Advertising print effectiveness data collection system

Abstract

We will create an advertising print effectiveness data collection system that contributes to improving the effectiveness of advertising prints. [Solution] In the advertising print effectiveness collection system 1, the advertising provision server 100 acquires identification information 139 from the 2D code image 12 of the scanned advertising image 10 in step S10, acquires purchase information associated with the identification information 139 in steps S20, S30 and S40, and acquires user identification information in process 06. Then, in process B20, the advertising provision server 100 stores the purchase information in the behavior history DB 133 by associating it with advertiser information in the advertiser management DB 131 and user information in the user information DB 134 via the acquired identification information 139 and user identification information.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The technical field disclosed in this specification relates to an effect collection system for collecting the effects of advertising by printing.

Background Art

[0002] In recent years, technologies for displaying advertisements on the screens of terminals such as personal computers and smartphones have become widespread. On the other hand, distributing and printing advertisements to the printers owned by users is less widespread than displaying advertisements on the screens of terminals. In the case of displaying advertisements on the screens of terminals, it is relatively easy to collect the effects of advertisements by clicking on the URL of the advertisement, etc., but it seems that it is not easy to collect the effects of advertisements when distributing and printing advertisements. On the other hand, when distributing and printing advertisements, since the user gets the paper on which the advertisement is printed, there is an advantage that the content of the advertisement is easily recognized by the user.

[0003] As a document that discloses the effects of printed advertisements, for example, there is Patent Document 1. Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for collecting the effects of advertisements according to the correspondence between the product identification information included in the identification information published in newspapers, etc. and the product information obtained from the image of the receipt acquired by the user when purchasing the product.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] In the configuration disclosed in Patent Document 1, printed advertisements are sent to an unspecified number of subscribers, and only information purchased by a portion of registered users can be collected as an effect. Furthermore, it is difficult for advertisers to determine how to improve the effectiveness of their printed advertisements based on the collected effect information. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] An advertising print effectiveness collection system developed to solve the aforementioned problems comprises: an advertiser-related information management unit for managing information about advertisers; a user information management unit for managing user information of users who use the printer; an identification information issuing unit for issuing identification information; an advertising acquisition unit for acquiring original advertising images submitted by advertisers; an advertising printing unit for printing advertising images using the printer based on the original advertising images acquired by the advertising acquisition unit and the identification information corresponding to the original advertising images; a first acquisition unit for acquiring the identification information based on the printed advertising images; a second acquisition unit for acquiring purchase information associated with the identification information acquired by the first acquisition unit; a third acquisition unit for acquiring user identification information that identifies the user and purchaser of the printer on which the advertisement was printed; and a storage unit for storing information about advertisers, user information, and purchase information in association with each other based on the identification information acquired by the first acquisition unit, the purchase information acquired by the second acquisition unit, and the user identification information acquired by the third acquisition unit. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] The technology disclosed herein can contribute to improving the effectiveness of advertising printouts by collecting data on the effect of each user purchasing products from advertisements that have been sent to and printed by a specific group of users. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0008] [Figure 1] This is an overall diagram showing the system for collecting effectiveness data from advertising prints. [Figure 2] This is an example of an electrical configuration diagram for an advertising server. [Figure 3] This is an example of an electrical configuration diagram for a printer. [Figure 4] This is an example of an electrical configuration diagram for a user terminal. [Figure 5] This is an example of an electrical configuration diagram for an advertiser's terminal. [Figure 6] This is an example of a sequence diagram showing the process from start to finish until the advertisement is printed. [Figure 7] This is an example of a sequence diagram showing the process of collecting data on the effectiveness of printed advertisements. [Figure 8] This is an example of a scanned image. [Figure 9] This flowchart shows an example of scanning image analysis. [Figure 10] This is an example of a scanned receipt image. [Figure 11] Figure 11(a) shows one example of how the effectiveness of an advertisement can be displayed, and Figure 11(b) shows another example of how the effectiveness of an advertisement can be displayed. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0009] An embodiment of the advertising print effectiveness collection system of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0010] <Overall Configuration of the Advertising Printing Effectiveness Data Collection System> Figure 1 shows an example of the overall configuration of the advertising print effectiveness collection system 1 according to the embodiment. As shown in Figure 1, the effectiveness collection system 1 includes an advertising supply server (SSP: Supply Side Platform) 100, a printer 200, a user terminal 300, an advertiser terminal 400, an advertising management server (DSP: Demand Side Platform) 500, and a printer management server 600. Each server 100, 500, 600, printer 200, and each terminal device 300, 400 is equipped with a communication interface and can communicate with each other via a network NT. The network NT includes at least one of the following: the Internet, a LAN (Local Area Network), or a WAN (Wide Area Network). The communication interface may be configured to include multiple types of communication circuits for connecting to the network NT. In this case, devices connected to the network NT may communicate with multiple other devices using different communication circuits. In this embodiment, the collective term for multiple types of communication circuits is referred to as the communication interface.

[0011] <Advertising server> The advertising server 100 is, for example, a server installed and operated by the manufacturer of the printer 200. The advertising server 100 receives advertising images from the advertising management server 500 at predetermined times. The advertising server 100 distributes the acquired advertising images to the printer 200 and prints them. The advertising server 100 can also collect history data, such as whether users who viewed the printed advertisements purchased the corresponding items, and display the collected results to the advertiser as an indication of the effectiveness of the advertisement.

[0012] Figure 2 is an electrical configuration diagram of the advertising server 100. The advertising server 100 comprises a controller 110 and a communication IF 160. The communication IF 160 includes hardware such as a NIC (Network Interface Card) for connecting to Ethernet®, is connected to network NT, and communicates with the printer 200, user terminal 300, advertiser terminal 400, advertising management server 500, and printer management server 600. The controller 110 comprises a processor, which is a CPU 111, and memory 112. Memory 112 is composed of, for example, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, HDD, etc. Memory 112 comprises a program storage area 120 where various programs are stored and a data storage area 130 where various data is stored. The various programs in the program storage area 120 include programs that execute the control contents of the advertising server 100 as shown in the sequence diagrams in Figures 6 and 7 described later, and the data in the data storage area 130 includes various data such as the advertiser management DB 131, which is a database that manages information about advertisers, the print job management DB 132, which is a database that manages print jobs for printing advertisements, the behavior history DB 133, which is a database of the behavior history of users who receive printed advertisements, and the user information DB 134, which is a database of user information about users who receive printed advertisements.

[0013] The advertiser management DB 131 includes, for example, information about advertisers, information about the advertisements placed by advertisers, and identification information 139 issued to advertisers. Information about advertisers includes, for example, the name of the individual or company that is the advertiser, and the IP address of the advertiser terminal 400 owned by the advertiser. Information about advertisers also includes, for example, the name of the store owned by the advertiser, and the store information image printed on the receipt. Information about the advertisements placed by advertisers includes, for example, an advertisement ID that identifies the advertisement, and the expiration date of the advertisement. The advertiser management DB 131 is managed by the controller 110.

[0014] The print job management DB 132 includes, for example, a print job number, identification information attached to the advertisement for which printing is accepted, the original advertisement image or a URL for obtaining the original advertisement image, printing conditions, a printing deadline, a print completion date and time, and the like. The print job management DB 132 is managed by the controller 110.

[0015] The action history DB 133 includes, for example, information indicating whether or not a user has viewed an advertisement for which printing has been completed, purchase information regarding the purchase of an item of interest by the user after viewing the advertisement for which printing has been completed, information indicating other actions of the user, and the like. The purchase information includes, for example, information on the item purchased by the user, the store where the purchase was made, the purchase date and time, the purchase method, and the like. The action history DB 133 is managed by the controller 110.

[0016] The user information DB 134 includes user information such as, for example, a user name, user identification information, printer identification information owned by the user, terminal identification information owned by the user, user-specific information indicated on a receipt at the time of settlement, the age, gender, address, place of origin, and the like of the user. The user information is registered in advance at the time of conclusion of a contract between the user and the advertisement distribution and printing. The user information DB 134 is used for generating notification data of the advertisement effect described later and the like. The user information DB 134 is managed by the controller 110, and the controller 110 that manages the user information DB 134 is an example of a user information management unit.

[0017] <Printer> Only one printer 200 is shown in FIG. 1, and the description of other printers 200 is omitted. A plurality of printers 200 corresponding to a plurality of users are connected to the advertisement providing server 100. Each printer 200 acquires and prints an advertisement image distributed from the advertisement providing server 100 to each user, and notifies the advertisement providing server 100 that the printing has been completed.

[0018] Figure 3 is an electrical configuration diagram of the printer 200. The printer 200 comprises a controller 210, a printing mechanism 220, a reading mechanism 230, a display unit 240, an operation unit 250, and a communication IF 260. The controller 210 controls the printing mechanism 220, the reading mechanism 230, the display unit 240, the operation unit 250, and the communication IF 260. The communication IF 260 includes hardware such as a NIC (Network Interface Card) for connecting to Ethernet, is connected to network NT, and communicates with the user terminal 300 and the printer management server 600. The printer 200 may communicate with the advertising server 100 without going through the printer management server 600.

[0019] The controller 210 includes a CPU 211, an ASIC 212, and memory 213. The memory 213 has a program area 214 where various programs are stored and a data area 215 where various data is stored. The controller 210 performs processes such as printing, reading, various displays, and receiving various operations by having the CPU execute various programs stored in the program area 214, and by having the ASIC perform various processes such as image processing.

[0020] The printing method of the printing mechanism 220 is, for example, an electrophotographic printing mechanism, but it may also be a printing mechanism of another printing method such as an inkjet method. The reading mechanism 230 is, for example, a flatbed reading mechanism that reads an image by placing the original on the platen, but it may also be a sheet-through reading mechanism that reads an image while transporting the original. The display unit 240 is, for example, a liquid crystal panel, but it may be of another type. By reading an image of a receipt, etc., using the reading mechanism 230, it is possible to detect that a purchase has been made by the user based on a printed advertisement (details will be described later). The operation unit 250 is, for example, a touch panel compatible with a liquid crystal panel, but it may also be a group of operation buttons separate from the display unit 240.

[0021] <User terminal> Figure 1 shows only one user terminal 300, and the other user terminals 300 are omitted. Each printer 200 can print advertising images distributed from the advertising server 100, as well as print based on print data transmitted from the corresponding user terminal 300. The user terminal 300 is, for example, a mobile device equipped with a camera and has an imaging function. By using this imaging function to read images such as receipts, the user terminal 300 can detect that a purchase has been made based on a printed advertisement (details will be described later).

[0022] Figure 4 is an electrical configuration diagram of the user terminal 300. The user terminal 300 comprises a controller 310, a display unit 340, an operation unit 350, a communication IF 360, and an imaging unit 370. The controller 310 controls the display unit 340, the operation unit 350, the communication IF 360, and the imaging unit 370. The communication IF 360 has, for example, a wireless communication mechanism and is connected to the network NT via an access point, and can communicate with the advertising server 100 and the printer 200. Alternatively, it may communicate directly with the printer 200 via a wireless communication mechanism or the like. The display unit 340 is, for example, a liquid crystal panel, and the operation unit 350 is a touch panel compatible with the liquid crystal panel. The display unit 340 and the operation unit 350 can display various information and accept various operations. The imaging unit 370 can capture and read images, and can also perform readings involving special processing such as reading 2D codes.

[0023] The controller 310 includes a CPU 311 and a memory 320, the memory 320 having a program storage area 321 and a data storage area 325. The program storage area 321 stores the operating system (OS) 322 and applications 323. The applications 323 include various applications such as a printing application with a function to generate print data to send to the printer 200, a scanning application that reads images using the imaging unit 370, and an application that reads 2D codes.

[0024] <Advertiser terminal> Figure 1 shows only one advertiser terminal 400, and the other advertiser terminals 400 are omitted. Multiple advertiser terminals 400, each corresponding to multiple advertisers, are connected to the advertising server 100. The advertiser terminals 400 can register information about the advertiser with the advertising server 100, submit advertisements to the advertising management server 500 to be printed, and obtain the results of collecting data on the effectiveness of printing advertisements from the advertising server 100.

[0025] Figure 5 is an electrical configuration diagram of the advertiser terminal 400. The advertiser terminal 400 comprises a controller 410, a display unit 440, an operation unit 450, and a communication interface 460. The controller 410 controls the display unit 440, the operation unit 450, and the communication interface 460. The communication interface 460 includes hardware such as a NIC (Network Interface Card) for connecting to Ethernet, is connected to the network NT, and communicates with the advertising server 100 and the advertising management server 500. The display unit 340 has a large screen to make the results of collecting effectiveness data from printing advertisements easily visible. The operation unit 350 includes, for example, a keyboard and mouse.

[0026] The controller 410 includes a CPU 411 and memory 420, the memory 420 having a program storage area 421 and a data storage area 425. The program storage area 421 stores the operating system (OS) 422 and applications 423. The applications 423 include various applications such as an advertiser application that can register information about advertisers with the advertising server 100 and retrieve and display the results of collecting data on the effectiveness of printing advertisements from the advertising server 100, and an advertising placement application that submits advertisements for printing.

[0027] <Ad management server> The advertising management server 500 receives advertisement submissions from advertisers and sends the advertisement images to the advertising provision server 100 for printing on the printer 200. The advertising management server 500 has a controller (not shown), memory, a communication interface, etc., and in this example, it receives bid requests from the advertising provision server 100 via the communication interface. The controller of the advertising management server 500 conducts an auction corresponding to the bid requests for the advertisement images submitted by the advertisers and acquires suitable advertisement images by bidding on the auction. When a successful bid that meets the predetermined conditions of the auction is made, the controller of the advertising management server 500 acquires the corresponding advertisement image from the advertiser terminal 400 of the successful bidder advertiser.

[0028] The acquired advertising image is transmitted from the advertising management server 500 to the advertising provider server 100 via a communication interface, and from the receiving advertising provider server 100, it is further transmitted to the printer 200 for printing. Alternatively, the advertising provider server 100 may acquire the advertising image from the advertising management server 500, or the advertising management server 500 may acquire the advertising image from another external server and transmit it to the advertising provider server 100.

[0029] <Printer Management Server> The printer management server 600 acts as an intermediary between the advertising server 100, the printer 200, and the user terminal 300. Printers 200 can utilize various communication and printing protocols, and these vary depending on the printer manufacturer. The printer management server 600 acts as an intermediary between the advertising server 100 and the printer 200 and user terminal 300, reducing the complexity of the advertising server 100. The printer management server 600 may be established for each printer manufacturer to manage their own printers 200 and associated user terminals 300. Furthermore, the existence of the printer management server 600 is not mandatory; the advertising server 100 may communicate directly with the printer 200 and user terminal 300.

[0030] The details of the processing of the effect collection system of this embodiment will be explained below with reference to Figures 6 and 7. Figures 6 and 7 are sequence flows representing the control performed through the cooperation of the ad provider server 100, printer 200, user terminal 300, advertiser terminal 400, ad management server 500, and printer management server 600.

[0031] Figure 6 is a sequence diagram showing the process until the advertisement is printed. First, process A01 sends a registration request from the advertiser terminal 400 to the advertisement provider server 100. This registration request includes information about the advertiser, such as advertiser information and store information. Advertiser information includes, for example, the name of the individual or company that is the advertiser, the IP address of the advertiser terminal 400 owned by the advertiser, etc. Store information includes, for example, the name of the store owned by the advertiser, the image of the store name to be printed on the receipt, etc. The registration request may be made in advance each time the advertiser places an advertisement, or it may be made once in advance, not each time an advertisement is placed. If the registration request is made in advance each time the advertiser places an advertisement, the registration request may include advertisement information (for example, an advertisement ID that identifies the advertisement).

[0032] Next, the advertising server 100, upon receiving the registration request, registers the advertiser information included in the registration request in the advertiser management DB 131 in process A05. The advertising server 100 also generates identification information 139, associates it with the advertiser information, and registers it in the advertiser management DB 131. Then, in process A08, the advertising server 100 sends a registration completion message to the advertiser terminal 400. This registration completion message includes the identification information 139 generated in process A05. The controller 110 that executes processes A05 and A08 is an example of an identification information issuing unit.

[0033] Advertisers who have registered information about themselves and obtained identification information 139 can place an advertisement. Specifically, in process A10, the advertisement is placed from the advertiser terminal 400 to the advertisement management server 500. In this advertisement placement, the advertisement image and the identification information 139 obtained in process A08 are transmitted from the advertiser terminal 400 to the advertisement management server 500. Upon receiving the advertisement, the advertisement management server 500 can then receive bids for the placed advertisement.

[0034] Next, the printer management server 600 executes process A15 when the conditions for the managed printer 200 to print an advertisement are met. In process A15, an advertisement request is sent from the printer management server 600 to the advertisement provider server 100. Upon receiving the advertisement request, the advertisement provider server 100 sends a bid request to the advertisement management server 500 in process A20. The bid request includes the minimum bid price. The bid request may also include preference information of the printer 200 user, such as the genre of advertisement. This preference information may be included in the advertisement request received from the printer management server 600 in process A15.

[0035] Upon receiving a bid request, the ad management server 500, in process A25, executes an auction for ads suitable to the bid request and sends the bid results to the ad provider server 100. The bid results include the bid price, the URL of the ad image, and identification information 139. Upon receiving the bid results, the ad provider server 100 can collect the following ad effectiveness data if the identification information included in the received bid results matches the identification information 139 registered in the advertiser management DB 131. The following explanation assumes that the identification information included in the bid results matches the identification information 139 registered in the advertiser management DB 131.

[0036] If the received bid results meet the winning conditions, the ad provider server 100 determines that the ad targeted by the bid results (the ad corresponding to the ad image URL) is the winning ad. Winning conditions include, for example, having the highest bid price. Alternatively, the conditions may include meeting the specified conditions requested in the bid request. Once the ad provider server 100 has determined the winning ad, it sends a "hold notification" to the ad management server 500 in process A30. It is a "hold notification" because printing has not yet been completed and the ad has not yet reached the user. On the other hand, for ads that were not won, a "defeat notification" is sent to the ad management server 500.

[0037] Next, in process A40, the ad provider server 100 accesses the ad image URL included in the bid results of the successful bidder and obtains the ad image. The controller 110 that executes processes A25 and A40 is an example of an ad acquisition unit. Then, in process A50, the ad provider server 100 generates print data in which the identification information 139 is included in the ad image. To include the identification information 139 in the ad image, for example, the identification information 139 can be converted into a 2D code, and the image of that 2D code can be composited onto the ad image. It does not have to be a 2D code image; it could also be a 1D code image, or an image of text indicating the identification information. Before sending print data to the printer 200, the advertisement server 100 registers, for example, the print job number, identification information 139 attached to the accepted advertisement, the original advertisement image or a URL for obtaining the original advertisement image, print conditions, and print deadline in the print job management DB 132.

[0038] In process A56, the advertising server 100 sends print data containing identification information to the printer management server 600, and in process A57, the printer management server 600 sends the received print data to the printer 200. Upon receiving the print data containing identification information, the printer 200 performs the printing of an image in which an image based on the identification information 139 is superimposed on the advertising image, based on the received print data, in process A60. The printer 200 that performs process A60 is an example of an advertising printing unit.

[0039] When the printer 200 completes printing, it sends a print completion notification containing identification information 139 to the printer management server 600 in process A66. The printer management server 600 then sends the received print completion notification containing identification information 139 to the advertisement provider server 100.

[0040] Next, in process A70, the ad provider server 100 sends a "print complete" notification to the ad management server 500. The "print complete" notification indicates that the ad has been delivered to the user and means that the pending status of the "hold notification" in process A30 has been resolved. The "print complete" notification also serves as a billing statement for the winning bid price for the printed ad.

[0041] Then, upon completion of printing, the ad delivery server 100 stores the print completion date and time in the print job management DB 132, associating it with the identification information 139. Furthermore, the ad delivery server 100 reserves storage space in the behavior history DB 133 to store the user's behavior history for the advertisements that have been printed. This storage space is reserved in association with the identification information 139 and user identification information indicating the user of the printer 200. This is in preparation for collecting advertising effectiveness data, which will be described later.

[0042] Figure 7 is a sequence diagram showing the process of collecting the effects of printed advertisements. The following explanation assumes that a user who saw the printed advertisement purchased a product related to the advertisement and possesses a receipt containing store information as proof of purchase.

[0043] First, in process B01, a user who has seen an advertisement and made a purchase scans the advertisement image (including identification information 139) on the printed paper and the receipt using the user terminal 300. This scan is performed, for example, using an imaging unit 370 such as a camera provided in the user terminal 300. Alternatively, the scanner may be connected to the user terminal 300, or the printer 200 may scan using its attached reading mechanism 230 instead of the user terminal 300.

[0044] Figure 8 shows an example of scanned images. The scanned images include an advertisement scan image 10, which is a scanned advertisement, and a receipt scan image 20, which is a scanned receipt. The advertisement scan image 10 includes a 2D code image 12, which contains identification information 139 encoded in a 2D code. The receipt scan image 20 also includes images of store information and other information.

[0045] In process B05, the user terminal 300 transmits the acquired scanned image and user identification information of the printer 200 and user terminal 300 to the printer management server 600. If the printer 200 scans using the attached reading mechanism 230 instead of the user terminal 300, the printer 200 may transmit the scanned image and user identification information to the printer management server 600. In process B06, the printer management server 600 transmits the received scanned image and user identification information to the advertising server 100. The controller 110 that acquires user identification information in process 06 is an example of a third acquisition unit.

[0046] Upon receiving the scanned image, the advertising server 100 performs analysis of the scanned image in process B10. Figure 9 is a flowchart showing an example of the analysis of the scanned image.

[0047] In step S10, identification information 139 is extracted from the 2D code image 12 of the scanned advertisement image 10. This extracted identification information 139 allows for association with information stored in the advertiser management DB 131, print job management DB 132, and behavioral history DB 133. The controller 110 executing step S10 is an example of a first acquisition unit.

[0048] In the processing from step S20 onward, purchase information is extracted from the scanned receipt image 20. Figure 10 shows an example of a scanned receipt image. As shown in Figure 10, the scanned receipt image contains store information in area 21, purchase date and time information in area 22, purchased item information in area 23, and payment method information in area 24 as images. In particular, area 21 contains store information, including images of the store's logo and other store markings, as well as text images of the store name and phone number. Area 24, the payment method information, also contains information specific to the approver.

[0049] In step S20 of Figure 9, the system recognizes whether an image matching a store name image registered in the advertiser management DB 131 exists in the image of region 21. If an image matching a store name image registered in the advertiser management DB 131 exists, the advertiser associated with that store name image is identified. Then, in step S30, text information is generated from the scanned images using OCR for regions 21 to 24. Based on the store name image recognized in step S20 and the text information generated in step S30, in step S40, store information, purchase date and time information, purchased item information, and payment method information are extracted. The controller 110 that executes steps S20, S30, and S40 is an example of a second acquisition unit.

[0050] Next, in step S50, user and date / time verification is performed. User verification checks whether the unique information of the approver included in the extracted payment information matches the "user-specific information displayed on the receipt at the time of payment" which corresponds to the "user identification information" managed in the user information DB134. This ensures that the purchaser is the user of printer 200 (the user who saw the advertisement). In date / time verification, it is checked whether the purchase date and time of the extracted purchase date and time information is after the print completion date and time of the advertisement stored in the print job management DB132, which is identified via identification information 139. This is because if the purchase date and time are not after the print completion date and time, the purchase is not considered to be a result of the advertisement printing.

[0051] Returning to Figure 7, the advertising server 100 stores the acquired store information, purchase date and time information, purchased item information, and payment method information as purchase information in process B20. Specifically, the above purchase information is stored in the storage area of ​​the behavioral history DB 133, which is reserved in association with the user identification information and identification information 139 when printing is completed. As a result, the advertiser-related information in the advertiser management DB 131, the purchase information in the behavioral history DB 133, and the user information in the user information DB 134 are stored in association with each other via the user identification information and identification information. Note that if the purchase date and time is not after the printing completion date and time based on the date and time verification result in S50 above, the purchase information will not be stored. The user verification result in S50 above may also be stored in association with the purchase information, or the purchase information may not be stored if the user verification result does not match. Whether or not to store the purchase information may be used depending on the required reliability. The controller 110 that executes process B20 is an example of a storage unit.

[0052] Processes A15 to A70 cause advertisements to be printed on many printers 200, processes B01 to B20 collect effectiveness information from many users on the advertisement provision server 100, and a large amount of effectiveness information is accumulated in the behavior history DB 133.

[0053] If an advertiser wishes to obtain information on the effectiveness of an advertisement they have placed, they send a request for effectiveness information from the advertiser terminal 400 to the ad provider server 100 in process B30. The request for effectiveness information includes identification information 139. The request for effectiveness information may also include information on the format of the effectiveness information.

[0054] Upon receiving a request for effectiveness information, the advertising server 100 generates advertising effectiveness notification data in process B35. The advertising effectiveness notification data is generated by performing statistical processing based on purchase information such as store information, purchase date and time information, purchased item information, payment method information, and user identification information stored in the behavioral history DB 133 corresponding to the identification information 139, and user information stored in the user information DB 134 related to the user identification information. The controller 110 that executes process B35 is an example of an effectiveness display data generation unit.

[0055] In process B40, the advertising server 100 sends the generated advertising effectiveness notification data to the advertiser terminal 400. Upon receiving the advertising effectiveness notification data, the advertiser terminal 400 displays the information based on the received data on the display unit 440 in process B45. Figures 11(a) and 11(b) show examples of how advertising effectiveness is displayed on the display unit 440. Figure 11(a) is an example of how advertising effectiveness is displayed, using the time-series distribution of sales by item for people who made a purchase after seeing a printed advertisement. Figure 11(b) is an example of how advertising effectiveness is displayed, using the age- and gender-based sales distribution for people who made a purchase after seeing a printed advertisement. The advertiser terminal 400 executing process B45 is an example of an advertising effectiveness display unit.

[0056] The advertising server 100 can notify advertisers of the effectiveness of their advertisements in many formats, in addition to the notification examples shown in Figures 11(a) and 11(b). This allows advertisers to accurately obtain the results of printing their advertisements, which can contribute to their sales activities.

[0057] <Effects of the Embodiment> As described above, in this embodiment, the advertising server 100 includes an advertiser management DB 131 that manages information about advertisers and a user information DB 134 that manages user information of users who use the printer. The advertising server 100 issues identification information 139 to advertisers in processes A05 and A08, and acquires the original advertisement image in processes A25 and A40. Printer 200 performs the printing of an image in which an image based on identification information 139 has been superimposed on the original advertisement image in process A60. Then, in step S10, the ad provider server 100 obtains identification information 139 from the 2D code image 12 of the scanned ad image 10, and in steps S20, S30, and S40, it obtains purchase information such as store information, purchase date and time information, purchased item information, and payment method information associated with the identification information 139, and in process 06, it obtains user identification information of the purchaser as a user of the printer 200. Then, in process B20, the ad provider server 100 stores the above purchase information in the behavior history DB 133 by associating it with the advertiser information in the advertiser management DB 131 and the user information in the user information DB 134 via the obtained identification information 139 and user identification information.

[0058] As a result, purchase information linked to advertiser information and user information is accumulated for advertisements delivered and printed to a specific large number of users. Therefore, this can contribute to improving the effectiveness of printed advertisements.

[0059] <Variation> In the above, each component of the advertising print effectiveness collection system 1 shown in Figure 1 is not necessarily essential. For example, if the printer 200 scans using the attached reading mechanism 230, the user terminal 300 does not need to be included in the advertising print effectiveness collection system 1. Also, for example, the advertising provider server 100 may directly send and receive data with the printer 200, in which case the printer management server 600 does not need to be included in the advertising print effectiveness collection system 1. Furthermore, for example, the advertising provider server 100 may directly acquire advertising images from the advertiser server based on a contract at a predetermined price. In that case, the advertising management server 500 does not need to be included in the advertising print effectiveness collection system 1.

[0060] Furthermore, although the advertising server 100 has been described as a single device in the above explanation, it may also function as an advertising server 100 through the coordinated operation of multiple devices. Additionally, the functionality of the advertising server 100 may be implemented in, for example, a printer 200, a user terminal 300, an advertiser terminal 400, or other devices.

[0061] Furthermore, in any flowchart or sequence diagram disclosed in the embodiments, the execution order of any multiple processes in any multiple steps can be arbitrarily changed or executed in parallel, as long as no inconsistencies arise in the processing content. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0062] 100 Ad Provider Servers 131 Advertiser Management Database 133 Behavioral History Database 134 User Information Database 139 Identification Information 200 printers 300 user terminals 400 advertiser terminals 500 Ad Management Servers 600 Printer Management Server

Claims

1. This is a system for collecting the effectiveness of advertising prints. The Advertiser-Related Information Management Department manages information about advertisers, The User Information Management Unit manages the user information of users who use the printer, An identification information issuing unit that issues identification information, The advertising acquisition unit acquires original advertising images submitted by advertisers, An advertising printing unit that prints an advertising image based on the original advertising image acquired by the advertising acquisition unit and the identification information corresponding to the original advertising image using the printer, A first acquisition unit that acquires the identification information based on the printed advertisement image, A second acquisition unit acquires purchase information associated with the identification information acquired by the first acquisition unit. A third acquisition unit acquires user identification information that identifies the user and purchaser of the printer on which the advertisement was printed, A storage unit stores the advertiser information, user information, and purchase information in association with each other, based on the identification information acquired by the first acquisition unit, the purchase information acquired by the second acquisition unit, and the user identification information acquired by the third acquisition unit. An advertising print effectiveness data collection system equipped with the following features.

2. In the advertising print effectiveness collection system described in claim 1, The first acquisition unit acquires the identification information by extracting it from the image data from which the advertisement image has been read. An advertising print effectiveness data collection system characterized by the following features.

3. In the advertising print effectiveness collection system described in claim 2, The aforementioned advertising image includes a two-dimensional code image in which the information containing the identification information is encoded in two dimensions. An advertising print effectiveness data collection system characterized by the following features.

4. In the advertising print effectiveness collection system described in claim 1, The aforementioned ad acquisition unit acquires the original ad images submitted to the ad management server by the advertiser by winning an auction. An advertising print effectiveness data collection system characterized by the following features.

5. In an advertising print effectiveness collection system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, It further includes an image reading unit, The first acquisition unit acquires the identification information based on the advertisement image read by the image reading unit. The second acquisition unit acquires the purchase information based on the receipt image read by the image reading unit. An advertising print effectiveness data collection system characterized by the following features.

6. In the advertising print effectiveness collection system described in claim 5, A printer equipped with the aforementioned advertising printing section, The printer is equipped with the image reading unit. An advertising print effectiveness data collection system characterized by the following features.

7. In an advertising print effectiveness collection system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, The date and time when the advertisement image was printed in the aforementioned advertisement printing unit is stored in association with the aforementioned identification information. The storage unit shall not store the purchase information if the purchase date and time included in the purchase information acquired by the second acquisition unit and the print completion date and time stored in association with the identification information acquired by the first acquisition unit do not satisfy predetermined timing conditions. An advertising print effectiveness data collection system characterized by the following features.

8. In an advertising print effectiveness collection system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, An effect display data generation unit generates effect display data using the accumulated purchase information and the user information associated therewith, Based on the effect display data generated by the aforementioned effect display data generation unit, an advertising effect display unit displays the advertising effect, An advertising print effectiveness data collection system that also includes additional features.

9. In the advertising print effectiveness collection system described in claim 8, The aforementioned user information includes age information for each user. The aforementioned effectiveness display data generation unit uses the age information for each user to generate the effectiveness display data for the age-specific sales distribution of people who made a purchase after seeing a printed advertisement. An advertising print effectiveness data collection system characterized by the following features.

10. In the advertising print effectiveness collection system described in claim 8, The aforementioned purchase information includes information on the purchased items and information on the date and time of purchase. The aforementioned effectiveness display data generation unit generates the effectiveness display data, which represents the time-series distribution of sales by item for people who made a purchase after seeing a printed advertisement. An advertising print effectiveness data collection system characterized by the following features.

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