WO2001080075A1 - Information providing system, information providing device, and terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

An information providing system, information providing device, and an information providing method, in which provision information such as URL information provided to users and its relevant information including advertisement and effectively related to the provision information are displayed. An advertisement provider specifies, according to advertisement registration search condition, provision information to which advertisement information is to be added. When a user searches for provision information, advertisement information is added to a list of provision information of the search results according the advertisement registration search condition. The advertisement information is displayed near the provision information, thereby enhancing the effect of advertisement.

Description

 Description Information provision system, information provision device and terminal

 The present invention relates to an information providing system, an information providing apparatus, and a terminal for associating related information with provided information provided to a user. In particular, the present invention relates to an information providing system, an information providing apparatus, and a terminal capable of displaying related information related to provided information to be provided to a user effectively in association with the provided information. Background art

 In a service using the Internet WWW (World Wide Web), advertisement information such as a banner advertisement is added to the Web page provided by the Web server, and the advertisement information is displayed when the user browses the Web page. Sometimes. By adding the advertisement information to a specific Web page, the provider of the advertisement information can provide a product / service advertisement to a user who browses the Web page and promote sales. On the other hand, the information provider of the Web page can obtain advertising revenue from the advertisement information provider.

However, the user accesses the Internet web server to obtain information on the web page and browses the web page, so even if advertisements such as banner advertisements are included in the web page, The problem was that the effectiveness of advertising was limited because information was not always focused on. When browsing the web page, the user can place the advertisement information at the top or side of the web page or at a fixed position that does not move even when the screen is scrolled, so that the user can easily see the advertisement information. force has been carried out is also possible to devise the arrangement position of the advertisement information ^s, there is naturally a limit to be read the advertisement information to the user not interested in advertising information.

Accordingly, the present invention can solve such a problem and effectively display related information such as advertisements related to the provided information to be provided to the user in association with the provided information. The purpose of the present invention is to provide an information providing system, an information providing device and a terminal.

Disclosure of the invention

 In order to achieve such an object, according to an embodiment of the present invention, a terminal connected to a communication network and a terminal connected to the communication network and adding related information to provided information requested by the terminal and adding the related information to the terminal. An information providing system comprising: an information providing device that transmits information to be provided to a terminal; an information providing database that stores information to be provided to a terminal; related information; and information to which the related information is added. A related information database that stores selection conditions in association with each other, and provides information from a provided information database in response to a request from a terminal, and extracts related information to be added to the provided information from the related information database based on the selection conditions Then, the information synthesizing unit and the information synthesizing unit, which creates synthesized information in which the related information is added to the provided information, are synthesized so that the related information is displayed near the provided information at the destination. A transmitting unit that transmits the combined information to the terminal, wherein the terminal includes a receiving unit that receives the combined information; and a display unit that displays related information near the provided information based on the combined information. And

 According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information providing apparatus for transmitting related information to a terminal by adding related information to the provided information requested by the terminal, comprising: an provided information database storing the provided information; And a related information database that stores association information and selection conditions for selecting the provided information to which the related information is added, and extracts the provided information from the provided information database in response to a request from the terminal and adds the provided information to the provided information An information combining unit that extracts related information from a related information database based on a selection condition and creates combined information in which the related information is added to the provided information so that the related information is displayed near the provided information at the destination. And a transmitting unit for transmitting the synthesized information created by the information synthesizing unit to the terminal.

The information synthesis unit extracts a plurality of pieces of provided information from the provided information database, extracts a plurality of pieces of related information to be added to each of the plurality of pieces of provided information from the related information database based on a selection condition, and extracts a plurality of pieces of related information. A plurality of related information items are added to the plurality of provided information items so as to be displayed near each of the plurality of provided information items of the corresponding adding destinations. Create composite information

 The information synthesizing unit displays a plurality of provided information in a list format, and displays each of the plurality of related information as one of the items of the list in the vicinity of each of the plurality of provided information at the corresponding adding destination. In this case, the composite information may be created.

 The information processing apparatus further includes an additional information search unit that searches the additional information from the additional information database based on a search condition for the additional information, and the information combining unit adds the additional information to the additional information searched by the additional information search unit. Information may be extracted from the related information database based on the selection condition to create composite information.

 The provided information database stores the provided information that matches the selection condition in association with the identification information of the related information corresponding to the selection condition, and the information synthesis unit stores the identification information of the related information corresponding to the provided information. By using the related information, related information to be added to the provided information may be extracted from the related information database to create composite information. The selection condition is a search condition for searching for provided information, and the provided information database may store identification information of related information in association with provided information that matches the search condition. The selection condition is a category in which the provided information is classified, and the provided information database may store the provided information matching the category in association with the identification information of the related information. The selection condition is a list of identification information of a plurality of pieces of provided information. The provided information database associates the provided information identified by the provided information identification information included in the list with the related information identification information. It may be stored.

 The information combining unit may create the combined information such that, when there is a plurality of related information to be added to the provided information, the plurality of related information is displayed side by side near the provided information to which the information is added.

 The information combining unit creates the combined information so that, when there is a plurality of related information to be added to the provided information, the plurality of related information is sequentially displayed at predetermined time intervals in the vicinity of the provided information at the adding destination. Is also good.

The provided information is information on a URL in the WWW service, and the related information may be advertisement information to which a URL for providing detailed information of the advertisement is added. According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information providing apparatus for adding advertisement information to information related to a URL requested by a terminal and transmitting the information to the terminal, comprising: a URL information database storing URL information to be provided to the terminal; , Based on the advertisement information database that stores the advertisement information and the search conditions for advertisement registration that searches for the URL information to which the advertisement information is added, and the search conditions that search the URL information input from the terminal. URL information search unit that searches for URL information from the URL information database, and, when a request to display URL information is received from the terminal, the advertisement information to be added to the URL information based on the search conditions for advertisement registration. And an information synthesizing unit that creates synthesis information in which the advertisement information is added to the URL information so that the advertisement information is displayed near the URL information of the addition destination, and a synthesis information created by the information synthesis unit. The is characterized in that a transmission unit that sends to the terminal.

 The URL information search unit searches a plurality of URL information from the URL information database, and the information synthesis unit extracts a plurality of advertisement information to be added to each of the plurality of URL information from the advertisement information database based on the search condition for advertisement registration. Then, a plurality of URL information is displayed in a list format, and each of the plurality of advertisement information is displayed as one of the list items in the vicinity of each of the plurality of URL information of the corresponding destination. As described above, composite information in which a plurality of pieces of advertisement information are added to a plurality of pieces of URL information may be created.

 The URL information database stores the URL information that matches the search condition for advertisement registration in association with the identification information of the advertisement information corresponding to the search condition for advertisement registration, and the information synthesis unit associates the URL information with the URL information. Using the identification information of the advertisement information, the advertisement information to be added to the URL information may be extracted from the advertisement information database to create composite information.

 The advertisement registration search condition may be any one of a logical expression for searching URL information based on a keyword, a category into which URL information is classified, and a list of URLs specifying URL information. .

The URL information includes the title of the web page, the web page URL and the description of the web page, and the advertisement information is a banner advertisement to which the web page URL providing detailed information of the advertisement is added, The information synthesizing section indicates that the banner The composite information may be created so as to be displayed in the vicinity of.

 The information combining unit may create the combined information such that, when there are a plurality of banner advertisements added to the URL information, the plurality of banner advertisements are displayed side by side near the title of the corresponding URL information or the URL. .

 The information combining unit is configured to, when there are a plurality of banner advertisements added to the URL information, combine the plurality of banner advertisements so as to be sequentially displayed at predetermined time intervals near the title of the corresponding URL information or near the URL. May be created.

 According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer-readable recording medium recording a computer program to be transmitted to a terminal after adding related information to the provided information requested by the terminal, wherein the program is Based on the search conditions for searching for the provided information input from the provided information, the provided information search unit searches for the provided information from the provided information database that stores the provided information, and selects the related information and the provided information to which the related information is added. The related information to be added to the provided information searched by the provided information search unit is extracted based on the selected condition from the related information database storing the selected selection condition in association with the selected information, and the related information is in the vicinity of the provided information of the adding destination. The information synthesizing module that creates synthesized information in which related information is added to the provided information and the synthesized information created by the information synthesizing unit are sent to the terminal as displayed on the terminal. Characterized by comprising a transmission module for.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information providing method in which related information is added to provided information requested by a terminal and transmitted to the terminal, wherein the related information and provided information to which the related information is added are selected. Extracting the related information selection condition from the related information database stored in association with the selection condition, and searching for the provided information matching the selected condition from the provided information database storing the provided information; Based on the step of storing the retrieved provided information in the provided information database in association with the identification information of the related information associated with the selection condition, based on the provided information search condition input by the terminal, Searching the provided information database for the provided information and the identification information of the related information added to the provided information; and using the identification information of the related information associated with the provided information to search the related information. Extracted from the communication information database, as relevant information is displayed in the vicinity of the additional destination providing information, creating a synthetic information related information is added to provide information And the step of The method may further include a step of transmitting the combined information to the terminal, and a step of displaying related information near the provided information based on the combined information.

 According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information providing method for providing advertisement information to a user by adding advertisement information to the advertisement information requested by the user, the advertisement registration method for searching for the advertisement information to which the advertisement information is added. Selecting the provided information based on the search condition, and associating the advertisement information with the selected provided information, and providing the advertisement information associated with the provided information to the destination in response to the user's request for the provided information; Creating a composite information in which the advertisement information is added to the provided information so as to be displayed near the information. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

 FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of the information providing system of the first embodiment.

 FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the search server 30.

 FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the data format of URL information stored in the URL database 40.

 FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining an example of the indices file.

 FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating another example of the index file.

 FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the data format of the advertisement information stored in the advertisement database 50.

 FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of another data format of the advertisement information stored in the advertisement database 50.

 FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of another data format of the advertisement information stored in the advertisement database 50.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a search result screen displayed on the user terminal 10. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of an example of an htm 1 document in which URL information and advertisement information are combined. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of another example of a search result screen displayed on the user terminal 10. You.

 FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a search result screen when a plurality of banner advertisement images are displayed next to URL information.

 FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a search result screen when a plurality of banner advertisement images are sequentially displayed next to URL information.

 FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a method of associating advertisement information with URL information.

 FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating a method of adding advertisement information to the searched URL information.

 FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram of an example of the composite information displayed on the user terminal 10. FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram of another example of the composite information displayed on the user terminal 10. FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a general-purpose computer 600.

 Legends of main symbols used in the drawings are shown below.

 1 0 User terminal

 2 0 Internet

 3 0 search server

 4 0 URL Database

 5 0 Advertising database '' 6 0 WWW server

 3 0 2 Search expression receiver

 3 0 4 U R L search section

 3 0 6 Advertising information synthesis section

 3 0 8 Search result transmission section Best mode for carrying out the invention

 Hereinafter, an example of an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

(First Embodiment) An information providing system according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of the information providing system of the present embodiment. The information providing system has a user terminal 10, an Internet 20, a search server 30, a URL database 40, and an advertisement database 50.

 The user terminal 10 is an example of the “terminal” in the claims, and is connected to the Internet 20, connected to the search server 30, and provided with information on the Internet 20, particularly, the WWW server 60. The search server 30 searches for information on the Web page, and receives search results together with related information such as advertisements provided by the search server 30.

 The search server 30 is an example of the “information providing device” in the claims, and searches the information of the Web page stored in the URL database 40 based on the search condition received from the user terminal 10, It creates composite information to which related information such as advertisements stored in the advertisement database 50 is added, and transmits it to the user terminal 10 as a search result.

 The URL database 40 is an example of the “provided information database” in the claims, and stores URL information on Web pages provided by the Internet WWW server 60 as provided information.

 The advertisement database 50 is an example of the “related information database” in the claims, and includes, as related information, advertisement image data such as a banner advertisement and advertisement information including a URL of a web page that provides detailed information of the advertisement. Store.

 The WWW server 60 connects to the Internet 20 and provides a Web page to the user terminal 10. The URL of the Web page provided by the WWW server 60 is stored in the URL database 40, and the user terminal 10 can search using the search server 30.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the search server 30. The search server 30 includes a search condition receiving unit 302, a URL search unit 304, an advertisement information synthesizing unit 303, and a search result transmitting unit 308. It also has a database search unit (not shown), and can search the URL database 40 and the advertisement database 50 to read, write, and update data. The search condition receiving unit 302 receives a search condition for searching a Web page from the user terminal 10. The following types of search conditions are used. A key word logical expression that expresses the key words included in the web page by OR and AND. A language condition that specifies the language in which the web page such as a Japanese page or English page is described. A date condition that specifies a range of creation or update dates for the web page. A data type condition that specifies the data type of an image, sound, video, etc. A search destination condition that specifies the range of the search destination web page. The search destination range stores the names of countries and regions such as Japan, Asia, the United States, and Europe, the domain names of the Internet such as ad.jp domains, co.jp domains, and com domains, or web server names and web pages. It can be specified by a part of the address of the URL such as the directory. The search condition received by the search expression receiving unit 302 may be a compound condition obtained by combining the above various search conditions.

 The search server 30 is provided with a user interface that allows a user to input and select a search logical expression and various search conditions so that the user can easily set search conditions. The search server 30 allows the user to set search conditions. May be transmitted to the search server 30.

 The URL search unit 304 searches the URL database 40 for URL information of a Web page that matches the search condition based on the search condition received by the search condition receiving unit 302. The extracted URL information includes the title of the web page, the URL of the web page, and a description describing the content of the web page. The description of the web page may be the first few lines of the web page or part of the content of the web page.

The advertisement information synthesizing unit 306 extracts the advertisement information associated with the URL information searched by the URL search unit 304 from the advertisement database 50, and creates synthesized information obtained by synthesizing the URL information and the advertisement information. The composite information is created so that the advertisement information is displayed near the URL information so that the user can easily recognize the relationship between the URL information and the advertisement information. If there is more than one searched URL information, the URL information is displayed in the form of a list, and the advertisement information is displayed near the relevant URL information in one of the items in the list. Is generated so as to be displayed as. The composite information is created, for example, in the form of an tm1 document.

 The advertisement information associated with the URL information is, for example, an advertisement image such as a banner advertisement widely used on a Web page. A link to a web page storing detailed information of the advertisement is attached to the banner advertisement image. When the user clicks the banner advertisement image with a mouse or the like of the user terminal 10, the advertisement follows the link attached to the banner advertisement image. You can access a web page that provides detailed information on The search result transmitting unit 308 transmits the synthesized information in which the URL information and the advertisement information are associated with each other to the user terminal 10 as a search result for the user's search condition. On the user terminal 10, a list of URL information is displayed as a search result, and a banner advertisement image associated with each of the listed URL information is added and displayed.

 In order to enhance the effectiveness of the advertisement, it is preferable to place the banner advertisement image near the title, URL, or description of the Web page of the searched URL information. Because the user is interested in the URL information displayed as a search result, the user's point of view is directed near the title of the web page, the URL, or the description of the web page. More likely to look at the advertising information by shifting the viewpoint to the advertising image. In addition, users often use a pointing device such as a mouse near the title or URL of the web page to access the web page in the search results. If you can easily click on it, you will be more likely to view advertising information. When there are a large number of search results, for example, URL information is displayed in a list of 10 items each, and the remaining URL information is displayed when the user requests display of the next 10 items. If there is no advertisement information associated with the searched URL information, no banner advertisement image is added to the URL information. Therefore, banner advertisements are not always added to all listed URL information.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the data format of URL information stored in the URL database 40. URL information includes URL, creation date, update date, index file It has a pointer to the aisle and multiple advertising IDs. URL is the address on the web page internet. The creation date is the date and time when the web page was created, and the update date and time is the date and time when the web page was updated. The index file is a file in which keywords in the web page are extracted and words or phrases used as an index are stored, and a pointer to the index file is stored in the URL information. The advertisement ID is identification information of advertisement information associated with the URL information. For example, the URL of the first URL information is http: w.abc.ne.jp/soccer-shoes, htm, the pointer to INDEX FAINORE is INDEX1, and the advertisement ID of the related advertisement information is INDEX1. 100001. The URL of the third URL information is http://www.travel.co.jp/wc-2002/tour.htm, the pointer to the index file is INDEX3, and the advertisement ID of the related advertisement information is 100006 and 343 256. In the fourth URL information, the advertisement information field is empty because there is no associated advertisement information.

 FIGS. 4 and 5 are diagrams illustrating an example of an index file. The index shown in Fig. 4 stores keywords extracted from the contents of the Web page, which is URL URL http://www.abc.ne.jp/soccer—shoes, htm. The website contains information comparing soccer shoes by manufacturer, and words such as soccer, shoes, durability, manufacturer, price, size, and comparison are extracted as keywords as indices. . In the index file shown in Fig. 5, the key card extracted from the contents of the web site, which is UR L force ¾ttp: 〃www.travel, co.jp/wc—2002/t our. . The web page contains information on watching tours of the soccer world tournament in South Korea.Indexes include information on soccer, World Cup, watching games, tickets, tours, air tickets, South Korea, etc. Has been described.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of the data format of the advertisement information stored in the advertisement database 50. The advertisement information includes an advertisement ID, registration conditions, an advertisement image, and a URL of a web page to which the advertisement information is provided. The first advertisement information has an advertisement ID of 100001 and a registration condition of “(tennis OR golf 〇R soccer) AND (sports ゥ) Air OR shoes) ”, the advertisement image is a banner advertisement image 501, and the URL of the advertisement information is http: ww.vwx.com/index, htm. The provider of the advertising information is a dealer of sportswear and sports goods, and sets the above-mentioned registration conditions in order to promote the sale of sportswear or sports shoes. As a result, when URL information of a web page describing sportswear or shoes of any of tennis, golf, or soccer sports is displayed as a search result of a user, a banner advertisement is displayed on the searched URL information. It can be instructed that the image 501 is displayed in association with it.

 The second advertisement information has an advertisement ID of 100003, and the registration condition is "soccer AND (technique OR technology) AND (shoot OR dribble OR heading)", and the advertisement image is a banner advertisement image 503. Yes, the URL of the advertising information is http: 〃www.onlinebooks.co.jp / sports / 14983.htm. The provider of the advertising information is a bookstore that sells books on the Internet, and in particular, sets the above registration conditions in order to promote the sale of “Soccer Advanced Technique”. This allows users to search for web pages that contain the word soccer, the word technique or technique, and the words shoot, dribble, or heading at the same time. It can be instructed that the banner advertisement image 503 is displayed in association with the URL information thus given.

The third advertisement information has an advertisement ID of 100006, the registration condition is “soccer AND World Cup AND (ticket OR airline ticket OR tour)”, the advertisement image is a banner advertisement image 506, and the advertisement information is The URL is http: 〃www.japa ntravel.co.jp/special/tour.htm. The provider of the advertisement information is a travel agency that sells air tickets and travel tours, and sets the above registration conditions to promote the sale of tickets for watching the World Cup in soccer, in particular. . As a result, when the URL information of a web page that includes the words soccer, re, and u, the word World Cup, and the words ticket, air ticket, or tour at the same time is displayed as a user search result And the banner ad image in the searched URL information 506 can be instructed to be displayed in association with it.

 The fourth advertisement information has the advertisement ID of 100005, the registration condition is “(Premium OR only) AND product”, the advertisement image is the banner advertisement image 505, and the URL of the advertisement information is http: 〃www auction, com / index, htm. The provider of the advertisement information is a website that sells premium products at an auction, and sets the above-mentioned registration conditions in order to allow users who are interested in premium products to participate in the auction. As a result, when the URL information of a Web page that includes both the word “premium” or “limited” and the word “product” is displayed as a search result of the user, the banner advertisement image 505 is associated with the searched URL information. You can instruct them to be displayed separately.

 FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram of another data format of the advertisement information stored in the advertisement database 50. In this data format, the registration conditions for advertising information are specified by a list of categories in a hierarchical structure. The first advertisement information has an advertisement ID of 100010 and the registration condition is', a list of hierarchical categories such as' hobby: travel: overseas', 'education: language: English', 'education: study abroad', etc. Yes, the advertisement image is a banner advertisement image 510, and the URL of the advertisement information is http: 〃www.abcschool.co.jp / index.htm. For “Hobby: Travel: Overseas”, the lower-level category “Travel” is specified in the upper-level category “Hobby”, and the lower-level category “Overseas” is specified in the category “Travel”. Category of hierarchical structure. The registration condition is given by a list of categories in a hierarchical structure, and means that the advertisement information is registered with respect to URL information of a Web page belonging to any of the listed categories. The provider of the advertisement information is a language school, and the above registration conditions are set in order to encourage users who are interested in language to visit the web server of the language school. As a result, the URL information of the Web page classified into one of the categories such as “hobby: travel: overseas”, “education: language: English”, and “education: study abroad” can be obtained as a user search result. When displayed, it can be instructed to display the banner advertisement image 5100 in association with the searched URL information.

The second advertisement information has an advertisement ID of 100011 and the registration condition is "Business: Medical This is a list of categories with a hierarchical structure such as “medical institution: home medical care”, “local information: Chiba prefecture: Chiba city: medical care”, “health and medicine: nursing: groups”, etc.

The ad information URL is http: httpwww.chiba-medical.co.jp/index.htm. The provider of the advertising information is the medical service center in Chiba II, and the above registration conditions are set in order to provide home medical care and home-visit nursing services to patients living in Chiba City or their families. As a result, the user's search results are classified into one of the categories such as “business: medical institution: home medical care”, “local information: Chiba prefecture: Chiba 巿: medical care”, and “health and medicine: nursing: association”. When the URL information of the web page is displayed, it can be instructed to display the banner advertisement image 511 in association with the searched URL information.

 FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram of another data format of the advertisement information stored in the advertisement database 50. In this data format, the registration conditions for the advertising information are given in a list of URLs. The first advertising information has an advertising ID of 100002, and the registration conditions are: http: www.shop.co.jp/sports http: // www. Sports-news, com / sales / special, htm, etc. The advertisement image is the banner advertisement image 502, and the URL of the advertisement information is http: 〃www.xyzsports.com / index, htm. The provider of the advertising information is a sporting goods store, and in particular, sets the above registration conditions to advertise the limited sale of official soccer World Cup shoes. For example, at the specified http: 〃 www. Spor ts—news, com / sales / special, on the web page of UR L at htm, there is a news article stating that the sporting goods store has a limited sale of official shoes. Has been. By setting the registration conditions as described above, when the web page of the specified URL is displayed as a search result of the user, the banner advertisement image 502 of the sporting goods store is displayed in association with the search result. Can be instructed.

The second advertising information has an advertising ID of 100004, and the registration condition is http: 〃www.worl dcup.soccer.com/iiiaex.htm http://www.newspaper.co.Jp/spo:rts http: / / ww w. tv-program, co.jp/sports, etc.List of URLs, advertisement image is banner advertisement image 504, and URL of advertisement information is http: //. sports, online, co.jp/ ind ex. htm. The provider of the advertising information distributes sports information online. The above-mentioned registration conditions are set in order to provide advertisements to users browsing sports news web pages.

 FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of an example of a search result screen displayed on the user terminal 10. When the user accesses the search server 30 through the user terminal 10, a field 420 for inputting a search expression as a search condition is displayed, and the search expression can be input. If you specify a search option (not shown), you can enter complex compound conditions. In this example, the user entered the search expression “soccer AND shoes”. When the user presses the search button 422 with the mouse or the like of the user terminal 10, the input search formula is transmitted to the search server 30, and the search server 30 starts searching for URL information that matches the search formula. As a result of the search, 2340 URL information items are extracted and displayed on the screen of the user terminal 10 in a list format, for example, for each 10 items.

 The first URL information displayed as a search result is “Soccer shoes me thorough thorough comparison” and the title of the web page, http://www.abc.ne.jp/soccer -shoes. This is a description extracted from a URL called htm and a part of the web page. The title of the web page is a hyperlink, and when the user clicks with the mouse, access http://ww.abc.ne.jp/soccer-shoes, htm; The banner advertisement image 501 is displayed as one of the list items right next to the title of the web page. The banner advertisement image 501 is an advertisement image of the advertisement ID100001, and the registration condition is a search expression “(tennis OR golf OR soccer) AND (sportswear OR shoes)” as described in FIG. Since the word “soccer” and “shoes” are included as keywords in the web page of the first URL information, it matches the registration conditions of the advertisement information of advertisement ID100001, and the banner image of advertisement ID100001 is displayed. Is displayed in association with the first URL information.

The title of the Web page of the second URL information displayed as a search result is “ヮ Official sale of official football shoes for the first cup”, URU http: 〃ww w. Sports— news, com / sales' / special, htm. A banner advertisement image 502 is displayed in the title of the web browser. The banner advertisement image 502 is an advertisement image of the advertisement ID 100002, and the registration conditions are given in the specified URL list as described in FIG. available. http: //www.sports-news, com / sales / special, htm is included in the designated URL list, so banner ad image 502 of advertisement ID 100002 is displayed in association with the second URL information Is done.

 The title of the Web page of the third URL information displayed as a search result is "Sports Science-Soccer". The banner ad image 503 is displayed right next to the title of the web page. The banner advertisement image 503 is the advertisement image of the advertisement ID 100003, and the registration condition is the search expression “soccer AND (technical OR technology) AND (shoot OR dribble OR heading)” as described in FIG. . Since the third page of the URL information Web page contains the words soccer, technology, and short as keywords, it matches the registration conditions of the advertisement information of advertisement ID 100003, and the banner advertisement of advertisement ID 100003. Image 503 is displayed in association with the third URL information.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of an example of an htm1 document in which URL information and advertisement information are combined. The combined information obtained by combining the URL information and the advertisement information is created as an htm1 document according to the tag format of the HTML. The html document has a header portion from <HEAD> to <HEAD> and a body portion from <B0DY> to <BODY>. From DL> to DL / DL> is a list of search results, from DT> to DL / DT> is a list element, and from DD> to DL / DD> is an explanation of the list elements It is. Describe the first list element of the search list. A HREF = http: // www. Abc. Ne. Jp / soccer— shoes, htm> Thorough comparison by soccer shoe manufacturer / A> is based on the title of the web page and the hyperlink to the web page. A HREF = ^// http: // www. Vwx. Com / index. Htm "> K IMG SRC =" adl00001. JPG "ALIGN = CENTERX / A> is the banner advertisement image adlOOOOl JPG and advertising information that specifies a hyperlink to a web page that provides advertising information URL information and advertising information are often enclosed in DT> tags to form one list element. http://www.abc.ne.jp/soccer-shoes.htm "and" Completely compared the durability, comfort, and price of soccer shoes from each manufacturer. " It is added after the list element as a description of the list element. The html document shown in Fig. 10 is sent to the user terminal 10, and the search result screen shown in Fig. 9 is displayed by the user. Displayed on terminal 10.

 FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram of another example of the search result screen displayed on the user terminal 10. In this example, the user performed a search by inputting the search expression “soccer AND World Cup”. As a result of the search, 1,200 pieces of URL information are extracted and displayed on the screen of the user terminal 10 in a list form of every 10 pieces. The title 404 of the web page of the first URL information of the search result is "Football World Cup Information Site J, UR L Puma http: // www. Worldcup. Soccer, com / index, htm fe The banner advertisement image 504 is displayed right next to the title of the web page.The banner advertisement image 504 is the advertisement image with the advertisement ID 100004, and the registration conditions are as shown in FIG. URL—given as a URL list http://ww.worldcup.soccer, com / index, and htm are included in the specified URL list, so the banner ad image 504 of the advertisement ID100004 contains the first URL information and Displayed in association.

 The title 40 5 of the web page of the second URL information of the search result is “Soccer @ 1st Cup Commemorative Product Sales”. The banner ad image 505 is displayed right next to the title of the web page. The banner advertisement image 505 is an advertisement image of the advertisement ID100005, and the registration condition is the search expression “(premium OR only) AND product” as described in FIG. Since the word “Premium” and “Product” are included as keywords in the Web page of the second URL information, it matches the registration conditions of the advertisement information of advertisement ID D100005, and the banner advertisement image of advertisement ID 100005 50 5 Is displayed in association with the second URL information.

The title 406 of the "Web page" of the third URL information in the search results is "World Cup 2002 Tour reservation acceptance started". A banner ad image 506 is displayed immediately next to the title of the web page. The banner image 506 is an advertisement image of the advertisement ID100006, and the registration condition is a search expression “soccer AND pearl cup AND (ticket OR air ticket OR tour)” as described in FIG. The web page of the 3rd 'URL information contains the words soccer, world cup, air ticket, ticket, and tour as keywords, so it matches the registration conditions of the advertising information of advertisement ID100006. , Banner ad image 506 with ad ID 100006 is the third Is displayed in association with the URL information.

 FIG. 12 is an explanatory diagram of a screen example of a search result in a case where a plurality of banner advertisement images are displayed next to URL information. Immediately next to the title 407 of the Web page of the first URL information, banner advertisement images 507, 508, and 509 associated with the URL information are displayed side by side. When there are many banner advertisement images associated with each other, a predetermined number of banner advertisement images may be selected and displayed next to the title 407.

 FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram of a screen example of a search result when a plurality of banner advertisement images are sequentially displayed next to URL information. In this example, immediately after the title 407 of the web page of the searched URL information, the banner advertisement images 507, 508 and 509 associated with the URL information are sequentially arranged one by one at a predetermined time interval. Will be displayed.

 FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a method of associating advertisement information with URL information. The advertisement information in the advertisement database 50 is associated with the URL information in the URL database 40 according to the registration condition of the advertisement information. When URL information is searched from the URL database 40 based on the search condition entered by the user, in order to promptly extract the advertisement information associated with the searched URL information from the advertisement database 50, the URL information is preliminarily obtained. It is preferable to associate advertising information. A method for associating advertisement information with URL information in advance will be described.

 When newly entering advertising information, a new advertising ID is allocated (S100). An advertisement image, an advertisement URL to be attached to the advertisement image as a hyperlink, and registration conditions are input and stored as advertisement information in the advertisement database 50 (S102). A list of URL information that matches the registration conditions is searched from the URL database 40 (S104). In order to associate the advertisement information with the URL information included in the searched URL information list, an advertisement ID of the advertisement information is added and stored in the URL database 40 (S106).

A case where the URL information of the registration destination is updated for the advertisement information already stored will be described. The reason for the need to update is that the URL information on the Internet is updated daily, and there is URL information that has been newly added and URL information that has been updated. . Enter the advertising ID (S108). The registration condition of the advertisement information having the input advertisement ID is extracted from the advertisement database 50 (S110). Hereinafter, the process of searching for URL information that matches the extracted registration conditions and adding an advertisement ID is the same as the processes S104 and S106 for new advertisement information.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating a method of adding advertisement information to the searched URL information. The search condition receiving unit 302 receives the search condition from the user terminal 10 (S200). The URL search unit 304 extracts a list of URL information that matches the search condition from the URL database 40 based on the search condition (S202). The number of searched URL information is substituted for a constant K, and a variable n for storing the number of displayed information is initialized to zero (S204). The variable n is increased by 10 (S206). It is determined whether or not the variable n is larger than the number K of searches (S208). If n is larger than K, the process is terminated. If not, the process proceeds to S210. The advertisement information synthesizing unit 306 determines the number of the extracted URL information from the nth to the (n + 1) th URL information based on the advertisement ID added to the URL information. Is extracted from the advertisement database 50 (S210). Further, the advertisement information synthesizing unit 306 creates, as synthetic information, a search result list with advertisement information in which a banana advertisement image is added to each of the n-th to n + 1-th URL information (S212). . The search result transmitting unit 308 transmits the search result list with the advertisement to the user terminal 10 (S214). The user terminal 10 waits for an instruction to display the next 10 search lists (S2166). When receiving the instruction command for displaying the next 10 search lists, the process returns to step S206, and the processes from S206 to S214 are repeated. If the display of the next 10 search lists is not instructed after a predetermined time has elapsed, the process ends. A modification example of the above embodiment will be described. Although the case of banner advertisement has been described above as the advertisement information, the advertisement information has text data, for example, a URL of a web page that provides detailed information of the advertisement as a hyperlink, and character data representing the content of the advertisement. It may be one. As a method of associating the advertisement information with the URL information, as described above, in addition to the method of arranging the advertisement information immediately next to the title of the web page, the advertisement information is placed under the title of the web page or under the URL. Placement force We b There is also a method of placing advertising information at the head of the page or URL. Banner ads can be either horizontal or vertical.

 Further, in the above-described embodiment, the expiration date of the advertisement may be provided in the provided advertisement information, and the advertisement provider or the administrator of the search server 30 may specify the expiration date. The advertising information is added to the associated URL information within the specified expiration date.

 Further, in the above embodiment, the advertisement fee paid by the advertisement provider is not described, but various methods can be considered for the method of collecting the advertisement fee. For example, the URL information may be searched based on the registration condition for selecting the URL information to which the advertisement information is added, the advertisement fee may be determined based on the number of the URL information, and the advertisement provider may be charged. Alternatively, the search server 30 counts the number of times that the advertisement information is added to the URL information of the search result of the user and is displayed, and requests the advertisement provider to pay an advertisement fee based on the displayed number. You may.

 As described above, according to the information providing system of the present embodiment, when a user sets a search condition and searches a web page on a server that provides an internet search service, the searched web page is searched. A list of URL information of the page is displayed, and advertisement information related to the listed URL information is displayed near the corresponding URL information. Therefore, the user can see the advertisement information highly relevant to the searched URL information.

In addition, the vast amount of information on the Internet makes it difficult for users to narrow down their searches. If the user does not set the search conditions properly, the number of search results tends to be large. According to the information providing system of the present embodiment, when it is difficult to search for the target information because the searched information is enormous, the user uses the advertisement information such as a banner advertisement to search for the target information. You can also. Banner advertisements are provided by advertisement providers in a timely manner to provide information on products and services that are of interest to the user.Thus, banner advertisements are displayed in association with URL information search results. Can find the target Web page more quickly. Therefore, a banner advertisement is displayed in the search result list, and a banner advertisement is displayed in the search result list, thereby assisting the user in searching for information. Thus, the desired information can be provided in a shorter time.

 Further, according to the information providing system of the present embodiment, the advertisement provider can specify the Web page for which the advertisement information is to be displayed by using a search condition, a category, and a list of URLs. When the URL information is searched and displayed by the user, the advertisement information can be displayed near the URL information and provided to the user, so that the advertisement can be more effectively provided to the user.

 (Second embodiment)

 An information providing system according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. The information providing system according to the second embodiment includes a search server 30 which is an example of an information providing device, a web page service for classifying web pages by category, and introducing a popular or representative web page. The second embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that the server provides a service for introducing a typical Web page. The description of the same configurations and functions as those in the first embodiment will be omitted, and only different portions will be described.

 The search expression receiving unit 302 of the search server 30 of the present embodiment receives, from the user terminal 10, category designation information for designating the category of the Web page that the user wants to browse. The URL search unit 304 extracts, from the URL database 40, URL information of a Web page registered in a specified category or URL information of a representative or popular Web page in the specified category. The advertisement information combining unit 306 creates combined information in which the advertisement information related to the extracted URL information is combined with the URL information. The search result transmitting unit 308 transmits the synthesis information to the user terminal. The method for associating the advertisement information with the URL information and the display format are the same as those in the first embodiment.

FIG. 16 is an explanatory diagram of an example of the composite information displayed on the user terminal 10. The user accesses the search server 30 and specifies a category to be viewed. The category has a hierarchical directory structure, and the user designates a desired category in the directory while bypassing the hierarchical structure through an appropriate user interface. The directory 430 is a directory specified by the user, and the user selects a natural science category from the home directory of the search server 30 and further selects a natural science category. We selected engineering categories that belonged to Gori, and then selected electrical engineering and electronics categories from the engineering category.

 When the directory 430 is selected, a lower category is displayed in a category column 440. Directory 430 indicates that there are additional categories of research institutes, standards organizations, academic societies, and companies. The numbers in parentheses indicate the number of Web sites registered in each category.

 In addition, the Web site registered in the category specified in the directory 430 is displayed in the Web site column 450. The website titles 407, 408, and 409 are hyperlinks that, when clicked, allow the user to access the URL of each website. A brief description of the website is provided below the title of the website. Advertising information associated with the URL information of the website is displayed near the title of the website. Next to the titles 407, 408, and 409, banner advertisement images 507, 508, and 509 are displayed, respectively.

 FIG. 17 is an explanatory diagram of another example of the provided information displayed on the user terminal 10. In this example, when the user accesses the search server 30 and designates a desired category, the search server 30 displays popular or representative Web sites in the designated category. The user specifies a hierarchical category in the directory. The directory 432 is a category specified by the user. Under the home directory, a shopping category was selected, and a used product category and a free market category were selected in that order. Popular or representative websites may be determined by the administrator of the search server 30, and may be determined based on the frequency and popularity of websites in magazines, expert opinion, or user voting. You may.

For the category 4 32 specified by the user, the best site 4 52 is displayed, for example, up to the top 10. Next to the titles 4 13, 4 14, and 4 15 of the displayed web page, banner advertisement images 5 13, 5 14, and 5 15 are displayed, respectively. In this embodiment, in an information providing server such as a home service that introduces a web page for each category, URL information is provided near the UR'L information of the web site displayed when a user specifies a category. Related advertising information can be displayed, and the effectiveness of advertising can be enhanced.

 (Third embodiment)

 The search server 30 as an example of the information providing device in the information providing systems of the first and second embodiments may be realized by a general-purpose computer. FIG. 18 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a general-purpose computer 600. In FIG. 18, a computer 600 operates based on a program stored in a ROM 604 and a RAM 606 in a CPU 602. The input device 608 allows the administrator of the search server 30 to input a data @ command. A hard disk drive 610 as an example of a storage device stores setting information and a program on which the CPU 602 operates.

 The floppy disk drive 614 reads data or a program from the floppy disk 624 and provides it to the CPU 602. The CD-ROM drive 6 16 reads data or a program from the CD-ROM 626 and provides it to the CPU 602. The communication interface 6 18 connects to the user terminal 10 via the Internet 20 to transmit and receive data. The database interface 612 connects to various databases 622 to transmit and receive data in the databases. Further, an interface for connecting to the display 628 is provided, and the administrator can monitor the operation status with the display 628 and check setting information.

The functional configuration of the software executed by the CPU 602 is the same as the functional configuration in the functional block diagram of the search server 30 of the first and second embodiments. These software are stored in a recording medium such as a floppy disk 624 or a CD-ROM 626 and provided to users. The software stored on the recording medium may be compressed or uncompressed. The software is installed on the hard disk drive 610 from the recording medium, read out to the RAM 606, and read out from the CPU 60. Performed by 2.

 The functional configuration of the software stored on the recording medium, that is, the software installed on the hard disk drive 6100 is the same as the functional configuration of the search server 30 of the first and second embodiments. It has a search expression receiving module, a URL search module, an advertisement information synthesis module, and a search result transmission module. The processing performed by the CPU 602 by each of the above modules is the same as the function and operation of the corresponding component in the search server 30 of the first and second embodiments, and therefore the description is omitted.

 A floppy disk 6 24 or a CD-ROM 6 26 as an example of a recording medium shown in FIG. 26 has a search server 3 as an example of an information providing apparatus according to all the embodiments described in the present application. Some or all functions of the zero operation can be stored. Further, when a part of the operation of the user terminal 10 described in the above embodiment is performed by the search server 30 instead of the user terminal 10, one of the operations of the terminal 10 described in the above embodiment may be performed. The part can also be stored on a floppy disk 624 or a CD-ROM 626.

These programs may be read directly from the recording medium to the RAM and executed, or may be read and executed by the RAM after being installed in the hard disk drive. Further, the program may be stored on a single recording medium or on a plurality of recording media. Also, it may be stored in an encoded form. Recording media include floppy disks, CD-ROMs, optical recording media such as DVDs, magnetic recording media such as MDs, magneto-optical recording media such as PDs, tape media, magnetic recording media, IC cards and miniatures. A semiconductor memory or the like such as force can be used. Further, a storage device such as a hard disk or a RAM provided in a server system connected to a dedicated communication network or the Internet may be used as a recording medium, and the program may be provided to the search server 30 via the communication network. . Such a recording medium is used only for manufacturing the search server 30, and the manufacture and sale of such a recording medium as a business constitutes infringement of the patent right based on the present application. Is clear. As described above, according to the information providing system of the present invention, when a user searches for information using the Internet search service, related advertisement information is added near the searched information. Therefore, the user can obtain the advertisement information related to the searched information. In addition, even if the searched information is enormous, the target information can be quickly obtained by using the advertisement information. Also, the ad provider

When the related URL information is searched for and displayed by the user, the advertisement can be displayed near the URL information and provided to the user, so that the effect of the advertisement can be enhanced.

 The power which explained the embodiment of the invention as described above The technical scope of the invention according to the present application is not limited to the above embodiment. The invention described in the claims can be implemented by adding various changes to the above embodiment. It is also clear from the description of the claims that such an invention belongs to the technical scope of the invention according to the present application. Industrial applicability

 As is evident from the above description, according to the present invention, it is possible to securely and easily settle a transaction for a product via a network.

Claims

The scope of the claims

1. An information providing system comprising: a terminal connected to a communication network; and an information providing apparatus connected to the communication network and adding related information to the provided information requested by the terminal and transmitting the information to the terminal. And

 The information providing device,

 A related information database that stores the provided information provided to the terminal, a related information database that stores the related information and a selection condition for selecting the provided information to which the related information is added,

 Extracting the provided information from the provided information database in response to a request from the terminal, extracting the related information to be added to the provided information from the related information database based on the selection condition, and adding the related information An information combining unit that creates combined information in which the related information is added to the provided information so as to be displayed near the provided information;

 A transmitting unit that transmits the combined information combined by the information combining unit to the terminal,

 The terminal,-a receiving unit for receiving the combined information,

 A display unit for displaying the related information in the vicinity of the provided information based on the combined information

An information providing system, characterized in that:

 2. An information providing apparatus for transmitting related information to the terminal by adding related information to the provided information requested by the terminal,

 An offer information database that stores the offer information;

 A related information database that stores the related information and a selection condition for selecting the provided information to which the related information is added;

The provided information is extracted from the provided information database in response to a request from the terminal, and the related information to be added to the provided information is associated with the related information based on the selection condition. An information synthesizing unit that extracts from the continuous information database and creates synthesized information in which the related information is added to the provided information so that the related information is displayed near the provided information at the destination;

 A transmitting unit that transmits the combined information created by the information combining unit to a terminal;

An information providing device comprising:

 3. The information synthesizing unit extracts a plurality of pieces of provided information from the provided information database, and extracts a plurality of pieces of related information to be added to each of the plurality of pieces of provided information based on the selection condition. The plurality of related information is extracted from a database, and the plurality of related information is added to the plurality of provided information so that each of the plurality of related information is displayed near each of the plurality of provided information corresponding to the adding destination. The information providing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the combined information to which the information is added is created.

 4. The information synthesizing unit displays the plurality of pieces of provided information in a list format, and each of the plurality of related pieces of information is one of items of a list, and the plurality of provided pieces of corresponding destinations are added. 4. The information providing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the combined information is created so as to be displayed near each piece of information.

 5. The apparatus further includes an provided information search unit that searches the provided information from the provided information database based on a search condition for searching for the provided information,

 The information synthesizing unit extracts the related information added to the provided information searched by the provided information searching unit from the related information database based on the selection condition, and creates the synthesized information. The information providing device according to claim 2 or 4, wherein

 6. The provided information database stores the provided information that matches the selection condition in association with the identification information of the related information corresponding to the selection condition,

 The information combining unit extracts the related information to be added to the provided information from the related information database by using the identification information of the related information associated with the provided information, and creates the combined information. The information provision described in claim 5 characterized in that

7. The selection condition is a search condition for searching the provided information, and the provided information 7. The information provider according to claim 6, wherein the database stores the provided information that matches the search condition in association with the identification information of the related information.

8. The selection condition is a category into which the provided information is classified, and the provided information database stores the provided information matching the category in association with the identification information of the related information. The information according to claim 6, characterized in that:

9. The selection condition is a list of a plurality of pieces of identification information of the provided information, and the provided information database stores the provided information identified by the identification information of the provided information included in the list. 7. The information providing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the identification information of the related information is stored in association with the related information.

 10. The information synthesizing unit is configured to, when there are a plurality of related information items to be added to the provided information, perform the synthesizing so that the plurality of the related information items are displayed side by side near the provided information item to which the information is added. The information providing device according to claim 5, wherein the information providing device creates information.

 11. The information synthesizing unit, when there is a plurality of related information to be added to the provided information, sequentially displays the plurality of related information at predetermined time intervals in the vicinity of the provided information to which the information is added. 6. The information providing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the composite information is generated so as to generate the composite information.

12. The provided information is information about a URL in a WWW service, and the related information is advertising information to which a URL for providing detailed information of an advertisement is added. Information providing device according to the item.

13. An information providing apparatus for adding advertisement information to information related to a URL requested by a terminal and transmitting the information to the terminal,

 A URL information database that stores URL information to be provided to the terminal; an advertisement information database that stores the advertisement information in association with a search condition for advertisement registration for searching the URL information to which the advertisement information is added;

Based on a search condition for searching for the URL information input from the terminal, A URL information search unit for searching the URL information from the URL information database; and receiving the advertisement information to be added to the URL information when a request for displaying the URL information is received from the terminal. An information synthesizing unit that extracts the advertisement information from the advertisement information database based on the URL information and creates synthetic information in which the advertisement information is added to the URL information so that the advertisement information is displayed near the URL information to which the advertisement information is added. ,

 A transmitting unit that transmits the combined information created by the information combining unit to a terminal;

An information providing device comprising:

 1 4. The URL information search unit searches a plurality of the URL information from the URL information database,

 The information synthesizing unit extracts a plurality of pieces of advertisement information to be added to each of the plurality of pieces of URL information from the advertisement information database based on the search condition for advertisement registration, and the plurality of pieces of URL information are in a list format. The plurality of pieces of URL information are displayed such that each of the plurality of pieces of advertisement information is displayed as one of the items of the list in the vicinity of each of the plurality of pieces of URL information of the corresponding addition destination. 14. The information providing apparatus according to claim 13, wherein the combined information in which the plurality of pieces of the advertisement information are added is created.

 1 5. The URL information database stores the URL information matching the advertisement registration search condition with the identification information of the advertisement information corresponding to the advertisement registration search condition,

 The information combining unit extracts the advertisement information to be added to the URL information from the advertisement information database using the identification information of the advertisement information associated with the URL information, and Claim 14 characterized by the fact that

1 6. The search condition for advertisement registration is one of a logical expression for searching the URL information based on a keyword, a category into which the URL information is classified, and a list of URLs specifying the URL information. The method according to claim 15, wherein

17. The URL information includes the title of the web page, the URL of the web page, and the description of the web page, and the advertisement information includes the URL of the web page that provides detailed information of the advertisement. 15. The banner advertisement to which a banner ad is added, wherein the information composition unit creates the composite 5 information so that the banner advertisement is displayed near the title or the URL. Information providing device according to the item.

 18. The information synthesizing unit, when there are a plurality of the banner advertisements to be added to the URL information, includes the title of the URL information corresponding to the plurality of the banner advertisements.

18. The information providing apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the combined information is created such that the combined information is displayed side by side in the vicinity of the URL.

 10 19. When there are a plurality of the banner advertisements to be added to the URL information, the information synthesizing unit includes, in the vicinity of the title or the URL of the URL information corresponding to the plurality of the banner advertisements, 18. The information providing apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the composite information is created so as to be sequentially displayed at predetermined time intervals.

 20. Add related information to the information requested by the terminal and send it to the terminal

15 A computer-readable recording medium recording a computer program, wherein the program is:

 An additional information search unit that searches the additional information from an additional information database that stores the additional information based on a search condition for searching for the additional information input from the terminal;

 20 The related information to be added to the provided information searched by the provided information search unit from a related information database storing the related information and a selection condition for selecting the provided information to which the related information is added. An information combining module that extracts information based on the selection condition and creates combined information in which the related information is added to the provided information so that the related information is displayed near the provided information to which the information is added; When,

 25 a transmitting module for transmitting the combined information created by the information combining unit to a terminal;

 A recording medium comprising:

2 1. Add the related information to the information requested by the terminal and send it to the terminal An information providing method,

 Extracting the selection condition of the related information from a related information database in which the related information and a selection condition for selecting the provided information to which the related information is added are stored in association with each other;

 Searching the provided information that matches the selection condition from a provided information database that stores the provided information;

 Storing the retrieved provided information in the provided information database in association with the identification information of the related information associated with the selection condition;

 Searching the provided information database for the provided information and the identification information of the related information added to the provided information, based on a search condition of the provided information input by the terminal;

 The related information is extracted from the related information database by using the identification information of the related information associated with the provided information, and the related information is displayed near the provided information to which the information is added. Creating composite information in which the related information is added to the provided information;

An information providing method comprising:

 22. transmitting the combined information to the terminal;

 22. The information providing method according to claim 21, further comprising: displaying the related information near the provided information based on the combined information.

23. An information providing method for providing advertisement information to the user by adding advertisement information to the information requested by the user,

 Selecting the provided information based on an advertisement registration search condition for searching for the provided information to which the advertisement information is added, and associating the advertisement information with the selected provided information;

 In response to a request from the user for the provided information, the advertisement information is added to the provided information so that the advertisement information associated with the provided information is displayed near the provided information at the addition destination. The step of creating synthetic information and

An information providing method comprising: