JP2001290905A - Vote totalizing method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a vote totalizing method which uses a communication network like the Internet and has a high utility value. SOLUTION: Information of vote objects is held in a server, and authentication information is checked to discriminate whether a user operating an information terminal is a legal voter or not; and if this user is a legal voter, information of a specific home page required for voting is provided for the information terminal of this user, and the user is permitted to vote, and one or more predetermined vote inputs of only the user permitted to use are accepted, and it is discriminated whether the number of vote inputs accepted from each user is equal to or smaller number than a previously permitted number of times or not. If it is equal to or smaller than the previously permitted number of times, the number of votes obtained of a specific vote object which is held in the server is updated in accordance with a pertinent vote input; and when it is a predetermined vote closing date, acceptance of vote is terminated, and a vote result is specified in accordance with the number of votes obtained of each vote object which the server holds, to output information on the vote result.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a voting method for voting using an arbitrary information terminal connected to a communication network.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art For example, contests in which a large number of works (texts, paintings, music, etc.) applied in advance are evaluated and awards are given to works with excellent evaluation results are held in various places. . In such contests, applications and notices of results are generally sent by mail, and the actual judgment is made by the evaluation of a specific judge such as an expert.

[0003] Recently, communication networks such as mobile phones and the Internet have rapidly become widespread. However, there is not yet a suitable technology as a method of counting votes using such a communication network.

[0004]

[Problems to be Solved by the Invention] When conducting an evaluation in a contest or the like, there is a possibility that some people may be dissatisfied with the result of the examination because, for example, only a small number of persons are to be examined. high. Moreover, if the details of the examination are not disclosed, it is not possible to check whether or not a legitimate evaluation has been made.

[0005] Further, since applications and results are notified by mail, it takes a long time to transmit information, and it is difficult to shorten the application period. Also, since there are many manual operations, the economic burden is large. In addition, for example, when voting in various elections, each voter needs to visit a predetermined polling place, which is very troublesome. In addition, usually, after voting is closed, counting will be started and counting will be started, so if many people participate in voting, it will be possible to predict the voting result long after the voting is closed. After the time has passed.

[0006] It is an object of the present invention to provide a voting and counting method with high use value using a communication network such as the Internet.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a voting method for voting for a voting object assigned to a specific server connected to a communication network by an input from an arbitrary information terminal connected to the communication network. A vote counting method for counting the results of voting, wherein one or more pieces of information on voting objects are held in the server, and authentication information individually assigned in advance to each voter is checked to operate the information terminal. Identify whether the user is a legitimate voter, and if the user is deemed to be a legitimate voter, provide the information on the specific website required for voting to the user's information terminal and The system allows a user to vote, receives one or more predetermined voting inputs for the users who have permitted the voting, and identifies whether the number of voting inputs received from each user is within a predetermined number of times. , Each interest If the voting input received from the player is within the number of times permitted in advance, the server updates the number of votes for the specific voting object held by the server according to the voting input, and when the predetermined voting deadline comes, And ending voting, identifying the voting result from the number of votes for each voting object held by the server, and outputting information on the voting result.

[0008] In the first aspect of the present invention, the information to be voted is held in the server. When voting, the user accesses a specific homepage prepared in advance for voting and performs voting. When accessing a home page for voting, authentication information assigned individually to each voter in advance is checked to determine whether the user is a valid voter. If the user is a valid voter, the user can access the home page.

Further, in order to prevent the same voter from repetitively voting, the number of times of voting input by the same voter is checked. For example, when only one voting right is given to one voter, only one voting input is valid for the same voter. That is, the server updates the specific number of votes held by the server for only one vote. When the voting deadline comes, the voting is terminated, the voting result is specified from the number of votes for each voting object held by the server, and information on the voting result is output.

According to the first aspect, voting by input from a personal computer, a mobile phone, or the like can be realized using a communication network. In addition, since the authentication information is checked to prohibit anyone other than the user who has been registered in advance from accessing the voting homepage, it is possible to prevent hackers and the like who are foolish or malicious from participating in the voting. Furthermore, since the vote input of the same voter becomes invalid when the number of times permitted is exceeded, a highly reliable vote result is obtained.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the voting tallying method of the first aspect, when the number of votes of a specific voting object held by the server is updated in accordance with a voting input, a specific homepage displaying a voting status is displayed. Is characterized by reflecting the actual number of votes. In claim 2, when the voting is executed and the number of votes of each voting object changes, the result is reflected on the display contents of the voting status home page.
For this reason, even before the voting is closed, the latest number of votes obtained at each time can be grasped in real time from the display contents of the homepage.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the voting method according to the first aspect, prior to the start of the voting, application information transmitted from the information terminal of each user is accepted by a specific server as a candidate for voting, and all the accepted information is received. The application information of a part selected from the application information is set as a voting object. In claim 3, information transmitted from a large number of applicants as application information is used as a candidate for voting. The received application information will be reviewed as needed,
Only a part of the selected application information is determined as a voting object. Therefore, it can be used when conducting various contests.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the vote counting method of the third aspect, at the time of authentication for voting, the first authentication information included in the application information transmitted from the information terminal of each user, and the application information The authentication is performed using a combination with the second authentication information individually assigned to each user by the server at the time of receiving the request. In claim 4, since the first authentication information and the second authentication information are determined at the time of application, the voter can be limited to only the applicant.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the voting and counting method of the third aspect, the actual total number of applications is reflected on the display contents of a specific homepage for displaying the application status. In claim 5, by accessing the homepage of the application status, the user can browse the current total number of applications in real time. A sixth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that, in the voting tallying method of the third aspect, a numerical value calculated from the actual total number of applications is reflected on the display content of a specific homepage displaying the application status.

According to the sixth aspect, by accessing the homepage of the application status, the user can browse in real time the numerical value (for example, the total prize amount) calculated from the current total application number.

[0016]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS One embodiment of a vote counting method according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. This form corresponds to all claims.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing a voting process sequence. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the sequence of the application process. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a system used in this embodiment. Figure 4 is the application reception HP
It is a front view showing the example of a display of (homepage: the same hereafter). FIG. 5 is a front view showing a display example of an application form.
FIG. 6 is a front view showing a display example of the reception completion screen. FIG.
13 is a front view showing a display example of the authentication screen of the voting reception HP. FIG. FIG. 8 is a front view showing a display example of the voting reception HP.

In this example, as shown in FIG. 3, an HP provided to the user by a server 17 connected to the Internet 13 automatically receives an application from the user and performs voting and counting automatically. The user can access the HP provided by the server 17 by connecting the personal computer 11 to the Internet provider 12 via a telephone line, for example. When the base station 15 that communicates with a mobile terminal such as the mobile phone 14 can be connected to the Internet provider 16, the base station 1
5 and the Internet provider 16 via the Internet provider 16 to access the HP provided by the server 17.

In this example, a server 17 has a homepage DB (database: the same applies hereinafter) 18, an application receiving system 19, a voting tallying system 20, and an application information DB 21.
And a voting target DB 22. Homepage D
B18 holds information of various homepages. The application receiving system 19 has a function of processing an application from a user. The vote counting system 20 has a function of processing votes from users.

Information obtained in the server 17 by application of many users is stored in the application information DB 21. After the application is closed, a primary examination is performed on each application content stored in the application information DB 21 and a part of the application is selected as a winning work. This primary examination may be evaluated by a specific person in a public organization, for example. However, if screening can be performed mechanically by a specific screening algorithm, the primary screening may be automated.

The winning works selected as a result of the primary examination (for example, the top 10 works) are extracted from the application information DB 21 as voting targets and stored in the voting target DB 22. A specific example in the case of recruiting works using the communication network shown in FIG. 3 will be described below. In the example of FIG.
Shows a case of recruiting works related to “E-mail contest”.

In this "E-mail contest",
It is intended to recruit memorable sentences selected from among e-mails sent or received by each user in the past. When this “e-mail contest” is held, a certain participation fee is collected from each applicant and used as the contest holding cost. An amount obtained by subtracting a predetermined operation cost from the holding cost is given to the winner of the contest as a prize. For example, if the total number of applications is less than 5000, 35% of the holding cost is set as the operating cost, and the ratio of the operating cost is reduced as the total number of applications increases. Also, the prize money increases as the total number of applications increases.

The application reception HP 30 shown in FIG. 4 describes the application qualification, application method, application period, participation cost, voting date, prize money determination method, operation cost, examination method, and presentation method. . In addition, an application reception counter 30 shown in FIG.
2 and a link 33 to the application form. The application total counter 31 displays the current application total in real time. The prize amount display section 32 displays the current prize amount in real time.

When each user applies, the sequence shown in FIG. 2 is executed under the control of the application receiving system 19. The contents of FIG. 2 will be described below. The user designates the address to access the application acceptance HP 30 in the first step S10. Application reception HP3
When there is an access to 0, the application reception system 19 proceeds from step S20 to S21, and transmits information on the application reception HP 30 to the user terminal. Accordingly, the contents of the application acceptance HP 30 are displayed on the user terminal in step S11 as shown in FIG.

After browsing the contents of the application acceptance HP 30, the user clicks a link 33 (“application” in FIG. 4) to an application form for application in step S 12. As a result, the application form 40 assigned to the lower hierarchy of the application reception HP 30 is called. That is, the application receiving system 19 transmits the information of the application form 40 shown in FIG. 5 to the user terminal in step S22.

The application form 40 includes a password input section 41, an application content input section 42, and a transmission section 43 as shown in FIG. Since this is displayed on the user's terminal, the user makes an input in step S13. That is, the user inputs a password determined by himself / herself into the password input unit 41, and the application content input unit 42
Enter the content of the email text. When the input is completed, the transmitting unit 43 is clicked, and the input content is transmitted to the application form 40.

When receiving the contents of the application form 40, that is, the application information from the user in step S23, the application receiving system 19 registers it in the application information DB 21 and proceeds to step S24.

In step S24, a different access number is generated for each application, and information on the reception completion screen 50 including the access number is transmitted to the user terminal. Step S1
In 4, the reception completion screen 50 shown in FIG. 6 is displayed on the user's terminal, so that the content is browsed and the access number displayed on the access number display 51 is obtained.

Further, the application receiving system 19 totalizes the application status up to the present in step S25. actually,
Calculate the total number of applications, total participation costs, operating expenses and prize money. The total participation fee is obtained by multiplying the participation fee by the total number of applications. The operating expenses are calculated by multiplying the total cost of participation by the expense ratio according to the total number of applications. The prize amount is calculated as a result of subtracting the operating expenses from the total participation cost.

In step S26, the result of the tally is reflected on the display contents of the application receiving HP 30. That is, the display contents of the total application counter 31 and the prize amount display unit 32 of the application reception HP 30 are automatically updated to the latest total result. Therefore, an applicant who repeatedly browses the application reception HP 30 in step S15 can see the display contents of the total application counter 31 and the prize amount display unit 32 changing almost in real time.

When a large number of users perform the above-described procedures using the personal computer 11 or the mobile phone 14, a large number of pieces of application information are accumulated in the application information DB 21. A primary examination is performed on the application information, and the selected application information is stored in the voting target DB 22. In this example, all applicants vote for works of each application information that passed the primary examination. As a result of the voting, the work with the largest number of votes is determined as the winning work, and a prize is given. In this example, each applicant is given one access number as a voting right for each work that he has applied for. In other words, one voting right is given to an applicant who applied for one work.

When voting, each applicant accesses the server 17 connected to the Internet 13 using the personal computer 11 or the mobile phone 14. At a predetermined voting date and time, access to the voting reception HP 70 of FIG. The sequence of the voting process is performed according to the procedure shown in FIG. The processing of FIG. 1 will be described below. Each voting user attempts access by specifying the address of the voting reception HP 70 in the first step S30.

In order to actually access the voting reception HP 70, it is necessary to perform authentication. Vote counting system 20
If there is an access from the user at a pre-specified voting date and time, S4 is passed through steps S40 and S41.
Proceed to 2. That is, the information of the authentication screen shown in FIG. 7 is transmitted to the user to request the input of the access number and the password.

The user inputs a password and an access number to the password input unit 61 and the access number input unit 62 of the authentication screen shown in FIG. 7 in step S31. The password to be entered here is the password transmitted by the user at the time of application, and the access number to be entered is issued by the application reception system 19 at the time of application and is displayed on the access number display 51 of the reception completion screen 50. Number.

The password and the access number are stored together with the application information in the application information DB 21 for each applicant.
Accordingly, when the user inputs the password and the access number in step S31, the user compares them with the password and the access number in the application information DB 21 to confirm whether the user is a legitimate user who has voting rights. If the password and the access number match, it is determined that the authentication is successful, and the process proceeds from step S42 to S43, where the voting tally system 20 is executed.
Transmits the information of the voting reception HP 70 to the user terminal.

As shown in FIG. 8, the voting reception HP 70 includes a portion for displaying a work number display section 71, a work content 72, a score counter 73, and a voting input section 74 for each of the submitted works selected in the primary examination. Is provided. In the work number display section 71, different numbers assigned to each work are displayed as work numbers. The content 72 of the work is the same as the text input to the application content input section 42 of the application form 40 shown in FIG. 5 when applying for each work.

Since the contents of the voting reception HP 70 are displayed on the user's terminal in step S32, the user can browse works of voting candidates. If the number of works included in the voting reception HP 70 is large, it is only necessary to scroll the screen displayed on the user's terminal and browse each work in order. In this example, the user can vote for the work by clicking on the work number display section 71 or the voting input section 74 associated with each work in step S33. The input is transmitted from the terminal of the user to the vote counting system 20 as voting information.

When detecting the input of voting information, the voting counting system 20 proceeds from step S44 to S45 to check for the presence or absence of duplicate voting. In this example, since one voting right is given for each access number, the access number of the user who entered the voting information in step S33 is checked with reference to the voting information DB 23 to determine whether or not voting has already been performed.

If voting has already been performed, the voting information detected in step S44 is invalidated in order to prevent duplicate voting. When voting information input is detected for an unvoted access number, the voting is accepted. That is, the process proceeds from step S45 to S46, and the voting information D
The voting information of B23 is updated. At the same time, the voting history (voting completed) for the access number is stored in the voting information DB 23.
To record.

The voting information DB 23 holds the number of votes (the initial value is 0) for each work to be voted. In addition, the access number of the voting user is also recorded in the voting information DB 23 as a history. In the next step S47,
Vote reception H to reflect the contents of the updated voting information
Update the contents of P70. That is, the value of the score counter 73 associated with the work having the increased number of votes is updated so as to be the same as the number of votes.

A voter who repeatedly browses the voting reception HP 70 can know in a substantially real-time manner how the number of votes obtained for each work is updated successively. Also, at a predetermined voting deadline, the voting tallying system 20
The process proceeds to S49 through steps S40 and S48. In step S49, voting results are counted and announced. Specifically, the number of votes of each work held in the voting information DB 23 is checked, and the work with the largest number of votes is determined as the winning work. Then, the determined winning work is displayed on a specific website and made public.

Also, the address of the home page displaying the winning work may be assigned to the same address as the voting reception HP 70. In that case, it is possible to control so that the display content of the voting reception HP 70 is automatically switched to a home page displaying the winning work when the voting deadline comes. In this example, the case where only one winning work is determined by voting has been described. However, for example, the top three works with the most votes may be determined and a prize may be given to each work. In addition, works such as paintings, photographs, and music may be assigned as voting targets, or election candidates may be assigned, for example.

Also, in this example, some of the works selected from the submitted works received online are set as voting targets. However, the voting targets are determined only by an offline procedure without using the Internet. , It can be changed so that only the tallying and presentation are performed online.

[0044]

As described above, in the vote counting method of the present invention, voting can be realized by input from a personal computer or a mobile phone using a communication network. In addition, since the authentication information is checked to prohibit anyone other than the user who has been registered in advance from accessing the voting homepage, it is possible to prevent hackers and the like who are foolish or malicious from participating in the voting. Furthermore, since the vote input of the same voter becomes invalid when the number of times permitted is exceeded, a highly reliable vote result is obtained.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing a voting process sequence.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a sequence of an application process.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a system used in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a front view showing a display example of an application reception HP.

FIG. 5 is a front view showing a display example of an application form.

FIG. 6 is a front view showing a display example of a reception completion screen.

FIG. 7 is a front view showing a display example of an authentication screen of a voting reception HP.

FIG. 8 is a front view showing a display example of a voting reception HP.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 Personal computer 12, 16 Internet provider 13 Internet network 14 Mobile telephone 15 Base station 17 Server 18 Homepage DB 19 Application reception system 20 Voting tally system 21 Application information DB 22 Voting object DB 23 Voting information DB 30 Application reception HP 31 Total application counter 32 Prize amount display part 33 Link to application form 40 Application form 41 Password input part 42 Application details input part 43 Transmission part 50 Reception completion screen 51 Access number display 60 Voting reception HP authentication screen 61 Password input part 62 Access number input part 70 Vote reception HP 71 Work number display section 72 Contents of work 73 Score counter 74 Voting input section

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A voting counting method for voting on a voting object assigned to a specific server connected to a communication network by an input from an arbitrary information terminal connected to the communication network and totalizing voting results. Holding at least one voting target information in the server, examining authentication information individually assigned to each voting person in advance, and identifying whether a user operating the information terminal is a valid voting person. If the user is deemed to be a valid voter, provide the information on the specific homepage required for voting to the information terminal of the user and permit the user to vote; One or more predetermined voting inputs for each user, identify whether or not the voting inputs received from each user are within the number of times permitted in advance, and allow the voting inputs received from each user in advance Sa If the number is less than or equal to the number of votes received, the server updates the number of votes for a specific voting object held by the server according to the voting input, and when a predetermined voting deadline comes, the reception of voting is terminated, A voting tallying method characterized by identifying a voting result from the number of votes of each voting object held by a server and outputting information on the voting result. 2. The voting method according to claim 1, wherein when the number of votes of a specific voting object held by said server is updated according to a voting input, an actual content displayed on a specific homepage for displaying voting status is displayed. A method of counting votes, characterized by reflecting the number of votes. 3. The voting method according to claim 1, wherein prior to the start of the voting, application information transmitted from the information terminal of each user is received as a candidate for voting by a specific server, and all the received application information is received. A voting tally method characterized in that a part of application information selected from among the above is set as a voting object. 4. The vote counting method according to claim 3, wherein at the time of authentication for voting, the first authentication information included in the application information transmitted from the information terminal of each user and the reception of the application information A method for counting votes, wherein the server performs authentication using a combination with second authentication information individually assigned to each user by the server. 5. The voting method according to claim 3, wherein the actual total number of applications is reflected in the display contents of a specific homepage for displaying the application status. 6. The voting method according to claim 3, wherein a numerical value calculated from the actual total number of applications is reflected in the display content of a specific homepage for displaying the application status.