Description

SERVER, SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING ONLINE

SHOPPING SERVICE OF FACILITATING EXCHANGE OF

SHOPPING INFORMATION AND ONLINE SHOPPING

METHOD THEREOF Technical Field

[1] The present invention relates to a method, server and system for providing services to facilitate exchange of shopping information and an online shopping method using the same. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method, server and system for providing services which enable consumers using computers to chat and shop together online in a shopping mall on the Internet and an online shopping method using the same. Background Art

[2] As technologies of computer and network communication advance, today's consumers have been feeling at home to buy goods on line through the Internet rather than visiting the offline stores of department stores, large discount stores, neighborhood malls, market places, etc. To do the traditional offline street shopping, the consumers have to find the time to visit different places with the necessary cost for the transportations. To the contrary, shopping at online shopping sites can minimize such loss of time and cost of the consumers by using computers readily available at home or offices to connect to most online shopping malls via the Internet.

[3] However, this typical online shopping has been generally a solitary experience of an isolated consumer unless the consumer's friends and family members are determined at a time to get together around a computer which might be cumbersome or ineffective. So, the very benefit of going an accompanied shopping in the real world to be able to exchange shopping ideas for goods displayed and services or share the payment as needed has been difficult or impossible at all in the conventional online shopping. Disclosure of Invention

Technical Problem

[4] The present disclosure seeks to provide an online shopping service which allows the consumers to exchange information on electronic coupons for payment as well as share shopping ideas and information among them and a method of shopping using the same service. Technical Solution

[5] A system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure provides an online

shopping using a wired and/or wireless communication network and comprises consumer and companion terminals which receive and output a common shopping page while involving in a chatting, issuing a purchase order for products and making payment with an available coupon gift and an online shopping server for relaying the chatting between the consumer and companion terminals, transmitting the common shopping page to the terminals, processing the payment upon receiving the purchase order from at least one of the consumer and companion terminals and relaying the coupon gift between the consumer and companion terminals.

[6] According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a server for providing an online shopping to consumer and companion terminals using a wired and/or wireless communication network, the server comprising a shopping page processing unit for transmitting a common shopping page to the consumer and companion terminals, a messenger processing unit for relaying a chatting between the consumer and companion terminals, a page sharing processing unit for controlling the shopping page processing unit to transmit the common shopping page to the consumer and companion terminals, a purchase processing unit for processing a payment of the purchase price for products upon receiving a purchase order from at least one of the consumer and companion terminals, a coupon exchange processing unit for storing coupon information for the consumer and companion terminals respectively, relaying the coupon gifted between the consumer and companion terminals, and controlling the purchase processing unit to use the coupon gift in processing the payment of the purchase price, and a communication processing unit for executing communications with the consumer and companion terminals using the wired and/or wireless communication network.

[7] According to yet another embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for providing an online shopping through an online shopping server to consumer and companion terminals using a wired and/or wireless communication network, the method comprising transmitting a shopping page to the consumer terminal, relaying a chatting between the consumer and companion terminals in response to a request for chatting from the consumer terminal, transmitting to the companion terminals the same shopping page as transmitted to the consumer terminal, receiving a purchase order of products from at least one of the consumer and companion terminals, relaying a coupon gifted between the consumer and companion terminals; and making payment of the purchase price of the products with using the coupon gift.

[8] According to yet another embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a system for providing an online shopping using a wired and/or wireless communication network, the system comprising consumer and companion terminals which receive and

display a common shopping page while involving in a chatting, issuing a purchase order for products and making payment for their purchase price; an online shopping server for relaying the chatting between the consumer and companion terminals, transmitting the common shopping page to the terminals, and processing the payment upon receiving the purchase order for the products from at least one of the consumer and companion terminals; and a server for providing a shopping messenger which transmits a shopping messenger program to the companion terminals, wherein the consumer terminal uses the shopping page to perform a chatting with the companion terminals and the companion terminal executes the shopping messenger program on an idle screen to perform the chatting with the consumer terminal.

[9] According to yet another embodiment of the present disclosure, there is provided a method for providing an online shopping through consumer and companion terminals connected to an online shopping server using a wired and/or wireless communication network, the method comprising connecting to the online shopping server by executing a shopping messenger program, performing a chatting with the consumer terminal through the online shopping server, receiving and accepting a request for sharing a shopping page from the consumer terminal; and executing an Internet browser program to receive the same shopping page as provided to the consumer terminal from the online shopping server and output the same.

Advantageous Effects

[10] As described above, the disclosed method, server and system enables a consumer to share a Web shopping page with a remote companion shopper in real time and chat along to share shopping ideas easily as people do while shopping together off line.

[11] In addition, when the consumer makes payment in the online shopping, the consumer may be offered a coupon information as a gift from the virtual shopping companion so that the available coupons may be appropriately utilized through helping others while building the good ties between acquaintances.

[12] Further, according to the disclosure, the consumer may use a shopping messenger program running on an idle screen of a personal computer to chat with the shopping companion on the same online shopping site sharing the same window for shopping. Brief Description of Drawings

[13] FIG. 1 illustrates a system for providing an online shopping service to facilitate exchange of shopping information according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

[14] FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram showing an electronic implementation of a server for providing the online shopping service to facilitate exchange of shopping information according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

[15] FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing a method for providing the online shopping service to facilitate exchange of shopping information according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

[16] FIG. 4 illustrates a system for providing an online shopping service to facilitate exchange of shopping information according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

[17] FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing a method for providing the online shopping service to facilitate exchange of shopping information according to the second embodiment of the present invention;

[18] FIG. 6 is a display output of a messenger-related information according to the first embodiment of the present invention;

[19] FIG. 7 is a view showing a request for sharing a page according to the embodiment of the present invention;

[20] FIG. 8 is a view showing a giving of coupon gift according to the embodiment of the present invention; and

[21] FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary architecture of a shopping messenger executive program according to the embodiment of the present invention. Mode for the Invention

[22] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is to be noted that the same elements are indicated with the same reference numerals throughout the drawings. In the following description, a detailed description of known configurations or functions incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the subject matter of the disclosure rather unclear.

[23] FIG. 1 illustrates a system for providing an online shopping service to facilitate exchange of shopping information according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

[24] The online shopping service provider system with easy shopping information exchange of the first embodiment comprises a consumer terminal 110, a number of companion terminals 112, a wired and/or wireless communication network 120 and an online shopping server 130.

[25] The consumer terminal 110 and companion terminals 112 may mean computers which react to users' key operations for connecting via the wired/wireless communication network 120 to the online shopping server 130 to receive various data. In particular, such terminals may be personal computers, laptop computers, personal digital assistants (PDA) and/or mobile communication terminals which are equipped with memories for storing among a variety of programs an Internet browser program

for accessing the Internet via the wired/wireless communication network 120 and microprocessors for processing such programs to perform the necessary computations and controls.

[26] In the present disclosure, the consumer terminal 110 may mean a consumer's computer for use in online shopping through such an online shopping service as provided by the online shopping server 130, while the companion terminal 112 may mean a computer of the consumer's shopping companion who does not only the online shopping through the online shopping service provided by the online shopping server 130 but also having a chat with the consumer during his or her own shopping session on the same pages of the Web store as those browsed by the consumer. For the sake of convenience of descriptions here, shoppers and their computers may be identified as consumer to companions and consumer terminal 110 to companion terminals 112 although the roles of the consumer and companions may be reversed as viewed otherwise.

[27] In addition, the consumer terminal 110 and companion terminals 112 jointly use the online shopping server 130 while engaging in a chat to generate the same shopping page outputs from the server 130, order a purchase of one or more goods to the server 130, and make payment for the requested amount owe from the server 130 but with a coupon gift available.

[28] The wired/wireless communication network 120 conceptualizes networks including the wired communication networks of the Internet and such and the wireless communications such as mobile communication network, WiBro(Wireless Broadband Internet) or Mobile WiMAX network, and wireless LAN network, etc. where multiple communication apparatuses perform mutual communications.

[29] The online shopping server 130 may comprise a server or other terminal computers that are operated by a merchant or other servicing entity that provides the online shopping service. Such merchant may be a shopping mall tenant who takes a service request from a seller to display products and create an appropriate product information for posting on their constructed Web or WAP pages so that buyers may make purchases based on the Web or WAP page information on the products.

[30] Additionally, the online shopping server 130 may relay chatting among the consumer terminal 110 and companion terminals 112, transmit a same shopping page to the terminals 110 and 112, receive a purchase order of products from the consumer terminal 110 or companion terminals 112 to process the payment, relaying a coupon gifting between the consumer terminal 110 and companion terminals 112.

[31] To this end, the online shopping server 130 may create multiple shopping pages for displaying and selling products and transmit a particular page upon establishment of connections by the consumer terminal 110 and companion terminals 112. And the

server 130 may perform certification of the consumer and companion through their consumer terminal 110 and companion terminals 112 and if the certification were successful, transmit the messenger-related information for chatting to both the consumer terminal 110 and companion terminals 112. Then, upon receiving a request for chatting with the companion terminal 112 (or consumer terminal 110) from the consumer terminal 110 (or companion terminal 112) using the messenger-related information, server 130 may also inquire of the companion terminal 112 (or consumer terminal 110) about pursuing the chatting and if consented, relays it among the consumer terminal 110 and companion terminals 112.

[32] Further, as the server 130 relays the chatting between the consumer terminal 110 and companion terminals 112, upon receiving a request to share a Web page from the consumer terminal 110 (or companion terminals 112) it may inquire of the companion terminals 112 (or consumer terminal 110) whether to accept it and if accepted, transmit the same page as forwarded to the consumer terminal 110 (or companion terminals 112) to the companion terminal 112 (or consumer terminal 110), thereby allowing the consumer terminal 110 and companion terminals 112 share a shopping page to effectuate the accompanied shopping experience among the consumer and companions.

[33] As the consumer terminal 110 shares shopping pages with the companion terminal

112, upon receiving a donation inquiry for a coupon gift of the companion terminal 112 (or consumer terminal 110) from the consumer terminal 110 (or companion terminal 112) the server 130 may inquire of the companion terminal 112 (or consumer terminal 110) whether to accept the coupon request and if accepted by the companion terminal 112 (or consumer terminal 110), forward the coupon gift originally issued to the companion terminal 112 (or consumer terminal 110) to the consumer terminal 110 (or companion terminal 112), and then subtract the coupon issue from the coupon gift registry in the companion terminal 112 (or consumer terminal 110) while adding the coupon to the coupon gift registry in the consumer terminal 110 (companion terminal 112, thereby intermediating the coupon gifting among the consumer terminal 110 and companion terminals 112.

[34] Also, upon receiving a purchase order from the consumer terminal 110 (or companion terminal 112) on a particular page presenting a detailed product information, the server 130 sends a checkout page for making payment for the product to the consumer terminal 110 (or companion page 112) in order to permit the consumer terminal 110 (or companion page 112) to add the received coupon gift in checking out.

[35] FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram showing an electronic implementation of the server for providing the online shopping service with an easy exchange of shopping information according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure.

[36] This provider server of the first embodiment may be implemented by the online

shopping server 130 in the system depicted in FIG. 1. Therefore, for the convenience of description, the term of online shopping server 130 will be used hereinafter.

[37] The online shopping server 130 comprises a user certification unit 210, a shopping page processing unit 220, a messenger processing unit 230, a page sharing processing unit 240, a purchase processing unit 250, a coupon exchange processing unit 260, an advertisement processing unit 270, a data base (DB) unit 280 and a communication processing unit 290.

[38] The user certification unit 210 is a certifying means which determines the valid user identity by confirming the received data equals the stored data by comparison in order to certify the identities of the consumer and companions through their terminals 110 and 112 which are connected to the server 130.

[39] The shopping page processing unit 220 is a data processing means to create, store and send the Web or WAP pages to the requesting computer as well as create and store Web or WAP page contents using previously stored data so that it creates a variety of shopping pages for the online shopping experiences and in response to requests from the consumer and companion terminals 110 and 112 for sending a particular shopping page, send the same to the terminals 110 and 112.

[40] In addition, the shopping page processing unit 220 under the control of the page sharing processing unit 240 may send the same shopping page as presented to the consumer terminal 110 (or companion terminal 112) to the companion terminal 112 (or consumer terminal 110).

[41] The messenger processing unit 230 is a data processing means to have computers transmit and receive messages among them by creating, storing and relaying data, thereby providing a chatting service like Instant Messenger to intermediate chatting among the consumer and companion terminals 110 and 112 .

[42] The messenger processing unit 230 may also provide messenger-related information to the consumer terminal 110 and intermediate the computer chatting among the visitors grouped to be on the same one of the variety of shopping pages served by the online shopping server 130. Here, the messenger-related information may be one or more of the list of visitors to the same shopping page as generated by the consumer terminal 110, information on the links to the visitors' blogs, and information on the visitors' aliases.

[43] The page sharing processing unit 240 is a data processing means to transmit and receive data for performing an analysis and judgement to control other units. Upon receiving a request to share a Web page with the companion terminal 112 (or consumer terminal 110) from the consumer terminal 110 (or companion terminals 112), the page sharing processing unit 240 may inquire of the companion terminals 112 (or consumer terminal 110) whether to accept it and if accepted, control the shopping page

processing unit 220 to transmit the same page as presented to the consumer terminal 110 (or companion terminal 112) to the companion terminal 112 (or consumer terminal 110) until such sharing is disabled.

[44] The purchase processing unit 250 is a data processing means to transmit and receive data for processing so that upon receiving a purchase order for products from the consumer or companion terminals 110, 112 it guides through the purchase procedure and payment total of the products to finalize the transaction.

[45] The coupon exchange processing unit 260 is another data processing means to transmit and receive data. Upon receiving a donation inquiry for a coupon gift of the companion terminal 112 (or consumer terminal 110) from the consumer terminal 110 (or companion terminal 112), the coupon exchange processing unit 260 may notify the companion terminal 112 (or consumer terminal 110) of such inquiry asking whether to accept the coupon request and if the answer is positive, control exchange of the coupon gift among the consumer and companion terminals, thereby controlling the purchase processing unit 250 to finalize the payment procedure honoring the gifted coupon.

[46] Also, the coupon exchange processing unit 260 may be set to provide coupons to one or more of the consumer and companion terminals 110, 112 for a predetermined period only, control the purchase processing unit 250 to accept the coupon for its set effective duration from the issue at checkout, and limit the number of gifting coupons to the consumer and companion terminals 110, 112 within certain period.

[47] The advertisement processing unit 270 is a data processing means to transmit and receive data so that it accepts an advertisement order from an advertiser via its computer (not shown) along with the ad information to store and has the messenger processing unit 230 transmit the ad contents off the ad information to one or more of the consumer and companion terminals 110 and 112 when unit 230 intermediates chatting among them.

[48] The data base (DB) unit 280 may be a data storage means for storing and searching data and reading the requested data for sending and receiving. The DB unit 280 may store the user certification information of the subscribers to the online shopping server 130, configuration information for the messenger, product information and purchase price information for supplying to shopping pages, the subscribers' payment information, and the coupon information and ad information toward the subscribers.

[49] The communication processing unit 290 is a data processing means to transmit and receive data via the wired/wireless communication network 120 to permit the online shopping server 130 communicate with the consumer and companion teminals 110 and 112.

[50] Here, each of the user certification unit 210, shopping page processing unit 220, messenger processing unit 230, page sharing processing unit 240, purchase processing

unit 250, coupon exchange processing unit 260, advertisement processing unit 270, DB unit 280 and communication processing unit 290 may be implemented by programs for executing the above described tasks and hardware memories and microprocessors for storing and running the programs, although they may be implemented by modules of programs that will be stored in the memories constituting the online shopping server 130 and executed by the microprocessors.

[51] FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing a method for providing the online shopping service with an easy exchange of shopping information according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure.

[52] It is assumed that a consumer at the consumer terminal 110 uses the online shopping service provided by the online shopping server 130 to chat and share pages with the shopping companion at the companion terminal 112 while asking for a coupon donation. This is merely for the sake of convenience of description since the companions not the consumer may request the chatting, page sharing and coupon gifting, respectively as is true for the companion terminals 112 which execute such requests. For example, the consumer terminal 110 may request chatting followed by the request of companion terminal 112 to share the consumer's page and the request for coupon gift from the consumer terminal 110. On the other hand, the companion terminal 112 may request both the chatting and sharing the consumer's page followed by the request for coupon gift from the consumer terminal 110.

[53] Due to lack of time in busy days, the consumer will decide to use the consumer terminal 110 in making purchases as a faster alternative to visiting the physical location of a department store. Thus, as the consumer turns on the consumer terminal 110 it will be operatively connected to the online shopping server 130 via the wired/ wireless communication network 120. Likewise, as the shopping companion turns on the companion terminal 112 it will be operatively connected to the online shopping server 130 via the wired/wireless communication network 120.

[54] The online shopping server 130 sends the shopping pages when the consumer and companion terminals 110, 112 are connected. Here, the shopping page may be the first page (or home page) of a shopping portal site for providing the online shopping service and the user is typically certified in the first page with certification information gained through prompting input of the same. Therefore, in this unique event of having shoppers chat and browse on the same shopping pages together with the ability to pay while using a coupon it is desirable to verify the identities of the consumer and companions through the certifying procedure such as login.

[55] Besides possibly simultaneous connections of the consumer and companion terminals 110, 112 with the server 130, they may connect to the server 130 with a time difference. Then, the consumer terminal 110 may first connect to the server 130 to

receive and output or display the shopping pages for the consumer to browse and find the goods to purchase, when the companion terminal 112 may follow to connect with the server 130 allowing the companion shopper to browse and pick his or her shopping items as the companion terminal 112 also receives and outputs the corresponding shopping pages.

[56] Meanwhile, as described above, when the user certification is made the user-certified consumer terminal 110 may be provided with the messenger-related information. Although it is preferable to provide the messenger-related information only to the user- certified computer, the online shopping service of the disclosure may choose to send the messenger-related information to non-certified users' computers also.

[57] Then, the consumer who checked the messenger-related information may confirm the current online companion's ID or alias displayed and request the online shopping server 130 for a chat with the companion via the terminal 112, when the server 130 notify the companion terminal 112 of the consumer terminal's chatting request, ask whether to accept such request and if accepted, relay the chatting between the two terminals 110 and 112 (S330). Here, the online shopping server 130 has been described as relaying the chatting only after exchanging the chatting request and permission among the consumer and companion terminals 110, 112. Additionally or alternatively, the server 130 may be set to relay the chatting regardless of the permission.

[58] As the online shopping server 130 relays the chatting among the consumer and companion terminals 110, 112, the consumer and companion can shop and chat online together. At first, as the consumer and companions chat together while respectively browsing their own shopping pages and exchanging ideas of the respective individuals' own products of interest, they may want to send the particular product images and detailed information to each other for the other party's advice. In this case, the consumer may want to share the same page on the screen with the companion which is achieved by operating the terminal 110 to request a page sharing to the online shopping server 130, which then notifies the companion terminal 112 of the receipt of such request asking about the companion's acceptance and if accepted, proceeds to send the consumer's current page to the companion's terminal 112 allowing the consumer and companion to view the same page (S340). As described above, the server 130 may need a permission from the companion terminal 112 to send the shared page but it can be made to send the same page regardless of the receipt of the permission.

[59] This transmission of the same page to both the consumer terminal 110 and companion terminal 112 can have the consumer and companions commonly watch the single shopping page, whereby the companions can see the images and detailed information of what the consumer is watching. In this state, they can exchange ideas through chatting closely simulating the physically accompanied shopping experience

with the offline shopping locations such as department stores and large discount stores or outlet mall.

[60] Also, as in the above step S340, once the consumer and companion terminals 110,

112 are provided with the shared page transmission the online shopping server 130 may continue to sent subsequent shopping pages to share to all of the consumer and companion terminals 110, 112. In other word, while the consumer and companions share a shopping page and chat with advices according the present disclosure, the consumer may want to go on to further product searches or shopping chats for other product images and descriptions through terminal 110 by requesting the shopping server 130 for the corresponding URLs in the current online shopping site which then sends the requested other pages and lets the consumer and companion terminals 110, 112 receive and output the changed shopping pages accordingly. Furthermore, in the case where the companion terminal 112 first received different shopping pages the consumer terminal 110 may be subsequently allowed to receive the same pages. Therefore, as long as the page sharing is not disabled, the consumer and companions can keep their shopping companionship through the shared pages.

[61] In such accompanied shopping session online where the consumer and companions share shopping pages with chatting, the consumer may decide to buy a particular product and request its purchase to the server 130, which will send a checkout page for closing the transaction to the consumer terminal 110. At this time, if the page sharing among the consumer and companions were not disabled, it is probable that the checkout page sent to the consumer terminal 110 is also transmitted to the companion terminal 112. To prevent this, it is possible to send a question to the consumer terminal 110 about sharing the checkout page and transmit it only if the answer is positive. Also, it is possible to stop any checkout pages to be shared by blocking the shopping server 130 from transmitting a checkout page to companion terminals.

[62] From the checkout page output on the consumer terminal 110, the consumer may use the terminal 110 to complete the user certification for checking out and close the transaction by filling in the method of payment and shipping address. At the same time, the online shopping server 130 allows the consumer to make payment with a coupon discount (S360). Specifically, the online shopping server 130 permits the coupon identification number to be input on the checkout page where it receives the coupon identification number from the consumer terminal 110 to verify that the received coupon number is effective and if so, credits the coupon discount from the total amount due.

[63] Meanwhile, to corporate the coupon discount in the payment the consumer may need a coupon aid from the companion for lack of a coupon at hand or a larger discount. So, the consumer 110 may ask for a coupon gift from the companion terminal 112 through

the server 130, which notifies the companion terminal 112 of the receipt of the coupon request from the consumer terminal 110 and upon acceptance of the request notifies the fact back to the consumer terminal 110 while updating the information on the gift coupon within the DB unit 280. To this end, the server 130 sends information on the coupon reserved for the companion terminal 112 to the same so that the companion who has received the coupon request can choose a coupon gift from the coupon information, input the corresponding coupon identification number, and let the identified coupon updated in the coupon list of the consumer terminal 110 available to the consumer.

[64] Upon completion of the product checkout, the consumer terminal 110 may receive other shopping pages from the server 130 to output the same allowing the consumer to shop around. Since the page sharing established in step S340 is still effective, the companion terminal 112 receives and outputs the same shopping pages as those of the consumer terminal 110 which allows the companion share common shopping pages with the consumer throughout the online shopping session. If the consumer or companion wants to undo the page sharing, the consumer terminal 110 or companion terminal 112 may so request and as soon as the other party accepts it the consumer and companion terminals 110, 112 can receive and output the individually desired shopping pages, respectively.

[65] FIG. 4 illustrates a system for providing an online shopping service with an easy exchange of shopping information according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure.

[66] The online shopping service provider system of the second embodiment comprises a shopping messenger provider server 410 in addition to the consumer and companion terminals 110, 112, wired/wireless communication network 120 and online shopping server 130 shown in FIG. 1.

[67] Here, the consumer and companion terminals 110, 112, wired/wireless communication network 120 and online shopping server 130 provide the same or similar duties or functions as described in the first embodiment referring to FIG. 1 and so they will not be repeated. Instead, the following description will be referring to FIG. 5 focusing on the differentiated areas of online shopping service with an easy exchange of shopping information according to the second embodiment.

[68] The shopping messenger provider server 410 may be a server computer for providing a shopping messenger program and comprise a Web or WAP server to send a Web or WAP page for providing the shopping messenger program to the companion terminal 112, an administration (Admin) server for managing a service of an administrator providing the shopping messenger program and maintaining among others the statistics of the shopping messenger program users and application servers associated with

various additional services such as a short message service.

[69] The shopping messenger program as used herein means a desktop utility program such as widget or gadget, which is the utility program providing the user with icons arranged on an idle screen to enable preferred functions fast and easy. The shopping messenger program comprises a shopping messenger executive program and a shopping messenger engine program.

[70] The shopping messenger engine program is a widget engine, which is the principal program to run the shopping messenger executive program in a personal computer and others. To achieve this, the shopping messenger engine program uses the personal computer to execute an install/uninstall function for the shopping messenger executive program, a run/stop function for the shopping messenger executive program with analyzing the program's format, a Preferences setting function for running the shopping messenger executive program and other general functions to operate thereof.

[71] This shopping messenger engine program may be implemented as an Adobe Integrated Runtime or AIR-based using a Web standard technology and protocol although it is not so limited. Rather, it may be also implemented based on various other technologies for implementing different engines to run many executive programs.

[72] In addition, the shopping messenger engine program may be conceptionally classified into platform layers, application layers and user interface layers, etc., which can be executed in the personal computer operating system of Windows.

[73] The shopping messenger executive program is an application program that is placed on the idle screens of the personal computers or others and executed by the said shopping messenger engine program to perform chatting and shopping to realize at least one of window manager component, preferred manager component, contents handler component, event handler component and menu control component.

[74] Here, the window manager component may be created upon issuance from the shopping messenger engine program of an executing order for the shopping messenger executive program and the window manager component manages the contents of the shopping messenger executive program and interfaces between the shopping messenger executive program and its contents. The preferred manager component manages the Preferences setting for executing the shopping messenger executive program. The content handler component manages access to the data base storing information on the Preferences setting of the shopping messenger executive program or its installation information. The event handler component handles events of the window and contents of the shopping messenger executive program. The menu control component manages the menu of the shopping messenger executive program.

[75] FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing a method for providing the online shopping service with an easy exchange of shopping information according to the second embodiment

of the present disclosure.

[76] The companion may use the companion terminal 112 connecting with the shopping messenger provider server 410 through the wired/wireless communication network 120 to receive and store the shopping messenger program and then execute it to install the shopping messenger engine program and shopping messenger executive program. Once the shopping messenger engine program and shopping messenger executive program are installed in the companion terminal 112, the companion can execute the shopping messenger executive program there.

[77] When the companion runs the shopping messenger executive program, the companion terminal 112 may output at its idle screen an interface for the shopping messenger. If the companion inputs user information through the interface for the shopping manager displayed on the idle screen of the companion terminal 112, terminal 112 connects to the online shopping server 130 following the algorithm of the shopping messenger executive program and sends the user information to perform a user certification (S510). At this time, the online shopping server 130 compares the received user information to the previously stored user information to certify the user who is the companion.

[78] Upon successful user certification, the online shopping server 130 notifies the fact to the companion server 112. This is how the companion terminal 112 is notified of the certification success to receive the messenger-related information from the online shopping server 130 and outputs the same (S520). When the companion terminal 112 receives and outputs the messenger-related information, the companion may see the same and recognize the online presence of the user preset as his or her friend and be allowed to do various tasks like chatting and message transmission with the same user.

[79] On the other hand, the consumer may shop on line by operating the consumer terminal 110, which connects to the online shopping server 130 to receive and output shopping pages therefrom. The consumer browses the displayed goods output on the consumer terminal 110 and with acquired product information continues the shopping on line.

[80] While navigating on line through different shopping pages to search products and read descriptions, the consumer may encounter occasions where an accompanied shopping is desired such as from finding a particular product that needs a friendly advice or simply want a friend's recommendation in a particular products group and the consumer is free to ask for a chat with the companion preset as the online friend according to the present disclosure. In practice, the consumer terminal 110 may request a chatting with the companion terminal 112 via the online shopping server 130, and then the server 130 notifies the companion terminal 112 of receipt of such a request. Here, the consumer terminal 110 may receive and output the messenger-related in-

formation from the online shopping server 130 if the connection with the server 130 were made with the subsequent user certification. Then, the consumer may have the consumer terminal 110 request a chatting to the online shopping server 130 by first checking the output messenger-related information to verify the user preset as a friend being on line.

[81] As described above, when the consumer terminal 110 requests a chat to the companion terminal 112 using the chatting function presented on the shopping page of the online shopping server 130, the companion terminal 112 having its idle screen running the shopping messenger executive program receives the chatting request from the server 130 and lets the companion decide whether to accept the chatting and if accepted by the companion, notifies the online shopping server 130 of the chatting acceptance to allow the companion terminal 112 to have a chat with consumer terminal 110 (S530).

[82] Here, the consumer terminal 110 uses the chatting function implemented by the shopping page received from the online shopping server 130 to chat with the consumer terminal 112, which uses the shopping messenger executive program to chat with the consumer terminal 110 through the server 130. In such a chatting session between the consumer and companion, the consumer may want to exchange opinions of a specific product with the companion. For this purpose, the consumer terminal 110 may request a page sharing with the companion terminal 112 to the online server 130, which notifies the companion terminal 112 of the page sharing request from the consumer terminal 110. The companion terminal 112 outputs a message announcing the page sharing request from the consumer through the shopping messenger executive program running on the idle screen and following the companion's decision notifies the online shopping server 130 of an acceptance of the page sharing request (S540).

[83] Upon receiving such page sharing notice, the online shopping server 130 sends the same shopping page as sent to the consumer terminal 110 to the companion terminal 112, which executes its Internet browser program to output the shopping page received from the online shopping server 130 (S550). I.e., the shopping messenger executive program running on the idle screen of the companion terminal 112 executes the Internet browser program to control the same to output the shopping page received from the server 130. Thus, the consumer and companion concurrently views the same shopping page while exchanging opinions by chatting.

[84] In addition, while the consumer and companion look into the same shopping page using the consumer and companion terminals respectively, when the consumer navigates to other shopping pages to research another product or read the product descriptions, i.e. when the online shopping server 130 sends the other shopping pages to the consumer terminal 110, it also sends these pages for the consumer terminal 110 to

the companion terminal 112, which then outputs those changed pages through its Internet browser program. This page sharing may continue until the consumer terminal 110 or companion terminal 112 requests the other party to be released from the page sharing session and that other party accepts it.

[85] FIG. 6 is a display output of the messenger-related information according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure.

[86] When the consumer terminal 110 or companion terminal 112 makes connection with the online shopping server 130 and completes the user certification through the login procedure, the server 130 may transmit the messenger-related information as shown in FIG. 6 to the consumer terminal 110 or companion terminal 112. This messenger- related information, which may be realized in a shopping page that the server 130, may include the list of visitors to the same page as displayed by the consumer terminal 110, information on the links to the visitors' blogs and/or the visitors' alias information.

[87] When visiting shopping pages, the visiting users may be shown a message stating the chatting is in progress to prompt the users to participate in the chatting. For the certified users, the chatting service list will be loaded for display as shown in FIG. 6 wherein the chatting list may be first loaded with a login open state and chatting consent state as a default setting. If a non-certified user selects chatting, the screen will be switched into a user certifying screen followed by loading the chatting list upon completing the certification positively.

[88] As shown, the chatting users may be shown a list of friends, online user within a page, etc. The chatting list may be divided into a friends' group and in-page friends group. The friends' group as used herein means the listed users who are registered as friends in the online shopping service provided by the online shopping server 130 showing the list of incoming friends by their IDs. The friends' group list may show at its side '(Login Friends by number/Registered Friends by number)'.

[89] Also, the friends' group list may show the login state of the IDs registered as friends.

The logged-in friends list may be positioned upper side arranging the logged-out friends list below with different fonts or icons identifying the log in and out states. Some logged-in friends may be displayed as being off if they set the chatting acceptance off display.

[90] In addition, if set as declining the chatting, the friends list shows through a chat declining icon and if there is a chatting request, a message may be displayed stating that the chatting is not available due to the chatting declining. The friends list may basically show up to five persons. For the friends over five, a see-more-friends button may be arranged to show the entire friends list.

[91] Besides the friends list, icons may be provided for the direct links to their blogs.

Identification of the friends list may be provided by their user names. The user names

may be set in the Preferences menu. If the user did not set the user name, a certified ID may be shown instead. The user may choose to be identified on the list as, for example a user name, ID or user name plus ID.

[92] The friends list keeps showing its current state but in case where the user navigates through pages the friends list may be made to show partially and if the entire list were presented, it may be displayed intact across the changing shopping pages.

[93] Also, as shown, the users who accessed a page may be shown in a list. I.e., the user may see the list of visitors staying in the same current page. When a list window first opened, the visitor list may be indicated as hidden and become shown in a login visitor list for the same page.

[94] The remaining indications may be implemented in a similar way to the said friends list and when the user moves to other Web pages, the list may be closed. Or, if the user clicks the friends' group in the current page, the currently logged-in friends may be listed for checking. It is possible to choose a friend from the chat list to request a chatting, the window of which can be activated by double-clicking the chosen friend. A group chatting may be established by adding an invitation of a friend to a 1-to-l chatting.

[95] Activating a chatting window may be achieved by selecting and double-clicking a dialogue party among the group of friends or in-page user's group in the chat list. And, the user may check acceptance or rejection for others' chatting invitations and if the rejection to chatting invitations were checked, the chat list may show the set rejection state disabling a chatting request. If a friend under chat declining were selected from the list and requested for a chatting, a message stating 'friend now in a declining mode' appears disabling a chatting request. Even if one is in a declining mode, the individual may request to participate in others' chatting successfully.

[96] As the chatting window becomes active, the user may type messages in a message input section and press the enter or send key to proceed with the 1-to-l chatting, or in an existing activate window the user may use the friend invitation function to invite friends into forming a group chatting. Also, it is possible for a single user to participate in multiple chatting events.

[97] Therefore, the user is free to chat in the 1-to-l or group situation while sharing Web pages. In the Web page sharing session, a page change by a single member will send the rest of the friends to the next page all together. The concurrent page shifts by the chatting parties result in sharing the last page recognized by the disclosed system.

[98] FIG. 7 is a view showing a request for sharing a page according to the embodiment of the present disclosure.

[99] In a chatting session, if the user wishes to share a shopping page with a friend, he or she can check 'Screen Share' to effectuate the shopping page sharing. Upon receiving

the sharing request, the other party may select between accepting and declining. The user may know whether the friend or other party accepted the page sharing through receiving a chatting message. By selecting 'End Screen Share' in the chatting window, the page sharing will be no more and a message may be sent out alerting the other chat friends of the end of sharing the shopping page.

[100] In a multi-chatting situation where a single user participates in a number of chatting events, the page sharing may be made available only in a single chatting window and if the user were already in a page sharing and accepted a subsequent request for sharing a shopping page from another chatting event, the earlier accepted page sharing will be automatically cancelled.

[101] Additionally, if a page-shared chatting were already in progress and the user initiates another request for page sharing in one of the other windows, then the previous page sharing is cancelled off the chatting. The user may enter a lounge chat room generated by individual shopping pages in order to chat between a user in the same one of the shopping pages. If the user turned to another page during the lounge chatting, he or she may be automatically left out of the previous lounge chat room.

[102] The user may be arranged to chat with users who accessed a common page. There may be a lounge chat room provided in the common shopping page for its visiting users to permit them to chat one another. With a click of an enter button to the lounge chat room, a visitor may enter the room and view chatting windows in the lounge chat room and a list of the chatting participants. Also, the chats between the participants will be visible to the visitor who may join the chatting by typing messages in the chatting window.

[103] If a user were previously classified into a black list and attempts to enter the chat room in the shopping page, he or she will be shown an appropriate message for the penal provision and prohibited from entering. By clicking an exit button from the chat room in the page or by closing the chatting window, the visitor may exit the chat room. In the occasion where the user voluntarily turns to another page, he or she may be also left out of the closed lounge chatting window. Still, the visitor may browse the participants to the current chat.

[104] FIG. 8 is a view showing a giving of coupon gift according to the embodiment of the present disclosure.

[105] Beside the case where the user selects 'request gift coupon' in a chatting window and the other party clicks 'accept coupon request' to proceed the coupon gifting back to the user, the user in the chatting window may talk the other party into gifting the coupon by clicking 'coupon gifting' as illustrated in the drawing. In this case, the other party first clicks 'coupon gifting' to choose the one for gifting from his or her available coupon list on display where the coupons are individually identified by codes, which

will be presented along with the coupon to the user by the other party.

[106] At the time of checking out, the gifted coupon may be made to limitedly credit a particular payment for a product. I.e., when a coupon gifting occurs, an alert may accompany to tell it is specific to the identified product and only helps pay for that product within its effective due date, which is arbitrarily set by the issuer. Further, the user at the receiving end may have the option to accept or cancel the coupon gifting. The user then can use selected coupons gifted to pay for a discounted price.

[107] The user may be either at the checkout page to get the coupon gift to use or presented earlier with a gift coupon, which assists the user to buy a product. To summarize, the user and other party under page sharing may first move to a shopping page exhibiting the detailed description of a particular product for which the user chooses to buy with an online payment. In addition to the benefits of buying the product described, the user may send a request to the other party for a friendly benefit, which may be a coupon here. The other party may respond by gifting the coupon with an accompanied text displayed on the chat window for describing the coupon detail and asking the user whether to accept it so that the user can make the final decision. When the user accepts it, the gifted coupon will be identified in the Shopping Cart page so that the user can choose to add it to the payment.

[108] FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary architecture of the shopping messenger executive program according to the embodiment of the present disclosure.

[109] The shopping messenger executive program may be comprised of shopping messenger resource files related to the execution of the shopping messenger and manifest files including meta data therefor and compressed for packaging before it is distributed. Here, the shopping messenger resource file is the actual shopping messenger-related program file to execute based on Adobe AIR and is provided in two formats of flash and HTML/JS. The flash format of shopping messenger executive program may be compatible with typical flash and comprise flash files (*.swf), Action script and its related media (image) files. The HTML/JS format may be compatible with existing HTML documents and comprise HTML files (*.htm), JavaScript and its related media (image) files, he Manifest files may comprise meta data related to the shopping messenger executive program and be structured in XML format.

[110] Although exemplary embodiments of the disclosure have been described for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the essential char- acterics of the invention. Therefore, the embodiments disclosed in the present invention have been described not for limiting the technical idea of the invention, but for describing the invention. Accordingly, the scope of the invention is not to be limited by the above embodiments but by the appended claims and the equivalents

thereof.

Industrial Applicability

[111] As described above, the present disclosure is applicable to the online shopping activities where a consumer is permitted to share not only shopping ideas with other consumers but also coupon information for payment so that among consumers common shopping pages are shared with real time chats to virtually enable such consumers to participate in accompanied offline shopping where shopping ideas are freely exchanged.

[112]

[113] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[114] This non-provisional application claims priorities under 35 U.S.C § 119(a) on Patent Application No. 10-2008-0051174 filed in Korea on May 30, 2008, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. In addition, this non-provisional application claims priorities in countries, other than U.S., with the same reason based on the Korean Patent Application, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.