JP6451207B2 - Search server, search system, search method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a search server, a search system, and a search method.

Conventionally, a web service such as an i-town page (registered trademark) capable of searching for registered store and company information is known.
Patent Document 1 describes a single sign-on technique for enabling each service to be used in a single authentication process for a plurality of Web services.

JP, 2014-154112, A

However, information that is not registered in a specific Web service cannot be searched for and found in the specific Web service. By the way, various social networking services (SNS) are prevalent throughout the world. If the plurality of SNSs can be searched, it becomes easy to find a target store, company, or individual. However, it is troublesome to search for each of the plurality of SNSs. Even if single sign-on can be performed on a plurality of servers as in Patent Document 1, the user must transmit a search request to each server individually.
An object of this invention is to provide the search service which can search a some SNS across.

A search server for achieving the above object includes a search condition receiving unit that receives a search condition from a searcher terminal, and a search that transmits a search request based on the search condition to a plurality of SNS servers that provide different social networking services. A request transmission unit, a search result receiving unit that receives a search result corresponding to the search request from each of the plurality of SNS servers, and information indicating the search result received from each of the plurality of SNS servers. And a search result transmitting unit that transmits to the terminal.
According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a search service targeting information in multiple types of SNS.

Furthermore, in the search server for achieving the above object, the search request is a search request for finding a member that matches the search condition in the social networking service, and the search result transmission unit includes the search condition in the search condition. Display data for displaying the member's simple information may be transmitted for each matching member, and the simple information may include a link to the member's page in the social networking service.
According to this configuration, it is possible to provide a search service for searching for members registered in a plurality of types of SNS. The searcher terminal can display information indicating the search result based on the display data transmitted from the search server and present it to the searcher. The searcher can browse the member's simple information that matches the search condition using the searcher terminal, and if he wants to know detailed information, he can select the link part and browse the member's page of the SNS. The simple information is information of a predetermined item for identifying the member's individual among the information corresponding to the member's profile. It may be an item determined in advance by the search server, may be an item designated by the searcher, or may be a different item depending on the specifications of each SNS. For example, a name, profile picture, gender, etc. can be assumed.

Further, in the search server for achieving the above object, the search request is a search request for finding a member that matches the search condition in the social networking service, and the search condition corresponds to an e-mail print service. Information specifying the disclosure range of the mail address of the printer may be included.
In the case of this configuration, it is possible to provide a service for searching for members that match the disclosure range of the mail address designated as one of the search conditions (for example, disclosure to friends, disclosure to friends of friends, disclosure without limitation, etc.).

Furthermore, a search server for achieving the above object may include an access authority acquisition unit that acquires an access authority of the searcher using the searcher terminal in the social networking service. In this case, the search condition may include information specifying a search range corresponding to the friendship set by the searcher in the social networking service. And the said search request transmission part may transmit the said search request which requests | requires the search within the said search range in the state which has the said access authority.
By obtaining the access authority in the searcher's SNS, the search server refers to the information indicating the searcher's friendship set in the SNS on behalf of the searcher, and sets the search range according to the searcher's friendship in the SNS. Can be set during search. The access authority means the authority for the search server to access the SNS on behalf of the searcher terminal operated by the searcher.

  Furthermore, the present invention is established as an invention of a search method, and is also established as an invention of a search system including the above search server and a plurality of SNS servers.

The block diagram concerning embodiment of this invention. (2A) is a block diagram showing a configuration of a server computer, (2B) is a block diagram showing a configuration of a searcher terminal. The sequence diagram which shows a search sequence. (4A) and (4B) are diagrams showing display examples of search sites.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in the following order with reference to the accompanying drawings. In addition, the same code | symbol is attached | subjected to the corresponding component in each figure, and the overlapping description is abbreviate | omitted.
1. First embodiment:
1-1. Constitution:
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a search system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The search system 1 is a system that provides a search service that can search across a plurality of social networking services (SNS), and includes a search server 10 and an SNS server that provides SNS. In the present embodiment, description will be made assuming that the search system 1 includes, for example, three SNS servers 30, 40, and 50 respectively operated by three companies, F company, G company, and L company. Each of the search server 10 and the SNS servers 30, 40, 50 can communicate with each other via a network such as the Internet 60. A searcher who uses a search service provided by the search system 1 transmits a search request to the search system 1 and receives a search result using the searcher terminal 20. The searcher terminal 20 can also communicate with the search server 10 and each SNS server 30, 40, 50 via a network such as the Internet 60.

  As shown in FIG. 2A, each of the search server 10 and each company's SNS servers 30, 40, 50 is a server computer including a CPU 11, a RAM 12, a ROM 13, a communication I / F unit 14, a hard disk device (HDD) 15, and the like. is there. Each of the search server 10 and each company's SNS servers 30, 40, and 50 may be composed of a plurality of server computers. Since the configurations of the server computers are the same, the same reference numerals are given to the respective components, and duplicate descriptions are omitted. Each server computer can load a program recorded in the ROM 13 or the HDD 15 into the RAM 12 and execute it by the CPU 11. The program includes a program for realizing communication according to various communication protocols, an application program for realizing a service provided by each server, and the like. The communication I / F unit 14 converts a signal received from the Internet 60 via a LAN or the like according to a protocol and sends it to the internal bus. 60.

  The searcher terminal 20 is an information processing apparatus having a communication function such as a smartphone, a tablet terminal, or a personal computer. In the present embodiment, the searcher terminal 20 will be described as a smartphone. 2B, the searcher terminal 20 includes a controller 21, a speaker 22 that generates sound, a microphone 23 that collects sound, a key input unit 24, a communication I / F unit 25, a camera 26, a touch panel 27, and the like. ing. The controller 21 includes a CPU, a RAM, a ROM, a nonvolatile memory, and the like, and the CPU can execute various programs recorded in the ROM and the nonvolatile memory. Various programs include an Internet browsing application, an e-mail transmission application, and the like. The various programs include communication programs for performing communication based on various communication protocols.

  The communication I / F unit 25 includes a wireless communication interface for connecting to the Internet 60. The communication I / F unit 25 includes an interface for voice communication by connecting to a telephone line network. The camera 26 includes a lens, an area image sensor, and an image processing circuit, shoots a subject, and generates digital image data. The key input unit 24 includes a key (button) for inputting a user operation of the searcher terminal 20. The touch panel 27 includes a detection unit that detects a touch operation of the user of the searcher terminal 20 and a display unit that displays an image based on the control of the controller 21.

1-2. Search sequence:
Next, a search sequence executed by the searcher terminal 20 and the search system 1 will be described with reference to the sequence diagram of FIG. 3 and the display example of FIG. First, when the searcher performs an operation of accessing the SNS search service site provided by the search server 10 using the searcher terminal 20, the controller 21 of the searcher terminal 20 transmits display data of the search page of the search service site. The search server 10 makes a request, and the CPU 11 of the search server 10 transmits the display data to the searcher terminal 20, and the controller 21 of the searcher terminal 20 displays the search page of the search service site on the touch panel 27 based on the received display data. It is displayed (step S100).

  FIG. 4A is a diagram illustrating an example of a search page of the SNS search service site. The search page shown in FIG. 4A includes a search condition SNS selection unit 170, a search keyword input unit 171, a search condition selection unit 172 for a public printer, and a search range selection unit as search condition input units. 173 and a search button 174 are included. The selection unit 170 includes a check box for selecting an SNS to be searched. The input unit 171 includes a text input box for inputting arbitrary text such as the name of a member to be searched. The selection unit 172 selects a check box for selecting whether or not to include the presence or absence of a public printer in the search condition, and a disclosure range based on the member of the member printer to be searched when the search condition is included. And a radio button for. Here, the presence / absence of a public printer means whether or not a member discloses the electronic mail address of a printer corresponding to the electronic mail print service in the SNS. The e-mail print service means a service that allows a printer to print a print target by sending an e-mail with the print target attached to an e-mail address assigned to the printer. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that each SNS side can include, for example, the email address of a printer compatible with the email print service as an item of member profile information, and the disclosure range of the email address. It is assumed that it is also possible to specify. The selection unit 173 includes a radio button for selecting a search range based on the searcher. In addition to these, of course, a sex selection field, a residence designation field, an occupation selection field, an age group selection field, and the like may be provided. When the searcher operates the touch panel 27 of the searcher terminal 20 to input these search conditions and taps the search button 174, the controller 21 of the searcher terminal 20 transmits a search request together with the search conditions to the search server 10 ( Step S105). When the search server 10 acquires a search request including a search condition from the searcher terminal 20, the CPU of the search server 10 functions as a search condition receiving unit.

  In this embodiment, instead of the searcher logging in to the SNS of each company using the searcher terminal 20 and executing the search, in this embodiment, the search server 10 acquires the access authority for each SNS of the searcher and replaces the searcher. A search is performed for each SNS. Specifically, for example, based on a known protocol such as OpenID or OAuth, the search server 10 can acquire the access authority of the searcher for each SNS. The access authority acquisition sequence performed among the searcher terminal 20, the search server 10, and each company SNS server in order to acquire access authority (for example, an access token in OAuth) may be performed before step S100. Alternatively, for example, after the searcher terminal 20 transmits a search request together with the search condition to the search server 10 in step S105 and the search server 10 receives the search request, and before transmitting the search request to each SNS server in step S135. The access authority acquisition sequence may be started by redirecting to the login page to the SNS checked in the selection unit 170. The access authority acquisition sequence can be realized based on a known protocol such as the above-mentioned OAuth, and is not shown here. When executing the access authority acquisition sequence, the CPU of the search server 10 functions as an access authority acquisition unit. By transmitting a search request with the access authority acquired, the search server 10 can set a search range or the like using information indicating friendships set by the searcher in each SNS.

  When the CPU of the search server 10 receives the information indicating the search condition from the searcher terminal 20, the CPU of the search server 10 checks that there is no input of the search condition from the received information (step S110), and there is no problem such as input leakage. In this case, the CPU of the search server 10 checks the operating status of the search target SNS server (steps S115 to S130). If there is a problem such as omission of input in the received search condition, the content may be notified and display data including the search condition input part may be transmitted to the searcher terminal 20 again. In step S115, the search server 10 accesses the SNS server selected by the searcher as a search target and confirms the operation status by checking whether there is a response indicating that the search server 10 is operating normally. Specifically, for example, an API for returning the operating status to each SNS side is prepared, and the search server 10 side may check the operating status using the API. In this embodiment, it is selected that three SNSs of F company SNS, G company SNS, and L company SNS are targeted as search conditions, and all of them are assumed to be operating normally. Note that if any SNS server among the SNS servers to be searched is not operating, the searcher may be notified accordingly.

  Subsequently, the search server 10 transmits a search request to the search target SNS and receives a search result (steps S135 to S150, in which case the CPU of the search server 10 functions as a search request transmission unit and a search result reception unit). ). Specifically, for example, the search server 10 transmits a search request using a search API provided by each SNS to each SNS server based on the search condition. It is considered that the specification of the search API differs depending on the SNS. In this embodiment, in step S135, the search condition transmitted from the searcher terminal 20 in step S105 is converted into a form conforming to the specifications of each SNS, and a search request is transmitted to each SNS. The CPU of each SNS server that has received the search request executes search processing based on the search condition and transmits the search result to the search server 10 (in this case, the CPU of each SNS server 30, 40, 50 is a search request receiving unit) , Function as search processing unit and search result transmission unit). When the search server 10 receives the search result from each SNS server, the search server 10 converts the received search result into a format of information indicating the search result in the search server 10.

  Subsequently, the search server 10 summarizes the search results received from each SNS server (step S155), and transmits the collected search results to the searcher terminal 20 (step S160, in which case the CPU of the search server 10 transmits the search results). Function as part). The searcher terminal 20 displays the search result based on the received display data (step S165). FIG. 4B is a diagram illustrating an example of a search result page of the SNS search site. As shown in FIG. 4B, on the search result page, a list of members that match the search condition is displayed. That is, for each matched member account, information indicating the SNS to which the account belongs (for example, a logo image) and simple information of the account are displayed. Simple information is information of items defined as information for identifying individual members of information related to member profiles. In this embodiment, for example, simple attribute information such as a member's name and profile photo is included. included.

  The simple information includes a link part to the profile page of the account of the SNS to which the account belongs, and when the searcher taps the simple information of an arbitrary account on the search result page, the searcher terminal 20 corresponds. The display data of the profile page of the account can be received from the SNS, and the profile page can be displayed based on the received display data. Searchers can view the account profile page to recognize account details. Then, the searcher can determine whether the member of the account is the member he or she wants to find. For example, in the search service page selection unit 172 shown in FIG. 4A, if the search condition includes the presence or absence of a public printer, the e-mail address of the printer compatible with the e-mail print service is disclosed in the search result. Members are picked up. Therefore, the e-mail address of the printer is included in the SNS profile page, the searcher taps the simple information to browse the profile page, sends the print target to the e-mail address in the profile page, and the member Prints can be printed on a public printer. As described above, in the present embodiment, a search service that can search across a plurality of SNSs can be provided.

2. Other embodiments:
The technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and it is needless to say that various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

In the above-described embodiment, an example of searching for a member of an SNS that matches a search condition has been described. However, various items other than members may be used as search objects. For example, community, articles posted by members, diaries, tweets, tag information added to images posted by members, and the like may be used as search objects.
Further, for example, in step S155 in FIG. 3, when the same person is registered in a plurality of SNSs and those members are obtained as search results, the search result page continuously lists the same persons. Results may be optimized. The searcher may be able to specify the number of items to be displayed per page on the search result page in advance (for example, a GUI for specifying the number of items to be displayed may be provided on the search page shown in FIG. 4A).

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Search system, 10 ... Search server, 20 ... Searcher terminal, 30 ... F company SNS server, 40 ... G company SNS server, 50 ... L company SNS server, 60 ... Internet

Claims (5)

A search condition receiver for receiving search conditions from the searcher terminal;
A search request transmission unit that transmits a search request based on the search condition to a plurality of SNS servers that provide different social networking services;
A search result receiving unit for receiving a search result corresponding to the search request from each of the plurality of SNS servers;
A search result transmitting unit that transmits information indicating the search results received from each of the plurality of SNS servers to the searcher terminal;
With
The search request is a search request for finding a member that matches the search condition in the social networking service,
The search server , wherein the search condition includes information specifying a disclosure range of a mail address of a printer compatible with an e-mail print service . The search request is a search request for finding a member that matches the search condition in the social networking service,
The search result transmission unit transmits display data for displaying simple information of the member for each member that matches the search condition,
The simple information includes a link to the member's page in the social networking service.
The search server according to claim 1. An access authority acquisition unit for acquiring an access authority in the social networking service of a searcher using the searcher terminal;
The search condition includes information specifying a search range corresponding to the friendship set by the searcher in the social networking service,
The search request transmission unit transmits the search request for requesting a search within the search range in a state having the access authority.
The search server according to claim 1 or 2 . The search server according to any one of claims 1 to 3 ,
The plurality of SNS servers;
A search system comprising:
Each of the plurality of SNS servers is
A search request receiver for receiving the search request from the search server;
A search processing unit;
A search result transmission unit for transmitting a search result by the search processing unit to the search server;
Having
Search system. A search condition receiving step in which the search server receives the search condition from the searcher terminal; and
A search request transmitting step in which the search server transmits a search request based on the search condition to a plurality of SNS servers providing different social networking services;
A search result receiving step in which the search server receives a search result corresponding to the search request from each of the plurality of SNS servers;
A search result transmitting step in which the search server transmits information indicating the search results received from each of the plurality of SNS servers to the searcher terminal;
Only including,
The search request is a search request for finding a member that matches the search condition in the social networking service,
The search method, wherein the search condition includes information specifying a disclosure range of a mail address of a printer compatible with an e-mail print service .

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