JP2003085949A - Information sorting device and computer program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information sorting device which can sort a musical composition corresponding to user's taste or its transition when the musical composition in musical information, for example, is reproduced. SOLUTION: A MD device 1 for rearranging plural kinds of musical compositions according to a certain criterion is provided with a CPU 11 for rearranging the musical compositions in consideration of use frequency and used frequency in the past of each musical composition.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to, for example, MD (mi
The present invention relates to an information sorting device for sorting a plurality of types of music data and image data recorded on a ni disc) or a DVD (digital versatile disc), and a computer program for controlling the information sorting device.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an MD device, for example, when reproducing a plurality of types of music recorded in an MD, reproduction is usually performed in the order of the recorded music. The MD device can also randomly play back music by user's operation. In addition, when playing songs using music application software on a personal computer, etc., order the songs by title, artist, youngest or oldest played date, or most played or little played. It is also possible to reproduce.

However, the playback order of these songs is
The user's tastes, habits, etc. are ignored because they are simply reproduced mechanically in accordance with the above-mentioned certain criteria. Therefore, there is a problem that the user has to take the trouble to select a favorite song or to skip and play a song that he / she does not like.

[0004]

Therefore, in the above-mentioned MD device, etc., the number of songs played by the user in the past is accumulated for each song to preferentially play songs having a large number of past plays. Is also proposed. However,
Depending on the user, even if the song has been played a lot in the past, it may be said that the song has become tired and has not been played so much recently. Therefore, the above method does not always change the user's preference or its transition. Not considered.

[0005]

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been devised under the circumstances described above, and when individual information (for example, a piece of music in music information) is used (reproduced), the user's preference and its change are used. It is an object of the present invention to provide an information sorting device capable of sorting music by playing music.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides
The following technical measures are taken.

The information sorting apparatus provided by the first aspect of the present invention is an information sorting apparatus for rearranging a plurality of types of individual information according to a certain standard, and the frequency of use in each of the individual information, and A sorting means for rearranging the individual information is provided in consideration of the number of times the individual information has been used in the past.

According to a preferred embodiment, there is provided an acquisition means for acquiring a sorting index for rearranging the individual information for each individual information based on the frequency of use and the number of times of use in the past, and the sorting means comprises: , The individual information is sorted according to the value of the sorting index.

According to another preferred embodiment, the frequency of use is the time from the last use to the present in the individual information.

According to another preferred embodiment, the frequency of use is the number of times of use per unit time in the individual information.

According to another preferred embodiment, the number of times of use in the past is used from the reference time to the present with the time of the first use among all the individual information as the reference time. The number of times.

According to another preferred embodiment, the number of times of use in the past is the number of times of use from the predetermined reference time to the present.

According to another preferred embodiment, the acquisition means calculates the equivalent value of the usage frequency in each of the individual information, the equivalent value calculated by the first arithmetic means, and Second computing means for computing the sorting index on the basis of the equivalent value of the number of times of use in the individual information in the past, and the sorting means is based on the sorting index computed by the second computing means. Sort the individual information.

According to another preferred embodiment, the equivalent value Hp of the frequency of use is obtained in the first computing means based on the equation (4).

[0015]

[Equation 4]

Here, Hp is the equivalent value of the frequency of use of the p-th individual information among all the individual information, tp is the time when the p-th individual information was used last time, and t ₀ is the first among all the individual information. The time of the individual information used, T is the current time, and α is the weight for the equivalent value of the time from the last use to the present in the individual information.

According to another preferred embodiment, the sorting indexes Kp and Kq are used in the second computing means.
Is calculated based on Equations 5 and 6.

[0018]

[Equation 5]

[0019]

[Equation 6]

Here, Kp is a sort parameter of the p-th individual information among all the used individual information, and Kq is a sort parameter of the non-p-th individual information other than the unused individual information.
n _p is the number of times the p-th individual information is used out of all the individual information, N is the total number of times of use, β is the weight of the change amount of the sort parameter in one use, and γ is the frequency of use or the number of times of use Indicates the value indicating whether to do.

[0021] According to another preferred embodiment, the individual information is music information, and is provided with reproducing means for reproducing the music information in the order rearranged by the sorting means.

A computer program provided by the second aspect of the present invention is a computer program for controlling an information sorting apparatus for rearranging a plurality of types of individual information according to a certain standard,
A sorting program for rearranging the individual information is included in consideration of the frequency of use of the individual information and the number of times of use of the individual information in the past.

According to the present invention, when the music information (for example, a piece of music) as the individual information is reproduced, not only the number of times of past use (the number of times of reproduction) of the piece of music but also the frequency of use (reproduction frequency) of the piece of music, For example, sorting is performed to determine a song to be reproduced next time, in consideration of the elapsed time from the previous reproduction to the present. Therefore, for users, it was often played in the past,
It is possible to prevent the selection of a song that has become tired and that has hardly been played recently, and it is possible to select a song according to the user's current taste and its transition. Therefore, it is possible to save the trouble of selecting songs and provide a highly convenient information sorting device.

As the individual information, in addition to the above songs,
Examples include video, email transmission destinations such as mobile phones, and Internet connection destinations.

Other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the detailed description given below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0026]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of an MD device applied as an information sorting device according to the present invention. The MD device 1 reproduces the music recorded in the MD or records the music in the MD, and includes a microcomputer unit 10, an MD mechanism unit 20, a display unit 30, and an operation unit 40. The microcomputer unit 10 includes a CPU 11 and a memory 12, and the CPU 11 is connected to the MD mechanism unit 20, the display unit 30, and the operation unit 40 via the I / F unit 13.

The CPU 11 controls the MD device 1, and controls each part based on an operation program stored in the memory 12 and an operation signal from the operation part 40 operated by the user.

The memory 12 includes ROM, RAM and EE.
It is composed of a PROM or the like, and stores an operation program and a reproduction frequency, sort parameters, and the like, which will be described later, in the form of mathematical expressions.

In response to a command from the CPU 11, the MD mechanism section 20 rotates the inserted MD by a motor or the like (not shown) to reproduce the music recorded in the MD or send the MD to another reproduction device or the like. Record the songs that are played.

The display unit 30 is composed of, for example, a liquid crystal display, and displays guidance of a song being reproduced and operation guidance of the MD device 1.

The operation unit 40 is provided with a plurality of keys, and when the user operates these keys, the CP
An operation signal is transmitted to U11, and MD reproduction control such as MD insertion and ejection, reproduction and stop is performed.

In the present embodiment, in order to select and sort songs according to the taste of the user, a value corresponding to the reproduction frequency H of each song is obtained, and the value and the number of past selections of each song are obtained. An index for rearranging a plurality of types of songs (hereinafter referred to as "sort parameter K") is acquired based on the value to be reproduced, and the songs to be reproduced are rearranged based on the value of the sort parameter K. There is.

Here, the reproduction frequency H is a value corresponding to the elapsed time from the previous reproduction time to the current time in the music piece, and the elapsed time is the time from the earliest reproduction time of all the music pieces. The value is standardized according to the elapsed time up to the current time. The reproduction frequency H is 0, for example.
It changes between ~ 1, and the higher the value, the more recently the song is played.

The reproduction frequency H is obtained for each music every time any music is reproduced. Specifically, the reproduction frequency H is calculated by Expression 7. Here, it is assumed that the p-th piece of all S pieces is reproduced, and the reproduction frequency at that time is Hp.

[0036]

[Equation 7]

Here, tp represents the time when the p-th music was reproduced last time, t ₀ represents the time when the music was reproduced first among all the music, T represents the current time, and α represents the latest time. Indicates the weight for emphasizing that the data has been reproduced.

The weight α can be set between 0 and 1, and the weight α is set in the equation 7 because the reproduction frequency Hp becomes higher as the elapsed time from the previous reproduction time to the current time becomes shorter. This is so that the value can be increased.
FIG. 2 shows changes in the magnitude of the reproduction frequency Hp when the weights α have different values. It can be seen from this figure that the smaller the weight α is set, the higher the difference in the recent reproduction frequency Hp becomes.

In the formula 7, the reproduction frequency H is obtained by using the time tp reproduced last time. Instead of this, the reproduction frequency H is calculated based on the number of reproductions per unit time immediately before the current time. You may ask. That is, the higher the number of reproductions per unit time, the higher the reproduction frequency H is.

Further, in the present embodiment, by the reproduction frequency H of the music and the value corresponding to the number of times of reproduction in the past,
The sort parameter K is calculated. Here, the sort parameter K is an index for selecting and rearranging songs in accordance with the user's preference and its transition.
For example, it changes between 0 and 1, and it is considered that the higher the value, the higher the possibility that the music piece is selected with higher priority.

The sort parameter K is obtained for each song every time any song is played. In particular,
The sort parameter K can be obtained by the formulas 8 and 9. In Equations 8 and 9, Kp represents the sorting parameter of the p-th song reproduced, and Kq represents the p-th song.
Shows the sort parameters for songs other than the th.

[0042]

[Equation 8]

[0043]

[Equation 9]

Here, n _p represents the total number of times the p-th piece of all songs has been played in the past, and N represents the total number of times played of all songs. Further, β indicates the weight of the change amount of the sort parameter in one reproduction, and can be set between 0 and 1 as necessary. Also, γ
Indicates the importance of the reproduction frequency or the number of times of reproduction, and can be set between 0 and 1 as required. In this case, as the value of γ approaches 1,
It is considered that the number of times of reproduction is emphasized, and that the reproduction frequency is emphasized as the value of γ approaches 0.

That is, in the sort parameter Kp of the reproduced p-th music, the change amount of the sort parameter Kp per one time is β (1-Kp) as shown in FIG.
Is the maximum amount, and the amount is obtained by the reproduction frequency Hp and the number of reproductions _np, and this amount is added to the pre-reproduction sort parameter Kp to obtain the current sort parameter Kp.

On the other hand, in the sort parameters Kq of the songs other than the p-th one which has not been reproduced, the change amount of the sort parameter Kq per one time is as shown in FIG. It becomes the amount obtained by the number of times n _p, and this amount is the sort parameter K before reproduction.
Subtracting from q gives the current sort parameter Kq.

Here, the reason why the music corresponding to the user's preference and its change is preferentially selected by the reproduction frequency Hp and the number of times of reproduction as described above will be described more specifically. FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 are views showing the relationship between the number of reproductions per unit time and the time for the songs A and B recorded on the MD, and the closer to the right on the horizontal axis, the closer to the present. Has been

Comparing the two, song A has been frequently played in the past, but the number of plays has decreased with the passage of time. On the other hand, the B song has hardly been played in the past, or the number of times it has been played is small, but the number of plays has increased with the passage of time. Also,
Comparing the total number of times of reproduction, music A is reproduced more than music B.

In such a situation of reproducing the songs A and B, if only the number of times of reproduction is used as a parameter, that is, if the songs are preferentially selected in the order of the number of times of reproduction, as in the conventional case, the number of times of reproduction is higher than that of the songs B It is highly possible that song A will be selected with higher priority. Also, if you select songs by playback date,
There is almost no difference between songs A and B.

However, when attention is paid to the user's preference and its transition, in the reproduction situation of the songs A and B, the song having a small total number of playbacks but a large number of playbacks recently, that is, the song B is given priority. It can be said that it is desirable to select. That is, in the next unit time,
The number of playbacks indicated by the broken line (see FIG. 6) is expected.

In the present embodiment, as described above, Equation 7
~ Based on Expression 9, songs are preferentially selected in consideration of the recent reproduction frequency and the past reproduction frequency. for that reason,
Since the songs according to the user's preference and the transition thereof are selected and rearranged, the user can save the trouble of selecting the songs, and the MD device 1 having high convenience can be obtained. Further, for the user, the music according to his / her preference is automatically reproduced, so that the MD device 1 is customized and the usability is further improved.

Next, the control operation of the CPU 11 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. For example, when the user listens to a song using the MD device 1, it is determined whether or not to execute the sort mode (S1). Here, the sort mode is a mode in which the reproduction frequency H and the sort parameter K described above are obtained, and the music is selected and reproduced according to the preference of the user. That is, when another mode (for example, normal reproduction or random reproduction) is selected by the user's key operation on the operation unit 40, the CP
U11 determines that the sort mode is not executed (S11).
1: NO), reproduction is performed in another mode (S2).

On the other hand, when the sort mode is selected by the user's operation, the CPU 11 determines that the sort mode is to be executed (S1: YES), and refers to the sort parameter of the music stored in the MD. (S3). Here, the value of the playback frequency of each song and the value of the sort parameter are
Each song is stored in the data recording area of the MD, and C
The PU 11 reads it and temporarily stores it in the memory 12. If the device is a music server or the like capable of storing data of a large number of songs, the sort parameter value and the reproduction frequency value for each song may be stored in the memory of the music server main body. .

Then, the CPU 11 stores the memory 12 in the order of the largest song based on the value of the sort parameter of each song.
Rearrange above (S4). The CPU 11 then MD
A control signal is sent to the mechanical unit 20, and the MD mechanical unit 20
Reproduces the songs in the rearranged order based on the control signal from the CPU 11 (S5). Next, it is determined whether or not the sort mode has been stopped (S6). If there is no operation for canceling the sort mode by the user's operation, it is determined that the sort mode is continued (S6: N).
O), it is determined whether all the songs registered in the MD have been played back (S7), and if not played back (S7:
No), the next song is reproduced (S5). When all the songs have been reproduced (S7: YES), this sort mode processing ends. Also, if it is determined in step S6 that the sort mode is to be stopped (S6: YES), the sort mode process is terminated. It should be noted that when the music pieces are reproduced, the music pieces may not be reproduced in descending order of the sort parameter K, but may be reproduced randomly among, for example, several high-order music pieces.

Next, the process of calculating sort parameters will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. In this calculation process, a process when the p-th piece of all S pieces is reproduced will be described. It should be noted that the p-th is, for example, among the registered songs of MD which are determined in advance.
It shows the p-th song, and does not show the rearranged order.

First, when the p-th music of all S music is reproduced (S11), the CPU 11 adds "1" to the number of times n _p of reproduction of the p-th music and reproduces it n _p. Leave (S
12). Also, "1" is added to the total number of times N of all songs, which is set as the number of times of reproduction N (S13). Next, the variable x is set to "1" (S14). In this case, the variable x is
Indicates the registered song number.

Next, it is judged whether or not the value of the variable x is equal to the total number S of songs (S15). If they are not equal (S15: N).
O), the reproduction frequency H of the music corresponding to the variable x, that is, the x-th music is calculated (S16). Next, "1" is added to the variable x and it is set as the variable x (S17). Then, the determination process of step S15 is performed again, and when the variable x is equal to the total number S of songs (S15: YES), the process proceeds to step S18. That is, by this series of processing, the reproduction frequency H is obtained for all songs by the above-mentioned formula 7, and the newly obtained value of the reproduction frequency H is stored in the memory 12.

In step S18, the variable x is set to "1" again. Then, it is determined whether or not the variable x is equal to the registration number p of the reproduced music piece (S19). When the variable x is different from the registration number p (S19: NO), the sort parameter Kq of the music other than the p-th music is obtained (S20). The sort parameter Kq is obtained by the above-described mathematical expression 9, and the value of the newly obtained sort parameter Kq is stored in the memory 12.

On the other hand, if the variable x is equal to the registration number p in step S19 (S19: YES), the sort parameter Kp of the p-th music piece is obtained (S21). The sort parameter Kp is obtained by the above-mentioned formula 8, and the value of the newly obtained sort parameter Kp is stored in the memory 12.

Then, it is judged whether or not the variable x is equal to the total number S of songs (S22), and if not equal (S22: N).
O), "1" is added to the variable x, and it is set as the variable x (S
23), and the determination process of step S19 is performed again. If the variable x is equal to the total number S of songs in step S22 (S22: YES), the process ends. In other words, by this series of processing, the sorting parameter Kp is obtained for the p-th song based on the equation 8, and the sorting parameter Kq for all songs except the p-th song based on the equation 9. Are seeking.

Such processing is performed every time one music is reproduced, and the reproduction frequency H and the sort parameter K are calculated for each music.
Is recalculated and the new value is stored in memory 12. After that, when the MD is ejected from the MD device 1, the CPU 1
In No. 1, the reproduction frequency H and the sort parameter K for each song are read from the memory 12, and those values are stored in the data area of the MD.

In the control operation described above, the value of the reproduction frequency H and the value of the sort parameter K may be obtained only for the reproduced music piece. In addition, it is more preferable that the reproduction in the sort mode is performed after the user listens to the same song such as MD several times because the data is accumulated more abundantly. In addition, for example, when a song is played at random, the user's preference is not taken into consideration.
In this case, it is desirable not to calculate sort parameters and the like after being reproduced.

As described above, as a method of preferentially selecting music and determining the order of reproduction, all dates and times at the time of reproduction of music are recognized and stored in the memory 12, for example.
There is also a method of investigating the reproduction tendency of songs. In this method, since the information is stored each time the music is reproduced, there is a possibility that the stored information increases with the passage of time and the memory capacity becomes insufficient. However, according to the present embodiment, since the information stored in the memory 12 is extremely small, it is possible to avoid the problem that the memory capacity is insufficient. That is, in the case of the MD device, each value such as the value of the reproduction frequency H for each song, the value of the sort parameter K, the number of times of reproduction, and the time of the last reproduction is stored in the data storage area of the MD and the reproduction frequency H It is only necessary to store in the memory 12 only the mathematical formula for obtaining the value, the mathematical formula for obtaining the sort parameter K, and the values of the weights α, β, γ.

The values of the weights α, β and γ in the above equations 7 to 9 are preferably set in advance before factory shipment, but the values 0 to 1 are set by the user.
The setting may be changeable within the range.

Further, as shown in FIG. 9, the reproduction frequency H of the music piece
Although p and time have an almost exponential relationship, when calculation of the reproduction frequency Hp itself is complicated or when numerical accuracy is not required, for example, as shown in FIG. The reproduction frequency Hp may be obtained based on the relationship in which the functional expressions D are combined.

Also, the reproduction frequency Hp of the music as shown in FIG.
In the relationship between the time and the time, the time t ₀ of the first reproduced piece of all the pieces of music is “0” on the horizontal axis and the current time T is “1” on the horizontal axis. According to the figure, a gentle curve is drawn near "0" on the horizontal axis. That is, in the period close to the time t ₀ when the reproduction is first performed, the occurrence frequency Hp continues to be a minute value. Further, in the vicinity of “1” on the horizontal axis, that is, in the period close to the current time T, the value of the occurrence frequency Hp is unlikely to differ due to the minute period of the occurrence frequency Hp in the vicinity of “0”. Therefore, as shown in FIG.
Before the predetermined time Tk, that is, in the minute period of the occurrence frequency Hp in the vicinity of “0”, the occurrence frequency Hp is approximated to “0”, and the value of the occurrence frequency Hp in the period close to the current time T easily becomes different. You may do it.

Of course, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments. For example, the calculation formulas of the reproduction frequency H and the sort parameter K described above are merely examples, and the calculation formulas are not limited to these. Although the MD device 1 has been described in the above embodiment, the music device, the jukebox, the personal computer having the application software for music, the car audio system, the karaoke system, or the like is used instead of the MD device 1 to give priority to the above-mentioned songs. The method of selecting and rearranging may be applied. Also, instead of handling music data such as songs, the above sorting method may be used when handling video data such as videos. In this case, the device may be a digital video player, a DVD player, a video server, or the like.

The method of preferentially selecting and sorting songs according to the present embodiment is applied to, for example, a mobile phone, and takes into account the recent transmission frequency and the past transmission number at the destination of the mail, and The destinations of may be rearranged. In this case, for example, a user can be instructed to search for a transmission destination having a low transmission frequency and urge the user to contact the transmission destination having a low transmission frequency. Further, the data of the transmission destination having a low transmission frequency may be deleted, and the sorting method according to the present embodiment may be used for the purpose of deleting the data.

The sorting method can also be applied to a telephone in the home. Alternatively, it can be used for browser software on the Internet, and the connection destinations may be sorted according to the connection frequency of the connection destinations on the Internet, for example.

Alternatively, the menu may be used as the individual information, and as a result of sorting, the menu may be urged to use the menu that is rarely used. Furthermore, a manufacturer selling a certain product may use the product purchased by one consumer as the individual information. Alternatively, the usage of, for example, a credit card of one consumer may be used as the individual information. As described above, the sorting method of the present embodiment can be applied to various things.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an M as an information sorting apparatus according to the present invention.
It is a block diagram of a D device.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a relationship between a reproduction frequency and time.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram for explaining changes in the values of sort parameters.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram for explaining changes in sort parameter values.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a relationship between the number of times of reproduction and time.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a relationship between the number of times of reproduction and time.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a control operation of the CPU.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a control operation of the CPU.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a relationship between reproduction frequency and time.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing another relationship between reproduction frequency and time.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing still another relationship between the reproduction frequency and time.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 MD device 10 Microcomputer section 11 CPU 12 memories 20 MD mechanism section 30 Display 40 Operation part H playback frequency K sort parameter

Claims (11)

[Claims] 1. An information sorting apparatus for rearranging a plurality of types of individual information according to a certain standard, wherein the frequency of use in each of the individual information and the number of past uses in each of the individual information are considered. An information sorting apparatus comprising a sorting means for sorting the individual information. 2. An acquisition unit for acquiring a sorting index for sorting the individual information for each individual information based on the frequency of use and the number of times of past use, the sorting unit including a value of the sorting index. The information sorting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the individual information is rearranged according to the above. 3. The information sorting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the usage frequency is a time from the last usage to the present in each of the individual information. 4. The use frequency is defined as the number of uses per unit time in each of the individual information.
Information sorting device described in. 5. The number of times of use in the past is the number of times of use from the reference time to the present, with the time of first use among all the individual information as a reference time. An information sorting apparatus according to any one of 1 to 4. 6. The information sorting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the number of times of use in the past is the number of times of use from a predetermined predetermined reference time to the present. 7. The acquisition means calculates a corresponding value of the frequency of use in each of the individual information, a corresponding value calculated by the first calculating means, and past use of each of the individual information. The second computing means for computing the sorting index based on the equivalent value of the number of times, wherein the sorting means sorts the individual information based on the sorting index computed by the second computing means. The information sorting device according to any one of 2 to 6. 8. The information sorting apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the equivalent value Hp of the frequency of use is obtained by the first computing means based on Equation 1. [Equation 1] (Hp is the equivalent value of the frequency of use of the p-th individual information in all the individual information, tp is the time when the p-th individual information was used last time, and t ₀ is the individual information used first among all the individual information. Time, T is the current time, and α is a weight for the equivalent value of the time from the last use to the present in the individual information.) 9. The information sorting apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the sorting index Kp, Kq is obtained by the second computing means based on the equations 2 and 3. [Equation 2] [Equation 3] (Kp is a sort parameter of the p-th individual information among all the used individual information, Kq is a sort parameter of the individual information other than the p-th individual information that is not used, and n _p is the p-th individual information of all the individual information. The number of times information is used, N is the total number of times used, β is the weight of the amount of change in the sort parameter in one use, and γ is a value indicating whether the frequency of use or the number of times of use is important. 10. The information sorting apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the individual information is music information, and a reproduction unit that reproduces the music information in an order rearranged by the sorting unit is provided. . 11. A computer program for controlling an information sorting apparatus for rearranging a plurality of types of individual information according to a certain standard, wherein the computer program is used in each of the individual information and in the past of each of the individual information. A computer program including a sorting program for rearranging the individual information in consideration of the number of times of use.