JP2002207662A - Website views counting device - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] To improve the numerical accuracy by measuring the number of views and the rating of a website to which a user attribute is added by a third party fairly and accurately, and increasing the number of survey subjects. . Kind Code: A1 A global IP address or a UR of a website 117 for measuring the number of times of viewing and rating in advance.
After registration of L, the global IP address or U of the connection destination transmitted from the end user's personal computer 101
When the RL is monitored and the corresponding data is transmitted, a measurement device 106 for counting the number of data is provided in the telephone exchange 103 or the ISP network 112 and controlled by the measurement control device 108. Measuring device 106
Counts the total number of global IP addresses and the total number of URLs sent to each ISP, and records user attributes such as the gender and age of the end user in association with each other.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an apparatus for measuring the number of views of a website on the Internet, and more particularly to an apparatus for measuring the number of views of a website. The present invention relates to an apparatus for measuring the number of times of viewing of a website which can provide highly accurate viewing trend data.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when measuring the number of times a website has been viewed, the website operator himself / herself has calculated the number of accesses from a communication record of a server accommodating the website, and has used this value as the number of times the website has been viewed. . When measuring the audience rating of a website, a survey operator must extract the survey subjects from Internet users in advance, and then install the dedicated software distributed to the survey subjects on a personal computer, etc. This automatically surveys website access trends, transmits the obtained data to the business operator using a telephone line, etc., processes the data, and sells it as a website audience rating for each user attribute. Was. This numerical value is a numerical value obtained by dividing the total number of times that all the surveyees have accessed a specific website by the total number of accesses of all the surveyees.

[0003]

By the way, an advertiser pays an advertisement fee to a website operator and publishes an advertisement on a screen of the website. In such a case, the advertisement fee generally varies depending on the number of times of viewing or rating of the website, and the higher the value, the higher the advertisement fee. However, as mentioned above, the number of views is traditionally measured by the website operator itself, so it takes time for advertisers to collect the number of views for each website where ads are posted In addition, in the case of community-based websites, there is a problem that the number of visits from within the target area is not known, and website operators may inflate the actual number of views and charge unreasonably high advertising expenses There is a problem. In addition, there is a problem that the advertiser can measure only the number of times of viewing, and does not know the attribute of the viewing end user.

[0004] On the other hand, regarding the audience rating of a website,
Audience rating survey companies limit the number of surveyed people, and the number is around several thousand nationwide. Considering the fact that the population of Internet users in Japan according to the 1999 White Paper on Communications (Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications) is about 17 million, to conduct a detailed survey on user attributes (region, gender, etc.) Not enough samples. For this reason, there is a problem that a numerical value deviating from the actual audience rating may be calculated. Also, under the current situation, it is necessary to send dedicated software developed for the survey to all the surveyed subjects and install it on a personal computer etc., which takes time and effort,
Furthermore, there is a problem that the cost is high and it may be a difficult task for a beginner of the personal computer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve these conventional problems, and enable a third party to externally and accurately measure the number of views and the rating of a website to which a user attribute has been added. It is possible to improve the accuracy of numerical values by increasing the number of survey subjects at the time of calculation, and to calculate the number of views and ratings with high accuracy for each user attribute without making the end user perform any special work It is an object of the present invention to provide a device for measuring the number of views of a website.

[0006]

In order to achieve the above object, the apparatus of the present invention for measuring the number of times of viewing of a web site connects an end user's personal computer or the like to the Internet via a telephone network or a cable television broadcasting network. ISP (Internet Service Prov)
ider), a function of multiplexing the data sent from the end user's personal computer or the like via a telephone exchange in a fixed area unit, distributing the data to a plurality of connected ISPs, and transmitting / receiving the data. IP (In
A global IP address or a URL (Uniform R) of a website for measuring the number of times of viewing and the rating in advance in a network (network).
resource Locator),
It monitors the global IP address or URL of the connection destination transmitted from the end user's personal computer, and when the relevant data is transmitted, a function of counting the number of times of the data, and transmitted to each ISP provider. A function that counts the total number of global IP addresses and total URLs, and registers user attributes such as the end user's gender and age, in association with the user ID number, and is provided by the ISP when the end user accesses the website By providing a measuring device having a function of recording the sender's IP address of the user in association with the user ID number and the user attribute described above, the number of views and the audience rating processed for each user attribute are calculated.

According to the present invention, the number of times a user views a website can be measured in a communication network, and a third party other than the site operator can measure fairly and accurately. In this case, the number of persons to be surveyed can be increased by using the wide area of the communication network, so that it is possible to calculate the audience rating with much higher accuracy than before. Also,
If the IP network is mainly composed of prefectures, IS
Since the interconnection point with the P company is also a unit of prefecture, efficient and economical measurement is possible by installing the present measuring device at the interconnection point. Further, by installing the measuring device in the telephone exchange, it is possible to perform a pinpoint survey limited to only the telephone exchange.

[0008] Furthermore, by registering the user ID number in combination with the attribute data such as the sex and age of the user in this apparatus, the transmission provided by the ISP company every time the user connects to the Internet. IP address, user ID number, and user attribute can always be linked, and attributes such as the gender and age of the person can be determined from the sender IP address of the end user who visited the surveyed website. It becomes possible to grasp.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, the case of an end user using an IP network (FIG. 1) and the case of an end user connecting to the Internet using a telephone line, a cable television line, or the like as an access line (FIG. 2). I will explain separately. FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a device configuration diagram of a device for measuring the number of times of viewing of a website, showing an example of an end user using an IP network. In FIG. 1, 101 is an end user's personal computer, etc., 102 is a telephone line, 103 is a telephone exchange, 104 is a telephone exchange, 106 is a device for measuring the number of global IP addresses and URLs (measuring device), and 105 is an IP.
Network, 107 is a control line, 108 is a measurement control device, 10
9 is a routing device such as a router or an ATM switch, 110 is an IP network terminating device, 111 is a connection point with an Internet service provider, 118 is a communication line such as a dedicated line, 112 is an Internet service provider network, and 113 is an internet service provider network. Authentication server, 114 is a domain name system server (DNS), 115 is a router, 1
Reference numeral 16 denotes the Internet, and 117 denotes a website to which the end user is trying to connect.

In the case of FIG. 1, the telephone exchange 103 has a device for measuring the number of global IP addresses and URLs (measuring device).
By arranging 106 and controlling the measurement device 106 from the measurement control device 108 of the IP network 105, the number of times of viewing and rating of the website are measured. In FIG. 1, an apparatus newly installed in the present invention is a global IP address number / URL number measuring apparatus (measuring apparatus) 106 indicated by oblique lines.
And the measurement control device 108. An end user using the IP network makes a dial-up connection to an IP network access point using a telephone line 102 from a personal computer 101 or the like. The end user enters his / her ID number and password into the telephone exchange 104, the measuring device 106, and the IP network 105.
To the ISP business network 112 via the ISP business network, and is authenticated by the authentication server 113 of the ISP business. At this time, the user ID number is recorded in the measuring device 106.

[0011] After the authentication is completed, the sender IP address is assigned to the end user's personal computer 101 from the ISP. At this time, in the measuring device 106, the user ID of the end user previously recorded and the sender IP address returned from the ISP are recorded together. The end user must enter the URL of the website 117 desired to connect.
Is transmitted to the domain name system server (DNS) 114 in the ISP business network 112, the URL of the connection destination website 117 converts this to a global IP address, and returns it to the user's personal computer 101 or the like again. In response to this, the personal computer 101 and the like again transmit the IP address to the IP network 105 by adding the above-mentioned sender IP address to the global IP address of the desired connection destination.
The user is connected to a desired website 117 via the business network 112 and the Internet 116.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a device for measuring the number of viewings of a website showing a second embodiment of the present invention, wherein a telephone line, a cable television line or the like is used as an access line. Shows the case of an end user connected to the Internet. In this case, as shown in FIG. 2, the end user is connected to the Internet from the personal computer 101 via the telephone exchange 203. In FIG. 2, an authentication / measurement device 113 is arranged in the Internet service provider company network 112, thereby measuring the number of times of viewing and rating of the website.
A device newly provided in the present invention is an authentication / measurement device 113 indicated by oblique lines.

[0013] The end user makes a dial-up connection from the personal computer 201 or the like to the access point 211 of the ISP used by using the telephone line 202, and transmits his ID number and password to the ISP network 112. The authentication is performed by the authentication and measurement device 113 of the ISP. After the authentication is completed, the sender IP address is given to the personal computer 201 of the end user from the ISP company. The end user must connect to the website 11
7 to the domain name system server (DNS) 114 in the ISP business network 112, the domain name system server (DNS) 114 converts the URL of the connection destination website 117 into a global IP address, It returns to the user's personal computer 201 again. The personal computer 201 receives the ISP again
By transmitting the desired connection destination global IP address and the above-mentioned sender IP address to the business entity 112, the desired website 11 via the Internet 116 is transmitted.
7 is connected.

FIG. 3 is an operational flowchart of the measuring device 106 in FIG. 1 (first embodiment) and the authentication / measuring device 113 in FIG. 2 (second embodiment). The measuring device 106 or the authentication / measuring device 113 monitors the global IP address or URL of the connection destination transmitted from the end user (step 11), and when the global IP address or URL of the website to be investigated is transmitted. This is counted as the number of times of viewing (steps 12 and 13). In addition, the ID number of the end user is searched for from the IP address of the caller sent together with these, and recorded together with data such as access time.

Further, the number of accesses to sites not to be investigated is also measured, and is set as the total number of global IP addresses or the total number of URLs (step 14). The measured result is
In the case of FIG. 1, the data is sent to the measurement control device 108 (step 1).
5), in the case of FIG.
The user attribute of the end user registered in advance is searched using the user ID number, and the user attribute, the number of times of viewing, and the like are recorded as data in an access list provided for each website to be surveyed (step 16). By using these data, a simple rating is calculated by, for example, dividing the number of times of viewing of the survey target website by the total number of times of measurement (step 17). In addition, the number of times of viewing of the survey target website is classified for each user attribute, and the number of times of measurement is divided by the number of times of measurement to calculate an audience rating for each attribute in the site (step 18).

The measuring device 106 shown in FIG. 1 and the authentication device shown in FIG.
The measuring device 113 may be a normal counter that counts the number of accesses. The measuring device 113 monitors the global IP address or URL of the connection destination transmitted from the end user's personal computer. Count the number of data. Also, the total number of global IP addresses and the total number of URLs sent to each ISP are counted. The user attributes such as the gender and age of the end user are registered in association with the user ID number, and the sender's IP address given by the ISP when the end user accesses the website is the user ID described above. By providing a measuring device having a function of recording in association with a number and a user attribute, it is also possible to calculate the number of times of viewing and audience rating processed for each user attribute.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention,
Regarding the global IP address or URL registered in advance, the number of times that the end user has viewed
Since the number of views can be measured accurately and the total number of views is used as the number of subjects to be surveyed, the user does not need to perform any special operation, and a highly accurate rating with the user attribute of the website can be calculated. Yes, and it is also possible to measure pinpoints in a limited area. As a result, it is possible to provide objective and highly accurate viewing trend data on the Internet.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an apparatus configuration diagram of a website viewing frequency measuring apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the configuration of a device for measuring the number of times of viewing of a website according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an operation flowchart of the apparatus for measuring the number of times of viewing of a website in the cases of FIGS. 1 and 2;

[Explanation of symbols]

101, 201: communication terminals such as personal computers, 102, 20
2 ... telephone line, 103, 203 ... telephone exchange, 104,
204: telephone exchange, 105: IP network, 106: global IP address / URL count measuring device (measuring device)
107: control line, 108: measurement control device, 109:
Routing devices such as routers and ATM switches;
Reference numeral 211: connection point with an Internet service provider, 110: IP network termination device, 112: Internet service provider network, 113: authentication server, authentication / measurement device, 114: domain name system server (DNS), 115 ... Router, 116: Internet, 118: Communication line such as dedicated line, 117: Website to which the end user is trying to connect.

Claims (5)

[Claims] An Internet connected to an Internet service provider from a terminal such as a personal computer connected to a telephone line or the like via an access device such as a telephone exchange, a voice / data demultiplexer, or a cable television broadcasting device. A connection-type measuring device, which is installed in the Internet service provider and transmitted from a terminal such as a personal computer of an end user or a connection destination website name (UR).
L), a device for measuring the number of times of viewing of a website, comprising a measuring means for counting the number of global IP addresses or URLs of a specific website registered in advance. 2. Data transmitted from a terminal such as a personal computer connected to a telephone line via a telephone exchange is multiplexed in a fixed area unit and distributed to a plurality of Internet service providers to be connected. A measuring device of an Internet protocol network for mutually transmitting and receiving data, wherein the measuring device is installed in the Internet protocol network, and is a connection destination IP address or a URL transmitted from a terminal such as a personal computer of an end user. A number-of-viewing-times measuring device for a website, comprising a measuring means for counting the number of global IP addresses or URLs of the website. 3. The apparatus for measuring the number of times of viewing of a website according to claim 1, wherein the measuring means includes an ID number assigned to the end user by the Internet service provider, and a gender and age of the end user. Viewing a website characterized by accommodating different user attribute data and a global IP address given to an end user from an Internet service provider every time a connection is made, in association with each other. Counting device. 4. The apparatus for measuring the number of times of viewing of a website according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the measuring means is a connection destination global IP address or a connection destination IP address transmitted from a terminal such as an end user's personal computer to an Internet service provider. The URL is constantly monitored, and when the connection destination is a pre-registered global IP address or URL, the number of times of the address or URL is counted together with the end user's customer attribute, and thereby the number of times the surveyed website is viewed is determined by the user attribute. An apparatus for measuring the number of views of a website, which is separately calculated. 5. The apparatus for measuring the number of times of viewing of a website according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the measuring means is a total global number for each user attribute measured from a terminal such as a personal computer of an end user within a fixed time or a fixed period. Measure the number of IP addresses or the total number of URLs,
An apparatus for measuring the number of views of a website to be surveyed, wherein the number of views of the website to be surveyed is divided by the total number of users by attribute, and the audience rating of the website to be surveyed is calculated by user attribute.