Distribution device, distribution method, and program

Abstract

Promotes use such as launching and operating application programs (apps). [Solution] The system includes a memory unit that stores multiple messages classified into categories corresponding to a time period, a startup information acquisition unit that acquires startup information indicating that an application program has been launched on a user terminal, a greeting message control unit that reads out from the memory unit one or more message candidates that belong to the time period category corresponding to the date and time at which the startup information is acquired and that belong to one or more subcategories classified by type of information about the operator, and selects a message belonging to a specific subcategory randomly from the read message candidates as a greeting message to be sent to the user terminal when the application program is launched, and a distribution unit that distributes the greeting message to the user terminal.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a distribution device, a distribution method, and a program. [Background technology]

[0002] Various application programs (apps) have been developed, and various methods have been researched to have many users use the apps. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technology that enables a customer to quickly order or reserve a taxi by simply operating a customer communication terminal. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2014-29580 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, in Patent Document 1, a message such as a reservation time or an approaching taxi is notified to a user's terminal by push notification. In a push notification, all or part of the notified message is displayed on the top edge of the lock screen or home screen of the smartphone, and the user can often understand the content of the message notified by the push notification without starting the app. For this reason, there is a problem that a push notification does not necessarily lead to the start of an app, and it is not possible to promote use such as starting and operating the app.

[0005] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned circumstances, and its object is to provide a distribution device, a distribution method, and a program that can promote usage such as launching and operating an application program (app). [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] One aspect of the present invention includes a memory unit that stores a plurality of messages classified into a category corresponding to a time period; a startup information acquisition unit that acquires startup information indicating that an application program has been launched on a user terminal; a greeting message control unit that reads from the memory unit one or more message candidates that belong to the time period category corresponding to the date and time when the startup information was acquired and that belong to one or more subcategories classified by type of information about the operator, and selects a message belonging to a specific subcategory randomly from the read message candidates as a greeting message to be sent to the user terminal when the application program is launched; and a distribution unit that distributes the greeting message to the user terminal. A distribution device comprising:

[0007] One aspect of the present invention is a delivery method performed by a computer having a memory unit that stores a plurality of messages classified into categories corresponding to times, in which a startup information acquisition unit acquires startup information indicating that an application program has been launched on a user terminal, a greeting message control unit reads out from the memory unit one or more message candidates that belong to the category of the time corresponding to the date and time at which the startup information was acquired and that belong to one or more subcategories classified by type of information relating to the business operator, a message belonging to a specific subcategory randomly selected from the read message candidates is selected as the greeting message to be sent to the user terminal when the application program is launched, and a delivery unit delivers the greeting message to the user terminal.

[0008] One aspect of the present invention is a program that causes a computer having a memory unit that stores a plurality of messages classified into categories corresponding to times to acquire startup information indicating that an application program has been launched on a user terminal, reads out from the memory unit one or more message candidates that belong to the category of the time corresponding to the date and time at which the startup information was acquired and that belong to one or more subcategories classified by type of information about the operator, selects a message belonging to a specific subcategory randomly selected from the read message candidates as a greeting message to be sent to the user terminal when the application program is launched, and delivers the greeting message to the user terminal. Effect of the Invention

[0009] According to the present invention, it is possible to promote utilization such as launching and operating an application program (app). [Brief description of the drawings]

[0010] [Figure 1] 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a message delivery system according to an embodiment. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a process performed by a distribution device according to an embodiment; [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a configuration of a distribution device according to an embodiment. [Figure 4] FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an example of greeting message information according to the embodiment. [Diagram 5] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of background information according to an embodiment. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining a process performed by a distribution device according to an embodiment; [Figure 7] FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of greeting message delivery history information according to the embodiment. [Figure 8] FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of greeting message delivery history information according to the embodiment. [Figure 9] 4 is a sequence diagram showing a flow of processing performed by the message delivery system of the embodiment. FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0011] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0012] (About message delivery system 10) 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a message delivery system 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The message delivery system 10 includes a delivery device 100, a user terminal 300, and a network NW. The network NW may include a LAN (Local Area Network), a WAN (Wide Area Network), the Internet, a mobile communication network, a cellular network, or the like.

[0013] The distribution device 100 distributes business operator information related to services provided by businesses to the user terminal 300. The user terminal 300 is a terminal device such as a smartphone used by a user who uses services provided by the business operator.

[0014] The business operator may be any organization, company, or individual, but is, for example, a local government. In this case, the local government as a business operator provides local government information, such as information on procedures and events handled by the local government, information related to the residents' lives, and local recommendation information, to the residents of the local government as a service provided by the business operator. In other words, the local government as a business operator distributes the local government information as business operator information to the user terminals 300 used by the residents of the local government via the distribution device 100.

[0015] In the message delivery system 10 of this embodiment, a dedicated application program (hereinafter simply referred to as a "delivery application") for transmitting business information is distributed, and by installing the delivery application in the user terminal 300, the user can obtain business information transmitted by the business via the user terminal 300.

[0016] The distribution device 100 distributes a personalized message to the user terminal 300. The personalized message is different from a greeting message and is not a notification addressed to an unspecified number of people, but is a message that notifies an individual user of information related to content from various contents included in a distribution application. For example, a personalized message is used in a case where a user who has submitted a birth notification to a local government is notified of a one-month checkup after birth.

[0017] The distribution device 100 distributes a message addressed to an individual to the user terminal 300 by push notification. A push notification is a notification method in which a message is distributed spontaneously from the distribution device 100, rather than as a response to a request from the user terminal 300. The push notification is displayed on the top edge of the lock screen or home screen of the user terminal 300.

[0018] FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the processing performed by the distribution device. FIG. 2 shows an example of a screen of a distribution app on which a personalized message is displayed. As shown in this figure, in the distribution app, the personalized message is displayed in a display area E1, and content other than the personalized message, such as an event notification, is displayed in a display area E2. The display area E1 is provided when the distribution app is started due to a push notification of a personalized message. When the user swipes the display area E1, for example, a list of personalized messages or details of the personalized message are displayed.

[0019] (Regarding distribution device 100) FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a functional configuration of the distribution device 100. The distribution device 100 includes a control unit 110, a communication unit 120, and a storage unit 130. These components are realized by, for example, a hardware processor such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) executing a program (software). Some or all of these components may be realized by hardware (including circuitry) such as an LSI (Large Scale Integration), an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), or a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), or may be realized by cooperation between software and hardware. The program may be stored in advance in a storage device (a storage device having a non-transient storage medium) such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), an SSD (Solid State Drive), or a flash memory, or may be stored in a removable storage medium (a non-transient storage medium) such as a DVD or a CD-ROM, and may be installed by mounting the storage medium in a drive device.

[0020] The communication unit 120 is a communication interface that connects the distribution device 100 to the network NW. The communication unit 120 communicates with the user terminal 300 via the network NW. For example, the communication unit 120 is a network interface card (NIC) such as Ethernet (registered trademark) or a LAN.

[0021] The control unit 110 controls each unit of the distribution device 100. The control unit 110 includes a startup information acquisition unit 111, a greeting message control unit 112, a distribution unit 113, an individual message control unit 114, and a background selection unit 115.

[0022] The individual message control unit 114 delivers messages addressed to an individual. The individual message control unit 114 manages the status of messages addressed to an individual that have been notified to the user terminal 300. The status here refers to whether the content of the message addressed to an individual has been "read" by the user and confirmed, or whether the content has not been confirmed and is "unread." For example, when a message addressed to an individual is received by the user terminal 300, the individual message control unit 114 sets the status of the message addressed to an individual to "unread."

[0023] Here, since the individual message is delivered by push notification, the individual message is displayed on the lock screen or home screen of the user terminal 300 even if the delivery application is not running on the user terminal 300. In the user terminal 300, the user can perform an operation to delete the push notification without starting the delivery application. In addition, when a user launches a delivery app by, for example, tapping on a push notification, a personalized message is displayed in display area E1 shown in FIG. 2, and when the user swipes this display area E1, the individual message control unit 114 sets the status of the personalized message to “read.”

[0024] When the display area E1 is swiped and the personal message changes to a "read" status, the individual message control unit 114 erases the personal message that was displayed in the display area E1 of the user terminal 300, and displays content other than the personal message, such as an event notification that was previously displayed in the display area E2, on the entire display screen of the user terminal 300 (i.e., display areas E1 and E2).

[0025] Conventionally, when a delivery application is launched when there are no "unread" messages addressed to an individual, content other than messages addressed to an individual, such as notifications of events displayed in display area E2 in Fig. 2, is displayed on the entire display screen (i.e., display areas E1 and E2) of user terminal 300. In other words, if there are "unread" messages addressed to an individual at the time the delivery application is launched, the messages are displayed in display area E1, and if there are no "unread" messages addressed to an individual, content other than messages addressed to an individual is displayed in the entire display areas E1 and E2, and the screen layout when the delivery application is launched differs depending on whether there are "unread" messages addressed to an individual at the time the delivery application is launched.

[0026] By not launching the app, users will not be able to notice useful services provided by the delivery app, such as more detailed and important information in messages addressed to individuals, or information on procedures and events handled by local governments, information related to residents' lives, local recommended information, etc. For example, users who delete push notifications without launching the delivery app or users who have never received a push notification are likely not to launch the app. To address this issue, in this embodiment, the user is made aware that some kind of message will be displayed in the display area E1, thereby encouraging usage such as launching and operating the app.

[0027] Specifically, in this embodiment, when the delivery application is started in a state where there are no "unread" individual messages, "other messages" different from the individual messages are displayed in the display area E1. Furthermore, as the "other messages", messages that convey greetings or consideration (greeting messages) are delivered.

[0028] When the delivery app is launched, a greeting message is delivered to the user and the user feels that the app is being cared for. If the user feels that the app is being cared for, the user will be motivated to operate the delivery app due to the principle of "reciprocity of favor" in behavioral economics. For example, if the user launches the delivery app without knowing that a greeting message will be delivered, the user will be surprised and impressed that the greeting message was delivered at the right time, and will consider operating the delivery app. After the user knows that a greeting message will be delivered at launch, the user will launch the delivery app in anticipation of the content notified by the greeting message. This allows the user to develop a habit of launching the delivery app and become accustomed to operating the delivery app.

[0029] For example, a distribution app contains various contents corresponding to business operator information. For example, the municipal information distributed by a municipality as a business operator through a distribution app includes information on disaster prevention and crime prevention, daily life and procedures, childcare, education, health and welfare, tourism and events, public relations, garbage, etc., and includes contents corresponding to items further subdivided into these items. In this way, municipal information is very diverse. In addition, each item tends to have a large amount of information. In this way, if a distribution app contains various contents, it is expected that it may be difficult for a user to find the information he or she wants to obtain.

[0030] By inducing the user to operate the distribution app and encouraging the user to operate the distribution app, the user can understand what kind of content is included in the distribution app and what kind of operation is required to view what kind of content. This allows the user to appropriately find desired content from various contents included in the distribution app according to the user's own interests and concerns. If the user can appropriately find desired content, the number of inquiries made to the local government by the user will decrease and the user will be able to properly carry out administrative procedures by himself / herself. This can contribute to the optimal management of the local government.

[0031] The following mainly describes a configuration in which a greeting message is displayed in the display area E1 in response to the distribution application being launched in a state in which there are no "unread" personalized messages.

[0032] Returning to the explanation of FIG. 3, the storage unit 130 includes a storage device such as an HDD, an SSD, or a flash memory. The storage unit 130 stores, for example, greeting message information 131, greeting message delivery history information 132, and background information 133. The greeting message information 131 is information related to greeting messages delivered to the user terminal 300. The greeting message delivery history information 132 is information indicating the history of greeting messages delivered to the user terminal 300. The background information 133 is information related to a background screen of the greeting message.

[0033] The startup information acquisition unit 111 acquires startup information. The startup information is information notified from the user terminal 300 to the distribution device 100 in response to the user terminal 300 being operated by a user or the like and the distribution application being launched. The distribution device 100 receives the startup information notified from the user terminal 300 via the communication unit 120, and outputs the startup information received by the communication unit 120 to the startup information acquisition unit 111. As a result, the startup information acquisition unit 111 acquires the startup information via the communication unit 120. The startup information acquisition unit 111 outputs the acquired startup information to the greeting message control unit 112.

[0034] The greeting message control unit 112 controls the delivery of greeting messages. The greeting message control unit 112 performs a start-up determination when it is triggered by acquiring start-up information from the start-up information acquisition unit 111. This start-up determination is a process of determining whether or not the start-up of the delivery application is performed in a state where there is no "unread" individual message.

[0035] For example, when a delivery app is launched by tapping a push notification displayed on a lock screen or a home screen of the user terminal 300, the greeting message control unit 112 determines that the delivery app is launched in a state where there is an "unread" personalized message. On the other hand, when the delivery app is launched by a method other than tapping a push notification, for example, by tapping an icon of the delivery app displayed on the home screen of the user terminal 300, the greeting message control unit 112 determines that the delivery app is launched in a state where there is no "unread" personalized message.

[0036] When the greeting message control unit 112 determines in the start determination that the delivery application has been started in a state where there is no "unread" individual message, it reads out greeting message information 131 from the storage unit 130, and sets a message selected at random from the messages in the read greeting message information 131 as the greeting message to be transmitted to the user terminal 300 when the delivery application is started. The greeting message control unit 112 outputs information indicating the content of the message selected as the greeting message to the delivery unit 113.

[0037] FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of greeting message information 131. As shown in FIG. 4, the greeting message information 131 is information in which a category, a greeting message ID, a greeting message, a notification type, and the like are associated with each other. The category is information indicating a classification by time period for greetings, and here indicates classifications such as morning, afternoon, evening, and night. The greeting message ID is information for uniquely identifying the greeting message. The greeting message indicates the content of the greeting message. The notification type indicates a type according to the content of the greeting message. In the example of this figure, the notification type indicates any one of a place, a community, a bus operation, and others. In this way, the greeting message information 131 indicates a plurality of messages classified into categories corresponding to a time period. That is, the storage unit 130 stores a plurality of messages classified into categories corresponding to a time period as the greeting message information 131.

[0038] In this figure, the storage unit 130 stores messages including greetings according to the time of day, but is not limited to this. As the greeting message information 131, it is sufficient that at least a message including a greeting according to the time is stored, and for example, a message including a greeting according to the season, time of year, time of year, calendar, 24 solar terms, etc. may be stored.

[0039] The greeting message control unit 112 reads out greeting message information 131 belonging to a category of a period corresponding to the date and time when the startup information is acquired from the storage unit 130, and selects a message at random from the messages in the read greeting message information 131 as the greeting message. When greeting messages corresponding to time periods of a day, such as morning, afternoon, evening, and night, as shown in the example of FIG. 4, are stored as greeting message information 131, greeting message control unit 112 randomly selects a greeting message from messages belonging to the category of the time period corresponding to the time when the startup information was acquired. For example, if the time when the startup information was acquired was between 5:00 and 10:59, the greeting message control unit 112 extracts a series of messages corresponding to greeting message IDs (M1), (M2), ... in Figure 4 as greeting messages belonging to the "morning" category, and selects a message randomly from the extracted message group as the greeting message. If the time when the startup information was acquired was between 11:00 and 16:59, the greeting message control unit 112 extracts a series of messages corresponding to greeting message IDs (D1), (D2), (D3) ... in Figure 4 as greeting messages belonging to the "daytime" category, and selects a message randomly from the extracted message group as the greeting message. If the time when the startup information was acquired is between 17:00 and 22:59, the greeting message control unit 112 extracts a series of messages corresponding to greeting message IDs (E1), (E2)... in Fig. 4 as greeting messages belonging to the "evening" category, and sets a message selected at random from the extracted message group as the greeting message. If the time when the startup information was acquired is between 13:00 and 4:59 the next day, the greeting message control unit 112 extracts a series of messages corresponding to greeting message IDs (N1)... in Fig. 4 as greeting messages belonging to the "night" category, and sets a message selected at random from the extracted message group as the greeting message.

[0040] The background selection unit 115 selects a background image to be set as the background of the greeting message. The background selection unit 115 reads out background information 133 from the storage unit 130 in response to the selection of the greeting message by the greeting message control unit 112.

[0041] FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of background information 133. As shown in FIG. 5, background information 133 is information in which a notification type and a background image are associated with each other. The notification type indicates a type according to the content of the message. Here, the notification type indicates one of a place, a community, a bus operation, and others, and corresponds to the notification type of greeting message information 131 shown in FIG. 4. In this figure, the background image is designed according to the notification type. For example, the background image of the notification type corresponding to "place" is designed to evoke the image of a map. The background image of the notification type corresponding to "bus operation" is designed to evoke the image of a route map. The background image of the notification type corresponding to "community" is designed to evoke the image of a region or a streetscape. In the example shown in the figure, the outline of the map or route map designed in the background image is clearly drawn, but this is not limiting. The background image may have a light design in which the outline of the map or route map is not clearly drawn and the outline gradually blends into the background color.

[0042] The background selection unit 115 selects a background image corresponding to the notification type of the greeting message selected by the greeting message control unit 112. The background selection unit 115 identifies the notification type associated with the greeting message selected by the greeting message control unit 112 by referring to the greeting message information 131. The background selection unit 115 selects a background image corresponding to the identified notification type, and outputs image information of the selected background image to the delivery unit 113.

[0043] The delivery unit 113 transmits a greeting message to the user terminal 300. The greeting message is transmitted to the user terminal 300 so that the content of the greeting message selected by the greeting message control unit 112 is displayed on the background selected by the background selection unit 115.

[0044] Fig. 6 is a diagram for explaining the processing performed by the distribution device. Fig. 6 shows an example of a screen displayed when the distribution app is started in a state where there are no "unread" individual messages. As shown in this figure, a greeting message is displayed in the display area E1. Content such as an event notification is displayed in the display area E2. For example, when the user swipes the display area E1, the greeting message is erased. In response to a swipe operation on display area E1, distribution device 100 erases the greeting message and then displays content other than the greeting message, such as an event notification, that had been displayed in display area E2, on the entire display screen of user terminal 300 (i.e., display areas E1 and E2).

[0045] In this manner, in this embodiment, in response to the start of the delivery application in a state where there are no "unread" individual messages, a greeting message is displayed in the display area E1 where individual messages are displayed. This makes the user aware that some message will be displayed in the display area E1, and encourages the user to start and operate the application.

[0046] Here, the greeting message control unit 112 may select a greeting message based on a delivery history. The delivery history is a history of greeting messages sent to the user terminal 300. For example, when the delivery unit 113 delivers a greeting message, it issues a delivery history ID, associates the delivery date and time of the delivered greeting message, the greeting message ID, and the like with the issued delivery history ID to generate a delivery history, and stores the generated delivery history in the greeting message delivery history information 132.

[0047] 7 and 8 are diagrams showing examples of greeting message delivery history information 132 according to an embodiment. The greeting message delivery history information 132 is information in which a delivery history ID, delivery date and time, a greeting message ID, a reaction, and the like are associated with each other. The delivery history ID is information that uniquely identifies the delivery history. The delivery date and time indicates the date and time when the greeting message was delivered. The greeting message ID is information that uniquely identifies the greeting message. The reaction is a reaction from a user who received the greeting message.

[0048] As shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, the delivery history may include a reaction from a user who received the greeting message. The reaction from a user who received the greeting message can be acquired by any method. For example, when a greeting message displayed in a delivery app is swiped, a question such as "What did you think of the greeting message?" is displayed along with options such as "good" and "bad". The user selects an option according to the reaction felt from the greeting message. When an option is selected by the user, information indicating the selection result is notified from the user terminal 300 to the delivery device 100. When the delivery device 100 receives the selection result notified from the user terminal 300, the delivery device 100 stores the reaction according to the received selection result in the greeting message delivery history information 132 as the reaction from the user to the greeting message.

[0049] The greeting message control unit 112 may deliver a message that has a good response from the user as the greeting message. In this case, when selecting a greeting message, the greeting message control unit 112 reads out the greeting message delivery history information 132 from the storage unit 130. The greeting message control unit 112 extracts a message that matches an extraction condition from the read out greeting message delivery history information 132. The extraction condition is a condition for extracting a candidate greeting message to be selected this time from the messages in the greeting message information 131. For example, the greeting message control unit 112 extracts from the greeting message delivery history information 132, as an extraction condition, a message associated with a response equal to or higher than a threshold value, for example, "good" or "fairly good", from among messages that belong to a category corresponding to the date and time of receiving the startup information. The greeting message control unit 112 selects a message randomly from the extracted messages as the greeting message.

[0050] Furthermore, the greeting message control unit 112 may use, as an extraction condition, messages whose delivery frequency is equal to or less than a threshold among messages belonging to a time category corresponding to the date and time when the startup information is received, to extract messages from the greeting message information 131. For example, if the time when the startup information is received is in a time zone belonging to the "morning" category, then, from messages with greeting message IDs of "Mn (n=1, 2, ...)" in the greeting message information 131, messages whose delivery frequency is equal to or less than a threshold, for example, messages that have never been delivered, are extracted. The greeting message control unit 112 randomly selects a message from the extracted messages as the greeting message. 7, the greeting message delivery history information 132 shows four delivery histories corresponding to delivery history IDs TX1 to TX4 as messages belonging to the "morning" category, and indicates that messages with greeting message IDs (M1), (M5), (M3), and (M2) have been delivered (symbol H1). In this case, for example, if the next time startup information is received is in a time zone belonging to the "morning" category, the greeting message control unit 112 extracts a message corresponding to greeting message ID (M4) that has not yet been delivered in the delivery history as a message that meets the extraction condition.

[0051] Alternatively, the greeting message control unit 112 may include a phrase in the greeting message that arouses the user's desire to collect. Here, collection means collecting greeting messages delivered to the user terminal 300 as greeting messages acquired by the user. For example, the greeting message control unit 112 generates complete information based on the delivery history. The complete information is information about greeting messages acquired by the user, and is information indicating, for example, the ratio of the number of greeting messages delivered to the user to the total number of messages in the delivery app, the number of undelivered messages, etc. The greeting message control unit 112 includes the "completion information" in the greeting message. For example, the greeting message control unit 112 may include completion information in the message of greeting message ID (M1) by adding a message such as "Good morning. Recent..." followed by information such as "If you collect two more messages, the greeting messages in the 'Morning' category will be complete" or "You have collected eight of the nine greeting messages in the 'Morning' category." 8, the delivery history corresponding to the delivery history ID TX4 indicates that a message with a greeting message ID (M4#) has been delivered (symbol H2). This indicates that a message with completion information added to the message corresponding to the greeting message ID (M4) has been delivered as a greeting message.

[0052] FIG. 9 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of processing performed by the message delivery system. The user terminal 300 starts a delivery application (step S10). In response to the delivery application being started in the user terminal 300, the user terminal 300 transmits start-up information to the delivery device 100. When the delivery device 100 receives the start-up information from the user terminal 300, the delivery device 100 randomly selects a greeting message ID belonging to a category of a time period corresponding to the time when the start-up information is received (step S11). The delivery device 100 reads the storage unit 130 based on the selected greeting message ID, and acquires a message corresponding to the selected greeting message ID as a greeting message (step S12). The delivery device 100 delivers the greeting message to the user terminal 300 (step S13). The delivery device 100 delivers the greeting message by transmitting greeting message information (information including the contents of the greeting message, a background image, etc.) to the user terminal 300. The user terminal 300 receives the greeting message from the distribution device 100 (step S14) and displays the received greeting message in the display area E1 of the distribution app (step S15). The user terminal 300 determines whether or not an operation to restart the distribution app has been performed (step S16). For example, if the user wishes to collect greeting messages or to have the next greeting message delivered, the user performs an operation to restart the distribution app. That is, the user performs an operation to end the distribution app, and then performs an operation to start the distribution app again. If an operation to restart the distribution app has been performed in step S16, the distribution device 100 returns to step S10. On the other hand, if an operation to restart the distribution app has not been performed in step S16, the distribution device 100 ends the process.

[0053] 9, a greeting message ID is selected in step S11, and a greeting message corresponding to the greeting message ID is obtained from greeting message information 131 in step S12. However, the present invention is not limited to this. In step S11, a message may be randomly selected from messages belonging to a category of a time period corresponding to the time when the start-up information is received, and the selected message may be used as the greeting message. In this case, step S12 may be omitted.

[0054] As described above, the message delivery system 10 of the embodiment includes the storage unit 130, the start-up information acquisition unit 111, the greeting message control unit 112, and the delivery unit 113. The storage unit 130 stores the greeting message information 131 (multiple messages classified into categories corresponding to a time period). The start-up information acquisition unit 111 acquires start-up information indicating that a delivery application (application program) has been started in the user terminal 300. The greeting message control unit 112 reads out the greeting message information 131 (messages belonging to a category of a time period corresponding to the date and time when the start-up information is acquired) corresponding to the date and time when the start-up information is acquired from the storage unit 130. The greeting message control unit 112 selects a message randomly from the read messages as a greeting message to be transmitted to the user terminal 300 when the delivery application is started. The delivery unit 113 delivers the greeting message to the user terminal 300. As a result, in the management system 1 of the embodiment, a greeting message can be delivered according to the time when the delivery application was started on the user terminal 300, and this can show consideration to the user more than when a simple message without a seasonal greeting is delivered, and can encourage the user to operate the delivery application based on the principle of "reciprocity of favors." Therefore, it is possible to promote usage such as starting and operating an application program (app).

[0055] Furthermore, in the message delivery system 10 of the embodiment, the storage unit 130 stores greeting message information 131 (messages including greetings according to a time period as a season). The greeting message control unit 112 selects a greeting message from messages that belong to a category of a time period corresponding to the time when the startup information is received. As a result, the message delivery system 10 of the embodiment can deliver greeting messages including greetings according to a time period, such as "good morning," "hello," and "good evening," and achieve the same effects as those described above.

[0056] Moreover, the message delivery system 10 of the embodiment further includes a background selection unit 115. The storage unit 130 further stores a plurality of backgrounds according to the contents of the message. In response to the selection of a greeting message by the greeting message control unit 112, the background selection unit 115 reads out background information 133 (a plurality of backgrounds according to the content of the message) from the storage unit 130, and selects a background according to the content of the greeting message as the background of the greeting message from the read out background information 133. In this way, the message delivery system 10 of the embodiment can deliver a message to which a background according to the content of the greeting message has been added, and the same effect as that described above can be achieved.

[0057] Moreover, the message delivery system 10 of the embodiment further includes an individual message control unit 114. The individual message control unit 114 controls delivery of an individual message (an individual message different from a greeting message and addressed to a user from a business) to the user terminal 300 by push notification. The greeting message control unit 112 determines whether the delivery application has been launched in response to delivery of the individual message or whether the delivery application has been launched regardless of delivery of the individual message. For example, when a delivery app is launched by tapping a push notification displayed on the lock screen or home screen of the user terminal 300, the greeting message control unit 112 determines that the delivery app has been launched in a state where there is an “unread” personal message, that is, that the delivery app has been launched in response to a personal message being delivered. On the other hand, when the delivery app is launched by a method other than tapping on a push notification, for example, by tapping on the delivery app icon displayed on the home screen of the user terminal 300, the greeting message control unit 112 determines that the delivery app was launched when there were no “unread” personalized messages, in other words, that the delivery app was launched regardless of whether a personalized message was delivered. The greeting message control unit 112 selects a greeting message when it is determined that the delivery application has been started regardless of whether a personalized message has been delivered. As a result, in the message delivery system 10 of the embodiment, the greeting message can be delivered when the delivery application has been started regardless of whether a personalized message has been delivered. Therefore, even if a personalized message has not been notified, it is possible to induce the delivery application to be started, and the same effect as that described above can be achieved.

[0058] In the message delivery system 10 of the embodiment, the greeting message control unit 112 controls the delivery application so that the greeting message is displayed in the display area (display area E1) in which messages addressed to individuals are displayed. This makes it possible for the user to be aware that some kind of message is displayed in the display area (display area E1) in the message delivery system 10 of the embodiment, and promotes usage such as activating and operating the application.

[0059] In the message delivery system 10 of the embodiment, the storage unit 130 further stores greeting message delivery history information 132 (delivery history of greeting messages sent to the user terminal 300). When selecting a greeting message, the greeting message control unit 112 reads out the delivery history from the storage unit 130. The greeting message control unit 112 sets as the greeting message a message randomly selected from messages belonging to a category corresponding to the date and time of receiving the startup information and having a delivery frequency equal to or lower than a threshold value from the delivery history read out from the storage unit 130. As a result, in the message delivery system 10 of the embodiment, it is possible to deliver to the user terminal 300 a greeting message that has never been sent to the user terminal 300 or is sent only rarely from messages prepared in advance as the greeting message information 131, thereby achieving the same effect as described above.

[0060] In the message delivery system 10 of the embodiment, the storage unit 130 further stores greeting message delivery history information 132 (delivery history of greeting messages sent to the user terminal 300). When selecting a greeting message, the greeting message control unit 112 reads out the greeting message delivery history information 132 from the storage unit 130. If the ratio of already delivered messages among messages belonging to the category corresponding to the date and time of receiving the startup information is equal to or greater than a threshold value from the read greeting message delivery history information 132, the greeting message control unit 112 causes the greeting message to include a statement according to the ratio. In this way, in the message delivery system 10 of the embodiment, it is possible to include a statement such as "If you collect two more greeting messages, the greeting messages in the 'Morning' category will be complete.". This makes it possible to induce the user to want to collect greeting messages, and produces the same effect as described above.

[0061] In the message delivery system 10 of the embodiment, the storage unit 130 further stores greeting message delivery history information 132 (responses to the greeting message transmitted to the user terminal 300). When selecting a greeting message, the greeting message control unit 112 reads out the greeting message delivery history information 132 (responses to the greeting message transmitted to the user terminal 300) from the storage unit 130. Based on the read out greeting message delivery history information 132 (responses to the greeting message transmitted to the user terminal 300), the greeting message control unit 112 sets as the greeting message a message randomly selected from messages that have a response to the greeting message transmitted to the user terminal 300 that is equal to or greater than a threshold value, among messages that belong to the category of the time period corresponding to the date and time when the startup information was received. As a result, in the message delivery system 10 of the embodiment, a message that receives a favorable response from the user can be delivered as a greeting message, and the same effect as that described above can be achieved.

[0062] The message delivery system 10 and the delivery device 100 in the above-mentioned embodiment may be realized in whole or in part by a computer. In that case, a program for realizing the function may be recorded in a computer-readable recording medium, and the program recorded in the recording medium may be read into a computer system and executed to realize the function. The term "computer system" as used herein includes hardware such as an OS and peripheral devices. The term "computer-readable recording medium" refers to portable media such as flexible disks, optical magnetic disks, ROMs, and CD-ROMs, and storage devices such as hard disks built into a computer system. The term "computer-readable recording medium" may also include a medium that dynamically holds a program for a short period of time, such as a communication line when a program is transmitted via a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line, and a medium that holds a program for a certain period of time, such as a volatile memory inside a computer system that is a server or client in such a case. The above-mentioned program may be a program for realizing a part of the above-mentioned function, or may be a program that can realize the above-mentioned function in combination with a program already recorded in the computer system, or may be a program that is realized using a programmable logic device such as an FPGA.

[0063] Although an embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above with reference to the drawings, the specific configuration is not limited to this embodiment, and designs that do not deviate from the gist of the present invention are also included. [Explanation of symbols]

[0064] 10. Message delivery system 100…Distribution device 110...Control unit 111…Startup information acquisition unit 112...Greeting message control unit 113…Distribution Department 114...Individual message control unit 115…Background selection section 130...Storage section 300...User terminal

Claims

1. A storage unit for storing a plurality of messages classified into categories corresponding to time periods; a startup information acquisition unit that acquires startup information indicating that an application program has been started in a user terminal; a greeting message control unit that reads out from the storage unit one or more message candidates that belong to the period category corresponding to the date and time when the startup information was acquired and that belong to one or more subcategories classified by type of information about the business operator, and sets a message that is randomly selected from the read message candidates and that belongs to a specific subcategory as a greeting message to be transmitted to the user terminal when the application program is started; a delivery unit that delivers the greeting message to the user terminal; A distribution device comprising:

2. The storage unit stores a message including a greeting according to the time period as the time, the greeting message control unit selects the greeting message from messages belonging to a category of a time period corresponding to a time when the startup information is received. The distribution device according to claim 1 .

3. The storage unit further stores a plurality of backgrounds according to the contents of the message; a background selection unit that reads out a background from the storage unit in response to the selection of the greeting message, and selects, from the read out backgrounds, a background corresponding to the content of the greeting message as a background of the greeting message; the distribution unit distributes the greeting message to the user terminal so that the greeting message is displayed on the background selected by the background selection unit. The distribution device according to claim 1 .

4. A distribution method performed by a computer having a storage unit that stores a plurality of messages classified into categories corresponding to time periods, the method comprising: a start-up information acquisition unit acquires start-up information indicating that an application program has been started in the user terminal; a greeting message control unit reads out from the storage unit one or more message candidates which belong to the period category corresponding to the date and time when the startup information was acquired and which belong to one or more subcategories classified by the type of information about the business operator, and sets a message belonging to a specific subcategory, which is randomly selected from the read message candidates, as a greeting message to be transmitted to the user terminal when the application program is started; a delivery unit that delivers the greeting message to the user terminal; Delivery method.

5. A computer having a storage unit for storing a plurality of messages classified into categories corresponding to time periods, acquiring start-up information indicating that an application program has been started in a user terminal; read out from the storage unit one or more message candidates which belong to the period category corresponding to the date and time when the startup information was acquired and which belong to one or more subcategories classified by the type of information about the business operator, and select a message belonging to a specific subcategory randomly from the read out message candidates as a greeting message to be transmitted to the user terminal when the application program is started; Delivering the greeting message to the user terminal; program.

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