JP7726117B2 - Recommendation information providing device and computer program - Google Patents

Description

This disclosure relates to a recommendation information providing device and a computer program.

When you want to find some information, you enter keywords into a search engine, and the information is provided as search results. Recommended information may also be provided based on your online action history or actual behavior history. Another way to obtain information is to obtain information shared on the network by information providers such as influencers.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-21726

In conventional information acquisition methods, for example, when searching by keyword, the information available is limited to the scope of that keyword, making it impossible to obtain new, unexpected information. Furthermore, when recommended information is provided based on online action history or actual behavioral history, the information is limited to information relevant to one's own actions, making it difficult to obtain new, unexpected information. Information spread by influencers only provides information that the influencer intends to spread, so the range of information also tends to be narrow. On the other hand, if a variety of information is provided without any context whatsoever, users will receive a lot of useless information that is unlikely to potentially interest them.

This disclosure provides a recommendation information providing device that can provide information that may be of potential interest, even if it is difficult to access using conventional information acquisition methods.

The present disclosure relates to a recommendation information providing device that includes an information acquisition unit (401) that acquires recommendation information to be provided to a first user terminal (10) used by a first user, a request acceptance unit (404) that receives an information provision request from a second user terminal (20) used by a second user different from the first user, requesting the provision of the recommendation information provided to the first user terminal, and an information provision unit (405) that provides the recommendation information to the second user terminal upon receiving the information provision request.

This disclosure makes it possible to provide a recommendation information providing device that can provide information that may be of potential interest, even if it is difficult to access using conventional information acquisition methods.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a recommendation information providing device according to this embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining an operation state of the first user terminal shown in FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining an operation state of the first user terminal shown in FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of information stored in the information storage unit shown in FIG. FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the first user terminal shown in FIG. FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining an operation state of the second user terminal shown in FIG. FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining an operation state of the second user terminal shown in FIG. FIG. 8 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the recommendation information providing device shown in FIG.

This embodiment will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. To facilitate understanding, identical components in each drawing will be designated by the same reference numerals whenever possible, and duplicate explanations will be omitted.

The recommendation information providing device 40 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to Figure 1. As shown in Figure 1, the recommendation information providing device 40 is connected to an information and communication network NW. The recommendation information providing device 40 is configured to be able to send and receive information via the information and communication network NW. The recommendation information providing device 40 is configured with hardware including a CPU, memory, and a communication interface.

A first user terminal 10 and a second user terminal 20 are connected to the information and communication network NW. The first user terminal 10 and the second user terminal 20 are configured to be able to send and receive information via the information and communication network NW. The number of user terminals connected to the information and communication network NW is not limited to two, and for the sake of convenience, only two are shown in Figure 1.

An information providing server 30 is connected to the information and communication network NW. The information providing server 30 is configured to be able to send and receive information via the information and communication network NW. The information providing server 30 provides information that meets specified conditions via the information and communication network NW. For example, when a search is performed by entering keywords into a search engine or the like on the first user terminal 10, the information providing server 30 provides information as a search result. The information providing server 30 also provides recommended information in accordance with a specified protocol based on the user's online action history and actual behavior history. In either case, the information providing server 30 provides, for example, information to the first user terminal 10 based on the results of the user's actions on the first user terminal 10. The information providing server 30 transmits recommended information to the first user terminal 10 based on information sent from the first user terminal 10 and location information such as the location of the first user terminal 10.

The recommendation information providing device 40 includes an information acquisition unit 401, an information storage unit 402, an information restriction unit 403, a request reception unit 404, and an information provision unit 405.

The information acquisition unit 401 is a part that acquires recommendation information provided to the first user terminal 10 used by the first user A. In this embodiment, the first user terminal 10 is assumed to be used by the first user A.

As illustrated in FIG. 2, it is assumed that first user A, who is using first user terminal 10, is currently logged in to the information provision service. First user A is taking a walk while carrying first user terminal 10. When first user A utters, "Is there anything interesting nearby?", the resulting voice data is transmitted to information provision server 30. Note that the voice data is not limited to spoken voice data; recommendation information (described below) may also be provided by searching through the interface of first user terminal 10, such as "Show recommended spots in the area."

The information providing server 30 generates recommendation information based on the information stored about the first user A and the voice data sent from the first user terminal 10. The information providing server 30 sends the generated recommendation information to the first user terminal 10. The recommendation information is displayed on the display unit 101 of the first user terminal 10. For example, as shown in Figure 2, the display unit 101 displays a map and a character string saying, "There is a culvert nearby that you may be interested in."

Following the display of the recommended information, the display unit 101 displays a screen for confirming the intention to make the recommended information public. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the display unit 101 displays the message "May I make the information recommended to you public?" along with "Yes" or "No" buttons. Note that in this embodiment, the need to make recommended information public is confirmed each time, but the manner of confirming the need to make recommended information public is not limited to this. As an example, the need to make all recommended information public may be set in advance. Furthermore, for example, if a mode such as "private browsing mode" is set, recommended information provided in this mode may not be provided.

When first user A selects "Yes" or "No," the recommendation information, "There is a culvert nearby that you are interested in," is sent to the recommendation information providing device 40 along with the character string "There is a culvert nearby that you are interested in," and map information. The information sent to the recommendation information providing device 40 is received by the information acquisition unit 401. The information sent to the recommendation information providing device 40 may include information such as "which places have actually been visited" and "how the place would be evaluated if visited." This information is not made public to second user B, but can be used as auxiliary information for determining which recommendation information to send first when there is multiple pieces of recommendation information to provide to second user B. For example, it is possible to prioritize the provision of places that have actually been visited, or places with high ratings.

The information acquisition unit 401 stores the received information in the information storage unit 402. An example of the information stored in the information storage unit 402 is shown in Figure 4. As illustrated in Figure 4, the information storage unit 402 stores information about "recommended information recipients," "recommended information," and "whether or not to provide the information."

"Recommendation information recipients" is a list of first users as described above. In addition to information that identifies the individual first users, information indicating the attributes of the first users is also stored. For example, first user A's occupation is a celebrity, so information that identifies A and information that identifies the celebrity are stored.

"Recommendation information" stores the recommendation information provided to the "recommendation information recipient" by the information providing server 30. "Provision availability" stores the intention to consent or decline to provide the "recommendation information" to a third party. For example, first user A selected "Yes" in Figure 3 for the recommended information, "There is a culvert nearby that you are interested in," and the map information, so "Provision availability" stores "Yes."

The information processing described above will now be explained with reference to Figure 5. In step S101, the first user terminal 10 acquires recommendation information. In step S102 following step S101, the display unit 101 of the first user terminal 10 displays the recommendation information (see Figure 2).

In step S103 following step S102, it is determined whether the information entered by first user A can be made public. If the information entered by first user A can be made public (selecting "Yes" in Figure 3), processing proceeds to step S104. If the information entered by first user A cannot be made public (selecting "No" in Figure 3), processing proceeds to step S104.

In step S104, information indicating whether the recommendation information is publicly available is sent to the recommendation information providing device 40 along with the recommendation information. In step S105, information indicating whether the recommendation information is publicly available is sent to the recommendation information providing device along with the recommendation information.

The explanation will continue with reference to Figure 1. The information restriction unit 403 is a part where the first user restricts the provision of recommended information to the second user. As explained above, the provision of recommended information to third parties can be performed when the recommended information is initially stored. When restricting the provision of recommended information mainly after the fact, the information restriction unit 403 accepts the instruction from the first user terminal 10 and updates the information stored in the information storage unit 402. For example, in the information illustrated in Figure 4, when information that prohibits the subsequent disclosure of "underground drain map data" is received from the first user terminal 10, the information restriction unit 403 updates the corresponding "provision availability" to "prohibited."

The request receiving unit 404 is a part that receives an information provision request for the provision of recommended information. The information provision request is sent from a second user terminal 20 used by a second user B who is different from a first user A. The recommended information is information sent from the information providing server 30 to a first user terminal 10 used by a first user A who is different from a second user B.

When the request receiving unit 404 receives an information provision request, it extracts recommendation information that matches the information provision request from the information stored in the information storage unit 402. The request receiving unit 404 outputs the extracted recommendation information to the information provision unit 405.

The information provision unit 405 is a part that provides recommendation information to the second user B upon receiving an information provision request. The information provision unit 405 transmits the recommendation information extracted and output by the request reception unit 404 to the second user terminal 20 used by the second user B.

As illustrated in FIG. 6, assume that second user B, using second user terminal 20, is currently logged in to the information provision service. Second user B intends to wonder, "Mr. A always talks about interesting things, but I wonder what he's interested in?" When the screen 201 of second user terminal 20 displays the message "Who would you like to see information recommended by?", second user B enters "Mr. A" into input unit 202. Based on the information "Mr. A" entered into input unit 202, second user terminal 20 sends an information provision request to the recommendation information providing device 40, stating, "I would like to see the recommended information provided to first user A."

The request receiving unit 404 receives an information provision request sent to the recommendation information providing device 40, stating, "I want to see the recommended information provided to first user A." The request receiving unit 404 checks the information about first user A stored in the information storage unit 402. As illustrated in FIG. 4, first user A is willing to provide "map data of culverts," but is not willing to provide "music data of favorite artists." Note that the information stored in the information storage unit 402 may include, for example, not only information recommended to first user A, but also information voluntarily collected by first user A. Voluntarily collected information includes information pinned as a favorite point on a map service, information "liked" on a social networking service, and the like. From this perspective, "music data of favorite artists" can be considered voluntarily collected information. Therefore, the recommended information in this embodiment also includes information voluntarily collected by the user.

The request receiving unit 404 extracts only the "underground drain map data" and outputs it to the information providing unit 405. The information providing unit 405 sends information to the second user terminal 20 that "the recommended information provided to the first user A is 'underground drain map data'."

As illustrated in Figure 7, the display unit 201 of the second user terminal 20 displays text information such as "Information about culverts has recently been recommended to Mr. A," along with map information about the area around the culvert.

The information processing in the recommendation information providing device 40 described above will now be described with reference to FIG. 8. In step S201, the request receiving unit 404 receives an information provision request from the second user terminal 20. In step S202 following step S201, the request receiving unit 404 determines whether there is any information available to provide regarding the first user A identified by the information provision request. If there is any information available to provide regarding the first user A (if there is information indicating whether or not the information can be provided as "yes" in FIG. 4), the process proceeds to step S203. If there is no information available to provide regarding the first user A (if there is no information indicating whether or not the information can be provided as "yes" in FIG. 4), the process proceeds to step S205. In step S205, the information providing unit 405 sends a message to the second user terminal 20 stating "There is no information available to provide."

In step S203, the request receiving unit 404 selects information to be provided to the second user B and outputs it to the information providing unit 405. In step S204 following step S203, the information providing unit 405 transmits the information output from the request receiving unit 404 to the second user terminal 20.

The recommendation information providing device 40 according to this embodiment includes an information acquisition unit 401, a request acceptance unit 404, and an information provision unit 405. The information acquisition unit 401 acquires recommendation information to be provided to a first user terminal 10 used by a first user. The request acceptance unit 404 receives an information provision request from a second user terminal 20 used by a second user different from the first user, requesting the provision of recommendation information provided to the first user terminal 10. Upon receiving the information provision request, the information provision unit 405 provides the recommendation information to the second user terminal 20.

The second user can specify the first user to whom the recommendation information was provided, allowing them to specify the user in whom they are interested. The recommendation information provided to the specified first user is provided, allowing the second user to obtain recommendation information provided to a first user in whom the second user is interested. Therefore, information that may potentially be of interest to the second user, even if it is difficult to access using conventional information acquisition methods, can be obtained.

The recommendation information providing device 40 according to this embodiment further includes an information restriction unit 405 that allows the first user to restrict the provision of recommendation information to the second user terminal. Since the first user can restrict the recommendation information provided to third parties, the unintended spread of recommendation information can be suppressed.

In this embodiment, the information providing unit 405 can also provide the second user terminal 20 with action information indicating the action taken by the first user in response to the recommendation information. For example, if the first user presses "Like" on the recommendation information displayed on the first user terminal 10, information indicating this is sent to the recommendation information providing device 40, and this information is also stored in the information storage unit 402.

In this embodiment, the information providing unit 405 can provide the second user terminal 20 with additional information related to the recommendation information. The information providing unit 405 can provide the second user terminal 20 with additional information including map information.

In this embodiment, the first user A may be multiple people, and may be grouped by attribute. The information provision request includes group identification information that identifies the group, and the information provision unit 405 can provide the second user terminal 20 with recommendation information that is provided to the first user terminal 10 included in the group. For example, an attribute can be set as "Women in their 20s living in Minato Ward, Tokyo," and an information provision request can be made saying, "I would like to know recommended information that women in their 20s living in Minato Ward, Tokyo are interested in."

The computer program for realizing the recommendation information providing device 40 according to this embodiment can be seen as follows. The computer program causes a computer to execute an information acquisition step of acquiring recommendation information to be provided to a first user terminal 10 used by a first user, a request acceptance step (step S201 in FIG. 8) of receiving an information provision request from a second user terminal 20 used by a second user different from the first user, requesting the provision of the recommendation information provided to the first user terminal 10, and an information provision step (step S204 in FIG. 8) of providing the recommendation information to the second user terminal 20 upon receiving the information provision request.

The present embodiment has been described above with reference to specific examples. However, the present disclosure is not limited to these specific examples. Design modifications to these specific examples made by a person skilled in the art as appropriate are also included within the scope of the present disclosure as long as they comprise the features of the present disclosure. The elements of the above-mentioned specific examples, as well as their arrangement, conditions, shape, etc., are not limited to those exemplified and can be modified as appropriate. The elements of the above-mentioned specific examples can be combined in different ways as appropriate, as long as no technical contradictions arise.

10: First user terminal 20: Second user terminal NW: Information communication network 30: Information server 40: Recommendation information providing device 401: Information acquisition unit 402: Information storage unit 403: Information restriction unit 404: Request reception unit 405: Information providing unit

Claims (7)

A recommendation information providing device,
an information acquisition unit (401) that acquires recommendation information to be provided to a first user terminal (10) used by a first user;
a request receiving unit (404) that receives an information provision request from a second user terminal (20) used by a second user different from the first user, requesting provision of recommendation information provided to the first user terminal;
an information providing unit (405) that provides the recommendation information to the second user terminal upon receiving the information provision request;
A recommendation information providing device comprising: The recommendation information providing device according to claim 1,
The recommendation information providing device further comprises an information restriction unit (40 3 ) for restricting, by the first user, the provision of the recommendation information to the second user terminal. The recommendation information providing device according to claim 1,
The information providing unit provides the recommendation information to the second user terminal together with action information indicating an action taken by the first user in response to the recommendation information. The recommendation information providing device according to claim 1,
The information providing unit provides the recommendation information to the second user terminal together with additional information related to the recommendation information. 5. The recommendation information providing device according to claim 4 ,
The information providing unit includes map information in the additional information and provides the additional information to the second user terminal. The recommendation information providing device according to claim 1,
The first users are a plurality of people, and are grouped by attribute,
the information provision request includes group identification information that identifies the group,
The information providing unit provides the recommendation information provided to the first user terminal included in the group to the second user terminal. A computer program comprising:
an information acquisition step of acquiring recommendation information to be provided to a first user terminal used by a first user;
a request receiving step of receiving an information provision request from a second user terminal used by a second user different from the first user, the information provision request requesting provision of the recommendation information provided to the first user terminal;
and an information providing step of providing the recommendation information to the second user terminal when the information provision request is received.