JP2002063101A - Electronic information distribution method, electronic information distribution system, and recording medium with electronic information distribution program recorded thereon - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an electronic information distribution system, capable of distributing electronic information provided by an information provider according to the access history of a user who is the target is distribution. SOLUTION: This electronic information distribution system is provided with an electronic post office box set for each user for receiving electronic information; a contents file for registering electronic information to be provided; a contents registering means for receiving the electronic information and the destination of distribution provided from an information provider, and for registering them in the contents file; a history information file for recording a past access history to the electronic post office box; an access monitoring means for monitoring an access operation to the electronic post office box, and for recording the access history in the history information file; and a contents distributing means for distributing the electronic information registered in the contents file to the electronic post office box at the destination of distribution notified from the information provider, by deciding whether the electronic information should be distributed, according to the past access situation to the electronic post office box by referring to the history information file.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an electronic information delivery system for delivering electronic information provided by an information provider according to a past access history, an electronic information delivery method, and a recording medium on which an electronic information delivery program is recorded. .

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Electronic mail has conventionally been known as a method for transmitting and receiving information between users using a computer network. E-mail can be easily sent to anyone who has an e-mail address on the Internet.

[0003] However, the conventional e-mail has a problem in that the sender cannot know whether or not the transmitted e-mail has been received and checked by the destination. In addition, when e-mail is used for direct mail, it is desirable to send it to a person who is interested in the contents of direct mail in order to improve the effect of direct mail for the sender, but e-mail according to the conventional technology is There is also the problem that the person having the predetermined e-mail address must know in advance what kind of content is interested, and the sender must know all the e-mail addresses of the destination in advance. is there.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an electronic information delivery system, an electronic information delivery method, and an electronic information delivery method for delivering electronic information provided by an information provider according to past access history. It is an object to provide a recording medium on which a delivery program is recorded.

[0005]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic information delivery system for delivering electronic information provided by an information provider in accordance with an access history of a delivery destination user. An information delivery system is provided for each user to receive the electronic information, an electronic post office box having a data file, a content file for registering electronic information provided by the information provider, and Receiving the provided electronic information and the delivery destination, and registering the content file with the content registration means; a history information file for recording a past access history to the electronic post-office box; and monitoring an access operation to the electronic post-office box, An access monitoring means for recording an access history in a history information file; and an electronic mail of a delivery destination notified by the information provider. When the electronic information is delivered to the mailbox, it is determined whether or not delivery is to be performed according to the past access status to the electronic post-office box with reference to the history information file, and the delivery is registered in the content file. Content delivery means for delivering electronic information.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, when the electronic information is delivered to the electronic post-office box, the content delivery means determines whether or not delivery is to be performed in accordance with the access history. It is characterized in that it can be selected accordingly.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, when the content delivery means delivers electronic information to the electronic post-office box, the information provider requests whether or not to perform delivery in accordance with the access history. Is selectable according to

The invention according to claim 4 is characterized in that the content delivery means counts the number of the electronic post-office boxes to which the electronic information has been delivered, and notifies the information provider of the counted value. I do.

According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an electronic information distribution method for distributing electronic information provided by an information provider according to an access history of an electronic post-office box possessed by a delivery destination user. The delivery method receives the electronic information and the delivery destination provided by the information provider, and monitors a content registration process of registering the content file and an access operation to the electronic post-office box, and records an access history in a history information file. In the access monitoring step, when delivering the electronic information to the electronic post-office box of the delivery destination notified by the information provider, referring to the history information file and according to the past access status to the electronic post-office box Determining whether or not to deliver, and having a content delivery step of delivering electronic information registered in the content file. And butterflies.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic information delivery method, when the electronic information is delivered to the electronic post-office box, the user desires whether or not to perform delivery in accordance with the access history. Is selectable according to

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the electronic information delivery method, when electronic information is delivered to the electronic post-office box, whether or not delivery is performed according to an access history is determined by the information provider. It can be selected as desired.

[0012] According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic information delivery method, the number of the electronic post-office boxes to which the electronic information has been delivered is counted, and this count value is notified to the information provider. And

According to a ninth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer readable program storing an electronic information distribution program for distributing electronic information provided by an information provider according to an access history of an electronic post-office box possessed by a destination user. A recording medium, wherein the electronic information delivery program receives the electronic information and the delivery destination provided by the information provider, and monitors a content registration process for registering the content file and an access operation to the electronic post-office box, An access monitoring process for recording an access history in a history information file; and, when delivering the electronic information to an electronic post-office box of a delivery destination notified by the information provider, referring to the history information file, Decide whether to deliver according to the past access situation to the PO Box, and register in the content file Characterized in that to perform a content delivery process for delivering the that electronic information to the computer.

According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the electronic information delivery program, when delivering the electronic information to the electronic post-office box, the user may select whether or not to perform delivery in accordance with the access history. Is selectable according to

According to an eleventh aspect of the present invention, when the electronic information delivery program delivers electronic information to the electronic post-office box, the electronic information delivery program determines whether or not delivery is to be performed according to an access history. It can be selected as desired.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present invention, the electronic information distribution program counts the number of the electronic post office boxes to which the electronic information has been distributed, and notifies the information provider of the counted value. And

[0017]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, an electronic information delivery system according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG.
Is a block diagram showing a configuration of the same embodiment. In this figure, reference numeral 1 denotes an electronic information delivery system. Reference numeral 2 denotes an information provider that provides information using the electronic information delivery system 1. Reference numeral 3 denotes a user who uses the electronic information delivery system 1, and obtains information provided by the information provider 2 using a Web browser 31 operating on a personal computer and a mobile phone 32 connectable to the Internet. Reference numeral 1a denotes a management unit that manages a delivery process of electronic information, and includes an operation management unit 11 that manages operation of the electronic information delivery system 1 and a delivery information management unit 12 that manages electronic information to be delivered. Reference numeral 1b is a delivery processing unit. Reference numeral 13 denotes a filter function unit that performs a filtering process on the information received from the information provider by the delivery information management unit 12. Reference numeral 14 denotes an individualization function unit that individualizes information filtered by the filter function unit 14.

Reference numeral 15 denotes a delivery distribution unit that distributes and distributes the information individualized by the individualization function unit 14. Reference numeral 16 denotes a history information file that records a change in the state of the delivered information. Reference numeral 17 denotes a history reference unit that refers to the history information file 16 and notifies the information provider 2 of the status of the delivered information. Reference numeral 18 denotes a user attribute information file in which attribute information of the user 3 is defined, and information on hobbies and preferences is defined for each user 3. Reference numeral 19 denotes an electronic post-office box having a data file provided for each user, and information provided by the information provider 2 is stored in the electronic post-office box by the delivery processing unit 1b. Reference numeral 20 denotes a delivery server that delivers information to the user 2. Reference numeral 21 denotes a mobile phone connection gateway for connecting the mobile phone 32 to the electronic information delivery system 1.

Next, the basic operation of the electronic information delivery system 1 will be described with reference to FIG. Here, information provider 2
Will be described as an example of transmitting a direct mail to the user 3. First, the information provider 2 creates electronic information, which is the content of the direct mail, using a personal computer or the like owned by the information provider 2. The electronic information created here is digital data including document data, image data, sound data, and the like. Then, the information provider 2 sends a direct mail dispatch request including the created electronic information to the electronic information delivery system 1. At this time, the information provider 2 sends the electronic information to the electronic information delivery system 1 together with the delivery conditions for delivering the electronic information. The delivery condition here is a condition for limiting the delivery destination to which direct mail is delivered, and specifies the age range, hobbies, and preferences of the user, and direct mail is sent only to users who meet this condition. Is used to deliver.

The electronic information and the delivery conditions transmitted from the information provider 2 are received by the delivery information management unit 12, and the electronic information is held in the delivery information management unit 12. Then, the delivery information management unit 12 outputs the electronic information and delivery conditions held therein to the filter function unit 13. In response to this, the filter function unit 13 refers to the user attribute information file 18 and extracts a user that matches the received delivery condition. Subsequently, the filter function unit 13 separates the electronic information for each user who matches the delivery condition with the individualizing function unit 14.
Output to The electronic information output here is output by the same number as the number of users that match the delivery conditions.

Next, the individualizing function unit 14 performs an individualizing process of adding necessary information for each user to the electronic information received from the filter function unit 13 and converting the information into a direct mail format. In this individualization process, information such as a destination and a sender is given, and a process of inserting electronic information into a predetermined direct mail format is performed. However, the destination here is a post office box ID for specifying the electronic post office box 19 provided for each user 3.

Next, the individualizing function unit 14 outputs the electronic information subjected to the individualizing process for each user to the distribution sorting unit 15. In response, the delivery distribution unit 15 performs distribution based on the destination (post-office box ID) assigned to the electronic information received from the individualization function unit 14 and outputs the electronic information to the electronic post-office box 19. The electronic post-office box 19 receives this electronic information and stores it in a corresponding data file based on the post-office box ID. In addition, the delivery distribution unit 15
In synchronization with the output of the electronic information to the electronic post-office box 19, the delivery server 20 notifies the user 3 who owns the post-office box that has delivered the direct mail that the direct mail has arrived. The user 3 receives this notification, and
The electronic information stored in the electronic post-office box 19 is acquired by the web browser 31 or the mobile phone 32. Thus, the direct mail transmitted from the information provider 2 reaches the user 3.

On the other hand, when the electronic information is received from the distribution unit 15 and when the user 3 acquires the electronic information stored in the electronic post-office box 19, the electronic post-office box 19 stores information indicating that fact in the history. The information is stored in the information file 16. The information provider 2 transmits a history information reference request to the electronic information delivery system 1 at an arbitrary timing after transmitting the direct mail dispatch request. This history information reference request is received by the history reference unit 17. In response to this, the history reference unit 17 reads the history information on the relevant direct mail from the history information file 16 and transmits the contents to the information provider 2.

The information provider 2 acquires the history information transmitted from the history reference unit 17 and confirms the contents. Thus, the information provider can grasp how many direct mails requested to be sent have been sent and how many users have viewed the sent direct mails.

In the above description, the operation when the delivery condition is specified has been described.
The mail may be directly delivered to the electronic mail box 19 by designating the mail box ID in advance.

As described above, the information provider 2 can send a plurality of direct mails to the electronic information delivery system 1 only by transmitting the contents of the direct mail and the delivery conditions. In addition, since direct mail is sent only to users who meet the delivery conditions, mail can be sent efficiently.

Next, another embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of another embodiment. 2, the same components as those of FIG. 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and the description thereof will be omitted. In the following description, electronic information is referred to as “content”. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 19a is a data file provided in the electronic post-office box 19. Reference numeral 41 is the information provider 2
Is a content registration device that receives the content transmitted from the Internet and records it in the content file 43. Code 4
Reference numeral 2 denotes a content delivery device that delivers the content recorded in the content file 43 to each electronic post-office box 19 in accordance with the content recorded in the history information file 16. Reference numeral 44 denotes an access monitoring device that monitors an access operation to the data file 19a of the electronic post-office box 19, and records a monitoring result in the history information file 16.

Next, the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram showing the operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. First, an operation of delivering contents provided by the information provider 2 to the designated electronic post-office box 19 will be described with reference to FIG. Information provider 2
Transmits a content delivery request including the content of direct mail to the electronic information delivery system 1. This content delivery request includes a plurality of post office box IDs for specifying the electronic post office box 19 of the delivery destination. The delivery request is received by the content registration device 41. The content registration device 41 registers the content included in the received delivery request in the content file 43, and sends the content delivery request including the post-office box ID of the delivery destination to the content delivery device. Notify 42.

Next, the content delivery device 42 extracts the post office box ID of the delivery destination included in the content delivery request notified from the content registration device 41. Then, the content delivery device 42 reads the content registered in the content file 43, and delivers the content to the electronic post office box 19 having the extracted post office box ID. As a result, the content is delivered to each electronic post-office box 19. The content includes the name of the information provider that provided the content, the name of the service (a keyword indicating the content of the content), the title of the content, the shipping date,
And expiration date. Here, the term of validity refers to a period during which the delivered content can be browsed, and the content that has passed this period cannot be browsed.

Next, the operation of restricting the delivery according to the access history will be described with reference to FIGS. First, the user 3 browses the content stored in his / her own electronic post office box 19 (step S1). In response to this browsing operation, the electronic post-office box 19 notifies the access monitoring device 44 as an access result that the delivered content has been browsed (step S2). Access monitoring device 44
Receives the access result and registers the access result in the history information file 16 as access history information (step S3). The registration of the access history information is performed for all the electronic post-office boxes 19, whereby the access history information of all the electronic post-office boxes 19 is registered in the history information file 16. FIG. 4 shows an example of history information registered in the history information file 16. The example shown in FIG. 4 is history information indicating whether or not the content of the service “A” provided by the information provider 2 “A” is browsed for each user 3. In FIG. 4, "viewed"
This indicates that the user 1 who has registered the content has viewed the delivered content. On the other hand, it indicates that the user 2 is not browsing the delivered content at the present time.

Next, the information provider 2 sends a new content delivery request to the electronic information delivery system 1 (step S5). This content delivery request includes a plurality of post-office box IDs for specifying the electronic post-office box 19 of the delivery destination, and information indicating whether or not to restrict delivery according to the access history. When the delivery request specifies that delivery is to be restricted according to the access history, the delivery destination is limited according to the access history. On the other hand, if the destination is not restricted according to the access history, as described above,
The mail is delivered to the electronic post office box 19 of all the designated post office box IDs.

Next, the content registration device 41 receives the delivery request transmitted from the information provider 2, extracts the content included in the delivery request, and registers it in the content file 43 (step S6). The delivery request including the plurality of post-office box IDs for specifying the electronic post-office box 19 of the delivery destination and information indicating whether or not the delivery is restricted according to the access history is notified to the content delivery apparatus 42 (step S7).

Next, the content delivery device 42 extracts information indicating whether or not delivery restriction is performed according to the post-office box ID of the delivery destination included in the content delivery request notified from the content registration device 41 and the access history. . If the delivery restriction according to the access history is not specified, the content delivery device 42
3 is read out, and this content is delivered to all electronic post-office boxes 19 of the notified delivery destination.

On the other hand, when the delivery restriction according to the access history is specified, the content delivery device 42
The access history recorded in the history information file 16 is referred to (step S8), and the access history of each delivery destination user 3 notified from the information provider 2 is obtained (step S9). Then, the content delivery device 42 determines that the access history of the delivery destination user 3 is “viewed”
The contents registered in the contents file 43 are delivered to the electronic post-office box 19 (step S1).
0).

Next, the content delivery device 42 counts the number of deliveries of the content to the electronic post-office box 19, and notifies the information provider 2 of this count value as the number of deliveries (step S11). This number of deliveries is the same as the number of the users 3 of the delivery destination notified from the information provider that have been recorded as “viewed” in the access history.

As described above, when the content is to be delivered, it is determined whether or not the delivery is to be performed according to the past access history to the electronic post-office box 19, and the content is to be delivered based on the result. Delivery can be restricted to users who are unlikely to be viewed, and the information provider 2 can efficiently deliver contents such as direct mail. In addition, since the number of persons to be delivered is notified to the information provider 2, the information provider 2 can predict the effect of delivering a direct mail or the like.

The user having the electronic post office box 19
Regardless of the past access history, the electronic information delivery system 1 is notified of whether or not the content is to be delivered unconditionally. Based on this notification, the content delivery device 42 responds to the access history. Whether or not to restrict the delivery may be set. Also, when making a decision to limit delivery according to the access history, if the information provider that provided the content that was not accessed in the past is the same as the information provider that provided the content to be delivered this time, The delivery may be restricted. Further, when the service name of the content that has not been accessed in the past and the service name of the content to be delivered this time are the same, the delivery may be restricted. By doing so, it is possible to restrict the content delivery of the information provider who provided the content that has not been browsed in the past. In addition, it is possible to restrict the content delivery of the same service as the service that has not been browsed in the past.

Further, a program for realizing the functions of the processing shown in FIG. 3 is recorded on a computer-readable recording medium, and the program recorded on this recording medium is read by a computer system and executed to execute an electronic program. Information delivery processing may be performed. Here, the “computer system” includes an OS and hardware such as peripheral devices. The “computer system” also includes a homepage providing environment (or a display environment) if a WWW system is used. The “computer-readable recording medium” means a portable medium such as a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a magneto-optical disk, a ROM, a CD-ROM, and a storage device such as a hard disk built in a computer system. . Further, the “computer-readable recording medium” refers to a volatile memory (RAM) inside a computer system that becomes a server or a client when a program is transmitted through a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line. And those holding programs for a certain period of time.

The above program may be transmitted from a computer system storing the program in a storage device or the like to another computer system via a transmission medium or by a transmission wave in the transmission medium. Here, the "transmission medium" for transmitting a program refers to a medium having a function of transmitting information, such as a network (communication network) such as the Internet or a communication line (communication line) such as a telephone line. Further, the program may be for realizing a part of the functions described above. further,
What can realize the above-mentioned function in combination with a program already recorded in the computer system, that is, a so-called difference file (difference program) may be used.

[0040]

As described above, according to the present invention, when delivering contents, it is determined whether or not delivery is to be performed according to the past access history of the electronic post-office box, and based on the result. Since the contents are delivered, it is possible to restrict the delivery to users who are unlikely to be viewed, and the information provider can efficiently deliver contents such as direct mail. can get. Further, since the number of persons to be delivered is notified to the information provider, an effect is obtained that the information provider can predict the effect of delivering direct mail or the like.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram showing an operation of the embodiment shown in FIG. 2;

4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the contents of a history information file 16 shown in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 ... electronic information delivery system, 2 ... information provider, 3 ... user, 11 ...
-Operation management unit, 12 ... delivery information management unit,
13: filter function unit, 14: individualization function unit,
15: delivery distribution unit, 16: history information file, 17: history reference unit, 18
... User attribute information file, 19 ... E-mail box, 19a ... Data file, 20 ...
Delivery server, 21 ... mobile phone connection gateway, 3
1 ... Web browser, 32 ... mobile phone,
1a: management unit, 1b: delivery processing unit,
41 ... content registration device, 42
··· Content delivery device, 43 ··· Content file, 44 ··· Access monitoring device.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification FI FI Theme Court ゛ (Reference) H04L 12/58 (72) Inventor Masaki Suzuki 2-3-1 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (72) Inventor Shuichiro Yamamoto 2-3-1 Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation F-term (reference) 5B049 AA05 BB49 CC02 CC08 DD01 EE01 EE56 EE59 FF03 FF04 GG04 GG07 5B082 FA11 HA05 5K030 HA06 HB19 HC01

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. An electronic information delivery system for delivering electronic information provided by an information provider in accordance with an access history of a delivery destination user, wherein the electronic information delivery system includes: Established for each user,
An electronic post-office box having a data file; a content file for registering electronic information provided by the information provider; a content registration means for receiving the electronic information and delivery destination provided by the information provider and registering the content in the content file A history information file that records a past access history to the electronic post-office box; an access monitoring unit that monitors an access operation to the electronic post-office box and records an access history to the history information file; and a notification from the information provider. When electronic information is to be delivered to the designated electronic post-office box, the contents file is determined by referring to the history information file to determine whether or not to deliver the electronic post-office box in accordance with the past access status to the electronic post-office box. Content delivery means for delivering electronic information registered in Electronic information delivery system according to claim. 2. The content delivery means, when delivering electronic information to the electronic post-office box, can select whether or not to perform delivery according to an access history according to the user's request. The electronic information delivery system according to claim 1, wherein: 3. When the electronic information is delivered to the electronic post-office box, the content delivery means can select whether or not to perform delivery in accordance with an access history according to a request of the information provider. The electronic information delivery system according to claim 1, wherein: 4. The content delivery means according to claim 1, wherein the content delivery means counts the number of the electronic post-office boxes to which the electronic information has been delivered, and notifies the information provider of the counted value. Electronic information delivery system. 5. An electronic information delivery method for delivering electronic information provided by an information provider in accordance with an access history of an electronic post-office box possessed by a delivery destination user, wherein said electronic information delivery method comprises: A content registration step of receiving electronic information and a delivery destination provided by a user and registering the information in a content file; an access monitoring step of monitoring an access operation to the electronic post-office box and recording an access history in a history information file; When delivering the electronic information to the electronic post-office box of the delivery destination notified by the provider, determine whether or not to deliver the electronic post-office box based on the past access status to the electronic post-office box with reference to the history information file. And a content delivery step of delivering electronic information registered in the content file. Method Carriage. 6. In the electronic information delivery method, when electronic information is delivered to the electronic post-office box, whether or not delivery is performed according to an access history can be selected according to the user's request. 6. The electronic information delivery method according to claim 5, wherein: 7. The electronic information delivery method according to claim 1, wherein, when electronic information is delivered to said electronic post-office box, whether or not delivery is performed according to an access history can be selected according to a request of said information provider. 6. The electronic information delivery method according to claim 5, wherein: 8. The electronic information delivery method according to claim 5, wherein the electronic information delivery method counts the number of the electronic post-office boxes to which the electronic information has been delivered, and notifies the information provider of the counted value. Electronic information delivery method. 9. A computer-readable recording medium recording an electronic information delivery program for delivering electronic information provided by an information provider according to an access history to an electronic post-office box possessed by a delivery destination user, The electronic information delivery program receives the electronic information and the delivery destination provided by the information provider, registers the content in a content file, monitors the access operation to the electronic post-office box, and stores the access history in the history information file. Access monitoring processing to record, When delivering the electronic information to the electronic post-office box of the delivery destination notified from the information provider, refer to the history information file, and check the past access status to the electronic post-office box And determine whether to deliver the electronic information registered in the content file. Recording medium for recording electronic information delivery program characterized by causing a content delivery process, to the computer. 10. The electronic information delivery program can select whether or not to perform delivery according to an access history when delivering electronic information to the electronic post-office box according to a request of the user. A recording medium on which the electronic information delivery program according to claim 9 is recorded. 11. The electronic information delivery program according to claim 1, wherein when the electronic information is delivered to the electronic post-office box, whether or not delivery is performed according to an access history can be selected according to a request of the information provider. A recording medium on which the electronic information delivery program according to claim 9 is recorded. 12. The electronic information delivery program according to claim 9, wherein the electronic information delivery program counts the number of the electronic post-office boxes to which the electronic information has been delivered, and notifies the information provider of the counted value. Recording medium on which the electronic information delivery program is recorded.