JP2002269315A - Tracking system on internet - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform the tracking of the advertisement medium in one-way by facilitating a visit of a user seeing the advertisement medium to an electronic commerce site. SOLUTION: The user inputs an advertisement ID (medium ID + advertiser ID) obtained from the advertisement medium from client terminals 11 and 12. An URL converting server 21 converts the advertiser ID to the URL of the electronic commerce side 41 on the basis of an advertisement DB 32, and returns to the user. With this structure, the user can browse commodity selling pages of the site 41. A tracking server 22 stores the medium ID and the advertiser ID in a tracking DB 33, and statistically processes the medium ID and the advertiser ID stored in the tracking DB 33, and computes an advertisement charge per each advertisement medium and per each advertiser on the basis of a reward DB 34. The site 41 performs tracking of the business information, and computes a charge for commission.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tracking system on the Internet, and more particularly, to a system for tracking transaction activities such as information access and commercial transactions performed by a user on the Internet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Hitherto, a system for converting a specific character string into a URL of a Web site on the Internet has been proposed (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-78928). In this system, a user can access a page of a website only by inputting a relatively short number without inputting a normal URL character string.
However, in a conventional system for converting a specific character string into a website URL, the converted URL is used.
The user's access to the web site can be tracked only in the web site described above, but the user's access to a plurality of web sites cannot be tracked centrally.

[0003] In addition, a user often sees an advertisement of a product or service described in an arbitrary advertisement medium such as a magazine, a newspaper, a flyer or the like, and purchases the advertisement on the Internet. In the case of such a purchase, in the conventional tracking system, what kind of advertisement medium the user saw and visited the advertiser's product sales web page,
Or, as a result, it is impossible to know at all whether the product or service has been ordered, and the advertiser obtains data to determine what kind of advertising media is effective for placing the advertisement. Could not. Therefore, there is a need for a tool that integrally analyzes what triggered a user to visit a web page provided by a plurality of e-commerce sites, or what triggered a purchase of a product or service. The purpose is to provide such a tool.

[0004]

According to the present invention, there is provided a tracking system for tracking a user's activity in a transaction system such as information access on the Internet and a commercial transaction. Advertising ID indicating the identification information of the transaction being advertised on the advertising medium
And an advertisement data storage unit storing the advertisement ID and the URL of the web page of the advertiser of the advertisement in association with each other, and an advertisement ID input at the client terminal, and searching the advertisement data storage unit for an advertisement corresponding to the advertisement ID. URL conversion means for connecting the client terminal to the advertiser's web page by obtaining the main URL and returning the advertiser URL to the client terminal; tracking data storage means; and advertisement I input at the client terminal.
A tracking means for storing the advertisement ID in the tracking data storage means each time the D is received, statistically processing the advertisement ID stored in the tracking data storage means, and calculating the number of accesses for each advertiser; It is characterized by including.

[0005] In another aspect of the present invention, a tracking system for tracking user activity in a transaction system such as information access and commerce on the Internet, comprises: Advertising ID representing identification information and UR of the advertiser's web page of the advertisement
And an advertisement data storage unit that stores the advertisement data stored in the client terminal, and receives the advertisement ID input in the client terminal, searches the advertisement data storage unit to obtain an advertiser URL corresponding to the advertisement ID, and stores the advertisement client URL in the client terminal. URL conversion means for connecting the client terminal to the web page of the advertiser,
A data storage unit, a medium data storage unit that stores an advertisement ID of a transaction and a medium ID that represents identification information of an advertisement medium that promotes the transaction in association with each other, and each time an advertisement ID input at a client terminal is received, The advertisement ID stored in the tracking data storage means with reference to the medium data storage means while storing the advertisement ID in the tracking data storage means.
And statistical means for calculating the number of accesses for each advertisement medium.

[0006] In another aspect of the invention, a tracking system for tracking user activity in a transaction system such as information access and commerce on the Internet comprises:
Advertisement ID representing the identification information of the transaction that is being advertised on the advertisement medium, which includes the medium ID representing the identification information of the advertisement medium and the advertiser ID representing the identification information of the advertiser, Advertisement data storage means for storing the URL of the web page in association with the advertiser UR corresponding to the advertiser ID by receiving the advertisement ID input at the client terminal and searching the advertisement data storage means
L, and returns the advertiser URL to the client terminal so that the client terminal can be connected to the advertiser's web page, URL conversion means, tracking data storage means, and tracking data storage means. And tracking means for statistically processing the medium ID and the advertiser ID of the advertisement ID to calculate the number of accesses for each advertiser for each advertisement medium and the number of accesses for each advertisement medium for each advertiser. I have.

[0007] The above-mentioned tracking system further comprises reward data storage means for storing the unit price of an advertisement per access in association with a medium ID, an advertiser ID, or a set of a medium ID and an advertiser ID. , The tracking means further based on the number of accesses obtained as a result of the calculation and the advertising unit price stored in the reward data storage means,
It is preferable to be configured to calculate the advertisement fee for each advertising medium, each advertiser, or both. Further, the tracking means, when a transaction such as product purchase is performed on the web page of the advertiser, receives transaction information indicating the transaction from the advertiser site or the client terminal and stores it in the tracking data storage means, It is preferable that the transaction information stored in the data storage unit is configured to be statistically processed, and the commission for each advertising medium and each advertiser is calculated based on the sales amount included in the transaction information. .

Further, the tracking means in the above-mentioned tracking system statistically calculates the number of accesses for each client terminal and each partner site visited by the user, and calculates at least one of the advertisement fee and the sales commission for each partner site. It is preferable to calculate.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a tracking system according to a first embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 11 denotes a client terminal composed of a PC terminal connected to the Internet, and reference numeral 12 denotes a client terminal composed of a mobile phone terminal connectable to the Internet. The client terminal 11 may be any terminal such as a PDA connected to the Internet, an Internet TV, a kiosk, or the like. When the user inputs a character string set in advance corresponding to the URL instead of the user inputting a normal URL address in the address input box, the client terminals 11 and 12 change the input character string to a URL described below. In some cases, software that is distributed to the conversion server and that controls the character string to be converted into a URL and returned is installed, and in other cases, software is not installed. When such software is installed, a client box ID which is identification information of the input box is assigned.

Reference numeral 20 denotes a tracking site connected to the Internet, which includes a URL conversion server 21, a tracking server 22, and a medium database (DB) 3.
1, advertising DB32, tracking DB33, reward DB3
4 is provided. Tracking server 22 and URL
The conversion server 21 may be separate or integrated. The URL conversion server 21 converts the character string input from the client terminal 11 or 12 into a URL corresponding to the advertiser with reference to the advertisement DB 32,
It has a function of returning the URL to the client terminal. The character string input from the client terminal is
Advertising I on advertising media that promotes products (including software products), services, surveys, etc.
D. In the following, what is advertised is typically referred to as "goods". In this specification, the term “advertising medium” refers to a medium for posting or broadcasting advertisements for products, and is an arbitrary advertisement such as a magazine, newspaper, flyer, television, radio, or web page on the Internet. Means medium.

The tracking server 22 tracks user activity on the Internet and stores the tracking data in a tracking DB 33.
To memorize. The tracking server 22 further statistically processes the tracking data in the tracking DB 33, and calculates the advertisement fee and the commission for each medium and each advertiser with reference to the reward DB 34, and uses the result as a reward D.
It is stored in B34. In the present specification, the “advertising fee” is calculated in relation to (for example, in proportion to) the number of accesses of the user, while the “commission” is
This is calculated in relation to the user's purchase of a product (that is, an actually performed transaction). In each case, it is collected from the advertiser and paid to the media manager.

Reference numeral 41 denotes an advertiser's e-commerce site.
When accessed from the client terminals 11 and 12, a merchandise sales page for selling merchandise is presented to the client terminals 11 and 12, and a purchase application for the merchandise is received from the client terminals 11 and 12 and processed. Advertiser identification information (advertiser ID) is assigned to each e-commerce site.

Reference numeral 42 denotes an information providing site (partner site) which is a partner of the tracking site 20, which provides arbitrary contents on a web page to the client terminals 11 and 12, and provides a URL.
Provide an input box for entering a character string corresponding to. Therefore, the client terminals 11 and 12 that do not have the program for distributing the character string to the URL conversion server can access the web page of the information providing site 42 and enter the character string in the input box. The character string input to the input box is the advertisement ID converted into the URL of the electronic commerce site 41, that is, the web page of the advertiser, as described above. The advertisement ID is a character string including information for identifying a medium (medium ID) and an advertiser ID. Information site 4
The partner box ID for identifying the information providing site 42 is assigned to the input box provided by the user 2 on the web page. Information providing site 42
May also provide a page for a user to search for an advertisement ID, and may also be a dedicated box distribution server that only provides input boxes (and search for advertisement IDs).

Reference numeral 51 denotes the Internet, which communicates between the URL conversion server 21, the tracking server 22, the electronic commerce site 41, the information providing site 42, and the client terminals 11 and 12 via the Internet 51.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the storage contents of the medium DB 31 shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the medium DB 31 includes a medium name, medium identification information (medium ID), and a bank account. It is remembered. FIG. 3 shows the advertisement DB shown in FIG.
As shown in the figure, the advertisement DB 32 stores the advertiser name (product seller) operating the e-commerce site 41, the advertiser identification information (advertiser ID), and the registered URL as shown in FIG. (URL of a web page provided by the electronic commerce site 41) is stored. FIGS. 4 and 5 exemplify the results of the statistical processing and fee calculation for each medium and each advertiser, which are statistically processed and calculated by the tracking server 22 and stored in the reward DB 34, respectively. The statistics and fee calculation results for each medium include the number of accesses for each advertiser, the advertising unit price, and the advertising fee, while the statistics and fee calculation results for each advertiser include the number of accesses for each medium. , Advertising fee unit price, and advertising fee.

Hereinafter, the processing executed in the tracking system shown in FIG. 1 will be described in detail with reference to the contents of the above-mentioned databases 31 to 34 and FIGS. 6 and 7. In addition, the advertisement of the advertiser “A mail order” is published in the medium “A magazine”, and the user who has viewed “A magazine”
Assume that the user wants to access the product sales page of “A mail order”. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the medium ID which is the identification number of “A magazine” is “50001” and [A magazine]
Since the advertiser ID, which is the identification number of [mail order], is “30001”, the number “50000130001” for identifying the advertisement is displayed in the advertisement column of “A magazine”.
When an advertisement of "B mail order" is published in "A magazine", a character string "50000230001" representing a medium ID + advertiser ID is displayed in the advertisement column. If the number indicating the medium ID and the advertiser ID is not listed in the medium advertisement column, the client terminal 11 or 12
By visiting the web page provided by the information providing site 42, the ID "50001" of "A magazine" and the ID "30001" of "A mail order" can be obtained.

When the user sees the advertisement of "A mail order" of "A magazine" and is interested in the advertised product or service, and the user's client terminal 11 or 12 has the URL
If a program for executing character string distribution to the conversion server 21 has been installed, in step S1, the character string "50000130001" described in "A magazine" is input to the URL input box on the web page. FIG. 7A shows the character string “5000013000” in the address input box 121 of the client terminal 12.
"1" is input. If the client terminal has not installed the above program, the user visits the web page of the information providing site 42,
The character string "50000130001" is input in the input box. FIG. 7B shows a web page provided by the information providing site 42, and the user inputs a character string "5000013000" in an input box 411 on the page.
"1" is input.

When the input of the character string is completed, step S2
, A user box ID (in the case of FIG. 7A) or a partner box ID (in the case of FIG. 7B) is added to the character string "50000130001".
The URL is distributed to the URL conversion server 21 of the tracking site 20, and is notified to the tracking server 22 via the server 21. When the client terminal 12 has the user box ID “10001”, “50000130001 + 10001” is notified. In step S3, the tracking server 2
2 receives the character string “50000130001 + 10001”, the server 22 determines in step S4
The medium ID + advertiser ID + user box ID is stored in the tracking DB 33. In addition, tracking DB
The number of accesses of “50001 + 30001 + 10001” in 33 may be incremented by “1”.

On the other hand, in step S5, the URL conversion server 21 searches the advertisement DB 32 and
UR of product sales page from "30001" to "A mail order"
L "http: //www.atsuhan.co.j
p ”and extracts the URL from the client terminal 11 or 1
Return to 2. As a result, in step S6, “A
The merchandise sales page of the e-commerce site 41 of “mail order” is browsed to the client terminal 11 or 12. This allows the user to apply for a product purchase on the product sales page of the advertiser. Media ID and Advertiser I
An arbitrary division symbol such as “#”, “*”, [/] or the like may be inserted between the advertiser ID and the media ID, and the medium ID may be arranged after the advertiser ID. In addition, media ID, advertiser ID, and user (and partner) box ID
Need not be a number but may be any character.

Then, the tracking server 22
In step S7, data relating to access in the tracking DB 33 is statistically processed to determine the number of accesses for each medium for each advertiser and the number of accesses for each medium for each advertiser. Then, based on the number of accesses, the reward DB3
Referring to FIG. 4, the advertisement fee for each medium and the advertisement fee for each advertiser shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 are calculated. The statistical processing and the calculation result are notified to the e-commerce site 42 of the media manager and the advertiser, and the settlement of the advertisement fee is executed. The tracking server 22 further includes a tracking DB 33
Is statistically processed to determine the number of accesses by advertiser and / or medium by user.

The user enters a character string "500001300" on the input box 411 of the web page of the information providing site 42.
When "01" is input, a partner box ID, which is identification information of the information providing site 42, is added to the character string and distributed to the URL conversion server 21, and the partner server ID is also transmitted by the tracking server 22. The advertisement fee is stored in the tracking DB 33 and calculated for each information providing site. If necessary, an advertisement fee only for each advertiser may be calculated, or an advertisement fee only for each medium may be calculated.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a tracking system according to a second embodiment of the present invention. This second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that an e-commerce site 41 and a client are additionally provided. It also has a function of tracking electronic commerce established between the terminals 11 and 12, and calculating a fee related to the commerce. For this reason, after the establishment of the commercial transaction, the electronic commerce site 41 transmits information on the commercial transaction to the dedicated line 52 or the Internet 5.
1 to notify the tracking server 22. The tracking server 22 stores the received commercial transaction information in the tracking DB 33, and calculates the commission by referring to the commission rate (%) in the reward DB 34 that is proportional to the sales amount and the commission that is proportional to the number of transactions. FIG. 9 shows the statistics and fee calculation results for each medium including such fee calculation results, and FIG. 10 shows the statistics and fee calculation results for each advertiser also including the fee calculation results. I have.

In the above description, the client terminal 1
Information of the e-commerce executed between the e-commerce site 41 and the e-commerce site 41 is tracked from the e-commerce site.
Although the case where the notification is made to the site 20 has been described, the transaction information may be stored in the client terminal and the terminal may be notified to the tracking site 20.

The present invention is configured as described above.
Therefore, magazines, which triggered a user's visit to a plurality of e-commerce sites or purchase products on the sites,
It is possible to collectively obtain the usage status of advertising media such as newspapers, and thus to analyze the effectiveness of advertising on media.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an electronic commerce system including a tracking site according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a medium DB of the tracking site shown in FIG.
It is explanatory drawing which illustrated the storage content in.

FIG. 3 is an advertisement DB of the tracking site shown in FIG. 1
It is explanatory drawing which illustrated the storage content in.

FIG. 4 is a reward DB of the tracking site shown in FIG.
It is explanatory drawing which illustrated the calculation table of the advertisement charge classified by medium in the inside.

FIG. 5 is a reward DB of the tracking site shown in FIG.
It is explanatory drawing which illustrated the calculation result of the advertising fee classified by the advertiser inside.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation executed in the electronic commerce system shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7A is a schematic diagram illustrating a state in which an advertisement ID is input to an address input box of a client terminal including a mobile phone terminal, and FIG. 7B is a schematic diagram illustrating a state on a web page provided by an information providing site; FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a screen showing a state where an advertisement ID is input in an input box.

FIG. 8 is a schematic block diagram of an electronic commerce system including a tracking site according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a reward DB of the tracking site shown in FIG. 8;
It is explanatory drawing which showed the calculation result of the advertising charge and commission for every advertiser memorize | stored in it.

10 is a reward D of the tracking site shown in FIG.
FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing calculation results of advertisement charges and fees for each medium stored in B.

Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat II (reference) G06F 13/00 540 G06F 13/00 540P

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. A tracking system for tracking user activity in a transaction system such as information access and commercial transactions on the Internet, comprising: an advertisement ID representing identification information of a transaction advertised on an advertisement medium. And an advertisement data storage unit storing the advertisement ID and the URL of the web page of the advertiser of the advertisement in association with each other, and an advertisement ID input at the client terminal, and searching the advertisement data storage unit for an advertisement corresponding to the advertisement ID. URL conversion means for connecting the client terminal to the web page of the advertiser by obtaining the main URL and returning the advertiser URL to the client terminal; tracking data storage means; and an advertisement ID input at the client terminal Every time the advertisement I is received, And tracking means for statistically processing the advertisement ID stored in the tracking data storage means to calculate the number of accesses for each advertiser. system. 2. The tracking system according to claim 1, further comprising reward data storage means for storing an advertisement unit price per access in association with the advertiser, wherein the tracking means comprises: The tracking system is further configured to calculate an advertisement fee for each advertiser based on the number of accesses obtained as a result of the calculation and the advertisement unit price stored in the reward data storage means. 3. A tracking system for tracking user activities in a transaction system such as information access and commerce on the Internet, wherein the advertisement ID represents identification information of a transaction advertised on an advertisement medium. And an advertisement data storage unit for storing the advertisement and the URL of the advertiser's web page in association with each other, and receiving the advertisement ID input at the client terminal, searching the advertisement data storage unit, and searching the advertisement data storage unit for the advertiser URL corresponding to the advertisement ID. URL conversion means for connecting the client terminal to the web page of the advertiser by returning the advertiser URL to the client terminal, tracking data storage means, an advertisement ID of the transaction, and advertising the transaction. Advertising media Medium data storage means for storing a medium ID representing different information in association with each other, and each time an advertisement ID input at a client terminal is received, the advertisement ID is stored in the tracking data storage means, and the medium data storage means Tracking means for statistically processing the advertisement ID stored in the tracking data storage means with reference to the above, and calculating the number of accesses for each advertisement medium. 4. The tracking system according to claim 3, further comprising reward data storage means for storing a unit price of an advertisement fee per access corresponding to an advertisement medium, wherein the tracking means comprises: Further, the tracking system is configured to calculate an advertisement fee for each advertisement medium based on the number of accesses obtained as a result of the calculation and the advertisement fee unit price stored in the reward data storage means. 5. A tracking system for tracking user activities in a transaction system such as information access and commercial transactions on the Internet, wherein the advertisement ID represents identification information of a transaction advertised on an advertisement medium. An advertisement data storage unit that stores an advertisement ID including a medium ID representing identification information of an advertisement medium and an advertiser ID representing identification information of an advertiser in association with a URL of a web page of the advertiser, The client terminal receives the input advertisement ID, searches the advertisement data storage means to obtain an advertiser URL corresponding to the advertiser ID, and returns the advertiser URL to the client terminal. URL conversion means for connecting to a web page of The data storage means and the medium ID of the advertisement ID and the advertiser ID stored in the tracking data storage means are statistically processed, and the number of accesses for each advertiser for each advertisement medium and the number of accesses for each advertisement medium for each advertiser Tracking means for calculating the number of accesses. 6. The tracking system according to claim 5, further comprising: reward data storage means for storing a unit price of an advertisement fee per access corresponding to a set of a medium ID and an advertiser ID. The tracking unit is further configured to calculate an advertisement fee for each advertising medium and each advertiser based on the number of accesses obtained as a result of the calculation and the unit price of the advertisement fee stored in the reward data storage unit. A tracking system. 7. The tracking system according to claim 1, wherein the tracking means further comprises a user of the client terminal connected to the advertiser's web page by the action of the URL conversion means. When a transaction such as product purchase is performed on a web page, transaction information indicating the transaction is received from the advertiser site or the client terminal and stored in the tracking data storage means, and the transaction stored in the tracking data storage means is stored. A tracking system configured to statistically process information. 8. The tracking system according to claim 7, wherein the tracking system further includes a media ID and an advertiser ID based on a fee based on the sales amount at the advertiser site.
The tracking means further includes a sales amount included in the transaction information of the transaction from the advertiser site or the client terminal, and a reward data storage means. A tracking system configured to calculate a fee for each advertising medium and each advertiser based on a fee standard for the sales amount. 9. The tracking system according to claim 2, wherein the tracking means further comprises: a user of the client terminal connected to the advertiser's web page by the action of the URL conversion means. When a transaction such as a product purchase is performed on a web page, transaction information representing the transaction is received from the advertiser site or the client terminal, and is stored in the tracking data storage unit. Further, the fee standard for the sales amount at the advertiser site is stored in association with the combination of the medium ID and the advertiser ID, and the tracking means is further included in the transaction information of the transaction from the advertiser site or the client terminal. Sales amount and the fee standard stored in the reward data storage means. A tracking system configured to calculate a fee for each advertising medium and each advertiser based on the information. 10. The tracking system according to claim 1, wherein the URL conversion means is an address input box which is browsed by browser software stored in the client terminal, and wherein the client input means represents the address input box. When the user inputs the advertisement ID on the address input box having the box ID, the tracking means is further configured to receive the client box ID together with the advertisement ID. Box I
D in the tracking data storage means, and
A tracking system configured to statistically process the client box ID stored in the tracking data storage means to calculate the number of accesses for each client terminal. 11. The tracking system according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein the URL conversion means is integrated with or independent of other content on a web page provided by a partner site on the Internet. A user inputting an advertisement ID on an input box having a partner box ID, which is identification information representing the box, and receiving the partner box ID together with the advertisement ID. The means further stores the box ID in the tracking data storage means each time the partner box ID is received from the partner site, and statistically processes the partner box ID stored in the tracking data storage means. Calculate the number of accesses for each partner site Tracking system characterized in that it is configured. 12. The tracking system according to claim 11, wherein the tracking means is further configured to calculate a reward per partner site based on the number of accesses per partner site. tracking·
system.