WO2006028191A1

WO2006028191A1 - Information providing device, computer program, and program containing medium

Info

Publication number: WO2006028191A1
Application number: PCT/JP2005/016557
Authority: WO
Inventors: Sumio Noguchi; Yoshiyuki Abe
Original assignee: Jam Corporation
Priority date: 2004-09-09
Filing date: 2005-09-08
Publication date: 2006-03-16
Also published as: JP3962765B2; JPWO2006028191A1

Abstract

An information providing device includes: means for communicating with a user terminal; means for accessing a database accumulating a plenty of provided information; means for transmitting an attribute information list enabling successive selection of attribute information per purpose according to the access to the database to a user terminal and, each time attribute information is selected from the list, deleting the classified purpose of the attribute information from the attribute information list, re-creating and transmitting the attribute information list; information acquisition means for narrowing and acquiring the provided information each time the attribute information is successively selected from the attribute information list; means for recording a selection history from the attribute information list; and means for editing the provided information which has been acquired at an appropriate timing in the process of narrowing by the information acquisition means, according to the selection history of the attribute information and transmitting it to the user terminal.

Description

Specification

Information providing apparatus, computer program, program storage medium

Technical field

The present invention relates to information provided by a user from a provided information database in which a large number of pieces of attribute information included in each of a large number of information (information provided) collected by information providers are classified and managed according to requirements. The present invention relates to an information providing device that acquires and delivers it to a user terminal, and more particularly, to an improvement of a user interface when delivering provided information to a user terminal in the information providing device.

Background art

The information retrieval method of a computer (information providing apparatus) that receives a query from a user terminal such as a personal computer operated by a user and retrieves a database is two major keyword retrieval methods and directory retrieval methods. Divided into In keyword search, the user terminal power is queried to the database for the received search keyword, the text of the provided information is full-text searched, and the corresponding provided information is acquired.

On the other hand, directory search organizes a large number of categories into a hierarchical framework (directory) structure, and classifies a large number of provided information into one of the lowest-level categories and stores a database of a stored structure And The user searches the directory from the upper layer to the lower layer while anticipating which category the information the user is interested in is. Then, find the category that contains the desired information. Alternatively, a search keyword is entered in a predetermined field of the form, and a search engine searches a category including the search term. Then, the provided information included in the searched category is listed and returned as a search result to the user terminal. In the directory-based search method, usually, the administrator of the database actually checks the contents of the provided information, and then the contents are formatted into a predetermined format and stored in the database.

Also, the present inventors analyze a database management structure that allows users to quickly reach the target information to be provided, and analyze the information provided by information providers and others, and conform to the management structure. The inventors first invented an information search support device for editing information again (Japanese Patent No. 3501799). Disclosure of the invention

Problem that invention tries to solve

[0005] There are various requirements for users to provide information. For example, provided information in which detailed descriptions of sold products are described is stored in a database, and various users try to obtain provided information about desired products for purchase. At this time, each user is different in what to give priority to the product to be purchased. In some cases, the budget is decided without deciding what to buy. In such a case, only the price requirements contained in the provided information will be the most necessary for the user. Due date is the most important requirement if you want to get a specific product quickly. Then, after fulfilling the top priority requirements, in view of the second and third highest priority requirements, present the offer information that most generally meets the requirements, and purchase the items that will satisfy / does nothing.

Of course, the information providing device receives specific information (such as product name, price, delivery date, etc.) about requirements from the user terminal by specifying a keyword or directory, and presents while narrowing down the corresponding provided information. be able to. Then, when the user narrows down the provided information to a certain extent to a certain number, the user considers the provided information main body at the user terminal if the specific information on various requirements is considered without omission. Order.

[0007] To give a specific example of the provided information, specific information (TV, ¥ 200,000, two weeks, ○ X store, etc.) for the product category, price, delivery date, store, etc. It is described according to the final form and format. Of course, in the case of an electronic mall in which a large number of electronic stores are opened, the format and format of the provided information may differ from store to store. However, in any case, the provided information to be viewed by the user is initially prepared in a format Z with a fixed power. Therefore, when a user requests and browses the provided information, a description of some of the requirements that the user gives priority to may be described in the provided information, and at a glance it may be.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to present provided information while narrowing down according to the priority of requirements required by the user, and to provide a glance at the provided information to be finally presented. The goal is to realize an information provision device that enables the detailed information on the requirements required by users to be recognized with certainty. Means to solve the problem

[0009] The present invention for achieving the above object comprises means for communicating with a user terminal operated by a user and a predetermined information communication network, storing a large number of provided information, and providing each of the provided information Database access means for accessing the provided information database that classifies and manages a large number of included attribute information according to requirements, and attribute information can be sequentially selected according to requirements based on access to the provided information database The created attribute information list is created and the list is delivered to the user terminal, and the classification requirement of the attribute information is added to the attribute information list when the list information is selected on the user terminal. Attribute list presentation means for recreating and delivering attribute information lists according to requirements, and each time attribute information is sequentially selected by the user terminal from the attribute information At the appropriate time of the process of the narrowing by the provided information acquiring means for narrowing down the provided information including the information, the selection history tracking means for recording the selection history from the attribute information list by the user terminal and the acquired information, Providing information presenting means for editing the provided information acquired by the means based on the selection history of the attribute information recorded by the selection history tracking means, and delivering the edited provided information to the user terminal; It is considered as an information providing device equipped.

In addition, means for communicating with the user terminal operated by the user through a predetermined information communication network, and a large number of provided information are accumulated, and a large number of attribute information included in each provided information are classified according to requirements. Based on the database access means for accessing the provided information database to be classified and managed, and the access to the provided information database, create an attribute information list in which attribute information can be sequentially selected, and use the list as a user An attribute information list presenting means for delivering to the terminal and deleting the attribute information from the list each time attribute information is selected from the list by the user terminal, and recreating and delivering the attribute information list Provided information acquiring means for acquiring information information while narrowing down the provided information including the attribute information each time the attribute information is sequentially selected by the user terminal from the attribute information list Step, selection history tracking means for recording selection history from the attribute information list by the user terminal, and acquisition means at the appropriate time of the process of narrowing down by the provided information acquisition means

V, based on the selection history of the attribute information recorded by the selection history tracking means! The information providing apparatus may be provided with provision information presenting means for collecting and delivering the edited provision information to the user terminal.

In the above information providing apparatus, each of the provided information acquired by the provided information acquiring means is edited into guidance information, and the guidance information list in which the guidance information is selectable is delivered to the user terminal together with the attribute information list. The provided information presenting means may present the provided information when the user inputs an instruction to select specific guidance information from the provided information guidance list.

[0012] The attribute information list presenting means may be an information providing device that recreates the provided information list based on the attribute information included in the provided information acquired by the provided information acquiring means.

Further, the selection history tracking means presents a history of the selection instruction to the user terminal, and a history which enables specification of an arbitrary selection instruction time point from the history of the selection instruction being presented by the user terminal. The attribute list presenting unit is provided with a retroactive means, and when the user terminal designates an arbitrary selection time point, the attribute information list is selected by the time point and the attribute information classification requirement is deleted. The provision information acquiring means may be an information providing apparatus for acquiring provision information acquired at a selected time point indicated by tracing back the history.

The information providing apparatus includes initial search means for receiving delivery of a keyword from a user terminal and acquiring provided information including attribute information corresponding to the accepted keyword, and the attribute list presentation means includes: An attribute information list may be delivered to the user terminal according to a requirement other than the classification requirement of the attribute information corresponding to the keyword included in the provided information acquired by the search means.

[0015] Alternatively, the provided information database classifies attribute information on a specific requirement by category, and the attribute list presenting unit is a category-specific attribute information list to be delivered to the user terminal. It may also be an information provider that delivers attribute information lists!

The present invention extends to a computer program installed in a computer and causing the computer to function as any of the information providing devices described above, and a program storage medium storing the computer program. . Brief description of the drawings FIG. 1 is a network configuration diagram including an information providing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a database management structure of provided information processed by the information providing apparatus.

FIG. 3 is a schematic view showing a structure of an example of the provided information.

[FIG. 4] It is the schematic which shows the structure about the other example of the said provision information.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of processing of an information search and presentation function in the information providing apparatus.

FIG. 6 is a schematic view of an initial search screen presented when using the information search and presentation function at a user terminal included in the network configuration.

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of an attribute information list page presented to the user terminal.

FIG. 8 is a schematic view of an attribute information list page presented next to the attribute information list page.

FIG. 9 is a schematic view of a provided information page presented to the user terminal by the information providing apparatus. The difference of the screen composition by the selection history of attribute information in the above-mentioned attribute information list page was shown in (A) and (B).

[FIG. 10] A schematic view showing the provided information page different in the described contents.

FIG. 11 is a schematic view showing another appearance of the provided information page.

[FIG. 12] The screen outline of the attribute information list page delivered to the user terminal in the process of using the re-search function in the above information providing apparatus is shown by the screen transition diagrams of (A) and (B).

Explanation of sign

1 Information Providing Device

2 Provision Information Database

10 Internet

20a User Terminal

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[0019] = = = Network configuration = = =

The Internet is taken as an example of an information communication network including an information providing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. Figure 1 shows the network configuration diagram. In the Internet 10, the information providing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, a personal computer, and many other unspecified A user terminal 20a mounted with a browser operated by the user is connected with the user terminal 20a. Further, in the present embodiment, a browser-equipped computer (provider terminal) 20b operated by an information provider who provides information requested by the user is also connected.

In this network configuration, the information providing device 1 has a basic function as a WWW server, and is provided to a provided information database (hereinafter referred to as a database) 2 accompanied by the provided information of a predetermined format recruited by the information provider. Accumulated and managed. Then, while delivering a web page requested from the user terminal 20a or accepting a query via the web page, the database 2 is searched and a search engine is provided to present the corresponding provided information. It also has the function of

Of course, the information providing device 1 itself may not have the function of the search engine or the database 2. You only need to be able to access the database, query the query, and obtain the appropriate advertisement.

The hardware of the information providing device 1 may be configured by one computer or may be configured by a plurality of computers operating in cooperation. If it is configured by multiple computers, the communication path between the computers may be configured to communicate via a private network such as a dedicated line 'LAN-VP N! /, Internet 10, etc. It may be configured to communicate via a public information communication network.

[0023] = = = = Information provider = = =

The information providing device 1 of the present embodiment presents the provided information satisfying the requirements for the user through HTTP communication with the user terminal 20a. Then, at the time of presentation, it has a function to dynamically edit the provided information so that the user has high priority and at-a-glance attribute information on the requirements. It also provides a unique user interface environment for narrowing down the provided information according to the priority of the requirements sought by the user, and devises a management structure of information in database 2 to realize that interface. There is.

[0024] = = = advertisement and database structure = = =

The provided information accumulated in the provided information database 2 may be individual information described in the dictionary Z dictionary (meaning of words, definition of things * description etc.), for example, Information related to product sales in a shopping mall on the Internet 10 where a number of electronic stores are open (such as products, product model numbers, prices, delivery times, incidental services, etc.) and information related to advertisements (such as company, products and services Etc), etc. Of course, such information may be mixed as provided information.

The provided information may be provided by the information provider or stored in the provided information database. For example, the provided information may be created from a web page collected from the Internet by a known robot search engine. And may be stored in the provided information database.

In the present embodiment, the information providing device 1 manages various kinds of information on merchandise sales in a shopping mall on the Internet 10 with the provided information database 2. The information provider is, for example, a manager of an electronic store that opens a shopping mall. Then, the information provider operates his / her provider terminal 20 b to have the provided information registered in the database 2 through HTTP communication with the information providing device 1. Of course, the provided information is not limited to a form in which the provided information is created based on HTTP communication with the provider computer and stored in the provided information database, and the provided information recorded in the medium may be stored in the provided information database. The information may be directly input to the provided information database through a user interface attached to the device.

[0027] FIG. 2 illustrates the structure of the provided information in the present embodiment. In this example, the structure of the provided information on television sales is shown. Note that the information providing device 1 receives attribute information on various requirements in a communication course with the provider terminal 20b, classifies a large number of attribute information into corresponding requirements for one piece of provided information, and stores the information in the database 2. Do. As shown in FIG. 2, attribute information 33 included in provided information 30 is associated with requirement 32 according to each classification. In the present embodiment, the requirement of a specific "product type" is further classified into category 31 which is a large classification of the upper layer, and the attribute information "TV" of the product type is classified into a category of "home appliances". It is.

Database 2 manages attribute information 33 in association with the text (detailed information) 34 for each clause such as an advertisement sentence presented by the information provider, and manages the specific information 34 in the detailed information 34 2 If attribute information related to 33 is included, its detailed information 34 is the attribute of the corresponding requirement 32 Corresponds to information 33. Note that the attribute information 33 may be a reflection of the information itself in the detailed information 34, or may be associated as a range set by the administrator of the information providing device 1, such as "price". It may be done. In the present embodiment, the specific price included in the detailed information 34 is associated with the detailed information 34 as the additional information 35. The additional information 35 includes image information and audio information. Also, as in the provided information shown in FIG. 3, for example, if detailed information on a plurality of televisions with different model numbers or detailed information on a plurality of sales bases is included, the detailed information on those may have one requirement “1. It will be respectively corresponded to a plurality of specific attribute information (actual model number, address) classified into model number "" and "area". Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 4, one piece of detailed information may be associated with a plurality of pieces of attribute information. In any case, the provided information is managed in database 2 in accordance with the prescribed format!,!

Incidentally, in order to manage the text presented by the information provider according to the database structure of the present embodiment, as in the technique described in the above-mentioned Patent 3501799, the words contained in the text are The attribute information contained in the detailed information may be identified in accordance with the prepared dictionary, or the attribute information may be classified into predetermined requirements. Of course, a person may browse the text, extract attribute information and requirements, and re-edit the extracted attribute information and requirements according to the format shown in FIG.

[0030] = = = Search and presentation of advertisements = = =

The information search function by the information providing apparatus 1 and the function of presenting the search result will be specifically described below. Here, the information search and presentation function will be described in order from the procedure of a certain user operating his / her own user terminal 20a, searching for provided information in the shopping mall, and browsing the intended provided information.

FIG. 5 shows the flow of this procedure, and FIGS. 6 to 8 show the screen outline of the Web page delivered from the information providing device 1 in the process of obtaining the provided information in the user terminal 20a. The user designates a predetermined URL by using the browser of his / her user terminal 20a and fetches the web page published by the information providing device 1 (si, s2) ₀ This web page (the initial search screen: Fig. 6, 40a The attribute information 42 of the product type 41, which is a requirement in the provided information, is classified according to the corresponding category, and is listed in the user terminal 20a so as to be selectable. Here, it is assumed that attribute information “TV” in the “home appliance” category is selected on the user terminal (s3). When the information providing device 1 receives the information indicating the selection instruction from the user terminal 20a (s4), the attribute information of “TV” is associated as the product type, and the database as the search result is the provided information. And (s5) a list of attribute information included in the acquired provided information that can be selected for each requirement as a Web page (attribute information list page) and sent to the user terminal (s9) (Figure 7, 40b). The information providing device 1 does not include the attribute information of the already selected requirement “product type” in the attribute information list page 40 b. By selecting the attribute information 42 of the requirement 41 from the attribute information list page 40b, the attribute information list page (FIG. 8, 40c) is created and delivered without including the requirement of the attribute information 42. In this manner, by sequentially limiting the attribute information 42 classified into the selectable requirements 41, the user is naturally sequentially ordered according to the priority, without being particularly aware of the requirements for the provided information. It can be selected.

The information providing device 1 records the attribute information actually selected at each selection opportunity, the attribute information and the requirements into which it is classified as the selection history of the attribute information by the user (s7) ). Then, the history 43 of the attribute information actually selected is described according to the selection order at a predetermined position of the attribute information list page (40b, 40c) delivered to the user terminal at each selection opportunity. Thus, the user can recognize the selected attribute information and the selection order thereof.

In the information providing apparatus for searching a database having a conventional directory structure, information is subdivided and managed in the lower layer in the form of a tree from the upper layer which is the major classification of the provided information. On the other hand, the database to be searched for by the information providing apparatus of the present embodiment has requirements 'attribute information • detailed information' additional information, while having a database structure similar to the directory structure at first glance, it has nothing to do with the directory structure. Each piece of information included in detailed information is associated with predetermined attribute information classified into predetermined requirements. Therefore, while the conventional directory search presents which layer of the directory structure is searched in the search process of the provided information, in the present embodiment, the user makes his own personal request. Presenting a history of attribute information selected sequentially based on the priority. Therefore, by searching the predetermined directory structure, the user can select There is no problem that you miss the bird and get stuck with the provided information.

The information providing device 1 narrows down and obtains the provided information each time the attribute information is selected (sl ₀ → s 4, s 5) ₀ and the partial information of the obtained provided information is provided The guide information 45 is used to confirm the contents, and the guide information 45 is made selectable and created in a list (s8). The information providing device 1 creates the attribute information list page 40b such that the guidance information list is an independent frame 44 in the attribute information list page 40b. If the user indicates guidance information 45 on specific provided information at an appropriate time, the information providing device 1 renders the provided information in the form of a Web page (provided information page) and delivers it to the user terminal 20a ( s 10 → s 11 to s 14).

Note that the guide information 45 may be edited each time according to the attribute information selected by the user. For example, all or part of the detailed information corresponding to the attribute information selected by the user is sequentially added, and one piece of provided information is edited into guidance information 45 including a plurality of detailed information. As a result, the user can confirm the detailed information on the attribute information selected by the user without leaking it, and instruct the user to surely recognize the intended provided information and to present the provided information. it can. Of course, guidance information may be prepared separately for each provided information, and the guidance information may be presented, or a part of a plurality of detailed information included in the provided information may be extracted and connected, etc. You may create information by editing information appropriately based on the provided information.

[0037] Fig. 9 shows an outline of the provided information page. In the provided information page 50a, areas 51 to 53 for describing detailed information for reflecting the user's selection history are preset, and in the present embodiment, in the provided information page 50a. In the higher priority direction, the upper, middle and lower three levels (51, 52, 53) are set in order. In addition, an area 54 is secured at a predetermined position of the provided information page 50a, in which a "total amount" in which additional information related to the amount is aggregated is described.

For example, next to “TV” selected by the user in the initial screen 40 a, “attachment service”, “Tokyo”, “Chuo Ward”, “Plasma”, “50 type”, “Company A” are sequentially performed in order. If attribute information is selected respectively, the advertisement information page 50a is edited based on the selection history recorded so far. In this example, detailed information including “TV” as attribute information is the top It is described in area 51. This detailed information also includes attribute information on other requirements “maker”, “screen size”, “method”, “model number” and “price”, and attribute information that meets these requirements in the selection history is already provided. Treat as described in the information page. Then, the other attribute information in the selection history is acquired as the upper rank of the selection order, and the detailed information in which the attribute information is described is described in the middle area 52. Here, detailed information including “attachment service” is described, and detailed information including “Tokyo” and “central area” corresponding to the requirements of “store location” is described in the lower part 53 (A).

[0039] Assuming that the attribute information is sequentially selected in the order of "Tokyo", "Chuo Ward", "attachment service", "Plasma" and "50 type" company after "TV", the provided information page The position of the detailed information in 50b changes, and detailed information including “Tokyo” and “Chuo Ward” corresponding to the requirements of “sale point location” is described in the middle area 52 (B).

Further, in this example, when the additional information related to the price is associated with the selected attribute information, the sum of the prices of the additional information is described in the predetermined area 54. Specifically, the total price of ¥ 503,000 is described in a given area 54 by adding the price ¥ 500,000 and the charge ¥ 3,000 associated as additional information on the installation service. When creating a provided information page based on provided information (see FIG. 3) in which one piece of attribute information is associated with a plurality of detailed information, one provided information page 50c shown in FIG. Detailed information on a plurality of attribute information is listed in one area 51. In addition, on the provided information pages 50a to 50c, a button for calling a web page for performing an ordering procedure for the product presented on the pages 50a to 50c and for shifting to a specific procedure thereafter is performed. Are also arranged.

In the case where the provided information is not the information related to the product as in the above embodiment, for example, the information related to the advertisement, the provided information page is provided with a button 55 etc. for shifting to the ordering procedure of the product. Instead, a link to the website of the advertiser may be set in the description part of the detailed information posted according to the selection history. In order to set a link, the advertisement information database may be associated with the URL of the website of the advertiser to the information of the advertisement.

Further, when different types of information are mixed as the provided information, for example, the product sales In the case where mixed information and information related to advertisements are mixed, the corresponding provided information may be classified by type according to the user's selection history and posted on the provided information page. Specifically, if the provision information page separately provides areas for presenting the provided information on the product and the provided information on the advertisement, and the user finally instructs to present the provided information on the product, In the information presentation area of the information on the provision information page, the indicated provision information is posted in the format shown in FIG. 10, and the other presentation area is selected based on the selection history! You can present advertisements with the same requirements on the same advertisement page.

[0043] If there are a plurality of relevant advertisements based on the selection history, a plurality of advertisement information may be arranged and described after providing an upper limit on the number of advertisements to be presented. Advertisements to be actually presented from a plurality of corresponding advertisements may be randomly selected, or the priority for presentation etc. is associated with each advertisement, and the provided information page is sent to the user terminal. Please list the advertisements in order according to the order of each opportunity!

[0044] In any case, when different types of information such as information on each of a product and an advertisement are mixed as the provided information, the different types of information may be juxtaposed as the provided information reflecting the selection history on the provided information page. Some types of provided information can also be useful information for users. For example, if the different type of information is a product sold at an electronic store and the advertisement for the product, the product for which the user intends to purchase the link set in the advertisement before the actual product is purchased. It is also possible to obtain detailed information about

[0045] = = = Description of advertisement page = = =

The appearance of the provided information page is not limited to the above embodiment, and the priority based on the selection history and the predetermined area in the page may be associated and assigned. Fig. 11 exemplifies the other page format. In this example, three areas 51 to 53 are arranged side by side on the provided information page 50d. The central area 51 describes the highest priority requirements, and the second and third priority requirements are described in the left and right areas 52 and 53, respectively. The detailed information is not described in each area 51 to 53, but the concrete description (specific price etc.) of the attribute information (price range etc.) in the individual attribute information and the detailed information is described as it is. I see. Also, in the provided information page, as in the attribute information list page, up to the provided information being presented. You may describe the selection history of attribute information of.

Of course, the number of description areas of detailed information reflecting the priority can be set as appropriate. Also, for example, if three areas are assigned and the user instructs sending of the provided information page when the user selects the attribute information for the five requirements, the top three requirements are for the provided information page. They can be placed dynamically in a given area, and the fourth and subsequent requirements may not be listed on the information provision page, or may be listed together with other requirements in a given area.

The number of pieces of attribute information selected by the user may be less than the number of areas set in the information provision page. In such a case, priority is set in advance for each requirement before the user selects attribute information, and the remaining description area is set to attribute information in a predetermined area in accordance with the initially set priority. If you write down,.

[0048] = = = Re-search function = = =

The user selects and instructs attribute information and is narrowed down in the process of! /, Provided information is not necessarily the most useful information for the user. Somewhere in the selection process of attribute information, the important requirements may be mistaken. However, it is cumbersome and time-consuming to start again with the instruction to select attribute information from the beginning. As described above, the information providing device records the selection history of the user's attribute information. The information providing device 1 is provided with a function of re-searching any selected point-in-time information provided in this history.

User power In order to use this function, it is sufficient to indicate an arbitrary selection time point of the selection history of the attribute information described in the attribute information list page. When the user terminal 20 a accesses the information providing device 1 based on the link set in the description character string of each attribute information of the selection history, the selection history up to the designated attribute information in the selection history is By reproducing the attribute information sequentially to the database and narrowing down the corresponding provided information, it is acquired. This makes it possible to re-select attribute information and narrow down the provided information again from any selection point in the selection history. Figure 12 shows the outline of the user interface environment related to this re-search function. When any attribute information of the selection history 43 on a certain attribute information list page 40d is indicated (A), the selection of the attribute information up to that point is reproduced, the search is repeated again, and the attribute selected up to that point Genus other than information A list page 40e which allows selection of sex information is delivered to the user terminal 20a (B).

[0050] === About the attribute information list page ===

When re-creating the attribute information list page, if a user selects a certain attribute information, the next attribute information list page may be re-created with only the selected attribute information deleted. As a result, multiple attribute information classified into the same requirement can be selected.

[0051] For example, when a pack tour is a product, and provision information on the tour has a requirement for a view of the hotel, and mountains and lakes are associated as attribute information for the view, that is, Room power If it is a room where lakes and mountains can be viewed simultaneously, select the lake of the attribute information included in the view requirements from the list of attribute information as in the above example, with other attribute information classified as a view. A mountain can not be selected. Therefore, it can not respond to the request of the user who wants the room where the lake and the mountain can be seen simultaneously. Therefore, when recreating the attribute information list page, if you present a page in which only the selected attribute information is sequentially deleted, it is possible to meet the request of the user who wants a room where both lake and mountain can be seen as a view. it can.

Also, if the process of recreating the attribute information list page and the process of narrowing down the provided information are coordinated, and the provided information including the attribute information designated by the user is acquired, it is included in the acquired provided information. Attribute information may be extracted, and only the extracted attribute information may be selectively described in the attribute information list page. As a result, requirements and attribute information are narrowed down according to the order in which the user selects attribute information.

=== Initial Search Screen ===

In the above embodiment, in the initial screen 40a that the specific requirement "product type" is classified into categories and the information providing device 1 delivers to the user terminal 20a, a list for selecting the first attribute information according to the classification is displayed. It was presented. Not limited to this example, a user can use a Web page that includes a text box for entering the first attribute information as an initial screen, and a function to query the database for any keyword entered in the text box. It may be delivered to the terminal.

Then, the information providing device 1 associates many words with attribute information, and While obtaining the provided information including the attribute information corresponding to the keyword and its synonym from the terminal 20a, a list in which attribute information other than the attribute information can be selected is returned, and thereafter, the attribute information is the same as in the above embodiment. We present the list in order, and based on the attribute information selected by the user, we narrow down the provided information and look.

[0055] = = = About advertisement = = =

Naturally, the provided information handled by the information providing apparatus is not limited to the contents related to product sales, but can be any information such as academic documents and the contents of websites. Various information included in the provided information may be associated with predetermined attribute information, and each attribute information may be classified into any of the requirements and be prepared to be searchable.

[0056] = = = About network configuration = = =

In the present invention, the information communication network to which the information providing apparatus is connected, and the user terminal and the provider terminal as communication partners of the information providing apparatus are not limited to the above embodiments. For example, the communication partner may be a mobile phone or a dedicated terminal that can be connected to the Internet. The information communication network is not limited to the Internet, and may be a LAN.

In addition, an information communication network related to a known interactive TV system can be targeted. That is, the TV receiver is used as a user terminal or a provider terminal, and the information providing device is installed in a broadcasting station or the like. Then, data is transmitted from the user terminal or the provider terminal to the information providing apparatus through the telephone line in the upward direction, and multiplexed in the TV broadcast wave in the downward direction to transmit the data. In this case, an information communication network is formed by the telephone line and the TV broadcast network.

In Cable TV, an Internet connection service via a cable TV network is also implemented, and if an information provision device is installed on the cable TV station side, a user with a computer equipped with a TV or a browser can be used. An information communication network is configured in the cable TV network as a terminal or provider terminal. As described above, the information providing apparatus can target an appropriate information communication network as a communication target.

Claims

The scope of the claims

[1] A means for communicating with a user terminal operated by a user via a predetermined information communication network,

Database access means for accessing a provided information database for storing a large number of provided information and classifying and managing a large number of attribute information contained in each provided information according to requirements;

An attribute information list in which attribute information can be sequentially selected for each requirement is created based on access to the provided information database, and the list is delivered to the user terminal, and the list attribute information is updated at the user terminal. Attribute information list presenting means for deleting the classification requirement of the attribute information from the attribute information list each time it is selected, recreating the attribute information list for each requirement, and delivering it;

Provided information acquiring means for acquiring while narrowing down provided information including the attribute information each time the attribute information is sequentially selected by the user terminal from the attribute information list;

Selection history tracking means for recording the selection history from the attribute information list by the user terminal, and, at an appropriate time of the process of narrowing down by the provided information acquisition means, the provided information acquired by the means, the selection history tracking An information providing device comprising: provided information presenting means for editing based on the selection history of attribute information recorded by the means and delivering the edited provided information to the user terminal.

[2] A means for communicating with a user terminal operated by a user via a predetermined information communication network,

An attribute information list in which attribute information can be sequentially selected is created based on access to the provided information database, and the list is delivered to the user terminal, and the list power attribute information is selected by the user terminal. Attribute information list presenting means for recreating the attribute information list and delivering the list by deleting the attribute information list

Each time attribute information is sequentially selected by the user terminal from the attribute information list, the attribute Provided information acquiring means for acquiring provided information including information while narrowing down, selection history tracking means for recording a selection history from the attribute information list by the user terminal, and appropriate time of a process of narrowing-down by the provided information acquiring means Provision information presenting means for editing the provided information acquired by the means based on the selection history of the attribute information recorded by the selection history tracking means, and delivering the edited provided information to the user terminal; An information providing apparatus comprising:

[3] According to claim 1 or 2, each of the provided information acquired by the provided information acquiring means is edited into the guidance information, and the guidance information list in which the guidance information can be selected is added to the user together with the attribute information list. Providing guidance information presentation means for delivery to the terminal;

The provided information presenting means presents the provided information when the user inputs an instruction to select specific proposal information from the provided information guidance list.

An information providing apparatus characterized by

[4] In claim 1 or 2, the attribute information list presenting means is characterized by recreating the provided information list based on the attribute information included in the provided information acquired by the provided information acquiring means. Information provider.

[5] In claim 1 or 2, the selection history tracking means presents the history of the selection instruction to the user terminal, and the history of the selection instruction being presented by the user terminal. Designation of an arbitrary selection instruction time point Equipped with historical retrospective means to enable

The attribute list presentation means delivers, to the user terminal, the attribute information list from which the classification requirement of the attribute information selected up to that point has been deleted, when the user terminal designates an arbitrary selection point. An information providing apparatus characterized by acquiring acquisition information acquired at a selected time point indicated by tracing back the history.

[6] The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, further comprising: an initial search means for receiving delivery of a keyword from a user terminal and acquiring provided information including attribute information corresponding to the received keyword, Means for delivering, to the user terminal, an attribute information list according to a requirement other than the classification requirement of the attribute information corresponding to the keyword included in the provided information acquired by the search means. Provision device.

[7] In any one of claims 1 to 5, the provided information database has specific requirements. And an attribute information list presenting unit delivers the attribute information list classified by category as the attribute information list to be initially delivered to the user terminal.

[8] A computer program installed in a computer to cause the computer to function as the information providing device according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

[9] A program storage medium storing the computer program according to claim 8.