KR20100094282A

KR20100094282A - System and method for providing information

Info

Publication number: KR20100094282A
Application number: KR1020090013631A
Authority: KR
Inventors: 이정훈
Original assignee: 주식회사 그래텍
Priority date: 2009-02-18
Filing date: 2009-02-18
Publication date: 2010-08-26

Abstract

PURPOSE: A system and a method for providing information are provided to prevent communication speed of a user terminal from being lowered and the performance of a browser from being deteriorated by providing user-desirable information to one side of a browser based on an agent prepared in a user terminal. CONSTITUTION: An information display module(40) is inserted into one side of a screen of a browser performed in a user terminal and displays information. If information search request is generated from the browser through the input of a keyword, the information display module extracts the keyword. An information agent module(20) receives the information from an information providing server(50) and provides the information to the information display module. If the keyword is received, the information agent module searches a database and inquiries the information related to the keyword.

Description

System and Method for Providing Information

The present invention relates to an information providing system and method, and more particularly, to provide information that can display various information such as keyword search related information and category information on one side of a browser based on an agent provided in a user terminal. It's about technology.

In recent years, as the spread of wired and wireless communication services such as mobile communication and high-speed Internet has become commonplace, almost all actions that have been performed in the past through off-line have been replaced by online actions. For example, a variety of information services, e-commerce services, Internet banking services, and entertainment services over the Internet are growing day by day, and this trend is expected to accelerate.

In general, the information retrieval service through the Internet is utilized as the most efficient means for obtaining information. In general, in order to acquire information through an information retrieval service, a user connects to a website providing an information retrieval service using a browser provided in a user terminal and inputs a relevant keyword in a retrieval window. At this time, the web server extracts the information corresponding to the input keyword from the database and transmits it to the user terminal. The user can then view the desired information.

However, such a general information retrieval service is a passive service that relies on a keyword input from a user. Therefore, the information retrieval service has a limit in providing information desired by a user in a short time, and the user who performs a search has a certain level of search skill. You will be asked.

Therefore, various technologies have been proposed to provide a variety of information to users in connection with an information retrieval service. For example, some companies provide information providing services to insert information providing tools such as toolbars in a part of the browser and display user's interest information on the toolbars so that the user can easily obtain the desired information. have.

However, the information providing system using such a toolbar has the following problems.

First, the information providing system using the conventional toolbar has a problem in that the performance of the browser is lowered because the toolbar inserted into the browser of the user terminal requests information by directly connecting to the service server. This problem causes the dissatisfaction of the service by delaying the processing time of the browser when surfing the web.

In addition, in a conventional information providing system using a toolbar, when a plurality of browsers are operated in a user terminal, a toolbar is inserted for each browser, and each of the toolbars attempts to communicate with a service server. The larger the number, the greater the communication burden of the user terminal and the service server.

In this case, the user side may bring down the performance of the user terminal, and the service provider side causes a problem of increasing the construction cost according to the expansion of the communication capacity of the service server. These problems are exacerbated as the number of browsers executed in the user terminal increases.

Therefore, there is an urgent need for a technology that can provide a variety of information required by the user in connection with an information retrieval service, while providing a new type of information providing service that can prevent performance degradation on the user terminal side and increase in cost of the service server. It's happening.

The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide an information providing system and method that can provide a variety of information desired by the user based on the agent provided in the user terminal.

In order to solve this technical problem, the present invention provides an information providing system in an aspect. The information providing system includes an information providing server for providing information; An information display module inserted into one side of a screen of a browser executed in a user terminal to display information, and extracting the keyword when an information search request is generated through input of a keyword from the browser; And information provided to the user terminal, receiving information from the information providing server, providing information to the information display module, and searching for an internal database when the extracted keyword is received from the information display module. It includes an information agent module for inquiring whether or not there is.

The information agent module may search the database to inquire whether there is search result information for the keyword. In this case, if the search result information for the keyword exists in the database, the information agent module extracts the search result information and provides the search result information to the information display module, and the search result information for the keyword does not exist in the database. In this case, an information retrieval request message requesting information retrieval for the keyword may be transmitted to the information providing server.

When the information search request message is received, the information providing server may perform an information search for the keyword and transmit search result information according to the information search to the information agent module. The information agent module may store the information search result received from the information providing server in the database and transmit the result to the information display module.

The information agent module may periodically receive category information from the information providing server, store the information for each category in a database, and transmit the category information to the information display module. The information agent module may search the database to inquire whether there is category information for the keyword. In this case, when there is category information related to the keyword in the database, the information agent module extracts the category information and transmits the category information to the information display module, and the information display module preferentially transmits the category information. Can also be displayed.

The information display module may receive search result information on the keyword from the information agent module and display the search result information in the first information area, and receive category information from the information agent module and display it in the second information area. The information display module may be inserted in an information display area overlap form of the browser to display information.

On the other hand, in order to solve the above technical problem of the present invention, the present invention provides an information providing method from another aspect. The information providing method is an information providing method using an information agent module provided in a user terminal, the method comprising receiving a keyword extracted from a keyword information search request event generated by a browser executed in the user terminal from an information display module. Steps; Retrieving whether there is search result information for the keyword by searching an internal database; And extract search result information when the search result information related to the keyword exists in the database and provide the search result information to the information display module. When the search result information related to the keyword does not exist in the database, search for information on the keyword. And transmitting the information retrieval request message requesting the information to the information providing server through a communication network.

The information providing method may further include: periodically receiving category information from the information providing server according to a category information providing mode; And storing the received category information in the database.

The information providing method may include searching the database to inquire whether there is category information related to the keyword; And if the category-specific information related to the keyword is present in the database, extracting the category-specific information and providing the category-specific information to the information display module to display the information preferentially.

The information providing method may include receiving an information search result for the keyword from the information providing server when the information retrieval request message is transmitted to the information providing server; And providing the received information search result to the information display module.

On the other hand, in order to solve the above technical problem of the present invention, the present invention provides a system provided in the user terminal in another aspect. The system may include N information display modules provided corresponding to N (N is an integer of 1 or more) browsers executed in the user terminal; And interworking with an information providing server through a communication network, periodically receiving category-specific information from the information providing server, and delivering the information to the N information display modules, and receiving a keyword from at least one of the N information display modules. It may include an information agent module for obtaining the information search result for the keyword and delivers it to the corresponding information display module.

As described above, according to the present invention, various types of information desired by the user may be provided to one side of the browser based on the agent provided in the user terminal. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the degradation of the browser performance, the communication speed of the user terminal, etc., and also has the advantage of reducing the server construction cost.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art may easily implement the present invention. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention described below, specific technical terms are used for clarity of content. However, the invention is not limited to the particular term selected, and it is to be understood that each specific term includes all technical synonyms that operate in a similar manner to achieve a similar purpose.

1 is a block diagram illustrating an information providing system according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, the information providing system 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention uses an information display module 40, an information agent module 20, and a communication network, such as the Internet, provided in the user terminal 10. It may include an information providing server 50 to interwork with the information agent module 20 through.

The information display module 40 is inserted into one side of the browser 30 running in the user terminal 10 and performs a function of displaying information transmitted from the information agent module 20. When a plurality of browsers 30 is executed, as shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of information agent modules 40 are provided, and each information agent module 40 is inserted into each browser 30 to perform a function. Can be.

Preferably, the information display module 40 is inserted in a form of overlap in a portion of the information display area of the browser 30, for example, the top, bottom, right end or bottom so that the information display area of the browser 30 is not reduced. I can display it. The information display module 40 may display a first information area for displaying keyword information search results and a second information area for displaying category-specific information.

When the information search request is generated through the input of a keyword from the browser 30, the information display module 40 may extract the corresponding keyword and transmit the extracted keyword to the information agent module 20. For example, when a web page of a specific portal site is displayed in the browser 30 and a keyword is entered in the search window of the web page, an information search request event occurs, the information display module 40 requests the information search request. After intercepting and extracting the requested keyword, the extracted keyword may be delivered to the information agent module 20.

The information agent module 20 performs a function of providing information to the information display module 40 while interworking with the information providing server 50 through a communication network. That is, the information agent module 20 may act as a gateway in the user terminal 10 for the information providing service between the information display module 40 and the information providing server 50.

For example, when a specific keyword is received from the at least one information display module 40, the information agent module 20 requests the information providing server 50 to search for the keyword, and in response, the information providing server 50. The search result information received from) may be stored in an internal database and then transferred to the corresponding information agent module 20.

In addition, the information agent module 20 may periodically receive information for each category from the information providing server 50, store it in an internal database, and deliver it to the information display module 40.

The information providing mode for each category for acquiring the information for each category in the information agent module 20 may be divided into a pull method and a push method. Here, the pull method may refer to a method in which the information agent module requests category information from the information providing server 50 and receives category information according to a periodic or specific event. The push method may refer to a method of pushing information for each category at predetermined intervals from the information providing server 50 to the information agent module 20. Such a category-specific information providing mode may be set by a user through a user interface provided by the information agent module 20.

Meanwhile, the information agent module 20 may store the search result information and the category-specific information delivered from the information providing server 50 and manage the information for a predetermined period while delivering a built-in database, and deliver the information stored in the database to the information display module. have.

For example, when the information agent module 20 receives a keyword from the information display module 40, whether the information agent module 20 has information related to the received keyword among previously search result information and category information previously stored in an internal database. If the information related to the keyword is searched and extracted, it may be extracted and transmitted to the information display module 40. At this time, if the previous search result information related to the keyword is stored in the database, it is not necessary to request the information search to the information providing server 50.

The information providing server 50 may provide information while interworking with the information agent module 20 of the user terminal 10. For example, when the information providing server 50 receives a search request for a specific keyword from the information agent module 20, the information providing server 50 searches for the keyword and, if there is information to be searched, displays the search result information as the information agent. Deliver to module 20. To this end, the information providing server 50 may have its own keyword search engine and content database. In addition, the information providing server 50 may periodically provide category information to the information agent module 20 using a pull method or a push method.

The category-specific information may mean information obtained by classifying Internet information by category. For example, the category-specific information may include information classified into the latest news, video, records, hot issues, and economic information. Such category-specific information may be displayed as a plurality of information display tabs in a specific area of the information display module 40. For example, a title of a category is displayed on each information display tab, and when a corresponding category is selected, a subcategory or an item of individual information may be displayed. The category information may include information of keywords associated with the category information.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the information agent module 20 shown in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 2, the information agent module 20 may include an information transceiving unit 25, a database unit 24, a control unit 22, and the like.

The information transmitting and receiving unit 25 performs a data interface function so that the information agent module 20 can interwork with the information providing server through a communication network. For example, when there is an information search request for a keyword from the controller 22, the information transceiver 25 may generate an information search request message requesting a keyword search and transmit the generated information search request message to the information providing server 50. In addition, when the category-specific information providing mode is set to the pull method, the information transmitting and receiving unit 25 generates information by category information request message for requesting information by category at predetermined intervals under the control of the control unit 22 to provide the information. It may also transmit to the server 50. Meanwhile, the information transceiver 25 may receive the search result information transmitted from the information providing server 50, information for each category transmitted periodically, and provide the same to the controller 22.

The database unit 24 stores the search result information, category information, and the like under the control of the controller 22. The database unit 24 may include a search term related information database 27 storing search result information, a category information database 28 storing category information, and the like. Search result information stored in the search word related information database 27 may be stored in association with a corresponding keyword. The search result information may be deleted from the search term related information database 27 when a set period of time elapses, when execution of a browser requesting a search for a corresponding keyword ends, or when execution of the user terminal 10 ends.

Meanwhile, category information stored in the category information database 28 may be periodically updated. The category-specific information may include keywords associated with the category-specific information. The keyword may be included in the category-specific information in the information providing server 50 and transmitted to the information agent module 20.

The controller 22 may perform the functions of the information agent module 20 while controlling the information transceiver 25 and the database 24. The control unit 22 controls the information transmitting and receiving unit 25 on the one hand and interworks with the information providing server 50, and on the other hand, performs the operations for the information providing service while interworking with the information display module 40. Can be.

For example, the control unit 22 receives a keyword extracted by the information display module 40 from the information display module 40, searches the database unit 24, and the information related to the keyword is stored in the database unit 24. You can inquire whether it is stored in).

In this case, if the search result information related to the keyword exists in the database unit 24, the controller 22 may extract the search result information and transmit the search result information to the information display module 40. In this case, the information display module 40 may display the search result information transmitted from the controller 22 through the first information area. On the other hand, if the search result information related to the keyword does not exist in the database unit 24, the controller 22 controls the information transceiver 25 to send an information search request message requesting information search for the received keyword. It may transmit to the information providing server 50. Thereafter, when the search result information is received from the information providing server 50, the search result information may be transmitted to the information display module 40.

In addition, the controller 22 may control the information transceiver 25 to receive category information from the information providing server 50. As described above, the category-specific information may be received from the information providing server 50 in a pull and push manner according to the category-specific information providing mode. When the category-specific information providing mode is set in a pull manner, the controller 22 controls the information transmitting and receiving unit 25 to request a category-specific information request message for requesting information for each category according to a periodic or specific event. 50), and the response can be received and stored in the database unit 24. When the category-specific information providing mode is set to the push method, the controller 22 controls the information transceiver 25 to receive the category-specific information periodically transmitted from the information providing server 50 to receive the database unit 24. Can be stored in The information display module 40 displays category-specific information transmitted from the control unit 22 through the second information area.

Meanwhile, when a keyword is received from the information display module 40, the controller 22 may search the database unit 24 to inquire whether there is category-specific information related to the keyword. If category information related to the keyword exists in the database unit 24, the controller 22 may extract the corresponding search category information and transfer the information to the information display module 40 to display the information preferentially through the second information area. have. At this time, the controller 22 extracts the category information related to the keyword received from the information display module 40 by determining the matching by comparing the information of the related keyword included in the information for each category with the keyword received from the information display module. can do.

In the above, the information providing system according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail. Hereinafter, an information providing procedure for providing various information to a browser based on the information providing system will be described in detail.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a method of providing information according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 3, first, a user may access a webpage of a portal site by executing a browser of a user terminal, input a keyword into a search box provided by the webpage, and request a search. The browser then generates a keyword search request event (step: S1).

The information display module for inserting the information into the browser to interrupt the keyword search request and extracts a keyword by analyzing a website URL and the like (step S2). The extracted keyword is transmitted to the information agent module. The information agent module then receives the keyword sent from the information display module and searches the internal database (step S3).

The information agent module may search the database to inquire whether an information search result for the keyword exists in the database (step: S4). In this case, if the search result information corresponding to the keyword exists in the database, the information agent module extracts the search result information (step S8) and provides it to the information display module. The information display module then displays the information search result via the first information area (step S9).

On the other hand, if the search result information corresponding to the keyword does not exist in the database, the information agent module transmits an information search request message requesting information search for the keyword to the information providing server (step: S5). After receiving the information search request message, the information providing server performs an information search on the keyword and transmits the search result information to the information agent module. After receiving the search result information (step: S6), the information agent module stores the received search result information in an internal database (step: S7) and provides it to the information display module. The information display module then displays the information search result via the first information area (step S9).

Meanwhile, the information agent module may search the database to inquire whether category information related to the keyword exists in the database (step S10). For example, the information agent module may search for the information of the keyword included in the information for each category stored in the database, and determine whether there is category information matching the keyword.

In this case, if the category information related to the keyword exists in the database, the information agent module extracts the information for each category and transmits the information to the information display module, and the information display module preferentially gives the category information related to the keyword through the second information area. (Step: S11). On the other hand, if the category information related to the keyword does not exist in the database, the information display module may display the recently updated category information through the second information area (step S12).

4 and 5 are exemplary diagrams showing an example of an information display module inserted into one side of a browser.

As shown in FIGS. 4 to 5, the information display module 40 does not reduce the information display area DP of the browser 30 itself, but a portion of the information display area DP of the browser 30, for example, the upper end. Can be inserted in In the case of the existing toolbar or information bar, it is inserted into the menu part of the browser to reduce the information display area of the browser itself, thereby preventing web surfing. Preferably, the information display module 40 may be displayed in a form overlapping with the information display area DP of the browser 30.

The information display module 40 may include a first information region SR displaying keyword search result information and a second information region CI displaying category information.

For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the first information area SR displays its own search result information corresponding to 'chaser' if a search is performed after a 'chaser' is input to a web page. can do. The own search by the information providing system may be a search that has a purpose in a specific field, for example, a multimedia search. The information search result illustrated in FIG. 4 illustrates, for example, a multimedia search for searching for multimedia content related to a keyword. The item of the information search result displayed in the first information area SR may include a link component that can be directly connected to the corresponding multimedia content. That is, the user can directly access the corresponding multimedia contents by selecting an item of the search result displayed in the first information area SR.

Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 5, the second information area CI may display category information. The information display module 40 may include a plurality of information display tabs, some of which may be allocated to the first information region SR and others of which may be allocated to the second information region CI.

For example, referring to FIGS. 4 to 5, the information display module 40 includes four information display tabs, of which the first information display tab is assigned to the first information area SR, and the second information display tab 40 is assigned to the first information area SR. The fourth to fourth tabs are allocated to the second information area CI. Three information display tabs assigned to the second information area CI each display information corresponding to one category. For example, the second Information Display tab displays category-specific information related to "Latest Movies", the third Information Display tab displays category-specific information related to "Latest News," and the Fourth Information display tab displays "Internet Hot Issues." Displays category information related to. When the user selects each information display tab, detailed items of the corresponding category are displayed. The information display module 40 may provide a setting function to set the number of the information display tabs and information for each category corresponding to each information display tab.

Meanwhile, when searching for a keyword, category information related to the corresponding keyword may be preferentially displayed in the second display area CI. For example, if 'chaser' is entered as a search keyword, 'latest movie' associated with the keyword may be displayed on the first tab of the information display tab of the second display area CI. At this time, the 'latest movie' category information should include a 'tracker' as a keyword associated with it.

As described above, the information providing system according to the preferred embodiment of the present invention is an information display module inserted into each browser using an information agent module that performs a gateway function and an information collecting function of an information providing service in a user terminal. Information can be provided. Therefore, the information display modules inserted into the browser do not need to directly connect with an external information providing server, thereby preventing the performance of the browser. Also, even if a plurality of browsers are executed, the information display modules can provide information to each information display module. Since the agent module is integrated, the communication performance of the user terminal can be prevented.

Although the present invention has been described above with reference to its preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will variously modify the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the claims below. And can be practiced with modification. Accordingly, modifications of the embodiments of the present invention will not depart from the scope of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the information agent module shown in FIG.

FIG. 4 is an exemplary view showing an example of an information display module inserted into one side of a browser, mainly showing a first information area.

FIG. 5 is an exemplary view showing an example of an information display module inserted into one side of a browser, mainly showing a second information area.

10: user terminal

20: information agent module

30: run browser

40: information display module

50: information provision server

100: information providing system

Claims

An information providing server for providing information;

An information display module inserted into one side of a screen of a browser executed in a user terminal to display information, and extracting the keyword when an information search request is generated through input of a keyword from the browser; And

The user terminal is provided in the user terminal, receives information from the information providing server and provides information to the information display module, and when the extracted keyword is received from the information display module, information related to the keyword is searched by searching an internal database. And an information agent module for inquiring whether or not it exists.

The information providing system of claim 1, wherein the information agent module searches the database to inquire whether there is search result information for the keyword.

The method of claim 2, wherein the information agent module extracts the search result information and provides the search result information to the information display module when the search result information for the keyword exists in the database, and the search result information for the keyword in the database. The information providing system, characterized in that for transmitting the information search request message requesting the information search for the keyword to the information providing server.

The information providing server of claim 3, wherein when the information search request message is received, the information providing server performs an information search for the keyword and transmits search result information according to the information search to the information agent module. Provide system.

The information providing system according to claim 4, wherein the information agent module stores the information search result received from the information providing server in the database and transmits the result to the information display module.

The information providing system of claim 1, wherein the information agent module periodically receives category information from the information providing server, stores the information for each category in a database, and transmits the category information to the information display module.

The information providing system of claim 6, wherein the information agent module searches the database to inquire whether information for each category of the keyword exists.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the information agent module extracts category information and transmits the category information to the information display module when the category information related to the keyword exists in the database, and the information display module transmits the category information. The information providing system characterized by displaying first.

The information display module of claim 1, wherein the information display module receives search result information on the keyword from the information agent module and displays the search result information in the first information area, and receives category information from the information agent module and displays the category information. Information providing system, characterized in that for displaying.

The information providing system according to claim 1, wherein the information display module is inserted in an information display area overlap form of the browser to display information.

The method of claim 1, wherein the information providing method using an information agent module provided in the user terminal comprises:

Receiving, from an information display module, a keyword extracted from a keyword information search request event generated by a browser executed in the user terminal;

Retrieving whether there is search result information for the keyword by searching an internal database; And

If the search result information related to the keyword exists in the database, the search result information is extracted and provided to the information display module. If the search result information related to the keyword does not exist in the database, information search for the keyword is performed. And transmitting the requesting information retrieval request message to the information providing server through a communication network.

The method of claim 11, further comprising: periodically receiving category information from the information providing server according to a category information providing mode; And

And storing the received category information in the database.

The method of claim 12, further comprising: searching the database to determine whether there is category-specific information related to the keyword; And

And if the category-specific information related to the keyword exists in the database, extracting the category-specific information and providing the category-specific information to the information display module to display the information preferentially.

The method of claim 11, further comprising: receiving an information search result for the keyword from the information providing server when the information retrieval request message is transmitted to the information providing server; And

And providing the received information search result to the information display module.

In the system provided in the user terminal,

N information display modules provided corresponding to N (N is an integer of 1 or more) browsers executed in the user terminal; And

It interworks with an information providing server through a communication network, periodically receives category-specific information from the information providing server, transmits the information to the N information display modules, and receives the keyword from at least one of the N information display modules. And an information agent module for obtaining an information search result for the information and delivering the result to the corresponding information display module.