JP5343026B2 - Information mediating apparatus, method and program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an information mediating apparatus, method, and program having a function of charging a fee for providing information from an information provider.

  In recent years, a system has been proposed in which life information provided from a large number of information providers is accumulated and aggregated, and information representing the aggregation results is distributed to information acquisition candidates. By using this system, the information acquirer can perform a marketing process or the like based on the information representing the provided aggregation results.

  By the way, in this type of system, there is a system having a function of calculating and paying a remuneration amount for information provision from an information provider. For example, in Patent Document 1, the number of users of an angle video viewed on the main screen of each multi-angle terminal is totaled, and an edited video is generated by connecting the highest portions of the audience rating based on the tabulated audience rating. In the video distribution system, the user information of the user who viewed with the multi-angle terminal and the viewing record when the edited video generated by the video editing device is viewed by another user are stored, and based on the stored viewing record, A technique for transmitting cashback information to a user of a multi-angle terminal who cooperated when an edited video was generated is described.

JP 2009-207181 A

  However, in the system described in Patent Document 1, a reward is unconditionally paid to a user who cooperates to simply edit a video with a high audience rating. For this reason, when the above conventional technique is applied as it is to a system for totalizing life information provided from a large number of information providers, a reward is paid to the information provider regardless of the validity of the life information. As a result, there is a problem that life information having high effectiveness cannot be collected effectively, and cost effectiveness for the collected life information is lowered.

  The present invention has been made by paying attention to the above circumstances, and the purpose of this invention is to make payments according to the level of effectiveness of life information, thereby improving the quality of aggregated information and cost-effectiveness. It is an object of the present invention to provide an information mediating apparatus, method, and program which are improved.

In order to achieve the above object, a first aspect of the present invention includes the following components. That is, life information is collected from a plurality of information provider terminals used by the information provider via a communication network and stored in a memory. In this state, when a partial disclosure request is sent from the information acquirer terminal used by the information acquirer via the communication network, the life information stored in the memory is partially used to perform the first tabulation Information is generated, and the generated first aggregated information is transmitted to the requester information acquirer terminal via the communication network. Next, when a full disclosure request is sent via the communication network from the information acquirer terminal that is the transmission destination of the first aggregate information, all the life information stored in the memory is used. Second aggregate information is generated, and the generated second aggregate information is transmitted to the requester information acquirer terminal via the communication network. And when transmission of this 2nd total information is performed, the information provider of the provider of the life information which became the origin which produces | generates the said 2nd total information is specified, and it matches with the said information provider The number of uses of the second total information is added and stored. Then, with respect to the information provider of the living information providing source for generating the second total information, the number of times of use of the stored second total information and the amount of remuneration as the number of times of use increases. A process for giving a reward is performed based on the charging condition set to be higher .

Therefore, the information acquirer can first determine the validity of the aggregate information based on the partial disclosure information, and can acquire the entire disclosure information by sending a full disclosure request when it is determined to be valid. In other words, it is possible to select and acquire total information with high value effectiveness. And the information mediating device, when entire disclosure information is transmitted, the number of times of use of the information provider in corresponds with it the entire disclosures of life information that is based on creating the entire disclosure information is added, the Rewards are charged based on the added number of uses of all disclosed information and the charging conditions set so that the amount of reward increases as the number of uses increases . For this reason, information providers who provide highly effective living information will be paid according to the number of times the other person uses the living information , and the information provider also tends to provide effective information by itself. As a result, the quality of life information collected as a result can be improved. In addition, for the information acquirer on the paying side, the cost effect on the acquired total information can be enhanced.

  That is, according to the present invention, a reward is paid according to the level of validity of living information, thereby providing an information mediating apparatus, method and program for improving the quality of aggregated information and improving cost effectiveness can do.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an information mediation system according to an embodiment of the present invention. The block diagram which shows the function structure of the information mediation server used with the system shown in FIG. The flowchart which shows the process sequence and processing content of standby control by the information mediation server shown in FIG. The flowchart which shows the process sequence and process content of the living information collection control by the information mediation server shown in FIG. The flowchart which shows the process sequence of the information disclosure control by the information mediation server shown in FIG. The flowchart which shows the processing procedure and processing content of the accounting control by the information mediation server shown in FIG. The figure which shows an example of the information memorize | stored in the utilization performance memory | storage part provided in the information mediation server shown in FIG. The figure which shows an example of the information memorize | stored in the accounting condition memory | storage part provided in the information mediation server shown in FIG.

Embodiments according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of an information mediation system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
This information mediation system enables life information to be transmitted from a plurality of information provider terminals UT1 to UTn to an information mediation server ISV via a communication network NW, and a plurality of information acquirer terminals CT1 to CTm from the information mediation server ISV. It is possible to transmit the total information via the communication network NW.

The information provider terminals UT1 to UTn are used by general users as information providers, and are portable terminals such as mobile phones and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), fixed information terminals such as personal computers, and bidirectional communication functions. It is comprised by the television receiver which has, or a set top box.
The information acquirer terminals CT1 to CTm are used by manufacturers, sales companies, advertising agencies and the like as information acquirers, and are constituted by personal computers.

  The communication network NW includes an IP (Internet Protocol) network and an access network for accessing the IP network. As the access network, an optical public communication network, a mobile phone network, a LAN (Local Area Network), a wireless LAN, a CATV (Cable Television) network, or the like is used.

By the way, the information mediation server ISV is configured as follows. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration.
The information mediation server ISV includes a transmission / reception unit 1, a control unit 2, and a storage unit 3.
The transmission / reception unit 1 has a function of transmitting and receiving information between the information provider terminals UT1 to UTn and the information acquirer terminals CT1 to CTm according to a communication protocol defined by the communication network NW. For example, TCP / IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol) is used as the communication protocol.

The storage unit 3 includes, for example, a non-volatile memory such as a hard disk or flash memory as a storage medium. As a storage area necessary for realizing the present invention, a life information storage unit 31, a usage record storage unit 32, A charging condition storage unit 33 is provided.
The living information storage unit 31 is used to store the living information collected from the information provider terminals UT1 to UTn in association with the identification information (user ID) of the transmission source user.

  The usage record storage unit 32 uses the information provider's identification information (information provider) as the remuneration amount for the information provider of the life information from which all disclosure information transmitted by the all disclosure control unit 23 described later is created. ID) and used for storage. FIG. 7 shows an example of information indicating the usage record stored in the usage record storage unit 32.

  The accounting condition storage unit 33 is used to divide the number of usage results in stages and store the reward amount for each stage. FIG. 8 shows an example of information representing the charging conditions stored in the charging condition storage unit 33.

  The control unit 2 includes a central processing unit (CPU). As control functions necessary for realizing the present invention, an information collection control unit 21, a partial disclosure control unit 22, a full disclosure control unit 23, and accounting control are provided. The unit 24 is provided. All of these control functions are realized by causing the CPU to execute an application program stored in a program memory (not shown).

  The information collection control unit 21 receives the life information from the information provider terminals UT1 to UTn when the life information is transmitted at an arbitrary timing based on the operation of the information provider or periodically in a predetermined cycle. A process of receiving the life information received by the transmission / reception unit 1 and storing the received life information in the life information storage unit 31 in association with the ID of the transmission source information provider is executed.

  When a partial disclosure request is sent from the information acquirer terminals CT1 to CTm, the partial disclosure control unit 22 partially uses the life information stored in the life information storage unit 31 to provide partial disclosure information (first And the generated partial disclosure information is transmitted from the transmission / reception unit 1 to the information acquirer terminals CT1 to CTm of the partial disclosure request source.

The entire disclosure control unit 23 executes the following processing.
(1) All living information stored in the living information storage unit 31 when a full disclosure request is sent from the previous information acquirer terminals CT1 to CTm that have transmitted the partial disclosure information by the partial disclosure control unit 22 Is used to generate all disclosure information (second tabulation information) and transmit the generated all disclosure information from the transmission / reception unit 1 to the information acquirer terminals CT1 to CTm of the partial disclosure request source.
(2) After the transmission of all the disclosed information, the information provider of the living information providing source for generating the disclosed information is specified, and the information provider stored in the effective results storage unit 32 is identified. Processing to increment the corresponding usage count.

  For each information provider, the charging control unit 24 determines the amount of reward based on the number of usage records stored in the usage record storage unit 32 and the charging conditions stored in the charging condition storage unit 33. And the accounting information for notifying this determined reward amount is produced | generated, and the process which transmits this produced | generated accounting information from the transmission / reception unit 1 toward information acquirer terminal CT1-CTm is performed.

Next, the operation of the information mediation server ISV configured as described above will be described.
In the standby state, the control unit 2 of the information mediation server ISV, as shown in FIG. 3, in step S1, step S2, and step S3, the reception monitoring of the living information, the reception monitoring of the acquisition request for the total information, and the charging processing timing, respectively. Monitoring is repeated.

(1) Reception control of living information When the information providing operation is performed in the information provider terminals UT1 to UTn or when the information providing time set in advance is reached, the information provider terminals UT1 to UTn receive the information provider's life information. Transmit to the mediation server ISV. As life information to be transmitted, viewing history information of a television program can be considered. The information provider terminals UT1 to UTn are represented by information history such as information provider ID, attribute information such as information provider's gender, age, occupation, job title, and residence, date, time, and day of the week. Transmission timing information to be added is transmitted.

  When the control unit 2 of the information mediation server ISV detects that the living information transmitted from the information provider terminals UT1 to UTn has been received by the transmitting / receiving unit 1 in step S1, the control unit 2 activates the living information reception control unit 21. Thereafter, under the control of the living information reception control unit 21, reception control is executed as follows. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure and processing contents.

  That is, the living information reception control unit 21 first receives the living information transmitted from the information provider terminals UT1 to UTn via the transmission / reception unit 1 in step S11. In step S12, the living information storage unit 31 is accessed based on the information provider ID included in the received living information, and the received living information is stored in the corresponding storage area.

(2) Total Information Disclosure Control In the information acquirer terminals CT1 to CTm, when the information acquirer performs a total information acquisition operation, the information acquirer terminals CT1 to CTm first issue a partial disclosure request for the total information to the information mediation server ISV. Send to.

  When the control unit 2 of the information mediation server ISV detects in step S2 that the disclosure request transmitted from the information acquirer terminals CT1 to CTm has been received by the transmission / reception unit 1, it executes the aggregate information disclosure control as follows. To do. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure and processing contents.

  That is, the control unit 2 first determines in step S21 whether the received disclosure request is a partial disclosure request or a full disclosure request. If it is a partial disclosure request as a result of this determination, the partial disclosure control unit 22 is activated. Under the control of the partial disclosure control unit 22, information necessary for partial disclosure is first obtained from the life information storage unit 31 in step S22. Is selectively read, and partial disclosure information is created in step S23 based on the read information. In step S24, the created partial disclosure information is transmitted from the transmission / reception unit 1 to the information requester terminals CT1 to CTm as the disclosure request source.

  For example, television channel viewing channel information and information indicating transmission timing (information collection timing) are selectively read out from each of the plurality of life information stored in the life information storage unit 31 and totaled thereby. The audience rating for each program or time period by the provider is calculated. Then, the calculation result is transmitted as partial disclosure information to the information acquirer terminals CT1 to CTm as the disclosure request source.

  In the information acquirer terminals CT1 to CTm, when the partial disclosure information is sent from the information mediation server ISV, the partial disclosure information is displayed on the display. Based on the displayed partial disclosure information, the information acquirer determines the validity of the living information from which the partial disclosure information was created. Enter the send instruction. When this input is accepted, the information acquirer terminals CT1 to CTm transmit a full disclosure request to the information mediation server ISV.

  If the disclosure request transmitted from the information acquirer terminals CT1 to CTm is a full disclosure request, the control unit 2 of the information mediation server ISV activates the full disclosure control unit 23 and performs control of the full disclosure control unit 23. First, in step S25, information necessary for all disclosure is selectively read from the life information storage unit 31, and all disclosure information is created in step S26 based on the read information. In step S27, the created disclosure information is transmitted from the transmission / reception unit 1 to the information requester terminals CT1 to CTm as the disclosure request source.

For example, the attribute information of the information provider is read out from each of the plurality of pieces of life information stored in the life information storage unit 31 in addition to the viewing channel information of the television program and the information indicating the transmission timing (information collection timing). And the audience rating for every program or every time zone is calculated according to age and sex of an information provider. Then, the calculation result is transmitted as all disclosure information to the information requester terminals CT1 to CTm as the disclosure request source.
In the information acquirer terminals CT1 to CTm, when the entire disclosure information is sent from the information mediation server ISV, the entire disclosure information is displayed on the display. Therefore, the information acquirer can analyze the audience rating in detail based on the displayed all disclosed information.

  When the transmission of all the disclosed information is completed, in step S28, the all disclosed control unit 23 specifies the information provider that provides the living information from which the transmitted all disclosed information is generated. Then, the number of uses corresponding to the information provider stored in the valid record storage unit 32 is incremented.

(3) Charging control When the control unit 2 of the information mediation server ISV detects charging processing timing, for example, at the end of the month, in step S3, the charging control unit 24 is activated, and thereafter under the control of the charging control unit 24. The billing control is executed as follows. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure and processing contents.

That is, first, the process proceeds to step S31 to select one user. Then, based on the selected user ID, in step S32, the usage record of the corresponding information provider from the usage record storage unit 32, that is, the life information provided by the information provider is used as valid information. Read the number of times. Subsequently, in step S33, the payment amount corresponding to the read usage record is read from the billing amount storage unit 33, and the read payment amount is determined as a reward for the information provider (step S34). For example, if the usage record of the information provider whose ID is “1” is “12 times” as shown in FIG. 7, the payment amount is “200 yen” based on the charging conditions shown in FIG.
In step S35, billing information for notifying the determined remuneration amount is generated, and the generated billing information is transmitted from the transmission / reception unit 1 to the information acquirer terminals CT1 to CTm.

Then, when the charging process for one user is completed, the charging control unit 26 determines whether or not the charging process for all users is completed in step S36. If there are still unfinished users, the process returns to step S31 to select the next user, and the accounting process in steps S32 to S35 is executed for this user. Thereafter, the charging process of steps S32 to S35 is sequentially executed for all users who have not been charged.
When the charging process for all the users is completed, the charging control unit 24 proceeds to step S37, where the usage record stored in the usage record storage unit 32 is cleared to zero and enters the standby state shown in FIG. Return.

  When the information acquirer terminals CT1 to CTm receive the billing information, the information acquirer terminals CT1 to CTm transmit remuneration payment instruction information for the information provider to the information mediation server ISV based on the billing information. When the information brokerage server ISV receives the payment instruction information, the information intermediary server ISV executes processing such as adding points for the corresponding information provider according to the instruction information or transferring consideration to the account, and the result is sent to the information provider terminal. Notify UT1 to UTn. An example of an information transfer path for payment of the reward is shown by a broken line in FIG. In addition, about the payment form of a reward, various forms, such as the form which an information receiver pays directly without mediating by the information mediation server ISV, can be considered.

  As described above in detail, in this embodiment, the life information collected from the plurality of information provider terminals UT1 to UTn is stored in the life information storage unit 31, and the life information is collected from the information acquirer terminals CT1 to CTm. When a disclosure result request is sent, first, partial disclosure information is generated by partially using the stored life information under the control of the partial disclosure control unit 22, and the requester information acquirer terminal Transmit to CT1-CTm. When all disclosure requests are sent from the information acquirer terminals CT1 to CTm, all of the stored life information is used to generate all disclosure information, which is used as the requester information acquirer terminal CT1. To CTm, and after the transmission of all the disclosure information, the number of uses corresponding to the information provider of the living information providing source for generating the all disclosure information is updated.

  Therefore, the information acquirer can first determine the validity of the aggregate information based on the partial disclosure information, and can acquire the entire disclosure information by sending a full disclosure request when it is determined to be valid. In other words, it is possible to select and acquire total information with high value effectiveness. In the information mediation server ISV, when the entire disclosure information is transmitted, the number of times of use is counted up for the life information from which the total disclosure information is created, and information is provided based on the number of times of use and the charging conditions. The amount of compensation for the person is calculated. For this reason, rewards will be paid to information providers who have provided highly effective living information, and information providers will naturally become more prone to provide effective information. Can enhance the quality. In addition, for the information acquirer on the paying side, the cost effect on the acquired total information can be enhanced.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. For example, in the above-described embodiment, the case where the accounting control unit 24 is provided in the information mediation server ISV has been described as an example. However, a accounting server is provided separately from the information mediation server ISV, and the processing of the accounting control unit 24 is performed in this accounting server. You may make it perform.

  Further, in the embodiment, the partial disclosure information and the full disclosure information are respectively created. However, only the full disclosure information is created, and when a partial disclosure request is received, a part of the full disclosure information is selected and transmitted. Then, all the disclosure information created as described above may be transmitted when the all disclosure request is received thereafter. Examples of selecting a part of all disclosed information include selecting audience rating data of some programs among audience rating data of a plurality of programs, and selecting a part of audience rating data of a plurality of time zones. One that selects the audience rating data of the band can be considered.

  Furthermore, in the above embodiment, when the entire disclosure information is transmitted, the number of times of use of the life information that is the source is counted, and the fee amount is determined by accessing the charging condition storage unit 33 based on the number of times of use. I made it. However, the present invention is not limited to this. When all disclosed information is transmitted, the life information provider that is the source of the information is searched based on the information provider ID stored in the life information storage unit 31. You may make it add the amount of reward with respect to a provider by the amount previously determined by charging conditions each time.

  Furthermore, in the above embodiment, the remuneration amount is paid to the information provider of the life information that is the source only when all the disclosure information is transmitted, but the life used only for the creation of the partial disclosure information The information provider may be set so as to pay less than the provider of the life information that is the basis of the creation of all the disclosed information.

In addition, the configuration of the information mediating apparatus and its processing procedure and processing contents, the types of information provider terminals and information acquirer terminals, the types and configurations of life information and aggregated information, and charging conditions do not depart from the gist of the present invention. Various modifications can be made within the range.
In short, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment as it is, and can be embodied by modifying the constituent elements without departing from the scope of the invention in the implementation stage. Further, various inventions can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the embodiment. For example, some components may be deleted from all the components shown in the embodiment. Furthermore, you may combine suitably the component covering different embodiment.

  ISV ... information mediation server, UT1 to UTn ... information provider terminal, CT1 to CTm ... information acquirer terminal, NW ... communication network, 1 ... transmission / reception unit, 2 ... control unit, 3 ... storage unit, 21 ... information collection control unit 22 ... Partial disclosure control unit, 23 ... All disclosure control unit, 24 ... Billing control unit, 31 ... Life information storage unit, 32 ... Usage result storage unit, 33 ... Billing condition storage unit.

Claims (3)

Means for collecting life information from a plurality of information provider terminals used by the information provider through a communication network and storing them in a memory;
When a partial disclosure request is sent from the information acquirer terminal used by the information acquirer via the communication network, the life information stored in the memory is partially used to generate first aggregate information. Means for transmitting the generated first aggregate information to the requester information acquirer terminal via the communication network;
When all disclosure requests are sent via the communication network from the information acquirer terminal that is the transmission destination of the first aggregate information, the second information is stored using all the life information stored in the memory. Means for generating total information and transmitting the generated second total information to the requester information acquirer terminal via the communication network;
When the transmission of the second total information is performed, the information provider of the provider of the life information that is the source for generating the second total information is specified, and the information provider is associated with the information provider. Means for adding and storing the number of times of use of the second total information ;
The number of uses of the stored second total information and the amount of remuneration increase as the number of uses increases for the information provider who provides the life information that is the source for generating the second total information. An information mediating apparatus comprising: means for performing a process for giving a reward based on the charging conditions set as described above . A process in which the information intermediary device collects life information from a plurality of information provider terminals used by the information provider through a communication network and stores them in a memory;
When the information mediating apparatus sends a partial disclosure request from the information acquirer terminal used by the information acquirer via the communication network, the information mediating apparatus partially uses the life information stored in the memory. The process of generating aggregate information for
The information mediating apparatus transmits the generated first aggregate information to the requesting information acquirer terminal via the communication network;
When the information mediating apparatus sends a full disclosure request via the communication network from the information acquirer terminal that is the transmission destination of the first aggregated information, all the life information stored in the memory is stored. Using to generate the second aggregate information;
The information mediating apparatus transmits the generated second total information to the requesting information acquirer terminal via the communication network;
When the information intermediary device transmits the second total information, the information mediating device identifies the information provider of the living information providing source for generating the second total information, and provides the information Means for adding and storing the number of times of use of the second tabulated information in association with a person ;
The number of uses of the stored second total information and the amount of remuneration increase as the number of uses increases for the information provider who provides the life information that is the source for generating the second total information. And a process of giving a reward based on the charging conditions set as described above. Used in an information mediating device equipped with a computer capable of transmitting information via a communication network between a plurality of information provider terminals used by an information provider and an information acquirer terminal used by the information acquirer. A program to be executed,
A process of collecting life information from a plurality of information provider terminals used by the information provider via a communication network and storing them in a memory;
When a partial disclosure request is sent from the information acquirer terminal used by the information acquirer via the communication network, the first aggregate information is generated by partially using the life information stored in the memory. Processing,
Processing for transmitting the generated first aggregate information to the requester information acquirer terminal via the communication network;
When all disclosure requests are sent via the communication network from the information acquirer terminal that is the transmission destination of the first aggregate information, the second information is stored using all the life information stored in the memory. Processing to generate aggregate information;
A process of transmitting the generated second tabulated information to the requester information acquirer terminal via the communication network;
When the transmission of the second total information is performed, the information provider of the provider of the life information that is the source for generating the second total information is specified, and the information provider is associated with the information provider. Means for adding and storing the number of times of use of the second total information ;
The number of uses of the stored second total information and the amount of remuneration increase as the number of uses increases for the information provider who provides the life information that is the source for generating the second total information. A program for causing the computer to execute a process for giving a reward based on the charging conditions set as described above.

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