JP7460365B2 - Information provision server, program, and information provision method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an information providing server, a program, and an information providing method.

Traditionally, there have been many services related to data utilization. In addition, in recent years, protection of information about customers, such as the customer's personal information (hereinafter referred to as "customer information"), has become increasingly important in providing such services. The following Patent Document 1 describes an information sharing system in which a business operator uploads customer confidential information for other businesses to view. This information sharing system transmits an invitation message to a customer terminal to prompt the customer to enter a login password when the consent status included in customer information other than the customer confidential information is "consented." Then, when the customer inputs the login password, this information sharing system causes the customer confidential information to be transmitted from the customer terminal, and uploads the received customer confidential information. According to such a system, the customer confidential information is transmitted from the customer terminal and provided to other businesses only after the customer's consent is obtained and the customer inputs the login password, thereby improving confidentiality in protecting customer information.

Patent No. 6537158

Here, there are many needs to classify customers into predetermined types (so-called "personas", etc.) based on the customer information provided, and to utilize the results of this classification and customer information for marketing business, etc. . However, in the information sharing system described in Patent Document 1, the customer only confirms consent to the external provision of his or her own customer information, so it is insufficient in terms of reflecting the customer's intention regarding the above-mentioned utilization. .

The present invention provides an information providing server etc. that can reflect the customer's wishes when utilizing customer information provided by the customer.

The information providing server according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a classification unit that refers to a customer storage unit that stores customer information about customers and classifies customers into types based on the customer information, a notification unit that notifies a customer terminal used by the customer of classification information indicating the results of the classification, a consent acquisition unit that acquires consent information from the customer terminal indicating that the customer agrees to providing the notified classification information to an external device, and a provision unit that provides the classification information about customers for whom consent has been obtained based on the consent information to an external device.

A program according to one aspect of the present invention causes a computer to realize a classification function that refers to a customer storage function that stores customer information about a customer and classifies the customer into a predetermined type based on the customer information, a notification function that notifies a customer terminal used by the customer of classification information indicating the result of the classification, a consent acquisition function that acquires consent information from the customer terminal indicating that the customer agrees to providing the notified classification information to an external device based on the consent information, and a provision function that provides the classification information about the customer for which consent has been obtained to an external device based on the consent information.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the computer refers to a customer storage unit that stores customer information about customers, classifies the customers into a predetermined type based on the customer information, notifies a customer terminal used by the customer of classification information indicating the result of the classification, obtains consent information from the customer terminal indicating that the customer agrees to providing the notified classification information to an outside of the information providing server, and provides the classification information about the customer for which consent has been obtained to an external device based on the consent information.

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an information providing server etc. that can reflect the customer's wishes when utilizing customer information provided by the customer.

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining an example of a system configuration of an information providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining an overview of an information providing system according to the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional configuration of an information providing server according to the present embodiment. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a flow for determining customer consent according to the present embodiment. It is a diagram showing an example of the operation of the information providing system according to the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the operation of the information providing system according to the present embodiment. It is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of an information providing server according to the present embodiment.

A preferred embodiment of the present invention (hereinafter referred to as "this embodiment") will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In addition, in each figure, those with the same reference numerals have the same or similar configurations.

In this embodiment, "part", "means", "device", and "system" do not simply mean physical means, but also include cases where the functions of the "part", "means", "device", and "system" are realized by software. Furthermore, the functions of one "part", "means", "device", or "system" may be realized by two or more physical means or devices, and the functions of two or more "parts", "means", "device", or "system" may be realized by one physical means or device.

<1. Overview＞
In this embodiment, a business operator (hereinafter referred to as a "service business operator") that provides BtoC services to individual customers (hereinafter also simply referred to as a "customer") uses customer information provided by the customer to an information bank. An example of entrusting information to a business operator (hereinafter referred to as an "information provider") will be explained below. Furthermore, in this embodiment, an example will be described in which an information provider manages customer information entrusted by a service provider and provides it to another provider. Note that these descriptions are not intended to limit the present invention to the above examples. For example, a service provider may manage customer information and provide it to an external party, fulfilling at least part of the role of the information provider described above. Here, "customer information" is information regarding the customer. Details of customer information will be described later.

<1-1. System configuration>
An example of the system configuration of an information providing system 1 will be described with reference to FIG.

The information provision system 1 is a system that enables an information provider to provide other businesses with classification information that represents the so-called personas of individual customers. As shown in FIG. 1, the information provision system 1 includes an information provision server 100, a customer terminal 200 used by customers, a customer service server 300 used by service providers, and an external device 400 used by external businesses. Details of the classification information will be described later.

The customer terminal 200, the customer service server 300, and the information providing server 100 are connected to each other via a network N. Further, the information providing server 100 and the external device 400 are connected to each other via a network N.

The network N is composed of a wireless network and a wired network. Examples of networks include mobile phone networks, PHS (Personal Handy-phone System) networks, wireless LAN (Local Area Network), 3G (3rd Generation), LTE (Long Term Evolution), and 4G (4th Gen). generation), 5G ( 5th Generation), WiMax (registered trademark), infrared communication, Bluetooth (registered trademark), wired LAN, telephone line, power line network, and IEEE1394-compliant networks.

The information providing server 100 is an information processing device for managing communication with the customer terminal 200, the customer service server 300, and the external device 400, and for managing customer information.

By executing a specified program, the information providing server 100 realizes a server function of registering new customer information according to information acquired from the customer service server 300, etc., and of referencing, updating, and deleting registered customer information, thereby keeping the customer information up to date. In addition, by executing a specified program, the information providing server 100 realizes a server function of classifying customers based on the customer information, and providing the customer information and classification information indicating the results of this classification to the external device 400.

"Classification information" is information that indicates the result of classifying customers into categories. The classification information may be, for example, the result of classifying customers into a specific persona. Here, a "persona" is a customer model that integrates customer characteristics such as customer behavior, aptitude, purpose, and motivation. In other words, the classification information may be the result of classifying which customer model a customer falls into. The classification information may also indicate the result of the above classification in a state in which the customer has been anonymized. Here, "anonymization" refers to making a customer unidentifiable by performing a process of deleting or changing information that can identify the customer. Specific anonymization processing will be described later.

For example, the classification information may indicate that the customer fits a persona that "likes organic and prefers natural tastes." Additionally, the classification information may indicate that the customer fits a persona that is ``pays attention to health management, likes sports, and is in good physical condition.'' Further, the classification information may indicate that the customer fits a persona of "the type who has problems with his/her physical condition, but takes care of his/her health and eats, sleeps, etc. regularly."

The customer terminal 200 is a terminal device such as a smartphone or laptop terminal that allows the customer to input customer information and communicates with the customer service server 300 and the information providing server 100. The customer terminal 200 executes a specific program to cooperate with the information providing server 100 to send and receive information related to the provision of classification information to the outside, display a screen related to this provision to the outside, and accept user requests.

The customer service server 300 is an information processing device for providing services to customers. In this embodiment, the customer service server 300 uses customer information provided by the customer to provide an EC site (hereinafter referred to as "EC service") as an example, but is not limited to this. The customer service server 300 executes a specific program to realize a server function for operating an EC site.

In this embodiment, the information providing server 100 and the customer service server 300 are provided, but the customer service server 300 may also serve as the information providing server 100, or vice versa. It may also serve as the server 300.

The external device 400 is an information processing device to which classification information is provided from the information providing server 100. The external device 400 is also a device used by an external business operator. The external device 400 may also include, for example, a customer service server 300.

<1-2. Overview of information service>
An example of the flow of the information providing service according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 2.

(1) As shown in FIG. 2, first, in an EC service, a customer provides customer information to a customer service server 300. For example, a customer may provide customer information to the customer service server 300 by inputting the customer information into an EC site that the customer service server 300 distributes to the customer terminal 200.

(2) The customer service server 300 deposits the customer information acquired in (1) above with the information providing server 100. For example, the customer service server 300 may temporarily hold the customer information and then transfer the customer information to the information providing server 100 for management by the information providing server 100. The information providing server 100 registers the transferred customer information in the customer memory unit 141 described below. Note that when transferring the information, the first consent information may also be transferred.

"First consent information" is information indicating the customer's consent to the provision of customer information from the service provider (customer service server 300) to the information provider (information provider server 100) and the management of the customer information at the recipient. The first consent information may include, for example, the subject of consent. The subject of consent may include, for example, whether or not the customer information can be provided to the information provider, whether or not it can be used by the information provider, or the purpose of use if the provision of the customer information to the information provider and its use are "permitted." The first consent information may also include the customer's consent to the above-mentioned deposit.

(3) The classification unit 121 of the information providing server 100 classifies the customer information registered in the customer memory unit 141 into customer types using a classification model or the like. Here, a "classification model" is a model for classifying customers into types. Details of the classification model will be described later.

(3-1) When the inquiry unit 129 of the information providing server 100 needs to obtain additional information from the customer for the classification by the classification unit 121 in (3) above, the inquiry unit 129 inquires the customer regarding the information. The classification unit 121 reclassifies the customer based on information obtained as a result of the inquiry unit 129 inquiring the customer.

(4) The notification unit 122 of the information providing server 100 notifies the customer terminal 200 of classification information indicating the results of the classifications (3) and (3-1) above.

Specifically, the notification unit 122 may send an email to the email address included in the customer information of the customer, informing the customer that the customer has been classified into the persona of "likes organic products and prefers natural tastes." This email may also include a request from the customer for (a) consent to the results of the classification, and (b) consent to providing the results of the classification and part of the customer information to the external device 400. Furthermore, this email may include a URL for directing the customer to a web page for inputting this consent. The customer terminal 200 receives this email and outputs the URL on the screen for the customer.

(5) The customer provides the second consent information to the information providing server 100. Specifically, the customer may provide the information to the information providing server 100 by specifying the URL in (4) above and inputting the second consent information on the guided web page.

"Second consent information" is information indicating that the customer agrees to the provision of the classification information and customer information notified to the customer to an external party outside the information providing server 100 (hereinafter, simply referred to as "external provision"). Details of the second consent information will be described later. The first consent information and the second consent information are collectively referred to as "consent information."

(6) The consent acquisition unit 123 of the information providing server 100 acquires second consent information from the customer terminal 200. Note that if the information providing server 100 cannot obtain the second consent information from the customer terminal 200, it cancels providing the customer's classification information and the like.

(7) The providing unit 124 of the information providing server 100 provides the external device 400 with classification information and part of the customer information regarding the customer for whom consent has been obtained, based on the consent information.

(8) The granting unit 125 of the information providing server 100 performs processing to grant incentives to customers who have given consent to the external provision of their classification information and part of their customer information.

According to the above configuration, the information provision system 1 can inform the customer how the customer has been classified (which persona the customer has been classified into) using the customer information. Furthermore, according to the above configuration, the information provision system 1 can provide the customer information and the results of this classification to an external entity after obtaining the customer's consent to this classification. Therefore, according to the above configuration, the information provision system 1 can reflect the customer's intentions when utilizing the customer information provided by the customer. As a result, according to the above configuration, the information provision system 1 can provide ethical support when providing the customer's customer information and classification information to an external entity.

<2. Functional configuration>
The functional configuration of the information providing server 100 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 3. As shown in Fig. 3, the information providing server 100 includes a communication unit 110, a control unit 120, and a storage unit 140.

The communication unit 110 transmits and receives various information to and from the customer terminal 200, the customer service server 300, or an external device, etc., via the network N. For example, the communication unit 110 transmits classification information to the customer terminal 200 and receives second consent information from the customer terminal 200 via the network N.

The control unit 120 includes a classification unit 121 , a notification unit 122 , a consent acquisition unit 123 , and a provision unit 124 . Further, the control unit 120 may include, for example, a granting unit 125, an incentive notification unit 126, a determining unit 127, a receiving unit 128, an inquiry unit 129, or an additional acquisition unit 130.

The control unit 120 may, for example, issue and assign identification information (hereinafter referred to as a "master customer ID") for each customer to identify the customer in the information provision system 1.

The control unit 120 acquires customer information from the customer service server 300. The control unit 120 registers the acquired customer information in the customer storage unit 141. In addition, the control unit 120 may acquire first consent information from the customer service server 300, for example, in addition to acquiring the customer information.

The classification unit 121 refers to a customer storage unit that stores customer information, and classifies customers into types based on the customer information. In this embodiment, an example will be described in which the customer storage unit is a functional unit (customer storage unit 141) included in the storage unit 140 of the information providing server 100, but the present invention is not limited to this. The customer storage unit may be, for example, a functional unit included in the customer service server 300 or a functional unit included in a third-party system.

The customer information may include, for example, personal information of the customer. The customer information may also include, for example, terminal information of the customer terminal 200 used by the customer. The customer information may also include, for example, transaction information of transactions conducted by the customer. The customer information may also include, for example, identification information for identifying the customer at the service provider (hereinafter referred to as the "provider customer ID") and a master customer ID.

"Personal information" may include, for example, a customer's name, date of birth, gender, address, telephone number, personal number, email address, account information in the message exchange software, information about a bank account (e.g., account type, account number, name, etc.), information about a credit card (e.g., credit card number, name, expiration date, security code, etc.), authentication information for identity verification (e.g., information about biometric characteristics (e.g., fingerprints, irises, voiceprints, facial images, etc.)). Personal information may also include, for example, a customer's family composition, health condition, hobbies and interests, etc. Furthermore, addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, account information in the message exchange software, etc. that indicate a customer's contact information are collectively referred to as "contact information" below.

"Terminal information" refers to information about the terminal used by the customer. Terminal information may include, for example, location information (e.g., GPS data, etc.) held by the terminal, web history information (e.g., browsing history, search history, cookie information, etc. as a history of access to websites), device information (e.g., MAC address, IP address, model number, information on installed applications and OS, memory capacity, etc.), etc.

"Transaction information" is information regarding transactions conducted by a customer. Transaction information includes, for example, payment history information (e.g., product/service name, product/service ID, payment amount, payment method, etc., purchased electronically or on an EC site, including purchase history of products/services), point information (For example, it may include point identification information, point grant/use history, and current point balance).

The classification unit 121 may classify customers into types, for example, based on type information. Here, "type information" is information indicating the type of customer. The customer type may also be, for example, a type indicating customer characteristics. "Customer characteristics" are characteristics that customers particularly possess, such as "likes organic food," "is concerned about health management," "likes sports," etc., or characteristics that should be highlighted among the characteristics that customers possess.

The type information may be, for example, a model for classifying customers by type (hereinafter referred to as a "classification model"). The classification model may be, for example, (1) a model for classifying customers into a predetermined type that has been set in advance, or (2) a model constructed based on customer information, etc.

For example, in the case of (1) above, the classification unit 121 may classify by keyword matching using a classification model that indicates the correspondence between keywords and types. For example, if the names of products previously purchased by a customer include keywords such as "nature" or "natural" in the payment history information of the transaction information, the classification unit 121 may classify the customer into the type "organic lover" that is associated with these keywords.

In the case of (2) above, for example, the classification unit 121 may construct a classification model. For example, the classification unit 121 may construct a classification model based on the customer information using a method such as clustering or principal component analysis as unsupervised learning. The classification unit 121 may construct a classification model based on the customer information by learning using a method such as a support vector machine, a Bayesian filter, or ID3 for constructing a decision tree as supervised learning. In other words, the classification model may be information for determining a type of customer characteristics as a target variable, using at least one of the attributes such as gender, age, family structure, occupation, tastes, health condition, website access history, and product purchase history shown in the customer information as an explanatory variable.

The type information may be, for example, information indicating the entire type of customer characteristics. For example, if the type of health condition is divided into five levels (for example, -2...very bad, -1...poor, 0...fair, 1...good, 2...very good), The information may not only indicate the type that applies to , but may also indicate the types of all five stages.

The classification unit 121 may reclassify the results of classification by the classification unit 121, for example, based on customer information and additional information described below.

According to the above configuration, the classification unit 121 can provide classification information according to the requests of external businesses.

The notification unit 122 notifies the customer terminal 200 used by the customer of the classification information. The notification unit 122 may notify the customer of the classification information in any manner. For example, the notification unit 122 may send an email containing the classification information to the customer's email address included in the customer information. Further, the notification unit 122 may notify the classification information to the customer terminal 200 by push notification, for example. Further, the notification unit 122 may, for example, deliver a web page including classification information to the customer terminal 200.

In addition to the notification of the classification information, the notification unit 122 also sends at least one of the following: (a) consent to the classification result indicated by the classification information; and (b) consent to provide the classification information and customer information to the external device 400. You may notify that one of them is requested. Furthermore, the notification unit 122 may notify that consent indicated by the consent information is requested.

The notification unit 122 may, for example, notify the customer terminal 200 of the provided information together with the classification information. Here, "provided information" is information indicating where the classification information and customer information are provided. The provided information may be, for example, a list of business names of external businesses that use the external device 400 of the provision destination. Further, the provided information may include the purpose of use of each classification information and customer information for each destination.

For example, the notification unit 122 may notify the customer terminal of type information indicating the type of customer characteristics, in addition to the classification information.

The consent acquisition unit 123 acquires second consent information from the customer terminal 200. The consent acquisition unit 123 may acquire the second consent information from the customer in any manner. For example, the consent acquisition unit 123 may receive an email containing the second consent information from the customer. Further, as another example, the web page including the classification information may include an input form for inputting second consent information from the customer. The consent acquisition unit 123 may acquire the second consent information by inputting the second consent information into this input form from the customer.

Here, an example of a flow in which the consent acquisition unit 123 determines whether or not a customer has given consent will be described with reference to FIG. 4. As shown in FIG. 4, consent to the provision of classification information and customer information may be determined (S5) based on a combination of conditions such as "the persona is not desirable to me" (S1), "I am dissatisfied with my position within the overall persona" (S2), and "the recipient is not desirable to me" (S4). Note that, as another example, the determination may be made using at least one of the conditions S1 to S4 above.

Returning to FIG. 3 for further explanation, the second consent information may be, for example, information indicating that the customer consents to the provision of classification information from the information provider (information providing server 100) to an external party and to the use of the classification information at the destination. The second consent information may also include, for example, matters to be consented to. The matters to be consented to may include, for example, whether classification information can be provided to the destination in general or for each destination, whether it can be used at the destination, or the purpose of use when the provision and use of classification information is "allowed." The second consent information may also include, for example, that the customer consents to the classification results indicated by the classification information.

The second consent information is, for example, the customer's consent to the provision of at least part of the customer information from the information provider (information provision server 100) to an external party or to the use of at least part of the customer information at the provision destination. It may also include the meaning. Further, the second consent information may include, for example, matters to be consented to. Matters to be agreed upon include, for example, whether or not at least a portion of customer information can be provided in general or for each destination, whether or not it can be used at a destination, or whether at least a portion of customer information can be provided and used. It may also include the purpose of use, etc.

The second consent information may include, for example, that the customer consents to the provision of customer information and classification information to the provision destination notified by the provision information.

The second consent information may include, for example, that the customer agrees to the incentive notified using incentive information described below.

The second consent information may include, for example, that the customer agrees with the classification of the customer within the overall type indicated by the type information.

The providing unit 124 provides the external device 400 with classification information about a customer who has consented to providing the classification information outside the information providing server 100 based on the second consent information.

The providing unit 124 may provide at least a portion of the customer information to the external device 400 together with the classification information, for example, based on the consent information.

When providing at least a portion of the customer information to an external party, the providing unit 124 may anonymize the customer information by processing the at least a portion of the customer information. For example, the providing unit 124 may process at least a portion of the customer information by performing generalization such as item or cell deletion, abstraction, superordinate conceptualization or numerical abbreviation, top-bottom coding, data exchange, or addition of noise.

The providing unit 124 may provide the classification information and customer information in any manner. For example, the providing unit 124 may transmit a data file indicating the classification information and customer information to the external device 400 cyclically or in an event-driven manner when the receiving unit 128 described below receives a request from the external device 400.

As another example, the providing unit 124 may implement an API for causing the external device 400 to refer to the classification information and customer information. In this case, the external device 400 instructs the API to refer to the classification information and customer information, and acquires the classification information and customer information.

As another example, the providing unit 124 may send a data file indicating classification information and customer information to an external business operator's email address. The external business operator receives this email using the external device 400 and acquires the data file.

As another example, the providing unit 124 may generate a web page that shows the classification information and customer information, or that includes a URL for accessing the classification information and customer information, and distributes it to the external device 400. . The external business operator can refer to the classification information and customer information using this web page distributed to the external device 400.

According to the above configuration, the providing unit 124 can provide the classification information and customer information to the outside of the information providing server 100 after obtaining the customer's consent to the classification information. Therefore, according to the above configuration, the providing unit 124 can reflect the customer's intentions when utilizing the customer information provided by the customer.

For example, the providing unit 124 may provide the classification information and customer information to the external device 400 to which the customer has given consent to provide the classification information and customer information, based on the consent information. good.

According to the above configuration, the providing unit 124 can provide the classification information and customer information only to the recipients who have obtained consent from the customer. Therefore, according to the above configuration, the providing unit 124 can better reflect the customer's intention in utilizing the customer information provided by the customer.

For example, the providing unit 124 may provide the external device 400 with classification information and customer information regarding customers who have consented to the incentive based on the consent information.

According to the above configuration, the providing unit 124 can provide the classification information and customer information to the external device 400 to which the information is provided, after obtaining consent for the incentive from the customer. Therefore, according to the above configuration, the providing unit 124 can better reflect the customer's intention in utilizing the customer information provided by the customer.

For example, the providing unit 124 may provide the external device with customer information and the classification information regarding customers who have consented to their own classification in the entire category based on the consent information.

According to the above configuration, the providing unit 124 can provide the classification information and customer information to the external device 400 to which the information is provided, after obtaining consent from the customer regarding his/her position in the entire category. Therefore, according to the above configuration, the providing unit 124 can better reflect the customer's intention in utilizing the customer information provided by the customer. In addition, according to the above configuration, the customer can know his/her own classification based on the entire category, so that he/she can choose whether or not to consent to external provision after understanding his/her own classification better. can.

The granting unit 125 performs processing to grant an incentive to a customer who has given consent to the provision of the information to an external party. The granting unit 125 may, for example, transfer a predetermined amount of money to an account designated by the customer as an incentive. The granting unit 125 may also instruct an API for point granting implemented by the customer service server 300 to grant points that can be used in EC services to the customer. The granting unit 125 may, for example, issue a coupon that can be used in EC services, and send an email containing coupon information indicating this coupon to the customer's email address.

The incentive notification unit 126 notifies the customer terminal 200 of incentive information. Here, "incentive information" is information indicating an incentive given to a customer. The incentive information may include, for example, at least one of information indicating points that can be used in the EC service, information indicating the amount to be transferred to an account specified by the customer, coupon information, and the like. Further, the incentive information may have incentives set for each destination or for each purpose of use of the destination.

The incentive notification unit 126 may notify the customer terminal 200 of the incentive information in any manner, for example, in the same manner as the example notification manner described above in the notification unit 122.

According to the above configuration, the incentive notification unit 126 can encourage the customer to consent to the external provision of the classification information and customer information by notifying the customer of the incentive grant.

The determination unit 127 determines the incentive for each customer to whom the incentive is to be given. For example, the determination unit 127 may determine the incentive according to the number of destinations to which the customer agrees. The determination unit 127 may also determine the incentive according to the number of purposes of use at the destinations to which the customer agrees. The determination unit 127 may also change the incentive for each of the destinations and/or each purpose of use at the destinations. The determination unit 127 may also determine the incentive according to the number of consents from the customer to conditions such as those shown in FIG. 4, such as the classification result (S1), the classification (position) of the customer in the overall type (S2), the destination (S3), the incentive (S4), etc.

The receiving unit 128 receives a request for classification based on additional information regarding the customer (hereinafter referred to as "additional information") from the external device 400 of the provision destination. The accepting unit 128 may accept the request from the external device 400 in any manner. For example, the reception unit 128 may receive an email containing the above request from the external device 400. Further, the receiving unit 128 may additionally ask the customer questions such as "How many times a week do you drink alcohol?" and "What kind of clothes have you purchased in the past year?" from the external device 400, for example. You may also accept requests for answers.

The inquiry unit 129 makes an inquiry to the customer terminal 200 for additional information. For example, the inquiry unit 129 may send an email including an inquiry for additional information to the customer's email address so that the customer can directly inquire. As another example, if the additional information is "web history information for a predetermined period", the inquiry unit 129 remotely accesses the customer terminal 200 with consent from the customer indicated by the consent information. The corresponding saved web history information may be searched.

The additional acquisition unit 130 acquires additional information from the customer terminal 200 as a response to an inquiry by the inquiry unit 129. For example, the additional acquisition unit 130 may receive an email containing the additional information, or may collect web history information stored in the customer terminal 200 by remote access.

The storage unit 140 includes a customer storage unit 141. Further, the storage unit 140 may store classification information, consent information, etc., for example. The storage unit 140 may store each piece of information using a database management system (DBMS), or may store the above information using a file system. When using a DBMS, a table may be provided for each of the above information, and the above information may be managed by associating the tables.

The customer storage unit 141 stores customer information. The customer storage unit 141 may store, for example, customer information, consent information, classification information, and incentive information in association with each other.

<3. Operation example>
An example of the operation of the information providing system 1 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 and 6.

FIG. 5 shows that the information providing system 1 acquires customer information from a customer as a step before providing classification information and a part of processed customer information (hereinafter referred to as "classification information, etc.") to an external device 400. FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram showing an example of interaction between the information providing server 100, the customer terminal 200, and the customer service server 300 when classifying, etc.

As shown in FIG. 5, the customer terminal 200 accepts input of customer information from the customer via the screen (S10). The customer terminal 200 transmits the accepted customer information to the customer service server 300 (S11).

The customer service server 300 acquires customer information from the customer terminal 200 (S12). The customer service server 300 transmits the acquired customer information to the information providing server 100 (S13).

The information providing server 100 acquires customer information from the customer service server 300 (S14). The information providing server 100 processes at least a portion of the acquired customer information to anonymize it (S15). The information providing server 100 registers the customer information before and after processing in the customer storage unit 141 (S16).

The information providing server 100 refers to the customer storage unit 141 and classifies customers by type based on customer information (S17). The information providing server 100 registers classification information indicating the result of this classification in the storage unit 140 (S18).

Figure 6 is a sequence diagram showing an example of interactions between the information providing server 100, the customer terminal 200, the customer service server 300, and the external device 400 in the information providing system 1 when providing classification information, etc. in response to a request from an external business operator.

The external device 400 receives a request for classification from an external business operator based on classification information, etc. and additional information about the customer (S20).

The external device 400 requests the information providing server 100 to classify the classification information and the additional information related to the customer (S21). The information providing server 100 accepts this request (S22).

When the information providing server 100 receives a request for classification based on the above additional information, it queries the customer terminal 200 for the above additional information (S23).

The customer terminal 200 outputs the above inquiry to the customer via the screen (S24). The customer terminal 200 accepts input of additional information from the customer via the screen (S25).

The customer terminal 200 transmits the additional information to the information providing server 100 (S26). The information providing server 100 acquires the additional information (S27).

The information providing server 100 reclassifies the classification results based on the customer information and additional information (S28). The information providing server 100 updates the classification information based on the reclassification results (S29).

The information providing server 100 determines an incentive for the customer of the customer terminal 200 (S30). The information providing server 100 transmits classification information and incentive information to the customer terminal 200 (S31). The customer terminal 200 outputs the classification information and incentive received via the screen (S32).

When the customer agrees to the provision of classification information, etc. and incentives, the information providing system 1 executes processing within the area indicated by the composite fragment opt (Option). Specifically, the customer terminal 200 accepts input of the consent from the customer (S33). The customer terminal 200 transmits second consent information indicating the accepted consent to the information providing server 100 (S34). The information providing server 100 acquires the second consent information (S35).

Based on the second consent information, the information providing server 100 transmits classification information and the like relating to the customer for whom the consent has been obtained to the external device 400 (S36). The information providing server 100 performs processing to grant an incentive to the customer for whom the consent to external provision has been obtained (S37). The information providing server 100 notifies the customer terminal 200 of the customer of the incentive information indicating the granted incentive (S38).

<4. Hardware configuration>
With reference to FIG. 7, an example of a hardware configuration when the above-described information providing server 100 is implemented by the computer 800 will be described. Note that the functions of each device can also be realized by dividing into a plurality of devices.

As shown in FIG. 7, the computer 800 includes a processor 801, a memory 803, a storage device 805, an input I/F unit 807, a data I/F unit 809, a communication I/F unit 811, and a display device 813.

The processor 801 controls various processes in the computer 800 by executing programs stored in the memory 803. For example, each functional unit of the control unit 120 of the information providing server 100 can be realized by the processor 801 executing a program temporarily stored in the memory 803.

The memory 803 is a storage medium such as a RAM (Random Access Memory). The memory 803 temporarily stores the program code of the program executed by the processor 801 and data required when the program is executed.

The storage device 805 is, for example, a nonvolatile storage medium such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or flash memory. A storage device 805 stores various programs including an operating system. In addition, the storage device 805 can also store a table in which various types of information are registered, and a DB that manages the table. Such programs and data are referenced by the processor 801 by being loaded into the memory 803 as needed.

The input I/F unit 807 is a device for receiving input from the user. Specific examples of the input I/F unit 807 include a keyboard, mouse, touch panel, various sensors, wearable devices, and the like. The input I/F unit 807 may be connected to the computer 800 via an interface such as a USB (Universal Serial Bus).

The data I/F unit 809 is a device for inputting data from outside the computer 800. A specific example of the data I/F unit 809 is a drive device for reading data stored in various storage media. The data I/F unit 809 may be provided outside the computer 800. In that case, the data I/F unit 809 is connected to the computer 800 via an interface such as a USB.

The communication I/F unit 811 is a device for performing data communication with a device external to the computer 800 via the Internet N by wire or wirelessly. It is also conceivable that the communication I/F section 811 is provided outside the computer 800. In that case, the communication I/F section 811 is connected to the computer 800 via an interface such as a USB.

The display device 813 is a device for displaying various information. Specific examples of the display device 813 include a liquid crystal display, an organic EL (Electro-Luminescence) display, a wearable device display, and the like. Display device 813 may be provided outside computer 800. In that case, display device 813 is connected to computer 800 via, for example, a display cable. Further, when a touch panel is employed as the input I/F section 807, the display device 813 can be configured to be integrated with the input I/F section 807.

Note that this embodiment is an example for explaining the present invention, and is not intended to limit the present invention to this embodiment alone. Furthermore, the present invention can be modified in various ways without departing from the gist of the invention. Furthermore, a person skilled in the art can adopt an embodiment in which each element described below is replaced with an equivalent, and such an embodiment is also included in the scope of the present invention.

Further, the components included in the information providing server 100 described in the above embodiments are such that a program stored in the storage device 805 is executed by the processor 801, so that predetermined processing can be performed in cooperation with other hardware. It shall be realized as follows. In other words, these components are assumed to be both software or firmware and corresponding hardware, and in both concepts, they are referred to as "functions", "means", "units", "processing circuits", It is also described as a "unit" or "module," and can be read as either of these terms.

[Modification]
Although the present invention has been described based on the above embodiment, the following cases are also included in the present invention.

(1) In the above embodiment, an example was explained in which the customer service server 300 holds customer information provided by the customer. However, as another example, the information providing server 100 can store customer information without going through the customer service server 300. Customer information may be obtained directly from the terminal 200. In this case, customer service server 300 does not hold customer information.

For example, the information providing server 100 may use a PDS (personal data store) to have customers register their own customer information in the PDS, and the information providing server 100 may obtain the customer information from the PDS. . Furthermore, when registering to or acquiring customer information from the PDS, for example, customer information may be registered or acquired in an anonymized state.

(2) At least a part of each configuration in the information providing server 100 according to the above embodiment may be provided in the customer terminal 200 or the customer service server 300. For example, the customer service server 300 may be provided with all the functions of the providing section 125, the incentive notification section 126, and the determining section 127 of the information providing server 100.

(3) Although not shown in the above embodiment, when providing customer information to the external device 400 of the provision destination, the providing unit 124 provides identification information (hereinafter referred to as " It is also possible to issue and assign a "supply destination customer ID"). At this time, in the customer storage unit 141, the provider customer ID and the master customer ID may be stored in association with each other, and separately, the master customer ID and the provider customer ID may be stored in association with each other. When receiving customer information for a specific customer via the external device 400, the external business operator can receive the desired customer information by specifying the specific customer using the destination customer ID.

For example, when providing customer information to the external device 400 of the providing destination, the providing unit 124 issues and assigns identification information (hereinafter referred to as "provided customer ID") for identifying the customer for each customer each time the customer information is provided. You may. The providing customer ID may be valid only for a predetermined period. At this time, in addition to the above, the master customer ID and the providing customer ID may be stored in association with each other in the customer storage unit 141. When receiving customer information for a specific customer via the external device 400, the external business operator can receive the desired customer information by specifying the specific customer using the providing customer ID. Furthermore, the external business operator may be able to receive desired customer information by specifying a specific customer using a providing customer ID, for example, only during the predetermined period.

(4) Although not shown in the above embodiment, the information providing server 100 may issue and grant temporary contact information (hereinafter referred to as "temporary contact information") for each customer that can be used temporarily for a specified period of time. The information providing server 100 may also have a function of mediating the sending and receiving of emails and message exchanges between the customer and external businesses, and converting the temporary contact information into actual contact information. At this time, the information providing server 100 provides customer information including the issued temporary contact information to the external device 400 to which the information is to be provided.

As another example, the information providing server 100 may include an access unit (not shown) in the control unit 120 that realizes access between the destination external device 400 and the customer terminal 200. The access unit may realize message exchange between the customer terminal 200 and the destination external device 400, for example, based on customer information. The access unit may also relay to realize remote access between the customer terminal 200 and the destination external device 400, for example, based on customer information.

The access unit may limit the access to a predetermined period. Here, the "predetermined period" is a period set for each customer or each provider, which allows access between the customer and a business outside the provider. For example, the access unit may block the access when a predetermined period of time is exceeded.

(5) Although not shown in the above embodiment, when the classification unit 121 determines that there is room for improvement in the type information, the classification unit 121 may generate a candidate type information and output it to the information provider via the display device 813. When the information provider inputs a designation to adopt the output candidate type information, the classification unit 121 sets the adopted candidate type information as the new type information in place of the previous type information.

(6) Although not shown in the above embodiment, in the information providing system 1, the customer service server 300 may anonymize customer information. In this case, the information providing server 100 acquires anonymized customer information from the customer service server 300.

(7) In the above embodiment, an example was shown in which the information providing server 100 reclassifies customers by receiving a request for classification using the additional information from the external device 400 to which the information is provided. However, the trigger for reclassification may be either (a) a request from a determination unit (not shown) that determines that reclassification is necessary when the classification result of the classification unit 121 satisfies a predetermined condition or by using a classification model, or (b) a request from a user such as the operator of the information providing server 100, received by the reception unit.

In the case of (a) above, for example, the determination unit may be provided in the information providing server 100 or may be provided in a third party system. The determination unit may, for example, construct a classification model of a different type from the classification model constructed and used by the classification unit 121 among the classification models shown above. For example, if the classification model used by the classification unit 121 is a classification model constructed by supervised learning, the determination unit may construct the classification model by unsupervised learning. At this time, the determination unit classifies customers into types based on customer information using the constructed classification model, and if the difference between the result of its own classification and the result of classification by the classification unit 121 exceeds a predetermined threshold. , it is determined that reclassification is necessary. If the determination unit determines that reclassification is necessary, it requests the reception unit 128 to reclassify.

In the case of (i) above, for example, the information providing server 100 may output the results of the classification to a terminal used by the user (hereinafter referred to as the "user terminal"), and may receive a reclassification request input by the user from the user terminal in response to the output results of the classification.

1... Information providing system, 100... Information providing server, 120... Control unit, 121... Classifying unit, 123... Consent acquisition unit, 124... Providing unit, 125... Giving unit, 126... Incentive notification unit, 127... Determining unit, 128 ...Reception section, 129...Inquiry section, 130...Additional acquisition section,..., 110...Communication section, 140...Storage section, 141...Customer storage section, 200...Customer terminal, 300...Customer service server, 400...External device, 800 ... Computer, 801 ... Processor, 803 ... Memory, 805 ... Storage device, 807 ... Input I/F section, 809 ... Data I/F section, 811 ... Communication I/F section, 813 ... Display device.

Claims (11)

An information providing server,
a classification unit that refers to a customer storage unit that stores customer information related to a customer, the customer information including personal information of the customer, attributes of the customer, terminal information of a terminal used by the customer, and/or transaction information of a transaction performed by the customer , and classifies the customer by type based on the customer information and type information ;
a notification unit that notifies classification information indicating a result of the classification to a customer terminal used by the customer;
a consent acquisition unit that acquires consent information indicating that the customer consents to the provision of the notified classification information to an outside of the information providing server from the customer terminal;
a providing unit that provides the classification information related to the customer for whom the consent has been obtained to an external device based on the consent information ,
The type information is a model that is constructed by inputting the customer information through correspondence between keywords and the type, or through supervised learning or unsupervised learning, and classifies the customer into the type.
Information server. the consent acquisition unit acquires the consent information including a customer's consent to the provision of the customer information to an outside of the information providing server;
The providing unit provides at least a part of the customer information to an external device based on the consent information together with the classification information.
2. The information providing server according to claim 1. The notification unit notifies the customer terminal of provision information indicating a destination to which the classification information is to be provided together with the classification information;
the consent acquisition unit acquires the consent information including a fact that the customer consents to the provision of the classification information to the notified destination,
The providing unit provides the classification information to an external device to which the consent has been obtained, based on the consent information.
3. The information providing server according to claim 1 or 2. an incentive granting unit that performs processing to grant an incentive to the customer whose consent has been obtained;
an incentive notification unit that notifies the customer terminal of the customer of incentive information indicating the granted incentive;
The information providing server according to any one of claims 1 to 3. further comprising a determining unit that determines the incentive for each customer to whom the incentive is granted;
The consent acquisition unit acquires the consent information including that the customer consents to the notified incentive,
The providing unit provides the classification information regarding the customer who has consented to the incentive to an external device based on the consent information.
The information providing server according to claim 4. The type is a type of customer characteristics,
The notification unit notifies the customer terminal of type information indicating the entire type of customer characteristics together with the classification information,
The consent acquisition unit acquires the consent information including that the customer agrees to the classification of the customer in the entire category,
The providing unit provides, based on the consent information, the classification information regarding the customer who has consented to the own classification to an external device.
The information providing server according to any one of claims 1 to 5. a reception unit that receives a request for classification based on additional information about the customer from an external device to which the information is to be provided or a user terminal used by a user;
an inquiry unit that inquires of the customer terminal about the additional information;
and an additional acquisition unit that acquires the additional information from the customer terminal as a response to the inquiry,
The classification unit reclassifies the results of the classification based on the customer information and the additional information.
6. The information providing server according to claim 5. further comprising an access unit that realizes access between the external device of the provision destination and the customer terminal;
The information providing server according to any one of claims 1 to 6. The access unit limits the access to a predetermined period of time.
9. The information providing server according to claim 8. to the computer,
a customer storage function that stores customer information regarding the customer, including personal information of the customer, attributes of the customer, terminal information of a terminal used by the customer, and/or transaction information of transactions conducted by the customer; a classification function that classifies the customers by type based on the customer information and type information with reference to the above;
a notification function that notifies a customer terminal used by the customer of classification information indicating the result of the classification;
a consent acquisition function that acquires consent information from the customer terminal indicating that the customer agrees to provide the notified classification information to an external device;
realizing a providing function of providing the customer information and the classification information regarding the customer for whom the consent has been obtained to an external device based on the consent information ;
The type information is a model constructed by associating keywords with the type, or by inputting the customer information through supervised learning or unsupervised learning, and is a model that classifies the customer into the type.
program. The computer is
a customer storage unit that stores customer information regarding the customer, including personal information of the customer, attributes of the customer, terminal information of a terminal used by the customer, and/or transaction information of transactions conducted by the customer; , classifying the customers by type based on the customer information and type information ,
Notifying classification information indicating the result of the classification to a customer terminal used by the customer;
obtaining consent information from the customer terminal indicating that the customer consents to providing the notified classification information to an external device;
Based on the consent information, providing the customer information and the classification information regarding the customer for whom consent has been obtained to an external device ;
The type information is a model constructed by associating keywords with the type, or by inputting the customer information through supervised learning or unsupervised learning, and is a model that classifies the customer into the type.
Information provision method.

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