Information search provision apparatus and information search provision system

• US 8,341,135 B2
• Filed: 08/30/2005
• Issued: 12/25/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/07/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Interman Corporation
• Original Assignee: Interman Corporation
• Inventors: Uetabira, Shigeki, Uetabira, Mitsugu
• Primary Examiner(s): To, Baoquoc N
• Application Number:
  US10/590,740
• Publication Number:
  US 20070208699A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,674 Days
• Field of Search: 707/3, 707/100, 707/999.1, 707/709, 707/758, 707/787, 707/736, 707/751, 707/784
• US Class Current: 707/705
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/335 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles filtering in web context G06F16/9535, G06F16/9536
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/951 Indexing; Web crawling techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/953 Querying, e.g. by the use of web search engines

Abstract

It is necessary to create a new information search service system for differentiating reliable contents from unreliable contents. An information search provision apparatus for acquiring a search conditional statement, matching the search conditional statement and providing contents, as the search results, comprises: a collecting unit which collects contents to be evaluated, posted on a web page via a network at a predetermined time; and a reliability controlling unit which increases or decreases the reliability degree of the contents to be evaluated, depending on whether the contents to be evaluated were collectable by the collecting unit. Accordingly, the contents to be evaluated may be evaluated in terms of reliability degree, depending on whether it is possible to collect the contents to be evaluated, as a result, reliable contents can be separated from unreliable contents, and is thus an information search service which is highly convenient to users may be provided.

Claims

1. An information search provision apparatus comprising:

at least one processing unit that operates to perform at least the steps of acquiring a search conditional statement and providing contents, matching the search conditional statement, as a search result;

a collection unit which collects contents, to be evaluated, posted on a web page via a network at predetermined timings;

a reliability control unit which determines a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated, depending on whether or not it is possible for the collection unit to collect the contents to be evaluated;

a history increase range controlling unit which controls an increase range in the value indicative of the degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated, according to a history on whether or not it is possible for the collection unit to collect the contents to be evaluated, and

a presenting unit which displays the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the contents, and the search result to a user of the apparatus on a display,

wherein the collection unit repeatedly accesses a uniform resource locator (URL) of the web page at the predetermined timings for collecting the contents to be evaluated and stores a plurality of collection histories that are indicative of whether or not the contents to be evaluated could be collected by the collection unit at the predetermined timings respectively, and

the plurality of collection histories are used to determine the degree of reliability of the contents.

2. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

an acquisition unit which acquires a search conditional statement from the user; and

a search unit which searches contents matching the acquired search conditional statement.

3. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a prediction unit which predicts the degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated, based on an element contributed to estimating a duration of contents contained in the contents to be evaluated, wherein the presenting unit displays the predicted reliability to the user on the display.

4. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the reliability control unit gradually increases the value indicative of the degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated, in a period of time during which the contents to be evaluated is acquired continuously at a predetermined timing by the collection unit.

5. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a relationship determining unit which determines the presence or absence of a relationship between highly reliable contents and the contents to be evaluated, wherein the reliability control unit controls in a manner that an increase range of the contents to be evaluated when the presence of a relation is determined by the relationship determining unit is set higher than that when the absence thereof is determined.

6. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 5, wherein, based on whether or not related information indicative of the presence of a relationship between highly reliable contents and the contents to be evaluated is contained in the highly reliable contents, the relationship determining unit determines the presence or absence of a relationship between highly reliable contents and the contents to be evaluated.

7. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

an access unit which accesses a server by referring to location information indicative of a location of the server open to the public through a web page;

an access determining unit which determines whether an access of the access unit to the server is allowed or not;

an access history storage which stores correspondence between a decision result by the access determining unit and timing at which the access unit has accessed the server; and

a timing specifying unit which specifies timing at which the access of the access unit to the server was first successful, by referring to the correspondence,

wherein the reliability control unit starts performing a control of increasing or decreasing the value, which is indicative of the clearer of reliability, at the specified timing.

8. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising:

a specifying unit which specifies location information indicative of a location of the contents to be evaluated; and

a reliability transform unit which transforms the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability, of the contents to be evaluated, increased or decreased by the reliability control unit into a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of the location information.

9. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 8, further comprising:

a location information classifying unit which classifies the location information into a plurality of groups each of which belongs to a common attribute; and

a location information group reliability calculating unit which calculates a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of location information for each of the plurality of classified groups.

10. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the specifying unit specifies a domain name as the location information, and

wherein the reliability transform unit transforms the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated into a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of the domain name.

11. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the specifying unit specifies an IP address as the location information, and

wherein the reliability transform unit transforms the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated into a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of the IP address.

12. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the reliability transform unit calculates a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of an electronic mail address including the location information, based on the obtained value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the location information.

13. An information search provision apparatus comprising:

at least one processing unit that operates to perform at least the steps of acquiring a search conditional statement and providing contents, matching the search conditional statement, as a search result;

a collection unit which repeatedly collects contents, to be evaluated, posted on a web page via a network at predetermined timings;

a comparison unit which compares the collected contents to be evaluated with subsequently collected contents, to be evaluated, posted on the same web page;

an update determining unit which identifies whether an update was performed on the contents to be evaluated, based on a result of the comparison;

a reliability control unit which determines a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated according to a result of the determination by the update determining unit; and

a presenting unit which displays the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the searched contents, and the search result to a user of the apparatus on a display,

wherein a plurality of updates on the contents are used to determine the degree of reliability of the contents.

14. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the reliability control unit gradually increases the value indicative of the degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated, in a period of time during which it is determined continuously at predetermined timings that the contents to be evaluated are updated by the update determining unit.

15. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 13, further comprising an update analysis unit which analyzes whether an update of the contents is intrinsically required or not,

wherein the reliability control unit increases or decreases the value indicative of the degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated, according to results of the update determining unit and the update analysis unit.

16. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 13, further comprising:

an access unit which accesses a server by referring to location information indicative of a location of the server open to the public through a web page;

an access determining unit which determines whether an access of the access unit to the server is allowed or not;

an access history storage which stores correspondence between a decision result by the access determining unit and timing at which the access unit has accessed the server; and

a timing specifying unit which specifies timing at which the access of the access unit to the server was first successful, by referring to the correspondence,

wherein the reliability control unit starts performing a control of increasing or decreasing the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability, at the specified timing.

17. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 13, further comprising:

a specifying unit which specifies location information indicative of a location of the contents to be evaluated; and

a reliability transform unit which transforms the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability, of the contents to be evaluated, increased or decreased by the reliability control unit into a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of the location information.

18. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 17, further comprising:

a location information classifying unit which classifies the location information into a plurality of groups each of which belongs to a common attribute; and

a location information group reliability calculating unit which calculates a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of location information for each of the plurality of classified groups.

19. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the specifying unit specifies a domain name as the location information, and

wherein the reliability transform unit transforms the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated into a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of the domain name.

20. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the specifying unit specifies an IP address as the location information, and

wherein the reliability transform unit transforms the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated into a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of the IP address.

21. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the reliability transform unit calculates a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of an electronic mail address including the location information, based on the obtained value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the location information.

22. An information search provision apparatus comprising:

at least one processing unit that operates to perform at least the steps of acquiring a search conditional statement and providing contents, matching the search conditional statement, as a search result;

a related-contents acquisition unit which acquires contents related to contents to be evaluated;

a contribution storage which stores keywords as elements which contribute to increase in a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated, and/or keywords as elements which contribute to decrease in the value;

an element extraction unit which extracts an element, which is one of the keywords stored in the contribution storage, from the acquired contents;

a reliability control unit which increases or decreases the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated, by referring to the extracted element; and

a presenting unit which displays the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the searched contents, and the search result to a user of the apparatus on a display.

23. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 22, wherein, in terms of each aspect in evaluating the degree of reliability, the element extraction unit extracts an element contributing to increase or decrease in the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated, and

wherein the reliability control unit increases or decreases the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated, by referring to the element extracted in terms of the each aspect in evaluating the degree of reliability.

24. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 22, further comprising a classifying unit which classifies each extracted element into:

(i) a first group containing elements that contribute to the increase in the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated, or (ii) a second group containing elements that contribute to the decrease in the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated, and

wherein when the number of elements in the first group classified by the classifying unit is greater than that in the second group, the reliability control unit increases the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated.

25. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 22, further comprising:

an access unit which accesses a server by referring to location information indicative of a location of the server open to the public through a web page;

an access determining unit which determines whether access of the access unit to the server is allowed or not;

an access history storage which stores correspondence between a decision result by the access determining unit and timing at which the access unit has accessed the server; and

a timing specifying unit which specifies timing at which the access of the access unit to the server was first successful, by referring to the correspondence,

wherein the reliability control unit starts performing a control of increasing or decreasing the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability, at the specified timing.

26. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 22, further comprising:

a specifying unit which specifies location information indicative of a location of the contents to be evaluated; and

a reliability transform unit which transforms the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability, of the contents to be evaluated, increased or decreased by the reliability control unit into a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of the location information.

27. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 26, further comprising:

a location information classifying unit which classifies the location information into a plurality of groups each of which belongs to a common attribute; and

a location information group reliability calculating unit which calculates a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of location information for each of the plurality of classified groups.

28. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 26, wherein the specifying unit specifies a domain name as the location information, and

wherein the reliability transform unit transforms the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated into a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of the domain name.

29. An Information search provision apparatus according to claim 26, wherein the specifying unit specifies an IP address as the location information, and

wherein the reliability transform unit transforms the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated into a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of the IP address.

30. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 26, wherein the reliability transform unit calculates a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of an electronic mail address including the location information, based on the obtained value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the location information.

31. An information search provision apparatus comprising:

at least one processing unit that operates to perform at least the steps of acquiring a search conditional statement and providing contents, matching the search conditional statement, as a search result;

a contents acquisition unit which acquires contents containing an item to be assessed, the item being associated with a company;

a contents specifying unit which specifies own contents provided by the company and serving as an information source of the item to be assessed from among the contents acquired by the contents acquisition unit;

a consistency determining unit which determines consistency of the item to be assessed in between the specified own contents and the acquired contents, other than the own contents; and

a reliability control unit which increases or decreases a value indicative of a degree of reliability of the own contents, and a value indicative of a degree of reliability of the other contents, according to the decision made by the consistency determining unit; and

a presenting unit which displays the value indicative of the degree of reliability of the searched contents, the value indicative of the degree of reliability of the other contents, and the search result to a user of the apparatus on a display.

32. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 31, wherein when both the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the own contents, and the value indicative of the degree of reliability of the other contents, are high and the presence of consistency of the item to be assessed is determined by the consistency determining unit, the reliability control unit increases both the value indicative of the degree of reliability of the own contents and the value indicative of the degree of reliability of the other contents.

33. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 31, further comprising:

an access unit which accesses a server by referring to location information indicative of a location of the server open to the public through a web page;

an access determining unit which determines whether access of the access unit to the server is allowed or not;

an access history storage which stores correspondence between a decision result by the access determining unit and timing at which the access unit has accessed the server; and

a timing specifying unit which specifies timing at which the access of the access unit to the server was first successful, by referring to the correspondence,

wherein the reliability control unit starts performing a control of increasing or decreasing the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability, at the specified timing.

34. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 31, further comprising:

a specifying unit which specifies location information indicative of a location of the contents to be evaluated; and

a reliability transform unit which transforms the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability, of the contents to be evaluated, increased or decreased by the reliability control unit into a value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the location information.

35. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 34, further comprising:

a location information classifying unit which classifies the location information into a plurality of groups each of which belongs to a common attribute; and

a location information group reliability calculating unit which calculates a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of location information for each of the plurality of classified groups.

36. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 34, wherein the specifying unit specifies a domain name as the location information, and

wherein the reliability transform unit transforms the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated into a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of the domain name.

37. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 34, wherein the specifying unit specifies an IP address as the location information, and

wherein the reliability transform unit transforms the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated into a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of the IP address.

38. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 34, wherein the reliability transform unit calculates a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of an electronic mail address including the location information, based on the obtained value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the location information.

39. An information search provision system including a terminal apparatus connected on a network, a server for providing a web page via the network and an information search provision apparatus comprising:

a collection unit which collects contents, to be evaluated, posted on a web page via the network at predetermined timings;

at least one processing unit that operates to perform at least the steps of providing contents, matching a search conditional statement, among the collected contents as a search result to the terminal apparatus; and

a reliability control unit which determines a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated, depending on whether it is possible to collect the contents to be evaluated;

a history increase range controlling unit which controls an increase range in the value indicative of the degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated, according to a history on whether or not it is possible for the collection unit to collect the contents to be evaluated; and

a presenting unit which displays the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the contents, and the search result to a user of the system on a display,

wherein the collection unit repeatedly accesses a uniform resource locator (URL) of the web page at the predetermined timings for collecting the contents to be evaluated, and stores a plurality of collection histories indicative of whether or not the contents to be evaluated could be collected by the collection unit at the predetermined timings respectively, and the plurality of collection histories are used to determine the degree of reliability of the contents.

40. An information search provision system, comprising:

a contents providing apparatus which posts contents to be evaluated, on a web page;

a terminal apparatus which accesses the contents to be evaluated, via a network; and

an information search provision apparatus,

wherein the terminal apparatus includes an information transmitting unit which transmits client information indicative of the status of access to the contents from the terminal apparatus, and

wherein the information search provision apparatus includes;

at least one processing unit that operates to perform at least the steps of acquiring a search conditional statement and providing contents, matching the search conditional statement, as a search result;

an information receiver which receives directly or indirectly the client information transmitted from the terminal apparatus that has accessed via the network the contents to be evaluated; and

a reliability varying unit which increases or decreases a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated, based on the client information; and

a presenting unit which displays the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the searched contents, and the search result to a user of the system on a display.

41. An information search provision system according to claim 40, wherein the information transmitting unit transmits, as the client information, information related to access to the contents to be evaluated, and

wherein the reliability varying unit increases or decreases the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated, according to a status of access from the terminal apparatus to the contents to be evaluated.

42. An information search provision system according to claim 40, wherein the information transmitting unit transmits, as the client information, information transferred from the terminal apparatus to the contents to be evaluated, and

wherein the reliability varying unit increases or decreases the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated, according to the information transferred from the terminal apparatus to the contents to be evaluated.

43. An information search provision system according to claim 40, wherein when the terminal apparatus has accessed the contents to be evaluated, the contents providing apparatus transmits information on access from the terminal apparatus to the contents to be evaluated and/or information transferred from the terminal apparatus to the contents to be evaluated from the terminal apparatus to the information search provision apparatus.

44. An information search provision apparatus including:

at least one processing unit that operates to perform at least the steps of acquiring a search conditional statement and providing contents, matching the search conditional statement, as a search result;

an information receiver which receives directly or indirectly client information transmitted from a terminal apparatus that has accessed the contents to be evaluated, the client information transmitted being indicative of the status of access to the contents and access history from the terminal apparatus; and

a reliability varying unit which increases or decreases a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated, based on the client information; and

a presenting unit which displays the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the searched contents, and the search result to a user of the terminal apparatus and/or the information search provision apparatus on a display.

45. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 44, wherein the information receiver receives, as the client information, information on a status of access from the terminal apparatus to the contents to be evaluated, and

wherein the reliability varying unit increases or decreases the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated, according to the access status.

46. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 44, wherein the information receiver receives, as the client information, information transferred from the terminal apparatus to the contents to be evaluated, and

wherein the reliability varying unit increases or decreases the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated, according to the information transferred from the terminal apparatus to the contents to be evaluated.

47. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 44, further comprising:

a specifying unit which specifies location information indicative of a location of the contents to be evaluated; and

a reliability transform unit which transforms the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability, of the contents to be evaluated, increased or decreased by the reliability control unit into a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of the location information.

48. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 47, further comprising:

a location information classifying unit which classifies the location information into a plurality of groups each of which belongs to a common attribute; and

a location information group reliability calculating unit which calculates a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of location information for each of the plurality of classified groups.

49. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 47, wherein the specifying unit specifies a domain name as the location information, and

wherein the reliability transform unit transforms the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated into a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of the domain name.

50. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 47, wherein the specifying unit specifies an IP address as the location information, and

wherein the reliability transform unit transforms the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated into a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of the IP address.

51. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 47, wherein the reliability transform unit calculates a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of an electronic mail address including the location information, based on the obtained value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the location information.

52. An information search provision system, comprising:

a contents providing apparatus which posts contents to be evaluated on a web page in association with a product;

a terminal apparatus which accesses the contents to be evaluated via a network, wherein the terminal apparatus includes an information transmitting unit which transmits client information associated with the terminal apparatus; and

an information search provision apparatus including;

at least one processing unit that operates to perform at least the steps of acquiring a search conditional statement and providing contents, matching the search conditional statement, as a search result;

an information receiver which receives directly or indirectly the client information transmitted from the terminal apparatus that has accessed via the network the contents to be evaluated; and

an asset value varying unit which calculates and updates an asset value for the contents to be evaluated, based on the client information, and a history of purchasing the product through the contents,

wherein the asset value is calculated and updated in terms of an estimated future contribution to a sales of the product as a function of a profit over a specific period, customer frequency of use during a specific period, and/or estimated profit.

53. An information search provision system according to claim 52, wherein the information transmitting unit transmits, as the client information, information related to access to the contents to be evaluated, and

wherein the asset value varying unit increases or decreases the asset value according to a status of access from the terminal apparatus to the contents to be evaluated.

54. An information search provision system according to claim 52, wherein the information transmitting unit transmits, as the client information, information transferred from the terminal apparatus to the contents to be evaluated, and

wherein the asset value varying unit increases or decreases the asset value according to the information transferred from the terminal apparatus to the contents to be evaluated.

55. An information search provision system according to claim 52, wherein when the terminal apparatus has accessed the contents to be evaluated, the contents providing apparatus transmits information on access from the terminal apparatus to the contents to be evaluated and/or information transferred from the terminal apparatus to the contents to be evaluated from the terminal apparatus to the information search provision apparatus.

56. An information search provision apparatus including:

at least one processing unit that operates to perform at least the steps of acquiring a search conditional statement and providing contents, matching the search conditional statement in association with a product, as a search result;

an information receiver which receives directly or indirectly client information transmitted from a terminal apparatus that has accessed the contents to be evaluated; and

an asset value varying unit which updates an asset value for the contents to be evaluated, based on the client information, and a history of purchasing the product through the contents,

wherein the asset value is calculated in terms of an estimated future contribution to a sales of the product as a function for a profit over a specific period, customer frequency of use during a specific period, and/or estimated profit.

57. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 56, wherein the information receiver receives, as the client information, information on a status of access from the terminal apparatus to the contents to be evaluated, and

wherein the asset value varying unit increases or decreases the asset value according to the status of access from the terminal apparatus to the contents to be evaluated.

58. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 56, wherein the information receiver receives, as the client information, information transferred from the terminal apparatus to the contents to be evaluated, and

wherein the asset value varying unit increases or decreases the asset value according to the information transferred from the terminal apparatus to the contents to be evaluated.

59. An information search provision apparatus comprising:

at least one processing unit that operates to perform at least the steps of acquiring a search conditional statement and providing contents, matching the search conditional statement, as a search result;

a collection unit which collects contents to be evaluated and contents, other than said evaluating contents, for use in comparison, wherein the evaluating contents and the other contents are posted on a web page via a network at a predetermined timing, wherein a decision item predetermined for the purpose of evaluating a reliability of the contents is contained in the contents to be evaluated and the other contents;

an update determining unit which determines an update on the decision item in the other contents, and determines whether the contents to be evaluated is updated in correspondence with the update on the decision item in the other contents; and

a reliability control unit which increases or decreases a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated, according to a result obtained from the update determining unit; and

a presenting unit which displays the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the searched contents, and the search result to a user of the apparatus on a display.

60. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 59, wherein when the decision item has not been posted in the contents to be evaluated upon the publication of the decision item in the comparing contents, the update determining unit determines that the contents to be evaluated is not properly updated.

61. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 59, wherein when the decision item was posted in the comparing contents after the decision item was posted in the contents to be evaluated, the update determining unit determines that the contents to be evaluated is properly updated.

62. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 59, further comprising:

a specifying unit which specifies location information indicative of a location of the contents to be evaluated; and

a reliability transform unit which transforms the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability, of the contents to be evaluated, increased or decreased by the reliability control unit into a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of the location information.

63. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 62, further comprising:

a location information classifying unit which classifies the location information into a plurality of groups each of which belongs to a common attribute; and

a location information group reliability calculating unit which calculates a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of location information for each of the plurality of classified groups.

64. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 62, wherein the specifying unit specifies a domain name as the location information, and

wherein the reliability transform unit transforms the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated into a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of the domain name.

65. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 62, wherein the specifying unit specifies an IP address as the location information, and

wherein the reliability transform unit transforms the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated into a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of the IP address.

66. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 62, wherein the reliability transform unit calculates a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of an electronic mail address including the location information, based on the obtained value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the location information.

67. An information search provision apparatus comprising:

at least one processing unit that operates to perform at least the steps of acquiring a search conditional statement and providing contents, matching the search conditional statement, as a search result;

a collection unit which collects contents to be evaluated posted on a web page via a network at a predetermined timing;

an identity determining unit which determines the identity of the contents, to be evaluated, collected at different timings; and

a reliability control unit which increases or decreases a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated, according to a result obtained from the identity determining unit; and

a presenting unit which displays the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the searched contents, and the search result to a user of the apparatus on a display,

wherein the identity of the contents is determined when the contents to be evaluated, collected at an earlier time, is included as part of the contents to be evaluated, collected at a subsequent time.

68. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 67, wherein the identity determining unit determines whether or not the contents to be evaluated collected at early timing is identical to part of the contents to be evaluated at subsequent timing, and

wherein when it is determined that the contents to be evaluated collected at early timing is identical to part of the contents to be evaluated at subsequent timing, the reliability control unit

increases the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated.

69. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 67 further comprising:

a specifying unit which specifies location information indicative of a location of the contents to be evaluated; and

a reliability transform unit which transforms the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability, of the contents to be evaluated, increased or decreased by the reliability control unit into a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of the location information.

70. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 69, further comprising:

a location information classifying unit which classifies the location information into a plurality of groups each of which belongs to a common attribute; and

a location information group reliability calculating unit which calculates a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of location information for each of the plurality of classified groups.

71. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 69, wherein the specifying unit specifies a domain name as the location information, and

wherein the reliability transform unit transforms the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated into a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of the domain name.

72. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 69, wherein the specifying unit specifies an IP address as the location information, and

wherein the reliability transform unit transforms the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated into a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of the IP address.

73. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 69, wherein the reliability transform unit calculates a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of an electronic mail address including the location information, based on the obtained value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the location information.

74. An information search provision apparatus comprising:

at least one processing unit that operates to perform at least the steps of acquiring a search conditional statement and providing contents, matching the search conditional statement, as a search result;

a collection unit which collects contents to be evaluated and contents, other than said evaluating contents, for use in comparison both posted on a web page via a network at a predetermined timing;

a contents comparison storage which stores contents for comparison;

a uniqueness determining unit which compares the contents to be evaluated with the comparing contents which had already been collected and stored in the contents comparison storage at the time of collection of the contents to be evaluated and determines uniqueness of the contents to be evaluated when the contents comparison storage does not store the contents to be evaluated; and

a reliability control unit which increases or decreases a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated, according to a result obtained from the uniqueness determining unit; and

a presenting unit which displays the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the searched contents, and the search result to a user of the apparatus on a display.

75. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 74, wherein when the contents to be evaluated is contents such that the comparing contents which had already been collected at the time of collection of the contents to be evaluated is altered, the uniqueness determining unit determines that the contents to be evaluated is not unique, and

wherein the reliability control unit decreases the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the contents, to be evaluated, which was determined to be contents such that the comparing contents is altered.

76. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 74, further comprising:

a specifying unit which specifies location information indicative of a location of the contents to be evaluated; and

a reliability transform unit which transforms the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability, of the contents to be evaluated, increased or decreased by the reliability control unit into a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of the location information.

77. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 76, further comprising:

a location information classifying unit which classifies the location information into a plurality of groups each of which belongs to a common attribute; and

a location information group reliability calculating unit which calculates a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of location information for each of the plurality of classified groups.

78. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 76, wherein the specifying unit specifies a domain name as the location information, and

wherein the reliability transform unit transforms the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated into a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of the domain name.

79. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 76, wherein the specifying unit specifies an IP address as the location information, and

wherein the reliability transform unit transforms the value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the contents to be evaluated into a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of the IP address.

80. An information search provision apparatus according to claim 76, wherein the reliability transform unit calculates a value, which is indicative of a degree of reliability of an electronic mail address including the location information, based on the obtained value, which is indicative of the degree of reliability of the location information.

81. An information search provision system, comprising:

a contents providing apparatus which posts contents to be evaluated, on a web page in association with a product;

a terminal apparatus which accesses the contents to be evaluated, via a network; and

an information search provision apparatus, wherein;

the terminal apparatus includes an information transmitting unit which transmits client information associated with the terminal apparatus, and

the information search provision apparatus includes;

at least one processing unit that operates to perform at least the steps of acquiring a search conditional statement and providing contents, matching the search conditional statement, as a search result;

an information receiver which receives directly or indirectly client information transmitted from the terminal apparatus that has accessed via the network the contents to be evaluated; and

an asset value calculating unit which calculates a profit or a profit reduction in a transaction related to the contents, and updates an asset value for the contents in terms of an estimated future contribution to a sales of the product by use of the profit or the profit reduction based at least on a history of purchasing the product through the contents.

82. The information search provision system according to claim 81, wherein:

the asset value calculating unit calculates the asset value by considering at least one of;

a figure of the profit or the profit reduction totaled during a certain period, the frequency of use of regular customers, a property of a product, and by estimating a future profit or a future profit reduction.

83. An information search provision apparatus including:

at least one processing unit that operates to perform at least the steps of acquiring a search conditional statement and providing contents, matching the search conditional statement, in association with a product as a search result;

an information receiver which receives directly or indirectly client information transmitted from a terminal apparatus that has accessed the contents to be evaluated; and

an asset value calculating unit which calculates a profit or a profit reduction in a transaction related to the contents, and updates an asset value for the contents by use of the profit or the profit reduction in terms of an estimated future contribution to a sales of the product based at least on a history of purchasing the product through the contents.

84. The information search provision system according to claim 83, wherein:

the asset value calculating unit calculates the asset value by considering at least one of;

a figure of the profit or the profit reduction totaled during a certain period, the frequency of use of regular customers, a property of a product, and by estimating a future profit or a future profit reduction.