Advertising print effectiveness display system and advertising print effectiveness output device

Abstract

To realize an advertising effectiveness display system and advertising effectiveness output device that contribute to improving the effectiveness of advertising prints. [Solution] In process B35, the advertising server 100 generates advertising effectiveness notification data. The advertising effectiveness notification data is generated by performing statistical processing based on advertising information stored in the advertising management DB 131a associated with identification information 139, the history of actions (date and time of actions) stored in the action history DB 133 associated with both user identification information and identification information 139, and user information stored in the user information DB 134 associated with user identification information. In process 45, the advertiser terminal 400 displays a display on the display unit 440 based on the received advertising effectiveness notification data.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The technical field disclosed in this specification relates to an advertisement printing effect display system and an advertisement printing effect output device for displaying the effect of advertisement 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, delivering advertisements to a user's printer and printing them is less widespread than displaying advertisements on the screen of a terminal. In the case of displaying an advertisement on the screen of a terminal, it is relatively easy to collect the effect of the advertisement by clicking on the URL of the advertisement or the like, but it is considered that it is not easy to collect the effect of the advertisement when the advertisement is delivered and printed. On the other hand, when an advertisement is delivered and printed, the user gets the paper on which the advertisement is printed, so there is an advantage that the content of the advertisement is easily recognized by the user.

[0003] As a document that discloses the effect of printing an advertisement, for example, there is Patent Document 1. Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for detecting that access has been made to a two-dimensional code included in a delivered advertisement and recording the history of access to the advertisement.

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 while it is possible to detect that a user has accessed the advertisement, it is not possible to recognize which user accessed it. Advertisers can know how many people accessed the advertisement, but they cannot know what kind of users accessed it, and there is room for improvement in order to further enhance the effectiveness of the advertisement. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The advertising print effectiveness display system, designed to solve the aforementioned problems, comprises: a user information management unit that manages user information of users using a printer using user identification information; an identification information issuing unit that issues identification information; an advertising acquisition unit that acquires original advertising images submitted by advertisers and corresponding to the identification information issued by the identification information issuing unit; an advertising print unit that prints advertising images based on the original advertising images acquired by the advertising acquisition unit using the printer of the target user; an activity history acquisition unit that acquires information on the activity history of the target user in accordance with the printing of the advertising image; an activity history storage unit that stores the activity history information of the target user acquired by the activity history acquisition unit in association with the identification information and the user identification information; an effectiveness display data generation unit that generates effectiveness display data using the activity history information and user information stored by the activity history storage unit; and an advertising effectiveness display unit that displays advertising effectiveness based on the effectiveness display data generated by the effectiveness display data generation unit.

[0007] Furthermore, the advertising print effectiveness output device, which was developed for the purpose of solving the above-mentioned problems, comprises: a user information management unit that manages user information of users using a printer using user identification information; an identification information issuing unit that issues identification information; an advertising acquisition unit that acquires a source advertising image submitted by an advertiser and corresponding to the identification information issued by the identification information issuing unit; an advertising print instruction unit that causes the printer of the target user to print an advertising image based on the source advertising image acquired by the advertising acquisition unit; an activity history acquisition unit that acquires information on the activity history of the target user in accordance with the printing of the advertising image; an activity history storage unit that stores the activity history information of the target user acquired by the activity history acquisition unit in association with the identification information and the user identification information; an effectiveness display data generation unit that generates effectiveness display data using the activity history information and user information stored by the activity history storage unit; and an advertising effectiveness output unit that outputs the effectiveness display data generated by the effectiveness display data generation unit. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] The technology disclosed herein makes it possible to display the effectiveness of printed advertisements based on user information, thereby contributing to improving the effectiveness of printed advertisements. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0009] [Figure 1] This is an overall diagram illustrating the system for displaying the effectiveness of 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 a sequence diagram illustrating an example of a process for collecting user behavior history in response to printed advertisements. [Figure 8] This is an example of a screen used to collect user activity history. [Figure 9] This sequence diagram illustrates an example of a process for collecting access history as user behavior history in response to printing advertisements. [Figure 10] Figure 10(a) shows one example of how the effectiveness of an advertisement can be displayed, and Figure 10(b) shows another example of how the effectiveness of an advertisement can be displayed. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0010] Embodiments of the advertising print effectiveness display system of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0011] <Overall structure of the effect display system> Figure 1 shows an example of the overall configuration of the effect display system 1 according to the embodiment. As shown in Figure 1, the effect display system 1 includes an advertising 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, a printer management server 600, and an advertiser server 700. Each server 100, 500, 600, 700, the printer 200, and each terminal device 300, 400 are 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.

[0012] <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 has it print. In addition, the advertising server 100 can collect user behavior history, such as whether the user viewed the advertisement, purchased a product related to the advertisement, or referred it to an acquaintance, in response to the advertisement being printed by the printer 200, and display information based on this behavior history to the advertiser as an indicator of the effectiveness of the advertisement. The advertising server 100 is an example of an advertising print effectiveness output device.

[0013] 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, 7, and 9 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.

[0014] The advertiser management DB 131 includes, for example, information about the advertiser, an advertisement DB 131a related to the advertisements published by the advertiser, and the like. The information about the advertiser includes, for example, advertiser information such as the personal name or corporate name of the advertiser, the IP address of the advertiser terminal 400 possessed by the advertiser, and the like. Further, the information about the advertiser includes store information such as the store name possessed by the advertiser, the store notation image described on the receipt, and the like. The advertisement DB 131a related to the advertisements published by the advertiser includes, for example, identification information 139 corresponding to the advertisement, the expiration date of the advertisement, questionnaire information related to the advertisement, and the like. The advertiser management DB 131 is managed by the controller 110.

[0015] The print job management DB 132 includes, for example, a print job number, identification information 139, the original advertisement image or the URL for obtaining the original advertisement image, print conditions, a print deadline, the print completion date and time, and the like. The print job management DB 132 is managed by the controller 110.

[0016] The action history DB 133 includes the action history corresponding to the printing of advertisements for each user. For example, information indicating whether the user has viewed the printed advertisement, which is associated with both the user identification information for identifying the user and the identification information 139, purchase information regarding that the user has purchased a product after viewing the printed advertisement, information on accessing the URL based on the advertisement, information indicating other actions of the user, and the like are included. As the history of each action, the date and time when the action was performed are recorded. The purchase information includes, for example, information on the items purchased by the user, the purchase store, the purchase date and time, the purchase method, and the like. The action history DB 133 is managed by the controller 110.

[0017] The user information DB 134 includes user information such as, for example, the user name, user identification information, printer identification information owned by the user, terminal identification information owned by the user, user-specific information to be shown on a receipt at the time of settlement, and the like. Further, the user information in the user information DB 134 includes user attribute information such as the user's age, gender, address, place of origin, favorite genre, and the like. The user information is registered in advance when the user concludes a contract for advertising distribution printing, and is managed using the user identification information. The user information DB 134 is used for generating notification data of advertising effects and the like, which will be described later. 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.

[0018] <Printer> In FIG. 1, only one printer 200 is shown, and the description of other printers 200 is omitted. A plurality of printers 200 corresponding to a plurality of users are connected to the advertising providing server 100. Each printer 200 acquires and prints an advertising image distributed from the advertising providing server 100 to each user, and notifies the advertising providing server 100 that the printing has been completed.

[0019] FIG. 3 is an electrical configuration diagram of the printer 200. The printer 200 includes 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 the network NT, and communicates with the user terminal 300 and the printer management server 600. The printer 200 may communicate with the advertising providing server 100 without going through the printer management server 600.

[0020] 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. In addition, among the various programs, there is a program for an embedded web server (hereinafter referred to as EWS), and instead of using the display unit 240 and operation unit 250 to display and receive operations, it is also possible to use the user terminal 300 to display and receive operations.

[0021] 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 images such as questionnaire results using the reading mechanism 230, the user's behavior history can be detected (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.

[0022] <User terminal> Figure 1 shows only one user terminal 300, omitting the other user terminals 300. Each printer 200 can print advertising images distributed from the advertising server 100, as well as print based on print data sent from the corresponding user terminal 300. Furthermore, the user terminals 300 can conduct surveys and other activities for users.

[0023] 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.

[0024] 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, a survey application that conducts surveys in response to advertisement printing, and a browser that can display the web pages of the printer 200's EWS.

[0025] <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.

[0026] 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 effects of printing advertisements easily visible. The operation unit 350 includes, for example, a keyboard and mouse.

[0027] 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 (hereinafter referred to as OS) 422 and applications 423. Applications 423 include an advertiser application that can register information about advertisers, information about advertisements, etc., with the advertising server 100 and display the effect of printing advertisements from the advertising server 100, an advertising submission application that submits advertisements for printing, and other applications.

[0028] <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.

[0029] 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.

[0030] <Printer Management Server> The printer management server 600 acts as an intermediary between the advertising server 100 and the printer 200. 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, 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 and associated printers 200. Furthermore, the existence of the printer management server 600 is not mandatory; the advertising server 100 may communicate directly with the printer 200. The printer management server 600 may also act as an intermediary between the advertising server 100 and the user terminal 300 corresponding to the printer 200.

[0031] <Advertiser Server> The advertiser server 700 has the function of allowing advertisers to provide information to customers. The advertiser server 700 operates as a web server, and customers can access the homepage to receive information about products and services.

[0032] The details of the processing of the effect display system of this embodiment will be explained below with reference to Figures 6 to 9. Figures 6 to 9 are sequence flows representing the control performed through the cooperation of the advertising server 100, printer 200, user terminal 300, advertiser terminal 400, advertising management server 500, and printer management server 600.

[0033] 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, for example, advertiser information and survey information. The 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, and the URL of the page that contains information about the advertiser's products or services. The registration request is made in advance each time the advertiser places an advertisement. The URL of the page that contains information about the advertiser's products or services may be a URL that is appropriate for each advertisement placed.

[0034] Next, the ad provider server 100, upon receiving the registration request, generates identification information 139 in process A05, associates it with advertiser information, and registers it in the advertiser management DB 131. In particular, the ad provider server 100 registers the identification information 139 in the ad management DB 131a, as it is generated for each advertisement. Then, in process A08, the ad provider 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.

[0035] An advertiser who has obtained identification information 139 will 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 becomes able to receive bids for the placed advertisement.

[0036] 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. The advertisement request includes user identification information of the user of the printer 200 that will print the advertisement. 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 user attribute information such as the user's age, gender, address, place of origin, and favorite genre. This user attribute information may be included in the advertisement request received from the printer management server 600 in process A15, and the advertisement provider server 100 may obtain it from that advertisement request.

[0037] Upon receiving a bid request, the ad management server 500, in process A25, executes an auction for an ad 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 manage the following behavioral history 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.

[0038] 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.

[0039] Next, in process A40, the ad provider server 100 accesses the ad image URL included in the bid results of the successful ad 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 based on the ad image. At this time, the ad provider server 100 generates a new relay URL, adds an image of the two-dimensional code of the generated relay URL to the ad image, and then generates the print data. The relay URL is the address of a page owned by the ad provider server 100, with the user identification information included in the ad request and the identification information 139 included in the bid results of the successful ad added as queries.

[0040] Before sending the generated print data to the printer 200, the advertising server 100 registers, for example, the print job number, identification information 139, user identification information, the original advertisement image or a URL to obtain the original advertisement image, print conditions, and print deadline in the print job management DB 132.

[0041] The advertising server 100 sends print data to the printer management server 600 in process A56, and the printer management server 600 sends the received print data to the printer 200 in process A57. The controller 110 that executes process A56 is an example of an advertising print instruction unit. The printer 200 that receives the print data executes the printing of an advertising image with a two-dimensional code image of the relay URL attached, based on the received print data, in process A60. The printer 200 that executes process A60 is an example of an advertising print unit.

[0042] 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.

[0043] 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.

[0044] 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 a memory area in the behavior history DB 133 so that it can store the user's behavior history for the advertisements that have been printed. This memory area is reserved in association with the identification information 139 and user identification information that indicates the user of the printer 200.

[0045] Figure 7 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of a process for collecting user behavior history in response to printing advertisements.

[0046] First, in process B01, the user who has seen the advertisement and taken action inputs their action into the printer 200 by operating the printer's control panel 250. The printer 200 accepts the action input by the user.

[0047] Figure 8 shows an example of a screen for collecting the activity history of a managed device. Figure 8(a) is the basic operation reception screen for printer 200. The basic operation reception screen displays a scan button 11 for accepting scan operations, a copy button 12 for accepting copy operations, and an advertisement button 13 for accepting advertisement operations. If the user wishes to answer a survey about advertisements, they operate the advertisement button 13.

[0048] Figure 8(b) shows the ad selection screen. The ad selection screen displays an ad selection field 21 for selecting an ad to answer a survey from a list of ads, a scroll bar 22 for scrolling through the ads displayed in the ad selection field, and an OK button 23 for confirming the ad selected from the ad selection field 21. When an ad is touched from the list of ads displayed in the ad selection field 21, the square on the left edge of that ad changes to a square, and the selection of the ad with the square is confirmed by operating the OK button 23.

[0049] Figure 8(c) shows the action selection screen, where the user selects an action taken in relation to an advertisement selected on the advertisement selection screen. The action selection screen displays an action selection field 31 for selecting an action to answer a questionnaire from a list of actions, a scroll bar 32 for scrolling through the advertisements displayed in the action selection field, and an OK button 33 for confirming the advertisement selected from the action selection field 31. When a user touches any advertisement from the list of advertisements displayed in the action selection field 31, the square on the left edge of that advertisement changes to a square, and the selection of the advertisement with the square is confirmed by operating the OK button 33. In this embodiment, two actions, "read the advertisement" and "purchased the product," are displayed as options in the action selection field 31, but other actions such as "referred to an acquaintance" and "visited a store" may also be included. Furthermore, if "purchased a product" is selected, a selection field for the purchased product may be displayed to obtain more detailed information.

[0050] Figure 8(d) shows a notification screen that displays a message to the user regarding the action selected on the action selection screen. This notification screen displays a message field 41 that displays a message to the user, and a confirmation button 43 that confirms the user has read the message.

[0051] As described above, when user action input is received through user operation on the screens shown in Figures 8(a) to 8(d), the printer 200, in process B05, adds user identification information and identification information 139 to the received action information and sends it to the printer management server 600. Then, in process B06, the printer management server 600 sends the received action information, user identification information, and identification information 139 to the advertisement provision server 100. The printer 200 that executes process B01 is an example of an action history acquisition unit.

[0052] In process B20, the advertising server 100 stores information about the received actions in the memory area reserved in the aforementioned action history DB 133, associating it with both user identification information and identification information 139. Specifically, it stores the date and time of receipt in the memory area reserved for the received actions. However, it does not have to be the date and time of receipt. For example, when selecting an action in the action selection field 31, the user may be asked to input the date and time of the action, and the advertising server 100 may receive this date and time along with the action information from the printer 200 via the printer management server 600. The controller 110 that executes process B20 is an example of an action history storage unit.

[0053] Figure 9 is a sequence diagram showing an example of a process for collecting user access history as user behavior history in response to printing an advertisement. First, in process C01, the user uses a QR code reader application on the user terminal 300 to read the QR code of the relay URL attached to the printed advertisement image. After reading the QR code of the relay URL, the user terminal 300 accesses the web page of the relay URL on the advertisement provider server 100 in process C05.

[0054] When the advertising server 100 is accessed by the user terminal 300, in process C10, it extracts user identification information and identification information 139 included in the query for the relay URL. In process C15, the advertising server 100 sends a response to the user terminal 300 to redirect to the URL of product or service information corresponding to the identification information 139 stored in the advertising DB 131a. In response to the redirection response from the advertising server 100, in process C16, the user terminal 300 accesses the URL of product or service information corresponding to the identification information 139. Then, in process C17, the advertiser server 700, which has the URL of product or service information corresponding to the identification information 139, responds to the user terminal 300 with page information about the product or service corresponding to the identification information 139. Then, in process C18, the product or service information corresponding to the identification information 139 is displayed on the display unit 340 of the user terminal 300. This allows the user to view information about the desired product or service. The controller 110, printer 200, and user terminal 300 of the advertising server 100, which executes processes C01 to C18, are examples of behavioral history acquisition units.

[0055] Meanwhile, in process C20, the advertising server 100 stores the user's access behavior in the memory area reserved in the aforementioned behavior history DB 133, associating it with both the user identification information extracted in process C10 and the identification information 139. The controller 110 that executes process C20 is an example of a behavior history storage unit.

[0056] Processes A15 to A70 cause advertisements to be printed on many printers 200, and processes B01 to B20 and C01 to C20 collect information on the behavioral history of many users on the advertisement provision server 100, and a large amount of behavioral history information is accumulated in the behavioral history DB 133.

[0057] 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.

[0058] 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 advertising information stored in the advertising management DB 131a associated with identification information 139, the history of actions (date and time of actions) stored in the action history DB 133 associated with both user identification information and identification information 139, and user information stored in the user information DB 134 associated with user identification information. The controller 110 that executes process B35 is an example of an effectiveness display data generation unit.

[0059] In process B40, the advertising server 100 sends the generated advertising effectiveness notification data to the advertiser terminal 400. The controller 110 that executes process B40 is an example of an advertising effectiveness output unit. The advertiser terminal 400 that receives the advertising effectiveness notification data then displays a display based on the received advertising effectiveness notification data on the display unit 440 in process B45. Figures 10(a) and 10(b) show examples of the advertising effectiveness display shown on the display unit 440. Figure 10(a) is an example of the advertising effectiveness display content in the format of "distribution of customer behavior towards printed advertisements by customer preference genre". Figure 10(b) is an example of the advertising effectiveness display content in the format of "distribution of customer behavior towards printed advertisements by age". The advertiser terminal 400 that executes process B45 is an example of an advertising effectiveness display unit.

[0060] 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 10(a) and 10(b). This allows advertisers to accurately obtain the results of printing their advertisements, which can contribute to their sales activities.

[0061] <Effects of the Embodiment> As described above, in this embodiment, the advertising server 100 is equipped with a user information DB 134 that manages user information of users using the printer using user identification information. 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. The printer 200 prints an advertisement image based on the original advertisement image in process A60. The printer 200 then acquires information on the user's behavior history based on the survey results in process B01. Furthermore, the advertising server 100 acquires information on the user's behavior history through processes C01 to C18. The advertising server 100 then stores the acquired user behavior history information in the behavior history DB 133 in processes B20 and C20, associating it with the identification information 139 and user identification information. Finally, the advertising server 100 generates notification data on the effectiveness of the advertisement in process B35. Then, in process B45, the display unit 440 of the advertiser terminal 400 displays information based on the advertising effectiveness notification data derived from user information.

[0062] As a result, for advertisements delivered and printed to a specific number of users, information about the user's behavior history, linked to the advertisement information and user information, will be displayed. Therefore, this can contribute to improving the effectiveness of printed advertisements.

[0063] <Variation> In the above, each component of the effectiveness display system 1 in Figure 1 is not necessarily required. For example, the advertising 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 effectiveness display system 1. Alternatively, for example, the advertising 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 effectiveness display system 1.

[0064] 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.

[0065] 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]

[0066] 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. A system for displaying the effectiveness of advertising print, The user information management unit manages the user information of users who use the printer using user identification information, An identification information issuing unit that issues identification information, An advertising acquisition unit acquires an original advertising image that is submitted by an advertiser and corresponds to the identification information issued by the identification information issuing unit, An advertising printing unit prints an advertising image based on the original advertising image acquired by the advertising acquisition unit using the printer of the target user. A behavioral history acquisition unit acquires information on the behavioral history of the target user in response to the printing of the aforementioned advertisement image. An activity history storage unit stores the activity history information of the target user acquired by the activity history acquisition unit, associating it with the identification information and the user identification information. An effect display data generation unit generates effect display data using the action history information stored in the action history storage unit and the user information, 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 display system equipped with the following features.

2. In the advertising print effectiveness display system described in claim 1, The behavioral history acquisition unit acquires the behavioral history information when the printer used to print the advertisement image acquires the responses to the questionnaire displayed by the printer. An advertising print effectiveness display system characterized by the following features.

3. In the advertising print effectiveness display system described in claim 1, The aforementioned behavioral history acquisition unit acquires the behavioral history information in response to access to a two-dimensional code attached to an advertisement image printed by the advertisement printing unit. An advertising print effectiveness display system characterized by the following features.

4. In an advertising print effectiveness display system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, The aforementioned advertisement acquisition unit acquires the original advertisement image and the identification information corresponding to the original advertisement image, which have been submitted to the advertisement management server by the advertiser, by winning an auction. An advertising print effectiveness display system characterized by the following features.

5. In an advertising print effectiveness display system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, The user information includes at least one piece of information for each user, such as age, gender, place of origin, and preferred genre. An advertising print effectiveness display system characterized by the following features.

6. In an advertising print effectiveness display system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, The aforementioned user information includes information about each user's preferred genres, The aforementioned effect display data generation unit generates the effect display data that shows the distribution of user behavior preferences by genre. An advertising print effectiveness display system characterized by the following features.

7. In an advertising print effectiveness display system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, The aforementioned user information includes age information for each user. The aforementioned effect display data generation unit generates the effect display data showing the age distribution of user behavior. An advertising print effectiveness display system characterized by the following features.

8. The advertising print effectiveness display system described in any one of claims 1 to 3 is: The advertiser has an advertiser server owned by the advertiser, The advertiser server includes the advertising effectiveness display unit, An advertising print effectiveness display system characterized by the following features.

9. An advertising printing effectiveness output device, The user information management unit manages the user information of users who use the printer using user identification information, An identification information issuing unit that issues identification information, An advertising acquisition unit acquires an original advertising image that is submitted by an advertiser and corresponds to the identification information issued by the identification information issuing unit, An advertisement printing instruction unit that causes the printer of the target user to print an advertisement image based on the original advertisement image acquired by the advertisement acquisition unit, A behavioral history acquisition unit acquires information on the behavioral history of the target user in response to the printing of the aforementioned advertisement image. An activity history storage unit stores the activity history information of the target user acquired by the activity history acquisition unit, associating it with the identification information and the user identification information. An effect display data generation unit generates effect display data using the action history information stored in the action history storage unit and the user information, An advertising effect output unit that outputs the effect display data generated by the effect display data generation unit, An advertising printing effect output device equipped with the following features.

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