WO2001063510A1

WO2001063510A1 - System for circulation used vehicle parts over internet

Info

Publication number: WO2001063510A1
Application number: PCT/KR2001/000268
Authority: WO
Inventors: Byung-Cheol Cho
Original assignee: Taejin Infotech Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2000-02-26
Filing date: 2001-02-22
Publication date: 2001-08-30
Also published as: CN1365476A; KR100376553B1; KR20010084530A

Abstract

A system for circulation used vehicle parts over the Internet, wherein a user can personally select on the Internet a desired one of various used parts suitable for a variety of new or used vehicles, including passenger cars, freight cars, motor omnibuses, special motor vehicles such as forklift trucks, old vehicles not on the market, foreign-made cars, etc., and purchase the selected vehicle part online, thereby actively increasing the reuse of used vehicle parts.

Description

SYSTEM FOR CIRCULATION USED VEHICLE PARTS OVER INTERNET

Technical Field

The present invention relates in general to a system for circulation used vehicle parts over the Internet, wherein a user can personally select on the Internet a desired one of various used parts suitable for a variety of new or used vehicles, including passenger cars, freight cars, motor omnibuses, special motor vehicles such as forklift trucks, old vehicles not on the market, foreign-made cars, etc., and purchase the selected vehicle part online, thereby actively increasing the reuse of used vehicle parts.

Background Art

It is estimated that the number of vehicles discarded yearly in, for example, Korea amounts to tens of thousands. It is the current reality that such vehicles are scrapped on an assembly basis en masse even though several ten kinds of parts thereof are reuseable.

In particular, it is actually difficult for owners of reuseable, used vehicle parts and purchasers desiring them to exchange information with each other, thereby causing the used vehicle parts to be discarded without being reused, resulting in severe waste of resources. Furthermore, the used vehicle parts must be processed in the form of iron scraps and again manufactured into necessary parts, leading to severe environmental pollution.

Moreover, owners of rare vehicles or old vehicles not on the market have a more difficulty in purchasing desired parts than owners of general vehicles. As a result, such rare or old vehicles cannot help being unreasonably discarded before their normal lifetime has passed.

Disclosure of the Invention

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a system for circulation used vehicle parts over the Internet, wherein a specialist inspects quality-certifiable, used parts of a variety of vehicles including passenger cars, motor omnibuses, freight cars, special motor vehicles, etc., collects information about the inspected, used vehicle parts, creates a database on the basis of the collected information and constructs a Web site with the created database, and a user registered as a member personally searches or inquires of the constructed Web site for or about data about a desired, used vehicle part and purchases the desired used vehicle part from an associated company or shop in real time, thereby enabling used parts of a variety of vehicles to be more effectively marketed. Brief Description of the Drawings

The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of a system for circulation used vehicle parts over the Internet in accordance with the present invention; Figs. 2a to 2c are flowcharts illustrating the operation of the system for circulation the used vehicle parts over the Internet in accordance with the present invention; and

Figs. 3a to 3c are views showing exemplary screen pictures illustrating the operation of the system for circulation the used vehicle parts over the Internet in accordance with the present invention.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

Fig. 1 is a schematic view of a system for circulation used vehicle parts over the Internet in accordance with the present invention. As shown in this drawing, the used vehicle part circulation system of the present invention comprises a payment certification server 1, Web server 2, media server 3 and mail server 4 interconnected on the Internet via a transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP) . A vehicle insurer, auto repair shop, vehicle part shop, auto junkyard, vehicle marketer and the like are linked to the Web server 2 on the Internet via a router 5 and channel service unit (CSU) 6 over a local area network (LAN) . The auto repair shop, vehicle part shop, auto junkyard (scrapping vehicles and heavy equipment), vehicle marketer and the like create databases according to used vehicle parts by vehicle makers and by items and then register the created databases in the Web server 2, respectively. The Web server 2 manages the registered databases in such a manner that it periodically or at any time receives data regarding specifications, prices, amounts, repair service charges and other information of used vehicle parts from the auto repair shop, vehicle part shop, auto junkyard, vehicle marketer and the like over a LAN or public switched telephone network (PSTN) (referred to hereinafter as a "communication network") , and updates the registered databases with the received data.

The Web server 2 includes large-capacity storage means for storing the databases with the updated contents. The large-capacity storage means may preferably be a disk or memory array. This storage means may also store mass multimedia information necessary to the operation of an associated Web site, provided from the media server 3, which information contains audio, video, animation contents, etc. In this regard, the present system is usefully applicable to a video-on-demand system.

The Web server 2 sends such various information on the Web site, containing audio, video, animation contents, etc., to a personal computer (PC) of a user over the Internet. As a result, the user can order a desired used vehicle part from the Web server 2 online, as in exemplary pictures displayed on a screen of the computer, shown in Figs. 3a to 3c, while listening to voice and music.

A detailed description will hereinafter be given of the operation of the used vehicle part circulation system with the above-stated construction in accordance with the present invention with reference to flowcharts of Figs. 2a to 2c.

First, upon being accessed by a user, the Web server 2 determines whether the user is a registered member. If the user is determined to be a registered member, the Web server 2 authenticates the user as a member. Alternatively, in the case where the user is not a registered member, the Web server 2 sends picture data necessary to data entry for member registration to a PC of the user and then receives personal information, etc. entered by the user.

In this manner, the Web server 2 authenticates all users as members under the condition that they are previously registered as members. At this time, for member authentication, the Web sever 2 receives a credit card number or bank account number, a resident registration number, a password and etc. of each user. The Web server 2 receives data necessary to member authentication, entered by the user, and transfers the received data to the payment certification server 1, which may be, for example, financial telecommunications & clearings institute, over the communication network. Upon certifying the data transferred from the Web server 2, the payment certification server 1 transfers certification associated data containing an approval number back to the Web server 2.

Thereafter, the Web server 2 stores the certification associated data containing the approval number, transferred from the payment certification server 1, and authenticates the user as a member. If the user is authenticated as a member, then he or she selects a desired one of a variety of services, such as a shopping service, insurance service, repair service, ordering service, order cancel service, price refund service, part exchange service, etc., on the Web site. Then, the Web server 2 recognizes the service selected by the user and at once provides it to the user.

For example, assuming that the user selects the shopping service, as shown in Fig. 2a, the Web server 2 sends information about specifications, prices, etc. of used parts of a variety of vehicles including new cars, used cars, heavy equipment, etc. to the user's PC, and the user searches the information sent from the Web server 2 using a two-dimensional or three-dimensional browser in his or her PC.

On the other hand, if the payment certification server 1 fails to certify the data entered by the user, then it performs the user data certification process again in consideration of error occurrence possibility. At this time, upon certifying the user data, the payment certification server 1 transfers certification associated data containing an approval number to the Web server 2. However, provided that the payment certification server 1 successively fails to certify the user data, then it transfers certification failure data to the Web server 2, which in turn interrupts the connection of the communication network to the user.

After the payment certification process is normally carried out, under the condition that the user connects his or her PC to the Web server 2, he or she searches the used vehicle part information sent from the Web server 2 for a desired used vehicle part necessary to auto repair and orders the searched used vehicle part from the Web server 2. Upon receiving the order from the user, the Web server 2 requests the payment certification server 1 to again perform the above- described payment certification process. If the payment certification server 1 normally completes the payment certification process, then the Web server 2 examines used vehicle part information, vehicle maker information, part quality information associated with the used vehicle part ordered by the user, selects goods most appropriate to the ordered part as a result of the examination and instructs a repair shop or marketer, which has the selected goods in stock and is present nearest the user's location, using the mail server 4 to deliver the selected goods to the user. In other words, the user sends an order related message containing information about an item ordered, the number and price thereof, a delivery destination address, etc. to the Web server 2 over the communication network, and the Web server 2 searches registered vehicle part shops for that having a used vehicle part of the ordered item in stock and being present nearest the user' s location and sends ordering information to the searched vehicle part shop. Upon receiving the ordering information, the selected vehicle part shop (this is always standing by ready to accept an order) recognizes in real time that the related vehicle part has been ordered and at once delivers goods of the number desired by the user to the address designated by the user.

In addition, the used vehicle part circulation system of the present invention provides a vehicle related insurance information service to the user for his or her convenience. If this vehicle related insurance information service is selected by the user, as shown in Fig. 2b, the Web server 2 receives a variety of video and audio signals associated with the selected service from the media server 3 and sends the received video and audio signals to the user's PC. However, in this vehicle related insurance information service, the Web server 2 cannot process insurance information by itself due to a legal restriction. In this connection, the user gains access to a Web site of an insurer by clicking on a portion of the Web site of the Web server 2 linked to the Web site of the insurer, and then obtains desired information from the Web site of the insurer. If the user desires to insure himself or herself, he or she draws up an insurance application sheet on the Web site of the insurer and sends information about the drawn-up insurance application sheet to the insurer. If the user does not desire to insure himself or herself or after sending the information about the drawn-up insurance application sheet to the insurer, he or she returns to the Web site of the Web server 2 by clicking on a portion of the Web site of the insurer linked to the Web site of the Web server 2. In the case where a repair information service is selected by the user, the Web server 2 provides a variety of repair information to the user such that he or she searches the repair information for desired information. If the user makes an application for a repair service, then the Web server 2 receives repair service application related data from the user, sends the received data to a repair shop nearest the user's location and links the user to the nearest repair shop. As a result, according to offered conditions, the user can receive a home-visit repair service from the nearest repair shop or personally visit it for auto repair.

On the other hand, in the case where the user desires to cancel a given order owing to unavoidable circumstances, as shown in Fig. 2c, he or she can cancel it on the computer screen. Upon receiving order cancel contents from the user, the Web server 2 takes a speedy measure suited to a given condition. For example, if goods ordered have not been delivered yet to the user, the Web server 2 deletes a series of data related to the goods order and certification data and then notifies the user of the result of order cancellation.

Provided that the user cancels a given order after payment, the Web server 2 first checks whether goods ordered have been delivered to the user. If the ordered goods have not been delivered yet to the user, the Web server 2 returns paid money to the user in a general manner. In the case where the user requests the returning of paid money, the Web server 2 first checks whether goods ordered have been delivered to the user. If the ordered goods have not been delivered yet to the user, the Web server 2 returns the paid money to the user, deletes a series of data related to the goods order and certification data and then notifies the user of the result of order cancellation. Provided that the user requests the exchange of goods ordered, the Web server 2 first checks whether the ordered goods have been delivered to the user. If the ordered goods have not been delivered yet to the user, the Web server 2 modifies order related data and sends the modified data to an associated shop so that the exchanged goods can be delivered to the user.

In addition, the used vehicle part circulation system of the present invention can provide an Internet mail service or homepage service using the Web server 2, media server 3 and other management functions, in a similar manner to general Web sites .

Figs. 3a to 3c show exemplary screen pictures illustrating the used vehicle part circulation transactions according to the present invention being conducted on the Internet. If a user registered as a member selects and enters a name of a desired used vehicle part on the Web pictures of Figs. 3a and 3b, registered information about the selected vehicle part is displayed on the screen, so that, with reference to the displayed information, the user can order the selected vehicle part online and pay the price thereof online.

Industrial Applicability

As apparent from the above description, the present invention provides a system for circulation used vehicle parts over the Internet, wherein a user can personally select on the Internet a desired one of various used parts suitable for a variety of new or used vehicles, including passenger cars, freight cars, motor omnibuses, special motor vehicles such as forklift trucks, old vehicles not on the market, foreign-made cars, etc., and purchase the selected vehicle part online, thereby actively increasing the reuse of used vehicle parts. Therefore, the lifetime of used vehicles can be lengthened, leading to a significant reduction in the amount of waste matters resulting from vehicle scrapping, and in turn in environmental pollution. Furthermore, the present system can block illegal circulation of used vehicle parts of unreliable quality, thereby protecting precious human lives and properties .

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been disclosed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.

Claims

Claims :

1. A system for circulation used vehicle parts over the Internet, comprising a payment certification server, a Web server, a media server and a mail server interconnected on the Internet via a transmission control protocol/Internet protocol, and at least one vehicle insurer, at least one auto repair shop, at least one vehicle part shop, at least one auto junkyard and at least one vehicle marketer linked to said Web server on the Internet via a router and a channel service unit over a local area network, wherein said Web server is configured to perform a user authentication process, an ordering process and a delivery process for the purchase of used vehicle parts by users on the basis of data from said auto repair shop, vehicle part shop, auto junkyard and vehicle marketer.

2. The system as set forth in Claim 1, wherein said Web server is further configured to provide a vehicle related insurance information service to the users in association with said vehicle insurer.

3. The system as set forth in Claim 1, wherein said Web server is further configured to provide a repair service and an order cancel service to the users.

4. The system as set forth in Claim 1, wherein said Web server is further configured to provide an order cancel service, a price refund service and a part exchange service to the users.