JP2002109259A - Commerce method using video image and communication network, product ordering system, and product ordering computer - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] In television broadcasting, etc., viewing programs such as clothing and accessories worn by talents appearing in various programs without having to search for brands or shops of the products. Be available for immediate purchase during. SOLUTION: This method is for conducting a commercial transaction using a moving image such as a television broadcast image or a video image constituted by a continuous display of a large number of still images, and a communication network such as the Internet 30. Product selection information including unique identifier data assigned to the still image when the product desired to be displayed displayed is selected is received by the order receiving computer 41 connected to the communication network 30 via the communication network 30. Then, based on the received commodity selection information, the consumer decides the commodity he / she wants to purchase, and sells the commodity to the consumer through Internet shopping or the like.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a commercial transaction method using a moving image and a communication network, which can easily and quickly perform a commercial transaction of a product appearing in a moving image such as a television broadcast, and a method for performing a commercial transaction using the method. The present invention relates to a product ordering system and a product order receiving computer used.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art When a viewer who watches a drama, movie, or variety program tries to purchase clothing or accessories worn by a talent or an actor appearing in such a program, the brand of the product or a store that sells the product is changed. Because it is unknown, in many cases, the purchase of the product cannot be performed even though the desire to purchase the product has been aroused.

[0003]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides an easy and accurate method for a consumer who watches a moving image such as a television broadcast image or a video image and who wants to purchase goods appearing in the image. It is an object of the present invention to provide a commercial transaction method capable of selling a product, a product ordering system used in the method, and a product order receiving computer.

[0004]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention takes the following technical measures.

That is, the present invention is a method for conducting commercial transactions using a moving image such as a television broadcast image or a video image constituted by a continuous display of a large number of still images, and a communication network such as the Internet. Product selection information including unique identification data added to the still image displayed when the user selects a desired product for purchase included in the moving image, via the communication network. The product is received by an order receiving computer, the consumer selects a desired product for purchase based on the received product selection information, and a commercial transaction relating to the product is performed.

According to the present invention, since the identification data is added to each of the still images constituting the moving image, it can be used for analog broadcasting. Although the counting method may differ for each playback device for the number of frames, etc., the identification data is added to the still image. Can be accurately associated with the product in the still image. In addition, for consumers, when watching a TV drama, movie, or variety program, and selecting a product when the product that the user wants to purchase is displayed, a commercial transaction from a product handling company is performed. The user can easily and quickly purchase the desired product without having to check the brand and handling points. In addition, merchandise dealers can conduct commercial transactions related to their products at the right time without missing out on consumers who have been motivated to purchase by watching video images, while facilitating commercial transactions. In addition, consumers will be willing to respond to regular price sales, which will increase profit margins. It is also an added value for video distribution companies that it is easy for viewers to order products that appear in the video. In that case, it contributes to the improvement of sales. As described above, the method of the present invention has great merits for both the trader and the viewer involved in the moving image distribution, and can activate commercial transactions.

[0007]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION In the commercial transaction method of the present invention, there are various methods for selecting a product desired by a consumer, generating product selection information, and distributing the product to a server. For example, if the moving image is provided by terrestrial analog broadcasting, the viewing of the moving image can be performed by a normal color television, and the image captured by the personal computer as a digital image by a video capture board. It is also possible to watch.

[0008] The still image may be of various modes. Normally, cathode ray tubes that display television broadcasts and videos use the scanning line method, so in practice, each point emits light sequentially, but to the human eye, all light is emitted simultaneously to form an image. It seems to be. The “still image” in the present invention may be an image configured by such a scanning line method. The scanning line method includes an interlace method and a progressive method, and any of them may be used.

The above-mentioned television broadcasting includes terrestrial analog television broadcasting, terrestrial digital television broadcasting, cable television broadcasting, BS digital broadcasting, CS digital broadcasting, and also includes Internet TV and data broadcasting.

[0010] The video image is not only an image obtained by reproducing a magnetic video tape of an analog recording system such as a VHS system or a beta system, an image obtained by playing a DVD, an image obtained by playing a VideoCD, but also a moving image file magnetically recorded on a hard disk. Includes video from playback.

[0011] The communication network can use various modes. As the communication line, a telephone line, an optical fiber cable, a copper wire, a wireless line, or the like can be used, and the commercial transaction of the present invention can be performed for a consumer who can be connected to a communication network by an arbitrary line.

[0012] The still image constituting the moving image is preferably constituted by digital data. When information at the time of broadcasting is analog data, such as in terrestrial television broadcasting, it is preferable to convert the data into digital data by a capture device.

[0013] Selection of a product desired to be purchased contained in the moving picture image can be performed by an appropriate method. For example, when a moving image is displayed in one window on a computer equipped with an OS equipped with a window system, clicking a mouse in the window, clicking a button assigned to the window, or the like. , The displayed product can be selected.

[0014] In the commercial transaction method of the present invention, preferably, the determination of the product desired to be purchased can be automatically performed electronically using a computer or the like, and the commercial transaction relating to the product is also performed using a computer or a communication network. E-commerce. The selection of the product you want to purchase
A plurality of products displayed at a certain moment (that is, a plurality of products included in a still image at the time of selection) may be selected collectively, or a specific one product may be selected. Good. The above-mentioned identification data may be added to each still image for implementing the method of the present invention.
Conventionally, a unique identification code is assigned to a predetermined position of each still image for each program and each still image in the TR (however, the TR is usually cut off at the time of broadcasting). Then, the identification code can be used as the identification data. In the case of digital recording video such as a DVD, a video title identifier and a frame number can be used as the identification data. The receiving of the product selection information in the order receiving computer may be performed in any form, for example,
Run a web server on the order receiving computer,
The CGI provided by the Web server is stored in the URL specified by the Web client installed on the consumer side.
Specify a script and a variable designating character for the script (for example, "http: //www..../order.cgi? Id = xxx1
23456; ordinate = xx; abscissa = yy ". Here, id is identification data for each still image, and ordinate and abscissa are selection coordinate data.) Thus, the receiving computer can receive the product selection information included in the URL. The video image may be viewed using a normal television receiver, or may be viewed using a personal computer having a video capture function. An appropriate operation device (for example, a personal computer, a button provided on a television receiver, or another operation device may be used) that can be selected and operated when provided is provided. By operating this operating device, an image (still image) at the time of the selection operation is captured on a personal computer, and the identification data included in the image is captured. Data can be sent to the order entry computer,
When watching videos using a personal computer,
The above-mentioned selection function can be added to this moving image display software, and an appropriate Web browser is started as an external program of the moving image display software, and the URL of the CGI program on the order receiving computer is selected as the display address for the product selection. By specifying the information together with the information, a Web page for ordering the desired product can be displayed on the personal computer screen of the consumer, and the consumer can input the name, address, payment information, number of products, and the like.

In the commercial transaction method according to the present invention, the selection of a desired product by the consumer is performed by electronically indicating a display portion of the desired product in the moving image, and the product selection information further includes: It may include selected coordinate data that is the display coordinates of the selected product in the still image. According to this, even when a plurality of products to be traded are included in the still image at the time of selection, it becomes possible to uniquely determine a specific product desired to be purchased by using the selected coordinate data, The smoothness of commercial transactions can be further improved. The electronic instruction is performed by, for example, displaying a pointer such as a mouse pointer on a screen displaying a moving image, moving the pointer to a display portion of a desired product, and generating an event such as a mouse click. Can be performed, and when a touch panel is applied to a display panel that displays a moving image,
The electronic instruction can be given by touching the display portion of the desired product with a finger or a pen. Further, the selected coordinate data can be a numerical value relative to the entire size of the moving image, the screen is divided vertically and horizontally into a predetermined number of squares, and a serial number is assigned to each square, It is also possible to use the number assigned to the cell at the selected position as the selected coordinate data.

The method of determining the product desired to be purchased can be of various types. For example, the product selection information received by the server is printed on paper, and the information is manually determined, and is also determined by telephone or facsimile. Although commerce can be started, preferably, it is possible to automatically make a determination using a computer or the like, and to automatically perform a product order receiving process. For example, on the order receiving computer or another computer connected to the order receiving computer via a network, a product to be traded included in a moving image and unique identification data given to a still image in which the product is displayed. Manages a database that associates
The merchandise associated with the identification data included in the merchandise selection information received by the order receiving computer by the database can be determined as the merchandise desired by the consumer. This determination can be automatically made by the order receiving computer or another computer connected to the network. The computer that makes the determination makes the database accessible.

The above-mentioned database may have an appropriate configuration. For example, the database may be constructed using a DBM database system, or may be a CSV text file or a binary file obtained by converting the file into binary data. The database can be configured. The database may be managed in a unified manner by recording all information in one file, or may be recorded in a different file for each record unit to manage various information in a distributed manner. DBM is widely known as a database system on UNIX (registered trademark), and can be easily referred to using, for example, a Perl script. Perl scripts are generally used as CGIs of server-side programs in Web systems.
By using M, while constructing a security-managed database system on the server system side,
By referring to the database in response to a request from the Web client, it is possible to easily extract necessary information and distribute it to the Web client. Here, the reception of the commodity selection information in the order receiving computer is performed by CGI
When the CGI program is executed by using a variable designation character string added to the URL of the program, the CGI program accesses a web page including detailed information of a product selected by accessing the database and an order form (preferably, a page in an HTML document format). , And send the Web page to a Web client on the consumer side. The database is Adabas D, InterBas
e, Solid, dBase, mSQL, Sybase, Empress, MySQL, Vel
ocis, FilePro, Oracle, Unix dbm, Informix, Postgre
It can also be built using database applications such as SQL. In the case of using the server-client type database system, it is not necessary to store the files which are the substance of each database in the server system, and it is also possible to store the files on other computers connected to the network.

In the case where the product selection information includes the identification data of the still image and the selected coordinate data, the product selection information is included in the moving image on the computer for receiving orders or another computer connected to the computer for receiving orders. Correspondence between a product to be traded, unique identification data assigned to a still image on which the product is displayed, and product identification information including display coordinates at which the product is displayed in the still image. Manages a database to be attached, compares the product selection information received by the order receiving computer with the product specification information managed in the database, and associates the product with the product specification information that matches the product selection information. Is preferably determined as a product that the consumer desires to purchase.

The unique identification data included in the product selection information received by the receiving computer includes a unique identification character string for each still image at a predetermined position of a still image on which a product to be traded is displayed. It is preferable that the character information is digital information obtained by recognizing the character image of the still image embedded by the capture means and the OCR means provided on the consumer side. According to this, even when the moving image is an analog system such as terrestrial television broadcasting, the consumer can convert the identification character string image included in the analog image into digital information and transmit it to the order receiving computer. Since the received identification data is digital information, the receiving party can quickly and accurately process the received data by the computer. The capture means can be constituted by a personal computer equipped with a capture board, control software and the like, and the OCR means can be constituted by OCR software for recognizing and processing the digital image captured by the capture means.

In the case where the still image composing the moving image is a digital image such as a satellite broadcast or a digital video, the unique identification data is digital information embedded in the still image by digital watermarking. Preferably, there is. According to this, since the identification data embedded in the moving image is invisible to human eyes, the method of the present invention can be used without deteriorating the quality of a moving image having a high video value such as a movie.

In order to smoothly implement the commercial transaction method of the present invention, it is preferable to distribute a dedicated system to consumers. For example, a moving image display device that displays a moving image such as a television broadcast image or a video image formed by a continuous display of a large number of still images, a selection unit for selecting a product included in the moving image, Identification data acquisition means for acquiring identification data given to a still image displayed when selected by the means, and a product ordering means associated with the product selection information including the identification data acquired by the acquisition means A product ordering system including a Web browser for acquiring and displaying a Web page,
Can be installed on the consumer side. As the moving image display device, a personal computer having a capture device with a built-in tuner can be used in addition to the television receiver. The selection means can be constituted by moving image reproduction software having a selection function using a mouse pointer or the like. The identification data obtaining means may be constituted by a program incorporated in the moving picture reproducing software, or may be constituted by an OCR program different from the moving picture reproducing software. Web browsers include Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Netscape's Ne
In addition to the landscape navigator, an appropriate device such as a MOSIC can be used. The method of acquiring the product ordering web page associated with the identification data is, for example, the URL of a CGI program that creates the product ordering web page.
This can be done by inputting a product selection information character string including identification data, selection coordinate data, etc. into the address field of the Web browser. That is, the Web page may be created in advance, but is preferably created dynamically by a CGI program or the like.

The above-mentioned commodity ordering system may further comprise commodity display coordinate acquisition means for acquiring coordinates of the commodity selected by the selection means in the still image. Such coordinate acquisition means is preferably incorporated in moving image display software. Then, the software detects a product selection operation by the consumer, and receives the identification data given to the still image at the time of the selection and the coordinate data of the selected position in the image as product selection information to the Web browser. Can be configured to pass. According to this, the order receiving computer can determine a desired product for purchase based on the product selection information, and transmit a Web page for ordering the product to the Web browser on the consumer side. Then, the Web browser obtains and displays an order Web page for the product specified by the product selection information including the identification data obtained by the identification data obtaining unit and the coordinate data obtained by the product display coordinate obtaining unit. I do. By inputting necessary information such as name, address, and payment information on the ordering Web page and transmitting it to the ordering computer, the consumer can immediately purchase the desired product while watching the moving image.

The order receiving computer can adopt various configurations, for example, product data included in a moving image such as a television broadcast image or a video image formed by continuous display of a large number of still images, and The present invention can be configured by a merchandise management system in which a database that associates with merchandise specifying information including unique identification data assigned to each of the still images on which merchandise is displayed is constructed. Then, the product management system includes a client system (We
b) Personal computer with browser function
When the product selection information including the identification data is received from, the product data associated with the product specification information matching the product selection information is extracted by searching the database, and an order receiving process for the extracted product is performed. It can be configured as follows. The above database search and product data extraction can be performed using a CGI program or the like. In addition, the order receiving process of the product is performed electronically by transmitting a web page for ordering including required items such as a name, an address, and payment information of a consumer who wants to purchase to a client system on the consumer side. Can be done.

[0024]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a television station 10 for television broadcasting.
A consumer-side product order receiving system 20 for receiving a television program broadcast broadcast by the television station 10;
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an overall configuration of a commodity order receiving computer 40 connected to Internet 0 via the Internet 30.

TV broadcasting systems are broadly divided into three categories, program production, program transmission, and radio wave transmission, according to their roles. Program production includes studio production in a broadcasting station and out-of-station production using a broadcast truck. There is.

In the studio production, recording is carried out by several cameras, and in a control room adjacent to the studio, switching of cameras, program insertion, screen synthesis, lighting dimming, audio mixing, etc. are instructed in accordance with the progress of the program. . The recorded program is edited and recorded on a VTR tape. In the case of Japan, this VTR tape records moving images as still images of 30 frames per second by an interlace method, and unique identification data is added to each still image and each program, and The data is recorded as a character display or the like on each still image. Therefore, by determining this identification data, it is possible to uniquely determine which program, what broadcast, what minute and what second of the still image. An example of such a still image is shown in FIG. 2, and each still image is given an identification code consisting of a serial number. In addition, this identification code is usually cut at the time of broadcasting,
When the commercial transaction method of the present invention is performed, broadcasting without cutting the identification code eliminates the need to separately embed information serving as identification data in the image.

The VTR tape is temporarily stocked in an automatic warehouse, inserted into a VTR deck according to a preset transmission time of a program schedule, and broadcast data is transmitted to a transmission matrix.

The transmission matrix has a structure in which the input / output lines cross each other, opens and closes contacts based on the time set in the program transmission control room, and transmits necessary programs to required areas when required. On the other hand, at a broadcasting station, the electric signal transmitted from the transmission matrix is converted into a television broadcast wave and transmitted from the transmission antenna 11.

The commodity order receiving system 20 includes a television antenna 21, a video capture device 22, a personal computer 23, and a communication modem 24. The video capture device 22 has a built-in tuner, and demodulates only a broadcast wave of a target channel from an analog electric signal received by the antenna 21 and converts it into digital data that can be input to the personal computer 23. . The capture device 22 can be connected to an appropriate I / O input / output unit of the personal computer 23, but is preferably connected to a PCI bus.

The personal computer 23 is, for example, Microsoft Windows Me, Windows
In addition to 2000, an OS such as Linux is installed, and a driver as control software for the capture device 22 is installed. When Linux is used as the OS, it is preferable to install an appropriate window manager and construct a Windows environment.

The personal computer 23 has
A moving image display application for viewing a television program by continuously displaying still image images converted as needed by the capture device 22 is installed.
This application displays a television program in one window 24 on a desktop 25, as shown in FIG. Furthermore, this application has an OCR function for identifying, by image recognition, identification data given to a still image at the time of clicking a predetermined position in the moving image with the mouse 26, and also includes an OCR function in the clicked image. And a function for acquiring the coordinates of the For example, when a mouse is clicked on a predetermined position in the image at the moment when the image in FIG. 3 is displayed, “XXX123458” is obtained as identification data,
For example, the upper left of the image is (0, 0), and the lower right is (400, 30).
As 0), the coordinates of the clicked position with respect to the entire image are acquired. In addition, this application
U to CGI program on product management system described later
A Web browser such as Internet Explorer is started using the RL, the acquired identification data, and the selected coordinate data as arguments.

The merchandise management system is mainly constituted by a merchandise order receiving computer 41.
1 is connected to the Internet and
Web servers, mail servers, ASP servers, and the like that can execute server-side programs such as l and PHP have been constructed. Further, a product management database accessible from the server-side program is constructed in the computer 41. The database includes merchandise data such as clothing, shoes, and accessories worn by talents and the like appearing in television programs, the identification data given to the still image on which the merchandise is displayed, and display coordinates in the still image. The association with the specific information is performed. For example, the following can be performed.

Product name, identification data, display coordinates --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- ------ Product A, XXX123456-XXX123598, (100,100 )-(150,150) Product A, XXX123598, (110,105)-(140,160)

As the identification data, a certain range can be specified, a specific one can be specified, and a plurality of columns can be listed. As for the coordinate data, as in the above example, a fixed range can be explicitly specified. However, the center coordinates are specified, and a database search is performed so that the center coordinates are matched with the values in the fixed range. It is also possible to construct expressions.

Further, the order receiving computer is provided with a CGI program for receiving a transmission request from a Web browser on the consumer side and delivering a Web page for receiving an order of a product desired by the consumer to the Web browser. I have.
This CGI program can be accessed from a Web browser on which a moving image display application on the consumer side is started. In the address field of the Web browser, the URL of the CGI program and the identification data obtained by the consumer's selection operation are displayed. When the user inputs product selection information including the selected coordinate data, the web server is activated. The activated CGI program checks the product selection information against the product identification information in the database,
The product data associated with the product specifying information matching the product selection information transmitted from the consumer is extracted. It is preferable to construct a product information database that manages detailed information for each product name separately from the database,
The CGI program can extract information related to the extracted product name from the product information database and output the data in an HTML document format. The output HTML data is distributed by the Web server to the Web client on the consumer side, and displayed on the Web browser of the personal computer 23 on the consumer side. Such a Web page can be provided with a product order form, that is, input fields for necessary information such as name, address, payment information, desired product name, and quantity.

According to the above-described embodiment, if the consumer is motivated to purchase clothes or the like worn by a favorite talent while watching a television program, the user simply clicks the clothes display portion with a mouse to display a product order computer. The Web page for ordering the product is transmitted from 41 and displayed on the computer screen of the user, and only by inputting and transmitting necessary items, the desired product can be purchased.

When a product to be traded is displayed, a mark or a character indicating the fact can be separately displayed in the moving image. Such a display can be inserted, for example, by a telop.

[0039]

According to the present invention, a consumer who watches a moving image such as a television broadcast image or a video image and who wants to purchase a product appearing in the video can easily and accurately purchase the product. Sales can be performed.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an overall system for realizing a commercial transaction method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of a still image showing an example of a recording state of a television program on a VTR tape.

FIG. 3 is a screen configuration diagram of a personal computer (product ordering system) on the consumer side.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Television broadcasting station 20 Commodity ordering system 22 Capture device 23 Personal computer 24 Modem 40 Commodity management system 41 Computer for receiving orders

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) H04N 7/173 640 H04N 7/173 640Z 5C076 F term (Reference) 5B049 BB11 CC05 DD01 FF03 GG00 GG03 5B057 CA12 CA16 CA19 5B064 AA07 CA04 5C025 AA30 BA01 BA25 BA27 CA09 DA05 5C064 BA07 BB10 BC18 BC23 BD02 BD09 BD14 5C076 AA14 BA06

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. A method for conducting a commercial transaction using a moving image such as a television broadcast image or a video image constituted by a continuous display of a large number of still images and a communication network such as the Internet, wherein a consumer uses the moving image Product selection information including unique identification data given to the still image displayed when the product desired to be included in the product is selected is received by the order receiving computer connected to the communication network via the communication network. A commercial transaction method using a moving picture and a communication network, wherein the consumer selects a commercial product desired to be purchased based on the received product selection information, and performs a commercial transaction on the commercial product. 2. The selection of a desired product by a consumer is performed by electronically indicating a display portion of the desired product in the moving image, and the product selection information includes information on the selected product in the still image. The commercial transaction method according to claim 1, further comprising selected coordinate data as display coordinates. 3. A product to be traded, which is included in a moving image, on the order receiving computer or another computer connected to the order receiving computer via a network;
Manages a database that associates unique identification data given to the still image in which the product is displayed, and stores the product associated with the identification data included in the product selection information received by the order receiving computer by the database. The commercial transaction method using a moving picture image and a communication network according to claim 1, wherein it is determined that the commodity is a product that the consumer desires to purchase. 4. On the order receiving computer or another computer connected to the order receiving computer via a network, a product to be traded, which is included in a moving image,
Manages a database that associates unique identification data given to a still image in which the product is displayed with product identification information including display coordinates at which the product is displayed in the still image, and The product selection information received by the computer is compared with the product specification information managed in the database, and the product associated with the product specification information matching the product selection information is displayed as a product desired by the consumer. The commercial transaction method using a moving picture image and a communication network according to claim 2, wherein: 5. The unique identification data of the still image in which a unique identification character string for each still image is embedded as a character image at a predetermined position of a still image on which a product to be traded is displayed. The communication with the moving picture image according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the character image is digital information obtained by recognizing the character image by a capture unit and an OCR unit installed on the consumer side. A business transaction method using a network. 6. The still image according to claim 1, wherein the still image forming the moving image is a digital image, and the unique identifier data is digital information embedded in the still image by a digital watermark. A commercial transaction method using the moving picture image and the communication network according to any one of the preceding claims. 7. A moving image display device for displaying a moving image such as a television broadcast image or a video image constituted by a continuous display of a large number of still images, and a selecting means for selecting a product included in the moving image. And identification data acquisition means for acquiring identification data given to the still image displayed when selected by the selection means, and product selection information including the identification data acquired by the acquisition means. A product ordering system, comprising: a web browser for acquiring and displaying a product ordering web page. 8. A product display coordinate acquisition unit for acquiring coordinates of a product selected by the selection unit in a still image, wherein the Web browser acquires the identification data acquired by the identification data acquisition unit and the product display coordinate acquisition. 8. The commodity ordering system according to claim 7, wherein the commodity ordering Web page for the commodity specified by the commodity selection information including the coordinate data acquired by the means is acquired and displayed. 9. A product data included in a moving image such as a television broadcast image or a video image formed by a continuous display of a large number of still images, and a unique data assigned to each still image on which the product is displayed. A database is established for associating the product identification information including the identification data with the product selection information including the identification data from the client system. A merchandise order receiving computer, which is configured to extract by searching a database and to execute an order receiving process for the extracted merchandise.