JP2001297232A - Order reception system with plural components - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an order reception system which makes it possible to individually specify and purchase components of personal computer and complete the personal computer without the detailed knowledge of the components. SOLUTION: This system is equipped with a component information storage means (database) which stores information by components of personal computers, a question information transmitting means (question data transmitting function) which sends question information regarding a personal computer as an orderer gains accesses, a performance rank table generating means (choice standard estimating function) which generates a component rank table of the performance of optimum components adapted to answer contents, and an optimum component selecting means which selects optimum components corresponding to an orderer's desire from a component storage means according to the answer contents from the orderer to the performance rank table.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an order receiving system for a product having a plurality of components, and more particularly to an orderer who individually specifies components such as a CPU, a motherboard, and software, and completes the order on the orderer side. The present invention relates to an order receiving system for a product having a plurality of components that are optimal for a personal computer that assembles the product.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, a desktop or portable general-purpose computer called a personal computer (PC) has recently been used not only as a completed product but also as a component of the device (completed unit). Some CPU
Circuit, a memory circuit as a main storage device, a magnetic recording device as an auxiliary storage device, a display device for outputting a calculation result typified by a CRT, and a main control circuit for integrally controlling these operations. In addition, sales as completed personal devices (semi-finished products as viewed from a personal computer in which all components are assembled) have been increasingly realized as personal computers by adding a service combining them. Here, the personal computer is referred to as a “component product”, and the CPU circuit, the memory circuit, and the like are referred to as “components”. That is, the personal computer is a component product having a plurality of components.

[0003]

However, in the above-mentioned sales form, it is necessary for not only the selling side but also the purchasing side to be familiar with the details of the components, but it is not easy to acquire the knowledge. Therefore, while component products can be provided at low cost, those who can use this sales form are limited to those who have advanced knowledge of the hardware and software of personal computers, which is one of the obstacles to the spread of component products (PCs). It is a big factor.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a component product having a plurality of components typified by a personal computer. An object of the present invention is to provide an order receiving system for a product having a plurality of components that can be assembled.

[0005]

According to the present invention, there is provided a component information storage means (database in FIG. 2) for storing information for each component of a component product comprising a plurality of components. Question information transmitting means (question data transmission function in FIG. 3) for transmitting question information (question screen in FIG. 5) relating to the component product in response to access from the orderer; A performance rank table creating means (selection target scale estimation function in FIG. 3) for creating a component rank table of the performance of an optimum component adapted to the answer content based on the answer content from the orderer; The optimal component selecting means (FIG. 3) for selecting the optimal component corresponding to the request of the orderer from the component storage means based on the contents of the response from the orderer. Characterized by comprising the optimal component selection function) and.

Further, the optimum component selecting means receives a request from the orderer to change the optimum component transmitted last time to the orderer, and selects an optimal component corresponding to the change request. It is characterized by having a component selecting means (optimal component selecting function in FIG. 3).

In this way, the orderer of the component product (for example, a personal computer) receives the question information shown in FIG. 5 from the personal computer sales center or the like (the order receiving system 10 of FIG. 1), and desires in the selection column. The items are checked and returned to the order receiving system 10. In the order receiving system 10, the performance rank table creating means creates a performance rank table (FIG. 6 (A)) according to the desired item of the orderer and returns it to the orderer. The orderer examines the performance rank table (FIG. 6 (A)) according to the use of his / her personal computer, etc., corrects / specifies the rank for the component, and sends it to the order receiving system (FIG. 6 (B)). . Therefore, even if the orderer of the personal computer is not familiar with the hardware and software aspects of the personal computer,
It becomes possible to obtain the components of the personal computer that meet the request of the orderer himself.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the illustrated embodiment. In the following embodiments, the most representative personal computer as a component product is to be ordered. The products to be ordered in the present invention satisfy the following conditions. All types of components that make up a component product are generally sold as a single product. The component product may be sold as a finished product.

(1) First Embodiment FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of this embodiment, FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an auxiliary storage device constituting the system, and FIGS. 3A and 3B are the auxiliary storage device. FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of interface software and element selection software constituting the software. As shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the personal computer order receiving system PJ includes a server device (order receiving system) 10, a computer network 20 which is a “network”, a terminal device 30 provided by a customer (orderer, user), and “ A part ordering system 40 as a "first component ordering means" and a manufacturing request system 50 as a "second component ordering means" are provided.

The server device (order receiving system) 10 includes a CP
It includes a U circuit 11, a main storage device 12, an auxiliary storage device 13, a display device 14, and a network modem 15. The auxiliary storage device 13 includes, in addition to system software 17 for operating the server device 10, an order receiving system software 18, and a database 16 which is a “component information storage unit” that records details of products to be ordered and their components.
Is stored.

The order receiving system software 18 is shown in FIG.
As shown in (A) and (B), an interface software 18a and an element selection software 18b are provided. The interface software 18a is mainly used for the terminal device 30.
To send question data for order information input (Fig. 3
(A), the question data transmission function is equivalent to “question information transmission means”), and the user (orderer) can use the terminal device 3.
The function for taking in the response information inputted from 0 and the contents of the order determined by the user (see FIG. 7)
The communication with an external system connected to the network 20 is performed, such as a function of transmitting the order contents to the production request system 50 and the production request system 50. The element selection software 18b uses the response information fetched from the terminal device 30 to
6 and select components of the product (see FIG. 3).
(B)).

The system software 17 and the order receiving system software 18 are called from the auxiliary storage device 13 when the server device 10 is started up, and are resident in the main storage device 12. Reading and writing of data from the storage device 13 is basically not performed.

The components of the personal computer which is a product to be ordered in this embodiment include a motherboard as a main control circuit, a CPU as a main arithmetic circuit, a memory circuit as a main storage device, and a fixed magnetic disk device as an auxiliary storage device. In addition, an optical disk device, a power supply circuit, and a casing serving as a base for a mechanism combining all of them are listed as essential items, and optional items include a display device, various interface circuits, and the like.

Considering the characteristics of these types of components, the configuration of the database 16 is, for example, as described below or as shown in FIGS. Database 16
Is composed of tables 70 to 7n for respective types of constituent elements. Each table 7n has records 700 to 7 nm describing details of each product type. Each record is a manufacturer name,
Items common to all tables, such as model and price,
It consists of different items depending on each table to which each belongs, such as the circuit mounting format, interface used, and specifications.

An example of a table of each component is shown below.
Regardless of the constituent elements, the basic table creation method is the same, except for the type and number of items constituting the table. However, the standard names used for the data names are those conventionally used as of February 2000, and the manufacturer names and models are fictitious except for some. The price range data is shown as a relative value for each type. Although it is different from the actual price ratio, the larger the number is, the more expensive it is.

Motherboard manufacturer Model Support socket Control circuit Price range ――――――――――――――――――――――――――――― Neck N6D-840 Slot1 × 2 i840 5 neck N6-820R Slot1 i820 3 neck NK7-750 SlotA AM750 2 Terrano TRC-M PGA370 i810 2 Terrano TR1 Slot1 440BX 3 Terrano TRA SlotA KX133 2. . . . . . In addition to the above, data items include a board shape, a memory standard, and the like.

CPU: Manufacturer model compatible socket Frequency Price range ―――――――――――――――――――――――――――― . . . . . Intel Pentium3 PGA370 500 3 Intel Celeron PGA370 500 2 AMD Athlon SlotA 800 4. . . . . . AMD k6-2 Super7 400 1

Memory: Manufacturer Model Capacity Standard Price range ――――――――――――――――――――――――――――― Merchiol R800 128MB RIMM 5 Merchiol R800 64MB RIMM 3 . . . . . . Melchiol D133 128MB DIMM 2 Melchiol D133 64MB DIMM 1 Melchiol D100 128MB DIMM 1

Next, the operation of the order receiving system will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. First, the user of the personal computer (the orderer) uses the terminal device 30 to receive the order receiving system 10.
(Step 1), the order receiving system 10 sends, to the terminal device 30, question data relating to an outline of a product required by the user (Step 2). As shown in FIG. 5, the contents of the question are the main use, the purchase budget, the items to be emphasized, the outline of the installation place, the appearance preference, the age group, the presence or absence of a joint user, and the personal computer already owned. / No, type of communication line used (general public line, ISDN,
The content emphasizes the usage method and usage environment, rather than the product specifications, such as whether or not a cable TV is desired. The answer should be in a format that can be selected from several options.

The user inputs an answer to the question from the terminal device 30 and sends the content to the order receiving system 10. When the order receiving system 10 receives this (Step
3) First, a criterion for selecting a component, for example, a performance rank relatively indicating the performance of each component is estimated from a response from the user (FIG. 3A). This is once presented to the user (FIG. 6A) (Step 4). When the user understands this result (Branch 1), the order receiving system 10 activates the component selection software 18 and selects the optimal combination of components from the answer contents and the database 16 (the optimal configuration in FIG. 3B). The element selection function corresponds to “optimal component selection means” (Step 5), and the result is transmitted to the user terminal device 30 (Step 6). Conversely, if the user is dissatisfied with the presentation of the performance rank, the user directly edits the content of the presentation (see FIG. 6B) (Step 7), and then transmits a response of approval to the order receiving system.

Here, a procedure for selecting a combination of components registered in the database 16 based on the response data transmitted by the user will be described. In this embodiment, for simplicity, there are three types of questions: "visual preference", "main use", and "purchase budget" (FIG. 5).

The factors that determine the characteristics of the product imagined by the user increase in the order of “main use”, “visual preference”, and “purchase budget”. For this reason, the order of selection is that the application to be installed is first, the CPU
And the motherboard is the second, the housing is the third, and the others are the fourth. In the question of "main use", the user is asked to select one or more main purposes for using the personal computer. The options are, for example, word processor, spreadsheet, database processing, homepage creation, 3D game, graphic design, video editing, music data editing, software development, etc. (see FIG. 5).

In the case of the question of "visual preference", the appearance and model number of the housing are displayed on a screen as in a conventional online catalog, and the user is allowed to select one of them. In the question of "purchase budget", the user is asked to input the price image of the product or the purchase budget. However,
Since the minimum price of the product required for the application is almost decided, this answer is only a guide for component selection.

First, an application for each application is selected based on the answer to the question "main application". Further, the performance rank (see FIG. 6A) of the motherboard and the CPU satisfying the specifications suitable for the application and the peripheral device whose selection range is easily narrowed for the application is obtained as numerical values of 1 to 5 in five stages. The performance rank here indicates the degree of high processing speed, high scalability, advanced technology, and the like, and these may be considered as indices relatively opposite to low price.

For example, if the answer is a document such as a word processor, since the lowest price element that can constitute a product can be used, the performance rank is the lowest value of 1 for all the constituent elements. Also, the application may select general-purpose word processor software.
Alternatively, a printer at a low price range may be presented as a peripheral device. However, if the same document creation is used for publication design, change the document creation software to one for publication and
Measures such as raising the processing speed of the PU and the performance rank of the screen output circuit to 2 or 3 will be taken.

On the other hand, if the answer is a graphic design, it is necessary to select software for rendering processing in addition to drawing software. However, since this software requires numerical calculation performance, the processing speed of CPU and
In particular, it is necessary to set the highest performance rank 5 for the speed of the calculation speed. Also, the screen output circuit needs the highest performance rank in terms of resolution and the number of simultaneous colors, but does not need to be as high as in the case of 3D game purposes in terms of drawing speed and signal processing speed. 3 is sufficient. Further, the capacity of the auxiliary storage device is required to some extent, but is not as required as that for video editing, and the access speed is not so necessary. Therefore, the performance rank may be 4 in terms of capacity and 2 in terms of speed.

The performance rank thus obtained is presented to the user for each component (FIG. 6A). For CPU, calculation speed, for motherboard, expandability and advanced technology,
If it's memory, it's capacity. In addition, a reference price when a product is configured with this performance rank is presented. When the user sees this and wants to correct the performance rank, for example, because the user cannot make a compromise with the budget, the user instructs the content of the correction to the order receiving system (FIG. 6B). Finally, if the user approves, the component of the actual product is selected from the database 16 based on the performance rank determined thereby. For example, if the performance rank of “high expandability” is high, a large board size standard is selected for the motherboard. If the performance rank of the “processing speed” is high, the type is higher and the operating frequency is higher, and if the performance rank is lower, the operating frequency is lower in the lower type.

Also, the motherboards are narrowed down to those of corresponding sockets corresponding to the type. That is, it is checked whether the corresponding socket of the CPU selected here matches the corresponding socket of the motherboard, and if they do not match and are not compatible, the motherboard which is a component having a wide selection range is selected. Is selected again so as to match the corresponding socket of the CPU. Even if they do not match, the corresponding socket is
If the motherboard and the corresponding socket in Slot1 can be compatible and absorbed like the CPU of PGA370, C
A PU adapter will be added.

Next, it is checked whether or not the specification conforms to the components whose selection range is largely narrowed by the height of the performance rank. For example, if the application is a graphic design or a 3D game, and a high performance rank is set for the screen output circuit, a type of motherboard having a built-in screen output circuit function cannot be selected. If the application is a word processor and the performance rank of “speed” of the memory is set low, RI
A motherboard that requires memory mounting according to the MM standard cannot be selected.

Conversely, when the performance rank with respect to the memory speed is high as in the case of database processing, the motherboard is preferentially selected, and then other components are selected. Other components may be selected as appropriate while referring to the record contents of the database on the selected motherboard and conforming to the standard and conforming to the performance rank of the peripheral device.

For example, when selecting a screen output circuit,
First, the database 16 refers to which standard (AGP or PCI) the selected motherboard supports. At this time, if the function of the display circuit is built in the motherboard, no selection is made. In other cases, the selection is normally made from the standard that matches the motherboard, but even if there is no match, if both the board and the motherboard have the same backward compatible standard, the selection is made.

When the application is video editing and the performance rank of the capacity and speed of the auxiliary storage device is high, an additional interface circuit may be necessary in addition to the selected auxiliary storage device. In this case, the interface circuits are selected at the same time after confirming that interface circuits of the same standard have already been selected and whether the number of circuits mounted on the motherboard does not exceed an allowable range by adding this circuit.

When the selection of the constituent elements is completed by the above procedure and the result is displayed on the user's terminal device 30 (FIG. 7), the user judges whether the obtained result is satisfactory (Branch 2). ), If OK, a response to this configuration is sent to the order receiving system. If it is desired to change the detailed configuration, it is determined whether to reset the performance rank or to shift to the conventional component selection system with the current result as an initial state (Branch 3). The correction is performed respectively (Steps 7 and 8).

After the final structure of the product is determined in this way and the contents are transmitted to the order receiving system, the order receiving system is connected to the parts ordering system 40 connected to the same computer network 20 and the product assembling factory. The information is transferred to a certain manufacturing request system 50 as the contents of the order of the product from the user (Step 9).

(2) Second Embodiment In the first embodiment, the target product is described as a personal computer. However, the product is not necessarily tangible. For example, a free tour for each destination provided by a travel agency is provided. It can be applied to products.

In this case, the product is a free tour product, and the components include air tickets, hotel reservations at facilities and facilities, reservations for use of facilities, use of transportation, and the like.

In this embodiment, the configuration of the order receiving system itself is the same as that of the first embodiment. However, the parts ordering system 40 and the manufacturing request system 50 connected to the computer network 20 are different from the airline ticket and the transportation means, It can be replaced with a facility reservation ticketing system. The operation of the order receiving system is almost the same as FIG. First, when the user connects to the order receiving system using the terminal device 30 (equivalent to Step 1), the order receiving system sends question data relating to the outline of the tour required by the user to the terminal device 30 (equivalent to Step 2). The content of the question is the main destination,
Budget, length of stay, facilities you want to use, age group, etc.

The user inputs an answer to the question from the terminal device 30 and sends the content to the order receiving system. When the order receiving system receives this (Step 3 equivalent),
An optimal tour plan is selected from the answer contents and the database (equivalent to Step 5), and the result is transmitted to the user terminal device 30 (equivalent to Step 6). When the creation of the tour plan is completed according to the above procedure and the result is displayed on the user's terminal device 30, the user determines whether the obtained result is satisfactory. Send it to the order receiving system (equivalent to Branch 2). If the user wants to change the detailed configuration, the current result is used as an initial state to shift to the conventional component selection system, where the user makes corrections (corresponding to Step 8).

After the contents of the plan are determined in this way and the contents are transmitted to the order receiving system, the order receiving system sends the order contents from the user to the ticket issuing system or the facility reservation system connected to the same computer network 20. The information based on the information is transferred (corresponding to Step 9).

In each of the above embodiments, a user directly selects a component of a product, as in a conventional order receiving system,
It is possible to have the functions of input and transmission at the same time. In the first embodiment, the case of a personal computer has been described as being tangible. However, the present invention can be applied to a bicycle or a car (for example, a 50CC mini car) in which parts are individually ordered and assembled. Of course.

[0041]

As described above, according to the present invention, by providing a function for estimating the optimum product component from the user's request, detailed knowledge on the product component required by the conventional user is provided. This has the effect of making it unnecessary. Due to this effect, there is a synergistic effect that a product that is less expensive than a conventional product in the form of a completed product can be provided to a user at a beginner level.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an auxiliary storage device configuring the system.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing functions of interface software constituting the auxiliary storage device.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a question screen presented to the orderer in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a performance rank table presented to the orderer in the embodiment, wherein (A) is a performance rank table of an answer plan adapted to the wishes of the orderer, and (B) is an orderer's correction to the answer plan. It is a performance rank table of a plan.

FIG. 7 is a presentation screen to the orderer finally determined as a result of the exchange of opinions with the orderer.

[Explanation of symbols]

 PJ personal computer reception system 10 server device (order receiving system) 11 CPU 12 main storage device 13 auxiliary storage device 14 display device 15 network modem 16 database 17 system software 18 order receiving system software 18a interface software 18b element selection software 20 computer network 30 terminal device 40 Parts ordering system 50 Manufacturing request system 700-70n Record of component table

Claims (8)

[Claims] 1. Component information storage means for storing information for each component of a component product comprising a plurality of components, and question information transmitting means for transmitting question information about the component product in response to access from an orderer. A performance rank table creating means for creating a component rank table of optimal component performance adapted to the answer content based on the answer content from the orderer to the question information from the question information transmitting means; A plurality of optimal component selecting means for selecting, from the component storing means, an optimal component corresponding to the orderer's request based on the contents of the response from the orderer to the rank table. An order entry system for products that have components. 2. The alternative optimum element selecting means receives a change request from the orderer for the optimum element previously transmitted to the orderer, and selects an optimum element corresponding to the change request. 2. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a component selecting unit. 3. The order receiving system for a product having a plurality of components according to claim 1, wherein the performance rank table includes at least a reference price of a completed component product of the component product. 4. The system according to claim 1, further comprising a first component ordering means for ordering a department managing the optimum component after the optimum component has been determined with the orderer. Item 3. An order receiving system for a product having a plurality of constituent elements according to any one of the items 3. 5. An apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a second component ordering means for placing an order with a department that manufactures the optimum component after the optimum component has been determined with the orderer. Item 3. An order receiving system for a product having a plurality of constituent elements according to any one of the items 3. 6. A means for an orderer to make an order request is a terminal device. The terminal device and an order receiving system for a product having a plurality of components according to claim 1 are connected to a network. The order receiving system for a product having a plurality of components according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: 7. The order receiving system for a product having a plurality of components according to claim 1, wherein the component product is a personal computer. 8. The product having a plurality of components according to claim 1, wherein the component product is a destination-specific free tour product provided by a travel agency. Order system.