System for collecting detailed internet information on the basis of the condition of activities of information viewers viewing information of service providers

• US 5,951,642 A
• Filed: 08/06/1997
• Issued: 09/14/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 08/06/1997
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Jason Chiang, Miki Onoe, Rudiger L. Breitenecker, Takutaro Onoe
• Original Assignee: Hypertak, Inc.
• Inventors: Onoe, Takutaro, Chiang, Jason Yi-Yu
• Primary Examiner(s): Meky, Moustafa M.
• Application Number:
  US08/907,237
• Time in Patent Office: 769 Days
• Field of Search: 395/200.32, 395/200.33, 395/200.47, 395/200.49, 395/200.54, 395/200.53, 395/200.76, 395/200.57, 348/7, 348/12, 709/217, 709/219, 709/220, 709/224
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

There is provided a technology for acquiring automatically detailed information based on the results of statistical processing of the condition of the activities of information viewers. The technology is offered for the acquisition of on-Internet information such that it is possible for information providers to improve upon the information which is viewed on the WWW, electronic mail, or the like.

A network system connects the server of on-Internet information providers, the information viewer clients and the server of an information collector, whereby, in accordance with Steps 201-210, when an information viewer starts the interface with the information collection client program when viewing the WWW of an information provider, the viewing information as to the URL and time of the WWW viewed is collected onto the server of the information collector; this viewing information is statistically processed by access time, access frequencies, viewers'"'"' genders, viewers'"'"' age groups and viewers'"'"' regions, and, based on the results of this statistical processing, it is that which automatically acquires detailed on-Internet information to the server of the information collector.

Claims

1. An on-Internet information collection method for collecting information, on the Internet whereon servers of a plurality of information providers, clients of a plurality of information viewers and a server of an information collector are connected with each other, onto the server of the information collector on the basis of the condition of activities of the plurality of information viewers viewing information of the plurality of information providers, characterized in that said method comprises steps of:

acquiring, when an information collection client program has been installed and activated for any one of said information viewers to view information of any one of said information providers, viewing information of viewing action of the information viewer onto the server of said information collector;

processing statistically said acquired viewing information; and

acquiring automatically, on the basis of the results of said statistical processing, detailed on-Internet information onto said server of said information collector.

2. The on-Internet information collection method according to claim 1, wherein:

said information of said information provider is information at WWW (World Wide Web) of said information provider;

URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of said WWW, and time is acquired as the viewing information of said information viewer onto the server of said information collector; and

said acquired viewing information is processed statistically in terms of access time, access frequencies, and the viewer'"'"'s genders, age groups and regions.

3. The on-Internet information collection method according to claim 1, wherein:

said information of said information provider is electronic mail, mailing lists, and netnews;

titles, senders, dates, times of said electronic mail, mailing lists, and netnews are acquired as the viewing information of said information viewer onto the server of said information collector; and

said acquired viewing information is processed statistically in terms of viewing time, viewing frequencies, and the viewer'"'"'s genders, age groups and regions.

4. The on-Internet information collection method according to claim 1, wherein said detailed information comprises the number of pages, the number of links, the number of words, the number of letters, font types, font sizes, the number of charts, the number of graphics, the ratio of graphic areas, the number of image maps, the ratio of image map areas, the number of AVI (Audio Video Interleave) files, the number of WAVE files, types of the background, colors of the background, and types of plug-ins.

5. The on-Internet information collection method according to claim 1, wherein said results of said statistical processing and said detailed on-Internet information on the basis of the results of the statistical processing are provided to corresponding information providers.

6. A storage medium for storing an information collection client program for collecting information, on the Internet whereon servers of a plurality of information providers, clients of a plurality of information viewers and a server of an information collector are connected with each other, onto the server of the information collector on the basis of the condition of viewing activities of the plurality of information viewers on WWW (World Wide Web) of the plurality of information providers, characterized in that said storage medium stores the process comprising steps of:

acquiring information viewed by said information viewers as to URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of said WWW of said information providers and the time onto said server of said information collector;

processing statistically said acquired information in terms of access time, access frequencies, and the viewer'"'"'s genders, age groups and regions; and

acquiring, on the basis of the results of said statistical processing, detailed on-Internet information onto said server of said information collector, wherein said information collection client program of said storage medium is written onto said servers of said information providers or onto said server of said information collector so that, when the information collection client program has been installed and activated for any one of said information viewers to view said information at WWW of any one of the information providers, said steps from acquiring the viewing information to acquiring the detailed information are automatically processed.

7. A storage medium for storing an information collection client program for collecting information, on the Internet whereon servers of a plurality of information providers, clients of a plurality of information viewers and a server of an information collector are connected with each other, onto the server of the information collector on the basis of the condition of activities of the plurality of information viewers viewing electronic mail, mailing lists, and netnews of the plurality of information providers, characterized in that said storage medium stores the process comprising steps of:

acquiring viewing information as to titles, senders, dates and times of the activities of said information viewers viewing the electronic mail, mailing lists, and netnews of said information providers onto said server of said information collector;

processing statistically said acquired viewing information in terms of viewing time, viewing frequencies, and the viewer'"'"'s genders, age groups and regions; and

acquiring, on the basis of the results of said statistical processing, detailed on-Internet information onto said server of said information collector, wherein said information collection client program of said storage medium is written onto said servers of said information providers or onto said server of said information collector so that, when the information collection client program has been installed and activated for any one of said information viewers to view said information at WWW of any one of the information providers, said steps from acquiring the viewing information to acquiring the detailed information are automatically processed.

8. An on-Internet information collection system for collecting information, on the Internet whereon servers of a plurality of information providers and clients of a plurality of information viewers are connected with each other, on the basis of the condition of viewing activities of the plurality of information viewers on WWW (World Wide Web) of the plurality of information providers, characterized in that a server of an information collector is connected to the Internet, said server comprises:

a means for acquiring information viewed by said information viewers as to URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of said WWW of said information providers and the time;

a means for storing said acquired information; and

a means for acquiring detailed on-Internet information, on the basis of the results of statistical processing of said stored information in terms of access time, access frequencies, and the viewer'"'"'s genders, age groups and regions,

wherein, when an information collection client program has been installed and activated for any one of said information viewers to view said information at WWW of any one of said information providers, said means for acquiring information acquires the viewing information, said means for storing acquired information stores the acquired information, and, on the basis of the results of statistical processing of the stored information, said means for acquiring the detailed on-Internet information automatically acquires the detailed on-Internet information.

9. An on-Internet information collection system for collecting information, on the Internet whereon servers of a plurality of information providers and clients of a plurality of information viewers are connected with each other, on the basis of the condition of activities of the plurality of information viewers viewing electronic mail, mailing lists, and netnews of the plurality of information providers, characterized in that a server of an information collector is connected to the Internet, said server comprises:

a means for acquiring viewing information as to titles, senders, dates and times of the activities of said information viewers viewing the electronic mail, mailing lists, and netnews of said information providers;

a means for storing said acquired viewing information; and

a means for acquiring detailed on-Internet information, on the basis of the results of statistical processing of said stored viewing information in terms of viewing time, viewing frequencies, and viewer'"'"'s genders, age groups and regions,

wherein, when an information collection client program has been installed and activated for any one of said information viewers to view electronic mail, mailing lists, and netnews of any one of said information providers, said means for acquiring viewing information acquires the viewing information, said means for storing acquired viewing information stores the acquired viewing information, and, on the basis of the results of statistical processing of the stored viewing information, said means for acquiring the detailed on-Internet information automatically acquires the detailed on-Internet information.