INFORMATION PROVIDING APPARATUS, INFORMATION PROVIDING METHOD, AND NON-TRANSITORY COMPUTER-READABLE STORAGE MEDIUM

• US 20140081723A1
• Filed: 08/08/2013
• Published: 03/20/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Yahoo Japan Corporation (A Holdings Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Yahoo Japan Corporation (A Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: MUGUCHI, Mitsuru, SATOU, Shinsuke
• Application Number:
  US13/962,422
• Publication Number:
  US 20140081723A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/14.16
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0214 Referral reward systems

Abstract

An information providing apparatus according to the present application includes an identifying unit, a checking unit, and a notifying unit. The identifying unit identifies a store or a site which a user plans to visit by analyzing a posting page posted by the user. The checking unit checks a current location of a user terminal which the user has against a location of the store or the site identified by the identifying unit when the user terminal performs processing to register the current location. The notifying unit notifies an administrator of the store or the site that the user has actually visited the store or the site when the current location of the user terminal is the same as the location of the store or the site as a result of the check performed by the checking unit.

Claims

1. An information providing apparatus, comprising:

an identifying unit which identifies a store or a site which a user plans to visit by analyzing a posting page posted by the user;

a checking unit which checks a current location of a user terminal which the user has against a location of the store or the site identified by the identifying unit when the user terminal performs processing to register the current location; and

a notifying unit which notifies an administrator of the store or the site that the user has actually visited the store or the site when the current location of the user terminal is the same as the location of the store or the site as a result of the check performed by the checking unit.

2. The information providing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

an associating unit which swaps links between the posting page and a store page that is a web page relating to the store or the site when the current location of the user terminal is the same as the location of the store or the site.

3. The information providing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising:

a user information storage unit which stores therein for each user an action record indicating whether the user actually visited the store or the site the user plans to visit, wherein

the associating unit determines whether the links are swapped between the posting page and the store page in accordance with the action record stored in the user information storage unit.

4. The information providing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein

the notifying unit further notifies the administrator of the action record stored in the user information storage unit when the current location of the user terminal is the same as the location of the store or the site.

5. The information providing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein

the associating unit links the posting page to the store page when the posting page is posted, and links the store page to the posting page when the current location of the user terminal is the same as the location of the store or the site.

6. The information providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein

the notifying unit further notifies the administrator of a difference between a date when the posting page was posted and a date when the user actually visited the store or the site.

7. An information providing method performed by an information providing apparatus, the information providing method comprising:

identifying a store or a site which a user plans to visit by analyzing a posting page posted by the user;

checking a current location of a user terminal which the user has against a location of the store or the site identified at the identifying when the user terminal performs processing to register the current location; and

notifying an administrator of the store or the site that the user has actually visited the store or the site when the current location of the user terminal is the same as the location of the store or the site as a result of the check at the checking.

8. The information providing method according to claim 7, further comprising:

swapping links between the posting page and a store page that is a web page relating to the store or the site when the current location of the user terminal is the same as the location of the store or the site.

9. The information providing method according to claim 8, wherein

the swapping includes determining whether the links are swapped between the posting page and the store page in accordance with an action record stored in a user information storage unit, the user information storage unit storing therein for each user the action record indicating whether the user actually visited the store or the site the user plans to visit.

10. The information providing method according to claim 9, wherein

the notifying includes notifying the administrator of the action record stored in the user information storage unit when the current location of the user terminal is the same as the location of the store or the site.

11. The information providing method according to claim 8, wherein

the swapping includes linking the posting page to the store page when the posting page is posted, and linking the store page to the posting page when the current location of the user terminal is the same as the location of the store or the site.

12. The information providing method according to claim 7, wherein

the notifying includes notifying the administrator of a difference between a date when the posting page was posted and a date when the user actually visited the store or the site.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium with an executable program stored thereon, wherein the program instructs a computer to perform:

identifying a store or a site which a user plans to visit by analyzing a posting page posted by the user;

checking a current location of a user terminal which the user has against a location of the store or the site identified at the identifying when the user terminal performs processing to register the current location; and

notifying an administrator of the store or the site that the user has actually visited the store or the site when the current location of the user terminal is the same as the location of the store or the site as a result of the check at the checking.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 13, further instructing the computer to perform:

swapping links between the posting page and a store page that is a web page relating to the store or the site when the current location of the user terminal is the same as the location of the store or the site.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 14, wherein

the swapping includes determining whether the links are swapped between the posting page and the store page in accordance with an action record stored in a user information storage unit, the user information storage unit storing therein for each user the action record indicating whether the user actually visited the store or the site the user plans to visit.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 15, wherein

the notifying includes notifying the administrator of the action record stored in the user information storage unit when the current location of the user terminal is the same as the location of the store or the site.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 14, wherein

the swapping includes linking the posting page to the store page when the posting page is posted, and linking the store page to the posting page when the current location of the user terminal is the same as the location of the store or the site.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium according to claim 13, wherein

the notifying includes notifying the administrator of a difference between a date when the posting page was posted and a date when the user actually visited the store or the site.