Negotiation system and method for electronic commerce
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorMasakazu Shirota
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A search system, an information-providing system and an information search method. “Response information” such as a checkmark for indicating exclusion and a message added by a customer terminal and “additional information” added by a supplier terminal to a commodity retrieved by a search for data in a commodity database of a server based on search criteria input through the customer terminal are associated and stored with “session-specific information” in a session-specific database. When the supplier terminal accesses the server, the “response information” input by the customer terminal is transferred to the supplier terminal. When the customer terminal accesses the server, the “additional information” added by the supplier terminal is transferred to the customer terminal.
Claims22
A server for storing exhibition information provided from a terminal of an exhibitor over a network and searching said exhibition information based on search criteria specified from a terminal of a customer via said network, comprising:
- a search execution module for searching exhibition information based on said search criteria specified on said terminal of said customer to retrieve the exhibition information meeting said search criteria and outputting said exhibition information meeting said search criteria to said customer terminal;
- a message reception module for receiving message information provided concerning said retrieved exhibition information from said terminal of said customer and associating and storing said message information with information for identifying said customer;
- and
- a message output module for outputting said message information to said terminal of said exhibitor when said server is accessed from said terminal of said exhibitor after said message is received.
A server for storing information provided from a terminal from an information provider over a network and searching said information based on search criteria specified from a terminal of an information requester over a network, comprising:
- an information adding module for adding session-specific information to a session established between said terminal of said information requester and said server when said search criteria is specified from said terminal of said information requester;
- a search execution module for searching information based on the search criteria specified from said terminal of said information requester to retrieve information meeting said search criteria and outputting said information to said terminal of said information requester;
- an information storage for receiving additional information to be added to said information retrieved by said search execution module from at least one of said terminal of said information requester and said terminal of said information provider and for associating and storing said information with said session-specific information;
- and
- an information output module for obtaining said additional information and said information to which said additional information is added based on said session-specific information from said information storage to output said additional information and said information to said terminal of said information requester or said terminal of said information provider when a session is established between said terminal of said information requester or said terminal of said information provider and said server after said additional information is stored.
A search system for searching for information based on search criteria specified from a terminal of a user accessing said search system through a network in a session established between said terminal of said user and said search system, comprising:
- a database for storing information-to-be-searched-for;
- a search processing module for retrieving information that is to be searched for and meets said search criteria specified from said terminal of said user and outputting said information as a search result to said terminal of said user through said network;
- an additional-information receiving module for receiving additional information added to said output search result on said terminal of said user;
- and
- an information storage for associating and storing said search criteria with said additional information,
- wherein information about said search criteria and said additional information are retrieved from said information storage, a search is executed based on said search criteria in said search execution module, and search result information in which said additional information is reflected is output when a second and subsequent sessions are established between said terminal of said user and said search system.
An information-providing system, comprising:
- a server connectable to a network;
- a terminal of an information provider, said terminal connectable to said network for providing information to said server,
- wherein said server comprises:
- an information storage for storing information provided from said terminal of said information provider;
- an information retrieval module for retrieving information from the information stored in said information storage based on a request sent from a terminal of an external information requester over said network;
- a requester-part sending module for sending said retrieved information to said terminal of said information requester;
- an identification module for identifying said terminal of said information provider providing said information sent to said terminal of said information requester;
- and
- a provider-part sending module for sending said information retrieved by said information retrieval module to said identified terminal of said information provider.
An information-providing terminal connectable to a server through a network for providing information to said server, comprising:
- an information receiving module for receiving information from said server when said information-providing terminal accesses said server after said information provided from said information-providing terminal is retrieved by a search according to search criteria input from an external source to said server;
- and
- an information display for displaying said received information.
An information search method for a server to search for information stored in a database according to a request sent from a terminal of an information requester over a network, comprising the steps of:
- receiving search criteria data input on said terminal of said information requester over said network;
- searching information stored in said database to retrieve information meeting said search criteria and to send information to the terminal of said information requester;
- receiving additional information added by said terminal of said information requester to said sent information over the network;
- associating and storing said search criteria with requester identification information identifying said information requester;
- and,
- sending said retrieved information along with said additional information to said terminal of said information provider when said server accessed through said network by said terminal of said information provider providing said retrieved information to said database.
A method performed by a server storing information provided from a terminal of an information provider over a network for searching said information based on search criteria specified from a terminal of an information requester through said network, comprising the steps of:
- Assigning unique session-specific information to a session established between said terminal of said information requester and said server when said search criteria is specified from said terminal of said information requester;
- receiving said search criteria specified from said terminal of said information requester;
- searching the information stored in said server based on said search criteria to retrieve information meeting said search criteria;
- outputting said retrieved information meeting said search criteria to said terminal of said information requester;
- receiving additional information added to said retrieved information by at least one of said terminal of said information requester and said terminal of said information provider;
- associating and storing said additional information with said session-specific information;
- and,
- when a session is established between said terminal of said information requester or said terminal of said information provider and said server after said additional information is stored, obtaining said additional information and said information to which said additional information is added based on said session-specific information to outputting said additional information and said information to said terminal of said information requester or said terminal of said information provider.
A method performed by a server for searching for information based on search criteria specified from a terminal of a user in a session established between said server and said terminal of said user accessing said server through a network, comprising the steps of:
- retrieving information-to-be-searched-for meeting search criteria specified by said terminal of said user from a database storing information-to-be-searched-for and outputting said retrieved information as a search result to said terminal of said user through said network;
- receiving additional information added to said output search result by said terminal of said user;
- associating and storing said criteria with said additional information;
- invoking said stored search criteria information and said additional information when subsequent sessions are established between said terminal of said user and said server;
- and
- executing a search based on said invoked search criteria and outputting search result information in which said additional information is reflected.
An information providing method in a server receiving information from a terminal of an information provider over a network, comprising the steps of:
- storing the information provided from said terminal of said information provider;
- from said stored information, retrieving information meeting a request sent from a terminal of an external information requester over said network;
- sending said retrieved information to said terminal of said information requester;
- identifying said terminal of said information provider providing said information sent to said terminal of said information requester;
- and,
- sending said retrieved information to said terminal of said identified terminal of said information provider.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.