JP2010211258A - Information recommendation device, server, method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To intelligibly present information(context) as the basis of the recommendation of information to a user in the case of presenting recommended information. <P>SOLUTION: An information recommendation system 100 is provided with a context determination means 101 for determining primary context at a current point of time from context as a parameter showing the situations of a user; a recommended information determination means 102 for determining recommended information according to the determined primary context; a field determination means 105 for determining a background image according to the determined primary context; and a recommended information display control means 104 for controlling the display of both the recommended information and the background image. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an information recommendation device, a server, a method, and a program, and more particularly, to a mechanism for providing an appropriate menu or application according to a user's situation or context.

  Patent Document 1 is cited as a document describing a technique related to the present invention. In Patent Document 1, for example, referring to paragraph 0010, it is created based on information detected by a sensor, and a filtering condition is compared with a plurality of types of contexts received by the receiving means, and effective matching the filtering condition. A “context filtering device” is described that includes means for selecting a valid context and means for transmitting a valid context to an application device that provides a mobile terminal with a context-based service.

  Patent Document 1 describes using weather, time, current position, and altitude information (sensing data; see paragraphs 0004, 0023, etc.) for an external device. However, there is no description about what kind of scene the information should be mapped to.

JP 2005-182181 A

  Various systems that recommend information, services, and the like have been developed according to the user's past history and the situation at the site (hereinafter referred to as “context”). In such an information recommendation system provided on the Web or the like, information (context) that is the basis for recommending the information is hardly presented. Even when presented, it is only displayed in characters.

  As a recommendation system for information on which information that is the basis for recommendation is presented, there are services and demonstration experiments performed on mobile terminals and the like. Some of the services and the like display recommended information and services (hereinafter referred to as “recommended information”) in characters or on a map or the like. And the information on which the recommendation was based is limited to a specific reason and format such as location.

  However, in the future, it is thought that applications with functionality such as widgets will be recommended, and the reason why widgets and information are recommended including these environments will be presented to users more clearly. It will be important. In the following, three problems that are the problems of the present invention are listed.

  The first challenge is to display characters and images when presenting the context to the user, which is the basis for making recommendations in a system that recommends multiple widgets, applications and information according to the user's context. However, it is difficult to understand because it is buried in many displayed elements.

  The second problem is that the mobile device has a narrow screen, and therefore, if more candidates are to be issued, there is no place for outputting context information. In addition, it is difficult to read if it comes out in small letters. Furthermore, it is troublesome to display by operating.

  The third problem is that when a user changes a context, it is complicated to select a specific one from a large number of character choices, which is difficult for the user to understand.

  Therefore, in view of the above circumstances, the present invention provides an information recommendation device, a server, a method, and an information recommendation device that can easily present to a user information (context) that is the basis for recommending the information when presenting the recommended information. The purpose is to provide a program.

  In order to achieve the above object, an information recommendation device, server, method, and program having the following configurations are provided.

  The information recommendation apparatus according to the present invention determines context recommendation means for determining a current main context from contexts that are parameters representing a user's situation, and determines recommendation information according to the determined main context. Recommended information determining means, field determining means for determining a background image according to the determined main context, and recommended information display control means for controlling the recommended information to be displayed together with the background image. It is characterized by having.

  An information recommendation server according to the present invention is an information recommendation server connected to a client terminal via a network, and determines a main context at the present time from contexts that are parameters representing user information of the client terminal. Context determining means, recommended information determining means for determining recommended information according to the determined main context, field determining means for determining a background image according to the determined main context, and the recommended information And a recommended information display control means for controlling the display to be displayed together with the background image by the output means of the client terminal.

  The information recommendation method according to the present invention includes a context determination step for determining a current main context from contexts that are parameters representing a user's situation, and determination of recommended information according to the determined main context. A recommended information determining step, a field determining step for determining a background image according to the determined main context, and a recommended information display control step for controlling the recommended information to be displayed together with the background image. It is characterized by including.

  The information recommendation program according to the present invention recommends a computer according to a context determination means for determining a current main context from contexts that are parameters representing a user's situation and the determined main context. Recommended information determining means for determining information, field determining means for determining a background image according to the determined main context, and recommended information display control means for controlling the recommended information to be displayed together with the background image It is made to function as.

  According to the present invention, when presenting recommended information, information (context) that is a basis for recommending the information can be presented to the user in an easy-to-understand manner.

It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the 1st form for implementing this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the structure of the field information storage means of the 1st form for implementing this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the structure of the recommendation information storage means of the 1st form for implementing this invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows the flow of the recommendation information display process of the 1st form for implementing this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the recommendation information display screen by the process result of the recommendation information display process of the 1st form for implementing this invention. It is a sequence diagram which shows the flow of the field selection process of the 1st form for implementing this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the screen which an input / output means displays in the field selection process of the 1st form for implementing this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of the 2nd form for implementing this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the recommendation information display screen by the process result of the recommendation information display process of the 3rd form for implementing this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the structure of the recommendation information storage means of the 4th form for implementing this invention. It is FIG. (1) for demonstrating the structure of the field information storage means of the 4th form for implementing this invention. It is FIG. (2) for demonstrating the structure of the field information storage means of the 4th form for implementing this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the recommendation information display screen by the process result of the recommendation information display process of the 4th form for implementing this invention.

  Next, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

<First Embodiment>
Referring to FIG. 1, the functional configuration of this embodiment is shown. As shown in the figure, the information recommendation system 100 according to the present embodiment receives information from various information resources 200, and determines a main context, a context determination unit 101, a recommended information determination unit 102, and a recommended information storage. The configuration includes a means 103, a recommended information display control means 104, a field determination means 105, a field storage means 106, a field selection means 107, and an input / output means 108. Hereinafter, functions and the like of each means will be described.

  The various information resources 200 are resources that provide information necessary for determining the user's context, and in the present embodiment, include various devices as described below.

  That is, a weather forecast service, schedule storage means, base station information, wireless LAN (hereinafter referred to as “WLAN”), GPS (Global Positioning Systems), clock, telephone, mailer, RSS reader, contactless IC tag, and the like. Each usage method will be described in the description of the context determination unit 101.

  The context determination unit 101 is a unit that determines main contexts based on inputs from various information resources 200.

  The main context is a parameter of a context that is expected to best represent the user situation at that time, and based on this information, recommended information is determined in accordance with the user situation. That is, among many assumed user situations, those that are strongly related to the current user situation are referred to as “major”. The main context determination methods include the following.

● Use the most recently changed context.
● Give priority to each context value, and use the one with the highest priority as the main context. The priority can be set in advance by the system or by the user.
● Use the context value with the most corresponding recommended information.
● Selected by the user.

  Specific values for the context are listed below.

The context determination unit 101 may determine a time zone as a main context. The time zone in that case is, for example, a value such as morning, noon, and night. This value is determined based on time information read using a clock.

The context determining unit 101 may determine habit behavior as a main context. In this case, the habit behavior includes getting up, going to work, going home, going to bed, and the like. In making this determination, a time by a clock and a correspondence database of the clock and habit behavior are used.

The context determination unit 101 may determine a place having personal meaning as a main context. In this case, the places having personal meaning are homes, homes, companies, destination facilities, customers, and the like. This value is determined based on GPS, WLAN access point, mobile phone base station information, and the like.

The context determination unit 101 may determine a general place as the main context. Common locations include maps, floors, stores, stations, airfields, buildings, hotels, and individual facilities. This value is determined based on GPS, WLAN access point, mobile phone base station information, and the like. Alternatively, it is determined based on position information related to information included in the user's schedule. This information is acquired from the schedule storage means. You may access a schedule memory | storage means via a network.

The context determining unit 101 may determine a moving unit as a main context. The transportation means are a train, a bus, a ship, a taxi and the like. This value is determined by an entry / exit record by a WLAN access point or a non-contact sensor.

The context determination unit 101 may determine the weather as the main context. The weather is sunny, rainy, cloudy, or the like. This value is determined by, for example, a weather forecast service provided on the network.

The context determination unit 101 may use a schedule as the main context. A schedule is a meeting, travel, work, travel, or the like. This value is determined by the current time information and the schedule storage means in which the user's schedule is set.

The context determination unit 101 may determine communication information as a main context. Communication information includes a caller, a callee, an author, a phone call, an email, a blog, and the like. These pieces of information are determined from the device type, sender, receiver, and author information acquired from a telephone, mailer (e-mail software), RSS reader, or the like.

The context determination means 101 is a main context that is determined based on product purchase information obtained from electronic money using a non-contact IC tag system, and can be any of novels, games, magazines, videos, and movies. Such information may be used.

The context determination unit 101 may use the above-described elements in combination as the main context.

The context determination unit 101 may use a main context associated with the background image selected by the user as the main context. The user selection is realized by the field selection means 107 described later. The main context used at this time may use mood information that cannot be acquired by the sensor in addition to the main contexts listed so far. The mood information includes gladness, fun, boredom, anger, leisure, excitement, painfulness, irritation, sadness, etc.

  The field storage means 106 is a database that holds a main context in combination with field information to be displayed.

  The field information includes an image to be displayed on the background. The background image is an image expressing the contents of the associated main context, and the contents of the context can be transmitted to the user. It is assumed that only one field information can be set for one main context.

  FIG. 2 shows the format of data held in the field storage means 106. Details of the method of setting data set in the field storage means 106 will not be described here. It is assumed that data set in advance by a provider of recommended information or set data is distributed over the network.

  The field determining unit 105 is a unit that determines a field to be displayed on the screen based on the main context obtained from the context determining unit 101.

  The field determination unit 105 searches the field storage unit 106 using the main context obtained from the context determination unit 101 as a key, and acquires field information. The field determination unit 105 sends the acquired field information to the recommended information display control unit 104.

  The field selection unit 107 is a unit for enabling a background image to be selected by a user input. The field selection unit 107 reads selectable field information from the field storage unit 106 and displays it as a list.

  The user selects one of the displayed background images using the input / output means 108. Based on the selection result, the field selection unit 107 determines a main context associated with the selected background image based on the information in the field storage unit 106 and notifies the context determination unit 101 of the information.

  The recommended information storage unit 103 holds a list of recommended information corresponding to the main context. The structure of the database is shown in FIG.

  The recommended information can be a variety of things including widgets that include actions, links to applications, services, features, and information. The details are not described here.

  As shown in FIG. 3, it is possible to have a plurality of recommended information for one main context. Further, each recommended information includes image information or information on the contents to be displayed for display on the screen, and information is recommended to the user by displaying this information.

  Details of the recommended information determination method are not described here. For example, it is assumed that what is set in advance by the information provider or is set is distributed via the network.

  The recommended information determination unit 102 selects a plurality of pieces of recommended information using main context information and normal context information obtained from the context determination unit 101. The recommended information obtained as a result is sent to the input / output means 108. A typical example of a method for selecting recommended information is described below.

  The recommended information determination unit 102 searches the recommended information storage unit 103 using the received main context information as a key. As a result, a list of recommended information is acquired.

  The recommended information display control unit 104 has a function of generating a screen or the like that can be referred to by the user using the input / output unit 108. The screen generated by the recommended information display control unit 104 displays a background image based on the field information acquired from the field determination unit 105, and is included in the recommended information acquired from the recommended information determination unit 102 on the image. It is an array of images. The generated screen is displayed on the input / output means 108.

  The input / output unit 108 has a display screen and an input device (keyboard or touch panel), and is a unit that displays a screen and acquires input based on instructions from the recommended information display control unit 104 and the field selection unit 107.

  Each of the above means is realized by the cooperation of hardware included in a general-purpose computer and a software program that realizes predetermined processing using the hardware.

  The overall operation flow of this embodiment will be described below. FIG. 4 shows a basic operation sequence of the recommended information display process of the present embodiment.

An information display instruction is sent from the input / output unit 108 to the context determination unit 101 when the user performs an operation such as pressing a specific button on the standby screen of the mobile phone (step S101).

The context determination unit 101 reads information output from each device from the various information resources 200 in order to determine the current main context in response to the information display instruction (step S102).

The context determination unit 101 determines main contexts based on information read from the various information resources 200. The determination method is as described in the apparatus configuration.

The context determining unit 101 notifies the determined main context information to the field determining unit 105 and the recommended information determining unit 102 (steps S103 and S107).

The field determination unit 105 searches the field storage unit 106 using the main context as a key (step S104), and reads out field information appropriate for determining the background image (step S105).

The field determination unit 105 sends the determined field information to the recommended information display control unit 104 (step S106).

The recommended information determining unit 102 that has received the main context from the context determining unit 101 searches the recommended information storage unit 103 using the main context as a key (steps S108 and S109), and determines appropriate recommended information. (Step S110). The details of the recommended information determination method are as described in the apparatus configuration.

The recommended information determination unit 102 sends the determined recommended information to the recommended information display control unit 104 (step S111). If there is more than one recommended information, send it as a list.

The recommended information display control unit 104 creates display data to be presented to the user based on the data received from the field determination unit 105 and the recommended information determination unit 102, and displays the display data by the input / output unit 108 (step S112). . The display data creation method is as described in the description of the functional configuration of the recommended information display control unit 104.

  An example of the screen generated and displayed as a result is shown in FIG. That is, FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a recommended information display screen based on the processing result of the recommended information display process according to the present embodiment.

  FIG. 6 presents a sequence regarding the operation of selecting a background image by the user, and the operation will be described below. That is, FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram showing the flow of field selection processing.

A field selection instruction is notified from the input / output unit 108 to the field selection unit 107, triggered by the user's input to the input / output unit 108 (step S201).

The field selection unit 107 accesses the field storage unit 106 (step S202) and reads a list of available field information (step S203).

The field selection unit 107 creates a field selection screen in which fields are arranged in a list from the read result, and sends it to the input / output unit 108 (step S204). An example of the field selection screen displayed by the input / output unit 108 is shown in FIG. As illustrated, background image candidates corresponding to available field information are arranged and can be selected by the user.

In the input / output means 108, the user selects an image in an appropriate field by cursor selection or the like (step S205).

The input / output unit 108 notifies the selection result to the field selection unit 107 as field information (step S206).

The field selection unit 107 searches the field storage unit 106 based on the notified field information and determines a main context (steps S207 and S208).

The field selection unit 107 notifies the determined main context to the context determination unit 101 (step S209). As a result, the field selection unit 107 can determine the main context based on the field information selected by the user.

  According to the present embodiment, when the recommended information is presented to the user, the background image associated with the information (main context) that is the basis for the recommended information is presented. Information can be presented to the user in an easy-to-understand manner.

<Second Embodiment>
The present invention can also be implemented by separately disposing each means in the first embodiment on a terminal and a server.

  For example, an implementation in which only the input / output unit 108, base station information, WLAN, GPS, and a non-contact type IC tag system are arranged in a terminal and the remaining devices are connected via a network is conceivable. FIG. 8 shows a configuration example in this case. As illustrated, the information recommendation system 100 according to the present embodiment includes a mobile terminal 108a, and a part of various information resources 200 is provided from the mobile terminal 108a via a network.

  The present invention can also be implemented by applying a client / server system as shown in FIG. 8, and in this case, the same effects as those of the first embodiment can be obtained.

<Third Embodiment>
The following third embodiment presents recommended menus for a plurality of situations by dividing the wallpaper on the display screen displayed by the input / output means 108 into a plurality of parts in the configurations of the first and second embodiments. To do.

  The human context is complex, and it is desirable to use it separately when determining recommended information.

  The displayed screen is divided into a plurality of areas, and recommended information determined based on different main contexts is displayed on different background images.

  This makes it possible to present information on the main context that is the basis of the recommendation, which is intuitive and easy to understand.

  Also, by displaying it as a background image, it is easy to understand the main context and the range of recommended items that affect it. The reason is that, by setting the range of the background image on which the menu is displayed as the affected range, it is possible to clearly understand the affected range of the context as the basis. It is also possible to show the degree of compounding of a plurality of factors as an image.

  The configuration, sequence, and the like according to this embodiment are the same as those in the first or second embodiment. The difference in operation is described below.

The context determination unit 101 selects a plurality of main contexts indicating the user status and notifies the field determination unit 105 and the recommended information determination unit 102 of the selection.

The field determination unit 105 that has received a plurality of main contexts accesses the field storage unit 106 for each main context, and determines field information corresponding to each main context.

The field determination unit 105 sends a plurality of combinations of main context and field information to the recommended information display control unit 104.

The recommended information determining unit 102 that has received a plurality of main contexts from the context determining unit 101 searches the recommended information storage unit 103 using each main context as a key, determines appropriate recommended information, Multiple sets of contexts and recommended information lists. The details of the recommended information determination method are as described in the apparatus configuration.

The context determination unit 101 sends the created main context and a plurality of sets of recommended information list to the recommended information display control unit 104.

The recommended information display control unit 104 creates a display screen based on the information received from the field determination unit 105 and the recommended information determination unit 102.

  First, the screen is divided into the number of received field information, and a background image included in the field information is set for each portion.

  Next, the recommended information list associated with the main context corresponding to the background image is determined, and the image of the recommended information included therein is arranged on the corresponding background image. A screen is generated by performing this for each screen portion.

An example of a screen created as a result is presented in FIG. According to the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 9, recommended information corresponding to the main context is presented on the background image corresponding to each main context.

<Fourth embodiment>
In this embodiment, in addition to the configuration of each of the above embodiments, the background image and the display image are linked.

  In the present embodiment, the field information includes not only background image information but also information indicating how recommended information is displayed. By this, it is possible to give a meaning depending on where the background is displayed by being displayed as the background.

  First, the difference between the data format held by the recommended information storage unit 103 and the data format held by the field information storage unit will be described.

Priority information is given to the data held in the recommended information storage unit 103 (FIG. 10). In the priority information, the recommended information is a numerical value indicating the degree of recommendation in the main context, and the more suitable information has a larger value. Details of the priority determination method are not described here. For example, it is set in advance by the information provider.

A layout information identifier is added to the data held in the field information storage means (FIG. 11). Furthermore, layout information is added as a new table, and layout information corresponding to the layout information identifier is stored (FIG. 12). The layout information is composed of a combination of priority and arrangement coordinates. Here, the layout information setting method will not be described in detail. For example, information preset by an information provider is distributed via a network.

The operation change according to the present embodiment is performed by the recommended information display control unit 104.

  The recommended information display control unit 104 creates display data to be presented to the user based on the data received from the field determination unit 105 and the recommended information determination unit 102 and displays the display data by the input / output unit 108.

In this embodiment, when creating display data, the layout identifier of field information corresponding to the main context for display is determined. Based on the determined layout identifier, the layout information database is searched to obtain the corresponding layout information.

The recommended information display control unit 104 sorts the recommended information received from the recommended information determination unit 102 based on the priority information, and ranks them in descending order.

The arrangement coordinates corresponding to the respective ranks are set from the layout information, and the recommended data is arranged at the position of the background image to generate display data.

FIG. 13 shows an example of a screen generated and displayed as a result. In this example, the coordinates of recommended information up to the fifth rank are set as layout information, and the recommended information is laid out according to the coordinates.

<Other embodiments>
A typical application example of the mode for carrying out the present invention is a function and information recommendation device on a mobile phone. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to recommendation of information in, for example, a car navigation system.

  The preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described above, but the present invention is not limited to this, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention.

  In addition to being executed in time series in accordance with the processing operations described in the above embodiment, the processing capability of the apparatus that executes the processing, or a configuration to execute in parallel or individually as necessary Is also possible.

  In addition, the system described in the above embodiment can be configured to have a logical set configuration of a plurality of devices or to mix the functions of each device.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 100 Information recommendation system 101 Context determination means 102 Recommended information determination means 103 Recommended information storage means 104 Recommended information display control means 105 Field determination means 106 Field storage means 107 Field selection means 108 Input / output means 200 Various information resources

Claims (7)

Context determination means for determining the current main context from the context that is a parameter representing the user's situation;
Recommended information determining means for determining recommended information according to the determined main context;
Field determining means for determining a background image according to the determined main context;
Recommended information display control means for controlling the recommended information to be displayed together with the background image;
An information recommendation device characterized by comprising: Field selection means for accepting selection of a background image by the user,
When the background image is selected by the field selection unit,
The context determining means determines the primary context based on the selected background image;
The information recommendation device according to claim 1, wherein the field determination unit determines the selected background image as a background image. If there are multiple primary contexts,
The field determining means determines the background image for each main context,
The information recommendation device according to claim 1, wherein the recommended information display control unit performs control to divide a display area for each background image and display the recommended information for each background image. . Along with the background image, it has field information storage means for storing layout information corresponding to the background image,
4. The information recommendation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the recommendation information display control unit controls the recommendation information to be located based on the layout information. An information recommendation server connected to a client terminal via a network,
Context determining means for determining a current main context from contexts that are parameters representing information of the user of the client terminal;
Recommended information determining means for determining recommended information according to the determined main context;
Field determining means for determining a background image according to the determined main context;
Recommended information display control means for controlling the recommended information to be displayed together with the background image by the output means of the client terminal;
An information recommendation server characterized by comprising: A context determination step for determining a current main context from contexts that are parameters representing a user's situation;
A recommended information determining step for determining recommended information according to the determined main context;
A field determining step of determining a background image according to the determined main context;
A recommended information display control step for controlling the recommended information to be displayed together with the background image;
An information recommendation method characterized by including: Computer
Context determination means for determining the current main context from the context that is a parameter representing the user's situation;
Recommended information determining means for determining recommended information according to the determined main context;
Field determining means for determining a background image according to the determined main context;
An information recommendation program that causes the recommendation information to function as a recommendation information display control unit that controls to display the recommendation information together with the background image.

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