WO2019124580A1 - Method and system for searching, in blind form, for location information between messenger users, and non-transitory computer-readable recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed are a method and a system for searching, in a blind form, for location information between messenger users, and a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium. A blind location search method may comprise the steps of: collecting location information from users in a social network; storing the collected location information in association with a corresponding user's identification information so as to construct a location database; and when an inquiry is received from an electronic device of a first user among the users, providing a result obtained by searching the location database for an acquaintance who has location information corresponding to the inquiry among acquaintances related to the first user.

Description

A method and system for retrieving location information in the form of a blind between instant messenger users and non-transitory computer readable recording media

The following description relates to a technique for retrieving location information through a messenger.

An instant messenger, a general communication tool, is software that can transmit and receive messages and data in real time. The user can register a contact on the messenger and send and receive messages in real time to the other party in the contact list.

Such a messenger function is becoming popular in the mobile environment of a mobile communication terminal as well as a PC.

For example, Korean Patent Laid-Open No. 10-2002-0074304 (published on Sep. 30, 2002) discloses a mobile messenger service system of a mobile terminal using a wireless communication network that can provide a messenger service between mobile messengers installed in a mobile terminal, Method is disclosed.

In general, messenger supports the function of sharing various information such as photos, video, files, contacts, location, schedule, etc. among users through chat room and searching information shared through chat room.

And provides a technique of searching for blind information on location information that can not be shared among acquaintances on the messenger through messenger.

CLAIMS What is claimed is: 1. A method of blind location searching performed in a computer system, the computer system comprising at least one processor configured to execute computer-readable instructions contained in a memory, the blind location searching method comprising: Collecting location information for users on a social network; Establishing a location database by storing the collected location information in association with identification information of the user in the at least one processor; And in the at least one processor, when a query is received from an electronic device of a first user of the users, the location database is used to identify an acquaintance having location information corresponding to the query among acquaintances associated with the first user And providing a search result for the blind location.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the providing step may provide the search result in a blind form that does not disclose identification information of an acquaintance included in the search result.

According to another aspect, the collecting step may collect location information of the user when the messenger is executed through a messenger installed in each user's electronic device.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the collecting step may collect location information of the user from the photographs taken by the camera in cooperation with the camera function through the messenger installed in each user's electronic device.

According to another aspect, the searching step may include: acquaintances having relationships established with the first user on the social network; other acquaintances with whom the relationship is established; relationships in which the first user participates or subscribes An acquaintance having location information corresponding to the inquiry can be searched for at least one acquaintance range of acquaintances included in the chat room.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the constructing step may include storing the collected position information by dividing an activity type according to a source or time information from which the position information is collected.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the providing step may provide search results for an acquaintance having location information corresponding to the inquiry by the activity type.

According to another aspect, the step of providing may include a step of sorting a list of acquaintances having location information corresponding to the inquiry based on time information or number information related to the location.

According to another aspect of the present invention, the providing step may provide a search result for an acquaintance having location information of a corresponding area in each area included in the map using the map.

According to another aspect of the present invention, in the at least one processor, in the at least one processor, a dialog function with at least one acquaintance of acquaintances included in the search result is performed in a blind form To < / RTI >

There is provided a non-temporary computer-readable recording medium on which a program for causing a computer to execute the blind location searching method is recorded.

A computer system comprising: a memory; And at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to execute computer-readable instructions contained in the memory, wherein the at least one processor comprises: a collector for collecting positional information about users on a social network; A storage unit configured to store the collected location information in association with the identification information of the user to construct a location database; And a searching unit for searching the location database of the first user among the users who have received the query from the electronic device of the first user to provide a search result of an acquaintance having location information corresponding to the query among the acquaintances associated with the first user, And a computer program product.

1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a network environment according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a block diagram illustrating an internal configuration of an electronic device and a server according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of components that a processor of a server according to an embodiment of the present invention may include.

4 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a method that a server according to an embodiment of the present invention can perform.

5 to 6 are exemplary diagrams illustrating a process of collecting and storing location information in an embodiment of the present invention.

7 to 8 are exemplary diagrams for explaining a process of searching for location information in an embodiment of the present invention.

9 to 11 are exemplary diagrams for explaining a blind dialog process in an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The blind position search method according to embodiments of the present invention can be performed through a computer system such as an electronic device or a server to be described later. At this time, a computer program according to an embodiment of the present invention can be installed and operated in the computer system, and the computer system can perform the blind position search method according to an embodiment of the present invention, have. The computer program described above may be stored in a computer-readable recording medium in combination with a computer system to cause the computer to execute the blind location search method. For example, the server acts as a messenger server, and through a messenger, it can search for blinds of location information that is not shared among acquaintances. It is also contemplated that the electronic device performs a blind location search method according to an embodiment.

1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a network environment according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 shows an example in which a plurality of electronic devices 110, 120, 130, 140, a plurality of servers 150, 160, and a network 170 are included. 1, the number of electronic devices and the number of servers are not limited to those shown in FIG.

The plurality of electronic devices 110, 120, 130, 140 may be a fixed terminal implemented in a computer system or a mobile terminal. Examples of the plurality of electronic devices 110, 120, 130 and 140 include a smart phone, a mobile phone, a navigation device, a computer, a notebook, a digital broadcast terminal, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistants) ), A tablet PC, a game console, a wearable device, an Internet of things (IoT) device, a virtual reality (VR) device, and an augmented reality (AR) device. For example, FIG. 1 illustrates the shape of a smartphone as an example of the first electronic device 110, but in the embodiments of the present invention, the first electronic device 110 transmits the network 170 using a wireless or wired communication method. May refer to any one of a variety of physical computer systems capable of communicating with other electronic devices 120, 130, 140 and / or servers 150,

The communication method is not limited and includes a communication method using a communication network (for example, a mobile communication network, a wired Internet, a wireless Internet, a broadcasting network, a satellite network, etc.) . For example, the network 170 may be a personal area network (LAN), a local area network (LAN), a campus area network (CAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), a wide area network (WAN) , A network such as the Internet, and the like. The network 170 may also include any one or more of a network topology including a bus network, a star network, a ring network, a mesh network, a star-bus network, a tree or a hierarchical network, It is not limited.

Each of the servers 150 and 160 is a computer device or a plurality of computers that communicate with a plurality of electronic devices 110, 120, 130 and 140 through a network 170 to provide commands, codes, files, Lt; / RTI > devices. For example, the server 150 may be a system that provides a first service to a plurality of electronic devices 110, 120, 130, 140 connected through a network 170, 170, and 140 to the first and second electronic devices 110, 120, 130, and 140, respectively. More specifically, the server 150 may provide a service (for example, a messenger service, or the like) for a corresponding application through an application as a computer program installed in and driven by the plurality of electronic devices 110, 120, As a first service, to a plurality of electronic devices 110, 120, 130, and 140. [ As another example, the server 160 may provide a service for distributing a file for installing and running the application to the plurality of electronic devices 110, 120, 130, and 140 as a second service.

2 is a block diagram illustrating an internal configuration of an electronic device and a server according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2 illustrates an internal configuration of the electronic device 1 (110) and the server 150 as an example of the electronic device. Other electronic devices 120, 130, 140 and server 160 may also have the same or similar internal configuration as electronic device 1 110 or server 150 described above.

The electronic device 1 110 and the server 150 may include memories 211 and 221, processors 212 and 222, communication modules 213 and 223 and input / output interfaces 214 and 224. The memories 211 and 221 are non-transitory computer readable recording media and can be used to store non-transient computer readable media such as random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), disk drive, solid state drive (SSD), flash memory And may include a permanent mass storage device. The non-decaying mass storage device such as a ROM, an SSD, a flash memory, a disk drive, or the like may be included in the electronic device 110 or the server 150 as a separate persistent storage device separate from the memories 211 and 221. The memory 211 and the memory 221 are provided with an operating system and at least one program code (for example, a program installed in the electronic device 1 (110) and used for a browser or an application installed in the electronic device 1 Code) can be stored. These software components may be loaded from a computer readable recording medium separate from the memories 211 and 221. [ Such a computer-readable recording medium may include a computer-readable recording medium such as a floppy drive, a disk, a tape, a DVD / CD-ROM drive, and a memory card. In other embodiments, the software components may be loaded into memory 211, 221 via communication modules 213, 223 rather than a computer readable recording medium. For example, at least one program may be a computer program installed by files provided by a file distribution system (e.g., the server 160 described above) that distributes installation files of developers or applications, May be loaded into the memory 211, 221 based on the application (e.g., the application described above).

Processors 212 and 222 may be configured to process instructions of a computer program by performing basic arithmetic, logic, and input / output operations. The instructions may be provided to the processors 212 and 222 by the memories 211 and 221 or the communication modules 213 and 223. For example, the processor 212, 222 may be configured to execute a command received in accordance with a program code stored in a recording device, such as the memory 211, 221.

The communication modules 213 and 223 may provide functions for the electronic device 1 110 and the server 150 to communicate with each other through the network 170 and may be provided to the electronic device 1 110 and / May provide a function for communicating with another electronic device (e.g., electronic device 2 120) or another server (e.g., server 160). The request generated by the processor 212 of the electronic device 1 110 according to the program code stored in the recording device such as the memory 211 is transmitted to the server 170 via the network 170 under the control of the communication module 213 150 < / RTI > Conversely, control signals, commands, contents, files, and the like provided under the control of the processor 222 of the server 150 are transmitted to the communication module 223 of the electronic device 110 via the communication module 223 and the network 170 213 to the electronic device 1 (110). For example, control signals, commands, contents, files, and the like of the server 150 received through the communication module 213 can be transmitted to the processor 212 or the memory 211, (The above-mentioned persistent storage device), which may further include a storage medium 110.

The input / output interface 214 may be a means for interfacing with the input / output device 215. For example, the input device may include a device such as a keyboard, a mouse, a microphone, a camera, and the like, and the output device may include a device such as a display, a speaker, a haptic feedback device, As another example, the input / output interface 214 may be a means for interfacing with a device having integrated functions for input and output, such as a touch screen. The input / output device 215 may be composed of the electronic device 1 (110) and one device. The input / output interface 224 of the server 150 may be a means for interfacing with the server 150 or an interface with a device (not shown) for input or output that the server 150 may include. More specifically, when the processor 212 of the electronic device 1 (110) processes the command of the computer program loaded in the memory 211, the configuration is performed using the data provided by the server 150 or the electronic device 2 (120) A service screen or contents can be displayed on the display through the input / output interface 214. [

Also, in other embodiments, electronic device 1 110 and server 150 may include more components than the components of FIG. However, there is no need to clearly illustrate most prior art components. For example, electronic device 1 110 may be implemented to include at least a portion of input / output devices 215 described above, or may be implemented with other components such as a transceiver, Global Positioning System (GPS) module, camera, Elements. More specifically, when the electronic device 1 (110) is a smart phone, the acceleration sensor, the gyro sensor, the camera module, various physical buttons, buttons using a touch panel, input / output ports, A vibrator, and the like may be further included in the electronic device 1 (110).

Hereinafter, a specific embodiment of a method and system for searching for location information in a blind form between messenger users will be described.

In the present invention, the existing search function in the messenger supports the function of searching the location information that is not shared among the instant messenger users in a blind form .

Although the messenger is described in this specification as a representative example, the present invention is not limited to this, and it is applicable to all communities that exchange messages and data between acquaintances such as various types of social networks.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of components that a server of a server according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may include; FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a method that a server can perform according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention; Fig.

The server 150 according to the present embodiment serves as a platform for providing a messenger service to a plurality of electronic devices 110, 120, 130 and 140 which are clients. The server 150 may provide a messenger service in cooperation with an application installed on the electronic devices 110, 120, 130 and 140.

4, the processor 222 of the server 150 includes a collecting unit 310, a storage unit 320, and a storage unit 320, as shown in FIG. A retrieval unit 330, and a dialog unit 340. [0035] The components of processor 222 may optionally be included or excluded from processor 222 in accordance with an embodiment. In addition, in accordance with an embodiment, the components of the processor 222 may be separate or merged for the representation of the functionality of the processor 222.

The components of the processor 222 and the processor 222 may control the server 150 to perform the steps S410 to S450 included in the blind position search method of FIG. For example, the components of processor 222 and processor 222 may be implemented to execute instructions in accordance with the code of the operating system and the code of at least one program that memory 221 contains.

Herein, the components of processor 222 may be representations of different functions of processor 222 performed by processor 222 in accordance with instructions provided by the program code stored in server 150 . For example, the collection unit 310 can be used as a functional representation of the processor 222 that controls the server 150 in accordance with the above-described instructions for the server 150 to collect location information.

In step S410, the processor 222 may read the necessary commands from the loaded memory 221 with instructions related to control of the server 150. [ In this case, the read command may include instructions for controlling the processor 222 to execute the steps (S420 to S450) to be described later.

In step S420, the collecting unit 310 may collect location information of a user of the electronic device through a messenger installed in the electronic device. For example, the collecting unit 310 can acquire the location information of the electronic device through the messenger whenever the messenger is executed by the user or whenever it is periodically executed as the background program. As another example, the collecting unit 310 may acquire positional information from the photographs taken by the camera in cooperation with the camera function of the electronic device through the messenger. In other words, the collecting unit 310 can acquire the location information of the electronic device from the photo information including the location tag.

In step S430, the storage unit 320 may store the collected location information in association with the identification information of the corresponding user. The user identification information may include all information capable of identifying the user on the messenger, including, but not limited to, an ID, a name, a nickname, an identification code and the like. At this time, the storage unit 320 may record the location information by sorting the active sites according to the source or time information on which the location information is collected. For example, referring to FIG. 5, the location information 501 obtained from the photo information among the location information of the user 3 can be regarded as a 'visited place (photo)' temporarily visited and recorded. The location information 502 acquired by the execution of the messenger can be classified according to the time when the messenger is executed. For example, the location information 502 may be divided into the number of times specified in the time zone of 20:00 to 07:00 (For example, 10 times during a month) is a 'place of residence', and a position that continuously lasts for a predetermined number of times (for example, 10 times in a month) from 09:00 to 18:00 is referred to as a 'workplace' Continuously within a defined number of times within a period of 2 hours (eg, less than 10 times less than 2 times per month), or a location other than a residence or workplace may be considered as a "destination". In this way, it is also possible that the time zone for identifying the type of the active site or the activity area of the location information is commonly set for all users using the messenger, or each user can directly set his / her activity type or pattern. For example, in the case of a student, an active place can be classified into a residence, a school, and a visiting place. In the case of a housewife, an active place can be classified into a residence and a visiting place.

The storage unit 320 may store the information collected in step S420 on the server 150 in the form of 'location information + user information' combined with the user information. Referring to FIG. 6, the storage unit 320 may store user information 610 and location information 620 collected for the user in association with each other. At this time, the user information 610 may be information for identifying the user in the server 150, for example, a messenger ID or an identification code. The position information 620 may be recorded as a position value (GPS coordinate value, a longitude value or the like) obtained from the electronic device, or may be recorded as an administrative unit (e.g., of interest level. The storage unit 320 may store the location information 620 by activity, for example, a residence, a workplace, a visiting place, and a visiting place (photograph). At this time, the storage unit 320 may count the number associated with the user's visit to at least some of the active sites and record the number together. For example, the user can record the number of times the user visited the location, and the number of the photos tagged at the location (photo).

The storage unit 320 can be constructed as a location database for each user by storing location information of the respective acquaintances within a range of acquaintances related to the user for each user. For example, the storage unit 320 may establish a location database in which a friend and a friend are directly connected to each other. In other words, the location information of the user 3 described with reference to FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 may be included in the location database which is the location of all the users registered by the user 3. As another example, the storage unit 320 may enlarge the depth of the acquaintance range to two or more to construct the acquaintance location database including the acquaintance of the user and the acquaintance as well as the acquaintance of the acquaintance and a friend. As another example, the storage unit 320 may establish an acquaintance location database with all the other parties included in the entire chat room created on the messenger of the user irrespective of whether or not they are friends with the user. That is, some of the parties of the chat room in which the user is participating or subscribing may not be in a relationship with the user, and the user can acquire the location database of the user by including the object in the range of the acquaintance. In addition, it is also possible to construct a user table including identification information for each user, an acquaintance table including information pertaining to each user, and a location table including location information for each user.

Referring again to FIG. 4, in step S440, the search unit 330 may search for a user having location information corresponding to a query when a query for search is received from an electronic device, and provide a search result. At this time, the search unit 330 uses the search range as the location database of the user who has input the query, and if the user searches for the information about the specific location, the search unit 330 searches the location to see if the user has the acquaintances, have. In other words, the search unit 330 can search the location information of the acquaintances using the location database, which is the location of the acquaintances registered in the user's messenger. As another example, the search unit 330 may include a user table, an acquaintance table, acquaintances that are set in relation with a specific user who inputs a query based on the location table, other acquaintances whose relationship with the acquaintances of a specific user is set, Or acquaintances having at least one of the acquaintances included in the chat room being subscribed and having location information corresponding to the inquiry can be searched and retrieved. The search unit 330 may provide a search result for an active site with respect to a search query. For example, the search unit 330 may be configured to provide a search result by an active site, such as a place where a specific location searched by the user is recorded as a residence, Photographs), and provide search results. When the search result corresponding to the user query is provided to the user, the information that can identify the user included in the search result is not exposed, and the user can search the location information without revealing the relative information among the messenger users .

In step S450, the conversation unit 340 may provide a blind conversation with at least one user included in the search result. The conversation unit 340 may provide a dialog function between the users in a blind form without exposing the information of the user searching for the location information and the user providing the location information. For example, the conversation unit 340 may provide a personal conversation or a group conversation with a selected acquaintance if at least one acquaintance is selected from the acquaintance list included in the search result. As another example, the dialog unit 340 may provide a group conversation with an acquaintance in which the activity sheet is recorded if a specific activity sheet is selected from the search results of the active site, or if the number of conversation participants is designated for the specific activity sheet, A group conversation with an acquaintance of the user can be provided. At this time, the user-to-user conversation allowing the information disclosure in advance can be provided in an open form instead of the blind form, and it is also possible to switch to the open form if the information disclosure is permitted mutually during the blind conversation.

In particular, the conversation unit 340 may convert a conversation sentence exchanged between users to a standard type of a predetermined rule so that the conversation characteristic is not revealed during the blind conversation. For example, the conversation unit 340 can transform a colloquial body into a literary body or a standardized body, remove emoticon or symbol from a sentence input by the user, and convert the verb into a standard body while maintaining a noun . For example, if the user inputs "Recommended recommendation ~ ^^", it can be transformed into "I would like to recommend it." In addition, the dialogue unit 340 may provide dialogue sentences exchanged between the users when the language settings are different between the users through the interlocking with the machine translator, as translation sentences translated into the setting language of each user. The conversation unit 340 can manage the chat room list in which the conversation is performed in the blind form with a separate tab. At this time, the name of each chat room can be automatically set to the location name entered by the user in the search query. For chat rooms that have been converted to public form during a blind chat, they can be moved to the regular chat room list and excluded from the blind chat room list.

7 to 8 are exemplary diagrams for explaining a process of searching for location information in an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 7, the user using the messenger can input the location query 'Seo Hyun-dong' through the search window 701 included in the messenger screen. The search unit 330 may search for a place where the location information corresponding to 'Seo Hyun-dong' of the user is recorded in 'Seo Hyun-dong' inputted from the user and provide search result 710. At this time, the search unit 330 is an acquaintance in which 'Seohyun-dong' is recorded as a workplace, 'Seohyun-dong' is recorded as a residence, 'Seohyun-dong' is recorded as a destination, The search result 710 can be provided. The list of acquaintances recorded as 'Seohyun-dong' as work or residence can be sorted in the latest order based on the time when the corresponding location information is recorded, and the list of acquaintances recorded as 'Seohyun-dong' Can be arranged in descending order of the number based on the number information 711. The number information 711 indicating the number of times that the acquaintances visited the location and the number of the photos that the location was tagged in the case of the visit (photo) can be displayed in the corresponding destination. When the user selects at least one active place included in the search result 710, the group conversation with the friend who belongs to the selected active place can be performed, and at least one of the personalized items included in the search result 710 If you choose, you can proceed with a personal conversation or group conversation with the selected acquaintance.

8, the searching unit 330 may provide a map screen 800 for searching for a blind location through a messenger, and may search for an active place (a place of residence, workplace, (Photograph)) of the user can be provided. The search unit 330 may provide a map screen 800 of a region requested by the user and may select a work area for each region included in the map screen 800 when the 'workplace' is selected through the filter function 801 The search result 810 can be provided by searching the acquaintances who work as work places. At this time, you can indicate the number of people who work in your area by region. When the user selects at least one of the search results 810 for each region of the map screen 800, a personal conversation or a group conversation with an acquaintance working in the corresponding region can be performed.

Accordingly, the search unit 330 can provide an activity (a residence, a workplace, a visiting place, a visiting place (photograph)), how often an acquaintance has been actuated, and the like in a region searched by the user through the blind location search.

9 to 11 are exemplary diagrams for explaining a blind dialog process in an embodiment of the present invention.

The conversation unit 340 may provide a blind conversation with at least one user included in the search result. For example, FIG. 9 shows a dialog screen between a user A who searched for 'Seo Hyun-dong' and a user B who has 'Seo Hyun-dong' as an active site in a blind dialog screen 900 for 'Seo Hyun Dong'. At this time, only the conversation contents exchanged between the user A and the user B can be exposed anonymously without disclosing the information for identifying the user A and the user B in the blind dialog screen 900. Through this blind dialogue, the user A can inquire of the user B who has 'Seo Hyun-dong' as an active place for detailed information.

The conversation unit 340 can convert the conversation sentences exchanged between the users during the blind conversation into a standard collection of predetermined rules and expose them. 10, the dialogue unit 340 may transform the sentence 1001 input by the user A and the user B into a standardized sentence sentence 1002 and expose it to the blind dialogue screen 1000 . For example, a standard sentence 1002 can be created by deleting an emoticon, a symbol, and the like in the input sentence 1001 and converting the verb into a predetermined standardized form while maintaining a noun. In the case of blind dialogue, it is possible to apply a uniform sentence to all conversation sentences to protect the individual's tone and tone. It is also possible to translate the dialog sentences exchanged with each other in the setting language of each user to expose the translated sentence on the blind dialogue screen 1000 when the language setting between the users is different.

The conversation unit 340 can manage and maintain the chat room list in which the conversation is made in the blind form. 11 shows a blind chat room list screen 1100 among the chat room lists of the messengers installed in the electronic device. The blind chat room list screen 1100 may be managed as a tab separate from the friend list on the messenger and the general chat room list, and may include a chat room list 1110 that arranges chat rooms for exchanging messages with the other party in a blind form. At this time, the chat room name 1111 may be displayed for each chat room included in the chat room list 1110, and the chat room name 1111 may be automatically set to the location name input by the search query. Then, the chat room list 1110 can be sorted in descending order according to the message reception / transmission time.

In the above description, the server 150 collects position information and supports the blind location search through the database. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and some of the blind location searching methods may be directly performed by the electronic device . For example, a user's location database may be stored on the user's electronic device, in which case the blind location search may be supported by a local function in the electronic device.

The present invention allows a user to search for location information that a user can not share with blind users in various communities including a messenger.

The apparatus described above may be implemented as a hardware component, a software component, and / or a combination of hardware components and software components. For example, the apparatus and components described in the embodiments may be implemented as a processor, a controller, an arithmetic logic unit (ALU), a digital signal processor, a microcomputer, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic unit, a microprocessor, or any other device capable of executing and responding to instructions. The processing device may execute an operating system (OS) and one or more software applications running on the operating system. The processing device may also access, store, manipulate, process, and generate data in response to execution of the software. For ease of understanding, the processing apparatus may be described as being used singly, but those skilled in the art will recognize that the processing apparatus may have a plurality of processing elements and / As shown in FIG. For example, the processing unit may comprise a plurality of processors or one processor and one controller. Other processing configurations are also possible, such as a parallel processor.

The software may include a computer program, code, instructions, or a combination of one or more of the foregoing, and may be configured to configure the processing device to operate as desired or to process it collectively or collectively Device can be commanded. The software and / or data may be embodied in any type of machine, component, physical device, computer storage media, or device for interpretation by a processing device or to provide instructions or data to the processing device have. The software may be distributed over a networked computer system and stored or executed in a distributed manner. The software and data may be stored on one or more computer readable recording media.

The method according to an embodiment may be implemented in the form of a program command that can be executed through various computer means and recorded in a computer-readable medium. At this time, the medium may be a program that continuously stores a computer executable program, or temporarily stores the program for execution or downloading. Further, the medium may be a variety of recording means or storage means in the form of a combination of a single hardware or a plurality of hardware, but is not limited to a medium directly connected to any computer system, but may be dispersed on a network. Examples of the medium include a magnetic medium such as a hard disk, a floppy disk and a magnetic tape, an optical recording medium such as CD-ROM and DVD, a magneto-optical medium such as a floptical disk, And program instructions including ROM, RAM, flash memory, and the like. As another example of the medium, a recording medium or a storage medium that is managed by a site or a server that supplies or distributes an application store or various other software is also enumerated.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. For example, it is to be understood that the techniques described may be performed in a different order than the described methods, and / or that components of the described systems, structures, devices, circuits, Lt; / RTI > or equivalents, even if it is replaced or replaced.

Therefore, other implementations, other embodiments, and equivalents to the claims are also within the scope of the following claims.

Claims (20)

1. CLAIMS What is claimed is: 1. A blind location search method executed in a computer system,

   The computer system comprising at least one processor configured to execute computer-readable instructions contained in a memory,

   The blind location searching method includes:

   In the at least one processor, collecting location information for users on a social network;

   Establishing a location database by storing the collected location information in association with identification information of the user in the at least one processor; And

   Wherein, in the at least one processor, when a query is received from an electronic device of a first user of the users, the location database is used to search for an acquaintance having location information corresponding to the query among acquaintances associated with the first user Steps to provide search results

   The blind location search method comprising:
2. The method according to claim 1,

   Wherein the providing step comprises:

   Providing the search result in a blind form that does not disclose identification information of an acquaintance included in the search result

   The blind location search method comprising:
3. The method according to claim 1,

   Wherein the collecting comprises:

   Collecting the location information of the user when the messenger is executed through the messenger installed in each user's electronic device

   The blind location search method comprising:
4. The method according to claim 1,

   Wherein the collecting comprises:

   The location information of the user is collected from the photographs taken by the camera in conjunction with the camera function through the messenger installed in each user's electronic device

   The blind location search method comprising:
5. The method according to claim 1,

   Wherein the providing step comprises:

   At least one of an acquaintance set in relationship with the first user on the social network, another acquaintance having a relationship with the acquaintance set in the relationship, and acquaintances included in the chat room in which the first user participates or subscribes, To search for an acquaintance having location information corresponding to the query

   The blind location search method comprising:
6. The method according to claim 1,

   Wherein the constructing comprises:

   Storing the collected location information by dividing the activity type according to the source or time information from which the location information is collected

   The blind location search method comprising:
7. The method according to claim 6,

   Wherein the providing step comprises:

   And providing search results for an acquaintance having location information corresponding to the query by the activity type

   The blind location search method comprising:
8. The method according to claim 1,

   Wherein the providing step comprises:

   Arranging a list of acquaintances having location information corresponding to the inquiry based on time information or number information related to the location;

   The blind location search method comprising:
9. The method according to claim 1,

   Wherein the providing step comprises:

   Providing a search result for an acquaintance having location information of the corresponding region in the region included in the map using the map

   The blind location search method comprising:
10. The method according to claim 1,

    The blind location searching method includes:

    Providing, in the at least one processor, a dialog function with at least one acquaintance of acquaintances included in the search result in a blind form that does not disclose identification information of the user and acquaintance;

    The blind location search method further comprising:
11. A non-transitory computer readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for causing a computer to execute the blind position searching method according to any one of claims 1 to 10.
12. In a computer system,

    Memory; And

    At least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to execute computer-readable instructions contained in the memory,

    Lt; / RTI >

    Wherein the at least one processor comprises:

    A collection unit for collecting location information for users on a social network;

    A storage unit configured to store the collected location information in association with the identification information of the user to construct a location database; And

    A search unit for providing search results for an acquaintance having location information corresponding to the query among acquaintances associated with the first user using the location database when a query is received from an electronic device of a first user among the users;

    And a computer system.
13. 13. The method of claim 12,

    The search unit may search,

    And provides the search result in a blind form that does not disclose identification information of an acquaintance included in the search result.
14. 13. The method of claim 12,

    Wherein,

    A computer system for collecting location information of a user when the messenger is executed through a messenger installed in an electronic device of each user or collecting location information of a user from a photograph taken by a camera in cooperation with a camera function,
15. 13. The method of claim 12,

    The search unit may search,

    At least one of an acquaintance set in relationship with the first user on the social network, another acquaintance having a relationship with the acquaintance set in the relationship, and acquaintances included in the chat room in which the first user participates or subscribes, Searches for an acquaintance having location information corresponding to the query.
16. 13. The method of claim 12,

    Wherein,

    And stores the collected position information by classifying the activity type according to the source or time information on which the position information is collected.
17. 17. The method of claim 16,

    The search unit may search,

    And provides search results for an acquaintance having location information corresponding to the inquiry separately for each activity type.
18. 13. The method of claim 12,

    The search unit may search,

    And sorting the list of acquaintances having location information corresponding to the query based on time information or number information related to the location.
19. 13. The method of claim 12,

    The search unit may search,

    And provides a search result for an acquaintance having location information of a corresponding region in each region included in the map using the map.
20. 13. The method of claim 12,

    Wherein the at least one processor comprises:

    And providing a dialog function with at least one acquaintance included in the search result in a blind form that does not disclose the identification information of the user and an acquaintance,

    ≪ / RTI >

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