JP2002334104A - Information distribution system, information distribution server, client, information transmission method, reception method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] (with correction) [Problem] To collect information about a user without registering the user, and to deliver accurate information to the user based on the information. An information distribution system includes a client connected to a communication network, an information distribution server connected to the communication network, a search engine server connected to the communication network, and information connected to the communication network. Provision server 105
And The client 102 transmits the viewing history information to the information distribution server 103 together with the information source identifier. Further, the global word input by the user is transmitted to the information distribution server 103. The information distribution server 103 receives the information source identifier and the browsing history information transmitted from the client 102. The distribution keyword is extracted from the browsing history information and stored. Information distribution server 10
3 acquires address information, search result information obtained by searching for a distribution keyword, and promotion information, and transmits the distribution information to the client 102.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information distribution system, an information distribution server, a client, an information transmission method, a reception method, and a program. Extracting client information from the history information, analyzing the browsing history information, reflecting the analysis result on the client information, searching for information corresponding to the client information, and transmitting the information along with the promotion information to the client by the information distribution server; The present invention relates to a distribution system, an information distribution server, a client, an information transmission method, a reception method, and a program.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art With the recent development of technology related to the Internet and its spread to society, the so-called "One to One" information provision that provides information according to the attributes and characteristics of customers using the Internet. Is being done. In order to provide such “One to One” information, it is necessary to collect information on the user. One method of collecting is U.S. Pat.
There is a technique described in Japanese Patent Publication No. 8,061. This technology is a patent for a mechanism for selectively displaying advertisements in accordance with the number of visits to a site and the profile of a user. According to this technique, when the user accesses the content server, the content server transmits the content with an advertisement space left. At this point, the content of the advertisement displayed in the advertisement space has not been determined yet.

[0003] Next, the user terminal displays the received content together with an advertisement space secured. In this advertisement space, one of the advertisements of the affiliated advertisement server registered in advance in the content server is selected and displayed as follows.

[0004] The advertisement selection server can acquire profile information such as the profile of the user who has accessed the content server and the number of times of access from the content server, select one of the advertisement servers based on the profile information, and start the selection. The information is sent to the user terminal as advertisement server selection information.

[0005] Upon receiving the advertisement server selection information, the user terminal acquires the specified advertisement information corresponding to the selection information from the advertisement server, and displays it in the advertisement space.

On the other hand, when an information resource (site, Web document, etc.) on the network is accessed, the URL (Un
It has been proposed to use an identifier that is more understandable to the user instead of an iversal resource locator. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-78928 discloses a technique of assigning a URL represented in a character string in advance to a relatively short 10-digit number and digitizing the number. U.S. Pat. No. 6,151,624 discloses a technique for specifying network resources by natural language names. U.S. Pat. No. 5,764,906 discloses a technology that enables a network to be specified using a short and easy-to-store alias (nickname) without using information such as a physical address and a URL. ing.

[0007]

In order to provide information according to the attributes and characteristics of a customer, it is useful to obtain accurate profile information of a user. In order to obtain accurate user information, it is necessary to collect information on the user based on all accesses on the net.

However, the technology described in US Pat. No. 5,948,061 can collect information about users without inputting from a user such as a questionnaire. Since the information to be provided is limited to the profile of the user who accessed the advertiser's content server and the number of times of access, it is not possible to collect information on all other accesses to servers other than the advertisers who have contracted with DoubleClick. Can not.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problem. The present invention collects browsing history information on all accesses of a user without registering the user, and based on the browsing history information, obtains characteristics and characteristics of the user. The purpose is to deliver accurate information according to attributes.

[0010]

The present invention has the following features as means for achieving the above object.

(Invention of claim 1) An information distribution system according to the invention of claim 1 is a client connected to a communication network, an information distribution server connected to the communication network, and connected to the communication network. And an information providing server connected to a communication network.

The client stores browsing history information of the information by the user, for example, a URL and an IP address visited by the user, and transmits the stored browsing history information to the information distribution server together with the information source identifier. The global word input by the user is transmitted to the information distribution server. What is a global word?
It refers to a number string or a character string associated with a URL or an IP address, or a combination thereof.
For example, the global word “919919” is associated with a specific URL, and when the client receives the global word, it acts to convert it to the URL. As the global word, an internet number provided by an internet number company, a keyword provided by a netword company or a real name company, or the like can be used.

[0013] The information distribution server receives the information source identifier and the browsing history information sent from the client. The information source identifier uniquely identifies the transmission source of the browsing history information, and is, for example, a software ID assigned to software that processes a global word.

Further, the information distribution server extracts a distribution keyword from the browsing history information, and stores the information source identifier and the distribution keyword in association with each other.

When the information distribution server receives the information source identifier and the global word from the client, the information distribution server retrieves the address information (for example, URL) corresponding to the global word and the distribution keyword corresponding to the information source identifier from the search engine server. To obtain search result information returned from the search engine server and promotion information stored in advance. Then, it operates to generate distribution information by using these and transmit it to the client.

The search engine server searches for a net information resource including a distribution keyword sent from the distribution information server, and returns address information of the net information resource including the distribution keyword to the distribution information server as search result information.
The network information resource is information that can be browsed by a client via a communication network such as the Internet, and is, for example, an electronic document such as a Web document, a video file, an image file, and an audio file stored in any one of the Web servers. is there.

The information providing server has a global word and corresponding address information (URL or IP address)
Has global word correspondence information specified by. When the client receives the distribution information,
The network resource information specified by the corresponding address information is obtained from the information providing server, and is displayed together with the search result information and the promotion information so as to be viewed by a user. “Distribution information” includes address information corresponding to the global word input by the user and promotion information.

(Invention of claim 2) The information distribution server according to the invention of claim 2 receives a global word from a client and transmits corresponding address information corresponding to the global word. Further, the information distribution server receives the information source identifier and the browsing history information from the client, and extracts the client information from the browsing history information. The client information is information indicating some attribute of the user of the client, for example, information including a keyword (distribution keyword) indicating an item that is presumed to be of interest to the user.

When the global word is received, distribution information including corresponding address information corresponding to the global word and promotion information obtained as a result of analysis based on the client information is returned to the client.

[0020] Thus, the information distribution server can return information requested by the user, and converts information other than the information requested by the user, which is estimated to be of interest to the user, as so-called PUSH information. It becomes possible to distribute.

(Invention according to claim 11) An invention according to claim 11 is a client for transmitting browsing history information to an information distribution server, and information request means for transmitting a global word to the information distribution server; Information display means for receiving and displaying distribution information returned from the information distribution server in response thereto, wherein the distribution information is obtained by analyzing information corresponding to the global word and a result of analyzing the browsing history information. It is characterized by including promotion information determined accordingly.

Thus, when the client according to the present invention transmits the global word to the information distribution server,
Web information or the like corresponding to the global word is displayed in a browsable manner, and is selected based on information about the user obtained from the browsing history information, which is distributed as so-called push (Push) information not requested by the user. Display promotion information in a browsable manner.

[0023]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings.

[First Embodiment] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the overall configuration of an information distribution system according to the present embodiment. The illustrated information distribution system includes a client 102 connected to the communication network 101, an information distribution server 103 connected to the communication network 101, a search engine server 104 connected to the communication network 101, and a client connected to the communication network 101. Information providing server 105.

Hereinafter, each component of the information providing system according to the present embodiment will be described.

(Communication Network 101) The communication network 101
Regardless of whether it is wireless, a dedicated line, or a switched line, each of the devices connected to it operates to enable transmission and reception of information between the target devices when a session is established. In FIG. 1, the communication network 101 is shown as being connected by one trunk line, but this may be realized by combining a plurality of networks via a gateway, such as the Internet. Regarding the connection, even if the connection is not directly connected to a main line called a so-called backbone, but is temporarily connected by a PPP connection or the like, information can be transmitted and received during the session establishment even if the session is established. It does not matter. Note that the "communication network" includes a communication network that does not use an exchange, such as a fixed line of dedicated lines.

[Client 102] Client 10
Reference numeral 2 denotes an information processing apparatus such as a computer, a work station, or a mobile terminal which can be connected to the information providing server 103, the search engine server 104, and the information providing server 105 via the communication network 101, and requests information from these servers And a function of converting the information returned from the server into information that can be browsed by the operator and providing the information. Client 1
Reference numeral 02 denotes, for example, a computer equipped with a so-called browser which is a Web document browsing software having a Web connection function, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile phone, or the like.

The client 102 is provided with the information browsing means 10
The information browsing means 106 includes a global word accepting means 107, an information display means 108, a browsing history information storage means 109, and a browsing history information sending means 110.

The information browsing means 106 makes a transmission request of the information possessed by the server, receives the information transmitted from the server in response to the transmission request, and displays the received information in a format that can be browsed by the user. Acts to be.

The global word accepting means 107 operates so as to receive a global word input by a user from an input means (not shown) of the client 102. Here, “global word” refers to address information for accessing certain information as a numeric string or a character string,
Or, a URL expressed using a combination of these, for example, a URL of an information resource on the net such as a certain Web document or site (hereinafter referred to as “net information resource”)
(Uniform Resource Locator), which is represented by a numeral string or a character string uniquely corresponding to the character string, or a combination thereof, such as an Internet number of an Internet number company. Note that the information browsing unit 106 has a URL (Uniform Resource) separately from the global word receiving unit.
Locator) may be provided,
The global word receiving means 107 may be configured to receive not only a global word but also a URL (Uniform Resource Locator).

The information display means 108 has a function of reproducing a Web document such as HTML, a video file, an audio file, a moving image file, and the like sent from the server or the like so that the user can browse the Web document.

The browsing history information storage means 109 operates to store the URL of the net information resource for which the user has issued a transmission request by the information browsing means 106. For example, Internet Explorer (a trademark of Microsoft Corporation)
Then, "C: \ WINNT \ History \ Today"
(In the case of WINDOWS NT (registered trademark) 4.0),
"C: \ Windows \ History \ Today" (W
(In the case of INDOWS 98) can be used as this means.

The browsing history information sending means 110 receives the information stored in the browsing history information storage means 109 (hereinafter, referred to as "browsing history information") and acts to transmit it to the information distribution server. This browsing history information is transmitted by POST or FTP protocol.
A command, a PUT command, or the like may be used.

The timing or conditions under which the browsing history information sending means 110 executes transmission of the browsing history will be described.
First, there are two cases depending on the form in which the client is connected to the communication network. First, P
This is a case of a client connected to a communication network by a so-called dial-up connection that makes a PP connection. In this case, the period is from the start of the client (power ON) to the shutdown of the client (power OFF),
The browsing history information is transmitted while being connected to the communication network 101. Next, the second case is a case where the client is constantly connected to the communication network 101. In this case, the transmission of the browsing history information is performed after the activation of the client (power ON) and the shutdown of the client (power OFF).

The client transmits the browsing history information to the information browsing server 103 at a predetermined timing. Hereinafter, the predetermined timing will be exemplified below.

(1) When the size of the browsing history information has reached or exceeded a predetermined value. (2) The number of histories stored in the browsing history information has reached or exceeded a predetermined number. Time (3) When the client connects to the communication network 101 or issues a command to end the connection with the communication network 101 (4) When the client issues a command to start or end (5) Date and time set in advance ( (Scheduled date and time) (6) When browsing history information is deleted or updated (7) When a predetermined event occurs (8) When using an information distribution server (for example, when using a global word) The predetermined event is an event that can be detected by the basic software (OS) installed in the client, and specific examples are as follows. Is raised. (A) When predetermined software is activated or terminated (the predetermined software is a browser,
(B) a predetermined event that can be detected by the OS (for example, right click, left click of a mouse, pressing of a specific key, etc.). Is sent to the information distribution server at the timing as described above.
2 is a browsing history information storage means 10 at the time of transmission.
9 may be transmitted to the information distribution server 103, or a predetermined part of the browsing history information stored in the browsing history information storage unit 109 at the time of transmission may be transmitted. Only the information may be transmitted. An example of the above "predetermined part" is shown.

(1) Among the browsing history information stored in the browsing history information storage unit 109, those stored in a predetermined folder (for example, "c: \ WinNT \ History"
(¥ today), "c: \ WinNT \ History \ last week") (2) randomly selected from the browsing history information stored in the browsing history information storage unit 109 (3) to the browsing history information storage unit 109 Among the stored browsing history information, browsing history information from the latest browsing history information to a predetermined number of cases (4) From browsing history information stored in the browsing history information storage unit 109, from the latest browsing history information Browsing history information until a predetermined data amount (byte size) is reached (5) Regarding browsing history information with a predetermined computer name, even if there are a plurality of records of browsing history information, only one record to be selected. In this case, the transmission may be performed with the “path name” below the computer name of the URL omitted. For example, "http://www.abc.co.jp/main.htm
l "," http://www.abc.co.jp/price.html "," htt
p: //www.abc.co.jp/bin-cgi/cgi? = 0100234524 ", and three records of browsing history information are stored,
Send only one record of the browsing history information “http://www.abc.co.jp/”.

(6) Only the difference between the browsing history information stored in the browsing history information storage means 109 of the client and the browsing history information stored in the information distribution server [Information distribution server] The information distribution server 103 includes a computer, a work An information processing device such as a station, which is capable of transmitting and receiving information to and from another device via a network.

The information distribution server operates to receive the browsing history information sent from the client 102 and store it without specifying the user. Further, the global word sent from the client 102 is received, and information on net information resources such as a URL corresponding to the global word, information retrieved based on the information extracted from the browsing history information, and advertisements, announcements, introductions, etc. Acts to return the promotion information. “Promotion information” refers to information distributed to a user for promoting a business of a certain client.

The information distribution server 103 has a global word conversion unit 111, a distribution information generation unit 112, a browsing history information storage unit 113, and a client information storage unit 114. Global word conversion means 11
1 acts to convert a global word sent from the client 102 into a URL or the like corresponding to the global word. The distribution information generation unit 112 generates distribution information including information on the net information resource corresponding to the global word, information retrieved based on the information extracted from the browsing history information, and promotion information for the client. Acts to be. Further, the browsing history information storage unit 113 acts to store the browsing history information transmitted from the client in association with the information source identifier. Further, the client information storage unit 114 operates to store the client information generated from the browsing history information. The client information refers to information on items of interest of the user of the client and other attributes of the user. Here, the global word conversion unit 111 and the browsing history information storage unit 113 are provided in the same server. However, these need not necessarily be stored in the same physical server. If it is possible, it may be configured to be arranged separately on another server.

[Search Engine Server] Next, the search engine server 104 will be described. The search engine server 105 is an information processing device such as a computer and a workstation, and is an information processing device that is capable of transmitting and receiving information to and from other devices via a network.
When the search engine server 104 receives a search keyword from another device, the search engine server 104 functions to search and return the address information of the net information resource including the keyword, for example, as Yahoo, Goo, Exit, etc. It is known.

[Information providing server] Information providing server 105
Is an information processing apparatus having a communication function, such as a computer or a workstation, such as a Web server or a WWW server that stores Web documents. When receiving the information transmission request from the client 102, the information providing server 105 sends the information to the client 102 in response to the request.
It acts to provide information such as an eb page.

[Operation of Information Distribution System] Next, an operation example of the information distribution system shown in FIG. 1 will be described with reference to FIGS.
This will be described with reference to FIG.

FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram showing an operation example of the information distribution system. FIG. 2 shows the operation of the system when the Internet connection is adopted as the “predetermined timing”. Therefore, the "predetermined timing"
"S201" in FIG. 2 depends on what is adopted.
And the position of “S202” are changed.

First, the browsing history information transmitting means 110 of the client 102 reads the stored contents of the browsing history information storage means 109 at a predetermined timing, and applies the read contents to the information distribution server 103 at a predetermined timing to browse the information together with the information source identifier. The history information is transmitted (Step 201). Here, the "information source identifier" is information that is not associated with any information that specifies a user, and refers to information that can identify an information source, such as a software ID uniquely assigned to each piece of software. It is.
Alternatively, Co is transmitted from the information distribution server to the client as the information source identifier and stored in the client.
It is also possible to use okie information. In this case, the information distribution server 103 generates Cookie information so as to be different for each client, and assigns it to each client. By using such an information source identifier, it is possible to identify a user such as an IP address, a user registration number, a name, and an address as an individual, and to avoid inappropriate handling of personal information. Further, the "predetermined timing" can employ various timings as described above.

Next, the information distribution server 103, which has received the browsing history information together with the information source identifier, associates the browsing history information with the information source identifier and stores the browsing history information storing means 11
3 and use this to generate client information and store it in the client information storage means 114 (step 202). Thereby, the information distribution server 10
No. 3 enables information on the user of the client 102 to be collected without using information input by the user such as a questionnaire or registration, and also extracts information on user attributes (items of interest, etc.) from the collected information. Can be stored.

Next, distribution information is generated for the client based on the client information collected as described above,
The transmission process will be described.

First, the information browsing means 106 of the client 102 is activated and enters a state of receiving a global word. This state corresponds to a state where the browser is activated if the information browsing unit 106 is a browser. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a display example of a user interface displayed on a display unit (such as a liquid crystal display) of the client 102 when the information browsing unit 106 is activated and is ready to accept a global word. In this example, a window 301 is generated and displayed in the display area, and the window 301 is provided with a global word input box 302 which is a part of the global word receiving means. , The user can pass the global word to the information browsing means 106. The input box 302 may be a dedicated input box provided for inputting a global word by software having an information source identifier (for example, a plug-in of a browser), or the input box 302 may be a dedicated input box. In the case of a browser, a URL address input box provided by the browser (standard with the browser)
It may be.

The button 303 is provided to transmit the global word to the information browsing means 106 to the information distribution server. When the user completes the input of the global word, the user clicks the input determination button 303 (or E).
Then, the global word is transmitted to the information distribution server. If Microsoft Internet Explorer (trademark of Microsoft Corporation) is used as the information browsing means 106 and the input box 302 is used as a URL address input box, the user clicks the input decision button 303,
The "Move" button may be used, or it may be replaced by pressing the enter key. The display area 304 is an area for displaying information returned from the information distribution server 103.

Assume that the input determination button 303 has been clicked. Then, the client 102 sends the global word received by the global word receiving means 107 to the information distribution server 103 via the communication network 101 together with the information source identifier (step 203).

Next, the information distribution server 103 having received the global word and the information source identifier obtains address information corresponding to the global word (hereinafter referred to as corresponding address information) and uses the information source identifier as a key. Then, by referring to the client information storage unit 114, information to be distributed to the client is selected, and distribution information is generated from these (step 204).

The information distribution server 103 can return the corresponding address information to the client in two ways.
The first method is a method in which the information distribution server 103 converts the global word into corresponding address information such as a corresponding URL and returns this to the client. The second method is
The information distribution server 103 converts the global word into corresponding address information such as a corresponding URL, and converts it into DNS.
(Domain Name Server) is a method in which the IP address returned by the DNS server is returned to the client.
The present invention can be implemented using any of the methods.

Next, the information distribution server 103 transmits the keyword to the search engine server 104, and requests address information of a net information resource including the keyword (step 205).

The search engine server 104 that has received the keyword extracts the address information of the net information resource including the keyword using a database or the like (step 206). The search engine server 104 transmits the extracted address information to the information distribution server (Step 207).

The information distribution server 103 converts the global word received by the global word conversion means 111 into corresponding address information (an address indicating a storage location of a net information resource such as a URL or an IP address) and performs the search. The address information received from the engine server 104, certain promotion information, and distribution information including the address information are generated (step 208).

Next, the information distribution server 103 transmits the distribution information to the client 102 as a response to the global word transmitted in step 203 (step 209).

The client 102 starts a process of viewing and displaying the received distribution information (step 210). The necessary information is obtained according to the contents of the distribution information. Since the content of the address information included in the distribution information is not included in the distribution information, the client 102 sends the corresponding information to the information providing server 105 that stores information (for example, a Web document) corresponding to the corresponding address information. A request is made to transmit the information specified by the address information (step 211).

The information providing server 105 responds to the request with information (such as a Web document) corresponding to the corresponding address information.
Is transmitted to the client 102 (step 21).
2).

Next, the client 102 allows the user to view the distribution information sent from the information distribution server 103 (see FIGS. 15 and 16) and the information acquired from the information providing server 105 in response to the information. (Step 213).

FIG. 4 is a view showing a display example of a user interface in which the distribution information and the information acquired in response to the distribution information can be browsed by the information display means 108 to the user. In this example, a window 401 is displayed in the display area.
Is generated and displayed. In the window 401,
Global word input box 402, transmission button 4
03 is provided. These are displayed in the window 301 shown in FIG.
2. It corresponds to the transmission button 303. In addition,
The window 401 generally includes the information browsing unit 1
When 06 is configured by a browser, a window generated by the browser is used, but another configuration may be used.

In the display area of the window 401, a push area 404 and a main area 405 are provided.
In the main area 405, information specified by the address information is displayed. In the push area 404, the address information and the promotion information received from the search engine server are displayed. In this example, in the push area 404, together with the URLs 406 and 407 of the site relating to the computer which is the address information, the URL4 relating to the non-life insurance which is one of the promotion information is provided.
08 is displayed.

In this example, the push area 404 and the main area 405 are shown as being arranged side by side, but the present invention is not limited to this. The push area 404 and the main area 405 may be arranged vertically and may be arranged in any other manner. Also, the push area 404 and the main area 40
5 may not necessarily be generated in the same window, and may be displayed using a separate window. For example, the main area may be displayed in a window provided by the browser, and the push area 404 may be displayed by a separately generated push window.

Thus, the process of transmitting the distribution information to the client using the client information collected by the information distribution server 103 is completed.

According to the present system, the information distribution server 10
3 is the browsing history information sending means 11 of the client 102
0 makes it possible to acquire browsing history information of all information browsed by the client, and to perform client-oriented information distribution using all the browsing history information browsed.

[Extraction of Client Information] Next, extraction of client information in the information distribution system according to the present embodiment will be described in more detail.

[Exemplary Configuration of Client] First, an exemplary configuration of the client 102 will be described. FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the client 102.

The client 102 communicates with the communication control unit 50
1, information receiving means 502, information displaying means 108,
Browsing information storage means 109 and browsing history information sending means 11
0, information source identifier storage means 503, global word reception means 107, and information request means 504. The communication control unit 501 has a function of transmitting / receiving information to / from another information processing apparatus via the communication network 101, receiving information from the communication network 101, and transmitting information to the communication network 101. A front end communication processor (Front End Co.) comprising a stack, a central processing unit for executing a predetermined communication procedure according to the protocol stack
mmunication Processor).

The information receiving means 502 includes the communication control means 50
1 and connected to the communication network 10 from another information processing apparatus.
1 and acts to receive the received information data and pass it to the information display means 108.

The information display means 108 is provided with the information receiving means 50.
2 and displays the information data received from the information receiving means 502 in a form that can be browsed by the user.

The browsing history information storage means 109 operates to store the address information of the net information resource requested or received by the client 102. In this figure, the address information of the received net information resource is stored.
Although it has been described that the address information is received from the information receiving unit 502, the present invention is not necessarily limited to this. The address information may be connected to the communication control unit 501 or the information requesting unit 504 described later to receive the address information. .

The information source identifier storage means 503 stores an information source identifier for uniquely specifying the client that is the transmission source of the browsing history information and the client that is the transmission source of the global word. As the information source identifier, it is preferable to use the software constituting the information browsing means or the software ID of the software including the global word receiving means 107 and provided as a plug-in.
Further, other software, for example, a software ID of a browser, a word processor, or the like can be used as the information source identification. The present invention can be realized by using a user ID for specifying a user, an IP address of a client, or Cookie information set by an information distribution server. However, these information source identifiers are not linked to the user's personal information (name, address, etc.). The browsing history information sending unit 110 is connected to the browsing history information storage unit 109, the communication control unit 501, and the information source identifier storage unit 503, and the browsing history stored in the browsing history information storage unit 109 at a predetermined timing. It functions to read the history information and pass it to the communication control means 501 as information addressed to the information distribution server 103 together with the information source identifier. Communication control means 501 receiving this
After establishing a connection with the information distribution server 103, the information is transmitted, for example, in the form of an IP packet.

The global word accepting means 107 receives the global word input by the user and passes it to the information requesting means 504.

The information requesting unit 504 is connected to the global word receiving unit 107, the communication control unit 501, and the information source identifier storing unit 503, and sends the global word from the global word receiving unit 107 together with the information source identifier to the information distribution server 103. Communication control means 5
Pass it to 01. Upon receiving this, the communication control means 501
After establishing a connection with the information distribution server 103, the information is transmitted by, for example, converting it into an IP packet.

[Configuration Example of Information Distribution Server] Next, a configuration example of the information distribution server 103 will be described. FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of the information distribution server 103.

The information distribution server 103 includes the communication control unit 6
01, global word conversion means 111, global word table 602, search query means 603
, A search result information acquisition unit 604, a promotion information storage unit 605, a distribution information generation unit 112, a client information extraction unit 606, and a client information storage unit 114.

The communication control means 601 transmits / receives information to / from another information processing apparatus via the communication network 101, and
01, which has a function of receiving information from the communication network 101 and transmitting information to the communication network 101, and which is constituted by a protocol stack, a central processing unit for executing a predetermined communication procedure according to the protocol stack, and the like. (Fron
t End Communication Processor).

The global word conversion means 111 receives the global word and the information source identifier from the client 102, acquires the address information associated with the global word by referring to the global word table 602, and generates the distribution information. The information source identifier is passed to the search inquiry means 603 while being passed to the means 112.

The global word table 602 stores global words and corresponding address information. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the global word table 602. In the illustrated example, the global word table 602 has one record for each global word, and each record stores a global word field 704 for storing a global word and address information corresponding to the global word. An address information field 705 is provided.

The record 701 stores a number corresponding to a URL as a global word, and stores the URL as corresponding address information. Record 702
Stores the postal code as a global word and the corresponding address information is "Mapion" or "Map Fan"
For example, the URL of a site that sends digitized map information and the area parameter corresponding to the postal code are stored. The record 703 stores the date of birth as a global word, and stores, as address information, the URL of a site that provides fortune-telling information corresponding to the date of birth.

The search query means 603 searches the client information storage means using the information source identifier received from the global word conversion means 111 as a key, obtains a distribution keyword corresponding to the information source identifier, and specifies the obtained distribution keyword. The information is passed to the communication control means 601. The communication control unit 601 transmits the distribution keyword to the search engine server 104.

The search result information obtaining means 604 receives the search result information sent from the search engine server 104 and passes it to the distribution information generating means 112. The search result information sent from the search engine server 104 is one or a plurality of URLs of net information resources including the distribution keyword.

The promotion information storage means 605 stores one or a plurality of pieces of promotion information, and in accordance with a request from the distribution information generation means 112,
Give the promotion information to 2. The promotion information includes a URL of a site where the client seeks a visitor (for example, a site for introducing a new product, a site for estimating insurance, and the like).

Upon receiving the address information, the search result information, and the promotion information, the distribution information generating means 112
From these, distribution information (see FIGS. 15 and 16) is generated,
The global word is transmitted to the communication control unit 601 so as to transmit the distribution information to the client that has transmitted the global word. The communication control means sends the distribution information in the form of, for example, an IP packet.

The browsing history information storage means 113 receives the information source identifier and the browsing history information transmitted from the client 102, and stores them in association with each other.

The client information extracting means 114 extracts a distribution keyword from the browsing history information storage means 113, associates the information source identifier with the distribution keyword, and passes it to the client information storage means 114. FIG.
It is an example of the storage content of the browsing history information storage means 113,
5 shows an example of a browsing history information file 801 including an information source identifier and browsing history information provided from a client. The client information extraction means 606 is a client
Using the browsing history information file 801, the information source identifier and the browsing history information transmitted from the server are extracted to extract a distribution keyword and generate client information including the distribution keyword. The browsing history information file 801 includes a plurality of records 802, and each record has an information source identifier field 803 and a browsing history information field 804. The information source identifier field 802 stores the information source identifier of the client, and the browsing history information field 804 stores one or more URs included in the browsing history information of the client.
L is stored.

The client information storage means 114 stores client information including an information source identifier and a distribution keyword associated therewith. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of the client information. Client information 901
Has one record 902, 906 for each information source identifier, and each record has an information source identifier field 903 and distribution keyword fields 904, 905,... Although FIG. 2 shows that a plurality of distribution keywords are stored, it may be configured to store only one distribution keyword.

As described above, the search query means 60
3 makes an inquiry to the search engine server 104 with reference to the distribution keyword. Such a distribution keyword is a word indicating a matter that is presumed to be of interest to the user of the client. Therefore, if the net information resource including the distribution keyword is provided to the user,
It can be expected to attract the user's interest.

[Distribution Keyword Extraction Processing] Next, an example of the distribution keyword extraction method will be described with reference to FIGS.
1, will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 10 is a flowchart of a processing example for extracting a distribution keyword from the extraction file 801. In this example, if the user is searching for information by passing the search word to the search engine, it is presumed that the search word is a matter of interest to the user, and the search word is used as a distribution keyword. Although the present invention is used, the present invention is not limited to a search word, but is also valid when information having some correlation with a user's interest is used as a delivery word.

First, the client information extracting means 606
Puts a pointer at the first record of the extraction file 801 (step 1001).

Browsing history information field 8 of the record
04, and determines whether it matches the URL of any of the search engine servers (step 100).
2). The search engine server mentioned here is not limited to the search engine server 104 shown in FIG. 1, but may include a search engine server to which a client can connect via the communication network 1.

In step 1002, if they do not match, the pointer of the next record is moved (step 1).
005). If they match, a search word is extracted from the URL (step 1003).

FIG. 11 shows a browsing history information field 804.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a URL of a search engine server included in a search engine and search words included therein. In this example, the URL 1101 that is accumulated when “PDA AND Palm” is input as a conditional expression in the search field of the search engine when English is input in the search field of the search engine is shown. The URL includes a unit 1102 for specifying a search engine, a character string 1103 for specifying a search range, a character string 1104 for specifying that a summary is to be added to a search result, and a character string for specifying a search range as an English site. 1105 and a character string 1106 for specifying a search keyword. In the above example, "PDA AND Palm" is specified as a search word, so a web page containing both words "PDA" and "Palm"
You will search the site. In this example, a character string “AND” is used as a logical operator for specifying a search condition, but another character or symbol may be used by a search engine.

In the above example, the client information extracting means 606 has a character string 110 for designating a search keyword.
6 is searched, and if there is a logical operator included in the search word, this keyword is removed and a distribution keyword is extracted. As a result of the extraction, as shown in FIG. 9, the character strings “PDA” and “Palm” are stored in the fields 904 and 905 of the record 902 together with the information source identifier.

FIG. 12 shows a browsing history information field 804.
9 shows another example of the URL of the search engine server included in the URL and the search word included therein. This example shows a case where a language other than English using double-byte characters (eg Japanese) is input into the search field of the search engine, and the condition expression "patent | precedent" is entered in the search field of the search engine. It shows the URL 1201 that is accumulated when a character string (meaning “patent AND case”) is entered.

This URL includes a portion 1202 for specifying the search engine, a search keyword following the character string “MT =”, and the like. A character string 1203 is a Japanese code system (eg, JIS, shift JIS, EUC), which is a portion corresponding to a Japanese double-byte character "patent", and a character string 1204 is a Japanese code system (same as above). And the logical operator symbol "|" (A
The character string 1205 is a Japanese code system (same as above), and corresponds to Japanese “precedent”. A character string 1206 is a designation of a search range (WB means a web site).

In the above example, the client information extracting means 606 has the character string 120 for designating the search keyword.
2, 1203, and 1204 are searched, and if there is a logical operator included in the search word, the logical operator is removed, and a distribution keyword is extracted. In this example, "patent" and "information"
Are extracted and stored in the client information storage unit 114. As a result of the extraction, as shown in FIG.
Character strings "patent" and "precedent" are stored in 4,905, respectively.

The above search word may be stored as it is in the client storage means 113 as a one-byte character.
Preferably, it is converted to two-byte characters so that an operator or the like can read it directly. In addition, the method of conversion is an automatic determination generally performed by a browser, for example, there is a method of determining a code system by looking at a character string% C6, and converting to a character that can be read as Japanese, Another method is to have a table of the code system used for each search engine, look at the part that specifies the search engine of the URL to be analyzed, determine the code system, and convert it to characters that can be read as Japanese. You may do so.

As described above, by extracting the distribution keyword from the browsing history information collected from the client and storing it in association with the information source identifier, information presumed to be of interest to the user of the client is provided to the user. Client information that can be provided can be obtained.

[Generation and Transmission of Distribution Information] Next, processing for transmitting distribution information to the client 102 using the client information obtained as described above will be described with reference to FIG.
This will be described with reference to FIG.

Now, it is assumed that the information distribution server 103 has received the global word and the information source identifier from the client 102 via the communication network 101 (step 1301).

In the information distribution server 103, the global word converter 111 receives the global word and the information source identifier via the communication controller 601. The global word conversion unit 111 refers to the client information storage unit 114 and acquires a distribution keyword for the client using the information source identifier as a key (step 1302). For example, client information storage unit 1
14 stores the contents shown in FIG. 9, the global word conversion means 111 outputs the information source identifier “128592”.
856 ", the global word conversion means 11
1 acquires the character strings “PDA” and “Palm” as the distribution keywords from the distribution keyword fields 904 and 905 of the record 902 corresponding thereto. The global word conversion unit 111 passes the obtained distribution keyword to the search inquiry unit 603.

Next, the search inquiry means 603, having received the distribution keyword, transmits the distribution keyword to the search engine server 104, and requests address information of the net information resource including the distribution keyword (step 130).
3). At this time, the communication control unit 601 establishes a connection with the search engine server, and transmits a predetermined command including the distribution keyword to the search engine server 104.

The search engine server 104 receiving the distribution keyword extracts the address information of the net information resource including the distribution keyword using a database or the like, and the search engine server 104 extracts the extracted address information (“search result information”). ") Is referred to as the information distribution server 103.
Send to.

From the search engine server 104 to the communication network 10
The search result information transmitted through the communication control unit 6 is transmitted to the search result information acquisition unit 604 of the information distribution server 103.
01, the search result information is received (step 130).
4). After that, the communication control unit 601 terminates the connection with the search engine server 104.

On the other hand, global word conversion means 111
Refers to the global word table 602, and stores the received global word in the corresponding address information (an address indicating a storage location of a net information resource such as a URL or an IP address, hereinafter referred to as “corresponding address information”).
And passes it to the distribution information generating means 112 (step 1305).

Distribution information generating means 112 receives promotion information from promotion information storing means 605 (step 1306).

Next, the distribution information generating means 112 compares the search result information received from the search result information
The distribution information is generated using the promotion information received from the promotion information storage unit 605 and the corresponding address information received from the global word conversion unit 111 (step 1307). FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of distribution information, and shows an example of a source code in a case where the distribution information is constituted by an HTML document. The HTML document 1501 has a frame tag 1502 for forming the push area 404 and the main area 405 shown in FIG.
In the frame tag 1502, a URL 1503 indicating information to be displayed in the push area 404 and a URL 150 indicating information to be displayed in the main area 405 are included.
4 is described.

FIG. 16 shows an HTML document 1 corresponding to a URL 1503 indicating information to be displayed in the push area 404.
Here is an example of the source code 601. This HTML document 16
01 describes a URL 1602 included in the search result information and a URL 1603 that is promotion information.

On the other hand, as the URL 1504 indicating information to be displayed in the main area 405, the corresponding address information is described as it is.

In the above description, the distribution information is described as being composed of an HTML document. However, in the present invention, the distribution information is not limited to the HTML document, but any electronic document or electronic document that can be transmitted and received via a communication network. Information may be used as distribution information.

The client 102 that has received the distribution information generated as described above displays the contents shown in FIG. 4 on the information display unit by executing the processing of the distribution information. Information corresponding to the global word is displayed, and a push area 404 includes a URL that includes information that may be of interest to the user, which is analyzed based on the keyword input by the user to the search engine (obtained from the browsing history of the user). Is shown.

The user is likely to understand that the information is of his or her interest by clicking the URL of the push area 404. It is expected that a visit will be made by clicking, and it can be expected that a URL serving as promotion information is also clicked. Thus, promotion of browsing of the promotion information by the user can be promoted.

[Second Embodiment] Next, an information distribution system according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. The information distribution server according to the second embodiment includes a first server.
Although the information distribution server according to the embodiment extracts the distribution keyword from the browsing history information, the information distribution server extracts the date of birth of the user using the browsing history information or a global word transmitted from the client. The configurations of the information distribution system, the client, and the information distribution server are common to the first embodiment.

In the present embodiment, the client information extracting means 606 extracts the date information sent to the information distribution server from the global history from the browsing history information, and the client information storing means 114 stores the date information as the information source identifier. And memorize them. The information distribution server is configured to, when a global word estimated to be a date is sent, return fortune-telling information such as the fortune of a person having the date of birth. Therefore, if the date is sent from the client to the information distribution server 103 as a global word, this date can be estimated as the date of birth of the user of the client.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing an example of the contents stored in the client information storage means 114 according to the present embodiment. A date of birth table 1701 that is stored content includes an information source identifier field 1703 that stores an information source identifier.
And a record 1704 having a date of birth field 1704 for storing the extracted estimated date of birth. The process of estimating the date of birth will be described later.

FIG. 18 is a screen display example of distribution information distributed to the client based on the estimated date obtained according to the present embodiment. Upon reading that the estimated birth date is included in the client information, the distribution information generation unit 112 of the information distribution server 103 compares the current date and time with the estimated date. If the current date and time are within a certain period before and after the estimated date of birth of the user of the client, the distribution information generation unit 112 selects information about the date of birth as promotion information and includes it in the distribution information. As a result, promotion information 1803 and 1804 related to a birthday are displayed in the push area 1802 of the window 1801 generated by the information browsing unit 106.

By storing such storage contents in the client information storage means 114, it becomes possible to extract and collect estimated birth date information of the client user.

[Third Embodiment] Next, an information distribution system according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. The information distribution server according to the second embodiment includes a first server.
Although the information distribution server according to the embodiment extracts the distribution keyword from the browsing history information, the information distribution server extracts local information of the user using the browsing history information or a global word transmitted from the client, The configurations of the information distribution system, the client, and the information distribution server are common to the first embodiment. The regional information refers to regional information related to the user's life, such as the user's address, work place, and activity location.

When a global word, such as a postal code or a telephone number, which is presumed to be information uniquely corresponding to an area is sent, the information distribution server 103 is configured to return the URL of the map information corresponding to the global word. Have been. If a zip code or the like is sent from the client 102 to the information distribution server 103 as a global word,
This area may be presumed to be relevant to the user of the client. Therefore, in the present embodiment, the client information extracting unit 606 extracts the date information sent to the information distribution server by referring to the global word table from the global history table from the browsing history information. Are stored in association with the information source identifier.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing an example of the contents stored in the client information storage means 114 according to the present embodiment. An area information table 1901 which is a storage content includes an information source identifier field 1903 for storing an information identifier,
It is constituted by a record 1902 having a regional information field 1904 for storing regional information extracted from the browsing history information corresponding to the information source identifier. In addition,
The data to be stored as the area information may be any data as long as the data can uniquely specify the area, and the postal code may be used as it is, or character string data of an address associated with the area information may be stored. You may do it.

When the user's browsing history information is used, regional information on the user can be obtained in the same manner as described above (FIGS. 11 and 12).

FIG. 20 is a screen display example of distribution information distributed to the client based on the regional information obtained by the present embodiment. In this example, it is assumed that information indicating Tokyo is extracted as the regional information. The process of estimating the user's area information (main activity area) will be described later.

When the distribution information generating means 112 of the information distribution server 103 reads that the client information includes the regional information, it selects information on the region indicated by the regional information as promotion information and includes it in the distribution information. As a result, promotion information 2003 and 2004 related thereto are displayed in the push area 2002 of the window 2001 generated by the information browsing unit 106.

By storing such storage contents in the client information storage means 114, it is possible to extract and collect regional information of the user of the client.

[Fourth Embodiment] Next, an information distribution system according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention will be described. Information distribution server 103 according to the fourth embodiment
Is characterized in that client environment variables are extracted and stored as client information. Also, the first
To the information distribution server 103 in the third embodiment.
Extracts information such as distribution keywords from browsing history information, whereas the present embodiment differs in that header information used when transmitting browsing history information is used.
The configurations of the information distribution system, the client, and the information distribution server are common to those of the first embodiment.

FIG. 21 shows an example of header information used in the present embodiment. The figure shows an example of an HTTP header 2101 generated by the client in the HTTP protocol. The header 2101 includes the generation date / time information 2102 of the header, the browser used by the client, and the OS
The type of (basic software) and the remote host information 2104 to which the client connects are described.

Although not shown in the figure, setting information of a cookie may be described depending on the setting of the client. HTTP_R included in the request header from the client to the host
The information distribution server 103 can also obtain the URL of the destination visited by the client by using the EFERR header (which stores the URLs of all the destinations). In the information distribution server 103 according to the present embodiment, when the client information extraction unit 606 receives the browsing history information or the global word, the client information extraction unit 606 includes the HTTP_R included in the header thereof.
The information is obtained by reading the EFERR header (which stores the URL of the previous visit), and stores the information in the client information storage unit 114 in association with the information source identifier.

FIG. 22 is a diagram showing an example of the contents stored in the client information storage means 114 in the present embodiment. Information extracted by the client information extraction unit 606 of the present embodiment is stored in the environment variable table 2201 and stored in the client information storage unit 114.

The environment variable table 2201 has an information source identifier field 2203 for storing an information identifier, a date and time field 2204 for storing corresponding date and time information, and an OS field 2205 for storing the type of basic software.
And a remote host field 2206 for storing the name of the provider used by the client, and a cookie setting field 22 for storing cookie setting ON / OFF.
07 and a previous visit destination field 2208 storing the URL of the previous visit destination. Note that the record 2202 may have other fields.

In the present embodiment, these environment variables can be collected as client information. This information can be used to estimate the user's time of day, personal computer use history, affiliated organization, company, network knowledge level, etc., and can be an important marketing resource useful for clustering users. is there. That is, from the time information stored in the date and time field 2204, it is possible to estimate the time zone of the user using the personal computer and the life of the user from the time zone. For example, if access is made on Saturday and Sunday, it is estimated that the worker is a worker. Also, from the information stored in the OS field 2205, the user's personal computer knowledge level, usage history, and the like can be estimated. For example, when the data “Win NT” is stored in the OS field 2205, it can be estimated that the user is a user having computer-related knowledge.
If the data “95” is stored, it can be estimated that the user has a personal computer history of 5 years or more. Also,
From the data stored in the remote host field 2206, the company to which the user belongs can be estimated. For example, in the remote host field 2206, "abc.co.j
If the data "p" is stored, it can be estimated that the user is an employee of the company abc or a person having some relationship. Also, cookie setting field 2
From the information stored in 207, the user's net knowledge level can be estimated. For example, if the data stored in the cookie setting field 2207 is “OF
If "F", the user can estimate that the knowledge level regarding the net is high, while if "ON", the user can estimate that the knowledge level regarding the net is not so high.

FIG. 23 is a screen display example of distribution information distributed to a client based on information on environment variables obtained according to the present embodiment. In this example, “Win NT” is stored in the OS field 2205, and the data stored in the cookie setting field 2207 is “OFF”.
, And the distribution keyword mentioned earlier is "education"
It is assumed that the keyword is stored.

When the distribution information generating means 112 of the information distribution server 103 reads that the above information is included in the client information, it satisfies the advanced user of the personal computer and selects promotion information related to education. , Included in the distribution information. As a result, the push area 180 of the window 1801 generated by the information browsing unit 106
2 includes promotion information 1803 related to the
1804 and the like are displayed.

[Fifth Embodiment] Next, an information distribution system according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention will be described. The information distribution system according to the present embodiment analyzes browsing history information collected from a client, stores the analysis result as client information, and determines information to be distributed to the client using the analysis result. Features. The information distribution system according to the present embodiment includes:
This is basically the same as the information distribution system according to the first embodiment, and has the same configuration as the system configuration shown in FIG. The operation of the information distribution system is basically the same as that of the information distribution system according to the first embodiment.
The operation shown in FIG. 2 is performed.

FIG. 24 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the information distribution server according to the present embodiment. The information distribution server 2401 according to the present embodiment has an analysis unit 2403 that reads the browsing history information from the browsing history information storage unit 113, analyzes it, and writes the analysis result to the client information storage unit 114. It is characterized by. When generating the distribution information, the distribution information generation unit 112 refers to the client information storage unit 114 together with the promotion information storage unit 605. If the client information storage unit 114 stores the promotion information described later, Operates to incorporate such promotion information into distribution information. The other configuration is the same as the configuration of the information distribution server 103 shown in FIG.

The analyzing means 2403 analyzes the browsing history information accumulated in the browsing history information accumulating means 113 and acts to generate profile information relating to the user of the client. Regarding whether to generate appropriate profile information, various modes may be provided according to the demands of the operator of the information distribution server and the requester thereof. Hereinafter, the mode of the analysis means will be described.

[Analyzing Means of First Aspect] The analyzing means 2403 according to the present aspect adds a narrowing-down keyword to the client information table stored in the client information storage means 114. As a result, the accuracy with which the information displayed in the push area 404 of the client 105 matches the preference of the client user is further increased. The present information distribution system distributes various information to a client based on a distribution keyword possessed as client information. However, when information is narrowed down using only a distribution keyword, the preference of a user of a distribution destination is And information that does not attract the user's interest may be included, and the user may be dissatisfied. Therefore, in this embodiment, in order to increase the information extraction accuracy so that only information that matches the user's preference can be distributed, a narrowing keyword is used in addition to the distribution keyword.

FIG. 25 shows the analyzing means 240 according to this embodiment.
3 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of FIG. Analysis means 2403
Has a narrow-down keyword table 2501 and a narrow-down keyword writing unit 2502 connected to the narrow-down keyword table 2501.

The narrow-down keyword table is a table in which narrow-down keywords are recorded in association with distribution keywords. The narrowing-down keyword may be appropriately selected according to the corresponding distribution keyword.

Connected aperture keyword writing means 250
2 refers to the client information table, reads the distribution keyword, and then narrows down the keyword table 2
With reference to 501, a narrowing-down keyword corresponding to the distribution keyword is acquired and written in the client information table.

FIG. 26 shows a configuration example of the client information table used in this embodiment. The client information table 2601 has one record 26 for each information source identifier.
01, 2602, and each record has an information source identifier field 2604 and a distribution keyword field 260.
5, 2606, narrowing keyword field 260
7, 2608,... Although FIG. 2 shows a case where a plurality of distribution keywords and narrowing keywords are stored, it may be configured to store only one distribution keyword.

When the narrowing-down keyword is added by the analyzing unit 2403 according to the present embodiment, the search query unit 603 of the information distribution server 2401 fetches the narrowing-down keyword in addition to the distribution keyword, and is distributed to the user. Information can be narrowed down with higher accuracy.

FIG. 27 is a screen display example of distribution information distributed to the client based on the information on the narrowing-down keywords obtained according to the present embodiment. In this example, the narrowing keyword fields 2607 and 2608
Has data "Company A" and "Company B", and the distribution keywords described above store the keywords "PC" and "Palm".

When the distribution information generating means 112 of the information distribution server 103 reads that the above information is included in the client information, it satisfies the advanced user of the personal computer and selects promotion information related to education. , Included in the distribution information. As a result, the push area 270 of the window 2701 generated by the information browsing unit 106
2 contains promotion information 2703 related to the
2704 and the like are displayed.

[Analyzing Means According to Second Aspect] Next, the analyzing means 2103 according to the second aspect will be described.

The analyzing means 2103 according to this aspect refers to the browsing history information, extracts a user having a specific page transition history, and distributes information corresponding to the page transition history to the user. Things. The page transition history is the order in which a certain user visits a page on a network or within a site.

FIG. 28 is a view for explaining the page transition history.
It is a figure showing the composition of site 2801. This site 28
01 is a site that carries product information of a certain company,
Main page 2802, price page 2804 linked to the main page, brand page 280
5, an estimate page 2806. After visiting the main page 2802, the user can move to any of the price page 2804, the brand page 2805, and the quote page 2806. In such a case, it is possible to estimate a matter of interest to the user based on which page the user has moved to which page. For example, a user who has visited the price page 2804 after visiting the main page 2802 and has a page transition history can be estimated to be a user who is interested in the product of the company and interested in the price. If discount information on the product of the company can be delivered to such a user, it can be predicted that the interest of the user will be strongly attracted. On the other hand, a user having a page transition history of leaving the site 2801 and visiting a completely different site after visiting the main page 2802 can be presumed to be a user who is not very interested in products of this company. Even if the discount information of the product of the company is distributed to the user, the effect is not so expected. The analyzing means of this aspect is intended to improve the effect of information distribution using such a page transition history.

FIG. 29 shows an analysis means 210 according to this embodiment.
3 is a flowchart showing the operation of No. 3. Analysis means 210
3 stores, in the page transition table, the promotion information to be distributed and the page transition information likely to be taken by the user to whom the promotion information is to be distributed (step 2).
901). FIG. 30 shows a configuration example of the page transition table.
The page transition table 3001 includes one record 3002, 300 for each page transition information corresponding to promotion information.
Each record has a promotion information field 3004 and a page transition information field 3005. The promotion information field 3004 stores the URL of a Web document as promotion information. The page transition information field 3005 includes a first page subfield 300 for storing URLs in the order of page movement.
6, a second page subfield 3007.

Next, the analysis means 2403 refers to the browsing history information storage means 113 and extracts the information source identifier of the client having the page transition history that matches the page transition information stored in the page transition table (step). 2902).

Subsequently, the analysis means 2403 searches the client information table stored in the client information storage means 114, and uses the extracted information source identifier as a key to promote a record of the client information table corresponding to the information source identifier. The promotion information stored in the promotion information field of the transition information table is stored in the information field (step 29).
03). FIG. 31 shows a configuration example of a client information table having a promotion information field. The client information table 3101 stores information source identifiers, distribution keywords, and promotion information in association with each other. One record 3102, 31 for each information source identifier
, And each record has an information source identifier field 3104 and a distribution keyword field 3105.
3106, a promotion information field 3107,
3108. Promotion information field 3
Promotion information and the like corresponding to the above-described page transition information are stored in 107 and 3108.

When generating distribution information to be sent to a client having a certain information source identifier, the distribution information generating means 112 refers to the client information table 2701 of the client information storage means 114 together with the promotion information storage means 605, and generates the client information table 2701.
If the record corresponding to the information source identifier stores a URL in the promotion information field, the URL is taken into the distribution information and distributed as a part of the distribution information. This makes it possible to distribute predetermined promotion information to a client having a predetermined page transition history.

FIG. 32 is a screen display example of distribution information distributed to a client based on information on page transition information obtained according to the present embodiment. In this example, as promotion information, the URs “www.abc.def.com” and “www.123.456.co.jp”
It is assumed that L data is stored.

When the distribution information generating means 112 of the information distribution server 103 reads that the above information is included in the client information, it includes this in the distribution information.
As a result, in the push area 3202 of the window 3201 generated by the information browsing means 106, the promotion information 3203, 3204 and the like related thereto are displayed.

[Analyzing Means According to Third Embodiment]
The analysis means according to the aspect will be described. The analyzing means 2403 according to the third embodiment analyzes the correlation of the sites, determines a site having the correlation, and tries to use the site as promotion information.

FIG. 33 is a flowchart showing the operation of the analyzing means according to the third mode. First, the analysis means 24
03 acquires browsing history information from the browsing history information storage means 2102 (step 3301). From the browsing history information, it is known which client has which information source identifier is visiting which site.

Next, the analyzing means 2403 creates site correlation data from the browsing history information (step 330).
2). FIG. 34 shows a configuration example of the site correlation data. The site correlation data 3401 displays an information source identifier and the presence or absence of a site visit in a matrix. In the example shown in this figure, the user (client) with the identifier 1 is visiting the site A, the site B, and the site D, and the user (client) with the identifier 2 is visiting the site A, the site B, and the site D. , The user (client) with the identifier 3 is visiting the site C, and the user (client) with the identifier 4 is visiting the site A and the site B.

Next, the analyzing means 2403 analyzes the common site from the site correlation data (step 330).
3). The common site is a combination of sites that are likely to be commonly visited by users.

Next, the analysis means 2403 determines a common site and stores the site combination. In the example of FIG. 34, the common sites are site A, site B, and site D.
It is a combination of

[0158] Next, the analyzing means 2403 determines to which object it is effective to distribute the promotion information. FIG. 35 shows a Venn diagram showing the distribution of users who have visited any of the common sites. In FIG.
01 indicates a group of users who have visited the site A, and a circle 35
02 indicates a group of users who have visited the site B, and a circle 35
03 indicates a group of users who have visited the site D. The analysis unit 2403 analyzes to which group of users who have not visited the site D the promotion of the site D.

Now, the group 3504 where the sites B and D have not been visited but the site A has been visited is 600 people, and the group 3505 where the site D has not been visited but the sites A and B have been visited is 3600. It is assumed from the site correlation data that the group 3506 in which 1000 persons have not visited the sites A and D but have visited the site B has 200 persons.
In this way, the correlation analysis between the sites is similarly performed for the other sites. The analysis unit 2403 determines that a group having a larger number of people has a higher correlation, and updates the client information table so as to select this group and distribute the promotion information of the site D. In the case of this example, the group 3505 is selected. From such correlation data, it can be estimated that users who visit sites A and B tend to visit site D.

Next, the analysis means 2403 writes the URL of the site D in the promotion information field corresponding to the client belonging to the group 3505 in the client information table of the client information storage means 114 (step 3306). The client information table used in this embodiment may have a configuration as shown in FIG.

When generating distribution information to be sent to a client having a certain information source identifier, the distribution information generating means 112 refers to the client information table 3101 of the client information storage means 114 together with the promotion information storage means 605, and 310
1, if the record corresponding to that source identifier stores a URL in the promotion information field,
The URL is taken into the distribution information and distributed as a part of the distribution information. As a result, the URL of the unvisited site having a high probability of being visited by the user can be distributed as promotion information to the client having the unvisited site based on the visit history analysis of the user and other users.

FIG. 36 is a screen display example of distribution information distributed to the client based on the information on the correlation site obtained according to the present embodiment. In this example, it is assumed that URL data of site D, which is an unvisited site to which the user wants to guide the user, is stored as promotion information.

When the distribution information generation means 112 of the information distribution server 103 reads that the above information is included in the client information, it includes this in the distribution information.
As a result, the related promotion information 3603 and the like are displayed in the push area 3602 of the window 3601 generated by the information browsing unit 106.

[Analyzing Means According to Fourth Aspect]
The analysis means according to the aspect will be described. The analysis means according to this aspect uses regional information (global words associated with a region) included in the browsing history information.

The browsing history information includes regional information input by the user as a global word, such as a postal code and a telephone number. By analyzing such area information, it is possible to know which area the user (client) is interested in, and to estimate the address and work location of the user.

FIG. 37 is a flowchart showing the operation of the analyzing means according to this embodiment. First, analysis means 2403
Acquires the browsing history information from the browsing history information storage unit 113 and extracts the regional information from the browsing history information (step 3701). The extraction is performed on the basis that the URL of the history information includes the URL of the information distribution server, and that the parameter included in the URL has the same number of digits or value as the local information (postal code, telephone number).

Next, for each information source identifier, the number of appearances of information of each area information is counted (step 3).
702). FIG. 38 shows a configuration example of a count table for counting the number of appearances of information. Count table 380
Reference numeral 1 denotes the number of appearances of local information for each information source identifier in a matrix. In this example, the top 2
The area is divided for each digit, and the number of appearances of information for each area is obtained. An area 3802 corresponds to the number of appearances of the Tokyo-related area information, an area 3803 corresponds to the number of appearances of the Kanagawa-related area information, and an area 3804 corresponds to the number of appearances of the Miyagi-related area information. Corresponding, area 380
Reference numeral 5 corresponds to the number of appearances of the Miyagi-related area information, and area 3806 corresponds to the number of appearances of the Yamanashi-related area information. The range of the area where the number of times of appearance of information is measured can be arbitrarily changed. For example, the number of times of appearance of information may be counted using a smaller area by defining each area using a three-digit zip code. .

Next, the analysis means 2403 obtains the information appearance rate for each information source identifier in the target area (the ratio of the number of appearances of the area information relating to the target area to the number of appearances of all area information of the information source identifier), The identifiers are arranged in the order of the appearance rate. For example, in the example of FIG. 38, when the target area is the area 3803, the appearance rate of the information source identifier 1 is 4.4%, the appearance rate of the information source identifier 2 is 99%, and the appearance rate of the information source identifier 3 is 56%. .9%, resulting in an array of information source identifier 2, information source identifier 3, and information source identifier 1.

Next, the analyzing means 2403 extracts an identifier matching the condition using the array (step 370).
4). The condition is a condition specified by a person who requests information distribution from an operator of the information distribution server.
The condition may be 00 cases. In this case, the top 800 items are selected and extracted from those with the highest information request rates.
Also, a condition that the information request rate is 80% or more may be specified.

Next, the analyzing means 2403 uses the extracted information source identifier as a key, and
In the promotion information field of the 14th client information table, the URL of the designated promotion information
Is stored. For example, a URL of a Web document indicating a notification of holding a local event, a Web document indicating real estate information of the region, and the like are available. The client information table used in this embodiment may have a configuration as shown in FIG.

When generating distribution information to be sent to a client having a certain information source identifier, the distribution information generation means 112 refers to the client information table 3101 of the client information storage means 114 together with the promotion information storage means 605, and 310
1, if the record corresponding to that source identifier stores a URL in the promotion information field,
The URL is taken into the distribution information and distributed as a part of the distribution information. As a result, it is possible to individually distribute the URL of the promotion information regarding the area in which the user (client) is interested.

FIG. 39 is a screen display example of distribution information to be distributed to the client, which is generated based on the regional information obtained by the present embodiment. In this example, it is assumed that information indicating “Kanagawa” is extracted as the regional information, and “Golf” and “Travel” are extracted as the distribution keywords.

When the distribution information generating means 112 of the information distribution server 103 reads that the client information includes the local information "Kanagawa", the distribution information generation means 112 relates to "Kanagawa" as promotion information and the distribution keyword "golf".
Select information about "Travel" and include it in the distribution information.
As a result, promotion information 3903 and 3904 related to the push area 3902 of the window 3901 generated by the information browsing unit 106 are displayed.

[Analyzing Means of Fifth Aspect] The information distribution server 2401 according to the present invention can collect the date of birth (including the date of birth; the same applies hereinafter) by using a global word. is there. The analysis means according to the present embodiment acquires the date of birth of the user (client) using the date of birth information. If the date of birth information can be acquired, it is also possible to individually distribute the promotion information corresponding to the information to the user.

FIG. 40 is a flowchart showing the operation of the analyzing means according to this embodiment. First, analysis means 2403
Acquires the browsing history information from the browsing history information storage means 113, and extracts the date of birth from the browsing history information (step 4001). The extraction is performed on the basis that the URL of the history information includes the URL of the information distribution server, and that the parameter included in the URL is the date of birth information.
To determine whether or not the date of birth information, UR of the fortune-telling site
L may be registered in a table in advance, and a numeric string included in the browsing history information that matches the URL may be determined as a birthday. The date may be displayed as year / month / day, or may be displayed in the order of day / month / year. It is preferable that the format of each date is stored, arranged by the information distribution server 2401 as appropriate, and re-arranged in a unified order. Also, it is useful as user information without acquiring all dates, and for example, four digits of only the date may be extracted as the date of birth.

Next, for each information source identifier, the number of appearances of each date of birth information in the browsing history information is counted (step 4002). FIG. 41 shows a configuration example of a count table used for counting the number of appearances of the date of birth information. The count table 4101 includes an information source identifier field 4102 and a birth date information field 4
103 and an appearance count field 4104. The appearance count field stores the information source identifier and the appearance count totaled for each date of birth information.

Next, the analyzing means 2403 selects the date of birth with the highest number of appearances for each information source identifier as the date of birth, and selects the other date of birth as the date of birth to the associated person ( Step 4003). The related person may be presumed to be a parent or a boss if the date is before the date of life, or a lover if the date is later. For example,
In the example shown in FIG. 41, the information source identifier “12859”
2856 ”, the date of birth information“ 197070
"7" is selected as the date of life, and "19775090
"9" is selected as the related person's birth date. For the information source identifier “471015029”, the date of birth information “19800106” is selected as the date of birth,
“19850306” is selected as the related person's birth date.

Next, the analyzing means 2103 stores the selected date of birth information in the real life date field of the client information table of the client information storage means 114. FIG. 42 shows a configuration example of a client information table used in this embodiment. The client information table 4201 has one record 42 for each information source identifier.
, Each record has an information source identifier field 4204 and a real life date field 42.
05, a related person's date of birth field 4205, and the selected life's date of birth information is stored in the real person's birth date field 4205. The selected related person's birth date information is stored.

When using the analyzing means 2403 according to this aspect, the distribution information generating means 112 generates the distribution information to be sent to the client having a certain information source identifier together with the promotion information storing means 605 and the client information in the client information storing means 114. Information table 420
1, if the record corresponding to the information source identifier in the client information table 4201 stores the date of birth information in the real life date field, refer to the date to obtain appropriate information, for example, The distribution information includes, for example, a notice of a revision of the insurance premium due to the age change, and distributes the information as a part of the distribution information. This makes it possible to distribute appropriate promotion information according to the birthday of the user (client).

Note that the client information table used in this embodiment may have the configuration example shown in FIG.
FIG. 43 is a diagram illustrating a modification of the configuration of the client information table. In this modification, the client information table 4301 includes an information source identifier field 4302
, Promotion information field 4303, distribution start date field 4304, distribution end date field 43
05.

The distribution start date field 4304 stores a date calculated based on the birthday of the person (for example, one month before the birthday), and a distribution end date field 4305.
Stores another date calculated based on the birthday of the person (for example, the day of the birthday). The promotion information field 430402 stores the URL of promotion information related to the birthday of the principal.

FIG. 44 shows still another modification of the configuration of the client information table. The client information table 4401 has an information source identifier field 4302
And the promotion information field 4403 by distribution day,
4404, 4405,... Different dates are allocated to the distribution date-specific promotion information fields, and the promotion information stored in the field is distributed to the client having the corresponding information source identifier on the allocated date. For example, in the example illustrated in FIG. 44, the distribution information generation unit 112 transmits the “www.info” stored in the distribution-by-date promotion information field 4404 to the client corresponding to the information source identifier “128591856” on July 7, 2001. .com / birthday ”is included in the distribution information and transmitted.

FIG. 45 is an example of a screen display of distribution information distributed to the client based on the life date information obtained according to the present embodiment.

When the distribution information generating means 112 of the information distribution server 103 reads that the client information includes the regional information, it selects information on the region indicated by the regional information as promotion information and includes it in the distribution information. As a result, promotion information 4503 and 4504 related thereto are displayed in the push area 4502 of the window 4501 generated by the information browsing unit 106.

In these cases, when generating the distribution information to be sent to the client having a certain information source identifier, the distribution information generating means 112 obtains the current date and time by referring to the clock of the computer, etc. , The URL stored in the promotion information field 4302 is taken into the distribution information, and this is distributed as a part of the distribution information. This makes it possible to distribute appropriate promotion information according to the birthday of the user (client).

As a modification of this embodiment, the date of birth of the lover of the user (client) can be obtained.
The information distribution server 2401 according to the present invention operates to return information about fortune-telling to the client when the birth date information is received as a global word. FIG.
9 shows an example of a display screen when the client receives the information about the fortune-telling. In the figure, window 460 is shown.
Reference numeral 1 denotes a window drawn on the display device by the information browsing unit 106 of the client. Window 4601
A button 4604 for linking with a fortune-telling Web document together with fortune-telling information 4603
Is provided.

When input determination button 4604 is clicked, the screen transits to the screen shown in FIG. 447. The screen shown in FIG. 447 is a screen for affinity fortune-telling. Window 44702
In the main area 4702, a box 4703 which is a display box and an input box of the user's date of birth, a box 4704 for inputting the date of birth of the lover, and a button for notifying the information browsing means of input completion 4705. When the button 4705 is clicked or the like, the date of birth information in the box 4704 input by the user is sent to the information distribution server. By storing the date of birth information in the client information storage unit 114, the date of birth of the lover of the user (client) can be obtained. Therefore, the processing described with reference to FIGS. 42 to 44 can be applied to a lover, and similar promotion information (FIG. 45) can be transmitted to the user.

The above-described analysis processing may be performed at the time of a global word conversion request from a user (so-called real-time processing) or may be performed at a time other than the time of the request (so-called batch processing).

Further, the above-described analysis processes have been described individually for the sake of simplicity, but these analysis processes can be easily executed by combining any two or more of them.

Further, the above-described analysis processing (excluding the processing by the “analysis means according to the third mode”) is executed on the client side, and only the analysis result is transmitted to the server at “predetermined timing” together with the information source identifier. It can also take the form of doing. In this case, the analysis means 2403 can be provided in the plug-in software.

[0191]

According to the present invention, it is possible to collect information relating to a higher quality user without registering the user, and to distribute accurate information to the user based on the collected higher quality information. Becomes

According to still another aspect of the present invention, the collected information on the user (client information) is analyzed,
By reflecting the analysis result in the client information and selecting and determining the promotion information to be distributed to the user based on the client information, it is possible to further distribute information according to the attribute of the user.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an overall configuration example of an information distribution system.

FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram showing an operation example of the information distribution system.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a display example of a user interface displayed on a client.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a display example of a user interface displayed on a client after receiving distribution information.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of a client.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an information distribution server.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a global word table.

FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of storage contents of a client information storage unit.

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of storage contents of a client information storage unit.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a distribution keyword extraction process.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of browsing history information including a distribution keyword.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing another example of browsing history information including a distribution keyword.

FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an example of information distribution processing of an information distribution server.

FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an example of information distribution processing of the information distribution server, which is a continuation of the flowchart of FIG. 13;

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of a source code of distribution information.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing an example of a source code of distribution information.

FIG. 17 is a diagram illustrating an example of storage contents of a client information storage unit.

FIG. 18 is a diagram illustrating a screen display example of distribution information distributed to a client based on an estimated date.

FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating an example of storage contents of a client information storage unit.

FIG. 20 is a diagram illustrating a screen display example of distribution information distributed to a client based on area information.

FIG. 21 is a diagram illustrating an example of header information.

FIG. 22 is a diagram illustrating an example of storage contents of a client information storage unit.

FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating a screen display example of distribution information distributed to a client based on information on environment variables.

FIG. 24 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an information distribution server according to the present embodiment.

FIG. 25 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of one embodiment of an analysis unit.

FIG. 26 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a client information table.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing a screen display example of distribution information distributed to a client based on information on a narrowing keyword.

FIG. 28 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a site for explaining a page transition history.

FIG. 29 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of one embodiment of an analysis unit.

FIG. 30 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a page transition table.

FIG. 31 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a client information table having a promotion information field.

FIG. 32 is a diagram illustrating a screen display example of distribution information distributed to a client based on information related to transition information.

FIG. 33 is a flowchart showing the operation of the analysis means according to the third mode.

FIG. 34 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of site correlation data.

FIG. 35 is a Venn diagram showing a distribution of users who have visited any of the common sites.

FIG. 36 is a diagram illustrating a screen display example of distribution information distributed to a client based on information on a correlation site.

FIG. 37 is a flowchart showing an operation of one embodiment of an analysis unit.

FIG. 38 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a count table for counting the number of appearances of information.

FIG. 39 is a diagram illustrating a screen display example of distribution information to be distributed to a client, which is generated based on area information.

FIG. 40 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of one embodiment of an analysis unit.

FIG. 41 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a count table used for counting the number of appearances of birth date information.

FIG. 42 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of a client information table.

FIG. 43 is a diagram showing a modification of the configuration of the client information table.

FIG. 44 is a diagram showing another modification of the configuration of the client information table.

FIG. 45 is a diagram showing a screen display example of distribution information distributed to the client based on the life date information.

FIG. 46 is a diagram illustrating an example of a display screen when a client receives information about fortune-telling.

FIG. 47 is a diagram illustrating an example of a display screen when a client receives information about fortune-telling.

[Explanation of symbols]

 101 communication network 102 client 103 information distribution server 104 search engine server 105 information providing server 106 information browsing means 107 global word accepting means 108 information display means 109 browsing history information storage means 110 browsing history information Sending means 111 Global word converting means 112 Distribution information generating means 113 Browsing history information accumulating means 114 Client information storing means

Claims (41)

[Claims] 1. An information distribution system comprising a client connected to a communication network, an information distribution server connected to the communication network, a search engine server connected to the communication network, and an information providing server connected to the communication network. In the system, (A)
The client stores the browsing history information of the information by the user, transmits the stored browsing history information to the information distribution server together with the information source identifier, and transmits the global word input by the user to the information distribution server. (B) The information distribution server receives the information source identifier and the browsing history information sent from the client, extracts a distribution keyword from the browsing history information, stores the information source identifier and the distribution keyword in association with each other, When receiving the information source identifier and the global word from the client, search result information returned from the search engine server by passing the address information corresponding to the global word and the distribution keyword corresponding to the information source identifier to the search engine server And promotion information stored in advance. Generates information, and sends it to the client, (C) a search engine server,
The network information resource including the distribution keyword sent from the distribution information server is searched, and the address information of the network information resource including the distribution keyword is returned to the distribution information server as search result information. Having global word correspondence information specified by address information corresponding to a word, the client, upon receiving the distribution information, acquires the global word correspondence information from the information providing server, and retrieves the search result information and An information distribution system characterized by displaying the information together with the promotion information so that the user can browse the information. 2. An information distribution server for receiving a global word from a client and transmitting corresponding address information corresponding to the global word, wherein the information distribution server stores the browsing history information received from the client together with an information source identifier. Browsing history information storage means, analyzing means for analyzing the browsing history information to obtain an analysis result, distribution information generating means for generating distribution information including the corresponding address information, and promotion information obtained based on the analysis result, An information distribution server, comprising: transmitting the distribution information to a client. 3. The information distribution server according to claim 2, wherein the client information includes a distribution keyword obtained by extracting a search word sent to a search engine from the browsing history information. Information distribution server. 4. The information distribution server according to claim 3, wherein the analysis means uses a narrowing keyword for further limiting the distribution keyword. 5. The information distribution server according to claim 2, wherein the analysis means generates a page transition history from the distribution history information, and performs an analysis in accordance with the page transition history. Delivery server. 6. The information distribution server according to claim 2, wherein the analysis unit determines a common site from the distribution history information, and determines an unvisited site among the common sites. Delivery server. 7. The information distribution server according to claim 3, wherein the analysis unit extracts at least the date of birth information from the distribution history information, counts the number of appearances, and determines the number of occurrences based on the number of appearances. An information distribution server characterized by estimating a date of life and writing this in client information. 8. The information distribution server according to claim 7, wherein the analysis means is a birth date information appearing in the distribution history information, and sets a birth date other than the real life date to a date other than the principal. An information distribution server, which estimates the date of birth of a person related to the person and writes the date of birth in the client information. 9. The information distribution server according to claim 2, wherein the analysis unit extracts regional information from the distribution history information, counts the number of appearances of regional information for each client,
An information distribution server for performing analysis based on the number of appearances. 10. The information distribution server according to claim 2, wherein the analysis unit analyzes an environment variable included in a header sent from the client. 11. A client for transmitting browsing history information to an information distribution server, comprising: an information requesting unit for transmitting a global word to the information distribution server; and a distribution information returned from the information distribution server in response to the information requesting means. Information display means for receiving and displaying,
The distribution information includes information corresponding to the global word,
A client comprising promotion information determined according to a result of analyzing the browsing history information. 12. The client according to claim 11, wherein the analysis is performed by the client, and the client transmits the result of the analysis together with the information source identifier to the information distribution server. 13. A method for transmitting corresponding address information corresponding to a global word in response to a global word transmitted from a client, wherein the browsing history information received together with an information source identifier from the client is stored in a storage device. Analyzing the browsing history information to obtain an analysis result; and generating distribution information including the corresponding address information and promotion information obtained based on the analysis result. A method characterized by transmitting to a user. 14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the client information includes a distribution keyword obtained by extracting a search word sent to a search engine from the browsing history information. 15. The method according to claim 13, wherein the analyzing step uses a narrowing keyword for further limiting a distribution keyword. 16. The method according to claim 13, wherein, in the analyzing step, a page transition history is generated from the distribution history information, and the analysis is performed according to the page transition history. 17. The method according to claim 13, wherein in the analyzing step, a common site is determined from the distribution history information, and an unvisited site among the common sites is determined. 18. The method according to claim 13, wherein the analyzing comprises extracting at least date of birth information from the distribution history information, counting the number of appearances thereof,
A method of estimating a life date based on the number of appearances. 19. The method according to claim 18, wherein, in the analyzing step, the date of birth information appearing in the distribution history information, wherein the date of birth other than the actual life date is replaced with the date of birth other than the principal. A method comprising estimating the date of birth of a person who is related to the person. 20. The method according to claim 13, wherein in the analyzing step, regional information is extracted from the distribution history information, the number of appearances of the regional information for each client is counted, and the analysis is performed based on the number of appearances. Performing the method. 21. A method for transmitting browsing history information to an information distribution server and receiving distribution information corresponding to the information from the information distribution server, comprising: transmitting a global word to the information distribution server; Receiving the distribution information returned from the information distribution server and displaying the distribution information, wherein the distribution information includes information corresponding to the global word,
A method comprising: including promotion information determined according to a result of analyzing the browsing history information. 22. The method according to claim 21, wherein the analysis is performed by a client, and the client sends a result of the analysis along with an information source identifier to an information distribution server. 23. A program for causing a computer to function as an information distribution server for receiving a global word from a client and transmitting corresponding address information corresponding to the global word, wherein the browsing history information received together with an information source identifier from the client is read. A browsing history information storage unit to be stored in a storage device; an analysis unit that analyzes the browsing history information to obtain an analysis result; and generates distribution information including the corresponding address information and promotion information obtained based on the analysis result. A program for causing a computer to function as distribution information generating means. 24. The program according to claim 23, wherein the client information includes a distribution keyword obtained by extracting a search word sent to a search engine from the browsing history information. 25. The program according to claim 23, wherein the analysis unit uses a narrowing-down keyword for further limiting a distribution keyword. 26. A program according to claim 23, wherein said analysis means generates a page transition history from said distribution history information, and performs an analysis according to said page transition history. 27. The program according to claim 23, wherein said analysis means determines a common site from said distribution history information, and determines an unvisited site among said common sites. 28. The program according to claim 23, wherein the analyzing means extracts at least date of birth information from the distribution history information, counts the number of appearances, and, based on the number of appearances, A program for estimating a date and writing the date in client information. 29. The program according to claim 28, wherein the analysis means is a date of birth information appearing in the distribution history information, the birth date other than the actual life date being a person other than the principal. A program for estimating a date of birth of a person related to the person and writing the same in client information. 30. The program according to claim 23, wherein said analyzing means extracts regional information from said distribution history information, counts the number of appearances of regional information for each client,
A program for performing analysis based on the number of occurrences. 31. The program according to claim 23, wherein the analyzing unit analyzes an environment variable included in a header sent from the client. 32. A program for causing a computer to function as a client for transmitting browsing history information to an information distribution server, comprising: an information requesting unit for transmitting a global word to the information distribution server; In a program for causing a computer to execute as information display means for receiving and displaying distribution information returned from a server, the distribution information includes: information corresponding to the global word;
A program including promotion information determined according to a result of analyzing the browsing history information, wherein the analysis is performed by a client, and the client transmits a result of the analysis to an information distribution server together with an information source identifier. 33. A program for causing a computer to execute a method of transmitting corresponding address information corresponding to a global word in response to a global word transmitted from a client, wherein the browsing history received together with an information source identifier from the client. Storing information in a storage device; analyzing the browsing history information to obtain an analysis result; generating distribution information including the corresponding address information; and promotion information obtained based on the analysis result. A program to be executed by a computer. 34. The program according to claim 33, wherein the client information includes a distribution keyword obtained by extracting a search word sent to a search engine from the browsing history information. 35. The program according to claim 33, wherein the analyzing step uses a narrowing-down keyword for further limiting a distribution keyword. 36. The program according to claim 33, wherein, in the analyzing step, a page transition history is generated from the distribution history information, and analysis is performed according to the page transition history. 37. The program according to claim 33, wherein, in the analyzing step, a common site is determined from the distribution history information, and an unvisited site among the common sites is determined. 38. The program according to claim 33, wherein the analyzing step extracts at least birth date information from the distribution history information, counts the number of appearances thereof,
A program for estimating a real life date based on the number of appearances. 39. The program according to claim 38, wherein, in said analyzing step, birth date information appearing in said distribution history information, said birth date other than said real life date, and A program for estimating the date of birth of a person who is related to the person. 40. The program according to claim 33, wherein, in the analyzing, extracting regional information from the distribution history information, counting the number of appearances of the regional information for each client, and analyzing based on the number of appearances. A program characterized by performing: 41. A program for causing a computer to execute a method of transmitting browsing history information to an information distribution server and receiving distribution information corresponding to the information from the information distribution server. Transmitting, and in response to this, receiving and displaying distribution information returned from the information distribution server, causing the computer to execute the distribution information, the distribution information comprising: information corresponding to the global word;
A program comprising promotion information determined according to a result of analyzing the browsing history information, wherein the analysis is performed by a client, and the client transmits a result of the analysis to an information distribution server together with an information source identifier.