JP2005071050A - Information presenting system, device and program thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently acquire information desired by a user and present the information. <P>SOLUTION: The information presenting system, which acquires a content from at least one of the content providers based on query information inputted by a user and presents the content to the user, comprises a first agent that generates a common query language for querying to the content provider from the query information, a second agent that obtains a content based on the common query language from the contents accumulated in each of the content providers, and a third agent that adds presenting content information to the content based on the content obtained by the second agent and the user's preference value generated from the information on history of viewing contents viewed by the user. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an information presentation system, an information presentation device, and an information presentation program, and more particularly to an information presentation system, an information presentation device, and an information presentation program that can efficiently acquire and present information desired by a user. .

  In recent years, the multi-media era where BS / terrestrial digital broadcasting and the Internet are mixed is imminent, and TV receivers have not only the function of “viewing programs” as in the past, but also different usage forms for each media. There is a need for a function for presenting information that is held in accordance with user preferences and situations.

  In addition, due to the diversification of media, there are many ways of using information overflowing in the world. In order to use them in an integrated manner, information is sequentially accessed using corresponding access means. It needs to be acquired and reconfigured by the user himself.

  For media provided on the Internet, there are portal sites and search engine sites that collect and organize information in various fields so that users can access different types of media as easily as possible. In order to obtain, it is common to use the above-mentioned site.

As another media access method, a common metadata system in which various types of information are converted into a common format and stored in a specific metadata server in advance and searched (accessed) is also considered. (See, for example, Non-Patent Document 1).
Sano et al., “Examination of application system using MPEG-7”, FIT (Information Science and Technology Forum) 2002, D-22. (Sep2002)

  However, the portal site only organizes information on a large number of websites and provides link information to them, and the user visits each website to check for the desired information. Must. In addition, the actual situation is that the content of a website that is constantly changing is not always reflected in the portal site.

  On the other hand, in the common metadata system, information on different media can be searched in an integrated manner. However, since a large amount of metadata is stored in a specific server, the amount of data in the server becomes enormous and a lot of search processing is required. Need time.

  Another problem is that information that is not stored in the server cannot be accessed.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and provides an information presentation system, an information presentation apparatus, and an information presentation program that can efficiently acquire and present information desired by a user. Objective.

  In order to solve the above problems, the present invention employs means for solving the problems having the following characteristics.

  The invention described in claim 1 is an information presentation system for acquiring content from at least one content provider based on inquiry information input from a user and presenting the acquired content to the user. A first agent that generates a common query language for querying the content provider from information; and a second agent that acquires content based on the common query language from content stored for each content provider And a third agent for adding presentation content information to the content based on content obtained from the second agent and a user preference value generated from viewing history information of the content viewed by the user. It is characterized by that.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to efficiently acquire and present information desired by the user. In addition, by transmitting and receiving data among the first agent, the second agent, and the third agent, it is possible to present content information desired by the user quickly and easily.

  The invention described in claim 2 is characterized in that the first agent generates a layout for presentation based on presentation content information obtained from the third agent and preset presentation conditions. And

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to present content with added value corresponding to the user's preference.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, the second agent converts a query language from a common query language generated by the first agent based on a data format of content stored in the content provider. It is characterized by that.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, information retrieval from different media such as various content databases and Web sites can be easily realized without having access means corresponding to each media.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, the second agent generates metadata from content acquired based on a query language converted based on a data format of the content, and outputs the metadata to the third agent. It is characterized by doing.

  According to the fourth aspect of the invention, by generating metadata, it is possible to easily set the presentation layout of the presentation content of the acquired content information, and the content information can be used for general purposes. Thereby, the information which a user desires can be shown efficiently.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the third agent performs at least one of filtering processing, style sheet addition processing, and priority information addition processing on the content based on the user preference value. It is characterized by that.

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to present value-added content corresponding to the user's preference.

  The invention described in claim 6 is characterized in that the common query language is UQL. Here, UQL (Universal Query Language) is a language that abstracts user queries (requests) and expresses them in a tree structure format. Case grammar and frame format are used, and it consists of multiple cases accompanied by predicates (verbs).

  According to the invention described in claim 6, by using the UQL, it is possible to easily realize information retrieval from different types of media such as various content databases and websites without having access means corresponding to each media. it can. Thereby, information desired by the user can be efficiently acquired and presented.

  The invention described in claim 7 is an information presentation device for acquiring content from at least one content provider based on inquiry information input from a user and presenting the acquired content to the user. A common query language for querying the content provider from information is generated by a first agent and transmitted to a second agent provided in the content provider; and viewing of content viewed by the user Profile means for accumulating history and generating user preference values from the accumulated viewing history information; receiving content acquired by the second agent; received content; and user preference values obtained from the profile means And a third agent based on And having a presenting content adding means for adding the presentation content information to the content by.

  According to invention of Claim 7, the information which a user desires can be acquired efficiently and can be shown. In addition, by transmitting and receiving data among the first agent, the second agent, and the third agent, it is possible to present content information desired by the user quickly and easily.

  The invention described in claim 8 includes layout generation means for generating a presentation layout based on the presentation content information obtained by the presentation content adding means and preset presentation conditions. .

  According to the invention described in claim 8, it is possible to present content with added value corresponding to the user's preference.

  The present invention described in claim 9 is characterized in that the presentation content adding means performs at least one of filtering of the content, addition of a style sheet, and addition of priority information based on the user preference value. To do.

  According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to present value-added content corresponding to the user's preference.

  The invention described in claim 10 is an information presentation program for causing a computer to execute a process of acquiring content from at least one content provider based on inquiry information input from a user and presenting the acquired content to the user. Generating a common query language for querying the content provider from the query information by a first agent and transmitting it to a second agent provided in the content provider; The content acquired by the agent is received, and the presentation content information is added to the content by the third agent based on the received content and the user preference value generated from the viewing history information of the content viewed by the user Presentation content addition processing Cause the computer to execute.

  According to invention of Claim 10, the information which a user desires can be acquired efficiently and can be shown. In addition, by transmitting and receiving data among the first agent, the second agent, and the third agent, it is possible to present content information desired by the user quickly and easily. Information can be easily presented by installing an execution program in a computer.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to efficiently acquire and provide information desired by a user.

<Outline of the present invention>
The present invention provides an agent in which information acquisition and presentation functions are distributed, and efficiently acquires and presents information desired by a user through communication between agents. More specifically, the present invention uniquely represents a user request as a general query language UQL (Universal Query Language) on a multi-agent system composed of a plurality of agents, and wraps media such as a database. Wrapper Agent (WA), presentation agent (Presentation Agent: PA) that generates the display of each content on the user side, UQL is generated from the inquiry contents from the user, and the screen layout of the content presented to the user An information presentation system is provided on the basis of each agent of an interface agent (Interface Agent: IA).

  Thus, a user requesting the desired information does not need to access the media using a variety of different access means, but only communicates the request to the system using an interface such as voice interaction or keyboard input.

  Here, each agent used in the present invention will be briefly described. The interface agent IA (first agent) generates a UQL corresponding to a user input, and transmits it to a wrapper agent WA (second agent) group mounted on various media. Each wrapper agent WA converts the UQL into an access method to each medium, acquires information corresponding to the user's inquiry, and returns the information to the presentation agent PA (third agent) on the user side in a metadata format. To do. Here, the medium indicates information providing means that can be searched by the wrapper agent WA, and corresponds to a content database, a Web site, or the like.

  The presentation agent PA determines the metadata display method and priority while referring to the user's preference information, and finally the interface agent IA generates the content presentation layout, and the information is presented to the user. The

  Hereinafter, embodiments in which an information presentation system, an information presentation apparatus, and an information presentation program according to the present invention having the above-described features are suitably implemented will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

<System configuration example>
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a system configuration of an information presentation system according to the present invention. In the information presentation system 10 in FIG. 1, an information providing device 11 and at least one content provider 12 (n in FIG. 1) are connected via a communication network 13 in a state where they can be transmitted and received. The communication network 13 may be wired or wireless.

  The information presentation device 11 is configured to include an interface device 14, a presentation content generation device 15, and a profile processing device 16. The content provider 12 includes wrapping devices 17-1, 17-2,..., 17-n and content databases 18-1, 18-2,. ).

  That is, in an environment where the information presentation apparatus 11 uses the information presentation system, such as a home or a workplace, the interface apparatus 14 in which the interface agent (IA1) operates and the presentation content generation apparatus 15 in which the presentation agents (PA1 to PAn) operate. , And a profile processing device 16 are prepared. A wrapping device 17 on which dedicated wrapper agents (WA1 to WAn) operate is also prepared for each medium such as a content provider that actually has a content DB and a site on the Internet. All of these are always connected by a communication network 13 such as a home LAN or the Internet. Thus, even when the number of media increases, a dedicated wrapping agent can be prepared to immediately function as a part of the system.

  First, the information presentation device 11 receives a user request (inquiry information) from an interface device 14 including a display unit such as a television or PC display and an input unit such as a voice dialogue or a keyboard. The interface agent (IA1) in the interface device 14 generates a general-purpose query language UQL that abstracts the user request based on the input user request. The generated UQL is transmitted to the wrapper agent (WA1), (WA2), (WA3) on the media side.

  Here, UQL is a language that abstracts user requests and expresses them in a tree structure format. Case grammar and frame format are used, and it consists of multiple cases accompanied by predicates (verbs). By using UQL, it is possible to easily select an expression format such as XML (extensible Markup Language) or S-expression (Symbol Expression: a format that allows data and functions to be described without distinction) according to the situation of the media. it can.

Here, the above-mentioned content is demonstrated using figures. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the generated UKL description in the present invention. 2A shows the XML document format UKL, and FIG. 2B shows its tree structure representation. FIG. 2 shows “file“ sample. "xml" is moved from a specific agent "AgentA" to another agent "AgentB". "

  Here, if the UKL shown in FIG. 2A is sent from “AgentB” to “AgentA”, “AgentB” requests a file “sample.xmI” from “AgentA”. Is synonymous with

  Further, UQL is unique regardless of the type of media, and conversion to access means corresponding to each media is performed by a wrapper agent (WA) prepared for each media. In FIG. 2, information in the media can be deleted or updated by using predicates such as “delete” and “update” instead of “move”.

  Further, as an example different from the above-described example, a description example of UKL using an ontology that is a collection of clear definitions between concepts will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the UQL description using the ontology.

  UQL can describe more complicated requirements by stratifying the case structure and specifying a specific concept, and can be used universally in various applications. The UQL shown in FIG. 3 represents the concept of information that wants “SUMMARY” and “FILMOGRAPHY”, and “move“ SUMMARY ”and“ FILMOGRAPHY ”related to“ Mel Gibson ”. Represents a specific request.

  The wrapper agent (WA) of the wrapping device 17 that has received this UQL refers to a specific ontology that has been disclosed, interprets “SUMMARY” and “FILMOGRAPHY”, and determines what processing is to be performed.

  UQL is transmitted and received by being included in an ACL (Agent Communication Language). The ontology is also specified in the ACL.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of an ACL description including UQL. FIG. 4 is an example in which the UQL is included in an ACL conforming to FIPA (Fundation for Intelligent Physical Agents). The wrapper agent (WA) that has received this ACL interprets the UQL with reference to the ontology “NHKOnt-ACTOR” shown in the <ontology> tag in FIG.

  The “NHKONT-ACTOR” ontology has a description such as ““ SUMMARY ”means“ actor's bio ”. The trumpet agent (WA) extracts the biograph of the actor“ Mel Gibson ”. Process.

  Next, UQL conversion by the wrapping device 17 included in the content provider 12 will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of the UKL conversion by the wrapping apparatus.

  A wrapper agent (WA) provided for each wrapping device 17 converts the received UQL into access means corresponding to each medium (content database, Web site, etc.) to be wrapped. In the wrapping apparatus 1 (17-1), the wrapper agent (WA1) converts the received UQL into the database access language (AL1), and applies the result to the content DB1 (18-1) to obtain the inquiry result (R1). get.

  Here, for example, if the content DB 1 is an RDB (Relation Data Base), AL 1 is an SQL (Structured Query Language).

  The processing of the wrapping device 1 (17-1) described above is also performed by the other wrapping devices 2, 3,... To convert the UKL according to the type of each medium and acquire information. The wrapping apparatus 3 (17-3) has a wrapper agent (WA3) for a specific Web site, and extracts target information from a specific location in the site based on the received UQL information (E) I do.

  Next, an example of the UQL conversion method will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of the UKL conversion using XSL. The wrapping device 17 can easily convert to another language by utilizing the fact that the UQL has a tree structure.

  For example, when UQL is expressed in an XML document, it can be converted into another language using XSL (eXtensible Style Language) that is generally used when converting an XML document into another XML document. is there.

  In FIG. 6, the XML-expressed UQL is converted into SQL using XSL as shown in FIGS. 6B and 6C, or as shown in FIGS. 6D and 6E. Can be converted into XQL (Xml Query Language). In this way, by using a conversion language that is easy for the user to understand, for example, addition of functions to the wrapping device 17 can be realized only by editing XSL.

  Next, a procedure for transmitting acquired data from the content provider 12 side to the information presentation apparatus 11 will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a procedure for transmitting acquired data from the content provider side. Here, FIG. 7 shows a state of transmission of search result metadata by the wrapper agent (WA). The wrapper agents (WA1 to WAn) of the wrapping device 17 generate result information (R1 to Rn) acquired from media such as the content DB 18 and Web site as metadata (CL1 to CLn) in a specific format, respectively, It transmits to the presentation agents (PA1-PAn) which the production | generation apparatus 15 has.

  Here, the content description language MPEG-7 or the like can be used as the metadata in the specific format. As a result, information from different media can be handled as the same format by mapping the information of different media to a specific format.

  Metadata (CL1 to CLn) sent from the wrapper agent (WA) is subjected to filtering processing, style sheet information addition processing, priority information addition processing, and the like by the presentation agents (PA1 to PAn) included in the presentation content generation device 15. The performed metadata (PL1 to PLn) is generated. The filtering process, style sheet information addition process, and priority information addition process described above will be described later.

  The presentation agent (PA) outputs the generated metadata (PL1 to PLn) to the interface agent (IA1) included in the interface device 14. The interface agent (IA1) determines the information presentation position and presentation time based on the priority, applies a style sheet, etc. for the metadata (PL1 to PLn), integrates the information presented to the user, and displays it on the display The screen layout to be generated is generated, and information is presented with images and sounds.

  Here, the content viewing history of the user is accumulated one by one in the profile processing device 16 included in the information presentation device 11, and user preference information is generated based on the accumulated viewing history information.

  The viewing history includes information such as the viewing time, the genre of the viewed content, the performer of the viewed content, etc., and the viewing frequency regarding those attributes is calculated. A user preference value such as “I prefer the program” is generated.

  The presentation agent (PA) included in the presentation content generation device 15 performs filtering processing, style sheet information addition processing, and priority information addition processing by referring to the user preference value.

  Here, the presentation agent (PA) and the interface agent (IA) operate autonomously in the system and can always receive metadata. For this reason, when receiving highly urgent metadata, the information presenting apparatus 11 can immediately present it to the user through an interface such as a PC or a television (even if it is not related to the user request).

  The interface agent (IA) is set with a policy (presentation condition) according to the characteristics of the display interface and the type of information to be presented. For example, a certain TV screen interface agent (IAt) displays a policy such as “display only the top three pieces of priority information among a plurality of pieces of metadata information, and display the layouts side by side on the left and right of the screen”. Is set. A policy such as “when metadata with a priority higher than a constant value is received, the information is presented using the entire screen” can be set.

  Note that style sheet information designated by the presentation agent (PA) can be used when displaying metadata in each area of the screen. Thereby, the character size and the display format can be flexibly changed.

  As described above, the information presentation system according to the present invention can efficiently acquire and present information desired by the user.

<Processing procedure between agents>
Here, a processing procedure between the agents in the information presentation system according to the present invention will be described using a sequence chart. FIG. 8 is a sequence chart showing an example of an information presentation process procedure between agents. FIG. 8 illustrates an information presentation process procedure between agents including an interface agent (IA), a presentation agent (PA), and a wrapper agent (WA).

  First, the interface agent receives a request from the user (S01). The interface agent (IA) performs language analysis on the request from the user (S02), and generates UQL (S03). Next, the interface agent (IA) encloses the generated UQL in the ACL and transmits it to the wrapper agent (WA) (S04). In S02, when language analysis cannot be performed on a request input by the user, for example, a message such as “request content is unknown” is displayed on a display screen of a television or a PC and is input again. Process.

  The wrapper agent (WA) receives the ACL from the interface agent (IA) (S05), and when the received ACL includes the UQL, the language (SQL) that enables access to the database or Web site searched from the UQL. Or XQL) (S06). In S05, when the ACL does not include the UCL, a process corresponding to the received ACL is performed.

  Next, the wrapper agent (WA) accesses a medium such as a database or a website using the language converted in S06, and acquires a search result (S07). The wrapper agent (WA) generates content metadata based on the acquired search result (S08), and includes the generated content metadata in the ACL and transmits it to the presentation agent (PA) (S09). In S07, if nothing is extracted as a result of the search, data indicating that the data has not been extracted is included in the ACL and transmitted to the presentation agent (PA).

  The presentation agent (PA) receives the ACL from the wrapper agent (WA) (S10). Further, when content metadata is included in the received ACL, the presentation agent (PA) stores the user's information stored in advance from the profile processing device. Profile information such as user preference values generated from viewing history information is referred to (S11), filtering processing, style sheet information addition processing, and priority information addition processing are performed from the profile information acquired by reference, and the processing results are obtained. Content metadata is generated by adding as presentation content information (S12). Note that when the metadata received in S10 does not include metadata, processing corresponding to the received ACL is performed.

  Next, the presentation agent (PA) encloses the generated content metadata in the ACL and transmits it to the interface agent (IA) (S13).

  The interface agent (IA) receives the ACL transmitted from the presentation agent (PA) (S14). When content metadata is included in a plurality of received ACLs, the interface agent (IA) performs an integration process of the content metadata already presented to the user and the newly acquired content metadata (S15). Then, a layout for presentation to the user is generated (S16). A specific description of the integration process will be described later.

  Finally, information is presented to the user based on the layout generated in S16 (S17). In S14, when content metadata is not included in the ACL, processing corresponding to the received ACL is performed.

  Here, the filtering process, the style sheet information addition process, and the priority information addition process performed in S12 described above will be described using a flowchart and a specific example.

<Filtering process>
First, the filtering process will be described. FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a filtering process procedure in the presentation agent. In the filtering process, the presentation agent extracts user preference values related to the genre, time zone, performers, etc. to be viewed from the user profile information stored in the profile processing device (S21). Next, filtering processing such as deleting content with a low preference value from the metadata or changing the order in the metadata according to the preference value is performed (S22).

  Here, a specific example of the filtering process will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining a specific example of the filtering process. In FIG. 10, it is assumed that the metadata (Meta-a) of the search result received from the wrapper agent has the structure of the contents (A1 to A4) shown in FIG.

  Normally, the search result by n wrapper agents is a collection of n contents A1 to An, unless the result is not obtained. Here, it is assumed that the degree of preference (preference value) regarding the genre of the presentation target user has a relationship of “sports> report> movie> education. For example, when only two contents are presented, as shown in FIG. 10B, the contents with low preference values are deleted, and only “content A2 (sports)” and “contents A3 (reports)” are presented. Perform content filtering. When all the contents are presented, the order of the contents is changed to the order of the preference value “content A2 → content A3 → content A1 → content A4” as shown in FIG. To do.

  As described above, by performing the filtering process, it is possible to present information corresponding to the user's preference. Thereby, high value-added information can be provided to the user.

<Style sheet information addition processing>
Next, style sheet information addition processing will be described. FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a processing procedure for adding style sheet information in the presentation agent. In the style sheet information addition process, the presentation agent extracts user preference values related to the viewing genre, time zone, performers, and the like from the user profile information stored in the profile processing apparatus (S31). Next, content metadata is presented by applying a style sheet corresponding to the extracted preference value (S32). For example, in the case of content metadata having a high preference value, a style sheet that makes a display frame, characters, etc. more conspicuous is applied compared to display of other metadata information.

  Here, a specific example of the style sheet information adding process will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining a specific example of the style sheet information addition processing. In FIG. 12, it is assumed that the metadata (Meta-b) of the search result received from the wrapper agent has the structure of the contents (A1 to A2) shown in FIG. Further, it is assumed that “sports” is a genre in which the degree of preference (preference value) of the presentation target user is particularly high. Here, since Meta-b includes content having a high user preference value, for example, as shown in FIG. 12B, “Stylesheet =“ Sheet-SP-M ”” is used as the presentation content information. Append. Here, “Sheet-SP-M” shown in FIG. 12B is a style sheet for sports, and particularly the color and size of characters are particularly emphasized.

  As described above, by performing the style sheet information addition process, information corresponding to the user's preference can be presented. Thereby, high value-added information can be provided to the user.

<Priority information addition processing>
Next, priority information addition processing will be described. FIG. 13 is a flowchart of an example showing the priority information addition processing procedure in the presentation agent. In the priority information addition process, the presentation agent extracts user preference values related to the viewing genre, time zone, performers, etc. from the user profile information stored in the profile processing apparatus (S41). Next, the priority of the metadata is determined corresponding to the extracted preference value (S42), and the determined priority information is described in the metadata (S43).

  Here, a specific example of the priority information addition processing will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 14 is a diagram for explaining a specific example of the priority information addition processing. In FIG. 14, it is assumed that the search result metadata (Meta-c) received from the wrapper agent has the structure of the contents (A1 to A4) shown in FIG. Here, it is assumed that the degree of preference (preference value) regarding the user's genre has a relationship of “sports> report> movie> education. Here, in Meta-c shown in FIG. 14 (a), only content with a low user user preference value exists. Therefore, “Priority =“ 10 ”” is added to Meta-c, for example, as shown in FIG. Here, it is assumed that the priority P has a range of “100> P> 0”. That is, the metadata (Meta-c) with a priority of 10 indicates that the user preference value is low.

  In this way, by adding a priority to metadata, processing such as displaying the metadata in descending order of priority in the integration of metadata performs high added value corresponding to the user preference value. Information can be provided.

In S12, at least one of the above-described filtering process, style sheet information addition process, and priority information addition process is performed. <Integration processing>
Next, the metadata integration process performed in S15 described above will be specifically described with reference to flowcharts and diagrams.

  FIG. 15 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the integration processing procedure performed by the interface agent. In the integration processing procedure, the interface agent acquires style sheet information and priority information obtained by the above-described style sheet information addition processing and priority information addition processing from the metadata received from the presentation agent (S51).

  Next, the interface agent determines whether another content has already been presented by the interface device (S52). If another content has already been displayed (YES in S52), the priority comparison between the already displayed metadata content group and the newly acquired metadata content is performed (S53). In S53, priority comparison is performed based on the priority information acquired in S51.

  In S52, when another content is not displayed (NO in S52), or after the process of S53 is completed, the display layout is determined based on the policy (S54).

  Note that the interface agent is in a state in which it can always receive content metadata from the presentation agent, and generates a layout based on information such as a style sheet of the received content metadata group and a policy.

  Here, a specific example of the integration process will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 16 is a diagram for explaining a specific example of the integration process. As a policy in FIG. 16, for example, it is assumed that there is a relationship “a> b> c” with respect to priorities a, b, and c of contents A, B, and C. Further, the layout of the entire screen of the contents A, B, and C based on the above-described priority is generated as shown in FIG. 16A, and is set to display the top three contents on the screen. ing. Furthermore, when content X having a priority higher than a certain threshold value x is received, the content X is set to be displayed using the entire screen.

  It is assumed that the interface agent newly receives content D (priority d) from the presentation agent. The interface agent compares the contents A, B, and C already presented with the contents D. Here, it is assumed that the priority relationship of each content is “a> d> b”. In this case, a layout as shown in FIG. 16B is generated based on the above policy.

  If the priority d of the content D is larger than the threshold value x (d> x), a layout is generated so that the content D is displayed on the entire screen as shown in FIG.

  As described above, it is possible to realize flexible information presentation that reflects the user's preference using the integration process.

  In addition, although the information presentation process in the present invention can be performed by a dedicated apparatus configuration in the information presentation system as shown in FIG. 1 described above, each step in the information presentation process using the agent described above is executed by a computer. The information presentation in the present invention can be realized by generating an execution program (information presentation program) that can be installed and installing the information presentation program in, for example, a general-purpose personal computer or workstation.

  Next, a specific embodiment of an information presentation system to which the present invention is applied will be described with reference to the drawings.

<Specific Example 1: Movie Information Presentation System>
FIG. 17 is a diagram showing a first specific example of information presentation in the present invention. FIG. 17 shows a movie information presentation system using the present invention as an embodiment.

  A user who uses the movie information presentation system according to the present invention inputs a question “What kind of person is Chaplin?” From an interface such as a keyboard or voice recognition. The movie information presentation system registers a personal name dictionary or the like in advance in the interface device or the like, and determines that “Chaplin” is an actor using the registered personal name dictionary or the like. Next, the interface agent (IAp) generates UQL that requests information such as “face photo”, “history”, “representative work”, and “appearance program” that are the attributes of the actor.

  Next, the interface agent (IAp) transmits the generated UKL to each wrapper agent connected to the communication network. On the communication network, there are Web sites that collect a list of actors' appearances, and a database that stores the biographies of actors, which are wrapped so that they can be searched by a dedicated wrapper agent.

  Each wrapper agent confirms the contents of the UQL transmitted from the interface agent (IAp), and searches for the corresponding information in the media to be wrapped.

  Here, for example, when the wrapper agent (WAp) of the program database (pdb) as shown in FIG. 17 receives this UQL, the concept of “appearance program” is required in the UQL. Program list information is extracted from the database, generated as metadata (CL-p), and then transmitted to the presentation agent (PA3) on the user side.

  Also, information such as “face photo”, “history”, and “representative work” is transmitted from another wrapper agent group to the presentation agent (PA). Note that not all of the above-mentioned information is obtained, and only acquired information is output. In FIG. 17, the metadata of the representative work information is transmitted to the presentation agent (PA1), and the metadata of the biographical information is transmitted to the presentation agent (PA2).

  The presentation agents (PA1 to PA3) perform filtering processing and priority information addition to the received metadata while referring to user preference information of the profile processing device. Here, for example, program information in a time zone in which the user does not often watch the program is deleted from the metadata (filtering processing), or a low priority is given to the metadata for a user who does not like the movie genre. It is possible to add (add priority information) and so on.

  In FIG. 17, it is assumed that the presentation agent (PA3) acquires the preference information that the user does not watch a movie so much by referring to the profile device. For this reason, the priority of the metadata (PL-p) transmitted to the interface agent (IAp) is set low. Therefore, the interface agent (IAp) does not present the program information to the user, and as shown in FIG. 17, “representative work” obtained from the metadata (PL-f) and “history obtained from the metadata (PL-p)”. Etc.].

<Specific Example 2: Program Related Information Presentation System>
FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a second specific example of information presentation in the present invention. FIG. 18 shows an implementation example of a program related information presentation system using the present invention as an embodiment.

  For example, when a user is watching a television program, suppose he wants to know detailed information about a place that appears in the program. The user inputs a sentence (inquiry) “I want to go to Mt. Fuji” through an interface such as a keyboard or voice recognition. The program related information presentation system registers a place name dictionary in the interface device in advance, uses the registered place name dictionary to determine that Mt. Fuji is a place name, and the interface agent (IAq) A UQL that requests information such as “summary”, “traffic route from here”, “weather” and the like is generated. The interface agent (IA) transmits the generated UQL to each wrapper agent connected to the communication network.

  Here, in FIG. 18, the web site (s1) for searching for a traffic route and the wrapper agents (WA1) and (WA2) for accessing the weather forecast website (s2) are provided, and the wrapper agents (WA1) and (WA2) are provided. ) To access the respective websites (s1) and (s2) and extract information such as “traffic route / time required to Mt. Fuji”, “future weather of Mt. Fuji”, and the like. The metadata of the extracted information is transmitted to the presentation agents (PA1) and (PA2). The metadata from the presentation agents (PA1) and (PA2) is transmitted to the interface agent (IAq), and is displayed at a predetermined layout position on the television screen (g1) after performing the above-described metadata integration processing. The

  When generating a layout, information is presented while viewing the program by presenting information using the free areas (a1) and (a2) that can be obtained by reducing the area where the actual program is displayed. It becomes possible to do.

  In addition, since the presentation agent (PA) has autonomy, when important disaster information enters while watching the program, the disaster information with the highest priority is transmitted to the interface agent (IAq), and the television It can also be preferentially displayed on the screen (g1).

  As described above, according to the present invention, information desired by a user can be efficiently acquired and presented. Specifically, information retrieval from different types of media such as various content databases and Web sites can be performed only by transmitting a request once to the interface agent without using an access means corresponding to each media.

  In addition, by describing a user request using the general-purpose query language UQL, an optimal information extraction method can be used on the database or website side, and a decrease in search speed due to data concentration can be avoided.

  In addition, flexible information presentation reflecting user preferences can be realized, and efficient and diverse information browsing can be performed on a display such as a television or a PC.

  By realizing such an information presentation system, users such as elderly people and persons with disabilities who cannot use many media access means can obtain a wide variety of information in an integrated manner, and the elimination of the information divide can also be expected.

  The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, but the present invention is not limited to such specific embodiments, and various modifications, within the scope of the gist of the present invention described in the claims, It can be changed.

It is a figure which shows an example of the system configuration | structure of the information presentation system in this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the generated UKL description in this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the UKL description using ontology. It is a figure which shows an example of the ACL description which included UCL. It is a figure which shows an example of the UKL conversion by a wrapping apparatus. It is a figure which shows an example of the UKL conversion using XSL. It is a figure which shows an example of the data provision operation | movement from the content provider side. It is a sequence chart which shows an example of the information presentation process procedure between each agent. It is a flowchart of an example which shows the filtering process procedure in a presentation agent. It is a figure for demonstrating the specific example of a filtering process. It is a flowchart of an example which shows the style sheet information addition process procedure in a presentation agent. It is a figure for demonstrating the specific example of a style sheet information addition process. It is a flowchart of an example which shows the priority information addition process procedure in a presentation agent. It is a figure for demonstrating the specific example of a priority information addition process. It is a flowchart of an example which shows the integration process procedure performed in an interface agent. It is a figure for demonstrating the specific example of an integration process. It is a figure which shows the 1st specific Example of the information presentation in this invention. It is a figure which shows the 2nd specific Example of the information presentation in this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Information presentation system 11 Information presentation apparatus 12 Content provider 13 Communication network 14 Interface apparatus 15 Presentation content generation apparatus 16 Profile processing apparatus 17 Wrapping apparatus 18 Content DB

Claims (10)

In an information presentation system for acquiring content from at least one content provider based on inquiry information input from a user and presenting the acquired content to the user,
A first agent that generates a common query language for querying the content provider from the query information;
A second agent that acquires content from content stored for each content provider based on the common query language;
A third agent that adds presentation content information to the content based on content obtained from the second agent and a user preference value generated from viewing history information of the content viewed by the user; An information presentation system characterized by The first agent is:
The information presentation system according to claim 1, wherein a presentation layout is generated based on presentation content information obtained from the third agent and preset presentation conditions. The second agent is:
The information presentation system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein a query language is converted from a common query language generated by the first agent based on a data format of content stored in the content provider. The second agent is:
The information presentation system according to claim 3, wherein metadata is generated from content acquired based on a query language converted based on a data format of the content, and is output to the third agent. The third agent is:
The information presentation system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of filtering processing, style sheet addition processing, and priority information addition processing is performed on the content based on the user preference value.   The information presentation system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the common query language is UKL. In an information presentation device for acquiring content from at least one content provider based on inquiry information input from a user and presenting the acquired content to the user,
A language generation / transmission means for generating a common query language for querying the content provider from the query information by a first agent and transmitting the query language to a second agent provided in the content provider;
Profile means for accumulating a viewing history of content viewed by the user and generating a user preference value from the accumulated viewing history information;
Presentation contents for receiving contents acquired by the second agent and adding presentation contents information to the contents by the third agent based on the received contents and the user preference value obtained from the profile means And an information presentation apparatus.   8. The information presentation apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising: a layout generation unit that generates a presentation layout based on the presentation content information obtained by the presentation content adding unit and a preset presentation condition. The presentation content adding means includes
9. The information presentation apparatus according to claim 7, wherein at least one of filtering of the content, addition of a style sheet, and addition of priority information is performed based on the user preference value. In an information presentation program for causing a computer to execute a process of acquiring content from at least one content provider based on inquiry information input from a user and presenting the acquired content to the user.
A language generation transmission process for generating a common query language for inquiring the content provider from the inquiry information by a first agent and transmitting the common query language to a second agent provided in the content provider;
The content acquired by the second agent is received and presented to the content by the third agent based on the received content and a user preference value generated from viewing history information of the content viewed by the user An information presentation program for causing a computer to execute a presentation content addition process for adding content information.

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