JP2002269449A - Advertisement component for software development and software distribution system utilizing the component - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a means allowing a software developer to be able to add an advertisement output function to the software thereof without requiring labor. SOLUTION: Software with advertisement is prepared by assembling an advertisement component 41 communicable with an advertisement server 16 operated by a server 1 in the software 40, and the software is disclosed to consumers.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a component type software that can be incorporated in a parent software to be developed in a software development environment, and a software distribution system using the component type software. Note that the component-type software as described above is referred to as a “component for software development” or simply as a “component” in this specification.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In software used in a computer, outputting advertisement information (characters, images, etc.) to one area of a screen at the time of execution thereof is performed, for example, in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. 5-667.
No. 44, JP-A-9-10440, JP-A-200
No. 0-29712. In addition, JP-A-2
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 000-353147 discloses a method of displaying an advertisement on at least one of a start screen, an end screen, a background screen, and a screen save screen of an operating system of a computer. In addition, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open
No. 105452 discloses that a user can access an advertisement information resource such as the Internet online through advertisement software that operates in cooperation with entertainment software. Also, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-
Japanese Patent No. 353084 discloses a componentware distribution apparatus that extracts and distributes componentware (for example, ActiveX (trademark) prepared by Microsoft Corporation in the United States) from an existing application when the componentware is provided to a user. Provide an advertisement associated with (e.g., display a banner ad on the user's web browser)
It is described. By using ads like this,
It is expected that software prices can be reduced (and in some cases free of charge) without compromising the interests of software developers, and as a result, quality software will be used by more consumers. You.

[0003]

In using the advertisement as described above, it is necessary to prevent the software developer from hindering the development of the main business software. That is, a software developer must consider that, when using an advertisement, there is no trouble in adding an advertisement output function to his / her software, and there is no trouble in searching for an advertiser.

[0004] From the viewpoint of an advertiser, a record (log) that correctly indicates the actual advertisement output status by the software to which the user provided the advertisement is obtained, and the effect of the advertisement is evaluated.
You need to check that your advertising bill is correct. On the other hand, for example, when a software developer adds a function of outputting an advertisement to his / her software, it outputs information completely different from the advertisement that should be displayed, creates a log with the number of advertisement output increased, or creates an advertisement Even if you create software that sends a log to an advertiser as if it was displayed even though it is not displayed at all, it is difficult for the advertiser to find it. Unless these issues are addressed, it is difficult to gain advertiser trust in software developers.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and is a component which can be incorporated in a parent software to be developed in a software development environment, wherein the parent software is installed on a computer. An advertisement information acquisition unit that acquires advertisement information from the advertisement server through the data communication network if the component can operate with a predetermined advertisement server through the data communication network in the component that also operates when operating. An advertisement output unit that outputs the advertisement information acquired by the advertisement information acquisition unit in a predetermined form by the computer; and an advertisement output unit that can communicate with a predetermined advertisement output record management server through the data communication network. An output record for transmitting an output record to the advertisement output record management server To provide the software for the development advertising component with a signal unit.

The present invention is also a software distribution system using the advertisement component, a server system capable of communicating with an external computer through a data communication network, and a software storage storing software incorporating the advertisement component. A download server that, when receiving a download request for the software from another computer, transmits the software to the other computer and records the download information in a download information storage unit. An advertisement server that transmits the advertisement information to the advertisement component when receiving a request for obtaining advertisement information from the advertisement component incorporated in software operating on a computer; and the advertisement component Providing a software distribution system characterized to include advertisement output record management server that records output recording the advertisement output information storage unit upon receipt of an output record of the advertisement information from and.

[0007]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The advertising component according to the present invention is used in a software development environment in a form incorporated into parent software. For example, as a development environment, VisualBasi manufactured by Microsoft
When c (trademark) is used, the advertisement component according to the present invention can be created as a so-called ActiveX (trademark) component.

[0008] The advertising component according to the present invention operates as follows. First, when the user activates the parent software on the computer, the advertisement component also starts operating. During the operation of the parent software, the advertisement component performs a predetermined advertisement at a predetermined timing (for example, immediately after starting the parent software or when a user performs a predetermined operation on the advertisement component using an input device such as a mouse). Send a request to acquire advertisement information to the server. If the computer is connected to the data communication network and the advertisement server is operating normally on the data communication network, the advertisement information is sent from the advertisement server to the advertisement component in response to the request. Note that, as the operation of the advertisement component when communication with the advertisement server is not possible, various modes such as repeatedly attempting communication with the advertisement server, outputting an error message and stopping the communication attempt, and the like are conceivable.

[0009] Information indicating the location of the advertisement server (for example, a host name on the Internet, URL) is stored in advance in the advertisement component. It is completely hidden from software developers and cannot be changed. Also, other information stored inside the advertisement component (for example, the ID of the advertisement component itself) is prevented from being intentionally or negligently changed by the software developer. By keeping the internal information of the advertisement component private, the problem of alteration of the advertisement component due to the intention or negligence of the software developer is solved, and the advertiser can provide the advertisement information for the advertisement component with confidence. be able to.

[0010] The advertisement component that has received the advertisement information outputs the advertisement information in a predetermined form using an output device of a computer. The output form of the advertisement information is, for example, a form in which the advertisement information is displayed as an image or characters in a partial area of the window of the parent software displayed on the display, and the advertisement information is displayed in a window different from the parent software on the display. A display mode (including a mode in which a Web browser is activated to display a predetermined advertisement WWW page), a mode in which the content of an advertisement is read aloud using a voice output function of a computer, a printer connected to a computer Various forms are conceivable, such as a form in which the advertisement information is printed by the user.

The advertisement component that has output the advertisement information as described above transmits an output record of the advertisement information to the advertisement output record management server. The output record includes, for example, the output date and time, the content of the output advertising information, the cumulative output count of the advertising information, and the like.

Next, the software distribution system according to the present invention not only provides a consumer (software user) with a software download service incorporating the advertisement component, but also provides an advertisement component incorporated in the downloaded software. Is configured to record the output status of the advertising information by the user and report the status to the advertiser.

In the software distribution system according to the present invention, the download server is a well-known WWW server or F
It can be configured using a TP server. The advertisement server is configured by causing a server computer to operate a program for transmitting the requested advertisement information to the advertisement component when receiving a request for obtaining advertisement information from the advertisement component. Further, the advertisement output record management server is configured such that, when the output record is received from the advertisement component, a program for recording the output record in the advertisement output information storage unit is operated by the server computer. It is not necessary for each server to be independent as a separate process, and a single server process may function as a different server according to the contents of requests, data, and the like received from the data communication network. Further, it is not necessary to operate all server processes on a single computer (CPU). For example, different computers may be used for each server, and cooperation between servers may be realized by communication through a network such as a LAN. Good.

[0014]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a software distribution system according to the present embodiment. The system of the present embodiment is a computer network system including a server machine 1, a client machine 4, and a data communication network 6 (such as the Internet).

Processing on the server side when downloading software

In the server machine 1, a software library 12 (which corresponds to a software storage unit of the present invention) storing a large number of software data is constructed. When receiving a download request for software stored in the software library 12 from an external computer, the download server 14 (hereinafter, DL server 14) operating on the server machine 1 transmits data of the requested software from the software library 12. A predetermined procedure (eg, FTP, HTT)
Send in P). In addition, the DL server 14 sends the downloaded software information (software ID and the like) to the advertisement server 16. The advertisement server 16 records the received information in the download information database 181 created in the database 18.

Processing of advertising component at software startup

Some of the software recorded in the software library 12 include an advertisement component for outputting advertisement information. Here, as an example,
It is assumed that the software 40 for displaying the window 401 as shown in FIG. In FIG. 2, what is indicated by reference numeral 41 is an advertisement component.

The processing executed by the advertisement component 41 when the software 40 is activated will be described with reference to FIG. When the software 40 is activated on the client machine 4 or another computer, the advertisement component 41 checks whether the advertisement display condition is satisfied. This check includes, for example, whether the advertisement has expired, whether the cumulative number of times the advertisement has been displayed or the cumulative number of times a specific event (described below) has exceeded a predetermined upper limit, This is performed as to whether or not the time at the time is within the designated display time. When the advertisement display condition is not satisfied, the advertisement component 41 ends the process without displaying the advertisement. On the other hand, when the advertisement display condition is satisfied, the advertisement component 41 checks whether it can communicate with the advertisement server 16 of the server 1 via the network 6. When communication with the advertisement server 16 is not possible, the advertisement component 41 stores the advertisement display information (display date and time, contents of the displayed advertisement, and the like) in the storage device 42 of the client device 4, and displays the advertisement. On the other hand, when communication with the advertisement server 16 is possible, the advertisement component 4
The advertisement server 1 includes the present advertisement display information together with the advertisement display information (if any) previously stored in the storage device 42.
Send to 6. The advertisement server 16 records the received information in the advertisement display information database 182 of the database 18.

When communication with the advertisement server 16 is possible, the advertisement component 41 inquires of the advertisement server 16 whether the advertisement information has been updated. When receiving this inquiry, the advertisement server 16 notifies the advertisement component 41 if the advertisement information has not been updated, and if the advertisement information has been updated, the advertisement server 16 stores new advertisement information in the advertisement information storage unit 17. And sends it to the advertising component 41. When receiving the new advertisement information, the advertisement component 41 replaces the old advertisement information stored in the client device 4 with the new advertisement information and displays the new advertisement information on the screen.

When an upper limit is set in advance for the cumulative number of times the advertisement is displayed and the cumulative number of times the specific event is received, the advertisement component 41 sends the advertisement server 16 to the advertisement server 16 every time the advertisement is displayed or every time the specific event occurs. An advertisement information update request is transmitted, and the advertisement server 16 transmits new advertisement information to the advertisement component 41 in response to the request.

Processing of advertisement component when receiving specific event

Referring to FIG. 4, a process executed by the advertisement component when a user performs a predetermined operation on the advertisement component 41 using an input device (for example, a pointing device or a keyboard) during the operation of the software 40 will be described. explain. In the following description,
An operation in which the user operates the pointing device and presses a predetermined button of the pointing device in a state where the pointer is placed on the advertisement component 41 (hereinafter, this operation is referred to as “click of the advertisement component 41”)
Is assumed to be a “specific event”, but this is only an example.

During operation of the software 40, when a user clicks on the advertisement component 41, a specific event occurs. Upon receiving this specific event, the advertisement component 41 checks whether it can communicate with the WWW server of the designated host 8 through the network 6. When it can communicate with the WWW server, the advertisement component 41
Specifies the URL of the advertisement page created in the designated host 8, starts the Web browser 44, and stores the current advertisement click information (date and time clicked, URL of the displayed page, etc.) in the storage device 42 before. The information is transmitted to the advertisement server 16 together with the stored advertisement click information (if any). The advertisement server 16 records the received information in the advertisement click information database 183 of the database. On the other hand, when communication with the WWW server is not possible, the advertisement component 41 designates an offline advertisement page created in the storage device 42 in advance and specifies the Web browser 44
And stores the advertisement click information in the storage device 42.
To save. In FIG. 1, the advertisement page is created on a computer (designated host 8) different from the server machine 1, but the advertisement page may be created on the server machine 1. Further, for example, each time the advertisement page of the specified URL is normally displayed by the Web browser 44, the advertisement component 41 downloads the offline advertisement page together with the image included therein and stores the offline advertisement page in the storage device 42.
It can be created / updated by saving it to

Creation of a report

The report program 20 running on the server machine 1 uses the data stored in the database 18 to periodically receive an instruction from a system administrator or to receive a request from an advertiser or a developer. Create reports for advertisers and developers when they do. This report includes, for example, the number of downloads / cumulative downloads of the software for the last week / the number of advertisements / cumulative display of the software for the last week / the number of clicks of the software for the last week /
Cumulative number of clicks Includes information such as the ranking of the above software in all the software for the above items. This report may be sent to the advertiser or developer by e-mail, for example, or may be transmitted to a dedicated site (including a site dynamically generated by a program such as CGI) prepared for each advertiser or developer. You may post in format.

Method of creating and distributing software with advertisement (1)

FIG. 5 shows an example of a method of creating and distributing advertisement-containing software. In the method of FIG. 5, the administrator (management company) of the system of FIG. 1 acts as an intermediary between the software developer and the advertiser. Hereinafter, the procedure of the method of FIG. 5 will be described. In FIG. 5, “advertisement component” is abbreviated as “advertisement component”.

(Step 1) First, an intermediary widely recruits software from general developers. This is performed, for example, by publishing a Web page describing information on software recruitment on the Internet. When a developer provides software to this recruitment, the mediator stores the provided software in the software library 12 and makes it public through the DL server 14. In addition, software acceptance from software developers,
This is performed in various forms, such as building a software submission reception system in which a WWW server and a database management server are linked, and preparing an e-mail address for software reception.

(Step 2) Further, the mediator widely recruits advertisers from the general public. This is performed, for example, by publishing a Web page on the Internet that describes information on advertiser recruitment. If the advertiser offers an offer for this recruitment, the intermediary receives advertisement information (image data to be displayed on software, URL of an advertisement page to be viewed online, etc.) from the advertiser. At this time, the advertiser presents conditions of the software in which the advertisement is to be inserted (for example, type of software, author, download ranking, advertisement fee, and the like). The conditions presented by the advertiser are stored in an advertisement order database (not shown).

(Step 3) The mediator who has been provided with the advertisement creates an advertisement component (object) for software development having the advertisement information therein. Advertising information and other information (attribute values, internal variables, functions, procedures, methods, etc.) recorded inside the component shall not be disclosed to the component users in principle (to prevent the developer from altering the internal information) To do).

(Step 4) Next, the mediator selects software that satisfies the conditions presented by the advertiser, and requests the developer of the software to create software with advertisements. The developer receives the advertising component to be incorporated into the software from the mediator, verifies the content, and if there is no problem, creates software incorporating the advertising component and passes it to the mediator. The process of selecting software that satisfies the conditions presented by the advertiser may be automated using a database management system.

(Step 5) The mediator receiving the software with the advertisement verifies the operation of the software with the advertisement, and if there is no problem, presents it to the advertiser and applies for approval. The advertiser responds to the intermediary to approve the ad-included software if it is OK. The mediator receiving this response saves the software with the advertisement in the software library 12 and publishes it through the DL server 14.

Creation and distribution method of software with advertisement (2)

FIG. 6 shows another example of a method for creating and distributing software with advertisement. In the method of FIG. 6, the procedure from “recruitment of software” to “creation of advertisement component” is the same as the procedure from step 1 to step 3 described above in the method of FIG. Hereinafter, the work procedure following step 3 will be described.

(Step 4A) Next, the mediator selects software that satisfies the conditions presented by the advertiser, and asks the developer of the software to create software with advertisements. The developer who receives this consultation examines the contents of the advertisement and, if there is no problem, responds to the agent to approve the software creation and provides the agent with the source code of the target software. The mediator who received the source code,
Create software that incorporates an advertising component and ask the developer to verify the software with the advertisement. The developer verifies the operation of the advertised software and, if there is no problem, responds to the intermediary to approve the advertised software.

(Step 5A) The intermediary that has received the above answer from the developer presents the software with the advertisement approved by the developer to the advertiser and applies for the approval. The advertiser responds to the intermediary to approve the ad-included software if it is OK. The intermediary receiving this answer, the software containing the advertisement, the software library 1
2 and publish it through the DL server 14.

In the above two methods, when an advertisement is provided by an advertiser, an intermediary requests or consults a software developer to create a component with an advertisement. When there is a request to incorporate the advertisement component into the software, the intermediary may start the operation of creating the advertisement-containing software as described above. Further, when the developer makes the above-mentioned offer, the intermediary may notify a plurality of advertisers that the offer has been made, and determine the advertiser in the auction.

[0039]

By using the advertisement component according to the present invention, a software developer can easily add an advertisement output function to his / her software without having to create an advertisement output code or the like by himself. it can. Furthermore, the advertising component according to the present invention is designed to automatically obtain advertising information from a predetermined advertising server through a data communication network, so that a developer does not need to search for an advertiser himself. By using such advertising components, software developers can provide consumers with low-cost, high-quality software without hindering their software development work. Furthermore, if the internal information of the advertisement component is kept private as described above, problems such as alteration of the advertisement component intentionally or by negligence of the software developer can be solved, and the advertiser can use the advertisement component according to the present invention with confidence. Advertising can be provided.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an example of a software distribution system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an example of software with advertisement.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing processing contents of an advertisement component at the time of starting software.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing processing contents of an advertisement component at the time of clicking.

FIG. 5 is an example of a method for creating and distributing software with advertisement.

FIG. 6 is another example of a method for creating and distributing advertisement-containing software.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Server machine 12 ... Software library 14 ... Download server 16 ... Advertising server 18 ... Database 181 ... Download information database 182 ... Advertisement display information database 183 ... Advertisement click information database 20 ... Report program 4 ... Client machine 40 ... Software 401 ... Window 41 ... Advertising component 42 ... Storage device 44 ... Web browser 6 ... Data communication network

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (71) Applicant 500333316 Hitoshi Furuta 2-1-246 Hadoyama, Uji-city, Kyoto (71) Applicant 501069555 Kansai Research Institute, Inc. 5-1-1 Miyahara, Yodogawa-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka 28 No. 28 Shin-Osaka Yachiyo Building Annex 3rd Floor (71) Applicant 000005234 Fuji Electric Co., Ltd. 1-1 1-1 Tanabe Nitta, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa (72) Inventor Kotaro Nakayama 5-1-1 Miyahara, Yodogawa-ku, Osaka-shi, Osaka 28th floor, Shin Osaka Yachiyo Building Annex 3 Kansai Research Institute, Inc. (72) Inventor Shigenori Tanaka 4-7-1, Takemidai, Suita-shi, Osaka (72) Inventor Hitoshi Furuta 2 Hadoyama, Uji-shi, Kyoto 1-chome 246

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A component that can be incorporated into parent software to be developed in a software development environment, and that also operates when the parent software is running on a computer, through a data communication network. An advertisement information acquisition unit that acquires advertisement information from the advertisement server through the data communication network if communication is possible with a predetermined advertisement server; and the advertisement information acquired by the advertisement information acquisition unit is in a predetermined form by the computer. An advertisement output unit that outputs the advertisement information, and an output record transmission unit that transmits an output record of the advertisement information to the advertisement output record management server when communication with a predetermined advertisement output record management server is possible through the data communication network. Advertising component for software development. 2. When the communication with the advertisement server is not possible, the advertisement information obtaining unit obtains the advertisement information stored in advance in the storage device of the computer, and when the communication with the advertisement output record management server is not possible, The output record transmitting unit stores the output record of the advertisement information in the storage device, and then, when the computer can communicate with the advertisement output record management server, the output record transmitting unit transmits the output record. 2. The advertisement component for software development according to claim 1, wherein the advertisement component is read from the storage device and transmitted to the advertisement output record management server. 3. The software development advertising component according to claim 1, wherein the internal information is kept secret. 4. A software distribution system using the advertisement component for software development according to claim 1, wherein the server system is capable of communicating with an external computer through a data communication network.
And a software storage unit storing software incorporating the advertisement component, wherein the server system transmits and downloads the software to the other computer when receiving a software download request from another computer. A download server that records information in a download information storage unit; an advertisement server that transmits the advertisement information to the advertisement component when receiving a request for obtaining advertisement information from the advertisement component incorporated in software operating on another computer And an advertisement output record management server that records the output record of the advertisement information in the advertisement output information storage unit when receiving the output record of the advertisement information from the advertisement component. 5. The server system further generates a report on a download status and an advertisement output status of each software based on the information recorded in the download information storage unit and the advertisement output information storage unit, and performs the data communication. The software distribution system according to claim 4, wherein a report program that distributes the report to a developer or an advertiser through a network is operating.