JP7796557B2 - Message notification device, message notification system, message notification method and program - Google Patents

Description

This disclosure relates to a message notification device, a message notification system, a message notification method, and a program.

A system has been proposed in which a determination is made as to whether a user terminal is in use based on the communication status of the user terminal, and if it is determined that the user terminal is in use, a push notification is delivered from a delivery server to the user terminal (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

Patent No. 6577907

By the way, whether or not a user of a user device is likely to overlook a push notification also depends on the message content. Therefore, in order to reduce the likelihood of overlooking a push notification, it is necessary to reduce the likelihood of users overlooking a push notification by selecting appropriate message content that will attract the user's attention.

This disclosure has been made in light of the above-mentioned reasons, and aims to provide a message notification device, message notification system, message notification method, and program that can reduce the occurrence of oversight when using message information intended for users.

In order to achieve the above object, the message notification device according to the present disclosure includes:
a message selection unit that selects one piece of message information from a plurality of types of preset message information indicating the occurrence of a notification event that should be notified to a user, every time the notification event occurs;
a message notification unit that transmits the message information to a terminal device carried by the user;
an operation information acquisition unit in the terminal device that acquires opening operation information transmitted from the terminal device when the user performs an opening operation to check the message information acquired by the terminal device;
an opening rate calculation unit that calculates an opening rate, which is a probability that the user will perform the opening operation, based on a notification count, which is the number of times the message information is transmitted to the terminal device, and an opening count, which is the number of times the opening operation information corresponding to the message information is acquired, within a predetermined target period;
When the opening rate is less than a preset opening rate threshold, the message selection unit selects other message information from the plurality of types of message information.

According to the present disclosure, if the opening rate of message information within a predetermined target period is less than a predetermined opening rate threshold, the message selection unit selects other message information from among multiple types of message information. This prevents message information with a low opening rate from being continuously sent to the terminal device each time an event occurs, thereby reducing the occurrence of oversight due to the use of message information intended for users.

1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a message notification system according to a first embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of a terminal device and a cloud server according to a first embodiment. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a terminal device and a cloud server according to a first embodiment. FIG. 1A is a diagram showing an example of a swipe operation on a terminal device according to embodiment 1, and FIG. 1B is a diagram showing an example of a tap operation on a terminal device according to embodiment 1. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of information stored in a message storage unit according to the first embodiment; FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of information stored in an operation status storage unit according to the first embodiment; FIG. 1 is a sequence diagram showing the operation of the message notification system according to the first embodiment. 1 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of a message notification process executed by a cloud server according to the first embodiment; 1 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of an open rate calculation process executed by a cloud server according to the first embodiment. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a message notification system according to a second embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a terminal device and a cloud server according to a second embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of information stored in a device information storage unit according to the second embodiment; FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of information stored in an operation status storage unit according to the second embodiment; FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of information stored in a priority order storage unit according to the second embodiment; 10 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of a message notification process executed by a cloud server according to a second embodiment. 10 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of a priority order determination process executed by a cloud server according to a second embodiment. Schematic configuration diagram of a message notification system according to a modified example FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration of a terminal device and a cloud server according to a modified example. FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing the functional configuration of a terminal device and a cloud server according to a modified example. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of information stored in a determination criterion storage unit according to a modified example. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the flow of a message notification process executed by a cloud server according to a modified example. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the flow of a message notification process executed by a cloud server according to a modified example.

(Embodiment 1)
A cloud server and a control system including the cloud server according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to the drawings. The message notification device according to the embodiment includes: a message selection unit that selects one piece of message information from multiple preset types of message information indicating the occurrence of an event each time an event requiring notification to a user occurs; a message notification unit that transmits the message information to a terminal device carried by the user; an operation information acquisition unit that acquires opening operation information transmitted from the terminal device when the user performs an opening operation to check the message information acquired by the terminal device; and an opening rate calculation unit that calculates an opening rate, which is the probability that the user will perform an opening operation, based on a notification count, which is the number of times the message information is transmitted to the terminal device, and an opening count, which is the number of times the opening operation information corresponding to the message information is acquired, within a predetermined target period. If the opening rate is less than a predetermined opening rate threshold, the message selection unit selects another piece of message information from the multiple types of message information.

As shown in FIG. 1, the message notification system according to this embodiment includes a cloud server 1 that controls equipment 3 (e.g., air conditioner 3A) installed in building H, and a terminal device 5. Here, equipment 3 is equipped with a communications module and is connected to a local network NW2 installed in building H via the communications module. The local network NW2 is configured as a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) or a wired LAN. Furthermore, the local network NW2 is connected to a wide area network NW1 such as the Internet via a broadband router (hereinafter referred to as "BBR") 4. The cloud server 1 and terminal device 5 are connected to the wide area network NW1.

The device 3 includes an environmental sensor (not shown) that measures, for example, environmental parameters (e.g., temperature, humidity, _CO2 concentration, etc.) of the environment in which the device 3 is installed. When the device 3 receives device information request information from the cloud server 1, which requests the transmission of device information including information indicating the operating state of the device 3 and information indicating the environmental parameters of the environment in which the device 3 is installed, the device 3 generates device information including operating state information indicating its own operating state, environmental information indicating the environmental parameters measured by the environmental sensor, and device identification information that identifies the device. Here, the device identification information may be, for example, information indicating the Media Access Control (MAC) address assigned to the device 3 or information indicating the global IP address. The device 3 then transmits the generated device information to the cloud server 1.

The terminal device 5 is, for example, a smartphone, and as shown in FIG. 2, includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 501, a main memory unit 502, an auxiliary memory unit 503, a display unit 504, an input unit 505, a communication unit 506, and a bus 509 connecting these units to one another. The main memory unit 502 has volatile memory such as RAM (Random Access Memory) and is used as a working area for the CPU 501. The auxiliary memory unit 503 is non-volatile memory such as semiconductor flash memory and stores programs for the CPU 501 to execute various processes. The display unit 504 is a display device such as a liquid crystal display or an organic EL (Electro-Luminescence) display. The input unit 505 is, for example, a transparent touchpad placed on top of the display unit 504. The communication unit 506 is connected to the wide area network NW1 and transmits information transferred from the CPU 501 to the cloud server 1 via the wide area network NW1, and transfers information received from the cloud server 1 via the wide area network NW1 to the CPU 501.

The CPU 501 reads out the program stored in the auxiliary memory unit 503 into the main memory unit 502 and executes it, thereby functioning as a message acquisition unit 511, a display control unit 512, a reception unit 513, and an operation notification unit 514, as shown in FIG. 3. The auxiliary memory unit 503 shown in FIG. 2 also has an image storage unit 531, as shown in FIG. 3, that stores information for forming an image to be displayed on the display unit 504. When the message acquisition unit 511 acquires message information transmitted from the cloud server 1, it notifies the display control unit 512 of the acquired message information. The message information is, for example, information that prompts the user to perform an operation for maintenance or setting changes on the device 3, which will be described later.

When the display control unit 512 acquires message information from the message acquisition unit 511, it uses the acquired message information and the information stored in the image storage unit 531 to form a notification image that displays the contents of the acquired message information. The display control unit 512 then causes the formed notification image to be displayed on the display unit 504. As this notification image, for example, a so-called push notification image can be used. The reception unit 513 accepts the operation content performed by the user on the input unit 505, and notifies the operation notification unit 514 of operation information indicating the accepted operation content.

Based on the operation information notified by the receiving unit 513, the operation notification unit 514 determines whether an opening operation has been performed on the input unit 505 to check the details corresponding to the notification image while the notification image is displayed on the display unit 504. Examples of opening operations include a tap operation on the portion of the input unit 505 corresponding to the notification image to launch an application corresponding to the notification image or transition the screen to a uniform resource locator (URL) corresponding to the notification image, or a long press on the portion of the input unit 505 corresponding to the notification image. Examples of operations that avoid the opening operation include a swipe operation on the portion of the input unit 505 corresponding to the notification image, or an operation that transitions the screen on which the notification image is displayed to another screen on which no notification image is displayed. For example, as shown in FIG. 4(A), when notification image GA1 is displayed on display unit 504 and the user touches the tip of finger F1 on a portion of input unit 505 corresponding to notification image GA1 and then performs a swipe operation in which finger F1 slides as indicated by arrow AR1, operation notification unit 514 determines that the opening operation corresponding to notification image GA1 has not been performed. On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 4(B), when notification image GA1 is displayed on display unit 504 and the user touches the tip of finger F1 on a portion of input unit 505 corresponding to notification image GA1 for a relatively long period of time, operation notification unit 514 determines that the opening operation corresponding to notification image GA1 has been performed. Then, when operation notification unit 514 determines that the opening operation has been performed, it generates opening operation information and transmits it to cloud server 1.

Returning to FIG. 2 , cloud server 1 includes a CPU 101, a main memory unit 102, an auxiliary memory unit 103, a communication unit 106 connected to wide area network NW1, a clock unit 108, and a bus 109 interconnecting these units, and functions as a message notification device. The main memory unit 102 is a volatile memory used as a work area for CPU 101. The auxiliary memory unit 103 is a nonvolatile memory such as a magnetic disk or semiconductor flash memory, and stores programs for implementing various functions of cloud server 1. The clock unit 108 functions as an RTC (Real Time Clock) that keeps track of the current date and time. The clock unit 108 includes, for example, a crystal oscillator (not shown) that generates a clock signal, a frequency divider circuit (not shown) that divides the clock signal, and a power storage element that supplies power to drive the crystal oscillator. Even if the power supply to cloud server 1 is interrupted due to a power outage, for example, the clock unit 108 continues its timekeeping operation by operating on power supplied from the power storage element. The timing unit 108 may also have the function of correcting the current date and time by acquiring date and time information conforming to the Network Time Protocol (NTP) transmitted from a time server (not shown) connected to the wide area network NW1, or by receiving standard radio waves that notify the current time.

By loading the programs stored in the auxiliary memory unit 103 into the main memory unit 102 and executing them, the CPU 101 functions as a device information acquisition unit 111, a notification determination unit 113, a message selection unit 114, a message notification unit 115, an operation information acquisition unit 116, an opening determination unit 117, an opening rate calculation unit 118, and an opening rate determination unit 119, as shown in FIG. 3. The auxiliary memory unit 103 shown in FIG. 2 also includes a device information storage unit 131, a determination criterion storage unit 132, a message storage unit 133, a user information storage unit 134, and an operation status storage unit 135, as shown in FIG. 3. The device information storage unit 131 stores device identification information, operating status information, and environmental information included in the device information transmitted from the device 3, in association with each other.

The judgment criteria storage unit 132 stores judgment criteria information indicating the criteria for determining whether an event has occurred that requires a message related to the device 3 to be notified to the user of the device 3, based on the operating state of the device 3 indicated by the information stored in the device information storage unit 131 and the environmental parameters in which the device 3 is installed. Here, the judgment criteria storage unit 132 stores judgment criteria information corresponding to each notification content to the user, in association with notification type information indicating the type of notification content.

As shown in FIG. 5, the message storage unit 133 stores multiple types of message information corresponding to multiple types of notification type information, in association with message identification information that identifies the information and the notification type information. The message content indicated by each of the multiple types of message information indicates different expressions, such as so-called "explanation type," "question type," and "service guidance type," for the same event corresponding to the notification type information.

Returning to Figure 3, the user information storage unit 134 stores device identification information that identifies the device 3 used by the user, in association with user identification information that identifies that user. Here, user identification information may include, for example, an email address or host name assigned to the terminal device 5 owned by the user.

As shown in FIG. 6, the operation status storage unit 135 stores notification count information, opening count information, opening rate information, and selection flag information in association with combinations of message identification information and user identification information. Here, the notification count information indicates the notification count, which is the number of times the aforementioned message information identified by the corresponding message identification information was sent to the terminal device 5. The opening count information indicates the opening count, which is the number of times the aforementioned opening operation corresponding to the message information was performed on the terminal device 5 after the message information was sent to the terminal device 5. Specifically, the opening count information indicates the number of times opening operation information transmitted from the terminal device 5 corresponding to the message information transmitted to the terminal device 5 was acquired. The opening rate information indicates the opening rate, which is the probability that the aforementioned opening operation is performed by the user on the terminal device 5 when the message information is transmitted to the terminal device 5. The selection flag information indicates whether or not the message information has been selected for each user to be sent to the terminal device 5. If the selection flag information is set to "F0," it has not been selected as message information to be sent to the terminal device 5. If the selection flag information is set to "F1," it has been selected as message information to be sent to the terminal device 5.

Returning to FIG. 3, the device information acquisition unit 111 generates the above-mentioned device information request information each time a preset device information acquisition time arrives and transmits the generated device information request information to the device 3, thereby acquiring the device information transmitted from the device 3. Upon acquiring the device information transmitted from the device 3, the device information acquisition unit 111 extracts device identification information, operating status information indicating the operating status of the device 3, and environmental information indicating the environmental parameters of the environment in which the device 3 is installed, contained in the device information. The device information acquisition unit 111 then associates the extracted device identification information, operating status information, and environmental information with each other and stores them in the device information storage unit 131.

The notification determination unit 113 references the operating status information and environmental information stored in the device information storage unit 131 and determines whether at least one of the operating status of the device 3 indicated by the operating status information and the environmental parameters indicated by the environmental information satisfies any of the criteria indicated in the judgment criteria information stored in the judgment criteria storage unit 132. If at least one of the operating status of the device 3 and the environmental parameters of the environment in which the device 3 is installed satisfies any of the criteria, the notification determination unit 113 determines that an event requiring notification to the user has occurred. In this case, the notification determination unit 113 references the notification type information stored in the judgment criteria storage unit 132 to identify notification type information associated with the criteria satisfied by at least one of the operating status of the device 3 and the environmental parameters of the environment in which the device 3 is installed, and also identifies the device identification information of the target device 3 by referring to the device identification information stored in the device information storage unit 131. The notification determination unit 113 then notifies the message selection unit 114 of the identified notification type information and device identification information. The notification determination unit 113 also notifies the message notification unit 115 of the identified device identification information.

Each time an event occurs that the notification determination unit 113 should notify the user of, the message selection unit 114 selects one piece of message information from among multiple types of message information stored in the message storage unit 133 and that indicates the occurrence of the event. Here, the message selection unit 114 references the selection flag information and message identification information stored in the operation status storage unit 135, and selects, from among the multiple types of message information stored in the message storage unit 133, message information that corresponds to the notification type information notified by the notification determination unit 113 and whose selection flag information stored in the operation status storage unit 135 is set to "F1." Furthermore, if the open rate corresponding to the selected message information is less than a predetermined open rate threshold, the message selection unit 114 selects another piece of message information from among the multiple types of message information that is different from the selected message information. Specifically, when the message selection unit 114 receives message change information (described below) from the open rate determination unit 119, it newly selects another piece of message information from among the multiple types of message information that is different from the selected message information. Then, the message selection unit 114 notifies the message notification unit 115 of the selected message information. Furthermore, the message selection unit 114 updates the selection flag information stored in the operation status storage unit 135 based on the newly selected message information. Specifically, the message selection unit 114 updates the selection flag information stored in the operation status storage unit 135 by setting the selection flag information corresponding to the newly selected message information to "F1" and the selection flag information corresponding to the remaining message information to "F0." Furthermore, when the open rate determination unit 119 determines that the open rate Ro corresponding to a notification event stored in the operation status storage unit 135 for all message information corresponding to one notification event is less than the open rate threshold Roth, the message selection unit 114 executes processing to stop the message notification unit 115 from transmitting the message information corresponding to that notification event. Specifically, the message selection unit 114 deletes the message information corresponding to the aforementioned notification event stored in the message storage unit 133, and also deletes various information such as notification type information and event identification information corresponding to the notification event stored in the operation status storage unit 135.

The message notification unit 115 transmits the message information selected by the message selection unit 114 to the terminal device 5 held by the user. The message notification unit 115 references the user identification information stored in the user information storage unit 134 to identify the user identification information corresponding to the device identification information notified by the notification determination unit 113. The message notification unit 115 then acquires the IP address information of the terminal device 5 based on the identified user identification information, and transmits the message information to the terminal device 5 based on the acquired IP address information. The message notification unit 115 notifies the open determination unit 117 of the user identification information corresponding to the terminal device 5 to which the message information is to be sent. Furthermore, upon sending the message information, the message notification unit 115 updates the notification count information stored in the operation status storage unit 135 by incrementing the notification count corresponding to the sent message information by one. Furthermore, when the message selection unit 114 executes processing to stop the transmission of message information corresponding to a notification event, the message notification unit 115 stops the transmission of the message information corresponding to that notification event to the terminal device 5.

When the operation information acquisition unit 116 acquires the aforementioned opening operation information transmitted from the terminal device 5, it references the user information stored in the user information storage unit 134 to identify the user identification information of the sender of the acquired opening operation information, and notifies the opening determination unit 117 of the identified user identification information and opening operation information. When the opening determination unit 117 is notified by the operation information acquisition unit 116 of user identification information and opening operation information that are identical to the user identification information notified by the message notification unit 115, it determines that an opening operation by the user has occurred corresponding to the message information. At this time, the opening determination unit 117 updates the opening count information by incrementing by one the number of opens stored in the operation status storage unit 135 that corresponds to the message information notified by the message notification unit 115. On the other hand, if the operation information acquisition unit 116 does not notify the same user identification information and opening operation information within a predetermined determination period after the user identification information is notified by the message notification unit 115, the opening determination unit 117 determines that an opening operation has not occurred.

The open rate calculation unit 118 calculates the open rate, which is the probability that a user will perform an open operation, based on the aforementioned number of notifications and number of opens within a preset target period. Specifically, each time message information is sent to the terminal device 5, the open rate calculation unit 118 identifies the open count information and notification count information stored in the operation status storage unit 135 that correspond to the selected message information, and calculates the open rate by dividing the number of opens indicated by the identified open count information by the number of notifications indicated by the identified notification count information. The interval at which this message review period arrives corresponds to the aforementioned preset target period, and is set to, for example, one month to several months. The open rate calculation unit 118 updates the open rate information stored in the operation status storage unit 135 with the open rate information indicating the calculated open rate.

Each time a preset message review period arrives, the open rate determination unit 119 determines whether the open rate indicated by the open rate information corresponding to the selected message information stored in the operation status storage unit 135 is less than a preset open rate threshold. If the open rate determination unit 119 determines that the open rate is less than the open rate threshold, it notifies the message selection unit 114 of message change notification information indicating that the selected message information needs to be changed.

Next, the operation of the message notification system according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 7. First, when a preset device information acquisition time arrives, the cloud server 1 generates the aforementioned device information request information (step S1), and transmits the generated device information request information from the cloud server 1 to the device 3 (step S2). Meanwhile, upon receiving the device information request information, the device 3 generates device information including the aforementioned device identification information, operating status information, and environmental information in response to the request (step S3). The generated device information is then transmitted from the device 3 to the cloud server 1 (step S4). Meanwhile, upon receiving the device information transmitted from the device 3, the cloud server 1 extracts the device identification information, operating status information indicating the operating status of the device 3, and environmental information indicating the environmental parameters of the environment in which the device 3 is installed, and stores the extracted device identification information, operating status information, and environmental information in association with one another in the device information storage unit 131 (step S5).

Here, it is assumed that the cloud server 1 determines, based on the operating status information and environmental information stored in the device information storage unit 131, that a notification event related to the device 3 has occurred and that the user should be notified of (step S6). In this case, the cloud server 1 selects one piece of message information from multiple pre-set types of message information stored in the message storage unit 133 indicating the occurrence of a notification event (step S7). The selected message information is then transmitted from the cloud server 1 to the terminal device 5 (step S8). Meanwhile, upon receiving the message information transmitted from the cloud server 1, the terminal device 5 uses the received message information to form the aforementioned notification image and displays the formed notification image on the display unit 504 (step S9).

Then, assume that the user performs the aforementioned opening operation on the input unit 505 of the terminal device 5 while the notification image is displayed on the display unit 504 of the terminal device 5. In this case, the terminal device 5 generates the aforementioned opening operation information (step S10), and the generated opening operation information is transmitted from the terminal device 5 to the cloud server 1 (step S11). Meanwhile, upon receiving the opening operation information transmitted from the terminal device 5, the cloud server 1 executes an opening rate calculation process to calculate the opening rate of the corresponding message information (step S12).

Next, when the preset message review period arrives, the cloud server 1 determines whether the open rate corresponding to the selected message information is below the aforementioned open rate threshold. The cloud server 1 determines that the open rate is below the open rate threshold (step S13). In this case, the cloud server 1 selects message information different from the selected message information from the multiple types of message information stored in the message storage unit 133. The cloud server 1 then updates the selection flag information stored in the operation status storage unit 135 based on the newly selected message information (step S14). Thereafter, if the cloud server 1 determines that a notification event has occurred again (step S6), it selects one piece of message information from the multiple types of message information corresponding to the notification event stored in the message storage unit 133 based on the selection flag information stored in the operation status storage unit 135 (step S7). The selected message information is then transmitted from the cloud server 1 to the terminal device 5 (step S8).

8 and 9, the message notification process executed by the cloud server 1 according to this embodiment will be described. This message notification process is initiated, for example, when an application for executing the message notification process is launched on the cloud server 1. First, the device information acquisition unit 111 determines whether the aforementioned device information acquisition time has arrived based on the time information measured by the clock unit 108 (step S101). If the device information acquisition unit 111 determines that the device information acquisition time has not yet arrived (step S101: No), the process of step S108, described below, is executed. On the other hand, if the device information acquisition unit 111 determines that the device information acquisition time has arrived (step S101: Yes), the device information acquisition unit 111 generates the aforementioned device information request information and transmits it to the device 3 (step S102), thereby acquiring the device information transmitted from the device 3. The device information acquisition unit 111 then extracts the device identification information, operating status information, and environmental information contained in the device information, and stores the extracted device identification information, operating status information, and environmental information in association with each other in the device information storage unit 131 (step S103).

Next, the notification determination unit 113 references the operating status information and environmental information stored in the device information storage unit 131 and determines whether a notification event that should be notified to the user has occurred in the device 3 based on at least one of the operating status of the device 3 indicated by the operating status information and the environmental parameters indicated by the environmental information (step S104). Specifically, the notification determination unit 113 determines whether at least one of the operating status and environmental parameters satisfies any of the criteria indicated by the criteria information stored in the criteria storage unit 132. Here, if the notification determination unit 113 determines that a notification event has not occurred (step S104: No), the processing of step S108 described below is executed. On the other hand, if the notification determination unit 113 determines that a notification event has occurred (step S104: Yes), the message selection unit 114 references the selection flag information and message identification information stored in the operation status storage unit 135 and selects one piece of message information from multiple types of message information corresponding to the notification event stored in the message storage unit 133 (step S105). Next, the message notification unit 115 transmits the message information selected by the message selection unit 114 to the terminal device 5 carried by the user (step S106).

Then, the open rate calculation process is executed (step S107). The open rate calculation process will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 9. First, when the message notification unit 115 sends message information, it updates the notification count information by incrementing the notification count NI corresponding to the sent message information stored in the operation status storage unit 135 by 1 (step S201). Next, the open determination unit 117 determines whether the user performed an open operation corresponding to the message information based on whether the operation information acquisition unit 116 has notified it of user identification information and open operation information that are identical to the user identification information notified by the message notification unit 115 (step S202). Here, if the open determination unit 117 determines that the user did not perform an open operation corresponding to the message information (step S202: No), the process of step S204, described below, is executed. On the other hand, if the opening determination unit 117 determines that the user has performed an opening operation corresponding to the message information (step S202: Yes), it updates the opening count information by incrementing the opening count NO stored in the operation status storage unit 135, which corresponds to the message information notified by the message notification unit 115, by 1 (step S203). Next, the opening rate calculation unit 118 calculates the opening rate, which is the probability that the user will perform an opening operation, based on the number of notifications and the number of opens within the preset target period, and updates the opening rate information stored in the operation status storage unit 135 with opening rate information indicating the calculated opening rate (step S204).

Returning to FIG. 8 , the open rate determination unit 119 next determines whether the aforementioned time for reviewing the message has arrived (step S108). If the open rate determination unit 119 determines that the time for reviewing the message has not yet arrived (step S108: No), the process of step S101 is executed again. On the other hand, if the open rate determination unit 119 determines that the time for reviewing the message has arrived (step S108: Yes), the open rate determination unit 119 determines whether the open rate Ro indicated by the open rate information corresponding to the selected message information stored in the operation status memory unit 135 is less than the open rate threshold Roth (step S109). If the open rate determination unit 119 determines that the open rate Ro indicated by the open rate information corresponding to the selected message information is equal to or greater than the open rate threshold Roth (step S109: No), the process of step S101 is executed again. On the other hand, if the open rate determination unit 119 determines that the open rate Ro indicated by the open rate information corresponding to the selected message information is less than the open rate threshold Roth (step S109: Yes), it determines whether the corresponding open rates Ro stored in the operation status storage unit 135 for all message information corresponding to the notification event are less than the open rate threshold Roth (step S110). Here, assume that the open rate determination unit 119 determines that there is message information whose open rate Ro is equal to or greater than the open rate threshold Roth, or that there is message information that has not yet been sent to the terminal device 5 (step S110: No). In this case, the message selection unit 114 selects new message information different from the selected message information from among the multiple types of message information. Then, the message selection unit 114 updates the selection flag information stored in the operation status storage unit 135 based on the newly selected message information (step S111). Subsequently, the process of step S101 is executed again.

On the other hand, if the open rate determination unit 119 determines that the corresponding open rate Ro stored in the operation status storage unit 135 for all message information corresponding to a notification event is less than the open rate threshold Roth (step S110: Yes), the message selection unit 114 executes processing to stop the message notification unit 115 from transmitting the message information (step S112). Specifically, the message selection unit 114 deletes the corresponding message information stored in the message storage unit 133 and deletes various information, such as notification type information and event identification information, corresponding to the notification event stored in the operation status storage unit 135. As a result, the message notification unit 115 stops transmitting the message information corresponding to the aforementioned notification event to the terminal device 5. Thereafter, the device information acquisition unit 111 determines whether the operation status storage unit 135 stores other notification type information, message identification information, etc. (step S113). If the device information acquisition unit 111 determines that the operation status storage unit 135 stores other notification type information, message identification information, etc. (step S113: Yes), the process of step S101 is executed again. On the other hand, if the device information acquisition unit 111 determines that the operation status storage unit 135 stores no other notification type information or message identification information (step S113: No), the message notification process ends.

As described above, according to the cloud server 1 of this embodiment, whenever the time for reviewing a message arrives, if the open rate of the message information during a predetermined target period prior to the time for reviewing the message is less than the open rate threshold, the message selection unit 114 selects other message information from among multiple types of message information. As a result, whenever a notification event occurs, message information with a low open rate is not continuously sent to the terminal device, thereby reducing the occurrence of oversight due to the use of message information intended for the user.

In addition, in the message notification unit 115 according to this embodiment, when the open rate determination unit 119 determines that the corresponding open rate Ro for all message information corresponding to a notification event is less than the open rate threshold Roth, the message selection unit executes a stop process to stop the transmission of message information corresponding to that notification event. In this case, the message notification unit 115 stops the transmission of message information for the notification event that was the target of the stop process described above. This prevents message information that the user does not feel is necessary from being continuously sent to the terminal device 5, thereby improving user convenience.

(Embodiment 2)
The message notification device of this embodiment differs from embodiment 1 in that it includes a classification unit that classifies multiple users into multiple pre-set classes based on the change over time in the power consumption of each of the multiple users and the change over time in the state of at least one device used by each of the multiple users, and a priority determination unit that determines a priority for each of the multiple classes so that the message information with a greater number of users has a higher priority for being selected as message information to be sent to a terminal device.

As shown in FIG. 10, the message notification system according to this embodiment includes a cloud server 2001 that controls devices 3 (e.g., air conditioners 3A, ventilators 3B, cookers 3C, water heaters 3D, and lighting fixtures 3E) installed in each of multiple buildings H, and a terminal device 5. Note that in FIG. 10, components similar to those in embodiment 1 are designated by the same reference numerals as in FIG. 1. In each of the multiple buildings H, a power metering device 6 that has a communication module and measures the power consumed by the devices 3 is connected to the local network NW2 via the communication module. Each device 3 includes a clock unit (not shown) that generates date and time information indicating the date and time at which the operation information and environmental information were generated based on date and time information notified from the clock unit. The device 3 then generates device information including the aforementioned date and time information along with device identification information, operation information, and environmental information, and transmits the generated device information to the cloud server 2001.

The power metering device 6 measures the power supplied to the devices 3 from distribution boards (not shown) installed in each of the multiple buildings H. When the power metering device 6 receives power information request information from the cloud server 1 requesting the transmission of power information indicating the power consumption of the devices 3, the power metering device 6 generates power value information indicating the power consumption value of each device 3 in the building H in which the power metering device 6 is installed. The power metering device 6 also includes a clocking unit (not shown), and generates date and time information indicating the date and time when the power value information was generated based on date and time information notified from the clocking unit. The power metering device 6 then generates power information including the generated power value information of the device 3, the device identification information of the device 3, and the aforementioned date and time information, and transmits this information to the cloud server 2001.

The hardware configuration of the cloud server 2001 according to this embodiment is the same as the hardware configuration of the cloud server 1 described in embodiment 1. Therefore, in the description of this embodiment, the hardware configuration of the cloud server 2001 will be described using the symbols shown in FIG. 2. The CPU 101 of the cloud server 2001 according to this embodiment reads a program stored in the auxiliary memory unit 103 into the main memory unit 102 and executes it, thereby functioning as a device information acquisition unit 2111, a notification determination unit 113, a message selection unit 2114, a message notification unit 115, an operation information acquisition unit 116, an opening determination unit 117, an opening rate calculation unit 118, a power information acquisition unit 2120, a vector generation unit 2121, a classification unit 2122, a user count count unit 2123, and a priority determination unit 2124, as shown in FIG. 11. Note that components in FIG. 11 that are the same as those in embodiment 1 are designated by the same symbols as those in FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 11, the auxiliary storage unit 103 also includes a device information storage unit 2131, a judgment criterion storage unit 132, a message storage unit 133, a user information storage unit 134, an operation status storage unit 2135, and a priority storage unit 2136.

As shown in FIG. 12, for example, the device information storage unit 2131 stores, in chronological order, operation status information indicating the operation status (Fi[j], STi[j], ...) of each device 3 for each preset unit time, environmental information indicating the environmental parameters (Thk[j], ...) of the environment in which the device 3 is installed, and power value information indicating the power value (Pi[j]) of the power consumption of each device 3, in association with date and time information indicating the date and time (T[*]) corresponding to each of these various pieces of information. Here, the length of the unit period is set to, for example, one hour. The device information storage unit 2131 stores, for each of multiple users, operation status information, environmental information, and power value information for each unit time within the aforementioned target period, in association with date and time information indicating the date and time of the start, end, or middle of each unit time. In the example shown in FIG. 12, the operating state Fi[j] indicates an operating state identification value indicating the on/off state of the device 3 identified by the device identification information IDE[i] during the unit period corresponding to the date and time T[j], and the operating state STi[j] indicates the set temperature of the device 3 identified by the device identification information IDE[i] during the unit period corresponding to the date and time T[j]. Furthermore, Thk[j] indicates the temperature during the unit period corresponding to the date and time T[j] in the environment in which the device 3 used by the user identification information DIU[k] is installed.

As shown in FIG. 13, for example, the operation status storage unit 2135 stores notification count information, open count information, open rate information, and selection flag information, along with user information and message identification information, in association with class information indicating the class to which the user belongs.

As shown in FIG. 14, for example, the priority storage unit 2136 stores priority information indicating the priority of selection of multiple types of message information in each class as message information to be sent to each terminal device 5, in association with class information indicating the corresponding class. The example shown in FIG. 14 indicates that for each class, the message information with message identification information written to the left has a higher priority of being selected as message information to be sent to the terminal device 5. For example, for message information to be sent to a terminal device 5 owned by a user belonging to class "CL-1," message information with message identification information "4" has the highest priority, and message information with message identification information "3" has the lowest priority.

Returning to FIG. 11, the device information acquisition unit 2111 generates the aforementioned device information request information each time the device information acquisition time arrives and transmits the generated device information request information to device 3, thereby acquiring the device information transmitted from device 3. When the device information acquisition unit 2111 acquires the device information transmitted from device 3, it extracts the device identification information, operating status information, environmental information, and the aforementioned date and time information contained in the device information. The device information acquisition unit 2111 then associates the extracted device identification information, operating status information, environmental information, and date and time information with each other and stores them in the device information storage unit 2131.

The power information acquisition unit 2120 acquires, for each of multiple users, power information indicating the power consumption of the devices 3 used by each of the users. The power information acquisition unit 2120 generates the aforementioned power information request information each time a preset device information acquisition period arrives, and acquires the power information transmitted from the power measurement device 6 by transmitting the generated power information request information to the power measurement device 6. Upon acquiring the power information transmitted from the power measurement device 6, the power information acquisition unit 2120 extracts the device identification information, power value information, and date and time information contained in the power information. The power information acquisition unit 2120 then associates the extracted power value information with the extracted device identification information and date and time information and stores it in the device information storage unit 2131.

The vector generation unit 2121 generates a transition vector showing the time progression of the power consumption of the device 3, with the power consumption consumed by the device 3 indicated by the power value information as its element at each of multiple predetermined time points within a predetermined target period. The vector generation unit 2121 also generates a transition vector showing the time progression of the operating state of the device 3, with the operating state identification value identifying the operating state of the device 3 indicated by the operating state information as its element at each of multiple time points within the predetermined target period. Furthermore, the vector generation unit 2121 generates a transition vector showing the time progression of the environmental parameters, with the environmental parameters indicated by the environmental information at each of multiple time points within the predetermined target period as its element. The vector generation unit 2121 then combines these transition vectors for each user to generate a user feature vector that reflects the characteristics of the user's lifestyle pattern. 12, the vector generation unit 2121 generates transition vectors (Fi[0], Fi[1], ..., Fi[M]), (STi[0], STi[1], ..., STi[M]) whose elements are operation state identification values Fi[j] and STi[j] that identify the operation state of the device 3 indicated by the operation state information. Furthermore, the vector generation unit 2121 generates a transition vector (Thk[0], Thi[1], ..., Thi[M]) whose elements are environmental parameters Thk[j] indicated by the environment information. The vector generation unit 2121 then combines these generated transition vectors for each user to form a user feature vector (Fi[0], Fi[1], ..., Fi[M], STi[0], STi[1], ..., STi[M], ..., Thk[0], Thi[1], ..., Thi[M]). Here, if the number of unit times included in the target period is M+1, the total number of pieces of operating state information for each device 3 used by the user is L, and there are P types of environmental parameters, the number of dimensions of the user feature vector is (M+1) x (L+P). The vector generation unit 2121 also notifies the classification unit 2122 of vector information indicating the generated user feature vector.

Returning to FIG. 11 , the classification unit 2122 classifies the multiple users into multiple pre-set classes based on the time progression of power consumption of the device 3 used by each of the multiple users, as indicated by the power information corresponding to each of the multiple users, and the time progression of the operating state of each of the devices 3, as indicated by the device information corresponding to each of the multiple users. The classification unit 2122 performs clustering processing to classify the multiple users into multiple classes based on the similarity of the transition vectors corresponding to each of the multiple users. Specifically, the classification unit 2122 performs clustering processing by using user feature vectors corresponding to each of the multiple users, as indicated by the vector information notified from the vector generation unit 2121, to classify the users into multiple classes that are similar to each other, for example, based on the Euclidean distance between the multiple user feature vectors. The classification unit 2122 stores class information indicating the class to which each of the multiple users belongs, obtained by classification through the clustering processing, in the operation status storage unit 2135, in association with user identification information.

The user count counting unit 2123 references the class information stored in the operation status memory unit 2135 and counts the number of users whose open rate is equal to or greater than the open rate threshold for each of multiple types of message information for each of multiple classes. The user counting unit 2123 notifies the priority determination unit 2124 of the counting results.

The priority determination unit 2124 determines a priority for each of the multiple classes so that the message information with a larger number of users out of the multiple types of message information has a higher priority for being selected as message information to be sent to the terminal device 5. The priority determination unit 2124 stores the priority information indicating the priority determined for each of the multiple classes in the priority storage unit 2136 in association with the class information indicating the corresponding class.

Each time an event occurs, the message selection unit 2114 references the priority information stored in the priority storage unit 2136 and selects one piece of message information with the highest priority from among multiple types of message information. Furthermore, for a user who has a history of sending all of multiple types of message information to the terminal device 5, the message selection unit 2114 selects one piece of message information with the highest past open rate from among multiple types of message information each time an event occurs. The message selection unit 2114 notifies the message notification unit 115 of the selected message information.

Next, the message notification process executed by the cloud server 2001 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 15. Note that processes in FIG. 15 that are the same as those in FIG. 8 are denoted by the same reference numerals. First, after a series of processes from steps S101 to S107 are executed, the vector generation unit 2121 determines whether the time for reviewing the message has arrived (step S108). If the vector generation unit 2121 determines that the time for reviewing the message has not yet arrived (step S108: No), the process of step S101 is executed again. On the other hand, if the vector generation unit 2121 determines that the time for reviewing the message has arrived (step S108: Yes), the vector generation unit 2121 generates transition vectors that indicate the time trends in the power consumption of the device 3, the time trends in the operating state of the device 3, and the time trends in the environmental parameters at each of a plurality of preset points in time within a predetermined target period. The vector generation unit 2121 then combines these transition vectors for each user to generate a user characteristic vector that reflects the user's lifestyle pattern characteristics (step S2101). Next, the classification unit 2122 performs clustering processing to classify the multiple users into multiple classes based on the similarity of the user feature vectors corresponding to each of the multiple users (step S2102).

Next, a priority determination process is executed to determine the aforementioned priority of each of the multiple types of message information (step S2103). The priority determination process will now be described in detail with reference to FIG. 16. First, the user count tallying unit 2123 selects one class for which the number of users is to be counted (step S2301). Next, the user count tallying unit 2123 counts the number of users whose open rate Ro is equal to or greater than the open rate threshold Roth for each of the multiple types of message information for the selected class, while referencing the class information stored in the operation status memory unit 2135 (step S2302). Next, the priority determination unit 2124 determines the priority for the selected class such that the message information with a larger number of users has a higher priority than the multiple types of message information, and stores the priority information indicating the determined priority in the priority memory unit 2136 (step S2303). Then, the user count tallying unit 2123 determines whether priorities have been determined for all classes (step S2304). If the user count tallying unit 2123 determines that there are classes for which priority has not yet been determined (step S2304: No), the process of step S2301 is executed again. On the other hand, if the user counting unit 2123 determines that priority has been determined for all classes (step S2304: Yes), the priority determination process ends.

Returning to FIG. 15, the message selection unit 2114 then references the open rate information stored in the operation status memory unit 2135 and determines whether there is a user for whom the open rate Ro corresponding to the selected message information is less than the open rate threshold Roth (step S2104). Here, if the message selection unit 2114 determines that the open rate Ro corresponding to the selected message information for all users is equal to or greater than the open rate threshold Roth (step S2104: No), the processing of step S101 is executed again. On the other hand, if the message selection unit 2114 determines that there is a user for whom the open rate Ro corresponding to the selected message information is less than the open rate threshold Roth (step S2104: Yes), it determines whether all message information has been selected for that user in the past (step S2105). If the message selection unit 2114 determines that there is message information for the user that has not yet been selected (step S2106), it references the priority information stored in the priority storage unit 2136 and selects the message information with the highest priority from among the message information that has not yet been selected (step S2107). The message selection unit 2114 then determines whether new message information has been selected for all users whose opening rates Ro corresponding to the selected message information are less than the opening rate threshold Roth (step S2108). If the message selection unit 2114 determines that there are users whose opening rates Ro corresponding to the selected message information are less than the opening rate threshold Roth and who have not yet selected new message information (step S2108: No), the process of step S2105 is executed again. On the other hand, if the message selection unit 2114 determines that new message information has been selected for all users whose opening rates Ro corresponding to the selected message information are less than the opening rate threshold Roth (step S2108: Yes), the process of step S110 and subsequent steps is executed.

Furthermore, in step S2105, if the message selection unit 2114 determines that all message information has been selected in the past for a user whose opening rate Ro corresponding to the selected message information is less than the opening rate threshold Roth (step S2105: Yes), it selects the message information corresponding to the highest opening rate Romax, which has the highest past opening rate, from among the multiple types of message information (step S2109). Next, the processing from step S110 onwards is executed.

As described above, in the cloud server 2001 according to this embodiment, the classification unit 2122 classifies multiple users into multiple classes based on the time progression of the power consumption of the device 3 used by each of the multiple users and the time progression of the operating state of the device 3 used by each of the multiple users. Furthermore, the priority determination unit 214 determines the priority for each of the multiple classes so that the message information with a greater number of users out of multiple types of message information has a higher priority for selection as message information to be sent to the terminal device 5. This makes it possible to select message information with a high open rate corresponding to other users with similar lifestyle patterns to a single user and send it to the terminal device 5 owned by that single user, thereby quickly increasing the open rate of the message information of that single user.

Although the above describes various embodiments of the present disclosure, the present disclosure is not limited to the aforementioned embodiments. For example, a hold determination unit may be provided that determines whether to hold off sending message information to a terminal device based on location information indicating the user's location, the user's movement status, and the user's biometric information, and when the hold determination unit determines that sending of the message information should be held off, the message notification unit may hold off sending the message information for a period of time equal to or less than a preset notification hold time.

As shown in FIG. 17, the message notification system according to this modification includes a cloud server 3001, a terminal device 3005, a location management server 3007, and a wearable terminal device 3008. Note that in FIG. 17, components similar to those in embodiment 1 are designated by the same reference numerals as in FIG. 1. The location management server 3007 manages location information indicating the location of the terminal device 3005 transmitted from the terminal device 3005, by associating it with user identification information identifying the user who owns the terminal device 3005 that transmitted the location information. When a preset location information acquisition time arrives, the location management server 3007 transmits to the terminal device 3005 location information request information requesting the terminal device 3005 to transmit the location information of the terminal device 3005, thereby acquiring the location information transmitted from the terminal device 3005. The location management server 3005 also periodically transmits the location information of the terminal device 3005 and time information indicating the time the location information was acquired to the cloud server 1.

The wearable terminal device 3008 is, for example, a smartwatch that is worn on the user's wrist and functions as a biosensor that measures multiple types of pre-set biometric indicators of the user. The wearable terminal device 3008 measures the user's body temperature, blood pressure, and pulse. Each time the wearable terminal device 3008 receives biometric information request information from the cloud server 3001 requesting the wearable terminal device 3008 to transmit biometric information, the wearable terminal device 3008 generates biometric information including body temperature information, blood pressure information, and pulse information indicating the measured biometric indicators, body temperature, blood pressure, and pulse, and transmits this information to the cloud server 3001.

As shown in FIG. 18, the terminal device 3005 includes a CPU 501, a main memory unit 502, an auxiliary memory unit 503, a display unit 504, an input unit 505, a communication unit 506, a GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) receiving unit 3507, and a bus 509 connecting these units to one another. Note that in FIG. 18, components similar to those in embodiment 1 are assigned the same reference numerals as in FIG. 2. The GNSS receiving unit 3507 receives GNSS signals emitted from artificial satellites, and generates reference position information indicating the position of the artificial satellite, time information, etc. based on the GNSS signals, and transfers the information to the CPU 501.

The CPU 501 loads the program stored in the auxiliary memory unit 503 into the main memory unit 502 and executes it, thereby functioning as a message acquisition unit 511, a display control unit 512, a reception unit 513, an operation notification unit 514, a positioning unit 3515, and a location notification unit 3516, as shown in FIG. 19. Note that in FIG. 19, components similar to those in embodiment 1 are assigned the same reference numerals as in FIG. 3. The positioning unit 3515 estimates the location of the terminal device 3005 based on the reference position information, time information, etc. input from the GNSS receiving unit 3507. The positioning unit 3515 then notifies the location notification unit 3516 of location information indicating the estimated location of the terminal device 3005. The location notification unit 3516 transmits the location information notified by the positioning unit 3515 to the location management server 3007.

The hardware configuration of the cloud server 3001 according to this modification is the same as the hardware configuration of the cloud server 1 described in embodiment 1. Therefore, in the description of this modification, the hardware configuration of the cloud server 3001 will be described using the symbols shown in FIG. 2. The CPU 101 of the cloud server 3001 according to this modification reads out the program stored in the auxiliary memory unit 103 into the main memory unit 102 and executes it, thereby functioning as a device information acquisition unit 111, a notification determination unit 113, a message selection unit 114, a message notification unit 3115, an operation information acquisition unit 116, an opening determination unit 117, an opening rate calculation unit 118, an opening rate determination unit 119, a position acquisition unit 3125, a biometric information acquisition unit 3126, a movement determination unit 3127, and a hold determination unit 3128, as shown in FIG. 19. The auxiliary storage unit 103 also includes a device information storage unit 131, a determination criterion storage unit 3132, a message storage unit 133, a user information storage unit 134, an operation status storage unit 2135, and an action status storage unit 3136. The determination criterion storage unit 3132 stores hold determination criterion information indicating the criteria for determining whether message information needs to be sent to the terminal device 3005, as shown in FIG. 20 , for example. This hold determination criterion information associates a combination of movement status condition information indicating conditions for the user's movement status and activity amount condition information indicating the user's activity amount with notification necessity flag information indicating whether the corresponding message information needs to be sent to the terminal device 3005. The determination criterion storage unit 3132 also stores determination criterion information indicating the criteria for determining whether a notification event has occurred based on the operating status of the device 3 and the environmental parameters in which the device 3 is installed, as described in embodiment 1.

The behavioral status storage unit 3136 stores location information indicating the user's current location, movement speed information indicating the user's movement speed, and activity amount information indicating the user's activity amount, in association with user identification information.

The location acquisition unit 3125 acquires location information indicating the user's location transmitted from the location management server 3007, and stores the acquired location information in the behavior status storage unit 3136. The movement determination unit 3127 determines whether the user is moving based on changes in the user's location information over time, and if it determines that the user is moving, calculates the user's movement speed and stores movement speed information indicating the calculated movement speed in the behavior status storage unit 3136. The biometric information acquisition unit 3126 acquires the user's biometric information transmitted from the wearable terminal device 3008, converts the acquired biometric information into activity amount information indicating the user's activity amount, and stores it in the behavior status storage unit 3136.

The hold determination unit 3128 determines whether to hold off sending the message information to the terminal device 3005 based on the location information, movement speed information, and activity amount information stored in the behavioral status memory unit 3136. The hold determination unit 3128 references the hold determination criteria information stored in the determination criteria memory unit 3132, and determines to hold off sending the message information to the terminal device 5 if the conditions indicated by the movement status condition information and activity amount condition information corresponding to the notification necessity flag information set to "not notification required" are met. When the hold determination unit 3128 determines to hold off sending the message information, the message notification unit 3115 holds off sending the message information for a period of time equal to or less than the preset notification hold time.

Here, the message notification processing executed by the cloud server 3001 according to this modification will be described with reference to FIG. 21. Note that in FIG. 21, the same processes as those in embodiment 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals as those in FIG. 8. First, a series of processes from steps S101 to S104 are executed. When the notification determination unit 113 determines that a notification event has occurred (step S104: Yes), the message selection unit 114 refers to the selection flag information and message identification information stored in the operation status storage unit 135 and selects one piece of message information from among multiple types of message information corresponding to the notification event stored in the message storage unit 133 (step S105). Next, the suspension determination unit 3128 determines whether to suspend transmission of the message information to the terminal device 3005 based on the location information, movement speed information, and activity amount information stored in the behavior status storage unit 3136 (step S3101). Here, it is assumed that the user's location, movement speed, and activity amount indicated by the location information, movement speed information, and activity amount information stored in the behavioral status storage unit 3136 satisfy the conditions indicated by the movement status condition information and activity amount condition information corresponding to the notification necessity flag information set to "notification required" stored in the determination criteria storage unit 3132. In this case, the hold determination unit 3128 determines that the message information should be sent to the terminal device 5 without being held on hold (step S3101: No), and the processing from step S106 onwards is executed.

On the other hand, suppose that the user's location, movement speed, and activity amount indicated by the location information, movement speed information, and activity amount information stored in the behavioral status storage unit 3136 satisfy the conditions indicated by the movement status condition information and activity amount condition information corresponding to the notification necessity flag information set to "notification not required" stored in the determination criteria storage unit 3132. In this case, the suspension determination unit 3128 determines to suspend transmission of the message information to the terminal device 5 (step S3101: Yes) and determines whether the preset notification suspension period has elapsed (step S3102). Here, if the suspension determination unit 3128 determines that the notification suspension period has not yet elapsed (step S3102: No), the processing of step S3101 is executed again. On the other hand, if the suspension determination unit 3128 determines that the notification suspension period has elapsed (step S3102: Yes), the processing from step S108 onwards is executed as is.

With this configuration, message information can be sent to the terminal device 3005 when the user is in a behavioral situation where they are likely to check the message information, thereby increasing the rate at which messages are opened.

In an embodiment, if the open rate determination unit 119 determines that the open rate indicated by the open rate information corresponding to the selected message information has decreased compared to the open rate at the previous message review time, and the absolute difference between the open rate and the open rate at the previous message review time is greater than a preset absolute difference threshold, the message selection unit 114 may newly select message information different from the selected message information from among multiple types of message information.

The message notification process executed by the cloud server according to this modification will now be described with reference to FIG. 22. Note that in FIG. 22, the same processes as those in embodiment 1 are denoted by the same reference numerals as in FIG. 8. First, after a series of processes from steps S101 to S107 are executed, if the open rate determination unit 119 determines in step S108 that the time for message review has arrived (step S108: Yes), it determines whether the open rate Ro corresponding to the selected message information is less than the open rate threshold Roth (step S109). If the open rate determination unit 119 determines that the open rate Ro indicated by the open rate information corresponding to the selected message information is equal to or greater than the open rate threshold Roth (step S109: No), it determines whether the open rate Ro(Now) indicated by the open rate information corresponding to the selected message information has decreased compared to the open rate Ro(Last) at the previous message review time (step S4101). Here, if the open rate determination unit 119 determines that the open rate Ro(Now) corresponding to the selected message information is equal to or greater than the open rate Ro(Last) at the previous message review time (step S4101: No), the processing of step S101 is executed again.

On the other hand, suppose the open rate determination unit 119 determines that the open rate Ro(Now) corresponding to the selected message information is less than the open rate Ro(Last) at the previous message review period (step S4101: Yes). In this case, the open rate determination unit 119 calculates the absolute difference |ΔRo| between the open rate Ro(Now) corresponding to the selected message information and the open rate Ro(Last) at the previous message review period, and determines whether the calculated absolute difference |ΔRo| is greater than or equal to the absolute difference threshold |ΔRo|th (step S4102). Here, if the open rate determination unit 119 determines that the calculated absolute difference |ΔRo| is less than the absolute difference threshold |ΔRo|th (step S4102: No), the process of step S101 is executed again. On the other hand, if the open rate determination unit 119 determines that the calculated absolute difference value |ΔRo| is greater than or equal to the absolute difference value threshold |ΔRo|th (step S4102: Yes), the process of step S110 is executed.

With this configuration, the content of message information can be changed when a declining trend in the rate at which users open message information is observed, thereby increasing the open rate for message information.

In the second embodiment, an example has been described in which the classification unit 2122 performs clustering processing by using user feature vectors corresponding to each of multiple users to classify users into multiple classes that are similar to each other, for example, based on the Euclidean distance between the multiple user feature vectors. However, the clustering processing method used by the classification unit 2122 is not limited to this; for example, the classification unit 2122 may classify multiple users using a dynamic time warping method. Specifically, the classification unit 2122 uses transition vectors corresponding to each of the multiple users to calculate the absolute values of the errors between elements at multiple time points indicated by the transition vectors of the multiple users for all of the multiple elements, and classifies the multiple users based on the magnitude of the absolute values of the calculated errors.

In embodiment 2, the vector generation unit 2121 may select, from among multiple types of transition vectors, a transition vector that is particularly likely to reflect the user's lifestyle patterns, and generate a user feature vector using only the selected transition vectors.

Furthermore, the various functions of the cloud servers 1, 2001, 3001 and terminal devices 5, 3005 according to the present disclosure may be realized by software, firmware, or a combination of software and firmware. In this case, the software or firmware may be written as a program, and the program may be stored and distributed on a computer-readable recording medium such as a flexible disk, CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read Only Memory), DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), or MO (Magneto-Optical Disc). By loading and installing the program on a computer, a computer capable of realizing each of the aforementioned functions may be configured. Furthermore, in cases where each function is realized by sharing the work between an OS (Operating System) and an application, or by collaboration between an OS and an application, only the parts other than the OS may be stored on the recording medium.

Furthermore, each program can be superimposed on a carrier wave and distributed via a communications network. For example, the program can be posted on a bulletin board system (BBS) on the communications network and distributed via the network. These programs can then be launched and run under the control of the OS in the same way as other application programs, thereby enabling the above-mentioned processing to be performed.

This disclosure is suitable as a message notification system that notifies a user's terminal device of message information when an event occurs that is related to a device used by the user and that requires notification to the user.

1, 2001, 3001 Cloud server, 3 Device, 4 BBR, 5, 3005 Terminal device, 6 Power measurement device, 101, 501 CPU, 102, 502 Main memory unit, 103, 503 Auxiliary memory unit, 106, 506 Communication unit, 108 Timer unit, 109, 509 Bus, 111 Device information acquisition unit, 113 Notification determination unit, 114, 2114 Message selection unit, 115, 3115 Message notification, 116 Operation information acquisition unit, 117 Opening determination unit, 118 Opening rate calculation unit, 119 Opening rate determination unit, 131, 2131 Device information storage unit, 132, 3132 Determination criterion storage unit, 133 Message storage unit, 134 User information storage unit, 135 Operation status storage unit, 504 Display unit, 505 Input unit, 511: Message acquisition unit, 512: Display control unit, 513: Reception unit, 514: Operation notification unit, 531: Image storage unit, 2121: Vector generation unit, 2122: Classification unit, 2123: User count count unit, 2124: Priority determination unit, 2136: Priority storage unit, 3007: Location management server, 3008: Wearable terminal device, 3507: GNSS receiver, 3125: Location acquisition unit, 3126: Biometric information acquisition unit, 3127: Movement determination unit, 3128: Hold determination unit, 3515: Positioning unit, 3516: Location notification unit, F1: Finger, H: Building, NW1: Wide area network, NW2: Local network

Claims (10)

a message selection unit that selects one piece of message information from a plurality of types of preset message information indicating the occurrence of a notification event that should be notified to a user, every time the notification event occurs;
a message notification unit that transmits the message information to a terminal device carried by the user;
an operation information acquisition unit in the terminal device that acquires opening operation information transmitted from the terminal device when the user performs an opening operation to check the message information acquired by the terminal device;
an opening rate calculation unit that calculates an opening rate, which is a probability that the user will perform the opening operation, based on a notification count, which is the number of times the message information is transmitted to the terminal device, and an opening count, which is the number of times the opening operation information corresponding to the message information is acquired, within a predetermined target period;
the message selection unit selects other message information from the plurality of types of message information when the opening rate is less than a preset opening rate threshold.
Message notification device. a power information acquiring unit that acquires, for each of the plurality of users, power information including power value information indicating power consumption by at least one device used by each of the plurality of users;
a device information acquisition unit that acquires device information for each user, the device information including operation status information indicating an operation status of the at least one device;
a classification unit that classifies the plurality of users into a plurality of preset classes based on a time transition of power consumption indicated by the power value information of each of the plurality of users and a time transition of an operation state of each of the at least one device indicated by the operation state information of each of the plurality of users;
a user number counting unit that counts, for each of the plurality of classes, the number of users whose opening rates corresponding to each of the plurality of types of message information are equal to or greater than the opening rate threshold;
a priority determination unit that determines the priority for each of the plurality of classes such that the message information having a larger number of users among the plurality of types of message information has a higher priority for being selected as the message information to be transmitted to the terminal device,
the message selection unit selects one piece of message information having the highest priority from the plurality of types of message information every time the notification event occurs.
The message notification device according to claim 1 . a vector generation unit that generates a transition vector indicating a time transition of the power consumption and the operating state of each of the at least one device, the transition vector being based on elements of the power consumption consumed by each of the at least one device indicated by the power information and a value indicating the operating state of each of the at least one device indicated by the operating state information at each of a plurality of preset time points within the period;
the classifying unit performs a clustering process to classify the plurality of users into the plurality of classes based on the similarity of the transition vectors corresponding to each of the plurality of users.
The message notification device according to claim 2. the message selection unit selects, for the user who has a history of sending all of the plurality of types of message information to the terminal device, one piece of message information having the highest opening rate from the plurality of types of message information each time the notification event occurs.
4. The message notification device according to claim 2 or 3. the message notification unit further selects other message information from the plurality of types of message information when the opening rate is lower than the opening rate in the past target period and an absolute value of a difference between the opening rate and the opening rate in the past target period is equal to or greater than a predetermined absolute value threshold.
The message notification device according to any one of claims 1 to 4. the message notification unit stops transmission of the message information to the terminal device when the opening rates corresponding to the plurality of types of message information are all less than the opening rate threshold.
The message notification device according to any one of claims 1 to 5. a location acquisition unit that acquires location information indicating the location of the user;
a movement determination unit that determines whether the user is moving based on the location information;
a biometric information acquisition unit that acquires biometric information of the user;
a suspension determination unit that determines whether to suspend transmission of the message information to the terminal device based on the location information, the movement status of the user, and the biological information,
When the suspension determination unit determines that transmission of the message information is to be suspended, the message notification unit suspends transmission of the message information for a period of time equal to or less than a preset notification suspension time.
The message notification device according to any one of claims 1 to 6. A terminal device owned by a user;
a message selection unit that selects one piece of message information from a plurality of types of preset message information indicating the occurrence of a notification event that should be notified to the user, every time the notification event occurs;
a message notification unit that transmits the message information to the terminal device;
an operation information acquisition unit in the terminal device that acquires opening operation information transmitted from the terminal device when the user performs an opening operation to check the message information acquired by the terminal device;
an opening rate calculation unit that calculates an opening rate, which is a probability that the user will perform the opening operation, based on the number of times the message information is sent and the number of times the opening operation information corresponding to the message information is acquired within a predetermined target period,
the message selection unit selects other message information from the plurality of types of message information when the opening rate is less than a preset opening rate threshold.
Message notification system. a step of selecting one piece of message information from a plurality of types of message information set in advance, each time a notification event that should be notified to a user occurs, the message information indicating the occurrence of the notification event;
sending the message information to a terminal device carried by the user;
acquiring, in the terminal device, opening operation information transmitted from the terminal device when the user performs an opening operation to check the message information acquired by the terminal device;
calculating an opening rate, which is a probability that the user will perform the opening operation, based on a notification count, which is the number of times the message information is sent to the terminal device, and an opening count, which is the number of times the opening operation information corresponding to the message information is acquired, within a predetermined target period;
and if the opening rate is less than a preset opening rate threshold, selecting another message information from the plurality of types of message information.
Message notification method. Computer,
a message selection unit that selects one piece of message information from a plurality of types of preset message information indicating the occurrence of a notification event that should be notified to a user, every time the notification event occurs;
a message notification unit that transmits the message information to a terminal device carried by the user;
an operation information acquisition unit, in the terminal device, that acquires opening operation information transmitted from the terminal device when the user performs an opening operation to check the message information acquired by the terminal device;
a program for causing the program to function as an opening rate calculation unit that calculates an opening rate, which is a probability that the user will perform the opening operation, based on a notification count, which is the number of times the message information is transmitted to the terminal device, and an opening count, which is the number of times the opening operation information corresponding to the message information is acquired, within a predetermined target period,
the message selection unit selects other message information from the plurality of types of message information when the opening rate is less than a preset opening rate threshold.
program.