evaluation information indicating a result of evaluation of at least one of the P items regarding the first article by a consumer who has received the first article traded in the past or who has used or consumed the first article; An inspection information acquisition unit that acquires inspection information indicating the inspection time or evaluation time of the first article by the consumer; A correction unit that corrects the result of evaluation of at least one of the P items regarding the first article indicated by the first evaluation information based on the inspection time or evaluation time of the first article indicated by the inspection information; further comprising; The management device according to any one of items A-1 to A-5. (Item A-8) further comprising a production information acquisition unit that acquires production information indicating the production time or shipping time of the first article, The correction unit corrects the result of evaluation of at least one of the P items regarding the first article indicated by the first evaluation information based on the length of the period between the production time or shipping time of the first article indicated by the production information and the inspection time or evaluation time of the first article indicated by the inspection information. The management device according to item A-7. (Item A-9) The first article is a fresh food product, or an agricultural product, a fishery product, or a livestock product, The correction unit corrects the evaluation result for at least one of the P items regarding the first article indicated by the first evaluation information, further based on at least one of the place of origin and item of the first article. The management device according to any one of Items A-6 to A-8. (Item A-10) A management device for managing the evaluation of an article, An evaluation information acquisition unit that acquires evaluation information indicating the evaluation result for at least one of P (P is an integer of 2 or more) items regarding the article, A second item evaluation unit that calculates an evaluation value for each of the P items based on one or more pieces of the evaluation information regarding the article acquired by the evaluation information acquisition unit, A second item determination unit that determines Q (Q is a positive integer less than or equal to P) items to be used for determining the evaluation of the article from among the P items, based on the evaluation values for each of the P items calculated by the second item evaluation unit, A receiver extraction unit that extracts receivers having behavioral characteristics, interests, or preferences related to the Q items determined by the second item determination unit, with reference to a receiver information storage unit that stores one or more pieces of receiver information indicating the behavioral characteristics, interests, or preferences of each of one or more receivers capable of receiving information regarding the article, A generation unit that determines the evaluation of the article using the Q items and generates information regarding the article including information indicating the evaluation of the article, A transmission unit that transmits information regarding the article to the communication terminals of the receivers extracted by the receiver extraction unit, A management device comprising the above. (Item A-11) A program for causing a computer to function as the management device according to any one of Items A-1 to A-10. (Item A-12) A management method for managing the evaluation of an article, An evaluation information acquisition stage for acquiring evaluation information indicating an evaluation result for at least one of P items (P is an integer of 2 or more) regarding the above-mentioned article, A viewer information acquisition stage for acquiring viewer information indicating the behavior characteristics, interests or preferences of a viewer who views the above-mentioned evaluation of the above-mentioned article, Based on the viewer information acquired in the viewer information acquisition stage, a first item determination stage for determining Q items (Q is a positive integer less than or equal to P) to be presented to the viewer from among the P items, A management method having

[0345] This specification discloses, for example, the following matters. Each stage of the control method shown below may be executed by a computer. (Item B-1) A management device for managing an evaluation of an article, An assistance unit for assisting the input of an evaluation result of a first article by a consumer who has received the first article traded in the past or has used or consumed the first article, Comprising The assistance unit (i) A distribution information acquisition unit for acquiring at least one of (i) distribution state information indicating the state of the first article in at least a part of the distribution process of the first article, and (ii) distribution period information indicating the length of the period between the production time or shipment time of the first article and the inspection time or evaluation time of the first article by the consumer, An evaluation item determination unit for determining the types of one or more items for the consumer to evaluate the first article based on at least one of the state of the first article indicated by the distribution state information and the length of the period indicated by the distribution period information, An assistance data generation unit for generating input assistance data for assisting the input of an evaluation result for each of the one or more items determined by the evaluation item determination unit by the consumer, An assistance data transmission unit for transmitting the input assistance data to the communication terminal of the consumer, Having A management device. (Item B-2) Based on at least one of the state of the first article indicated by the above distribution state information and the length of the above period indicated by the above distribution period information, and at least one of the place of origin and item of the first article, the above evaluation item determination unit determines the type of one or more items for the above consumer to evaluate the above first article. The management device according to Item B-1. (Item B-3) The above evaluation item determination unit When the state of the first article indicated by the above distribution state information is worse than a predetermined standard, or when the length of the above period indicated by the above distribution period information is greater than a predetermined value, Compared with the case where the state of the first article indicated by the above distribution state information is better than a predetermined standard, or when the length of the above period indicated by the above distribution period information is smaller than a predetermined value, the number of the above one or more evaluation items is reduced, The type of the above one or more evaluation items is determined. The management device according to Item B-1 or Item B-2. (Item B-4) The above support unit A screen generation unit that generates input screen data for generating an input screen for the above consumer to input an evaluation result for the above first article. having The management device according to any one of Items B-1 to B-3. (Item B-5) A management device for managing evaluations of articles, An evaluation storage unit that stores evaluation information indicating the above evaluation of the above article, A first evaluation information acquisition unit that acquires first evaluation information indicating an evaluation result of the above first article by a consumer who has transferred or received the above first article traded in the past, or who has used or consumed the above first article. (i) Distribution status information indicating the status of the first article in at least a part of the distribution process of the first article, and (ii) a distribution information acquisition unit that acquires at least one of the distribution period information indicating the length of the period between the production time or shipment time of the first article and the inspection time or evaluation time of the first article by the consumer, Comprising The first evaluation information acquisition unit (a) When at least one of the status of the first article indicated by the distribution status information and the length of the period indicated by the distribution period information meets a predetermined condition, it is determined to store the first evaluation information in the evaluation storage unit, (b) When at least one of the status of the first article indicated by the distribution status information and the length of the period indicated by the distribution period information does not meet the predetermined condition, (i) at least a part of the evaluation result indicated by the first evaluation information is not stored in the evaluation storage unit, (ii) at least a part of the evaluation result indicated by the first evaluation information is corrected, or (iii) it is determined to store the first evaluation information and information indicating that at least a part of the evaluation result indicated by the first evaluation information may not be appropriate in association with each other in the evaluation storage unit, Management device. (Item B-6) When at least one of the status of the first article indicated by the distribution status information and the length of the period indicated by the distribution period information does not meet the predetermined condition, (i) At least one of the origin and item of the first article, (ii) the status of the first article in at least a part of the distribution process of the first article, and (iii) a correction unit that corrects the evaluation result for at least one of one or more evaluation items regarding the first article indicated by the first evaluation information based on at least one selected from the group consisting of the length of the period indicated by the distribution period information, Further comprising The management device according to Item B-5. (Item B-7) The state of the first article includes at least one selected from the group consisting of the acceleration applied to the first article, the temperature and illuminance of the surrounding environment of the first article, and the concentration of a specific substance in the surrounding environment of the first article. The management device according to any one of Items B-1 to B-6. (Item B-8) The specific substance is one or more substances selected from the group consisting of water, oxygen, carbon dioxide, and ethylene. The management device according to Item B-7. (Item B-9) A second evaluation information acquisition unit that acquires second evaluation information indicating an evaluation result of the first article by a supplier who produced or transferred the first article; For each of the one or more items for evaluating the first article, a deviation determination unit that determines whether or not the deviation between the evaluation result based on the second evaluation information and the evaluation result based on the first evaluation information exceeds a predetermined level; Further comprising: The management device according to any one of Items B-1 to B-8. (Item B-10) When the deviation determination unit determines that the deviation exceeds a predetermined level, a notification unit that notifies at least one of the supplier and the customer of information indicating at least one of the state of the first article indicated by the distribution state information and the length of the period indicated by the distribution period information; Further comprising: The management device according to any one of Items B-1 to B-9. (Item B-11) A program for causing a computer to function as the information processing device according to any one of Items B-1 to B-10. (Item B-12) A management method for managing evaluations of articles, A support data transmission step of transmitting input support data for assisting the input of an evaluation result of the first article by the consumer to the communication terminal of the consumer who has received the first article traded in the past or who has used or consumed the first article; A support data generation step of generating the input support data; (i) A distribution state information indicating the state of the first article in at least a part of the distribution process of the first article, and (ii) A distribution information acquisition step of acquiring at least one of the distribution period information indicating the length of the period between the production time or the shipping time of the first article and the inspection time or the evaluation time of the first article by the consumer; having; The support data generation step includes: A step of determining the types of one or more evaluation items for the consumer to evaluate the first article based on at least one of the state of the first article indicated by the distribution state information and the length of the period indicated by the distribution period information; including; Management method.

Explanation of Signs

[0346] 12 Commodity 14 Commodity 20 Producer 22 Communication terminal 30 Distributor 32 Communication terminal 40 Consumer 42 Communication terminal 44 Consumer 46 Consumer 50 Seller 100 Transaction management system 110 Management server 112 Transaction management department 114 Distribution management department 120 Production robot 130 Base unit 132 Moving unit 134 Imaging unit 136 Sensor unit 138 Working unit 140 Fruit Selection System 160 Logistics System 180 Sales Support Server 220 Control Unit 222 Control Program 224 OS 226 Driver 230 Power Supply Unit 250 Vibration Damping Unit 280 Balance Adjustment Unit 294 Firmware 420 Sales Management Department 422 EC Site Management Department 424 Input Section 426 Order Management Department 428 Product Management Department 440 Customer Management Department 442 User Information Acquisition Section 444 User Information Storage Section 460 Evaluation Management Department 462 Evaluation Acquisition Section 464 Evaluation Correction Section 466 Evaluation Information Storage Section 540 Product Description Screen 542 Product Description Text 544 Product Image 546 Product Evaluation Image 560 Product Description Screen 566 Product Evaluation Image 620 Evaluation Input Screen 622 Input Form 624 Input Form 640 Evaluation Input Screen 642 Input Form 644 Input Form 740 Evaluation Input Screen 744 Input Form 750 Message 820 Transaction Support Department 822 Evaluation Information Extraction Section 824 User Information Extraction Section 826 First Item Determination Section 828 First Item Evaluation Section 830 Product Evaluation Section 832 Transaction Screen Generation Unit 840 Matching Support Unit 842 Second Item Evaluation Unit 844 Second Item Decision Unit 846 Receiver Extraction Unit 848 Notification Generation Unit 860 Data Transmission Unit 912 Circulation Status Decision Unit 914 Circulation Period Decision Unit 920 Evaluation Support Unit 922 Input Item Decision Unit 924 Input Screen Generation Unit 926 Input Screen Transmission Unit 932 Supply-Side Evaluation Acquisition Unit 934 Demand-Side Evaluation Acquisition Unit 936 Evaluation Data Control Unit 942 Deviation Judgment Unit 944 Deviation Notification Unit 1020 Sales Promotion Support Unit 1022 In-Store Advertising 1040 Packing Support Unit 1052 Box 1054 Evaluation Sample 1122 User Information Acquisition Unit 1124 Target Attribute Decision Unit 1132 Evaluation Information Acquisition Unit 1134 Evaluation Item Decision Unit 1140 Advertising Data Generation Unit 1142 Appeal Mode Decision Unit 1144 Phrase Extraction Unit 1146 Layout Extraction Unit 1148 Image Extraction Unit 1152 Candidate Presentation Unit 1154 Advertising Decision Unit 1160 Storage Unit 1162 Phrase Template Database 1164 Layout Template Database 1166 Item Image Database 1168 Background Image Database 1222 Presentation Mode 1224 Presentation Mode 1226 Hint mode 1320 Enclosed documents 1330 Simple temperature measurement kit 1422 Order information acquisition unit 1424 User information acquisition unit 1426 Evaluation information acquisition unit 1442 Specification determination unit 1444 Arrangement determination unit 1446 Decision criterion storage unit 1500 Data table 1520 Product type 1540 Evaluation sample type 1560 Arrangement 3000 Computer 3001 DVD-ROM 3010 Host controller 3012 CPU 3014 RAM 3016 GPU 3018 Display device 3020 Input / output controller 3022 Communication interface 3024 Hard disk drive 3026 DVD-ROM drive 3030 ROM 3040 Input / output chip 3042 Keyboard

Claims

1. A determining device comprising a specification determination unit that is delivered together with packaging materials for packaging an article and determines the specifications of each of one or more comparison references used to determine the state of the article, wherein the specification determination unit determines the specifications of each of the one or more comparison references based on (i) the type of the article, (ii) the distance to which the article is to be delivered, (iii) the time required for delivering the article, (iv) the weather at the delivery destination of the article, (v) the attributes of the sender of the article, (vi) the attributes of the recipient of the article, (vii) the attributes of the carrier of the article, and (viii) at least one of the pattern and color on the surface of the packaging material, and combinations thereof.

2. The specifications of each of the one or more comparison references include at least one of (i) the type of the determination target of each of the one or more comparison references, (ii) at least one of the size, shape, pattern, and color of each of the one or more comparison references, and (iii) the hardness of each of the one or more comparison references. The determining device according to claim 1.

3. Each of the one or more comparison references is arranged on a part of the surface of the packaging material or at least a part of the contents accommodated inside the packaging material. The determining device according to claim 1 or claim 2.

4. The determining device according to claim 3 further comprising an arrangement determination unit that determines the position or range in the packaging material for each of the one or more comparison references.

5. The packaging material includes at least one of a box, a partition member, a wrapping material, and a cushioning material. The determining device according to any one of claims 1 to 4.

6. The specification determination unit determines the attributes of the sender based on the evaluation of the other article or the sender by the recipient of the other articles sent by the sender in the past. The determining device according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

7. The specification determination unit determines the attributes of the recipient based on the evaluation of the other articles received by the recipient in the past by the recipient. The determining device according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

8. The specification determination unit determines the attributes of the carrier based on the evaluation of the other article or the carrier by the sender or recipient of the other articles delivered by the carrier in the past. The determining device according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

9. ​ ​ ​ ​ The state of the article is determined based on a comparison result between the article and at least one of the sizes, shapes, patterns, colors, and hardnesses of the one or more comparison references. The determination device according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

10. The state of the article includes at least one of the state of the appearance of the article and the state of the delivery of the article. The state of the appearance of the article includes at least one of the size, degree of bending, and color of the article. The determination device according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

11. A program for causing a computer to function as the determination device according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

12. A specification determination step in which a computer is delivered together with packaging materials for packaging an article and determines the specifications of each of one or more comparison references used to determine the state of the article. comprising The specification determination step is (i) the type of the article, (ii) the distance to which the article is delivered, (iii) the time required for the delivery of the article, (iv) the weather at the delivery destination of the article, (v) the attributes of the sender of the article, (vi) the attributes of the recipient of the article, (vii) the attributes of the delivery person of the article, and (viii) at least one of the pattern and color on the surface of the packaging material, and determining the specifications of each of the one or more comparison references based on these combinations. including Determination method.

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