Purchase support server, purchase support method, purchase support program, and computer-readable recording medium for recording said program

• US 9,898,757 B2
• Filed: 02/01/2012
• Issued: 02/20/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rakuten Group, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Rakuten, Inc. (Rakuten Group, Inc.)
• Inventors: Bandara, Udana, Chen, James
• Primary Examiner(s): Misiaszek, Michael
• Assistant Examiner(s): O'Sullivan, Katherine
• Application Number:
  US13/984,690
• Publication Number:
  US 20130346200A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,211 Days
• Field of Search: 705 261- 272
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0207 Discounts or incentives, e.g. coupons or rebates
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0255 based on user history
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]

Abstract

A mediation server (30) includes a second request receiving unit (35) that receives first store information for identifying a store visited by a user as a visited store and second store information for identifying a designated store designated as a place to purchase an item recognized by the user at the visited store from a mobile terminal (10) of the user, a response information generating unit (36) that compares the first and second store information and determines whether the visited store and the designated store match, and generates bargaining information indicating a specified service offered for the item by the visited store when the two stores do not match, and a response information transmission unit (37) that transmits the generated bargaining information to the mobile terminal (10).

Claims

1. A purchase support server comprising:

a non-transitory memory operable to store program code; and

a processor operable to read the program code, and operate as instructed by the program code to;

receive visited store information for identifying a visited store that a user physically visits;

retrieve, from at least one image of at least one item photographed by the user using at least one camera of a mobile terminal, item-related information for identifying an item that is recognized by the user at the visited store;

generate, in response to retrieving the at least one image, a webpage indicating an online store selling the item and the visited store, indicating times until the item is shipped respectively from the online store and the visited store and is acquired by the user, and indicating points to be obtained by the user for purchasing the item respectively from the online store and the visited store, by searching a database for the generated webpage based on the received visited store information and the received item-related information;

transmit the generated webpage to the mobile terminal, the generated webpage comprising links to access sites for purchasing the item respectively from the online store and the visited store, and item-selling store information for identifying the online store and the visited store being embedded in the respective links, wherein the mobile terminal displays the transmitted webpage, on a screen;

receive the item-selling store information embedded in a link, among the links, from the mobile terminal, in response to the link included in the transmitted webpage that is displayed on the mobile terminal being designated by the user;

determine whether the visited store and a store that is identified by the received item-selling store information match;

generate service information indicating a service that is offered by the visited store to the user that purchases the item at the visited store instead of the store identified by the received item-selling store information; and

transmit the generated service information to the mobile terminal, in response to the determination that the visited store and the store identified by the received item-selling store information do not match, wherein the mobile terminal display the transmitted service information as a pop-up window, on the screen.

2. The purchase support server according to claim 1, wherein the processor is further operable to operate as instructed by the program code to:

transmit inquiry information for making inquiries about a detail of the service, to a terminal of the visited store;

receive input information indicating the detail of the service in response to the inquiry information, from the terminal; and

generate the service information based on the input information.

3. The purchase support server according to claim 2, wherein the processor is further operable to operate as instructed by the program code to:

determine whether the detail of the service indicated by the input information is within a predetermined allowable range; and

generate the service information in response to the determination that the detail of the service is within the predetermined allowable range.

4. The purchase support server according to claim 1, wherein the processor is further operable to operate as instructed by the program code to:

extract store service information indicating a detail of the service, from a database; and

generate the service information based on the extracted store service information.

5. The purchase support server according to claim 4, wherein the store service information comprises an accumulated value of an offer of the service and an upper limit value of the offer of the service, and

the processor is further operable to operate as instructed by the program code to generate the service information based on the extracted store service information in response to the accumulated value being less than or equal to the upper limit value.

6. The purchase support server according to claim 1, wherein the processor is further operable to operate as instructed by the program code to:

extract store service information indicating a detail of the service, from a database, the store service information comprising an accumulated value of an offer of the service and an upper limit value of the offer of the service, the upper limit value being set based on remuneration that is received by the visited store from another store; and

generate the service information based on the extracted store service information in response to the accumulated value being less than or equal to the upper limit value.

7. The purchase support server according to claim 1, wherein the processor is further operable to operate as instructed by the program code to:

generate user remuneration information indicating an amount of remuneration to the user; and

store the user remuneration information into a database in response to the reception of the item-related information from the mobile terminal at the visited store.

8. The purchase support server according to claim 1, wherein processor is further operable to operate as instructed by the program code to:

generate payment information indicating an amount of payment from the visited store to an administrator of the purchase support server based on information indicating purchase; and

store the payment information into a database in response to the user of the mobile terminal having received the service information purchasing the item from the visited store.

10. The purchase support server according to claim 1, wherein the at least one photographed image is a scale-up image of the item showing information that uniquely identifies the item.

11. The purchase support server according to claim 1, wherein the at least one photographed image is an image of an item tag, wherein the item tag is embedded with a catalogue identifier that uniquely identifies the item.

12. The purchase support server according to claim 1, wherein the at least one photographed image is an image of an item tag, wherein the item tag is embedded with an item name that uniquely identifies the item.

9. A purchase support method executed by a purchase support server, the method comprising:

receiving visited store information for identifying a store that is visited by a user as a visited store;

retrieving, from at least one image of at least one item photographed by the user using at least one camera of a mobile terminal, item-related information for identifying an item that is recognized by the user at the visited store;

generating, in response to retrieving the at least one image, a webpage indicating an online store selling the item and the visited store, indicating times until the item is shipped respectively from the online store and the visited store and is acquired by the user, and indicating points to be obtained by the user for purchasing the item respectively from the online store and the visited store, by searching a database for the webpage based on the received visited store information and the received item-related information;

transmitting the generated webpage to the mobile terminal, the generated webpage comprising links to access sites for purchasing the item respectively from the online store and the visited store, and item-selling store information for identifying the online store and the visited store being embedded in the respective links, wherein the mobile terminal displays the transmitted webpage, on a screen;

receiving the item-selling store information embedded in a link, among the links, from the mobile terminal, in response to the link included in the transmitted webpage that is displayed on the mobile terminal being designated by the user;

determining whether the visited store and a store that is identified by the received item-selling store information match;

generating service information indicating a service that is offered by the visited store to the user that purchases the item at the visited store instead of the store identified by the received item-selling store information; and

transmitting the generated service information to the mobile terminal, in response to the determination that the visited store and the store identified by the received item-selling store information do not match, wherein the mobile terminal display the transmitted service information as a pop-up window, on the screen.