JP2006018723A - System and method for information provision service and program thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To achieve information provision services corresponding to a requester intentions. <P>SOLUTION: An information provision acceptor 403 accepts provision of information with respect to an information provider. The information provision accepted by the information provision acceptor 403 is registered beforehand and stored in a storage 402 as a database. An instruction acceptor 404 accepts an instruction on conditions with respect to the information to be provided and an instruction on the selection of a providing method from a plurality of predetermined information providing methods from a user's terminal. An extractor 405 extracts the provision of information corresponding to the condition of the information to be provided that is accepted by the instruction acceptor 404 from the information provision stored in the storage 402. An executor 401 executes information provision services according to the provision methods accepted by the instruction acceptor 404 with respect to the provision of information extracted by the extractor 405. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a technology of a service system that provides information to a terminal such as a portable terminal via a communication network such as the Internet.

  Currently, as a method of providing information to a terminal such as a personal computer (PC), a personal digital assistance (PDA), or a mobile phone via a communication network such as the Internet, information that the user wants on the Web (World Wide Web) There is a pull-type information provision for displaying the corresponding information, and a push-type information provision for transmitting information to the terminal by e-mail or the like. Pull-type information provision has the intention that the requester of information voluntarily and clearly wants to obtain information on what conditions, so that the requester obtains the necessary information when necessary. be able to. On the other hand, in push-type information provision, the information requester's e-mail address is notified in advance to the information provider, and information is regularly provided unilaterally from the information provider. For example, in a regional information providing system using the Internet, a general push type information providing service has been disclosed (Patent Document 1).

JP 2003-319435 A

  As described above, PDAs and mobile terminals have been developed, and these have become important items as mobile information terminals. Using these items, information is being provided at theme parks, department stores, and shopping streets. In the above-described conventional technology, information is not always provided by a providing method intended by the information requester. For example, in the push-type providing method, there is a case where information is unilaterally transmitted regardless of whether the requester needs information.

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a technology that realizes an information providing service in accordance with a requester's intention.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides an information providing service system that provides an information providing service to a user terminal, the providing information receiving means for receiving the providing information about the information provider, and the providing information receiving means. Storage means for storing the provided information, condition instructions for the information to be provided, and instruction receiving means for receiving from the user terminal a selection instruction for the providing method to be provided among a plurality of predetermined information providing methods A means for extracting provision information corresponding to a condition of information to be provided received by the instruction acceptance means from provision information stored in the storage means; and for the provision information extracted by the extraction means, the instruction Execution means for executing the information providing service according to the providing method received by the receiving means.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to realize an information providing service in accordance with the requester's intention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a network configuration in the information providing service system according to the present embodiment.

  In the present embodiment, a pull-type information providing method for displaying provided information corresponding to a condition instructed by a user on the Web (World Wide Web), an e-mail, etc., from the information provider to the user's terminal Among the push-type information providing methods for transmitting information, an instruction from a user who is an information requester is accepted for any of the information providing methods, and information is provided by the instructed information providing method. As the information providing method, a providing method other than the pull type and the push type may be set in advance. Two or more providing methods may be set.

  In FIG. 1, an information providing service system 410 includes a WEB server 18, a mail server 19, a DB (database) server 110, an application server 111, and a positioning server 112 in order to realize the information providing service in the present embodiment. Yes. The information providing service system 410 is connected to the Internet 11 via the GW server 15 and further to the Internet terminals 17A and B via the WEB server and the mail server 16 via the GW server 15, the mobile communication network 12 and the base station 13. Are connected to the mobile information terminals 14 respectively. The network configuration in the present embodiment is the same as that of a network that provides a Web service or a mail service on the current Internet.

  The WEB server 18 plays a role of storing information such as an HTML document and an image and transmitting the information via a network such as the Internet in response to a request from a Web browser or the like.

  The mail server 19 is connected to the Internet, and transmits and receives electronic mail in its own network.

  The DB server 110 is a server that stores a database.

  The application server 111 executes a central service process of the information providing service system in the present embodiment.

  The positioning server 112 is a server that acquires the current position information of the mobile information terminal 14 of the PDA / mobile terminal from a mobile base station or GPS.

  A network configuration in this embodiment will be described. In order to enable communication with the mobile information terminal 14 with respect to the Internet 11, the mobile communication network 12 is connected via a GW server 15 for heterogeneous network connection. A base station 13 is connected to the end of the mobile communication network 12 so that the mobile information terminal 14 can communicate via the base station 13.

  The WEB server and the mail server 16 are servers provided by Internet service providers for connecting Internet terminals 17A and 17B such as ordinary PCs to the Internet. In this embodiment, the Internet terminal 17 indicates the information requester (user) Internet terminal as 17A, and the information provider Internet terminal as 17B.

  The WEB server 18 displays on the information requester's terminal a screen for accepting an information provision request, a screen for confirming the search result, a screen for accepting a request for canceling information provision, and the like. Further, the WEB server 18 displays a screen for accepting information provided by the information provider and a screen for accepting empty information on the terminal of the information provider. The WEB server 18 can provide a screen for a PDA or portable terminal corresponding to each terminal such as a PDA or portable terminal.

  The mail server 19 makes mail communication between the information provider terminal and the information requester terminal when providing push-type information. The DB server 110 includes various databases such as an information provider database, an information condition database requested by an information requester, and a location search database.

  The application server 111 realizes the central service processing of the information providing service according to the present embodiment. The application server 111 receives provision information from the information provider's terminal, registration information provision information to the DB server 110, and accepts a condition instruction and provision method instruction regarding the provision information from the information requester's terminal. Processing, instruction condition setting and update processing to the DB server 110, access to the DB server 110, extraction / sorting processing of information provided by the information provider that matches the instruction conditions, and provision of information according to the instructed provision method Performs timing control / end determination processing.

  The positioning server 112 is a server that acquires the current position information of the mobile information terminal 14 such as a PDA or a portable terminal from a mobile base station or GPS.

  FIG. 23 shows an example of the hardware configuration of each server 330 shown in the WEB server 18, mail server 19, DB (database) server 110, application server 111, and positioning server 112. The server 330 is an electronic computer such as a personal computer. As shown in FIG. 23, a CPU 301, a memory 302 such as a ROM (Read Only Memory) and a RAM (Random Access Memory), a communication unit 303 connected to the Internet to transmit and receive data, an input device 304 such as a keyboard, And a display 304 for displaying processing results and the like. In the server 330, a program for realizing each function in each server is stored in the memory 304, and is executed by the CPU 301.

  In the configuration of the information providing service system as described above, the WEB server 18, the mail server 19, the DB server 110, the application server 111, and the positioning server 112 not only indicate a physical hardware configuration but also a logical A typical software configuration may be shown. For example, the WEB server 18, the mail server 19, the DB server 110, the application server 111, and the positioning server 112 may be mounted on one hardware device.

A functional block diagram of the application server 111 in the present embodiment is shown in FIG.
In FIG. 24, the application server 111 includes an execution unit 401, a storage unit 402, a provision information reception unit 403, an instruction reception unit 404, and an extraction unit 405 in order to provide an information provision service to the user terminal. Prepare.

  The provided information receiving unit 403 receives provided information about the information provider. The provided information received by the provided information receiving unit 403 is registered in advance and stored in the storage unit 402 as a database. The provided information may be stored in an external storage device (for example, the DB server 110). The instruction receiving unit 404 receives, from the user terminal, a condition instruction for information to be provided and a selection instruction for a providing method to be provided among a plurality of predetermined information providing methods. The extraction unit 405 extracts the provision information corresponding to the condition of the information to be provided received by the instruction reception unit 404 from the provision information stored in the storage unit 402. The execution unit 401 executes an information providing service for the provided information extracted by the extracting unit 405 according to the providing method received by the instruction receiving unit 404. A program executed in the application server 111 is stored in the storage unit 402.

  For the other WEB server 18, mail server 19, DB server 110, and positioning server 112, the functions of the existing servers can be used.

  In the conventional push-type information provision, once a request for information provision is made, the information is distributed at a fixed period regardless of whether it is useful or useless for the information requester, and then the information requester stops distributing the information. Until then, information is distributed. When a mobile information terminal such as a PDA or a mobile terminal requests information provision during movement, it is almost the case that information near the movement location is temporarily requested. In the present embodiment, from the start of information provision, a service provision form that provides information only in a period desired by the information requester in a period desired by the information requester, thereby providing a timely and temporary provision. Information can be provided. For this reason, there is no need to stop the distribution of information provision. In addition, if the user desires, the information that is most effective in real time for the information requester who is moving is limited by providing information from the information provider near the place where the mobile information terminal is located at that time. Provision is possible.

  In the present embodiment, there are many cases where the information requester who is moving does not have a condition for clear information. Therefore, the congestion status (or availability status) indicating the degree of congestion on the information provider side. Thus, information is provided preferentially from a place with less congestion (large space). As a result, the information user can receive information on a less crowded place.

  Hereinafter, in the information providing service system of the present embodiment, a case where information on each store in a restaurant street is provided in real time will be described as an example. Another example is an application in which information providers appropriately distribute their users and intend to alleviate congestion, such as information on attractions in a theme park or information on sales floors in department stores. .

  First, the case where registration information of each store is registered will be described. In FIG. 2, the structural example of the record of the database of the restaurant of the information provider side store is shown. FIGS. 19 and 20 show examples of registration screens for providing information.

  When registering provision information on the information provider side, provision information is received in a provision information receiving unit 403 shown in FIG. In the configuration shown in FIG. 1, the application server 111 can accept provided information on the WEB from the Internet terminal 17 </ b> B of the information provider via the WEB server 18. The Internet terminal 17B of the store as an information provider accesses the WEB server 18 via the Internet and registers store information according to a registration screen 191 as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 19, the registration screen 191 includes a restaurant type combo box 190, a budget (guideline) combo box 191, a number of people combo box 192, a private room presence / absence setting radio button 193, a restaurant location combo box 194, and a store name setting. An edit box 195, a store homepage URL setting edit box 196, a store mail address setting edit box 197, and a store information setting button 198 are displayed. As shown in FIG. 20, on the registration screen 201, provision information is selected or inputted. When the store information setting button 198 is clicked after selection / input of all items, the information is registered in the store database of the restaurant on the information provider side shown in FIG. The store database shown in FIG. 2 is stored in the DB server 110 shown in FIG.

  A specific example of the provision information shown in FIGS. 19 and 20 will be described with reference to the registration record shown in FIG.

  In FIG. 2, restaurant type 21 indicates the type of restaurant, and includes types of Japanese food, Western food, Chinese, French, Italian, and bar. Budget 22 indicates a budget amount per person, 3,000 yen or less, 4,000 yen to 5,000 yen, 6,000 yen to 7,000 yen, 8,000 yen to 10,000 yen, 10, There are 000 yen to 15,000 yen, 15,000 yen or more, and a plurality of settings are possible. The number of people 23 indicates the maximum number of people in the store. With / without private room 24, presence / absence of private room is set. In the restaurant location 25, an area such as a town name where the restaurant is located is input, and XXX town 1-chome, XXX town 2-chome, XXX town 3-chome, XXX town 4-chome, XXX town 5-chome, etc. Indicated. The restaurant name 26 is used when displaying the name of the searched store when pull-type information is provided. The store homepage URL 27 is used to display the searched store homepage when providing pull-type information. The mail address 28 to the store is used when sending a mail requesting the provision of information to the searched store when providing push-type information. The vacancy status 29 of the store is updated as needed by updating the vacancy status of the store, which will be described later, and indicates the ratio (percentage) of vacant seats in the store. When there is a private room, the private room availability 30 of the store is updated as needed by updating the private room availability of the store, which will be described later, and indicates the ratio (percentage) of vacant seats in the private room in the store.

  In FIG. 20, for example, the restaurant type combo box 190 is “Chinese”, the budget (reference) combo box 191 is “4000 to 5000 yen”, and the number of people combo box 192 is “5”. "8 to 8 people", the private room presence / absence setting radio button 193 is "Yes", the restaurant location combo box 194 is "XXX Town 4-chome", the store name setting edit box 195 is "Chinese A", the store homepage URL setting edit box “Http://www.a.co.jp//temp.html” is selected in 196, and “temp@a.co.jp” is selected or input in the mail address setting edit box 197 for the store. When the store information setting button 198 is clicked, it is registered in the store database of the restaurant on the information provider side shown in FIG.

  In this way, the application server 111 receives the provision information from the Internet terminal 17B of each store via the WEB server 18, and stores the provision information in the store database of the DB server 110.

  Next, setting of conditions when an information requester requests provision information will be described. FIG. 3 shows an example of the configuration of a record in the database of conditions set by the information requester. 10 to 13 show examples of condition instruction screens.

  When the information requester requests the provision information, the instruction reception unit 404 shown in FIG. 24 receives the provision information condition instruction. In the configuration shown in FIG. 1, the application server 111 can receive a condition instruction for provision information on the WEB screen from the information requester's Internet terminal 17 </ b> A or the mobile information terminal 14 via the WEB server 18. The information requester's Internet terminal 17A or mobile information terminal 14 accesses the WEB server 18 via the Internet, and sets conditions for information to be provided according to the registration screens as shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 show examples of screens when accessed from the Internet terminal 17A, and FIGS. 12 and 13 show examples of screens accessed from the mobile information terminal 14. As shown in FIGS. 10 to 13, the setting screens 101, 111, 121 and 131 include a restaurant type combo box 1001, a budget (guideline) combo box 1002, a number of people combo box 1003, and a private room necessity / unnecessary setting radio button 1004. An information provision type radio button 1005, a restaurant location combo box 1006, a requester's mail address edit box 1007, an information provision period combo box 1008, an information provision period combo box 1009, and an information provision start button 1010 are displayed. As shown in FIG. 11 and FIG. 13, when the information provision start button 1010 is clicked after the provision condition of the provision information is selected or inputted, the information is registered in the setting condition database for each information requester shown in FIG. The

  A specific example of the setting condition shown in FIGS. 10 to 13 will be described with reference to the record shown in FIG.

  The requester setting condition database shown in FIG. 3 is provided for each information requester, in order to set information conditions and mail addresses requested by the information requester, and to perform timing control / end determination processing of information provision A temporary e-mail address used for e-mail exchanged between the information provider and the application server at the time of providing the data and push type information is set. As a result of a search described later, provided information that matches the conditions is extracted, and a pointer to the rearranged store database record is set in the database of the requester setting conditions.

  In FIG. 3, the restaurant type 31 includes Japanese, Western, Chinese, French, Italian, and barber types. The budget 32 indicates a budget amount per person, 3,000 yen or less, 4,000 yen to 5,000 yen, 6,000 yen to 7,000 yen, 8,000 yen to 10,000 yen, 10, There are 000 yen to 15,000 yen, 15,000 yen or more, and a plurality of settings are possible. The number of people 33 is selected from 2, 3, 4 to 5, 5 to 8, 8 to 12, 12 to 20, and 20 or more. In the private room necessity / unnecessary 34, whether the private room is necessary or not is selected. In the restaurant location 35, the area such as the name of the town to be provided is input and indicated as XXX town 1-chome, XXX town 2-chome, XXX town 3-chome, XXX town 4-chome, XXX town 5-chome, etc. It is. In the information provision type 36, whether the information provision method is a pull type or a push type is selected. The requester's mail address 37 is used when a real-time information mail from the store is transferred to the requester's terminal when the push type is selected. The temporary mail address 38 is set to a temporary mail address for the application server 111 to once receive mail of real-time information from the store when the push type is selected. The information provision period 39 indicates an information provision period desired by the requester when the push type is selected, and is selected from 10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes, 1 hour, and 2 hours. The information provision period 40 indicates an information provision period desired by the requester when the push type is selected, and is selected from 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours, 4 hours, 5 hours, and 6 hours. The information provision start time 41 is used to determine the information provision cycle and the information provision end time when the push type is selected, and the time when the information provision start button 1010 is clicked is set. The As the pointer 42 to the record in the store database, stores are extracted according to the set conditions, and the pointer to the sorted record in the store database is set.

  In FIG. 11, for example, the restaurant type combo box 1001 is “Western food”, the budget (reference) combo box 1002 is “8000 yen to 10,000 yen”, and the number of people combo box 1003 is “2 people”, private room necessary / unnecessary setting radio button 1004 is “necessary”, information provision type radio button 1005 is “push type”, restaurant place combo box 1006 is “XXX town 4-chome”, requester's email address edit The box 1007 is “abcdefg@hijiklmn.ne.jp”, the information provision period combo box 1008 is “30 minutes”, and the information provision period combo box 1009 is “6 hours”. When the information provision start button 1010 is clicked, it is registered in the requester setting condition database shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 13, registration from the mobile information terminal 14 is also registered in the requester setting condition database shown in FIG. 3 when each item is selected or input and the information provision start button 1010 is clicked. .

  Next, a flow of processing from when an information provision start instruction is received until information provision is performed will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. FIG. 4 shows a processing procedure in the case of providing pull type information, and FIG. 5 shows a processing procedure in the case of providing push type information. In the case of the pull type and the case of the push type, the processing is common in a considerable part. Therefore, after describing the pull type process first, the different parts of the push type will be described.

  When there is a request for providing information, the mobile information terminal 14 or the Internet terminal 17A of the information requester accesses the WEB server 18 (procedure 1). As described above, in the case of the Internet terminal 17A, a setting screen for the Internet terminal as shown in FIG. 10 and FIG. 11 is displayed, and each combo box and radio button are selected to accept information provision conditions. In the case of the mobile information terminal 14, a setting screen of the mobile terminal as shown in FIGS. 12 and 13 is displayed, and each combo box and radio button are selected.

  Next, in the case of the mobile information terminal 14, the WEB server 18 requests the positioning server 112 for location information of the mobile information terminal 14 (procedure 2). In the case of the Internet terminal 17A, the location of the restaurant is set by the requester.

  The positioning server 112 acquires the current position information (latitude, longitude) of the information requester, and transmits the acquired position information of the requester terminal to the WEB server 18 (procedure 3).

  Next, the WEB server 18 transfers the received information provision request and position information to the application server 111 (procedure 4).

  When the application server 111 accepts the information provision request, the application server 111 accesses the DB server 110 and sets the information condition requested by the information requester in the requester setting condition database shown in FIG. Further, the application server 111 searches for a restaurant area based on the position information (latitude, longitude) of the mobile information terminal 14 transmitted from the positioning server 112. For example, as shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7, positioning data in a position search database is searched to search for a corresponding restaurant area.

  FIG. 6 shows the contents of the table of the location search database, and FIG. 7 visually shows the relationship between the location information value of the restaurant location and the actual location in order to explain the restaurant area. The location search database is stored in advance in the application server 111 or the DB server 110, classifies the restaurant locations into predetermined areas (regions), and determines the area information 62 and the range of the area as latitude and longitude. The position information value 63 is shown. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, the area of XXX town 1-chome is indicated by a position information value 1 (latitude and longitude within the area are indicated).

  The application server 111 refers to the position search database and searches for area information of restaurants where the position information (latitude and longitude) of the mobile information terminal 14 is within the range. After the search, the application server 111 sets the area information in the restaurant location 35 in the requester setting condition database.

  Next, based on the data set in the requester setting condition database, the application server 111 extracts stores that match the conditions from the store database, and when multiple stores are extracted, the location of the store is determined by the requester. Sort in the order closest to the terminal location. FIG. 8 shows a flowchart of the store extraction / sorting process executed by the application server 111.

  In FIG. 8, as the store extraction process, the restaurant type 31 shown in FIG. 3, the budget 32, and the private room necessity / unnecessary 34 set by the information requester are used as search keys, and the matching food and beverage from the store database shown in FIG. 2. A store is extracted (S801). Next, the difference between the location information values of the “restaurant location” requested by the information requester and the “restaurant location” of the store database record is the smallest in the database table extracted by the store extraction process as the store reordering process. The items are rearranged in the order as follows (S802). Further, at this time, the records in the store database may be rearranged in the order of increasing vacancy in the “store vacancy status”. These sort conditions can be set in advance. For the store extraction process and the store rearrangement process, a process description in the SQL language of a normal database can be used. Next, the pointer of the record of each store that has been extracted / sorted is set to the pointer 42 to the record of the store database in the requester setting condition database shown in FIG. 3 (S803).

  Next, in FIG. 4, the application server 111 notifies the WEB server 18 of the results obtained by the extraction and rearrangement in the information provision confirmation process (procedure 6). Thereby, the WEB server 18 displays the content notified from the application server 111 on the terminal of the requester (procedure 7). In the case of the mobile information terminal 14, a search result screen as shown in FIG. 15 is displayed. In FIG. 15, the search result screen 151 for information provision displays conditions instructed by the information requester, and since the designated provision method is a pull type, a list of store names that match the conditions is shown. The store name is linked to the homepage of each store. The information requester can refer to the store's homepage by selecting each store name.

  Further, it is necessary to periodically acquire store vacancy information from the Internet terminal 17B of the information provider. For this reason, the WEB server 18 periodically receives a vacant state from the information provider's Internet terminal 17B. A flowchart of the store availability acquisition processing in this case is shown in FIG.

  The store vacancy status acquisition process shown in FIG. 22 is executed every predetermined period, for example, every hour, and acquires the vacancy status for each record of each store in the store database shown in FIG. The WEB server 18 displays an availability setting screen 161 of the restaurant information providing service as shown in FIG. 16 on the Internet terminal 17B of the store from which the store availability information is acquired (S2202). When the OK button is pressed on the Internet terminal 17B (S2203), the WEB server 18 displays a restaurant availability status setting screen 171 as shown in FIG. 17 in order to prompt registration of the availability information of the store (S2204). ). When the OK button is pressed on the Internet terminal 17B (S2203), the WEB server 18 obtains store availability information from the Internet terminal 17B of the information provider (S2206), and stores the store information in the store database in the store database. Vacancy information and store private room information are updated (S2207).

  As a result of this processing, as shown in FIG. 4, the WEB server 18 accepts the vacancy status of the store and the vacancy status of the private room of the store (procedure 8), and stores the corresponding store records in the store database of the DB server 110 shown in FIG. The availability 29 of the store and the availability 30 of the private room of the store can be updated (procedure 9).

  Pull-type information can be provided by the processing described above.

  In the case of push-type information provision, steps 1 to 9 are the same as the pull-type information provision procedure, but the contents of the information provision search result and the information provision mail from the store are transmitted. Is different.

  In step 7 described above, when the display content of the screen displayed on the terminal of the information requester is push-type information provision, the display of the store list is excluded. An example of the search result screen in this case is shown in FIG. In the case of push-type information provision, a guide mail is transmitted from the Internet terminal 17B of the information provider. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 14, only the information provision conditions set in the information provision search result screen 141 are displayed. Is displayed.

  The procedure for transmitting information providing mail from the store is shown by procedures 10-1 to 10-6 in FIG. When the push type is selected, the application server 111 sends a mail providing information to the Internet terminal 17B of the store rearranged by the store extraction process and the store rearrangement process described above, and a temporary mail address shown in FIG. The mail server 19 is instructed to transmit to the address (procedures 10-1, 10-2). When there is an instruction for mail transmission, the information provider's Internet terminal 17B transmits a store guidance mail to the temporary mail address via the mail server 19 (procedure 10-3). After receiving the guide mail with the temporary mail address (procedure 10-4), the application server 111 transfers the guide mail to the mail address 37 of the requester (procedures 10-5 and 10-6). As described above, the temporary mail address is notified to the information provider, and the mail address of the information requester can be managed by the application server 111, so that leakage of the mail address can be reduced as much as possible.

  FIG. 21 shows an example of the contents of the guide mail transmitted to the information requester by the processing as described above. When push-type information provision is selected, a guide mail 211 as shown in FIG. 21 is transmitted from the Internet terminal 17B of the information provider store.

  In the case of push-type information provision, since the information provision period and the information provision period are specified, the application server 111 performs information provision timing control and end determination processing. A flowchart of the processing in this case is shown in FIG.

  The information provision timing control and the end determination process shown in FIG. 9 are executed in a predetermined cycle, for example, a cycle of about 1 minute. In this process, all records in the requester setting condition database (setting conditions of all requesters) are checked (S901), and (current time-information provision) is detected in order to detect the information provision cycle designated by the information requester. (Start time) / information provision cycle = T is calculated (S902). The current time is updated in units of one minute, and when T is divisible (S903), it is determined that the current period is the information provision period, and an instruction is sent to the information provider (S904) (procedure 10-1 to 10-1). 10-6). If T is not divisible and there is a remainder, the process proceeds to S905. Next, in order to determine the end of information provision, (information provision start time + information provision period)> current time is calculated (S905). If the information provision period has elapsed, in order to end the information provision, the record of the corresponding requester setting condition database is deleted (S906). If the information provision period has not elapsed, the process proceeds to S901 to process the next requester record.

  With this process, push-type information can be provided at a period designated by the requester and for a designated period.

  Further, during the information provision period, the information requester may be able to instruct the stop of information provision. In this case, for example, on the restaurant information provision stop screen 181 as shown in FIG. 18, the information requester can request the stop of information provision before the end of the information provision period. Also in this case, a process of deleting the record of the corresponding requester from the requester setting condition database is performed.

  According to the present embodiment, it is possible to specify the information providing method as to whether the requester is a pull type or a push type, so that the convenience of the requester can be improved. Further, it may be possible to designate provision of both pull type and push type information. In the above embodiment, the pull-type and push-type information providing methods are exemplified. However, other providing methods may be used, and one or more information providing methods desired by the requester from three or more information providing methods may be used. Two or more selection instructions may be given.

  In the present embodiment, from the start of information provision, a service provision form that provides information only in a period desired by the information requester in a period desired by the information requester, thereby providing a timely and temporary provision. Information can be provided. For this reason, there is no need to stop the distribution of information provision. In addition, if the user desires, the information that is most effective in real time for the information requester who is moving is limited by providing information from the information provider near the place where the mobile information terminal is located at that time. Provision is possible.

  In addition, information users are given priority by providing information from places with less congestion (large space) depending on the congestion status (or availability) indicating the degree of congestion on the information provider side. Can receive information on places with less congestion.

  In this way, it is possible to realize an information providing service in accordance with the requester's intention.

  Further, since a temporary mail address is used between the service provider and the information provider, it is possible to reduce leakage of the requester's mail address as much as possible.

Network configuration diagram in the information providing service system of the present embodiment Illustration of record structure of store database Explanatory diagram of record structure of requester setting condition database Illustration of pull type information provision procedure Push-type information provision procedure explanatory diagram Illustration of location search database Explanatory diagram of relationship between location information value of restaurant location and actual location Flow chart of store extraction and rearrangement process Flow chart of information provision timing control and end determination processing Illustration of the setting screen for information provided on the Internet terminal Illustration of the setting example of the setting screen for the information provided on the Internet terminal Explanatory diagram of the setting screen for information provided by mobile information terminals Explanatory drawing of setting example of setting screen of provided information of mobile information terminal Explanatory drawing of search result screen display example of information provision of Internet terminal Explanatory drawing of search result screen display example of information provision of mobile information terminal Explanatory drawing of availability setting screen of restaurant information service Illustration of restaurant availability setting screen Illustration of restaurant information provision stop screen Illustration of the provided information registration screen Illustration of setting example of registration screen for provided information Illustration of the contents of the guide mail Flow chart of store availability acquisition processing Server hardware configuration diagram Functional block diagram of information service system

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Internet, 12 ... Mobile communication network, 13 ... Base station, 14 ... Mobile information terminal, 15 ... GW server, 16 ... WEB server mail server, 17 ... Internet terminal, 18 ... WEB server, 19 ... Mail server, 110 ... DB server, 111 ... application server, 112 ... positioning server, 20 ... store database record, 30 ... information providing database record.

Claims (8)

In an information providing service system that provides information providing services to user terminals,
Providing information receiving means for receiving provided information about the information provider;
Storage means for storing provided information received by the provided information receiving means;
An instruction accepting means for accepting, from the user terminal, a condition instruction for information to be provided, and an instruction for selecting a providing method to be provided among a plurality of predetermined information providing methods;
Extraction means for extracting the provision information corresponding to the condition of the information to be provided accepted by the instruction acceptance means from the provision information stored in the storage means;
An information providing service system comprising: an execution unit that executes an information providing service according to the providing method received by the instruction receiving unit with respect to the provided information extracted by the extracting unit.   2. The information providing service system according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of predetermined information providing methods are push-type and pull-type information providing methods.   3. The information providing service system according to claim 2, wherein the execution unit is configured as the push-type information providing method with respect to the information terminal of the information provider corresponding to the provided information extracted by the extracting unit. An information providing service system characterized by notifying terminal information.   3. The information provision service system according to claim 2, wherein the execution unit transmits the provision information extracted by the extraction unit to the user terminal as the pull type information provision method. system. The information provision service system according to claim 1, wherein the provision information receiving unit further receives congestion information indicating a degree of congestion of the provision information,
The extraction means extracts the provision information corresponding to the congestion information with less congestion from the congestion information when there is a plurality of the extracted provision information. The information providing service system according to claim 1, further comprising acquisition means for acquiring position information indicating a position where the user terminal exists,
The provided information receiving means further receives location information indicating a location for the provided information,
The information extraction service system, wherein the extraction unit extracts provision information corresponding to location information closer to the location information when there are a plurality of pieces of provision information extracted. In an information providing service method for providing information to a user terminal,
Accept information provided about information providers,
Memorize the information provided,
Accepting from the user terminal a condition instruction for information to be provided and a selection instruction for a provision method to be provided among a plurality of predetermined information provision methods,
Extract the provided information corresponding to the conditions of the received information to be provided from the stored provided information,
An information providing service method that executes an information providing service for the extracted provided information according to the accepted providing method. Computer
Provision information receiving means for receiving provision information about the information provider;
Storage means for storing provided information received by the provided information receiving means;
An instruction accepting means for accepting, from the user terminal, a condition instruction for information to be provided and an instruction to select a providing method to be provided among a plurality of predetermined information providing methods;
Extracting means for extracting providing information corresponding to the condition of the information to be provided received by the instruction receiving means from the providing information stored in the storage means;
and,
Execution means for executing an information providing service according to the providing method received by the instruction receiving means for the provided information extracted by the extracting means;
Program to function as.

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