JP5658965B2 - Verification system and method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a verification system and method, and more particularly to a technique for verifying the validity of the number of times (the number of inductions) guided to a website from software or the like installed in a computer.

Patent Documents 1 and 2 are listed as publicly known documents in which technologies related to the present invention are described.
In Patent Document 1, a specific identification number is assigned to an accessor in order to aggregate the access status of a website, and accesses having the same identification number are aggregated from an access log, and a series of page access transitions of the accessor A technique for grasping the access status such as the status is disclosed.

  In patent document 2, in the process of counting questionnaire data, a random number is added from the answer data in the questionnaire answering device and sent to the server for the purpose of processing without knowing privacy information on the counting server side. A technique is disclosed in which, while disturbing the response contents, the server side subtracts the same random number to eliminate the disturbance.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-189942 JP 2006-018053 A

  A so-called portal site or e-commerce site places a link in an application software program installed on a personal computer for attracting customers, and the vendor of the computer or application obtains affiliate revenue in return for the link placement. , Conventionally known.

  Affiliates such as the above are usually determined according to the number of times a user browses those links and browses those sites, the purchase amount purchased at those sites, the number of times an advertisement is displayed, etc. It is. In the present specification, the number of times of browsing, the amount of purchase, and the like, which are factors determining the affiliate amount, are hereinafter referred to as “the number of inductions”.

  The number of inducements is reported to the vendor from the servicer of the portal site or e-commerce site, but the vendor has no way of verifying the correctness of the report, and has had no choice but to look back on the report.

  In order to verify the legitimacy of the report from the servicer, the vendor also obtains the usage count for each service of each user (for example, Patent Document 1), and collates the total value with the report from the servicer. Is also possible. However, in this case, since the privacy information of the user is obtained, strict management is required. Therefore, there is a risk of increasing management costs.

  Of course, when acquiring the number of inductions for each service of each user, a method of disturbing with a random variable and eliminating the disturbance later is also conceivable (for example, Patent Document 2). This method increases the confidentiality of the communication path between the user and the vendor side server, but the vendor side eventually obtains the user's privacy information, and the problem that requires strict management remains unchanged.

  In view of the above circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a verification system and method capable of efficiently determining a report of a value greatly deviating from the actual number of inductions.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides, as a first aspect, a verification system in which a plurality of terminals and a server are communicably connected, and each of the plurality of terminals provides a service provided by a servicer. The induced number storage means for storing the induced number that is the usage information used, the first random number generating means for generating a random number with a known distribution, and the induced number with an error obtained by adding the random number to the induced number Transmitting means for transmitting to the server, wherein the server totals the number of inductions with error transmitted from each terminal and performs statistical processing based on the distribution, and the service induction from the servicer There is provided a verification system comprising: means for receiving a number report; and collating means for collating a total value obtained by the totaling means and a report value obtained by the means for receiving the report. Than is.

  In order to achieve the above object, according to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for verifying a system in which a plurality of terminals and a server are communicably connected, and each of the plurality of terminals includes a servicer Stores the number of leads that are usage information using the service provided by the server, generates a random number with a known distribution, and sends the number of leads with an error obtained by adding the random number to the number of leads to the server The server sums up the number of inductions with error transmitted from each terminal, calculates the total value by performing statistical processing on the calculated number of inductions with error based on the distribution, and the servicer The verification method is characterized by receiving a report on the number of service inducements from the service, and collating the total value and the report value based on the report.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, it becomes possible to provide the verification system and method which can determine efficiently the report of the value which deviated largely from the actual induction | guidance | derivation number.

It is a figure which shows schematic structure of the whole embodiment by this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of a screen display of the launcher of this embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of this embodiment. It is a timing chart which shows the flow of processing of this embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of another embodiment by this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of another embodiment by this invention.

FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of the entire embodiment.
As shown in FIG. 1, the entire system including the guidance number verification system 1 (illustrated in FIG. 3) according to the present embodiment includes a plurality of terminals 100, a server 200, and a plurality of terminals via a network such as the Internet. Servicer-side servers 300 (hereinafter simply referred to as “servicer 300”) are connected to be communicable with each other.
Although a plurality of servicers 300 are shown in FIG. 1, they may not be plural.

  The terminals 100 exist on the order of several thousand to several hundred thousand units, and each has launcher software (hereinafter referred to as “launcher 122”) provided by a vendor managing the server 200 installed.

  The launcher 122 is arranged in a desktop environment with a link for starting application software and the like, and assists the user in starting the application software to increase the speed. Some of these links start a browser with a URI (Uniform Resource Indicator) as an argument.

FIG. 2 shows a screen display example of the launcher of this embodiment.
FIG. 2 shows a screen example in which a cursor 121 and a launcher 122 are drawn on a desktop screen 120 generated by a certain terminal 100. The launcher 122 provides a link 124 to a service provided by the servicer 300. In addition, a search input field 123 may be provided to provide a user with a quick access function to the search engine.

  The user is guided to a service provided by the servicer 300 by guidance means 101 (described later with reference to FIG. 3) using the link 124 and the search input field 123 as an interface. Each terminal 100 holds the number of guidance of each service, but the servicer 300 can also grasp the number of guidance to its service for each user by access analysis or the like.

  The servicer 300 reports to the server 200 the total number of guidance ascertained at the end of the month or at the end of the fiscal year. In the present embodiment, at least one of the purposes is to determine the servicer 300 that reports the total number of inductions too much or reports a value that is significantly different from the actual value due to a mistake.

FIG. 3 shows a functional configuration of the present embodiment.
The guidance number verification system 1 according to the present embodiment illustrated in FIG. 3 includes each block included in the terminal 100 and each block included in the server 200. Each of these blocks is a functional block configured by a software program that executes predetermined information processing using a general-purpose computer.

  The terminal 100 includes, for each terminal, guidance means 101, guidance number storage means 102, random number generation means 103, and guidance number transmission means 104 with an error.

  The guiding unit 101 is a unit that attempts to guide the user to the service provided by the servicer 300 using the link 124 or the search input field 123.

  The guidance number storage unit 102 measures the number of times that the guidance unit 101 has actually succeeded in guiding the service (the number of guidances). The action itself to be measured, such as opening a website or executing purchase, can be arbitrarily set according to the content to be verified. The guidance number storage means 102 is on the terminal 100, and the stored information (the value of the guidance number, the purchase amount, etc.) itself is not reported to the server 200 as it is.

The random number generation means 103 has a function of generating a first random number for each service. For example, if there are 25 services, 25 random numbers are generated. The random number is updated every time it is transmitted. The first random number is in a predetermined range (for example, −1000 to 1000). The distribution is already known on the server 200 side. The absolute value of the first random number may be a wider range than the expected range of induction numbers (0 to N _service-id ).

  The number-of-guides transmission means 104 with an error has a function of adding the first random number generated for each service to the number of inductions for each service stored in the number-of-guides storage means 102 and transmitting it to the server 200. Prepare. Thus, when a random number is added to a specific value for each individual service, the specific value for each individual service becomes unknown.

  The server 200 includes a receiving unit 201, a guidance number counting unit 202, a guidance number receiving unit 203, and a matching unit 204.

  The receiving unit 201 receives a calculated value in which a random value is added at each terminal and a specific value for each individual service is unknown from a large number of terminals 100.

  The number-of-guides counting unit 202 sums up the number of leads with errors received from all (ideally all) terminals 100 and totals the number of leads for each service. At the time of aggregation, predetermined statistical processing is performed based on the distribution of random numbers whose distribution is known for the server 200.

  For example, if the first random number to be added has a binomial distribution in the range of −1000 to 1000, there is no need to perform any statistical processing on the total number of inductions for each service.

  As described above, when all the induction numbers with errors of each terminal 100 are summed by the induction number counting unit 202 and the statistical processing based on the distribution of random numbers is performed, the errors of the individual induction numbers are diluted. The number of guidance for each service that is close to the actual number of guidance is obtained.

  On the other hand, the guidance number receiving means 203 also receives the number of guidance for each service that receives a report from the servicer 300.

  The collation unit 204 collates, for each service, the aggregation value obtained by the induction number aggregation unit 202 and the report value received by the induction number reception unit 203. Ideally, they match, but there is usually some error. However, if there is a service / servicer whose aggregated value and reported value greatly deviate beyond a predetermined range, such service / servicer can be efficiently determined by determining that fact. .

FIG. 4 shows a processing flow of the present embodiment.
First, each terminal 100 individually generates a first random number for each service (step S101) and adds it to the number of inductions for each service (step S102), and the number of inductions cannot be said to be privacy information (step S102). The number of inductions with error) is then transmitted (step S103).

  On the other hand, each servicer 300 reports the number of guidance of each service to the server 200 (step S104). The number of guidance reports may be determined arbitrarily, such as once a month or once a week, and may be mixed with the calculation and transmission processing of the number of guidance with an error from the terminal 100.

  The server 200 receives the number of inductions with errors transmitted from each terminal 100 (step S105), totals and statistically processes the induction numbers with errors received by all the terminals 100, and calculates the number of inductions for each service. Aggregate (step S106).

Next, the server 200 collates the report value in step S104 with the total value in step S106 for each service. By collation, it is possible to efficiently determine a service / servicer in which the total value and the reported value greatly deviate beyond a predetermined range.
According to the above embodiment, it is possible to efficiently determine a report of a value that deviates more than the actual number of inductions.

(Other embodiments)
The above embodiment can also be implemented by adding a configuration as follows.

FIG. 5 shows a functional configuration of a modified embodiment of the above embodiment.
The terminal 100 shown in FIG. 5 includes second random number generation means 105 in addition to the configuration shown in FIG. The second random number generation means 105 has a function of generating a second random number (for example, −10000 to 10000) that is the same for each user and is updated every predetermined period. In addition, the number-of-guides transmission unit 104 with an error adds the first random number for each service, adds the second random number, and transmits the result to the server 200.

  The absolute value of the second random number may be wider than the range of the first random number and narrower than the number of users. In addition, the update timing of the second random number is set longer than the update cycle of the first random number. For example, it is preferable to update at least once every value (for example, 20000/2000 = 10) divided by the first random number range.

  When the guidance number verification system 1 is operated for a considerable period in a configuration in which the number of guidance is disturbed only by the first random number, it is sufficient for a certain user to estimate the actual value of the number of guidance during the period. There is a possibility that a number of samples with many errors will be collected.

  Therefore, as described above, the second random number is also used to disturb the induced number. The distribution of the second random number is also known. Therefore, the aggregation value of the guidance number for each service is obtained by the aggregation and statistical processing by the guidance number aggregation unit 202, and a value close to the actual value is obtained. On the other hand, even if samples of the same user are gathered over a long period of time, it is disturbed by the second random number that is updated, so that a longer period of time can be used to estimate the actual value of the number of inductions during the period. Need. For this reason, there is virtually no privacy information on the server 200 side.

FIG. 6 shows a functional configuration of still another modified embodiment of the above embodiment.
The server 200 shown in FIG. 6 includes a guiding number error large storage unit 206 and a fraud determination unit 207 in addition to the configuration shown in FIG.

  After executing the processing shown in FIG. 4 of the above-described embodiment, the collating unit 204 indicates that there is a suspicion of misrepresentation for a service / servicer in which the total value and the report value greatly deviate beyond the predetermined range And stored in the induction number error large storage means 206.

  Then, if the guidance number verification system 1 is operated for a considerable period of time, a servicer who has reported a value of the guidance number that deviates from the actual value over a long period of time is often marked with a suspicion of misrepresentation. Come.

The misrepresentation determining means 207 determines a service suspected of being misrepresented with respect to a service to which a certain number or a certain ratio of suspected misrepresentation marks are added by the matching means 205. In other words, as a result of a plurality of collations, a service in which a collation result indicating that the difference between the total value and the reported value is greater than a predetermined range is detected.
Usually, there are some errors between the aggregated value and the reported value. However, if the determination is made after storing such a large error, the accuracy is improved.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Guide number verification system 100 Terminal 101 Guide means 102 Guide number storage means 103 Random number generation means 104 Guide number transmission means with error 105 Second random number generation means 200 Server 201 Receiving means 202 Guide count counting means 203 Guide number receiving means 204 Verification means 206 Guide number error large storage means 207 Misrepresentation determination means

Claims (5)

A verification system in which a plurality of terminals and a server are communicably connected,
The plurality of terminals are each
Guidance number storage means for storing the number of guidance that is usage information using the service provided by the servicer;
First random number generating means for generating random numbers having a known distribution;
Transmission means for transmitting to the server the induction number with an error in which the random number is added to the induction number;
The server
Aggregating means for aggregating the number of inductions with error transmitted from each terminal and performing statistical processing based on the distribution;
Means for receiving a report of the number of inducements of the service from the servicer;
A verification system comprising: a collation unit that collates a total value obtained by the totalization unit and a report value obtained by the unit that receives the report. The plurality of terminals are each
A second random number generating unit that generates a second random number that is updated at a period longer than an update frequency at which the random number is generated by the first random number generating unit and whose distribution is known;
The verification system according to claim 1, wherein the transmission unit adds the second random number to the induction number with the error and transmits the result. The server
A guide number error large storage means for marking and storing a service with a large induction number error based on a result of the verification by the verification means;
The verification system according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of markings are performed, and a service with a large number of the markings is detected. A plurality of the servicers,
The guidance number storage means stores a guidance number that is usage information using a plurality of services provided by the servicer,
The first random number generator generates the random number for each service,
The transmission means adds the random number to the induction number for each service,
The counting means totals the number of inductions with errors for each service,
The verification system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the means for receiving the report receives a report of the number of guidance for each service. A method for verifying a system in which a plurality of terminals and a server are communicably connected,
In each of the plurality of terminals,
Stores the number of leads, which is usage information using the service provided by the servicer,
Generate a random number with a known distribution,
Performing a process of transmitting an induction number with an error obtained by adding the random number to the induction number to the server;
At the server,
Aggregate the number of leads with error sent from each terminal,
Calculate the aggregate value by performing statistical processing based on the distribution for the derived number of errors with the error,
Receiving a report on the number of inducements of the service from the servicer;
The verification method characterized by collating the said total value and the report value by the said report.

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