JP2015153105A - information processing apparatus, information processing method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a structure which associates an advertisement viewed on one advertisement output device with an advertisement viewed on another advertisement output device.SOLUTION: An information processing apparatus comprises first output means, acquisition means and first transmission control means. The first output means outputs advertisement information for advertising a product in accordance with an operation by a user. The acquisition means acquires advertisement history information in which advertisement identification information for identifying the advertisement information output by the first output means is associated with device identification information for identifying another information processing apparatus from the another information processing apparatus outputting advertisement information separately from the information processing apparatus. The first transmission control means performs control so as to transmit advertisement viewing history information in which information indicating advertisement information output by the first output means is associated with the advertisement history information acquired by the acquisition means to a server.

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a technique for displaying information such as advertisements and news on a copying machine to effectively use a printing waiting time is known. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technology in which a centralized management apparatus connected to a copying machine via a public telephone line for remote diagnosis distributes information such as advertisements and news to the copying machine. In Patent Document 1, the copier functions not only as an image forming apparatus but also as an information terminal.

  By the way, in general, the advertiser is highly interested in whether there is an effect (an increase in sales, etc.) corresponding to the cost of the advertisement, that is, the advertising effect. For example, in the case of Internet advertising, there is a mechanism for measuring advertising effectiveness using two-way communication, and it has been well received by advertisers. This mechanism measures whether or not an advertisement displayed on a computer screen has been clicked, and confirms the advertisement effect by determining that the clicked advertisement is of interest to the user.

  Since the advertisement effect measurement is an important function for the advertiser, it is desirable to incorporate the advertisement effect measurement mechanism even in the advertisement service using the image forming apparatus. For example, Patent Document 2 discloses a mechanism for measuring advertising effectiveness in an advertising service using an image forming apparatus. Specifically, when the user prints an advertisement displayed on the operation unit, it is determined that the user is interested in the displayed advertisement. In addition, the print history for each advertisement is passed to the advertiser, and the advertiser can consider whether to continuously distribute the advertisement to the user or to distribute it to another user.

  Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-259542 discloses an advertisement service that displays an advertisement after a user is detected by a human sensor provided in the image forming apparatus until the user is authenticated. In the case where the period of time is short, it is determined that there is a low possibility that an advertisement displayed before authentication is viewed, and a technique for automatically changing an advertisement to be displayed is disclosed.

  In recent years, in the field of advertising and marketing, not only advertisements that have led to direct results (such as product purchases by customers), but also acquisition and analysis of all advertising information made by the customers up to the results, contributing to the results A mechanism to measure the degree (so-called “attribution”) is required.

  As an example, a case will be described in which a customer clicks an advertisement (search-linked advertisement) displayed on a screen when searching for a keyword on the Internet and purchases a product. When only the advertisements that lead to the direct results are measured, the advertiser considers that only the search-linked advertisements that led to the results have a high advertising effect, and the advertising budget is mainly allocated to the search-linked advertisements. However, in reality, e-mail magazines, blog articles, and advertisement display on the operation unit of the image forming apparatus caught the mind of the customer, and as a result, the customer may have searched for the product and purchased it from a search-linked advertisement. obtain. In that case, unless an advertising budget is assigned to an e-mail magazine, a blog article, or an advertisement display on the operation unit of the image forming apparatus, the customer is not motivated to search for the product in the first place, and the result is not connected.

  In order to increase the advertising effectiveness, for example, “This customer views an advertisement in an e-mail magazine three days before the purchase of a product, browses an advertisement displayed on the operation unit of the image forming apparatus one day ago, and It is desirable to measure a series of advertisement viewing histories of “purchased products” as accurately as possible and allocate an appropriate advertising budget. For this purpose, even in an advertisement using an advertisement output device (such as an image forming apparatus), an advertisement viewed on the advertisement output device is associated with an advertisement viewed on another advertisement output device (such as a mobile terminal). A mechanism is required, but there has never been such a mechanism in the past.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a mechanism for associating an advertisement viewed on one advertisement output device with an advertisement viewed on another advertisement output device. .

  In order to solve the above-described problem and achieve the object, the present invention is an information processing apparatus, wherein the information processing apparatus outputs first advertisement information for advertising a product in response to an operation by a user, and the information processing In addition to the apparatus, advertisement identification information for identifying the advertisement information output by the first output means from another information processing apparatus for outputting the advertisement information, and device identification information for identifying the other information processing apparatus Advertisement viewing information in which the acquisition means for acquiring the advertisement performance information associated with the information, the information indicating the advertisement information output by the first output means, and the advertisement performance information acquired by the acquisition means are associated with each other. First transmission control means for performing control to transmit history information to the server.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a mechanism for associating an advertisement viewed on one advertisement output device with an advertisement viewed on another advertisement output device.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example of an MFP. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a software configuration example of the MFP. FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing an application on the operation unit side. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of the operation unit. FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram for explaining a specific operation example of the second output unit. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of table information. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example of the mobile terminal. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of the mobile terminal. FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram for explaining an operation example of the mobile terminal. FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram for explaining an operation example of the mobile terminal. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a report provided by the advertisement distribution server.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  Here, an outline of the present invention will be described before describing specific contents of the embodiment. The mobile terminal possessed by the user has performed wireless communication with an output device (for example, MFP: Multifunction Peripheral, signage display device, etc.) that outputs advertisement information for advertising a product, and has output advertisement information from the output device. The advertisement performance information indicating is acquired. Then, the mobile terminal transmits, to the advertisement distribution server, advertisement viewing history information in which the viewing history of advertisement information on the mobile terminal is associated with the advertisement performance information acquired from the output device. It can be considered that the mobile terminal corresponds to the “information processing apparatus” in claims 1 to 4, and the output device corresponds to the “information processing apparatus” in claims 5 to 7.

For example, the following scene is assumed.
(1) When a user having a mobile terminal instructs the MFP to perform a copying operation or the like, advertisement information is displayed on the operation panel of the MFP (an example of output). At this time, by wireless communication between the MFP and the mobile terminal, advertisement identification information for identifying advertisement information displayed on the operation panel of the MFP (an ID number assigned to the advertisement information for the MFP on the advertisement distributor side), Advertisement performance information in which information indicating the time when the advertisement information is displayed and device identification information for identifying the MFP is associated with each other is transmitted to the mobile terminal and stored.
(2) When the user approaches another advertisement output device (for example, a signage display device) and advertisement information is displayed on the signage display device (an example of output), wireless communication between the signage display device and the mobile terminal The advertisement identification information for identifying the advertisement information output to the signage display device (such as an ID number assigned to the advertisement information for the signage display device on the advertisement distributor side), and information indicating the time when the advertisement information is displayed The advertisement performance information associated with the device identification information for identifying the signage display device is sent to the mobile terminal and stored.
(3) When the user clicks an advertisement link (hyperlink for moving to a web page for browsing advertisement information) displayed by searching on a mobile terminal, advertisement information corresponding to the advertisement link is displayed. Information indicating the viewing history is stored in the mobile terminal. Then, the mobile terminal includes information indicating the history of viewing the advertisement information corresponding to the advertisement link clicked by the user (for example, the number of times the advertisement link has been clicked) and the advertisement performance information acquired from the MFP or the signage display device. The associated (linked) advertisement viewing history information is transmitted to the advertisement distribution server.

  As described above, the advertisement viewing history information that links the viewing history of the advertisement information on the mobile terminal and the advertisement performance information acquired from the output device is notified to the advertisement distribution server. It is possible to confirm with which device the user who has searched for or purchased the product and used it was viewing the advertisement information before that.

  In particular, in the case of an MFP, if advertisement information in the MFP is sent to the mobile terminal at the timing when the MFP and the mobile terminal communicate with each other in conjunction with a print instruction from the mobile terminal to the MFP or a scan image capture instruction from the MFP to the mobile terminal. The history of displaying / outputting advertisements by the MFP can be reliably sent to the mobile terminal.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Hereinafter, a case where the output device is a multifunction peripheral (MFP) will be described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this. Note that a multifunction peripheral is a device having at least two functions among a printing function, a copying function, a scanner function, and a facsimile function.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example of the MFP 1 according to the present embodiment. In this example, the MFP 1 corresponds to the “information processing apparatus” in claims 5 to 7, but is not limited thereto. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the MFP 1 includes a main body 10 capable of realizing various functions such as a copy function, a scanner function, a fax function, and a printer function, and an operation unit 20 that receives an input corresponding to a user operation. . The main body 10 and the operation unit 20 are connected via a dedicated communication path 300 so that they can communicate with each other. The communication path 300 may be, for example, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) standard, but may be of any standard regardless of whether it is wired or wireless.

  The main body 10 can perform an operation according to the input received by the operation unit 20. The main body 10 can also communicate with an external device such as a client PC (personal computer), and can also perform an operation according to an instruction received from the external device.

  Next, the hardware configuration of the main body 10 will be described. As shown in FIG. 1, the main body 10 includes a CPU 11, a ROM 12, a RAM 13, an HDD (hard disk drive) 14, a communication I / F (interface) 15, a connection I / F 16, and an engine unit 17. These are connected to each other via a system bus 18.

  The CPU 11 comprehensively controls the operation of the main body 10. The CPU 11 controls the overall operation of the main body 10 by executing a program stored in the ROM 12 or the HDD 14 or the like using the RAM 13 as a work area (work area), and the above-described copy function, scanner function, fax function, printer function, etc. Implement various functions.

  The communication I / F 15 is an interface for communicating with an external device such as a client PC (personal computer). The connection I / F 16 is an interface for communicating with the operation unit 20 via the communication path 300.

  The engine unit 17 is hardware that performs processing other than general-purpose information processing and communication for realizing a copy function, a scanner function, a fax function, and a printer function. For example, a scanner (image reading unit) that scans and reads an image of a document, a plotter (image forming unit) that performs printing on a sheet material such as paper, and a fax unit that performs fax communication are provided. Further, a specific option such as a finisher for sorting printed sheet materials or an ADF (automatic document feeder) for automatically feeding a document can be provided.

  Next, the hardware configuration of the operation unit 20 will be described. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the operation unit 20 includes a CPU 21, a ROM 22, a RAM 23, a flash memory 24, a communication I / F 25, a connection I / F 26, an operation panel 27, and a wireless communication unit 28. These are connected to each other via a system bus 29.

  The CPU 21 comprehensively controls the operation of the operation unit 20. The CPU 21 uses the RAM 23 as a work area (work area) and executes a program stored in the ROM 22 or the flash memory 24 to control the operation of the entire operation unit 20 and information (image) according to the input received from the user. Various functions described later such as display of) are realized.

  The communication I / F 25 is an interface for communicating with the advertisement distribution server 30 that distributes advertisement information via the network 40. The connection I / F 26 is an interface for communicating with the main body 10 via the communication path 300.

  Operation panel 27 accepts various inputs in accordance with user operations, and displays various types of information (for example, information in accordance with accepted inputs, information indicating the operation status of MFP 1, information indicating a setting state, and the like). . In this example, the operation panel 27 is configured by a liquid crystal display device (LCD) having a touch panel function, but is not limited thereto. For example, an organic EL display device equipped with a touch panel function may be used. Further, in addition to or instead of this, an operation unit such as a hardware key and a display unit such as a lamp may be provided.

  The wireless communication unit 28 has a function of performing wireless communication with an external device such as the mobile terminal 50. As a wireless communication system, various systems such as Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth (registered trademark), and NFC can be appropriately employed.

  Next, the software configuration of the MFP 1 will be described. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the software configuration of the MFP 1. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the main body 10 includes an application layer 101, a service layer 102, and an OS layer 103. The entities of the application layer 101, the service layer 102, and the OS layer 103 are various software stored in the ROM 12, the HDD 14, and the like. Various functions are provided by the CPU 11 executing these software.

  The software of the application layer 101 is application software for operating a hardware resource to provide a predetermined function (in the following description, it may be simply referred to as “application”). For example, examples of the application include a copy application for providing a copy function, a scanner application for providing a scanner function, a fax application for providing a fax function, a printer application for providing a printer function, and the like.

  The software of the service layer 102 is software that is interposed between the application layer 101 and the OS layer 103 and provides an interface for using hardware resources included in the main body 10 for the application. More specifically, it is software for providing a function of accepting an operation request for a hardware resource and arbitrating the operation request. As an operation request received by the service layer 102, a request such as reading by a scanner or printing by a plotter can be considered.

  Note that the interface function by the service layer 102 is provided not only to the application layer 101 of the main body 10 but also to the application layer 201 of the operation unit 20. That is, the application layer 201 (application) of the operation unit 20 can also realize a function using hardware resources (for example, the engine unit 17) of the main body 10 via the interface function of the service layer 102.

  The software of the OS layer 103 is basic software (operating system) for providing a basic function for controlling hardware included in the main body 10. The software of the service layer 102 converts a hardware resource use request from various applications into a command interpretable by the OS layer 103 and passes the command to the OS layer 103. Then, when the command is executed by the software of the OS layer 103, the hardware resource performs an operation according to the request of the application.

  Similarly, the operation unit 20 includes an application layer 201, a service layer 202, and an OS layer 203. The application layer 201, the service layer 202, and the OS layer 203 included in the operation unit 20 have the same hierarchical structure as that of the main body 10 side. However, the functions provided by the applications in the application layer 201 and the types of operation requests that can be accepted by the service layer 202 are different from those on the main body 10 side. The application of the application layer 201 is an operation related to software (such as a copy function, a scanner function, a fax function, and a printer function) included in the main body 10 by operating hardware resources included in the operation unit 20 to provide a predetermined function. And software for providing a UI (User Interface) function for performing display.

  As shown in FIG. 3, as an application of the application layer 201 on the operation unit 20 side, a copy UI application for providing a UI function for performing an operation and a display regarding a copy function, and an operation and a display regarding a fax function are performed. A UI application for providing a UI function, an energy-saving return UI application for providing a UI function for performing settings and display related to energy-saving return, and advertisement information in accordance with user operation and MFP 1 operation. Examples include, but are not limited to, a signage client application that performs display. As will be described in detail later, the signage client application acquires (downloads) advertisement information from the advertisement distribution server 30 and causes the operation unit 20 to display the advertisement information at a timing described later.

  Returning to FIG. 2, the description will be continued. In the present embodiment, the software of the OS layer 103 on the main body 10 side and the software of the OS layer 203 on the operation unit 20 side are different from each other in order to maintain the independence of functions. That is, the main body 10 and the operation unit 20 operate independently of each other with different operating systems. For example, it is possible to use Linux (registered trademark) as the software of the OS layer 103 on the main body 10 side and Android (registered trademark) as the software of the OS layer 203 on the operation unit 20 side.

  As described above, in the MFP 1 of the present embodiment, the main body 10 and the operation unit 20 operate on different operating systems. Therefore, communication between the main body 10 and the operation unit 20 is communication between processes in a common apparatus. Rather, it is performed as communication between different devices. The operation (command communication) for transmitting the input (instruction content from the user) received by the operation unit 20 to the main body 10 and the operation for the main body 10 notifying the operation unit 20 of an event correspond to this. Here, the function of the main body 10 can be used when the operation unit 20 performs command communication with the main body 10. The event notified from the main body 10 to the operation unit 20 includes the execution status of the operation in the main body 10 and the contents set on the main body 10 side.

  In the present embodiment, the power supply to the operation unit 20 is performed from the main body 10 via the communication path 300, and the power control of the operation unit 20 is performed separately from the power control of the main body 10 (independently). )It can be carried out. Accordingly, the advertisement information can be displayed on the operation unit 20 even when the main body 10 is in the sleep state.

  Next, functions provided by the aforementioned signage client application will be described. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a functional configuration example of the operation unit 20. For convenience of explanation, FIG. 4 mainly illustrates functions related to the signage client application, but the functions of the operation unit 20 are not limited to these. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the operation unit 20 includes an advertisement information acquisition unit 210, an advertisement effect measurement unit 220, a second output unit 230, and a second transmission control unit 240. These functions are realized by the CPU 21 of the operation unit 20 executing a program stored in the ROM 22 or the like.

  The advertisement information acquisition unit 210 is configured to be able to acquire advertisement information from the advertisement distribution server 30, and stores the acquired advertisement information in the flash memory 24. More specifically, the advertisement information acquisition unit 210 receives an instruction (an instruction to acquire advertisement information) from the CPU 21, accesses the advertisement distribution server 30 via the network 40 such as the Internet, and receives an advertisement from the advertisement distribution server 30. Download information. The downloaded advertisement information is stored in the flash memory 24. In the present embodiment, the advertisement information is acquired every time a predetermined time set in advance is reached. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the timing for acquiring the advertisement information may be set to another timing such as when the MFP 1 is activated.

  The advertisement effect measuring unit 220 has a function of measuring the advertisement effect as the MFP 1. Specific contents will be described later.

  The second output unit 230 outputs the advertisement information acquired by the advertisement information acquisition unit 210. In the present embodiment, the second output unit 230 performs control to display the advertisement information acquired by the advertisement information acquisition unit 210 on the operation panel 27. In this example, the second output unit 230 corresponds to “second output means” in the claims. Although the specific contents will be described later, the second output unit 230 stores in the flash memory 24 in response to detection of a predetermined user action or device state (when receiving input of trigger information that triggers acquisition of advertisement information). The displayed advertisement information to be displayed is selected and displayed on the operation panel 27.

  The second transmission control unit 240 receives advertisement performance information in which advertisement identification information for identifying advertisement information, information indicating the time when the advertisement information is displayed, and device identification information for identifying the MFP 1 are associated with each other. Control to transmit to the mobile terminal 50 via the terminal 28 is performed. Here, the advertisement performance information can be considered as information in which the advertisement identification information and the device identification information for identifying the MFP 1 are associated at least. In this example, the second transmission control unit 240 corresponds to “second transmission control means” in the claims. Specific contents will be described later. In this example, the mobile terminal 50 corresponds to “another information processing apparatus” according to claims 5 to 7, but is not limited thereto.

Next, an example of a specific operation of the second output unit 230 in the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the MFP 1 displays advertisement information on the operation panel 27 at the following timing.
(1) Predetermined timing resulting from user operation, specifically, (a) timing when the user instructs execution of printing, (b) timing when the user instructs scanning execution, (c) user approaches the MFP 1 The MFP 1 displays advertisement information on the operation panel 27 at the timing (detected by the human sensor).
(2) Predetermined timing due to the device state, specifically, (d) timing when the operation unit 20 is activated (detection of power ON), (e) timing when returning from the power saving mode (sleep mode), etc. MFP 1 displays the advertisement information on operation panel 27. The above is the timing when the user is likely to see the advertisement, but the advertisement information may be displayed at a timing other than the above, for example, the advertisement information may be always displayed. .

  In FIG. 5, trigger information that triggers the display of advertisement information is first input to the second output unit 230. Specifically, when an input corresponding to the user action described in (a) or (b) of (1) above is received, the operation panel 27 indicates the received input to the second output unit 230. The input information is notified (step S2301). When the mobile terminal 50 instructs the MFP 1 by (1) (a) or (b) by wireless communication, the instruction from the mobile terminal 50 is wireless communication before step S2301 described above. It is sent to the operation panel 27 via the unit 28 (step S2901). When the user operation or device state described in (c) of (1) and (d) and (e) of (2) occurs, the human sensor or the power supply control unit (not shown) outputs the second output. Information (trigger information) indicating the generated user action or device status is notified to the unit 230 (step S2302).

  Next, the second output unit 230 is identified by an advertisement ID for each piece of advertisement identification information for identifying advertisement information (may be referred to as “advertisement ID” in the following description) with respect to the flash memory 24. Request is made to send the table information associated with the display history of the advertisement information (the display count in this example) (step S2303), and the table information is acquired from the flash memory 24 (step 2304). In this example, the flash memory 24 stores table information in which display histories (display counts) are associated with each of a plurality of advertisement IDs as shown in FIG. For example, when new advertisement information is acquired by the advertisement information acquisition unit 210, an advertisement ID is newly given to the new advertisement information, and the flash is performed with the display count set to an initial value (“0”). Stored in the memory 24. Each time the advertisement information is displayed, the display count is incremented by one. The advertisement ID is an identification code managed by the advertisement distribution server 30. In this example, the first 6 digits starting with “C” are the identification code of the advertiser, and the last 5 digits starting with “N” are distributed by the company. This is an identification code indicating which of the plurality of advertisement information is the advertisement information.

  The second output unit 230 that has acquired the table information from the flash memory 24 determines the advertisement information with the smallest number of display times as the advertisement information to be displayed (step S2305). Next, the second output unit 230 specifies the advertisement information to be displayed by notifying the flash memory 24 of an advertisement ID for identifying the advertisement information to be displayed (step S2306). The flash memory 24 sends the advertisement information identified by the advertisement ID designated from the second output unit 230 to the operation panel 27 (step S2307), and displays the advertisement information on the operation panel 27 (step S2308). After the advertisement information is displayed, display completion is notified from the operation panel 27 to the second output unit 230 (step S2309), and the second output unit 230 updates the table information shown in FIG. A display history update request is made so as to count up and store the number of times the displayed advertisement information is displayed (step S2310). Upon receiving this request, the flash memory 24 updates the table information and stores the updated table information (step S2311).

  After displaying the advertisement information, the operation panel 27 requests the wireless communication unit 28 to notify the advertisement performance information (step S2902), and the wireless communication unit 28 that has received this request notifies the advertisement performance information. (Step S2903). This notification is a process performed to record the results of advertisement display on the MFP 1 to a terminal in the vicinity of the MFP 1 capable of wireless communication, mainly the mobile terminal 50 possessed by a user who approaches or operates the MFP 1. 27, the advertisement ID for identifying the advertisement information displayed on 27, the time when the advertisement information is displayed on the operation panel 27, and the device identification information (for example, identification code) identifying the MFP 1 are associated with the advertisement. Notified as performance information. In this example, it can be considered that the operation panel 27 has a function corresponding to the second transmission control unit 240 shown in FIG.

  In addition, after starting display of the advertisement information, the operation panel 27 starts measuring the advertisement effect as the MFP 1 (step S2201). In this process, the user performs a predetermined action on the advertisement information displayed on the operation panel 27 (for example, a print instruction for advertisement information, a click for advertisement information, an instruction to transfer advertisement information to another device such as the mobile terminal 50). When an operation such as a purchase request for a product advertised by advertisement information is performed, the fact that the action has been performed is measured as advertisement effect information. Various known techniques can be used as a method for measuring the advertisement effect information. If it is detected in step S2201 that the user has performed a predetermined action, the operation panel 27 requests the flash memory 24 to record the measured advertisement effect (step S2202). Specifically, the operation panel 27 records, in the flash memory 24, advertisement effect information in which the advertisement ID of the advertisement information to be displayed is associated with the type of the predetermined action executed by the user, the number of executions, and the like. Request. In this example, the operation panel 27 can be considered to have a function corresponding to the advertisement effect measurement unit 220 shown in FIG.

  Upon receiving the request from the operation panel 27, the flash memory 24 records advertisement effect information (step S2203), and when reaching a predetermined timing (for example, 19:00 in the evening), the communication I / F 25 The communication I / F 25 that has received the request notifies the advertisement distribution server 30 of the advertisement effect information (step S2205).

  The advertisement distribution server 30 records the advertisement effect information sent from the advertisement output device (for example, MFP 1) at each base and the advertisement viewing history information described later, aggregates the information at a predetermined timing, and reports it to the advertiser. Visualization is performed (step S301). An example of the report will be described later.

  Next, the process of notifying the advertisement performance information by the wireless communication unit 28 of the MFP 1 (step S2903) will be described in detail. Here, as case 1, it is assumed that a print / scan execution instruction (step S2301) is performed by wireless communication from the mobile terminal 50 to the MFP 1. In this case, an instruction (print / scan execution instruction) from the mobile terminal 50 is sent to the operation panel 27 via the wireless communication unit 28 in step S2901 described above. First, details of this processing will be described.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration example of the mobile terminal 50. In this example, the mobile terminal 50 corresponds to the “information processing apparatus” in claims 1 to 5, but is not limited thereto. As shown in FIG. 7, the mobile terminal 50 wirelessly communicates directly with a call unit 501 for a call, a packet communication unit 502 for communication using a communication network of a communication carrier, and a nearby device (MFP 1 or the like). A wireless communication unit 503 for performing communication, a CPU 504, a flash memory 505, a display unit 506 for displaying various types of information, and the like are included.

  FIG. 8 is a main part of the software of the mobile terminal 50, and has a mobile printing / scanning application 550 and a browser 560 as functions related to the present invention. The actual status of the mobile printing / scanning application 550 and the browser 560 is a program stored in the flash memory 505 and operates under the control of the CPU 504.

  The mobile printing / scanning application 550 is an application for sending image data in the mobile terminal 50 to the MFP 1 for printing, or sending image data scanned by the MFP 1 to the mobile terminal 50. This application includes a wireless connection unit 5501 that performs a wireless connection function for direct wireless communication with nearby devices, and a data transmission / reception unit that transmits and receives data to and from nearby devices and the advertisement distribution server 30. 5502, an advertisement performance information acquisition unit 5503 having a function of taking (acquiring) advertisement performance information from nearby devices into the mobile terminal 50 using the data transmission / reception unit 5502, and advertisement performance information acquired by the advertisement performance information acquisition unit 5503 The advertisement performance recording unit 5504 is recorded. As a wireless communication method, various known methods such as Wi-Fi Direct, NFC, BlueTooth (registered trademark), or a combination thereof can be used. These functions are realized by the CPU 504 executing a program corresponding to the mobile print / scan application 550 stored in the flash memory 505. In this example, the advertisement performance information acquisition unit 5503 corresponds to “acquisition means” in the claims.

  The browser 560 is an application that performs Internet communication or the like using packet communication from the mobile terminal 50, and stores a visit history of a web page where the advertiser's advertisement information can be browsed in the flash memory 505 by the function of the advertisement access recording unit 5601. Record. As a result, the result of the user accessing the web page where the advertiser's advertising information can be browsed using the mobile terminal 50 (the user may think that the user has viewed the advertising information on the mobile terminal 50) is mobile. Recorded in the terminal 50. As this advertisement access recording unit 5601, a known Cookie function may be used, or a well-known HTML5 WebSocket function may be used.

  The browser 560 further includes a first output unit 5602, a reception unit 5603, and a first transmission control unit 5604. The first output unit 5602 outputs advertisement information of the advertiser in accordance with a user operation. In the present embodiment, the first output unit 5602 performs control for displaying the advertisement information of the advertiser on the display unit 506 in accordance with a user operation. The reception unit 5603 receives a purchase request for a product advertised by advertisement information. The first transmission control unit 5604 is an advertisement in which information indicating a history of viewing the advertisement information output by the user from the first output unit 5602 is associated with the advertisement result information acquired by the advertisement result information acquisition unit 5503. Control to transmit viewing history information to the advertisement distribution server 30 is performed. Details of these will be described later.

  The functions of the browser 560 are realized by the CPU 504 executing a program corresponding to the browser 560 stored in the flash memory 505. In this example, the first output unit 5602 corresponds to the “first output unit” in the claims, the reception unit 5603 corresponds to the “accepting unit” in the claims, and the first transmission control unit 5604 corresponds to the claims. This corresponds to “first transmission control means”. The first transmission control unit 5604 is information indicating the advertisement information output by the first output unit 5602 (more specifically, information indicating a history that the user has watched the advertisement information output by the first output unit 5602). ) And the advertisement viewing history information obtained by associating the advertisement record information acquired by the advertisement record information acquisition unit 5503 with the advertisement distribution server 30.

  9 shows the advertisement performance information of the MFP 1 to the mobile terminal 50 when an instruction from the mobile terminal 50 (print execution instruction in the example of FIG. 9) is sent to the operation panel 27 via the wireless communication unit 28. The flow for recording is shown. Also, FIG. 10 shows advertisement viewing history information in which information indicating the history of viewing advertisement information by the user on the mobile terminal 50 is associated with (linked to) the advertisement performance information acquired from the MFP 1 in the flow of FIG. Shows a flow for sending to the advertisement distribution server 30. By using the advertisement viewing history information acquired from the mobile terminal 50, the advertisement distribution server 30 can manage the advertisement information viewing history on the mobile terminal 50 and the advertisement information viewing history on the MFP 1 in an integrated manner. .

  The flow of FIG. 9 will be described. The user first needs to establish wireless communication between the mobile terminal 50 and the MFP 1 in order to cause the MFP 1 to execute printing via the mobile terminal 50. Therefore, in FIG. 9, the mobile printing / scanning application 550 in the mobile terminal 50 acquires information (SSID, etc.) for Wi-Fi direct connection through NFC communication between the mobile terminal 50 and the MFP 1 (step S5501). . The mobile terminal 50 establishes Wi-Fi direct communication with the MFP 1 using the acquired information (step S5502).

  When the mobile print / scan application 550 requests the MFP 1 to print, the mobile print / scan application 550 uses the established Wi-Fi direct communication to the operation panel 27 (via the wireless communication unit 28). A print request that includes image data to be printed and print settings such as double-sided printing and that indicates information for requesting printing is transmitted (step S5503). The operation panel 27 receives a print request from the mobile printing / scanning application 550 via the wireless communication unit 28 and instructs the engine unit 17 to perform printing while displaying that mobile printing is being performed (step S5504). . At the time of printing, the advertisement information is displayed on the operation panel 27 in step S2308 of FIG.

  Further, after displaying the advertisement information, the operation panel 27 identifies the advertisement ID for identifying the displayed advertisement information, information indicating the time when the advertisement information is displayed, and the MFP 1 to the mobile printing / scanning application 550. Advertisement result information in association with the device identification information is notified (step S2903). The mobile printing / scanning application 550 records the advertisement performance information acquired from the operation panel 27 by Wi-Fi direct communication in the flash memory 505 (step S2904). For example, when a scan execution instruction from the mobile terminal 50 is sent to the operation panel 27 via the wireless communication unit 28, the flow for recording the advertisement performance information of the MFP 1 on the mobile terminal 50 is also illustrated in FIG. This is the same as the flow 9.

  Next, the flow of FIG. 10 will be described. In the example of FIG. 10, the user first executes a search process such as a keyword search using the browser 560 in the mobile terminal 50 (step S5601). At this time, the browser 560 (first output unit 5602) sends the search condition input by the user to the advertisement distribution server 30 (step S5602), and the advertisement information (for example, search) corresponding to the search condition is sent from the advertisement distribution server 30. Received an advertisement link for moving to a web page (in the following description, sometimes referred to as an “advertisement page”) that can be browsed (advertisement information including a keyword input as a condition) (step S5603) and displayed On the operation screen of unit 506, an advertisement link is displayed near the area for displaying the search processing result (step S5604).

  Note that in steps S5602 and S5603 described above, the example in which the advertisement distribution server 30 also provides a search-linked advertisement by the browser 560 is described, but the provider of the advertisement distribution server 30 and the browser 560 may be different. Conceivable. In this case, it is only necessary to request “third party distribution” from the provider of the browser 560. Third party distribution is a well-known mechanism. For example, the advertisement distribution server 30 receives an advertisement request from an advertiser, and requests a search-linked advertisement from the provider of the browser 560. When the advertisement distribution server 30 submits a distribution tag to the provider of the browser 560 at the time of this request, when the advertisement link displayed by the search-linked advertisement by the browser 560 is clicked, the advertisement distribution server is not the provider server of the browser 560. 30, the advertisement information managed by the advertisement distribution server 30 is displayed. “Third-party distribution” has recently been attracting attention as a mechanism that enables a single advertisement distribution server 30 to collectively manage the effects of advertisements requested to a plurality of browsers.

  The description of the flow in FIG. 10 will be continued. When the user clicks on the advertisement link (step S5605), the advertisement viewing history information in which the visit history of the advertisement page and the advertisement result information acquired from the MFP 1 are linked to each other is sent to the advertisement distribution server 30 (step S5606). The “advertisement page visit history” is, for example, cookie information, and the number of times the mobile terminal 50 has visited the advertisement page in the past is sent to the advertisement distribution server 30. The advertisement distribution server 30 can change the message to the user to “Nice to meet you” or “Thank you for coming again” according to the number of visits (viewing times) in the past.

  In the present embodiment, the browser 560 identifies the advertisement ID for identifying the advertisement information of the destination advertisement page to which the advertisement link clicked in step S5605 out of the advertisement record information acquired in step S2903 in FIG. The advertisement performance information in which the information indicating the time at which the MFP 1 is displayed and the device identification information for identifying the MFP 1 are associated with each other is specified. Then, the browser 560 (first transmission control unit 5604) associates the identified advertisement result information with information indicating the visit history of the advertisement page to which the advertisement link clicked in step S5605 is associated (correspondence). The control for transmitting the advertisement viewing history information to the advertisement distribution server 30 is performed.

  For example, when the advertisement link information acquisition unit 5503 clicks on the advertisement link in step S5605, the advertisement ID information identifying the advertisement information of the advertisement page to which the advertisement link is moved, It is also possible to request advertisement result information in which information indicating the time when the advertisement information is displayed on the MFP 1 and device identification information for identifying the MFP 1 are associated with each other, and obtain the requested advertisement result information. In short, the advertisement result information acquisition unit 5503 corresponding to the “acquisition means” in the claims identifies an advertisement ID for identifying the advertisement information of the advertisement page to which the advertisement link clicked in step S5605 from the MFP 1, and the advertisement information. As long as it has a function of acquiring advertisement performance information in which information indicating the time at which MFP 1 is displayed and device identification information for identifying MFP 1 are associated with each other.

  The advertisement distribution server 30 records the advertisement viewing history information sent from the mobile terminal 50 in step S5606 described above (step S311), and then sends the advertisement page to the browser 560 (step S5607). The browser 560 (first output unit 5602) displays the advertisement page on the display unit 506 (step S5608). Then, the browser 560 (advertisement access recording unit 5601) records the advertisement page visit history stored on the browser 560 side (for example, updates the cookie information) (step S5609). Thereafter, when the user performs an operation of inputting a purchase request for the advertising target product from the mobile terminal 50 and the browser 560 (accepting unit 5603) accepts this input (step S5610), the browser 560 displays the step S2903 in FIG. Among the advertisement performance information acquired in step S5610, the advertisement ID for identifying the advertisement information of the product for which the purchase request has been received in step S5610, the information indicating the time when the advertisement information is displayed on the MFP 1, the device identification information for identifying the MFP 1 The advertisement performance information associated with is specified. Then, the browser 560 (first transmission control unit 5604) receives the identified advertisement performance information, advertisement identification information for identifying the advertisement information of the product for which the purchase request has been accepted in step S5610, and the purchase request in step S5610. Information associated with (associated with) purchase history information including information indicating time and information indicating the history of browsing the advertisement information of the product for which the purchase request has been received in step S5610 on the mobile terminal 50 The advertisement viewing history in which information indicating the visit history of the advertisement page (information indicating the history of viewing the advertisement information displayed by the user by the first output unit 5602) and the advertisement performance information acquired from the MFP 1 are associated with each other. The information is transmitted to the advertisement distribution server 30 (step S5611). Then, the advertisement distribution server 30 records advertisement viewing history information up to purchase (step S312).

  For example, when the above-described advertisement performance information acquisition unit 5503 receives a purchase request in step S5610, the advertisement ID information identifying the advertisement information of the product for which the purchase request is received and the advertisement information are received from the MFP 1. It is also possible to request advertisement result information in which information indicating the time displayed on the MFP 1 and device identification information for identifying the MFP 1 are associated with each other, and obtain the requested advertisement result information. In short, the advertisement result information acquisition unit 5503 corresponding to the “acquisition means” in the claims displays an advertisement ID for identifying the advertisement information of the product for which the purchase request has been received from the MFP 1 in step S5610 and the advertisement information displayed on the MFP 1. It is only necessary to have a function of acquiring advertisement performance information in which information indicating time is associated with device identification information for identifying the MFP 1.

  As described above, the advertisement viewing history information of the user is collected in the advertisement distribution server 30. The advertisement distribution server 30 records, organizes, and visualizes these advertisement viewing history information, and appropriately provides a report to the advertiser. Advertisers can review reports and review ad budget allocations.

  FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a report provided by the advertisement distribution server 30. In this report, it can be understood that a plurality of customers or potential customers watched the advertisement information of the advertisement target product on the 5th and 6th of December. First, (a) is the number of people who purchased the advertising target product from the MFP 1, and (b) is the number of people who accessed the advertisement information from the MFP 1. When this is compared with (c) the number of people who purchased from the mobile terminal 50 and (f) the number of people who accessed the advertising information from the mobile terminal 50, the numbers are very small. Therefore, if only this numerical value is viewed, it may be determined that the advertising effect on the MFP 1 is extremely small.

  However, looking at (d), out of the number of people who purchased from the mobile terminal 50, there were over 10% of users who were displayed on the MFP 1 in the vicinity of the mobile terminal 50 before the purchase at the mobile terminal 50, and ( It can be seen from e) that there are less than 10% of users within one hour from the advertisement display on the MFP 1 to the purchase. As a result, it is determined that a little less than 10% of the users who have purchased a product from the mobile terminal 50 are interested in the product through the operation unit 20 of the MFP 1 and immediately searched for and purchased the product from the mobile terminal 50. Similarly, it can be seen from the information in (h) that it is highly likely that about 100 users who have accessed the advertisement information from the mobile terminal 50 have previously viewed the advertisement information on the operation unit 20 of the MFP 1. . For this reason, the advertiser can confirm that the display of the advertisement information on the MFP 1 has a predetermined advertisement effect and the advertisement budget should be continuously allocated.

  Note that the above is an example of a report, and it is possible to specify MFP 1 from the identification code of MFP 1 or specify an advertisement display time and provide an advertiser with a report segmented by location and time. . In addition to the MFP 1, the above method can also be applied to an advertisement output device that has an opportunity to operate by wireless communication from the mobile terminal 50, for example, a signage device that can be operated by a remote control from the mobile terminal. Note that the method of outputting the advertisement information may be a sound output in addition to the display on the operation panel 27 and the display unit 506.

  Next, as a case 2, a case where a user who owns the mobile terminal 50 operates the main body 10 from the operation panel 27 without wirelessly communicating with the MFP 1 or a case where the user is detected by a human sensor approaching the MFP 1. Suppose. In this case, since there is no instruction such as printing by wireless communication from the mobile terminal 50 to the MFP 1, the process of step S2901 in FIG. 5 is not performed. In order to record the advertisement performance information of the MFP 1 on the mobile terminal 50 at the timing of step S2903, it is necessary to establish communication between the mobile terminal 50 and the MFP 1 without using the mobile print / scan application 550.

  In this example, as a privilege based on the usage record of the MFP 1, 1 point is given to the user when 10 sheets are printed or scanned, and the use fee of the next MFP 1 is discounted according to the point owned by the user. In order to obtain points, the user needs to send point information from the MFP 1 to the mobile terminal 50. The MFP 1 sends advertisement performance information to the mobile terminal 50 together with the point information when sending the point information. Specifically, the user installs an application for acquiring points (referred to as a point acquisition application) in the mobile terminal 50 in advance. At the time of wireless communication with the MFP 1, the point acquisition application cooperates with the signage client application, and acquires advertisement performance information from the operation panel 27 in the same procedure as step S2903 in FIG. As a method for sending point information and advertisement performance information, a known communication connection method can be used. In this example, wireless communication is established by NFC and Wi-Fi direct communication in the same manner as steps S5501 and S5502 in FIG. The above method can also be applied to advertisement output devices other than the MFP 1 that do not have an opportunity to operate by wireless communication from the mobile terminal 50, such as a display-only signage device.

  Although the embodiments according to the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments as they are, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. Various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the above-described embodiments. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment.

  In the above-described embodiment, the main body 10 and the operation unit 20 operate independently of each other with different operating systems. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and for example, the main body 10 and the operation unit 20 operate with the same operating system. Form may be sufficient.

(program)
The programs executed by the MFP 1 and the mobile terminal 50 according to the above-described embodiments are files in an installable or executable format, such as CD-ROM, flexible disk (FD), CD-R, DVD (Digital Versatile Disk), It may be configured to be recorded on a computer-readable recording medium such as a USB (Universal Serial Bus), or provided or distributed via a network such as the Internet. Various programs may be provided by being incorporated in advance in a ROM or the like.

1 MFP
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Main body 20 Operation part 30 Advertisement delivery server 40 Network 50 Mobile terminal 210 Advertisement information acquisition part 220 Advertisement effect measurement part 230 Second output part 240 Second transmission control part 300 Communication path 501 Call part 502 Packet communication part 503 Wireless communication part 504 CPU
505 Flash memory 506 Display unit 550 Mobile printing / scanning application 560 Browser 5501 Wireless connection unit 5502 Data transmission / reception unit 5503 Advertisement result information acquisition unit 5504 Advertisement result recording unit 5601 First access unit 5603 Reception unit 5604 First transmission Control unit

JP 2000-059554 A JP 2003-067623 A JP 2013-006329 A

Claims (7)

An information processing apparatus,
First output means for outputting advertisement information for advertising a product in response to an operation by a user;
Advertisement identification information for identifying the advertisement information output by the first output means from another information processing apparatus that outputs the advertisement information separately from the information processing apparatus, and a device for identifying the other information processing apparatus An acquisition means for acquiring advertisement performance information associated with identification information;
First transmission control means for performing control to transmit to the server advertisement viewing history information in which the information indicating the advertisement information output by the first output means and the advertisement performance information acquired by the acquisition means are associated with each other And comprising
Information processing device. Receiving means for receiving a purchase request for a product advertised in the advertisement information output by the first output means;
The acquisition means includes the advertisement identification information for identifying the advertisement information of the product for which the purchase request has been received from the other information processing device, and the product for which the other information processing device has received the purchase request. Obtaining the advertisement result information in which the information indicating the time when the advertisement information is output and the device identification information are associated with each other;
The first transmission control means includes purchase record information including the advertisement identification information for identifying the advertisement information of the product for which the purchase request has been received, information indicating the time at which the purchase request has been received, and the first output. The advertisement viewing history information in which the information indicating the history of viewing the advertisement information of the product for which the purchase request has been received output by the means and the advertisement performance information acquired by the acquisition means is associated with the server Control to send,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 1. An information processing method executed by an information processing apparatus,
A first output step for outputting advertisement information for advertising a product in response to an operation by a user;
Advertisement identification information for identifying the advertisement information output in the first output step from another information processing apparatus that outputs the advertisement information separately from the information processing apparatus, and a device for identifying the other information processing apparatus An acquisition step of acquiring advertisement performance information associated with identification information;
A first transmission control step for performing control to transmit to the server advertisement viewing history information in which the information indicating the advertisement information output in the first output step and the advertisement performance information acquired in the acquisition step are associated with each other Including,
Information processing method. Information processing device
First output means for outputting advertisement information for advertising a product in response to an operation by a user;
Advertisement identification information for identifying the advertisement information output by the first output means from another information processing apparatus that outputs the advertisement information separately from the information processing apparatus, and a device for identifying the other information processing apparatus An acquisition means for acquiring advertisement performance information associated with identification information;
First transmission control means for performing control to transmit to the server advertisement viewing history information in which the information indicating the advertisement information output by the first output means and the advertisement performance information acquired by the acquisition means are associated with each other Function as
program. An information processing apparatus,
A second output means for outputting advertisement information for advertising the product;
Second transmission control means for performing control to transmit advertisement result information in which advertisement identification information for identifying the advertisement information is associated with device identification information for identifying the information processing apparatus to another information processing apparatus; Prepare
Information processing device. An information processing method executed by an information processing apparatus,
A second output step of outputting advertisement information for advertising the product;
A second transmission control step for performing control to transmit advertisement result information in which advertisement identification information for identifying the advertisement information is associated with device identification information for identifying the information processing apparatus to another information processing apparatus; Including,
Information processing method. Information processing device
A second output means for outputting advertisement information for advertising the product;
It functions as second transmission control means for performing control to transmit advertisement result information in which advertisement identification information for identifying the advertisement information is associated with device identification information for identifying the information processing apparatus to another information processing apparatus. ,
program.

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