[DESCRIPTION]

[invention Title]

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR EXTRACTING KEYWORD DATA

[Technical Field]

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for extracting keyword data that a user is interested in, based on the operation of an input device such as a mouse in an information device like a personal computer.

[Background Art]

In the recent information-oriented society, various kinds of information devices have been widely used. Such information devices include personal computers, cellular phones, personal digital assistants (PDA) and the like. Especially, with the spread of Internet, as a web browser function is added to all of the information devices, and thus users can use the Internet during movement. Moreover, the spread of such information devices promotes the use of the Internet more and more, and thus the Internet is spread more rapidly.

The Internet has brought about many changes in various fields of our society. The most noticeable change is the popularity of information. In the past, the information was

regarded as an exclusive possession of a specific unit or group, and it was difficult for the general public to access the information. However, since a variety of information has been provided through a medium such as the Internet, ordinary people could obtain information that they want to share.

Meanwhile, as the amount of information that the ordinary people can access is increased enormously, instruments with which the users can effectively search for the information that they want are required. Most information searches are carried out by inputting a keyword using an input device such as a keyboard or by clicking a desired information item using a mouse.

However, since the above search method is carried out based on an intentional action of the user, it is difficult to obtain accurate information when the user does not have an appropriate keyword for the information that he or she wants

Moreover, since the above search method is carried out based on the operation that the user inputs the keyword, it is difficult for the user to input a desired keyword in case of a small-sized information device that does not include appropriate means for inputting the keyword such as a keyboard. Accordingly, an instrument, with which the keyword

that the user wants is appropriately determined and supplied to the user, is required.

Moreover, with the explosive increase in the use of the Internet, various advertising and marketing methods using the Internet have been developed and used. Most of such methods analyze interest fields of the users based on the keywords that the users input through the information devices and utilize the same in the advertisement and marketing . However, as described above, since the keywords that the users input are based on the intentional actions of the users, there are limitations in analyzing the content that the users are internally interested in.

[Disclosure]

[Technical Problem]

The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for appropriately extracting a keyword that a user wants or is interested in and providing the same through a behavior analysis of the user that uses an information device .

[Technical Solution]

In one aspect, the present invention provides a method for extracting keyword data, applied to an information

device including a main body, a display, and a user input device inputting coordinate values (x,y), wherein the main body includes a web browser and an operation system (OS) providing an application program interface (API), the method comprising the steps of: extracting specific region information on the display based on a series of coordinate values (x,y) input from the user input device; collecting text data corresponding to the region information; and extracting keyword data from the text data collected in the step of collecting text data.

Preferably, the step of extracting the specific region information may comprise the steps of: storing a series of coordinate values (x,y) input from the user input device; detecting whether the input of coordinate values (x,y) from the user input device is stopped for a predetermined period of time; and calculating, if the input of coordinate values is stopped for a predetermined period of time, region information including the previous movement track of the input device based on the coordinate values stored in the step of storing the coordinate values.

The step of collecting the text data may be carried out through a text output API .

The method of the present invention may further comprise the step of transmitting the collected keyword data to an external device.

In another aspect, the present invention provides an apparatus for extracting keyword data, applied to an information device including a main body, a display, and a user input device inputting coordinate values (x,y), wherein the main body includes a web browser and an operation system (OS) providing an application program interface (API), the apparatus comprising: an input monitoring module for extracting specific region information on the display based on a series of coordinate values (x,y) input from the user input device; a text data collecting module for collecting text data displayed on the specific region information through the OS; and a keyword data extracting module for extracting keyword data from the text data collected by the text data collecting module. The input monitoring module may extract region information based on the previous moA/ement track of the user input device in a case where the input of coordinate values (x,y) from the user input device is stopped for a predetermined period of time. The text data collecting module may collect the text data through a text output API .

The keyword data extracting module may further comprise a communication module for transmitting a keyword extracted by the keyword data extracting module to an external device.

In the above configuration, the information that the user wants is determined based on the movement of the user input device, and the keyword for the field or information that the user is interested in is extracted based on the same. Accordingly, it is possible to provide the user with an accurate keyword even in the case where the user does not have an appropriate keyword.

Moreover, in the above configuration, an appropriate keyword is extracted based on the movement of the user input device. Accordingly, the present invention may be effectively applied to a terminal that does not include appropriate keyword input means such as a keyboard like a portable information device.

Furthermore, it is possible to extract a keyword with respect to the field that the user is interested in based on an involuntary action, differently from the intentional keyword input operation by the user.

[Description of Drawings] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an information device to which the present invention is applied;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a keyword data extracting apparatus in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention; and

FIGS. 3A and 3B are diagrams illustrating a method in which an input monitoring module 131 of FIG. 2 determines a text region at which a user gazes in a display screen.

[Mode for Invention]

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments in accordance with the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings . The preferred embodiments are provided so that those skilled in the art can sufficiently understand the present invention, but can be modified in various forms and the scope of the present invention is not limited to the preferred embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an information device to which the present invention is applied.

In FIG. 1, an information device includes a main body 10, an input device 20 and a display 30. Here, the information device is exemplified by a personal computer, a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA) , and the like.

The main body 10 of the information device includes an operation system (OS) 11 for driving the device and a web browser 12 for accessing the Internet like an ordinary one, and a keyword data extracting apparatus 13 in accordance with the present invention. The OS 11, the web browser 12

and the keyword data extracting apparatus 13 are implemented in software.

As the OS 11, Windows of Microsoft Corporation, for example, may be used. As the web browser 12, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Netscape, Opera, Safaris, etc. may be used. Of course, the present invention is not limited to specific OS and web browser.

As the input device 20, a device for inputting information to the information device, such as a keyboard, a mouse, and a touch screen, may be used. In the present invention, a mouse or a touch screen is employed as the input device 20. Here, a description will be given to the case where the mouse is used as the input device 20.

The display 30 is a device for outputting information provided as visible data to a user.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the keyword data extracting apparatus 13.

The keyword data extracting apparatus 13 includes an input monitoring module 131, a text data collecting module 132, a keyword data extracting module 133, and a communication module 134.

The input monitoring module 131 detects the movement of a mouse cursor on the display 30 and extracts text region information that the user is interested in displayed on the display 30 based on the detected result.

A mouse is used as the input device 20 included in the information device such as a personal computer. During a web surfing, the user moves the mouse to select an information item that he or she wants, thus collecting desired information on the display 30 by repeating the selection process. Accordingly, the mouse cursor is moved along the text region at which the user is gazing.

When the user moves the input device 20, i.e., the mouse, coordinate values (x,y) corresponding to the movement are provided from the input device 20 to the OS 11. Then, the OS 11 moves the mouse cursor on the display 30 based on the input coordinate values (x,y).

The input monitoring module 131 is provided with the coordinate data (x,y) according to the movement of the mouse from the OS 11 by a process of hooking an application program interface (API), for example. Moreover, the input monitoring module 131 stores a serious of coordinate data (x,y) provided from the OS 11 continuously as much as an amount corresponding to a predetermined time. In the case where the movement of the mouse is stopped for a predetermined period of time, for example, for more than 3 seconds, that is, in the case where the coordinate data (x,y) continuously provided from the OS 11 are not input for a predetermined period of time, the input monitoring module 131 determines that the user is gazing at

an interesting item on the display 30. Then, the input monitoring module 131 calculates the track of the mouse based on the previous coordinate data (x,y) and determines the text region that the user is interested in, i.e., the display region, based on the calculated result.

FIGS. 3A and 3B are diagrams illustrating a method in which the input monitoring module 131 determines the text region at which the user gazes in a display screen.

In the figures, reference numerals 31 and 32 shown with arrows represent mouse tracks. FIG. 3A shows the case where the mouse is stopped after the user moves the mouse in the horizontal direction along a text line that user is interested in, and FIG. 3B shows the case where the mouse is rotated with respect to the text that the user is interested in.

As shown in FIG. 3A, in the case where the mouse track is moved along the horizontal direction of the display screen, it is determined that the user gazed at the content described in a specific text line with interest. Accordingly, the input monitoring module 131 determines a rectangular text region 31A, as shown in dotted lines, based on coordinate values (x,y) calculated by adding and subtracting a predetermined value y to and from coordinate values (x,y) corresponding to the mouse track. As shown in FTG. 3B, in the case the mouse track forms

an oval shape that surrounds a predetermined region, it is determined that the user gazed at the content described in the region included in the corresponding mouse track with interest. Accordingly, the input monitoring module 131 determines a square text region 32A based on coordinate values calculated by adding a predetermined value to and from coordinate values (x,y) that the x coordinate value of the coordinate values (x,y) corresponding to the mouse track has the maximum and minimum values and based on coordinate values calculated by adding a predetermined value to and from coordinate values (x,y) that the y coordinate value of the coordinate values (x,y) corresponding to the mouse track has the maximum and minimum values .

The coordinate values (x,y) corresponding to the text region determined by the above-described method, i.e., the coordinate values (x,y) corresponding to points of Al to A4 in FIG. 3B, are provided to the text data collecting module 132.

The text data collecting module 132 collects text data corresponding to the coordinate values (x,y) provided from the input monitoring module 131 using a text output API such as DrawText, for example, of the OS 11. That is, when receiving the coordinate values (x,y) from the input monitoring module 131, the text data collecting module 132 supplies renewal information for regenerating the text

corresponding to the coordinate region to the web browser 12

When receiving the text renewal information from the OS 11, the web browser 12 provides the corresponding text information to the OS 11 to display the text corresponding to the coordinate values. In this case, the OS 11 supplies the text information provided from the web browser 12 to the text data collecting module 132, and then the text data collecting module 132 transmits the collected text Information to the keyword data extracting module 133. The keyword data extracting module 133 extracts a keyword from the text information provided from the text data collecting module 132. In other words, the keyword data extracting module 133 selects a word having a high frequency of occurrence as a keyword from the texts collected by the text data collecting module 132. Moreover, the keyword data extracting module 133 may transmit the selected word having a high frequency of occurrence to an information managing server, not depicted, and receive an optimal keyword corresponding to the transmitted word from the information managing server.

The keyword data selected as described above may be provided to the information managing server through the communication module 134, if necessary.

In the above preferred embodiment of the present invention, the information that the user wants is determined

based on the mouse movement by the user, and the keyword for the field or information that the user is interested in is extracted based on the same.

Accordingly, it is possible to provide the user with an accurate keyword even in the case where the user does not have an appropriate keyword.

Moreover, in the above preferred embodiment of the present invention, an appropriate keyword is extracted based on the mouse movement by the user. Accordingly, the present invention may be effectively applied to a terminal that does not include appropriate keyword input means such as a keyboard like a portable information device.

Furthermore, it is possible to extract a keyword with respect to the field that the user is interested in based on an involuntary action, differently from the intentional keyword input operation by the user.

Accordingly, the present invention can be effectively used in the marketing field in which the interesting field of the user is identified and advertising information is provided to the user based on the same.

The invention has been described in detail with reference to preferred embodiments thereof. However, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which

is defined in the appended claims and their equivalents.

[industrial Applicability]

As described above, the present invention can be effectively applied to a portable information device that does not include character input means such as a keyboard. Moreover, the present invention can be effectively used in the marketing field in which the interesting field of the user is identified and advertising information is supplied to the user based on the same.