JP6647612B1 - Digital signage - Google Patents

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to optimally combine product information and information on related articles contributing to the sales promotion of the product in the promotion of the product in accordance with the “weather-linked demand forecast information”, while incorporating the stock status of the product. Automatically create and display the combined “sales promotion content”. An information acquisition unit, an inventory search unit, a related article suggestion unit, an image data search unit, a matching processing unit, an image data acquisition unit, and a content for sales promotion are automatically generated. The related article proposing section 30 outputs information of a related article for sales promotion when the information of the sales promotion candidate product is input. The digital signage 1 is composed of an information processing device. [Selection diagram] Fig. 1

Description

  The present invention relates to digital signage for sales promotion. More specifically, the present invention acquires information (referred to as “weather-linked demand forecast information” in the present specification) for predicting a demand change of a product correlated with a weather change, and responds to the information. Promotional digital signage displaying automatically created promotional content.

  In recent years, an information display device called “digital signage” has been widely used. “Digital signage” is a device that utilizes a digital technology for display and communication, and displays information such as images and characters using a flat display or a projector. Compared to conventional display means that displays still images printed on paper media, digital signage has the advantage that it can handle not only still images but also moving images, and that the content displayed in real time according to the situation Is an information display device capable of exhibiting a remarkable advantage over other conventional means as a display means for sales promotion in that "a point can be optimized."

  As a "digital signage" utilizing the advantage of the above-mentioned "display content can be optimized in real time according to the situation", for example, from weather data obtained from an external server, etc., more appropriate content in real time “Digital signage” for display has already been developed (see Patent Documents 1 and 2).

  According to “Digital Signage” disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2, based on demand fluctuation prediction that is previously associated with “Weather” or “Temperature” according to weather information that fluctuates every day. The determined specific information can be displayed in real time in accordance with the "weather" or "temperature" at the information display location / time. For example, if the purpose is to promote sales of hot-selling foodstuffs according to the weather, foodstuffs (for example, "potatoes") that are previously linked to specific weather information (for example, low temperature, snow) can be timed. Can be expected to have a sales promotion effect.

JP 2012-134836 A JP 2014-115797 A

  Here, in order to ensure the effectiveness of product sales promotion, it is necessary to perform a process of matching with inventory data on whether or not there is a salable inventory. However, none of the above documents mentions matching weather information and inventory data in advance.

  In the promotion of merchandise, it is widely used as an effective sales promotion method to present related articles or the like that remind consumers of the benefits that can be obtained directly or indirectly from the merchandise. I have. Specifically, for example, on a cold snowy day, in order to promote the sale of "potatoes", not only present the above products (potatoes) alone, but also from among many "potato dishes", In this method, “meat and potatoes” are selected instead of “potato salads”, and a movie of the cooking process is displayed as “sales promotion content”.

  According to "Digital Signage" disclosed in Patent Literatures 1 and 2, it is possible to display in real time an image of a food item or the like previously associated with a specific weather as a single item based on a change in weather information. It is. However, as described above, in order to display “sales promotion content” configured by combining sales promotion information relating to a dish that can be cooked using ingredients to be promoted or a cooking process, it is necessary to update the content. Each time the above-mentioned selection and acquisition of the sales promotion information and the creation of the “sales promotion content” for editing the acquired information are performed manually as a separate work from the information acquisition and display (manual editing). Was mandatory.

  The present invention relates to merchandise information and related articles contributing to the sales promotion of the merchandise in the promotion of merchandise in accordance with “weather-linked demand forecast information” for predicting fluctuations in demand for foods and the like that are correlated with weather fluctuations. It is an object of the present invention to automatically create and display “sales promotion content” that is optimally combined with information while taking into account the stock status of the product.

  The present invention solves the above-mentioned problems by the following means.

  (1) An information acquisition unit that acquires weather-linked demand forecast information, and stores inventory data of one or more sales promotion candidate products that are expected to increase in demand based on the weather-linked demand forecast information in an inventory database. An inventory search unit for accessing and searching, a related article suggestion unit for proposing a related article corresponding to the candidate product to be promoted, and image data of the related article proposed by the related article suggestion unit; Access and search, the image data search unit, and one or more of the sales promotion candidate products for which the presence of inventory has been confirmed, and the related articles that have been confirmed that the image data can be obtained, A matching processing unit that determines the combination of the candidate products and the image data of the related promotion target candidate commodities and the related articles that constitute the combination determined by the matching processing unit. An image data acquiring unit for automatically acquiring sales promotion contents including information on the candidate products for promotion and the related articles from the image data acquired by the image data acquiring unit. A content creation unit, and a content display unit for displaying the content for sales promotion. The related product suggestion unit, when inputting the information of the candidate product for promotion, Digital signage composed of an information processing device to which information is output.

  According to the digital signage of (1), in sales promotion of goods according to “weather-linked demand forecast information”, “sales promotion contents” which appropriately combines information on goods and related goods for sales promotion. Can be automatically created and displayed after incorporating the stock status of the product.

  (2) The attribute data according to (1), wherein attribute data of a viewer who views the content display unit is input to an information processing apparatus included in the related article suggestion unit as data for selecting the related article. Digital signage.

  In the digital signage of (2), in the digital signage of (1), it is possible to create “sales promotion content” in which the content is further optimized in consideration of the attributes of a viewer who views the digital signage. A configuration that can be used. As a result, it is possible to further improve the accuracy of the effect of improving the viewer's willingness to purchase in digital signage of (1).

  (3) It further includes a viewer attribute data acquisition unit having a photographing unit capable of photographing a viewer of the sales promotion content and an image analyzing unit, and the photographed image photographed by the photographing unit is analyzed by the image analyzing unit. The digital signage according to (2), wherein the attribute data of the viewer is acquired.

  The digital signage of (3) is obtained by adding a photographing unit having a function of photographing a viewer and an image analyzing unit for analyzing a photographed image to the digital signage of (2), and The configuration is such that attribute information of a staying viewer can be obtained in real time by analyzing a photographed image photographed by the photographing unit. This makes it possible to automatically create “sales promotion content” that is more excellent in terms of compatibility with the attributes of the viewer who is actually viewing the information.

  (4) The digital signage according to (3), wherein the image analysis unit is a machine learning type information processing device having a neural network.

  In the digital signage of (4), in the digital signage of (3), an image analysis for acquiring attribute data of a viewer can be further performed by a machine learning type information processing apparatus having a neural network. And This makes it possible to further enhance the accuracy of the viewer's attribute data and automatically create “promotional content” that is extremely excellent in compatibility with the attributes of the viewer who is actually viewing the information. it can.

  (5) The date and time information at the installation location of the digital signage is input as data for selecting the related article to an information processing apparatus constituting the related article suggestion unit, wherein (1) to (4). Digital signage according to any of the above.

  According to the digital signage of (5), the “sales promotion content” in which the content is optimized by adding the date and time information at the installation location to any one of (1) to (4) is automatically generated. Configuration. As a result, it is possible to further improve the accuracy of the effect of improving the viewer's willingness to purchase.

  (6) The sales promotion target candidate product is a foodstuff, and the image data of the related article is a moving image related to a description of a method of cooking a dish using the foodstuff, according to any one of (1) to (5). Digital signage.

  According to the digital signage of (6), in the digital signage according to any one of (1) to (5), especially when the candidate product to be promoted is a foodstuff, the work is conventionally performed. It is possible to automatically create and display "sales promotion content" which is created by manual editing by a user and incorporates an effective advertising method to increase the willingness to purchase ingredients.

  (7) The related article suggestion unit is configured with an information processing device that, when stock data of all products is further input, outputs information of a dish selected so that the required total amount of the ingredients is maximized. Digital signage according to (6).

  According to the digital signage of (7), for example, among various dishes that can be cooked using a plurality of ingredients whose stock has been confirmed, the required total amount of ingredients that are the ingredients of the dish, that is, the total sales amount Automatically select the dish that maximizes the expected value. Thereby, the effectiveness of the sales promotion effect by the digital signage of (6) can be further enhanced.

  (8) The digital signage according to any one of (1) to (7), wherein the information processing device that outputs information on the related article is a machine learning type information processing device having a neural network.

  According to the digital signage of (8), in any one of the digital signage of (1) to (7), the selection of the related articles constituting the “sales promotion content” is performed by a machine learning type having a neural network. The processing is performed by an information processing device, a so-called deep learning type information processing device. This makes it possible to make more complicated condition judgments in selecting related articles, and to create “sales promotion contents” with higher appeal.

  (9) An information acquisition unit for acquiring weather-linked demand forecast information, and the inventory data of one or more sales promotion candidate products whose demand is expected to increase based on the weather-linked demand forecast information is stored in an inventory database. The information processing apparatus is configured to access and search for information on an inventory search unit and information on the sales promotion target candidate product, and output information on sales promotion related articles. A related article suggestion unit that proposes the related article corresponding to the product; an image data search unit that accesses a server to search for image data of the related article proposed by the related article suggestion unit; Determining a combination of one or more of the sales promotion candidate products whose existence has been confirmed and the related articles whose image data has been confirmed to be obtainable; An image data acquisition unit that acquires image data of the sales promotion target candidate product and the related article constituting the combination determined by the matching processing unit; and the image acquired by the image data acquisition unit. An operation processing unit comprising: a data creation unit that automatically creates a sales promotion content including information on the sales promotion candidate product and the related article from the data; and A digital signage system communicably connected to a content display unit for displaying sales promotion contents.

  According to the digital signage system of (9), in sales promotion of products according to “weather-linked demand forecast information”, “sales promotion” which appropriately combines products and information on related products for sales promotion. The content can be automatically created and displayed after incorporating the stock status of the product. Further, digital signage scattered in a remote place can be controlled by one headquarters.

  (10) An information acquisition step in which the information acquisition section acquires weather-linked demand forecast information, and an inventory search section in which one or more sales promotion targets whose demand is expected to increase based on the weather-linked demand forecast information. An inventory search step of accessing inventory database of the candidate product to search the inventory database, and a related article suggestion step, wherein the related article suggestion section proposes a related article corresponding to the sales promotion candidate product; An image data search step in which a search unit accesses the server to search for image data of the related article suggested by the related article suggestion unit; Matching to determine a combination of the sales promotion candidate product and the related article for which the image data has been confirmed to be obtainable. Image data obtaining step, wherein the image data obtaining unit obtains image data of the sales promotion target candidate product and the related article constituting the combination determined by the matching processing unit. A content creation step of automatically creating, from the image data acquired by the image data acquisition unit, sales promotion content including information on the sales promotion target candidate product and the related article; and a content display unit. A content display step of displaying the content for promotion, the method for displaying content for promotion.

  According to the method for displaying the content for sales promotion of (10), in the sales promotion of the product according to the “weather-linked demand forecast information”, the “sales” in which the information on the product and the related article for the sales promotion are appropriately combined. The “promotional content” can be automatically created and displayed after incorporating the stock status of the product.

  (11) In the related article suggestion step, attribute data of a viewer who views the content display unit is input as data for selecting the related article to an information processing device configuring the related article suggestion unit. The display method of the content for promotion described in (10).

  The display method of the content for promotion in (11) is the same as the display method for content for promotion in (10), except that the content is optimized by taking into account the attributes of the viewers who watch digital signage. Content ”can be created. As a result, it is possible to further improve the accuracy of the effect of improving the viewer's willingness to purchase.

  (12) In the related article suggestion step, date and time information at an installation location of the digital signage is input as data for selecting the related article to an information processing device included in the related article suggestion unit. (10) The display method of the content for promotion described in (11).

  According to the display method of the content for promotion in (12), the display method of the content for promotion described in (10) or (11) is optimized by adding the date and time information at the installation location. Promotional content "can be created. As a result, it is possible to further improve the accuracy of the effect of improving the viewer's willingness to purchase.

  (13) The sales according to any one of (10) to (12), wherein the sales promotion target candidate product is a foodstuff, and the image data of the related article is a moving image related to a description of a method of cooking a dish using the foodstuff. How to display promotional content.

  According to the display method of the content for promotion in (13), in the display method of the content for promotion in any one of (10) to (12), particularly when the product to be promoted is a foodstuff, In addition, it is possible to automatically create and display “sales promotion content” that employs a method that is superior in sales promotion effects.

  (14) The information processing device constituting the related article suggestion unit further outputs the information on the dish selected so that the required total amount of the ingredients is maximized, using the stock data as an input value. How to display the described promotional content.

  According to the method of displaying the content for sales promotion of (14), for example, among various dishes that can be cooked using a plurality of ingredients whose stock has been confirmed, the necessary total amount of ingredients that are ingredients of the dish, that is, Automatically select the dish that maximizes the expected value of total sales. Thereby, the effectiveness of the sales promotion effect by the display method of the sales promotion content of (13) can be further enhanced.

  (15) The sales promotion content display method according to any one of (10) to (14), wherein the information processing device that outputs information on the related article is a machine learning type information processing device having a neural network.

  According to the display method of the content for promotion of (15), in the display method of the content for promotion of any one of (10) to (14), the selection of the related article constituting the content for promotion is performed by the neural network. The processing is performed by a machine learning type information processing device having a so-called deep learning type information processing device. This makes it possible to make more complex condition judgments in selecting related articles, and display “sales promotion contents” with higher appeal.

  According to the present invention, in sales promotion of goods according to “weather-linked demand forecast information” for predicting demand fluctuations of foodstuffs and the like that are correlated with weather fluctuations, product information and related articles that contribute to sales promotion of the products And "information for sale promotion" can be automatically created and displayed in an optimally combined manner while incorporating the stock status of the product.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a digital signage of the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows the flow of operation | movement of the display method of "contents for sales promotion" which can be implemented using the digital signage of this invention. It is a figure which shows typically an example of the content display part which comprises the digital signage of this invention. It is a chart figure showing an example of the whole composition of sales promotion activity which can be implemented using digital signage of the present invention.

  Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings as appropriate.

<Digital signage>
The digital signage of the present invention provides information on a target product to be promoted and related articles that can contribute to the promotion of the product in a product sales promotion activity performed by utilizing “weather-linked demand forecast information”. This is a display device that can automatically create and display “sales promotion content” that is optimally combined with the information, including the stock status of the product, and the like.

  Here, the above-mentioned “weather-linked demand forecast information” refers to all information related to forecast of demand fluctuation of a product correlated with weather fluctuation. Such “weather-linked demand forecast information” has already been provided as paid or free information from various weather-related organizations and the like to various distribution and sales organizations such as convenience stores and shopping centers.

  The digital signage of the present invention can be employed as a sales promotion means for articles in general where there is a correlation between weather and demand. However, the digital signage of the present invention can be cited as an example of a particularly preferred embodiment in which the digital signage of the present invention is implemented as a food sales promotion means that makes it easy to find a clear correlation between the weather and the demand. Hereinafter, an embodiment in which the digital signage of the present invention is used for a sales promotion activity mainly targeting food for sales promotion will be described in detail.

  As used herein, the term “related goods” in this specification refers to goods (including intangibles such as services) related to a target product to be promoted by digital signage of the present invention unless otherwise specified. , By presenting the product together with the product, the product can contribute to promotion of the product.

  Further, when the target product to be promoted by the digital signage of the present invention is a food material, cooking of a dish using the food material is used as information relating to “related articles” that can contribute to sales promotion of the product (food material). Presenting a moving image related to the explanation of the method is effective as an advertisement technique. Digital signage 1 automatically creates “sales promotion content” that incorporates the above-mentioned advertising method, which has been created by manual editing by workers and is effective to increase the willingness to purchase foodstuffs, without human intervention. It has a remarkable advantage as an advertising means that can be created and displayed on the Internet.

[overall structure]
The basic configuration of a digital signage 1, which is an example of a preferred embodiment of the digital signage of the present invention, is as shown in FIG. That is, the digital signage 1 includes an information acquisition unit 10, an inventory search unit 20, a related article suggestion unit 30, an image data search unit 40, a matching processing unit 50, an image data acquisition unit 60, a content creation unit 70, and a content display unit. 80. It is more preferable that the digital signage 1 further includes a viewer attribute data acquisition unit 90 in addition to the above-described components.

  It should be noted that, in the present specification, among the above-described units constituting the digital signage 1, the information acquisition unit 10, the inventory search unit 20, the related article proposal unit 30, the image data search unit 40, the matching processing unit 50, the image data acquisition The unit 60 and the content creation unit 70 are also collectively referred to as an “operation processing unit”. The “arithmetic processing unit” can be configured by various known information processing devices such as a computer including hardware such as a CPU, a memory, and a communication unit. The “arithmetic processing unit” having the above configuration can specifically execute various operations of digital signage described below by using a “program” for a computer.

  Note that the digital signage 1 has a content display unit 80 such as a flat display for displaying the “promotional content” created in the above-mentioned “arithmetic processing unit”. May be arranged at another place apart from each other. In this case, the two components are communicably connected by various communication means such as a wired connection using a dedicated communication cable, a wired LAN, a wireless LAN, a short-range wireless communication, or a mobile phone line. Therefore, for example, the present invention can be implemented as a distributed "digital signage system" constituted by a single "processing unit" and a plurality of content display units 80 distributed in a remote place. it can.

[Information acquisition unit]
The information acquisition unit 10 acquires “weather-linked demand forecast information” for predicting a demand change of a product correlated with a weather change. The “weather-linked demand forecast information” at the place where the digital signage 1 (or the content display unit 80 in the above-mentioned distributed “digital signage system”) is installed is for public use such as the Internet. It can be obtained by communication performed through a provided communication line or a communication line exclusively used by the user. Further, the frequency of information acquisition is not particularly limited, but it is preferable that the information is automatically acquired at predetermined time intervals, such as every day or every eight hours. It is preferable that the acquired “weather-linked demand forecast information” is stored in the information acquisition unit 10 or another storage unit in the arithmetic processing unit for a certain period as necessary.

  Here, an example of “weather-linked demand forecast information” including a combination of the weather and a product whose demand is predicted to increase is shown in Table 1 below.

[Inventory search section]
The inventory search unit 20 accesses the inventory database and searches for the presence or absence of inventory of one or more “promotion target candidate products” included in the “weather-linked demand forecast information” acquired by the information acquisition unit 10. For example, if the “weather-linked demand forecast information” shown in Table 1 is acquired, each of the sales promotion candidates “Water (normal temperature)”, “Chukaman”, “Amazake”, “Potato”,. Check whether the product has stock at the store or the like.

  Further, when performing the above search, the inventory search unit 20 further obtains information (stock data of all products) on the number of stocks of all products including all products other than the “promotion target product”. It is preferable to have a function of acquiring and transmitting this information to the related article suggestion unit 30 together with the information on whether or not the “promotion target product” is in stock. Thereby, as will be described in detail later, it becomes possible for the related article proposing unit 30 to select a product (foodstuff) for maximizing the total sales amount of the stock items.

[Related Products Proposal Department]
The related article proposal unit 30 proposes “related articles” corresponding to one or a plurality of “promotion target candidate products” included in the “weather-linked demand forecast information” acquired by the information acquisition unit 10.

  In order to make the above proposal, specifically, when the information of “promotion target candidate product” is input, the related article proposal unit 30 outputs information of “related article” for sales promotion. It is composed of devices.

  The selection of the “related article” for sales promotion in the related article proposing unit 30 is performed, for example, when the “promotion target candidate product” is “jam potato” in Table 1, and at least the time and place of sale According to the input value that combines the "weather data" in the "Curry rice", "Nikujaga", "Potaj soup (cold)", "Potaj soup (heat)", "Potato salad", etc. The information is executed by outputting any of the information as an output value corresponding to the input value described above, that is, information on “related articles” for sales promotion.

  The input value described above may be an input value obtained by combining “date and time information” at the installation location of the digital signage and “viewer attribute data” of the digital signage 1 in addition to “weather data”. Is more preferable. For example, by adding “viewer attribute data” to the input value, a more optimal selection that takes into account differences in tastes according to age and gender (for example, “curry rice” for children, For example, “meat and potatoes” can be performed. It should be noted that “viewer attribute data” may be stored in advance in storage means in the arithmetic processing unit as default data when the audience of digital signage at the installation location is fixed or the like. it can. However, as will be described later, in order to acquire more precise “viewer attribute data” in real time, the digital signage 1 needs to have the above-described viewer attribute data including the photographing unit 91 and the image analyzing unit 92. More preferably, the acquisition unit 90 is further provided.

  In addition, as exemplified above, especially when the “promotion target candidate product” is a food material, the related article proposing unit 30 maximizes the total sales amount in consideration of “inventory data of all products”. It is more preferable that the apparatus has a function of selecting a dish as the “related article” so that the dish is performed. For this reason, the information processing apparatus constituting the related article proposing section 30 is selected such that, when "stock data of all commodities" is input, the required total amount of ingredients, that is, the expected value of the total sales amount is maximized. What is necessary is just to output the information of the "related article".

  The selection of the “related article” that maximizes the required total amount of food materials can be exemplified by a selection method as shown in Table 2 below. According to this selection method, when the “promotion target candidate product” determined based on the weather of the day is “potato” and there is sufficient inventory of “carrot” and “beef” At (Store A), "curry rice", which can be cooked using these ingredients, taking into account this inventory data, is preferentially selected as a "related product", while "carrot" or "beef" is selected. In the case where there is no stock of “potatoes” and only a large amount of stock of “potatoes” (store B), “fried potatoes” that can be cooked using only “potatoes” as “related products” Selected preferentially.

  It is preferable that the process of selecting the “related article” be performed by a machine learning type information processing apparatus having a neural network and having an excellent information processing ability for comprehensively judging various conditions. By causing the machine learning type information processing device having a neural network to execute the process of selecting the “related article” for sales promotion, a more complicated condition is selected in the selection of the “related article”. This makes it possible to create “sales promotion contents” with higher appeal, and the digital signage 1 can have a higher sales promotion effect.

[Image data search section]
The image data search unit 40 determines whether or not it is possible to acquire the image data of the “related article” for sales including the image of the “related article” selected by the related article proposing unit 30 by using an internal server or a web server. Access and search an external server located in.

  Here, in the present specification, the “internal server” is a database that is owned or owned by the owner or user of the digital signage 1 or used constantly and manages stored data, The image data search unit 40 refers to a device communicably connected via a dedicated line or the like.

  On the other hand, an “external server” is any database that can be accessed through any communication line including a communication line provided for the public such as the Internet and that can obtain necessary information by communication. Means something other than "internal server". A video site or the like to which an unspecified number of individuals are permitted to access is an example of the “external server”. The image data search unit 40 can legally acquire various material data from such an external server for a fee or free of charge.

  The “image data of related articles” that the image data search unit 40 searches to determine the possibility of acquisition constitutes “sales promotion contents” that can contribute to the promotion of the above “sales promotion candidate products”. The image data may be a still image or a moving image. However, it is preferable that the “related article” is a product that can be created by the purchaser using the “promotion candidate product”. In addition, when the “promotional candidate product” is a food item, the “image data of the related article” is particularly preferably a moving image related to a description of a method of cooking a dish using the food item.

[Matching processing unit]
The matching processing unit 50 includes a “promotion target candidate product” in which the presence of the inventory is confirmed based on the inventory data acquired by the inventory search unit 20, and “image data of the related article” searched by the image data search unit 40. And finally a combination of materials used to create the “promotional content” is determined by matching processing for confirming the matching as a combination constituting the “promotional content”. If the above matching cannot be confirmed, for example, when a part of the necessary material cannot be obtained, the process is returned to the upstream step to reconstruct the combination of materials.

[Image data acquisition unit]
The image data acquisition unit 60 acquires “image data of a sales promotion target candidate product” and “image data of a related article” that constitute the combination determined by the matching processing unit 50. The image data acquisition unit 60 is preferably configured by a product image data acquisition unit (not shown) that acquires the former, and a related article image data acquisition unit (not shown) that acquires the latter.

  The “image data of a candidate product targeted for sales promotion” acquired by the product image data acquisition unit is, in other words, image data of a product handled at a store or the like where digital signage is used. May be stored in an internal server as basic data of the product, and the product image data obtaining unit may use the basic data as necessary. In this case, the basic data needs to be updated as needed.

  In addition, the image data that can be obtained from the above-mentioned “external server” as the “image data of the sales promotion target candidate product” obtained by the product image data obtaining unit may be legally obtained and used for a fee or free of charge. Can also.

  The “related article image data” acquired by the related article image data acquisition unit may be the one previously stored in the internal server in the same manner as the “promotion target candidate commodity image data”. It is preferable to use a material determined to be “acquirable” as a result of performing a search by widely accessing the “external server” existing above.

[Content Creation Department]
The content creation unit 70 determines the “promotion target” from the “image data of the candidate product for sales promotion” and the “image data of the related article” acquired by the image data acquisition unit 60 after the combination is determined by the matching processing unit 50. A “promotional content” including information on “candidate products” and “related goods” for sales promotion is automatically created.

  More specifically, the content creation unit 70 creates a display schedule of the “sales promotion content” in addition to the editing unit 71 that automatically creates the “sales promotion content” having the above contents. It is preferable that the display schedule creation unit 72 is provided.

(Editorial department)
The editing unit 71 creates “promotional content” including the product image and “promotion-related image data” for promotion. The creation of the “sales promotion content” is basically executed as an editing operation in which each image data acquired by the image data acquiring unit 60 is used as a material and automatically applied to a predetermined format. It is also possible to fully automate this editing work by the conventional technology.

  The “promotion content” created by the editing unit 71 further includes various articles, events, amusements, and the like related to the “promotion target candidate product” or the “promotion related product”. It is also effective to further add linked advertisement information related to.

(Display schedule creation section)
The display schedule creation unit 72 creates a display schedule for controlling the timing of displaying the “sales promotion content”. For example, when there are a plurality of types of “promotional content” that can be displayed, it is necessary to determine which content is displayed at what time of the day and in which order to maximize the expected value of the promotional effect. It is possible to automatically perform a process of calculating based on the data relating to the change of each customer class and creating an optimum display schedule based on the result by various known information processing devices.

[Audience attribute data acquisition unit]
As described above, it is more preferable that the digital signage 1 further includes a viewer attribute data acquisition unit 90 that acquires attribute data of a viewer who views the content display unit 80. Thereby, the viewer's attribute data is also input as data for judging the optimal combination of the “promotion candidate product” and the “related article”, and the accuracy of the sales promotion effect can be further improved.

(Shooting unit / Image analysis unit)
It is preferable that the viewer attribute data acquiring unit 90 includes a photographing unit 91 capable of photographing a viewer of the “sales promotion content” and an image analyzing unit 92. Thereby, the attribute analysis data of the viewer can be automatically acquired in real time by analyzing the photographed image of the viewer photographed by the photographing unit 91 by the image analysis unit 92.

  For example, as shown in FIG. 3, the photographing unit 91 has a configuration in which a small camera is installed in the content display unit 80 as the photographing unit 91, that is, is incorporated in the apparatus as a part of the digital signage 1. Configuration. Further, by connecting the external camera to the digital signage 1 in such a manner that the function as the photographing unit 91 can be exhibited, the external camera can also function as the photographing unit 91. For example, by connecting a surveillance camera installed at the installation location of the digital signage 1 to the digital signage 1 so as to be communicable, the existing surveillance camera or the like can also function as the imaging unit 91. From the images captured by the surveillance camera, it is usually possible to grasp the flow of people in the area, the movement of goods, the movement of clerks, and the like. Therefore, in the case of the above configuration, the digital signage 1 is not provided with a dedicated camera for information acquisition, and by utilizing existing facilities, it is possible to acquire the attribute data of the viewer and enjoy the above effects. Can be.

It is preferable that the image analysis unit 92 is constituted by a machine learning type image recognizing unit having a neural network, that is, a so-called deep learning type image recognizing unit capable of recognizing an image at a high recognition rate and at a high speed. An image recognition technique using machine learning type image recognition means having a neural network (image recognition means using deep learning) is disclosed, for example, in the following.
"Deep Learning and Image Recognition, Operations Research"
(Http://www.orsj.o.jp/archive2/or60-4/or60_4_198.pdf)

[Content display section]
The content display unit 80 is a device that displays “sales promotion content” created by the content creation unit 70 to the viewer. For example, the content display unit 80 can be configured with a device that can display characters, moving images, and still images, such as a plasma display, an LED display, a VFD display, and various other projectors. As a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a general digital signage for sales promotion having a size of about 1 to 2 m each arranged in a store is assumed. However, the area of the display surface of the content display unit 80 is not particularly limited. For example, the present invention can be applied to a display with a small size of several cm square such as a small window portion built in a vending machine to a huge display of several tens of square meters installed on the wall of a building.

  FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically illustrating an example of the content display unit 80. As for the screen configuration of the display surface of the content display unit 80, it is sufficient that a desired “promotional content” including information on “candidate products to be promoted” and “related articles” can be displayed. Although not limited to the configuration, as an example, as shown in the figure, a moving image display unit 81 that displays a moving image showing a process of a cooking method of “curry rice” selected as “related article”, and “weather-linked” A still image display unit 82 for displaying a still image of another sales promotion target product selected including “potato” which is a “promotion target candidate product” determined based on the “demand forecast information”. A configuration including a plurality of screens can be exemplified.

<How to display promotional content>
The “display method of sales promotion content” of the present invention executed by the operation of the digital signage 1 includes at least the following steps, that is, “information acquisition step S10” executed in the information acquisition unit 10, inventory search. “Inventory search step S20” executed by the unit 20; “Related article proposal step S30” executed by the related article suggestion unit 30; “Image data search step S40” executed by the image data search unit 40; 50, a "matching process step S50" executed in the image data acquisition unit 60, an "image data acquisition step S60" executed in the content creation unit 70, a "content creation step S70" executed in the content creation unit 70, and the content display unit 80 The content display step S80 and "but by being sequentially executed, and functions as a whole process, to exert an advantageously effect described above.

[Information acquisition step]
In the information acquiring step S10, the information acquiring unit 10 acquires "weather-linked demand forecast information" for predicting demand fluctuation of a product correlated with weather fluctuation. The “weather-linked demand forecast information” can be continuously and regularly obtained from an external information provider that provides such information for a fee or free of charge. Alternatively, only the weather-related information may be obtained as the primary information, and the demand forecast as the secondary information based on the information may be generated in the own system.

[Inventory search step]
In the inventory search step S20, the inventory search unit 20 accesses inventory data of one or more “promotion target candidate products” for which an increase in demand is expected based on the “weather-linked demand forecast information” to the inventory database. And search. In this search, at least the presence or absence of inventory of the “promotion target candidate product” is checked. In addition, as described above, the inventory of all products including all the products other than the above “promotion target candidate product” is also performed. It is preferable to also acquire information on the number (stock data of all products). Thereby, as described in detail later, in the related article proposal step S30, it is possible to select a product (foodstuff) that maximizes the expected value of the total sales amount of the stock (foodstuff).

[Related article proposal step]
In the related article proposal step S30, the related article proposal unit 30 proposes a “related article” corresponding to the sales promotion candidate product. Here, in the digital signage of the present invention, the “related article” may be any article that can improve the purchase motivation of the article by presenting simultaneously or sequentially with the article to be promoted, for example, It is preferable that the product is a product that can be created by the purchaser using the “promotion target candidate product”. As one specific example, when using a “large scoop” as a product to be promoted on a rainy day, the family can use a large scoop after the snow plow work video, which is a direct usage method. For example, there is an example in which a video for making a “snowman (product to be created)” is also presented.

  Also, when the sales promotion candidate product is a foodstuff, as described above, the “related article” is preferably a dish using the foodstuff. It is extremely preferable to use it as a material constituting a content for sales promotion.

  In the related article suggestion step S30, the attribute data of the viewer viewing the content display unit 80 is input to the information processing apparatus constituting the related article suggestion unit 30 as data for selecting “related article”. More preferably. In this case, it is preferable that the viewer attribute data is obtained by further providing the above-described viewer attribute data obtaining unit 90 in the arithmetic processing unit of the digital signage 1 to perform the processing.

  In the related article proposal step S30, it is preferable that the date and time information at the installation location of the digital signage 1 is input as data for selecting a related article to the information processing device constituting the related article proposal unit 30. . The date and time information is primarily the date and time at the place where the digital signage is installed, but it can be estimated based on the information. The accuracy of the above-mentioned optimization of the selection can be further improved by using the flow and a change in demand corresponding thereto as secondary information.

  Further, in the related article proposing step S30, as described above, the stock data is further input as an input value into the information processing apparatus constituting the related article proposing section, and the expected value of the total sales amount of the stock (foodstuff) is calculated. It is more preferable that a process of outputting a product (foodstuff) selection to be maximized be output as an output value.

[Image data search step]
In the image data search step S40, the image data search unit 40 searches for image data of the “related article” proposed by the related article suggestion unit 30 by accessing any accessible server.

[Matching processing step]
In the matching processing step S50, the matching processing unit 50 determines whether one or more “promotion target candidate products” for which inventory is confirmed and “related articles” for which image data has been confirmed to be obtainable. , Are determined. If there is a shortage as a result of confirming the correspondence between the “promotion target candidate product” and the “related article”, the process returns to the related article proposal step S30, and the process of selecting another “related article” is repeated. .

[Image data acquisition step]
In the image data acquisition step S60, the image data acquisition unit 60 acquires the image data of the “promotion target candidate product” and the “related article” that constitute the combination determined by the matching processing unit 50. The acquisition source database may be an internal database or an accessible external database. The image data of “promotion target candidate products” is obtained from an internal database in which the image data of the handled products is stored in advance, and the image data of “related products” is obtained from various external databases widely on the web. Is preferred.

[Content creation step]
In the content creation step S70, the content creation unit 70 selects and determines a product to be promoted from “candidate products to be promoted” in stock, and related articles effective in motivating purchase of the product. The “sales promotion content” including the image is automatically created in principle without manual operation.

  In the content creation step S70, in addition to the creation of the “promotional content”, a “display schedule” for controlling the display timing of the “promotional content” is also automatically created as described above. Preferably.

[Content display step]
In the content display step S80, the content display unit 80 displays “sales promotion content”.

[Business model using digital signage for food sales promotion]
FIG. 4 is a chart showing an example of a business model that can be configured using the digital signage of the present invention. By installing the digital signage of the present invention at the sales floor of each store, it is possible to directly present information that directly stimulates demand for recommended food ingredients to customers in the store. In addition, by installing the digital signage of the present invention in the backyard of each store, it is possible to notify a worker of recommended foodstuffs on the next day and improve work efficiency. These information contents are automatically performed using a machine learning type information processing apparatus having a neural network, that is, an artificial intelligence (AI) function. In addition, digital signage equipped with an AI camera capable of analyzing images enables continuous acquisition and accumulation of data relating to the movements and attributes of viewers in real time, so that highly accurate target segments can be obtained based on this data. Yes, it is also possible to develop an advertising business that can take advantage of this to gain advertising revenue from advertisers.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Digital signage 10 Information acquisition part 20 Inventory search part 30 Related goods proposal part 40 Image data search part 50 Matching processing part 60 Image data acquisition part 70 Content creation part 71 Editing part 72 Display schedule creation part 80 Content display part 81 Video display Unit 82 Still image display unit 90 Viewer attribute data acquisition unit 91 Imaging unit 92 Image analysis unit S10 Information acquisition step S20 Inventory search step S30 Related article proposal step S40 Image data search step S50 Matching processing step S60 Image data acquisition step S70 Content creation Step S80 Content display step

Claims (15)

An information acquisition unit for acquiring weather-linked demand forecast information;
An inventory search unit that searches for inventory data of one or more sales promotion candidate products, for which an increase in demand is expected based on the weather-linked demand forecast information, by accessing an inventory database.
A related article proposing section that selects and proposes related articles for sales promotion that reminds the benefit that the purchaser can obtain directly or indirectly from the candidate product for sale , regardless of whether the stock is available or not. ,
Whether to obtain the image data of the related article proposed by the related article suggestion unit, to search by accessing an internal server or an external server present on the web , an image data search unit,
A matching processing unit that determines a combination of one or more of the sales promotion candidate products for which the presence of inventory has been confirmed and the related article for which the image data has been confirmed to be obtainable,
An image data acquisition unit for acquiring image data of the sales promotion target candidate product and the related article constituting the combination determined by the matching processing unit,
From the image data acquired by the image data acquisition unit, a content creation unit that automatically creates a sales promotion content including information on the sales promotion target candidate product and the related article,
Displaying the sales promotion content, and a content display unit,
The related article suggestion unit is configured with an information processing device that outputs information of the related article for sales promotion when information of the sales promotion target candidate product is input,
Digital signage.   The digital signage according to claim 1, wherein attribute data of a viewer who views the content display unit is input as data for selecting the related article to an information processing device included in the related article suggestion unit. .   Further comprising a viewer attribute data acquisition unit having a photographing unit and an image analysis unit capable of photographing the audience of the sales promotion content, by analyzing the photographed image photographed by the photographing unit by the image analysis unit, The digital signage according to claim 2, wherein attribute data of the viewer is acquired.   The digital signage according to claim 3, wherein the image analysis unit is a machine learning type information processing device having a neural network.   5. The information according to claim 1, wherein the date and time information at the installation location of the digital signage is input as data for selecting the related article to an information processing device configuring the related article suggestion unit. Digital signage.   The digital signage according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the sales promotion target candidate product is a foodstuff, and the image data of the related article is a moving image related to a description of a method of cooking a dish using the foodstuff.   The information processing device, wherein the related article suggestion unit is configured to output information of a dish selected so that the required total amount of the ingredients is maximized when further inputting inventory data of all products. The digital signage according to 6.   The digital signage according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the information device that outputs the information of the related article is a machine learning type information processing device having a neural network. An information acquisition unit for acquiring weather-linked demand forecast information;
An inventory search unit for accessing and searching an inventory database for inventory data of one or more sales promotion candidate products for which an increase in demand is expected based on the weather-linked demand forecast information,
When the information of the candidate product for promotion is input, information of a related product for promotion that reminds a benefit that a purchaser can directly or indirectly obtain from the candidate product for promotion is output. be constituted by apparatus, proposed by selecting regardless of the presence or absence of stock the associated article, and related articles proposed unit,
Whether to obtain the image data of the related article proposed by the related article suggestion unit, to search by accessing an internal server or an external server present on the web , an image data search unit,
A matching processing unit, which determines a combination of one or more of the sales promotion target candidate products for which the presence of inventory has been confirmed and the related items for which the image data has been confirmed to be obtainable,
An image data acquisition unit for acquiring image data of the sales promotion target candidate product and the related article constituting the combination determined by the matching processing unit,
From the image data acquired by the image data acquisition unit, a content creation unit that automatically creates a sales promotion content including information on the promotion target candidate product and the related article,
An arithmetic processing unit comprising
A digital signage system communicably connected to a content display unit for displaying one or a plurality of the content for sales promotion. A method for displaying promotional content using digital signage,
An information acquisition unit for acquiring weather-linked demand forecast information,
An inventory search step of searching for inventory data of one or more sales promotion candidate products, for which an increase in demand is expected based on the weather-linked demand forecast information, by accessing an inventory database,
A related article proposing unit selects and proposes related articles for sales promotion that reminds a buyer of the benefits that can be obtained directly or indirectly from the sales promotion target candidate product regardless of whether the stock is available or not. , Related goods proposal step,
An image data search step in which an image data search unit accesses an internal server or an external server existing on a web to search for the possibility of obtaining image data of the related article suggested by the related article suggestion unit, and searches the image data. When,
A matching process for determining a combination of one or more of the sales promotion candidate products for which the presence of stock has been confirmed and the related article for which the image data has been confirmed to be obtainable; Steps and
An image data obtaining unit, which obtains image data of the sales promotion target candidate product and the related article constituting the combination determined by the matching processing unit, an image data obtaining step,
A content creation step of automatically creating, from the image data acquired by the image data acquisition unit, a sales promotion content including information on the sales promotion candidate product and the related article; ,
A content display unit, the content display step of displaying the sales promotion content,
How to display promotional content.   In the related article suggestion step, attribute data of a viewer who views the content display unit is input as data for selecting the related article to an information processing device configuring the related article suggestion unit. Item 14. A method for displaying sales promotion content according to item 10.   11. The related article suggestion step, wherein date and time information at the installation location of the digital signage is input as data for selecting the related article to an information processing device configuring the related article suggestion unit. Or the display method of the content for sales promotion described in 11.   The sales promotion content according to any one of claims 10 to 12, wherein the sales promotion target candidate product is a food material, and the image data of the related article is a moving image related to an explanation of a cooking method using the food material. Display method.   14. The sales method according to claim 13, wherein the information processing device constituting the related article suggestion unit further uses the stock data as an input value and outputs information on a dish selected so that the required total amount of the food is maximized. How to display promotional content.   The sales promotion content display method according to any one of claims 10 to 14, wherein the information processing device that outputs the information of the related article is a machine learning type information processing device having a neural network.

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