JP5084752B2 - Advertisement sales support device, advertisement sales support method, and advertisement sales system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a data processing technique, and more particularly to a technique for supporting a search-linked advertisement service.

  Currently, it is common for a user to use a search service to find a desired web page. In a web server that provides a search service (hereinafter referred to as “search server” as appropriate), an advertisement corresponding to a search term specified by the user is displayed on a web page (hereinafter, referred to as a search result based on the search term). Sometimes called "search result page"). Hereinafter, such an advertisement service is referred to as a “search-linked advertisement service”.

JP 2008-083803 A

  Advertisers often assume in advance consumers who have a specific attribute (hereinafter simply referred to as “sales targets”) as consumers who are highly likely to purchase products for sale. The present inventor considered that the sales forecast of a product is often different depending on the sales target, and the demand of the advertiser for the search-linked advertising service is different depending on the sales target. Therefore, it was considered that a search-linked advertising service that is highly convenient for advertisers who pay the setting fee can be realized by adjusting the setting fee for the advertisement on the search result page according to the sales target.

  The present invention has been made based on the above idea by the present inventor, and its main purpose is to support search-linked advertising services so that an advertisement setting fee can be determined according to the sales target set by the advertiser. Is to provide technology to do.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, an advertisement sales support apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention is connected to a search server that holds a search term and an advertisement setting fee in association with each other, and uses a target attribute indicating attribute information of an advertising target person. An adjustment value for adjusting the advertisement setting fee in accordance with the user attribute indicating attribute information related to the user of the search server, and an adjustment value storage unit for storing the search value and the target attribute from the advertiser in the search server Is specified, the setting condition acquisition unit for acquiring the target attribute from the search server, and the adjustment value storage unit for determining the advertisement setting fee to be presented to the advertiser, and corresponding to the target attribute An adjustment value notification unit for notifying the adjustment server of the adjustment value.

  Another aspect of the present invention is an advertisement sales support method. This method is a method of controlling a device connected to a search server that holds search terms and advertisement setting fees in association with each other, and adjusts the advertisement setting fee according to the target attribute indicating the attribute information of the advertising target person A step of associating an adjustment value for causing a user attribute indicating attribute information related to a user of the search server to be stored in advance in a predetermined storage device, and a search phrase and a target attribute are designated by the advertiser in the search server The step of acquiring the target attribute from the search server and the step of notifying the search server of the adjustment value corresponding to the target attribute with reference to the storage device in order to determine the advertisement setting fee to be presented to the advertiser And comprising.

  Yet another aspect of the present invention is an advertisement sales system. The advertisement sales system includes a search server that provides a search service, and an advertisement sales support apparatus connected to the search server. The search server includes a setting fee storage unit that stores a search term and an advertisement setting fee in association with each other, a setting condition reception unit that receives from the advertiser a designation of the search term and a target attribute indicating attribute information of the advertising target person, A setting condition notifying unit for notifying the advertisement sales support apparatus of the designated target attribute. The advertisement sales support apparatus includes an adjustment value storage unit that stores an adjustment value for adjusting an advertisement setting fee according to a target attribute and a user attribute indicating attribute information related to a user of the search server, and an adjustment value storage. And an adjustment value notification unit that notifies the search server of an adjustment value corresponding to the target attribute notified from the search server. The search server advertises the advertisement setting fee associated with the search term in the fee setting storage unit according to the adjustment value notified from the advertisement sales support device, and the adjusted advertisement setting fee. And a setting fee presenting section to be mainly presented.

  It should be noted that any combination of the above-described constituent elements and a representation of the present invention converted between an apparatus, a method, a system, a program, a recording medium storing the program, and the like are also effective as an aspect of the present invention.

  According to the present invention, in the search-linked advertising service, it is possible to determine an advertisement setting fee according to a sales target set by an advertiser.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the search system which is embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the search server of FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the terminal management apparatus of FIG. 4A and 4B are diagrams showing the data structure of user attributes. It is a figure which shows the category of the user attribute used as the setting object of an adjustment value. It is a sequence diagram which shows operation | movement of each apparatus in a search system. It is a sequence diagram which shows operation | movement of each apparatus in a search system.

The outline of the embodiment of the present invention will be described before the configuration thereof is described.
Currently, a terminal management device that manages the usage status of PC terminals used by employees may be installed in the company for the purpose of thorough governance within the company and prevention of information leakage. Some companies use terminal management services provided by devices. In this terminal management apparatus, attribute information of each employee is held in a form associated with each PC terminal.

  The inventor of the present invention has thought that the search-linked advertising service of the search server can be supported by utilizing the attribute information of each employee held by the terminal management device. Specifically, we thought that it was possible to support advertisement provision in search-linked advertising services so that advertisements according to the attributes of each employee were posted on the search result page of the search server. In addition, we thought that it would be possible to support advertising sales in search-linked advertising services so that the advertiser is presented with an advertisement setting fee according to the attributes of the employees to whom the advertisement is provided. The configuration of the embodiment will be described below.

  FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a search system 1000 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The search system 1000 includes a user terminal 100a, b user terminal 100b, c user terminal 100c, d user terminal 100d, an advertiser terminal 102, a search server 200, and a terminal management device 300, which are collectively referred to as the user terminal 100. Prepare. These devices are appropriately connected to each other via a communication network 400 including known communication means such as LAN, WAN, and Internet without limitation.

  The search server 200 is a web server that provides a search service and a search-linked advertisement service. The search server 200 receives a search phrase from the search request source and provides a search result page of the search phrase to the search request source. In addition, the search server 200 places an advertisement associated with the search term in advance on the search result page of the search term. The detailed configuration of the search server 200 will be described later.

  The terminal management device 300 is connected to the user terminal 100 and manages the states of the plurality of user terminals 100 in an integrated manner. For example, various data related to the usage state of the user terminal 100 and the communication state with the outside are managed. The terminal management apparatus 300 is also connected to the search server 200, and supports various search related advertisement services in the search server 200 by utilizing various data related to the user terminal 100. The detailed configuration of the terminal management apparatus 300 will be described later.

  The user terminal 100 is a general PC terminal and is connected to the terminal management device 300. The user terminal 100 is operated by an employee of a user company that causes the terminal management apparatus 300 to manage an in-house PC terminal. In the present embodiment, the a user terminal 100a and the b user terminal 100b are operated by an employee of the user company A, and the c user terminal 100c and the d user terminal 100d are operated by an employee of the user company B.

  The advertiser terminal 102 is a general PC terminal and is connected to the search server 200. The advertiser terminal 102 is operated by an advertiser of a sponsor company of the search-linked advertising service. The advertiser purchases the search-linked advertisement service of the search server 200 and displays his / her advertisement on the search result page.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the search server 200 of FIG. Each block shown in the block diagram of the present specification can be realized in terms of hardware by an element such as a CPU of a computer or a mechanical device, and in terms of software, it can be realized by a computer program or the like. The functional block realized by those cooperation is drawn. Therefore, those skilled in the art will understand that these functional blocks can be realized in various forms by a combination of hardware and software.

  The search server 200 includes a setting fee storage unit 202, an advertisement setting storage unit 204, a setting condition reception unit 206, a setting condition notification unit 208, a setting fee adjustment unit 210, a setting fee presentation unit 212, and an advertisement setting unit. 214, an advertiser information notification unit 216, a search request reception unit 218, a provision condition notification unit 220, a search result setting unit 222, and a search result provision unit 224.

  The setting fee storage unit 202 stores a search term specified in a search request from the user terminal 100 and a consideration for setting an advertisement on the search result page (hereinafter referred to as “advertising setting fee” as appropriate). Storage area. The advertisement setting fee in this embodiment is a price for each click of an advertisement in which a link to the advertiser's website is set on the search result page. That is, the advertisement setting fee is charged to the advertiser when the user is actually guided to the advertiser's website. For example, in the setting fee storage unit 202, the search term “business card printing” is associated with the advertisement setting fee “7 yen / click”. As a modification, the advertisement insertion fee may be a price each time a user refers to a search result page on which an advertisement is posted, that is, a page view unit price.

  The advertisement setting storage unit 204 is the advertisement data of the advertiser who has agreed to pay the advertisement setting fee, the attribute data of the sales target designated by the advertiser (hereinafter simply referred to as “target attribute”), the search phrase, and the like. Is a storage area that is stored in association with each other. The advertisement data may be text data such as an HTML file or binary data such as an image file. The target attribute is data for specifying a user to whom an advertisement is to be provided, and includes, for example, the size of the company to which the user belongs, the type of business, the department to which the user belongs, the position, the location, and the like.

  The setting condition reception unit 206 receives a setting fee confirmation request for confirming the advertisement setting fee for the search result page from the advertiser terminal 102. In this setting fee confirmation request, the search term and the target attribute are specified by the advertiser. The setting condition notifying unit 208 notifies the terminal management apparatus 300 of setting condition data including the target attribute specified by the setting fee confirmation request.

  The setting fee adjustment unit 210 acquires an adjustment value for adjusting the advertisement setting fee according to the target attribute from the terminal management device 300. Then, referring to the setting fee storage unit 202, the advertisement setting fee associated with the search term specified in the setting fee confirmation request is specified, and the advertisement setting fee is adjusted according to the adjustment value acquired from the terminal management device 300. To do. In the present embodiment, the adjustment value is a magnification of the advertisement setting fee. For example, when the advertisement setting fee for the search term “business card printing” is “7 yen / click” in the setting fee storage unit 202 and the adjustment value acquired from the terminal management apparatus 300 is “5 times”, the advertiser is notified. The advertisement setting fee to be presented is adjusted to “35 yen / click”.

  The setting fee presentation unit 212 notifies the advertiser terminal 102 of the advertisement setting fee adjusted by the setting fee adjustment unit 210. Accordingly, the search term specified by the advertiser and the advertisement setting fee for the target attribute are displayed on the advertiser terminal 102. The advertiser agrees to pay the advertisement setting fee and determines whether or not to set an advertisement on the search result page.

  The advertisement setting unit 214 receives an advertisement setting request in which the advertisement data, the target attribute, and the search phrase are specified from the advertiser terminal 102 of the advertiser who has agreed to pay the advertisement setting fee, and advertises the data. The setting is stored in the setting storage unit 204. The advertiser information notification unit 216 notifies the terminal management apparatus 300 of information about the advertiser who has made the advertisement setting request (hereinafter referred to as “advertiser information” as appropriate). The advertiser information includes a target attribute.

  The search request receiving unit 218 receives a search request in which a search term is specified from the user terminal 100. As will be described later, in the present embodiment, the search request transmitted from the user terminal 100 is transferred to the search server 200 via the proxy function in the terminal management apparatus 300. Hereinafter, a user who has transmitted a search request is particularly referred to as a “search execution user”.

  The provision condition notification unit 220 refers to the advertisement setting storage unit 204 and identifies the target attribute associated with the search term specified in the search request. Then, provision condition data including the target attribute and the ID of the search execution user is notified to the terminal management apparatus 300. Here, the ID of the search execution user is a session ID between the search server 200 and the terminal management apparatus 300 set when receiving the search request. As a modification, the user name of the search execution user may be used, or a terminal ID that can identify the user terminal 100 of the search execution user may be used.

  The search result setting unit 222 acquires determination result data indicating whether or not the attribute of the search execution user matches the target attribute from the terminal management apparatus 300. When the determination result data indicates a match between the attribute of the search execution user and the target attribute, the advertisement data associated with the search term specified in the search request is acquired from the advertisement setting storage unit 204. And the search result output from the search execution part which is not shown in figure and the advertisement data acquired from the advertisement setting memory | storage part 204 are set as data of a search result page. When the determination result data indicates a mismatch between the search execution user attribute and the target attribute, only the search result output from the search execution unit (not shown) may be set as the search result page data.

  The search result providing unit 224 transmits the search result page data set by the search result setting unit 222 to the user terminal 100 of the search execution user. As will be described later, in the present embodiment, the search result page data transmitted from the search result providing unit 224 is transferred to the user terminal 100 via the proxy function in the terminal management apparatus 300.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the terminal management apparatus 300 of FIG. The terminal management apparatus 300 includes a user attribute storage unit 302, a user attribute update unit 304, a communication proxy unit 306, an advertisement sales support unit 310, and an advertisement provision support unit 330.

  The user attribute storage unit 302 stores, for each of the plurality of user terminals 100 managed by the terminal management apparatus 300, attribute information related to the user of each user terminal 100 (hereinafter referred to as “user attribute” as appropriate). It is.

  FIG. 4A shows a data structure of user attributes. This figure shows data items updated by a user attribute updating unit 304 described later. Identification information for uniquely identifying the user terminal 100 is recorded in the terminal ID column of FIG. The terminal ID may be a host name, an IP address, a MAC address, or a combination thereof. In the terminal position, the presence position of the user terminal 100, that is, the current position of the user is recorded.

  FIG. 4B also shows the data structure of user attributes. This figure shows data items updated by the communication proxy unit 306 described later. In the communication destination ID column, identification information of an external device that communicates with the user terminal 100, for example, the search server 200 is recorded. The communication destination ID may be an IP address of an external device or a URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of a web page provided by the external device. In the internal session ID column, a session ID between the user terminal 100 and the terminal management apparatus 300 is recorded as an internal session ID. In the external session ID column, a session ID between the terminal management device 300 and the external device is recorded as an external session ID.

  The user attribute update unit 304 receives the user name, the terminal ID, and the terminal position information from the user terminal 100 and updates the user attributes in the user attribute storage unit 302 when each user terminal 100 is activated. In addition, when the terminal ID is an IP address, the user attribute update unit 304 may specify the terminal position according to the value of the network address part and set it as the user attribute. In addition, when the company name, company scale, department, title, etc. are changed, the user attribute update unit 304 receives the changed data from the user terminal 100 and updates the user attribute.

  The communication proxy unit 306 provides a so-called proxy server function, and relays communication between the user terminal 100 to be managed and the external device in the terminal management device 300. Specifically, when the user terminal 100 communicates with an external device, an internal session between the user terminal 100 and the communication proxy unit 306 and an external session between the communication proxy unit 306 and the search server 200 are established. The communication data transmitted / received between the user terminal 100 and the external device is relayed.

  When relaying communication between the user terminal 100 and an external device, the communication proxy unit 306 stores data for specifying the communication in the user attribute storage unit 302 and updates the user attribute. Specifically, the communication destination ID designated by the user terminal 100, the internal session ID, and the external session ID are stored in the user attribute storage unit 302.

  As described above, the user attribute storage unit 302, the user attribute update unit 304, and the communication proxy unit 306 collectively manage the user attributes and communication states of the plurality of user terminals 100. The search system 1000 is configured such that the search server 200 cannot refer to the user attributes stored in the user attribute storage unit 302. Specifically, the user attribute storage unit 302 may reject the reference request from the search server 200. Further, the reference request from the search server 200 may be blocked by a network setting such as a router (not shown). This is because the user attribute is an employee attribute of a user company that uses the terminal management apparatus 300, and direct reference from the search server 200 is not preferable. With this configuration, it is possible to prevent the user attribute from spreading outside the terminal management apparatus 300.

  The advertisement sales support unit 310 supports advertisement sales to the advertiser in the search server 200. The advertisement sales support unit 310 includes an adjustment value storage unit 312, a setting condition acquisition unit 314, an adjustment value notification unit 316, an advertiser information acquisition unit 318, and an adjustment value update unit 320.

  The adjustment value storage unit 312 is a storage area in which the adjustment value of the advertisement setting fee is stored. FIG. 5 shows categories of user attributes for which adjustment values are set. “Company scale”, “business type”, “affiliation department”, “position”, and “terminal position” in FIG. “Sales”, “development”, “accounting”, and “purchasing” in the major category “industry” in the figure indicate the minor categories in the major category “department”. For other major classifications of user attributes, the information described below indicates the minor classification. The adjustment value storage unit 312 records an adjustment value for each small classification of user attributes.

  The adjustment value recorded in the adjustment value storage unit 312 may be set to a value that is assumed to be appropriate by the administrator of the terminal management apparatus 300, particularly at the beginning of the operation of the advertisement sales support unit 310. For example, if it is assumed that the larger the company size, the easier it will be specified as the target attribute, that is, the greater the demand from advertisers, the larger the value of the small category, the larger the adjustment value. May be set. Also, if it is assumed that the purchasing department is likely to be specified as the target attribute, the adjustment value for the minor category “Purchase” may be set larger than the adjustment value for other minor categories for the major category “Department” . As described above, in the present embodiment, since the adjustment value is a magnification of the advertisement setting fee, the advertisement setting fee is adjusted to a higher value as the adjustment value is larger.

  The setting condition acquisition unit 314 acquires setting condition data notified from the search server 200. The adjustment value notification unit 316 refers to the adjustment value storage unit 312 and identifies a user attribute that matches the target attribute included in the setting condition data. Then, the adjustment value associated with the user attribute is notified to the search server 200. For example, when the target attribute is “affiliation department = purchase”, the adjustment values associated with the major classification “affiliation department” and the minor classification “purchase” in the adjustment value storage unit 312 are adjusted according to the target attribute. The search server 200 is notified as a value.

  When a plurality of target attributes are notified from the search server 200, the adjustment value notification unit 316 may notify the search server 200 of a plurality of adjustment values that match each target attribute. In this case, the setting fee adjustment unit 210 of the search server 200 may adjust the advertisement setting fee of the setting fee storage unit 202 with each adjustment value. In this case, the amount of advertisement provision is typically increased by the amount of advertisements targeted.

  The advertiser information acquisition unit 318 acquires the advertiser information notified from the search server 200. First, the adjustment value update unit 320, for the adjustment value associated with the user attribute that matches the target attribute included in the advertiser information, the advertiser who has agreed to pay the advertisement setting fee calculated according to the adjustment value Identify the number. For example, an advertiser number storage unit (not shown) in which the number of advertisers corresponding to each adjustment value is stored may be referred to and updated according to the advertiser information.

  Next, the adjustment value update unit 320 updates the adjustment value stored in the adjustment value storage unit 312 so that the advertisement setting fee is adjusted higher in the search server 200 as the number of advertisers increases. For example, a plurality of thresholds for determining the number of advertisers may be provided, and a predetermined premium value may be added to the adjustment value every time the number of advertisers exceeds each threshold.

  The advertisement provision support unit 330 supports advertisement provision for the search execution user in the search server 200. The advertisement provision support unit 330 includes a provision condition acquisition unit 332, a determination unit 334, and a determination result notification unit 336. The provision condition acquisition unit 332 acquires provision condition data notified from the search server 200.

  The determination unit 334 refers to the user attribute storage unit 302 and identifies the user attribute identified by the search execution user ID included in the provision condition data. For example, if the ID of the search execution user is a session ID between the search server 200 and the terminal management apparatus 300, the search is executed by searching the external session ID column of the user attribute storage unit 302 based on the session ID. Specify the user attributes of the user. The determination unit 334 determines whether the user attribute of the search execution user matches the target attribute included in the provision condition data. The determination result notification unit 336 notifies the search server 200 of the determination result in the determination unit 334.

The operation of the above configuration will be described below.
FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram showing the operation of each device in the search system 1000. This figure shows the operation at the time of advertising sales in the search-linked advertising service.

  When the advertiser confirms the advertisement setting fee for the search result page for a specific search phrase, the advertiser terminal 102 transmits a setting fee confirmation request to the search server 200 (S10). The search server 200 notifies the terminal management apparatus 300 of setting condition data including the target attribute specified by the setting fee confirmation request (S12). The terminal management apparatus 300 refers to the table in which the user attribute and the adjustment value are associated with each other, and specifies the user attribute that matches the target attribute of the setting condition data (S14). Then, the adjustment value associated with the user attribute is notified to the search server 200 (S16). The search server 200 adjusts the advertisement insertion fee associated with the search term specified in the setting fee confirmation request according to the notified adjustment value (S18), and transmits it to the advertiser terminal 102 (S20). The advertiser terminal 102 presents the advertisement setting fee received from the search server 200 to the advertiser.

  When the advertiser agrees to pay the advertisement setting fee presented according to the designated search phrase and target attribute, the advertiser terminal 102 transmits an advertisement setting request to the search server 200 (S22). The search server 200 stores the data specified in the advertisement setting request in the advertisement setting storage unit 204 (S24), and notifies the advertiser information to the terminal management apparatus 300 (S26). The terminal management device 300 identifies the number of advertisers for a specific adjustment value according to the advertiser information, and updates the adjustment value according to the number of advertisers (S28).

  FIG. 7 is also a sequence diagram showing the operation of each device in the search system 1000. This figure shows the operation at the time of advertisement provision in the search-linked advertisement service.

  The user terminal 100 notifies the terminal management apparatus 300 of the latest user attribute when the terminal is activated or when the user attribute is changed (S30). The terminal management apparatus 300 acquires the latest user attribute and updates the user attribute stored in the user attribute storage unit 302 (S32). The user terminal 100 transmits a search request including a search phrase specified by the search execution user to the terminal management apparatus 300 (S34). The terminal management apparatus 300 updates the user attributes such as the communication destination ID and the session ID based on the search request (S36), and transfers the search request to the search server 200 (S38). The search server 200 executes a predetermined search process for the search term of the search request (S40).

  The search server 200 further notifies the terminal management apparatus 300 of provision condition data including the session ID with the terminal management apparatus 300 and the target attribute associated with the search phrase (S42). The terminal management apparatus 300 refers to the user attribute storage unit 302, identifies the user attribute associated with the session ID of the provision condition data, and determines whether or not the user attribute matches the target attribute ( S44). Then, the determination result is notified to the terminal management apparatus 300 (S46). The search server 200 sets search result page data according to the notified determination result (S48), and transmits the data to the terminal management apparatus 300 (S50). The terminal management device 300 uses the session ID with the user terminal 100 associated with the session ID with the search server 200 to transfer the data of the search result page to the user terminal 100 of the search execution user (S52). .

  According to search system 1000 of the present embodiment, terminal management device 300 determines whether or not a search execution user matches a sales target, and whether an advertisement is placed on a search result page according to the determination result. No is determined. Thereby, an advertisement can be accurately provided to a sales target set by the advertiser. Advertisers can use the search-linked advertising service provided by the search system 1000 to promote sales to sales targets with high accuracy. For a search execution user, an advertisement that matches his / her attribute is easily displayed on the search result page, and it is easy to acquire useful information. In addition, since the search execution user can easily click the advertisement on the search result page, it also leads to an increase in advertisement revenue for companies that provide the search service.

  Further, according to the search system 1000, user attributes are managed by the terminal management apparatus 300 and cannot be directly referenced from the search server 200, so that user attributes can be prevented from spreading outside. In other words, the added value of the search-linked advertising service of the search server 200 can be improved while maintaining the state where the user attributes are hidden from the search server 200.

  Furthermore, according to the search system 1000, an advertisement setting fee according to the attribute of the sales target can be presented to the advertiser in the search-linked advertisement service. Generally, it is considered that the sales forecast of a product is different if the sales target is different. Therefore, by setting the advertisement setting fee flexibly for each attribute of the sales target, it is possible to realize a search-linked advertisement service that is easy for an advertiser to use.

  In addition, since users who are targeted for providing advertisements are narrowed down by specifying target attributes, the provision of advertisements to sales targets is ensured, so advertisers will be charged higher ad set fees than when search terms are simply specified. It becomes easy to present. In other words, even if a high advertisement setting fee is presented, the advertiser can easily agree to the payment. Thereby, a search service provider can obtain a larger advertising revenue.

  Furthermore, according to the search system 1000, the adjustment value for adjusting the advertisement setting fee is updated according to the number of advertisers who have agreed to pay the advertisement setting fee. Specifically, if the number of advertisers is large, the adjustment value is updated so that the advertisement setting fee is adjusted higher than the current value. If the number of advertisers is small, the adjustment value is adjusted so that the advertisement setting fee is adjusted lower than the current value. Updated. As a result, a market mechanism is introduced to determine the adjustment value, and the adjustment value is converged to an appropriate value according to the advertiser's demand. Even if the initial value of the adjustment value deviates from the actual demand of the advertiser, the adjustment value is updated so that the deviation width becomes small.

  Furthermore, according to the search system 1000, the search-linked advertising service is supported based on the user attributes held by the terminal management apparatus 300. As described above, since the terminal management apparatus 300 manages the latest state of the user terminal 100 in a unified manner, the search-linked advertising service can be supported according to user attributes whose reliability and information freshness are ensured. As a result, the search-linked advertisement service in the search server 200 also reflects the current user attributes, improving convenience for both the advertiser and the search execution user.

  The present invention has been described based on the embodiments. This embodiment is an exemplification, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications can be made to combinations of the respective constituent elements and processing processes, and such modifications are also within the scope of the present invention. is there. Hereinafter, a modification is shown.

  A first modification will be described. In the embodiment described above, the initial value of the adjustment value for each user attribute is set to a value that is assumed appropriate by the administrator of the terminal management apparatus 300. In the modification, the initial value of the adjustment value may be further changed according to the number of users that match each user attribute. Thereby, it becomes easy to appropriately maintain the balance between the number of users who can be provided with the advertisement and the advertisement setting fee in the business of the search-linked advertisement service. For example, as the number of users that match a specific user attribute is smaller, the adjustment value for that user attribute may be increased. As a result, even if the number of users to be charged is small, the minimum advertisement insertion fee can be obtained from the advertiser in the business of the search-linked advertising service. In addition, even if the number of users that match each user attribute changes due to the change of the user attribute after the operation of the advertisement sales support unit 310, the adjustment value may be changed as needed according to the number of users after the change. .

  A second modification will be described. In the embodiment described above, the adjustment value held by the terminal management apparatus 300 is the magnification of the advertisement setting fee held by the search server 200. In a modification, the adjustment value may be an amount that increases or decreases the advertisement setting fee held by the search server 200. Further, instead of the search server 200, the terminal management apparatus 300 may have a setting fee adjustment unit. In this case, the terminal management apparatus 300 may acquire the advertisement setting fee from the search server 200 together with the setting condition data, and notify the search server 200 of the adjusted advertisement setting fee according to the adjustment value.

  A third modification will be described. In the above-described embodiment, the advertisement is placed on the search result page. In a modification, an advertisement may be provided to the search execution user by other methods. For example, a web page dedicated to advertisement independent of the search result page may be provided to the search execution user. Further, an e-mail or an instant message including advertisement data may be transmitted to the search execution user.

  A fourth modification will be described. In the above-described embodiment, the advertisement management support and the advertisement sales support for the search-linked advertisement service are executed in the terminal management apparatus 300 that manages the user terminal of the user company. In the modification, the advertisement sales support device described in the claims is not limited to the terminal management device, and may be embodied in various types of devices. For example, the above-described support for the search-linked advertising service may be executed in a search server support device that is independent of the terminal management device 300 and connected to the terminal management device 300 and the search server 200. Further, the above-described support for the search-linked advertising service may be executed in another device that manages the attribute information of each member belonging to a predetermined group. A specific example of the latter device may be a subscriber management device that manages subscriber information in an ISP (Internet Services Provider) or a cable television station. A management device may be used.

  A fifth modification will be described. In this modified example, the terminal management apparatus 300 stores management information for managing the user terminal 100, for example, a terminal ID, and various attribute information related to the user terminal including the information illustrated in FIG. May be provided. Moreover, you may provide the user attribute memory | storage part which memorize | stores user ID, the various attribute information regarding the user containing the information illustrated in FIG. 4, and terminal ID separately from a terminal attribute memory | storage part. For example, the user attribute shown in FIG. 4 may be formed by associating the record of the terminal attribute storage unit and the record of the user attribute storage unit with the terminal ID. In another modification, the terminal management apparatus 300 may include the terminal attribute storage unit and a user attribute acquisition unit that acquires user attribute information managed in an external personnel system. For example, the user attribute acquisition unit acquires specific user attribute information from the personnel system using the terminal ID as a key, and associates it with the record in the terminal attribute storage unit so that the user attribute shown in FIG. 4 is formed. Good. It should be noted that the user attributes formed in this modification may be temporarily stored in the memory of the terminal management device 300 or may be stored permanently in the auxiliary storage device.

  Any combination of the above-described embodiments and modifications is also useful as an embodiment of the present invention. The new embodiment generated by the combination has the effects of the combined embodiment and the modified examples.

  It should also be understood by those skilled in the art that the functions to be fulfilled by the constituent elements recited in the claims are realized by the individual constituent elements shown in the embodiments and the modified examples or by their linkage.

  200 Search server, 202 Setting fee storage unit, 204 Advertisement setting storage unit, 206 Setting condition reception unit, 208 Setting condition notification unit, 210 Setting fee adjustment unit, 212 Setting fee presentation unit, 214 Advertisement setting unit, 216 Advertiser information notification 218 search request accepting unit 220 provision condition notifying unit 222 search result setting unit 224 search result providing unit 300 terminal management device 302 user attribute storage unit 304 user attribute updating unit 306 communication proxy unit 310 advertisement Sales support unit, 312 adjustment value storage unit, 314 setting condition acquisition unit, 316 adjustment value notification unit, 318 advertiser information acquisition unit, 320 adjustment value update unit, 330 advertisement provision support unit, 332 provision condition acquisition unit, 334 determination unit 336 Determination result notification unit, 1000 search system

Claims (4)

Connected to a search server that associates search terms with ad set fees,
An adjustment value storage unit that stores an adjustment value for adjusting the advertisement setting fee according to the target attribute indicating the attribute information of the advertising target and a user attribute indicating the attribute information related to the user of the search server in association with each other;
When a search phrase and a target attribute are specified from an advertiser in the search server, a setting condition acquisition unit that acquires the target attribute from the search server;
An adjustment value notification unit that notifies the search server of an adjustment value corresponding to the target attribute with reference to the adjustment value storage unit in order to determine an advertisement setting fee to be presented to the advertiser;
An advertisement sales support apparatus comprising: An advertiser information acquisition unit that acquires information of an advertiser who agrees to pay for the advertisement setting fee determined according to the combination of the search term and the target attribute;
An adjustment value updating unit that updates the adjustment value stored in the adjustment value storage unit so that the advertisement setting fee determined according to the combination is adjusted to be higher as the number of advertisers is larger;
The advertisement sales support apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: A method for controlling a device connected to a search server that holds search terms and advertisement setting fees in association with each other,
The adjustment value for adjusting the advertisement setting fee according to the target attribute indicating the attribute information of the advertising target person and the user attribute indicating the attribute information related to the user of the search server are associated and stored in advance in a predetermined storage device. Steps,
Obtaining a target attribute from the search server when a search term and a target attribute are specified by the advertiser in the search server;
Notifying the search server of an adjustment value corresponding to the target attribute with reference to the storage device in order to determine an advertisement setting fee to be presented to the advertiser;
An advertisement sales support method comprising: A search server providing a search service;
An advertisement sales support device connected to the search server,
The search server
A setting fee storage unit that stores search terms and advertisement setting fees in association with each other;
A setting condition accepting unit that accepts a specification of a search term and a target attribute indicating attribute information of an advertising target from an advertiser,
A setting condition notification unit for notifying the specified target attribute to the advertising sales support device,
The advertisement sales support device includes:
An adjustment value storage unit that stores an adjustment value for adjusting an advertisement setting fee according to a target attribute and a user attribute indicating attribute information about the user of the search server in association with each other;
An adjustment value notification unit that refers to the adjustment value storage unit and notifies the search server of an adjustment value corresponding to the target attribute notified from the search server;
The search server
A setting fee adjustment unit that adjusts an advertisement setting fee associated with the search term in the setting fee storage unit according to an adjustment value notified from the advertisement sales support device;
A setting fee presenting unit for presenting the adjusted advertisement setting fee to the advertiser;
An advertising sales system further comprising:

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