JP4783802B2 - Method and apparatus for outputting advertisement to printed matter - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for presenting an advertisement to a user such as a document printing or copying service. In particular, the present invention relates to an advertisement output method and apparatus linked with document printing or copying.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a technique for creating a document including information requested by a user, identifying an advertisement space outside the document occupied by the information, and printing a document including advertisement material in the space is known (patent). Reference 1).
Also, the mobile phone and the copier are wirelessly connected, and the e-mail received by the mobile phone is transferred wirelessly to the copier. The copier downloads the ad data from the ad database server and places the ad data in the margin of the mail data. A technique of a copying machine for performing additional printing is known (see Patent Document 2).
Special table 2003-514321 gazette JP 2002-108578 A

However, in the conventional technology or a combination thereof, it is possible to automatically find an empty space on a print page and insert an advertisement, but this does not include a technique for presenting an advertisement that matches a print content and its suggestion. There was a problem that the user who uses it lost the opportunity to become more interested in advertising.
Further, in the conventional technique or a combination thereof, there is a problem that an opportunity for presenting an advertisement is limited to a limited portion such as a header area or a footer area of a print page.

The present invention provides an opportunity for a user to have a stronger interest in the advertisement by presenting an advertisement that can be related to the information of the document included in the text or image of the document to the user who uses printing or copying. Objective.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an advertiser with a more efficient opportunity for presenting an advertisement by presenting the advertisement to a user who may be interested in the advertisement.
In addition, the present invention utilizes printing or copying by adjusting and arranging the position where an advertisement that can be related to character or image information included in a document is inserted in the vicinity of the related character or image. The purpose is to provide an opportunity for users to be easily interested in advertising.

  The present invention provides the following solutions.

(1) An advertisement output method for inserting an advertisement when printing a document, a document data acquisition step for acquiring character information and image information included in document data of the document before insertion of the document as document data, and the document data An advertisement insertion area search step for searching for an advertisement insertion area by analyzing a layout at the time of printing, and for presenting an advertisement from the character information or the image information included in the manuscript data arranged in the vicinity of the advertisement insertion area A search key extracting step for extracting a search key including a keyword or a key image, an advertisement information acquiring step for acquiring advertisement information that can be related to the extracted search key, the advertisement information, and the manuscript data. A composite document data generation step for generating composite document data synthesized and laid out in page units, and the composite document data is marked How advertisement output comprising a printing step for, a.

  Document data handled by the advertisement output method of the present invention includes character information composed of character code strings that can be handled using a computer, and image information composed of digital numerical values representing pixels that can be handled using a computer. Either or both. The digital numerical value representing the pixel has information that uses a 1-bit numerical value for one pixel in a black and white binary image, and has information that uses an 8-bit numerical value for one pixel in an 8-bit grayscale image. A bit color image has information that uses a 24-bit numerical value for one pixel. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the amount of information that constitutes one pixel is not limited to this, as long as it is a collection of numerical values that can be handled as image information. It can be designed as appropriate. The character information may include a so-called pictogram, emoticon, or ASCII art that treats a collection of specific character codes like an image. The image information may include characters represented as an image, or may be characters included in a photograph taken of a screen frame of a video signal display device.

  The document expressed by the document data handled by the advertisement output method of the present invention includes a printed matter using paper output from a copier or the like. Not limited to this, it may be displayed by means for displaying characters or images as electronic information. The document may be displayed by a display device such as electronic paper for displaying electronic information distributed from a newspaper business entity, and may be electronic for displaying electronic information distributed via the Internet or the like. It may be displayed on a display device such as a book reader, or may be displayed on a personal computer display device for displaying electronic information distributed via the Internet.

  The document data acquisition step included in the advertisement output method of the present invention is a step of taking the document data into an apparatus or system for carrying out the present invention. When obtaining character information as document data, the document data obtaining step obtains a collection of character codes. When acquiring image information as document data, the document data acquisition step acquires a collection of digital numerical values representing pixels. Character information and image information may be transmitted and received via a computer network, or may be transmitted and received via an input / output interface provided in the computer. Acquisition of image information may be performed using an image reading device including a line sensor such as a scanner or a copy machine, or an image reading device including an image sensor such as a digital camera or a video camera. Alternatively, a device such as a magnetic resonance tomography device may be used that encodes and reads spatial information using optical, electrical, and magnetic means.

The advertisement presentation area search step included in the advertisement output method of the present invention finds a margin that may occur when configuring a page unit based on information included in the document captured by the document data acquisition step, and this margin is advertised. It is a step handled as an area for presentation. Means for composing a page unit from information contained in a document is known in the art, and means for displaying a print image from character information or the like possessed by application software such as a word processor for a personal computer is known. Such publicly known means arranges information to be output on a finite two-dimensional plane having a predetermined dimensional ratio and displays it for visual recognition. The margin that can be generated can be visually recognized, but the margin is used. Not necessarily for. The advertisement presentation area search step included in the present invention is a step of finding a margin for advertisement presentation, and is for actively utilizing the margin. The advertisement presentation area search step included in the present invention may include storing constraints on the amount of information such as the area, the number of characters, or the number of pixels, etc., for the margin to be found for advertisement presentation, and the aspect ratio, portrait, landscape Storing constraints on shapes such as.
The margin can be found in any part of a page unit composed of information included in the document. More specifically, paragraph breaks on multiple lines of text, the surroundings of a document including a table format, or the middle of a sentence and a table, the left and right of the title of a horizontally written document in which the title is laid out in a center-aligned format, and page structure The margins found in the page unit, such as the margins for each division of the fixed form document having the area divided in, can be in any part. The advertisement presentation area search step included in the advertisement output method of the present invention can find a margin in an arbitrary part of the page unit.

In the search key extraction step included in the advertisement output method of the present invention, based on the character information or image information captured by the document data acquisition step, a keyword that is character information used for search or a key image that is image information used for search is obtained. Extracting step. In the search key extraction step of the present invention, keywords or key images are extracted from the manuscript data in order to search for the advertisement to be presented.
Means for retrieving character information or image information using a keyword and means for retrieving character information or image information using a key image are known in the art. In the search key extraction step of the present invention, unlike such general-purpose search means, only keywords or key images associated with a specific industry included in the advertisement information may be extracted. For example, character information or image information may be defined in advance, and keywords or key images that can be related to these may be extracted from the document data. Further, in the search key extraction step of the present invention, a keyword or key image that the advertiser does not want to present an advertisement can be defined in advance as a negative search key, and can be extracted from the manuscript data in the search key extraction step of the present invention. The negative search key may be excluded from the search key.
The search key may be extracted by extracting a word or phrase itself from a set of words or phrases included in the manuscript data, or by extracting a common superordinate concept to which a set of words or phrases included in the manuscript data belongs. Also good. More specifically, a technical report such as “development of fingerprint recognition sensor” is taken as manuscript data, and “fingerprint recognition”, “sensor”, “development”, etc. are extracted as words using the keyword extraction step included in the present invention. Alternatively, higher concepts such as “electronic device” and “security” may be extracted. The above-described negative search key may be set as appropriate in the search key indicating the superordinate concept.

The advertisement information acquisition step included in the advertisement output method of the present invention is a step of acquiring advertisement information that can be related to the search key. The advertisement information may be stored in advance as an electronic information database in the apparatus for carrying out the advertisement output method of the present invention, and stored in an apparatus managed by the advertiser that is separate from the apparatus. An advertisement as electronic information may be taken into a device for carrying out the advertisement output method of the present invention via a computer network or the like in accordance with the occurrence of a presentation opportunity.
By this advertisement information acquisition step, it is possible to acquire information on the advertisement to be inserted into the margin for advertisement presentation secured by the advertisement presentation area search step.

The composite document data generation step included in the advertisement output method of the present invention inserts the advertisement acquired in the advertisement information acquisition step into the margin generated when the document data captured in the document data acquisition step is configured in units of pages, This is a step of combining document data including an advertisement into the same page unit.
By this synthetic document data generation step, synthetic document data including the original data acquired by the original data acquisition step and the advertisement acquired by the advertisement information acquisition step can be generated.

  In the printing step included in the advertisement output method of the present invention, the document data generated in the synthetic document data generation step is transmitted to the print output means via an input / output interface such as a personal computer or via a computer network, This is a step of outputting a printed matter. More specifically, paid copying services using copying machines installed at convenience stores, etc., paid printing output services that output document data as printed matter using network color printers installed at business centers, etc., digital This includes outputting a printed matter using a document data print output means in a photo print service that outputs photo data as a photo print including a greeting.

  By printing the document data using the printing step included in the advertisement output method of the present invention, a printed matter including the advertisement is output, and the service user can obtain advertisement information associated with the content of the document. In addition, the advertiser has an opportunity to present the advertisement to a user who may be more interested in the advertisement. Furthermore, since advertising revenue can be obtained in a service that uses printing, it is possible to obtain an effect of reducing the cost burden of the user in the paid service or making it free, and the user can use the printing service using the advertisement output method of the present invention. Has the opportunity to think attractively.

  According to the advertisement output method of the present invention, composite document data including an advertisement related to character information or image information included in the document data is generated, and an advertisement matching the content of the document can be presented. Therefore, the advertisement output method of the present invention can give the user of the composite document data an opportunity to obtain advertisement information that can be more strongly interested. Further, it is possible to provide an advertiser with an opportunity to present advertisements more efficiently.

(2) The advertisement output method according to (1), further including a distribution step for distributing a document in which the synthetic document data is electronic information.

  In the distribution step included in the advertisement output method of the present invention, the advertisement and the manuscript generated by the synthetic document data generation step using means for displaying document data as electronic information to the user, such as electronic paper and electronic book reader. Distributing document data including data for display. In this distribution, the distribution destination may be specified based on user information such as an e-mail address or an electronic paper identification number used in a computer having a display device and connected to the network. It is not necessary to individually specify a delivery destination with a book reader or the like as a delivery destination.

  In the form of using electronic information other than printed matter by delivering document data using the delivery step included in the advertisement outputting method of the invention, the advertisement output of the invention in the printed matter for each of the user and the advertiser An effect equivalent to the effect of the method may occur.

(3) The advertisement output method according to (1) or (2), wherein the synthetic document data generation step includes arranging the advertisement by adjusting the vicinity of a character or image relevant to the advertisement.

  Arranging the advertisement in the vicinity of the character or image relevant to the advertisement is related to the keyword or key image extracted in the search key extraction step in the layout of the synthetic document data in page units. Place advertisements in the margins near these keywords or key images. More specifically, the advertisement arrangement according to the present invention is arranged such that when a printed manuscript or the like composed of sentences includes a plurality of paragraphs and there is a margin between each paragraph, a keyword included in a neighboring sentence for each of these margins. Can be inserted in each margin. That is, when a topic progresses for each paragraph as the text is read, a reader who is a user gets an opportunity to see an advertisement related to each topic.

  With this arrangement, the user can have an opportunity to more easily grasp the contents of the advertisement while paying attention to the characters or images included in the composite document data. Since the advertiser can present the advertisement in the vicinity of the character or image included in the composite document data, the advertisement can be easily transmitted to the user of the document, and the effect that the user is more interested in the advertisement can be achieved. It can be expected.

(4) In the synthetic document data generation step, the advertisement information to be inserted is selected by giving priority to a search key having a short separation distance between the position of the character information or image information related to the search key and the position of the advertisement insertion area. The advertisement output method according to any one of (1) to (3).

  With this configuration, in addition to adjusting and arranging the advertisement in the vicinity of the character or image relevant to the advertisement in (3), depending on the separation distance from the specific portion of the manuscript data related to the search key The search key takes precedence. That is, when a plurality of search keys are extracted, there are a plurality of advertisement information that can be inserted. In this case, priority is given to the search key that is closer to the position of the advertisement insertion area in the composite document data among the plurality of search keys. To select the information of the advertisement to be inserted.

By giving priority to the search key closer to the advertisement insertion area in the composite document data, in the advertisement output method according to the present invention, the search key closer to the advertisement insertion area is preferentially selected. As a result, a user who uses the advertisement output method according to the present invention prepares an area for inserting an advertisement in the document data in advance, or assumes the advertisement insertion area and character information that can serve as a search key in the vicinity of the area. Alternatively, it is possible to arrange image information and have an opportunity to include in the synthetic document data an advertisement that the user may be interested in.
Further, by giving priority to the search key closest to the advertisement insertion area in the synthetic document data, the advertisement output method according to the present invention can urge the user to have a stronger interest in the synthetic document data. The advertiser gives priority to the search key closest to the advertisement insertion area in the synthetic document data, so that the user views the corresponding part of the text of the synthetic document related to the content of the advertisement inserted into the advertisement insertion area. It is possible to provide an opportunity to view the advertisement at a timing closer to the above, or within a range of a smaller line of sight movement, and an opportunity to browse the advertisement with a higher interest in the advertisement.

(5) The synthetic document data generation step includes adding an attribute of having an association with the search key to the character information or the image information related to the search key. The advertisement output method described in Crab.

  The attribute of having an association with the search key appropriately includes an address for accessing a network-connected hardware resource, link information for calling an operation for sending an e-mail, and the like. The attribute may be added to the synthesized document data as information for these addresses or links as characters, or may be added to the synthesized document data as computer readable information such as barcode information. The embodiment in the case of providing to a user as a printed matter can be designed as appropriate. Furthermore, the attribute may be embedded as a hyperlink in the synthetic document data created by using the advertisement output method according to the present invention, and the embodiment in the case of providing the synthetic document data to the user as electronic information is appropriately designed. sell. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the provision of the composite document data to which the attribute is added to the user is not limited.

  In the advertisement output method according to the present invention, an attribute having an association with a search key is added to the synthetic document data, so that the user can add additional information included in the synthetic document data as a printed matter or electronic information provided. An opportunity to further deepen one's interests can be obtained by referring to or clicking a link using a terminal device or the like. The advertiser can obtain an opportunity to present a plurality of advertisements based on one manuscript data prepared by the user, and further obtain an opportunity to present an advertisement repeatedly as the user continues his interest.

(6) The advertisement output method according to any one of (1) to (5), wherein the search key extraction step includes pattern matching with predefined image information.

In the search key extraction step included in the advertisement output method of the present invention, character information or image information that can serve as a search key is extracted from character information or image information included in the document data. In extracting the image information, image information for pattern matching may be defined in advance. Pattern matching is a computer technical term that represents a processing method for selecting and extracting objects that have meaning as information, and is synonymous with pattern recognition.
More specifically, an arbitrary number of abstract or characteristic image information such as an icon related to an advertisement that the advertiser wants to present is defined, and image information included in the manuscript data is any of these icons. It is compared and examined by pattern matching whether there is similarity. By determining the icon that is considered to be most similar, it is possible to determine advertisement information that is related to the image information included in the document data.
Note that image pattern matching is known in the art, and is used, for example, in a method of searching for a similar image using a key image. Similar to the description of the means in the search key extraction step described above, in the present invention, unlike general-purpose image search, an icon or key image or the like with a limited type of business or product is used as a search key for advertisement presentation. May be. Furthermore, a negative key image may be provided to exclude those that the advertiser does not want to present from the result of pattern matching.

The limitation of the key image for the advertisement presentation may include an advertiser's request and the like. Specifically, when a shopping street in which printed matter output means is installed is an advertiser, a key image extracted from document data so as to preferentially display a store or a handling product included in this shopping street. May be constrained. For example, a copier using the advertisement output method of the present invention is installed in a convenience store in a shopping street, and the name, location, information for sightseeing guidance, etc. of the shopping street are defined in advance. This definition expresses characters representing the name and location of a store as an image, since the document data in the copying machine is typically image capturing using a line sensor. Any general term other than a store can be used as long as it is defined as an image. The definition of the image can be set as appropriate for any number and type. The defined image storage means can be designed as appropriate and may be stored in an image database or the like via a computer network. When a user writes on the small paper “Please come and play with us,” and copy the small paper using the copier, the copier reads the small paper as an image. "Chiz" is extracted as a key image from a part of the image, and it is judged that the similarity with the handwritten kana character that means "Map" is high using pattern matching, and the advertisement including the map of the nearby shopping street is written Can be printed and output in the margins. The user can not only use the output printed matter as a copy of the letter he wrote, but also give it to others as a map.
In the same manner as described above, by writing a product name or the like on a small paper and causing the copying machine to capture the image as an image, the user can obtain an advertisement related to the product name or the like as a printed matter.

  In addition, a plurality of advertisements may be associated with the limitation of key images for presenting advertisements, and a plurality of product advertisements may be associated with each abstract image such as a predefined icon. Specifically, a handwritten line drawing is used as a manuscript and is copied by a copying machine using the advertisement output method of the present invention, so that an abstract image such as an icon similar to a line drawing is searched using pattern matching. A plurality of relevant product advertisements may be inserted into the margin of the original and printed. The plurality of product advertisements may or may not be related to each other.

  The search key extraction step included in the advertisement output method of the present invention includes pattern matching with predefined image information, so that the user does not need to worry about a predetermined input to a designated location unlike a mark sheet or the like, It is possible to easily use advertisements for products and the like using document data with margins. In the advertisement output method according to the present invention, even a user who has difficulty in inputting a predetermined writing at a designated location, such as a young person or an elderly person, can easily use an advertisement presentation service by an easy operation. Furthermore, in the advertisement output method of the present invention, the advertiser can obtain a wider variety of advertisement presentation opportunities due to the presence of a plurality of pattern matching results.

(7) The advertisement output method according to any one of (1) to (6), wherein the search key extraction step includes a step of converting characters as an image into character information. .

In the search key extraction step included in the advertisement output method of the present invention, character information or image information that can serve as a search key is extracted from character information or image information included in the document data. In the extraction of the character information, even if the document data is image data, the character output as an image is converted into a format composed of a character code sequence that can be edited by a computer. Can get keywords for search.
Converting a character as an image into a character code is known in the art as, for example, optical character recognition (abbreviated as OCR). The conversion to the character code included in the advertisement output method of the present invention may be limited to a character code range for advertisement presentation, unlike general-purpose OCR. You may combine and produce | generate the character code for advertisement presentation. Individual characters included in the text to be displayed in the horizontal writing format may be read in the vertical direction to generate a character code for advertisement presentation.
The limitation of the character code for presenting the advertisement may be set in advance so that only the character code included in the product information or the like that the advertiser desires to present is used as the conversion result. For example, advertisements for Japanese sweets, which are local souvenirs, may be inserted into the margin of the manuscript data based on the place names included in the academic research documents relating to the history of underground resource mining. Academic technical description contents included in the manuscript data may be excluded from candidates for conversion to character codes, and only terms relevant to product advertisements may be acquired as character codes.

  Acquisition of character codes in extraction of character information that can serve as a search key for advertisement information may further include character processing using a computer based on an advertiser's request. Specifically, a plurality of acquired character codes may be statistically processed, and an advertisement presentation such as inserting a drink advertisement into the margin of a document in which kanji including a number of words is frequently used may be performed. In addition, by statistical processing of character information, an advertisement such as a mobile phone service that can use pictogram mail in a margin of a document or the like in which pictograms or emoticons are frequently used may be presented.

  The advertisement output method of the present invention includes a step of converting characters captured as an image into character information, whereby the advertiser can present the advertisement more efficiently by narrowing down character information that can be related to the product advertisement using a computer. Can get the opportunity.

(8) The search key extracting step includes a step of selecting a search key based on information on a product having relevance to the character information or the image information and a product belonging to a related type. The advertisement output method according to any one of 7).

The step of selecting a search key based on information on a product having relevance to character information or image information and a product belonging to a related type is for widening the search key extraction condition in the search key extraction step of the present invention. Is.
A product belonging to a related type has a common superordinate concept with respect to a product having a relationship with the search key extracted in the search key extraction step of the present invention or is common to a part of product names. It may contain characters or phrases or common attributes. Specifically, based on the text information indicating the place name included in the academic research document related to the history of underground resource mining, in addition to selecting advertisements for Japanese sweets etc. that are local souvenirs for presentation, You may choose to present Western-style confectionery advertisements that have the common concept of confectionery as a generic concept for presentation, or select advertisements for products that contain characters or phrases that are part of the product name of Japanese confectionery. May be. Common attributes included in the product name include the business field, business type, business category, business content, handling items, handling services, brands, trademarks, and other advertisers associated with the advertiser, and the use of the product by the user. Including those related to. The closely related product may be a product whose business field is not the same. For example, when the product advertisement of the Japanese confectionery can be selected for presentation, it is included in the product advertisement of the sencha served with the Japanese confectionery, the Japanese confectionery. Advertisements for diet foods that suppress the absorption of sugar, advertisements for delivery companies that deliver gifts including Japanese sweets, and the like may be selected for presentation as related advertisements.

  The advertisement output method of the present invention is based on information on products related to the character information or image information and related products in addition to the search key extracted from the character information or image information included in the document data. By selecting the search key, the advertiser can have a wider opportunity to present the advertisement.

(9) An advertisement output device for inserting an advertisement when printing a document, a document data acquisition unit that acquires character information and image information included in document data of the document before insertion of the document as document data, and the document data An advertisement insertion area search unit for analyzing the layout at the time of printing and searching for an advertisement insertion area, and for presenting an advertisement from the character information or the image information included in the document data arranged in the vicinity of the advertisement insertion area A search key extracting unit for extracting a search key including a keyword or key image of the user, an advertisement information acquiring unit for acquiring advertisement information that can be related to the extracted search key, the advertisement information, and the manuscript data. An advertisement including a synthesized document data generating unit that generates synthesized document data synthesized and laid out in units of pages, and a printing unit for printing the synthesized document data Power equipment.

  By using the advertisement presenting device, the advertisement output method of the present invention extracts information that can be related to a product advertisement from character information or image information included in the document data, and an advertisement related to a part or all of the document data. Information can be selected and inserted into the margin of the document data to generate combined document data.

(10) An advertisement output system for inserting an advertisement at the time of printing a document, the document data acquiring means for acquiring character information and image information included in document data of the document before insertion of the document as document data, and the document data An advertisement insertion area searching means for searching for an advertisement insertion area by analyzing a layout at the time of printing, and for presenting an advertisement from the character information or the image information included in the manuscript data arranged in the vicinity of the advertisement insertion area Search key extraction means for extracting a search key including a keyword or key image, advertisement information acquisition means for acquiring advertisement information that can be related to the extracted search key, the advertisement information, and the manuscript data. Composite document data generation means for generating composite document data synthesized and laid out in page units, and a mark for printing the composite document data Advertisement output system including a means, a.

  By using the advertisement presenting system, the advertisement output method of the present invention extracts information that can be related to a product advertisement from text information or image information included in the document data, and an advertisement related to a part or all of the document data. Information can be selected and inserted into the margin of the document data to generate combined document data.

(11) A computer program for causing a computer to execute the invention according to any one of (1) to (10).

  By using the computer program, the advertisement output method of the present invention can cause the computer to execute various steps for inserting an advertisement having a relation with the manuscript data into the manuscript and generating synthesized document data.

ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, in the printing or copying of manuscript data, the advertisement matched with the content of the manuscript can be presented, and the opportunity for the user of printing or copying to be more interested in the advertisement can be obtained.
In addition, the present invention can present an advertisement to a more interested user, provide an advertiser with an opportunity to efficiently present an advertisement, and support sales promotion activities.
In addition, the present invention can be used for printing or copying by adjusting the position where an advertisement that can be related to character or image information included in document data is inserted in the vicinity of the related character or image. Can provide an opportunity for a person to be easily interested in advertising.
In addition, the present invention provides a motivation to further purchase motivation of the user by presenting an advertisement based on information on a product belonging to a related type in addition to a product having relevance to the manuscript data. In addition to encouraging advertisers to continue to be interested in the long-term, it is possible to combine the merits of expanding sales opportunities for advertisers.
In addition, the present invention uses a copying machine or the like installed in a convenience store as a means, and the user maintains interest in advertising without the restriction of preparing a special device or program for the user. And advertisers can secure a wide range of opportunities to deliver advertisements.
Further, since the business providing the printing or copying service can obtain the advertising revenue, it is possible to reduce the use fee of the copying machine or the like in the paid copying service or the like and to make it free.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[Configuration of advertisement presentation device]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an apparatus for executing an advertisement output method according to an embodiment of the present invention. The advertisement presentation device 10 includes a manuscript data acquisition unit 12, an advertisement presentation area search unit 14, a search key extraction unit 16, an advertisement information acquisition unit 18, and a composite document data generation unit 20. An advertisement database 30 (advertisement DB) is connected to the advertisement information acquisition unit 18 of the advertisement presentation device 10.
The advertisement presentation device 10 further includes a printing unit 22 when it has a function of outputting a printed matter. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a printing unit may be prepared separately from the advertisement presentation device 10, and the synthesized document data generated by the synthesized document data generation unit 20 may be transmitted from the advertisement presentation device 10 to the printing unit.
Further, the advertisement presentation device 10 further includes a document data distribution unit 21 when it has a function of distributing document data. The document data distribution unit 21 can transmit character information and / or image information included in the electronic document via the network 38.
Both the printing unit 22 and the document data distribution unit 21 may be arbitrarily installed or omitted depending on the mode of the advertisement presentation device 10.

  The manuscript data acquisition unit 12 takes in the manuscript 24 including image information taken in by a copying machine or the like and / or character information output from a word processor such as a personal computer as input to the advertisement presenting apparatus 10. The image information includes image data that is a collection of pixels, the number of pixels in at least a one-dimensional direction for defining the image data as a two-dimensional planar image, the size of a unit pixel in the image data, one-bit monochrome binary value, or 8 Appropriate information such as the amount of information per unit pixel such as bit gray scale and the date and time of image capture is included as appropriate. The character information includes a collection of character codes, font size that defines the size of one character on the screen or printed matter, information about an arbitrary two-character interval such as a character interval or line interval, and accompanying information such as a document creation date and time. As appropriate.

The advertisement presentation area search unit 14 finds a margin generated when the document data acquired by the document data acquisition unit 12 is laid out in page units, and reserves it for advertisement presentation.
In the reservation, margins may be found by converting characters included in character information into an image and treating all document data after layout as image data in units of pages. A procedure for finding a margin defines a predetermined threshold value in advance for a numerical value indicating the brightness of a pixel, regards a pixel having brightness equal to or higher than the threshold as a pixel included in the margin, and a pixel that can be regarded as the margin May be found as a margin.
Alternatively, in the securing, the area occupied by one character in the page unit is treated as a unit of information amount in the page unit from the font size, the character interval, the line interval, or a combination thereof included in the document information, and the arrangement of the character or the image is The margin may be found by calculating how many undefined information units remain per page.
One or more margins found on a page-by-page basis by the procedure of finding these margins may be numbered for identification. Furthermore, information on the size of an advertisement that can be inserted for each margin may be added. Information added to each margin found by the advertisement presentation area search unit 14 can be designed as appropriate.

The search key extraction unit 16 extracts keywords or key images that can be associated with advertisements from character information or image information included in the document data acquired by the document data acquisition unit 12. When the document data is an image captured using a copying machine or the like, characters as an image may be identified as an image representing characters by pattern matching or the like, replaced with a character code, and a collection of character codes may be used as a keyword. When the document data includes a collection of character codes output from a word processor or the like, a keyword can be extracted from the collection of character codes. Keyword extraction from a collection of character codes may be performed by statistical processing such as the frequency of word occurrences, synonyms of words included in a collection of character codes may be extracted, and techniques related to known character string processing Can be used as appropriate. The image included in the manuscript data may exist in an area of the manuscript data other than the area that the advertisement presentation area searching unit 14 finds as a margin. The extraction of the key image from the image included in the document data may be performed by using a repeating unit as a key image when the document data itself includes a plurality of similar images. For example, in document data including a plurality of vertically long substantially elliptical shapes, each of the substantially elliptical shapes may be treated as a human face facing the front. The extraction of these keywords and / or key images may be designed depending on the size of information included in character information or image information such as the size of characters and the number of pixels included in document data. For example, small characters or small images compared to other portions may be regarded as less important and excluded from the operation of the search key extraction unit 16.
Alternatively, the search key extraction unit 16 may operate to extract character information or image information that matches a predefined keyword or key image for advertisement from document data. For example, based on an advertiser's request for a travel agency in a sightseeing spot, an image representing a character code and / or character of “Kyoto” is prepared in advance, and character information or image information included in the captured manuscript data In addition, it may be identified whether or not there is a character code that matches the character code of “Kyoto” and / or an image representing the character. An image representing a character code and / or character for presenting a predetermined advertisement can be designed as appropriate. Also, for example, based on the demand of an advertiser who sells computer peripheral equipment, a rough image consisting of two parallelograms that touch each other is prepared in advance, and an image similar to the rough image is part of the original data. If it is included, this part may be treated as the shape of a notebook personal computer. These predefined character information or image information can be appropriately designed based on the demands of the advertiser.
Further, the search key extraction unit 16 predefines a keyword or key image that the advertiser does not want to present the advertisement as a negative search key, and applies a keyword and / or a keyword that applies to the negative search key from the search key that can be extracted from the manuscript data. Alternatively, the key image may be excluded.

The advertisement information acquisition unit 18 uses the keyword or key image for advertisement presentation extracted by the search key extraction unit 16 to present the advertisement in the margin in the manuscript data found by the advertisement presentation area search unit 14. The advertisement is searched and acquired using the advertisement DB 30. The advertisement DB 30 is, for example, an independent database server device connected to the advertisement presentation device 10 via a network, and stores and accumulates information related to the advertisement that the advertiser desires to present. Not limited to this, the advertisement DB 30 may be included in the advertisement presentation device 10 or may be a part of a computer device managed by the advertiser. The advertisement DB 30 may be designed as appropriate as long as the advertisement information acquisition unit 18 can acquire an advertisement.
If advertisement information that can be related to the keyword or key image for advertisement presentation extracted by the search key extraction unit 16 cannot be specified, the number of margins for advertisement presentation secured by the advertisement presentation area search unit 14; Based on the shape, area, and the like, advertisements that can be inserted without being particularly related to association may be searched and acquired.

In addition to the original data acquired by the original data acquisition unit 12, the composite document data generation unit 20 inserts the advertisement acquired by the advertisement information acquisition unit 18 into the margin found by the advertisement presentation area search unit 14. Is generated. This document data may be stored by the advertisement presentation apparatus 10 as information on the layout 32 including the advertisement presentation area 34, and may be displayed using a layout display apparatus (not shown) for user confirmation as appropriate.
Since the advertisement acquired by the advertisement information acquisition unit 18 is searched using the keyword or key image information extracted by the search key extraction unit 16, the advertisement and the keyword or key image are associated with each other. The composite document data generation unit 20 included in the advertisement presentation device 10 of the present invention can lay out the composite document data so that the associated keyword or key image and the advertisement are arranged in the vicinity of each other. That is, when a plurality of margins are found in the document data and an advertisement having an association with the keyword in the document data is searched, the synthesized document data generation unit 20 has a margin closest to the keyword among the plurality of margins. The layout of the composite document data can be determined so that the advertisement is placed on the screen.
Here, the vicinity means that the combination of a plurality of margins and document data portions is closer to the other combinations in the layout in page units. Not limited to this, the amount of document data intervening in the middle of a combination of an associated keyword or key image and an advertisement is set as a numerical value, for example, within 3 lines, etc. Also good.

The document data generated by the composite document data generation unit 20 can be provided to the user as a printed matter 26 via an output unit such as a printer 22 connected to an appropriate built-in printing unit 22 or an external digital copying machine or a personal computer. Unlike the original 24, the printed material 26 includes an advertisement 28.
Not limited to this, the document data generated by the composite document data generation unit 20 is transmitted from the built-in document data distribution unit 21 and used via an electronic display medium such as an image display device via the network 38. May be provided to the person. For example, an advertisement may be inserted into document data that can be browsed by a user using electronic paper, an electronic book reader, or the like as an image display device, using the advertisement presenting device 10 according to the present invention.

  By carrying out the advertisement output method of the present invention, the user of printing or copying has the relationship that the advertisement inserted into the margin of the document data has character information or image information in the document data near the advertisement. Therefore, there is an effect that a stronger interest can be easily held in the advertisement. There is an effect that the advertiser can obtain an opportunity for more efficient advertisement presentation.

[Configuration of advertisement presentation system including advertisement presentation apparatus]
FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram showing an input / output unit and a processing unit connected to a network for implementing the advertisement output method according to the embodiment of the present invention. The description of the same parts as in FIG.

  An advertisement presentation system including an advertisement presentation apparatus according to the present invention includes an advertisement presentation apparatus 10, an advertisement DB 30, a digital copying machine 50 (digital copying machine), a user terminal 60, and an electronic device that can be connected to each other via a network 38 such as the Internet. And a local printer 80 that can be connected to a personal computer or the like. The electronic display medium 65 includes a display device or display medium such as an electronic book or electronic paper.

  The advertisement DB 30 in the advertisement presentation system including the advertisement presentation device according to the present invention may be, for example, a database server device installed at a sales office of an advertising agency or the like. Not limited to this, the advertisement DB 30 is realized by using storage means (not shown) that can be incorporated in the advertisement presentation device 10, the user terminal 60, or the digital copy machine 50, and the advertisement information is transmitted to another server via the network 38. It may be downloaded from the device and updated.

The digital copier 50 can transmit and receive image information such as plane resolution and other accompanying information such as reading date and time as image information in addition to image data obtained by digitizing an image.
For example, as an example of the operation when a digital copying machine installed at a convenience store is used as an input / output device, image data captured by the digital copying machine is transmitted as image information with the above information via the network 38. It is transmitted to the advertisement presenting apparatus 10 according to the present invention. The advertisement presenting apparatus 10 according to the present invention uses the image information as manuscript data, extracts a search key for presenting the advertisement, finds a margin for inserting the advertisement, and searches the search key and the advertisement so that the search key and the margin are close to each other. The advertisement information is acquired using the advertisement DB 30, composite document data in which the acquired advertisement is inserted into the margin is generated, and the composite document data is transmitted to the digital copier 50. The digital copier 50 receives the composite document data transmitted from the advertisement presentation device 10 and outputs it as a printed material 26.

Further, for example, an operation when printing a document created using a word processing application for a personal computer in a city center or a business center such as a hotel is illustrated. When a user uses an application such as a word processor using the user terminal 60 and the application outputs document data for printing, the advertisement presentation device 10 according to the present invention receives the document data via the network 38, and the digital After processing similar to that in the copying machine is performed to generate composite document data, a printed matter is output from an output device such as the network printer 70 installed in the business center.
The connection from the application to the advertisement presentation device 10 according to the present invention may be performed by manually specifying the advertisement presentation device 10 manually, or the advertisement presentation device 10 may be connected as a kind of virtual printer driver. . The connection from the application to the advertisement presentation device 10 can be designed as appropriate.

For example, when displaying document data including document information and image information using an electronic display medium 65 including a device that receives and displays electronic information via the network 38, such as an electronic book or electronic paper. In addition, an advertisement presenting system including the advertisement presenting apparatus 10 according to the present invention can be used in the process of inserting the advertisement into the manuscript data.
For example, when a newspaper company connects a display device such as electronic paper installed at a contracted site for newspaper article distribution to a transmission means (not shown) for article distribution and distributes newspaper articles including breaking news as needed. In addition, the article production department of a newspaper company creates headlines, body texts, photographs included in articles, attached texts of photographs, and the like. Advertisement using the advertisement presenting apparatus 10 according to the present invention for a blank portion into which an advertisement can be inserted, such as a space for an article generated due to a space for an advertisement defined in advance or a large amount of text. By inserting, advertisements that may be more relevant to the reader's interest in relation to the subject matter or content of the article can be automatically placed and inserted in the vicinity of the search key included in the article. Thereby, for example, a sales advertisement of a special product having an association with the birthplace of the top winner is automatically inserted in the margin of the preliminary bulletin of the national ward election and displayed on the electronic paper. Unlike the printed newspaper, the advertisement to be inserted may be appropriately selected for each display. The layout of the text information or image information on the page may be defined in advance for the insertion part of the advertisement, or may be edited in an article such as providing an advertisement part in the vicinity of the top winner's biography column. Good. Further, for example, in the distribution of a natural disaster bulletin, a term associated with a further disaster or accident is treated as a negative search key that may cause a bad impression on the newspaper, and the advertisement presenting device 10 is searched for inserting an advertisement. You may exclude from operation | movement of the key extraction part 16. FIG.
When a publisher distributes a series of novels to a reader using a display device (not shown) such as an electronic book reader, an advertisement can be inserted in the same manner, or a specific advertisement can be displayed using a negative search key. Can be eliminated.
By inserting these advertisements, newspaper publishers, publishers, etc. can obtain advertising revenues, which can reduce the amount of money borne by the user for the distribution of newspaper articles, serial novels, or the like.

[Hardware configuration of advertisement presentation device]
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of the advertisement presenting apparatus according to an example of the preferred embodiment of the present invention. Hereinafter, the advertisement presenting apparatus will be described as a server. However, the same applies to the case where a personal computer is used as the advertisement presenting apparatus.

  The advertisement presenting apparatus 10 includes a CPU 110 constituting a control unit 108 (in the multiprocessor configuration, a plurality of CPUs such as a CPU 120 may be added), a bus line 107, a communication I / F 140, a main memory 150, a BIOS (Basic Input Output System). ) 160, a USB port 190, an I / O controller 170, input means such as a keyboard and mouse 180, and a display device 122. The I / O controller 170 can be connected to a storage unit 109 such as a tape drive 172, a hard disk 174, an optical disk drive 176, and a semiconductor memory 178. The BIOS 160 stores a boot program executed by the CPU 110 when the server is started, a program depending on the server hardware, and the like. The hard disk 174 stores various programs for functioning as a server and programs for executing the functions of the present invention. As the optical disk drive 176, for example, a DVD-ROM drive, a CD-ROM drive, a DVD-RAM drive, a CD-RAM drive, or the like can be used. In this case, the optical disk 177 corresponding to each drive is used. A program or data can be read from the optical disk 177 by the optical disk drive 176 and provided to the main memory 150 or the hard disk 174 via the I / O controller 170. Similarly, the tape medium 171 corresponding to the tape drive 172 can be used mainly for backup.

  The program provided to the server is provided by being stored in a recording medium such as the hard disk 174, the optical disk 177, or a memory card. This program may be installed in the server and executed by being read from the recording medium via the I / O controller 170 or downloaded via the communication I / F 140.

  The above-described program may be stored in an internal or external storage medium. Here, examples of the storage medium include, but are not limited to, a magnetic recording medium, a magneto-optical recording medium, an optical recording medium, and an electronic medium. The magnetic recording medium includes a magnetic tape, a floppy (registered trademark) disk, a hard disk 174, a magnetic random access memory (MRAM), etc., and the magneto-optical recording medium includes a magneto-optical disk (MO and MD), etc. Recording media include write-once compact discs (CDs), write-once digital multipurpose discs (DVDs), write-once Blu-ray discs, write-once holographic discs, etc., and electronic media are electrically writable read-only memory, random access memory , Flash memory, silicon storage disk, etc. Further, a storage device such as a hard disk 174 or an optical disk library provided in a server system connected to a dedicated communication line or a communication line such as the Internet may be used as a recording medium, and the program may be provided to the server via the communication line. .

  Here, the display device 122 displays a screen for accepting data input by the server administrator, or displays a screen of calculation processing results. The display device 122 is a cathode ray tube display device (CRT) or a liquid crystal display device (LCD). Display devices. The input means accepts input by the user, and may be configured with a keyboard and mouse 180 or the like. The communication I / F 140 is a network adapter for enabling the server to be connected to a terminal via a dedicated network or a public network. The communication I / F 140 may include a modem, a cable modem, and an Ethernet (registered trademark) adapter.

  In the above example, the hardware configuration of the advertisement presentation apparatus 10 has been mainly described. However, the functions described above can be realized by installing a program in a computer and causing the computer to operate as the advertisement presentation apparatus 10. . Therefore, the functions realized by the advertisement presentation device 10 described as an embodiment in the present invention are executed by executing the above-described method by the computer, or by introducing the above-described program into the computer and executing it. Is also feasible.

[Search key extraction step]
FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a data structure used by a search key extraction step and an advertisement information acquisition step included in the advertisement output method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The search key extracting step extracts a search key for presenting an advertisement, that is, a keyword or a key image, from character information or image information included in the captured document data.
FIG. 4A is an example of the analysis table 90 including the data structure in the search key extraction step. The analysis table 90 includes a user ID 92, a document data ID 94, a feature 96, and an advertisement ID 98. The format of each item included in the analysis table 90 may be any information that can be distinguished from others, and may be any numerical value or character string.
In the example of FIG. 4A, the manuscript data having the user ID “XXX” and the manuscript data ID “0000123” is taken into the advertisement presenting apparatus according to the present invention, and this manuscript data is included in the manuscript data by the search key extracting step. Indicates that the feature 96 for the included search key is associated with the classification represented by the information “A”.
Next, in the advertisement information acquisition step, advertisement information having an association with the feature 96 for the extracted search key is acquired. In FIG. 4A, since the feature 96 is the information “A”, the advertisement ID “SSS” is acquired as the advertisement ID 98 related to the information “A” and stored in the analysis table 90. Indicates that
Similarly, an advertisement whose advertisement ID is “TTT” is associated with the document data whose user ID is “YYY” and whose document data ID is “0000128”. The feature 96 included in the manuscript data includes a plurality of associations of the information “A” and the information “B”. However, the feature 96 and the advertisement ID 98 associated with the manuscript data are not limited to this, and the upper limit of the number is defined in advance. It may be any number. Furthermore, an advertisement whose advertisement ID is UUU is associated with the document data whose user ID is ZZZ and whose document data ID is 0004568.

As for the relationship between the advertisement IDs 98 having relevance with the features 96 included in the manuscript data, a plurality of advertisement IDs 98 may be associated with one feature 96, and a priority order may be defined for the plurality of advertisement IDs 98. Specifically, when the feature 96 is “automobile”, the advertisement ID 98 includes “advertisement ID of the automobile manufacturer”, “advertisement ID of the automobile sales company”, “advertisement ID of the automobile insurance sales agency”, “sales of automobile accessories” A plurality of advertisement IDs such as “shop advertisement ID” may be acquired. In addition, for example, based on the contract conditions including the frequency of advertisement presentation between the business entity that executes the advertisement output method according to the present invention and the advertiser, the priority of presentation opportunities is given to each advertisement ID. Also good.
FIG. 4B is an example of the analysis table 91 according to another embodiment of the present invention. The analysis table 91 includes a plurality of features 96 extracted from the original data in addition to the configuration of the analysis table 90. An advertisement ID 98 is associated, and each advertisement ID 98 is given a priority 99.
In the example of FIG. 4B, information “A” is extracted as a feature 96 from document data having a user ID “XXX” and document data ID “0000123”. “SSS” and “PPP” are associated as the advertisement ID 98. The priority 99 means that the smaller the number, the higher the priority. In this example, the advertisement ID “SSS” is higher than the advertisement ID “PPP”. Specifically, when the user “XXX” performs copying of image information or the like using the copy service according to the present invention and the margin reserved for advertisement presentation is one place, the advertisement ID “SSS” ”Is inserted into the composite document data in preference to the advertisement with the advertisement ID“ PPP ”. Although an example of one advertisement insertion is shown, the present invention is not limited to this, and an advertisement to be presented may be selected so that the cumulative number of advertisement presentations within a predetermined period reflects the priority.
Also, in the example of FIG. 4B, information “A” and information “B” are associated as features 96 from document data with user ID “YYY” and document data ID “0000128”. “TTT”, “SSS”, and “PPP”, which are more advertisement IDs 98 than the above-described example of the user ID “XXX”, are associated with the information “A” and “B”. However, the advertisements with the advertisement IDs “SSS” and “PPP” having the priorities “1” and “2” in the user ID “XXX” at the priority 99 are the priority “ There is an advertisement ID “TTT” with a priority “1” that is “2” and “3”, which means a higher priority than these. For example, the advertisement advertiser associated with the advertisement ID “TTT” can ensure a higher advertisement exposure frequency in a contract with an entity that implements the advertisement output method and the like according to the present invention. This is because it can be appropriately taken. Specifically, when the user “YYY” performs copying of image information or the like using the copy service or the like according to the present invention, the advertisement inserted in the margin reserved for advertisement presentation is assigned to the advertisement ID “TTT”. The associated advertisement can be given the highest priority.
The format of the priority 99 may be anything using letters or numbers, and the procedure for determining the number of advertisement IDs 98 associated with one feature 96 and the mutual priority order of the advertisement IDs 98 associated with a plurality of features 96 is arbitrary. Well, it can be designed as appropriate.

  Through the processes in these stages, the advertisement presenting apparatus according to the present invention can store the association between the manuscript data and the advertisement information.

[Stages of operation of advertisement presentation device]
FIG. 5 is a flow diagram illustrating the stages of the advertisement output method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the advertisement output method, in the document data acquisition step (S10), document data including character information or image information read by a digital copier or the like is acquired.
Next, in an advertisement presentation area search step (S20), an area for advertisement presentation is found from the page unit of the manuscript data.
Next, in a search key extraction step (S30), a search key including a keyword or key image for presenting an advertisement is extracted from character information or image information included in the document data.
Next, in the advertisement information acquisition step (S40), advertisement information for presentation is acquired from the advertisement database using the search key.
Next, in the composite document data generation step (S50), the advertisement information acquired in S40 is inserted into the advertisement presentation area secured in S20 in the document data captured in S10, and the document data and the advertisement are combined in the same page unit. Generated composite document data is generated.
Next, in the output information transmission step (S60), the composite document data is transmitted to a predetermined output destination. This output destination is the output of a printing unit such as a digital copier, output means such as a network-connected printer, display means such as network-connected electronic paper, and the output of a local printer connected to the interface of a network-connected computer device. In addition, the advertisement presenting apparatus of the present invention appropriately includes display means attached for checking the layout by the user.
Further, when providing a printed matter to the user, in the print output step (S70), the composite document data generated in the composite document data generating step is output as a printed matter.

When the transmission destination of the composite document data is electronic paper or the like, the print output step (S70) may be omitted. The transmission destination of the output information transmission step (S60) can be designed as appropriate, and the presence or absence of the operation of the print output step (S70) may be selected according to the hardware resource of the transmission destination.

[Search key extraction]
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing search key extraction in the advertisement output method according to the embodiment of the present invention. This is related to the operation of the search key extraction step (S30) described above, and a computer program or the like for converting the data format is used as means in the apparatus for executing the advertisement output method.

In FIG. 6, document data 300 captured by the advertisement output method according to the present invention includes image information 310 and / or character information 320. For example, the manuscript data 300 is a magazine article or the like cut out for personal use, and is read by a digital copying machine or the like which is a data fetching means of the advertisement output method according to the present invention.
The image information 310 may include a feature image 312 that is an image including features for pattern recognition, and includes, for example, a simplified illustration of a running person. In the search key extraction step (S30) according to the present invention, using the step for pattern matching 314, the degree of match between the image for pattern matching prepared in advance and the feature image 312 is determined, and the degree of match is high. Classification or category may be output. Specifically, the feature image 312 having the characteristics of the running person may be classified as a feature belonging to the sport 314-02 included in the pattern matching 314. Classification or categorization can be designed accordingly.
The character information 320 may include a character 322 as an image that can be converted into a character code that can be processed as character information in the computer. For example, the character information 320 in which a typeface or character decoration is appropriately set so as to attract attention includes a character 322 as an image. The search key extraction step (S30) according to the present invention uses the step for character information conversion 324 to convert the character 322 as an image into a character code that can be processed by a computer by the step of character recognition 324-01, If necessary, the character code may be appropriately converted by the step of code conversion 324-02.
Through these pattern matching 314 and / or character information conversion 324 steps, the original data 300 read from a digital copying machine or the like is associated with a character code that has been subjected to classification or category or character information conversion. That is, the search key is obtained as computer-processable character information for advertisement presentation from the document data 300 by the search key extraction step (S30) according to the present invention.
The search key is used to search for an advertisement 330 having an association. For example, if the search key for the associated advertisement 330 is “sports” “winning”, more specifically “professional baseball team T” “inspiring winning for the first time in 20 years”, etc. Anniversary sale advertisement 330-1 etc. may be retrieved for presentation. The search key extraction step (S30) according to the present invention further extracts a search key for searching for a related advertisement 334 using these search keys or a higher concept 332 of advertisements such as goods or services. Good. For example, when the winning sale advertisement 334 includes sales place information, the sales place is extracted as a common superordinate concept, and an annual event such as a festival 330-2 scheduled near the sales place 330-2 May be a related advertisement 334. The associated advertisement 330 and / or the related advertisement 334 are inserted into the advertisement presentation area 340 found in the manuscript data 300 and provided to the user.
The search key extraction step (S30) according to the present invention includes search key extraction for pattern matching 314, character information conversion 324, and related advertisement 334, so that a user who uses the advertisement presenting method according to the present invention can Since various types of advertisement information can be obtained from a single manuscript data, the user can be more interested in the advertisement. Since the search key extraction step (S30) performs association of advertisement presentation more extensively, the advertiser can obtain a wide range of advertisement presentation opportunities, and the user can be repeatedly given the opportunity to present advertisements by being interested in the advertisement. can get.

[Generate composite document data]
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of inserting an advertisement into document data according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7A shows that the document data A200 includes a title A201, character information A202, and image information A203. The document data A may be in the form of an object such as a printed matter, or may be in the form of electronic information such as output data from a word processor or the like.
The advertisement output method according to the present invention finds an area for advertisement presentation from the page unit of the document data A, for example, below the image information A203. Next, in the advertisement output method according to the present invention, a keyword or key image that can be a search key for searching for an advertisement to be presented is searched from the character information A202 and the image information A203 included in the document data A.
Furthermore, the advertisement output method according to the present invention searches an advertisement database using the search key, and acquires advertisement information for presentation from the advertisement database. By combining this advertisement information with the document data A, composite document data is generated.
FIG. 7B is a diagram illustrating an example in which the composite document data is provided to the user as the printed material A210. The printed matter A210 printed with the combined document data in which the advertisement information and the document data A are combined includes the advertisement A211 in the same page unit in addition to the configuration of the document data A200. This advertisement A211 is an advertisement that is associated with the character information A202 or the image information A203 constituting the document data A200 by a keyword or a key image.

For example, the manuscript data A is an excerpt of a magazine article related to the invention of a car, and the user wants to copy this article for personal use based on his / her interests, and can perform the advertisement output method of the present invention. When using a machine or the like, the user places an article on the reading means of the digital copier and presses a start button or the like to start copying.
The advertisement output method according to the present invention generates composite document data into which an advertisement is inserted by the above-described operation from an article read by a digital copying machine, and outputs the synthesized document data from the digital copying machine. As the advertisement A that can be presented based on the keyword or key image included in the document data A, for example, advertisements of various industries such as automobile manufacturing, automobile supplies sales, automobile accident insurance, and the like can be candidates. These candidate advertisements can be inserted into the document data A as appropriate and provided to the user.
The operation of the advertisement output method of the present invention in copying is shown as an example according to FIGS. 7 (a) and 7 (b). However, in the printing service of document data and the like created using a word processor, the synthesized document data is similarly processed. It can be generated and the printed matter can be provided to the user.

  Further, the printed matter A210 may include link information A212. The link information A212 has an association with the character information A202 or the image information A203 included in the document data A200, and is displayed on a printed matter as an attribute of the character information or image information, or embedded in electronic data. In one embodiment, the link information A212 may be computer readable print information such as a barcode that can be captured using a mobile phone or the like. In another embodiment, the link information A 212 may be an address for accessing a network-connected hardware resource, link information for calling an operation for sending an e-mail, or the like. These may be printed as characters on the printed matter A210 or may be transmitted as electronic data embedded in the document data. A user who receives the composite document data as electronic data can access the network resource associated with the advertisement A 211 by clicking the link information. Thereby, the user can have an opportunity to deepen his / her own interest. The advertiser can obtain an opportunity to present a plurality of advertisements based on one manuscript data prepared by the user, and further obtain an opportunity to present an advertisement repeatedly as the user continues his interest.

By performing the advertisement output method according to the present invention, the user who is provided with the printed matter A210 finds a common keyword or key image between the information included in the character information A or the image information A and the advertisement A211. Thus, the advertisement A211 can have a stronger interest than the general advertisement inserted randomly. Thereby, in the printing or copying that implements the advertisement output method of the present invention, the user is motivated to purchase more, and the user is encouraged to have long-term interest and interest. It can provide the advantage of expanding opportunities such as product sales promotion for advertisers.
Furthermore, since a business providing a printing or copying service or the like that implements the advertisement output method of the present invention can obtain advertising revenue, the user's printing or copying service usage fee can be reduced or made free.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram showing another example of inserting an advertisement into document data according to an embodiment of the present invention.

For example, the manuscript data B is an article regarding the explanation of the photographic equipment, and shows a case where copying is performed in the same manner as the embodiment described with reference to FIG.
FIG. 8A shows that the document data B220 is composed of a title B221 and character information B222, 223, 226, and 227. Here, the character information B may be character information or the like that is regularly arranged according to a predetermined format. For example, the manuscript data B220 is the first page of a booklet including a plurality of pages distributed for the purpose of disclosure to unspecified majority readers, and the character information B222 is a description of the author and author's affiliation, biographies, etc. of the manuscript data B. The character information B223 is classification information including systematic symbols for classifying the description of the booklet, the character information B226 is a summary of the description of the booklet, and the character information B227 is the beginning of the text following the other pages. Or the like.
The advertisement output method according to the present invention finds an area for advertisement presentation from the page unit of the manuscript data B220, for example, below the character information B223 and to the right of the character information B227. Next, in the advertisement output method according to the present invention, a keyword or key image that can be a search key for searching for an advertisement to be presented is searched from each character information included in the document data B.
Furthermore, the advertisement output method according to the present invention searches an advertisement database using the search key, and acquires advertisement information for presentation from the advertisement database. By combining this advertisement information with the document data B220, composite document data is generated.
FIG. 8B is a diagram illustrating an example in which the composite document data is provided to the user as the printed material B230. In the above-described printed material B230 in which the combined document data obtained by combining the advertisement information and the document data B220 is printed, the advertisement B1 (232) and the advertisement B2 (233) are added to the same page unit in addition to the configuration of the document data B220. Included in. These advertisements B1 (232) and B2 (233) are advertisements that are associated with the character information constituting the document data B and the keyword or key image.
Although the case of copying has been illustrated, the same applies to printing of document data and the like.

  For example, the advertisement B1 (232) may be an advertisement having an association with an attribute or the like indicated by the organization to which the author of the booklet included in the character information B222 belongs. Specifically, when the author of the booklet is a university faculty member and the location of the university is described in the character information B222, an advertisement for a shopping street or the like having the same location as the university is found in the vicinity of the character information B222. You may insert as advertisement B1 (232) which uses an area | region. In addition, if the text information B226, which is a summary of the booklet, contains a description such as “An old-fashioned antique lens suits for downtown photography,” an advertisement such as a net auction that handles discontinued photo equipment should be You may insert as advertisement B2 (233) using the advertisement area | region found in the vicinity of information B226.

Similar to the embodiment described with reference to FIG. 7, by executing the advertisement output method according to the present invention, the user who is provided with the printed matter B230 is located between the information included in the character information B and the advertisement B. By finding common keywords, such as photography and photography, or by holding an image associated with advertisements of text and printed matter of a manuscript, the advertisement B1 has a stronger interest than a general advertisement randomly inserted. And the advertisement B2. Thereby, in the printing or copying that implements the advertisement output method of the present invention, the user is motivated to purchase more, and the user is encouraged to have long-term interest and interest. It can provide the advantage of expanding opportunities such as product sales promotion for advertisers.
The service usage fee is reduced or made free as in the embodiment described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of determining a place where an advertisement is inserted based on a keyword separation distance of document data according to an embodiment of the present invention. Portions common to FIG. 8 are omitted.

In FIG. 9A, character information C242 and 247 included in the document data C240 includes a keyword M244 and a keyword N245 related to advertisement presentation, respectively.
Similarly to FIG. 8, it is assumed that a printed material C250 is generated from the document data C240 by using an apparatus that performs the advertisement output method according to the present invention. By the apparatus for executing the advertisement output method according to the present invention, an advertisement C1 (252) having an association with both the keyword M244 and the keyword N245 and having a higher priority than the keyword M244, and an advertisement C2 having an association with the keyword N245 When extracted, the advertisement C1 (252) is arranged so that the distance from the keyword with higher priority is shorter, that is, in the region where the distance from the keyword M244 is shorter than the keyword N245.
In FIG. 9B, the situation in which the advertisement C1 (252) is arranged so that the separation distance from the keyword that is more strongly associated is shortened, and the association between the advertisement C1 (252) and the keyword 244 is indicated by a solid line. Is shown as a dotted line. The apparatus which implements the advertisement output method according to the present invention can determine the region into which the advertisement C1 (252) is inserted based on the fact that the separation distance of the solid line is shorter than the separation distance of the dotted line. Also for the advertisement C2 (253), a region to be inserted can be determined so as to shorten the distance from the keyword N245 having the association.
In the advertisement output method according to the present invention, priority is given to the search key that is closest to the advertisement insertion area of the synthesized document data, so that the user can be more interested in the synthesized document data. Advertisers can view the advertisement at a timing closer to the user viewing the relevant part of the text of the synthetic document related to the content of the advertisement inserted in the advertisement insertion area, or within a smaller range of eye movement. An opportunity to view is provided, and the advertisement can be viewed with a higher interest in the advertisement.

  As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not restricted to embodiment mentioned above. The effects described in the embodiments of the present invention are only the most preferable effects resulting from the present invention, and the effects of the present invention are limited to those described in the embodiments of the present invention. is not.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the advertisement presentation apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram showing the network-connected input / output means and processing means for implementing the advertisement output method according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows the hardware constitutions of the advertisement presentation apparatus which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure showing the data structure which the search key extraction step included in the advertisement output method concerning one embodiment of the present invention uses. It is a flowchart which shows the various steps of the advertisement output method which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows extraction of the search key in the advertisement output method which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example which inserts an advertisement into the original data concerning one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the other example which inserts an advertisement in the original data concerning one Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example which determines the place which inserts an advertisement based on the separation distance of the keyword of the document data which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Advertisement presentation apparatus 12 Manuscript data acquisition part 14 Advertisement presentation area search part 16 Search key extraction part 18 Advertisement information acquisition part 20 Composite document data generation part 21 Document data distribution part 22 Printing part 24 Manuscript 26 Printed matter 30 Advertisement database 38 Network 50 Digital Copy machine 60 User terminal 65 Electronic display medium 70 Network printer 80 Local printer 90, 91 Analysis table 92 User ID
94 Document data ID
96 Features 98 Advertising ID
99 Priority 200 Original data A
201 Title A
202 Character information A
203 Image information A
210 Print A
211 Advertisement A
212 Link information A
220 Document data B
221, 222, 226, 227 Character information B
230 Print B
232 Advertisement B1
233 Ad B2
240 Document data C
241, 242, 246, 247 Character information C
250 Print C
252 Advertisement C1
253 Advertisement C2

Claims (11)

An advertisement output method for inserting an advertisement when printing a document,
A manuscript data obtaining step for obtaining character information and image information included in the document data of the document before insertion of the advertisement as manuscript data;
An advertisement insertion area search step of searching for an advertisement insertion area by analyzing a layout at the time of printing the original data;
A search key extracting step of extracting a search key including a keyword or a key image for presenting an advertisement from the character information or the image information included in the document data arranged in the vicinity of the advertisement insertion region;
An advertisement information acquisition step of acquiring information of an advertisement that can be related to the extracted search key;
A combined document data generating step for generating combined document data in which the advertisement information and the original data are combined and laid out in units of pages;
A printing step for printing the composite document data;
Advertising output method including   The advertisement output method according to claim 1, further comprising a distribution step for distributing a document as electronic information using the synthetic document data.   The advertisement output method according to claim 1, wherein the synthetic document data generation step includes arranging the advertisement in the vicinity of a character or an image related to the advertisement. In the synthetic document data generation step, a separation distance between the position of the search key of the advertisement to be inserted into the advertisement insertion area and the position of the advertisement insertion area among the plurality of search keys for the advertisement insertion area, The information of the advertisement to be inserted is selected so as to be shorter than a separation distance between a position of a search key having a lower relevance to the advertisement to be inserted and a position of the advertisement insertion area. 4. The advertisement output method according to any one of 3.   5. The composite document data generation step includes adding an attribute of having an association with the search key to character information or image information related to the search key. Ad output method.   The advertisement output method according to claim 1, wherein the search key extraction step includes pattern matching with predefined image information.   The advertisement output method according to claim 1, wherein the search key extracting step includes a step of converting characters as an image into character information.   The search key extraction step includes a step of selecting a search key based on information on a product having relevance to the character information or the image information and a product belonging to a related type. The advertisement output method according to any one of the above. An advertisement output device for inserting an advertisement when printing a document,
A manuscript data acquisition unit that acquires character information and image information included in the document data of the document before insertion of the advertisement as manuscript data;
An advertisement insertion area search unit for analyzing the layout at the time of printing the original data and searching for an advertisement insertion area;
A search key extraction unit that extracts a search key including a keyword or key image for presenting an advertisement from the character information or the image information included in the document data arranged in the vicinity of the advertisement insertion region;
An advertisement information acquisition unit for acquiring information of an advertisement that can be related to the extracted search key;
A synthetic document data generation unit for generating a composite document data synthesized layout information and the original data of the advertisement page by page,
A printing unit for printing the composite document data;
Including an advertisement output device. An advertisement output system that inserts advertisements when printing a document,
Manuscript data acquisition means for acquiring character information and image information included in the document data of the document before insertion of the advertisement as manuscript data;
An advertisement insertion area search means for analyzing the layout at the time of printing the original data and searching for an advertisement insertion area;
Search key extracting means for extracting a search key including a keyword or key image for presenting an advertisement from the character information or the image information included in the document data arranged in the vicinity of the advertisement insertion area;
Advertisement information acquisition means for acquiring advertisement information that can be related to the extracted search key;
Combined document data generating means for generating combined document data in which the advertisement information and the document data are combined and laid out in units of pages;
Printing means for printing the composite document data;
Including ad output system. A program that causes a computer to insert an advertisement when printing a document,
A manuscript data obtaining step for obtaining character information and image information included in the document data of the document before insertion of the advertisement as manuscript data;
An advertisement insertion area search step of searching for an advertisement insertion area by analyzing a layout at the time of printing the original data;
A search key extracting step of extracting a search key including a keyword or a key image for presenting an advertisement from the character information or the image information included in the document data arranged in the vicinity of the advertisement insertion region;
An advertisement information acquisition step of acquiring information of an advertisement that can be related to the extracted search key;
A combined document data generating step for generating combined document data in which the advertisement information and the original data are combined and laid out in units of pages;
A printing step for printing the composite document data;
Computer program for causing the computer to perform the.

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