JP2001024997A - Advertisement system for interactive television - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To set selection probability while considering not only the taste of a subscriber but also the intend of an advertiser by integrating the charging processing of advertisement charge to the advertiser with the charging processing of the usage charge of the subscriber. SOLUTION: A subscriber management system 404 analyzes individual information 405 of the subscriber held by the system by relation. The analysis result is provided to the advertiser 409. When the subscriber 401 refers to the advertisement 402, an advertisement system for an interactive television 403 receives it and returns a advertisement which is customized for an individual. At this time, reference frequencies are held for every subscriber. When usage charge is demanded to the subscriber in the end of a month or the like, a reduction corresponding to the reference frequencies is reported 407 to a subscriber management system 404. Then the system 404 demands the usage charge reduced from the normal usage charge 408 to the subscriber 401 based on the reported money amount.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for providing an electronic advertisement service using an interactive television which allows a broadcasting station and a user to exchange information bidirectionally. Related to a method of providing a function of making the subscriber information operate in cooperation with the processing of advertisement selection, advertisement analysis, and subscription charge.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional television receiver has a function of receiving an image broadcasted through a terrestrial wave, a satellite broadcast, or a CATV network and displaying the image. More recently, a CS broadcast receiver having a function of receiving data in which characters and images are multiplexed in addition to a video and displaying the data has appeared. Character and image data can also be displayed in association with a video, and are used as a service for obtaining additional information on the video at that time by a method other than video.

[0003] On the other hand, as an example in which the PC technology is applied to a television, a service called an Internet television has emerged. That is, it is a receiver that can realize Internet services (such as browsing a homepage, mail, and news) using a television. In Internet TV, text and image data and data created for Internet TV are placed on a dedicated server,
Deliver to user terminal through communication line. A feature of the Internet television is that not only push-type information distribution such as broadcasting but also pull-type service for distributing information at the request of a user is possible. In other words, two-way communication is possible as in a PC, even in the form of a television. Such a television capable of providing a service using two-way communication is called an interactive television (ITV).

[0004] In the case where a video is broadcast by push-type information distribution as in the past, a source of income of a private broadcast station is an advertisement fee of a video advertisement inserted into a program. Also, on the Internet, there is a business that charges an advertiser with an advertisement fee by attaching an electronic advertisement of characters or images to the content. Although both are expected to be used in interactive television advertising, electronic advertising using characters and images developed based on the PC world can be said to be a new advertising model in the television world.

[0005]

A comparison is made between the above-described two advertisement models, that is, a video advertisement such as a conventional television broadcast and an electronic advertisement of characters and images performed on the Internet. First, a conventional video advertisement in a television broadcast is an advertisement unilaterally broadcast by a broadcast program determined by a broadcast station. This method guarantees the number of times the advertisement has been broadcast, which is a one-sided push for the user, but makes it easier for the advertiser to predict the advertising effect. On the other hand, electronic advertisements of characters and images on the Internet have an advertisement attached as additional information to the content selected by the user, and whether or not to select the advertisement is left to the will of the user. Therefore, since advertisements unnecessary for the user can be ignored, the reference is not guaranteed for the advertiser. For this reason, an advertising model or the like that guarantees a certain number of references has appeared.

[0006] It can be said that electronic advertisements of characters and images that will appear newly in interactive television have the same problems as the advertisement model on the Internet. In other words, it is the user who holds the reference initiative, and it can be said that this is an advertising model in which the intention of the advertiser is hardly reflected. Also, on the Internet, as a means of increasing the number of times the advertisement is referred to, a method of moving the image so as to draw the user's attention or making the advertisement have an input field is being attempted. However, these are only techniques for attracting the user's attention, and it is expected that the number of references to the advertisement of interest to the user will increase, but this does not necessarily lead to an increase in the number of references of the entire advertisement. This is because users cannot see the direct benefits of referring to the advertisement.

[0007]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention applies an interactive television advertisement system. Interactive television can be considered as a membership system like a current CATV station or CS broadcasting station. Therefore, in the present invention, attention is paid to a subscriber management system already introduced in a CATV station or the like, and a cooperative operation is performed with a character or image advertisement service on an interactive television.

In an advertising system for an interactive television, a billing system for an advertising fee is linked with a conventional subscriber management system, so that it is not necessary to newly create various billing processes such as billing and payment management. Becomes Accordingly, since the personal information of the subscriber included in the subscriber management system is referred to, the following function for solving the above problem is realized using the information.

(1) The personal information of the subscriber managed by the subscriber management system and the information of the advertisement provided by the advertiser are matched to reflect the preference of the subscriber and the intention of the advertiser. .

(2) In analyzing the reference history of the advertisement, by taking into account personal information managed by the subscriber management system,
Provide advertisers with the results of detailed and detailed analysis.

(3) By discounting the usage fee according to the number of times the advertisement is referred to in the billing process of the subscriber management system, it is possible to directly appeal the merits of the advertisement reference to the user. it can.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of an interactive television to which the present invention is directed. As with the conventional television, the video (101) is broadcast (102) to user terminals (103) at homes using terrestrial or satellite broadcasting or a CATV network (102). Further, as described in the related art, data in which characters and images (105) are multiplexed in addition to the video (101) may be broadcast. In addition to the above, the interactive television has a distribution form in which data of characters and images (105) is placed on a dedicated server (106) and delivered to a user terminal (103) through a communication line (107). The user terminal (103) that has received the data displays the data on the television screen and waits for a user input. When the user performs an action such as selection on the displayed data, a request is sent to the server (106) through the communication line (107), and the data corresponding to the request is distributed again. Communication (108) is performed.

FIG. 1 shows an example of the form of an interactive television. In general, a form in which a broadcast and a communication line are separated as described above is generally used. In some cases, the line used for communication is the same as the line used for two-way communication. In the present invention, since the configuration of the interactive television itself is not so important, a television having both means of broadcasting and two-way communication will be collectively referred to as an interactive television.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram in the case where an advertisement system for an interactive television (ITV) is introduced to the broadcast station side in the configuration of FIG. An interactive television broadcasting station has a subscriber management system (202) for grasping subscriber information. In FIG. 2, the member management is already performed even now, and the subscriber management system (202)
A description will be given by taking a CATV station (201) in which is introduced as an example. The subscriber management system (202) is a system that manages CATV contract contents, user IDs, addresses, family structures, etc., and periodically charges (206) usage fees to the subscribers (205). . In the subscriber management system (202), in a subscription fee charging process (203), a usage fee is calculated based on the contents of the contract, and in a billing process (204), a process for creating a bill for each subscriber is performed. It is a mechanism to do.

When the interactive television advertisement system (207) is introduced here, the advertisement fee accounting process (208) and the billing process (209) are also provided in the interactive television advertisement system (207). The advertising fee is charged (211). In other words, two systems, ie, the usage fee and the advertisement fee, can be processed in the same CATV station. Therefore, we consider integrating both billing processes.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration when the billing process is integrated with the subscriber management system. The advertising system (301) for interactive television (ITV)
Subscriber information (30) from the subscriber management system (302)
3) and calculate the advertisement fee. Thereafter, the interactive television advertisement system performs only the advertisement fee notification (304), and performs the advertisement fee charging process (30).
5) The billing process (306) is all performed on the subscriber management system (302) side. Billing process (30
6) According to the type of the subscriber, when the advertiser (308) is the advertiser (308), the advertiser is billed (309). The usage fee calculated in (3) is charged (311).

In this system, user management and billing in the case of an advertiser and a subscriber are also simplified. In FIG. 3, the billing process for the advertisement (304) appears to be built in the subscriber management system (302). However, the current subscriber management system (302) has an option fee for the service unique to the broadcasting station. In addition, a mechanism is added to add a usage fee when a fee is notified from the outside. For example, when connecting to the Internet using a CATV network, an Internet connection fee is charged in addition to the basic CATV fee. However, the Internet billing system is a separate program, and is realized by notifying the Internet fee from outside. In the same manner, by notifying the advertisement fee from the outside, the advertisement fee is charged (308) to the advertiser (307), and the user (31) is processed.
It is possible to unify the processing (311) of charging the usage fee for 0).

According to the method shown in FIG. 3, the advertising system for interactive television acquires subscriber information from the subscriber management system. In the present invention, utilizing this fact, (a) a service for reflecting the information of the subscriber in the selection conditions of the advertisement, (b) the analysis result of the preference of the subscriber based on the reference history of the advertisement, and asks the advertiser Services to provide,
(c) We have devised three services in which the number of times an advertisement is referenced is reflected as a discount on the subscriber's usage fee.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the flow of services in cooperation with the interactive television advertisement system and the subscriber management system. First, a service for reflecting the information of the subscriber in the selection condition of the advertisement will be described. When the subscriber (401) refers to the advertisement (402), the advertisement system for interactive television (403) receives the advertisement, selects an appropriate advertisement corresponding to the area in which the advertisement is displayed, attaches it, and returns it to the subscriber. At this time, the subscriber management table (404) managed by the subscriber management system (404) is obtained (405), and the personalized advertisement (406) can be provided by making a selection based on the data. it can.

The subscriber management table is, for example, a CATV
This is a table for managing the subscribers registered in the station, and holds information as shown in FIG. User ID (601)
Is a code for identifying a subscriber, and a unique value is given to all the subscribers. The contract content (602) is information used for determining a usage fee by subscribing to a program to be viewed, and a normal usage fee is calculated based on this information.
In addition to the above, the usage fee includes a pay-per-view which is charged each time a program is viewed, but is omitted because it is not directly related to the present invention. The address (603) holds the address of the subscriber. Since it is necessary to charge a usage fee for an interactive television, the address may be considered as a mandatory item. The family structure (604) holds information such as the subscriber's family and cohabitants. Services that use this information to customize ads include, for example, intensive advertising in areas close to the area where the advertiser ’s business is located, or based on the age and gender targeted by the advertiser, The probability of advertising can be changed depending on the family structure.

Next, a description will be given of a service for obtaining the analysis result of the preference of the subscriber based on the reference history of the advertisement and providing the result to the advertiser. Although the reference history analysis of the advertisement has already been performed by an advertisement system or the like on the Internet, the analysis result (410) of the reference history in the present system does not merely provide and analyze the number of times of reference for each advertisement, but subscribes. Information (405) of the subscriber held by the user management system (404)
The analysis can be performed in association with. For example, by analyzing the reference distribution of each region by the data of the subscriber's address and the number of references, or by the data of the age and the number of references of the subscriber,
Analyzing the age-specific reference distribution can be performed without using a special questionnaire or the like. By providing such an analysis result to the advertiser (409), the advertising effect of the advertisement can be appealed, and it is expected that a store or the like that separately conducted a questionnaire or the like newly registers as an advertiser.

Finally, there is provided a service in which the number of times the advertisement is referenced is reflected as a discount on the usage charge of the subscriber. Subscribers (40
When 1) references the advertisement (402), the advertisement system for interactive television (403) receives it,
Return personalized ads. At this time, the number of times of reference is held for each subscriber. Then, when the subscriber is charged for the usage fee at the end of the month or the like, the subscriber management system (404) is notified of a discount according to the number of times of reference (407). Subscriber management system (404)
Then, based on the notified amount, the subscriber (401) is charged (408) for a usage fee discounted from the normal usage fee. This service aims to increase the number of referrals to advertisements by advertising the effect of discounting fees, in a way that users can understand intuitively.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing the overall system configuration of the present invention. The interactive television advertisement system is roughly divided into three modules: an advertisement selection (501) module for personal use, a preference analysis (502) module, and a discount rate notification (503) module. These correspond to the three services described in FIG. 4, respectively. In this system, the advertisement table (50
4), a reference history table (505), and an analysis result table (506) are used. As described above, the subscriber management table (50) of the subscriber management system is used.
Also refer to the information of 7).

Advertisement selection module for individual (501)
Is a module for a service that reflects subscriber information in the selection conditions of an advertisement. When the subscriber (508) tries to refer to the advertisement column, the advertisement request and the user ID are transmitted from the subscriber terminal to the individual advertisement selection module (501).
Sent to. This user ID corresponds to the user ID in the subscriber management table (507). In other words, the advertisement selection module for individuals (501)
By receiving D, it is possible to recognize who has requested the advertisement. Upon receiving the advertisement request and the user ID, the individual advertisement selection module (501) acquires personal information such as an address and a family structure from the subscriber management table (507) using the user ID as a key.

Next, the advertisement table (504) is accessed to acquire registered advertisement information. FIG. 7 shows the configuration of the advertisement table. The advertisement ID (701) gives a unique value to each advertisement and is used when specifying an advertisement. The target area (702) is mainly used for narrowing down by the advertiser's intention to advertise to the subscribers in the area. As for the target age (703), similarly to the target area, the will of the advertiser who wants to advertise to that age group is mainly used for narrowing down. The viewing restriction condition (704) is different from the target area and the target age. If the condition is not satisfied, the advertisement is not selected. The category (705) stores the category of the advertisement, and is used when selecting an advertisement reflecting data for analyzing the preference and the result of the preference analysis. Advertisement data (706) is stored together with such information as character or image data. Using the advertisement data, matching is performed with the personal information of the subscriber, and a score is set so that the score of the advertisement that matches the personal information most frequently becomes high.

Next, a preference analysis module (50) to be described later
The personal preference analysis result generated in 2) is acquired. Specifically, the preference analysis results hold categories in which individual preferences strongly appear. For the advertisement matched by the personal information in the subscriber management table, the category is further matched with the category of the result of the preference analysis and scored.
The selection probabilities are assigned so that the scores obtained by these two types of matching are easily selected in descending order. It is considered that there are many zero-point advertisements in scoring, but even in such a case, the probability of selection should not be 0%. That is, the role of this module is to assist in making it easier to select an advertisement that meets the conditions, and to prevent a situation where a specific advertisement is always displayed. However, advertisements that do not satisfy the viewing restriction condition (704) specified in the advertisement table are excluded, and the selection probability is set to 0%.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart of the processing of the individual advertisement selection module. Advertisement request from subscriber and user I
The personalized advertisement selection module that has obtained D requests the subscriber's personal information from the subscriber management system, and obtains the subscriber management table using the user ID as a key (100).
1) Yes. The subscriber management table contains the user I of the subscriber.
For each D, data of an address, a family structure, and viewing restriction conditions are stored. Further, it requests the preference analysis result data to the preference analysis module, and acquires the analysis result table using the user ID as a key (1002).

In the analysis result table, for each user ID,
Contains the category of the ad and the number of referrals. Using these two tables, matching with the attribute of the advertisement is performed. First, one advertisement table is acquired (1003), and matching with the subscriber management table is performed (1005). FIG. 11 shows the flow of the matching process with the subscriber management table. In matching, the viewing restriction condition is different from other conditions, and it is necessary to prevent selection if the condition is not cleared. Therefore, first, the viewing restriction condition is checked (1101). The following processing is performed only when the condition is cleared (1102). If not, set the score of the ad to a negative value (11
12) Put it. This is because when the selection probability of the advertisement is obtained later, if the score is negative, it cannot be unconditionally selected as 0%. If you clear the conditions,
The address of the subscriber and the target area of the advertisement are compared (1103). If the address is within the same area (1104), a score is added to the advertisement (1105).

Next, the age of the subscriber and the target age of the advertisement are compared (1106). If the age is within the target age range (1107), the score is added to the advertisement (1108). Similarly, the age of the subscriber's family is compared with the target age of the advertisement (11).
09), and if it is within the target age range (1110), the score is added to the advertisement (1111). The points added for each check need not all be the same. Rather, it is considered that a more natural matching result can be obtained by appropriately weighting each. For example, by making the matching result based on the age of the subscriber himself higher than the matching result for the age of the family,
The preference of the subscriber himself appears strongly. Next, matching (1006) with the analysis result table (506) is performed. FIG. 12 shows the flow of the matching process with the analysis result table. The matching process with the analysis result table
The category of the analysis result table is compared with the category of the advertisement (1201), and when the category is the same (1202), the score of the advertisement is simply added. In other words, this is a process for making it easier to select an advertisement of a category considered to be a favorite of the subscriber. The above matching process is repeated until the next advertisement table is acquired (1007) and there are no more advertisements (1004). At this point, scoring is performed for all advertisements, and data in a state where the score of the advertisement matching the condition is higher than that of the advertisement is completed. The selection probability is set based on this score (100
8) Then, an advertisement with a higher score is more easily selected.

FIG. 13 shows a flow of a process for setting the selection probability. For the advertisements scored in the matching process, the total score of all the advertisements is obtained (1301), and the lowest score other than zero is added to the total score (1302). For example, when the score of the advertisement is advertisement A = 10 points, advertisement B = 6 points, advertisement C =
Assuming that there are 5 points, 2 points, advertisement D = 0 points, and advertisement E = 0 points, the total point is (10 + 6 + 2) +2 points, which is 20 points. The lowest score added later is the probability of selecting a zero-point advertisement. In other words, when the score is not the zero point (1303), “the selection probability of the advertisement = the score of the advertisement / the total score” (1
304), the score is zero (1303), and if the score is zero (1303), "the selection probability of the advertisement = (lowest score / total score)"
÷ The number of zero-point advertisements. Explaining in the previous example, since the advertisement A is not a zero point, 10 ÷ 20 = 0.5, and the selection probability is 50%. Since the advertisement D is a zero point, using the lowest two points, (2 ÷ 20) ÷ 2 = 0.05 and the selection probability is 5%
Can be obtained. After that, the advertisement is randomly selected in consideration of the set selection probability (1009).
Then, the selected advertisement is returned to the subscriber (1010). The point of this method is that filtering is performed by the subscriber management table (507) before filtering is performed by the analysis result table (506). That is, it is possible to add filtering that reflects an advertiser's intention, such as providing advertisements intensively in a certain region or age group, as well as individual preferences.

Referring to FIG. 14, the operation of the individual advertisement selection module (501) as a whole will be described with reference to an example.
The advertisement table (1401) contains the current banner001 (14
02), banner002 (1403), banner003 (140
4) The three advertisements are registered. Subscribers (140
5) When "user001" attempts to display a page with an advertisement, a request for an advertisement and a user ID are sent to the personal advertisement system (1406). User ID
When the user management table (1407) is searched for “user001”, “address is A city” “family composition is 33 years old, wife 28
Age, child 5 years old "(1
408). The value of this subscriber management table is matched with the attribute of each advertisement (1409). First, check that the parental control conditions have been cleared.
4) is intended for those under the age of 19, and since the 33-year-old subscriber does not meet the conditions, the score is set to -10 and excluded from the following matching targets. In the target area, a score of banner001 (1402) targeting "A city" is obtained. Here, it is assumed that 10 points have been added. Next, at the target age, since the subscriber himself is 33 years old, banner001 (140
2) and banner002 (1403) are scored. This is also 1
Assume that 0 points have been added.

Finally, it is checked whether or not the target age matches in the family. Since the subscriber's wife is 28 years old, the condition satisfies the condition of banner001 (1402). Since this condition does not match the condition of the subscriber, the score is reduced and five points are added. Up to this point, banner001 has 25 points, banner002 has 10 points, and bann
er003 scored -10. Next, matching with the analysis result table is performed (1410). Analysis result table (1412) for preference analysis module (1411)
Request. The table states that the subscriber's favorite category is "movie". Therefore banner001
(1402) matches. In this example, 15 points are added so that personal preferences appear more strongly. As a result, banner001 is 40 points. The advertisement selection probability is set for the advertisement scored by the above processing (14).
13). First of all, banner003 is not eligible because the score is a negative value. Therefore, the total score of banner001 and banner002 is 50 points. In the example, since there is no advertisement of zero, each score is divided by the total score, and banner001 is 8
0% and banner002 are set to 20%. Thereafter, the advertisement is randomly selected with this probability and the advertisement is returned to the subscriber (1414). Of course, banner001 is often selected, and then banner002, and banner003 is not selected. This scoring is just an example,
If it is desired to output many advertisements with a strong regional color, the characteristics of each broadcasting station can be output by customizing such as increasing the number of matching points in the target area.

The preference analysis module (502) is a module for obtaining an analysis result of the preference of the subscriber based on the reference history of the advertisement. The preference analysis module (502) has two main functions. One is the function of personal preference analysis, and the other is the analysis function for advertisers.

The personal preference analysis function updates the reference history table (505) each time an advertisement is referenced. FIG. 8 shows the configuration of the reference history table. The advertisement ID (801) is the ID of the advertisement selected by the individual advertisement selection module (501), and corresponds to the advertisement ID in the advertisement table (504). The user ID (802) is sent from the subscriber (508) and is stored in the subscriber management table (507).
Corresponding to the user ID. The reference count is (803)
Is the advertisement corresponding to the advertisement ID (801) and the user ID
The number of times the subscriber corresponding to (802) has referred to is stored. Each time the subscriber views the advertisement, the value here is counted up. Next, the advertisement ID of the referred advertisement (80
The advertisement table (504) is acquired using 1) as a key.

Then, the user ID (802), the category in the advertisement table (504), and the number of times of reference are associated with each other and stored in the analysis result table (506). FIG. 9 shows the configuration of the analysis result table. User ID (90
1) indicates the user ID (802) of the reference history table,
For the category (902), the one in the advertisement table (504) is used as it is. Then, the number of times that the subscriber corresponding to the user ID (901) has referred to the advertisement of the type shown in the category (902) is stored in the number of times of reference (903).
Reference count (903) of this analysis result table (506)
Are determined to be closer to the user's preference in the descending order. The analysis function for the advertiser is a function for periodically analyzing the reference history table (505) about once a month and providing the result to the advertiser. In this embodiment, the number of references by advertisement, the number of references by category, and the number of references by region are obtained. The reference count for each advertisement determines how many times the advertisement provided by each advertiser has been referred to. The number of times of reference for each category is used to determine how many times an advertisement of which category is referred to for all advertisements. The regional reference count determines how many times and in which regions the advertisement provided by each advertiser is referred.
Of these, the number of times of reference by region is shown in the subscriber management table (50
7) is an analysis result that is characteristic of the present invention using the address information of 7). FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram showing the flow of the reference history update process. In order to analyze the subscriber's preference, it is necessary to save which advertisement the subscriber has referred to as a history. The preference analysis module automatically saves the information in the reference history table (505) each time it is called from the individual advertisement selection module (501). First, a reference history table is acquired using the advertisement ID and the user ID as keys (1501), and 1 is added to the number of times of reference to update and register the reference history (1502).

Next, the advertisement table (504) is acquired (1503) using the advertisement ID of the referred advertisement as a key, and the category of the advertisement table is checked. Then, an analysis result table is obtained using the user ID and the category as keys (1504).
Then, the analysis result table is updated and registered (1505) by adding 1 to the reference count. If only the history is to be obtained, the processing is completed here. Thereafter, every time it is called from the individual advertisement selection module (501), it is inefficient to acquire data with the maximum number of references to the analysis result table (506). . One analysis result is acquired using the user ID as a key (1506), and the analysis result table with the maximum number of references at that time is held (1508). Then, the next analysis result table is obtained (1509), and the process is repeated until there is no more analysis result (1507). The analysis result table with the maximum number of times of reference obtained in this way is separately stored (1510) as a value to be returned to the individual advertisement selection module.

FIG. 16 shows a preference analysis module (502).
3 is a flowchart of a process of outputting preference analysis results for advertisers. The preference analysis for the advertiser is not a process executed at any time by the operation of the subscriber as in the reference history update process of FIG. 15, but is a process of analyzing in the background every month or year. Therefore, depending on the request of the advertiser, a complicated analysis combining a plurality of conditions may be performed. Here, simply, a process of calculating the total number of times of reference for each of various conditions is performed. First, the reference history table is acquired (1601), and the total number of times of reference is counted for each advertisement ID (1603). Then, an advertisement table is acquired using the advertisement ID as a key (1604), the category of the advertisement is checked, and the number of references is counted for each category (1605). Next, the subscriber management table is acquired using the user ID as a key (1606), and the number of references is counted for each address of the user (1607), and the number of references is counted for each age of the user (1608). The next reference history table is acquired (1609), and is repeated until there is no reference history (1602). After that, sorting (1610) according to the number of times of reference and outputting each of them (1611)
１６1614) to the advertiser. The point here is that the subscriber management table is acquired (1606) and a detailed analysis including personal information such as a reference distribution by area and a distribution by age is possible.

FIG. 17 is an output example of the analysis result shown in FIG. The preference analysis result for each advertisement (1701) obtained by the processing of (1611) provides individual information for each advertiser (1702). As the analysis result information, the total number of times of reference is output for each advertisement registered by the advertiser (1703). In addition, the total number of times of reference for each address according to (1613) and the total number of times of reference for each year and zero according to (1614) are output (1704) (1705). In the preference analysis result by category (1706) output in (1612), it is considered that the information for all advertisements is more effective information for the advertiser as shown in the figure (1).
707).

The discount charge notification module (503) is a module for a service that reflects the number of times the advertisement has been referred to as a subscriber charge discount. In the subscriber management system, the usage fee is calculated (510) with reference to the contract contents in the subscriber management table (507). Usually, this usage fee is charged to the subscriber (508) as it is. The discount fee notification module (503) sends the discount fee calculated based on the reference history table (505) to the subscriber management system. Notify and reduce the usage fee (51
1) Processing. FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram showing the flow of the discount fee notification process. In this process, the total number of times the subscriber has referred to the advertisement is obtained based on the reference history table, and this is reflected in the form of a discount on the usage fee. (1801)
In the processing of (1804), the reference history table is searched based on the user ID of the subscriber, and the total number of reference times of the advertisement is obtained. Then, a discount fee is calculated based on the total number of times of reference of the advertisement (1805). The actual discount rate is set according to the number of subscribers of the broadcasting station to which the present system is introduced and the audience rating, and can be freely set by the broadcasting station. Next, the subscriber management system is inquired about the subscription fee of the subscriber (1806), and the amount of the subscription fee is acquired. This is for checking the upper limit of the discounted fee in (1807), because if the number of times of viewing the advertisement is changed to the discounted price as it is, the subscription fee may be reduced depending on the number of times the advertisement is referenced.
If the discount charge exceeds the upper limit, the discount charge is set to the upper limit (1808). The determined discount fee is notified to the subscriber management system (1809), and this process is performed for all subscribers (1810).

The operation of the discount charge notification module (503) as a whole will be described with reference to FIG. The processing of the discount charge notification module (1901) is performed based on the reference history table (1902) as periodic processing such as once a month. In the figure, the subscribers whose user ID is user001 are banner001 (1903) and banner002 (190
4) The history referring to banner003 (1905) is held. When the processing is performed in accordance with the flow of FIG. 18, first, the total number of times of reference of all advertisements is obtained for the subscriber whose user ID is user001 (1801-1804). In the example,
20 + 16 + 34 = 70 times (1906). The discount fee is calculated based on the total number of times (1907). The calculation method is determined as the service content of each broadcasting station. Here, it is assumed that the service is “10% discount for every reference to the advertisement 20 times. The maximum discount is 800 yen”. Then the fee is 70 times 20 times = 3.
At 5, round down to 3 discounts. Here, the subscriber management system is inquired about the pre-discount subscription fee (1).
805).

In the subscriber management system, the subscription fee is calculated with reference to the contract contents in the subscriber management table (1909). In this example, the normal contract is 3000 yen (1
910), and return the value to the discount rate notification module. Since the discount was calculated earlier, the discount rate is 3 ×
(3000 × 0.1) is 900 yen (1907).
Subsequently, when the discount limit is checked (1908),
Since this value exceeds the upper limit, (1807), (1
According to the processing of 808), the discount fee is determined to be 800 yen.
This discount amount is sent to the subscription fee discount processing of the subscriber management system (1809). However, as described above, the subscriber management system has processing related to the addition of a fee for charging the Internet. Is already provided.
Therefore, the notification from the present system is processed as "addition of -800 yen", not "800 yen discount".
Then, a discounted fee of 2200 yen (1911) is charged to the subscriber (1912).

[0042]

According to the present invention, when an electronic advertisement of characters and images on an interactive television is provided to a subscriber, not only the preference of the subscriber but also the intention of the advertiser are included to increase the selection probability. It can be set. You can also set parental controls for your ads,
Depending on the personal information of the user, it is possible to prevent the selection.

Further, according to the present invention, when performing the analysis based on the reference history of the advertisement as the information of the effect of the electronic advertisement, the analysis including the personal information of the subscriber can be performed.
In other words, it is possible to incorporate information on the address of the subscriber, age, family structure, and the like into the distribution of the number of times the advertisement is referred.

Further, according to the present invention, a service in which the usage fee is discounted by allowing the user to refer to the electronic advertisement of characters and images on the interactive television is made possible. That is, it is expected that the number of times the user refers to the advertisement will increase because the user can easily understand the effect.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a configuration of an interactive television.

FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a result when an interactive television advertisement system is applied.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration when a billing process is integrated with a subscriber management system.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a service when cooperating with a subscriber management system.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing an overall configuration of an interactive television advertisement system.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a subscriber management table.

FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of an advertisement table.

FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a reference history table.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of an analysis result table.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a processing flow of an individual advertisement selection module.

FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing a flow of a matching process with a subscriber management table.

FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram showing a flow of a matching process with an analysis result table.

FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a flow of a selection probability setting process.

FIG. 14 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of processing of an individual advertisement selection module.

FIG. 15 is an explanatory diagram showing a flow of a reference history update process.

FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram showing a flow of an advertisement preference analysis result output process.

FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram showing an output example of an advertisement preference analysis result.

FIG. 18 is an explanatory diagram showing a flow of a discount charge notification module.

FIG. 19 is an explanatory diagram showing an example regarding processing of a discount charge notification module.

[Explanation of symbols]

101: video, 102: ground wave, satellite, CATV network, 1
03: User terminal, 104: Broadcast, 105: Text, image, 106: Server, 107: Communication line, 108: Two-way communication, 201: CATV station, 202: Subscriber management system, 203: Usage charge accounting process, 204: billing process of usage fee, 205: subscriber, 206: billing of usage fee, 2
07 ... Advertising system for interactive television (ITV), 208 ... Advertising fee billing process, 209 ... Advertising fee billing process, 210 ... Advertiser, 211 ... Advertising fee billing, 3
01 ... Advertising system for interactive television (ITV), 302 ... Subscriber management system, 303 ... Subscriber information, 304 ... Advertisement fee notification, 305 ... Advertisement fee accounting process, 306 ... Billing process, 307 ... Usage fee accounting process ,
308 ... Advertiser, 309 ... Advertisement charge, 310 ... Subscriber, 311 ... Use charge, 401 ... Subscriber, 40
2. Reference of advertisement, 403: advertisement system for interactive television, 404: subscriber management system, 405
Acquisition of subscriber management table, 406: advertisement customized for personal use, 407: notification of discount according to reference count,
408: Request for discounted usage fee, 409: Advertiser, 4
10: analysis result of reference history, 501: advertisement selection module for individuals, 502: preference analysis module, 503: discount charge notification module, 504: advertisement table, 505
... Reference history table, 506 ... Analysis result table, 50
7 Subscriber management table 508 Subscriber 509 Advertiser 510 Usage fee calculation process 511 Usage fee discount process 601 User ID 602 Contract details 60
3 ... address, 604 ... family composition, 701 ... advertisement ID, 70
2 ... target area, 703 ... target age, 704 ... viewing restriction condition, 705 ... category, 706 ... advertisement data, 801 ...
Advertising ID, 802: User ID, 803: Reference frequency, 9
01: User ID, 902: Category, 903: Reference count, 1001: Subscriber management table acquisition processing, 1002
... preference analysis result acquisition processing, 1003 ... advertisement table acquisition processing, 1004 ... advertisement table existence check, 1005
... matching process with subscriber management table, 1006 ...
Matching processing with analysis result table, 1007 ... next advertisement table acquisition processing, 1008 ... selection probability setting processing, 1009 ... advertisement selection processing, 1010 ... reply processing of selected advertisement, 1101 ... viewing restriction check processing, 110
2 ... viewing restriction check result branch processing, 1103 ... comparison processing of target areas, 1104 ... identical area check processing, 11
05 ... Advertisement score addition processing 1106 ... Target age comparison processing 1107 ... Target age range check processing 1108
... Advertisement score addition processing, 1109 ... Family target age comparison processing, 1110 ... Family target age range check processing, 1
111 ... Advertisement score addition processing, 1112 ... Process to make the advertisement score a negative value, 1201 ... Category comparison processing, 12
02: Same category check; 1203: Advertisement score addition processing; 1301: Advertisement score total processing; 1302: Lowest non-zero point addition processing; 1303: Zero point check;
304: selection probability setting processing when the point is not zero, 1305
... Selection probability setting processing at the time of zero point, 1401 advertisement table, 1402 advertisement banner001, 1403 advertisement banne
r002, 1404… Advertising banner003, 1405… Subscriber,
1406: advertisement request and user ID, 1407: subscriber management table, 1408: information of subscriber user001, 14
09 ... matching with the subscriber management table, 1410 ...
Matching with analysis result table, 1411 ... preference analysis module, 1412 ... analysis result table, 1413 ...
Setting of selection probability, 1414 ... Advertisement reply, 1501 ... Reference table acquisition processing, 1502 ... Reference history table update processing, 1503 ... Advertisement table acquisition processing, 150
4 ... Analysis result table acquisition processing, 1505 ... Analysis result table update processing, 1506 ... Analysis result table acquisition processing, 1507 ... Analysis result table existence check,
1508: processing for holding the maximum value of the number of times of reference, 1509: processing for acquiring the next analysis result table, 1510: processing for holding the most referenced table, 1601: processing for obtaining the reference history table, 1602: check for the presence of the reference history table, 1603: total number of reference counts by advertisement, 1604: total number of reference counts by advertisement, 1605: total number of reference times by category, 1606: total number of reference counts by subscriber, 16
07: total number of times of reference by address, 1608: total number of times of reference by age, 1609: processing of acquiring the next reference history table, 1610: total number of times of reference, 1611: output processing of total number of times of reference by advertisement, 1612: category Output processing of total number of reference times by reference 1613: Output processing of total number of reference times by address 1614: Output processing of total number of reference times by age 1701 ... Preference analysis result by advertisement 1702 ... Advertiser to be analyzed 1703 Advertiser ID, 1704: distribution by region, 1705: distribution by age, 1706: result of preference analysis by category, 1707: reference count by category, 1801
... Reference log table acquisition processing, 1802... Reference history presence / absence check processing, 1803...
05: subscription fee inquiry process, 1806: discount fee calculation process, 1807: discount amount upper limit value check process, 1
808: discount price upper limit substitution process, 1809: discount fee notification process, 1810: all user end check process, 1
901: discount rate notification module, 1902: reference history table, 1903: reference history of advertisement banner001, 19
04… Reference history of advertisement banner002, 1905… Advertisement banne
Reference history of r003, 1906 ... Total number of references, 1907 ...
Calculation of discount fee, 1908 ... Check of discount limit, 190
9: subscriber management table, 1910: subscription fee calculation process, 1911: subscription fee discount process, 1912: subscriber.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Akira Tanaka 1099 Ozenji Temple, Aso-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture Inside System Development Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd. (72) Inventor Hiroyuki Sato 4-6-6 Kanda Surugadai Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Stock 5C064 BA01 BB01 BC01 BC18 BD03 BD08 BD14

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. An advertisement system for adding an electronic advertisement on a television having interactive properties, comprising means for integrating a process of charging an advertisement fee to an advertiser with a process of charging a usage fee of a subscriber.