JP2009238111A - Information providing device and information providing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To appropriately estimate the behavioral range of a user, and to effectively provide information relevant to the estimated behavioral range to the user without any waste. <P>SOLUTION: The behavioral range of a user is estimated based on the past behavioral history of the user stored in an information storage server 3, and a printed matter P of provision information acquired by collecting information relevant to the estimated behavioral range of the user is provided to the user. In this case, it is possible for the user to acquire various information relevant to the behavior range of the user by printing having a constitution configured so as to be easily viewable without using any special receiving terminal. In other words, it is possible to effectively provide not only information relevant to the behavioral range of the user but also information which is not known by the user to each user. Also, it is possible to provide the information of the printed matter P to the user as electronic information, and it is possible to prevent print sheets from being consumed without generating any waste by creating the printed matter P. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an information providing apparatus and an information providing method for providing catalog information and the like to a user, and more particularly to efficient and effective information provision based on a user's action range.

  Traditionally, information magazines placed in newspaper inserts, street distribution flyers, or stores called free paper provide catalog information for various products and services to an unspecified number of people (consumers). Therefore, most of the information is unnecessary information that is not of interest to the person who received them. Therefore, there is a lot of waste of resources, production, and distribution, and it cannot be said that it is an efficient means of providing information.

  Therefore, in providing information using the free paper, an image forming apparatus is installed in a store, and a category or information in which the user (user) is interested is selected and a print request is made to the image forming apparatus. The image forming apparatus receives the free paper information of the corresponding information source from the management server, prints it, and provides the printed free paper to the user, so that only those who are interested without wasting paper (resources) Providing free paper has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  Further, the user's preference for the product or service is estimated based on the past service usage result information such as the user's credit card usage statement, and based on the estimation, the preference is given to the user on the web. It has also been proposed to distribute corresponding advertising content (see, for example, Patent Document 2).

JP 2007-94913 A (abstract, paragraphs [0035], [0036], [0048]-[0051], FIG. 1, etc.) JP 2002-108924 A (abstract, paragraphs [0039]-[0041], FIG. 2 etc.)

  In the case of providing information using the free paper described in Patent Document 1, since it is intended for an unspecified number of users, the selected free paper has many parts that are unnecessary for the user. There is also a risk that the information required by will not be obtained. In addition, since the information provided to the user is limited to the information selected by the user himself / herself, even if the information relates to the user's action range, the information is not provided to the user unless the user selects it. There is also.

  In the case of providing the information described in Patent Document 2, the product actually purchased from the credit usage statement or the service received, that is, only the past selection result determines the preference of the user, and the product or service It does not include any information about the range of actions important for knowing the user's selection behavior, such as what products or services the user has selected as a selection candidate during the selection process. There is a possibility that it is not possible to provide information appropriately corresponding to the range of action.

  By the way, when providing this type of information, it is important that the articles of information are easy to see, but such points are not considered at all in the provision of information described in the two patent documents.

  An object of this invention is to estimate a user's action range exactly and to provide a user with the information relevant to the estimated action range effectively without waste.

  In order to achieve the above object, the information providing apparatus of the present invention includes an action range analysis unit that analyzes an action history of an action history collection terminal possessed by a user and estimates a user's action range, and the action range analysis. An information selection unit that selects information of contents related to the action range from the information storage server based on the action range estimated by the unit, and a predetermined allocation arrangement that provides the user with the information selected by the information selection unit A provision information creation unit that edits and processes the provision information, and a printing unit that prints the provision information and creates a printed material for use by the user are provided.

  In addition, the information providing apparatus of the present invention includes an action range analysis unit that estimates an action range of a user by analyzing an action history of an action history collection terminal possessed by the user, and an action range estimated by the action range analysis unit. Information selection unit that selects information on the content related to the action range from the information storage server based on the information, and edits / processes the information selected by the information selection unit into provision information of a predetermined layout provided to the user A providing information creating unit that distributes the providing information to the user as electronic information.

  Further, the information providing method of the present invention estimates the user's action range by analyzing the action history of the action history collection terminal possessed by the user, and based on the action range estimated by the action range analysis unit Select content information related to the range from the information storage server, edit and process the information selected by the information selection unit into provision information of a predetermined layout provided to the user, and print the provision information Create printed materials for use by users.

  Further, the information providing method of the present invention estimates the user's action range by analyzing the action history of the action history collection terminal possessed by the user, and based on the action range estimated by the action range analysis unit Information related to a range is selected from an information storage server, the information selected by the information selection unit is edited and processed into provision information of a predetermined allocation arrangement provided to a user, and the provision information is converted into electronic information. Deliver to users.

  Therefore, for example, based on the user's past action history collected in an action history collection terminal such as a mobile phone or IC card instead of a ticket for using public transportation facilities, the action range from the current position of the user Can be estimated accurately. Then, information related to the estimated user action range is widely selected from the information storage server, and the selected information is easy to see a predetermined allocation arrangement such as a predetermined allocation arrangement or an arrangement arrangement specified by the user. Edited and processed into provided information. Furthermore, the provided information is printed to produce a printed material for use by the user, or is distributed to the user as electronic information.

  Therefore, the user is provided with a printout of provided information obtained by gathering information related to the user's estimated action range, and the information is provided. In this case, the user can obtain various information related to the user's action range without using a special receiving terminal, and in other words, the user's action range can be obtained. Although it is related information, it can be effectively provided to each user including information that the user did not know before. In addition, it is preferable that information on the printed matter can be provided to the user as electronic information, and that it is possible to prevent wasteful consumption of the printing paper by creating the printed matter.

  And if the said action history collection terminal of the information provision apparatus of this invention is a mobile telephone which can acquire the information regarding a present position using GPS information, a user's present position is regularly used using GPS information. It is practical to collect user's behavior history. In addition, the action range analysis unit of the information providing apparatus of the present invention estimates the user's action range based on the user's past action history stored in the information storage server, thereby improving the accuracy of the estimation. It is preferable from the above.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

  1 is a block diagram of the information providing apparatus 1 of the present embodiment, FIG. 2 is a detailed block diagram of a part of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is an example of an action history on Sunday, FIG. 4 is an example of an estimated action range, FIG. 5 is an example of provided information stored in the information storage server 3, and FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of FIG.

(Configuration of information providing apparatus 1)
An information providing apparatus 1 shown in FIG. 1 includes an information processing apparatus 2, an information storage server 3, a printing apparatus 4 that forms a printing unit of the present invention, and an information distribution apparatus 5 that forms a distribution unit of the present invention. For example, it is disposed in a convenience store in a railway station. The information storage server 3 is connected via the Internet 100, but may be connected via a dedicated line, or the information storage server 3 may be provided in the main body of the information providing apparatus 1.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the information processing unit 2 includes an action range analysis unit 21, an information selection unit 22, and a provision information creation unit 23 according to the present invention as a result of the microcomputer executing a predetermined processing program.

  The behavior range analysis unit 21 illustrates behavior histories collected by a behavior history collection terminal such as a mobile phone 200 with a GPS position information function or an IC card 300 as a boarding ticket for using public transportation. If input to the information providing apparatus 1 via the omitted interface, the information is stored in the information storage server 3 as action range information for each day of the week (see FIG. 3). Then, the action range analysis unit 2 statistically analyzes all past information histories stored in the information storage server 3 and estimates an action history as shown in FIG.

  In the action history, information on the time, information on the day of the week, information on the boarding / departing station of the railway using the IC card 300, or an action history collection terminal such as a mobile phone 200 with a GPS position information function is periodically acquired by GPS information. It includes location information, location information periodically obtained using base station information of the mobile phone 200, location information periodically obtained from wireless LAN access point information, and the like. The action range analysis unit 2 statistically analyzes these pieces of information and estimates the action range on any day of the week as shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the information storage server 3 previously stores “restaurant information”, “movie theater information”, “store information”, “sports club information”, “entertainment facility information” associated with “location”. Etc. "is retained. Specifically, the information “Restaurant A” and “Movie Theater B” is related to the place “Shinjuku”, and the information “Store C” is related to the place “Yotsuya” is called “Shibuya”. Information “Restaurant D” associated with the place and information “Sports Club E” associated with the place “Yoyogi” are registered.

  Based on the estimated behavior range of the user estimated by the behavior range analysis unit 21 in response to a request from the user, the information selection unit 22 provides information related to the behavior range from the user's current position and time. Read and select from the storage server 3 in order. Specifically, if the user is staying in “Shinjuku” at 8:00, the user ’s subsequent action ranges are “Shinjuku”, “Yotsuya”, “ It can be estimated that “Shibuya” or “Yoyogi” which is a midway station is included, and information as shown in FIG. 5 is selected according to the estimation result.

  The provision information creation unit 23 provides a predetermined allocation arrangement that provides the user with the content (article) of the information on the number of settings in the selection order or the amount of information that fills the entire page of the information selected by the information selection unit 22. Edit and process by inserting (format), etc., and create provision information for print data. The predetermined allocation arrangement is an allocation arrangement such as a predetermined (recommended) number of stages and the number of frames that are generally easy to see, or an allocation arrangement designated by a user request (selection). In the above editing / processing, if there is an article size of each collected information, the article with the previous selection order (high priority) is put in a large frame, and the selection order is later (priority comparison). The article may be put in a small frame.

  In this way, the information processing apparatus 2 automatically generates providing information for easy-to-read print data for each user, which is selected and assigned in order from the most relevant information related to each user's action range. To do.

  Next, the printing apparatus 4 executes a well-known digital printing process based on the provided information for each user generated by the information processing apparatus 2, and provides the user with a printed material P for providing information of one or a plurality of sheets. Is provided to the user.

  The information distribution device 5 distributes the provided information for each user generated by the information processing device 2 as electronic information of the printed matter P to a user's portable terminal that can receive the mail.

(Operation of the information providing apparatus 1)
Next, an information providing method of the information providing apparatus 1 based on the above configuration will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, the user's action history is input, and the action range analysis unit 21 integrates the input user's action history with the past action history and stores it in the information storage server 3 as action range information (step S1). , S2, see FIG. Further, the user's action range is estimated based on the action range information stored in the information storage server 3, the current position and time of the user (see step S3, FIG. 4).

  Next, information related to the estimated action range is selected by the information selection unit 22, and the provided information creation unit 23 edits the selected collection information into provision information of a predetermined allocation arrangement that provides each user individually.・ Processed (see steps S4 and S5, FIG. 5). Then, according to the selection of whether or not to print by the user (step S6), when printing the provision information, the provision information is printed by the printing device 4 to create a printed matter P and provide it to the user. (Step S7). On the other hand, when the provision information is received as electronic information without printing, the provision information is distributed as electronic information of the printed matter P from the information distribution apparatus 5 to the user (step S8).

  As described above, in the case of the present embodiment, for example, past behavior histories of users collected by behavior history collection terminals such as the mobile phone 300 and the IC card 200 that are used instead of tickets for using public transportation facilities. Based on the above, it is possible to accurately estimate the action range from the current position of the user. Then, information related to the estimated user action range is widely selected from the information storage server 3, and the selected information has a predetermined allocation arrangement such as a predetermined allocation arrangement or an arrangement arrangement designated by the user. Edited and processed to provide easy-to-read information. Furthermore, the printed information P is printed by printing the provided information and used for the user, or is distributed to the user as electronic information.

  Therefore, the provided information printed matter P, which is a collection of information related to the user's estimated behavior range, is provided to the user to provide information. In this case, the user can obtain various information related to the user's action range without using a special receiving terminal, and in other words, the user's action range can be obtained. Although it is related information, it can be effectively provided to each user including information that the user did not know before. Further, it is preferable that information on the printed matter P can be provided to the user as electronic information, and that the printed matter P can be prevented from being consumed wastefully by creating the printed matter P.

  Further, if the mobile phone 300 can acquire information on the current position using GPS information, the user's action history can be collected by periodically acquiring the user's current position using GPS information. So it is practical. Further, the action range analysis unit 21 of the information providing apparatus 1 estimates the user's action range based on the user's past action history stored in the information storage server 3, thereby improving the accuracy of the estimation. Preferred from above.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications other than those described above can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, when the configuration is simplified, the printing device 4 or the information distribution device 5 may be omitted. Moreover, you may utilize the action range analysis part 21 as a weight in the case of estimating the action range for the stay time in a specific place.

  The present invention can be applied to providing information for various purposes.

The block diagram of the information provision apparatus of one Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 2 is a detailed block diagram of a part of FIG. 1. An example of an action history on Sunday. An example of the estimated action range. An example of provision information stored in an information storage server. The flowchart for operation | movement description of FIG.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Information provision apparatus, 2 ... Information processing apparatus, 3 ... Information storage server, 4 ... Printing apparatus, 5 ... Information distribution apparatus, 21 ... Action range analysis part, 22 ... Information selection part, 23 ... Provision information creation part, P ... printed material

Claims (6)

An action range analysis unit that analyzes the action history of the action history collection terminal possessed by the user and estimates the action range of the user;
An information selection unit that selects information on content related to the action range from the information storage server based on the action range estimated by the action range analysis unit;
A provision information creation unit that edits and processes the information selected by the information selection unit into provision information of a predetermined layout to be provided to the user;
An information providing apparatus comprising: a printing unit that prints the provided information and creates a printed matter for use by a user. An action range analysis unit that analyzes the action history of the action history collection terminal possessed by the user and estimates the action range of the user;
An information selection unit that selects information on content related to the action range from the information storage server based on the action range estimated by the action range analysis unit;
A provision information creation unit that edits and processes the information selected by the information selection unit into provision information of a predetermined layout to be provided to the user;
An information providing apparatus comprising: a distribution unit that distributes the provided information as electronic information to a user. In the information provision apparatus of Claim 1 or 2,
The action history collection terminal is an information providing device which is a mobile phone capable of acquiring information on the current position using GPS information. In the information provision apparatus in any one of Claims 1 thru | or 3,
The said action range analysis part is an information provision apparatus which estimates a user's action range based on the user's past action history stored in the said information storage server. Analyzing the action history of the action history collection terminal owned by the user to estimate the user's action range,
Based on the action range estimated by the action range analysis unit, information on the content related to the action range is selected from the information storage server,
Editing and processing the information selected by the information selection unit into provision information of a predetermined allocation arrangement provided to the user,
An information providing method for creating a printed matter to be used by a user by printing the provided information. Analyzing the action history of the action history collection terminal owned by the user to estimate the user's action range,
Based on the action range estimated by the action range analysis unit, information on the content related to the action range is selected from the information storage server,
Editing and processing the information selected by the information selection unit into provision information of a predetermined allocation arrangement provided to the user,
An information providing method for distributing the provided information to a user as electronic information.

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