JP2020201615A - Information providing device, information providing method, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

To automatically provide a news program personalized per user.SOLUTION: An information providing device 10 comprises: an electronic version article API 21 which receives an electronic version article containing text information of the article; an article selection/recommendation program 23 which selects an electronic article related to user interest information containing a collection of terms in which a user is interested, and determines a degree of importance of the selected electronic version article on the basis of the user interest information; a manuscript conversion program 24 which makes settings for reading text information of the selected electronic version article for the text information; and a voice synthesis program 26 which generates voice synthesis information, which is information read as voice according to the settings, in an order of the degree of importance from the text information of the selected electronic version article.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

The present invention relates to, for example, an information providing device, an information providing method, and a program capable of providing a personalized news program for each user.

News programs on television and radio are not only a means of transmitting information, but are also highly convenient for viewers, at least from the viewpoint of being able to provide the latest information by voice.

However, TV and radio news programs are usually broadcast only for a fixed time except in an emergency, so it cannot always be said that they can provide highly real-time information.

On the other hand, in recent years, electronic versions of articles have been distributed on news sites and the like on the Internet. This type of news site can provide information with higher real-time performance than news programs on television and radio, such as an electronic version of an article being updated every 5 minutes.

Although TV and radio news programs are inferior to electronic articles in terms of real-time performance, the detailed content of a series of news is read aloud by newscasters and announcers, so viewers can do other work. Even so, there is an advantage that you can grasp the detailed contents of a series of news just by listening.

On the other hand, on the news site mentioned above, a series of news headlines are displayed, but the detailed contents of the news cannot be grasped without clicking the corresponding news headlines. Therefore, in order to grasp the detailed contents of a plurality of news items, the user has to click as many times as the number of articles. Moreover, this type of news site usually does not provide voice information. For this reason, users have to read the textual information provided by the electronic version of the article, and feel the inconvenience of not being able to do other work while listening, as in news programs on television and radio. There is.

As one method for eliminating the inconvenience of the user while maintaining the real-time nature of the news, it is conceivable to continuously output the electronic version of the article provided on the news site by voice.

https://www.afpbb.com/articles/-/3212941, Xinhua News Agency, (Searched on May 31, 1991) https://www.hakuhodody-media.co.jp/newsrelease/service/20180223_21262.html, Hakuhodo et al. (Searched on May 31, 1st year of Reiwa) https://ledge.ai/spectee-arakiyui/, Kochi-san TV, (Searched on May 31, 1st year of Reiwa)

However, on news sites, electronic articles are frequently uploaded, so if all electronic articles are output by voice, it may be updated with new content before the audio output ends. So it's not realistic.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and an object of the present invention is to select an electronic version article relevant to a user from frequently updated electronic version articles and output the electronic version by voice. The purpose of the present invention is to provide an information providing device, an information providing method, and a program capable of automatically providing a personalized news program for each user.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention takes the following measures.

A first aspect of the present invention is a first means of receiving an electronic version of an article containing textual information of the article, and from the received electronic version of the article to user interest information including a set of terms that the user is interested in. A second means of selecting a relevant electronic article and determining the importance of the selected electronic article based on the user interest information, and reading out the text information of the selected electronic article. A third means for setting the text information, and voice synthesis of the text information of the selected electronic version article, which is information read out as voice according to the setting in the order of importance. It is an information providing device provided with a fourth means for generating information.

A second aspect of the present invention is the information providing device of the first aspect, in which the user interest information is determined based on the user information registered in advance.

A third aspect of the present invention comprises performing the setting for the text information, comprising performing the setting for the text information based on the user interest information. It is an information providing device of two aspects.

In a fourth aspect of the present invention, the third means selects terms related to the user interest information from the terms included in the text information for each selected electronic version article. The information providing device according to any one of the first to third aspects to be determined.

A fifth aspect of the present invention is a setting for emphasizing at least one of a term included in the user interest information and a term related to the user interest information. It is an information providing device of a fourth aspect including.

A sixth aspect of the present invention is the information providing device of the fifth aspect, wherein the setting for emphasizing and reading out includes a setting for reading out after a pause before reading out the term to be emphasized and read out. is there.

A seventh aspect of the present invention is that the second means is an electronic version of the selected electronic version article that includes text information that includes many terms that match the terms included in the user interest information. It is an information providing device according to any one of the first to sixth aspects, which determines the importance so that the article has a higher importance.

An eighth aspect of the present invention further comprises a fifth means of generating image information for displaying the headlines of the electronic version articles whose importance has been determined in the order of importance of the corresponding electronic version articles. , The information providing device of the seventh aspect.

A ninth aspect of the present invention further comprises a sixth means for generating motion setting information, which is setting information for a moving image linked with a voice read out according to the voice synthesis information, the first to seventh aspects. It is an information providing device of any one of the aspects.

In a tenth aspect of the present invention, the motion setting information includes setting information for defining a character displayed in the moving image and setting information for the operation of the character in conjunction with voice. It is an information providing device of 9th aspect.

In the eleventh aspect of the present invention, the voice synthesis information and the motion setting information are transmitted to the terminal so that the voice is output according to the voice synthesis information and the moving image is output according to the motion setting information in the terminal. An information providing device of a ninth or tenth aspect, further comprising a fifth means of outputting.

A twelfth aspect of the present invention further comprises a fifth means for outputting the voice synthesis information to the terminal so that the voice is output according to the voice synthesis information in the terminal. This is an information providing device according to any one of the above aspects.

A thirteenth aspect of the present invention is a method of providing information by an information providing device, in which the information providing device receives an electronic version article including text information of the article, and a user can use the received electronic version article. An electronic version of the article that is relevant to the user interest information, including a set of terms of interest, is selected, the importance of the selected electronic version article is determined based on the user interest information, and the selection is made. Settings for reading out the text information of the electronic version article are set for the text information, and the text information of the selected electronic version article is read out as voice according to the setting in the order of importance. This is an information providing method for generating voice synthesis information.

A fourteenth aspect of the present invention is related to a function of receiving an electronic version article including text information of an article, and user interest information including a set of terms in which the user is interested from the received electronic version article. The text information includes a function for selecting an electronic version article and determining the importance of the selected electronic version article based on the user interest information, and a setting for reading out the text information of the selected electronic version article. In order to realize a function for the processor to generate voice synthesis information which is information read out as voice according to the setting in the order of importance of the text information of the selected electronic version article. It is a program.

According to the information providing device, the information providing method, and the program of the present invention, an electronic version article relevant to the user is selected from the frequently updated electronic version articles, and the electronic version article is output by voice to personalize each user. It will be possible to automatically provide personalized news programs.

FIG. 1 is a network configuration diagram showing an example of a network environment in which an information providing device to which the information providing method according to the embodiment of the present invention is applied is arranged. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of an electronic circuit configuration of an information providing device to which the information providing method according to the embodiment of the present invention is applied. FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of the data structure of the electronic version of the article. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation example at the time of user registration to the information providing device. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the information providing device when the news program is provided. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a display example on the display of the user terminal in which the headlines of the electronic version articles sorted in order of importance and the characters set by the motion generation program are displayed.

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

FIG. 1 is a network configuration diagram showing an example of a network environment in which an information providing device to which the information providing method according to the embodiment of the present invention is applied is arranged.

The information providing device 10 is constructed on a server 8 connected to a communication network 100 such as the Internet, for example, as shown in FIG.

The network environment as illustrated in FIG. 1 may include a LAN such as Ethernet (registered trademark), or a WAN or the like to which a plurality of LANs are connected via a public line or a dedicated line. In the case of LAN, it is composed of a large number of subnets via routers as needed. Further, in the case of WAN, a firewall or the like for connecting to a public line is appropriately provided, but the illustration and detailed description thereof will be omitted here.

The user can use the information providing device 10 from a user terminal 110 such as a PC, a tablet, or a smartphone connected to the communication network 100.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of an electronic circuit configuration of an information providing device to which the information providing method according to the embodiment of the present invention is applied.

The electronic circuit of the information providing device 10 includes a CPU 12, a recording medium reading unit 14, a communication unit 15, a memory 20, and a storage device 30 connected to each other by a bus 11.

The memory 20 stores the electronic version article API 21, the user interest analysis program 22, the article selection / recommendation program 23, the manuscript conversion program 24, the reading setting program 25, the speech synthesis program 26, the motion generation program 27, and the output program 28. There is. These programs 21 to 28 may be stored in the memory 20 in advance, or are read and stored in the memory 20 from an external recording medium 13 such as a memory card via the recording medium reading unit 14. May be good. These programs 21 to 28 cannot be rewritten.

In the memory 20, in addition to such a user-non-rewritable area, a writable data area 29 is secured as an area for storing rewritable data.

The CPU 12 is a computer and controls the operation of each part of the circuit according to the programs 21 to 28 stored in the memory 20.

The storage device 30 includes a user information database 32.

The storage device 30 includes, for example, an SSD (Solid State Drive), an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), or the like.

The communication unit 15 is provided from the electronic version article providing server 120 operated by the electronic version article provider (for example, a newspaper company) via the communication network 100 at regular intervals (for example, every 5 minutes). Receive the article a and pass it to the electronic version article API21. As a result, the electronic version article API 21 receives the electronic version article a at regular intervals.

The electronic version article provider may be the same as the operator who operates the information providing device 10.

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram showing an example of the data structure of the electronic version of the article.

As illustrated in FIG. 3, the electronic version of the article a includes not only text information a1, headline a2, and meta information b, but also image information a3 such as a photograph or a chart.

The meta information b is, for example, text information including terms representing related fields (for example, economy, politics, sports, etc.) of the electronic version article a, and terms representing keywords (for example, Nikkei Stock Average, Diet, MLB, etc.). is there.

A user who uses the information providing device 10 needs to register as a user in advance in order to use the information providing device 10. This is done by making a user registration request from the user terminal 110 to the information providing device 10.

When a user registration request is made from the user terminal 110, the information providing device 10 assigns a user ID, which is user identification information, and returns the information to the source user terminal 110, and requests the setting of a password.

In response to this, the user transmits the desired password to the information providing device 10. When the information providing device 10 determines that the password is valid according to the security policy defined in the information providing device 10, the user registration is performed by associating the user ID and the password and writing them in the user information database 32. Is completed.

When the user registration is completed, the user can log in to the information providing device 10 and use the information providing device 10 by inputting the user ID and password into the information providing device 10 from the user terminal 110.

The information providing device 10 is a device for providing a personalized news program for each user. For this purpose, the information providing device 10 requests the user registered as a user to transmit the user information c.

In response to this request, the user can return the user information c from the user terminal 110 to the information providing device 10 at an arbitrary timing. User information c includes, for example, name, date of birth, gender, age, contact information, place of residence (for example, Yamanashi Prefecture), hobbies (for example, jogging), fields of interest (for example, economy, politics, etc.), and the like. ..

Further, the user can add, modify, and delete the contents of the user information c at an arbitrary timing and transmit the contents to the information providing device 10.

When the user information c is transmitted from the user, the information providing device 10 associates the user information c with the user ID and newly writes the user information c in the user information database 32 or updates the contents thereof.

The user interest analysis program 22 acquires the user information c of the user from the user information database 32 based on the user ID, analyzes the interest of the user based on the user information c, and determines the user interest information d. To do. As an example, the user interest information d can include terms that the user is interested in. For example, the user information c includes a place of residence (Yamanashi Prefecture), a hobby (jogging), and a field of interest (economy, politics). If entered, user interest information d including the terms "Yamanashi Prefecture, jogging, economy, politics" can be determined.

The above is a description of an example of determining the user interest information d based on the user information c, but the user interest analysis program 22 is not limited to determining the user interest information d based on the user information c. , The user interest information d can also be determined according to the input from the user.

For example, when the user inputs "Yamanashi Prefecture", "jogging", "economy", and "politics" from the user terminal 110, the user interest analysis program 22 says "Yamanashi Prefecture, jogging, economy, politics". User interest information d including terms can be determined.

The article selection / recommendation program 23 selects the electronic version article a (d) related to the user interest information d from the electronic version article a received by the electronic version article API 21. As described above, since the electronic version article a includes the meta information b, the article selection / recommendation program 23 collates the user interest information d with the meta information b, and uses the terms included in the user interest information d. , The electronic version article a (d) related to the user interest information d can be selected from the electronic version article a based on the fact that there is a match with the term included in the meta information b.

When a plurality of electronic version articles a (d) are selected, the article selection / recommendation program 23 sorts the plurality of electronic version articles a (d) in descending order of importance.

The method of determining the importance is not limited, but as an example, the electronic version of the article a (d) having a large number of matches between the terms included in the user interest information d and the terms included in the meta information b. , Can be of high importance. In addition, instead of simply comparing the number of matches, the term designated as the "field of interest" (politics, economy in this example) is highly weighted in the user interest information d, and weighted evaluation is performed. May be used to determine the importance.

The article selection / recommendation program 23 can determine the importance even when the electronic version article a does not include the meta information b.

In this case, the article selection / recommendation program 23 targets the text information f of each electronic version article a in order to select the electronic version article a (d) related to the user interest information d. , Select the electronic version article a that contains the terms that match the terms included in the user interest information d, and from the selected electronic version articles a, there are many terms that match the terms included in the user interest information d. The electronic version of the article a (d) having the included text information f can be made of higher importance.

In this case as well, the importance may be determined by using an arbitrary method as appropriate, such as performing a weighted evaluation in which a specific term is highly weighted. For example, the content analysis of each selected electronic version article a (d) is performed using AI technology, and the importance is determined according to the degree of relevance between the content analysis result and the user interest information d. You may.

In this way, the article selection / recommendation program 23 selects the electronic version articles a (d) related to the user interest information d from the electronic version articles a for each user, and further, a plurality of electronic version articles. When a (d) is selected, these plurality of electronic version articles a (d) are sorted in descending order of importance.

When the text information f included in each electronic version article a (d) sorted by the article selection / recommendation program 23 in order of importance is output by voice from, for example, an existing voice output engine without any setting, it is usually normal. , It is read aloud with an unnatural voice without intonation or intonation.

Therefore, the manuscript conversion program 24 inserts punctuation marks at appropriate places in the text information f, unifies the ending "masu-masu", and accents the text information f so that the text information f is read out as a very natural voice. And intonation settings. In addition, settings are made to emphasize and read important terms.

In the press field, emphasizing and reading important terms is called "standing up." When reading news manuscripts, TV and radio announcers are always aware of which term they "stand". That is, even if the news manuscript has the same text information f, the way it is transmitted to the viewer changes depending on how it is read, that is, how it stands. Therefore, when reading out the text information f, simply reading it correctly is not sufficient for news coverage, and it is necessary to read out important terms.

Therefore, the manuscript conversion program 24 further sets a text for reading aloud the user interest information d of the user, the terms included in the user interest information d, and the terms related to the user interest information d. This is performed for the information f.

Specifically, the manuscript conversion program 24 sets the text information f to read aloud the term "standing" slowly and loudly, or to read aloud after a pause in front of the term "standing". To do.

For example, a case of reading aloud a news manuscript consisting of text information f that "generates the latest news every 5 minutes based on the final article of the Nikkei electronic version" will be described. In this case, if the user interest information d includes the term "Nikkei electronic version", the manuscript conversion program 24 is larger than the other terms in order to "stand up" the term "Nikkei electronic version". Make settings for the text information f so that it is read aloud slightly slowly. This makes it possible to provide news that emphasizes the "Nikkei electronic version."

Further, the manuscript conversion program 24 can be set to "stand up" not only the terms included in the user interest information d but also the terms not included in the user interest information d. Therefore, the manuscript conversion program 24 can determine a term related to the user interest information d as a term to "stand up" by using, for example, AI technology. An example thereof will be described below.

For example, when the user interest information d includes the term "time", the manuscript conversion program 24 uses AI technology to make the term "5 minutes ago" relevant to the user interest information d "time". It is determined that the term is a certain term, and a setting is made for the text information f so that the term is read aloud at intervals before "every 5 minutes". Of course, as described above, the text information f may be set to read "every 5 minutes" in a louder voice than other terms. This makes it possible to provide news with the term "every 5 minutes" emphasized and "time" emphasized.

The reading setting program 25 is an obfuscated term such as a person's name or a place name for the text information f included in each electronic version of the article a (d) selected by the article selection / recommendation program 23 and sorted in descending order of importance. Set the furigana for. A general-purpose dictionary may be used for setting furigana.

Further, using AI technology, furigana may be determined and set from the contents of the context based on the text information f. As a result, for example, the surname "Hanyu" has not only the reading "habu" but also the reading "hanyu", but AI technology has determined that the text information f is the content of shogi. In this case, you can set the phonetic spelling "Habu" for "Hanyu", and if it is determined that the text information f is the content of figure skating, swing "Hanyu" for "Hanyu". You can set a pseudonym.

The speech synthesis program 26 uses the manuscript conversion program 24 and the reading setting program 25 to convert the text information f included in each electronic version of the article a (d) selected by the article selection / recommendation program 23 and sorted in descending order of importance. Generates voice synthesis information i, which is voice information read aloud according to the settings made by.

The motion generation program 27 generates motion setting information j corresponding to the voice synthesis information i. The motion setting information j is setting information for setting a moving image linked with the voice read out according to the voice synthesis information i. Specifically, the motion setting information j is the setting information for defining the character (for example, gender, age, clothes, etc.) of the newscaster or announcer displayed in the moving image, or the movement of the character in conjunction with the voice. Includes configuration information for.

The character (for example, gender, age, clothes, etc.) may be set according to the default conditions prepared in advance, or may be set according to the user's specification. The setting of the action linked with the voice is the setting of the rule of how the character behaves in what event, for example, bowing at the start and end of the news program, moving the lips according to the voice. Includes settings such as raising your face when switching to the next news.

The motion setting information j also includes setting information of the image information a3 to be displayed together with the voice output of the voice synthesis information i (information for setting which image information a3 is displayed in what event).

The output program 28 generates image information k for displaying a list of headings a2 for each electronic version article a (d) sorted by the article selection / recommendation program 23 in order of importance from the display of the user terminal 110. Output to the user terminal 110. The image information k thus output by the output program 28 is transmitted from the communication unit 15 to the user terminal 110 via the communication network 100, and is displayed from the display of the user terminal 110.

The output program 28 further includes the speech synthesis information i generated by the speech synthesis program 26 and the speech synthesis information i generated by the speech synthesis program 26 for each text information f included in each electronic version article a (d) sorted in order of importance by the article selection / recommendation program 23. The motion setting information j generated by the motion generation program 27 is output to the user terminal 110. The voice synthesis information i and the motion setting information j thus output by the output program 28 are transmitted from the communication unit 15 to the user terminal 110 via the communication network 100, and the voice synthesis information i from the speaker of the user terminal 110. Is output as voice, and a moving image is displayed from the display of the user terminal 110 based on the motion setting information j in accordance with the voice output of the voice synthesis information i.

Even if the user terminal 110 does not have a display and cannot display image information k or moving images, if the user terminal 110 has a speaker, the voice can be output from the speaker based on the voice synthesis information i. Can be done.

In this way, the information providing device 10 can personalize a news program such as an actual TV or radio news program for each user and provide the information to the user on a regular basis and automatically.

Next, an operation example of the information providing device to which the information providing method according to the embodiment of the present invention configured as described above is applied will be described.

The user needs to be registered as a user in advance in order to use the information providing device 10. The operation at the time of user registration will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an operation example at the time of user registration to the information providing device.

When performing user registration, the user requests user registration from the user terminal 110 to the information providing device 10 (S1).

On the other hand, the information providing device 10 assigns a user ID, which is user identification information (S2), and returns the information to the user terminal 110 of the transmission source, and the user is requested to set a password (S3). ).

In response to this, the user transmits a desired password to the information providing device 10 (S4). When the information providing device 10 determines that this password is valid according to the security policy defined in the information providing device 10 (S5: Yes), the user ID and the password are associated with each other and the user information database. It is written in 32. As a result, user registration is completed (S6).

On the other hand, in step S5, when the information providing device 10 determines that the password is not valid (S5: No), the process returns to step S3, and the user is requested to reset the password (S3). ).

After the user registration is completed, the user can log in to the information providing device 10 and use the information providing device 10 by inputting the user ID and password into the information providing device 10 from the user terminal 110.

The information providing device 10 requests a user registered as a user to transmit user information c in order to provide a personalized news program for each user.

In response to this request, the user can transmit the user information c from the user terminal 110 to the information providing device 10 at an arbitrary timing (S7). The user information c includes, for example, name, date of birth, gender, age, contact information, place of residence (for example, Yamanashi Prefecture), hobby (for example, jogging), field of interest (for example, economy, politics, etc.), etc. including.

In the information providing device 10, when the user information c is transmitted from the user, the user information c is associated with the user ID and written in the user information database 32 (S8).

Based on the user information c written in the user information database 32, the user interest analysis program 22 performs a user interest analysis and determines the user interest information d (S9).

Next, the operation when the news program is provided by the information providing device 10 will be described with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the information providing device when the news program is provided.

When the electronic version article a is provided from the electronic version article providing server 120 via the communication network 100 at regular intervals (for example, every 5 minutes), the electronic version article a is received by the communication unit 15, and the electronic version is received. Received by article API21 (S11).

In the article selection / recommendation program 23, the electronic version article a (d) related to the user interest information d is selected from the electronic version article a received by the electronic version article API 21 (S12).

When a plurality of electronic version articles a (d) are selected in step S12 (S13: Yes), the plurality of electronic version articles a (d) are ordered by the article selection / recommendation program 23 in descending order of importance. It is sorted (S14).

If only one electronic version of the article a (d) is selected in step S12 (S13: No), the process of step S14 is performed, and the process proceeds to the next process.

Next, for the text information f included in the electronic version article a (d) selected in step S12, punctuation marks are inserted at appropriate places by the manuscript conversion program 24, or the ending "masu-masu" is added. Unification is done, and accents and intonations are set. Furthermore, a setting is made to emphasize (“stand up”) important terms and read them aloud (S15).

Further, in the reading setting program 25, furigana for obfuscated terms such as a person's name and a place name is set for the text information f (S16).

Next, in the voice synthesis program 26, the text information f is read aloud according to the settings made by the manuscript conversion program 24 in step S15 and the settings made by the reading setting program 25 in step S16. Information i is generated (S17).

Further, in the motion generation program 27, the motion setting information j corresponding to the voice synthesis information i is generated (S18).

As a result, the user can set the character and the operation according to his / her preference, for example, as illustrated in FIG. 6 described later.

After that, in the output program 28, image information k for displaying the headings a2 of each electronic version article a (d) sorted in order of importance in step S14 from the display of the user terminal 110 is generated, and the user terminal 110 is generated. Is output toward (S19).

If only one electronic version article a (d) is selected in step S12, image information for displaying the heading a2 of this one electronic version article a (d) from the display of the user terminal 110. k is generated and output to the user terminal 110.

The image information k thus output by the output program 28 is transmitted from the communication unit 15 to the user terminal 110 via the communication network 100, and is displayed from the display of the user terminal 110 (S20).

Further, in the output program 28, the voice synthesis information i generated in step S17 and the motion setting information j generated in step S18 are output to the user terminal 110 (S21).

The voice synthesis information i and the motion setting information j thus output by the output program 28 are transmitted from the communication unit 15 to the user terminal 110 via the communication network 100, and the voice synthesis information i from the speaker of the user terminal 110. Is output as voice, and a moving image is displayed from the display of the user terminal 110 based on the motion setting information j in accordance with the voice output of the voice synthesis information i (S22).

After that, the process returns to step S11, and the process of step S11 to step S22 is repeated. As a result, a news program personalized for each user is automatically provided to the user based on the latest electronic version article a.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a display example on the display of the user terminal in which the headlines of the electronic version articles sorted in order of importance and the characters set by the motion generation program are displayed.

From the display of the user terminal 110, the headings a2 for each electronic version article a (d) sorted in order of importance based on the image information k are displayed in a list. Further, the character Q is displayed as a moving image based on the motion setting information j.

In the motion setting information j, the character Q illustrated in FIG. 6 has a character set such that the gender is female, the age is 20s, the hair is long hair, and the clothes are a green long skirt and a light purple jacket. It is set to bow at the beginning and end of the news program, move the lips as the news manuscript is read, and raise the face once when switching to the next news.

In this way, the user can set the characteristics of the character Q according to his / her taste and display a moving image.

Even if the user terminal 110 does not have a display and cannot display image information k or moving images, if the user terminal 110 has a speaker, the text information f is read out from the speaker based on the voice synthesis information i. It is possible to output the recorded voice.

In this way, the information providing device 10 can personalize a news program such as an actual TV or radio news program for each user and periodically and automatically provide the user with audio or video. it can.

The content of the articles provided in this news program is extremely real-time because it is based on the latest electronic version of articles that are updated frequently, for example, every 5 minutes. Moreover, in this news program, not only the news that is most important to the user is provided in order, but when the news is read aloud, the terms that are highly relevant to the user are emphasized (“stand up”). Therefore, the content of the news can be conveyed to the user in a very easy-to-understand manner.

This allows the user to easily grasp the news of interest in near real time without having to perform any special operation, for example, while doing other work.

As described above, according to the information providing method and the information providing device according to the present embodiment, a news program such as an actual TV or radio news program is personalized for each user, and the user is periodically and automatically provided. Can be provided as audio or video.

The best mode for carrying out the present invention has been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the present invention is not limited to such a configuration. Within the scope of the claimed technical idea, those skilled in the art can come up with various modifications and modifications, and these modifications and modifications are also the technical scope of the present invention. It is understood that it belongs to.

For example, the electronic version article API 21, the user interest analysis program 22, the article selection / recommendation program 23, the manuscript conversion program 24, the reading setting program 25, the speech synthesis program 26, the motion generation program 27, and the output program 28 shown in FIG. Although it is an indispensable component for realizing the information providing device 10, components other than the above may be appropriately added in order to add various application functions, and information to which components other than the above are added may be added as appropriate. The provided device also belongs to the technical scope of the present invention.

Further, for example, the user interest analysis program 22, the article selection / recommendation program 23, the manuscript conversion program 24, the reading setting program 25, the speech synthesis program 26, and the motion generation program 27 in the information providing device 10 have their respective functions. A specialized AI technology may be applied, and an information providing device to which the AI technology specialized for each function is applied also belongs to the technical scope of the present invention.

The present invention can be suitably used in a field of providing a news program using a communication network such as the Internet.

8 Server 10 Information provider 11 Bus 12 CPU
13 External recording medium 14 Recording medium reading unit 15 Communication unit 20 Memory 21 Electronic version Article API
22 User interest analysis program 23 Article selection / recommendation program 24 Manuscript conversion program 25 Reading setting program 26 Voice synthesis program 27 Motion generation program 28 Output program 29 Writable data area 30 Storage device 32 User information database 100 Communication network 110 User terminal 120 Electronic version article providing server

A first aspect of the present invention is a first means of receiving an electronic version of an article containing text information of an article, and from the received electronic version of the article to user interest information including a set of terms of interest to the user. A second means of selecting a relevant electronic article and determining the importance of the selected electronic article based on the user interest information and reading out the text information of the selected electronic article. A third means for setting the text information, and a voice synthesis in which the text information of the selected electronic version article is read out as voice according to the setting in the order of importance. e Bei a fourth means for generating information, said third means, said selected electronic Release each article, from among the terms contained in the text information, relevant to the user interest information It is an information providing device that determines a certain term .

A fourth aspect of the present invention is a setting for emphasizing at least one of a term included in the user interest information and a term related to the user interest information. It is an information providing device of the first aspect including.

A fifth aspect of the present invention is the information providing device of the fourth aspect, wherein the setting for emphasizing and reading out includes a setting for reading out after a pause before reading out a term to be emphasized and read out. is there.

A sixth aspect of the present invention is that the second means is an electronic version of the selected electronic version article that includes text information that includes many terms that match the terms included in the user interest information. It is an information providing device according to any one of the first to fifth aspects, which determines the importance so that the article has the higher importance.

A seventh aspect of the present invention further comprises a fifth means of generating image information for displaying the headlines of the electronic version articles whose importance has been determined in the order of importance of the corresponding electronic version articles. , The information providing device of the sixth aspect.

An eighth aspect of the present invention further comprises a sixth means for generating motion setting information, which is setting information for a moving image linked with a voice read out according to the voice synthesis information, the first to sixth aspects. It is an information providing device of any one of the aspects.

A ninth aspect of the present invention is that the motion setting information includes setting information for defining a character displayed in the moving image and setting information for the operation of the character in conjunction with voice. It is an information providing device of 8 aspects.

A tenth aspect of the present invention is to transfer the voice synthesis information and the motion setting information to the terminal so that the voice is output according to the voice synthesis information and the moving image is output according to the motion setting information in the terminal. An information providing device of an eighth or ninth aspect, further comprising a fifth means of outputting.

An eleventh aspect of the present invention further comprises a fifth means for outputting the voice synthesis information to the terminal so that the voice is output according to the voice synthesis information in the terminal. This is an information providing device according to any one of the above aspects.

A twelfth aspect of the present invention is a method of providing information by an information providing device, in which the information providing device receives an electronic version article including text information of the article, and a user can use the received electronic version article. An electronic version of the article that is relevant to the user interest information, including a set of terms of interest, is selected, the importance of the selected electronic version article is determined based on the user interest information, and the selection is made. Settings for reading out the text information of the electronic version of the article are set for the text information, and for each of the selected electronic version articles, the user interest information is selected from the terms included in the text information. An information providing method that determines relevant terms and generates speech synthesis information that is information read out as speech according to the settings in the order of importance of the text information of the selected electronic version article. is there.

A thirteenth aspect of the present invention is related to a function of receiving an electronic version article including text information of an article, and user interest information including a set of terms that the user is interested in from the received electronic version article. The text information includes a function for selecting an electronic version article and determining the importance of the selected electronic version article based on the user interest information, and a setting for reading out the text information of the selected electronic version article. A function for determining a term related to the user interest information from the terms included in the text information for each selected electronic version article, the selected electronic version. It is a program for realizing a function of generating speech synthesis information which is information read out as speech according to the setting in order of importance of the text information of an article.

Claims (14)

The first way to receive an electronic version of an article, including textual information about the article,
From the received electronic version articles, an electronic version article related to the user interest information including a set of terms that the user is interested in is selected, and the importance of the selected electronic version article is determined by the user interest. A second means of making informed decisions,
A third means of making settings for reading the text information of the selected electronic version article for the text information, and
An information providing device including a fourth means for generating voice synthesis information which is information read out as voice according to the setting from the text information of the selected electronic version article in the order of importance. The information providing device according to claim 1, wherein the user interest information is determined based on the user information registered in advance. The information providing device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein performing the setting on the text information includes performing the setting on the text information based on the user interest information. The third means of claims 1 to 3 determines a term related to the user interest information from the terms contained in the text information for each selected electronic version article. The information providing device according to any one of the items. The information according to claim 4, wherein the setting includes a setting for emphasizing at least one of a term included in the user interest information and a term related to the user interest information. Providing equipment. The information providing device according to claim 5, wherein the setting for emphasizing and reading out includes a setting for reading out after a pause before reading out a term to be emphasized and read out. The second means is such that the electronic version article containing text information containing many terms matching the terms included in the user interest information among the selected electronic version articles has a higher importance. The information providing device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, which determines the importance of the device. The information provision according to claim 7, further comprising a fifth means for generating image information for displaying the headlines of the electronic version articles whose importance has been determined in the order of importance of the corresponding electronic version articles. apparatus. The information according to any one of claims 1 to 7, further comprising a sixth means for generating motion setting information which is setting information for a moving image linked with a voice read out according to the voice synthesis information. Providing equipment. The information providing device according to claim 9, wherein the motion setting information includes setting information for defining a character displayed in the moving image and setting information for an operation of the character in conjunction with voice. The terminal further includes a fifth means for outputting the voice synthesis information and the motion setting information to the terminal so that the voice is output according to the voice synthesis information and the moving image is output according to the motion setting information. The information providing device according to claim 9 or 10. The invention according to any one of claims 1 to 7, further comprising a fifth means for outputting the voice synthesis information to the terminal so that the voice is output according to the voice synthesis information in the terminal. Information providing device. It is a method of providing information by an information providing device.
The information providing device
Receive an electronic version of the article containing the textual information of the article
From the received electronic version articles, an electronic version article related to the user interest information including a set of terms that the user is interested in is selected, and the importance of the selected electronic version article is determined by the user interest. Informed decision,
Settings for reading the text information of the selected electronic version article are made for the text information, and the text information is set.
An information providing method for generating voice synthesis information, which is information read out as voice according to the setting, in the order of importance of the text information of the selected electronic version article. Ability to receive electronic articles containing textual information about articles,
From the received electronic version articles, an electronic version article related to the user interest information including a set of terms that the user is interested in is selected, and the importance of the selected electronic version article is determined by the user interest. Ability to make informed decisions,
A function for setting the text information for reading the text information of the selected electronic version article,
A function of generating voice synthesis information, which is information read out as voice according to the setting, in the order of importance of the text information of the selected electronic version article.
Program to realize in the processor.