JP2009093535A - Information provision server device, information provision method and information provision program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information provision server extracting and providing relationship between users using various kinds of information service provided via a network. <P>SOLUTION: This information provision server device communicable with a user terminal and an information delivery server device via the network transmits an information delivery request to the information delivery server device based on connection destination information when the connection destination information for connecting to the information delivery server device is inputted from the user terminal, stores communication history information wherein the connection destination information is associated with user identification information showing the user using the user terminal used for inputting the connection destination information, extracts relationship information showing the relationship between the user and the other user corresponding to the connection destination information or delivery information delivered by the information delivery server device shown by the connection destination information based on the communication history information, and returns the relationship information corresponding to the user identification information when receiving the user identification information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an information terminal used by a user and an information providing server device capable of communicating with an information distribution server device that distributes distribution information via a network.

In recent years, information communication technology using networks such as the Internet has been developed, and the acquisition and exchange of information using information terminals such as PCs (personal computers) and mobile phones has become active. In addition to conventional static websites for providing information, a blog service that allows users to easily publish their own diaries via the network, and to set and preferences for connections with specific users In recent years, information services such as SNS (social networking site) services that enable the formation of communities with multiple users who share the same are not only providing information and exchanging information, but also as an important place for communication. Remarkably popular.
Patent Document 1 extracts information on what kind of characteristics and personality each user registered in a specific information service has in this information service, and what kind of connection the user has in that information service. An information extraction apparatus has been proposed.
JP-A-2005-235118

  However, although the above-described information extraction device only extracts the characteristics and relationships of users who use a specific information service, users of recent information services have various relationships with users of different information services. It is possible to build sex. For example, a blog service generally has a function of setting a link to its own blog page on a specific page or a specific website of another blog service by transmitting information called track back ping. Yes. By using such a trackback system, users across multiple blog services can establish relationships on the network.

  The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and provides an information providing server that extracts and provides relationships between users who use various information services provided via a network.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, the present invention provides an information providing server device that can communicate with a user terminal used by a user and an information distribution server device that distributes distribution information via a network. When connection destination information for connecting to the distribution server device is input, information distribution request means for transmitting an information distribution request to the information distribution server device based on the connection destination information, connection destination information, and connection destination information Communication history information storage means for storing communication history information including information in which user identification information indicating a user who uses the input user terminal is associated, and a user and connection destination information indicate based on the communication history information Relationship extracting means for extracting relationship information indicating relationship with other users corresponding to distribution information or connection destination information distributed by the information distribution server device; Relationship information storage means for storing the relationship information extracted by the relationship extraction means in association with the user identification information; and when user identification information is received, the relationship information storage means for storing the relationship information corresponding to the user identification information And a relationship information providing means for reading out and returning from the information.

  Further, according to the present invention, the information providing server device described above further includes user information storage means for storing user keywords in association with user identification information, and the communication history information storage means is distributed by the information distribution server device. The distribution information keyword included in the information is stored, and the relationship extraction means extracts information indicating the relationship based on whether or not the user keyword matches the distribution information keyword.

  Further, according to the present invention, the relationship extraction unit includes a plurality of algorithms for extracting the relationship information based on the communication history information, and the relationship information providing unit includes any one of the plurality of algorithms. When the identification information indicating the algorithm is received, the relationship information extracted by the algorithm corresponding to the identification information is returned.

  In the present invention, the information distribution server device described above is a blog server device that distributes a blog page, and the relationship extraction unit includes article content, comments, or trackbacks included in the blog information requested for information distribution from the user terminal. The relationship between the user corresponding to the user terminal and the blog information is extracted based on the information indicating the above.

  In addition, the present invention is characterized in that the above-described relationship information is information hierarchized by keywords indicating the characteristics of the distribution information included in the distribution information.

  Further, the present invention is an information providing method using an information providing server device that can communicate with a user terminal used by a user and an information delivery server device that delivers delivery information via a network. An information distribution requesting unit configured to transmit an information distribution request to the information distribution server device based on the connection destination information when connection destination information for connecting to the information distribution server device is input from the user terminal; A history information storage unit storing communication history information including information in which connection destination information and user identification information indicating a user who uses the user terminal that has input the connection destination information are associated; However, based on the communication history information, the user and other information corresponding to the distribution information or connection destination information distributed by the information distribution server device indicated by the connection destination information A step of extracting relationship information indicating a relationship with the user, a step of storing relationship information extracted by the relationship extraction unit in association with user identification information, and a relationship information storage unit; When the providing means receives the user identification information, the providing means comprises a step of reading out the relationship information corresponding to the user identification information from the relationship information storage means and sending it back.

  Further, the present invention provides a computer as an information providing server device capable of communicating via a network with a user terminal used by a user and an information distribution server device that distributes distribution information. When connection destination information for connecting to the distribution server device is input, a step of transmitting an information distribution request to the information distribution server device based on the connection destination information, a communication history information storage means, the connection destination information, A step of storing communication history information including information in which user identification information indicating a user who uses the user terminal that has input the connection destination information is associated; and a relationship extraction unit, based on the communication history information, The relationship indicating the relationship with other users corresponding to the distribution information distributed by the information distribution server device indicated by the connection destination information or the connection destination information A step of extracting information; a step of storing the relationship information extracted by the relationship extracting unit in association with the user identification information; and a step of providing the relationship information receiving unit receiving the user identification information. Then, a program for executing the step of reading out the relationship information corresponding to the user identification information from the relationship information storage means and sending it back.

  As described above, according to the present invention, user information and connection destination information associated with the user information are stored in association with each other as communication history information, and the relationship between users based on the communication history information is stored. Since information is extracted, it is possible to extract not only a specific information service but also relationship information based on information communication using various information services performed through the apparatus.

  Further, the present invention is based on whether or not a user keyword predetermined corresponding to user identification information matches a distribution information keyword included in distribution information distributed to a user indicated by the user identification information. Since the relationship information is extracted, the relationship between users having the same keyword can be extracted.

  Further, according to the present invention, since the relationship information is calculated based on a plurality of algorithms, the user can acquire various relationship information.

  In addition, since the present invention extracts the user relationship information based on the blog information provided from the blog server device, the present invention extracts the relationship based on the blog information describing the daily activities of the user. It is possible to generate useful relationship information that reflects the changing state of the user.

  In addition, since the present invention decides to generate, as the relationship information, information hierarchized by the keyword indicating the characteristics included in the distribution information, the user can obtain various relationship information spread over a wide network space, Can be systematically grasped.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
<First Embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram showing a relationship information providing system according to this embodiment.
In this embodiment, a user terminal 4 that is a terminal used by a user performs information communication with the relationship information providing server device 2 via the information network 1. Here, the information network 1 may be any network capable of information communication, but in the present embodiment, a so-called Internet is assumed. In addition, the information distribution server device 3 that distributes distribution information can communicate with the relationship information providing server device 2 or the user terminal 4 via the information network 1. Here, although one user terminal 4 and one information distribution server device 3 are shown in FIG. 1, the information network 1 includes a plurality of user terminals 4, a plurality of information distribution server devices 3, and other information. A terminal may be connected.

  The user terminal 4 is an information terminal used by the user, and can perform information communication with other information devices via the information network 1. Specifically, the user terminal 4 is assumed to be a computer device including an input unit, an output unit, a control unit, a calculation unit, and a storage unit, such as a PC (personal computer), a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), and a mobile phone terminal. Is done.

  The information distribution server device 3 is an information terminal that distributes information in response to an information distribution request from another terminal. The information distribution server device 3 has, for example, a web server function, receives an information distribution request for a specific URL (Uniform Resource Locator), and returns a corresponding web page. Specifically, the information distribution server device 3 provides web services such as a shopping service, an auction service, a bulletin board service, a search service, and a blog service.

  The relationship information providing server device 2 provides the user terminal 4 with URL, which is connection destination information to a website provided by the information distribution server device 3 connectable via the information network 1, as link information. When the relationship information providing server device 2 receives an information distribution request corresponding to the link information provided by the relationship information providing server device 2 from the user terminal 4, the relationship information providing server device 2 sends the information distribution server device 2 to the information distribution server device 3 corresponding to the link information. It has a function as a portal site that relays the information distribution request of the user terminal 4. The relationship information providing server device 2 stores information related to the connection request from the user terminal 4 and analyzes the relationship between the user who uses the user terminal 4 and the website based on the stored information. Extract relationships with other users.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing functions provided in the relationship information providing server device 2 shown in FIG. The relationship information providing server device 2 according to the present embodiment includes a user information storage unit 20, a communication history extraction unit 21, a communication history storage unit 22, a relationship extraction unit 23, a relationship information storage unit 24, and an authentication. A control function unit 25 and a communication interface function unit 26 are provided.

  When the communication interface function unit 26 provides the user terminal 4 with link information indicating a URL to a website connectable via the information network 1, and receives an information distribution request corresponding to the link information from the user terminal 4, the communication interface function unit 26 The information distribution request of the user terminal 4 to the information distribution server device 3 corresponding to the link information is relayed. Further, when the communication interface function unit 26 receives a request for using the relationship information from the information terminal such as the information distribution server device 3 or the user terminal 4, the communication interface function unit 26 reads the relationship information stored in the relationship information storage unit 24 and uses it. It has a function to reply to the request source.

  Here, the portal service provided to the user terminal 4 by the communication interface function unit 26 is assumed to be, for example, a web application type RSS (RDF Site Summary, Rich Site Summary, Really Simple Syndication) reader, social bookmark service, SNS service, or the like. Is done. In the present embodiment, the communication interface function unit 26 will be described as providing a web application type RSS reader service.

  The RSS reader is an application that acquires a data file called a feed such as RSS, RDF (Resource Description Framework), and Atom and displays the contents. In such a feed, in particular, an outline of a web page that is updated relatively frequently such as a blog or a news site is described in a predetermined format. The RSS reader receives such a feed periodically or irregularly, displays a web page content summary, and displays a link to the web page indicated by the feed. Whether or not the RSS reader has been updated by the RSS reader even if the user does not request connection to the favorite page by registering in advance in the RSS reader the feed acquisition source corresponding to the favorite web page. You can easily connect to the web page by pressing the link.

  The user information storage unit 20 stores user information such as a name, a pseudonym (handle name) used in network communication, an age, a gender, and a password in association with identification information of a user who uses the user terminal 4. In the present embodiment, the user information storage unit 20 stores user information registered in advance as a user of an RSS reader that is the communication interface function unit 26 described above.

  When the authentication control function unit 25 receives a usage request for the relationship information from an information terminal such as the information distribution server device 3 or the user terminal 4, the authentication control function unit 25 requests authentication information from the usage request source. Here, the authentication information is, for example, information of a combination of a user name and a password. It is determined whether or not the received authentication information matches the authentication information stored in advance. If they do not match, it is determined that the authentication has failed.

  The communication history extraction unit 21 responds to information related to the connection request made by the user terminal 4 and the connection request when the information distribution request from the user terminal 4 to the information distribution server device 3 is relayed by the communication interface function unit 26. Then, information related to information distributed from the information distribution server device 3 is extracted and stored in the communication history storage unit 22.

  Here, the information related to the information distribution request made by the user terminal 4 includes, for example, a communication type (such as an article browsing request, a comment posting request, or a trackback ping transmission in a blog system), transmission user identification information (user identification information, handle) Name or IP address of the transmission terminal), communication date and time (date and time of communication), web page URL of the communication request link source, and the like.

  Information relating to information distributed from the information distribution server device 3 in response to a connection request from the user terminal 4 includes, for example, the title, update date, creator (author), and web page content of the distributed web page Field (category), keywords of web page contents, names of people included in the web page, technical terms included in the web page, and the like.

  As described above, when the communication history extraction unit 21 extracts information from the web page, for example, the article content of the blog page may be analyzed by morphological analysis or the like, and an important word may be extracted. You may refer to the data. Here, an ontology concept that systematically structures such metadata and describes the relationship may be used. Such an ontology system is a method for structuring and grasping web pages scattered on the Internet. For example, the web page is structured by hierarchically organizing the keywords of each extracted web page by class. It is a technology to grasp it. For example, a class “baseball”, a class “soccer”, a class “rugby”, etc. are defined as subordinate concepts to the class “sports”, and the web page is structured and organized accordingly.

  The relationship extraction unit 23 reads the communication history information stored in the communication history storage unit 22, and based on the read communication history information, a plurality of relationship extraction method algorithms with different predetermined extraction methods (for example, extraction) Relationship information indicating the relationship between users extracted using the method algorithms A to D) is generated and stored in the relationship information storage unit 24. The relationship extraction unit 23 may generate the relationship information using a single relationship extraction method algorithm. However, as in the present embodiment, the relationship extraction unit 23 uses a plurality of relationship extraction method algorithms. It is possible to extract a variety of relationship information regarding the user.

  Here, the relationship information includes, for example, items such as user identification information, interest categories, and interest strength points of other users associated with the user identification information in association with the user identification information. The An information terminal that makes a use request for relationship information can specify a value for such an item as a use request condition. Here, the interest category is a keyword indicating a class in the above ontology system, for example. For example, the interest intensity point is quantified as the number of times a specific word appears on the web page or the linked web page included in the web page, and the more points, the stronger the intensity of interest for the word.

  By configuring the relationship information in this way, by specifying the user identification information indicating a specific user, the number of hops, and the interest category, the size according to the number of hops centered on the specific user related to the specific category Community can be extracted. For example, a 2-hop soccer watching community centered on a certain user can be extracted. Further, in this embodiment, since there are a plurality of algorithms for extracting the relationship information, community extraction methods can be diversified according to the algorithms. For example, a two-hop soccer watching community centered on a specific user for the past month, or a two-hop soccer watching community centered on a specific user in all periods after extracting the communication history is extracted. it can.

Next, the relationship extraction method of the above-described extraction method algorithms A to D will be described.
The extraction method algorithm A extracts the user information stored in the communication history storage unit 22 in order from the latest communication date and time included in the user information, classifies the user information by connection destination user and interest category, and assigns a weight according to the communication type. Perform and digitize. Here, the weighting according to the communication type is quantified as, for example, 1 point for browsing, 10 points for comment, 15 points for trackback, and the like. Furthermore, the numerical value and the time are multiplied. For example, 10 is multiplied for the communication history within the last week, and 8 is multiplied for 1 week to 2 weeks ago. The relationship extraction unit 23 stores the result value in the relationship information storage unit 24 as an interest strength point.

The extraction method algorithm B reads out the communication history information for only the past month corresponding to the specific user identification information from the user information stored in the communication history storage unit 22, and performs the same processing as the extraction method algorithm B. Do.
The extraction method algorithm C classifies the user information stored in the communication history storage unit 22 for each connection destination user and interest category, performs weighting according to the communication type, quantifies it, and sets the interest intensity point. Unlike the extraction method algorithm A, the extraction method algorithm C does not weight the time.

  The extraction method algorithm D reads only the communication history information whose communication type is article browsing from the information included in the user information stored in the communication history storage unit 22 and performs the same calculation as the extraction method algorithm A.

  In addition to this, the extraction of the relationship information may be performed by various extraction methods based on the communication history information stored in the communication history storage unit 22. For example, depending on the number of times a specific user has viewed a specific web page, the points of relationship with other users who are authors of that web page are raised, or a specific user has similar keywords for multiple web pages. When a comment including “” is posted, the point of relationship between the user and the keyword can be raised.

  Furthermore, it is possible to capture the formation of a pseudo community by extracting the relationship information using such communication history information. For example, even if it is a blog service that is open to anyone via the Internet, it is possible to predict the strength of the relationship between users based on the frequency of browsing from specific users to specific users, posting comments and trackbacks, etc. it can. For example, there are many blogs that contain the same keyword “baseball” on the Internet, but a specific user is judged to have a particularly high number of times of browsing and commenting on blog pages whose authors are other specific users. For example, it can be understood that the users form a specific community even in a relationship using baseball as a keyword. If it does in this way, it will become possible to analyze the relationship between users and the relationship between a user and a keyword from various angles from the web page and communication history which make the user an author.

  The relationship information storage unit 24 stores relationship information indicating the relationship between users extracted from the communication history storage unit 22 by the relationship extraction unit 23. The relationship information storage unit 24 includes, for example, user identification information, interest categories, and interest intensity points of other users associated with the user identification information in association with the user identification information. The interest category stored in the relationship information storage unit 24 may be an ontology DB (database) organized by class abstraction based on the ontology system described above.

Next, an operation example of the relationship information providing server device 2 will be described.
FIG. 3 is a sequence diagram illustrating an operation example of the relationship information providing server 2 according to the present embodiment.
The user terminal 4 uses an RSS reader provided by the communication interface function unit 26 of the relationship information providing server device 2. The communication interface function unit 26 of the relationship information providing server device 2 transmits the URL information of the website registered in advance from the user terminal 4 to the user terminal 4.

  The user terminal 4 transmits an information distribution request for the URL information received from the communication interface function unit 26 to the relationship information providing server device 2 (step S1). The communication interface function unit 26 of the relationship information providing server device 2 receives the information distribution request transmitted from the user terminal 4, and the communication history extraction unit 21 sets the communication type to “article browsing request” and the transmission user identification information. Communication history information such as user identification information corresponding to the user terminal 4 is generated (step S2) and stored in the communication history storage unit 22 (step S3). Here, the communication history extraction unit 21 acquires a web page for which an information distribution request has been made from the user terminal 4 in step S1, and extracts information such as the title, update date and creator (author) of the acquired web page. And stored in the communication history storage unit 22.

Then, the relationship extraction unit 23 reads the communication history information stored in the communication history storage unit 22 according to a predetermined algorithm, and compares the user identification information included in the read communication history information with other user identification information. A relationship is extracted, and relationship information indicating the extracted relationship is stored in the relationship information storage unit 24 (step S4).
The information distribution server device 3 transmits a request for using the relationship information corresponding to the specific user identification information to the relationship information providing server device 2 (step S5). When the relationship information providing server device 2 receives the request for using the relationship information (step S6), the relationship information providing server device 2 requests authentication information from the information distribution server device 3. When the information distribution server device 3 transmits the authentication information in response to the authentication information request, the relationship information providing server device 2 receives the authentication information, and the authentication control function unit 25 performs an authentication process (step S7). ).

  If the authentication control function unit 25 determines that the authentication has failed in step S7, the process is stopped and the relationship information is not provided (step S9). On the other hand, when the authentication control function unit 25 determines that the authentication is successful in step S7, the communication interface function unit 26 reads the relationship information corresponding to the user identification information received in step S6 from the relationship information storage unit 24. Then, the information is transmitted to the information distribution server device 3 (step S8). Then, the information distribution server device 3 receives the relationship information transmitted from the relationship information providing server device 2 (step S10).

  Further, the user terminal 4 transmits to the relationship information providing server device 2 a request for using relationship information corresponding to the user identification information of the user who uses the device (step S11). When the relationship information providing server device 2 receives the request for using the relationship information (step S12), the relationship information providing server device 2 requests authentication information from the information distribution server device 3. When the information distribution server device 3 transmits the authentication information in response to the authentication information request, the authentication control function unit 25 of the relationship information providing server device 2 receives the received authentication information and the information distribution server device 3 stored in advance. An authentication process is performed to determine whether or not the authentication information corresponding to the two matches (step S13).

  If the authentication control function unit 25 determines that the authentication has failed in step S13, the process is stopped and the relationship information is not provided (step S15). On the other hand, when the authentication control function unit 25 determines that the authentication is successful in step S13, the communication interface function unit 26 reads the relationship information corresponding to the user identification information received in step S12 from the relationship information storage unit 24. Then, it transmits to the user terminal 4 (step S14). Then, the user terminal 4 receives the relationship information transmitted from the relationship information providing server device 2 (step S16).

  As described above, according to the present invention, the history of communication performed based on the URL in the Internet space is stored, and the relationship between users is analyzed and extracted based on the stored communication history information. Without closing to a specific information service, it is possible to extract relationships between users by using a wide communication space spread over the entire Internet as an extraction target.

  In this embodiment, in step S4, the relationship extraction unit 23 reads the communication history information stored in the communication history storage unit 22, extracts the relationship information, and stores the relationship information in the relationship information storage unit 24. However, at the time of step S4, the relationship extracting unit 23 organizes information for extracting the relationship information and stores the information in the relationship information storage unit 24. In step S6, the relationship information is stored. When the usage request is received and the relationship information is returned, the relationship information may be extracted from the relationship information storage unit 24.

  In the present embodiment, since the relationship extraction unit 23 of the relationship information providing server device 2 has a plurality of extraction method algorithms, only the relationship information and browsing history of a specific user for the past month are displayed. It is possible to provide flexible relationship information such as relationship information based on. In addition, in the relationship information use request information transmitted from the information terminal to the relationship information providing server device 2 in step S5 or step S10, identification information indicating one of the plurality of extraction method algorithms is included. The relationship information providing server device 2 may return the relationship information extracted by the algorithm corresponding to the received identification information of the extraction method algorithm.

<Second Embodiment>
Next, a relationship information provision server device according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the relationship information providing server device 6 according to this embodiment. The relationship information providing server device 6 extracts relationship information between users based on the blog browsing history of the user terminal 4. The relationship information providing server device 6 according to the present embodiment has the same configuration as the relationship information providing server device 2 according to the first embodiment, and the configuration and processing similar to those of the first embodiment will be described. Is omitted.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a blog server device 52 that provides a blog service as one type of the information distribution server device 3. In addition, the information network 1 is connected to a relationship information use device 51 that performs a service using the relationship information provided by the relationship information providing server device 6.
The relationship information utilization device 51 is, for example, a server that performs advertisement distribution that matches the user's preference, an RSS reader that provides an RSS feed that meets the user's preference, or the like.

  The relationship information providing server device 6 is a device that provides relationship information by extracting relationships between users from information communication performed via the information network 1, and includes a user information storage unit 60 and communication history extraction. Unit 61, communication history storage unit 62, relationship extraction unit 63, relationship information storage unit 64, authentication control function unit 65, and communication interface function unit 66.

User information is registered in the user information storage unit 60 in advance. Here, in the user information storage unit 60, for example, the URL of the user's blog indicated by the user identification information, a favorite keyword, and the like are stored in association with the user identification information.
The communication history extracting unit 61 extracts communication history information when detecting that there is communication on the blog page via the communication interface function unit 66, and extracts an article feature acquisition unit 611, a browsing acquisition unit 612, and a comment acquisition unit. 613 and a trackback acquisition unit 614.

  The article feature acquisition unit 611 extracts features of the blog page. The browsing acquisition unit 612 extracts information about the viewer of the blog page. The comment acquisition unit 613 extracts a comment feature of the blog page. The trackback acquisition unit 614 extracts trackback information of the blog page. The communication history information extracted by these is stored in the communication history storage unit 62.

  Further, the communication history extraction unit 61 uses the keyword extracted from the blog page as a clue to search for a blog page that matches the keyword on the Internet, and features of the searched blog page, user information of the viewer, comment, track back, etc. The extracted information may be stored in the communication history storage unit 62 as communication history information.

  For example, the relationship extraction unit 63 reads out the communication history information stored in the communication history storage unit 62 and extracts only the communication history information including the personal contact list centered on the specific user and the keyword as the specific keyword. And stored in the relationship information storage unit 64.

  In the present embodiment, the communication interface function unit 66 is stored in the user information storage unit 60 periodically at predetermined time intervals or when an execution request is input from the administrator of the relationship information providing server device 6. A blog page acquisition request is made for the blog URL included in the stored user information. Here, when the blog page acquired by the communication interface function unit 66 has been updated since the previous acquisition, the communication history extraction unit 61 causes the communication history storage unit 62 to store information regarding the acquired blog page. .

  Further, the communication interface function unit 66 returns the relationship information according to the requested use request condition in response to the request for using the relationship information received from the relationship information using apparatus 51. Here, when there is no relationship information that matches the requested condition, the communication interface function unit 66 returns the extracted relationship information by changing the abstraction level of the requested keyword. Also good. For example, when there is no soccer watching community centered on a specific user, the relationship information is extracted using “sports” which is a higher concept including the keyword “watching soccer” as a new keyword. The relationship information providing server device 6 may store an ontology system DB in which such keywords are structured in advance. Thereby, the relationship information utilization apparatus 51 can acquire the user who belongs to the sports community centering on a specific user as relationship information. When the relationship information utilization apparatus 51 makes a utilization request and the result of the relationship utilization request is 0, the degree of abstraction of the keyword as a condition is changed and the relationship information utilization request is made again. By doing so, the width of the relationship represented by the relationship information may be changed.

Next, an operation example of the relationship information providing server device 6 according to the present embodiment will be described.
FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram showing an operation example of the relationship information providing server device 6 according to the present embodiment.
The communication interface function unit 66 responds to the usage request for the relationship information received from the relationship information utilization device 51, and the blog server device corresponding to the blog URL corresponding to the specific user stored in the user information storage unit 70 A blog page acquisition request is sent to 52 (step S21).

  When receiving the blog page acquisition request, the blog server device 52 transmits the corresponding blog page to the relationship information providing server device 6 (step S22). When receiving the blog page, the communication interface function unit 66 transfers the blog page to the communication history extraction unit 61 (step S23). Then, the article feature acquisition unit 611 of the communication history extraction unit 61 extracts the feature of the transferred blog page and stores it in the communication history storage unit 62 (step S24). The browsing acquisition unit 612 of the communication history extraction unit 61 extracts the browsing information of the transferred blog page and stores it in the communication history storage unit 62 (step S25). The comment acquisition unit 613 of the communication history extraction unit 61 extracts the comment of the transferred blog page and stores it in the communication history storage unit 62 (step S26). The trackback acquisition unit 614 of the communication history extraction unit 61 extracts the trackback information of the transferred blog page and stores it in the communication history storage unit 62 (step S27).

  When the communication history storage unit 62 stores the communication history information (step S28), the relationship extraction unit 63 obtains the relationship information from the communication history information stored in the communication history storage unit 62 according to the algorithm as described above. It is generated (step S29) and stored in the relationship information storage unit 64 (step S30).

  The relationship information utilization device 51 transmits a relationship information utilization request corresponding to the user identification information of a specific user to the relationship information providing server device 6 (step S31). The communication interface function unit 66 of the relationship information providing server device 6 receives the use request (step S32). If the authentication control function part 65 performs the authentication process of the usage request received from the relationship information utilization device 51 (step S33) and determines that the authentication has failed, the relationship information provision server device 6 stops the process, and the relationship The sex information providing service is rejected (step S38).

  On the other hand, if the authentication control function unit 65 determines that the authentication is successful in step S33, the communication interface function unit 66 issues a relationship information read request to the relationship information storage unit 64 (step S34). When the communication interface function unit 66 reads the relationship information corresponding to the user identification information requested to be read from the relationship information storage unit 64 (step S35, step S36), the read relationship information is used as the relationship information. It transmits to the apparatus 51 (step S37).

It should be noted that the execution sequence of each process of step S24, step S25, step S26, and step S27 does not have to be in the order as described above, and may be performed in an arbitrary order, and simultaneous parallel processing is performed. It is also good.
As described above, according to this embodiment, it is possible to extract an accurate relationship between users based on blog information published by a blog service that has been widely used. In particular, since the user's interests and activities are disclosed in real time in the blog service, it is possible to extract highly reliable relationship information from the blog space.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing the relationship information providing server device 7. The relationship information providing server device 7 has the same configuration as that of the relationship information providing server device 2 according to the first embodiment, and the description of the same configuration and processing as those of the first embodiment is omitted. .
The relationship information providing server device 7 includes a user information storage unit 70, a communication history extraction unit 71, a communication history storage unit 72, a relationship extraction unit 73, a relationship information storage unit 74, and an authentication control function unit 75. And a communication interface function unit 76.

  The communication history extraction unit 71 extracts communication history information from a blog page received from the blog server device 52 via the information network 1 and stores the communication history information in the communication history storage unit 72. The relationship extraction unit 73 performs a relationship information extraction process using a plurality of data extraction methods, for example, the extraction method F and the extraction method G. In the extraction method F and the extraction method G, the relationship is extracted from the history by using different data holding methods and methods.

Thereby, it becomes possible to provide the relationship information between the communicators created based on how to hold a plurality of different data regarding one user or in a framework.
In the extraction method F, the human network centering on modern jazz music and its music activity information are extracted, and in the extraction method G, the human network centering on a specific user's swimming club and its swimming club activity information are extracted and the relationship information is extracted. Stored in the storage unit 74.

When the relationship information utilization device 51 requests to use the swimming companion list of the user identification information indicating the specific user or the relationship information of the swimming club activity, the relationship information providing server device 7 performs authentication by the authentication control function unit 75. Thereafter, the relevant relationship information extracted by the extraction method G from the relationship information storage unit 74 is read and transmitted to the relationship information utilization device 51.
Thus, according to the present invention, various relationships can be extracted based on the communication history.

Extraction of user relationship according to the prior art is to extract what personality the other user with whom information is exchanged has based on user information stored in the system in advance when the users promote information exchange. Therefore, the relationship between users is extracted from the information use history only on a certain communication device.
However, the present invention extracts communication history from users' communication history information and applications or services widely distributed in information networks, creates and stores information usage history, and relationship between users from the stored information. The relationship information between users across external services is stored by extracting and storing the information, and further, the relationship information between users is provided in response to the relationship information usage request from the external service. . In addition, in this way, it is possible to grasp the status of CGM (Consumer Generated Media) in which various information is disclosed and linked by the user.
As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide various websites existing on the Internet and relationship information of the users, so that the information use in the entire industry as well as the information communication industry can be made efficient. Realize and strengthen industrial competitiveness.

  The program for realizing the function of the processing unit in the present invention is recorded on a computer-readable recording medium, and the program recorded on the recording medium is read into a computer system and executed to provide relationship information. May be performed. Here, the “computer system” includes an OS and hardware such as peripheral devices. The “computer system” includes a WWW system having a homepage providing environment (or display environment). The “computer-readable recording medium” refers to a storage device such as a flexible medium, a magneto-optical disk, a portable medium such as a ROM and a CD-ROM, and a hard disk incorporated in a computer system. Further, the “computer-readable recording medium” refers to a volatile memory (RAM) in a computer system that becomes a server or a client when a program is transmitted via a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line. In addition, those holding programs for a certain period of time are also included.

  The program may be transmitted from a computer system storing the program in a storage device or the like to another computer system via a transmission medium or by a transmission wave in the transmission medium. Here, the “transmission medium” for transmitting the program refers to a medium having a function of transmitting information, such as a network (communication network) such as the Internet or a communication line (communication line) such as a telephone line. The program may be for realizing a part of the functions described above. Furthermore, what can implement | achieve the function mentioned above in combination with the program already recorded on the computer system, and what is called a difference file (difference program) may be sufficient.

It is a figure which shows the outline | summary of the relationship information provision system by this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the relationship information provision system by the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the operation example of the relationship information provision system by the 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the relationship information provision system by the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the operation example of the relationship information provision system by the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the relationship information provision system by the 2nd Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Information network 2 Relationship information provision server apparatus 3 Information distribution server apparatus 4 User terminal 6 Relationship information provision server apparatus 7 Relationship information provision server apparatus 20 User information storage part 21 Communication history extraction part 22 Communication history storage part 23 Relation Extraction unit 24 Relationship information storage unit 25 Authentication control function unit 26 Communication interface function unit 51 Relationship information utilization device 52 Blog server device 60 User information storage unit 61 Communication history extraction unit 62 Communication history storage unit 63 Relationship extraction unit 64 Relationship Sex information storage unit 65 authentication control function unit 66 communication interface function unit 70 user information storage unit 71 communication history extraction unit 72 communication history storage unit 73 relationship extraction unit 74 relationship information storage unit 75 authentication control function unit 76 communication interface function unit 611 Article feature acquisition unit 612 Browsing acquisition unit 613 Comment acquisition unit 614 Trackback acquisition unit

Claims (7)

An information providing server device that can communicate with a user terminal used by a user and an information distribution server device that distributes distribution information via a network,
When connection destination information for connecting to the information distribution server device is input from the user terminal, information distribution request means for transmitting an information distribution request to the information distribution server device based on the connection destination information;
Communication history information storage means for storing communication history information including information in which the connection destination information is associated with user identification information indicating a user who uses the user terminal that has input the connection destination information;
Based on the communication history information, the distribution information distributed by the information distribution server device indicated by the connection destination information or the relationship information indicating the relationship between other users corresponding to the connection destination information is extracted. A relationship extraction means;
Relationship information storage means for storing the relationship information extracted by the relationship extraction means in association with the user identification information;
When receiving the user identification information, relationship information providing means for reading out the relationship information corresponding to the user identification information from the relationship information storage means and returning the relationship information;
An information providing server device comprising: A user information storage means for storing a user keyword in association with the user identification information;
The communication history information storage means stores a distribution information keyword included in distribution information distributed by the information distribution server device,
The information providing server device according to claim 1, wherein the relationship extraction unit extracts information indicating a relationship based on whether or not the user keyword matches the distribution information keyword. . The relationship extraction means has a plurality of algorithms for extracting the relationship information based on the communication history information,
The relationship information providing means, when receiving identification information indicating any one of the plurality of algorithms, returns the relationship information extracted by an algorithm corresponding to the identification information. The information provision server apparatus of Claim 1 or Claim 2. The information distribution server device is a blog server device that distributes a blog page,
The relationship extraction unit is configured to relate a user corresponding to the user terminal to the blog information based on information indicating article content, a comment, or a trackback included in the blog information requested to be distributed from the user terminal. The information providing server device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the information providing server device is extracted. The relationship information is information hierarchized by a keyword indicating a feature of the distribution information included in the distribution information. Information providing server device. An information providing method using an information providing server device that can communicate with a user terminal used by a user and an information delivery server device that delivers delivery information via a network,
Of the information providing server device,
When connection destination information for connecting to the information distribution server device is input from the user terminal, the information distribution request means transmits an information distribution request to the information distribution server device based on the connection destination information. Steps,
A communication history information storage unit storing communication history information including information associating the connection destination information with user identification information indicating a user who uses the user terminal that has input the connection destination information;
Based on the communication history information, the relationship extraction unit indicates the relationship between the user and the distribution information distributed by the information distribution server device indicated by the connection destination information or another user corresponding to the connection destination information. Extracting relationship information;
A relationship information storage unit storing the relationship information extracted by the relationship extraction unit in association with the user identification information;
When the relationship information providing means receives the user identification information, the relationship information corresponding to the user identification information is read out from the relationship information storage means and returned;
An information providing method comprising: To a computer as an information providing server device that can communicate with a user terminal used by a user and an information distribution server device that distributes distribution information via a network,
When connection destination information for connecting to the information distribution server device is input from the user terminal, the information distribution request means transmits an information distribution request to the information distribution server device based on the connection destination information. Steps,
A communication history information storage unit storing communication history information including information associating the connection destination information with user identification information indicating a user who uses the user terminal that has input the connection destination information;
Based on the communication history information, the relationship extraction unit indicates the relationship between the user and the distribution information distributed by the information distribution server device indicated by the connection destination information or another user corresponding to the connection destination information. Extracting relationship information;
A relationship information storage unit storing the relationship information extracted by the relationship extraction unit in association with the user identification information;
When the relationship information providing means receives the user identification information, the relationship information corresponding to the user identification information is read out from the relationship information storage means and returned;
An information provision program to execute

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