Information distributing system and storage medium recorded...

Data processing: database and file management or data structures – Database design – Data structure types

Reexamination Certificate

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Details

C707S793000, C707S793000, C709S201000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06178424

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an information distributing system, connected to a variety of database systems, for distributing information fetched out of database thereof to users.
2. Description of the Related Art
This type of information distributing system has hitherto been constructed to automatically fetch, if a user writes to his or her own profile a condition for fetching the information the user himself or herself requires, updated information out of the variety of databases and distribute only the information accordant with the profile to the user concerned. In the information distributing system in a simple form, the profile involves the use of a condition based on a combination of keywords, and only the information meeting with this condition is to be distributed. Accordingly, if the condition set by the user is improper, the user can not necessarily obtain the information desired by the user himself or herself.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 4-65743 discloses an information selective receiving system as the same type of system. This system is contrived so that a condition of the information to be received is set in a text filter, and only the information meeting with this condition is transferred to a receiving unit. Similarly, in an article/advertisement distributing apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Application laid-Open Publication No. Hei 5-143653, only the information containing a keyword stored in an individual keyword memory device is distributed. Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. Hei 9-16677 discloses an apparatus for retrieving the database, wherein know-how of other person serves as a keyword.
On the other hand, there can be considered several forms such as automatically extending the profile in accordance with a content in which the user has an interest, and distributing the information accordant with the thus extended profile. To start with, a plurality of texts written by the user are used as a profile, the keywords contained in these texts are compared with keywords in newly fetched texts, and only the texts sufficiently accordant therewith are distributed. In this form, the content of the profile is more enriched as a quantity of the texts created by the user increases, and can be, it follows, used as a more detailed condition. What can be considered as another form is that the user evaluates the texts distributed and modifies the condition of the profile in accordance with a result of the evaluation. In this form, the condition of the profile is getting approximate to a content intended by the user, thereby gradually coming to such a state that only the information according to the intention of the user is distributed. Still another thinkable form is that the user utilizes the keywords set in the profile by developing them into synonyms etc. In this form, even if the keywords definitely designated by the user are not contained therein, the texts are to be distributed, if words having implications close thereto are contained.
A problem inherent in the prior art is that the information required by the user is not distributed unless clearly described in the keywords and the profile. The reason for this is that the system distributes the texts to the user on the basis of only the keywords and the condition of the profile. Therefore, the user must update the keywords and the profile so as to clearly express his or her own request at all times. However, much knowledge is required for properly setting them, which might be difficult for the ordinary users to do so. Further, there is such a problem that the detail setting is time-consuming.
An object of the present invention is therefore to provide an information distributing system for distributing the information on the basis of an activity hysteresis of the information distributed in the past.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To accomplish the above object of the present invention, according to an aspect of the invention, there is provided an information distributing system comprises: an information collecting unit for periodically fetching information out of a database system, an information activity management unit for recording some predetermined information attributes containing an item characterizing the information and an item of a user of the information per information collected, a user attribute information storage unit for recording some user attributes characterizing the user per user, a similar information user common attribute extracting unit for retrieving from the information activity management unit the information exhibiting a characteristic similar to the characteristic of the information collected by the information collecting unit, and, when a plurality of users are recorded in the information activity management unit, obtaining a user attribute common to all the users with reference to the user attribute information storage unit, an information distributing unit for obtaining all the users having the common user attribute obtained by the similar information user common attribute extracting unit with reference to the user attribute information storage unit, and distributing the collected information to these users, and an activity state registering unit for registering, when notified, from the users to whom the information is distributed, of an effect that the information is useful, these users in an item of user of the distributed information in the information activity management unit.
Herein, an item characterizing the information in the information activity management unit includes an item of keyword contained in the information, an item of provider of the information and an item of providing location of the information. The similar information user common attribute extracting unit specifies most similar information by examining a degree of similarity in terms of the keyword contained in the information collected by the information collecting unit, the provider of the information, the providing location of the information, the item of keyword per information recorded in the information activity management unit, the item of provider of the information and the item of the providing location of the information.
The users utilizing a series of pieces of information similar to each other in terms of information characteristics such as keywords contained in the information, an information provider (e.g., a name of newspaper company when the information is news), and an information providing location (e.g., an economy column and a product column when the information is news on the newspaper), have a large number of common points in user attributes (e.g., a job classification, a work in charge and a taste). Accordingly, if there is a fact that users X, Y, Z have already effectively utilized a certain piece of information A, information B similar to the information A has not only a possibility in which the users might utilize the information B but also a possibility in which other users R, S having a user attribute common to the users X, Y, Z might effectively utilize the information B even if there is no fact that those users have ever effectively utilized the information A.
The present invention was contrived in view of such a point, the information activity management unit records some predetermined information attributes containing an item characterizing the information and an item of users of the information per information collected, and the user attribute storage unit records some user attributes characterizing the users per user. When the information collecting unit periodically fetches the information out of a database system, the similar information user common attribute extracting unit retrieves from the information activity management unit the information exhibiting the characteristics similar to the characteristics of the information collected, and, when there exists such information and there are a plurality of such users, obtains the user attribute common to all the users wi

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