JP2002230392A - Automatic advertisement embedding system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an automatic advertisement embedding system which is advantageous to a user who acquires contents through a communication medium, a recording medium, or a print medium, the producer of the contents, and an advertiser. SOLUTION: The automatic advertisement embedding system which provides charged or free contents for a user is equipped with an advertisement embedding means which automatically embeds an advertisement matching the profile of the user when providing the contents. The contents to be provided include an electronic book, music, game software, video, and broadcast media and the advertisement embedding means embeds the advertisement in an embedding style corresponding to the kind of the software. For example, when the contents are streaming type contents, the advertisement matching the profile of the user is embedded at CM time in the streaming.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to an electronic book, a video,
Regarding a system that provides users by selling, renting or distributing music and other contents for free, etc.
In particular, the present invention relates to a system for providing contents including advertisements in accordance with personal information of a user through a communication medium, a recording medium, or a print medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In transmitting information to an unspecified number of people, newspapers, magazines, radios, and televisions, which serve as mass communication media, have been used as communication means. With the remarkable progress in technology for handling digitized information, computer-readable recording media and communication media such as the Internet have come to be used. At present, the user can browse book information from the information processing terminal such as a personal computer (personal computer) via the Internet, order a desired book,
The era is now possible in which it is possible to capture and listen to music data, capture and execute a program such as a game program, and watch broadcasts of moving images.
On the other hand, when an electronic advertisement is transmitted using the Internet, a method of distributing the electronic advertisement using an e-mail system and a method of posting it on various web pages have been adopted.

[0003]

[0005] By the way, advertisements, like commercials on radio and television, transmit the same information to an unspecified number of people. However, there were many problems, such as wasting time and money. Also, for example, CMs (commercials) of radio and television, advertisements inserted in front of or behind rental video images, advertisements unilaterally distributed by direct mail, etc., advertisements printed on printed books, etc. All of these ads were intended for an unspecified number of people, and there were many people who rarely saw them, and it was difficult to say that the advertising effect was high. The same applies to the case where content (software) is provided using a communication network such as the Internet. Since the advertisement embedded in the content is the same information targeting an unspecified number of people,
There is much unnecessary advertisement information for users, and it has been difficult to say that information is effectively provided to content creators and advertisers.

The present invention has been made under the circumstances described above, and an object of the present invention is to provide a user who acquires contents via a communication medium, a recording medium, or a print medium, a creator of the contents, and an advertiser. It is an object of the present invention to provide an automatic advertisement embedding system which has advantages for all three.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a method for transmitting an advertisement-containing content in accordance with a user's personal information to a communication medium,
The present invention relates to a system provided through a recording medium or a print medium, and an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic advertisement embedding system that provides a user with the content for paid or free content. This is achieved by providing an advertisement incorporation means for automatically incorporating an advertisement according to the profile of the user at the time of provision.

[0006] Further, the advertisement embedding means includes a hobby which is an element of personal data registered by the user,
Estimate the information desired by the user using information of any one or a combination of taste, age, gender, occupation, job title, income, family structure, nationality, hometown, and address, and determine the advertisement to be embedded. The content to be provided includes an electronic book, music, game software, video, and broadcast media, and the advertisement incorporating means incorporates the advertisement in an embedded form according to the type of the software; The advertiser can arbitrarily set the content in which the advertisement is to be incorporated, the location where the advertisement is incorporated, and the target user; providing the user with the content using a communication medium, a recording medium, or a print medium;
Thus, each is more effectively achieved.

[0007] When the content is an electronic book,
Incorporating the contents of the advertisement according to the profile of the user into the page of the electronic book, and directly displaying the advertisement, or indirectly displaying the advertisement by incorporating the URL; when the content is a video, displaying the profile of the user; Incorporating an advertisement adapted to the user before, after, or in the video; if the content is a streaming-based content, incorporating an advertisement adapted to the profile of the user at the time of a CM included in the streaming; If the content is game software, incorporate an advertisement according to the user's profile at the background of the game, at the start or end of the game; when the content is music, an audio or image advertisement, or an audio and image Advertising is incorporated into the content; If the tree is printing books, built-in advertising tailored to the user's profile in the print book,
A means for recording the content selected by the user on a recording medium to be rented, wherein the content is in a rental form; and Each of which is more effectively achieved.

[0008]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration example of a software providing service / advertising system according to the present invention (hereinafter referred to as an “advertising automatic embedding system”). The automatic advertisement embedding system 1 according to the present invention publishes multimedia software (hereinafter, referred to as content) such as electronic books, music, video, and broadcast media on a communication network 3 (in this example, on the Internet), Automatically incorporates an advertisement that matches the user's profile into the content 4 that the user wishes to obtain, or the content 4 that is provided to the user in one transmission form such as distribution or broadcast from the system side. System. As a form of providing the content 4 incorporating the advertisement, a form of providing the content 4 to the user terminal 2 via a communication medium such as the communication network 3, as shown by a broken line in FIG.
There is a form in which the content is provided to the user using the computer-readable recording medium 3a, or a form in which the content is provided to the user using the print medium 3b.

[0010] In the present invention, "contents"
Not only digital contents composed of programs and data (characters, numerical values, still images, moving images, audio data, etc.) but also print media 3b such as print books are included. As an example, a case where the content 4 that the user desires to obtain is provided to the user terminal 2 via the communication network 3 (communication medium) will be described.

In FIG. 1, an automatic advertisement embedding system 1
Is a setup system 10 that controls the entire process from registration of content to be provided to download to the user terminal side, and a multimedia database 20 that stores data such as content to be provided and electronic advertisements. Server 30 that performs processing such as browsing and searching for an abstract of a content from the user terminal 2 side, acceptance of purchase, distribution, and the like.
It is composed of As means for providing an advertisement to the user, there is provided an advertisement incorporation means for automatically incorporating an advertisement according to the profile of the user when the content is provided.

The contents 4 to be provided are paid contents including shareware and rental contents that require a certain price for continuous use, or free contents. For example, books such as books and magazines are provided. Digitized electronic books, digitized music, game software, video, broadcast media such as television programs and radio programs, and various software such as utilities (including version-up programs / data and printed books Software).

The above-mentioned contents are published on the Internet, for example, and registered as a member to obtain personal authentication information (I
D, password), the user can search for the desired item using the search key of the name or creator, etc., browse the abstract, and try the content under the function limitation and time limitation. Or to be able to.

The setup system 10 extracts an electronic advertisement that matches the user's profile based on the user's personal data and automatically incorporates the electronic advertisement into the content for the user who wants to obtain the content 4. It is provided to the user terminal 2 via the communication network 3. The "personal data" referred to in the present invention is a hobby, preference, age, gender, occupation, post, income, family structure, etc. entered when a person who wants the content 4 registers as a member.
Data such as nationality, place of birth, address, etc. In addition to these basic customer information, for example, by specifying the type, name, creator, etc. of the content, the product information that the user wants to obtain can be input as personal data. Has become.

[0015] The electronic advertisement may be placed in a form displayed on an installation screen, or a URL (Universal Serial Bulk) to the advertiser may be displayed in a menu of the download software.
s) embedded form, PDF (Portable Document Fil
e) In the case of an image such as a file, HTML (HyperMarkup Language) data, or a screen saver, there are a form in which the image is incorporated as advertisement data of an advertiser, and a form in which the image is incorporated during streaming of a moving image, audio, or the like. These publication modes are set according to the type of content in accordance with the instruction of the advertiser. In addition, advertised information that indicates who is targeted (for women,
ID information for a specific age group, for a person with a specific hobby, for a specific occupation, for a specific area, for the nationality, for high-income people, for people with children, etc.) And advertisement specification information such as an advertisement period are set and registered for each electronic advertisement.

FIG. 2 schematically shows system components and a processing flow of the automatic advertisement embedding system 1. The configuration example of the server 30 and the database 20 included in the automatic advertisement embedding system 1 and the flow from content registration to provision to the user terminal via the communication network will be described with reference to FIG. First, the configurations of the server 30 and the database 20 will be described.

The server 30, which is a component of the automatic advertisement embedding system 1, is a Web server 3 that is published on the Web.
1. An FTP server 32 having a file transfer function, a mail server 33 having an e-mail transmission / reception function, and the like. The multimedia database 20 includes a personalization database 21 for storing personal data for determining an electronic advertisement for a user and the above-described advertisement specification information, a storage database 22 for shareware and the like for storing various contents, an advertisement image, and the like. Image storage database 2 for storing electronic advertisement data
3, and a purchase history database 24 for storing data of the purchase history of the user.

The personalization database 21 is a database for storing information of users registered as members of the present system, and includes authentication information (ID number and password in this example) of the user, and payment for purchased contents. In addition to the information, personal data such as hobbies, preferences, ages, genders, occupations, titles, income, family structure, nationalities, hometowns, addresses, and desired product information are stored as described above.

The storage database 22 for shareware etc.
This is a database that stores information on various types of content as described above. The content groups stored in the database are classified into categories such as, for example, a large category, a middle category, and so on. , And is stored in an indexable manner, and the lowest layer of the directory is the content to be downloaded. As a data configuration, for example, in the case of an electronic book, it is created in a PDF format, and a page of a book or a magazine is used as a display unit. In the case of music, for example, MPEG (Moving Picture E
xperts Group) Audio, MIDI (Musical Instrument)
The data structure conforms to standards such as Digital Interface).

In the present system, a television program can be broadcasted in addition to pre-registered videos such as animations and movies. In the broadcasting mode, the advertisement automatic embedding system 1 uses video data from a broadcasting system (not shown). The content is relayed and received, and an electronic advertisement adapted to the profile of the individual is automatically inserted into the streaming data before being transmitted to the terminal on the viewer side. By adopting such an advertising system, it is possible to broadcast a commercial for individuals during television broadcasting. Also, in the case of audio broadcasting such as radio broadcasting, it is possible to play CMs for individuals in the digital audio.

The advertisement image storage database 23 stores information that can be viewed or listened to, such as advertisement data (characters, numerical values, still images, moving images, sounds (general audible sounds including music)) of each advertiser, or a combination thereof. The advertisement data is stored in a database for storing the advertisement information, which is digitized information, and the advertisement data is registered by a registration operation from an advertiser terminal or a file transfer. The purchase history database 24 is a database that records the history of the content purchased by the user. The data such as the ID and date of the purchased content is stored in the purchase history database 24.
It is accumulated and recorded so as to be indexable by a user ID or the like.

With reference to FIG. 2, the flow from the registration of content to the provision of the content to the user terminal via the communication network in the above-described configuration will be briefly described. Note that the payment processing of the paid content is performed via a payment center or the like, but the description of the processing relating to the payment is omitted here.

First, as a preliminary operation, the participating download software (contents to be provided) is registered. At that time, it also registers which part and how to put the advertisement. In addition, the content to which the advertisement is to be incorporated is set. Of course, all may be targeted.
Also, a target that has been segmented in advance is registered. The person who wants the content connects to the Web server 31, registers his / her personal data as a member from the user terminal 2, and obtains an ID for specifying the user and a password for authentication.

The user enters the site with the ID and password issued from the automatic advertisement embedding system 1, and presses a button to purchase the desired content if desired (see FIG. 2). The setup system 10 refers to the personalization database 21, the storage database 22 such as shareware, and the advertisement image storage database 23 based on the ID for identifying the user and the identification information of the content requested to be purchased (), and the purchase history database 24. The purchase data is recorded in (2), the data of the content is read, and based on the personal data and the advertisement specification information, an electronic advertisement for the user for the content is determined and incorporated into the content. The purchase history data is also used as an element for determining an electronic advertisement for the user (). Subsequently, the setup system 10 creates a directory that allows the user to download the desired content (), and notifies the user of the directory by, for example, e-mail (). Upon receiving the notification, the user downloads the content from the specified directory to the storage medium on the user terminal side.

Next, the process of incorporating an electronic advertisement according to the present invention will be described with reference to a specific example of content. In addition,
The description of the data compression processing and encryption processing is omitted.

[Advertising Incorporation into Electronic Book] In the case of an electronic book, when a user downloads a desired book, an electronic advertisement according to the profile of the user is automatically incorporated. The installation location can be arbitrarily set to a location such as a cover or a lower area of a page, and is determined by area information included in preset advertisement specification information. As a display form of the electronic advertisement, a form in which the advertisement is directly displayed by incorporating the advertisement in the designated area of the book page, a URL to the advertiser is incorporated in the page, and the advertisement contents are indirectly displayed. (A form in which the advertisement content posted on the Web page of the site is displayed by a user's operation) and the like, and the advertisement content is displayed by a combination of these display forms. The type of book may be a book or a magazine, and may be a book to be published (a book that has been pre-ordered) or a periodic book for which a subscription has been requested, in addition to those registered in advance. A user who purchases an e-book by downloading displays a normal magazine on a screen of a personal computer or the like and subscribes to the image as if he / she turned the page.

[Advertisement Incorporation into Video] When a user downloads animation or movie content, an electronic advertisement matching the user's profile is automatically incorporated. In the case where the content is video content that can be viewed offline after downloading, the location where the electronic advertisement is incorporated is not limited to the location before or after the content, and may be set in the content such as a break between scenes. In addition, streaming (a method of playing back video in real time while downloading it on the user terminal side: using the Internet instead of television or radio waves), such as a TV program or a radio program broadcasted in real time Is incorporated by instantly inserting an advertisement suitable for the viewer and the listener at the time of a commercial (previously inserted commercial). If the advertiser of the CM is the same,
Instead of the CM, an electronic advertisement tailored to the viewer (or listener) may be incorporated.

[Advertisement Incorporation into Game Software] In the case of game software, when a user downloads a desired game, an electronic advertisement according to the profile of the user is automatically incorporated. Examples of the place to be incorporated include a background in the game (baseball game, racing game, etc.), an advertisement displayed as a sponsor at the start or end of the game, or at the time of installation.

[Advertisement Incorporation into Music] In the case of music, first, a dedicated player to be provided to the user (a dedicated software player of the present system having at least a function of reproducing the music) is automatically incorporated into the advertisement. Prepared on one side, the user downloads the player to an information processing terminal such as his / her personal computer. Thereafter, when the user downloads the desired music, an electronic advertisement (voice or image advertisement or voice and image advertisement) is automatically incorporated according to the user's profile. Then, when the music is reproduced, an advertisement is displayed by an image or a sound by the player. In addition, mobile phone
For data such as ringtones used in PHS,
A CM song that matches the profile of the user can be incorporated as an electronic advertisement. In the case where music is provided by writing it on a recording medium (MD, DVD, etc.) that can be played by the real player, the software player is not required, and when the music is played back by the real player, an advertisement of sound or image ( Or, an audio and video advertisement is displayed.

[Advertisement Embedding Process to Other Media] As another application to existing media, the automatic advertisement embedding system 1 uses the above-described electronic advertisement embedding method,
For example, the following advertising service for media is provided.

(1) On-demand printing For each printed book (book made of paper sheets) ordered,
Advertisements for the orderer (subscriber) are incorporated and printed. Here, the incorporated advertisement is an electronic advertisement that is extracted based on the orderer's personal data by the above-described electronic advertisement incorporating means, and is, for example, a DTP (Desk Top Publi).
In the process of printing a publication by shing), an electronic advertisement for the orderer is received from the automatic advertisement embedding system via the Internet, and information of the electronic advertisement is embedded, whereby an advertisement tailored to the orderer is posted. Printed books can be published. By adopting such an on-demand printing method, it becomes a new revenue source such as a newly published book.
The on-demand printing method can also be applied to periodicals (such as monthly magazines and weekly magazines) that are sold only by mail order.

(2) Rental Video With regard to rental video, in the current system, a recording medium owned by a store is rented out.
After a user selects a video to watch at a store, the store clerk digitally transmits the video over the Internet 3 and records the video on a recording medium to be rented such as a video tape or a DVD (on-demand distribution). At that time, an electronic advertisement is incorporated in the same manner as the advertisement incorporating process into the video. This on-demand distribution method can also be applied to music media and game software lent by recording media such as CDs and MDs.

(3) CATV (Cable Telev)
When delivering a movie or the like on demand, an electronic advertisement tailored to the viewer is incorporated as in the case of the Internet.

Next, an operation example at the time of member registration and an operation example at the time of browsing contents (digital contents in this example) will be described with reference to flowcharts of FIGS.

First, an operation example at the time of member registration will be described along the flow of the flowchart of FIG.

In the automatic advertisement embedding system 1 (hereinafter referred to as "service center"), when the user terminal 1 and the Web server 31 are connected (step S1), the service menu of the connection request source terminal is displayed. The screen data is transmitted, and the service menu is displayed on the screen of the terminal (steps S2 to S4). When the member information registration menu is selected from the service menu (step S5), the member information registration screen data is transmitted to prompt entry of the member information (the above-described personal data) (steps S6 to S1).
0). Then, after receiving the input member information and confirming the contents, the member information is stored in the personalization database 21 (steps S11 to S14), and the member ID and password issued to the user are transmitted by e-mail by the mail server 33. Notify (steps S15, S16). Also, the registration confirmation screen data including the information of the member ID and the password is transmitted to the terminal side to notify that the registration as the member is completed (steps S17 to S19), and then the member registration process is ended.

Next, an operation example when browsing the contents is shown in FIG.
6 will be described along the flow of the flowchart of FIG.

In the service center 1, after the connection with the user terminal 1, when the user selects the member menu from the service menu (steps S21 to S25),
First, screen data for inputting a member ID and a password is transmitted (step S28). Then, the member ID and password information input by the user on the input screen is received (steps S29 to S33), and the member ID and password registered in the personalization database 21 are collated to determine whether or not the user is a member. Confirm (step S34).
If the member is authenticated, the member menu is transmitted and displayed on the screen of the terminal (steps S35 to S35).
37).

When an item of the content menu list is selected from the member menu (step S38), the service center 1 transmits the screen data of the content menu list and displays the screen of the content menu list on the terminal side (step S38). Steps S39 to S43). The user selects desired content from the content menu list. When the user makes a selection, for example, the user can refer to, listen to, and try an abstract in accordance with the type of content and the like. In addition, a desired content can be searched using the content name, the creator, and the like as keys (step S44).

In the service center 1 which has received the content selection information (information of the content desired by the user) (steps S45 and S46), the content database (the storage database 22 for shareware etc. in FIG. 2) and the user information database (FIG. 2) (Steps S47 to S47) and the CM information database (the advertisement image storage database 23 in FIG. 2).
49) Based on the personal data of the member, a CM (electronic advertisement) adapted to the profile of the user is incorporated in the content to generate content unique to the member.

For example, hobbies, preferences, ages, genders, occupations, titles, and the like, which are elements of personal data registered by the user.
Income, family structure, nationality, hometown, address, product information desired by the user, or any combination thereof;
Estimate information (product information, etc.) that the user wants, using calendar information such as the current day and season as parameters, determine an electronic advertisement to be incorporated from the information, and generate member-specific content At the same time, in accordance with an instruction from the user terminal, a directory (directory information including a storage location, access authority, and the like) that allows the content to be downloaded is generated (step S5).
0).

Then, the generated screen data for downloading the member-specific content is transmitted to the terminal or transmitted by e-mail (step S51). The user designates the content on a menu (directory) in the screen and downloads the content to the storage medium on the terminal side (step S5).
2, S53), browse offline. In the case of streaming data such as a television program or a radio program, the user views or listens online in real time.

The contents can be downloaded in the form of notifying the directory by e-mail and downloading the contents from the directory as described above, the form of attaching the file of the contents to the e-mail, the contents menu list as described above. There is a form in which the content designated from among is downloaded in real time. Also, in the case of a pre-order of a regularly distributed electronic book or new production software to be distributed periodically, for example, the user is notified by e-mail or the like on the issue date of the content and downloaded to the user terminal side.

[0044]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to automatically incorporate an advertisement according to a profile of a user into contents provided to the user. Therefore, it is possible to bring benefits to all three users, the creator of the content, and the advertiser. First, advertisers can reliably advertise their products to targeted targets. The creator of the content is expected to generate income other than the price of the content, and the user can obtain the information and content desired by the user with two birds per stone. In addition, the content production company expects advertising revenue, lowering the price of the content or making it free of charge will further expand user demand, and advertisers will have a wider user base, so it is meaningful to invest enough advertising expenses. Become like

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration example of an automatic advertisement embedding system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing system components and a processing flow of the automatic advertisement embedding system according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining an operation example at the time of member registration in the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining an operation example when browsing content according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a first partial view of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a second partial view of FIG. 4;

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Automatic Advertisement Embedded System 2 User Terminal 3 Communication Network 4 Software (Content) 10 Setup System 20 Multimedia Database 21 Personalized Database 22 Shareware etc. Storage Database 23 Advertising Image Storage Database 24 Purchasing History Database 30 Server 31 Web Server 32 FTP Server 33 mail server

Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. An automatic advertisement embedding system for providing paid or unpaid contents to a user, wherein the ad is automatically incorporated with an advertisement according to a profile of the user when the contents are provided. An automatic advertisement embedding system, comprising an embedding means. 2. The advertisement embedding means includes a hobby, a taste, and an element of personal data registered by the user.
Age, gender, occupation, title, income, family structure, nationality, hometown, address, or any combination thereof are used as parameters to estimate the information desired by the user and determine the advertisement to be embedded. The advertisement automatic embedding system according to claim 1, wherein: 3. The content to be provided includes electronic books, music, game software, video, and broadcast media,
The advertisement automatic embedding system according to claim 1, wherein the advertisement embedding unit is configured to embed the advertisement in an embedding form according to a type of the software. 4. The automatic advertisement embedding system according to claim 1, wherein an advertiser can arbitrarily set the content into which the advertisement is to be embedded, a place where the advertisement is embedded, and a target user. 5. The automatic advertisement embedding system according to claim 1, wherein the content is provided to the user using a communication medium, a recording medium, or a print medium. 6. When the content is an electronic book, the contents of the advertisement according to the profile of the user are incorporated in the page of the electronic book, and the advertisement is directly displayed or UR is displayed.
The advertisement automatic embedding system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein an advertisement is indirectly displayed by incorporating L. 7. When the content is a video, an advertisement tailored to the user's profile is displayed before, after, and after the video.
The advertisement automatic embedding system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the system is embedded in a video. 8. The advertisement according to claim 1, wherein when the content is a streaming content, an advertisement adapted to the profile of the user is incorporated at the time of a CM included in the streaming. Automatic embedding system. 9. When the content is game software,
The advertisement automatic embedding system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein an advertisement according to the user's profile is incorporated at the background of the game, at the start of the game, or at the end of the game. 10. The advertisement automatic embedding according to claim 1, wherein when the content is music, an advertisement of a voice or an image or an advertisement of a voice and an image is embedded in the content. system. 11. The print book according to claim 1, wherein when the content is a print book, an advertisement adapted to the profile of the user is incorporated into the print book, and the print book can be published. Advertising automatic embedding system. 12. When the content is a rental content, a means for recording the content selected by the user on a recording medium to be rented is provided, and at the time of recording, an advertisement adapted to the profile of the user is incorporated. The advertisement automatic embedding system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein: