WO2004084109A1

WO2004084109A1 - A method of determining an intention of internet user, and a method of advertising via internet by using the determining method and a system thereof

Info

Publication number: WO2004084109A1
Application number: PCT/KR2004/000415
Authority: WO
Inventors: Sang Won Park; Jae Young Han; Kwon Su Na
Original assignee: Nhn Corporation
Priority date: 2003-03-18
Filing date: 2004-02-27
Publication date: 2004-09-30
Also published as: CN1761972A; JP2006520939A; KR100447526B1

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and system wherein a user's field of interest, i.e., the user's access intention is known using the Internet and the results are applied to predetermined fields. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and system wherein an event input by an Internet user is analyzed to understand the type of information desired by the user, and the results are used to determine the user's access intention in order to provide specific advertisements or other information to the user. An advertising method via the Internet according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises the steps of receiving an event from a user; classifying the event according to a predetermined category; recording the event as a history file; determining whether the input event represents the user's field of interest based on a predetermined reference by analyzing the history file; recoding the event that is determined to represent the user's field of interest as an advertisement file; and if the user accesses the Internet, providing advertisements associated with the advertisement file to the user. Preferably, the history file and the advertisement file may be a cookie file.

Description

AMETHOD OFDETERMININGANINTENTION OFINTERNETUSER.AND

AMETHOD OFADVERTISINGVIAINTERNET BYUSINGTHE

DETERMININGMETHOD ANDASYSTEMTHEREOF

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a method and system wherein a user's field of interest, i.e., the user's access intention is known using the Internet and the results are applied to predetermined fields. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and system wherein an event input by an Internet user is analyzed to understand the type of information desired by the user, and the results are used to determine the user's access intention in order to provide specific advertisements or other information to the user.

Background Art

In a prior art, a method for analyzing a user's field of interest and providing predetermined information may include a method wherein the field of interest of a user who wants to become a member is received and information on the field of interest is provided to the member user regularly or irregularly via e mail, or advertisements related to the received field of interest are provided to the user when the user logs in.

Fig. la illustrates an exemplary list of fields of interest that are written when a user becomes a member according to the aforementioned prior art. If the user writes an interest list, the interest list is classified and stored by the user. Unless the user modifies the interest list through a specific procedure, it is determined that the user is interested in items written in the interest list. Such a prior art has a problem in that information actively reflecting a user's interest information that varies as time goes by is not provided. Furthermore, there is a problem in that temporary interest information rather than continuous interest information cannot be known. For example, if an Internet user will move next month, the user will have an increased interest in moving for a predetermined time but will have a decreasing interest after the move. The prior art, however, has a problem in that such temporary interest information cannot be known. Also, if a user himself or herself writes his/her own fields of interest, the fields of interest are merely roughly classified. It is also difficult to know the user's fields of interest more accurately.

Fig. lb shows an exemplary advertising method for displaying advertisements related to a search word on a portion of a screen if a web page is searched using a keyword in the related art.

In the advertising method shown in Fig. lb, if a user inputs a predetermined search word "plastic" 110, it is estimated that the user will have an interest in plastic operations or plastic surgery related to the search word "plastic" 110. Advertisements 120 on plastic surgery are thus displayed on a portion of a screen. The advertising method has an effect that it can increase advertising effects by displaying advertisements related to information for which the user intents to search from web pages. In this advertising method, however, corresponding advertisements are displayed only when the user inputs a corresponding search word. Not only is the exposure of advertisements inconsistent, but also the number of advertisements displayed on a screen for a corresponding search word is limited. For example, a user who frequently inputs "plastic" as a search word will have lots of interest in "plastic." If advertisements related to "plastic" are displayed even when the user inputs other search words, the number of advertisement exposures will increase and the click rate of the advertisements will also increase, so that advertising effects will be further increased. Furthermore, if useful information related to plastic as well as advertisements is provided to the user, a user's feeling of satisfaction will be significantly increased.

Disclosure of Invention

A method for determining an Internet user's access intention, and an advertising method via the Internet using the method and system thereof according to the present invention are conceived to solve the aforementioned problems in the prior art. An object of the present invention is to provide a method capable of determining an Internet user's access intention.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for determining an Internet user's access intention, and an advertising method via the Internet using the same and system thereof, wherein an Internet user's access intention is known in order to provide the user with information on fields in which the user has the greatest interest. A further object of the present invention is to provide a method for determining an Internet user's access intention, and an advertising method via the Internet using the same and system thereof, wherein an Internet user's access intention is known so that information on fields in which the user has the greatest interest can be provided to the user, thus not only maximizing advertising effects but also solving a problem in limitations of advertising resources provided corresponding to search words.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a method for determining an Internet user's access intention, and an advertising method via the

Internet using the same and system thereof, wherein an access intention of a number of Internet users are determined in order to predict fields in which the users will be highly interested in the future.

Internet using the same and system thereof, wherein an Internet user's access intention is determined and at the same time means for materializing several users is combined in order to provide the users with the most suitable information.

In order to accomplish the above objects, according to a preferred aspect of the present invention, a method for determining an Internet user' access intention comprises the steps of receiving a predetermined event from a user through the Internet, classifying the event by a predetermined category, recording history information of the event, determining whether the input event represents the user's field of interest based on a predetermined reference by analyzing the history information, and recording the event that is determined to represent the user's field of interest.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for providing information via the Internet, comprising the steps of receiving a predetermined event from a user, classifying the event by a predetermined category, recording history information of the event, determining whether the input event represents a user's field of interest based on a predetermined reference by analyzing the history information, recording the event that is determined to represent the user's field of interest, linking the event and predetermined information, and if the user accesses the Internet, providing the linked information to the user.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an advertising method via the Internet, comprising the steps of receiving an event from a user, classifying the event according to a predetermined category, recording the event as a history file, determining whether the input event represents a user's field of interest based on a predetermined reference by analyzing the history file, recording the event that is determined to represent the user's field of interest as an advertisement file, and if the user accesses the Internet, providing advertisements associated with the advertisement file to the user.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an advertising system via the Internet, comprising a communication unit for receiving a predetermined event from a user, a processing unit for classifying the event according to a predetermined category, recording the event as a history file and determining whether the input event represents the user's field of interest based on a predetermined reference by analyzing the history file, an advertisement file-writing unit for recording the event that is determined to represent the user's field of interest as an advertisement file, and a control unit for controlling a predetermined advertisement server so that advertisements associated with the advertisement file are displayed to the user.

Brief Description of Drawings

Fig. la illustrates an exemplary list of fields of interest that are written when a user becomes a member according to the aforementioned prior art.

Fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for determining the intention of an Internet user according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method for providing information via the Internet according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 4 is block diagrams illustrating the construction of a system for implementing a method for providing information via the Internet shown in Fig. 3 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 5 is a block diagram illustrating the construction of a system for implementing the method for providing information via the Internet shown in Fig. 3 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method for providing information via the Internet according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 7 shows an example of an advertising screen displayed considering both information on an Internet user's intention and information on the user's access position according to an embodiment of the present invention user

Fig. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an advertising system via the Internet according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Fig. 9 is an internal block diagram illustrating a general-purpose computer system that may be used to determine an Internet user's intention and to provide information based the determined intention according to the present invention.

Best Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

Hereinafter, a method for determining intention of an Internet user, and an advertising method via the Internet using the method and system thereof according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. determination on user intention>

This embodiment relates to a method for receiving a predetermined event from an Internet user and determining the intention of the Internet user who is connected to the Internet, i.e., the user's field of interest by analyzing such an event.

The Internet user will access the Internet for a variety of reasons. One of the reasons may be to use services of information search, games, e-mail, financial transactions, etc. via the Internet. In the method for determining the intention of an Internet user according to an aspect of the present invention intention, the intention of the user can be determined in a case where the user is connected to the Internet with the intention of searching for information via the Internet, which was found to be the most common among a variety of access intentions of Internet users. It is also possible to determine the intention of a user in all the embodiments wherein data that may become a basis for knowing the intention of the user such as chatting or a messenger service are input by the user.

Referring to Fig. 2, the method for determining the intention of an Internet user according to an embodiment of the present invention is as follows. In order to determine the intention of an Internet user, a predetermined event is received from the user (step 210). A method for receiving a predetermined event may be mainly classified into three kinds.

(1) An Internet user accesses a portal site that provides a search engine and then inputs a search word for a predetermined information search. In this case, an event is an input of the search word by the user. Furthermore, as described above, the search word may be specified based on words frequently mentioned when a user uses Internet chatting or a messenger service as well as a search engine. For example, if words such as "shoes," "shopping" or the like are frequently shown when the user uses the messenger service, it is possible to specify that an event input by the user will be related to "shoes," "shopping" or the like by collecting these words. (2) An Internet user drives a web browser and then inputs a URL (Universal

Resource Locator) of a web site in which predetermined information is located to an address input window of the web browser. An event is an input of URL by the Internet user. In this case, it is possible to specify the event by extracting only the highest portion of the URL and then determining that the extracted highest URL belongs to which category. For example, if the user inputs http ://www.kipo . go .kr/patentlaw.htm to the address input window, www.kipo.go.lq- being the highest portion of the URL is extracted and it is then determined that the extracted URL is URL belonging to a patent, a trade mark and the like. It is thus possible to specify that the event input by the user is in connection with a patent or a trademark. If an event input by the user is an IP address, a domain name for the IP address can be obtained through a reverse domain name service query.

(3) An Internet user clicks hypertext linked to predetermined information displayed on a web site. In this case, it is possible to specify an event input by the user by extracting contents information of the hypertext. For instance, if a user click the word "patent" displayed as a hyperlink to reach information related to "patent," it is possible to specify that an event input by the user pertains to "patent."

As above, the event of the Internet user is received and the event is classified by category (step 220). In step 220, the category refers to a collection of predetermined patterns of the event input by the user. For example, if the user inputs "patent" as a search word, it is possible to categorize the search word "patent" depending on an event corresponding thereto in view of its properties. Such category classification is performed in order to determine whether an event input by a user is surely an event that can be determined as the user's field of interest. If the user arbitrarily inputs the search word "patent" once, it is unreasonable to determine that "patent" is the user's field of interest based on this one-time search. If the user inputs the search words "flower delivery" once, it is possible to determine that the user is interested in "flower delivery" in view of search words. As such, in step 220, it is determined that the input event is an event that belongs to which category and the event is then classified.

The event input by the user is classified by category and history information of the event is recorded (step 230). This history information may contain the number of input of an event, information regarding that the event is input during what period. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, history information may be recorded in the form of a cookie file. A cookie file in which history information is recorded may be stored in a user device or a system for knowing the intention of a user according to the present invention. Next, the history information of the recorded event is analyzed (step 240) and the user's fields of interest are then determined based on a predetermined reference according to the analyzed information (step 250). Steps 240 and 250 wherein the history information of the event is analyzed to determine the user's fields of interest may be carried out based on a predetermined reference according to the category of the event input by the user, as described above. In step 240, the number of the event input, which is recorded in the history information, the period during which the event is input (period from the first input to the second input), etc. is analyzed. It is determined whether the event represents the user's fields of interest based on the predetermined reference according to the analysis results (step 250). The predetermined reference is several conditions of an event input by the user, which are predetermined by category. The predetermined reference may be at least one of a number of input events, i.e., the frequency of the event generated, recency degree of the event generated and a priority predetermined in association with the event.

The predetermined reference for determining a user's intention according to the category to which the event belongs may be various. That is, an event input by a user, for example, search words input by the user are "flower delivery," it is possible to estimate that a considerable degree of immediacy is required in view of the search words "flower delivery." In other words, the user may intend to deliver flowers within a short time. In case of a search word having strong immediacy, it is possible to determine that the user's interest is also strong in immediacy. Though such an event is input by the user only once, it may be determined that the user has a considerable interest in the event. It is thus possible to determine that such event represents the user's intention intact. On the contrary, if an event input by a user, for instance, the search word input by the user is "emigration" or "studying abroad," it may be determined that the word has very low immediacy compared to "flower delivery" in view of the search word(s) "emigration" or "studying abroad." That is, it is determined that the user may be consistently interested in the search word for a considerable time. Accordingly, it may be unreasonable to determine that only the search word represents the user's intention intact. If the search word is input over five times in a month, it may be determined that the user has considerable interest or consistent interest in the field of "emigration" or "studying abroad." It is also possible to determine that the user's intention is to search for information on this field. For this determination, the aforementioned predetermined reference is applied. This reference may include how recently an event has been input or what priority the event has. For example, if an event input yesterday is input today again, it may be determined that the user's interest is greater than a request input a week before. It is possible to set an event related to flower delivery or restaurant to have a priority higher than an event related to the emigration, studying- abroad or the like. In step 250, it is determined whether the event input in step 210 represents the user's field of interest based on the predetermined reference. If it is determined that the event meets the predetermined reference, the event is recorded (step 260). Meanwhile, if it is determined that the event does not meet the predetermined reference, the process returns to step 230. In step 250, the event that represents the user's field of interest is recorded as the user's field of interest (step 260). According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, an event that meets the user's field of interest can be recorded in the form of a cookie file. The user's field of interest can be recorded in the form of the cookie file and is stored on the part of the user. According to the present invention, the field of interest may be stored in the system for understanding the intention of the user. Alternately, as another embodiment of a method for recording the user's field of interest, a method for classifying and storing a user's determined fields of interest by the user can be used. The user's field of interest may be stored in a predetermined database means provided on the part of a central server for understanding the access intention of a user. Further, the central server may be used to know only the access intention of a user and an additional server means may be used to store the perceived intention of the user therein. Based on the perceived intention of the user, predetermined information including advertisements can be specified by the user and is then provided to the user.

The event that is determined to represent the user's field of interest, which is recorded as above, can be consistently updated if there is another event from the user and it is determined that such event is determined to represent the user's field of interest based on the determined reference as a result of analyzing history information classified/recorded by category. According to an embodiment of the present invention, in step 260, the event recorded as the user's field of interest may be plural in nature.

The method for understanding the access intention of a user according to the present invention can be designed to determine a user's field of interest according to an arbitrary request received from a user. For accuracy of determination, however, it is possible to limit the number or range of requests that can be used to determine a user's field of interest. In this case, since a user's field of interest, i.e., a user's access intention may be determined more accurately, the determined access intention of a user can be used more effectively. For example, an event of events that is determined to best represent a user's intention is determined and the field of interest can be then determined only when an event input by the user belongs to the determined event. In this case, it is not required to perform the step of classifying those events by category, which are determined not to reflect a user's intention, and the step of recording history information. Accordingly, there are advantages in that it is possible to efficiently use the storage and to easily implement the system.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in the method for understanding a user's intention, a predetermined client program may be installed on a user side. That is, the client program installed on a user device may be operated to monitor user's events (the input of search words or predetermined URLs, clicks of hyperlinks, and the like), classify the event by category, record history information of the event and analyze the recorded history information, in order to determine user's fields of interest based on the predetermined references. According to this embodiment, there is an advantage in that the user's fields of interest can be known by monitoring all cases where a user uses several Internet services. For example, even when a user not only inputs a search word at a search site A but also inputs a search word at a second search site B, it is possible to trace those search words as events. It is thus possible to understand the user's fields of interest more accurately.

Alternately, according to an embodiment of the present invention, before the client program is installed, basic information such as the sex, age, address, occupation, etc. may be received from a user so that reference to them can be made in determining a user's field of interest. For example, if a user is a married woman in her thirties, child rearing, cooking, etc. as the user's fields of interest will be given with a higher priority. Alternately, according to an embodiment of the present invention, if a sample where predetermined objectivity can be secured is obtained, it is possible to consistently determine the current fields of interest of an Internet user by age or sex and to utilize the determined fields of interest of the Internet user in a variety of mamiers. <Providing information via Internet>

This embodiment relates to a method for providing an Internet user with predetermined information corresponding to the user's access intention by using the aforementioned method for determining the user's access intention. Basically, the user's field of interest is determined using the method for determining the Internet user's intention and the field of interest and advertisements related to the field of interest are then linked, so that information related to the field of interest is displayed to the user.

Fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a method for providing information via the Internet according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to Fig. 3, the method for providing information via the Internet according to the present invention is implemented as follows by using the aforementioned method for determining an Internet user's intention. An example of information provided is advertisements.

In an example of the method for providing information via the Internet shown in Fig. 3, a history file for recording history information of an event input by a user, and an advertisement file for recording an event that is determined to represent the user's access intention as a result of analyzing event are used. In this embodiment, for convenience of explanation, though a history cookie is used as an example of the history file and an advertisement cookie is used as an example of the advertisement file, it is evident that a file of any form can be used only if it is a file in which a history for a predetermined event or an analyzed event can be recorded.

Referring to Fig. 3, in the same manner as the method for determining the access intention of an Internet user described with reference to Fig. 2, a predetermined event is received from a user (step 310). The input event is classified by a predetermined category (step 315). Like the description made with reference to Fig. 2, category refers to a collection of a predetermined pattern of an event input by a user. For example, such a category may be divided according to the degree of immediacy held by an event, i.e., a period that is determined to be effective to know the user's field of interest using the event (hereinafter, referred to as "available period"). That is, if an input event is an event that requires strong immediacy such as "flower delivery," the event is classified as a category where one day (on a daily basis) is the available period. If the event is an event that needs to be watched for a predetermined period such as "computer," the event is classified as a category where a week (on a weekly basis) is the available period. If the event is an event that needs to be watched for a long time such as "studying abroad," the event is classified as a category where one month (on a monthly basis) is the available period. As such, the input event can be classified by category. Next, the event is recorded on an event history cookie (step 320). As those skilled in the art will be understood well, the cookie is a special text file through which a web site has it left in a user's system. This file is used for memorizing something regarding the user at a later time. If a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) is used, each request for a web page is independent regardless of other requests. Therefore, a web server does not have any record regarding whether any page has sent to a user before and even does not know that the user has visited which web site previously. A cookie is a device for controlling a web server to have a file regarding a user's access to a web stored in a user computer. Cookie files are usually stored in the lower side of a browser directory used by a user. A cookie is set as an attribute of "document.cookie" and its format is as follows:

Name = value; expire = expDate name: Is a name of a cookie that is stored in a virtual space of a browser and discriminates cookies. value: Is a cookie value expire: Is the expiration period where a cookie may exist in a cookie file as a keyword. expDate: Is the expiration period of a cookie having a GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) format. A cookie is a file stored in a user's computer. In Netscape, up to 300 cookie files can be stored in a single system. The size of a single file is limited to below 4KB.

Every time a new event is input, an event history cookie is updated (step 325). According to an embodiment of the present invention, the number of events stored in the event history cookie may be limited to a predetermined number. The updating can be carried out in a FIFO (First In First Out) mode. In FIFO mode, since an event input for the first time is removed from an event history cookie for the first time, the recency degree of the event is maintained and a storage space is efficiently used.

Further, events stored in the event history cookie may include only predetermined events. This is to prevent an event input by a user without any intention from being stored in the event history cookie. This not only allows a user's field of interest to be more accurately determined but also can reduce a system load necessary to determine the user's field of interest.

Alternately, according to an embodiment of the present invention, the expiration period for the predetermined event is set in the event history cookie. If the event is a predetermined event and the storage period of the event exceeds the expiration period, the event is removed from the event history cookie. For example, if an event is the search words "flower delivery" and the expiration period for the event is set below one day (the search words "flower delivery" has strong immediacy, as described above), the search words "flower delivery" may be removed from the event history cookie regardless of the FIFO mode if one day is expired in a state where the search words "flower delivery" are stored in the event history cookie. According to an embodiment of the present invention, if the event is classified by category based on the degree of immediacy in step 315, the expiration period can be automatically set according to aforementioned available period. In this case, as the same time when the category is classified, an event history cookie wherein the available period specified in the category is set to the expiration period is automatically generated. Incidentally, according to an embodiment of the present invention, such event history cookie is stored in a user's device. Also, a central server can update the event history cookie or issue a new event history cookie by reflecting a new event input by a user.

Next, the central server analyzes the event history cookie (step 330). After the event stored in the event history cookie is analyzed, it is determined whether the event represents the user's field of interest based on a determined reference according to the analysis result (step 335). The predetermined reference is several conditions predetermined by event, as described above, and may be at least one of the number of input of an event, i.e., the frequency number of an event generated, recency degree of an event and a priority predetermined in association with the event. For example, if the number of searches for "flower delivery" input, which is an event that is classified whose available period is one day in step 315, is 2 or more a day, or the number of input of the search word "computer," which is an event that is classified whose available period is over a week in step 315, is 3 or more a week, or the number of input of the search words "studying abroad," which is an event that is classified whose available period is over a month in step 315, is 5 or more a month, it may be determined that the aforementioned event represents the user's field of interest.

In addition, the priority can be determined according to the number of "hits" for advertisements associated with the event for a predetermined period. For example, if a user clicks advertisements related to the search words "bald head" as an event over 5 times in 3 days, it may be determined that the user is very interested in the field related to "bald head." Thus, this event can be given with a higher priority compared to other events.

In step 335, it is determined whether the event input in step 310 represents the user's field of interest based on the mentioned predetermined reference. If it is determined that the event meets the predetermined reference, an advertisement server records the event recorded therein as an advertisement file and issues an advertisement cookie (step 340). If it is determined that the event does not meet the predetermined reference, the process returns to step 330.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the advertisement cookie may be written including one or more events determined as the user's field of interest. The written advertisement cookie is stored in the user's device (step 345). If the user is connected to the Internet, the advertisement server searches the advertisement cookie stored in the user device and then provides the user with predetermined advertisements corresponding to the event inserted into the advertisement cookie (step 350). The advertisements are then output through a display means of a user's device (step 355). According to this embodiment, the advertisement cookie is stored in a user's device. According to an embodiment of the present invention, however, if the processing capacity of a central server or a predetermined advertisement server operating in association with the central server is sufficient, one or more events related to the user's fields of interest can be managed/stored every user in the central server or the advertisement server.

Furthermore, according to an embodiment of the present invention, in step 350 wherein a user is provided with the predetermined advertisements, an advertising show period can be differently set according to the event. As described above, in case of an event whose available period is classified one day, i.e., advertisements associated with "flower delivery," the advertising show period may be set to one day. In case of advertisements associated with an event such as "computer" whose available period is a week, the advertising show period may be set to 3 or more days to less than a week. In this embodiment, the advertising show period may be differently set according to advertisement charges paid by a sponsor who provides the advertisements. Alternately, according to another embodiment of the present invention, predetermined advertisements provided to the user in step 350 may be not advertisements directly related to an event but may be advertisements indirectly related to the event. For example, assuming that an event of a user is a search word regarding "move," if it is determined that such event is the user's intention, advertisements displayed to a user may include advertisements related to the move related shopping malls that are directly related to "move" as well as advertisements such as movers directly related to "move." In this embodiment, the display priority among the directly or indirectly related advertisements can be adjusted as a matter of convenience. For example, the priority of directly related advertisements is high but the priority is adjusted according to advertisement charges paid by a sponsor.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, in step wherein the predetermined advertisements are provided, the central server has an advertisement identification symbol corresponding to the event, which is stored in the advertisement cookie, stored in a predetermined database means. If a user accesses the Internet, the central server reads the advertisement identification symbol corresponding to the event stored in the advertisement cookie from the database means and then controls the advertisement server to provide a user with predetermined advertisements identified using the advertisement identification symbol. Further, according to an embodiment of the present invention, in step wherein the predetermined advertisements are provided, one or more events are recorded in the advertisement cookie. The advertisement server reads the one or more events stored in the advertisement cookie and then provides a user with advertisements corresponding to these events.

Alternately, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, if the event stored in the advertisement cookie is one or more, advertisements can be differently provided to a user according to priorities set in the events. For example, if "flower delivery" and "computer" are stored in an advertisement cookie as events and the priority of "flower delivery" is higher than the priority of "computer," an advertisement server has advertisements associated with "flower delivery" positioned at a place which is more attractive to users or has the advertisements positioned in plural. It is thus possible to provide the user with advertisements in a different manner from advertisements associated with "computer." As such, as a basis for differently providing advertisements for one or more events, advertisement charges paid by a sponsor who wants to provide advertisements for the event become an important factor. Alternately, according to another embodiment of the present invention, if an event recorded in an advertisement cookie is plural, advertisements corresponding to the one or more events can be displayed on a user device in a random rolling mode. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the advertisement cookie is valid for a predetermined period. The advertisement cookie can be constructed so that its expiration period is automatically deleted if the predetermined period elapses. As described above in the description regarding the cookie file, by controlling the expDate within the cookie file, the advertisement cookie can be controlled so that it exists as a cookie valid only for a predetermined period and is expired if the predetermined period elapses. Figs. 4 and 5 are block diagrams illustrating the construction of a system for implementing a method for providing information via the Internet shown in Fig. 3 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The system for implementing the method for providing information via the Internet shown in shown in Figs. 4 and 5 is an embodiment where a search word is input as a user event under a search engine base. The system for providing information via the Internet shown in Fig. 4 includes a user 420, a search engine 410, a cookie 430, a central server 440 and an advertisement server 450 as main components. A data transfer process among the respective components is similar to those described with reference to Fig. 3.

Regarding the system for providing information via the Internet shown in Fig. 4, its operating contents wherein a search word input to a search engine by a user is used as an event will be described in detail. A user 420 inputs a search word to the search engine 410. The input search word is recorded in a history cookie that is updated in a FIFO mode. The history cookie is collected and analyzed in the central server 440. As the analysis result for the history cookie, the advertisement cookie 430 is written and the advertisement cookie 430 is stored in the user(410)'s device. If the user 410 accesses the Internet, the advertisement cookie 430 stored in the user(410)'s device is transmitted to the central server 440. The central server 440 determines an identification symbol of advertisements corresponding to an event recorded in the advertisement cookie 430 and controls the advertisement server 450 to provide the user 410 with predetermined advertisements. Alternately, the advertisement server 450 can directly analyze the advertisement cookie 430 and then provide the user 410 with predetermined advertisemets corresponding to an event stored in the advertisement cookie 430.

Another example of the system for providing information via the Internet shown in Fig. 5 includes a user 520, a search engine 510, a cookie 530, a central server 540, an advertisement server 550, and a client program 560 as main components. A data transfer process among the respective components is similar to those described with reference to Fig. 3. The user 520 inputs a search word to the search engine 510. The input search word is collected and analyzed in the central server 540. The client program 560 is an object that shares the function carried out by the central server 540 in Fig. 4 and may be installed in the user(520)'s device. The input search word is recorded in a history cookie that is updated in the FIFO mode. The history cookie is collected and analyzed in the client program 560. As the analysis result for the history cookie, the advertisement cookie 530 is written and the advertisement cookie 530 is stored in the user(520)'s device. If the user 520 is connected to the Internet, the client program 560 determines an object of advertisements to be provided according to the advertisement cookie 530 and controls the advertisement server 550 to provide the user 520 with predetermined advertisements. Alternately, the advertisement server 550 directly receives the advertisement cookie 530 and then provides predetermined advertisements to the user 520.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the client program 560 is executed until the advertisement cookie 530 is generated. An object of advertisements to be provided to a user according to the advertisement cookie 530 is determined and the advertisements are supplied to the user, in the central server 540. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the function described above can be adequately distributed between the client program 560 and the central server 540 in another shape not described in the embodiment. In the exemplary the system for providing information via the Internet shown in

Figs. 4 and 5, a history file for recording a user's search word log therein, and an advertisement file in which an event known as a user's access intention as a result of analyzing a search word is recorded, are used. For convenience of explanation, in this embodiment, a history cookie is used as an example of the history file and an advertisement cookie is used as an example of the advertisement file. It will be, however, evident that files of any format can be used if the files are files in which a history for a predetermined event or an analyzed event can be recorded. Fig. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method for providing information via the

Internet according to another embodiment of the present invention. Referring to Fig. 6, the method for providing information via the Internet another embodiment of the present invention is implemented as follows by using the method for determining an access intention of an Internet user. An example of information provided is advertisemets.

The flowchart of the method for providing information via the Internet shown in Fig. 6 is a case where URL is received as an event input by a user.

In the same manner as the method for determining the access intention of the Internet user described with reference to Fig. 2, a predetermined URL, etc. is received from a user (step 610). An event such as the received URL is then classified by category (step 620). In step 620, to classify the event such as the received URL by category is carried out by extracting the highest URL from the input URL and then determining which category the extracted highest URL belongs to. For example, if the user inputs URL such as www.kipo.go.kr/news/030218, www.kipo.go.kr as the highest URL is extracted to select a category corresponding to the URL. In other words, it is determined whether www.kipo.go.kr is URL related to "patent" by searching a predetermined URL data table and www.kipo.go.kr is then automatically classified as a category of an event related to "patent" (for example, an event category whose available period is 3 days). The input URL can be automatically classified according to the category since the URL itself is treated as an event. However, the input URL can be converted into a concept capable of generalizing the received URL according to information contents such as contents stored in the received URL and then be automatically classified according to the category. For instance, as in the above example, if the highest URL of the input URL is extracted, in order to generalize URL represented as www.kipo.go.kr, the URL can be converted into a concept of "patent" according to contents stored in the URL and be classified according to category by treating it as an event input by the user. According to this embodiment, if there is a plurality of web sites having the same or similar contents but different URLs, there is an advantage in that it may be determined that a user is interested in a generalized concept for the plurality of the web sites even if the user accesses different URLs.

In step 610, the URL input by a user is classified by category and history information of the event is recorded (step 630). The history information may contain the event, i.e., the number of the URL input, information on when the URL is input for what period. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the history information may be recorded in the form of a cookie file and a cookie file having history information recorded therein may be stored in a user device or a system for understanding a user's access intention according to the present invention. Next, history information of the recorded event (URL) is analyzed (step 640). It is then determined whether the event (URL) represents the user's field of interest based on a determined reference according to the analyzed information (step 650). Steps 640 and 650 wherein the history information of the event (URL) is analyzed and the user's field of interest is determined may be carried out based on a predetermined reference predetermined according to a category of the URL input by a user, as described above. In step 640, the number of the URL input, which is recorded in the history information, the period of the URL input (period from a first input to a second input) and the like are analyzed. As a result of the analysis, it is determined whether the input URL represents a user's field of interest based on the determined reference (step 650). The predetermined reference is several conditions predetermined by category of an event input by a user and may be at least one of the number of inputs of an event, i.e., the frequency of the event generated, recency degree of the event and a priority predetermined in association with the event. In step 650, it is determined whether the URL input in step 610 represents a user's field of interest based on the predetermined reference. If it is determined that the URL is an event that meets the predetermined reference, the URL is recorded (step 660). If it is determined that the URL is an event that does not meet the predetermined reference, the process returns to step 630. In step 650, the URL that is determined to represent a user's field of interest, is recorded as the user's field of interest (step 660). According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the URL that is determined to represent a user's field of interest can be recorded in the form of the cookie file. Alternately, according to another embodiment of the present invention, the URL can be classified and stored by a user in a predetermined database means provided on the part of the central server.

In step 670, a URL that is determined to represent a user's field of interest is linked with advertisements associated with the URL. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, step 670 may be operated to record advertising information such as a file name, a file path or the like of advertising contents corresponding to URL that is determined to represent a user's field of interest as an advertisement identification symbol. The advertisements linked in step 670 are displayed to a user if the user accesses the Internet (step 680). According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, step 680 is carried out in such a manner that the advertisement server reads the URL stored in the cookie file and then provides predetermined advertisements corresponding to the URL. At this time, the advertisement server has the advertisement identification symbol stored therein. The advertisement server may be operated to provide the user with advertisements stored in a remote web server along a file path, etc. of advertising contents corresponding to the URL stored in the advertisement identification symbol.

The method for providing information via the Internet according to another embodiment of the present invention, which has been described with reference to Fig. 6, can be implemented through a predetermined client program installed in a user's device.

In the method for providing information via the Internet according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, in addition to the process of determining an access intention of an Internet user and providing predetermined information based on the determination as described above, it is possible to provide the user with predetermined information including other factors. That is, it is possible to provide predetermined information, which is locally attractive to a user by tracing the physical position of the user.

The method for providing information considering both a user's physical position and an Internet user's intention further includes the steps of determining a user's access IP address and estimating a user's position using the IP address together with the method for determining the user's intention. Simultaneously when the field of interest is determined by analyzing a request of a user, the user's field of interest is determined considering the user's access region (physical position).

Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-2001-35965 (entitled "Method for binding Internet address every institute and region for providing Internet address added information services, and method for acquiring use region information by Internet address binding") discloses a method for knowing positional information of a region where a user accesses through a user's access IP address. Fig. 7 shows an example of an advertising screen displayed considering both information on an Internet user's intention and information on the user's access position according to an embodiment of the present invention user. Fig. 7 shows an example of advertisements 710 that may be displayed on a web page when an Internet user's field of interest is "diet," the IP address of the user is XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX and the user's position estimated using the IP address is Nonhyeon-dong, Kangnam-ku, Seoul.

That is, as shown in Fig. 7, if the user accesses a predetermined web page, advertisements of a special weight-reduction hospital, which is located at Nonhyeon- dong, Kangnam-ku, Seoul, are shown on the web page, thus increasing advertising effects. Also, as can be seen from Fig. 7, though the user performs a search by inputting the search word "Chajangmien," "diet" related advertisements that will be a main interest subject of the user are provided to the user, so that advertising effects for the user is increased. Even though information provided is different from advertisements, information reflecting the user's interest is provided to the user. Thus, necessary information can be provided to the user to that extent.

In the method for providing information via the Internet described with reference to Fig. 4 or 6 according to the present invention, not only advertisements corresponding to the interest list of a user is provided to a user who is connected to the Internet through a web browser, but also predetermined information (for example, advertisements) is transmitted to an e-mail address of a user or predetermined information is transmitted to a user's mobile communication device (portable phone, PDA, etc.). According to this embodiment, there is an advantage in that information on a user's field of interest can be provided to the user through a variety of media. Fig. 8 is a block diagram illustrating an advertising system via the Internet according to an embodiment of the present invention. Referring to Fig. 8, the advertising system via the Internet according to the present invention includes a user's device 810, a communication unit 820, a controller 830, a processing unit 840, a storage unit 850 and an advertisement server 860. A central server for determining an Internet user's intention is indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 8. The components of the advertising system via the Internet according to an embodiment of the present invention will now be described in detail. The communication unit 820 receives an event from a user and is responsible for communications between the user device 810 and the central server.

The processing unit 840 performs the function of classifying the input event by category and determining whether the event represents a user's field of interest based on predetermined references. As described above, as an exemplary category classification of an event, it is possible to classify the category of the event according to the available period of the event. That is, in case of an event such as search words such as "flower delivery" that needs immediacy, the available period is one day. In case of an event such as a search word such as "computer" that needs to be watched for a predetermined period, the available period is a week. As such, it is possible to classify the category for each event. The predetermined reference is several conditions predetermined by the event of a user as described above. It may be at least one of the number of inputs of an event, i.e., the frequency number of the event generated, recency degree of the event and a priority predetermined in association with the event. The processes of classifying the input event by category and determining the user's field of interest based on a predetermined reference are the same as the above.

The storage unit 850 functions to record the user's field of interest and a predetermined code capable of identifying advertisements corresponding to the field of interest. According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, an advertisement cookie issued to a user is written in a cookie issue unit in the storage unit 850. As such, since the advertisement cookie is written and issued, in addition to a method for recording an event that is determined to be a user's field of interest, a predetermined database means is provided in the storage unit 850 itself. It is thus possible to manage/store an advertisement identification symbol containing a field of interest by the user and advertising information related to it. Alternately, according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the database means provided in the storage unit 850 is provided within the advertisement server 860 not the central server. Thus, the database means can perform predetermined additional functions.

The controller 830 serves to control the entire operation of the central server. The advertisement server 860 serves to store/manage predetermined advertising contents. The advertisement server 860 is responsible for analyzing an advertisement cookie stored in the user device 810 and then transferring predetermined advertisements to a user's device 810. The advertisement server 860 serves to not only provide advertisements corresponding to an event that is determined to be the user's field of interest to a user connected to the Internet via a web browser, but also to transfer predetermined advertisements to a user's e-mail address or to a user's mobile communication device (portable phone, PDA, etc.). In this case, the advertisement server 860 may operate in association with a mail server (not shown) or a short message server (not shown). It has been shown that the advertisement server 860 in Fig. 8 is not included in the central server according to the present invention but this is illustrative only. It will be evident that the advertisement server 860 may be included in the central server.

The respective components constituting the advertising system via the Internet according to an embodiment of the present invention are simply functionally classified for convenience of explanation, but are not related to actual physical positions.

The advertising method via the Internet and system thereof according to an aspect of the present invention can be designed to perform a feedback report for subsequent behavior of users exposed to advertisements. For instance, in providing feedback information to a sponsor, URL of the sponsor, a pertinent search word, etc. are stored. Also, a client program can transfer a search word to a central server if a user moves to the URL or performs a search using the search word, so that the number of exposure of the advertisements can be used as its item. Such feedback information item may include the number of a visit to a sponsor's web site, a visit interval, the number of a revisit, the ratio of advertising exposure to the visit and the like after a corresponding advertising exposure. In case where basic information such as a user's age, sex and address is received, it is possible to provide more detailed feedback information based on user's basic information. By providing such feedback information to a sponsor or persons who want it, it is possible to quantitatively determine an information providing effect according to the present invention.

In addition, embodiments of the present invention further relate to computer readable media that include program instructions for performing various computer- implemented operations. The media may also include, alone or in combination with the program instructions, data files, data structures, tables, and the like. The media and program instructions may be those specially designed and constructed for the purposes of the present invention, or they may be of the kind well known and available to those having skill in the computer software arts. Examples of computer-readable media include magnetic media such as hard disks, floppy disks, and magnetic tape; optical media such as CD-ROM disks; magneto-optical media such as floptical disks; and hardware devices that are specially configured to store and perform program instructions, such as read-only memory devices (ROM) and random access memory (RAM). The media may also be a transmission medium such as optical or metallic lines, wave guides, etc. including a carrier wave transmitting signals specifying the program instructions, data structures, etc. Examples of program instructions include both machine code, such as produced by a compiler, and files containing higher level code that may be executed by the computer using an interpreter.

Fig. 9 is an internal block diagram illustrating a general-purpose computer system that may be used to determine an Internet user's intention and to provide information based the determined intention according to the present invention. The computer system includes any number of processors 940 (also referred to as central processing units, or CPUs) that are coupled to storage devices including primary storage 960 (typically a random access memory, or "RAM"), primary storage 970 (typically a read only memory, or "ROM"). As is well known in the art, primary storage 960 acts to transfer data and instructions uni-directionally to the CPU and primary storage 960 is used typically to transfer data and instructions in a bi-directional manner. Both of these primary storage devices may include any suitable type of the computer- readable media described above. A mass storage device 910 is also coupled bi- directionally to CPU 940 and provides additional data storage capacity and may include any of the computer-readable media described above. The mass storage device 910 may be used to store programs, data and the like and is typically a secondary storage medium such as a hard disk that is slower than primary storage. A specific mass storage device such as a CD-ROM 920 may also pass data uni-directionally to the CPU. Processor 940 is also coupled to an interface 930 that includes one or more input/output devices such as such as video monitors, track balls, mice, keyboards, microphones, touch-sensitive displays, transducer card readers, magnetic or paper tape readers, tablets, styluses, voice or handwriting recognizers, or other well-known input devices such as, of course, other computers. Finally, processor 940 optionally may be coupled to a computer or telecommunications network using a network connection as shown generally at 950 With such a network connection, it is contemplated that the CPU might receive information from the network, or might output information to the network in the course of performing the above-described method steps. The above-described devices and materials will be familiar to those of skill in the computer hardware and software arts. The hardware elements described above may be configured (usually temporarily) to act as one or more software modules for performing the operations of this invention.

Industrial Applicability

According to a method for determining an Internet user's access intention, and advertising method via the Internet using the same and system thereof according to the present invention, there is a technical effect that a tool capable of determining an Internet user's access intention is provided. According to a method for determining an Internet user's access intention, and advertising method via the Internet using the same and system thereof according to the present invention, there is a technical effect that an Internet user's access intention can be understood and information on fields in which the user has the greatest interest can be provided to the user. According to a method for determining an Internet user's access intention, and advertising method via the Internet using the same and system thereof according to the present invention, there is a technical effect that it can not only maximize advertising effects but also solve a problem in limitations of advertisement resources provided corresponding to search words, by knowing an Internet user's access intention and then providing the user with information on fields in which the user has the greatest interest.

According to a method for determining an Internet user's access intention, and advertising method via the Internet using the same and system thereof according to the present invention, there is a technical effect that it can create a new advertising method, by knowing an Internet user's access intention in advance and then providing information on the user's access intention to a sponsor who wants advertisements related to the access intention to be posted on the Internet.

According to a method for determining an Internet user's access intention, and advertising method via the Internet using the same and system thereof according to the present invention, there is a technical effect that it can provide most suitable information to a user, by determining the user's access intention and at the same time combining means for materializing several users.

Although the present invention has been described in connection with the embodiment of the present invention illustrated in the accompanying drawings, it is not limited thereto since it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various substitutions, modifications and changes may be made thereto without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

Claims

1. A method for determining an Internet user' access intention, comprising the steps of: (a) receiving a predetermined event from a user through the Internet;

(b) classifying the event by a predetermined category;

(c) recording history information of the event;

(d) determining whether the input event represents the user's field of interest based on a predetermined reference by analyzing the history information; and (e) recording the event that is determined to represent the user's field of interest.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein in the step (a) of receiving the predetermined event of the user, the predetermined event is a search word associated with information for which the user intents to search in the Internet or web page information the user requests to view.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the predetermined reference is based on at least one of the number of the events input, recency degree of the request, and a predetermined priority in association with the request.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step (e) of recording the event comprises one of the step of classifying the event by the user and then storing the event in a predetermined server, and the step of recording the event as a file and then storing the file in a storage means of the user's device.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the file is a cookie file.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, further comprising the steps of: determining a user's access IP address; and estimating the user's position based on the IP address, wherein the step (d) of determining whether the event represents the user's field of interest is performed considering the user's estimated position.

7. A method for providing information via the Internet, comprising the steps of: receiving a predetermined event from a user; classifying the event by a predetermined category; recording history information of the event; determining whether the input event represents a user's field of interest based on a predetermined reference by analyzing the history information; recording the event that is determined to represent the user's field of interest; linking the event and predetermined information; and if the user accesses the Internet, providing the linked information to the user.

8. A method for providing information via the Internet, comprising the steps of: confirming a user's field of interest; and providing the user with information related to the user's field of interest, wherein the user's field of interest is predetermined by performing the steps of: receiving a predetermined event from a user; classifying the event according to a predetermined category; recording history information of the event; determining whether the input event represents the user's field of interest based on a predetermined reference by analyzing the history information; recording the event that is determined to represent the user's field of interest; and linking the event and the information.

9. The method as claimed in claim 7 or 8, wherein the information is advertisements.

10. The method as claimed in claim 7 or 8, wherein in the step of receiving the predetermined event of the user, the predetermined event is a search word associated with information for which the user intents to search from the Internet or web page information the user requests to view.

11. The method as claimed in claim 7 or 8, wherein the predetermined reference is based on at least one of the number of the events input, recency degree of the request, and a predetermined priority in association with the request.

12. The method as claimed in claim 7 or 8, wherein the step of recording the event comprises one of the step of classifying the event by the user and storing the event in a predetermined server, and the step of recording the event as a file and then storing file in a storage means of the user's device.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the file is a cookie file.

14. The method as claimed in claim 7 or 8, further comprising the steps of: determining a user's access IP address; and estimating the user's position based on the IP address; wherein the step of determining whether the event represents the user's field of interest is performed considering the user's estimated position.

15. An advertising method via the Internet, comprising the steps of: receiving an event from a user; classifying the event according to a predetermined category; recording the event as a history file; determining whether the input event represents a user's field of interest based on a predetermined reference by analyzing the history file; recording the event that is determined to represent the user's field of interest as an advertisement file; and if the user accesses the Internet, providing advertisements associated with the advertisement file to the user.

16. The advertising method as claimed in claim 15, wherein the history file and the advertisement file are a cookie file.

17. The advertising method as claimed in claim 15, wherein the history file and the advertisement file are generated by a predetermined client program that is driven in the user's device.

18. The advertising method as claimed in claim 15, wherein the history file stores events which are predetermined in a FIFO mode.

19. The advertising method as claimed in claim 15, wherein the step of recording the event as the history file comprises the steps of: determining whether the event is a predetermined event; and if the event is the predetermined event, recording the event in the history file.

20. The advertising method as claimed in claim 15, further comprising steps of: maintaining the expiration period corresponding to the predetermined event; and if an event stored in the history file or the advertisement file is the predetermined event and the period where the event is stored exceeds the expiration period corresponding to the predetermined event, deleting the event from the history file or the advertisement file.

21. The advertising method as claimed in claim 15, wherein the predetermined reference is at least one of the frequency of an event occurred, which is included in the history file, recency degree of the event, and a priority predetermined in association with the event.

22. The advertising method as claimed in claim 21, wherein the priority is determined according to the click number of advertisements associated with the event for a predetermined period.

23. The advertising method as claimed in claim 15, wherein the step of providing the user with the advertisements associated with the advertisement file comprises the step of transmitting the advertisements in the form of e-mail, SMS, or WAP Push using the user's e-mail address or mobile communication device.

24. The advertising method as claimed in claim 15, wherein the step of providing the user with the advertisements associated with the advertisement file comprises the step of providing the user with advertisements associated with each of the advertisement file in a predetermined mode if the number of the advertisement file is plural.

25. The advertising method as claimed in claim 24, wherein the predetermined mode is at least one of a random select method, a method for assigning the priority to a specific category, and a differential method depending on advertisement charges prepaid.

26. A computer-readable recording medium in which a program for implementing a method according to any one of claims 1 to 25 is recorded.

27. An advertising system via the Internet, comprising: a communication unit for receiving a predetermined event from a user; a processing unit for classifying the event according to a predetermined category, recording the event as a history file, and determining whether the input event represents the user's field of interest based on a predetermined reference by analyzing the history file; an advertisement file-writing unit for recording the event that is determined to represent the user's field of interest as an advertisement file; and a control unit for controlling a predetermined advertisement server so that advertisements associated with the advertisement file are displayed to the user.