JP2009245370A - Search mediation system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a search mediation system for controlling information to be disclosed in accordance with a person accesses the information. <P>SOLUTION: A user of this system registers his or her own information at a searcher information memory means 21 as a searcher in advance and a database setting-up person registers its providing condition at a providing condition memory means 22 as a rule to determine information granularity of providing information. When a search receiving means 23 receives a searching request from a user terminal device 10, a search request means 24 makes a search request to each database. When a search result acquiring means 25 receives a search result from each database, a search result providing means 26 processes information to be provided into the one expressed by a proper information granularity with reference to the searcher information memory means 21 and the providing condition memory means 22 and transmits the processed information to the user terminal device 10. If a third person registers disclosure restriction information, the disclosure restriction by the third person is made available. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for searching a plurality of databases with different founders.

In recent years, it has been required to share information on logistics management and article location management across companies. As represented by ebXML (electronic business XML), basic information acquisition mechanisms, information sharing / exchange frameworks, and common information items are being developed. Using this common information sharing / exchange framework, it is possible to start a smooth business operation by allowing existing or potential business partners to search a database that stores business information as needed. is there. On the other hand, a system for mediating data storage destinations has already been proposed (see Patent Document 1).
JP 2006-146293 A

  Disclosing information managed by the company has the advantage that new customers can be cultivated thereby. However, if the information is unconditionally disclosed, there is also a problem that it reveals the hand to the competitor. This is not only the content of the information, but also the location of the database itself should be made known to potential business partners, but it should be kept secret to inconvenient partners such as competitors in order to prevent industrial espionage and cracking interference. You will have inconsistent demands. Today, as standardized data sharing and exchange methods are becoming popular, the benefits of this are linked to a common foundation, and there is a potential opportunity for new, more advantageous business relationships that have never been met before. ing. However, it is still difficult to detect the presence and location even if it is shared as a base.

  On the other hand, search engines have been widely used and contributed greatly as Internet shopping services for general consumers other than business-to-business transactions and services that inform or introduce extremely ordinary content services that do not involve business transactions. The UDDI (Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration) method is also used in part for the purpose of announcing the supply of inter-company information XML Web services on the Internet. Anonymous search engine use is a convenient and desirable service form that allows the searcher to obtain the location of the information requested in one stop in a batch, but for that purpose providing a copy in advance on the assumption of anonymous access Due to the limitations due to the confidentiality of the business information described above, it is difficult for providers to accept from the viewpoint of information management. UDDI is only a means of announcing the content of the service provided. Whether the information content requested by the searcher actually exists under the service provider is determined by exchanging the service usage contract and communicating. After searching and after obtaining permission, it will be forced to take a great effort to find the validity only after searching.

  By the way, in order to realize sharing of logistics management and article location management across companies, it is currently assumed that an RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) tag is used. However, as an origin of the item tracking information, it takes some cost to attach the RFID tag to each item to be managed. Therefore, the supplier of goods or the provider of logistics management information presses the burden of attaching such an RFID tag on the article supplier / distribution management information provider side, and then attaches the tag to the benefit recipient of the logistics management system. There is a situation that the spread of the information sharing / exchange mechanism represented by ebXML is hindered by fear that the burden cost cannot be distributed and distributed.

Under such circumstances, it is possible to control the access to the database and the information to be disclosed according to the other party who wants to access the information, and the provider of the logistics management information obtains the logistics management information. Therefore, a search mediation system that can appropriately recover the cost of the distribution management information from the user is desired.
However, on the other hand, when such a search mediation system service is realized, searchers who do not have a direct business relationship with the database opener or who do not have a specific account in the database can search the database across the rows. Therefore, even if the database opener adds any content restrictions to the data coming out of itself, it makes no sense to manage information in-house by collecting data related to itself from other databases that cannot be controlled by the third party. There is a possibility of becoming. For example, in a situation where data including codes that can be estimated by the counterparty of goods sold (or purchased) by the company is stored in the database of the supplier, the name of the company involved in this transaction by a searcher If a plurality of databases are searched simultaneously using a key, information that is desired to be kept secret only among the parties will be known to the searcher.

  Therefore, the present invention is a search mediation system in which a provider of logistics management information can control access to a database and information to be disclosed in accordance with a partner to access the information. Anyone involved in the logistics management information provided to the searcher is to provide a search mediation system that can limit the information provided to the searcher in a certain reasonable way.

The most basic aspect of the first invention for solving the above-mentioned problem is a system that mediates search when searching a plurality of databases with different establishments from a user terminal,
Searcher information storage means for storing searcher information;
The provision conditions of each database are described as rules that determine the granularity of information to be provided as search results, and provision condition storage means for storing the rules,
Provision condition constraint storage means for storing third-party disclosure restriction information including a disclosure restriction key, which is necessary for a third party to perform a disclosure restriction on the data provided to the searcher.
Search accepting means for accepting a search request from a user terminal;
Search request means for making a search request to each database according to the received search request;
Search result acquisition means for acquiring search results obtained from the databases;
Based on the searcher information and the provision conditions, data that can be disclosed to the searcher is extracted from the acquired search results, or converted to a value of information granularity level that can be disclosed, and further provided data is When it corresponds to the disclosure restriction key set by the three parties, it refers to the third party disclosure restriction information, performs the necessary conversion to the information granularity level of the data provided to the searcher, and provides it to the user terminal Search result providing means;
By calculating the information provision fee based on the granularity and number of cases provided by the search result providing means and the processing fee, the charge / distribution amount to the searcher, the third party who requested the disclosure restriction processing, and the database is calculated. Contents to be calculated
Charge / distribution means for creating and recording the charge / distribution amount calculated by the content charge aggregation means as a record associated with the searcher, the third party requesting the disclosure restriction process, and the identification information of the information provider; It is a search mediation system characterized by doing.

  In the search mediation system of the first invention, the provision condition is expressed by all combinations of a searcher category determined by a searcher's registered attribute and a searcher disclosure attribute and a corresponding granularity processing rule. The granularity processing rule defines the number of levels of granularity for each item of the database and the conversion rule or replacement vocabulary applied when displaying the original value of the item for each granularity level at the granularity level. The search result providing means determines a searcher category of a searcher from the original data that is the acquired search result according to the provision condition, and applies a specific granularity processing rule according to the provision condition to each search result. Creating a converted search result in which items are converted into a display of a predetermined granularity level and providing this to the user terminal Is desirable.

  Further, the search reception means extracts searcher information about the searcher who is the search request source from the searcher information storage means, refers to the provision condition storage means with the searcher information, and A database that can be made public is specified, and the search requesting unit may make a search request only for the specified database.

The third party disclosure restriction information includes disclosure restriction key information that describes conditions for the value of a specific item of data to be provided, and a desired granularity desirable for a third party of the item of the data corresponding to the disclosure restriction key. And the granularity that is triggered when the granularity of the target item is smaller than the desired granularity and the granularity of the target item is smaller than the desired granularity. It is a set of four types of information: a “restriction policy” that defines a negotiation policy when negotiating and a “reaching policy” that defines a policy that terminates granular negotiations,
When the information granularity of the data to be provided is finer than the “desired granularity” requested by the third party, the search result providing means, the “desired granularity”, “restriction policy”, “ The information granularity to be provided to the searcher may be automatically re-determined based on the content of the “arrival policy”, and the search result may be processed and provided based on this granularity.

In addition, in the most basic aspect of the search mediation system according to the first invention, or in each of the more desirable aspects, it further includes a function corresponding to an emergency privilege search that should be handled separately from a normal search. It is further desirable that
The function corresponding to this emergency privilege search is
If the authority's public key is recorded and retained, and a means for verifying the authenticity of the electronic signature is provided, and the received search request has an electronic signature other than the sender, the signature is If it is a genuine signature after verifying whether it is a signature, the search is generated as an emergency privilege search, and information that distinguishes it from a normal search is generated and recorded, and the search target specified in the search request is the search target object. Emergency privilege granting means for registering as one record in the emergency privilege search target data table;
In the search result providing means, when the search results related to the emergency privilege search are aggregated, only the record of the search result including the one corresponding to the search object is referred to the emergency privilege search target data table as it is. This is realized by providing the search result providing means configured to aggregate the search results by discarding all other records and to provide the search results to the searcher.

  A second invention for solving the problem is a software program that causes a computer to operate as the search mediation system according to the first invention.

  According to the present invention, the search mediation system intervenes between the database set by the searcher and the information provider, so that the searcher's information and database provision conditions are recorded in advance and a search request has been made. Depending on the searcher, information that can be made public is extracted from the searched information, or converted into a form that can be made public. It becomes possible to control. In addition, anyone who is involved in the logistics management information provided to the searcher can register the third party disclosure restriction information in the search mediation system in advance, and the information provided to the searcher in a certain reasonable way. As a result, it is possible to encourage the participation of the database creator who intends to provide information to the search mediation system, and to make the system more convenient.

First Embodiment
(Outline) Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a first embodiment of a search mediation system according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, 10 is a user terminal, 20 is a search mediation system, and 30a to 30c are independent database systems (hereinafter simply referred to as databases). The user terminal 10 and the search mediation system 20 are connected by the network 2. The search mediation system 20 and the databases 30 a to 30 c are connected to the network 3. The networks 2 and 3 may be the same.

  The user terminal 10 is a terminal device used by a user who performs a search, and is realized by a general-purpose computer that can access the search mediation system 20 via a network. The search mediation system 20 is a server computer having a function of searching a database on the network in response to a search request from the user terminal 10 and returning a search result to the user terminal 10. The provision condition storage means 22, the search reception means 23, the search request means 24, the search result acquisition means 25, the search result provision means 26, the content fee aggregation means 27, and the charge / distribution means 28 are provided.

  The searcher information storage unit 21 is a storage unit that stores information about a searcher. The provision condition storage unit 22 is a storage unit that stores the provision conditions of the databases 30a to 30c. The search receiving unit 23 has a function of receiving a search request from the user terminal 10. The search request unit 24 has a function of making a search request to the databases 30 a to 30 c according to the search request received from the user terminal 10. The search result acquisition unit 25 has a function of acquiring search results from the databases 30a to 30c. The search result providing unit 26 refers to the searcher information stored in the searcher information storage unit 21 and the provision conditions stored in the provision condition storage unit 22, and among the search results acquired from the databases 30a to 30c, the searcher Only a search result that can be disclosed to the user terminal 10 is extracted and provided to the user terminal 10 of the search request source.

  The content fee aggregation means 27 has a function of calculating an information provision fee and a processing fee based on the granularity and number of cases of the provided information extracted by the search result providing means 26, and calculating a charge / distribution to the searcher and the database. is doing. The number of cases does not necessarily correspond to the number of records. The accounting / distribution means 28 associates the record of the amount charged for the search use fee to the searcher and the record of the distribution amount of the information provision fee to the databases 30a to 30c with the identification information of the searcher and the information provider, respectively. Create as a record. This record is notified to the searcher by the method of mailing or the like, or by the telecommunication method such as electronic mail, and the founder of the distribution is notified of the distribution amount. (Dotted broken lines 4 and 5 in FIG. 1 indicate this notification.)

  The databases 30a to 30c are databases that are managed by different companies and permit access from the search mediation system 20. The databases are independent of each other and do not cooperate with each other unless the search mediating system 20 is used. In FIG. 1, the network 2 connecting the user terminal 10 and the search mediation system 20 and the network 3 connecting the search mediation system 20 and the databases 30a to 30c may be the same or different. Although it is possible to reach the databases 30a to 30c from the user terminal 10 as a potential communication path, the location as a communication destination is not known, and the user terminal 10 is known from the viewpoint of the databases 30a to 30c. Direct access is not allowed because there is no relationship. Since the databases 30a to 30c record important information managed by the company, only the search mediation system 20 is permitted to access. As described above, the databases 30a to 30c cannot be directly accessed from the user terminal 10, and the search mediation system 20 is always mediated. Conversely, by using this mechanism, the searcher need not specify the location of the databases 30a to 30c. In practice, it is not necessary for the searcher to request and negotiate individually with the openers of the databases 30a to 30c to conclude an access permission contract.

  The search mediation system 20 is realized by incorporating a dedicated program in a server computer connected to a network. Further, a data storage area for information as the searcher information storage means 21 and the provision condition storage means 22 is secured in a large-capacity storage device such as a hard disk. When the Internet is adopted as a network connecting the user terminal 10 and the search mediation system 20, the XML media service is provided from the user terminal 10 by providing the search mediation system 20 with the function of the XML Web service server. Can be used to access the search mediation system 20. In order for the search mediation system 20 to have the function of an XML Web service server, for example, software called Apache axis (registered trademark) is incorporated in a computer that implements the search mediation system 20.

(data structure)
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of searcher information stored in the searcher information storage unit 21. A person who wants to perform a search using this system must register information about the searcher himself as searcher information in advance. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, as the searcher information, the searcher name, the type of business, the location, the annual sales scale, the searcher information disclosure conditions, and the granularity of demand, which is an item related to the granularity negotiation of the disclosed information described later, Negotiating policy, reaching policy, and other information. Other information includes public key data that identifies a user terminal for concealing communication between the searcher's user terminal and the search mediation system 20. Each searcher is issued a searcher ID for specifying the searcher and is registered in the searcher information storage unit 21 in association with the searcher ID. The searcher information disclosure condition defines the conditions for disclosing the searcher information to the database opener. The searcher information disclosure conditions are set for each item of the searcher information and the settings according to the type of business of the opener. It is possible. In the item of demand granularity, the information granularity desired by the searcher is registered for each information item. The item of the negotiation policy is the price that the searcher offers to pay as a price in order to obtain finer granularity information when the disclosure granularity set by each database founder does not reach the demand granularity set by the searcher Pre-conditions for delivery are registered. This searcher information disclosure condition can set a plurality of contents for one searcher as long as no contradiction occurs. The reaching policy defines a negotiation end policy (how to make a compromise) when the searcher and the database opener do not agree on the granularity of the disclosed information.

  In the search mediation system 20, the “granularity” of information obtained by searching each database according to the relationship between the searcher and the database founder can be controlled and provided to the searcher. That is, the search result providing means 26 has a granularity processing rule table defined by each database founder as shown in FIG. 3, and the value of each item recorded in the database depends on the disclosed granularity level. It is converted into a value represented by roughness defined for each item and provided to the searcher. The disclosure granularity level of each item in the database at the time of a certain search request is determined according to a class correspondence table and a class definition table, which will be described later. As shown in FIG. 3, in the granularity processing rule table, for each item, the degree of accuracy with which information is provided in a maximum of seven levels from level A to level d is defined. In order to execute the granularity process, a conversion rule of “value” corresponding to the granularity level is determined for each DB item. This is because, as illustrated in FIG. 4, the expression vocabulary or conversion rule of “value” corresponding to each granularity level is hierarchically defined in advance from the coarsest level D to the finest level A. There is nothing else.

  An example of information recorded in the database 30a is shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 7, information of one record is recorded in the database 30a according to items of recording time, product ID, product location, inventory quantity, purchase source, and delivery destination. This one record usually corresponds to data when the reader reads the RFID tag once. Therefore, when the reader reads a plurality of tags at a time, a plurality of product IDs, which are recorded contents of the read tags, are recorded in the item of product ID. Further, in this case, the number of cases when the content fee aggregation means 27 calculates as the information provision fee is counted not as one case but as the number of product tags. The merchandise location is recorded in a hierarchical structure as shown in FIG. The databases 30a to 30c are independent from each other, and the databases 30b and 30c may be different from the structures shown in FIGS.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a hierarchical structure (used vocabulary and conversion rules when displaying at each granularity level) of the item “product location”. The item “product location” has four levels of granularity from level A to level D. For example, when the value of the item “product location” is displayed at level A, “storage area a”, “storage area b”, etc. Displayed by value. In level B, the value of the item “product location” is displayed as “building / facility a”, “building / facility b”, and the like. That is, a set of values (vocabulary) that can be taken at each granularity level is defined in advance. In addition, the value displayed in any one of “Storage Area A”, “Storage Area B”, and “Storage Area C” at Level A should be displayed at Level B with the granularity level raised by one layer. Converted to “building / facility a”. That is, “building / facility a” is a replacement vocabulary for “storage area a”, “storage area b”, and “storage area c”. The hierarchical structure shown in FIG. 4 shows what values of lower level values are replaced at higher levels, that is, conversion rules.

  In order to reduce the information granularity, an operation load of data processing by the search mediation system 20 is required. Originally, in order to protect the confidentiality of information and economic value due to personal circumstances, each database should perform conversion processing on its own, and the search mediating system 20 is acting as a proxy for processing, and the cost for this granularity reduction processing It is reasonable that the database provider who provides the information bears the burden. For this reason, the granularity reduction processing cost is accumulated in the content fee aggregation means 27 for each vocabulary process or as a comprehensive process regardless of the number of processes or the number of processes indiscriminately. The information granularity reduction processing cost accumulated by the contents fee aggregation means as a periodic aggregation such as every time the search and response is completed or monthly etc. is also distributed to each database founder for the information providing consideration compensation accumulated by the same means It is sent to the billing / distribution means 28 in a form offset from the amount, and is recorded in association with the identification information of the information provider by the function of the means 28. By being settled by electronic or conventional commercial transaction means based on this record, each of the databases 30a-c can provide the information granularity for each item of information provided, the reduction processing cost, and the compensation as the sum of the number of items. Can receive distribution.

  The provision condition storage unit 22 stores a class definition table, a class correspondence table for each searcher category, and an information provision unit price table for the provision conditions. In this embodiment, the provision conditions are determined by the class definition table and the class correspondence table for each searcher category. FIG. 5 shows an example of a class definition table, FIG. 6 shows an example of a class correspondence table for each searcher category, and FIG. 9 shows an example of an information provision unit price table. In the class definition table, the level of disclosure of each item of information held in the database is set for each class. A class is a set of disclosure granularity levels when the disclosure granularity level for each item in the database is defined for all items. In the example of FIG. 5, class 1, class 2,... May be considered as names given to various sets of such disclosure granularity levels. That is, a set of disclosure granularity levels is specified by class 1, class 2,. This class definition table allows the database founder to easily set the disclosure granularity level of each item without setting each item individually when setting how much information is disclosed. .

When these searchers using this mechanism and the database share a common data exchange format standard, the format of the original original record and the provided data after the conversion process may not match due to the information granularity processing. there is a possibility. In this case, the search result providing means 26 can also create data that has been changed to a format different from the notation format of the original record and provide it to the searcher. As an example, when the item in which the product ID of FIG. 3 is recorded is converted into the product classification notation of level c, if the classification format structure of the classification is different from the product ID, it is different from the original record. You can answer by changing the format. However, if this deviates from the shared standard, the searcher will be notified in advance about the format that will be extended or changed from the common standard, and the searcher's receiving function will have a mechanism for processing and interpreting it. There is a need.

  In the example of FIG. 5, class 1 is the strictest, and the content becomes more gradual as the class number increases. Class 1 cannot disclose the existence of a database, nor can it disclose the type of business of the person who established the database. In the case of class 1, since the existence of the database cannot be disclosed, the items of information recorded in the database cannot be disclosed. Class 2 can disclose the existence of a database, but cannot disclose the type of business of the founder, and the inventory quantity and product location are disclosed at level D. As for levels, level A provides the most detailed information, and as levels B, C, and D, rough information is provided. Accordingly, Class 2 provides information in a very vague manner with respect to both the number of stocks and the location of goods. From Class 3 onwards, both the existence of the database and the type of business of the founder can be made public, and each item will be disclosed at a more detailed level as the class number increases with regard to inventory quantity and product location. I understand that.

Furthermore, information provision unit prices corresponding to the granularity are set for these items. In general, the content of information items provided at a finer granularity is more useful in terms of accuracy and precision of information, and has a higher economic value as a business secret. The price can be set higher than the price, but a flat price can be arbitrarily set according to the intention of the provider. FIG. 9 is an example of the information provision unit price table of the database 30a. For example, the item: product ID is set at 100 yen per case when provided at level A (recorded contents as it is), but is set at 10 yen per item when received at level c (product classification). ing.

  FIG. 6 shows an example of a class correspondence table by searcher category. The searcher category is a category for identifying a searcher determined by the database operator for the convenience of the database operator. The searcher category is usually determined by multiplying a category arbitrarily defined by the database founder based on the searcher attribute information registered as searcher information, with two combinations of whether the searcher is an identity disclosure searcher or not. . “Identity” in an identity non-disclosure searcher or an identity disclosure searcher means information sufficient to specify the searcher, and in this embodiment is a searcher name. The class correspondence table for each searcher category shown in FIG. 6 is for one database, and the same one is set for each database. The setting of the class can be arbitrarily set by the founder, but normally, as shown in FIG. 6, it is strict for non-disclosure searchers. It is also possible to specify a searcher name directly as a category and set a class.

By determining the category, the disclosure granularity class for each item that is a combination of the disclosure restrictions in FIG. 5 is determined. However, the disclosure granularity class set by the category class determined by the provider side based on the searcher category according to FIG. 6 is the demand granularity recorded in the searcher information storage means 21 shown in FIG. A situation that does not satisfy the information granularity for each item that the user wants normally occurs. The search result providing means 26 has a function of negotiating with the information provider side in order to obtain disclosure at a finer granularity based on the demand granularity, negotiation policy, and arrival policy set by the searcher in such a case. I have. This will be described in detail when the processing operation of the system is described.

(Processing operation)
Next, the processing operation of the system shown in FIG. 1 will be described. First, a user registered as a searcher in the searcher information storage unit 21 accesses the search mediation system 20 from the user terminal 10 and transmits a search request. At this time, the search receiving unit 23 authenticates the searcher and identifies which searcher is registered in the searcher information storage unit 21. This may be done, for example, by registering a password in the searcher information storage means 21 and requesting the searcher ID and password from the accessing user. In order to more reliably identify the searcher and protect the communication, the sender certificate obtained by encrypting the hash value of the search expression document transmitted by the searcher with the private key issued to the user terminal 10 is sent in advance. It is also possible to decrypt with the paired public key and collate with a value obtained by the same hash method as that at the time of transmission from the sent search expression. At the same time, the search formula text is also encrypted and transmitted with the public key issued by the search mediation system 20, and decrypted with the received secret key of the search mediation system 20, so that communication on the network can be protected. As a result, the identity of the searcher self-reported is identified as the registered original user.

  When the searcher ID is specified, the search receiving unit 23 refers to the searcher information storage unit 21 with the searcher ID, and acquires the attribute information of the searcher. Here, the business type and searcher information disclosure conditions are acquired as attribute information. Subsequently, the search receiving unit 23 refers to the provision condition storage unit 22 with the acquired attribute information, and acquires the address of a database that can be disclosed to the searcher. For example, in the examples of FIGS. 5 and 6, for the industry non-disclosure searcher, since it corresponds to the class 1, the existence of the database cannot be disclosed, and therefore no address is acquired. In the examples of FIGS. 5 and 6, in other cases, the database address is acquired. In this way, the search receiving means 23 acquires the address of the database that can be disclosed to the received searcher.

  When the database address is acquired from the provision condition storage unit 22, the search request unit 24 makes a search request to all the databases from which the address has been acquired so as to search the contents according to the search request received from the user terminal 10. . Therefore, if the searcher's attribute does not meet the provision condition of the database, the address for the database is not acquired, and therefore the search request is not a target. As a result, useless search processing and invalid traffic on the way are suppressed in advance in order to obtain a search result that is determined in advance to be invalidated and discarded in the search mediation system 20. When all the addresses of the databases 30a to 30c have been acquired, a search request is transmitted to the database 30a, the database 30b, and the database 30c.

  If the data sharing / exchange method is standardized and all of the databases 30a to 30c requested to be searched conform to this, each database 30a to 30c is searched with the same content in this common format. Is requested. On the other hand, for a database that does not conform to this standard method, it is entrusted after converting it to a communication procedure and search expression format that can be communicated with the database. For this, use a conversion comparison table designed by acquiring the specifications of the database in advance, or apply transformation rules based on XSLT (XML Stylesheet Language Transformations).

  In each of the databases 30a to 30c, when a search request is received, the search request is accepted after authentication that the request is from the search mediation system 20. Then, each database searches its own database according to the received request contents, and obtains a search result. When the search result is obtained, each of the databases 30 a to 30 c transmits the search result to the search mediation system 20. The search result returned at this time may include confidential business information that needs to be restricted from being disclosed depending on the searcher. It is possible to realize the process of recognizing the actual searcher in the reply and omitting the contents to be concealed by referring to the business relationship on the side of the answering databases 30a to 30c. The database system developed for in-house use needs to be modified to provide an unexpected external information management function, and the information management processing load causes pressure on the original application. May occur or you may be forced to increase your capacity in anticipation of it. In the present invention, since the search mediation system 20 performs public content extraction based on the provision conditions, it is not necessary to bear this confidential processing load on the databases 30a to 30c side.

  In the search mediation system 20, the search result acquisition unit 25 acquires the search results transmitted from the databases 30a to 30c. At this time, if there is a communication procedure and response format that deviates from the standard in the database to be answered, the search results are obtained with the corresponding response means, and the search formula conversion is performed from the standard inconsistent format. By applying conversion means based on the specifications acquired in advance in the same way as when performing the pre-processing, the same disclosure provision as the following other answers is provided by pre-converting the response to the equivalent of other standard methods Possible information can be extracted. Subsequently, the search result providing means 26 refers to the searcher information stored in the searcher information storage means 21 and the provision conditions stored in the provision condition storage means 22 and extracts search results to be provided. For example, when the searcher ID of this search is A001, the search result providing unit 26 refers to the searcher information storage unit 21 and describes the industry “drug store chain” and the searcher information disclosure condition “ “Disclosure only for industry”. Then, the search result providing unit 26 refers to the provision condition storage unit 22 with the acquired information.

  Here, the process for the database 30a will be described. Since the searcher A001 is “disclosure of only the business type to the pharmaceutical industry”, the search result providing means 26 confirms the business type of the founder of the database 30a. Assuming that the founder of the database 30a is the pharmaceutical industry, the searcher information of the searcher A001 is “disclose only industry” for the database 30a. Then, the search result providing means 26 refers to the class correspondence table by searcher category (FIG. 6) for the non-disclosure searcher and business type “drug store chain”, and acquires “class 4”. Furthermore, with reference to the class definition table (FIG. 5) with this “class 4”, “publicly available” in the presence of the database, “publicly available” in the establishment industry, product location “level C”, inventory quantity “level C” The product ID “level B” is acquired.

On the other hand, when the granularity level of the provided information requested by the searcher A001 is obtained from the demand granularity item of the searcher information storage means 21, for example, the product location “level D”, the inventory quantity “level B”, the product ID “level” A ”. In this case, as shown in FIG. 10, it is possible to provide information on the product location at a disclosure granularity level higher than that requested by the searcher. However, the information provider standardizes the inventory quantity and product ID. The disclosure granularity level to be set does not satisfy the disclosure granularity level requested by the searcher. Depending on the difference between the information provider and the searcher, such a trap may occur, but in such a case, the granularity negotiation processing function in the search result providing unit 26 functions.

  FIG. 11 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the disclosure granularity determination process, which is the operation of the search result providing means 26. The operation so far will be described with reference to FIG. First, the searcher's disclosure conditions are read with reference to the searcher information storage means 21, and the default disclosure granularity for each item for the searcher is determined from the class correspondence table and class definition table for each searcher category set by the information provider. Determine (S100). On the other hand, referring to the item of demand granularity of the searcher in the searcher information storage means 21, the granularity level for each core item requested by the searcher is specified (S102). Both are put together and compared (S104). When the default disclosure granularity satisfies the searcher's demand granularity level in all items, the default disclosure granularity level and the information unit price are applied (S106). In contrast, in the previous example, a table as shown in FIG. 10 is obtained. According to this table, the merchandise location satisfies the demand granularity, but the items of inventory quantity and merchandise ID do not satisfy the demand granularity. Accordingly, the granularity negotiation process operates (S200). As a result, the granularity level determined by the granularity negotiation processing result and the information unit price are applied (S106).

  Next, the granularity negotiation process will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. Hereinafter, as in the previous example, the searcher A001 and the database will be described as 30a. First, the searcher's negotiation policy is temporarily stored with reference to the item of the searcher's “negotiation policy” in the searcher information storage means 21 (S201). Next, the allowable maximum amount is added to the price of the determination disclosure granularity of the item in accordance with the negotiation policy (S203). In the case of the searcher A001, “20% addition” is set, so a price that is 20% higher than the information unit price of inventory quantity: C level is set. It is determined whether or not this price (a presentation price with an allowable maximum amount added or a presentation price) satisfies the unit price at the demand granularity of the item (the same amount or more) (S203). If satisfied (Yes in S205), the information is received at the demand granularity for the item, and the unit price at the disclosed granularity level is applied (S207). Here, as the contents (item values) of the negotiation policy, “addition of 20% unit price”, “acceptance of high-level granularity up to two levels”, “addition of 20 yen unit price”, and the like can be set.

On the other hand, if the unit price at the demand granularity of the item cannot be satisfied even with the suggested price (No in S205), the searcher's arrival policy in the searcher information storage means 21 is referred to (S211). Reach policy is “Best”, “Unchangeable when not reached”, “Withdraw search when not reached”
One of them can be set. When the arrival policy is “best” (Yes in S213), the best granularity (the finest granularity) obtained within the offered price is set as the applicable disclosure granularity and unit price of the item (S215), and the process proceeds to S223. When the arrival policy is “not changed when not reached” (No in S213), the default granularity is set as the applicable disclosure granularity and unit price of the item (S215), and the process proceeds to S223. If the arrival policy is “withdraw search when not reached”, the search is canceled (S219), and the granularity negotiation process is immediately terminated.

When the granularity and unit price for the item have been determined, it is checked whether the granularity negotiation has been completed for all necessary items (S223), and if there are any remaining items, the process returns to S203 to perform the granularity negotiation for the next item. repeat.
In this way, the search result providing means 26 automatically combines the searcher information stored in the searcher information storage means 21 with the information provider conditions stored in the provision condition storage means 22. Negotiate the granularity and cost of provision information. (However, if the search is withdrawn during the granularity negotiation, information acquisition from the database is cancelled.)

  As a result, if it is information relating to the merchandise location, “inclusion in establishment” of the default disclosure granularity level C set by the founder of the database 30a for the searcher A001 is applied. Accordingly, FIG. 4 describes the facility belonging relationship of the establishment to which the database founder that is notified in advance to the search mediation system 20 or the database 30a itself supplies in response to an inquiry from the search mediation system 20 belongs. By referring to the business unit composition master data of the structure, from the acquired product location information to the level of “included in the company (major representative) business” as the stage semantic attribute assigned to this level of attribution, the attribution destination By moving up, you can obtain the location description content that matches the specified granularity of information that should be answered to the searcher, and by extracting this as an answer to the searcher, the actual search result originally has It is possible to observe the disclosure range designated by the founder of the database 30a, which is different from the definition of the product location. Further, the result of the granularity negotiation process is applied to the inventory quantity and the product ID. In other words, not only the convenience of the information provider but also the information provided in a form that reflects the searcher's needs to a certain extent, or in which the information provider / searcher's mutual information disclosure / acquisition policy is fully compromised And information can be acquired.

  Similarly, the searcher obtains information of a level corresponding to his / her searcher information and the provision conditions of the database from other databases.

  The determination of information to be disclosed will be described again. For example, consider the case where the type of business of the database 30a is the pharmaceutical industry. When the searcher A003 searches the database 30a, as shown in FIG. 2, the searcher information disclosure condition is “disclosure to retail and pharmaceutical industry”. Therefore, the searcher information of the searcher A003 is stored in the database 30a. Will be disclosed. Further, as shown in FIG. 2, since the searcher A003 is a wholesaler, it is determined as class 6 with reference to the information disclosure searcher and wholesaler in the searcher category class correspondence table of FIG. . On the other hand, when the searcher A001 searches the database 30a, as shown in FIG. 2, the searcher information disclosure condition is “disclose only the business type to the pharmaceutical industry”. In this case, since the founder of the database 30a is the pharmaceutical industry, only the business type is disclosed. Then, in the class correspondence table by searcher category in FIG. 6, it is determined as class 4 by referring to the identity non-disclosure searcher and the drug store chain. In the case of class 4, the product location is level D, the inventory quantity is level C, and the product ID is level B from the class definition table shown in FIG. Since the product location is level D, only the company name is disclosed. Since the stock quantity is level C, only the number of digits is disclosed. Since the product ID is level B, the product type code is disclosed. In this way, even if the searcher has disclosed only the type of business, that is, when limited attribute disclosure that falls between anonymous and real names is performed, an appropriate public information extraction range is set and surely Can be implemented.

  As described above, the information to be disclosed is determined and the search result is provided. From the searcher information disclosure condition in the searcher information stored in the searcher information storage means 21, FIG. It is also possible to create a searcher-opener correspondence table for each opener as shown in FIG. By storing the searcher-opener correspondence table as shown in FIG. 8 in a predetermined storage area, the search intermediary system 20 refers to the searcher-opener correspondence table after specifying the searcher ID. In addition, the database to be requested for search can be immediately identified, and when the content to be answered to the searcher is specified from the returned search result, the table corresponding to the class by searcher category shown in FIG. 6 is referred to. Can be performed at high speed.

(Summary of Embodiment 1)
FIGS. 13 and 14 are flow charts that briefly explain the outline of the system according to the first embodiment that has been described in detail so far. The leftmost flow represents the flow of processing on the searcher side. The central flow represents the processing flow of the search mediation system 20. The rightmost flow represents the processing flow of the information provider database server. The operation of the system according to the first embodiment is summarized below with reference to FIGS. First, necessary information is set in the search mediation system 20 on each side of the searcher and the information provider (S20 and S30 in FIG. 14). The search mediation system 20 receives these registration requests and registers them in a given table (S700). The searcher issues a search request with a search formula to the search mediation system 20 at a necessary timing (S22 in FIG. 13). The search mediation system 20 accepts this, selects an information provider that can accept the search request of the searcher, and makes a search request to all of them (S710). At this time, the search intermediary system 20 generates a unique search identifier for each search request from the searcher for later processing, holds this in the storage means, and sends this search identifier to the information provider. Add a search request. The information provider side receives the search formula (S32), searches the database, adds the search identifier to the result, and returns it to the search mediation system 20 (S34). The search mediation system 20 receives the search results provided from all the information providers who requested the search (S720), and aggregates the search identifiers with the same search identifier, but the provided information granularity of each information provider is searched. If it is less than the demand granularity of the user, the granularity negotiation process of both is executed (S730). As a result of the granularity negotiation, the burden on the searcher and the distribution amount to the information provider are calculated (S750). Data provision to the searcher, billing and billing notice, and distribution notice to the information provider are performed (S760). The searcher receives a billing notice (S24). The information provider receives a distribution notice (S36).

<< Embodiment 2 >>
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.
(Difference from Embodiment 1)
In the first embodiment, it is included that the searcher and the information provider perform granularity negotiation processing (S730 in FIGS. 12 and 13) on the provided information. In addition to this, the second embodiment is characterized in that a disclosure restriction process of provided information by a third party is performed. 15 and 16 are flowcharts for explaining the outline of the system of the second embodiment in comparison with FIGS. 13 and 14. (The processes with the same step numbers in FIGS. 15 and 16 as in FIGS. 13 and 14 indicate that the same processes as those in the first embodiment are performed there. Therefore, the description of such processes will be omitted below as appropriate.) 15) A third party flow is added to the left end of FIGS. Here, the third party is a third party other than a searcher who is a party of the granularity negotiation process and one information provider who provides information in response to a search request. Therefore, when a plurality of information providers provide information in response to a single search request, it may be a database operator who provides one of the information providers. Moreover, the participant who only performs a search may be sufficient. The third party requests the search mediation system 20 to register in advance information necessary for executing the third-party disclosure restriction process (the third-party disclosure restriction key and the like will be described in detail later) (S10 in FIG. 15). ). The search mediation system 20 receives the setting information requested by the third party and records it together with the searcher's registration request information and the information provider's registration request information in a predetermined table in the storage means of the server (S701). Selection of information provider (S710), database search in each information provider (S32, S34), search result of search mediation system 20 after search formula issuance processing to search mediation system 20 by searcher (FIG. 16 S22) Reception (S720) and granularity negotiation processing (S730) between the searcher and the information provider who provided the search result are performed in the same manner as in the first embodiment. Thereafter, when there is data corresponding to the third party disclosure restriction key for the information providing data of each information provider for the searcher once determined in the granularity negotiation process (S730), the information provider The third party disclosure restriction process (S740) is performed on the information provided to the searcher. As a result, for the provided information finally determined, the amount paid by the searcher and the third party, and the distribution to each information provider are calculated (S751), data provision to the searcher, billing and billing notification, third party Billing and billing notices and distribution notices to information providers are performed (S761). Thus, in the second embodiment, the greatest difference from the system according to the first embodiment is that there is a possibility that disclosure restriction processing by a third party may be performed. Hereinafter, a functional configuration of the information providing system according to the second embodiment, information set by a third party, and third-party disclosure restriction processing will be specifically described.

(Outline of the information providing system according to the second embodiment)
FIG. 17 is a configuration diagram of an information providing system according to the second embodiment. Components having the same numbers as those in FIG. 1 represent the same components as those in the first embodiment, and thus description thereof will be omitted. Only portions different from those in FIG. 1 will be described. Reference numeral 29 denotes provision condition constraint storage means. Similar to the searcher information storage unit 21 and the provision condition storage unit 22, a storage area as the provision condition constraint storage unit 29 is secured in the large-capacity storage device of the server computer that operates as the search mediation system 20. Register necessary information related to third party disclosure restrictions. The search result providing unit 26 finally determines the provision information with reference to not only the provision condition storage unit 22 but also the contents of the provision condition constraint storage unit 29. Reference numeral 40 denotes emergency privilege grant means, and reference numeral 41 denotes a “authoritative organization” server. The emergency privilege granting means 40 and the “authoritative organization” will be described in detail later. First, the information providing system according to the second embodiment will be described by limiting the third-party disclosure restriction to functions.

(Information to be set to restrict third party disclosure)
Next, information to be set for restriction on third party disclosure will be described in detail.
FIG. 18 is a deterioration instruction target data key table (T100) designated by a third party. In this table, key information that triggers a participant to activate the search restriction process is registered. Each row of T100 represents information specifying one disclosure restriction key or related information. In the first column of T100, a number for identifying the key is recorded. The second column shows the type of item represented by the key. That is, any of the items of the data record provided to the searcher as a search result, such as a product ID, a shipping destination, and a product location, is specified. The third column and below are detailed information of the key. The meaning of the information registered in each column cell of the row differs slightly depending on the item represented by the key. When the item represented by the key is a product ID, the company number, the product type number, and the individual product number are set in the third to fifth columns. It may be considered that the product type number is information corresponding to a JAN code, and the individual product number is equivalent to a serial number (manufacturing number). When the item represented by the key is a merchandise location, the company number, the business office number, and the facility number are set in the third to fifth columns. Further, when the item represented by the key is the shipping destination, the company number, the office number, and the facility number are set in the third to fifth columns. However, when setting the disclosure restriction key, designation of the fourth column and the fifth column can be omitted as appropriate. In this case, “* (asterisk)” is set as shown in FIG.

  In the following description, the case where the participant X who is also the database founder of the database 30x sets information for restricting third-party disclosure will be described. Since the participant X is also an information provider, the participant X has a data filter class definition table (T105) set by the participant X as shown in FIG. The database 30x is an independent database that permits access from the same search mediation system 20 as the databases 30a and 30b in FIG. Although not shown in FIG. 17, it is connected to the network 3 (or either 30b or 30c may be 30x).

  FIG. 20 is a searcher category-specific limited achievement target class setting table (T102) set by the participant X. Participant X sets the degree of restriction of restriction for each category of the searcher (restriction target class) and the disclosure restriction process rule for that purpose in T102. The degree to which disclosure is restricted (restricted achievement target class) is specified by the class of the class definition table (T101) in the second row of the table T102. Also, the rules for the disclosure restriction process set “restriction policy” in the third row of the table and “reach policy” in the fourth row. The meaning of the restriction policy is the same as the “negotiation policy” in the rule specification of the granularity negotiation process stored in the searcher information storage unit 21. In other words, when there is data that requires disclosure restrictions, if the information granularity of the data is more precise than the granularity set in the limit attainment target class, the compensation for the third party to obtain coarser granularity information The pre-conditions for offering the offer are registered. The “reaching policy” is the same as the “reaching policy” in the rule specification of the granularity negotiation process stored in the searcher information storage unit 21. That is, the restriction processing termination policy (how to make a compromise) when the granularity of the disclosure information provided by the database creator and the granularity requested by the third party is not compromised is determined.

  When the searcher is A001, the business type is “drug store chain”, and therefore, the data provided to A001 as viewed from the participant X is preferably class 4 (defined by the participant X) from Table T102. It will be. At this time, (Restriction policy, Reach policy) is (10 yen limit for each item, Best). FIG. 19 is a class definition table (T105) defined by the participant X. From this table, for example, for product ID, it can be seen that level B is the desired granularity of X.

  FIG. 21 is a database information provider category-specific limited achievement target class setting table (T103) set by the participant X. Participant X sets the degree of restriction of disclosure for each category of database information provider (restricted reaching target class) and the disclosure restriction process rule for that purpose in T103. The extent to which the disclosure is restricted (restriction achievement target class) is specified by the class of the class definition table (T101) in the second row of the table. Also, the rules for the disclosure restriction process set “restriction policy” in the third row of the table and “reach policy” in the fourth row. These are the same as those in the searcher category-specific limited achievement target class setting table (T102). When the business type of the information provider 30a is “pharmaceutical industry”, it is desirable from Table T103 that the data provided from 30a as viewed from the participant X is class 3 (defined by the participant X). At this time (restriction policy, arrival policy) is (each item, interference withdrawal when not reached). From table T105, for example, for product ID, it can be seen that level C is the desired granularity of X.

  The information set by the third party X for the third party disclosure restriction includes the degradation instruction target data key table (T100), the data filter class definition table (T101), and the searcher category-specific restriction target class setting table (T102). These are four tables of the database information provider category-specific restricted achievement target class setting table (T103) and priority instruction information that determines which of T102 and T103 is to be prioritized. If the data provided by a database commentator contains data that requires disclosure restrictions (data that corresponds to one of the disclosure restriction keys), the party providing the data will see the third party There are categories identified by the table T103 and categories by which the data receiving side is identified by the table T102, and each has a limited reach target class. Therefore, when the limited attainment target class specified by the table T103 and the limited attainment target class specified by the table T102 are different from each other, it is necessary to determine which is prioritized as the designation of the priority instruction. These pieces of information are registered and recorded in the provision condition constraint storage unit 29.

  FIG. 22 is a third party data filter instruction list (T104). The search mediation system 20 records information (tables T100 to T103) requested to be registered by each participant who desires third-party disclosure restriction in the provision condition constraint storage means 29 and all third-party disclosure restriction requesters. A list in which the request contents are collected is created as a third-party data filter instruction list (T104) and recorded in the provision condition constraint storage means 29. Each row of the third-party data filter instruction list (T104) defines links to the four types of tables (tables T100 to T103) necessary for the disclosure restriction process and whether to give priority to the tables T102 and T103. Information on priority instructions is recorded for each registration request from a third party. In the table T104, the registration requester is recorded in the first column by the requester ID. The instruction card ID in the second column is an ID uniquely assigned to each row (corresponding to one record) of this table. Information set by one registration request from a third party, that is, a link to tables T100 to T103, which is the contents of one row of table T104, and a priority instruction that determines which of T102 and T103 is to be prioritized The information set (which will be referred to as a third party disclosure restriction information set) can be changed each time. In FIG. 22, the instruction table IDs # 0087 and # 0088 are set from the same database founder, although the deterioration instruction target data designation key table to be referenced is linked with # 2557 on the one hand and # 5098 on the other. .

(Third-party disclosure restriction processing flow)
Next, a detailed operation flow of disclosure restriction processing by a third party and accompanying granularity negotiation processing will be described with reference to FIGS. Assume that the processing up to S730 in FIG. The search result providing means 26 stores information (provision data to be provided) provided by each information provider in a state where the granularity negotiation process with the searcher has been completed in a predetermined area of the storage means of the search mediation system 2020. It shall be held for each. When entering the process of S740 in FIG. 16 in this state, first, the search result providing means determines a searcher category from the searcher ID and stores and holds it for reference (S300 in FIG. 24). Next, the first information provider among the information providers that provide the provision schedule data is determined (S305). The provision schedule data of the provider is read into the work data storage area of the search result providing means 26. At this time, the category of the provider is also recorded (S310). One record is read from the work data storage area and set as “processing target”, and a copy thereof is taken as “after processing” (S315).

  One initial disclosure restriction key is obtained with reference to Table T101 and Table T100 (S320). Inspect whether “processing target” corresponds to the disclosure restriction key. Since the disclosure restriction key is set as a condition for a certain item in one record, attention is paid to the value of a certain item “processing target” (S325). If not, the process jumps to S355. If applicable, the desired restriction granularity of the item determined by the disclosure restriction key is determined with reference to the third party disclosure restriction information set designating the disclosure restriction key (S330). This processing is performed by referring to the categories of the searcher recorded at S300 and S310 and the information provider at that time and the corresponding links in the fifth and sixth columns of the table T101 and referring to the corresponding tables T102 and T103. The limit target achievement class is obtained, the level of the corresponding item is obtained from the data filter class definition table T105 set by the third party using the limit target class determined by the priority instruction as a key, and the third party uses the level as a key. The desired limit granularity of the item is determined with reference to the granularity processing rule table to be set (here, for convenience, the same one as that set by the information provider 30a in FIG. 3 is assumed).

  Next, it is compared which of the desired limit granularity and the granularity (current granularity) of the corresponding item of “processing target” is coarse (S335, S340). If the current granularity is equal to or larger than the desired limited granularity, no action is required and the process jumps to S335. If the current granularity is finer than the desired limit granularity, the granularity negotiation process and the process of calculating the compensation fee paid by the third party to the information provider are performed. Details of this processing will be described later. As a result of the granularity negotiation process, the post-negotiation granularity for the item is determined (S345). Compare the granularity after negotiation with the granularity of the corresponding item after processing. The initial value of the granularity of the corresponding item “after processing” is the granularity before disclosure restriction processing set in S315. If the post-negotiation granularity (the granularity determined by the current disclosure restriction key) is coarser than the granularity of the corresponding item after “processing”, the granularity of the corresponding item after “processing” is updated to the post-negotiation granularity. Otherwise, the post-negotiation update is not performed (S350). As a result, the granularity of each item “after processing” is maintained at the coarsest level of the granularity after negotiation negotiated based on the disclosure restriction key involved so far (S355). For one record = “processing target”, steps S325 to S355 are repeated for all disclosure restriction keys recorded in T101 and T100, and if all the disclosure restriction keys have been processed, “after processing” at that time is completed. It is assumed that the record is one record that provides information in place of the “processing target” read in S315. (S360). If the same processing is performed for all the information providers (S365) and all the information providers perform the above processing (S370), each provided data has one or more disclosure restriction keys related to the data. When doing so, it will be rewritten at the coarsest level of granularity after negotiation.

(Granularity negotiation process when third party disclosure is restricted, compensation fee calculation process)
FIG. 25 is a flowchart for explaining the process of S345 of FIG. 24 in more detail. Negotiation processing of whether or not the current granularity can be the desired restricted granularity when the desired restricted granularity is coarser than the granularity of the item subject to the disclosure restriction key at that time of `` processing target '' (current granularity), and necessary for that Calculate the compensation fee.

  First, the restriction policy and the reaching policy for the information provider or the searcher of a third party are temporarily stored with reference to the table T103 or the table T102 (S401). Which table is used depends on the designation of the category rule priority instruction (contents in the rightmost column of table T101) of the third party disclosure restriction information set to which the disclosure restriction key belongs. (Use the same table as when the desired limit granularity was obtained in S330.) Next, refer to Table T200 for the compensation amount for each data to be paid to the information provider in order to make the current granularity the desired limit granularity. (S405). It is checked whether or not the compensation amount is within the limit set by the restriction policy (S410). If it is within the limit or (restriction policy, reaching policy) = (completely achieved, no compromise), the desired restriction granularity is set as the post-negotiation granularity for the item (S415). The compensation amount required at that time is integrated as a compensation fee paid by the third party to the information provider (S420). If this compensation amount exceeds the limit set by the restriction policy, the process is divided depending on whether the arrival policy is 'best' or 'cancel interference when not reached' (S430). When the reaching policy = 'best', the coarsest granularity obtained within the contribution limit allowed by the restriction policy is obtained from the table T200, and this is set as the post-negotiation granularity of the item (S435). The compensation amount required at that time is accumulated as a compensation fee that the third party pays to the information provider (S436). When the arrival policy = 'interference cancellation when not reached', the current granularity is set to the post-negotiation granularity. Since the grain size is not roughened, the compensation amount is not accumulated (S440).

  The procedure for determining the final granularity is more stringent by comparing the provided information granularity desired by the third party who wants to add restrictions, starting from the provided information granularity set by the above information provider. It is a procedure to update the information granularity that is actually provided when negotiation for the coarser granularity is established, but this is an example of an algorithm for determining the granularity to be provided, and other implementation methods Is also possible. One of the other methods is that for each item of information provided, for each third party who wants a disclosure granularity that is coarser than the information provider's desired granularity, the disclosure granularity desired by each third party is set. Add the index of each third party and rearrange them in strict order, and rank the third party as third party (1), third party (2), and so on. Assume that k = 1, and the information provider negotiates with a third party (k). Until the granularity is determined after negotiation, the order of the third party is moved to k = 2, 3, and if the granularity is determined for the first time after k = n, the third party with the order of n <= m (m ) Is a procedure for calculating the amount of compensation required to limit disclosure to the required granularity, assuming that the provision at the required disclosure granularity is satisfied. In this procedure, the result is the same as in the case of the flow of FIG. 24, but if the number of involved third parties can be expected to be small, this algorithm can be expected to be faster.

  The compensation fee paid by the third party to each information provider is finally notified to the content fee aggregation means 27.

  FIG. 23 is a third party granularity deterioration compensation fee table (T200) set by the information provider. This table also serves as an information provision unit price table. That is, the contents of FIG. 9 are included. In S420 and S436, the compensation fee is calculated with reference to this table. For example, when the granularity is limited from level B to level C for the product ID, the third party must pay 30 yen per item by referring to 2 rows and 6 columns of Table T200. On the other hand, if it is finally provided to the searcher at that level, the searcher will cost 25 yen per case, but it was 50 yen at the initial level B, so the information provision fee will be discounted for the coarser granularity. That is why. The content fee aggregation means 27 registers the filtering processing fee attached to the account of the participant X (the database 30 establishment person) in the charging / distribution means 28 by referring to the table T200 in this way, and the charge distribution means 28 charges the processing fee to X who is a requester of the third party disclosure restriction processing. If the requester is also a corner of the data provider, it can be offset from the fee received as the data provider in another search. The collected filter processing fee is distributed to the data provider by discounting the processing fee of the relay system.

  The operation of the search result providing unit 26 that performs the third-party disclosure restriction process with reference to the provision information restriction storage unit 29 has been described in detail with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 24 and 25. In the operation described above, when a specific item of one provision planned data corresponds to a disclosure restriction key set by a plurality of different third parties P and Q, as a result of the disclosure restriction process, coarser negotiation between P and Q Set to the level of post-granularity. At this time, both P and Q are obliged to pay the database opener a compensation fee required to achieve the post-negotiation granularity that is the result of their own granularity negotiation processing. This is because even if one side demanded a more restrictive disclosure restriction than the other, it was considered that the purpose of which any third party requested the disclosure restriction was achieved by providing information at the strictest disclosure restriction level. . However, it is up to the business rules to determine how to impose compensation on third parties that restrict disclosure by reducing the consideration that would have been obtained from the searcher by providing the finer granularity of information originally provided by the database owner. Various realization modes such as dividing the compensation fee by P and Q can be considered.

  The second embodiment which is a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above. In the aspect of the second embodiment, when the demand granularity desired by the searcher is not satisfied, the searcher does not explicitly know whether the cause is on the information provider side or the result of interference from a third party. You can

(About search by emergency privilege)
In both the first and second embodiments, particularly in the information providing system according to the second embodiment, it is possible to limit acquisition of detailed granular information required by a searcher due to the interests of various parties. However, depending on the background of the search, such degradation of granularity and concealment of the information location itself may be contrary to social interests. As a good example of this, there is a case where the location of a product having a defect due to “recall” must be determined and recovered immediately.
Therefore, the search mediation system 20 is required to have an “emergency privilege” exercising function that overcomes most granularity restrictions in response to such an emergency for maintaining the public interest. A single database of manufacturing (manufacturers) related to such incidents can be searched individually based on official procedures such as warrants, but shipped from manufacturers and have already passed to distributors. For things, it was impossible to conduct a simultaneous search by conventional methods. On the other hand, this search mediation system 20 makes it possible to access a wide range of information held by these temporary holders or owners who are not recognized as recall owners. It is expected that the response to the demand will be greatly improved. To that end, privileged means for overcoming various restrictions in emergency searches suitable for the public interest and reaching detailed information that may be concealed are significant.
In the description below, the urgent collection of certain products, such as recalls, other preferential or compulsory investigations for the benefit of the public interest, or public interest directives or approvals for searches involving legal titles, or Industry organizations, public organizations, local governments or national organizations that can issue warrants are collectively referred to as “authority organizations”. Of the search processing performed by the search mediation system 20, a search request with a genuine electronic signature by an authority is referred to as “emergency privilege search”.

(About emergency privilege grant means 40)
The search mediation system 20 of the information providing system according to the second embodiment includes emergency privilege granting means 40. The emergency privilege granting means 40 confirms the authenticity of the authority's signature, stores the identifier of the distribution search expression that has authorized the privilege, and prepares for collation with the search expression identification code attached to the answer. For this purpose, a storage means for storing an electronic certificate serving as an identity certificate of an authority and an inquiry means for an authorized certificate authority are provided.

(Urgent privilege search flow)
FIG. 26 is a flowchart illustrating an emergency privilege search processing flow in the information providing system according to the second embodiment. Hereinafter, an emergency privilege search process flow will be described with reference to FIG.

First, a searcher (a party involved in an accident, etc.) creates an emergency privilege search expression to obtain information necessary to collect the situation, and an electronic signature of the authority is attached to this search expression according to a predetermined protocol. A request is made to the relevant authority to be attached (S80). This request naturally includes the searcher's own electronic signature to prove the authenticity of the searcher. The method of mutual authentication by electronic signature is not particularly limited, but it is most realistic to use a PKI (Public Key Cryptographic Infrastructure) mechanism today. In FIG. 26, in order to perform mutual authentication using PKI, in FIG. 26, the authority authority distributes the public key of the authority authority, and the search mediation system 20 receives it and registers it in its own storage means. The figure includes a step (S90, S800, S70) for distributing the public key to the provider.
If the authority accepts the request and confirms the identity of the caller, it can know that it is a countermeasure for the accident at that time, and the emergency privilege search formula that is the content of the received request. An electronic signature of the authority is added and returned to the searcher (S92).

The searcher transmits again a search request based on a search formula (emergency privilege search formula) to which the electronic signature of the authority is added (S82).
The search mediation system 20 detects that an electronic book name that is not normally included in the received search request is attached. The emergency privilege granting means 40 confirms whether or not the electronic signature is from a legitimate authority by a predetermined procedure. If so, the emergency privilege granting means 40 becomes a search target in the search expression authenticated by the authority. Identify what is being done, usually a specific serial number or lot number of a specific product, a set of production dates or sections. Usually, it is considered that information items that specify product type numbers are searched, but in some cases, for example, everything stored at a certain time in a certain place may be contaminated by environmental influences. There is a possibility that a search using the location and time as a key will be implemented. In addition to specifying the scope of this matter, the information items that must be preserved in order to specify the search object and the location are separated from the search object that should not be known regardless of the search target. As a result, the search target is represented by a set of information (key number, type of item represented by key, detailed information of key). This expression format is the same as that of the degradation instruction target data key table (T100). That is, as the type of item represented by the key, any of items included in the data record provided to the searcher as a search result, such as a product ID, a shipping destination, and a product location, is specified. When the item represented by the key is a product ID, the company number, the product type number, and the individual product number are set as the third to fifth data, respectively. This information is registered in the provision condition constraint storage unit 29 as an emergency privilege search target data key table (not shown) as in the deterioration instruction target data key table (T100).

  The search formula proved to be the “emergency privilege search” is also subjected to simultaneous search through the search request means 24 to all the member databases 30a to 30c (S810). At that time, a predetermined storage area of the search mediating system 20 (which can be referred to by the search result providing means 26 can be referred to) together with a flag indicating that the search identifier uniquely assigned to one search of the member database is an emergency privilege search. Recording area).

  The information provider side receives a search request for emergency privilege search (S72). The information provider side answers the search result to the search mediation system 20 as it is, without changing the search from the normal search mediation system 20 (S72). Although not particularly mentioned so far, the information provider who performs the home-grown granularity processing on the information provider side in the normal processing when answering the normal search result to the search mediation system 20 Is also envisaged. Such an information provider is required to provide a search result without performing home-grown granularity processing when responding to an emergency privilege search (S72).

  The search mediation system 20 receives the search result acquired from each information provider by the operation of the search result acquisition unit 25 (S820). The search mediation system 20 receives the search results provided from all the information providers who requested the search, and aggregates the search results for the same search request using the search identifier included in the search results as a key. When a flag indicating that the search is a privileged search is attached, a granularity negotiation process (S730 in FIG. 16) when the provided information granularity of each information provider is less than the demand granularity of the searcher, which is normally performed, The disclosure restriction process (S740 in FIG. 16) at the request of the three parties is not performed. Instead, the emergency privilege search target data key table recorded in the provision condition constraint storage unit 29 is referred to, and it is checked whether or not each record constituting the search result includes one corresponding to the emergency privilege search target. As a result, the records including the corresponding items are aggregated as the search results provided to the searcher with the provided granularity (the granularity of information registered in the database) as it is. On the other hand, all the records that do not include the items corresponding to the emergency privilege search target are discarded. Thus, for example, when the emergency privilege search target object is a product ID, the context information such as the company number, the product type number, the individual product number and the location and recording time of the target object related to the corresponding product ID is 1 The search result information is selected, and these are aggregated to create answer data for the searcher (S840).

At this time, the search result providing means 26 needs to consider that information unrelated to the emergency privilege search target thing is not answered. As already described with reference to FIG. 7, information of one record is recorded in the database 30 a and the like according to items of recording time, product ID, product location, inventory quantity, purchase source, and delivery destination. This one record usually corresponds to data when the reader reads the RFID tag once. Therefore, when the reader reads a plurality of tags at a time, a plurality of product IDs, which are recorded contents of the read tags, are recorded in the item of product ID. Therefore, it is assumed that eight product IDs are recorded in the item of product ID of one record, and one of them corresponds to an emergency privilege search target object. In such a case, the records of the other seven product IDs are irrelevant to the emergency privilege search, and are not forcing the provision of information, so the search result providing means 26 Deletes the record of the irrelevant product ID. The emergency privilege search target object may be specified by the product location or the product location multiplied by the recording time. In such a case, such consideration is not particularly necessary.
The above is the flow of emergency privilege search.

The first embodiment and the second embodiment, which are preferred embodiments of the present invention, have been described above. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made. For example, after the disclosure restriction process by a third party (S740 in FIG. 16) is performed, the searcher is provided with a summary of the result, that is, the total number of data to be provided and each item. The step of presenting the granularity and the ratio thereof, the information provision cost at that time, and the like, and confirming in advance whether or not the provision information prepared as a search result is received may be provided. Alternatively, at that time, a processing flow that enables a process such as a revival negotiation process to improve the granularity by an offer from a searcher is also conceivable. However, in any case, unless the searcher is informed of the outline of the information scheduled to be provided just before the disclosure restriction process by a third party, that is, the total number, the granularity provided for each item, and the ratio, etc. The searcher does not explicitly know whether the cause of the demand granularity desired by the searcher is on the information provider side or the result of interference from a third party. This makes it easier for a third party to issue a disclosure restriction request, and improves the convenience of the service provided by the search mediation system of the present invention. In addition to this, a system in which the granularity negotiation process (step S730) between the searcher and each information provider is omitted in FIG.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of a first embodiment of a search mediation system according to the present invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the searcher information memorize | stored in the searcher information storage means. It is a figure which shows a granularity process rule table | surface. It is a figure which shows the hierarchical structure of the merchandise location which is one item of merchandise information. It is a figure which shows the class definition table memorize | stored in the provision condition memory | storage means. It is a figure which shows the class correspondence table classified by searcher category memorize | stored in the provision condition memory | storage means. It is a figure which shows an example of the information memorize | stored in the database 30a. It is a figure which shows a searcher-opener correspondence table. It is an example of the information provision unit price table set to the database 30a. This is a proportional relationship between the demand granularity of the searcher and the default granularity of the information provider. 10 is a flowchart for explaining an operation of a disclosure granularity determination process that is a function of a search result providing unit 26; 7 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of granularity negotiation processing, which is a function of search result providing means 26. It is an outline | summary flowchart at the time of the search of 1st Embodiment. It is an outline flowchart at the time of registration processing of a 1st embodiment. It is an outline flowchart at the time of registration processing of a 1st embodiment. It is an outline | summary flowchart at the time of the search of 1st Embodiment. It is a whole block diagram of the 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a deterioration instruction target data key table (T100) designated by a third party. It is a class definition table (T105) defined by a third party. It is a limited achievement target class setting table (T102) classified by searcher category set by a third party. It is a limit attainment target class setting table (T103) classified by database information provider category set by a third party. It is a third party data filter instruction list (T104). It is a third party granularity deterioration compensation fee table (T200) set by the information provider. It is a flowchart explaining the flow of operation | movement of a third party disclosure restriction process. It is a flowchart explaining the granularity negotiation process accompanying a third party disclosure restriction process. It is a flowchart explaining the flow of operation | movement of an emergency privilege search process.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... User terminal 20 ... Search mediation system 21 ... Searcher information storage means 22 ... Provision condition storage means 23 ... Search reception means 24 ... Search request means 25 ... Search Result acquisition means 26... Search result providing means 27... Content charge aggregation means 28... Billing / distribution means 29... Provision condition constraint storage means 30 a to 30 c. Means 41 ... Authority

Claims (6)

A system that mediates search when searching a plurality of databases with different founders from a user terminal,
Searcher information storage means for storing searcher information;
The provision conditions of each database are described as rules that determine the granularity of information to be provided as search results, and provision condition storage means for storing the rules,
Provision condition constraint storage means for storing third-party disclosure restriction information including a disclosure restriction key, which is necessary for a third party to perform a disclosure restriction on the data provided to the searcher.
Search accepting means for accepting a search request from a user terminal;
Search request means for making a search request to each database according to the received search request;
Search result acquisition means for acquiring search results obtained from the databases;
Based on the searcher information and the provision conditions, data that can be disclosed to the searcher is extracted from the acquired search results, or converted to a value of information granularity level that can be disclosed, and further provided data is When it corresponds to the disclosure restriction key set by the three parties, it refers to the third party disclosure restriction information, performs the necessary conversion to the information granularity level of the data provided to the searcher, and provides it to the user terminal Search result providing means;
By calculating the information provision fee based on the granularity and number of cases provided by the search result providing means and the processing fee, the charge / distribution amount to the searcher, the third party who requested the disclosure restriction processing, and the database is calculated. Contents to be calculated
Charge / distribution means for creating and recording the charge / distribution amount calculated by the content charge aggregation means as a record associated with the searcher, the third party who requested the disclosure restriction process, and the identification information of the information provider;
A search mediation system comprising: The provision condition is expressed by all combinations of a searcher category determined by a searcher registration attribute and a searcher disclosure attribute and a corresponding granularity processing rule,
The granularity processing rule defines the number of levels of granularity for each item of the database and the conversion rule or replacement vocabulary applied when displaying the original value of the item at each granularity level at the granularity level. And
The search result providing means determines a searcher category of a searcher from the acquired original data that is a search result according to the provision condition, and applies a specific granularity processing rule according to the provision condition to determine each item of the search result. The search mediation system according to claim 1, wherein a converted search result converted into a display of a granularity level is created and provided to a user terminal. The search reception means extracts searcher information about a searcher who is a search request source from the searcher information storage means, refers to the provision condition storage means with the searcher information, and Identify databases that can be published,
The search mediation system according to claim 2, wherein the search request unit makes a search request only to the specified database. The third party disclosure restriction information specifies disclosure restriction key information that describes conditions for the value of a specific item of data to be provided, and a desired granularity desired for the third party of the item of data corresponding to the disclosure restriction key. And the granularity negotiation that is triggered when the granularity of the item to be provided to the searcher corresponds to the disclosure restriction key and the granularity of the target item is smaller than the desired granularity, and the granularity operation is required. It is a set of four types of information: a “restriction policy” that defines the negotiation policy when performing, and an “arrival policy” that defines the policy that terminates the granularity negotiation,
When the information granularity of the data to be provided is finer than the “desired granularity” requested by the third party, the search result providing means, the “desired granularity”, “restriction policy”, “ 4. The information granularity to be provided to the searcher is automatically re-determined based on the content of the “arrival policy”, and the search result is processed and provided based on the granularity. Search mediation system described in. A search mediation system having a function corresponding to an emergency privilege search that should be treated separately from a normal search in the search mediation system according to any one of claims 1 to 4,
If the authority's public key is recorded and retained, and a means for verifying the authenticity of the electronic signature is provided, and the received search request has an electronic signature other than the sender, the signature is If it is a genuine signature after verifying whether it is a signature, the search is generated as an emergency privilege search, and information that distinguishes it from a normal search is generated and recorded, and the search target specified in the search request is the search target object. Emergency privilege granting means for registering as one record in the emergency privilege search target data table;
The search result providing means, when aggregating search results related to emergency privilege search, refers to the emergency privilege search target data table and only records the search results including those corresponding to the search target matter as it is. A search mediation system configured to aggregate search results and provide search results to searchers by leaving all other records and discarding them.   A software program that causes a computer to function as the search mediation system according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

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