KR100906808B1 - Method for providing a coupon using search engine and search server - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a coupon providing method and a search server linked to a search engine. According to the present invention, after receiving and storing first advertisement information and coupon information from an advertiser, when a first search word is received from a user, the second advertisement information and general information related to the first search word are collected and collected by using a search engine. Identify the first advertisement information including coupon information among the second advertisement information, and display the collected second advertisement information, including the first advertisement information, and the general information on a search result web page for the first search word. However, after displaying a coupon indicator in response to the first advertisement information, if a user selects a specific coupon indicator, the user is confirmed a first coupon corresponding to the selected coupon indicator, and the user requests the use of the first coupon. Provide the first coupon to the user. Accordingly, the present invention enables a user to easily check and receive a discount coupon, a free coupon, etc. for the product or service as well as search for information on a product or service of interest. Allow advertisers to advertise your site to have differentiated advertising effects.

Ads, coupons, search engines, advertisers

Description

A method for providing a coupon linked to a search engine and a search server {Method for providing a coupon using search engine and search server}

The present invention relates to a coupon providing service, and more particularly, to search for coupons that can be searched for and provide information using a search engine, and to provide a coupon in connection with a search engine that provides a user with a coupon that is displayed as a search result. It's about the server.

Various kinds of coupons are currently provided to users in various ways. In terms of the offer type, offline coupons are usually produced and distributed as books, products, or flyers. On-line, coupon indicators (e.g. coupon icons, coupons) It is mainly used to display an image, etc.) and provide it to a mobile phone when a user requests it or output it through a printer.

However, in the online coupon providing method, the screen output depth from the initial homepage to receiving the coupon has a lot of inconvenience, which is inconvenient to use. In particular, a search site using a search engine (a shopping mall site and an e-commerce) is compared to a general site. Site, etc.) is even worse. The reason why the screen output depth for receiving the coupon is large is that the coupon indicator can be confirmed only by accessing a web page showing detailed information about the product or service to which the coupon is applied.

For this reason, search sites that use search engines (e.g. Naver, Yahoo, Google, Interpark Shopping, G Market, etc.) are able to access the product's web pages after entering the search process. More than depth is added.

On the other hand, in search-specialized sites that provide various information such as web documents, news, blogs, and videos corresponding to current search terms, instead of providing a free search service, a site (or a specific webpage) of a paying advertiser is provided. Profit is generated by displaying the mark first compared to the general site or web document searched.

Therefore, each search site operator is making a lot of efforts to attract more advertisers, and urgently demands a way to give advertisers a differentiated advertising effect.

An object of the present invention is to enable a user searching for a product or service through a search word to easily check the coupon for the product or service and to be provided with the coupon quickly.

In addition, an object of the present invention is to provide a differentiated advertising effect to advertisers that offer or plan a coupon among advertisers advertising their products or sites through a search service.

According to a first aspect for solving the above technical problem, the present invention provides a method for providing a coupon linked to a search engine. A coupon providing method linked to the search engine may include: a) receiving and storing first advertisement information and coupon information from an advertiser; b) when a first search word is received from a user, collecting second advertisement information and general information related to the first search word by using a search engine; c) identifying the first advertisement information including coupon information among the collected second advertisement information; d) displaying the collected second advertisement information (including the first advertisement information) and the general information on a search result web page for the first search word, and displaying a coupon indicator in correspondence with the first advertisement information. ; e) when the user selects the coupon indicator, confirming a first coupon corresponding to the selected coupon indicator; And f) providing the first coupon to the user according to the user's request to use the first coupon.

In the above, step e) generates the first coupon using the coupon information, confirms the generated first coupon to the user, or generates each coupon using the coupon information, the coupon previously generated Among them, the first coupon corresponding to the coupon indicator selected by the user is read and confirmed by the user.

If the coupon information includes a coupon validity period, step c) checks the coupon validity period and excludes the advertisement information that has passed the coupon validity period from the first advertisement information.

In the step f), the first coupon is output through a printer or downloaded to a user's mobile phone to provide the user with the first coupon.

According to a second aspect for achieving the above technical problem, the present invention provides a search server for providing various information including advertisement information related to a search word requested by a user. The search server includes a database storing advertisement information acquired from an advertiser and coupon information matching the advertisement information; A user input receiver configured to receive a user input transmitted from a user terminal and determine a type of the user input; A search engine performing a search operation on a search word input from a user and searching whether there is a coupon matching the advertisement information related to the search word; A search result page generator configured to generate a search result web page in a set form based on the search result identified by the search engine, and display a coupon indicator in response to advertisement information in which a coupon exists in the search result web page; And a coupon providing unit for confirming to the user a first coupon corresponding to the coupon indicator selected by the user when the user selects the coupon indicator, and providing the first coupon to the user when the user requests the coupon indicator.

The coupon providing unit generates the first coupon corresponding to the coupon indicator selected by the user using the coupon information, and confirms the generated first coupon to the user.

And if the present invention further comprises a storage unit for storing the coupons generated using the coupon information, the coupon providing unit when the user selects the coupon indicator the first coupon corresponding to the coupon indicator selected by the user Can be read from the storage and confirmed to the user.

When the coupon issuance information includes a coupon validity period, the search engine checks the validity period among coupons matching the searched advertisement information and informs the search result page generation unit, whereby the search result page generator generates the search. Make sure that coupons that are out of date are not displayed on the resulting web page.

The present invention enables the user to easily identify and receive discount coupons, free coupons, etc. for the products or services as well as information search for the products or services of interest.

In addition, the present invention can have a differentiated advertising effect to advertisers advertising their products or sites through a search service.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art may easily implement the present invention. As those skilled in the art would realize, the described embodiments may be modified in various different ways, all without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. In the drawings, parts irrelevant to the description are omitted in order to clearly describe the present invention, and like reference numerals designate like parts throughout the specification.

Throughout the specification, when a part is said to "include" a certain component, it means that it can further include other components, without excluding other components unless specifically stated otherwise. In addition, the terms “… unit”, “… unit”, “module”, etc. described in the specification mean a unit that processes at least one function or operation, which may be implemented by hardware or software or a combination of hardware and software. have.

Hereinafter, a coupon providing method and a search server linked to a search engine according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The concept of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the network environment of the present invention includes an advertiser terminal 10 (hereinafter referred to as an advertiser) that can be connected to a search server 100, a user terminal 20 that can be connected to a search server 100, and an advertiser. And a search server 100 that receives advertisement information and / or coupon information from 10 and provides a search service to the user terminal 20.

Here, the advertisement information includes a link word, a link address, and a brief description. In this case, the link word is a word or sentence displayed on the web page representing the link address. Coupon information includes the name of the coupon to be used, the company providing or issuing the coupon, the expiration date, notice (use guide).

The search server 100 is preferably located on the Internet so that anyone can easily access it, and performs a function of acquiring a search result corresponding to a search word provided by a user using a search engine and providing the search result to the user terminal 20. . The search server 100 receives and stores various types of information from the advertiser 10, and displays the various types of information requested by the advertiser 10 in the search results when the search is performed by the search engine, thereby generating an advertisement effect.

Of course, the advertisement registration request is preferably formed by the advertiser 10 is connected to the search server 100, but is not limited thereto, the advertiser information or / and coupons to the search server 100 by way of telephone or visit, etc. Information can be registered.

The search server 100 may be a search server of a site (eg, Yahoo, Daum, Naver, Blue, etc.) providing various information corresponding to a search word, and a site (eg, GS) providing product information corresponding to a search word. E-shops, auctions, etc.), sites (eg, Cocofun, etc.) that provide service information corresponding to a search word.

The conceptual coupon providing method of the present invention made in such a network environment is as follows.

First, the advertiser 10 requests advertisement registration while providing advertisement information to the search server 100 (S1), and requests coupon issuance by providing coupon information (S2).

Then, when the search server 100 receives the advertisement information and the coupon information from the advertiser 10 and stores it in a database, and registers the search information related to the advertisement information from the user terminal 20 (S3), Information including a search word is extracted from various stored information (including advertisement information and coupon information), and a search result web page including the extracted information is generated and provided to the user terminal 20. Of course, the search result web page displays the advertisement information of the advertiser 10 related to the search word entered by the user, and a coupon icon indicating that a coupon is provided in relation to the advertisement information is displayed (S4).

In general, the coupon is provided in the form of access to the site providing the coupon, but the present invention allows the search server 100 to issue the coupon on behalf of the coupon provider, that is, the advertiser. That is, when the search server 100 receives the selection input of the coupon icon displayed on the search result web page from the user terminal S5 (S5), the search server 100 automatically uses the coupon information of the advertiser 10 linked to the coupon icon. After generating and displaying on the screen, the user confirms the displayed coupon and requests the acquisition to provide the coupon to the user terminal 20 in response thereto (S7).

In this case, the search server 100 provides a coupon displayed on the screen to the user terminal 20 according to a known conventional technology. For example, the coupon information is provided to the user terminal 20 to be output through the printer, or provided to the user-designated mobile phone so that the user can use the coupon information stored in the mobile phone.

Hereinafter, an embodiment for implementing the concept of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 6.

2 is a block diagram of a search server according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, the search server 100 according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may include a user input receiver 110, a link address determiner 120, a search term identifier 130, and a coupon information identifier 140. , A link provider 150, a search engine 160, a search result page generator 170, a coupon provider 180, and a database 190. The database 190 may include a web document DB 191, an advertisement information DB 192, and a coupon DB 193.

The user input receiving unit 110 receives the user input transmitted from the user terminal 20, determines the type of the user input, and performs processing corresponding to the determined type.

The user input received by the user input receiver 110 may be largely divided into three types. One is a search word of text input by a user who wants a search service, the other is a link address received when one of the link marks displayed on a web page displayed on the screen of the user terminal 20 is selected, and the last one is a search. Coupon identification information received when a user selects a coupon icon displayed on a search result web page provided by the service. When the user input receiver 10 determines the type of the user input, the user input receiver 10 transmits the user input to one of the link address determining unit 120, the search term identification unit 130, and the coupon information identification unit 140 according to the type.

When the link address checking unit 120 receives the user input of the link address from the user input receiving unit 110, the link address checking unit 120 detects the link address, and the search term identification unit 130 interprets the search word input by the search engine 160. The coupon information identification unit 140 interprets the coupon identification information from the user input receiver 110.

The link providing unit 150 operates in connection with the link address determining unit 120 and connects the user terminal 20 to the link address selected by the user. Accordingly, the user terminal 20 accesses a homepage of a specific Internet site, accesses a personal blog or bulletin board, or calls a document file stored in a web document DB 191 or an external repository and displays it on the screen.

The search engine 160 operates in association with the search term identification unit 130 and is related to the search term from the web document DB 191 and the advertisement information DB 192 in response to the search term received from the search term identification unit 130. Collect, match, and include information.

The search result page generator 170 operates in conjunction with the search engine 160, classifies the search result information collected by the search engine 160 according to the type of information, and classifies the classified information into a set search result page format. Arranged to generate a search result web page, and provides the search result web page to the user terminal (20).

Here, the type of information is largely classified into advertisement information or general information, and the advertisement information is further classified into display grades (eg, sponsored links, premium links, special links, etc.) according to promotional characteristics or advertising costs. Types of information are classified into blogs, bulletin boards, news, and cafes. The search result page format has a display standard that allows the user to easily check the contents by placing it at the upper side of the search result page as the display level of the advertisement information is higher, and a display standard in which the location of each type of general information is specified ( See FIG. 5).

The coupon providing unit 180 operates in association with the coupon information identifying unit 140 and sets coupon information matched with the identification information of the coupon identified by the coupon information identifying unit 140 from the coupon DB 193. Coupon information is generated by arranging coupon information according to the coupon format. When the coupon providing unit 180 receives the coupon use request from the user, the coupon providing unit 180 provides the generated coupon to the user. On the other hand, the generation and confirmation of the coupon is not a form to create and confirm when the coupon confirmation request event from the user, but after generating the coupon already stored in the database after the coupon confirmation request event from the user read the stored coupon It may be in the form of confirming to the user.

The web document DB 191 stores various information or / and link information corresponding to general information, and the advertisement information DB 192 stores advertisement information and coupon presence information provided by the advertiser 10. The coupon DB 193 matches the advertisement information and stores the coupon information.

Meanwhile, in the present invention, the link address determining unit 120, the search term identification unit 130, and the coupon information identification unit 140 are divided into separate and independent configurations, but integrated with the user input receiving unit 110. can do.

Here, an example of the format of the information stored in the web document DB 191 and the advertisement information DB 192 will be described with reference to FIG. 3. 3 is an information structure diagram of each database according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 3, the web document DB 191 stores general information, and general information is classified by type. General information has the same format regardless of type, and consists of a link word, a link address, and a brief description. Link words are words or sentences that appear on a web page, usually represented by a link mark (ie, underscore). The link address is an internet address or a memory address to be accessed when the link word is selected, and the brief description is a word or sentence displayed on a web page together with the link word. Since the short description does not have link information, it is displayed without link display.

The advertisement information DB 192 stores advertisement information provided by the advertiser 10 and is classified by display grade of the advertisement information. The advertisement information consists of a link word, a link address, a keyword, a brief description, and a coupon existence code. A keyword is a word used by a search engine as a search word and corresponds to a search word input by a user. Coupon existence code is an identification code indicating whether or not the advertiser 10 requested to issue a coupon.

Hereinafter, a coupon providing method linked to a search engine according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 4. 4 is a data flow diagram illustrating a coupon providing method linked to a search engine according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

When the user terminal 20 is connected (S401), the search server 100 provides a homepage to the user terminal 20 (S402). On the homepage provided to the user terminal 20, a link word for each kind of information, a link picture, a link video, an icon, and the like are displayed, and a search field for a search service is provided.

Accordingly, when a user clicks a link indicator such as a link word or a link image displayed on the homepage, the user can call and confirm information such as news, a dictionary, a video, a general document, a cafe, a blog, and the like according to a general search service.

In addition, when the user inputs a search term in the search box (S403), the user terminal 20 makes a search request (S404). Accordingly, the search server 100 searches for a search service based on the search word and a coupon linked to the search service. Perform the provided service.

Specifically, when a search term is input from the user terminal 20, the search server 100 searches general information stored in the web document DB 191 through the search engine 160 (S405), and the search result is searched by content. Classify by type (S406).

At the same time, the search server 100 searches the advertisement information stored in the advertisement information DB 192 through the search engine 160 (S407), checks the coupon existence code matching the search result, and confirms whether the coupon is issued or not ( In operation S408, the coupon icon is matched with the advertisement information (that is, the link word) for inventing the coupon (S409). Then, the search server 100 classifies the advertisement information and the coupon icon according to the display grade (S410), generates a search result webpage according to the search result page format (S411), and provides the same to the user terminal 20 ( S412).

An example of a search result web page provided by such a search service and a coupon providing service is shown in FIG. 5. 5 is a diagram illustrating a search result web page according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 5, a search result web page is displayed on a sponsored link, a premium link, and a special link in which advertisement information is specified, and the coupon icons A1 and A2 are displayed on a link word and a brief description of the advertiser 10 requesting to issue a coupon. Matched and displayed.

When the search result web page is provided as shown in FIG. 5, the user checks the information and the advertisement information corresponding to the search word input by the user through the screen of the user terminal 20, and issues a coupon among the advertisement information. Advertising information can be confirmed.

If the user wants to use the coupon, the user clicks and selects one of the coupon icons A1 and A2 displayed on the search result web page (S413). Then, the user terminal 20 transmits identification information on the coupon icon selected by the user to the search server 100 to request coupon issuance (S414), and when the search server 100 receives the coupon identification information, the coupon identification information The coupon information corresponding to the coupon information is obtained from the coupon DB 193 (S415), the coupon information is written according to the set coupon format (S416), and the coupon is provided to the user terminal 20 (S417).

An example of a coupon provided by the search server 100 is shown in FIG. 6. 6 is a view illustrating a coupon generated by a search server according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Referring to FIG. 6, the information displayed on the coupon A includes a coupon application target name, a coupon related company, a Daum ID, a card number, an expiration date, a serial number, a note (a user guide), and the like. Among these, the advertiser 10 provides at least coupon application target names (including images), validity periods, and precautions as coupon information.

When the user wants to use the coupon of FIG. 6 displayed on the screen of the user terminal 20, when the user clicks “print” shown in FIG. 6, the coupon displayed on the screen is provided to the user terminal 20. In this case, the search server 100 may query whether to output to a printer or download to a mobile phone, and output a coupon to a printer or download the mobile phone according to a user's request.

Meanwhile, the search server 100 of the present invention not only causes the coupon icon to be displayed and provided as a search result at the request of the advertiser 10, but also stops issuing the coupon for the coupon after the expiration date of the coupon. Prevent coupons from appearing in search results. In this case, the search server 100 of the present invention monitors the validity period of the coupon information provided by the advertiser 10 on a daily basis, and checks the coupon existence code of the advertisement information DB 192 for the coupon information that has expired. After changing to a value not issued, the corresponding coupon information stored in the coupon DB 193 is deleted or deactivated.

The embodiments of the present invention described above are not implemented only through the apparatus and the method, but may be implemented through a program for realizing a function corresponding to the configuration of the embodiment of the present invention or a recording medium on which the program is recorded. Implementation may be easily implemented by those skilled in the art from the description of the above-described embodiments.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and various modifications and improvements of those skilled in the art using the basic concepts of the present invention defined in the following claims are also provided. It belongs to the scope of rights.

1 is a conceptual diagram of the present invention.

2 is a block diagram of a search server according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

3 is an information structure diagram of each database according to an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a data flow diagram illustrating a coupon providing method linked to a search engine according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

5 is a diagram illustrating a search result web page according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

6 is a view illustrating a coupon generated by a search server according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

Claims (9)

a) receiving and storing coupon information and advertisement information (hereinafter referred to as "first advertisement information") matching the coupon information from an advertiser; b) collecting second advertisement information and general information related to the first search term using a search engine in response to the first search term received from the user; c) determining whether there is the first advertisement information among the collected second advertisement information; d) displaying the collected second advertisement information (including the first advertisement information) and the general information on a search result web page for the first search word, and displaying a coupon indicator in correspondence with the first advertisement information. ; e) when the user selects the coupon indicator, confirming to the user a first coupon corresponding to the selected coupon indicator; And f) providing a coupon linked to a search engine, the method comprising providing the first coupon to a user according to the user's request to use the first coupon. The method of claim 1, In step e), the coupon providing method linked to a search engine generating the first coupon using the coupon information and confirming the generated first coupon to a user. The method of claim 1, In step e), each coupon is generated using the coupon information, and a coupon linked to a search engine that reads the first coupon corresponding to the coupon indicator selected by the user from among previously created coupons and confirms the result to the user. How to Provide. The method according to claim 2 or 3, If the coupon information includes the coupon validity period, Step c) is a coupon providing method linked to a search engine to determine the coupon validity period to determine by excluding the advertisement information is past the coupon validity period of the first advertisement information. The method of claim 4, wherein In step f), the first coupon is output through a printer or a coupon providing method linked to a search engine that downloads the user's mobile phone to provide the first coupon to a user. In the search server for providing a variety of information including the advertising information related to the user requested query, A database storing advertisement information acquired from an advertiser and coupon information matching the advertisement information; A user input receiver configured to receive a user input transmitted from a user terminal and determine a type of the user input; A search engine performing a search operation on a search word input from a user and searching whether there is a coupon matching the advertisement information related to the search word; A search result page generator configured to generate a search result web page in a set form based on the search result identified by the search engine, and display a coupon indicator in response to advertisement information in which a coupon exists in the search result web page; And And a coupon providing unit for confirming to the user a first coupon corresponding to the coupon indicator selected by the user when the user selects the coupon indicator and providing the first coupon to the user when the user requests the coupon indicator. The method of claim 6, And the coupon providing unit generates the first coupon corresponding to the coupon indicator selected by the user using the coupon information, and confirms the generated first coupon to the user. The method of claim 6, Further comprising a storage unit for storing the pre-generated coupons using the coupon information, And the coupon providing unit reads the first coupon corresponding to the coupon indicator selected by the user from the storage unit and confirms the result to the user. The method according to claim 7 or 8, If the coupon information includes the coupon validity period, The search engine checks the expiration date among the coupons matching the searched advertisement information and informs the search result page generation unit. Therefore, the search result page generation unit does not display the coupon which has expired on the search result web page. server.

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