JPH10222450A - Retrieval information recording device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To record the plural histories of continuous communication due to specified communication terminal equipment on the side of server even in case of communication system to cut off communication between the communication terminal equipment and the server at every connection. SOLUTION: An ID information extracting means 22 extracts ID information added in request information from the communication terminal equipment. When no ID information is contained in the request information, an ID information generating means 21 generates ID information, a request recording means 23 relatively records the request information and this ID information, an instruction information extracting means 24 extracts instruction information for instructing the next request information from response information, and ID information adding means 25 adds this ID information to the request information instructed in the extracted instruction information.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for recording a communication history performed by a specific communication terminal device.
1 from the server in response to a transmission request from the communication terminal
The present invention relates to a device for recording a history of communications performed by a specific terminal device on a server device side when using a communication method in which a communication line is disconnected when there is a response.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the development of the Internet, providing information on a network has become popular. As a means for providing information on the Internet, it is general to use a WWW (World Wide Web) method. According to the WWW method, information to be provided on a server is converted to HTML (Hyper Text Markup Lang).
uage) statement and store it, and by communicating with this server from a communication terminal device incorporating software called a browser, the user of the communication terminal device can obtain this information .

In an HTML sentence, it is possible to create a so-called hypertext in which link information serving as instruction information for instructing the next request information can be embedded in ordinary text. When a character string or the like in which the link information is embedded is selected on the communication terminal device side, a communication line is opened to the same or another server, and the communication terminal device obtains response information to the requested request information. Can be.

The URL (Uniform Res
FIG. 10 shows a conceptual diagram of a part called ource Locater). As shown in the figure, the URL is an HTTP protocol instruction 1001, an address 1002a of a server having response information to the next request information, a file name 1002b in the server, and the like, that is, a link destination name including the name of the response information. 1002. That is, the URL points to an information source where information on the Internet exists. When the communication terminal device selects a character string or the like in which the link information is embedded, the communication line between the communication terminal device and the server is connected, and the request specified in the link information is described in the URL. Sent to the server, the server sends the requested response information to the communication terminal device. Also, this UR
L is recorded on the server as log information as described later.

[0005] In the WWW system in which information can be created and transmitted using hypertext capable of having link information, a user of a communication terminal device who wants to obtain specific information cannot use the related information. If the user follows a link with a clue to an item to be performed, a keyword, or the like, necessary information can be obtained. For this reason, provision of information by the WWW method is extremely useful for both the information provider and the information provider. On the other hand, WW
In recent years, information on the Internet provided by the W method has been
Because of the increasing volume and the widespread distribution, it is becoming difficult for communication terminals to efficiently obtain information.

Therefore, it is necessary to provide index information for efficiently obtaining necessary information from an information source.
It is performed by an information center called a search site on the Internet. Information centers provide various services that allow users of communication terminals to search for necessary information. For such information centers,
Increasingly, there is a strong demand for providing comprehensive information and efficient search means.

[0007] Creating an index to help search for information
It is performed on the information provider by WWW, that is, the server side. This index is created by following all related information, that is, link relations, using a specific keyword or the like as a clue. Therefore, in order to create an index, it is necessary to obtain all the information provided on the Internet, investigate its contents, and analyze the association between the information.

[0008]

The association between the information is performed by a person who needs the information, that is, a user of the communication terminal device, in the operation of actually searching for the information while following the link. Is more efficient. The reason is that the information search behavior of the user with the purpose, specifically, the search history when searching data on the server through a specific communication terminal device is recorded and analyzed, so that a comprehensive information-related analysis can be performed. This is because, in comparison, lean association information that matches the purpose can be obtained.

The search history information has an important meaning in knowing whether the structure of data provided and managed on the server is suitable for the search. Because, by knowing the progress of a single user searching for information, a list of information obtained by searching by a specific user can be obtained, where the search target information exists, and how to search. This is because information on whether or not the link has been set can be obtained, whereby the information provider can set the link information, that is, the data structure in a manner that is easy for the user of the terminal device to use.

[0010] As described above, the search history information in a specific communication terminal device is very useful, and can be used by an information provider whose main purpose is to provide information or a library that searches for books through a network. It is also very useful for providing a matched effective and efficient information provision method and realizing improvement of information provision service for users.

However, recording the history information of a specific communication terminal on the server side has the following problems. First, the first problem is that in the WWW, the communication terminal device and the server device disconnect the communication line every time when one connection consisting of a set of request and response is completed.
This means that communication is performed using a protocol called P (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol). Note that a connection refers to one independent session between a server and a communication terminal device in TCP (Transmission Control Protocol), which is a communication protocol used for communication on the Internet.

During the connection between the server and the communication terminal, the server and the communication terminal mutually manage the sequence numbers of the communication data, perform data sequence control and error control, and establish a connection. During this time, the server can uniquely identify the communication terminal device. However, the connection from the communication terminal device to the server is independent for each set of request and response, and information about the association between the plurality of connections is not included in the request from the communication terminal device. .

Therefore, once the connection is completed, when the same communication terminal device requests again and the next connection state is established, the server device side displays the IP number of the communication terminal device, which is the information of the request transmission source, on the server side. Even if it can be obtained, it cannot be recognized whether or not the same communication terminal device has made a request for performing a continuous search. In other words, what is sent to the server is the IP
A number and the file name of the retrieved information,
It is only one scene of the user's continuous search action. Therefore, in the HTTP method in which only such information is transmitted to the server, the server cannot accurately store the search history in the specific communication terminal device.

However, even in this case, since the contents of the request according to the WWW method are generally stored in a log file on the server side, it is possible to know a certain search history by analyzing the request. That is, the log information is composed of a record in which the IP number of the connection source terminal and the file name of the search information are recorded, so that the information provider can search what information from the specific IP number. To a certain extent, and it is also possible to understand to some extent the frequency of information retrieval and the state of access from the user to the information provided by the user.

However, in the connection between networks by the Internet, a so-called firewall, which separates the inside and outside of the network, is often installed on the communication terminal side in order to secure security. Even the IP number of the device is not transmitted to the server device. Note that a firewall is a gateway device that sets conditions for exchanging information between a plurality of networks connected to each other and monitors information flowing between the networks.

Briefly, in order to perform communication via a firewall, relay software for making a proxy response, usually called a proxy, is interposed between the communication terminal and the server. The proxy between the communication terminal device and the server has a function of receiving communication from the communication terminal device and transmitting a request to the server as a proxy for the terminal. Also, the response from the server to the communication terminal device is received once by the proxy, and then the proxy transmits data to the communication terminal device. By doing so, security can be ensured by avoiding direct communication between the communication terminal device and the server, and the communication terminal device can realize the same state as when there is a connection with the server.

However, for this reason, the IP number of the communication terminal does not go ahead of the proxy, and the IP number of the terminal does not go outside. Accordingly, since information for identifying the communication terminal device is not included in the request that has passed through the firewall, the server cannot identify the communication terminal device at all. In other words, when a firewall is provided, it becomes impossible for the server to track the history of a series of requests made by a specific communication terminal device.

Further, even when the server does not pass through the firewall, the server can record only the request that has accessed itself, so that a single server usually stores all log information in a series of search histories. I can't get it. That is, the greatest advantage of the WWW communication system is that
The communication terminal device can continuously view a plurality of servers, and when a user accesses one server after accessing one server in the search process, the log information is stored in the other server. Server is not communicated. Therefore, each server can record only a part of the log information of the search history. Further, even if the communication with the same server is performed again, it is not possible to determine whether or not the use state is continued, since the information on the connection with the previous connection is not held. As a result, it is not possible to record all search histories from a specific communication terminal from only log information of a single server.

In view of the above problems, the present invention provides an HTTP
In the communication method in which the communication between the communication terminal device and the server is cut off for each connection as described above, and even when the information for identifying the communication terminal device is not transmitted to the server, the communication terminal device is further transmitted from a plurality of servers. It is an object of the present invention to provide a device capable of recording a plurality of continuous communication histories by a specific communication terminal device even when information is continuously obtained.

[0020]

In order to solve the above problems, a search information recording device according to the present invention receives request information from a communication terminal device, searches response information corresponding to the request information, and searches for response information corresponding to the request information. ID information extraction means provided on a server for returning to the communication terminal device, for extracting ID information added to the request information, and ID information for generating ID information when the request information does not include ID information Request recording means for recording request information and the ID information in association with each other, instruction information extracting means for extracting instruction information indicating the next request information from the response information,
ID information adding means for adding the ID information to request information designated in the extracted instruction information.

Preferably, the search information recording apparatus further comprises an address adding means for adding to the request information designated in the extracted instruction information information a designation of transmission to the address of the server. It is. In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, a search information recording method according to the present invention is to record request information from a communication terminal device in a server, and a request receiving step of receiving request information from the communication terminal device; An ID information creating step for creating ID information when ID information is not added to the received request information; and an ID information extracting step for extracting the ID information when ID information is added to the received request information. An extraction step and a request recording step of recording request information in association with ID information are provided. And
This includes a response search step of searching for response information to the request information, and an instruction information extracting step of extracting instruction information indicating the next request information from the response information. An ID information adding step of adding the ID information to the request information, and a response transmitting step of transmitting response information to the communication terminal device.

In the search information recording method described above, it is effective to further provide an address adding step of adding a designation of transmission to the address of the server to the request information specified in the extracted instruction information. It is.

[0023]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a network between a communication terminal device and a server on the Internet. The communication terminal device 101 is connected to a server P via a public line 103 or the like, and the server P is connected to other servers A, K, J, L,... On the Internet. It is assumed that the search information recording device according to the present invention is provided in the server A among them. Each server is W
It has information source information on the Internet provided by the WW system.

In order for the communication terminal device 101 to obtain information on a network as shown in FIG.
1 connects to a server P and transmits request information, which is a request for searching for specific information through this server P, to another server;
For example, it transmits to server A. Then, the server A issues an information search request to the information source on the Internet or its own data file, acquires the information requested by the communication terminal device 101, and uses the obtained information as response information as the response information. Return to. When the information is returned, the server A disconnects the line with the communication terminal device 101. The disconnection of the line between the server A and the communication terminal device 101 is performed by disconnecting the line between the server P and the server A. This is the same in the operation described below.

FIG. 2 shows a functional block diagram of the search information recording device 2 according to the embodiment of the present invention. The search information recording device 2 includes an ID generation unit 21, an ID extraction unit 22, a request recording unit 23, an instruction information extraction unit 24, an ID addition unit 25, and an address addition unit 26. Note that the search information recording device 2 is built in the server A, but is shown connected to the server A for convenience in the drawing.

The ID generation unit 21 generates ID information when the request information from the communication terminal device 101 does not include ID information. The case where the request information does not include the ID information is a case where only the general URL on the Internet is included in the request information, and the first connection in the search history from the communication terminal apparatus 101 has occurred. Means that. For a specific ID, for example, a counter is provided on the apparatus, and each time an ID is generated, one is added to the initial value. This ID may be generated by any method as long as it can be generated so that only one ID exists, and various methods such as generation from the current time of the apparatus can be adopted.

The ID extracting section 22 is a section for extracting the ID information added to the request information from the communication terminal device 101. The reason why the ID information is added to the request information is that the link information in the response information to which the ID information has been added by the ID adding unit 25 as described later is selected by the communication terminal device 101 and transmitted to the server A. This is the case. In this case, the ID extraction unit 22
Extracts the previously added ID information from the request information.

The request recording section 23 is a section that mainly records request information and the ID information in association with each other. Specifically, the request recording section 23 stores the ID information as in the record format shown in FIG.
Information 301, date and time 302, terminal address 303, access file name 304 as request information, communication result 3
05, the transmission data length 306 is recorded as log information.
The information other than the ID information 301 is information generally used as log information at the time of access in the WWW system.

The instruction information extracting unit 24, based on the response information obtained from the information source on the Internet by the server A, indicates instruction information for instructing the next request information, that is, FIG.
A link information portion having a URL having a schematic configuration as shown in FIG. The ID adding unit 25 adds the ID information generated by the ID generating unit 21 or the ID information extracted by the ID extracting unit 22 to the request information specified in the extracted instruction information, that is, the URL in the link information. I do. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, the ID information 403 is added to the URL constituting the link information.

The address adding unit 26 transmits the request information specified in the extracted instruction information, that is, the URL in the link information to the address of the server A provided with the search information recording device 2. This is the part that adds the instruction. Specifically, the address 401 of the server A is added to the URL constituting the link information as shown in FIG. As a result, when the communication terminal apparatus 101 selects a word or the like in which the link information is embedded, the request information transmitted from the communication terminal apparatus 101 does not go directly to the target link destination server but first searches for the request information. The server A provided with the information recording device 2 is once relayed.

That is, the URL as shown in FIG.
The URL is rewritten by the adding unit 25 and the address adding unit 26 as shown in FIG. In FIG. 4, "processing program name 402" is described. This is because the search information recording device 2 is actually constituted by a program on a computer constituting the server A, and is for designating that the program constituting the search information recording device 2 is to be operated.

The search information recording device 2 having the above configuration is
The recording part of the request recording part 23 can be realized as a general recording device such as a hard disk by a general-purpose computer and a program operating on each of the above-described parts operated by the computer, and a computer constituting the server A as the computer Can be used.
The program can be recorded on a recording medium such as a CD-ROM readable by the computer.

The operation of the search information recording device 2 having the above configuration will be described below. FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram showing operations of the communication terminal device 101, the server A, and the search information recording device 2 provided therein. First, the communication terminal device 10
1 accesses server A and transmits the first request information requesting the information. Naturally, no ID information is added to this request information. However, the IP number of the communication terminal apparatus 101 is stored in the server A together with the request information.
[1].

Server A that has received this request information
Searches for response information to this request information. The response information is recorded in file A of server A, and it is assumed that text as shown in FIG. In the text of FIG. 6, character strings A, B, and C are character strings in which links are embedded, and URLs such as (A), (B), and (C) are designated as link information. It is assumed that

The request information and the response information are sent to the search information recording device 2. Here, since the request information has no ID information added thereto, first, the ID generation unit 21 generates ID information for the request information [2]. Here, it is assumed that an ID “ID1” has been generated. Then, the request recording unit 23 records the request information, specifically, the URL constituting the request information in association with the generated ID information [3] (see FIG. 8).

The instruction information extracting unit 24 extracts link information from the response information [4]. Here, the URLs of FIGS. 6A, 6B, and 6C are extracted. Then, the ID adding unit 25 adds the ID to the extracted URL [5], and the address adding unit 26 adds the address of the server A [6]. As a result, (A), (B), and (C) of FIG.
Are rewritten as shown in FIGS. 7A, 7B, and 7C, respectively. The response information shown in FIG. 6 in which the link information is rewritten in this way is returned by the server A to the communication terminal device 101 [7]. Here, the connection between the server A and the communication terminal apparatus 101 is disconnected. The communication terminal device 101 that has received the response information from the server A displays the screen including the ID shown in FIG. 6, but the ID information does not appear on the screen. Of users does not recognize the ID.

The communication terminal device 101 that has received the response information selects one of the character strings A, B, and C in which the link information is embedded from the response information of FIG. 6 [8]. Here, it is assumed that the character string A is selected, for example. Then, the communication terminal device 101 connects to the server again to transmit the request information specified by the link information. At this time, since the address of the server A is described in the link information first, the communication terminal 101 first connects to the server A again without connecting to the server K as the information source, and The request information including the URL shown in (A) is transmitted [9].

Upon receiving this request, server A
As in the previous case, response information to this request information is requested to the server K described in the URL, and this is obtained. When requesting the server K for the response information, it is desirable to transmit the information without the ID information in the URL. These request information and response information are also sent to the search information recording device 2.

This time, since the ID information is added to the request information, the ID extracting unit 22 extracts the ID information from the URL in the request information [10]. Here, “ID” which is ID information added by the ID adding unit 25 last time
The request recording unit 23 extracts the ID information and the URL constituting the request information.
[11] (see FIG. 8).

Then, by the same operation as described above, the instruction information extracting unit 24 extracts link information from the response information [12], and the ID adding unit 25 and the address adding unit 26 add the extracted ID information to the link information. [13] [14]. Then, the response information whose link information has been rewritten is returned to the communication terminal device 101 [15], and the connection between the server A and the communication terminal device 101 is disconnected again.

Thereafter, the above operations [8] and thereafter are repeated until the user of the communication terminal device 101 finally obtains the necessary information, and the request recording unit 23 of the search information recording device 2 stores the information shown in FIG. , Request information associated with ID information is recorded as a series of search histories. In FIG. 8, log information of "ID2" is recorded in addition to log information of "ID1". This is because the server A and each communication terminal apparatus 101 are disconnected when one set of request and response is completed, so that, for example, the I that is recorded after connection with ID1 recorded in
This is because the connection with D2 may be made.
However, even if the connection with a plurality of communication terminal devices 101 is made in this way, only one ID information exists for each search history by the above operation. For this reason, even when the server A transmits and receives information to and from the other communication terminal apparatuses 101, the search history thereof can be specified by each ID information. That is,
The ID information is, as a result, information for specifying each of a series of search history information. Furthermore, this log information is ID
Sorting based on the information makes it possible to extract each search history.

As described above, when the user continues to obtain information from the information source on the Internet, the history information is recorded on the server, and the server uses the history information based on the history information. It is possible to provide an index service to a good information source. The search information recording device 2
The operation of the server A is summarized as a flowchart shown in FIG. Briefly explaining this flowchart, first, when request information is transmitted from the communication terminal apparatus to the server A, the server A includes an ID in the request.
Is checked (S101). If the request includes an already assigned ID, the ID extracting unit 22 extracts the ID and passes it to the ID adding unit 25 (S
102, S103). If the ID is not included, the ID
A new ID is generated by the generation unit 22 and the ID addition unit 25 is generated.
(S104, S105).

Subsequently, the server A communicates with the communication terminal 1
The request information transmitted from No. 01 is transmitted to the server specified by the URL to request response information (S105). At this time, the server A may have the information to be sought, and in this case, the information to be sought is searched from the database of the server A. When a response is returned from the server, link information is extracted from the information (S106). Then, the ID adding unit 25 inserts the ID information into all of the obtained link information (S107), and the address adding unit 26 sets the server A
Is inserted (S108). Then, the request recording unit 23 records the ID, the URL indicating the position of the information source, and the communication date and time in the log (S10).
9). Finally, the server A transmits response information to which the ID and the like are added to the communication terminal device 101 (S11).
0).

Note that the address adding unit 26 in the above embodiment can be omitted if it is determined that all the response information in the process of being searched is in one server.

[0045]

As described above, the present invention has the following effects. That is, in the search information recording apparatus according to the present invention, ID information is generated by the ID information generating means for the request information first transmitted from the communication terminal apparatus, and the request recording means stores the request information in the I
The information is recorded in association with the D information. Then, the instruction information extracting means extracts the instruction information from the response information to the request information, and the ID number adding means adds the ID number to the request information indicated in the instruction information.

The response information to which the ID number is assigned is transmitted to the communication terminal device, and when the communication terminal device selects one of the instruction information, the request information to which the ID number designated by the instruction information is assigned is transmitted. It is sent to the server. Then, the ID extracting unit extracts the ID information from the request information, and the request recording unit records the request information in association with the ID information. Hereinafter, in the same manner as above, the instruction information extracting unit and the ID adding unit
ID information is added to the instruction information in the response information, and the response information is returned to the communication terminal device.

According to the above operation, even if the communication between the communication terminal device and the server uses a communication method that is cut off when a set of transmission and reception is performed, the instruction information is obtained from the first request information. A history of a series of request information traced is recorded in the search information recording device provided on the server side in association with the same ID information.

As a result, it is possible to obtain search history information of a user who performs an information search, and by analyzing this information, it is possible to obtain information that gives an evaluation of efficiency, accuracy, appropriateness, etc. with respect to an information providing method. To provide a better information provision system. Further, in the search information recording device provided with the address adding device, the address adding device adds the address information of the server provided with the search information recording device to the request information specified in the instruction information of the response information. Even when the user of the communication terminal device obtains information continuously from a plurality of information sources on the network, communication is performed through the server provided with the search information recording device, and the communication history of the same user is obtained. Can be captured.

Further, in the search information recording method according to the present invention, the request receiving step receives the first request information from the communication terminal device, creates ID information for the received request information in the ID creating step, and executes the request recording step. , Request information ID
Record in association with information. Then, in the response search step, response information for the request information is searched, and in the instruction information extracting step, instruction information indicating the next request information is extracted from the response information, and the ID is extracted.
The generated ID information is added to the request information extracted in the adding step and indicated in the instruction information.
Then, the response information is transmitted to the communication terminal device in a response transmitting step.

When the user of the communication terminal device selects the instruction information from the response information and transmits the request information to which the ID is added to the server, the request information is received again by the request receiving step, In the ID information extracting step, the ID information added to the received request information is extracted, and in the request recording step, the request information is recorded in association with the extracted ID information. Hereinafter, by the same operation as described above, the instruction information extracting step extracts the instruction information indicating the request information from the response information retrieved in the response retrieval step, and the request designated in the instruction information by the ID adding step. The extracted ID information is added to the information. Then, the response information is transmitted to the communication terminal in a response transmission step.

By performing such an operation, each time a request to which ID information is added is transmitted from the communication terminal device in a series of search processes, the same request information is associated with the same ID information. Is recorded. In this manner, a series of search histories can be recorded even when communication between the communication terminal device and the server uses a communication method that is disconnected when a set of transmission and reception is performed. Becomes

Further, if the search information recording method is provided with an address adding step for adding the address of the server to the request information specified in the extracted instruction information, the ID information can be added from the communication terminal device. Since the requested request is always transmitted to the server device, even if the response information to be searched is recorded over a plurality of servers, it always passes through a specific server. One server can record a series of search histories.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a connection state between a communication terminal device and a server on the Internet.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the search information recording device according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a format of a log file recorded in a request recording unit.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a URL format of link information to which ID information and a server address are added.

FIG. 5 is a sequence diagram illustrating operations of a communication terminal device, a server, and a search information recording device.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of response information.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a state in which ID information and a server address are added to a URL of link information.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a log file recorded in a request recording unit.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating operations of a server and a search information recording unit.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a URL of general link information.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Search information recording device 21 ID generation unit 22 ID extraction unit 23 Request recording unit 24 Instruction information extraction unit 25 ID addition unit 26 Address addition unit

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A search information recording device provided in a server that receives request information from a communication terminal device, searches response information corresponding to the request information, and returns the response information to the communication terminal device. An ID information extracting means for extracting the added ID information; and an ID information extracting means for extracting ID information if the request information does not include ID information.
ID information generating means for generating D information; request recording means for recording request information in association with the ID information; instruction information extracting means for extracting instruction information indicating the next request information from the response information; A search information recording device having ID information adding means for adding the ID information to request information designated in the designated instruction information. 2. The search information recording apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: an address addition for adding a designation of transmission to the address of said server to request information specified in the extracted instruction information. Search information recording device provided with means. 3. A search information recording method for recording request information from a communication terminal device in a server, comprising: a request receiving step of receiving request information from the communication terminal device; and wherein the received request information does not include ID information. In this case, an ID information creating step for creating ID information, and an ID information extracting step for extracting the ID information when ID information is added to the received request information, and relating the request information to the ID information. A request recording step for appending and recording; a response search step for searching for response information to the request information; an instruction information extracting step for extracting instruction information for instructing the next request information from the response information; and the extracted instruction information Request information specified within Search information recording method having the ID information adding step of adding the ID information, and a response transmission step of transmitting the response information to the communication terminal apparatus. 4. The search information recording method according to claim 3, further comprising the step of: adding, to the request information specified in the extracted instruction information, a designation of transmission to the address of the server. Search information recording method provided with.