JP2005038055A - Information service system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technique for giving an information provider an opportunity to understand users' tastes, while facilitating searches for the information. <P>SOLUTION: An information processor which receives image data sent from a terminal device is made to specify a category to which an object shown by the image data received belongs and to store the image data for each category. The information processor provides the stored image data to the information provider having a relation to the category to which the object shown by the image data belongs. When receiving from the information provider the data related to the object shown by the image data provided, the information processor sends the data to the terminal device. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a technique for providing information in response to a request from a user.
[0002]
[Prior art]
2. Description of the Related Art There is known a product search system that notifies a user of a Web site on which detailed information such as the name, model number, and price of a product corresponding to a keyword input by a user using an input device such as a keyboard is posted. However, such a product search system has the following two problems. The first problem is that inputting keywords using a keyboard or the like is complicated. The second problem is that it is difficult to find a desired product when the keyword input by the user does not appropriately express the product desired by the user. A technique for solving these problems is disclosed in Patent Document 1.
[0003]
The product search system disclosed in Patent Document 1 solves the above-described problems as described below. First, the user captures an image of a product for which detailed information is desired to be transmitted, and transmits the image to the information processing apparatus. In this information processing apparatus, a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of a website established by a business that provides detailed information about the product in association with the product image is stored for each product. . Hereinafter, such an operator is referred to as an “information provider”. The information processing apparatus notifies the terminal apparatus of the URL stored in association with an image that matches or is similar to the image received from the terminal apparatus. The user can browse the detailed information about the desired product by accessing the Web site indicated by the URL notified in this way. Thus, by using the product search system described above, it is possible to facilitate the search for detailed information and widen the user's purchase opportunities.
[0004]
[Patent Document 1]
JP 2002-328925 A
[0005]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
By the way, it is rare for one information provider to monopolize the market of products belonging to a certain category, and it is common for each of a plurality of information providers to sell products belonging to that category. . And since a user selects and purchases a product that matches his / her preference from among such products, for each information provider, the product he / she sells matches the user's preference. Whether or not it is important. For this reason, each information provider has a need to grasp a user's preference. However, even if the product search system is used, it is impossible to meet the needs of such information providers. The reason will be described below. In the product search system, the user's preference is reflected in the process in which the information processing apparatus extracts the URL of the Web site operated by each information provider. However, in the process of accessing a website, there is no difference from general access by URL, and the information provider operating the website grasps why the user is accessing the website. It is not possible.
[0006]
The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and provides a technique for facilitating search of information and providing an information provider who provides the information with an opportunity to grasp user preferences. It is aimed.
[0007]
[Means for Solving the Problems]
In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention specifies an image receiving unit that receives image data transmitted from a terminal device, and a category to which a thing represented by the image data received by the image receiving unit belongs. The category specifying means and the image data received by the image receiving means are stored for each category specified by the category specifying means, and the stored image data is related to the category to which the thing represented by the image data belongs. Providing means for providing to an information provider having via the communication network, and receiving data related to the matter represented by the image data provided by the providing means from the information provider via the communication network and transmitting to the terminal device And an information providing apparatus having a transmitting means.
[0008]
As another aspect of the present invention, an image receiving function for receiving image data transmitted from a terminal device and a category to which an object represented by the image data received by the image receiving function belongs to a computer device. The category specifying function to specify and the image data received by the image receiving function are stored for each category specified by the category specifying means, and the stored image data is related to the category to which the thing represented by the image data belongs. A provision function that is provided to the information provider that is provided via the communication network, and data related to an object represented by the image data provided by the provision function is received from the information provider via the communication network and transmitted to the terminal device. Provided is a program that realizes a transmission function.
[0009]
According to such an information providing apparatus and program, image data of an object for which provision of information is desired by the user is provided to an information provider having relevance to the object.
[0010]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
[0011]
[A: Configuration]
(1: Configuration of information provision system)
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of an information providing system according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the information providing system includes a terminal device 40 used by a certain user, a telecommunications carrier network 30 that accommodates the terminal device 40, and the telecommunications carrier network 30 via the Internet 20. Communication devices 10A, 10B and 10C to be connected are included.
[0012]
The terminal device 40 is a mobile phone having imaging means such as a digital camera, for example. The terminal device 40 has a Web browser function and an e-mail client function in addition to the imaging function. The Web browser function is a function for accessing a Web site specified by a URL specified by the user and allowing the user to browse information posted on the Web site. The e-mail client function is to generate and send an e-mail according to the user's request, receive an e-mail sent to the e-mail address assigned to the user, and send the contents to the user. It is a function to let you browse. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that an e-mail address “d1@ddd.co.jp” is assigned to the user of the terminal device 40. Moreover, although only one terminal device is illustrated in FIG. 1, there are actually a large number of terminal devices. In the present embodiment, a case where a mobile phone having an imaging function, a Web browser function, and an e-mail client function is used as the terminal device 40 will be described. Of course, it may be a Handyphone System (registered trademark) or a PDA (Personal Digital Assistance).
[0013]
Each of the communication devices 10A, 10B, and 10C is a computer device that is used by a unique information provider, and includes the Web browser function and the electronic mail client function. In the present embodiment, the communication device 10A is used by an information provider A that sells clothing, and the communication device 10B is used by an information provider B that sells decorative items. 10C is assumed to be used by an information provider C that sells fresh flowers such as cut flowers and planted trees. Below, when it is not necessary to distinguish each of communication apparatus 10A, 10B, and 10C, it describes with "the communication apparatus 10." In the following, when it is not necessary to distinguish each of the information providers A, B, and C, they are referred to as “information providers”. Although FIG. 1 illustrates three communication devices, there are actually many communication devices. Although detailed illustration is omitted, each of the information providers A, B, and C operates a website for providing detailed information about the products sold by the information providers A, B, and C. It is assumed that the URL of the Web site to be operated is “aaa.co.jp”.
[0014]
The telecommunications carrier network 30 is, for example, a mobile packet communication network operated by a certain telecommunications carrier, and a base station (not shown) for accommodating mobile phones located within the service area of the telecommunications carrier network 30 ) Is included. It is assumed that this telecommunications carrier has a contract with the user of the terminal device 40 and each information provider to provide various communication services via this telecommunications carrier network 30.
[0015]
As shown in FIG. 1, the communication carrier network 30 includes a request reception server 31, a request management server 32, a category specifying server 33, a portal server 34, and an answer transmission server 35. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that a unique e-mail address is assigned to each of the request reception server 31 and the response transmission server 35. Specifically, it is assumed that an e-mail address “e1@eeee.co.jp” is assigned to the former, and “e2@eeee.co.jp” is assigned to the latter. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, the portal server 34 is assumed to include three databases of image databases A, B, and C. Although details will be described later in the present embodiment, only the image data for the products in the respective unique categories are stored in these three image databases. Specifically, only the image data of “clothing” is stored in the image database A, the image data of “decoration” is stored in the image database B, and the image of “fresh flowers” is stored in the image database C. Only data is stored. These three image databases can be accessed only by a predetermined information provider. Specifically, only the information provider A can access the image database A, only the information provider B can access the image database B, and the image database C It is assumed that only the information provider C can access. Hereinafter, when it is not necessary to distinguish between the image databases A, B, and C, they are referred to as “image database”.
[0016]
In the present embodiment, the five servers communicate with each other to provide a communication service characteristic of the present invention to the user of the terminal device 40 and the information provider. More specifically, when a service provided to a user desires to provide detailed information about a certain product, by sending an e-mail as shown in FIG. Notification of the URL of the Web site where the detailed information is posted. In the present embodiment, a case is described in which the URL of the Web page on which the detailed information is posted is notified to the user, but it is of course possible to notify the user of the detailed information itself. As shown in FIG. 2, in this e-mail, the e-mail address of the request reception server 31 is written as an e-mail address (hereinafter referred to as “destination address”) of the e-mail. The e-mail address assigned to the user is written as the original e-mail address (hereinafter referred to as “transmission source address”). In addition, in this e-mail, a category identifier (for example, a keyword “clothing”) indicating a category to which a product for which detailed information is desired is written is written in the title. It is attached. Although details will be described later, the image data attached to the e-mail is stored in an image database corresponding to the category to which the product imaged in the image data belongs. On the other hand, a service provided to an information provider is provided with an opportunity to grasp user preferences. Specifically, the image database stores images of products for which the user wants to provide detailed information (that is, products that the user is interested in) and is stored in the image database. By browsing the image, the information provider can grasp the user's preference. Hereinafter, functions provided in each of the request reception server 31, the request management server 32, the category specifying server 33, the portal server 34, and the answer transmission server 35 in order to provide the above two services will be described. Since the hardware configuration of each server is the same as that of a general computer device, detailed description thereof is omitted.
[0017]
(2: Function of request reception server)
First, functions of the request reception server 31 will be described. The request reception server 31 has a function of receiving the electronic mail shown in FIG. 2 and delivering the image data attached to the electronic mail to the category specifying server 33. More specifically, the request reception server 31 has a mailbox (hereinafter referred to as “reception mailbox”) for storing an e-mail transmitted to an e-mail address assigned to itself. When an e-mail addressed to the e-mail address is received, the e-mail is stored in the reception mailbox. That is, in the information providing system shown in FIG. 1, the request receiving server 31 functions as an image receiving unit that receives image data transmitted from the terminal device 40. Then, the request reception server 31 generates a serial number (hereinafter referred to as “reception number”) indicating the order in which the electronic mail is received, and associates the transmission source address written in the electronic mail with the reception number. The request management server 32 is requested to store it. Further, the request reception server 31 transmits the category identifier written in the title of the received electronic mail, the image data attached to the electronic mail, and the reception number to the category specifying server 33. In the present embodiment, a case has been described in which a serial number representing the order of reception of e-mails is used as the reception number. However, for example, a sequence generated using a pseudo-random number or the like may be used. Further, in the present embodiment, among the data included in the e-mail received from the terminal device 40, only the category identifier written in the title and the image data attached to the e-mail are used as the category specifying server. Although the case of delivery to 33 has been described, the transmission source address of the received electronic mail may be rewritten with the reception number, and the electronic mail may be delivered to the category specifying server 33. In this way, the personal information (user's e-mail address) included in the received e-mail is concealed, and leakage thereof can be prevented.
[0018]
(3: Function of request management server)
Next, functions of the request management server 32 will be described. The request management server 32 stores the request management table shown in FIG. 3, and associates the transmission source address transmitted from the request reception server 31 with the reception number and writes it in this request management table. Further, when a request for notification of a transmission source address corresponding to a certain reception number is requested from a response transmission server 35 described later, the request management server 32 stores the transmission stored in the request management table in association with the reception number. The original address is read, and this transmission source address is transmitted to the answer transmission server 35. That is, the request management server 32 has a function of managing the correspondence between the transmission source address and the reception number transmitted from the request reception server 31.
[0019]
(4: Category specific server functions)
The category specifying server 33 stores a category management table shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 4, in this category management table, data (hereinafter referred to as “image database”) that uniquely identifies an image database in which image data of products belonging to the category is stored in association with a category identifier representing the category of the product. "Database identifier") is stored. In the present embodiment, the name of the image database is used as the database identifier, but a URL assigned to the image database may of course be used. The category identification server 33 identifies the category to which the product imaged in the image data delivered from the request reception server 31 belongs based on the stored contents of the category management table and the category identifier delivered from the request reception server 31. The image database to store the image data is specified. That is, the category specifying server 33 functions as a category specifying unit that specifies the category to which the product imaged in the image data received from the terminal device 40 belongs in the information providing system shown in FIG. Then, the category specifying server 33 transmits the database identifier specified in this way, the image data and the reception number received from the request reception server 31 to the portal server 34, and associates the image data with the reception number. And requesting storage in the image database specified by the database identifier.
[0020]
(5: Portal server function)
The portal server 34 includes the image databases A, B, and C as described above. In this image database, as shown in FIG. 5, a reception number and image data are stored. The portal server 34 associates the image data delivered from the category identification server 33 with the reception number, and stores them in the image database identified by the database identifier delivered from the category identification server 33. In addition, the portal server 34 can allow the information provider who has access authority to the image database to browse the image data and the reception number stored in the image database. That is, in the information providing system shown in FIG. 1, the portal server 34 stores the image data delivered from the category specifying server 33 for each category, and provides information related to the product imaged in the image data. It functions as a providing means for providing the image data to a person.
[0021]
(6: Function of answer transmission server)
The reply transmission server 35 has a function of notifying the user who has transmitted the e-mail shown in FIG. 2 to the request reception server 31 of the website on which the detailed information desired by the user is posted. More specifically, the answer transmission server 35 includes a mailbox (hereinafter, “answer mailbox”) that stores an e-mail transmitted to an e-mail address assigned to the answer transmission server 35. When the electronic mail shown in FIG. 6 is transmitted from the information provider, the reply transmission server 35 first stores the electronic mail in the reply mailbox. FIG. 6 shows an e-mail transmitted by the information provider A in response to a request for providing detailed information whose reception number is “0001”, for example. The e-mail address assigned to the reply transmission server 35 is written in the destination address of the e-mail, and the e-mail address assigned to the information provider A is written in the source address. . Further, in this e-mail, the receipt number (“0001”) and the URL (“aaa.co.jp”) of the Web site that provides detailed information provided by the information provider are written in the body of the e-mail. It is. When the e-mail shown in FIG. 6 is received, the reply transmission server 35 first requests the request management server 32 to notify the transmission source address corresponding to the reception number written in the e-mail. Then, the reply transmission server 35 receives the transmission source address transmitted from the request management server 32 and transfers the e-mail to the transmission source address. That is, in the information providing system shown in FIG. 1, the answer transmission server 35 receives data transmitted from the information provider and also serves as a transmission unit that transmits the data to the terminal device via the communication network. Function.
[0022]
[B: Operation]
Next, an operation that significantly shows the features of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[0023]
(1: Request acceptance operation)
First, a user who desires to provide detailed information about a certain product transmits the e-mail shown in FIG. 2 to the request receiving server 31, and the image data attached to the e-mail is related to the product. An operation performed by each server until the provider can browse the content will be described with reference to FIG. In this operation example, it is assumed that the user of the terminal device 40 desires to provide detailed information about a certain garment.
[0024]
First, the user captures a product (“clothing” in this operation example) for which detailed information is desired to be captured using the imaging function of the terminal device 40, and an e-mail 710 (attached image data corresponding to the captured image) 2) is transmitted to the request receiving server 31 (see FIG. 7). As described above, in the title of the e-mail 710, a category identifier (“clothing” in this operation example) indicating a category to which a product for which detailed information is desired belongs is written.
[0025]
This e-mail 710 reaches the request reception server 31 via the communication carrier network 30. As shown in FIG. 7, the request reception server 31 that has received this e-mail 710 generates a reception number indicating the order of reception of this e-mail (FIG. 7: S110), and this reception number and e-mail A communication message 720 including the transmission source address 710 is transmitted to the request management server 32. In this operation example, it is assumed that the reception number “0001” is generated in step S110. Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 7, the request reception server 31 reads out the image data attached to the e-mail 710 and the category identifier written in the title of the e-mail 710, and this image data Then, the communication message 730 including the category identifier and the reception number is transmitted to the category specifying server 33, and the operation in this operation example is finished. The communication message 720 transmitted in this way reaches the request management server 32 via the communication carrier network 30, and the communication message 730 reaches the category specifying server 33 via the communication carrier network 30. In this operation example, the case where the communication message 730 is transmitted to the category specifying server 33 after the communication message 720 is transmitted to the request management server 32 has been described. However, the communication message 720 is transmitted after the communication message 730 is transmitted. Of course, it is good.
[0026]
The communication message 720 and the communication message 730 transmitted from the request reception server 31 reach their respective destinations via the communication carrier network 30. Below, the operation | movement which the request | requirement management server 32 performs first when the communication message 720 is received is demonstrated.
[0027]
Upon receiving the communication message 720, the request management server 32 first analyzes the communication message 720, receives the reception number “0001” included in the communication message 720, and the transmission source address “d1@ddd.co.jp”. And get. Then, the request management server 32 associates the reception number acquired in this way with the transmission source address and writes it in the request management table (see FIG. 3) described above (FIG. 7: S120). Exit.
[0028]
Next, an operation performed by the category specifying server 33 when the communication message 730 is received will be described. When this communication message 730 is received, the category specifying server 33 first acquires the category identifier (“clothing”), the image data, and the reception number (“0001”) included in this communication message. Then, the category specifying server 33 specifies a category based on the category identifier acquired in this way and the contents stored in the category management table (see FIG. 4) described above, and stores an image database in which the acquired image data is to be stored. It identifies (FIG. 7: S130). In this operation example, the category identifier delivered from the request receiving server 31 is “clothing”, and the database identifier stored in the category management table corresponding to this category identifier is “image database A”. The specifying server 33 specifies “image database A” as an image database in which the image data delivered from the request receiving server 31 is to be stored. Next, the category specifying server 33 transmits a communication message 740 requesting to store the image data in the image database specified in step S130 to the portal server 34, and ends the operation in this operation example. . The communication message 740 includes the image data, the reception number, and the database identifier specified in step S130. In this way, the communication message 740 transmitted from the category specifying server 33 reaches the portal server 34 via the communication carrier network 30. Hereinafter, an operation performed by the portal server 34 that has received the communication message 740 will be described.
[0029]
Upon receiving the communication message 740, the portal server 34 first reads out the image data, the reception number, and the database identifier included in the communication message 740, and the image database specified by the database identifier (that is, the image database A). The image data and the reception number are stored in association with each other (FIG. 7: S140), and the operation in this operation example is terminated.
[0030]
As described above, the image data obtained by capturing an image of the product (clothing) for which detailed information is desired to be provided by the user is only accessible to the information database A having the access authority only to the information provider. Stored. On the other hand, each of the information providers A, B, and C accesses the portal server 34 at an arbitrary timing, and refers to the image data and the reception number stored in the image database. As a result, the information provider A can grasp that it is desired to provide detailed information about the product that it sells, and can notify the Web site on which the desired detailed information is posted. . In this operation example, the case where the information provider A provides detailed information that completely matches the detailed information desired to be provided by the user has been described. However, the detailed information provided by the information provider and the detailed information desired to be provided by the user do not have to match completely. For example, it may of course be detailed information about a product of the same color as the product for which detailed information is desired to be provided by the user.
[0031]
(2: Response action)
Next, when the information provider A transmits the e-mail shown in FIG. 6 to the response transmission server 35 in response to the request for providing the detailed information specified by the reception number, each of the information providing systems shown in FIG. Operations performed by the server will be described with reference to FIG. In the body of this e-mail, as shown in FIG. 6, the above-mentioned receipt number (“0001”) and the URL of the website (“aaa.co.jp”) where the corresponding detailed information is posted And are written.
[0032]
The reply transmission server 35 that has received the e-mail 810 first acquires the reception number and URL included in the e-mail 810 (FIG. 8: S210), and notifies the transmission source address corresponding to the reception number. Is transmitted to the request management server 32. This communication message 820 includes the above reception number. The communication message 820 transmitted in this way reaches the request management server 32 via the communication carrier network 30. Hereinafter, an operation performed by the request management server 32 when the communication message 820 is received will be described.
[0033]
Upon receiving the communication message 820, the request management server 32 first acquires the reception number included in the communication message 820, and stores the transmission number stored in the request management table (see FIG. 3) in association with the reception number. The original address is acquired (FIG. 8: S220). Then, the request management server 32 transmits the communication message 830 including the transmission source address acquired in step S220 to the response transmission server 35, and ends the operation in this operation example. The communication message 830 transmitted from the request management server 32 in this way reaches the answer transmission server 35 via the communication carrier network 30. Hereinafter, an operation performed by the answer transmission server 35 when the communication message 830 is received will be described.
[0034]
Upon receiving the communication message 830, the reply transmission server 35 first acquires the transmission source address included in the communication message 830. Then, the reply transmission server 35 generates an electronic mail 840 in which the URL acquired in step S210 is written in the text (FIG. 8: step S230), and transmits the electronic mail 840 to the transmission source address. The operation in the operation example ends.
[0035]
Thereafter, the electronic mail 840 transmitted from the reply transmission server 35 is received by the terminal device 40 via the communication carrier network 30. The user who has received the e-mail 840 can view desired detailed information by accessing the Web site indicated by the URL written in the body of the e-mail 840.
[0036]
[C: Modification]
Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to such embodiments, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the technical idea. In addition, as a modification, the following can be considered, for example.
[0037]
(Modification 1) In the above-described embodiment, the case has been described in which the URL of a Web site on which detailed information about products sold by each information provider is posted is notified. However, the detailed information that can be provided by the present invention is not limited to the detailed information about the product. For example, the information provider A described above can provide detailed information about animals, the information provider B can provide detailed information about plants, and the information provider C can provide detailed information about insects. Suppose that The image database A stores only image data corresponding to animal images, the image database B stores only image data corresponding to plant images, and the image database C stores insect images. Only the corresponding image data is stored. The category management table stores a database identifier that uniquely identifies an image database in which an image of the organism should be stored for each category of the organism. In this way, the user of the terminal device 40 attaches image data that captures animals, plants, and insects that interest him / her and attaches the categories of animals (“animal”, “plant” represented by the image data. It is possible to obtain the URL of a Web site providing detailed information about the organism by sending an e-mail in which a category identifier representing a keyword such as “,“ insect ”, etc.) is written in the title to the request receiving server 31. it can.
[0038]
(Modification 2) In the embodiment described above, based on the category identifier written in the title of the email transmitted from the terminal device 40, the product for which detailed information is desired to be provided by the email. The case where the category to which it belongs is specified has been described. However, it is needless to say that the product category represented by the image data may be specified based on the image data attached to the e-mail.
[0039]
Such a thing is implement | achieved as follows. That is, the category management table shown in FIG. 9 is stored in the category specifying server 33 instead of the category management table shown in FIG. The category management table shown in FIG. 9 is different from the category management table shown in FIG. 4 in that image data corresponding to images of products belonging to the category is replaced with the database identifier described above, instead of the category identifier described above. It is a point that is associated. When the category specifying server 33 specifies a category of a product for which detailed information is desired to be provided, the category specifying server 33 is associated with image data that matches or is similar to the image data delivered from the request receiving server 31, The database identifier stored in the category management table shown in FIG. Although FIG. 9 illustrates the case where one image data is associated with one database identifier, in practice, a plurality of image data is associated with one database identifier. Of course, for one product, a plurality of image data with different imaging angles and a plurality of image data with different zooms may be associated with the database identifier.
[0040]
The aspect which concerns on embodiment mentioned above and the aspect which concerns on this modification have the characteristic demonstrated below, respectively. The former is a case where an ambiguous keyword is specified in comparison with a conventional keyword search in order to allow the user to specify a keyword representing the category to which the product belongs rather than to specify a keyword representing the product itself. However, there is an effect that the detailed information desired by the user can be provided. On the other hand, since the latter does not require the user to specify a keyword, there is an effect that the detailed information can be searched more easily than in the above-described embodiment.
[0041]
(Modification 3) In the above-described embodiment, the case where the information providers A, B, and C are allowed to access the portal server 34 at an arbitrary timing has been described. However, it is of course possible to notify these information providers that the provision of detailed information is desired, and to access the portal server 34 triggered by the notification. As an example, for example, when an e-mail address of an information provider who has access authority to the image database is associated with each image database and new image data is written to the image database, the image database This is achieved by sending an e-mail notifying the information provider who has access authority to the database to that effect. Further, when notifying each information provider that detailed information is desired to be provided by using an e-mail, the image data may be attached to the e-mail and transmitted.
[0042]
(Modification 4) In the above-described embodiment, the request reception server 31, the request management server 32, the category identification server 33, the portal server 34, and the answer transmission server 35, which have unique functions and communicate with each other, are described above. Although the case where two services are provided has been described, one information providing device having all the functions of each of the above servers is connected to the telecommunications carrier network 30 and the two services described above are provided using this information providing device. can do.
[0043]
Also, for example, software for adding the functions of each server to the information providing apparatus is recorded on a computer-readable recording medium such as a CD-ROM (Compact Disc-Read Only Memory). Of course, the same function as that of the information providing apparatus may be given to a general computer apparatus using a medium.
[0044]
【The invention's effect】
According to the present invention, it is possible for a user to search for detailed information in a category to which the thing belongs even if the keyword representing the thing for which the provision of detailed information is desired cannot be appropriately expressed. Thus, it is possible to easily search for information.
[0045]
In addition, for the information provider, since the information provider having relevance to the object can view the image of the object for which detailed information is desired to be provided by the user, the information provider is able to view the user's image based on the image data. There is an effect that the preference can be grasped.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an information providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a view showing an example of an electronic mail transmitted by the terminal device 40;
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a table format of a request management table stored in the request management server 32;
4 is a diagram showing an example of a table format of a category management table stored in the category specifying server 33. FIG.
5 is a view showing an example of a table format of an image database stored in the portal server 34. FIG.
6 is a diagram showing an example of an electronic mail transmitted by the communication terminal 10. FIG.
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a communication sequence in the information providing system.
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a communication sequence in the information providing system.
FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a table format of a category management table according to a second modification.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10A, 10B, 10C ... Communication apparatus, 20 ... Internet, 30 ... Communication business network, 31 ... Request reception server, 32 ... Request management server, 33 ... Category specific server, 34 ... Portal server, 35 ... Reply transmission server, 40 ... Terminal device.

Claims (3)

Image receiving means for receiving image data transmitted from the terminal device;
Category specifying means for specifying a category to which a thing represented by the image data received by the image receiving means belongs;
The image data received by the image receiving means is stored for each category specified by the category specifying means, and the stored image data is related to the category to which the thing represented by the image data belongs. Providing means provided via a communication network;
An information providing apparatus comprising: a transmission unit that receives data related to an object represented by the image data provided by the providing unit from the information provider via the communication network and transmits the data to the terminal device. The image receiving means receives, together with image data, a category identifier that uniquely identifies the category to which the thing represented by the image data belongs, from the terminal device,
The information providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the category specifying unit specifies a category to which an object represented by the image data belongs based on a category identifier received by the image receiving unit. Storage means for storing image data of an object for which the information provider can provide information for each category to which the object belongs,
The category specifying means specifies a category to which a thing represented by the image data received by the image receiving means belongs based on the image data received by the image receiving means and the stored contents of the storage means. The information providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

Images