JP2007188193A - Information providing device and information providing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an information providing device and an information providing method capable of providing information suitable for situations of a user without requiring previous information input from the user. <P>SOLUTION: By means of this information providing device/method, article information about an article around the information providing device is acquired, and using the acquired article information, information to be presented to the user of the information providing device is decided. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an information providing apparatus and an information providing method.

  Patent Document 1 proposes a music distribution method that acquires and reproduces music data according to a travel position, a travel speed, a passenger's mood, and the like in a moving vehicle.

JP 2001-189969 A

  In the conventional method, it is necessary for the user to input information such as a schedule in advance, and if such information is not input, music suitable for the user's situation cannot be determined. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an information providing apparatus and an information providing method capable of providing information suitable for a user's situation without prior information input by the user.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, it is characterized in that article information related to articles around the information providing apparatus is acquired, and information to be provided to a user of the information providing apparatus is determined using the acquired article information.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, the information provision apparatus and information provision method which can provide the information suitable for a user's condition can be provided, without the prior information input by a user.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of an information providing system. In the example of FIG. 1, the case where the information provided to the user is music will be described. However, the information provided is not limited to music, and may be a moving image or an application program. In this case, the providing device used in the present system is not limited to the music providing device, and any information providing device capable of providing information may be used.

  The music providing apparatus 100 is connected to a network such as the Internet by wire or wireless. In addition, the property determination server 200, the music determination server 300, the music content server 400, and the product information server 500 are connected to a network such as the Internet, and can communicate with the music providing apparatus 100. The property determination server 200 transmits property determination rules and property information to the music providing device 100 in response to a request from the music providing device 100. In response to a request from the music providing apparatus 100, the music determination server 300 transmits a music determination rule and information for identifying music to be provided to the music providing apparatus 100. The music content server 400 transmits music to the music providing apparatus 100 in response to a request from the music providing apparatus 100. The product information server 500 transmits information related to the product designated by the music providing apparatus 100 to the music providing apparatus 100 in response to a request from the music providing apparatus 100. The possession determination rule, the possession information, and the music determination rule will be described later.

  In the example of FIG. 1, each server is provided separately. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and all or part of them may be realized by one server.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of the music providing apparatus. The music providing device is, for example, a portable music playback terminal such as a mobile phone having a music playback function, or a music playback terminal installed in a room or car.

  The wireless IC tag information reading unit 101 reads information written on a wireless IC tag such as an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) tag and holds the information in the information storage unit 106 as wireless IC tag information. The maximum communication distance between the wireless IC tag information reading unit 101 and the wireless IC tag is, for example, several tens of centimeters to several meters. Here, the wireless IC tag information includes object identification information for identifying an object and wireless IC tag position information indicating which position of the object the wireless IC tag is attached to. The object identification information not only specifies the type of the object but also includes attribute information such as color and size. The wireless IC tag position information can be omitted when the position of the wireless IC tag is determined in advance according to the standard or the like. Further, the wireless IC tag information reading unit 101 holds not only the wireless IC tag information but also communication state information indicating the state of communication performed at the time of reading together with the wireless IC tag information in the information storage unit 106. As the communication status information, the received radio wave intensity from the wireless IC tag, the received signal noise ratio, the error rate of received data, and the like are used.

  The property determination unit 102 performs processing for creating property information representing a list of clothes currently worn by the user or a baggage being carried from the wireless IC tag information, the communication state information, and the like. It should be noted that it is possible to determine whether or not the property included in the property information is worn, and the information may be included in the property information.

  The provided music determination unit 103 performs processing for determining the music to be provided using the property information. The determination process may be performed after a music provision request is input from the user, or a process of determining music to be provided in advance before the music provision request may be performed.

  There are the following methods for performing processing before a user request is received. For example, when the user starts carrying the music providing apparatus 100, the wireless IC information reading unit 101 reads a wireless IC tag attached to an object worn by the user, and determines music to be provided in advance before requesting music provision. Process. Further, the provided music determination process may be performed on a day / time specified in advance. For example, the time to leave the house for commuting or attending school is set, and the music to be provided during commuting is determined. Alternatively, the provided music determination process may be performed a predetermined time after the music providing apparatus 100 is turned on, or the provided music determination process may be repeatedly performed at regular intervals. Further, the provided music determination process may be performed at the timing when the user moves. As a method of detecting the movement of the user, for example, a wireless IC tag fixedly arranged on a door of a home, a car seat or the like is read, or a wireless IC tag fixedly arranged that has been read so far cannot be read. It can be considered that the movement has been made. In addition, when the communication unit 105 is performing wireless communication, a change in received radio wave intensity has become greater than a predetermined value, or communication with a wireless base station different from the wireless base station currently performing communication is started. It is conceivable that it has been moved as a result. Alternatively, the music providing apparatus may include a position acquisition unit such as a GPS reception unit, and the position acquisition unit may detect whether the position has changed. By performing the determination process in advance in this way, it is possible to shorten the time from when the user requests music provision to when playback is performed.

  The music playback unit 104 performs processing for playing back the music determined by the provided music determination unit 103. When playing back music, the music playback unit 104 checks whether the music determined by the provided music determination unit 103 exists in the information storage unit 106. If it exists, the music data held in the information storage unit 106 is reproduced. When it does not exist, music is downloaded from the music content server 400 via the communication unit 105 and reproduced.

  In the example shown in FIG. 2, the wireless IC tag reading unit 101, the communication unit 105, and the like are included in one housing. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a part of the configuration is replaced with another configuration. You may prepare separately. For example, one or a plurality of wireless IC tag reading units may be provided outside the housing, and information read by the wireless IC tag reading unit may be transmitted to the property determination unit in the housing. In addition, the information storage unit may be a removable storage medium or a separate memory device.

  In addition, the property determination unit 102 and the provided music determination unit 103 may be configured by, for example, one IC (Integrated Circuit) that executes a program stored in a memory, or may each include a dedicated IC. . The memory for storing the program may be the information storage unit 106 or a memory other than the information storage unit 106. Note that this program may be stored in advance in the music providing apparatus, or may be downloaded via the communication unit 105.

  FIG. 3 shows an example of a processing flow for determining the music provided by the music providing apparatus 100.

  First, a process of reading information written in the wireless IC tag from all the wireless IC tags that can be read by the wireless IC tag information reading unit 101 is performed (S1002). Then, it is determined whether the reading process has been performed a predetermined number of times (S1004). If the reading process has not been performed a predetermined number of times, the reading process is performed again after a predetermined time (S1006). When the reading process is performed a predetermined number of times, the wireless IC tag information reading unit 101 passes the wireless IC tag information and data indicating the communication state information for each wireless IC tag to the possession determination unit 102, and the possession determination unit 102 Information is created (S1008). The property determination unit 102 passes the property information to the provided music determination unit 103, and the provided music determination unit 103 determines the music to be provided using the property information (S1010). Details of the property information creation process and the music determination process will be described later.

  An example of data passed from the wireless IC tag information reading unit 101 to the property determination unit 102 is shown in FIG. The communication status information is indicated as received radio wave intensity, and items whose radio wave intensity is “-” indicate that reading has failed. This example shows data when the reading process shown in FIG. 3 is performed five times. In this way, since a plurality of reading processing results can be obtained, for example, a person who has passed nearby is temporarily nearby, or the user possesses or is installed near the user. It is possible to acquire information for identifying whether it is a thing. For example, the item in the item identification information 2000500 may have been temporarily near the user, and may not be identified as the user's belongings. However, the reading process is not limited to a plurality of times, and the reading process may be performed only once.

  Next, a process in which the property determination unit 102 creates property information will be described in detail. The possession determination unit 102 predicts the position of the wireless IC tag from the communication state information received from the wireless IC tag information reading unit 101, and thereby, what the user wears and what the user owns but wears. Judge what is missing. The information storage unit 106 determines what is worn by the user or what is owned by the user but not worn from the object identification information, the wireless IC tag position information, or the communication state information. The determination rule is held, and the property determination unit 102 creates property information in accordance with this determination rule.

  The possession determination rule is a set of combinations of the condition part and the result part, and follows the determination result described in the result part when the condition described in the condition part becomes true. The conditions described in the condition part are specified using the number of successful readings and the communication state information for the total number of readings. For example, as a condition for a certain object, it can be considered to be true when reading is successful in all reading processes and the average value of received radio wave intensity is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. Further, the condition may be changed according to the wireless IC tag information. At this time, when the information storage unit 106 does not hold the condition corresponding to the wireless IC tag information, it may be downloaded from the property determination server 200 via the communication unit 105. Alternatively, the possession information creation request may be transmitted to the possession determination server 200 together with the wireless IC tag information and the communication state information, and the possession information created by the possession determination server 200 may be downloaded. With this configuration, it is possible to reduce the processing load of the music providing apparatus 100 and save the storage area of the information storage unit 106.

  As a determination result described in the consequent part, it may be determined whether or not the user owns a certain thing or whether or not the user is wearing a certain thing. For example, as a determination for a certain object, it may be determined that when an item in the condition part becomes true, it is determined that the user's property is not worn by the user.

  The following is a specific example of creating property information using property determination rules. In this example, even when the relative position between the user and the wireless IC tag information reading unit 101 is not known, the position of the wireless IC tag information reading unit 101 is predicted from the communication state information, and the position of the wireless IC tag information reading unit 101 is referred to. Then, it is determined whether the user is wearing each item. Here, in order to simplify the description, the position information of the wireless IC tag information reading unit 101 is considered only the height from the ground without considering the horizontal direction, and the number of reading repetitions of the wireless IC tag information reading unit 101 is set once. And The wireless IC tag information is represented as an ID value i, and the object identification information and the wireless IC tag information are also included in i. The communication state information of the wireless IC tag with ID value i is the average value of the received radio wave intensity from the wireless IC tag with ID value i.

Then, the possession determination rule is determined as in (1) and (2) below, for example.
(1) A thing whose ID value is i and whose received radio wave intensity R (i) is 100 or more is determined to be a property owned by the user.
(2) The height from the ground of the wireless IC tag information reading unit 101 is z, and an upper limit function U (i, z) and a lower limit function L (i, z) are determined in advance. At this time, the received radio wave strength R (i) is greater than or equal to L (i, z) and the received radio wave strength R (i) is U (i, z) for the user's property whose ID value is i. When the value is smaller or the same value, it is determined that the user is wearing it. In addition, if the value of the height z from the ground is not known, z is determined so that the number of objects worn by the user is maximized.

  Here, it is assumed that the wireless IC tag ID value and the received radio wave intensity are as shown in FIG. 5, and the height of the wireless IC tag reading unit 101 from the ground is unknown. At this time, first, three things corresponding to IDs 20500, 30100, and 90500 are determined as the property of the user from the rule (1). FIG. 6 shows the upper limit function and the lower limit function of IDs 20500, 30100, and 90500, respectively. Here, when the height from the ground is set to 130, it can be determined that all three objects corresponding to ID20500, 30100, and 90500 are wearing, that is, the number of objects that can be worn can be maximized. The height z from the ground is determined to be 130, and it is determined that all three objects corresponding to IDs 20500, 30100, and 90500 are also worn.

  Next, consider a case where the wireless IC tag ID value and the received radio wave intensity are as shown in FIG. 7 and the height of the wireless IC tag reading unit 101 from the ground is unknown. At this time, first, three things corresponding to IDs 20500, 30100, and 90500 are determined as the property of the user from the rule (1). FIG. 8 shows the upper limit function and the lower limit function of IDs 20500, 30100, and 90500, respectively. Here, when the height z from the ground is set to 130, it can be determined that two objects corresponding to ID30100 and 90500 are worn, and the number of objects worn at this time is maximized. It is determined that the height z is 130, two objects corresponding to ID30100 and 90500 are worn, and no object corresponding to ID20500 is worn.

  In addition, as another method of creating possession information using the possession determination rule, the number of times of ownership authorization and the number of attachment authorizations for the number of repeated readings are determined, and the number of times of reading more than or equal to the number of times of possession authorization is read in the repeated reading process. It is conceivable that an object that has succeeded in reading is determined as possession, and it is determined that an object that has been read more times than or equal to the number of times of wearing authorization is worn. Or you may make it select the thing which a user wears with the possession from all the things which succeeded in the reading process.

  Next, the process in which the provided music determination unit 103 determines the music to be provided from the property information will be described in detail. The information storage unit 106 holds a music determination rule for determining provided music from property information, and the provided music determination unit 103 determines music to be provided to the user according to the music determination rule.

  The provided music determination unit 103 may download a music determination rule stored in the music determination server 300 via the communication unit 105 and use it as a music determination rule of the provided music determination unit 103. Alternatively, the property information or the music determination rule held in the information storage unit 106 is transmitted to the music determination server 300, the music provided by the music determination server 300 is determined, and the information for identifying the provided music is downloaded. It may be. With this configuration, it is possible to reduce the processing load of the music providing apparatus 100 and save the storage area of the information storage unit 106.

  The music determination rule is a set of combinations of a condition part and a result part, and when the condition described in the condition part becomes true, the music determination process described in the result part is performed. The condition described in the condition part is specified using product information such as the price, type, distributor, color, size, and product name of the product. The product information may be any information as long as it shows the characteristics of the product. For example, it is conceivable to be true when the clothes worn include those related to the A baseball club. If the product information cannot be determined from the wireless IC tag information, the product information server 500 is connected via the communication unit 105, and a detailed information request is transmitted to the product information server 500 together with the wireless IC tag information. Product information may be downloaded from the server 500. With this configuration, it is possible to reduce the processing load of the music providing apparatus 100 and save the storage area of the information storage unit 106. The condition part may be described using information other than product information. For example, environmental information such as current weather, temperature and humidity, time information such as season, time, and date, music history information provided by music providing devices in the past, user information such as user age and gender, current location information It is conceivable to use communication speed information such as the throughput and bit error rate of communication with the external device of the communication unit 105.

  As the music determination process described in the consequent section, it is determined whether or not to play a predetermined song, a song of a predetermined genre, or a song in which a predetermined artist participates. One example is determining the playback order for the music being played. For example, when a certain condition in the condition part becomes true, music that is not held by the information storage part 106 may not be played.

  Next, another method for determining music provided by the music providing apparatus 100 will be described. In this method, the movement of the user is detected based on the state of communication between the communication unit 105 and the wireless base station, and it is determined that the user is wearing an object corresponding to the wireless IC tag that has been successfully read before and after the movement. Create material information.

  FIG. 9 shows an example of the determination processing flow. First, the wireless IC tag information reading unit 101 performs processing for reading information written in the wireless IC tag from all readable wireless IC tags, and stores the read information in the information storage unit 106 (S2002). The information reading and storing process of S2002 may be performed, for example, every predetermined time, or may hold the processing result of S2008 performed previously.

  Next, the communication unit 105 determines a communicable radio base station, and stores identification information of all communicable radio base stations in the information storage unit 106 (S2004). Here, the wireless base station includes not only a wireless base station in a mobile phone communication system such as cdma2000, EV-DO, W-CDMA, but also a wireless LAN access point.

  The communication unit 105 determines whether or not the communicable radio base station has changed, and if not changed, repeatedly performs a determination process (S2006). When the communicable radio base station changes, the radio IC tag information reading unit 101 performs processing for reading information written in the radio IC tag from all readable radio IC tags (S2008). The wireless IC tag information reading unit 101 passes the wireless IC tag information and the communication state information for each wireless IC tag read in (S2002) and (S2008) to the possession determination unit 102, and the possession determination unit 102 Information is created (S2010).

  The possession determination rule in the determination processing method illustrated in FIG. 9 is, for example, that the user wears an object corresponding to a wireless IC tag that has been successfully read in both the reading processes of S2002 and S2008. Then, the property determination unit 102 passes the property information to the provided music determination unit 103, and the provided music determination unit 103 determines the music to be provided using the property information (S2012).

  In the example shown in FIG. 9, since the movement of the user is detected based on the state of communication with the radio base station of the communication unit 105 and the property information is created, it is not necessary to use the communication state information in the property determination rule. The music to be provided can be determined with a simpler process.

  Next, a case where the wireless IC tag reading unit is separated and the music providing apparatus main body and the wireless IC tag reading unit are mounted on a car will be described. Note that the wireless IC tag reading unit is not limited to one, and a plurality of wireless IC tag reading units may be provided. For example, it is conceivable to provide a total of four vehicles, one at the front right, the left front, the right rear, and the left rear. In this case, depending on which wireless IC tag reading unit detects the tag information, for example, it may be detected whether the tag information belongs to the driver or the passenger seat. FIG. 10 shows an example of property information including passenger identification information and product identification information. However, this is an example, and other information such as whether or not the user is wearing may be included.

  In this way, since each person's possession is judged for every person in the car, music more suitable for the situation can be provided. Further, for example, it may be prohibited to determine music to be provided while the driver is absent, or music to be provided with weighting on the driver's property information may be determined.

  In addition, the timing for performing the provided music determination process may be a predetermined time after the vehicle-mounted information device is turned on, or after the vehicle-mounted information device is turned on, the wireless IC tag information reading unit 101 may receive a driver's license or A wireless IC tag attached to a predetermined object such as a wallet or a mobile phone may be read. In addition, when a wireless IC tag attached to a predetermined object cannot be read within a predetermined time after the vehicle-mounted information device is turned on, a warning such as a warning sound may be notified to the user.

  In the above description, the music providing apparatus main body and the wireless IC tag reading unit are mounted on the car. However, the present invention is not limited to this and may be installed in a space other than the car.

It is a figure which shows an example of a structure of an information provision system. It is a block diagram which shows an example of a structure of a music provision apparatus. It is a figure which shows an example of the processing flow for determining the music which a music provision apparatus provides. It is a figure which shows an example of the data which shows radio | wireless IC tag information and communication status information. It is a figure which shows an example of the data which shows radio | wireless IC tag information and received radio wave intensity. It is a figure which shows an example of the upper limit function and lower limit function hold | maintained at a property determination part. It is a figure which shows an example of the data which shows radio | wireless IC tag information and received radio wave intensity. It is a figure which shows an example of the upper limit function and lower limit function hold | maintained at a property determination part. It is a figure which shows an example of the processing flow for determining the music which a music provision apparatus provides. It is an example of property information.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 ... Music provision apparatus, 101 ... Wireless IC tag information reading part, 102 ... Property determination part, 103 ... Provision music determination part, 104 ... Music reproduction part, 105 ... Communication part, 106 ... Information storage part, 200 ... Property Determination server, 300 ... music determination server, 400 ... music content server, 500 ... product information server

Claims (12)

An information providing device for providing information,
Information acquisition means for acquiring article information relating to articles around the information providing device;
Information determining means for determining information to be provided to a user of the information providing apparatus using the article information acquired by the information acquiring means;
It is provided with the information provision apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned. An information providing device for providing information,
Information acquisition means for acquiring article information relating to articles around the information providing device;
Determining means for determining the property of the user of the information providing apparatus from among the articles for which article information has been acquired by the information acquiring means;
Information determining means for determining information to be provided to a user of the information providing apparatus using article information relating to an article determined to be possessed by the user by the determining means;
It is provided with the information provision apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned.   The information providing device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the information acquisition unit acquires article information from a tag attached to the article.   The information providing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the article information includes information related to a position of the tag.   5. The information providing apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the tag according to claim 3 is a wireless IC tag, and the information acquisition means is a wireless IC tag reading unit.   6. The information providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information acquiring unit repeatedly acquires the article information a plurality of times.   The information acquisition means according to claim 2 acquires article information by communication with a wireless IC tag attached to the article, and the determination means indicates a communication state between the information acquisition means and the wireless IC tag. An information providing apparatus for determining the property of the user using information. The information providing device according to any one of claims 1 to 7 includes a communication unit capable of communicating with an external communication device,
The information providing apparatus, wherein the information acquisition unit acquires the article information when a communication state of the communication unit changes. An information providing device for providing information,
Input means for inputting article information related to articles around the information providing device;
Information determining means for determining information to be provided to a user of the information providing apparatus using article information input by the input means;
It is provided with the information provision apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned.   The information providing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the input means can input information output from the wireless IC tag reader. An information providing method for providing information,
Acquire article information about articles around the information providing device,
An information providing method, wherein information to be provided to a user of the information providing apparatus is determined using the acquired article information. An information providing device for providing information,
Information acquisition means for acquiring article information about the article;
Information determining means for determining information to be provided to a user of the information providing apparatus using the article information acquired by the information acquiring means;
It is provided with the information provision apparatus characterized by the above-mentioned.

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