JP2003345827A - Portal site optimization system, and apparatus, method and data structure concerned thereto - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To enable an end user to use a portal site more efficiently. <P>SOLUTION: A portal site optimization system including a terminal device for accessing a network resource; a device which stores a log of access to the network resource from the terminal device; a device which selects a web site of a 1st layer and a web site of a 2nd layer accessed within a specified time after access to the web site of the 1st layer from the access log stored in the access log storage device; and a device which sends information of the web site of the 1st layer and the web site of the 2nd layer, the terminal device including a web site display of the 2nd layer made while related with a web site display of the 1st layer as specified, is provided. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information providing method, and more particularly, to a menu setting of a portal site on the World Wide Web (WWW).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, the number of websites on the WWW has been increasing with the spread of computers. End users of network resources such as the Internet need to use Yahoo! (Trademark) (http://www.yahoo.com/) and Google (trademark)
(Http://www.google.com/) and other search engines.

[0003] Also, My Yahoo! (Http: //my.ya
Portal sites such as hoo.com/) can place and display multiple content (including links to content) such as news, weather forecasts, stock quotes, search engines, and TV listings on a single screen. Provide a personalization function that allows the end user to customize the content to be arranged and their arrangement.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-322379 teaches a technique for modifying a personal portal in real time based on a current position and a current time for a user.

[0005]

However, end users need to personalize the portal site by explicitly editing the portal site menus themselves.

[0006] Further, as the interests of the end user change, it is necessary to customize the personal portal site again.

Further, a PDA (Personal Digital As)
sistant) and mobile terminals such as mobile phones, the amount of information that can be displayed on a single screen is limited.To use the portal site efficiently, ensure that only frequently used content is registered. You need to customize your portal site frequently.

[0008] It is an object of the present invention to enable an end user to use a portal site more efficiently.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a portal site having higher usability.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a function that allows an end user to customize a personal portal site without explicitly editing the portal site menu by himself.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a function for automatically re-customizing a personal portal site in response to a change in the end user's interests.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a portable terminal such as a PDA or a portable telephone in which the amount of information that can be displayed on one screen is limited so that only frequently used contents are always registered. Is to provide a function to customize the portal site.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide an ISP (Inter
net Service Provider) to provide a more advanced portal site using the access log of the contract user.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a portal site that allows a portal site operator to embed more appropriate banner advertisements and links to other websites in an end user's personal portal site. is there.

It is yet another object of the present invention to provide ISPs with more advanced services to encourage customers to spend more time using ISPs.

Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a telecommunications carrier with a higher level of service to a customer, thereby encouraging the customer to increase the use of a communication line.

[0017]

According to the present invention, there is provided a system for optimizing a portal site based on an access log of a user of a network resource, comprising: a terminal device for accessing a network resource; A device that stores an access log for the network resource of the first level, and a second level accessed within a predetermined time from the access of the first level website and the first level website from the access log stored by the access log storage device. The terminal device includes a device for selecting a website of the first hierarchy and a device for transmitting information of the website of the first hierarchy and the website of the second hierarchy, and the terminal device displays the website of the first hierarchy, A portal site including a second-tier website display displayed with a predetermined association with the website display Optimization system is provided.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for providing a portal site to a user of a network resource, the apparatus storing an access log for the user's network resource, and an access log storage device. An apparatus for selecting a first website and a second website accessed within a predetermined period of time from the access of the first website from the access log, and a first website and a second-tier website And a device for transmitting information so that the information is displayed in association with the portal site providing device.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a terminal device for accessing a network resource, comprising: a display screen for displaying websites on a plurality of networks; and a website displayed on the display screen. A terminal device including a first website display and a second website display displayed in a predetermined association with the first website display. Provided.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for analyzing a user's access log to a network resource, the apparatus comprising:
Means for selecting a website, and a website accessed within a predetermined time after the access to the first website is selected from the websites included in the access log.
For analyzing an access log.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of analyzing a user's access log to a network resource, comprising: storing a user's access log to a network resource; Selecting a first website and a second website accessed within a predetermined period of time after accessing the first website; and storing the first website and the second website in association with each other. And a method for analyzing an access log, comprising:

According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a data structure for displaying on a terminal accessing a network resource, the data for displaying a first website, and the first website displaying. And data for displaying a second website displayed in a predetermined association with the first website, wherein the second website is a website accessed within a predetermined time from the access of the first website. , A data structure is provided.

[0023]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a network system 100 according to the present invention. The network system 100 includes a terminal 102, an exchange 104 connected to the terminal 102, and an ISP server 1 connected to the exchange 104.
06, the Internet 108 connected to the ISP server 106, a web server A 110 and a web server B 112 connected to the Internet 108.

The terminal 102 receives the HTM received from the server.
It has a browser function or software for displaying information in L (Hyper Text Markup Language) format on the screen, and has a browser function or software such as a PDA, a mobile phone, a PC (Personal Computer) or a fixed telephone with a browser function. It may be a terminal. Also, the terminal 102
Is an Internet server or NAS (Network Attac
communication device that transmits a request to a network resource (hereinafter simply referred to as a server) such as a head storage) and receives a response from the server, or may be connectable to such a communication device. .

In response to a connection request from terminal 102, switch 104 connects the line from terminal 102 to switch 104 to the line from switch 104 to ISP server 106 in accordance with the contract with the user. Establish communication to 106. Each line may be a wired communication line, a wireless communication line, or a combination thereof. Further, when communication is possible without requiring the exchange 104, the exchange 104 may be omitted.

The ISP server 106 provides a connection service to the Internet 108 in accordance with a contract with the user, connects the terminal 102 to the Internet 108 via the exchange 104 and the ISP server 106,
2 to web server A 110, web server B 11
2. Access to network resources such as other servers. Although the ISP server 106 is shown as one server in FIG. 1, it is preferably constituted by a plurality of servers and databases as described later. I
The SP server 106 and the exchange 104 may be operated by the same company or company, or may be operated by different companies or companies.

The ISP server 106 also provides a personal portal site for contract users.

The Internet 108 is a LAN (Local A)
REA Network), VLAN (Virtual LAN), or other networks such as an intranet.

FIG. 2 shows the ISP server 106 according to the present invention.
The configuration example of FIG. 1 is shown as an ISP server 200. I
The SP server 200 is connected to a Point of Interfac
e: POI) 202, authentication server 204, authentication log
The database includes a database 206, a gateway 208, a portal site server 210, an access log database 212, a CBA (Customer Behavior Analysis) server 214, and a portal database 216.

The interconnection point 202 includes the exchange 104 (FIG. 1), the authentication server 204, and the portal site server 2.
10 interface.

The authentication server 204 is connected to the terminal 102 (FIG. 1)
It checks whether the login information including the user ID and the password from is correct, and if the login information is correct, the terminal is permitted to access the gateway 208 and the portal site server 210. The authentication server 204 also stores the log history of the terminal from the authentication log database 206.

The authentication log database 206 records a login time and a logout time for each user ID.

The gateway 208 is connected to the Internet 1
08 (FIG. 1) and restrict connections from the Internet.

The portal site server 210 provides a personal portal site to the terminal user. Also, CBA
The menu of the personal portal site is customized and updated based on the analysis result of the access log for each user transmitted from the server 214. After logging in to the authentication server once, the terminal user can access the portal site server 210 until logging out.

The access log database 212 stores a log of a user of a terminal accessing a web server on the Internet. The log includes, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, the user ID, the accessed URL (Uniform Resource
e Locator) and access time.

As will be described later, the CBA server 214
The access log for each user stored in the access log database 212 is analyzed, and the analysis result is transmitted to the portal site server 210.

The portal database 216 stores menus of portal sites customized for individuals.

A method for setting a portal site menu according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.

FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of a method for setting a menu of a portal site according to the present invention. Beginning at step 410, at step 420 the user of terminal 102 logs into the ISP. At step 430, the portal site server identifies the user and detects whether the user's personal menu is already set.

If it is determined in step 430 that the user's personal menu has not been set, a recommended menu based on the user profile is displayed in step 440. The user may access the website by selecting the website displayed as a recommendation menu,
You may enter the URL of another website you want to access. In this specification, the term “web site” includes a web page.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the contents of the user profile. The user profile 600 includes a user ID 610,
Attributes 620 such as gender and age of the user, and an address 630 are included. In FIG. 6, for example, the owner of the user ID “carol” is a 30-year-old woman living in Setagaya-ku, Tokyo, and the owner of the user ID “masa” is a 27-year-old man living in Ichikawa-shi, Chiba. And the user ID "walt"
Is a 58-year-old man living in Fujisawa, Kanagawa Prefecture. The user profile 600 may further include items such as hobbies, occupations, family structure, annual income, financial assets, and interests.

The recommendation menu is previously associated with part or all of the user profile by the ISP.
Include at least one recommended website. The ISP
By contracting with the provider of the recommended website, the provider of the recommended website may be charged according to the number of times the user accesses the recommended website.

Referring again to FIG. 4, step 430
And if the user's personal menu is already set,
In step 450, the user's personal menu and the recommended menu are displayed. The contents of the user personal menu will be described later. The user may access the website by selecting a website displayed as a personalized menu or a website displayed as a recommendation menu, and may access the U.S.A.
The RL may be input by itself.

After displaying the recommended website in step 440 or displaying the user's personal menu and recommended website in step 450, in step 460 the gateway 208 acquires the access log of the logged-in user (see FIG. 3). I do.

In step 470, the CBA server analyzes the access log and associates the user ID with the website.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a log analysis method. The access log 700 contains the user ID 710, the URL
720, and access time 730. In FIG. 7, for example, the owner of the user ID “carol” has a website http: //www.Internet on February 1, 2002 at 12:02.
Access ShoppingA.com (742, hereinafter referred to as “first access”), and at 12:05 on the same day, visit the website htt
Access p: //www.InternetAuctionB.com (744,
(Hereinafter referred to as “second access”), and at 13:04 on the same day, access the website http://www.SolutionProviderC.net (746, hereinafter referred to as “third access”), and at 13:06 on the same day, Site http: //www.SoftwareHouseD.
com (748, hereinafter referred to as “fourth access”), and at 13:09 on the same day, the website http: //www.Sof
Access twareProductE.com (750, hereafter “5th
At 13:11 on the same day, access the website http://www.SoftwareHouseD.com (75
2, hereinafter referred to as “sixth access”), 13:26 on the same day
Accessed the website http://www.ConsultingFirmF.com in the minute (754, hereinafter referred to as "Seventh Access")
You can see that.

Here, for example, a criterion that “a website accessed within 10 minutes after accessing a certain website is related to a certain website” is applied to the access log 700 and “a certain website is accessed”. "Is a first-level website, and a website analyzed to be related to the first-level website is a second-level website subordinate to the first level, and the websites are associated with each other as follows. Can be (1) First, a first access is made, and the first access is a first-level website. (2) Access within 10 minutes from the first access is the second
Therefore, the second-level website http://www.InternetAuctionB.com is subordinate to the first-level website http://www.InternetShoppingA.com. (3) There is a third access 10 minutes after the first access, and the third access becomes the first-level website again. (4) Access within 10 minutes from the third access is the fourth
Access, fifth access and sixth access, the first-tier website http: //www.Solutio
The second tier website http: / for nProviderC.net
/www.SoftwareHouseD.com and http: //www.SoftwareProd
uctE.com is subordinate. (5) There is a seventh access 10 minutes after the third access, and the seventh access becomes the first-level website again. (6) Since there is no access within 10 minutes from the seventh access, the first-level website http: //www.C
There is no second tier website subordinate to onsultingFirmF.com.

For example, by further applying the criterion that “a website accessed within two minutes after accessing the second-tier website is related to the second-tier website”, A lower hierarchy may be provided, such as associating a third hierarchy website subordinate to the hierarchy website. In addition, the time for determining that there is a relationship between two accesses is 5 when the terminal is a mobile phone.
It is desirable to select from a range of minutes to 30 minutes (for example, 15 minutes), and if the terminal is a PC, 10 minutes to 1 minute.
It is desirable to select from a range of 20 minutes (for example, 60 minutes). Also, upper and lower layers may not be provided and they may be associated with each other on an equal basis.

The method by which the CBA server analyzes the access log and associates the user ID with the website will be further described with reference to FIG. When the flowchart 500 of FIG. 5 is invoked as a subroutine at step 470 of FIG. 4, the flowchart 500 begins at step 510 and selects a first tier website at step 520. When the access log analysis of the above example is adopted as a method for selecting a first-level website, the first level is http: //www.InternetSho.
ppingA.com, http://www.SolutionProviderC.net, htt
Three websites are selected: p: //www.ConsultingFirmF.com.

When the first level website is selected in step 520, a second level website dependent on the first level is selected in step 530. In this case, the second-level website http: //www.InternetA subordinate to the first-level website http://www.InternetShoppingA.com
uctionB.com, the first level website http: //www.Solu
second-level website h which is subordinate to tionProviderC.net
ttp: //www.SoftwareHouseD.com and http: //www.Softwar
eProductE.com is each selected as a second tier website.

When the second-level website is selected in step 530, the first and second-level websites are rearranged in step 540. The order of rearrangement may be a new order of access time, a descending order of access times, a rearrangement order according to another well-known algorithm, or a combination thereof. If the number of websites to be displayed exceeds the number that can be displayed on the terminal display screen or display area, the FIFO
A website not to be displayed may be determined according to an algorithm such as (First In First Out) or LRU (Least Recently Used). Step 540 may be omitted as necessary.

Next, in step 550, the menu containing the websites selected and re-arranged as needed is stored in the database as a personal menu for the user.
The database may be a portal database 216 (FIG. 2) or a database (not shown) connected to the CBA server 214.

At step 560, the process returns to step 480 of FIG. 4, and the method for setting the menu of the portal site according to the present invention ends.

FIG. 8 shows a display example of a menu of a personal portal site according to the present invention on a terminal. The menu 800 of the personal portal site contains the user ID “caro”.
1 ”and a recommendation menu 820 corresponding to the profile of the user ID“ carol ”. The user personal menu 810 is the first menu.
Including hierarchy websites 811, 812 and 815,
They are displayed starting from the left-justified position on the screen. Also, the second-tier websites 813 and 814 are located below the first-tier website 812 to which they depend, and the second-tier website 816 is
It is displayed adjacent to the position below the website 815 in the hierarchy, and is indented.
Further, the connection lines 830 and 840 allow the dependency relationship to be displayed in an easily viewable manner. In FIG. 8, the websites are displayed in the order of recent access and the order of the number of accesses.

The recommendation menu 820 includes recommendation websites 821 and 822. The recommended websites 821 and 822 are registered with the user ID “caro” described in FIG.
1 "is a website previously associated or selected by the ISP based on the profile of" 1 ". In FIG. 8, a recommended website 821 (http://www.BeautyCosmeticsX.co.
m) is a website of a cosmetics company, which is associated with a user ID mainly based on the gender (female) and age (30 years old) of the user profile. Recommended Website 82
2 (http://www.GourmetSetagayaY.net) is a website of local information, and is mainly associated with a user ID based on the address of a user profile.

In FIG. 8, the website display in each menu may be performed using images such as website names and thumbnails instead of URLs. Alternatively, only the personal menu 810 may be displayed without displaying the recommendation menu 820.

The present invention provides hardware, software,
Alternatively, it can be realized by a combination thereof. The present invention also relates to a computer program capable of executing these methods on a computer system.
It can also be incorporated into products.

[0058]

According to the present invention, the end user can use the portal site more efficiently.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a portal site having higher usability can be provided.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, an end user can customize a personal portal site without explicitly editing the portal site menu himself.

In accordance with yet another aspect of the present invention, a personal portal site can be automatically re-customized in response to changes in end user interests.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, even in a portable terminal such as a PDA or a portable telephone in which the amount of information that can be displayed on one screen is limited, only frequently used contents are always registered. The portal site can be automatically customized.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, the ISP can provide a more advanced portal site by utilizing the access log of the contracted user.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, a portal site operator can embed more appropriate banner advertisements and links to other web sites in the end user's personal portal site.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, the ISP can provide the customer with advanced services, thereby encouraging the customer to increase the use time of the ISP.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, a telecommunications carrier can provide customers with more advanced services, thereby encouraging customers to use more communication lines.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a network system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing details of an ISP server according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a log of an access log database according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing a method for setting a menu of a portal site according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a method of analyzing an access log and associating a user ID with a website according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the content of a user profile according to the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a log analysis method according to the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a display example of a menu of a personal portal site on a terminal according to the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 network system 102 terminal 104 exchange 106 ISP server 108 Internet 110, 112 server 200 ISP server 202 Point of Interface 204 authentication server 206 Authentication Log Database 208 Gateway 210 Portal Site Server 212 access log database 214 CBA (Customer Behavior Analysis) server 216 Portal database

Claims (17)

[Claims] 1. A system for optimizing a portal site based on an access log of a user of a network resource, comprising: a terminal device for accessing the network resource; and an access log for the network resource from the terminal device. A device, a first-tier web site and a second-tier web site accessed within a predetermined period of time after the access to the first-tier web site are selected from the access log stored by the access log storage device. An apparatus for transmitting information of the first-level website and the second-level website, wherein the terminal apparatus displays the first-level website;
A portal site optimization system including a second layer website display displayed in a predetermined association with the first layer website display. 2. An apparatus for providing a portal site to a user of a network resource, comprising: an apparatus for storing an access log of a user for a network resource; and an access log stored by the access log storage device, And a device for selecting a second website accessed within a predetermined time after accessing the first website, and the first website and the second website are displayed in association with each other. And a device for transmitting information so as to provide a portal site providing device. 3. The portal site providing device according to claim 2, wherein the network resource is a server on the Internet. 4. The portal site providing device according to claim 2, further comprising a device for transmitting information so that a recommendation menu based on a user profile is displayed. 5. A terminal device for accessing network resources, comprising: a display screen for displaying websites on a plurality of networks; and an input device for selecting a website displayed on the display screen. The terminal device, wherein the display screen includes a first website display and a second website display displayed in a predetermined association with the first website display. 6. The terminal device according to claim 5, wherein said second website is a website accessed within a predetermined time after access to said first website. 7. The method of claim 5, wherein the predetermined association causes the display of the website to be adjacent and the display of one of the displays to be indented.
A terminal device according to item 1. 8. The terminal device according to claim 5, wherein said terminal device is a PDA. 9. The terminal device according to claim 5, wherein said terminal device is a PC. 10. The terminal device according to claim 5, further comprising a communication device for transmitting a request to the network resource and receiving a response from the network resource. 11. The terminal device according to claim 10, wherein said terminal device is a mobile phone. 12. The display according to claim 5, wherein the display screen includes a plurality of first website displays, and the plurality of first website displays are displayed in the order in which the access times are newer. Terminal device. 13. The display according to claim 5, wherein the display screen includes a plurality of first website displays, and the plurality of first website displays are displayed in descending order of access frequency. Terminal device. 14. The display according to claim 5, wherein the display screen includes a plurality of second website displays, and the plurality of second website displays are displayed in the order in which the access times are newer. Terminal device. 15. The display according to claim 5, wherein the display screen includes a plurality of second website displays, and the plurality of second website displays are displayed in descending order of access frequency. Terminal device. 16. A method of analyzing a user's access log to network resources, comprising: storing a user's access log to network resources; from the stored access log, a first web site; Selecting a second website accessed within a predetermined period of time after accessing the first website; and storing the first website and the second website in association with each other, How to analyze access logs. 17. A data structure for displaying on a terminal accessing a network resource, comprising: data for displaying a first website; and a predetermined association with the first website display. A data structure including data for displaying the displayed second website, wherein the second website is a website accessed within a predetermined time after the access to the first website.