JP2014123826A - Information notification system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform a notification act at appropriate timing while saving resources, when having identified information to be transmitted to a user.SOLUTION: An information processing system is operated in a configuration comprising: a notification information processing unit which identifies information to be transmitted to a user and makes the information be capable of being stored, and calculates a first index showing a degree of significance based on a content of the information; an action information processing unit which identifies information on an action and situation of the user and makes the information be capable of being stored, and calculates a second index showing a degree of acceptance based on a content of the information; a notification control unit which performs processing of calculating a third index accompanied by a timing addition element for determining timing of executing notification on the basis of the first and second indices, and controls a notification act by determining notification timing on the basis of the third index; and a notification degree prediction unit which performs processing of estimating a value at timing addition timing in the future on the basis of a degree of timing addition of the calculated third index and gives the value to the notification control unit, and reduces resources required for calculating the first index and/or the second index.

Description

  The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus that adjusts the timing to notify a user of the information when the information processing apparatus recognizes the presence or absence of information for the user, and more specifically, information processing that allows the user to efficiently perceive the notification. Relates to the device.

In recent years, with the spread of information devices connected to communication networks such as mobile phones, smartphones, and digital televisions, it is becoming possible to contact other people and obtain various information from the Internet anytime and anywhere.
For example, news is checked via a smartphone, or communication is attempted by telephone, e-mail, SMS (short message service), or the like. In addition, sharing of schedule information among acquaintances, SNS (social network service), and exchange of messages through games can be easily performed via a communication service. Many devices are also equipped with alarms using the schedule function.

  On the other hand, from the user's point of view, there is a current situation in which it is bothersome to always pay attention to information (requested information or notified information) notified from the information processing system or terminal. In addition, the flood of information has increased the chances of missing information that requires immediateness or important information.

  Many information processing apparatuses have a notification control unit that performs control so that notification is immediately executed when information to be notified is received. In addition, depending on the type of device, the notification control unit has a reminder function and an alarm function, and operates so as to perform re-notification after a predetermined time has elapsed.

  In addition, for example, in a mobile phone, when receiving information to be notified, a notification is made immediately, and a method for recognizing the information that has been missed as soon as possible by a user, such as light, sound, vibration (vibration). There is also a control method that repeats the notification later using the function). However, in the method of repeating the notification at regular intervals, since the notification is repeated even in a situation where the user is difficult to notice the notification, there is a high possibility that a useless notification is multiplied. As a result, problems such as expediting battery consumption and applying extra stress to the user and the surroundings arise. As a specific example of such a situation, for example, notification of a mobile phone when not carrying, driving, or riding a train can be considered. For example, even if the user is aware of the notification, notification in a situation where it is difficult to operate a terminal such as a mobile phone is also a great stress.

  Such a problem is described in Patent Document 1, for example. In Patent Document 1, when saving power of a mobile phone terminal, a notification interval for re-notifying a user of a missed call with sound and vibration is controlled based on a user operation history and a state change of the terminal. Patent Document 2 also describes a similar technique.

  Further, Patent Document 3 is an example of a system that notifies the user of the existence of information that should be obtained by estimating the timing at which the user can easily recognize information during operation. The system described in Patent Literature 3 estimates the internal state of the user from the user's terminal operation state, terminal operation state, task state, etc., calculates the effectiveness of notification based on the estimated internal state, and calculates the calculated effect To determine the information notification timing.

  Patent Document 4 discloses a method for obtaining behavior information favorably with a general-purpose portable terminal based on the inventor's knowledge. In this method, based on the output of an acceleration sensor that is mounted on a mobile terminal or the like for general purposes, highly accurate behavior information such as walking / running, going up / down stairs, as well as stationary / moving a user. Can be obtained.

JP 2010-130649 A JP 2006-094421 A JP 2006-163911 A JP 2011-206274 A

  As described above, when the information processing apparatus that has been identified identifies information to be notified to the user, the information processing apparatus performs an operation process that immediately executes the notification. In addition, there is an information processing apparatus that operates to perform re-notification after a predetermined time elapses, such as an alarm or a reminder. There is also an information processing apparatus using a battery as a power source, such as a mobile phone or a smartphone. There is also an information processing system that adjusts the notification timing of information to be notified in consideration of user operations.

  As a general method of acquiring user behavior and situation information through a mobile phone or a smartphone, user operation information is acquired using an internal or external acceleration sensor, or position information is acquired using GPS. There are methods. Many information processing devices consume a lot of power for processing to collect data by operating various sensors as described above, and processing to estimate the user's behavior and situation by analyzing the obtained data. There is a current situation. There is also application software for information processing devices that has become a large proportion of functions that require power for communication and sensing. In addition, there are information processing apparatuses and application software that have a large amount of arithmetic processing to process information obtained by sensing as required.

Based on these matters, when information processing devices identify information that should be notified to the user, they can be easily used in many devices for providing processing operations that determine the notification timing for executing the notification action. It is necessary to find a mechanism that can do this.
At this time, a better notification timing for saving power is obtained in consideration of various limiting factors of the information processing apparatus as in the conventional method such as Patent Document 1.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a general-purpose and highly convenient notification system that saves resources by executing a notification at a better notification timing when identifying information to be notified to a user, An object of the present invention is to provide an information processing system provided with the notification system.

  The notification system according to the present invention identifies the information to be notified to the user and can store it as notification information. The notification system according to the present invention indicates the degree of importance for obtaining the notification timing to the user based on the stored notification information. A notification information processing unit for obtaining an index of 1 and information regarding the user's behavior and situation can be identified and stored as behavior information, and the degree of acceptance for obtaining timing to notify the user based on the identified behavior information A behavior information processing unit for obtaining a second index indicating the timing, and a time measurement for determining a timing for performing notification to the user based on the first index and the second index respectively obtained. Calculation processing of the third index accompanied by the addition element and control of the notification action by determining the notification timing based on the calculated third index Based on the timing control addition degree of the intelligent control unit and the calculated third index, a value at a future timing addition timing of the third index is estimated and given to the notification control unit, and the notification information processing And / or a notification degree prediction unit that reduces resources required for calculation of the first index and / or the second index calculated by the behavior information processing unit until the future timing addition timing, To do.

  An information processing apparatus according to the present invention is capable of identifying information to be notified to a user and storing the information as notification information, and a notification information processing unit that calculates importance to be notified to the user based on the stored notification information; The behavior information processing unit for identifying information relating to the user's behavior and situation and storing the information as behavior information, and calculating the acceptance level to be notified to the user based on the identified behavior information, Based on the importance level and the acceptance level, the notification level with a timing addition element for determining the timing for executing the notification to the user is calculated, and the notification timing is determined based on the calculated notification level. The degree of importance of the notification degree in the future timing addition based on the notification addition unit that controls the notification action and the calculated addition degree of the notification degree And / or the notification value and the notification value are estimated and notified to the notification control unit, and an instruction to reduce the calculation of the importance and / or the reception level to the future timing addition timing is the notification information. It is characterized by including the notification degree prediction part which notifies a process part and / or the said behavior information processing part.

  An information notification method according to the present invention is a method for notifying a user of information performed in an information processing system, and enables information to be notified to a user to be identified and stored as notification information, and based on the stored notification information. A notification information processing step for obtaining a first index indicating the degree of importance for obtaining the timing for notifying the user, information relating to the user's behavior and situation can be identified and stored as behavior information, and identified. Based on the behavior information, the behavior information processing step for obtaining the second index indicating the degree of acceptance in order to determine the timing to notify the user, and the first index and the second index respectively obtained. The third index with a time addition element for determining the timing for executing notification to the user is calculated and calculated. A notification control step of controlling the notification action by determining the notification timing based on the index of 3, and a value at a future timing addition timing of the third index based on the calculated timing addition degree of the third index In addition to performing estimation processing and giving the notification control unit, the resource required for calculation of the first index and / or the second index calculated by the notification information processing unit and / or the behavior information processing unit is set to the future timing addition timing. And a notification degree predicting step for reducing the notification level.

  Adopting such a configuration, comprehensively estimating whether it is easy for users to receive information, whether the information is important, whether it is urgent, etc. By performing control while saving resources, the object of the present invention can be achieved.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, when the information which should be notified to a user is identified, the notification system which has a general-purpose highly convenient mechanism in which the resource saving was performed which aimed at a better notification timing and performed notification, information A notification device and an information notification method can be provided.

  As a result, according to the present invention, the user can be notified of the information to be obtained at a time when the user can easily notice the notification, and can be aware of the notification even when the notification is not recognized, with less power consumption and a calculation amount. Re-notification can be received at an easy timing.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of 1st Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the example of the notification information which the notification information processing part 1 memorize | stored. It is explanatory drawing showing the example of a response | compatibility with the kind of notification information, and the 1st parameter | index which shows the information degree and urgency level to a user. It is explanatory drawing showing the example of a response | compatibility with the 2nd parameter | index which shows the kind of action information, and a user's action and a condition. It is explanatory drawing showing the example of a response | compatibility with how to switch the information of action and the situation, and acceptance. It is explanatory drawing showing the example of the correction coefficient of a notification degree according to the combination of the kind of notification information, and action information. It is explanatory drawing which showed an example of the mode of the notification degree which increases with progress of time. It is explanatory drawing showing the example of the correspondence of a suitable notification means to the user in action information and the action and the condition. It is explanatory drawing showing the correspondence table which showed the average duration for every action and condition collected and accumulated. It is explanatory drawing which showed an example of the mode of the notification degree which increases with progress of time. It is a flowchart which shows the specific processing operation of 1st Embodiment. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of 2nd Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows the timing which notification information generate | occur | produced in the process which adds notification degree with progress of time, and the timing when notification information was acquired. It is a flowchart which shows the processing operation of 2nd Embodiment.

Next, a first embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the first embodiment. Referring to FIG. 1, the information processing apparatus according to the first embodiment includes a notification information processing unit 1, a behavior information processing unit 2, a notification control unit 3, and a notification degree prediction unit 4.

In the following description, as a physical configuration of the information processing apparatus in which the notification system according to the present invention is introduced, a case of a general-purpose mobile phone owned by a user will be described as an example. Specifically, a description will be given of a mechanism in which the user has a mobile phone and notifies the mobile phone of an incoming call or mail reception.
In this example, the mobile phone acquires a plurality of pieces of notification information that is information that the user should obtain (= information that the mobile phone should notify the user) such as incoming call information. Similarly, the mobile phone acquires information regarding the behavior / situation of the user who is the owner as behavior information. Using the notification information and behavior information obtained in this way, the mobile phone measures the notification degree, which is an index for determining whether or not to actually perform the operation of notifying the information to be notified, while considering power saving. And the timing for actually notifying the user is determined based on the notification degree value. In addition, the mobile phone operates to take an appropriate notification method when notifying at the determined timing.

First, the notification information processing unit 1 appropriately acquires information to be notified to the user. The information to be notified includes, for example, a message from an acquaintance through an SNS or a game, in addition to receiving a call or mail. The information to be notified may include a schedule registered in the schedule, a news topic of interest, and the like. As the information to be notified, a lot of commonly used information that is made available to the user in the information processing system is used.
The operation of acquiring various information to be notified is, for example, a method of acquiring the information notified from an external network, such as an incoming call or mail reception, or once an hour, such as news information, A method is conceivable in which desired information is periodically acquired at predetermined time intervals. Further, information to be notified by an application program such as a calendar function or an alarm function of a mobile phone may be notified to the mechanism according to the present invention. These pieces of information identified by the mobile phone are hereinafter referred to as “notification information”.

  Next, the notification information processing unit 1 stores various types of identified notification information. An example of the stored various notification information is shown in FIG. The notification information processing unit 1 stores the type of notification information, the content of the notification information, and related information as a set, as in the example illustrated in FIG. In order to distinguish the same type of information, ID information and index information may be added to each piece of notification information. The contents of notification information and related information differ depending on the type of notification information. For example, the contents and related information of the notification information in the case of an incoming call may include the incoming time and the telephone number of the caller. In addition, for example, if the notification information is mail reception, the content / related information may include the time of mail reception and the sender mail address. In addition, the body of the mail, the presence / absence of an attached file, a message to the answering machine, and the like may be included. The notification information processing unit 1 accumulates the stored notification information, and stores and holds it until the user confirms it.

Furthermore, the notification information processing unit 1 refers to the stored notification information, and calculates the importance as an index for obtaining the timing for notifying the user based on the content of the stored notification information. This importance is an index representing the importance or urgency of the notification information, and the greater the value, the more urgent or important it is.
The notification information processing unit 1 executes importance calculation processing according to the type and amount of notification information at a predetermined time interval such as 30 seconds or once per minute. In addition, as the degree of importance to be output in the calculation process, there can be a method in which a larger value is associated with a type of notification information generally considered to be more urgent or important. As a specific method, for example, as shown in FIG. 3, a correspondence table between types of notification information and importance levels is prepared and held in advance, and a value determined according to the type of notification information acquired is adopted. There is a way.

  In the following description, a method for calculating the importance for each identification of the notification information will be described. For example, when the notification information processing unit 1 identifies a total of three pieces of incoming information and two pieces of mail information as the notification information, the importance of the incoming information and the importance of the mail information are obtained when the notification information is acquired. Calculate each. The notification information processing unit 1 gives the calculated three importance values to the notification control unit 3.

  When there are a plurality of pieces of notification information, a method of giving each of the plurality of importance calculated for each identification of the notification information to the notification control unit 3 and a sum of the calculated plurality of importances for a predetermined period are made into one value. There is a method of giving the collected values to the notification control unit 3. Hereinafter, description will be made using a method in which multiple importance levels are made different. For example, when one piece of incoming information and two pieces of mail information are received as notification information, the notification information processing unit 1 calculates importance each time and gives a total of three to the notification control unit 3 separately. If the correspondence table shown in FIG. 3 is used as an example, the importance is calculated as a total of 9 points of 5 incoming points and 2 points for each mail, and is then given to the notification control unit 3.

In the above example, the method of calculating a predetermined value according to the type of notification information has been described, but the method of calculating the importance is not limited to this. For example, a method is conceivable in which the user himself / herself sets the importance according to the type of notification information. Specifically, the user himself / herself may set that the importance of incoming calls and mails is high, and the importance of others is low. In addition to the classification according to the type of notification information such as incoming calls and emails, various conditions related to the notification information such as incoming calls from specific parties and emails received at specific times are also included. Use to set the importance in more detail. These settings can be converted into correction coefficients as setting parameters. In addition, a method in which the notification information transmission side sets the importance in the notification information instead of the user himself / herself is conceivable. Specifically, for example, taking a telephone as an example, a mechanism is provided for making a call by setting an importance level before the caller makes a call. In addition to the telephone number, a method of obtaining importance information is conceivable. These settings may be used as correction coefficients as setting parameters. For this reason, the importance set by the partner can be used appropriately on the own terminal side without adopting the importance set by the partner as it is.
Further, a method of automatically setting the importance by analyzing the content of the notification information is conceivable. Specifically, the notification information processing unit 1 has a language analysis function, and analyzes “mail” or voice message as notification information, and “emergency”, “important”, “ For example, the number of keywords that are strongly related to the importance level such as “Immediately” is counted, and a sentence with a large number of appearances may be given high importance as notification information with high importance. These settings can also be converted into correction coefficients as setting parameters.

  In parallel with the process related to the calculation of the importance of the notification information processing unit 1, the behavior information processing unit 2 identifies information related to the user's behavior and situation and stores the behavior information. As specific information regarding the behavior and situation, for example, the user's actions such as “walking” and “running” and the user situation such as “getting on a train” and “getting on a car” may be identified. Such information can be collected by using various sensors generally mounted on a mobile phone or the like. Further, as described in Patent Document 4, a method of increasing accuracy through a network may be used. The behavior information processing unit 2 stores and holds, as behavior information, user behaviors and situations identified at time intervals such as once every 10 seconds, for example.

Next, the behavior information processing unit 2 is an index indicating whether or not the user is likely to notice the notification based on the retained behavior information based on the user's behavior and situation and how the behavior and situation change. The degree is calculated and the calculated acceptance degree is given to the notification control unit 3. The larger the value of the acceptability, the more easily the user notices the notification and the easier it is to notice and deal with the notice.
For the degree of acceptance, the behavior information processing unit 2 accumulates behavior information for a predetermined time such as one minute, and the type of behavior or situation that is most frequent during the one minute. The user's action / situation is calculated as contents and values corresponding to the one minute. For the degree of acceptance, a method of giving a larger value to an action or situation that is generally considered to be easily noticed by the user can be considered. As a specific method for calculating the acceptance level, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, a correspondence table of behavior / situation types and acceptance levels is prepared in advance, and determined according to the type of acquired behavior information. A method of extracting the value can be considered. If the example shown in FIG. 4 is used, considering the case where the action for one minute is “walking”, the value of the acceptability for one minute is “10”.
In addition, the acceptability to be calculated is not limited to the type of behaviour / situation, but may be a method of dealing with the change of behaviour / situation. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, it is assumed that a user is likely to notice a notification immediately after the action / situation is switched, and each action / situation is changed once per action / situation change per minute. In contrast, the acceptability of a large value (“+50” in the figure) may be added.

Furthermore, as in the example described above, instead of adding a large value of acceptability for any change in behavior / situation, the more the user changes from a behavior / situation that is difficult to notice to a behavior / situation that is easy to notice, A method of adding the acceptability of a large value is more desirable. Specifically, for example, as shown in FIG. 5, there is a method of preparing a correspondence table of acceptability in advance for all combinations of switching based on the order of switching of actions / situations. Referring to FIG. 5, when the user's action is switched from “stop” to “walking”, it is considered difficult to notice the information notification. When it is switched to “stop”, it is considered that the information notification is likely to be noticed, so the acceptability is set to a large value.
In addition to the above example, for example, a plurality of correspondence tables such as FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 are prepared according to the lifestyle of the user. For example, correspondence tables used from 7 am to 6 pm on weekdays, weekdays The correspondence table used at night and the correspondence table to be used may be switched and used. These settings can be converted into correction coefficients as setting parameters.

  First, the notification control unit 3 uses the importance and acceptance values obtained from the notification information processing unit 1 and the behavior information processing unit 2 to calculate a notification level for timing the notification action to the user. Remember. Moreover, the notification control part 3 determines a notification timing based on the notification degree accompanied by the time addition element, and controls a notification action.

The notification degree is an index for measuring whether the timing to be notified to the user is good or bad. The larger the value is, the easier it is to notify the user. As a mathematical formula for calculating the notification level, for example, a method of adding the product of the acceptance level and the importance level in time can be considered. Expressing this in a formula, the importance of I _t at a certain point in time, the acceptance of A _t, when the notification of the _{N t, N t = (I} t0 × A t0) + (I t1 × A t1) + ( I _t2 × A _t2 ) +… = Σ (I _t × A _t ). As an example, when the importance of the notification information obtained from the notification information processing unit 1 is “5” and the acceptance degree obtained from the behavior information processing unit 2 is “10”, the notification control unit 3 calculates. The notification level for a while is “5 × 10 = 50”. The process of calculating the notification degree is executed at a predetermined time interval such as once every minute, and the value is sequentially added from the initial value “0”. In the above-described example, the importance level, the acceptance level, and the notification level are exemplified for each minute, but the time interval for calculating these values is not limited to this. Also, the time interval and timing for calculating each value may be set to different values. For example, different values may be used when the power supply is connected (during charging) and when carried. Different values may be used for each remaining battery capacity and estimated remaining drive time. In this case, the notification control unit 3 calculates the notification level using the latest importance level and the latest acceptance level when the notification level calculation process is executed.

  In the method described above, the importance level is calculated from the notification information, and the notification level is calculated from the importance level and the acceptance level. Thus, only the calculated value is given to the next step. The method for calculating the notification degree is not limited to this. For example, after the notification information processing unit 1 calculates the importance, the notification control unit 3 does not give only the importance to the notification control unit 3, but sets the calculated importance and the original notification information itself as a set. A method of giving to The same is true for acceptance.

As described above, when the notification control unit 3 obtains a combination of notification information and importance and a combination of behavior information and acceptance, according to the combination of the type of notification information and the behavior information, as shown in FIG. A method of preparing a correction coefficient for the notified degree in advance is conceivable. In other words, after the notification control unit 3 calculates the degree of notification for a while, the notification control unit 3 corrects it using a correction coefficient based on the type of notification information and the type of action / situation. That is, if the correction coefficient is expressed as a mathematical expression, C can be expressed as N _t = Σ {C (I _t × A _t )}. A method is conceivable in which values corrected using the correction coefficient are added and the subsequent processing is performed.

In addition, when there are multiple pieces of notification information, a method for calculating the notification level separately for each of the plurality of importance levels corresponding to each piece of notification information, or a value obtained by multiplying the correction coefficient as in the above example, is added. A way to do this is conceivable. For example, when this method is expressed by a mathematical expression, when Iα, Iβ, Nα, and Nβ are considered for the notification information α and the notification information β, N _t = Σ {C (Iα _t × Aα _t )} + Σ {C ( A method of writing such as Iβ _t × Aβ _t )} = ΣΣ {C (I _t × A _t )} or Nα _t = Σ {Cα (Iα _t × A _t )} is conceivable.
Since the information processing apparatus generally supports a plurality of pieces of information to be notified (notification information), the notification degree corresponding to the plurality of pieces of notification information is adopted in this way, It is desirable to use as a set. It is also useful to perform calculation using correction coefficients adapted to each of the remaining battery capacity and estimated remaining drive time when the power supply is connected, when the battery is carried. Also in this case, a correction coefficient may be adopted for each combination of the type of notification information and action information.

  In addition, a method may be considered in which the notification control unit 3 adds values calculated for different pieces of notification information, and uses the added notification degree value in subsequent processing in the notification control unit 3.

A state of adding the notification degree with the passage of time will be described with reference to an example of FIG. FIG. 7 shows the value of the notification level to be followed when the user's mobile phone receives an incoming call at time t ₀ and the user does not notice this. At this time, it is assumed that “stopped” at time t ₀ . Moreover, the correspondence table of FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 is used. Note that the notification information at time t ₀ is shown in FIG.
If the notification control unit 3 is configured to calculate and add the notification degree once per minute, the importance level for every minute from the time t ₀ is “5”, and the acceptance level for every minute is “20”. . At this time, when the method of obtaining the notification level by the product of the importance level and the acceptance level is used, the value of the notification level per minute calculated by the notification control unit 3 is “100”. The notification control unit 3 executes a process of adding the notification degree for a predetermined time such as 3 minutes. As a result, in the example illustrated in FIG. 7, the sequentially added notification degree at time t ₀ +3 minutes is “100 + 100 + 100 = 300”. The sequentially added notification degree at time t ₀ +1 minute is “100”, and the sequentially added notification degree at time t ₀ +2 minutes is “100 + 100 = 200”.

  Further, since there are a plurality of pieces of notification information, a method of adding a plurality of different pieces of notification information individually with the passage of time can be considered as long as the notification degree calculated for each piece of notification information is used. At this time, it is desirable that the notification control unit 3 handles the notification information stored in the notification information processing unit 1 and the calculated notification degree as a set. When the notification control unit 3 handles the notification information and the notification degree as a pair, for example, using the example of the notification information shown in FIG. 2B, the user keeps walking for 3 minutes with one incoming information and one mail information. In this case, the value obtained by adding the notification degree associated with “incoming call” for 3 minutes is “5 × 10 × 3 = 150”. Similarly, the value associated with “mail” is “2 × 10 × 3 = 60”. The notification control unit 3 holds the values of “150” and “60”, which are values of the respective notification degrees, and uses them for the determination to perform the subsequent notification action.

Next, the notification control unit 3 determines the notification timing based on the notification degree obtained by the above timed addition and controls the notification action. As a method for determining whether or not notification is possible, for example, a method in which the notification control unit 3 compares the magnitude relationship between a preset threshold value and the added notification degree value is conceivable. Referring to FIG. 7 as an example, since the added notification degree does not exceed “1000” until the time t ₀ +3 minutes when the notification information is generated, the notification action is not performed at the time t ₀ +3 minutes. .

Next, the notification degree prediction unit 4 sequentially obtains notification degrees from the notification control unit 3 and stores them for a certain period of time, and determines a notification degree (predicted notification degree) at a future timing addition timing based on the stored notification degree. To do. This predicted notification degree can be said to be a notification degree obtained by estimating the importance and acceptance values at the future timing addition timing of the notification degree.
Referring to FIG. 7 as an example, the change in the added notification degree from time t ₀ to time t ₀ +3 minutes (the slope of the graph shown in FIG. 7: the time addition degree) is a value of “+100” per minute. It becomes. This value “+100” is calculated as the predicted notification degree after time t ₀ +3 minutes. At the same time, the notification degree prediction unit 4 gives an instruction to the behavior information processing unit 2 to reduce the calculation of the acceptance level until the future timing addition timing so as to reduce the power consumption of the behavior information processing unit 2. The behavior information processing unit 2 that has received the stop instruction stops the process for obtaining the acceptance level until time t ₀ +10 minutes. At this time, it is possible to stop sensing and information processing that have been performed in order to obtain the acceptance level, thereby saving power. Assuming that there is no change in the notification information and the behavior information, the notification degree prediction unit 4 operates so as to give a prediction notification degree to the notification control unit 3 every predetermined time thereafter.
In this prediction estimation process, a future value of importance and acceptance at the timing addition timing of the notification degree is estimated by calculation, and a temporary notification degree (predictive notification degree) determined from the value is given to the notification control unit 3. That expressed by the formula, prediction notification of N _t, the notification of the change in the time to start of stop action information processing unit 2 to t _0, t ₀ (the timing summing degree) When R, N _t = N _t0 + {R × (t − t ₀ )}

Furthermore, as described in the description of the process of adding the notification level with time, when the notification control unit 3 uses a plurality of notification level and notification information sets, the notification level prediction unit 4 has a plurality of notification levels. It is desirable to provide a mechanism for obtaining a set of notification information and action information. In this case, a method of separately predicting the timing addition degree for each notification degree and giving the prediction notification degree separately to the notification control unit 3, a method of giving the sum of a plurality of added prediction notification degrees, A method is also conceivable in which a determination is made using a larger value of the multiple predicted notification degrees or an average value of the multiple notification degrees is used.
Furthermore, a method is also conceivable in which notification determination is performed individually for each of a plurality of notification degrees, and a notification action is performed when any result exceeds a determination threshold. In this case, it is good also as a mechanism which initializes the value of the notification degree added so far only for the group which exceeded the notification degree threshold value.

  In addition, when the notification information changes during the power saving of the behavior information processing unit 2 (during stop based on notification: during the time of adding every minute based on the predicted notification degree), the notification control unit 3 The prediction notification degree obtained from the notification degree prediction unit 4 may be corrected. For example, when the notification information processing unit 1 newly acquires notification information, a method of correcting the predicted notification degree using the importance ratio before and after the change in the notification information as a correction coefficient is considered. Specifically, when the addition of the predicted notification degree is started, the notification information is only an incoming call, whereas the mail is added to the notification information after the addition of the predicted notification degree is started (FIG. 2A). As shown in the correspondence table of FIG. 3, the urgency level for only incoming calls is “5”, whereas when mail is added, as shown in the correspondence table of FIG. + 2 = 7 ”. Therefore, after the mail is added to the notification information, a change in the notification information can be reflected in the prediction notification degree by calculation by multiplying the prediction notification degree by “7/5” which is a ratio of the importance.

  In addition, to save resources, we set correction factors that are adapted to each, such as when the power is connected and when it is carried, every remaining battery capacity, every remaining drive estimation time, etc. It is also useful to optimize the degree calculation interval. Also in this case, a correction coefficient may be adopted for each combination of the type of notification information and action information.

The notification control unit 3 controls the notification action by determining the notification timing using the value of the result of time addition performed using the predicted notification level predicted by the notification level prediction unit 4.
Taking FIG. 7 as an example, a threshold is set in advance as a notification level threshold so that a notification is executed when the added notification level value exceeds “1000”. The notification level prediction unit 4 gives a value of “+100” per minute to the notification control unit 3 according to the predicted notification level, and the notification control unit 3 adds the received value. As a result, the added notification degree exceeds the notification degree threshold value “1000” at time t ₀ +10 minutes, which is 7 minutes after time t ₀ +3 minutes. For this reason, the notification control unit 3 executes the notification at time t ₀ +10 minutes because the added prediction notification level exceeds the set threshold value. At the same time, the notification level value added so far is initialized.

  The notification control unit 3 notifies the user through means such as light, sound, and vibration as a result of the determination process. The selection of the notification means, such as whether to use sound or vibration, may be performed using the setting of the information processing apparatus by the user. For example, when the mobile phone is set to not emit sound such as the manner mode, a notification action is performed using vibration in accordance with the manner mode setting. In addition, a method of selecting a notification unit based on user behavior information at the time when the notification is executed is also conceivable. When selecting the notification means based on the user's behavior / situation, the notification control unit 3 obtains behavior information from the behavior information processing unit 2. In this case, a method of preparing a correspondence table of notification means corresponding to user behavior information as shown in the example of FIG. 8 and selecting the notification means by referring to the correspondence table at the time of notification execution may be considered. It is done. If the action / situation is “stop”, only vibration, if it is “walking” (because it is difficult to notice by vibration alone), use sound and vibration together. If it is “train” or “car”, it will be sound. The notification action is not executed (because it may be annoying to the surroundings), and the notification by vibration is executed according to the setting.

Furthermore, as another method of selecting the notification means, a method of selecting the notification means according to the value of the added notification degree value and executing the notification action may be considered. For example, the difference between the added notification degree value and the threshold value used for notification determination is taken, and if the difference value is smaller than a certain value, the notification is executed using only vibration, and if the difference value is larger than the certain value, the vibration is detected. A method of performing notification using sound together can be considered. In this way, when a notification action is executed beyond the threshold, an appropriate notification method can be set according to the amount of increase in the notification level. In addition, a method of selecting a notification unit according to the speed until notification is executed is also conceivable. For example, when the notification level exceeds the threshold value, the value obtained by dividing the added notification level value by the time (for example, minutes) from the initial value until it exceeds the threshold value exceeds, for example, “100” set as the threshold value. If not, the notification may be executed using only vibration, and if “100” is exceeded, a notification may be executed using both sound and vibration.
Further, the notification means may be changed based on a change in inclination when the notification level increases from the previous notification action. In this way, it is possible to easily identify that there is no change in behavior / situation without receiving new notification information, and an appropriate notification method can be set. In an example of a mobile phone, continuous light emission or the like may be performed.

In parallel with the above processing operation, the notification information processing unit 1 confirms whether or not the user has obtained the notification information at regular intervals. In the case of a mobile phone, for example, if the notification information is incoming information, the user obtains the notification information by calling the missed call information display screen. You can think of it as having done it. It is possible to confirm that other notification information has been obtained in the same manner.
The notification information processing unit 1 deletes notification information that has been confirmed to be obtained by the user from the stored notification information. Also, the corresponding notification degree is initialized. Referring to FIG. 7 as an example, it is assumed that the user notices the notification and obtains the incoming information and the mail information, which are the notification information, by executing the notification 10 minutes after the time t ₀ (timing at t ₀ +10). Then, after 10 minutes from the time t _0, since there is no notification information, the importance value is “0”. Then, the added value of the notification level becomes “0” regardless of the user's action / situation, and thereafter, the notification level value calculated by the calculation is “0” until new notification information is acquired by the notification information processing unit 1. continue.

In the above description, a method is described in which the notification level is calculated based on importance and acceptance values in a predetermined interval (in the example, 3 minutes), and the subsequent notification level is predicted from the change in the notification level. However, the notification degree prediction method is not limited to this method.
As another prediction method, a method of predicting the notification degree with reference to behavior information can be considered.
For example, a correspondence table showing the average duration for each action / situation as illustrated in FIG. 9A is collected and accumulated. Moreover, you may use the correspondence table | surface which showed the average duration for every action / situation which reflected the order of how to switch behaviour / situation as illustrated in FIG.9 (b). This correspondence table is used by the notification degree prediction unit 4 and used as a multiplier for calculation.
The processing operation of the notification degree prediction unit 4 in this case will be described using the graph shown in FIG. Example shown in FIG. 10 (a), the incoming call information as the notification information is present 1, and represents a case where the user is "walking" from the time t ₀ at time t ₀ +3 min interval.
Similar to the above description, the notification degree prediction unit 4 determines the prediction notification degree based on the value obtained from the importance and acceptance of a predetermined section (up to time t ₀ +3 minutes in this example). Is calculated. The added notification degree value is “(5 × 10) × 3 = 150” at time t ₀ +3 minutes.
The notification degree prediction unit 4 identifies that walking has started at time t ₀ , and refers to the correspondence table as shown in FIG. 9 to determine the predicted duration of action (estimated end time). Calculate and multiply the prediction notification degree calculation process. That is, based on the collected average duration (5 minutes), the change timing (time t ₀ +5) at which the behavior information switches next based on the change timing (time t ₀ ) of the behavior information and the elapsed time (3 minutes). A value is calculated using the value of the current behavior information with respect to the prediction notification degree used until the time.
At the same time, the notification degree prediction unit 4 notifies the behavior information processing unit 2 of an instruction to save power for 2 minutes from the current time (time t ₀ +3), that is, from time t ₀ +5 minutes. In response to this notification, the behavior information processing unit 2 stops or reduces processing such as sensing until a designated time.
This is based on the average duration “5 minutes” of user behavior information “walking” and “walking” behavior, considering that the user ’s “walking” behavior has already continued for 3 minutes. It is estimated that the “walking” behavior continues. In other words, the acceptance value based on the time count addition degree of the notification degree calculated by the notification control unit 3 is estimated.
More specifically, the notification degree prediction unit 4 calculates the prediction notification degree based on each known value according to the estimation that the “walking” behavior continues until time t ₀ +5 minutes. As a result, at time t ₀ +4 minutes, the added notification degree value is “150+ (5 × 10) = 200”. Further, at time t ₀ +5 minutes, the added notification degree value is “200+ (5 × 10) = 250”. Alternatively, the value of the added notification degree at the timing of time t ₀ +5 minutes may be “150+ (5 × 10 × 2) = 250”. In this way, the addition process related to the notification degree at time t ₀ +4 minutes can be omitted by calculation.
The behavior information processing unit 2 resumes normal processing when the time instructed to stop is over. That is, when it becomes time t ₀ +5 minutes, the behavior information processing unit 2 resumes normal processing. The behavior information processing unit 2 uses the behavior information up to time t ₀ +6 minutes to calculate the acceptance level used for the next notification level calculation timing. For example, it is assumed that the action in the section from time t ₀ +5 minutes to time t ₀ +6 minutes is “stop”. That is, since it was assumed that the “walking” behavior continued from the time t ₀ +3 minutes to the time t ₀ +5 minutes, the behavior switching occurred.
In this case, according to the correspondence table of FIG. 4, the notification control unit 3 refers to the behavior switching “50” and the acceptance level of the “stop” behavior for 1 minute, and determines the added notification level at time t ₀ +6 minutes, Calculate as “250+ (50+ (20 × 5) × 1) = 400”.
Similar to the above-described processing, the notification degree prediction unit 4 obtains the duration (number of times) of predetermined behavior information from the importance (notification information) and acceptance (behavior information) of the section. The calculation of the prediction notification degree based on the obtained value and the power saving process are continued. As a result, the notification degree to be added after time t ₀ +7 minutes is sequentially added until the time t ₀ +12 minutes exceeding the notification degree threshold, as shown in FIG. 10B.
By using the prediction method as described above, it is possible to save power until a time when switching is likely to occur in consideration of switching of actions. That is, the notification degree can be predicted more efficiently by restarting the acquisition of the behavior information at a time when switching is likely to occur. Note that the acceptability calculation may be returned to the normal processing slightly before the estimated time when the action switching occurs.

In addition, when the information processing apparatus identifies the notification information, it is desirable to incorporate a notification degree calculation method according to the real-time property. Specifically, the notification information processing unit 1 may calculate the importance using the notification information and the correspondence table shown in FIG. 3 and then multiply the importance by a correction coefficient _RT corresponding to real-time characteristics. It is done. As a method for calculating the correction coefficient R _T , for example, a large fixed value such as “100” can be taken for incoming calls with high real-time characteristics, but the elapsed time from the time when the notification information is identified is calculated as T As “R _T = 100−0.2 × T ² ”. By using such a method, the notification action based on the notification information can be reduced in time according to the real time property. Further, the correction coefficient may be adjusted by a mathematical expression according to characters such as “breaking news” and “emergency” for the notification information of mail and news. In addition, the correction coefficient may be individually adjusted by a mathematical formula according to contact from a specific person or the type of notification information (incoming call, mail, chat, news, etc.). When the correction coefficient is individually adjusted by a mathematical expression, if a constant determined for each type of information is R _C , for example, “R _T = 100− _RC × T ² ” can be represented by the following mathematical expression.

Furthermore, even when the notification is executed by the method described above, the user may not notice the notification. Therefore, in the notification execution by this system, when the user does not notice the notification, in addition to the notification degree calculation method in the above description, the more the number of times the user has not noticed the notification, the more the next notification execution It is conceivable to calculate the notification degree so that the time interval until the time is shortened and the user can easily notice. Specifically, in the example of the notification information shown in FIG. 2 stored in the notification information processing unit 1, the notification information executed after acquiring the notification information in each “content / related information” is displayed. Memorize the number of times together. Then, the notification information processing unit 1, after calculating the degree of importance by using the correspondence table shown in notification information and 3, a method of multiplying the correction coefficient N ₁ in importance in response to the notification number of which have already been executed Conceivable. As a method of calculating the correction coefficient N _1, for example already the number of the executed notification when _once m, can be given by the equation, such as _{"N 1 = 1 + 0.1 × m} 1 ". By using such a method, the user can be notified more quickly than the previous notification.
As described above, when the user does not notice the notification execution, for example, the notification degree control unit 3 may give an instruction to the behavior information processing unit 2 to resume the process.

In addition, a method for calculating the notification degree that handles the time interval until the next notification execution for the notification information remaining when the user obtains any notification information can be considered. Specifically, the notification information processing unit 1 stores the “content / related information” of each stored notification information together with the number of times remaining after the notification information is acquired. The remaining number of times is the number of times that the content of the notification information is not confirmed when the user confirms other notification information. For example, when any of the notification information is confirmed by the user, a value may be added to the unconfirmed notification information when a predetermined time has elapsed since then. Then, the notification information processing unit 1, after calculating the degree of importance by using the correspondence table shown in notification information and 3 multiplies the importance correction coefficient N ₂ in accordance with the number of times left. As a method for calculating the correction coefficient N ₂ , for example, if the remaining number is m ₂ , “N ₂ = 1−0.2 × m ₂ ” (however, when N ₂ ≦ 0, N ₂ = 0 )). By using such a method, the notification action based on the remaining notification information can be reduced in time.

Furthermore, when this method is executed in a device operated by a battery, when the processing of the behavior information processing unit 2 is stopped or reduced to a specified time using the average duration for each behavior / situation, the battery A method of correcting the length of time for stopping or reducing the processing using a correction coefficient corresponding to the remaining amount is conceivable. For example, the correction coefficient C _B, the remaining battery level B [%], the length of time or reduce or stop the process of the behavior information processor 2 S _t [sec] Thus, [B = C _B × S _t ].

As described above, in the description of the first embodiment, when the information processing apparatus identifies information to be notified to the user, the notification degree is calculated based on the importance of the identified information to be notified and the estimated acceptance degree, It has been described that the notification action is controlled by determining the notification timing based on the calculated notification degree.
With this mechanism, it is possible to derive a result of comprehensively determining whether the user is in a situation where it is easy to receive information, whether the information is important, whether it is urgent, and the like, and can perform a good notification action to the user.
On the other hand, taking a popular mobile phone as an example, it is common to notify a user using light, sound, vibration, or the like at the moment when notification information such as an incoming call or e-mail is acquired.
Therefore, also in the first embodiment, when the information to be notified is identified, the predetermined notification operation is immediately executed, and the notification control unit 3 is based on the timing addition of the notification timing for the re-notification. It is good also as shifting to determination processing. Further, when identifying information to be notified, a setting may be provided so that the user can select in advance whether or not to execute a predetermined notification. By adopting this mechanism, the same operation as that of an existing mobile phone can be realized.

Here, the physical configuration of the first embodiment will be described. In the above-described example, the mobile phone alone has the notification system so that the mobile phone possessed by the user acquires the notification information and also acquires the behavior information using data such as the built-in acceleration sensor and calculates the notification degree. Although the configuration including the whole is shown, the physical configuration is not limited to this.
As another conceivable configuration, for example, a wristwatch type device provided with an acceleration sensor, a pulse sensor, or the like, apart from a mobile phone, includes a part or all of the behavior information processing unit 2. A configuration in which information about the behavior / situation or the degree of acceptance is transmitted through wireless or the like can be considered.
In addition, the notification information processing unit 1 is a server device on the network that transmits notification information to the user's mobile phone, and before transmitting the importance to the user's mobile phone, the importance of each notification information A configuration is also possible in which the calculated importance and notification information are paired and transmitted to the user's mobile phone.
Further, a configuration in which the mobile phone possessed by the user includes only the behavior information processing unit 2 and all other functions are included in an external server device is also conceivable. In this case, the mobile phone possessed by the user transmits the acquired behavior information to the external server device, and the external server device calculates the importance level and the notification level, and executes notification determination processing and notification control. The mobile phone possessed by the user performs notification to the user using the notification control instruction received from the external server device.

As described above, the notification system may be realized by linking a plurality of information processing apparatuses. Examples of devices to be linked include personal computers, portable terminals, wearable terminals, and cloud servers.
Moreover, what is necessary is just to acquire the information regarding a user's action and a situation according to the apparatus used suitably. For example, it may be extracted using presence / absence or input amount of human sensor, mouse or keyboard.
In addition, the notification action may be notified to the user of the presence of notification information through a display icon, a window pop-up, a sound, or the like.
The above-described physical configuration can be applied to other embodiments of the present invention described below.

  Next, the operation of the first embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG.

When the information to be notified to the user from the network or program arrives at the information processing apparatus, the notification information processing unit 1 identifies the information to be notified and stores it in the notification information list (step A1).
Step A1 is a method of obtaining by receiving from outside such as incoming call or mail reception, or periodically at a predetermined time interval such as once per hour such as obtaining news information. A method of acquiring information from the outside, for example, a method of acquiring a notification from an internal program such as a schedule or an alarm, can be mentioned.

Next, the notification information processing unit 1 calculates the importance based on the notification information stored as the notification information list (step A2).
As the step A2, a method of calculating the importance every time the notification information processing unit 1 acquires new notification information can be considered. Further, for example, a method of checking and executing the notification information stored in the notification information processing unit 1 at a predetermined time interval such as once per minute can be considered.

In parallel with the steps A1 and A2, the behavior information processing unit 2 identifies information related to the user's behavior / situation and stores and stores the information as behavior information (step A3).
Step A3 is executed at a predetermined time interval such as once every 10 seconds. In step A3, according to the instruction from the notification degree prediction unit 4, the acquisition of information related to the user's behavior / situation is stopped or intermittently reduced to save power.

The behavior information processing unit 2 calculates the acceptability based on the acquired behavior information (step A4).
The acceptance level is calculated at a predetermined time interval such as once per minute. The time interval for calculating the acceptability is preferably longer than the time interval for acquiring the behavior information. As described above, when the time interval for calculating the acceptance level is longer than the time interval for acquiring the behavior information, for example, a method for calculating the acceptance level using the latest behavior information at the time of calculating the acceptance level can be considered. In addition, the action / situation obtained every 10 seconds is accumulated for a predetermined time such as one minute, and the action / situation with the highest number of appearances in that minute is represented by that one minute. For example, there are a method of calculating acceptability using typical behaviour / situation and a method of calculating acceptability every time the behaviour / situation changes. In step A4, as in step A3, in accordance with the instruction from the notification degree prediction unit 4, the user acceptance level calculation process is stopped or intermittently reduced to save power.

The notification control unit 3 calculates a temporary notification level based on the importance and acceptance received from the notification information processing unit 1 and the behavior information processing unit 2 (step A5).
For example, a method of executing step A5 at a predetermined time interval such as once per minute can be considered. The time interval at which the notification control unit 3 calculates the notification level need not be the same as the time interval at which the notification information processing unit 1 and the behavior information processing unit 2 calculate the importance level and the acceptance level, respectively. For example, consider a case where the importance information processing unit 1 calculates importance each time new notification information is identified, and the behavior information processing unit 2 calculates acceptance each time the behavior / situation changes in parallel. Under this condition, the notification level may be calculated at the timing when the importance level and the acceptance level change. For both of these calculation timings, the notification control unit 3 performs the identification confirmation of the change at a relatively short time interval such as every second to calculate the notification degree, thereby adding notification information and changing the behavior / situation. On the other hand, the value of the notification level can be changed immediately. Further, a notification degree coefficient to be accumulated may be determined according to the time elapsed from the timing at which the notification degree for the previous half hour was calculated. In this way, notification level addition processing can be easily performed every time an event occurs.

The notification control unit 3 adds the notification degree calculated in step A5 to the notification degree obtained in the past (step A6).
Step A5 and step A6 described above are repeatedly executed based on the prediction notification degree while the prediction notification degree is given from the notification degree prediction unit 4, as will be described later. As a result, step A5 and step A6 are repeatedly executed until a notification act is performed unless a new event such as arrival of notification information or terminal operation by the user occurs.

The notification degree prediction unit 4 predicts and estimates the future notification degree using the temporary notification degree calculated by the notification control unit 3 (step A7).
In this prediction estimation process, a future value of importance and acceptance at the timing addition timing of the notification level is estimated, and a temporary notification level (predicted notification level) determined from the value is given to the notification control unit 3.
For example, the notification degree prediction unit 4 acquires the notification degree calculated by the notification control unit 3 every minute and stores a set of notification degree, notification information, and behavior information for a predetermined time. To do. In the example shown in FIG. 10, the change in the added notification degree from the time t ₀ to the time t ₀ +3 minutes (the slope of the graph shown in FIG. 10) is obtained as “+100” per minute. This value is used for the prediction notification degree after time t ₀ +3 minutes. Further, the slope itself may be used as a function.
The notification degree prediction unit 4 gives the estimated prediction notification degree to the notification control unit 3. The notification control unit 3 adds the given prediction notification degree to the notification degree that has been added so far (step A8).
By providing this process, the information processing apparatus assumes that there is no change in the notification information and the behavior information, and thereafter adds the predicted notification degree every minute.

  The notification degree prediction unit 4 notifies the behavior information processing unit 2 of an instruction to save resources together with the process of calculating the prediction notification degree (step A9).

When the notification degree is added by 100 per minute according to the predicted notification degree, the added notification degree (notification degree addition value) is the time t ₀ +10 corresponding to (1000−300) / 100 = 7 minutes from the time t ₀ +3 minutes. It exceeds 1000, which is the threshold for notifications per minute.
If the added prediction notification degree exceeds the set threshold at time t ₀ +10 minutes, the notification control unit 3 returns the value of the notification degree that has been added so far to 0, and executes notification. Further, the behavior information processing unit 2 is instructed to resume the processing. Receiving the instruction to resume the process, the behavior information processing unit 2 resumes the process at time t ₀ +10 minutes.
In the above explanation, a method has been described in which a predetermined interval such as 3 minutes, importance and acceptance are calculated, and the subsequent notification degree is predicted from a change in the notification degree in the interval. As a prediction method, in order to perform prediction with higher accuracy, for example, as shown in FIG. 9, for each action / situation, a correspondence table indicating how long the action or situation lasts on average. Can be considered that the notification degree prediction unit 4 has in advance and refers to the behavior information to predict the notification degree. When this method is used, the notification degree prediction unit 4 refers to information on how long the behavior / situation continues on average, and while the behavior / situation is considered to continue, An instruction is given to stop the processing of the processing unit 2. Then, an instruction is given to reunite the processing of the behavior information processing unit 2 at the time when the behavior / situation is considered to be switched.
Furthermore, as another method for instructing stop / restart of the behavior information processing unit 2, a method of stopping / restarting the behavior information processing unit 2 when a change occurs in the notification information can be considered. For example, when the behavior information processing unit 2 stops processing, when notification information is newly added, the behavior information processing unit 2 may restart the processing and calculate the notification degree. Further, when the behavior information processing unit 2 is processing, the notification information processing unit 1 can confirm that the user has obtained the notification information, and if the notification information is lost, the behavior information processing unit 2 For example, a method of stopping the processing until the notification information is generated can be considered.

The notification control unit 3 determines whether to notify the user based on the notification degree addition value obtained in step A6 or A8 (step A10).
In the determination process, it is only necessary to determine whether to perform the notification action based on a comparison of the magnitude relationship between the added notification level and the predetermined threshold, or a change in the inclination of the notification level.
If the notification control unit 3 does not notify the user as a result of the notification determination processing in step A7, the notification control unit 3 repeatedly performs the notification degree or predicted notification degree addition processing as appropriate. When notifying the user, notification means such as vibration and sound is used to notify the user that the notification information exists (step A11).
When the user is notified in step A11, the notification control unit 3 initializes the notification degree value that has been added so far (step A12).

The notification information processing unit 1 confirms whether the user has acquired notification information in parallel with the above processing (step A13).
When it is confirmed that the user has obtained the notification information as a result of step A13, the notification information acquisition unit 1 deletes the corresponding notification information from the stored notification information list (step A14).
In the processing operations of Step A13 and Step A14 described above, it is desirable to check whether the notification information is obtained at a predetermined time interval such as every 10 seconds, regardless of whether the notification control unit 3 executes the notification. Further, a screen for presenting a list of notification information to the user may be provided, and the notification information may be deleted according to an operation on the screen. It is desirable that the list screen can be linked directly or indirectly to the relevant notification information.
Further, for example, considering the mail information of the notification information, the mail browsing application confirms that the user has obtained the mail information when the user opens the unread mail and browses the mail content. Possible methods.
Thus, prior to the notification by the notification control unit 3, the user can voluntarily perform a notification when the notification information is obtained by voluntarily operating the user.

  In the above description, the power saving and the calculation saving amount related to the acquisition of the behavior information have been described. However, the power saving and the calculation saving amount related to the notification information may be similarly reduced. For example, the notification degree prediction unit 4 estimates the importance value at the future timing addition timing of the notification degree based on the calculated timing addition degree of the notification degree, and gives the notification value to the notification control unit 3 and also notification information. The calculation of importance calculated by the processing unit 1 is reduced to the future timing addition timing. The estimation can use the reception time of notification information notified in the past. In addition, notification information that will be reached by the future timing addition timing, such as exchange of notification information regarding mail between specific users, may be reflected in the importance calculation processing. Further, power saving and calculation saving related to both notification information and action information may be performed simultaneously.

Next, the effect of the first embodiment of the present invention will be described.
In the present embodiment, using the acquired notification information and user behavior information, a temporary notification degree and a temporal addition value thereof are calculated as an index for determining the timing of performing notification to the user. In addition, the future notification degree is estimated based on the calculated time addition value and used under a predetermined condition, and resources required for calculating the acceptance level are reduced while the estimated prediction notification degree is used. As a result, when the added notification degree satisfies a certain condition such as exceeding a threshold value, a notification action is notified using a notification means such as light, sound, or vibration.
Further, correction is performed using a coefficient at the calculation timing of each index, and a better notification timing is searched by calculation.
The above processing is repeated until the user obtains notification information. As a result, it is possible to save the resource and notify the user at a time when the user can easily notice without repeating unnecessary notifications in a situation where the user is difficult to notice.
That is, according to the present invention, when information to be notified to the user is identified, an information processing apparatus having a general-purpose and highly convenient mechanism that saves resources by executing a notification at a better notification timing Can provide.
As a result, according to the present invention, the user can be notified of information to be obtained at a timing at which the user can easily notice the notification, and can receive a re-notification at a timing at which the user can easily notice even if the user does not recognize the notification.
In addition, resources related to acquisition of sensor information (acceleration, GPS, etc.) used by the behavior information processing unit 2 can be reduced, resulting in power saving. In addition to the reduction of the driving power of the sensor device related to sensing, it is possible to reduce power consumption and calculation amount related to sensor information analysis processing, behavior / situation estimation processing, and importance calculation processing. This resource saving can provide long-time driving for an information processing apparatus that uses a battery such as a mobile terminal. Moreover, efficient operation of the processing of other application programs operating in parallel can be facilitated by reducing the amount of computation.

  Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

Referring to FIG. 1 and FIG. 12, the second embodiment is different from the first embodiment shown in FIG. 1 in that an information notification timing learning unit is added.
In 2nd Embodiment, in order to perform notification degree suitable for every user, the duration of the action information suitable for a user is learned.

In the description of the present embodiment, as in the case of the description of the first embodiment, the case where the notification system is a mobile phone owned by a user is taken as an example as a physical configuration.
Since the operations of the notification information processing unit 1, the behavior information processing unit 2, the notification control unit 3, and the notification degree prediction unit 4 in the second embodiment are the same as those in the first embodiment, the description is simplified or omitted. .

  The information notification timing learning unit 5 refers to the time when the user identified by the notification information processing unit 1 obtains the notification information and the notification level addition value calculated and added by the notification control unit 3 or the notification level prediction unit 4. , Learn the notification timing to the appropriate user. Specifically, learning of the timing suitable for the notification action is realized by, for example, changing the determination threshold set in the notification control unit 3. For example, at the time when the user obtains the notification information, when the added notification degree value is smaller than the threshold set by the notification control unit 3, that is, before the notification is executed, the user voluntarily When the notification information is obtained, it is considered that the user was able to obtain the information at an earlier timing, so the information notification timing learning unit 5 changes the determination threshold value of the notification control unit 3 to a smaller value, A learning method of realizing notification at an earlier timing can be considered. Also, if the notification has already been executed once or more at the time when the user obtains the notification information, it is considered that the user has not been able to obtain the notification information, so the information notification timing learning unit 5 is similar to the above. In addition, a learning method may be considered in which notification is executed at a later timing by changing the determination threshold value to a larger value so that unnecessary notification is not repeated.

An example will be described with reference to FIG. Figure 13 is a time when the notification information is generated as t _0, the notification control unit 3, which shows how to add the notification of over time. In the example of FIG. 11, a case is considered in which the notification control unit 3 sets “1000” as the threshold value for determining the notification action to be executed.
First, at time t ₁ shown in FIG. 13, the user operates the mobile phone yourself, consider the case where to obtain the notification information. The notification information processing unit 1 provides the information notification timing learning unit 5 with information at time t ₁ when the user has acquired the notification information. Next, the added notification degree value at t ₁ is obtained from the notification control unit 3. The value of the summed notified degree at time t ₁ is not reached a notification executing the determining threshold "1000", thus not performing the notification actions. However, the user at time t _1, because it can obtain the information by operating the mobile phone on their own, notification to the user is considered to be was to be executed at a timing earlier than the time t _1. Therefore, the information notification timing learning unit 5 subtracts 1 from “1000”, for example, to set the value of the determination threshold set in the notification control unit 3 to “999”. In this way, when the notification information is generated next time, the added notification degree value reaches the threshold at a timing earlier than before, so that the notification action can be executed at a more suitable timing than before.

Next, at time t ₂ shown in FIG. 13, by operating the user mobile phone, consider the case where to obtain the notification information. Time t _2, the value of the summed notified degree reaches the threshold value, the notification action is executed by operating the user mobile phone, since considered to the notification information obtained, executing the notification at the right time It can be seen. For this reason, the information notification timing learning unit 5 does not change the value of the determination threshold set in the notification control unit 3.

Further, at time t ₃ when 13, the user operates the mobile phone yourself, consider the case where to obtain the notification information. In this case, the notification action has already been executed once at time t ₂ , but at that time, the user does not obtain the notification information, but the user obtains the notification information by operating the mobile phone by himself at time t ₃ . This is the case. In time t _2, the notification control unit 3, that summed notified degree exceeds a threshold value, providing the information notification timing learning section 5. Next, at time t ₃ , the notification information processing unit 1 provides the information notification timing learning unit 5 with information at time t ₃ at which the user obtained notification information. Further, the added notification degree value at t ₃ is obtained from the notification control unit 3. The value of the summed notified degree at time t ₃ is not reached a notification executing the determining threshold "1000", at time t _2, the already running once notification. At time t _2, the user because it could not obtain notification information, notification to the user is considered to have been should perform the notification timing later than the time t _2. Therefore, the information notification timing learning unit 5 sets the determination threshold value set in the notification determination unit 8 to “1001” by adding 1 to “1000”, for example. By doing so, when the notification information is generated next time, the added notification degree value reaches the threshold at a later timing than before, so that the notification action can be executed at a more suitable timing than before.
The method for changing the determination threshold value of the information notification timing learning unit 4 described above can be expressed by, for example, the following mathematical formula.
When the user obtains information before executing notification: New judgment threshold = Old judgment threshold-1
When the user obtains information after executing notification: New judgment threshold = Old judgment threshold + 1

In the above description, at the time when the user obtains the notification information, the value of the added notification degree is compared with the threshold value set by the notification control unit 3, or the notification that has already been executed is compared. Although the number of times is considered, the learning method is not limited to this.
As another learning method, a plurality of threshold values used for determination are prepared according to the lifestyle of the user. For example, threshold values used from 7 am to 6 pm on weekdays, threshold values used on nights on weekdays, and the like. A method of switching is conceivable.
As another learning method, not only the magnitude of the added notification level at the time when the user obtains the notification information and the threshold value set by the notification control unit 3 are compared, but also added. A method is conceivable in which a value for changing the determination threshold value is determined by calculation according to the magnitude of the difference between the notification degree value and the determination threshold value. Specifically, for example, the value to be changed can be given by the following mathematical formula.
Value to be changed = (added notification level-judgment threshold + number of notification executions x judgment threshold) / 100

Next, the operation of the second embodiment will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 11 and 14.
Since the operations of Step A1 to Step A9 in the operation of the second embodiment are the same as the operations of Step A1 to Step A9 in the first embodiment, description thereof will be omitted.
The notification information processing unit 1 checks whether or not the user has acquired the notification information (step A10).
As a result, when it can be identified that the user has obtained the notification information, the notification information obtained by the user is deleted from the list, and the time information at which the user has obtained the notification information is stored in the information notification timing learning unit 5. give.
The information notification timing learning unit 5 refers to the time when the user obtained the notification information obtained from the notification information processing unit 1 and the value of the added notification degree given from the notification control unit 3, and executes the notification act A more suitable timing is learned (step A12). In step A12, for example, at the time when the user obtains the notification information, the magnitude of the added notification degree and the threshold value set by the notification control unit 3 are compared, for example. The determination threshold value of the notification control unit 3 is changed so that notification can be executed at a proper timing.
The operation of Step A11 in the operation of the second embodiment is the same as that of Step A11 in the first embodiment, and the notification information acquisition unit 1 confirms that the user has acquired the notification information as a result of Step A11. If it can, the corresponding notification information is deleted from the stored notification information list (step A11).

Next, effects of the second embodiment will be described.
The first embodiment does not take into consideration that the duration of behavior and situation differs due to differences in lifestyle habits for each user, but the problem is that the result of notification degree prediction differs from the actual behavior and situation for each user. It becomes. On the other hand, in the second embodiment, by learning the duration of action for each user, the prediction of the notification degree can be made closer to the actual action / situation of the user. In this way, by introducing a learning mechanism, notification can be executed at a more appropriate timing for each user. Moreover, the information processing apparatus matched by the owner's action can be obtained by continuing use.

In addition, what is necessary is just to implement | achieve each part of the said notification system using the combination of hardware and software. In a form in which hardware and software are combined, a notification system program is expanded in the RAM, and hardware such as a control unit (CPU) is operated based on the program. Thus, each unit is realized as various means. The program may be recorded in a fixed manner on a storage medium and distributed. The program recorded on the recording medium is read into a memory via a wired, wireless, or recording medium itself, and operates a control unit or the like. Examples of the recording medium include an optical disk, a magnetic disk, a semiconductor memory device, and a hard disk.
To describe the above-described embodiment in another expression, an information processing apparatus having a notification system is based on a notification system program developed in a RAM, a notification information processing means, a behavior information processing means, a notification control means, a notification degree. It can be realized by operating the control unit as a prediction unit and an information notification timing learning unit.
Further, although the embodiment has been illustrated and described above, changes such as separation / merging of block configurations and replacement of procedures are free as long as the gist of the present invention and the functions described are satisfied.
According to the present invention, when an information to be notified to a user is identified, an information processing system having a general-purpose and highly convenient mechanism that saves resources by executing a notification at a better notification timing is provided. Can be provided.
As a result, according to the present invention, the user can receive the initial notification of information to be obtained at a timing when the user can easily notice the notification with less power consumption and calculation amount, and even when the notification is not recognized. , Get re-notification at a time when it is easy to notice. In other words, by using the present invention, it is possible to expect an effect of reducing the burden and stress that the user frequently checks the information terminal in consideration of missing information.
Further, by searching for a timing at which the user can easily notice and executing a notification action, an effect of helping the user to efficiently confirm a large amount of information can be expected.

The present invention can be incorporated into a general-purpose information processing apparatus at various levels such as an OS, a driver for a notification unit, and an application program, and is suitable for a device that requires more power saving.
In addition, it is possible to easily cope with different types of information to be notified for each device and differences in notification means included in the device. For example, it can be realized by a similar program in a portable terminal and a personal computer. Differences in the configuration of each terminal can be easily set by automatically acquiring the terminal confing and simple settings by the user.
In addition, an information notification system that searches for notification timing suitable for the user from time to time can be obtained.

1. Notification information processing unit (notification information processing means)
2 Behavior information processing section (Behavior information processing means)
3. Notification control unit (notification control means)
4 Notification degree prediction unit (notification degree prediction means)
5 Information notification timing learning unit (Information notification timing learning means)

Claims (30)

Notification information processing that identifies information to be notified to a user and that can be stored as notification information, and that obtains a first index that indicates the degree of importance for obtaining timing to notify the user based on the stored notification information And
Action information for identifying a second index indicating the degree of acceptance in order to determine the timing for notifying the user based on the identified action information while identifying information related to the user's action and situation and storing it as action information A processing unit;
Based on the obtained first index and the second index, respectively, a third index with a time addition element for determining the timing for executing notification to the user is calculated and processed. A notification control unit that determines a notification timing based on the calculated third index and controls a notification action;
Based on the calculated timing addition degree of the third index, a value at a future timing addition timing of the third index is estimated and given to the notification control unit, and the notification information processing unit and / or the A notification degree prediction unit that reduces resources required for calculating the first index and / or the second index calculated by the behavior information processing unit until the future timing addition timing;
An information processing system comprising: A notification information processing unit for identifying information to be notified to a user and storing the information as notification information, and calculating an importance level to be notified to the user based on the stored notification information;
An action information processing unit for identifying information related to the user's action and situation and storing it as action information, and calculating a degree of acceptance to be notified to the user based on the identified action information;
Based on the calculated importance and acceptance, respectively, a notification level with a timing addition element for determining a timing for performing notification to the user is calculated, and based on the calculated notification level A notification control unit that determines a notification timing and controls a notification action;
Based on the calculated timing addition degree of the notification degree, the importance level and / or the acceptance level value or the notification degree value at the future timing addition timing of the notification degree is estimated and notified to the notification control unit A notification degree prediction unit for notifying the notification information processing unit and / or the behavior information processing unit of an instruction to reduce the calculation of importance and / or acceptance level to the future timing addition timing;
An information processing apparatus comprising:   The said notification control part and the said notification degree prediction part calculate a notification degree by calculating numerically the calculated numerical value of importance and the calculated numerical value of acceptance degree, The degree of notification is calculated. Information processing device. The timing at which the user obtains the stored notification information and the timing at which the notification action is executed are compared,
When the user obtains the notification information before executing the notification action, the notification timing determination threshold based on the calculated notification degree is adjusted so that the notification action is performed at an earlier timing,
On the other hand, when the user operation corresponding to the notification action is not performed, the notification timing determination threshold based on the calculated notification degree is adjusted so that the notification action at a later timing is executed,
The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, further comprising an information notification timing learning unit that derives a timing suitable for the notification act. When the information to be notified is identified, a predetermined notification action is immediately executed,
The said notification control part determines the notification timing based on the notification degree based on the obtained importance and acceptance, and controls a re-notification action, The control part as described in any one of Claim 2 thru | or 4 characterized by the above-mentioned. Information processing device.   The notification control unit identifies corresponding notification information together with the importance calculated from the notification information processing unit, and calculates a notification level with a plurality of time addition elements. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 5 to 6.   The notification control unit identifies corresponding behavior information together with the acceptance degree calculated from the behavior information processing unit, and selects a notification unit that performs a notification action based on the calculated notification degree. Item 7. The information processing apparatus according to any one of Items 2 to 6.   Based on one or a plurality of correction coefficients for correcting the notification timing by calculation, correction is made for any or all values of importance, acceptance, and notification, and the notification timing for performing the notification action The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein an appropriate solution is obtained.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein a correction coefficient used for correcting the importance is determined based on information on the user's behavior and situation for obtaining the degree of acceptance.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 8 or 9, wherein a correction coefficient used for correction of acceptability is determined based on content of information to be notified to the user for which importance is calculated.   The correction coefficient used for the correction of the notification level is determined based on the content of information to be notified to the user for determining the importance level and information on the user's behavior and situation for determining the acceptance level. Item 11. The information processing apparatus according to any one of Items 8 to 10.   The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 8 to 11, wherein when reflecting the one or more correction coefficients, a setting parameter based on a current time is used as a coefficient.   The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 8 to 12, wherein when reflecting the one or more correction coefficients, a setting parameter based on the user's action history is used as a coefficient.   The notification control unit identifies notification information corresponding to the importance calculated from the notification information processing unit and identifies behavior information corresponding to the acceptance calculated from the behavior information processing unit, and identifies the identified notification 14. The degree of notification with a time addition element is calculated while being corrected using a correction coefficient for the degree of notification corresponding to the combination of the type of information and the type of behavior information. The information processing apparatus according to item.   The notification control unit individually identifies notification information corresponding to the importance calculated from the notification information processing unit, and calculates a notification level for each type of notification information. The information processing apparatus according to any one of the above.   The information processing apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the notification control unit selects a suitable notification action for each notification degree calculated for each type of notification information.   While correcting the one or more correction coefficients from time to time according to changes applied to the device identified through the notification information processing unit and / or the behavior information processing unit, The information processing apparatus according to claim 15, wherein an appropriate solution is searched for.   The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 2 to 17, operable by a storage battery.   The battery can be operated by the storage battery, and the one or more correction coefficients are changed according to the remaining capacity or the estimated remaining driving time of the storage battery, and any or all of the values of importance, acceptance, and notification The information processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein an appropriate solution of notification timing for performing a notification act is obtained.   The battery can be operated by the storage battery, and the one or more correction coefficients are changed according to the remaining capacity or the estimated remaining driving time of the storage battery, and any or all of the values of importance, acceptance, and notification The information processing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein an interval for calculating the correction is corrected.   21. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein information to be notified to the user is received via a wireless communication unit, and a notification timing suitable for only the user is searched for. . Notification information processing that identifies information to be notified to a user and that can be stored as notification information, and that obtains a first index that indicates the degree of importance for obtaining timing to notify the user based on the stored notification information Process,
Action information for identifying a second index indicating the degree of acceptance in order to determine the timing for notifying the user based on the identified action information while identifying information related to the user's action and situation and storing it as action information Processing steps;
Based on the first index and the second index respectively obtained, the third index with a time addition element for determining the timing for executing notification to the user is calculated and calculated. A notification control step of determining the notification timing based on the third indicator and controlling the notification action;
Based on the calculated timing addition degree of the third index, a value at a future timing addition timing of the third index is estimated and given to the notification control unit, and the notification information processing unit and / or the A notification degree prediction step of reducing resources required for calculating the first index and / or the second index calculated by the behavior information processing unit until the future timing addition timing;
A method of notifying a user of information performed in an information processing system, comprising: A notification information processing step for identifying information to be notified to the user and storing the information as notification information, and calculating an importance level to notify the user based on the stored notification information;
An action information processing step of identifying information related to the user's action and situation and storing it as action information, and calculating an acceptance degree to notify the user based on the identified action information;
Based on the calculated importance and acceptance, respectively, a notification level with a timing addition element for determining a timing for performing notification to the user is calculated, and based on the calculated notification level A notification control step of determining a notification timing and controlling a notification action;
Based on the calculated timing addition degree of the notification degree, the importance level and / or the acceptance level value or the notification degree value at the future timing addition timing of the notification degree is estimated and notified to the notification control unit A notification degree prediction step of notifying the notification information processing unit and / or the behavior information processing unit of an instruction to reduce the calculation of the importance and / or acceptance level to the future timing addition timing;
A method of notifying a user of information performed in an information processing system, comprising: The timing at which the user obtains the stored notification information and the timing at which the notification action is executed are compared,
When the user obtains the notification information before executing the notification action, the notification timing determination threshold based on the calculated notification degree is adjusted so that the notification action is performed at an earlier timing,
On the other hand, when the user operation corresponding to the notification action is not performed, the notification timing determination threshold based on the calculated notification degree is adjusted so that the notification action at a later timing is executed,
The information notification method according to claim 23, further comprising an information notification timing learning step for deriving a timing suitable for the notification act. Further comprising performing a predetermined notification action immediately upon identifying the information to be notified;
The information notification method according to claim 23 or 24, wherein the notification control step determines a notification timing based on a notification degree based on the obtained importance and acceptance, and controls a re-notification action. Control the information processing system
Notification information processing that identifies information to be notified to a user and that can be stored as notification information, and that obtains a first index that indicates the degree of importance for obtaining timing to notify the user based on the stored notification information And
Action information for identifying a second index indicating the degree of acceptance in order to determine the timing for notifying the user based on the identified action information while identifying information related to the user's action and situation and storing it as action information A processing unit;
Based on the obtained first index and the second index, respectively, a third index with a time addition element for determining the timing for executing notification to the user is calculated and processed. A notification control unit that determines a notification timing based on the calculated third index and controls a notification action;
Based on the calculated timing addition degree of the third index, a value at a future timing addition timing of the third index is estimated and given to the notification control unit, and the notification information processing unit and / or the A notification degree prediction unit that reduces resources required for calculating the first index and / or the second index calculated by the behavior information processing unit until the future timing addition timing;
A notification system program characterized by being operated as Control the information processing system
A notification information processing unit for identifying information to be notified to a user and storing the information as notification information, and calculating an importance level to be notified to the user based on the stored notification information;
An action information processing unit for identifying information related to the user's action and situation and storing it as action information, and calculating a degree of acceptance to be notified to the user based on the identified action information;
Based on the calculated importance and acceptance, respectively, a notification level with a timing addition element for determining a timing for performing notification to the user is calculated, and based on the calculated notification level A notification control unit that determines a notification timing and controls a notification action;
Based on the calculated timing addition degree of the notification degree, the importance level and / or the acceptance level value or the notification degree value at the future timing addition timing of the notification degree is estimated and notified to the notification control unit A notification degree prediction unit for notifying the notification information processing unit and / or the behavior information processing unit of an instruction to reduce the calculation of importance and / or acceptance level to the future timing addition timing;
A notification system program characterized by being operated as The control unit
The timing at which the user obtains the notification information stored and held by the user is compared with the timing at which the notification action is executed.
When the user obtains the notification information before executing the notification action, the notification timing determination threshold based on the calculated notification degree is adjusted so that the notification action is performed at an earlier timing,
On the other hand, when the user operation corresponding to the notification action is not performed, the notification timing determination threshold based on the calculated notification degree is adjusted so that the notification action at a later timing is executed,
28. The notification system program according to claim 27, further operating as an information notification timing learning unit for deriving a timing suitable for a notification act. The notification system program according to claim 27 or 28, wherein the notification control unit controls a re-notification action by determining a notification timing based on a notification degree based on the obtained importance and acceptance.   Based on one or a plurality of correction coefficients for correcting the notification timing by calculation, correction is made for any or all of the importance, acceptance, notification, and prediction notification, and the notification action is performed. The notification system program according to any one of claims 27 to 29, wherein an appropriate solution of notification timing to be performed is obtained.

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