JP6324424B2 - Information transaction apparatus, information transaction method and information transaction program - Google Patents

Description

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

  Conventionally, a technique for buying and selling personal information via a network such as the Internet is known. For example, an Internet service provider allows a user to specify whether personal information can be disclosed or not, and provides only the personal information for which disclosure is permitted to the company for a fee, and a part of the profit obtained from the company. There is known a technique for returning the value to the user.

JP 2002-56111 A JP 2003-316908 A

  However, in the above-described conventional technology, both the information provider and the information user cannot always receive appropriate benefits. Specifically, in the above-described conventional technology, personal information is only provided for a fee. For this reason, the information user cannot always obtain personal information corresponding to the paid fee. In addition, it is not always possible for an information provider to obtain a reward commensurate with the provision of personal information. For this reason, in the above-described conventional technology, it is not always possible for both the information provider and the information user to enjoy appropriate benefits.

  The present application has been made in view of the above, and provides an information transaction apparatus, an information transaction method, and an information transaction program in which both an information provider and an information user can enjoy appropriate profits. Objective.

  An information transaction apparatus according to the present application stores, from a provider terminal used by an information provider, receiving means for receiving user information relating to the information provider or the provider terminal, and storing user information received by the receiving means. Information that affects the value of the user information stored in the storage unit when the user information acquisition request is received from the storage means stored in the unit and the user terminal used by the information user. On the basis of this, a transaction means for controlling transaction processing of user information between the information provider and the information user is provided.

  According to one aspect of the embodiment, there is an effect that both the information provider and the information user can enjoy an appropriate profit.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of an information transaction process according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the provider terminal according to the first embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the information transaction apparatus according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a user information storage unit according to the first embodiment. FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram showing an information storage processing procedure by the information distribution system according to the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram illustrating an information provision processing procedure by the information distribution system according to the first embodiment. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the information transaction apparatus according to the second embodiment. FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a user information storage unit according to the second embodiment. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the information transaction apparatus according to the third embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of the provider information storage unit according to the third embodiment. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of a user information storage unit according to the third embodiment. FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of an information transaction process according to the fourth embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an information transaction device according to the fourth embodiment. FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating an example of a user information storage unit according to the fourth embodiment. FIG. 15 is a hardware configuration diagram illustrating an example of a computer that realizes the function of the information transaction apparatus.

  Hereinafter, modes for carrying out an information transaction apparatus, an information transaction method, and an information transaction program according to the present application (hereinafter referred to as “embodiments”) will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In addition, the information transaction apparatus, the information transaction method, and the information transaction program according to the present application are not limited by this embodiment. In the following embodiments, the same portions are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted.

(First embodiment)
[1. Information transaction processing)
First, an example of the information transaction process according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of an information transaction process according to the first embodiment. In FIG. 1, information transaction processing will be described by taking the information distribution system 1 as an example.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the information distribution system 1 includes a provider terminal 10, a user terminal 20, and an information transaction apparatus 100. The information transaction apparatus 100 is communicably connected to the provider terminal 10 and the user terminal 20 via a network (for example, the Internet) (not shown). Although FIG. 1 shows one provider terminal 10 and one user terminal 20, the information distribution system 1 includes two or more provider terminals 10 and two or more user terminals 20. May be included.

  The provider terminal 10 is an information processing device used by the information provider P1. The user terminal 20 is an information processing device used by the information user Q1. The provider terminal 10 and the user terminal 20 are, for example, mobile terminals such as smartphones, tablet terminals, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), desktop PCs (Personal Computers), notebook PCs, and the like. In the case of the example of FIG. 1, the provider terminal 10 is assumed to be a mobile terminal.

  In addition, the information provider P1 is a general user who has a smart phone etc., for example, and profits are provided by providing user information to the information user Q1 for a fee. The information user Q1 is, for example, a company or an organization that analyzes user information purchased from the information provider P1 or the like.

  The information transaction apparatus 100 is a server apparatus that performs information transaction processing. Specifically, the information transaction apparatus 100 performs transaction processing of user information between the information provider P1 and the information user Q1, as will be described below.

  In the example shown in FIG. 1, the provider terminal 10 transmits user information to the information transaction apparatus 100 (step S11). Here, the user information is information regarding the provider terminal 10 and information regarding the information provider P1. As will be described in detail later, the user information corresponds to, for example, position information acquired by the provider terminal 10.

  Then, the information transaction apparatus 100 stores the user information received from the provider terminal 10 in the user information storage unit 121. The information transaction apparatus 100 receives user information from a provider terminal other than the provider terminal 10 (not shown in FIG. 1), and accumulates the received user information in the user information storage unit 121 as a data asset.

  Subsequently, the user terminal 20 transmits a user information acquisition request to the information transaction apparatus 100 in accordance with an operation by the information user Q1 (step S12).

  When the information transaction apparatus 100 receives an acquisition request from the user terminal 20, the information transaction apparatus 100 acquires an acquisition request based on factor information indicating a factor that affects the value of the user information stored in the user information storage unit 121. The price of the user information corresponding to is calculated. In the example of FIG. 1, the information transaction apparatus 100 calculates the price based on the market situation by using the market situation of the user information as an example of the factor information (step S13). Here, the market situation corresponds to the current needs (in other words, popularity) in the user information requested by the information user Q1. For example, the information transaction apparatus 100 calculates the price higher as the needs of the user information requested by the information user Q1 are higher, and calculates the price lower as the needs of the user information are lower.

  And the information transaction apparatus 100 provides the user information received in step S12 to the user terminal 20 (step S14). At this time, the information transaction apparatus 100 may notify the user terminal 20 of the price calculated in step S13. Alternatively, after notifying the user terminal 20 of the price, the information transaction apparatus 100 provides the user information to the user terminal 20 when receiving an answer from the user terminal 20 indicating that the price is approved. May be.

  Thereafter, the information user Q1 pays the price calculated in step S13 to the administrator of the information transaction apparatus 100 as a usage fee for user information (step S15). Then, the administrator or the like of the information transaction apparatus 100 sends a part of the usage fee obtained from the information user Q1 to the information provider P1 that is the transmission source of the user information provided to the user terminal 20 in step S14. The whole is paid as a reward (step S16).

  As described above, the information transaction apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment provides user information according to factor information (market situation in the example of FIG. 1) that affects the value of user information provided to the information user Q1. Calculate the price. For this reason, the information transaction apparatus 100 can calculate the price higher as the value of the user information is higher. Thereby, the information transaction apparatus 100 can provide user information commensurate with the price to the information user Q1. Furthermore, the information transaction apparatus 100 can provide a reward corresponding to the value of the user information to the information provider P1. From such a thing, the information transaction apparatus 100 which concerns on 1st Embodiment can receive an appropriate profit with respect to both the information provider P1 and the information user Q1. This promotes an increase in the number of users (information provider P1 and information user Q1) of the information transaction apparatus 100. As a result, the information transaction apparatus 100 can accumulate a large amount of user information in the user information storage unit 121 and can activate the distribution of user information.

[2. (Configuration of provider terminal)
Next, the configuration of the provider terminal 10 according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the provider terminal 10 according to the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, the provider terminal 10 includes a communication unit 11, an input unit 12, a display unit 13, a detection unit 14, and a provision control unit 15.

  The communication unit 11 is connected to a network by wire or wireless, and transmits / receives information to / from the information transaction apparatus 100. For example, the communication unit 11 is realized by a NIC (Network Interface Card) or the like.

  The input unit 12 is an input device that receives various operations from the user. For example, the input unit 12 is realized by a hard key or the like provided on the side wall of the provider terminal 10 or the like. The display unit 13 is a display device for displaying various information. For example, the display unit 13 is realized by a liquid crystal display or the like. In addition, when a touch panel is employ | adopted for the provider terminal 10, a part of input part 12 and the display part 13 are integrated.

  The detection unit 14 detects various information related to the provider terminal 10. Specifically, the detection unit 14 detects the physical state of the provider terminal 10 as user information. In the example illustrated in FIG. 2, the detection unit 14 includes a positioning unit 14a and a pressure sensor 14b.

  The positioning unit 14a acquires the current position of the provider terminal 10. Specifically, the positioning unit 14a receives radio waves transmitted from a GPS (Global Positioning System) satellite, and position information (for example, latitude and longitude) indicating the current position of the provider terminal 10 based on the received radio waves. To get. The pressure sensor 14b detects the atmospheric pressure around the provider terminal 10.

  In addition, the detection part 14 is not restricted to the positioning part 14a and the pressure sensor 14b, You may have various apparatuses which detect the physical state of the provider terminal 10. FIG. For example, the detection unit 14 is a microphone that collects sound around the provider terminal 10, an illuminance sensor that detects illuminance around the provider terminal 10, and an acceleration sensor that detects physical movement of the provider terminal 10. (Or a gyro sensor or the like), a humidity sensor that detects the humidity around the provider terminal 10, a geomagnetic sensor that detects a locality at the location of the provider terminal 10, and the like. Moreover, the detection part 14 may have a microphone, an illumination intensity sensor, a humidity sensor, a geomagnetic sensor, etc., without having the positioning part 14a and the pressure sensor 14b.

  For example, the provision control unit 15 can store various programs stored in a storage device inside the provider terminal 10 by using a RAM (Random Access Memory) by a CPU (Central Processing Unit), an MPU (Micro Processing Unit), or the like. This is realized by being executed. The providing control unit 15 is realized by an integrated circuit such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a field programmable gate array (FPGA).

  Such a provision control unit 15 controls a process of providing user information to the information transaction apparatus 100. For example, the provision control unit 15 executes and controls an information provision application for realizing a user information provision process. The information provision application may be installed in the provider terminal 10 in advance, or a server device (for example, the information transaction device 100 or a server device that provides various applications in accordance with an operation by the information provider having the provider terminal 10. ) To be installed on the provider terminal 10.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the provision control unit 15 includes an acquisition unit 16 and a transmission unit 17, and realizes or executes information processing functions and operations described below. For example, the provision control unit 15 implements the acquisition unit 16 and the transmission unit 17 by executing the above-described information provision application using the RAM as a work area. The internal configuration of the provision control unit 15 is not limited to the configuration illustrated in FIG. 2, and may be other configurations as long as the information processing described later is performed. Further, the connection relationship between the processing units included in the provision control unit 15 is not limited to the connection relationship illustrated in FIG. 2, and may be another connection relationship.

  The acquisition unit 16 acquires user information. Specifically, the acquisition unit 16 acquires various types of information detected by the detection unit 14 as user information by controlling the detection unit 14. For example, the acquisition unit 16 acquires position information indicating the current position of the provider terminal 10 as user information by controlling the positioning unit 14a. For example, the acquisition unit 16 acquires atmospheric pressure information indicating the atmospheric pressure around the provider terminal 10 as user information by controlling the pressure sensor 14b.

  Moreover, not only the said example but the acquisition part 16 acquires various user information from each apparatus according to apparatuses, such as a sensor which the detection part 14 has. For example, when the detection unit 14 includes a microphone, the acquisition unit 16 acquires sound collection information indicating the volume of sound collected by the microphone as user information. Moreover, the acquisition part 16 acquires the illumination intensity information which shows the illumination intensity around the provider terminal 10 as user information, when the detection part 14 has an illumination intensity sensor. Moreover, the acquisition part 16 acquires the inclination information which shows the inclination of the provider terminal 10 as user information, when the detection part 14 has an acceleration sensor. Moreover, the acquisition part 16 acquires the humidity information which shows the humidity around the provider terminal 10 as user information, when the detection part 14 has a humidity sensor. Moreover, the acquisition part 16 acquires the local information which shows the local in the location of the provider terminal 10 as user information, when the detection part 14 has a geomagnetic sensor.

  The type of user information acquired by the acquisition unit 16 can be set by the information provider. Specifically, the information provider can set the type of user information to be acquired by the acquisition unit 16 even when the provider terminal 10 has a function of acquiring a plurality of types of user information. For example, the information provider is a user who permits distribution to information users among user information divided into types such as position information, atmospheric pressure information, sound collection information, illuminance information, gradient information, humidity information, and local information. Only the type of information can be set as an acquisition target. And the acquisition part 16 acquires only the user information corresponding to the classification set by the information provider.

  Further, the timing at which the acquisition unit 16 acquires various types of user information is determined in advance by the provision control unit 15. For example, the acquisition unit 16 acquires the various user information described above periodically (every 5 minutes, every 10 minutes, every hour, every day, every week, etc.). The timing at which the acquisition unit 16 acquires various types of user information may be set by an information provider having the provider terminal 10. For example, the acquisition unit 16 acquires the various user information described above every time a predetermined date and time set by the information provider comes. Further, the information provider can set the acquisition timing of such user information for each type of user information.

  The transmission unit 17 transmits the user information acquired by the acquisition unit 16 to the information transaction apparatus 100. For example, the transmission unit 17 includes a provider identifier for identifying the provider terminal 10 or the information provider, user information acquired by the acquisition unit 16, and an acquisition date and time when the user information is acquired by the acquisition unit 16. Is transmitted to the information transaction apparatus 100. At this time, the transmission unit 17 may transmit user information or the like to the information transaction apparatus 100 every time the user information is acquired by the acquisition unit 16, or the user information or the like may be transmitted to the information transaction apparatus 100 every predetermined period. You may send it.

[3. Configuration of information transaction device]
Next, the configuration of the information transaction apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the information transaction apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the information transaction apparatus 100 includes a communication unit 110, a user information storage unit 121, and a control unit 130.

  The communication unit 110 is connected to a network by wire or wireless, and transmits and receives information between the provider terminal 10 and the user terminal 20. For example, the communication unit 110 is realized by a NIC or the like.

  The user information storage unit 121 is realized by, for example, a semiconductor memory device such as a RAM or a flash memory, or a storage device such as a hard disk or an optical disk. The user information storage unit 121 stores user information provided from the provider terminal 10. Here, FIG. 4 shows an example of the user information storage unit 121 according to the first embodiment. In the example illustrated in FIG. 4, the user information storage unit 121 includes items such as “acquisition date”, “provider identifier”, and “user information”.

  “Acquisition date / time” indicates the date / time when the user information was acquired. For example, “acquisition date and time” corresponds to the acquisition date and time transmitted together with user information by the transmission unit 17 of the provider terminal 10. The “provider identifier” indicates identification information for identifying the provider terminal 10 or the information provider that has transmitted the user information. For example, the “provider identifier” corresponds to the provider identifier transmitted together with the user information by the transmission unit 17 of the provider terminal 10.

  “User information” indicates user information received from the provider terminal 10. In the example of FIG. 4, “user information” is divided into types such as “position information”, “barometric pressure information”, “sound collection information”, “illuminance information”, and “gradient information”. “Position information”, “atmospheric pressure information”, “sound collection information”, “illuminance information”, and “gradient information” indicate various user information detected by the detection unit 14 of the provider terminal 10 described above. Further, the user information is divided into items such as “value” and “provision number” for each type. “Value” indicates user information received from the provider terminal 10. “Number of times of provision” indicates the number of times user information has been provided from the information transaction apparatus 100 to the user terminal 20 in the past.

  For example, in FIG. 4, the position information “A01”, the atmospheric pressure information “B01”, the collection are performed by the provider terminal 10 corresponding to the provider identifier “U01” at “November 1, 2013, 12:00:00”. An example is shown in which sound information “C01”, illuminance information “D01”, and gradient information “E01” are acquired. In FIG. 4, the number of times the position information “A01” is provided is 3, the number of times the pressure information “B01” is provided is “1”, and the number of times the sound collection information “C01” is provided is “3”. In this example, the illuminance information “D01” is provided “1” and the gradient information “E01” is provided “1”.

  Further, for example, in FIG. 4, the position information “A02” and the sound collection information “C02” are received by the provider terminal 10 corresponding to the provider identifier “U02” at “November 1, 2013, 12:00:00”. ] Is acquired.

  As in the above two examples, depending on the provider terminal 10, all types of user information (in the above example, “position information”, “barometric pressure information”, “sound collection information”, “illuminance information”, and “gradient information”). ") May be transmitted to the information transaction apparatus 100, or only some types of user information may be transmitted to the information transaction apparatus 100.

  4 shows an example in which conceptual information such as “A01” is stored in “value” of “location information”, but in actuality, “latitude and longitude” and “address (for example, prefectures) Or city)) is stored. Actually, a numerical value indicating the atmospheric pressure is stored in the “atmospheric pressure information” shown in FIG. 4, a numerical value indicating the loudness is stored in the “sound collection information”, and an illuminance is stored in the “illuminance information”. A numerical value indicating the inclination is stored in the “gradient information”.

  Returning to the description of FIG. 3, the control unit 130 uses, for example, a CPU, an MPU, or the like to store a RAM in which various programs (corresponding to an example of the information transaction program) stored in the storage device inside the information transaction apparatus 100 are stored in the RAM This is realized by being executed as The control unit 130 is realized by an integrated circuit such as an ASIC or FPGA, for example.

  As illustrated in FIG. 3, the control unit 130 includes a reception unit 131, a storage unit 132, and a transaction unit 140, and realizes or executes functions and operations of information processing described below. Note that the internal configuration of the control unit 130 is not limited to the configuration illustrated in FIG. 3, and may be another configuration as long as the information processing described below is performed. Further, the connection relationship between the processing units included in the control unit 130 is not limited to the connection relationship illustrated in FIG. 3, and may be another connection relationship.

  The receiving unit 131 receives user information related to the provider terminal 10 or the information provider from the provider terminal 10. For example, the receiving unit 131 receives a provider identifier, user information, and user information acquisition date and time from the provider terminal 10.

  The storage unit 132 stores the user information received by the reception unit 131 in the user information storage unit 121. Specifically, the storage unit 132 stores the user information in the user information storage unit 121 in association with the provider identifier and the acquisition date / time received by the reception unit 131. For example, the storage unit 132 stores the position information and the atmospheric pressure information in the user information storage unit 121 when the positional information and the atmospheric pressure information are received as the user information.

  In the above example, the provider terminal 10 transmits the user information acquisition date and time to the information transaction apparatus 100. However, the present invention is not limited to this example, and the provider terminal 10 transmits the acquisition date and time to the information transaction apparatus 100. You do not have to send it. In this case, the storage unit 132 stores the reception date and time when the user information is received by the reception unit 131 in the acquisition date and time of the user information storage unit 121.

  Transaction unit 140 controls transaction of user information between provider terminal 10 and user terminal 20. Specifically, when the transaction unit 140 receives an acquisition request for user information from the user terminal 20, based on factor information that affects the value of the user information stored in the user information storage unit 121, The user information corresponding to the acquisition request is provided to the user terminal 20, and the transaction processing for paying the consideration to the information provider that is the transmission source of the provided user information is controlled. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the transaction unit 140 includes a request reception unit 141, a calculation unit 142, and a provision unit 143.

  The request receiving unit 141 receives a user information acquisition request from the user terminal 20. Specifically, the request reception unit 141 receives an acquisition request including specific information for specifying user information to be acquired. For example, the request reception unit 141 receives an acquisition request including specific information for specifying the type of user information. In addition, for example, the request reception unit 141 receives an acquisition request including specific information for specifying a period of acquisition date and time when user information was acquired. Further, for example, an acquisition request including specific information for specifying both the type of user information and the period of acquisition date is accepted. For example, in the request receiving unit 141, the types of user information are “location information” and “atmospheric pressure information”, and the acquisition date and time is “November 1, 2013 to November 15, 2013”. Accept an acquisition request containing specific information.

  The calculation unit 142 calculates the price of the user information provided to the user terminal 20 based on factor information corresponding to each user information stored in the user information storage unit 121. Specifically, the calculation unit 142 dynamically evaluates the factor information at the time when the acquisition request is accepted, and calculates the price of the user information based on the evaluated factor information. The calculation unit 142 according to the first embodiment evaluates the market situation of each user information stored in the user information storage unit 121 as factor information. Specifically, the calculation unit 142 evaluates the market situation of each user information at the present time by using the number of times each user information is provided stored in the user information storage unit 121. Then, the calculating unit 142 calculates the price of the user information based on the number of user information corresponding to the acquisition request and the market situation that is the evaluation result.

  More specifically, the calculation unit 142 calculates the price of user information higher as the number of user information corresponding to the acquisition request is larger, and calculates the price of user information as the number of user information corresponding to the acquisition request is smaller. Calculate low. Further, the calculation unit 142 calculates the degree of demand or the degree of supply (in other words, needs and popularity) in the user information corresponding to the acquisition request based on the “number of times of provision” stored in the user information storage unit 121. Assess as market conditions. Specifically, the calculation unit 142 acquires the “provided number” of user information corresponding to the acquisition request received by the request receiving unit 141 from the user information storage unit 121, and the acquired “provided number” is a large value. The more the user information needs (that is, the degree of demand and the degree of supply) are evaluated, the lower the acquired “number of times of provision”, the lower the need for such user information. Then, the calculation unit 142 calculates the price of the user information higher as the user information corresponding to the acquisition request includes more user information with higher needs, and the user information corresponding to the acquisition request includes more user information with lower needs. The price of user information is calculated as low as possible.

  For example, it is assumed that the user information corresponding to the acquisition request received by the request receiving unit 141 is position information “A11”, “A12”, “A13”, “A14”, and “A15”. Further, the number of times of provision corresponding to the position information “A11” is “3”, the number of times of provision corresponding to the position information “A12” is “3”, and the number of times of provision corresponding to the position information “A13” is “2”. It is assumed that the number of provisions corresponding to the position information “A14” is “1” and the number of provisions corresponding to the position information “A15” is “1”. Here, it is assumed that the reference unit price, which is the price per piece of position information, is “Y yen”. The reference unit price may be a value that varies depending on the type of user information.

  In this case, the calculation unit 142 refers to the user information storage unit 121 to calculate an average value of the number of times of provision corresponding to all the position information. Here, it is assumed that the calculation unit 142 calculates “2” as the average value of the number of times of provision corresponding to the position information. Then, based on the average value “2” of the number of times of provision, the calculation unit 142 calculates the reference unit price “Y” of the position information “A11”, “A12”, “A13”, “A14”, “A15” corresponding to the acquisition request. "Circle" is corrected. In the above example, the provision count “3” of the position information “A11” is 1.5 times the average value “2” of the provision count. In this case, for example, the calculation unit 142 corrects the reference unit price of the position information “A11” to “1.5 · Y yen”. Similarly, the calculation unit 142 corrects the reference unit price of the position information “A12” to “1.5 · Y yen”, for example. For example, the calculation unit 142 may calculate “Y yen” without correcting the reference unit price for the location information “A13”, “A14”, and “A15” that are not provided more frequently than the average value “2”. Leave as it is. Then, the calculation unit 142 adds the corrected base unit prices “1.5 · Y yen”, “1.5 · Y yen”, “Y yen”, “Y yen”, and “Y yen”. The total price “6.0 · Y yen” of the position information “A11”, “A12”, “A13”, “A14”, “A15” corresponding to the acquisition request is calculated.

  In the above example, the calculation unit 142 may correct the reference unit price of the location information “A14” and “A15”, which is smaller than the average value “2” of the number of provisions, to a lower price. For example, the provision frequency “1” of the position information “A14” is 0.5 times the average value “2” of the provision frequency. In this case, for example, the calculation unit 142 corrects the reference unit price of the position information “A14” to “0.5 · Y yen”. Similarly, the calculation unit 142 corrects the reference unit price of the position information “A15” to “0 · 5 · Y yen”, for example. In this case, the calculation unit 142 calculates the corrected reference unit prices “1.5 · Y yen”, “1.5 · Y yen”, “Y yen”, “0.5 · Y yen”, and “0.5 yen”. By adding “Y Yen”, the total price “5.0 Y Y” of the location information corresponding to the acquisition request is calculated.

  Note that the calculation process by the calculation unit 142 described above is an example, and is not limited to the above example. For example, the calculation unit 142 acquires the number of times of providing user information corresponding to the acquisition request from the user information storage unit 121, and the user information provided to the user terminal 20 based on the total or average value of the acquired number of times of provision. The total price may be calculated. As an example, the calculation unit 142 increases the total number of pieces of user information as the average number of times user information corresponding to the acquisition request is larger than the average number of times all pieces of location information stored in the user information storage unit 121. Calculate the price high.

  In addition, the calculation unit 142 calculates a remuneration amount to be paid to an information provider that is a transmission source of user information provided to the user terminal 20. Specifically, the calculation unit 142 calculates a remuneration amount that distributes the usage fee obtained from the information user to each information provider according to the factor information described above (the market situation evaluated based on the number of times of provision). To do.

  For example, as in the above example, the user information corresponding to the acquisition request received by the request receiving unit 141 is the position information “A11”, “A12”, “A13”, “A14”, “A15”. Suppose that The position information “A11” is user information corresponding to the information provider P1, the position information “A12” is user information corresponding to the information provider P2, and the position information “A13” is the information provider. It is user information corresponding to P3, position information “A14” is user information corresponding to information provider P4, and position information “A15” is user information corresponding to information provider P5. Also, here, the calculation unit 142 sets the reference unit prices of the position information “A11”, “A12”, “A13”, “A14”, and “A15” to “1.5 · Y yen”, “1.5 · It is assumed that it has been corrected to “Y circle”, “Y circle”, “0.5 · Y circle”, and “0.5 · Y circle”. That is, in this example, the usage fee “5.0 · Y yen” is paid by the information user.

  Here, the manager of the information transaction apparatus 100 distributes the amount obtained by removing the fee from the usage fee “5.0 Y Y” obtained from the information user in the above example to the information providers P1 to P5. To do. In this example, it is assumed that “1.0 · Y yen”, which is 20% of the usage fee “5.0 · Y yen”, is a fee. That is, the calculation unit 142 distributes “4.0 · Y yen” to the information providers P1 to P5. In this example, the ratio of the contributions of the information providers P1 to P5 to the usage fee “5.0 · Y yen” is “1.5: 1.5: 1.0: 0.5: 0.5”. It is. For this reason, the calculation unit 142 calculates “4.0 · Y · {1.5 / (1.5 + 1.5 + 1.0 + 0.5 + 0.5) as a reward amount for the information provider P1 based on the contribution ratio. } "=" 1.2 Y Yen "is calculated. Similarly, the calculation unit 142 calculates the remuneration amount “1.2 Y yen” for the information provider P2, calculates the remuneration amount “0.8 Y yen” for the information provider P3, and calculates the remuneration amount for the information provider P4. “0.4 Y Yen” is calculated, and the remuneration amount “0.4 Y Yen” for the information provider P5 is calculated.

  Note that the calculation process by the calculation unit 142 described above is an example, and is not limited to the above example. For example, the calculation unit 142 acquires the number of times of provision of user information corresponding to the acquisition request from the user information storage unit 121, thereby calculating and providing a higher reward amount for the information provider who provided the user information with a large number of times of provision. You may calculate as low as the reward amount with respect to the information provider who provided the user information with few frequency | counts.

  The providing unit 143 provides user information corresponding to the acquisition request to the user terminal 20 that is the transmission source of the acquisition request received by the request receiving unit 141. Specifically, the providing unit 143 notifies the user terminal 20 of the price of the user information calculated by the calculating unit 142, and provides the user information corresponding to the acquisition request to the user terminal 20. Then, the providing unit 143 adds “1” to the number of times of providing the user information provided to the user terminal 20 among the number of times of providing corresponding to each user information stored in the user information storage unit 121.

  Note that the providing unit 143 notifies the user terminal 20 of the price of the user information calculated by the calculating unit 142 and then receives the notification that the payment of the price is accepted from the user terminal 20. User information corresponding to the request may be provided to the user terminal 20. The providing unit 143 may provide not only user information but also a combination of user information and a provider identifier to the user terminal 20. In this case, the providing unit 143 converts the provider identifier, not the provider identifier stored in the user information storage unit 121, into other information, and provides the converted provider identifier to the user terminal 20. Also good.

  Also, the providing unit 143 notifies the provider terminal 10 that is the transmission source of the user information provided to the user terminal 20 of the price for providing the user information. Specifically, the providing unit 143 notifies each provider terminal 10 of the reward amount for each information provider calculated by the calculating unit 142.

[4. (Information storage processing procedure)
Next, the procedure of information storage processing by the information distribution system 1 according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram showing an information storage processing procedure by the information distribution system 1 according to the first embodiment.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the provider terminal 10 determines whether it is the transmission timing of user information (step S101). If the transmission timing is not reached (step S101; No), the provider terminal 10 waits until the transmission timing is reached.

  On the other hand, the provider terminal 10 controls various types of user information (for example, position information, atmospheric pressure information, sound collection information, illuminance information, (Gradient information etc.) is acquired (step S102).

  Subsequently, the provider terminal 10 transmits user information to the information transaction apparatus 100 (step S103). For example, the provider terminal 10 transmits a provider identifier, user information, and user information acquisition date and time to the information transaction apparatus 100.

  Then, the information transaction apparatus 100 stores the user information received from the provider terminal 10 in the user information storage unit 121 (step S104). For example, the information transaction apparatus 100 stores the user information in the user information storage unit 121 in association with the provider identifier and the acquisition date / time.

[5. (Information provision processing procedure)
Next, the procedure of the information provision process by the information distribution system 1 which concerns on 1st Embodiment is demonstrated using FIG. FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram showing an information provision processing procedure by the information distribution system 1 according to the first embodiment.

  As illustrated in FIG. 6, the user terminal 20 determines whether or not an instruction to transmit a user information acquisition request has been received (step S <b> 201). If the user terminal 20 has not received an instruction to transmit an acquisition request (step S201; No), the user terminal 20 waits until such an instruction is received.

  On the other hand, when receiving an acquisition request transmission instruction (step S201; Yes), the user terminal 20 transmits an acquisition request for user information to the information transaction apparatus 100 (step S202).

  Subsequently, the information transaction apparatus 100 evaluates the market situation of the user information requested by the acquisition request based on the number of provisions stored in the user information storage unit 121 (step S203). Subsequently, the information transaction apparatus 100 calculates the price of the user information requested by the acquisition request based on the market situation evaluation result (step S204).

  Subsequently, the information transaction apparatus 100 notifies the user terminal 20 of the price of the user information (step S205) and provides the user information to the user terminal 20 (step S206).

  Thereafter, the information user of the user terminal 20 pays the price notified in step S205 to the administrator of the information transaction apparatus 100 as a usage fee (step S207). Moreover, the information transaction apparatus 100 notifies the information provider of the provider terminal 10 of part or all of the usage fee obtained from the information user (step S208).

[6. effect〕
As described above, the information transaction apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment includes the reception unit 131, the storage unit 132, and the transaction unit 140. The receiving unit 131 receives user information related to the information provider or the provider terminal 10 from the provider terminal 10 used by the information provider. The storage unit 132 stores the user information received by the reception unit 131 in the user information storage unit 121. When the transaction unit 140 receives an acquisition request for user information from the user terminal 20 used by the information user, the transaction unit 140 is based on factor information that affects the value of the user information stored in the user information storage unit 121. Thus, the user information corresponding to the acquisition request is provided to the user terminal 20, and the transaction processing for paying the consideration to the information provider that is the transmission source of the provided user information is controlled.

  Thereby, since the information transaction apparatus 100 which concerns on 1st Embodiment can calculate the price according to the value of user information, it can provide the user information according to the price with respect to an information user. At the same time, a reward commensurate with the value of the user information can be provided to the information provider. As a result, the information transaction apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment can allow both the information provider and the information user to enjoy appropriate profits.

  Moreover, the transaction part 140 which concerns on 1st Embodiment evaluates the market condition of the user information memorize | stored in the user information storage part 121 as factor information, and provides to the user terminal 20 based on the evaluated market condition A calculation unit 142 for calculating the price of user information to be calculated.

  Thereby, since the information transaction apparatus 100 which concerns on 1st Embodiment can calculate the appropriate price of user information based on the market condition of user information, with respect to both an information provider and an information user. More appropriate profits.

  Further, the transaction unit 140 according to the first embodiment uses the user information corresponding to the acquisition request when receiving a notification from the user terminal 20 that the payment of the price calculated by the calculation unit 142 is accepted. Providing unit 143 to be provided to person terminal 20.

  Thereby, the information transaction apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment can provide a transaction service for user information that can be relieved for the information user.

  Further, the calculation unit 142 according to the first embodiment dynamically evaluates the factor information at the time when the acquisition request is received, and calculates the price of the user information to be provided to the user terminal 20 based on the evaluated factor information. Calculate.

  Thereby, since the information transaction apparatus 100 which concerns on 1st Embodiment can calculate the appropriate price of user information with high precision based on the newest factor information, both an information provider and an information user It is possible to enjoy a more appropriate profit.

[7. (Modification)
In the first embodiment, the example in which the number of times that user information is actually provided to the user terminal 20 is stored in the user information storage unit 121 has been shown. And in the said 1st Embodiment, the calculation part 142 showed the example which calculates the price of user information based on the frequency | count of provision memorize | stored in the user information storage part 121. FIG. However, the user information storage unit 121 may store the number of times the user information is requested from the user terminal 20 regardless of whether the user information is actually provided to the user terminal 20 for each user information. Specifically, even when the user terminal 20 transmits an acquisition request to the information transaction apparatus 100, the user terminal 20 may not acquire user information from the information transaction apparatus 100 depending on the price of the user information. However, it can be said that the user information subject to the acquisition request has high needs (that is, the degree of demand). For this reason, the calculation unit 142 may calculate the price of the user information using the number of requests stored in the user information storage unit 121 instead of the above-described number of provisions. Further, the user information storage unit 121 may store both the number of provisions and the number of requests. In this case, the calculation unit 142 may calculate the price of the user information using both the number of times of provision and the number of requests stored in the user information storage unit 121.

  Moreover, in the said 1st Embodiment, the calculation part 142 showed the example which calculates a price high, so that the user information with many provision frequency memorize | stored in the user information storage part 121 is shown. However, the calculation unit 142 may calculate a higher price for user information that is provided less frequently. This is because the user information provided to the user terminal 20 with a small number of times can be said to be information that is not widely known and may be useful for the information user. For the same reason, when the above request count is stored in the user information storage unit 121, the calculation unit 142 may calculate a higher price for user information with a smaller request count.

  In the example illustrated in FIG. 4, the user information storage unit 121 stores the number of times of provision for each piece of user information, but is not limited to this example. For example, depending on the information transaction apparatus 100, user information (for example, user information with an acquisition date of November 2013 or user information with an acquisition date of October to December 2013) on a monthly basis is used as a user terminal. 20 may be provided. In such a case, the user information storage unit 121 may store the number of provisions every month.

(Second Embodiment)
In the said 1st Embodiment, the example which uses the market condition of user information as factor information which affects the value of user information was shown. However, the factor information that affects the value of the user information may be characteristic information indicating the characteristics of the user information such as accuracy, granularity, and rarity of the user information. In the second embodiment, an example in which the price of user information is calculated using characteristic information of user information as factor information will be described. In addition, since the structure of the information distribution system 1 which concerns on 2nd Embodiment is the same as that of the example shown in FIG. 1, description is abbreviate | omitted below.

[1. Configuration of information transaction device]
First, the configuration of the information transaction apparatus 200 according to the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the information transaction apparatus 200 according to the second embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 7, the information transaction apparatus 200 includes a user information storage unit 221 and a control unit 230.

  The user information storage unit 221 stores user information provided from the provider terminal 10. Here, FIG. 8 illustrates an example of the user information storage unit 221 according to the second embodiment. In the example illustrated in FIG. 8, the user information storage unit 221 includes items such as “acquisition date”, “provider identifier”, and “user information”.

  “Acquisition date / time” corresponds to the acquisition date / time shown in FIG. The “provider identifier” corresponds to the provider identifier shown in FIG. “User information” is divided into types such as “position information” and “atmospheric pressure information” as in the example of FIG. Although not shown in FIG. 8, the “user information” may have types such as “sound collection information”, “illuminance information”, and “gradient information”.

  The user information shown in FIG. 8 is divided into items such as “value”, “accuracy”, “granularity”, and “rareness” for each type. “Value” indicates user information received from the provider terminal 10 in the same manner as the value shown in FIG. “Accuracy”, “granularity”, and “rareness” correspond to characteristic information indicating the characteristics of user information, that is, factor information that affects the value of user information. Specifically, “accuracy” indicates the accuracy of user information. “Granularity” indicates the level of detail and fineness of user information. “Rareness” indicates the rarity value of user information when compared with other user information in the same type of user information.

  Note that evaluation values indicated by five levels “1” to “5” are stored in “accuracy”, “granularity”, and “rareness” illustrated in FIG. 8. In this example, the evaluation value “1” indicates the lowest value, and the evaluation value “5” indicates the highest value.

  For example, user information in which a large value is stored in “accuracy” indicates that the detection unit 14 of the provider terminal 10 has been acquired with high accuracy. For example, depending on the detection unit 14 of the provider terminal 10, the accuracy in the user information acquisition process may be calculated. The information transaction apparatus 200 according to the second embodiment receives the accuracy in such an acquisition process from the provider terminal 10 and updates the accuracy of the user information storage unit 221 according to the received accuracy.

  Further, for example, user information in which a large value is stored in “granularity” indicates that the user information itself is detailed. Explaining the position information as an example, depending on the provider terminal 10, there may be a case where the longitude and latitude capable of specifying the position in detail are transmitted to the information transaction apparatus 200 as the position information. Depending on the provider terminal 10, only the prefecture may be transmitted to the information transaction apparatus 200 as the position information. Depending on the provider terminal 10, the prefecture and the city may be transmitted to the information transaction apparatus 200 as the position information. The information transaction apparatus 200 according to the second embodiment updates the granularity of the user information storage unit 221 according to the granularity of such user information itself.

  Further, for example, user information in which a large value is stored in “rareness” indicates that the user information is significantly different from other user information. The location information will be described as an example. Among the plurality of location information received from each provider terminal 10 by the information transaction apparatus 200, the location information indicating the inside of Tokyo is the most, and the location information indicating the inside of Gifu Prefecture is the least. Shall be. In this case, since the location information indicating the inside of Tokyo has a low retention rate in the information transaction apparatus 200 and has a low rarity, the user information storage unit 221 has a low evaluation value (for example, “1” or the like). Is stored. On the other hand, since the position information indicating Gifu Prefecture has a high scarcity because the number of information held in the information transaction apparatus 200 is small, the scarcity of the user information storage unit 221 has a high evaluation value (for example, “5” or the like). Stored.

  Returning to the description of FIG. 7, the control unit 230 includes a reception unit 231, a storage unit 232, an update unit 233, and a transaction unit 240, and realizes or executes information processing functions and operations described below. To do. The internal configuration of the control unit 230 is not limited to the configuration illustrated in FIG. 7, and may be another configuration as long as the information processing described later is performed. In addition, the connection relationship between the processing units included in the control unit 230 is not limited to the connection relationship illustrated in FIG. 7, and may be another connection relationship.

  Similarly to the reception unit 131 according to the first embodiment, the reception unit 231 receives a provider identifier, user information, and user information acquisition date and time from the provider terminal 10. Further, as described above, depending on the detection unit 14 of the provider terminal 10, the accuracy in the user information acquisition process may be calculated. The receiving unit 231 according to the second embodiment may receive the accuracy in the user information acquisition process from the provider terminal 10 together with the user information.

  The storage unit 232 stores the user information received by the receiving unit 231 in the user information storage unit 221. Here, when the accuracy of the user information is received by the receiving unit 231, the storage unit 232 according to the second embodiment uses the evaluation value (the above-described value) as the accuracy of the user information storage unit 221 based on the received accuracy. In the example, any one of “1” to “5”) is stored. In addition, the storage unit 232 determines the granularity of the user information received by the receiving unit 231 and stores the evaluation value in the granularity of the user information storage unit 221 based on the determination result.

  For example, the storage unit 232 holds a threshold for determining an evaluation value of each factor information for each type of user information. Then, the storage unit 232 determines the evaluation value of each user information by comparing the user information received by the receiving unit 231 with a threshold value or the like. If the position information is described as an example, the storage unit 232 holds, for example, a threshold range corresponding to each evaluation value of accuracy. Further, the storage unit 232 holds information such as a granularity evaluation value “5” when the position information is longitude and latitude, and a granularity evaluation value “1” when the position information is only a prefecture. To do. The storage unit 232 identifies the evaluation value of each factor information based on the threshold value corresponding to each evaluation value.

  The update unit 233 updates the factor information stored in the user information storage unit 221. Specifically, the update unit 233 periodically updates factor information that may dynamically change among factor information stored in the user information storage unit 221 (for example, every day). Referring to the example of FIG. 8, among the factor information “accuracy”, “granularity”, and “rareness” stored in the user information storage unit 221, “rare” determined by comparison with other user information The “character” may change due to new user information being stored in the user information storage unit 221. Therefore, in the example of FIG. 8, the update unit 233 periodically updates “rareness” in the user information storage unit 221.

  For example, the update unit 233 refers to the position information stored in the item “value” of the user information storage unit 221 to count the number of position information for each prefecture, for example. . Then, the rarity corresponding to the position information with the smallest counting result is updated to the evaluation value “5”, and the rarity corresponding to the position information with the largest counting result is updated to the evaluation value “1”. Further, without being limited to this example, the updating unit 233 calculates the average value of the count results, and updates the rarity to a higher evaluation value for position information having a larger difference between the calculated average value and the count result. Further, the updating unit 233 may update the rarity evaluation value using an outlier detection method such as LOF (local outlier factor). In the case of this example, the updating unit 233 updates the rarity to a higher evaluation value as the position information has a larger LOF value.

  Note that the updating unit 233 is not limited to the rarity, and the “accuracy” and “granularity” stored in the user information storage unit 221 may be updated periodically. For example, the storage unit 232 described above stores the accuracy of the user information received by the reception unit 231 in a storage unit (not shown in FIG. 7). Then, the update unit 233 periodically refers to the storage unit to calculate an average value of accuracy for each type of user information, and the user information with higher accuracy than the average value has a higher accuracy. Update. Similarly, the update unit 233 may periodically update the evaluation value of the granularity.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the transaction unit 240 includes a request reception unit 241, a calculation unit 242, and a provision unit 243. The request reception unit 241 receives a user information acquisition request from the user terminal 20, similarly to the request reception unit 141 according to the first embodiment. Here, the request reception unit 241 according to the second embodiment may receive the evaluation value of the factor information as the specific information for specifying the acquisition target user information. For example, the request reception unit 241 determines that the user information type is “location information”, the factor information “accuracy” is “3” or more, and the acquisition date is “November 1 to November 2013”. The acquisition request including the specific information “15th” is accepted.

  The calculating unit 242 calculates the price of the user information based on the factor information of the user information corresponding to the acquisition request received by the request receiving unit 241. Specifically, the calculation unit 242 calculates the price of the user information based on the factor information “accuracy”, “granularity”, and “rareness” stored in the user information storage unit 221.

  More specifically, the calculation unit 242 acquires the evaluation value indicated by the factor information (accuracy, granularity, rarity) of the user information corresponding to the acquisition request from the user information storage unit 221. Then, the calculation unit 242 calculates the price of the user information corresponding to the acquisition request higher as the user information corresponding to the acquisition request includes more user information having a higher evaluation value. On the other hand, the calculation unit 242 calculates the price of the user information corresponding to the acquisition request lower as the user information corresponding to the acquisition request includes more user information having a lower evaluation value.

  For example, it is assumed that the user information requested by the acquisition request is position information. In this case, the calculation unit 242 acquires evaluation values with accuracy corresponding to all pieces of position information from the user information storage unit 221, and calculates an average value of the acquired evaluation values. Then, the calculation unit 242 calculates the price of the user information higher as the evaluation value of the accuracy of the user information requested by the acquisition request is higher than the average value of the evaluation values. On the other hand, the calculation unit 242 calculates the price of the user information lower as the evaluation value of the accuracy of the user information requested by the acquisition request is lower than the average value of the evaluation values. Similarly, the calculation unit 242 calculates the price of the user information requested by the acquisition request using the evaluation values of the granularity and rarity.

  When the reference unit price, which is the price per piece of user information, has been determined, the calculation unit 242 determines the average evaluation value and each user information as in the example described in the first embodiment. The price for each user information may be calculated by correcting the reference unit price according to the difference from the evaluation value. The calculation unit 242 may calculate the price for each piece of user information by multiplying the reference unit price by a coefficient determined in advance for each evaluation value.

  In addition, the calculation unit 242 pays to the information provider that is the transmission source of the user information provided to the user terminal 20 according to the above-described factor information, similarly to the calculation unit 142 according to the first embodiment. Calculate the amount. Specifically, the calculation unit 242 calculates the amount of remuneration to be distributed to the information provider according to the degree of contribution of each information provider to the usage fee requested from the information user.

  The providing unit 243 provides user information corresponding to the acquisition request to the user terminal 20 that is the transmission source of the acquisition request received by the request receiving unit 241. The providing unit 243 may provide not only user information but also a combination of user information and a provider identifier to the user terminal 20.

  Note that the transaction unit 240 described above may instruct the update unit 233 to update the user information storage unit 221 when the acquisition request is received by the request reception unit 241. Thereby, the transaction part 240 can update the factor information memorize | stored in the user information storage part 221 to the newest state at the present time.

[2. effect〕
As described above, the information transaction apparatus 200 according to the second embodiment includes the accuracy indicating the accuracy of the user information stored in the user information storage unit 221, the granularity indicating the detail level of the user information, and the user The price of user information is calculated by using at least one or more of scarcity indicating the scarce value of information as factor information.

  Thereby, since the information transaction apparatus 200 which concerns on 2nd Embodiment can calculate the price according to the value of user information, it can provide the user information according to the price with respect to an information user. At the same time, a reward commensurate with the value of the user information can be provided to the information provider. As a result, the information transaction apparatus 200 according to the first embodiment can allow both the information provider and the information user to enjoy appropriate profits.

[3. (Modification)
In the second embodiment, “accuracy”, “granularity”, and “rareness” have been described as the factor information as examples. However, without being limited to this example, the factor information includes “freshness” based on the acquisition date and time of the user information, “collection period” based on the period when the user information is collected, and “distribution of acquisition date and time” in the collection period. There may be. Specifically, “freshness” indicates the freshness of user information. For example, the evaluation value of “freshness” is set higher as the acquisition date of user information is closer to the current date and time. The “collection period” indicates a period in which the same type of user information is acquired periodically or continuously by the same user terminal 20. For example, the longer the period in which user information is periodically acquired by the same user terminal 20, the higher the “collection period” evaluation value is set. For example, the evaluation value of the “collection period” is set higher as the acquisition date interval in the user information acquired by the same user terminal 20 is shorter.

  In this case, the calculation unit 242 calculates the price of the user information higher as the evaluation value of “freshness” is higher (that is, as the user information is newer). This is because new user information is more likely to be useful information by information users. Or the calculation part 242 may calculate the price of user information low, so that the evaluation value of "freshness" is high (namely, user information is newer). This is because older user information is more likely to be difficult to obtain and may be useful information by information users. In addition, the calculation unit 242 calculates the price of the user information higher as the evaluation value of “collection period” is higher. This is because the user information group acquired with high density over a long period of time is likely to be useful information by the information user.

  In the second embodiment, the calculation unit 242 may calculate the price of the user information based on the combination of the types of user information requested by the acquisition request. For example, depending on the user terminal 20, only the position information may be requested, the position information, the atmospheric pressure information, the sound collection information, the illuminance information, and the gradient information may all be requested, or the position information, etc. A provider identifier may be requested in addition to user information. Here, for example, the calculation unit 242 may calculate the price of the user information higher as the number of types of user information to be acquired increases. In addition, the calculation unit 242 may calculate the price of the user information higher for a combination of types having higher needs.

(Third embodiment)
In the said 1st and 2nd embodiment, the example which uses the market condition and characteristic information of user information as factor information which affects the value of user information was shown. However, the factor information that affects the value of the user information may be a transaction status indicating a status in which user information was previously traded with the provider terminal 10 or the user terminal 20. For example, the price of user information may be calculated based on the ranks of information providers and information users according to the usage frequency of the information distribution system 1. 3rd Embodiment demonstrates the example which calculates the price of user information based on the transaction condition between the provider terminal 10 or the user terminal 20. FIG. In the third embodiment, an example in which the price calculation process based on the transaction status is applied to the first embodiment is shown, but such a price calculation process can also be applied to the second embodiment. Moreover, since the structure of the information distribution system 1 which concerns on 3rd Embodiment is the same as that of the example shown in FIG. 1, description is abbreviate | omitted below.

[1. Configuration of information transaction device]
First, the structure of the information transaction apparatus 300 which concerns on 3rd Embodiment is demonstrated using FIG. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an information transaction apparatus 300 according to the third embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 9, the information transaction apparatus 300 includes a provider information storage unit 322, a user information storage unit 323, and a control unit 330.

  The provider information storage unit 322 stores information related to an information provider that provides user information to the information transaction apparatus 300. Here, FIG. 10 shows an example of the provider information storage unit 322 according to the third embodiment. In the example illustrated in FIG. 10, the provider information storage unit 322 includes items such as “provider identifier”, “number of times of provision”, and “provider rank”.

  The “provider identifier” corresponds to the provider identifier shown in FIG. “Number of provisions” indicates the number of times the user information of the provider terminal 10 (that is, the information provider) identified by the provider identifier is provided to the user terminal 20. The “provision count” may be the number of user information provided to the user terminal 20. The “provider rank” is determined according to the transaction status and indicates the rank of the information provider. In other words, the “provider rank” corresponds to a transaction status indicating a status in which user information and reward have been previously traded between the information transaction apparatus 300 and the provider terminal 10. Specifically, the “provider rank” stores a larger value as the number of times of provision is larger, and a smaller value as the number of times of provision is smaller. In the “provider rank” shown in FIG. 10, ranks indicated by five levels “1” to “5” are stored. In this example, the provider rank “1” indicates the lowest rank, and the provider rank “5” indicates the highest rank.

  That is, FIG. 10 shows an example in which the user information of the information provider identified by the provider identifier “U01” is provided 200 times to the user terminal 20 by the information transaction apparatus 300. FIG. 10 shows an example in which the information provider identified by the provider identifier “U01” has the highest rank “5”.

  The user information storage unit 323 stores information related to information users who acquire user information from the information transaction apparatus 300. Here, FIG. 11 shows an example of the user information storage unit 323 according to the third embodiment. In the example illustrated in FIG. 11, the user information storage unit 323 includes items such as “user identifier”, “number of uses”, and “user rank”.

  The “user identifier” indicates identification information for identifying the user terminal 20 or the information user. “Number of uses” indicates the number of times the user terminal 20 (that is, the information user) identified by the user identifier has used the information transaction apparatus 300. Note that the “number of times of use” may be the number of user information acquired by the user terminal 20 from the information transaction apparatus 300, or may be the number of times of user information acquired from the information transaction apparatus 300. “User rank” is determined according to the transaction status and indicates the rank of the information user. In other words, the “user rank” corresponds to a transaction status indicating a status in which user information and usage fees have been previously traded between the information transaction apparatus 300 and the user terminal 20. Specifically, the “user rank” stores a larger value as the number of uses increases, and a smaller value as the number of uses decreases. In the “user rank” shown in FIG. 11, ranks indicated by five levels “1” to “5” are stored. In this example, the user rank “1” indicates the lowest rank, and the user rank “5” indicates the highest rank.

  That is, FIG. 11 shows an example in which the information transaction apparatus 300 uses user information 15 times for the user terminal 20 identified by the user identifier “R01”. FIG. 11 shows an example in which the information user identified by the user identifier “R01” has the highest rank “5”.

  Returning to the description of FIG. 9, the control unit 330 includes the transaction unit 340 and realizes or executes the functions and operations of information processing described below. Note that the internal configuration of the control unit 330 is not limited to the configuration illustrated in FIG. 9, and may be another configuration as long as the information processing described below is performed. Further, the connection relationship between the processing units included in the control unit 330 is not limited to the connection relationship illustrated in FIG. 9, and may be another connection relationship.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the transaction unit 340 includes a calculating unit 342 and a providing unit 343. Similar to the calculation unit 142 according to the first embodiment, the calculation unit 342 evaluates the market situation of each user information using the factor information stored in the user information storage unit 121 (that is, the number of times of provision), The price of each user information is calculated based on the market situation as an evaluation result. Furthermore, the calculation unit 342 evaluates the transaction status indicating the status of past user information transactions with the provider terminal 10 and the user terminal 20, and provides the user terminal 20 with the evaluated transaction status. The price of user information to be calculated is calculated. Specifically, the calculation unit 342 refers to the provider rank stored in the provider information storage unit 322, and corresponds to an information provider that has a large number of times user information has been provided to the user terminal 20 in the past. The price is calculated higher for user information. Furthermore, the calculation unit 342 refers to the user rank stored in the user information storage unit 323, and calculates a lower price for user information provided to the user terminal 20 that has been frequently provided with user information in the past. To do.

  More specifically, the calculation unit 342 acquires the provider rank of the information provider that is the transmission source of the user information corresponding to the acquisition request from the provider information storage unit 322. Then, the calculation unit 342 calculates the user information higher as the provider rank is higher, and calculates the user information lower as the provider rank is lower. That is, the calculation unit 342 evaluates that an information provider with a higher number of times user information has been provided to an information user has a higher value of user information corresponding to the information provider, and calculates by increasing the price of the user information. To do. Further, the calculation unit 342 acquires the user rank of the information user who is the transmission source of the acquisition request from the user information storage unit 323. And the calculation part 342 calculates user information low, so that a user rank is high, and calculates user information high, so that a user rank is low. That is, the calculation unit 342 calculates a discounted usage fee for an information user who has acquired user information from the information transaction apparatus 300 many times.

  Here, the operator of the information transaction apparatus 300 can obtain an amount obtained by subtracting the fee paid to the information provider from the usage fee obtained from the information user as a fee. The calculation unit 342 according to the third embodiment uses the usage fee obtained from the information user whose user rank is the maximum (“5” in the above example) so that the operator of the information transaction apparatus 300 does not become deficit. From the discount rate according to the user rank and the provider rank so that the amount obtained by subtracting the reward paid to the information provider with the maximum provider rank ("5" in the above example) is 0 or more. The additional rate may be determined.

  The providing unit 343 provides user information to the user terminal 20 in the same manner as the providing unit 143 according to the first embodiment. Further, when providing the user information to the user terminal 20, the providing unit 343 adds “1” to the number of times of provision in the provider information storage unit 322 corresponding to the information provider that is the transmission source of the user information. . Further, when providing the user information to the user terminal 20, the providing unit 343 adds “1” to the number of uses of the user information storage unit 323 corresponding to the information user of the providing destination.

  In addition, whenever the provision part 343 updates the provision frequency of the provider information storage part 322, based on the updated provision frequency, the provider rank of the provider information storage part 322 may be updated. Or the provision part 343 may update the provider rank of the provider information storage part 322 regularly. The providing unit 343 may update the user rank of the user information storage unit 323 based on the updated number of uses every time the number of uses of the user information storage unit 323 is updated. Alternatively, the providing unit 343 may update the user rank in the user information storage unit 323 periodically.

[2. effect〕
As described above, the information transaction apparatus 300 according to the third embodiment calculates a higher price for user information corresponding to an information provider whose user information has been provided to the user terminal 20 in the past. In addition, the information transaction apparatus 300 calculates a lower price for user information provided to the user terminal 20 that has been provided with a lot of user information in the past.

  Thereby, since the information transaction apparatus 300 according to the third embodiment can provide a discount service or the like according to the usage frequency of the information transaction apparatus 300, the increase in the number of users of the information transaction apparatus 300 is promoted. be able to.

[3. (Modification)
In the third embodiment, an example in which a provider rank, which is an example of a transaction status, is determined according to the number of times the provider information storage unit 322 is provided (the number of times user information is provided to the user terminal 20). Indicated. However, the present invention is not limited to this example, and the provider rank may be determined according to the number of information users who have been provided with user information. For example, the provider rank may be determined according to the number of information users for whom user information is requested. At this time, the provider rank may be determined according to the number of information users counted as “1” for the same information user.

  In the third embodiment, the number of times the provider information storage unit 322 is provided is the number of times the provider terminal 10 has provided user information to the information transaction apparatus 300 or the provider terminal 10 provided to the information transaction apparatus 300. It may be the number of user information.

  In the third embodiment, the example is shown in which the provider rank is determined according to the “number of times of provision” in the provider information storage unit 322. However, the provider rank may be determined according to the user attribute of the information provider, not the number of times of provision. For example, the provider rank may be determined by the age of the information provider, the place of residence, occupation, family composition, sex, and the like. For example, when there are few elderly people among the information providers who use the information transaction apparatus 300, the information providers who are elderly people will provide user information with a higher rarity value. Person rank may be set. Similarly, a higher provider rank may be set for an information provider having user attributes such as a residential area, occupation, and family structure with a high rare value.

(Fourth embodiment)
In the said 1st-3rd embodiment, the information transaction apparatus 100, 200 and 300 showed the example holding user information. However, the user information may be held by the provider terminal 10 instead of being held by the information transaction apparatus 100 or the like. In the fourth embodiment, an example in which user information is held by the provider terminal 10 will be described. In the fourth embodiment, an example in which the aspect in which the provider terminal 10 holds the user information is applied to the first embodiment is shown. However, this aspect is applied to the second embodiment and the third embodiment. You can also

[1. Information transaction processing)
First, an example of the information transaction process according to the fourth embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of an information transaction process according to the fourth embodiment. In FIG. 1, information transaction processing will be described by taking the information distribution system 2 as an example.

  As shown in FIG. 12, the information distribution system 2 includes a provider terminal 10, a user terminal 20, and an information transaction apparatus 400. In the case of the example illustrated in FIG. 12, the provider terminal 10 transmits meta information related to user information, not user information, to the information transaction apparatus 400 (step S21). Here, the meta information is, for example, the type of user information that can be acquired in the provider terminal 10, the acquisition period for acquiring user information, the acquisition frequency for acquiring user information, and the like. The provider terminal 10 acquires user information corresponding to the meta information transmitted to the information transaction apparatus 400, and accumulates the acquired user information in the own apparatus (provider terminal 10).

  Then, the information transaction apparatus 400 stores the meta information received from the provider terminal 10 in the user information storage unit 421. The information transaction apparatus 400 also receives meta information from a provider terminal other than the provider terminal 10 (not shown in FIG. 12), and accumulates the received meta information in the user information storage unit 421. That is, the information transaction apparatus 400 according to the fourth embodiment does not accumulate the user information itself, but accumulates in the user information storage unit 421 the types of user information that can be acquired by each provider terminal 10.

  Subsequently, the user terminal 20 transmits a user information acquisition request to the information transaction apparatus 400 in accordance with an operation by the information user Q1 (step S22).

  Subsequently, when the information transaction apparatus 400 receives an acquisition request from the user terminal 20, the information transaction apparatus 400 holds a user information corresponding to the acquisition request based on the meta information stored in the user information storage unit 421. User information is requested from the terminal 10 (step S23). And the provider terminal 10 responds to the request | requirement from the information transaction apparatus 400, and provides user information to the information transaction apparatus 400 (step S24).

  Then, the information transaction apparatus 400 calculates the price of the user information to be provided to the user terminal 20 based on factor information indicating factors that affect the value of the user information collected from the provider terminal 10. In the example of FIG. 12, the information transaction apparatus 400 calculates the price of the user information based on the market situation of the user information as an example of factor information (step S25). And the information transaction apparatus 400 provides the user information collected from the provider terminal 10 to the user terminal 20 (step S26).

  Thereafter, the information user Q1 pays the price calculated in step S25 to the administrator of the information transaction apparatus 400 as a user information usage fee (step S27). Then, the administrator of the information transaction apparatus 400 rewards part or all of the usage fee obtained from the information user Q1 to the information provider P1 that is the transmission source of the user information provided to the user terminal 20. (Step S28).

  As described above, the information transaction apparatus 400 according to the fourth embodiment can allow both the information provider P1 and the information user Q1 to enjoy appropriate profits. Furthermore, since the information transaction apparatus 400 according to the fourth embodiment does not hold user information, it is possible to prevent leakage of user information. That is, the information transaction apparatus 400 can realize information transaction processing with high security.

[2. Configuration of information transaction device]
Next, the structure of the information transaction apparatus 400 which concerns on 4th Embodiment is demonstrated using FIG. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of an information transaction apparatus 400 according to the fourth embodiment. As illustrated in FIG. 13, the information transaction apparatus 400 includes a user information storage unit 421 and a control unit 430.

  The user information storage unit 421 stores meta information of user information provided from the provider terminal 10. Here, FIG. 14 shows an example of the user information storage unit 421 according to the fourth embodiment. In the example illustrated in FIG. 14, the user information storage unit 421 includes items such as “provider identifier” and “user information”.

  The “provider identifier” corresponds to the provider identifier shown in FIG. “User information” is divided into types such as “position information” and “atmospheric pressure information” as in the example of FIG. Although not shown in FIG. 14, the “user information” may have types such as “sound collection information”, “illuminance information”, and “gradient information”.

  The user information shown in FIG. 14 is divided into items such as “state”, “acquisition period”, “acquisition frequency”, and “provision number” for each type. “Status” indicates whether or not user information is acquired by the provider terminal 10. In the example of FIG. 14, when “present” is stored in the “state”, this indicates that the user information is acquired by the provider terminal 10, and “none” is stored in the “state”. If it is, it indicates that the user information is not acquired by the provider terminal 10. The “acquisition period” indicates a period during which user information is acquired. “Acquisition frequency” indicates a time interval for acquiring user information. “Number of times of provision” indicates the number of times user information has been provided to the user terminal 20 in the past.

  For example, FIG. 14 shows an example in which position information and barometric pressure information are stored in the provider terminal 10 corresponding to the provider identifier “U01”. For example, FIG. 14 illustrates an example in which the provider terminal 10 corresponding to the provider identifier “U01” acquires position information at intervals of 30 minutes in 2013. For example, FIG. 14 shows an example in which the location information acquired by the provider terminal 10 corresponding to the provider identifier “U01” has been provided 30 times in the past. Further, for example, FIG. 14 shows an example in which the position information is accumulated in the provider terminal 10 corresponding to the provider identifier “U02”, but the atmospheric pressure information is not accumulated.

  Returning to the description of FIG. 13, the control unit 430 includes a reception unit 431, a storage unit 432, and a transaction unit 440, and realizes or executes functions and operations of information processing described below. The internal configuration of the control unit 430 is not limited to the configuration illustrated in FIG. 13, and may be another configuration as long as the information processing described later is performed. Further, the connection relationship between the processing units included in the control unit 430 is not limited to the connection relationship illustrated in FIG. 13, and may be another connection relationship.

  The receiving unit 431 receives meta information related to user information together with a provider identifier from the provider terminal 10. For example, the reception unit 431 acquires, as meta information, the type of user information that can be acquired in the provider terminal 10, an acquisition period in which the provider terminal 10 acquires user information, and acquisition in which the provider terminal 10 acquires user information. Receive frequency etc.

  In addition, the timing which the provider terminal 10 transmits meta information to the information transaction apparatus 400 may be arbitrary. The meta information transmitted by the provider terminal 10 can be set by the information provider. For example, the information provider can set and change the type, acquisition period, and acquisition frequency of user information to be acquired. And the provider terminal 10 can transmit meta information to the information transaction apparatus 400 according to operation by an information provider.

  The storage unit 432 stores the meta information received by the receiving unit 431 in the user information storage unit 421. Specifically, the storage unit 432 stores the meta information in the user information storage unit 421 in association with the provider identifier received by the receiving unit 431.

  As illustrated in FIG. 13, the transaction unit 440 includes a collection unit 444, a calculation unit 442, and a provision unit 443. When the request reception unit 141 receives a user information acquisition request, the collection unit 444 acquires user information corresponding to the acquisition request from the provider terminal 10. Specifically, the collection unit 444 identifies a provider identifier that holds user information corresponding to the acquisition request based on the meta information stored in the user information storage unit 421, and corresponds to the identified provider identifier. User information is requested to the provider terminal 10 to be provided. Thereby, the collection unit 444 collects the user information and the acquisition date and time of the user information from the provider terminal 10.

  For example, it is assumed that “location information for 100 people” is requested by an acquisition request. In this case, the collection unit 444 identifies 100 provider identifiers in which “present” is stored in the “status” corresponding to the location information in the user information storage unit 421, and provides corresponding to the identified provider identifier Position information is collected from each of the person terminals 10.

  Further, for example, it is assumed that “location information for 100 people acquired in 2013” is requested by an acquisition request. In this case, the collection unit 444 identifies 100 provider identifiers in which the period including “2013” is stored in the “acquisition period” corresponding to the position information in the user information storage unit 421, and the identified provider Location information is collected from each of the provider terminals 10 corresponding to the identifiers.

  Further, for example, it is assumed that “location information for 100 persons acquired more frequently than every hour” is requested by an acquisition request. In this case, the collection unit 444 identifies 100 provider identifiers in which information higher in frequency than “every hour” is stored in the “acquisition frequency” corresponding to the position information in the user information storage unit 421, Location information is collected from each of the provider terminals 10 corresponding to the specified provider identifier.

  The calculation unit 442 calculates the price of user information provided to the user terminal 20 based on the number of times of provision, which is factor information stored in the user information storage unit 421. Specifically, the calculating unit 442 calculates the price of the user information based on the “provision number” corresponding to the provider terminal 10 (that is, the provider identifier) from which the user information has been collected by the collecting unit 444. For example, the calculation unit 442 evaluates that the information provider has a higher need as the “number of times of provision” is larger, and the information provider has a lower need as the acquired “number of times of provision” is smaller. Evaluate that there is. Then, the calculation unit 442 calculates the price of the user information higher as the user information corresponding to the acquisition request includes more user information with higher needs, and the user information corresponding to the acquisition request includes more user information with lower needs. The price of user information is calculated as low as possible.

  In addition, it is considered that the needs for the information provider are determined by the acquisition period and the acquisition frequency that are meta information. Specifically, the longer the acquisition period, the higher the possibility of satisfying the request from the information user, and the higher the acquisition frequency, the higher the possibility of satisfying the request from the information user. For this reason, the needs for each information provider vary depending on the acquisition period and the acquisition frequency.

  In addition, the calculation unit 442, like the calculation unit 142 according to the first embodiment, pays to the information provider that is the transmission source of the user information provided to the user terminal 20 according to the factor information described above. Calculate the amount. Specifically, the calculation unit 442 calculates the amount of remuneration to be distributed to the information provider according to the contribution of each information provider to the usage fee requested from the information user.

  The providing unit 443 provides the user information collected by the collecting unit 444 to the user terminal 20 that is the transmission source of the acquisition request received by the request receiving unit 141. Specifically, the providing unit 443 notifies the user terminal 20 of the price of the user information calculated by the calculating unit 442, and provides the user information corresponding to the acquisition request to the user terminal 20. Then, the providing unit 443 adds “1” to the number of times of providing the user information provided to the user terminal 20 among the number of times of providing corresponding to each user information stored in the user information storage unit 421. Also, the providing unit 443 notifies the provider terminal 10 of the reward amount for each information provider calculated by the calculating unit 442.

  The providing unit 443 notifies the user terminal 20 of the price of the user information calculated by the calculating unit 442, and then receives the notification that the payment of the price is accepted from the user terminal 20. User information corresponding to the request may be provided to the user terminal 20.

  Further, the calculating unit 442 described above may calculate the price of the user information provided to the user terminal 20 before the collecting unit 444 collects the user information. Specifically, the calculation unit 442 is configured to store factor information (that is, the number of times of provision) stored in the user information storage unit 421 at the time when the provider terminal 10 that is a collection target of user information is specified by the collection unit 444. Based on the above, the price of the user information is calculated. In this case, the providing unit 443 collects user information with respect to the collecting unit 444 when receiving a notification from the user terminal 20 that the user unit 20 has accepted the payment of the price of the user information calculated by the calculating unit 442. The user information collected by the collection unit 444 may be provided.

[3. effect〕
As described above, since the information transaction apparatus 400 according to the fourth embodiment does not hold user information, not only can the information provider and the information user receive an appropriate profit, High-security information transaction processing can be realized.

[4. (Modification)
In the fourth embodiment, the provider terminal 10 may transmit information other than “status”, “acquisition period”, and “acquisition frequency” to the information transaction apparatus 400 as meta information. For example, the provider terminal 10 may transmit, as meta information, regional information regarding a region from which user information is acquired to the information transaction apparatus 400. In this case, the information transaction apparatus 400 stores regional information and the like in the user information storage unit 421. And the information transaction apparatus 400 collects user information from the provider terminal 10 which satisfy | fills this specific information, when the specific information which specifies an area | region is contained in an acquisition request.

  Moreover, although the example which applies the information transaction apparatus 400 to 1st Embodiment was shown in the said 4th Embodiment, the information transaction apparatus 400 can be applied also to 2nd or 3rd Embodiment. . For example, the information transaction apparatus 400 may use accuracy, granularity, rarity, and the like as the factor information, similarly to the information transaction apparatus 200 according to the second embodiment. In this case, when information transaction apparatus 400 collects user information from provider terminal 10, it evaluates accuracy, granularity, and rarity, and calculates the price of user information based on the evaluation result.

  Moreover, in the said 4th Embodiment, although the user information storage part 421 showed the example which memorize | stores user information for every contractor identifier like the example shown in FIG. 14, it is not restricted to this example. . For example, as in the example illustrated in FIG. 4, the user information storage unit 421 may store the user information illustrated in FIG. 14 in association with the acquisition date and the contractor identifier. In this case, the information transaction apparatus 400 can update the user information storage unit 421 by periodically receiving from the provider terminal 10 the type of user information acquired by the provider terminal 10 and the acquisition date and time.

(Other embodiments)
Each embodiment mentioned above may be implemented with various different forms other than the above-mentioned embodiment. Accordingly, other embodiments will be described below. In addition, even if it is a case where other embodiment is described below taking the information transaction apparatus 100 as an example, the other embodiments described below may be applied to the information transaction apparatuses 200, 300, and 400. it can.

[1. (Calculation process)
The first to fourth embodiments described above can be combined. Specifically, the information transaction apparatus 100 includes “market conditions”, “accuracy”, “granularity”, “rareness”, “freshness”, “collection period”, as factor information that affects the value of user information. The price of user information can be calculated by using some or all of “combination of types of user information to be acquired”, “provider rank”, and “user rank”. Moreover, when using a plurality of factor information, the information transaction apparatus 100 may calculate the price of the user information using a weight for each factor information corresponding to the importance.

[2. Processing)
Further, the information transaction apparatus 100 described above may provide the user terminal 20 after processing the user information, instead of providing the user information itself stored in the user information storage unit 121. For example, the information transaction apparatus 100 may obtain the population distribution for each region based on the location information, or may obtain the noise distribution for each region based on the location information and the sound collection information. Or the like may be provided to the user terminal 20. Moreover, when providing the user information after processing to the user terminal 20, the information transaction apparatus 100 may calculate the price of the user information at a high price.

[3. (Consent of information provider)
Further, the information transaction apparatus 100 described above may provide user information to an information user only when consent is obtained from an information provider. Specifically, the information transaction apparatus 100 receives beforehand permission information from the provider terminal 10 to permit the user information to be provided to the user terminal 20, and based on the received permission information, the user terminal 20 Provide user information.

  Here, the permission information that the information transaction apparatus 100 receives from the provider terminal 10 may be in an arbitrary format. For example, the information transaction apparatus 100 receives permission information indicating that the provision of user information to the user terminal 20 is permitted unconditionally from the provider terminal 10. In this case, the information transaction apparatus 100 provides user information corresponding to the provider terminal 10 to the user terminal 20 unconditionally. For example, the information transaction apparatus 100 receives permission information including the type of user information permitted to be provided to the user terminal 20 from the provider terminal 10. In this case, the information transaction apparatus 100 provides only the user information corresponding to the type included in the permission information to the user terminal 20. In addition, for example, the information transaction apparatus 100 receives permission information including the business type of the information user as a user information providing destination from the provider terminal 10. In this case, the information transaction apparatus 100 holds in advance a business type for each information user, or accepts a business type of the information user from the user terminal 20 together with an acquisition request for user information. When the business type included in the permission information matches the business type of the information user, the information transaction apparatus 100 provides the user information corresponding to the provider terminal 10 that transmitted the permission information to the user terminal 20. To do.

  Moreover, the timing which the information transaction apparatus 100 receives permission information may be arbitrary. For example, the information transaction apparatus 100 receives permission information from the provider terminal 10 in advance when the provider terminal 10 is determined to use the information transaction apparatus 100. In this case, the information transaction apparatus 100 provides the user information corresponding to the provider terminal 10 to the user terminal 20 based on the permission information received in advance. For example, the information transaction apparatus 100 receives permission information from the provider terminal 10 by inquiring of the provider terminal 10 every time the user information is provided to the user terminal 20. In this case, the information transaction apparatus 100 provides the user information to the user terminal 20 based on the received permission information only when the permission information can be received from the provider terminal 10.

[4. (Open trade)
Moreover, in the said embodiment, when the information transaction apparatus 100 received the acquisition request from the user terminal 20, the example which provides the user information and price corresponding to an acquisition request to the user terminal 20 was shown. However, without being limited to this example, the information transaction apparatus 100 may periodically calculate the price of the user information and disclose the calculated price of the user information. At this time, the information transaction apparatus 100 may also publish a period during which user information can be purchased at the price being disclosed. In this case, the information user can determine whether or not to purchase user information with reference to the price disclosed by the information transaction apparatus 100. In addition, when applying such a transaction form to 3rd Embodiment, the price of user information is fluctuate | varied with a user rank. For this reason, for example, the information transaction apparatus 300 discloses a price for an information user having the lowest user rank, and also discloses that there is a possibility that the information transaction apparatus 300 may be discounted according to the usage frequency of the information transaction apparatus 300. Good.

[5. User information)
In the above-described embodiment, the position information, the atmospheric pressure information, the sound collection information, the illuminance information, the gradient information, and the like have been described as examples of the user information. However, examples of the user information are not limited thereto. For example, the user information may be personal information of the information provider (for example, “age”, “profession”, “annual income”, etc.).

[6. Others]
In addition, among the processes described in the above-described embodiments, all or part of the processes described as being automatically performed can be manually performed, or have been described as being manually performed. All or a part of the processing can be automatically performed by a known method. In addition, the processing procedures, specific names, and information including various data and parameters shown in the document and drawings can be arbitrarily changed unless otherwise specified. For example, the various types of information illustrated in each drawing is not limited to the illustrated information.

  Further, each component of each illustrated apparatus is functionally conceptual, and does not necessarily need to be physically configured as illustrated. In other words, the specific form of distribution / integration of each device is not limited to that shown in the figure, and all or a part thereof may be functionally or physically distributed or arbitrarily distributed in arbitrary units according to various loads or usage conditions. Can be integrated and configured. For example, the user information storage unit 121 illustrated in FIG. 3 may be held by a storage server or the like (not shown) without being held by the information transaction apparatus 100. In this case, the information transaction apparatus 100 acquires user information and the like from the storage server.

[7. Hardware configuration)
Moreover, the information transaction apparatuses 100, 200, and 300 according to the above-described embodiments are realized by a computer 1000 having a configuration as shown in FIG. 15, for example. Hereinafter, the information transaction apparatus 100 will be described as an example. FIG. 15 is a hardware configuration diagram illustrating an example of a computer 1000 that realizes the functions of the information transaction apparatus 100. The computer 1000 includes a CPU 1100, RAM 1200, ROM 1300, HDD 1400, communication interface (I / F) 1500, input / output interface (I / F) 1600, and media interface (I / F) 1700.

  The CPU 1100 operates based on a program stored in the ROM 1300 or the HDD 1400 and controls each unit. The ROM 1300 stores a boot program executed by the CPU 1100 when the computer 1000 is started up, a program depending on the hardware of the computer 1000, and the like.

  The HDD 1400 stores programs executed by the CPU 1100, data used by the programs, and the like. The communication interface 1500 receives data from other devices via the communication network 50 and sends the data to the CPU 1100, and transmits data generated by the CPU 1100 to other devices via the communication network 50.

  The CPU 1100 controls an output device such as a display and a printer and an input device such as a keyboard and a mouse via the input / output interface 1600. The CPU 1100 acquires data from the input device via the input / output interface 1600. In addition, the CPU 1100 outputs the generated data to the output device via the input / output interface 1600.

  The media interface 1700 reads a program or data stored in the recording medium 1800 and provides it to the CPU 1100 via the RAM 1200. The CPU 1100 loads such a program from the recording medium 1800 onto the RAM 1200 via the media interface 1700, and executes the loaded program. The recording medium 1800 is, for example, an optical recording medium such as a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) or PD (Phase change rewritable disk), a magneto-optical recording medium such as an MO (Magneto-Optical disk), a tape medium, a magnetic recording medium, or a semiconductor memory. Etc.

  For example, when the computer 1000 functions as the information transaction apparatus 100 according to the first embodiment, the CPU 1100 of the computer 1000 implements the function of the control unit 130 by executing a program loaded on the RAM 1200. The HDD 1400 stores data in the user information storage unit 121. The CPU 1100 of the computer 1000 reads these programs from the recording medium 1800 and executes them. However, as another example, these programs may be acquired from other devices via the communication network 50.

  When the computer 1000 functions as the information transaction apparatus 200 according to the second embodiment, the CPU 1100 of the computer 1000 implements the function of the control unit 230 by executing a program loaded on the RAM 1200. The HDD 1400 stores data in the user information storage unit 221.

  When the computer 1000 functions as the information transaction apparatus 300 according to the third embodiment, the CPU 1100 of the computer 1000 implements the function of the control unit 330 by executing a program loaded on the RAM 1200. The HDD 1400 stores data in the user information storage unit 121, the provider information storage unit 322, and the user information storage unit 323.

  When the computer 1000 functions as the information transaction apparatus 400 according to the fourth embodiment, the CPU 1100 of the computer 1000 implements the function of the control unit 430 by executing a program loaded on the RAM 1200. The HDD 1400 stores data in the user information storage unit 421.

  As described above, some of the embodiments of the present application have been described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, these are merely examples, and various modifications, including the aspects described in the disclosure section of the invention, based on the knowledge of those skilled in the art, It is possible to implement the present invention in other forms with improvements.

  In addition, the “section (module, unit)” described above can be read as “means” or “circuit”. For example, the receiving unit can be read as receiving means or a receiving circuit.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Information distribution system 10 Provider terminal 20 User terminal 100 Information transaction apparatus 121 User information storage part 131 Reception part 132 Storage part 140 Transaction part 141 Request reception part 142 Calculation part 143 Provision part

Claims (23)

Receiving means for receiving, as user information, a physical state related to the information provider or the provider terminal from a provider terminal used by the information provider;
Storage means for storing the user information in a storage unit for each type of user information received by the receiving means;
When the acquisition request for the user information is received from the user terminal used by the information user, the factor information affects the value of the user information stored in the storage unit, and the acquisition request is received A transaction means for dynamically evaluating the factor information at the time, and controlling transaction processing of user information between the information provider and the information user based on the evaluated factor information, and
The transaction means is:
Based on a combination of types of user information requested by the acquisition request, comprising a calculation means for calculating the price of the user information,
An information transaction apparatus characterized by that. Receiving means for receiving user information related to the information provider or the provider terminal from a provider terminal used by the information provider;
Storage means for storing the user information in a storage unit for each type of user information received by the receiving means;
When receiving an acquisition request for the user information from a user terminal used by an information user, accuracy, granularity, rarity that is factor information that affects the value of the user information stored in the storage unit, A transaction means for controlling transaction processing of user information between the information provider and the information user based on at least one of freshness and a collection period ;
The transaction means is:
Based on a combination of types of user information requested by the acquisition request, comprising a calculation means for calculating the price of the user information,
An information transaction apparatus characterized by that. The calculating means is
Evaluating the market situation of the user information stored in the storage unit as the factor information, and calculating the price of the user information to be provided to the user terminal based on the evaluated market situation;
The information transaction apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the information transaction apparatus is an information transaction apparatus. The calculating means is
According to the degree of demand or the degree of supply in the user information corresponding to the acquisition request, the market situation is evaluated.
The information transaction apparatus according to claim 3 . The calculating means is
Evaluating the characteristic information indicating the characteristics of the user information stored in the storage unit as the factor information, and calculating the price of the user information to be provided to the user terminal based on the evaluated characteristic information;
The information transaction apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4 , wherein The calculating means is
As the characteristic information of the user information stored in the storage unit, the accuracy indicating the accuracy of the user information, the granularity indicating the detail level of the user information, the rarity indicating the rarity value of the user information, and the user information Calculating the price of the user information by using at least one or more of the freshness based on the acquired acquisition date and the collection period in which the user information is collected;
The information transaction apparatus according to claim 5 . Receiving means for receiving meta information including a type of user information related to the information provider or the provider terminal from a provider terminal used by the information provider;
Storage means for storing the meta information received by the receiving means in a storage unit;
When an acquisition request for user information corresponding to the type is received from a user terminal used by an information user, the user information corresponding to the type is held based on meta information stored in the storage unit Identify the provider terminal, collect user information from the identified provider terminal, and based on factor information that affects the value of the collected user information, the information provider and the information user Transaction means for controlling transaction processing of user information between
An information transaction apparatus comprising: The transaction means is:
Calculation means for calculating the price of the user information provided to the user terminal based on the factor information
The information transaction apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising: The calculating means is
Evaluating the market situation of user information collected by the transaction means as the factor information, and calculating the price of user information to be provided to the user terminal based on the evaluated market situation;
The information transaction apparatus according to claim 8. The calculating means is
According to the degree of demand or the degree of supply in the user information corresponding to the acquisition request, the market situation is evaluated.
The information transaction apparatus according to claim 9. The calculating means is
Evaluating the characteristic information indicating the characteristics of the user information collected by the transaction means as the factor information, and calculating the price of the user information to be provided to the user terminal based on the evaluated characteristic information;
The information transaction apparatus according to any one of claims 8 to 10, wherein The calculating means is
As the characteristic information of the user information collected by the transaction means, the accuracy indicating the accuracy of the user information, the granularity indicating the detail level of the user information, the rarity indicating the rarity value of the user information, and the user information acquired Calculating the price of the user information by using at least one of the freshness based on the acquired acquisition date and the collection period in which the user information is collected,
The information transaction apparatus according to claim 11. The calculating means is
Based on the combination of the types of user information requested by the acquisition request, the price of the user information is calculated.
The information transaction device according to any one of claims 8 to 12, wherein The calculating means is
User information to be provided to the user terminal based on the evaluated transaction status by evaluating a transaction status indicating the status of past user information transactions with the provider terminal or the user terminal as the factor information Calculate the price of
The information transaction apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6 or 8 to 13 . The calculating means is
According to the transaction status indicating the status of past user information transactions with the provider terminal, the price of the user information corresponding to the provider terminal is calculated.
The information transaction apparatus according to claim 14 . The calculating means is
In accordance with the transaction status indicating the status of past user information transactions with the user terminal, the price of the user information provided to the user terminal is calculated.
The information transaction apparatus according to claim 14 or 15 , wherein The transaction means is:
Providing means for providing user information corresponding to the acquisition request to the user terminal when receiving a notification from the user terminal that the payment of the price calculated by the calculating means is accepted; The information transaction apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6 or 8 to 16 . An information transaction method executed by a computer,
A receiving step of receiving, as user information, a physical state related to the information provider or the provider terminal from a provider terminal used by the information provider;
For each type of user information received by the receiving step, a storing step for storing the user information in a storage unit;
When the acquisition request for the user information is received from the user terminal used by the information user, the factor information affects the value of the user information stored in the storage unit, and the acquisition request is received and dynamically evaluate the factor information at the time, based on the evaluation by said factor information, see contains a transaction step of controlling the transaction processing of the user information between said information user and the information provider,
The transaction process
Including a calculation step of calculating a price of the user information based on a combination of types of user information requested by the acquisition request;
An information transaction method characterized by that. An information transaction method executed by a computer,
Receiving from the provider terminal used by the information provider the user information regarding the information provider or the provider terminal; and
For each type of user information received by the receiving step, a storing step for storing the user information in a storage unit;
When receiving an acquisition request for the user information from a user terminal used by an information user, accuracy, granularity, rarity that is factor information that affects the value of the user information stored in the storage unit, freshness, and, based on at least one or more collection period saw including a transaction step of controlling the transaction processing of the user information between said information user and the information provider,
The transaction process
Including a calculation step of calculating a price of the user information based on a combination of types of user information requested by the acquisition request;
An information transaction method characterized by that. An information transaction method executed by a computer,
A receiving step of receiving meta information including a type of user information related to the information provider or the provider terminal from a provider terminal used by the information provider;
A storing step of storing the meta information received by the receiving step in a storage unit;
When an acquisition request for user information corresponding to the type is received from a user terminal used by an information user, the user information corresponding to the type is held based on meta information stored in the storage unit Identify the provider terminal, collect user information from the identified provider terminal, and based on factor information that affects the value of the collected user information, the information provider and the information user Transaction process to control transaction processing of user information between
An information transaction method characterized by including: A receiving procedure for receiving, as user information, a physical state related to the information provider or the provider terminal from a provider terminal used by the information provider;
For each type of user information received by the reception procedure, a storage procedure for storing the user information in a storage unit;
When the acquisition request for the user information is received from the user terminal used by the information user, the factor information affects the value of the user information stored in the storage unit, and the acquisition request is received The factor information at the time is dynamically evaluated, and based on the evaluated factor information, a transaction procedure for controlling transaction processing of user information between the information provider and the information user is executed on a computer then,
The transaction procedure is:
Based on the combination of the types of user information requested by the acquisition request, the price of the user information is calculated.
An information transaction program characterized by that. A receiving procedure for receiving user information related to the information provider or the provider terminal from a provider terminal used by the information provider;
For each type of user information received by the reception procedure, a storage procedure for storing the user information in a storage unit;
When receiving an acquisition request for the user information from a user terminal used by an information user, accuracy, granularity, rarity that is factor information that affects the value of the user information stored in the storage unit, A transaction procedure for controlling transaction processing of user information between the information provider and the information user based on at least one of freshness and a collection period ;
The transaction procedure is:
Based on the combination of the types of user information requested by the acquisition request, the price of the user information is calculated.
An information transaction program characterized by that. A receiving procedure for receiving meta information including a type of user information related to the information provider or the provider terminal from a provider terminal used by the information provider;
A storage procedure for storing the meta information received by the reception procedure in a storage unit;
When an acquisition request for user information corresponding to the type is received from a user terminal used by an information user, the user information corresponding to the type is held based on meta information stored in the storage unit Identify the provider terminal, collect user information from the identified provider terminal, and based on factor information that affects the value of the collected user information, the information provider and the information user Transaction procedures to control user information transaction processing between
Transaction program characterized by causing a computer to execute.

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