JP2008052434A - Information providing apparatus, control method therefor, and control program - Google Patents

Abstract

An information providing apparatus that enables an owner user of image data such as an album published on a network to identify a viewer of the image data and to know the browsing status of each viewer in real time. To do.
A registrant registers image data on a server connected using a communication environment such as the Internet, and publishes it to a third party. The server issues a browsing address in which an identifier that can determine which of the individual viewers has accessed is embedded, and notifies the invitee. The inviter accesses the server using the browsing address and browses the image data. The server manages the browsing history for each viewer, and displays the browsing history on the terminal device for the registrant in response to the request of the registrant.
[Selection] Figure 7

Description

  The present invention relates to an information providing apparatus arranged on a network, a control method thereof, and a control program.

  An information providing service using a communication infrastructure such as the Internet is generally known. For example, there is a service in which image data taken by a user with a digital camera is uploaded to a storage area of a server device on a network, and the user can access the server device and browse the image data when desired. Hereinafter, a provider of a server device that provides such a network service is referred to as a photo site.

  The photo site can disclose the image data of the owner user to a third party (hereinafter referred to as an inviter) designated by the user who uploaded the image data (hereinafter referred to as the owner user). Such a case will be described below.

First, the owner user starts a Web browser on a personal computer (PC), accesses a photo site, uploads image data, and notifies the name of the inviter, an e-mail address, and the like. The photo site generates a URL (Universal Resource Locator) for accessing uploaded image data or an image data group (hereinafter referred to as a photo album). At this time, the generated URL is a unique address for the image data and uses a random number that is uniquely unpredictable. The photo site describes this URL in a message, and transmits an e-mail with the e-mail address of the inviter set as the destination via the Internet. The invitee who has received the e-mail can view the image data of the owner user by starting a Web browser on the PC and inputting the URL described in the e-mail (for example, see Patent Document 1). .
JP 2003-111008 A

  However, the above prior art has the following problems.

  (1) The owner user of a photo album cannot specify invitees who have accessed the published photo album. One of the major purposes of publishing a photo album is to communicate with the owner user and the invitee, so the owner user has requested to know who viewed the photo album.

  (2) The owner user may be charged depending on the capacity of the photo album published on the photo site and the publication period. In such a case, the owner user may organize the photo albums regardless of whether the invitees have viewed the photo albums in order to reduce the burden of billing. I was unable to browse. Even if there is no charge obligation, if the capacity of image data allocated from the photo site is limited by the service conditions, the owner user may publish another image data. On the side, the same problem as described above occurs.

  (3) Even when there is no capacity limitation or charge for a photo album registrant, it is not desirable that the registrant publishes image data and leaves it as it is from the viewpoint of service activation and system load.

  In the present invention, in view of the above-described conventional problems, an owner user of image data such as an album released on a network can specify a viewer of the image data. Moreover, it aims at providing the information provision apparatus which can know the browsing condition of each browser in real time, its control method, and a control program.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is an information providing apparatus connected to a network, and registers image data created using a first terminal device on the network in a first storage unit. And an invitation address including image identification information for identifying the image data registered in the first storage unit, and viewer identification information for identifying a viewer of the image data, and generating the invitation address Address transmission means for transmitting to a second terminal device on the network, and when the first storage unit is accessed from the second terminal device using the invitation address, it corresponds to the image identification information View management means for displaying image data and storing browsing history information corresponding to the viewer identification information in the invitation address in a second storage unit; and from the first terminal device In response to the request, browsing history information acquisition means for acquiring browsing history information from the second storage unit, and display control information for controlling the acquired browsing history information to be displayed on the first terminal device Display control information transmitting means for transmitting to the first terminal device is provided.

  Further, the present invention sets execution of a browsing notification for notifying the first terminal device that the image data in the first storage unit has been accessed from the second terminal device. When the setting for executing the browsing notification is performed by the browsing notification setting unit and the browsing notification setting unit, the first storage unit is accessed from the second terminal device using the invitation address. And a browsing notification execution means for transmitting the browsing notification to the first terminal device.

  The present invention is also a method for controlling an information providing apparatus connected to a network, the image registration process for registering image data created using a first terminal device on the network in a first storage unit; Creating an invitation address including image identification information for identifying the image data registered in the first storage unit, and viewer identification information for identifying a viewer of the image data, and sending the invitation address to the network An address transmission step for transmitting to the second terminal device above, and an image corresponding to the image identification information when the first storage unit is accessed from the second terminal device using the invitation address In addition to displaying data, the browsing management process for storing browsing history information corresponding to the viewer identification information in the invitation address in the second storage unit, and a request from the first terminal device Browsing history information acquisition process for acquiring browsing history information from the second storage unit, and display control information for controlling the acquired browsing history information to be displayed on the first terminal device. And a display control information transmission process to be transmitted to one terminal device.

  The present invention also provides a computer-readable control program for executing a control method of an information providing apparatus connected to a network, the image data created using the first terminal device on the network Is registered in the first storage unit, image identification information for identifying the image data registered in the first storage unit, and viewer identification information for identifying the viewer of the image data And an address transmission step of transmitting the invitation address to a second terminal device on the network, and accessing the first storage unit from the second terminal device using the invitation address. When there is, image data corresponding to the image identification information is displayed, and browsing history information corresponding to the viewer identification information in the invitation address is displayed. A browsing management step stored in the second storage unit, a browsing history information acquisition step for acquiring browsing history information from the second storage unit in response to a request from the first terminal device, and the acquired browsing history information Display control information transmitting step for transmitting to the first terminal device display control information for controlling the display to be displayed on the first terminal device.

  A registrant who has registered image data in the information providing apparatus of the present invention using the first terminal device can know the browsing status of each viewer of the image data in real time. As a result, when the registrant continues to maintain the public album, the image data can be organized and changed based on the browsing performance of the browsing user as a criterion.

  In addition, since the registrant can specify the viewer of the image data, it is possible to improve the communication with the viewer.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

<Schematic configuration of the entire online photo system>
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall schematic configuration of an online photo system including an information providing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  This online photo system includes a photo site 100 on a network 104 that provides an online photo service that is a feature of the present embodiment. A registrant terminal 101 and inviter terminals 102 and 103 are connected to the photo site 100 via a network 104. Note that the registrant terminal 101 and the inviter terminals 102 and 103 are configured by a personal computer (PC) or the like. The registrant terminal 101 is a PC used by a registrant who registers an image in the photo site 100, and the inviter terminals 102 and 103 are permitted by the registrant to view images registered on the photo site 100. It is a PC used by each invitee.

  The photo site 100 includes an online photo server 105, a member information DB 107 connected to the server 105, an album database (DB) 108, a browsing management DB 109, and a mail server 106. The online photo server 105 performs main processing for realizing the online photo service of the present embodiment. That is, the online photo server 105 performs member management processing using the member information DB 107, album management processing using the album DB 108, and album browsing management processing using the browsing management DB 109.

  A service registrant accesses the online photo server 105 from the terminal 101 via the network 104. When there is a request for album creation from the registrant terminal 101, the online photo server 105 performs member authentication in the member information DB 107, and album information (album attributes and images, browsing notification conditions described later, etc.) Save in DB108. In addition, when there is an album release instruction from the registrant terminal 101, the online photo server 105 first saves the inviter information in the browsing management DB 109. Then, the mail server 106 is requested to send an album invitation mail to the inviters 102 and 103.

  When there is a request for album browsing from the inviter terminals 102 and 103, the online photo server 105 transmits the album information in the album DB 108 to the inviter terminals 102 and 103 for display. Then, the browsing history of the inviter is stored in the browsing management DB 109. If this browsing meets certain conditions, the mail server 106 is requested to send an album browsing notification mail to the registrant terminal 101. In the present embodiment, the certain condition at this time is referred to as a browsing notification condition. In addition, when there is a request to display browsing history from the registrant terminal 101, the online photo server 105 transmits information of the browsing management DB 109 to the registrant terminal 101 to display it.

  Note that the registrant terminal 101 and the inviter terminals 102 and 103 have a Web browser application program. The online photo server 105 transmits control information for controlling various information to be displayed on the display to the registrant terminal 101 and the inviter terminals 102 and 103. The registrant terminal 101 and the inviter terminals 102 and 103 use a Web browser application program, and can display various types of information on the display according to the control information.

<Example of database configuration>
Next, a configuration example of each database provided in the photo site 100 will be described with reference to FIGS.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the contents of the member information table 700 stored in the member information DB 107 in FIG.

  The member information table 700 stores a member ID 701, a member password 702, a name 703, a contact address 704, a mail address 705, a settlement information ID 706, and an album list 707. The album list 707 is linked to a public album table in FIG.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the contents of the public album table 800 stored in the album DB 108 in FIG.

  The public album table 800 stores an album ID 801, an album name 802, an album password 803, an album comment 804, an album creation date and time 805, and an album public flag 806. Further, an album image list 807, an album browsing management list 808, and a registrant member ID 809 are stored. The album image list 807 is linked to an image table of FIG. 4 described later, and the album browsing management list 808 is linked to a browsing management table of FIG. 5 described later.

  Then, as a browsing notification condition, a browsing notification flag 810, an all-inviters browsed notification flag 811, a priority viewer browsing notification flag 812, an all-priority inviter browsed flag 813, a browsing number achievement notification 814, and a browsing ratio achievement notification 815 are displayed. store.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the contents of the image table 900 stored in the album DB 108 in FIG.

  The image table 900 is stored in the album DB 108 in association with the image list of the public album table 800 described above. In the image table 900, an image ID 901, an image name 902, a comment 903, an image size 904, an image type 905, and an album ID 906 are stored. Further, the path of the image thumbnail data 907 and the original image data 908 is stored as image data.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the contents of the browsing management table 1000 stored in the browsing management DB 109 in FIG.

  In the browsing management table 1000, an inviter ID 1001, an inviter email address 1002, a priority browsing flag 1003, an album ID 1004, a browsing completed flag 1005, a last browsing date 1006, and a browsing history list 1007 are stored. The browsing history list 1007 is linked to a browsing history table 1100 described later.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the contents of the browsing history table 1100 stored in the browsing management DB 109 in FIG.

  This table is associated with the browsing history list 1007 of the browsing management table 1000 and stored in the browsing management DB. In the browsing history table 1100, the browsing history ID 1101, the browsing date 1102, and the inviter ID 1103 are stored. In the present embodiment, if there is a browsing by the inviter, the browsing history is stored in the table 1100 unconditionally.

<Overview of online photo service>
Next, an outline of the online photo service according to the present embodiment using the photo site 100 will be described. That is, the online photo service according to the present embodiment is composed of a photo site 100 that actually provides the service, a registrant 221 that uses the service, and an inviter 222 that receives an invitation from the registrant. . In the following, an outline of these three processes will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an outline of a processing flow according to the present embodiment.

  The online photo service process in the present embodiment executes a member registration phase 230, a public album creation phase 231, a public album browsing phase 232, and a browsing history list display phase 233.

(A) Member registration phase 230
Since online photo service manages personal information such as member names and email addresses, it is desirable to register as a member. A user of this service requests membership registration from the online photo server 105. In step S201, the online photo server 105 stores member information in the member information DB 107 and issues a member ID and password. It is a precondition that the registrant 221 enters the member ID and password when receiving this service and receives the authentication of the service.

(B) Public album creation phase 231
The registrant 221 of the service who has completed the membership registration starts creating a public album. The registrant 221 creates an open album by uploading images to the online photo server 220. Then, an album title and a password for accessing the album are set. When the album is completed, set the browsing notification conditions.

That is, in step S202, the online photo server 220 creates a public album as a group of images to be browsed and stores them in the album DB 108.
Furthermore, the conditions for performing the browsing notification are stored in the album DB 108. The registrant 221 who completed the creation of the public album requests the online photo server 220 to notify the inviter 222. This notification includes the URL and password of the public album.

  In this embodiment, a method of notifying by e-mail using the mail server 106 is adopted, but the means of notification is not limited to e-mail. The registrant 221 inputs the email address of the inviter 222 and requests the inviter 222 to notify the public album.

  The online photo server 220 performs a public album notification process in step S203. That is, the online photo server 220 synthesizes an album and a public album URL that can identify the invited invitee, and acquires the password of the album from the album DB 108. Then, the mail server 106 is controlled to send an e-mail (invitation mail) including the URL and password of the public album to the inviter 222. The inviter 222 receives an invitation email. The public album creation phase 231 will be described in detail later.

(C) Public album browsing phase 232
Upon receiving the album release invitation mail, the inviter 222 accesses the public album. Access to the album requires authentication by the URL and password of the public album. In this embodiment, the authentication of the album is performed by inputting the URL and password of the public album, but the authentication means is not limited to this.

  In step S204, the online photo server 105 authenticates the album by referring to the album DB 108 from the URL and password of the public album, and displays a list of images acquired from the album DB 108. In step S <b> 205, the online photo server 105 acquires the inviter ID from the URL of the public album, and stores the browsing history of the inviter in the browsing management DB 109.

  In step S <b> 206, the online photo server 105 acquires the browsing notification condition from the album DB 108 and determines whether to notify the registrant 221 of this browsing. If it is determined that the browsing is notified, the online photo server 105 issues a browsing notification in step S207. That is, the e-mail address registered in advance by the registrant 221 is acquired from the member information DB 107, the browsing status is acquired from the browsing management DB 109, and a browsing notification mail is created, and is transmitted to the registrant 221 in step S208. The public album browsing phase 232 will be described in detail later.

(D) Browsing history list display phase 233
The registrant 221 can see the browsing history for the album of the inviter 222 on the screen. In step S209, the online photo server 105 acquires the browsing history associated with the album ID from the browsing management DB 109 and displays the list. The browsing history list display phase 233 will be described in detail later.

<Details of public album creation phase>
Next, details of the above-described public album creation phase (FIG. 7) will be described with reference to FIG. 8, FIG. 9, FIG. 10, and FIG.

  FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing details of the above-described public album creation phase. 9 to 11 are screen diagrams showing examples of screens used in the public album creation phase.

  The public album creation phase of the online photo service starts when the registrant accesses the online photo server 105 from the registrant terminal 101 via the Internet 104 using the registrant access URL.

  In step S304, the online photo server 105 displays a service login screen. The service registrant inputs authentication information (member ID and member password) to the online photo server 105 from the registrant terminal 101 and requests authentication.

  In this embodiment, since the purpose is to notify the registrant of the browsing history, it is assumed that the member registration is performed in order to store the notification destination (personal information such as an email address) to the registrant. ing. The registrant registers the member information (see the member information table 700 in FIG. 2) in the member information DB 107 in the member registration phase 230 described above, so that the member ID 701 and the member password 702 can be accessed for the registrant. URL is acquired.

  In next step S305, the online photo server 105 accesses the member information DB 107 and compares the member ID 701 and the member password 702 on the member information table 700 with the input authentication information. As a result, login to the service from the registrant terminal 101 is permitted.

  Although the present embodiment assumes a system in which user registration is performed in advance and user authentication is performed at the start of the service, the timing of user authentication is not limited in the present invention.

  When user authentication is performed, in step S306, the online photo server 105 displays a menu screen for the registrant as shown in FIG. On this menu screen, for example, a public album creation menu 1301 and a browse list menu 1302 are displayed.

  When the registrant of the service instructs the online photo server 105 to create a public album from the registrant terminal 101, the online photo server 105 selects a public album (see the public album table 800 in FIG. 3) in step S307. create. At this time, an album ID 801 and an album creation date / time 805 are issued and stored in the album DB 108.

  When the public album is created, in step S308, the online photo server 105 displays a screen for setting attributes of the public album. The registrant of the service inputs the album name, comment, and album password as the public album attributes from the registrant terminal 101 to the online photo server 105. In step S309, the online photo server 105 stores the input public album attribute in the public album table 800 of the album DB 108108. The attributes here correspond to the album name 802, the comment 804, and the album password 803 in the public album table 800 of FIG.

  When the attributes of the public album are set, in step S310, the online photo server 105 displays an image upload screen. A registrant of the service uploads an image to the public album from the registrant terminal 101 to the online photo server 105. In step S311, the online photo server 105 stores the uploaded image in the album DB 108 and issues an image ID 901 (see the image table 900 in FIG. 4). Then, the image list 807 is stored in the public album table 800 of the album DB 108.

  Note that since the image is viewed by the inviter, image information such as the image name 902 and the comment 903 may be input and stored in the image uploaded from the registrant. Further, in order to confirm the correctness of the image, an image server may be provided and verified, or the image size 904 and the image type 905 may be confirmed. Further, it is possible to create an image thumbnail 907 and save both the original image data 908 and the image information.

  When an image is uploaded to the public album, the online photo server 105 displays a browsing notification condition setting screen (for example, a screen as shown in FIG. 10) for setting an album browsing notification condition in step S312. Then, the registrant of the service uses this screen to set a public album viewing notification condition from the registrant terminal 101 to the online photo server 105.

  FIG. 10 is a screen diagram illustrating an example of a browsing notification condition setting screen. On this browsing notification condition setting screen, a setting portion of a browsing notification 1401 and a browsing ratio 1402 is displayed. In addition, a flag setting 1403 for setting whether or not to perform browsing through the first browsing of individual invitees, and a setting for whether or not to perform browsing notification at the first browsing of individual priority invitees The setting location of the flag setting 1404 is displayed. In addition, setting parts for a flag setting 1405 for setting whether or not all the invitees have browsed and a flag setting 1406 for setting whether or not all the invitees have browsed are displayed. .

  In the present embodiment, as the browsing notification conditions, the browsing notification flag 810, the priority person browsing notification flag 812, the all-inviters browsed notification flag 811, the all-priority browsed notification flag 813, the browsing number achievement notification 814, and the browsing ratio An achievement notification 815 is set.

  The browsing notification flag 810 is a flag for instructing the registrant to be notified when the album is browsed by the inviter. The priority person browsing notification flag 812 is a flag for instructing the registrant to be notified when an album is viewed by an inviter designated as a priority inviter. The designation of the priority inviter is performed in later steps S314 and S315.

  In addition, the all-invitee browsed notification flag 811 instructs the registrant to be notified when the browsed flag 1005 of all invitees managed by the browsing management DB 109 becomes “viewed”. It is a flag for. The all-priority browsed notification flag 813 is used to instruct the registrant to be notified when the browsed flag 1005 of all invitees for which the priority browsing flag 1003 is designated becomes “viewed”. Flag.

  The number-of-views-notification-notification 814 is a setting for instructing the registrant to be notified when the cumulative number of visitors who have been viewed managed by the viewing management DB 109 reaches the predetermined number of viewers. It is. The browsing ratio achievement notification 815 is a setting for instructing the registrant to be notified when the browsing ratio of the invitees managed by the browsing management DB 109 reaches a predetermined browsing ratio.

  In subsequent step S313, the online photo server 105 sets and saves the above-described browsing notification condition in the public album in the album DB 108 (see the public album table in FIG. 3). In addition, you may implement so that a browsing notification condition may be tied with each image. Such implementation can be realized by storing the browsing notification condition in association with individual image information in the album DB 108 (see the image table in FIG. 4).

  When the public album viewing notification conditions are set and preparation for album release is completed, in step S314, the online photo server 105 displays a notification screen for the inviter (inviter notification screen in FIG. 11).

  FIG. 11 is a screen diagram illustrating an example of an inviter notification screen. As shown in the figure, the notification screen for the inviter includes input areas for the inviter's address (e-mail address) 1601, the inviter name 1602, and the message 1603, and a check when the designated invitee is designated. There is a box 1604. In addition, a text 1605 for explaining an invitation order, an album publishing URL 1606, and an album password 1607 are displayed in the body of the email.

  The registrant of the service sets the e-mail address 1601 and invitee name 1602 of the invitee of the public album that he / she allows to browse from the registrant terminal 101 to the online photo server 105 and the message 1603 to the inviter. To do. When designating as a priority inviter, a check box 1608 of “designate as a priority inviter” is turned on.

  Returning to FIG. 8, in step S315, the online photo server 105 first generates a URL (Universal Resource Locator) necessary for publishing when publishing an image to an invitee. At this time, the generated URL includes information for identifying the inviter (inviter identification information) and assigns a unique address using a random number that is uniquely unpredictable (hereinafter, this URL is a public URL). Called). An example is shown below.

http: //○○○.com/PhotoSite/Album/AlbumEntry.do? AlbumID = AJNWDMF? VisitorID
= VVVVVVVV
Then, the online photo server 105 acquires the public album password 803 from the album DB 108, acquires the registrant information (name 703) from the member information DB 107, adds an explanation of the public album, and creates an invitation mail. . As shown in FIG. 11, the text of the mail also includes information such as an explanatory text 1605 for accessing the public album, a public URL 1606, and an album password 1607.

  In the next step S316, the online photo server 105 transmits the created invitation email to the inviter terminal 102 or 103 with the email address input by the registrant as the destination. The inviter who has received the invitation mail accesses the Internet 104 from the inviter terminal 102 or 103, and inputs the public URL notified by the invitation mail to the Web browser. As a result, the image or album designated by the registrant who uploaded the image can be viewed.

  In this embodiment, e-mail is assumed as a notification method, but the notification method is not limited to e-mail.

<Details of Public Album Browsing Phase>
Next, details of the above-described public album browsing phase (FIG. 7) will be described with reference to FIG. 12, FIG. 13, and FIG. FIG. 12 is a flowchart showing details of the public album browsing phase described above.

  This public album browsing phase starts in step S404 when an invitee who has been invited by a registrant accesses the online photo server 105 with the album public URL using the inviter terminal 102 or 103. Is done.

  In the next step S405, the online photo server 105 identifies the album ID from the public album public URL, and determines the public album in the album DB 108 (see the public album table 800 in FIG. 3). Then, album information (album name 802, album comment 804, album creation date and time 805) is acquired, and for example, a cover screen of a public album as shown in FIG. 13 is displayed.

  FIG. 13 is a screen diagram showing an example of the album cover screen. On the album cover screen, album information such as an album name 1701, an image thumbnail 1702, an album comment 1703, an album creation date and time 1705, and a password input portion 1704 are displayed.

  The service invitee inputs the album password from the inviter terminal 102 or 103 and requests the online photo server 105 for album authentication. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the member registration of the inviter is not necessary, and the publishing URL and password of the public album are notified from the registrant.

  In the next step S406, the online photo server 105 accesses the album DB 108 and compares the password input by the inviter with the album password 803 acquired from the album DB 108. In this way, the public album is authenticated and the visitor's visit to the public album is permitted. Although this embodiment assumes a system that authenticates a public album at the beginning of the service, the necessity / unnecessity and timing of public album authentication are not limited in the present invention.

  When the album authentication is performed, the online photo server 105 accesses the album DB 108 in step S407. The album information of the public album (information on the public album table 800 in FIG. 3) and the image information (information on the image table 900 in FIG. 4) associated with the image ID 901 in the image list 807 are shown in FIG. Display on the public album screen.

  FIG. 14 is a screen diagram illustrating an example of a public album screen. For example, album information such as album name 1801 and album comment 1802 and image information such as image thumbnail 1803, image size 1804, image name 1805, and image comment 1806 are displayed on the public album screen of the present embodiment. Is done.

  When the public album screen is displayed, the online photo server 105 regards the album as being browsed and saves the browsing history. In step S408, the online photo server 105 acquires the inviter's identification information from the public URL of the public album input by the inviter. When the identification information of the inviter is acquired, the browsing management DB 109 is accessed to identify the inviter from the inviter ID 1001 of the browsing management table 1000 (FIG. 5).

  That is, the inviter accesses the public album using the public URL. Then, the online photo server 105 compares the inviter identification information embedded in the public URL with the inviter ID 1001 on the browsing management table 1000, and the invitee is specified by the comparison result matching.

  Further, the online photo server 105 creates a record of the browsing history table 1100 (FIG. 6) and stores the inviter ID 1103 and the browsing date 1102. Further, the browsing history ID of the browsing history table 1100 is stored in the browsing history list 1007 of the browsing management table 1000.

  In step S409, the online photo server 105 accesses the browsing management DB 109, and when the browsed flag 1005 of the browsing management table 1000 in FIG. 5 is off, turns it on.

  For example, assume that an invitee views an album for the first time. When the browsing history is saved (step S408) and the browsed flag 1005 is turned on (step S409), the online photo server 105 considers that the album has been browsed by this invitee, and checks and registers the browsing notification condition. Start the process of notifying users. Hereinafter, the browsing notification process in the present embodiment will be described in detail.

  In the present embodiment, only the first notification is considered in consideration of the load for the registrant to receive the mail. However, in the present invention, it may be possible to receive the notification every time or after determining the number of times. Such an implementation can be realized by setting attributes such as the number of times of browsing and notification every time in the browsing management table 1000.

In the present embodiment, for example, the following is assumed as the browsing notification.
・ Notify that individual invitees (priority invitees) have viewed (hereinafter referred to as priority viewing notices)
・ Notify that individual invitees (normal invitees) have viewed (hereinafter referred to as normal browsing notifications)
・ Notify that all priority invitees have been viewed (hereinafter referred to as all-priority invitees have been viewed)
・ Notification that all invitees have been viewed (hereinafter referred to as all invitees viewed)
-Notification that the number of viewers has reached the set value (hereinafter referred to as the number of viewers reached notification)
・ Notification that the viewing ratio has reached the set value (hereinafter referred to as the viewing ratio achievement notice)
(1) Priority person browsing notification In step S410, the online photo server 105 accesses the browsing management DB 109, acquires the priority browsing flag 1003 of the browsing management table 1000, and specifies the priority inviter. Next, in step S413, the public album table 800 of the album DB 108 is accessed, the priority person browsing notification flag 812 that is the browsing notification condition is acquired, and it is determined whether or not the priority browsing notification is performed.

  When it is determined that the priority browsing notification is performed, the online photo server 105 creates a priority browsing notification mail in step S414. Subsequently, in step S419, the online photo server 105 acquires the mail address 705 from the member information table 700 of the member information DB 107 of this album registrant, and transmits the created priority browsing notification mail.

(2) Normal browsing notification In step S410, the online photo server 105 accesses the browsing management DB 109, acquires the priority browsing flag 1003 of the browsing management table 1000, and identifies normal invitees who are not priority. Next, in step S411, the public album table 800 of the album DB 108 is accessed, the browsing notification flag 810 that is a browsing notification condition is acquired, and it is determined whether or not browsing notification is performed.

  When it is determined that the browsing notification is performed, the online photo server 105 creates a normal browsing notification mail in the next step S412. In step S419, the online photo server 105 acquires the mail address 705 from the member information table 700 of the registrant of this album, and transmits the created normal browsing notification mail.

(3) Notice of viewing of all priority inviters The online photo server 105 accesses the browsing management DB 109 in step S410, acquires the priority browsing flag 1003 of the browsing management table 1000, and identifies the priority inviter. Furthermore, in step S415, the public album table 800 of the album DB 108 is accessed to acquire the all-priority inviter browsed notification flag 813 that is the browsing notification condition, and it is determined whether or not browsing notification is performed.

  If it is determined that the browsing notification is to be performed, the entire browsing management table 1000 associated with this album is acquired from the browsing management list 808, and it is determined whether the browsing completed flag is set in all browsing management tables in which the priority browsing flag 1003 is set. To do. If it is determined by these determination processes that the conditions for performing the browsing notification are satisfied, the online photo server 105 creates an all-priority inviter browsed notification mail in step S416.

  In step S419, the online photo server 105 acquires the mail address 705 from the member information table 700 of the registrant of this album, and transmits the created notification mail for viewing all preferential invitees.

(4) All Invitee Browsing Notification In step S415, the online photo server 105 accesses the public album table 800 of the album DB 108, acquires the all inviting party browsing notice flag 811 that is a browsing notice condition, and browse notice. Judge whether to perform. If it is determined that the browsing notification is performed, the entire browsing management table 1000 associated with the album is acquired from the browsing management list 808, and it is determined whether the browsing flag is set. If it is determined by these determination processes that the conditions for the browsing notification are satisfied, the online photo server 105 creates a notification mail for all invited party browsing in step S416.

  In step S419, the online photo server 105 acquires the mail address 705 from the member information table 700 of the registrant of this album, and transmits the created all-invite viewer browsing notice mail.

(5) Browsing Number Achievement Notification In step S417, the online photo server 105 accesses the public album table 800 of the album DB 108, acquires the browsing number achievement notification 814, which is a browsing notification condition, and determines whether to perform the browsing notification. Judgment (a numerical value of 1 or more is entered). If it is determined that the browsing notification is to be performed, the entire browsing management table 1000 associated with this album is acquired from the browsing management list 808.

  Then, the records for which the viewed flag is set are counted, and this count value is compared with the value of the number-of-views-of-views notification 814 (determination is OK only when they are the same). If it is determined by these determination processes that the conditions for performing the browsing notification are satisfied, the online photo server 105 creates a browsing number achievement notification mail in step S418.

  Thereafter, the online photo server 105 acquires the mail address 705 from the member information table 700 of the registrant of this album in step S419, and transmits the created browsing number achievement notification mail.

(6) Browsing Ratio Achievement Notification The browsing ratio achievement notification process is simply a process of replacing the “viewing number” with the “browsing ratio” in the processing of the browsing number achievement notification. However, the determination of whether to perform the browsing notification is performed when the browsing number achievement notification 814 of the public album table 800 includes a numerical value of 1 to 100.

  In this way, the registrant sets the browsing notification condition for the image or album in advance, and further sets the browsing notification to the registrant automatically when the invitee browses the album. deep. Thereby, the registrant can grasp the inviter who has accessed the album in real time.

  Further, it is possible to grasp in real time that all the invitees have browsed the album, or all the invitees who want to view it preferentially have browsed this album. Further, it is possible to grasp in real time information that how many invitees have viewed the album, or what percentage of invitees have viewed the album.

<Details of browsing history list display phase>
Next, details of the browsing history list display phase (FIG. 7) will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing details of the browsing history list display phase (FIG. 7).

  This browsing history list display phase starts when the registrant accesses the server 105 from the registrant terminal 520 via the Internet 104 with the registrant access URL.

  First, in step S504, the online photo server 105 displays a service login screen. The registrant inputs authentication information (member ID, member password) from the registrant terminal 520 to the online photo server 105 and requests authentication.

  In this embodiment, since the purpose is to display the browsing history to the registrant, membership registration is presupposed for storing the information of the inviter (personal information such as an email address). As described above, the registrant registers member information (see the member information table 700 in FIG. 2) in the member information DB 107 in the member registration phase 230 described above.

  In the next step S505, the online photo server 105 accesses the member information DB 107 and compares the member ID 701 and member password 702 on the member information table 700 with the input authentication information. This allows the registrant to log in to the service from the registrant terminal 520. Although this embodiment assumes a system in which user registration is performed in advance and user authentication is performed at the beginning of the service, the timing of user authentication is not limited in the present invention.

  When user authentication is performed, in step S506, the online photo server 105 displays a registrant menu screen and displays a browsing history list menu (FIG. 9) to the registrant. A service registrant instructs the online photo server 105 to display a browsing history list from the registrant terminal 520.

  In subsequent step S507, the online photo server 105 accesses the member information DB 107 and acquires the album list 705 on the member information table 700. In step S508, the online photo server 105 displays an album list screen held by the registrant. The registrant selects an album from the album list screen on the registrant terminal 520 and requests the online photo server 105 to display an album browsing history.

  In step S509, the online photo server 105 that has designated the album and requested display of the browsing history accesses the album information DB 502 and acquires the browsing management list 808 on the public album table 800. The number of browsed flags on the browse management table 1000 associated with the browse management list and the total number of browse management lists are counted. Further, based on the number of browsed flags, the number of viewers of the album, the total number of browse management lists, and the number of viewers are obtained to prepare for display on the screen.

  In step S510, the server 105 acquires the inviter email address 1002, the priority browsing flag 1003, the browsing completed flag 1005, and the last browsing date and time 1006 among the information on the browsing management table 1000 associated with the browsing management list 808. . Then, it prepares to display the history information related to the browsing on the screen.

  In step S511, the online photo server 105 displays the above-described list of history information related to browsing, for example, on a list screen as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 16 is a screen diagram illustrating an example of a browsing list screen. This browsing list screen displays a list of all invitees associated with a predetermined album. That is, the e-mail address 2201 of the inviter, the browsing notification date / time 2202 (record creation date / time of the browsing management DB 109), the browsing priority flag 2203, the browsing completed flag 2204, and the link 2205 to the browsing history are displayed.

  The registrant selects an inviter from the list screen on the registrant terminal 520 and requests the online photo server 105 to display the browsing history of each invitee. The online photo server 105 that has been designated as an invitee and requested to display the browsing history acquires the final browsing date 1102 among the information on the browsing history table 1100 associated with the browsing history list 1007 in step S512. . Then, preparation is made to display the browsing history information of these individual invitees on the screen. Thereafter, in step S513, the online photo server 105 displays browsing history information for each invitee on the screen.

<Advantages according to the present embodiment>
The present embodiment has the following advantages.

  (1) When the inviter accesses the public album using the public URL, the online photo server 105 determines that the inviter identification information embedded in the public URL matches the invitee ID 1001 on the browsing management table 1000. Compare. As a result, since the invitee of the public album is specified, the registrant who is the owner user can know who viewed the photo album. Thereby, the communicability with the owner user of a public album and the inviter who is a browsing user can be improved.

  (2) The registrant of the album of the photo site 100 can receive in real time notification of browsing results for the public album of the inviter by electronic mail (browsing notification mail). Thereby, when the registrant continues to maintain the public album, the browsing history of the inviter can be used as a criterion for organizing and changing the published album and image data. Therefore, on the registrant side, it is possible to avoid the problem that the photo album is organized regardless of whether the invitee has viewed the photo album.

  (3) Since a condition (browsing notification condition) can be set in the browsing notification mail received by the registrant, the registrant can receive only a necessary notification according to circumstances. That is, in the case of the browsing notification mail, if the inviter is frequently accessed, the notification is frequent and the registrant is burdened if the notification is sent each time. In addition, when the album is made public to many invitees, notifications are frequently received and the registrant is burdened when receiving notifications from all the invitees. Therefore, in the present embodiment, as the browsing notification condition, a priority level is set for the inviter, or the browsing number and browsing ratio are set. As a result, instead of receiving all the browsing notification mails, the browsing notification mails can be acquired according to the priority level of the inviter, the number of browsing users, and the browsing ratio. That is, the registrant who is the owner user of the album can confirm whether the preferential inviter among the invitees has seen the album. You can also check how many or what percent of the invitees saw the album.

  (4) Since the registrant receives the browsing notification e-mail, the result is that the user is aware of the album browsing status. Therefore, if the registrant publishes the album, it is less likely to leave the album, and the service usage status is activated. Can be expected. In addition, it becomes possible to accurately delete an album that no longer needs to be maintained after browsing of the invitees, which is advantageous in terms of system load and service disk capacity.

  In the present embodiment, the following conditions are given as conditions for transmitting the browsing notification mail to the registrant who is the owner user of the album. That is, a priority browsing level is set for a browsing user (priority invitee) that the registrant wants to visit the album preferentially, or the conditions of the number of visitors browsing and the browsing ratio in the photo album published on the photo site 100 And can be set. The present invention is not limited to the conditions for transmitting the browsing notification email. For example, a browsing notification date is set in a published photo album, and the registrant is registered according to the conditions at the browsing notification date. It is also possible to send a browsing notification email.

  In addition, in the above embodiment, the start timing of the notice of browsing to the registrant is the time when the invitee browsed the album. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, the following time Can be considered. That is, when the invitee browses individual images in the album, when the inviter places a print order, when the invitee views the original image, and the like. In such a case, it is possible to notify the registrant of more detailed operations for browsing, and the significance of the online photo service as a communication tool increases.

  Further, the present invention can be applied not only to a photo site but also to a general system that realizes a data sharing service in which data from a user is stored on a site and released to a third party.

  An object of the present invention is to supply a storage medium storing software program codes for realizing the functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or apparatus, and the computer of the system or apparatus reads and executes the program codes. Can also be achieved.

  In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the program code and the storage medium storing the program code constitute the present invention. .

  Examples of the storage medium for supplying the program code include the following. That is, an optical disk such as a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a hard disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CDROM, a CDR, a CDRW, a DVDROM, a DVDRAM, a DVDRW, and a DVD + RW, a magnetic tape, a nonvolatile memory card, a ROM, and the like can be used. Alternatively, the program code may be downloaded via a network.

  The present invention not only realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments by executing the program code read by the computer. In some cases, an OS (operating system) running on a computer performs part or all of the actual processing based on the instruction of the program code, and the functions of the above-described embodiments are realized by the processing. included.

It is a block diagram which shows the whole schematic structure of the online photo system containing the information provision apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment. It is the figure which showed the content of the member information table 700 stored in member information DB107 in FIG. It is the figure which showed the content of the public album table 800 stored in album DB108 in FIG. It is the figure which showed the content of the image table 900 preserve | saved in album DB108 in FIG. It is the figure which showed the content of the browsing management table 1000 stored in browsing management DB109 in FIG. It is the figure which showed the content of the browsing history table 1100 stored in browsing management DB109 in FIG. It is a flowchart which shows the outline of the processing flow which concerns on embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the detail of a public album creation phase. It is a screen figure which shows an example of the screen used in a public album creation phase. It is a screen figure which shows an example of a browsing notification condition setting screen. It is a screen figure which shows an example of an inviter notification screen. It is a flowchart which shows the detail of a public album browsing phase. It is a screen figure which shows an example of an album cover screen. It is a screen figure which shows an example of a public album screen. It is a flowchart which shows the detail of a browsing history list display phase (FIG. 7). It is a screen figure which shows an example of a browsing list screen.

Explanation of symbols

101 registrant terminal 102, 103 inviter terminal 105 online photo server 106 mail server 107 member information DB
109 browsing management DB

Claims (8)

An information providing device connected to a network,
Image registration means for registering image data created using the first terminal device on the network in the first storage unit;
An invitation address including image identification information for identifying image data registered in the first storage unit and viewer identification information for identifying a viewer of the image data is created, and the invitation address is created on the network Address transmitting means for transmitting to the second terminal device;
When the first storage unit is accessed from the second terminal device using the invitation address, image data corresponding to the image identification information is displayed, and the viewer identification in the invitation address is displayed. Browsing management means for storing browsing history information corresponding to the information in the second storage unit;
In response to a request from the first terminal device, browsing history information acquisition means for acquiring browsing history information from the second storage unit;
Display control information transmitting means for transmitting to the first terminal device display control information for controlling to display the acquired browsing history information on the first terminal device. Providing device. Browsing notification setting means for setting execution of browsing notification for notifying the first terminal device that the image data in the first storage unit has been accessed from the second terminal device; ,
In a case where the setting for executing the browsing notification is performed by the browsing notification setting means, when the first storage unit is accessed from the second terminal device using the invitation address, the first storage unit An information providing apparatus comprising: a browsing notice executing means for transmitting the browsing notice to one terminal apparatus. Comprising a condition setting means for setting an execution condition of the browsing notification;
The browsing notification execution unit is configured to access the first storage unit from the second terminal device using the invitation address when the browsing notification setting unit is set to execute the browsing notification. 3. The information providing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the browsing notification is transmitted to the first terminal device according to an execution condition set by the condition setting unit.   The information providing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the execution condition of the browsing notification is a priority level for a viewer of the image data.   The information providing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the execution condition of the browsing notification is the number or ratio of viewers with respect to the image data.   6. The information providing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the execution condition of the browsing notification is a date when the browsing notification is executed. A method for controlling an information providing apparatus connected to a network,
An image registration step of registering image data created using the first terminal device on the network in the first storage unit;
An invitation address including image identification information for identifying image data registered in the first storage unit and viewer identification information for identifying a viewer of the image data is created, and the invitation address is created on the network An address transmission step of transmitting to the second terminal device;
When the first storage unit is accessed from the second terminal device using the invitation address, image data corresponding to the image identification information is displayed, and the viewer identification in the invitation address is displayed. A browsing management step of storing browsing history information corresponding to the information in the second storage unit;
In response to a request from the first terminal device, a browsing history information acquisition process for acquiring browsing history information from the second storage unit;
And a display control information transmission step for transmitting display control information for controlling the acquired browsing history information to be displayed on the first terminal device to the first terminal device. Control method of providing device. A computer-readable control program for executing a control method for an information providing apparatus connected to a network,
An image registration step of registering image data created using the first terminal device on the network in the first storage unit;
An invitation address including image identification information for identifying image data registered in the first storage unit and viewer identification information for identifying a viewer of the image data is created, and the invitation address is created on the network An address transmission step of transmitting to the second terminal device;
When the first storage unit is accessed from the second terminal device using the invitation address, image data corresponding to the image identification information is displayed, and the viewer identification in the invitation address is displayed. A browsing management step for storing browsing history information corresponding to the information in the second storage unit;
In response to a request from the first terminal device, a browsing history information acquisition step of acquiring browsing history information from the second storage unit;
A display control information transmission step of transmitting display control information for controlling the acquired browsing history information to be displayed on the first terminal device to the first terminal device. program.

Images