JP2011210177A - Trend monitoring method, trend monitoring server program, trend monitoring client program, and trend monitoring device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a trend monitoring method, a trend monitoring server program, a trend monitoring client program, and a trend monitoring device, for automatically finding a trend between users while protecting privacy of the users.SOLUTION: The trend monitoring method includes: a hint receiving step of receiving a partial hint of an identifier of information accessed from a user terminal 2, which is generated based on the identifier of the information; a hint receiving step of collecting partial hints received from a plurality of user terminal 12 to reproduce an identifier of information; and a trend determination step of determining, based on the reproduced identifier of information, a trend of information from the number of accesses to the information.

Description

  The present invention relates to a trend monitoring method, a trend monitoring server program, a trend monitoring client program, and a trend monitoring apparatus that monitor trends between users.

  In recent years, various websites have been created on the Internet. A community site (for example, social networking service: SNS) as an example of a website is a website centered on communication such as information exchange where users who share interests and interests gather (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  Since users who gather at the same community site share interests and interests, they often show interest in the same Web site. Therefore, community sites have been finding site trends (such as popular sites) between users by monitoring Web sites accessed by users (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

JP 2003-108880 A Japanese translation of PCT publication No. 2003-502776

  Conventionally, a community site that tries to find a site trend between users (hereinafter simply referred to as a trend) causes a link of the accessed website to be submitted by the user's explicit input or without any user's explicit input. Must be automatically submitted by the software.

  However, the method of submitting the link of the accessed Web site by the user's explicit input has a problem that the user is troublesome. In addition, there is a problem that a method of automatically submitting a link of the accessed website by some software without an explicit input from the user may infringe the privacy of the user.

  Usually, a community site trying to find a trend has a trade-off relationship between automatically submitting a link of a Web site accessed by the user and protecting the privacy of the user.

  One embodiment of the present invention provides a trend monitoring method, a trend monitoring server program, a trend monitoring client program, and a trend monitoring apparatus capable of automatically finding a trend between users while protecting the privacy of the user. Objective.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, an embodiment of the present invention is a trend monitoring method executed by a trend monitoring apparatus connected to a plurality of user terminals operated by a user so as to be able to perform data communication, the plurality of user terminals A hint receiving step for receiving each partial hint of the identifier of the information generated based on the identifier of the information accessed by the user terminal, and collecting the partial hints received from the plurality of user terminals. A hint processing step for reproducing the identifier of the information, and a trend determining step for obtaining a number of accesses to the information based on the reproduced identifier of the information and judging a trend of the information from the obtained number of accesses. .

  In addition, what applied the component, the expression, or the arbitrary combinations of the component of one Embodiment of this invention to a method, an apparatus, a system, a computer program, a recording medium, a data structure, etc. is also effective as an aspect of this invention. .

  According to an embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to automatically find a trend between users while protecting the privacy of users.

It is a block diagram of an example of a trend monitoring system. It is a hardware block diagram of an example of a computer. It is a block diagram of an example of the user terminal of a present Example. It is a block diagram of an example of a hint cache. It is an image figure of an example of the process which a user terminal performs. It is an image figure of an example of the process which the hint of the same URL collects in a trend monitoring apparatus from a some user terminal. It is a block diagram of an example of the trend monitoring apparatus of a present Example. It is a block diagram of an example of hint DB. It is a block diagram of an example of history DB. It is explanatory drawing (1/2) for demonstrating the process which a trend monitoring apparatus performs. It is explanatory drawing (2/2) for demonstrating the process which a trend monitoring apparatus performs. It is an image figure of an example of the process which discloses trend information to the user who operates a plurality of user terminals. It is a flowchart of an example of the process which the user terminal of a present Example performs. It is a flowchart of an example of the hint production | generation process of step S4. It is a flowchart of an example of the process which the trend monitoring apparatus of a present Example performs. It is a flowchart of an example of the candidate acquisition process of step S21. It is a flowchart of an example of a block candidate acquisition process of step S37. It is a flowchart of an example of the process which applies a block candidate to the candidate of step S40, and makes it a new candidate.

  Next, modes for carrying out the present invention will be described based on the following embodiments with reference to the drawings. In this embodiment, a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) will be described as an example of an information identifier. However, in addition to a URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) and a GUID (Global Unique Identifier), ISBN (Internal Bank). There may be.

(System configuration)
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of an example of a trend monitoring system. In the trend monitoring system 1 of FIG. 1, a trend monitoring device 10, user terminals 12a to 12m, and Web servers 14a to 14n are connected via a network 16 such as the Internet or a LAN so that data communication is possible. When any of the user terminals 12a to 12m may be used, it is simply referred to as a user terminal 12. When any of the Web servers 14a to 14n is acceptable, it is simply referred to as the Web server 14.

  The trend monitoring device 10 is an example of a community server that realizes some community site. The user terminal 12 is operated by a user who uses the community site of the trend monitoring device 10. The user terminal 12 is installed with a browser whose function is expanded by a plug-in. The browser performs data communication with the trend monitoring device 10 by using a function (extended function) extended by the plug-in.

  If there is a website that the user wants to browse, the user operates the user terminal 12 to access the website of the web server 14. The extended function of the browser does not transmit the URL of the Web site accessed by the user to the trend monitoring apparatus 10 as it is, but transmits a URL hint to the trend monitoring apparatus 10. Each hint is a partial hint, and it doesn't make sense by itself. However, each hint will make sense if you gather a lot.

  Therefore, the user can automatically transmit the URL hint of the Web site he / she browsed to the trend monitoring apparatus 10 while protecting the privacy. The trend monitoring apparatus 10 can know the URL accessed by many users by collecting hints received from the extended function of the browser of the user terminal 12.

  The trend monitoring device 10 finds a trend between users from URLs accessed by many users and publishes it as trend information to users who operate the user terminal 12. Since the released trend information is a trend among users who use the community site of the trend monitoring device 10, there is a high possibility that the URL is useful and useful for users who use the community site of the trend monitoring device 10.

(Hardware configuration of trend monitoring device 10 and user terminal 12)
A computer in which the trend monitoring server program is installed is an example of the trend monitoring apparatus 10. A computer in which the trend monitoring client program is installed is an example of the user terminal 12. Here, a hardware configuration of a computer in which the trend monitoring server program or the trend monitoring client program is installed will be described. The computer executes a trend monitoring server program or a trend monitoring client program having the same functions as those of the trend monitoring device 10 or the user terminal 12 of this embodiment.

  FIG. 2 is a hardware configuration diagram of an example of a computer. A computer 20 in FIG. 2 includes an input device 21, a display device 22, and a computer main body 23. The computer main body 23 includes a main storage device 31, an arithmetic processing device 32, an interface device 33, a recording medium reading device 34, and an auxiliary storage device 35 that are connected to each other via a bus 37. The input device 21 and the display device 22 are connected to the bus 37.

  The input device 21, the display device 22, the main storage device 31, the arithmetic processing device 32, the interface device 33, the recording medium reading device 34, and the auxiliary storage device 35 that are mutually connected by the bus 37 are managed by the arithmetic processing device 32. Can exchange data with each other. The arithmetic processing unit 32 is a central processing unit that controls operation of the entire computer 20.

  The interface device 33 receives data from another personal computer or server, and passes the contents of the data to the arithmetic processing device 32. Further, the interface device 33 transmits data to another personal computer or a server in response to an instruction from the arithmetic processing device 32.

  The auxiliary storage device 35 stores at least a trend monitoring server program or a trend monitoring client program as part of a program that causes the computer 20 to exhibit the same function as the trend monitoring device 10 or the user terminal 12.

  The arithmetic processing device 32 reads out the trend monitoring server program or the trend monitoring client program from the auxiliary storage device 35 and executes it, thereby functioning as the trend monitoring device 10 or the user terminal 12. The trend monitoring server program or the trend monitoring client program may be stored in the main storage device 31 accessible to the arithmetic processing device 32. The input device 21 receives data input under the control of the arithmetic processing device 32. The trend monitoring server program or the trend monitoring client program can be recorded on a recording medium 36 that can be read by the computer 20.

  Examples of the recording medium readable by the computer 20 include a magnetic recording medium, an optical disk, a magneto-optical recording medium, and a semiconductor memory. Magnetic recording media include HDDs, flexible disks (FD), magnetic tapes (MT) and the like. Examples of the optical disc include a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), a DVD-RAM, a CD-ROM (Compact Disc-Read Only Memory), and a CD-R (Recordable) / RW (ReWriteable). Magneto-optical recording media include MO (Magneto-Optical disk).

  When the trend monitoring server program or the trend monitoring client program is distributed, for example, a portable recording medium 36 such as a DVD or CD-ROM in which the trend monitoring server program or the trend monitoring client program is recorded may be sold. Conceivable.

  Then, the computer 20 that executes the trend monitoring server program or the trend monitoring client program, for example, the trend monitoring server program or the trend monitoring client from the recording medium 36 on which the recording medium reader 34 has recorded the trend monitoring server program or the trend monitoring client program. Read the program. The arithmetic processing device 32 stores the read trend monitoring server program or trend monitoring client program in the main storage device 31 or the auxiliary storage device 35. The computer 20 reads the trend monitoring server program or the trend monitoring client program from the main storage device 31 or the auxiliary storage device 35 that is its own storage device, and executes processing according to the trend monitoring server program or the trend monitoring client program.

(Block configuration)
FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example of a user terminal according to the present embodiment. The user terminal 12 includes a browsing processing unit 41, a browsing monitoring unit 42, a hint generation unit 43, a hint transmission unit 44, and a hint cache 45.

  The browsing processing unit 41 is realized by the arithmetic processing device 32 executing a browser program. The browsing monitoring unit 42, the hint generation unit 43, the hint transmission unit 44, and the hint cache 45 are realized by the arithmetic processing device 32 executing a browser plug-in program.

  The browsing processing unit 41 accesses the Web site of the Web server 14 by a user operation and causes the user to browse the Web site. The browsing monitoring unit 42 monitors the URL “X” of the Web site accessed by the browsing processing unit 41. When the browsing processing unit 41 accesses the Web site, the browsing monitoring unit 42 acquires the URL “X” of the accessed Web site. The browsing monitoring unit 42 supplies the acquired URL “X” to the hint generation unit 43.

  The hint generation unit 43 calculates Hash (X) as a hash and Crypt (X) as a ciphertext from the supplied URL “X”. The hash is calculated using a hash function such as SHA-1. A hash is an example of a search sentence. The ciphertext is calculated using an encryption method such as AES.

  The hint generation unit 43 determines the partial hash from the calculated hash, determines the position of the ciphertext and the partial ciphertext from the calculated ciphertext, and records them in the hint cache 45 together with the URL “X” and the time stamp. The partial hash is the first N_hash bit of the hash. The ciphertext position is a random integer representing the ciphertext position. The partial ciphertext is N_cipher bits from the above-mentioned “ciphertext position” of the ciphertext. The time stamp is, for example, the time when the URL “X” is accessed.

  The hint transmission unit 44 transmits the hint (X) and the time stamp to the trend monitoring device 10. The hint transmission unit 44 transmits the partial hash, the ciphertext position, and the partial ciphertext recorded in the hint cache 45 to the trend monitoring device 10 as the hint (X). The hint cache 45 records the hint (X) generated by the hint generation unit 43 together with the URL “X” and the time stamp.

  FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram of an example of the hint cache. The hint cache 45 of FIG. 4 has a configuration including a URL, a partial hash, a ciphertext position, a partial ciphertext, and a time stamp as data items.

  URL is the URL of the accessed website. The partial hash is the first N_hash bit of the hash. The ciphertext position is a random integer representing the ciphertext position. The partial ciphertext is N_cipher bits from the above-mentioned “ciphertext position” of the ciphertext. The time stamp is the time when the “URL” website is accessed.

  FIG. 5 is an image diagram of an example of processing performed by the user terminal. For example, the user operates the browser 51 of the user terminal 12 to access the website 53 of the web server 14 and browse the website 53. The URL of the Web site 53 is “http://matto.blogspot.xxx/a-new-theory-of-poker”.

  The extended function 52 obtains the URL of the Web site 53 viewed by the user from the browser 51 and calculates the hash “q239dijw398ed9du” and the ciphertext “sui298sch92ssnknlc2h38ch9wcna98h2dodo8hc98hrr”.

  The extended function 52 sets “q2” of the first N_hash bits (first two bits in the example of FIG. 5) of the calculated hash as a partial hash. The extended function 52 sets a random integer “20” representing the ciphertext position as the ciphertext position. The extended function 52 uses “ch” of N_cipher bits (2 bits in the example of FIG. 5) from the position “20” of the ciphertext as a partial ciphertext.

  The extended function 52 includes a partial hash “q2”, a ciphertext position “20”, and a partial ciphertext “ch” with a URL “http://matto.blogspot.xxx/a-new-theory-of-poker” and a time stamp. At the same time, it is recorded in the hint cache 45. The extension function 52 uses the partial hash “q2”, the ciphertext position “20”, and the partial ciphertext “ch” as hints of the URL “http://matto.blogspot.xxx/a-new-theory-of-poker”. Is transmitted to the trend monitoring device 10. Further, the extended function 52 transmits a time stamp corresponding to the hint to the trend monitoring device 10.

  FIG. 6 is an image diagram of an example of processing for collecting hints of the same URL from a plurality of user terminals to the trend monitoring apparatus. For example, when the user who operates the user terminals 12a to 12m browses the same website 53, the user terminals 12a to 12m have the partial hash, the partial hash, the cipher part determined from the hash “q239dijw398ed9du” and the ciphertext “sui298sch92 snsknlc2h38ch9wcna98h2dodo8hc98hrr”. The ciphertext is transmitted to the trend monitoring apparatus 10 as a hint.

  However, since the hints transmitted from the user terminals 12a to 12m randomly determine the position of the ciphertext, the position of the ciphertext and the partial ciphertext are different from each other. Therefore, if more hints are transmitted, in other words, if the Web site 53 is a trend, the trend monitoring device 10 is more likely to obtain the positions of all ciphertexts and partial ciphertexts. The entire ciphertext can be understood. The trend monitoring apparatus 10 can reproduce the URL “http://match.blogspot.xxx/a-new-theory-of-poker” of the Web site 53 by decrypting the entire ciphertext.

  FIG. 7 is a block diagram of an example of the trend monitoring apparatus of this embodiment. The trend monitoring apparatus 10 includes a hint receiving unit 61, a hint processing unit 62, a trend determining unit 63, a trend display unit 64, a hint database (DB) 65, and a history DB 66.

  The hint receiving unit 61 receives a partial hash, a ciphertext position, and a partial ciphertext from the user terminal 12 as a hint (X), and also receives a time stamp corresponding to the hint (X). The hint processing unit 62 records the received hint (X) and time stamp in the hint DB 65. The hint processing unit 62 obtains Crypt (X), which is the entire ciphertext, from a plurality of hints (X) recorded in the hint DB 65 and decrypts Crypt (X) as described later. Reproduce the site URL "X". The hint processing unit 62 supplies the reproduced URL “X” and the time stamp to the trend determination unit 63.

  Based on the supplied URL “X” and the time stamp, the trend judgment unit 63 records the number of accesses per predetermined time in the history DB 66 for each URL “X”. Based on the number of accesses to the URL “X” for each predetermined time recorded in the history DB 66, the trend determination unit 63 determines, for example, the URL “X” where the count number has suddenly increased as a trend between users. It is considered that the trend judgment between the users by the trend judgment unit 63 is performed every predetermined time (for example, one hour).

  The trend display unit 64 publishes the trend between users determined by the trend determination unit 63 (for example, the top 5 of the URL “X” where the count number has suddenly increased) as trend information to the user who operates the user terminal 12. The trend information can be disclosed by using a format such as RSS (RDF Site Summary) or Atom.

  FIG. 8 is a configuration diagram of an example of the hint DB. The hint DB 65 of FIG. 8 has a configuration having a partial hash, a ciphertext position, a partial ciphertext, and a time stamp as data items. The partial hash, ciphertext position, and partial ciphertext in FIG. 8 are those received from the user terminal 12 as the hint (X). The time stamp in FIG. 8 is a time stamp received from the user terminal 12 so as to correspond to the hint (X).

  FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram of an example of the history DB. The history DB 66 of FIG. 9 records the URL “X” reproduced within the past 48 hours and the number of accesses to the URL “X” every predetermined time (for example, one hour).

  Next, an example of processing performed by the trend monitoring apparatus 10 will be outlined. The hint processing unit 62 refers to the data item “partial hash” of the hint DB 65 and selects a record having the same URL from the hint DB 65 by selecting a record having the same partial hash.

  This utilizes the fact that the data item “partial hash” is the first N_hash bit (first two bits in FIG. 8) of the hash calculated from the URL. At least, the first N_hash bits of hashes calculated from the same URL are always the same. Note that the first N_hash bits of hashes calculated from different URLs may be the same as described later.

  FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram (1/2) for explaining processing performed by the trend monitoring apparatus. For example, as shown in FIG. 10A, the hint processing unit 62 selects a record having a partial hash “3d” from the hint DB 65.

  The hint processing unit 62 uses the data items “position of ciphertext” and “partial ciphertext” of the record whose partial hash is “3d” which is likely to be the same URL selected from the hint DB 65, Attempts to construct whole ciphertext. Note that if the position of the ciphertext is insufficient, the hint processing unit 62 gives up the construction of the entire ciphertext.

  As shown in FIG. 10A, a plurality of partial ciphertext candidates may be included at each ciphertext position. Therefore, the hint processing unit 62 gives a probability to each partial ciphertext candidate at the ciphertext position as shown in FIG. This probability is the frequency of appearance of partial ciphertext candidates. For example, if there is only one partial ciphertext candidate at a certain ciphertext position, the probability is “1”. If a partial ciphertext candidate at a certain ciphertext position appears at a rate of 3 times in 5 times, the probability becomes “3/5”. As an exception, the hint processing unit 62 sets the probability of the candidate partial ciphertext received this time as “1”.

  FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram (2/2) for explaining processing performed by the trend monitoring apparatus. The hint processing unit 62 constructs a candidate for the entire ciphertext from FIG. 11A and calculates the probability of the entire ciphertext. The overall ciphertext candidate probability is obtained by multiplying the partial ciphertext candidate probabilities. The hint processing unit 62 creates an entire ciphertext candidate list as shown in FIG. 11B in which the entire ciphertext candidates are sorted by probability.

  The hint processing unit 62 decodes the elements of the entire ciphertext candidate list (whole ciphertext candidates) in descending order of probability. The hint processing unit 62 determines that the candidate for the whole ciphertext that has been successfully decrypted is the correct whole ciphertext. The hint processing unit 62 can reproduce the URL accessed by many users by decrypting the correct whole ciphertext.

  Based on the URL and time stamp supplied from the hint processing unit 62, the trend judgment unit 63 records the number of accesses for each predetermined time (for example, one hour) in the history DB 66 as shown in FIG. 9 for each URL. The number of accesses can be counted from, for example, the correspondence between the partial ciphertext candidate and the correct whole ciphertext, and the correspondence between the correct whole ciphertext and the reproduced URL. A criterion for determining as a trend between users in the trend determination unit 63 may be determined as appropriate. For example, an increase number, an increase rate, an upper limit number, and the like of the count number are conceivable.

  FIG. 12 is an image diagram of an example of a process for disclosing trend information to users who operate a plurality of user terminals. The trend display unit 64 publishes the URL to the user who operates the user terminal 12 as the trend between users determined by the trend determination unit 63.

(Processing flow)
FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an example of processing performed by the user terminal according to this embodiment. The process of the flowchart of FIG. 13 is performed when an event occurs in the browsing processing unit 41.

  In step S <b> 1, the browsing monitoring unit 42 acquires the event URL “I” from the browsing processing unit 41 when an event occurs in the browsing processing unit 41. In step S 2, the hint generation unit 43 determines whether the acquired URL “I” is recorded in the hint cache 45.

  If the acquired URL “I” is recorded in the hint cache 45, the hint transmission unit 44 proceeds to steps S 3 and S 6, and sends the hint (I) and time stamp recorded in the hint cache 45 to the trend monitoring device 10. Send.

  If the acquired URL “I” is not recorded in the hint cache 45, the hint generation unit 43 proceeds to step S4, and calculates the hint (I) from the event URL “I” by the hint generation process described later.

  In step S 5, the hint generation unit 43 records the URL “I”, hint (I), and time stamp in the hint cache 45. In step S6, the hint transmission unit 44 transmits the hint (I) and the time stamp recorded in the hint cache 45 in step S5 to the trend monitoring apparatus 10.

  FIG. 14 is a flowchart of an example of the hint generation process in step S4. In step S11, the hint generation unit 43 calculates Hash (I) from the acquired URL “I”, and sets the first N_hash bit of Hash (I) as the partial hash “ph”.

  In step S12, the hint generation unit 43 calculates the ciphertext (I, Key) of the acquired URL “I” using the common key “Key”. In step S13, the hint generation unit 43 divides the ciphertext (I, Key) into equal blocks having a length of N_cipher bits. The hint generation unit 43 selects a block at random and sets the offset bit from the beginning of the ciphertext (I, Key) of the block as the ciphertext position “pos”. In step S14, the hint generation unit 43 sets the N_cipher bit as the partial ciphertext “pc” from the position of the offset bit “pos” from the beginning of the ciphertext (I, Key).

  FIG. 15 is a flowchart of an example of processing performed by the trend monitoring apparatus of this embodiment. The process of the flowchart of FIG. 15 is performed when the hint receiving unit 61 receives a hint.

  In step S21, the hint processing unit 62 obtains an entire ciphertext candidate list by a candidate acquisition process described later. In step S22, the hint processing unit 62 sorts the obtained entire ciphertext candidate list according to the probability of appearance frequency. In step S23, the hint processing unit 62 determines whether the entire ciphertext candidate list is empty.

  If the entire ciphertext candidate list is not empty, the process proceeds to step S25, and the hint processing unit 62 proceeds to the entire ciphertext candidate list in order from the entire ciphertext candidate list (in order of the highest probability of the entire ciphertext candidate first). Get candidates (records) one by one. In step S26, the hint processing unit 62 calculates a decrypted text (ct, Key) of the obtained candidate for the entire ciphertext using the common key “Key”.

  In step S27, the hint processing unit 62 calculates the partial hash “pt” of the calculated decrypted text (ct, Key), and determines whether or not it is the same as the partial hash “ph” recorded in the hint DB 65.

  If the partial hash “pt” and the partial hash “ph” are the same, the hint processing unit 62 determines that the entire ciphertext candidate acquired in step S25 is the correct ciphertext. The hint processing unit 62 can reproduce the URL “I” by decrypting the correct whole ciphertext. If the partial hash “pt” and the partial hash “ph” are not the same, the hint processing unit 62 determines that the entire ciphertext candidate obtained in step S25 is an incorrect whole ciphertext, and returns to step S23.

  If the entire ciphertext candidate list is empty in step S23, the hint processing unit 62 proceeds to step S24 and returns a failure because the correct entire ciphertext could not be found.

  FIG. 16 is a flowchart of an example of the candidate acquisition process in step S21. In step S31, the hint processing unit 62 starts candidate acquisition processing. In step S32, the hint processing unit 62 examines a hint (record) having the same partial hash “ph” included in the hint DB 65. Then, the hint processing unit 62 finds the maximum value “max_pos” of the position “pos” of the ciphertext from the hint. In step S33, the hint processing unit 62 sets N_cipher bit multiple {0,..., Max_pos} as a block position.

  In step S34, the hint processing unit 62 determines whether the block position is empty. If the hint processing unit 62 determines that the block position is not empty, the process proceeds to step S36, and the first element at the block position is extracted. In step S37, the hint processing unit 62 obtains block candidates through block candidate acquisition processing described later. In step S38, the hint processing unit 62 determines whether the block candidate is empty.

  If the hint processing unit 62 determines that the block candidate is not empty, the process proceeds to step S40. After the process described below is performed by applying the block candidate to the candidate to make a new candidate, the process returns to step S34.

  In step S34, if the hint processing unit 62 determines that the block position is empty (the position of the ciphertext is sufficient), the process proceeds to step S35 and returns a candidate. If it is determined in step S38 that the block candidate is empty (the position of the ciphertext is insufficient), the hint processing unit 62 proceeds to step S39 and returns a failure.

  FIG. 17 is a flowchart of an example of the block candidate acquisition process in step S37. In step S51, the hint processing unit 62 determines whether the position is the same as the position “pos” of the partial ciphertext received in FIG. If they are the same, the hint processing unit 62 proceeds to step S52, and returns the partial ciphertext of the hint received in FIG. 15 as a block candidate with the probability “1”.

  If not the same, the hint processing unit 62 proceeds to step S53, and uses a plurality of entries (records) having the same partial hash “ph” and ciphertext position “pos” recorded in the hint DB 65 as hints.

  In step S54, the hint processing unit 62 determines whether the hint is empty. If the hint is empty, the hint processing unit 62 proceeds to step S55 and does not return a block candidate. If the hint is not empty, the hint processing unit 62 proceeds to step S56, and returns the position (pc_i), the partial ciphertext, and the probability (freq (Pc_i)) of the ciphertext appearing in each of the hints as a block candidate.

  FIG. 18 is a flowchart of an example of a process of applying a block candidate to the candidate in step S40 to make a new candidate. In step S61, the hint processing unit 62 determines whether the candidate is empty. If the candidate is empty, the hint processing unit 62 proceeds to step S62 and returns the block candidate as a candidate.

  If the candidate is not empty, the process proceeds to step S63, and the hint processing unit 62 starts a process for creating a new candidate. Proceeding to step S64, the hint processing unit 62 repeats the processes of step S66 and step S67 until the candidate becomes empty. If the candidate becomes empty, the hint processing unit 62 proceeds to step S65 and returns a new candidate.

  In step S66, the hint processing unit 62 extracts the candidate partial ciphertext “ct” and the probability “p”. In step S67, the hint processing unit 62 applies the block candidate partial ciphertext “chunk_ct” and the probability “chunk_p” to the candidate partial ciphertext “ct” and the probability “p” to create a new candidate. And

  The trend monitoring server program and the trend monitoring client program in this embodiment can be provided not only by package software but also by a WEB service or the like.

The present invention may have the following configurations as described below.
(Appendix 1)
A trend monitoring method executed by a trend monitoring apparatus connected to a plurality of user terminals operated by a user so as to be capable of data communication,
A hint receiving step for receiving, from each of the plurality of user terminals, partial hints of the identifier of the information generated based on the identifier of the information accessed by the user terminal;
A hint processing step of collecting the partial hints received from a plurality of the user terminals and reproducing the identifier of the information;
A trend monitoring method that executes a trend determination step of determining the number of accesses to the information based on the reproduced identifier of the information and determining a trend of the information from the determined number of accesses.
(Appendix 2)
The partial hint is calculated by the user terminal calculating a search text and a ciphertext of an identifier of information accessed.
The trend monitoring method according to supplementary note 1, wherein the trend monitoring method is a partial ciphertext based on a partial search text that is at least a part of the search text, a position of the ciphertext, and a position of the ciphertext.
(Appendix 3)
In the hint processing step, the partial search sentence received from the user terminals as the partial hint, the position of the ciphertext, and the ciphertext corresponding to the same partial search sentence from the partial ciphertext A construction step of constructing a ciphertext from a plurality of selected ciphertext positions and partial ciphertexts by selecting a plurality of sentence positions and the partial ciphertexts;
The trend monitoring method according to supplementary note 2, wherein a reproduction step of decrypting the constructed ciphertext and reproducing the identifier of the information is executed.
(Appendix 4)
The construction step, when selecting a plurality of the ciphertext position and the partial ciphertext corresponding to the same partial search text, giving the appearance frequency of the partial ciphertext at the ciphertext position as a probability, The trend monitoring method according to appendix 3, wherein the probability of the ciphertext is calculated by multiplying the probabilities of the partial ciphertexts that construct the ciphertext.
(Appendix 5)
The trend monitoring method according to any one of appendices 1 to 4, wherein the trend monitoring device further executes a trend display step of displaying the determined trend of the information on the plurality of user terminals.
(Appendix 6)
On the computer,
A hint receiving step for receiving each partial hint of the identifier of the information generated based on the identifier of the information accessed by the user terminal from a plurality of user terminals operated by the user;
A hint processing step of collecting the partial hints received from a plurality of the user terminals and reproducing the identifier of the information;
A trend monitoring server program for obtaining a number of accesses to the information based on the reproduced identifier of the information and executing a trend judgment step for judging a trend of the information from the obtained number of accesses.
(Appendix 7)
On the computer,
A hint generation step for generating a partial hint of an identifier of information accessed based on an instruction from the user;
A trend monitoring client program for executing a hint transmission step of transmitting the generated hint to a trend monitoring device.
(Appendix 8)
Hint receiving means for receiving each partial hint of the identifier of the information generated based on the identifier of the information accessed by the user terminal from a plurality of user terminals operated by the user;
Hint processing means for collecting the partial hints received from a plurality of the user terminals and reproducing the identifier of the information;
A trend monitoring apparatus comprising: a trend determination unit that determines the number of accesses to the information based on the reproduced identifier of the information and determines a trend of the information from the determined number of accesses.
(Appendix 9)
Hint generating means for generating a partial hint of an identifier of information accessed based on an instruction from a user;
A user terminal having hint transmitting means for transmitting the generated hint to a trend monitoring device.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Trend monitoring system 10 Trend monitoring apparatus 12, 12a-12m User terminal 14, 14a-14n Web server 16 Network 20 Computer 21 Input apparatus 22 Display apparatus 23 Computer main body 31 Main memory device 32 Processing unit 33 Interface apparatus 34 Recording medium reading Device 35 Auxiliary storage device 36 Recording medium 37 Bus 41 Browsing processing unit 42 Browsing monitoring unit 43 Hint generation unit 44 Hint transmission unit 45 Hint cache 51 Browser 52 Extended function 53 Web site 61 Hint reception unit 62 Hint processing unit 63 Trend judgment unit 64 Trend display area 65 Hint database (DB)
66 History DB

Claims (7)

A trend monitoring method executed by a trend monitoring apparatus connected to a plurality of user terminals operated by a user so as to be capable of data communication,
A hint receiving step for receiving, from each of the plurality of user terminals, partial hints of the identifier of the information generated based on the identifier of the information accessed by the user terminal;
A hint processing step of collecting the partial hints received from a plurality of the user terminals and reproducing the identifier of the information;
A trend monitoring method that executes a trend determination step of determining the number of accesses to the information based on the reproduced identifier of the information and determining a trend of the information from the determined number of accesses. The partial hint is calculated by the user terminal calculating a search text and a ciphertext of an identifier of information accessed.
The trend monitoring method according to claim 1, wherein the trend monitoring method is a partial ciphertext based on a partial search text that is at least a part of the search text, a position of the ciphertext, and a position of the ciphertext. In the hint processing step, the partial search sentence received from the user terminals as the partial hint, the position of the ciphertext, and the ciphertext corresponding to the same partial search sentence from the partial ciphertext A construction step of constructing a ciphertext from a plurality of selected ciphertext positions and partial ciphertexts by selecting a plurality of sentence positions and the partial ciphertexts;
The trend monitoring method according to claim 2, wherein a reproduction step of decrypting the constructed ciphertext and reproducing the identifier of the information is executed. The trend monitoring method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the trend monitoring device further executes a trend display step of displaying the determined trend of the information on the plurality of user terminals. On the computer,
A hint receiving step for receiving each partial hint of the identifier of the information generated based on the identifier of the information accessed by the user terminal from a plurality of user terminals operated by the user;
A hint processing step of collecting the partial hints received from a plurality of the user terminals and reproducing the identifier of the information;
A trend monitoring server program for obtaining a number of accesses to the information based on the reproduced identifier of the information and executing a trend judgment step for judging a trend of the information from the obtained number of accesses. On the computer,
A hint generation step for generating a partial hint of an identifier of information accessed based on an instruction from the user;
A trend monitoring client program for executing a hint transmission step of transmitting the generated hint to a trend monitoring device. Hint receiving means for receiving each partial hint of the identifier of the information generated based on the identifier of the information accessed by the user terminal from a plurality of user terminals operated by the user;
Hint processing means for collecting the partial hints received from a plurality of the user terminals and reproducing the identifier of the information;
A trend monitoring apparatus comprising: a trend determination unit that determines the number of accesses to the information based on the reproduced identifier of the information and determines a trend of the information from the determined number of accesses.

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