JP2005275740A - Content selection supporting system, content selection supporting apparatus, content-providing apparatus, content selection supporting method, content-providing method, content selection supporting program, and content-providing program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide recommended contents which reflect the tastes of the audience. <P>SOLUTION: A content selection supporting apparatus provides the audience with contents selected from a plurality of contents, on the basis of audience information and viewing history information obtained from the audience viewing the contents. The apparatus has a preference information generation means for generating preference information with respect to preset temporal information, on the basis of the audience information and the viewing history. The preference information generating means regenerates the preference information, on the basis of information on viewing subjects which is preset to the contents extracted, based on the preference information which are obtained from a contents provider for providing the contents, the audience information, and the viewing history information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a content selection support system, a content selection support device, a content providing device, a content selection support method, a content providing method, a content selection support program, and a content providing program, and in particular content that reflects viewers' preferences. A content selection support system, a content selection support device, a content providing device, a content selection support method for supporting selection of content by selecting the content with higher accuracy and providing the selected content as a recommended content to the viewer. The present invention relates to a content providing method, a content selection support program, and a content providing program.

  Conventionally, multi-media and multi-channel have been advanced, and the choice of content (program) to be viewed has increased. Therefore, it is expected to realize a viewing support function that automatically presents viewing candidate programs from personal information such as the gender and age of the viewer and preference information.

  Therefore, as a conventional viewing support method, the viewing history information that stores the contents of the content that was viewed in advance and the viewing time is presented in descending order of preference based on the life cycle of the viewer on weekdays and holidays. In response to time information such as the date / time and day of the week when the viewer requested viewing support, the user preference is used for each time of day of the week to store a large number of pre-stored contents. On the other hand, a technique for filtering and providing selected content has been studied (for example, see Non-Patent Document 1).

  Here, the conventional user preference shown in Non-Patent Document 1 is generated by performing weighting calculation or the like only from user information (viewer information) input by the viewer and viewing history information. .

However, this method requires a certain amount of time to acquire viewing history information from the viewer, and if the content viewed by the person is biased, the recommended content may be biased further. Yes, for example, it is related to the content that has been viewed so far, but it has not been able to cope with viewers who want to view a wide range of content belonging to other fields. Therefore, as another conventional technique, a method for checking the validity of a program recommender has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
Arisa Fujii, Tomonari Nishimoto, Akitsugo Baba, Yuya Kurioka, "A Study on Viewing Support Based on Life Cycle", 2002 Winter Conference of the Institute of Image Information and Television Engineers (ITE Winter Annual Convention 2002) Special table 2003-522499 gazette

  However, since the methods described in Non-Patent Document 1 and Patent Document 1 are processing only on the viewer terminal side, a load is applied to the viewer terminal side, and there is a possibility that the viewing of content may be hindered. There is.

  Furthermore, it is recommended to reflect the audience information (target information) for the content that is evaluated and set for each content such as “This content is for such viewers” on the content provider side such as a broadcast station or content provider. The content could not be presented.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and selects a content reflecting the viewer's preference with higher accuracy, and provides the selected content to the viewer as a recommended content. It is an object to provide a content selection support system, a content selection support device, a content providing device, a content selection support method, a content providing method, a content selection supporting program, and a content providing program for assisting a user in selecting content. .

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

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, a content providing device that provides content, content received from the content providing device is received, the content is selected by viewer information and viewing history information, and the viewer is selected. In the content selection support system including the content selection support device to be presented, the content selection support device generates preference information for preset time information based on the viewer information and the viewing history information, Means for transmitting the generated preference information to the content providing apparatus, and the content providing apparatus, based on the preference information, from a plurality of contents stored in advance, and a preset audience for the content Means for extracting information and metadata of the audience information Means for adding to the content metadata and transmitting to the content selection support device, and the content selection support device regenerates preference information from the viewing target information, the viewer information, and the viewing history information And means for selecting content based on the regenerated preference information.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to select content reflecting the viewer's preference with higher accuracy and provide the selected content to the viewer as recommended content. Furthermore, by regenerating the preference information including the viewing target person information set in the content providing apparatus, it is possible to reflect the evaluation on the content providing side. Thereby, it is possible to realize high-precision content selection support for the viewer.

  The invention described in claim 2 is a content selection support device for presenting content selected from a plurality of contents to the viewer based on viewer information and viewing history information obtained from a viewer who views the content. And a preference information generating means for generating preference information for preset time information based on the viewer information and the viewing history information, wherein the preference information generating means provides the content Playback of preference information based on audience target information set in advance on content extracted based on the preference information obtained from the content provider, the viewer information, and the viewing history information It is characterized by making.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to reflect the evaluation on the content provider side by regenerating the preference information including the viewing target person information set on the content provider side. Thereby, it is possible to realize high-precision content selection support for the viewer.

  The invention described in claim 3 includes content selection means for selecting content to be presented to the viewer based on a weight value included in the preference information regenerated by the preference information generation means. Features.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, it is possible to present content with a high priority to the viewer based on the weighting value. Thereby, it is possible to realize high-precision content selection support for the viewer.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a list of contents selected by the contents selection means, image information included in the contents, and audience information set in advance for the contents are displayed on the same screen. It is characterized by having a screen layout generation means for generating a screen layout.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, since the viewer can easily grasp the selected content, the viewer can select the content with higher accuracy.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, the screen layout generation means displays the list of contents arranged and displayed based on a weight value included in the regenerated preference information.

  According to the fifth aspect of the present invention, since priority can be given to the viewer by weighting values, the content can be presented to the viewer, so that a service with high added value can be realized.

  The invention described in claim 6 is a content providing apparatus that extracts content based on preference information generated from viewer information and viewing history information from a plurality of prestored content and provides the content to the viewer In the above, based on the preference information, an extraction means for extracting content and audience information set in advance for the contents from the plurality of contents, and a meta of the audience information extracted by the extraction means And metadata adding means for adding data to the metadata of the content.

  According to the sixth aspect of the invention, by adding the metadata of the viewing target person information set on the content providing side to the metadata of the content, the evaluation on the content providing side can be reflected on the viewer side. it can. Thereby, it is possible to realize high-precision content selection support for the viewer.

  The invention described in claim 7 is a content selection support method for presenting content selected from a plurality of contents to the viewer based on viewer information and viewing history information obtained from a viewer who views the content. The preference information generating step for generating preference information for preset time information based on the viewer information and the viewing history information, and the preference obtained from the content provider providing the content A preference information regeneration step for regenerating preference information based on audience target information preset in content extracted based on information, the viewer information, and the viewing history information; Based on the preference information regenerated by the preference information regeneration stage, And having a content selection step of selecting a content to be presented to the user.

  According to the seventh aspect of the present invention, it is possible to select content reflecting the viewer's preference with higher accuracy, and provide the selected content to the viewer as recommended content. Furthermore, by regenerating the preference information including the viewing target person information set on the content providing side, the evaluation on the content providing side can be reflected. Thereby, it is possible to realize high-precision content selection support for the viewer.

  The invention described in claim 8 is a method for providing content to a viewer by extracting content from a plurality of prestored content based on preference information generated from viewer information and viewing history information. In the above, based on the preference information, an extraction step of extracting content and viewer target information preset in the content from the plurality of content, and a meta of the viewer target information extracted by the extraction step A metadata adding step of adding data to the metadata of the content.

  According to the invention described in claim 8, by adding the metadata of the viewing target person information set on the content providing side to the metadata of the content, the evaluation on the content providing side can be reflected on the viewer side. it can. Thereby, it is possible to provide the viewer with highly accurate content.

  According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, a process of presenting a content selected from a plurality of contents to the viewer based on the viewer information and viewing history information obtained from the viewer who views the content is performed on the computer. In the content selection support program to be executed, preference information generation processing for generating preference information for preset time information based on the viewer information and the viewing history information, and content providing the content A preference for regenerating preference information based on audience target information set in advance on the content extracted based on the preference information obtained from the provider, the viewer information, and the viewing history information. Regenerate by reference information regeneration process and preference information regeneration process The on the basis of the preference information, to perform a content selection process for selecting content to be presented to the viewer on the computer.

  According to the ninth aspect of the present invention, it is possible to select content reflecting the viewer's preference with higher accuracy, and provide the selected content to the viewer as recommended content. Furthermore, by regenerating the preference information including the viewing target person information set on the content providing side, the evaluation on the content providing side can be reflected. Thereby, it is possible to realize high-precision content selection support for the viewer. Also, content selection support can be easily realized by installing an execution program in a computer.

  According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer for extracting contents from a plurality of contents accumulated in advance based on preference information generated from viewer information and viewing history information and providing the same to a viewer. In the content providing program to be executed, an extraction process for extracting content and audience information preset in the content from the plurality of contents based on the preference information, and extraction by the extraction process Further, the computer is caused to execute metadata addition processing for adding the metadata of the viewing target person information to the metadata of the content.

  According to the tenth aspect of the invention, by adding the metadata of the viewing target person information set on the content providing side to the metadata of the content, the evaluation on the content providing side can be reflected on the viewer side. it can. In addition, content provision can be easily realized by installing the execution program in the computer.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to select content reflecting the viewer's preference with higher accuracy and provide the selected content to the viewer as recommended content.

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of a content selection support system, a content providing device, a content selection support device, a content providing method, a content selection supporting method, a content providing program, and a content selection supporting program according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. This will be described in detail. In the present embodiment, a content provider is described as an example of the content providing side. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be, for example, a broadcasting station.

<Content selection support system>
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a content selection support system to which the present invention is applied. The content selection support system 10 in FIG. 1 is configured to include a viewer terminal (content selection support device) 11 and a content provider (content provision device) 12, which are connected by a communication network 13 such as the Internet. ing. Further, a content database 14 in which a plurality of contents and target user information for each content is stored is connected to the content provider 12. The content database 14 may be included in the content provider 12 or may be a storage server provided separately from the content provider 12 via the communication network 13.

  Further, in the system configuration of FIG. 1, the viewer terminal 11 and the content provider 12 are configured with “1: 1”. However, in the present invention, this is not limited, and generally “n: n (n: 1 or more). ) ”Is established.

  Furthermore, the viewer terminal 11 is configured to include a user profile registration unit 21, a viewing history storage unit 22, a preference data generation unit 23, a content selection unit 24, and a screen layout generation unit 25. Note that the viewer terminal 11 also has a recording function such as PDR (Personal Data Recorder) and input / output means for inputting data from the viewer and displaying content.

  Further, the content provider 12 is configured to include preference data receiving means 26, target information extracting means 27, and metadata adding means 28.

  In the viewer terminal 11, the user profile registration means 21 is user profile information (viewing / listening) composed of elements such as “age”, “sex”, “hobby” and the like input from the viewer by input means provided in the receiver terminal 11. Registered). The viewing history accumulating unit 22 accumulates the content viewed by the viewer on the viewer terminal 11 for each day of the week, date, and time.

  Further, the preference data generation unit 23 generates user preference data (preference information) based on information obtained from the user profile registration unit 21 and the viewing history storage unit 22. Further, the preference data generation unit 23 transmits the generated preference data to the content provider 12. Further, the preference data generating means 23 is configured to generate preference data based on target information (viewing target person information), user profile information, and viewing history information set in advance for each content received from the content provider 12. (Preference information) is regenerated.

  The content selection unit 24 selects content to be presented to the viewer as recommended content based on the preference data regenerated by the preference data generation unit 23. The screen layout generation unit 25 generates a screen layout based on the content information selected by the content selection unit 24 and the preference data information, and recommends the recommended content based on the generated screen layout. Is output by output means such as a display provided in the display.

  On the other hand, the preference data receiving means 26 of the content provider 12 receives user preference data from the viewer terminal 11. The target information extraction unit 27 refers to the content database 14 based on the user preference data received by the preference data receiving unit 26, and extracts the corresponding content and target information of the content. The metadata adding unit 28 adds the content metadata provided to the viewer terminal 11 as the metadata of the target information based on the user preference data extracted by the target information extracting unit 27 and outputs the content metadata to the viewer terminal 11. .

  Next, the processing procedure of the content selection support system 10 will be described using a sequence diagram. FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of a processing procedure of the content selection support system. FIG. 2 illustrates a processing procedure including operations of the viewer terminal 11, the content provider 12, and the viewer 15.

  First, the viewer 15 inputs the viewer's profile information when using the viewer terminal 11 (S01). In the viewer terminal 11, the input user profile (viewer profile information) is registered (S02). Next, the viewer 15 views the content displayed on the viewer terminal 11 (S03), and the displayed content is stored as viewing history information (S04).

  Next, when there is a viewing support request from the viewer 15 (S05), the viewer terminal 11 receives each metadata (user profile metadata, viewing history from the user profile and viewing history information acquired from the viewer 15). (Information metadata) is generated, and preference data is generated from the generated metadata (S06). The specific contents of the preference data will be described later. Next, the viewer terminal 11 outputs the generated preference data to the content provider 12 (S07).

  Based on the preference data from the viewer terminal 11, the content provider 12 is predicted to meet the user's preference from among a plurality of content groups accumulated in advance, and target information set in advance for the content (Viewing target person information) is extracted (S08). Further, the content provider 12 adds the metadata of the target information to the content metadata to be output to the viewer terminal 11 (S09), and outputs it to the viewer terminal 11 (S10).

  The viewer terminal 11 receives the target information metadata obtained from the content provider 12, and regenerates preference data based on the target information, the user profile, and the viewing history information (S11). Next, the viewer terminal 11 selects content to be presented as a recommended program to the viewer 15 based on the regenerated preference data (S12). In addition, the viewer terminal 11 generates a screen layout so that the viewer 15 can easily grasp the content of the selected content (S13), and presents the recommended content on a display or the like (S14).

  The viewer 15 selects a desired content from the recommended content presented from the viewer terminal 11 and makes a content viewing request (S15), and views the content provided from the content provider 12 (S16). At this time, the content to be viewed corresponds to the process of S03 described above, and is accumulated in the viewer terminal 11 as a viewing history.

  According to the processing procedure of the content selection support system described above, it is possible to select content reflecting the viewer's preference with higher accuracy and provide the selected content to the viewer as recommended content. Furthermore, by regenerating preference data including target information preset by the content provider, it is possible to reflect the evaluation on the content provider side. Thereby, it is possible to realize high-precision content selection support for the viewer.

<Data example>
Next, the user profile, viewing history information, preference data, and target information described above will be described with reference to the drawings. In the data examples shown in FIGS. 3 to 6 described later, items (elements) and actual data are associated with each other so that the contents of the data are clear, and further shown separately for each data item. However, since the actual data is metadata, it becomes a data group formed by tags as represented by XML (extensible Markup Language) or the like.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a user profile and viewing history information used in the present invention. 3A shows a user profile, and FIG. 3B shows viewing history information.

  The user profile shown in FIG. 3A includes “birth date”, “age”, “gender”, “favorite genre”, “nationality”, “profession”, “hobby”, “income”, and the like. . The input of these profile information is, for example, by displaying a registration screen or the like on the display of the viewer terminal, and the viewer inputs characters using an input means such as a keyboard, mouse, remote controller, etc. A user profile can be set as shown in FIG. 3A by selecting a corresponding item from a plurality of options. The user profile is initially registered when the viewer uses the viewer terminal for the first time. If items such as “hobby” and “income” change during use, the user profile must be updated each time. Do.

  As shown in FIG. 3B, the viewing history information includes “program information”, “viewing language” for accumulating the language of audio output during viewing, and “presence / absence of subtitles” displayed on the display during viewing. ”,“ Viewing date and time ”,“ viewing form ”,“ presence / absence of linked service ”,“ service contents ”when the linked service is provided. The viewing history information is stored for each content (program) corresponding to the viewing information of the viewer.

  The “program information” is information for identifying content (program), and includes, for example, content identification information, content use permission conditions, content use time limit, and the like. Moreover, the program information used in this embodiment is identification information, and the contents of the content can be easily obtained only from the identification information by previously storing information such as a program title corresponding to the identification information in a content provider or the like. Can grasp. The program title itself may be stored as “program information”.

  Further, the “viewing form” is information for identifying whether the content stored in advance in the viewer terminal is viewed or viewed in real time using broadband (BB) or the like. Is an accumulated item. “Use of linked service” is for confirming the setting of whether or not to receive an additional service set for each content, and “contents of service” means a specific of the linked service. Content.

  The items accumulated as viewing history information shown in FIG. 3B are not limited to this, and may include, for example, “viewing content genre”, “service usage history”, “program performer”, and the like. it can. Also, the viewing history information shown in FIG. 3B is created for each program information, but may be created for each day of the week time zone. In this case, for example, programs (contents) that are viewed at that time interval are accumulated as history information at predetermined time intervals such as Monday 19:00 to 19; 30, 19:30 to 20:00, etc. .

  Further, the viewing history information includes information included in content metadata provided to the viewer, information on the operation content of the viewer terminal operated by the viewer, and the like.

  Next, an example of preference data generated based on the user profile shown in FIG. 3 and a plurality of viewing history information will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of preference data.

  In FIG. 4, from the profile information shown in FIG. 3 (FIG. 3A) and viewing history information (FIG. 3B), the preference corresponding to the time zone (time information) for which the viewer requested viewing support. Information has been generated. FIG. 4 shows an example of preference data when the viewer requests viewing support between 21:00 and 22:00 on Monday as an example.

  The items of preference data are “program information”, “occupation”, “income”, “genre”, “gender”, “age group”, “hobby”, “weighting value” for each day of the week. Etc. ”. In this data, a predetermined element is extracted from the user profile and viewing history information, and a weighting value is set based on the element.

  Note that the preference data shown in FIG. 4 is generated based on the time information when the content selection support is requested, and thus can be said to be information regarding the content adapted to the lifestyle of the viewer.

  In addition, the setting of the above-described weighting value is predetermined based on, for example, the viewing frequency (appearance rate) of raw data including elements such as “program information”, “viewing date / time”, and “occupation” constituting the preference data. Set the weight of. Specifically, as described in Non-Patent Document 1, when an appearance rate (0 to 1) is assigned as weighting, viewing and listening to content related to each element of raw data The appearance rate is calculated by dividing the total time by the total viewing time of all the contents in the specific time zone of each day of the week, and a value obtained by adding the appearance rates of each element is the weighting value.

  In the generation of preference data, it is also possible to output only preference data composed of elements having a weighting value equal to or greater than a certain value (appearance rate equal to or greater than a certain value). For example, in the case of FIG. 4, only preference data having a weight value of 50 or more is generated. As a result, the amount of preference data transferred to the content provider can be reduced, and the processing load on the content provider side can be reduced.

  Next, an example of target information provided in the content provider will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of target information in the present invention.

  The target information shown in FIG. 5 is viewer target information that is set by evaluating in advance for each content by a content provider that provides the content (program). Moreover, the target information shown in FIG. 5 is target information arranged in the recommended order extracted based on the preference data shown in FIG.

  Target information items include “program information”, “total viewing time”, “viewing language”, “target occupation”, “target income”, “target hobby”, “genre”, “gender”, “age group” , “Linked service”.

  Based on the preference information received from the viewer terminal, the content provider extracts corresponding content from the content group in the content database and also extracts target information of the content. At this time, based on the information of each element included in the preference information, the content provider can reflect the evaluation on the content provider side to the viewer, for example, by changing the contents of the linked service. .

  Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, when the “target hobby” is “travel”, a “travel guide” linked service is added as a “linked service”. In addition to the “travel guide”, products necessary for travel, images of airlines, and the like may be added.

  The target information shown in FIG. 5 is output to the viewer terminal by adding the metadata of the target information to the metadata of the content by the content provider. As a result, the content information evaluated on the content providing side can be reflected on the viewer side, and a highly accurate recommended program can be presented.

<Other data example: Data pack>
Here, as described above, the preference data is generated from the user profile and the viewing history information. For example, the viewer, the content provider, or a third party intentionally creates the preference data. The preference data pack can be generated from preset elements, and the preference data can be generated and regenerated using the data pack.

  In other words, if the viewer suddenly wants to change their mood, for example, create or purchase preference data that will make you feel healthy as a preference data pack, and use that data pack. This makes it possible to recommend new content.

  In this way, by using data packs, for example, using celebrity celebrity or friend preference data, the content such as what the person likes is shown as recommended content. Can provide high value-added services. Further, the time for generating preference data from the user profile and viewing history information can be omitted, and a more prompt service can be provided. Further, this data pack can be used in place of the user profile and viewing history information.

  Here, an example of the above-described preference data pack will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the preference data pack in the present invention. Here, FIG. 6A shows a preference data pack that can be energetic, and FIG. 6B shows a data pack that can be relaxed.

  The data items of the preference data pack are almost the same as the preference data shown in FIG. Specific items (elements) include “program information”, “profession”, “income”, “genre”, “age group”, “hobby”, “performer”, and the like. Note that it is not necessary to set a specific program in the “program information” item. Further, the weighting value for the data pack may be set by the content provider, the viewer, or the like, or may not be set.

  Also, the types of preference data packs are not limited to those shown in FIG. 6. For example, there are various data packs such as a pack used by a celebrity, a data pack recommended by a celebrity, a baseball data pack, and a politician data pack. .

  By using the preference data pack as shown in FIG. 6, the recommended content does not tend to be biased, and the content that the viewer wants to view can be presented with high accuracy.

  The viewer terminal regenerates preference information as shown in FIG. 4 from the above-described user profile, viewing history information, and target information. Further, the viewer terminal selects content to be presented to the viewer as recommended content based on a predetermined condition based on the regenerated preference data, and provides it to the viewer as recommended content. As a result, it has not been possible to present highly accurate recommended content that reflects content information evaluated and set for each content on the content provider side.

  Regarding the content selection described above, the weight value of the regenerated preference data is more than a predetermined value, or the value calculated based on a preset calculation method is the fewth from the top. Content is selected. That is, the content recommended for the viewer is determined based on the weight value of the regenerated preference data. As another method of content selection, there is a method shown in Non-Patent Document 1. In this method, an inner product of Vp that expresses the raw data in the vector space and Vc that expresses the characteristic of the content in the vector space is obtained, and the larger the value, the higher the correlation value is selected as the recommended program. It is. By such a technique, it is possible to realize a highly accurate recommended program (content).

  Here, how the recommended program (content) is selected (filtered) and presented to the viewer in the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of how a program (content) is selected (filtered) in the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 7, first, preference data is generated based on a user profile and viewing history information from a plurality of programs (contents) sent from a content provider. Based on the preference data, a program corresponding to the preference data in a preset day of the week time zone is selected.

  Furthermore, by regenerating the preference information based on the target information from the content provider, the viewing history information, and the profile information, the evaluation information from the content provider, including the evaluation results from the content provider, is more suitable for the viewer's preference. Accurate content selection support can be realized.

  In the present invention, the recommended program (content) selected based on the regeneration of the preference data is generated on the display 71 so that the viewer can easily select a program that the viewer wants to view from the recommended programs. By presenting it to the viewer, content selection support can be realized.

  Next, an example of a screen layout generated by the viewer terminal will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a content selection support screen in the present invention. In the example of FIG. 8, the top six programs (contents) of the regenerated preference information weight values are provided to the viewer as recommended programs. However, the number of recommended programs is not limited to this.

  As shown in FIG. 8, on the display 80, a program display area 81, a target information display area 82, a recommended program element display area 83 for displaying a list of elements for identifying recommended programs, and each recommended program are displayed. It has a scene display area 84 for displaying a predetermined scene from the inside. The screen layout is generated by the screen layout generation means in the viewer terminal described above.

  The program display area 81 is an area for displaying the video of the program currently selected by the viewer. The target information display area 82 is a table area for displaying target information set by the content provider corresponding to the program displayed in the program display area 81. The displayed content is the same as the target information described above.

  The recommended program element display area 83 is an area for displaying a list of contents selected as recommended programs. As shown in FIG. 8, elements for identifying each recommended program such as a recommended program title are displayed as elements. Display on the sheet 85. In addition, the element display sheet 85 is arranged so that a part of each of the element display sheets 85 is always displayed so that the viewer can easily grasp how many recommended programs are available.

  Further, the arrangement order of the element display sheets 85 is changed by rotation at predetermined time intervals. Note that the display method of each element display sheet 85 is not limited to this. For example, when a viewer selects an element display sheet using an input unit, the element display sheet can be displayed at the top. As a result, the viewer can easily grasp what recommended program is presented.

  The scene display area 84 is an area for displaying a scene set in advance from the content selected as the recommended program. In this scene setting, for example, image information (cut) representative of the recommended program, such as the main character's up scene or action scene, is displayed on the scene display sheet 86. In FIG. 8, two different scenes are displayed for one recommended program. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and other number of scenes may be displayed. The number of sheets may be changed according to the display. Furthermore, the image information displayed on the scene display sheet 86 is not limited to a still image, and a moving image at a predetermined time interval may be repeatedly displayed.

  Similarly to the element display sheet 85, in the scene display area 84, each scene display sheet is sequentially displayed at the head at a predetermined time interval or when the viewer positions the cursor in the scene display area 84 with a mouse or the like. Thus, the arrangement order is rotated and changed. It is also possible to set the element display sheet 85 so that the display sheet corresponding to the recommended program currently displayed at the top is at the top.

  Furthermore, the program display area 81, the target information display area 82, the recommended program element display area 83, and the scene display area 84 can be linked to each other. For example, when a viewer selects a recommended program in the recommended program element display area 83, an operation such as immediately displaying target information corresponding to the selected recommended program in the target information display area 82 can be performed. .

  In addition, depending on the contents of the program, there are a pay channel program, a viewer participation program such as a quiz, and the like. In this case, in order to easily understand that a special program is included, the background color of the element display sheet 85 is changed from the background color of another sheet, or an identification mark is displayed. Information can be presented more clearly to the person. The arrangement of the program display area 81, the target information display area 82, the recommended program element display area 83, and the scene display area 84 is not limited to that shown in FIG.

  By generating the screen layout as described above, the viewer can easily grasp and select the recommended program, and viewing support can be performed with higher accuracy.

<Hardware configuration>
Here, by generating an execution program capable of causing a computer to execute each process in the viewer terminal 11 and the content provider 12 described above, the program is installed in, for example, a general-purpose personal computer, a workstation, or the like. Content provision and content selection support can be realized.

  Here, an example of a hardware configuration of an executable computer in the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration capable of realizing the content providing process and the content selection support process according to the present invention.

  9 includes an input device 91, an output device 92, a drive device 93, an auxiliary storage device 94, a memory device 95, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 96 for performing various controls, and a network connection device. 97 are connected to each other by a system bus B.

  The input device 91 has a pointing device such as a keyboard and a mouse operated by the user, and inputs various operation signals such as execution of a program from the user. The output device 92 has a display for displaying various windows and data necessary for operating the computer main body for performing the content providing process and the content selection support process according to the present invention. Execution progress and results can be displayed.

  Here, in the present invention, the execution program installed in the computer main body is provided by, for example, a recording medium 98 such as a CD-ROM. The recording medium 98 on which the program is recorded can be set in the drive device 93, and the execution program included in the recording medium 98 is installed in the auxiliary storage device 94 from the recording medium 98 via the drive device 93.

  The auxiliary storage device 94 is a storage means such as a hard disk, and stores and executes the execution program in the present invention, the contents used in the present invention, a data group such as target information, a control program provided in the computer, and the like. Input / output can be performed accordingly.

  The CPU 96 performs processing for the entire computer, such as various operations and data input / output with each hardware component, based on a control program such as an OS (Operating System) and an execution program read and stored by the memory device 95. By controlling the above, it is possible to realize each processing in the above-described content provision or content selection support. Various kinds of information necessary during the execution of the program can be acquired from the auxiliary storage device 94 and can also be stored.

  The network connection device 97 obtains an execution program from another terminal connected to the communication network by connecting to a communication network or the like, or an execution result obtained by executing the program or an execution in the present invention The program itself can be provided to other terminals.

  With the hardware configuration described above, it is possible to provide high-precision content provision or content selection support at a low cost without requiring a special device configuration.

  Further, in order to execute content provision and selective viewing, a content providing program such as a content provider is installed on the content distribution side, and a content selection support program is installed on the viewer terminal, as shown in FIG. The content selection support in the present invention can be realized for the viewer based on such a processing procedure.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to select a recommended program reflecting the preference for each viewer with higher accuracy and provide it to the viewer to support the selective viewing of the content. Specifically, by generating preference information including target information obtained from the content providing side, more accurate content viewing support can be realized.

  In addition, by using a data pack that is generated in advance as a preference data under a predetermined condition, it is possible to realize various program (content) recommendations.

  Furthermore, by generating a screen layout for displaying a recommended program (content) on the display, selection support can be realized with higher accuracy for the viewer.

  The preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above, but the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the gist of the present invention described in the claims. Can be modified and changed.

  For example, the processing of each configuration of the content provider and the viewer terminal can be regarded as a content providing method and a content viewer selection method by considering it as one stage, and the processing of each configuration of the content provider and the viewer terminal Can be regarded as a content providing program and a content selection support program written in a general-purpose computer language. In actual operation, it is necessary to combine technologies in order to protect metadata and authenticate business operators and user terminals. However, since these can be regarded as independent of the present invention, they are omitted in this embodiment. is there.

It is a figure which shows one structural example of the content selection assistance system to which this invention is applied. It is an example sequence diagram which shows the process sequence of a content selection assistance system. It is a figure which shows an example of the user profile and viewing history information which are utilized by this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of preference data. It is a figure which shows an example of the target information in this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the preference data pack in this invention. It is a figure of an example which shows a mode that a program (content) is selected (filtering) in this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the content selection assistance screen in this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the hardware constitutions which can implement | achieve the content provision process in this invention, and a content selection assistance process.

Explanation of symbols

10 Content Selection Support System 11 Viewer Terminal (Content Selection Support Device)
12 Content provider (content providing device)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 13 Communication network 14 Content database 15 Viewer 21 User profile registration means 22 Viewing history storage means 23 Preference data generation means 24 Content selection means 25 Screen layout generation means 26 Preference data reception means 27 Target information extraction means 28 Metadata addition means 71, 80 Display 81 Program display area 82 Target information display area 83 Recommended program element display area 84 Scene display area 85 Element display sheet 86 Scene display sheet 91 Input device 92 Output device 93 Drive device 94 Auxiliary storage device 95 Memory device 96 CPU
97 Network connection device 98 Recording medium

Claims (10)

Content comprising a content providing device that provides content, and a content selection support device that receives the content provided from the content providing device, selects the content based on viewer information and viewing history information, and presents the content to the viewer In the selection support system,
Means for generating preference information for preset time information based on the viewer information and the viewing history information, and transmitting the generated preference information to the content providing device; ,
The content providing apparatus extracts, based on the preference information, content and audience information preset for the content from a plurality of contents stored in advance, and metadata of the audience information Means for adding to the content metadata and transmitting to the content selection support device;
The content selection support device includes means for regenerating preference information based on the audience target information, the viewer information, and the viewing history information, and selecting content based on the regenerated preference information. A content selection support system characterized by this. In a content selection support apparatus for presenting content selected from a plurality of contents to the viewer based on viewer information and viewing history information obtained from a viewer who views the content.
Based on the viewer information and the viewing history information, preference information generating means for generating preference information for preset time information,
The preference information generating means
Based on viewer target information set in advance on the content extracted based on the preference information obtained from the content provider that provides the content, the viewer information, and the viewing history information. A content selection support apparatus characterized by regenerating reference information.   3. The content according to claim 2, further comprising content selection means for selecting content to be presented to the viewer based on a weight value included in the preference information regenerated by the preference information generation means. Selection support device.   Screen layout generation for generating a screen layout so that a list of content selected by the content selection means, image information included in the content, and audience information set in advance for the content are displayed on the same screen 4. The content selection support apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising: means. The screen layout generation means
5. The content selection support apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the content list is arranged and displayed based on a weighting value included in the regenerated preference information. In a content providing apparatus that extracts content based on preference information generated from viewer information and viewing history information from a plurality of previously stored content and provides the content to a viewer.
Extraction means for extracting content and audience information set in advance for the content from the plurality of content based on the preference information;
A content providing apparatus comprising: metadata adding means for adding metadata of the viewing target person information extracted by the extracting means to metadata of the content. In a content selection support method for presenting content selected from a plurality of contents to the viewer based on viewer information and viewing history information obtained from a viewer who views the content,
A preference information generation step for generating preference information for preset time information based on the viewer information and the viewing history information;
Based on the audience information set in advance for the content extracted based on the preference information obtained from the content provider that provides the content, the viewer information, and the viewing history information. A preference information regeneration stage to regenerate information;
A content selection support method comprising: a content selection step of selecting content to be presented to the viewer based on the preference information regenerated by the preference information regeneration step. In a content providing method for extracting content based on preference information generated from viewer information and viewing history information from a plurality of contents accumulated in advance and providing the content to the viewer,
An extraction step for extracting content and audience information set in advance for the content from the plurality of content based on the preference information;
A content providing method comprising: adding metadata of the viewing target person information extracted in the extraction step to metadata of the content. In a content selection support program for causing a computer to execute a process of presenting content selected from a plurality of contents to the viewer based on viewer information and viewing history information obtained from a viewer who views the content.
A preference information generation process for generating preference information for preset time information based on the viewer information and the viewing history information;
Based on the audience information set in advance for the content extracted based on the preference information obtained from the content provider that provides the content, the viewer information, and the viewing history information. Preference information regeneration process to regenerate information;
A content selection support program for causing a computer to execute content selection processing for selecting content to be presented to the viewer based on preference information regenerated by the preference information regeneration processing. In a content providing program for causing a computer to execute a process of extracting content based on preference information generated from viewer information and viewing history information from a plurality of pieces of content accumulated in advance and providing the information to the viewer.
Based on the preference information, an extraction process for extracting content and audience target information preset in the content from the plurality of contents;
A content providing program for causing a computer to execute metadata addition processing for adding metadata of the viewing target person information extracted by the extraction processing to metadata of the content.

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