JP6909387B2 - Affiliate service that guides the advertiser's product database search process when the viewer selects a character string in the document on the user terminal on which the document sent by the affiliate is displayed. - Google Patents

Description

In the present invention, a person who browses a document on the Internet (sometimes referred to as an affiliate document or an affiliate document) transmitted by an affiliate who receives a performance reward on a personal computer, a smartphone, a tablet terminal, or the like can read a character string in the document. When selected, it relates to computing for implementing a new affiliate service that guides the process of searching the product database in the advertiser's system that provides the performance reward by the selected character string.

=== Basic mechanism of affiliate advertising ===
A typical affiliate advertising model provided and widely used by affiliate service providers (ASPs) such as applicants is implemented by computing with the following mechanism.

A person who has registered as an affiliator in the ASP system makes the content as an advertising medium available to the general public through the Internet. A merchant registered as an advertiser in the ASP system deposits the advertising information to be placed on the advertising medium in the ASP system.

When ordinary people access the advertisement medium content with a personal computer, a smartphone, or the like (referred to as a user terminal), the ASP system adds the advertisement selected according to some algorithm to the advertisement medium content and displays it on the user terminal.

When the viewer specifies an advertisement on the display (click for convenience), the ASP system generates a unique tracking key and sends it to the user terminal, and at the same time, the behavior content that leads to the viewer's advertisement click. Generate and save a click record that associates the specified data with the tracking key. The user terminal that receives the tracking key is redirected to the advertiser site associated with the clicked advertisement. At this time, the tracking method 1 in which the tracking key is transmitted from the user terminal to the advertiser site and the tracking method 2 in which the tracking key is not transmitted are well known.

In this way, the viewer is guided to the advertiser site and comes into contact with the advertiser's product information. For example, when the viewer purchases the product on the site, the advertiser system (including the above-mentioned advertiser site) is activated. It is judged that there is an advertisement result, and a result report message including a tracking key is generated and sent directly to the ASP system (tracking method 1), or it is used by a tag embedded in the transaction completion page to be sent to the user terminal. The result report message is delivered to the ASP system via the user terminal (tracking method 2).

When the ASP system receives the result report message including the tracking key directly from the advertiser system or via the user terminal, the ASP system extracts the click record that matches the tracking key from the saved click records, and uses the click record. Execute the process to pay the performance fee from the corresponding advertiser to the identified affiliator.

As is well known, in the affiliate advertising model described above, merchants who run various businesses are advertisers, and not only merchants who sell goods by mail on the advertiser's site, but also insurance products on the advertiser's site. Merchants who handle service products such as selling and accepting travel reservations are also active as advertisers. The algorithm for determining that the advertiser has achieved the advertising result also varies depending on the business type of the advertiser merchant. Several algorithms well known to those skilled in the art have been conventionally implemented for the tracking method and the result determination method, and are also disclosed in the following references.

<< Reference 1 >> Patent No. 3863365 Management site device for network advertisement distribution management system and network advertisement distribution management system << Reference 2 >> Patent No. 3961213 Electronic commerce system for tracking user activity << Reference 3 >> Patent Publication No. 4165937 Commercial Tracking System and Method << Reference 4 >> Patent No. 4647439 Method for Tracking User Activity in Electronic Commerce, Tracking Server Site << Reference 5 >> Patent No. 4960835 Affiliate Advertising Management Device and Affiliate Advertising Management Method << Reference 6 >> Patent No. 5210707 Mobile Affiliate Tracking System << Reference 7 >> Patent No. 5240903 Affiliate Advertising Monitoring System and Method << Reference 8 >> Patent No. 5355198 Computing of Actual Store Affiliate System the method of

=== Embodiment on the premise of browsing with a browser ===
A mode that has been popular for a long time is that the advertising medium content transmitted by the affiliate is a web page, and a general viewer views the web page with a general-purpose browser such as Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, or Safari. In this case, a predetermined tag (a program described in JavaScript (registered trademark) or the like) is embedded in the advertisement medium page, and when the user terminal browser displays the advertisement medium page, it communicates with the ASP system according to the description of the tag. The ad is delivered on the ad media page, and the above-mentioned process is executed in response to the subsequent ad click.

=== Embodiment on the premise of browsing with an application ===
Recently, the use of computing to browse content on the Internet without using a general-purpose browser, such as accessing a news distribution site from a news application installed on a smartphone or tablet terminal and viewing the distributed article, has become widespread. .. In this case, the business operator that implements the news distribution service operates the news distribution site and distributes the news application for using this service to the users through the application store such as App Store or Google Play.

For example, there is an increasing number of embodiments in which the above-mentioned news distribution service provider registers with ASP as an affiliator and has the ASP system distribute advertisements to news articles viewed on the user terminal application. In this case, the process of communicating with the ASP system to deliver the advertisement when displaying the article on the user terminal application and the above-mentioned process in response to the subsequent advertisement click are the program modules incorporated in the news application. Is executed by.

=== Outline of the invention ===
The motivation for creating this invention was to utilize the computing platform that implements the existing affiliate advertising model almost as it is, and to implement a new affiliate advertising model that is clearly different from the existing model.

One of the remarkable features of the novel affiliate advertising model according to the present invention is that the advertisement linking to the advertiser site is not displayed at the stage of viewing the document sent by the affiliater on the user terminal, and the concept of the advertising medium document disappears. The point is that there is no lead of the existing model of browsing the advertisement medium document and clicking the advertisement on the document to redirect to the advertiser site.

Another striking feature of the affiliate advertising model of the present invention is that, among the many web pages existing on the advertiser's site, the destination that guides the user terminal in response to some action of the person who browses the affiliate transmission document is The point is that it is not a predetermined page (landing page).

In the model of the present invention, the above-mentioned "some act" is an act of selecting an arbitrary character string in the document by a viewer of the document sent by the affiliator. As is well known, the selected character string is highlighted, and a shortcut menu can be additionally displayed in that state, and computing such as performing a Yahoo search or Google search with the selected character string, or copying the selected character string. Elements are used daily by many people.

In the present invention, when the viewer of the affiliator-originated document selects an arbitrary character string in the document, the linked menu according to the present invention is displayed in the same manner as the well-known shortcut menu. This linked menu contains one or more advertiser links that link to the advertiser system.

Then, when the viewer specifies (clicks, etc.) the advertiser link in the linked menu, it is instructed to search the product database of the advertiser system linked to this advertiser link with the highlighted selection character string. The query to be executed is sent from the user terminal to the advertiser system, and in response to this, the search result of the product database is sent from the advertiser system to the user terminal and displayed.

Looking at this process from the viewer's point of view, if you select a character string in the document sent by the affiliate and click the advertiser link in the menu, the result of searching the advertiser's product database with the selected character string will be displayed, and the advertisement will be displayed. You will be exposed to the main product information. This is the core part of the characteristic affiliate advertising model of the present invention.

Of course, as will be described later, a tracking process similar to the existing model works in parallel with the above process, so that the viewer who touches the advertiser's product information as described above is subsequently judged to have an advertising result. It is tracked to see if you have taken any action, which may lead to the payment of performance rewards based on advertising results.

=== Effect of invention ===
As is clear from the above description, the affiliate advertising model according to the present invention can be additionally implemented and used in combination with the existing model described above. Therefore, from the advertiser's point of view, in addition to the existing model lead that when you browse an advertisement medium document and click an advertisement on the document, you are redirected to the advertiser site, the new lead according to the present invention allows the viewer to be advertised. It will be possible to contact the product information of the company, increase the utility value of affiliate advertisements, and there will be no need to modify the advertiser system.

From the standpoint of an affiliator, there is no need to set an ad space in the document sent by the affiliator, and all the text strings in the document can be the entrance to the advertiser information, so the performance reward without any burden. Can be expected to increase. From the standpoint of ASP, it can be expected that commission income will increase with a small investment.

Screen example in which the character string in the Affiliator outgoing document displayed on the user terminal is selected and the link destination menu is additionally displayed. Screen example where the result of searching the advertiser's product database with the selected character string is displayed on the user terminal

Embodiment of the invention

=== Browser browsing model and application browsing model ===
The novel affiliate advertising model according to the present invention is based on the premise that the affiliate transmission document is a web page and the viewer views the web page on the user terminal browser, as in the case of the existing affiliate advertising model described above. There are an embodiment and an embodiment on the premise that the user terminal application accesses the server of the affiliator associated with the application and browses the document, and the computing method is slightly different between the two embodiments.

=== Computing method common to both modes ===
First, the difference between the two embodiments will be disregarded, and the computing method (method of information processing by software) common to both embodiments, which is the core of the present invention, will be described.

In the computing method according to the present invention, the ASP system, the user terminal for viewing the document information (sometimes referred to as affiliate document) transmitted by the affiliate, and the advertiser system operated by the advertiser cooperate with each other. It is a method of computing to be implemented.

On the user terminal on which the affiliate document is displayed, a "specific program", which is important software for implementing the computing method of the present invention, can be executed. The difference between the above two embodiments lies in the difference in the history of this "specific program", which will be described later.

=== Character string selection and link destination menu ===
In the user terminal on which the affiliate document is displayed, the specific program causes the user terminal processor to execute a process of additionally displaying a link destination menu on the document image when the viewer of the affiliate document selects a character string in the document. This linked menu contains one or more advertiser links that link to the advertiser system.

FIG. 1 is a specific example of the display screen on the user terminal, and an article (affiliate document) with the heading "Try using surround headphones" is displayed, and the viewer who is viewing this is in the article. The product number (character string) "SH38-ABCD" is selected.

As shown in FIG. 1, the selected character string is highlighted, and the linked menu is displayed in the same manner as the well-known shortcut menu so as to be associated with the highlighted character string. In the linked menu of this example, five selection item names are displayed side by side in five rows above and below. The specific program is described so as to perform this display process.

Of the five selection items in the linked menu illustrated in FIG. 1, the upper three selection items are advertiser links, and the lower two selection items are links to well-known general-purpose search sites. Yes, not the advertiser in this invention. The notation in FIG. 1 includes a registered trademark.

The advertisers corresponding to the three advertiser links illustrated in the linked menu of FIG. 1 are merchants who sell various products through the Internet, and each of them is an advertiser in the present invention. As is well known, a large-scale cloud system (referred to as an advertiser system) operated by such a product seller has a product sales site (referred to as an advertiser site), and many people advertise through the Internet. I visit the main site and do shopping.

As is well known, the system of an advertiser (product seller) as illustrated in Fig. 1 includes a product database that aggregates information on products handled on the advertiser's site, and site visitors search for it. Shopping activities such as entering a character string in a window to search a product database, examining product information using the search results as clues, and purchasing a product that you like are performed on a daily basis.

=== Click the advertiser link ===
In the computing method according to the present invention, when the character string C in the affiliate document B is selected and the advertiser link D is specified in the user terminal A on which the screen illustrated in FIG. 1 is displayed, the specific program Sends a browsing behavior report message E that reports the behavior content of the viewer (such as selecting the character string C in the document B to specify the advertiser link D, the identification information of the user terminal and the viewer, etc.). Have the user terminal processor execute the process of transmitting to the ASP system.

The ASP system that receives the browsing behavior report telegram E generates a unique tracking key and sends it to the user terminal A, and also generates and saves a guidance record in which the data indicating the browsing behavior content is associated with the tracking key. do. The server of the ASP system is programmed that way.

In the user terminal A that has received the tracking key, the specific program sends a query instructing the advertiser system to search the product database of the advertiser system linked to the advertiser link D with the character string C, and advertises. The process of receiving the search result from the main system and displaying it on the user terminal A is executed. At this time, the tracking method 1 in which the tracking key is transmitted from the user terminal to the advertiser site and the tracking method 2 in which the tracking key is not transmitted are well known.

The display shown in Fig. 1 is displayed on the screen of the user terminal, and when the viewer clicks the top advertiser link in the displayed linked menu, the advertiser (product seller) corresponding to this link. A query is sent to the product database of the system, and in response to a response from the advertiser system, a search result page illustrated in FIG. 2, for example, is displayed on the screen of the user terminal. This process is executed according to the description of the specific program.

The user terminal on which the search result page illustrated in FIG. 2 is displayed is in the same state as when searching the product database on a general EC site, and is guided to the advertiser site selected from the linked menu. You are looking at the search result page on the advertiser's site. Therefore, you can freely transition within the advertiser site by following various links included in this search result page, and examine the product information using the search results as clues, just like shopping on a normal EC site. You can buy the product you like.

=== Survey of advertising results using tracking keys ===
For the mechanism by which the advertiser system tracks the subsequent behavior of the viewer and tracks whether or not the advertisement has been successful, some algorithms well known to those skilled in the art, which are implemented in the existing affiliate advertising model, are used. Such technical information may be appropriately adopted, and such technical information is also disclosed in References 1 to 8 presented above.

=== Payment of performance fees by ASP system ===
In the advertiser system, if it is determined that there is an advertising result based on the subsequent behavior of the viewer, a result report message including the tracking key acquired from the user terminal of this viewer is created as in the existing affiliate advertising model. And sent to the ASP system. This is the tracking method 1 described above, and in the case of the tracking method 2, the result report telegram including the tracking key is transmitted to the ASP system via the user terminal based on the information from the advertiser system.

When the ASP system receives the result report telegram including the tracking key directly from the advertiser system or via the user terminal, the ASP system extracts the guidance record with the matching tracking key from the stored guidance records, and uses the guidance record. Execute the process to pay the performance fee from the corresponding advertiser to the identified affiliator. This process may be similar to the existing model.

=== Other embodiments ===
As described above, in the computing which is the basis of the present invention, when the viewer selects a character string in the affiliate document on the user terminal, the link destination menu is displayed by a specific program. By adopting the algorithm described, the content of this linked menu can be changed according to the selected character string. That is, the element of which advertiser link is displayed in what order in the link destination menu is changed, or the elements such as the text expression and design of the advertiser link notation are changed.

This function can be realized as follows. When the viewer selects a character string in the affiliate document on the user terminal, the specific program transmits the selected character string to the ASP system. The ASP system has an algorithm that extracts the menu content specification information associated with the character string, and when the selected character string is received from the user terminal, the user uses the menu content specification information associated with the character string. Send to the terminal. The specific program of the user terminal is described so as to generate and display the linked menu based on the received menu content specification information.

Going further, in the ASP system, a learning function is added to the algorithm for determining the menu content specification information corresponding to the selected character string received from the user terminal, and the above-mentioned browsing behavior report received from the user terminal is added. The algorithm is programmed to be updated based on the big data obtained by statistically analyzing the contents of the message and the result report message received from the advertiser system.

This makes it possible to analyze, based on the relationship between the selected character string, the advertiser link, and the performance of the advertising result, such as "this advertiser link is most likely to lead to the advertising result with this selected character string". Based on the analysis result, the advertiser link to be displayed at the top of the linked menu is determined, the order, size and design of the advertiser link notation are determined, and the menu content specification information reflecting the determination is provided to the user terminal. Perform computing to send to.

In addition, the following functions can be added. As described above, it is realistic that the affiliate advertising model of the present invention is additionally implemented in the computing environment of the existing affiliate advertising model. Therefore, many advertisers who use the existing affiliate advertising model are registered in the ASP system, and when the "this advertisement" posted by this advertiser is clicked on the user terminal, the user terminal is called "this advertisement". A correspondence relationship is set to redirect to the "main site URL".

Similarly, in the affiliate model of the present invention, when "this character string" is selected on the user terminal, "this notation character string of the advertiser link" that links to "this landing page URL of this advertiser" is displayed. Create an advertiser link table that aggregates the correspondence of posting as an option of the link destination menu and set it in the ASP system. Here, "this landing page URL of this advertiser" and "this notation character string of the advertiser link" may be referred to as advertiser link information.

Then, when the ASP system receives the selected character string from the user terminal, if the selected character string matches the character string registered in the advertiser link table, the advertiser link associated with this matched character string is found. Generate menu content specification information including information as an option and deliver it to a specific program on the user terminal. As a result, for example, when the viewer selects the character string "Takanawa Patent Information Research Institute" in the affiliate document, the advertiser link "Homepage of Takanawa Patent Information Research Institute Co., Ltd." is displayed in the link destination menu. When the advertisement is posted and the viewer clicks on this advertiser link, the user terminal is redirected to the top page of the corresponding homepage.

As described above, in the affiliate advertising model to which the present invention is applied, the ASP system statistically analyzes the contents of the above-mentioned browsing behavior report message received from the user terminal and the result report message received from the advertiser system. Since you can obtain big data, you can create an analysis report for each advertiser or affiliate based on this, and you can implement a service that presents this analysis report to the relevant advertiser or affiliate. .. For example, for advertisers, you can create an analytical report that says, "People who choose this string tend to be interested in this product in your company." Also, for affiliates, it is possible to create an analysis report such as "This character string tends to lead to a search by advertiser X and there was a contract."

=== Invention specific matters ===
By organizing the technical matters described above, the inventions 1 to 5 specified by the following matters can be grasped.

<< Invention 1 >>
The method specified by the following items (1) to (7).
(1) Computing performed by the affiliate service provider (ASP) system, the user terminal for viewing the document information (affiliate document) transmitted by the affiliate, and the advertiser system operated by the advertiser. (2) On the user terminal on which the affiliate document is displayed, the specific program additionally displays the link destination menu on the document image when the viewer of the affiliate document selects a character string in the document (3). ) The link destination menu contains one or more advertiser links that link to the advertiser system. (4) The character string C in the affiliate document B is selected on the user terminal A, and the advertiser link D is selected. When specified, the specific program sends a browsing behavior report message E that reports the behavior content of this viewer to the ASP system. (5) The ASP system that receives the browsing behavior report message E sends a unique tracking key. Generate and send to user terminal A, and generate and save a guidance record that associates the browsing behavior content with the tracking key. (6) A specific program on user terminal A that receives the tracking key. Sends a query instructing the advertiser system to search the product database of the advertiser system linked to the advertiser link D with the character string C, receives the search result from the advertiser system, and receives the search result from the user terminal. Display on A (7) When the ASP system receives a result report message including a tracking key directly from the advertiser system or via the user terminal, the guidance record in which the tracking key matches from the saved guidance records And execute the process to pay the performance fee from the relevant advertiser to the affiliate identified by the guidance record.

<< Invention 2 >>
The method according to Invention 1, which is specified by the following item (8).
(8) In the process of the invention specific matter (2), the specific program sends the selected character string by the viewer to the ASP system, and the ASP system sends the menu content specification information associated with the received selected character string to the specific program. Deliver and the specific program displays the linked menu on the user terminal based on the menu content specification information.

<< Invention 3 >>
The method according to Invention 2, which is specified by the following item (9).
(9) The ASP system determines the menu content specification information corresponding to the received selection character string based on the contents of the browsing behavior report telegram received from the user terminal and the result report telegram received from the advertiser system. Updating the algorithm

<< Invention 4 >>
The method according to Invention 2 or 3, which is specified by the following item (10).
(10) The ASP system is provided with an advertisement link table that describes a plurality of associations between the link information to a predetermined page of the advertiser site and the character string, and the selected character string received from the specific program is one of the advertisement link tables. If it matches the character string, deliver the menu content specification information including the advertiser site link information associated with the matched character string as an option to the specific program.

<< Invention 5 >>
The method according to Invention 1, which is specified by the following item (11).
(11) The ASP system analyzes the selected character string analysis report for each advertiser or the selected character string analysis for each advertiser based on the contents of the browsing behavior report message received from the user terminal and the result report message received from the advertiser system. Creating a report

=== Browser browsing model ===
The document transmitted by the affiliator is a web page, and in the aspect that a general viewer views it with a general-purpose browser such as Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, or Safari, JavaScript, which is the core of the software according to the present invention. When the specific program described in the above is stored in the ASP system and the tag embedded in the affiliate document is processed by the user terminal browser, the program request is sent from the user terminal to the ASP system according to the description of the tag. In response to this request, the computing is such that the specific program stored in the ASP system is delivered to the user terminal.

As is clear from the above description, with respect to the browser browsing model, inventions 6 and 7 specified by the following items can be grasped.
<< Invention 6 >>
The method according to Invention 1, which is specified by the following item (12).
(12) When the user terminal acquires the affiliate document, the specific program sends a program request from the user terminal to the ASP system according to the description of the tag embedded in the affiliate document, and the ASP system responds to this request. It must be delivered to the user terminal << Invention 7 >>
An ASP system that is programmed to implement the computing method according to invention 6 and stores a specific program to be transmitted to a user terminal.

=== App browsing model ===
For example, the affiliate advertising model of the present invention can also be used to browse content on the Internet without using a general-purpose browser, such as accessing a news distribution site from a news application installed on a smartphone or tablet terminal and viewing the distributed article. Is applicable. In this aspect, the specific program, which is the core of the software according to the present invention, is a part of an application program (for example, a news application) installed on a user terminal to view an affiliate document. It may be described as a module.

As is clear from the above description, with respect to the application browsing model, inventions 8 to 10 specified by the following items can be grasped.
<< Invention 8 >>
The method according to Invention 1, which is specified by the following item (13).
(13) The specific program is included in the application program installed on the user terminal to view affiliate documents << Invention 9 >>
An application program including a specific program installed on a user terminal to carry out the computing method according to the invention 8.
<< Invention 10 >>
The application program according to Invention 9, which is specified by the following item (14).
(14) The application program executes the process of communicating the user terminal on which it operates with a specific server on the Internet, acquiring affiliate documents from the specific server, and displaying them.

Claims (10)

The method specified by the following items (1) to (7).
(1) Computing performed by the affiliate service provider (ASP) system, the user terminal for viewing the document information (affiliate document) transmitted by the affiliate, and the advertiser system operated by the advertiser. (2) On the user terminal on which the affiliate document is displayed, the specific program additionally displays the link destination menu on the document image when the viewer of the affiliate document selects a character string in the document (3). ) The link destination menu contains one or more advertiser links that link to the advertiser system. (4) The character string C in the affiliate document B is selected on the user terminal A, and the advertiser link D is selected. When specified, the specific program sends a browsing behavior report message E that reports the behavior content of this viewer to the ASP system. (5) The ASP system that receives the browsing behavior report message E sends a unique tracking key. Generate and send to user terminal A, and generate and save a guidance record that associates the browsing behavior content with the tracking key. (6) A specific program on user terminal A that receives the tracking key. Sends a query instructing the advertiser system to search the product database of the advertiser system linked to the advertiser link D with the character string C, receives the search result from the advertiser system, and receives the search result from the user terminal. Display on A (7) When the ASP system receives a result report message including a tracking key directly from the advertiser system or via the user terminal, the guidance record in which the tracking key matches from the saved guidance records And execute the process to pay the performance fee from the relevant advertiser to the affiliate identified by the guidance record. The method according to claim 1, which is specified by the following item (8).
(8) In the process of the invention specific matter (2), the specific program sends the selected character string by the viewer to the ASP system, and the ASP system sends the menu content specification information associated with the received selected character string to the specific program. Deliver and the specific program displays the linked menu on the user terminal based on the menu content specification information. The method according to claim 2, which is specified by the following item (9).
(9) The ASP system determines the menu content specification information corresponding to the received selection character string based on the contents of the browsing behavior report telegram received from the user terminal and the result report telegram received from the advertiser system. Updating the algorithm The method according to claim 2 or 3, which is specified by the following item (10).
(10) The ASP system is provided with an advertisement link table that describes a plurality of associations between the link information to a predetermined page of the advertiser site and the character string, and the selected character string received from the specific program is one of the advertisement link tables. If it matches the character string, deliver the menu content specification information including the advertiser site link information associated with the matched character string as an option to the specific program. The method according to claim 1, which is specified by the following item (11).
(11) The ASP system analyzes the selected character string analysis report for each advertiser or the selected character string analysis for each advertiser based on the contents of the browsing behavior report message received from the user terminal and the result report message received from the advertiser system. Creating a report The method according to claim 1, which is specified by the following item (12).
(12) When the user terminal acquires the affiliate document, the specific program sends a program request from the user terminal to the ASP system according to the description of the tag embedded in the affiliate document, and the ASP system responds to the request. Must be delivered to the user terminal An ASP system that is programmed to implement the computing method according to claim 6 and stores a specific program to be transmitted to a user terminal. The method according to claim 1, which is specified by the following item (13).
(13) The specific program must be included in the application program installed on the user terminal to view affiliate documents. An application program including a specific program installed on a user terminal to implement the computing method according to claim 8. The application program according to claim 9, which is specified by the following item (14).
(14) The application program executes the process of communicating the user terminal on which it operates with a specific server on the Internet, acquiring affiliate documents from the specific server, and displaying them.

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