 |
Claims  |
|
|
We claim:
1. A method of operating a computer system for ordering products requested
by customers from terminals at customer locations, said computer system
having a memory storing information defining respective products, said
information including catalog numbers, said catalog numbers being used in
a catalog distributed by said supplier to said customers to identify said
products, said method comprising the steps of:
(a) receiving from one of said terminals a number specified by a respective
customer, said number being different from said catalog numbers in said
catalog number index;
(b) searching said memory to find information about a plurality of said
products including catalog numbers that only partially match the number
specified by said respective customer;
(c) transmitting to said one of said terminals said information about said
plurality of products that was found in step (b);
(d) receiving from said one of said terminals an order by said respective
customer for one of said products selected by said respective customer in
response to said step (c) of transmitting said information about said
plurality of products; and
(e) processing said order at an order processing location.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said information transmitted
to said one of said terminals includes a list of product codes that
uniquely identify said plurality of products.
3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said information transmitted
to said one of said terminals includes a list of numbers indicating the
respective availability of said plurality of products.
4. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the step of
receiving from said one of said terminals a selection of one of said
plurality of products by said respective customer.
5. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein said one of said terminals
displays to said respective customer said information about said plurality
of products in a sequence.
6. The method as claimed in claim 4, further comprising the step of passing
product information for the selected one of the plurality of products to a
line item of an order for that product.
7. A computer system for enabling customers to enter orders for products,
said computer system including display terminals at customer locations; a
memory for holding information defining respective products, said
information including catalog numbers used in a catalog distributed by
said supplier to said customers to identify said products; means for
displaying at said display terminals a series of screens for enabling said
customers to order selected ones of said products by specifying catalog
numbers; means for receiving from said display terminals numbers specified
by said customers, said numbers specified by said customers being
different from said catalog numbers held in said memory; means for
searching said memory to find information about a plurality of said
products including catalog numbers that only partially match each of the
numbers specified by the customers; and means for transmitting back to the
respective display terminals the information about said plurality of
products that was found in said memory in response to each of the numbers
specified by the respective customers.
8. The computer system as claimed in claim 7, wherein said means for
transmitting includes means for transmitting a list of product codes that
uniquely identify said plurality of products that was found in said memory
in response to each of the numbers specified by the respective customers.
9. The computer system as claimed in claim 7, wherein said means for
transmitting includes means for transmitting a list of numbers indicating
the respective availability- of each of said plurality of products that
was found in said memory in response to each of the numbers specified by
the respective customers.
10. The computer system as claimed in claim 7, further comprising means for
receiving from each of said data terminals a selection by the respective
customer of one of said plurality of products that was found in said
memory in response to each of the numbers specified by the respective
customer.
11. The computer system as claimed in claim 7, further comprising means for
displaying to said customers said information about said plurality of
products in a sequence.
12. A method of operating a computer system for ordering products requested
by customers from display terminals at customer locations, said computer
system having a memory storing a product file including records of
information defining respective products offered by a supplier, and a
catalog number index of catalog numbers used in a catalog distributed by
said supplier to said customers to identify at least some of said
products, the catalog numbers in said catalog number index being
associated with respective records in said product file, said method
comprising the steps of:
(a) receiving from one of said terminals a number specified by a respective
customer, said number being different from said catalog numbers in said
catalog number index;
(b) searching said catalog number index for a catalog number that only
partially matches the number specified by the customer;
(c) reading from said product file the record associated with the catalog
number that only partially matches the number specified by the customer;
(d) reading from said product file other records of information about
products that are similar to the product defined by the information of
said record associated with said catalog number that only partially
matches the number specified by the customer; and
(e) transmitting to said one of said terminals information from said
records read from said product file for display to said respective
customer,
wherein said product file is a key-indexed file using the catalog number as
a primary key, said catalog index is searched by a random access of said
product file using the number specified by said respective customer as a
key, and said product file is read for said other records of information
by a sequential access of said product file.
13. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein said information transmitted
to said respective customer includes a list of product codes that uniquely
identify the products defined by said information from said records.
14. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein said information transmitted
to said respective customer includes a list of numbers indicating the
availability of the respective products defined by said information from
said records.
15. The method as claimed in claim 12, further comprising the step of
receiving from said respective customer a selection of one of said
products defined by the information of said records read from said product
file, and displaying to said respective customer information about the
selected one of said products, said information about the selected one of
said products being obtained from said information of said records read
from said product file.
16. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein said records are arranged
sequentially in said product file, and information from said records is
displayed in a corresponding sequence to said respective customer.
17. The method as claimed in claim 16, further comprising the step of
receiving from said respective customer a sequence number for selecting
one of said products defined by the information of said records read from
said product file.
18. The method as claimed in claim 12, further comprising the steps of
passing said information from said records read from said product file
through a product file buffer, and transmitting pages of information from
said product file buffer to said one of said display terminals in response
to "page up" and "page down" commands received from said one of said
display terminals.
19. The method as claimed in claim 18, wherein said computer system
executes a multiplicity of customer processes to communicate with a
multiplicity of customers simultaneously, and each customer process uses a
different respective product file buffer. |
|
 |
|
 |
Claims |
|
|
|
Description |
|
|
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method and system for enabling customers
at respective customer locations to operate data terminals for placing
orders for goods or services. More specifically, this invention relates to
such a method and system in which the customers obtain from their data
terminals product information that augments or supersedes the product
information that is available from a catalog.
2. Description of Related Art
A method and system for enabling a large number of consumers to place
orders for goods and services with a data terminal is disclosed in
Schlafly U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,858. In response to visually displayed
prompts, the user of the data terminal selects the nature of the goods or
services desired. The user chooses the supplier and the particular item,
using a product code that is selected either from the supplier's catalog
or from special instructions made available for that purpose. The
particular data related to the selected item, together with an individual
personal authorization code are entered in the terminal keyboard. The user
may then review each stored segment of data to confirm or make changes or
completely abort the data entry. All of the data related to the user's
order, if it is to be executed, is stored in a send memory by a key
command. Additional entries of orders can be made and placed in the send
memory until it is filled. When the user is ready, the orders placed in
the terminal are transmitted after automatic dialing by the terminal
through an internal modem to a local or central processing center over a
telephone communication link. In one embodiment, merchandise is ordered
from a supplier catalog using a particular code for that supplier catalog,
page number, and product identification numbers together with quantity and
product option codes in the order and manner as these appear on the
catalog page. In another embodiment, product identifying bar codes are
printed in a catalog alongside the displayed products. When a customer
desires a product, a scanning motion with an activated bar code reader
causes the entry of data identifying the catalog, the product and such
other data deemed desirable for processing an order.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It has been discovered that the primary problem encountered when customers
are permitted to enter their own orders is the difficulty of entering a
proper catalog number. In many cases this difficulty arises from
incomplete, incorrect or obsolete catalog information in addition to
errors by the user when entering the catalog numbers or product codes read
from the supplier's catalog.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a method and system in which
the data terminal displays to the customer additional information about
the goods or services being ordered in order to complete, correct or
update the information available from the supplier's catalog. This catalog
assistance is provided to the customer upon the customer's request or when
the customer identifies an item to be ordered with information from the
catalog that is known to be incomplete, incorrect or obsolete in view of a
complete and current file of all the products sold or having been offered
for sale by the supplier.
In the preferred embodiment, an order entry system includes a catalog
number identification aid that uses the number supplied by the customer as
a key to access a product file that has been key-indexed by the supplier's
catalog numbers. The product file includes a record having a unique
product code for each product sold or having been offered for sale by the
supplier. As a result of the key access of the product file, the product
code, catalog number and other information such as product availability,
product description or product change history for each of a series of
product records are displayed to the user. The user is given the option of
selecting any one of the products to obtain further information about the
product or to enter the product as a line item in an order, without any
need for the user to enter any further product identification information.
The user can also page forward or backward through the product file from
the records initially displayed as a result of the key access. In a
multiuser or timeshared system, this paging is performed efficiently by
providing a product file buffer for each customer that is logged on to the
order entry system.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon
reading the following detailed description and upon reference to the
drawings in which:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an order entry terminal employing the
present invention at a customer location;
FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an order entry system employing the
customer terminal of FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the preferred process executed by a computer in
the order system of FIG. 2 in order to communicate with a single customer;
FIG. 4 is a generalized flowchart for the program modules shown in FIG. 3
for displaying respective screens of data to the customer and receiving
customer data;
FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a specific method for obtaining
catalog assistance information from a product file in response to a
catalog number supplied by the customer;
FIGS. 6A and 6B comprise a flowchart of the program module in FIG. 3 which
is executed by the computer in the order entry system for displaying the
catalog assistance information to the customer.
While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative
forms, a specific embodiment thereof has been shown by way of example in
the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It should be
understood, however, that it is not intended to limit the invention to the
particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover
all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit
and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Turning now to FIG. 1, there is shown a perspective view of an order entry
terminal generally designated 10 at a customer location. It should be
apparent that the terminal 10 comprises a conventional personal computer
having a processing unit 11, a video display 12, and a keyboard 13. Built
into the processing unit 11 is a disk drive 14 receiving a floppy disk 15.
The floppy disk 15 includes a communications program that permits the
terminal 10 to operate as remote terminal for a computer system at a
supplier location, as further described below in connection with FIG. 2.
In particular, the communications program permits the computer system to
display alphanumeric characters at selected locations on a screen 16 of
the video display 12. Such communications programs are well known; for
example, a suitable communications program is sold under the trademark
"PROCOMM" by Datastorm Technologies, Inc., P.O. Box 1471, Columbia, Mo.
65205. Preferably the terminal 10 communicates with the remote computer
system over a telephone line 17, and the data processing unit 11 has a
built in autodial modem (not shown) to facilitate this communication.
As is conventional, the customer consults a supplier's catalog to get an
idea of particular products to be ordered. The customer then operates the
terminal 10 and keyboard 13 to enter the catalog numbers for the products
to be ordered. A problem arises, however, due to the difficultly of
entering correct catalog numbers into the terminal 10. In addition to
possible error by the customer, this difficulty is caused by the fact that
the catalog numbers in the catalog 18 are often incomplete, incorrect or
obsolete. In most cases, this is not due to errors in the catalog 18.
Instead, the difficulty is due to the fact that the supplier's product mix
is rapidly changing due to advances in technology and the desire of the
supplier to offer improved products to the customer. This is particularly
true of the suppliers of electrical and electronic components.
As shown on the display screen 16, at the customer's option or when an
incomplete, incorrect or obsolete catalog number is entered into the
terminal 10, the supplier's computer system returns catalog assistance
information which helps identify the supplier's products that are most
closely associated with the catalog number having been entered. The
catalog assistance information, for example, includes a list of product
codes which uniquely identify the products sold or having been offered for
sale by the supplier, along with respective catalog numbers and the
quantities available for each product.
The customer is also given the option of selecting from the catalog
assistance information a product code or catalog number displayed on the
screen 16 without any need to retype that information. The selected
product code or catalog number can then be used to generate a line item in
an order for that product or to obtain further information about the
product before the customer decides whether to order the product.
As shown in FIG. 1, each product code is prefixed by a sequence number
ranging from 1 to 5 and the customer may select the corresponding product
code or catalog number by entering its associated sequence number into the
keyboard 13. Other methods could be used for selecting a product code or
catalog number displayed on the screen, for example, by using an
alternative input device such as a light pen, touch screen or mouse (not
shown).
Turning now to FIG. 2, there is shown a block diagram of the order entry
system generally designated 20 including the customer terminal 10 as well
as additional customer terminals 21, 22 and 23 which are connected to the
computer system 24 at the supplier location. For enabling each of the
customers to access the computer system 24 simultaneously on a
multiprocessing or time sharing basis, the computer system is connected to
a bank of modems 25, 26, 27, and 28. For entering and processing orders,
the computer system 24 includes at least three primary files. These
primary files include a product file 29 including information about each
product sold or having been offered for sale by the supplier, an order
file 30 storing outstanding orders to be filled, and a customer file 31
storing information about customers.
To place an order, the customer operates a respective terminal the customer
location to access the computer system via one of the modems. The computer
system executes a respective customer process 32, 33, 34 or 35 for the
customer so long as the customer is communicating with the system.
As further described below, the customer process enables the customer to
access product information in the product file 29 by specifying either a
catalog number or a product code. Preferably this is done by organizing
the product file as a series of records for each product, and indexing
those records by both a catalog number index 36 and a produce code index
37. Such indexes for files are typically created and maintained by
conventional memory management facilities for accessing key indexed files.
The catalog number, for example, is the primary key for the product file,
and the product code is an auxiliary key for the product file. This
facilitates obtaining the catalog assistance information when a partial
catalog number is supplied by the user. Since the catalog number is used
as the primary key, the product file can be randomly accessed by key using
the partial catalog number supplied by the user, and then accessed
sequentially to obtain records having catalog numbers similar to the
partial catalog number supplied by the user. This is further described
below in connection with FIG. 5.
Even though the customer may not directly access the product file, the
customer process will access the product file to check for the existence
of each product ordered by a customer. If a product code cannot be found
for a product ordered by the customer, then special authorization is
required for the supplier to accept the order. The orders are placed in an
order file 30 and any problems that arise with an order are noted in a
service queue 38 that is monitored by an executive process 39 and reported
at an operator's terminal 40.
In the order entry system 20, the supplier may also enter batch orders into
the system by operating a batch order entry process 41. Therefore, all of
the orders for the supplier are processed by an integrated system. In such
a system, the delivery of ordered items is scheduled by an order
processing program 42 that processes outstanding orders in the order file
30, updates the customer files when deliveries are made, and also keeps an
inventory of the products in the product file 29. Since the product codes
uniquely identify the products being sold by the supplier, the order
processing program 42 accesses the product file 29 through the product
code index 37. Any problems discovered by the order processing program 42
are reported to the operator's terminal by messages placed in the service
queue 38.
The order processing program 42 may also determine the location from which
the ordered products are to be shipped to the customer. As shown in FIG.
2, the order processing program 42 selects products from either a
warehouse 43 or a warehouse 44. It should be noted, however, that the
specific organization of the order processing system as shown in FIG. 2 is
not important for practicing the present invention.
Turning now to FIG. 3, there is shown a flowchart generally designated 50
of the preferred customer process using the present invention. After a
customer's terminal becomes connected to one of the modems, the customer
process must receive an account number and password for the customer.
Preferably the account number is automatically transmitted by the
communications program for the particular customer, and this is done by
sending each customer a unique program disk (15 in FIG. 1).
The customer's account number and password are received in step 51. In step
52, the customer file (31 in FIG. 2) is accessed to verify that the
account number and password received from the customer terminal are valid,
and if not the customer terminal is disconnected from the modem.
Otherwise, in step 53 the customer is given a selection or "main menu" of
options. In addition to the option of terminating communication with the
computer system, the user may select order inquiry 54, product inquiry 55,
open purchase orders 65, open purchase orders by product or catalog number
57, catalog assistance 58, order entry 59, and return authorization
request 60.
The main menu selection 53 as well as each of the options 54-60 uses a
respective set of display screens to communicate with the customer. A
representative set of
display screens are shown as Appendices I-XI to the present specification.
The particular screens define the format for the data communicated between
the customer and the compute system for each of the options.
In the Appendices, the products are electrical components such as switches,
circuit breakers, relays, transformers and motor controllers. The product
code is numeric, and the catalog number is alphanumeric starting with an
alphabetic character. An alphanumeric catalog number, for example, is
converted by the computer system 24 to an internal numerical
representation, for example, by representing each alphanumeric character
by an ASCII code to arrive at a binary number for each alphanumeric
catalog number. This conversion process is further described below in
connection with FIG. 5.
The screens shown in the Appendices have been designed for user friendly
operation in which the user may move between any option by selecting one
of eight option numbers that are set out at the bottom of each option
screen. The number 8 is selected to return to the main menu screen from an
option screen. Information such as a catalog number or product code that
is entered or selected in one option ma be passed to another option. This
passing of information is performed by storing the information as option
common data 61 that is accessible by program modules which display the
respective option screens.
The order inquiry option 54 permits the customer to inquire as to the
shipping date by item, the shipping location by item, the method of
shipment and back order information. For security purposes, each customer
is permitted to only inquire as to the orders bearing the customer's own
account number.
The product inquiry option 55 permits a customer to access information
about the stock availability of a product and its normal net price, its
dimensions, weight, and standard package quantities. The extent of the
product information such as stock availability given to a particular
customer, however, can be restricted depending upon a priority assigned to
each customer. The operator of the computer system 24, for example, would
have the highest priority and could obtain all knowledge about the
availability and warehouse locations of all products sold by the supplier.
The open P.O.'s option 56 enables a customer to identify open orders for a
particular item. This option, for example, could be used by a customer
when the customer experiences a shortage in his or her inventory for a
particular product.
The order entry option 59 enables the customer to "build" an order by
entering in any desired customer purchase order number, shipping and
routing information, and the product code or catalog number and quantity
for each of the products to be ordered.
In some instances a customer may desire to return products back to the
supplier. In this case the customer selects the return authorization
request option 60.
When the customer is building an order using the order entry option 59, it
is necessary for the customer to supply a proper catalog number or product
number that uniquely identifies a product being sold by the supplier.
Otherwise, the product must be specially manufactured for the particular
customer. In many instances, the supplier is selling the product which the
customer would like to order but the customer has difficulty in entering a
corresponding catalog number. As noted above, this is not necessarily due
to any fault of the customer or the supplier, because the supplier is
constantly offering improved products and discontinuing obsolete products.
When the customer attempts to order a product by entering a catalog number
which the computer system recognizes as incomplete, incorrect, or
obsolete, the system displays a message to the customer that the catalog
number does not identify "product codeable material" and the customer must
either place a special order for the product or the customer should select
the catalog assistance option 58 to see if there is any product codeable
material that would satisfy his or her needs. If the customer selects the
catalog assistance option 58 and finds a suitable product, that product
can be marked and its catalog number and product code temporarily stored
as option common data until the customer returns to the order entry
option. Upon returning to the order entry option 59, the selected catalog
number and product code can be automatically inserted as a line item into
the order being built by the customer.
Turning now to FIG. 4, there is shown a flowchart generally designated 70
which illustrates common aspects of each of the options 54-60 introduced
in FIG. 3. This commonality makes the various options user friendly
because each option interacts with the customer in a similar fashion.
In the first step 71 of the flowchart 70, the display screen (16 in FIG. 1)
is filled with literals (i.e. alphanumeric constants) and option common
data for the respective option. This initial screen is illustrated in
Appendix I for the main menu, Appendix II for the order inquiry option,
Appendix III for the product inquiry option, Appendix IV for the open
P.O.'s option, Appendix V for the open P.O.'s by product option, Appendix
VII for the catalog assistance option, Appendix X for the order entry
option, and Appendix XI for the return authorization option. Once the
initial screen is displayed to the customer, in step 72 the customer may
enter data which is displayed back in certain fields of the screen.
When the customer hits the enter key as detected in step 73 the system
checks the validity of the data having been entered. If the data is
invalid, as detected in step 74, an error message is displayed in step 75
and execution branches back to step 72 to permit the customer to correct
the invalid data. If the data is valid, then in step 76 the system may
recognize that the data should be stored. If so, then depending in the
particular data, in step 77 the data is stored in the option common area
for interoption communication or in one of the files such as the order
file 38 in the case where the customer has completed an order, the order
has been checked, and the customer has released the order to the supplier.
In step 78 the system checks whether the customer has selected a new
option. If so, then execution of the program module for the current option
terminates and execution is passed to the new option. Otherwise, in step
79 the system may check whether the customer has requested to page forward
or backward through a file. This may occur, for example, whenever there
are additional pages of data to be displayed to the user, for example,
when the user has built up an order that cannot all fit on the display
screen at the same time. If the customer has not requested to page
forwards or backwards, then execution loops back to step 72. Otherwise, in
step 80 a new page of data is obtained and execution continues in step 71
to display this new page of data on the display screen of the customer's
terminal.
Turning now to FIG. 5, there is shown a schematic diagram illustrating a
method that the catalog assistance option may use to display catalog
assistance information in response to a catalog number supplied by the
customer. The particular catalog numbers and product codes shown in FIG. 5
correspond to the catalog numbers and product codes which appear in the
screens shown in Appendix VIII and Appendix IX. In this example, the
customer has supplied an incomplete catalog number "QOGL" resulting in the
numerical sequence of catalog numbers which follow the customer supplied
catalog number.
As illustrated in FIG. 5, the catalog numbers in the catalog number index
36 are compressed by removing blanks and left-justified to obtain a series
of alphanumeric characters that are sorted in the same way that words
appear in a dictionary. In a similar fashion, the catalog number supplied
by the user is compressed and left-justified for use as a key. The catalog
number index is searched for this key, resulting in the first catalog
number which has an alphanumeric value equal to or greater than the
alphanumeric value of the key.
Each catalog number in the catalog number index 36 has a respective pointer
in the index that points to a record of the product file 29. The entry in
the catalog number index for the first catalog number that is greater or
equal to the customer supplied catalog number has a respective pointer
pointing to a record in the product file which is used to generate the
first line of catalog assistance data that is displayed to the customer.
The catalog assistance display further includes a line of information for
each of up to a certain number of product file records following this
catalog identification number. As shown in FIG. 5, the number of lines of
such catalog assistance information is designated by the integer M. For
the display shown in Appendix VII, there are thirteen lines of such
catalog assistance information and therefore the value of M is 13.
In the computer system 24 of FIG. 2, a single product file 29 is shared
among a number of customer processes 32-35. It is desirable to provide a
respective product file buffer 90 for each customer process to hold more
product information than can be displayed at any one time on the display
screen 16. Therefore, each customer process need not access the product
file 29 every time that it displays a new page of product information, and
the product information is more quickly available for display.
The product file buffer 90 could store product information corresponding to
only the catalog numbers having alphanumeric values greater or equal to
the alphanumeric value of the catalog number supplied by the customer, or
alternatively it could store product information corresponding to catalog
numbers having alphanumeric values both greater or less than the
alphanumeric value of the catalog number supplied by the customer. The
first case is easier to implement because it involves a random key-access
of the product file using the customer specified catalog number as a key,
and then a sequential access of the product file to transfer additional
product file records to the product file buffer. This first case is
adequate for completing an incomplete catalog number.
If it is desirable for the customer to browse through the product file to
view catalog numbers appearing both before and after the customer
specified catalog number, the second case is more desirable. The second
case is somewhat more difficult to implement because it involves a random
or key access of the product file, and then backing up a certain number of
records in the product file before sequentially reading the product file
to fill the product file buffer. As shown in FIG. 5, for example, the
product file buffer holds N records and the record corresponding to the
catalog number that is just greater or equal to the catalog number
supplied by the customer appears in record N/2 of the product file buffer.
In this case the product file pointer is obtained by backing up through
the product file by N/2 product file records.
Turning now to FIG. 6A and 6B, there is shown a flowchart generally
designated 100 for a catalog assistance program that implements the
catalog assistance option in the manner illustrated by FIG. 5. In the
first step 101 a page pointer is set to one and a display p | | |
