JP2010009402A - Content distribution system, content distribution apparatus and content distribution method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently distribute content to a communication terminal. <P>SOLUTION: When area information on a communication state of an area A is acquired by an area information acquisition means 21 in a content management server 20, a content distribution apparatus 2 included in a content distribution system 1 selects content to be distributed to the area A from contents stored in a content storage part 11 in a content server 10 based on the area information and distributes the selected content to a communication terminal 60 existing in the area A by a content distribution part 23. The communication terminal 60 receives the content distributed from the content distribution apparatus 2 by a content receiving part 61 and outputs the content to an owner of the communication terminal 60 by a content output part 62. Consequently, the content selected based on the area information is output to the communication terminal 60. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a content distribution system, a content distribution method, and a content distribution apparatus constituting the content distribution system.

  In recent years, communication terminals such as mobile phones have attracted attention as one of tools for conducting advertising activities such as advertisements. Since the communication terminal is a device that is frequently operated by the user, when advertising content is distributed to the communication terminal, it is considered that the browsing frequency is high and the advertising effect is high. However, the effect of distributing advertising content to a communication terminal owned by a user different from the target layer is significantly lower than that of other advertising media. Therefore, various studies have been made on a more effective content distribution method using a communication terminal.

For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a method for distributing advertisement information and the like by broadcast to communication terminals located in a specific communication area.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-243312

  However, in the information distribution method described in Patent Document 1, information (advertisement) may be distributed to a time zone or communication area where the number of communication terminals located in a specific communication area is very small. The effect may not be obtained sufficiently.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a content distribution system, a content distribution device, and a content distribution method that can distribute content more effectively to communication terminals.

  In order to achieve the above object, a content distribution system according to the present invention distributes content via a communication network to a communication terminal that communicates via a communication network and a communication terminal that is located in a specific area. A content distribution system configured to include a content storage unit that stores content provided by a content provider, and area information related to a communication status of the area where the service is provided. Based on the area information acquisition means to be acquired, area distribution acquired by the area information acquisition means, content distribution determination means for determining whether to distribute the content to the area in which the content is distributed, and determination to distribute the content by the content distribution determination means The content is distributed to communication terminals located in the area. Content delivery means, wherein the communication terminal receives content delivered from the content delivery device, and content output means for outputting the content received by the content reception means to the owner of the communication terminal And.

  The content distribution apparatus according to the present invention is a content distribution apparatus that distributes content to a communication terminal located in a specific area, via a communication network, and is provided by a content provider Content storage means for storing content, area information acquisition means for acquiring area information relating to the communication status of the area where the service area is located, and whether to distribute the content to the area based on the area information acquired by the area information acquisition means Content distribution determination means for determining, and content distribution means for distributing the content to communication terminals located in the area where the content distribution determination means determines that the content is to be distributed And

  In the above content distribution system, the content distribution device acquires area information related to the communication status of the area where it is located, and then determines whether to distribute the content to be distributed to the communication terminal based on the area information. It can be distributed to communication terminals located in the service area. Thus, by acquiring area information in advance in the content distribution apparatus, it is possible to effectively distribute content according to this area information. Therefore, as a content provider, the content can be distributed to communication terminals located in the area where the content is considered to be more effective, and for example, a high advertising effect can be obtained. .

  Here, the content distribution determination unit may determine whether to distribute the content based on the area information for each content distribution unit divided by the area in which the service area is located and the content distribution time.

  As described above, by determining whether to distribute the content for each distribution unit divided by the area and the distribution time, the communication terminal in the area is more precisely and accurately determined. Since content can be distributed to the content provider, more effective content distribution can be performed as a content provider.

  In the content distribution system according to the present invention, it is preferable that the area information includes a communication amount by a communication terminal located in the located area.

  Thus, by using the traffic as area information, it is possible to determine whether there are many owners with high utilization of communication terminals, and for example, SMS (Short Message Service), CBS (Cell Broadcast Service) ), Among the communication systems such as MBMS (Multimedia Broadcast / Multicast Service), the cheapest communication system can be selected from the viewpoint of the amount of communication, and content distribution can be determined according to this result. Content can be distributed.

  In addition, the area information may include an aspect that includes information indicating the type of communication terminal in the area where the area is located.

  In this case, by using information indicating the type of the communication terminal as the area information, for example, content that can be output in more communication terminals can be distributed, so that the content can be distributed more effectively. it can.

  In addition, the area information may include information related to the owner of the communication terminal located in the area where the area is located.

  By using information about the owner of the communication terminal as area information, it is possible to distribute appropriate content according to the attributes of the owner of the communication terminal (for example, gender, age, etc.), so more effective content distribution It can be performed.

  The content distribution apparatus of the content distribution system according to the present invention further includes value information creation means for creating value information indicating the value of content distribution based on the area information, and the content distribution determination means, for each content distribution unit, It can be set as the aspect which judges whether a content is distributed to a located area based on the value information and area information which were created in the value information creation means.

  As described above, by creating value information indicating the value at the time of distributing content to the area, it is possible to determine whether the content can be distributed based on the value information that suggests the effect at the time of distribution. The content provider side can distribute the content more effectively to the communication terminal.

  Here, the communication terminal further includes content output information transmitting means for recording information related to the output of the content to the owner by the content output means, and notifying the recorded information to the content distribution apparatus. Based on content output information receiving means for receiving information relating to output of content transmitted from the terminal, value information created by the value information creating means, and information relating to output of content received by the content output information receiving means And a charge amount calculating means for calculating a charge amount related to content distribution to the content provider.

  As described above, by calculating the charge amount based on the information related to the output of the content in the communication terminal, the content provider is charged for the cost according to the actual result of the output of the content (such as viewing by the owner). . Therefore, since the content provider is charged with an appropriate charge amount calculated based on the content distribution record, for example, it becomes easy to actively distribute the content.

  The communication terminal further includes content output information transmitting means for recording information related to the output of the content to the owner by the content output means, and notifying the recorded information to the content distribution apparatus. Content output information receiving means for receiving information related to the output of the content transmitted from the content information, and the value information creating means creates value information based also on the information related to the output of the content received by the content output information receiving means. It can also be set as an aspect.

  As described above, more accurate value information is created by creating value information based on the record of information related to content output in the communication terminal. Therefore, when deciding whether to distribute content with reference to value information, the content provider can determine whether to distribute content based on value information with higher accuracy, and thus more effective content. Distribution can be performed.

  Further, in the above content distribution system, the value information creation means may create value information based on information related to the remaining time of content distribution time.

  By creating the value information using information related to the remaining time of the content distribution time, the time during which the content that is greatly involved in the effect of distributing the content can be distributed is included in the value information. Therefore, the content provider who determines whether or not the content can be distributed can determine whether or not to perform the content distribution based on the more accurate value information created as described above.

  The content distribution system according to the present invention can also be described as an invention of a content distribution method as shown below. This is substantially the same invention only in different categories, and has the same operations and effects.

That is, a content distribution method according to the present invention includes a communication terminal that performs communication via a communication network and a content storage unit that stores content, and the communication network is connected to a communication terminal located in a specific area. A content distribution device that distributes content via a content distribution method, wherein the content distribution device acquires area information relating to the communication status of the area in which the content distribution device is located, and content distribution A content distribution determination step in which the device determines whether to distribute content to the located area based on the area information acquired in the area information acquisition step, and a determination that the content distribution device distributes content in the content distribution determination step Communication terminal in which the content is located A content distribution step of distributing to the content terminal, a content reception step of receiving content distributed from the content distribution device, and a communication terminal receiving the content received in the content reception step to the owner of the communication terminal A content output step to output;
It is characterized by having.

  According to the present invention, a content distribution system, a content distribution device, and a content distribution that can more effectively distribute content to a communication terminal by acquiring area information and distributing content based on the area information. A method is provided.

  DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a content distribution system 1 according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention and their connection relationship.

  The content distribution system 1 includes a content distribution device 2 and a communication system 50 included in the mobile communication network N, and a communication terminal 60 that connects to the mobile communication network N and performs mobile communication. Among these, the content distribution apparatus 2 includes a content server 10, a content management server 20, and a billing server 30. The mobile communication network N is configured to include a communication system 50.

  The content distribution device 2 is a device that distributes content to the communication terminals 60 located in a specific area. The located area is specified by LAI (Local Area Identity) or RAI (Routing Area Identity). Here, the content distributed to the communication terminal 60 is an advertisement or the like for the purpose of promoting sales of goods or services, and is composed of voice data, character data, image data, and the like. This content is provided by a content provider consisting of a merchandise sales company or an advertising company that provides goods or services. The content server 10 included in the content distribution device 2 is managed by a content provider, and functions as the content distribution device 2 in cooperation with the content management server 20 and the billing server 30 managed by the network operator. The content is distributed to the communication terminal 60. Hereinafter, in the present embodiment, a case where the content handled by the content distribution system 1 is advertisement content will be described.

  The content server 10 included in the content distribution device 2 is a device that stores the advertising content provided by the content provider. When distributing the advertising content to the communication terminal 60, the content server 10 stores the advertising content. Send to. In addition, the content management server 20 included in the content distribution device 2 acquires area information related to the communication status of the area where the communication terminal 60 is located, and advertises the communication terminal 60 based on the area information. It has a function of distributing content via the communication system 50. In addition, the billing server 30 included in the content distribution apparatus 2 holds parameters for evaluating the value related to the distribution of the advertising content, and provides the content provider with respect to the content distribution performed by the content server 10 and the content management server 20. A billing amount to be charged.

  The communication system 50 constitutes a mobile communication network N and has a function as an exchange that establishes communication between the communication terminal 60 and another communication terminal. Furthermore, the communication system 50 has a function of establishing wireless communication between the content management server 20 included in the content distribution apparatus 2 and the communication terminal 60 located in the area A managed by the communication system 50. 20 is a system for transmitting advertising content transmitted from the communication terminal 60 to the communication terminal 60. In the present embodiment, the communication system 50 is composed of a single system. However, the communication system 50 may be configured to generate the above functions by combining a plurality of devices.

  In the content distribution system 1 shown in FIG. 1, there is only one communication system 50 and only one communication terminal 60 located in the area A is shown. However, in reality, the communication terminal 60 includes the communication terminal 60. A plurality of units are arranged so that communication can be performed even when the user moves, and the area under the control of each communication system 50 is different. In addition, there are a plurality of communication terminals 60 located in each area, and the area where the communication terminal 60 is located may be changed as the owner of the communication terminal 60 moves. Here, the area indicates a unit (for example, a cell or a plurality of cells) managed by one communication system 50.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the content server 10, the content management server 20, the billing server 30, and the communication system 50 include a central processing unit (CPU) 101, a random access memory (RAM) 102 that is a main storage device, and The computer includes a ROM (Read Only Memory) 103, a communication module 104 for performing communication, and an auxiliary storage device 105 such as a hard disk. And when these components operate, each function of each device 10, 20, 30, 50 mentioned above is exhibited.

  The communication terminal 60 is used by a user (owner of the communication terminal 60) and is a device for connecting to the mobile communication network N and performing wireless communication. Further, it has a function of outputting content distributed from the content distribution device 2 via the communication system 50 to the owner of the communication terminal 60. The output of content to the owner in the communication terminal 60 is performed by, for example, voice output, image display, text sentence display, or the like. Specifically, the communication terminal 60 is realized as a device having a communication function such as a mobile phone or a PDA.

  As illustrated in FIG. 3, the communication terminal 60 includes a CPU 601, a RAM 602, a ROM 603, an operation unit 604, a wireless communication unit 605, a display 606, and an antenna 607. The functions of the communication terminal 60 described above are exhibited by the operation of these components.

  In the content distribution system 1 described above, the content server 10 and the content management server 20 and the content management server 20 and the billing server 30 constituting the content distribution device 2 are respectively connected via a wired network. Yes. The content management server 20 and the communication system 50 are also connected via a wired network. In addition, information is exchanged between the communication terminal 60 and the communication system 50 by wireless communication.

  Next, details of each device included in the content distribution system 1 will be described.

  First, the content server 10 will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the content server 10 includes a content storage unit 11 and a processing unit 12.

  The content storage unit 11 functions as a content storage unit that stores content provided by a content provider. The content stored in the content storage unit 11 can be stored in the content storage unit 11 by creating a content provider in advance using an external device or the like and connecting the device to the content server 10. The content storage unit 11 includes a content body composed of audio data, character data, image data, and the like when output from the communication terminal 60, and a timing (for example, after mail transmission) at which the content is output from the communication terminal 60. The information to be shown may be stored in association with each other. Further, an identifier (content ID) may be assigned to each content stored in the content storage unit 11 and related information may be stored in association with the identifier. Furthermore, the content storage unit 11 corresponds to the content main body with suitable distribution conditions for the content (for example, the area to be the distribution target of the advertising content, time zone, owner attribute, budget for advertising content distribution, etc.) It can also be stored.

  The processing unit 12 functions as part of content distribution determination means, such as determining whether or not to distribute content stored in the content storage unit 11 and selecting a distribution frame for content. When the processing unit 12 determines content distribution, the content stored in the content storage unit 11 and information on distribution frames are transmitted from the processing unit 12 to the content management server 20. Specific processing will be described later.

  Here, the content distribution frame will be described. The distribution frame is determined in advance in the content management server 20 described later, and is a distribution unit in which distribution time is divided for each cell or RAI (Routing Area ID). FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a content distribution unit (distribution frame). In FIG. 4, for example, Ginza 4-chome is an area indicated by cell ID # 1 and RAI # 1, and the area in front of Nomidai Station is an area indicated by cell ID # 2 and RAI # 2. In addition, the delivery time is divided every 6 hours from 0:00 on January, for example. At this time, 0:00 to 6:00 on January 1 in the Ginza 4-chome area is set as the advertising space class ID # 1 as one distribution unit. Similarly, the advertising space class ID # 2 is January 1st 6:00 to 12:00 in the Ginza 4-chome area, and the advertising space class ID # 5 is January 1st 6:00 to 6:00 in the Nomidai station area. Then, the processing unit 12 performs a process including a determination as to whether or not the content stored in the content storage unit 11 is distributed for each advertisement frame class ID (distribution frame). Specific processing will be described later.

  Next, the content management server 20 will be described. The content management server 20 includes an area information acquisition unit 21, a content processing unit 22, a content distribution unit 23, an output information reception unit 24, and a billing processing unit 25.

  The area information acquisition unit 21 functions as an area information acquisition unit that acquires, from the communication system 50, area information related to the communication status of the area A under the control of the communication system 50.

  Here, the area information will be described. The area information provided from the communication system 50 includes information related to the model of the communication terminal 60 located in the area A, information related to the owner of the communication terminal 60, information related to the communication amount of the communication terminal 60, and the like. Specifically, the information regarding the model of the communication terminal 60 is information indicating characteristics of the model of the communication terminal 60 located in the area A. For example, the ratio of models having a mail transmission / reception function and a video playback function It is used as information indicating the proportion of models that are present, and is used when determining a content distribution method. Moreover, the information regarding the owner of the communication terminal 60 is information indicating what characteristics the owner of the communication terminal 60 located in the area A has, and includes, for example, age and sex. . Information regarding the model of the communication terminal 60 and information regarding the owner are connected to the communication system 50 when the communication terminal 60 communicates with the communication system 50 when the communication terminal 60 is in area A. This is information provided to the content management server 20 from the subscriber server (not shown in FIG. 1). Moreover, the information regarding the traffic of the communication terminal 60 includes, for example, the number of calls. Furthermore, as other information regarding the traffic, the ratio (recognition rate described later) at which the content was recognized by the owner when the content was distributed to the communication terminal 60 located in the area A in the past is used. May be. These pieces of information are information relating to communication and content distribution when communication is performed between the communication terminal 60 and another communication terminal and when content distribution is performed from the communication system 50 to the communication terminal 60. Is stored on the communication system 50 side and transmitted to the content management server 20 to be used as area information.

  Here, a process performed in the content management server 20 in order to use information transmitted from the communication system 50 as area information will be specifically described.

  First, in the communication system 50, the communication terminal 60 is based on communication performed for location registration with the communication system 50 when the communication terminal 60 is in a certain area (area specified by LAI / RAI or the like). And the area where the communication terminal 60 is located are associated with each other, and this information is transmitted from the communication system 50 to the content management server 20. Thereby, the area information acquisition unit 21 of the content management server 20 can grasp the number of communication terminals 60 located in the area, and the area information acquisition unit 21 makes an inquiry to the subscriber server using the above information. Thus, information regarding the owner of the communication terminal 60 and information regarding the model of the communication terminal 60 can be acquired. Further, after the area information acquisition unit 21 distinguishes these pieces of information for each area, each parameter (advertising information amount) is obtained by obtaining the gender ratio, the age ratio, etc. of the owner of the communication terminal 60 located in the area. Class, user gender, user age group, and the number of communication terminals 60 that satisfy these conditions, etc.). Among these, the advertisement information amount class is information indicating the type of content that can be output by the communication terminal 60, and can be obtained from information related to the model of the communication terminal 60.

  On the other hand, information related to communication of the communication terminal 60 included in the area information includes the amount of communication (traffic generation amount) occurring in the area. The traffic generation amount is a calculation of the communication amount estimated to occur according to the number of communication terminals 60 located in the area based on the past results, and the processing related to the calculation is as follows, for example Done. That is, the communication system 50 includes the number of communication terminals located in the area in the same past time zone (distribution unit), and the communication amount (for example, the number of calls, the processing capability of the communication system 50 in the time zone). The communication occurrence rate is calculated from the usage status of the content management server 20 and transmitted to the content management server 20. The area information acquisition unit 21 of the content management server 20 acquires the communication occurrence rate transmitted from the communication system 50 and obtains the product with the number of communication terminals currently in the area to be used as area information. Information about traffic generation is created. In addition, when a plurality of devices are included in the communication system 50 and content distribution is performed in an area (for example, only in front of a specific station) controlled by a part of the plurality of devices, the distribution unit area is set as the distribution unit. By creating area information (traffic information) using only the communication occurrence rate in the device under the jurisdiction, it is possible to create highly accurate area information.

  As described above, the area information acquired by the area information acquisition unit 21 is sent to the content processing unit 22 and used when determining whether to distribute to the communication terminal 60.

  The content processing unit 22 is a part of content distribution determination means that determines whether to distribute content to the communication terminal 60 located in the area A based on the area information sent from the area information acquisition unit 21. It has a function. It also has a part of function of value information creating means for creating information indicating the value when the content is distributed. Specifically, the content processing unit 22 uses the area information acquired by the area information acquisition unit 21 for each distribution unit (distribution frame: advertisement frame class ID) shown in FIG. On the other hand, the value when content is distributed is calculated. In calculating the value, information related to the output of the advertisement content received by the output information receiving unit 24 described later, parameters for calculating the value stored in the billing server 30, and the like are used as necessary. It is done. Then, information including area information for each delivery unit and information about value (value information) created based on the area information is sent to the content server 10 as advertisement frame class information. Note that specific processing relating to value calculation will be described later.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the advertising space class information transmitted from the content processing unit 22 to the content server 10. The advertising space class information shown in FIG. 5 shows # 2, # 4, and # 7 among the eight advertising space class IDs shown in FIG. For each advertising space class ID, as the area information, the advertising information amount class (type of content to be distributed), the gender of the user, the age group of the user, and the number of the communication terminals 60 that satisfy these conditions are indicated. The evaluation amount is indicated as information indicating the value when the advertisement content is distributed to the distribution unit (advertisement frame class ID) satisfying these conditions. That is, in the example of FIG. 5, the advertising space class ID # 2 (based on FIG. 4 from 6 to 12 o'clock on January 1 in the Ginza 4-chome area) is owned by a man in his twenties and advertised by text It is shown that there are 50,000 communication terminals 60 that can acquire the ID. It is shown that when advertising content is distributed in this advertising space class ID # 2, it is worth 5 million yen.

  Of the advertising space class information shown in FIG. 5, the portion excluding the evaluation amount is area information transmitted from the area information acquisition unit 21. Then, by transmitting the advertising space class information excluding the evaluation amount from the content processing unit 22 to the charging server 30, a parameter for calculating the value (evaluation amount) is acquired from the charging server 30, and the advertising space is based on this. The advertising space class information shown in FIG. 5 is created by calculating the evaluation amount corresponding to the class ID. The advertising space class information created in this way is sent from the content processing unit 22 to the content server 10.

  In the content server 10, the processing unit 12 determines whether or not to distribute the advertising content to the distribution unit (advertisement frame class ID) based on the advertising space class information, and the result and the advertising content are the content management server 20. Sent against. Specifically, it is determined whether or not the advertising space class information transmitted from the content management server 20 matches the distribution condition of the advertisement content stored in the content storage unit 11 of the content server 10 described above. When there is a matching advertisement space class, distribution to the advertisement space is determined. Also, distribution is performed when the advertising space class information does not match the distribution conditions (for example, the user characteristics related to the communication terminal 60 located in the age group or the like are different from the target, the evaluation value of the advertising space is higher than the budget, etc.) Decide not to do. Based on this result, the content processing unit 22 determines whether or not the advertisement content can be distributed for each distribution unit for each advertisement content stored in the content storage unit 11. When the advertisement content is distributed, the advertisement content is sent to the content distribution unit 23 together with the advertisement frame class ID information for distributing the advertisement content. Also, for example, information (information on output conditions) indicating information indicating the output method (function used for output), output timing, output deadline, etc. of the advertisement content from the content server 10 predetermined for each advertisement content, It can also be transmitted in association with the advertising content. These pieces of information transmitted from the content server 10 are acquired by the content processing unit 22 of the content management server 20 and sent to the content distribution unit 23. Note that the information regarding the output condition is stored in advance in the content storage unit 11 of the content server 10 or as necessary based on the information regarding the distribution condition and the advertising space class information stored in the content storage unit 11. A new one is created in the processing unit 12.

  The content distribution unit 23 functions as a content distribution unit that distributes advertising content to the communication terminal 60. Specifically, the advertising content sent from the content server 10 and the advertising space class ID information for distributing the advertising content are acquired and sent to the communication system 50, and the advertising space class ID (distribution unit) is transmitted to the communication terminal 60. ) Instruct to distribute the advertising content.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of an advertisement content distribution instruction to the communication terminal 60 transmitted from the content distribution unit 23. This is because the distribution unit (advertisement frame class ID) is specified in association with the advertisement content to be distributed (advertisement content ID), the execution opportunity (output timing), the deadline, the priority regarding the display of the advertisement content, the number of outputs, In the case of outputting a plurality of advertisement contents, the advertisement content output order and output method (execution function) are specified. Among them, the content unit (advertising frame class ID), execution opportunity (output timing), deadline, priority regarding advertisement content display, number of outputs, and output order of advertisement contents when outputting a plurality of advertisement contents 10 based on information about the output sent with the advertising content.

  Here, a case will be described in which there is a distribution instruction regarding the priority regarding the display of the advertisement content, the number of times of output, and the output order of the advertisement content. In FIG. 6, the advertisement contents with the advertisement content IDs # 1 to # 3 are instructed to be distributed in different distribution units (advertisement frame class IDs), but the distribution units of these advertisement contents are the same, and the same Assume that the distribution unit is instructed to distribute a plurality of advertisement contents (advertisement content IDs # 1 to # 3). Here, in FIG. 6, for example, in the distribution instruction of the advertisement content ID # 1, the priority RANK # 1, the number of outputs 2, and the display order # 1 are instructed. Similarly, in the distribution instruction for the advertisement content ID # 2, the priority rank # 2, the output count 1, and the display order # 2 are instructed. In addition, in the distribution instruction of the advertisement content ID # 3, the priority RANK # 2, the number of outputs 2, and the display order n / a are instructed. In the communication terminal 60, when the distribution of the advertising content is instructed in the same distribution unit (advertisement frame class ID), the communication terminal 60 determines the distribution order of the advertising content based on the information included in the distribution instruction in advance. This is determined using a priority filter that is held. In the case of the distribution instruction shown in FIG. 6, in the communication terminal 60, the advertisement content with the advertisement content ID # 1 is output first, the advertisement content with the advertisement content ID # 1 is output second, and the third The advertising content with the advertising content ID # 2 is output, and the advertising content with the advertising content ID # 3 is output fourth.

  In FIG. 6, distribution instructions regarding a plurality of advertisement content IDs are shown as one table. However, when a distribution instruction is issued from the content distribution unit 23 to the communication system 50, the distribution instruction is designated by the advertisement content ID. The advertisement content data to be transmitted and the distribution instruction corresponding to the advertisement content ID (information related to one advertisement content ID in FIG. 6) are transmitted in combination. Thereby, the communication terminal 60 can acquire a specific processing method related to the output of the advertising content.

  The output information receiving unit 24 functions as an output information receiving unit that receives information (output information) related to the output of the advertising content transmitted from the communication terminal 60 that has distributed the advertising content. The output information is information regarding the presence / absence of output of advertisement content in the communication terminal 60, the output time, the owner's reaction to the output (operation to the communication terminal 60), and the like. The output information received by the output information receiving unit 24 is sent to the content processing unit 22 and used for creating the advertising space class information. Further, by being sent to the billing processing unit 25, it is used for calculating the billing amount related to the distribution of the advertising content to the content provider of the advertising content.

  The charging processing unit 25 sends the value information included in the advertising space class information created in the content processing unit 22 and the output information received by the output information receiving unit 24 to the charging server 30. It has a function of notifying the content provider of the calculated charge amount via the content server 10.

  Next, the accounting server 30 will be described. The billing server 30 stores a value calculation parameter used when calculating the value (evaluation amount) related to the distribution of the advertisement content, and transmits the parameter in response to a request from the content management server 20. Has some functions. As the value calculation parameters, for example, the owner's recognition rate based on past performance when advertising content is distributed to the communication terminal 60, a fixed value (basic charge) included in the evaluation amount, a fixed value, For example, the ratio of fluctuation values based on the recognition rate. Further, based on the value information included in the advertising space class information created by the content processing unit 22 and the output information received by the output information receiving unit 24 transmitted from the billing processing unit 25, It also functions as a billing amount calculation means for calculating a billing amount related to distribution. The result (billing amount) calculated in the billing server 30 is sent to the content management server 20, and the billing processing unit 25 of the content management server 20 performs a cost billing process for the content provider.

  Note that the above-mentioned value calculation parameters are stored in advance in the charging server 30 with calculation methods (calculation formulas) based on various information (communication amount, user characteristics, etc.) included in the area information, and the content management server 20 Can be transmitted to the content management server 20 by calculating the value calculation parameter using the above-described necessary information and the calculation formula among the advertising space class information transmitted from. In addition, a value calculation parameter associated with the assumed advertising space class information is obtained in advance and held in the billing server 30, so that the relevant value is determined according to the advertising space class information transmitted from the content management server 20. A value calculation parameter corresponding to the advertising space class information can be extracted and transmitted to the content management server 20. A specific method related to these processes and a specific calculation method of the billing amount will be described later.

  Next, the communication terminal 60 will be described. The communication terminal 60 includes a content receiving unit 61, a content output unit 62, and an output information transmission unit 63.

  The content receiving unit 61 functions as a content receiving unit that receives advertisement content transmitted from the content management server 20 via the communication system 50. The advertising content received by the content receiving unit 61 is sent to the content output unit 62.

  The content output unit 62 functions as a content output unit that outputs the advertising content sent from the content receiving unit 61 to the owner of the communication terminal 60. The output method is appropriately changed according to the advertising content. In addition, when there is an instruction for output timing (for example, at the time of mail transmission / reception), it has a function of outputting based on this instruction.

  The output information transmitting unit 63 functions as an output information transmitting unit that records information related to the output of the advertising content by the content output unit 62 and information related to the owner's operation on the output, and transmits the information as output information. As described above, the output information includes information regarding the presence / absence of the output of the advertisement content, the output time, the owner's reaction to the output, and the like. The owner's reaction to the output of the advertisement content recorded in the communication terminal 60 is, for example, when a part of the advertisement content includes a hyperlink to the WEB site, the WEB via the hyperlink In addition to the browsing history of the site and the execution of the program embedded in the advertisement content, the reproduction stop processing of the advertisement content is included. When these operations are performed by pressing a button or the like, the operations are recorded as the owner's reaction.

  The content distribution system 1 according to the present embodiment is configured by each device having the functions described above. Subsequently, the operation of each device constituting the content distribution system 1 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to the sequence diagrams of FIGS. 7 to 9, and the content distribution method according to the present embodiment will be described.

(First method of distributing advertising content)
First, referring to the sequence diagram of FIG. 7, the content distribution device 2 (content server 10, content management server 20, and billing server 30) constituting the content distribution system 1 distributes advertising content to the communication terminal 60. The method 1 will be described.

  First, the content management server 20 included in the content distribution device 2 creates an advertising space class (frame information) for distributing advertising content (S101). The advertising space class created by the content management server 20 indicates the content distribution frame shown in FIG. 4, and in the content processing unit 22 of the content management server 20 based on an instruction from the administrator or the like of the content management server 20. Created. At this time, only the distribution unit determined by the time zone and the distribution area is determined. The advertisement frame class (frame information) can be created in advance. This advertisement frame class (frame information) is sent from the content processing unit 22 to the area information acquisition unit 21 and used for processing related to area information acquisition described later.

  Next, the area information acquisition unit 21 of the content management server 20 acquires information related to the communication status or the like that is the basis of the area information from the communication system 50, and the area information acquisition unit 21 processes the information, thereby Area information related to the distribution unit determined by the frame class is acquired (S102: area information acquisition step). The transmission of these pieces of information from the communication system 50 is performed, for example, periodically (for example, every hour), for example, information predetermined between the communication system 50 and the content management server 20 (for example, the telephone number of the person in service, The number of calls in the area is transmitted to the content management server 20. The area information acquisition unit 21 of the content management server 20 acquires information about the model of the communication terminal 60 and information about the owner by making an inquiry to the subscriber server based on the information acquired from the communication system 50 as described above. By processing these, area information is created.

  Then, the advertisement frame class (frame information) created by the content processing unit 22 and the area information about the distribution unit (located area and time) acquired by the area information acquisition unit 21 are transmitted from the content management server 20 to the billing server. 30 (S103).

  Based on the information transmitted from the content management server 20, the billing server 30 selects a value calculation parameter corresponding to the advertising space class and transmits it to the content management server 20 (S104). In the content distribution apparatus 2 including the billing server 30, a value calculation method for advertising content distribution for each advertising space is determined in advance, and in the billing server 30, a value calculation parameter used in the above-described calculation method is stored in advance. The necessary value calculation parameters are selected based on the area information and transmitted to the content management server 20.

  Next, in the content processing unit 22 of the content management server 20, the evaluation amount is obtained using the value calculation parameter transmitted from the billing server 30, and the advertising space class information used for determining whether to distribute the advertising content is obtained. It is created (S105). The advertising space class information created in this step is, for example, as shown in FIG. 5 described above. For each advertising space, area information and an evaluation amount indicating the value when advertising is distributed in the frame are indicated. ing. The advertising space class information created in the content processing unit 22 is sent from the content management server 20 to the content server 10 (S106).

  The processing unit 12 of the content server 10 receives the advertising space class information transmitted from the content management server 20, refers to the advertising space class information, and compares it with the distribution conditions of the advertising content stored in the content storage unit 11. By doing so, it is determined whether or not the advertising content is distributed to the advertising space class indicated in the advertising space class information (S107: content distribution determining step). In the processing unit 12, the information based on the area information included in the advertising space class information is compared with the distribution conditions of the advertising content stored in the content storage unit 11, and for example, each parameter excluding the evaluation amount is set to the advertising content. When the distribution condition is met and the evaluation amount is smaller than the distribution condition budget, it is determined that the advertisement content is distributed in the advertisement space. When the distribution of the advertising content is determined, the advertising content ID for designating the advertising content and the distribution frame of the advertising content, and if necessary, instructions regarding the output method of the advertising content in the communication terminal The data is sent from the processing unit 12 of the server 10 to the content management server 20 (S108).

  The content distribution unit 23 of the content management server 20 acquires the advertising content transmitted from the content server 10, the advertising space ID, an instruction related to the output method in the communication terminal, and the like, and sends these pieces of information to the communication system 50 (S109: Content distribution step). In the communication system 50, by referring to the advertisement space ID transmitted from the content management server 20, the distribution destination (the area in which the advertisement content is distributed) is specified, and the communication terminal 60 located in the area is in communication with the communication terminal 60. Communication establishment processing for performing communication is performed (S110). Then, the advertisement content and the instruction (output timing) relating to the output method are transmitted to the communication terminal 60 that has undergone the communication establishment process (S111: content distribution step).

  In the communication terminal 60, the content receiving unit 61 receives the advertisement content transmitted from the content management server 20 via the communication system 50 and the instruction relating to the output method. These pieces of information are passed to the content output unit 62 and output to the owner of the communication terminal 60 by means such as voice output or screen display in accordance with the description of the instruction relating to the output method (S112: content reception) Step, content output step).

  Through the above processing, the advertising content distributed by the content distribution device 2 is output at the communication terminal 60, and the owner can refer to the advertising content.

  Of the processes included in the first method, the creation of the advertising space class (frame information) (S101) is performed in advance at once, and the subsequent processes (S102 to S112) are performed periodically (for example, 1). It may be performed every hour).

(Second method of distributing advertising content)
Next, referring to the sequence diagram of FIG. 8, the content distribution device 2 (content server 10, content management server 20, and billing server 30) constituting the content distribution system 1 distributes advertising content to the communication terminal 60. The method 2 will be described.

  This method is different from the first method described above in that, when an advertising space class (frame information) is created in the content management server 20, information related to the advertising space is provided to the content server 10 in advance, and the content server The point (10) (for example, a specific advertising space ID) of the advertising space class for distributing the advertising content on the 10 side is transmitted to the content management server 20. Thereby, only the content designated by the content server 10 among the advertising space class information created in the content management server 20 is transmitted from the content management server 20 to the content server 10. Details will be described below.

  In the content management server 20, an advertising space class (frame information) as shown in FIG. 4 is created in advance as in the first method (S151). Next, the advertisement frame class (frame information) created by the content management server 20 is presented to the content server 10 (S152). In the advertisement frame class (frame information) presented at this point, only the distribution units delimited by the area specified by the Cell or RAI and the distribution time are shown. The processing unit 12 of the content server 10 selects an advertising space class for distributing the advertising content held in the content storage unit 11 from the advertising space class transmitted from the content management server 20 (S153). This is useful when the advertising content held in the content storage unit 11 is information specialized for a region, for example, or when the distribution time for a communication terminal is important. Then, the information on the advertising space class selected by the content server 10 is transmitted from the content server 10 to the content management server 20 (S154).

  On the other hand, the content management server 20 acquires area information by receiving the communication status transmitted from the communication system 50 as in the first method (S155: area information acquisition step). Further, the information is transmitted to the billing server 30 (S156), and parameters for calculating the value when advertising content distribution is performed for each advertising space class from the billing server 30 are acquired (S157). Based on the parameters and the area information, the advertising space class information is created as in the first method (S158).

  Here, in this method, the content processing unit 22 of the content management server 20 extracts only the advertising space class information corresponding to the advertising space class ID specified in advance from the content server 10 and transmits it to the content server 10. (S159). By performing this process, the advertising space class information received by the content server 10 is only information corresponding to the advertising space class ID specified in advance by the content server 10, so compared with the first method, The amount of information exchanged between the content server 10 and the content management server 20 is reduced, and the processing in the processing unit 12 is reduced.

  The processing unit 12 of the content server 10 determines whether to distribute the advertising content in the advertising space based on the advertising space class information (area information and evaluation amount) of the advertising space specified in advance (S160: Content distribution determination). Step). When advertising content is distributed, the advertising content stored in the content storage unit 11 and a distribution instruction (such as an instruction on an output method in the communication terminal 60) are transmitted from the content server 10 to the content management server 20. (S161).

  Then, the content distribution unit 23 of the content management server 20 acquires the advertising content transmitted from the content server 10 and the instruction related to the output method in the communication terminal, and communicates information related to the advertising space class ID for distributing the advertising content. The data is sent to the system 50 (S162: content distribution step). In the communication system 50, by referring to the advertising space ID transmitted from the content management server 20, the distribution destination (area in which the advertisement content is distributed) is specified, and communication is performed with a communication terminal in the area. The communication establishment process for performing is performed (S163). Then, the advertisement content and the instruction (output timing) related to the output method are transmitted to the communication terminal 60 that has established communication with the communication system 50 (S164: content distribution step).

  In the communication terminal 60, the content receiving unit 61 receives the advertisement content transmitted from the content management server 20 via the communication system 50 and the instruction relating to the output method. These pieces of information are passed to the content output unit 62 and output to the owner of the communication terminal 60 by means of ringing, screen display, or the like in accordance with the description of the instruction relating to the output method (S165: content receiving step) , Content output step).

  Through the above processing, the advertising content distributed by the content distribution device 2 is output at the communication terminal 60, and the owner can refer to the advertising content.

  According to the second method described above, by telling the advertising space class (frame information) presented from the content management server 20 the advertising space class for which the content server 10 is considering the distribution of the advertising content in advance. Of the advertising space class information created based on the area information and the like, only the information of the advertising space class related to the content server 10 is provided to the content server 10. For this reason, the content server 10 performs processing related to the distribution of the advertising content only by determining whether or not the advertising content distribution is performed in the advertising space based on the advertising space class information.

  As a modification of the second method described above, an advertisement frame class for distributing the advertisement content held in the content storage unit 11 is selected, and the advertisement frame class ID is transferred from the content server 10 to the content management server 20. On the other hand, when transmitting to the content management server 20 (S154), the distribution conditions regarding the advertising content desired to be distributed in the advertising space may be transmitted from the content server 10 to the content management server 20. In this case, when the advertising space class information is created in the content management server 20 (S158), the content management server 20 determines whether or not the advertising space class information satisfies the distribution condition transmitted from the content server 10 in advance. The result is notified to the content server 10 (S159). Then, after confirming that the result satisfies the distribution condition in the content server 10 (S160), the advertisement content and distribution instruction are given to the communication terminal 60 in the same manner as in the second method described above. Advertising content can be distributed.

(Billing method after distribution of advertising content)
Next, processing after the advertising content is output in the communication terminal 60 will be described using the sequence diagram of FIG. As processing after the advertising content is output, processing for calculating a billing amount related to the distribution of the advertising content to the content provider based on the recognition rate of the advertising content in the communication terminal 60, and distribution of the advertising content to the advertising space And a process for increasing the accuracy of value calculation when performing.

  First, when the advertisement content distributed from the content distribution device 2 to the communication terminal 60 is output by the processing shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 (S200), the output information transmission unit 63 of the communication terminal 60 is changed to the content output unit. Information regarding the output of the advertising content by 62 is recorded, and output information is created (S201: content output information transmission step). The information related to the output of the advertising content recorded here includes the time when the advertising content is output, the output time (image reproduction time, etc.), and whether the owner operates the communication terminal 60 when the advertising content is output. And the type of operation. The recorded output information is transmitted from the output information transmitting unit 63 to the content management server 20 via the communication system 50 (S202a, S202b: content output information transmitting step).

  The output information receiving unit 24 of the content management server 20 receives the output information transmitted from the communication terminal 60 (S203: content output information receiving step). Then, the output information is transmitted from the content management server 20 to the billing server 30 (S204). The billing server 30 calculates a billing amount related to the distribution of the advertising content to the content provider based on the output information transmitted from the content management server 20 (S205). A specific calculation method of the billing amount will be described later. However, the charge amount may be determined depending on the amount of data of the advertising content output at the communication terminal 60, the output method (required time), whether the owner of the communication terminal 60 operates the advertising content, or the like. The amount is calculated.

  The billing server 30 notifies the content management server 20 of the billing amount calculated as described above (S206), and the value when the advertising content is distributed in the advertising space using the output information used for calculating the billing amount. The value calculation parameters used for the calculation are updated as necessary (S207). When the parameter used in the past as the value calculation parameter is based on the owner's recognition rate or the like for the advertisement content output by the communication terminal 60, for example, the recognition rate and the actual value used as the value calculation parameter When the recognition rate is significantly different, the value calculation result for each advertising space is greatly different from the actual result, and there is a problem that the advertising effect as expected by the content provider cannot be obtained. Therefore, by updating the value calculation parameter based on the output information as described above, it is possible to calculate the value for advertising content distribution in the advertising space more accurately next time.

  On the other hand, in the content management server 20 notified of the charge amount, the charge amount is acquired by the charge processing unit 25 and notified to the content server 10 (S208). Thereby, the billing process for the content provider of the advertisement content stored in the content server 10 is performed. Further, the advertising space class held in the content management server 20 is updated (S209). Here, an advertising space (distribution unit) is newly created by deleting the area information related to the time when the distribution processing of the advertising content shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 is performed.

  Through the above processing, the processing after the output of the advertising content is completed, and the processing related to the distribution of the advertising content (first method and second method) is performed again for the updated advertising space class.

  Thus, according to the content distribution system 1 and the content distribution method according to the present embodiment, the advertisement frame class information is based on the area information of the area A acquired in advance by the area information acquisition unit 21 of the content management server 20. If it is decided to distribute the advertisement content after it has been determined whether or not the advertisement content created and stored in the content storage unit 11 of the content server 10 based on the advertisement frame class information is determined, Distributed to the communication terminal 60 located in the area. At this time, information relating to the communication terminal 60 located in the area A can be grasped as area information on the content distribution device 2 side, and a condition is selected so that the advertising effect is further enhanced in the content distribution device 2 based on this information. Advertising content can be distributed. Therefore, the content can be distributed more effectively to the owner of the communication terminal 60.

  On the other hand, since only the advertising content determined to be distributed by the content distribution device 2 (particularly the content server 10) is distributed to the communication terminal 60 and the advertising content is output, the relationship with the owner of the communication terminal 60 is deeper. Useful advertising content can be acquired.

  In the above embodiment, the content provider decides whether to distribute the advertisement content for each distribution unit (advertisement frame class ID) divided by the area in which the service area is located or the distribution time. When it is desired to distribute the commercialized advertisement content, it is possible to distribute the advertising content to the communication terminal by selecting a more appropriate distribution timing.

  Furthermore, by using information indicating the amount of communication and the characteristics of the user (owner) as the area information, the content provider can determine in more detail whether the distribution of the advertising content is appropriate. Therefore, it is possible to distribute advertising content more effectively.

  Further, as described above, the content management server 20 calculates in advance information (evaluation amount) indicating the value when the advertising content is distributed for each advertising space class ID, and determines the distribution of the advertising content based on this. Because it is an aspect, for example, it is possible to determine whether or not to distribute advertising content according to the budget of the content provider side, so until now the content via the communication terminal because the cost etc. becomes a concern A merchandise sales company or the like that has not performed distribution can easily start distributing advertisement content as a content provider.

  Further, as in the above embodiment, after the advertising content is output at the communication terminal 60, the output information is recorded and transmitted to the content management server 20, so that the actually distributed advertising content is actually output. As a result, the content distribution apparatus 2 can grasp whether the owner of the communication terminal 60 is interested in the advertising content, and the content provider can also know. Therefore, it is possible for the content provider to determine whether or not the distribution of the advertising content has been appropriate, and to make use of this information in the next and subsequent advertising content distribution. Advertisement content can be distributed.

  In addition, in the above embodiment, since the billing amount is calculated using the output information of the advertising content, the cost according to the performance is provided to the content provider, and the content provider can easily distribute the advertising content. Can be done as needed.

  Further, since the output information is data such as what processing the owner of the communication terminal 60 actually performed on the advertisement content, the advertisement frame class is output using the output information as in the above embodiment. By setting the information (value information) to be updated, more accurate value information can be provided to the content server 10, and the content provider can more accurately select the advertisement content distribution. .

(Calculation of evaluation amount, calculation of billing amount and update method of advertising space class information)
Next, a calculation method of the charge amount based on the evaluation amount and the results when the advertisement content is distributed for each advertisement frame class ID (distribution unit) will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. In addition, each method demonstrated below can also be used individually, respectively, and can also be used in combination.

(1-Example of calculation of evaluation value)
FIG. 10 shows an example of an accounting information table used for calculating the evaluation amount held in the accounting server 30. As shown in FIG. 10, the billing information table is based on the communication terminal 60 that outputs advertisement content for each distribution unit (advertisement frame class ID) (communication system type capable of distributing advertisement content to the communication terminal 60: FIG. CBS, MBMS, etc.), advertising content information amount class (advertising content data format), user characteristics (gender, age), number of communication terminals 60 located, and unit time per unit time Various parameters are set in advance for the number of calls, and an evaluation amount when advertising content is distributed to a distribution unit having the parameter is associated with each. The accounting server 30 selects an appropriate row from this table based on the area information acquired from the content management server 20 and the advertising space class, and transmits the evaluation amount of the advertising space to the content management server 20 as a calculation parameter. . The content management server 20 creates the advertising space class information by applying the evaluation amount for each distribution unit transmitted from the charging server 30 to the advertising space class.

(2-Evaluation amount calculation, billing amount calculation and advertising space class information update example)
Next, an example regarding an evaluation amount calculation, a billing amount calculation, and an advertising space class information update method will be described with reference to FIGS. 11 and 12. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of the advertising space class information created using the parameters provided from the billing server 30 in the content management server 20. In FIG. 11, it is predicted from the area information and the usage amount coefficient (a) corresponding to the advertising space class ID together with the fixed amount value (b) corresponding to the advertising space class ID, the advertising information amount class, the user characteristics, and the number of customers in the area. The recognition rate (x) is transmitted as a value calculation parameter. As in the example of the billing information table shown in FIG. 10, the above usage-amount coefficient (a) and the fixed amount value (b) are set for each distribution unit (advertisement frame class ID). Data format), user characteristics (gender, age), and the number of communication terminals 60 in the area, etc., in association with parameters such as the number of communication terminals 60 located in advance in the billing server 30 and the above-mentioned types of area information transmitted from the content management server 20 It can be set as the aspect suitably selected according to this and transmitted. Moreover, it can also be set as the aspect calculated using a predetermined calculation method (calculation formula) etc. using a part or all of said parameters. As processing for calculating using the calculation formula, for example, when advertising content related to a supermarket with an average sales per person of 3000 yen is distributed, the recognition rate (x) in the communication terminal 60 is not taken into consideration. The coefficient (a) is set to 0, and the fixed amount (b) is calculated and used using the calculation formula “b = 3000 × the number of customers in the area (100 in the case of the advertising space class ID # 7 in FIG. 11)”. There are methods.

  On the other hand, in the content management server 20, a fixed amount (b) corresponding to the user characteristics and the number of locations, a usage rate coefficient (a) corresponding to the advertising space class ID, and a recognition rate (x) expected from the area information. Based on the above, the evaluation amount (y) is calculated. In the example shown in FIG. 11, the evaluation amount y when the advertising content is distributed to the advertising space class ID is calculated by the calculation formula “y = ax + b”. For example, for the advertising space class ID # 2 shown in FIG. The content management server 20 notifies the content server 10 that the evaluation amount is 5 million yen.

  Here, the recognition rate is a numerical value indicating a ratio that the owner has noticed or contacted when the advertising content is output in the communication terminal 60. The recognition rate is set by using a part of the information included in the area information and the output information. For example, “the output time (output of advertisement content) with respect to the number of communication terminals 60 located in the area that is acquired as area information” The content distribution device 2 includes in advance the ratio of the number of communication terminals 60 that are 10 seconds or longer from the start until the output is stopped by pressing the button or the processing for shifting to the next screen is performed ”. It is defined among the content server 10, the content management server 20, and the billing server 30, and the number of communication terminals 60 to which output information satisfying the condition is transmitted among the output information transmitted from the communication terminals 60 is obtained. The recognition rate can be calculated. The expected recognition rate (x) shown in FIG. 11 is calculated based on the actual results in the advertising content output under the same conditions in the past (for example, the average value of the actual data is the expected recognition rate) However, by acquiring the output information from the communication terminal 60 by the processing according to the present embodiment, an accurate value can be obtained after the advertisement content is output. Therefore, the billing amount can be calculated based on the recognition rate after the advertising content is output. Further, the billing amount can be calculated based on “priority regarding display of advertisement content” and “output order of advertisement content” related to the recognition rate. Of the communication terminal 60 that has transmitted the output information, an output rate that is a ratio of the advertising content output to the owner can be used instead of the above recognition rate.

  FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example in which the charge amount is calculated based on the recognition rate after the advertisement content is output. Among the parameters in FIG. 11, for example, for the advertising space class ID # 2 shown in FIG. 12, the recognition rate (x) is 100%, so this result is used as the recognition rate of the advertising space class ID # 2. Thus, the charge amount (y ′) is obtained. Therefore, the charge amount is 6 million yen, and this value is charged from the content management server 20 to the content provider via the content server 10.

  Furthermore, when calculating the “expected recognition rate” in the advertising space class information using the actually obtained recognition rate, for example, the accuracy of the advertising space area information is improved by using it as one piece of past performance data. Can do.

  As described above, there are various methods for determining the evaluation amount in the advertising space class information, calculating the billing amount, and updating the advertising space class information. The operation method of the content distribution apparatus 2 and the advertising content It can be appropriately changed depending on the contents and the like.

  The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, but the content distribution system 1 according to the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and can take various forms.

  For example, the content distribution device 2 constituting the content distribution system 1 is configured to include the content server 10, the content management server 20, and the billing server 30, but the communication system 50 is one of the functions of the content distribution device 2. It is good also as a structure which has a part.

  Moreover, although the case where the communication terminal 50 communicates via the mobile communication network N has been described in the above embodiment, the content is the same as in the above embodiment even when communication is performed via another communication network. Can be distributed to communication terminals located in the area where the service area is considered to be more effective. Examples of the other communication network include a wireless LAN, a sensor network, and a fixed communication network.

  In the above-described embodiment, the billing server 30 is configured to acquire the area information and the advertising space class (frame information) from the content management server 20 and transmit the value calculation parameters associated therewith. The evaluation amount associated with the advertising space class can be calculated and the result can be transmitted to the content management server 20. As described above, the processing related to the calculation of the evaluation amount and the calculation of the charge amount may be performed by any device included in the content distribution device 2.

  Moreover, although the said embodiment demonstrated the case where output information was recorded after the advertising content output in the communication terminal 60, said process is not necessarily required. That is, even if the above processing is not performed, the content is selected based on the area information in which the communication terminal 60 is located and distributed to the communication terminal 60, whereby the communication terminal 60 that is the target. The effect that content can be distributed effectively is not changed.

  Moreover, although the said embodiment demonstrated the aspect which judges whether an advertisement content is delivered for every delivery unit using the delivery unit defined as equal delivery time (six hours), for example, there is some advertising space. It is also possible to adopt a mode in which advertising content is distributed over a part of the advertising space for a long time.

(Modification of the embodiment)
A mode in which advertisement content is distributed in a part of an advertisement space, which is a modified example related to calculation of a charge amount and update of advertisement space class information, will be described with reference to FIGS. 13 and 14.

  FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of the advertising space class information created using the parameters provided from the accounting server 30 in the content management server 20. The example of FIG. 13 is different from the example of FIG. 11 in that the distribution time (corresponding to a constant (T)) of the advertising space class (distribution unit) is long, and a fixed amount as a parameter for calculating the evaluation amount In addition to (b), the usage coefficient (a), and the recognition rate (x), the coefficient (C), the constant (T), and the remaining time (t) are shown. These parameters are parameters used for changing the evaluation amount based on the delivery time. Of these, the coefficient (C) is an evaluation amount per unit time to be reduced due to a decrease in the distribution time, the constant (T) indicates the distribution time of the advertising content in the advertising space class ID, and the remaining time (t) is a constant The remaining time (deliverable time) with respect to (T) is shown. As in the example of the billing information table shown in FIG. 10, the coefficient (C) is determined for each distribution unit (advertisement frame class ID), the information amount class (data format of the advertisement content), user characteristics (gender, (Age) and the number of communication terminals 60 in the area, etc., are stored in advance in the accounting server 30 and appropriately selected according to the type of area information transmitted from the content management server 20 and transmitted. It is good also as an aspect, You may make it the aspect calculated by using a predetermined calculation formula and a part or all of said parameter. The constant (T) is a numerical value corresponding to the advertising space created by the content management server 20. The remaining time (t) is automatically updated in the content management server 20. In the advertising space class information of FIG. 13, the evaluation amount (y ″) is calculated by the calculation formula “y ″ = ax + b + c (T−t)”, but the constant (T) and the remaining time (t) are calculated. Since the values match, the evaluation amount (y ″) becomes the calculation formula “ax + b” similarly to the evaluation amount (y) in the advertising space class information according to FIG.

  FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a case where the advertising space class information of FIG. 13 is updated after 24 hours in the content management server 20. In the advertising space class information of FIG. 14, since 24 hours have elapsed since the creation of the advertising space class information of FIG. 13, the remaining time t is decreased by 24 each. Therefore, the evaluation amount (y ″ ″) calculated at this time is smaller than the evaluation amount (y ″) in FIG. 13. In this way, by updating the evaluation amount according to the distribution time, a more appropriate evaluation amount can be calculated, and whether or not the advertisement content can be distributed can be determined based on the evaluation amount.

  As in the above modification, the size of the distribution unit and the evaluation amount are changed at any time by updating the advertising space class information in the content management server 20 according to the time, and based on the updated advertising space class information. It can also be determined whether to distribute the distribution unit advertisement content.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the content delivery system which concerns on suitable embodiment of this invention, and those connection relations. It is a figure which shows the hardware constitutions of the content server in the embodiment of this invention, a content management server, an accounting server, a content provision apparatus, and a communication apparatus. It is a figure which shows the hardware constitutions of the communication terminal in embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the delivery unit (delivery frame) of a content. It is a figure which shows the example of advertising space class information. It is a figure which shows an example of the delivery instruction | indication of the advertising content with respect to a communication terminal transmitted from a content delivery part. It is a sequence diagram which shows the 1st method of delivering advertisement content. It is a sequence diagram which shows the 2nd method of delivering advertisement content. It is a sequence diagram which shows the process after an advertising content is output in the communication terminal. It is a figure which shows an example of the accounting information table used for the evaluation amount calculation hold | maintained at the accounting server. It is a figure which shows an example of the advertising space class information produced using the parameter provided from the accounting server in a content management server. It is a figure which shows the example which calculated the charge amount based on the recognition rate after advertisement content output. It is a figure which shows an example of the advertising space class information produced using the parameter provided from the accounting server in a content management server. It is a figure shown about the case where the advertising space class information of FIG. 13 is updated 24 hours later.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Content delivery system, 2 ... Content delivery apparatus, 10 ... Content server, 11 ... Content storage part 11, 12 ... Processing part, 20 ... Content management server, 21 ... Area information acquisition part, 22 ... Content processing part, 23 ... Content distribution unit 24 ... Output information reception unit 25 ... Billing processing unit 30 ... Billing server 50 ... Communication system 60 ... Communication terminal 61 ... Content reception unit 62 ... Content output unit 63 ... Output information transmission unit .

Claims (11)

A content distribution system comprising: a communication terminal that communicates via a communication network; and a content distribution device that distributes content via a communication network to a communication terminal located in a specific area Because
The content distribution device includes:
Content storage means for storing content provided by a content provider;
Area information acquisition means for acquiring area information related to the communication status of the area where the service area is located;
Content distribution determination means for determining whether to distribute the content to the located area based on the area information acquired by the area information acquisition means;
Content delivery means for delivering the content to the communication terminal located in the area when the content delivery judgment means determines to deliver the content;
With
The communication terminal is
Content receiving means for receiving the content distributed from the content distribution device;
Content output means for outputting the content received by the content receiving means to the owner of the communication terminal;
A content distribution system comprising:   2. The content distribution determination unit determines whether to distribute the content based on the area information for each content distribution unit divided by the area in which the service area is located and the distribution time of the content. The content distribution system described.   The content distribution system according to claim 1, wherein the area information includes a communication amount by a communication terminal located in the area where the area is located.   The content distribution system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the area information includes information indicating a type of a communication terminal located in the visited area.   The content distribution system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the area information includes information related to an owner of a communication terminal located in the area where the area is located. The content distribution device includes:
Further comprising value information creating means for creating value information indicating the value of distribution of the content based on the area information;
The content distribution determination unit is configured to determine the content based on the value information and the area information created by the value information creation unit for each content distribution unit delimited by the coverage area and the content distribution time. The content distribution system according to claim 1, wherein it is determined whether or not to distribute the content. The communication terminal is
It further comprises content output information transmitting means for recording information related to the output of the content to the owner by the content output means, and notifying the recorded information to the content distribution device.
The content distribution device includes:
Content output information receiving means for receiving information related to the output of the content transmitted from the communication terminal;
Based on the value information created by the value information creating means and the information related to the output of the content received by the content output information receiving means, a charge amount related to the content delivery to the content provider is calculated. The content distribution system according to claim 6, further comprising billing amount calculation means. The communication terminal is
It further comprises content output information transmitting means for recording information related to the output of the content to the owner by the content output means, and notifying the recorded information to the content distribution device.
The content distribution device includes:
A content output information receiving means for receiving information related to the output of the content transmitted from the communication terminal;
The content distribution system according to claim 6, wherein the value information creating unit creates the value information based on information related to the output of the content received by the content output information receiving unit.   The content distribution system according to claim 6, wherein the value information creating unit creates the value information based on information related to a remaining time of the content distribution time. A content distribution device that distributes content via a communication network to a communication terminal located in a specific area,
Content storage means for storing content provided by a content provider;
Area information acquisition means for acquiring area information related to the communication status of the area where the service area is located;
Content distribution determination means for determining whether to distribute the content to the located area based on the area information acquired by the area information acquisition means;
Content delivery means for delivering the content to the communication terminal located in the area when the content delivery judgment means determines to deliver the content;
A content distribution apparatus comprising: A communication terminal that communicates via a communication network; and a content distribution device that includes content storage means for storing content, and distributes the content via a communication network to a communication terminal located in a specific area , A content distribution method by a content distribution system 1 configured to include:
An area information acquisition step in which the content distribution device acquires area information relating to the communication status of the area where the service area is located;
A content distribution determination step for determining whether the content distribution device distributes the content to the located area based on the area information acquired in the area information acquisition step;
A content delivery step of delivering the content to the communication terminal located in the located area when the content delivery device is judged to deliver the content in the content delivery judging step;
A content receiving step in which the communication terminal receives the content distributed from the content distribution device;
A content output step in which the communication terminal outputs the content received in the content reception step to an owner of the communication terminal;
A content distribution method characterized by comprising:

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