WO2001084365A1

WO2001084365A1 - Service providing method using information network

Info

Publication number: WO2001084365A1
Application number: PCT/JP2000/006545
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hajime Satoh
Original assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toshiba
Priority date: 2000-04-28
Filing date: 2000-09-25
Publication date: 2001-11-08
Also published as: JP2001312508A; KR20030039329A

Abstract

Personal information on a user using a service site is stored in some way in a database (4) in advance. When users start up their specific application software programs to use the service site through their terminals (3), the service site (2) is automatically accessed, and recognizes the users of the terminals having made the accesses. If a request of an advertisement requester (5) for advertisement to advertisement objects narrowed by specified conditions is received, users are narrowed by searching the database. When a user makes an access to the service site, whether or not the user is an advertisement object is judged. If the user is an advertisement object, advertisement information is displayed on the user terminal.

Description

Detail

, 1 'Service provision method using information network

The present invention relates to a service providing method using an information network such as the Internet. Background art

With the rapid development of the Internet in recent years, various advertising methods using information networks such as the Internet have been developed. Among them, a common advertising method is to set up a banner advertisement on the portal site ゃ homepage, link the advertiser's homepage and advertising site in the banner advertisement area, and let users who visit the page know the banner advertisement. If you are interested in the advertisement, place the cursor in the area of the banana advertisement or the area of the product being introduced, and click the mouse or perform another equivalent operation. —They jumped to the homepage or product introduction page to get more detailed advertising information.

Also, as a push-type advertising method, companies and advertising agents collect e-mail address information of many users through questionnaires, presents, and various other methods, accumulate them in a database, and later register the registered users in the database. In contrast, those that distribute advertisement information almost indiscriminately are widely used.

However, in the former method of advertising using the conventional information network, the advertiser's homepage ゃ product introduction page can be accessed unless the user is interested in the advertisement. There was a problem that the advertising effect was difficult to obtain without it.

In the latter case, advertising information is distributed almost indiscriminately to all users registered in the customer information database, making it difficult to grasp the user's reaction to product advertising and service providing advertising, that is, the advertising effectiveness. , Also age group, gender Another problem was that the hit rate (probability of seeing or not seeing or probability of purchasing) was extremely low in order to uniformly distribute advertising information without taking into account preferences and other personal information.

The present invention has been made in view of such conventional problems, and a push-type advertisement can be performed by narrowing down an advertisement target, and a service providing method using an information network having a high hit ratio and high advertisement effect is provided. The purpose is to provide.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a service providing method using an information network that can distribute information in a targeted manner to users who need the information. Disclosure of the invention

The service providing method using the information network according to the invention of claim 1 includes a step of identifying a user connected to a service provider via a terminal, and extracting a user corresponding to information for identifying an advertisement target. And, when the specified user is included in the extracted user, distributing the advertisement information to a terminal of the user and displaying the advertisement information.

In the service providing method using the information network according to the invention of claim 1, the personal information of the user who uses the service site is stored in advance on an overnight basis, for example, application software for accessing the service site free of charge is electronically provided. The information is distributed to the applicants and registered as a user.

When the user activates a specific application software to use the service from the terminal, the user automatically accesses the service site, and the service site recognizes the user of the terminal that has accessed the terminal.

Then, when a user visits the service site, it recognizes the user, determines whether the user is eligible for advertising, and if so, sends the advertising information to the user's terminal. Send to display advertising information.

As a result, the advertiser can provide the advertisement information only to the user segment targeted by the advertisement, and the advertisement effect can be improved. The service providing method using the information network according to the invention of claim 2 includes a step of specifying a user connected to the service provider via a terminal, and a step of extracting a user corresponding to the information specifying the distribution destination. And, when the specified user is included in the extracted user, distributing information to the terminal of the user and displaying the information.

In the service providing method using the information network according to the invention of claim 2, personal information of a user who uses the service site is stored in advance on an overnight basis, for example, application software for accessing the service site for free. It is distributed electronically to applicants and stored by a method such as registering the user.

Then, when the user activates a specific application software to use the service from the terminal, the user automatically accesses the service site, and the service site recognizes the user of the accessing terminal.

After that, when a user accesses the service site, it recognizes the user, determines whether the user meets the distribution target conditions, and if so, sends the information from the requester to that user. Send to the user's terminal for display.

As a result, the information distribution requester can provide information only to the users to whom the information is to be distributed, and can provide the information to only those users who are likely to need it.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the service providing method using the information network according to the first or second aspect, the advertisement information or the information is accompanied by a specific character associated with the information.

In the service providing method using the information network according to the third aspect of the present invention, the user can enjoy the service while enjoying the service by displaying the advertisement information or the information and displaying a specific character representing the distribution source. And the use of such services can be promoted.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided the service providing method using the information network according to the first or second aspect, wherein the extracting is performed based on predetermined conditions from a database storing personal information. . According to the service providing method using the information network according to the invention of claim 4, it is possible to accurately and quickly extract a distribution target based on specific conditions, for example, conditions such as age group, gender, hobbies, and preferences. . BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a service providing system using the service providing method according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the functions of the messenger service on the transmitting side and the receiving side in the above embodiment.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a screen for an advertiser's request for an advertisement quote in the above embodiment.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a screen for an advertisement request procedure by an advertiser in the above embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of the above embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a service providing system using the service providing method according to the second embodiment of the present invention. BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a configuration of an information providing system using a service providing method according to one embodiment of the present invention. The Internet 1 is used as an information network, and many user terminals 3 are connected to the www service provider 2 of the service site by the Internet 1.

The user terminal 3 is installed with communication software and WWW browser software with necessary functions such as mail function, schedule function, chat function, etc. installed. Access from the access point of the Internet connection service provider to which the company has subscribed.

The communication software using the service providing method of this embodiment is a WWW service. It is provided by Provider 2 and can be downloaded and installed free of charge by accessing the WWW Service Provider 2 from the user terminal 3 using WWW browser software.

WWW service provider 2 is connected to Internet 1 and links to various agent service providers on Internet 1 such as agent service providers such as search agents, news agents, and shopping agents. ing. It can also be linked to the terminal 5 of the advertising sponsor company for the service.

WWW service provider 2 executes (1) user management function and (2) agent service.

The user management function (1) is a function for receiving and managing user registration according to predetermined procedures. In addition, it has a function to guide the user's use by using a specific character and a spurt message or voice message so that the user can use the next agent service.

When the WWW service provider 2 downloads and downloads the communication software to any user without charge, the WWW service provider 2 registers the handle name as necessary, together with the ID number and passcode registration procedure. Register, enter the address, age, gender, hobbies, preferences, etc. in the text box prepared in the form of a general questionnaire and send it. Register the personal information received in the database (DB) 4 along with the ID number. By doing so, it accumulates many users and accumulates their personal information.

The agent service of (2) includes the following.

Search service

Mail service

Chat service

'' Shopping Assistant Service

Entertainment linked service

Messenger service

The user terminal 3 is a general personal computer having a communication function, In the case of simple communication, a mobile terminal represented by a mobile phone is also used. The user terminal 3 has communication software downloaded from the service site or obtained offline, and a WWW browser installed, and is accessed from the access point of the Internet connection service provider contracted by the user. You can connect to evening 1 and then log in to WWW service provider 2 of the service site by entering an authentication code (usually an ID code and password).

The communication software holds various data necessary for using the various services described above, and updates and registers the data. For example, address data and mail data.

This communication software also wants to distribute advertising catchphrases or some kind of message to an unspecified number or a specified number of users, such as advertisers, club caretakers, or people with similar preferences. For those who want to, the messenger service function described below is provided.

This messenger service function is described as follows. When the user activates the messenger service function after the window screen is developed by the OS in the user terminal 3 S on the transmitting side, the lamp icon (i) shown in FIG. Hereinafter, it is referred to as a “magic lamp” for convenience of explanation.) A1 is displayed as a resident icon.

By pointing the resident icon A1 with the cursor A2 and performing a predetermined operation such as single-clicking or double-clicking the left button, the agent is emitted from the magic lamp A1 together with the smoke as shown in the screen (ii). An anthropomorphic character A3 appears, and the connection procedure for the WWW service provider 2 is automatically executed. Here, the character A3 is anthropomorphized, but the anthropomorphization here is sufficient if it behaves like a human, such as an animal such as a dog or a bear, or an imaginary one. It may be an object.

When this connection procedure is completed, a messenger destination list window W1, a message entry window W2, a send button W3, and a sealed letter designation button are displayed on the balloon A4 from the character A3 as shown in screen (iii). W 4 is displayed. The messenger destination entered in the destination list window W1 can identify a user such as an e-mail address / address unique to the server. This destination list can be input by the user on the transmitting side by himself / herself. However, by using the address list that identifies the user obtained from the WWW service provider 2 by the transmission corresponding person extraction service described later, it is automatically used. It is also possible to enter the posting manually.

In the message entry window W2, the message that the transmitting user wants to convey is input, but this message is also automatically transcribed in advance to the message registered in the WWW service provider 2 by the sender extraction service described below. You can also.

After a predetermined input, when the transmission button W3 is clicked, at the transmitting terminal 3S, as shown in FIG. 2 (iv), the agent A3 disappears momentarily, and only the magic lamp A1 remains. . At this time, if you check the sealed letter button W4, it will be displayed on the sending terminal 3S when the message is opened later on the destination (receiving side) user terminal 3R. Become. Then, an unspecified number of users send a message to the terminal 3R, and if many users open it, the sender's terminal 3S displays it as a mail address list of the opener. (Not shown).

When the message arrives at the user terminal 3R on the receiving side, the display of the magic lamp A1 changes to a blinking display as shown in FIG. 2 (V) to notify the user that some message has arrived. Here, the user terminal 3R designated as the transmission destination of the message is limited to the user who actually uses the magic lamp as described later, so that the magic lamp A1 is resident on the terminal 3R. This is possible because it is displayed in.

Then, as shown in FIG. 7 (vi), the agent character A3 of the sender appears, the sender address W5 and the message content W6 are displayed in the balloon A5, and a button W7 for closing the message screen is displayed. And the reply button W8 are displayed.

When the receiving user points and clicks the reply button W8 with the cursor on the screen (vi) of the terminal 3R, the screen is expanded to the screen (vii).

This screen (vii) is for creating a reply message. The character A 13 on the receiver side appears in place of the character A 3 on the sender side, and the original sender's address display window Wl 1 in the balloon A 14, a reply message entry window W 12, and transmission Button W13 and Seal button W14 are displayed.

The receiving user enters a reply message on the reply screen (vii) of the terminal 3R and clicks the send button W13 to send the reply message to the original sender terminal 3S. Become.

When the reply message arrives at the original calling user terminal 3 S, the character A 13 of the receiver is displayed as shown in FIG. 2 (viii), and the balloon A 6 shows the character of the original receiver. A reply message W16 is displayed together with the address W15, and a close button W17 and a re-reply button W18 are displayed. When a reply mail is received, both characters A3 and A13 appear and it is possible to make the display form as if they are talking.

By using messenger software with such a function, it is possible to distribute the following advertising information by specifying users who are likely to be interested in it, and to distribute information in a sympathetic manner. In addition, this messenger software can always store the contents in a buffer and distribute it, or alternatively, distribute it in real time to a single user terminal.

First, a method for distributing advertisement information will be described. In the system configuration of FIG. 1, the advertiser accesses the WWW service provider 2 via the Internet 1 using the terminal 5, and the advertisement estimation screen W21 page provided by the WWW service provider 2 as shown in FIG. Open (Enter the screen by entering the member ID and password).

The advertiser makes an input necessary for narrowing down the advertisement target on this screen W21 and clicks the estimate button B1, which becomes an estimate request and is transmitted to the WWW service provider 2.

The input on the estimation screen W21 will be described. Advertisers want to narrow the advertising target of the products / services they want to sell in order to increase the advertising effectiveness. Therefore, selection items such as gender, age group, region, hobbies, interests, preferences, etc. S 1, S 2, ... is prepared. In addition, since the advertisement information is distributed using the messenger function described above, the characters CR 1, CR 2,... To be used as the caller character A 3 (see FIG. 2 (vi)) on the terminal 3 of the target user. Also prepare a large number of things that the user of the advertisement is likely to like, so that they can select and specify according to the advertiser's intention and budget, and from the WWW service provider 2 such an estimation screen W2 1 The advertiser selects and designates this screen W2 1 to display it by sending it to terminal 5, and when completed, clicks the quote button W22 to request an estimate. Send to WWW service provider 2.

The WWW service provider 2 that received the advertisement quote request searches the personal information database 4 and extracts a group of users who meet the conditions of the advertisement target, and displays the advertisement request screen W23 shown in Fig. 4. Create and send the summary to terminal 5 of the client. This advertisement request screen W2 3 displays the estimated calculated amount W2 4 and prepares an input box W2 5 for the advertisement message and an input box W2 6 for the URL to be linked. The advertisement image character A 21 is displayed. The advertisement image character A 21 is displayed as the sender character A 3 shown in FIG. 2 when the advertisement information is specified and distributed to the user.

On this screen, enter the advertising message in the message input window W25, enter the URL in the input window W26 of the advertising site 6, and click the request button W27 to request the advertiser terminal 5 as a formal advertisement request. Thus, the WWW service provider 2 receives an order for the advertisement, and executes the advertisement information distribution service described later. Here, if you click the re-estimate button W 28, you will return to the advertisement estimation screen W 21, and you will perform the estimation procedure again, and if you click the cancel button W 29, you will be a request cancel.

Next, the distribution process of the advertisement information after the WWW service provider 2 receives the distribution request of the advertisement information from the advertiser terminal 5 will be described. The WWW service provider 2 knows the user who is running the communication software on the user terminal 3. This is achieved by incorporating a function to automatically access the website of the WWW service provider 2 when the software is started, into communication software distributed free of charge. are doing.

Therefore, if a certain advertiser requests distribution of advertising information, a list of advertising target users extracted from the above-mentioned database 4 for an advertisement period, for example, for one week or one month, is held. A search is performed to determine whether the user who actually started the communication software is listed in the advertisement target user list. If the user is the relevant user, WWW service provider 2 becomes the sender, and the message shown in FIG. The advertiser's advertisement information is sent as a message to the user to be advertised using the service. In this case, the character A3 selected by the advertiser is used as the character A3 of the transmission source.

Therefore, when the corresponding user starts the communication software, the screens (V) and (vi) appear on the terminal 3 of the user. Here, the character A 21 selected by the advertiser is displayed as the character A 3 on the transmitting side, the advertisement message input by the advertiser is displayed in the window W 6, and the URL of the advertisement site 6 is also displayed. Will be.

On the other hand, if the user who received the advertisement clicks on the URL of the advertisement site, the user can jump to the advertisement site 6 and receive the advertisement information.

Also, if you are interested in the advertising message and want to request a brochure or give some opinion, the user can click the reply button W8 on the screen (vi) and click the screen (vi). vii) is displayed, and input and input comments.

The above advertisement distribution method can be summarized as shown in the flow of Fig. 5.

(0) First, as a major premise, as described above, the WWW service provider 2 has the ability to store as much personal information as possible in the database 4, or provides such personal information from outside. Shall be accepted. Then, for example, the communication software for executing the service may be downloaded free of charge from a service site of the WWW service provider 2 and personal information necessary for user registration may be obtained.

(I) The advertiser uses terminal 6 to request an advertisement quote from WWW service provider 2. Sign an advertising membership contract with an advertiser in advance and open an account. (The ID WWW service provider 2 searches the personal information database 4 built by itself or provided from the outside based on the advertisement quotation request (even if only the search result is provided from the outside. Narrow down the users to be advertised and list and keep the email addresses of each user. (However, from the viewpoint of privacy protection, WWW service provider 2 extracts the list of extracted e-mail addresses for the user. It will not be disclosed to the client).

(I I I) Notify the advertiser of the estimate of the advertising service from the WWW service provider 2.

(IV) The advertiser orders the advertisement request from the WWW service provider 2 if the advertiser decides the distribution of the advertisement information considering the cost effectiveness.

(V) Upon receiving the advertisement request, the WWW service provider 2 picks up one of the users who are currently accessing the service site and is listed on the advertisement target list, and sends it to each user terminal 3. To distribute advertising information.

At the time of receiving the advertisement distribution request and distributing the advertisement information, there are many advertisement target users who have not accessed the service site 2, but the advertisement information is reliably distributed to such users. For this reason, the expiration date (for example, one day, one week, one month, etc.) of the advertisement delivery is contracted between the advertiser and the service site, and the advertised user who accessed within that time limit is For example, an advertisement message is delivered under predetermined conditions, for example, up to three times, up to five times, or once per access.

As a result, on the user terminal 3 that has received the advertisement information, the advertiser selects the character A3 from the user's magic lamp A11 as the character A3, and the character A21 appears, and the advertisement message is emitted in the jet A5. Is displayed. The icon of the advertising site 6 is displayed in a form linked to the URL.

(VI) When the user clicks on the advertisement icon, the user jumps to the linked URL and displays the specified page of the advertisement site.

(VI I) The advertiser pays the advertising fee, for example, at the end of the month and other payment methods negotiated with the WWW service provider 2. In addition, WWW service provider 2 pays the character copyright to the character copyright holder.

As described above, according to the advertisement information distribution method of the present embodiment, an advertisement is limited to a user who is likely to be interested in an advertisement when the user terminal 3 accesses the advertisement target period. The message can be delivered and the advertising effect can be improved.

If the messenger service shown in Fig. 2 is applied, the service providing method shown in Fig. 6 can also be realized. The service providing method according to the second embodiment is characterized by information distribution of the service system in a friendly manner. For example, if a user recruits like-minded players (who have similar tastes) to support a famous athlete (hereinafter referred to as Α athletes for simplicity of explanation) and wishes to exchange information, Becomes the founder, and requests the service provider 2 to list the lovers as the information owner 8 (S 1). The use of the service may be either paid or free, but in the following, it will be described as free to promote the use of the service.

Upon receiving the request, the service provider 2 performs a preliminary examination, accepts the club if it is a club or other distribution purpose that does not violate public order and morals, and searches the personal information database 4 (search results Only an external user may be provided), a registered user supporting A player is extracted, an address list is created and held (S2).

Subsequently, the information owner 8 inputs a message in the message entry window W2 on the screen (iii) in FIG. 2 and clicks the send button W3, and the message is transmitted to the service provider 2 as transmission information. It is transmitted, relayed here, and distributed to each of the e-mail addresses of the corresponding user 3 listed in advance (S3).

When the communication software is started, the screen (V) shown in FIG. 3 is displayed on the terminal 3 of the user who has received such information distribution, informing that the message has arrived, and the screen (vi) Appears.

So, if you want to respond to this message, click the reply button W8, By expanding it on the screen (vii), entering the reply message on this screen and clicking the send button Wl3, the reply message can be sent to the original information sender. Thus, for example, it is possible to use the service site of the service provider 2 to recruit members of the famous A player's club and exchange opinions.

In both of the above embodiments, the service provider 2 distributes information from the evening user list extracted from the database 4 to users who are actually accessing the service site. The ability to distribute hot advertising information and general information in real time is not limited to this, but it is also possible to distribute advertising information or general information to the mailing post to all users listed from database 4 Alternatively, the information may be delivered to the user terminal 3 when the user activates the service software and performs the mail receiving procedure. Industrial applicability

As described above, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the advertising information can be provided only to the users targeted by the advertiser, and the advertising effect can be improved.

According to the invention of claim 2, the information distributor can provide information only to the user group to which the information is to be distributed, and can provide the information only to the users who are likely to need it. It is possible to exchange opinions afterwards, especially since it is possible to recruit members of clubs and supporters, providing a place for mutual exchange of opinions.

According to the third aspect of the invention, by displaying a specific character representing the distribution source together with the display of the advertisement information and other information, the user can enjoy the service while enjoying the service. Use of the service can be promoted.

According to the invention of claim 4, by extracting the information stored in the database, it is possible to accurately and quickly specify the user to be delivered.

Claims

The scope of the claims

1. Identifying the user connecting to the service provider via the terminal;

Extracting the users who correspond to the information identifying the advertising target;

A step of delivering advertisement information to a terminal of the user and displaying the advertisement information when the specified user is included in the extracted user, and a service providing method using an information network.

2. Identify the user connecting to the service provider via the terminal;

Extracting the users corresponding to the information that identifies the distribution destination;

Distributing information to the user's terminal when the identified user is included in the extracted user, and displaying the information, the service providing method using an information network.

3. The service providing method using an information network according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the advertisement information or the information is accompanied by a specific character related to the information.

4. The service providing method using an information network according to claim 1, wherein in the extracting step, the information is extracted from a database storing personal information based on predetermined conditions.