JP2001109770A - Information management system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information management system capable of collectively managing and providing relevant statistic information that is analyzed and statistically processed on the basis of fetched information of an information transmission managing server fetching the personal information and reception history information of a contracted client on the Internet. SOLUTION: A CS broadcasting station prepares the relevant statistic information from the view information and personal information of a contracted viewer, preliminarily stores the relevant statistic information in an audio-visual related database server 8. In the case a client terminal 1 inputs a request signal to an audio-visual information processing server 7 when the relevant statistic information of a prescribed program is desired to be known, audio-visual information appropriately corresponding to the request signal is retrieved from a memory of the server 8 and transmitted to the terminal 1 through an information transmitting server 10, a transmission antenna 11 and satellite communication 12. The terminal 1 easily and quickly acquires audio-visual information related to a specific program by associating the audio-visual information with the personal information of the viewer of the program and can accurately use the audio-visual information such as to select a channel.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information management system for centrally managing related statistical information analyzed and statistically processed on the Internet based on viewing information and personal information of a client terminal.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The Internet uses TCP / IP (Tr
announcementControlProtocol
/ Internet Protocol) is an international standard protocol and constitutes a worldwide network, and is widely used in information provision services, including advertising, product sales, paid news distribution, EPG (electronic program guide), and public services. Used for information disclosure.
For example, when a database such as merchandise sales, paid news distribution, and EPG is set up to provide an appropriate Internet service to a client, it is necessary to accurately grasp the trend and preference of the client.

[0003] By the way, information on viewing trends has been grasped by a TV program audience rating survey and a web audience survey. In this type of survey, mainly, individual programs and pages are focused on. The number of viewers is surveyed, and the survey data is centrally managed by the survey company or stored and managed on a large-scale server. In this case, since the survey target is wide, information on the relation of the viewing state between a plurality of programs and the web is scarcely investigated. For this reason, for example, “the viewer of program A is watching program B on another day”
At present, almost no survey data has been obtained. Similarly, in a TV program or web page viewer survey performed by providing a server on the web, most of the viewers only count the number of viewers, and often do not investigate the correlation between viewers of different web pages. Moreover, the proportion of general viewers who provide personal information to this kind of research company or server is rather low, and the survey data obtained by the research company or server is often leaky, and the trend of viewers is judged. To get enough data to do so.

[0004] In this case, the "relevant site" function incorporated in Netscape Communicator or the like is one of the few examples of investigating the relation between different web pages. In this case, if the client desires a related site of the page currently being viewed, the browser, which is an information access program, transmits the URL (Uni) of the current page.
formResourceLocator) to Ale
xaInternet (http: //www.ale
xa. com /) related page information database search service (http://www.alexa.com/)
It is a mechanism that obtains an inquiry-related page from support /).

[0005]

However, the related page information database used for acquiring the related page described above is created by analyzing and classifying page contents collected from all over the world by an agent and extracting data. Therefore, at the time of retrieval, if a keyword or the like in the text does not match, it is not regarded as a related page, and it is difficult to accurately associate the page. In addition, the corresponding server requires a large number of machines and a wide network bandwidth to create and store data based on page contents collected from all over the world in the related page information database, and search and provide necessary data. It is impossible to cover the data of the inside web page at all, and there is also a problem that the response decreases as the number of users increases.

As a proof of this, there is a survey that a search engine of a type in which a search database is created by an agent can cover only 16% of web pages in the whole world (http: // www).
w. neci. nj. nec. com / homepage
es / lawrence /). Also, at the moment, this service is not used very often, so you can get related page information relatively responsively,
It is anticipated that the load on the search engine will increase as the number of users increases, and it is clear that the response will decrease significantly in the future.

The present invention has been made in view of the current state of the related information providing network service described above. A first object of the present invention is to provide an information transmission management server for transmitting information to a predetermined client terminal. To provide an information management system capable of centrally managing, on a network, related statistical information of viewing information analyzed and statistically processed based on personal information of a predetermined client receiving information and reception history information. is there. Further, a second object of the present invention is to analyze and statistically process based on personal information and reception history information of a predetermined client that receives transmission information of an information transmission management server that transmits information to a predetermined client terminal. Another object of the present invention is to provide an information management system capable of providing related statistical information via a network.

[0008]

In order to achieve the first object, the invention according to claim 1 comprises a plurality of client terminals, a plurality of database servers for providing information to these client terminals, and a predetermined client. A plurality of sets of networks including a plurality of information transmission management servers for transmitting information to the terminal and taking in the personal information and reception history information of the predetermined client terminal are information management systems comprising the Internet, A related information fetching unit that fetches the reception history information of the predetermined client terminal and personal information within a preset range from the information transmission management server; and analyzes the information fetched by the related information fetching unit to perform statistical processing. And related information analysis storage means for storing as related statistical information of the viewing information, And it is characterized in that provided in the management database server that is specified selected for one even without.

[0009] According to such means, in the management database server, reception history information of a predetermined client terminal and personal information within a preset range are fetched from the information transmission management server by the related information fetching means. ,
The related information analysis storage means analyzes the captured information and performs statistical processing, and stores the related statistical information of the statistically processed viewing information in the related information analysis storage means, thereby managing the related statistical information. Stored and managed centrally in the database server.

In order to achieve the second object, the invention according to claim 2 transmits a plurality of client terminals, a plurality of database servers for providing information to these client terminals, and information to a predetermined client terminal. And an information management system in which a plurality of sets of networks including a plurality of information transmission management servers that capture the personal information and reception history information of the predetermined client terminal constitute the Internet, and from the information transmission management server, Related information capturing means for capturing the reception history information of the predetermined client terminal and personal information within a preset range; analyzing the information captured by the related information capturing means to perform statistical processing; A related information analysis storage unit for storing as statistical information; and a search request from the client terminal. The related statistical information corresponding to the content is read from the related information analysis information storage means, and the related statistical information providing means to be provided to the client terminal of the search request source is selected and designated by at least one of the plurality of database servers. It is provided in the management database server.

According to this means, in addition to the effect obtained by the first aspect of the present invention, the related statistical information in response to the search request from the client terminal is transmitted to the related statistical information providing means of the management database server. The information is read from the information storage means and provided to the client terminal that has issued the search request.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an EPG (Electronic Program Guide) will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a main part of the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a file of related statistical information stored in the viewing relationship database server of FIG.

In the present embodiment, a CS broadcast station is provided for providing a satellite TV broadcast program using a communication satellite to a client terminal to be contracted. Further, as shown in FIG. A viewing information processing server 7 which is under the control of the station and takes in information from the client terminal 1 under contract is connected to the client terminal 1 under contract. The output terminal of the viewing information processing server 7 includes:
A viewing relationship database server 8 that analyzes and statistically processes the information taken in by the viewing information processing server 7 to create related statistical information of the viewing information and stores the created related statistical information of the viewing information in a memory is connected. I have. The viewing relationship database server 8 is connected to an output terminal of the transmission antenna 11 and transmits viewing information data selectively transferred from the viewing statistics related statistical information stored in the viewing relationship database server 8. An information transmission server 10 that emits radio waves from the server is connected. Then, as a geostationary satellite orbiting the equator at the same cycle in the same period as the earth's rotation in the same east direction as the earth's rotation, the transmitting antenna 1
A communication satellite 12 is provided which receives the radio wave from the first, amplifies and sends it back to the ground.

On the other hand, the client terminal 1 is provided with a receiving antenna 2 for receiving a radio wave from the communication satellite 12,
The receiving antenna 2 displays the viewing information received by the receiving antenna 2 on a part of the display screen of the television receiver.
A TB (SetTopBox) 3 is connected, a TV set 5 is connected to the STB 3, and further a STB 3
Is connected to the viewing information processing server 7 via the telephone 6 by a telephone line. In FIG. 1, only the main parts of the present embodiment are illustrated to avoid complicating the drawing.
Actually, a plurality of network sets as shown in FIG. 1 constitute the Internet.

The operation of the embodiment having such a configuration will be described. In general, in a CS broadcasting station, the tuner of each client terminal including a client terminal 1 that provides a program of a satellite TV broadcast receives viewing information as to when and which channel was viewed, The viewer's personal information is taken in by the viewing information processing server 7 and is used to perform limited viewing processing and billing processing. In the present embodiment, the viewing information of the contracted client captured by the viewing information processing server 7 in this way, and personal information within a predetermined range set in advance, for example, gender information and age information, The data is transferred to the viewing relationship database server 8 and stored in the memory of the viewing relationship database server 8.

The viewing relationship database server 8 analyzes the viewing information of the contracted client stored in the memory and the personal information within a predetermined range, and performs statistical processing based on the analysis result. A file of the related statistical information of the viewing information indicating the correlation between the personal information of the contracted client and the viewing information is created, and the created file of the related statistical information is stored in the memory of the viewing relationship database server 8.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a file of the related statistical information of the viewing information created by the viewing relationship database server 8 and stored in the memory as described above. When the viewers of the program at the date and time are classified into the age groups, other program information viewed by the viewers of each age group is statistically processed. Actually, not only the related statistical information file shown in FIG. 2 but also various files are created and stored.
For example, in addition to the demographic data,
It is also possible to create and store a file of statistical information related to viewing information associated with viewing program information by classifying it by region-specific or occupational data. It is also possible to create and store a file of the related statistical information of the viewing information, which shows the program information in a ratio to all the viewers.

In the present embodiment, the client terminal 1 viewing a 234 channel program of a CS broadcast station that provides a user with a satellite TV broadcast program by making a contract on a channel basis by the pay television system. Is, for example, 7
When viewing a program from 7:00 to 7:30 on the 26th of March, if one wants to know information on a program related to the program, the viewing information processing server 7 via the telephone line of the telephone 6
, A request signal for related program information is transferred. When the viewing information processing server 7 receives the related program information request signal, the viewing information processing server 7 sends the personal information within a predetermined range set in advance to the client terminal 1 and the related program from the client terminal 1. The information request signal is transferred to the viewing relationship database server 8.

In this case, the viewing relationship database server 8
Based on a request signal for related program information transferred from the viewing information processing server 7, for example, data of a file of related statistical information of viewing information as shown in FIG. The information transmission server 10 transmits the viewing information data from the transmission antenna 11 to the communication satellite 12 as a radio wave. Then, the communication satellite 12 receives the radio wave from the transmission antenna 11, amplifies and returns the radio wave to the ground, the reception antenna 2 of the client terminal 1 receives this radio wave, and the reception signal of the viewing information data is input to the STB 3, This viewing information data is displayed on a part of the display screen of the television receiver 5 by the STB 3. Thus, the viewer of the client terminal 1
According to the viewing information displayed on the television receiver 5 in response to the request signal, the viewers of the program of 234 channels from 7:00 to 7:30 on July 26, corresponding to each age group, Relevant statistical information of the viewing information about what other programs are being watched is accurately grasped, the tendency of other viewers to watch the program is known, and the viewing channel is determined based on the viewing information.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, the viewing information processing server 7 of the CS broadcasting station sets the viewing program information of the client fetched from each client terminal of the contractor and the personal information in advance. The information within the predetermined range is transferred to the viewing relationship database server 8, and the viewing relationship database server 8 analyzes and statistically processes the information. Then, the viewers of the programs of the respective channels of the CS broadcasting station analyze and statistically process the viewing information of the programs of the other viewing channels based on the personal information within a predetermined range of the viewers. A file of information related statistical information is created, and the file of the related statistical information is stored in the memory of the viewing relationship database server 8.

In this embodiment, the viewer of the client terminal 1 who wants to grasp the related statistical information of the viewing information analyzed and statistically processed according to the viewer's personal information for a certain program on a predetermined channel is viewed by the viewer. Just by inputting a search request signal to the information processing server 7, the relevant statistical information of the viewing information corresponding to the request signal is retrieved from the memory of the viewing relationship database server, and transmitted from the information transmission server 10 to the transmission antenna. 11. Since it is transmitted to the client terminal 1 via the satellite communication 12, the viewer of the client terminal 1 of the contracted party can transmit the relevant statistical information of the viewing information related to the specific program to other viewers of the program. It is possible to obtain the information easily and quickly in association with the personal information. In addition, the CS broadcasting station searches the viewing-related database server 8 for related statistical information of various kinds of viewing information, and grasps the related viewing tendency of the viewer with respect to a certain program on a predetermined channel. It can be used as reference material to produce programs with higher ratings.

[0022]

According to the information management system of the present invention, a plurality of client terminals, a plurality of database servers for providing information to these client terminals,
And transmitting information to predetermined client terminals,
A plurality of sets of networks including a plurality of information transmission management servers that take in personal information and reception history information of a predetermined client terminal constitute the Internet, and a management database server selected and designated as at least one of the plurality of database servers includes: , Related information acquisition means and related information analysis storage means. Then, in the management database server, the reception history information of the predetermined client terminal and the personal information within a preset range are fetched from the information transmission management server by the related information fetching means, and the related information analysis storage means Analysis and statistical processing of the acquired viewing information are performed, and relevant statistical information of the statistically processed viewing information is stored in the management database server. Thus, according to the first aspect of the present invention, the viewing information accurately statistically processed based on the personal information in a predetermined range and the reception history information of a predetermined client to which the information transmission management server transmits information. Related statistical information can be centrally stored and managed by the management database server.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, in addition to the effect obtained by the first aspect of the present invention, the related statistical information providing means provided in the management database server provides a related statistical information providing means in response to a search request from a client terminal. Since the statistical information is read from the related information storage means and provided to the client terminal of the search request, the statistical processing can be accurately performed in relation to the personal information of the predetermined client receiving the transmission information of the information transmission management server. Related statistical information of the received viewing information,
The client can efficiently acquire the data by simple processing.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a configuration of a main part of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a file of related statistical information stored in a viewing relationship database server of FIG. 1;

[Explanation of symbols]

1. Client terminal, 2. Receiving antenna, 3.
STB, 5 TV receiver, 6 telephone, 7 viewing information processing server, 8 viewing database server, 10 information transmission server, 11 transmission antenna,
12. Communication satellite.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G06F 15/403 340B

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A plurality of client terminals, a plurality of database servers for providing information to these client terminals, and transmitting information to predetermined client terminals,
A plurality of sets of networks including a plurality of information transmission management servers that take in the personal information and reception history information of the predetermined client terminal are an information management system that configures the Internet. Related information capturing means for capturing the reception history information of the client terminal and personal information within a preset range; analyzing the information captured by the related information capturing means to perform statistical processing; And a related information analysis storage means provided in a management database server selected and designated for at least one of the plurality of database servers. 2. A method for transmitting information to a plurality of client terminals, a plurality of database servers for providing information to these client terminals, and a predetermined client terminal, and collecting personal information and reception history information of the predetermined client terminal. A plurality of sets of networks including a plurality of information transmission management servers to be embedded are information management systems that configure the Internet, and from within the information transmission management server, within a predetermined range of reception history information of the predetermined client terminal. Related information capturing means for capturing personal information of the related information; related information analyzing and storing means for analyzing and statistically processing the information captured by the related information capturing means and storing the information as related statistical information; and a search request from the client terminal. The related statistical information corresponding to the request content is read from the related information analysis information storage means. Related statistical information providing means for providing to the client terminal of the search request source is provided in a management database server selected and designated for at least one of the plurality of database servers. Information management system.