WO2012127989A1

WO2012127989A1 - Service search apparatus and service search method, content provision apparatus, and computer program

Info

Publication number: WO2012127989A1
Application number: PCT/JP2012/054676
Authority: WO
Inventors: 正文渡部; 弘司喜田; 健太郎山崎; 佑嗣小林
Original assignee: 日本電気株式会社
Priority date: 2011-03-18
Filing date: 2012-02-20
Publication date: 2012-09-27

Abstract

Provided is a service search apparatus that quickly searches for services from among service offering conditions including range specifications. A search means of the service search apparatus searches a range information list on the basis of attribute information relating to an object that has requested the provision of service, and thereby obtains a second identifier. This range information list is a list in which second identifiers are assigned that individually identify each of one or more second ranges that either match at least one of an upper limit and lower limit of a first range included in the service offering conditions or are included in a range between the upper limit and the lower limit. The search means searches an identifier correspondence list on the basis of the obtained second identifiers to obtain a first identifier, and identifies the service. This identifier correspondence list is a list wherein a correspondence is assigned between the second identifiers assigned to individual second ranges of the aforementioned one or more second ranges and the first identifiers assigned to individually identify the one or more first ranges part of which at least includes the individual second ranges.

Description

Service search device, service search method, content providing device, and computer program

The present invention relates to the field of search technology that acquires specific information that matches given attribute information based on a search result of information that represents a broad range, such as a numerical range.

In recent years, mobile phones having a positioning function using GPS (Global Positioning System) and systems using RFID (Radio Frequency IDentification) tags have become widespread. This makes it easy to grasp the user's position information in substantially real time. In addition, with the spread of presence services, instant messaging services, and the like that can be used using mobile phones, status information such as the user's mood and surrounding environment can be exchanged between users, for example, in substantially real time.
Along with this, technologies for providing optimal services to users according to changing user situations have been developed. Such a service is referred to as a context-aware service or a situation-adaptive service.
As a specific example, various service providers are considering services that perform action support, content recommendation, advertisement distribution, etc. in a timely manner based on real-time status information of users. In other words, as an example of the above service, as a user approaches a shopping mall, an action of displaying a bargain sale information being performed at the shopping mall on the mobile phone screen owned by the user. Support services are listed.
In addition, the mobile phone operator can collect user information of mobile phones owned by millions, tens of millions, or more users. Here, the user information is information such as real-time position information and situation information of the user (the mobile phone). For this reason, the mobile phone carrier develops a platform for providing the above-described service to the mobile phone of a specific user that matches the conditions regarding the collected user information. Then, the mobile phone operator can provide the developed platform to the service operator.
In such a platform, for example, a database that manages a table including the above-described user information is used to search for a specific user to be provided with a certain service. And the search of a specific user is implement | achieved by the system structure which transmits a query for every fixed time based on the conditions regarding the said user information with respect to the database concerned, for example, and acquires the list | wrist of the specific user which meets the conditions be able to.
However, with such a system configuration, it may be difficult to obtain search results in a timely manner. In this case, for example, the user information is frequently updated with the movement of the user as in the position information. This is because it takes time to update the search index of the database. In particular, such a system configuration is not suitable for a mobile phone operator assumed to be frequently updated with user information for tens of millions.
Non-Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for managing not a user information but a condition for providing a service (hereinafter sometimes referred to as “service providing condition”) inside the server. That is, this server receives user information including the changed position information and situation information one after another when the user's position and situation change. Then, the server determines at high speed using the hash table whether or not the received user information matches each service provision condition registered in advance. That is, the technique disclosed in Non-Patent Document 1 proposes a high-speed matching technique that discards received user information and uses only the determination result using the hash table.
In Patent Document 1, a part of bits constituting an IP (Internet Protocol) address is replaced with a fixed value indicating that an arbitrary value may be used, so that a packet including a certain range of IP addresses is used as a search condition. Disclosed is a technique for determining whether or not they match.
That is, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for determining whether or not input search key data is data within a specific range using a hash function. That is, the information search apparatus described in Patent Document 1 is associated by replacing data relating to a specific position among data defining a search range with a predetermined fixed value and converting the data with a predetermined hash function. The predetermined information is stored at the address of the first storage means. Next, when the search key data to be searched is input, the information search apparatus replaces the data at the specific position indicated by the position information of the search key data with a fixed value, and stores the data in the first storage unit. Read the information stored at the address. Then, the information search apparatus determines whether the read information is predetermined information. As a result, the information search apparatus determines whether or not the input search key data is data within a specific range. The technique described in Patent Document 1 can be used for communication devices such as routers.
Patent Document 2 discloses a technique for searching a huge amount of data at high speed (efficiently) by providing each node on the overlay network with a distributed hash table as route information. According to the technique described in Patent Document 2, a range search can be performed while using a data search method that realizes a constant order and a logarithmic hop number.

JP 2009-098782 A (Patent No. 4369505) JP 2008-262507 (Patent No. 4277918)

[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In the above-described example regarding the shopping mall, in order to realize the advertisement distribution service that displays the sale information, a range on a two-dimensional coordinate plane (for example, latitude and longitude) including the shopping mall is provided as a service provision condition regarding the user location information. Is specified. Furthermore, when changing the sale information of the store in the shopping mall according to the age of the user, the temperature at that time, etc., the age and temperature ranges may be used as service provision conditions.
If a general search technique using a hash table is used, a service provision condition that completely matches user information can be retrieved from a large amount of service provision conditions in a short time. However, when the service provision condition represents the range of user information, the search cannot be performed simply by using a hash table. In this case, in such a general search technique, the service providing conditions representing the range are expanded into a plurality of service providing conditions that specify respective values in the range, and the expanded service providing conditions are hashed. Searching is possible if it is registered in the table. However, when searching according to such a general procedure, the size of the hash table becomes too large, so there is a possibility that the hash table cannot be stored with the memory capacity installed in a realistic server.
From such a background, while reducing the amount of memory used by the information processing apparatus (computer such as a server) to be used, a service provision condition that matches the user information is quickly selected from a large number of service provision conditions including range designation. It has become a challenge to realize the technology to search with.
The technique according to Non-Patent Literature 1 is a search including a wild card specification indicating that the attribute may be an arbitrary value by executing condition matching by omitting some of the plurality of attributes constituting the user information. It is a technology corresponding to conditions. For example, consider a case where position information is expressed by two types (two-dimensional) attributes of an X coordinate and a Y coordinate. In this case, whether or not the position information of the user matches the search condition only by determining whether these attributes and the search condition are completely matched or not using the two types of attributes for the determination. Cannot be determined. For this reason, it is not possible to deal with a search condition that specifies a partial range of values that an attribute can take, such as an area on a coordinate plane.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-151867 discloses that a search message is distributed at a high speed to a specific node having a logical identifier belonging to a range of logical identifiers to be searched among the nodes on the overlay network. A left bit shift is performed while dividing the range of identifiers. Thereby, the technique described in Patent Document 2 divides the range of the logical identifier. This technology is just an example of a technology that uses a distributed hash table, and it matches the user information from a large number of service provision conditions including suppression of memory usage of the information processing device used for the node and range specification. This is different from the technology that searches for service provision conditions.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a service search device that searches for a requested service in a short time from a large amount of service provision conditions including range specification while suppressing the amount of hardware resources used by the information processing device to be used. The main purpose is to provide.

In order to achieve the above object, a service search apparatus according to the present invention has the following configuration.
In other words, the service search device according to the present invention includes at least one of the upper limit and the lower limit of the first range included in the service provision condition, or one or more of the first range included in the range formed by the upper limit and the lower limit. By searching a range information list to which a second identifier for identifying each second range is assigned to the two ranges based on the attribute information related to the object that requested the provision of the service, the attribute information is included. A second identifier corresponding to the second range is obtained from the range information list, the second identifier assigned to each second range for the one or more second ranges, and the individual identifiers. An identifier correspondence list associated with a first identifier assigned to individually identify one or more of the first ranges, including at least a part of the second range, is obtained. One or more first identifiers corresponding to the obtained second identifier are obtained by searching based on the identifier, and a search means for specifying the service by the obtained first identifier is provided. .
In addition, a content providing apparatus that is another aspect of the present invention is:
The above service search device;
Content storage means for storing content associated with the first identifier;
Content providing means for providing content acquired from the content storage means to an external device as the object;
In response to acquiring the attribute information from the external device, the first identifier for specifying the service to be provided by the service search device is obtained, and the content corresponding to the obtained first identifier is obtained from the content storage unit. Then, the acquired content is provided to the external device by the content providing means.
This object can also be achieved by a service search method corresponding to the service search apparatus having the above-described configurations.
Further, the same object is achieved by a computer program that realizes the service search device and the service search method having the above-described configurations by a computer, and a computer-readable storage medium that stores the computer program. Is done.
According to the present invention described above, a service search device that searches for a requested service in a short time from a large amount of service provision conditions including range specification while suppressing the amount of hardware resources of the information processing device to be used. Etc. are realized.

It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the service search apparatus which concerns on exemplary 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which illustrates the structure of the content delivery server as a service search apparatus which concerns on 2nd exemplary embodiment of this invention, and the structure of the content provision system containing the content delivery server. It is a figure which illustrates notionally the range information list | wrist in the content provision system which concerns on exemplary 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows notionally the identifier corresponding list | wrist in the content provision system which concerns on 2nd exemplary embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows notionally the identifier corresponding list | wrist in the content provision system which concerns on 2nd exemplary embodiment of this invention. It is a figure explaining the user information which a user terminal transmits in the content provision system which concerns on exemplary 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which illustrates notionally the service provision conditions in the content provision system which concerns on 2nd exemplary embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which illustrates notionally the operation | movement at the time of dividing | segmenting 2nd range information in the content provision system which concerns on 2nd exemplary embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the registration process of the service provision conditions which a content delivery server performs in the content provision system which concerns on 2nd exemplary embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the search process of the service provision conditions which a content delivery server performs in the content provision system which concerns on 2nd exemplary embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which illustrates notionally the service provision conditions in the content provision system which concerns on exemplary 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure explaining the user information which a user terminal transmits in the content provision system which concerns on exemplary 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which illustrates notionally the range information list (for X coordinates) in the contents providing system concerning a 3rd exemplary embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which illustrates notionally the range information list (for Y coordinates) in the contents providing system concerning a 3rd exemplary embodiment of the present invention. It is a figure which shows notionally the identifier corresponding list | wrist in the content provision system which concerns on exemplary 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure explaining the relationship between the two-dimensional service provision conditions and label combination in 3rd exemplary embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the registration process of the service provision conditions which a content delivery server performs in the content provision system which concerns on exemplary 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the registration process of the service provision conditions which a content delivery server performs in the content provision system which concerns on exemplary 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows the search process of the service provision conditions which a content delivery server performs in the content provision system which concerns on exemplary 3rd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which illustrates the range information list represented in the binary tree format in the content provision system which concerns on exemplary 3rd Embodiment of this invention. Exemplary hardware configurations of a service search apparatus according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention and a computer (information processing apparatus) capable of realizing the content distribution server according to the second and third embodiments will be described. It is a figure to do.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.
<First Embodiment>
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a service search apparatus according to a first exemplary embodiment of the present invention. In the present embodiment, the service search device 1 is, for example, a server that can communicate with an external device via a communication network (hereinafter simply referred to as “network”) not shown in FIG. 1 and a communication interface. Information processing apparatus.
The service search device 1 includes a search unit 11. Hereinafter, the operation of the search unit 11 in the present embodiment will be described.
First, the search unit 11 searches the range information list 13 based on the attribute information 12 related to the acquired object, thereby obtaining the second identifier corresponding to the second range in which the attribute information 12 is included in the range information list. Get from 13.
Here, the object is a request source (source of request) that requests provision of a certain service. The object is, for example, a user terminal such as a mobile phone, an external apparatus such as an information processing apparatus (computer) such as a server, or information regarding a user who operates the user terminal.
The range information list 13 includes individual second ranges for one or more second ranges that match at least one of the upper limit and the lower limit of the first range included in the service provision condition (condition (s) of service). A list (a table such as a database or a lookup table) to which a second identifier for identifying is assigned.
Next, the search unit 11 obtains one or more first identifiers corresponding to the obtained second identifier by searching the identifier correspondence list 14 based on the second identifier obtained as described above. And the search part 11 specifies the said certain service with the calculated | required 1st identifier.
Here, the identifier correspondence list 14 includes at least a part of the second identifier assigned to each of the second ranges and the individual second ranges for the one or more second ranges. A first identifier assigned to individually identify one or more first ranges is associated.
It should be noted that the range information list 13 and the identifier correspondence list 14 may be held inside the own device or in other devices outside the own device, as long as the service search device 1 can refer to them.
According to the first embodiment as described above, the range information list 13 is provided with the second identifier for each second range having a range (spread). The identifier correspondence list 14 associates the second identifier and the first identifier assigned to individually identify one or more of the first ranges, each of which includes at least a part of each second range. Has been. For this reason, when the service search apparatus 1 is requested to provide a service, even if the service provision condition indicating the case where the service is applicable (condition) has a range (spread), these lists By using, there is no need to search for individual values within that range. In other words, the service search device 1 suppresses hardware resources (memory usage, etc.) to be used, and even when a large amount of service provision conditions including range specification are input, from among these service provision conditions, The requested service can be searched (specified) in a short time.
<Second Embodiment>
Next, a second embodiment based on the service search device 1 according to the first embodiment described above will be described.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a content distribution server as a service search apparatus according to a second exemplary embodiment of the present invention and a configuration of a content providing system including the content distribution server. The content providing system shown in FIG. 2 roughly includes a content distribution server 100, a content registration terminal 200, and a user terminal 300.
The content providing system according to the present embodiment has its user terminal 300 in accordance with “step count” as an attribute (attribute information) received from the user terminal 300 from among a plurality of contents registered in advance in the content distribution server 100. Provide optimal content for (user of the user terminal). Here, the registration of the content in the content distribution server 100 is executed in response to a request from the content registration terminal 200.
Transmission of information such as the number of steps (corresponding to user information described later) from the user terminal 300 to the content distribution server 100 is automatically performed by the user terminal 300, for example, at intervals of several minutes, or a predetermined operation by the user is detected. It may be done as it is done. In response to receiving content from the content distribution server 100, the user terminal 300 presents the received content to the user via a user interface such as a display of the user terminal.
The content distribution server 100, the content registration terminal 200, and the user terminal 300 include a general communication interface (not shown in FIG. 2). The user terminal 300 can access the content distribution server 100 via the network 400. The content registration terminal 200 can access the content distribution server 100.
The network (communication network) 400 is a general communication line such as, for example, various communication lines owned by a mobile phone operator, the Internet provided by an Internet service provider, or the like.
In FIG. 2, for example, a case where the content registration terminal 200 also functions as a management terminal for the content distribution server 100 is considered, so that the content registration terminal 200 and the content distribution server 100 are directly connected. Is illustrated. However, the present system is not limited to such a configuration. That is, the content registration terminal 200 and the content distribution server 100 may be configured to be accessible via a network such as the Internet.
(Content registration terminal 200)
The user of the content registration terminal 200 can register content to be provided using the content distribution server 100 in the content distribution server 100. Here, the user of the content registration terminal 200 is, for example, a business operator that provides a content distribution service.
The content registration terminal 200 is an information processing apparatus (input device such as a keyboard and mouse not shown in FIG. 2, an output device such as a liquid crystal display, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a storage device such as a memory and a hard disk drive, etc. Computer). The content registration terminal 200 transmits the content desired to be registered and the conditions for providing the content (service provision conditions) to the content distribution server 100.
In the present embodiment, the content is, for example, various kinds of information created by the business operator to be provided to the user, and includes store guidance, product recommendation, and the like.
The service provision condition is information in which a service provision condition ID (service provision condition identifier) is associated with the first range information. Here, the first range information is information representing a range of values (upper limit value and lower limit value) associated with the content specified by the service provision condition ID. The first range information functions as a condition for providing a service specified by the associated service provision condition ID. The service provision condition ID and the first range information constituting the service provision condition will be described later with reference to FIG.
(User terminal 300)
A user of the user terminal 300 can receive provision of a content distribution service using the content distribution server 100. The user terminal 300 is, for example, an information processing apparatus (computer) having the same configuration as the content registration terminal 200 or a mobile phone (mobile terminal) having an information processing function.
(Content distribution server 100)
The content distribution server 100 corresponds to the service search device 1 in the first embodiment described above. The content distribution server 100 is an information processing apparatus (server computer) including a database constituted by a storage device such as a hard disk drive (not shown in FIG. 2). That is, the content distribution server 100 implements various functions to be described later by executing a software program (computer program) using hardware resources such as a CPU. A hardware configuration example of the content distribution server 100 will be described later with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIG. 2, the content distribution server 100 includes a service provision condition receiving unit 101, a range information update unit 102, a service provision condition conversion unit 103, a service provision condition registration unit 104, a content holding unit 105, a range information storage unit 106, The service provision condition storage unit 107, the user information conversion unit 108, the content search unit 109, the user information reception unit 110, and the content transmission unit 111 are included.
The service provision condition receiving unit 101 receives content and service provision conditions from the content registration terminal 200 that requests registration of the content. The service provision condition receiving unit 101 passes the received service provision condition to the range information update unit 102. As described above, the service provision condition is associated with the service provision condition ID and the first range information. The service provision condition receiving unit 101 associates the received content with the service provision condition ID included in the service provision condition, and registers the associated content and the service provision condition ID in the content holding unit 105.
The range information storage unit 106 holds one range information list 13 for a certain attribute (“step count” in this embodiment). That is, in the range information storage unit 102, one attribute and the range information list 13 corresponding to the attribute have a one-to-one relationship.
FIG. 3 is a diagram conceptually illustrating a range information list in the content providing system according to the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention. In the range information list 13 shown in FIG. 3, “step count” is an attribute (attribute information) as an example in the present embodiment, as described above. The range information list 13 holds a plurality of second range information. As shown in FIG. 3, “lower limit value” and “label” are associated with each second range information. That is, in the present embodiment, the lower limit value is adopted as information (second range information) representing the range of the number of steps that is one-dimensional attribute information. Each second range information is given an identifier called “label”.
That is, in the example shown in FIG. 3, the individual second range information can be identified by the labels (A to G) and is aligned using the lower limit value. More specifically, in the present embodiment, the number of steps as an attribute cannot be taken as a decimal number or a negative number smaller than 1 for convenience of explanation, and is taken as a natural number including 0. Therefore, for example, the range of the number of steps to which the identifier of label A is given (second range information) is 0 to 1999. The range of the number of steps given the identifier B is 2000 to 5999. The range information storage unit 106 stores the range information list 13.
The range information update unit 102 receives service provision conditions from the service provision condition reception unit 101. The received service provision condition includes the first range information as described above. Therefore, the range information update unit 102 extracts the first range information from the received service provision condition. In the present embodiment, the first range information is information representing the range of the number of steps.
Here, the service provision condition ID and the first range information constituting the service provision condition will be described. FIG. 6 is a diagram conceptually illustrating service providing conditions in the content providing system according to the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention. In the case of the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, for example, a range of steps 2000 to 5999 is associated with the service provision condition ID C1 as a condition when the service C1 is provided. The service provision condition ID C2 is associated with a range of steps 8500 to 11499 as a condition when the service C2 is provided.
The range information update unit 102 updates the registered contents of the range information list 13 by executing the following process for the first range information extracted from the service provision conditions.
That is, the range information update unit 102 determines whether or not the lower limit value of the extracted first range information exists among the lower limit values of the plurality of second range information registered in the range information list 13 (FIG. 3). Determine. In this determination, when the lower limit value of the first range information being noticed is different from the lower limit value of any second range information, the range information update unit 102 determines the lower limit value of the first range information being noticed. While creating new second range information as the lower limit value, a new name (label) is assigned to the new second range information. Then, the range information update unit 102 registers (adds) the newly created second range information and its label in the range information list 13.
Further, the range information updating unit 102 has a value obtained by adding 1 to the upper limit value of the extracted first range information in the plurality of second range information registered in the range information list 13 (FIG. 3). It is determined whether or not. In this determination, when the value obtained by adding 1 to the upper limit value does not exist (is not included) in any second range information, the range information update unit 102 sets the value obtained by adding 1 to the upper limit value to the lower limit value. The new second range information is created, and a new name (label) is given to the new second range information. Then, the range information update unit 102 registers (adds) the newly created second range information and its label in the range information list 13.
Here, in this embodiment, the reason why 1 is added to the upper limit value of the extracted first range information will be described. This is because, as described above, the “number of steps” handled in the present embodiment is a natural number including 0, not a decimal number or a negative number smaller than 1, for convenience of explanation. That is, the numerical values (steps) represented by the first and second range information are discrete values by one. Therefore, in this embodiment, the granularity of the numerical values represented by the first and second range information is 1. That is, this granularity is attributed to the fact that this embodiment employs the number of steps as an attribute. For this reason, depending on the nature (type) of the attribute to be employed, a finer grain size value or a larger grain size value may be employed as appropriate.
Further, the range information update unit 102 determines whether the upper limit value and the lower limit value of the extracted first range information do not overlap with any second range information already registered in the range information list 13. In this determination, when it is determined that there is no overlap with any second range information, the range information update unit 102 obtains new second range information that matches at least one of the upper limit value and the lower limit value of the first range information. While creating, a new name (label) is given to the new second range information. Then, the range information update unit 102 registers (adds) the newly created second range information and its label in the range information list 13. Here, a specific example in this case will be described.
For example, consider a case where {[10 ~], [20 ~]} is registered as the existing range information list 13 (label notation is omitted). In the notation in this example, “[** ˜]” is individual second range information registered in the range information list 13, and “**” represents a lower limit value. In this situation, when [1 to 4] is registered as the first range information, as described above, the upper limit value and the lower limit value of the first range information are either registered in the existing range information list 13. The second range information does not overlap. Therefore, in this case, the range information update unit 102 newly adds two pieces of second range information ([1˜] and [5˜]) as the updated range information list 13 as {[1˜]. , [5 ~], [10 ~], [20 ~]} are stored in the range information storage unit 106.
Further, the range information updating unit 102 includes any upper range value or lower limit value of the extracted first range information included in at least any second range information already registered in the range information list 13. It is determined whether the upper limit value and the lower limit value of the two-range information do not match. In this determination, when it is determined that the upper limit value and the lower limit value of any of the second range information do not match, the range information update unit 102 selects at least any of the upper limit value and the lower limit value of the extracted first range information. One or more second range information that is already registered in the range information list 13 is divided into a plurality of ranges having ranges that coincide with these. Then, the range information updating unit 102 gives a new name (label) to the new second range information created by the division. Then, the range information update unit 102 registers (adds) the newly created second range information and its label in the range information list 13.
FIG. 7 is a diagram conceptually illustrating an operation when dividing the second range information in the content providing system according to the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention. In the example illustrated in FIG. 7, the second range information with label A having a lower limit value of 0 and the second range information with label B having a lower limit value of 2000 are registered in the existing range information list 13. In the figure, a case where new second range information having a lower limit value of 1000 is registered is shown. In this case, the second range information whose lower limit value is 1000 is not registered in the existing range information list 13. For this reason, the range information update unit 102 divides the second range information of label A into two pieces of second range information of label A ′ and label Z. In this case, after the division, the lower limit value of the second range information that is the label A ′ is 0, and the lower limit value of the second range information that is the label Z is 1000. The range information update unit 102 updates the range information list 13 by replacing the first second range information of the label A that has been originally registered with the two second range information of the label A ′ and the label Z. To do.
Further, this range division will be described based on an example using the above-described symbols. Consider a case where the first range information [15-19] is added when {[1 ~], [5 ~], [10 ~], [20 ~]} exists as the existing range information list 13. . In this case, the range information update unit 102 divides the existing second range information [10 to 19] into [10 to 14] and [15 to 19]. As a result, the updated range information list 13 becomes {[1 ~], [5 ~], [10 ~], [15 ~], [20 ~]}. In the present embodiment, since the second range information is arranged based on the lower limit value, for example, when adding 21 or more first range information, new second range information [20 to infinity] is added. May be provided.
When completing the above processing, the range information update unit 102 passes the service provision condition received from the service provision condition reception unit 101 to the service provision condition conversion unit 103.
In response to receiving the service provision condition from the range information update unit 102, the service provision condition conversion unit 103 performs the following processing for each first range information included in the received service provision condition (FIG. 6). Execute.
That is, the service provision condition conversion unit 103 includes a plurality of second range information that includes a numerical range from the lower limit value to the upper limit value in the first range information associated with a certain service provision condition ID and is adjacent to each other as the numerical range. Is acquired from the range information list 13 (FIG. 3) held by the range information storage unit 106. Then, the service provision condition conversion unit 103 creates a label list by collecting the labels individually assigned to the acquired second range information as a list. The service provision condition conversion unit 103 performs this series of processes on the individual first range information.
When the above processing is completed, the service provision condition conversion unit 103 selects one label from each of a plurality of label lists created for the individual first range information, and combines them to obtain a label combination. Generate. However, in the present embodiment, the label list is one label set of B, D, E, and F. That is, in this embodiment, since the number of steps is handled as a one-dimensional attribute, only one label list is generated. Therefore, in the present embodiment, label combination processing based on a plurality of label lists can be omitted. This label list corresponds to the labels listed in the left column of the identifier correspondence list (FIG. 4A or FIG. 4B) described later.
In the third embodiment to be described later, since a two-dimensional attribute (two-dimensional coordinate) is handled, the service provision condition conversion unit 103 generates a plurality of label lists, and individual label lists. Combine the labels contained in. For this reason, in the third embodiment, the label combinations listed in the left column of the identifier correspondence list shown in FIG. 13 are generated.
Next, the service provision condition conversion unit 103 includes a service provision condition corresponding to the generated label combination (one label list in the present embodiment) and each label combination (label itself in the present embodiment). The identifier correspondence list 14 is generated by associating with the service provision condition ID.
4A and 4B are diagrams conceptually showing an identifier correspondence list in the content providing system according to the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention. In the example shown in FIG. 4A, for one or more pieces of second range information, one label that includes each of the second range information and at least a part of the second range information is included. An identifier correspondence list 14 in which service provision condition IDs assigned to individually identify the first range information are associated is shown. On the other hand, the example shown in FIG. 4B shows the identifier correspondence list 14 in which the service provision condition IDs associated with the same label are combined into one line so that the labels in the identifier correspondence list 14 do not overlap.
Then, the service provision condition conversion unit 103 passes the created identifier correspondence list 14 to the service condition registration unit 104 as the converted service provision condition.
The service provision condition registration unit 104 stores the identifier correspondence list 14 obtained from the service provision condition conversion unit 103 in the service provision condition storage unit 107. The identifier correspondence list 14 stored in the service provision condition storage unit 107 can be considered as a mapping from a label combination to a service provision condition ID, for example. Alternatively, the identifier correspondence list 14 is a hash table in which at least one service provision condition ID is associated with each hash key based on a plurality of types of first range information for a plurality of hash keys (label combinations). Can also be considered.
The user information receiving unit 110 passes the received user information to the user information converting unit 108 in response to receiving user information from the user terminal 300 that has requested service provision. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating user information transmitted by the user terminal in the content providing system according to the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in FIG. 5, the user information according to the present embodiment includes a user ID that is an identifier of a user who uses the user terminal 300 and the number of steps. The number of steps is attribute information related to the user terminal 300 as an external apparatus that has requested provision of the service (attribute value: equivalent to attribute information 12 related to the object in the first embodiment). In the present embodiment, the user terminal 300 is, for example, a mobile phone provided with a function of measuring the number of steps of the user who owns the user terminal, or a portable information processing apparatus.
In the third embodiment to be described later, since two-dimensional coordinates are handled, the user information (FIG. 11) includes a plurality of attribute information (attribute values).
In response to receiving the user information from the user information receiving unit 110, the user information converting unit 108 executes the following process on the attribute information included in the user information.
That is, the user information conversion unit 108 searches the range information list 13 stored in the range information storage unit 106 by using the acquired attribute information as a search key. As a result, the user information conversion unit 108 specifies the second range information including the attribute information from the range information list 13 and acquires the label attached to the specified second range information. In the case of this embodiment, since the number of steps of the user with user ID = 1 is 4567, the user information conversion unit 108 obtains the label B from the range information list 13 (FIG. 3).
When the above processing is completed, the user information conversion unit 108 passes the user ID included in the user information and the label obtained as described above to the content search unit 109 as converted user information.
The content search unit 109 searches the identifier correspondence list 14 stored in the service provision condition storage unit 107 by using the acquired label (label combination in the case of the third embodiment) as a search key. Thereby, the content search unit 109 obtains the service provision condition ID corresponding to the label (label combination) from the identifier correspondence list 14. In the present embodiment, since the label obtained from the user information conversion unit 108 is “B”, the content search unit 109 determines that the service provision condition ID “C1” from the identifier correspondence list 14 (FIG. 4A or 4B). Get
In the third embodiment to be described later, since two-dimensional coordinates are handled, the user information (FIG. 11) includes a plurality of attribute information (attribute values). For this reason, the user information conversion unit 108 obtains labels for a plurality of individual attribute information, and passes the obtained plurality of labels to the content search unit 109 as label combinations. Then, based on the label combination, the content search unit 109 obtains a service provision condition ID corresponding to the label combination from the identifier correspondence list 14 (FIG. 13).
Through the processing by the content search unit 109 described above, a service provision condition ID to be referred to when selecting specific content as a service to be provided to the user terminal 300 is identified. When the service provision condition ID is found by such a series of processes, the content search unit 109 passes the service provision condition ID and the user ID obtained from the user information conversion unit 108 to the content transmission unit 111.
The content transmission unit 111 uses the service provision condition ID obtained from the content search unit 109 as a search key, so that the content with which the service provision condition ID is associated from the contents stored in the content holding unit 105 Get Then, the content transmission unit 111 transmits the acquired content to the user terminal 300 specified by the user ID acquired from the content search unit 109.
Next, with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9, the processing flow of the content distribution server 100 in this embodiment will be mainly described. The processing executed by the content distribution server 100 in this embodiment can be broadly divided into service provision condition registration processing (FIG. 8) and service provision condition search processing (FIG. 9). Hereinafter, these processes will be described in order.
FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing a service providing condition registration process executed by the content distribution server in the content providing system according to the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
Step S101: The service provision condition receiving unit 101 receives content and service provision conditions (FIG. 6) related to the content from the content registration terminal 200. Then, the service provision condition receiving unit 101 passes the received service provision condition to the range information update unit 102. The service provision condition receiving unit 101 registers the received content in the content holding unit 105 in a state where the received content is associated with the service provision condition ID included in the service provision condition.
Step S102: The range information update unit 102 determines whether or not the second range information including the lower limit value of the first range information included in the service provision condition exists in the range information list 13 (FIG. 3). To do. If the range information update unit 102 determines that it exists in this determination (YES in step S102), the process proceeds to step S104. On the other hand, if range information update unit 102 determines that there is no such information (NO in step S102), the process proceeds to step S103.
Step S103: The range information update unit 102 creates new second range information including the lower limit value of the first range information noted in step S102, and uses the created second range information as the new second range information. Is registered in the range information list 13 together with a new label assigned to the.
Step S104: The range information update unit 102 has a value obtained by adding 1 to the upper limit value of the first range information noticed in Step S102 in the plurality of second range information registered in the range information list 13. Determine whether or not. If range information update unit 102 determines that it exists in this determination (YES in step S104), the process proceeds to step S106. On the other hand, if the range information update unit 102 determines that it does not exist in this determination (NO in step S104), the process proceeds to step S105.
Step S105: The range information update unit 102 creates new second range information whose lower limit is a value obtained by adding 1 to the upper limit value, and the created second range information is added to the new second range information. Are registered in the range information list 13 together with the new label given in the above.
Step S <b> 106: When the range information update unit 102 completes the processing from Step S <b> 102 to Step S <b> 105 described above, it passes the service provision condition received from the service provision condition reception unit 101 to the service provision condition conversion unit 103.
Step S107: The service provision condition conversion unit 103 extracts the lower limit value and the upper limit value of the first range information noticed in Step S102, and from the range information list 13 (FIG. 3) held by the range information storage unit 106. Then, a plurality of second range information including a numerical range from the lower limit value to the upper limit value and adjacent to each other is acquired.
Step S108: The service provision condition conversion unit 103 creates a label list by collecting the labels individually assigned to the individual second range information acquired in step S107 as a list.
Step S109: The service provision condition conversion unit 103 associates the generated label list with the identifier correspondence list 14 by associating the service provision condition ID including the service provision condition corresponding to each label constituting the label list. Generate.
FIG. 9 is a flowchart showing a service providing condition search process executed by the content distribution server in the content providing system according to the second exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
Step S201: The user information receiving unit 110 receives user information from the user terminal 300 that has requested service provision.
Step S202: The user information conversion unit 108 searches the range information list 13 stored in the range information storage unit 106 by using the attribute information included in the user information obtained in step S201 as a search key. As a result, the user information conversion unit 108 specifies the second range information including the attribute information from the range information list 13 and displays the label attached to the specified second range information, for example, in the RAM ( It is stored in a temporary storage area such as not shown in FIG.
Step S204: The content search unit 109 searches the identifier correspondence list 14 stored in the service provision condition storage unit 107 by using the label temporarily stored in step S203 as a search key.
Step S205: The content search unit 109 determines whether or not the service provision condition ID corresponding to the label exists in the identifier correspondence list 14 in the search in step S204. If content determination unit 109 determines that it exists in this determination (YES in step S205), the process proceeds to step S206. On the other hand, if content determination unit 109 determines that there is no such content (NO in step S205), the series of search processing ends.
Step S206: When the content search unit 109 detects the service provision condition ID corresponding to the label from the identifier correspondence list 14 in the determination in step S205, the content search unit 109 determines from the detected service provision condition ID and the user information conversion unit 108 The acquired user ID is passed to the content transmission unit 111. The content transmission unit 111 acquires the content corresponding to the acquired service provision condition ID from the content holding unit 105. Then, the content transmission unit 111 transmits the acquired content to the user terminal 300 specified by the user ID acquired from the content search unit 109.
According to the second embodiment described above, the range information list 13 (FIG. 3) includes a second identifier for each piece of second range information (information indicating the range of steps) arranged based on the lower limit value. (Label) is given. The identifier correspondence list 14 (FIGS. 4A and 4B) is assigned to individually identify the second identifier and one or more first ranges, each of which includes at least part of each second range. A first identifier (service provision condition ID) is associated. Therefore, in the content distribution server 100 according to the present embodiment, when the provision of content is requested, the service provision condition indicating a case (condition) where the service can be applied is within the range of steps shown in FIG. Even if it has a numerical range (spread), it is not necessary to search for individual values within that range by referring to these lists.
In other words, the content providing system and the content distribution server 100 according to the present embodiment can suppress the hardware resources (memory usage, etc.) to be used and input a large amount of service provision conditions including range specification. The content corresponding to the request can be searched (specified) in a short time from these service providing conditions and provided to a specific user terminal 300.
<Third Embodiment>
Next, a third embodiment based on the service search device according to the first embodiment and the content providing system according to the second embodiment will be described. In the following description, the characteristic part according to the present embodiment will be mainly described. In this case, the same reference numerals are assigned to the same configurations as those in the first and second embodiments described above, and redundant description is omitted.
The content providing system according to the present embodiment has the same overall configuration as the content providing system (FIG. 2) according to the second embodiment described above. In the second embodiment described above, a content providing system that uses the number of steps has been described as an example of one-dimensional attribute information. In contrast, in this embodiment, a content providing system that uses two-dimensional coordinates (XY coordinates) as an example of two-dimensional attribute information will be described. For this reason, for convenience of explanation, the user terminal 300 according to the present embodiment is a mobile phone including a GPS (Global Positioning System) sensor (not shown) or a portable information processing apparatus. The user terminal 300 according to the present embodiment generates user information including current position information (latitude information and longitude information as XY coordinate values) acquired by the GPS sensor. Then, the user terminal 300 transmits the generated user information to the content distribution server 100 at intervals of, for example, several minutes. Further, in response to receiving the content from the content distribution server 100, the user terminal 300 presents the received content to the user via a user interface such as a display of the user terminal.
(Content registration terminal 200)
The content registration terminal 200 according to the present embodiment has the same device configuration as the content registration terminal 200 according to the second embodiment described above. However, in the present embodiment, the service provision condition transmitted from the content registration terminal 200 to the content distribution server 100 is information in which a service provision condition ID and two types of first range information are associated with each other.
FIG. 10 is a diagram conceptually illustrating service providing conditions in the content providing system according to the exemplary third embodiment of the present invention. In the case of the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 10, for example, the service provision condition ID C1 includes an X coordinate value range 1394605 to 1946629 and a Y coordinate value as a condition when the service C1 is provided. Range 354010 to 354029. The service provision condition ID C2 is associated with the range 1394600 to 1394614 of the X coordinate value and the range 354000 to 354019 of the Y coordinate value as conditions when the service C2 is provided.
(User terminal 300)
The user terminal 300 according to the present embodiment has the same device configuration as that of the user terminal 300 in the second embodiment described above, except that the user terminal 300 includes a GPS sensor as described above. FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating user information transmitted by the user terminal in the content providing system according to the third exemplary embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 11, the user information according to the present embodiment includes a user ID that is an identifier of a user who uses the user terminal 300, and an X coordinate value and a Y coordinate value that represent the current position information of the user terminal. . The X coordinate value and the Y coordinate value are attribute information (attribute value: equivalent to the attribute information 12 related to the object in the first embodiment) related to the user terminal 300 as the external apparatus that has requested the provision of the service.
(Content distribution server 100)
The content distribution server 100 has the same device configuration as the content distribution server 100 in the second embodiment described above with reference to FIG. The content distribution server 100 according to the present embodiment corresponds to the service search device 1 according to the first embodiment described above.
As in the case of the second embodiment described above, the service provision condition receiving unit 101 receives content and service provision conditions from the content registration terminal 200 that requests registration of the content. However, the service provision conditions received in the present embodiment include an X coordinate value range and a Y coordinate value range for one service provision condition ID as described above with reference to FIG.
In this embodiment, the range information storage unit 106 stores two types of range information lists for the X coordinate and the Y coordinate as the range information list 13.
12A and 12B are diagrams conceptually illustrating a range information list in the content providing system according to the third exemplary embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 12A shows a range information list for the X coordinate, FIG. 12B shows a range information list for the Y coordinate. “X coordinate” and “Y coordinate” are attributes (attribute information) as an example in the present embodiment. Each range information list 13 has the same configuration as in the second embodiment. Each of the second range information shown in FIGS. 12A and 12B is associated with a “lower limit value” and a “label”. That is, in the present embodiment, the lower limit value is adopted as information (second range information) representing the range of “X coordinate” and “Y coordinate” that are two-dimensional attribute information. Each second range information is given an identifier called “label” as in the second embodiment. Also in this embodiment, the values that can be taken by the attributes “X coordinate” and “Y coordinate” cannot be taken as decimal numbers smaller than 1 and negative numbers for convenience of explanation, and are regarded as natural numbers including 0. And a discrete value with a granularity of one.
The range information list for the X coordinate and the Y coordinate is not limited to the data structure conceptually shown in FIGS. 12A and 12B described above. For example, a data structure that can be expressed by a so-called binary tree as shown in FIG. 17 can be adopted for the range information list for the X coordinate and the Y coordinate.
The range information update unit 102 performs an update process similar to that of the above-described second embodiment on the two types of range information list 13 according to the first range information including the two-dimensional attribute extracted from the service provision condition. Do. When the update process is completed, the range information update unit 102 passes the service provision condition received from the service provision condition reception unit 101 to the service provision condition conversion unit 103.
The service provision condition conversion unit 103 basically performs the same processing as in the second embodiment. However, in this embodiment, since a two-dimensional attribute is handled, a label combination is selected by selecting one label from a plurality of label lists created for each first range information and combining them. Generate. That is, in the present embodiment, the label combinations listed in the left column of the identifier correspondence list shown in FIG. 13 are generated.
FIG. 13 is a diagram conceptually showing an identifier correspondence list in the content providing system according to the third exemplary embodiment of the present invention. In the identifier correspondence list 14 shown in FIG. 13, for a plurality of keys (label combinations) in which two types (X coordinate and Y coordinate) of second range information are combined with labels given for each type. Based on the two types of first range information, at least one service provision condition ID is associated with each key.
That is, the service provision condition conversion unit 103 searches the second range information for each of the two types of attribute information based on the two types of first range information. Next, the service provision condition conversion unit 103 extracts one label for each attribute information from the labels (second identifiers) assigned to the second range information obtained by the search, and the two extracted labels To generate a label combination.
FIG. 14 is a diagram illustrating a relationship between a two-dimensional service provision condition and a label combination in the third exemplary embodiment of the present invention. That is, in the example shown in FIG. 14, the labels (A to E) given in the range information list 13 for X coordinate shown in FIG. 12A and the labels given in the range information list 13 for Y coordinate shown in FIG. The relationship between the label combination obtained by the combination with (a to e) and the service provision condition ID (C1 to C3) is expressed using two-dimensional coordinates. In the example shown in FIG. 14, it can be seen that there is a partially overlapping area between the plane range represented by the service provision condition ID C1 and the plane range represented by the service provision condition ID C2.
Then, the service provision condition conversion unit 103 generates the identifier correspondence list 14 by associating the generated label combination with at least one service provision condition ID given to the first range information including the label combination. To do.
Then, the service provision condition conversion unit 103 passes the created identifier correspondence list 14 to the service condition registration unit 104 as the converted service provision condition.
The service provision condition registration unit 104 stores the identifier correspondence list 14 obtained from the service provision condition conversion unit 103 in the service provision condition storage unit 107.
In response to receiving user information (FIG. 11) from the user terminal 300, the user information receiving unit 110 passes the received user information to the user information conversion unit 108.
In response to receiving user information from the user information receiving unit 110, the user information converting unit 108 uses the attribute information (X coordinate value and Y coordinate value) included in the user information as a search key, thereby storing range information. The range information list 13 (FIGS. 12A and 12B) stored in the unit 106 is searched. As a result, the user information conversion unit 108 specifies the second range information including the attribute information from the range information list 13 and acquires the label attached to the specified second range information. In the case of the present embodiment, the current position information of the user with user ID = 1 is X coordinate value = 1394610 and Y coordinate value = 354015 (FIG. 11). For this reason, the user information conversion unit 108 acquires the label B and the label c as a label combination from the range information list 13 (FIGS. 12A and 12B).
The user information conversion unit 108 passes the user ID included in the user information and the label combination obtained as described above to the content search unit 109 as converted user information.
The content search unit 109 searches the identifier correspondence list 14 (FIG. 13) stored in the service provision condition storage unit 107 by using the obtained label combination as a search key. As a result, the content search unit 109 obtains the service provision condition ID corresponding to the label combination from the identifier correspondence list 14. In the present embodiment, since the label combinations obtained from the user information conversion unit 108 are “B” and “c”, the content search unit 109 provides services “C1” and “C2” from the identifier correspondence list 14. Get the condition ID.
That is, the content search unit 109 searches the two types of range information list 13 (FIGS. 12A and 12B) in response to acquiring the two types of attribute information, thereby obtaining a label combination consisting of two types of labels. Ask. The content search unit 109 searches the identifier correspondence list 14 (FIG. 13) based on the obtained label combination to obtain at least one service provision condition ID corresponding to the label combination. Thus, the content to be provided to the user terminal 300 is specified.
Through the processing by the content search unit 109 described above, a service provision condition ID to be referred to when selecting specific content as a service to be provided to the user terminal 300 is identified. When the service provision condition ID is found by such a series of processes, the content search unit 109 passes the service provision condition ID and the user ID obtained from the user information conversion unit 108 to the content transmission unit 111.
The content transmission unit 111 performs the same processing as in the second embodiment described above, thereby obtaining the user ID obtained from the content search unit 109 for the content associated with the service provision condition ID specified by the content search unit 109. Is transmitted to the user terminal 300 specified by.
Next, with reference to FIG. 15A, FIG. 15B, and FIG. 16, it demonstrates centering on the processing flow of the content delivery server 100 in this embodiment. The processing executed by the content distribution server 100 in this embodiment can be broadly divided into service provision condition registration processing (FIGS. 15A and 15B) and service provision condition search processing (FIG. 16). Hereinafter, these processes will be described in order.
FIG. 15A and FIG. 15B are flowcharts showing service provision condition registration processing executed by the content distribution server in the content provision system according to the third exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
Step S301: The service provision condition receiving unit 101 receives content and service provision conditions (FIG. 10) related to the content from the content registration terminal 200. Then, the service provision condition receiving unit 101 passes the received service provision condition to the range information update unit 102. The service provision condition receiving unit 101 registers the received content in the content holding unit 105 in a state associated with the service provision condition ID included in the service provision condition.
Step S302: The range information update unit 102 receives a service provision condition from the service provision condition reception unit 101, and substitutes 0 for a variable i.
Step S303: The range information update unit 102 extracts the lower limit value i and the attribute information i from the first range information i included in the acquired service provision condition, and the second range information including the lower limit value i is the range information. It is determined whether or not it exists in the range information list i stored in the storage unit 106. If the range information update unit 102 determines that it exists in this determination (YES in step S303), the process proceeds to step S305. On the other hand, if range information update unit 102 determines that it does not exist in this determination (NO in step S305), the process proceeds to step S304.
Step S304: The range information update unit 102 creates new second range information including the lower limit value i of the first range information noted in step S303, and uses the created second range information as the new second range. A new label added to the information is registered in the range information list i.
Step S305: The range information update unit 102 has a value obtained by adding 1 to the upper limit value i of the first range information noted in step S303 in the plurality of second range information registered in the range information list 13 Judge whether to do. If range information update unit 102 determines that it exists in this determination (YES in step S305), the process proceeds to step S307. On the other hand, if range information update unit 102 determines that it does not exist in this determination (NO in step S305), the process proceeds to step S306.
Step S306: The range information update unit 102 creates new second range information whose lower limit is a value obtained by adding 1 to the upper limit value i, and uses the created second range information as the new second range information. It is registered in the range information list i together with the new label assigned to it.
Step S307: The range information update unit 102 adds 1 to the variable i and determines whether the number of first range information included in the service provision condition obtained in step S301 is equal to or less than the variable i. If the determination result is “true” (NO in step S307), range information update unit 102 advances the process to step S308. On the other hand, if the determination result is “false” (YES in step S307), range information update unit 102 returns the process to step S303.
Step S308: The range information update unit 102 passes the service provision condition obtained in step S301 to the service provision condition conversion unit 103.
Step S309: The service provision condition conversion unit 103 receives the service provision condition from the range information update unit 102 and assigns 0 to the variable j.
Step S310: The service provision condition conversion unit 103 extracts the attribute information j, the lower limit value j, and the upper limit value j from the first range information j. The service provision condition conversion unit 103 includes a numerical range from the lower limit value j to the upper limit value j from the range information list j that the range information storage unit 106 holds in association with the attribute information j, and A plurality of second range information adjacent to each other is acquired.
Step S311: The service provision condition conversion unit 103 extracts labels from the plurality of acquired second range information, and creates a label list j including the extracted labels.
For example, the lower limit value of the first range information (X coordinate) in the service provision condition C1 is 1394605, and the upper limit value is 1394629. For this reason, the service providing condition conversion unit 103 acquires {1394605, B}, {1394610, C}, and {13949415, D} as the second range information from the range information list (X coordinate). Then, the service provision condition conversion unit 103 creates a label list {B, C, D} by collecting the labels individually assigned to the second range information as a list. The service provision condition conversion unit 103 performs similar processing for the service provision conditions C2 and C3.
The lower limit value of the first range information (Y coordinate) in the service provision condition C1 is 354010, and the upper limit value is 354029. Therefore, the service provision condition conversion unit 103 acquires {354010, c} and {354005, d} as the second range information from the range information list (Y coordinate). Then, the service provision condition conversion unit 103 creates a label list {c, d} by collecting the labels individually assigned to the second range information as a list.
Step S312: The service provision condition conversion unit 103 adds 1 to the variable j.
Step S313: The service provision condition conversion unit 103 determines whether the number of first range information included in the service provision condition received from the range information update unit 102 is equal to or less than the variable j. If the determination result is “true” (NO in step S313), service provision condition converting unit 103 advances the process to step S314. On the other hand, when the determination result is “false” (YES in step S313), service provision condition conversion unit 103 returns the process to step S310.
Step S314: The service provision condition conversion unit 103 generates all combinations obtained by extracting one label from all label lists created by the above-described processing.
For example, the service provision condition conversion unit 103 refers to the label list {B, C, D} corresponding to the X coordinate of the service provision condition C1 and the label list {c, d} corresponding to the Y coordinate. From each of these label lists, one label is taken out as a combination. Thereby, the service provision condition conversion unit 103 includes a plurality of {B, c}, {B, d}, {C, c}, {C, d}, {D, c}, and {D, d}. Create a label combination. The service provision condition conversion unit 103 performs similar processing for the service provision conditions C2 and C3.
Step S315: The service provision condition conversion unit 103 substitutes 0 for the variable k.
Step S316: The service provision condition conversion unit 103 passes the label combination k and the service provision condition ID to the service condition registration unit 104. The service provision condition registration unit 104 registers the label combination k and the service provision condition ID obtained from the service provision condition conversion unit 103 in the service provision condition storage unit 107.
Step S317: The service provision condition conversion unit 103 determines whether the number of generated label combinations is equal to or less than the variable k. If the determination result is “true” (NO in step S317), service provision condition conversion unit 103 ends the process. On the other hand, when the determination result is “false” (YES in step S317), service providing condition conversion unit 103 returns the process to step S316.
FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing a service providing condition search process executed by the content distribution server in the content providing system according to the third exemplary embodiment of the present invention.
Step S401: In response to receiving user information (FIG. 11) from the user terminal 300, the user information receiving unit 110 passes the received user information to the user information converting unit.
Step S402: The user information conversion unit 108 obtains user information from the user information reception unit 110, and substitutes 0 for a variable i.
Step S403: The user information conversion unit 108 extracts a user ID and attribute information i from the acquired user information. Then, the user information conversion unit 108 determines the attribute name (“X coordinate” and “Y coordinate” as coordinate types in this embodiment) i and attribute value i (in this embodiment as coordinate values) from the extracted attribute information i. "X coordinate value" and "Y coordinate value"). Further, the user information conversion unit 108 obtains the range information list i specified by the attribute name i from the range information storage unit 106.
Step S404: The user information conversion unit 108 obtains second range information i that includes the attribute value i in the numerical range from the range information list i obtained in step S403.
Step S405: The user information conversion unit 108 stores the label i associated with the second range information i obtained in step S404 in a temporary storage area such as a RAM (not shown in FIG. 2).
Step S406: The user information conversion unit 108 adds 1 to the variable i.
Step S407: The user information conversion unit 108 determines whether or not the number of attributes included in the user information obtained in step S401 is equal to or less than the variable i. If the determination result is “true” (YES in step S407), user information conversion unit 108 advances the process to step S408. On the other hand, when the determination result is “false” (NO in step S407), user information conversion unit 108 returns the process to step S403.
Step S408: The user information conversion unit 108 passes the user ID included in the obtained user information and the label combination including a plurality of labels temporarily stored in step S405 to the content search unit 109. In response to receiving the user ID and the label combination, the content search unit 109 is stored in association with the label combination from the identifier correspondence list (FIG. 13) stored in the service provision condition storage unit 107. The service provision condition ID is searched.
Step S409: When the service provision condition ID is found as a result of the search in step S408 (YES in step S409), the content search unit 109 sends the user ID and the service provision condition ID to the content transmission unit 111. To pass. On the other hand, when the service provision condition ID cannot be found in the search in step S408 (NO in step S409), content search unit 109 ends the process.
Step S410: The content transmission unit 111 receives a user ID and a service provision condition ID from the content search unit 109. Then, the content transmission unit 111 acquires the content associated with the service provision condition ID from the content holding unit 105, and transmits the acquired content to the user terminal 300 identified by the user ID.
In the above-described embodiment, the processing configuration is such that updating of the range information list and registration in the service provision condition storage unit 107 are executed in response to one service provision condition being input. However, the present invention is not limited to such a processing configuration. For example, in another embodiment of the present invention, processing for updating the range information list and registering in the service provision condition storage unit 107 in response to a certain number of service provision conditions being input. A configuration may be adopted.
According to the third embodiment described above, the range information list 13 (FIGS. 12A and 12B) includes individual second range information (X-coordinate value range, Y-coordinate value range) arranged based on the lower limit value. A second identifier (label) is given to (range). The identifier correspondence list 14 (FIG. 13) includes the second identifier and a first identifier assigned to individually identify one or more first ranges, each of which includes at least part of each second range. (Service provision condition ID) is associated. For this reason, the content distribution server 100 according to the present embodiment has two types of two-dimensional (two-dimensional) service provision conditions shown in FIG. ), Even if it has a numerical range (spread) such as a range of coordinate values, it is not necessary to search individual values within the range by referring to these lists.
In other words, the content providing system and the content distribution server 100 according to the present embodiment can suppress the hardware resources (memory usage, etc.) to be used and input a large amount of service provision conditions including range specification. The content corresponding to the request can be searched (specified) in a short time from these service providing conditions and provided to a specific user terminal 300.
In general, in a search process using a hash table, only a determination can be made based on a key value registered in the hash table and an exact match corresponding to the key value. On the other hand, according to the content distribution server 100 (service search device 1) according to the second and third embodiments described above, the individual labels registered in the label (label combination) list and the individual lists By using a table (identifier correspondence list 14) in which corresponding service provision IDs are registered, a range corresponding to each individual label can be searched at a time.
In the second and third embodiments described above, for convenience of explanation, the present invention has been described by taking the configuration in which the content distribution server 100 generates and stores the range information list 13 and the identifier correspondence list 14 as an example. . However, the present invention is not limited to such a configuration, and may be a configuration in which the content distribution server 100 refers to at least one of the range information list 13 and the identifier correspondence list 14 from an external device.
In the second and third embodiments described above, for convenience of explanation, the present invention has been described by taking as an example a configuration in which content requested from a certain user terminal 300 is provided to the user terminal itself. However, the present invention is not limited to such a configuration, and may be a configuration in which content requested from a certain user terminal 300 is provided to a user terminal 300 different from the user terminal.
<Hardware configuration>
FIG. 18 shows hardware of a computer (information processing apparatus) capable of realizing the service search apparatus 1 according to the first exemplary embodiment of the present invention and the content distribution server 100 according to the second and third embodiments. It is a figure explaining composition exemplarily. 18 includes a CPU 1001, a communication interface (I / F) 1002, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 1003, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 1004, and a hard disk drive (HD) 1005. Are connected via a bus 1006. The communication interface 1002 is a general communication unit that implements communication via the network 400 in the second and third embodiments described above. In such a hardware configuration, the CPU 1001 governs the overall operation of the computer 1000 as the service search apparatus 1 or the content distribution server 100.
The present invention described with reference to the first to third embodiments described above can realize the functions of the flowcharts (FIGS. 8, 9, 15A, 15B, and 16) referred to in the description. After the computer program is supplied to the computer 1000 shown in FIG. 18, the computer program is read into the CPU 1001 of the computer 1000 and executed. Further, the computer program supplied to the computer 1000 is stored in a non-transitory storage device (storage medium) such as a readable / writable temporary storage memory (1004) or a hard disk device (1005). Store it.
Here, the computer program according to each of the flowcharts includes the service provision condition reception unit 101, the range information update unit 102, the service provision condition conversion unit 103, and the service provision condition registration described in the second and third embodiments. Each function of the unit 104, the user information conversion unit 108, the content search unit 109, the user information reception unit 110, and the content transmission unit 111 is represented. However, regarding the service provision condition receiving unit 101, the user information receiving unit 110, and the content transmitting unit 111, it is assumed that the general communication function executed by the communication interface 1002 provided as hardware is a computer program that is excluded. . The search unit 11 described in the first embodiment can also be represented by a computer program. The computer program corresponds to, for example, a program group stored in the hard disk drive 1005.
In the above case, the computer program can be supplied to the apparatus from the outside through various recording media such as a CD-ROM or from the outside via a communication line such as the Internet. Currently, a general procedure can be adopted, such as a downloading method. In such a case, the present invention can be understood to be configured by a computer-readable storage medium in which the code of the computer program or the code is recorded.

In the second embodiment described above, the number of steps is adopted as an example of a one-dimensional attribute value (attribute information). In the third embodiment, the X coordinate value and the Y coordinate value are adopted as the two-dimensional attribute value. These attribute values are merely illustrative examples for explaining the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to these attribute values and the number of dimensions. That is, the present invention can also be applied to n-dimensional (n is a natural number) attribute values. As other examples of attribute values, various types of values (information) such as temperature, humidity, blood pressure, body weight, gender, altitude, remaining battery level, etc. may be adopted depending on the search target. it can.
In the second and third embodiments described above, the present invention has been described by taking a service that provides a search result to a user who uses a user terminal as an example. However, the present invention is not limited to providing a service to a person (user) as in these embodiments. For example, the present invention is also applicable to a so-called M2M (machine to machine) system in which one information processing apparatus provides a search result to a request that is automatically issued while one information processing apparatus is executing a process. can do. Furthermore, the present invention can also be applied to a case where the information processing apparatus that should provide the search result is provided to another information processing apparatus different from the information processing apparatus that issued the request.
The present invention has been described above using the above-described embodiment as an exemplary example. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. That is, the present invention can apply various modes that can be understood by those skilled in the art within the scope of the present invention.
This application claims the priority on the basis of Japanese application Japanese Patent Application No. 2011-061044 for which it applied on March 18, 2011, and takes in those the indications of all here.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Service search device 11 Search part 12 Object attribute information 13 Range information list 14 Identifier correspondence list 100 Content distribution server 101 Service provision condition receiving part 102 Range information update part 103 Service provision condition conversion part 104 Service provision condition registration part 105 Content holding Unit 106 Range information storage unit 107 Service provision condition storage unit 108 User information conversion unit 109 Content search unit 110 User information reception unit 111 Content transmission unit 200 Content registration terminal 300 User terminal 400 Communication network 1000 Computer 1001 CPU
1002 Communication interface (I / F)
1003 ROM
1004 RAM
1005 Hard disk drive (HD)
1006 Bus

Claims

Individual second ranges with respect to one or more second ranges that match at least one of the upper limit and the lower limit of the first range included in the service provision condition, or are included in the range formed by the upper limit and the lower limit By searching the range information list to which the second identifier for identifying the service is provided based on the attribute information related to the object that requested the provision of the service, the second identifier corresponding to the second range including the attribute information is obtained. The second identifier assigned to each second range for the one or more second ranges, and including at least a part of each second range, as determined from the range information list By searching an identifier correspondence list associated with a first identifier assigned to individually identify one or more of the first ranges based on the obtained second identifier Seeking one or more of said first identifier corresponding to the second identifier determined the by the first identifier calculated, the service search device characterized in that it comprises a search means for identifying the service.
The attribute information includes a plurality of types of attribute information, and the first range, the second range, and the range information list each correspond to the plurality of types,
The identifier correspondence list includes individual keys based on the plurality of types of the first ranges for a plurality of keys in which the second identifiers assigned to the types of the plurality of types of second ranges are combined. At least one of the first identifiers is associated with a key of
The search means includes
In response to obtaining the plurality of types of attribute information regarding the object, by searching the plurality of types of range information list, to obtain a combination of the plurality of types of second identifiers,
By searching the identifier correspondence list including the plurality of keys based on the obtained combination of the plurality of types of second identifiers, at least one corresponding to the determined combination of the plurality of types of second identifiers. The service search apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the first identifier is obtained to identify a service to be provided to the object.
The service search device according to claim 1, further comprising identifier correspondence list generation means for generating the identifier correspondence list.
An identifier correspondence list generating means for generating the identifier correspondence list;
The identifier correspondence list generating means searches the second range for each of the plurality of types of attribute information based on the plurality of types of first ranges, and is assigned to the second range obtained by the search. From the identifier, one second identifier is extracted for each attribute information, a combination of the second identifiers is generated as the plurality of keys, the generated combination of the second identifiers, and the second including the combination 3. The service search apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the identifier correspondence list is generated by associating with at least one of the first identifiers assigned to one range.
The service search device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, further comprising range information list generation means for generating the range information list.
When the upper limit and lower limit of the first range included in the input service provision condition do not overlap with any second range already registered in the range information list, of the upper limit and lower limit of the first range 6. The service search apparatus according to claim 5, further comprising range information registration means for registering a new second range that matches at least one of the second ranges in the range information list.
The upper limit or lower limit of the first range included in the input service provision condition is included in at least any second range already registered in the range information list, but the upper limit of any of the second ranges and If the lower limit does not match, the one or more second ranges already registered in the range information list are divided into a plurality of ranges having a range that matches at least one of the upper limit and the lower limit of the first range. The service search device according to claim 5, further comprising range information update means for updating the range information list.
The service search device according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the search means specifies the specified service as a service to be provided to an object requested to provide the service.
9. The service search device according to claim 8, wherein the object is at least one of an external device that can communicate with the service search device and a user who uses the external device.
10. The service search apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising list storage means for storing at least one of the range information list and the identifier correspondence list.
The service search device according to any one of claims 1 to 10,
Content storage means for storing content associated with the first identifier;
Content providing means for providing content acquired from the content storage means to an external device as the object;
In response to acquiring the attribute information from the external device, the first identifier for specifying the service to be provided by the service search device is obtained, and the content corresponding to the obtained first identifier is obtained from the content storage unit. Then, the acquired content is provided to the external device by the content providing means.
A service search method for searching for a service using an information processing device,
Individual second ranges with respect to one or more second ranges that match at least one of the upper limit and the lower limit of the first range included in the service provision condition, or are included in the range formed by the upper limit and the lower limit By searching the range information list to which the second identifier for identifying the service is provided based on the attribute information related to the object that requested the provision of the service, the second identifier corresponding to the second range including the attribute information is obtained. , From the range information list,
For the one or more second ranges, the second identifier assigned to each second range, and the one or more first ranges including at least a part of the individual second range One or more of the one or more corresponding to the obtained second identifier by searching an identifier correspondence list associated with the first identifier assigned to individually identify the first identifier based on the obtained second identifier A service search method characterized in that a first identifier is obtained and the service is specified by the obtained first identifier.
The attribute information includes a plurality of types of attribute information, and the first range, the second range, and the range information list each correspond to the plurality of types,
Based on the plurality of types of the first ranges, each of the identifiers corresponding to a plurality of keys in which the second identifiers assigned to the types of the plurality of types of second ranges are combined. Associating at least one of the first identifiers with a key;
In response to obtaining the plurality of types of attribute information regarding the object, by searching the plurality of types of range information list, a combination of the plurality of types of second identifiers is obtained,
By searching the identifier correspondence list including the plurality of keys based on the obtained combination of the plurality of types of second identifiers, at least one corresponding to the determined combination of the plurality of types of second identifiers. 13. The service search method according to claim 12, wherein the first identifier is obtained to identify a service to be provided to the object.
Based on the plurality of types of first ranges, the second range is searched for each of the plurality of types of attribute information,
From the second identifier assigned to the second range obtained by the search, one second identifier is extracted for each attribute information, and a combination of the second identifiers is generated as the plurality of keys,
The identifier correspondence list is generated by associating the generated combination of the second identifiers with at least one of the first identifiers assigned to the first range including the combination. Item 14. The service search method according to Item 13.
When the upper limit and lower limit of the first range included in the service provision condition do not overlap with any second range already registered in the range information list, at least one of the upper limit and the lower limit of the first range 15. The service search method according to claim 14, wherein a new matching second range is registered in the range information list.
Although the upper limit or lower limit of the first range included in the service provision condition is included in at least any second range already registered in the range information list, the upper limit and the lower limit of any of the second ranges By dividing one or more second ranges already registered in the range information list into a plurality of ranges having ranges that match at least one of the upper limit and the lower limit of the first range when they do not match 15. The service search method according to claim 14, wherein the range information list is updated.
A computer program for controlling the operation of an information processing apparatus that searches for a service, the computer program
Individual second ranges with respect to one or more second ranges that match at least one of the upper limit and the lower limit of the first range included in the service provision condition, or are included in the range formed by the upper limit and the lower limit. By searching the range information list to which the second identifier for identifying the service information is provided based on the attribute information related to the object that requested the service provision, the second identifier corresponding to the second range including the attribute information is obtained. The second identifier assigned to each second range for the one or more second ranges, and at least a part of the second range, which is obtained from the range information list By searching an identifier correspondence list associated with a first identifier assigned to individually identify one or more of the first ranges based on the obtained second identifier, Seeking one or more of said first identifier corresponding to the serial second identifier determined by the first identifier determined, a search function for specifying the service, the computer program, characterized in that to realize the computer.