BACKGROUND ART As a communication technology is advanced, an electronic commerce which is implemented based on an online communication attracts a big attention. In a broad meaning, the electronic commerce represents all economic activities like an advertisement, order, and purchase of a product and service that a company or customer performs in a computer communication network, however in a general meaning, it represents a service activity in which a product search, delivery and payment are performed in an internet shopping mall. In particular, the electronic commerce based on the

internet performs a commerce irrespective of time and location, so that the electronic commerce based on the internet is recognized as a new business model.

In the Korean Patent Publication No. 99-46731, the linux-based electronic commerce shopping mall constructing system disclose a system capable of operating a shopping mall on the internet from an online shop construction to a product management member management, order management, inventory management, and market management based on a client/server method. Therefore, the customer is capable of buying a product in the online shopping mall constructed by the above-described construction system without directly going to a shop, and receives the ordered product.

However, in the online commerce, it is impossible to directly check the products differently from an offline commerce, and the order is determined by the customer based on an image information. Therefore, in the online commerce, the price of the product is lower than the offline. In addition, as a low price method, an electronic commerce which adapts an auction or reverse direction auction method is widely activated.

The computer auction system of the U. S. patent No. 5,890,138 issued on March 30,1999 and other patents disclose an auction system by which an internet auction site is connected using a computer.

The customer is capable of buying a product at a lower price based on an auction, reverse direction auction, etc. However, the customer

who wants to join the auction must attend a bidding at a fixed time. In addition, since a purchase determination time is previously determined, an instant commerce that the customer wants is not implemented. In addition, since the delivery cost is charged to the customer, the online commerce with respect to a low cost product is not activated.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic commerce and an electronic commerce system thereof by which a customer is capable of buying a certain item at a desired time at a lower price in a view of a customer for thereby enhancing a commerce It is another object of the present invention to provide an electronic commerce method and an electronic commerce system which are capable of implementing an active online commerce with respect to a lower price item.

To achieve the above objects, there are provided an electronic commerce method which includes a step for displaying a plurality of item baskets which each include at least two items, a step for selecting at least one item basket by a customer and selecting at least two items included in the selected item basket, a step for computing a price discounted based on a discounting reference which is previously determined based on the selected items, and a step for displaying the computed price.

In the present invention, the discounting reference is determined based

on the items selected by a customer and the sale amount of the customer.

In the present invention, the step for computing the discounted price includes a step for setting the maximum discounted price with respect to each item included in the item basket, a step for defining a reference variable corresponding to an attribution to the profit of the electronic commerce of the customer based on the items selected by the customer, and a step for computing a discounted price by multiplying the reference variable with the discounted price.

The reference variable is a customer's royalty R which is obtained by the following equation: R = x1R1++X2R2+ X3R3 x2+x2+ x3 = 1 where R, = (the number of the items which are bought based on the package in the item basket-1)/ (the number of the maximum items which are bought based on the package in the item basket-1), R2 = (the number of the items which are bought based on the package for each item in the item basket-1)/ (the number of the maximum items which are bought based on the package for each item in the item basket-1), R3 = (the current saved point of the customer)/ (the maximum saved points), and Xi x2 X3 are the customer's royalty ratio and are determined based on the ratio that the electronic commerce system manager determines

with respect to the profit that the customer gives wherein x, represents the ratio that the concurrent buying items attributes a profit, and x2 represents the ratio that the number of the concurrent buying items attributes a profit, and X3 represents the ratio that the customer's point provided based on the sale amount of the customer attributes a profit.

In another embodiment of the present invention, in an electronic commerce system having an electronic commerce server and at least one customer terminal connected with the electronic commerce server through a network, there is provided an electronic commerce system in which the electronic commerce server includes an item database for storing a plurality of item baskets including at least more than two items and a shopping information with respect to the item, a member database for storing a marketing information concerning a customer and a shopping information with respect to a saved point with respect to the sold items, a communication module connected with the network for a communication, and a control module in which an item list is received through the communication module, and the price discounted based on the discount reference is computed based on the received item list, and the computed discounted price is displayed on a screen of the customer's terminal through the communication module.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present invention will become better understood with reference to

the accompanying drawings which are given only by way of illustration and thus are not limitative of the present invention, wherein; Figure 1 is a view illustrating an electronic commerce system according to the present invention; Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating an electronic commerce system according to the present invention; Figure 3 is a flow chart for describing an electronic commerce method according to the present invention ; Figure 4A is a schematic view illustrating an electronic commerce site home page according to the present invention; Figure 4B is a schematic view illustrating an item basket display screen of a kid's product according to the present invention; and Figure 4C is a schematic view illustrating a detailed information windows of an item selected in Figure 4B.

MODES FOR CARRYING OUT THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The preferred embodiments of the present invention will be explained with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 is a view illustrating an electronic commerce system according to the present invention, and Figure 2 is a block diagram illustrating an electronic commerce system according to the present invention.

The electronic commerce according to the present invention includes

an electronic commerce server 1 which is connected with a network 4 and includes an electronic commerce program 2 for indicating a plurality of item baskets including at least more than two items and providing a price discounted based on a discount reference which is previously determined based on an item list selected by a customer, and a plurality of customer terminals 3 connected with the electronic commerce server 1 through the network 4 for buying a certain item. Here, the network 4 represents an internet as well as a LAN, WAN, PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network), PSDN (Public Switched Data Network), cable TV network, wireless communication network, etc.

The electronic commerce server 1 includes a member database 11 for storing a marketing information concerning a customer such as a customer name, internet address, product delivery address, contact information, customer's saved point, an item database 12 for storing a plurality of item baskets including at least more than two items which are previously determined based on a commerce type, an image information of an item of the item basket, and a shopping information such as a price, and a control module 17 for computing a purchase price discounted based on the discounting reference determined based on the item lists selected by the customer and transmitting and receiving a data used for a communication module 16. The item basket is formed of at least two items as a purchasing unit by which a maximum discount effect is obtained when the customer buys the products

based on a package type. In the case of a baby's item, the item basket includes a blanket, fresh milk bottle, diaper, and baby's underwear and is formed in accordance with a database processing method based on various database such as a survey, sale performance, etc. so that an item which has a top priority in which it would be sold based on a package type is selected and is continuously updated. Since the detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The electronic commerce method according to the present invention will be explained with reference to Figure 3.

The customer who wants to buy a certain item is connected with an electronic commerce site operated by an electronic commerce server 1 (S301).

Figure 4A is a schematic view illustrating an electronic commerce site home page operated by an electronic commerce server 1 according to the present invention.

As shown therein, the home page of the electronic commerce site includes a plurality of shopping item icons formed of a baby's item, a women's item, home appliance, gift set, etc, a member registration icon for registering a member, and a member ID input form for inputting a member's ID for the members who finished to register.

The customer who wants to register a membership clicks a member registration icon for thereby registering the membership. Namely, the member registration is finished by inputting a certain information into an input screen

having a plurality of input forms for inputting a member's information such as a name, member ID, item delivery address, contact information, internet address, etc. The inputted member information is transferred to a communication module 16 of the electronic commerce server 1 through the network 4 and is stored in the customer database by the control module 17.

In the electronic commerce site according to the present invention, the commerce is implemented by a customer who did not register. The registered member receives a bonus point based on the sale amount. The users of the electronic commerce may be limited to the members who finished the registration, or the web site may be connected with anyone without adapting a member registration system or a point saving system.

In the case of the system for the registered member, the member ID is inputted for saving the points based on the sale amount, and in the case of the member who did not register, the shopping item icon is directly clocked, and then a destination item is selected (S302). The selected shopping item (and member ID) is received by a communication module 16 of the electronic commerce server 1 from the customer terminal 3 through the network and is transferred to the control module 17. The control module 17 extracts a plurality of item baskets corresponding to the selected shopping item and a shopping information with respect to each item basket from the item database 12, and in the case that a corresponding member ID is received the saving point of the customer having a member ID is extracted from the

customer database 11 and is processed as an item basket display screen information. The processed item basket display screen is displayed on the screen of the customer terminal 3 through the communication module 16 and the network 4.

Figure 4B is a schematic view illustrating an item basket display screen related to the baby's item.

As shown therein, a shopping information included in the item basket selected by the customer among a plurality of item baskets is displayed on the screen. The selected item basket includes a blanket, baby carriage, fresh milk bottle, diaper, baby's underwear, and an image information of each item is arranged on the screen. An item selection window is arranged on the lower portion of each image information for selecting the item name and the maximum number of the items. A customer price of a corresponding item is displayed on the lower portion of the item selection window. The maximum number of the items is set to 10, and the number of the same may be varied.

When obtaining a detailed information with respect to each item, an image information of a corresponding item is clocked, and a detailed information window in which the shopping information with respect to a corresponding item prepared based on a hypermedia structure is informed is displayed (S304).

Figure 4C is a schematic view of a detailed shopping information window according to the present invention.

As shown therein, the detailed shopping information includes a detailed image information together with a feature of the item. The indication method of the detailed shopping information is variously changed. For example, it may be linked to another site in which a corresponding item is on sale or fabricated.

The list of a recommended item basket is displayed on the lower portion of the screen with respect to the baby's item. Therefore, a corresponding item basket may be clicked for viewing other item basket. The number of the items is selected by clicking the item selection window prepared on the lower portion of the image information of the item by viewing the shopping information with respect to the item of the item basket (S305). As shown in Figure 3B, in the items selected by the customer, the number of blankets is 1, and the number of the diapers is 5.5 is displayed in the item selection window formed in the lower portion of the image information of the diaper, and 0 is displayed in the remaining item selection windows.

The selected item and the number of the selected items are received by the communication module 14 of the electronic commerce server 1 from the customer terminal 3 through the network 4.

The control module 17 extracts a basket information and customer information corresponding to the selected item and the number of the items from the item database 12 and the customer database 11 and computes the discounted price of each item and the total discounted price based on a certain algorithm. The basket information and customer information extracted

by the control module 17 and computed price are transferred to the customer terminal 3 through the network 4 and are displayed as shown in Figure 4B.

A basket information which a variable for a price computation corresponding to a corresponding item basket and a customer information of a corresponding to the basket information are displayed on the right upper portion of the screen, and the discounted price with respect to the selected items based on the basket information and the customer information are displayed on the right lower portion of the screen (S306). The computation algorithm of the price discounted based on the basket information, definition of customer information, basket information and customer information will be explained in detail.

The basket information represents a customer royalty ratio for determining a customer royalty (R). The customer royalty (R) is a variable defined for numerically computing a profit that each customer gives to a corresponding shopping mall and is expressed as follows.

R = x1R, ++X2R2+ X3R3<BR> X2+X2+xi = 1 where R, = (the number of the items which are bought based on the package in the item basket-1)/ (the number of the maximum items which are bought based on the package in the item basket-1), R2 = (the number of the items which are bought based on the package for each item in the item basket-1)/ (the number of the maximum items which

are bought based on the package for each item in the item basket-1), and R3 = (the current saved point of the customer)/ (the maximum saved points). In the present invention, the maximum number of the items which may be bought based on the package per each item is identically set to 10, and the value of R2 is same, so that the royalty R is computed identically. In the case that the maximum number of the items which are concurrently bought is differently set, the value of R2 is varied, and the royalty R of the customer is varied based on each item.

Xi x2 X3 are the customer's royalty ratio and are determined based on the ratio that the electronic commerce system manager determines with respect to the profit that the customer gives. x, represents the ratio that the concurrent buying items attributes a profit, and x2 represents the ratio that the number of the concurrent buying items attributes a profit, and3 represents the ratio that the customer's point provided based on the sale amount of the customer attributes a profit.

Namely, as shown in Figure 4B, the item is 0.5 and the number of items is 0 which are indicated as a basket information represent that x1 is 0.5, and x2is0 andx3is0. 5.

The item represents the number of. the items selected in the item selection window that the customer wants to buy, and the saved point represents a saved point of the customer saved based on a certain reference.

The R3 of a corresponding customer is obtained by dividing the current saved

points 120,350 by the maximum saved points.

As shown in Figure 3b, when the customer having R3 of 0.5 selects a blanket and doper, the computation method of the discounted buying price is implemented as follows.

The values x"X2, X3 are previously set to 0.5,0,0.5 by the electronic commerce system manager, and the value R3 is 0.5.

R, = (the number of the concurrent purchase in the item basket- 1)/ (the maximum number of the items which are concurrently bought in the item basket-1) = (2-1)/ (5-1) = 0.25, and R2 = (the number of the concurrent purchase per item in the item basket -1)/ (the maximum number of the items which are concurrently bought per item in the item basket-1) = (5-1)/ (10-1) = 0.44.

Therefore, the customer's royalty is obtained as follows.

R = x, R1 + x2R2 + x3R1 = 0.5*0.25+0*044+0.5*0.5 = 0.375 When the customer's royalty R is determined, the discounted price of each item is determined, and the total discounted price is computed.

In addition, the maximum discounted amount is determined by the electronic commerce system manager is determined, and is previously stored in the item database 12.

[Table 1] Item Blanket Baby's Fresh milk Diaper Baby's carriage bottle underwear Customer's 100,000 100,000 90,000 90,000 50,000 price Max 20,000 20,000 20,000 10,000 10,000 discount price

Therefore, the actually discounted price is computed as follows.

The discounted price of the blanket: 100,000-20,000*0.375 92,500won The discounted price of the diaper: 90,000-10,000*0.375 = 86,250won = 431,250won Total discount price: 92,500 + 431,250 = 523,750won Namely, the customer's discounted price is 26,250won.

For a more detailed description, another example for computing the discounted price will be explained.

The discounted price computation method for a customer who did not register will be explained with respect to the same item as the above first example.

The values x,, x2, X3 are previously set to 0.5,0,0.5 by the electronic commerce system manager, and since the current customer is not a member, the saved point is 0, so that the value R3 is 0.

R, = (the number of the concurrent purchase in the item basket- 1)/ (the maximum number of the items which are concurrently bought in the item basket-1) = (2-1)/ (5-1) = 0.25, and R2 = (the number of the concurrent purchase per item in the item basket -1)/ (the maximum number of the items which are concurrently bought per item in the item basket-1) = (5-1)/ (10-1) = 0.44.

Therefore, the customer's royalty is obtained as follows.

R = x, R, + x2R2 + x3R, = 0.5*0.25+0*044+0.5*0 = 0.125 When the customer's royalty R is determined, the discounted price of each item is determined, and the total discounted price is computed.

Therefore, the actually discounted price is computed as follows.

The discounted price of the blanket: 100,000-20,000*0.125 = 97,500won The discounted price of the diaper: 90,000-10,000*0.125 = 88, 750won = 443,750won Total discount price: 97,500 + 443,750 = 541,250won Namely, the customer's discounted price is 8,750won.

In the case that the customer having R2 of 0.8 buys five items by one, respectively, the customer's royalty R is obtained as follows.

The values X1, x2, x3 are previously set to 0.5,0,0.5 by the electronic commerce system manager, and the value R3 is 0. 8.

R, = (the number of the concurrent purchase in the item basket- 1)/ (the maximum number of the items which are concurrently bought in the item basket-1) = (5-1)/ (5-1) = 1, and R2 = (the number of the concurrent purchase per item in the item basket -1)/ (the maximum number of the items which are concurrently bought per item in the item basket-1) = (1-1)/ (10-1) = 0.

Therefore, the customer's royalty is obtained as follows.

R = x1R1 + x2R2 + x3R, = 0.5*1+0*0+0.5*0.5 = 0.175 When the customer's royalty R is determined, the discounted price of each item is determined, and the total discounted price is computed.

Therefore, the actually discounted price is computed as follows.

The discounted price of the blanket: 100,000-20,000*0.75 = 85,500won The discounted price of the baby carriage: 100, 000-20,000*0.75 = 85,000won The discounted price of the fresh milk bottle : 90,000-20,000*0.75 = 75,000won The discounted price of the diaper: 90,000-10,000*0.75 = 82,500won

The discounted price of the baby underwear : = 42,500 Total discounted price : 370,000won Namely, the customer's discounted price is 60,000won.

The customer who checked the total discounted price on the screen of the customer terminal 3 determines the purchase by clicking the shopping cart icon (S307).

When the purchase determination information is inputted into the control module 17 through the communication module 16, the control module 17 displays a payment method selection information or a payment method guide on the screen (S308). The payment method is classified into a credit card payment, an online payment using a bank account, or an offline payment.

In the bank account payment method, a customer directly pays in the bank, and then the electronic commerce manager directly checks whether the payment is made by the customer. In addition, the control module 17 connected with a financial commerce server of each bank through the network 4 may check the payment. The detailed process and method thereof will be omitted.

When the payment is completed, the items are delivered to the customer, and then the commerce is completed (S309).

In the above embodiments of the present invention, the customer's royalty is limited to R,, R2, R3-In a preferred embodiment, the number of the customer's

royalty may be increased or decreased based on the customer's royalty's ratio or the item or the shopping item or the profit attribution and may be variously set and may be set based on a marketing information not by the profit attribution.

In addition, in the above embodiment of the present invention, the item basket is determined by the electronic commerce manager. In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the item basket may be directly formed of a desired item by a customer by connecting to the electronic commerce server 1. In this case, when the customer proposes a certain item basket, the electronic commerce server 1 stores various variables for obtaining a customer's royalty R in response to each item in the item database 12 and computes a customers royalty R and a customer's royalty ratio based on the proposed item basket and displays the discounted price on the customer terminal 3.

As described above, in the present invention, it is possible to buy a certain item at a desired time at a lower price in a view of the customer, and a large number of items are sold for thereby decreasing a delivery cost in a view of the seller.

In addition, an electronic commerce method and an electronic commerce system according to the present invention, an item basket system is introduced for thereby implementing a massive item purchase. In particular, in the electronic commerce method and an electronic commerce system

according to the present invention, the discount amount is differently determined based on each customer or an item selected by the customer, so that it is possible to significantly increase the number of the customers.

As the present invention may be embodied in several forms without departing from the spirit or essential characteristics thereof, it should also be understood that the above-described embodiments are not limited by any of the details of the foregoing description, unless otherwise specified, but rather should be construed broadly within its spirit and scope as defined in the appended claims, and therefore all changes and modifications that fall within the meets and bounds of the claims, or equivalences of such meets and bounds are therefore intended to be embraced by the appended claims.