Method and system for distributing and tracking effectiveness of purchase recommendations

Abstract

A method of distributing purchase recommendations to a user terminal and tracking their effectiveness includes receiving an image of a product code captured from a user terminal at a store server through a wireless device, the store server connected to a first database from which the store server retrieves product information relating to the product code, the product information including one or more recommended products associated with the product, and a second database that tracks effectiveness of recommendations for each product, and transmitting the product information to the user terminal through the wireless device. The presence of at least one recommended product in the product information causes the self-registration program in the user terminal to display a user interface for accessing information about the recommended product on the user terminal and enable the store server to update the second database by tracking the user inputs made through the user interface.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for distributing purchase recommendations to a user terminal and tracking effectiveness of the purchase recommendations, the method comprising:
 providing a self-registration program in the user terminal using which (i) a user captures an image associated with a product the user desires to purchase and (ii) a product code is generated from the captured image of the product and transmitted to a wireless device that is connected to a store server over a network;   receiving the captured image from the user terminal at a store server through the wireless device, the store server connected to a first database from which the store server retrieves product information relating to the product code, the product information relating to the product code including a product name, a unit price, and one or more recommended products associated with the product, and a second database that tracks effectiveness of recommendations for each product; and   transmitting the product information to the user terminal through the wireless device,   wherein the presence of at least one recommended product in the product information causes the self-registration program in the user terminal to display a user interface for accessing information about the recommended product on the user terminal and enable the store server to update the second database by tracking the user inputs made through the user interface.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the user terminal, when executing the self-registration program, communicates with a support server that is executing a self-registration server program, and the support server tracks in a file the number of times, N 1 , each recommended product has been purchased and the number of times, N 2 , detailed information about each recommended product has been viewed. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein a user input made through the user interface to view detailed information about a recommended product causes the detailed information to be displayed on the user interface and N 2  of the recommended product to be incremented. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein if the product the user desires to purchase is a recommended product, N 1  of the recommended product is incremented. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein the store server tracks in the second database a total number of times each recommended product has been purchased and a total number of times detailed information about each recommended product has been viewed. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the store server, during a settlement process that includes the product, consumes the file to update the total number of times each recommended product has been purchased and the total number of times detailed information about each recommended product has been viewed. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the support server, the store server, and the wireless device communicate with each other over the network. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the captured image is an image of a bar code or a QR code of the product. 
     
     
         9 . A system for tracking effectiveness of product recommendations, comprising:
 a user terminal having a self-registration program installed therein;   a support server having a self-registration server program installed therein, and communicating with the user terminal through a wireless device when the self-registration server program is executing in the support server and the self-registration program is executing in the user terminal; and   a store server connected to a first database from which the store server retrieves product information relating to a product code transmitted by the support server, the product information relating to the product code including a product name, a unit price, and one or more recommended products associated with the product, and a second database that tracks effectiveness of recommendations for each product,   wherein the presence of at least one recommended product in the product information causes the self-registration program in the user terminal to display a user interface for accessing information about the recommended product on the user terminal and enable the store server to update the second database by tracking the user inputs made through the user interface.   
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the user terminal includes an image capturing unit, and the support server, upon receiving image data of an image captured using the image capturing unit of the user terminal, determines the product code from the image data, acquires the product information from the store server, and transmits the product information and one or more recommended products associated with the product to the user terminal 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the support server tracks in a file the number of times, N 1 , each recommended product has been purchased and the number of times, N 2 , detailed information about each recommended product has been viewed. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein a user input made through the user interface to view detailed information about a recommended product causes the detailed information to be displayed on the user interface and N 2  of the recommended product to be incremented. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein if the product the user desires to purchase is a recommended product, N 1  of the recommended product is incremented. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 11 , wherein the store server tracks in the second database a total number of times each recommended product has been purchased and a total number of times detailed information about each recommended product has been viewed. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14 , wherein the store server, during a settlement process that includes the product, consumes the file to update the total number of times each recommended product has been purchased and the total number of times detailed information about each recommended product has been viewed. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the image captured using the image capturing unit of the user terminal is an image of a bar code or a QR code of the product. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the support server, the store server, and the wireless device communicate with each other over a network, and the user device communicates wirelessly with the wireless device. 
     
     
         18 . A transaction support server communicating with a store server and a wireless device over a network, and with a user terminal having a self-registration program executing therein through the wireless device, the transaction support server comprising:
 a storage unit that stores a transaction file for the user terminal, the transaction file including user terminal identification information and tracking data for recommended products; and   a processor executing a self-registration server program to communicate with the store server to acquire product information of a product associated with image data received from the user terminal, the product information including a product name, a unit price, and one or more recommended products associated with the product, and with the self-registration program executing in the user terminal to transmit the product information to the user terminal,   wherein the presence of at least one recommended product in the product information causes the self-registration program in the user terminal to display a user interface for accessing information about the recommended product on the user terminal and enable the store server to update the second database by consuming the tracking data in the transaction file, which are updated as user inputs are made through the user interface.   
     
     
         19 . The transaction support server of  claim 18 , wherein the tracking data includes the number of times, N 1 , each recommended product has been purchased and the number of times, N 2 , detailed information about each recommended product has been viewed. 
     
     
         20 . The transaction support server of  claim 19 , wherein the store server tracks in the second database a total number of times each recommended product has been purchased and a total number of times detailed information about each recommended product has been viewed, and consumes the transaction file to update the total number of times each recommended product has been purchased and the total number of times detailed information about each recommended product has been viewed.