JP7565653B1 - Content interest level determination system, content interest level determination method, and content interest level determination program - Google Patents

Abstract

[Problem] To provide a technology for judging a user's level of interest in content including advertisements, specific languages, music, etc., distributed by a content distribution service. [Solution] The system includes a content playback unit 1 for playing content consisting of video and/or audio, a language information extraction unit 2 for extracting language information that is information about the language contained in the content, a music information extraction unit 3 for extracting music information that is information about the music contained in the content, a partial content selection unit 4 for selecting partial content from the played content that is the subject of interest level judgment, a playback mode information generation unit 5 for generating playback mode information that is information about the playback mode of the partial content, a behavior information generation unit 6 for generating behavior information that is information about the behavior of the user when the partial content is played, and an environment information generation unit 7 for generating environment information that is information about the environment in which the user was placed when the partial content was played. [Selected Figure] Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to a technology for determining a user's level of interest in content, including advertisements, specific languages, music, etc., delivered through a content delivery service.

With the development of the Internet and the spread of portable information terminals, video, music, and other content that was once viewed using large dedicated receiving devices such as televisions and radios can now be enjoyed easily anytime, anywhere using portable information terminals. In the past, people would gather in a family room or in front of a radio or television set up on the street to watch a program, but now people can easily watch programs anywhere on their own small portable information terminal, even while doing other tasks. In addition to billing methods that charge a fee for viewing content using portable information terminals, there are also many content distribution services that cover the costs of content creation and distribution by playing advertising content before, during, and after programs, just like television and radio broadcasts.

For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technology that selects and plays an in-stream ad based on the viewing history of the content while the viewed video is being played, and displays a skip button after playing the in-stream ad for a specified time, thereby skipping the ad and playing the viewed video. Patent Document 2 also discloses a technology that, when a specified condition is met while electronic content is being provided, temporarily stops providing the electronic content and delivers advertising information determined based on user operations, and, if the answer to a question about the advertising information is correct, ends the delivery of the advertising information and resumes providing the electronic content.

JP 2020-129375 A JP 2023-073187 A

In content distribution services that involve ad delivery, the costs of content creation and delivery are covered by advertising fees collected from advertisers, so when determining advertising fees, it is necessary to show advertisers the extent to which the advertising effect can be expected.

However, it is difficult to accurately estimate the advertising effect in content distribution using a portable information terminal, and Patent Documents 1 and 2 do not disclose any technology related to this. Portable information terminals have a lightweight and strong housing, so users can easily carry them around, and therefore content distribution services can be used anytime and anywhere. On the other hand, in relation to the ease of use, the level of interest that users have in the distributed content varies depending on the viewing situation of the content. For example, when viewing content while doing housework or other tasks, there are many cases where users only use the content as background music and are not interested in the content itself. Also, while it is highly likely that users are concentrating on the content when viewing while relaxing at home, they may be distracted by their surroundings when they are out and about and may not be concentrating on the content as much.

The same applies to content other than advertisements. For example, when a public organization provides information through a content distribution service, it is important to understand the extent to which the provided information is being disseminated, but just as in the case of advertisements mentioned above, it is difficult to understand the extent to which the information has been disseminated. The same applies to the level of interest of users in the content itself that is being distributed.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above problems, and aims to provide a technology for determining a user's level of interest in content that includes advertisements, specific languages, music, etc., distributed through content distribution services.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the content interest level determination system of claim 1 is a content interest level determination system for determining a user's interest in played content, and is characterized in that it comprises a partial content selection means for selecting a partial content to be the subject of interest level determination from the content played by a content playback means, a playback mode information generation means for generating playback mode information which is information regarding the playback mode of the partial content in the content playback means, a behavior information generation means for generating behavior information which is information regarding the behavior of the content user when the partial content is played by the content playback means, an environmental information generation means for generating environmental information which is information regarding the environment in which the content user is placed, based on at least information regarding the position of the content user when the partial content is played by the content playback means, a behavior mode information generation means for generating behavior mode information which is information regarding the behavior mode of the content user when the partial content is played by the content playback means, based on the behavior information generated by the behavior information generation means and the environmental information generated by the environmental information generation means, and an interest information generation means for generating interest information which is information regarding the content user's interest in the partial content, based on the playback mode information and the behavior mode information.

Furthermore, in order to achieve the above object, the content interest level determination system according to claim 2 is characterized in that, in the above invention, it comprises an information generation means for generating information including interest information of the content user in the partial content, which is recorded in a distributed ledger on a distributed network corresponding to a non-fungible token that is in a corresponding relationship with the content user, an output instruction means for instructing the distributed network to output the information generated by the information generation means, and a token information storage means for storing token information, which is information necessary to obtain the information recorded in the distributed ledger corresponding to the non-fungible token.

In order to achieve the above object, the content interest level determination system according to claim 3 is characterized in that, in the above invention, the playback behavior information generating means generates playback behavior information including the number of times the partial content has been played by the content playback means and the time from the end of the previous playback to the start of the next playback if the partial content has been played multiple times, and the behavior behavior information generating means generates behavior behavior information including information regarding acceleration occurring during the movement of the content user when the partial content is played by the content playback means.

In addition, in order to achieve the above-mentioned object, the content interest level determination method of claim 4 is a content interest level determination method for determining a user's interest level in played content, and is characterized in that it includes a partial content selection step of selecting a partial content to be the subject of interest level determination from the content played by a content playback means, a playback mode information generation step of generating playback mode information that is information regarding the playback mode of the partial content in the content playback means, a behavior information generation step of generating behavior information that is information regarding the behavior of the content user when the partial content is played by the content playback means, an environmental information generation step of generating environmental information that is information regarding the environment in which the content user is placed, based on at least information regarding the position of the content user when the partial content is played by the content playback means, a behavior mode information generation step of generating behavior mode information that is information regarding the behavior mode of the content user when the partial content is played by the content playback means, based on the behavior information generated in the behavior information generation step and the environmental information generated in the environmental information generation step, and an interest information generation step of generating interest information that is information regarding the content user's interest in the partial content, based on the playback mode information and the behavior mode information.

In order to achieve the above object, a content interest level determination program according to claim 6 is a content interest level determination program that causes a computer to determine a user's level of interest in played content, and is characterized in that it causes the computer to execute a partial content selection function that selects a partial content that is a target of interest level determination from the content played by a content playback means, a playback mode information generation function that generates playback mode information that is information about the playback mode of the partial content in the content playback means, a behavior information generation function that generates behavior information that is information about the behavior of the content user when the partial content is played by the content playback means, an environmental information generation function that generates environmental information that is information about the environment in which the content user is placed, based on at least information about the position of the content user when the partial content is played by the content playback means, a behavior behavior information generation function that generates behavior behavior information that is information about the behavioral behavior of the content user when the partial content is played by the content playback means, based on the behavior information generated by the behavior information generation function and the environmental information generated by the environmental information generation function, and an interest information generation function that generates interest information that is information about the content user's level of interest in the partial content, based on the playback mode information and the behavior behavior information.

The present invention has the effect of being able to determine a user's level of interest in content including advertisements, specific languages, music, etc., distributed by a content distribution service.

1 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a content interest level determination system according to a first embodiment; 1 is a flowchart showing a process of generating interest information in the content interest level determination system according to the first embodiment; FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration of a content interest level determination system according to a second embodiment.

The following describes in detail an embodiment of the present invention with reference to the drawings. In the following embodiment, an example that is considered to be the most appropriate embodiment of the present invention is described, and it goes without saying that the contents of the present invention should not be interpreted as being limited to the specific example shown in this embodiment. Any configuration that achieves similar functions and effects, even if it is a configuration other than the specific configuration shown in the embodiment, is of course included in the technical scope of the present invention.

(Embodiment 1)
First, a content interest level determination system according to the first embodiment will be described. As shown in Fig. 1, the content interest level determination system according to the first embodiment includes a content playback unit 1 that plays content consisting of video and/or audio, a language information extraction unit 2 that extracts language information that is information about a language included in the content, a music information extraction unit 3 that extracts music information that is information about music included in the content, a partial content selection unit 4 that selects a partial content that is a target for interest level determination from the played content, a playback mode information generation unit 5 that generates playback mode information that is information about a playback mode of the partial content, a behavior information generation unit 6 that generates behavior information that is information about a behavior of a user when the partial content is played, an environment information generation unit 7 that generates environment information that is information about the environment in which the user is placed when the partial content is played, a behavior mode information generation unit 8 that generates behavior mode information that is information about a behavior mode of a user when the partial content is played based on the environment information and/or the behavior information, and a processing unit for processing the partial content to be determined. The system comprises an interest information generation unit 9 that generates interest information, which is information regarding a user's level of interest; a token generation unit 10 that generates a user token, which is a non-fungible token that corresponds to a user; a transaction generation unit 11 that generates a transaction to be stored in a block in a distributed ledger corresponding to the user token as information including information regarding the holder of the user token and the interest information; an electronic signature generation unit 12 that generates an electronic signature, which is data that proves that the generation and output of the information included in the transaction is in accordance with the intentions of the holder of the user token; an output unit 13 that instructs the transaction and the electronic signature to be output to a distributed network associated with the user token; a token information storage unit 14 that stores token information, which is information regarding the user token; an interest information acquisition unit 15 that accesses the distributed network to acquire the interest information included in the transaction; and an interest information provision unit 16 that provides the acquired interest information to an external party.

The content playback unit 1 is for playing back content including partial content that is the subject of interest level determination. Specifically, the content playback unit 1 is configured with an app or the like built into a portable information terminal such as a smartphone, and has a function of playing back content consisting of video data and/or audio data based on electronic data provided via an Internet line. However, the content playback unit 1 may also be configured to play back recording media (CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, USB memory, etc.) on which content is recorded without going through an Internet line, or may be configured to include receiving equipment for AM (Amplitude Modulation) broadcasting, FM (Frequency Modulation) broadcasting, terrestrial digital broadcasting, satellite broadcasting, etc., and play back content provided by such broadcasting.

The language information extraction unit 2 is for extracting language information, which is information related to the language contained in the content played by the content playback unit 1. Specifically, the language information extraction unit 2 has a function of extracting language information from the spoken content using voice recognition technology for the audio portion of the content. The language information extraction unit 2 also has a function of extracting characters displayed as video for the video portion of the content using character recognition technology, and identifying the content of people, objects, etc. displayed in the video using image recognition technology, and extracting the names of the identified people, objects, etc. as language information. Note that in this embodiment 1, the language information extraction unit 2 also has a function of extracting information regarding when the language information was played in a specific content.

The music information extraction unit 3 is for extracting music information, which is information related to the music included in the content played by the content playback unit 1. Specifically, the music information extraction unit 3 has a function of extracting the music played in the audio portion of the content and outputting music information such as the title of the music. The content of the music information includes at least the title of the music, and preferably includes the musical genre to which the music belongs, and the names of people involved in the music such as the composer, singer, and performer.

The partial content selection unit 4 is for selecting partial content to be subjected to interest level determination from among the contents reproduced by the content reproduction unit 1. The partial content refers to at least a part of the content reproduced by the content reproduction unit 1, and can be specified as "a period from t ₁ second to t ₂ seconds" with the start of reproduction being 0 seconds in a specific content, or can be selected according to the content (advertising video, etc.). Furthermore, the partial content selection unit 4 in the first embodiment can select a certain time portion of the entire content including a portion where a specific language extracted by the language information extraction unit 2 is spoken/displayed, and can also select a certain time portion where a song extracted by the music information extraction unit 3 is played, as the partial content. Furthermore, the partial content selection unit 4 can select portions of the same content in multiple contents (for example, multiple types of advertisements related to a specific product, multiple partial contents in which a language related to the same language information is spoken) as one partial content.

The playback mode information generating unit 5 is for generating playback mode information, which is information related to the playback mode of the partial content selected by the partial content selecting unit 4. The playback mode information desirably includes at least the number of times the partial content has been played, the time when playback started for each playback, the duration of playback, and, if the partial content has been played multiple times, the time required from the end of the previous playback to the start of the next playback. The playback mode information may also include information regarding the volume level during playback, the brightness level of the image, and the playback speed (normal speed, double speed, etc.).

The behavior information generating unit 6 is for generating behavior information, which is information regarding the behavior of the user when the partial content selected by the partial content selecting unit 4 is being played back, and outputting the behavior information generating unit 8. Specifically, the behavior information generating unit 6 is for generating behavior information indicating what the user playing back the content on the content playing unit 1 is doing, and in this embodiment 1, it is configured to detect the user's posture and behavior and/or changes therein when the partial content is being played back using a three-axis acceleration sensor provided on the portable information terminal held by the user, and to infer the user's behavior from the detection results. It is desirable for the behavior information generating unit 6 to have a function for inferring the user's posture and behavior, for example, that the user is standing still, walking, doing manual work, vibrating violently, etc.

The behavior information generating unit 6 preferably obtains information about the acceleration generated during the user's movements when the content reproducing unit 1 reproduces partial content by using a three-axis acceleration sensor provided in a portable information terminal having other components such as the content reproducing unit 1. To achieve this function, the behavior information generating unit 6 may use a three-axis acceleration sensor configured separately from the portable information terminal, or a two-axis or single-axis acceleration sensor instead of a three-axis one. In addition, instead of inferring the user's behavior based on the measurement results of the acceleration sensor, the behavior information generating unit 6 may be configured to, for example, install a surveillance camera and perform behavior analysis from the video of the user captured by the camera. Furthermore, in the case of a configuration using an acceleration sensor, the measurement results of the acceleration sensor themselves may be generated as behavior information without inferring specific behavior.

The environmental information generating unit 7 generates environmental information, which is information about the environment in which the user is placed when the partial content selected by the partial content selecting unit 4 is played back, and outputs the environmental information to the behavioral pattern information generating unit 8. Specifically, the environmental information generating unit 7 has a function of detecting the user's position and/or position change when the partial content is played back, determining what kind of place the position is, and then grasping the environment in which the user is placed when the partial content is played back. More specifically, the environmental information generating unit 7 detects the user's position and position change by a positioning system using a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiving function, Bluetooth (registered trademark) communication function, etc., provided in the portable information terminal held by the user, and grasps what kind of environment the user is in by map information, etc. corresponding to the position, etc. As a result, the environmental information generating unit 7 grasps that the user is staying at home, work, hospital, shop, restaurant, training gym, or moving on the street or moving by train, etc., when the partial content is played back, and generates environmental information about the grasped environment of the user.

The specific configuration of the environmental information generating unit 7 may utilize a GPS receiving function or the like of a portable information terminal, or may generate environmental information by, for example, taking pictures of the user's surroundings using a camera function and analyzing them using image recognition technology. Even when using a GPS receiving function or the like, it may be possible to use a GPS receiving function or the like of an information terminal such as a wearable device or a dedicated device other than the portable information terminal equipped with the content playback unit 1. The specific contents of the environmental information may be simply composed of location information, or may be composed of simplified information such as an environment suitable for content playback (for example, home) or an environment not suitable for content playback (for example, workplace) without specifying a specific location.

The behavioral behavior information generating unit 8 generates behavioral behavior information, which is the behavioral behavior of the user when the partial content is being played, based on the user's behavior information generated by the behavior information generating unit 6 and/or the user's environmental information generated by the environmental information generating unit 7. Specifically, the behavioral behavior information generating unit 8 has a function of grasping the user's actions based on the behavior information, determining what actions the user is performing when the partial content is being played back while taking into consideration the actions and the location or change in location of the user, and then generating behavioral behavior information. The behavioral behavior information generated by the behavioral behavior information generating unit 8 may include specific behavioral content such as relaxing at home, performing work at work, training or taking a break at a training gym, or more simply, may include information only on whether or not the behavior allows the user to concentrate on watching the partial content.

Furthermore, as a simple configuration, when generating the user's behavioral behavior information, the behavioral behavior information generating unit 8 may generate information only from the behavior information in principle, and generate information taking into consideration the environmental information only when the position or the position change is characteristic. Since the generation of the user's behavioral behavior information is performed from the viewpoint of whether or not the situation allows the user to concentrate on appreciating the partial content, for example, when it is determined from the behavior information that the user is hardly moving, it is effective to generate behavioral behavior information (which may be text information itself, but is preferably numerical information corresponding to the meaning of the text information; the same applies below) consisting of "behavior that allows the user to concentrate on appreciating the partial content" as a general rule, and to generate behavioral behavior information consisting of "behavior that does not allow the user to concentrate on appreciating the partial content" exceptionally when the user is at work, since there is a possibility that the user may participate in a meeting, etc. Similarly, when the absolute value of acceleration in the behavior information is large, the general rule is to generate behavioral state information that indicates that the user is performing some kind of large-scale work and that "behavior that does not allow for concentrated viewing of the partial content." However, when the position is changing rapidly, the user is traveling while in a taxi, bus, train, airplane, etc., and the large absolute value of acceleration may be due to vibrations from the taxi, etc. In such cases, it is appropriate to exceptionally generate behavioral state information that indicates that "behavior that allows for concentrated viewing of the partial content."

The interest information generating unit 9 generates interest information indicating the user's level of interest in the partial content based on the playback mode information generated by the playback mode information generating unit 5 and the behavioral mode information regarding the user's behavior during playback of the partial content determined by the behavioral mode information generating unit 8. Specifically, the interest information generating unit 9 generates interest information regarding the playback mode information such that the more/fewer the number of times the partial content is played, the higher/lower the user's level of interest, the longer/shorter the total playback time, and the shorter/longer the time required from the end of the previous playback to the start of the next playback, the higher/lower the user's level of interest.

The interest information generating unit 9 generates interest information so that the user's interest level is high when the user's behavior during partial content playback is determined to be "behavior that allows for concentrated viewing of the partial content," and generates interest information so that the user's interest level is low when the user's behavior during partial content playback is determined to be "behavior that does not allow for concentrated viewing of the partial content." With regard to the behavior mode information, more preferably, when the absolute value (scalar quantity) of acceleration in the behavior information is small, the behavior is generally treated as "behavior that allows for concentrated viewing of the partial content," and, depending on the environment of the location where the user is located, is exceptionally treated as "behavior that does not allow for concentrated viewing of the partial content." Conversely, when the absolute value (scalar quantity) of acceleration in the behavior information is large, the behavior is generally treated as "behavior that does not allow for concentrated viewing of the partial content," and, for example, when the user's positional fluctuation is at or above a certain speed (when it is assumed that the user is in a taxi, bus, etc.), it is preferable to exceptionally treat the behavior as "behavior that allows for concentrated viewing of the partial content." When generating such interest information, it is preferable to generate information after quantifying each of "behavior that allows for concentrated viewing of the partial content" and "behavior that does not allow for concentrated viewing of the partial content." Of course, interest information can be generated not only by simple binarization, but also by classifying the behavioral pattern information into three or more stages according to the specific content of the information and converting each into a numerical value.

かかる数式に従って関心情報Ｉを導出することにより、加速度の絶対値ａ（ｔ）が小さいほど／大きいほど関心情報が大きな値（＝関心度高）／小さな値（関心度低）となり、前回の再生終了から次回の再生開始までに要した時間（ｔ_ｂｎ―ｔ_{ｅ（ｎ－１）}）が小さいほど／大きいほど関心情報が大きな値／小さな値となり、総再生時間が長いほど／短いほど関心情報が大きな値／小さな値となり、各再生回における再生時間が長いほど／短いほど関心情報が大きな値／小さな値となる。なお、実数ｍは加速度の絶対値が０となった際に値が発散するのを避けるための係数であり、ｂ（ｔ）は、たとえば利用者の位置が職場の場合は大きな値（＝関心情報が小さい値になるような値）となり、高速移動中の場合は小さな値（＝関心情報が大きな値となるような値）となるよう設定することが好ましい。なお、上述の数式において、より簡易に計算するためにａ（ｔ）＝ａ_ｎ（ｎ回目の再生ごとに定まる一定値。たとえばｔ_ｂｎ≦ｔ≦ｔ_ｅｎにおけるａ（ｔ）の平均値）としてもよい。 In an even more preferred embodiment, the interest information generation unit 9 derives interest information I using the following formula, where N is the number of times the partial content is played, t _bn is the start time of the nth playback of the partial content, t _en is the end time (where t _e0 = t _b1 -1), a(t) is the absolute value (scalar quantity) of the user's acceleration at time t, b(t) is a coefficient determined according to the user's position and position change speed at time t, and m is a positive real number.

I =

By deriving the interest information I according to this formula, the smaller/larger the absolute value a(t) of the acceleration is, the larger/smaller the interest information becomes (= high interest)/smaller (low interest), the smaller/larger the time (t _bn - _te(n-1) ) taken from the end of the previous playback to the start of the next playback becomes, the larger/smaller the interest information becomes, the longer/shorter the total playback time becomes, and the longer/shorter the playback time for each playback becomes. Note that the real number m is a coefficient for preventing values from diverging when the absolute value of the acceleration becomes 0, and it is preferable to set b(t) to a large value (= a value that results in a small interest information value) when the user is, for example, at work, and to a small value (= a value that results in a large interest information value) when the user is moving at high speed. In the above formula, for easier calculation, a(t)=a _n (a constant value determined for each n-th reproduction, for example, the average value of a(t) for t _bn ≦t≦t _en ) may be used.

The token generation unit 10 is for generating user tokens, which are non-fungible tokens that correspond to users who view content through the content playback unit 1. A "non-fungible token" refers to a so-called NFT (Non-Fungible Token), that is, a token that has unique data and is therefore non-fungible with other tokens, and is issued, for example, based on ERC721, an Ethereum (registered trademark) standard. The user token in this embodiment 1 is issued based on ERC721 or another specified standard, and is configured such that information about the corresponding user and information about the user's interest in partial content, etc. are stored on the blockchain.

"Blockchain" is a technology that uses encryption technology to synchronize data between multiple computers that make up a distributed network. Specifically, each block is made up of a collection of information about tokens, such as agreed-upon transaction records, and information for connecting to other blocks (information from the previous block), and a blockchain is made up of multiple blocks that are linked together. Even if data is tampered with on some of the computers, the correct data is selected by majority vote among the other computers, making it extremely difficult to destroy or tamper with the data.

The correspondence between the user token and the user is a one-to-one link between the user token identifier and the user's identification information (the user's identification information may be the user's name or some other character string associated with the user). More directly, the user token identifier and the user's identification information may be the same, or a correspondence may be set between them composed of different character strings, etc. Alternatively, the user token identifier and the user's identification information may be linked to URL information on the Internet where data related to the user is stored.

In addition, in this embodiment 1, the blocks constituting the distributed ledger that correspond to the generated user token are assumed to record transaction records related to the transfer of ownership of the user token, as well as information related to the user's interest in partial content. These pieces of information are converted into transactions, which are information that are output to the distributed network by the transaction generation unit 11.

The user token may be generated by the token generation unit 10 itself, or may be generated by an external system that is directly or indirectly connected to the token generation unit 10 by issuing a specified command to the external system. The specific format of the user token is not limited to one that complies with ERC721, the Ethereum (registered trademark) standard, and may be in any format as long as it is non-fungible and the transaction history is stored on the blockchain.

The transaction generation unit 11 has a function of generating transactions to be stored in blocks in the distributed ledger, and corresponds to an example of an information generation means in the claims. Specifically, the transaction generation unit 11 generates, as the contents of the transaction, information including interest information of the corresponding user in each partial content generated by the interest information generation unit 9, in addition to information regarding a change in the name of the holder of the user token. More preferably, the transaction generation unit 11 may generate a transaction consisting of information including, in addition to the interest information, the behavioral pattern information and playback pattern information used to generate the interest information, and may further generate a transaction consisting of information including attribute information of the corresponding user (gender, nationality, ethnicity, age, educational background, work history, etc.).

The electronic signature generating unit 12 has a function of generating an electronic signature, which is data that proves that the creation and output of information included in a transaction is in accordance with the intention of the holder of the user token. Specifically, the electronic signature generating unit 12 has a function of generating a hash value of the transaction generated by the transaction generating unit 11, and generating an electronic signature by encrypting the hash value with a private key held by the holder of the user token. Note that the "hash value" is a fixed-length value obtained by performing a certain calculation procedure on the original data. Since the calculation procedure is irreversible, it is considered impossible to restore the original data from the hash value. Also, the "private key" is a number sequence used in the encryption process, and is configured to be decryptable by a corresponding "public key." Note that, in the first embodiment, the transaction generating unit 11 and the electronic signature generating unit 12 are configured to generate the transaction and electronic signature, which are one aspect of the held name change information, by themselves, but this is not necessary, and the transaction generating unit 11 and the electronic signature generating unit 12 may have a function of only instructing an external specified device to generate the transaction and electronic signature.

The output unit 13 is for instructing to output the transaction generated by the transaction generation unit 11 and the electronic signature generated by the electronic signature generation unit 12 to the distributed network associated with the user token. The output unit 13 functions as one aspect of the output instruction means in the claims, and in this embodiment, the output unit 13 is configured to directly output the transaction and the electronic signature, but may be configured to only instruct other components (which may be provided outside the content interest level determination system) to output the transaction. In this embodiment 1, the output unit 13 is directly or indirectly connected to the distributed network and is configured to be able to output predetermined data to the distributed network. The distributed network generates a hash value of the output transaction and compares it with data (= hash value of the transaction) decrypted by the public key. If the two values are different, the distributed network determines that the transaction is not a proper transaction by the token holder, etc., and rejects the registration, and if the two values match, the network determines that the transaction is a proper transaction, and stores the information constituted by the transaction in a block constituting the distributed ledger. The transaction output by the output unit 13 includes information regarding a change in the holding name, and by outputting the transaction to the distributed network, this information is stored in blocks that constitute a distributed ledger established on the distributed network.

The token information storage unit 14 is for storing information necessary to access transactions related to user tokens stored in blocks in the distributed ledger. It is desirable for the specific configuration of the token information storage unit 14 to be similar to that of a wallet used for transactions of virtual currencies (crypto assets), such as Ethereum (registered trademark). When configured similarly to a wallet, the structure may be a so-called "hot wallet" that is always connected to the Internet, or a "cold wallet" that can be connected to the Internet only when necessary. "Information necessary to access transactions of user tokens" refers to, for example, account information for identifying the user token and information related to the public key corresponding to the user token.

The interest information acquisition unit 15 is for accessing the distributed network and acquiring interest information included in a transaction. Specifically, the interest information acquisition unit 15 has a function of using the information stored in the token information storage unit 14 to access a transaction corresponding to a user token stored in a block in the distributed ledger, and acquiring user interest information related to specific partial content included in the transaction. By managing the information necessary for accessing a transaction of a user token in the token information storage unit 14, unrelated third parties are prevented from accessing the transaction and acquiring information, thereby protecting the privacy of users, etc.

The interest information providing unit 16 is for providing the interest information acquired by the interest information acquiring unit 15 to the outside. Specifically, the interest information providing unit 16 has a function of outputting interest information on the corresponding partial content to, for example, a user who wishes to know his/her own interests, or to a creator of a specific partial content such as an advertisement who is investigating the degree of interest in that content. Specific forms of the interest information provided by the interest information providing unit 16 may be the information acquired by the interest information acquiring unit 15 as is, or may be processed based on that information to indicate the degree of interest in three levels, high, medium, and low, for easier understanding.

Next, the interest information generation process in the content interest level determination system according to the first embodiment will be described. As shown in FIG. 2, the partial content selection unit 4 selects a playback content to be the target of interest level determination (step S101). Next, the playback mode information generation unit 5 generates playback mode information according to the playback mode of the partial content played by the content playback unit 1 (step S102), the behavior information generation unit 6 generates behavior information according to the behavior of the content user when the partial content is played (step S103), and the environmental information generation unit 7 generates environmental information according to the environment in which the content user is placed when the partial content is played (step S104). After that, the behavior mode information generation unit 8 generates behavior mode information, which is information about the behavior mode of the content user when the partial content is played, using the behavior information and/or the environmental information (step S105), and the environmental information generation unit 7 generates interest information indicating the content user's interest in the partial content based on the playback mode information and the behavior mode information (step S106).

Next, advantages of the content interest level determination system according to the first embodiment will be described. First, the content interest level determination system according to the first embodiment is intended to determine the level of interest in partial content, which is a part of various contents played by the content playback unit 1. Partial content includes a specific content as a whole, a part of a content (e.g., a specific advertisement part), and a part of various contents that includes a specific character string and/or a specific song. Therefore, by using the content interest level determination system according to the first embodiment, it is possible for a content creator to grasp the level of interest of users in his/her own creative content, for a company that has placed an advertisement to grasp the level of interest of users in the company or its products/services, for a person involved in music to grasp the level of interest of users in songs in which he/she is involved, and for a public institution to grasp the level of interest of users in information sent by the public institution.

The content interest level determination system according to the first embodiment is configured to determine the level of interest in a partial content based on the user's behavior when the content is being played back, in addition to the playback time and playback interval of the target partial content. By adopting such a configuration, it is possible to determine the level of interest taking into account the user's level of concentration when the partial content is being played back, which has the advantage of enabling more accurate interest information generation.

Furthermore, the content interest level determination system according to the first embodiment uses behavior information related to the user's behavior when playing partial content and environmental information related to the user's location and location fluctuations as indicators for determining the user's behavioral state. The use of measuring devices such as a three-axis acceleration sensor and a GPS receiver makes it possible to generate behavioral state information based on objective numerical values, which has the advantage of enabling interest level determination that takes into account the user's concentration level when playing partial content "more accurately."

The content interest level determination system according to the first embodiment records user interest information regarding the generated partial content in a block in the distributed ledger in a manner that includes the information in the transaction. By using blockchain technology, it is possible to prevent third parties from tampering with the recorded content, and therefore the content interest level determination system according to the first embodiment has the advantage of being able to accurately record interest information.

Furthermore, the content interest level determination system according to the first embodiment has a token information storage unit configured with a wallet or the like for storing token information for accessing transactions, etc. related to a user token. The content interest level determination system according to the first embodiment has the advantage that by centrally managing token information, it is possible to prevent third parties from accessing transactions, etc., and thus protect the privacy, etc., of users.

(Embodiment 2)
Next, a content interest level determination system according to embodiment 2 will be described. In embodiment 2, components having the same names and reference numerals as those in embodiment 1 have the same functions as those in embodiment 1, unless otherwise specified.

The content interest level determination system according to the second embodiment has a function of generating interest information, which is information indicating the user's interest level in partial content, as in the first embodiment, and adopts a configuration for generating correlations of interest information between a plurality of partial contents. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the content interest level determination system according to the second embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, the system includes a comparison content selection unit 21 that selects partial content to be combined with the partial content for which interest information is to be generated, a comparison content playback determination unit 22 that determines whether the selected comparison content has actually been played back by the content playback unit 1, an interest information generation unit 23 that generates interest information for the partial content to be the target when the content playback determination unit 22 determines that the comparison content has been judged to a certain amount, a transaction generation unit 24 that generates a transaction including information on the comparison content in association with the interest information on the partial content, an interest information acquisition unit 25 that acquires interest information on the partial content included in the transaction and information on the comparison content associated with the partial content, and an interest information provision unit 26 that provides the user's interest information on the partial content in a format associated with the comparison content.

The comparison content selection unit 21 is for selecting comparison content, which is a partial content different from the partial content for which interest information is generated, from among the contents played back by the content playback unit 1. The comparison content selection unit 21 may select the comparison content by using some input means to input information that identifies the partial content to be used as the comparison content, or by displaying partial contents that have been played back in the past or that may be played back in the future as candidates and allowing the user to select one, or by automatically selecting at random.

The comparison content playback determination unit 22 is for determining whether the comparison content selected by the comparison content selection unit 21 has actually been played by the content playback unit 1. The criteria in the comparison content selection unit 21 may be that the comparison content has been "actually played" even if it has been played once or only part of it has been played, but more preferably, it is determined that the comparison content has been "actually played" only if the number of times it has been played exceeds a certain threshold (e.g., played five or more times) or the total playback time exceeds a certain threshold. This is because by limiting the case to when it has been played at least a certain threshold, the correlation between the comparison content and the interest information can be derived more accurately.

When the comparison content playback determination unit 22 determines that "the comparison content has actually been played," the interest information generation unit 23 generates interest information for the partial content in association with the comparison content. The interest information generation unit 23 outputs the interest information itself and information required to identify the comparison content to the transaction generation unit 24, and the transaction generation unit 24 generates, as the contents of the transaction, information including the interest information for the partial content of the corresponding user generated by the interest information generation unit 23 and information associating the interest information with the comparison content, in addition to information regarding a change in the name of the holder of the user token. The interest information acquisition unit 25 acquires the interest information regarding the partial content and the comparison content, and the interest information provision unit 26 provides this information to the outside.

Next, advantages of the content interest level determination system according to the second embodiment will be described. The content interest level determination system according to the second embodiment adopts a configuration in which comparison content different from the partial content for which interest information is generated is set, and interest information is generated when it is determined that the comparison content has actually been played by the content playback unit 1. By adopting such a configuration, the content interest level determination system according to the second embodiment has the advantage that comparison content that has a high/low correlation with the partial content can be identified by the content playback unit 1 (more precisely, by the user who has viewed the content by the content playback unit 1).

For example, if a specific song is selected as the comparison content and a specific advertising content is selected as the partial content, and interest information is generated indicating a high level of interest in the advertising content, it is effective to advertise the advertising content when the correlation between the song and the advertising content is high, i.e., when content in which the song is played is played. Conversely, if a specific word is selected as the comparison content and a specific advertising content is selected as the partial content, and interest information is generated indicating a low level of interest in the advertising content, it is not effective to advertise the advertising content when content in which the specific word is used is played. In this way, the content interest determination system according to the second embodiment has the advantage of being able to provide information on the correlation between the comparison content and the partial content by determining the level of interest in the partial content in the content playback unit 1 in which the comparison content is played (or in the user who viewed the comparison content).

The contents of the present invention have been explained above in the first and second embodiments, but the technical scope of the present invention should not be interpreted as being limited to the specific configurations described in the embodiments. Naturally, various modifications and applications of the above embodiments also fall within the technical scope of the present invention as long as they can realize the functions of the present invention.

The present invention can be used as a technology for determining a user's level of interest in content including advertisements, specific languages, music, etc., delivered by a content delivery service.

REFERENCE SIGNS LIST 1 Content playback unit 2 Language information extraction unit 3 Music information extraction unit 4 Partial content selection unit 5 Playback behavior information generation unit 6 Behavior information generation unit 7 Environmental information generation unit 8 Action behavior information generation unit 9, 23 Interest information generation unit 10 Token generation unit 11, 24 Transaction generation unit 12 Digital signature generation unit 13 Output unit 14 Token information storage unit 15, 25 Interest information acquisition unit 16, 26 Interest information provision unit 21 Comparison content selection unit 22 Comparison content playback determination unit

Claims (5)

A content interest level determination system for determining a user's interest level in a reproduced content, comprising:
a content portion selection means for selecting a content portion to be a target of interest level determination from among the content reproduced by the content reproduction means;
a playback mode information generating means for generating playback mode information which is information regarding a playback mode of the partial content in the content playback means;
a behavior information generating means for generating behavior information which is information regarding a behavior of a content user when the content playback means plays back a partial content;
an environment information generating means for generating environment information, which is information about an environment in which the content user is placed, based on information about a position of the content user at least when the content playback means plays back the partial content;
a behavior behavior information generating means for generating behavior behavior information, which is information regarding a behavioral behavior of the content user when the partial content is reproduced by the content reproduction means , based on the behavior information generated by the behavior information generating means and the environmental information generated by the environmental information generating means;
an interest information generating means for generating interest information, which is information regarding the content user's level of interest in the partial content, based on the playback behavior information and the behavior behavior information;
A content interest level determination system comprising: An information generating means for generating information including interest information of the content user in the partial content, the information being recorded in a distributed ledger on a distributed network corresponding to a non-fungible token having a corresponding relationship with the content user;
an output instruction means for instructing the distributed network to output the information generated by the information generation means;
A token information storage means for storing token information, which is information necessary for obtaining the information recorded in the distributed ledger corresponding to the non-fungible token;
2. The content interest level determination system according to claim 1, further comprising: the playback mode information generating means generates playback mode information including a number of times the partial content is played back by the content playing means and a time from a previous playback end to a next playback start when the partial content is played back a plurality of times;
The content interest level determination system according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the behavioral behavior information generation means generates behavioral behavior information including information regarding acceleration occurring during the movement of the content user when the partial content is played back by the content playback means. A method for determining a user's level of interest in a reproduced content, comprising:
a partial content selection step of selecting partial content to be a target of interest level determination from the content reproduced by the content reproduction means;
a playback mode information generating step of generating playback mode information which is information regarding a playback mode of the partial content in the content playback means;
a behavior information generating step of generating behavior information which is information about a behavior of a content user when the content playback means plays back the partial content;
an environment information generating step of generating environment information, which is information about an environment in which the content user is placed, based on information about a position of the content user at least when the content playback means plays back the partial content;
a behavior behavior information generating step of generating behavior behavior information, which is information regarding a behavior behavior of a content user when the content playback means plays back the partial content, based on the behavior information generated in the behavior information generating step and the environmental information generated in the environmental information generating step;
an interest information generating step of generating interest information, which is information regarding the content user's interest in the partial content, based on the playback behavior information and the behavior behavior information. A content interest level determination program for causing a computer to determine a user's interest level in a reproduced content,
The computer is
a partial content selection function for selecting a partial content to be a target of interest level determination from among the contents reproduced by the content reproduction means;
a playback mode information generating function for generating playback mode information which is information regarding a playback mode of the partial content in the content playback means;
a behavior information generating function for generating behavior information which is information regarding a behavior of a content user when the content playback means plays back a partial content;
an environment information generating function for generating environment information, which is information about an environment in which the content user is placed, based on information about a position of the content user at least when the content playback means plays back the partial content;
a behavioral behavior information generating function that generates behavioral behavior information, which is information regarding a behavioral behavior of a content user when the content playback means plays back the partial content, based on the behavior information generated by the behavior information generating function and the environmental information generated by the environmental information generating function;
an interest information generating function that generates interest information, which is information regarding the content user's degree of interest in the partial content, based on the playback behavior information and the behavior behavior information;
A content interest level determination program that causes a user to execute the above steps.