JP2000242663A - Information provision system and information provision method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide information matched with the preference of a user individual. SOLUTION: The utilization frequency data preparation part 16 of a server 1 forms utilization frequency data for indicating the utilization frequency for each of contents of each user based on contents identification information and user identification information stored in a utilization history storage part 15. A score calculation part 17 arranges each of the users and each of the contents inside an information space based on the similarity based on the utilization frequency data. A contents selection part 18 selects the contents provided with a score whose difference from the score is small based on the calculated result of the score calculation part 17. Then, a control part 19 reads the contents identification information corresponding to the contents selected by the contents selection part 18 and the attribute information of the contents from a contents attribute storage part 13 and controls transmission to the side of terminal equipment 2.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an information providing system and an information providing method suitable for application to a network information providing system in the Internet, personal computer communication, and the like, and more particularly to an information providing method suitable for a user's interests and preferences. And a method for providing information.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, with the spread of the Internet and personal computer communication (personal computer communication), information can be transmitted to a large number of users via a network such as an information providing service using the Internet WWW (World Wide Web). The services provided are widely performed.
However, the amount of information available to network users is increasing, and it is becoming difficult to search for necessary information from many pieces of information. Therefore, it is required to select and present only appropriate information suitable for the user's preference from many pieces of information.

On the other hand, conventionally, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-1
In the Japanese Patent Publication No. 90443, a large number of users who use information evaluate each piece of information, calculate the similarity between users based on the evaluation information, and use the information having a high similarity with the searcher. An information search method that preferentially provides information highly evaluated by a user has been proposed. In this information search method, it is also possible to perform detailed control by designating the age, gender, and occupation of the user used for similarity calculation.

[0004]

However, in order for the above-mentioned conventional information retrieval system to operate effectively, the user evaluates each piece of information in advance and stores them in the "user evaluation information storage". It is necessary to accumulate in "means". That is, each time the user uses the information, it is necessary to evaluate the information in stages, such as evaluating the information in five stages. For this reason, there has been a problem that this evaluation work burdens the user. Also, since the correlation coefficient between two users is used to determine the degree of similarity between users, if only a few people have evaluated the same information as the information evaluated by the searcher, the similarity There was a problem that the accuracy of the degree was reduced and an effective search could not be performed.

[0005] In addition, although the user's preference changes with time, the conventional information retrieval method does not use the time information of when the user has made an evaluation. It has been difficult to provide information that matches the tastes of the children.

Further, when information such as books, music, movies, etc. is provided, it is required to provide the latest information as quickly as possible. In the conventional information search method, the user needs the latest information as a search condition. It is difficult to give the user the latest information preferentially unless the user explicitly designates the information.

[0007] The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and enables a user to accurately grasp a user's preference without performing an evaluation operation on information. It is an object of the present invention to provide an information providing system and an information providing method capable of providing the latest information corresponding to the information.

[0008]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information providing system in which a server for providing contents and a terminal device of a user are connected via a network. As means for solving the above-mentioned problems, the server stores content attribute information together with content identification information for identifying the content, and content identification information indicating the content used by the user. A use history storage unit for storing user identification information of a user who has used the content; and a content identification information stored in the use history storage unit and a content of each user, based on the user identification information. And use frequency information forming means for forming use frequency information indicating the use frequency of the information. A score calculating means for calculating a score for arranging each user and each content in the information space based on the similarity, based on the use frequency information formed by the use frequency information forming means, together with each of these means; Content selection means for selecting, for each user, content highly similar to the user based on the calculation result of the score calculation means; and content identification information corresponding to the content selected by the content selection means And transmission means for reading attribute information of the content from the content attribute storage means and transmitting the attribute information to the terminal device side.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the information providing system according to the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the use history storing means stores a use date and time when the content is used, and The information forming means changes the weighting factor used when calculating the usage frequency according to the time difference between the current date and time and the content usage date and time.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the content attribute storage means may store the production date and time when the content was produced or the content in the server. The content selection means is used when the content is selected according to the time difference between the current date and time and the production date and time, or according to the time difference between the current date and time and the registration date and time. Change the weighting factor in the formula.

Next, an information providing method according to the present invention is an information providing method for providing contents from a server to a user terminal device via a network, and solves the above-mentioned problem. Means for storing attribute information of the content together with content identification information for identifying the content, and content identification information indicating the content used by the user, and user identification information of the user who has used the content. And the step of forming usage frequency information indicating the usage frequency of each user for each content based on the content identification information and the user identification information stored in the step. Further, together with each of these steps, a step of calculating a score for arranging each user and each content in the information space based on the similarity based on the use frequency information formed in the step, A step of selecting, for each user, content having a high similarity to the user based on the calculation result; reading out content identification information and content attribute information corresponding to the content selected in the step; Transmitting to the terminal device side.

[0012] Such an information providing system and information providing method calculate the similarity between a user and a content using the usage history of the user. For this reason, it is possible to omit a troublesome operation such as a conventional user's evaluation of contents, and it is possible to improve convenience.

Further, since the similarity between the user and the content is calculated including the data of other users who do not use the same content, it is possible to more accurately grasp the user's preference. Further, since the similarity between the user and the content is calculated by changing the weight coefficient using the date and time when the user used the information, it is possible to reflect the latest preference of the user.

Further, when selecting information, the date and time when the information was created and registered is used, so that new information having high value for the user can be easily provided.

[0015]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of an information providing system and an information providing method according to the present invention will be described.
This will be described with reference to the drawings. The present invention can be applied to an information providing system as shown in FIG.

[Configuration of Embodiment] FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of an information providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As can be seen from FIG. The content providing server 1 is connected to a user terminal device 2 via a network 3 such as a LAN, a telephone network, and a dedicated line.

The server 1 includes a transmission / reception unit 11 for controlling the network 3, a content storage unit 12 for storing data in a data format such as text, audio, still image, and video, and a content ID for identifying each content. , Title, registration date, etc., a content attribute storage unit 13 for storing user IDs and passwords of users, a user attribute storage unit 14 for storing user IDs and passwords, and content IDs of used contents. And a use history storage unit for recording and storing the user ID of the user who has used it.

The server 1 includes a usage history storage 1
Usage frequency data creation unit 16 for creating data representing the usage frequency of each user for each content based on the data of No. 5
And a score calculation unit 17 that calculates a score for arranging each user and each content in the information space based on the similarity using the usage frequency data, and a difference between the score of the user using the terminal device 2 and Has a content selection unit 18 for selecting a content having a small score, and a control unit 19 for controlling the entire server 1 having a timekeeping function.

In FIG. 1, the units 11 to 19 of the server 1 are shown in hardware, but the units 11 to 19 may be realized in software as built-in program processing. Thereby, the server 1
It can be realized by a personal computer, a workstation, or another computer.

The terminal device 2 includes a CPU, a RAM, a ROM,
It is composed of a network control circuit, an input device such as a keyboard and a mouse, and a display device such as a display, and performs a processing operation by a built-in program. A general personal computer can be used as the terminal device 2.

[Operation of the Embodiment] Next, the operation of the information providing system of the embodiment having such a configuration will be described.

[User Registration Operation] In order to receive the information providing service in the information providing system of the embodiment, the user performs user registration on the server 1 side. This user registration is performed according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 2. When performing user registration, the user operates the terminal device 2 in step S1 to, for example, input the user's name and gender. , Address, date of birth and other user attributes are input. The user attribute information indicating the user attribute input by the user is stored in the network 3
Is transmitted to the server 1 through the server.

Under the control of the control unit 19, the server 1 receives the user attribute information transmitted from the user via the transmission / reception unit 11, and supplies this to the user attribute storage unit 14.
In the user attribute storage unit 14, in a format as shown in FIG.
A user attribute table including attributes such as a user ID for uniquely identifying a user, a password, and a name input by the user is provided. After confirming that the user attribute information transmitted from the user is not already stored in the user attribute table in step S2, the control unit 19 creates an unused user ID and a password corresponding thereto. I do. Then, in step S3,
A new entry is assigned to the user attribute storage unit 14, and the user ID thus formed and the formed user ID
And the password are stored in the user attribute table. The control unit 19 transmits the formed user ID and password to the terminal device 2 via the transmission / reception unit 11 together with such storage control.

The user obtains the user ID and password transmitted from the server 1 via the terminal device 2 and thereafter receives an information providing service in the information providing system using the user ID and password. It will be.

[Information Providing Operation] Next, when the user attribute is registered in the server 1 and the user obtains the user ID and the password, the information providing service in the information providing system can be received. Becomes This information providing service is performed in accordance with the flowchart shown in FIG. 4. When receiving the information providing service, in step S11, the user operates the terminal device 2 to obtain the acquired user ID and password. Make the input. The terminal device 2 transmits the user ID and the password input by the user to the server 1.

The control unit 19 of the server 1 sends the user ID
The password is received via the transmission / reception unit 11 and compared with the user ID and password registered in the user attribute table of the user attribute storage unit 14 in step S12. And only when a match between them is detected,
An information providing service described below is provided. If they do not match, an error code is returned to the terminal device 2 side. As a result, the user notices an input error of the user ID and the password, etc.
Alternatively, a password is input.

Next, the control unit 19 of the server 1 compares the user ID and password transmitted from the user with the user ID and password registered in the user attribute table of the user attribute storage unit 14. If a match is detected, a content menu is created individually for the user in step S13 and transmitted to the user.

[Content Menu Creation Operation] Specifically, this content menu is created according to the flowchart shown in FIG. This flowchart is different from the control unit 19 in step S13.
Starts by detecting the coincidence between the two, and the process proceeds to step S21.

(Operation of Creating Usage Frequency Data) Step S
At 21, the usage frequency data creation unit 16 shown in FIG. 1 creates usage frequency data A in a matrix format as described below. Hereinafter, the number of users stored in the usage history storage unit 15 is M, and the number of contents is N.

That is, the usage frequency data creation unit 16
The user ID of the user i (i = 1 to M) is Ui, the content ID of the content j (j = 1 to N) is Cj, and the user ID is Ui from the table of the usage history storage unit 15.
Then, by counting the number of records having the content ID Cj, the number of times the user i has used the content j is detected.

More specifically, it is assumed that the user i has used the content j L times, and the use date and time is set to Tk (k
= 1 to L), and when the current date and time is Tc, the usage frequency data creation unit 16 uses the following expression (1) to calculate the usage frequency a
ij (i = 1 to M, j = 1 to N) are calculated.

[0032]

(Equation 1) Here, the function f (x) shown in the equation (1) is a weight function having a characteristic that the output decreases as the input x increases as shown in FIG. Therefore, for example, when the content j is used the day before, the same content j was used one year ago.
The value of the frequency of use of the content j is higher than in the case of using. The use frequency data creating unit 16 creates the use frequency data A of the matrix of M rows and N columns using the use frequency aij as an element in this manner. When the use frequency data A is created, the server 1 proceeds to step S22.

(Score Calculation Operation) Next, step S2
In 2, the score calculation unit 17 shown in FIG. 1 calculates a score for arranging each user and each content in the information space based on their similarity, and proceeds to step S23.

More specifically, the score calculation unit 17 can obtain the usage frequency data A by applying, for example, three types of quantification, which is a method of multivariate analysis. Quantification type 3 is described in detail in, for example, "Quantification" (by Tomio Hayashi, Asakura Shoten), and is omitted here.
When this is applied, the sample score X for each user
iq (i = 1 to M, q = 1 to Q), and category scores Yjq (j = 1 to N, q = 1 to Q) are obtained for each content.
The constant Q is the number of valid components, where Q <min (M, N). The sample score Xiq and the category score Yjq are quantities calculated under the condition that the correlation between the user and the content is maximized in the usage frequency data A.

For example, if there are three users i = 1, 2, 3 and their category scores are X1q, X2q, X3q, the difference (distance) between X1q and X2q is small, and the difference between X1q and X3q If (distance) is large, user 1 and user 2 have a high degree of similarity in the preference for the content, and user 1 and user 3
Can be determined to have low similarity. The same holds for the category score Yjq.

When comparing the similarity between users according to the conventional method and the sample score Xiq, the conventional method calculates the similarity using only data of a person who has used (evaluated) the same content. Therefore, when the number of people who use (evaluate) the same content is small, the similarity is calculated using data of a small number of people, and the accuracy of the similarity is reduced. On the other hand, in the present invention, the similarity is calculated using data of a large number of people including users who do not use (evaluate) the same content. Therefore, even in such a case, the accuracy may not decrease. Absent.

In the present embodiment, the quantification type 3 is applied to the score calculation. However, other statistical methods which can obtain similar results may be used.

(Operation for Calculating Average Value of Category Score) Next, when the process proceeds to step S23, the score calculation unit 17 calculates the average value of the category score of the content used by the user i based on the following equation (2). Calculate Ziq and step S
Proceed to 24.

[0039]

(Equation 2) It should be noted that δij shown in the equation (2) is δij = 1 when the user i uses the content j, and δij =
It becomes 0.

(Operation for calculating distance between user and content)
Next, when the average value of the category scores is calculated in this way, in step S24, the content selection unit 1
8 calculates the distance Dij between the user i and the content j based on the following equation (3).

[0041]

(Equation 3) In the equation (3), Tc indicates the current date and time, and Tj indicates the registration date and time of the content j. Further, g (x) indicates a weight function having a characteristic that the output decreases as the input x increases, as shown in FIG. Therefore, when the other conditions are the same, the distance registered on the previous day is smaller than the content registered one year ago. Then, the smaller the distance Dij is, the higher the similarity of the content j of the user i is, and it can be considered that the user is interested in the content j.

The equation for calculating the distance Dij can be expressed by equation (3), but is not limited thereto.

(Content Selection Operation) Next, when the distance between the user and the content is calculated in this manner, in step S25, the content selection unit 18 sends the content to the user i using the terminal device 2. On the other hand, a maximum of P contents (content IDs) whose Dij is smaller than a predetermined value are sequentially selected from the N contents, a set Rj of these content IDs is formed, and the process proceeds to step S26 (j =
1 to K, K ≦ P, P is a constant smaller than N). If the user does not use the content more than twice, such as download-type content, the content ID set Rj is obtained by excluding the content used by the user in the past.

Here, the content is selected using the distance between the user i and the content j, but may be selected in consideration of the direction of Yjq with reference to Ziq in the information space in addition to the distance.

Next, when a set Rj of content IDs is formed, the content selection unit 18 determines in step S26 whether or not the number of content IDs forming the set Rj is a certain number or more. In this case, the process proceeds to step S27, and if the number is equal to or smaller than the predetermined number, the process proceeds to step S28.

When the process proceeds to step S27 assuming that the number of content IDs forming the set Rj is equal to or more than a certain number, the content selection unit 18 determines the “title”, “author”, “genre”, etc. corresponding to each content ID. Take out from the content attribute table to form a content menu,
This is transmitted to the terminal device 2 and all the routines in the flowchart shown in FIG. 5 are completed. Conversely, when the process proceeds to step S28 assuming that the number of content IDs forming the set Rj is equal to or less than a certain number, the content selection unit 18 forms a standard content menu created in advance, and The data is transmitted to the device 2 and all the routines in the flowchart shown in FIG. 5 are completed. When all the routines in the flowchart shown in FIG. 5 are completed, the information providing system proceeds to step S1 in the flowchart shown in FIG.
It will advance to 4.

[Content Selection Operation by User] Next, in step S14 of the flowchart shown in FIG. 4, the user selects a desired content from the content menu received via the terminal device 2.

That is, in addition to the ID and title of each content, the content menu includes attributes such as the creator, genre, and registration date and time as appropriate. The display of the terminal device 2 is, for example, as shown in FIG. The title, author, genre, etc. are displayed in various display formats. The user selects a desired content from the content menu displayed as described above. As a result, the content ID corresponding to the content selected by the user is transmitted from the terminal device 2 to the server 1.

[Content ID Selected by Server
Next, when the content ID corresponding to the content selected by the user is transmitted from the terminal device 2, in step S15, the control unit 19 of the server 1
Is the user ID together with the transmitted content ID.
And the use date and time are stored in the use history storage unit 15. As a result, a usage history table including attributes such as a content ID, a user ID, and a usage date and time is formed in the usage history storage unit 15 in a format as shown in FIG.

[Transmission Operation of Content Data] Next, the control unit 19 searches for content data corresponding to the received content ID together with such storage control.
A content attribute table is formed in the content attribute storage unit 13 in a format as shown in FIG. 10, and a title, a title,
Attributes such as the author, genre, registration date and time, and the storage location of the content body are stored. Note that the author here is not limited to the person who created the content, but also includes a performer, an editor, a performer, and the like. The registration date and time is the date and time when the content was created or the date and time when the content was registered in the server.

The control unit 19 searches the storage location of the content data main body from the content attribute table based on the content ID transmitted from the user terminal device 2.
The content data main body is stored in the content storage unit 12, and the control unit 19 reads out the content data main body from the searched storage location (from the content storage unit 12) and transmits it to the terminal device 2.

Thus, in step S 16, the user can obtain, via the terminal device 2, audio output or video corresponding to the content data (content selected by the user) transmitted from the server 1.

As is clear from the above description, the information providing system of this embodiment calculates the similarity between the user and the content by using the usage history of the user. For this reason, it is possible to omit a troublesome operation such as a conventional user's evaluation of contents, and it is possible to improve convenience.

Further, since the similarity between the user and the content is calculated by including the data of other users who do not use the same content, the user's preference can be grasped more accurately. Further, since the similarity between the user and the content is calculated by changing the weight coefficient using the date and time when the user used the information, it is possible to reflect the latest preference of the user.

Furthermore, when selecting information, the date and time when the information was created and registered is used, so that new information having high value for the user can be easily provided. Further, since it is possible to provide information that matches such personal preferences, it is possible to promote the use of information by the user.

Finally, the description of the above embodiment is an example of the present invention. For this reason, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment, and various changes can be made in other than this embodiment without departing from the technical idea of the present invention. Of course.

[0057]

According to the information providing system and the information providing method according to the present invention described in claim 1 or 4, it is possible to provide information according to personal preferences of a user. In addition, since the similarity between the user and the content is calculated using the usage history of the user, it is possible to omit troublesome work such as the conventional evaluation of the content by the user, Convenience can be improved. Further, since the similarity between the user and the content is calculated including data that has not been used in the related art, it is possible to more accurately grasp the user's preference.

In the information providing system according to the present invention, the similarity between the user and the content is calculated by changing the weighting factor using the date and time when the user used the information. It is possible to reflect the latest preference of the person.

Further, in the information providing system according to the present invention, when selecting information, the date and time when the information is created and registered is used, so that new information having high value for the user can be easily provided. Can be provided.
Further, since it is possible to provide information that matches such personal preferences, it is possible to promote the use of information by the user.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of an information providing system according to an embodiment to which an information providing system and an information providing method according to the present invention are applied.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing a user registration procedure in the information providing system of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a data format of a user attribute storage unit provided on a server side of the information providing system of the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining an information providing operation of the information providing system of the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an operation of forming a content menu in the information providing system according to the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining a function f (x) for determining a weight coefficient based on a difference between a current date and time and a use date and time.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining a function g (x) for determining a weight coefficient based on a difference between a current date and a registration date and time.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a display example of a content menu displayed on the terminal device side.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a data format of a usage history storage unit provided on the server side of the information providing system of the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing a data format of a provided information storage unit provided on the server side of the information providing system of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Server, 2 ... Terminal device, 3 ... Network, 11 ...
Transmitter / receiver unit 12 Content storage unit 13 Content attribute storage unit 14 User attribute storage unit 15 User history storage unit 16 User frequency data creation unit 17 Score calculation unit 18 Content Selection unit, 19 ... Control unit

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An information providing system in which a server for providing content and a terminal device of a user are connected via a network, wherein the server transmits content attribute information for identifying the content and attribute information of the content. Content attribute storage means for storing, use history storage means for storing user identification information of a user who has used the content together with content identification information indicating content used by the user, and storage in the use history storage means Use frequency information forming means for forming use frequency information representing the use frequency of each user for each content based on the obtained content identification information and user identification information; and the use frequency formed by the use frequency information formation means. Based on information, place each user and each content in the information space based on their similarity Score calculating means for calculating a score to be calculated, content selecting means for selecting, for each user, content having a high similarity to the user, based on the calculation result of the score calculating means, Transmitting means for reading out content identification information and content attribute information corresponding to the content from the content attribute storage means and transmitting the content identification information and the attribute information to the terminal device. 2. The use history storage means stores a use date and time when a content is used, and the use frequency information forming means stores the use frequency in accordance with a time difference between a current date and time and the use date and time of the content. 2. The information providing system according to claim 1, wherein a weighting coefficient used in the calculation is changed. 3. The content attribute storage unit stores a production date and time when the content is produced or a registration date and time when the content is registered in the server, and the content selection unit stores a time difference between a current date and time and the production date and time. 3. The weighting factor of a calculation formula used when selecting content is changed according to a time difference between a current date and time and the registration date and time.
Information providing system described. 4. An information providing method for providing content from a server to a user's terminal device via a network, comprising the steps of: storing content attribute information together with content identification information for identifying the content; Storing the user identification information of the user who used the content together with the content identification information indicating the used content; and, based on the content identification information and the user identification information stored in the step, each user Forming usage frequency information indicating the usage frequency of each content, and arranging each user and each content in the information space based on the similarity based on the usage frequency information formed in the step. And calculating the utilization for each user based on the calculation result in the step. Selecting content having a high similarity with the user, and reading the content identification information and the attribute information of the content corresponding to the content selected in the step and transmitting the read information from the server to the terminal device. Information provision method.