JP2012003422A - Information processing apparatus and search condition presenting method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an apparatus for preferentially presenting content that matches the preference of a user, and a search condition presenting method.SOLUTION: The information processing apparatus includes: a content control unit that determines one or more contents that satisfies a search condition has been already stored or not, calculates a download progress rate related to the received search condition showing the ratio of the stored contents in the one or more contents, and determines whether the download progress rate is equal to or larger than a predetermined threshold; and a display control unit that receives a search condition with the download progress rate which is equal to or larger than the threshold from the content control unit, and provides a user with the received search condition and the content that satisfies the search condition.

Description

  The present invention generally relates to an information processing apparatus, and more particularly to an apparatus for downloading content searched from a server and a search condition presentation method.

  Recent developments in communication technology have expanded the opportunities for users to download various contents such as video and music from a server and use them in user devices. When a large amount of content can be downloaded from the server in this way, it is desirable that the user can easily search for content that matches his / her preference and select the content to be actually used from the detected content. To do.

  Some BD (Blu-ray Disc) recorders and DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) recorders that record and reproduce video content automatically record content based on conditions specified by the user. However, when such a conventional BD / DVD recorder system is applied to a portable playback device or a mobile phone terminal that has only a limited display area, it is necessary to devise a method for selecting and sorting recorded contents. It becomes difficult for the user to detect desired content.

JP 2009-152887 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-6100

  In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and a search condition presentation method that preferentially present content that matches user preferences.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, one feature of the present invention is to determine whether one or more contents that match the extracted search condition have been stored, and the ratio of the stored contents among the one or more contents that match A content control unit that calculates a download progress rate related to the received search condition indicating that the download progress rate is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold, and a search condition where the download progress rate is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold. The present invention relates to an apparatus having a display control unit that receives from a content control unit and provides the received search condition and content that matches the search condition to a user.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an apparatus and a search condition presentation method that preferentially present content that matches a user's preference.

FIG. 1 shows a content distribution system according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 shows a list of search conditions according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 shows a list of search conditions according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 shows a content list according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 shows a content list in which download statuses are added according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 shows a content list in which download statuses are added according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing search condition presentation processing according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  Referring to FIG. 1, a content distribution system according to an embodiment of the present invention is shown. FIG. 1 shows a configuration of a content distribution system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the content distribution system 100 includes a client 200, a content distribution server 300, and a network 400. The client 200 is communicatively connected to the content distribution server 300 via the network 400.

  The client 200 is typically an information processing device having a communication function such as a mobile phone terminal or a portable playback device, and is connected to the network 400 wirelessly or by wire. The client 200 is typically composed of one or more of various hardware resources such as an auxiliary storage device, a memory device, a CPU, a communication device, a display device, and an input device. The auxiliary storage device is composed of a hard disk, a flash memory, and the like, and stores programs and data for realizing various processes described later. The memory device is composed of a RAM (Random Access Memory) or the like, and reads and stores the program from the auxiliary storage device when an instruction to start the program is given. The CPU functions as a processor for processing information, and realizes various functions described later according to a program stored in the memory device. The communication device includes various communication circuits for wired and / or wireless connection with other devices via a network. The communication device further includes a communication interface for connecting to other devices such as a server on the network. The display device includes a display or the like, and displays content received from the content distribution server 300, a GUI (Graphical User Interface) by a program, and the like. The input device typically includes an operation button, a keyboard, a mouse, and the like, and is used by the user of the client 200 to input various operation commands. The client 200 is not limited to the hardware configuration described above, and has any other appropriate hardware configuration having a function for bidirectional communication with the content distribution server 300 via the network 400. Also good.

  The content distribution server 300 is typically composed of one or more of various hardware resources such as an auxiliary storage device, a memory device, a CPU, and a communication device. The auxiliary storage device is composed of a hard disk, a flash memory, and the like, and stores programs and data for realizing various processes described later. The memory device is composed of a RAM (Random Access Memory) or the like, and reads and stores the program from the auxiliary storage device when an instruction to start the program is given. The CPU functions as a processor for processing information, and realizes various functions described later according to a program stored in the memory device. The communication device includes various communication circuits for connecting to other devices via a network. The communication device typically includes a communication interface for connecting to various networks. The content distribution server 300 is not limited to the hardware configuration described above, and has any other appropriate hardware configuration having a function for bidirectional communication with the client 200 via the network 400. Also good.

  The network 400 may be a wireless network or a wired network, and connects the client 200 and the content distribution server 300 for communication. Typically, the network 400 is the Internet or the like.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the client 200 includes a search history storage unit 210, a search unit 215, a program guide storage unit 220, a content control unit 225, a downloaded (DL) content storage unit 230, and display control. Part 235 and display part 240.

  The search history storage unit 210 stores a search condition list which is a search history storage unit storage table as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the search condition list includes a content search condition that the user has used in the past, a search history count that is search history information related to the content search condition, and a viewing history count that is viewing history information. Stored in association with the derived score.

  Here, the content search condition is defined by, for example, the “type”, “time”, “genre”, “keyword”, and the like of the content desired by the user. “Type” is an item for designating whether the desired content is a moving image or a still image. “Time” is an item for designating the reproduction time when the desired content is a moving image, and an appropriate time such as “less than 30 minutes” or “60 minutes or more” is designated. “Genre” is a genre of desired content such as “movie”, “news”, and “sports video”. In the “keyword”, a keyword related to desired content is input. For example, the client 200 can set each content search condition by presenting a search condition input screen suitable for inputting these items to the user and causing these items to be input. However, each item of the search condition is not limited to the specific item described above, and any other appropriate item can be used.

  From the content search conditions input in this way, the search condition list shown in FIG. 2 is created as follows. That is, when the client 200 receives the content search condition from the user, the client 200 determines whether it is already registered in the data item “search condition” of the search condition list held by the received content search condition. Increments the value of the data item “number of searches” corresponding to the content search condition. On the other hand, when the received content search condition is not registered in the data item “search condition” of the search condition list held, the client 200 newly registers the content search condition in the search condition list, and The value of the data item “number of searches” corresponding to the content search condition is set to “1”.

  In addition, the client 200 searches for content according to the received content search condition, and presents the detected content to the user. When the user views the detected content, the client 200 increments the data item “view count” related to the content search condition in the search condition list.

  The value of “score”, which is a data item indicating the user's usage with respect to the content search condition, is calculated from the value of “number of searches” and the value of “view count” set in this way. In the example shown in FIG. 2, the sum of the “search count” value and the “view count” value of the content search condition is set as the “score” value.

  However, in another embodiment, the value of “number of searches” using the content search condition may be set as the value of “score”. Also, any appropriate “score” value may be determined in consideration of other factors such as time as shown in FIG. In the search condition list shown in FIG. 3, the score value is adjusted so that a more appropriate content search condition is extracted in consideration of past usage patterns of the client 200 by the user. This is because there is a possibility that the frequency with which the user activates the client 200 is typically different for each of several time zones in a day. For example, it is expected that the user has few opportunities to activate the client 200 during the bedtime. In addition, the user has few opportunities to activate the client 200 during the working hours, but the user may activate the client 200 with a relatively high frequency during the time periods before and after the working hours. Furthermore, the search conditions input for each time zone and the content to be viewed may be different. For example, it is possible that search conditions related to news and economy are frequently input when getting up, and that search conditions related to entertainment and hobbies are frequently input in the time zone after returning home. In consideration of such temporal factors, a search condition list as shown in FIG. 3 may be created. The illustrated search condition list includes data items “search count” and “view count” for each time slot, and records the search / viewing tendency by the user for each time slot. That is, for the data item “score”, any appropriate value indicating the usage of the content search condition by the user may be used. In addition, the search condition list is generated based on the search history information and viewing history information from a certain point in the past of the user. Instead of collecting history information, it may be generated using only the latest history information such as the latest one month from the present.

  The search unit 215 accesses the search history storage unit 210 in response to a predetermined trigger for presenting the search condition and the content detected by the search condition to the user, and the data item “score” is displayed from the search condition list. Determine the maximum search condition. In the search condition list shown in FIG. 2, the search condition 1 in which the data item “score” has the maximum value “27” is determined.

  Further, in the search condition list taking time into consideration as shown in FIG. 3, when presenting the search condition to the user, the search condition used for searching and viewing in the time zone of the time is preferentially selected. Thus, a high weight is given to the score of this time zone. For example, when the search condition is presented to the user at 8:10, the time zone score at 7-9 o'clock may be weighted twice, or the time zone score at 7-9 o'clock may be tripled In addition, the score of each time zone at 2-7 o'clock and 9-12 o'clock adjacent thereto may be weighted twice. In the search condition list shown in FIG. 3, by applying the latter weighting, a “time consideration score” that is a new weighted data item that takes time into account is calculated together with an unweighted “normal score”. ing. When the search condition is presented to the user at 8:10 based on this “time consideration score”, the search unit 215 determines a search condition that maximizes the “time consideration score”. In this way, it is possible to preferentially present content suitable for the time when the search condition is presented to the user, using the search / viewing tendency for each user's time zone.

  Thereafter, the search unit 215 accesses the program guide storage unit 220 and searches for content that matches the determined search condition. The program guide storage unit 220 has a list of program guides that can be distributed by the content distribution server 300 in advance. In the program guide storage unit storage table, which is a program guide list illustrated in FIG. 4, various data items such as “content name”, “content ID”, “metadata”, and “delivery date / time” for each content that can be delivered. Is defined. In the data items “content name” and “content ID”, the name and identifier of the content are specified, respectively. In the data item “metadata”, information such as the content of the content described by the content provider and the content playback time is typically defined, and search conditions that match the information are determined. In the data item “delivery date and time”, the date and time when the content can be delivered is designated. From such a program table list, the search unit 215 searches for content that matches the search condition ("search condition 1" in the example of FIG. 2) that maximizes the data item "score", and is shown in FIG. A content list as a search result is obtained. In the content list shown in FIG. 4, “content 2”, “content 3”, and “content 5” that match “search condition 1” are extracted. Thereafter, the search unit 215 transmits the generated content list to the content control unit 225.

  When the content control unit 225 receives the content list from the search unit 215, the content control unit 225 accesses the downloaded (DL) content storage unit 230, and content stored in the received content list is already stored (downloaded). Judge if there is. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, the downloaded content storage unit 230 has a downloaded content list in which content that has already been downloaded by the client 200 is recorded. The content control unit 225 refers to the downloaded content list and checks whether there is already downloaded content among the content listed in the content list received from the search unit 215. When downloaded content is detected, the data item “status” in the content list is set to “saved”. In the example shown in FIG. 5, all of “content 2”, “content 3”, and “content 5” described in the content list are described in the downloaded content list, and data items “3” of these three contents are displayed. All "Status" is set to "Saved".

  Further, after confirming the storage state of each content in the content list, the content control unit 225 updates the data item “progress” of “search condition 1”. The value of this data item “progress” is, for example, for each search condition, the number of downloaded contents (d) with respect to the total number (n) of contents described in the list of contents detected to match the search condition. It is a percentage. That is, the progress rate that is the value of the data item “progress” is calculated by “progress rate = d / n”. In the illustrated example, since all the three contents described in the contents list have been saved, the value of the data item “progress” is set to “1.0”. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 6, for “search condition 2”, only “content 1” has been downloaded among the detected three contents of “content 1”, “content 8” and “content 11”. Therefore, the value of the data item “progress” is “1/3”. For example, the data item “progress” in the content list may be set to “0.33” with the fractions rounded down. In another embodiment, the value of the data item “progress” may be set as a ratio of the data amount of the stored content to the data amount of the detected content.

  After confirming the download progress status described above, the content control unit 225 refers to the updated content list and determines whether to present the search condition to the user based on the download status of the search condition received from the search unit 215. . Specifically, the content control unit 225 determines whether the progress rate of the search condition is greater than or equal to a predetermined threshold value α (0 ≦ α ≦ 1), and if it is greater than or equal to the threshold value α (for example, “Search” in FIG. 5) Condition 1 "), it is determined that the search condition should be presented to the user. Thereafter, the content control unit 225 transmits a content list in which the search condition is described to the display control unit 235. On the other hand, when the progress rate of the search condition is less than the threshold value α (for example, “search condition 2” in FIG. 6), the content control unit 225 requests a new search condition from the search unit 215. Upon receiving this request, the search unit 215 determines a search condition having the next highest “score” value in the search condition list, accesses the program guide storage unit 220, and matches the search condition from the program guide list. The content is searched and a content list relating to the search condition is generated. Thereafter, the search unit 215 transmits the content list relating to the generated new search condition to the content control unit 225. Upon receiving a new content list from the search unit 215, the content control unit 225 accesses the downloaded content storage unit 230 in the same manner as the above-described processing, confirms the download status of each content described in the content list, The value of the data item “progress” in the content list is calculated. Then, the content control unit 225 compares the calculated progress rate with the threshold value α, and determines whether the search condition should be presented to the user.

  The threshold value α is preferably set to a value that can present a relatively large number of stored contents such as 0.8. However, when a large number of contents satisfying the search condition are detected, the total number (n) of contents used for calculating the progress rate may be increased, and the progress rate may be decreased. If the threshold value α is set to a large value, It may be difficult to detect a search condition that is equal to or greater than the threshold value α. For this reason, in order to avoid an increase in the value of n, for example, a predetermined number (such as 10) of contents that match the search condition is extracted (that is, n = 10), and these 10 contents are extracted. The progress rate may be calculated based on the download status. If the search condition that exceeds the threshold value α cannot be detected even if the content is limited to a predetermined number in this way, the above-described repetitive processing becomes an infinite loop. In order to avoid this, when a search condition that is equal to or greater than the threshold value α cannot be detected, the processing is interrupted, and the content control unit 225 resets the threshold value α to a lower value, and for each search condition. You may make it contrast a download progress rate with a new threshold value. Alternatively, the content control unit 225 may notify the display control unit 235 that a suitable search condition has not been detected, and the display control unit 235 may present the previously displayed search condition to the user.

  When receiving the search condition determined to be presented to the user from the content control unit 225, the display control unit 235 determines whether the received search condition has reached a predetermined number (for example, 3). If the predetermined number of search conditions have not been received, the display control unit 235 requests a new search condition from the content control unit 225, and the content control unit 225 repeats the above-described processing to search for a search condition to be presented to the user. And the detected search condition is transmitted to the display control unit 235. On the other hand, when the received search condition reaches a predetermined number, the display control unit 235 transmits the predetermined number of search conditions and contents matching the search condition to the display unit 240, and displays a content list on the display of the client 200 or the like. To the user.

  The predetermined number may be determined in consideration of the display area of the display of the client 200, the storage area of the storage means, and the like. For example, when the display area of the display is large or when the storage area of the storage means is large, a larger number may be set so that more search conditions and contents can be presented to the user.

  With reference to this content list, the user can select desired content. When the content selected by the user has been downloaded, the client 200 provides the user with the content stored in the downloaded content storage unit 230. On the other hand, when the content selected by the user has not been downloaded, the client 200 downloads the content from the content distribution server 300. The user can also select a search condition for the displayed content list. In this case, since the client 200 already holds the search result related to the search condition, the held search result can be quickly provided to the user without performing the search again.

  With reference to FIG. 7, a description will be given of client search condition presentation processing according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a client search condition presentation process according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 7, in step S101, the search unit 215 accesses the search history storage unit 210 and refers to the search condition list to determine a search condition that maximizes the value of the data item “score”.

  In step S103, the search unit 215 accesses the program guide storage unit 220, searches for content that matches the determined search condition, and transmits the detected content to the content control unit 225 as a content list together with the search condition. .

  In step S105, the content control unit 225 accesses the downloaded content storage unit 230, determines whether each content described in the received content list has been downloaded, and determines the download status of the content related to the received search condition. . Specifically, the content control unit 225 determines a progress rate indicating the content download status according to the search condition.

  In step S107, the content control unit 225 determines whether the determined progress rate is equal to or greater than the threshold value α. If the determined progress rate is equal to or greater than the threshold value α (S107: Y), the content control unit 225 determines that the search condition should be presented to the user. In step S109, this is transmitted to the display control unit 235. On the other hand, when the determined progress rate is less than the threshold value α (S107: N), the content control unit 225 requests the search unit 215 for a new search condition. In this case, in step S101, the search unit 215 refers to the search condition list and determines a search condition with the next highest “score” value, that is, determines a search condition in descending order of the “score” value. The above steps are repeated.

  In step S111, the display control unit 235 determines whether the search condition received from the content control unit 225 has reached a predetermined number. When the predetermined number is reached (S111: Y), the display control unit 235 instructs the display unit 240 to present the predetermined number of received search conditions and the content matching these to the user. On the other hand, when the search condition received from the content control unit 225 has not reached the predetermined number (S111: N), the process returns to step S101 and repeats the above steps.

  As described above, according to the above-described embodiment, the client 200 can determine a search condition that is estimated to have high usage needs from the search history and viewing history of the user used in the past, and present it together with the downloaded content. This makes it possible to simplify the time and effort required for the user to discover and view content that suits his / her preference.

  As mentioned above, although the Example of this invention was explained in full detail, this invention is not limited to the specific embodiment mentioned above, In the range of the summary of this invention described in the claim, various deformation | transformation・ Change is possible.

100 content distribution system 200 client 300 content distribution server 400 network

Claims (4)

It is determined whether one or more contents that match the extracted search condition have been saved, and a download progress rate relating to the received search condition that indicates a ratio of the saved content among the one or more contents that match is calculated. A content control unit that determines whether the download progress rate is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold;
A display control unit that receives a search condition in which the download progress rate is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold from the content control unit, and provides the user with the received search condition and content that matches the search condition;
Having a device. A search history storage unit that stores search condition information that is derived based on the user's content search history and content viewing history, and that stores each search condition input from the user and the usage of the search condition;
A search unit that provides the content control unit with the search condition and content that matches the search condition in descending order of the usage from the search condition information stored in the search history storage unit;
The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:   The display control unit requests the content control unit to provide further search conditions and content that matches the search conditions until a predetermined number of search conditions are received from the content control unit. The device described. Determining whether one or more contents matching the extracted search condition have been saved;
Calculating a download progress rate related to the received search condition indicating a ratio of the saved content among the one or more matching contents, and determining whether the download progress rate is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold;
Receiving a search condition in which the download progress rate is equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold, and providing the received search condition and content that matches the search condition to a user;
A search condition presenting method executed by a device capable of communicating with a server having.

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