JP7541738B2 - Information processing device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing device.

Conventionally, it is common to generate web pages that include link documents that contain embedded reference information for accessing content, including other web pages. In web pages generated to present search results, link documents that represent the web pages or files extracted by the search are placed. In order to determine the placement of the link documents, the content is evaluated in advance, and the higher the evaluation result, the higher the search ranking and the higher the link documents are usually placed.

Link documents are widely placed on web pages even when they are not being searched. For example, link documents may be placed on web pages as advertisements using the web page as an advertising medium. In this case, reference information to the advertiser's website is embedded in the link document. As a result, the media operator who transmits the web page on which the link document is placed can receive a reward from the advertiser when a viewer registers as a member or purchases a product on the advertiser's website via the reference information in the link document.

It is known that the click rate of a link document tends to be higher the higher it is placed. However, the reality is that it is difficult to create content that is highly rated. For this reason, some methods allow advertisers to specify a bid amount as the unit price for placing a link document, and the higher the specified bid amount, the higher the display ranking of the link document (see, for example, Patent Document 1). By allowing advertisers to specify any bid amount, they can manipulate the display ranking of link documents through the bid amount, regardless of whether or not a search is being performed.

JP 2008-204486 A

When the display order of linked documents is determined according to the bid amount specified by the advertiser, the advertiser can manipulate the display order of linked documents through the bid amount regardless of whether a search is being performed or not. However, there is no guarantee that the quality of the content accessible through the reference information embedded in a linked document with a high bid amount, or the products, etc. introduced by that content, are highly likely to be desirable to the viewer.

If a link document that is undesirable to the viewer is displayed at a high ranking, the viewer will need to spend more time searching for a link document that is deemed useful. This will likely result in a decrease in convenience for the viewer. On the other hand, for advertisers, this means that even if they specify a high bid amount, they will not necessarily get the results they are looking for.

Therefore, the present invention aims to provide an information processing device etc. capable of generating a web page that can satisfy the requirements of advertisers while minimizing the decrease in convenience for viewers.

The first aspect of the present invention relates to an information processing device that includes a first information acquisition means capable of acquiring, as information, a linked document in which reference information for accessing first information is embedded, the first information being registered by a customer and enabling the customer to be billed for a set amount when a set condition that is made valid by transmission via a network is satisfied; a second information acquisition means capable of acquiring, as information, the number of times that the set condition is satisfied counted for each piece of first information; a ranking determination means that determines the priority of placement of each linked document on a Web page in which a plurality of linked documents are placed and that is sent to a terminal used by a user, using the set amount of each piece of first information and the number of times counted for each piece of first information; and a page generation means that acquires each linked document by the first information acquisition means, and generates a Web page in which each acquired linked document is placed according to the priority determined by the ranking determination means.

A second aspect of the present invention relates to an information processing device that includes an information acquisition means for acquiring, for each piece of first information in which a set condition that is enabled by transmission over a network is satisfied based on reference information embedded in a linked document registered by a customer, and thereby enabling a set amount to be charged to the customer, as information on the number of times a set condition is satisfied and the set amount, and assuming that multiple linked documents are placed on a web page, a ranking determination means for determining a priority order for placement among multiple linked documents using the number of times and the set amount for each piece of first information.

The present invention can provide an information processing device and the like capable of generating a web page that can satisfy the needs of advertisers while minimizing the decline in convenience for viewers.

1 is a diagram illustrating an overview of an example of a service provided by a Web server according to an embodiment of the information processing device of the present invention. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a system constructed for providing services by a Web server according to an embodiment of an information processing device of the present invention, and a network environment to which the system is connected. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration of a Web server according to an embodiment of the information processing device of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing an example of a functional configuration realized on a Web server according to an embodiment of the information processing device of the present invention; FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of member information. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of publication management information. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of DL management information; 13 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a process for transmitting a web page with a linked document arrangement. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a priority order determination process. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a DL monitoring process.

Below, a description will be given of an embodiment of the present invention with reference to the drawings. Note that this is merely an example, and the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to this example. The technical scope of the present invention also includes various modified examples.

Figure 1 is a diagram outlining an example of a service provided by a web server according to an embodiment of the information processing device of the present invention.

The web server is an information processing device that is installed by the sales support service company SC for the purpose of providing this service, or is provided by a cloud service provider. Here, we will focus on the sales support service company SC and explain this service in detail.

The sales support service company SC has partner companies CC as its customers. These partner companies CC are advertisers who place advertisements for the sales support service company SC. The sales support service company SC provides partner companies CC that have registered as customers with information about organizations or individuals that are desirable for the partner companies CC to do business with. The sales support service company SC provides the organizations or individuals with information that is advertisements for considering desirable partner companies CC. In this way, the sales support service company SC provides a forum for connecting partner companies CC and organizations or individuals, and provides services to both partner companies CC and organizations or individuals.

Specific examples of organizations include companies, educational institutions, government agencies, various associations, etc. The sales support service company SC provides services to organizations or individuals who have registered as members M. To avoid confusion, hereafter, organizations or individuals with whom the affiliated company CC does business will be collectively referred to as members M. Members M, who are users of the services provided by the sales support service company SC, are the main intended viewers of advertisements from the affiliated company CC.

An affiliate company CC is, for example, a company that owns advertising media in which it places advertisements or that is able to use advertising media. Companies that assist in creating advertisements to be placed on advertising media are also included in the affiliate company CC. Also included in the affiliate company CC are companies that hold various seminars. To avoid confusion, from here on, unless otherwise specified, we will only consider affiliate companies CC that own advertising media.

In this scenario, partner company CC will request sales support service company SC to place its own advertisements for member M, who will place advertisements in the advertising media that it owns. Among members M, it will mainly be marketers who will actually view the advertisements of partner company CC. To avoid confusion between advertisements by member M and advertisements by partner company CC, hereafter information for advertisements by partner company CC will be referred to as "media materials MM."

This media material MM is content that, for example, summarizes details of the services provided by the partner company CC and the benefits that can be obtained by those services. The advertisements that member M requests partner company CC to publish are intended to publicize, for example, the products or services provided by member M, and encourage organizations or individuals to purchase those products or use those services.

The medium material MM is intended for downloading (DL). This is because the amount of information in the medium material MM is relatively large, so it takes time to review the entirety of it, and it is expected that the medium material MM will be viewed repeatedly while the information is being reviewed. Another reason is that, because the medium material MM is saved on the terminal used by member M or on a recording medium accessible by that terminal when downloaded, it can be expected that member M will download the medium material MM that he or she expects to find more useful.

As shown in FIG. 1, when the sales support service company SC registers a medium material MM, the sales support service company SC also registers a link document LD and a detail page DP to the affiliated company CC. The link document LD is a content in which two pieces of reference information for accessing, for example, the detail page DP and the medium material MM, are embedded. More specifically, the link document LD is a content that includes, for example, text, as well as one or more images. The detail page DP is a content that has a larger amount of information than the link document LD and in which reference information to the medium material MM is embedded. More specifically, the detail page DP is a content that includes, for example, text with a larger amount of information than the link document LD and more images than the link document LD. The reference information is embedded in, for example, one or more images, or one or more pieces of text. The image may be a button in which the reference information is embedded. The arrows shown between the link document LD, the detail page DP, and the medium material MM indicate the access destinations based on the embedded reference information. The reference information to the medium material MM corresponds to "reference information" in this embodiment, and the reference information to the details page corresponds to "other reference information" in this embodiment.

The link document LD is, for example, a part of the details page DP, or was created by extracting part of its contents. The medium material MM is content that contains more text and more images than the details page DP, for example. As a result, in terms of the amount of information between them, the medium material MM has the greatest amount of information, the details page DP has the next greatest amount, and the link document LD has the least. Hereinafter, the link document LD, details page DP, and medium material MM will be collectively referred to as "published materials." Published materials is also used to mean one or more of them.

The sales support service company SC prepares multiple plans and allows the partner company CC requesting registration of media material MM to select a plan. The "Type" shown in Figure 1 is information indicating the type of plan selected by the partner company CC. There are two selectable plans, for example, a free plan and a paid plan. A partner company CC that selects a paid plan must set a bid amount, which is the unit price for one download of media material MM by one member M. When the media material MM is registered, this is sent to the sales support service company SC as plan information PI.

The reason why the partner company CC is required to select a plan for each medium material MM to be registered is because the partner company CC may wish to register multiple medium materials MM with different positioning, for example, different attributes of the target members M. For example, the partner company CC may wish to change the plan depending on the medium material MM, such as using a free plan for the registration of medium material MM that is relatively unimportant, and a paid plan for the registration of medium material MM that is considered important.

The sales support service company SC stores the medium material MM, detail page DP, and link document LD that are requested to be registered by the partner company CC, and embeds the necessary reference information in the detail page DP and link document LD. This enables access to the detail page DP and medium material MM from the link document LD, and access to the medium material MM from the detail page DP.

The sales support service company SC assigns keywords to the registered media material MM. These keywords enable the member M to perform the search he desires, as well as to selectively display link documents LD by various classifications. Items of the various classifications include category, which is a classification according to the type of advertising medium or information published in the advertising medium, target, which is a classification according to the subject of the advertisement, purpose, which is a classification according to the intention of publishing the advertisement, fee type, which is a classification for billing purposes, and so on. The classification to which the registered media material MM falls can be specified by the affiliate company CC.

The sales support service company SC generates a Web page WP in which a link document LD is arranged, thereby enabling a member M who browses the Web page WP to transmit a desired details page DP or to download a medium material MM.
The link document LD to be arranged on the Web page WP is specified from the assigned keywords. Therefore, in this embodiment, the medium material MM is not evaluated in advance.

The sales support service company SC generates and transmits a Web page WP in which a link document LD specified by the content specified by the member M is placed. This allows the sales support service company SC to more easily and quickly download the media material MM desired by the member M.

Before downloading the medium material MM, the member M can review the medium material MM to be downloaded through the link document LD and further the details page DP. Therefore, the member M who has downloaded the medium material MM can be regarded as a potential customer who is more likely to conclude a contract with the partner company CC that has registered the medium material MM. As a result, in this embodiment, the member information of the member M can be provided to the partner company CC that has registered the medium material MM downloaded by the member M. In this way, the sales support service company SC supports the partner company CC and the member M in conducting more desirable business more easily.

As described above, the member M who has downloaded the medium material MM is highly likely to be a good prospective customer for the affiliated company CC that has registered the medium material MM. On the other hand, from the member M's perspective, the more downloaded medium material MM is, the higher the probability that the value of the medium material MM is high. This is because it can be assumed that the better the service an affiliated company CC provides, the more likely it is that the medium material MM posted by that affiliated company CC will be downloaded. When using such an affiliated company CC, it can be expected that advertisements can be presented to more organizations or individuals. Also, it is expected that affiliated companies CC that strongly desire information about prospective customers will select a paid plan and set a higher bid amount. For these reasons, in this embodiment, the priority order in the placement of the link document LD placed on the Web page WP is determined according to the bid amount and the number of downloads (DL). By determining the placement of the link document LD in this way, it is possible to meet the needs of the affiliated company CC that has registered the medium material MM while allowing the member M to easily and quickly download the medium material MM that he or she desires.

In the example shown in Figure 1, the priority order between the link documents LDA to LDC registered by the three partner companies A to C is as follows: first, that is, the highest priority, is the link document LDA of company A, second is the link document LDB of company B, and third is the link document LDC of company C. Therefore, the link document LDA of company A is placed at the top of the web page WP, where it is most easily visible to member M.

Affiliate companies CC that have registered a medium material MM with a large number of downloads can expect to obtain member information about many potential customers while keeping the bid amount low. For this reason, there are advantages for both the member M and the affiliate company CC if the placement of the link document LD on the web page WP is determined taking into account the number of downloads in addition to the bid amount.

The first information is information that allows a set amount to be charged to a customer when a set condition that is valid when transmitted over a network is satisfied. In this embodiment, the medium material MM corresponds to the first information. The sales support service company SC charges the partner company CC the bid amount as a unit price for downloading the medium material MM, that is, when it is transmitted over a network. For this reason, in this embodiment, the downloading of the medium material MM, that is, the transmission of the first information, corresponds to the satisfaction of the set condition, and the set amount that can be charged when the set condition is satisfied corresponds to the bid amount. However, the satisfaction of the set condition and the set amount are not limited to this example.

For example, the first information accessible by the reference information embedded in the link document LD may be a web page transmitted by another website. More specifically, the first information may be a web page for purchasing a product or applying for a service. The application for the service may be an application for a seminar, a trip, use of various facilities, or various activities, etc. For this reason, the first information is not limited to being something to be downloaded and saved. The link document LD and the details page DP may be created according to the first information.

On the other hand, the setting condition may be one that becomes effective by the transmission of the first information over the network. Therefore, the establishment of the setting condition may be a click operation on reference information embedded in the link document LD for accessing the first information. Since the first information is transmitted over the network by the click operation, the operation by the viewer of the web page that causes the transmission of the first information may be regarded as the establishment of the setting condition.

The fulfillment of the set condition may also be membership registration, product purchase, or application to participate in a seminar or the like via a web page transmitted by another website. Since all of these are actions by a viewer of a web page that presuppose the transmission of the web page, which is the first information, they can be set as set conditions. The set amount may be a fee for purchasing a product or applying for a service. In this way, various things can be used as the first information, and the set condition and set amount can be determined according to the first information used.

The following describes in detail how to implement this service, as illustrated in Figure 1, with reference to Figures 2 to 10.

Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a system constructed for providing services by a web server according to an embodiment of the information processing device of the present invention, and a network environment to which the system is connected.

In this system, a Web server 1 according to this embodiment and a DB (Data Base) server 2 are connected, for example, via a LAN (Local Area Network), and one Web site 3 is realized. Note that the Web server 1 and the DB server 2 may be installed by the sales support service company SC as described above, but may also be provided by a cloud service.

The Web server 1 is connected to a network N. Therefore, the Web server 1 can provide services to users who use, as terminals, information processing devices capable of communicating via the network N. In FIG. 2, corporate terminals 4-1 to 4-K are shown as terminals used by the partner company CC. Similarly, member terminals 5-1 to 5-L are shown as terminals used by a member M. When there is no particular need to specify, the term "corporate terminal 4" is used as a general term for the corporate terminals 4-1 to 4-K. Similarly, the term "member terminal 5" is used as a general term for the member terminals 5-1 to 5-L. There are no particular limitations on the types of corporate terminal 4 and member terminal 5.

Figure 3 is a block diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of a web server according to an embodiment of the information processing device of the present invention. Next, with reference to Figure 3, a specific example of the hardware configuration of web server 1 will be described.

The web server 1 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 12, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 13, a bus 14, an input/output interface 15, an output unit 16, an input unit 17, a memory unit 18, two communication units 19 and 20, and a drive 21.

The CPU 11 executes various processes according to programs recorded in the ROM 12 or programs loaded from the storage unit 18 to the RAM 13. An application program that causes the Web server 1 to function is stored, for example, in the storage unit 18. By the CPU 11 executing the application program, the Web server 1 can transmit information in response to various requests to the company terminal 4 and the member terminal 5.
The RAM 13 also stores data and the like necessary for the CPU 11 to execute various processes, including various programs executed by the CPU 11.

The CPU 11, ROM 12, and RAM 13 are interconnected via a bus 14. An input/output interface 15 is also connected to this bus 14. An output unit 16, an input unit 17, a memory unit 18, two communication units 19 and 20, and a drive 21 are connected to the input/output interface 15.

The output unit 16 includes a display such as a liquid crystal display, etc. The output unit 16 displays various images under the control of the CPU 11.
The input unit 17 includes various hardware buttons such as a keyboard, etc. Thus, the operator can input various information via the input unit 17.

The storage unit 18 is, for example, a hard disk device or an auxiliary storage device such as a solid state drive (SSD), etc. Data with a large amount of data is stored in the storage unit 18.
The communication unit 19 enables communication with the company terminal 4 and the member terminal 5 via the network N. The communication unit 20 enables communication with the DB server 2. Hereinafter, to avoid confusion, the communication unit 19 will be referred to as the "terminal communication unit 19" and the communication unit 20 will be referred to as the "DB communication unit 20."

The drive 21 is provided as necessary. Removable media 31, such as a magnetic disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, or semiconductor memory card, can be attached to the drive 21. When removable media 31 on which a program is recorded is attached to the drive 21, the program can be stored in the storage unit 18. In addition, the removable media 31 can be used as a destination to which various data stored in the storage unit 18 is copied or moved.

By controlling the hardware resources of the Web server 1 with various programs, the Web server 1 can provide services to the affiliated company CC and the member M. The various programs include an OS (Operating System) and application programs developed for providing the services. The various processes described below are realized by running the application programs on the OS.

The DB server 2 can have basically the same hardware configuration as the Web server 1. Therefore, a detailed explanation will be omitted here. However, it is preferable to use a DB server 2 that is equipped with large-capacity storage or is connected to such storage.

The company terminal 4 and the member terminal 5 may be, for example, a general personal computer (PC), a smartphone, or a tablet PC. For this reason, detailed explanations of the company terminal 4 and the member terminal 5 will be omitted.

Figure 4 is a functional block diagram showing an example of a functional configuration realized on a web server according to an embodiment of the information processing device of the present invention. Next, the functional configuration realized on the web server 1 will be described in detail with reference to Figure 4.

On the CPU 11 of the Web server 1, as shown in FIG. 4, the functional configuration includes a request analysis unit 111, a member information management unit 112, an affiliated company information management unit 113, a posted material management unit 114, a DL monitoring unit 115, a counting unit 116, an information writing unit 117, an information acquisition unit 118, a DL execution unit 119, a priority determination unit 120, and a page generation unit 121. All of these functional components are realized by the CPU 11 executing the OS and application programs. As a result, on the memory unit 18, a member information storage unit 181, an affiliated company information storage unit 182, a posted management information storage unit 183, and a DL management information storage unit 184 are secured as information storage areas. On the memory unit 200 of the DB server 2, a posted material storage unit 201 is secured as a storage area for posted materials. This memory unit 200 is, for example, one or more large-capacity storage devices.

The company terminal 4 and the member terminal 5 make requests to the Web server 1 in response to click operations on the displayed Web page WP. The requests are received by the terminal communication unit 19 and input to the CPU 11. The request analysis unit 111 has a function of analyzing the input request and performing control according to the analysis results. When a member registration request is sent from the member terminal 5, the request analysis unit 111 recognizes the type of request and passes the member information sent with the registration request to the member information management unit 112, and instructs it to save the member information. As a result, the member information management unit 112 stores the member information passed from the request analysis unit 111 in the member information storage unit 181.

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of member information.
As shown in Fig. 5, the member information includes the member ID (IDentifier), company name, company URL (Uniform Resource Locator), location, department name, person in charge name, telephone number, email address, responsibility category, and job title. The organization or individual who registers as a member is required to input member information of this type, on the premise that it will be provided to the partner company CC. In this way, the sales support service company SC can provide the partner company CC with the member information of member M, who is a potential customer.

The member ID in the member information is identification information that allows member M to be uniquely identified. This member ID is automatically determined and added by the member information management unit 112.

A company wishing to register as an affiliated company CC can input the necessary information on the web page WP and request affiliated company registration, similar to member registration. When an affiliated company registration request is sent from the company terminal 4 in this way, the request is received by the terminal communication unit 19 and input to the CPU 11. As a result, the request analysis unit 111 passes the affiliated company information to the affiliated company information management unit 113 and instructs it to be saved. As a result, the affiliated company information management unit 113 stores the affiliated company information sent together with the affiliated company registration request in the affiliated company information storage unit 182.

The affiliated company information includes a company ID that allows the affiliated company CC to be uniquely identified. This company ID is automatically determined by the affiliated company information management unit 113 and added to the affiliated company information. A detailed explanation of the affiliated company information is omitted.

The partner company CC can use the company terminal 4 to request the Web server 1 to register the link document LD, the details page DP, and the medium material MM as posted materials. This request, i.e., a posted material registration request, is sent from the company terminal 4 together with the posted materials and the plan information PI, for example, and is received by the terminal communication unit 19.

The published material registration request and the published material received by the terminal communication unit 19 are input to the CPU 11. If the request analysis unit 111 identifies the request as a published material registration request, it instructs the published material management unit 114 to register and manage the published material, passes the published material to the information writing unit 117, and instructs it to save the published material.

When the published material management unit 114 is instructed by the request analysis unit 111 to perform registration management, it generates publication management information for managing the published materials and stores the generated publication management information in the publication management information storage unit 183. The plan information PI passed from the request analysis unit 111 is used as part of the publication management information.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining an example of the configuration of the publication management information.
As shown in FIG. 6, the posting management information includes information such as material ID, company ID, posted keyword, plan type, bid amount, budget amount, total number of downloads, link document URL, detail page URL, medium material URL, and registration date.

The material ID is identification information that allows the posted material to be uniquely identified. This material ID is determined by the posted material management unit 114. The company ID is a company ID assigned to the affiliated company CC that requested the registration of the posted material.

The posting keywords are information that specifies the Web page WP on which the link document LD of the posted material is placed, and include one or more keywords. The keywords to be used as posting keywords can be selected by the affiliated company CC that registers the posted material.

As examples of plan types, "0" and "1" represent a free plan and a paid plan, respectively. Partner companies CC who select the free plan do not need to specify a bid amount or budget amount. Therefore, there is no information on the bid amount or budget amount. "NULL" indicates that no information exists.

As described above, when a member M downloads the medium material MM, the sales support service company SC requests a remuneration of the bid amount from the affiliated company CC that registered the medium material MM. As a result, if the number of members M who downloaded the medium material MM is N, the sales support service company SC requests the affiliated company CC to pay the amount calculated by multiplying the bid amount by N as remuneration. For this reason, the sales support service company SC allows the affiliated company CC to specify the upper limit of the amount to be paid as remuneration. This upper limit of the amount is the budget amount. It is also possible to select no upper limit for the budget amount. Note that in this embodiment, the link document LD of a posted material for which the finalized request amount has reached the budget amount is excluded from viewing by the member M.

On the other hand, for partner companies CC who select a paid plan, input of the bid amount and budget amount is required. Therefore, the plan information PI includes the plan type, bid amount, and budget amount.

The total number of downloads is the total number of times the medium material MM has been downloaded. Its initial value is 0. This total number of downloads is added by the published material management unit 114.

The link document URL, detail page URL, and medium material URL are information indicating the storage destinations of the link document LD, detail page DP, and medium material MM, respectively. The published material management unit 114 determines the storage destinations of the link document LD, detail page DP, and medium material MM sent as published materials, and generates the link document URL, detail page URL, and medium material URL. The generated link document URL, detail page URL, and medium material URL are all passed to the information writing unit 117.

The information writing unit 117 embeds the details page URL and the medium material URL as two pieces of reference information for the link document LD that the request analysis unit 111 has instructed it to save. As reference information for the details page DP, it embeds the medium material URL. The information writing unit 117 then requests the DB server 2 via the DB communication unit 20 to save the link document LD, details page DP, and medium material MM in the locations specified by the link document URL, details page URL, and medium material URL, respectively. As a result, the DB server 2 stores the link document LD, details page DP, and medium material MM in the published material storage unit 201 secured in the memory unit 200.

The registration date in the posting management information indicates the date on which the posted material was registered. This registration date is also added by the posted material management unit 114.

The DL monitoring unit 115 monitors the downloading of the medium material MM and updates information related to the download. The total number of DLs in each piece of publication management information stored in the publication management information storage unit 183 is updated by the DL monitoring unit 115. In addition, the addition of DL management information saved in the DL management information storage unit 184 is also performed by the DL monitoring unit 115.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of DL management information.
As shown in FIG. 7, the DL management information includes information on the material ID, the member ID, and the DL date.

The material ID is the material ID assigned to the downloaded medium material MM. The member ID is the member ID of the member M who downloaded the medium material MM to which the material ID is assigned. The DL date is the date on which the medium material MM was downloaded.

DL management information configured in this manner is added to the DL management information storage unit 184 when member M downloads medium material MM for the first time. DL management information is also added when member M downloads the same medium material MM again after a set period has elapsed since member M first downloaded the medium material MM.

In this way, in this embodiment, the sales support service company SC does not request compensation for any downloads of the same medium material MM that are made between the time the medium material MM is downloaded and the time the set period has elapsed. This is because there is a possibility that a member M may mistakenly delete the downloaded medium material MM, or may become unable to locate where the medium material MM is stored.

As mentioned above, it is assumed that a certain amount of time is required to review the medium material MM. During that period, due to the above-mentioned possibilities, it is considered relatively likely that the same member M will download the same medium material MM multiple times. For these reasons, in this embodiment, the set period is set taking into consideration the period required to review the medium material MM, and a reward is not sought for the second or subsequent downloads of the same medium material MM within the set period. As a result, a download that is valid for seeking the bid amount as a reward is either the first download of medium material MM for member M, or a download of the same medium material MM that is not within the set period. In line with this, the DL date in the DL management information is the date on which the valid download occurred.

By setting such a set period, it is not necessary to charge the affiliated company CC an amount according to the number of downloads of the same medium material MM during the set period. In other words, it is possible to charge the affiliated company CC an amount according to the number of members M who can be considered potential customers, rather than the number of times the medium material MM has been downloaded. As a result, the affiliated company CC only needs to pay an amount according to the number of members M who can be considered potential customers, effectively avoiding making unnecessary payments. There are such advantages to setting a set period. A specific set period could be around three months.

The counting unit 116 refers to the DL management information stored in the DL management information storage unit 184 and counts the number of downloads for each medium material MM. In this embodiment, a counting period is set, and the number of downloads for each medium material MM from the day when the counting is performed until the day before the counting period is counted is counted.

As described above, the number of DLs is used to determine the priority of the placement of the link documents LD placed on the web page WP. In this embodiment, a score is calculated using the number of DLs and the bid amount, and the higher the score, the higher the priority.

The number of downloads tends to be higher the earlier the registration date of the posted material. However, the number of downloads per unit period is not always constant. It may change depending on the situation. There may be a medium material MM that was downloaded by a relatively large number of members M at one time. For this reason, in this embodiment, a counting period is set so that a score that more strongly reflects the current situation can be calculated. This makes it easier and faster for members M to find more desirable link documents LD. For affiliated companies CC, by registering medium materials MM that are useful to members M, they can obtain information on more potential members M while keeping payment amounts down.

The counting period is not particularly limited, but may be, for example, about one week. The counting period may be set taking into consideration the overall download frequency of the medium material MM and the tendency for this frequency to change, or alternatively, the type of medium material MM, the average interval between the registration of a published material and the registration of the next published material, etc.

As described above, the first information may be a web page sent by another website accessible by reference information embedded in the link document LD. The fulfillment of the set condition may be the purchase of a product on that web page or the application for a service. The set amount may be a fee for the purchase of a product or the application for a service. For this reason, the counting unit 116 is not necessarily a required functional element. In other words, the number of times the set condition has been fulfilled may be information obtained from outside. Similarly, the set amount may also be information obtained from outside.

The score is calculated by the priority determination unit 120. When a request to transmit a Web page WP in which multiple link documents LD are placed is transmitted from the member terminal 5, the request analysis unit 111 instructs the published material management unit 114, the counting unit 116, and the priority determination unit 120 to identify the link documents LD to be placed and to determine the placement of each link document LD. The request analysis unit 111 instructs the page generation unit 121 to generate a Web page WP in which the identified link documents LD are placed in the determined positions. The Web page WP generated in this manner is transmitted to the member terminal 5 via the terminal communication unit 19 and further via the network N.

In this case, the published material management unit 114 refers to the published material management information and identifies the material ID of the link document LD to be placed, dividing it into paid plans and free plans. For the link document LD of the paid plan, the bid amount and budget amount are also identified. The counting unit 116 counts the number of downloads of the medium material MM during the measurement period for each material ID identified by the published material management unit 114.

The priority determination unit 120 calculates a score for each material ID, dividing it into paid plans and free plans. For paid plans, the score is calculated using the number of downloads and the bid amount as described above. Among the material IDs for paid plans, those for which the total payment amount has reached the budget amount are excluded from the target for score calculation in order to avoid billing for an amount exceeding the budget amount. As a result, the page generation unit 121 generates a Web page WP in which only the link document LD to be placed is placed according to the determined priority order, dividing it into paid plans and free plans. The linked document LD to be placed is obtained from the DB server 2 by the information acquisition unit 118 via the DB communication unit 20 when the published material management unit 114 specifies the link document URL to the information acquisition unit 118, and is passed to the page generation unit 121.

The method of determining the priority order for the linked document LDs in the free plan is not particularly limited, but for example, the priority order of each linked document LD may be determined so that the arrangement changes dynamically and cyclically. When the priority order is determined in this way, each linked document LD can be treated fairly.

When a request to download medium material MM is made from the member terminal 5, the request analysis unit 111 passes the medium material URL sent together with the request to the information acquisition unit 118, and instructs it to acquire the medium material MM from the DB server 2. As a result, the information acquisition unit 118 acquires the medium material MM stored in the location specified by the medium material URL from the DB server 2, and passes the acquired medium material MM to the DL execution unit 119. As a result, the DL execution unit 119 transmits the medium material MM passed from the information acquisition unit 118 via the terminal communication unit 19. Meanwhile, the member terminal 5 stores the transmitted medium material MM in the storage location specified by the member M.

The partner company CC can use the company terminal 4 to request the sales support service company SC to provide the member information of the member M who has downloaded the medium material MM. Here, the request can be made by specifying a period.

In this case, the request analysis unit 111 passes, for example, a period and a material ID to the DL monitoring unit 115, and causes the DL monitoring unit 115 to extract the member ID of the member M who has downloaded the medium material MM to which that material ID is assigned. The DL monitoring unit 115 extracts this member ID by referring to the DL management information stored in the DL management information storage unit 184. More specifically, the DL monitoring unit 115 extracts, from all DL management information, DL management information that has the passed material ID and a DL date within that period.

The extracted member ID is passed to the member information management unit 112 via, for example, the request analysis unit 111, and the member information management unit 112 is instructed to extract member information having that member ID. The member information management unit 112 passes the extracted member information to the page generation unit 121. As a result, the page generation unit 121 generates a web page WP that places the member information passed from the member information management unit 112, and sends the generated web page WP to the company terminal 4 via the terminal communication unit 19. As a result, the affiliated company CC can contact the member M who has downloaded the medium material MM as a potential customer for sales purposes.

Hereinafter, various processes realized by the CPU 11 executing the above application programs will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.
8 is a flow chart showing an example of a process for transmitting a Web page with a linked document arranged therein. This process is for transmitting to the member terminal 5, in response to a request from the member terminal 5, a Web page WP in which the linked document LD desired by the member M is arranged. Execution of this process realizes part of the functions of the request analysis unit 111, the published material management unit 114, the counting unit 116, the information acquisition unit 118, the priority determination unit 120, and the page generation unit 121. Here, it is assumed that the CPU 11 is the entity that executes the process.

First, in step S1, the CPU 11 refers to the posting management information stored in the posting management information storage unit 183 and identifies the posting materials that correspond to the request from the member terminal 5. In the following step S2, the CPU 11 extracts posting materials for paid plans from the identified posting materials. At this time, posting materials for which the total confirmed payment amount has reached the budget amount are excluded. As a result, the only posting materials extracted are those to be placed on the web page WP.

Next, in step S3, the CPU 11 executes a priority determination process to determine the placement priority of the extracted posted materials for the paid plans. In the next step S4, the CPU 11 determines the placement priority of the extracted posted materials for the free plans. Then, the process proceeds to step S5.

In step S5, the CPU 11 acquires the link documents LD of the extracted posted materials from the DB server 2, and generates a web page WP in which the link documents LD are arranged according to the determined priority order, dividing them into paid plans and free plans. In the next step S6, the CPU 11 transmits the generated web page WP via the terminal communication unit 19. Thereafter, this web page transmission process ends. By executing this web page transmission process, the sales support service company SC can generate a web page WP as shown in FIG. 1 and allow the member M to view it.

Figure 9 is a flowchart showing an example of the priority determination process executed as step S3 above. Next, this determination process will be described in detail with reference to Figure 9. In this determination process, only materials published for paid plans are subject to priority determination. Execution of this determination process realizes part of the priority determination unit 120.

First, in step S11, the CPU 11 counts the number of downloads for each published material within the counting period. As described above, this counting of the number of downloads is actually performed by counting the number of pieces of DL management information for each material ID whose download date falls within the counting period.

In the next step S12, the CPU 11 selects one posting as a target for calculating the score. In the next step S13, the CPU 11 determines a correction value α according to the bid amount in the selected posting. In the next step S14, the CPU 11 calculates a score using the bid amount of the selected posting, the determined correction value α, and the counted number of DLs. The score is calculated, for example, using the following formula:
Score = (bid amount - α) x (number of downloads + 1) (1)

The value of 1 added to the number of downloads is set because there is a high possibility that no downloads have been made to posted materials immediately after registration. By setting this value, the score value can be changed depending on the bid amount. In addition, the correction value α is a variable prepared to mitigate the impact of the bid amount on the score and to increase the degree to which the number of downloads affects the score. Using formula (1) that uses these values, a score that more appropriately reflects the bid amount and the number of downloads can be calculated. This can prevent affiliated companies CC from setting bid amounts that exceed an amount considered appropriate in order to raise the priority of linked documents LD. Note that the method of calculating the score is not limited to formula (1).

In step S15 following step S14, the CPU 11 determines whether there are any published materials for which the score has not been calculated. If there are any published materials for which the score has not been calculated, the determination in step S15 becomes YES and the process returns to step S12 above. As a result, another published material for which the score has not been calculated is selected. On the other hand, if there are no published materials for which the score has not been calculated, the determination in step S15 becomes NO and the process moves to step S16.

In step S16, the CPU 11 determines whether there are any published documents with the same score. If the same score has been calculated for multiple published documents, the determination in step S16 becomes YES and the process moves to step S17. If the scores calculated for each published document are all different, the determination in step S16 becomes NO and the process moves to step S18.

In step S17, the CPU 11 determines the priority order between the published materials with the same score. In determining the priority order, for example, the CPU 11 may focus on the registration date and give a higher priority to the material registered later. Alternatively, the CPU 11 may focus on the situation in which downloads were performed within a set period and give a higher priority to the material with a tendency to be downloaded more frequently.

In step S18 following step S17, the CPU 11 determines the priority order between the listed materials for the paid plans. For listed materials with the same score, the score is manipulated, for example, so that it does not match the scores before and after it. After the priority order, i.e., score, of each listed material is thus determined, the priority order determination process ends.

In this way, the priority of the link document LD of the paid plan placed on the web page WP is determined using the bid amount and the number of DLs. As a result, the higher the bid amount and the larger the number of DLs, the more easily the link document LD will be placed in a position on the web page WP that is easier to see.

Figure 10 is a flowchart showing an example of DL monitoring processing. Finally, the DL monitoring processing will be described in detail with reference to Figure 10. This DL monitoring processing is processing that is executed by downloading the medium material MM. By executing this DL monitoring processing, part of the DL monitoring unit 115 is realized.

First, in step S21, the CPU 11 searches the DL management information stored in the DL management information storage unit 184 using the material ID of the downloaded medium material MM and the member ID of the member M who downloaded the medium material MM.

In the next step S22, the CPU 11 determines whether or not there is DL management information with the same member ID among the DL management information identified by the search. If member M downloads the medium material MM again, the DL management information with the material ID and member ID used in the search is stored in the DL management information storage unit 184. Therefore, in this case, the determination in step S22 is YES and the process proceeds to step S23. On the other hand, if the downloaded medium material MM is the first one that member M has downloaded, the determination in step S22 is NO and the process proceeds to step S24.

In step S23, the CPU 11 refers to the DL date in the existing DL management information having the material ID used in the search and the member ID, and determines whether member M has downloaded within the set period. If member M downloads the same medium material MM again before the set period has elapsed after a download that treats member M as a potential customer, DL management information having a DL date within the set period is stored in the DL management information storage unit 184. Therefore, the determination in step S23 is YES, and the DL monitoring process ends here. On the other hand, if the download was performed again after the set period had elapsed since the download that treated member M as a potential customer, the determination in step S23 is NO, and the process moves to step S24.

In step S24, the CPU 11 generates DL management information that includes the material ID and member ID used in the search, and today as the DL date, and adds it to the DL management information storage unit 184. In the following step S25, the CPU 11 updates the total number of DLs in the posting management information that has the material ID used in the search, among the posting management information stored in the posting management information storage unit 183, by incrementing it. Thereafter, the DL monitoring process ends.

In this way, new DL management information is stored in the DL management information storage unit 184 as necessary when the medium material MM is downloaded. When new DL management information is stored, the total number of DLs in the publication management information of that medium material MM is also updated. As a result, for medium material MM to which a paid plan is applied, a link document LD is placed on the web page WP within the range that does not reach the budget amount. Also, by referring to the DL management information stored in the DL management information storage unit 184, it is possible to count the number of valid DLs that have been performed within a specified period.

In this embodiment, the Web server 1 transmits the medium material MM, which is the first information, and the Web server 1 counts the number of downloads of the medium material MM, but the counting may be performed by another information processing device. For example, the Web server 1 obtains the medium material MM to be downloaded from the DB server 2, so the DB server 2 may count the number of downloads, and the Web server 1 may obtain the counting result. In other words, the number of downloads may not be obtained by actually having the counting unit 116 count it, but may be obtained by the information acquisition unit 118 or the like. Also, when the reference information of the link document LD allows access to a Web page transmitted by another Web server, the other Web server or an information processing device capable of obtaining information from that Web server may perform the counting. In other words, the Web server 1 may be able to obtain the counting result as information. In that case, the Web server 1 may also be able to obtain the set amount that can be claimed when the set condition is met. In the functional configuration example shown in FIG. 4, the number of DLs and the set amount can be obtained by, for example, the request analysis unit 111.

In addition, although the calculation of the score for determining the priority order is performed when the web page WP in which the link document LD is placed is transmitted, it does not necessarily have to be performed at that timing. In the case where the counting of the number of DLs is limited to the counting period, for example, the score may be calculated for all published materials at a set time in a day, and the score of the downloaded published material may be updated each time a valid download is performed thereafter. In such a case, the score of the medium material MM from which a valid download has been performed may be updated within the DL management process. Alternatively, multiple times for updating the score may be set in a day, and the scores for all published materials may be updated when those times arrive.

Also, for example, the members M may be divided into a number of categories according to the purpose of downloading the medium material MM (for introduction into the company, for sale on behalf of the company, etc.), and the priority of the posted materials (link documents LD) may be different depending on the category of the member M using the member terminal 5. Even in such a case, the present embodiment can be applied by determining the score calculation method by category. This is because, for example, information indicating the category type of the member M may be added to the member information shown in FIG. 5, and information indicating the category type may be added to the DL management information shown in FIG. 7, and the number of DLs may be counted by category of the member M. This makes it possible to determine the priority of the posted materials in a manner that targets only the members M belonging to the same category. The category may be specified at the time of member registration. However, if it is considered that the category may change depending on the posted materials, the member M may be made to select a category before transmitting the Web page WP in which the link documents LD are arranged.

When the category of member M is reflected in determining the priority order between posted materials in this way, each link document LD on the web page WP will be placed in a more desirable position for member M. This is because it is adapted to the different tendencies depending on the category of member M. As a result, member M can be expected to be able to download the media materials MM that he or she wants to download more easily and quickly. This can be expected to enable affiliated company CC to acquire more quality potential customers.

1 Web server, 2 DB server, 4, 4-1 to 4-K Company side terminal, 5, 5-1 to 5-L Member side terminal, 111 Request analysis unit, 112 Member information management unit, 113 Partner company information management unit, 114 Posted material management unit, 115 DL monitoring unit, 116 Counting unit, 117 Information writing unit, 118 Information acquisition unit, 119 DL execution unit, 120 Priority determination unit, 121 Page generation unit, 181 Member information storage unit, 182 Partner company information storage unit, 183 Posted management information storage unit, 184 DL management information storage unit.

Claims (5)

a first information acquisition means capable of acquiring, as information, a link document in which reference information for accessing first information is embedded, the first information being registered by a customer and enabling a set amount to be charged to the customer when a set condition that is made valid by transmission via a network is satisfied;
a second information acquiring means for acquiring, as information, the number of times that the set condition is satisfied, which is counted for each of the first information;
a priority determining means for determining a priority order for each of the link documents in a Web page on which the link documents are arranged and which is transmitted to a terminal used by a user, using the set amount of each of the first information and the number of times counted for each of the first information;
a page generating means for acquiring each of the linked documents by the first information acquiring means, and generating the Web page in which each of the acquired linked documents is arranged in accordance with the priority order determined by the priority determining means;
Equipped with
The customer can register the link document in which the reference information and other reference information for accessing the detail page are embedded together with a detail page in which the reference information is embedded and which has a larger amount of information than the link document;
the first information acquisition means is capable of acquiring the link document and the detail page;
the page generating means, when the detail page is designated by the other reference information, acquires the detail page by the first information acquiring means, and generates a Web page to be transmitted using the detail page;
the first information is advertising material registered by the customer for downloading to the terminal, the advertising material being used by the customer to encourage an organization or individual to purchase a product or use a service;
the number of times is incremented when the first information is downloaded, as it is determined that the setting condition is satisfied;
Information processing device. the second information acquisition means acquires the number of times the set condition is satisfied for each of the first information, limited to a predetermined counting period;
The information processing device according to claim 1 . a member information acquiring means for acquiring member information registered as a member by the user who has downloaded the first information;
an information providing means for providing the member information acquired by the member information acquiring means to the customer who has registered the first information;
The information processing device according to claim 1 , further comprising: The customer selects whether or not to charge the set amount,
The priority determination means separates the link documents into those having a set price and those not having a set price, and determines the priority order;
the page generating means generates a Web page in which only the link documents to be arranged are arranged in accordance with the determined priority order based on the link documents having a set price and the link documents not having a set price.
The information processing device according to claim 3 . The customer sets a budget for the set amount,
the priority determination means determines a priority order of the linked documents excluding the linked documents whose total payment amount of the set amount has reached the budget amount;
the page generating means generates a Web page in which only the linked documents are arranged, excluding the linked documents in which the total amount of the set amount to be paid has reached the budget amount.
The information processing device according to claim 3 .

Images