JP2012014675A - Server, program and retrieval area estimation method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To preliminarily estimate an area which serves as an object for information retrieval relevant to the area.SOLUTION: A client terminal 30 transmits retrieval history of content regarding the area including an area ID to an input support server 10 (S1). The input support server 10 generates feature information showing features of a plurality of pieces of retrieval history for every area (S2). The features are the real number of retrieval users for every area, and retrieval frequencies in each area for every user. The input support server 10 receives position information from the client terminal 30, and specifies the area ID based on distance between a position shown by the received position information and a representative point of the area and the features shown by the feature information about the area (S3-S6). Thus, the input support server 10 estimates an object area for retrieval based on the features to be obtained from the retrieval history, and utilizes this estimation result in presentation of a retrieval word according to the area (S7-S10).

Description

  The present invention relates to information retrieval.

  With the spread of mobile communication terminals such as mobile phones, users can access information on the Internet using mobile communication terminals and search for necessary information using search engines on the Internet. It became possible to do. In an information search using a mobile communication terminal, it is desirable to present a search result according to the current position of the user, for example, unlike an information search using a personal computer installed in a home or office. For example, when the user is at station A and searches for information, it is more desirable for the user who acquires the information and the content provider who provides the information to present the information near station A as the search result. I can say that.

  By the way, input of a search term using a mobile communication terminal is often more troublesome for a user due to operability problems than when using a personal computer or the like. In order to solve such a problem, there is a technique for reducing a burden of input of a user's search word by estimating a search word desired by the user and presenting the search word. Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for presenting a search word related to a position according to the past input history of the search word and the position of the mobile communication terminal. The search terms presented by the technique described in Patent Literature 1 are not limited to those input by the user in the past, but also include those input by other users. Thereby, it is possible to notify new information regarding the area that the user has not known before.

  Patent Document 2 discloses that a character string (search keyword) corresponding to a current position or a position designated by a user is extracted and a search corresponding to the position is performed based on the extracted character string. Patent Literature 3 discloses that a user designates an area to be searched in searching for content related to a region. Patent Document 4 discloses that a point predicted to be important as a search target is estimated based on a situation such as a user's current position, and a search keyword is predicted based on information on the area.

JP 2004-153398 A JP 2004-318483 A JP 2006-127509 A JP 2009-237750 A

By the way, according to the techniques described in Patent Documents 1 to 4, it is possible to search for an area where the mobile communication terminal is located, an adjacent area, an area designated by the user, or the like. On the other hand, the value of information related to each area, such as information on recent popular spots, often changes with time. In such a case, the user can accurately estimate the search target area. difficult.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to estimate in advance an area to be searched for information related to the area.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the server device of the present invention includes at least area identification information for identifying an area, an acquisition unit that acquires a search history related to the area, and features of a plurality of search histories acquired by the acquisition unit Generating information for each area, an information storage unit for storing the area identification information of the area and the feature information generated for the area in association with each other, and the first position information from the client device And the feature information associated with the area identification information of the area in the information storage unit and the distance between the position indicated by the first position information and the representative point of the area. The identification unit for identifying the area identification information from the information storage unit, and the area identification information identified by the identification unit as the client device. Characterized in that it comprises a transmission unit for transmitting to the hand.

  In a preferred aspect of the present invention, the search history includes a search word used for the search, and an accumulation unit that accumulates the area identification information and the search word included in the search history acquired by the acquisition unit in association with each other; Of the area identification information transmitted by the transmission unit, the second reception unit that receives the area identification information specified by the client device and the area identification information received by the second reception unit in the storage unit A presentation unit that presents the retrieved search term to the client device.

In another preferable aspect of the present invention, the specifying unit calculates a score according to a priority when the area identification information is transmitted for each area identification information based on the feature information, and the transmission unit Transmits the area identification information so that priority is given to a higher priority indicated by the calculated score.
In another preferable aspect of the present invention, the search history includes user identification information for identifying a user of the client device, and the generation unit is configured to store the user of the client device that has performed the search based on the user identification information. The feature information indicating a real number is generated. The search history includes user identification information for identifying a user of the client device, and the generation unit generates the feature information indicating the number of searches by one user for each user based on the user identification information. The information storage unit stores the feature information of each user, and the specifying unit specifies the area identification information based on the feature information of the user of the client device that has received the first position information. You may make it do.

In another preferable aspect of the present invention, the first receiving unit receives distance information indicating a distance designated by the client device, and the specifying unit is configured to use the position indicated by the first position information as a reference. The area identification information is specified for the area in which the representative point is included within the distance range indicated by the distance information.
In another preferred aspect of the present invention, the first receiving unit receives type information indicating a type of the client device, and the specifying unit uses the type information based on the position indicated by the first position information. The area identification information is specified for the area in which the representative point is included within a predetermined distance range.
In another preferable aspect of the present invention, the acquisition unit receives the search query including at least the search term used for the search and the area identification information of the area to be searched from the client device. Get search history.

  In another preferable aspect of the present invention, the search history includes second position information indicating a position when the client device searches, and the generation unit includes the area including the position indicated by the second position information. The feature information of a region including the position among a plurality of regions having different distances from the representative point of the area is generated, and the information storage unit is associated with the first position information and the area identification information Each of the feature information generated for each region and the distance from the representative point corresponding to the region, and the specifying unit is configured to store the position indicated by the second position information in the information storage unit and The area identification information is specified based on the feature information associated with the distance from the representative point.

  In another preferable aspect of the present invention, the first receiving unit receives user identification information for identifying a user of the client device, and is specified by the user identification information received by the first receiving unit. A visit history storage unit that stores a visit history to each area in association with the area identification information of the area, and the presentation unit receives the user identification information received by the first reception unit in the visit history storage unit The search term is specified from the storage unit and presented in accordance with the visit history associated with. In this aspect, the search history includes a search time when the search is performed, and the storage unit associates the search time included in the search history with the area identification information and the search word included in the search history. The storage unit may store the search word from the storage unit according to the search time stored in the storage unit.

  In another preferable aspect of the present invention, the storage unit stores an index value serving as an index of the number of areas used as a search word in association with the search word and area identification information of the area, and the presentation unit Specifies and presents a search term from the storage unit according to the index value stored in the storage unit. In this aspect, the second receiving unit receives, from the client device, a reflection degree indicating a degree to which the index value is reflected when the presenting unit specifies a search term, and the presenting unit receives the second A search term may be specified and presented from the storage unit according to the index value on which the reflection level received by the reception unit is applied.

  Further, the program of the present invention includes a computer that obtains at least area identification information for identifying an area, obtains a search history related to the area, and characteristic information indicating characteristics of a plurality of search histories obtained by the acquisition means. Generating means for each area, information storage means for storing area identification information of the area and feature information generated for the area in association with each other, and at least first position information from the client device Based on the first receiving means, the distance between the position indicated by the first position information and the representative point of the area, and the feature indicated by the feature information associated with the area identification information of the area in the information storage means, The identification means for identifying area identification information from the information storage means, and the area identification information identified by the identification means are classified into the class. It is intended to function as a transmission means for transmitting to the Ant device addressed.

  Further, the search area estimation method of the present invention acquires a search history related to the area including at least area identification information for identifying the area, and generates feature information indicating the characteristics of the plurality of acquired search histories for each area. The area identification information of the area and the feature information generated for the area are associated and stored in the information storage unit, at least the first position information is received from the client device, and the position indicated by the first position information Based on the distance from the representative point of the area and the feature indicated by the feature information associated with the area identification information of the area in the information storage unit, the area identification information is identified from the information storage unit The identification information is transmitted to the client device.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the area used as the object of the information search relevant to an area can be estimated previously.

The figure which shows the whole structure of the search service system 1 Block diagram showing the hardware configuration of the input support server 10 The figure which shows the data structure of the search history information 131 The figure which shows the data structure of the area management information 132 The figure which shows the data structure of the search term information 133 Functional block diagram showing the functional configuration of the input support server 10 Sequence chart showing operation procedure in search service system 1 The figure which shows the data structure of an area ID acquisition query Diagram explaining search area The figure which shows the data structure of the area management information 132a The figure which shows the data structure of the search history information 131a Diagram explaining search area The figure which shows the data structure of the area management information 132b Functional block diagram showing the functional configuration of the input support server 10 The figure which shows the data structure of the search term information 133c The figure which shows the data structure of the visit history information 135 Sequence chart showing operation procedure in search service system The figure which shows an example of the presentation result of the search word at the time of changing speciality or freshness The figure which shows the data structure of the attribute information 134

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
[First Embodiment]
First, a first embodiment of the present invention will be described.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of the search service system 1 of this embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 1, the search service system 1 includes an input support server 10, a search server 20, and a client terminal 30. The input support server 10, the search server 20, and the client terminal 30 are connected to be communicable with each other via a network NW. Here, the network NW is a communication network including a mobile communication network, a gateway, and the Internet.
Although only one client terminal 30 is illustrated here, there are actually a larger number of client terminals 30.

The input support server 10 is an example of a server device according to the present invention, and has a function of supporting a user to input a search term to the client terminal 30. The search server 20 is a search unit having a search engine function, and presents a search result corresponding to the search query received from the client terminal 30 to the client terminal 30. The search server 20 presents a search result corresponding to the area designated by the client terminal 30 so that the content related to each area (region) can be searched. The client terminal 30 is a client device that accesses the input support server 10 and the search server 20 via the network NW, and is a mobile phone here. The client terminal 30 receives content from a web server or the like according to the search result presented from the search server 20.
The client terminal 30 is not limited to a mobile phone, and may be a smartphone or a personal computer, for example. In short, the client terminal 30 may be a computer device having at least a communication function and a function of measuring the position of the terminal itself such as a GPS (Global Positioning System) positioning function. The content provided to the client terminal 30 by the information search includes, for example, a Web page in HTML (HyperText Markup Language) format, but may be data that can be exchanged via the communication network NW.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the input support server 10. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the input support server 10 includes a control unit 11, a communication unit 12, and a storage unit 13.
The control unit 11 is a control device including an arithmetic device including a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a memory, and controls the operation of the input support server 10 by executing a program stored in the memory or the storage unit 13. . The communication unit 12 includes an interface for connecting to the network NW. The communication unit 12 manages control related to communication in the input support server 10, and transmits and receives various data to and from the client terminal 30, for example. The storage unit 13 is a storage unit including, for example, a hard disk device, and stores various types of information including search history information 131, area management information 132, and search term information 133 in addition to various programs read by the control unit 11.
Next, the data structure of the search history information 131, area management information 132, and search word information 133 will be described.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a data structure of the search history information 131. The search history information 131 includes information representing the history of searches executed in the search service system 1.
As shown in FIG. 3, the search history information 131 has a structure in which information described in each field of “search date / time”, “user ID”, “area ID”, and “search word” is associated. Each row shown in FIG. 3 is regarded as one record, and the search history described in one record corresponds to one search.
In the “search date and time” field, the date and time when the search was executed is described. In the “user ID” field, user identification information for uniquely identifying the user of the client terminal 30 that has executed the search is described. The user ID is, for example, an individual identification number of the client terminal 30 or an ID set by the user himself, but any user ID may be used. In the “area ID” field, area identification information for uniquely identifying each area is described. As shown in FIG. 3, for example, there are areas to which area IDs “AREA-1”, “AREA-2”, and “AREA-3” are assigned. In the “search word” field, a search word used when the client terminal 30 searches is described.
For example, in the record shown in the first line of FIG. 3, the client terminal 30 of the user who is assigned the user ID “UID-A” to “2010/4/1 0:00:00” "Means that an information search related to the area to which the area ID" AREA-1 "is assigned has been performed.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a data structure of the area management information 132. The area management information 132 includes information on areas that can be searched in the search server 20.
As shown in FIG. 4, the area management information 132 has a structure in which information described in each field of “area ID”, “area name”, “position information”, and “number of searchers” is associated. Each row shown in FIG. 4 is regarded as one record, and information relating to one area is described in one record. In the “area ID” field, an area ID common to the search history information 131 is described. In the “area name” field, information indicating the name of the area indicated by the area ID is described. The area name can be used to determine which area the user is pointing to. In the “position information” field, position information indicating a representative point of each area is described. Such position information includes, for example, latitude information and longitude information. The representative point is determined in advance as a representative position of the area such as the center of the area or a main station. This representative point may be determined at any position in the area.

In the “number of searchers” field, the actual number of users of the client terminal 30 who search the area is described. The information described in the “number of searchers” field is an example of the feature information of the present invention, and indicates the features of each search history area constituting the search history information 131. In this way, the number of searchers can be said to be information representing the quantitative characteristics based on the statistics of the search history for each area. The number of searchers is a feature that is an index of the degree of attention (high popularity) by the user from the viewpoint of information retrieval, and it can be assumed that the area with the larger value is the area with the higher degree of attention. it can.
For example, in the record shown in the first row of FIG. 4, the area with the area name “XX ward” to which the area ID “AREA-1” is assigned has the latitude information and longitude information of the representative point “x1, y1”. Yes, it means that the number of searchers who search the area is “100”.
In addition, the way of dividing the area in this embodiment is one mode. For example, a predetermined range centering on station A may be set as one area, and how the area is divided is arbitrary.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a data structure of the search word information 133. As shown in FIG. The search term information 133 stores search terms that can be presented to the client terminal 30.
As shown in FIG. 5, the search term information 133 has a structure in which information described in each field of “area ID”, “search term”, and “search term score” is associated. Each line shown in FIG. 5 is regarded as one record, and information related to one search term is described in one record. In the “area ID” field, an area ID common to the search history information 131 and the area management information 132 is described. In the “search word” field, search words that are common to the search words included in the search history information 131 and used in the past are described. In the “search word score” field, a value serving as an index of the degree of attention (high popularity) by the user of information related to the search word is described. Here, the total value for each area of the search word score is normalized so as to be “1”, and it can be estimated that the higher the search word score value is, the higher the degree of attention is for the search word. .

Here, the calculation procedure of the search word score by the control unit 11 will be described.
The control unit 11 calculates a search word score based on the search history information 131 and the area management information 132. For example, the number of searchers of area ID “AREA-1” is “100”, the number of searchers using the search term “ramen” is “50”, and the search using the search term “movie theater” is used. It is assumed that the number of persons is “30” and the number of persons using the search word “bus” is “20”. In this case, the control unit 11 calculates the total number of searchers for each area (here, 100), divides the number of searchers for each search word by this total value, normalizes the search word score, calculate. That is, the control unit 11 calculates a search word score “0.5” for the search word “ramen”, calculates a search word score “0.3” for the search word “movie theater”, and calculates the search word “bus”. The search term score “0.2” is calculated.
The control unit 11 calculates a search word score in the same procedure for each area including the areas with the area IDs “AREA-2” and “AREA-3”.

As shown in FIG. 5, for the area of area ID “AREA-1”, “ramen”, “movie theater”, and “bus” are included as search terms, and the search term scores are “0.5” in order. ”,“ 0.3 ”, and“ 0.2 ”. That is, in the area of area ID “AREA-1”, it is estimated that the number of searchers who searched for information on “ramen” is the largest, and the degree of attention of the information is high. On the other hand, for the area of area ID “AREA-2”, “movie theater”, “ramen”, and “amusement park” are included as search terms, and the search term scores thereof are “0.6”, “0” in order. .2 "," 0.2 ". That is, in the area of area ID “AREA-2”, the number of searchers who searched for information on “movie theater” is the largest, and it is estimated that the attention degree of the information is high in this area.
Thus, when information with high attention degree differs for every area, a search term score also changes according to it. In the example shown in FIG. 5, it can be estimated that there is a popular ramen shop in the area of area ID “AREA-1” and a famous movie theater in the area of area ID “AREA-3”. .

FIG. 6 is a functional block diagram showing a functional configuration of the input support server 10. The input support server 10 executes the program to obtain a history acquisition unit 101, a feature information generation unit 102, an information storage unit 103, a position information reception unit 104, a specification unit 105, an area ID transmission unit 106, and an area ID reception unit 107. The functions corresponding to the search word storage unit 108 and the search word presentation unit 109 are realized.
The history acquisition unit 101 is an example of the acquisition unit of the present invention, and acquires a search history related to the area indicated by the area ID, including the area ID. The history acquisition unit 101 receives the search history from the client terminal 30, acquires it, and stores it in the information storage unit 103. Thereby, the contents of the search history information 131 described above are updated.

  The feature information generation unit 102 is an example of a generation unit of the present invention, and generates feature information indicating features of a plurality of search histories acquired by the history acquisition unit 101 for each area. Here, the feature information generation unit 102 divides and counts the user IDs described in the search history information 131 of the information storage unit 103 for each area ID, and calculates the real number of each searcher. The feature information generation unit 102 describes the calculated number of searchers in the “number of searchers” field of the area management information 132 shown in FIG.

The information storage unit 103 is an example of the information storage unit of the present invention, and stores search history information 131 and area management information 132.
The position information receiving unit 104 is an example of a first receiving unit of the present invention, and receives at least position information from the client terminal 30. Such position information is an example of the first position information of the present invention, and includes, for example, latitude information and longitude information of the current position of the client terminal 30.

The specifying unit 105 is an example of the specifying unit of the present invention. Based on the feature indicated by the feature information associated with the area ID of the area in the area management information 132 and the distance between the position indicated by the location information received by the location information receiving unit 104 and the representative point of the area. The area ID is specified from the area management information 132.
For example, the specifying unit 105 responds to the feature indicated by the feature information in the area ID of the area where the representative point is included in a predetermined search range (for example, a radius of 50 km) based on the current position of the client terminal 30, for example. Specify the area ID.
The area ID transmission unit 106 is an example of the transmission unit of the present invention, and transmits the area ID specified by the specifying unit 105 to the client terminal 30.

The area ID receiving unit 107 is an example of a second receiving unit of the present invention, and receives from the client terminal 30 the area ID specified by the client terminal 30 among the area IDs transmitted by the area ID transmitting unit 106. . The area ID receiving unit 107 may receive other information that can specify the area ID specified by the client terminal 30.
The search term storage unit 108 is an example of a storage unit of the present invention, and stores search terms that can be presented to the client terminal 30. Specifically, the search word storage unit 108 stores search word information 133.
The search term presenting unit 109 is an example of the presenting unit of the present invention, and presents the search term associated with the area ID received by the area ID receiving unit 107 in the search term storage unit 108 to the client terminal 30.
Next, the operation of the search service system 1 will be described.

FIG. 7 is a sequence chart showing an operation procedure in the search service system 1.
First, the user of the client terminal 30 operates the client terminal 30 to access the input support server 10. In response to this operation, the client terminal 30 generates an area ID acquisition query and transmits it to the input support server 10 (step S1). The control unit 11 of the input support server 10 receives the area ID acquisition query from the client terminal 30 through the communication unit 12.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a data structure of the area ID acquisition query.
As shown in FIG. 8, the area ID acquisition query includes information classified into “position information”, “search range”, and “type information”. “Position information” is position information (that is, first position information) indicating the current position of the client terminal 30 and includes latitude information and longitude information of the current position. When the client terminal 30 obtains latitude information and longitude information by measuring the position of the terminal itself, the client terminal 30 includes this in the area ID acquisition query. The “search range” defines, based on the current position of the client terminal 30, which range belongs to the search target area according to the distance. Such a search range is specified in the client terminal 30 according to a user operation, for example. “Type information” is information indicating the terminal type of the client terminal 30. This terminal type is information capable of determining the type of terminal such as whether the client terminal 30 is a mobile phone or a personal computer.
In the area ID acquisition query having the contents shown in FIG. 8, the position information indicating the current position of the client terminal 30 is (xa, ya), the search range is “50 km”, and the type information is “mobile phone”. In the following description, an operation when the input support server 10 receives an area ID acquisition query having the contents shown in FIG. 8 in the process of step S1 will be described.

Returning to the description of FIG.
The control unit 11 calculates an area score based on the area ID acquisition query received in the process of step S1 (step S2). The area score is a value serving as an index of the degree of attention of each area by the user from the viewpoint of information search. The area with a higher attention level has a larger area score value.
Here, the process of step S2 will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining an area to be searched for information (hereinafter referred to as “search area”). FIG. 9 schematically shows a region in the area range of area IDs “AREA-1” to “AREA-3”.
First, the control unit 11 determines a search area based on “location information” and “search range” included in the area ID acquisition query. As shown in FIG. 9, if the current position of the client terminal 30 (indicated by ☆ in FIG. 9) is (xa, ya), the area ID “AREA-1” is within a distance range of 50 km radius from there. "XX ward", area ID "AREA-2""△△ward" and area ID "AREA-3""□□ward" representative points (in FIG. Are shown). That is, the control part 11 specifies area ID based on the distance of the client terminal 30 and the representative point of each area.
If the current position of the client terminal 30 is further to the right in the figure than the position (xa, ya), the area with the area ID “AREA-2” is within the search range even if it is located in the same area. May not be included. At this time, the control unit 11 does not specify the area ID “AREA-2”.

  Next, the control unit 11 calculates an area score using the “number of searchers” described in the area management information 132. As shown in FIG. 4, the number of searchers of area ID “AREA-1” is “100”, the number of searchers of area ID “AREA-2” is “70”, and area ID “AREA-3”. The number of searchers is “30”. The control unit 11 calculates a total value of the number of searchers in the search area specified according to the distance range (here, 200), and normalizes by dividing the number of searchers in each area by this total value. Thus, the area score is calculated. Here, the control unit 11 calculates the area score “0.5” for the area ID “AREA-1”, calculates the area score “0.35” for the area ID “AREA-2”, and determines the area ID “AREA”. Area score “0.15” is calculated for “−3”. In this case, it can be inferred that the area of the former area ID is an area where the actual number of users that are actually used as the search area is large and the degree of attention from the user is high.

Next, the control part 11 specifies area ID from the area management information 132 according to the area score calculated by the process of step S2 (step S3). The control unit 11 preferentially specifies an area ID having a large calculated area score.
Specifically, in the process of step S3, the control unit 11 specifies only the area ID whose area score is equal to or greater than a threshold value. If this threshold is set to “0.2”, for example, the control unit 11 specifies the area IDs “AREA-1” and “AREA-2”, but does not specify the area ID “AREA-3”. Thereby, the control unit 11 does not specify an area ID for an area that is estimated to have a relatively low level of attention even if it is close to the user's current position, and is relatively close to the user's current position and has a high level of attention. Is preferentially specified.

By the way, the content of the process of step S3 may be as follows.
For example, the control unit 11 may specify only a predetermined number (for example, the top five) area IDs having the highest area score, or may specify only the area ID having the largest area score. Good. As described above, the control unit 11 may specify the area ID by using the number of searchers as long as the area ID of the area estimated to have a high degree of attention is specified.
In the process of step S3, the manner in which the control unit 11 specifies the area ID may be determined in advance by the search service system 1 or set contents for the input support server 10 and the client terminal 30. It may be decided according to.

Next, the control unit 11 transmits the area ID specified in the process of step S3 to the client terminal 30 via the communication unit 12 (step S4). Here, the control unit 11 also transmits information indicating the area name together with the area ID. That is, in the process of step S2, the control unit 11 calculates the area score according to the priority when the area ID is transmitted for each area ID according to the number of searchers.
Through the above processing, the control unit 11 has estimated in advance the search area that will be designated by the user.

Subsequently, when the client terminal 30 receives the area ID transmitted in the process of step S4, the client terminal 30 selects one of the received area IDs. The client terminal 30 displays a list of area names corresponding to the received area ID based on the area ID and area name transmitted in the process of step S4. The user selects an area ID by performing an operation of selecting any area name on the client terminal 30 in accordance with a desired search area. The client terminal 30 transmits the selected area ID to the input support server 10 (step S5).
In addition, when there is one area ID transmitted in the process of step S4, the process related to this selection may be omitted. In this case, the control unit 11 executes the following processing steps assuming that the area ID is selected by the client terminal 30, and omits the processing steps of steps S4 and S5.

When the communication unit 12 receives the area ID from the client terminal 30, the control unit 11 of the input support server 10 specifies the search word to be presented to the client terminal 30 from the search word related to the area to which the area ID is assigned (step) S6). The control unit 11 refers to the field corresponding to the area ID received in the process of step S5 in the search word information 133. And the control part 11 presents the search word according to a search word score among the search words matched with the area ID (step S7). Specifically, the control unit 11 generates transmission data including the search term to be presented and transmits it to the client terminal 30.
In the process of step S7, for example, the control unit 11 presents a predetermined number of search terms having a higher search term score calculated in advance. If the control unit 11 receives the area ID “AREA-1” according to the content of FIG. 5, the search term “ramen” having the maximum search term score is displayed with the highest priority, followed by “movie”. Search terms such as "kan" and "bus" are presented in order. At this time, the control unit 11 may present a search word having a high search word score at the top so that a client having a large calculated search word score can be easily specified on the client terminal 30. In addition, the control unit 11 may present only a search word having the highest search word score, or may present a search word having a search word score equal to or higher than a threshold (for example, 0.4). Moreover, the control part 11 may show all the search terms matched with area ID received by the process of step S5. As described above, various modes can be adopted as an algorithm for determining whether or not the control unit 11 presents a search term.

The client terminal 30 generates a search query based on the search term specified by the user (step S8). At this time, when the search term presented by the input support server 10 is designated by the user or the search term is newly entered by the user's input operation and the search term is designated, the client terminal 30 performs the search. Generate a search query that includes words. Here, the search query includes a search term used for the search, an area ID of the area related to the searched content, and a user ID for identifying the user of the client terminal 30.
The area ID is the same area ID as that transmitted in the process of step S5.

  If the search term presented by the input support server 10 is specified in the process of step S8, the user can save time and effort for inputting the search term, and the burden is reduced. As a result, the input support server 10 supports the user's input of search terms. Even if the user does not know the information related to the search word, the input support server 10 can give the user an opportunity to know the information anew. Moreover, since the input support server 10 can use the search query as a search history, it is not necessary to cause the client terminal 30 to separately generate information related to the search history.

  The client terminal 30 transmits the search query to the input support server 10 (step S9). The control unit 11 of the input support server 10 receives the search query through the communication unit 12. The control unit 11 acquires the received search query as a search history, generates feature information that is the number of searchers, and updates the contents of the search history information 131, the area management information 132, and the search word information 133, respectively (step S1). S10). At this time, the control unit 11 describes each piece of information included in the search query in a corresponding field of the search history information 131. And the control part 11 counts the real number of user ID contained in the search history information 131 for every area based on the content of the search history information 131 after an update, and produces | generates the feature information for every area. Then, the control unit 11 updates the contents of the area management information 132 and the search word information 133. At this time, the control unit 11 may update the contents of the area management information 132 and the search word information 133 so that a search history within a predetermined period such as within the past three months is included. Thereby, the characteristic of the search history of comparatively near time can be reflected in specification of area ID which is the process of step S3.

  Further, the client terminal 30 transmits the search query generated in the process of step S8 to the search server 20 in order to search (step S11). The search server 20 specifies which area the search result is to be provided according to the area ID included in the search query, and transmits the search result corresponding to the area and the search word to the client terminal 30 (step S12). Then, the client terminal 30 receives a search result including the search term to which the area ID is added from the search server 20. Then, the client terminal 30 accesses the server storing the content specified by the URL, for example, by specifying a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) indicated in the search result, and receives the content.

According to the first embodiment described above, the input support server 10 determines the search area in advance based on the characteristics of the search history (here, the number of searchers) together with the current position of the client terminal 30 when presenting the search term. presume. Specifically, the input support server 10 specifies one or a plurality of areas based on the distance between the current position of the client terminal 30 and the representative point of each area. And the input support server 10 specifies area ID preferentially about an area with many searchers among the specified areas. According to this configuration, when the input support server 10 estimates the search area, the characteristics of the search history are reflected. Therefore, it is possible to specify the search area that takes into account the degree of attention by the actual user. Thereby, even if the value of the information can change from moment to moment, the input support server 10 can accurately estimate the search area in light of the change.
Furthermore, the input support server 10 calculates the real number of users using each search word for each area, calculates a search word score, and specifies the search word to be presented to the client terminal 30 according to the search word area. As a result, the input support server 10 can preferentially present the search terms related to information with high attention in the area designated by the user to the client terminal 30.

[Second Embodiment]
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.
The search service system according to the second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in the content of the feature indicated by the feature information and the configuration related to the feature information. Therefore, the overall configuration of the search service system and the hardware configuration of each device are the same as those in the first embodiment. In the following description, among the configurations of the search service system of the present embodiment, those common to the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description and illustration of each configuration are omitted as appropriate. Further, the configuration corresponding to the first embodiment is indicated by adding “a” to the end of the reference numeral, and the description thereof is omitted as appropriate.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a data structure of the area management information 132a of this embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 10, the area management information 132a has a structure in which information described in each field of “area ID”, “area name”, “position information”, “number of searchers”, and “distance” is associated. It is. Among these, the contents of each information of “area ID”, “area name”, “location information”, and “number of searchers” are the same as those in the first embodiment. The information described in the “distance” field represents the distance from the representative point of the area. The “number of searchers” field is described corresponding to each of the “distance” fields.

  In the area management information 132a, the area is further divided into a plurality of areas according to the distance from the representative point, and the number of searchers for each area is described. That is, the number of searchers in this embodiment may differ for each distance from the representative point in one area. For example, the record shown in the first row of FIG. 10 is searched by 50 users who are within a range of “0-9” km from the representative point in the area of area ID “AREA-1”. Means that

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a data structure of the search history information 131a of this embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 11, the search history information 131a has a structure in which information described in each field of “search date / time”, “user ID”, “area ID”, “distance”, and “search word” is associated. is there. Among these, the contents of each information of “search date and time”, “user ID”, “area ID”, and “search word” are the same as those in the first embodiment. The information described in the “distance” field is position information indicating a position when the client terminal 30 performs a search. Such position information is an example of the second position information of the present invention, and includes latitude information and longitude information. The position indicated by the position information represents a distance from the representative point of the area including the position. For example, the record shown in the first row of FIG. 11 means that the client terminal 30 has searched at a point whose distance from the representative point is “15” km in the area of the area ID “AREA-1”. .

Next, the operation in the search service system 1 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining the search area. FIG. 12 schematically illustrates a region in the area range of area IDs “AREA-1” to “AREA-3”.
The operation procedure in the search service system 1 is basically the same procedure as the sequence chart shown in FIG. 7, but differs in the following points.
When the client terminal 30 transmits an area ID acquisition query in the process of step S1, in the process of step S2, the control unit 11 of the input support server 10 indicates the position indicated by the position information included in the area ID acquisition query, and the search range. The distance from each representative point in the area where the representative point is included in (50 km) is calculated. And the control part 11 specifies the number of searchers corresponding to the calculated distance about each area, and calculates an area score. Here, the control unit 11 has a distance of 25 km from the area of area ID “AREA-1”, a distance of 25 km from the area of area ID “AREA-2”, and the area ID “AREA-3”. Assume that the distance from the area is calculated to be 15 km. In this case, according to the contents of FIG. 10, the control unit 11 determines the number of searchers “20” for the area with the area ID “AREA-1” and the number of searchers “10” for the area with the area ID “AREA-2”. The number of searchers “10” is specified for the area of area ID “AREA-3”. Then, as illustrated in FIG. 12, the control unit 11 performs an area score of “0.5” for the area with the area ID “AREA-1” and an area with the area ID “AREA-2” by the same procedure as in the first embodiment. Area score “0.25” and area ID “AREA-3” are calculated as area score “0.25”.
The processing from step S3 to step S9 is the same as in the first embodiment described above.

In the process of step S10, the control unit 11 receives a search history including position information (corresponding to the second position information of the present invention) indicating a position when the client terminal 30 executes the search. And the control part 11 produces | generates the feature information about the area | region containing the position which the received position information shows, and updates the content of the search history information 131a.
Other than that, in the search service system 1, processing is executed in the same procedure as in the first embodiment described above.

  According to 2nd Embodiment demonstrated above, while there exists an effect equivalent to 1st Embodiment mentioned above, there also exist the following effects. When the search area is estimated, the input support server 10 takes into account the position in the area where the user has searched based on the search history. For example, even if the client terminal 30 tries to search for information under the same search condition in an area common to each other, the number of searchers is quite large within a predetermined range from the representative point, but the number of searchers extremely outside the range. May be reduced. In the configuration of the first embodiment described above, the search area estimation results are the same in both cases. On the other hand, according to the configuration of this embodiment, the search area suitable for the feature indicated by the search history can be estimated even in such a case.

[Third Embodiment]
Next, a third embodiment of the present invention will be described.
The search service system according to the third embodiment is different from the first embodiment in the content of the feature indicated by the feature information and the configuration related to the feature information. Therefore, the overall configuration of the search service system and the hardware configuration of each device are the same as those in the first embodiment. In the following description, among the configurations of the search service system of the present embodiment, those common to the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description and illustration of each configuration are omitted as appropriate. Also, the configuration corresponding to the first embodiment is represented by adding “b” to the end of the reference numeral, and the description thereof will be simplified as appropriate.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing the configuration of the area management information 132b of this embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 13, the area management information 132b has a configuration in which information described in each field of “area ID”, “area name”, “position information”, and “number of searches” is associated. Among these, the contents of each information of “area ID”, “area name”, and “position information” are the same as those in the first embodiment.
The number of searches is an example of feature information of the present invention, and represents a feature that differs for each user. It can be said that the number of times of search also represents a quantitative feature based on statistics of the search history for each area. This number of searches is a value representing how many times one user has performed an information search for each area. That is, the number of searches represents a feature of information search for each user in area units. In other words, the feature indicated by the feature information of this embodiment is not shared by the client terminals 30 of an unspecified number of users, and different features are used for each user.
For example, in the record shown in the first line of FIG. 13, the area with the area name “XX ward” to which the area ID “AREA-1” is assigned has the location information of the representative point “x1, y1”, and the user This means that the user with ID “UID-A” has executed “30” searches in the area.

Next, the operation in the search service system 1 will be described.
The operation procedure in the search service system 1 is basically the same procedure as the sequence chart shown in FIG. 7, but differs in the following points.
When the client terminal 30 transmits the area ID acquisition query by the process of step S1, the user ID of the user of the own terminal is included and transmitted.
In the process of step S2, the control unit 11 of the input support server 10 is based on the search range included in the area ID acquisition query and the distance between the client terminal 30 and the position of the representative point in each area according to the first embodiment. The area ID is specified in the same manner as described above. Next, the control unit 11 calculates an area score using the “number of searches” described in the area management information 132b. As shown in FIG. 13, the number of searches for the area ID “AREA-1” is “30”, the number of searches for the area ID “AREA-2” is “10”, and the area ID “AREA-3”. The number of searches in is “10”. The control unit 11 calculates the total value of the area scores of these search areas (that is, 50), normalizes the number of searches for each area, and calculates the area score. That is, the control unit 11 calculates the area score “0.6” of the area ID “AREA-1”, calculates the area score “0.2” of the area ID “AREA-2”, and calculates the area ID “AREA−”. The area score “0.2” of “3” is calculated.
Thereafter, in the search service system 1, processing is executed in the same procedure as in the first embodiment described above. However, in the process of step S10, the control unit 11 generates feature information indicating the number of searches by one user for each user based on the user ID included in the area ID acquisition query, and describes it in the area management information 132b. .

  According to 3rd Embodiment demonstrated above, while there exists an effect equivalent to 1st Embodiment mentioned above, there also exist the following effects. The configuration of the third embodiment is the same as the configuration of the first embodiment in that the search area is estimated based on the characteristics of the search history for each area, but is different in that different feature information is used for each user. . According to this configuration, the input support server 10 can take into account the search characteristics of each user of the client terminal 30. For example, an area in which the user is interested is preferentially estimated as a search area. You can also. Thus, according to the structure of 3rd Embodiment, a search term can be shown in the aspect suitable for every user of the client terminal 30. FIG.

[Fourth Embodiment]
Next, a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described.
The search service system according to the fourth embodiment differs from the above-described first embodiment in the algorithm related to the calculation of the search word score of the input support server. As a result, when the search word to be presented to the client terminal 30 is selected. The procedure is different from the first embodiment. On the other hand, the overall configuration of the search service system and the hardware configuration of each device are the same as those in the first embodiment. In the following description, among the configurations of the search service system of the present embodiment, those common to the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description and illustration of each configuration are omitted as appropriate. Further, the configuration corresponding to the first embodiment is indicated by adding “c” to the end of the reference numeral, and the description thereof is omitted as appropriate.

  FIG. 14 is a functional block diagram showing a functional configuration of the input support server 10. The input support server 10 executes the program to obtain a history acquisition unit 101, a feature information generation unit 102, an information storage unit 103, a location information reception unit 104c, a specification unit 105c, an area ID transmission unit 106c, and an area ID reception unit 107c. In addition, functions corresponding to the search word storage unit 108c, the search word presentation unit 109c, and the visit history storage unit 110 are realized. The functions realized by the history acquisition unit 101, the feature information generation unit 102, and the information storage unit 103 are the same as those in the first embodiment.

The search word storage unit 108c stores search word information 133c.
FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a data structure of the search word information 133c. The search term information 133c accumulates a search term that can be presented to the client terminal 30 and information that is referred to by the control unit 11 when a search term to be presented is specified. As shown in FIG. 15, the search term information 133c associates information described in each field of “area ID”, “search term”, “number of searchers”, “speciality”, and “freshness”. Structure. Each row shown in FIG. 15 is regarded as one record, and information related to one search term is described in one record. The contents of each information of “area ID” and “search term” are the same as those in the first embodiment. In the “number of searchers” field, the number of users who have searched using the search terms associated with the same record is described as the number of searchers tr. Here, the number of actual searchers used is the most frequently used search word so that the value of the most frequently used search word (in the example of FIG. 15, “sports bar”) is “1”. A value normalized by dividing by the number of searchers using is described in the “number of searchers” field. In the example of FIG. 15, for the area of area ID “AREA-1,” the number of searchers tr for the search terms “sports bar” and “movie theater” is a relatively large value.

In the “speciality” field, an index value serving as an index of the number of areas in which search terms associated with the same record are used is described as the speciality idf. The special degree idf tends to be high for proper nouns such as “Store A” and “Store B”, for example. Search terms such as stores and place names that are only in a specific area are limited in the area used as search terms, and are subject to area restrictions when used as search terms. Thus, in terms of speciality, from the viewpoint of the use area, the value increases as the search word has a higher tendency to be special. Conversely, general nouns such as “sports bar” and “movie theater” tend to have a low speciality idf. For example, a search term such as a store business type (genre) and a restaurant menu that can be used in any area is less affected by the use area, and is less subject to area restrictions when used as a search term. Thus, in the degree of speciality idf, from the viewpoint of the use area, the value becomes smaller as the search word has a lower tendency to be special. In the present embodiment, the speciality idf satisfies the relationship of the following formula (1).
Specificity idf = log {(total number of areas) / (number of areas in which search word appears in search word information 133c)} (1)

  In Expression (1), “total number of areas” is, for example, the total number of area IDs described in the search word information 133c. The “number of areas in which the search word appears in the search word information 133c” is the total number of area IDs associated with the search word in the search word information 133c. In the example of FIG. 15, for the area of area ID “AREA-1”, the speciality idf of the search term “store A” or “store B” is a relatively large value.

In the “freshness” field, a value that is an index of the number of times or frequency used as a recent search term is described as freshness fr. The freshness is defined based on, for example, a time when a search is performed using a search word associated with the same record (hereinafter referred to as “search time”). Here, the search time is the search date and time described in the search history information 131, and includes the date and time when the search was performed. For example, the freshness fre is “1” when used as a search term within the past 24 hours from the present time, and gradually decreases by a predetermined value every time a predetermined time elapses. Thus, when the information related to the search term has passed, the value becomes smaller as the information becomes less fresh. Thus, the freshness fre is a value that serves as an index of how much recently used as a search term. In the example of FIG. 15, for the area of area ID “AREA-1,” the freshness fre of the search term “store B” or “sports bar” is a relatively large value.
In the present embodiment, the freshness is calculated so that the search history information 131 is referred to when the search word score is calculated and becomes a value according to the latest search time.

Returning to FIG.
The position information receiving unit 104 c receives a user ID for identifying the user of the client terminal 30 together with the position information from the client terminal 30.
The visit history storage unit 110 is an example of the visit history storage unit of the present invention, and stores visit history information 135. The visit history information 135 describes the visit history of each area of the user specified from the position information and the user ID received by the position information receiving unit 104c in association with the area ID of each area.

FIG. 16 is a diagram illustrating a data structure of the visit history information 135. The visit history information 135 has a configuration in which information described in each field of “visit time”, “user ID”, and “area ID” is associated. Among these, the content of each information of “user ID” and “area ID” is common to the above-described first embodiment. The “visit time” represents the date and time when each user visited the area where the search was performed, and here is determined by the search date and time described in the search history information 131.
For example, the record shown in the first row of FIG. 16 indicates that the user indicated by the user ID “UID-A” is in the area indicated by the area ID “AREA-1” at the visit date and time “2010/4/10 0:00”. Indicates a visit and an attempt to search. The contents of the visit history information 135 are updated based on, for example, the search history acquired by the history acquisition unit 101. The date and time when the position information receiving unit 104c receives the position information and the user ID may be set as the visit time.

  The specifying unit 105c refers to the visit history information 135 of the visit history storage unit 110, and for the user of the user ID received by the location information receiving unit 104c, a parameter indicating a visit history to the area indicated by the area ID received simultaneously. Generate. The parameter indicating the visit history here is the number of continuous visit days fpa to the same area. For example, if the user visits the same area for 3 consecutive days, the continuous visit days fpa of the area is “3”, and if the user visits the area for 2 consecutive days, the continuous visit days fpa Becomes “2”. On the other hand, when the continuous visit is interrupted, the number of consecutive visit days fpa is reset to “0”.

  The area ID transmitting unit 106 c transmits the area ID specified by the specifying unit 105 c and the continuous visit days fpa to the client terminal 30.

  The area ID receiving unit 107c receives the set specified by the client terminal 30 from the set of the area ID and the continuous visit days fpa transmitted by the area ID transmitting unit 106c, and further reflects the freshness. The reflection degree gpa shown is received from the client terminal 30. The reflection degree gpa is a parameter that can be set on the client terminal 30 side. When the search term presented by the input support server 10 is specified, the reflection degree gpa is determined depending on how much the freshness degree fre is to be reflected (important). Is set to an arbitrary value. Here, the reflection degree gpa is a value of 0 or more and 1 or less.

When the search term presenting unit 109c presents the search term to the client terminal 30 of the user indicated by the user ID received by the area ID receiving unit 107c, the search term presenting unit 109c displays the visit history associated with the user ID in the visit history storage unit 110. In response, the search word is specified and presented from the search word storage unit 108c. Here, the search term presentation unit 109c calculates a search term score based on the combination of the area ID and the continuous visit days fpa received by the area ID reception unit 107c and each information described in the visit history information 135. The search term is specified and presented so that the search term score having a higher score is given higher priority.
The configuration of the present embodiment has been described above.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described.
FIG. 17 is a sequence chart showing an operation procedure in the search service system of this embodiment. In the following description, the same processing steps as shown in FIG. 7 are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted, and the corresponding processing steps are denoted by adding “c” to the end of the reference numerals. The description may be simplified.
First, the client terminal 30 obtains an area ID including the user ID of the user of the own terminal in addition to the information classified into the position information, the search range, and the type information as described in the first embodiment. The query is transmitted to the input support server 10 (step S1). And the control part 11 of the input assistance server 10 calculates an area score in the same procedure as the above-mentioned 1st Embodiment (step S2), and specifies area ID (step S3).

  Next, the control part 11 produces | generates the continuous visit days fpa to each area which the received area ID shows about the user of the user ID received using the area ID acquisition query. The control unit 11 refers to the visit history information 135 and generates the continuous visit days fpa. And the control part 11 transmits the information containing area ID and continuous visit days fpa to the client terminal 30 (step S4c).

  When the client terminal 30 receives the area ID transmitted in the process of step S4c, the client terminal 30 selects one of the received area IDs according to a user operation. Then, the client terminal 30 transmits data, which is a set of the selected area ID, the number of consecutive visit days fpa of the user regarding the area indicated by the area ID, and the reflection degree gpa, to the input support server 10 (step S5c). ). The user of the client terminal 30 designates the reflection degree gpa together with the area ID, and the client terminal 30 transmits information corresponding to the designated content.

When the control unit 11 receives data indicating a set of the area ID, the number of consecutive visits fpa, and the reflection degree gpa from the client terminal 30, the control unit 11 calculates a search word score based on the received data, and selects a search word to be presented. Specify (step S6c).
The process of step S6c will be described more specifically.
The control unit 11 takes into account information on the reflection degree gpa and the continuous visit days fpa specified by the client terminal 30 and the number of searchers tr, the degree of speciality idf, and the freshness degree fr described in the search word information 133c. The search word score is calculated by an arithmetic expression that satisfies the following expression (2). In the following formula (2), a and b are constants, for example, predetermined values such as a design stage.
Search word score = tr × idf ^{a × gpa} × fre ^{b × fpa} (2)

  As is clear from Equation (2), in the search word score calculated by the control unit 11, the reflection degree gpa acts on the special degree idf, and the continuous visit days fpa acts on the freshness fre. Then, the greater the value of the reflection degree gpa, the greater the influence of the special degree idf on the search word score. In addition, the greater the value of the continuous visit days fpa, the greater the influence of the freshness fre on the search word score. Thus, the search word score of this embodiment changes according to the speciality idf and freshness fre of the search word, and as a result, the search word presented by the control unit 11 also changes. As a result, search terms can be presented to the client terminal 30 in various variations.

  Here, the relationship between each of the speciality idf and the freshness fre and the search term specified by the control unit 11 in the process of step S6c will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating an example of a search word presentation result when the search word information 133c having the content illustrated in FIG. 15 is used for the area with the area ID “AREA-1”. FIG. 18 (a) shows the search terms presented when the reflection degree gpa applied to the speciality idf is changed from the top, and FIG. 18 (b) applies the freshness fre. The search terms presented when the number of consecutive visit days fpa to be changed are represented from the top. 18 (a) and 18 (b), the search word score is higher as it is listed on the upper side of the page, and is more preferentially presented as the search word.

First, the influence of the reflection degree gpa will be described with reference to FIG.
When the reflection degree gpa is “0”, the influence of the special degree idf on the search word score is minimized, and a search word having a high special degree idf is not preferentially presented. Therefore, priority is given to those having a higher search word score in the order of “sports bar”, “movie theater”, “store A”, and “store B”, and having a high number of searchers tr and a high freshness fr. When the reflection degree gpa is “0.3”, the influence of the special degree idf on the search word score is moderate. Therefore, a search word having a high special degree idf is given priority to some extent. Therefore, compared with the case where the search word score is larger in the order of “sports bar”, “store A”, “store B”, “movie theater” and the reflection degree gpa is “0”, the store A and the store B As described above, the one with a high degree of speciality idf is presented at the top. When the reflection degree gpa is “1.0”, the influence of the special degree idf on the search word score is the highest, so that a search word having a high special degree idf is presented more preferentially. Therefore, compared to the case where the search word score is larger in the order of “Store A”, “Store B”, “Sports Bar”, “Movie Theater” and the reflection degree gpa is “0.3”, “Store A” The area used as a search term is limited, such as “Store B”, and those with a high degree of speciality idf are presented higher.

Next, the effect of the number of consecutive visit days fpa will be described with reference to FIG.
When the number of consecutive visit days fpa is “0”, the influence of the freshness fr on the search word score is minimized, so that a search word with a high freshness fr is not presented preferentially. Therefore, a search word score that is larger in the order of “sports bar”, “movie theater”, “store A”, and “store B” and that has a higher number of searchers tr and a high degree of speciality idf is given higher priority. Yes. When the number of consecutive visit days fpa is “3”, the influence of the freshness fr on the search word score is moderate. Therefore, a search word having a high freshness fr is presented with some priority. Therefore, compared with the case where “search bar”, “store B”, “movie theater”, “store A” have the largest search word score and the consecutive visit days fpa is “0”, “store B” As described above, a higher freshness level is presented at a relatively higher rank. When the number of consecutive visit days fpa is “10”, the influence of the freshness fr on the search word score is further increased, so that a search word with a high freshness fr is presented more preferentially. Therefore, in comparison with the case where “store B”, “sports bar”, “store A”, “movie theater” have a larger search word score, and the number of consecutive visit days fpa is “3”, “store B” Like a “sports bar”, it is often used as a search term recently, and those with a high freshness fr are presented at a higher rank.
As described above, the influence of the speciality idf and the freshness fre on the search word score varies depending on the reflection degree gpa and the number of consecutive visit days fpa, and these can be changed depending on the visit situation to each area and the content specified by the user. Since how much it reflects is changed, according to the input support server 10, the presentation result of a search word can be customized according to a user's action.
Thereafter, the search service system basically operates in the same procedure as that of the first embodiment described above after the process of step S7. However, when the search history is received in the process of step S9, the control unit 11 updates the information of each field of the search term information 133c and the visit history information 135 based on the received search history. The timing at which the control unit 11 updates the search term information 133 and the visit history information 135 may be other than this.

According to the present embodiment described above, the same operational effects as the first embodiment are exhibited, and the following operational effects are also achieved. In the search service system of the present embodiment, the visit history of each area of the user acts on the search word score. Therefore, even when the user frequently visits the same area, the search word to be presented at each visit is displayed. In particular, the content can be customized according to the behavior of each user. Thereby, compared with the structure of 1st Embodiment mentioned above, since it can suppress that the same search term is continuously shown with respect to a user, as a result of having continued being shown the same search term, a user gets bored. The possibility can be suppressed.
In the search service system, the freshness is set for each search word based on the search history. As a result, when the input support server 10 presents the search term, it is possible to present the search term with an emphasis on freshness to a user who visits the same area many times. The possibility that the user gets bored with the result can be further suppressed.
Further, the input support server 10 changes the influence of the special degree on the search word score according to the reflection degree designated by the user. As a result, it is possible to preferentially present search terms unique to the area according to the user's wishes, or conversely, to preferentially present search terms that are used in any area. is there. If the user wants to know a search term unique to the area, the reflection rate is set high. If the user wants to know a general search term regardless of the area, the reflection rate is set low. 10, the system of search terms can be changed according to the user's preference.
Note that the configuration relating to the calculation of the search word score of the present embodiment may be combined with the second or third embodiment described above.

[Modification]
The present invention can be implemented in a form different from the above-described embodiment. The present invention can also be implemented in the following forms, for example. Further, the following modifications may be combined as appropriate.
[Modification 1]
In 3rd Embodiment mentioned above, the frequency | count of a search was used as the characteristic information which shows the characteristic of the search history which changes for every user. On the other hand, when the user visits the area for the first time or when the use of the search service system 1 is started, there is no accumulation of the number of searches or almost no accumulation. Even in such a case, the configuration of the third embodiment may be modified as follows so that the search service system 1 can present an appropriate search term.
In this modification, in the process of step S1, the client terminal 30 includes attribute information indicating the user's attributes, such as the user's gender and age, included in the area ID acquisition query and transmits it. Then, the control unit 11 of the input support server 10 generates user attribute information 134 based on the received attribute information and stores it in the storage unit 13.

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating a data structure of the user attribute information 134.
As shown in FIG. 19, the user attribute information 134 has a structure in which information described in each field of “user ID”, “sex”, and “age” is associated. The information described in the attribute information 134 has contents that can specify what kind of attribute the user is.

By the process of step S1, the control unit 11 receives an area ID acquisition query including an unknown user ID or a user ID that is equal to or less than a threshold meaning that the total number of searches is extremely small. Operates as follows instead of the operation of the third embodiment.
The control unit 11 specifies the gender and the age based on the attribute information included in the area ID acquisition query, and specifies the user ID having the same attribute as this combination in the attribute information 134. And the control part 11 calculates an area score using the frequency | count of search of the specified user ID. For example, when the control unit 11 specifies the attributes “age 10” and sex “female” from the area ID acquisition query, the area score is calculated in the same manner as when the user with the user ID “UID-A” accesses. calculate. The content of the processing steps executed by the control unit 11 thereafter may be the same as in the third embodiment described above.
According to this configuration, any user can enjoy the effects of the configuration of the third embodiment.
Note that the control unit 11 may select a user ID that matches one if there is no attribute that completely matches the sex and age. Moreover, the attribute which attribute information shows is not limited to sex and age, Another attribute regarding a user, such as a user's birthplace and a hobby, may be employ | adopted.

[Modification 2]
In each of the above-described embodiments, information indicating “search range” is included in the area ID acquisition query and the user designates the search range. However, the area ID acquisition query may be modified as follows.
The control unit 11 specifies the search range based on the type information included in the area ID acquisition query. For example, when the client terminal 30 is a mobile device such as a mobile phone, it is considered that the user is accessing while out. In this case, since it is presumed that the user wants to check the content related to whereabouts, the control unit 11 reduces the search range such as “25 km”. On the other hand, when the client terminal 30 is a stationary device such as a personal computer, it is considered that the user is accessing while at home. In this case, since it is assumed that the user wants to search for information regarding a place to go out, the control unit 11 increases the search range such as “75 km”.
Thus, the control unit 11 may determine the search area according to the terminal type of the client terminal 30.

[Modification 3]
The feature indicated by the feature information of the present invention is the number of searchers in the above-described first embodiment and the number of searches in the above-described second embodiment.
For example, the input support server 10 may employ feature information indicating the frequency of search (hereinafter referred to as “search frequency”). For example, in the configuration of the first and second embodiments described above, the control unit 11 calculates the search frequency by dividing the number of times of search per unit time by the unit time (for example, 3 minutes). In this way, for example, even when the number of searchers within a predetermined period is the same, a difference may appear in the search frequency, and it can be estimated that the degree of attention is high when the search frequency is high. Therefore, even if the feature information of the first embodiment indicates the search frequency, it is considered that the same effect as the first embodiment can be obtained. Moreover, in the said 3rd Embodiment, you may employ | adopt the search frequency for every user as feature information. As described above, the input support server 10 uses the quantitative feature based on the statistics of the search history as a parameter serving as an index of the attention degree or popularity of the area, and is equivalent to the first and second embodiments described above. It is thought that there is an effect.

Further, for example, considering the attention level of the area, the attention level of the area may change in each time zone of the day. In areas where there are many busy streets, the nighttime is more noticeable than in the daytime, and in office districts, the daytime is likely to be more noticeable than in the nighttime. Therefore, the input support server 10 obtains the number of searches in each time zone based on the “search time” of the search history information 131. And when the input assistance server 10 estimates a search area, you may make it estimate an area based on the frequency | count of a search of the time slot | zone containing the present time. As described above, it is considered that the effect of the present invention can be obtained by using the parameter that is an index of the attention degree and popularity of the area.
Further, the input support server 10 may specify the area ID by combining a plurality of the feature information described above. At this time, the input support server 10 may weight the area score according to the type of feature information.

[Modification 4]
In the embodiment described above, the control unit 11 identifies the area ID in the process of step S4 based on the distance between the current position of the client terminal 30 and the position of the representative point of the area. This configuration may be modified as follows.
For example, it is considered that the user does not want to estimate the search area according to the current position, and may want to estimate the search area according to the travel destination that is about to go. Even in such a case, even if the current position of the client terminal 30 of each of the above embodiments is replaced with a position arbitrarily designated by a user such as a travel destination so that the effects of the configuration of each of the above embodiments can be enjoyed, the present invention. Can be specified. In this case, although the position indicated by the position information included in the area ID acquisition query is different from that in the embodiment, other configurations and operations may be the same as those in the above embodiments.

[Modification 5]
In each of the embodiments described above, the date and time information is included in the search history. However, this may be omitted except for the fourth embodiment described above. It may be omitted. The search history only needs to include at least the area ID of the searched area.
In each of the above-described embodiments, the input support server 10 calculates the area score by normalizing the number of searchers and the number of searches with the total value. The area ID may be specified based on the size relationship. That is, the input support server 10 may specify the area ID according to the feature itself indicated by the feature information, instead of specifying the area ID according to the area score. In addition, the control unit 11 may make the same for the search word score, and may compare the number of searchers using the search word and the number of searches itself. In addition, in the process of step S4 in the above-described embodiment, the control unit 11 11 may also transmit the area score in association with the area ID. In this case, it is preferable to perform control so that the area ID can be designated on the client terminal 30 side in the form of the above embodiment.

[Modification 6]
In the fourth embodiment described above, the area ID transmission unit 106c transmits the continuous visit days fpa to the client terminal 30, but this may not be transmitted. In short, it is only necessary that the search term presentation unit 109c can refer to the continuous visit days fpa when calculating the search term score. Further, the arithmetic expression for calculating the search word score is not limited to the expression (2). The search word presentation unit 109c calculates the search word score by taking into account the reflection degree gpa, the number of consecutive visit days fpa, and the information on the number of searchers tr, the speciality idf, and the freshness fr described in the search word information 133c. If so, the arithmetic expression may be other. Further, in the calculation of the search word score by the search word presentation unit 109c, one of the reflection rate gpa and the number of consecutive visits fpa, and the number of searchers tr, the degree of speciality idf, and the freshness fr described in the search word information 133c Multiple conditions may be excluded.
Moreover, the control part 11 may calculate a search term score according to visit histories other than the continuous visit days fpa. For example, it may be the number of times the user visited each area within a predetermined period in the past from the present time, or may be the total number of visits, and the visit history of the present invention reflects the contents of past visits. Any parameter can be used. Even in this case, the search word presentation result changes depending on how the user visits each area. Further, the contents described in the above-described fourth embodiment regarding the calculation procedure of the special degree idf and the freshness fre are merely examples, and the method of determining the parameters is limited to those described above as long as it conforms to the purpose of each parameter. Not. For example, the special degree may be calculated only by the total number of areas used as search terms.

[Modification 7]
In each of the above-described embodiments, the input support server 10 presents a search word without input of the user's search word. However, when a certain search word is input, another search related to the input is performed. When presenting a word (second search word), a search word presentation method as in each of the above embodiments may be employed. In this case, the input support server 10 may classify and manage the search word to be presented as the second search word for each search word (first search word) input by the user. Further, the input support server 10 may present a search term that matches the first character when the user inputs the first character. Even in this configuration, only search terms that are candidates for presentation are narrowed down according to the user's input characters, and the configuration of the input support server 10 may be the same as that of each embodiment.
The input support server 10 may present two or more search terms simultaneously. For example, if the input support server 10 simply presents “ramen”, the user may not be able to know which ramen store is receiving attention. Therefore, the input support server 10 describes two or more search terms in one “search term” field in the search term information, and, for example, selects a plurality of search terms such as “ramen xx bow” (AND condition). It may be presented at the same time.

[Modification 8]
In each of the above-described embodiments, the input support server 10 and the search server 20 functioning as a search unit are realized by separate server devices, but these may be realized by an integrated server device.
In each embodiment described above, the area ID and the position information of the representative point of the area are separate information, but the area ID may also be used as the position information of the representative point. This is because the position information of the representative point in the present invention itself has an identification function for uniquely identifying each area and can also function as the area identification information of the present invention. Therefore, the input support server 10 can specify the position of the representative point from the area ID by using the area ID as the position information indicating the representative point of each area. In other words, the input support server 10 can also identify each area from the position information by using the position information indicating the representative point of each area as the area ID.
In each embodiment described above, the input support server performs processing for transmitting the area ID in the processing of step S4 (step S4c) (that is, processing of S2 to S4 (S4c) and S10), and step S7 (step S7c). ) Process for presenting the search term (that is, the process of S6 (S6c) to S7 (S7c)). On the other hand, the present invention can be specified as performing only the process for transmitting the area ID (that is, the processes of S2 to S4 (S4c) and S10). In this case, the process for presenting the search term (that is, the process of S6 (S6c) to S7 (S7c)) may be executed in another server device.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Search service system, 10 ... Input support server, 101 ... History acquisition part, 102 ... Feature information generation part, 103 ... Information storage part, 104, 104c ... Position information reception part, 105, 105c ... Identification part, 106, 106c ... Area ID transmission unit 107, 107c ... Area ID reception unit 108, 108c ... Search term storage unit 109, 109c ... Search term presentation unit 110 ... Visit history storage unit 11 ... Control unit 12 ... Communication unit DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 13 ... Memory | storage part, 131, 131a ... Search history information, 132, 132a, 132b ... Area management information, 133, 133c ... Search term information, 134 ... Attribute information, 135 ... Visit history information, 20 ... Search server, 30 ... Client Terminal

Claims (15)

An acquisition unit for acquiring a search history related to the area, including at least area identification information for identifying the area;
A generation unit that generates, for each area, feature information indicating features of a plurality of search histories acquired by the acquisition unit;
An information storage unit that stores area identification information of the area and feature information generated for the area in association with each other;
A first receiver for receiving at least first position information from the client device;
The area from the information storage unit based on the distance between the position indicated by the first position information and the representative point of the area, and the feature indicated by the feature information associated with the area identification information of the area in the information storage unit A specific unit for identifying identification information;
A server device comprising: a transmission unit that transmits the area identification information specified by the specification unit to the client device. The search history includes a search term used for the search,
An accumulation unit that accumulates area identification information and a search term that are included in the search history acquired by the acquisition unit;
Of the area identification information transmitted by the transmission unit, a second reception unit that receives the area identification information specified by the client device;
The server apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a presentation unit that presents, to the client device, a search term associated with the area identification information received by the second reception unit in the storage unit. The specifying unit calculates a score according to a priority when the area identification information is transmitted for each area identification information based on the feature information,
The server device according to claim 1, wherein the transmission unit transmits the area identification information so as to give higher priority to a higher priority indicated by the calculated score. The search history includes user identification information for identifying a user of the client device,
The server device according to claim 1, wherein the generation unit generates the feature information indicating a real number of a user of a client device that has executed a search based on the user identification information. The search history includes user identification information for identifying a user of the client device,
The generation unit generates the feature information indicating the number of searches by one user for each user based on the user identification information,
The information storage unit stores the feature information of each user,
The server device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the specifying unit specifies the area identification information based on the feature information of a user of a client device that has received the first position information. . The first receiving unit receives distance information indicating a distance specified by the client device;
The specifying unit specifies the area identification information for the area in which the representative point is included in a range of a distance indicated by the distance information with reference to a position indicated by the first position information. Item 6. The server device according to any one of Items 1 to 5. The first receiving unit receives type information indicating a type of the client device;
The specifying unit specifies the area identification information for the area in which the representative point is included within a distance range determined by the type information with reference to the position indicated by the first position information. The server device according to claim 1. The acquisition unit acquires the search history by receiving, from the client device, a search query including at least a search word used for search and area identification information of an area to be searched. The server device according to claim 1. The search history includes second position information indicating a position when the client device searches,
The generation unit generates, for the area including the position indicated by the second position information, the feature information of the area including the position among a plurality of areas having different distances from the representative point of the area,
The information storage unit stores feature information generated for each region in association with the area identification information, and a distance from the representative point corresponding to the region,
The identification unit identifies the area identification information based on the feature information associated with a distance between the position indicated by the second position information and the representative point in the information storage unit. Item 9. The server device according to any one of Items 1 to 8. The first receiving unit receives user identification information for identifying a user of the client device;
A visit history storage unit that stores a visit history to each area of the user specified from the user identification information received by the first reception unit in association with the area identification information of the area;
The presenting unit identifies and presents a search word from the storage unit according to a visit history associated with the user identification information received by the first receiving unit in the visit history storage unit. The server device according to claim 2. The search history includes a search time when the search was performed,
The storage unit stores the search time included in the search history in association with the area identification information and the search word included in the search history,
The server device according to claim 10, wherein the presenting unit identifies and presents a search word from the storage unit according to a search time stored in the storage unit. The storage unit stores an index value serving as an index of the number of areas used as a search word in association with the search word and area identification information of the area,
The server device according to claim 2, wherein the presenting unit identifies and presents a search word from the accumulation unit according to an index value accumulated in the accumulation unit. The second receiving unit receives a reflection degree indicating a degree to which the index value is reflected when the presenting unit specifies a search term from the client device,
The server according to claim 12, wherein the presenting unit specifies and presents a search word from the storage unit according to the index value on which the degree of reflection received by the second receiving unit is applied. apparatus. Computer
An acquisition means for acquiring a search history related to the area, including at least area identification information for identifying the area;
Generating means for generating, for each area, characteristic information indicating characteristics of a plurality of search histories acquired by the acquiring means;
Information storage means for storing the area identification information of the area and the feature information generated for the area in association with each other;
First receiving means for receiving at least first position information from the client device;
Based on the distance between the position indicated by the first position information and the representative point of the area, and the feature indicated by the feature information associated with the area identification information of the area in the information storage means, the area from the information storage means A identifying means for identifying the identification information;
A program for functioning as transmission means for transmitting area identification information specified by the specifying means to the client device. Obtain a search history for the area, including at least area identification information that identifies the area,
Generate feature information indicating the characteristics of a plurality of acquired search histories for each area,
The area identification information of the area and the feature information generated for the area are associated and stored in the information storage unit,
Receiving at least first position information from the client device;
The area from the information storage unit based on the distance between the position indicated by the first position information and the representative point of the area, and the feature indicated by the feature information associated with the area identification information of the area in the information storage unit Identify identification information,
A method for estimating a search area, comprising: transmitting the specified area identification information to the client device.

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