INFORMATION PROVIDING SYSTEM, INFORMATION PROVIDING METHOD AND PROGRAM

• US 20080114762A1
• Filed: 11/13/2007
• Published: 05/15/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Plat-Ease Corporation, Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Plat-Ease Corporation, Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Sumita, Tetsu, Maruyama, Tetsuo, FUKUDA, Kazuhiro
• Granted Patent: US 7,908,171 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 707/6
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0254 based on statistics
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions

Abstract

The present invention provides an information providing system including an information registration unit capable of registering a front keyword for use in relation to content or content information to be provided a user terminal and back keywords set in relation to the front keyword can be registered, an advertisement registration unit capable of registering advertisement information for use in relation to the back keyword and an information providing unit capable of providing the advertisement information to the user terminal. The advertisement registration unit is capable of selecting specific advertisement information through an auction transaction. The information providing unit is capable of displaying keyword buttons enabling keyword selection in a display screen at the user terminal.

Claims

1. An information providing system comprising:

an information registration unit capable of registering a front keyword for use in relation to content or content information to be provided to a user terminal and a back keyword set in relation to the front keyword;

an advertisement registration unit capable of registering advertisement information for use in relation to the back keywords; and

an information providing unit capable of providing the advertisement information to the user terminal, wherein

the information registration unit includes

a front keyword registration unit that registers the front keyword for use in relation to the content or content information;

a back keyword registration unit that registers the back keywords for use in relation to the front keyword; and

an advertisement information registration unit that obtains the advertisement information having been registered by the advertisement registration unit and sets the advertisement information in relation to the back keywords;

the advertisement registration unit includes

an advertisement selection unit that selects advertisement information to be set in relation to the back keyword based upon bid information corresponding to the back keyword, obtained from sponsor terminals belonging to sponsors providing the advertisement information; and

an advertisement registration unit that registers the advertisement information having been selected by the advertisement selection unit;

the information providing unit includes

a display control unit that displays at the user terminal the front keyword together with keyword buttons each operated to select a front keyword; and

an advertisement providing unit that receives the front keyword selected through the keyword button and provides to the user terminal advertisement information selected by the advertisement selection unit in correspondence to the back keyword registered in relation to the front keyword.

2. An information providing system according to claim 1, wherein:

the advertisement selection unit selects a predetermined number of sets of advertisement information with highest bids tendered in correspondence to the back keyword among a plurality of sets of advertisement information submitted for bidding in correspondence to the particular back keyword.

3. An information providing system according to claim 2, wherein:

the advertisement selection unit selects some sets of advertisement information among the predetermined number of sets of advertisement information with the highest bids based upon specific conditions determined in advance by a content holder providing the content and sponsors providing the advertisement information.

4. An information providing system according to claim 2, wherein:

the advertisement selection unit extracts sets of advertisement information of a specific type from the predetermined number of sets of advertisement information with the highest bids and selects a specific number of sets of advertisement information with higher bids among the extracted sets of advertisement information.

5. An information providing method through which advertisement information for use in relation to a specific back keyword is provided to a user terminal based upon a front keyword for use in relation to content or content information to be provided to the user terminal and back keywords for use in relation to the front keyword, including:

a front keyword registration step in which a front keyword for use in relation to the content registered;

a back keyword registration step in which the back keyword for use in relation to the front keyword is registered;

an advertisement selection step in which advertisement information to be set in relation to the back keyword is selected based upon bid information obtained from sponsor terminals providing advertisement information in correspondence to the back keyword;

an advertisement registration step in which the advertisement information having been selected through the advertisement selection step is registered;

a back keyword registration step in which the advertisement information having been registered through the advertisement registration step is set in relation to the back keyword;

a display control step in which the front keyword and a keyword button operated to select the front keyword are brought up on display at the user terminal; and

an advertisement providing step in which the front keyword selected through the keyword button is received from the user terminal and the advertisement information having been selected through the advertisement selection step is provided to the user terminal in correspondence to the back keyword registered in relation to the front keyword.

6. A program enabling a computer to fulfill a function of providing to a user terminal advertisement information for use in relation to a back keyword based upon a front keyword for use in relation to content or content information to be provided to the user terminal and the back keyword for use in relation to the front keyword, enabling the computer to fulfill:

a front keyword registration function through which the front keyword for use in relation to content or content information is registered;

a back keyword registration function through which a back keyword for use in relation to the front keyword is registered;

an advertisement selection function through which advertisement information to be set in relation to the back keyword is selected based upon bid information obtained from sponsor terminals providing advertisement information in correspondence to the back keyword;

an advertisement registration function through which the advertisement information having been selected through the advertisement selection function is registered;

a back keyword registration function through which the advertisement information having been registered through the advertisement registration function is set in relation to the back keyword;

a display control function through which the front keyword and a keyword button operated to select the front keyword are brought up on display at the user terminal; and

an advertisement providing function through which the front keyword selected through the keyword button is received from the user terminal and the advertisement information having been selected through the advertisement selection function is provided to the user terminal in correspondence to the back keyword registered in relation to the front keyword.