Catalog creation system for custom-made products

Abstract

To enable easy selection of a desired product form among a large number of custom-made products having an exterior design with characters and patterns determined by a purchaser.SOLUTION: It is possible to make it easier for a user to choose a product by having the user input characters and patterns from a user terminal (1) and transmitting the same to a catalog generation server (2), generating expected completion images of custom-made products with exterior designs with input characters and patterns using the catalog generation server (2), and providing the user with a user-specific catalog (26) using the expected completion images.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a system for creating a catalog of made-to-order products in which different characters and designs are designed on the appearance of products by purchasers who wish to buy nameplates, signs, etc.

Background Art

[0002] Nameplates and signs are made-to-order production because they need to have names put on them. Therefore, it is necessary for the purchaser and the manufacturer to negotiate and place an order regarding the design such as the size, font, and color of the characters. In the past, due to an increase in the types of nameplates and signs and the growing particularity of purchasers, the negotiation process before placing an order has become more time-consuming. Thus, manufacturers have been working on developing a system (simulator) that allows purchasers to freely design products themselves in order to reduce the time and effort of the communication before placing an order. As a result, while reducing the negotiation time through the simulator, an improvement in purchaser satisfaction has been achieved. The mechanism of this simulator has spawned derivative systems such as a system (Japanese Patent Application No. 2019-149447) that finalizes the design after placing an order.

[0003] By the way, to order a nameplate or a sign, there are two steps: "selecting a desired product from many available products" and, for the selected product, "deciding on the size, font, color, etc. of the characters". The above-mentioned simulator is effective for determining the size, font, color, etc. of the characters after selecting a product, but it is not very effective for finding a product that one wants from many available products, and the problem of taking a long time to select a product from many available products has not been solved.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Non-Patent Documents

[0005] [Non-Patent Document 1] Home Face Designer https: / / minocraft.co.jp / simulator / mino [Non-Patent Document 2] Nameplate simulation: https: / / sign-simulation.net / fukucyo [Overview of the project] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0006] The problem that this invention aims to solve is to provide a mechanism that allows prospective buyers to easily find their preferred product from among many custom-made products, where different characters and patterns are designed on the exterior of the product according to their preferences. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] To solve the aforementioned problems, the present invention is a catalog generation system characterized by providing prospective buyers with a product catalog specifically for them, which includes a projected image of a custom-made product with different characters and patterns designed on its appearance according to the prospective buyer. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] According to this invention, prospective buyers can obtain a personalized catalog containing product images with their chosen text or design incorporated into the exterior of the custom-made product, allowing them to search for their preferred product from within that catalog. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0009] [Figure 1] This is an example of a product catalog (nameplate) using conventional technology. [Figure 2] This is an example of a product catalog (nameplate) according to the present invention. [Figure 3] This is an overall diagram of the system for generating product catalogs according to the present invention. (Example 1) [Figure 4]This is an overall diagram of the system for generating product catalogs according to the present invention. (Example 2) [Figure 5] This is an example of a method for selecting typefaces to be included in a product catalog according to the present invention. (Example 2) [Figure 6] This is an example of a method for selecting text colors to be included in a product catalog according to the present invention. (Example 2) [Figure 7] This is an example of a method for selecting products to be included in a product catalog according to the present invention. (Example 2) [Figure 8] This is an example of input fields when determining the products to be included in a product catalog according to the present invention based on individual preferences. (Example 2) [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0010] Embodiments of the invention will be described based on examples and with reference to the drawings. [Examples]

[0011] In the embodiment shown in Figure 3, the user terminal (1) is a personal computer or smartphone used by the prospective buyer. The user terminal has a name input section (11) and a catalog display section (12). The prospective buyer can use the name input section (11) of the user terminal (1) to send their name to the catalog generation server (2). For example, this could involve connecting to the catalog generation server (2) using a smartphone browser, where the name input section (11) is displayed in the browser and the name is entered. The name will include the user's name in kanji and Roman letters, and at least one address.

[0012] The catalog display unit (12) of the user terminal (1) has the function of receiving and displaying a user-specific catalog (26) sent from the catalog generation server (2). For example, the catalog generation server (2) could generate the user-specific catalog (26) in HTML and display it in the browser of the user terminal (1). Alternatively, for example, the catalog generation server (2) could send the user-specific catalog (26) to the user terminal (1) via email, and the user could view it. In this case, information such as the email address necessary for sending the catalog could be entered when the user enters their name in the name input section, or the user could be required to register as a member and the name and email address entered at that time could be sent to the catalog generation server (2).

[0013] The catalog generation server (2) consists of a product image generation unit (21), a product information database (22), a dedicated catalog generation unit (24), and a catalog template group (25). The product image generation unit (21) receives a name from the user terminal (1) (at this time, the name includes the user's name in kanji, in Roman letters, and at least one of their addresses), and generates a product image (23) in which the name is designed as the appearance of the product from the product information stored in the product information database (22). In Figure 3, it is written that all the information necessary to generate the product image (23) (excluding the user's name) is contained in a single product image database (22), but in reality, it is also possible to use multiple information storage methods, for example, storing text information in a database and image information in a file.

[0014] Once the generation of the product image (23) is complete, the dedicated catalog generation unit (24) selects one from the catalog template group (25) and pastes the product image (23) and product information to create a user-specific catalog (26). The generated user-specific catalog (26) is sent to the user terminal (1). The user-specific catalog generated here may be sent as an email attachment, viewed as an electronic catalog in a browser, or used as an image for the product selection screen in a system that simulates the appearance of products (for example, Non-Patent Document 1).

[0015] Here, the catalog template group (25) in FIG. 3 indicates that there are multiple catalog templates, which also includes the case where there is only one catalog template. When there are multiple catalog templates, methods for selecting one include random selection, or changing according to seasons and time zones.

[0016] In FIG. 3, the catalog generation server (2) is shown as one server, but it can also be composed of multiple servers. Also, the user terminal (1) may have different terminals for the user input part (11) and the catalog display part (12).

[0017] In this embodiment, a dedicated catalog (26) is generated each time a name is sent from the user terminal (1). However, it is also conceivable to save the product images (23) or the user - dedicated catalog (26) created in the past in the catalog generation server (2) without generating them each time, and then reuse them when the same name is sent from the user terminal (1) next time.

Example

[0018] In the embodiment shown in Figure 4, there is a user terminal (1) and a catalog generation server (2). The user terminal has a user input section (11) and a catalog display section (12). The user input section (11) allows the prospective buyer to input at least one character or image of their choice, as well as some of the results of questions regarding font, color, and other preferences, and sends the results to the catalog generation server. At this time, product selection can be done one by one, or by selecting by product category as shown in Figure 7. At this time, font selection can be done by selecting from a list as shown in Figure 5, or by dividing fonts into several groups (Gothic, Mincho, brushstroke, cursive, etc.) and having the user select by group (Figure 8). At this time, color selection can be done by selecting from a list as shown in Figure 6, or by dividing colors into several groups (warm colors, cool colors, grays, etc.) and having the user select by group (Figure 8). At this time, questions regarding the user's preferences can be done not only by having the user select whether they like or dislike something on a scale as shown in Figure 8, but also by changing the next question based on the answer to the previous question. The provider of the catalog generation system according to the present invention may decide in advance which information—name, product, font, color, and other preferences—the user will be asked to input, or the user may select what information to input at the time of input.

[0019] The catalog display unit (12) of the user terminal (1) has the function of receiving and displaying a user-specific catalog (27) sent from the catalog generation server (2). For example, this could involve the catalog generation server (2) generating a user-specific catalog (26) in HTML and displaying it in the browser of the user terminal (1). Alternatively, for example, the catalog generation server (2) could send the user-specific catalog (26) to the user terminal (1) via email, and the user could then display it offline on the user terminal (1).

[0020] The catalog generation server (2) consists of a generation target determination unit (27), a product image generation unit (21), a product information DB (22), a dedicated catalog generation unit (24), and a catalog template group (25). The generation target determination unit (27) determines the generation targets to be included in the user's dedicated catalog (26) and the catalog templates to be used for catalog generation from the catalog template group (25), based on the input results of questions about characters, patterns, products, fonts, colors, and other preferences received from the user terminal (1) and the product information DB (22). One method for selecting products to include in the catalog based on the user's preferences is to pre-set an index for each product indicating whether it corresponds to each question, score each question to see if it matches the preferences of the prospective buyer, and include the product if the sum of the scores exceeds a certain value. The user input section (11) requires input of at least one of the following: text, image, product, font, color, or other preference questions. Therefore, the generation target determination section (27) does not always receive all the information regarding text, image, product, font, color, and other preference questions. The method by which the generation target determination section (27) determines the generation target varies depending on the input information. For example, if only a product is entered, the selected product will be used as the generation target. If both a product and a preference question are entered, the generation target may be a product from the specified products that matches the user's preferences. Here, the catalog template group (25) in Figure 4 indicates that there are multiple catalog templates, but this also includes the case where there is only one catalog template. When there are multiple catalog templates, methods for selecting one include random selection, changing based on season or time of day, or changing based on information such as the buyer's preferences, font, and color entered in the user input section (11). As an example of a method for selecting a template based on information entered by the buyer, an indicator could be set for each template to indicate whether it corresponds to each question, and a score could be assigned to each question to see how well it matches the buyer's preferences, with the template with the highest total score being selected.

[0021] The product image generation unit (21) generates a product image (23) by designing the text and patterns onto the appearance of the product, based on the generation target, text, patterns received from the generation target determination unit (27) and the product information stored in the product information DB (22). In Figure 4, it is assumed that all the information necessary to generate the product image (23) (excluding text and patterns from the user input unit) is contained in a single product information DB (22), but in reality, it is also possible to use multiple information storage methods, for example, storing text information in a database and image information in a file.

[0022] Once the generation of the product image (23) is complete, the dedicated catalog generation unit (24) selects the catalog template determined by the generation target determination unit (27) from the catalog template group (25) and pastes the product image (23) and product information to generate the user-specific catalog (26). The generated user-specific catalog (26) is sent to the user terminal (1). The user-specific catalog generated here may be sent as an email attachment, viewed as an electronic catalog in a browser, or used as an image for the product selection screen in a system that simulates the appearance of products (for example, Non-Patent Document 1).

[0023] Although the catalog generation server (2) is shown as a single server in Figure 4, it may consist of multiple servers. Furthermore, the user terminal (1) may have different user input units (11) and catalog display units (12).

[0024] As demonstrated in the above embodiment, users can obtain a catalog containing product images with their names incorporated into the product's appearance, as shown in Figure 2, making it easier for them to select products. While the catalog in Figure 2 only includes product numbers and product images, additional information such as price and reasons for recommendation may also be included. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0025] 1. User terminal 11. User Input Section 12 Catalog display section 2. Catalog generation server 21 Product Image Generation Department 22 Product information DB 23 Product Images 24 Dedicated catalog generation unit 25 Catalog Templates 26. User-only catalog 27 Generation Target Determination Unit

Claims

1. A catalog generation system for nameplates, signs, and seals, characterized by having a product image generation unit that generates product images for multiple products by having the user input at least one of the following: a name in kanji, Roman letters, or an address; and a dedicated catalog generation unit that generates a user-only catalog containing the multiple product images generated by the product image generation unit.

2. A catalog generation system for custom-made products in which user-defined characters and designs are incorporated into the product's appearance. The system comprises: a generation target determination unit that prompts the user to input at least one character or design and information about the user's preferences, and based on the information about the user's preferences, selects multiple products from a plurality of custom-made products that match the user's preferences; a product image generation unit that generates multiple product images in which at least one of the input characters and designs is incorporated into the appearance of each selected product; and a dedicated catalog generation unit that generates a user-specific catalog containing the multiple product images generated by the product image generation unit.

3. A product appearance simulation system for custom-made products, characterized by allowing users to select products using a user-specific catalog generated by the methods of Claim 1 and Claim 2, in which the text and patterns chosen by the user are designed on the exterior.

Images