IT202000007762A1 - Brokerage system for the exchange of physical products featuring photos - Google Patents

Description

Title: Brokerage system for the exchange of physical products featuring photos.

DESCRIPTION

The present invention relates to an intermediation system for the exchange of physical products characterized by photos. The system ? particularly applicable to products such as photo books, photo prints, gadgets with printed photos, and any object in general that is characterized by photo prints. The invention? particularly applicable to users such as photographers, buyers of photographic products and manufacturers of photographic products, in particular printing companies.

STATE OF THE TECHNIQUE

Professional photographers, in all Western countries, with the development of digital photography and the proliferation of social media, have abandoned physical spaces and have become liquid companies, operating from home and without more? a study.

Now they are proposed to consumers of geographic areas more and more? large through social networks (Facebook and Instagram) which have now become their showcases.

In this scenario, the sale of the physical product, since? does it need a show room,? more and more? rare and the product pi? sold ? the file.

In fact, to be able to sell physical products the modern photographer? forced to work with multiple suppliers and services to manage files after taking photos, post-produce them, present them to customers, allow them to choose them, then send them the chosen high-resolution files, propose and deliver them physical products such as prints, books, paintings, etc., collect the money.

Buyer users themselves have difficulties? to fit into such a workflow.

All of this? therefore ? a deterrent to the proposal and sale of physical products, which are especially paid for by printing companies.

Purpose of the present invention? that of solving all or part of the problems of the known art.

In particular, a preferred object of the present invention? to propose a workflow that relaunches the sales of physical products.

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

According to a first general aspect, the present invention relates to an intermediation system for the exchange of physical products characterized by photos, characterized in that it includes:

- means of production of the physical product

- means of delivery of the physical product

- an IT environment accessible via the internet at least from the following accounts:

- a plurality? buyer user accounts characterized at least by rights to view and choose photos in said environment; - a plurality? of photographer-seller user accounts characterized at least by rights to upload and view photos and design rights of the physical product in said environment;

- at least one manufacturer account characterized by at least production management rights and preferably delivery of physical products - the IT environment includes:

- means of uploading digital photos

- sharing means for viewing and selecting digital photos

- means of designing a physical product characterized by the chosen photos

- means of ordering to the manufacturer account of production and delivery of the physical product.

Advantageously, the system according to the present invention offers an integrated solution where the three types of actors, photographers, buyers and producers of prints, can cooperate with each other in a single workflow and in a single digital environment. There? allows the photographer to insert their photos into a tool that allows to easily offer to the public, in addition to digital files only, physical products characterized by the photos, facilitating the management of the realization at every stage, from the choice of photos by interfacing with the customer, to the design, construction, interfacing with the company.

According to a preferable general characteristic, the design means comprise at least a predetermined catalog of products that can be customized with photos by means of said design, where the at least one constructor account has the rights to upload products in said catalog and the design rights of the photographer-seller user accounts. they are rights to personalize said products through photos, preferably the photos uploaded by the respective photographer-seller user account (that is, preferably each photographer can only use his own photos).

According to some preferred embodiments, the sharing means comprise a viewing application, and preferably selected one, capable of accessing the computer environment and showing images to purchasing user accounts depending on their viewing rights, where viewing rights, and preferably by choice, buyer user accounts are created from the photographer seller user accounts.

The possibility is not excluded? that buyer user accounts can share viewing rights with third parties, for example through social networks, such as facebook, whatsapp, etc.

In this way, for example, the purchaser user account, and possibly the parties with whom it has shared the rights, can? view, and possibly choose, the photos with which it will come? product customization performed. Through these rights, the user may be able to view and possibly also choose the customizable product catalog. For example, the application accesses a sharing environment of the IT environment through a sharing link sent from the seller photographer user account to the buyer user account via QR-code, sms, e-mail, social network, etc.

According to some preferred embodiments of the invention, the sharing means include:

- means of viewing and choosing by their respective buyer user accounts of photos uploaded and shared with them by their respective photographer-seller user accounts,

- means of displaying and choosing by said user accounts purchasing customizable products of said catalog,

- means of visualization by said purchasing user accounts of a computer preview of the physical product designed on the basis of its choices.

Preferably, the sharing means comprise means of requesting modification of the previewed designed physical product, and the purchasing user accounts have the rights to request such modifications.

The design means in general may comprise means of confirming an order, where the purchasing user accounts have the rights to confirm the order following the display of a preview.

According to some preferred embodiments, the means for uploading the photographs comprise means for creating a plurality of images. of photo galleries uniquely corresponding to the photographer-seller user account that uploaded them, and the means of viewing and selecting the photos comprise means of assigning viewing rights of a predetermined gallery to a predetermined purchasing user account.

In this way, for example, a buyer user account can? view and choose only the photos from that gallery. Advantageously, the photographer seller user account can? have more? customers corresponding to pi? seller user account, and share only relevant galleries with each one.

According to a preferable general feature, constructor accounts also have design rights.

In general ? It is possible to predict that the environment includes a manager account, and the manager account and the constructor account, or one of the constructor accounts, coincide.

According to some preferred embodiments the computing environment comprises payment management means where the photographer-seller user accounts and / or the buyer user accounts have the rights to make payments. In the case of payment by a buyer user account, the payment management means are programmed to divide them at least between the photographer-seller user account and the builder account of each project.

The IT environment preferably includes at least one manager account, the manager account and / or the manufacturer account have the rights to manage payments, where preferably the manager account and the manufacturer account coincide.

In general ? It is preferable that the buyer user accounts and / or the seller photographer user accounts have product choice rights to be associated with the chosen photos.

In this case, the computer environment preferably comprises means for calculating the cost of the physical product which receive as input the number of photos chosen and the product chosen.

According to some preferred embodiments, photographer-seller user accounts have the rights to define their own profit margin associated with their uploads.

In general, preferably the photographer-seller user accounts have the rights to choose at least one photograph uploaded by them and to choose at least one product from the catalog, in addition to the rights to customize this product with that photo and share a preview of the customized product with at least one user account. buyer.

Advantageously, therefore, photographers, next to the option of having customized products based on the choices of a buyer user, have the option of proposing already products through the environment. customized according to the photographer's choices, which could be useful when the photographer recognizes particularly meaningful photos or when? able to give the product a highly artistic content thanks to its capabilities? by author.

In general ? It is possible to foresee that the environment includes means of choosing the purchase of:

- digital files corresponding to related digital photos uploaded by said photographer-seller user accounts, and / or

- physical products characterized by said photos, where the purchasing user accounts have the right to choose the purchase of the files and of the physical products characterized by the photos of the files.

According to some preferred embodiments, the system comprises means of postproduction of the uploaded photographs comprising at least means of photo retouching, color correction and image optimization, where at least the photographer-seller user accounts, and / or the at least one manufacturer account, have the rights of postproduction of the respective uploaded photos.

According to a second general aspect, the invention relates to an intermediation process for the exchange of physical products characterized by photos, characterized in that it comprises the following steps:

- prepare a system of the type described above;

- through this system:

- upload at least one photo by at least one photographer-seller user account

- make at least one choice of at least one photo by at least one buyer user account

- carry out the design of at least one physical product characterized by said at least one chosen photo

- send an order to build the physical product designed to a manufacturer account

- make the physical product and deliver it to the physical address of the purchasing user account.

Preferably the procedure? characterized by the steps of choosing the purchase of at least one digital file corresponding to the at least one photo as an alternative to the purchase of a physical product characterized by the at least one photo.

Preferably, the procedure comprises the steps of managing payments by receiving a payment relating to the physical product and / or digital file and dividing it at least between the photographer-seller user account and a manager account.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Further characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become clearer from the following detailed description of its preferred embodiments, made with reference to the attached drawings and given by way of non-limiting example. In such drawings:

Figure 1 schematically shows an intermediation system according to the present invention.

- Figures 2 to 8 show the ramifications of a single block diagram of a work flow performed by the system of Figure 1.

The brokerage system in figure 1? indicated as a whole with the reference number 1 and comprises a computer environment 10 accessible via the Internet, therefore substantially a cloud computing environment, with a manager and a plurality of of accounts.

Accounts include at least:

- a plurality? of 20 buyer user accounts, belonging to physical subjects who purchase physical products made by the system 1;

- a plurality? of photographer-seller user accounts 30, belonging to photographers who take digital photographs, for example carrying out photographic services on behalf of the buyers, such as traditionally for events, including very often weddings, religious holidays, sporting events, etc .;

- at least one builder account 40, you belong to a printing company in charge of making physical products 50, such as photo albums, photo books, photo prints, or any other product featuring printed photos. The manufacturer account also manages product deliveries.

Accounts have access to the IT environment 10 with different rights.

In particular, the 20 buyer user accounts have viewing rights granted by the 30 photographer seller user accounts. for example be done through a visualization application, for example downloadable on a mobile digital device, such as a smartphone.

The constructor account 40 can? for example coincide with the manager account, and has at least the right to access data relating to orders for products to be printed and deliveries. Pu? also have access to payment data.

With reference to figures 2 to 8, the work flow and functions will now be described. of the system of figure 1, dividing them into various branches.

Figure 2 shows the initial stages of the workflow, where a photographer begins work at step 100 by shooting one or more? digital photographs with a camera and creating your own user account in the environment 10.

Subsequently, the photographer may want to select the photos to reduce the number in step 101, and / or post-produce them, that is? retouch them, in step 102.

The computer environment 10 can? understand the features? to carry out the steps 102 and 103, in addition or alternatively they can be done by the photographer with his own means outside the system 1.

The photographer subsequently creates an online gallery in system 10 at step 104.

From here, two workflow branches are possible depending on the type of tunnel created.

If the gallery requires a consultation by a buyer user to choose the photos to include in a project, follow the left branch, illustrated in figure 4, where the gallery? identified as a specimen gallery.

The system can? include means to allow the photographer-seller user account to set the number of photos that his client can set. select in the gallery, in step 105, and / or to allow you to protect photos with a watermark in step 106.

The system generally includes means of sharing photos between the photographer-seller user account and one or more? Predetermined buyer user accounts identified by the seller photographer user account. Such means include for example an online viewing environment where the seller photographer user account uploads the photos in step 107 and creates the access rights of the buyer user account in step 108.

For example, the rights, and / or the related link to the sharing environment, can be sent to the purchasing user account through QRcode, SMS, E-mail, social network, and the system 10 can? include an application for buyer user accounts that access the viewing environment via those rights and / or links.

There? allows the buying user account to choose photos for the project in step 109, for example by selecting them.

The photographer-seller user account receives the choice of photos in step 110 for example by viewing it in a private area, such as the sharing environment itself, where the display highlights the selected photos. Any other sharing system of choice? contemplated, for example in the form of an e-mail.

Optionally, the environment 10 can? include means of postproduction of the photos chosen by the buyer, where the postproduction rights are of the seller photographer user account, in step 111.

Through environment 10 the buyer user account? able to notify the photographer-seller user account if he wants to make a physical product in step 112. If not, the work is concluded, as the project is considered concluded and the photographer has the photos as he sees fit, if so, instead follows the branching of figure 4.

At the next step 113 it is established who edits, that is? designs, the product. The seller photographer user account can? choose whether to proceed himself, or assign these rights to the manufacturer account, indicated by the letters "AE".

The two branches that follow are mirrored, that is? have the same functionality? and the same operations, changing only those who perform them.

The environment 10 comprises design means, for example for the choice of options of a physical medium for the photos, for their layout, etc. At steps 114a and 114b, respectively, the manufacturer account or the photographer-seller user account designs the product through said means and at steps 115a and 115b they share a preview of it with the purchasing user account, for example through the same environment and the same modalities. ? share view previously.

The buying user account then displays the preview and has the right to request changes to step 116a or 116b, until what? satisfied with the project and confirms the green light to the press at step 117a or 117b.

From here we continue as indicated in figure 5, where we note that, in the event that the project is done by the photographer-seller user account, this too will have to? confirm the green light to the press in step 118.

It is then established who pays in point 119, whether the buyer user account or the photographer user account.

Whether to pay? the buyer user account in step 120a, the manager account, which could be the builder account 40, pays a commission to the seller photographer user account in step 121. If vice versa? the seller photographer user account to pay at step 120b, is not there? necessity? to pay any commission.

The payment can? take place through a special payment platform belonging to environment 10 itself.

In both cases, step 122 is reached in which the manufacturer account 40 proceeds to the realization of the physical product 50 through the printing company 40.

The manager account 40 also manages the delivery of the physical product 50 as shown in figure 6.

In particular, in step 123 it is established to whom the product is to be delivered, in particular if to the buyer user (step 124) or to the seller photographer user (step 125). To do there? the constructor user 40 has access rights to delivery data entered in the environment 10.

The delivery to the photographer determines the exit from the system, and it will be? the photographer to manage the customer's payments and after-sales independently and with his own means.

Turning now to Figure 7,? illustrated the branch that is followed in the event that at the end of figure 2 the user account photographer seller decides to create a gallery of products for sale (step 130) instead of? a specimen gallery (step 105). The difference ? what in this case? directly the user account photographer seller who chooses the photos the photos to be processed in a project, and preferably also the product to customize, so? which offers for sale directly the product already? designed or the photo files of his choice.

In this branch the photographer can? choose the selling price or your margin. Pu? also choose to grant visibility? of your gallery to all buyer user accounts instead? to one or more? predetermined accounts as in the previous case. In this way the gallery becomes a showcase, useful for example if the user is a photographer and a seller? a photojournalist.

Step 131, for example, symbolizes setting the price or profit margin on the sale. Step 132 symbolizes the possibility? by the photographer-seller user account to protect their photos by affixing a watermark.

Step 132 symbolizes uploading photos to the sharing area and step 133 the assignment of viewing rights to customers or prospects.

Steps 134 and 135 symbolize the possibility? for the buyer user account to decide whether to buy physical products proposed in the gallery, or digital files.

At this point, continue in figure 8.

In the case of purchasing only digital files chosen in the gallery in step 135, the purchasing user account pays the service to the manager account through a special payment platform belonging to environment 10, the manager in turn pays the commission to the account seller photographer user and gives the buyer user account the rights to download the paid digital files, for example by sending it a link. These steps are in steps 137, 138, 139.

In the event that the purchase includes customized physical products proposed by the seller photographer user account, after their choice among those offered in the shared gallery in step 140, and after the buyer user account has paid them to the manager account in step 141, the latter pays the commission to the photographer-seller user account in step 142, orders the construction of the product through manufacturer 40, and delivers the physical product to the purchasing user, as symbolized by steps 143 and 144.

The described steps symbolize relative means of the system 1 for carrying out the described actions.

In general, we observe that preferably the products that can be customized through the system can be selected in a list, also called catalog, prepared in the IT environment, where for example at least one manufacturer user account, and / or the manager account, have the rights to upload and update the catalog. Buyer User Accounts and Seller Photographer User Accounts typically have rights to select products from the catalog, and Seller Photographer User Accounts and / or Builder User Accounts have rights to customize products with photos uploaded to the system.

Generally we observe that preferably the photographer-seller user accounts are distinct and do not coincide with the producer accounts, as preferably the entities? real physics to which they correspond are distinct.

GENERAL INTERPRETATION OF TERMS

In understanding the scope of the present invention, the term "comprising" and its derivatives, as used herein, are intended as open-ended terms that specify the presence of the claimed characteristics, elements, components, groups, integers and / or phases, but they do not exclude the presence of other undeclared characteristics, elements, components, groups, integers and / or phases. The above also applies to words that have similar meanings such as the terms "including", "having" and their derivatives. Furthermore, the terms "part", "section", "portion", "member" or "element" when used in the singular can have the double meaning of a single part or of a plurality of parts. of parts. As used herein to describe the form (s) above, the following directional terms "forward", "backward", "above", "down", "vertical", "horizontal", "below" and "transverse" , as well? any other similar directional term refers to the embodiment described in operative position. Finally, degree terms such as "substantially", "about" and "approximately" as used herein mean a reasonable amount. of deviation of the modified term in such a way that the final result is not significantly changed.

While only selected embodiments have been chosen to illustrate the present invention, it will be. It is clear to those skilled in the art from this description that various modifications and variations can be made without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the attached claims. For example, the size, shape, position or orientation of the various components can be changed as needed. and / or wishes. The components shown directly connected or in contact with each other can have intermediate structures arranged between them. The functions of one element can be performed by two and vice versa. The structures and functions of one embodiment may be adopted in another embodiment. Do not ? All the advantages need to be present in a particular embodiment at the same time. Any feature that? original compared to the prior art, alone or in combination with other features, should also be considered a separate description of further inventions by the applicant, including the structural and / or functional concepts embodied by those features. Therefore, the foregoing descriptions of the embodiments according to the present invention are provided for illustrative purposes only and not for the purpose of limiting the invention as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims (18)

CLAIMS 1. Brokerage system for the exchange of physical products characterized by photos, characterized by the fact that it includes: - means of production of the physical product - means of delivery of the physical product - an IT environment accessible via the internet at least from the following accounts: - a plurality? buyer user accounts characterized at least by rights to view and choose photos in said environment; - a plurality? of photographer-seller user accounts characterized at least by rights to upload and view photos and design rights of the physical product in said environment; - at least one manufacturer account characterized by at least production management rights and preferably delivery of physical products; - the IT environment includes: - means of uploading digital photos - sharing means for viewing and selecting digital photos - means of designing a physical product characterized by the chosen photos - means of ordering to the manufacturer account of production and delivery of the physical product. 2. System according to claim 1, characterized in that the design means comprise at least a predetermined catalog of products that can be customized with photos by means of said design, where the at least one manufacturer account has the rights to upload products in said catalog and the rights The design of the photographer-seller user accounts are rights to personalize said products through photos, preferably the photos uploaded by the respective photographer-seller user account. 3. System according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the sharing means comprise a viewing application capable of accessing the computer environment and showing images to purchasing user accounts depending on their viewing rights, where the rights of View Buyer User Accounts are created from Photographer Seller User Accounts. 4. System according to claim 2 or an employee thereof, characterized in that the sharing means include: - means of viewing and choosing by their respective buyer user accounts of photos uploaded and shared with them by their respective photographer-seller user accounts, - means of displaying and choosing by said user accounts purchasing customizable products of said catalog, - means of visualization by said purchasing user accounts of a computer preview of the physical product designed on the basis of its choices. 5. System according to claim 4, characterized in that the sharing means comprise means for requesting modification of the planned physical product seen in preview, and the purchasing user accounts have the rights to request such modifications. System according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the design means comprise means of confirming an order, where the purchasing user accounts have the rights to confirm the order. 7. System according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the means for loading the photographs comprise means for creating a plurality of images. of photo galleries uniquely corresponding to the photographer-seller user account that uploaded them, and the means of viewing and selecting the photos comprise means of assigning viewing rights of a predetermined gallery to a predetermined purchasing user account. System according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the manufacturer accounts also have the design rights. System according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the computer environment comprises payment management means where both the photographer-seller user accounts and the buyer user accounts have the rights to make payments. System according to claim 2 or any employee thereof, characterized by the fact that at least the buyer user accounts and / or the photographer-seller user accounts have the right to choose the product to be associated with the chosen photos. 11. System according to claim 10, characterized in that it comprises means for calculating the cost of the physical product which receive as input the number of photos selected and the product selected. System according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that the photographer-seller user accounts have the rights to define their own profit margin associated with their uploads. 13. System according to the combination of claims 10 to 12, characterized in that the photographer-seller user accounts have the rights to choose at least one photograph uploaded by them and to choose at least one product from the catalog, in addition to the rights to customize that product with that photo and share a preview of the customized product with at least one buyer user account. 14. System according to claim 12 or 13, characterized in that the environment comprises means for choosing the purchase of: - digital files corresponding to related uploaded digital photos, and / or - physical products characterized by these photos, where the purchasing user accounts have the right to choose to purchase the files and physical products featuring photos of the files. System according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in that it comprises means for postproduction of the uploaded photographs comprising at least means for photo editing, color correction and image optimization, where at least the photographer-seller user accounts, and / or at least one manufacturer account, have the post-production rights of the respective uploaded photos. 16. Intermediation process for the exchange of physical products characterized by photos, characterized by the fact that it includes the following phases: - providing a system according to any one of the preceding claims; - through this system: - upload at least one photo by at least one photographer-seller user account - make at least one choice of at least one photo by at least one buyer user account - carry out the design of at least one physical product characterized by said at least one chosen photo - send to a manufacturer account an order for the realization of the physical product designed - create the physical product and deliver it to the purchasing user. 17. Process according to claim 16, characterized by the steps of choosing the purchase of at least one digital file corresponding to the at least one photo as an alternative to the purchase of a physical product characterized by the at least one photo. 18. Process according to claim 16 or 17, characterized by the steps of managing payments by receiving a payment relating to the physical product and / or digital file and dividing it at least between the photographer-seller user account and a manager account.