Patent Application
20120096258
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to data processing which provides online services linked to a server.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various internet services are provided by many providers. The most widely used internet service is an electronic mail. An electronic mail is a service which provides a means of communication for acquaintances using an electronic mail address as an identification tag for uniquely identifying a user on the internet. In recent years, many services are appearing which provide means of communication between users in a web service using an identification tab for uniquely identifying a user within each web service. An SNS (Social Network Service), a chat, a blog. etc. are examples of these services (ref. U.S. Pat. No. 7,069,308).
An acquaintance list function is provided in a service which provides such a communication means for each user to manage acquaintances in the service. For example, an electronic mail client software, a web electronic mail, an SNS, a chat, a blog, etc. have functions for managing lists of acquaintances. Each user manages their acquaintances using an acquaintance list and widens their scope of communication by adding new other-users.
On the other hand, for a provider which provides internet services, the more the number of users within a service which they provide increases, or the closer personal relationships become, use of the service is accelerated and the value of the service increases seen form the viewpoint of the provider. Consequently, the service provider has a motive for expanding the personal relationships between users
Based on this type of background, the following issues are apparent for users of each service on the internet and also providers who provide such services.
A problem for users is that it becomes cumbersome to manage acquaintances when the number of services used increases or when the number of acquaintances in each service increase. For example, supposing a user uses four services such as an electronic mail, an SNS, a chat and a blog, and has twenty acquaintances in each service. These acquaintances are separately managed by an acquaintance list corresponding to each service. Moreover, it is often the case that a user among the acquaintances uses a plurality of services among the four services, and includes a different identification tag for each service or uses a different name. In this situation it is difficult for the user to manage their acquaintances in a unified way.
On the other hand, each provider which provides an Internet service wishes to increase the personal relationships between acquaintances within the services they provide, and also encourage users of other services to become users the services they provide. In order for this, by sharing with other internet service providers the identification tag, attribute data, acquaintance relationship etc held by each Internet service provider, it is possible to increase users and expand the relationships between acquaintances. Therefore, a method for easily realizing interchangeability of an identification tag, attribute data and acquaintance relationship is required.
Various ideas are tried in order to solve the problems described above. Mutual exchange of identification tags, attribute data and acquaintance relationships, etc. between web services is targeted in each type of web service which includes an SNS by allowing external access to an API (Application Program Interface). In addition, attempts have been made to make logging in to a service including a different SNS using only one login data possible by a technology known as Open ID.
Relationships between acquaintances on a network are generally referred to as a Social Graph. Social graphs are included in data which is the object of mutual exchange between different web services including different SNSs. Recently, attempts have been made to exchange social graphs beyond boundaries of web services, whereas the social graphs until recently have been held independently within each web service. For example, a Social Graph API is known as one attempt. When a specific identification tag of a user in a web service is provided, a Social Graph API returns an identification tag of a user in another web service as a return value. In addition, when a specific identification tag of a user in a web service is provided, an identification tag of this user and a user who is an acquaintance in various web services is returned to each web service as a return value. Advancement of social graph exchange which exceeds web services is desired.
However, such types of attempts described above have not been widely adopted and the problems described above have not been solved. The reason for this is lies with the situation of the network service providers. While each provider wishes to use identification tags, attribute data and acquaintance relationships in other network services, at the same time, they do not want to provide identification tags, attribute data and acquaintance relationships used on their own networks to other service providers. Generally, while a user's data and relationship with acquaintances is a source of income to a network service provider, it is also a very important asset for keeping the user within its own service rather than another service. In other words, while each network service provider desires to create links with other network services, they also wish to maintain independence of their own network services. As a result, there are few network service providers who provide an API which externally publishes its own data of a user with the API described above, and although a standard specification such as OpenID or Social Graph API is proposed, the number of network services which accommodate these is not increasing.
this situation, a server, system, an information terminal, and a network related to the present invention maintains the independence of each network service and, at the same time, exchanges the acquaintance relationships held by each service. In this way, acquaintance relationships are easily expanded by a user and acquaintance management convenience is enhanced. In addition, while maintaining the independence of each network service, expansion of acquaintance relationships which is the source of the network service's value is realized.
As one embodiment of the present invention, a service system is disclosed, the service system comprising: a plurality of service servers; a management server device; and a gateway server device capable of communicating with the plurality of service servers and the management server device; wherein each of the plurality of service servers is capable of associating and storing an identification tag which identifies a user within the service server with an identification tag of another user of the service server, and is further capable of associating and storing the identification tag with identification information that uniquely identify the user within the plurality of service servers and an encryption key generated for the identification information; the management server device stores a table that stores the identification information in a first column and encrypted information in a second column, the encrypted information being obtained by encrypting one or plurality of identifiers of service servers that the user identified by the identification information stored in the first column can use with the encryption key associated and stored with the identification information in one of the plurality of service server; the gateway server device including; a first reception part which receives a first other-user identification tag which is associated with a first identification tag and which is stored in a first service server which is one of the plurality of service servers, from the first service server; a first storage part which associates and stores the first other-user identification tag received by the first reception part with an identifier of the first service server, in a temporary table; a second reception part which receives a second other-user identification tag which is associated and stored with a second identification tag which identifies a user identified by the first identification tag within a second service server, from the second service server which is one of the plurality of service servers; a second storage part which stores the second other-user identification tag received by the second reception part with an identifier of the second service server, in the temporary table; an identification information sending part which sends the first identification information to the management server device if it is judged that the first other-user identification tag is associated and stored with the first identification tag and a first encryption key in the first service server; an encrypted data receiving part which receives from the management server device encrypted information which is obtained by encrypting information including an identifier of the first service server by the first encryption key, the encrypted information being received according to sending the first identification information by the identification data sending part; a first instruction part which instructs the first service server to send a first message to a user identified by the first other-user identification tag, if an identifier of the second service server is not included in a result of decrypting the received information data by the first encryption key.
As one embodiment of the present invention, a management server device is disclosed, the management server device being capable of communicating a plurality of service server, each of the plurality of service servers being capable of associating and storing an identification tag of a user which identifies uniquely the user within the service server with identification information that uniquely identify the user within the plurality of service servers and an encryption key generated for the identification information, comprising; a storage device which stores a table that stores the identification information in a first column and encrypted information in a second column, the encrypted information being obtained by encrypting one or plurality of identifiers of service servers that the user identified by the identification information stored in the first column can use with the encryption key associated and stored with the identification information in one of the plurality of service server.
As one embodiment of the present invention, a gateway server device is disclosed, the gateway server device comprising: a first reception part which receives a first other-user identification tag by communicating with a first service server, the first service server being one of a plurality of service servers, each of the plurality of service servers being capable of associating and storing an identification tag which identifies a user within the service server with an identification tag of an other user of the service server, and being further capable of associating and storing the identification tag with identification information that uniquely identify the user within the plurality of service servers and an encryption key generated for the identification information; a first storage part which associates and stores a first other user's identification tag received by the first reception part with an identifier of the first service server, in a temporary table; a second reception part which receives a second other user's identification tag which is associated and stored with a second identification tag which identifies a user identified by the first identification tag within a second service server, from the second service server which is one of the plurality of service servers; a second storage part which stores the second other user's identification tag received by the second reception part with an identifier of the second service server, in the temporary table; an identification information sending part which sends the first identification information associated and stored with the first other user's identification tag if it is judged that the first other user's identification tag received by the first reception part tag is associated and stored with the first identification tag and the first encryption key in the first service server; and an encrypted information receiving part which receives an encrypted information obtained by encrypting information including the identifier of the first service server from the first encryption key, according to sending the first identification information by the identification information sending part.
According to the present invention, it is not necessary to provide identification tags, additional data and acquaintance relationships of a user stored in the server of each internet service to the server of another internet service even though mutual use of acquaintance relationships in a plurality of internet services is possible.
The preferred embodiments for realizing the present invention are explained below. Because the scope of the present invention is clearly defined by the scope of the attached patent claims, the embodiments should not be interpreted in a limited manner but should be interpreted as merely aiming to exemplify the general principle of the invention.
An exemplary structure of the information terminals of users A, B and D is shown in
An exemplary structure of a server of web service X and a server of web service Y is shown in
An exemplary structural diagram of a gateway web server is shown in
An exemplary structure of an encryption identification tag server is shown in
A table included in database X 152 is shown in
An example of the identification tag table 601 in the present embodiment is shown in
A table included in database Y 162 is shown in
An example of the identification tag table 901 is shown in
Furthermore, identification tags are all denoted in a format of IDmn in the present specification. Here, m represents the name of the web service in which a user is uniquely identified by this identification tag, and n represents the user. For example, IDxa represents an identification tag of user A in the web service X. Similarly, IDya represents an identification tag of user A in the web service Y. In this case, user A is a user of both web service X and web service Y. Actually, an identification tag of web service X and web service Y are both independent, and although there is no method for the server of web service X or the web server of web service Y detecting the fact that a user A uses both web service X and web service Y, this type of denotation method is used in the present specification for clarifying the details of the present invention.
Next, a process whereby a user A increases acquaintances in the web service X using a server, an information terminal and a system of the present invention is explained using the flow diagram in
Now, user A uses web service X via the information terminal 110. At this time, an HTML code which is generated by the HTML generation means 155 of the server in web service X, and sent to the information terminal of user A via the sending and receiving means 151 and network 192 and network 191, is analyzed by the HTML analysis means 112 and the result is displayed on the GUI display means 113. Prior to this, user A sends an identification tag IDxa and password in the web service from the information terminal 110 to the server of the web service X, and authentication means 153 authenticates access from the information terminal 110 of user A.
Next, user A selects an acquaintance relationship expansion service in the present invention included in the web service X (step S1201). This is performed by user A by selecting, for example, an acquaintance relationship expansion service button displayed on a screen of web service X. Here, an acquaintance relationship expansion service session n described below begins. The web service X as described above is provided by the server 150 of the web service X, however, the acquaintance relationship expansion service which is one part of the web service X is provided by the gateway web server 100. That is, wen user A selects the acquaintance relationship expansion service using an input/output means on user A's information terminal, a request is sent to the server 150 of the Web service X via the network 191 and 192, and the sending and receiving means 151 redirects the request to the gateway web service 150 (step S1202). Next, the search means 154 of web service X searches the social graph table 602 of the database X 152 for identification tag IDxa 711 of user A as a search key, and obtains IDxc 821, IDxe 822 and IDxf 823. This shows that user A has an acquaintance relationship with user C, E and F in the web service X. Furthermore, the search means 154 searches the identification tag table 601 of the database X152 with IDxc, IDxe and IDxf, and obtains the names of users C, E and F. The name of each user are Dick Ching 723, Laura Smith 724, and Steve Bush 725. Next, the sending and receiving means 151 of the server of the web service X sends the identification tag IDxa of user A, and the identification tags and names of users C, D and E, who are in an acquaintance relationship, to gateway web server 100. In addition, in the case where a user unique identification tag (hereinafter called “UID”) of user A exists, this is associated with IDxa and also sent to the gateway web server (step S1203). It is not sent to the server if it does not exist. Referring to
Next, the sending and receiving means 101 of the gateway web server receives this information and stores it in temporary storage means 103 (step S1204). The temporary storage means 103 is a means for temporarily storing data for each session of an acquaintance relationship expansion service and the data is deleted after each session is completed. Generally, while the main storage means of a computer comprised from DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) is often used as a temporary storage means, the temporary storage means can be realized by any device as long as the contents are deleted after each session completed. An example of a temporary storage means is shown in
A table is created for each session in the temporary storage means 103. The gateway web server can process a plurality of sessions in parallel. As a result, as is shown in
Next, the HTML generation means 102 of the gateway web server generates an HTML code which includes the names of users C, E and F, who are in an acquaintance relationship with user A in the web server X and which are stored in the temporary storage means 103 in step S1204 described above, and the sending and receiving means 101 sends the code to the information terminal of user A via the network 191. In the information terminal of user A, the sending and receiving means 111 receives the code and after the code is analyzed by the HTML analysis means 112, the image shown in
First, the acquaintance list 1410 of web service X is explained. A list of the names of users C, E and F, who are in an acquaintance relationship with user A, is displayed in the acquaintance list 1410 of web service X. In
The external service list window 1420 displayed in the web browser 1400 is explained while referring to
User A moves a cursor 1430 displayed on the GUI display means 113 via the input/output means 114 of user A's information terminal, aligns the cursor with the button 1421 for linking with the web service Y and selects web service Y by pressing a button included in the input/output means 114 (step S1206). Then, the sending and receiving means 111 of user A's information terminal sends an identification request of user A in the web service Y to the gateway web server 100 via the network 119. Furthermore, the sending and receiving means 101 of the gateway web server forwards the request after receiving it and sends it to the server 160 of the web service Y via the network 192. Here, the screen of the web browser 1400 in the information terminal of user A is redirected to the server of the web service Y from the gateway web server 100 (step S1207). When the sending and receiving means 161 of the web service Y receives the identification request described above, the HTML generation means 165 generates an HTML code of an input screen for authenticating that the information terminal 110 of user A belongs to user A who holds the identification tag IDya. The sending and receiving means 161 sends the HTML code to the information terminal 110 of user A via the network 192 and the network 191. This HTML code is sent to the HTML analysis means via the sending and receiving means 111 of user A, is analyzed and then displayed by the GUI display means 113 (step S1208).
Here, the identification tag and password of user A which is input are sent to the server 160 of web service Y via the sending and receiving means 111, the network 191 and the network 192 together with an authentication request (step S1209). When the sending and receiving means 161 receives these, it sends them to the authentication means 163. The authentication means 163 searches the authentication table 903 in the database Y 162 for the received identification tag IDya, which is input, as a search key and, after obtaining password information associated with IDya, detects whether it matches the password received in step S1209. The example shown here is explained using authentication via an identification tag and a password. However, any method is sufficient as long as it can confirm that the authentication request in step S1209 is performed by user A themselves or the request comes from the terminal 110 of user A.
If a match of the password described above is detected, a social graph 902 of the database Y 162 is search next using the authenticated identification tag IDya of user A as a search key. Referring to
Next, the sending and receiving means 101 of the gateway web server receives this information and stores it in a table of session n in the temporary storage means 103 (step S1211). As already explained, the temporary storage means 103 is a means for temporary storage for each session of an acquaintance relationship expansion service and when each session is completed the information is deleted.
The table 1301 of this session n in the temporary storage means 102 of the gateway web server at the stage where step S1211 is completed is shown in
Next, a process of storing the fact that the identification tag IDxa in web service X and the identification tag IDya are both held by the user A in an encryption identification tag server 170 using the method of the present invention is explained with reference to the flow chart in
The sending and receiving means 101 of the gateway web server receives new UIDa, and UIDa is stored in the empty UID column 1600 in the table 1301 of the session n of the temporary storage means 103 (step S1703). Next, the encryption key generation means 108 of the gateway web server generates an encryption key for the UIDa, that is, an encryption key Ka for user A (step S1704). Next, the sending and receiving means 101 sends UIDa and Ka to the server 150 of the web service X and the server 160 of the web service Y via the network 192 (step S1705). Sending and receiving means 151 receives UIDa and Ka in the server of the web service X, and stores them in the identification tag table in database X (step S1706). Referring to
Next, the encryption means 105 encrypts with the encryption key Ka generated in step S1704 described above in the state where IDxa 1601 stored in the table 1301 of the session n of the temporary storage means and X which illustrates that this is an identification tag of web service X are associated and IDya 1602 and Y which illustrates that this is an identification tag of web service Y are associated (step S1707). Here, encrypted information is denotated as Eka (IDxa-X, IDya-Y). Next, sending and receiving means 101 sends UIDa and Eka (IDxa-X, IDya-Y) to the encryption identification tag table 170 via the network 192. The sending and receiving means 501 of the encryption identification tag server receives it, adds it to a new row in the encryption identification tag table 502 and associates UIDa 1811 and Eka (IDxa-X, IDya-Y) 1812 and stores them (step S1708).
In the example of the present embodiment, UIDb of user B and encryption key Kb are stored in the identification tag table 901 of the server of web service X and the identification tag table 901 of the server of web service Y, from before session n begins. This is a result of user B using an acquaintance relationship expansion service in the web service X or web service Y which is used before session n begins, the same processes up to step S1706 and a process equivalent to
Next, processes in the acquaintance relationship expansion service of web service X used by user A which uses the gateway web service 100 is explained with reference to the flowchart in
The image displayed in the GUI display means 113 of user A's information terminal is shown in
Next, user A moves the cursor 1430 displayed in GUI display means 113 by operating the input means 114, aligns the cursor with the Add button 2025, presses the button included in the input means 114, and by selecting the Add button 2025, the following two processes are performed. At this time, instead of pressing the Add button 2025, the user aligns the cursor 1430 with the displayed object 2021 shown as nikki in web browser 1400, and while selecting by pressing the button included in the input means moves the cursor 1430 within the acquaintance list window 1410 of web service X, releases the selection, and the following two processes are also performed even if an operation of so called drag and drop is performed (step S1903). This operation is where user A requests an acquaintance relationship with user B, who until this point existed in an acquaintance relationship only in the web service Y, also in the web service X. In embodiment one, user B is a user of web service X and already holds the identification tag IDxb. However, user A does not know this.
The following two processes are performed. The first process is for a change in display in the GUI display means 113 of user A's information terminal. The second process is for requesting acceptance from user B of becoming an acquaintance of user A also in web service X.
First, the first process is explained. Information that the Add button 2025 has been pressed and that a drag and drop has been performed is sent to the gateway web server 100 via the network 192 by the sending and receiving means 111. When sending and receiving means 101 receives this information, HTML generation means 102 generates a new HTML code for displaying a screen as shown in
In the screen shown in
Next, the second process is explained. Information that the Add button has been pressed and that adrag and drop has been performed in step S1903 is sent to the gateway web server 100 via the network 192 by the sending and receiving means 111. When sending and receiving means 101 of the gateway web server receives this information, the search means 107 searches for the UID and encryption key of user B who has the identification tag IDyb 1614, referring to
In the encryption identification tag server, the sending and receiving means 501 receives this request and search means 504 searches the encryption identification table for the received UIDb as a search key. By referring to
Next, the sending and receiving means 101 sends a message sending request which includes IDxb obtained in step S1907 by the gateway web server 100 and IDxa1601 which is in the table 1301 of session n, to the web service Y via the network 192 (step S1908). Here, the message which is requested is for user A to request an acquaintance relationship in the web service X with user B. Next, the sending and receiving means 151 of web service X receives the message request and stores it in storage means 157 (step S1909).
Here, if user A terminates an acquaintance relationship expansion service of web service X (step S1910), the access from the web browser of user A is redirected to the server 150 of web service X (step S1911), the table 1301 of the session n which is in the temporary storage means 103 of the gateway web server is deleted (step S1912) and the session n is terminated.
Next, a process of the server of web service X following receipt of the message request from user A to user B is explained with reference to the flowchart in
User B logs in to web service X (step S2201). Next, the message generation means 156 of the server in web service X generates a message for requesting an acquaintance relationship on web service X with user A as the sender and user B as the receiver. As the sender and receiver, which is generated at this time, the identification tags IDxa and IDxb, which are stored in step 1909, are used. The message generated here is converted to an HTML code by the HTML generation means 155. The sending and receiving means 151 sends this HTML code to the information terminal 120 of user B via the networks 192 and 191 (step S2202).
Next, when the sending and receiving means 121 in the information terminal of user B receives the HTML code, the image shown in
When the sending and receiving means 151 of the server of the web service X receives the information, an acceptance notification is stored in the storage means 157. At this point, if user A is logging in to web service X, the process proceeds to the next step S2206. If user A is not logging into web service X, the process proceeds to step S2206 when user A next logs in.
The HTML generation means 155 of the server of the web service X generates an HTML code of the image shown in
As is shown in
Furthermore, in the encryption in the present embodiment, one symmetric secret key is used for each user, a non-symmetric key may also be used. In addition, in the present embodiment, while different key is used for each user, a common encryption key is used for each web service. However, a different encryption key may be used for each use and each web service. In addition, in the present embodiment after user A receives the authentication from the server of web service Y, the gateway web server generates the UID of user A in step S1702. However, user A's UID may be generated at the point where it is know that a UID does not exist after step S1203 in which user A obtains an identification tag, identification tag of an acquaintance and attached information form the server of web service X. Also, in the present embodiment, a common web server was used for web service X and web service Y. However, different gateway web server may be used for each web service.
In the first embodiment explained above, user B is a user of web service Y and also a user of web server X from before session n begins. That is, both IDxb and IDyb exist in the identification tag table 601 in the server of web service X shown in
In the second embodiment, the process is explained starting from step S1910 described above with reference to the flowchart shown in
Referring to
The following two processes are performed using the operation described above. The first process is for a change in display in the GUI display means 113 of user A's information terminal. The second process is for requesting acceptance from user D of becoming an acquaintance of user A also in web service X.
First, the first process is explained. Information that the Add button 2021 has been pressed and that a drag and drop has been performed is sent to the gateway web server 100 via the network 191 by the sending and receiving means 111. When the sending and receiving means 101 receives this information, the HTML generation means 102 generates a new HTML code for displaying a screen as shown in
In the screen shown in
Next, the second process is explained. Information that the Add button has been pressed and that a drag and drop has been performed in step S2501 is sent to the gateway web server 100 via the network 191 by the sending and receiving means 111. When sending and receiving means 101 of the gateway web server receives this information, the search means 107 searches for the UID and encryption key of user D, by, referring to
In the encryption identification tag server 170, the sending and receiving means 501 receives this request and search means 504 searches the encryption identification table for the received UIDd as a search key. By referring to
In the case of embodiment two, because user D is not a user of web service X, a message requesting an acquaintance relationship with user A in web service X cannot be sent to user D via web service X. As a result, this message is sent to user D via web service Y. Next, referring to
In the example shown here, user A terminates the acquaintance relationship expansion service at this point. As a result, the access from the web browser of user A is redirected to the server 150 of web service X (step S2510), the table 1301 of session n which is in the temporary storage means of the gateway web server is deleted (step S2511) and session n is terminated.
Following this, user B logs in to web service Y (step S2701). Next, the message generation means 166 of the server of web service Y generates a message for requesting an acquaintance relationship in web service X with user A as the sender and user D as the receiver. As the sender and receiver generated at this time, identification tags IDya and IDya, which are stored in step 2509, are used. The message generated here is converted to an HTML code by the HTML generation means 165. The sending and receiving means 161 sends this HTML code to the information terminal 130 of user D via the networks 192 and 191 (step S2702).
Next, when the sending and receiving means 131 in the information terminal of user D receives the HTML code, the image shown in
At this time, if user D is a user of web service X, the server 150 of web service X generates an HTML code which generates a screen for creating a new account for user D, and sends the code to the information terminal of user D (step S2705). In the case where user D is a new user of web service X, a new row is added to both the identification tag table 601 of the identification tag database 152 of the server in web service X, and the social graph table 602. When user D logs in to web service X, at this point, user D's identification tag IDxd is added for the identification tag database 152 of the server in web service X, and the social graph table 602 to the column of an identification tag of a person in an acquaintance relationship in service X in the row for identification tag IDxa711 of server X. In addition, user A's identification tag IDxa is added to the column of an identification tag of a person in an acquaintance relationship in service X at the row of IDxd of the social graph table 602. With these processes, user A and user D become new acquaintances with each other in web service X (step S2707).
Furthermore, web service Y may be an electronic mail service in both embodiment one described above and embodiment two. In this case, the identification tags of each user in web service Y become the electronic mail addresses of each user. In addition, the server of web service Y is a mail server and a HTML code is not sent to the information terminals of each user from the server but a code which is based on POP (Post Office Protocol) or IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol).
Next, the operational effects of the present invention are explained. A method, a system, a server device and an information terminals of the present invention have the following merits.
First, the merits for a web service user are explained. A user of a web service can extend their acquaintance relationships over various web services. For example, suppose web service X is a chat service and web service Y is an SNS service. For example, suppose user A has a potential request to chat with user B who is an acquaintance in an SNS service. In a conventional system where each web service is completely independent, this potential request is inevitably apparent to everyone. However, a method, a system, a server device and an information terminal of the present invention, for example, using the user interface shown in
Next, the merits for a provider of web services are explained. It is possible to divide the merits of the present invention for a web service provider into two categories. The first merit for a web service provider lies in encouragement of a web service by an existing user. This merit is largely related to embodiment one. For example, acquaintances of a user in web service X increase using a method, a system, a server device and an information terminals of the present invention compared to web service X in a conventional system. If acquaintances increase in the web service X, the possibility that user A will use web service X more frequently is higher. Generally, the profit of a web service provider tends to increase with an increase in frequency of use by a user. Therefore, it is possible to increase a web service provider's profit by using a method, a system, a server device and an information terminals of the present invention.
The second merit for a web service provider is that it is possible to increase the number of new users. This merit is largely related to embodiment two. In embodiment one, user D was not a user of web service X. However, when user D receives an invitation message to join web service X as is shown in
In the case where a conventional system is used, if information in the identification tag table 601 and the social graph table 602 of web service X and the identification tag table 901 and the social graph table 902 of web service Y is exchanged between servers, it is possible to realize the merits for users and web service providers. In addition, it could be possible for the provider of web server X to realize the above described merits and merits of a user by gathering information of each table in a third server managed by a third party who is not the provider of web service Y. However, the information related to users or information of acquaintance relationships between users stored in each table is often the source of value for web service providers and therefore passing this information to other web service providers or third parties is often not permitted.
In a method, a system, a server device and an information terminals of the present invention, it is possible to send information about users of each web service provider or information about the acquaintance relationships between users to another web service provider or third party without the information being stored and realize merits for both users and the web service providers. This is explained in detail below.
It is already explained that embodiment one and embodiment two realize merits for both users and web service providers. In order to realize these merits, the information related to users stored in a server X of web service X is the identification table 601 shown in
In a method, a system, a server device and an information terminal of the present invention, it is the encryption identification tag server 170 which stores associations of identification tags in a plurality of web services. For example, suppose the encryption identification tag server 170 is neither managed by a provider of the web service X nor a provider of the web service Y but is managed by a third provider. Referring to
Identification tags or acquaintance relationships of a user of each service shown in
As described above, despite it being possible to mutually use acquaintance relationships in a plurality of web services using the present invention, it is not necessary to provide identification tags, attached information and acquaintance relationships of users stored in the servers of each web service to the server of another service.
This application is a U.S. continuation application filed under 35 USC 111(a) claiming benefit under 35 USC 120 and 365(c) of PCT application JP2009/057702, filed on Apr. 16, 2009, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/JP2009/057702 | Apr 2009 | US |
| Child | 13274451 | US |
