JP6880304B2 - Search system, search method, and program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a search system, a search method, and a program.

Conventionally, there is known a technique called search-linked advertisement that displays an advertisement according to a search condition together with a search result. For example, in Patent Document 1, advertisements (search listings) associated with keywords, bid amounts, and network locations are registered in advance in a database, advertisements corresponding to the keywords input by the user are specified, and search results are obtained. In the list, there is a system that displays the specified advertisement.

Special Table 2003-501729

It is being considered to apply the above search-linked advertisement to items with the concept of inventory. In this case, the advertisement of the in-stock item will be displayed together with the search result of the in-stock item. However, if the inventory determination for displaying the search result and the inventory determination for displaying the advertisement are executed separately, the inventory determination is executed twice, so that the processing load of the system increases.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a search system, a search method, and a program capable of reducing the processing load on inventory determination.

In order to solve the above problems, the search system according to the present invention includes a search means for executing a search based on search conditions input from the terminal in a search system connected to the terminal via a network, and the search. Based on the inventory information of each of the plurality of items included in the search result of the means, the determination means for determining the presence or absence of inventory of each item and the determination result of the determination means satisfy the search conditions and satisfy the search conditions. An advertisement acquisition means for acquiring at least one advertisement for an item in stock, a display control means for displaying at least one item in stock in the search results, and the at least one advertisement on the search result screen. It is characterized by including.

The search method according to the present invention includes a search step for executing a search based on search conditions input from a terminal connected via a network, and inventory information for each of a plurality of items included in the search results of the search step. A determination step for determining whether or not each item is in stock, and an advertisement acquisition step for acquiring at least one advertisement for an item that satisfies the search conditions and is in stock based on the determination result of the determination step. The search result includes at least one item in stock, the at least one advertisement, and a display control step for displaying the search result on the search result screen.

The program according to the present invention is based on a search means for executing a search based on search conditions input from a terminal connected via a network, and inventory information of each of a plurality of items included in the search results of the search means. A determination means for determining the presence or absence of inventory of each item, an advertisement acquisition means for acquiring at least one advertisement for an item that satisfies the search conditions and is in stock based on the determination result of the determination means, the search. The computer functions as a display control means for displaying at least one item in stock and the at least one advertisement among the results on the search result screen.

In one aspect of the present invention, the search system further includes a holding means for holding the determination result of the determination means, and the advertisement acquisition means acquires an advertisement list according to the search condition and holds it by the holding means. It is characterized in that at least one advertisement is acquired based on the determination result and the advertisement list.

In one aspect of the present invention, the search system is connected to an advertisement system via a network, the advertisement acquisition means requests the advertisement list from the advertisement system, and the advertisement generated by the advertisement system. It is characterized by getting a list.

In one aspect of the present invention, the search result screen has a predetermined upper limit of the number of advertisements that can be displayed, and the advertisement acquisition means acquires the advertisement list including advertisements larger than the upper limit. It is characterized in that the advertisements of the upper limit number or less are acquired based on the advertisement list.

In one aspect of the present invention, the display control means displays the search result screen that does not include the at least one advertisement when the at least one advertisement is not acquired by a predetermined deadline. It is a feature.

In one aspect of the present invention, the search condition includes the condition of at least one item input from the terminal among the plurality of items, and the advertisement acquisition means does not input the condition of the predetermined item from the terminal. Is characterized in that at least one advertisement of an item that satisfies the condition of the predetermined item input from the terminal at the time of a past search and is in stock is acquired.

In one aspect of the present invention, the condition of the predetermined item is the usage date, and when the usage date is not input from the terminal, the advertisement acquisition means uses the usage date input from the terminal during the past search. It is characterized by acquiring at least one advertisement for an item in stock in.

In one aspect of the present invention, when the reservation on the usage date input from the terminal is completed, the advertisement acquisition means satisfies the search condition and is in stock without using the usage date. It is characterized by acquiring at least one advertisement.

According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the processing load for inventory determination.

It is a figure which shows the whole structure of a search system and the like. It is a figure which shows an example of the top screen. It is a figure which shows the outline of the processing after the search condition is transmitted. It is a figure which shows an example of the search result screen. It is a functional block diagram which shows an example of the function realized by a search system and the like. It is a figure which shows the data storage example of a facility database. It is a figure which shows the data storage example of the inventory database. It is a figure which shows the data storage example of the bid content database. It is a figure which shows the data storage example of the advertisement setting database. It is a flow chart which shows an example of the process executed in a search system or the like.

[1. Overall configuration of search system]
Hereinafter, examples of embodiments of the search system according to the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a search system and the like. As shown in FIG. 1, the search system 1 is connected to the terminal via the network N. The network N is a network such as the Internet. For example, the search system 1 is connected to each of the advertising system 2, the user terminal 30, the facility terminal 40, and the business owner terminal 50 via the network N. Although FIG. 1 shows one user terminal 30, one facility terminal 40, and one business owner terminal 50, there may be a plurality of these.

The search system 1 is a system that executes a search, and includes, for example, a search server 10. The search system 1 may include at least one computer, and may include a computer other than the search server 10.

The search server 10 is a server computer. The search server 10 includes a control unit 11, a storage unit 12, and a communication unit 13. The control unit 11 includes at least one processor. The control unit 11 executes processing according to the programs and data stored in the storage unit 12. The storage unit 12 includes a main storage unit and an auxiliary storage unit. For example, the main storage unit is a volatile memory such as RAM, and the auxiliary storage unit is a non-volatile memory such as ROM, EEPROM, flash memory, or hard disk. The communication unit 13 is a communication interface for wired communication or wireless communication, and performs data communication via the network N.

The advertisement system 2 is a system that manages advertisements, and includes, for example, an advertisement server 20. An advertisement is information that induces the purchase of a product or the use of a service (information that induces conversion). In other words, an advertisement is information intended to promote a product or service. Advertisements are presented electronically by images. So-called coupons are also an example of advertising.

The advertising system 2 may include at least one computer, and may include a computer other than the advertising server 20. Further, the management subject of the search system 1 and the management subject of the advertising system 2 may be the same or different from each other. Further, the search system 1 and the advertising system 2 may not be separated, and the functions of these systems may be realized by one system.

The advertisement server 20 is a server computer. The advertisement server 20 includes a control unit 21, a storage unit 22, and a communication unit 23. The physical configurations of the control unit 21, the storage unit 22, and the communication unit 23 may be the same as those of the control unit 11, the storage unit 12, and the communication unit 13, respectively.

The user terminal 30 is a computer operated by the user. The user is a user of the service provided by the search system 1, and can also be called an end user. For example, the user terminal 30 is a mobile phone (including a smartphone), a mobile information terminal (including a tablet computer), a personal computer, or the like. In the present embodiment, the user terminal 30 includes a control unit 31, a storage unit 32, a communication unit 33, an operation unit 34, and a display unit 35. The physical configurations of the control unit 31, the storage unit 32, and the communication unit 33 may be the same as those of the control unit 11, the storage unit 12, and the communication unit 13, respectively.

The operation unit 34 is an input device that accepts arbitrary operations, and is, for example, a pointing device such as a touch panel or a mouse, a keyboard, a button, or the like. The operation unit 34 transmits the operation content by the user to the control unit 31. The display unit 35 is, for example, a liquid crystal display unit, an organic EL display unit, or the like. The display unit 35 displays an image according to the instruction of the control unit 31.

The facility terminal 40 is a computer operated by a person in charge of the facility. The facility is a facility that can be reserved by the user. The search system 1 accepts facility reservations by users. The facility may be any type of facility, such as an accommodation facility, a public facility, a tourist facility, an athletic facility, or the like.

For example, the facility terminal 40 is a mobile phone (including a smartphone), a mobile information terminal (including a tablet computer), a personal computer, or the like. In the present embodiment, the facility terminal 40 includes a control unit 41, a storage unit 42, a communication unit 43, an operation unit 44, and a display unit 45. The physical configurations of the control unit 41, the storage unit 42, the communication unit 43, the operation unit 44, and the display unit 45 are the same as those of the control unit 11, the storage unit 12, the communication unit 13, the operation unit 34, and the display unit 35, respectively. It may be there.

The business owner terminal 50 is a computer operated by the business owner. The business owner is a service provider for users. In other words, the business owner is the person who accepts the advertisement placement request from the facility.

For example, the business owner terminal 50 is a mobile phone (including a smartphone), a mobile information terminal (including a tablet computer), a personal computer, or the like. In the present embodiment, the business owner terminal 50 includes a control unit 51, a storage unit 52, a communication unit 53, an operation unit 54, and a display unit 55. The physical configurations of the control unit 51, the storage unit 52, the communication unit 53, the operation unit 54, and the display unit 55 are the same as those of the control unit 11, the storage unit 12, the communication unit 13, the operation unit 34, and the display unit 35, respectively. It may be there.

The programs and data described as being stored in the storage units 12, 22, 32, 42, and 52 may be supplied via the network N. Further, the hardware configuration of each computer is not limited to the above example, and various hardware can be applied. For example, even if a reading unit for reading a computer-readable information storage medium (for example, an optical disk drive or a memory card slot) or an input / output unit for inputting / outputting data to / from an external device (for example, a USB port) is included. Good. For example, the program or data stored in the information storage medium may be supplied to each computer via the reading unit or the input / output unit.

[2. Search system overview]
In the present embodiment, the case where the search system 1 is applied to the travel reservation service will be described as an example. The travel reservation service is a service that supports a user's travel reservation, and for example, it is possible to make a reservation for accommodation facilities, airline tickets, rental cars, buses, and the like. The search system 1 can be applied to any situation other than travel reservation, and can be applied to various situations such as product search.

For example, when the user operates the user terminal 30 to access the search server 10, the top screen of the travel reservation service is displayed on the display unit 35. The screen described below may be displayed as a screen of a travel reservation application stored in the user terminal 30, or may be displayed as a screen of a web browser. Further, in the present embodiment, the screen for a smartphone is taken as an example, but a screen with another layout such as for a desktop or a tablet may be displayed.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a top screen. As shown in FIG. 2, for example, on the top screen G1, input forms F10 to F14 for inputting search conditions and buttons B15 for executing a search are displayed. In the present embodiment, a case where the user reserves an accommodation facility from the top screen G1 will be taken as an example. The search medium is not limited to the travel reservation website, and may be any medium such as a search tool.

In the input form F10, an arbitrary character string such as an area name or a facility name is input as a keyword. In the input form F11, an arbitrary area is input from the accommodation area list prepared in advance. The check-in date and the check-out date are input to the input form F12. In the input form F13, the number of rooms to be reserved and the number of users are input. At least one of the lower limit value and the upper limit value of the accommodation fee is input to the input form F14.

The user does not have to input search conditions for all of the input forms F10 to F14, and may input some search conditions for at least one of them. For example, when the user inputs a search condition in at least one of the input forms F10 to F14 and selects the button B15, the user terminal 30 transmits the search condition to the search server 10.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an outline of processing after the search condition is transmitted. As shown in FIG. 3, when the search server 10 receives the search condition, it searches for the accommodation facility satisfying the search condition and acquires the search result A. In the example of FIG. 3, the facility ID that uniquely identifies the accommodation facility included in the search result A is indicated by a character string such as "h00001".

In the present embodiment, the case where the search server 10 that has received the search condition executes the search by itself will be described, but the search server 10 may request the search from an external search engine. Further, the search engine may execute the search in the order of popularity, the lowest price, or the highest evaluation, and obtain the search result A.

When the search server 10 acquires the search result A, it determines whether or not there is inventory (vacancy) on the date indicated by the search condition for each accommodation facility included in the search result A, and determines the accommodation facility that is in stock on that date. Obtained as result B. In the example of FIG. 3, the accommodation facilities having the facility IDs “h00004” and “h000005” satisfy the search results, but are excluded from the determination result B because they were out of stock on the date indicated by the search conditions.

When the reservation start date is set in the accommodation facility, if it is before the reservation start date, it may be determined that the accommodation facility is out of stock even if it is in stock on the date indicated by the search condition. In addition, the presence or absence of inventory may be determined according to conditions such as the number of people in the room owned by the accommodation facility and the date and time. Further, when the use of children is set in the search condition, the availability of children may be determined at the time of inventory determination.

In the present embodiment, not only the search result but also the advertisement according to the search condition is displayed on the user terminal 30. The maximum number of advertisements to be displayed on the user terminal 30 is set, and in the present embodiment, the number of advertisements is two. The accommodation facility can freely decide whether or not to advertise, and can also decide the conditions such as the bid amount.

For example, the search server 10 transmits search conditions to the advertisement server 20 and requests the advertisement list C. When the advertisement server 20 receives the search condition, the advertisement server 20 searches for the accommodation facility satisfying the search condition and acquires the advertisement list C. In the present embodiment, the advertisement server 20 does not manage the inventory of accommodation facilities, and the advertisement list may include accommodation facilities that are out of stock. In the example of FIG. 3, for the accommodation facility whose facility ID is "h00009", the advertisement is desired to be posted and the user's search condition is satisfied, but the property is out of stock on the date indicated by the search condition (judgment result B). Not included in). Therefore, the advertisement server 20 includes more advertisements in the advertisement list C than the upper limit in order to allow the advertisement list C to have a margin.

Since the advertisement list C also includes advertisements for accommodation facilities that are out of stock on the date indicated by the search condition, the search server 10 compares the determination result B with the advertisement list C and stocks the advertisement list C on the date indicated by the search condition. Identify advertisements for accommodations that have. In the example of FIG. 3, the accommodation facility whose facility ID is "h00009" in the advertisement list C is out of stock on the date indicated by the search condition (it does not exist in the determination result B), so this accommodation facility is excluded from the target of the advertisement. Will be done. Further, since the maximum number of advertisements is set, the search server 10 acquires the advertisements having the maximum number or less. In the example of FIG. 4, the advertisement D of the two accommodation facilities whose facility IDs are "h00001" and "h00002" is acquired.

As described above, in the present embodiment, information on the presence or absence of inventory is required in each of the case of acquiring the search result A and the case of acquiring the advertisement D. In this regard, if the inventory determination is executed separately, the inventory determination is executed twice, and the processing load of the search server 10 increases. Therefore, the search server 10 holds the inventory determination result B when the search result is acquired, and compares the determination result B with the advertisement list C to complete the inventory determination only once. When the search server 10 identifies the advertisement D, the search result screen is displayed on the user terminal 30.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of the search result screen. As shown in FIG. 4, the search condition input by the user is displayed in the display area A20 of the search result screen G2. In the example of FIG. 4, check-in date and check-out date, accommodation area, number of adults, and number of children are specified as search conditions, and these search conditions are satisfied and the search conditions indicate. Find accommodations that are in stock on a date.

The content of the advertisement D is displayed in the display area A21 of the search result screen G2 as many as the maximum number, and the content of all or part of the determination result B is displayed in the display area A22. As shown in FIG. 4, the advertisement is displayed in preference to the search result so as to be easily noticed by the user, and is displayed above the search result, for example. Although FIG. 4 shows only the name of each accommodation facility and the total price, other information such as thumbnail images and accommodation conditions may be displayed.

On the search result screen G2, a button B23 for proceeding to the reservation screen of the accommodation facility is displayed. The user can select the button B23 of the display area A21 to reserve the accommodation facility of the advertisement D, or can select the button B23 of the display area A22 to reserve the accommodation facility of the search result A. Since the inventory of the date indicated by the search condition is confirmed for all the accommodation facilities, the user proceeds to the reservation screen of the accommodation facility in stock on the date indicated by the search condition regardless of which button B23 is selected. be able to.

As described above, the search server 10 does not separately execute the inventory determination of the accommodation facility in the search result and the inventory determination of the accommodation facility in the advertisement list, but processes the inventory determination only once. I try to reduce the load. Hereinafter, the details of this technique will be described.

[3. Functions realized by search systems, etc.]
FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram showing an example of the functions realized by the search system 1 and the like. In this embodiment, the functions realized by each of the search system 1, the advertising system 2, the user terminal 30, the facility terminal 40, and the business owner terminal 50 will be described.

[3-1. Functions realized by the search system]
As shown in FIG. 5, in the search system 1, a data storage unit 100, a search unit 101, a determination unit 102, a holding unit 103, an advertisement acquisition unit 104, and a display control unit 105 are realized. In the present embodiment, each of these functions is realized by the search server 10.

[Data storage]
The data storage unit 100 is mainly realized by the storage unit 12. The data storage unit 100 stores data necessary for search and inventory determination. Here, as an example of the data stored in the data storage unit 100, the facility database DB1, the inventory database DB2, the bid content database DB3, and the advertisement setting database DB4 will be described.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of storing data in the facility database DB1. As shown in FIG. 6, the facility database DB1 is a database that stores various information related to accommodation facilities. For example, the facility database DB1 stores the facility ID, facility information, and room information of the accommodation facility.

The facility information is information about the entire accommodation facility, and stores, for example, the name, address, contact information, image of the building, facilities, equipment, and price range on the premises. Room information is information about individual rooms in an accommodation facility, for example, a room ID that uniquely identifies a room, a room name, the number of people available, a room type, a floor plan, a size, the presence or absence of a bath / toilet, and so on. Introductory text of the room is stored.

The facility information and room information associated with each facility ID are used as an index at the time of search. For example, when the accommodation place is input as a search condition, the address of the facility information becomes an index. Further, for example, when the number of users is input as a search condition, the number of people who can use the room information becomes an index. The person in charge of each accommodation facility can operate the facility terminal 40 to register the facility information and the room information.

The information stored in the facility database DB1 is not limited to the above example. For example, the attribute to which the accommodation facility or each room belongs may be stored among a plurality of attributes. The attribute is the category to which the accommodation facility belongs, such as the type, area, or price range of the facility. In addition, for example, the attribute may be the availability of children, the availability of pets, the availability of barrier-free support, or the availability of English support. Further, for example, the facility database DB1 may store information such as the price of each room or the word-of-mouth of the accommodation facility. This information can be used as an index at the time of search.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of storing data in the inventory database DB2. As shown in FIG. 7, the inventory database DB2 is a database that stores inventory information of each accommodation facility. For example, the inventory database DB2 stores facility IDs, room IDs, usage dates, and inventory information. That is, inventory information for each of a plurality of usage days is managed for each room of each accommodation facility.

Inventory information is information indicating the presence or absence of inventory. In the case of accommodation facilities, having a vacancy means having inventory, and having no vacancy means having no inventory. Inventory information indicates the number of remaining inventories. In the case of accommodation facilities, the remaining inventory is the number of remaining rooms. When the inventory information is above the threshold value, it means that there is inventory, and when the inventory information is below the threshold value, it means that there is no inventory. In the present embodiment, this threshold value is set to 1, but a threshold value of 2 or more may be provided so that it is determined that the stock is substantially out of stock when the stock is low. The inventory information may be information in any format and is not limited to numerical values. For example, the inventory information may be information such as a flag indicating whether or not there is inventory.

Inventory information for each property is always up-to-date and updated in real time. For example, when the search server 10 accepts a reservation for an accommodation facility, the search server 10 changes the inventory information of the accommodation facility. Further, for example, for the portion for which the accommodation facility directly accepts the reservation, the person in charge of the facility operates the facility terminal 40 to access the search server 10 and change the inventory information. Further, for example, when there is another travel reservation service to be affiliated with, the search server 10 makes the inventory information consistent with the other travel reservation service. The means for updating the inventory information is not limited to these, and the inventory information may be updated by other means. For example, the facility terminal 40 may collectively input inventory information via an external management system.

In the example of FIG. 7, the case where the inventory information exists for each room of the accommodation facility has been described, but the inventory information may indicate the inventory of the entire accommodation facility. In this case, the inventory information is the total number of inventories of the entire room held by the accommodation facility.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a data storage example of the bid content database DB3. As shown in FIG. 8, the bid content database DB3 is a database that stores the bid content of the advertisement registered by the accommodation facility. For example, the bid content database DB3 stores the facility ID and the advertising conditions. The advertising condition is an advertising condition registered by the accommodation facility, and for example, information such as a keyword, a region name, and a bid amount is stored. Advertising conditions serve as an index when searching for accommodations to be included in the advertising list. The bid amount is the unit price paid by the accommodation facility to the business owner when the advertisement is displayed or selected.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a data storage example of the advertisement setting database DB4. As shown in FIG. 9, the advertisement setting database DB4 is a database that stores the setting contents of the advertisement registered by the business operator. For example, the advertisement setting database DB4 stores information such as the maximum number of advertisements to be displayed on the search result screen G2, schedule conditions, and bid conditions. The schedule condition indicates either the time when the user searches, the usage date specified by the user at the time of search, or the date reserved by the user.

The data stored in the data storage unit 100 is not limited to the above example. For example, the data storage unit 100 may store screen layout data (user interface data), image data, and the like to be displayed on the user terminal 30. Further, for example, the data storage unit 100 may store a user database that stores information about each of the plurality of users. For example, the user database stores information such as name, address, gender, age, occupation, screen browsing history, and accommodation facility reservation history. Further, for example, the data storage unit 100 may store the program of the search engine.

[Search section]
The search unit 101 is mainly realized by the control unit 11. The search unit 101 executes a search based on the search conditions input from the user terminal 30 (an example of a terminal connected via the network N).

The search condition is information that serves as a query at the time of search. Any condition can be input as the search condition, and is represented by, for example, a keyword (character string), a numerical value, an attribute, or a combination thereof. As the search condition, an AND condition may be specified, or an OR condition may be specified.

For example, the search condition includes at least one item input from the user terminal among the plurality of items. The item is a type of a component (information included in the search condition) of the search condition. In the example of the input forms F11 to F14 in FIG. 2, four items such as "accommodation place", "schedule", "number of rooms / number of people", and "total charge" are prepared, and the user can use at least one item. Enter the conditions of. The keyword entered in the input form F10 is also an example of the search condition.

In the present embodiment, the accommodation facility searched by the search unit 101 is an example of an item. Therefore, the place described as an accommodation facility in this embodiment can be read as an item. The item is information (data item) to be searched, and may be, for example, a service reserved by the user or a product purchased by the user. Items are sometimes called data items and can also be individual records in a database. In addition, each room in the accommodation facility may correspond to an item.

The search unit 101 executes a search based on the search conditions transmitted by the user terminal 30 to the search server 10. The search unit 101 uses the search condition as a query and executes a search using the facility information and room information of each accommodation facility stored in the facility database DB1 as an index.

In the present embodiment, a case where the search is executed by a known search engine used for searching a web page or the like will be given as an example. For example, the search unit 101 inputs search conditions into the search engine and acquires the search results output from the search engine. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the search engine is stored in the data storage unit 100, but a search engine of an external computer may be used. The search engine can access the facility database DB1 and calculates a score indicating the degree of matching with the search conditions for each accommodation facility. The search engine outputs search results based on the score of each accommodation facility.

The search result is a list of accommodation facilities according to the search conditions. Accommodations that meet the search conditions can also be said to be accommodations that satisfy the search conditions, accommodations that match (match) the search conditions, or accommodations that are hit by the search. The search results include at least one accommodation facility according to the search conditions, and the number of accommodation facilities may be arbitrary. The maximum number of accommodation facilities included in the search results may or may not be set. If there is no accommodation facility that matches the search conditions, the search results may be 0.

For example, a search engine will include all accommodations with a score above the threshold in the search results. Further, for example, a search engine selects a predetermined number of accommodation facilities in descending order of score and includes them in the search results. The search unit 101 acquires the search result output from the search engine. In the present embodiment, since the search engine does not determine the presence or absence of inventory, the search result output from the search engine may include accommodation facilities that are out of stock on the date indicated by the search condition. The search engine may determine whether or not there is inventory on the date indicated by the search condition. That is, the search engine may have a function corresponding to the determination unit 102 described later.

The search itself can use a known search algorithm, and is not limited to a method using a search engine. For example, the search unit 101 may execute the search by using a unique search algorithm instead of the search engine used for the search on the Internet or the like. This search algorithm may have arbitrary contents, and for example, an exact match or a partial match with a keyword may be used, or a value equal to or similar to a numerical value included in the search condition may be searched.

[Judgment unit]
The determination unit 102 is mainly realized by the control unit 11. The determination unit 102 determines whether or not each accommodation facility is in stock based on the inventory information of each of the plurality of accommodation facilities included in the search result of the search unit 101. Since the inventory information of each accommodation facility is stored in the inventory database DB2, the determination unit 102 determines whether or not each accommodation facility included in the search result is in stock based on the inventory database DB2.

In the present embodiment, the case where the determination unit 102 determines whether or not all the accommodation facilities included in the search result are in stock on the date indicated by the search condition will be described, but the determination unit 102 will describe some accommodation facilities. Only, the presence or absence of inventory on the date indicated by the search condition may be determined. For example, the determination unit 102 determines whether or not the inventory information of the accommodation facility on the date indicated by the search condition is equal to or greater than the threshold value. The determination unit 102 determines that the inventory is in stock if the inventory information is equal to or greater than the threshold value, and determines that the inventory is out of stock if the inventory information is less than the threshold value.

[Holding part]
The holding unit 103 is mainly realized by the control unit 11. The holding unit 103 holds the determination result of the determination unit 102. The determination result of the determination unit 102 is information that can identify the presence or absence of inventory of each accommodation facility on the date indicated by the search condition. Retention means recording information in the data storage unit 100 or another information storage medium. In other words, holding is not immediately erasing the determination result of the determination unit 102, but leaving it so that it can be referred to after the fact. The retained determination result can be referred to at an arbitrary timing, and is referred to by the advertisement acquisition unit 104 in the present embodiment.

As described with reference to FIG. 3, in the present embodiment, the search result includes the facility ID of the accommodation facility according to the search condition. In addition, not only the facility ID but also the room ID may be stored in the search result. The holding unit 103 erases the facility ID of the accommodation facility determined to be out of stock on the date indicated by the search condition in the search results, and the facility ID of the accommodation facility determined to be in stock on the date indicated by the search condition. Leave. The accommodation facility with the facility ID remaining means that it is in stock on the date indicated by the search condition. The holding unit 103 holds the determination result by recording only the facility ID of the accommodation facility determined to be in stock on the date indicated by the search condition in the data storage unit 100 among the search results.

The method of holding the determination result of the determination unit 102 is not limited to the above example. For example, the holding unit 103 may hold an inventory flag indicating the presence or absence of inventory on the date indicated by the search condition in association with the facility ID of each accommodation facility included in the search result. In addition, for example, the holding unit 103 may hold the inventory information of each accommodation facility included in the search result as it is as a determination result. The retained determination result is deleted at an arbitrary timing, and is deleted, for example, when the search result screen G2 is displayed.

[Advertisement acquisition department]
The advertisement acquisition unit 104 is mainly realized by the control unit 11. Based on the determination result of the determination unit 102, the advertisement acquisition unit 104 acquires at least one advertisement of the accommodation facility that satisfies the search conditions and is in stock. As described above, in the present embodiment, the inventory information is managed for each date, so that the accommodation facility in stock means the accommodation facility in stock on the date indicated by the search condition. That is, even if the accommodation is in stock on another date, the accommodation facility that is not in stock on the date indicated by the search condition does not correspond to the accommodation facility that is in stock.

The advertisement may be an advertisement for an accommodation facility that satisfies all of the search conditions, or may be an advertisement for an accommodation facility that satisfies only a part of the search conditions. In other words, the search conditions used for acquiring search results and the search conditions used for searching advertisements may be the same or different. For example, information such as user attributes that are not included in the search conditions may be used in the search for advertisements.

Acquiring an advertisement means acquiring the information necessary for displaying the advertisement. In other words, getting an ad means identifying the ad to display. For example, to acquire the facility ID of the accommodation facility indicated by the advertisement, to acquire the image data of the advertisement, to acquire the link to the page of the accommodation facility indicated by the advertisement, and to obtain the facility information or room information of the accommodation facility. Acquiring is equivalent to acquiring an advertisement.

By diverting the determination result of the determination unit 102, the advertisement acquisition unit 104 identifies at least one advertisement of the accommodation facility in stock on the date indicated by the search condition among the advertisements of the accommodation facility satisfying the search condition. For example, the advertisement acquisition unit 104 acquires an advertisement list according to the search condition, and based on the determination result and the advertisement list held by the holding unit 103, at least advertisements for items in stock on the date indicated by the search condition are displayed. Get one.

As described with reference to FIG. 3, the advertisement list is a list of advertisements for accommodation facilities satisfying the search condition. As described above, since the inventory determination is not executed at the time of generating the advertisement list, the advertisement list may include advertisements of accommodation facilities that are out of stock on the date indicated by the search condition. For example, the advertisement list may include not only the facility ID but also the room ID, the link to the page of the accommodation facility indicated by the advertisement, the image data of the advertisement, and the like.

The advertisement acquisition unit 104 compares the determination result held by the holding unit 103 with the advertisement list and acquires the advertisement. For example, the advertisement acquisition unit 104 determines whether or not the accommodation facility included in the retained determination result is included in the advertisement list, and acquires the advertisement of the accommodation facility included in the advertisement list. Further, for example, the advertisement acquisition unit 104 acquires an advertisement of an accommodation facility in stock on the date indicated by the search condition from the advertisement list based on the retained determination result.

In the present embodiment, since the advertisement list is generated by the external advertisement system 2, the advertisement acquisition unit 104 requests the external advertisement system 2 for the advertisement list, and the advertisement list generated by the advertisement system 2 is used. get. The advertisement acquisition unit 104 acquires an advertisement for an accommodation facility that is in stock on the date indicated by the search condition from the advertisement list acquired from the advertisement system 2. The advertisement acquisition unit 104 may acquire only one advertisement or may acquire a plurality of advertisements. If there is no advertisement for accommodations that meet the search conditions, or if there are no advertisements for accommodations that are in stock on the date indicated by the search conditions, the advertisement may not be acquired.

In the present embodiment, the maximum number of advertisements that can be displayed is set in advance on the search result screen G2, and the advertisement acquisition unit 104 acquires an advertisement list including advertisements larger than the maximum number and is based on the advertisement list. Get less than the maximum number of ads. The upper limit number may be a fixed value or a variable value. Further, the upper limit number may be common to all users or may be set according to the user. The advertisement acquisition unit 104 does not have to acquire the maximum number of advertisements, but may acquire one or more advertisements having the maximum number or less.

[Display control unit]
The display control unit 105 is mainly realized by the control unit 11. The display control unit 105 displays at least one accommodation facility in stock and at least one advertisement among the search results on the search result screen G2. In the present embodiment, since the display control unit 105 is realized by the search server 10, the display control unit 105 displays the search result screen G2 based on the determination result of the determination unit 102 and the acquisition result of the advertisement acquisition unit 104. Data is generated and transmitted to the user terminal 30.

The display data may be data for displaying the search result screen G2, may be data showing the entire search result screen G2, or may be data showing a part of the search result screen G2. For example, when the search result screen G2 is displayed on a web browser, the display data is HTML data. Further, for example, when each screen is displayed by using a program of the user terminal 30 (for example, a travel reservation application), the display data is an image or text information fitted in a frame of the screen.

[3-2. Functions realized by the advertising system]
As shown in FIG. 5, the advertisement list generation unit 200 is realized in the advertisement system 2. In the present embodiment, the advertisement list generation unit 200 is realized by the advertisement server 20. The advertisement server 20 may store a database having the same contents as the facility database DB1, the bid content database DB3, and the advertisement setting database DB4, or is stored in the search server 10 without storing these databases. These databases may be accessible. The ad list is generated based on the contents of at least one of these databases.

The advertisement list generation unit 200 is mainly realized by the control unit 21. The advertisement list generation unit 200 generates an advertisement list of accommodation facilities that satisfy the search conditions. All accommodation facilities may be targeted for advertisement, but in the present embodiment, it is possible to freely specify whether or not each accommodation facility advertises, so that the advertisement list generation unit 200 satisfies the search conditions and , Generate an ad list of accommodations to advertise.

In the present embodiment, the advertisement list generation unit 200 generates an advertisement list including more advertisements than the maximum number of advertisements on the search result screen G2. The advertisement included in the advertisement list may be provided with a maximum number (a number larger than the maximum number of advertisements on the search result screen G2), or may not be particularly limited. Further, when the number of accommodation facilities satisfying the search condition is small, an advertisement list containing less than the maximum number of advertisements on the search result screen G2 may be generated.

As described above, the search condition for acquiring the search result and the search condition for generating the advertisement list may be different. For example, the advertisement list generation unit 200 may generate an advertisement list based on not only the search conditions input by the user but also the attributes of the user. Further, for example, the advertisement list generation unit 200 may generate an advertisement list based on the advertisement conditions registered by each accommodation facility. For example, the advertisement list generation unit 200 may generate an advertisement list that matches the keywords and region names included in the advertisement conditions, or may generate an advertisement list based on a score weighted according to the bid amount. ..

The advertisement included in the advertisement list may be prioritized. For example, the advertisement list generation unit 200 may generate an advertisement list so that the higher the bid amount, the higher the priority. Further, for example, the advertisement list generation unit 200 may have a higher priority as it matches the keywords and area names included in the advertisement conditions. The higher the priority, the easier it is to be selected by the advertisement acquisition unit 104.

[3-3. Functions realized on the user terminal]
As shown in FIG. 5, the search condition input unit 300 is realized in the user terminal 30. The search condition input unit 300 is mainly realized by the control unit 31. The search condition input unit 300 accepts the user's input of the search condition based on the detection signal of the operation unit 34, and transmits the search condition to the search server 10. For example, when the user selects the button B15 on the top screen G1, the search condition input unit 300 transmits the search condition including the information input to each of the input forms F10 to F14 to the search server 10.

[3-4. Functions realized by facility terminals]
As shown in FIG. 5, in the facility terminal 40, the facility setting unit 400, the inventory setting unit 401, and the bid content setting unit 402 are realized.

[Facility setting department]
The facility setting unit 400 is mainly realized by the control unit 41. The facility setting unit 400 registers the facility information and the room information in the facility database DB1 based on the detection signal of the operation unit 44. For example, the facility setting unit 400 transmits the facility information and the room information input by the person in charge of the accommodation facility to the search server 10 and registers them in the facility database DB1 in association with the facility ID of the accommodation facility.

[Inventory setting section]
The inventory setting unit 401 is mainly realized by the control unit 41. The inventory setting unit 401 updates the inventory information of the inventory database DB2 based on the detection signal of the operation unit 44. For example, when the person in charge of the accommodation facility performs the operation of changing the inventory information, the inventory setting unit 401 transmits to that effect to the search server 10 and changes the inventory information associated with the facility ID of the accommodation facility. The change operation may be an operation for instructing an increase or decrease in inventory, or an operation for inputting the latest inventory quantity.

[Bid content setting section]
The bid content setting unit 402 is mainly realized by the control unit 41. The bid content setting unit 402 sets the bid conditions in the bid content database DB3 based on the detection signal of the operation unit 44. For example, the bid content setting unit 402 transmits the advertisement condition input by the person in charge of the accommodation facility to the search server 10 and registers it in the bid content database DB3.

[3-5. Functions realized on the business owner terminal]
As shown in FIG. 5, the advertisement setting unit 500 is realized in the business owner terminal 50. The advertisement setting unit 500 is mainly realized by the control unit 51. The advertisement setting unit 500 registers the advertisement setting contents in the advertisement setting database DB 4 based on the detection signal of the operation unit 54. For example, the advertisement setting unit 500 transmits the maximum number of advertisements, the schedule condition, the bid condition, and the like input by the business owner to the search server 10 and registers them in the advertisement setting database DB4.

[4. Processing executed in the search system, etc.]
FIG. 10 is a flow chart showing an example of processing executed by the search system 1 and the like. The process shown in FIG. 10 is executed by the control units 11, 21, and 31 operating according to the programs stored in the storage units 12, 22, and 32, respectively. The process described below is an example of the process executed by the functional block shown in FIG. In addition, in FIG. 10, the case where the advertisement list generation process in S6 to S7 is executed after the search process in S3 to S5 is executed, but the search process and the advertisement list generation process are different. It can be executed in parallel.

As shown in FIG. 10, first, the user terminal 30 causes the display unit 35 to display the top screen G1 (S1). For example, when the URL of the top screen G1 is selected, or when the travel reservation application is started, the process of S1 is executed. The user terminal 30 receives data necessary for displaying the top screen G1 from the search server 10 and displays the top screen G1.

The user terminal 30 transmits the search condition input by the user to the search server 10 based on the detection signal of the operation unit 34 (S2). In S2, the user terminal 30 causes each of the input forms F10 to F14 to display the search conditions input by the user. When the button B15 is selected, the user terminal 30 transmits the search conditions entered in each of the input forms F10 to F14 to the search server 10.

Upon receiving the search condition, the search server 10 executes a search of the facility database DB1 (S3). In S3, the search server 10 uses the search condition as a query, executes a search using the facility information and room information stored in the facility database DB1 as an index, and acquires the search result.

The search server 10 determines whether or not each accommodation facility is in stock, which is included in the search result in S3, based on the inventory database DB2 (S4). In S4, the search server 10 refers to the inventory database DB2 and acquires inventory information on the date indicated by the search condition for each accommodation facility included in the search result. The search server 10 determines that the accommodation facility having inventory information of 1 or more is in stock, and determines that the accommodation facility having 0 inventory information is out of stock.

The search server 10 holds the inventory determination result in S4 (S5). In S5, the search server 10 records the determination result in S4 in the storage unit 12 for each accommodation facility included in the search result.

The search server 10 transmits search conditions to the advertisement system 2 and requests an advertisement list (S6). The request for the advertisement list may be made by transmitting the data in a predetermined format. The ad list request shall include the search criteria entered by the user. The request for the advertisement list may include information such as the maximum number of advertisements on the search result screen G2.

When the advertisement server 20 receives the request, it generates an advertisement list and sends it to the search server 10 (S7). In S7, the advertisement server 20 searches for an advertisement using the search condition as a query and the advertisement condition as an index. The advertisement may be searched based on the facility database DB1 and the bid content database DB3, or may be searched based on the database of the facility prepared for the advertisement. The advertisement server 20 selects a predetermined number of advertisements in descending order of bid amount from the advertisements included in the search results, and generates an advertisement list. As described above, the predetermined number is assumed to be larger than the upper limit number of advertisements on the search result screen G2.

When the search server 10 receives the advertisement list, it identifies an accommodation facility in stock on the date indicated by the search condition from the advertisement list based on the determination result held in S5, and acquires an advertisement for the accommodation facility. (S8). In S8, the search server 10 identifies the accommodation facility determined to be in stock in S4 among the accommodation facilities indicated by the advertisement included in the advertisement list, and acquires the advertisement of the accommodation facility.

The search server 10 generates display data of the search result screen G2 including the search result in S4 and the advertisement acquired in S8, and transmits the display data to the user terminal 30 (S9). In S9, the search server 10 arranges the search result in S4 in the display area A22, arranges the advertisement acquired in S8 in the display area A21, and generates the display data of the search result screen G2.

When the user terminal 30 receives the display data, the search result screen G2 is displayed on the display unit 35 (S10), and this process ends. After that, when the user selects the button B23, the screen proceeds to the reservation screen of the accommodation facility. When the user returns to the top screen G1, the process of S1 is executed again, and when the user re-enters the search condition, the process of S2 is executed again.

According to the search system 1 described above, based on the inventory determination result executed at the time of searching for the accommodation facility, the advertisement of the accommodation facility in stock on the date indicated by the search condition is acquired and the search result screen G2 is displayed. It is possible to reduce the processing load of the search server 10 for the inventory determination by performing the inventory determination only once without executing the inventory determination twice. In addition, by performing inventory determination only once, it is possible to quickly identify advertisements for accommodation facilities that are in stock on the date indicated by the search conditions, shorten the time required to display the search result screen G2, and reduce the time required to display the search result screen G2. The process of displaying G2 can be speeded up. Further, when the advertising server 20 determines the presence or absence of inventory, the advertising server 20 also needs to manage the inventory database DB2, but the advertising server 20 needs to determine the presence or absence of inventory on the date indicated by the search condition. Since there is no need to manage the inventory database DB2, the memory consumption of the advertisement server 20 can be reduced. Further, since it has been confirmed that both the search result and the advertisement on the search result screen G2 are in stock, it is expected that the use of the accommodation facility, which is the advertiser, will increase. From the user's point of view, it is possible to reserve an accommodation facility without having to search twice.

In addition, the search system 1 retains the inventory determination result executed at the time of searching the accommodation facility, and acquires the advertisement of the accommodation facility in stock on the date indicated by the search condition based on the retained determination result and the advertisement list. As a result, it is possible to identify the advertisement of the accommodation facility that is in stock on the date indicated by the search condition by a simple process of comparing the determination result with the advertisement list.

Further, since the search system 1 requests the advertisement list from the external advertisement system 2 and acquires the advertisement list from the advertisement system 2, the search server 10 does not need to execute the process of generating the advertisement list. , The processing load of the search server 10 can be reduced.

Further, the search system 1 is displayed on the search result screen G2 by acquiring the advertisements having a maximum number or less from the advertisement list including the advertisements having a larger number than the maximum number of advertisements that can be displayed on the search result screen G2 in advance. It is possible to prevent the number of advertisements from becoming less than the maximum number. That is, when the number of advertisements included in the advertisement list is the same as the maximum number, and if any of the advertisements is out of stock, the number of advertisements displayed on the search result screen G2 will be less than the maximum number. However, as in the present embodiment, the probability of displaying the maximum number of advertisements can be increased by generating the advertisement list including more advertisements than the maximum number of advertisements.

[5. Modification example]
The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above. It can be changed as appropriate without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

(1) For example, when the advertisement server 20 takes time to generate the advertisement list, the search result screen G2 may not be easily displayed on the user terminal 30. Therefore, if the search server 10 cannot acquire the advertisement list by the predetermined deadline, the search server 10 may display the search result screen G2 containing no advertisement on the user terminal 30.

If at least one advertisement is not acquired by the predetermined deadline, the display control unit 105 of this modification displays a search result screen that does not include at least one advertisement. An arbitrary deadline may be set as the predetermined deadline, for example, it may be a predetermined time after receiving the search condition, or it may be a predetermined time after requesting the advertisement list. The length of the predetermined time may be any length, and may be, for example, about 1 second to 10 seconds, or longer.

The display control unit 105 executes a timekeeping process using a real-time clock or the like, and determines whether or not a predetermined deadline has come. When the advertisement is acquired by the time when the predetermined deadline arrives, the display control unit 105 causes the user terminal 30 to display the search result screen G2 including the advertisement. On the other hand, if the advertisement is not acquired by the time when the predetermined deadline arrives, the display control unit 105 causes the user terminal 30 to display the search result screen G2 that does not include the advertisement. That is, the display control unit 105 causes the user terminal 30 to display the search result screen G2 that does not include the advertisement without waiting for the acquisition of the advertisement to be completed.

According to the modification (1), if the advertisement is not acquired by the predetermined deadline, the search result screen G2 not including the advertisement is displayed on the user terminal 30, so that it is necessary to display the search result screen G2. It is possible to shorten the time and speed up the process of displaying the search result screen G2. Further, when a predetermined deadline is reached, the search server 10 displays the search result screen G2 and does not acquire the advertisement, so that the processing load of the search server 10 can be reduced. Further, when the process of causing the advertisement server 20 to acquire the advertisement list is interrupted, the processing load of the advertisement server 20 can be reduced.

(2) Further, for example, even if the search server 10 tries to acquire an advertisement for an accommodation facility in stock, if the user does not enter the usage date, it is not possible to specify at what point in time the inventory should be determined. In this case, the search server 10 may determine whether or not there is inventory on the usage date that the user has recently entered.

The usage date is an example of the conditions of the predetermined items. Therefore, the part described as the date of use in this modification can be read as the condition of the predetermined item. The predetermined item is not limited to the date of use and may be any item. The predetermined item may be an item defined as an important item among a plurality of items that can be specified as a search condition, and may be, for example, the number of users or the area name.

The data storage unit 100 of this modification stores the search conditions input by the user during the past search. The data storage unit 100 may store only the input contents of the predetermined items, or may store all the search conditions. Further, the data storage unit 100 may store all the search conditions input by the user in the past, or store only the latest search conditions (search conditions input one time before the search conditions input this time). You may remember. Alternatively, for example, the data storage unit 100 may store search conditions entered in the past few months.

When the condition of the predetermined item is not input from the user terminal 30, the advertisement acquisition unit 104 satisfies the condition of the predetermined item input from the user terminal 30 at the time of the past search and advertises the accommodation facility in stock. Get at least one. In this modification, since the condition of the predetermined item is the usage date, if the usage date is not input from the user terminal 30, the advertisement acquisition unit 104 has inventory on the usage date input from the user terminal during the past search. Get at least one ad for your accommodation.

For example, the search unit 101 acquires the search result based on the search condition not including the usage date in the same manner as the process described in the embodiment. The determination unit 102 acquires the usage date input by the user at the time of the past search, and determines whether or not the accommodation facility is in stock on the usage date based on the inventory information of the accommodation facility on the usage date included in the search result. The advertisement acquisition unit 104 acquires at least one advertisement based on the determination result. The process itself of acquiring the advertisement based on the determination result of the determination unit 102 is as described in the embodiment.

According to the modification (2), when the condition of the predetermined item is not input from the user terminal 30, the advertisement is acquired based on the condition of the predetermined item input from the user terminal 30 at the time of the past search. It is possible to present advertisements that are useful to the user.

In addition, the usage date entered from the user terminal 30 during the past search has a high probability that the user is trying to search in this search as well. Therefore, by acquiring the advertisement based on such usage date, a more useful advertisement Can be presented.

(3) For example, in the modified example (2), if the reservation of the accommodation facility is completed on the usage date entered in the past by the user, even if the advertisement of the accommodation facility in stock on the usage date is advertised. , The probability that the user selects the advertisement is low, and the effectiveness of the advertisement is low. Therefore, in this case, the accommodation facility in stock may be searched and the advertisement may be displayed on any date without specifying the usage date.

The data storage unit 100 of this modification stores the user's reservation history. For example, each time the search server 10 accepts a reservation for an accommodation facility by a user, the search server 10 records the reservation content in the data storage unit 100 in association with the user ID of the user. The reservation content includes information such as the facility ID, room ID, date of use, and number of people of the accommodation facility reserved by the user. In addition, the reservation content may include search conditions entered by the user at the time of search.

When the reservation on the usage date input from the user terminal 30 is completed, the advertisement acquisition unit 104 of this modification satisfies at least the advertisement of the item that satisfies the search condition and is in stock without using the usage date. Get one. When the usage date is not input from the user terminal 30, the advertisement acquisition unit 104 determines whether or not the reservation is completed on the usage date input from the user terminal 30 at the time of the past search based on the user's reservation history. To do.

When it is determined that the reservation is not completed, the advertisement acquisition unit 104 acquires the advertisement based on the usage date input from the user terminal 30 at the time of the past search as in the modification (2). On the other hand, when it is determined that the reservation is completed, the advertisement acquisition unit 104 acquires the advertisement without using the usage date input from the user terminal 30 at the time of the past search. In this case, the determination unit 102 may not determine the inventory, or may determine the inventory on a predetermined date. When the determination unit 102 does not determine the inventory, the search result and the advertisement are displayed without particularly determining the presence or absence of the inventory.

According to the modification (3), when the reservation of the accommodation facility is completed on the usage date entered in the past by the user, a useful advertisement is presented by acquiring the advertisement without using the usage date. can do.

(4) Further, for example, the above modification may be combined.

Further, for example, in the embodiment, the screen transition when the search condition is input from the top screen G1 corresponding to the top page of the travel reservation service has been described, but the same screen transition may be made from another page. For example, when the search server 10 provides a tourist page showing tourist information for each area and the user browses the facility information from the tourist page, the same screen transition may be made. That is, when the user browses the facility information from the tourist page, the inventory determination according to the date of use and the generation of the advertisement list may be executed, and the advertisement may be displayed on the facility information page. Further, for example, when a search condition is input from an external search engine and facility information is browsed from the search result of the search engine, the same screen transition may be performed. That is, when facility information is browsed from the search results of an external search engine, inventory determination according to the date indicated by the search condition and generation of an advertisement list are executed, and the advertisement is displayed on the facility information page. May be done.

Further, for example, the process in which the advertisement acquisition unit 104 acquires an advertisement based on the determination result of the determination unit 102 is not limited to the above-described example. The advertisement acquisition unit 104 identifies at least one item designated as an advertisement from at least one accommodation facility in stock on the date indicated by the search condition in the search results, and the specified at least one accommodation facility. You may get the advertisement of. That is, the advertisement acquisition unit 104 identifies the accommodation facility in which the advertisement is desired to be posted from the accommodation facilities in stock on the date indicated by the search condition from the search results based on the bid content database DB3, and the accommodation is concerned. You may get an advertisement for the facility. In this case, it is possible to acquire the advertisement of the accommodation facility in stock on the date indicated by the search condition without acquiring the advertisement list.

Further, for example, the search system 1 may execute both the acquisition of the search result and the generation of the advertisement list. Further, for example, the search result screen G2 may not have an upper limit of the number of advertisements.

Further, for example, the case where the search system 1 is applied to the travel reservation service has been described, but the search system 1 can be applied to a scene where an arbitrary search is performed. The search system 1 may be applied to a service that does not have the concept of inventory by date, and for example, the search system 1 may be applied to electronic commerce. In this case, the search system 1 searches for the product based on the search condition input by the user and determines whether or not the product is in stock. The search system 1 may acquire at least one product that satisfies the search conditions and is in stock based on the inventory determination result and displays it together with the search result. In addition, for example, the search system 1 can be applied to various services having the concept of inventory such as restaurant reservation, ticket purchase, event reservation, or seminar application.

Further, for example, the functions may be shared by each of the plurality of computers. For example, for example, the data described as being stored in the data storage unit 100 may be stored by a database server different from the search server 10, or may be stored by a database server outside the search system 1. May be good.

Claims (4)

In a search system connected to a terminal and an advertising system via a network
A specific means for identifying at least one item that satisfies the search condition and is in stock based on the search condition input from the terminal and the inventory information of each of the plurality of items.
A requesting means for requesting an advertisement according to the search condition from the advertising system, and
An advertisement acquisition means for acquiring at least one advertisement of an item satisfying the search condition and in stock based on the specific result of the specific means and the advertisement according to the search condition.
Said at least one item, and a display control means for displaying the at least one advertisement, the search result screen,
A search system characterized by including. The advertising system does not determine whether or not an item satisfying the search condition is in stock.
Advertisements according to the search conditions may include advertisements for items that are out of stock.
The advertisement acquisition means does not acquire the advertisement when the advertisement of the item out of stock is included in the advertisement according to the search condition.
The search system according to claim 1. The computer
Based on the search condition input from the terminal connected via the network and the inventory information of each of the plurality of items, the specific step of identifying at least one item that satisfies the search condition and is in stock. ,
A request step for requesting an advertisement according to the search conditions from an advertisement system connected via the network, and
An advertisement acquisition step of acquiring at least one advertisement of an item that satisfies the search condition and is in stock based on the specific result of the specific step and the advertisement according to the search condition.
Said at least one item, and a display control step of displaying the at least one advertisement, the search result screen,
A search method characterized by executing. A specific means for identifying at least one item that satisfies the search condition and is in stock based on the search condition input from a terminal connected via a network and the inventory information of each of a plurality of items.
A requesting means for requesting an advertisement according to the search conditions from an advertising system connected via the network.
An advertisement acquisition means for acquiring at least one advertisement of an item that satisfies the search condition and is in stock based on the specific result of the specific means and the advertisement according to the search condition.
Wherein the at least one item and the at least one advertisement and display control means for displaying on the search result screen,
A program to make your computer work as.

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