JP3474803B2 - Search system, search server, search method, and recording medium - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a search system for searching home page information on a network such as the Internet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Currently, the amount of information on homepages provided on networks such as the Internet is enormous. The user conducts various searches using a program called a search engine in order to obtain desired information from this enormous amount of information.

[0003]

However, the above-mentioned search engine is focused on searching the contents of the homepage (for example, searching the homepage including the information of the digital camera). The function of searching for an advertiser or the like having a predetermined advertisement on the homepage (for example, searching for a company having a digital camera advertisement) has not been sufficient.

The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to provide a search system or the like that can search for an advertiser or the like who has placed a predetermined advertisement on a home page.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, a search system according to a first aspect of the present invention is a user terminal for instructing a search regarding an advertiser of a homepage provided on a network system. And a search server that performs a search in response to a search request from the user terminal, wherein the search server provides a search request including search conditions and an advertisement information search instruction. Means for accepting from the user terminal, first search means for detecting homepage information matching the search condition of the search request with respect to homepage information provided on the network, and the first search means. A second search unit that searches the homepage information according to a predetermined advertiser search rule to detect information about the predetermined advertiser; And means for transmitting to the user terminal as a search result information about a detected advertiser by 2 search means.

According to such a configuration, the search server is
Based on the search condition (keyword, category, etc.), corresponding homepage information is extracted, and a predetermined search for extracting information related to the advertiser etc. is performed on this homepage information. As a result, it is possible to easily know the store, company, or the like that offers advertisements for specific products or services on the home page.

The first searching means of the search server determines whether or not the homepage information to be searched has a banner advertisement function. When it is determined that the homepage information has a banner advertisement function, the homepage information is added to the homepage information at predetermined intervals. Means may be provided for accessing the banner advertisement portion a predetermined number of times to obtain information on the banner advertisement portion.

As a result, even in the homepage information in which the information of a plurality of advertisers is switched and displayed every predetermined time as the banner advertisement, the information of the advertiser can be sufficiently acquired.

In the advertiser search rule, when a homepage address is set as a link destination on the homepage, the first search rule for extracting the homepage address and the characters located before and after a predetermined character on the homepage are set. If there is a string that contains the given character,
And a second search rule for extracting the character string.

As a result, for example, the address of the advertiser's homepage set as a link destination of the image pasted on the homepage, "provision",
It is possible to detect names of advertising companies before and after characters such as “sponsorship”.

If a homepage address is detected by the search based on the first search rule, a means for extracting information about the advertiser from the homepage information specified by the homepage address may be further provided.

[0012] A search server according to a second aspect of the present invention is a search server for performing a search regarding an advertiser of a homepage provided on a network system, and searches for search conditions and advertisement information. A means for accepting a search request including an instruction from the outside, and detecting homepage information that matches the search condition of the search request from the homepage information provided on the network.
A second means for searching the homepage information detected by the search means and the first search means in accordance with a predetermined advertiser search rule to detect information about a predetermined advertiser.
And a means for outputting information about the advertiser detected by the second search means as a search result.

According to this structure, the search server is
Based on the search condition (keyword, category, etc.), corresponding homepage information is extracted, and a predetermined search for extracting information related to the advertiser etc. is performed on this homepage information. As a result, it is possible to easily know the store, company, or the like that offers advertisements for specific products or services on the home page.

A search method according to a third aspect of the present invention is a search method for searching for an advertiser of a homepage provided on a network system, which includes a search condition and an instruction for searching advertisement information. And a first search step of detecting homepage information matching the search condition of the search request from the homepage information provided on the network, and the first search step. A second search step of performing a search for the specified homepage information according to a predetermined advertiser search rule to detect information about the predetermined advertiser, and a search result of information about the advertiser detected by the second search step. And the step of outputting as.

Further, the recording medium according to the fourth aspect of the present invention causes a computer to function as a search server which searches for an advertiser of a homepage provided on a network system in response to a search request from the outside. Is a computer-readable recording medium in which a program for recording the computer is received, a means for externally accepting a search request including a search condition and an instruction for searching advertisement information, a home page provided on a network First search means for detecting homepage information that matches the search condition of the search request for information, and for homepage information detected by the first search means, a search is performed according to a predetermined advertiser search rule, Second search means for detecting information about a predetermined advertiser, detected by said second search means Recording a program for causing the means for outputting information about the advertiser as the search result function as a.

Further, the recording medium determines whether or not the homepage information to be searched has a banner advertisement function,
When it is determined that the home page information has the banner advertisement function, a program for causing the homepage information to access a predetermined number of times every predetermined time to obtain the information of the banner advertisement portion may be further recorded.

In the advertiser search rule, when a homepage address is set as a link destination on the homepage, the first search rule for extracting the homepage address and the characters located before and after a predetermined character on the homepage. If there is a string that contains the given character,
And a second search rule for extracting the character string.

[0018]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION A search system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. A system configuration diagram of the search system of the present embodiment is shown in FIG. This system includes an information host computer 1, a search server 2, and a user terminal 3, which are connected by a network such as the Internet.

The information host computer 1 is composed of a plurality of Ws.
It is composed of an eb server and the like, and provides various homepage information and the like via the Internet and the like.

The search server 2 is a server for performing a predetermined search for homepage information provided by the information host computer 1, and as shown in FIG.
An information collection control unit 21, a homepage information database (DB) 22, a homepage search control unit 23, a homepage search rule storage unit 24, a search control unit 25,
Advertiser search control unit 26 and advertiser search rule storage unit 27
And

The information collection control unit 21 collects homepage information disclosed by each information host computer 1 on the Internet or the like in response to an instruction from the search control unit 25 and stores it in the homepage information DB 22. To do. The collection of homepage information is realized by using a known search program called a robot, for example.

The information collection control unit 21 determines whether or not there is a banner advertisement in the homepage information collected by the robot. The banner advertisement is generally an advertisement with a horizontally long image provided on a homepage, and among them, the display contents may be switched at predetermined time intervals. There is a high possibility that a plurality of companies are advertising the home page having such a banner advertisement. Therefore, for a home page having a banner advertisement, the information is collected multiple times and the changed banner advertisement portion information is also stored in the home page information DB 22. It should be noted that the method of detecting the banner advertisement is arbitrary, and for example, if the homepage information is collected several times by a robot at predetermined time intervals and there is a change in the information content, the homepage has a banner advertisement. You may make it discriminate.

The homepage information DB 22 stores the homepage information collected by the information collection control unit 21. The homepage information stored in the homepage information DB 22 is, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, for each collected homepage information, an address, a context, a title, the presence / absence of a banner advertisement (when there is a banner advertisement, the information of the banner advertisement portion). Content) etc. are included.

The homepage search control section 23 receives the search keyword from the search control section 25 and searches the homepage information stored in the homepage information DB 22 according to a predetermined search rule stored in the homepage search rule storage section 24. . The search keyword that the home page search control unit 23 receives from the search control unit 25 is
For example, "+ child" is composed of an operator (for example, "+") and a keyword (for example, "child").

For example, as shown in FIG. 4, when “+ child” and “+ community” are input as the search keywords, the homepage search control section 23 stores the “operator” stored in the homepage search rule storage section 24. If is "+", follow the search rules such as "Search websites that always contain the relevant keyword (AND search)".
A homepage including keywords of both "child" and "community" is searched, and the address of the corresponding homepage is extracted and used as output data.

The home page search control section 23 also passes the address of the home page as the search processing result to the advertiser search control section 26.

The homepage search rule storage unit 24 stores a search rule used when the homepage search control unit 23 performs a search process for a search keyword. In the home page search rule storage unit 24, for example, "when the operator included in the search keyword is" + ", a home page that always includes the corresponding keyword is searched.
"Search", "If the operator is" * ", OR to search the home page that contains any of the specified keywords
"Search", "If the operator is"-", exclude the home page containing the relevant keyword from the processing results"
(See FIG. 4) and other predetermined search rules are set.

The search control unit 25 receives the search condition information from the user terminal 3 together with a predetermined search request via the network. The search condition information is information indicating the search conditions input by the user, and includes the above search keyword,
The advertisement information described below is included. The search control unit 25 divides the received search condition information into a search keyword and advertisement information, and passes the search keyword to the homepage search control unit 23 and the advertisement information to the advertiser search control unit 26, respectively. In addition, the search control unit 25 uses the advertiser search control unit 2
The final search result is received from 6 and the search result is transmitted to the user terminal 3 via the network.

The advertiser search control unit 26 receives the advertisement information from the search control unit 25 and the homepage address from the homepage search control unit 23 in accordance with a predetermined search rule stored in the advertiser search rule storage unit 27. , Are used to search for home page information stored in the home page information DB 22.

In this search processing, the advertiser search control unit 26
Reads the search rule corresponding to the advertisement information notified from the search control unit 25 from the advertiser search rule storage unit 27, and searches the home page indicated by the address notified from the home page search control unit 23 according to the search rule. Advertisement information is a search condition for a final search target (advertiser). For example, a “homepage provider” is set to search for a homepage provider who provides a predetermined homepage, and a predetermined homepage is set. “Advertising company” is set to search for advertising companies that are advertising in.

For example, as shown in FIG. 5, when the "advertising company", which is the advertising information, and a predetermined homepage address are input, the advertiser search control unit 26 causes the "advertising company" to be displayed.
The search rule corresponding to is read. The search rule read in this case is, for example, a predetermined word such as “extract an address starting with“ http: // ”in a link destination such as an image” (rule A), “provide”, “sponsor”, etc. Extract character strings such as proper nouns located before and after, including the predetermined words such as "corporation" and "(shares)" (rule B), etc. There is. For example, the rule A is for detecting a link destination such as an image pasted on a homepage, and the rule B is for detecting a name of an advertising company. The search rule is set for each advertisement information, for example, and the rule content is not limited to the above and is arbitrary. For example, as a search rule for searching a provider of a homepage displaying specific information, "search homepage information DB 22 for homepage information corresponding to the entered homepage address and obtain its title", etc. Search rules may be set.

After the search is completed, the advertiser search control unit 26 creates and outputs an HTML document for displaying a list of character strings (advertiser's company name, etc.) extracted as corresponding to the search rule. In addition, for example, when homepage information corresponding to the detected link destination address is stored in the homepage information DB 22, the advertiser search control unit 26 reads the title and creates the HTM.
Include in L document. Accordingly, when the linked address is the home page of the advertisement company to be searched, the company name set in the title can be included in the HTML document and displayed.

Further, the advertiser search control unit 26 passes the HTML document as the search processing result to the search control unit 25.

The advertiser search rule storage unit 27 stores a search rule used when the advertiser search control unit 26 performs a search process based on advertisement information or the like. The advertiser search rule storage unit 27 stores various search rules for each advertisement information. For example, the search rule for the advertisement information "advertising company" is "http: // link at image etc."
A proper noun located before and after a predetermined word such as "extract an address starting with", "" provided "," sponsored ", etc. The rules such as "extract included ones" (see FIG. 5) are stored.

The user terminal 3 has a browser for the user to input search conditions and to instruct the search server 2 to search. The user terminal 3 transmits the input search condition data to the search server 2 as search condition information.

The present system displays the homepage information provided on the network using a predetermined search rule to display the advertiser who provides the particular information to the homepage and the particular information. It is a system that allows you to search for the provider of the website. The operation of the characteristic part of this search system will be described with reference to FIG. 6 by taking as an example the case of searching for a company providing an advertisement to an Internet service for children. In addition,
In this example, the collection of homepage information by the search server 2 is not performed in response to a search request from the user terminal 3, but is automatically performed at predetermined intervals.

First, the user inputs a search condition such as "+ kids + Internet service & advertising company" in order to instruct a search for a company that provides advertisements to an Internet service for children. In this case, "+ children + Internet service" is a search keyword,
The "advertising company" following the "&" is advertising information. The user terminal 3 transmits the input data as search condition information together with a predetermined search request to the search server 2 via the network (L1).

In response to receiving a search request or the like from the user terminal 3, the search control unit 25 of the search server 2 sets the search condition information to the search keyword “+ children + Internet service” and the advertisement information “advertising company”. Divide and pass the search keyword “+ children + Internet service” to the homepage search control unit 23 and the advertisement information “advertising company” to the advertiser search control unit 26 (L2, L3).

First, the home page search control unit 23 receives the search keyword "+ children + Internet service" from the search control unit 25, recognizes this as each search keyword "+ child", "+ Internet service", and then About homepage search rule storage unit 2
Based on the search rule stored in No. 4, the homepage information stored in the homepage information DB 22 is searched (L4, L5). In this case, the homepage search control unit 23 follows both the keywords “child” and “internet service” according to the search rule corresponding to the operator “+” (searches homepages that always include the corresponding keyword (AND search)). The homepage information DB 22 is searched for homepages including.

Then, the home page search control unit 23
The address of the corresponding homepage (in this case, the homepage including both the keywords "child" and "Internet service") is extracted from the homepage information DB 22 and passed to the advertiser search control unit 26 (L6).

Next, the advertiser search control unit 26 reads the search rule corresponding to the user information information "advertising company" received from the search control unit 25 from the advertiser search rule storage unit 27 (L7).

Then, of the homepage information stored in the homepage information DB 22, the homepage information specified from the homepage address received from the homepage search control unit 23 corresponds to the "advertising company" in the search rule (for example, image). Extract the address starting with "http: ///" at the link destination such as ",
To extract proper nouns before and after a given word such as "provide", "sponsor", etc. that include a given word such as "stock", "(shares)", etc.) Based search processing is performed (L8).

After the completion of the search, the advertiser search control section 26 creates and outputs an HTML document for displaying a list of character strings such as the company name of the advertiser extracted as corresponding to the search rule. For example, when character strings of company names such as "○○ confectionery" and "Δ △ toys" are extracted, an HTML file for displaying these character strings in a list is created.
When the homepage address of the company such as “http://aaabb.co.jp” is extracted as the search result, the advertiser search control unit 26 searches the homepage information DB 22 using this address as a key. Alternatively, an HTML file may be created such that the title (for example, “XX clothing”) of the corresponding record is read and displayed together with or in place of the home page address. Alternatively, an HTML file in which the title is displayed and the extracted address is set as the link destination may be created.

The advertiser search control unit 26 uses the created HTM.
The L file is passed to the search control unit 25 (L9). The search control unit 25 receives the HTM received from the advertiser search control unit 26.
The L file is transmitted to the search request source user terminal 3 (L
10). The user terminal 3 receives the HTML file from the search server 2 and displays it on the browser. This allows
Users can find out information about companies that offer advertisements to Internet services for children.

In this example, an advertising company that advertises on a home page that includes both "children" and "internet service" keywords is searched. For example, when searching for a corresponding home page offer. Is a search according to the search rule corresponding to the “homepage provider” stored in the advertiser search rule storage unit 27 (for example, extracting the title of the homepage information searched by the homepage search control unit 23). Then, an HTML file for displaying a list of the extracted homepage provider company names and the like is generated.

Further, the information collection control unit 21 of the search server 2
In the collection of homepage information of the information host computer 1 by, when a banner advertisement is set in the homepage information, information regarding the banner advertisement is also collected,
The homepage information is stored together with the homepage information in the homepage information DB 22 so that information about advertisers and the like can be collected sufficiently. Homepage information collection processing for collecting homepage information by the information collection control unit 21 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 7.

First, the information collection control unit 21 collects homepage information of the information host computer 1 automatically (every predetermined period) or in response to an instruction from the search control unit 25 (step S1). At this time, the information collection control unit 21
Determines whether the home page to be collected has a DB function for displaying a banner advertisement (step S2).

The home page displays a banner advertisement D
When it is determined that the B function is provided, the information collection control unit 21 re-searches the homepage information after a lapse of a certain time, and when there is a change in the banner advertisement part, the information of that part is collected. Then, the information is added to the relevant homepage information in the homepage information DB 22 and stored (step S
3).

Next, the information collection control unit 21 determines whether or not the number of searches for the homepage has reached a preset number of times (step S4). If not, the process proceeds to step S3. Returning, until the number of searches reaches a predetermined number, the change in the banner advertisement of the homepage information is checked. Then, when the number of searches reaches a predetermined number, the information collection control unit 21 determines whether or not there is other homepage information to be collected (step S5),
If there is, return to step S1 to continue the above process,
If not, complete this process.

As described above, the homepage information having the DB function for displaying the banner advertisement is searched every predetermined time, and when the information content changes, the information is stored in the homepage information DB 22. As a result, it is possible to sufficiently collect the information of the advertiser even in the home page information in which the information of the plurality of advertisers is switched and displayed as the banner advertisement every predetermined time.

The method of inputting search conditions to the user terminal 3 in the above description (“+ children + Internet service & advertising company”, etc.) is an example, and the present invention is not limited to this, and search keywords and advertising information It only needs to be identifiable. For example, buttons such as "Search keyword" and "Advertisement information" are displayed on the browser, and when the "Search keyword" button is pressed, the input field for the search keyword is displayed.
When the "advertisement information" button is pressed, an input field for advertisement information may be displayed and each data may be input. Further, the operator used for the search keyword is not limited to this and is arbitrary, and other symbols or the like may be used. Further, when only the search keyword is input as the search condition, the same search processing as in a normal search engine may be performed and the search processing result may be output.

A homepage information DB 2 for storing homepage information collected by the information collection control section 21.
2 may be on a computer other than the search server 2. In this case, the homepage search control unit 23 and the advertiser search control unit 26 are, for example, the homepage information DB.
The other computer having 22 is accessed to perform the search process.

The search system of the present invention can be realized by using a normal computer system instead of a dedicated system. For example, by installing the program from a medium (a floppy disk, a CD-ROM, etc.) that stores the program for executing the above-described operation in a computer, the search server 2 or the like that executes the above-described processing can be configured. it can. When the OS implements the above-mentioned functions in a shared manner or in cooperation with the OS and an application, only the part other than the OS may be stored in the medium.

The medium for supplying the program to the computer may be a communication medium (medium for temporarily holding the program, such as a communication line, a communication network, a communication system). For example, the program may be posted on a bulletin board (BBS) of a communication network and distributed via the network. Then, the above process can be executed by starting this program and executing it under the control of the OS in the same manner as other application programs.

[0055]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The search server extracts the relevant homepage information from the collected homepage information based on the search keyword indicating the advertisement target, etc., and for this homepage information,
A predetermined search is performed to extract information related to advertisers and the like. As a result, it is possible to easily know the store, company, or the like that offers advertisements for specific products or services on the home page.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a search system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a search server used in the search system of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a data structure of home page information stored in a home page information DB.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a search process by a home page search control unit.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a search process performed by an advertiser search control unit.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for specifically explaining the operation of the search system in FIG.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart for explaining homepage information collection processing for collecting homepage information.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Information host computer 2 Search server 3 user terminals 21 Information collection control unit 22 Homepage information DB 23 Homepage search control unit 24 Home Page Search Rule Storage 25 Search control unit 26 Advertiser Search Control Unit 27 Advertiser Search Rule Storage

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Claims (9)

(57) [Claims] 1. A search system comprising a user terminal for instructing a search regarding an advertiser of a homepage provided on a network system, and a search server for performing a search in response to a search request from the user terminal. Wherein the search server receives a search request including a search condition and an advertisement information search instruction from the user terminal, and searches the homepage information provided on the network for the search. A first search means for detecting homepage information matching the search condition of the request; and a search for the homepage information detected by the first search means according to a predetermined advertiser search rule,
A second search unit that detects information about a predetermined advertiser; and a unit that sends the information about the advertiser detected by the second search unit to the user terminal as a search result. Search system. 2. The first search means of the search server determines whether or not the homepage information to be searched has a banner advertisement function, and when it is determined that the homepage information has a banner advertisement function, the homepage information has a predetermined time. The search system according to claim 1, further comprising means for accessing a predetermined number of times for each time and acquiring information on the banner advertisement portion. 3. The advertiser search rule includes a first search rule for extracting a homepage address when a homepage address is set as a link destination on the homepage, and a position before and after a predetermined character on the homepage. If there is a character string that contains the specified character,
A second search rule for extracting the character string, and the search system according to claim 1 or 2. 4. When the homepage address is detected by the search based on the first search rule, a means for extracting information about the advertiser from the homepage information specified by the homepage address is further provided. The search system according to claim 3. 5. A search server for searching a homepage advertiser provided on a network system, and means for externally receiving a search request including a search condition and an advertisement information search instruction. A first search unit that detects homepage information that matches the search condition of the search request for the homepage information provided on the network; and a predetermined number for the homepage information detected by the first search unit. Search according to the advertiser search rules of
A search server comprising: a second search unit that detects information about a predetermined advertiser; and a unit that outputs information about the advertiser detected by the second search unit as a search result. 6. A search method for performing a search for an advertiser of a homepage provided on a network system, the step of accepting a search request including search conditions and an instruction for searching advertisement information, and on the network. A first search step of detecting homepage information matching the search condition of the search request with respect to the provided homepage information; and a predetermined advertiser search for the homepage information detected by the first search step. A second search step of performing a search according to a rule to detect information about a predetermined advertiser; and a step of outputting the information about the advertiser detected by the second search step as a search result. retrieval method. 7. A computer-readable recording medium recording a program for causing a computer to function as a search server that searches for advertisers of homepages provided on a network system in response to a search request from the outside. A means for accepting a search request including a search condition and an advertisement information search instruction from the outside, the homepage information provided on the network, matching the search condition of the search request. A first search means for detecting home page information, a search is performed for the home page information detected by the first search means according to a predetermined advertiser search rule,
Computer readable recording medium having a program for functioning as second search means for detecting information about a predetermined advertiser, means for outputting information about the advertiser detected by the second search means as a search result . 8. It is determined whether or not the homepage information to be searched has a banner advertisement function. When it is determined that the homepage information has a banner advertisement function, the homepage information is accessed a predetermined number of times every predetermined time, and the banner advertisement portion is accessed. 8. The computer-readable recording medium according to claim 7, further recording a program for functioning as a means for acquiring the information. 9. The advertiser search rule includes a first search rule for extracting a homepage address when a homepage address is set as a link destination on the homepage, and a position before and after a predetermined character on the homepage. If there is a character string that contains the specified character,
A second search rule for extracting the character string, and the computer-readable recording medium according to claim 7 or 8.