Sales system and sales processing apparatus for selling an intangible product and a tangible product

• US 7,184,975 B2
• Filed: 11/08/2004
• Issued: 02/27/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Ikeda, Kiyokazu
• Primary Examiner(s): Rosen; Nicholas D.
• Application Number:
  US10/984,328
• Publication Number:
  US 20050091125A1
• Time in Patent Office: 841 Days
• Field of Search: 705/4, 705/14, 705/26, 705/27
• US Class Current: 705/4
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0623 Item investigation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0625 Directed, with specific intent or strategy
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0633 Lists, e.g. purchase orders, compilation or processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 40/08 Insurance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass

Abstract

An intangible product sales server for selling intangible products and a tangible product sales server for selling tangible products associated with the intangible products cooperate to simplify purchase procedures to be followed by users in purchasing tangible and intangible products in combination.

Claims

1. A cooperative sales system interconnected via a network for selling an intangible product and for selling a tangible product, said sales system comprising:

a user terminal apparatus connected to the network; and

a plurality of servers, including;

an intangible product sales server connected to the network for carrying out a sale of the intangible product,

a tangible product sales server connected to the network for carrying out a sale of the tangible product,

a tangible product manufacturer server connected to the network and having a tangible product database for storing availability and delivery time data about the tangible product, and

a finance company server;

said user terminal apparatus including;

operator means for receiving inputs provided by a user,

terminal communication means for transmitting data to and receiving data from said plurality of servers,

display means for displaying the data received by said terminal communication means, and

terminal control means for controlling said communication means to receive data from at least one of said plurality of servers, for controlling said display means to display the received data, and for controlling said communication means to transmit inputted data that is provided by the user in response to the received data displayed by said display means;

said intangible product sales server including;

intangible server communication means for transmitting data to and receiving data from other devices connected to the network,

intangible product data storage means for storing data about the intangible product,

intangible server user information storage means for storing personal data about the user, and

intangible server control means for controlling said intangible server communication means to transmit first display data to said user terminal apparatus, the first display data including requests for the user to provide personal data about the user and to provide ordering data about the intangible product, for controlling said intangible server communication means to receive user-provided personal data about the user and to receive user-provided ordering data about the intangible product from said user terminal apparatus, and in response to receiving the user-provided personal data and the user-provider ordering data, for searching said intangible product data storage means to retrieve information about the intangible product based on the received ordering data about the intangible product, for controlling said intangible server user information storage means to store the received personal data about the user, for controlling said intangible server communication means to transmit at least some of the received personal data about the user and at least some of the received ordering data about the intangible product to said tangible product sales server, and for controlling said intangible server communication means to transmit the retrieved information about the intangible product to said user terminal apparatus;

said tangible product sales server including;

tangible server communication means for transmitting data to and receiving data from further devices connected to the network,

tangible product data storage means for storing product data about the tangible product,

tangible server user information storage means for storing the data about the user, and

tangible server control means for controlling said tangible server communication means to receive the at least some of the personal data about the user and the at least some of the ordering data about the intangible product transmitted by said intangible product sales server, and in response to receiving the at least some of the personal data about the user and the at least some of the ordering data about the intangible product, for controlling said tangible server user information storage means to store the received at least some of the personal data about the user, for searching said tangible product data storage means to retrieve information about the tangible product based on the received at least some of the ordering data about the intangible product, for controlling said tangible server communication means to transmit second display data to said user terminal apparatus, the second display data including the retrieved information about the tangible product and a request for the user to provide ordering data related to the tangible product, for controlling said tangible server communication means to receive user-provided ordering data related to the tangible product from said user terminal apparatus, and for controlling said tangible server communication means to transmit the user-provided ordering data related to the tangible product and a request for the availability and delivery time data about the tangible product to said tangible product manufacturer server;

said tangible product manufacturer server for receiving the user-provided ordering data related to the tangible product and the request for the availability and delivery time data about the tangible product, for accessing said tangible product database to obtain the availability and delivery time data about the tangible product, and for transmitting the availability and delivery time data about the tangible product to said tangible server communication means of said tangible product sales server;

said tangible product sales server for controlling said tangible server communication means to receive the availability and delivery time data about the tangible product from said tangible product manufacturer server, for controlling said tangible server communication means to transmit the availability and delivery time data about the tangible product to said user terminal apparatus, and for controlling said tangible server communication means to transmit the at least some of the personal data about the user, the at least some of the ordering data about the intangible product, the ordering data related to the tangible product, and the availability and delivery time data about the tangible product to said finance company server;

said finance company server for receiving the at least some of the personal data about the user, the at least some of the ordering data about the intangible product, the ordering data related to the tangible product, and the availability and delivery time data about the tangible product from said tangible product sales server, for generating estimate sheet data based on the received data, for generating third display data that includes the estimate sheet data and a request for user payment data, for transmitting the third display data to said user terminal apparatus, for receiving the user payment data from said user terminal apparatus, and upon receiving the user payment data, for transmitting a payment settlement notification to said intangible product sales server and to said tangible product sales server.

2. The cooperative sales system according to claim 1, wherein the intangible product for sale by said intangible product sales server is an automobile insurance product.

3. The cooperative sales system according to claim 2, wherein the tangible product for sale by said tangible product sales server is at least one of a car navigating system and a car safety device to be installed on a vehicle covered by the automobile insurance product.

4. A cooperative sales system interconnected via a network for selling an intangible product and for selling a tangible product, said sales system comprising:

a user terminal apparatus connected to the network; and

a plurality of servers, including;

an intangible product sales server connected to the network for carrying out a sale of the intangible product,

a tangible product sales server connected to the network for carrying out a sale of the tangible product, and

a service shop server;

said user terminal apparatus including;

operator means for receiving inputs provided by a user,

terminal communication means for transmitting data to and receiving data from said plurality of servers,

display means for displaying the data received by said terminal communication means, and

terminal control means for controlling said communication means to receive data from at least one of said plurality of servers, for controlling said display means to display the received data, and for controlling said communication means to transmit inputted data that is provided by the user in response to the received data displayed by said display means;

said intangible product sales server including;

intangible server communication means for transmitting data to and receiving data from other devices connected to the network,

intangible product data storage means for storing data about the intangible product,

intangible server user information storage means for storing personal data about the user, and

intangible server control means for controlling said intangible server communication means to transmit first display data to said user terminal apparatus, the first display data including requests for the user to provide personal data about the user and to provide ordering data about the intangible product, for controlling said intangible server communication means to receive user-provided personal data about the user and to receive user-provided ordering data about the intangible product from said user terminal apparatus, and in response to receiving the user-provided personal data and the user-provider ordering data, for searching said intangible product data storage means to retrieve information about the intangible product based on the received ordering data about the intangible product, for controlling said intangible server user information storage means to store the received personal data about the user, for controlling said intangible server communication means to transmit at least some of the received personal data about the user and at least some of the received ordering data about the intangible product to said tangible product sales server, and for controlling said intangible server communication means to transmit the retrieved information about the intangible product to said user terminal apparatus;

said tangible product sales server including;

tangible server communication means for transmitting data to and receiving data from further devices connected to the network,

tangible product data storage means for storing product data about the tangible product,

tangible server user information storage means for storing the data about the user, and

tangible server control means for controlling said tangible server communication means to receive the at least some of the personal data about the user and the at least some of the ordering data about the intangible product transmitted by said intangible product sales server, and in response to receiving the at least some of the personal data about the user and the at least some of the ordering data about the intangible product, for controlling said tangible server user information storage means to store the received at least some of the personal data about the user, for searching said tangible product data storage means to retrieve information about the tangible product based on the received at least some of the ordering data about the intangible product, for controlling said tangible server communication means to transmit second display data to said user terminal apparatus, the second display data including the retrieved information about the tangible product and a request for the user to provide ordering data related to the tangible product, for controlling said tangible server communication means to receive user-provided ordering data related to the tangible product from said user terminal apparatus, and for controlling said tangible server communication means to transmit availability and delivery time data about the tangible product to said user terminal apparatus;

said terminal control means of said user terminal apparatus for controlling said communication means of said user terminal apparatus to transmit a request for a service shop location map from said service shop server;

said service shop server including;

service shop server communication means for transmitting data to and receiving data from other devices connected to the network,

a shop location database for storing associated location information for each one of a plurality of service shops,

an appointment schedule database for storing associated scheduling information for each one of the plurality of service shops, and

service shop server control means for controlling said service shop server communication means to receive the request for map screen data from said user terminal apparatus, for controlling said service shop server communication means to obtain at least some of the user-provided personal data about the user and at least some of the user-provided ordering data about the intangible product from said intangible product sales server, for accessing said shop location database to retrieve map information associated with at least one of the plurality of service shops based on the received at least some of the user-provided personal data about the user and at least some of the user-provided ordering data about the intangible product, the at least one of the plurality of service shops being based on proximity to the user and capabilities of that service shop, for generating the service shop location map based on the retrieved map information, for controlling said service shop server communication means to transmit the service shop location map to said terminal communication means of said user terminal apparatus, for controlling said service shop server communication means to receive a user selection of one of the plurality of service shops from said terminal communication means of said user terminal apparatus, for retrieving the scheduling information associated with the selected one of the plurality of service shops from said appointment schedule database, for controlling said service shop server communication means to transmit the retrieved scheduling information to said user terminal apparatus, and for controlling said service shop server communication means to receive a user selected appointment date from said terminal communication means of said user terminal apparatus.

5. The cooperative sales system according to claim 4, wherein said tangible server control means controls said tangible server communication means to transmit the retrieved information about the tangible product to said service shop server, to receive information about installing the tangible product in a vehicle of the user at the selected one of the plurality of service shops from said service shop server, and to transmit the information about installing the tangible product to said terminal communication means of said user terminal.

6. An intangible product sales apparatus connected over a network to a user terminal apparatus and to a tangible product sales server for selling an intangible product and for selling a tangible product, said apparatus comprising:

communication means for transmitting data to and receiving data from other devices connected to the network;

product data storage means for storing data about the intangible product;

user information storage means for storing personal information about a user of the user terminal apparatus;

a purchaser database for registering purchasers of the intangible product; and

control means for controlling said communication means to transmit first display data to the user terminal apparatus, the first display data including requests for the user to provide the personal information about the user and to provide ordering data about the intangible product, for controlling said communication means to receive user-provided personal information about the user and to receive user-provided ordering data about the intangible product from the user terminal apparatus, for controlling said user information storage means to store the received personal information about the user, and in response to receiving the user-provided personal data and the user-provided ordering data about the intangible product, for searching said data storage means to retrieve information about the intangible product based on the received ordering data about the intangible product, for controlling said communication means to transmit the retrieved information about the requested intangible product to the user terminal apparatus, for controlling said communication means to transmit at least some of the received personal data about the user and at least some of the received ordering data about the intangible product to the tangible product sales server, and for controlling said communication means to receive payment settlement notification from a finance company server, the payment settlement notification being transmitted by the finance company server upon receiving user payment data from the user terminal apparatus, the user payment data being transmitted from the user terminal apparatus to the finance company server in reply to third display data transmitted from the finance company server to the user terminal apparatus, the third display data including estimate sheet data and a request for user payment data, the estimate sheet data being generated by the finance company server based on the at least some of the personal data about the user, the at least some of the ordering data about the intangible product, user-provided ordering data related to the tangible product, and availability and delivery time data about the tangible product being transmitted by the tangible product sales server to the finance company server, the availability and delivery time data about the tangible product being transmitted from a tangible product manufacturer server to the tangible product sales server in response to the user-provided ordering data related to the tangible product and a request for the availability and delivery time data about the tangible product being transmitted from the tangible product sales server to the tangible product manufacturer server, the user-provided ordering data related to the tangible product being transmitted from the user terminal apparatus to the tangible product sales server in response to second display data being transmitted from the tangible product sales server to the user terminal apparatus, the second display data including information about the tangible product and a request for the user to provide the ordering data related to the information about the tangible product, the information about the tangible product being retrieved by the tangible product sales server in response to the tangible product sales server receiving the at least some of the personal data about the user and the at least some of the ordering data about the intangible product from said communications means;

said control means, upon receiving the payment settlement notification, controlling said purchaser database to register the user as a purchaser of the intangible product.

7. The intangible product sales apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the intangible product is an automobile insurance product and the tangible product is at least one of a car navigating system and a car safety device to be installed on a vehicle covered by the automobile insurance product.

8. A tangible product sales apparatus connected over a network to a user terminal apparatus and to an intangible product sales server for selling an intangible product and for selling a tangible product, the intangible product sales server transmitting first display data to the user terminal apparatus, the first display data including requests for a user of the user terminal apparatus to provide personal data about the user and to provide ordering data about the intangible product, the intangible product sales server receiving user-provided personal data about the user and user-provided ordering data about the intangible product from the user terminal apparatus and then retrieving information about the intangible product requested by the user based on the received ordering data about the intangible product, said tangible product sales apparatus comprising:

communication means for transmitting data to and receiving data from other devices connected to the network;

product data storage means for storing data about the tangible product;

user information storage means for storing personal information about a user;

a purchaser database for registering purchasers of the tangible product; and

control means for controlling said communication means to receive at least some of the personal information about the user and at least some of the ordering data about the intangible product from the intangible product sales server, and in response to receiving the user-provided personal data and the user-provided ordering data, for controlling said user information storage means to store the received at least some of the personal data about the user, for searching said product data storage means to retrieve information about the tangible product based on the received at least some of the ordering data about intangible product, for controlling said communication means to transmit second display data to the user terminal apparatus, the second display data including the retrieved information about the tangible product and a request for the user to provide ordering data related to the retrieved tangible product, for controlling said communication means to receive user-provided ordering data related to the tangible product from the user terminal apparatus, for controlling said tangible server communication means to transmit the user-provided ordering data related to the tangible product and a request for the availability and delivery time data about the tangible product to a tangible product manufacturer server, for controlling said tangible server communication means to receive the availability and delivery time data about the tangible product from the tangible product manufacturer server, for controlling said communication means to transmit availability and delivery time data about the tangible product to the user terminal apparatus, for controlling said tangible server communication means to transmit the at least some of the personal data about the user, the at least some of the ordering data about the intangible product, the user-provided ordering data related to the tangible product, and the availability and delivery time data about the tangible product to a finance company server, for controlling said communication means to receive payment settlement notification from the finance company server, the payment settlement notification being transmitted by the finance company server upon receiving user payment data from the user terminal apparatus, the user payment data being transmitted from the user terminal apparatus to the finance company server in reply to third display data transmitted from the finance company server to the user terminal apparatus, the third display data including an estimate sheet data and a request for user payment data, the estimate sheet data being generated by the finance company server based on the at least some of the personal data about the user, the at least some of the ordering data about the intangible product, the user-provided ordering data related to the tangible product, and the availability and delivery time data about the tangible product received from said tangible product sales server;

said control means, upon receiving the payment settlement notification, controlling said purchaser database to register the user as a purchaser of the tangible product.

9. The tangible product sales apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the intangible product is an automobile insurance product and the tangible product is at least one of a car navigating system and a car safety device to be installed on a vehicle covered by the automobile insurance product.