JP2003208384A - Method and device for providing information - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide secondary contents optimal for display performance of a display in a terminal at a transmitting destination of the secondary contents. <P>SOLUTION: A type of the terminal of a secondary contents receiving client as a destination of primary contents is judged from a destination address of the primary contents, etc,. (a step S301). When the type is a PC (Y in the step S301), an HTML (hyper text markup language) is selected as a markup language (a step S302), a format of a wide picture is selected (a step S303) and secondary contents for the PC are created from the primary contents (a step S306). When the type is a cellular telephone (N is a step S301), a CHTML is selected as a markup language (a step S304), a format of a narrow picture is selected (a step S305) and secondary contents for cellular telephone are created (a step S307). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information providing method and an information providing apparatus for providing information on public contents accessible from a network and providing access to the public contents.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the explosive spread of the Internet, the Internet has become increasingly important as a means for distributing information.

In order for the Internet to effectively function as a means for distributing information, it is essential to enhance the information search function. Regarding such an information search function, a technique called a search engine has been developed and is widely used. Such an information search engine generally executes a search for public content (home page) containing a specific keyword when a specific keyword is input.

On the other hand, focusing on the information distribution revolution caused by the spread of the Internet, various advertisements using the Internet have been rapidly spread. In many cases, such an advertisement generally includes an advertisement area in the public content and attaches the advertisement to this advertisement area.
In other words, the public content published on the Internet, regardless of whether it is provided only to specific people such as specific members or to general unspecified people, Typically, it is a hypertext written in HTML language, and it is easy to attach an advertisement to it. Then, the public content to which the advertisement is attached in this way is distributed by WWW (World Wide Web) technology, and the user can browse the public content using a browser. An anchor is attached to such an advertisement, and when the user clicks the advertisement, which is the text or image attached to the advertisement area, with a mouse device, etc., the advertised service exists on the Internet. It is designed so that you can access the location of. Such a mechanism is generally called a link. That is, the advertisement is linked to the advertiser's website.

Regarding advertisements on the Internet, a mechanism is becoming widespread in which not only public contents called homepages but also electronic mail contents are attached. As an example, when a user makes a contract for an Internet connection with a certain provider, a system in which an advertisement is attached to an electronic mail transmitted via the provider has been put into practical use. With such a contract, the user can benefit from the Internet connection fee, for example.

[0006] FIG. 24 schematically shows an example of an advertisement attached to some content. That is, this content has a reading material 1001 which is a traveling text as its original content, but an advertisement area 1002 is provided around the reading material 1001 and two advertisements 1003 and 1004 are attached thereto. These advertisements 1003 and 1004 are attached with anchors to the advertiser websites 1003a and 1004a, respectively. Therefore, when a person who browses this content clicks the advertisement 1003 or 1004 with a mouse device or the like, a website 1003a or 1004a linked to the clicked advertisement.
Will be the browsing screen.

[0007]

By the way, it is desirable for an advertiser to have an advertisement that can attract as many users as possible to the service provided by the advertiser.
To that end, we want to improve the aspect of: ・ Getting a positive impression from the users who browsed the content ・ Advertising as much content as possible ・ Advertising to the user group who is likely to be interested in their service.

However, in the conventional advertising method on the Internet including the example shown in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-175628, since the advertisement is attached to the content,
There is a problem that the original content is disturbed and the advertisement is rather adversely affected.

Hereinafter, this problem will be considered with reference to FIG. FIG. 25 is a schematic diagram showing a screen display example in which an advertisement is attached to an electronic mail.

As shown in FIG. 25A, in this content, the mail body 2001 constitutes the original content. And an advertisement area 2002 is provided around it,
A plurality of advertisements 2003 to 2007 based on image data are attached to the advertisement area 2002. Such content is content that can be generally viewed on the Internet.

However, as can be seen at first glance, the proportion of advertisements showing in the screen is extremely large. For this reason, it becomes difficult to concentrate on the original content, and in some cases, it may not be possible to know where the mail body 2001 that is the original content of the content is located. For this reason,
It is expected that the advertiser's impression will deteriorate.

Numerically, this means that the area of the entire content is 800 × 600 = 48 as shown in FIG.
Although the number of pixels is 0000 pixels, the mail body 2001, which is the original content, is 400 × 200 = 80.
Since there are only 000 pixels, the area of the advertising area 2002 is 480000-8000 = 400,000 pixels. This is 400 when viewed as an advertising area ratio.
000/480000 = 0.83, and advertises an area of 83% of the entire content.
~ 2007 is occupied.

A further problem is the data content and data size in that case. That is, as shown in FIG. 25C, the data size of the mail body 2001, which is text data, is 200 bytes, whereas the advertisement 2003.
Even if one of the data sizes of ˜2007 is 4000 bytes, the data size of 4000 × 5 = 20000 bytes will result. This is because image data is usually used for advertisements 2003 to 2007. Therefore, looking at the data size ratio, 20000/200
= 100, that is, the advertisements 2003 to 2007 have a data size 100 times as large as the mail body 2001.
For this reason, it takes time to read the content on the computer used by the user, and it is difficult to see the essential mail body 2001. This is a serious problem in an environment where the communication line quality is low and the data transfer rate is slow. As a result, the user has to wait until the content opens, which can lead to a poor impression on the advertiser.

In order to solve such a problem, the present applicant has filed Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-360442 (November 2000, 2000).
8th application (not yet published at the time of this application)),
The following technologies are proposed. That is, in the information mediation server connected to the Internet, first, the primary content such as an electronic mail including the character information transmitted by the content creator is analyzed, and the location of the published content on the Internet is registered in association with the keyword. The keyword registered in the database is extracted from the primary content by referring to the database. next,
A database is searched using the extracted keyword as a key, and the location of the public content associated with the extracted keyword is acquired. Then, an anchor for accessing the obtained location is added to the keyword in the primary content, and thereby secondary content such as an electronic mail is created. Finally, this 2
Send the next content to the destination instead of the primary content.

According to such a technique, the secondary content to which the advertisement anchor corresponding to the keyword in the primary content is attached can be received, and the recipient can browse the advertisement at the location indicated by the anchor. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the problem that the original content is hindered due to the advertisement attached to the content and the advertisement is rather adversely affected.

However, the terminal device on the Internet that receives the secondary content is a PC (Personal Computer).
ter), PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), mobile phones, and various other types of devices are used. The display performance of the display in these terminal devices varies depending on the model. For example, although there are no major restrictions on display performance for PCs, there are various restrictions such as a narrow screen for a PDA and a mobile phone, one message length is limited, and color display is not possible. Therefore, unless the secondary content is created in consideration of the display performance of the display at the terminal device of the transmission destination, the secondary content cannot be utilized,
There is a problem that the effect of advertisement cannot be exhibited.

The object of the present invention is to optimize the display performance of the display in the terminal device to which the secondary content is transmitted.
To provide the next content.

Another object of the present invention is to allow secondary contents to access public contents in an optimum format for each type of terminal device.

[0019]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, the primary content including character information is analyzed, and the primary content is referred to by referring to a database for registering the location of the published content in association with a keyword. Extracting a keyword registered in the database from the database, searching the database using the extracted keyword as a key, and obtaining the location of the public content associated with the extracted keyword, and the destination of the primary content. Determining the type of the terminal device, and for the keywords in the primary content,
A secondary content is created from the primary content by adding an anchor for accessing the acquired location, and this creation is based on the determination of the type, and the secondary content of a different format depending on the display performance of the terminal device. And an information providing method including the steps of making the content.

Therefore, different secondary contents are created according to the display performance of the display in the terminal device to which the secondary contents are transmitted.

The invention according to claim 2 is the information providing method according to claim 1, wherein in the step of determining the type of the terminal device, the type of the terminal device is determined based on the destination address of the primary content. It is something to do.

Therefore, by judging the type of the terminal device from the destination address, different secondary contents are created according to the display performance of the display at the terminal device to which the secondary contents are transmitted.

The invention according to claim 3 is the information providing method according to claim 1, wherein in the step of determining the type of the terminal device, the type of the terminal device is associated with the destination address of the primary content. The type of the terminal device is determined with reference to a table in which information indicating

Therefore, by determining the type of the terminal device by referring to the table, different secondary contents are created according to the display performance of the display in the terminal device to which the secondary contents are transmitted.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the information providing method according to the third aspect, the type information of the terminal device read from the primary content is associated with the destination address of the primary content. It comprises the steps of registering in a table.

Therefore, it is possible to register the information of the type of the terminal device read from the primary content and create a table for judging the type of the terminal device.

The invention according to claim 5 is the information providing method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein in the step of creating the secondary content, the method is used according to the judgment of the type of the terminal device. The markup language is changed to create the secondary content.

Therefore, it is possible to select an appropriate markup language according to the judgment of the type of the terminal device.

According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the information providing method according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, in the step of creating the secondary content, the terminal device is classified for each type of the terminal device. With reference to a table in which the information on the function restriction of (1) is registered, the secondary content suitable for the display performance of the terminal device is created from the information on the function restriction.

Therefore, it is possible to determine various different function restrictions depending on the type of the terminal device.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, in the information providing method according to any one of the first to sixth aspects, in the step of acquiring the location, a plurality of the keywords are provided for each type of the terminal device. Is searched for in the database in which the location is registered, and the location of the public content corresponding to the extracted keyword and corresponding to the type of the terminal device is acquired.

Therefore, even with the same keyword, it is possible to attach anchors that access different locations for each type of terminal device.

According to the invention described in claim 8, in the information providing method according to claim 7, in the step of acquiring the location, the location corresponding to the type of the terminal device is designated by the location. The disclosed content is dynamically generated from the content material prepared in advance according to the display performance of the terminal device.

Therefore, even with the same keyword, different public contents are generated by accessing different locations for each type of terminal device.

In the invention described in claim 9, the primary content including the character information is analyzed, and the location of the published content is registered in the database from the primary content with reference to the database for registration. A keyword extracting means for extracting the selected keyword, a location acquiring means for searching the database by using the extracted keyword as a key, and acquiring the location of the public content associated with the extracted keyword,
The type determining means for determining the type of the terminal device to which the primary content is destined, and the keyword in the primary content are provided with an anchor for accessing the obtained location, thereby making An information providing apparatus including: a secondary content creating unit that creates secondary content, and creates secondary content into content suitable for the display performance of the terminal device based on the determination of the type.

Therefore, different secondary contents are created according to the display performance of the display in the terminal device to which the secondary contents are transmitted.

According to a tenth aspect of the invention, in the information providing apparatus according to the ninth aspect, the type determining means determines the type of the terminal device based on the destination address of the primary content.

Therefore, by judging the type of the terminal device from the destination address, different secondary contents are created according to the display performance of the display at the terminal device to which the secondary contents are transmitted.

The invention according to claim 11 is the information providing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the type determining means stores a table in which predetermined information is registered in association with the destination address of the primary content. The type of the terminal device is determined by referring to it.

Therefore, by determining the type of the terminal device by referring to the table, different secondary contents are created according to the display performance of the display in the terminal device which is the destination of the secondary contents.

[0041]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS [Overall Schematic Configuration] An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. This basic system configuration example is a configuration example using the Internet.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the overall schematic structure. In FIG. 1, the Internet 101 functioning as a network that is a communication network for electronic data is virtually shown. Through the Internet 101, a content transmission client 102, a secondary content reception client 103, an information mediation server 104, Information provision site 1
05 and the service providing site 106 are connectable.

Here, the content transmission client 10
Reference numeral 2 denotes a client terminal used by a content creator. The information mediation server 104 is an information mediation server operated by an information mediator, processes the primary content 201 such as an electronic mail transmitted from the content transmission client 102 via the Internet 101, and secondary content 202. Used to create (Fig. 6-
(See FIG. 8). Secondary content reception client 103
Is a client terminal to which the content created by the information mediation server 104 is distributed. Depending on the system configuration, the content transmitting client 102 and the secondary content receiving client 103 may be the same client terminal. The information providing site 105 and the service providing site 106 are the public contents 203.
(See FIG. 8) is a website operated by an information provider and a service provider, which is open to the public on the Internet 101. The public content 203 may be of any type, whether it is closed to members or widely open to the public, as long as it can be browsed on the Internet 101.

Here, the information mediation server 104 operates from the content transmission client 102 to the Internet 10.
The content such as an electronic mail transmitted via 1 is received, the content is processed to create secondary content, and the processed secondary content is transmitted to the destination. In order to execute such processing, the information mediation server 104 is connected to a keyword database 108 as a database and obtains necessary data from this keyword database 108. 2 in the information mediation server 104
The process of creating the next content 202 will be described later,
FIG. 1 shows a functional block diagram for executing the processing. That is, the information mediation server 104 includes the keyword extracting unit 109 and the secondary content creating unit 110.
The keyword database 108 includes a keyword search unit 111, a data storage unit 112, and a data registration unit 11.
Have three.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the basic configuration of a computer used in each unit. The content transmission client 102, the secondary content reception client 103, the information mediation server 104, the keyword database 108, the information providing site 105, and the service providing site 106 described above are all computers. As a schematic structure thereof, as shown in FIG. 2, a CPU 114 and a memory 11 that execute various arithmetic processes to centrally control each unit.
A microcomputer having a basic configuration of 5 is a main component, and a communication device 116, a hard disk 117, a display device 118, an input device 11
9 and the CD-ROM drive 120 are connected to the bus. Then, on the hard disk 117, a program 121 describing a data code for causing a microcomputer having the CPU 114 and the memory 115 as a basic configuration to execute a predetermined process is installed. This program 121 is generally a CD
-Packaged in the form of being stored in a ROM or the like, and installed in the hard disk 117 by the read operation of the CD-ROM drive 120. However, the CD-ROM is an example, and as a storage medium for storing the program, a magnetic recording medium such as a floppy (registered trademark) disk or a CD-R or a DVD-ROM is used.
Any optical storage medium such as a ROM or a DVD-RAM may be used. Furthermore, program 12
1 may be taken in via the communication device 116 via a network such as the Internet 101 and installed in the hard disk 117. Whatever stores the program 121 can be a storage medium that stores the program.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the database. The database 122 is stored in the data storage unit 112 in the keyword database 108, and the public content 2 is associated with the keyword 122a.
The URL 122b as the location 03 is stored. Here, the keyword 122a and the URL 122b
The correspondence relationship with can be appropriately defined depending on the intended use of the system. For example, when the system is constructed as a search information providing system, the URL 122b of the public content 203 including information that can be a metaphor of the keyword 122a.
Is stored. As an example, for the keyword 122a of "Japanese crane", the UR of "WEB Animal Guide"
That is, the L122b is stored (see FIGS. 3 and 8). On the other hand, when the system is constructed as an information providing system for advertisement, the URL 122b of the public content 203 related to advertisement is stored for the keyword 122a. In this case, the relationship between the keyword 122a and the public content 203 is such that the public content 203 forms a metaphor of the keyword 122a.
Even if the relationship is motivated such that the advertiser purchases the desired keyword 122a,
Any relationship will do. For example, the public content 203 of "ABC Tourism Co., Ltd." for the keyword 122a "Tour", the public content 203 of "Niigata Ski Area" for the keyword 122a "Ski", and the keyword "Night Bus" 122
For “a”, the public content 203 of “XYZ Kotsu” constitutes a metaphor (see FIG. 12).

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing another example of the database 122. In the database 122, the keyword 122a includes the URL 122b and the area information 122c.
Are stored in association with each other. For example, when the regional information 122c of "Kamakura / Shonan" is stored for the keyword 122a of "wild bird", the URL 122b of the public content 203 of "Kamakura wild bird lovers" is stored as the public content 203. ing.

Here, in FIG. 1, the information mediation server 10
4 shows a functional block diagram for executing the creation processing of the secondary content 202, the functions shown in this functional block diagram are actually realized by the hardware configuration shown in FIG. Specifically, the keyword extracting unit 109 extracts a keyword from the mail body which is the primary content 201 transmitted from the content transmitting client 102. At this time, the information mediation server 1
The CPU 114 and the memory 115, which perform information processing according to the program 121 installed in the hard disk 117 of 04, perform morphological analysis on the mail text and extract keywords. The keyword database 108 also performs information processing according to the program 121 installed on the hard disk 117 C
The PU 114 and the memory 115 execute a predetermined process.
In other words, the keyword database 108 stores the database 122 as shown in FIG. 3 or FIG. 9 registered in the data storage unit 112 via the data registration unit 113. Therefore, in the keyword database 108, the keyword search unit 111 causes the data storage unit 11 to receive an instruction from the information mediation server 104 that has extracted the keyword.
2 is searched for the keyword 122a extracted in the information mediation server 104 from the database 122 stored in the URL 122, and the URL 1 associated with the keyword 122a is searched.
22b is acquired. And keyword database 1
08 uses the acquired URL 122b as the information mediation server 1
Send to 04. The information mediation server 104 assigns the received URL 122b to the mail text which is the primary content 201 transmitted from the content transmission client 102 in the secondary content creation unit 110 thereof. In the processing here, the mail text is converted into HTML text and the URL 122b is added as an anchor in the HTML text (see FIG. 7). In this way, the secondary content 202 is created.

The information mediation server 104 can publish the created secondary content 202 on the Internet 101, can return it to the content transmission client 102 via the Internet 101, or can send the secondary content via the Internet 101. It can also be delivered to the receiving client 103. The functions of disclosure, return, and distribution are realized by well-known techniques, and therefore description thereof will be omitted.

[First Basic System Configuration Example] A first basic system configuration example using the above technique will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 8.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a business method involving exchange of data and money. This example is constructed as an information providing system in which the information mediation server 104 provides search information to a content creator who creates a primary content using the content transmission client 102. That is, in this example, the content creator is the recipient of the secondary content, and this person is the information mediation server 1
Pay the membership fee to the information intermediary who conducts business using 04. Payment of the membership fee here can also be realized by data processing such as transfer processing from a bank using information processing, withdrawal processing of deposit amount using information processing, and the like. The information mediator pays a reward to the information provider who conducts business using the information providing site 105, and assists the information provider in maintaining the website of the information provider and improving the quality thereof. Then, the information mediator creates the secondary content based on the primary content transmitted from the content creator, and returns this to the content receiver who is also the content creator.

As a result, the content creator / content receiver can access the URL of the noun extracted as a keyword from the mail body of the mail body, which is the primary content 201 created by the content creator. It is possible to receive the secondary content 202 to which is attached, and by clicking the keyword of the secondary content 202 with the input device 119 such as a mouse device, the URL specified by the anchor attached to the keyword is accessed. It will be possible.

Due to such a system configuration, the keyword database 1 used in combination with the information mediation server 104
In the data storage unit 112 of 08, the information providing site 105
The database 122 is stored in which the URL 122b is associated with the keyword 122a (see FIG. 3). In this case, since the purpose is to provide information, the keyword 12
2a and the public content 203 whose location is specified by the URL 122b are selected so that the public content 203 forms a metaphor relationship with the keyword 122a. For example, for the keyword 122a "Hokkaido", the UR of "Page of Hokkaido Promotion Association"
L122b is associated with, and the keyword 122a “Kushiro Marsh” is associated with the URL 12 of “Doto sightseeing information”.
2b is associated, and the URL 122 of “WEB Animal Guide” is associated with the keyword 122a of “Japanese crane”.
b is associated.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart showing the flow of the secondary content creation process, FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing the flow of the keyword extraction process, and FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing the HTML document creation procedure at the time of creating the secondary content. Figure 2 is completed 2
It is a schematic diagram which shows an example of the following content.

Here, the flow of processing executed by the information mediation server 104 according to the program 121 installed in the hard disk 117 will be described with reference to FIG. First, the information mediation server 104 uses the content transmission client 10 via the Internet 101.
The original text transmitted from 2, that is, the primary content 201
(See FIG. 6A) is received and stored in the memory 115 (step S101). This original text, for example,
The text says, "I would like to travel to Hokkaido during my next vacation. I would especially like to visit the Kushiro Marsh and see the Japanese cranes." Then, a known morphological analysis is performed on the original sentence (step S102), and the text data is divided into small words having part-of-speech information. In other words, in the case of the above text sentence, "this time / no / holiday / ha / hokkaido / wa /
I want to travel/. / Especially / Kushiro Marsh / Turn / Turn /, Japanese Crane / See / Want / Want. Is obtained (see FIG. 6B). Therefore, in order to extract keyword candidates from these words and phrases (see FIG. 6 (c)),
The first phrase is extracted from the divided phrases (step S
103), it is determined whether the phrase is a noun (step S104). Determining that the phrase is a noun means determining that the phrase is a keyword candidate thereafter. Therefore, if it is determined that the phrase is a keyword candidate (Y in step S104), then it is determined whether or not it is the keyword 122a (step S105). The determination as to whether or not the keyword 122a here means to determine whether or not the word or phrase as the keyword candidate is registered in the database 122 shown in FIG. Therefore, the processing in step S105 is performed by issuing a search instruction to the keyword search unit 111 of the keyword database 108. The information mediation server 104 uses the keyword database 10
The response from 8 recognizes whether the phrase is the keyword 122a. Keyword database 10
The response from 8 includes the URL 122b associated with the keyword 122a. Therefore, if it is the keyword 122a (Y in step S105), the phrase is sandwiched between HTML anchor tags, the URL 122b transmitted from the keyword database 108 is inserted together with the keyword 122a in the anchor tag, and this is stored in the memory 115. The data is output to the inner buffer area (step S107). On the other hand, step S10
If it is determined in step 4 that the keyword candidate is not a noun (N in step S104) or in step S105 that the keyword candidate is not the keyword 122a (N in step S105), the phrase is not changed. The data is output to the buffer area in the memory 115 (step S106). Then, it is determined whether or not the next word / phrase is present in the keyword candidates (step S108), and if there is the next word / phrase, the next word / phrase is extracted (step S1).
09), and returns to the determination process of step S104.

Here, step S106 and step S
As shown in FIG. 7, the keyword 122a sandwiched between the phrase and the anchor tag output to the buffer area in the memory 115 by executing 107 constitutes an HTML document. Therefore, when the processing shown in FIG. 5 ends, the HT as illustrated in FIG.
The ML document is completed, and the primary content 20
The secondary content 202 is created based on 1.

The information mediation server 104 delivers the secondary content 202 thus created to the secondary content receiving client 103 via the Internet 101.
In this basic system configuration example, the secondary content reception client 103 is the content transmission client 102. However, the secondary content receiving client 10
3 and the content transmission client 102 may be different computers. This is easily realized when the primary content 201 is transmitted from the content transmission client 102 to the information mediation server 104 by including the delivery destination instruction information instructing the delivery destination of the secondary content 202 in the transmission information. .

In the secondary content receiving client 103, when the distributed secondary content 202 is displayed by the browser, the keyword 122a sandwiched between the anchor tags in the secondary content 202 is underlined or displayed in a different color. It is highlighted (see FIG. 8). Then, when these keywords 122a are clicked with a mouse device or the like, the URL 122b sandwiched by the anchor tags is transmitted to the Internet provider via the Internet 101, and the public content 203 having the URL 122b can be accessed, and its disclosure. The contents of the contents 203 are changed to the secondary contents reception client 10
It becomes possible to browse in 3. Thus
Information is provided to the content creator and the secondary content receiver.

As is clear from FIG. 8, the secondary content 202 is the primary content 2 shown in FIG. 6 (a).
It does not change much in appearance compared to 01. Therefore, the display content of the content becomes easy to see. Also, the secondary content 202 has a URL with respect to the primary content 201.
Since only the anchor that specifies 122b is added, the data size does not increase drastically as compared with the primary content 201. Therefore, from the viewpoints of both readability and data size, the content creator who is the viewer of the secondary content 202 and the secondary content receiver can
It can prevent unpleasant feelings.

Also, from the aspect of information retrieval, unlike a simple keyword retrieval, the keyword in the natural language is U
Since the search method in which the RL is added is adopted, it is possible to provide information that meets the wishes of the information search applicant.

[Second Basic System Configuration Example] A second basic system configuration example performed using the above technique will be described with reference to FIGS. 9 and 10. FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the database 122, and FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the primary content 201 and the completed secondary content 202. Note that the same parts as those of the first basic system configuration example are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof will be omitted.

In this example, the database 122 including the above-mentioned area information 122c is used. Therefore, when searching the URL 122b based on the keyword 122a, the regional information 122c is considered.

That is, the content transmission client 10
In the transmission text as the primary content 201 transmitted from the No. 2 to the information mediation server 104, “local:” is included.
Followed by, write the name of the area. Then, in the information mediation server 104, the URL 122 is added to the keyword 122a.
The database 122 illustrated in FIG. 9 in which 22b and the area information 122c are associated and stored is searched, and the keyword 122a is searched from both sides of the keyword 122a and the area information 122c. For example, in FIG. 9, the keyword 122a of "wild bird" includes the regional information 122c of "Shin-Yokohama / Kohoku" and the regional information 122c of "Kamakura / Shonan".
And are included. Therefore, if the primary content 201 includes an area-designated name "local: Shin-Yokohama", the information mediation server 104 determines that "Shin-Yokohama /
Only the keyword 122a “wild bird” including the area information 122c “Kohoku” is searched. This allows
The information mediation server 104 associates the keyword 122a called "wild bird" in the primary content 201 with the keyword 122a called "wild bird" that includes the regional information 122c called "Shin-Yokohama / Kohoku".
The secondary content 202 is created by adding only the anchor (see FIG. 10). As a result, in this basic system configuration example, the anchor of the public content 203, which the viewer of the secondary content 202 is likely to be more interested in, can be added to the keyword.
The utility value of 3 can be further enhanced.

[Third Basic System Configuration Example] FIG. 1 shows a third basic system configuration example performed using the above technique.
1 and FIG. 12 will be described. FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing a business method involving exchange of data and money, and FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram showing an example of primary contents and completed secondary contents. The same parts as those of the first and second basic system configuration examples are designated by the same reference numerals and the description thereof will be omitted.

As shown in FIG. 11, in this example, the information mediator is, for example, an Internet provider. The content creator signs an internet connection contract with an information intermediary who is an internet provider. This contract is a contract to attach an advertisement to the e-mail of the content creator instead of giving the content creator a privilege such as a free internet connection fee. In this case, if the information mediation server 104 is provided with a charging system for data processing, here, the information mediation server 104 is used.
Will perform data processing that makes the content creator's connection fee free. The advertisement is an advertisement of the service provider who pays the advertisement fee to the information intermediary. In other words, the information intermediary receives the advertising fee from the service provider, and instead, concludes a free internet connection contract with the content creator, and always sends the content creator's e-mail to the secondary content recipient via the information intermediary. The system configuration is to enable distribution. The payment of the advertisement fee here can also be realized by data processing such as transfer processing from a bank using information processing and processing of deducting a deposit amount using information processing. Therefore, the information intermediary performs a process of adding an advertisement of the service provider to the primary content, which is an electronic mail transmitted from the content creator, and delivering the advertisement to the secondary content receiver. In this case, the content creator and the secondary content receiver are basically different people.

As a more specific example, as shown in FIG. 12, the content creator asks, "This is going to skiing,
Did you find a good tour? If you use a night bus, it will be cheaper. It is assumed that a mail text "" is created and is sent as the primary content from the content sending client 102 to the information mediation server 104. In this case, step S105 shown in FIG.
In the case where "ski", "tour" and "night bus" are searched for as the keyword 122a, the information mediation server 104 causes the "Niigata ski resort" and "ABC Tourism Co., Ltd." associated with the respective keywords 122a. "
And the URL 122b for accessing the public content 203 called "XYZ Kotsu" is those keywords 1
The secondary content 202 attached to each of the 22a as an anchor is created, and this is transmitted to the secondary content receiving client 103 of the secondary content receiver via the Internet 101. In this case, the content transmission client 102 and the secondary content reception client 103 are basically computers owned by different owners.

Therefore, such secondary contents 202
On the display device 118 of the secondary content receiving client 103 that has received the message, it is possible to browse the display as shown as the mail with advertisement in FIG. And
The secondary content receiving client 103 can browse the public content 203 designated by the URL 122b attached as an anchor by clicking each keyword of "ski", "tour", and "night bus".

How the above processing is executed on the hardware is as described in the first and second basic system configuration examples, and the description thereof will be omitted.

[Selection of Secondary Content Format] In the first to third basic system configuration examples, the secondary content 20 is selected.
2 is created as described above.

However, the terminal device of the secondary content receiving client 103 on the Internet 101 which receives the secondary content 202 is a PC (Personal Compute).
r), PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), mobile phone, and various other types of devices are used. The display performance of the display in these terminal devices varies depending on the model. For example, although there are no major restrictions on display performance for PCs, there are various restrictions such as a narrow screen for a PDA and a mobile phone, one message length is limited, and color display is not possible.

Therefore, as described above, the secondary contents 20
When creating 2, the secondary content creation unit 110 selects the format of the secondary content 202 in consideration of the display performance of the display of the terminal device of the secondary content receiving client 103, and selects the format in the selected format. Two
The next content 202 is created. Less than,
The processing will be specifically described.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a process of creating the secondary content 202 performed by the secondary content creating unit 110. As shown in FIG. 13, first, the type of the terminal device of the secondary content receiving client 103 that is the destination of the primary content 201 is determined (step S30).
1).

Specifically, this can be performed as follows. First, as shown in FIG. 14, the primary content 2
It can be determined from the domain name or the like of the destination address 302 of the electronic mail that is 01. If the terminal device of the secondary content receiving client 103 is, for example, a mobile phone, the domain name of the destination address 302 can be used to determine the communication company such as the mobile phone. Therefore, the domain name of each communication company is registered in advance. Table 3 to keep
02 (see FIG. 15) is prepared, the destination address 302 is collated with the mail address 303 of the table 302, and the type of the terminal device can be determined from the type 304 registered in association with the mail address 303. .

The information broker provides the above-mentioned service by recruiting members and issuing a member address 301 (see FIG. 16), which is a mail address having an account to the information broker server 104, to the member. . Therefore, as shown in FIG. 16, the member address 30
The member information 312 is registered in the table 311 in association with 1, and as the member information 312, the type of device (PC or PDA) used as the terminal device on the network.
In addition to information such as whether it is a mobile phone or the like, in the case of a mobile phone or the like, it also includes information such as the type of communication company) 313. The information of the device type 313 is information regarding the function restriction of the terminal device. That is,
This is because the restriction of the functions of the terminal device varies depending on the model such as the PC and the mobile phone. Then, the destination address 30 of the email that is the primary content 201
It is only necessary to search the table 311 for the member address 301 as No. 2 and determine the type of the terminal device from the device type 313 corresponding to the member address 301.

In this case, the device type 3 in the table 311
The information of No. 13 may be declared by the member, but the type of the terminal device is read from the primary content 201 transmitted from the member, and the read type is associated with the member address 301 in the table 311 and the device type 313. You may register as. Specifically, the primary content 20
For example, by checking the X-Mailer field of the header of the email that is 1, the primary content 201 is P
It is possible to judge whether the caller is calling from the C mailer or the mobile phone.

As described above, first, the secondary content receiving client 1 which is the destination of the primary content 201.
If the type of terminal device 03 is determined (type determination means)
(Step S301) Next, according to the type of the terminal device, the secondary content 202 suitable for the display performance of the display of the terminal device is created (secondary content creating means) (step S302 and thereafter).

For example, when the terminal device is a PC (Y in step S1), a markup language suitable for the PC used to create the secondary content 202, for example HTML, is selected (step S302), and is wide for the PC. The creation on the screen is selected (step S303).

For example, when the terminal device is a mobile phone (N in step S301), a markup language suitable for the mobile phone used to create the secondary content 202, eg, CHTML is selected (step S304), and the mobile phone is selected. To create a narrow screen for use (step S305).

As a result, the optimum markup language and screen size are selected according to the type of the terminal device of the secondary content receiving client 103 to which the secondary content 202 is transmitted.

Then, the secondary content 202 is created according to the selection in steps S2 to S5 (step S3).
06, S307). Specifically, as described above, the database 122 is searched to select the URL 122b corresponding to the keyword 122a, and the primary content 201 is selected.
Is converted into HTML or CHTML text, and the URL 122b is added as an anchor in the text.

At this time, a plurality of locations (URL 122b) are registered in the database 122 for each keyword 122a for each type of terminal device. FIG. 17 shows a configuration example of the database 122 for the example described with reference to FIG. A URL 122b1 for PC and a URL 122b2 for mobile phone are registered for each keyword 122a. Then, according to the determination in step S1, the URL 122b corresponding to the type of the terminal device is selected, and the keyword 122a of the mail text converted into HTML text or the like is added as an anchor.

As described above, by distinguishing the URL 122b indicating the location of the public content 203 with the same keyword 122a according to the type of the terminal device,
It is possible to prepare the public content 203 depending on the screen size and other display performance of the display of the terminal device. FIG. 18 shows an example of the public content 203a for PC and the public content 203b for mobile phone for the same keyword 122a (“ski” in this example) in the example of FIG.

Thus, the URL1 indicating the location
In addition to changing the public content 203 that can be viewed on the secondary content receiving client 103 side according to the difference of 22b, the following may be performed.

That is, when the URL 122b is designated in the secondary content receiving client 103, the public content 203 is created by the procedure different depending on the URL 122b in the service providing site 106 where the location exists. That is, on the service providing site 106 or the like, a program (C which dynamically creates the public content 203 from various materials such as images and texts).
GI etc.) is resident. Then, a standard format such as XML or HTML is prepared, and the specified URL 122b is the URL 122b in the program.
Different public content 203 (public content 203a or 203b) is created depending on whether it is 1 or the URL 122b2.

When the URL 122b1 is specified, the PC
When creating public content 203a for
The TML is selected, the public content 203a for the PC is created using the format having a wide screen size for the PC, and is transmitted to the secondary content receiving client 103. When the URL 122b2 is specified, the public content 203b for mobile phones is created.
The ML is selected, the public content 203b for the mobile phone is created using the format of the narrow screen size for the mobile phone, and is transmitted to the secondary content reception client 103.

FIG. 19 shows such a public content 20.
3 is a schematic diagram showing the creation of the program 3
However, the required content is selected from various materials 322 such as images and texts, the type of markup language and the format of the screen size are selected, and the public content 203a is selected.
And 203b are created.

In the above description, step S301.
In order to simplify the explanation, the terminal device type is set to PC.
Although an example in which the mobile phone or the mobile phone is selectively determined has been shown, it is further determined whether the mobile phone is a PDA, or the same mobile phone is further subdivided according to the communication company to determine the type of the terminal device. The generation of the secondary content 202 may be subdivided by making the type of the terminal device more detailed, such as by making a determination. For example, the markup language may be a model-specific markup method, HDML, WML, or the like. Further, the presence / absence of a moving image, the presence / absence of color display (or the number of display colors in the case of color display) may be selectable.

FIG. 20 is a flow chart summarizing a series of processes performed by the information mediation server 104 when the process described with reference to FIG. 13 is performed. That is, the keyword extracting unit 109 determines that the primary content 20 such as an electronic mail passing through the information mediation server 104.
1 is analyzed and the keyword 122a registered in the database 108 is extracted from the primary content 201 by referring to the database 108 (keyword extracting means) (step S311). Then, the type of the terminal device of the secondary content receiving client 103 which is the destination of the primary content is determined as described above (type determining means) (step S312). Next, the database 108 is searched using the extracted keyword 122a as a key, and the URL 122b indicating the location of the public content 203 associated with the extracted keyword 122a is acquired as described above (location acquisition means) (step S313). Then, by attaching an anchor for accessing the obtained location to the keyword 122a in the primary content 201 by the URL 122b,
The secondary content 202 is created from the primary content 201 (secondary content creating means) (step S31).
4). In this case, as described above, the secondary content 202 is created so that the secondary content 202 is suitable for the display performance of the display of the terminal device according to the determination of the type of the terminal device. By the way, in the system described above, the information mediator recruits members and issues the member address 301 (see FIG. 21), which is the mail address of the account in the information mediation server 104, to the member, thereby providing the service as described above. I will provide a. That is, the secondary content reception client 103 that has become a member of the information intermediary
When the content transmission client 102 sends an e-mail that becomes the primary content 201 to the destination address of the member address 301, or to the secondary content reception client 103, the content transmission client 102 that has become a member of the information mediator. Is a member address 3
When sending an email that becomes the primary content 201 with 01 as the sender, the email that becomes the primary content 201 passes through the information mediation server 104.
As described above, the secondary content 202 is processed and reaches the terminal device of the secondary content receiving client 103.

A member of the information intermediary is a PC (Personal Compu
ter) as a terminal device of the Internet 101 to send an e-mail, the sender address (From field) of the e-mail can usually be arbitrarily set. Therefore, if the member address 301 is selected as the sender's address instead of the mail address provided by the provider used by the member, the electronic mail will pass through the information mediation server 104. Therefore, the information mediation server 1
You can receive the above-mentioned service according to 04.

However, when a member of the information intermediary sends an e-mail by using a mobile phone as a terminal device of the Internet 101, the terminal device and the mail address are inseparable, and the e-mail is addressed to the member address 301. Information intermediary server 1
I cannot receive service by 04. In addition, since the member address 301 cannot be selected as the sender's address, the member uses the e-mail address inseparable from the terminal device as the sender's address and the primary content 201.
Even if you send an e-mail that becomes
Received secondary content 202 created from 01 2
When the next content receiving client 103 replies to the e-mail which is the secondary content 202, the primary content 201, which is the reply e-mail, does not use the member address 301 but the terminal as the sender address. An e-mail address that is inseparable from the device is set.
Therefore, the primary content 201 that is this reply mail
Does not go through the information mediation server 104, and therefore cannot receive the service by the information mediation server 104. After receiving the service provided by the information mediation server 104,
If the reply mail is also to be transmitted as the secondary content 202, the replyer must perform a special operation such as explicitly rewriting the mail address.

Therefore, in the secondary content creation section 110 of the information mediation server 104, the table 41 shown in FIG.
1 is used to perform processing as shown in FIG.

That is, the table 411 is unique to the member address 301 given to the member and the terminal device inseparable from the terminal device such as the member's mobile phone when the member uses the mobile phone. Email address 402
It is a table in which is associated and registered in advance. The table 412 is a table in which all the member addresses 301 of the members of the information intermediary are registered.

Then, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 22, when there is an electronic mail which is the primary content 201 passing through the information mediation server 104, the destination address 421 (see FIG. 23) of the primary content 201 is It is determined whether or not the address is the member address (first address) 301 (step S401). This can be determined from the domain name or the like of the destination address 321.

When the destination address 421 of the primary content 201 is the member address 301 (Y in step S401), it is determined whether or not the member address 301 is listed in the table 411 (step S).
402), when it is posted (Y in step S402), the mail address (second address) 402 unique to the terminal device registered in association with the member address 301 in the table 411 is set as the secondary content. Two
No. 02 destination address 422 (see FIG. 23) (step S403).

Therefore, even if the destination member uses a mobile phone or the like as the terminal device, he / she can receive the e-mail as the secondary content 202 and receive the service of the information mediation server 104.

When the destination address 421 of the primary content 201 is the member address 301 (Y in step S401), the sender address 423 of the primary content 201 is also the member address 301. It is determined whether or not (step S304). This determination can also be made from the domain name of the sender address 423 or the like. When the sender address 423 is not the member address 301 (N in step S404), it is determined whether or not the sender address 423 is registered as the mail address 402 in the table 411 (step S405), and when it is registered (step S405). (Y of step S405), the mail address 402 and the member address 301 registered in association with each other in the table 411 are set as the sender address 424 of the secondary content 202 (step S406).

Therefore, even if the secondary content receiving client 103 that has received the secondary content 202 sends a reply of the electronic mail which is the secondary content 202, the secondary content receiving client 1
In 03, the reply mail passes through the information mediation server 104 without performing a special operation such as explicitly rewriting the mail address, and thus the service by the information mediation server 104 can be received.

[0098]

According to the first and ninth aspects of the present invention, it is possible to provide the secondary content optimum for the display performance of the display in the terminal device to which the secondary content is transmitted.

According to the inventions described in claims 2 and 10, in the inventions described in claims 1 and 9, the type of the terminal device is judged by the destination address, whereby the display of the display at the terminal device to which the secondary content is transmitted is displayed. It is possible to create different secondary contents depending on the display performance and provide the secondary contents optimum for the display performance of the display in the terminal device.

According to the inventions described in claims 3 and 11, in the invention described in claims 1 and 9, the display in the terminal device of the destination of the secondary content is performed by determining the type of the terminal device by referring to the table. It is possible to create different secondary contents depending on the display performance of, and provide the secondary content optimum for the display performance of the display in the terminal device.

According to the invention described in claim 4, in the invention described in claim 3, the information of the type of the terminal device read from the primary content is registered to create a table for judging the type of the terminal device. You can

According to a fifth aspect of the invention, in the invention according to any one of the first to fourth aspects, the secondary content is created using a markup language most suitable for the display performance of the display in the terminal device. be able to.

According to the invention described in claim 6, in the invention described in any one of claims 1 to 5, it is suitable for the display performance of the terminal device by judging various different function restrictions depending on the type of the terminal device. Secondary content can be created.

According to the invention described in claim 7, in the invention described in any one of claims 1 to 6, it is possible to access the public content in the optimum format for each type of terminal device from the secondary content. .

According to the invention described in claim 8, in the invention described in claim 7, different public contents can be generated from the secondary contents for each type of the terminal device, and the public contents in the optimum format can be accessed. .

[Brief description of drawings]

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

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a basic configuration of a computer used in each unit.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a database as a first basic system configuration example.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing a business method involving exchange of data and money.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a flow of a secondary content creation process.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a flow of keyword extraction processing.

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing an HTML document creation procedure when creating secondary content.

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing an example of completed secondary contents.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a database used in a second basic system configuration example.

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram showing an example of primary contents and completed secondary contents.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing a business method involving exchange of data and money as a third basic system configuration example.

FIG. 12 is a schematic diagram showing an example of primary contents and completed secondary contents.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart showing a secondary content creation process.

FIG. 14 is a conceptual diagram showing a structure of primary content.

FIG. 15 is a schematic diagram showing a table used to create secondary content.

FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram showing a table used to create secondary content.

FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram showing a database used to create secondary content.

FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram showing an example of secondary contents.

FIG. 19 is a schematic diagram showing creation of public content.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing a secondary content creation process.

FIG. 21 is a schematic diagram illustrating a table used to change a mail address when creating secondary content from primary content.

FIG. 22 is a flowchart illustrating a flow of changing a mail address when creating secondary content from primary content.

FIG. 23 is a schematic diagram showing an example of primary contents and completed secondary contents when the mail address is changed.

FIG. 24 is a schematic diagram showing an example of contents to which an advertisement is attached, as a conventional example.

FIG. 25 is a schematic view showing a screen display example in which an advertisement is attached to an electronic mail as a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

104 Information providing device 121 programs 122 database 122a keyword 122b Location (URL) 122b1 Location (URL) 122b2 location (URL) 201 Primary content 202 Secondary content 203 Published content 203a Published content 203b Published content 301 Destination address 302 table 311 table 313 Device type

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁷ Identification code FI theme code (reference) G06F 17/30 230 G06F 17/30 230Z

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. A step of analyzing a primary content including character information, referring to a database for registering a location of public content in association with a keyword, and extracting a keyword registered in the database from the primary content. Searching the database using the extracted keyword as a key to obtain the location of the public content associated with the extracted keyword; determining the type of the terminal device that is the destination of the primary content; A secondary content is created from the primary content by adding an anchor for accessing the obtained location to a keyword in the next content, and this creation is performed by displaying the terminal device based on the determination of the type. Secondary content in different formats depending on performance An information providing method comprising the steps of: 2. The information providing method according to claim 1, wherein in the step of determining the type of the terminal device, the type of the terminal device is determined based on the destination address of the primary content. 3. In the step of determining the type of the terminal device, the type of the terminal device is referred to by referring to a table in which information indicating the type of the terminal device is registered in association with the destination address of the primary content. The information providing method according to claim 1, wherein the information providing method is performed. 4. The information providing method according to claim 3, further comprising a step of registering information on the type of the terminal device read from the primary content in the table in association with a destination address of the primary content. . 5. The step of creating the secondary content is to create the secondary content by changing the markup language to be used according to the determination of the type of the terminal device. The information providing method described in Kaichi. 6. The step of creating the secondary content refers to a table in which information regarding function restrictions of the terminal device is registered for each type of the terminal device,
The secondary content suitable for the display performance of the terminal device is created from the information on the function restriction.
The information providing method according to any one of 5 to 5. 7. The step of acquiring the location searches the database in which a plurality of the locations are registered for each type of the terminal device for each of the keywords, and associates with the extracted keyword,
The information providing method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the location of the published content is acquired according to the type of the terminal device. 8. In the step of acquiring the location, the location according to the type of the terminal device is specified according to the display performance of the terminal device from the material of content prepared in advance by designating the location. The published content is dynamically generated.
Information provision method described in. 9. A keyword extraction for analyzing a primary content including character information and referring to a database for registering a location of public content in association with a keyword to extract a keyword registered in the database from the primary content. Means, location acquisition means for searching the database by using the extracted keyword as a key, and obtaining the location of the public content associated with the extracted keyword, and type for determining the type of the terminal device as the destination of the primary content A secondary content is created from the primary content by adding an anchor for accessing the obtained location to the determination means and the keyword in the primary content, and the secondary content is of the type. From the judgment of the above, the displayability of the terminal device An information providing apparatus including: a secondary content creation unit that creates content suitable for performance. 10. The information providing device according to claim 9, wherein the type determination means determines the type of the terminal device based on the destination address of the primary content. 11. The type determining means determines the type of the terminal device by referring to a table in which predetermined information is registered in association with the destination address of the primary content. The information providing device described in.