WO2001052129A1

WO2001052129A1 - Method for networking for motivation

Info

Publication number: WO2001052129A1
Application number: PCT/JP2000/006278
Authority: WO
Inventors: Hirohiko Sasaki; Yuji Mori; Koichi Shobatake; Hiroshi Kataoka
Original assignee: Socioware. Com, Inc.
Priority date: 1999-12-29
Filing date: 2000-09-13
Publication date: 2001-07-19
Also published as: AU7312200A; JPWO2001052129A1

Abstract

Recently use of the Internet for networking a society has been taught. However the inconvenience of 'exchange of business cards' of a real social custom has been not solved by the prior art. For example, when two people exchange their business cards in the real business society, they generally inputs the name of the person, the name of the company, and the name of the title printed on the business card into a computer to manage them. However if the status of a person changes after the business card of the person is received, the information on the person inputted into the computer must be updated manually. To solve the problem, a highly convenient personal information exchange system on a network is provided according to the invention.

Description

Specification

Motivational networking method Technical field

The present invention relates to a method for exchanging information between individuals such as individuals, companies and groups, and more particularly to exchanging information for motivating participants to a network. Background art

The following are known techniques for exchanging personal information between parties on a conventional network.

U.S. Patent No. 5,493,105 to Desai includes a compact for reading and storing business card data from business cards having computer readable data stored on a computer readable medium. An electronic business card system that provides a simple portable system is described. This electronic business card system uses a reader linked to a computer control system. The electronic business card system also provides functions for organizing and operating business card data received by the electronic business card system.

U.S. Patent No. 5,774,117 by Kukkal et al. Describes a request management for electronically exchanging "business cards" using a two-step approach: request and answer phases. It also describes a meeting room manager for a general-purpose personal meeting room application that includes send and receive functions.

Requests to other participants are automatic according to the connection Z-joint, but the response to the request is conditional on whether the receiving system is "In conference" It is. The external manifestation of an electronic “business card” is the display of visual information that is common on physical business cards in a form similar to physical business cards. Preferably, the visual display also includes an image of the person by that name. Internally, data structures hold information, including the data needed to render the image.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,818,444 by Adamson describes a face-to-face conference by having a meeting room manager that includes multiple functions to electronically set up and exchange "business cards." Describes a computer system programmed with the General Purpose Teleconference Room (GPEC) application that models the behavior of business card exchanges of participants in a conference room. In particular, the ability to set up and exchange “business cards” electronically includes the ability to set up special international names that can be displayed in most languages.

If the "business card" is derived from a conference system configured in an incompatible language, the name of the conference room participant is automatically replaced with its international name. In this way, the availability of international electronic conference rooms is improved.

US Patent No. 5,987,440 by Neill et al. Includes an efficient and comprehensive agent-based command and control of information assets in a networked computing environment. It describes the use of the e-metro community and personal information agents to perform The concerns of information privacy and information self-determination are clearly addressed by the present invention, which allows entities to author, secure, retrieve, process, and exchange personal information in a networked computing environment. You. The present invention enables the creation of a trusted electronic community where members place orders and controls for the exchange or mediation of digital individuals in order to value the trusted utility of information assets. According to the present invention, both the community and the individual can use the personal data in the electronic market with reliability and control the processing of the personal data based on the rules of the individual.

WO 97 Z41503 by Intel Corporation has a meeting room manager that includes multiple functions to set and exchange business cards electronically, so that meeting rooms in face-to-face meeting rooms Describes a computer system programmed with the General Purpose Teleconference Room (GPEC) application that models participants' business card exchange behavior. In particular, the ability to electronically set and exchange "business cards" includes the ability to set special international names that can be displayed in most languages, and the electronic "business cards" received are incompatible Automatically replace conference room participants' names with their international names if derived from a language-based conference system. In this way, the availability of international teleconferencing is improved.

WO 96 Z3696927 by Intel Corporation has a business card that is electronically attached. It describes the meeting room manager and address service of a general-purpose personal meeting room application enhanced with multiple functions for setting, converting, storing, retrieving, and resending ₍ the external manifestation of an electronic `` business card '' is This is a visual information display often found on physical business cards in a form similar to that of a typical business card, and preferably includes an image of the person with that name. Information, including the data needed to render a visual image, is kept in a data structure.

As described above, various conventional techniques teach the use of the Internet intended to be a social network.

However, in any of the above technologies, simply replacing the real-world custom of `` business card '' with a network has not solved any inconvenience of `` business card exchange '' in the real world. .

For example, when business cards are exchanged in the real world, it is common practice to enter the name, company name, title, telephone number, e-mail address, etc. described on the business card into a computer and manage it. If the status of the sender of the business card changes after receiving the business card, for example, in the case of retirement, change of job, transfer, etc., the information of the sender of the business card entered in the console must be manually updated one by one did not become.

In the case of salespeople who exchange business cards in large quantities, the date and time of exchange and the characteristics of the sender of the business card are often written on the back of the exchanged business card, but this information also changes the status of the sender of the business card. In that case, it is often discarded as an old business card, so it was often difficult to know the past contact history from a paper business card alone. The present invention has been made in view of such a point, and it is a technical problem to establish a highly convenient personal information exchange system on a network. Disclosure of the invention

The present invention has the following configuration to solve the above problems.

According to the present invention, when a requester user registers personal information (so-called business card information), each user is immediately authenticated by e-mail including a confirmation number, and the user can be registered on a website. Then, using the Internet web address site, when the confirmation number is provided, the web site accepts a plurality of users, accepts the registration of a unique user name and a passcode from each user, and receives information items related to the user. Generated a unique web address to display the referral card containing.

The client selects the purpose of the referral card, selects the status of the display of each information item on the referral card, and requests contact with the other user and access to the other user's unique web address. Receives the request from the user and adds the recipient's message / rare address and name to the requester's user's address book with a status of "not soci al i zed" and the other user Was notified.

Then, when the other user approves, the status is changed to "soc i al i zed (association completed)", and the mail address and the name of the requester user are changed to "not so c i al i zed" status, and the status of the other user is changed. It is designed to be added to the address book.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following more detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, illustrating by way of example the principles of the invention. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram showing a specific use example of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows an example of exchanging business card information between portable terminals having a function of displaying information such as telephone numbers.

Figure 3 shows an example of using a mobile terminal to instruct a service provider to register using a management site.

Figure 4 shows an example where the management site manages the ID and password of various services instead of business card information.

Fig. 5 is a diagram of the mail address table, business card exchange table, and user tape at the management site.

Figure 6 shows the interface screen when sending a business card exchange request. Figure 7 is a diagram of the mail address table at the management site.

FIG. 8 is a diagram of a business card exchange table in the management site. Figure 9 shows the interface screen when replying to a business card exchange request.

FIG. 10 is a diagram of a business card exchange table in the management site. BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

[Configuration of First Embodiment]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a method of providing an Internet web address that can be used by the general public, and a web site of a user from the general public providing an electronic mail address for using the web site, respectively. A method of motivational networking, including the step of facilitating registration with the Internet.

Prompt authentication of each user at the time of registration is completed by an e-mail message containing a confirmation number. Thus, this site can accept multiple registered users on the website when each user displays a unique user name and a confirmation number to register a password.

Create a unique web address for each registered user that displays a referral card that contains informational items about the user. By selecting one or more goals for the referral card and choosing the status of the display of each information item on the referral card for each goal, more or less, depending on the purpose in the networking context, Can use the information. Any user submits a request for the other user's unique web address, adds the other user's email address and name to the requester's user's address book with a status of "not soc iali zed", After the approval of the other user, the status is changed to "soc iali zed" and the requester user's e-mail address and name are added to the other user's address book with the status of "soc i al i zed". It can receive requests from requester users who are interested in contact with the side user.

The method creates a dynamic address book that contains all of the registered user's referrals, including additional information maintained by each user and maintained by Internet address support personnel on the Internet site. Includes additional steps. This dynamic address book allows all users to access their geographic location, All other users can be accessed through indexes such as clerks and various other variables.

The method includes the further step of providing a registered user with a point of action at the web address site. Each time a user searches for a contact or receives a contact from another user, points are earned for the user account. When a user brings a new registrant to the system, the user is given points. Points have value for various benefits.

The method further comprises the step of issuing a list of registered users including an index number representing a degree of action of each registered user. As a result, the user can recognize the degree of contribution in operating the network. A slightly modified version of this method is used when one of the participants in the network connection is not a registered Internet site user. In this case, the request is sent by a requester user who is in contact with the other non-user and is interested in presenting the request to the other non-user's email address. The request includes a solicitation to members and a confirmation number. The other party's non-user email address and name are added to the requester's user address book with a status of "not social i zed". This status replaces the "social ied" when registering the other user, and this address is the same as the non-user at the other end with the status "social i zed". Added to the lure dress.

In this embodiment, the business card information A 'of user A and the business card information B' of user B are registered in the management site (management server) as shown in FIG. When exchanging business cards using a PDA (Personal Data—Assistant), users A and B can access the website from the PDA possessed by each user A and B to view the other party's business card information B 'and A'. is there. In other words, instead of exchanging the business card information itself between PDAs, a feature is that the other party is authorized to access the business card information, so that the other party's business card can be browsed on the website.

The management site is a computer system connected to a public communication network such as the Internet. It is constructed as a server with a system and consists of a central processing unit (CPU), main memory (MM), hard disk device (HD), display device (CRT), and input device (KBD).

The computer systems that make up the management site are managed by OS (operating system) such as UNIX, LI NUX, mainframe, Windows NT, and Windows 2000, and the management program runs on these OSs. Have been. The management program is installed in the hard disk device (HD), and is read out and executed by the central processing unit (CPU) via the main memory (MM) as necessary.

In the management site, specifically, when user A and user B exchange business cards on the network of the present embodiment, first, user A first obtains his / her business card information registered in the management site. The key information a for browsing A 'is transmitted to the user B's PDA.

On the other hand, user B also transmits key information b for browsing his / her business card information B 'registered on the management site to user A's PDA.

Then, the user B accesses the management site through his / her own PDA and browses the business card information A 'using the key information a received from the user A.

On the other hand, the user A also accesses the management site through his / her PDA, and browses the business card information B ′ using the key information b received from the user B.

In the above description, an example has been described in which the PDA exchanges key information to allow access to each other's unique information, but the following method may be used. That is, users A and B Access the management site using their own PDAs. At this time, the user A logs in to the management site using his / her ID "AAAAA". User B accesses using his own ID, "BBBBB".

User A and user B exchange business cards on this management site. The exchange of business cards at this time may be such as exchanging image data symbolizing each other's business cards on a web page as a program.

When the business card exchange program on such a management site is executed, the business card information B 'Is associated with the user A's ID, "AAAA". Similarly, business card information A is associated with user B's ID "BBBB". Here, the association means that "AA AA" is registered in the attribute table which permits access to the business card information B ', for example.

In this way, "BBBB" is registered as the access permission ID for the business card information A 'and "AAAA" for the business card information B'.

Thus, complete card exchange by the PDA through the management site, thereafter user A and user B each other card information A ', B' to each other so composed _c thus can access, business card information For example, when a user's affiliation is changed, transferred, or changed jobs, the user only needs to update his or her business card information on the website.

Fig. 2 shows an example of exchanging business card information (here, telephone number) between portable terminals (such as NTT DoCoMo's i-mode terminal) that have a function of displaying information such as telephone numbers. In the figure on the left, business card information (phone number) is exchanged using the infrared communication function provided in the mobile terminal.

Next, in the figure on the right side of the figure, user A sends an exchange record of business card information (telephone number) (communication record with User B) to the management site. As a result, business card exchange will be completed on the management site.

By synchronizing the business card information (phone number) registered at the management site with the memory of the mobile terminal, the latest business card information (phone number) can always be provided to other users. it can.

Figure 3 shows an example of using a mobile terminal to instruct a service provider to register using a management site. In the figure, a user profile such as a name, a telephone number, an address, and a company name is registered in the management site. These information are triggered by instructing the service provider from the portable terminal to the management site. Registered with the service provider.

Figure 4 shows an example where the management site manages the IDs and passwords of various services instead of business card information. When a logon request to the service is sent from the mobile terminal, the ID / password of the service provider A request is made. The management site refers to its own table and sends the corresponding ID card to the service provider.

In this way, the ID and password of the service used by the user are registered in the management site, and the ID of the service is registered through the management site. The complexity of inputting one by one can be reduced.

[Configuration of Second Embodiment]

5 to 10 show input screens of the user table and the introduction card in the management site.

The business card exchange system of the second embodiment exchanges business card information between users through a management site as in the first embodiment, but it is necessary to use a PDA as described in the first embodiment. There is no.

In the figure, the first user (requester user) is, for example, “Taro”, and the second user (the other user) is “Hanako”. It is assumed that both are registered on the management site with the user names “taro” and rhanakoj, respectively.

Taro has registered an e-mail address taro @ abcom on the management site (on the hard disk (HD)) and has registered one business card (mshj d = 1001).

On the other hand, Hanako has registered two mail addresses, hanakol@abc.com and hanako2@some.net, on the management site, and has a business card (msh-id = 2001) and a private business card. Business card (msh-id = 2002) is registered.

It is assumed that Taro and Hanako belong to the same company (ab com) in the real world, and know each other's e-mail addresses in advance.

A mail address table is set in the hard disk drive (HD) of the management site. As shown in the upper diagram of Fig. 5, this mail address table contains the mail addresses and user IDs of registered users. Are associated with each other.

That is, as shown in the figure, Hanako who has registered two e-mail addresses has the same mail address (hanakol@abc.com, hanako2@sorae.net) as the user ID. "Is registered.

In addition, a business card table is provided on the hard disk drive (HD) of the management site. The user ID is registered for each business card ID.

Further, a user table is provided on the hard disk device (HD) of the management site, and a user name is registered for each user ID.

User e-mail addresses and business cards are managed by these three tables.

Figure 6 shows the interface screen when Taro sends a business card exchange request to Hanako.

Taro logs in to the management site from the user terminal with the user name “taro”, and enters the destination e-mail address “hanako @ ab com” on the “send” web page, which means transmission. I press the button.

When this process is performed, the central processing unit (CPU) of the management site searches the mail address table of FIG. 5 and recognizes that hanako @ abcom is under the control of the user hanako.

If hanako@abc.com is not registered in the mail address table at this time, the central processing unit (CPU) sends a dummy user name and dummy name to manage this mailer account as shown in FIG. Generate business cards.

Fig. 8 shows the contents of the business card exchange table generated on the hard disk (HD) of the management site.

In the figure, the business card exchange table registers the user ID of the business card holder, the user ID of the business card administrator, the permission status of the administrator, the display status of the business card holder, and the ID of the shared business card. It has become to be.

Here, O l is the status of the business card information sent by tato to hanako. That is, the user ID of the business card holder (name of the business card destination: Hanako) is registered as dex_own_usr—id = “200”, and the user ID of the business card administrator is dex_auth_usr—id2 “100”. It has been registered.

Also, the administrator's authorization status is registered as (dex_auth_status = "n") "n: new". Also, as the display status of the business card holder, (dex-dwn-status = w ")" w: standby "is registered. This is because the owner (Hanako) has not yet exchanged the card. On the other hand, 0 2 indicates the status of the business card that hanako would pass to taro. Since hanako powers and others have not yet granted any permission to taro, the permission status of the business card administrator (hanako) is registered as dex-auth-status = "w". In addition, the status of the business card holder (taro) is displayed as if it has not been exchanged on the holder side (taro), and is displayed, so dex-own-one status = "s" is registered. Reply

Next, Fig. 9 shows an interface screen for replying to Hanako Riki and Rarataro (taro).

As shown in the figure, when Hanako knows that a business card exchange request from Taro has been issued by e-mail arriving at her, she logs in to the management site with the hanako user name from the user terminal. I do.

Then, agree to the business card exchange and press the "Reply" button on the interface screen to complete the reply to Taro.

The status of the business card exchange table changes as shown in FIG. 10 by such a reply process of the user Hanako.

In other words, when Hanako replies a business card to Taro, it changes to dex_own_status-2 "s (s: s) as the display status power of the card holder of Taro (taro). I have.

Also, the permission status of the administrator of 02 Hanako has been renewed by giving the business card reference authority by returning the business card, and dex-auth-status = "n" has been updated.

In this way, the management site can monitor and control the status of the business card holder and manager by using the business card exchange table. Industrial applicability

According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an Internet method having advantages not taught in the prior art.

It can also motivate registered members to participate in networking.

Furthermore, according to the present invention, it is possible to realize a wide-area network in a simple way _c

Claims

The scope of the claims

1.a) providing an Internet web address accessible from the user terminal;

b) encouraging the registration of at least the individual e-mail address of the requester user on the page provided by the web address;

c) notifying the requester user of approval of the registration by e-mail including a confirmation number in response to the registration of the e-mail address;

d) accepting access to the website from a plurality of user terminals by presenting the confirmation number;

e) registering a unique username and password from each requester user;

f) generating and displaying an introduction card including information items relating to the requester user and an address book, and generating a unique web address for displaying the introduction card for each registered user;

g) selecting the purpose of the referrals;

h) selecting the display status of each information item of the introduction card; and i) requesting a contact with a different user (counter user) or access to the unique web address of the counter user. Receiving a request from a requester user who

j) adding the e-mail address and name of the other user to the address book of the requester user with a status of "not socie ized (unknown)"; k) the other user being the unique user Accessing the web address of the requesting user and, if approved, changing the status of the other user in the address book of the requesting user to "social i zed (dated)";

1) adding the requester's e-mail address and name to the other party's address book with a status of "socialized".

2. The referral card can be updated by the requester user, the referral power 2. The motivational networking method according to claim 1, wherein, when the information item of one node is updated, the corresponding information item of the address book of the other user is updated.

3. The motivation according to claim 1, wherein the requester user has a score item table, and the score is added by adding the requester user to the address book. Networking method.

4. The motivational networking method according to claim 1, further comprising a user table including an index number indicating a degree of each user's behavior on the network.

5.a) providing an Internet web address accessible by the user terminal;

b) prompting the requester's personal email address to be registered on the page provided by said web address;

c) notifying the requester user of the approval of the registration by e-mail including a confirmation number for the registration of the e-mail address;

d) accepting access to the web site from a plurality of user terminals by presenting the confirmation number;

e) registering a unique username and password from each requester user;

f) Generate and display an introductory card and an address book including information items related to the requester user, and generate a unique web address for displaying the introductory card for each registered user. Steps and

g) selecting the purpose of the referral card;

h) selecting the display status of each information item of the referral information; i) requesting contact with the non-user and interested in registering the e-mail address in the address book of the non-user. A step of sending an invitation to register from the user and a confirmation number, j) adding the non-user's e-mail address and name to the requester user's address book with a status of "not socialized";

k) changing the status to "socialized" when said non-user registers;

1) adding the e-mail address and name of the requester user to the non-user address book with a status of "socialized".

6. The introduction card can be updated by the requester user, and when the information item of the introduction power is updated, the corresponding information item of the non-user address book is updated. 6. The motivational networking method according to claim 5, wherein:

7. The requester user has a score item table, and the score is added by adding a non-user registration to the requester user's address book. The motivational networking method described.

8. The motivational networking method according to claim 5, further comprising: a user table including an index number indicating a degree of each registered user's behavior on the network.

9. When permitting the first user and the second user to browse each other's unique information via the management server,

Registering unique information of a first user in the management server;

Registering unique information of a second user in the management server;

Associating first unique information and second unique information on the management server;

A step of permitting the first user ID to access the management server by browsing the second unique information;

When logging in to the management server with the second user ID, the first unique information A system for browsing unique information, comprising the step of permitting browsing.

10. Exchanging right information for viewing each other's unique information between at least the first user terminal and the second user terminal;

Registering unique information about the first user and unique information about the second user with the server;

Permitting the first user to view the unique information of the second user, provided that the right information is exchanged;

Similarly permitting the second user to view the unique information of the first user on condition that the right information is exchanged.

The browsing according to claim 9, wherein the unique information is business card information:

12. The browsing system according to claim 9, wherein the unique information is a telephone number, and the user terminal is a mobile terminal capable of displaying information.

13. The viewing of the unique information according to claim 9, wherein the unique information is an ID and a password when the user accesses a service provider.

14. A unique information browsing system that permits mutual browsing of unique information between a first user and a second user via a management server,

Means for registering unique information of the first user in the management server;

Means for registering unique information of a second user in the management server;

Browsing of unique information consisting of a status monitoring table that associates the first unique information with the second unique information on the management server

15. The unique information according to claim 14, wherein at least the user ID of the user desiring to disclose the unique information and a flag indicating a state such as new, update, disclosure, or standby can be registered in the state monitoring table. Browsing