JP2010113570A - Content presentation device, content presentation method and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technology for achieving a recommendation function (a content navigation function) for effectively recommending a content fit for taste of a user. <P>SOLUTION: A content presentation device has an action log storage means for storing an action log of the registration user related to a plurality of contents, and generates a content graph showing correlation between the plurality of contents based on the action log (a content graph generation means). When acquiring two contents designated by a client terminal (a designated content acquisition means), the content presentation device calculates a path connecting the two contents in the content graph (a path calculation means), generates a content presentation screen wherein contents present on the path are disposed in a state that relevance between the two contents can be comprehended, and presents the contents present on the path to the client terminal by the content presentation screen (a presentation means). <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a content presentation device, a content presentation method, and a program for supporting a user's content search on the Internet.

In recent years, with the spread of the Internet, browsing web pages introducing desired content, collecting information related to the content, and purchasing content (products) are routinely performed.
For websites such as shopping malls (hereinafter referred to as online shops), search for directories that follow hierarchical categories (fields) to reach target content (products), or enter keywords in the search window In general, a desired content is searched by a keyword search for directly searching the content. In online shops, links to other content related to the content (for example, CD albums with the same artist, etc.) are provided on the web page where the content is introduced, thereby increasing the user's willingness to purchase. ing.
Therefore, even though the online shop handles a lot of content, there is a phenomenon that only some popular content or specific linked content that is easy to match the user's search request is viewed and purchased. Has occurred. That is, since the number of contents held by the online shop is increasing, it is difficult for the user to search for contents that meet his / her preference.

Therefore, in the online shop, content that is considered to be of interest to the user is automatically recommended based on the user's basic attributes (interest, preference), action logs (purchase history, browsing history), etc. registered in advance. A so-called recommendation function has been proposed.
For example, in Patent Literature 1, content purchased or viewed for each user is recorded, and when a user browses the content, the user who has purchased or viewed the content is There is disclosed a technique for recommending content that meets the user's preference by presenting whether the content is purchased or viewed. Furthermore, a link to a web page introducing the recommended content is provided, and the user can transition to the next content by clicking the link.
Such a recommendation function is effective in improving the customer unit price and customer satisfaction in the online shop.
US Pat. No. 6,912,505

  By the way, the user has a wide variety of preferences and is generally not limited to one. That is, the user is often interested in two contents that are not directly related as contents. Here, the content not directly related is a user who does not have a common content attribute (for example, an artist or a genre in the case of music content such as a CD album) or who has viewed or purchased one content. Are two contents when the other contents are not browsed or purchased.

  However, with the conventional recommendation function, it is not possible to associate two contents that are not directly related and to recommend other contents. For example, even if a keyword search is performed using a title of a CD album and a title of a novel that are not directly related to each other, there is almost no common point between the two, and it is considered that content satisfying such conditions is not searched.

  In addition, in the recommendation function described in Patent Document 1, only content related to the content currently being browsed is recommended, so when the user sequentially traces the related content based on his / her preference, he / she browsed first. Content is recommended again, and there are still frequent tours between content. Also, for content enthusiasts, content that they know is only recommended, but not in fact recommended. Even if the recommended content is appropriately specified to avoid it, such an action is an unintended content search (a content search that is random), so it cannot be said to be an effective recommendation function for the user. . In addition, it is impossible to grasp the relevance (all the connections) between the content that the user first browsed and the content that finally arrived.

In this way, in the content presentation method found in the conventional recommendation function, when the user is interested in two contents that are not directly related, these are related by some technique and other contents are presented. Has become difficult.
The present invention relates to a content presentation device, a content presentation method, and a program for supporting a user's content search on the Internet, and a content presentation function (content navigation function) capable of effectively presenting content intervening between two contents. It aims at providing the technology for realizing.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention described in claim 1 is a content presentation apparatus that presents a relationship between arbitrary contents to a client terminal,
Action log storage means for storing a user action log related to the content;
Content graph generating means for generating a content graph indicating a correlation between the contents based on the action log;
Designated content acquisition means for acquiring two specified contents;
Route calculating means for calculating a route connecting the two contents in the content graph;
And presenting means for presenting the relationship between the contents by presenting the calculated content on the route to the client terminal.

The invention described in claim 2 is the content presentation device according to claim 1, further comprising content attribute storage means for storing content attributes preset for each of the contents,
The content graph generation unit generates a content graph indicating a correlation between the contents based on a content attribute in addition to the action log.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the content presentation device according to the first or second aspect, the designated content acquisition unit acquires the two specified content and the content that is the specified waypoint, The route calculating means calculates a route connecting two contents that pass through the contents as the waypoints.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the content presentation device according to the first or third aspect, the presentation unit generates a content presentation screen arranged in a manner in which the relationship between two contents can be grasped, and the content presentation screen The content information on the route is arranged in the order of transition.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, in the content presentation device according to the fourth aspect, the presenting means also presents related content related by the content attribute of the content information on the route.

The invention according to claim 6 is a content presentation method for presenting a relation between arbitrary contents to a client terminal,
Storing a user action log for the content;
Building a correlation between the contents based on the behavior log;
Obtaining two specified contents;
Extracting content on a path connecting the two contents;
Presenting the content on the route to the client terminal.

The invention according to claim 7 is a computer of a content presentation apparatus that presents a relationship between arbitrary contents to a client terminal.
Storing a user action log for the content;
Building a correlation between the contents based on the behavior log;
Obtaining two specified contents;
Extracting content on a path connecting the two contents;
Presenting the content on the route to the client terminal.

According to the present invention, two contents that are not directly related to each other are indirectly linked through other contents, and the contents on the route are presented to the client terminal. That is, it is possible to grasp a change in connection between two contents.
As a result, the user can easily find the desired content after grasping the relationship between the two contents, which is an effective recommendation function for the user. For example, even if the content is similar to the taste to some extent but is not directly related, even content that is not recommended by the conventional recommendation function can be found efficiently.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a network configuration to which a content presentation apparatus according to the present invention is applied. In the present embodiment, a case where the web server 1 holds a plurality of contents and the web server 1 provides contents to the client terminal 2 via the network N is shown.

  As shown in FIG. 1, a client terminal 2 is connected to a web server 1 via a communication network N so that data communication can be performed with each other. The communication network N is a telephone line network such as the Internet or a telecommunication carrier, a mobile phone communication network, or the like.

The web server 1 is, for example, an online shop server that sells content (products). The web server 1 provides a service related to general content sales (hereinafter referred to as a shopping service).
In addition, the shopping service has a general search function (directory search or keyword search) for a user to search for desired content. Furthermore, it has a content navigation function for presenting (recommending) other content in a manner in which the relevance between the two content specified by the client terminal 2 can be grasped in the shopping service. That is, the web server 1 in the present embodiment is a content presentation device according to the present invention.

The client terminal 2 is, for example, a personal computer 2a or a mobile terminal 2b such as a mobile phone. The user can use the shopping service via the network by operating the client terminal 2.
In this embodiment, it is assumed that a user (registered user) registered in advance in the web server 1 can receive a shopping service by the web server 1. This is because a correlation between contents is constructed by monitoring a registered user's action log, and a recommendation function using this correlation is realized. Here, the action log is information indicating a registered user's action history, and includes a history of browsing content and a history of purchasing content.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an outline of the hardware configuration of the web server 1.
As shown in FIG. 2, the web server 1 includes a control unit 11, a storage unit (auxiliary storage) 12, an input / output unit 13, a communication unit 14, an action log database 15, a content graph database 17, a content database 18, and the like. It is a general computer. Each block is electrically connected by a bus line 16.

The control unit 11 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 111 as an arithmetic / control device, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 112 and a ROM (Read Only Memory) 113 as a main storage device.
The ROM 113 stores a program called BIOS (Basic Input Output System) and basic setting data. The RAM 112 is loaded with programs such as an OS and various applications read from the storage unit 12.
The CPU 111 executes various processes in accordance with programs developed in the RAM 112 and controls each block.

The storage unit 12 includes, for example, a hard disk and stores an OS, various application programs (for example, a server program and a web application program), various data, and the like.
The input / output unit 13 constitutes a user interface for use by the administrator of the web server 1. For example, a display device such as a liquid crystal monitor serves as an output unit, and operation means such as a keyboard or a mouse serves as an input unit.
The communication unit 14 performs processing according to a communication protocol such as TCP / IP, and transmits / receives data to / from the client terminal 2 via the network N.

In the action log database 15, information (user attributes) related to users who can use the shopping service provided by the web server 1 is registered. The user attributes include user personal information (name, address, telephone number, interest (preference), etc.) in addition to authentication information such as a user ID and password.
The behavior log database 15 stores behavior logs related to a plurality of contents for each registered user (see FIG. 3). That is, the registered content user manages what kind of content is viewed or purchased by the action log database 15. In FIG. 3, the user “# 1” indicates that the contents “a”, “b”, and “c” are browsed or purchased, and the user “# 2” indicates that the contents “a” and “d” are viewed or purchased.

  For example, when a registered user logs in to a shopping service, the subsequent behavior (page transition or the like) is monitored, and the behavior history of the registered user is temporarily stored in the RAM 112. Then, the action history stored in the RAM 112 is registered in the action log database 15 as an action log by batch processing. Note that an existing technique can be applied to such a behavior log storage method.

The content graph database 17 stores a plurality of content graphs indicating the correlation between the contents held by the web server 1. Here, the content graph is obtained by connecting nodes representing content with edges and abstracting the correlation between the contents.
This content graph is generated based on the behavior log described above and content attributes described later. That is, one content graph is composed of content groups associated based on the action log and content attributes. Accordingly, each content held by the web server 1 belongs to one of the content graphs.
The content graph database 17 is updated as the behavior log database is updated. Details of processing for generating a content graph will be described later.

  The content database 18 stores information related to all content held by the web server 1 (see FIG. 4). As shown in FIG. 4, the information related to the content includes, for example, a content attribute set in advance for the content, a URL of the web page introducing the content, and image data for introducing the content on the web page. (Including thumbnails). For example, if the content is a CD album, artist, genre, etc. are the content attributes.

The web server 1 as a content presentation device has the above-described configuration. The CPU 111 of the web server 1 provides a shopping service to the logged-in client terminal 2 by executing server software (for example, ASP (Active Server Pages)).
When the registered user uses the shopping service, the behavior history at this time is registered in the behavior log database 15 and the content graph registered in the content graph database 17 is updated.
When a content navigation function is selected in the shopping service and two contents are specified, other contents that are involved in associating these contents are searched using the content graph and presented to the client terminal 2 To do.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an example of content graph generation processing in the web server 1. The process illustrated in FIG. 5 is executed, for example, when the action log database 15 is updated by batch processing.
FIG. 6 is a conceptual diagram visually showing the content graph generation processing shown in FIG. In FIG. 6, a, b, c,... Indicate individual contents. In addition, contents connected by a solid line indicate contents associated with each other based on the action log, and contents connected by a dotted line indicate contents associated with each other based on the content attribute.

  In step S101 in FIG. 5, the action log (see FIG. 3) of the registered user is acquired from the action log database 15. From this action log, a registered user who has browsed or purchased a certain content can know what other content is being browsed or purchased. For example, regarding the user “# 1” shown in FIG. 3, the registered user who has browsed or purchased the content a is viewing or purchasing the content b or c.

In step S102, based on the action log acquired in step S101, the two contents are associated and graphed. By this processing, the graph G1 (G11 to G17) shown in FIG. 6 is generated.
For example, if the acquired action log has the data configuration shown in FIG. 3, one registered user who browses or purchases the content a (user “# 1”) browses or purchases the content b and c, and the other one ( Since the user “# 2”) is browsing or purchasing the content d, the graph G11 of FIG. 6 is generated. In addition, one registered user (user “# 1”) who browses or purchases the content b browses or purchases the contents a and c, and the other one (user “# 3”) browses or purchases the contents e and f. Therefore, the graph G12 of FIG. 6 is generated.
In FIG. 6, the relationship between overlapping contents is simplified and only one content is shown. For example, in the graph G12, the registered user who has browsed or purchased the content b should have also browsed or purchased the content a, but this relationship is omitted because it is shown in the graph G11.

  In step S103, a content attribute set in advance for each content is acquired from the content database 18. Content having a common content attribute is related content.

In step S104, based on the content attribute acquired in step S103, the two contents are related and graphed. By this process, a graph G2 (G21 to G24) shown in FIG. 6 is generated.
For example, when the content database 18 has the data configuration shown in FIG. 4, the content a1, a2, and a3 have the artist “AAA” and have the same content attributes as the content a. Therefore, since the contents a1, a2, and a3 are related contents of the content a, the graph G21 in FIG. 6 is generated.

In step S105, the graphs G1 and G2 are combined to graph the correlation of all contents. By this process, the content graph G shown in FIG. 6 is generated and registered in the content graph database 17.
Specifically, when the graph G1 (G11 to G17) is combined, three content graphs Ga, Gb, and Gc are generated. When this is combined with the graph G2 (G21 to G24), the three content graphs Ga, Gb, and Gc are connected to form one content graph G. In the content graph G illustrated in FIG. 6, the dotted lines that connect the related contents (for example, the contents a1, a2, and a3) are omitted.

Although FIG. 6 shows a case where one content graph G is generated, a plurality of content graphs are actually generated.
In the content graph generation process shown in FIG. 5, the content graph G is generated based on the registered user's action log and the content attribute. However, the content graph may be generated based only on the action log. Good.
That is, the correlation (graph G2) between the contents based on the content attributes is used to complement the relation between the content graphs Ga, Gb, and Gc generated by combining only action logs. That is, when sufficient action logs cannot be acquired, three independent content graphs, content graphs Ga, Gb, and Gc, are generated, but these can be associated with each other according to content attributes.

Thus, one content graph is comprised by the content group linked | related based on the action log and the content attribute. In other words, content that belongs to one content graph can be indirectly related by interposing other content, even though it is not directly related. For example, in FIG. 6, the content a and the content h are not directly related (the registered user who viewed or purchased the content a does not view or purchase the content h, and the content a and the content h May not be associated with a common content attribute), but can be indirectly associated with content c, for example.
The content c in this case is a content that reflects a change in preference between the two contents a and h that are not directly related, and therefore, in the present embodiment, such content is presented to the client terminal 2.
In addition, when generating the content graph, it was explained as a graph with no weight on the edge, but the degree of association is determined according to the simultaneous purchase of content and the frequency of simultaneous browsing, etc., and it is defined as the edge weight between nodes The content graph may be a weighted graph. That is, the edge weight between the contents having the higher frequency of simultaneous purchase of the two contents is increased, and the edge weight between the contents having the lower frequency of simultaneous purchase is decreased.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure in the web server 1 and the client terminal 2 when the web server 1 executes the content navigation function. This process is executed, for example, when the content navigation function is selected in the shopping service provided by the web server 1.
FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a content graph. 8, A, B, C,... Indicate individual contents. In addition, contents connected by a solid line indicate contents associated with each other based on the action log, and contents connected by a dotted line indicate contents associated with each other based on the content attribute.

  In step S <b> 201 of FIG. 7, the HTML file of the content navigation screen is transmitted from the web server 1 to the client terminal 2. A control program (for example, JAVA (registered trademark) program) for transmitting two contents to the web server 1 when two contents are designated by a user operation is embedded in the HTML file.

In step S202, the HTML file is analyzed by the web browser of the client terminal 2, and the content navigation screen is displayed on the display unit. The user inputs a keyword indicating the title of the content in the search window arranged in the content navigation screen, and instructs the search, whereby content information similar to the two contents (title, excerpted text, URL) Etc.) can be obtained.
The method for specifying the content is not particularly limited as long as two contents can be respectively specified. For example, in addition to the method of directly specifying by a keyword, a plurality of previously presented contents (for example, search results by keyword search) ) May be selected.
One of the two contents may be designated in advance by default on the service provider (web server) side. For example, if the content ranked first in the popularity ranking is set as one of the designated content, it becomes possible to know a change in preference between content that suits one's preference and popular content.
In addition to the two specified contents, a plurality of contents serving as via points may be specified. In this case, a plurality of waypoints can be specified by the user or the service provider. In the route calculation in step S205, which will be described later, the route is calculated so that the route point content passes between the two contents. Will be. When the user specifies a waypoint, it is possible to check the transition of more diverse content. When the service provider specifies a waypoint, the route point should be the content such as the advertiser. Thus, it is possible to present the content to be presented to the user.

  In step S203, when two contents are specified by a user operation on the content navigation screen and a search request is instructed, a search request based on the specified content is transmitted to the web server 1.

In step S204, the web server 1 acquires the two specified contents, and selects a content graph to which these contents belong. When the content graph shown in FIG. 8 is constructed and content A and content V are designated in step S203, the content graph shown in FIG. 8 to which these content A and V belong is selected.
At this time, if the two contents belong to different content graphs, these contents are contents that have completely different preferences that are not indirectly related, so the recommendation function according to the present invention is not executed.

In step S205, a route connecting the two specified contents in the selected content graph is calculated. For example, the shortest path connecting two points in the content graph can be calculated by an existing graph shortest path search algorithm such as the Dijkstra method.
When the content graph shown in FIG. 8 is constructed, if the contents A and V are specified, A → C → H → K → M → Q → S → T → V from the content graph shown in FIG. It will be calculated as a route.
In calculating a route, in the case of a weighted content graph, a route that preferentially follows a high edge weight value (for example, a high frequency of simultaneous purchase) or a low weight value is used. You may make it calculate the path | route (for example, a thing with low simultaneous purchase frequency. In this case, possibility of discovering an unusual thing becomes high) which is followed preferentially.
When calculating the route, when calculating the route passing through the via point (content) determined by the user or the service provider as described above, the route passing through the via point is from the start to the via point 1, What is necessary is just to obtain | require the shortest path | route between two points sequentially by the shortest path | route search algorithm, such as from the waypoint 1 to the waypoint 2, and from the waypoint N to the goal, and connect them.

  In step S206, information about the content on the calculated route (for example, content A, C, H, K, M, Q, S, T, and V in FIG. 8) is acquired from the content database 18. For example, the content attribute, thumbnail image, URL, etc. of the content on the route are acquired.

In step S207, a content presentation screen is generated based on the information regarding the content acquired in step S206. On the content presentation screen, the content on the route is arranged in such a manner that the relevance between the two designated contents can be grasped.
In the case where the content graph shown in FIG. 8 is constructed, when the contents A and V are designated, the transition order of the contents A, C, H, K, M, Q, S, T, and V can be grasped. A content presentation screen is generated. For example, a slider in which contents on a route are arranged in the order of transition is used.

  In step S208, the HTML file of the content presentation screen is transmitted from the web server 1 to the client terminal 2. A control program for transmitting a user operation on the content presentation screen to the web server 1 is embedded in the HTML file.

  In step S209, the HTML file is analyzed by the web browser of the client terminal 2, and a content presentation screen is displayed on the display unit. The user can easily know the content that suits his / her preference through the content presentation screen. Moreover, although it does not deviate from preference, it is also possible to discover unexpected content that has not been noticed until now.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an example of a content presentation screen that presents content on paths A to V in the content graph illustrated in FIG. 8.
The content presentation screen shown in FIG. 9 is selected as an area R11 for displaying thumbnail images as content information of the contents A to V on the route, and an area R12 for displaying a slider SL displaying the content name as the content information. And an area R13 for displaying detailed information of the content.

In the display area R12, a slider SL in which the content on the route is arranged in the order of transition is displayed. By moving the slider box (knob) SLB on the slider SL, the content to be displayed in the display area R11 and the display area R13 can be changed.
In other words, among the contents A to V on the route, the thumbnail images SN1 to SN5 of the five contents centered on the contents specified by the slider box SLB are displayed in the vertical direction in the display area R11. In the display region R11, display control is performed such that the thumbnail image slides up and down in conjunction with the slide operation of the slider box SLB.
In the display area R13, detailed information on the content specified by the slider box SLB is displayed.

FIG. 9A shows a case where the content A is designated by the slider box SLB. Since the content A is one of the contents designated by the user (start content) and is located at the end point on the route, only the thumbnail images of the three contents H, C, and A are displayed and displayed in the display area R11. Detailed information of the content A is displayed in the area R13.
FIG. 9B shows a case where the content box K is designated by sliding the slider box SLB from the state shown in FIG. At this time, thumbnail images of five contents Q, M, K, H, and C centering on the content K are displayed in the display area R11, and detailed information of the content K is displayed in the display area R13. . In this example, a slider is used for the display region R12. However, a button or the like may be used as long as content information (items such as a content name and a thumbnail image that can specify the content) is arranged in the order of transition.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram illustrating another example of a content presentation screen that presents content on paths A to V in the content graph illustrated in FIG. 8.
The content presentation screen shown in FIG. 10 includes an area R21 for displaying thumbnail images of the contents AV on the route, an area R22 for displaying the slider SL, and an area R23 for displaying detailed information on the selected content. It is configured.

In the display area R22, a slider SL in which all contents on the route are arranged in the order of transition is displayed. By moving the slider box (knob) SLB on the slider SL, the contents to be displayed in the display area R21 and the display area R23 can be changed.
That is, the thumbnail images SN11 to SN55 of content centered on the content specified by the slider box SLB among the content AV on the route are arranged in the display area R21 in the vertical and horizontal directions. At this time, in the vertical direction including the central content, content associated with the central content by the action log is arranged. Among these contents, the thumbnail image (SN43 in FIG. 10A) indicating the contents on the route is distinguished from other contents by a thick frame display. In the horizontal direction, related content having the same content attribute as the content arranged in the vertical direction including the central content is arranged.
In the display area R23, detailed information on the content designated by the slider box SLB is displayed.

FIG. 10A shows a case where the content A is designated by the slider box SLB. As shown in FIG. 8, since the content A is associated with the contents B, C, D, and E by the action log, the thumbnail images SN13, SN23, SN33, SN43, and SN53 of these contents B, C, D, and E are displayed. Are arranged in the vertical direction including the central content A. Note that the arrangement order may be determined as appropriate, such as alphabetical order or order in which the degree of association between action log contents is strong (order of action logs viewed or purchased more). At this time, since the content C is content on the path from the content A to the content V, the corresponding thumbnail image SN43 is displayed in a thick frame.
Further, as shown in FIG. 8, since the content A has the contents a1 and a2 as related contents, the thumbnail images SN32 and SN34 of the contents a1 and a2 are arranged in the horizontal direction including the content A. . Similarly, since the content B has the content b1 as the related content, the thumbnail image SN22 of the content b1 is arranged in the horizontal direction including the content B, and the content C has the content c1 as the related content. Thumbnail images SN42 are arranged in the horizontal direction including the content C.
Further, the detailed information of the content A is displayed in the display area R23.

FIG. 10B shows a case where the content box C is designated by sliding the slider box SLB from the state shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 8, since the content C is associated with the contents F, G, H, and A by the action log, the thumbnail images SN13, SN23, SN33, SN43, and SN53 of these contents F, G, H, and A are displayed. Are arranged in the vertical direction including the central content C. At this time, since the content H is content on the route from the content A to the content V, the corresponding thumbnail image SN13 is displayed in a thick frame.
Further, as shown in FIG. 8, since the content C has the content c1 as related content, the thumbnail images SN32 of the content c1 are arranged in the horizontal direction including the content C. Similarly, since the content H has the contents h1, h2, and h3 as related contents, the thumbnail images SN12, SN14, and SN15 of these contents h1, h2, and h3 are arranged in the horizontal direction including the content H. .
Further, the detailed information of the content C is displayed in the display area R23. When the user selects (clicks) content other than on the route, the content is started and the route between the content set in advance in the goal (in this example, V) is recalculated and re-calculated. You may make it show. Furthermore, instead of the route between the contents set in advance in the goal, the goal content is set again, and the route with the content displayed in the center (C in this example) is recalculated and presented again. May be.
In this example, since the content on the route and the related content of the content can be presented, more content can be presented to the user, and discoverability is improved.
In addition, although the display area R21 in FIG. 10 has 25 grids of 5 × 5 thumbnail images, content having a lot of related information cannot be grasped as a whole and is inconvenient, so the horizontal direction is scrolled in units of lines. Alternatively, in the vertical direction, the entire screen may be scrolled so that another content of the user who has viewed or purchased the central content can be grasped. In this case, the slider in the display region R22 may be designated again as content on an arbitrary route so that the screen returns to the screen centered on the content.

As described above, the web server 1 as the content presentation device includes the behavior log storage unit (the behavior log database 15) that stores the behavior log of the registered user regarding a plurality of contents.
In addition, a content graph generation unit (FIG. 5) that generates a content graph indicating a correlation between a plurality of contents based on the action log, and a specified content acquisition unit (FIG. 5) that acquires two contents specified by the client terminal 2. 7 in step S204), route calculation means for calculating a route connecting two contents in the content graph (step S205 in FIG. 7), and contents on the route are arranged in a manner in which the relationship between the two contents can be grasped. Presenting means (Steps S207 and S208 in FIG. 7) for generating a content presentation screen and presenting content on the route to the client terminal 2 by the content presentation screen is provided.

As a result, two contents that are not directly related (for example, contents A and V in FIG. 8) are intervened with other contents (for example, contents C, H, K, M, Q, S, and T in FIG. 8). Since the contents on the route are presented to the client terminal 2, the user can easily grasp the relationship between the two contents, that is, the transition change between the two contents.
Therefore, the user can easily find the desired content after grasping the relationship between the two contents, which is an effective recommendation function for the user. For example, even if the content is similar to the taste to some extent but is not directly related, even content that is not recommended by the conventional recommendation function can be found efficiently.
Moreover, since the potential needs can be grasped by the relation between the two contents, it can be used for marketing. For example, when selling CDs and DVDs as contents (including actual stores), if the contents are arranged (displayed) with reference to the contents on the route presented by the contents presentation device, the preferences are somewhat similar. However, it is possible to propose unexpected content to the user that cannot be considered normal, so that the user's willingness to purchase can be enhanced.

Further, the content presentation screen (FIGS. 9 and 10) includes a slider SL in which all the contents on the route are arranged in the order of transition. In the presentation means (steps S207 and S208 in FIG. 7), the slider on the slider SL is displayed. The contents to be presented are changed as the box SLB is moved.
As a result, the operability on the content presentation screen is improved, which is a function that is convenient for the user.

In addition, content attribute storage means (content database 18) for storing content attributes set in advance for each of the plurality of contents is provided, and the content graph generation means (FIG. 5) generates the content generated based on the action log. The graph (graphs Ga, Gb, Gc in FIG. 6) is complemented based on the content attribute.
As a result, it is possible to deal with a case where there is content that cannot be related only by the action log, so the number of recommendable content increases, and the convenience of the recommendation function is improved.

Further, the presenting means arranges the content on the route on the content presentation screen (FIG. 10), and arranges the related content having the same content attribute as the content adjacent to the content on the route.
Thus, the user can know not only the content on the route but also the content related thereto, so that the recommendation function is more convenient.

As mentioned above, although the invention made by this inventor was concretely demonstrated based on embodiment, this invention is not limited to the said embodiment, It can change in the range which does not deviate from the summary.
For example, the present invention can be applied not only to a web server of an online shop but also to a case where provided content is provided to a client terminal.
In the above embodiment, the content is described as a CD or DVD as an example. However, the content is not limited to these, and may be a novel, a book, furniture, food, or the like. Also, the two contents can be applied not only to the same kind of contents such as two CDs and two DVDs, but also to different kinds of contents such as CD and book, DVD and electrical product. Also good.

  The embodiment disclosed this time should be considered as illustrative in all points and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the description above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

It is the schematic shown about the network structure of this embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the outline of the hardware constitutions of a web server. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of a data structure of an action log database. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of a data structure of a content database. It is a flowchart shown about an example of the content graph production | generation process in a web server. It is a conceptual diagram which shows visually the content graph production | generation process shown in FIG. It is a flowchart shown about the process sequence in a web server and a client terminal when a web server performs a content navigation function. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of a content graph. It is explanatory drawing shown about an example of the content presentation screen which presents the content on path | route AV in the content graph shown in FIG. It is explanatory drawing shown about another example of the content presentation screen which presents the content on path | route AV in the content graph shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

1 Web server (content presentation device)
2 Client terminal N Communication network

Claims (7)

A content presentation device that presents a relationship between arbitrary contents to a client terminal,
Action log storage means for storing a user action log related to the content;
Content graph generating means for generating a content graph indicating a correlation between the contents based on the action log;
Designated content acquisition means for acquiring two specified contents;
Route calculating means for calculating a route connecting the two contents in the content graph;
A content presentation apparatus comprising: presentation means for presenting a relationship between contents by presenting the calculated content on the route to the client terminal. Content attribute storage means for storing content attributes preset for each of the contents,
The content presentation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the content graph generation unit generates a content graph indicating a correlation between the contents based on a content attribute in addition to the action log.   The designated content acquisition means acquires the specified two contents and the content that becomes the specified waypoint, and the route calculation means connects the two contents that pass through the content that becomes the waypoint The content presentation device according to claim 1, wherein the content presentation device calculates the content.   The presenting means generates a content presentation screen arranged in such a manner that the relationship between two contents can be grasped, and the content information on the route is arranged in the order of transition on the content presentation screen. The content presentation apparatus according to claim 1 or 3.   The content presentation apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the presenting unit also presents related content related by the content attribute of content information on the route. A content presentation method for presenting relevance between arbitrary contents to a client terminal,
Storing a user action log for the plurality of contents;
Building a correlation between the contents based on the behavior log;
Obtaining two specified contents;
Extracting content on a path connecting the two contents;
Presenting the content on the route to the client terminal. In the computer of the content presentation apparatus that presents the relevance between arbitrary contents to the client terminal,
Storing a user action log for the content;
Building a correlation between the contents based on the behavior log;
Obtaining two specified contents;
Extracting content on a path connecting the two contents;
Presenting the content on the route to the client terminal.

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