JP7761409B2 - Event server, event terminal, information processing method, and program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an event server used for events.

A known prior art system for managing visitors to an event is one that includes an invitation-bearing visitor registration subsystem that reads and registers the customer identification code of visitors who bring an invitation consisting of an ID card with a customer identification code; a new visitor registration subsystem that reads an OCR form filled out by a new visitor who does not bring an invitation and registers them in customer data, and issues and registers an ID card with a customer identification code; and a visitor data management subsystem at each exhibition booth that includes a search terminal or the like for searching for customers (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-207468 (page 1, Figure 1, etc.)

However, conventional event servers required issuing invitations with pre-assigned customer identification codes, and for new visitors, registering customers by reading forms filled out at the time of arrival using OCR, which made it difficult to accept event participation and manage event participants.

The present invention was made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide an event server etc. that can easily accept participation in an event and manage event participants.

The event server of the present invention is an event server that includes a reception information receiving unit that receives an event identifier and a business card identifier or business card information from an event terminal, a business card information acquiring unit that acquires the business card information corresponding to the business card identifier or the received business card information, and a storage unit that stores event participant information including the business card information in association with the event identifier.

This configuration makes it easy to accept participation in an event and manage event participants using business card information.

Furthermore, the event server of the present invention may be configured such that, in the event server, the business card identifier is information corresponding to a code read by the event terminal.

This configuration makes it easier to use business card information to accept participation in an event and manage event participants.

The event server of the present invention may further include a support unit that supports the exchange of business cards between two or more users for two or more pieces of business card information that satisfy predetermined conditions.

This configuration can facilitate the exchange of business cards between participants of a managed event.

The event server of the present invention may further include an event information storage unit that stores two or more pieces of event information each having one or more event attribute values in association with an event identifier; an event information acquisition unit that uses the one or more event attribute values corresponding to the event participant information stored by the storage unit and the one or more event attribute values of each of the one or more pieces of event information stored in the event information storage unit to determine an event to recommend to a user corresponding to the business card information included in the event participant information and acquires the event information for the event; and a notification unit that performs notification processing to notify the user of the event information acquired by the event information acquisition unit.

This configuration allows appropriate events to be recommended to users based on events they have participated in in the past.

The event server of the present invention may further include an advertisement determination unit that determines an advertisement to send to a user corresponding to business card information included in the event participant information using one or more advertisement attribute values of one or more advertisements stored in the advertisement storage unit and one or more event attribute values corresponding to the event participant information stored by the storage unit, and an advertisement transmission unit that performs advertisement transmission processing to send the advertisement determined by the advertisement determination unit to the user.

This configuration allows appropriate advertisements to be sent to users based on events they have previously attended.

Furthermore, in the event server of the present invention, the business card information acquisition unit may be one of two or more business card management servers, and may receive business card information corresponding to the business card identifier from the business card management server corresponding to the business card identifier.

This configuration allows multiple business card management servers to be used.

The event terminal of the present invention includes a terminal storage unit that stores an event identifier, a terminal processing unit that acquires a business card identifier, a terminal transmission unit that transmits the business card identifier to a business card management server, a terminal reception unit that receives business card information identified by the business card identifier from the business card management server, a terminal output unit that outputs the business card information, and a terminal reception unit that receives an instruction to participate in an event for a user corresponding to the business card identifier, and the terminal transmission unit may be configured to associate the business card identifier or the business card information with the event identifier and transmit it to the event server in response to receiving the instruction to participate.

This configuration allows for proper event participation registration.

According to the present invention, business card information can be used to easily accept participation in an event and manage event participants.

Block diagram of an event system according to an embodiment of the present invention. A flowchart explaining the operation of the event server A flowchart explaining the operation of the event server A flowchart explaining the operation of the event server A flowchart explaining the operation of the event server A flowchart explaining the operation of the event terminal A schematic diagram showing an example of the event system 8(a) and 8(b) are diagrams showing examples of an event information management table of the event server. FIG. 10 shows an example of a business card information management table of the event server. 10(a) to 10(d) show examples of displays on the event terminal. FIG. 10 shows an example of an event participant management table of the event server. 12(a) and 12(b) show examples of the display on the user terminal. Figure 10 shows an example of the display on the user terminal. A diagram showing the advertising management table of the event server Figure 10 shows an example of the display on the user terminal. FIG. 1 shows an example of the appearance of the computer system. FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of the computer system.

Embodiments of an event server and the like will be described below with reference to the drawings. Note that components with the same reference numerals in the embodiments perform similar operations, and therefore may not be described again.

(Embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an event system 1000 according to the present embodiment.

The event system 1000 includes an event server 1, one or more event terminals 2, one or more business card management servers 3, and one or more user terminals 4.

The event server 1 is a server that acquires information about event participants. The event terminal 2 is a terminal that supports user registration for the event. The business card management server 3 is a server that manages business card information. The user terminal 4 is a terminal used by users participating in the event.

The event server 1 and business card management server 3 may be, for example, a cloud server or an ASP server, but their type and location are not important.

The event terminal 2 and user terminal 4 may be any type of mobile device, such as a smartphone, tablet, or mobile phone, or a personal computer.

The event server 1, event terminal 2, and business card management server 3 are connected, for example, via a wired or wireless network so that information can be sent and received. Furthermore, each user terminal 4 may be connected, for example, to the event terminal 2 and each business card management server 3 via a wired or wireless network so that information can be sent and received. The user terminal 4 and event terminal 2 may also be connected via short-range wireless communication, for example.

The event server 1 includes a reception information receiving unit 101, a business card information acquisition unit 102, an event information storage unit 103, an accumulation unit 104, an event participant storage unit 105, a support unit 106, an event information acquisition unit 107, a notification unit 108, an advertisement determination unit 109, an advertisement storage unit 110, and an advertisement transmission unit 111.

The event terminal 2 includes a terminal storage unit 201, a terminal acquisition unit 202, a terminal transmission unit 203, a terminal reception unit 204, a terminal output unit 205, and a terminal reception unit 206.

The reception information receiving unit 101 receives an event identifier and a business card identifier from the event terminal 2. An event is, for example, an event or a fun event. Examples of events include seminars, lectures, meetings, conferences, exhibitions, concerts, etc. Note that the type of event is not important here. An event identifier is an identifier that identifies an event. Examples of event identifiers include the event name, event abbreviation, event ID, and character string assigned to the event. A business card identifier is an identifier that can identify a business card. Examples of business card identifiers include the business card ID and character string assigned to the business card. A business card identifier may be a user identifier such as an account, email address, or mobile phone number that can identify the user corresponding to the business card. A business card identifier may also be considered an identifier that can identify the business card information corresponding to a business card.

Business card information is information about a business card. For example, business card information may be information written on a business card, or information contained in an electronic business card. For example, business card information includes information contained in a typical business card. Business card information includes, for example, the user's name, the name of the organization to which the user belongs (for example, the name of a company or organization), the user's workplace address, the name of the department to which the user belongs, the user's job title, the user's email address, and telephone numbers of the user or the organization or corporation to which the user belongs. Business card information may include an image of the business card. The user corresponding to the business card information is, for example, the user indicated by the business card information, or the user who uses the business card corresponding to the business card information.

The reception information receiving unit 101 receives, for example, a business card identifier associated with an event identifier. The event identifier and business card identifier received by the reception information receiving unit 101 are, for example, an event identifier that identifies the event in which the user is participating and a business card identifier that identifies the user's business card. Note that the reception information receiving unit 101 may or may not receive the event identifier and business card identifier together. For example, if it is possible to determine the correspondence between the received event identifier and business card identifier, it is not necessary to receive the event identifier and business card identifier together.

The business card identifier received by the reception information receiving unit 101 is, for example, information corresponding to a code read by the event terminal 2. The code here is preferably, for example, an image code represented by an image, but may also be a code composed of a character string. The image code is typically a one-dimensional code or a two-dimensional code. Examples of image codes include barcodes, QR codes (registered trademarks), color codes, VeriCodes, and MaxiCodes. The code here is, for example, a code created by encoding information including a business card identifier. The information corresponding to the above-mentioned code is, for example, a business card identifier obtained by decoding the code. The information corresponding to the code read by the event terminal 2 is information (i.e., the business card identifier) obtained by the event terminal 2 reading the code using a camera (not shown), a code reader (not shown), or the like.

In the above, the reception information receiving unit 101 may receive an event identifier and business card information from the event terminal 2 instead of receiving an event identifier and business card identifier from the event terminal 2. In this case, the event identifier and business card information received by the reception information receiving unit 101 are, for example, an event identifier that identifies the event in which the user is participating and business card information of the user's business card. In addition, the reception information receiving unit 101 may receive an event identifier, business card identifier, and business card information corresponding to this business card identifier from the event terminal 2.

The business card information acquisition unit 102 acquires, for example, business card information corresponding to the business card identifier received by the reception information receiving unit 101.

The business card information acquisition unit 102 acquires, for example, the business card information received by the reception information receiving unit 101.

The business card information acquisition unit 102 receives, for example, one or more pieces of business card information corresponding to the business card identifier received by the reception information receiving unit 101 from the business card management server 3, which has the business card information associated with the business card identifier. For example, the business card information acquisition unit 102 transmits the business card identifier received by the reception information receiving unit 101 to the business card management server 3, and the business card management server 3 uses the business card identifier to search for and receive the business card information from one or more pieces of business card information stored in association with the business card identifier, thereby receiving the business card information corresponding to the business card identifier received by the reception information receiving unit 101. Note that the business card information acquired by the business card information acquisition unit 102 may be all or part of the business card information stored in the business card management server 3 associated with the business card identifier. This part of the business card information may be specified in advance, for example, by specifying an attribute.

The communication means (not shown) for sending and receiving the business card identifier may be included in the business card information acquisition unit 102, or may be included in the event server 1 separately from the reception information receiving unit 101.

The business card information acquisition unit 102 acquires business card information from, for example, a predetermined one of one or more business card management servers 3 included in the event system 1000. Furthermore, if the event system 1000 has two or more business card management servers 3, the business card information acquisition unit 102 may acquire business card information corresponding to the business card identifier from one of the two or more business card management servers 3 that has business card information corresponding to the business card identifier. For example, the business card information acquisition unit 102 may determine the business card management server 3 corresponding to the business card identifier based on the ID of the business card management server 3 included in the business card identifier or the data structure of the business card identifier (for example, the number of characters, whether it includes numbers, etc.), and transmit the business card identifier to the determined business card management server 3 to acquire the business card information. The business card information acquisition unit 102 may also transmit a business card identifier to all business card management servers 3, and receive business card information from the business card management servers 3 that acquire and transmit business card information corresponding to the transmitted business card identifier. The business card information acquisition unit 102 may also receive business card information by transmitting the business card identifier to each business card management server 3 in a randomly determined order or in an order indicated by a predetermined priority, until business card information corresponding to the business card identifier is received. However, the process for acquiring business card information from the business card management server 3 corresponding to the business card identifier is not limited to the above.

If the event server 1 has a storage unit (not shown) that stores business card information associated with one or more business card identifiers, the business card information acquisition unit 102 may use this storage unit to search and acquire the business card information corresponding to the received business card identifier. In this case, the business card management server 3 may be omitted.

Note that when the reception information receiving unit 101 receives business card information associated with an event identifier, the business card information acquisition unit 102 may acquire the business card information received by the reception information receiving unit 101.

Event information having one or more event attribute values is stored in the event information storage unit 103 in association with an event identifier. The event attribute values of the event information are typically included in the event information itself, but may also be stored in the event information storage unit 103 or the like in association with the event information.

Event attribute values are attribute values related to an event. Examples of event attribute values include an event type identifier, venue, duration, event participation application deadline, keywords, and title. An event type identifier is an identifier that indicates the type of event. Event types include seminars, lectures, gatherings, conferences, etc., and can be thought of as the form of the event, for example. An event type identifier is, for example, a name that indicates the type of event, or a character string assigned to the event type. The venue is the location where the event is held, and may be the address or coordinates of the venue, or the name of the area where the event is held, the name of the venue, or the name of a building, etc. The duration is a concept that also includes the date and time of the event. The event participation application deadline is the deadline for applications to participate in the event. Keywords are keywords that indicate the characteristics or content of the event. Keywords may be keywords that represent, for example, the event agenda, the theme of a seminar, or the theme of a lecture. Keywords may be tags or labels such as hashtags. The title is the title of the event. Note that the event attribute value is not limited to the above information, and may include, for example, a description of the event, or an identifier that identifies the event's organizer, co-organizer, sponsor, etc. (for example, the organizer's name or sponsor's name). The identifiers for the organizer, co-organizer, etc. may be the business card identifiers of the organizer, co-organizer, etc. Furthermore, the event attribute value may include, for example, the identifiers of the people who appear in the event. The identifiers for the people who appear may be the business card identifiers of the people who appear.

The storage unit 104 stores the event participant information, including the business card information acquired by the business card information acquisition unit 102, in association with the event identifier received by the reception information receiving unit 101.

The accumulation unit 104 may, for example, acquire one or more event attribute values, or all event attribute values, from the event information stored in association with the event identifier received by the reception information receiving unit 101, among the event information stored in association with the event identifier in the event information storage unit 103, and accumulate event participant information that further has the acquired event attribute values in association with the received event identifier.

Here, as an example, a case will be described in which the accumulation unit 104 accumulates the event participant information in the event participant storage unit 105 in association with the event identifier, but the accumulation unit 104 may accumulate the event participant information in association with the event identifier in a location other than the event server 1. For example, the accumulation unit 104 may accumulate the event participant information in an external server device (not shown) other than the event server 1. In this case, the accumulation unit 104 may have a transmission means or the like for transmitting the event participant information, etc.

The event participant storage unit 105 stores one or more event participant information items, each associated with an event identifier. Note that if the accumulation unit 104 accumulates the event participant information associated with the event identifier in a storage unit other than the event participant storage unit 105, the event participant storage unit 105 may be omitted.

The support unit 106 supports the exchange of business cards between two or more users for two or more pieces of business card information that satisfy predetermined conditions. The business card information here is, for example, the business card information contained in the event participant information stored in the event participant storage unit 105. Supporting the exchange of business cards between two or more users for two or more pieces of business card information means, for example, supporting the exchange of business cards between two or more users that respectively correspond to two or more pieces of business card information.

The predetermined condition here is, for example, a condition for deciding to support the business card exchange. The predetermined condition is, for example, a condition indicating that two or more users indicated by business card information participated in the same event. For example, the predetermined condition is a condition in which one or more event identifiers corresponding to each piece of business card information match.

The predetermined condition is, for example, that the two users are the organizer and participant of the same event. For example, the predetermined condition is that the event identifiers corresponding to the two business card information items match, and the attribute values of the user paired with the event identifier are "organizer" and "participant."

Furthermore, the predetermined condition may be, for example, a condition indicating that users indicated by two or more pieces of business card information participated in similar events. For example, the predetermined condition is a condition that one or more event attribute values corresponding to the business card information are similar. Here, similarity is a concept that also includes, for example, matching. For example, one or more event attribute values being similar may mean, for example, that the event attribute values of one or more predetermined attributes match, or that the number of matching event attribute values is greater than a threshold. Here, the business card information and the event attribute value corresponding to this business card information are, for example, the business card information held by a single piece of event participant information and the event attribute value held by this single piece of event participant information. For example, if two or more pieces of event participant information having different business card information have the same event type identifier value and the same venue value among the event attribute values held by each piece of event participant information, the support unit 106 may determine that the business card information held by this two or more pieces of event participant information satisfies the predetermined condition.

The predetermined condition may also be that the event attribute values of two or more pieces of event participant information are input into a classifier (this classifier may be considered a learning device) that determines whether or not business cards should be exchanged, obtained by machine learning using as training data a set of event attribute values contained in the event participant information of two or more users who have exchanged business cards and a set of event attribute values contained in the event participant information of two or more users who have not exchanged business cards. The classifier obtains this by inputting the event attribute values of two or more pieces of event participant information, and the result of the determination indicates that business cards should be exchanged.

The predetermined conditions may further include a condition that prevents the business card information of two or more users who do not need to exchange business cards from being determined to satisfy the condition. Two or more users who do not need to exchange business cards are, for example, the same user, users who belong to the same organization, or two or more users who have already exchanged business cards. For example, the predetermined conditions may further include a condition that the business card identifiers associated with the business card information do not match, or a condition that the organization names contained in the business card information do not match.

Supporting a business card exchange involves, for example, at least one of recommending a business card exchange and managing the results of the business card exchange. Recommending a business card exchange involves notifying a user of information recommending that they exchange business cards. Notifying a user of information recommending that they exchange business cards involves, for example, sending information recommending that they exchange business cards to the user terminal 4 used by the user. The information recommending that they exchange business cards includes, for example, information such as the name of the user with whom the business card exchange is recommended, and information including the user's contact information such as the user's email address and mobile phone number. The support unit 106, for example, acquires this information from the business card information. Managing the results of a business card exchange involves storing the business card identifiers of two or more users who exchanged business cards in association with each other. This information may be stored, for example, in a storage unit (not shown) of the business card management server 3, or in a storage unit (not shown) of the event server 1. The support unit 106 may transmit information for accepting an operation to agree to the business card exchange (for example, information having a button for accepting an operation to agree) to the user terminals 4 of two or more users, along with information recommending the exchange of business cards, and when an operation to agree is accepted from each user terminal 4 via this information for accepting an operation to agree, the support unit 106 may store the business card information of the two or more users in association with the information as information resulting from the exchange of business cards by the two or more users.

The support unit 106 supports the business card exchange, for example, by using business card information that meets predetermined conditions. For example, the support unit 106 may send information encouraging the exchange of business cards to the user's contact information (e.g., email address) indicated by the business card information. The support unit 106 may also acquire business card identifiers corresponding to the business card information of two or more users who exchanged business cards from the event participant information, and store them in association with each other.

In addition, if the event participant information does not have an event attribute value, the support unit 106 may use the event attribute value associated with the event identifier associated with the event participant information and stored in the event information storage unit 103 as the event attribute value corresponding to the business card information contained in the event participant information. In other words, instead of the event attribute value contained in the event participant information, one or more event attribute values contained in the event information associated with the event identifier associated with the event participant information and stored in the event information storage unit 103 may be used. For example, the business card information and the event attribute value corresponding to this business card information may be considered to be the business card information contained in a piece of event participant information and the event information stored in the event information storage unit 103 associated with the event identifier contained in this piece of event participant information. The same applies hereinafter.

The event information acquisition unit 107 uses one or more event attribute values corresponding to the event participant information accumulated by the accumulation unit 104 and one or more event attribute values contained in one or more pieces of event information stored in the event information storage unit 103 to determine an event to recommend to a user corresponding to the business card information included in the event participant information, and acquires event information for this event.

The event information acquisition unit 107 determines, for example, an event indicated by the event information stored in the event information storage unit 103 and that satisfies predetermined conditions for recommendation for the event participant information as an event to be recommended to the user corresponding to the business card information included in the event participant information. The predetermined condition for recommendation is, for example, a condition in which one or more event attribute values in the event information corresponding to the event are similar to one or more event attribute values corresponding to the event participant information. Similarity here is a concept that includes, for example, agreement. Furthermore, the predetermined conditions for recommendation are that the similarity between one or more attribute values is equal to or greater than a threshold, that matching attribute values exist, and that specific attribute values (for example, event type identifiers) match.

The event information acquisition unit 107 acquires, for example, one or more event attribute values corresponding to the event participant information accumulated by the accumulation unit 104. The event information acquisition unit 107 also acquires, for example, one or more event attribute values contained in information about an upcoming event from the event information storage unit 103, determines whether the one or more event attribute values satisfy predetermined conditions for recommendation with one or more event attribute values corresponding to the event participant information, and if the predetermined conditions for recommendation are satisfied, determines that the event corresponding to the event information is an event to be recommended to the user.

For example, the event information acquisition unit 107 determines that an event indicated by event information stored in the event information storage unit 103 and having an event attribute value that matches one or more predetermined event attribute values corresponding to the event participant information accumulated by the accumulation unit 104 is an event that satisfies the conditions for recommendation, and determines this event as an event to be recommended to the user corresponding to the business card information included in the event participant information accumulated by the accumulation unit 104.

As a specific example, the event information acquisition unit 107 may determine, as an event to be recommended to a user corresponding to the business card information included in the event participant information accumulated by the accumulation unit 104, an event indicated by event information stored in the event information storage unit 103 and having, as an event attribute value, the same event type identifier as the event type identifier that is the event attribute value corresponding to the event participant information accumulated by the accumulation unit 104. Also, the event information acquisition unit 107 may determine, as an event to be recommended to a user corresponding to the business card information included in the event participant information accumulated by the accumulation unit 104, an event indicated by event information stored in the event information storage unit 103 and having, as an event attribute value, the same keyword as the keyword that is the event attribute value corresponding to the event participant information accumulated by the accumulation unit 104.

Furthermore, the event information acquisition unit 107 may determine, for example, an event indicated by event information stored in the event information storage unit 103 where the number of event attribute values matching the event attribute values corresponding to the event participant information accumulated by the accumulation unit 104 is greater than a threshold, as an event to be recommended to the user corresponding to the business card information included in the event participant information accumulated by the accumulation unit 104.

Furthermore, a classifier (which may be considered a learning device) that discriminates between events and users to whom the event should be recommended by machine learning using as training data multiple pairs of two or more event attribute values contained in the event information of an event to be recommended and event attribute values corresponding to the event participant information of users who participated in the event indicated by the event information, and multiple pairs of two or more event attribute values contained in the event information and event attribute values corresponding to the event participant information of users who did not participate in the event indicated by the event information, obtained for each of multiple pieces of event information. When the discrimination result obtained indicates that the event should be recommended, the event information acquisition unit 107 may decide to recommend the event to the user indicated by the business card information in the event participant information corresponding to the input event attribute values, as an event that satisfies the conditions for recommendation.

The event information acquisition unit 107 may use one or more event attribute values corresponding to the event participant information accumulated by the accumulation unit 104 and one or more event attribute values of each of the one or more pieces of event information stored in the event information storage unit 103 to determine, as an event to be recommended to the user, an event determined as described above, other than an event identified by an event identifier associated with the event participant information.

The event information acquisition unit 107 may also use one or more event attribute values corresponding to the event participant information accumulated by the accumulation unit 104 and one or more event attribute values included in each of the one or more pieces of event information stored in the event information storage unit 103 to determine, as an event to recommend to the user, an event that has been determined as described above and that has not yet begun or an event whose participation application deadline has passed. An event that has not yet begun is, for example, an event whose corresponding event period (for example, the event period, which is an event attribute value corresponding to the event) is a date that is later than the present. An event whose participation application deadline (for example, the participation application deadline, which is an event attribute value corresponding to the event) is a date that is later than the present. The same applies hereinafter.

The event information acquisition unit 107 may determine one or more pieces of event information to recommend to one or more users based on all event information stored in the event information storage unit 103, or may determine one or more pieces of event information to recommend to one or more users based on a portion of the event information stored in the event information storage unit 103. For example, when new event information is stored in the event information storage unit 103, the event information acquisition unit 107 may use one or more event attribute values of the newly stored event information and one or more event attribute values corresponding to one or more pieces of event participant information stored by the storage unit 104 to determine a user to whom the event indicated by the newly stored event information should be recommended from one or more users corresponding to the business card information included in each piece of event participant information, thereby determining an event to recommend to the user and acquiring event information for the event. For example, the event information acquisition unit 107 may determine, for event information newly accumulated in the event information storage unit 103, a user corresponding to business card information included in event participant information that satisfies the above-mentioned predetermined conditions for recommendation as a user to recommend the newly accumulated event, and acquire this event information as event information for the event to be recommended to this user. For example, the event information acquisition unit 107 may determine, as a user to recommend the event indicated by the newly accumulated event information, a user corresponding to business card information corresponding to event participant information accumulated by the accumulation unit 104, in which one or more event attribute values corresponding to the event participant information are similar to one or more event attribute values included in the newly accumulated event information, and acquire this event information as event information for the event to be recommended to this user. Note that newly accumulated event information is usually event information for an event that has not yet been held or an event for which the participation application deadline has not yet arrived.

Note that different event participant information may contain the same business card information, and therefore, for example, it is conceivable that the event information acquisition unit 107 may detect duplicate events as events to be recommended to users corresponding to the same business card information. For this reason, when duplicate events may be detected as events to be recommended to users corresponding to the same business card information, it is preferable that the event information acquisition unit 107 perform unique processing or the like on the event information acquired for the user so as not to acquire duplicate event information for the same event for the same user.

The event information acquisition unit 107 may acquire event information at any time. When new event information is stored in the event information storage unit 103, the event information acquisition unit 107 may determine one or more users to whom to recommend the event of the newly stored event information; when event participant information is stored, the event information acquisition unit 107 may acquire event information of other events to recommend to the user corresponding to the business card information corresponding to the event participant information; when a predetermined time arrives, the event information acquisition unit 107 may acquire event information of events to recommend to each of one or more users corresponding to each of one or more business card information; in response to receiving an instruction from a user, the event information acquisition unit 107 may acquire event information of events to recommend to the user; or in response to receiving an instruction from an administrator, the event information acquisition unit 107 may acquire event information of events to recommend to one or more users.

The notification unit 108 performs notification processing to notify the user of the event information acquired by the event information acquisition unit 107. Notification here means, for example, transmitting event information of an event recommended to the user to the user. For example, as the notification processing, the notification unit 108 transmits the event information acquired by the event information acquisition unit 107 to the user (e.g., the user terminal 4 used by the user) to whom the event indicated by the event information is recommended. For example, the notification unit 108 arranges the event information in a template stored in a storage unit (not shown) or the like and transmits the template to the user. The event information transmitted here may be a portion of the event information. However, it is preferable that the portion of the event information transmitted be information that can identify the event. Furthermore, the notification processing may also be processing to transmit information having a link to the event information (e.g., a link to a web page on which the event information is located). Furthermore, the notification processing may also include transmitting to the user information having a link to a web page or the like for accepting applications to participate in the event indicated by the event information. The notification unit 108 notifies the user of the event information acquired by the event information acquisition unit 107, for example, using the notification destination (e.g., email address, mobile phone number) included in the business card information corresponding to the user.

The advertisement determination unit 109 determines an advertisement to be sent to a user corresponding to the business card information included in the event participant information, using one or more advertisement attribute values possessed by one or more advertisements stored in the advertisement storage unit 110 and one or more event attribute values corresponding to the event participant information accumulated by the accumulation unit 104. The advertisement determination unit 109 may use one or more event attribute values possessed by the event participant information as the event attribute values corresponding to the event participant information, or may use one or more event attribute values possessed by event information stored in the event information storage unit 103 in association with an event identifier associated with the event participant information.

Advertising attribute values are attribute values related to advertisements. Examples of advertising attribute values include advertising areas, advertising keywords, and provider identifiers. Advertising areas are information indicating the address, coordinates, name, and building names of the area in which users to whom advertisements are sent conduct their business. Keywords are keywords related to the content of the advertisement, such as keywords related to the products and services shown in the advertisement. Keywords may indicate the field or category of the products and services shown in the advertisement, or keywords indicating the interests of the target audience for the products and services shown in the advertisement. Provider identifiers are identifiers of providers such as companies and organizations that provide the products and services shown in the advertisement, and may be, for example, the provider name or a code assigned to the provider. However, advertising attribute values are not limited to the above information. One or more advertising attribute values are, for example, information associated with one or more event attribute values. For example, a venue, which is an event attribute value, may be associated with an advertising area, which is an advertising attribute value. Furthermore, for example, a keyword, which is an event attribute value, may be associated with an advertising keyword, which is an advertising attribute value. Furthermore, for example, a host identifier, which is an event attribute value, may be associated with a provider identifier, which is an advertisement attribute value. However, the association is not limited to the association described above. Information indicating the association between a single advertisement attribute value and the event attribute value associated with that advertisement attribute value (for example, information indicating the association between attribute names) may be stored in advance in a storage unit (not shown) or the like.

An advertisement is information used to inform users about a product or service. For example, an advertisement is information composed of at least one of text and images. An advertisement may also be information that includes a link to information such as a web page containing information about the product or service. The images in this case may be moving images or still images. The concept of advertisement here also includes information used for so-called promotions, etc., to advertise a product or service. An advertisement here may also be information such as so-called coupons.

For example, if one or more advertisement attribute values possessed by the advertisement and event attribute values corresponding to one or more of the advertisement attribute values among the event attribute values corresponding to a piece of event participant information satisfy a predetermined condition for advertisement transmission, the advertisement determination unit 109 determines the advertisement as the advertisement to be sent to the user corresponding to the business card information included in the piece of event participant information. The predetermined condition for advertisement transmission is a condition in which one or more advertisement attribute values possessed by the advertisement are similar to the event attribute values corresponding to one or more of the advertisement attribute values among the event attribute values corresponding to the piece of event participant information. Similarity here is a concept that includes, for example, agreement.

For example, the advertisement determination unit 109 determines whether one or more predetermined advertisement attribute values associated with the advertisement all match one or more event attribute values among the event attribute values corresponding to a single piece of event participant information, each corresponding to the one or more advertisement attribute values. If there is a match, the advertisement is determined to be an advertisement that satisfies the conditions for advertisement transmission and is determined to be the advertisement to be sent to the user corresponding to the business card information included in the single piece of event participant information. The match here may be an exact match, or may refer to having matching information (e.g., a partial match). The same applies below. For example, the advertisement determination unit 109 determines whether the advertisement attribute values, i.e., the advertisement area and advertisement keyword, associated with the advertisement all match the event attribute values, i.e., the venue and keyword, corresponding to the advertisement area and advertisement keyword among the event attribute values corresponding to the single piece of event participant information. If there is a match, the advertisement is determined to be the advertisement to be sent to the user corresponding to the business card information included in the single piece of event participant information. To give a specific example, if the advertising area associated with a certain advertisement is "Tokyo" and the advertising keyword is "information processing," and the location associated with a certain event participant information is "Tokyo" and the keyword includes "information processing," then this advertisement may be determined as the advertisement to be sent to the user corresponding to the business card information included in this event participant information; however, if the location associated with the certain event participant information is not "Tokyo" or the keyword does not include "information processing," then this advertisement may not be determined as the advertisement to be sent to the user corresponding to the business card information included in this event participant information.

Furthermore, for example, the advertisement determination unit 109 may determine whether each of two or more predetermined advertisement attribute values associated with the advertisement matches two or more event attribute values among the event attribute values corresponding to a piece of event participant information that respectively correspond to the two or more advertisement attribute values, and if the number of matches is greater than a threshold, determine that this advertisement is the advertisement to be sent to the user corresponding to the business card information included in this piece of event participant information.

Note that the two or more advertising attribute values and the two or more corresponding event attribute values here may be two or more different keywords.

The advertisement storage unit 110 stores one or more advertisements having one or more advertisement attribute values. For example, the advertisement storage unit 110 stores one or more advertisements having one or more advertisement attribute values in association with these advertisement attribute values.

The advertisement sending unit 111 performs advertisement sending processing. The advertisement sending processing is processing for sending an advertisement determined by the advertisement determination unit 109 to a user. For example, the advertisement sending unit 111 sends an advertisement that the advertisement determination unit 109 has determined to be sent to a user to the user terminal 4 of that user. Note that the advertisement sending processing may also be processing for sending the advertisement determined by the advertisement determination unit 109 and information about the user's address to which the advertisement is to be sent to a server device (not shown) that transmits the advertisement. The user's address (notification destination) is obtained, for example, from the user's business card information. The user's address is, for example, an email address or a mobile phone number.

The event terminal 2 is an information terminal device used at the event. For example, the event terminal 2 may be a device used by the event receptionist to register users for participation, or a device used by users participating in the event to perform self-check-in. The event terminal 2 may be realized, for example, as a computer, smartphone, mobile phone, tablet device, etc.

The terminal storage unit 201 stores an event identifier. The event identifier stored in the terminal storage unit 201 is, for example, the event identifier of an event for which the event terminal 2 is used. The event identifier stored in the terminal storage unit 201 is, for example, the event identifier of an event for which the event terminal 2 is used to check in event participants.

The terminal acquisition unit 202 acquires a business card identifier. For example, the terminal acquisition unit 202 reads a code corresponding to the business card identifier and acquires the business card identifier corresponding to the read code. For example, the terminal acquisition unit 202 reads a code in which the business card identifier is encoded and decodes the read code to acquire the business card identifier. The code here is preferably an image code.

The terminal acquisition unit 202 may read a code (e.g., an image code) corresponding to a business card identifier displayed on the monitor of the user terminal 4 and acquire the business card identifier corresponding to this code, or may read a code printed on the user's business card, name tag, or other object owned by the user, read the code corresponding to the business card identifier, and acquire the business card identifier corresponding to this code.

For example, the terminal acquisition unit 202 may have a reading means (not shown) such as a camera or code reader for reading codes such as image codes. The terminal acquisition unit 202 may also read codes using a reading means (not shown) such as a camera or code reader provided in the event terminal 2. The terminal acquisition unit 202 may also read codes using a reading means (not shown) such as a camera or code reader provided external to the event terminal 2. In these cases, the terminal acquisition unit 202 may have a driver for the camera or code reader, etc.

The terminal acquisition unit 202 may receive a business card identifier transmitted from the user terminal 4 using short-range wireless communication, or may receive a code associated with the business card identifier transmitted from the user terminal 4 using short-range wireless communication, and acquire the business card identifier from this code. In this case, the terminal acquisition unit 202 may have communication means for performing short-range wireless communication, etc.

The terminal acquisition unit 202, for example, photographs a business card and acquires business card information, which is a business card image. The terminal acquisition unit 202 receives business card information, which is a business card image, from the user terminal 4.

The terminal transmission unit 203, for example, transmits the business card identifier acquired by the terminal acquisition unit 202 to the business card management server 3. The terminal transmission unit 203 may, for example, transmit the business card identifier to a predetermined business card management server 3, or may transmit the business card identifier to the business card management server 3 corresponding to the business card identifier. The terminal transmission unit 203 may also, for example, transmit the business card identifier to multiple business card management servers 3.

The terminal transmission unit 203 also associates the business card identifier acquired by the terminal acquisition unit 202, or the business card information identified by this business card identifier, with the event identifier stored in the terminal storage unit 201 and transmits it to the event server 1. For example, in response to acceptance of a participation instruction by the terminal acceptance unit 206 (described below), the terminal transmission unit 203 associates the business card identifier acquired by the terminal acquisition unit 202, or the business card information identified by this business card identifier, with the event identifier stored in the terminal storage unit 201 and transmits it to the event server 1. The business card identifier or business card information and the event identifier may or may not be transmitted together to the event server 1. Note that when transmitting the business card information to the event server 1, the business card identifier may also be transmitted in association with it. The terminal transmission unit 203 can typically be implemented using wireless or wired communication means.

Furthermore, the terminal transmission unit 203, for example, associates the business card information acquired by the terminal acquisition unit 202 with the event identifier stored in the terminal storage unit 201 and transmits it to the event server 1.

The terminal receiving unit 204 receives from the business card management server 3 the business card information identified by the business card identifier transmitted by the terminal transmitting unit 203 to the business card management server 3. The business card information received here may be all or part of the business card information identified by the transmitted business card identifier. For example, the business card information received here may be an image of the business card, etc.

The terminal output unit 205 outputs the business card information received by the terminal receiving unit 204. Here, output is a concept that includes displaying on a monitor, printing on paper using a printer, outputting as sound, sending to an external display device, etc. For example, the terminal output unit 205 may display on a monitor the business card information, which is a string of characters received by the terminal receiving unit 204, or may display on a monitor an image of the business card received by the terminal receiving unit 204.

The terminal reception unit 206 receives an instruction to participate in an event for a user corresponding to a business card identifier acquired by the terminal acquisition unit 202. For example, the terminal reception unit 206 receives an instruction to participate in an event indicated by an event identifier stored in the device storage unit 201 for a user indicated by business card information output by the terminal output unit 205 in accordance with the business card identifier acquired by the terminal acquisition unit 202. The instruction to participate may be to confirm participation in the event, to permit participation, to approve participation, or to register the user as a participant in the event.

The terminal reception unit 206 may also receive a cancellation instruction to cancel the acceptance of participation in an event for a user corresponding to the business card identifier acquired by the terminal acquisition unit 202.

The terminal reception unit 206 may receive an event identifier. For example, the event identifier may be received via an input device such as a touch panel or keyboard. The terminal reception unit 206 may obtain the event identifier by reading a code associated with the event identifier, similar to the acquisition of a business card identifier using a code associated with the business card identifier described above. The terminal reception unit 206 may also store the received event identifier in the terminal storage unit 201, for example. The terminal reception unit 206 is realized by a device driver for an input means such as a touch panel or keyboard, or control software for a menu screen.

The business card management server 3 is a server that manages one or more pieces of business card information in association with a business card identifier. The business card management server 3 includes, for example, a business card management storage unit (not shown) that stores one or more pieces of business card information in association with a business card identifier; a business card management receiving unit (not shown) that receives the business card identifier from the event server 1 or the event terminal 2; a business card management acquisition unit (not shown) that retrieves the business card information associated with the business card identifier received by the business card management receiving unit; and a business card management transmitting unit (not shown) that transmits the business card information retrieved by the business card management acquisition unit to the event server 1 or the event terminal 2. The business card information retrieved by the business card management acquisition unit in association with the business card identifier may be all or part of the business card information stored in association with the business card identifier in the business card management storage unit. Furthermore, the business card information transmitted to the event server 1 and the business card information transmitted to the event terminal 2 in accordance with the same business card identifier may be the same or different. For example, the portion of the business card information sent to the event server 1 may be different from the portion of the business card information sent to the event terminal 2. However, if only a portion of the business card information is sent, it is preferable that the user corresponding to the business card information be recognizable from this portion of the business card information.

The business card identifiers used by different business card management servers 3 to manage business card information may be business card identifiers created according to different rules (for example, business card identifiers that start with a specific string of characters, or business card identifiers with a different total number of characters), or may be business card identifiers of different systems.

In this embodiment, the business card management server 3 and the event server 1 are implemented as different servers. However, the business card management server 3 and the event server 1 may also be implemented as a single server. In this case, the configuration for receiving a business card identifier from the event server 1 and the configuration for sending business card information corresponding to the received business card identifier to the event server 1 may be omitted as appropriate.

The user terminal 4 is an information processing terminal device used by users participating in the event. A user using the user terminal 4 is, for example, a user whose corresponding business card information is stored in one of the business card management servers 3. The user terminal 4 includes, for example, a user terminal storage unit (not shown) that stores a code associated with the user's business card identifier (e.g., a code such as an image code that encodes the business card identifier), a user terminal reception unit (not shown) that accepts a user's operation to output the code, and a user terminal output unit (not shown) that outputs the code stored in the user terminal storage unit in response to the operation. The output here is the display of the image code on a monitor (not shown) possessed by the user terminal output unit, but the code may also be transmitted to the event terminal 2 via near-field wireless communication or the like. The user terminal 4 may also include a user terminal reception unit (not shown) that receives information sent from the event server 1 to support business card exchanges, information recommending the event, advertising information, etc., and the user terminal output unit may output (e.g., display) this received information. The user terminal reception unit (not shown) accepts operations via an input device such as a touch panel or keyboard. The user terminal reception unit can be realized, for example, by device drivers for these input devices, or by a combination of these input devices and device drivers.

Note that if the user terminal 4 is not required, such as when the event terminal 2 does not acquire the user's business card identifier by reading the image code displayed on the monitor of the user terminal 4, or when the event terminal 2 does not acquire the user's business card identifier by receiving a code transmitted from the user terminal 4 via short-range wireless communication, the user terminal 4 may be omitted.

The reception information receiving unit 101, business card information acquisition unit 102, support unit 106, notification unit 108, advertisement sending unit 111, terminal sending unit 203, and terminal receiving unit 204 can be realized using wired or wireless communication means.

The business card information acquisition unit 102, storage unit 104, support unit 106, event information acquisition unit 107, advertisement determination unit 109, and terminal acquisition unit 202 can be realized, for example, by a processor, memory, etc. The processing procedures of the business card information acquisition unit 102, etc. are typically realized by software, and the software is recorded on a recording medium such as a ROM. However, they may also be realized by hardware (dedicated circuitry). The processor may be a CPU, MPU, GPU, etc., and the type does not matter.

The event information storage unit 103, event participant storage unit 105, advertisement storage unit 110, and terminal storage unit 201 are preferably non-volatile recording media, but can also be realized as volatile recording media.

The process by which information is stored in the event information storage unit 103, etc. is not important. For example, information may be stored in the event information storage unit 103, etc. via a recording medium, information transmitted via a communication line, etc. may be stored in the event information storage unit 103, etc., or information input via an input device may be stored in the event information storage unit 103, etc.

The terminal output unit 205 may or may not include output devices such as a display or speaker. The terminal output unit 205 may be realized by driver software for an output device, or by a combination of driver software for an output device and an output device, etc.

The terminal reception unit 206 can be realized by a device driver for an input means such as a touch panel or keyboard, or control software for a menu screen.

Next, an example of the operation of the event server 1 of the event system 1000 will be explained using the flowchart in Figure 2. Here, we will explain an example in which a business card identifier and an event identifier are associated and transmitted from the event terminal 2.

(Step S101) The reception information receiving unit 101 determines whether the event identifier and business card identifier have been received from the event terminal 2. If they have been received, proceed to step S102; if they have not been received, proceed to step S105.

(Step S102) The business card information acquisition unit 102 acquires business card information corresponding to the business card identifier received in step S101 from the business card management server 3. For example, the business card information acquisition unit 102 transmits the business card identifier to the business card management server 3 corresponding to the business card identifier, and receives the business card information that the business card management server 3 acquires by searching using the received business card identifier and transmits to the event server 1. Note that the business card information acquisition unit 102 may also acquire business card information by transmitting the business card identifier to the business card management server 3 corresponding to the business card identifier received in step S101 and receiving the business card information.

(Step S103) The accumulation unit 104 acquires, from the event information storage unit 103, the event attribute values contained in the event information corresponding to the event identifier received in step S101.

(Step S104) The accumulation unit 104 associates the event participant information, which includes the business card information acquired in step S102 and the event attribute value acquired in step S103, with the event identifier received in step S101 and accumulates it in the event participant storage unit 105. Then, the process returns to step S101.

(Step S105) The support unit 106 determines whether it is time to provide support for the business card exchange. For example, it may determine that it is time to provide support on a predetermined date, time, or at regular intervals, or it may determine that it is time to provide support on any date and time, or it may determine that it is time to provide support when a predetermined action, etc., is performed. For example, it may determine that it is time to provide support for the business card exchange when an event has ended. If it is time to provide support for the business card exchange, proceed to step S106; if it is not the right time, proceed to step S107. Note that the timing and triggers, etc. for the support unit 106 to provide support for the business card exchange are not limited to those described above.

(Step S106) The support unit 106 performs processing to support the business card exchange. Details of this processing will be described later. Then, the process returns to step S101.

(Step S107) The event information acquisition unit 107 determines whether event information for one or more new events has been accumulated in the event information storage unit 103. Assume, for example, that the new event is an event that has not yet been held. If it has been accumulated, proceed to step S108; if it has not been accumulated, proceed to step S109. How the event information is accumulated in the event information storage unit 103 is not important. For example, a receiving unit (not shown) may receive newly accumulated event information from outside the event server 1 and store the received event information in the event information storage unit 103. Note that the timing when the event information acquisition unit 107 and the like perform the process of recommending an event is not limited to this timing. For example, instead of the above process, the event information acquisition unit 107 may determine whether it is time to perform the process of recommending an event, as in step S105, and if it is time to perform the process, proceed to step S108; if it is not time, proceed to step S109.

(Step S108) The event information acquisition unit 107 and the notification unit 108 perform a process to recommend an event. Details of this process will be described later. Then, the process returns to step S101.

(Step S109) The advertisement determination unit 109 determines whether it is time to send an advertisement. For example, it may determine that it is time to provide support on a predetermined date, time, or at regular intervals, or it may determine that it is time to provide support on any date and time, or it may determine that it is time to provide support when a predetermined action, etc. is performed. If it is time to send an advertisement, proceed to step S110; if it is not time, return to step S101. Note that the timing and triggers, etc. for the advertisement determination unit 108 etc. to send an advertisement are not limited to those described above.

(Step S110) The advertisement determination unit 109 and advertisement transmission unit 111 perform processing to transmit the advertisement. Details of this processing will be described later. Then, the process returns to step S101.

In the flowchart in Figure 2, processing ends when the power is turned off or an interrupt occurs to end processing.

Next, an example of the operation of the process of supporting business card exchange in the event server 1 of the event system 1000 will be described using the flowchart in Figure 3. This process corresponds to step S106 in the flowchart shown in Figure 2.

(Step S201) The support unit 106 acquires all combinations of two pieces of event participant information that have different business card information from the event participant information stored by the storage unit 104.

(Step S202) The support unit 106 assigns 1 to the value of counter m.

(Step S203) The support unit 106 determines whether the mth combination is included in the combinations of event participant information acquired in step S201. If so, proceed to step S204; if not, proceed to step S207.

(Step S204) The support unit 106 determines whether the mth combination of event participant information satisfies a predetermined condition. Determining whether the mth combination of event participant information satisfies a predetermined condition can be thought of as determining whether the combination of business card information included in the mth combination of event participant information satisfies the predetermined condition. If the predetermined condition is satisfied, proceed to step S205; if not, proceed to step S206.

(Step S205) The support unit 106 stores the two different combinations of business card information contained in the m-th combination of event participant information in a storage unit (not shown). Note that storing the combination of two pieces of business card information may also mean storing a combination of business card identifiers corresponding to each of the two pieces of business card information.

(Step S206) The support unit 106 increments the value of counter m by 1. Then, the process returns to step S203.

(Step S207) The support unit 106 performs unique processing to delete any duplicate combinations of business card information from the combinations of business card information accumulated in step S205. As a result, all but one of the duplicate combinations of business card information are deleted. Note that if there is one or fewer pieces of business card information accumulated in step S205, this processing may be omitted. Also, if it is considered that no duplicate combinations of business card information will occur due to the predetermined conditions used in step S204, this unique processing may be omitted.

(Step S208) The support unit 106 performs processing to support the business card exchange for each combination of business card information that was not deleted in step S207. For example, the support unit 106 may send information encouraging a business card exchange to the contact information of the users indicated by each business card information combination for each combination of business card information. The support unit 106 also sends information requesting approval for the business card exchange for each combination of business card information, and when information requesting approval for the business card exchange is received from both users, the support unit 106 adds information indicating that a business card exchange has taken place between these users to the information managing the business card exchange stored in the storage unit (not shown). The combination of business card information accumulated in step S205 is deleted. The process then returns to the upper level processing. If there are no combinations of business card information accumulated in step S205, this processing may be omitted.

In the flowchart in Figure 3, processing ends when the power is turned off or an interrupt occurs to end processing.

Next, an example of the operation of the event server 1 of the event system 1000 to recommend an event will be described using the flowchart in Figure 4. This process corresponds to step S108 in the flowchart shown in Figure 2.

(Step S301) The event information acquisition unit 107 assigns 1 as the value of counter p.

(Step S302) The event information acquisition unit 107 determines whether the pth event participant information is included in the event participant information stored by the storage unit 104 in the event participant storage unit 105, etc. If it is included, proceed to step S303; if it is not included, proceed to step S311.

(Step S303) The event information acquisition unit 107 acquires one or more event attribute values corresponding to the pth event participant information. The event attribute values acquired here are, for example, the event attribute values used for the determination in step S307.

(Step S304) The event information acquisition unit 107 assigns 1 as the value of counter q.

(Step S305) The event information acquisition unit 107 determines whether the qth event information is included in the event information newly stored in the event information storage unit 103. If so, proceed to step S306; if not, proceed to step S310.

(Step S306) The event information acquisition unit 107 acquires one or more event attribute values from the qth event information. The event attribute values acquired here are, for example, the same event attribute values as those acquired in step S303 and are used for the determination in step S307.

(Step S307) The event information acquisition unit 107 determines whether the event attribute values acquired in step S303 and the event attribute values acquired in step S307 satisfy predetermined conditions for recommendation. If they do, proceed to step S308; if they do not, proceed to step S309.

(Step S308) The event information acquisition unit 107 associates the event attribute values of the qth event information with the business card information included in the pth event participant information and stores them in a storage unit (not shown). The event indicated by the qth event information stored here is, for example, an event recommended to the user corresponding to the business card information included in the pth event participant information. The storage of the event attribute values of the event information here may be the storage of event information having the event attribute values, or may be the storage of event identifiers associated with event information having the event attribute values. Furthermore, the storage of business card information here may be the storage of business card identifiers associated with the business card information. The same applies hereinafter.

(Step S309) The event information acquisition unit 107 increments the value of counter q by 1. Then, the process returns to step S305.

(Step S310) The event information acquisition unit 107 increments the value of counter p by 1. Then, the process returns to step S302.

(Step S311) The event information acquisition unit 107 performs unique processing to delete duplicate combinations of business card information and event information stored in step S308. As a result, all but one of the duplicate combinations of business card information and event information are deleted. Note that if there is one or fewer combinations of business card information and event information stored in step S308, this processing may be omitted.

(Step S312) For each combination of event information and business card information that was not deleted in step S311, the notification unit 108 performs notification processing to notify the user indicated by the business card information of the event information. Then, the process returns to the upper level processing. The combination of event information and business card information is deleted. Note that if there are no combinations of event information and business card information accumulated in step S308, this processing may be omitted.

In the flowchart in Figure 4, processing ends when the power is turned off or an interrupt occurs to end processing.

Next, an example of the operation of the process of sending an advertisement by the event server 1 of the event system 1000 will be described using the flowchart in Figure 5. This process corresponds to step S110 in the flowchart shown in Figure 2.

(Step S401) The advertisement determination unit 109 assigns 1 as the value of counter j.

(Step S402) The advertisement determination unit 109 determines whether the jth event participant information is included in the event participant information stored by the storage unit 104 in the event participant storage unit 105, etc. If it is included, proceed to step S403; if it is not included, proceed to step S411.

(Step S403) The advertisement determination unit 109 acquires one or more event attribute values corresponding to the jth event participant information. The event attribute values acquired here are, for example, the event attribute values used in the determination process of step S407.

(Step S404) The advertisement determination unit 109 assigns 1 to the value of counter k.

(Step S405) The advertisement determination unit 109 determines whether the kth advertisement is present in the advertisement storage unit 110. If present, proceed to step S406; if not, proceed to step S410.

(Step S406) The advertisement determination unit 109 acquires one or more advertisement attribute values of the kth advertisement from the advertisement storage unit 110. The advertisement attribute values acquired here are, for example, the advertisement attribute values used in the determination process of step S407.

(Step S407) The advertisement determination unit 109 determines whether the event attribute value acquired in step S403 and the advertisement attribute value acquired in step S406 satisfy predetermined conditions for advertisement transmission. If they do, proceed to step S408; if they do not, proceed to step S409.

(Step S408) The advertisement determination unit 109 associates the kth advertisement with the business card information included in the jth event participant information and stores them in a storage unit (not shown). Storing the advertisements here may also involve storing advertisement identifiers that identify the advertisements.

(Step S409) The advertisement determination unit 109 increments the value of k by 1. Then, the process returns to step S405.

(Step S410) The advertisement determination unit 109 increments the value of counter j by 1. Then, the process returns to step S402.

(Step S411) The advertisement determination unit 109 performs unique processing to delete duplicate combinations of advertisements and business card information stored in step S408. As a result, all but one of the duplicate combinations of advertisements and business card information are deleted. Note that if there is one or fewer combinations of advertisements and business card information stored in step S408, this processing may be omitted.

(Step S412) For each combination of advertisement and business card information that was not deleted in step S411, the advertisement sending unit 111 performs advertisement sending processing to send the advertisement to the user indicated by the business card information. Then, the process returns to the upper level processing. The combination of advertisement and business card information is deleted. Note that if there are no combinations of event information and business card information accumulated in step S408, this processing may be omitted.

In the flowchart in Figure 5, processing ends when the power is turned off or an interrupt occurs to end processing.

Next, an example of the operation of the event terminal 2 of the event system 1000 will be described using the flowchart in Figure 6. This process corresponds to step S108 in the flowchart shown in Figure 2.

(Step S501) The terminal reception unit 206 determines whether an event identifier has been received. If it has been received, proceed to step S502; if it has not been received, return to step S501.

(Step S502) The terminal reception unit 206 stores the event identifier received in step S501 in the terminal storage unit 201.

(Step S503) The terminal acquisition unit 202 determines whether a code encoding the business card identifier has been read. For example, it determines whether the code has been read using a camera or code reader. The code here is, for example, an image code. If it has been read, proceed to step S504; if it has not been read, return to step S503.

(Step S504) The terminal acquisition unit 202 acquires the business card identifier corresponding to the code read in step S503.

(Step S505) The terminal transmission unit 203 transmits the business card identifier acquired in step S504 to the business card management server 3.

(Step S506) The terminal receiving unit 204 receives the business card information sent by the business card management server 3 in accordance with the business card identifier sent in step S505. The business card information received here may be part of the business card information stored in association with the business card identifier. For example, the received business card information is an image of a business card. It is preferable that the part of the business card information received is one or more pieces of information that can identify the user corresponding to the business card information.

(Step S507) The terminal output unit 205 outputs the business card information received in step S506. For example, the business card information is displayed on a monitor (not shown) or the like.

(Step S508) The terminal reception unit 206 determines whether a participation instruction has been received. If it has been received, proceed to step S509; if it has not been received, proceed to step S510.

(Step S509) The terminal transmission unit 203 associates the event identifier stored in the terminal storage unit 201 in step S502 with the business card identifier acquired in step S504 and transmits them to the event server 1. Then, the process returns to step S503.

(Step S510) The terminal reception unit 206 determines whether a cancellation instruction to cancel the participation acceptance of the user corresponding to the business card identifier acquired in step S504 has been received. If accepted, the business card identifier acquired in step S504 is deleted and the process returns to step S503; if not accepted, the process returns to step S508.

In the flowchart in Figure 6, processing ends when the power is turned off or an interrupt occurs to end processing.

Next, we will briefly explain an example of the operation of the business card management server 3. When the business card management receiving unit (not shown) of the business card management server 3 receives a business card identifier from the event terminal 2, the business card management acquisition unit (not shown) searches for and acquires business card information corresponding to the business card identifier from the business card management storage unit (not shown), and the business card management transmission unit (not shown) transmits the acquired business card information to the event terminal 2. Also, when the business card management receiving unit (not shown) of the business card management server 3 receives a business card identifier from the event server 1, the business card management acquisition unit (not shown) searches for and acquires business card information corresponding to the business card identifier from the business card management storage unit (not shown), and the business card management transmission unit (not shown) transmits the acquired business card information to the event server 1.

Next, we will briefly explain an example of the operation of the user terminal 4. When the user terminal reception unit (not shown) receives an operation from a user to output an image code associated with the user's business card identifier (for example, an image code that encodes the user's business card identifier), the user terminal output unit (not shown) reads the image code associated with the user's business card identifier stored in the user terminal storage unit (not shown) in response to this operation, and displays the image code on a monitor (not shown). In addition, the user terminal reception unit (not shown) may receive information to support business card exchanges, information recommending events, advertising information, etc., transmitted from the event server 1, and the user terminal output unit may output the received information. The output here is, for example, a display on a monitor (not shown), etc.

The following describes an example of the specific operation of the event system 1000 in this embodiment.

Figure 7 is a schematic diagram showing an event system 1000 of this specific example. Here, the event system 1000 is assumed to include an event server 1, three or more event terminals 2, three business card management servers 3, and three or more user terminals 4. Here, for convenience of explanation, each of the three business card management servers 3 is referred to as business card management servers 3a-3c. Also, for convenience of explanation, one of the three or more event terminals 2 is referred to as event terminal 2a, and one of the three or more user terminals 4 is referred to as user terminal 4a. Here, an example will be described in which the event terminals 2 and user terminals 4 are both smartphones.

Figure 8 (a) shows an event information management table that manages event information stored in the event information storage unit 103. The event information management table has attributes such as "Event ID," "Event Name," "Event Period," "Location 1," "Location 2," "Type ID," and "Keywords." "Event ID" is the event identifier. "Event Name" is the event name, "Event Period" is the event period (event date), "Location 1" is the name of the prefecture where the event is held, "Location 2" is the address of the event location other than the prefecture, "Type ID" is the type identifier that indicates the type of event, "Keywords" are keywords that indicate the event content, and multiple keywords are separated by ",". Here, each record (row) in the event information management table corresponds to event information, and attribute values other than "Event ID" are event attribute values.

Figure 9 shows a business card information management table that manages business card information stored in the business card management storage unit (not shown) of the business card management server 3a in association with business card identifiers. The business card information management table has attributes such as "business card ID," "business card image," "name," "company name," "department/position," "telephone number," and "email address." "Business card ID" is the business card identifier, "business card image" is the image of the business card, and in this case, it is the file name of the business card image. "Name" is the name, "company name" is the company name, "department/position" is at least one of the department name and position name, "telephone number" is a landline or mobile phone number, and "email address" is an email address. Here, each record in the business card information management table corresponds to business card information, and attribute values other than "business card ID" are considered to be business card information.

First, assume that at an event venue for an event titled "Entrepreneurship Seminar" with an event identifier of "EV1001," visitor receptionist A of the company running the event displays an input screen for inputting the event identifier on monitor 205a of event terminal 2a, as shown in FIG. 10(a), and inputs "EV1001," the event identifier for the event, into event identifier input field 2051 on this input screen. Also assume that, in addition to the event identifier, a predetermined password is also input into input field 2052. When terminal reception unit 206 of event terminal 2 accepts these inputs, authentication processing is performed using the accepted information. This authentication processing may be performed by event terminal 2, or may be performed by transmitting the accepted information to event server 1, etc. If authentication is successful using the accepted information, terminal reception unit 206 stores the accepted event identifier "EV1001" in terminal storage unit 201. The terminal output unit 205 also displays a menu screen for accepting the reading of an image code, as shown in Figure 10(b). Note that, at the time of authentication, the terminal output unit 205 of the event terminal 2 acquires "Corporate Seminar", which is the attribute value of "Title", indicating the title of the event, of the record (row) in the event information management table shown in Figure 8(a) whose "Event ID" matches the accepted event identifier "EV1001", and displays a menu screen on the monitor 205a, as shown in Figure 10(b), with the acquired event title "Corporate Seminar" placed in the upper area 2053.

When visitor B arrives at the visitor reception desk at an event venue, staff member A asks visitor B to present the image code corresponding to his or her business card identifier.

Let's say that visitor B operates his/her user terminal 4a to display an image code that encodes a business card identifier that identifies his/her business card information, which is pre-stored in the user terminal storage unit (not shown). The user terminal reception unit (not shown) accepts this operation, and the user terminal output unit (not shown) reads the image code stored in the user terminal storage unit in response to this operation and displays it on the monitor (not shown) of the user terminal 4a. Then, let's say that visitor B presents this image code to person in charge A. The business card identifier that identifies visitor B's business card information is "NA1001."

When Person in Charge A presses the image code read button 2054 on the menu screen shown in Figure 10(b) to read the image code displayed by Visitor B on the monitor of User Terminal 4a, the terminal acquisition unit 202 of Event Terminal 2a is ready to read the image code using the camera of the smartphone that is Event Terminal 2a.

Then, when the camera (not shown) of the event terminal 2a is held over the image code displayed on the monitor of the user terminal 4a, the camera captures the image code 401 displayed on the monitor of the user terminal 4a, as shown in Figure 10(c). Here, the image code displayed on the monitor of the user terminal 4a is assumed to be a two-dimensional code. The terminal acquisition unit 202 of the event terminal 2a reads the captured image code, decodes it, and acquires "NA1001," which is a business card identifier that identifies the business card information of visitor B.

When the terminal acquisition unit 202 acquires a business card identifier, the terminal transmission unit 203 transmits the acquired business card identifier "NA1001" to the business card management server 3 corresponding to this business card identifier. In this case, if the first two characters of the business card identifier are "NA," and the business card management server 3a is pre-specified as the destination of this business card identifier, the terminal transmission unit 203 transmits the acquired business card identifier "NA1001" to the business card management server 3a, since the first two characters are "NA." Note that it is pre-specified that if the first two characters of the business card identifier are "NB," the business card identifier is to be sent to the business card management server 3b, and if the first two characters are "NC," the business card identifier is to be sent to the business card management server 3c.

When the business card management receiving unit (not shown) of the business card management server 3a receives the business card identifier "NA1001" from the event terminal 2a, the business card acquisition unit (not shown) acquires the business card information associated with the received business card identifier from the business card management storage unit (not shown). Here, it is assumed that the following business card information is predetermined to be acquired: a business card image, a name, a company name, and the name of the department/position. Therefore, the business card acquisition unit reads from the business card management storage unit the business card image whose file name is "na1001.png" indicated by the "Business Card Image" attribute value for the record (row) whose "Business Card ID" attribute value is "NA1001" in the business card information management table shown in Figure 9, the "Name" attribute value "Ayama Ichiro," the "Company Name" attribute value "AB Industries Co., Ltd.", and the "Department/Position" attribute value "Sales Department," and transmits these to the event terminal 2a that sent the business card identifier.

When the terminal receiving unit 204 of the event terminal 2a receives the image of the business card with the file name "na1001.png", which is part of the business card information identified by the business card identifier "NA1001" sent by the business card management server 3a, as well as the name, company name, and department/job title, in response to the transmission of the above-mentioned business card identifier "NA1001", the terminal output unit 205 arranges the received information in a pre-prepared template or the like and displays it on the monitor 205a.

Figure 10(d) is a diagram showing an example of a portion of the received business card information displayed by the event terminal 2a, where image 2055 shows an image of the business card and image 2056 shows other business card information.

Then, Person in Charge A uses the displayed business card information to confirm whether it is okay to check in Visitor B, and if he determines that it is okay to do so, presses the check-in button 2057 located on the screen shown in Figure 10 (d). The terminal reception unit 206 then accepts the participation instruction, and the terminal transmission unit 203 reads out the event identifier "EV1001" stored in the terminal storage unit 201, associates the read event identifier with the business card identifier "NA1001" acquired by the terminal acquisition unit 202 above, and transmits them to the event server 1.

If Person in Charge A determines that he or she cannot accept Visitor B using the displayed business card information, he or she can press the button 2058 for canceling the reception, which is located on the screen shown in Figure 10 (d), and the terminal reception unit 206 will accept the cancellation instruction, the reception process for Visitor B will be canceled, and the business card identifier obtained above will not be sent to the event server 1.

In addition, if the terminal receiving unit 204 cannot obtain business card information corresponding to the business card identifier sent to the business card management server 3a, the terminal output unit 205 will output an error message or the like, causing the visitor reception process to be canceled.

When the reception information receiving unit 101 of the event server 1 receives the business card identifier "NA1001" associated with the event identifier "EV1001" from the event terminal 2a, the business card information acquiring unit 102 transmits the received business card identifier "NA1001" to the business card management server 3a in the same manner as the terminal transmitting unit 203 of the event terminal 2a described above, and the business card management server 3a uses this business card identifier to receive and acquire the business card information acquired and transmitted from the business card information management table shown in Figure 9. The business card information acquired here is assumed to be all the business card information of records in the business card information management table shown in Figure 9 where the value of "Business Card ID" is "NA1001". However, it is not necessary to acquire all the business card information.

The accumulation unit 104 also detects the event information associated with the event identifier "EV1001" received by the reception information receiving unit 101 from the event information stored in the event storage unit 103 in association with the event identifier, and acquires the event attribute values of this event information. Specifically, it acquires the event attribute values of the event information of the record in the event information management table shown in FIG. 10(a) whose "Event ID" value is "EB1001." In this case, it acquires all the event attribute values of the event information of the record whose "Event ID" value is "EB1001." In this case, because the event information is made up of multiple event attribute values, the accumulation unit 104 acquires all the event information of the record whose "Event ID" value is "EB1001" as multiple event attribute values.

The accumulation unit 104 associates the event participant information, including the event attributes acquired from the event information storage unit 103, the business card information acquired by the business card information acquisition unit 102 as described above, and the business card identifier "NA1001" received by the reception information receiving unit 101, with the event identifier "EV1001" received by the reception information receiving unit 101, and accumulates the information in the event participant storage unit 105.

Figure 11 is an event participant management table that manages event participant information stored in the event participant storage unit 105. The event participant management table has attributes such as "participant ID," "event ID," "event attribute value," "business card ID," and "business card information." "Event attribute value" has attribute values such as "event name," "event period," "attribute value 1," and "keywords." "Business card information" has attribute values such as "business card image," "name," and "email address." Attribute names that are the same as those in Figures 8 and 9 indicate the same attributes. "Participant ID" is a participant identifier used to manage event participant information. "Event attribute value" is an event attribute value and has information corresponding to the event attribute value in the event information management table shown in Figure 8(a) etc. "Business card information" is business card information and has information corresponding to the business card information in the business card information management table shown in Figure 9. Note that event attribute values such as "Location 2" and "Type ID" managed in the event information management table shown in Figure 8, and business card information such as "Company Name," "Department/Title," and "Telephone Number" managed in the business card information management table shown in Figure 9 are also included in the event participant information stored in the event participant storage unit 105, but are not displayed in the event participant management table of Figure 9.

Now, let's say that the predetermined date and time for assisting with the exchange of business cards has arrived. This date and time can be set at any interval or frequency.

The support unit 106 acquires all combinations of two records with different business card information from the event participant information stored in the event participant storage unit 105. For example, in the event participant management table shown in Figure 11, it detects combinations of two records with different "business card ID" values and acquires the combinations of "participant ID" attribute values for each set.

For example, in the event participation management table shown in FIG. 11, the "Participation ID" values of the corresponding records for the combinations "J5011" and "J5012", "J5011" and "J5014", "J5012" and "J5013", and "J5012" and "J5014" do not match, so the support unit 106 acquires the "Participation ID" combinations corresponding to these combinations. On the other hand, the combinations "J5011" and "J5013" and "J5012" and "J5016" are not acquired because the "Business Card ID" values of the corresponding records match.

Then, for each combination of two pieces of event participant information indicated by each combination of acquired "participant IDs," it is determined whether the two pieces of event participant information satisfy a predetermined condition, and combinations of two pieces of event participant information that satisfy the predetermined condition are detected. Let us assume that the predetermined condition is that the "event ID" values match. This condition is, for example, a condition for supporting the exchange of business cards between users who attended the same event.

For example, in the combination of the event participation information with the "participation ID" "J5011" acquired above with the event participation information with the "participation ID" "J5012," or the combination of the event participation information with the "participation ID" "J5011" with the event participation information with the "participation ID" "J5014," the "event ID" values do not match, and therefore it is determined that the predetermined condition is not met. Furthermore, in the combination of the event participation information with the "participation ID" "J5012" acquired above with the event participation information with the "participation ID" "J5013," the "event ID" values match, and therefore it is determined that the predetermined condition is met, and the support unit 106 acquires the "participation ID" combination corresponding to this combination of event participant information, i.e., the combination of "J5012" and "J5013." Furthermore, for example, in the combination of the event participation information obtained above in which the "participation ID" is "J5012" and the event participation information in which the "participation ID" is "J5014", the "event ID" values match, so it is determined that the predetermined condition is met, and the support unit 106 obtains the "participation ID" combination corresponding to this combination of event participant information, i.e., the combination of "J5012" and "J5014".

In this way, for all combinations of event participant information detected above, combinations that satisfy predetermined conditions are detected, and combinations of "participant IDs" corresponding to the detected combinations of event participant information are obtained.

Next, the support unit 106 performs unique processing on any duplicate "participation ID" combinations among the acquired combinations of "participation IDs," eliminating all but one of them and eliminating duplication. By eliminating duplication, it is possible to prevent duplicate business card exchange support from being provided to the same user combination. However, since it is expected that duplicate "participation ID" combinations will not normally occur under the predetermined conditions used here, this unique processing may be omitted.

Then, for each combination of "participation IDs" with duplicates removed, the support unit 106 obtains contact information such as "email addresses" from the records (rows) corresponding to the two "participation IDs" in the event participant management table shown in FIG. 11, and sends information to each contact recommending that users corresponding to the "participation IDs" in each pair exchange business cards. The information recommending that users exchange business cards and is sent to each user is, for example, information containing at least a portion (e.g., name, company name, etc.) of the business card information corresponding to the other "participation ID" in the same pair (i.e., the business card information of the exchange partner). Here, as an example, the information recommending that users exchange business cards is information containing a button, link, etc. for accepting an operation to agree to the business card exchange. Then, when two users corresponding to two "participation IDs" of the same group who received the information recommending the exchange of business cards both perform an operation to agree to the business card exchange, information corresponding to this operation is sent from the user terminal 4 to the event server 1 or a server (not shown) that manages the business card exchange, and the support unit 106 or the like stores information managing the fact that business card information has been exchanged in a storage unit (not shown).

For example, to explain the case of sending information to support the exchange of business card information for "J5012" and "J5013," which are one combination of "participation IDs" obtained above, the support unit 106 obtains from the event participant management table shown in Figure 11 the "email address" attribute value "bkawa@bc..." and the "business card image" attribute value "na1002.png" corresponding to the "participation ID" "J5012." Similarly, it obtains the "email address" attribute value "j_ezawa@ef..." and the "business card image" attribute value "na1005.png" corresponding to the "participation ID" "J5013." The support unit 106 then sends an email to the email address "bkawa@bc..." acquired for the participant identifier "J5012" containing a business card image with the file name indicated by the attribute value "na1005.png" of the "business card image" acquired for the participant identifier "J5013" and a button for accepting consent to the business card exchange, and sends an email to the email address "j_ezawa@ef..." acquired for the participant identifier "J5013" containing a business card image with the file name indicated by the attribute value "na1002.png" of the "business card image" acquired for the participant identifier "J5012" and a button for accepting consent to the business card exchange.

When the user terminal 4 that receives email addressed to the email address "bkawa@bc..." and the user terminal 4 that receives email addressed to the email address "j_ezawa@ef..." each receive the above email, the user terminal output unit (not shown) of each user terminal 4 displays the received email on the monitor 405a.

Figure 12(a) is an example of the display of the above email received by a user terminal 4 receiving email addressed to the email address "bkawa@bc...", and Figure 12(b) is an example of the display of the above email received by a user terminal 4 receiving email addressed to the email address "j_ezawa@ef...".

As shown in Figures 12(a) and 12(b), each email contains a business card image of the person with whom the business card will be exchanged, along with buttons 121a and 121b for agreeing to exchange business cards with that person. These buttons are associated with information indicating that a business card exchange will take place between, for example, the business card information identified by the business card identifier "NA1002" corresponding to the participant identifier "J5012" and the business card information identified by the business card identifier "NA1005" corresponding to the participant identifier "J5013." When a user using each user terminal 4 presses button 121a or 121b, information agreeing to the business card exchange is sent to the event server 1, etc., and when it is confirmed that both buttons 121a and 121b have been pressed, the event server 1, etc., stores information managing the business card exchange in a storage unit (not shown). A detailed description of the business card exchange process and the business card exchange management process is omitted here.

Now, assuming that two new pieces of event information are stored in the event information storage unit 103, the event information acquisition unit 107 performs the following process to recommend events to the user.

Figure 8(b) shows the event information management table shown in Figure 8(a) to which records (rows) corresponding to two new pieces of event information have been added. The newly added event information is assumed to be event information managed by records with "Event ID" of "EV1083" and "EV1084," respectively.

First, the event information acquisition unit 107 detects the first event participant information from the event participant information stored in the event participant storage unit 105. It does not matter which event participant information is detected as the first event participant information. For example, the event participant information may be detected in random order, or the event participant information may be detected in order from most recently stored event participant information. For example, let us assume here that the event participant information of the record (row) in the event participant management table shown in Figure 11 where the "Participant ID" is "J5017" is detected as the first event participant information.

The event information acquisition unit 107 acquires one or more event attribute values from the first event participant information. Here, two event attribute values with the attribute names "Venue 1" and "Keyword" are used as predetermined conditions for recommendation, so the event information acquisition unit 107 acquires the "Venue" attribute value "Tokyo" and the "Keyword" attribute value "Investment" from the record (row) of the first event participant information whose "Participant ID" is "J5017" in the event participant management table shown in Figure 11.

Next, the event attribute values of the same two attribute names as above are obtained from the first event information among the newly added event information in the event information management table shown in Figure 8 (b). Here, the order of the event information is determined according to the ascending numerical order of the "Event ID", and the attribute value "Tokyo" for "Location 1" and the attribute value "Entrepreneurship, Investment" for "Keywords" are obtained from the event information of the record with "Event ID" "EV1083".

The event information acquisition unit 107 then determines whether the event attribute values acquired from the first event participant information and the first event information among the newly accumulated event information satisfy predetermined conditions for recommendation. The conditions for recommendation are that "Venue 1" and at least one of the "Keywords" match. Here, the attribute value of "Venue 1" acquired from the first event participant information matches the attribute value of "Venue 1" acquired from the newly accumulated first event information, and "Start a Business," which is the attribute value of the "Keyword" acquired from the first event participant information, matches "Start a Business," which is one of the attribute values of the "Keyword" acquired from the first event information. Therefore, the event information acquisition unit 107 determines that the conditions for recommendation are satisfied, and determines the first event information as the event to be recommended to the user identified by the business card information in the first event participant information. The attribute value "NA1001" of the "business card ID" in the first event participant information is then associated with the attribute value "EV1083" of the "event ID" in the newly accumulated first event information, and these are temporarily stored in a storage unit (not shown) or the like.

Furthermore, the event information acquisition unit 107 acquires the same event attribute values as above, namely, the attribute value "Tokyo" of "Venue 1" and the attribute value "Digital, IT" of "Keyword" from the second event information among the newly added event information in the event information management table shown in FIG. 8(b), and determines whether these attribute values and the event attribute value acquired from the first event participant information above satisfy the same recommendation conditions as above. In this case, the attribute value of "Venue 1" acquired from the first event participant information matches the attribute value of "Venue 1" acquired from the newly accumulated first event information, but the attribute value of "Entrepreneurship" of the "Keyword" acquired from the first event participant information does not match the attribute value of "Digital, IT" of the "Keyword" acquired from the first event information. Therefore, the event information acquisition unit 107 determines that the conditions for recommendation are not satisfied, and does not determine that the event corresponding to the newly accumulated second event information is an event to be recommended to the user indicated by the business card information in the first event participant information.

In this case, since no new event information has been accumulated beyond the third, the process of determining whether the conditions for recommendation as described above are met is terminated. However, if there is other newly accumulated event information, the same process is performed on that information, and if one of the event information meets the conditions for recommendation as described above, that event information is determined to be the event to be recommended to the user identified by the business card information contained in the first event participant information, and the event identifier is associated with the attribute value "NA1001" of the "business card ID" contained in the first event participant information, and temporarily stored in a storage unit (not shown) or the like.

Furthermore, the event information acquisition unit 107 performs the same process as above on the second and subsequent event participant information managed in the event participant information management table shown in Figure 11, acquires the event identifier of the event recommended to the user indicated by the business card information contained in the event participant information, and stores it in a storage unit (not shown) in association with the business card identifier contained in the event participant information.

After performing the above processing on all event participant information, the event information acquisition unit 107 performs unique processing on the event identifiers stored in the storage unit (not shown) in association with the "business card ID" attribute values, and deletes all but one of the duplicate combinations of event identifiers and their corresponding "business card ID" attribute values. This prevents duplicate events from being recommended to the same user.

The notification unit 108 then sends information recommending to the user events identified by each event identifier stored in the storage unit (not shown) that was not deleted by the unique processing to the user's contact information indicated by the "email address" or the like of a record in the event participant management table shown in Figure 11, whose "business card ID" attribute value matches the "business card ID" attribute value associated with each event identifier.

The following describes an example in which the notification unit 108 transmits information recommending an event for the pair of the attribute value "NA1001" of the "business card ID" in the first event participant information that was associated and stored above, and the attribute value "EV1083" of the "event ID" in the first event information that was newly stored.

The notification unit 108 acquires the attribute value "ayama@ab..." for the "email address" from the record in which the attribute value of "business card ID" is "NA1001" in the event participant management table shown in FIG. 11. The notification unit 108 also acquires one or more predetermined event attribute values that enable the content of the event to be understood, such as the attribute value of "event name" ("investment briefing for entrepreneurs"), the attribute value of "event period" ("2021/12/4"), the attribute value of "location 1" ("Tokyo"), and the attribute value of "location 2" ("Shibuya-ku..."), from the record in which the attribute value of "event ID" is "EV1083" in the event information management table shown in FIG. 8(b). The notification unit 108 then notifies (e.g., sends) an email recommending the event to the acquired email address "ayama@ab..." that includes the acquired event attribute value and a character string or the like recommending the event that corresponds to the event attribute value.

When a user terminal 4 capable of sending email to the email address "ayama@ab..." receives an email recommending the above event, the user terminal output unit (not shown) displays the received email on the monitor 405a.

Figure 13 shows an example of an email recommending an event displayed on user terminal 4.

In addition, if the event attribute value includes the address of a web page or the like for accepting applications to participate in the event, the notification unit 108 may send an email to the user terminal 4 recommending the event, which also includes a link to this address.

Now, let's say that a predetermined date and time has arrived to perform the process of sending an advertisement. This date and time can be set at any interval or frequency.

Figure 14 shows an advertisement management table that manages advertisements stored in the advertisement storage unit 110. The advertisement management table has the attributes "Advertisement ID," "Advertisement," "Advertisement Area," and "Advertisement Keyword." "Advertisement ID" is an advertisement identifier. "Advertisement" is advertisement data. Here, an advertisement is assumed to be composed of a string of characters. However, an advertisement may be composed of any type of data. "Advertisement Area" is an advertisement area, and in this case, is the name of a prefecture. "Advertisement Keyword" is an advertisement keyword. Multiple keywords are separated by ",".

First, the advertisement determination unit 109 detects the first event participant information from the event participant information stored in the event participant storage unit 105, just as in the case of recommending the above event. For example, let us assume that the event participant information of the record (row) in the event participant management table shown in Figure 11 where the "Participant ID" is "J5017" is detected as the first event participant information.

The advertisement determination unit 109 obtains one or more event attribute values from the first event participant information. Here, two event attribute values with the attribute names "Venue 1" and "Keyword" are used as predetermined conditions for sending advertisements, so the "Venue" attribute value "Tokyo" and the "Keyword" attribute value "Investment" are obtained from the record (row) of the first event participant information whose "Participant ID" is "J5017" in the event participant management table shown in Figure 11.

Next, from the advertisement attribute values of the first advertisement in the advertisement management table shown in FIG. 14, advertisement attribute values with attribute names "advertising area" and "advertising keyword" that are pre-associated with the event attribute values "location 1" and "keyword" acquired above are acquired. Information indicating the correspondence between event attribute values and advertisement attribute values may be stored in advance in a storage unit (not shown) or the like, and this information indicating the correspondence may be used to acquire advertisement attribute values corresponding to the event attribute values acquired above, or advertisement attribute values predetermined according to the conditions for advertisement transmission may be acquired. Here, assuming that the order of advertisements is determined in order from top to bottom in the advertisement management table of FIG. 14, the advertisement determination unit 109 acquires the attribute value "Tokyo" for "advertising area" and the attribute value "startup, loan" for "keyword" from the record with "advertising ID" "PR001" that is the first from the top of the advertisement management table of FIG. 14 corresponding to the first advertisement.

Then, the advertisement determination unit 109 determines whether the event attribute values obtained from the first event participant information and the advertisement attribute values obtained for the first advertisement satisfy predetermined conditions for advertisement transmission. The conditions for advertisement transmission are that the attribute values of "venue 1" and "advertising area" match, and at least one of the attribute values of "keyword" and "advertising keyword" match. In this case, the attribute value of "Location 1" acquired from the first event participant information and the attribute value of "Advertising Area" acquired for the newly accumulated first advertisement are both "Tokyo," so they match. Furthermore, the attribute value of "Keyword" acquired from the first event participant information, "Start a Business," matches one of the attribute values of the "Advertising Keywords" acquired for the first advertisement, "Start a Business." Therefore, the advertisement determination unit 109 determines that the conditions for advertisement transmission are met and determines the first advertisement, i.e., the advertisement whose file name is the "Advertisement" attribute value "PR001.txt" in the record in the first row from the top of the advertisement management table shown in FIG. 14, as the advertisement to be sent to the user identified by the business card information in the first event participant information. The attribute value "NA1001" of the "Business Card ID" in the first event participant information and the attribute value "PR001" of the "Advertising ID" in the record in the first row from the top of the advertisement management table shown in FIG. 14 are then associated and temporarily stored in a storage unit (not shown) or the like.

Furthermore, the advertisement determination unit 109 also obtains the attribute values of "Advertising Area" and "Advertising Keyword" for each of the records from the second record onwards in the advertisement management table shown in Figure 14, in the same manner as above, and determines whether these satisfy the conditions for advertisement transmission similar to those described above with respect to the attribute values of "Venue 1" and "Keyword" obtained from the first event participant information. If they do, it determines the advertisement of each record as the advertisement to be sent to the user identified by the business card information in the first event participant information, and temporarily stores the attribute value of the "Advertising ID" of the record containing this advertisement in association with the business card identifier "NA1001" in the first event participant information in a storage unit (not shown) or the like. Advertisements with advertising information that do not satisfy the conditions for advertisement transmission are not determined as advertisements to be sent to the user identified by the business card information in the first event participant information.

Furthermore, the advertisement determination unit 109 performs the same process as above for the second and subsequent event participant information, obtains the advertisement identifier of the advertisement to be sent to the user indicated by the business card information contained in the event participant information, and stores it in a storage unit (not shown) in association with the business card identifier contained in the event participant information.

After performing the above processing for all event participant information, the advertisement determination unit 109 performs unique processing to delete all but one of the combinations of duplicate advertisement identifiers and attribute values of the "business card ID" associated with the advertisement identifiers acquired above and stored in a storage unit (not shown) in association with the attribute values of the "business card ID" held by each event participant information. This prevents duplicate advertisements from being sent to the same user.

Then, the advertisement sending unit 111 sends advertisements corresponding to each advertisement identifier stored in the storage unit (not shown) that were not deleted by the unique processing to the user's contact information indicated by the "email address" or the like of a record in the event participant management table shown in Figure 11, whose "business card ID" attribute value matches the "business card ID" attribute value associated with each advertisement identifier.

For example, if the advertisement determination unit 109 performs the process of determining the advertisement to be sent to the user as described above and stores the attribute value "NA1001" of the "Business Card ID" in the first event participant information in a storage unit (not shown) in association with the advertisement identifier "PR001," the advertisement sending unit 111 acquires the attribute value "ayama@ab..." of the "Email Address" from the record in the event participant management table shown in FIG. 11 in which the attribute value of "Business Card ID" is "NA1001" as information indicating the user's contact information, and sends an email addressed to this email address containing an advertisement consisting of the character string indicated by the attribute value of "Advertisement" in the record in the advertisement management table shown in FIG. 14 in which the attribute value of "Advertisement ID" is "PR001."

When a user terminal receiving unit (not shown) of the user terminal 4, which is capable of receiving emails sent to this email address, receives the email containing the above advertisement, a user terminal output unit (not shown) of the user terminal 4 displays the email containing the advertisement on the monitor 405a.

Figure 15 shows an example of an advertisement displayed by user terminal 4.

As described above, according to this embodiment, business card information can be used to easily accept participation in an event and manage event participants.

In the above embodiments, each process (each function) may be realized by centralized processing in a single device (system), or may be realized by distributed processing across multiple devices.

It goes without saying that in the above embodiments, two or more communication means present in one device may be physically realized using a single medium.

In addition, in the above embodiments, each component may be configured using dedicated hardware, or components that can be implemented using software may be implemented by executing a program. For example, each component may be implemented by a program execution unit such as a CPU reading and executing a software program recorded on a recording medium such as a hard disk or semiconductor memory. During execution, the program execution unit may execute the program while accessing a storage unit (for example, a recording medium such as a hard disk or memory).

The software that realizes the event server in the above embodiment is the following program. In other words, this program causes a computer to function as a reception information receiving unit that receives an event identifier and a business card identifier or business card information from an event terminal, a business card information acquiring unit that acquires business card information corresponding to the business card identifier or received business card information, and a storage unit that stores event participant information including business card information in association with the event identifier.

The software that realizes the event terminal in the above embodiment is the following program. In other words, this program causes a computer that can access a terminal storage unit in which an event identifier is stored to function as a terminal processing unit that acquires a business card identifier, a terminal sending unit that sends the business card identifier to a business card management server, a terminal receiving unit that receives business card information identified by the business card identifier from the business card management server, a terminal output unit that outputs the business card information, and a terminal receiving unit that receives an instruction to participate in an event for a user corresponding to the business card identifier, and in response to receiving the instruction to participate, the terminal sending unit associates the business card identifier or the business card information with the event identifier and sends it to the event server.

Note that in the above program, the sending step of transmitting information and the receiving step of receiving information do not include processing performed by hardware, such as processing performed by a modem or interface card in the sending step (processing that can only be performed by hardware).

Note that the functions realized by the above program do not include functions that can only be realized by hardware. For example, functions that can only be realized by hardware, such as modems or interface cards in the acquisition unit that acquires information or the output unit that outputs information, are not included in the functions realized by the above program.

Furthermore, this program may be executed by a single computer or multiple computers. In other words, it may perform centralized processing or distributed processing.

Figure 16 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the appearance of a computer that executes the above program to realize the event server according to the above embodiment. The above embodiment can be realized by computer hardware and a computer program executed on it.

In FIG. 16, the computer system 900 includes a computer 901 including a CD-ROM (Compact Disk Read Only Memory) drive 905, a keyboard 902, a mouse 903, and a monitor 904.

Figure 17 shows the internal configuration of computer system 900. In Figure 17, computer 901 includes, in addition to CD-ROM drive 905, MPU (Micro Processing Unit) 911, ROM 912 for storing programs such as boot-up programs, RAM (Random Access Memory) 913 connected to MPU 911 for temporarily storing application program instructions and providing temporary storage space, hard disk 914 for storing application programs, system programs, and data, and bus 915 for interconnecting MPU 911, ROM 912, etc. Note that computer 901 may also include a network card (not shown) for providing connection to a LAN.

A program that causes the computer system 900 to perform functions such as an event server according to the above embodiment may be stored on a CD-ROM 921, inserted into the CD-ROM drive 905, and transferred to the hard disk 914. Alternatively, the program may be sent to the computer 901 via a network (not shown) and stored on the hard disk 914. The program is loaded into RAM 913 when executed. The program may also be loaded directly from the CD-ROM 921 or the network.

The program does not necessarily have to include an operating system (OS) or third-party programs that cause the computer 901 to perform the functions of the event server according to the above-described embodiment. The program may include only instruction portions that call appropriate functions (modules) in a controlled manner to achieve the desired results. How the computer system 900 operates is well known, and a detailed description will be omitted.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible, and it goes without saying that these modifications are also included within the scope of the present invention.

As described above, the event server according to the present invention is suitable, for example, as a device for managing information about an event, and is particularly useful as a device for managing information about participants in an event.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Event server 2, 2a Event terminal 3, 3a-3c Business card management server 4, 4a User terminal 101 Reception information receiving unit 102 Business card information acquiring unit 103 Event information storage unit 104 Accumulation unit 105 Event participant storage unit 106 Support unit 107 Event information acquiring unit 108 Notification unit 109 Advertisement determining unit 110 Advertisement storage unit 111 Advertisement transmitting unit 201 Terminal storage unit 202 Terminal acquiring unit 203 Terminal transmitting unit 204 Terminal receiving unit 205 Terminal output unit 206 Terminal receiving unit 1000 Event system

Claims (11)

a reception information receiving unit that receives an event identifier and a business card identifier or business card information from an event terminal that accepts an instruction for a user to participate in the event;
a business card information acquisition unit that acquires business card information corresponding to the business card identifier or the received business card information;
a storage unit that stores event participant information including the business card information in association with the event identifier ;
and a support unit that supports the exchange of business cards between two or more users by acquiring information that can identify a user with whom the business card exchange is recommended or user contact information from two or more pieces of business card information that are determined to satisfy any one of the following conditions: the event identifiers corresponding to the business card information are identical; the event attribute values corresponding to the business card information are similar; and the event attribute values of the event participant information corresponding to the two or more pieces of business card information are input into a classifier that determines whether or not business cards should be exchanged, obtained by machine learning using as training data a set of event attribute values contained in the event participant information of two or more users who have exchanged business cards and a set of event attribute values contained in the event participant information of two or more users who have not exchanged business cards . a reception information receiving unit that receives an event identifier and a business card identifier or business card information from an event terminal that accepts an instruction for a user to participate in the event;
a business card information acquisition unit that acquires business card information corresponding to the business card identifier or the received business card information;
a storage unit that stores event participant information including the business card information in association with the event identifier;
an event information storage unit that stores two or more pieces of event information each having one or more event attribute values in association with an event identifier;
an event information acquisition unit that uses one or more event attribute values corresponding to the event participant information accumulated by the accumulation unit and one or more event attribute values of each of the one or more event information stored in the event information storage unit to determine an event to be recommended to a user corresponding to business card information included in the event participant information, and acquires event information for the event;
an alert unit that performs an alert process to alert the user of the event information acquired by the event information acquisition unit. a reception information receiving unit that receives an event identifier and a business card identifier or business card information from an event terminal that accepts an instruction for a user to participate in the event;
a business card information acquisition unit that acquires business card information corresponding to the business card identifier or the received business card information;
a storage unit that stores event participant information including the business card information in association with the event identifier;
an advertisement determination unit that determines an advertisement to be sent to a user corresponding to business card information included in the event participant information, using one or more advertisement attribute values of one or more advertisements stored in an advertisement storage unit and one or more event attribute values corresponding to the event participant information stored in the storage unit;
an advertisement transmission unit that performs an advertisement transmission process to transmit the advertisement determined by the advertisement determination unit to the user. an event information storage unit that stores two or more pieces of event information each having one or more event attribute values in association with an event identifier;
an event information acquisition unit that uses one or more event attribute values corresponding to the event participant information accumulated by the accumulation unit and one or more event attribute values of each of the one or more event information stored in the event information storage unit to determine an event to be recommended to a user corresponding to business card information included in the event participant information, and acquires event information for the event;
The event server according to claim 1 , further comprising: a notification unit that performs notification processing to notify the user of the event information acquired by the event information acquisition unit. an advertisement determination unit that determines an advertisement to be sent to a user corresponding to business card information included in the event participant information, using one or more advertisement attribute values of one or more advertisements stored in an advertisement storage unit and one or more event attribute values corresponding to the event participant information stored in the storage unit;
The event server according to claim 1 , further comprising: an advertisement transmitting unit that performs an advertisement transmitting process to transmit the advertisement determined by the advertisement determining unit to the user. The event server according to claim 1 , wherein the business card identifier is information corresponding to a code read by the event terminal. a terminal storage unit in which an event identifier is stored;
a terminal processing unit that acquires a business card identifier;
a terminal transmitting unit that transmits the business card identifier to a business card management server;
a terminal receiving unit that receives the business card information identified by the business card identifier from the business card management server;
a terminal output unit that outputs the business card information;
a terminal reception unit that receives an instruction to participate in an event of a user corresponding to the business card identifier;
The terminal transmitting unit
In response to receiving the participation instruction, the event terminal transmits the business card identifier or the business card information to the event server in association with the event identifier. An information processing method for causing a computer to execute all of the processes performed by the event server according to any one of claims 1 to 6 . An information processing method performed using a terminal storage unit in which an event identifier is stored, a terminal processing unit, a terminal transmission unit, a terminal reception unit, a terminal output unit, and a terminal acceptance unit,
the terminal processing unit acquiring a business card identifier;
a step of the terminal transmitting unit transmitting the business card identifier to a business card management server;
a step in which the terminal receiving unit receives business card information identified by the business card identifier from the business card management server;
a terminal output step in which the terminal output unit outputs the business card information;
a step of the terminal reception unit receiving an instruction to participate in an event of a user corresponding to the business card identifier;
the terminal transmitting unit transmitting the business card identifier or the business card information to an event server in association with the event identifier in response to receiving the participation instruction. Computer,
A program for causing an event server to function as the event server according to any one of claims 1 to 5 . A computer that can access a terminal storage unit in which an event identifier is stored,
a terminal processing unit that acquires a business card identifier;
a terminal transmitting unit that transmits the business card identifier to a business card management server;
a terminal receiving unit that receives the business card information identified by the business card identifier from the business card management server;
a terminal output unit that outputs the business card information;
functioning as a terminal reception unit that receives an instruction to participate in an event of a user corresponding to the business card identifier;
The terminal transmitting unit
a program that, in response to the acceptance of the participation instruction, transmits the business card identifier or the business card information to an event server in association with the event identifier;