Business matching support device, business matching support method, and program

Abstract

To make it possible to efficiently perform a work of extracting a business matching candidate destination.SOLUTION: A business matching support device 2 has a configuration comprising: a company information acquisition section 21 that acquires company information of a requester company that is looking for a matching candidate destination; a word phrase extraction section 22 that extracts a characteristic word phrase related to the requester company from the company information of the requester company; a keyword generation section 23 that generates a keyword group for search by excluding word phrases included in the information of competitors of the requester company from among multiple word phrases extracted by the word extraction section 22; and a retrieval section 24 that extracts a matching candidate destination by searching a predetermined database using the keyword groups for search.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a business matching support device, a business matching support method, and a program that support the task of extracting business matching candidates. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, business matching services have been provided that introduce potential business partners to requesting companies for the purpose of business development, etc. Conventionally, in this type of business matching, in order to introduce companies that are likely to conclude a deal to the requesting company, it has been proposed to automatically collect information about companies from a company information providing device, automatically analyze factors for concluding a deal for each matching pattern based on the collected information, generate an evaluation formula for each matching pattern, and provide evaluation values ​​for companies that are potential matching partners using the evaluation formula (e.g., Patent Document 1). In this conventional technology, words extracted from the collected information are analyzed to generate a company characteristic matrix, and past transaction log information is classified by matching pattern based on the company characteristic matrix, thereby generating an evaluation formula for each matching pattern. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2020-201819 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, in the above-described conventional technology, the information collected from the company information providing device also includes information on the competitors of the requesting company. Therefore, the competitors of the requesting company are also extracted as match candidates. However, in reality, the competitors of the requesting company cannot be match candidates, so it takes time to select appropriate match candidates, which is inefficient.

[0005] The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and aims to provide a business matching support device, a business matching support method, and a program that support the efficient extraction of business matching candidates. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the invention of claim 1 is a business matching support device comprising: an acquisition means for acquiring corporate information of a company searching for a matching candidate; a phrase extraction means for extracting words related to the company from the corporate information; a keyword creation means for creating a group of search keywords by excluding words contained in information about the company's competitors from among the multiple words extracted by the phrase extraction means; and a search means for extracting the matching candidate by searching a predetermined database using the group of search keywords.

[0007] The invention according to claim 2 is the business matching support device according to claim 1, wherein the keyword creation means generates a first group of words by ranking the plurality of words extracted by the word extraction means based on frequency of appearance, and selects from the first group of words , excluding words that are included in the information of the company's competitors by excluding top-ranking words that are common to words that describe the company's competitors. The configuration is characterized by the above.

[0008] The invention according to claim 3 is the business matching support device according to claim 2, wherein the keyword generating means selects a keyword from the first group of words. Lower Rank phrases Furthermore By excluding Apart from competitors of the company, a group of search keywords is created that excludes words that represent companies that are not suitable as matching candidates.The configuration is characterized by the above.

[0009] The invention according to claim 4 is 2 In the business matching support device, the keyword creation means When the matching candidate is not extracted in the search by the search means, The configuration is characterized in that the search keyword group is recreated by adding at least one word that was deleted from the first word group.

[0010] The invention of claim 5 is characterized in that, in the business matching support device of claim 4, the keyword creation means selects the phrase to be added based on user instructions when adding at least one phrase deleted from the first group of phrases.

[0011] The invention according to claim 6 is the business matching support device according to claim 2, wherein the keyword creation means When excluding, from the first group of phrases, highly ranked phrases that are common to phrases representing competitors of the company, generating a second group of phrases by ranking a plurality of phrases included in the information on the competitors of the company based on frequency of appearance; If a term common to a term included in a high ranking in the second term group is included in a high ranking in the first term group, the term included in a high ranking in the second term group is excluded from the high ranking in the first term group. The configuration is characterized by the above.

[0012] The invention of claim 7 is a business matching support device of any of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the keyword creation means, when creating the group of search keywords, adds words contained in information about the company's existing business partners to the group of search keywords.

[0013] The invention of claim 8 is characterized in that, in the business matching support device of claim 7, the keyword creation means generates a third group of terms by ranking multiple terms contained in information about the company's existing business partners based on their frequency of occurrence, and adds the terms with the highest rankings in the third group of terms to the group of search keywords.

[0014] The invention according to claim 9 is performed by a computerThis business matching support method is characterized by comprising an acquisition step of acquiring corporate information of a company searching for a matching candidate, a phrase extraction step of extracting phrases related to the company from the corporate information, a keyword creation step of creating a group of search keywords by excluding phrases contained in information about the company's competitors from among the multiple phrases extracted by the phrase extraction step, and a search step of extracting the matching candidate by searching a predetermined database using the group of search keywords.

[0015] The invention according to claim 10 is the business matching support method according to claim 9, wherein the keyword creation step generates a first group of words by ranking the plurality of words extracted by the word extraction step based on frequency of appearance, and , excluding words that are included in the information of the company's competitors by excluding top-ranking words that are common to words that describe the company's competitors. The configuration is characterized by the above.

[0016] The invention according to claim 11 is the business matching support method according to claim 10, wherein the keyword creation step selects a keyword from the first group of words. Lower Rank phrases Furthermore By excluding Apart from competitors of the company, a group of search keywords is created that excludes words that represent companies that are not suitable as matching candidates. The configuration is characterized by the above.

[0017] The invention according to claim 12 is 10 In the business matching support method, the keyword creation step When the matching candidate is not extracted in the search performed in the search step, The configuration is characterized in that the search keyword group is recreated by adding at least one word that was deleted from the first word group.

[0018] The invention of claim 13 is characterized in that in the business matching support method of claim 12, the keyword creation step selects the phrase to be added based on user instructions when adding at least one phrase deleted from the first group of phrases.

[0019] The invention according to claim 14 is the business matching support method according to claim 10, wherein the keyword creation step comprises: When excluding, from the first group of phrases, highly ranked phrases that are common to phrases representing competitors of the company, generating a second group of phrases by ranking a plurality of phrases included in the information on the competitors of the company based on frequency of appearance; If a term common to a term included in a high ranking in the second term group is included in a high ranking in the first term group, the term included in a high ranking in the second term group is excluded from the high ranking in the first term group. The configuration is characterized by the above.

[0020] The invention of claim 15 is a business matching support method of any of claims 9 to 14, characterized in that the keyword creation step, when creating the group of search keywords, adds words contained in information about the company's existing business partners to the group of search keywords.

[0021] The invention of claim 16 is a business matching support method of claim 15, characterized in that the keyword creation step generates a third group of terms by ranking multiple terms contained in information about the company's existing business partners based on frequency of appearance, and adds the terms with the highest rankings in the third group of terms to the group of search keywords.

[0022] The invention of claim 17 is a program that causes a computer to execute the following steps: an acquisition step of acquiring corporate information of a company searching for a matching candidate; a phrase extraction step of extracting words related to the company from the corporate information; a keyword creation step of creating a group of search keywords by excluding words contained in information about the company's competitors from among the multiple words extracted by the phrase extraction step; and a search step of extracting the matching candidate by searching a predetermined database using the group of search keywords.

[0023] The invention according to claim 18 is the program according to claim 17, wherein the keyword creation step generates a first group of words by ranking the plurality of words extracted by the word extraction step based on frequency of appearance, and selects from the first group of words. , excluding words that are included in the information of the company's competitors by excluding top-ranking words that are common to words that describe the company's competitors. The configuration is characterized by the above.

[0024] The invention according to claim 19 is the program according to claim 18, wherein the keyword creation step selects a keyword from the first group of words. Lower Rank phrases Furthermore By excluding Apart from competitors of the company, a group of search keywords is created that excludes words that represent companies that are not suitable as matching candidates. The configuration is characterized by the above.

[0025] The invention according to claim 20 is 18 In the program, the keyword creation step When the matching candidate is not extracted in the search performed in the search step, The configuration is characterized in that the search keyword group is recreated by adding at least one word that was deleted from the first word group.

[0026] The invention of claim 21 is characterized in that, in the program of claim 20, the keyword creation step selects the phrase to be added based on user instructions when adding at least one phrase deleted from the first group of phrases.

[0027] The invention according to claim 22 is the program according to claim 18, wherein the keyword creation step When excluding, from the first group of phrases, highly ranked phrases that are common to phrases representing competitors of the company, generating a second group of phrases by ranking a plurality of phrases included in the information on the competitors of the company based on frequency of appearance; If a term common to a term included in a high ranking in the second term group is included in a high ranking in the first term group, the term included in a high ranking in the second term group is excluded from the high ranking in the first term group. The configuration is characterized by the above.

[0028] The invention of claim 23 is a program of any one of claims 17 to 22, wherein the keyword creation step is configured to add words contained in information about the company's existing business partners to the search keyword group when creating the search keyword group.

[0029] The invention of claim 24 is characterized in that, in the program of claim 23, the keyword creation step generates a third group of phrases by ranking multiple phrases contained in information about the company's existing business partners based on their frequency of occurrence, and adds the highest-ranked phrases in the third group of phrases to the group of search keywords. [Effects of the Invention]

[0030] According to the present invention, it becomes possible to efficiently extract candidates for business matching. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0031] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of a business matching support system. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the business matching support device. [Figure 3] 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of company information acquired by a company information acquisition unit. FIG. [Figure 4] 1 is a flowchart showing a first embodiment of a specific processing procedure of a business matching support device. [Figure 5] 10 is a flowchart showing an example of a detailed processing procedure of a first word group generation process. [Figure 6] 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a detailed processing procedure of a search keyword group creation process. [Figure 7] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a first phrase group. [Figure 8] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example in which lower-ranked words are excluded from the first word group. [Figure 9] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example in which top-ranked words are excluded from the first word group. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a search keyword group created from a first word group. [Figure 11] 10 is a flowchart showing a second embodiment of a specific processing procedure of the business matching support device. [Figure 12] 10 is a flowchart showing a third embodiment of a specific processing procedure of the business matching support device. [Figure 13] 10 is a flowchart showing a detailed processing procedure of a search keyword group creation process. [Figure 14] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example in which high-ranking words in the second word group are excluded from the first word group. [Figure 15] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a search keyword group created from a first word group. [Figure 16] 10 is a flowchart showing a fourth embodiment of a specific processing procedure of the business matching support device. [Figure 17] 10 is a flowchart showing a detailed processing procedure of a search keyword group creation process. [Figure 18] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a search keyword group created from a first word group. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0032] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Elements common to the embodiments described below are designated by the same reference numerals, and redundant description thereof will be omitted.

[0033] (Basic embodiment) FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a business matching support system 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention. The business matching support system 1 is a system that outputs matching candidates that could become business partners for a company, based on a request from the company, for example, that is looking for business matching candidates (hereinafter referred to as "matching candidates"). This business matching support system 1 has a business matching support device (hereinafter simply referred to as "support device") 2 and a company information providing device 4, which are configured to be able to communicate data with each other via a communication network 3. The communication network 3 is a network that includes a LAN (Local Area Network) and a WAN (Wide Area Network). This communication network 3 also includes the Internet.

[0034] The support device 2 is a device that has the main functions of the business matching support system 1. It acquires corporate information on companies searching for potential business partners and extracts potential business partners based on the corporate information. The support device 2 is configured, for example, by a computer and includes a processor 10, a memory unit 11, a display unit 13, and an operation input unit 14. The processor 10 is a hardware processor configured, for example, by a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or the like, and reads and executes a program 12 stored in the memory unit 11. The memory unit 11 is a storage device configured, for example, by a hard disk drive or solid-state drive, and stores a computer-readable program 12. The display unit 13 is configured, for example, by a color LCD display and is capable of displaying various information on its display screen. The operation input unit 14 is configured, for example, by a keyboard or mouse, and accepts input operations by the user.

[0035] The company information providing device 4 is a device that provides various company information to the support device 2 via the communication network 3. For example, the company information providing device 4 is configured with multiple servers that can be accessed by the support device 2. FIG. 1 shows an example configuration of the company information providing device 4 that includes multiple web servers 5, a company information server 6, and a patent information server 7.

[0036] The web server 5 is a web server independently installed by each of multiple companies, and is a server that provides corporate information such as the homepage for advertising of each company. Therefore, the support device 2 can obtain corporate information from the web server 5 by accessing the web server 5.

[0037] The corporate information server 6 stores corporate information for multiple companies and retrieves and provides necessary corporate information from the corporate information for multiple companies. For example, the corporate information server 6 has a corporate information database 6a, in which the corporate information of various companies is registered and managed. The corporate information registered in the corporate information database 6a includes various information such as the company's current business, the business fields the company plans to expand into in the future, the products it handles, the services it provides, its manufacturing bases, its sales bases, its research and development trends, its management policies, and technical papers. When the support device 2 requests corporate information for a specific company, the corporate information server 6 retrieves the corporate information for the specific company from the corporate information database 6a and provides it to the support device 2.

[0038] The patent information server 7 holds patent information from multiple companies, retrieves necessary patent information from among the patent information from multiple companies, and provides the patent information as company information. For example, the patent information server 7 has a patent information database 7a, in which patent information from various companies is registered and managed. When patent information from a specific company is requested by the support device 2, the patent information server 7 retrieves the patent information from the patent information database 7a and provides it to the support device 2 as company information.

[0039] 2 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of the support device 2. A processor 10 of the support device 2 reads and executes a program 12 from a storage unit 11, causing the support device 2 to function as a requesting company input unit 20, a company information acquisition unit 21, a phrase extraction unit 22, a keyword creation unit 23, a search unit 24, and an output unit 25.

[0040] The requesting company input unit 20 inputs information about the requesting company, which is a company searching for matching candidates. For example, the requesting company input unit 20 accepts operational input of information about the requesting company via the operation input unit 14. The requesting company input unit 20 may also accept input of information about the requesting company from an external computer via the communication network 3. For example, the information about the requesting company may be information including the company name, etc.

[0041] The company information acquisition unit 21 acquires company information of a company (requesting company) searching for a matching candidate based on the information of the requesting company received by the requesting company input unit 20. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of company information acquired by the company information acquisition unit 21. As shown in FIG. 3, the company information acquisition unit 21 acquires company information about the requesting company from each of the web server 5, the company information server 6, and the patent information server 7. For example, the company information acquisition unit 21 acquires a company introduction page D1, a product introduction page D2, and the like as company information from the web server 5 of the requesting company. The company information acquisition unit 21 also acquires company information D3 of the requesting company registered in the company information database 6a from the company information server 6. Furthermore, the company information acquisition unit 21 acquires patent information D4 of the requesting company registered in the patent information database 7a from the patent information server 7 as company information.

[0042] For example, the company information acquired by the company information acquisition unit 21 from the company information providing device 4 is text data. Therefore, the company information acquired by the company information acquisition unit 21 includes phrases (words) that represent the characteristics of the requesting company.

[0043] The phrase extraction unit 22 extracts characteristic phrases (words) related to the requesting company from the company information acquired by the company information acquisition unit 21. For example, if the company information includes a sentence, the phrase extraction unit 22 performs morphological analysis on the sentence, determines the part of speech of each morpheme in the sentence, and extracts words such as nouns and verbs that represent the characteristics of the requesting company as characteristic phrases related to the requesting company. In this case, the phrase extraction unit 22 may extract technical terms and terminology related to the current or future business field of the requesting company as characteristic phrases related to the requesting company. For example, the phrase extraction unit 22 extracts characteristic phrases related to the requesting company based on the patent information D4 of the requesting company acquired from the patent information server 7, thereby extracting technical terms and terminology included in patents that the requesting company has filed with the Japan Patent Office as characteristic phrases.

[0044] Furthermore, since the phrase extraction unit 22 extracts phrases from each of the company introduction page D1, the product introduction page D2, the company information D3, and the patent information D4, the same phrase may be extracted multiple times. For example, the phrase extraction unit 22 may extract the same technical term or term multiple times from a single patent document included in the patent information D4.

[0045] The keyword creation unit 23 creates a group of search keywords from among the multiple words extracted by the word extraction unit 22. The group of search keywords is information in which keywords used when searching for matching candidate destinations are registered.

[0046] Here, the keyword creation unit 23 does not register all of the words extracted by the word extraction unit 22 in the search keyword group. This is because characteristic words related to the client company may be common to words that represent the characteristics of the client company's competitors, and if all of the words extracted by the word extraction unit 22 were registered in the search keyword group to search for matching candidates, many competitors of the client company would be hit, making it impossible to efficiently select matching candidates.

[0047] To prevent this, the keyword creation unit 23 creates a group of search keywords by excluding words that are common to words that represent competitors of the requesting company from among the multiple words extracted by the word extraction unit 22. This makes it possible to prevent a large number of competitors of the requesting company from being detected when searching for match candidates using keywords included in the group of search keywords, and makes it possible to efficiently select match candidates for the requesting company.

[0048] The search unit 24 acquires the search keyword group created by the keyword creation unit 23 and searches for matching candidates for the requesting company based on the keywords included in the search keyword group. For example, the search unit 24 searches the company information database 6a of the company information server 6 or the patent information database 7a of the patent information server 7 based on the keywords included in the search keyword group, and extracts matching candidates for the requesting company. However, the databases searched by the search unit 24 are not limited to the company information database 6a or the patent information database 7a, and other databases may be used. Furthermore, the search by the search unit 24 may include a general internet search.

[0049] As described above, words that are common to words that represent competitors of the requesting company are excluded from the group of search keywords created by the keyword creation unit 23. Therefore, when the search unit 24 performs a search using keywords included in the group of search keywords, competitors of the requesting company are excluded, and companies that are suitable as matching candidates for the requesting company can be efficiently detected.

[0050] The output unit 25 outputs the search results obtained by the search unit 24. For example, the output unit 25 displays the search results on the display unit 13. The output unit 25 may also transmit the search results to an external computer via the communication network 3.

[0051] As described above, the support device 2 of this embodiment includes a company information acquisition unit 21 that acquires company information about a requesting company that is searching for matching candidates, a phrase extraction unit 22 that extracts characteristic words and phrases related to the requesting company from the company information, a keyword creation unit 23 that creates a group of search keywords by excluding words and phrases that represent competitors of the requesting company from the multiple words and phrases extracted by the phrase extraction unit 22, and a search unit 24 that extracts matching candidates for the requesting company by searching a predetermined database using the group of search keywords. This configuration makes it possible to prevent the search by the search unit 24 from detecting too many competitors of the requesting company, thereby making it possible to efficiently extract matching candidates for the requesting company.

[0052] (First Example) Next, a first specific example of the basic embodiment will be described. This first example illustrates a method for excluding phrases representing competitors of a requesting company from among multiple phrases extracted from the company information of the requesting company.

[0053] 4 to 6 are flowcharts showing a first embodiment of a specific processing procedure of the support device 2. This processing is performed by the processor 10 of the support device 2 executing the program 12. As shown in FIG. 4, when the support device 2 starts this processing, the requesting company input unit 20 functions and inputs information about the requesting company searching for a matching candidate (step S10). When the support device 2 inputs the information about the requesting company, it causes the company information acquisition unit 21 to function. Then, based on the information about the requesting company, the support device 2 collects company information about the requesting company from the company information providing device 4, which includes the web server 5, the company information server 6, and the patent information server 7 (step S11).

[0054] After collecting the company information of the requesting company, the support device 2 activates the phrase extraction unit 22. Then, the support device 2 extracts characteristic phrases (words) related to the requesting company from the company information of the requesting company (step S12). For example, as described above, the support device 2 performs morphological analysis on the collected company information and extracts all characteristic phrases such as technical terms and terms that represent the requesting company.

[0055] Next, the support device 2 activates the keyword creation unit 23 to execute a first word group generation process (step S13). This first word group generation process is a process for generating a first word group by ranking the multiple words extracted by the word extraction unit 22 based on the frequency of appearance.

[0056] FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of detailed processing steps of the first word group generation process (step S13). When the keyword creation unit 23 starts the first word group generation process, it first numbers multiple words extracted from the company information of the requesting company (step S20). The words to be numbered are each different words. Therefore, even if multiple identical words are extracted from the company information, only one word is numbered. For example, if 10 different words are extracted from the company information, the keyword creation unit 23 assigns numbers 1 to 10 to each of the 10 words. Therefore, if the number of words extracted from the company information is N, the keyword creation unit 23 assigns numbers 1 to N to each word.

[0057] Next, the keyword creation unit 23 counts the number of occurrences of each term extracted from the company information (step S21). For example, if the same term is extracted multiple times from the company information, the keyword creation unit 23 counts the number of occurrences by counting the number of duplicated extracted terms.

[0058] Next, the keyword creation unit 23 initializes a variable i to 1 (step S22). Then, the keyword creation unit 23 focuses on the i-th term among the terms numbered 1 to N, and calculates the appearance frequency of the i-th term (step S23). For example, the keyword creation unit 23 calculates a tf (term frequency) value, which is generally used when evaluating the importance of words, as the appearance frequency of the i-th term. In this case, for example, the tf value is derived by the following formula 1.

[0059]

number

[0060] In other words, the tf value is calculated by taking the sum of the number of times all terms extracted from the company information appear as the denominator and the number of times the i-th term appears as the numerator, and indicates the percentage of times the i-th term appears.

[0061] Next, the keyword creation unit 23 calculates the rarity of the i-th phrase (step S24). For example, the keyword creation unit 23 calculates an inverse document frequency (idf) value, which is generally used when evaluating the importance of words, as the rarity of the i-th phrase. In this case, for example, the idf value is derived by the following formula 2.

[0062]

number

[0063] Here, the number of documents refers to the number of pieces of information obtained from the company information providing device 4. For example, the company introduction page D1 and the product introduction page D2 are each one document. The company information D3 is also treated as one document. Furthermore, each patent document included in the patent information D4 is also treated as one document. For example, if the patent information D4 contains multiple patent documents, the patent information D4 will contain a number of documents corresponding to the number of patent documents. Therefore, the IDF value will be high if the i-th term is rare, and low if the term appears frequently in many documents (information).

[0064] Then, the keyword creation unit 23 calculates the importance of the i-th term (step S25). For example, the keyword creation unit 23 calculates the importance of the i-th term based on the appearance frequency calculated in step S23 and the rarity calculated in step S24. Specifically, the keyword creation unit 23 calculates the importance of the i-th term by calculating a tf-idf value. In this case, for example, the tf-idf value is derived by the following formula 3.

[0065]

number

[0066] As described above, the importance of the i-th term is the product of the frequency of appearance and the rarity. Therefore, the higher the frequency of appearance of the i-th term in the company information collected from the company information providing device 4, the higher the importance of that term, and the higher the rarity of the i-th term, the higher the importance of that term. Therefore, by calculating the importance of the i-th term, it is possible to evaluate whether the i-th term is an important term to the requesting company.

[0067] After calculating the importance of the i-th word, the keyword creation unit 23 adds 1 to the variable i to update the variable i (step S26). Then, the keyword creation unit 23 determines whether the variable i has exceeded the number of words N (step S27). If the variable i has not exceeded the number of words N (NO in step S27), the keyword creation unit 23 returns to step S23 and repeats the processes of steps S23 to S25 described above based on the updated variable i. By repeating the processes of steps S23 to S25, the importance of all words extracted from the company information of the requesting company can be calculated.

[0068] If the variable i exceeds the number of words N (YES in step S27), the keyword creation unit 23 generates a first group of words by ranking each word extracted from the company information (step S28). At this time, the keyword creation unit 23 ranks each word extracted from the company information based on the importance of each word. For example, the keyword creation unit 23 assigns higher ranks to words in descending order of importance.

[0069] FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating a first word group G1. As shown in FIG. 7, the keyword creation unit 23 ranks multiple (N fixed) words extracted from the company information of the requesting company, and generates a list in which the words are arranged in rank order as the first word group G1. Only words that do not overlap with each other among the words extracted from the company information are ranked in the first word group G1. Note that in FIG. 7, the smaller the rank number, the higher the word rank. After generating the first word group G1 as shown in FIG. 7, the keyword creation unit 23 stores the first word group G1 in the storage unit 11. This completes the first word group generation process.

[0070] 4, next, the keyword creation unit 23 executes a search keyword group creation process (step S14). This search keyword group creation process is a process of excluding, from among the multiple words included in the first word group G1, words that are common to words that represent competitors of the requesting company, and creating a keyword group that can extract companies that are suitable as matching candidates for the requesting company.

[0071] 6 is a flowchart showing an example of detailed processing steps of the search keyword group creation process (step S14). When the search keyword group creation process starts, the keyword creation unit 23 reads out the first word group G1 stored in the storage unit 11 (step S30).

[0072] Next, as shown in FIG. 8 , the keyword creation unit 23 excludes words ranked lower than a predetermined rank Va from the first word group G1 (step S31). Words ranked lower than the predetermined rank Va are words of low importance to the requesting company. Therefore, if a lower-ranked word included in the first word group G1 is included in the search keywords, companies that are not suitable as match candidates for the requesting company may be detected, and many companies that become noise components may be detected. To prevent this, the keyword creation unit 23 excludes words ranked lower than the predetermined rank Va from the search keywords. Note that FIG. 8 illustrates the 30th rank as the predetermined rank Va, but the predetermined rank Va is not limited to 30th and can be arbitrarily set by the user of the support device 2. Furthermore, if it is not necessary to prevent many companies that become noise components from being detected when searching for match candidates for the requesting company, a processing procedure may be adopted in which the processing of step S31 is skipped.

[0073] Next, as shown in FIG. 9 , the keyword creation unit 23 excludes words ranked higher than a predetermined rank Vb in the first word group G1 (step S32). Words ranked higher than the predetermined rank Vb are important to the client's competitors and are common to words representing the competitors. Therefore, if a high-ranking word included in the first word group G1 is included in the search keywords, competitors that are not suitable as match candidates for the client's company will be detected. To prevent this, the keyword creation unit 23 excludes words ranked higher than the predetermined rank Vb in the first word group G1 from the search keywords, thereby reducing the likelihood that the client's competitors will be detected as match candidates. Note that while FIG. 9 illustrates the ninth rank as the predetermined rank Vb, the predetermined rank Vb is not limited to ninth and can be arbitrarily set by the user of the support device 2. However, the predetermined rank Vb must be higher than the predetermined rank Va adopted in step S31.

[0074] Next, the keyword creation unit 23 creates a search keyword group using the words that were not excluded from the first word group G1 (step S33). FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a search keyword group GK created from the first word group G1. As shown in FIG. 10, the search keyword group GK includes multiple words (keywords) used when searching for matching candidates for the requesting company. As described above, the words included in the search keyword group GK exclude words representing competitors of the requesting company. Therefore, when searching for matching candidate companies using multiple words included in the search keyword group GK, it is possible to reduce the possibility of detecting competitors of the requesting company. Furthermore, words that are less important to the requesting company are also excluded from the search keyword group GK. Therefore, when searching for matching candidate companies using multiple words included in the search keyword group GK, it is possible to reduce the possibility of detecting companies that are not suitable as matching candidate companies for the requesting company. This completes the search keyword group creation process.

[0075] Returning to the flowchart of FIG. 4 , the support device 2 then activates the search unit 24 to execute a search process (step S15). The search unit 24 searches for companies that can be matched with the requesting company using terms (keywords) included in the search keyword group GK created by the keyword creation unit 23. If the search keyword group GK contains multiple terms, the search unit 24 searches for companies that can be matched with the requesting company by performing an AND search or an OR search using those multiple terms. In other words, the search unit 24 extracts other companies whose company information contains terms common to the technical terms extracted as terms representing the requesting company as matched with the requesting company. By performing a search using terms included in the search keyword group GK, the search unit 24 can avoid detecting many competitors of the requesting company. Furthermore, if lower-ranked terms in the first term group G1 are excluded from the search keyword group GK, it is possible to avoid detecting many companies that are not competitors of the requesting company but are not suitable as matched with the requesting company. Therefore, the search unit 24 can efficiently detect companies that are match candidates for the requesting company by searching using words included in the search keyword group GK. After that, the support device 2 activates the output unit 25 to output the match candidates detected by the search by the search unit 24 (step S16).

[0076] As described above, the support device 2 of this embodiment employs a method for excluding, from among a plurality of terms extracted from the corporate information of the requesting company, terms that represent competitors of the requesting company, by ranking the plurality of terms extracted from the corporate information according to importance and excluding the top-ranked terms that are likely to be common to terms that represent competitors of the requesting company, thereby creating the search keyword group GK. By uniformly excluding the top-ranked terms that are likely to be common to terms that represent competitors of the requesting company, there is an advantage that the process of creating the search keyword group GK in the support device 2 can be performed efficiently.

[0077] For example, when the present embodiment is applied to search for matching candidates for a client company, the detection rate of companies suitable as matching candidates for the client company is 40% or more. In contrast, as a comparative example, when a search keyword group GK is created without performing the processing of step S32 in the flowchart of Figure 6 and a search is performed using words included in the search keyword group GK, the detection rate of companies suitable as matching candidates for the client company is less than 40%. In other words, compared to the comparative example, the detection rate of competitors of the client company is lower in this embodiment, so it is possible to improve the detection rate of companies suitable as matching candidates for the client company.

[0078] In this embodiment, an example has been described in which the tf value, the idf value, and the tf-idf value are calculated to evaluate the importance of multiple terms extracted from company information. However, this is not limiting, and the support device 2 may calculate other indices to evaluate the importance of multiple terms.

[0079] (Second Example) Next, a second embodiment will be described. In the first embodiment described above, multiple terms extracted from company information are ranked according to importance, and terms with a high probability of being common to terms representing competitors of the requesting company are uniformly excluded. Therefore, there is a possibility that matching candidates useful to the requesting company cannot be detected using only the terms remaining in the search keyword group GK. Therefore, in this second embodiment, an example of a processing procedure will be described in which the processing procedure of the first embodiment described above is improved to enable matching candidates useful to the requesting company to be detected.

[0080] Fig. 11 is a flowchart showing a second embodiment of a specific processing procedure of the support device 2. This processing is performed by the processor 10 of the support device 2 executing the program 12. The processing of steps S10 to S16 in the flowchart of Fig. 11 is the same as the processing of steps S10 to S16 in the flowchart of Fig. 4. The flowchart of Fig. 11 differs from the flowchart of Fig. 4 in that the processing of steps S17 and S18 is performed after step S15. The processing of steps S17 and S18 will be described in detail below.

[0081] The support device 2 performs a search process (step S15) using keywords included in the search keyword group GK created in step S14, and then determines whether or not companies that can be matched with the requesting company have been detected (step S17). For example, the support device 2 displays a list of companies detected by the search process (step S15) on the display unit 13 and accepts user operations performed on the operation input unit 14. The user checks the list of companies displayed on the display unit 13 and confirms whether companies that can be matched with the requesting company have been appropriately extracted. If matched with the requesting company, the user operates the operation input unit 14 to input information indicating that the search results are good. On the other hand, if matched with the requesting company, the user operates the operation input unit 14 to input information indicating that the search results are not good. The support device 2 can determine whether or not companies that can be matched with the requesting company have been detected based on the information input by the user.

[0082] However, without being limited to this, the support device 2 may automatically determine whether or not it has been able to detect a company that is a candidate for matching with the requesting company. For example, by inputting information about competitors of the requesting company into the support device 2 in advance, the support device 2 can automatically determine whether or not a company detected by the search process is a competitor of the requesting company. Therefore, if only competitors of the requesting company are detected by the search process, the support device 2 can automatically determine that it has not been able to detect a company that is a candidate for matching with the requesting company.

[0083] If no matching candidate companies for the requesting company have been detected (NO in step S17), the support device 2 adds to the search keyword group GK the terms that were excluded from the first term group G1 when creating the search keyword group GK (step S18). The terms to be added are the top-ranked terms that were excluded from the first term group G1 as terms that are likely to be common to terms representing competitors of the requesting company. The number of terms to be added may be one or more. For example, as shown in FIG. 9, if terms ranked 1 to 8 have been excluded from the first term group G1, the support device 2 adds at least one term from the multiple terms ranked 1 to 8 to the search keyword group GK. Then, the search keyword group GK is updated.

[0084] Furthermore, when adding a highly ranked phrase excluded from the first phrase group G1 to the search keyword group GK, the support device 2 may automatically select the phrase to add, or may select the phrase to add based on a user instruction. For example, when automatically selecting the phrase to add, the support device 2 may preferentially select a highly ranked phrase from among the multiple phrases excluded from the first phrase group G1, or may preferentially select a lower ranked phrase.

[0085] After adding the phrase to the search keyword group GK, the support device 2 executes the search process again (step S15). At this time, the search keyword group GK contains more phrases than the previous search, so there is a higher possibility that companies that can be matched with the requesting company can be properly detected in the repeated search process. Note that if companies that can be matched with the requesting company cannot be detected in the repeated search (NO in step S17), the support device 2 repeats the process of adding the phrases that were excluded from the first phrase group G1 when creating the search keyword group GK to the search keyword group GK (step S18).

[0086] In this way, the support device 2 of this embodiment performs a search using the search keyword group GK created by excluding high-ranking words that are likely to be common to words representing competitors of the requesting company in the first word group G1, and if a matching candidate for the requesting company cannot be found, adds the excluded high-ranking words to the search keyword group GK and performs a search again. This increases the possibility of appropriately finding a company that is a matching candidate for the requesting company, improving convenience.

[0087] For example, when the present embodiment is applied to search for matching candidates for a client company, the detection rate of companies suitable as matching candidates for the client company is 40% or more. In contrast, as a comparative example, when a search keyword group GK is created without performing the processing of step S32 in the flowchart of Figure 6 and a search is performed using words included in the search keyword group GK, the detection rate of companies suitable as matching candidates for the client company is less than 40%. In other words, compared to the comparative example, the detection rate of competitors of the client company is lower in this embodiment, so it is possible to improve the detection rate of companies suitable as matching candidates for the client company.

[0088] (Third Example) Next, a third embodiment will be described. In the first embodiment described above, multiple terms extracted from company information are ranked according to importance, and the top-ranked terms that are likely to be common to terms representing competitors of the requesting company are uniformly excluded. Therefore, the excluded terms may include terms that do not correspond to terms representing competitors. In this third embodiment, an example of a processing procedure is described that can reduce the possibility that terms that do not correspond to terms representing competitors are included among the terms excluded from the first term group G1.

[0089] 12 and 13 are flowcharts showing a third embodiment of a specific processing procedure of the support device 2. This processing is performed by the processor 10 of the support device 2 executing the program 12. As shown in FIG. 12, when the support device 2 starts this processing, it activates the requesting company input unit 20 and inputs information about the requesting company that is searching for matching candidates (step S40). The support device 2 also inputs information about competitors of the requesting company (step S41). The information about competitors of the requesting company may be information that includes the names of the competitors, etc. The information about competitors of the requesting company may be information about one company or multiple companies.

[0090] The support device 2 puts the company information acquisition unit 21 into operation as information about the requesting company is input. Then, based on the information about the requesting company, the support device 2 collects company information about the requesting company from the company information providing device 4, which includes the web server 5, the company information server 6, and the patent information server 7 (step S42). After collecting the company information about the requesting company, the support device 2 puts the phrase extraction unit 22 into operation. Then, the support device 2 extracts characteristic phrases (words) about the requesting company from the company information about the requesting company (step S43). Next, the support device 2 puts the keyword creation unit 23 into operation, and executes a first phrase group generation process (step S44). This first phrase group generation process is the same process as step S13 described in the first embodiment. Therefore, by executing the first phrase group generation process (step S44), the support device 2 generates a first phrase group G1 in which multiple phrases extracted from the company information of the requesting company are ranked based on importance, as shown in Figure 7, and stores the first phrase group G1 in the memory unit 11.

[0091] Furthermore, based on the information on the competitors of the requesting company, the support device 2 collects company information on the competitors of the requesting company from the company information providing device 4, which includes the web server 5, the company information server 6, and the patent information server 7 (step S45). After collecting the company information on the competitors of the requesting company, the support device 2 activates the phrase extraction unit 22. Then, the support device 2 performs a process similar to step S43 to extract characteristic phrases (words) related to the competitors of the requesting company from the company information on the competitors of the requesting company (step S46). Next, the support device 2 activates the keyword creation unit 23 to execute a second phrase group generation process (step S47). This second phrase group generation process is the same process as step S13 described in the first embodiment. Therefore, by executing the second phrase group generation process (step S47), the support device 2 generates a second phrase group by ranking the multiple phrases extracted from the company information on the competitors of the requesting company based on importance.

[0092] For example, the support device 2 executes the processes of steps S42 to S44 and steps S45 to S47 in parallel as shown in Fig. 12. This allows the support device 2 to simultaneously execute the process of generating the first word group and the process of generating the second word group, thereby improving processing efficiency.

[0093] Next, the support device 2 executes a search keyword group creation process (step S48). Fig. 13 is a flowchart showing the detailed processing steps of this search keyword group creation process. When the keyword creation unit 23 starts this search keyword group creation process (step S48), it reads out the first word group G1 stored in the storage unit 11 (step S60).

[0094] Next, in order to prevent the search process from detecting many companies that may become noise components, the keyword creation unit 23 excludes words that are ranked lower than the predetermined rank Va in the first word group G1 (step S61). Note that if it is not necessary to prevent the search process from detecting many companies that may become noise components, the process of step S61 may not be performed.

[0095] Next, the keyword creation unit 23 reads out the second word group (step S62). If the first word group G1 contains a word that is common to a word that is ranked higher than a predetermined rank in the second word group, the keyword creation unit 23 excludes the word that is ranked higher in the second word group from the first word group G1 (step S63). For example, as shown in FIG. 14 , if the words ranked first, second, third, fifth, and seventh in the first word group G1 are common to words ranked higher in the second word group, the keyword creation unit 23 excludes the words ranked first, second, third, fifth, and seventh from the first word group G1. Words ranked higher in the second word group are important to competitors of the requesting company. Therefore, if the words ranked higher in the second word group are included in the search keywords, many competitors that are not suitable as matching candidates for the requesting company will be detected. To prevent this, the keyword generating unit 23 excludes from the first word group G1 words that are common to words with high rankings in the second word group.

[0096] Next, the keyword creation unit 23 creates a search keyword group using the words that were not excluded from the first word group G1 (step S64). FIG. 15 is a diagram showing an example of a search keyword group GK created from the first word group G1 in this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 15, the search keyword group GK does not include the words ranked first, second, third, fifth, and seventh in the first word group G1. In other words, words that are important to competitors of the requesting company are excluded from the keywords (words) included in the search keyword group GK. Therefore, when searching for companies that are match candidates using multiple words included in the search keyword group GK, the possibility of detecting competitors of the requesting company can be reduced.

[0097] Furthermore, as in the first embodiment, words that are of low importance to the requesting company are excluded from the words included in the search keyword group GK. Therefore, by searching for companies that are potential match candidates using multiple words included in the search keyword group GK, it is possible to reduce the possibility of finding companies that are not suitable as potential match candidates for the requesting company. This completes the search keyword group creation process.

[0098] Returning to the flowchart of FIG. 12 , the support device 2 then activates the search unit 24 to execute a search process (step S49). The search unit 24 searches for companies that are potential match candidates for the requesting company using terms (keywords) included in the search keyword group GK created by the keyword creation unit 23. If the search keyword group GK includes multiple terms, the search unit 24 searches for companies that are potential match candidates by performing an AND search or an OR search using those multiple terms. By searching using terms included in the search keyword group GK, the search unit 24 can avoid detecting many competitors of the requesting company. Furthermore, because the search keyword group GK also excludes terms with lower rankings in the first term group G1, it can also avoid detecting many companies that are not competitors of the requesting company but are not suitable as potential match candidates for the requesting company. Therefore, by performing a search using terms included in the search keyword group GK, the search unit 24 can efficiently detect companies that are potential match candidates for the requesting company. Thereafter, the support device 2 activates the output unit 25 to output the matching candidates detected by the search unit 24 (step S50).

[0099] As described above, the support device 2 of this embodiment employs a method for excluding terms representing competitors of the requesting company from the multiple terms extracted from the company information of the requesting company by ranking the multiple terms extracted from the company information of the requesting company's competitors according to importance and creating a search keyword group GK by excluding the top-ranked terms extracted from the competitors' company information from the multiple terms extracted from the company information of the requesting company. By excluding terms that are important to competitors of the requesting company from the search keyword group GK, the support device 2 can effectively prevent the detection of competitors of the requesting company when searching for potential match-making partners for the requesting company, thereby achieving a highly accurate search. Furthermore, the support device 2 of this embodiment can reduce the likelihood that terms excluded from the first term group G1 include terms that do not represent competitors. This effectively prevents competitors from being detected during the search process, while also preventing potential match-making partners from being omitted from the search.

[0100] For example, when a search for matching candidates for a client company was performed using this embodiment, the detection rate of companies suitable as matching candidates for the client company was 40% or higher. In contrast, in a comparative example, when a search keyword group GK was created without performing the processing of steps S62 and S63 in the flowchart of Figure 13 and a search was performed using words included in the search keyword group GK, the detection rate of companies suitable as matching candidates for the client company was less than 40%. In other words, in this embodiment, compared to the comparative example, the detection rate of competitors of the client company is lower, making it possible to improve the detection rate of companies suitable as matching candidates for the client company.

[0101] In this embodiment, as explained in the second embodiment, after the search process (step S49) is performed, it is determined whether or not a matching candidate for the requesting company has been detected, and if a matching candidate has not been detected, the words excluded in the search keyword group creation process (step S48) may be added to the search keyword group GK and the search process may be performed again.

[0102] (Fourth Example) Next, a fourth embodiment will be described. In this third embodiment, a processing procedure for generating a search keyword group GK using company information of existing business partners of a requesting company will be illustrated.

[0103] 16 and 17 are flowcharts showing a fourth embodiment of a specific processing procedure of the support device 2. This processing is performed by the processor 10 of the support device 2 executing the program 12. As shown in FIG. 16, when the support device 2 starts this processing, it activates the requesting company input unit 20 and inputs information about the requesting company searching for matching candidates (step S70). The support device 2 also inputs information about the requesting company's existing business partners (step S71). The information about the requesting company's existing business partners may be information including the company names of the existing business partners. The information about the existing business partners may be information about one company or multiple companies.

[0104] The support device 2 puts the company information acquisition unit 21 into operation as information about the requesting company is input. Then, based on the information about the requesting company, the support device 2 collects company information about the requesting company from the company information providing device 4, which includes the web server 5, the company information server 6, and the patent information server 7 (step S72). After collecting the company information about the requesting company, the support device 2 puts the phrase extraction unit 22 into operation. Then, the support device 2 extracts characteristic phrases (words) about the requesting company from the company information about the requesting company (step S73). Next, the support device 2 puts the keyword creation unit 23 into operation, and executes a first phrase group generation process (step S74). This first phrase group generation process is the same process as step S13 described in the first embodiment. Therefore, by executing the first phrase group generation process (step S74), the support device 2 generates a first phrase group G1 in which multiple phrases extracted from the company information of the requesting company are ranked based on importance, as shown in Figure 7, and stores the first phrase group G1 in the memory unit 11.

[0105] Furthermore, based on the information about the existing business partners of the requesting company, the support device 2 collects company information about the existing business partners of the requesting company from the company information providing device 4, which includes the web server 5, the company information server 6, and the patent information server 7 (step S75). After collecting the company information about the existing business partners of the requesting company, the support device 2 activates the phrase extraction unit 22. Then, the support device 2 performs a process similar to step S73 to extract characteristic phrases (words) related to competitors of the requesting company from the company information about the existing business partners of the requesting company (step S76). Next, the support device 2 activates the keyword creation unit 23 to execute a third phrase group generation process (step S77). This third phrase group generation process is the same process as step S13 described in the first embodiment. Therefore, by executing the third phrase group generation process (step S77), the support device 2 generates a third phrase group by ranking the multiple phrases extracted from the company information about the existing business partners of the requesting company based on importance.

[0106] For example, the support device 2 executes the processes of steps S72 to S74 and steps S75 to S77 in parallel as shown in Fig. 16. This allows the support device 2 to simultaneously execute the process of generating the first word group and the process of generating the third word group, thereby improving processing efficiency.

[0107] Next, the support device 2 executes a search keyword group creation process (step S78). Fig. 17 is a flowchart showing the detailed processing steps of this search keyword group creation process. When the keyword creation unit 23 starts this search keyword group creation process (step S78), it reads out the first word group G1 stored in the storage unit 11 (step S90).

[0108] Next, in order to prevent the search process from detecting many companies that may become noise components, the keyword creation unit 23 excludes words that are ranked lower than the predetermined rank Va in the first word group G1 (step S91). Note that if it is not necessary to prevent the search process from detecting many companies that may become noise components, the process of step S91 may not be performed.

[0109] Next, the keyword creation unit 23 excludes words representing competitors of the requesting company from the multiple words included in the first word group G1 (step S92). Here, for example, as described in the first embodiment, words ranked higher than a predetermined rank Vb in the first word group G1 may be excluded. Alternatively, for example, as described in the third embodiment, a second word group may be generated by ranking multiple words extracted from the company information of the requesting company's competitors based on importance, and words common to words included in the higher rankings in the second word group may be excluded from the first word group G1. By excluding words representing competitors of the requesting company from the first word group G1, it is possible to prevent a large number of competitors that are not suitable as matching candidates for the requesting company from being detected in the subsequent search process.

[0110] Next, the keyword creation unit 23 adds the top-ranked words in a third word group, which is created by ranking multiple words extracted from the company information of the requesting company's existing business partners based on importance, to the first word group G1 (step S93). Words representing existing business partners can be effective keywords when searching for appropriate matching candidates for the requesting company. Therefore, the keyword creation unit 23 adds the top-ranked words in the third word group to the first word group G1 as effective search keywords.

[0111] Then, the keyword creation unit 23 creates a search keyword group using the words recorded in the first word group G1 (step S94). FIG. 18 is a diagram showing an example of a search keyword group GK created from the first word group G1 in this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 18, the search keyword group GK excludes words representing competitors of the requesting company and includes words ranked high in the third word group. Therefore, when a search is performed for companies that can be matched using multiple words included in the search keyword group GK, it is possible to reduce the possibility of detecting competitors of the requesting company and to efficiently detect companies that are similar to existing business partners as matched candidates.

[0112] Furthermore, as in the first embodiment, the terms included in the search keyword group GK also exclude terms in the first term group G1 that are of low importance to the requesting company. Therefore, by searching for companies that can be matched using multiple terms included in the search keyword group GK, it is possible to reduce the possibility of finding companies that are not suitable as matched candidates for the requesting company. This completes the search keyword group creation process.

[0113] Returning to the flowchart of FIG. 16 , the support device 2 then activates the search unit 24 to execute a search process (step S79). The search unit 24 searches for potential match-making companies for the requesting company using terms (keywords) included in the search keyword group GK created by the keyword creation unit 23. If the search keyword group GK contains multiple terms, the search unit 24 searches for potential match-making companies by performing an AND search or an OR search using those multiple terms. By searching using terms included in the search keyword group GK, the search unit 24 can avoid detecting many competitors of the requesting company. Furthermore, because the search keyword group GK excludes terms with lower rankings in the first term group G1, it can also avoid detecting many companies that are not competitors of the requesting company but are not suitable as potential match-making companies for the requesting company. Furthermore, because the search keyword group GK contains terms that are important to existing business partners of the requesting company, it can reliably detect potential match-making companies. Therefore, the search unit 24 can efficiently detect companies that are match candidates for the requesting company by searching using words included in the search keyword group GK. After that, the support device 2 activates the output unit 25 to output the match candidates detected by the search by the search unit 24 (step S80).

[0114] In this way, the support device 2 of this embodiment excludes words that represent competitors of the requesting company from the multiple words extracted from the company information, and adds words that represent existing business partners of the requesting company to create a search keyword group GK, which has the advantage of effectively preventing competitors of the requesting company from being detected when searching for matching candidates for the requesting company, and of being able to detect matching candidates with high accuracy.

[0115] For example, when a search for matching candidates for a client company was performed using this embodiment, the detection rate of companies suitable as matching candidates for the client company was 40% or higher. In contrast, as a comparative example, when a search keyword group GK was created without performing the processing of step S92 in the flowchart of Figure 17 and a search was performed using words included in the search keyword group GK, the detection rate of companies suitable as matching candidates for the client company was less than 40%. In other words, compared to the comparative example, this embodiment reduces the detection rate of competitors of the client company, making it possible to improve the detection rate of companies suitable as matching candidates for the client company.

[0116] In this embodiment, as explained in the second embodiment, after the search process (step S79) is performed, it is determined whether or not a matching candidate for the requesting company has been detected, and if a matching candidate has not been detected, the words excluded in the search keyword group creation process (step S78) may be added to the search keyword group GK and the search process may be performed again.

[0117] (Variation) The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, but the present invention is not limited to the contents described in the above embodiments, and various modifications are possible.

[0118] For example, in the above embodiment, a configuration example has been described in which the support device 2 and the enterprise information providing device 4 are connected via the communication network 3. However, this is not limited to this, and the support device 2 and the enterprise information providing device 4 may be configured as an integrated device. Furthermore, in the above embodiment, an example has been given in which the enterprise information providing device 4 is configured by a plurality of servers, but this is not limited to this, and the enterprise information providing device 4 may be configured by a single device.

[0119] In the above embodiment, the company introduction page D1, the product introduction page D2, the company information D3, and the patent information D4 are exemplified as the company information that the support device 2 acquires from the company information providing device 4. However, the company information that the support device 2 acquires from the company information providing device 4 is not limited to these, and may be information other than these, or may further include other information.

[0120] In the above embodiment, the program 12 executed by the processor 10 of the support device 2 is stored in advance in the storage unit 11. However, the program 12 may be installed in the support device 2, for example, via the communication network 3. In this case, the program 12 is provided in a downloadable form via the Internet or the like. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the program 12 may be provided in a form recorded on a computer-readable recording medium such as a CD-ROM or a USB memory.

[0121] Furthermore, the service provided by the processor 10 executing the program 12 may be provided as SaaS (Software as a Service) via the Internet, for example. [Explanation of symbols]

[0122] 1. Business Matching Support System 2. Business matching support equipment 4 Corporate information provision device 12 Programs 20 Requesting Company Input Department 21 Corporate Information Acquisition Department (Acquisition Method) 22 Phrase extraction unit (phrase extraction means) 23 Keyword creation unit (keyword creation means) 24 Search section (search means) 25 Output section

Claims

1. A means of obtaining company information for companies looking for potential matches; a phrase extraction means for extracting phrases related to the company from the company information; a keyword creation means for creating a group of search keywords by excluding words contained in information on competitors of the company from the plurality of words extracted by the word extraction means; a search means for searching a predetermined database using the group of search keywords to extract the matching candidates; A business matching support device comprising:

2. The business matching support device described in claim 1, characterized in that the keyword creation means generates a first group of phrases by ranking the multiple phrases extracted by the phrase extraction means based on their frequency of occurrence, and excludes from the first group of phrases top-ranked phrases that are common to phrases representing the company's competitors, thereby excluding phrases contained in information about the company's competitors.

3. The business matching support device described in claim 2, characterized in that the keyword creation means creates the group of search keywords that excludes words representing companies that are not suitable as matching candidates, separate from the company's competitors, by further excluding words that are lower ranked from the first group of words.

4. The business matching support device described in claim 2, characterized in that the keyword creation means recreates the group of search keywords by adding at least one term deleted from the first group of terms when the matching candidate is not extracted in a search by the search means.

5. The business matching support device according to claim 4, characterized in that when adding at least one phrase deleted from the first group of phrases, the keyword creation means selects the phrase to be added based on user instructions.

6. The business matching support device described in claim 2, characterized in that when excluding from the first group of words and phrases that are ranked high and are common to words representing the company's competitors, the keyword creation means generates a second group of words and phrases that are ranked based on their frequency of occurrence from multiple words and phrases included in the information about the company's competitors, and if a word and phrase that are common to a word and phrases that are ranked high in the second group of words and phrases are included in the first group of words and phrases, the keyword creation means excludes the word and phrases that are ranked high in the second group of words from the first group of words and phrases.

7. A business matching support device as described in any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that when creating the group of search keywords, the keyword creation means adds words contained in information about the company's existing business partners to the group of search keywords.

8. The business matching support device described in claim 7, characterized in that the keyword creation means generates a third group of terms by ranking multiple terms contained in information about the company's existing business partners based on their frequency of occurrence, and adds the terms with the highest rankings in the third group of terms to the search keyword group.

9. A business matching support method carried out by a computer, comprising: An acquisition step for acquiring company information of companies looking for potential matches; a phrase extraction step of extracting phrases related to the company from the company information; a keyword creation step of creating a group of search keywords by excluding words contained in information on competitors of the company from the plurality of words extracted by the word extraction step; a search step of searching a predetermined database using the group of search keywords to extract the matching candidates; A business matching support method comprising:

10. The business matching support method described in claim 9, characterized in that the keyword creation step generates a first group of phrases by ranking the multiple phrases extracted by the phrase extraction step based on their frequency of occurrence, and excludes from the first group of phrases top-ranked phrases that are common to phrases representing the company's competitors, thereby excluding phrases contained in information about the company's competitors.

11. The business matching support method described in claim 10, characterized in that the keyword creation step further excludes lower-ranked terms from the first group of terms, thereby creating a group of search keywords that excludes terms representing companies that are not suitable as matching candidates, separate from the company's competitors.

12. The business matching support method described in claim 10, characterized in that the keyword creation step recreates the group of search keywords by adding at least one term deleted from the first group of terms when the matching candidate is not extracted in the search by the search step.

13. The business matching support method described in claim 12, characterized in that the keyword creation step, when adding at least one phrase deleted from the first group of phrases, selects the phrase to be added based on user instructions.

14. The business matching support method described in claim 10, characterized in that the keyword creation step, when excluding from the first group of words top-ranked words that are common to words representing the company's competitors, generates a second group of words in which multiple words included in the information about the company's competitors are ranked based on their frequency of occurrence, and if a word that is common to a word included in a top-ranked word in the second group of words is included in a top-ranked word in the first group of words, excludes the word included in a top-ranked word in the second group of words from the top-ranked word in the first group of words.

15. A business matching support method described in any one of claims 9 to 14, characterized in that when creating the group of search keywords, the keyword creation step adds words contained in information about the company's existing business partners to the group of search keywords.

16. The business matching support method described in claim 15, characterized in that the keyword creation step generates a third group of terms by ranking multiple terms contained in information about the company's existing business partners based on their frequency of occurrence, and adds the terms with the highest rankings in the third group of terms to the group of search keywords.

17. On the computer, An acquisition step for acquiring company information of companies looking for potential matches; a phrase extraction step of extracting phrases related to the company from the company information; a keyword creation step of creating a group of search keywords by excluding words contained in information on competitors of the company from the plurality of words extracted by the word extraction step; a search step of searching a predetermined database using the group of search keywords to extract the matching candidates; A program characterized by executing the following.

18. The program described in claim 17, characterized in that the keyword creation step generates a first group of phrases by ranking the multiple phrases extracted by the phrase extraction step based on their frequency of occurrence, and excludes from the first group of phrases top-ranked phrases that are common to phrases representing the company's competitors, thereby excluding phrases contained in information about the company's competitors.

19. The program described in claim 18, characterized in that the keyword creation step further excludes lower-ranked terms from the first group of terms, thereby creating a group of search keywords that excludes terms representing companies that are not suitable as matching candidates, other than competitors of the company.

20. The program described in claim 18, characterized in that the keyword creation step recreates the group of search keywords by adding at least one term deleted from the first group of terms when the matching candidate is not extracted in the search by the search step.

21. 21. The program according to claim 20, wherein the keyword creating step selects a phrase to be added based on a user's instruction when adding at least one phrase deleted from the first phrase group.

22. The program described in claim 18, characterized in that the keyword creation step, when excluding from the first group of words top-ranked words that are common to words representing the company's competitors, generates a second group of words in which multiple words included in the information about the company's competitors are ranked based on their frequency of occurrence, and if a word that is common to a word included in a top-ranked word in the second group of words is included in a top-ranked word in the first group of words, excludes the word included in a top-ranked word in the second group of words from the top-ranked word in the first group of words.

23. A program according to any one of claims 17 to 22, characterized in that the keyword creation step, when creating the group of search keywords, adds to the group of search keywords words contained in information about the company's existing business partners.

24. The program described in claim 23, characterized in that the keyword creation step generates a third group of terms by ranking multiple terms contained in information about the company's existing business partners based on their frequency of occurrence, and adds the terms with the highest rankings in the third group of terms to the group of search keywords.

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