JP2003196132A - Commodity information management system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable the storage of data for every kind of commodities without requiring the remodeling of a system and to allow a retrieval using the attribute peculiar to every kind. <P>SOLUTION: A commodity meta information storage part 11 stores and manages commodity meta-information showing the attribute structure possessed by each commodity by use of the kind classified according to the attribute structure of the commodity as a key. A commodity information storage part 12 stores and manages commodity information showing the attribute value possessed by each commodity by use of a commodity identifier as a key, and realizes the conformation of the commodity information to the commodity meta-information so that it can be confirmed which attribute the attribute value in the commodity information is related to. A commodity meta-information management part 2 performs the management related to the commodity meta- information in the commodity meta-information storage part 11. A commodity information management part 3 performs the management related to the commodity information in the commodity information storage part 12 such as 'the acquisition of commodity information by a retrieval using the attribute peculiar to a designated kind'. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a product information management system, and more particularly, it manages products having various attribute structures in a unified manner by separately managing product-related information into product meta information and product information. The present invention relates to a product information management system that can be managed and that can perform a search by designating an attribute unique to each product type (product type).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, electronic commerce using the Internet has become popular as a form of transactions between companies or transactions between individuals and companies.

In a conventional system relating to electronic commerce, as a typical example of a technique paying attention to a method of managing information about products handled by the system, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
1-101224 and JP 2001-229171 A.
There is an invention (technology) described in the publication.

The invention described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-101224 (“Music Information Retrieval Support System”) is a system for extracting product data based on past hit chart data and the like on the Internet using a computer. is there.

In this conventional technique, paragraph 001 of the publication is used.
As described in No. 8, the product data is composed of the second standard number, song title name, artist name, release date, publisher, playing time, genre, tie-up information and the like.

In the product data management system in this conventional technique (system), all the attributes of the music data are managed as they are in the fields in the table on the database. With this method, it is possible to perform a search using an attribute peculiar to music data, such as "music data tied up in a CM".

The invention described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-229171 (“merchandise retrieval system”) enables efficient, accurate and simple retrieval of merchandise in a plurality of stores for shopping on the Internet. It is a system.

In this conventional technique, paragraph 002 of the publication is used.
As described in FIG. 8 and FIG. 4 of the publication, the product information is composed of nine items such as a product name, a product image, a product genre name, and a selling price.

The product information management system in this prior art (system) manages only the attributes that each product has in common in the fields in the table on the database.
Therefore, for example, in the above-mentioned “tie-up information of music data”, since the information is an attribute peculiar to music data, a corresponding field is not created.
Instead, it is possible to store the information (tie-up information of music data) in the field corresponding to “commodity comment” in FIG. 4 of the publication. One of the features of this product information management system is that "it is possible to manage products of various varieties in addition to specific varieties in a unified manner."

[0010]

The above-mentioned conventional product information management system (product data / product information management system) has the following problems.

First, in the product data management system of the invention described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-101224, it is possible to perform a search using an attribute peculiar to a product type, but it is not possible to handle products of various product types in a unified manner. There was a problem.

In the case where various types of products are to be handled in this system, as many product data management units (components indicated by reference numeral 12 in FIG. 2 of the publication) as prepared are prepared, and Corresponding data processing units (components indicated by reference numeral 14 in FIG. 2) must also be prepared for the number of products.

On the other hand, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-22917
In the case of the product information management method in the invention described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 1-No. 1, various types of products can be handled in a unified manner (a variety of types of products can be stored in one table). The above problems have been resolved.

However, in the method, as described above, for example, the "tie-up information" peculiar to the music data is stored in the field "commodity comment", so that it is recognized as the "tie-up information of the music data". However, there is a problem that the search cannot be performed under the search condition of "music data tied up in a certain CM".

That is, in the product data / product information management system in the inventions disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-101224 and 2001-229171, "Unified products are stored and managed in a unified manner. And "to enable searching using attributes that are specific to the product type" cannot be compatible as they are, and the system must be modified every time the product type handled changes. was there.

In view of the above-mentioned points, an object of the present invention is to "restore the information of the new type of product without requiring a system modification even when a new product type is handled. An object of the present invention is to provide a product information management system capable of satisfying both the requirement "possible" and the requirement "search is possible using an attribute peculiar to the new product type".

As a patent publication relating to the prior art for the product information management system of the present invention, in addition to the above publication, a system for handling product information is considered, which is similar to the present invention. 2001-229232 publication "exists.

The technique described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-229232 ("Product information providing system and method") allows different information sender types to be distinguished by different distribution stages even for the same product. This is a technology for providing reflected product information.

However, this technique does not refer to "merchandise meta information" or "search function using attributes specific to the product type" which are features of the present invention, and is essentially different from the present invention. It is a thing.

[0020]

A product information management system according to the present invention is a product that represents what kind of attribute structure each product has by using a product type (product type) classified by the attribute structure of the product as a key. A product meta information storage unit (a product meta information storage unit in the product information storage device) that stores and manages meta information, and a product identifier that uniquely identifies the product is used as a key to determine what attribute value each product has. The product information and the product meta information stored in the product meta information storage unit are stored and managed so that it is possible to recognize which attribute value in the product information is associated with which attribute, regardless of product type. The product information storage unit (the product information storage unit in the product information storage device) that realizes the correspondence with the "Product information storage unit in the product meta information storage unit" and "Product type key". When The product meta-information management unit that manages product meta-information, such as "search / acquisition of information about the attribute of the product type based on the specified specifications," and "Register information about new products in the product information storage unit" and "Product identifier "Search / obtain product information based on key specification" and "Acquire product information by searching using attributes specific to specified product type (product information that matches the search conditions using the product type specification and the attributes specific to the specified product type) The acquisition of a product information) ”and the product information management unit that manages product information.

Further, in the present invention, "attribute" is added as an item of product information, and the set of "attribute" in the product information corresponds to the product meta information in the product meta information storage section corresponding to the product type. In the product information storage unit, two constraint conditions are set: "is a subset of the set of" attributes "and" all valid values are included in the "attribute value" in the product information ". Attribute item additional product information storage section),
In the attribute-specified product information acquisition process, the attribute item-added product information storage unit is used to acquire product information that matches the search condition. Moreover, it is possible to configure the above-mentioned product information management system.

The present invention is premised on the existence of the product meta information storage unit and the product information storage unit, and the first step of receiving the designation of the product type to be searched, and the product type specified in the first step ( A second step of acquiring product meta information for the specified product type; a third step of recognizing the attribute structure of the specified product product based on the product meta information acquired in the second step; A fourth step of evaluating the search condition based on the attribute structure recognized in the third step and the attribute value in each of the product information for each of the product information; and a match with the search condition in the evaluation of the fourth step. It is also possible to realize it as a product information search method having a fifth step of returning data in which product information determined to be (match) is collected as a search result to a search request source. It is.

Further, according to the present invention, a product meta information storage unit for storing and managing product meta information indicating what kind of attribute structure each product has, with the product type classified by the attribute structure of the product as a key, Stores and manages product information that indicates what attribute value each product has, using the product identifier that uniquely identifies as a key, and the attribute value in the product information for any product is the value related to which attribute A computer system including a product information storage unit that realizes correspondence between the product information and the product meta information in the product meta information storage unit so that the product information can be recognized Of the product meta information such as "registration in the product meta information storage unit of" and "retrieval / acquisition of information regarding the attribute of the product based on designation with the product as a key" Meta-information management unit, "Registration of information about new products in the product information storage unit", "Search / acquisition of product information based on specification with product identifier as key", "Search using attributes specific to specified product type" It is also possible to realize it as a program for functioning as a product information management unit that manages product information such as “acquisition of product information by.

Further, in the present invention, "attribute" is added as an item of product information, and the set of "attribute" in the product information corresponds to the product meta information in the product meta information storage unit corresponding to the product type. In the product information storage unit, two constraint conditions are set: "is a subset of the set of" attributes "and" all valid values are included in the "attribute value" in the product information ". The above-mentioned computer system in which the attribute item added product information storage unit) is present is used by using the product meta information management unit realized by the above program and the attribute item added product information storage unit in the attribute-specified product information acquisition processing. It can also be realized as a program for functioning as a product information management unit (attribute item addition product information management unit) that acquires product information that matches the search condition.

[0025]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

(1) First Embodiment

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration (overall configuration) of the product information management system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, the product information management system according to the present embodiment stores and manages a product meta information storage unit 11 and a product information storage unit 12.
And a product meta information management unit 2 that performs a process on the product meta information storage unit 11 and a product information management unit 3 that performs a process on the product information storage unit 12.

The product meta information storage unit 11 stores information (product meta information) indicating what kind of attribute structure each product handled in this system (the product information management system according to this embodiment) has, I remember the variety as a key.

The product information storage unit 12 stores information (product information) indicating what attribute value each product handled in this system has, using a product identifier that uniquely identifies the product as a key. (In the product information, in addition to the “product identifier” and the “attribute value”, there is an item called “product type” for associating with the product meta information).

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing in detail the structure (information storage method) of the product meta information storage unit 11 in FIG.

[Item] in FIG. 2 indicates an item of each product meta information in the product meta information storage unit 11. Each item meta information is composed of a key item type, an essential item attribute, and three items that are examples of other items useful when registering item information: a unit, a value set, and a data type. There is.

Here, the “value set” means the corresponding “attribute”.
A set of values defined when there are only certain values. For example, the set “L, M, S” when the “attribute” is “clothes size” corresponds to this “value set”.

[Data] in FIG. 2 is a method of storing actual data in the product meta information in the product meta information storage unit 11 (a method of storing data according to [item] in FIG. 2).
Is shown. "Attribute" for one "product"
A plurality of (m) exist, and the same number (m) and the same sequence (order) of the "unit", "value set", and "data type" correspond to each of the "attributes". Exist in the "value set" for the m-th "attribute", and
There are ( _m ) elements (values). Note that the above m and K _m are positive integers of 2 or more.

FIG. 3 shows the product information storage unit 12 in FIG.
3 is a diagram showing in detail the structure (information storage method) of FIG.

[Item] in FIG. 3 indicates the product information storage unit 12.
The items of each item information are shown. Each item of product information is made up of three items (a total of three items: a product identifier that is a key item, and a product type and an attribute value).

[Data] in FIG. 3 is the product information storage unit 1.
4 shows how to actually store data in the product information in 2 (how to store data according to [item] in FIG. 3). One "product type" exists for one "commodity identifier", and a plurality (m pieces) of "attribute values" exist in association with each other.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a correspondence relationship between the "attribute" of the product meta information (see FIG. 2) and the "attribute value" of the product information (see FIG. 3).

[Product meta information] in FIG. 4 is obtained by extracting only "product type" and "attribute" from [data] in FIG. In addition, [Product information] in FIG.
It is an excerpt of the contents of [Data] inside.

As shown in FIG. 4, the number and the arrangement (order) of the "attribute values" in the product information are the same as those in the product meta information having the "product" that matches the "product" in the product information. The number of "attributes" and their correspondence (matching).

A specific method for realizing the management of information and the association of information as described with reference to FIGS. 2, 3, and 4 is CSV (Comma Separa).
tedValue) file, XML (eXtensi)
ble Markup Language) file,
DBMS (DataBase ManagementS)
method, etc. (but needless to say, the present invention is not limited to these).

Here, a relational DBMS will be described as an example of a concrete method of realizing information management. [Item] in FIGS. 2 and 3 corresponds to a column of the table. on the other hand,
[Data] in FIGS. 2 and 3 is treated as a record. Therefore, when the product meta information and the product information are stored by using the relational DBMS, even if a new product or a product of that product is handled, the structure of the table is not changed and only a record is added. Then, this system will be able to handle new varieties and products of that variety immediately (without requiring system modification).
The same can be said with other implementation methods.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing a product meta information acquisition process by the product meta information management unit 2 in the product information management system according to the present embodiment. This process includes a product type designation receiving step A1, a designated product existence determination step A2, a “no corresponding information” result return step A3, a product acquisition step A4, and an unacquired attribute existence determination step A.
5, an attribute acquisition step A6, and a “relevant information” result return step A7.

FIG. 6 is an attribute-designated product information acquisition process by the product information management unit 3 in the product information management system according to this embodiment (based on designation of a product type and specification of a search condition using an attribute of the specified product type). 7 is a flowchart showing a product information search / acquisition process). This process includes a product type designation receiving step B1, a product type product meta information acquisition step B2, a product type attribute structure recognition step B3, a product type product information presence determination step B4, a search condition evaluation step B5, and a search condition suitability. The determination step B6 includes a product information return data inclusion step B7 and a result return step B8.

7 to 9 are diagrams for explaining a specific operation of the product information management system according to this embodiment.

Next, the operation of the product information management system according to the present embodiment configured as described above will be described with reference to FIGS.

First, the operation in the product meta information registration processing by the product meta information management unit 2 will be described.

When registering the product meta information for a new product, the product meta information management unit 2 stores the product meta information in the product meta information storage unit 11 in the product information storage device 1 in a storage mode as shown in FIG. The product meta information corresponding to is registered. As mentioned above, no system modification is required during this registration process.

Secondly, the operation in the product information registration processing by the product information management unit 3 will be described.

When registering the product information for a new product, the product information management unit 3 corresponds to the product in a storage mode as shown in FIG. 3 in the product information storage unit 12 in the product information storage device 1. Register product information. At this time, the registration is performed such that the correspondence relationship shown in FIG. 4 is established between the product information and the product meta information having the product type of the product (the product meta information in the product meta information storage unit 11). Perform processing.
As mentioned above, no system modification is required during this registration process.

Thirdly, the operation (process flow) in the product meta information acquisition processing by the product meta information management unit 2 will be described (see FIG. 5).

The product meta information management unit 2 performs the following processing when a request for acquisition of product meta information is issued from a search request source (acquisition request source).

Since the product meta information uses the product type as a key (see FIG. 2), the search request source receives designation of the product type for which the search request source wants to obtain information (step A1).

Next, it is confirmed (determined) whether or not the designated product type (designated product type) currently exists in the product meta information storage unit 11 (step A2).

When it is determined in step A2 that "the specified product type does not exist in the current product meta information storage unit 11", the result "no corresponding information" is returned to the search request source (step A3), and the process is executed. To finish.

On the other hand, if it is determined in step A2 that "the specified product type currently exists in the product meta information storage unit 11," the product meta information stores data in the form shown in FIG. Therefore, steps A4, A5, and A
Through 6 to obtain the designated product type, then obtain the attribute, the unit, the value set, and the data type for all the attributes relating to the specified product type (this realizes the acquisition of product meta information for the specified product type). .

When it is determined in step A5 that "there are no unacquired attributes for the product type acquired in step A4" (when all acquisition target data has been acquired), "corresponding information exists" is determined. The result (acquisition result) indicating the acquisition content (product meta information) is returned to the search request source (step A7), and the process ends.

Fourthly, the operation in the attribute-designated product information acquisition process by the product information management unit 3 will be described (see FIG. 6).

The product information management unit 3 requests a search / acquisition of product information by specifying attributes from a search request source (acquisition request source) (a product based on specification of a product type and a search condition using an attribute of the specified product type). When there is a request for information retrieval / acquisition, the following processing is performed.

First, the designation of the product type is received from the search request source (step B1).

Next, in order to obtain information (product meta information) regarding the attribute structure of the designated product (designated product),
An acquisition request for product meta information is issued to the product meta information management unit 2 and the product meta information is acquired from the product meta information management unit 2 (step B2). That is, the product information management unit 3 corresponds to the “search request source” in the processing of FIG. 5 described above. In addition, the product meta-information management unit 2 that has received the acquisition request executes the process shown in FIG.
The product meta information related to the designated product type is returned to the product information management unit 3 (see step A7 in FIG. 5).

On the basis of the return result (product meta information), the product information management section 3 follows the rule (correspondence between product meta information and product information) shown in FIG. Which attribute value of the information is to which attribute? (Attribute structure of the designated product type) is recognized (step B3).

Thereafter, through the loop processing in steps B4 to B7, all the product information (product information in the product information storage unit 12) corresponding to the designated product type is checked under the search condition.

That is, it is determined whether or not the product information having the designated product type (designated product type) still exists in the product information storage unit 12 (step B4).

When it is determined in step B4 that "the product information having the designated product type still exists in the product information storage unit 12", one of the remaining corresponding product information is taken out and the attribute value in the product information is extracted. And the attribute structure recognized in step B3, the search condition for the product information (search condition using the attribute of the designated product type) is evaluated (step B5), and the product of the product information matches the search condition. It is determined whether (match) (step B6).

If it is determined in step B6 that "the search condition is not matched", the process returns to step B4 to check the next product information.

On the other hand, when it is determined in step B6 that "there is a match with the search condition", the product information is stored as data to be returned to the search request source (the product information is collected as return data) ( The process returns to step B7) and step B4 to check the next product information.

When it is determined in step B4 that "the product information having the designated product type no longer exists in the product information storage unit 12" (when the search conditions have been checked for all the product information items corresponding to the specified product type) Returns the "data in which product information matching the search conditions is collected" stored in step B7 to the search request source as a search result (step B8), and ends the process.

Fifth, with reference to FIGS. 7 to 9, a specific operation (process flow) of the product information management system according to the present embodiment will be described.

First, the data shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 (data in the product information storage device 1 handled in this example) will be described.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of actual data (product meta information) stored in the product meta information storage unit 11. Here, as shown in a and b below, product meta information for the types “book” and “clothes” is illustrated.

A. Product meta information of the variety "Book" with the following contents

The product of the variety "book" handled here is
It has "size", "book", "publisher", and "price" as attributes. The data type of each of the above attributes is
The attribute "price" is of a numeric type, and the other three attributes are all of a character string type. Note that the attribute "size"
For, only limited values such as "A4" and "paperback" can be taken. Further, the attribute "price" needs a unit of "yen".

B. Product meta information of the variety "Clothes" with the following contents

The products of the variety "Clothes" handled here are:
It has “size”, “color”, and “price” as attributes. The data type of each attribute above is the attribute "size"
And "color" is a string type, and the attribute "price"
Is a numeric type. For the attribute "size", only values "L", "M", and "S" can be taken.
Further, the attribute "price" needs a unit of "yen".

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of actual data (product information) stored in the product information storage unit 12. Here, two product information items "A tragedy" and "B story" which are products belonging to the variety "book", and "jacket C" and "jacket D" which are products belonging to the variety "clothes".
And two items of product information.

The attribute value of each product illustrated in FIG. 8 will be described below.

The four attributes of the product "tragedy of A" whose product type is "book" are "size", "author", "publisher", from the product meta information of the product type "book" in FIG. And "price". Here, based on the correspondence relationship between the product meta information and the product information (see FIG. 4), the attribute value of the product “A tragedy” is “paperback” for the attribute “size”,
The attribute "author" is "RE", the attribute "publisher" is "Kkawa Shoten", and the attribute "price" is "500 (yen)".

The four attribute values of the product “B story” (“new book”, “YT”, “M mountain bookstore”, and “500”)
(Yen) ”) has the same meaning as each attribute value of the above-mentioned product“ Tragedy of A ”.

[Jacket C] whose product type is "Clothing"
The three attributes possessed by the are "size", "color", and "price" from the product meta information of the type "clothes" in FIG.
Here, the attribute value of the product “jacket C” is “L” for the attribute “size” and the attribute “color” based on the correspondence relationship between the product meta information and the product information (see FIG. 4).
Is "red" and the attribute "price" is "10,000 (yen)".

The meanings of the three attribute values (“M”, “white”, and “8,000 (yen)”) of the product “jacket D” are the same as those of the product “jacket C”. Is.

Next, assuming that the above-described data is stored in the product information storage device 1, a specific search process (product type search process (FIG. 5) in the product information management system according to the present embodiment will be described. Reference) and product search processing (see FIG. 6)).

Here, FIG. 9 shows the product meta information storage unit 11.
9 is a diagram showing a specific example of the contents of a product type / search condition input screen using the product information storage unit 12. FIG.

In this example, the input screen as shown in FIG. 9 is used to perform the following search processing.

First, the search request source inputs (specifies) a product type to the product meta information management unit 2 to request acquisition of product meta information for the specified product type.

The screen 100 is a "product input screen" displayed for the search request source. Combo box 101
Is composed of a list of "product types" in the product meta information.
By selecting a product type from the combo box 101 on the screen 100 by the search request source, the product type to be searched (acquired) is determined (designated).

Here, as an example, it is assumed that the type “clothes” is designated (selected).

When the product type “clothes” is selected in this way, the product meta-information management section 2 is searched under the condition “product type = clothes”.
An acquisition request is issued, and the process (product meta information acquisition process) shown in FIG. 5 by the product meta information management unit 2 is performed.

That is, the following processing is performed.

First, in step A1 of FIG. 5, designation of the type of "clothes" is received.

Next, in the search of the product meta-information storage unit 11 in step A2, since the information of the type "clothes" is detected (discovered), the process proceeds to step A4.

Then, in steps A4 to A6, the product meta information (see FIG. 7) regarding the product type "clothes" is acquired.

Further, in step A7, the product meta information acquired as described above is returned to the acquisition request source, and the process ends.

At the search request source, the screen 200 (search condition input screen) in FIG. 9 is constructed based on the received return result.

On the display component 201 on the screen 200, each attribute ("size", "color", and "price") is displayed based on the attribute information in the product meta information of the type "clothes". The input component 202 is generated based on the data type information in the product meta information of the type “clothes”. Here, according to the unit information in the product meta information, since the “price” has a unit among the attributes of the type “clothes”, the unit “yen” is displayed on the display component 203. Further, according to the value set information in the product meta information, “size” is included in the attributes of the type “clothes”
Since the value set is specified in the, the combo box 204 uses the values “L”, “M”, and “S” in the value set.
It is set so that only the user can choose.

Next, the search request source inputs (designates) the search condition (search condition using the attribute of the designated product type) to the product information management section 3 using this screen 200, Request acquisition of product information that matches the search conditions.

Here, as an example, it is assumed that search conditions such as "kind = clothes" and "color = red" are given.

When such a search condition is given, the product information management unit 3 performs the following product search process (attribute specified product information acquisition process of FIG. 6).

First, in step B1 of FIG. 6, information (designation of product type) "clothes" is received.

Next, in step B2, the product meta information management unit 2 is requested to acquire product meta information regarding the product type "clothes".

In response to this acquisition request, the product meta-information management section 2 performs the processing as shown in FIG. 5, and the result of the processing is returned to the request source (the product information management section 3).

At step B3, the product information management section 3 recognizes the attribute structure of the designated product type (product type "clothes") based on the return result (product meta information). That is,
It is recognized that the type “clothes” has three attributes, the first is “size”, the second is “color”, and the third is “price”. .

Further, in step B4, one of the product information (data D3) whose product type is "clothes" is first extracted from the product information storage unit 12 having the data as shown in FIG.

Then, in step B5, this data D3
In contrast, the search condition “color = red” is evaluated. Here, since it is known from the recognition of the attribute structure in step B3 that "the second attribute value of the product information of the product type" Clothes "is related to" color "", the data D3 of the data D3 is calculated in steps B5 and B6. The second attribute value is "red"
Will be evaluated.

Since the second attribute value of the data D3 is "red", in step B6 "Match with search condition (match)".
Therefore, the data D3 is stored (saved) as return data in step B7.

Further, when the control is returned to the determination in step B4 again, it is determined that "the data D4 still remains as the product information of the product type" Clothes "in the product information storage section 12", so that the step B5 Control is transferred to.

Here, step B5 and step B6
In, when the second attribute value of the data D4 is referred to, the value is "white", and it is found that it does not match the search condition, so the control moves to step B4.

In the determination of step B4, it is determined that "the product information of the product" Clothes "no longer remains in the product information storage section 12", and therefore the control shifts to step B8.

In step B8, the data D3 previously stored in step B7 is returned to the search request source as a search result.

The product information management unit 3 receives the product identifier as a key to search the product information storage unit 12 for a product (product information) by the product identifier, and stores the product information having the specified product identifier. It is also possible to perform acquisition processing. This also applies to the attribute item added product information management unit 4 in the second embodiment described later.

(2) Second Embodiment

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the configuration (overall configuration) of the product information management system according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 10, the product information management system according to the present embodiment has a product information storage device 1 that stores and manages the product meta information storage unit 11 and the attribute item added product information storage unit 13, and the product meta information. The product meta information management unit 2 that performs processing on the storage unit 11 and the attribute item added product information management unit 4 that performs processing on the attribute item added product information storage unit 13 are configured.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing in detail the structure (information storage method) of the attribute item added product information storage unit 13 in FIG. As can be seen by comparing FIG. 11 and FIG. 3,
In the [item] in the attribute item added product information storage unit 13,
“Attribute” for [item] in the product information storage unit 12
Has been added.

The structure of the product meta information storage unit 11 in the product information management system according to this embodiment is the first
This is the same as the structure (see FIG. 2) of the product meta-information storage unit 11 in the embodiment.

FIG. 12 shows the attribute item added product information storage unit 1.
FIG. 12 is a diagram showing constraint conditions relating to “attribute” and “attribute value” in the product information in FIG. 3 (also a diagram showing a relationship between product meta information (see FIG. 2) and product information in FIG. 11).

Attribute item addition The set of “attributes” in the product information in the product information storage unit 13 (attribute set B) is the “attribute” in the product meta information in the product meta information storage unit 11 corresponding to each product type. It is a subset of the set ("attribute set A"). In addition, all the valid values are included in the “attribute value” in the product information in the attribute item added product information storage unit 13. That is, the storage method of the product information in FIG. 12 is different from the storage method of the product information in FIG. 3 in that the attribute value that is the empty data (NULL value) is not handled.

FIG. 13 shows attribute-specified product information acquisition processing by the attribute-item-added product information management unit 4 in the product information management system according to the present embodiment (specification of product type and search conditions using attributes of the specified product type). 9 is a flowchart showing a product information search / acquisition process based on designation). This process includes a product type designation receiving step C1, a product type product information existence determination step C2, a search condition designation attribute presence / absence determination step C3, a search condition evaluation step C4, a search condition suitability determination step C5, and product information return It includes a data inclusion step C6 and a result return step C7.

Note that FIG. 5 also corresponds to a flowchart showing the product meta information acquisition processing by the product meta information management unit 2 in the product information management system according to the present embodiment.

14 and 15 are diagrams for explaining a specific operation of the product information management system according to the present embodiment.

Next, the operation of the product information management system according to the present embodiment configured as described above will be described focusing on the points different from the operation of the first embodiment. Note that the processing (operation) by the product meta-information management unit 2 is the same as the operation in the first embodiment, so description thereof will be omitted.

First, the operation in the product information registration processing by the attribute item added product information management unit 4 will be described.

When registering the product information for a new product, the product information management unit 3 stores the product information in the attribute item addition product information storage unit 13 in the product information storage device 1 in a storage mode as shown in FIG. Register product information corresponding to. At this time, the registration process is performed so as to meet the “constraint conditions of attributes and attribute values” as shown in FIG.

Secondly, the operation of the attribute item added product information management unit 4 in the attribute-specified product information acquisition process will be described (see FIG. 13).

The attribute item addition product information management unit 4 requests the search / acquisition of product information by specifying attributes from the search request source (acquisition request source) (specification of product type and specification of search conditions using attributes of the specified product type). When a product information search / acquisition request based on (1) is made, the following processing is performed.

First, the designation of the product type is received from the search request source (step C1).

After that, through the loop processing in steps C2 to C6, all the product information (product information in the attribute item added product information storage unit 13) corresponding to the designated product type is checked under the search condition.

That is, it is determined whether or not the product information having the designated product type (designated product type) still exists in the attribute item addition product information storage unit 13 (step C2).

If it is determined in step C2 that "the product information having the designated product type still exists in the attribute item addition product information storage section 13", one of the remaining corresponding product information is taken out and the product information is It is checked (determined) whether or not it has the attribute designated by the search condition (step C3).

When it is determined in step C3 that "the product information does not have the attribute designated by the search condition", the product information is recognized as "non-applicable data" (the product information will be referred to hereafter). Return to the determination of step C2 without performing the check).

On the other hand, when it is determined in step C3 that "the product information has the attribute specified in the search condition", the search condition for the product information is determined by the attribute and the attribute value in the product information. (Search condition using attribute of designated product type) is evaluated (step C4), and it is determined whether or not the product of the product information matches the search condition (step C5).

When it is determined in step C5 that "the search condition is not matched", the merchandise information is recognized as "not applicable data", and the process returns to the determination in step C2.

On the other hand, when it is determined in step C5 that "matching the search condition", the product information is stored as data ("corresponding data") to be returned to the search request source ( Collect the product information) (step C6), return to step C2, and proceed to check the next product information.

At step C2, "the product information having the designated product type no longer exists in the attribute item addition product information storage section 13".
If it is determined that the search conditions have been checked for all product information corresponding to the specified product type, step C
The “data in which the product information matching the search condition is collected” stored in 6 is returned to the search request source as the search result (step C7), and the process is ended.

Thirdly, referring to FIG. 14 and FIG.
A specific operation (processing flow) of the product information management system according to the second embodiment will be described.

First, the data shown in FIGS. 14 and 15 (data in the product information storage device 1 handled in this example)
Will be described.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing an example of actual data (product meta information) stored in the product meta information storage unit 11. Here, the product meta information in which the attribute “translator” is added to the product meta information of the type “book” shown in FIG. 7 is illustrated. Here, the attribute “translator” has an attribute value effective in the case of the product information of a book translated from an overseas book. In the product information management system according to the first embodiment, empty data (NULL value) is set as the attribute value of this attribute in the case of product information of a book that has not been translated.

FIG. 15 shows the attribute item added product information storage unit 1.
3 is a diagram showing an example of actual data (product information) stored in FIG. Here, two pieces of product information of “A's tragedy” and “B story”, which are products belonging to the type “book”, are illustrated.

The attributes and attribute values of each product illustrated in FIG. 15 will be described below.

The product "Tragedy of A" has five attributes of "size", "author", "translator", "publisher", and "price". Here, the attribute value of each attribute is “paper” for the attribute “size”, “RE” for the attribute “author”, and the attribute “translator”
Is "HS", the attribute "Publisher" is "Kkawa Shoten", and the attribute "Price" is "500 (yen)".

The product "B story" has four attributes of "size", "author", "publisher", and "price". Here, the attribute value of each attribute is “new book” for the attribute “size”, “YT” for the attribute “author”, and “M mountain” for the attribute “publisher”. It is "bookstore", and the attribute "price" is "500 (yen)".

Next, assuming that the above data is stored in the product information storage device 1, a specific search process in the product information management system according to the present embodiment will be described. Here, it is assumed that “kind = book” and “translator = HS” are given as search conditions.

In this case, the following item search process (attribute specified item information acquisition process of FIG. 13) is performed by the attribute item addition item information management unit 4.

First, in step C1 of FIG. 13, information (designation of product type) "book" is received.

Next, in step C2, only the product information of the type "book" is extracted from the attribute item addition product information storage unit 13 as the evaluation target of the search condition. Specifically, the data of “A's tragedy” and “B story” in FIG.
Data is sequentially extracted.

First, for the data of "A's tragedy", the attribute "translator" specified in the search condition is selected in step C3.
It is checked whether or not the data has. Here, since "A's tragedy" has the attribute "translator", the search condition "translator = HS" is evaluated for the data in step C4. Then, step C5
Then, since it is determined that “the data of“ A's tragedy ”matches (matches) the search conditions”, in step C6,
The data is stored as return data.

Next, the processing of the "B story" data is performed,
At step C3, it is checked whether the data has the attribute "translator". Since “B story” does not have the attribute “translator”, the data is treated as “not applicable data”.

As described above, since all the product information whose quality is "book" have been checked, "C tragedy of A" (data previously stored in step C6) is searched in step C7. As a result, it is returned to the search request source.

(3) Third Embodiment

Next, a product information search method according to the third embodiment of the present invention will be described.

The product information search method according to this embodiment is
Given the existence of the product meta-information storage unit 11 and the product information storage unit 12 as shown in FIG. 1, a first step of receiving the designation of the product type to be searched and a designated product type (specified in the first step A second step of acquiring product meta information for the product type) and a third step of recognizing the attribute structure of the specified product based on the product meta information acquired in the second step
And a fourth step of evaluating the search condition based on the attribute structure recognized in the third step for each of all the product information having the designated product type and the attribute value in each of the product information, The fifth step is to return, as a search result, the data in which the product information determined to match the search condition in the step evaluation is returned to the search request source.

Here, FIGS. 5 and 6 described above also correspond to flow charts showing the processing procedure of the product information search method according to the third embodiment of the present invention.

In this case, the above first step is shown in FIG.
6 corresponds to step B1 in FIG. 6, the second step corresponds to step B2 in FIG. 6 and all steps in FIG. 5, the third step corresponds to step B3 in FIG. 6, and the fourth step corresponds to FIG. 6 corresponds to step B4 and step B5, and the fifth step corresponds to step B6 to step B8 in FIG.

The operation of the product information search method according to the present embodiment is performed by the attribute-specified product information search process (see FIG. 6) described in the description of the product information management system according to the first embodiment. (Including the processing of FIG. 5 based on the request in step B2 in 6)).

(4) Fourth Embodiment

FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 16, the fourth embodiment of the present invention is different from the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 in that a merchandise information management program 160 is provided.

The product information management program 160 is read by a computer system having a product information storage device 1 having a product meta information storage unit 11 and a product information storage unit 12, and the operation of the computer system is controlled by the product meta information management unit 2 and It is controlled by the product information management unit 3. The operation of the computer system (the product meta information management unit 2 and the product information management unit 3) under the control of the product information management program 160 is the same as the operation of the product meta information management unit 2 and the product information management unit 3 in the first embodiment. Since it is exactly the same, I will omit the detailed explanation.

(5) Fifth Embodiment

FIG. 17 is a block diagram showing the structure of the fifth embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 17, the fifth embodiment of the present invention is different from the second embodiment shown in FIG.
The difference is that the product information management program 170 is provided.

The product information management program 170 includes a product meta information storage unit 11 and an attribute item addition product information storage unit 1.
3 is read by a computer system having a product information storage device 1 including 3 and controls the operation of the computer system as a product meta information management unit 2 and an attribute item addition product information management unit 4. Product information management program 170
The operation of the computer system (the product meta information management unit 2 and the attribute item addition product information management unit 4) under the control of
The operations are the same as those of the product meta information management unit 2 and the attribute item added product information management unit 4 in the second embodiment, and thus detailed description thereof will be omitted.

[0163]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The following effects are produced.

The first effect is that it is possible to store data relating to products of any type having any attribute structure without modifying the system.

The reason why such an effect occurs is that the product information storage unit has a structure that does not depend on a specific product type. Specifically, when the product information is stored in the product information storage unit, it is managed by a structure including three items (product identifier, product type, and attribute value) common to all product types.

The second effect is that, regardless of the type of product having any attribute structure, information about the attribute structure can be stored without modification of the system, and what kind of attribute structure is possessed for each product. It means that the system can recognize whether or not.

The reason why such an effect is produced is that, in addition to the product information, information on the attribute structure (product meta information)
This is because they are stored in a structure that does not depend on a particular product type. Specifically, this is because the product meta information storage unit manages product meta information having two indispensable items, “product type” and “attribute”.

The third effect is that any product of any product type can be managed in a unified manner without modifying the system, and a search using an attribute peculiar to the product type becomes possible. Is.

The reason why such an effect occurs is that the system can recognize which attribute value in the product information is associated with which attribute, regardless of product type, by linking the product meta information and the product information. Because. That is, when the product meta information and the product information are stored, the correspondence between the attribute and the attribute value can be established so that when the attribute value of a certain product is acquired, the attribute value is the attribute for which attribute. This is because the system recognizes whether the value is a value.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration (overall configuration) of a product information management system according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a structure of product meta information in a product meta information storage unit in FIGS. 1 and 10.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a structure of product information in a product information storage unit in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a relationship between product meta information and product information according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a flow chart showing a process of a product meta information management unit in FIGS. 1 and 10, and is also a flow chart showing a processing procedure of a product information search method according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a process of a product information management unit in FIG. 1, and is also a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a product information search method according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram (a diagram showing an example of product meta information) for explaining a specific operation of the product information management system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram (a diagram showing an example of product information) for explaining a specific operation of the product information management system according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining a specific operation of the product information management system according to the first embodiment of the present invention (a diagram showing a specific example of the content of a product type / search condition input screen).

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing a configuration (overall configuration) of a product information management system according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

11 is a diagram showing a structure of product information in an attribute item addition product information storage unit in FIG.

12 is a diagram showing constraint conditions relating to "attribute" and "attribute value" in the product information in the attribute item added product information storage unit in FIG.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing the processing of the attribute item added product information management unit in FIG.

FIG. 14 is a diagram (a diagram showing an example of product meta information) for explaining a specific operation of the product information management system according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a diagram (a diagram showing an example of product information) for explaining a specific operation of the product information management system according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a product information management system according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a product information management system according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Product information storage device 2 Product Meta Information Management Department 3 Product Information Management Department 4 Attribute item added product information management section 11 Product Meta Information Storage 12 Product information storage section 13 Attribute item added product information storage unit 100 screens (product input screen) 101,204 combo box 160,170 Product information management program 200 screens (search condition input screen) 201,203 Display parts 204 Input parts A1 Type designation receiving step A2 Designated product existence judgment step A3 "No applicable information" result return step A4 type acquisition step A5 Unacquired attribute existence determination step A6 Attribute acquisition step A7 "There is applicable information" result return step B1 Type designation receiving step B2 Designated product meta information acquisition step B3 Designated product attribute structure recognition step B4 Designated product information presence judgment step B5 Search condition evaluation step B6 Search condition suitability determination step B7 Commodity information return data inclusion step B8 Result return step Step of receiving C1 product designation C2 Designated product information existence determination step C3 search condition designation attribute presence / absence determination step C4 search condition evaluation step C5 Search condition suitability determination step C6 Product data return data inclusion step C7 result return step

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A product meta information storage unit that stores and manages product meta information indicating what kind of attribute structure each product has, with the product type classified by the product attribute structure as a key, and the product is uniquely identified. Stores and manages product information that indicates what attribute value each product has using the product identifier as a key, and determines which attribute value is included in the product information for any product type. A product information storage unit that realizes correspondence between the product information and the product meta information in the product meta information storage unit so as to be recognizable;
Product meta information for managing product meta information such as "registration of information on attribute of new product in the product meta information storage unit" and "retrieval / acquisition of information on attribute of the product based on specification with product as a key" Management department, "Registering information on new products in the product information storage unit", "Search / acquisition of product information based on specification with product identifier as a key", "Products by search using attributes specific to specified product type" And a product information management unit that manages product information such as "acquisition of information". 2. An item constituting the product meta information according to claim 1, at least a "item" which is a key item,
There is an "attribute" of a product of that product type, and at least the "product identifier" that is the key item and the "product type" to which the product of that product identifier belongs as items that make up the product information according to claim 1. , "Attribute value" corresponding to the attribute of the product, and "attribute" in the product meta information.
The product information management system according to claim 1, wherein the "attribute value" in the product information is associated with the "product type" in both the product meta information and the product information. 3. An “attribute” is added as an item of product information, and a set of “attributes” in the product information corresponds to “attributes in the product meta information in the product meta information storage unit corresponding to each product type. Addition of an attribute item that is a product information storage unit in which two constraint conditions are set: "is a subset of the set" and "all valid values are included in the" attribute value "in the product information" A product information storage unit and an attribute item addition product information management unit that is a product information management unit that uses the attribute item addition product information storage unit in the attribute-specified product information acquisition process to acquire product information that matches the search condition. The product information management system according to claim 1, which has. 4. An item other than “kind” and “attribute” has “unit”, “value set”, and “data type” corresponding to “attribute”. 2, or the product information management system according to claim 3. 5. Assuming that the product meta information storage unit according to claim 1 and the product information storage unit according to claim 1 are present,
Based on the first step of receiving the designation of the product type to be searched, the second step of acquiring the product meta information for the product type specified in the first step, and the product meta information acquired in the second step Based on the attribute structure recognized in the third step and the attribute value in each of the product information for each of all the product information having the specified product type. And a fifth step of returning, as a search result, data in which the product information determined to match the search conditions in the evaluation of the fourth step is returned to the search request source. Product information search method characterized by. 6. A product meta information storage unit that stores and manages product meta information indicating what kind of attribute structure each product has, with the product type classified by the attribute structure of the product as a key, and the product is uniquely identified. Stores and manages product information that indicates what attribute value each product has using the product identifier as a key, and determines which attribute value is included in the product information for any product type. A computer system that includes a product information storage unit that realizes the association of the product information and the product meta information in the product meta information storage unit so that the product information can be recognized is described as "the product meta information of the attribute of the new product type". Product meta-information management unit that manages product meta-information such as "registration in information storage unit" and "search / acquisition of information regarding attributes of the product type based on designation with product type as key" , And “Registration of information about new products in the product information storage unit”, “Search / acquisition of product information based on specification with product identifier as a key” and “Search for product information by using attributes specific to specified product type” A program to function as a product information management unit that manages product information such as "acquisition". 7. An “attribute” is added as an item of product information, and a set of “attributes” in the product information corresponds to “attributes” in the product meta information in the product meta information storage unit corresponding to each product type. Addition of an attribute item that is a product information storage unit in which two constraint conditions are set: "is a subset of the set" and "all valid values are included in the" attribute value "in the product information" The computer system according to claim 6 in which a product information storage unit is present is used as a search condition by using the product meta information management unit according to claim 6 and the attribute item addition product information storage unit in the attribute-specified product information acquisition process. A program for functioning as an attribute item addition product information management unit that is a product information management unit that acquires matching product information.