INFORMATION OBTAINING SYSTEM
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates broadly to a system for obtaining information over a computer network. The present invention will be described herein with reference to a system for obtaining price quotations over the Internet. However, it will be appreciated that the present invention does have broader applications, including e.g. the obtaining of stock-market information from a plurality of web-sites, and further is also applicable to other computer networks such as Intranets and Extranets .
Background of the Invention
The Internet has become one of the major, if not the major source for obtaining information relating to various aspects of everyday life. More particularly, a large number of businesses today provide web-sites for access by their customers. Using the websites, consumers can access information such as price quotations on products available from the respective businesses that are associated with a particular web-site.
Whilst this enables a consumer to easily obtain price quotations for a product from a particular business, the consumer would typically then desire to obtain as many price quotations from as many different provider businesses as possible, in an effort to obtain the best possible price for a particular product. However, in order to obtain the different price quotations, the user would have to connect to each of the different websites and re-enter criteria information for each product of interest with the result that the process becomes quite time consuming.
Furthermore, the structure of information entry on the different web-sites may be quite different, and
therefore the consumer would be required to exercise care to ensure that the relevant information is entered correctly for each web-site.
Summary of the Invention
In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a system for obtaining information over a computer network, said system including: means for facilitating selection by a user of required type of information, means for gathering request details from a user; means for storing the gathered request details in a first database; and means for obtaining the required type of information from a plurality of predetermined web-sites, each predetermined web-site being capable of providing the required type of information, and the means for obtaining the required type of information being arranged, in use, to populate data request fields of the web-sites based on the stored request details.
Preferably, the means for obtaining the required type of information includes a data driven first application program arranged, in use, to interact with the first database so as to populate the request fields. Accordingly, a single application program may be utilised to obtain the required information from different websites rather than having to provide a hard-coded application program for each web-site.
The system advantageously further includes a second database in which product specification data associated with the required information is stored, and the means for gathering the request details is arranged, in use, to present to a user data entry fields which are based on the specification data associated with the required information.
Preferably, the system further includes means for maintaining the second database. The means for maintaining the second database may include a second application program arranged, in use, to facilitate addition of further products and product specification data to the second database.
Where the system is utilised to obtain price quotations for a product, the system may further include means for placing an order for the product from a selected web-site on the basis of a selection made by the user.
The means for placing an order preferably includes a data driven third application program arranged, in use, to send customer data obtained from the user to the selected web-site.
Preferably, the system includes a third database for storing the customer data obtained from the user for future processing.
In a preferred embodiment, the system is arranged such that the required type of information is obtained automatically in response to predetermined events or at predetermined intervals, and the system further includes update means arranged, in use, to forward the automatically obtained required type of information to the user. The update means may be arranged to forward the required type of information via e-mail, and/or via wired or wireless phone, and/or via facsimile, and/or via interfacing to other software.
It will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that the first, and/or second, and/or third data application programs may form component applications of an overall data driven application program.
Similarly, it will also be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that the first, and/or second, and/or third databases may be provided as components of a single database.
In accordance with an alternative aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of
obtaining information over a computer network, said method including the steps of: facilitating selection by a user of required type of information, gathering request details from a user; storing the gathered request details in a first database; and obtaining the required type of information from a plurality of predetermined web-sites, each predetermined web-site being capable of providing the required type of information, and the step of obtaining the required type of information including the step of populating data request fields of the web-sites based on the stored request details . Preferred forms of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings .
Brief Description of the Drawings
Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of an information obtaining system embodying the present invention;
Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram of an extension of the embodiment shown in Figure 1;
Figure 3 shows a schematic diagram of a further extension of the embodiments shown in Figures 1 and 2; and
Figures 4 to 8 show example screens of an interactive web-site of the system shown in Figure 2.
Detailed Description of the Preferred Embodiment
Referring to Figure 1, there is shown an information obtaining system 10 in this example for obtaining price quotations. The system 10 includes a user interface in the form of an interactive web-site 12, which can be accessed by users via the Internet 14.
The system 10 further comprises a data driven first application program component 16 which is arranged to send data to and retrieve data from a plurality of external web-sites 18, 20 without the need for program code changes or additional program coding. The first application program component 16 is provided with a communication facility which enables the first application program component 16 to communicate with the external multiple web-sites . This communication facility provides for concurrency of transactions; for flow control, that is the ability to navigate through various web-pages; and for process control, which ensures that the process of driving a particular web-site is appropriately controlled. The system 10 further comprises a product database 22 in which product names and associated product specification data may be stored, and a request database 24 in which price quotation request details, entered by a user through the web-site 12, are stored. The price quotation request details are obtained from a user through data entry fields provided on the web-site 12, the data entry fields being based on the specification data stored in the product data base 22 for a selected product. In use, the first application program component 16 operates to populate data entry fields of the external web-sites 18, 20 on the basis of the price quotation request details retrieved from a user and stored in the request database 24. When price quotations are received from the external web-sites 18, 20, the system 10 displays the price quotations obtained from the external web-sites 18, 20 on the web-site 12.
The product database 22 is maintained by a data driven second application program component 26 arranged to facilitate addition of further products and product specification data to the database 22.
An extension of the embodiment described above is shown in Figure 2, wherein the system 10 further includes
a data driven third application program component 28 which may be used by a user to place an order for a product from one of the plurality of web-sites 16, 18. In use, the third application component 28 operates by populating appropriate data entry fields of the relevant external vendor web-site 16, 18 which are required to action an order from the web-site 16, 18.
The third application component 28 also forwards customer details requested by the system 10 from the user via the web-site 12 to the relevant external vendor website 16, 18.
The third application component 28 is also arranged to populate the appropriate data entry fields associated with customer details on the relevant external vendor web-site 16, 18.
The system 10 further includes a customer database 29 in which customer details are stored for future use.
Through the provision of the customer database 29, the system 10 can provide a customised service to individual clients by utilising client profiles stored in the customer database 29. For example, a client may create a profile which includes instructions to send the results of a price quotation search every week to a first party, but only if a particular event occurs, such as when a particular quote has reached a preset value.
A further extension of the above described embodiment is shown in Figure 3, wherein the system 10 further includes an update service unit 30. The update service unit 30 is arranged to initiate the obtaining of price quotations from the plurality of external web-sites 18, 20 at predetermined intervals on the basis of price quotation request details stored in the request database 24 for a specific user.
The update service unit 30 further comprises a transmitter unit 32 for transmitting the obtained updated price quotations to the specific user, for example via e- mail to an e-mail address of the user.
It will be appreciated by a person skilled in the
art that the transmitter unit 32 may in alternative embodiments be arranged to provide the specific user with the results via other means, including for example via a message to a mobile phone or wired phone, via facsimile, or via interfacing to other software.
In the following, the steps carried out by an authorised person in adding a new product and vendor to the product database 22 are described.
1. Add and define the industry (if necessary)
2. Add and define the product and relate to the industry.
3. Conduct analysis of the new vendor (s) web-sites and for the or each web-site determine the data entry requirements which conform to a common set of data entry fields (i.e. product specification data) that will support all vendors .
The analysis will determine what type of control is required -ie.
• a textbox, to handle typed free form data entry • a pulldown listbox with a limited set of values
• a checkbox, to handle a Yes/No selection.
4. Add product specification data to the product database 22.
5. Define new vendor (one at a time)
6. Add new vendor detail translations - Allows conversion of standard bound values or entered values to vendor specific values .
7. Define the new vendor/product/location relationships - ie. Which products are sold by
which vendors in which locations .
8. Analyse the processing of each vendors web site. Vendor output mapping will define the interface data that will drive the vendor web sites transparently and therefore it is necessary to know what web pages need to be navigated through, the appropriate URLs, the data entry requirements of each page, the controls that need to be activated (ie. buttons, checkboxes, radio buttons, and so on) .
9. Analyse the results page of the new vendors web site and define the input data items. The input data items define the result data to be displayed, and usually define items such as product name, description, price, comments, etc. A common set of input data items needs to be defined for all vendors, although they do not have to be used by all vendors .
10. Define the vendor input mapping ie. define how the vendors results are interpreted - it may be necessary to maintain input edit control to perform pre-edit of HTML results to assist with input mapping .
11. Define vendor product action - to define what action is taken upon selection of product.
Figures 4 to 8 show example screen shots of the interactive web-site 12 of the system 10 of Figure 1.
It will be appreciated by a person skilled in the art that numerous variations and/or modifications may be made to the present invention as shown in the specific embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as broadly described. The present embodiments are, therefore, to be considered in all
respects to be illustrative and not restrictive.
For example, the present invention could be implemented without the need for a client/user to have access to the actual computer network utilised in the retrieval of the information data. This is because the required data requested by the client and stored by the system does not need to be communicated via an interactive web-site, but rather could be communicated to the system in any other form, including aurally by telephone or by written instructions .
Since the results can also be communicated on non- computer network means such as by telephone or facsimile, a client/user could benefit from the vast pool of information provided on the Internet, without personally having to have access to the Internet. Therefore, in an alternative embodiment, the present invention can provide a system which, unlike many other systems, does not rely solely on the existence of an Internet facility which is available to the client/user.