Local area information providing system and method using real name

• US 20010052002A1
• Filed: 02/14/2001
• Published: 12/13/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 05/30/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Netpia Dot Com Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Netpia Dot Com Incorporated
• Inventors: Lee, Pan-Jung, Bae, Jeen-Hyun
• Granted Patent: US 7,272,638 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/219
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/29 Geographical information databases
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4547 for personal communications, i.e. using a personal identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99933 Query processing, i.e. searching
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99934 Query formulation, input preparation, or translation
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99936 Pattern matching access

Abstract

Disclosed is a local area information-providing system and method using real names. When an access word provided by an accessing client via a network is a real name, a local area information database is searched using the real name and the client'"'"'s position information, and various kinds of information on the real name placed within an area corresponding to the client'"'"'s position information are found and provided to the client. Together with this, an Internet address corresponding to the real name is provided to the client, and accordingly, the client accesses the web page corresponding to the input real name. Hence, the user can access desired web pages using not conventional English domain names but real names, and concurrently receive various kinds of local area information corresponding to the real name. Especially, the user can receive various kinds of local area information of the real names corresponding to predetermined positions without additional position assignment.

Claims

1. A local area information providing system, comprising:

a local area information database for storing local area information with respect to areas corresponding to real names; and

a web server for determining whether an access word is a real name when the access word is provided by a client, and searching the local area information database and providing local area information of the real name positioned within an area corresponding to position information of the client to the client when the access word is found to be a real name.

2. The system of

claim 1

, wherein the system further comprises:

a first real name database for storing network addresses on a network, real names and position information; and

a real name server for searching the first real name database using the real name and the client'"'"'s position information, finding a corresponding network address and providing the network address to the client when the access word input by the client is a real name.

3. The system of

claim 2

, wherein the real name is a first real name which is a life information keyword.

4. The system of

claim 2

, wherein the system further comprises a second real name database for storing network addresses corresponding to second real names including firm names, product names and service names, and the real name server searches the first real name database and provides the real name and the network address corresponding to the client'"'"'s position information to the client when the real name is the first real name, and searches the second real name database and provides the network address corresponding to the second real name to the client when the real name is the second real name.

5. The system of

claim 2

, wherein the real names stored in the local area information database are classified as first real names that have local area information and second real names that do not have local area information.

6. The system of

claim 2

, wherein the real name server combines the client'"'"'s position information with the first real name and processes them as a single domain when the access word input from the client is the first real name.

7. The system of

claim 1

, wherein the system further comprises a position information database for storing position information corresponding to a network address on a network, and the web server searches the position information database and extracts position information by using the network address of the accessing client, and uses the position information as the client'"'"'s position information.

8. The system of

claim 1

, wherein the client provides position information to the web server via a program, and the web server uses position information provided by the client as the client'"'"'s position information.

9. The system of

claim 1

, wherein the system further comprises a membership information database for storing user information corresponding to an identification number assigned to the client, and the web server searches the membership information database and finds user information by using the identification number input from the accessing client, and extracts position information according to the user information, and uses the position information as the client'"'"'s position information.

10. The system of

claim 9

, wherein the user information comprises postal address, postal code and telephone number, and the web server extracts the client'"'"'s position information according to the postal address, postal code or telephone number.

11. The system of

claim 1

, wherein the client is a mobile communication terminal, and the web server is connected to a mobile communication service system, and the mobile communication service system detects position information of the mobile communication terminal and provides the position information to the web server, and the web server uses the mobile communication terminal'"'"'s position information as the client'"'"'s position information.

12. The system of

claim 1

, wherein the client checks an access word input operation and provides the input access word to the web server.

13. The system of

claim 1

, wherein the web server provides an access word input window when the client accesses the web server via a network, and determines whether the access word is a real name when the access word is input from the client via the access word input window.

14. The system of

claim 1

, wherein the client provides the access word to the web server via a web browser.

15. The system of

claim 1

, wherein the client is a network accessible terminal.

16. The system of

claim 1

, wherein the local area information providing system is connected to a plurality of cooperation devices cooperating with local area information providing services via a network, and when the client accesses a cooperation device and inputs an access word to the cooperation device, the cooperation device provides the access word to the web server of the local area information providing system, and the web server provides corresponding local area information to the client according to the client'"'"'s position information when the access word provided by the cooperation device is a real name.

17. In a method for providing local area information using a real name to a client that accesses via a network, a local area information providing method, comprising the steps of:

(a) determining whether an access word provided by a client that accesses via the network is a real name;

(b) setting position information of the client when the access word is a real name; and

(c) finding local area information corresponding to the real name located within an area corresponding to the client'"'"'s position information and providing the same to the client.

18. The method of

claim 17

, wherein in the step (b), position information is extracted using the accessing client'"'"'s network address, and the position information is established as the client'"'"'s position information.

19. The method of

claim 17

, wherein in the step (b), position information is extracted using user information including the accessing client'"'"'s postal address, postal code and telephone number, and the position information is established as the client'"'"'s position information.

20. The method of

claim 17

, wherein in the step (b), position information provided by a program for inputting the client'"'"'s position information is set as the client'"'"'s position information.

21. The method of

claim 17

, wherein in the step (c) of providing local area information, when the access word corresponds to the real name, a network address corresponding to the real name and the client'"'"'s position information is provided to the client, and the client is connected to a web page corresponding to the network address.

22. The method of

claim 17

, wherein in the step (c) of providing local area information, when the access word is a real name, and uniform resource location (URL) information corresponds to the real name and the client'"'"'s position information, the URL information is provided to the client.

23. The method of

claim 17

, wherein in the step (c) of providing local area information, when the access word is a real name, a search result that represents local area information corresponding to the real name and the client'"'"'s position information is provided to the client.