Information provision system, information provision method, and information provision program

Abstract

To achieve an information providing system that enables suggesting a product and service suitable to a hobby, taste and the like of a user, while achieving privacy protection of the user and personal information protection thereof.SOLUTION: An information providing system comprises: a disclosure request input unit 12 that inputs disclosure request information on a request for an information disclosure of a user; a disclosure object token identification unit 13 that analyzes the disclosure request information to identify a token owing information to be the disclosure object of a user token and item token in a distributed type registry; a disclosure destination identification unit 14 that analyzes the disclosure request information to identify a disclosure destination of the information serving as the disclosure object; a disclosure information generation unit 15 that accesses a first distributed registry and second distributed registry to acquire information on the identified token by the disclosure object token identification unit 13, and generates disclosure information to provide to the disclosure destination; and a disclosure information providing unit 16 that provides the disclosure information to the identified disclosure destination by the disclosure destination identification unit 14.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a technology that enables the proposal of products and services that match the user's tastes and preferences while realizing the protection of the user's privacy and personal information. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, it has become known that companies use cookies, which record information such as website browsing history on the Internet, to understand the hobbies and preferences of website visitors and thereby advertise products and services that will attract their interest.

[0003] For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technology related to an advertisement delivery server that delivers advertisements using cookies. Furthermore, Patent Document 2 discloses a technology for analyzing behavioral history, etc., in which a user ID assigned to a viewer and saved as a cookie data value is a different value for each viewed web page, by using a program called a DMP tag to issue a common ID to each web page. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Patent No. 6329015 [Patent Document 2] Patent Publication No. 2021-136033 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] However, because cookie generation is carried out by the website being viewed, not by the viewer, website visitors are not only not actively involved in the creation of cookies, but it is not uncommon for them to not even be aware that cookies have been created. In such cases, the website visitor's browsing history and other information are tracked by the company and used for advertising without the visitor's knowledge, and this situation is not necessarily desirable from the perspective of protecting the visitor's privacy or personal information.

[0006] Furthermore, cookies are essentially information used to facilitate the use of a website when the user revisits it, and are not intended for use in corporate advertising. Therefore, it is not uncommon for website visitors to be put off by corporate advertising activities that use cookies, and the use of cookies has actually hindered the effectiveness of advertising.

[0007] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned problems, and aims to realize an information provision system that enables the proposal of products and services that match the user's hobbies, preferences, etc., while protecting the user's privacy and personal information. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] In order to achieve the above object, the information provision system according to claim 1 is an information provision system that selectively acquires information about multiple users and items recorded on a network and provides it to a disclosure destination, and includes: a user transaction generation means that generates user transaction information, which is information including at least behavior history information, which is information about the behavior history of the user, recorded in a first distributed ledger corresponding to the user token on a first distributed network corresponding to the user token, which is a non-fungible token that has a one-to-one correspondence with the user; and an item transaction generation means that generates item transaction information, which is information including at least transfer information, which is information about the transfer history of the ownership of the item, and usage history information, which is information about the usage history of the item, recorded in a second distributed ledger corresponding to the item token on a second distributed network corresponding to the item token, which is a non-fungible token that has a one-to-one correspondence with the item; By a specific user, The disclosure request information input means is configured to input disclosure request information including a request for disclosure of information about a specific user; a disclosure target token identification means for identifying, based on the disclosure request information, a user token and an item token to which information recorded in a first distributed ledger and a second distributed ledger will be disclosed; a disclosure information generation means for acquiring information recorded in a first distributed ledger corresponding to the user token on a first distributed network corresponding to the user token identified by the disclosure target token identification means, acquiring information recorded in a second distributed ledger corresponding to the item token on a second distributed network corresponding to the item token identified by the disclosure target token identification means, and generating disclosure information based on the acquired information; a disclosure destination identification means for identifying a disclosure destination of the disclosure information based on the disclosure request information; and a disclosure information provision means for providing the disclosure information generated by the disclosure information generation means to the disclosure destination identified by the disclosure destination identification means.

[0009] In addition, in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the information providing system of claim 2 is characterized in that, in the above-mentioned invention, it further comprises a past information storage means for storing past information which includes past disclosure request information, information provided to the user by the disclosure recipient after the disclosure information based on the disclosure request information was provided, and information regarding the user's reaction to that information, and a similar case information providing means which, when disclosure request information is input to the disclosure request information input means, extracts similar case information which is past information on cases similar to the new disclosure request from the past information stored in the past information storage means, and provides the similar case information to the disclosure recipient related to the new disclosure request.

[0010] Furthermore, in order to achieve the above object, the information provision system of claim 3 is characterized in that, in the above invention, the user transaction generation means generates user transaction information including user attribute information, which is information on user attributes, in addition to the behavioral history information; the item transaction generation means generates item transaction information including item attribute information, which is information on item attributes, in addition to the transfer information and the usage history information; the disclosure target token identification means identifies user tokens and item tokens corresponding to users and items, respectively, having attributes common to attribute information extracted from the disclosure request information, as user tokens and item tokens whose information recorded in the corresponding first distributed ledger and second distributed ledger is to be disclosed; and the similar incident information provision means, when the attribute information recorded for the user tokens and item tokens identified based on the input disclosure request information is common to the attribute information recorded for at least one of the user tokens and item tokens identified based on past disclosure request information, extracts past information related to the past disclosure request information as similar incident information.

[0011] Furthermore, in order to achieve the above object, the information provision method according to claim 4 is an information provision method for selectively acquiring information about a plurality of users and items recorded on a network and providing the information to a disclosure destination, the information provision method comprising: a user transaction generation step for generating user transaction information, the information including at least behavior history information, the information about the behavior history of the user, recorded in a first distributed ledger corresponding to the user token on a first distributed network corresponding to the user token, which is a non-fungible token having a one-to-one correspondence with the user; and an item transaction generation step for generating item transaction information, the information including at least transfer information, the information about the transfer history of ownership of the item, and usage history information, the information about the usage history of the item, recorded in a second distributed ledger corresponding to the item token on a second distributed network corresponding to the item token, which is a non-fungible token having a one-to-one correspondence with the item; By a specific user, The disclosure request information input step includes a disclosure request information input step for inputting disclosure request information including a request for disclosure of information about a specific user; a disclosure target token identification step for identifying user tokens and item tokens to which information recorded in a first distributed ledger and a second distributed ledger is to be disclosed based on the disclosure request information; a disclosure information generation step for acquiring information recorded in a first distributed ledger corresponding to the user token on a first distributed network corresponding to the user token identified in the disclosure target token identification step, acquiring information recorded in a second distributed ledger corresponding to the item token on a second distributed network corresponding to the item token identified in the disclosure target token identification step, and generating disclosure information based on the acquired information; a disclosure destination identification step for identifying a disclosure destination of the disclosure information based on the disclosure request information; and a disclosure information provision step for providing the disclosure information generated in the disclosure information generation step to the disclosure destination identified in the disclosure destination identification step.

[0012] Furthermore, in order to achieve the above object, the information providing method of claim 5, in the above invention, is characterized in that in the user transaction generation step, user transaction information is generated that includes user attribute information, which is information about user attributes, in addition to the behavioral history information; in the item transaction generation step, item transaction information is generated that includes item attribute information, which is information about item attributes, in addition to the transfer information and the usage history information; and in the disclosure target token identification step, user tokens and item tokens corresponding to users and items, respectively, that have attributes common to the attribute information extracted from the disclosure request information are identified as user tokens and item tokens whose information recorded in the corresponding first distributed ledger and second distributed ledger is to be disclosed.

[0013] Furthermore, in order to achieve the above object, the information provision program according to claim 6 is an information provision program that causes a computer to selectively acquire information about a plurality of users and items recorded on a network and provide the information to a disclosure destination, and the information provision program has the following functions on the computer: a user transaction generation function that generates user transaction information, which is information including at least behavior history information, which is information about the behavior history of the user, recorded in a first distributed ledger corresponding to the user token on a first distributed network corresponding to the user token, which is a non-fungible token that has a one-to-one correspondence with the user; and an item transaction generation function that generates item transaction information, which is information including at least transfer information, which is information about the transfer history of the ownership of the item, and usage history information, which is information about the usage history of the item, recorded in a second distributed ledger corresponding to the item token on a second distributed network corresponding to the item token, which is a non-fungible token that has a one-to-one correspondence with the item; By a specific user,The system is characterized by executing the following functions: a disclosure request information input function for inputting disclosure request information, which is information including a disclosure request related to a specific user; a disclosure target token identification function for identifying user tokens and item tokens to which information recorded in a first distributed ledger and a second distributed ledger is to be disclosed based on the disclosure request information; a disclosure information generation function for acquiring information recorded in a first distributed ledger corresponding to the user token on a first distributed network corresponding to the user token identified by the disclosure target token identification function, acquiring information recorded in a second distributed ledger corresponding to the item token on a second distributed network corresponding to the item token identified by the disclosure target token identification function, and generating disclosure information based on the acquired information; a disclosure destination identification function for identifying a disclosure destination of the disclosure information based on the disclosure request information; and a disclosure information provision function for providing the disclosure information generated by the disclosure information generation function to the disclosure destination identified by the disclosure destination identification function. [Effects of the Invention]

[0014] According to the present invention, it is possible to realize protection of the user's privacy and personal information, while enabling the proposal of products and services that suit the user's tastes and preferences. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0015] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of an information providing system according to a first embodiment. [Figure 2] 10 is a flowchart showing a process of generating and providing disclosure information in the information providing system according to the first embodiment. [Figure 3] FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of an information providing system according to a second embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0016] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the following embodiments, examples that are considered to be the most appropriate embodiments of the present invention will be described, and it goes without saying that the contents of the present invention should not be interpreted as being limited to the specific examples shown in the present embodiments. Of course, any configuration that achieves similar functions and effects, even if it is a configuration other than the specific configuration shown in the embodiments, is included in the technical scope of the present invention.

[0017] (Embodiment 1) First, an information provision system according to the first embodiment will be described. As shown in Fig. 1, the information provision system according to the first embodiment includes a user token generation unit 1 that generates user tokens, which are non-fungible tokens corresponding to individual users who receive information provision, an item token generation unit 2 that generates item tokens, which are non-fungible tokens corresponding to individual items to be owned and used by users, a user attribute information generation unit 3 that generates user attribute information that is information on user attributes, a behavior history information generation unit 4 that generates behavior history information that is information on user behavior history, an item attribute information generation unit 5 that generates item attribute information that is information on item attributes, a transfer information generation unit 6 that generates ownership transfer information that is information on transfer of ownership of an item, a usage history information generation unit 7 that generates usage history information that is information on item usage history, a user transaction generation unit 8 that generates user transactions that are transactions to be stored in blocks of a first distributed ledger corresponding to the user tokens based on the user attribute information and behavior history information, and an item attribute information generation unit 9 that generates user transactions that are transactions to be stored in blocks of a first distributed ledger corresponding to the user tokens based on the user attribute information and the behavior history information. an item transaction generation unit 9 that generates an item transaction, which is a transaction to be stored in a block of the second distributed ledger corresponding to the item token, based on the user information, transfer information, and usage history information; an electronic signature generation unit 10 that generates an electronic signature, which is data that proves that the generation and output of the user transaction and the information included in the item transaction are in line with the intentions of the holder of the user token and the item token; an output instruction unit 11 that instructs the output of a combination of the user transaction and the item transaction and the electronic signature related thereto, to the first and second distributed networks associated with each; a disclosure request input unit 12 that inputs disclosure request information related to a request for information disclosure by an individual user; a disclosure target token identification unit 13 that analyzes the disclosure request information and identifies tokens that hold information to be disclosed among the user tokens and item tokens in the distributed ledger; and a disclosure destination identification unit 14 that analyzes the disclosure request information and identifies the disclosure destination of the information to be disclosed.The system includes a disclosure information generation unit 15 that accesses the first distributed ledger and the second distributed ledger to acquire information about the tokens identified by the disclosure target token identification unit 13 and generates disclosure information to be provided to the disclosure destination, a disclosure information provision unit 16 that provides the disclosure information to the disclosure destination identified by the disclosure destination identification unit 14, a past information storage unit 17 that stores past information including information that the disclosure destination has provided to the user in the past and the user's reaction to that information, and a similar case information disclosure unit 18 that discloses, from the stored past information, past information on cases similar to the disclosure request input by the disclosure request input unit 12.

[0018] The user token generation unit 1 and the item token generation unit 2 are for generating user tokens and item tokens, which are non-fungible tokens that have a one-to-one correspondence with individual users and individual items, respectively. A "user" refers to a person who performs certain activities on the Internet and is in a position to receive information in the information provision system according to the first embodiment. This generally refers to a natural person, but may also be a legal entity such as a company. An "item" is something that can be owned and used by a user and may be either a tangible or intangible object. For example, in the first embodiment, tangible objects such as automobiles, home appliances, and information terminals are included, as well as intangible objects such as software and video content, which are also treated as "items."

[0019] "Non-fungible token" refers to a so-called NFT (Non-Fungible Token), that is, a token that has unique data and is therefore non-fungible for other tokens, and is issued, for example, based on the Ethereum (registered trademark) standard ERC721. The user token and item token in this embodiment are issued based on ERC721 or other predetermined standards, and transactions, which are information generated for each corresponding token, are configured to be stored on the blockchain.

[0020] "Blockchain" is a technology that utilizes cryptographic techniques to synchronize data among multiple computers that make up a distributed network. Specifically, each block is composed of a collection of information about user tokens and item tokens, such as agreed-upon transaction records, and information for connecting to other blocks (information from the previous block). A blockchain is formed by linking multiple blocks together. Even if data is tampered with on one computer, the correct data is selected by majority vote among the other computers, making data destruction and tampering extremely difficult. Known types of blockchains include public blockchains with no administrator, private blockchains with a single administrator, and consortium blockchains with multiple administrators. In this first embodiment, any of these types of blockchains can be used. However, from the perspective of protecting user privacy, it is preferable to use a privacy blockchain or consortium blockchain, which can appropriately restrict third-party access under a specific administrator, rather than a public blockchain that is open to everyone.

[0021] The correspondence between user tokens and item tokens and individual service users is a one-to-one link between each token's identifier and the user and item's identification information. More directly, each token's identifier and the user and item's identification information may be the same, or a correspondence may be established between tokens composed of different character strings, etc. Also, for example, they may be linked to the URL information on the Internet where the service related to the item is provided.

[0022] Furthermore, in the first embodiment, the blocks constituting the first distributed ledger corresponding to the user token record at least user attribute information relating to the attributes of the user and behavior history information which is information relating to the behavior history of the user. On the other hand, the blocks constituting the second distributed ledger corresponding to the item token record item attribute information relating to the attributes of the item, as well as transfer information which is information relating to the transfer of item ownership and usage history information which is information relating to the usage history of the item. Note that in the first embodiment, when the ownership of an item is transferred, the holder of the corresponding item token is also transferred, and information relating to the transfer of the holder of the item token (= transaction history) is treated as transfer information, but a configuration may be adopted in which the transfer of the holder of the item token and the transfer of item ownership are recorded separately.

[0023] Note that the generation of each token may be performed by the user token generation unit 1 and the item token generation unit 2 themselves, or by an external system connected directly or indirectly to them issuing a predetermined command to the external system. The specific format of each token is not limited to one that complies with the ERC721 standard of Ethereum (registered trademark), and any format may be used as long as it is non-fungible and information such as transaction history is stored on the blockchain.

[0024] The user attribute information generating unit 3 is for generating user attribute information, which is information on the attributes of a user. The user attributes include general items such as the user's gender, date of birth, nationality, educational background, and work history, as well as characteristics of the behavioral history (e.g., active, quiet, obsessive, easily bored, etc.) based on the behavioral history information generated by the behavioral history information generating unit 4, which will be described later, in the present embodiment 1.

[0025] The behavioral history information generation unit 4 generates behavioral history information, which is information related to a user's behavioral history. Specifically, the behavioral history information generation unit 4 has a function of acquiring the target user's behavioral history on the Internet, etc., and generating information related to the behavioral history as behavioral history information. The behavioral history on the Internet can be acquired, for example, by connecting to an information terminal used by the user and acquiring information related to the user's behavioral history from information input and output to the information terminal, or by understanding or inferring the user's behavioral history based on information publicly available on the Internet. Note that the behavioral history information in the first embodiment may include not only behavioral history on the Internet, but also behavioral history on a local network separated from the Internet and behavioral history in the real world. The behavioral history to be understood includes website access patterns (number of accesses, length of stay, access intervals when multiple accesses are made, etc.), activity patterns on the website, such as specific product purchases and service usage patterns (number of purchases / uses, intervals, etc.), as well as browsing patterns of product / service introduction articles on the website.

[0026] The item attribute information generating unit 5 generates item attribute information, which is information related to the attributes of items. Item attributes refer to items such as type, price range, purchasing demographic, and user demographic, but may also include other items.

[0027] The transfer information generation unit 6 is for generating ownership transfer information, which is information related to the transfer of ownership of an item. Specifically, when the owner of the target item changes due to a commercial transaction, etc., the transfer information generation unit has a function of generating transfer information containing content indicating the fact that the name of the owner of the item token has changed so that the name of the owner after the change matches the name of the owner of the item token.

[0028] The usage history information generation unit 7 is for generating usage history information, which is information related to the usage history of an item. The usage history recorded in the usage history information refers to the history of use of the target item by various users, regardless of whether they own the item or not, and includes the number of times the item has been used, the duration of each use, the interval between uses if the item has been used multiple times, characteristics of the usage mode, and identification information of the user of the item.

[0029] The user transaction generation unit 8 is for generating a user transaction, which is information to be recorded in the first distributed ledger and which corresponds to the user token. Specifically, the user transaction generation unit 8 has a function of generating a user transaction, which is transaction information including user attribute information, which is information on the attributes of the target user, generated by the user attribute information generation unit 3, and behavior history information, which is information on the behavior history of the user, generated by the behavior history information generation unit 4.

[0030] The item transaction generation unit 9 is for generating item transactions, which are information to be recorded in the second distributed ledger in correspondence with the item token. Specifically, the item transaction generation unit 9 has a function of generating item transactions, which are transaction information including item attribute information including attributes related to the target item generated by the item attribute information generation unit 5, transfer information related to the transfer of ownership of the item generated by the transfer information generation unit 6, and usage history information related to the item generated by the usage history information generation unit 7.

[0031] The digital signature generator 10 generates digital signatures, which are data that prove that the generation and output of information contained in user transactions and item transactions are in accordance with the intentions of the holders of the user tokens and item tokens. The digital signature generator 10 generates hash values ​​for each transaction generated by the user transaction generator 8 and the item transaction generator 9, and generates digital signatures by encrypting the hash values ​​with private keys held by the holders of the user tokens and item tokens, respectively. A "hash value" is a fixed-length value obtained by applying a specific calculation procedure to the original data. Because the calculation procedure is irreversible, it is considered impossible to restore the original data from the hash value. A "private key" is a sequence of numbers used in the encryption process, and can be decrypted using the corresponding "public key." In this first embodiment, the user transaction generation unit 8, item transaction generation unit 9, and electronic signature generation unit 10 are configured to create each transaction and electronic signature by themselves, but this is not limited to this, and the user transaction generation unit 8, item transaction generation unit 9, and electronic signature generation unit 10 may have the function of simply instructing an external device to create a transaction and electronic signature.

[0032] The output instruction unit 11 has a function of instructing the output of each transaction generated by the user transaction generation unit 8 and the item transaction generation unit 9 and the electronic signature generated by the electronic signature generation unit 10 to the first and second distributed networks associated with each token. In this embodiment, the output instruction unit 11 also has an output function itself. Specifically, the output instruction unit 11 is directly or indirectly connected to the first and second distributed networks and is configured to be able to output predetermined data to the first and second distributed networks. The first and second distributed networks generate a hash value of the output transaction and compare it with data obtained by decrypting the electronic signature with a public key (= the hash value of the transaction). If the two values ​​differ, the transaction is determined to be not made by the owner of the tangible object and registration is rejected. If the two values ​​match, the transaction is determined to be made by the owner and the information composed of the transaction is stored in a block constituting a distributed ledger. In this embodiment, for ease of understanding, multiple distributed networks are used for the explanation. However, a distributed ledger for the user token and the item token may be configured to be set up on the same distributed network.

[0033] The disclosure request input unit 12 is used to input disclosure request information, which is information including a request for disclosure of information about individual users. Specifically, the disclosure request input unit 12 is connected directly or indirectly to, for example, individual users, and has the function of inputting disclosure requests output from terminals used by the users, and outputting the disclosure request information, which is information related to the disclosure request, to the disclosure target token identification unit 13 and the disclosure recipient identification unit 14. The disclosure request to be input may be in any format, and may individually and specifically identify the item tokens and user tokens to be disclosed and specifically specify the disclosure recipients, or the disclosure request itself may be abstract and specifically interpreted by the disclosure target token identification unit 13, etc. Furthermore, with regard to the input method, the disclosure request information may be directly input via an input device such as a keyboard attached to the information provision system.

[0034] In the first embodiment, it is assumed that the disclosure request is input by the user himself / herself, but the disclosure request does not have to be input by the user himself / herself, and may be input by another person with legitimate authority. Also, the disclosure request may be input automatically according to a predetermined algorithm or the like.

[0035] The disclosure target token identification unit 13 analyzes the disclosure request information and identifies user tokens and item tokens for which the information subject to the disclosure request is recorded in the distributed ledger. Specifically, when the disclosure request information includes information specifically identifying the user token / item token to be disclosed, the disclosure target token identification unit 13 has a function of identifying the token to be disclosed from among multiple user tokens / item tokens according to the information. Furthermore, when the disclosure request information does not include information specifically identifying the user token / item token to be disclosed, the disclosure target token identification unit 13 has a function of identifying a specific item token as a disclosure target based on the phrases included in the disclosure request information. For example, the disclosure target token identification unit 13 extracts phrases corresponding to user attribute information and item attribute information from the phrases included in the disclosure request information, identifies users and items that have attributes common to the attribute information corresponding to the extracted phrases, and identifies the user token / item token related to the user / item as a disclosure target token. When the disclosure target token identification unit 13 performs the process of identifying tokens to be disclosed based on attribute information, it is also preferable to extract attribute information from the phrases included in the disclosure request information, access the first and second distributed ledgers corresponding to multiple user tokens and item tokens, and identify the user tokens and item tokens recording the extracted attribute information as disclosure targets. Note that "users and items having attributes common to the attribute information corresponding to the extracted phrases" essentially refers to users and items that are common to all of the attribute information represented by the phrases extracted from the disclosure request information, but this condition may be relaxed to include users and items that are common to multiple attribute information, rather than all of the attribute information. Furthermore, "attribute information represented by the phrases extracted from the disclosure request information" includes not only attribute information that matches the extracted phrases themselves, but also attribute information that is common to the content that the extracted phrases essentially mean.

[0036] The disclosure destination identification unit 14 analyzes the disclosure request information and identifies the disclosure destination of the disclosure information generated by the disclosure information generation unit 15. Specifically, when the disclosure request information includes information specifically identifying a person or organization such as a company to be the disclosure destination, the disclosure destination identification unit 14 has a function of identifying the disclosure destination according to the information. Furthermore, when the disclosure request information does not include information specifically identifying the disclosure destination, the disclosure destination identification unit 14 has a function of extracting words corresponding to the attribute information of the item from words included in the disclosure request information (this may be done by the disclosure destination identification unit 14 itself, or the extraction result by the disclosure target token identification unit 13 may be used), and identifying persons and organizations that handle items including the extracted attribute information in the course of business as disclosure destinations. Note that the disclosure destination identified by the disclosure destination identification unit 14 may be a single person or organization, or multiple people and / or organizations.

[0037] The disclosure information generation unit 15 is for generating disclosure information to be provided to the disclosure destination identified by the disclosure destination identification unit 14. Specifically, the disclosure information generation unit 15 has a function of accessing the first and second distributed ledgers corresponding to the user token / item token identified by the disclosure target token identification unit 13, acquiring user attribute information and behavior history information recorded in the first distributed ledger, and item attribute information, transfer information and usage history information related to the item recorded in the second distributed ledger, and generating disclosure information that includes this information.

[0038] The disclosure information providing unit 16 is for providing information on the token identified by the disclosure target token identifying unit 13 to the disclosure destination. Specifically, the disclosure information providing unit 16 has a function of providing the disclosure information generated by the disclosure information generating unit 15 to the disclosure destination identified by the disclosure destination identifying unit 14.

[0039] Based on the information provided by the disclosure information providing unit 16, the individual or organization, such as a company, identified as the disclosure recipient provides the user who made the disclosure request with information regarding the provision of a specified item or / and the provision of a service using the item. By receiving the disclosure information, the disclosure recipient understands the attributes and behavioral history of the user who made the disclosure request, as well as the attributes, ownership transfer history, and usage history of the item requested for disclosure. Based on this information, the disclosure recipient understands the relationship between the user who made the disclosure request and the item requested for disclosure (whether the user owns or has owned the item, whether or not the item has been used, and if so, how it has been used), and by understanding the user's hobbies and preferences, etc., considers items to be proposed to the user or services utilizing the item. By understanding the user's behavioral history, the disclosure recipient can consider effective methods for proposing items, etc., in line with the user's behavioral history. In addition to providing information to the user who made the disclosure request, the disclosure recipient can also provide information and advertisements to the general public based on the disclosed information. Furthermore, the disclosure recipient can also provide information and advertisements to the general public based on the disclosed information, by performing statistical processing, etc., on the disclosed information of multiple users who made disclosure requests. In this way, the provision of disclosure information enables the recipient to provide various types of information, etc., and as a result, the user himself / herself has the advantage of being able to receive information from the recipient on areas of interest to the user himself / herself that are related to the disclosure information generated based on his / her own disclosure request.

[0040] The past information storage unit 17 is for storing past information, which is information including information provided to the user by the disclosure destination based on disclosure information corresponding to past disclosure request information and information regarding the user's reaction to the information from the disclosure destination. Specific configurations of the past information storage unit 17 may include a general storage device, such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or SSD (Solid State Drive) built into an electronic computing device, or an external storage device or USB memory configured separately from the electronic device, or even an online storage service.

[0041] The similar case information disclosure unit 18 is for disclosing, to the disclosure recipient identified by the disclosure recipient identification unit 14, past information on cases similar to the disclosure request information newly input by the disclosure request input unit 12 from among the past information stored in the past information storage unit 17. Specifically, when the disclosure request input unit 12 inputs the disclosure request information, the similar case information disclosure unit 18 has a function of disclosing, to the disclosure recipient identified by the disclosure recipient identification unit 14, past information on cases related to users and items similar to the users and items identified by the disclosure target token identification unit 13 based on the information.

[0042] The similar incident information disclosure unit 18 uses the commonality of attribute information related to each user and item as a criterion for determining whether or not the users and items are similar. In other words, the similar incident information disclosure unit 18 extracts past information related to users and items that share attributes with the user and item that correspond to the user and item token identified by the disclosure target token identification unit 13, and provides this information to the disclosure destination. Note that "shared attributes" includes cases where attributes completely match between users and items, but may also include cases where only multiple attributes match.

[0043] The recipient of the disclosure, such as an individual or a company, provides information about items, etc. to the user who made the disclosure request, referring to the similar case information disclosed by the similar case information disclosure unit 18. Since the similar case information includes specific examples of providing information to users with common attributes and information about the user's reaction to the information provided, the recipient of the disclosure can predict in advance what kind of information should be provided to the user who made the disclosure request, which has the advantage of allowing the recipient of the disclosure to provide more effective information.

[0044] Next, a process for generating and providing disclosure information in the information providing system according to the first embodiment will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, when disclosure request information is input (step S101, Yes), the disclosure information generating unit 16 determines whether the identification information of a user and an item is described in the disclosure request information (step S102). If the identification information is described (step S102, Yes), the disclosure target token identifying unit 13 identifies the user token / item token related to the user and item whose identification information is described as a disclosure target token (step S103). If the identification information is not described (step S102, No), the disclosure target token identifying unit 13 extracts a term for attribute information of the user / item from the term included in the disclosure request information (step S104). Then, the disclosure target token identifying unit 13 identifies the user token / item token related to the user / item having attribute information common to the term for the extracted attribute information as a disclosure target token (step S105). The disclosure information generation unit 15 generates disclosure information based on the information recorded in the distributed ledger corresponding to the identified disclosure target token (step S106).

[0045] Thereafter, the disclosure destination identification unit 14 determines whether the disclosure request information includes information that identifies the disclosure destination (step S107), and if the information that identifies the disclosure destination is included (step S107, Yes), identifies the disclosure destination based on the information (step S108). If the information that identifies the disclosure destination is not included (step S107, No), the disclosure destination identification unit 14 identifies, as the disclosure destination, a person who handles the item corresponding to the item token identified as the token to be disclosed in steps S103 and S105 (step S109). Finally, the disclosure information generation unit 15 provides the disclosure information generated in step S106 to the disclosure destination identified in step S109 (step S110), and the series of processes ends.

[0046] Next, advantages of the information providing system according to the first embodiment will be described. First, in the information providing system according to the first embodiment, the disclosure information providing unit 16 provides only information related to a disclosure request actively made by the user himself / herself, among the attribute information and behavior history information of the user recorded in the first distributed ledger, to the disclosure destination. By adopting such a configuration, the user's own attribute information and behavior history information will be revealed to a third party only when the user himself / herself requests disclosure, and therefore the information providing system according to the first embodiment has the advantage of being able to effectively protect the privacy of the user.

[0047] This advantage also applies to the disclosure of attribute information, transfer information, and usage history information of items recorded on the second distributed network. That is, in the information providing system according to the first embodiment, information about a wide variety of items is recorded on the second distributed ledger, and the disclosure information providing unit 16 provides only information about items related to the user's disclosure request to the disclosure recipient. By adopting such a configuration, the user can prevent information about items that the user does not wish to disclose from being provided to the disclosure recipient. That is, the information providing system according to the first embodiment has the advantage of being able to protect the privacy of users regarding what items they own, use, etc.

[0048] Furthermore, the information providing system according to the first embodiment is configured to record all of the information to be disclosed, such as user attribute information, behavior history information, item attribute information, transfer information, and usage history information, in first and second distributed ledgers on the first and second distributed networks. By adopting such a configuration, the information providing system according to the first embodiment has the advantage of being able to accurately record the content of the information to be provided and to provide the recipient with highly reliable information that will not be tampered with at a later date.

[0049] Furthermore, the information providing system according to the first embodiment has the advantage of being able to provide information that is useful for the information provided by the discloser to a person or organization such as a company that is the discloser. That is, the discloser aims to provide users with information about the products and services that it handles, and by configuring the discloser to receive information when a user requests disclosure of an item that has attributes in common with the products handled by the discloser, it is possible to understand that the user is interested in a field that is related to the products handled by the discloser, and further, the specific content of the interest. Therefore, the information providing system according to the first embodiment has the advantage that the discloser can provide effective information that is more likely to be well-received by the user.

[0050] (Embodiment 2) Next, an information providing system according to embodiment 2 will be described. In embodiment 2, components with the same names and symbols as those in embodiment 1 will perform the same functions as those in embodiment 1 unless otherwise specified.

[0051] In the information providing system of the second embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, in addition to the configuration of the first embodiment, the disclosure information generation unit 20 generates only information that has a direct relationship with the user and item related to the disclosure request as the disclosure information to be provided to the disclosure recipient, and the similar case information disclosure unit 21 is configured to disclose only information related to past cases for which the same user as the user who made the disclosure request made the past similar case information to be provided.

[0052] The disclosure information generation unit 20 has the same functions as the disclosure information provision unit 16 in the first embodiment, and also has a new function of extracting only information units related to the user who requested disclosure from the transfer information and usage history information regarding the item obtained from the second distributed ledger, rather than providing all of the information, and providing the extracted information to the disclosure destination. Specifically, the disclosure information generation unit 20 has a function of extracting information units that include references to the user from the obtained transfer information and usage history information using a keyword search related to the user's identification information, etc., to generate disclosure information. More preferably, the disclosure information generation unit 20 may extract only information units that mention the user as the subject of the action (e.g., "the user did XX") or as the object of the action (e.g., "the user did XX") from information units that simply mention user information.

[0053] Furthermore, the disclosure information generation unit 20 has a function of extracting only information units related to the item identified by the disclosure target token identification unit 13 from the behavior history information regarding the behavior history of the user related to the disclosure request obtained from the first distributed ledger, rather than extracting all of the information, and then generating the disclosure information. Specifically, the disclosure information generation unit 20 has a function of extracting only information units including a portion mentioning the item from the behavior history information, for example, by keyword search regarding the identification information of the item, and then generating the information as disclosure information. More preferably, the disclosure information generation unit 20 may simply extract only information units that mention the item as a subject or object from the information units including a portion mentioning the item included in the disclosure request information.

[0054] The similar case information disclosure unit 21 has the same functions as the similar case information disclosure unit 18 in embodiment 1, and also has a new function of providing only similar case information related to the user identified by the disclosure target token identification unit 13, rather than all of the content of the extracted similar case information. Specifically, the similar case information disclosure unit 21 extracts from the similar case information only those cases for which disclosure requests have been made by a user who is the same person as the user identified by the disclosure target token identification unit 13, and provides the extracted information as similar case information to the disclosure recipient identified by the disclosure recipient identification unit 14.

[0055] Next, the advantages of the information providing system according to the second embodiment will be described. In addition to the advantages of the first embodiment, the information providing system according to the second embodiment has a function of providing only information that has a direct relationship with the user and item related to the disclosure request to the disclosure recipient, rather than general information that has common attributes related to the user and item. By adopting such a configuration, the information providing system according to the second embodiment has the advantage of being able to provide information and similar case information that is more tailored to the case to the disclosure recipient. By providing only information that has a direct relationship with the user related to the disclosure request, the disclosure of information about other users unrelated to the disclosure request is suppressed, which has the advantage of protecting the privacy of those other users.

[0056] In addition, the information provision system of this embodiment 2 provides only information about users and items that have a direct relationship to the content of the disclosure request as disclosure information and similar case information, which enables the recipient to receive information that is highly relevant to the disclosure request, thereby having the advantage of being able to respond by making appropriate use of disclosure information and similar case information while reducing the burden of selecting and examining information.

[0057] Although the present invention has been described above in connection with the first and second embodiments, the technical scope of the present invention should not be construed as being limited to the specific configurations described in the embodiments. As long as the functions of the present invention can be realized, various modifications and applications of the above-described embodiments also fall within the technical scope of the present invention. [Industrial Applicability]

[0058] The present invention can be used as a technology that enables the proposal of products and services that match the user's tastes and preferences while protecting the user's privacy and personal information. [Explanation of symbols]

[0059] 1 User token generation unit 2. Item token generation section 3 User attribute information generation section 4. Behavioral history information generation unit 5. Item attribute information generation unit 6. Transfer information generation unit 7. Usage history information generation unit 8 User Transaction Generation Unit 9 Item Transaction Generation Unit 10 Electronic signature generation section 11 Output instruction section 12. Disclosure request input section 13. Token Identification Section 14. Disclosure Destination Identification Department 15, 20 Disclosure information generation department 16 Disclosure Information Department 17 Past information storage section 18, 21 Similar Case Information Disclosure Department

Claims

1. An information providing system that selectively acquires information about a plurality of users and items recorded on a network and provides it to a disclosure destination, a user transaction generation means for generating user transaction information, which is information including at least behavior history information, which is information regarding the behavior history of a user, recorded in a first distributed ledger corresponding to a user token on a first distributed network corresponding to the user token, the user token being a non-fungible token having a one-to-one correspondence with the user; an item transaction generation means for generating item transaction information, which is information including at least transfer information, which is information regarding the transfer history of ownership of an item, and usage history information, which is information regarding the usage history of the item, recorded in a second distributed ledger corresponding to the item token on a second distributed network corresponding to the item token, which is a non-fungible token that has a one-to-one correspondence with an item; a disclosure request information input means for inputting disclosure request information, which is information including a request by a specific user for disclosure of information relating to the specific user; a disclosure target token identification means for identifying user tokens and item tokens to which information recorded in the first distributed ledger and the second distributed ledger is to be disclosed based on the disclosure request information; a disclosure information generation means for acquiring information recorded in a first distributed ledger on a first distributed network corresponding to the user token identified by the disclosure target token identification means, acquiring information recorded in a second distributed ledger on a second distributed network corresponding to the item token identified by the disclosure target token identification means, and generating disclosure information based on the acquired information; a disclosure destination specifying means for specifying a disclosure destination of the disclosure information based on the disclosure request information; a disclosure information providing means for providing the disclosure information generated by the disclosure information generating means to the disclosure recipient identified by the disclosure recipient identifying means; An information providing system comprising:

2. past information storage means for storing past information including past disclosure request information, information provided to the user by the disclosure destination after the provision of the disclosure information based on the disclosure request information, and information regarding the user's reaction to the information; a similar case information providing means for extracting similar case information, which is past information on a case similar to the new disclosure request, from the past information stored in the past information storage means when disclosure request information is input to the disclosure request information input means, and providing the similar case information to the disclosure recipient of the new disclosure request; 2. The information providing system according to claim 1, further comprising:

3. the user transaction generation means generates user transaction information including user attribute information, which is information about attributes of the user, in addition to the behavior history information; the item transaction generation means generates item transaction information including item attribute information, which is information regarding the attributes of the item, in addition to the transfer information and the usage history information; the disclosure target token identification means identifies user tokens and item tokens corresponding to users and items having attributes common to attribute information extracted from the disclosure request information, as user tokens and item tokens whose information recorded in the corresponding first distributed ledger and second distributed ledger is to be disclosed; The information provision system described in claim 2, characterized in that the similar case information providing means extracts past information related to the past disclosure request information as similar case information when the attribute information recorded for the user token and item token identified based on the input disclosure request information is common to the attribute information recorded for at least one of the user token and item token identified based on the past disclosure request information.

4. An information providing method for selectively acquiring information about a plurality of users and items recorded on a network and providing the information to a disclosure destination, comprising: a user transaction generation step of generating user transaction information, which is information including at least behavior history information, which is information regarding the behavior history of the user, recorded in a first distributed ledger corresponding to the user token on a first distributed network corresponding to the user token, which is a non-fungible token having a one-to-one correspondence with the user; an item transaction generation step of generating item transaction information, which is information including at least transfer information, which is information regarding the transfer history of ownership of the item, and usage history information, which is information regarding the usage history of the item, recorded in a second distributed ledger corresponding to the item token on a second distributed network corresponding to the item token, which is a non-fungible token that has a one-to-one correspondence with the item; a disclosure request information input step of inputting disclosure request information, which is information including a request by a specific user for disclosure of information relating to the specific user; a disclosure target token identification step of identifying user tokens and item tokens to which information recorded in the first distributed ledger and the second distributed ledger is to be disclosed based on the disclosure request information; a disclosure information generation step of acquiring information recorded in a first distributed ledger on a first distributed network corresponding to the user token identified in the disclosure target token identification step, acquiring information recorded in a second distributed ledger on a second distributed network corresponding to the item token identified in the disclosure target token identification step, and generating disclosure information based on the acquired information; a disclosure destination specifying step of specifying a disclosure destination of the disclosure information based on the disclosure request information; a disclosure information providing step of providing the disclosure information generated in the disclosure information generating step to the disclosure recipient identified in the disclosure recipient identifying step; An information providing method comprising:

5. In the user transaction generating step, user transaction information is generated that includes user attribute information, which is information about attributes of the user, in addition to the behavior history information; In the item transaction generating step, item transaction information is generated that includes item attribute information that is information about the attributes of the item in addition to the transfer information and the usage history information; The information provision method described in claim 4, characterized in that in the disclosure target token identification step, user tokens and item tokens corresponding to users and items having attributes common to the attribute information extracted from the disclosure request information are identified as user tokens and item tokens whose information recorded in the corresponding first distributed ledger and second distributed ledger is to be disclosed.

6. An information providing program that causes a computer to selectively acquire information about a plurality of users and items recorded on a network and provide the information to a disclosure destination, to the computer, a user transaction generation function that generates user transaction information, which is information including at least behavior history information, which is information regarding the behavior history of a user, recorded in a first distributed ledger corresponding to a user token on a first distributed network corresponding to the user token, which is a non-fungible token that has a one-to-one correspondence with the user; an item transaction generation function that generates item transaction information, which is information including at least transfer information, which is information regarding the transfer history of ownership of an item, and usage history information, which is information regarding the usage history of the item, recorded in a second distributed ledger corresponding to the item token on a second distributed network corresponding to the item token, which is a non-fungible token that has a one-to-one correspondence with an item; A disclosure request information input function for inputting disclosure request information, which is information including a request by a specific user for disclosure of information about the specific user; a disclosure target token identification function that identifies user tokens and item tokens to which information recorded in the first distributed ledger and the second distributed ledger is to be disclosed based on the disclosure request information; and a disclosure information generation function that acquires information recorded in a first distributed ledger on a first distributed network corresponding to the user token identified by the disclosure target token identification function, acquires information recorded in a second distributed ledger on a second distributed network corresponding to the item token identified by the disclosure target token identification function, and generates disclosure information based on the acquired information; a disclosure destination specification function for specifying a disclosure destination of the disclosure information based on the disclosure request information; a disclosure information providing function that provides the disclosure information generated by the disclosure information generating function to the disclosure recipient identified by the disclosure recipient identifying function; An information providing program characterized by causing the program to execute the above.

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