JP2000113068A - Method for transmitting information through computer network - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently transmit information such as advertisement by updating a user data base and a counter data base when a user searches a hidden hyper- link image within the validity term of a bonus and providing the bonus to the user searching the hyper-link image. SOLUTION: A hyper-link image is inserted into a web site of an information providing sever (step S100), an optional period validating a vonus is set up in the hyper-link image (step S200). A user is connected to an information mediating server through a network to obtain information for the hidden hyper-link image (step S300) and moved to the web site of the information provider to retrieve the hidden hyper-link image (step S400). When the hidden hyper-link image is searched within the validity term of the bonus, the contents of the user data base and the counter data base are updated and the bonus is provided to the user (step S500).

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of transmitting information over a computer network such as the Internet, and more particularly, to a method of efficiently transmitting information such as advertisements to network users. It relates to the method of communication.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art It is well known that the provision and collection of information via a network such as the Internet has a great influence on modern society with the recent development of computer network technology. Especially on the Internet, the so-called World Wide Web
The number of people using the Internet has increased rapidly due to the development of technologies related to the Internet (Web, WWW), and users have been able to connect to the Internet and use the simple mouse click to access information from around the world. The importance of communication of various kinds of information using the Internet is increasing more and more.

[0003] Under such circumstances, each company or the like has created an advertisement image (Banner, hereinafter referred to as a burner) including simple information on a product linked to its own website, and has been able to use the advertisement image of the company or another company's website. Increasingly, the percentage of advertising activities that are inserted into sites is increasing. However, an image containing only the content of an advertisement is a factor that hinders the connection speed for users, and may be a subject of counterfeit. In addition, computer software programs for deleting such a simple advertisement image are already generally available. Such simple ad images usually have a very low CTR (ClickThrough Rate, or the number of visitors who click on a burner divided by the total number of burner displays as the rate at which a user visits an advertiser's website through a burner). , Most are around 1%.
For this reason, advertisers are merely inefficient and ineffective advertising methods, and there is a need for a method that is more effective than inserting a simple advertising image.

A technique conventionally used in such a method inserts a burner advertisement into an Internet website, and when such an advertisement image is clicked,
A method of giving a certain amount of reward to the user, that is, providing a fixed amount of money, providing a coupon, and using it for electronic commerce under the user's name. Was. That is, a mechanism for paying a user for information having a constant content on the Internet, particularly for reading an advertisement. Such prior art is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,210. According to the U.S. patent, the user is provided to an information mediation server (an information provider, i.e., a server that provides information about the advertiser's website and manages the user while teaching the rewards). If you click on a burner advertisement image, download a specific software from a specific site, or purchase a specific product using e-commerce, it is suggested that the user be rewarded with the prescribed content. . As a reward method, a method of depositing a certain amount of money into a user's bank account or providing a coupon is mainly used. There is also a reward method that allows users to accumulate {Cyber Money} by user name and use it for e-commerce.

FIG. 1 shows a typical environment used in the prior art, where one or more user computers 1 connected to a network 4 such as the Internet, and one or more information providers. Server 2 and one or more information mediation servers 3. Here, the information provider server 2 indicates a server of a company or the like that intends to provide information to the user, and the information mediation server 3 is a server that provides the user with the contents of the reward provided from the information provider server 2. To tell. At the same time, the information mediation server 3 manages a database on information providers and users. The network may be any network, such as the 4 Internet, a short-distance communication network (LAN), or a cable TV network, as long as multimedia information can be digitized and information can be exchanged in both directions.

[0006] The user is usually connected to the network through a personal computer. User and information provider server 2,
The information mediation servers 3 can be connected to each other through the network 4 and can exchange information bidirectionally.

Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional technique will be described in detail as follows. First, the website of the information mediation server 3 that provides information on rewards has an information provider 2
A hyperlink image (burner) is inserted so that the user can navigate to the website of the user, and an interface for user registration (Sign Up) is provided. In the above hyperlink image, the method of receiving the reward, the amount of the reward, and the like are described along with the outline contents of the website of the information provider 2. After connecting to the information mediation server 3 through the network 4, the user can select the information providing server 2 that presents the desired reward through the hyperlink image inserted in the website of the information mediation server 3, and the hyperlink image Is clicked with a mouse to move to the website of the information providing server 2. That is, the user connects to the website of the information providing server 2 by clicking the hyperlink image with a mouse, and the content of the user database is updated as a reward target.

[0008]

As described above, the conventional technology is characterized in that a reward is given to a user simply by clicking a burner advertisement image, downloading specific software, or using electronic commerce. There is. That is, a user connects to the information mediation server 3, clicks on a burner advertisement, and moves to the advertiser's server to be rewarded. Therefore, the user is rewarded as long as he or she moves to the information provider 2 website, and as soon as the user is connected to the information provider 2 website, the user moves to another information provider server 2 and uses the information. The person should not be interested in other contents provided from the information provider 2 website. Therefore, from the standpoint of the information provider 2, a reward must be given regardless of whether or not the user has recognized the information to be transmitted to the user. In terms of information transmission and recognition,
It is not as effective or efficient.

According to the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, a hyperlink image to be rewarded (treasure) is hidden in advance on a website of an information provider, and a user can display the hyperlink image. The purpose is to efficiently transmit information such as advertisements using a method of rewarding only when found.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, there is provided a method of transmitting information through a computer network, comprising the steps of connecting at least one user computer, at least one information provider server, and at least one information mediation server. In the method for transmitting information through a computer network, the information mediation server includes a database on personal matters of a network user, an identification number database on a hyperlink image to be inserted into a website of the information provider server, and A counter database for recording the number of hyperlink images found for each user, inserting the hyperlink image into a website of the information provider server; and Connecting and obtaining information on the inserted hyperlink image, searching for the inserted hyperlink image by moving the user to the information provider server based on the provided information, and hiding the user. When a hyperlink image is found within the expiration date of the reward, the user database and the counter database are updated, and a reward is given to the user who has found the hyperlink image.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the method further comprises the step of setting a period to be awarded with respect to the hyperlink image. If found, the method further comprises a step of requesting a certain response from the user, and proceeding to a step of giving the reward only when the user responds.

[0012]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The environment in which the method for transmitting information through a computer network according to the present invention is used is one or more user computers 1, one or more information provider servers 2, and one or more information mediation servers 3, which are connected to the Internet. Interconnection is possible through such a network. The environment of this computer network is the same as that shown in FIG.
In this specification, “stay”, “move”, “visit” and the like on a network are concepts on a website, and refer to an information source of information read by the user computer 1. Shall be.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an information transmission method according to the present invention. An object of the present invention is to make a user recognize information provided from a website in detail while the user stays at the website of the information provider 2 for a long time. That is, a hyperlink image to be rewarded (treasure) is hidden on the website of the information provider 2, and the information mediation server 3 gives only a general hint to the hidden image. Therefore, the user searches for the image hidden on the website of the information provider 2, but this increases the time that the user stays on the website of the information provider 2 compared to the conventional information transmission method. This will allow you to search the contents of the website more carefully.

In the information mediation server 3, for example, as shown in FIG. 7, a user database concerning personal matters of the user, and an identification number for a hyperlink image which is rewarded when the user is found are recorded for each user. An identification number database and a counter database for recording the number of hyperlink images found for each user within the expiration date of the reward are constructed. The user database contains basic personal information of the user, for example, information such as name, address, gender, e-mail address, etc., which are recorded when the user joins as a member.

The identification number database is inserted into the website of the information provider 2, and is provided with an identification number for each hyperlink image to be rewarded when the user finds it. An identification number for identifying each hyperlink image is randomly assigned by the random number table generation program. The identification number database is recorded each time a user finds a hyperlink image by an identification number for each image, and an information provider 2 such as an advertisement provider can determine which website the user has visited. Information can be used as one material.

Under the above environment, the method of transmitting information through a computer network according to the present invention includes inserting a hyperlink image with an identification number on a website of the information providing server 2 (S100).
Setting an arbitrary period during which the reward is valid for each hyperlink image in step S200, and using the information mediation server 3 through the network 4 such as the Internet.
To provide information on the hidden hyperlink image, step S400, in which the user goes to the provided information provider 2 website and searches for the hidden hyperlink image, step S400, where the user is hidden. When the hyperlink image is found within the validity period of the reward, a step of updating the user database and the counter database and a step of providing the reward to the user according to a predetermined principle S500.

The step S100 of inserting an image is configured as follows. The image or the like to which the identification number is assigned can be displayed on the website of each information providing server 2 with a hypertext markup language gauge tag (Hyper Text Matrix).
rk up language Tag HTMLTAG) Inserted as a form. Each image or the like is linked to the information mediation server 3 when the user finds and clicks on the image, confirms whether or not the user can be registered, and then updates the related database in the case of the registered user.

The step S200 for setting an arbitrary period consists of correcting the contents of the identification number database.
The user uses a personal computer or the like to connect to the network 4 such as the Internet and to connect to the website of the information providing server 2. FIG. 3 shows an initial screen when the user connects to the information mediation server 3. The initial screen includes a user registration menu, a submenu containing schematic information about where the hyperlink image has been inserted (a treasure hunt map), a submenu that allows the user to check the number of images found, and information. There is a serve menu containing general content about the mediation server. A user who connects to the information mediation server 3 for the first time can perform user registration, and a user who has already registered is a service menu (a treasure hunt map) with information on a hidden hyperlink image.
To get information directly (S300, FIG. 4)
See).

As shown in FIG. 4, the information is an image linked to the information provider's website, the number of images hidden on the information provider's website,
Show hints about hidden places. After confirming this, the user clicks this and moves to the information providing server 2, and searches for a hidden hyperlink image by the hint (S400). The user is inevitably stayed at the information provider's website for a long time because the user can find the hyperlink image inserted on the website of the information providing server 2 and click on the hyperlink image. Will read the information carefully.

When the user finds a hyperlink image and clicks on it, the user moves to the information mediation server 3. The information mediation server 3 records in the identification number database by the identification number of the hyperlink image found by the user, and updates the counter by increasing the counter of the counter database by one for the user, as shown in FIG.
Show the update result to the user.

The awarding step S500 is configured as follows. Although there are various types of rewards, a method of paying a fixed amount to a user, a method of accumulating a fixed amount for electronic commerce, or a method of paying with a free gift or a coupon can be used. The user to be rewarded can use a method of giving a reward according to the order in which many images are found and a method of giving a reward to all users according to the number of found images. FIG. 6 shows a screen on which the hyperlink image found by the user is displayed to the user by classifying the hyperlink image for any period in which the reward is valid.

FIG. 7 illustrates an identification number database and a counter database used in the present invention. The database required for the present invention requires a user-specific database, an identification number database and a counter database. If a user finds a hyperlink image and conducts a questionnaire survey, the questionnaire survey database and the questionnaire survey result database are used. More is needed.

FIG. 8 illustrates another embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment further includes a step S600 of requesting a predetermined action from the user. That is, when the user finds an image to be rewarded, the user is requested to take a predetermined action, for example, a questionnaire survey (see FIG. 9). As a result, it is possible to confirm whether or not the user is aware of the content of the website provided to the information providing server, and the result of the questionnaire survey can be effectively used.

[0024]

As described above, according to the present invention, an information provider can efficiently and effectively transmit information, particularly an advertisement, to a user on a network such as the Internet. That is, there is an advantage that the information provided on the website of the information provider server can be transmitted more reliably while giving a motivation of rewarding the network user. After connecting to the information mediation server, the user will not be rewarded just by clicking the burner advertisement, but will move to the information provider's website with the hint appearing in the burner advertisement and receive the hyper Reward eligibility is granted by actively finding link images. Therefore, the user will actively read the advertiser's website more carefully, the user will recognize the content of the information provider's website (such as the advertiser) more accurately, and the efficiency of information transmission will be It is growing. The user will search the information provider's website as if playing a game, based on the motivation of rewarding the user. Furthermore, the user can stay on the information provider's web site for a longer time, thereby improving the efficiency of information transmission, and has the advantage that information can be more positively and accurately transmitted and recognized.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 illustrates a general environment in which the present invention is used.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of an information transmission method according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an initial screen when a user connects to the information mediation server in the embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a screen showing information provided for a hyperlink image inserted into a website of an information provider server in an embodiment according to the present invention to an information mediation server.

FIG. 5 is a screen showing the number of hyperlink images found by a user in the embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a screen showing the number of hyperlink images found by the user for each reward period in the embodiment according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a database used in the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of another embodiment of the information transmitting method according to the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a screen for performing a questionnaire survey on a user in still another embodiment according to the present invention.

[Brief description of reference numerals]

 1 user computer 2 information provider server 3 information mediation server 4 network

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A method for transmitting information through a computer network comprising one or more user computers, one or more information provider servers, and one or more information mediation servers connected to each other, comprising: The server is a database relating to personal matters of a network user, an identification number database relating to a hyperlink image to be inserted into the website of the information provider server, and a counter database recording the number of the hyperlink images found for each user. Inserting a hyperlink image into a website of the information provider server; and connecting a user to the information mediation server through a computer network to obtain information on the inserted hyperlink image. The user moves to the information provider server based on the provided information and searches for the inserted hyperlink image, and when the user finds the hidden hyperlink image within the expiration date of the reward, the user database Updating a counter database and providing a reward to a user who has found the hyperlink image. 2. The method for transmitting information through a computer network according to claim 1, further comprising the step of setting a period to be rewarded for the hyperlink image. 3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising a step of requesting a certain response from the user when the user finds the hyperlink image, and proceeding to a step of giving the reward only when the user responds. Information transmission method through computer network.