JP2002132734A - Information providing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To display advertisement information corresponding to software desired to download by a user on the screen of the user under downloading the software. SOLUTION: The information providing system has a transmitting/receiving means capable of mutual transmitting/receiving to a server for providing software on the basis of the download instruction of the user, a storage means provided with an advertisement information storage region for storing the advertisement information and a correspondence table storage region for storing a correspondence table for making the kind of software correspondent to the advertisement information and a control means for distributing the advertisement information corresponding to the download instruction of the user acquired from the server.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information providing system for displaying, on a user terminal screen, an advertisement corresponding to a type of software by effectively utilizing a time when a user downloads desired software. About the system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Downloading software takes a considerable amount of time. For this reason, a box for displaying the reading time is displayed on the display of the user terminal so that the user does not feel the waiting time, but the user only waits for the download to be completed, and the terminal screen is idle. It has gone.

[0003]

Since software is a tool for some purpose, it is necessary to infer what the user intends to do from the type of software that the user is trying to download. Is possible. Such information can be said to be useful information for an advertisement provider (a company serving as an advertiser or an advertising agency) in narrowing down advertisement targets.

[0004] However, unless the software provider displays a company advertisement, the software provider and the advertisement provider exist independently, and the software provider only provides the software in accordance with the download instruction of the user. Thus, the information that "a certain user wants to obtain a certain type of software" cannot be used.

[0005] The present invention has been made in view of such problems of the prior art, and efficiently distributes advertisements according to the user's hobbies and interests in accordance with the type of software desired by the user. It is another object of the present invention to provide an information providing system capable of effectively utilizing a terminal screen of a user who plays during downloading.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided, in accordance with the present invention, transmission / reception means capable of transmitting and receiving data to and from a server which provides software based on a download command from a user; Storage means including an advertisement information storage area for storing the information, a correspondence table storage area for storing a correspondence table that associates the type of the software with the advertisement information, and a download instruction of the user acquired from the server. Control means for distributing the advertisement information in accordance with the information provision system.

In the above invention, although not particularly limited,
An advertisement information selecting unit that receives the download command received from the user by the server via the transmission / reception unit, refers to the correspondence table, and selects advertisement information corresponding to the download command, It is preferable to include an advertisement information distribution unit that distributes the advertisement information acquired from the storage unit to the user according to the selection of the advertisement information selection unit.

Further, in the above invention, although not particularly limited, the correspondence table of the storage means manages a plurality of pieces of advertisement information corresponding to the types of software by a sequence number and displays each piece of advertisement information. It is more preferable that the advertisement information distributing unit distributes a display time instruction for displaying the advertisement information in accordance with the display time information to the user together with the advertisement information, the display time information including display time information specifying a time to be performed. .

In the above invention, although not particularly limited, the correspondence table includes display period information defining a period for displaying advertisement information corresponding to the type of the software, and the advertisement information distribution unit includes: More preferably, a display period instruction for displaying the advertisement information according to the display period information is delivered to the user together with the advertisement information.

In the above invention, although not particularly limited,
The storage unit has a charging table storage area for storing a charging table that defines a unit price for each advertising box, and an access log storage area for storing access log information received from the server that provides the software, It is more preferable that the control unit includes a charging unit that calculates and outputs an advertisement charging with reference to the charging table and the access log information.

[0011]

[Operation and Effect] Regarding the information providing system of the present invention,
The operation and effects of the present invention will be described by clarifying each information handled here and each configuration of the information providing system.

Each information In the information providing system of the present invention, the advertisement information and the correspondence table are stored in the storage means. “Advertising information” is advertising information about a certain company, a certain product, and a certain service. It is also called a banner advertisement, and is image information such as characters and graphics displayed in a box on the screen of the user terminal. The advertising information may be transmitted to the partner terminal in a file format, or may be read in advance with a link. These pieces of information may be input and updated by an administrator of the information providing system, or may be input and updated by an advertiser via a network. Further, in the information providing system of the present invention, it is of course possible to manage the advertisement information on another server by distributed processing. In this case, the acquisition and distribution of the advertisement information are performed via the network.

The "correspondence table" associates the type of software with the advertisement information. From the type (contents) of a certain software, "a user who wants this software will be interested in this product,""a user who wants this software will be interested in this information." According to the forecast, a company as an advertiser or an advertising agency associates a type of software with an advertisement. This correspondence table is not limited to one piece of advertisement information for one piece of software, and it is also possible to associate a plurality of pieces of advertisement information with one piece of software. The correspondence table information needs to be updated as needed.

[0014] The correspondence table manages a plurality of pieces of advertisement information corresponding to the type of software by a sequence number, and includes display time information for designating a display time of each piece of advertisement information. It may include display period information that defines a period in which the information is displayed as an advertisement. These information are also updated as needed.

The “download instruction” is information for instructing the software providing server to transmit specific software to the software providing server. This information is transmitted from the user's terminal to the software providing server, and is distributed via the software providing server to the information providing system of the present invention. The information providing system acquires this information via the transmitting / receiving means. This download instruction
It may include not only information specifying “software” but also user address information and the like.

Each configuration The information providing system of the present invention includes transmitting / receiving means, control means, and storage means. The “transmission / reception unit” can transmit / receive not only the software providing server but also the user terminal via the Internet or the like. It is also possible to transmit information to an external output means such as a terminal or a printer.

The "storage means" has an area for storing a correspondence table and advertisement information. However, the advertisement information storage area can be managed by another server and distributed processing can be performed. The “control means” receives the download command, selects advertisement information corresponding to the download command, obtains the advertisement information, and distributes the advertisement information to the user. Specifically, the selection of the advertisement information may be performed by the advertisement information selection unit in the control unit, and the distribution of the advertisement information may be performed by the advertisement information distribution unit in the control unit.
Further, the control means of the present invention can also perform a charge calculation process. In this case, the storage unit has a charging table storage area and an access log storage area, and the control unit has a charging unit. The result of this billing calculation process is output to the outside via the transmission / reception unit.

Operation and Effect The basic operation of the information providing system of the present invention will be described.
This information providing system can transmit and receive data to and from a server that provides software based on a download instruction from a user. First, the software providing server receives a download command from a user. The software download server receives the download instruction from the user,
The information providing system receives the information via the software providing server. Since the download instruction includes information for specifying the type of software, the control unit reads the correspondence table from the correspondence table storage area of the storage unit. Then, by using the type of software in the download instruction as a key and referring to the correspondence table, the associated advertisement information can be selected, and the advertisement information can be read and acquired from the advertisement information storage area in the storage means. The read specific advertisement information is delivered to the user via the transmission / reception means.

In this case, various methods can be considered for the method of distributing and displaying the advertisement information. For example, (1) the advertising information is distributed from the information providing system to the software providing server, along with the software to be downloaded, is delivered to the user terminal via the software providing server,
(2) A distribution route in which information is directly distributed from the information providing system to the user via a network such as the Internet is also conceivable. In the case of (2), the information providing system
Since it is necessary to know the user address, it is preferable that the download instruction transferred from the software providing server includes the address information of the user. (3) Further, the software providing server is linked in advance to specific (associated) advertising information, and when the user downloads, the advertisement is stored in the storage means of the information providing system. The information may be read and displayed on the user terminal. (4) The advertisement information may be transmitted at the same time as the software signal. . As described above, the distribution of the advertisement information in the information providing system according to the present invention means that the advertisement information only needs to be finally displayed on the user terminal screen during the download (at the time of downloading).
It may be by technology or Push technology. Also, regardless of the distribution route (direct or indirect), any known technology relating to information provision from the server to the user can be applied.

According to the present invention, relevant advertisement information is displayed according to the content of the downloaded software.
It can be delivered to specific users, and advertisers can make targeted and efficient advertisements. In addition, the user who is downloading is more likely to read the advertisement provided at that time because he can not do anything else, and the advertisement effect is more effective than the advertisement displayed while surfing the Internet on the Internet. Can be improved. Further, the pain of the user waiting for the download can be reduced, and the terminal screen of the user can be effectively used during the time required for the download.

[0021] The advertiser can place an effective advertisement by the information that "a certain user wants to acquire a certain type of software", which is relatively low value for the software provider, On the other hand, the software provider can obtain compensation by providing this information, and can effectively utilize the information. This is especially
It can be expected that software providers who provide freeware software will be used as a means of obtaining funds for operation.

Next, the operation of the charging unit in the control means will be described. The storage means stores a billing table and access log information. The advertising information is displayed in one or more boxes on the user terminal screen. The billing table defines a charge for advertising information displayed during downloading of a certain software for each box. This fee is determined based on various factors such as the type of software, the size of the box, the position, the advertisement display time, and the advertisement display period. This box unit price is the basis for charging. The access log information is information including a history of transmission of software when a user accesses a software providing site and issues a software download command (clicks a download button). From this information, it is possible to know how many users have downloaded the software, that is, how many users have been provided with the advertising information. This access log information is provided on the information providing system side.
It may be stored each time a download command is received, or may be obtained at the charge calculation timing from the one stored on the software providing server side.

The billing unit acquires the access log information at the billing calculation timing (the billing date or the total date), reads the billing table, multiplies the box unit price by the number of accesses obtained from the access log information, Calculate billing. The calculated accounting information is transmitted to the external output unit via the transmission / reception unit, and is printed and displayed on a screen.

In general, advertisements are based on the size, position,
Since the effect differs depending on the frequency or the like, the advertisement fee differs accordingly. According to the present invention, since the unit of the advertisement information is defined as a box and the unit price of the advertisement is defined as a box unit price, it is possible to set a fine fee according to the size of the box, the placement position, the advertisement time, and the like.

[0025]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS First Embodiment Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the information providing system of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a table showing an example of a correspondence table of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a control procedure of the information providing system of the present invention, and FIG. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a display example of advertisement information distributed from the information providing system of the present invention on a user terminal, and FIG. 5 is a chart showing another example of a correspondence table.

As shown in FIG. 1, the information providing system 1 of the present embodiment comprises a transmitting / receiving unit 2, a control unit 3, a storage unit 4,
And Apart from the information providing system 1, there is a site 5 of a software provider server, which can transmit and receive each other via the transmitting and receiving unit 2 of the information providing system 1.
There are a plurality of software providing sites, such as server A and server B, which the information providing system 1 transmits and receives, and each provides its own software (5A, 5B). Also,
The user and the site of the software providing server 5 and the user and the information providing system 1 are connected via the Internet or the like.
Mutual transmission and reception are possible.

The storage means 4 stores the correspondence table storage area 41
And an advertisement information storage area 42. The correspondence table storage area 41 stores a correspondence table that associates the type of software with the advertisement information. One example is shown in FIG. The left column shows the type of software provided by the software providing server 5. This information is also included in the download command from the user 6. The right column is an advertisement information symbol that specifies the type of advertisement information associated with the software. This correspondence is defined according to the intention of the advertiser under the prediction that "the user who downloads software X will be interested in this product" according to the content of the software. Then, according to the correspondence table, the information is presented.
Is downloaded, the advertisement e is distributed and displayed on the user terminal.

The advertisement information storage area 42 stores a plurality of advertisements (advertisements a to f). This advertisement information may be stored together with the correspondence table 41 or may be distributed and managed on another server. In this case, the request, readout, and transmission / reception of the advertisement information to another server are performed by the control unit 3 and the transmission / reception unit 2.

[0029] The control means 3 of the information providing system 1 distributes advertisement information according to a download instruction from the user. To give a specific example of the present embodiment, the control unit 3 includes an advertisement information selection unit 31 and an advertisement information distribution unit 32. The advertisement information selection unit 31 receives the download command received from the user by the software providing server via the transmission / reception unit. Then, the advertisement information corresponding to the download instruction is selected with reference to the correspondence table.
The advertisement information distribution unit 32 distributes the advertisement information acquired from the storage unit to the user according to the selection of the advertisement information selection unit.

The control means 3 comprises a ROM storing an advertisement information selection / distribution program, a CPU or MPU for executing the program stored in the ROM, and a RAM for temporarily storing calculation results and the like. Can be. Along with the correspondence table storage area 41 of the storage unit 4 and the advertisement information storage area 42, one server including the control unit 3 can be configured as a plurality of servers for distributed processing.

The specific processing executed by the control means 3 is as follows.
For example: As shown in FIG. 3, on the information distributor side, that is, the information providing system 1, first,
From the user 6 to the software providing server 5 (software X
Regarding) When a download command is issued (step 1), the information providing system 1 receives the download command from the software providing server (step 2). Then, the advertisement information selecting unit 31 in the control means 3
The correspondence table is read from the corresponding correspondence table storage area 41 (step 3). In response to the download instruction (software X) from the user 6, the corresponding advertisement information is selected with reference to the correspondence table (according to the correspondence table shown in FIG. 2, the advertisement information corresponding to the software X is the advertisement e Becomes
(Step 4). Further, the advertisement information selected by the advertisement information selection unit 31 is read from the advertisement information storage area 42 (Step 5). Then, the advertisement information distribution unit 31 distributes the advertisement information (advertisement e) to the user 6 (step 6).

On the other hand, upon receiving the download command from the user 6, the server 5 of the software provider transfers the command to the information providing system 1 (step 11).
Then, based on the download instruction from the user 6,
The corresponding software is read (step 12). Then, the read software is delivered to the user 6 (step 13). At this time, the advertisement information may be received from the information providing system 1 and distributed together with the software. As a result, at the time when the software is being downloaded from the software providing server 5,
The advertisement information distributed from the information providing system 1 is displayed on the terminal of the user 6 (Step 7).

At this time, the information providing system 1 can transmit the advertisement information to the software providing server 5 or directly to the terminal of the user 6 (step 6). When the information providing system 1 transmits the advertising information to the software providing server 5, the software providing server 5 transmits the advertising information to the user together with the software. When the information providing system 1 transmits the advertisement information to the user 6,
It is preferable that the distribution is performed in accordance with the software transmission timing of the software providing server 5.

FIG. 4 shows a display example of the advertisement information distributed to the terminal of the user 6. In the left box, boxes of banner advertisement spaces 1 to 3 are displayed. The box on the right shows the status of software download. In this way, the display of the download status and the display of the advertisement information are simultaneously presented to the user 6.

FIG. 5 shows another example of the correspondence table. Here, for the software specified by the download instruction, the sequence No. And the advertising information symbol,
The advertisement display time is associated with the display period. Sequence No. Defines the order in which the advertising information is displayed.
In this embodiment, an example in which all of the information is provided will be described. However, the correspondence table may include only one of the display time information and the display period information.

The advertisement information distribution unit 32 of the control means 3 sends a display time instruction for displaying the advertisement information in accordance with the display time information together with the advertisement information selected and read by the advertisement information selection unit 31 together with the advertisement information to the user 6. Distribute to.
Thereby, the advertisement information is displayed for the user 6 for a predetermined display time.
Will be displayed on the terminal. Similarly, the advertising information distribution unit 31
A display period command for displaying the advertisement information according to the display period information is delivered to the user 6 together with the advertisement information. Thereby, the advertisement information is displayed on the terminal of the user 6 for a predetermined period.

More specifically, the presentation of the advertisement information will be described with reference to FIG. 5. First, when the software X is downloaded, the order of the sequence No. The advertising information specified in 1. Advertisement α, 2. Advertisement β, 3. Advertising γ. These three pieces of advertisement information are displayed in the order of the sequence numbers. While the software X is being downloaded, the advertisement α is first displayed for 5 seconds, then the advertisement β is displayed for 10 seconds, and then the advertisement γ is displayed for 15 seconds. These advertising information is from October 1, 2000 to October 3, 2000.
Advertised until one day. On the other hand, when downloading software Y, advertisements A, B, C, and D are displayed in the same manner.

Second Embodiment FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment of the information providing system of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a billing table of the present invention. 9 is a flowchart showing a control procedure of the second embodiment of the information providing system of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 6, the information providing system 1 of this embodiment is different from the first embodiment shown in FIG.
And the control means 3 has a charging unit 33. The accounting data calculated by the accounting unit 33 is output to the outside via the transmission / reception means 2, and the accounting data is printed or displayed on a screen.

The billing unit 33 calculates a charge for an advertisement. The administrator of the information providing system 1 manages the information with the consent of the administrator of the software providing server 5 so that the advertisement requested by the advertiser can be displayed on the user 6 terminal during the software download. Accordingly, it is necessary to pay the software providing server 5 for the advertisement publication and to collect the advertisement publication price from the advertiser. In general, the fee for advertisement is calculated according to the number of advertisements. In the present invention, the charge is calculated according to the number of downloads in which the advertisement is displayed. The number of downloads can be determined from the access log information to the software providing server 5. Therefore, the billing unit 33 includes a billing table (stored in the billing table storage area) and an access log (stored in the access log storage area) that define the advertisement unit price.
Is calculated with reference to the above.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a billing table that defines a billing unit price for an advertisement. The advertisement information is displayed in one or more boxes on the terminal screen of the user 6. The billing table shown in FIG. 7 defines charges for advertising information displayed during downloading of certain software for each box. This fee is determined based on various factors such as the type of software, the standard of the box (size and position), the advertisement display time, and the advertisement display period. This box unit price is the basis for charging. The access log information stored in the access log storage area 44 of the storage unit 4 is:
The user accesses a software providing site, issues a software download command (clicks a download button), and is information including a history of software transmission. From this information, it is possible to know how many users have downloaded the software, that is, how many users have been provided with the advertising information. The access log information may be stored on the information providing system side every time a download command is received, or may be obtained at the billing calculation timing from the information stored on the software providing server side.

As shown in FIG. 8, the specific processing executed by the charging section 33 in the control means 3 is, for example, as follows. First, the billing unit 33 determines whether or not it is the timing of billing calculation (billing day or total date) (step 2).
1) If the timing is for billing calculation, the process proceeds to step 22; otherwise, the timing is determined again in step 21. At the charge calculation timing, the access log information is requested to the software providing server 5 (step 22). As a result, access log information is received,
It is stored in the storage means 4 (step 23). Next, the charging table is read from the charging table storage area 43 of the storage unit 4 (step 24). Then, the charging unit 33 calculates the charging by multiplying the box unit price in the charging table by the number of accesses obtained from the access log information (step 25). The calculated accounting information is transmitted to the external output means via the transmission / reception means, and is printed and displayed on the screen (step 26).

In this embodiment, attention is paid to the fact that advertisements have different charges depending on the size, position, frequency, etc. of the posting columns, and different detailed advertisement charges can be set accordingly.

The embodiments described above are described for facilitating the understanding of the present invention, and are not described for limiting the present invention. Therefore, each element disclosed in the above embodiment is intended to include all design changes and equivalents belonging to the technical scope of the present invention.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a first embodiment of an information providing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a chart showing an example of a correspondence table according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a first embodiment of the information providing system of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display example on a user terminal of advertisement information distributed from the information providing system of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a table showing another example of the correspondence table of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a second embodiment of the information providing system of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a chart showing an example of a charging table according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a control procedure of the information providing system according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

[Description of Signs] 1 ... Information providing system 2 ... Transceiving means 3 ... Control means 31 ... Advertising information selecting unit 32 ... Advertising information distribution unit 33 ... Charging unit 4 ... Storage means 41 ... Corresponding table storage area 42 ... Advertising information storage area 43 ... Charging table storage area 44 ... Access log storage area 5 ... Software providing server 6 ... User

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification symbol FI Theme coat ゛ (Reference) G06F 17/60 ZEC G06F 17/60 ZEC 326 326 332 332 // G06F 9/445 9/06 640A

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A transmission / reception means capable of mutually transmitting / receiving a server that provides software based on a download command of a user, an advertisement information storage area for storing advertisement information, a type of the software, and the advertisement information. An information providing system, comprising: a storage unit including a correspondence table storage area for storing a correspondence table for associating the advertisement information with the user, and a control unit that distributes the advertisement information according to the user's download instruction acquired from the server. 2. The advertisement, wherein the control unit receives a download command received from the user by the server via the transmission / reception unit, and refers to the correspondence table to select advertisement information corresponding to the download command. An information providing system, comprising: an information selection unit; and an advertisement information distribution unit that distributes the advertisement information acquired from the storage unit to the user according to the selection of the advertisement information selection unit. 3. The correspondence table of the storage means manages a plurality of pieces of advertisement information corresponding to the types of software by a sequence number and stores display time information for designating a time for displaying each piece of advertisement information. The information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the advertisement information distribution unit distributes, to the user, a display time instruction for displaying the advertisement information in accordance with the display time information, together with the advertisement information. 4. The correspondence table includes display period information defining a period for displaying advertisement information corresponding to the type of software, wherein the advertisement information distribution unit includes the display period information together with the advertisement information. The information providing system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein a display period instruction for displaying the advertisement information according to the following is delivered to the user. 5. The storage means includes: a charging table storage area for storing a charging table that specifies a unit price for each advertisement box; and an access log storage area for storing access log information received from the server that provides the software. The information providing system according to claim 1, further comprising: a billing unit configured to calculate and output an advertisement bill by referring to the billing table and the access log information.