KR100392416B1 - System for providing portal service - Google Patents

Abstract

The portal service providing system according to the present invention includes a plurality of computer groups (where each computer group includes a plurality of personal computers (or PCs), a local area network (or LAN), and a management computer connected to the PCs via the LANs} ; A server computer connected to the plurality of computer groups through an internet network; A portal service providing system comprising an individual information site for providing information to the plurality of computer groups via the server computer, the portal service providing system being arranged on the server computer based on data collected from a main program module installed in the management computer. And an auxiliary program module installed in each of the plurality of PCs according to the home URL change request signal of the server computer to change the home URL of the web browser.

Description

System for providing portal service

The present invention relates to a portal service providing system built on the basis of member information of a PC room, and more specifically, receives personal information of a PC room user only once and registers as a member on a plurality of individual information providing sites, and provides a PC room user. The present invention relates to a portal service providing system capable of controlling a homepage of a web browser used by a web browser (a page which is first accessed when the web browser is driven, hereinafter referred to as a home URL).

Portal site companies such as Yahoo, America Online (AOL) and Netian are able to comprehensively service all the services and contents available on the Internet, attracting multiple Internet users to their Internet service area. I'm going. In particular, Yahoo has succeeded in attracting a large amount of advertisements by increasing the number of visitors to its website by providing various services such as webmail service, latest news, stock investment information, and chat for the first time. However, in order to build such a portal site, various services must be gathered in one place, which is expensive to build, which causes problems for SMEs and venture companies to build such sites.

In order to solve this problem, a hub site appeared to link sites operated by individual information providers. Internet users can visit various sites and register once in the hub site without having to sign up and move freely to the site containing the content they want, and then return to the hub site and go to another site. have. However, despite the convenience of the hub site, in order to increase the membership of the hub site there is a problem that a separate membership increase means should be taken.

Many Internet users use the Internet in PC rooms with better communication environment than at home. The PC room introduces a membership system to continuously secure customers and provides economic benefits depending on the number of uses. Conventionally, when users of a PC room use the Internet, there is a problem in that a service is provided only by registering a member on an individual information providing site, a portal site, or a hub site separately from membership registration of a PC room.

In addition, the individual information providing site according to the prior art is not able to force the user to access their own site, only to wait for the user to manually connect. Therefore, the number of accesses to the site cannot be significantly increased compared to other sites, so there is a problem that it is difficult to be competitive in attracting advertisements.

In order to solve this problem, some websites may change the home URL of the web browser to their own website when they access and download a program, or change the home URL to a specific website every time the web browser is executed. It also distributes programs.

For example, an Internet service provider makes a contract with a PC room, so there is no uninstall function, so it is not easy to delete, and every time a web browser is executed, a program for changing the home URL to the homepage of the Internet service provider is installed on all PCs in the PC room. However, the program has a disadvantage in that the home URL to be modified is fixed to the homepage of the Internet operator who distributes the program.

In view of the above problems, the present invention automatically provides a user of a computer group as a member of the individual information providing site by providing personal information of a user who is a member of a computer group such as a PC room to a plurality of individual information providing sites. It is an object of the present invention to provide a portal service providing system for subscribing and changing a home URL of a web browser executed on a plurality of PCs forming a computer group to a desired site.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a portal service providing system according to the present invention.

2 is a schematic diagram schematically showing one computer group according to the present invention.

3 is a view showing a process in which member information is collected and used according to the present invention.

4A illustrates an example of a user interface of an accessory program module.

4B is a view showing a modification of the user interface of the auxiliary program module.

4C is a diagram illustrating an example of a user interface of a main program module.

5 is a diagram schematically showing a screen configuration of a website operated by a server computer.

According to a feature of the present invention for achieving the above object, a plurality of computer groups (where each computer group is a plurality of personal computers (or PCs), local area network (or LAN) and the PCs through the LAN Including a management computer connected to and having a user profile database; A server computer connected to the plurality of computer groups through an internet network; In the portal service providing system comprising an individual information site for providing information to the plurality of computer groups via the server computer, the portal service providing system is installed on each of the plurality of PCs, and receives a member number and a password from a user, the main of the management computer. An auxiliary program module for transmitting user authentication information to a program module and changing a home URL setting of a web browser running on the PC when a home URL change request signal is received from the management computer; Installed in a management computer to control and manage communication between the PC and the server computer, receiving user authentication information transmitted from the PC, and making a database in the management computer; and storing the authenticated personal information on the server computer. Send home URL change request signal received from server computer to relevant PC A main program module for performing a step; a member information database installed in the server computer and configured to process user profile information received from the plurality of computer groups, wherein the member information database of the server computer is the individual; Characterized in that provided on the information providing site.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the accompanying drawings, the same or corresponding parts are denoted by the same reference numerals.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a portal service providing system according to the present invention.

The portal service providing system includes a server computer 100, a plurality of computer groups 300 and a plurality of individual information providing sites 400 connected to the server computer 100 through the Internet network 200.

The server computer 100 includes a CPU 101, a random access memory (RAM) 102, a read only memory (ROM) 103, a database 104, and an input / output unit 105 connected to each other via a bus 106. It consists of. Since these components are in accordance with the prior art, a detailed description of the components is omitted.

Hereinafter, the computer group will be described with reference to FIG. 2, which shows a schematic configuration of the computer group 300.

Each computer group 301, 302, 303 is composed of a plurality of PCs 330. 340. 350 and a management computer 320 interconnected via a LAN 310. The PC of the computer group includes an auxiliary program module in addition to an operating system (OS) and a web browser, as shown in FIG.

The auxiliary program module is installed in each of the plurality of PCs, and receiving the user number and password from the user to transmit the user authentication information to the main program module of the management computer, and when the home URL change request signal is received from the management computer And changing the setting of the home URL of the web browser running on the PC. Here, the auxiliary program module may use the PC for other purposes than user authentication purposes before user authentication from the management computer is completed. It may further comprise the step of uncontrollable.

The management computer 320 includes a main program module in addition to the operating system, as shown in FIG. The main program module controls and manages communication between a PC and a server computer. The main program module receives user authentication information from the PC and makes a database in a management computer, and transmits the authenticated user identification information to a server computer. And transmitting the home URL change request signal received from the PC to the corresponding PC. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 1, the plurality of individual information providing sites 400 are connected to a server computer (eg, via the Internet network 200). 100) and consists of a server that provides remote information services such as Web, FTP, Gopher, Telnet, WAIS, etc. The plurality of individual information providing sites 400 are configured not to provide information to the computer group 300 without passing through the server computer 100. The plurality of individual information providing sites 400 may include, for example, an internet home shopping site 401, a chat site 402, and a search site 403.

Hereinafter, the operation of the portal service providing system configured as described above will be described.

First, a process of building a member information database by the portal service providing system will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 3.

First, referring to FIG. 3, FIG. 3 shows a first path composed of a user, a computer group, and a server computer, and a second path composed of a user and a server computer. Since the member information database according to the present application is made along the first path, it will be described below with reference to the first path.

A user who wants to join the computer group 300 transmits his / her personal information to a management computer through an auxiliary program module installed on a PC constituting the computer group. Personal information required for membership registration includes, for example, name, social security number, age, age, telephone number, address, and password. Not all the personal information listed above is required for membership registration. The auxiliary program module may receive personal information from the user through the user interface illustrated in FIG. 4A.

The management computer 320 determines whether the personal information input from the auxiliary program module meets the membership requirement using the main program module. The main program module inputs the personal information to the database when the personal information meets the membership requirements, and transmits the input personal information to the server computer 100 in real time. The management computer 320 requests re-entry if the entered personal information does not meet the membership requirement. The personal information is entered into the database and a member number is assigned to the user. Membership numbers can be assigned in a format that identifies each computer group.

The server computer 100 processes the personal information input from the plurality of management computers in real time to build and update a desired database. The server computer 100 may process the input personal information for various purposes. For example, by constructing a database based on age, gender, residential area, hobbies, etc., only users belonging to a specific category can be easily extracted.

By providing the member information database, which is constructed and updated as described above, to the plurality of individual information providing sites 400 by the server computer 100, a user who is a member of one computer group as a member is individually individual information providing site 400. ) Can automatically become a member of the individual information providing site 400 without having to register as a member.

The above embodiment discloses an example in which a user who wants to join the computer group 300 transmits his / her personal information to the main program module by using an auxiliary program module. However, the user needs to register for the name, social security number, etc. Fill out a membership application form filled out with information and submit it to the administrator of the computer group, and the administrator can join the computer group 300 as a member by inputting necessary information to the management computer 320.

In the above embodiment, the server computer 100 discloses a case where the member information is manually provided from the management computer 320, but the server computer 100 requests the management computer 320 to transmit the member information collectively. Alternatively, the member information corresponding to the group may be transmitted to the management computer of the specific computer group. That is, if the member information is lost due to a failure of the server computer 100, the management computer may be requested to retransmit the member information, and if the member information is lost due to a failure of the management computer, the member information may be sent to the management computer. I can send it.

Hereinafter, a process of changing a setting environment (ie, a home URL) of a web browser operating on a PC constituting the computer group 300 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2 again.

The server computer 100 transmits a home URL change request signal to the management computer 320 managing the computer groups 301, 302, and 303 through the internet network 200. The main program module of the management computer 320 transmits the received home URL change request signal to the auxiliary program modules on the plurality of PCs connected through the LAN 310. The auxiliary program module changes and sets the home URL to the URL of the requested web site or the individual information providing site linked to the web site among the configuration items of the web browser.

Therefore, the server computer 100 may be set to the home URL of the web browser of the PC to which the web site operated by the server. For example, when the server computer 100 operates the site "http://www.skydata.com" or the site "http://www.skydata.com", the server computer 100 may be The home URL of the web browser can be changed to the URL of the website.

Although the above embodiment discloses a process in which the server computer 100 independently changes the home URL of the web browser, the server computer 100 may change the home browser according to the home URL change request signal of the individual information providing site 400. It is also possible to change the home URL to the URL of the individual information providing site.

The individual information providing site 400 determines the specific computer group to change the setting environment of the web browser so as to be the home URL based on the database provided from the server computer 100 and notifies the server computer 100. For example, the individual information providing site 401 which provides a chat service of teenage tastes identifies a computer group (for example, 301) having a large number of teenage members based on the database, and the computer group 301 The server computer 100 is notified.

The server computer 100 relays the home URL change request signal from the individual information providing site 401 to the management computer of the computer group 301, and the main program module of the management computer receives the received home URL change request signal from the LAN. Transfer to the auxiliary program module on the plurality of PC connected via 310. The auxiliary program module sets the home URL among the items of the configuration file of the web browser to the URL of the website of the server computer side or the individual information providing site linked to the website.

Through the above process, the individual information providing site 400 may arbitrarily change the home URL of the web browser running on the PC of the plurality of computer groups 300 connected to the server computer 100.

Hereinafter, a process of accessing a plurality of individual information providing sites 400 without a separate authentication procedure by one user authentication will be described.

The auxiliary program module first receives the user's membership number and password through the user interface. Since the user interface configuration is well known to those skilled in the art, a detailed description thereof will be omitted. The auxiliary program module prevents the PC from being used for any other purpose than user authentication before user authentication from the management computer. The auxiliary program module transmits the input member number and password to the main program module to request user authentication. The main program module searches whether the member number and password entered in the pre-built database of the management computer exist, and if the data corresponding to the entered member number and password cannot be searched, the main program module may be entered into the database of the server computer 100. Search for data that matches the membership number and password.

The main program module denies user authentication if the member number and password do not exist in both the database of the management computer and the database of the server computer. Notify.

When user authentication is complete, the user can run the web browser. An exemplary screen configuration example of the driven web browser is shown in FIG.

Since the home URL of the web browser is a website for the server computer, when the web browser is started, the web browser accesses the website of the server computer. The website of the server computer 100 provides a banner 510, 520, 530, 540 that is linked to the individual information providing site 400. The portion 550 of the website, excluding the banner, can be arbitrarily configured according to the intention of the website operator, which is omitted because it is independent of the scope of the present invention.

The user can access the desired individual information providing site by selecting one of the banners presented on the website. At this time, since user authentication information is simultaneously transmitted to an individual information providing site or a website provided by the server computer, a separate user authentication procedure is not required. Therefore, a plurality of individual information providing sites 400 or websites can be accessed by only one user authentication through the auxiliary program module.

According to a modified embodiment of the present invention, the individual information providing site 400 by arranging a plurality of banners representing the individual information providing site 400 on the user interface of the auxiliary program module, and the user who has obtained the certification selects the banner. ) Can be accessed without additional membership authentication. The modified embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 4B, which shows a modified user interface of the auxiliary program module.

The auxiliary program module first attempts to authenticate the user by inputting the user's member number and password through the user interface. Since the user authentication process is the same as the above authentication process, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

After the user authentication procedure is completed, the auxiliary program module makes the banners 410, 420, and 430 selectable. When the user selects a banner that has been changed to be selectable, the web browser directly accesses the website associated with the banner. At this time, since the auxiliary program module provides the user's member number and password to the individual information providing site 400, the user can access the individual information providing site 400 without having to re-enter the member number and password.

In the above embodiment, the auxiliary program module is provided with a user interface for inputting user identification information, and the website linked to the banner disposed on the interface may be changed remotely by the server computer 100. The server computer 100 transmits the target banner and the new website address to each PC via the management computer 320 of the computer group. The accessory module of each PC changes the website linked to the target banner into a new website according to the received information.

Although the present invention has been described in particular preferred forms, the detailed description of the invention has been presented by way of example only, and numerous changes can be made in the details and embodiments of each configuration without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. It is obvious. For example, in the portal service providing system according to the present invention, the server computer 100 transmits a home URL change request signal at predetermined intervals to change the home URL of the web browser according to a previously scheduled schedule. It may be apparent that the message may be configured to send to 300, and the operation may be configured to be performed only for a specific computer group.

The present invention as described above has the following effects.

First, an Internet user can join a single computer group by registering with only one member number and password even in a plurality of individual information providing sites linked to the server computer. Therefore, the inconvenience of having to visit each site in order to become a member of a plurality of sites in the related art, and the problem of increasing the membership number and password to be managed in proportion to the number of sites subscribed to.

Second, the Internet user can access all sites associated with the server computer without additional user authentication through a banner displayed on the user interface of the accessory program module.

Third, the server computer provides the member information from each computer group to the individual information providing site, so that the individual information providing site can secure a large number of members without the need to promote the membership by putting a large amount of goods.

Fourth, the individual information providing site can change the home URL of the web browser running on the PCs forming each computer group to be its own (individual information providing site), thereby significantly increasing the number of visitors of the individual information providing site. have.

Claims (9)

A plurality of computer groups, each of which includes a plurality of personal computers (or PCs), a local area network (or a LAN), and a management computer connected to the PCs via the LAN and having a user profile database; A server computer connected to the plurality of computer groups through an internet network; In the portal service providing system comprising an individual information site for providing information to the plurality of computer groups via the server computer, Respectively installed in the plurality of PCs, receiving a member number and a password from a user, and transmitting user authentication information to a main program module of a management computer; and when a home URL change request signal is received from the management computer, An auxiliary program module for changing a setting of a home URL of a driven web browser; Installed in the management computer to control and manage the communication between the PC and the server computer, receiving user authentication information transmitted from the PC and making a database in the management computer; A main program module for transmitting a home URL change request signal received from a server computer to a corresponding PC; A member information database installed on the server computer and constructed by processing user identification information received from the plurality of computer groups. Including, And a member information database of the server computer is provided to the individual information providing site. The portal service providing system according to claim 1, wherein the web page of the server computer provides a banner linked to the individual information providing site. The portal service providing system according to claim 1, wherein a banner linked to a server computer-side individual information providing site is presented on a user interface provided in the auxiliary program module. The portal service providing system according to claim 3, wherein the individual information providing site linked with the banner is changed or updated as necessary under the control of the server computer. 2. The portal service providing system according to claim 1, wherein the server computer changes the home URL of the web browser running on a PC constituting the computer group to an arbitrary URL. 6. The portal service providing system according to claim 5, wherein the arbitrary URL is a URL of a website of the server computer. The portal service providing system according to claim 5, wherein the arbitrary URL is one of URLs of the individual information providing sites. 2. The portal service providing system according to claim 1, wherein the main program module further comprises transmitting member information from the management computer to the server computer in response to a request of the server computer. 9. The portal service providing system according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the computer group is a PC room.