JP2024081077A - Program, information processing method, server, and system - Google Patents

Abstract

To improve convenience with respect to viewing of a content.SOLUTION: A program executed by a server communicating with a first terminal and a second terminal of distributors distributing a content causes the server to: receive first content information about a content including set contents from the first terminal by a communication unit of the server; receive second content information different from the first content information about the content including the contents from the second terminal by the communication unit; perform first processing of extracting a section on a time base associated with the contents from the first content information by a control unit of the server; perform second processing of extracting a section on the time base associated with the contents from the second content information by the control unit; and perform processing of generating third content information including a content about the contents by the control unit on the basis of the first processing and the second processing.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1-1

Description

This disclosure relates to programs, information processing methods, servers, systems, etc.

There is a service called live commerce that combines electronic commerce (EC) with live streaming, allowing users to sell products while communicating with each other (for example, Patent Document 1).

JP 2019-197427 A

According to a first aspect of the present invention, a program executed by a server communicating with a first terminal and a second terminal of a distributor that distributes content includes the following operations: receiving first content information regarding content including a set content from the first terminal by a communication unit of the server; receiving second content information different from the first content information regarding the content including the content from the second terminal by the communication unit; performing a first process by a control unit of the server to extract a section on a time axis associated with the content from the first content information; performing a second process by the control unit to extract a section on a time axis associated with the content from the second content information; and performing a process by the control unit to generate third content information including content related to the content based on the first process and the second process.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, an information processing method of a server communicating with a first terminal and a second terminal of a distributor that distributes content includes receiving first content information regarding content including a set content from the first terminal by a communication unit of the server, receiving second content information different from the first content information regarding the content including the content from the second terminal by the communication unit, performing a first process by a control unit of the server to extract a section on a time axis associated with the content from the first content information, performing a second process by the control unit to extract a section on a time axis associated with the content from the second content information, and performing a process by the control unit to generate third content information including content related to the content based on the first process and the second process.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, a server that communicates with a first terminal and a second terminal of a distributor that distributes content includes a communication unit that receives first content information regarding the content including a set content from the first terminal and receives second content information regarding the content including the content from the second terminal, the second content information being different from the first content information, and a control unit that performs a first process to extract a section on a timeline associated with the content from the first content information, performs a second process to extract a section on a timeline associated with the content from the second content information, and generates third content information including content related to the content based on the first process and the second process.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, a system including a server that communicates with a first terminal and a second terminal of a distributor that distributes content, and the terminal, the server includes a communication unit that receives first content information regarding the content including a set content from the first terminal and receives second content information regarding the content including the content from the second terminal, the second content information being different from the first content information, and a control unit that performs a first process to extract a section on a timeline associated with the content from the first content information, performs a second process to extract a section on a timeline associated with the content from the second content information, and performs a process to generate third content information including content related to the content based on the first process and the second process, the communication unit of the server transmits the third content information to the terminal, and the terminal includes a communication unit that receives the third content information from the server and a display unit that displays the content included in the received third content information.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, a program executed by a server communicating with a first terminal of a viewer watching the live commerce content includes the following operations: a control unit of the server performs a process of recording the live commerce content in an archive during live broadcast of the live commerce content; a communication unit of the server receives first information regarding the viewer's reaction to the live commerce content from the first terminal during live broadcast of the live commerce content; based on the reception of the first information, the control unit performs a process of associating the reactions in chronological order in the archive; a control unit performs a process of aggregating the associated reactions; and, when the archive is distributed to a second terminal, the communication unit transmits second information based on the aggregating process to the second terminal.
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, a server communicating with a first terminal of a viewer watching live commerce content includes a control unit that performs a process of recording the live commerce content in an archive during live broadcast of the live commerce content, and a communication unit that receives first information regarding the viewer's reaction to the live commerce content from the first terminal during live broadcast of the live commerce content, wherein the control unit performs a process of associating the reactions in chronological order in the archive based on receipt of the first information, the control unit performs a process of aggregating the associated reactions, and when the archive is distributed to the second terminal, the communication unit transmits second information based on the aggregating process to the second terminal.
According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, an information processing method of a server communicating with a first terminal of a viewer watching live commerce content includes: performing a process of recording the live commerce content in an archive by a control unit of the server during live broadcast of the live commerce content; receiving first information regarding the viewer's reaction to the live commerce content from the first terminal by a communication unit of the server during live broadcast of the live commerce content; performing a process of associating the reactions in chronological order of the archive based on the reception of the first information by the control unit; performing a process of aggregating the associated reactions by the control unit; and, when the archive is distributed to a second terminal, transmitting second information based on the aggregating process to the second terminal by the communication unit.
According to an eighth aspect of the present invention, a system including a server that distributes live commerce content and a first terminal of a viewer that watches the live commerce content, the server performs a process of recording the live commerce content in an archive during live broadcast of the live commerce content using a control unit of the server, and the first terminal transmits first information regarding the viewer's reaction to the live commerce content received during the live broadcast of the live commerce content to the server using a communication unit of the first terminal, the server receives the first information using the communication unit of the server, and based on the reception of the first information, performs a process of associating the reactions in chronological order of the archive using a control unit of the server, and performs a process of aggregating the associated reactions using a control unit of the server, and when the archive is distributed to the first terminal, second information based on the aggregating process is transmitted to the first terminal using the communication unit of the server, and the first terminal receives the second information using the communication unit of the first terminal and displays the second information on a display unit of the first terminal by superimposing it on the archive.

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a system configuration of a communication system according to a first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of functions realized by a control unit of the server according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of information stored in a storage unit of the server according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of account registration data according to the first embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a live commerce distribution management database according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of functions realized by a control unit of the terminal according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of information stored in a storage unit of the terminal according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on a display unit of a viewer's terminal according to the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on a display unit of a viewer's terminal according to the first embodiment. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of a flow of a process executed by each device according to the first embodiment. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of a flow of a live commerce distribution process and a live commerce viewing process according to the first embodiment. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of a live commerce archive distribution process and a live commerce archive viewing process according to the first embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on a display unit of a viewer's terminal according to the first modified FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on a display unit of a viewer's terminal according to the first modified example. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on a display unit of a viewer's terminal according to the first modified example. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on a display unit of a viewer's terminal according to the second embodiment. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on a display unit of a viewer's terminal according to the second embodiment. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on a display unit of a viewer's terminal according to the second embodiment. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on a display unit of a viewer's terminal according to the second embodiment. 13 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of a live commerce archive distribution process and a live commerce archive viewing process according to the second embodiment. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on a display unit of a viewer's terminal according to a second modified example. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on a display unit of a viewer's terminal according to the third embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on a display unit of a viewer's terminal according to the third embodiment. 13 is a flowchart showing an example of a flow of processes executed by each device according to the third embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on a display unit of a viewer's terminal in the fourth embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on a display unit of a viewer's terminal in the fourth embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on a display unit of a viewer's terminal in the fourth embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on a display unit of a viewer's terminal in the fourth embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on a display unit of a viewer's terminal in the fourth embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on a display unit of a viewer's terminal in the fourth embodiment. 13 is a flowchart showing an example of a flow of a process executed by each device according to the fourth embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on a display unit of a distributor's terminal according to a fourth modified example. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on a display unit of a viewer's terminal in the fifth embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on a display unit of a viewer's terminal in the fifth embodiment. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on a display unit of a viewer's terminal in the fifth embodiment. 13 is a flowchart showing an example of a flow of a process executed by each device according to the fifth embodiment. FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on a display unit of a viewer's terminal in the sixth embodiment. FIG. 23 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed on a display unit of a viewer's terminal in the sixth embodiment.

<Compliance with legal matters>
It should be noted that the disclosures described herein are subject to compliance with the laws of the country of implementation, such as communications secrecy, as necessary for the implementation of the disclosure.

<Embodiment>
In this specification, for ease of understanding, there are some places where the phrase "by way of example and not by way of limitation" is used; however, it should be noted that not only these places, but also the entirety of the embodiments described below are not limited to the contents of the description.

An embodiment for implementing the program etc. disclosed herein will be described with reference to the drawings.

A system may be, by way of example and not limitation, comprised of multiple devices.
The multiple devices may be a combination of devices of the same type, a combination of devices of different types, or a combination of devices of the same type and devices of different types.
Note that a system can be considered, by way of example and not limitation, as a plurality of devices working together to perform some kind of processing.

Furthermore, a system relating to a client (client device) and a server can be considered to be, by way of example and not limitation, at least one of the following:
(1) Terminal & Server (2) Server (3) Terminal

(1) is, by way of example and not limitation, a system that includes at least one terminal and at least one server. One example of this is a client-server system.

The server is, by way of example and not limitation, composed of the following devices, which may be a single device or a combination of multiple devices:

Specifically, the server is configured to have at least one processor (for example and without limitation, a CPU: Central Processing Unit, a GPU: Graphics Processing Unit, an APU: Accelerated Processing Unit, a DSP: Digital Signal Processor (for example and without limitation, an ASIC: Application Specific Integrated Circuit, an FPGA: Field Programmable Gate Array), etc.), a computer device (processor + memory), a control device, an arithmetic device, a processing device, etc., and may be a configuration having multiple of the same type of any one device (for example and without limitation, a CPU + CPU, a homogeneous multi-core processor, etc.), or a configuration having multiple different types of any one device (for example and without limitation, a CPU + DSP, a heterogeneous multi-core processor, etc.), or may be a combination of multiple devices (for example and without limitation, a processor + computer device, a processor + arithmetic device, a heterogeneous combination of multiple devices, etc.).
The processor may be a virtual processor.

Furthermore, when a server executes some processing, if the server is configured with a single device, the processing described in the embodiment is executed by the single device. If the server is configured with multiple devices, the server may be configured to execute some processing by one device and execute other processing by the other device. As a non-limiting example, if the server is configured with a processor and an arithmetic device, the server may be configured to execute a first processing by the processor and execute a second processing by the arithmetic device.
Furthermore, when a configuration is made up of a plurality of devices, the devices may be arranged in locations physically separated from one another.

Furthermore, the server functions may be provided in the form of PaaS, IaaS, or SaaS in cloud computing, for example and without limitation.

The control unit of the system can be at least one of the control unit of the terminal and the control unit of the server. In other words, by way of example and not limitation, the control unit of the system can be any of the following: (1A) only the control unit of the terminal, (1B) only the control unit of the server, or (1C) both the control unit of the terminal and the control unit of the server.

In addition, the control and processing (hereinafter collectively referred to as "control, etc.") performed by the control unit of the system may be (1A) performed only by the control unit of the terminal, (1B) performed only by the control unit of the server, or (1C) performed by both the control unit of the terminal and the control unit of the server.
In addition, in (1C), as an example and not a limitation, some of the controls performed by the control unit of the system may be performed by the control unit of the terminal, and the remaining controls may be performed by the control unit of the server. In this case, the allocation (allocation) of the controls may be equal or may be allocated in different proportions.

Furthermore, when referring to a communication unit of a server, if the server is configured with a single device, it may be the communication unit itself that the single device has, or, if the server is configured with multiple devices, the communication unit of the server may be configured to include each communication unit that each device has.
As an example and not by way of limitation, if a server comprises a first device and a second device, the first device having a first communication unit and the second device having a second communication unit, the communication unit of the server may be conceptualized as including the first communication unit and the second communication unit.

(2) As an example and not a limitation, the system may be a system made up of multiple servers (hereinafter referred to as a "server system"). In this case, the configuration of each server may be the same as that described above.

The control etc. performed by the server system may be performed by only one of the multiple servers (2A), by only the other servers (2B), or by both the one server and the other servers (2C).
In addition, in (2C), as an example and not a limitation, one server may perform part of the control etc. performed by the server system, and another server may perform the remaining control etc. In this case, the allocation (allocation) of the control etc. may be equal or may be allocated in different proportions.

(3) By way of example and not limitation, the system may be made up of multiple terminals.
The system may be, by way of example and not limitation, a system such as the following:
A system in which terminals have server functions (distributed system). This can be realized, for example and without limitation, by using blockchain technology.
A system in which terminals communicate wirelessly with each other. This can be realized, for example and without limitation, by communicating in a peer-to-peer (P2P) manner using short-range wireless communication technology such as Bluetooth (registered trademark).

The above is not limited to the control unit, but also applies to each functional unit such as the input/output unit, communication unit, memory unit, clock unit, etc., which may be components of the system.

In the following embodiment, a system including a terminal and a server (a client-server system) is illustrated as an example and not as a limitation.
Incidentally, the server system described above in (2) can also be applied as the server.

Also, instead of a system including a terminal and a server, a system not including a server, such as the above-mentioned system (3) as an example and not a limitation, may be applied.
In this case, the embodiment can be configured based on the above-mentioned blockchain technology. Specifically, by way of example and not limitation, data stored and managed in a server described in the following embodiment is stored on the blockchain. Then, the terminal generates a transaction to the blockchain, and when the transaction is approved on the blockchain, the data stored on the blockchain can be updated.

It should be noted that even when the term "terminal" is used, this is not limited to the meaning of a terminal as a client device in a client server.
That is, a terminal may include the concept of a device other than in a client-server context.

In addition, the expression "through a communication I/F" is used appropriately in this specification. This is not intended to be limiting, but may be taken as an example to indicate that a device transmits and receives various information and data through a communication I/F (through a communication unit) based on the control of a control unit (such as a processor).

In addition, in this specification, when the terms "related to" and "associated" are used, such as "B related to A" or "B related to A," this may mean, by way of example and not limitation, that "B" has some kind of relationship with "A." Specific examples of this will be described later.

In addition, in this specification, when a device performs processing on two or more objects, such as "transmitting A and B" or "receiving A and B," this may include performing "A" and "B" in unison (hereinafter referred to as "simultaneous"), and performing "A" and "B" with different timing (hereinafter referred to as "non-simultaneous").
As an example and not a limitation, when referring to transmitting first information and second information, this may include both concepts of transmitting the first information and the second information in a synchronized manner and transmitting the first information and the second information with a lag in timing.
In addition, taking into consideration the lag (time lag), "simultaneous" may include "almost simultaneously."

Note that, even if "A" and "B" are performed at different times, this only needs to be the processing targeting "A" and "B," and the purpose does not necessarily have to be the same.
As an example and not a limitation, when the first information and the second information are transmitted as described above, it is sufficient to transmit the first information and the second information, and this may include cases where the first information and the second information are transmitted for the same purpose as well as cases where the first information and the second information are transmitted for different purposes.
This may also include cases where the first information and the second information are transmitted for the purpose of

In this specification, content may be information transmitted from a source to a destination. Also, content may be one or more pieces of content.

The content may include, by way of example and not limitation, text content in the form of text, image content in the form of images (including at least one of still images and/or moving images), audio content in the form of sounds (including voice), and the like.
In addition, the content may include operation content such as buttons and icons for user operation, and link content such as link information (including, but not limited to, a URI (Uniform Resource Identifier)).

The text may include, by way of example and not limitation, at least one of national characters, extended characters, machine-dependent characters, numbers, symbols, graphics, and signs, all of which are represented by character codes.
The text does not have to include at least one of the above characters, extended characters, machine-dependent characters, numbers, symbols, figures, and signs, and may include other text.

The image may include at least one of various types of image information, such as, for example and not limitation, icons, buttons, stamps, emojis, and banner images.

In the following embodiment, by way of example and not limitation, a live commerce service is illustrated as an example of a service in which a user can live stream live content such as video images and audio, and purchase products for sale introduced during the live stream through electronic commerce while watching the live streamed content. An application for realizing the live commerce service is referred to as a "live commerce application." The name of the live commerce application is also referred to as "Live Commerce App" and is illustrated. The live content streamed in the live commerce service may also be referred to as "live commerce content."

The "items for sale" may be tangible goods or intangible services.
Although the term "item for sale" is used for convenience, the item for sale may be one or more products or one or more services sold in the live commerce content. Also, the item for sale may be a combination of one or more products and one or more services sold in the live commerce content.

In the following, a user who broadcasts live to introduce products for sale in a live commerce service may be referred to as a "broadcaster," and a user who watches the live broadcast and purchases the products for sale may be referred to as a "viewer."

As a form for realizing a live commerce service, any of the following forms can be applied, by way of example and not limitation.
(A) A form in which a live commerce application is configured as a standalone application; (B) A form in which an e-commerce service function is provided as one function of a live streaming application; (C) A form in which a live streaming service function is provided as one function of an e-commerce application; (D) A form in which an application having a live streaming service function and an e-commerce service function (an integrated application) is configured.

In forms (B) and (C), by way of example and not limitation, the live streaming service provider may be the same provider as the e-commerce service provider.
In this case, as one method, the user's account in the e-commerce application and the user's account in the live distribution application can be a common account.
Alternatively, in this case, the user's account in the e-commerce application and the user's account in the live streaming application may be automatically associated (linked).

In addition, it is also possible to provide a messaging service function, which is an example of a service that allows users to chat (hereinafter referred to as a "chat service"), as one function of a live streaming application, an e-commerce application, or a live commerce application.
It is also possible to provide a live commerce service function as one function of a messaging application, which is an example of an application for realizing a chat service.

In addition, in this embodiment, expressions such as "information is transmitted and received between users" and "information is transmitted and received between terminals" may be used, but these may be considered to be substantially synonymous.
In addition, when a client-server system is applied, it is possible to configure the system so that information is transmitted between terminals via a server, but this may also be expressed as transmission and reception of information between users or terminals. Also, as described above, information may also be transmitted and received between terminals without applying a client-server system.

In the following embodiment, a live distribution is exemplified in which a distributor distributes a live video of a product for sale and a viewer watches the live video. The live distribution of live commerce content may be simply referred to as "live distribution" or "live commerce distribution."
In addition, in the following embodiments, live commerce distribution in which a distributor distributes (broadcasts live) to viewers in real time will be referred to as "live distribution," and live commerce distribution in which a record of the real-time distribution (hereinafter referred to as "archive") is distributed to viewers after the live distribution will be referred to as "archive distribution."

In addition, any of the above-mentioned forms (A) to (D) may be applied as a form for realizing a live commerce service, but the following embodiment mainly illustrates, by way of example and not limitation, the application of form (A) in which a live commerce application is configured as a standalone application.

First Example
In the first embodiment, viewers react to live commerce content during live distribution. In the archive distribution, information is added that allows viewers to jump to a part of the archive that interests them based on the reaction to the live distribution.

Here, examples of reactions to live commerce content include, but are not limited to, the following:
(A) The act of watching live commerce content itself.
(B) Commenting on live commerce content. The comment may be in the form of text, an image, or audio.
(C) Sharing live commerce content.
(D) Commenting on the products for sale introduced in the live commerce content. The comment may be in the form of text, an image, or audio.
(E) Purchasing a product introduced in the live commerce content. Note that this may include attempting to purchase even if the purchase does not result in a purchase (for example, but not limited to, transitioning to a product sales page).
(F) Sharing products featured in live commerce content.
It should be noted that reactions (D)-(F) may be referred to as "reactions to the product for sale" by way of example and not by way of limitation.
Furthermore, the reaction to live commerce content can be said to be the "excitement" of live commerce content.

The contents described in the first embodiment are applicable to any of the other embodiments and other modified examples.
Furthermore, the same components as those already mentioned are given the same reference numerals and will not be described again.

<System Configuration>
FIG. 1A is a diagram illustrating an example of a system configuration of a communication system 1 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.
In the communication system 1, as an example and not a limitation, a server 10 and a plurality of terminals 20 (terminal 20A, terminal 20B, terminal 20C, . . . ) are connected via a network 30.

The server 10 has a function of providing a predetermined service (for example, but not limited to, a live commerce service, a messaging service, etc.) to the terminal 20 owned by the user via the network 30. For example, but not limited to, the server 10 can also be expressed as a live commerce server, a messaging server, etc.
In this embodiment, a live commerce service provider (operator) and a messaging service provider (operator) are considered to be users of the server 10.

The number of servers 10 and the number of terminals 20 connected to the network 30 are not limited.

The terminal 20 (terminal 20A, terminal 20B, terminal 20C, ...) may be any information processing terminal capable of implementing the functions described in each embodiment. Examples of the terminal 20 include, but are not limited to, a smartphone, a mobile phone (feature phone), a computer (such as, but not limited to, a desktop, laptop, tablet, etc.), a media computer platform (such as, but not limited to, a cable or satellite set-top box, a digital video recorder), a handheld computer device (such as, but not limited to, a PDA (personal digital assistant), an email client, etc.), a wearable device (such as, but not limited to, a glasses-type device, a watch-type device, etc.), a VR (Virtual Reality) terminal, a smart speaker (a device for voice recognition), or other types of computers or communication platforms. The terminal 20 may also be expressed as an information processing terminal.

The configurations of the terminals 20A, 20B, and 20C can be the same as one another, for example and not for limitation. In addition, if necessary, the terminal used by the user X may be expressed as the terminal 20X, and the user information in a specific service associated with the user X or the terminal 20X may or may not be expressed as the user information X.
The user information is information of a user associated with an account used by the user in a specific service. The user information includes, but is not limited to, information associated with a user, such as the user's name, the user's icon image, the user's age, the user's sex, the user's address, the user's hobbies and interests, and the user's identifier, which is input by the user or given by a specific service, and may be any one of these, or a combination of these, or may not be the same.

The network 30 serves to connect one or more terminals 20 and one or more servers 10. In other words, the network 30 refers to a communication network that provides a connection path so that the above-mentioned various devices can connect and then send and receive data.

One or more portions of network 30 may or may not be wired or wireless. Network 30 may include, by way of example and not limitation, an ad hoc network, an intranet, an extranet, a virtual private network (VPN), a local area network (LAN), a wireless LAN (WLAN), a wide area network (WAN), a wireless WAN (WWAN), a metropolitan area network (MAN), a portion of the Internet, a portion of the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), a cellular network, integrated service digital networks (ISDN), wireless LAN, long term evolution (LTE), code division multiple access (CDMA), Bluetooth, satellite communications, or the like, or a combination of two or more thereof. Network 30 may include one or more networks 30.

The server 10 (not limited to, but an example of a server, information processing device, or information management device) has a function of providing a predetermined service to the terminal 20. The server 10 may be any device that is an information processing device that can realize the functions described in each embodiment. The server 10 includes, not limited to, a server device, a computer (not limited to, but an example of, a desktop, laptop, tablet, etc.), a media computer platform (not limited to, but an example of, a cable or satellite set-top box, digital video recorder, etc.), a handheld computer device (not limited to, but an example of, a PDA, email client, etc.), or other types of computers or communication platforms. The server 10 may also be expressed as an information processing device. When there is no need to distinguish between the server 10 and the terminal 20, the server 10 and the terminal 20 may or may not be expressed as information processing devices.

[Hardware (HW) configuration of each device]
The HW configuration of each device included in the communication system 1 will be described.

(1) Terminal HW Configuration FIG. 1A shows an example of the HW configuration of the terminal 20.
The terminal 20 includes a control unit 21 (CPU: central processing unit), a storage unit 28, a communication I/F 22 (interface), an input/output unit 23, a clock unit 29A, and a position calculation information detection unit 29B. The HW components of the terminal 20 are connected to each other via a bus B, for example and not for limitation. It is not essential that the HW configuration of the terminal 20 includes all of the components. For example and not for limitation, the terminal 20 may or may not be configured such that individual components or multiple components are removable.

The communication I/F 22 transmits and receives various data via the network 30. The communication may be performed either wired or wirelessly, and any communication protocol may be used as long as mutual communication can be performed. The communication I/F 22 has a function of performing communication with various devices such as the server 10 via the network 30. The communication I/F 22 transmits various data to various devices such as the server 10 according to instructions from the control unit 21. The communication I/F 22 also receives various data transmitted from various devices such as the server 10 and transmits it to the control unit 21. The communication I/F 22 may also be simply referred to as a communication unit. When the communication I/F 22 is configured with a physically structured circuit, it may also be referred to as a communication circuit.

The input/output unit 23 includes a device for inputting various operations to the terminal 20, a device for outputting the results of processing performed by the terminal 20, etc. The input/output unit 23 may be an integrated input unit and an output unit, or may be separate input unit and output unit, or it may not be the case.

The input unit is realized by any one or combination of any type of device that can accept input from a user and transmit information related to the input to the control unit 21. Examples of the input unit include, but are not limited to, a touch panel, a touch display, hardware keys such as a keyboard, a pointing device such as a mouse, a camera (operation input via moving images), and a microphone (operation input by voice).

The output unit is realized by any one or a combination of any type of device capable of outputting the results of processing by the control unit 21. Examples of the output unit include, but are not limited to, a touch panel, a touch display, a speaker (audio output), a lens (for example, but not limited to, 3D (three dimensions) output or hologram output), a printer, etc.

By way of example only, the input/output unit 23 includes, by way of example and not limitation, a display unit 24, a sound input unit 25, a sound output unit 26, and an imaging unit 27.

The display unit 24 is realized by any one of all types of devices or a combination thereof that can display according to the display data written to the frame buffer. Examples of the display unit 24 include, but are not limited to, touch panels, touch displays, monitors (for example, but not limited to, liquid crystal displays and organic electroluminescence displays (OELDs)), head mounted displays (HDMs), projection mapping, holograms, and devices that can display images, text information, etc. in air (which may or may not be a vacuum). Note that these display units 24 may or may not be capable of displaying display data in 3D.

The sound input unit 25 is used to input sound data (including voice data; the same applies below). The sound input unit 25 includes a microphone and the like.
The sound output unit 26 is used to output sound data and includes a speaker and the like.
The imaging unit 27 is used to obtain image data (including still image data and moving image data; the same applies below). The imaging unit 27 includes a camera and the like.

If the input/output unit 23 is a touch panel, the input/output unit 23 and the display unit 24 may be arranged facing each other and have approximately the same size and shape.

The clock unit 29A is a built-in clock of the terminal 20, and outputs time information (timekeeping information). The clock unit 29A is configured to include, for example and not limitation, a clock that uses a crystal oscillator. The clock unit 29A can also be expressed as a timekeeping unit or a time information detection unit, for example and not limitation.

The clock unit 29A may or may not have a clock that conforms to the NITZ (Network Identity and Time Zone) standard or the like.

The position calculation information detection unit 29B is a functional unit that detects (measures) information (hereinafter referred to as "position calculation information") necessary for the control unit 21 to calculate (measure) the position of its own terminal 20. The position calculation information detection unit 29B can also be expressed as a position calculation sensor unit, for example and not by way of limitation.

The position calculation information detection unit 29B includes, by way of example and not limitation, a satellite positioning sensor (satellite positioning unit) which is a sensor or unit for calculating the position of the terminal 20 using a satellite positioning system such as GPS (Global Positioning System), an inertial measurement sensor (inertial measurement unit (IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit))) which is a sensor or unit for calculating the position of the terminal 20 using an inertial navigation system, a UWB positioning sensor (UWB positioning unit) which is a sensor or unit for calculating the position of the terminal 20 using UWB (Ultra Wide Band), etc.

The satellite positioning unit includes, by way of example and not limitation, an RF receiving circuit that converts RF (Radio Frequency) signals, including positioning satellite signals transmitted from positioning satellites and received by an antenna (not shown), into digital signals, and a baseband processing circuit that performs correlation calculation processing or the like on the digital signals output from the RF receiving circuit to capture the positioning satellite signals, and outputs information such as satellite orbit data and time data extracted from the positioning satellite signals as information for position calculation.

The inertial measurement unit has an inertial sensor that detects information required to calculate the position of the terminal 20 by inertial navigation calculation. Examples of inertial sensors include, but are not limited to, a three-axis acceleration sensor and a three-axis gyro sensor, and output the acceleration detected by the acceleration sensor and the angular velocity detected by the gyro sensor as information for position calculation.

The UWB positioning unit includes, by way of example and not limitation, an ultra-wideband RF (Radio Frequency) receiving circuit that converts an ultra-wideband RF signal, including an ultra-wideband pulse signal for positioning transmitted from a positioning beacon and received by an antenna not shown, into a digital signal, and a relative position calculation processing circuit that calculates the relative position between the terminal 20 and the positioning beacon based on the digital signal output from the ultra-wideband RF receiving circuit.
As an example and not by way of limitation, the UWB positioning unit may or may not cause the terminal 20 to function as a positioning beacon by transmitting an ultra-wideband RF signal including an ultra-wideband pulse signal for positioning from an antenna not shown.

By way of example and not limitation, the control unit 21 calculates the position of its own terminal 20 at regular or specific timings based on the position calculation information detected by the position calculation information detection unit 29B. The terminal position is referred to as the "terminal position", and the calculated terminal position is referred to as the "calculated terminal position". The control unit 21 may, but may not, associate the calculated terminal position with the date and time when the calculated terminal position is calculated and store it in the storage unit 28 as calculated terminal position history data.

The control unit 21 has circuitry that is physically structured to execute the functions realized by the code or instructions contained in the program, and is realized, for example and not by way of limitation, by a data processing device built into hardware. As such, the control unit 21 may or may not be described as a control circuit.

The control unit 21 may include, by way of example and not limitation, a central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, a processor core, a multiprocessor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), and a field programmable gate array (FPGA).

The storage unit 28 has a function of storing various programs and various data required for the operation of the terminal 20. The storage unit 28 includes, by way of example and not limitation, various storage media such as a hard disk drive (HDD), a solid state drive (SSD), a flash memory, a random access memory (RAM), and a read only memory (ROM). In addition, the storage unit 28 may or may not be expressed as a memory.

The terminal 20 stores the program P in the memory unit 28, and by executing this program P, the control unit 21 executes the processing of each unit included in the control unit 21. In other words, the program P stored in the memory unit 28 causes the terminal 20 to realize each function executed by the control unit 21. Furthermore, this program P may or may not be expressed as a program module.

(2) HW Configuration of Server FIG. 1A shows an example of the HW configuration of the server 10. As shown in FIG.
The server 10 includes a control unit 11 (CPU), a storage unit 15, a communication I/F 14 (interface), an input/output unit 12, and a clock unit 19. The components of the HW of the server 10 are connected to each other via a bus B, for example and not for limitation. It is not essential that the HW of the server 10 includes all components as the configuration of the HW of the server 10. For example and not for limitation, the HW of the server 10 may or may not be configured such that individual components or multiple components are removable.

The control unit 11 has circuitry that is physically structured to execute the functions realized by the code or instructions contained in the program, and is realized, for example and not by way of limitation, by a data processing device built into hardware.

The control unit 11 is typically a central processing unit (CPU), but may also be a microprocessor, a processor core, a multiprocessor, an ASIC, or an FPGA, or may not be such a unit. In this disclosure, the control unit 11 is not limited to these.

The storage unit 15 has a function of storing various programs and various data required for the operation of the server 10. The storage unit 15 is realized by various storage media such as a HDD, SSD, and flash memory. However, in this disclosure, the storage unit 15 is not limited to these. Furthermore, the storage unit 15 may or may not be expressed as a memory.

The communication I/F 14 transmits and receives various data via the network 30. The communication may be performed either wired or wirelessly, and any communication protocol may be used as long as mutual communication can be performed. The communication I/F 14 has a function of performing communication with various devices such as the terminal 20 via the network 30. The communication I/F 14 transmits various data to various devices such as the terminal 20 according to instructions from the control unit 11. The communication I/F 14 also receives various data transmitted from various devices such as the terminal 20 and transmits it to the control unit 11. The communication I/F 14 may also be simply referred to as a communication unit. When the communication I/F 14 is composed of a physically structured circuit, it may also be referred to as a communication circuit.

The input/output unit 12 includes a device for inputting various operations to the server 10, a device for outputting the results of processing performed by the server 10, and the like. The input/output unit 12 may be an integrated input unit and an output unit, or may be separate input unit and output unit, or it may not be the case.

The input unit is realized by any one or combination of all types of devices that can accept input from a user and transmit information related to the input to the control unit 11. The input unit is typically realized by hardware keys such as a keyboard, or a pointing device such as a mouse. Note that the input unit may or may not include a touch panel, a camera (operation input via video images), or a microphone (operation input via voice), but is not limited to these.

The output unit is realized by any one or a combination of any type of device capable of outputting the results of processing by the control unit 11. Examples of the output unit include, but are not limited to, a touch panel, a touch display, a speaker (sound output), a lens (for example, but not limited to, 3D (three dimensions) output or hologram output), a printer, etc.

By way of example only, the input/output unit 12 includes a display unit 13, by way of example and not by way of limitation.

The display unit 13 is realized by a display or the like. The display is typically realized by a monitor (for example, but not limited to, a liquid crystal display or an organic electroluminescence display (OELD)). The display may or may not be a head mounted display (HDM) or the like. These displays may or may not be capable of displaying display data in 3D. In the present disclosure, displays are not limited to these.

The clock unit 19 is a built-in clock of the server 10, and outputs time information (timekeeping information). The clock unit 19 is configured to include, for example and not limitation, an RTC (Real Time Clock) as a hardware clock, a system clock, etc. The clock unit 19 can also be expressed as a timekeeping unit or a time information detection unit, for example and not limitation.
(3) Others The server 10 stores the program P in the storage unit 15, and by executing this program P, the control unit 11 executes the processes of each unit included in the control unit 11. In other words, the program P stored in the storage unit 15 causes the server 10 to realize each function executed by the control unit 11. This program P may or may not be expressed as a program module.
The same applies to other devices.

In each embodiment of the present disclosure, the CPU of the terminal 20 and/or the server 10 is described as executing the program P to achieve this.

The control unit 21 of the terminal 20 and/or the control unit 11 of the server 10 may or may not realize each process by a CPU having a control circuit, but may also realize each process by a logic circuit (hardware) formed in an integrated circuit (IC (Integrated Circuit) chip, LSI (Large Scale Integration)) or a dedicated circuit. These circuits may be realized by one or more integrated circuits, and the multiple processes shown in each embodiment may or may not be realized by a single integrated circuit. Furthermore, LSIs are sometimes called VLSIs, super LSIs, ultra LSIs, etc., depending on the degree of integration. Therefore, the control unit 21 may or may not be expressed as a control circuit.

In addition, the program P (which may be, for example and not by way of limitation, a software program, computer program, or program module) of each embodiment of the present disclosure may or may not be provided in a state stored in a computer-readable storage medium. The storage medium is capable of storing the program P in a "non-transitory tangible medium." The program P may or may not be for realizing part of the functions of each embodiment of the present disclosure. Furthermore, the program P may or may not be a so-called difference file (difference program) that can realize the functions of each embodiment of the present disclosure in combination with a program P already recorded in the storage medium.

Furthermore, when referring to a system program (a program executed by the system), the system is as described above. The above-mentioned system program is a program that can be executed by the entire system, and this program may be composed of individual programs of the devices that make up the system, for example and without limitation, and the programs stored in each device that makes up the system may be different from each other. In other words, it is not necessary for the programs to be common to the individual devices that make up the system.
As an example and not a limitation, when a system is composed of a terminal and a server, if the system program is P1, the system program P1 is composed of a program P2 stored in the terminal and a program P3 stored in the server, and P2 and P3 are for executing the system program and may be different programs. As an example and not a limitation, the program P2 stored in the terminal may be a program that executes a first process and transmits the result of the first process to the server, and the program P3 stored in the server may be a program that executes a second process on the received result of the first process and transmits the result of the second process to the terminal.

The storage medium may include one or more semiconductor-based or other integrated circuits (ICs) (such as, by way of example and not limitation, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application specific IC (ASIC)), a hard disk drive (HDD), a hybrid hard drive (HHD), an optical disk, an optical disk drive (ODD), a magneto-optical disk, a magneto-optical drive, a floppy diskette, a floppy disk drive (FDD), a magnetic tape, a solid-state drive (SSD), a RAM drive, a secure digital card, or a drive, any other suitable storage medium, or a suitable combination of two or more of these. The storage medium may be volatile, non-volatile, or a combination of volatile and non-volatile, as appropriate. It should be noted that the storage medium is not limited to these examples and may be any device or medium capable of storing the program P. Also, the storage medium may or may not be referred to as a memory.

The server 10 and/or the terminal 20 can realize the functions of the multiple functional units shown in each embodiment by reading the program P stored in the storage medium and executing the read program P.

In addition, the program P of the present disclosure may or may not be provided to the server 10 and/or the terminal 20 via any transmission medium capable of transmitting a program (such as a communication network or broadcast waves). By way of example and not limitation, the server 10 and/or the terminal 20 executes the program P downloaded via the Internet or the like to realize the functions of the multiple functional units shown in each embodiment.

In addition, each embodiment of the present disclosure may be realized in the form of a data signal in which the program P is embodied by electronic transmission.
At least a part of the processing in the server 10 and/or the terminal 20 may or may not be realized by cloud computing consisting of one or more computers.
At least a part or all of the processing in the terminal 20 may or may not be performed by the server 10. In this case, at least a part or all of the processing of each functional unit of the control unit 21 of the terminal 20 may or may not be performed by the server 10.
At least a part or all of the processing in the server 10 may or may not be performed by the terminal 20. In this case, at least a part or all of the processing of each functional unit of the control unit 11 of the server 10 may or may not be performed by the terminal 20.

Unless explicitly stated, the judgment configuration in the embodiments of the present disclosure is not essential, and a specified process may or may not be executed when the judgment condition is satisfied, or when the judgment condition is not satisfied.

The programs disclosed herein are implemented using, by way of example and not limitation, scripting languages such as ActionScript and JavaScript (registered trademark), compiler languages such as Objective-C and Java (registered trademark), and markup languages such as HTML Living Standard.

<Functional configuration>
(1) Functional Configuration of the Server FIG. 1-2 is a diagram showing an example of functions realized by the control unit 11 of the server 10 in this embodiment.
The control unit 11 includes, as a functional unit, an application management processing unit 111 for executing application management processing according to an application management processing program 151 stored in the storage unit 15, by way of example and not of limitation.

FIG. 1C is a diagram showing an example of information stored in the storage unit 15 of the server 10 in this embodiment.
In the memory unit 15, for example and not limitation, an application management processing program 151 executed by the control unit 11 as application management processing, account registration data 153, and a live commerce distribution management database 155 are stored.

The account registration data 153 is registration data related to an account of an application (for example, but not limited to, a live commerce application), and an example of the data configuration is shown in FIG. 1-4.
In the account registration data 153, for example and not by way of limitation, a user name, an application ID, and other registration information are stored in association with each other.

The user name is the name of the account of the terminal 20 that uses this application, and by way of example and not limitation, the name registered by the user of the terminal 20 when using the application is stored.

The application ID is information used to identify an application account, or the account itself.
This application ID is preferably a value unique to each account, and as a non-limiting example, a unique value (proper value) is set and stored by the server 10 for each account.
The application ID is information associated with the terminal 20 or the user of the terminal 20, and is an example of information related to the terminal or information related to the user of the terminal.

Other registration information may include, by way of example and not limitation, various types of information such as identification information for identifying the terminal 20, the telephone number (terminal telephone number) of the terminal 20, an email address (terminal email address), and authentication information such as passwords (login password, authentication password, etc.) used for various authentications in the application.

The identification information for identifying the terminal 20 may be, for example and not for limitation, a terminal ID (for example and not for limitation, an International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI)).
Furthermore, the identification information for identifying the user of the terminal 20 may be, for example and without limitation, an application ID for a general user or an application ID for an official user.

It should be noted that the application ID may or may not be replaced by a "user ID."
Furthermore, in the case of an application in which only one account can be registered per terminal 20, as an example and not a limitation, it is possible to use "identification information for identifying terminal 20 = identification information for identifying the user of terminal 20 = application ID".

Also, by way of example and not limitation, it may or may not be possible to assign multiple terminal IDs to one application ID. In this case, it may or may not be possible to run applications in parallel (in parallel) on multiple terminals 20 using one application ID as an identification (login) target.

Also, instead of various IDs such as application IDs, it is possible to apply a method of managing accounts using information such as terminal telephone numbers.
In this case, instead of storing ID information such as an application ID in account registration data 153, information such as a terminal telephone number can be stored in account registration data 153. Note that, instead of replacing ID information such as an application ID with information such as a terminal telephone number, ID information such as an application ID may or may not correspond one-to-one to information such as a terminal telephone number.

In the following various embodiments, for the sake of simplicity, it is assumed that one account is registered for one terminal 20.
Furthermore, in this case, since, as described above, "identification information for identifying terminal 20 = identification information for identifying the user of terminal 20 = application ID," the term "user of the account" may be essentially synonymous with "terminal of the account."

Users who may register an account may include, by way of example and not limitation, broadcasters and viewers.
In the example of Figure 1-4, by way of example and not limitation, accounts with application IDs starting with "U" are distinguished as viewer accounts, and accounts with application IDs starting with "B" are distinguished as distributor accounts.
It is also possible not to explicitly distinguish between the accounts of the distributor and the viewer.

The account registration data 153 may or may not be stored separately as distributor account registration data for registering a distributor's account and viewer account registration data for registering a viewer's account.

The live commerce distribution management database 155 is a database for managing information related to live commerce contents distributed in the live commerce service, and an example of the data configuration is shown in FIG. 1-5.
The live commerce distribution management database 155 stores live commerce management data as data for each live commerce content.

Each live commerce management data stores, by way of example and not limitation, a distributor application ID, a live commerce ID, a live commerce name, other distribution information, merchandise management data, merchandise sales history management data (data relating to the sales history of the merchandise), and comment management data.

The distributor application ID stores the application ID of the distributor of this live commerce content.

The live commerce ID is information used to identify this live commerce content.
This live commerce ID is preferably a value unique to each live commerce content, and as a non-limiting example, a unique value (proper value) is set and stored by the server 10 for each live commerce content.

The live commerce name is the title of this live commerce content, and by way of example and not limitation, the name registered by the broadcaster when broadcasting live is stored.

Other distribution information may include, by way of example and not limitation, various information such as the start date and time of the live distribution of this live commerce content, the distribution period (viewing period), and information regarding the recording destination of the archive (by way of example and not limitation, the URI).

The sales item management data is data for managing the sales items sold in this live commerce content, and by way of example and not limitation, the sales item ID, sales item name, price, and other information are stored in association with each other.

The sales item ID is information used to identify the sales item.
This item ID is preferably a unique value for each item, and as a non-limiting example, when a distributor registers an item for sale, a unique value (proper value) is set and stored by the server 10 for each item for sale.

The name of the product for sale is the name of the product for sale, and by way of example and not limitation, the name entered by the distributor when registering the product for sale is stored.

The price is the selling price of the item for sale, and by way of example and not limitation, the value set by the distributor when registering the item for sale is stored.

Other information may include, by way of example and not limitation, information such as the size and color of the item for sale, a photo or icon of the item for sale, and the number of items in stock.

In addition, instead of storing the sales item management data in the live commerce distribution management database 155, as a non-limiting example, the sales item management data may be associated with the distributor application ID and stored independently.

The sales history management data for merchandise is data for managing the sales history of merchandise sold during the live broadcast of this live commerce content, and by way of example and not limitation, the merchandise ID, purchaser application ID, and sales time are stored in association with each other.

The sales item ID stores, by way of example and not limitation, the sales item ID of the purchased sales item.

The purchaser application ID stores, by way of example and not limitation, the application ID of the viewer who purchased the item for sale.

As a non-limiting example, the sales time stores the elapsed time from the start time of the live commerce content distribution at the time the item was purchased.

The sales history of items sold during archive distribution may be stored in the sales history management data for items. In this case, the sales time may be, for example and not limited to, the elapsed time in the archive starting from the beginning of the archive at the time the item was purchased. In addition, flag information may be added to the sales history management data for items to store whether or not the item was purchased during a live distribution.

In addition, the sales history management data for merchandise may or may not store history indicating that a viewer attempted to purchase an item but did not go as far as to make a purchase.

The comment management data is data for managing the history of comments sent from the terminal 20 during the live distribution of this live commerce content, and by way of example and not limitation, the comment time, the speaker application ID, and the comment information are stored in association with each other.

For example and not by way of limitation, the comment time stores the elapsed time from the start time of the live commerce content delivery at the time the comment was sent.

The speaker application ID stores, by way of example and not limitation, the application ID of the terminal 20 that sent the comment.

The comment information stores, by way of example and not limitation, information relating to the content of the comment sent from the terminal 20 (by way of example and not limitation, text, images, etc.).

The history of comments sent from the terminal 20 during archive distribution may be stored in the comment management data. In this case, the comment time may be, for example and not limited to, the elapsed time in the archive starting from the beginning of the archive at the time the comment was sent. Also, flag information may be added to the comment management data to store whether or not the comment was sent during live distribution.

Also, as a non-limiting example, if the comment information includes the name of a product for sale, or the product for sale that the comment was made about can be guessed, the comment management data may be stored in association with the comment information and the product ID of the product for sale that the comment was made about.

(2) Functional Configuration of the Terminal FIG. 1-6 is a diagram showing an example of functions realized by the control unit 21 of the terminal 20 in this embodiment.
The control unit 21 includes, as a functional unit, an application processing unit 211 for executing application processing according to an application processing program 281 stored in the storage unit 28, for example and not for limitation.

FIG. 1-7 is a diagram showing an example of data stored in the storage unit 28 of the terminal 20 in this embodiment.
In the memory unit 28, as a non-limiting example, an application processing program 281 executed as application processing by the control unit 21 and an application ID 283 corresponding to this terminal 20 or the account of the user of this terminal 20 are stored.

<Display screen>
In the following, as an example and not a limitation, a case will be described in which the terminal 20 is a smartphone equipped with a display unit 24 having a portrait display.

For example, but not by way of limitation, a smartphone has a touch panel that functions as an input unit and is disposed opposite the display, thereby forming a touch screen. When an element such as an icon, button, item, or input area is displayed on the display, and a part of the touch panel that faces the area in which the element is displayed is operated by a user, a program associated with that element or a subroutine of that program is executed.

In the following, a tap operation (sometimes simply referred to as "tap") can be, by way of example and not limitation, an action in which a user lightly touches the display unit 24 (touch screen) that is integrally configured with a touch panel with a finger or the tip of a pen, and then releases the touch.
Also, the scroll operation may be, for example and not for limitation, an operation (motion) for scrolling displayed information. For example and not for limitation, the scroll operation may be a "swipe operation" when the input is a finger, a touch pen, or the like, and may be a "wheel operation" when the input is a mouse, or the like.

Note that the display screen transitions described below are merely examples of display screen transitions for implementing the method of the present disclosure. In the display screen transitions illustrated below, the display of some display screens may be omitted, or other display screens may be added.

Figure 1-8 is a diagram showing an example of a live commerce application screen displayed on the display unit 24 of the terminal 20 in this embodiment. Here, an example is shown of a screen displayed on the display unit 24 of the terminal 20Z of a viewer (user Z.Z) watching the archived broadcast.

1-8 is a diagram showing an example of a display screen when a user Z.Z of a terminal 20Z views an archive distribution of a live commerce application.
In this archive distribution viewing screen, a live commerce content display area LCR1 for displaying live commerce content being distributed is displayed below the area at the top of the screen where the name of the live commerce application is displayed. In this screen, the live commerce content display area LCR1 displays archived video distributed by the user "LL Mart", who is the distributor. Specifically, the title video of "Full Body Spring Coordination", which is the opening part of the live commerce content, is displayed in the live commerce content display area LCR1.

As a non-limiting example, this archive distribution viewing screen may be accessible by selecting the live commerce name of the live commerce content that is currently in the archive distribution period from the home screen of the live commerce application.

In the upper left corner of the live commerce content display area LCR1, information such as the name of the distributor "LL Mart" and a "recording" icon indicating that the live commerce content is being archived is displayed.

A seek bar SB1 for visually displaying the playback position of the archive based on the archive distribution viewing screen is configured to be displayed at the bottom of the live commerce content display area LCR1. By way of example and not of limitation, the playback position of the archive can be changed by performing a sliding operation on the seek bar SB1.
Below the seek bar SB1, playback control function buttons for pausing archive playback, etc. are displayed in a row. Also, to the right of the seek bar SB1, the recording time of the archive ("1 hour" on this screen, as an example and not a limitation) and the current playback time from the beginning of the archive ("7 seconds" on this screen, as an example and not a limitation) are displayed.

Above the seek bar SB1, for example and not by way of limitation, a reaction graph RG1 based on the reactions of viewers to the live commerce content during the live broadcast is displayed.
The response graph RG1 can be configured, by way of example and not limitation, to be displayed as a bar graph, such that the greater the response to the live commerce content for each set period, the higher the height of the bar graph.
In addition, the reaction graph RG1 is configured so that, for example and not for limitation, image icons representing the respective products sold in the live commerce content are displayed in speech bubbles at the locations where the reaction to the products is large. Note that the image icons may be the names of the products, or the image icons and the names of the products may be displayed together.

Note that the reaction graph RG1 is not limited to a bar graph. The reaction graph RG1 may be, for example and without limitation, a line graph or a heat map.

In addition, image icons indicating items for sale may not be added to the reaction graph RG1.

At the bottom of the live commerce content display area LCR1, a sales item display area IIR1 for displaying sales items sold in this live commerce content is displayed.
The sales item display area IIR1 is configured to display information about each sales item in a carousel display, for example and not by way of limitation. In this screen, the sales item display area IIR1 displays sales item information IT1 corresponding to the sales item "knit beret."
This is based on the fact that among the reactions to the products on sale, the "knitted beret" was the first to receive the strongest response.

The sales item information IT1 is configured to display, by way of example and not limitation, the name of the sales item, the price, and a photo of the sales item. Also, on the right side of the sales item information IT1, by way of example and not limitation, a sales item purchase button indicated by the word "Purchase" for purchasing the sales item through electronic commerce is displayed.
As a non-limiting example, in the sales item information IT1, the "knit beret" is sold out, so the sales item purchase button is displayed in a grayed-out display mode and is disabled.

The left part of the live commerce content display area LCR1 is configured with a comment display area in which comments posted by viewers and distributors are displayed. By way of example and not limitation, this comment display area is configured to display posted comments in association with the icon image and user name of the user.

Note that comments may be the content described above. Also, comments may be one aspect of content.

By way of example and not limitation, the comment display area can be configured as an area in which a set number of lines of comments (by way of example and not limitation, about 4 to 5 lines) are displayed. In this case, by way of example and not limitation, each time a comment is posted, the comment is displayed from the bottom, with the oldest comment being pushed to the top, and the comment displayed in the top line can be hidden.

In this screen, as an example and not a limitation, the comment time when the first comment was sent during the live broadcast is "28 seconds", so no comments are displayed in the comment display area.

As a non-limiting example, when the user taps or drags the seek bar SB1 to the time corresponding to the image icon of the product "organic cotton socks," the screen transitions to the archive broadcast viewing screen shown in FIG. 1-9, as a non-limiting example.

On this screen, a video of a broadcaster introducing a live commerce content product, "organic cotton socks," is displayed in a live commerce content display area LCR1.
In addition, the comment display area displays a comment from user D.D praising the pattern of the socks, a comment from user B.B indicating that he purchased the sales item "organic cotton socks," and a comment from user C.C suggesting coordination with other sales items.

The seek bar SB1 shows that the playback point of the archive has been moved forward, and the black area indicating the playback point has expanded and extended from the beginning. It also shows that the current playback time, starting from the beginning of the archive, is now "38 minutes 19 seconds."

Also, on this screen, sales item information IT2 corresponding to the sales item "organic cotton socks" is displayed in sales item display area IIR1.
This is based on, by way of example and not limitation, that among the reactions to products for sale in the current revitalization section, the reaction to "organic cotton socks" was the greatest.

<Processing>
1-10 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of processing executed by each device in this embodiment. In this figure, from the left, the processing executed by the control unit 21 of the terminal 20L of the distributor (user L.L), the processing executed by the control unit 11 of the server 10, the processing executed by the control unit 21 of the terminal 20A of the viewer (user A.A) who watches the live distribution, and the processing executed by the control unit 21 of the terminal 20Z of the viewer (user Z.Z) who watches the archive distribution are shown.

Note that the process executed by the control unit 21 of the terminal 20 of a user other than user A who will be a viewer watching the live broadcast can be similar to that of the terminal 20A, for example, and not limited thereto, and therefore is omitted from the illustration.
In addition, the process executed by the control unit 21 of the terminal 20 of a user other than user Z who will be a viewer who views the archive distribution can be similar to that of the terminal 20Z, for example, without limitation, and therefore is omitted from the illustration.

Note that the processes described below are merely examples of processes for implementing the method of the present disclosure, and the present disclosure is not limited to these.
Other steps may be added to the process described below, or some steps may be omitted (deleted) from the process described below.
The same applies to the various processes described in this specification.

First, the control unit 21 of the terminal 20L, based on a request for live commerce distribution made by the user L.L via the input/output unit 23, begins acquiring live commerce content information based on the imaging unit 27 and the sound input unit 25, for example and not for limitation, and begins a process of transmitting the acquired live commerce content information to the server 10 via the communication I/F 22 (L110).

In addition, prior to transmitting the live commerce content information, the control unit 21 of the terminal 20L may, by way of example and not limitation, obtain information regarding the items for sale in the live commerce distribution based on user input via the input/output unit 23, and transmit the obtained information regarding the items for sale to the server 10 via the communication I/F 22. Then, the control unit 11 of the server 10 may add live commerce distribution management data to the live commerce distribution management database 155 based on the received information regarding the items for sale.

When the live commerce content information is received from the terminal 20L via the communication I/F 14, the control unit 11 of the server 10 executes the live commerce live distribution process (S110).

In addition, the control unit 21 of the terminal 20A executes, as an example and not a limitation, a live commerce viewing process based on a request to view a live commerce broadcast made by the user A.A via the input/output unit 23 (A110).

FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of a live commerce live distribution process and a live commerce viewing process.
In this figure, the left side shows the processes executed by the control unit 11 of the server 10, and the right side shows the processes executed by the control unit 21 of the terminal 20A of a viewer (user A.A.) who is watching the live distribution.

When the live commerce content information is received from terminal 20L via communication I/F 14, the control unit 11 of server 10 generates live commerce relay information based on the live commerce content information and the sales item management data of the live commerce distribution management database 155, for example and not by way of limitation, and transmits the generated live commerce relay information to terminal 20A via communication I/F 14 (S1110).

Then, the control unit 11 of the server 10 executes an archive recording process to record the live commerce content information received from the terminal 20L in an archive file (for example, but not limited to, a video file or an audio file) (S1120).
In addition, in the archive recording process, the control unit 11 of the server 10 may, as an example and not a limitation, associate the elapsed time from the start time of the live commerce broadcast with the number of viewers of the live commerce broadcast at that time and store them in the live commerce broadcast management data.

When the live commerce relay information is received from the server 10 via the communication I/F 22, the control unit 21 of the terminal 20A causes the display unit 24 to display the received live commerce relay information (A1110).
As an example and not a limitation, in a live commerce viewing process, the reaction graph RG1 is not displayed on the display unit 24 of the terminal 20A.

The control unit 21 of the terminal 20A determines, by way of example and not limitation, whether or not a purchase operation for a sales item has been performed by the user A.A via the input/output unit 23 (A1120).
When it is determined that a purchase operation for a sales item has been performed (A1120: YES), the control unit 21 of the terminal 20A sends sales item purchase request information including the sales item ID to the server 10 via the communication I/F 22, as an example and not a limitation (A1130).
When it is determined that the operation to purchase the product for sale is not being performed (A1120: NO), the control unit 21 of the terminal 20A skips step A1130.

When it is determined that the product purchase request information has been received from the terminal 20A via the communication I/F 14 (S1130: YES), the control unit 11 of the server 10 executes a product sales history addition process (S1140).
In the product sales history addition process, the control unit 11 of the server 10 stores the product ID, purchaser application ID, and sales time in association with each other in the product sales history management data of the live commerce distribution management data, by way of example and not limitation.
Prior to the sales history addition process, the control unit 11 of the server 10 may execute an electronic commerce transaction process based on the product purchase request information.
In addition, in the sales history addition process, the control unit 11 of the server 10 may generate purchase comment information including, for example and not by way of limitation, the name of the purchased product and the user name of the viewer who purchased the product, and transmit the purchase comment information to the terminal 20A via the communication I/F 14. Then, the control unit 21 of the terminal 20A may cause the display unit 24 to display the received purchase comment information.

If it is determined that the communication I/F 14 has not received product purchase request information from terminal 20A (S1130: NO), the control unit 11 of server 10 skips step S1140.

The control unit 21 of the terminal 20A, for example and not for limitation, determines whether or not a comment information has been input by the user A.A via the input/output unit 23 and an operation to transmit the comment information has been performed (A1140).
When it is determined that an operation has been performed (A1140: YES), the control unit 21 of the terminal 20A transmits, by way of example and not limitation, comment request information including comment information to the server 10 via the communication I/F 22 (A1150).
When it is determined that no operation has been performed (A1140: NO), the control unit 21 of the terminal 20A skips step A1150.

When it is determined that the comment request information has been received from the terminal 20A via the communication I/F 14 (S1150: YES), the control unit 11 of the server 10 executes a comment addition process (S1160).
In the comment adding process, the control unit 11 of the server 10 stores the comment time, the commenter application ID, and the comment information in the comment management data of the live commerce distribution management data, in association with each other, as an example and not a limitation.
In addition, in the comment adding process, the control unit 11 of the server 10 may, for example and not by way of limitation, generate distributed comment information including the user name of the viewer who made the comment and the comment information, and transmit the distributed comment information to the terminal 20A via the communication I/F 14. Then, the control unit 21 of the terminal 20A may cause the display unit 24 to display the received distributed comment information.
Also, when it is determined that comment request information has been received from the distributor's terminal 20L, the control unit 11 of the server 10 may similarly execute the comment addition process.

In addition, the control unit 21 of the terminal 20A may, for example and not for limitation, transmit share operation information indicating that a share operation has been performed to the server 10 via the communication I/F 22 when a share operation is performed by the user A.A to share with other users a URI for viewing the live commerce live stream or information about a product for sale introduced in the live commerce live stream via the input/output unit 23. Then, upon receiving the share operation information, the control unit 11 of the server 10 may, for example and not for limitation, associate the elapsed time from the start time of the live commerce live stream with the received share operation information and store them in the live commerce stream management data.

As a non-limiting example, when it is determined that live commerce broadcast end request information for ending the live broadcast has been received from terminal 20L via communication I/F 14 (S1170: YES), control unit 11 of server 10 transmits live commerce broadcast end information indicating the end of the live broadcast to terminal 20A via communication I/F 14 (S1180). Then, control unit 11 of server 10 ends the live commerce broadcast process.
As an example and not a limitation, if it is determined that the live commerce relay end request information has not been received (S1170: NO), the control unit 11 of the server 10, as an example and not a limitation, returns the processing to waiting for reception of live commerce content information and executes steps from S1110 onwards again.

As a non-limiting example, when it is determined that the live commerce broadcast end information is received from the server 10 via the communication I/F 22 (A1160: YES), the control unit 21 of the terminal 20A causes the display unit 24 to display the received live commerce broadcast end information (A1170). Then, the control unit 21 of the terminal 20A ends the live commerce viewing process.
As an example and not a limitation, if it is determined that live commerce broadcast end information has not been received (A1160: NO), the control unit 21 of terminal 20A, as an example and not a limitation, returns the processing to waiting for reception of live commerce broadcast information and executes steps from A1110 onwards again.

Returning to the process in FIG. 1-10, the control unit 11 of the server 10 executes, by way of example and not limitation, a live commerce live streaming process (S110), and then executes a live commerce response aggregation process (S130).

In the live commerce response counting process, the control unit 11 of the server 10 refers to the product sales history management data and the comment management data, by way of example and not limitation. Then, the control unit 11 of the server 10 calculates the number of sales of products recorded in the product sales history management data and the number of comments recorded in the comment management data for each set period (30 seconds, by way of example and not limitation) starting from the start time of the live commerce live broadcast (i.e., the start time of the archive recording), by way of example and not limitation.
Then, the control unit 11 of the server 10 counts up the number of live commerce responses for each set period based on the number of sales and the number of comments for each set period, for example and not for limitation. Note that the control unit 11 of the server 10 may also count up based on the number of live streaming viewers for each set period.

That is, the number of live commerce responses for each set period may be calculated as follows, for example and not by way of limitation.
・Number of sales ・Number of comments ・Number of live stream viewers ・Number of sales + number of comments ・Number of sales + number of live stream viewers ・Number of comments + number of live stream viewers ・Number of sales + number of comments + number of live stream viewers

In addition, the control unit 11 of the server 10 may calculate the number of live commerce responses using the following formula (1), as an example and not a limitation.
Live commerce response count = number of comments + W x number of sales... (1)

In formula (1), if "W" is any number that satisfies "W>1" (for example, "5" and not limitation), the number of sales in a certain period of time in which viewers purchase products due to the live stream is given more importance than the number of comments on the live stream. Therefore, the period in which the streamer expects to sell products that the viewers of the archives want to watch can be counted as a "hot" point in the live commerce content.

The control unit 11 of the server 10 may tally up the number of sales for each product ID.
Furthermore, when the comment information and the sales item ID are linked in the comment management data, the number of comments may be tallied for each sales item ID.
In these cases, it is possible to aggregate responses to live commerce content for each item being sold.

Next, the control unit 11 of the server 10 executes a live commerce response graph generation process (S150).
In the live commerce response graph generation process, the control unit 11 of the server 10 generates live commerce response graph information represented as a bar graph, etc., based on the number of live commerce responses for each set period collected in the live commerce response collection process, as an example and not as a limitation.

For example, and not by way of limitation, the live commerce response graph information may be generated by taking the time axis on the horizontal axis of a bar graph and the number of live commerce responses on the vertical axis, and normalizing the width of the bar graph to the width of the seek bar.

As an example and not a limitation, when the reactions to the live commerce content for each item are tallied based on the number of sales, the control unit 11 of the server 10 may add an image icon corresponding to each item to the live commerce reaction graph information during the period when the number of sales for that item is the highest.

The control unit 21 of the terminal 20Z executes, for example and not for limitation, a live commerce archive viewing process based on a request to view the archive distribution made by the user Z.Z via the input/output unit 23 (Z110).

In the live commerce archive viewing process, first, the control unit 21 of the terminal 20Z, by way of example and not limitation, transmits live commerce archive delivery request information to the server 10 via the communication I/F 22. By way of example and not limitation, when it is determined that the live commerce archive delivery request information has been received from the terminal 20Z via the communication I/F 14, the control unit 11 of the server 10 executes the live commerce archive delivery process (S170).

FIG. 1-12 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of a live commerce archive distribution process and a live commerce archive viewing process.
In this figure, the left side shows the processing executed by the control unit 11 of the server 10, and the right side shows the processing executed by the control unit 21 of the terminal 20Z of a viewer (user Z.Z) who views the archive distribution.

The control unit 11 of the server 10, by way of example and not limitation, transmits the live commerce reaction graph information generated in the live commerce reaction graph generation process (S150) to the terminal 20Z via the communication I/F 14 (S1710).

When the live commerce reaction graph information is received from the server 10 via the communication I/F 22, the control unit 21 of the terminal 20Z displays the received live commerce reaction graph information on the display unit 24 (Z1110).

The control unit 11 of the server 10 generates live commerce archive information based on, for example and not limitation, the archive file of the live commerce distribution management data and the sales item management data, and transmits the generated live commerce archive information to the terminal 20A via the communication I/F 14 (S1730).

When live commerce archive information is received from the server 10 via the communication I/F 22, the control unit 21 of the terminal 20A displays the received live commerce archive information on the display unit 24 (Z1120).

The control unit 21 of the terminal 20Z, for example and not for limitation, determines whether or not a seek operation has been performed on the seek bar by the user Z.Z via the input/output unit 23 (Z1130).
When it is determined that a seek operation has been performed on the seek bar (Z1130: YES), the control unit 21 of the terminal 20Z, as an example and not a limitation, transmits seek destination information including the playback point (seek destination) specified by the seek operation to the server 10 via the communication I/F 22 (Z1140).
If it is determined that a seek operation is not being performed (Z1130: NO), the control unit 21 of terminal 20Z skips the process to step Z1160.

If it is determined that seek destination information has been received from terminal 20Z via communication I/F 14 (S1750: YES), the control unit 11 of the server 10 changes the reading destination of the archive file to the playback point specified as the seek destination, and then transmits the seek destination live commerce archive information read from the archive file to terminal 20Z via communication I/F 14 (S1770).
When the seek destination live commerce archive information is received from the server 10 via the communication I/F 22, the control unit 21 of the terminal 20Z updates the display on the display unit 24 based on the seek destination live commerce archive information (Z1150).

If it is determined that seek destination information has not been received from terminal 20Z (S1750: NO), the control unit 11 of server 10 skips step S1770.

When all the information about the archive file has been transmitted from the server 10 to the terminal 20Z, if the control unit 21 of the terminal 20Z determines that a seek operation has been performed on the seek bar (Z1130: YES), it may change the playback point and update the display of the live commerce archive information. In this case, step Z1140 and steps S1750 to S1770 may not be executed.

The control unit 21 of the terminal 20Z, for example and not by way of limitation, determines whether or not an input operation to end archive viewing has been performed by the user Z.Z via the input/output unit 23 (Z1160).
When it is determined that an input operation for ending archive viewing has been performed (Z1160: YES), the control unit 21 of the terminal 20Z transmits live commerce archive viewing end request information to the server 10 via the communication I/F 22 (Z1170). Then, the control unit 21 of the terminal 20Z ends the live commerce archive viewing process.

If it is determined that no input operation to end archive viewing has been performed (Z1160: NO), the control unit 21 of terminal 20A, by way of example and not limitation, returns the process to waiting for reception of live commerce archive information and executes steps Z1120 and onwards again.

When it is determined that live commerce archive viewing end request information has been received from the terminal 20Z via the communication I/F 14 (S1790: YES), the control unit 11 of the server 10 ends the live commerce archive distribution process.
When it is determined that the live commerce archive viewing end request information has not been received (S1790: NO), the control unit 11 of the server 10 returns the process to step S1730, for example and not for limitation.

In addition, in the live commerce archive distribution process and the live commerce archive viewing process, as an example and not a limitation, it may be possible for a viewer viewing the archive distribution to be able to purchase items for sale and enter comments on their terminal 20Z in a manner similar to steps A1120 to A1150 and steps S1130 to S1160 in FIG. 1-11.

1-10, the control unit 11 of the server 10 ends the process after executing the live commerce archive distribution process (S170), as an example and not a limitation. Also, the control unit 21 of the terminal 20Z ends the process after executing the live commerce archive viewing process (Z110).
In addition, the terminal 20 and the server 10 may be configured, by way of example and not limitation, to be capable of repeatedly executing the live commerce archive distribution process and the live commerce archive viewing process during the distribution period of the live commerce content.

Effects of the First Embodiment
In this embodiment, a server 10 (not limited to, but an example of a server) that communicates with a terminal 20A (not limited to, but an example of a first terminal) of a viewer who watches live commerce content performs an archive recording process (not limited to, but an example of a process for recording live commerce content in an archive) in a live commerce live distribution process (not limited to, but an example of a live broadcast of live commerce content) by the control unit 11 of the server 10. Then, the server 10 receives product purchase information and comment request information (not limited to, but an example of first information regarding the viewer's reaction to the live commerce content) from the terminal 20A by the communication I/F 14 (not limited to, but an example of a communication unit) of the server 10. Also, the control unit 11 of the server 10 performs a product sales history addition process and a comment addition process (not limited to, but an example of a process for associating reactions along the chronological order of the archive) based on the reception of the first information. Then, the control unit 11 of the server 10 performs a live commerce reaction aggregation process (not limited to, but an example of a process for aggregating associated reactions). When the archive is distributed to a viewer's terminal 20Z (not limited to this, but an example of a second terminal), live commerce response graph information (not limited to this, but an example of second information) based on the live commerce response aggregation process is sent to terminal 20Z via communication I/F 14.
As an example of the effect of an embodiment obtained by such a configuration, first information regarding reactions from viewers received during a live broadcast of live commerce content and an archive recording the live commerce content are associated in chronological order and compiled, and second information based on the compilation result is transmitted to a second terminal together with the archive, allowing a user of the second terminal viewing the archive to refer to the second information reflecting the reactions during the live broadcast when viewing the archive.

In addition, this embodiment shows a configuration in which the live commerce response aggregation process includes an accumulation process that accumulates the number of live commerce responses (not a limitation, but an example of a value related to a response) for each set period (not a limitation, but an example of a period set for an archive).
As an example of an effect of the embodiment obtained by such a configuration, it is possible to transmit the second information based on an accumulation process according to the value related to the reaction for each set period of the archive to the second terminal. Therefore, the user of the second terminal can easily grasp the period with the greatest reaction in the archive, and the convenience for the user can be improved.

In addition, this embodiment shows a configuration in which the live commerce response graph information (not limiting, an example of second information) is information for associating it with the archive seek bar and displaying a bar graph or the like (not limiting, an example of the result of an accumulation process) on terminal 20Z (not limiting, an example of a second terminal).
As an example of the effect of an embodiment obtained by such a configuration, a user of the second terminal can easily use a seek bar to jump to the beginning of the archive to a period of high response during the live broadcast while referring to the second information when watching the archive, thereby improving user convenience.

In addition, this embodiment shows a configuration in which the number of live commerce responses (not limited to any one value, but an example of a value) includes at least one of the number of sales (not limited to any one value, but an example of the number of times viewers purchase a product for sale consisting of one or more products or one or more services sold in the live commerce content) and the number of comments (not limited to any one value, but an example of the number of comments on the product for sale).
As an example of an effect of the embodiment obtained by such a configuration, the second information may reflect the results of the accumulation process in a period in which the sales item was frequently purchased or in a period in which comments were frequently made on the sales item, and therefore the user of the second terminal can determine from the second information a period in which the sales item sold in the live commerce content was frequently purchased or in a period in which comments were frequently made on the sales item sold in the live commerce content.

In addition, in this embodiment, the accumulation process includes a process of accumulating the sales volume for each item (not limited to, but an example of a value for each item), and the live commerce response graph information is information for displaying a bar graph or the like (not limited to, but an example of the result of the accumulation process) on terminal 20Z in association with an image icon of the item (not limited to, but an example of information related to the item).
As an example of the effect of the embodiment obtained by such a configuration, the user of the second terminal can easily grasp the period during which a certain sales item was frequently purchased, the period during which comments were frequently made about a certain sales item, and information about the sales item. Therefore, the user of the second terminal can quickly search for a period that is likely to contain content about the sales item in which the user is interested, thereby improving user convenience.

In this embodiment, the live commerce content is a moving image.
As an example of an effect obtained by this configuration, the second information can be generated based on the viewer's reaction to the moving image.

<First Modification (1)>
In the above embodiment, the live commerce content is a moving image, but the present invention is not limited to this. As a non-limiting example, the live commerce content may be an audio introduction of products for sale. In this case, the seek bar may be a function bar for cueing up the audio. As in the case of a moving image, live commerce reaction graph information may be added above or below the seek bar, as a non-limiting example.
With this configuration, even in audio content, which is less searchable than video content, where the frame image at the time of cuing can be checked by dragging the seek bar, the viewer can easily search for the scene he or she wishes to view in the archive.

<First Modification (2)>
In the above embodiment, the terminal 20 of the viewer watching the live broadcast (terminal 20A, as an example and not a limitation) and the terminal 20 of the viewer watching the archive broadcast (terminal 20Z, as an example and not a limitation) are different terminals 20, but this is not limited to the above.
As a non-limiting example, the terminal 20 of the viewer watching the live broadcast and the terminal 20 of the viewer watching the archive broadcast may be the same terminal 20.

This modified example shows a configuration in which the terminal 20 (not limited to, an example of a first terminal) of a viewer watching a live broadcast is the terminal 20 (not limited to, an example of a second terminal) of a viewer watching an archive broadcast.
As an example of an effect of an embodiment obtained by such a configuration, a user of a first terminal can refer to second information that reflects the first information that the user transmitted during a live broadcast when viewing an archive.

<First Modification (3)>
In the above embodiment, the live commerce reaction counting process is described as an example of counting reactions from the terminals 20 of viewers who watch live streaming, but the present invention is not limited thereto. As a non-limiting example, the live commerce reaction counting process may be configured to count reactions to live commerce content transmitted by the terminal 20 of a broadcaster who broadcasts the live streaming. Also, as a non-limiting example, the live commerce reaction counting process may be configured to count both reactions to the live commerce content transmitted by the terminal 20 of a broadcaster who broadcasts the live streaming and reactions to the live commerce content transmitted by the terminal 20 of a viewer who watches the live streaming.

The control unit 21 of the distributor's terminal 20 may receive information (as an example, not a limitation) specifying which sales item in the sales item management data is the sales item being distributed at that time during live distribution from the distributor via the input/output unit 23. The control unit 21 of the distributor's terminal 20 may then transmit the received sales item designation information including the sales item being distributed to the server 10 via the communication I/F 22.
When the control unit 11 of the server 10 receives the sales item designation information, it may, for example and not limitation, associate the information with the elapsed time starting from the start time of the live commerce live broadcast and store it in the live commerce broadcast management data.

The control unit 11 of the server 10 may, in the live commerce response aggregation process, by way of example and not limitation, aggregate the number of comments for each product ID based on the product designation information. Then, by way of example and not limitation, the control unit 11 of the server 10 may add an image icon corresponding to each product to the live commerce response graph information during the period when the number of comments for that product is the greatest.

<First Modification (4)>
In the above embodiment, the reaction graph and the sales item are displayed independently, but the present invention is not limited to this. As a non-limiting example, the display mode of the reaction graph may be associated with the sales item.

FIG. 1-13 is an example, by way of example and not limitation, of an archive broadcast viewing screen alternative to that shown in FIG. 1-8.
This screen is configured so that, by way of example and not limitation, a reaction graph RG2 based on reactions to live commerce content is displayed above a seek bar SB1.
The reaction graph RG2 is displayed in the form of a bar graph, similar to the reaction graph RG1, but is not limited thereto. Also, the reaction graph RG2 is configured, for example and not limited thereto, so that the bar graph is displayed in a different color for each product based on the number of sales for each product and the number of comments for each product.
Furthermore, in the reaction graph RG2, as an example and not a limitation, image icons representing the respective sales items are displayed in correspondence with colors within the bar graph.

By referring to the graph, which is color-coded for each sales item, viewers of the archive can more easily identify sections that are generating a strong response to the sales items that interest them, and can quickly navigate to the beginning of the archive by using the seek bar.

<First Modification (5)>
In the above embodiment, the live commerce reaction aggregation process is configured to aggregate reactions to live commerce content during live commerce live distribution, but is not limited to this. As a non-limiting example, in addition to reactions to live commerce content during live commerce live distribution, reactions to live commerce content during live commerce archive viewing may be aggregated.

In addition, the number of live commerce responses per set period during archive viewing may be calculated as follows, for example and not by way of limitation.
・Number of sales in archive ・Number of comments in archive ・Number of viewers of archived stream ・Number of sales in archive + number of comments in archive ・Number of sales in archive + number of viewers of archived stream ・Number of comments in archive + number of viewers of archived stream ・Number of sales in archive + number of comments in archive + number of viewers of archived stream

This allows the reaction graph information to reflect reactions to the live broadcast as well as reactions to the archive viewing, and as a non-limiting example, it is possible to display higher bars in the reaction graph for areas where a large number of archive viewers are viewing, or areas where archive viewers are purchasing a large number of merchandise, etc.

In addition, the live commerce response aggregation process may be configured to aggregate only responses to live commerce content being viewed in an archive.

In addition, in the live commerce reaction aggregation process, the reactions to the live commerce content during the live commerce live broadcast and the reactions to the live commerce content during the live commerce archive viewing may be aggregated separately to generate two independent reaction graph information. As a non-limiting example, the two reaction graph information for the live broadcast viewing and the archive viewing may be displayed side by side above the seek bar, or the reaction graphs for the live broadcast viewing and the archive viewing may be displayed by switching between them.

<First Modification (6)>
In the above embodiment, the purchase operation of the sales item is executed based on the user's input to the sales item information displayed in the sales item display area, but this is not limited to this. As a non-limiting example, the purchase operation of the sales item may be executed based on an input operation to the reaction graph.

Figure 1-14 is, by way of example and not limitation, another example of the archive broadcast viewing screen shown in Figure 1-9. In this screen, the reaction graph RG1 is configured so that, by way of example and not limitation, tapping on an image icon showing each sales item transitions to the sales page for the corresponding sales item.

As a non-limiting example, when an image icon showing a "long dress" is tapped, the screen transitions to an archive distribution viewing screen of FIG. 1-15, as a non-limiting example.
In this screen, by way of example and not limitation, a sales item purchase display region IPR1 is configured to be displayed rising from the bottom of the screen.

The sales item purchase display area IPR1 is configured to display, by way of example and not limitation, a detailed image of a "long dress" (by way of example and not limitation, an image of the entire front). Also, by way of example and not limitation, it is configured to display an image of the back, an image of trying on, etc., by tapping the arrows on the left and right of the detailed image.
The name and price of the item are displayed below the image of the item, and a button to purchase the item is displayed to the right of the image.

Below that, along with the words "Recommended Products for You," images and prices of related products that are frequently purchased or viewed by viewers who have purchased or viewed the "Long Dress" are displayed side by side.
In addition, the related products may be limited to the products for sale in this live commerce content, or may include products for sale in other live commerce content, products for sale in e-commerce services affiliated with the live commerce service, etc.

Second Example
The second embodiment is an embodiment in which a reaction graph is generated and displayed for each product sold in live commerce content.

The contents described in the second embodiment are applicable to any of the other embodiments and other modified examples.
In addition, the same components as those already mentioned are given the same reference numerals and will not be described again.

<Display screen>
2A is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed when a user Z.Z of a terminal 20Z watches an archive distribution of a live commerce application.
In this archive distribution viewing screen, a reaction graph RG3 based on the reaction of viewers to the live commerce content shown in the live distribution is displayed above the seek bar SB1, for example and not for limitation. The height of the bar graph in the reaction graph RG3 may be determined based on a value obtained by accumulating the reaction to the live commerce content (linked to the sales item ID) tabulated for each sales item and the reaction to the live commerce content not related to the sales item (not linked to the sales item ID) for each set period, for example and not for limitation.
Therefore, the response graph RG3 can be said to be a graph based on the response to the live commerce content across all sales items, and therefore, no image icons indicating sales items are displayed in the response graph RG3.

To the right of the response graph RG3, a product selection switch button ISS1 is displayed for selecting the product that has been tabulated as a response to the live commerce content in the response graph on the left.
On this screen, the sales item selection switch button ISS1 displays an icon showing the letters "ALL" since all sales items have been selected.

By way of example and not limitation, when the sales item selection switch button ISS1 is tapped, the display transitions to the archive broadcast viewing screen shown in FIG. 2-2, by way of example and not limitation.

On this screen, a sales item selection switching button ISS1 extends upward, and a sales item selection switching area ISR1 is displayed.
In the sales item selection switching area ISR1, as an example and not a limitation, image icons of sales items sold in this live commerce content are displayed side by side below an "ALL" icon for selecting all sales items.

As a non-limiting example, when the image icon for "organic cotton socks" is tapped in the product selection switching area ISR1, the display transitions to the archive broadcast viewing screen shown in FIG. 2-3, as a non-limiting example.

In this screen, the product selection switch button ISS2 displays an image icon of "organic cotton socks" selected in the product selection switch area ISR1. To the left of the product selection switch button ISS2, as a non-limiting example, a response graph RG4 linked to the product ID of "organic cotton socks" is displayed. As a non-limiting example, the height of the bars in the response graph RG4 may be determined based on a value obtained by accumulating responses to the live commerce content collected for the specified product for each set period.
Therefore, the response graph RG4 may be said to be a graph based on the response to the live commerce content for the specified sales item "organic cotton socks."

As an example and not a limitation, when the user taps or drags the seek bar SB1 to the time when the response graph RG4 starts to rise sharply, the screen transitions to the archive distribution viewing screen of FIG. 2-4, as an example and not a limitation.
On this screen, a video of a broadcaster introducing a live commerce content product, "organic cotton socks," is displayed in a live commerce content display area LCR1.
In addition, the seek bar SB1 displays a black area indicating the playback point that has been moved forward from the beginning of the archive, and indicates that the current playback time, starting from the beginning of the archive, is "38 minutes 19 seconds."

<Processing>
FIG. 2-5 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of the live commerce archive distribution process and the live commerce archive viewing process in this embodiment.
In this figure, the left side shows the processing executed by the control unit 11 of the server 10, and the right side shows the processing executed by the control unit 21 of the terminal 20Z of a viewer (user Z.Z) who views the archive distribution.

By way of example and not limitation, when the control unit 21 of the terminal 20Z displays the live commerce archive information (Z1120), the control unit 21 determines whether or not an input operation for referring to a reaction to a specific sales item has been performed by the user Z.Z via the input/output unit 23 (Z1123).
If it is determined that an input operation has been performed to refer to the reaction to a specific product (Z1123: YES), the control unit 21 of terminal 20Z sends product designation information including the product ID, by way of example and not limitation, to the server 10 via the communication I/F 22 (Z1126).

When it is determined that the sales item designation information has been received from the terminal 20Z via the communication I/F 14 (S1733: YES), the control unit 11 of the server 10 executes a sales item designation reaction graph information generation process (S1736).
In the sales item specified reaction graph information generation process, the control unit 11 of the server 10 generates sales item specified reaction graph information represented as a bar graph or the like based on the number of live commerce reactions for each set period, which are calculated based on the results of tallying the number of sales and number of comments for the sales item for the sales item ID specified in the sales item specified information, as an example and not a limitation.
Then, the control unit 11 of the server 10 transmits the sales item designated reaction graph information to the terminal 20Z via the communication I/F 14 (S1739).

If it is determined that the product designation information has not been received from the terminal 20Z (S1733: NO), the control unit 11 of the server 10 skips steps S1736 to S1739.

When the sales item designated reaction graph information is received from the server 10 via the communication I/F 22, the control unit 21 of the terminal 20Z displays the received sales item designated reaction graph information on the display unit 24 (Z1129).

If it is determined that no input operation has been performed to refer to the reaction to a specific sales item (Z1123: NO), the control unit 21 of terminal 20Z skips steps Z1126 to Z1129.

<Effects of the Second Example>
In this embodiment, the control unit 11 of the server 10 receives product designation information (not limited, but an example of third information related to a specified product or a specified service) from the terminal 20Z via the communication I/F 14. Also, the product designation reaction graph information generation process (not limited, but an example of an accumulation process) shows a configuration including a process of accumulating the live commerce reaction count (not limited, but an example of a value related to a product or service) based on the product designation information.
As an example of the effect of the embodiment obtained by such a configuration, for a sales item specified in the third information, the period during which the sales item was frequently purchased or the period during which comments were frequently made about the sales item can be reflected in the second information. Therefore, the user of the second terminal can easily grasp and quickly locate the period during which the content is likely to be related to the sales item that the user is interested in, thereby improving user convenience.

<Second Modification Example (1)>
In the above embodiment, the control unit 11 of the server 10 generates sales item designated reaction graph information when it receives the sales item designation information, but this is not limited to this. As a non-limiting example, the live commerce reaction graph generation process (S150) of FIG. 1-10 may generate sales item designated reaction graph information for all sales item IDs in advance. Then, as a non-limiting example, the control unit 11 of the server 10 may transmit sales item designated reaction graph information for the sales item ID specified in the sales item designation information to the terminal 20Z when it receives the sales item designation information from the terminal 20Z.

In addition, as a non-limiting example, when the control unit 11 of the server 10 transmits the live commerce reaction graph information of FIG. 2-5 (S1710), the control unit 11 may transmit, as a non-limiting example, the product-specific reaction graph information for all product IDs to the terminal 20Z. Then, as a non-limiting example, when it is determined that an input operation has been performed to refer to the reaction to a specific product, the control unit 21 of the terminal 20Z may display the product-specific reaction graph information for the specified product ID on the display unit 24.

<Second Modification Example (2)>
In the above embodiment, the sales item designated reaction graph information designated by the sales item designated information is displayed on the display unit 24 of the terminal 20Z, but this is not limited to this. As a non-limiting example, sales item designated reaction graph information for all sales item IDs may be displayed in a list.

FIG. 2-6 is an example, by way of example and not limitation, of an alternative archive broadcast viewing screen to that shown in FIG. 1-8.
This screen is configured to display, by way of example and not limitation, reaction graphs for each product sold in this live commerce content side by side above the seek bar SB1. This screen is configured to display, by way of example and not limitation, reaction graph RG5 based on product-specific reaction graph information for "knit beret," reaction graph RG6 based on product-specific reaction graph information for "long dress," reaction graph RG4 based on product-specific reaction graph information for "organic cotton socks," and reaction graph RG7 based on product-specific reaction graph information for "sneakers," side by side from the top of the screen.

The peaks in the time series of each reaction graph indicate the points where the reaction to that product was strong (the peak). Therefore, by looking at each reaction graph, viewers can quickly search the archive for points where the reaction to the product in which they are interested was strong.

Note that, as a non-limiting example, the list display of sales item-specific reaction graph information may be displayed only at the beginning of the archive (as a non-limiting example, the first minute). Also, as a non-limiting example, when an input operation is performed to refer to the list, the list display of sales item-specific reaction graph information may be displayed.

In this modified example, the sales item-specific reaction graph information (not limited to this, but an example of the second information) is configured as information for displaying the results of the accumulation process for each sales item individually arranged in association with a seek bar.
As an example of the effect of the embodiment obtained by such a configuration, the results of the accumulation process for each of the sales items sold in the live commerce content can be displayed in the second information. Therefore, the user of the second terminal can quickly search for a period of the archive that is likely to contain content related to the sales items that the user is interested in from the entire archive, thereby improving the user's convenience.

<Third Example>
The third embodiment is, by way of example and not by way of limitation, an embodiment in which highlight content is generated and displayed by extracting sections in which responses to each product are high, based on responses to each product sold in live commerce content.

Note that highlight content may also be referred to as a "highlight archive." Highlight content may also be referred to as "digest content" or "digest archive," or simply as "highlight" or "digest."

The contents described in the third embodiment are applicable to any of the other embodiments and other modified examples.
In addition, the same components as those already mentioned are given the same reference numerals and will not be described again.

<Display screen>
3A is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed when a user Z.Z of a terminal 20Z watches an archive distribution of a live commerce application.
This archive distribution viewing screen is configured so that a highlight list display area HAR1 for displaying a list of highlight contents relating to this live commerce archive is displayed above a live commerce content display area LCR1.
The highlight list display area HAR1 is configured so that image icons for each product introduced in the live commerce archive are displayed to the right of the icon indicating "highlight," along with the video length of the highlight.

As a non-limiting example, when an icon indicating "organic cotton socks" is tapped in the highlight list display area HAR1, the display transitions to the highlight viewing screen of FIG. 3-2, as a non-limiting example.

This highlight viewing screen is configured to display a highlight display area HCR1 for displaying highlights below the area at the top of the screen where the name of the live commerce application is displayed. On this screen, the live commerce content display area HCR1 shows a video of a broadcaster introducing a product for sale in the live commerce content, "organic cotton socks."

The upper part of the highlight display area HCR1 is configured to display an archive playback button RBT1, indicated by the words "Play full video," which allows the user to stop watching the highlights and return to watching the live commerce archive, which is the full-length video.

The lower part of the highlight display area HCR1 is configured to display a seek bar SB2 for visually displaying the playback position of the highlight. To the right of the seek bar SB2, an icon of an image of a product for sale is displayed to indicate that the highlight is a highlight of "organic cotton socks."

Below the seek bar SB2, playback control function buttons for pausing highlight playback, etc. are displayed in a row. Also, to the right of these, the recording time of the highlight (as an example, not a limitation, on this screen, "5 minutes") and the current playback time from the beginning of the highlight (as an example, not a limitation, on this screen, "49 seconds") are displayed.

Also, on this screen, sales item information IT2 corresponding to the sales item "organic cotton socks" is displayed in sales item display area IIR1.
This is based on the fact that the "organic cotton socks" highlight was chosen by way of example and not limitation.

<Processing>
3-3 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of processing executed by each device in this embodiment. In this figure, from the left, the processing executed by the control unit 21 of the terminal 20L of the distributor (user L.L), the processing executed by the control unit 11 of the server 10, the processing executed by the control unit 21 of the terminal 20A of the viewer (user A.A) who watches the live distribution, and the processing executed by the control unit 21 of the terminal 20Z of the viewer (user Z.Z) who watches the archive distribution are shown.

As an example, but not by way of limitation, the control unit 11 of the server 10 executes a live commerce response graph generation process (S150) and then executes a live commerce highlight content creation process (S160).

In the live commerce highlight content creation process, the control unit 11 of the server 10 trims (crops) (cuts out in the time axis direction) highlight content from the archive that includes a section that exceeds the set number of live commerce reactions for each sales item, for example but not limited to, each sales item ID, based on the reaction to the live commerce content for each sales item.

In addition, in the live commerce highlight content creation process, the control unit 11 of the server 10 may, by way of example and not limitation, trim highlight content from the archive that includes a section that has more than the set number of live commerce reactions for each product ID.

As an example and not a limitation, in the live commerce archive viewing process (Z110), the control unit 21 of the terminal 20Z determines, as an example and not a limitation, whether or not an operation has been performed on the highlight list area by the user Z.Z via the input/output unit 23. If it is determined that an operation has been performed, the control unit 21 of the terminal 20Z, as an example and not a limitation, transmits highlight content request information including the sales item ID to the server 10 via the communication I/F 22.

As an example and not a limitation, in the live commerce archive distribution process (S170), when the control unit 11 of the server 10 receives highlight content request information from terminal 20Z via the communication I/F 14, it transmits highlight content information including the highlight content of the product ID specified by the highlight content request information to terminal 20Z via the communication I/F 14.
When the highlight content information is received from the server 10 via the communication I/F 22, the control unit 21 of the terminal 20Z causes the display unit 24 to display the received highlight content information.

<Effects of the Third Embodiment>
In this embodiment, the number of live commerce reactions (not limited, an example of a value) includes at least one of the number of sales (not limited, an example of the number of times viewers purchase a product consisting of one or more products or one or more services sold in the live commerce content) and the number of comments (not limited, an example of the number of comments on the product), and the control unit 11 of the server 10 receives highlight content request information (not limited, an example of fourth information related to a specified product or a specified service among the products) from the terminal 20Z (not limited, an example of a second terminal) via the communication I/F 14. Also, the live commerce reaction counting process (not limited, an example of an accumulation process) includes a process of accumulating the number of live commerce reactions (not limited, an example of a value related to a product or service) based on the highlight content request information. Then, the control unit 11 of the server 10 executes a live commerce highlight content creation process that generates highlight content (not limited, an example of a partial archive based on a time series of archives in which the value accumulated by the accumulation process exceeds a set value or is equal to or greater than the set value), and transmits the highlight content information to the terminal 20Z via the communication I/F 14.
As an example of the effect of the embodiment obtained by such a configuration, a partial archive can be generated for a sales item specified in the fourth information, which is an archive of a period during which the sales item was frequently purchased or a period during which comments were frequently made about the sales item. Then, the user of the second terminal can view the partial archive related to the specified sales item from the entire archive. Therefore, the user of the second terminal can efficiently collect information about sales items that interest him/her.

<Third Modification (1)>
In the above embodiment, the highlight viewing screen does not display live commerce reaction graph information in association with the seek bar SB2, but this is not limited to this. As a non-limiting example, the highlight viewing screen may display live commerce reaction graph information associated with the time axis of the highlight content above the seek bar SB2.

This structure allows viewers to easily grasp the most exciting parts of the highlight content.

<Fourth Example>
The fourth embodiment is also related to the third embodiment, but is an embodiment related to generating digest content. The digest content in the embodiment described below can be considered to be similar to the highlight content described in the third embodiment.
The digest content may be referred to as a "digest archive" or the like.

The digest content described below is, by way of example and not limitation, content generated based on multiple live commerce contents, and may be content related to the same type of products (items for sale) related to the live commerce contents.
As a non-limiting example, when multiple live commerce contents are targeted, a screen introducing similar products may be considered as the picked content.

Note that in one live commerce content, two or more similar products may be introduced. For this reason, it is not necessary to generate digest content based on multiple live commerce contents, but it is also possible to generate digest content based on one live commerce content.

The contents described in the fourth embodiment are applicable to the other embodiments and the other modified examples.
Furthermore, the same components as those already mentioned are given the same reference numerals and will not be described again.

<Display screen>
4-1 to 4-6 are diagrams showing examples of screens displayed on the display unit 24 of the terminal 20Z of a viewer user (user Z.Z) who views digest content or the like (archive distribution) in this embodiment.

FIG. 4A shows an example of a live commerce application screen displayed on the display unit 24 of the terminal 20Z.
The screen of this live commerce application displays, by way of example and not limitation, live video of live commerce content distributed by the aforementioned "LL Mart," which is one distributor (hereinafter referred to as the "first distributor" as appropriate).

The configuration of this screen is similar to the archive broadcast viewing screen shown in FIG. 1-9 by way of example and not limitation, but the screen shown in FIG. 4-1 is not the archive broadcast viewing screen shown in FIG. 1-9, but a live broadcast viewing screen in which the first broadcaster is actually broadcasting live commerce content.

In the area containing the characters "LL Mart" in the upper left of the screen, a mark containing the word "Live" is displayed, indicating that the image is a live image. In addition, next to that area (to the right in this example), information on the elapsed time since the start of the live distribution is displayed.
In addition, the live commerce content display area LCR displays a video of a woman introducing "organic cotton socks," an item for sale at "LL Mart."

Also, at the bottom of the screen, a sales item display area IIR1 is displayed, which includes information about the sales item "organic cotton socks." Sales item display area IIR1 displays, as sales item information, by way of example and not limitation, an image icon (thumbnail) showing the sales item, the sales item name (in this example, "organic cotton socks"), the sales price (in this example, "1,500 yen"), and so on.

Next to it, by way of example and not limitation, a sales interest button IBT including a smiley face mark and the word "I want" is displayed, and to the right of this, the sales purchase button described above is displayed.
The item interest button IBT can be, by way of example and not limitation, a button that a viewer operates to express an interest in the item (that the viewer wants) or to liven up the live commerce.

In addition, in the various embodiments described above, the sales interest button IBT may be similarly provided.
In addition to the sales item interest button IBT, or instead of the sales item interest button IBT, a sales item favorite button for registering this sales item in favorites may be provided.

When the sales interest button IBT is operated, by way of example and not limitation, information indicating that the sales interest button IBT has been operated can be transmitted from the terminal 20 to the server 10 .
In this case, as will be described in detail later, information such as the number and frequency with which the viewers watching the live broadcast operated the sales interest button IBT may be collected by the server 10 and used to calculate (determine) the viewers' reactions.

FIG. 4B shows another example of a live commerce application screen displayed on the display unit 24 of the terminal 20Z.
On the screen of this live commerce application, as an example and not a limitation, live video of live commerce content distributed by "RR Mart," a distributor different from the first distributor (hereinafter referred to as the "second distributor" as appropriate), is displayed.

The configuration of this screen can be the same as the live distribution viewing screen shown in Fig. 4-1, for example and not for limitation, and in the area including the characters "RR Mart" in the upper left of the screen, a mark including the characters "Live" indicating that it is a live image is displayed. In addition, information on the elapsed time from the start of the live distribution is displayed next to that area (to the right in this example).
Moreover, the live commerce content display area LCR displays a video of a woman different from that shown in FIG. 4-1, introducing the "Ribbed Crew Socks" product sold by "RR Mart."

Also displayed at the bottom of the screen is a sales item display area IIR1 that contains information about the sales item "Ribbed Crew Socks." Sales item display area IIR1 displays sales item information such as, by way of example and not limitation, an image icon (thumbnail) showing the sales item, the sales item name (in this example, "Ribbed Crew Socks"), and the sales price (in this example, "1,900 yen"). Also displayed next to this are an interest in sales item button IBT and a purchase sales item button, as in FIG. 4-1.

FIG. 4C shows an example of an archive viewing screen that is displayed on the display unit 24 of the terminal 20Z and is used to view an archive.
This screen includes, by way of example and not limitation, two items for viewing archives: one for viewing archives for each broadcast, and the other for viewing digest content for each item.
An item as referred to here may be understood as, by way of example and not limitation, a type of product (a category that a product falls into).

In this example, a mark containing the words "Archive for each broadcast" for viewing archives for each broadcast is displayed at the top of the screen, and below that, a list of archives for viewing archives of the broadcasted live commerce content is displayed side-by-side in this example. In this example, an archive corresponding to the live commerce content of the first broadcaster "LL Mart" shown in Figure 4-1 and an archive corresponding to the live commerce content of the second broadcaster "RR Mart" shown in Figure 4-2 are displayed, and the archive is configured so that tapping on the archive you want to view will play that archive.
In addition, when the user taps the "<" button or the ">" button, archives corresponding to the live commerce content of other broadcasters are displayed in place of the two archives mentioned above.

Below that, a mark containing the words "Digest by Item" is displayed for viewing digest content for each item, and below that, a list of digests for viewing digest content corresponding to each item is displayed, in this example, lined up vertically and horizontally.
In this example, the digest list includes, by way of example and not limitation, multiple digest contents such as digest content DC1 corresponding to an item of "tops," digest content DC2 corresponding to an item of "bottoms," digest content DC3 corresponding to an item of "socks," and digest content DC4 corresponding to an item of "hat."

In FIG. 4-3, as an example and not a limitation, a state is shown in which digest content DC3 corresponding to the "socks" item is touched by the user, and as a result, digest content corresponding to the "socks" item is displayed on the display unit 24 of the terminal 20Z.

Figures 4-4 and 4-5 show an example of the digest content screen in this case, with the video of the digest content being played back halfway.

Figure 4-4 shows the state in which an image at the "1:25" timing is displayed from the digest content of the "Socks" item generated as "10 minute" content, and shows the state in which the seek bar SB3 has been slid to the corresponding playback time (playback point).
This image corresponds to the scene of the live commerce content of "RR Mart" shown in FIG. 4-2, by way of example and not by way of limitation, but since it is a digest version, some of the display differs from that in FIG. 4-2.

Specifically, unlike FIG. 4-2, a mark containing the word "recording" is displayed in the area containing the word "RR Mart" in the upper left corner of the screen.
In addition, in the upper right corner of the screen, a mark is displayed that includes the word "Digest" indicating that it is digest content and an image of "socks" (thumbnail, icon) indicating that it is digest content for the "socks" item.

In addition, in this example, because this is digest content and not live-streamed live commerce content, a button to purchase the product is provided in the product information for "Ribbed Crew Socks" in the product display area IIR1 at the bottom of the screen, but unlike FIG. 4-2, a product interest button IBT is not provided.

FIG. 4-5 shows a state in which an image at the timing of "5:49" is displayed following FIG. 4-4, and shows a state in which the seek bar SB3 has been slid to the corresponding playback time (playback point).
Specifically, an image corresponding to the image of the live commerce content of the first broadcaster "LL Mart" shown in Figure 4-1 is displayed, and an image of a scene in which the product for sale "Organic Cotton Socks" shown in Figure 4-1 is introduced is displayed.

FIG. 4-6 shows an example of a screen that is displayed when the user taps on the area including the characters "LL Mart" in the upper left corner of the screen of FIG. 4-5.
This screen is, by way of example and not limitation, a screen that displays an image of an archive corresponding to the live commerce content of the first broadcaster "LL Mart" from the archives for each broadcast shown in Figure 4-3, and displays an image of the scene shown on the screen of Figure 4-5.

Specifically, based on the operation of the area containing the word "LL Mart" in the upper left corner of the screen at the time "5:49" in the digest content shown in Figure 4-5, an archive (archive for each broadcast) corresponding to the live commerce content of the first broadcaster "LL Mart" from which this digest content was generated is displayed, and an image of the archive at the time "38:19" in the "1 hour" live commerce content, which corresponds to the time "5:49" in the "10 minute" digest content, is displayed.

In other words, in this example, when digest content is being displayed, it is configured to be possible to transition to an archive for each distribution that corresponds to that digest content based on input by the user. Also, by way of example and not limitation, it is configured to display an image of a scene from the archive for each distribution at a timing that corresponds to the timing of the user's input while the digest content is being displayed.

In addition, in FIG. 4-6, a digest transition button TBT containing the words "Return to Digest" for returning to the digest content from the archive of each distribution is displayed at the top of the screen, and the digest content can be displayed again by tapping this digest transition button TBT. In this case, as a non-limiting example, an image of a scene from the digest content at a timing corresponding to the timing of an input made by the user while the archive of each distribution is being displayed can be displayed.

Specifically, as a non-limiting example, when the digest transition button TBT is operated at the timing of “38:19” in FIG. 4-6, an image of the digest content at the timing of “5:49” in FIG. 4-5 can be displayed.
Also, when the digest transition button TBT is operated at a timing other than "38:19" in FIG. 4-6, an image of the timing of the digest content corresponding to that timing can be displayed.

In other words, in this example, the terminal 20 of a viewer who views digest content or the like is configured to be able to switch between the digest content and an archive of each distribution based on user input and display it on the display unit 24.
That is, the terminal 20 controls the display unit 24 to display an archive of each delivery, based on a user's input to the terminal 20 on which the digest content is displayed on the display unit 24, using the control unit 21. Also, the terminal 20 is configured such that the control unit 21 can control the display unit 24 to display the digest content, based on a user's input to the terminal 20 on which the archive of each delivery is displayed on the display unit 24.

<Processing>
4-7 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of processing executed by each device in this embodiment. In this figure, from the left, the processing executed by the control unit 21 of the distributor terminal 20L, which is the terminal 20 of the distributor (user L.L), the processing executed by the control unit 11 of the server 10, the processing executed by the control unit 21 of the viewer terminal 20A, which is the terminal 20 of the viewer (user A.A) who watches the live distribution, and the processing executed by the control unit 21 of the viewer terminal 20Z, which is the terminal 20 of the viewer (user Z.Z) who watches the digest content, etc. are shown.

In addition, the processing executed by the control unit 21 of the terminal 20 of a user other than user L.L who is a distributor who distributes live streaming can be the same as that of terminal 20L, for example and not for limitation. In the drawings, for example and not for limitation, a case is shown in which user L.L and user R.R are distributors who distribute live streaming, but the processing of terminal 20R is omitted. For convenience, the live commerce content distributed by user L.L is referred to as the "first live commerce content" and the corresponding information is referred to as the "first live commerce content information", the live commerce content distributed by user R.R is referred to as the "second live commerce content" and the corresponding information is referred to as the "second live commerce content information".
The number of broadcasters does not need to be two, but may be three or more. Also, one broadcaster may broadcast multiple live broadcasts.

The process executed by the control unit 21 of the terminal 20 of a user other than user A.A who will be a viewer watching the live broadcast can be the same as that of terminal 20A, and is therefore not shown in the figures. In this process, as an example and not a limitation, a case is shown in which user A.A watches a first live commerce content and a second live commerce content, but the viewer who watches the first live commerce content and the viewer who watches the second live commerce content may be different viewers.

The process executed by the control unit 21 of the terminal 20 of a user other than user Z.Z who views the digest content, etc., can be the same as that of the terminal 20Z, for example, and is not limited thereto, so is not illustrated. The viewer who views the digest content may be a viewer other than user Z.Z.

First, the control unit 21 of the distributor terminal 20L, based on a request for live commerce distribution made by the user L.L via the input/output unit 23, begins acquiring first live commerce content information based on the imaging unit 27 and the sound input unit 25, for example and not for limitation, and begins a process of transmitting the acquired first live commerce content information to the server 10 via the communication I/F 22 (L210).

In addition, prior to transmitting the first live commerce content information, the control unit 21 of the distributor terminal 20L may, by way of example and not limitation, obtain information regarding the items for sale in the live commerce distribution based on user input via the input/output unit 23, and transmit the obtained information regarding the items for sale to the server 10 via the communication I/F 22. Then, the control unit 11 of the server 10 may add live commerce distribution management data to the live commerce distribution management database 155 based on the received information regarding the items for sale.

When the first live commerce content information is received from the broadcaster terminal 20L via the communication I/F 14, the control unit 11 of the server 10 executes a first live commerce live broadcasting process (S210).
In addition, the control unit 21 of the viewer terminal 20A executes, as an example and not a limitation, a first live commerce viewing process based on a request for viewing the live commerce distribution made by the user A.A via the input/output unit 23 (A210).
These processes may be similar to the processes shown in FIG. 1-11, for example and not for limitation, and therefore will not be described.

Similarly to the above, when the second live commerce content information is received from the distributor terminal 20R via the communication I/F 14, the control unit 11 of the server 10 executes a second live commerce live distribution process (S230).
In addition, the control unit 21 of the viewer terminal 20A executes, as an example and not a limitation, a second live commerce viewing process based on a request for viewing the live commerce distribution made by the user A.A via the input/output unit 23 (A230).
These processes may be similar to the processes shown in FIG. 1-11, for example and not for limitation, and therefore will not be described.

Next, the control unit 11 of the server 10 performs a live commerce digest content creation process (S250).
Specifically, as an example and not by way of limitation, based on the live commerce distribution management data, the information on the sales item included in the sales item management data of the live commerce distribution management data of user L.L and the information on the sales item included in the sales item management data of the live commerce distribution management data of user R.R are referenced, and for each type of sales item (item, etc.) set in advance, partial content including a section associated with the type of sales item is trimmed from the archive of the first live commerce content, and similarly, partial content including a section associated with the type of sales item is trimmed from the archive of the second live commerce content.
In this case, the control unit 11 of the server 10 may, for example and not by way of limitation, perform image recognition processing on the video information included in the live commerce content information to determine the type of the product for sale. The control unit 11 of the server 10 may also perform voice recognition processing on the sound information included in the live commerce content information to determine the type of the product for sale.
Then, the control unit 11 of the server 10 creates (generates) digest content by, for example and not by way of limitation, joining together partial content pieces trimmed from each archive.

In the following, for convenience, the live commerce content used to generate the digest content (the live commerce content from which the digest content was generated) will be referred to as the "source content."

In this case, as an example and not as a limitation, digest content may be generated using live commerce content delivered during a specified period (as an example and not a limitation, the current period (that day), the past 24 hours, the past few days, the past week, etc.) as the source content.
In this case, live commerce content distributed over a specified period of time may be used as the source content, and digest content may be generated by linking together partial contents in order of oldest to newest distribution date and time or in order of newest to newest distribution date and time.

Also, it is not necessary to generate digest contents corresponding to all types of sales products, and digest contents corresponding to some types of sales products may be generated.
Also, the type of sales item for which digest content is to be generated may be set in advance by the server 10 (automatically set by the server 10 or based on an input by the user of the server 10).
In addition, the distributor may input in advance into his/her terminal 20 the type of merchandise for which digest content is to be generated, and transmit that information to the server 10, so that the server 10 sets it.

Also, for simplicity, this process is a process of generating digest content using a first live commerce content and a second live commerce content as source content, but the same can be applied to the case where digest content is generated using three or more live commerce contents as source content.
The same can be applied to the case where digest content is generated using one live commerce content as the source content.

The control unit 11 of the server 10 generates digest content information that includes the digest content generated in this manner.

The control unit 21 of the viewer terminal 20Z executes, for example and not for limitation, a live commerce digest viewing process (Z210) based on a request to view the digest distribution made by the user Z.Z via the input/output unit 23.

In the live commerce digest viewing process, first, the control unit 21 of the viewer terminal 20Z, by way of example and not limitation, transmits live commerce digest distribution request information to the server 10 via the communication I/F 22. By way of example and not limitation, when it is determined that the live commerce digest distribution request information has been received from the viewer terminal 20Z via the communication I/F 14, the control unit 11 of the server 10 executes a live commerce digest distribution process (S270) to distribute digest content information including digest content corresponding to the type of the requested product among the digest contents generated in S250 to the viewer terminal 20Z.
In response to this, the control unit 21 of the viewer terminal 20Z causes the display unit 24 to display the digest content based on the received digest content information.

Unlike the present process, digest content may be generated based on two or more live commerce contents distributed by the same distributor. In this case, the terminal 20 of the distributor may be a single terminal 20 (the second terminal = the first terminal).
Also, digest content may be generated based on two or more live commerce contents distributed by the same distributor and one or more live commerce contents distributed by different distributors.

Also, as a non-limiting example, the control unit 11 of the server 10 may perform a process of acquiring partial content from an archive of the first live commerce content after step S210, and a process of acquiring partial content from an archive of the second live commerce content after step S230, and then generate digest content based on the acquired partial content in step S250.

In addition, in this embodiment, live commerce is exemplified, but the present invention is not limited to this.
Similarly, digest content may be generated using content distributed by a distributor other than live commerce content as source content.
In this case, the set content may be any content according to the type of live content that is the source content.

<Effects of the Fourth Embodiment>
In this embodiment, a server 10 (an example of a server, not limiting) receives first content information regarding content including the set content from a first terminal of a distributor (a first distributor, as an example, not limiting) via a communication I/F 14, and receives second content information regarding the content including the set content from a second terminal of the distributor (a second distributor, as an example, not limiting) via a communication I/F 14.
Then, the server 10 performs a process, via the control unit 11, of extracting a section on the timeline that is associated with the set content from the first content information, and a process, via the control unit 11, of extracting a section on the timeline that is associated with the set content from the second content information.
Based on these processes, the server 10 is configured to have the control unit 11 perform a process of generating digest content information (not limited to, but an example of third content information) including digest content related to the set content (not limited to, but an example of content related to the set content).
As an example of an effect of an embodiment obtained by such a configuration, third content information including content related to the set content can be generated based on multiple content information related to content including the set content that is sent from the distributor's terminal.

It should be noted that the second terminal may not be the first terminal, or the second terminal may be equal to the first terminal.
In addition, the second distributor may not be the first distributor, or the second distributor may be the same as the first distributor.

In this case, the first content information and the second content information may be content information related to live commerce content.
In this case, as an example and not as a limitation, server 10 (an example of a server, not as a limitation) receives first live commerce content information (an example of first content information, not as a limitation) regarding the live commerce content including the set content from the first terminal via communication I/F 14, and receives second live commerce content information (an example of second content information, not as a limitation) regarding the live commerce content including the set content from the second terminal via communication I/F 14.
Then, the server 10 performs a process using the control unit 11 to extract a section on the timeline that is associated with the set content from the first live commerce content information, and performs a process using the control unit 11 to extract a section on the timeline that is associated with the set content from the second live commerce content information.
Based on these processes, the server 10 can have the control unit 11 perform a process of generating digest content information (not limited to, but an example of third content information) including digest content related to the set content (not limited to, but an example of content related to the set content).
As an example of an effect of an embodiment obtained by such a configuration, by way of example and not limitation, third live commerce content information including content related to the set content can be generated based on live commerce content information (first live commerce content information, second live commerce content information) related to multiple live commerce contents including the set content. By way of example and not limitation, the third live commerce content information generated in this manner is transmitted to the terminal 20, making it possible for the user of the terminal 20 to later view the content as an archive organized by the set content. In addition to being able to view a simple archive, convenience can be improved.

In this case, the set content may be content related to the same type of product in the live commerce content.
As an example of an effect of the embodiment obtained by such a configuration, for example and not limitation, based on live commerce content information (first live commerce content information, second live commerce content information) regarding live commerce content including contents related to the same type of product, third live commerce content information including contents related to the same type of product can be generated. This allows viewers of the live commerce content to later view the third live commerce content information grouped by the same type of product, for example and not limitation, thereby further improving convenience.

In addition, in this embodiment, the communication system 1 (not limiting, but an example of a system) includes a server 10 (not limiting, but an example of a server) and a terminal 20 (not limiting, but an example of a terminal) of a user who views the digest content.
The server 10 includes a communication I/F 14 (not limited to, but an example of a communication unit of a server) that receives first content information related to the content including the set content from a first terminal of a distributor (not limited to, but an example of, a first distributor) and receives second content information related to the content including the set content from a second terminal of the distributor (not limited to, but an example of, a second distributor), and a control unit 11 (not limited to, but an example of a control unit of a server) that performs a process of extracting a section on a time axis associated with the set content from the first content information, a process of extracting a section on a time axis associated with the set content from the second content information, and a process of generating digest content information (not limited to, but an example of a third content information) including digest content related to the set content (not limited to, but an example of a content related to the set content) based on these processes. The terminal 20 includes a communication I/F 22 (not limited to, but an example of a communication unit of a terminal) that receives digest content information from the server 10, and a display unit 24 (not limited to, but an example of a display unit of a terminal) that displays digest content included in the received digest content information.
As an example of an effect of the embodiment obtained by such a configuration, the server can generate third content information including the content related to the set content based on a plurality of content information related to the content including the set content, and transmit the third content information to the terminal. Then, the terminal can display the content included in the third content information received from the server on a display unit, and allow the user of the terminal to view it.

<Fourth Modification (1)>
In the above embodiment, as an example and not a limitation, the server 10 acquires partial content corresponding to each type of sales item from the live commerce content, and generates digest content.
However, this is not limited to this, and the digest content may be generated based on information requested to be included in the digest content (information about scenes that the distributor wants to include in the digest content) that is sent from the distributor terminal 20 based on input from the distributor, etc.

4-8 shows an example of a screen of live commerce content displayed on the display unit 24 of the distributor's terminal 20 in this modified example. Here, as an example, an example of a screen displayed on the display unit 24 of the distributor terminal 20R of "RR Mart", the second distributor, is shown.
This screen shows a screen of live commerce content being live-streamed by the second streamer "RR Mart", and in the area in the upper left corner of the screen where information about "RR Mart" is displayed, a mark including the word "Live" indicating that live streaming is in progress is displayed. In addition, to the right of this area, by way of example and not limitation, information on the elapsed time since the start of the live streaming and information on the latest number of viewers are displayed.

Also displayed at the bottom of the screen are a "Camera Off" button containing the text "Camera Off" for turning off the camera, a "Mute" button containing the text "Mute" for muting the camera, and a "menu" button containing the text "menu" for displaying various menus.

Also in this example, to the upper right of the "Mute" button, a digest request icon DIC is displayed, which includes, by way of example and not by way of limitation, an "!" mark, for requesting that this scene be included in the digest.
4-7, after the transmission of the second live commerce content information is started from the distributor terminal 20R and the process of S230 is started by the control unit 11 of the server 10, when the digest request icon DIC is tapped by the user on the distributor terminal 20R, the distributor terminal 20R can transmit digest save request information to the server 10 via the communication I/F 22, the digest save request information including, for example and not limitation, the application ID of the user R.R (RR Mart), the live commerce ID of the live commerce content, and information on the time corresponding to the timing when the digest request icon DIC was tapped (for example and not limitation, information on the elapsed time from the start date and time of the live distribution).

When digest save request information is received from the distributor terminal 20R via the communication I/F 14, the control unit 11 of the server 10 can, by way of example and not limitation, associate the time-related information included in the received digest save request information with a live commerce content save flag and store it in the live commerce distribution management data in which the user R.R (RR Mart) application ID and the live commerce ID of the live commerce content are stored.

The same can be done for other broadcaster terminals 20.

In this case, in the live commerce digest content creation process of S250 in Figure 4-7, the control unit 11 of the server 10, by way of example and not limitation, can refer to each live commerce distribution management data, and for the live commerce content of the distributor application ID and live commerce ID in which the live commerce content save flag is stored, obtain partial content that includes at least a scene with timing based on the time information stored in association with the live commerce content save flag, and generate digest content.
The control unit 11 of the server 10 determines, by way of example and not limitation, a section on a time axis including that timing, in which the sales item that was introduced at that timing was introduced. Then, the control unit 11 of the server 10 can obtain partial content of the determined section, and include the obtained partial content in the digest content.

This modified example illustrates a configuration in which digest content information (an example of third content information, not limited to this) is generated by the control unit 11 of the server 10 based on information transmitted from the first terminal during live streaming of the first live commerce content.
As an example of the effect of the modified example obtained by such a configuration, it becomes possible to generate third content information including content that meets the requests of the broadcaster of the first terminal based on the first information transmitted from the first terminal during live broadcast of the live commerce content of the first content information, for example and not by way of limitation, thereby improving convenience.

Similarly, the digest content information (not limited to this, but an example of the third content information) may be generated by the control unit 11 of the server 10 based on information transmitted from the second terminal during the live distribution of the second live commerce content.

Fifth Example
The fifth embodiment is an example, not a limitation, related to the fourth embodiment, and relates to reflecting information on the reaction of viewers, which is shown by a reaction graph or the like, in digest content.

The contents described in the fifth embodiment are applicable to the other embodiments and the other modified examples.
Furthermore, the same components as those already mentioned are given the same reference numerals and will not be described again.

<Display screen>
FIG. 5A shows an example of a screen displayed on the display unit 24 of the terminal 20Z in this embodiment.
This screen shows, as an example and not a limitation, digest content for the "socks" item similar to that shown in Figure 4-4, with an image displayed at "1:25" of the "10 minute" digest content.

The difference from Figure 4-4 is that, by way of example and not limitation, a reaction graph RG9 based on the reactions of viewers to the live commerce content during the live broadcast is displayed above the seek bar SB3 at the bottom of the screen.

The response graph RG9 can be displayed as a bar graph, for example and not for limitation. This bar graph can be generated for each set period (set time), and its height can be determined based on the results of tallying up viewer responses during the set period.

Also, in this example, a distributor icon (distributor mark) containing the distributor's name is displayed superimposed on the bar graph as information about the distributor corresponding to the partial content. Specifically, a distributor icon containing the characters "LL Mart" is displayed in the display area of the reaction graph corresponding to the partial content of the first distributor (LL Mart), a distributor icon containing the characters "RR Mart" is displayed in the display area of the reaction graph corresponding to the partial content of the second distributor (RR Mart), and a distributor icon containing the characters "NN Mart" is displayed in the display area of the reaction graph corresponding to the partial content of the third distributor (NN Mart).

The reaction graph is not limited to a bar graph, but may be a line graph, a heat map, or the like.
Also, information about the distributor may not be displayed in association with the reaction graph.

In this example, text or an image (thumbnail) indicating that the item is a "sock" may be displayed in association with the display area of each streamer's reaction graph. It may also be displayed as part of each streamer's icon.

In this example, the image is displayed at 1:25 from the start of the video, which is included in the time period in which the bar graph for the second broadcaster "RR Mart" is displayed in reaction graph RG9. Therefore, the image displayed is a scene from the live commerce content broadcast by the second broadcaster "RR Mart," and in this example, it is a scene introducing the "Ribbed Crew Socks" product sold by the second broadcaster "RR Mart."

FIG. 5-2 shows an example of a screen displayed on the display unit 24 of the terminal 20Z in this embodiment, which is an example of a screen displayed subsequent to FIG. 5-1.
This screen shows, as an example and not a limitation, digest content for the "socks" item similar to that shown in Figure 4-5, with an image displayed at the "5:49" point of the "10 minute" digest content.

In this example, the image is displayed at 5:49 from the start of the video, which is included in the time period in which the bar graph for the first broadcaster "LL Mart" is displayed in reaction graph RG9. Therefore, the image displayed is a scene from the live commerce content broadcast by the first broadcaster "LL Mart," and in this example, it is a scene introducing the "organic cotton socks" product sold by the first broadcaster "LL Mart."

As a non-limiting example, when the display area of the first distributor "LL Mart" in the reaction graph RG9 is tapped by the user, the display changes to that shown in FIG. 5-3, as a non-limiting example.
Specifically, as an example and not by way of limitation, based on a user touching the display area of the reaction graph corresponding to the first broadcaster "LL Mart," an archive (archive of one hour of live commerce content) corresponding to the live commerce content broadcast by "LL Mart," including partial content of the live commerce content used to generate the 10-minute digest content, is displayed, where an image of the scene at "38:19" where the product for sale "organic cotton socks" was introduced is displayed.
In this case, as an example and not a limitation, the timeline of the live commerce content (archive) and the timeline of the digest content can be made to correspond to each other, and an image of the archive can be displayed at a timing (in this example, "38:19") corresponding to the timing (in this example, "5:49") when the display area of the reaction graph is operated while the digest content is being displayed.

More specifically, in this example, by way of example and not limitation, a screen similar to the archive broadcast viewing screen shown in FIG. 1-9 is displayed, and the reaction graph RG1 is configured so that, similar to FIG. 1-9, by way of example and not limitation, image icons representing each product are displayed in speech bubbles at locations where there is a large reaction to the products sold in the "LL Mart" live commerce content. Note that the image icons may be the names of the products, or the image icons and the names of the products may be displayed together.

The reaction graph RG1 is not limited to a bar graph, and may be, for example, a line graph or a heat map.
Moreover, image icons indicating items for sale may not be added to the response graph RG1.

In addition, in FIG. 5-3, below the area containing the "LL Mart" information in the upper left corner of the screen, there is provided, by way of example and not limitation, a digest transition button TBT similar to that in FIG. 4-6 for returning to the digest content from which the transition occurred. Although not shown, when the digest transition button TBT is tapped by the user, it is possible to return to the display of the digest content in FIG. 5-2, by way of example and not limitation.

In this case, when the digest transition button TBT is operated at the timing of "38:19" in FIG. 5-3, an image of the digest content at the timing of "5:49" in FIG. 5-2 can be displayed.
Also, when the digest transition button TBT is operated at a timing other than "38:19" in FIG. 5C, an image of the timing of the digest content corresponding to that timing can be displayed.

<Processing>
Fig. 5-4 is a flow chart showing an example of the flow of processing executed by each device in this embodiment. The diagram can be read in the same way as Fig. 4-7.

After S210, the control unit 11 of the server 10 performs a first live commerce response aggregation process (S220).
In the first live commerce response aggregation process, the control unit 11 of the server 10 aggregates the number of live commerce responses for each set period, for example and not limitation, based on data such as product sales history management data and comment management data.
In this case, the control unit 11 of the server 10 tally up information such as sales figures and number of comments for each item for sale ID, thereby tallying up viewer responses to the live commerce content for each item for sale.

In addition, the number of live commerce responses for each set period may be calculated based on at least one of the following factors, for example and not by way of limitation.
・Number of sales ・Number of comments ・Number of viewers of live streaming ・Number of times (or frequency of operation) of the sales interest button IBT

Similarly, in the first to third embodiments, etc., the number of times/frequency of operations of the sales interest button IBT may be used as a factor in calculating the number of live commerce responses.

Next, the control unit 11 of the server 10 executes a first live commerce reaction graph generation process (S225). In the first live commerce reaction graph generation process, the control unit 11 of the server 10 generates live commerce reaction graph information represented by a bar graph or the like based on the number of live commerce reactions for each set period tallied in the first live commerce reaction aggregation process, for example and not by way of limitation.

For example, and not by way of limitation, the live commerce response graph information may be generated by taking the time axis on the horizontal axis of a bar graph and the number of live commerce responses on the vertical axis, and normalizing the width of the bar graph to the width of the seek bar.

After S230, the control unit 11 of the server 10 executes a second live commerce response aggregation process (S240), similar to S220.
In addition, the control unit 11 of the server 10 performs a second live commerce response graph generation process (S245), similar to S225.

In the live commerce digest content creation process of S250, the control unit 11 of the server 10 determines, by way of example and not limitation, whether the number of live commerce reactions is equal to or greater than a set threshold (or exceeds the threshold). Then, by way of example and not limitation, the control unit 11 creates (generates) digest content including the section determined to be equal to or greater than the threshold (or exceeds the threshold).
The threshold value may be set for each live commerce content, or a common threshold value may be used.

In this case, the control unit 11 of the server 10 can, by way of example and not limitation, generate digest content in the form shown in FIG. 5-1, etc., based on the reaction graph information of the section on the time axis corresponding to the partial content obtained from the first live commerce content out of the live commerce reaction graph information generated in S225 (first live commerce reaction graph information) and the reaction graph information of the section on the time axis corresponding to the partial content obtained from the second live commerce content out of the reaction graph information generated in S245 (second live commerce reaction graph information), in order to add a reaction graph to the live commerce digest content.

In this case, a reaction graph-combined digest content may be generated by combining a reaction graph with digest content generated based on partial content, and digest content information including this may be transmitted from the server 10 to the viewer's terminal 20.
1-12 and the like, the live commerce reaction graph information and the digest content information may be transmitted separately from the server 10 to the viewer's terminal 20. In the example shown in FIG.

Note that the reaction graph information may not be displayed in the digest content. In this case, by way of example and not limitation, the control unit 11 of the server 10 may not perform steps S225 and S245.

In addition, in the live commerce digest content creation process, the control unit 11 of the server 10 may, for example and without limitation, trim partial content including a section that is equal to or greater than the set number of live commerce reactions for the type of target sales item (product) based on the reaction to the live commerce content, from the archive of each live commerce content, and connect them together to generate digest content.
The partial content acquired in this manner may be regarded as the highlight content described in the third embodiment, and the digest content generated in this manner may be regarded as a content in which highlight contents are joined together.

In this case, as an example and not a limitation, digest content may be generated for each type of product in the order of greatest viewer reaction (largest number of live commerce reactions) when the live commerce content is distributed.
As a non-limiting example, if the level of viewer response to the live commerce content distributed by broadcaster A, broadcaster B, and broadcaster C for the item "socks" is "Broadcaster B > Broadcaster A > Broadcaster C," the live commerce content may be generated by connecting the partial content obtained from broadcaster B's live commerce content, the partial content obtained from broadcaster A's live commerce content, and the partial content obtained from broadcaster C's live commerce content in this order.
In this way, it is possible to generate digest content that is played back in order of, for example and not limitation, the most sales, the most comments, the most number of viewers of the live stream, the most number of times (or frequency of operation) the sales interest button was operated, or the most reactions based on any combination of these.

Alternatively, a digest content may be generated that is played back in ascending order of viewer reaction.
Furthermore, as described above, for example and not limitation, digest content may be generated that is played back in chronological order of the oldest or newest distribution dates regardless of the viewer's reaction.

In addition, the control unit 11 of the server 10 may, for example and without limitation, generate digest content for products that have received a predetermined or higher response from viewers when the live commerce content is distributed, regardless of the type of product.
For example and not for limitation, digest content may be generated for products that have sold a set number of units (for example and not for limitation, "100 units") or more during live streaming. The same can be done for the number of comments, the number of viewers of the live streaming, the number of operations (or frequency of operations) of the interest in sales button IBT, and the like.

Furthermore, regardless of the type of product, similarly to the above, digest content may be generated as content that is played back in order of the greatest viewer reaction (the greatest number of live commerce reactions) when the live commerce content is distributed.
By doing this, it is possible to generate digest content that is played back in order of, for example and not by way of limitation, the number of sales, the number of comments, the number of viewers of the live stream, the number of times (or frequency of operation) the sales interest button was operated, or the most reactions based on any combination of these, regardless of the type of product.

In addition, in the live commerce digest content creation process, the control unit 11 of the server 10 may select, as a source content, from among the multiple live commerce contents delivered, a live commerce content for which the total response of viewers is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, as a non-limiting example, and generate digest content.

In addition, as a non-limiting example, the control unit 11 of the server 10 may perform steps S220 and S225 and steps S240 and S245 together before step S250.

In addition, as described above, when the control unit 11 of the server 10 creates digest content by trimming partial content that includes a section determined based on the number of live commerce responses, there may be cases where the scene that the distributor wants to include is not included in the digest content.

Therefore, as an example and not a limitation, the contents of the fourth modified example (1) may be applied in combination.
In this case, if the control unit 11 of the server 10 determines, based on the information transmitted from the broadcaster's terminal 20, that the scene specified by the broadcaster is included in a section in which the number of live commerce responses is equal to or greater than a threshold (or exceeds the threshold), the control unit 11 may use that section as is, as an example and not as a limitation.
In addition, if the scene specified by the broadcaster is not included in the section in which the number of live commerce responses is determined to be equal to or greater than a threshold value (or over the threshold value) based on the information transmitted from the broadcaster's terminal 20, the control unit 11 of the server 10 may, by way of example and not limitation, extract a comprehensive section that includes the scene specified by the broadcaster, or may extract the section including the scene specified by the broadcaster as a separate section from the section based on the number of live commerce responses.

<Effects of the Fifth Example>
In this embodiment, the set content is related to the same type of product in the live commerce content.
As an example of an effect of an embodiment obtained by such a configuration, by way of example and not limitation, third live commerce content information including content related to the same type of product can be generated based on live commerce content information regarding live commerce content including content related to the same type of product.

In addition, this embodiment shows a configuration in which the set content is content related to a product that has received a predetermined or higher response from viewers when the live commerce content is distributed. Also, the digest content (not limited to the digest content, but an example of the content included in the third content information) shows a configuration in which the digest content is content related to a product that has received a predetermined or higher response from viewers when the live commerce content is distributed.
As an example of an effect of the embodiment obtained by such a configuration, but not limited to, it is possible to generate third content information including content that has a high product purchase appeal effect.

In addition, this embodiment illustrates a configuration in which digest content information (not limited to, but an example of third content information) is generated by the control unit 11 of the server 10 as content information including digest content that is played in an order based on the number of viewers' live commerce responses to a first live commerce content (not limited to, but an example of the content of the first content information) and the number of viewers' live commerce responses to a second live commerce content (not limited to, but an example of the content of the second content information).
As an example of an effect of an embodiment obtained by such a configuration, by way of example and not limitation, it becomes possible to generate third content information which includes content related to the set content and which includes content that is played in order of greatest viewer response, thereby making it possible to provide content that is highly effective in appealing to product purchases.

In addition, this embodiment illustrates a configuration in which digest content information (not limited to this, an example of third content information) is generated by the control unit 11 of the server 10 as content information including digest content associated with viewer responses in chronological order.
As an example of an effect of an embodiment obtained by such a configuration, it becomes possible for a user to check and understand the viewer's reaction in chronological order in addition to the content contained in the generated third content information, thereby improving convenience.

In this case, the set content is content related to the same type of product among the product (item for sale) included in the first live commerce content information and the product (item for sale) included in the second live commerce content information, and the digest content information (an example of third content information, not limited to this) may be generated by the control unit 11 of the server 10 as content information including digest content associated with the first broadcaster of the first terminal and associated with viewer reactions, and associated with the second broadcaster of the second terminal and associated with viewer reactions.
As an example of an effect of an embodiment obtained by such a configuration, it becomes possible for a user to check and understand the viewer's reaction for each distributor, in addition to the content contained in the generated third content information, thereby further improving convenience.

Sixth Example
The sixth embodiment relates to an embodiment in which the digest content described in the fourth and fifth embodiments is displayed on the display unit 24 of the terminal 20 in a manner different from that described above, and made available to the user.

The contents described in the sixth embodiment are applicable to any of the other embodiments and other modified examples.
Furthermore, the same components as those already mentioned are given the same reference numerals and will not be described again.

<Display screen>
FIG. 6A shows an example of a screen displayed on the display unit 24 of the terminal 20Z in this embodiment.
This screen is an archive viewing screen similar to that of FIG. 4-3, by way of example and not limitation, but in this example, the information displayed in the "Digest by Item" column is different from that of FIG. 4-3.

Specifically, in this example, category information is displayed for each item: for a "top" item, category information CT1 for "tops", for a "bottoms" item, category information CT2 for "bottoms", for a "footwear" item, category information CT3 for "footwear", and for a "hat" item, category information CT4 for "hat".
In this example, the items shown as "socks" in FIG. 4-3 are displayed as "footwear" items.

As an example and not a limitation, when the category information CT3 of "Footwear" is tapped by the user, the display changes to that shown in FIG. 6-2, as an example and not a limitation.
Specifically, in this example, by way of example and not limitation, an area containing three digest contents, namely digest content DC12 for one type of product in the category of "shoes," digest content DC13 for a product in the category of "socks," and digest content DC14 for another type of product in the category of "shoes," is configured to rise up from the bottom of the screen.
At the rightmost part of this area, a digest content DC15 for full-length playback is displayed, which includes the words "full-length playback" for playing back the entirety of these three digest contents.

As an example and not a limitation, when the user taps the digest content DC13 for the "socks" product (in this example, the play button displayed below the image (thumbnail) of the socks), the digest content for the "socks" item shown in Figures 4-4 to 4-5 may be played.

<Processing>
In this embodiment, by way of example and not limitation, the control unit 11 of the server 10 can set a comprehensive and hierarchical product type (by way of example and not limitation, the “footwear” category in the digest for each item shown in FIG. 6-1, and products such as shoes and socks as shown in FIG. 6-2 as sub-categories, or product types) as the product type.

Then, in the live commerce digest content creation process of S250 in the process of FIG. 4-7 or FIG. 5-4, the control unit 11 of the server 10 can generate digest content for each product included in the set comprehensive type (comprehensive category) and digest content for each type of product included in the set comprehensive type (comprehensive category) using a method similar to that described above.

In the viewer's terminal 20, for example and not for limitation, a screen such as that shown in FIG. 6-1 or 6-2 is displayed on the display unit 24 based on user input via the input/output unit 23 and comprehensive and hierarchical product type information related to the digest content information transmitted from the server 10. Then, based on digest content information corresponding to the digest content selected by the user input via the input/output unit 23, the selected digest content can be displayed on the display unit 24.

<Other Examples>
(1) Information Processing Apparatus In the above embodiment, the information processing apparatus in the present disclosure has been described as the server 10, but is not limited thereto.

Instead of having one server 10, the server 10 may be divided into multiple servers, and each of these servers may be an information processing device according to the present disclosure.

In addition, instead of a server, a terminal such as a management computer that communicates with a terminal performing live streaming (broadcaster terminal) or a terminal such as a management smartphone may be used as the information processing device in the present disclosure.

It is also possible to configure a system including multiple information processing devices, and have this system perform the various processes of the server 10 described in the above embodiment.

(2) Others As described above, the contents described in the above embodiments, the respective modifications, and other embodiments can be applied in combination with each other.
Furthermore, by way of example and not limitation, the contents described in the first to third embodiments, etc. and the contents described in the fourth to sixth embodiments, etc. can be applied in appropriate combination.

Reference Signs List 1 Communication system 10 Server 20 Terminal 30 Network

Claims (11)

A program executed by a server that communicates with a first terminal and a second terminal of a distributor that distributes content,
receiving first content information related to the content including the set details from the first terminal by a communication unit of the server;
receiving second content information, which is different from the first content information, related to the content including the details from the second terminal by the communication unit;
performing a first process of extracting a section on a time axis associated with the content from the first content information by a control unit of the server;
performing a second process by the control unit to extract a section on a time axis associated with the content from the second content information;
The server executes, by the control unit, a process of generating third content information including the content relating to the subject matter based on the first process and the second process. The program according to claim 1,
The first content information and the second content information are content information of live commerce content. The program according to claim 2,
The set content is content related to the same type of product in the live commerce content. The program according to claim 2 or 3,
The set content is content related to a product that has received a predetermined or higher response from viewers when the live commerce content is distributed. The program according to claim 2,
The third content information is generated by the control unit as content information including content to be played in an order based on information regarding a viewer's reaction to the content of the first content information and information regarding a viewer's reaction to the content of the second content information. The program according to claim 2,
The third content information is generated by the control unit as content information including content associated with viewer reactions during distribution of live commerce content. The program according to claim 2,
The third content information is generated by the control unit based on information transmitted from the first terminal during live distribution of the live commerce content of the first content information. The program according to claim 7,
The third content information is generated by the control unit based on information transmitted from the second terminal during live distribution of the live commerce content of the second content information. An information processing method of a server that communicates with a first terminal and a second terminal of a distributor that distributes content, comprising:
receiving first content information related to the content including the set details from the first terminal by a communication unit of the server;
receiving second content information, which is different from the first content information, related to the content including the details from the second terminal by the communication unit;
performing a first process of extracting a section on a time axis associated with the content from the first content information by a control unit of the server;
performing a second process by the control unit to extract a section on a time axis associated with the content from the second content information;
The method includes performing, by the control unit, a process of generating third content information including the content related to the subject matter, based on the first process and the second process. A server that communicates with a first terminal and a second terminal of a distributor that distributes content,
a communication unit that receives first content information related to the content including a set content from the first terminal, and receives second content information related to the content including the set content, the second content information being different from the first content information from the second terminal;
and a control unit that performs a first process to extract a section on a time axis associated with the content from the first content information, performs a second process to extract a section on a time axis associated with the content from the second content information, and generates third content information including the content related to the content based on the first process and the second process. A system including a server that communicates with a first terminal and a second terminal of a distributor that distributes content, and a terminal,
The server,
a communication unit that receives first content information related to the content including a set content from the first terminal, and receives second content information related to the content including the set content, the second content information being different from the first content information from the second terminal;
a control unit that performs a first process of extracting a section on a time axis associated with the content from the first content information, performs a second process of extracting a section on a time axis associated with the content from the second content information, and performs a process of generating third content information including the content related to the content based on the first process and the second process;
The communication unit transmits the third content information to the terminal;
The terminal includes:
a communication unit that receives the third content information from the server;
and a display unit that displays the content included in the received third content information.

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