JP2011223571A - Information processing unit, information processing system and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To specify a program to introduce to a viewer based on preference or behavior of a third person regarding to a plurality of programs.SOLUTION: A server device 100 extracts a program containing preference information of the viewer among programs being broadcast at the same time as a program which the viewer is viewing. In addition, the server device 100 specifies, among programs extracted, a program in which a keyword inputted by a third person having preference similar to preference of the viewer exceeds a threshold. The server device 100 then introduces the specified program to the viewer using a viewer terminal 200 based on information inputted by the third person having the preference similar to the preference of the viewer by making the viewer terminal 200 display recommended information of the specified program.

Description

  The present invention relates to a technique for introducing a broadcast program.

  While watching a program on a certain channel, a program that matches the taste of the viewer may be broadcast on another channel. Patent Document 1 describes that content effective for a user is extracted based on content information (for example, a television broadcast program) and user preference information.

JP 2008-187575 A

However, there is a difference between the words indicating the content of the program obtained by mechanical analysis of information or video acquired in advance regarding the program or preferences, and the content of the program felt by the person who actually viewed the program. There is a case. For example, even if a program has many common subjects and performers, the viewer's feeling may differ depending on the atmosphere, production, and time conditions of the program.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to specify a program to be introduced to a viewer based on the preference and behavior of a third party regarding a plurality of programs.

  The information processing apparatus according to the present invention is similar in preference to the viewer of program information acquisition means for acquiring program information representing the program contents of a plurality of programs that can be viewed by a viewer and broadcast simultaneously. Among the input items input by a third party, the result of aggregating the number, ratio, or frequency of the input items related to the program contents represented by the program information acquired by the program information acquisition unit for each of the plurality of programs is equal to or greater than a threshold value. It has a configuration comprising program specifying means for specifying a certain program and transmitting means for transmitting information for notifying the viewer of the program specified by the program specifying means to the viewer's communication terminal.

  In the information processing apparatus according to the present invention, the program specifying unit may be input by the third party whose preference related to the program content represented by the program information acquired by the program information acquiring unit is similar to the viewer. Among the input items, the program may specify a program in which the number, the ratio, or the frequency of the input items related to the program content represented by the program information is aggregated for each of the plurality of programs. Good.

  In the information processing apparatus according to the present invention, the program content of the program represented by the program information includes preference information representing a preference related to the program content, and the program information acquired by the program information acquisition unit Extracting means for extracting a program with the program content including preference information representing a preference similar to the viewer's preference among a plurality of programs in which the program content is represented, and the program specifying means includes the extraction Among the programs extracted by the means, a program in which the number, ratio, or frequency of the input items is aggregated for each of the plurality of programs may be specified.

  In the information processing apparatus according to the present invention, the program information acquisition unit may analyze video or audio of a program and acquire the analysis result as the program information.

  In the information processing apparatus according to the present invention, the program specifying unit includes an identification information acquiring unit that acquires identification information for identifying the third party having a preference similar to the viewer. Among the input items input by a third party identified by the identification information acquired by the program information, the number, ratio, or frequency of the input items related to the program content represented by the program information acquired by the program information acquisition means The program which the result totaled for every program of this is more than the said threshold value may be specified.

  Further, in the information processing apparatus according to the present invention, the program specifying unit is a preference information acquisition unit that acquires preference information representing the preference of the viewer and the third party, and a preference acquired by the preference information acquisition unit. Using information, the third-party specifying means for specifying a third party whose preference is similar to the viewer, and the input items input by the third party specified by the third-party specifying means Among them, a program whose result of aggregating the number, ratio, or frequency of the input items related to the program contents represented by the program information acquired by the program information acquisition unit for each of the plurality of programs is equal to or greater than the threshold is specified. There may be.

  In the information processing apparatus according to the present invention, the input item is a unit composed of sentences composed of words input by the third party, and the program specifying unit determines the number, ratio, or frequency of the sentences. A program whose totaled result is equal to or greater than the threshold may be specified.

  Further, in the information processing apparatus according to the present invention, the input item is based on each keyword input by the third party, and the program specifying means counts the number, ratio, or frequency of the keywords. A program whose result is equal to or greater than the threshold may be specified.

  The information processing apparatus according to the present invention further includes a determining unit that determines a priority of the keyword according to the preference information of the viewer, and the program specifying unit is configured to respond to the priority determined by the determining unit. The threshold value may be changed for each keyword.

  An information processing system according to the present invention includes any one of the information processing apparatuses described above and a communication terminal that is a communication terminal of the viewer and includes a unit that outputs video or audio corresponding to the program. Have.

  In addition, an information processing system according to the present invention switches one of the above-described information processing apparatuses and the viewer's communication terminal to an output apparatus that outputs video or audio corresponding to the program. A communication terminal comprising a transmission means for transmitting the signal, wherein the transmission means transmits identification information for identifying the program as information for informing the viewer of the program specified by the program specification means. The transmitting unit may transmit the signal corresponding to the identification information transmitted by the transmitting unit.

  The program according to the present invention is similar to the viewer in the program information acquisition step for acquiring program information representing the program contents of a plurality of programs that can be viewed by the viewer and broadcast simultaneously to the computer. Among the input items input by a third party, the result of aggregating the number, ratio, or frequency of the input items related to the program contents represented by the program information acquired in the program information acquisition step for each of the plurality of programs is equal to or greater than a threshold value A program specifying step for specifying a program, and a transmitting step for transmitting information for notifying the viewer of the program specified in the specifying step to the communication terminal of the viewer.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to specify a program to be introduced to a viewer based on the preference and behavior of a third party regarding a plurality of programs.

The block diagram which shows the structure of the information processing system which concerns on 1st Embodiment. Block diagram showing the configuration of the viewer terminal Block diagram showing the configuration of the server device The block diagram which shows the functional structure of the control part of a server apparatus Sequence chart showing an example of processing in which a server device introduces a program to a viewer terminal Example of viewer terminal screen with recommended information The block diagram which shows the functional structure of the control part of the server apparatus which concerns on the modification 3. Diagram explaining priority change The block diagram which shows the structure of the information processing system which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. Sequence chart showing an example of processing in which a server device introduces a program to a viewer terminal The block diagram which shows the functional structure of the control part which concerns on this embodiment The block diagram which shows the functional structure of the control part of the server apparatus which concerns on this invention

[First Embodiment]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an information processing system 10 according to the first embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the information processing system 10 of this embodiment includes a server device 100, a viewer terminal 200, a community server device 300, a plurality of third party terminals 400, a receiver 500, and a plurality of A broadcasting station 600. Each broadcasting station 600 broadcasts each program by a television broadcasting mechanism. These programs are represented by information such as audio, video or text output or displayed for a predetermined time. In addition, these programs are classified into a plurality of genres according to a predetermined tendency. These genres include, for example, news reports, education, sports or dramas. Specifically, each broadcast station 600 transmits program data indicating information such as audio, video, or text representing the program.

  Each broadcasting station 600 transmits program data by wireless communication or wired communication. In the present embodiment, each broadcasting station 600 transmits program data by a wireless communication television broadcasting mechanism. The receiver 500 receives program data transmitted from each broadcasting station 600. The receiver 500 outputs video or audio corresponding to the program corresponding to the received program data. The receiver 500 outputs video or audio corresponding to a program broadcast by the broadcasting station 600 corresponding to each channel by switching channels. That is, the difference in the broadcasting station 600 is the difference in channel. The receiver 500 is an example of the “output device” in the present invention.

  The server device 100 communicates with the viewer terminal 200 and the community server device 300 via the network NW1. Server apparatus 100 is used by a program introduction service provider. Here, the program introduction service refers to a service that transmits information (hereinafter referred to as “recommended information”) for notifying the viewer terminal 200 of a program to be introduced by the server device 100. In the following, a person who receives a program introduction service is referred to as a “viewer”. The server apparatus 100 sets a program that can be viewed by the viewer as a target of recommended information. Here, the program that can be viewed means a program represented by program data that can be received by the receiver 500 viewed by the viewer. For example, a program in which the area that can be received is limited can be viewed by a viewer who views the receiver 500 in that area. The server apparatus 100 transmits recommended information identified from a plurality of programs that can be viewed by the viewer and broadcast simultaneously to the viewer terminal 200 of the viewer.

  The community server device 300 is used by a community service provider. Here, the community service refers to a service that provides a function on the Internet that enables transmission and collection of information for a specific field of interest or purpose. In the present embodiment, the community server device 300 provides these functions for information related to each program broadcast by each broadcasting station 600. In the information processing system, an unspecified number of persons who use functions provided by the community server device 300 and are different from viewers are referred to as “third parties”. The third party uses a function provided by inputting information to the community server device 300 and referring to the information. Note that the viewer may use the function of the community server device 300. The community server device 300 stores the information input regarding the program in association with the information for identifying the third party who has input this information and the input time information.

  In response to a request from the server device 100 or the third party terminal 400, the community server device 300 accumulates information input from these devices or outputs the accumulated information to these devices. These apparatuses communicate or collect information related to programs by communicating with the community server apparatus 300.

  The plurality of third party terminals 400 are devices such as personal computers respectively used by a plurality of third parties. Each third party terminal 400 inputs and references information to the community server device 300 via the network NW1. Each third-party terminal 400 is connected to the network NW1 by wired communication in the description of FIG. 1, but may be connected by wireless communication.

  The viewer terminal 200 is a viewer terminal that can remotely control the receiver 500. In the present embodiment, the viewer terminal 200 is a wireless communication terminal that performs communication using a wireless communication service provided by a predetermined wireless communication provider, and is, for example, a mobile phone or a smartphone. The network NW1 includes at least a wireless communication network and may further include another communication network (Internet, public switched telephone network, etc.). The network NW1 includes a plurality of base stations that perform wireless communication with the viewer terminal 200. The viewer terminal 200 is an example of the “communication terminal” in the present invention. Note that the information processing system 10 may include a plurality of viewer terminals 200 and receivers 500, unlike the description of FIG. Even in such a configuration, the configuration of each of the viewer terminal 200 and the receiver 500 is substantially the same, and therefore, a configuration having a plurality of these is omitted.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the viewer terminal 200. As shown in FIG. 2, the viewer terminal 200 includes a control unit 210, a storage unit 220, a communication unit 230, a display unit 240, an operation unit 250, and a transmission unit 260. The control unit 210 includes an arithmetic processing device such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) and a memory corresponding to a main storage device, and controls the operation of each unit of the viewer terminal 200 by executing a program. The storage unit 220 includes storage means corresponding to an auxiliary storage device such as a flash memory, and stores various types of information. The storage unit 220 stores data used for the control unit 210 to execute processing.

  The communication unit 230 includes an interface for communicating with the network NW1, and transmits and receives data to and from the server device 100. Note that the communication partner of the viewer terminal 200 may include not only the server device 100 but also other terminals (not shown). The display unit 240 includes a display medium such as a liquid crystal display and driving means thereof, and displays an image on a predetermined screen. The operation unit 250 includes input means such as a keypad, and when operated, notifies the control unit 210 of the content of the operation. The transmitting unit 260 has a function of transmitting a signal wirelessly. In the present embodiment, the transmitter 260 includes an infrared light emitting device such as an LED (Light Emitting Diode). Transmitting section 260 transmits a signal for switching programs to receiver 500. The transmitting unit 260 is an example of the “transmitting unit” in the present invention.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of the server apparatus 100. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the server device 100 includes a control unit 110, a communication unit 120, a tuner unit 130, and a storage unit 140. The control unit 110 includes an arithmetic processing device such as a CPU and a memory corresponding to the main storage device, and controls the operation of each unit of the server device 100 by executing a program. The communication unit 120 is an interface for communicating with the viewer terminal 200 via the network NW1. The tuner unit 130 is connected to an antenna (not shown). The tuner unit 130 has a plurality of tuners corresponding to a plurality of broadcast stations 600 that can receive program data by this antenna.

  The storage unit 140 includes storage means corresponding to an auxiliary storage device, and stores data used by the control unit 110 to execute processing. In this embodiment, the memory | storage part 140 memorize | stores the profile information of a viewer containing the preference information showing a viewer's preference. The preference information is, for example, information indicating a genre of a program in which the viewer is interested, a performer, a song, a type of music or sports, a name of a place or a person, and the like. The profile information is, for example, information that identifies a viewer, a viewer's address, or a broadcast station 600 that broadcasts a program that can be viewed by the viewer. The profile information includes information stored in advance in the storage unit 140 and information stored in the storage unit 140 later.

  FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the control unit 110 of the server device 100. The control unit 110 executes the program so that the first acquisition unit 111, the aggregation unit 112, the second acquisition unit 113, the first specification unit 114, the extraction unit 115, and the second specification shown in FIG. Functions equivalent to the unit 116 and the transmission unit 117 are realized. Thereby, the control part 110 implement | achieves a program introduction function. The control unit 110 corresponds to an “information processing apparatus” in the present invention.

  The first acquisition unit 111 acquires a plurality of program information representing the contents of a plurality of programs via the tuner unit 130. The program information includes, for example, words indicating the genre of the program, names of performers, names of songs, names of music and sports, places where the program is set, names of characters, and the like. The first acquisition unit 111 supplies the acquired program information to the second acquisition unit 113 and the extraction unit 115. The first acquisition unit 111 is an example of the “first acquisition unit” in the present invention.

  The first acquisition unit 111 analyzes a program telop (characters such as subtitles included in the video), video or audio, and uses the analysis result as program information. The first acquisition unit 111 can appropriately use a known technique for processing to analyze telop, video, or audio. For example, the first acquisition unit 111 performs character recognition on the telop area, and uses the result of analyzing the collection and meaning of the recognized characters as program information. For example, the first acquisition unit 111 extracts the feature amount of the performer's face from the video, and compares it with the feature amount of the person's face registered in advance. For example, the first acquisition unit 111 extracts a feature value of a speech waveform from the sound of a program and compares it with a feature value of a speech waveform of a person registered in advance. Based on these comparisons, the first acquisition unit 111 determines whether or not a pre-registered person has appeared, and uses the result as program information.

  The totaling unit 112 requests the community server device 300 to output the accumulated information, and totals keywords input by a third party for each program based on the output information for each program. Here, the keyword means a word having relevance to the program information of each program. The keyword is, for example, a word indicating the genre of the program, the name of the performer, the name of the song, the name of the music or sports, the name of the place of the program or the name of the character, as in the program information described above. In the present embodiment, the totaling unit 112 totals these keywords for each time period determined in advance by the program introduction service provider. When the viewer uses the function of the community server device 300, the totaling unit 112 totals the keywords input by the viewer together with the keywords input by a third party for a plurality of programs. The totaling unit 112 supplies the totaled result to the second specifying unit 116. The totaling unit 112 is an example of the “totaling unit” in the present invention.

  Based on the program information supplied from the first acquisition unit 111, the second acquisition unit 113 refers to the storage unit 140 and acquires viewer preference information related to the content of the program. The second acquisition unit 113 communicates with the community server device 300 via the communication unit 120. The second acquisition unit 113 acquires third party preference information related to the contents of the program from the community server device 300 based on the program information supplied from the first acquisition unit 111. The second acquisition unit 113 supplies the acquired preference information to the first specification unit 114 and the extraction unit 115. The second acquisition unit 113 is an example of the “second acquisition unit” in the present invention.

  The first specifying unit 114 specifies a third party whose preference is similar to the viewer based on the preference information supplied from the second acquisition unit 113. Here, the phrase “similar in preference” means that preference information is shared by a viewer and a third party in a predetermined number or a proportion or more. In the present embodiment, the predetermined number or ratio is a value determined in advance by the program introduction service provider. For example, the first specifying unit 114 specifies a third party having more than half of the preference information in common with the viewer as a third party having similar preferences to the viewer. The first specifying unit 114 supplies the specified third party information to the second specifying unit 116. The first specifying unit 114 is an example of the “specifying unit” in the present invention. Note that the first specifying unit 114 may share the preference information when the words indicating the preference information do not completely match and can be regarded as indicating the same content. For example, the first specifying unit 114 may regard soccer and a kick ball as common preference information. Moreover, the 1st specific | specification part 114 is good also as what has common preference information, when it can be considered that the content is close in terms of meaning. For example, the first specifying unit 114 may regard soccer and futsal as common preference information. These conditions may be determined in advance by the program introduction service provider.

  The extraction unit 115 compares the plurality of program information supplied from the first acquisition unit 111 with the viewer preference information supplied from the second acquisition unit, and includes the viewer preference information based on the comparison result. Extract program information. For example, the extraction unit 115 compares the words included in the program information with the words indicating the preference information and extracts the matching words. Note that, similar to the first specifying unit 114 described above, the extraction unit 115 may include preference information included in the program information if the words can be regarded as indicating the same content even if they do not completely match. Good. Similarly to the first specifying unit 114 described above, the extraction unit 115 may include the preference information in the program information when the content can be regarded as close in terms of meaning. These conditions may be the same as those for the first specifying unit 114, or may be determined separately by the program introduction service provider. The extraction unit 115 supplies the extracted program information to the second specification unit 116. The extraction unit 115 is an example of the “extraction unit” in the present invention.

  The second specifying unit 116 selects a program in which the number or ratio of keywords input by a third party supplied from the first specifying unit 114 is greater than or equal to a threshold among the programs represented by the program information supplied from the extracting unit 115. The identification is performed based on the aggregation result supplied from the aggregation unit 112. In the present embodiment, the threshold value is a value determined in advance by the program introduction service provider. The recommended information includes, for example, information that informs the content of the specified program, information that indicates that the specified program is exciting compared to other programs, and instructs the viewer terminal 200 to switch to the channel of the specified program Information to be changed or information for prompting switching thereof. The second identification unit 116 supplies identification information for identifying the identified program to the transmission unit 117. The second specifying unit 116 is an example of the “second specifying unit” in the present invention.

  The transmission unit 117 transmits identification information for identifying the specified program to the viewer terminal 200 as recommended information of this program. The identification information is, for example, numerical information indicating the channel of the program or information on the name of the broadcasting station 600 that broadcasts the program. The transmission unit 117 is an example of the “transmission unit” in the present invention.

  FIG. 5 is a sequence chart illustrating an example of processing in which the server apparatus 100 introduces a program to the viewer terminal 200. For convenience of explanation, FIG. 5 shows only one of the plurality of broadcasting stations 600, but each broadcasting station 600 performs the operation shown in FIG. The plurality of broadcasting stations 600 each transmit program data to the server device 100 (step S110). The server apparatus 100 acquires a plurality of program information from the received plurality of program data (step S120). Next, the server device 100 requests the community server device 300 to transmit a keyword input by a third party regarding a plurality of programs and profile information of the third party (step S130). The community server device 300 transmits the requested information to the server device 100 (step S140). The server apparatus 100 totals the received keywords for each program (step S150). Then, the server apparatus 100 acquires viewer preference information from the storage unit 140, and acquires third-party preference information from the information transmitted in the process of step S140 (step S160). The server apparatus 100 specifies a third party whose preference is similar to that of the viewer from the acquired preference information (step S170).

  Further, the server device 100 extracts program information including the viewer preference information from the program information acquired in the process of step S120 and the viewer preference information acquired in the process of step S160 (step S180). The server apparatus 100 is a result of counting the programs whose number or ratio of keywords input by the third party specified in the process of step S170 is equal to or greater than the threshold among the programs represented by the extracted program information in the process of step S150. (Step S190). The server device 100 transmits recommended information of the identified program to the viewer terminal 200 (step S200). In the example of FIG. 5, the server apparatus 100 switches the information indicating the content of the specified program, the information indicating that the specified program is exciting compared to other programs, and the switching to the channel of the specified program. The prompting information is transmitted as recommended information. In the present embodiment, the server device 100 uses the degree of excitement indicating the degree of excitement calculated according to the number of totaled keywords as information indicating that the program is excitement. The degree of swell indicates that the greater the number, the more swell. The viewer terminal 200 displays the received recommended information on the display unit 240 (step S210). In the example of FIG. 5, it is assumed that the viewer has performed an operation of permitting channel switching. By this operation, the viewer terminal 200 transmits a signal for switching programs (step S220). In the present embodiment, the server apparatus 100 executes the processes from steps S120, S130, and S150 to S200 at predetermined time intervals. The predetermined time interval is a time interval determined in advance by the program introduction service provider. The predetermined time interval is, for example, every 30 seconds, every 1 minute, every 5 minutes, or the like. The predetermined time interval is desirably a time interval that may change the contents of the broadcast program.

  FIG. 6 is an example of a screen of the viewer terminal 200 on which recommended information is displayed. In the example of FIG. 6, it is assumed that the screen displayed on the viewer terminal 200 in the process of step S210 of FIG. As shown in FIG. 6, the viewer terminal 200 shows the magnitude of the degree of excitement for each program corresponding to each channel as a bar graph. In FIG. 6, the magnitude relation of the degree of excitement of each program is expressed in the horizontal direction. In the example of FIG. 6, the rising degree of 2ch is the smallest and the rising degree of 7ch is the largest. In addition, the viewer terminal 200 displays information that informs the contents of the specified 7-ch program and information that prompts switching to the 7-ch program. By viewing the screen shown in FIG. 6, the viewer can select a third party whose preference is similar to that of the program (2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 12ch in this example) including his / her preference information. You can know the programs that are exciting (7ch in this example).

  As described above, the information processing system 10 according to the present embodiment identifies a program based on keywords related to a plurality of programs input by a third party having similar preferences to the viewer. Then, the information processing system 10 transmits recommended information on the identified program to the viewer terminal 200 of the viewer. Thereby, it is possible to introduce a program to a viewer who uses the viewer terminal 200 based on the preference and behavior of a third party regarding a plurality of programs. In addition, when viewing information such as digital terrestrial television broadcasting, the information processing system 10 prevents viewers from overlooking the program that he / she wanted to watch as a result of continuing watching the program without switching the channel because the time required for switching is disliked. be able to. Furthermore, the information processing system 10 can introduce a program in real time based on the broadcasted content even when the content of the program is not known until it is broadcasted like a live broadcast.

[Second Embodiment]
An information processing system according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described. In the following description, the same reference numerals are assigned to configurations common to the first embodiment, and the description thereof is omitted as appropriate. This embodiment differs greatly from the first embodiment in that it has an external device (referred to as a profile server device) that holds viewer and third party profile information, and is included in information input by a third party. Instead of counting keywords, it is counting the information itself. Here, since the information input by the third party in the first embodiment is expressed by a sentence composed of one or more words / phrases, in the second embodiment, the information is aggregated in units of the sentence. . A sentence here expresses a collective idea and feeling with one sentence or a plurality of sentences. The keywords in the first embodiment and the text in the second embodiment (that is, information input by a third party in the first embodiment) are common in the sense of input items input by the third party. In the following description, information input by a third party is referred to as “write information”.

  FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing a configuration of the information processing system 10b according to the present embodiment. The configuration shown in FIG. 9 is different from the configuration shown in FIG. 1 in that the profile server device 700 is provided, and the following description focuses on the points different from FIG. The profile server device 700 is used by viewers and service providers who provide third party profile information. The profile server device 700 communicates with the server device 100, the viewer terminal 200, the community server device 300, and the third party terminal 400 via the network NW1. The profile server device 700 holds information for identifying a viewer and information for identifying a third party. Information for identifying the viewer is stored in the server device 100. The information for identifying a third party is accumulated in the community server device 300 and is associated with the third party's writing information that is identified by each. Further, the profile server device 700 holds profile information including the preference information of the viewer and the third party in association with these pieces of information. These profile information is updated according to information transmitted to update the profile information from the viewer terminal 200 or the third party terminal 400, for example, and the third party write information in the community server device 300 That is, it is updated according to the keyword included in the write information associated with the information for identifying the third party. When information for identifying a third party having similar preferences to the viewer is requested together with information for identifying the viewer, the profile server device 700 compares both of the stored profile information and applies the corresponding information. Identify the three parties. The profile server device 700 transmits information for identifying the specified third party to the device that has requested it.

FIG. 10 is a sequence chart illustrating an example of processing in which the server device 100 according to the present embodiment introduces a program to the viewer terminal 200. The sequence chart shown in FIG. 10 is different from FIG. 5 in the processing from step S120 to step S180, and the following description focuses on the differences from FIG.
The server apparatus 100 transmits information for identifying the viewer to the profile server apparatus 700 (step S310). The profile server device 700 identifies a third party whose preference information is similar to the viewer identified by the information transmitted in step S310, and transmits information identifying the identified third party to the server device 100 (step). S320). The server apparatus 100 transfers the information transmitted in step S320 to the community server apparatus 300, and requests write information by a third party identified by this information (step S330). The community server device 300 extracts third-party write information identified by the information transferred in step S330, and transmits it to the server device 100 (step S340). The server apparatus 100 counts the number or ratio of the pieces of program information acquired in step S120 among the write information transmitted in step S340 for each program whose contents are represented by these program information ( Step S150). Here, the writing information related to the program information refers to writing information including a word (keyword) having a relation with the above-described program information. Thereafter, the processing after step S180 is performed.
When each device performs the above operation, even when the community server device 300 does not provide the preference information of the third party, the viewer can know a program in which a third party whose preference is similar to that of the third party is exciting. it can.

  FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the control unit 110 according to the present embodiment. The configuration shown in FIG. 11 is different from the processing executed by the counting unit and the second specifying unit, and the configuration according to the first embodiment described above (configuration shown in FIG. 4) in that the third acquisition unit 119 is provided. Different. Below, it demonstrates centering on a different point from FIG. The third acquisition unit 119 transmits information for identifying the viewer to the profile server device 700, and acquires information for identifying a third party whose preference information is similar to the viewer. The third acquisition unit 119 supplies the acquired information to the aggregation unit 112b. The totaling unit 112b communicates with the community server device 300 via the communication unit 120, transmits the above-described write information, and totalizes the number or ratio of the write information. The totaling unit 112b supplies the totaled result to the second specifying unit 116b. In addition, the first acquisition unit 111 supplies the acquired program information to the second specification unit 116b. The second specifying unit 116b specifies a program in which the number or ratio of the write information indicated by the supplied result is equal to or greater than the threshold among the programs indicated by the supplied program information. Thereby, the information processing system 10b of this embodiment specifies a program based on the writing information regarding a plurality of programs input by a third party whose preference is similar to that of the viewer, and recommends information on the specified program, It transmits to the viewer terminal 200 of the viewer.

[Summary of first and second embodiments]
FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the control unit of the server apparatus according to the present invention. The control unit includes a program information acquisition unit 1110, a program identification unit 1120, and a transmission unit 1130. The program information acquisition unit 1110 acquires program information that represents the program contents of a plurality of programs that can be viewed by the viewer and broadcast simultaneously. The program information acquisition unit 1110 supplies the acquired program information to the program identification unit 1120. The program specifying unit 1120 is the number of input items related to the program content represented by the program information acquired by the program information acquiring unit 1110 among the input items input by a third party who has a similar preference to the viewer, or the frequency described later. Are identified for each of the plurality of programs. The “keyword” according to the first embodiment and the “write information” according to the second embodiment correspond to examples of “input items” according to the present invention, respectively. The program specifying unit 1120 acquires identification information for identifying a third party from the profile server device 700, and acquires input items input by the third party from the community server device 300. The program identification unit 1120 supplies the identified program to the transmission unit 1130. The transmitting unit 1130 transmits information for notifying the viewer of the program specified by the program specifying unit 1120 to the communication terminal 200 of the viewer. The “program information acquisition unit 1110”, “program identification unit 1120”, and “transmission unit 1130” correspond to examples of “program information acquisition unit”, “program identification unit”, and “transmission unit” according to the present invention, respectively.
In the first embodiment, the second acquisition unit 113, the first specifying unit 114, the counting unit 112, and the second specifying unit 116 work together to function as a “program specifying unit” according to the present invention. The first acquisition unit 111 corresponds to an example of “program information acquisition unit” according to the present invention, and the transmission unit 117 corresponds to an example of “transmission unit” according to the present invention. In the second embodiment, the third acquisition unit 119, the counting unit 112b, and the second specifying unit 116b cooperate to function as a “program specifying unit” according to the present invention.

[Modification]
The above-described embodiment is merely an example of the implementation of the present invention. The present invention can apply the following modifications to the embodiments described above. In addition, the modification shown below may be implemented combining each suitably as needed.

(Modification 1)
In the above-described embodiment, the control unit 110 extracts the program information including the viewer preference information from the acquired program information and specifies the program. However, the control unit 110 may specify the program using the acquired program information as it is. . In this case, the control unit 110 identifies a third party who has a similar preference to the viewer, and the number of keywords input from the identified third party and the aggregate result of keywords input by the third party regarding a plurality of programs. Alternatively, a program whose ratio is equal to or greater than a threshold is specified. Thereby, the control part 110 can specify the program which reflected the excitement of the third party more than the case where the program information containing a viewer's preference information is extracted.

(Modification 2)
In the above-described embodiment, the control unit 110 identifies a program in which the number or ratio of input keywords is equal to or greater than a threshold value, but may identify a program whose frequency is equal to or greater than a threshold value. Here, the frequency refers to the number of keywords input at a predetermined time. The predetermined time is, for example, a length of time determined in advance by the program introduction service provider.

(Modification 3)
The control unit 110 may change the threshold according to the priority. Here, the priority refers to the order assigned to each of the viewer's preference information. The control part 110 makes the threshold value of the word which shows preference information with a high priority smaller than the threshold value of the word which shows preference information with a low priority. The priority may be determined in advance by the program introduction service provider. For example, the provider of the program introduction service may set the priority of those whose contents of the preference information are broadcasted to high to “high” and set the priority of those having low frequency to “low”. Thereby, it is possible to prevent frequent recommended information from being transmitted by preference information that is frequently broadcast. Further, even when a program including preference information that is broadcast less frequently is broadcast, the program can be specified.

  FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of the control unit 110a of the server device according to the third modification. FIG. 7 is a diagram in which the determination unit 118 is added to FIG. 4, and only the differences from FIG. 4 will be described below. The control unit 110a executes the program, thereby causing the first acquisition unit 111, the aggregation unit 112, the second acquisition unit 113, the first specification unit 114, the extraction unit 115, and the second specification shown in FIG. Functions equivalent to the unit 116, the transmission unit 117, and the determination unit 118 are realized. The determination unit 118 determines priority according to viewer preference information. In this modification, the determination unit 118 determines the priority in three stages of “high”, “medium”, and “low” for each word indicating the viewer's preference information. The determining unit 118 supplies the determined priority information to the second specifying unit 116. The second specifying unit 116 changes the threshold according to the supplied priority. For example, when the threshold is a ratio, the second specifying unit 116 sets 75%, 50%, and 25% as thresholds for high, medium, and low priorities, respectively. The priority may be changed by the operation of the viewer terminal 200 of the viewer. In this case, for example, the determination unit 118 transmits information for confirming the priority change to the viewer terminal 200 at a predetermined timing.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating a case where a certain viewer changes the priority, and illustrates the change of the priority. As shown in FIG. 8 (a), the viewer determines that the priorities of the words “soccer”, “golf”, and “marathon” indicating their preference information are high, medium, and low, respectively. To do. FIG. 8B is an example of a screen displayed on the viewer terminal 200 after changing the channel based on the recommended information. For example, when an operation is performed on the transmitted recommended information, the viewer terminal 200 displays a screen for confirming whether to change the priority for the preference information included in the recommended information. Yes. FIG. 8C is an example of a screen displayed when “Yes” is selected in FIG. 8B. In this example, the viewer terminal 200 displays a screen for selecting “high”, “medium”, and “cancel” for canceling the change. The viewer terminal 200 transmits information indicating the selected content to a server device including the control unit 110a. The server device changes the priority of the viewer preference information according to the received content. Thereafter, this server device performs processing according to the changed priority.

(Modification 4)
In the present invention, the viewer terminal may include means for outputting video or audio corresponding to the program. In this case, the viewer terminal further includes an antenna, a tuner unit connected to the antenna, and an audio output unit. The viewer terminal selects the broadcast station 600 by the tuner unit, and receives program data transmitted from the selected broadcast station 600. The viewer terminal outputs the video indicated by the received program data to the display unit 240. Further, the viewer terminal outputs the sound indicated by the received program data to the sound output unit.

(Modification 5)
In the above-described embodiment, the server device 100 stores the viewer profile information including the preference information, but the content of the profile information may be added, changed, or deleted based on the communication history with the viewer. For example, based on the program information of the program in the channel switched by the operation of the viewer terminal 200, the server apparatus 100 uses the content of the program information corresponding to the time when the channel is switched as profile information as the viewer preference information. And so on. In this case, the server apparatus 100 stores and accumulates the acquired program information in the storage unit 140, and the viewer terminal 200 stores the information for identifying the switched channel in the storage unit 220 in association with the switching time. Accumulate. Further, the server device 100 may delete the content of the preference information that is not included in the information handled in the process related to the viewer performed during a predetermined period. The predetermined period is, for example, a period determined in advance by the program introduction service provider. Thereby, the server apparatus 100 can specify the program according to this changed viewer preference information, when a viewer's preference information changes.

(Modification 6)
The community server device 300 stores the profile information of the third party including the preference information in the above-described embodiment. However, the community server device 300 stores the profile information based on keywords input by the third party, information referred to by the third party, and the like. Content may be added, changed or deleted. For example, the community server device 300 adds a large number of contents included in a keyword input by a third party or information referred to to the profile information as preference information. In this case, the community server device 300 accumulates keywords input by a third party or referenced information. In addition, the community server device 300 deletes the content of the profile information when the content of the profile information is not related to the keyword input by a third party or the content of the collected information exceeds a predetermined time. May be. The predetermined period is, for example, a period determined in advance by the program introduction service provider. Thereby, the community server apparatus 300 can specify the program according to this changed third party preference information, when the third party preference information changes.

(Modification 7)
In the present invention, each broadcasting station may broadcast each program by a radio broadcasting mechanism. That is, these programs may be audio-only information that does not include video.

(Modification 8)
In the above-described embodiment, the server apparatus 100 executes the program introduction function processing at a predetermined time interval, but the time interval may be changed by the user. For example, the viewer terminal 200 transmits information indicating the time value input by the viewer's operation to the server device 100. The server apparatus 100 executes the program introduction function processing at this time interval based on the received time value. Thereby, the server apparatus 100 can provide the program introduction service to such an extent that the viewer's viewing is not excessively hindered.

(Modification 9)
In the above-described embodiment, the control unit 110 acquires various types of information for each process of introducing a program. However, the control unit 110 may store the acquired various types of information in the storage unit 140 and acquire these differences in each processing. . In this case, the control unit 110 stores the acquired various types of information in the storage unit 140 in association with the acquired time information. Since a known technique may be appropriately used as a technique for acquiring the difference, a detailed description of this process is omitted. In addition, the control part 110 may memorize | store the acquired various information in the memory | storage part 140, and may acquire for every process which introduces a program further.

(Modification 10)
In the above-described embodiment, the server device 100 acquires information related to a third party from the community server device 300 provided by a specific community service. However, the server apparatus 100 may acquire information related to a third party from community server apparatuses provided by different community services according to predetermined conditions. For example, the server device 100 detects a community service that is highly likely to acquire a keyword related to the content according to the content of the viewer preference information. And the server apparatus 100 is the condition of acquiring the information regarding a third party from the community server apparatus provided by the detected community service. In this case, for example, the server device 100 may request a plurality of community server devices to output keywords related to the content of the preference information of the viewer, and determine the community server device based on the number of output items. Moreover, the server apparatus 100 may acquire information on a third party from each community server apparatus provided by a plurality of community services.

(Modification 11)
In the above-described embodiment, the server apparatus 100 uses information acquired from the community server apparatus 300 provided by the community service. However, information that can be acquired from a service other than the community service may be used. In addition, the server apparatus 100 may acquire and use information from a website or a blog provided by an organization or an individual without being limited to a service.

(Modification 12)
In the above-described embodiment, the server apparatus 100 uses the information indicating that the identified program is exciting as compared with other programs as recommended information. However, the server apparatus 100 is not limited to this, and various information may be used as recommended information. Also good. For example, the server apparatus 100 may transmit various information that informs the content of the specified program to the viewer terminal 200 as recommended information. The various information includes, for example, the genre of the specified program, the performer, the music being played, or the score of sports. In this case, the viewer terminal 200 displays information notifying the contents of the program on the screen. The viewer may switch channels by operating a remote control device different from the viewer terminal 200 or an operation unit of the receiver 500 based on the content of the recommended information displayed. In this case, the viewer terminal may be configured not to have the transmitter 260.

(Modification 13)
The server apparatus 100 may use recommended information as information for instructing the viewer terminal 200 to switch to the channel of the identified program. In this case, when receiving the recommended information, the viewer terminal 200 remotely operates the receiver 500 to switch to a channel corresponding to the program based on information identifying the program included in the recommended information. That is, the viewer terminal 200 switches channels without viewer operation.

(Modification 14)
The server apparatus 100 may use the ratio of the number of keywords related to each aggregated program to the number of keywords related to a plurality of aggregated programs as information indicating that the program is exciting.

(Modification 15)
The present invention is understood not only as a server device and an information processing system including the server device, but also as a method for realizing them and a program for causing a computer to realize the functions shown in FIG. Such a program may be provided in the form of a recording medium such as an optical disk storing the program, or may be provided in a form such that the program is downloaded to a computer via a network such as the Internet, and the program can be installed and used. Is something that can be done.

(Modification 16)
The control unit 110 aggregates the keyword as a unit in the first embodiment described above, and aggregates the write information as a unit in the second embodiment. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and for example, the sentence included in the write information is aggregated as a unit. May be. A sentence here is a series of words that represent a group of contents. One sentence is composed of one or a plurality of words, and one sentence or a series of sentences constitutes a sentence. In this case, the control unit 110 tabulates sentences related to program information, that is, sentences including keywords related to program information, among sentences inputted by a third party having similar preferences to the viewer. This sentence corresponds to an example of “input matter” according to the present invention.
In the case of the first embodiment described above, since the keywords are counted as a unit, the degree of excitement increases as more keywords appear in the same piece of writing information. That is, the control unit 110 can calculate the degree of excitement by attaching weight to each piece of writing information. On the other hand, in the case of the second embodiment, since write information is tabulated as a unit, the degree (number or ratio) of increasing the degree of excitement will be no matter how many keywords appear in the same piece of write information. It becomes constant. That is, the control unit 110 can calculate the degree of excitement without being influenced by the contents of the individual write information. The control unit 110 according to the present modification can calculate the degree of excitement by putting the weight of each piece of write information on the content of each write information not as much as the first embodiment but more weight than the second embodiment. it can.

(Modification 17)
The control unit 110 may perform identification of a third party whose preference is similar to that of the viewer and identification of a program using various methods. For example, the control unit 110 may use a technique such as collaborative filtering or Bayesian filtering used in an EC (Electronic commerce) site or the like in order to recommend a product or the like based on an action history of another user who has a similar preference to a certain user. Good. In this case, the control unit 110 may treat an input of a keyword (or writing) as an action history and specify a program instead of a product. In addition, the control unit 110 may count the number or ratio of input items related to the content of the program using a technique such as content-based or rule-based filtering. If rule-based filtering is used, for example, when the keyword “soccer” is included in the content of the program, the control unit 110 uses the keywords “soccer”, “J-league”, and “world cup” ( Or the number or ratio of the writing information including them).

(Modification 18)
The control unit 110 may acquire program information that can be viewed by the viewer based on information indicating the broadcast station 600 that broadcasts a program that can be viewed by the viewer, among the information included in the profile information. In detail, the control part 110 should just acquire only the program information of the program which the broadcasting station 600 which this information shows among the program information acquired in step S120 shown in FIG. Thus, even when the tuner unit 130 receives a program that cannot be viewed by the viewer, program information that can be viewed by the viewer can be selected and acquired.
The control unit 110 may identify the broadcast station 600 that broadcasts a program that can be viewed at the address from information indicating the address included in the profile information as being viewable by the viewer. In this case, the server apparatus 100 stores in the storage unit 140 a table in which programs (including cable television) that can be viewed for each region are associated with addresses. And the control part 110 acquires the program information which a viewer can view similarly to the above based on the information which shows the broadcast station 600 which broadcasts the program matched with the address contained in profile information in this table.
Also, instead of the information indicating the address, it is specified from the GPS (Global Positioning System) function provided in the viewer terminal, the identification information of the access point of the base station or wireless LAN (Local Area Network) where the viewer terminal is located, etc. Current position information may be used. As a result, for example, even when a viewer is on the road or when he / she has just moved, a program in which a third party whose preference is similar to that of the viewer among the programs that can be viewed at that location Can be identified and introduced.

(Modification 19)
The profile information may include information (referred to as search keyword information) indicating a keyword input by a viewer in search or the like as preference information. In this case, the control unit 110 may identify a program by counting the number or ratio of keywords input by a third party that includes preference information similar to the search keyword information as profile information. By using words that the viewer is interested in from time to time as search keywords, the control unit 110 can identify and introduce programs that are popular with third parties who have similar preferences to the search keywords. it can. In addition, since the viewer can register the word entered by himself / herself as preference information, the contents of the preference can be actively selected, and not general contents such as “soccer” and “golf”, for example. It can be a concrete content such as “Professional XX Team XX Player”. As a result, the viewer can more accurately grasp programs that are similar to those with similar preferences.

(Modification 20)
The profile information may include words representing emotions such as “laughed”, “surprised”, or “cry” as preference information. In this case, for example, the control unit 210 of the viewer terminal 200 displays buttons representing these words on the display unit 240 and registers the words represented by the buttons selected by the operation of the operation unit 250 in the profile information. Thus, the viewer can easily register these words in the profile information, and the server apparatus 100 can identify and introduce a program according to the viewer's mood. The control unit 210 may register the profile information when the number of times these buttons are selected exceeds a threshold value.

(Modification 21)
The control unit 110 may acquire the result of analyzing the closed caption (so-called caption) of the program as program information.
Further, the control unit 110 may acquire program information using metadata provided from a broadcasting station or a program information providing company. Here, the metadata refers to data representing the contents of the program (broadcast date and time, performers, rough contents, etc.) provided by the broadcast station 600 that broadcasts the program before the program is broadcast. Thereby, the control part 110 can acquire program information, without depending on the precision of the information obtained by analyzing a character, an image | video, or an audio | voice.

(Modification 22)
The control unit 110 may specify a program in which the amount of change in the number of input keywords (or the number of writing) per unit time is equal to or greater than a threshold value. Thereby, the control part 110 can identify the program which is rising rapidly from the time when the degree of increase is small.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10, 10b ... Information processing system, 100 ... Server apparatus, 110, 110a ... Control part, 111 ... 1st acquisition part, 112, 112b ... Aggregation part, 113 ... 2nd acquisition part, 114 ... 1st specification part, 115 ... Extraction unit 116, 116b ... second specifying unit 117 ... transmission unit 118 ... determination unit 119 ... third acquisition unit 120 ... communication unit 130 ... tuner unit 140 ... storage unit 200 ... viewer terminal 210 ... Control unit, 220 ... Storage unit, 230 ... Communication unit, 240 ... Display unit, 250 ... Operation unit, 260 ... Transmission unit, 1110 ... Program information acquisition unit, 1120 ... Program identification unit, 1130 ... Transmission unit

Claims (12)

Program information acquisition means for acquiring program information representing the program contents of a plurality of programs that can be viewed by a viewer and broadcast simultaneously;
Of the input items input by a third party whose preference is similar to that of the viewer, the number, the ratio, or the frequency of the input items related to the program content represented by the program information acquired by the program information acquisition unit is set for each of the plurality of programs. A program specifying means for specifying a program whose result is a threshold value or more,
An information processing apparatus comprising: transmission means for transmitting information for notifying the viewer of the program specified by the program specifying means to the communication terminal of the viewer. The program specifying means includes the input information input by the third party whose preference related to the program content represented by the program information acquired by the program information acquisition means is similar to that of the viewer. 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a program in which a result of aggregating the number, ratio, or frequency of the input items related to the program content to be expressed for each of the plurality of programs is equal to or greater than the threshold is specified. The program content of the program represented by the program information includes preference information representing the preference related to the program content,
Extraction for extracting a program with the program content including preference information representing a preference similar to the viewer's preference from among a plurality of programs whose program content is represented by the program information acquired by the program information acquisition means With means,
The program identifying means identifies a program whose result of aggregating the number, ratio, or frequency of the input items for each of the plurality of programs among the programs extracted by the extracting means is equal to or greater than the threshold value. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 or 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the program information acquisition unit analyzes video or audio of a program and acquires the analysis result as the program information. The program specifying means includes identification information acquisition means for acquiring identification information for identifying the third party having a preference similar to the viewer, and the identification information acquired by the identification information acquisition means identifies third information. Among the input items input by the user, the result of totaling the number, ratio, or frequency of the input items related to the program contents represented by the program information acquired by the program information acquisition unit for each of the plurality of programs is equal to or greater than the threshold value The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the program is specified. The program specifying means uses preference information acquisition means for acquiring preference information representing preferences of the viewer and the third party, and preference information acquired by the preference information acquisition means. And a third party specifying means for specifying a third party similar to the one of the input items input by the third party specified by the third party specifying means. The program according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein a program in which a result of totaling the number, rate, or frequency of the input items related to the program content represented by program information for each of the plurality of programs is equal to or greater than the threshold is specified. The information processing apparatus described in 1. The input item is a unit consisting of sentences composed of words input by the third party,
The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the program specifying unit specifies a program whose result of counting the number, ratio, or frequency of the sentences is equal to or greater than the threshold value. The input item is based on each keyword input by the third party,
The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the program specifying unit specifies a program whose result of totaling the number, ratio, or frequency of the keywords is equal to or greater than the threshold value. Determining means for determining a priority of the keyword according to the preference information of the viewer;
The information processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the program specifying unit changes the threshold value for each keyword according to the priority determined by the determining unit. An information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 9,
An information processing system comprising: a communication terminal of the viewer, the communication terminal comprising means for outputting video or audio corresponding to the program. An information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 9,
A communication terminal provided with a transmission means for transmitting a signal for switching the program to an output device that outputs video or audio corresponding to the program, the communication terminal of the viewer;
The transmitting means transmits identification information for identifying the program as information for notifying the viewer of the program specified by the program specifying means,
The information transmitting system, wherein the transmitting means transmits the signal corresponding to the identification information transmitted by the transmitting means. On the computer,
A program information acquisition step of acquiring program information representing the program contents of a plurality of programs that can be viewed by the viewer and broadcast simultaneously;
Of the input items input by a third party whose preference is similar to that of the viewer, the number, ratio, or frequency of input items related to the program content represented by the program information acquired in the program information acquisition step is set for each of the plurality of programs. A program specifying step for specifying a program whose result is a threshold value or more,
And a transmission step of transmitting information for notifying the viewer of the program specified in the specifying step to the viewer's communication terminal.

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