JP2009193201A - Information search method, search device, and search program - Google Patents

Abstract

An information retrieval method and means related to community activation are provided.
Search condition input from a user, search for synonyms of search input, information search specifying a community site using the search conditions and synonyms, insertion of advertisements related to search results, and display on a user terminal Prepare and link each method and means. The latest information on the status of community activities, etc. is reflected in the search results by the automatic patrol program. As a result, the user can obtain information search results that directly or indirectly reflect the activity status of the community, and can be interested in the information search itself. Advertisers can repeatedly obtain advertisement presentation opportunities that can expect a high hit rate based on this interest. Information such as updated community sites is indirectly notified to users, information on active communities is reflected in search results for a larger number of users, and advertisers can further obtain advertisement presentation opportunities at a high frequency.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a method, apparatus, and program for retrieving information via the Internet. In particular, the present invention relates to a search method, apparatus, and program based on a profile of a specific community.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, it is known to search for information using a keyword desired by a user on a homepage or a blog published via a computer network, particularly the Internet.
For example, an information search can be performed that reflects the preference of a specific user who performs an information search by assigning an ID to a public WWW page and ranking the IDs of WWW pages with a large number of user accesses. A method is known (see Patent Document 1).
JP 2004-259083 A

However, the information search method or the ID ranking of the WWW pages stored in the search method in the combination of the conventional method and the conventional method does not include information related to the update of the description content of a specific homepage or blog. Even if the homepage or blog of a specific community is updated, the search information is not necessarily reflected, and the description content and the search method are not necessarily associated with each other, and there is a problem that they are not linked.
In addition, in the conventional method and the combination of the conventional methods, the relationship between the search and the activation of the community is weak. Therefore, the community site is prospered and activated through the search by the user or the information on the relationship between the communities through the search service. There was a problem that there was a limit to doing. For this reason, when the user uses information retrieval related to the activity status of the community, the latest information of the community to be specified and the information on the relationship between the communities are not used effectively at the opportunity of advertisement distribution, or There was a problem of losing that opportunity.

The present invention reflects the latest information such as the activity of the community in the search results of interested users in conjunction with the update of the description content of the homepage or blog by a specific community having a common hobby. With the goal.
Another object of the present invention is to specify not only the community to which the user belongs, but also other communities and combinations of communities. Furthermore, an advertisement having relevance with the latest information such as the activity status of the community is distributed together with the search result. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a search result that allows the user to directly or indirectly guess the activity status of one or more communities, and to make the search result itself surprising and improve the interest of the user.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and means for providing an advertisement distribution opportunity that can expect a high hit rate based on this interest by encouraging the user to activate information retrieval. To do. An object of the present invention is to increase opportunities for advertisement distribution by allowing users to use information search services repeatedly and continuously with interest. The present invention can expect a high hit rate as a business effect based on an advertisement by adapting an advertisement to be distributed to a user's preference when a user who has a clear preference uses an information search service. For the purpose.

  The present invention provides the following solutions.

(1) An information search method for searching for information desired by a user from network-connected computer resources and transmitting the information to a user terminal, wherein a search condition receiving step for receiving a search condition including designation of a community from the user terminal; , A community synonym extraction step for extracting from the synonym database indicating the characteristics of the community stored in advance as a keyword for search based on the search condition; a keyword included in the search condition received from the user terminal; and the community synonym A search execution step of executing the search using the keyword extracted in the extraction step.

The network-connected computer resource includes information on a WWW page such as a homepage or a blog that can be used via the Internet. The user can browse these home pages or blogs using a known application such as a browser. The search for information desired by the user can use the function of a known information search site on the Internet.
The community includes various forms in which a plurality of users can exchange information through network resources. Specifically, the community uses an electronic bulletin board that can be read and written by an unspecified number of users, an information exchange site that can be read and written by a user identified by user identification information, and input / output means such as character information or voice information. Virtual space services that can exchange information. The common interests, interests, etc. of the participants in the community may be anything. The format of the information to be exchanged in the network resource can be appropriately designed from character information, image information, audio information, or a combination thereof.

The search condition reception step included in the information search method according to the present invention includes a community name that is an attribute of the community itself, a common interest within the community, a term belonging to the scope of interest, or a name related to a community participant. Accept as a search condition. Furthermore, the search condition receiving step receives information defined by others not included in the community itself, such as grouping information by the search site, as a search condition.
In addition, the search condition receiving step may receive search conditions in units of words, whether or not to use a predefined term as a search condition, or an icon, switch, button or the like indicating a range of a specific concept Whether or not to be included in the search condition may be accepted as presence / absence of designation by the user.
Further, the search condition receiving step may have a function of searching for a search condition in itself. Specifically, a superordinate concept for terms that can be used as a search condition is prepared in advance as characters or images, and the user appropriately selects a character or an image indicating these superordinate concepts to satisfy a combination of superordinate concepts. Terms and the like that can be used as search conditions may be displayed as community specification conditions.

The community synonym extraction step included in the information search method according to the present invention extracts a synonym of the information from the database based on information related to the search conditions received by the search condition reception step. The database may be prepared as a synonym database or may use a service for searching for synonyms.
The synonym database or the like may collect terms related to the designated community or the like and information on the synonyms from a homepage or a blog using a traveling program or the like as appropriate. When the description relating to the community or the like is updated, the synonym database or the like can also be updated. As a result, keywords including synonyms for search change, and the result of information search specifying a community or the like can also change. Therefore, the user can obtain a search result associated with the activity status of the community in the information search specifying the same community.
As conditions for extracting synonyms, known query expansion, automatic relevance feedback, and the like can be used as appropriate. Alternatively, a synonym that can be extracted by query expansion or the like including a stage in the middle of the user's input may be predicted and displayed to suggest a synonym to the user.
Thereby, even if the term for indicating the community that the user desires to search is somewhat ambiguous, the information search method according to the present invention can use a plurality of search conditions including synonyms. The plurality of search conditions may broaden the search range by the user, or conversely narrow the search range.
By broadening the scope of the search, the user can obtain a wider range of search results than the search conditions specified by the user, and have an opportunity to find the interests and interests that could not have been anticipated before the search started. It is. In addition, in the advertisement display described later, the advertiser can have an opportunity to present an advertisement more widely.
On the other hand, the community synonym extraction step operates so as to narrow down the search range by the user, so that the user can obtain information required by the user with a few steps and can perform a search specifying an efficient community. . In the advertisement display described later, the advertiser has an opportunity to present an advertisement with a high degree of matching with the user's interest, and has a stronger interest compared to randomly presenting an advertisement to an unspecified number of users, Opportunities are provided for efficient advertisement presentation to users who may be interested.

The search execution step included in the information search method according to the present invention includes: a term related to a search condition designating a community by a user received in the search condition reception step; and a synonym searched using a database in the community synonym extraction step. Can be used to retrieve a community having an association with these multiple terms from a WWW page stored in a computer resource. Specifically, the WWW page includes a public homepage, a blog, and the like. The computer resources include computer resources such as network-connected computer resources and directly-connected storage media.
Specifically, the network-connected computer resources include a community site server device that can be accessed via the Internet. Further, the computer resources such as the directly connected storage medium include a storage medium that can constitute a database or the like included in the apparatus for executing the information search method according to the present invention.

  By using the information search method according to the present invention, the user can obtain a search result reflecting the latest information such as the activity status of the community. In addition, since the user can search for various communities having associations with his / her input in a search specifying a community, a wide range search can be performed with little effort. In addition, the user can search for a limited community having a stronger association with his input in a search specifying a community, and can perform an efficient search with less effort. Therefore, the user can expand or deepen his own interest. Furthermore, the synonyms used for information retrieval are also updated based on changes in the activity status of the community, etc., so that the user is interested in the act of retrieving and retrieving unexpected search results, and continuously You may want to conduct a search that specifies a community.

(2) An advertisement insertion step of inserting an advertisement having an association with information on a search result of the search execution step into the search result; an advertisement display step of displaying the search result with the advertisement inserted on the user terminal; The information search method according to (1), further including:

The advertisement insertion step included in the information search method according to the present invention uses the terms input as the search conditions of the information search method of the present invention at various stages prior to the operation of the steps, and associates them with the terms. The advertisement which has is inserted into the display of the result of information retrieval. The term includes a term input or selected by the user in the search condition receiving step, a synonym searched using a database or the like in the community synonym extraction step, but is not limited thereto, and is input or searched in various stages. It may include a term indicating a superordinate concept of the term, another word having a common superordinate concept, a term closely related to the entered or searched term.
When a WWW page or the like having relevance with the activity status of the community is updated, the synonym database or the like according to the present invention is updated, and the synonyms used for the search may also change. Accordingly, the term for advertisement extraction in the advertisement insertion step can also change based on the activity status of the community. That is, in the information search method according to the present invention, the advertisement inserted in the search result can also be information that allows the user to directly or indirectly guess the activity status of the community and have an interest. Thus, in the information search method according to the present invention, the inserted advertisement also has an effect of increasing the interest of the user in the information search, and the information search can be activated. Advertisers have the opportunity to distribute advertisements that can expect a high hit rate based on this interest.

  The advertisement display step included in the information search method according to the present invention displays the information search result of the insertion of the advertisement to the user. The display means may be the same as the display means used when the user inputs search conditions or the like, or a separate display means may be prepared. In one embodiment, the advertisement display step transmits a text file in a hypertext format that can refer to character information and image information, and the user receives this using a terminal such as a personal computer connected to a network, and a browser or the like. Information included in the text file in the hypertext format can be displayed on the screen. In one embodiment, the user may use an information search service or the like according to the present invention using a mobile phone or the like as an input means, and the search result may be obtained by e-mail received using a personal computer. As a result, the user can view information that can include a plurality of communities as a search result using a display device connected to a personal computer or the like instead of a mobile phone or the like that has a limited amount of information that can be displayed on the screen. In another embodiment, a user who can use a mobile phone and a personal computer as a means for inputting or displaying results uses the information retrieval service according to the present invention while using a composite terminal device at a convenience store store while on the go. The search result may be browsed by the display means of the composite terminal device. That is, the means for displaying the search result may be the same as or separate from the user terminal, may be the same as or different from the input means, and may be designed as appropriate.

  In the information search method according to the present invention, various or limited searches are performed by information search using synonyms, and advertisement information associated with the community is presented. In the extraction of advertisements to be inserted into the search results, the information search using the synonyms is reflected, so that the distributed advertisements can also reflect the activity status of the community. Accordingly, the user can infer the activity status of the community not only from the information search but also from the advertisement information. As a result, the user can obtain information on an advertisement that can have a stronger interest than an advertisement that is randomly provided. Advertisers have the opportunity to present advertisements that can be expected to be more efficient and have a higher hit rate.

(3) The information search method according to (2), further including transmitting a search result including the advertisement inserted by the advertisement insertion step to the user terminal.

  The information search method according to the present invention includes transmitting a search result including an advertisement to the user terminal, so that the user can appropriately obtain the search result using a network terminal or the like. As a result, in addition to the user himself / herself operating the computer device that performs the information search method according to the present invention to know the search result from the display device included in the device, the network terminal and the network connection without the search function The user can use the information search method according to the present invention using a personal computer, a portable terminal, or the like. The transmission may be to transmit a search result including an advertisement toward an application such as a browser, or to transmit a search result including an advertisement to a user terminal as an e-mail, in order to display the search result including the advertisement. The network resource address may be transmitted to the user terminal to encourage the user to actively access the address, and the transmission of the search result including the advertisement to the user can be designed as appropriate.

When the advertisement insertion step transmits a search result including an advertisement to the user, the user uses a general-purpose terminal or a mobile phone that does not include the search function according to the present invention in using the information search service according to the present invention. In some cases, the search result can be received and obtained, and therefore, a search specifying a community or the like in which the user is interested or interested can be used. Thereby, in using the information search service or the like according to the present invention, the user can select a terminal device or the like widely.
In addition, since the search result includes an advertisement, an entity that provides the information search service and the like according to the present invention can obtain an advertisement revenue. Therefore, the service is provided to a user who desires an information search associated with a community or the like. It can be made cheaper or free.

(4) In response to the information associated with the community being updated in the network-connected computer resource, transmitting a search result including the advertisement inserted by the advertisement insertion step to the user terminal. The information search method according to (2), further including:

When information associated with a community is updated in a network-connected computer resource, the information search service according to the present invention updates the community database using the search execution step, and updates the latest information on the community. The latest information can be transmitted to a user terminal operated by a user who is interested in and wants to obtain information. In other words, in the aspect of the present invention, the user can not only search for the community by his / her active operation but also passively know that the information on the community that can be interested and interested is updated. Specifically, community information whose update has been detected by an automatic patrol program such as a robot can be automatically transmitted to the user together with an advertisement using means such as an e-mail.
The relationship between community information from which updates can be detected and users who can receive update information can be designed as appropriate. Specifically, presence / absence of notification may be registered in advance by a user's operation, and a community or a classification to which the community belongs may be registered. Based on the registration, the information search service or the like according to the present invention can notify the user of the information of the community in which the update is detected together with the advertisement. Alternatively, based on the history of use of the information retrieval service or the like according to the present invention by the user, the community or community classification in which the user may be interested or interested is identified, and the update in the community or community classification included in the identification May be detected and notified to the user together with the advertisement.

  In response to the update, the information search service or the like according to the present invention transmits a search result including the advertisement inserted by the advertisement insertion step to the user terminal, so that the user is interested in the community he / she is interested in. The latest information or a search result reflecting the latest information can be obtained.

In addition, the information search service or the like according to the present invention notifies the user together with the advertisement based on the update of the community site, etc. Motivation for continuous use of information retrieval services and the like can be provided. Accordingly, the advertiser can continuously and repeatedly obtain an opportunity to present the advertisement.
Furthermore, the frequency of notification to the user can be increased as the community that frequently updates information is generated by the opportunity of notifying the user and presenting advertisements based on the updated information. It can be done. The business entity such as the information search service according to the present invention may give an incentive such as supplying a part of the advertising revenue to the community based on the frequency of information update, leading to further community activation. By providing the information search service according to the present invention with means for notifying the user together with the advertisement based on the community update, the community itself can be activated, the user's interest can be increased, and the advertisement presentation opportunity can be increased.

(5) The information search method according to any one of (1) to (4), further including a step of accumulating or updating synonyms indicating characteristics of the community extracted by the community synonym extraction step.

When the content of the community site or the like is updated, a new synonym having a relationship with the community site or the like may be generated. The new synonyms generated in this way may include information on the activity status of the designated community provided to the user by the information search method according to the present invention. In the information retrieval method according to the present invention, new synonyms generated in this way can be accumulated, and keywords for information retrieval can be expanded using the accumulated synonyms.
In addition, by using a new coined word or the like in updating the content of a community site or the like, a new relationship may be generated between a term that has not been defined so far and a community feature. Therefore, by including such a new coined word or the like as a synonym indicating the characteristics of the community, it is possible to incorporate it into the information search method according to the present invention. Specifically, a database used in synonym extraction by the above-mentioned community synonym extraction step can be used for storing synonyms.
The information search method according to the embodiment of the present invention further includes a step of accumulating synonyms, whereby a new term via a service such as a homepage of a community site, a blog, a messenger, and the like as a synonym indicating a feature of the community, Can be used for information retrieval.

(6) The information retrieval method according to any one of (1) to (5), wherein the community synonym extraction step can further connect a community database storing and storing information on a community to which the user belongs and other communities. .

The community synonym extraction step can be connected in addition to the synonym database that can broaden or limit the search range. The community database that can be connected is the community name that is the attribute of the community itself received in the search condition reception step, the community internal The information regarding the community can be appropriately stored based on the search conditions such as the common interest, the terms belonging to the range of interest, or the names of the community participants.
In the community synonym extraction step, terms having relevance to the designated community can be extracted using the community database. The community database may be used from the search execution step, and information stored in the community database may be used for the search execution step.

  This community database may receive registration requests from communities that can be designated and store information associated with the communities. Alternatively, information associated with a community that can be designated may be automatically collected using an information collection program called a robot or the like known in the art. The collection of information associated with a community that can be designated can be designed as appropriate.

Since the community synonym extraction step can connect a community database, the user can specify not only the community to be included in the information search target but also other communities and combinations of communities. Thereby, in the information search which specified the community etc. which concern on this invention, an unexpected search result can be provided to a user using the search conditions containing a synonym, another community, and the combination of a community. As a result, the user desires to improve the interest in the search result itself and repeatedly use the information search service and the like, and the search and information exchange in the community can be activated. Thus, in the information search method according to the present invention, a method and means that can prosper the community site can be provided.
In addition, since the user can specify other communities through search or a combination thereof, the information search service according to the present invention can provide associations between communities, so only activation within one community is possible. Mutual activation of multiple communities that are not related can be promoted.

(7) A computer program that causes a computer to execute the steps according to any one of (1) to (6).

  Thereby, the information retrieval method according to the present invention can be executed by a computer as information processing.

(8) An information search apparatus for searching for information desired by a user from network-connected computer resources and transmitting the information to a user terminal, a search condition receiving unit for receiving a search condition including designation of a community from the user terminal; A synonym extraction unit that extracts as a keyword for a search based on the search condition from a synonym database indicating the characteristics of the community stored in advance, and a keyword and the community synonym extraction included in the search condition received from the user terminal A search execution unit that executes the search using the keywords extracted by the unit.

  The information search device according to the present invention may be used by a user identified by the user ID using an input unit such as a keyboard or a mouse included in the device, and the user identified by the user ID is the Internet or the like. It is also possible to log in and use the apparatus via the computer network. The user who uses the information search apparatus according to the present invention may be identified by the user ID, and the connection means by the user is not particularly limited.

  The information search apparatus according to the present invention may be realized using a single computer, or may be realized by connecting a plurality of independent computers for each function through a network connection or the like. Specifically, a user ID management server device for identifying a user and storing management information for each user, a server device that accepts a search condition, a database server device that executes a search and outputs a result, an advertisement An advertisement database server device or the like for searching for information may be connected to each other to be an information search device according to the present invention, and the configuration of the information search device including network connection or the like may be designed as appropriate.

According to the present invention, the latest information such as the activities of the community is reflected in the search results of interested users in conjunction with the update of the description content of the homepage or blog by a specific community having a common hobby. There is an effect that can.
In addition, according to the present invention, the user can search for information related to the activity status of the community by freely specifying a community or the like in which the user is interested or interested, or by freely combining them. The search result may include the latest information such as the activity status of the community. This provides a search result that allows the user to guess the activity status of the community directly or indirectly, and the search result and advertisement can change based on the activity status of the community even under the same search conditions. Has the effect of being able to get interesting search results by obtaining search results with unexpectedness.
Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a method and means for providing an advertisement distribution opportunity that can expect a high hit rate based on this interest by providing the user with interest and activating information search. There is.
Further, according to the present invention, there is an effect that an advertiser can increase an advertisement distribution opportunity that can expect a high hit rate based on a user's interest, and can increase an advertisement exposure opportunity.
Furthermore, according to the present invention, when a user who has a clear preference uses an information search service, the advertisement to be distributed is adapted to the user's preference, so that a high hit rate as a sales effect based on the advertisement or the like. There is an effect that can be expected.

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

[Configuration of community search device]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a community designation search apparatus for implementing an information search method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  The community designation search device 10 includes a search condition reception unit 12, a synonym extraction unit 14, a search execution unit 16, an advertisement insertion unit 18, and an advertisement display unit 20. The synonym extraction unit 14 is connected to a synonym database (synonym DB) 25 and can receive information on synonyms searched by the synonym DB 25. The search execution unit 16 accesses the WWW page 65 to perform information search. The advertisement insertion unit 18 is connected to an advertisement database (advertisement DB) 30 and can receive advertisement information searched by the advertisement DB 30. The advertisement display unit 20 can be connected to the advertisement display device 40. The advertisement display device 40 may receive advertisement information 42 and search results 44 for display.

The search condition receiving unit 12 receives a search condition specifying a community by the user. Next, the synonym extraction unit 14 searches for synonyms using the synonym DB 25 that stores synonym information in linguistics based on information such as search terms, numerical values, and options included in the conditions, and receives the results. Through these steps, the search condition sent to the community-designated search device 10 by the user becomes a search condition with a synonym added.
The type, number, order, and change of character attributes such as full-width and half-width for search conditions can be designed as appropriate. Further, the search may be performed using not only characters as keywords but also key images. Character information or image information may be searched using a keyword, character information or image information may be searched using a key image, and selection of character information or image information in the search can be designed as appropriate.
If the user wishes to obtain a wide range of search results at the start of the community-designated search, he / she may input that the search condition reception unit 12 desires a wide range of search results. Information such as terms, numerical values, and options included in the added search condition is used to obtain a search result as wide as possible.
Alternatively, if the user wants to obtain a limited search result at the start of the community-designated search, he / she may input that the search condition receiving unit 12 desires a limited search result. Information such as terms, numerical values, and options included in the search condition to which community information is added is used to obtain a narrowed search result such as giving priority to a result that matches more search conditions.

  The search execution unit 16 accesses the WWW page 65 and searches for information having relevance to the community using the search condition to which the synonym is added. The WWW page 65 includes a home page, a blog, and the like stored in a network resource such as the Internet. The search execution unit 16 includes storage means as appropriate, information on the specified community, information on the community notified of the update, frequency or cumulative number of searches specifying the community, search history specifying the community by the user, etc. May be stored.

  Since the search execution unit 16 can search for information having a relationship with a community from network resources such as the Internet, the search execution unit 16 can collate information associated with the same community and stored in different storage means. The collation opportunity that can be performed by the search execution unit 16 can occur in an active community-designated search by a user or in receiving update information by an automatic patrol program or the like.

The information stored in the synonym DB 25 can be updated in the above-described active information retrieval by the user or by receiving update information by an automatic patrol program or the like. In other words, the synonym DB 25 can be updated as appropriate in order to reflect the latest information such as the activity status of the community in the search results.
In one embodiment, even if the search target community is the same, the search result of the information search service or the like according to the present invention may change depending on the activity status of the community. For example, the user may be interested in topics related to personal computer remodeling or remodeling, and may search for a community named “Personal computer self-made club”. The topic of participants exchanged via the community or an electronic bulletin board related to the community can vary. This changing topic information can update the synonym DB 25 such as the information search service according to the present invention. Therefore, when the user uses the information search service or the like according to the present invention to perform an information search for the same community called “Personal Computer Club”, the search result may include the change. From the search results that can include this change, the user can infer that some kind of change occurs in the topic between participants exchanged through the community.
For example, the user searches for the same community “personal computer club” using the information search service or the like according to the present invention, and the name of the software or the name of the dealer handling the same increases over time as the search results. By coming, it can be inferred that the software is attracting attention among the participants of the community. In addition, for example, in the search for the “personal computer club”, the user is clarified among the participants in the community by increasing the advertisement or the information on the WWW page as a search result as time passes. It can be inferred that topics such as computer technology of the period are temporarily active.
In this way, a user such as an information search service according to the present invention can directly or indirectly obtain information such as the activity status of the community from the search result, and can be interested in the information search itself. Therefore, the user may have a desire to repeatedly and continuously use the information search service according to the present invention.

  Information stored in the synonym DB 25 may include information related to the community, such as characteristics such as the name of the community and information related to the community participants. For example, when searching for a community named “PC / net gamer”, the search keywords used by the search execution unit 16 include the terms “net game” and “net cafe” that the community participants are interested in. "Virtual space", "three-dimensional graphics", "multi-display", etc., and information such as publications and sales promotion products related to net games may be included.

The advertisement insertion unit 18 includes information on terms, numerical values, options, and the like used by the search execution unit 16 as search conditions, and / or terms included in the search results from the search execution unit 16, and related terms of these terms. Using terms or the like, advertisements associated with these are inserted into the search results. The advertisement insertion unit 18 may receive advertisement information by connecting to the advertisement DB 30. For example, in a search specifying a community that can be related to the above-mentioned “personal computer”, the advertisement insertion unit 18 manufactures, sells, maintains, and related services such as personal computers or software including finished products and individual parts. Advertisements can be inserted into search results.
A related term in the search for inserting an advertisement includes a character or a phrase or a common attribute common to the input or searched term in a part of the term associated with the advertisement inserted in the advertisement inserting step of the present invention. Etc. may be included.

  The advertisement display unit 20 converts search result information specifying the community in which the advertisement is inserted into information in a format that can be displayed by a terminal device or the like operated by the user. For example, the advertisement display unit 20 can output a text file in a hypertext format that can refer to character information and image information. Alternatively, for the convenience of a user who uses a mobile phone terminal that is restricted in the transmission / reception speed of communication data compared to a personal computer or the like connected to a high-speed data communication line, the advertisement display unit 20 includes character information and image information itself. Link information for referring to a network-connected computer resource may be output instead of transmitting. The format of the search result output by the advertisement display unit 20 and specifying the community including the advertisement information can be designed as appropriate.

  The advertisement display device 40 is a device for displaying a search result designating a community including an advertisement output from the advertisement display unit 20 so that the user can easily read it. Specifically, the advertisement display device 40 may be a display device or the like included in a computer system connected to a network, may be a display device of a mobile phone terminal, or may be a composite terminal device or the like installed at a convenience store storefront. The advertisement display device 40 may be anything as long as it can display the advertisement information 42 and the search result 44 of information related to the community, and the details are not limited.

The information search device of the present invention is based on the name of a community designated by the user in searching for information related to a community that can be related to the user's interests and interests from computer resources connected to the network. Information related to the community in a broader or more limited manner is provided to the user along with related advertisements.
By searching for information related to the community using the information search apparatus of the present invention, the user can obtain search results with expanded search conditions, and can also obtain unexpected search results. As a result, the user can be interested in using the community-designated information retrieval service and the like, and thus can repeatedly use the search designating the community.
Further, the advertiser can continuously obtain the opportunity of presenting the advertisement by the user using the information search apparatus of the present invention repeatedly and continuously using the search.

[Configuration of information search system including community specified search device]
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the configuration of a system that can implement the information search method according to an embodiment of the present invention. The description of the same parts as in FIG.

A community designation search system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a community designation search device 10, a synonym DB 25, a community database (community DB) 28, an advertisement DB 30, and an advertisement display device that are connected to each other via a network 38 such as the Internet. 40, user terminal 60, and the like. The system can access the WWW page 65 via the network 38. The WWW page 65 includes a published home page, blog, and the like.
The physical form of the network 38 may be wired or wireless and can be selected from known means. The advertisement display device 40 may be a personal computer or the like connected to the same network as the user terminal 60, or may be a composite terminal device or the like that is installed in a convenience store store or the like and that can receive input from the user and display the result. The user terminal 60 may be a mobile phone, a PHS, or the like.

  By using the information search device of the present invention, it is possible to provide a search service in which a user's interests and a community based on interests are specified from computer-connected computer resources. In addition, there is an effect that it is possible to provide the advertiser with an opportunity to present an advertisement to a user who may be more interested and interested in the advertisement than the random promotion to the unspecified majority.

[Stage of operation of community specified search device]
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the steps of the community designation information search method according to the embodiment of the present invention.

The search condition receiving step (S10) is a step of receiving, as search conditions, the name of the community which is an attribute of the community, common interests within the community, terms belonging to the range of interest, names related to the community participants, and the like. It is. The search condition accepting step may accept search conditions in units of words, and searches for icons, switches, buttons, etc., indicating whether or not to use a predefined term as a search condition, or a specific concept range Whether it is included in the above condition may be accepted as presence / absence of designation by the user. The search terms received by the search condition receiving step are appropriately stored for information processing in the subsequent steps.
The synonym extraction step (S20) extracts synonyms of the information from a database such as the synonym DB 25 based on the information related to the search conditions received by the search condition reception step. As conditions for extracting synonyms, known query expansion, automatic relevance feedback, and the like can be used as appropriate. Alternatively, a synonym that can be extracted by query expansion or the like including a stage in the middle of the user's input may be predicted and displayed to suggest a synonym to the user. That is, a plurality of search conditions including synonyms can be used even if a term for indicating a community that the user desires to search is somewhat ambiguous. The plurality of search conditions may broaden the search range by the user, or conversely narrow the search range. Terms and the like extracted by the synonym extraction step are appropriately stored for information processing in subsequent steps.
The search execution step (S30) uses the terms related to the designation of the community by the user received in the search condition reception step and the synonyms searched using the database in the community synonym extraction step, and uses these terms A WWW page or the like having an association is retrieved from network-connected computer resources. Information associated with the community searched by the search execution step is appropriately stored for presentation to the user.
The advertisement insertion step (S40) uses the term input, extracted or searched in the search condition reception step, the synonym extraction step, and the search execution step, and has an association with the term Information is searched from a database such as the advertisement DB 30, and is inserted into the display of the information search result associated with the community searched by the search execution step, and stored as appropriate.
The advertisement display step (S50) is a step for displaying the information search result and the advertisement information generated in the advertisement insertion step to the user. The display means may be a display device included in a computer system connected to a network, a display device of a mobile phone terminal, a composite terminal device installed at a convenience store store, or the like.

  The information search method according to an embodiment of the present invention includes these processing steps, so that various steps of information processing according to the present invention can be performed using the hardware resource for information search described with reference to FIG. Can be executed by a computer.

[Example of community specification information search]
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing input of search conditions in the implementation means of the community designation information search method according to one embodiment of the present invention. This can be a function for a user input operation to the search condition receiving unit 12 in the community-designated search device 10 described with reference to FIG. Further, in the various stages of the community designation information search described with reference to FIG. 3, the search condition receiving step (S10) may be a means for receiving an input from the user.

In inputting search conditions according to an embodiment of the present invention, a user can specify a community by using a display device for a personal computer connected to a network and input means such as a mouse and a keyboard, or using a mobile phone or the like. Conditions for information retrieval can be entered.
The search condition input 80 illustrated in FIG. 4 can be described in a format such as a hypertext format text file in order to accept a user input using an application such as a browser. As an example, the search condition input 80 is a display area related to the member 81 belonging to a specific community, an area 82 for displaying the name of the designated community, and input that the user selects designation or exclusion for community designation information search. An area 83, an area 84 for inputting a keyword for searching for information on a WWW page such as a home page published by a user, a blog, and a command button 85 for starting execution of the search are included.
In the area 82 for displaying the name of the designated community, the name of the community that is the user's interest and interest is displayed. This name may be input manually by the user, or may be displayed based on a history specified by the user in the past, and a plurality of community names preset by the command button 86 are displayed in a table format or the like. May be selected by the user. Alternatively, when the user inputs a keyword for searching for a name in the area 82 for displaying the name of the designated community and clicks the command button 86, the name of the community searched for is displayed. 82 may be displayed.
Further, the user designates selection or exclusion using the area 83 for inputting selection for each of the communities that can be displayed in a plurality of areas 82 for displaying the names of the designated communities, and includes them in the designation target. Or may not be included. In addition, the user may input a term or the like that can express his / her interest in the keyword input area 84. By setting the search condition such as selection or exclusion, or / and keyword, etc., by clicking the command button 85 using input / output means such as a mouse, the user can make a specific search in the information search apparatus according to the present invention. Information indicating that a search is requested by specifying a condition is transmitted. The community specification information search device according to the present invention adds a synonym to the search condition, performs a search reflecting the activity status of a specific community from a publicly available WWW page such as a homepage, blog, etc. Can be provided to the user.

  Since the search condition input 80 according to the embodiment of the present invention can accept the specification of the search condition by the user using an application such as a browser, the user can easily use a general-purpose computer device or a mobile phone as an input means. .

As another embodiment of the search condition input 80, a plurality of communities having mutually related information are extracted in advance, and their names are designated as individual communities belonging to a category such as “similar community”. You may display in the area | region 82 which displays the name of a community. That is, the name of the community that can be displayed in the area 82 for displaying the name of the designated community may be displayed as a result of the user inputting the search condition, and the information search service or the like according to the present invention is prior to the user's action. A plurality of community names may be prepared. The display characters and the like included in the search condition input 80 are not limited to “similar communities” but can be designed as appropriate. The extraction condition may be appropriately designed based on the match or similarity of words included in community topics.
Or you may include the information based on the relationship between communities in the information of the advertisement which the information search service etc. of this invention show by extracting a plurality of communities which have the information of relevance mutually beforehand. A user can access an advertisement containing this relevance information by visiting a community site. That is, the information on the relationship between the communities can be used as information about the advertisement to be distributed. As a result, the information search service and the like according to the present invention provides a wider range of advertisement distribution opportunities using information on the relationship between communities for community-designated search, and allows more users to perform community-designated search. Can be induced.

[Example of synonym accumulation]
FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating accumulation and storage of synonyms for community designation information search according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The above-described community designation search device 10 further includes a synonym accumulation processing unit 22. The synonym accumulation processing unit 22 stores the synonym 90 of the keyword in the synonym DB 25.
The keyword synonym 90 is a term included in the search condition from the user received by the search condition receiving unit 12 in the operation of each unit included in the community-designated search device 10 described with reference to FIG. Contains terms included in the searched community information.
More specifically, the keyword synonym 90 includes a collection of computer-processable character codes included in services such as a homepage, a blog, a chat, and an electronic bulletin board that can be accessed by an unspecified number of users via a network. The keyword synonym 90 can be updated over time by the user using these services or the like to reply to a blog or post on an electronic bulletin board. The information retrieval service or the like according to the present invention accumulates keyword synonyms 90 using the synonym accumulation processing unit 22, thereby enabling homepages, blogs, chats, electronic bulletin boards, etc. that can be accessed by an unspecified number of users via a network. A set of computer-processable character codes included in the service can be stored. The community-designated search device 10 can perform a search using these accumulations.
As an example, when a user who wants to obtain information related to the community AAA uses the community specified information search according to the present invention and specifies the community AAA to obtain the latest information, the search condition is accepted. The search condition from the user accepted by the unit 12 includes “community AAA” which is the name of the community. Further, the search condition from the user may include a common name such as “A3”, which is an abbreviation for the name of the community. Alternatively, the search condition from the user is to display the title of the blog related to the activity of the community, the characteristics of the messenger, the character information or image information of the community on the screen displaying the chat, and the community as a search result. It may contain information such as effective search keywords. These pieces of information are all information that can be used when the user inputs search conditions, and are included in synonyms that the search condition receiving unit 12 may receive. The synonym accumulation processing unit 22 may appropriately store a history of keywords for search received by the search condition receiving unit 12, and may store keywords having relevance to the community AAA using the synonym DB 25.
In another example, when a user who wants to obtain the latest information of the community AAA performs an information search and the search execution unit 16 generates a search result, the synonym accumulation processing unit 22 is included in the generated search result. Terms and the like can be stored using the synonym DB 25 as keywords having an association with the community AAA. That is, at any stage before or after the operation of the search execution unit 16, the synonym accumulation processing unit 22 can store a term or the like having a relationship with the community specified by the user using the synonym DB 25 as a synonym.

The synonym accumulation processing unit 22 accumulates and stores synonyms having relevance with the community designated by the user, so that the community designation information retrieval apparatus according to the present invention is for a broader search or more limited. A search key for search can be prepared.
The synonym accumulation processing unit 22 can accumulate a set of computer-processable character codes included in services such as a homepage, a blog, a chat, and an electronic bulletin board that can be accessed by an unspecified number of users via a network. Accordingly, it becomes possible for the community-designated search apparatus 10 to use such information that can be updated over time, and a user who uses the information search service or the like according to the present invention can repeatedly search for the latest information. Therefore, there may be a desire to continuously use an information search service or the like. Advertisers can continuously get opportunities to present advertisements to users who are interested in specific fields.

[Example of data structure in community specified information search]
6 and 7 are diagrams illustrating a data structure used in the community designation information search according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure in the synonym DB 25 for accumulating and storing synonyms having association with a community. The community synonym data structure 50 is a format that can store information included in the synonym DB 25.
In one embodiment, community synonym data structure 50 includes community ID 200, member 210, and feature 220 for a set of data. Here, the feature 220 may include a synonym that can be used as a search keyword. For example, in the data of the community whose community ID 200 is “AAA”, the information of the member 210 of the community includes members represented by “X”, “Y”, and “Z”. Information such as “music” and “J-POP” is included as a keyword for search and its synonyms. As described above, the community synonym data structure 50 is not directly displayed as a search result in the subsequent community-designated search, but automatically improves the search keyword based on the name of the community designated by the user or the entered keyword. Since it is used to extract synonyms used for the purpose, it may include information that is not disclosed to the unspecified majority.
In one embodiment, community information in which the feature 220 included in the community synonym data structure 50 includes a plurality of terms is more likely to correspond to a search result in an information search by a user, and may be searched more frequently.
In another embodiment, community information in which the feature 220 included in the community synonym data structure 50 includes a plurality of terms has an effect of improving the accuracy of information search when the user desires a more limited search. sell.

In one embodiment, the community synonym data structure 50 is used for information retrieval related to one community specified by the user.
For example, when the user performs an information search related to the community “AAA”, the community specified information search service or the like according to the present invention accepts the search and extracts a synonym related to the specified community. Specifically, the community ID 200 is identified from the name of the community “AAA” designated by the user, and the information “X”, “Y”, “Z” included in the member 210, and the information “music” “ “J-POP” and the like are extracted. The community specified information search service or the like according to the present invention can execute an information search for the WWW page 65 using these extracted terms and the name of the community specified by the user.
The feature 220 is a synonym for search stored for the community identified by the community ID 200. For example, these synonyms are extracted for each community by the synonym storage processing unit 22 shown using FIG. 5 described above, and stored in the synonym DB 25 using the format of the community synonym data structure 50.
When the community “AAA” updates the homepage information related to the activity status etc., the community designated information search service according to the present invention uses the above-mentioned patrol program etc. to change the contents of the feature 220 of the community synonym data structure 50. Can be updated. Therefore, even if the keyword for the search by the user is constant, the community designation information search service or the like according to the present invention uses the keyword including the synonym for search based on the contents of the updated community synonym data structure 50. To search for information related to the community. Based on the updated feature 220, the user can know the activity status of the community directly or indirectly. That is, by using the community designation information search service or the like according to the present invention, the user can obtain a search result reflecting the latest activity status of the community. Therefore, there is room for unexpectedness in the search results, and the user can enjoy the latest information of the community specified by the user, and can be interested in the information search according to the present invention.

In another embodiment, the community synonym data structure 50 is used for information retrieval related to two or more communities specified by the user.
For example, when the user performs an information search related to the community “AAA” and the community “BBB”, the community specified information search service or the like according to the present invention uses the community synonym data structure 50 to search for the feature 220 related to these communities. The WWW page 65 can be searched using a plurality of pieces of information included as search conditions. That is, it is possible to flexibly provide a wide range of search results using a logical sum of a plurality of search conditions or provide a search result narrowed down using a logical product.
Since the user can obtain search results regarding the activity status of the community and the topics common to a plurality of communities based on his / her interests, the user can be interested in the information search service and the like according to the present invention.
When the user performs the information search according to the present invention, the advertiser can have the opportunity to repeatedly present the advertisement.

FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a data structure of advertisement information stored in the advertisement DB 30. The advertisement data structure 55 included in the advertisement DB 30 includes a target advertisement ID 230 and a designated keyword 240 for one set of data. The target advertisement ID 230 has an association with a document of an advertisement to be displayed.
The designated keyword 240 is for storing and editing a keyword associated with an advertisement. The designated keyword 240 is not directly displayed to the user and can be used for extracting advertisement information.
In one embodiment, the designated keyword 240 may be a keyword that is associated with a particular advertisement by an advertiser. For example, when an advertiser desires to present an advertisement for a soft drink whose target advertisement ID 230 is “XXX”, the information search service or the like according to the present invention is based on the designation by the advertiser or the like. Terms such as “blue sky”, “beach resort”, and “sports” that are related to each other can be stored in the designated keyword 240. For example, when the user designates a community related to beach volleyball and performs an information search, the community designation search device 10 according to the present invention uses “sport” as a synonym from the community player name designated using the synonym extraction unit 14. The advertisement of the soft drink that is extracted and the designated keyword 240 includes “sports” may be inserted into the search result for the WWW page 65 and displayed to the user.
In other embodiments, the designated keyword 240 may include a negative keyword. For example, the advertiser may select not to present an advertisement when a keyword having a relationship with a competitor is specified by the user.
Not limited to these, the relationship between the information stored in the designated keyword 240 and the presence / absence of advertisement presentation can be designed as appropriate.

  The advertisement data structure 55 that is a data structure in the advertisement DB 30 includes a plurality of items including the designated keyword 240, so that the community designation information retrieval service or the like according to the present invention can be obtained from the search conditions input by the user. Can provide advertisers with a wide range of advertising opportunities.

[Send community specified information search results]
FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of a search result transmitted to the user terminal 60 or the like in the community designation information search according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the community-designated search device 10 according to the present invention transmits a search result in which an advertisement is inserted using the advertisement display unit 20. The advertisement display device 40, the user terminal 60, and the like can receive this information via the network 38. The advertisement display device 40 may be a composite terminal device or the like installed at a convenience store storefront. The user terminal 60 may be any terminal that includes a personal computer, a mobile phone, and the like and can receive electronic document information such as an electronic mail by connecting to a network.
The WWW page 65 includes a published home page, blog, and the like. The search execution unit 16 included in the community designation search device 10 according to the present invention can access the WWW page 65 for information search. The aspect of the WWW page 65 includes what can be connected to the community designation search device 10 via the network 38.

In one embodiment, when a user designates a community and starts an information search, the community-designated search device 10 according to the present invention uses the synonym extraction unit 14 to extract a synonym for search from the synonym DB 25 and retrieves it. Used for information retrieval in the execution unit 16. Synonyms for the search include those disclosed in search results or those not disclosed.
The search execution unit 16 extracts search keywords based on information such as synonyms stored in the synonym DB 25. For example, when the description of the community site or the like is updated based on the activity status of the community or the like, the community designation search apparatus 10 according to the present invention stores the updated description in the synonym DB 25 using a patrol program or the like as appropriate. sell. The search execution unit 16 can use the keyword included in the updated description etc. for information search. Thereby, the information search which designated the community etc. by the community designation | designated search apparatus 10 which concerns on this invention can include information, such as the recent activity condition of the said community, in a search result.
In another embodiment, the community-designated search device 10 according to the present invention searches the advertisement DB 30 for an advertisement that can be related to the community using the advertisement insertion unit 18 based on the update of the description of the community site and the like, as appropriate. The information may be stored, the advertisement may be inserted into the information related to the update, the information for distribution may be combined, and the information for distribution may be transmitted using the advertisement display unit 20. The advertisement synthesized for distribution may have a relationship with the information related to the update. Thereby, the information search which designated the community etc. by the community designation | designated search apparatus 10 which concerns on this invention can transmit the advertisement which has relevance with the recent activity condition etc. of the said community etc. with respect to the user terminal 60.
With these processes, the user can obtain search results and / or advertisements that can be used to infer the recent activity status of the designated community. Therefore, even in the information search for the same community, the user may be interested in the information search itself and desire to repeatedly obtain the latest information. In this way, the community designation search device 10 according to the present invention has an effect of continuously prompting the user to search for information related to the community. The advertiser can have an opportunity to repeatedly present an advertisement with a high hit rate based on the interest.

The advertisement display device 40 receives the information for distribution via the network 38, and the search result 44 designates the community including the advertisement information 42 and the update information in a predetermined display area. May be displayed. The format of information that can be displayed in the search result 44 can be designed as appropriate. An example of a suitable display format is that the file format transmitted by the advertisement display unit 20 is a hypertext format including advertisements and search results, and an Internet browser or the like is used for the advertisement display device 40. However, the present invention is not limited to this. The format can be designed as appropriate.
Similarly to the advertisement display device 40, the user terminal 60 can display the advertisement and the search result transmitted by the advertisement display unit 20 of the community-designated search device 10 according to the present invention using an Internet browser or the like.

  The community-designated search device 10 according to the present invention can provide the user with the latest information on the community together with the advertisement in response to the latest information on the community being updated in addition to the start of the search by the user's operation. The user can obtain information on the recent state of the community in which he / she is interested by carrying a mobile phone or the like, and can continue to have interest in the community and continue to use the search service. Advertisers can continue to have the opportunity to present their advertisements repeatedly.

[Hardware configuration of community specified search device]
FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of the community designation search device according to an example of the preferred embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, the information search device will be described as a server. However, the same applies to the case where a personal computer is used as an advertisement distribution device.

  The community designation search device 10 includes a CPU 110 constituting the control unit 108 (in the multiprocessor configuration, a plurality of CPUs such as a CPU 120 may be added), a bus line 107, a communication I / F 140, a main memory 150, a BIOS (Basic Input Output). System) 160, USB port 190, I / O controller 170, keyboard and mouse 180, and other input means and display device 122. A storage unit 109 such as a tape drive 172, a hard disk 174, an optical disk drive 176, or a semiconductor memory 178 can be connected to the I / O controller 170. The BIOS 160 stores a boot program executed by the CPU 110 when the server is started, a program depending on the server hardware, and the like. The hard disk 174 stores various programs for functioning as a server and programs for executing the functions of the present invention. As the optical disk drive 176, for example, a DVD-ROM drive, a CD-ROM drive, a DVD-RAM drive, a CD-RAM drive, or the like can be used. In this case, the optical disk 177 corresponding to each drive is used. A program or data may be read from the optical disk 177 by the optical disk drive 176 and provided to the main memory 150 or the hard disk 174 via the I / O controller 170. Similarly, the tape medium 171 corresponding to the tape drive 172 can be used mainly for backup.

  The program provided to the server is provided by being stored in a recording medium such as the hard disk 174, the optical disk 177, or a memory card. This program may be installed in the server and executed by being read from the recording medium via the I / O controller 170 or downloaded via the communication I / F 140.

  The above-described program may be stored in an internal or external storage medium. Here, examples of the storage medium include, but are not limited to, a magnetic recording medium, a magneto-optical recording medium, an optical recording medium, and an electronic medium. The magnetic recording medium includes a magnetic tape, a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a hard disk 174, a magnetic random access memory (MRAM), etc., and the magneto-optical recording medium includes a magneto-optical disk (MO and MD), etc. Recording media include write-once compact discs (CDs), write-once digital multipurpose discs (DVDs), write-once Blu-ray discs, write-once holographic discs, etc., and electronic media are electrically writable read-only memory, random access memory , Flash memory, silicon storage disk, etc. In addition, a storage device such as a hard disk 174 or an optical disk library provided in a server system connected to a communication line such as a dedicated communication line or the Internet may be used as a recording medium, and the program may be provided to the server via the communication line. .

  Here, the display device 122 displays a screen for accepting data input by the server administrator, or displays a screen of calculation processing results. The display device 122 is a cathode ray tube display device (CRT) or a liquid crystal display device (LCD). Display devices. The input means accepts input by the user, and may be configured with a keyboard and mouse 180 or the like. The communication I / F 140 is a network adapter that enables a server to be connected to a terminal via a dedicated network or a public network. The communication I / F 140 may include a modem, a cable modem, and an Ethernet (registered trademark) adapter.

  In the above example, the hardware configuration of the community designation search device 10 has been mainly described. However, the function described above is realized by installing a program in a computer and causing the computer to operate as the community designation search device 10. You can also Therefore, the functions realized by the community designation search device 10 described as an embodiment in the present invention are executed by executing the above-described method by the computer or by introducing the above-mentioned program into the computer. This is also possible.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not restricted to embodiment mentioned above. The effects described in the embodiments of the present invention are only the most preferable effects resulting from the present invention, and the effects of the present invention are limited to those described in the embodiments of the present invention. is not.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the community designation | designated search apparatus for enforcing the information search method which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the system which can implement the information search method which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the various steps of the community designation | designated information search method which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the input of the search conditions in the implementation means etc. of the community designation | designated information search method which concern on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure showing accumulation | storage and memory | storage of the synonym for the community designation | designated information search which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure showing the example of the data structure in synonym DB25 which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure showing the example of the data structure of the information of the advertisement which advertisement DB30 concerning one embodiment of the present invention memorizes. It is a figure showing the example of the search result transmitted to the user terminal 60 grade | etc., In the community designation | designated information search which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the hardware constitutions of the information search device which concerns on an example of suitable embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Community designation | designated search apparatus 12 Search condition reception part 14 Synonym extraction part 16 Search execution part 18 Advertisement insertion part 20 Advertisement display part 22 Synonym accumulation | storage process part 25 Synonym DB
28 Community DB
30 Advertising DB
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 40 Advertisement display apparatus 42 Advertisement information 44 Search result 50 Community synonym data structure 55 Advertisement data structure 60 User terminal 65 WWW page 80 Search condition input 81 Display area regarding members belonging to specific community 82 Area for displaying name of specific community 83 An area for inputting that the user selects designation or exclusion for the community designation information search 84 An area for inputting a keyword for searching for information on a WWW page such as a homepage or blog published by the user 85, 86 Command button 90 Keyword synonyms

Claims (8)

An information retrieval method for retrieving information desired by a user from network-connected computer resources and transmitting the information to a user terminal,
A search condition receiving step for receiving a search condition including designation of a community from the user terminal;
A community synonym extraction step of extracting from the synonym database indicating the characteristics of the community stored in advance as keywords for search based on the search condition;
A search execution step for executing the search using a keyword included in a search condition received from the user terminal and a keyword extracted in the community synonym extraction step;
Information search method including An advertisement insertion step of inserting an advertisement having an association with the search result information of the search execution step into the search result;
An advertisement display step of displaying the search result in which the advertisement is inserted on the user terminal;
The information search method according to claim 1, further comprising:   The information search method according to claim 2, further comprising transmitting a search result including the advertisement inserted by the advertisement insertion step to the user terminal.   In response to updating information associated with the community in the network-connected computer resource, further comprising transmitting a search result including the advertisement inserted by the advertisement insertion step to the user terminal. The information search method according to claim 2.   5. The information search method according to claim 1, further comprising a step of accumulating or updating synonyms indicating the characteristics of the community extracted by the community synonym extraction step.   The information search method according to claim 1, wherein the community synonym extraction step can further connect a community database storing and storing information of a community to which the user belongs and other communities.   A computer program for causing a computer to execute the steps according to any one of claims 1 to 6. An information search device for searching for information desired by a user from network-connected computer resources and transmitting the information to a user terminal,
A search condition receiving unit that receives a search condition including designation of a community from the user terminal;
A community synonym extraction unit that extracts as a keyword for search based on the search condition from a synonym database indicating the characteristics of the community stored in advance;
A search execution unit that executes the search using a keyword included in a search condition received from the user terminal and a keyword extracted by the community synonym extraction unit;
An information retrieval apparatus including

Images