JP7821340B2 - Map display control system and map display control method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a method for displaying facilities on a map.

It is known that terminal devices can prioritize the display of specific facilities on a map that are directly related to facts about the user of the terminal device. This is expected to encourage the user to use those facilities.

For example, Patent Document 1 discloses that a terminal device that can be carried by a user stores point card information for each store that issued a point card owned by the user, such as the issuing store, location information, card name, card number, number of points, specified number of points, and expiration date, and that if a store that issued a point card whose points are about to expire and whose expiration date is approaching is located near the terminal device, the terminal device displays a map showing the location of that store and the user's current location.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-318951

There are times when you want to encourage a user to use a facility that the user has never used before. In such cases, it is desirable to display that facility on a map for users who have attributes that make them likely to use that facility. However, the facts that can be collected about a user are likely to not contain information related to facilities that the user has never used. Therefore, conventional technology has limitations in displaying facilities on a map that could potentially be used by the user.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above points, and one example of its objective is to provide a map display control system and a map display control method that enable facilities that are likely to be used by users to be displayed preferentially on a map.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a model is generated for each of one or more second attribute items based on fact information acquired for a plurality of users from a fact information storage means that stores, for each user, fact information indicating attributes that the user has as fact for each of a plurality of attribute items , the fact information being acquired for a plurality of users, the model being generated for each of one or more second attribute items based on first fact information about a first attribute item of a target attribute that is a target for determining an ownership probability, which is a probability that the user has the attribute among the plurality of attribute items, and second fact information about one or more second attribute items of the plurality of attribute items that are different from the first attribute item of the target attribute ... second fact information about a first attribute item of a target attribute that is a target for determining an ownership probability, which is a probability that the user has the attribute among the plurality of attribute items, the model being generated for each of one or more second attribute items based on second fact information about a first attribute item of a target attribute that is a target for determining an ownership probability, the probability that the user has the attribute among the plurality of attribute items, the model being generated for each of one or more second attribute items based on second fact information about a first attribute item of a target attribute that is different from the first attribute item of the target attribute , the model being generated for each of one or more second attribute items based on second fact information about a first attribute item of a target attribute that is different from the first attribute item of the target attribute, the model being generated for each of one or more second attribute items based on second fact information about a first attribute item of a target attribute that is different from the first attribute item of the target attribute, the model being generated for each of one or more second attribute items based on second fact information about a first attribute item of a target attribute that is different from the first attribute item of the target attribute, the model a terminal user fact information acquiring means for acquiring, from the fact information storing means , the second attribute item for which a difference between a minimum value and a maximum value of the possession probability of the target attribute is recognized to be significant, among the one or more second attribute items, as a decision item for determining the possession probability of the target attribute , and the model for the second attribute item determined as the decision item among the generated models is stored in a predetermined model storing means; and the terminal user using the terminal device acquires, from the fact information storing means, the second fact information indicating an attribute that the terminal user has for the second attribute item determined as the decision item. a probability determination means for determining a probability of possession of the target attribute for the terminal user based on the second fact information acquired by the terminal user fact information acquisition means and the model stored in the model storage means for the decision item ; a service usage information acquisition means for acquiring service usage information indicating a usage status of a predetermined service by the terminal user; and a facility-related attribute information storage means for storing facility- related attribute information indicating facility -related attributes related to facilities as user attributes in association with the facilities, the facility-related attribute information being acquired from the facility-related attribute information storage means. and a display control means for displaying facilities on the displayed map based on the acquired service usage information and the acquired facility- related attribute information, wherein the plurality of facilities may include affiliated facilities that are affiliated with the specified service, and the display control means is configured to preferentially display the affiliated facility among the plurality of facilities when the acquired service usage information indicates that the specified service has not been used and the possession probability determined by the probability determination means for the facility-related attribute associated with the affiliated facility as the possession probability of the target attribute is equal to or greater than a predetermined value .
Another aspect of the present invention is a method for determining a possession probability of a user attribute, the method comprising: obtaining first factual information for a plurality of users from a factual information storage means that stores, for each user , first factual information indicating whether or not the user actually possesses a target attribute that is the target of determining a possession probability, which is the probability that the user possesses the target attribute as an attribute of the user; and obtaining second factual information for one or more action items as a degree of behavior based on the behavior history information stored in a behavior history storage means that stores, for each user, behavior history information indicating a history of user behavior, the second factual information indicating the degree of behavior of the action item as the degree of behavior taken by each of the plurality of users, for each of the one or more action items based on the first factual information. a model generated for the one or more action items, wherein, based on a model showing the relationship between the degree of the action as a fact shown by the second fact information and the possession probability of the target attribute , an action item for which a difference between the minimum and maximum values of the possession probability of the target attribute is recognized to be significant is determined as a decision item for determining the possession probability of the target attribute , and a model for the action item determined as the decision item among the generated models is stored in a predetermined model storage means; and third fact information indicating the degree of the action taken by a terminal user using a terminal device, and indicating the degree of the action of the action item determined as the decision item, is stored in the action history storage means. a probability determining means for determining a probability of possession of the target attribute for the terminal user based on the third fact information acquired by the terminal user fact information acquiring means and the model stored in the model storage means for the decision item; a service usage information acquiring means for acquiring service usage information indicating a usage status of a predetermined service by the terminal user; and a facility-related attribute information storing means for storing facility-related attribute information indicating facility-related attributes related to facilities as user attributes in association with the facilities, the facility-related attribute information storing means storing facility-related attribute information indicating facility-related attributes related to facilities as user attributes in association with the facilities, the facility-related attribute information storing means storing facility-related attribute information indicating facility- related attributes related to the ... and a display control means for displaying facilities on the displayed map based on the acquired service usage information and the acquired facility- related attribute information, wherein the plurality of facilities may include affiliated facilities that are affiliated with the specified service, and the display control means is configured to preferentially display the affiliated facility among the plurality of facilities when the acquired service usage information indicates that the specified service has not been used and the possession probability of the target attribute determined by the probability determination means for the facility-related attribute associated with the affiliated facility is equal to or greater than a predetermined value.
Another aspect of the present invention is a map display control system as described in claim 1, further comprising: a first fact information means for acquiring the first fact information from the fact information storage means; a second fact information means for acquiring the second fact information from the fact information storage means; a model generation means for generating a model for each of the one or more second attribute items based on the first fact information acquired by the first fact information means and the second fact information acquired by the second fact information means; and an item determination means for determining, as the determined item, a second attribute item among the one or more second attribute items for which the difference between the minimum and maximum values of the ownership probability of the target attribute is deemed significant based on the model generated by the model generation means , wherein the model storage means stores a model for the second attribute item determined as the determined item by the item determination means from the models generated by the model generation means.
Another aspect of the present invention is a map display control system as described in claim 2, further comprising: a first fact information means for acquiring the first fact information from the fact information storage means; a second fact information means for acquiring the second fact information based on the behavior history information stored in the behavior history storage means; a model generation means for generating a model for each of the one or more action items based on the first fact information acquired by the first fact information means and the second fact information acquired by the second fact information means ; and an item determination means for determining, as the determined item, an action item among the one or more action items for which the difference between the minimum and maximum values of the ownership probability of the target attribute is deemed significant based on the model generated by the model generation means, wherein the model storage means stores a model for the action item determined as the determined item by the item determination means from the models generated by the model generation means.

According to this aspect, service usage information indicating the usage status of a predetermined service by a terminal user for which an affiliated facility is available is acquired. If the user has not yet used the predetermined service and the probability that the terminal user has an attribute associated with the affiliated facility of the service is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the affiliated facility is preferentially displayed on the map. This preferential display is performed regardless of whether the terminal user has not yet used the affiliated facility. As described above, a facility for which the terminal user is relatively likely to have an attribute associated with the facility is a facility that the user is relatively likely to use. Therefore, by using the facility, the user can be encouraged to use a service that the user has not yet used.

Another aspect of the present invention is a map display control system, wherein the specified service is a mobile communication service, and the affiliated facility is a facility that accepts contract applications for the mobile communication service.

This aspect allows users to be encouraged to sign up for unused mobile communication services through their use of the facility.

In yet another aspect of the present invention, the predetermined service is an electronic payment service, and the affiliated facility is a facility where the purchase price of a transaction object provided by the affiliated facility can be paid using the electronic payment service.

This aspect allows users to be encouraged to use electronic payment services that they have not yet used through their use of the facility.

Another aspect of the present invention is a map display control system in which an upper limit on the number of facilities that can be displayed on the screen is predetermined for each facility category, and the display control means displays a number of facilities for each facility category that is equal to or less than the upper limit.

This aspect allows a reasonable number of facilities for each facility category to be displayed on the map.

Another aspect of the present invention is a map display control system further comprising a search history information acquisition means for acquiring search history information indicating a history of facility searches in response to requests from the terminal user, the search history information indicating searched facilities, and the display control means determining, from among the plurality of facilities, facilities in the same category as the category to which the facility indicated by the acquired search history information belongs, which facility to display on the map.

According to this aspect, facilities in the same category as the previously searched facilities belong to are displayed on the map based on search history information indicating the history of facility searches in response to requests from the terminal user. This allows facilities in the category desired by the user to be displayed.

Yet another aspect of the present invention is a map display control system, wherein the facility- related attribute information stored in the facility -related attribute information storage means indicates attributes possessed by users who use the facilities.

According to this aspect, the probability that the terminal user has the attribute to use the facility is determined. If the probability is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the facility is displayed with priority. Therefore, facilities that are likely to be potentially used by the user can be displayed with priority on the map.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, in a map display control method executed by a computer, a model is generated for each of one or more second attribute items based on fact information acquired for a plurality of users from fact information storage means that stores, for each user, fact information indicating attributes that the user has as fact for each of a plurality of attribute items, the fact information being acquired for a plurality of users from fact information storage means that stores, for each user, fact information indicating attributes that the user has as fact for the attribute item, the fact information being acquired for a plurality of users, the model being generated for each of one or more second attribute items based on first fact information for a first attribute item of a target attribute that is a target of determining a possession probability, which is a probability that the user has the attribute item, among the plurality of attribute items , and second fact information for one or more second attribute items of the plurality of attribute items that are different from the first attribute item of the target attribute. and a terminal user who uses a terminal device acquires, from the fact information storage means, the second fact information indicating the attribute held by the user for the second attribute item determined as the determination item, from the fact information storage means . a fact information acquisition step, a probability determination step of determining a probability of possession of the target attribute for the terminal user based on the second fact information acquired by the terminal user fact information acquisition step and the model stored in the model storage means for the decision item; a service usage information acquisition step of acquiring service usage information indicating a usage status of a predetermined service by the terminal user; and a facility-related attribute information storage step of storing facility -related attribute information indicating facility-related attributes related to facilities as user attributes in association with the facilities, the facility-related attributes associated with each of a plurality of facilities located within a geographical area corresponding to a map displayed on the screen of the terminal device. The map display control method includes a facility-related attribute information acquisition step of acquiring information, and a display control step of displaying facilities on the displayed map based on the acquired service usage information and the acquired facility-related attribute information, wherein the plurality of facilities may include affiliated facilities that are affiliated with the specified service , and the display control step is characterized in that, when the acquired service usage information indicates non-use of the specified service and the possession probability of the target attribute determined in the probability determination step for the facility-related attribute related to the affiliated facility is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the affiliated facility is preferentially displayed among the plurality of facilities .
Yet another aspect of the present invention is a map display control method executed by a computer, the map display control method being based on: first fact information acquired for a plurality of users from a fact information storage means that stores, for each user, first fact information indicating whether or not the user actually has a target attribute that is the target of determining a possession probability , which is the probability that the user has the attribute as the user's attribute; and second fact information acquired for one or a plurality of action items as an item of degree of action based on the action history information stored in an action history storage means that stores, for each user, action history information indicating a history of the user's actions, the second fact information indicating the degree of action of the action item as the degree of action taken by each of the plurality of users. a model generated for each of the one or more action items based on the second fact information, the model indicating the relationship between the degree of the action as a fact indicated by the second fact information and the possession probability of the target attribute , the action item among the one or more action items for which the difference between the minimum and maximum values of the possession probability of the target attribute is recognized to be significant is determined to be a decision item for determining the possession probability of the target attribute, the model for the action item determined to be the decision item among the generated models is stored in a predetermined model storage means, and third fact information indicating the degree of the action taken by the terminal user using the terminal device , the degree of the action of the action item determined to be the decision item, is stored in the action history recorder. a probability determination step for determining a probability of possession of the target attribute for the terminal user based on the third fact information acquired by the terminal user fact information acquisition step and the model stored in the model storage means for the decision item ; a service usage information acquisition step for acquiring service usage information indicating a usage status of a predetermined service by the terminal user; and a facility-related attribute information storage step for storing facility-related attribute information indicating facility-related attributes related to facilities as user attributes in association with the facilities , for each of a plurality of facilities located within a geographical area corresponding to a map displayed on the screen of the terminal device. and a display control step of displaying facilities on the displayed map based on the acquired service usage information and the acquired facility-related attribute information, wherein the plurality of facilities may include affiliated facilities that are affiliated with the specified service , and the display control step is characterized in that , when the acquired service usage information indicates non-use of the specified service and the possession probability of the target attribute determined in the probability determination step for the facility-related attribute associated with the affiliated facility is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, the affiliated facility is preferentially displayed among the plurality of facilities .

This invention makes it possible to prioritize the display of facilities on a map that are likely to be used by users.

1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a schematic configuration of a communication system S according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a map application server 1 according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of information stored in a database of a map application server 1. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of setting target user attribute information based on a cross-use rate. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of attributes. 3 is a diagram showing an example of information stored in a database of a member information management server 2 according to an embodiment. FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of functional blocks of a system control unit 11 in the map application server 1. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a relationship between input information and the ownership probability of an attribute to be estimated. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of determination of priority display of facilities. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of a map display screen in a map application. (a) shows the upper limit of the number of facilities that can be displayed for each category, and (b) shows the category and display priority of each facility. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of displaying facilities on a map. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of an attribute possession probability determination process in the system control unit 11 of the map application server 1 according to an embodiment. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a map information providing process in a system control unit 11 of a map application server 1 according to an embodiment. 10 is a flowchart showing an example of a map display process in a user terminal 5 according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of functional blocks of a system control unit 11 of a map application server 1 according to an embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of determination of priority display of facilities. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a map information providing process in a system control unit 11 of a map application server 1 according to an embodiment. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of a map application server 1 according to an embodiment. FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of information stored in a search history DB 14f. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of functional blocks of a system control unit 11 of a map application server 1 according to an embodiment. An example of determining facility candidates to be displayed on a map is shown below.

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

1. First embodiment
[1-1. Configuration of communication system]
First, the configuration and functional overview of a communication system S according to this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the schematic configuration of the communication system S according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the communication system S includes a map application server 1, a member information management server 2, a point management server 3, multiple service servers 4, and multiple user terminals 5. The map application server 1, the member information management server 2, the point management server 3, each service server 4, and each user terminal 5 are connected to a network NW. The network NW is constructed, for example, by the Internet, a dedicated communication line (e.g., a CATV (Community Antenna Television) line), a mobile communication network (including base stations, etc.), a gateway, etc.

The map application server 1 may be an example of the map display control system of the present invention. The map application server 1 may be a server device that executes various processes related to a map service. The map service may be a service for displaying a map using a map application. The map application is an application that can be executed by each user terminal 5. The map application may be an application for displaying a map on the user terminal 5 and displaying facilities on that map. The map application server 1 may display a map on the user terminal 5 by transmitting information related to the map to the user terminal 5. Note that the map application server 1 may enable the display of a map using a web browser in addition to or instead of the map application.

Examples of facilities displayed on the map include stores, offices, accommodation facilities, and sports facilities. Facilities displayed on the map may be facilities where users can use a specified point program. The point program may be a service that awards points equal to a specified percentage of the purchase price to users who purchase a transaction item and allows users to use their points to purchase the transaction item. Users may be able to earn and use points, for example, between online services and facilities that are members of the point program. The transaction item may be anything that can be traded. Examples of the transaction item include goods and services. Users may be issued a point card for the point program. Users may be able to earn and use points by presenting the point card at the facility. Furthermore, a point program application may be installed on the user terminal 5. An information code indicating the card number of the point card may be displayed on the screen of this application. Examples of information codes include one-dimensional barcodes and two-dimensional codes. Instead of presenting a point card, users may be able to earn and use points by presenting the information code of the card number displayed on the screen to the facility.

Alternatively, the facilities displayed on the map may be facilities corresponding to a specific integrated Internet service. This integrated Internet service may include multiple services. These services may be provided, for example, using a computer network or information and communication technology. Such services may include online services. Online services may be provided via a website. Examples of services included in integrated Internet services include the above-mentioned map service, online shopping mall, facility reservation service, service reservation service, online securities, online banking, web search, video streaming, the above-mentioned point program, mobile communication service, carrier billing, optical fiber connection service, credit card, app payment, electronic money, online securities, online banking, receipt and point exchange service, check-in service, social networking service (SNS), rich communication service (RCS) or instant messaging service, email service, etc. Mobile communication service may be provided, for example, using a core network. Examples of these include websites. Other services may be provided, for example, using the Internet.

Examples of facilities compatible with services included in a comprehensive Internet service include facilities affiliated with the service, facilities affiliated with the service, and facilities that make the service available to users. For example, a user may be able to use a service corresponding to the facility before, during, or after using the facility. A mobile communication service may be, for example, a service provided by a mobile communication carrier within a corporate group that provides the comprehensive Internet service, enabling voice communication between portable terminal devices such as mobile phones. A facility compatible with a mobile communication service may be, for example, a mobile phone retailer that allows contracts for the mobile communication service. Examples of mobile phone retailers include carrier shops, mobile phone shops, and electronics stores. A facility compatible with credit cards, app payments, or electronic money may be, for example, a facility where the purchase price of goods or services at the facility can be paid by credit card, app payments, or electronic money. A facility compatible with a facility reservation service may be, for example, a facility that can be reserved using the facility reservation service. A receipt/point exchange service may be, for example, a service that awards points to a user when the user uploads an image of the receipt they received from the facility when purchasing a transaction item at the facility. A facility supporting the receipt/point exchange service may be, for example, a facility that allows points to be awarded for uploading an image of a receipt from the facility. The check-in service may be a service that awards points to a user on the condition that the user enters a predetermined spot area at the facility supporting the check-in service. Specifically, points may be awarded to a user when the user checks in to the facility using the user terminal 5 while located within the designated spot area. In this embodiment, check-in may be a procedure for starting use of the facility, a procedure for notifying the check-in service that the user has visited the facility, or a procedure for notifying the check-in service that the user has entered a predetermined spot area. Whether the user is located within the spot area can be determined from location information of the user terminal 5 carried by the user. The location information is information indicating the location of the user terminal 5. A facility supporting the check-in service may be a facility that allows points to be awarded to users who check in. A user may use the check-in service by using a map app. In other words, the user may be able to check in using the map app. In this case, the map application server 1 may execute processing related to the check-in service. An example of an SNS is a spot SNS. The Spot SNS may be an SNS for exchanging information related to spots within a community. The spots may be facilities. The Spot SNS may be an SNS that allows a user to become a member of a community on the condition that the user is located within one or more spot areas pre-set by the creator of the community. Becoming a member of the community may require a check-in operation, as described above. The creator may set the spot area to include facilities for which information is exchanged in the community. A facility corresponding to the Spot SNS may be a facility that has a community for that facility or a facility for which a spot area has been set for that facility. When a user uses or signs up for a service, the user may be awarded points in addition to the points that can normally be earned by presenting a point card.

The member information management server 2 may be a server device that manages information about members of the Internet Comprehensive Service. When a user becomes a member of the Internet Comprehensive Service, the user is assigned a user ID. The user ID may be identification information that identifies the user within the Internet Comprehensive Service. A user who becomes a member of the Internet Comprehensive Service may be able to use many of the services included in the Internet Comprehensive Service. To use some services, the user may be required to register as a separate member, provided that the user is a member of the Internet Comprehensive Service. Each member of the Internet Comprehensive Service may be assigned a member rank. The member rank indicates the user's rank in the Internet Comprehensive Service or a points program. The higher the member rank, the more preferential treatment the user may receive in the Internet Comprehensive Service. The total number of member ranks is not particularly limited. Examples of member ranks include diamond rank, platinum rank, gold rank, silver rank, and regular rank. Diamond rank, platinum rank, gold rank, silver rank, and regular rank are ranked in ascending order. The member rank may be determined based on the user's usage of the Internet Comprehensive Service. For example, a member rank may be determined based on at least one of the number of points a user has earned within a specified period of time in the past and the number of times points have been earned. For example, the member rank may be updated monthly. In order to earn points, a user may be required to use services included in the comprehensive internet service. For example, a user may be required to purchase a transaction object using those services. The higher the number of points a user has earned or the more times points have been earned, the higher the member rank may be.

The point management server 3 may be a server device that manages the points of each user in a point program. The number of points currently held by each user is referred to as the number of available points.

Each service server 4 may be a server device that manages information about the services included in the comprehensive Internet service that the service server 4 supports. For example, each service server 4 may store information such as user registration status, usage status, and usage history for the service that the service server 4 supports. At least one service server 4 may be a server device that executes processing to provide the service that the service server 4 supports to users.

Each user terminal 5 may be a terminal device owned by a user who can use comprehensive Internet services. Examples of user terminals 5 include mobile information terminals such as smartphones and tablet computers, mobile phones, and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants). A map application may be installed on each user terminal 5. At least some user terminals 5 may have the function of acquiring the user terminal's location information. For example, the user terminal 5 may calculate longitude and latitude as location information using a satellite positioning system such as the Global Positioning System (GPS). Alternatively, a mobile communications carrier may provide the user terminal 5 with location information using a base station. Alternatively, the user terminal 5 may be capable of acquiring location information using short-range wireless communication such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) Low Energy. For example, a beacon may be installed at a predetermined location. This beacon transmits identification information identifying the location or the beacon via short-range wireless communication. The user terminal 5 may acquire the identification information transmitted from the beacon as location information. The user terminal 5 may transmit the acquired location information to the map application server 1. For example, the user terminal 5 may periodically acquire and transmit location information. The user terminal 5 may acquire and transmit location information in accordance with a map app or other application. At least some of the user terminals 5 may be stationary computers. These user terminals 5 may display maps within a web browser.

[1-2. Map application server configuration]
Next, the configuration of the map application server 1 will be described with reference to Fig. 2 to Fig. 5. Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of a schematic configuration of the map application server 1 according to this embodiment. As shown in Fig. 2, the map application server 1 includes a system control unit 11, a system bus 12, an input/output interface 13, a storage unit 14, and a communication unit 15. The system control unit 11 and the input/output interface 13 are connected via the system bus 12.

The system control unit 11 is composed of a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11a, ROM (Read Only Memory) 11b, RAM (Random Access Memory) 11c, etc.

The input/output interface 13 performs interface processing between the memory unit 14 and communication unit 15 and the system control unit 11.

The memory unit 14 is composed of, for example, a hard disk drive. This memory unit 14 may store a facility group DB 14a, a facility DB 14b, a user attribute DB 14c, an attribute estimation model DB 14d, a location information DB 14e, etc. "DB" is an abbreviation for database.

Figure 3 is a diagram showing an example of information stored in the database of the map application server 1. The facility group DB 14a may store facility group information for each facility group. A facility group may be a group consisting of multiple facilities. Examples of facility groups include a group of franchisees affiliated with the same franchise, a group of chain stores, or a combination of a main store and branches. Facilities that do not belong to a specific facility group may be assigned a facility group for convenience. The facility group DB 14a may store facility group information such as a facility group ID, facility group name, category information, service information, and target user attribute information, all associated with one another. The facility group ID is identification information that identifies the facility group. The category information indicates the category of facilities in that facility group. Examples of categories include restaurants, cafes, supermarkets, convenience stores, hotels, inns, department stores, mobile phone shops, electronics stores, hair salons, nail salons, beauty salons, and gas stations. Categories may also be divided, for example, by industry, type of products offered, or type of services offered. The service information indicates the services included in the comprehensive Internet service that the facility group is currently affiliated with or affiliated with. In this embodiment, facilities are affiliated with or affiliated with services on a facility group basis. If the affiliated or affiliated services differ for each facility, the service information may be stored in the facility DB 14b, described below. The service information may include, for example, the service ID of each of one or more services that the facility group is affiliated with or affiliated with. The service ID is identification information that identifies each service included in the comprehensive Internet service.

The target user attribute information indicates attributes related to the facility group as user attributes. For example, the target user attribute information may indicate for which users facilities belonging to the facility group should be displayed on the map. The target user attribute information may indicate, for example, the attributes of users related to the facility group. For example, the target user attribute information may indicate the attributes of users who use the facility group, the attributes of users who are relatively likely to use the facility group, the attributes of users who are relatively likely to like the facility group, the attributes of users that the facility group wants to use the facility group, or the attributes of users who are relatively likely to use or sign up for services affiliated with or affiliated with the facility group. The target user attribute information may, for example, be set by the facility group, by an administrator of the map application server 1, or automatically by the map application server 1. The target user attribute information may include, for example, an attribute item ID and attribute value for each of one or more attributes possessed by the user. The attribute item ID is identification information that identifies the attribute item. Examples of attribute items include last name, first name, gender, age, address, membership rank, occupation, job type, annual income, marital status, whether or not one has children, asset value, whether or not one owns something specific, whether or not one likes something specific, and contract status or usage status of a specific service included in the comprehensive Internet service. An attribute value is a value that indicates the attribute for that attribute item. For example, if the attribute item is gender, examples of attribute values include "male" and "female." Also, for example, if the attribute item is age, the attribute value is a value that indicates age.

Examples of target user attribute information settings are shown below. For example, target user attribute information for a pet shop may indicate attributes such as "single," "female," and "owns a cat." Also, target user attribute information for a children's clothing store may indicate attributes such as "married" and "with children." Furthermore, target user attribute information for a life insurance sales office may indicate attributes such as "married," "full-time employee," "annual income of 6 million yen or more," and "ages between 20s and 40s."

Furthermore, the target user attribute information for a facility group affiliated with or affiliated with a specific service included in the Internet comprehensive service may indicate services used by users who are relatively likely to use or sign up for that service. In this case, for example, the map application server 1 may automatically identify such services. The map application server 1 may, for example, use the cross-use rate of the services. The cross-use rate may indicate the percentage of users who use a second service also included in the Internet comprehensive service among users who use a first service included in the Internet comprehensive service. In this case, the second service may correspond to a service affiliated with or affiliated with the facility group. The map application server 1 may determine the first service with a relatively high cross-use rate as the service to set as the target user attribute information. For example, the map application server 1 may determine the first service with the highest cross-use rate, or may determine one or more first services whose cross-use rate is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. Furthermore, the map application server 1 may calculate the percentage of users who use the second service among users who use a combination of multiple services as the first service as the cross-use rate.

Figure 4 shows an example of setting target user attribute information based on cross-use rates. For example, mobile phone shop X is affiliated with a mobile communications service included in its comprehensive Internet service. The mobile phone shop X group wants to increase the number of subscribers for that mobile communications service. Therefore, the cross-use rate of each service with mobile communications service as the second service may be calculated. For example, as shown in Figure 4(a), the cross-use rate between point cards and mobile communications services is 25%. The cross-use rate between electronic payments using electronic money and mobile communications services is 47%. The cross-use rate between app payments and mobile communications services is 72%. The cross-use rate between check-in services and mobile communications services is 9%. Therefore, as shown in Figure 4(b), the target user attribute information for the mobile phone shop X group may be set to "uses app payments."

Returning to Figure 3, facility DB 14b may store, for example, facility information about each facility. For example, facility DB 14b may store facility information such as a facility ID, facility group ID, facility name, address, and facility location information, all associated with one another. The facility ID is identification information that identifies the facility. The facility group ID indicates the facility group to which the facility belongs. Facility location information is information that indicates the geographic location of the facility. For example, the facility location information may indicate the longitude and latitude corresponding to the address of the facility. Alternatively, for example, the facility location information may indicate the longitude and latitude positions of each vertex that constitutes the outer edge of the facility's site.

Attribute information regarding user attributes may be stored in user attribute DB14c for each combination of user and attribute or for each combination of user and attribute item. For example, user attribute DB14c may store attribute information such as a user ID, attribute item ID, attribute value, attribute type, and ownership probability, all associated with one another. The user ID indicates the user associated with the attribute. The combination of an attribute item ID and an attribute value indicates the attribute associated with the user. The attribute type indicates the type of the attribute. Attribute types may include factual attributes and estimated attributes. Figure 5 is a diagram showing examples of attributes. A factual attribute may indicate an attribute that is considered to be possessed by a user. Therefore, when the attribute type is set to "factual attribute," the attribute indicated by the combination of an attribute item ID and attribute value may be treated as actually possessed by the user identified by the user ID. Furthermore, attribute information for factual attributes may be stored for each attribute item. For example, a user's own attributes registered or entered by the user for the Internet Comprehensive Service or any service included in the Internet Comprehensive Service may be included in the factual attributes. For example, when registering as a member of a service, a user may register attributes. Examples of such attributes include last name, first name, gender, age, and address, as shown in FIG. 5 . This information is stored in the member DB 21 (described later). Furthermore, attributes that are clear from the user's behavior captured by the map application server 1, the member information management server 2, the point management server 3, or the service server 4 may be included in the user's actual attributes. Examples of such attributes include membership rank, usage status of each service, usage status of each facility group or facility, and the like. Furthermore, the user's behavior when using any service included in the Internet comprehensive service or the behavior itself at a facility may also be included in the actual attributes. Estimated attributes indicate attributes that are estimated to be possessed by the user. For example, the map application server 1 may perform the estimation. Examples of estimated attributes include marital status, whether or not the user has children, occupation, industry, annual income, amount of assets, whether or not the user owns a specific item, and whether or not the user likes a specific item, as shown in FIG. 5 . However, even among the attributes shown in these examples, attributes registered by a user when registering as a member of a service or attributes entered in a questionnaire may be included as actual attributes. Therefore, the same attribute may be both an actual attribute and an estimated attribute depending on the user. Returning to Figure 3, the ownership probability may be valid when the attribute type is set to "estimated attribute." The ownership probability indicates the probability that a user identified by a user ID has an attribute indicated by a combination of an attribute item ID and an attribute value. Therefore, a user does not necessarily have an attribute indicated by a combination of an attribute item ID and an attribute value. Furthermore, attribute information for estimated attributes may be stored for a single user by attribute item or by attribute value. For example, if the attribute item is "marital status," determining the probability that a user is married also determines the probability that the user is not married. Therefore, for such attributes, attribute information may be stored for each attribute item. Furthermore, for attributes with three or more attribute values, such as occupation, attribute information may be stored for each attribute value.

The map application server 1 may add or update attribute information in the user attribute DB 14c, for example, at a predetermined timing. For example, when a user attribute is stored in the member DB 21 or when an attribute in the member DB 21 is updated, the map application server 1 may store attribute information indicating that attribute as a fact attribute in the user attribute DB 14c. Also, for example, the map application server 1 may obtain information regarding an attribute registered by a user in any of the services included in the Internet comprehensive service from the point management server 3 or service server 4 corresponding to that service. The map application server 1 may store attribute information indicating that attribute as a fact attribute in the user attribute DB 14c. The map application server 1 may also determine the ownership probability of an estimated attribute for each user or for some users, and store attribute information including that ownership probability in the user attribute DB 14c.

The attribute estimation model DB14d may store model information for each attribute estimation model used to calculate the probability that a user possesses an estimated attribute. The estimated attribute for which the ownership probability is calculated is called the estimation target attribute. The attribute estimation model may be a model that shows the relationship between specific facts about the user and the ownership probability of the estimation target attribute. Examples of attribute estimation models include probability models, machine learning models, and statistical models. Specific examples of models include neural networks, support vector machines, linear regression, logistic regression, and probability density distribution estimation. The attribute estimation model may be a model that inputs information about a target user and outputs the ownership probability of the user's target attribute. For example, the attribute estimation model DB14d may store a model ID, an estimation target attribute item ID, an estimation target attribute value, and input information items, each associated with another. The model ID is information that identifies the attribute estimation model. The estimation target attribute item ID is the attribute item ID of the estimation target attribute. The estimation target attribute value is the attribute value of the estimation target attribute. The input information item indicates an item of user information that is input to the attribute estimation model as input information to output the ownership probability. The input information item may indicate one information item or multiple items. The input information may include information on a specific attribute of the user. For example, the input information item may indicate an attribute item for a specific attribute of the user. In this case, the input information item may include an attribute item ID for a fact attribute. The input information item may indicate an item of information related to a specific user action. An action taken by a user is a fact for the user, regardless of whether it is included in the user's attributes. Examples of input information items in this case include the presence or absence of the action and the degree to which the user took the action. Examples of the degree of the action include the number of times the action occurred, the frequency of the action, the amount paid by the user for the action, the total or average amount, etc. The input information item may also be an item indicating other facts for the target user. Examples of such facts include the presence or absence of other users with the same address as the target user, the attributes of other users with the same address as the user, etc. This information can also be considered a broad attribute of the target user.

The location information DB 14e may store location information transmitted from each user terminal 5 to the map application server 1. For example, each user terminal 5 on which a map application is installed may periodically acquire location information and transmit it to the map application server 1. The location information DB 14e may store, as location information, a user ID, a recording date and time, and terminal location information, etc., in association with one another. The user ID indicates the user using the user terminal 5 that transmitted the location information. The recording date and time indicates the date and time when the user terminal 5 recorded the location information. The terminal location information indicates the location of the user terminal 5 at the time of the recording date and time. For example, the terminal location information may include the longitude and latitude of the location.

The storage unit 14 may further store an attribute estimation model in association with each model ID. For example, the attribute estimation model may store data or a program indicating the attribute estimation algorithm using that model or the structure of that model. Parameters of the attribute estimation model may also be stored. Note that the user attribute DB 14c, attribute estimation model DB 14d, and attribute estimation model may be stored in a server device other than the map application server 1, such as the member information management server 2. The generation of the attribute estimation model and the calculation of the ownership probability of the estimated attribute may then be performed by that server device.

The storage unit 14 also stores various programs, such as an operating system, a DBMS (Database Management System), and a server program. The server program is a program that causes the system control unit 11 to execute processes related to the map application. The server program may be obtained from another device via the network NW, or may be recorded on a recording medium such as a magnetic tape, optical disc, or memory card and read via a drive device.

The communication unit 15 is composed of, for example, a network interface card. The communication unit 15 connects to the member information management server 2, point management server 3, service server 4, or user terminal 5 via the network NW, and controls the communication status with the connected devices.

[1-3. Configuration of Member Information Management Server]
Next, the configuration of the member information management server 2 will be described with reference to FIG. 6 . FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of information stored in the database of the member information management server 2 according to this embodiment. As shown in FIG. 6 , the member information management server 2 as a storage unit may store databases such as a member DB 21 and an action history DB 22. The member information management server 2 may provide, for example, the map application server 1, the point management server 3, and each service server 4 with an API (Application Programming Interface) for accessing the database stored in the member information management server 2. Each server device may be able to obtain information from and update the database stored in the member information management server 2 through this API.

Member DB21 may store member information about each member of the Internet comprehensive service. For example, member DB21 may store member information such as user ID, name, gender, date of birth, telephone number, address, email address, and member rank, all associated with one another.

The behavior history DB22 may store a history of user behavior as a result of the user using or subscribing to services included in the Internet comprehensive service. For example, the behavior history DB22 may store, each time an action is taken, an action log in which an action log ID, user ID, service ID, facility ID, action date and time, and action content information, etc., are associated with one another. The action log ID is identification information that identifies the action log. The user ID indicates the user who took the action. The service ID indicates the service the user used to take that action. The facility ID indicates the facility the user used for that action. The facility ID is valid when a service included in the Internet comprehensive service is used or subscribed to at a facility. The behavior content information indicates the type and details of the action taken by the user. There are no particular limitations on the type and details of the action recorded as history. Examples of types of behavior include browsing web pages or screens, searching for information, purchasing products at an online shopping mall, making reservations through facility or service reservation services, transactions with online securities or online banking, earning and using points using a point card, making payments with electronic money, making payments through an app, making payments through a credit card, uploading receipts, checking into a facility using a check-in service or spot SNS, signing up for or canceling a mobile communication service contract, making phone calls, sending short messages, sending instant messages, sending emails, etc. Examples of details of behavior include the product purchased, the product category, the purchase amount, the facility or service reserved, the category of the reservation, the amount paid for the reservation, the transaction details, the transaction amount, the number of points earned or used, the product or service purchased through payment, the category of the purchase, the payment amount, the phone number to call, and the user to whom the message was sent.

The point management server 3 and each service server 4 may generate and record an action log indicating a user's predetermined action, for example, when the user uses a service supported by the server device. The information and format contained in the generated action log may be unique to the service. The point management server 3 and each service server 4 may transmit the action log to the member information management server 2 when generating the action log. The member information management server 2, upon receiving the action log from the service server 4, may, for example, convert the format of the action log into a common format that can be stored in the action history DB 22 and store the converted action log in the action history DB 22. At this time, the member information management server 2 may identify the service used by the user based on the format of the received action log or the server device from which the action log was sent. The member information management server 2 may also identify the type of action taken by the user based on the received action log. The member information management server 2 may include the service ID of the identified service in the action log stored in the action history DB 22. Additionally, the member information management server 2 may include information indicating the type and details of the identified behavior in the behavior content information of the behavior log.

[1-4. Functional Overview of the System Control Unit of the Map Application Server]
Next, a functional overview of the system control unit 11 in the map application server 1 will be described with reference to Fig. 7 to Fig. 12. Fig. 7 is a diagram showing an example of functional blocks of the system control unit 11 in the map application server 1. As shown in Fig. 7, the system control unit 11 may function as a fact information acquisition unit 1101, an attribute estimation model generation unit 1102, an attribute possession probability determination unit 1103, a facility usage history information acquisition unit 1104, an attribute information acquisition unit 1105, a map display control unit 1106, and the like, by the CPU 11a reading and executing various program codes included in the server program.

The fact information acquisition unit 1101 may acquire fact information indicating facts about one or more users. For example, the fact information may include information indicating the user's fact attributes. The information indicating the fact attributes may be, for example, a combination of an attribute item ID and an attribute value. The fact information acquisition unit 1101 may acquire attribute information whose attribute type is a fact attribute from the attribute information stored about the target user in the user attribute DB 14c. Alternatively, for example, the fact information acquisition unit 1101 may acquire attributes stored in the member DB 21. Alternatively, for example, the fact information may include information about the behavior taken by the user. An example of information about behavior is the behavior log stored in the behavior history DB 22. Another example of information about behavior is the degree of the behavior. Examples of the degree of behavior include the number of times the behavior occurred, the frequency of the behavior, the amount paid by the user for the behavior, the total or average amount, etc. This information can be identified from the behavior log.

The attribute estimation model generation unit 1102 may generate an attribute model. For example, the attribute estimation model generation unit 1102 may generate an attribute estimation model for each attribute indicated by the target user attribute information stored in the facility group DB 14a, with that attribute as the attribute to be estimated. However, the attribute estimation model generation unit 1102 may not need to generate an attribute estimation model for user attributes that are identified only as factual attributes. Examples of such attributes include attributes stored in the member DB 21.

The attribute estimation model generation unit 1102 may generate an attribute estimation model based on information about at least one of a user who actually has the attribute to be estimated and a user who actually does not have the attribute to be estimated. For example, the target user can be identified by searching the user attribute DB 14c for attribute information including the attribute item of the attribute to be estimated and an attribute type indicating the factual attribute. The attribute estimation model generation unit 1102 may, for example, cause the factual information acquisition unit 1101 to acquire factual information about the target user. The factual information acquired by the factual information acquisition unit 1101 may be information that does not factually indicate whether or not the user has the attribute to be estimated. For example, the factual information acquisition unit 1101 may acquire, from the user attribute DB 14c, attribute information about the target user that includes an attribute item of an attribute different from the attribute to be estimated and an attribute type indicating the factual attribute. Furthermore, information about behavior acquired as factual information by the factual information acquisition unit 1101 does not generally directly indicate whether or not the user has the attribute to be estimated.

The attribute estimation model generation unit 1102 may determine, as input information items, fact items that correlate with the probability that the user possesses the attribute to be estimated. For example, for each attribute item, the attribute estimation model generation unit 1102 may calculate, for each attribute value, the proportion of users who possess the attribute to be estimated among users who possess the fact attribute represented by the combination of the attribute item and the attribute value, as the ownership probability. The ownership probability may be calculated using, for example, probability density distribution estimation. Alternatively, the attribute estimation model generation unit 1102 may obtain the ownership probability from a neural network by training the neural network, which inputs fact attributes and outputs the ownership probability of the attribute to be estimated. For example, the attribute estimation model generation unit 1102 may determine, as input information items, attribute items for which the ownership probability differs significantly depending on the attribute value and for which the ownership probability for any attribute value is equal to or greater than a predetermined value. A significant difference in ownership probability may mean, for example, that the difference between the maximum and minimum ownership probabilities is equal to or greater than a predetermined value (e.g., 50 percent or greater). Alternatively, a significant difference in ownership probability may mean that the maximum ownership probability is high enough to infer that the user has the attribute to be estimated (e.g., 70% or more) and the minimum ownership probability is low enough to infer that the user does not have the attribute to be estimated (e.g., 30% or less). For example, the attribute estimation model generation unit 1102 may calculate, for each behavior, the proportion of users who have the attribute to be estimated for both users who performed the behavior and users who did not perform the behavior as the ownership probability. The attribute estimation model generation unit 1102 may then determine, as input information items, the presence or absence of a behavior for which there is a significant difference in ownership probability depending on whether the behavior is performed. Note that the attribute estimation model generation unit 1102 may also consider users whose attribute of an attribute item that is a candidate for an input information item is an estimation attribute to actually have the attribute and whose probability of having the attribute is equal to or greater than a first predetermined value (e.g., 80% or more) and include the user in the calculation of the ownership probability of the attribute to be estimated. Furthermore, the attribute estimation model generation unit 1102 may also consider users whose probability of having the attribute is equal to or less than a second predetermined value (e.g., 20 percent or less) as not actually having the attribute, and may include them in the calculation of the ownership probability of the attribute to be estimated. The second predetermined value is lower than the first predetermined value. For example, the attribute estimation model generation unit 1102 may calculate, for each degree of behavior, the proportion of users who have the attribute to be estimated among users who have engaged in that degree of behavior as the ownership probability. The attribute estimation model generation unit 1102 may then determine, as the input information item, the degree of behavior for which a significant difference in ownership probability is observed depending on the degree of behavior. For example, the attribute estimation model generation unit 1102 may calculate, using a method similar to that described above, combinations of multiple attribute items, combinations of multiple behaviors, or combinations of attribute items and behaviors for which a significant difference in ownership probability of the attribute to be estimated is observed depending on the combination with the attribute value or behavior degree, as the input information item.

Figure 8 is a diagram showing an example of the relationship between input information and the ownership probability of an attribute to be estimated. For example, the attribute to be estimated is owning a cat. Therefore, in this case, the ownership probability of the attribute to be estimated is the probability of owning a cat. For example, the attribute estimation model generation unit 1102 estimates the relationship between the purchase frequency of cat food at an online shopping mall and the probability of owning a cat. The purchase frequency of cat food itself does not indicate whether or not a person owns a cat. As shown in Figure 8, the higher the purchase frequency of cat food, the higher the probability of owning a cat. There is a correlation between the purchase frequency of cat food and the probability of owning a cat, and there is a significant difference in the probability of owning a cat depending on the purchase frequency of cat food. Therefore, the attribute estimation model generation unit 1102 may determine the purchase frequency of cat food as an input information item. Note that the condition for there to be a significant difference in ownership probability depending on the attribute value is not limited to there being a correlation between them.

For example, suppose the attribute to be estimated is marital status or whether or not the user has children. In this case, it may be possible to determine the probability of being married or having children in relation to the users' relationships based on whether there are other users with the same address as the target user, the surnames, gender, ages or age difference between those users, the frequency of contact between those users, etc. In this case, at least some of these items can be input information items. Examples of means of contact between users include telephone, short message, instant message, and email.

Once the input information items have been determined, the attribute estimation model generation unit 1102 may generate an attribute estimation model. For example, when certain input information is input, the attribute estimation model generation unit 1102 may generate a model that outputs the ownership probability calculated for that input information when determining the input information items. The attribute estimation model generation unit 1102 may store model information including the determined input information items in the attribute estimation model DB 14d.

Based on the factual information acquired by the factual information acquisition unit 1101 about the user of the user terminal 5, the attribute possession probability determination unit 1103 may determine a value corresponding to the probability that the user possesses an attribute to be estimated, the possession of which is not indicated as a fact by the factual information. This value is not particularly limited as long as it increases as the probability that the user possesses the attribute to be estimated increases. For example, this value may be the possession probability of the attribute to be estimated. In this case, the attribute to be estimated may be an attribute that has a relationship with the fact indicated by the factual information. The attribute possession probability determination unit 1103 may calculate the possession probability using the attribute estimation model generated by the attribute estimation model generation unit 1102. For example, the factual information acquisition unit 1101 may acquire, from the attribute estimation model DB 14d, input information items associated with the attribute item ID and attribute value of the attribute to be estimated. The factual information acquisition unit 1101 may acquire information on the item indicated by the input information item from the information of the target user. Here, when the input information item includes an attribute item, the attribute possession probability determination unit 1103 may determine the possession probability of the attribute to be estimated only if the attribute of the attribute item of the target user is a fact attribute. Alternatively, even if the attribute of the attribute item of the target user is an estimated attribute, the attribute possession probability determination unit 1103 may determine the possession probability of the attribute to be estimated using the estimated attribute. In this case, the attribute possession probability determination unit 1103 may determine that the target user has the attribute if the possession probability of the attribute is equal to or greater than a first predetermined value (e.g., 80 percent or greater). Alternatively, the attribute possession probability determination unit 1103 may determine that the target user does not have the attribute if the possession probability of the attribute is equal to or less than a second predetermined value (e.g., 20 percent or less). The attribute possession probability determination unit 1103 may obtain the possession probability of the attribute to be estimated by inputting the acquired information as input information into an attribute estimation model.

The facility usage history information acquisition unit 1104 may acquire usage history information indicating the history of facility use by the user of the user terminal 5. The usage history information may include, for example, an action log stored in the action history DB 22. When a user uses a facility, the action log includes a facility ID indicating the facility used and the user ID of the user who used that facility. The usage history information may also include the location information of the user terminal 5 stored in the location information DB 14e and facility location information of at least one facility stored in the facility DB 14b. The location information DB 14e can be said to indicate the location history of the user terminal 5. When using a facility, the user travels to that facility. Whether or not the user has used that facility can be determined based on the location of the user terminal 5 and the location of the facility.

The attribute information acquisition unit 1105 may acquire, from the facility group DB 14a, target user attribute information associated with each of multiple facilities located within a geographical area corresponding to the map displayed on the screen of the user terminal 5. The geographical area corresponding to the map may be the geographical area for which the map is to be displayed. The user terminal 5 may transmit display range information indicating the extent of the geographical area for which the map is to be displayed to the map application server 1. The display range information may include, for example, the user ID of the user using the user terminal 5, the longitude and latitude of the center of the geographical area, the scale of the map, and the resolution and aspect ratio of the screen of the user terminal 5. The target user attribute information stored in the facility group DB 14a is associated with the facility group ID for each facility group. The facility DB 14b stores the facility ID of each facility in association with the facility group to which the facility belongs. Therefore, the attribute information acquisition unit 1105 may acquire target user attribute information for each facility from the facility group DB 14a by referencing the facility DB 14b.

The map display control unit 1106 may display facilities on a map displayed on the screen of the user terminal 5. Information indicating the facilities may actually be displayed on the map. Examples of information indicating the facilities include icons, marks, other images, symbols, and text. Various methods of displaying facilities on a map are possible. For example, the map display control unit 1106 may generate a map image including the facilities by superimposing facility information on a map image showing the map. The map display control unit 1106 may transmit data of the generated map image to the user terminal 5. The user terminal 5 may directly display the map image generated by the map display control unit 1106 based on the received map image data. Alternatively, the map display control unit 1106 may transmit map image data and display information for displaying each facility on the map separately to the user terminal 5. As a result, the map display control unit 1106 may cause the user terminal 5 to display the facilities on the map. The transmitted display information for each facility may include, for example, the facility name, category information, and facility location information for the facility. The user terminal 5 may, for example, extract multiple facilities located within a geographical area corresponding to the map displayed on the screen based on facility location information for each facility. The user terminal 5 may display the map on the screen and also display information about each extracted facility at a position corresponding to the facility location information. At this time, the user terminal 5 may display information corresponding to a category indicated by the category information. The user terminal 5 may also display the facility name near the facility information.

Based on the usage history information acquired by the facility usage history information acquisition unit 1104 and the target user attribute information acquired by the attribute information acquisition unit 1105, the map display control unit 1106 may display, among multiple facilities located within the geographical area corresponding to the displayed map, facilities that have not been used by the user of the user terminal 5 and that are associated with attributes whose values determined by the attribute possession probability determination unit 1103 are equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold, in priority to other facilities. Facilities that are displayed in priority over other facilities are called priority facilities. Facilities other than priority facilities are called non-priority facilities.

Whether a user has not used a facility may be determined based on the user's experience using the facility. For example, an unused facility may be a facility that the user has never used to date, or a facility that the user has not used within a specified period of time. Examples of the length of the specified period include three months, six months, and one year. Whether a user has not used a facility may be determined, for example, by facility group. For example, a supermarket chain includes stores A1 and A2. Suppose a user has used store A1. In this case, even if the user has never actually used store A2, the user is considered to have also used store A2. Whether a user has not used a facility can be determined from usage history information. For example, the map display control unit 1106 may determine that the user has used a specific facility if the facility group to which the facility indicated by the facility ID included in the action log belongs includes the facility group to which the specific facility belongs. If such a facility group is not included, the map display control unit 1106 may determine that the user has not used the specific facility. For example, if the location of the user terminal 5 indicated by any of the location information has been located within the premises of a specific facility, the map display control unit 1106 may determine that the user has used that specific facility. In this case, the map display control unit 1106 may determine that the user has used that facility only if the location of the user terminal 5 has been located within the premises for a predetermined period of time or more. For example, if the distance between the location of the user terminal 5 and the location of the specific facility has been less than a predetermined value, the map display control unit 1106 may determine that the user has used that specific facility.

If the ownership probability determined by the attribute ownership probability determination unit 1103 is equal to or greater than a threshold, it indicates that there is a relatively high probability that the user has an attribute related to the facility. Examples of thresholds include 70 percent and 80 percent. Therefore, on the map, facilities that the user has not used before but that are likely to be used by the user in light of the user's attributes will be displayed in preference to other facilities. This can encourage the user to use the facility for the first time.

Figure 9 is a diagram showing an example of determining the priority display of a facility. For example, as shown in Figure 9, the attribute indicated by the target user attribute information for a certain pet shop Y is a single woman who owns a cat. For example, the target user attribute information includes the attribute value "owns" for the attribute item "whether or not the user owns a cat," the attribute value "single" for the attribute item "marital status," and "female" for the attribute item "gender." Here, gender is specified as an actual attribute, and whether or not the user owns a cat and marital status are specified as estimated attributes. Assume that the threshold for ownership probability is 80 percent. Assume that users a, b, and c each display a map on their user terminal 5. The geographical area corresponding to that map includes pet shop Y. As shown in Figure 9, users a, b, and c are all female. The probability that user a is single is 32%. The probability that user a owns a cat is 90%. The probability of being single is below the threshold. Although user a has not yet used pet shop Y, pet shop Y is not displayed as a priority facility for user a. The probability that user b is single is 80%. The probability that user b owns a cat is 93%. Both ownership probabilities are above the threshold. However, user b has visited pet shop Y, so pet shop Y is not displayed as a preferred facility for user b. The probability that user c is single is 88%. The probability that user c owns a cat is 85%. Both ownership probabilities are above the threshold. User c has not visited pet shop Y, so pet shop Y is displayed as a preferred facility for user c.

The priority display of priority facilities may, for example, display all priority facilities and not display any non-priority facilities. Alternatively, the priority display may display a predetermined number of priority facilities and not display any non-priority facilities. Alternatively, a maximum number of facilities that can be displayed may be set in advance. The map display control unit 1106 may display a number of facilities that is equal to or less than this maximum. In this case, the priority display may display as many priority facilities as possible within the maximum limit, and may also display non-priority facilities if the number of priority facilities does not reach the maximum limit. The maximum number of facilities that can be displayed may be the same for all map scales, or may be set for each scale. Furthermore, the maximum number of facilities that can be displayed may be set in advance for each facility category. The facility category may be, for example, a facility category indicated by category information stored in facility group DB 14a.

Figure 10 is a diagram showing an example of a map display screen in a map application. The example shown in Figure 10 is an example screen assuming that all facilities located within the geographical area corresponding to the map displayed on the screen are displayed, without distinguishing between priority and non-priority facilities. Therefore, the actual display may differ. As shown in Figure 10, the map display screen 100 may include a map display area 200. A map image 210 may be displayed in the map display area 200. Furthermore, facility icons 220a, 220b, 220c, 220d, 220e, 220f, 220g, 220h, 220i, and 220j may be displayed in the map display area 200 superimposed on the map image 210. Each facility icon is information indicating a facility. For example, an image indicating the category of the facility may be displayed on each facility icon. Furthermore, the facility name may be displayed near each facility icon. Facility icons 220a, 220b, 220c, 220d, 220e, 220f, 220g, 220h, 220i, and 220J correspond to Hotel A, Convenience Store B, Carrier Shop C, Hotel D, Convenience Store E, Convenience Store F, Mobile Phone Shop G, Department Store H, Supermarket I, and Hotel J, respectively.

Figure 11(a) shows the maximum number of facilities that can be displayed for each category. As shown in Figure 11(a), facility categories include at least retail (excluding mobile phone sales), mobile phone sales, and accommodation facilities. The maximum number of retail facilities is 3. The maximum number of mobile phone sales facilities is 1. The maximum number of accommodation facilities is 2. Figure 11(b) shows the category and display priority of each facility. Priority facilities have a high display priority, while non-priority facilities have a lower display priority. As shown in Figure 11(b), convenience stores B, E, and F, department store H, and supermarket I are retail facilities. Convenience stores B and E, department store H, and supermarket I have a high display priority. Convenience store F has a low priority. Carrier store C and mobile phone store G are mobile phone sales facilities. Carrier store C has a high display priority. Mobile phone store G has a low display priority. Hotels A, D, and J are accommodation facilities. Hotel J has a high display priority. Hotels A and D have a low display priority.

Figure 12 is a diagram showing an example of facility display on a map. The maximum number of merchandise facilities is three, and there are four merchandise facilities with a high display priority. Therefore, as shown in Figure 12, facility icons 220b, 220h, and 220I corresponding to convenience store B, department store H, and supermarket I, respectively, may be displayed. The maximum number of mobile phone sales facilities is one, and there is one merchandise sales facility with a high display priority. Therefore, as shown in Figure 12, facility icon 220c corresponding to carrier shop C, which has a higher display priority, may be displayed. The maximum number of accommodation facilities is two, and there is one accommodation facility with a high display priority. Therefore, as shown in Figure 12, at least facility icon 220j corresponding to hotel J, which has a high display priority, is displayed. Furthermore, of hotels A and D, facility icon 220d corresponding to hotel D, for example, is displayed.

When the map display control unit 1106 transmits map image data and display information to the user terminal 5, the display information may include information indicating whether each facility is a priority facility. Alternatively, the display information may include the display priority of each facility. By transmitting display information including the display priority, the map display control unit 1106 may cause the user terminal 5 to preferentially display priority facilities on the map. In addition to the map image data and display information, the map display control unit 1106 may also transmit display upper limit number information indicating the upper limit number of facilities that can be displayed for each category to the user terminal 5. By transmitting this information, the map display control unit 1106 may cause the user terminal 5 to display a number of facilities for each category that is equal to or less than the display upper limit number.

[1-5. Operation of communication system]
Next, the operation of the communication system S will be described with reference to Figures 13 to 15. The system control unit 11 of the map application server 1 may execute the processes shown in Figures 13 and 14 in accordance with various program codes included in the server program. The processes shown in these figures are examples, and any process may be executed as long as the purpose is achieved. The order of the processes is not limited to the order shown in these figures. Furthermore, at least one of the steps shown in these figures may not be executed.

Figure 13 is a diagram showing an example of the attribute possession probability determination process in the system control unit 11 of the map application server 1 in this embodiment. For example, the system control unit 11 may periodically execute the possession probability determination process for each combination of an attribute to be estimated and a user for which each attribute estimation model stored in the storage unit 14 outputs an possession probability. The attribute to be estimated can be identified from the attribute item ID and attribute value to be estimated stored in the attribute estimation model DB 14d.

As shown in FIG. 13, the attribute possession probability determination unit 1103 determines whether attribute information including the user ID of the target user and a combination of an attribute item ID to be estimated and an attribute value to be estimated indicating the target attribute to be estimated is stored in the user attribute DB 14c (step S101). If the corresponding attribute information is stored (step S101: YES), the attribute possession probability determination unit 1103 determines whether the attribute type included in the corresponding attribute information is an "estimated attribute" (step S102). If the attribute type is a "factual attribute" (step S102: NO), the possession probability determination process ends.

If the corresponding attribute information is not stored (step S101: NO) or if the attribute type is "estimated attribute" (step S102: YES), the fact information acquisition unit 1101 acquires fact information (step S103). For example, the fact information acquisition unit 1101 may acquire input information items of the attribute estimation model for the target attribute to be estimated from the attribute estimation model DB 14d. If the input information items include attribute items, the fact information acquisition unit 1101 may acquire attribute information including the user ID of the target user and the attribute item IDs of the attribute items from the user attribute DB 14c. Furthermore, if the input information items include items of user behavior, the fact information acquisition unit 1101 may search the behavior history DB 22 for behavior logs that include the user ID of the target user and that contain information indicating that behavior. The fact information acquisition unit 1101 may calculate the degree of that behavior based on the acquired behavior logs.

Next, the attribute estimation model generation unit 1102 inputs the acquired factual information into an attribute estimation model corresponding to the target attribute to be estimated (step S104). For example, the attribute estimation model generation unit 1102 may input attribute values included in attribute information acquired from the user attribute DB 14c into the attribute estimation model. Alternatively, for example, the attribute estimation model generation unit 1102 may input the calculated degree of behavior into the attribute estimation model. In this way, the attribute estimation model generation unit 1102 acquires the ownership probability from the attribute estimation model. Next, the attribute estimation model generation unit 1102 stores the acquired attribute information including the ownership probability in the user attribute DB 14c (step S105). For example, the stored attribute information includes, in addition to the ownership probability, the user ID of the target user, an attribute type indicating the "estimated attribute," and an attribute item ID and attribute value indicating the attribute to be estimated. If attribute information corresponding to the target user and the target attribute to be estimated is already stored in the user attribute DB 14c, the attribute estimation model generation unit 1102 updates the attribute information with the new attribute information. Once step S105 is complete, the ownership probability determination process ends.

Figure 14 is a flowchart showing an example of map information provision processing in the system control unit 11 of the map application server 1 in this embodiment. For example, when the map application is launched, the user terminal 5 may acquire current location information of the user terminal 5 and generate display range information including location information, scale, etc. The user terminal 5 may transmit the generated display range information to the map application server 1. After the map application is launched, the location of the user terminal 5 may change, the scale of the map may change, or a user operation may be performed to change the display range of the map, changing the range of the geographical area to be displayed on the map. As a result, when additional map image data is needed to display the map, the user terminal 5 may transmit display range information including location information indicating the longitude and latitude of the center position on the map to the map application server 1. The system control unit 11 may execute the map information provision processing each time it receives display range information from the user terminal 5.

As shown in FIG. 14, the map display control unit 1106 transmits map image data corresponding to the display range information to the user terminal 5 that transmitted the display range information (step S201). The map image data may be stored, for example, in a map platform. The map platform may be, for example, a server device that enables maps to be displayed on the screen of a web browser or an application on the user terminal 5. The map platform may be the map application server 1 itself, or a server device different from the map application server 1. The map platform may store map image data for each map scale, for example. For example, for each scale, data for rectangular map images with a predetermined number of pixels in length and width may be stored in association with the longitude and latitude corresponding to the map image. The map display control unit 1106 may, for example, acquire multiple map image data from the map platform that cover a wider area than the geographical area indicated by the display range information. In this case, the map display control unit 1106 may acquire only map image data corresponding to the current scale, or map image data corresponding to multiple scales including the current scale. The map display control unit 1106 may associate each acquired map image data with the latitude and longitude and scale corresponding to that map image data and transmit it to the user terminal 5.

The map display control unit 1106 then extracts facilities located within an area wider than the geographical area for which the map is to be displayed (step S202). For example, the map display control unit 1106 may identify the range of the area covered by map image data obtained from the map platform. The map display control unit 1106 may search the facility DB 14b for facility IDs whose longitude and latitude indicated by the facility location information are within the range of that area. The map display control unit 1106 then initializes the display priority of each extracted facility to zero (step S203).

Next, the attribute information acquisition unit 1105 acquires, for each extracted facility, target user attribute information associated with the facility group ID of the facility group to which the facility belongs from the facility group DB 14a (step S204). Next, the map display control unit 1106 identifies, from the extracted facilities, facilities for which the ownership probability of all attributes indicated by the target user attribute information is equal to or greater than a threshold (step S205). For example, for each combination of attribute item ID and attribute value included in the target user attribute information, the map display control unit 1106 may acquire attribute information including the user ID and the attribute item ID of the user from the user attribute DB 14c. If the attribute type included in the attribute information is a "factual attribute" and the attribute value included in the target user attribute information matches the attribute value included in the attribute information acquired from the user attribute DB 14c, the map display control unit 1106 may determine that the ownership probability is 100%. If the attribute type included in the attribute information is a "factual attribute" and the attribute value included in the target user attribute information differs from the attribute value included in the attribute information acquired from the user attribute DB 14c, the map display control unit 1106 may determine that the ownership probability is 0%. If the attribute type included in the attribute information is an "estimated attribute" and the attribute value included in the target user attribute information matches the attribute value included in the attribute information acquired from the user attribute DB 14c, the map display control unit 1106 may compare the ownership probability included in the attribute information with a threshold. If the attribute type included in the attribute information is an "estimated attribute" and the attribute value included in the target user attribute information differs from the attribute value included in the attribute information acquired from the user attribute DB 14c, the map display control unit 1106 may calculate the ownership probability to be compared with the threshold by subtracting the ownership probability included in the attribute information from 100%.

Next, the facility usage history information acquisition unit 1104 acquires from the behavior history DB 22 an action log including the user ID of the user of the user terminal 5 that transmitted the display range information (step S206). Next, the map display control unit 1106 identifies, from the facilities identified in step S205, facilities that the user has not used as priority facilities (step S207). For example, the map display control unit 1106 may acquire the facility IDs of facilities that the user has used from the acquired action logs that include activity content information indicating facility use. The map display control unit 1106 may also acquire from the facility DB 14b a facility group ID associated with the facility ID of each facility that the user has used. The map display control unit 1106 may also acquire from the facility DB 14b a facility group ID associated with the facility ID of each identified facility. Based on the acquired facility group IDs, the map display control unit 1106 may identify, from the identified facilities, facilities that do not belong to a facility group that the user has used as unused facilities.

Next, the map display control unit 1106 adds a predetermined value to the display priority of the identified priority facility (step S208). Next, the map display control unit 1106 transmits display information for each facility extracted in step S202 to the user terminal 5 (step S209). For example, the map display control unit 1106 may acquire the facility name, facility location information, and category information for each facility from the facility DB 14b. The map display control unit 1106 may generate display information including the acquired information, display priority, upper limit number information, etc. Once the map display control unit 1106 has transmitted the generated display information, the map information provision process ends.

Figure 15 is a flowchart showing an example of map display processing in the user terminal 5 according to this embodiment. For example, when a map app is launched, the user terminal 5 may execute map display processing in accordance with the map app.

As shown in FIG. 15, the user terminal 5 transmits display range information to the map application server (step S301). For example, the user terminal 5 may acquire the current location information of the user terminal 5 and transmit display range information including the location information, the initial scale value, the screen resolution of the user terminal 5, the user ID, etc.

Next, the user terminal 5 receives the map image data and display information transmitted from the map application server 1 in response to the transmission of the display range information (step S302). Next, the user terminal 5 displays a map image on the screen based on the map image data (step S303). For example, the user terminal 5 may convert the longitude and latitude associated with each piece of map image data corresponding to the current scale into coordinates in the screen's coordinate system based on the display range information. The user terminal 5 may identify a map image, at least a portion of which is to be displayed on the screen, based on the converted coordinates. The user terminal 5 may display each identified map image on the screen at a position corresponding to its coordinates.

The user terminal 5 then extracts, based on the display range information, facilities located within the geographical area for which the map is displayed on the screen from the facilities corresponding to the display information received from the map application server 1 (step S304). For example, the user terminal 5 may convert the longitude and latitude indicated by the facility location information included in each piece of display information into coordinates in the coordinate system of the screen. The user terminal 5 may extract facilities whose converted coordinates indicate a position on the screen.

Next, the user terminal 5 selects, for each facility category, from the extracted facilities in descending order of display priority based on the display priority, category information, and upper limit number information included in the display information, a number of facilities equivalent to the upper limit of the number of facilities that can be displayed (step S305). Next, the user terminal 5 displays facility icons for each selected facility on the map image on the screen (step S306). For example, for each selected facility, the user terminal 5 may display a facility icon corresponding to the category information included in the display information at the converted coordinates, and may also display the facility name near the facility icon.

The user terminal 5 then determines whether the range of the geographical area for which the map is to be displayed has changed (step S307). For example, the range may change due to movement of the user terminal 5, a change in scale, user operation, etc. If the range of the geographical area for which the map is to be displayed has changed (step S307: YES), the user terminal 5 determines whether additional map image data is required (step S308). If additional map image data is not required (step S308: NO), the process proceeds to step S303. The user terminal 5 then continues displaying the map using the map image data and display information currently stored in the user terminal 5. If additional map image data is required (step S308: YES), the process proceeds to step S301. The user terminal 5 then transmits display range information corresponding to the changed range of the geographical area to the map application server 1.

If the range of the geographical area for which the map is to be displayed has not changed (step S307: NO), the user terminal 5 determines whether to terminate the map application (step S309). For example, the map application is terminated by a user operation. If the map application is not to be terminated (step S309: NO), processing proceeds to step S307. If the map application is to be terminated (step S309: YES), the map display processing ends.

As described above, according to this embodiment, the map application server 1 may acquire factual information indicating facts about the user using the user terminal 5. Furthermore, the map application server 1 may determine, based on the factual information, a value corresponding to the likelihood that the user using the user terminal 5 has an attribute whose possession is not indicated as a fact by the factual information. Furthermore, the map application server 1 may acquire usage history information indicating the user's facility usage history. Furthermore, the map application server 1 may acquire, from the facility group DB 14a, target user attribute information associated with each of multiple facilities located within a geographical area corresponding to the map displayed on the screen. Furthermore, the map application server 1 may display facilities on the map. In this case, based on the usage history information and the target user attribute information, the map application server 1 may display, among the multiple facilities, priority facilities that have not been used by the user using the user terminal 5 and that are associated with an attribute whose determined value is equal to or greater than a threshold, in preference to facilities other than the priority facilities. A facility with a relatively high probability that the user has an attribute associated with the facility is a facility that is relatively likely to be used by the user. Therefore, facilities that users are likely to use can be displayed on the map with priority.

Here, the map application server 1 may display a number of facilities for each facility category that is less than the upper limit of the facility display limit. In this case, an appropriate number of facilities for each facility category can be displayed on the map.

The map application server 1 may also determine a value corresponding to the probability that a user has a predetermined attribute using an attribute estimation model that indicates the relationship between the degree of a user's predetermined behavior and the probability that the user has a predetermined attribute. In this case, the probability that a user has a predetermined attribute can be estimated from the user's behavior.

[2. Second embodiment]
Next, a second embodiment will be described with reference to Figures 16 to 18. The second embodiment may be the same as the first embodiment, except for the following points. In this embodiment, affiliated facilities of services included in the comprehensive Internet service that the user has not yet used are preferentially displayed on the map.

Figure 16 is a diagram showing an example of functional blocks of the system control unit 11 of the map application server 1 according to this embodiment. In Figure 16, the same elements as in Figure 7 are assigned the same reference numerals. Figure 16 differs from Figure 7 in that in Figure 16, the system control unit 11 also functions as a service usage information acquisition unit 1107.

The service usage information acquisition unit 1107 may acquire service usage information indicating the usage status of a specified priority service by the user of the user terminal 5. The priority service may be a service with which the facility can partner. Examples of services with which the facility can partner include services to which the facility is affiliated, services available at the facility, and services for which the facility accepts contracts. Examples of such services include facility reservation services, service reservation services, point cards, mobile communication services, credit card payments, app payments, electronic money payment receipt/point exchange services, check-in services, and spot SNSs. The priority service may be at least one service included in the comprehensive Internet service. For example, the priority service may be all services included in the comprehensive Internet service with which the facility can partner, or it may be one or more predetermined services. The service usage information may include, for example, an action log stored in the action history DB 22. The service ID included in the action log indicates the service used by the user. When the service usage information acquisition unit 1107 acquires an action log, for example, the facility usage history information acquisition unit 1104 may also function as the service usage information acquisition unit 1107.

When the service usage information acquired by the service usage information acquisition unit 1107 indicates that a priority service is not being used and the value determined by the attribute possession probability determination unit 1103 for an attribute related to an affiliated facility affiliated with a priority service is equal to or greater than a threshold, the map display control unit 1106 may display the affiliated facility preferentially over facilities other than both affiliated facilities and priority facilities. In this case, the map display control unit 1106 may display the affiliated facility preferentially regardless of whether the user has not yet used the affiliated facility. This makes it possible to encourage the user to use unused services through the use of the affiliated facility. Note that the map display control unit 1106 may preferentially display only affiliated facilities of unused services, but may not preferentially display facilities that the user has not yet used.

Whether or not a user has used a certain service may be determined based on the user's experience using the service. For example, an unused service may be a facility that the user has never used to date, or a service that the user has not used within a specified period of time in the past. Furthermore, whether or not a user has used a service may correspond to the contract status of that service. For example, a service for which the user has not yet signed a contract is an unused service. A service for which the user has a contract is a service in use. A service for which the user once signed a contract but then canceled is an unused service.

Figure 17 shows an example of determining whether a facility is prioritized for display. For example, a certain mobile phone shop Z sells mobile phones and accepts contracts for various mobile communication services. As shown in Figure 17, the target user attribute information for mobile phone shop Z indicates that the target user is a user with a diamond-rank membership and a parent. Furthermore, mobile phone shop Z is a member of a credit card payment service, which is included in the comprehensive Internet service, and is also affiliated with a mobile communication service. Suppose that a certain user d displays a map on user terminal 5. The geographical area corresponding to the map includes mobile phone shop Z. As shown in Figure 17, user d's membership rank is diamond. Furthermore, the probability that user d has a child is 88 percent. If the threshold is 80 percent, mobile phone shop Z may be a candidate for priority display. Meanwhile, user d has previously used mobile phone shop Z. Specifically, user d purchased a mobile phone at mobile phone shop Z by completing the contract procedures for a mobile communication service different from the mobile communication service included in the comprehensive Internet service. User d paid for the purchase using the credit card payment service included in the comprehensive Internet service. Therefore, while user d has used the credit card payment service, which is one of the services included in the comprehensive Internet service, he has not used the mobile communication service. If the mobile communication service is included in the priority services, mobile phone shop Z will be displayed preferentially to user d. This will encourage user d to sign up for the mobile communication service included in the comprehensive Internet service at mobile phone shop Z.

When priority facilities and affiliated facilities with priority services are mixed, the map display control unit 1106 may display the priority facilities and affiliated facilities with the same priority. Alternatively, the map display control unit 1106 may display either the priority facilities or the affiliated facilities with priority over the other.

18 is a flowchart showing an example of the map information provision process in the system control unit 11 of the map application server 1 in this embodiment. In FIG. 18, the same processes as in FIG. 14 are assigned the same reference numerals. As shown in FIG. 18, steps S201 to S208 are first executed, as in the first embodiment. Next, the map display control unit 1106 identifies, from the priority services, services that the user has not yet used, based on the action log acquired in step S206 (step S211). For example, if there is an action log containing the service ID of a priority service and activity content information indicating the use of or subscription to that priority service, the map display control unit 1106 may determine that the user is using that priority service. If there is no such action log, the map display control unit 1106 may determine that a priority service is not being used. Furthermore, if, among the action logs containing the service ID of a certain priority service, the action log with the latest activity date and time contains activity content information indicating the cancellation of the subscription to that priority service, the map display control unit 1106 may determine that the priority service is not being used.

Next, the map display control unit 1106 identifies affiliated facilities of the identified unused service from among the facilities identified in step S205 (step S212). For example, the map display control unit 1106 may obtain service information associated with the facility group ID of the facility group to which each identified facility belongs from the facility group DB 14a. The map display control unit 1106 may identify as affiliated facilities facilities whose service information includes the service ID of an unused service. Next, the map display control unit 1106 adds a predetermined value to the display priority of the identified affiliated facility (step S213). The value added at this time may be the same as or different from the value added in step S208. Next, step S209 is executed as in the first embodiment.

As described above, this embodiment can encourage users to use unused services through their use of the facility.

3. Third embodiment
Next, a third embodiment will be described with reference to Figures 19 to 22. Except for the following points, the third embodiment may be the same as at least one of the first and second embodiments. In this embodiment, facilities displayed on a map are limited based on the facility search history.

Figure 19 is a block diagram showing an example of the general configuration of a map application server 1 according to this embodiment. In Figure 19, the same elements as in Figure 2 are assigned the same reference numerals. Figure 19 differs from Figure 2 in that in Figure 19, a search history DB 14f is further stored in the storage unit 14.

Figure 20 is a diagram showing an example of information stored in search history DB14f. Search history DB14f may store a history of facility searches. For example, search history DB14f may store a search log each time a facility search is performed. As shown in Figure 20, search history DB14f may include, as search logs, a search log ID, search date and time, user ID, search conditions, and searched facility information. The search log ID is identification information that identifies the search log. The search date and time indicates the date and time the search was performed. The user ID indicates the user who requested the search. The search conditions indicate the conditions for searching for a facility. Examples of conditions included in the search conditions include the facility name or other keywords, address, category, etc. The searched facility information shows a list of searched facilities. The searched facility information may include, for example, a facility ID, facility group ID, category information, address, etc. for each searched facility.

For example, the map application server 1 may search for facilities in response to a request from a user using a map application. For example, the user inputs search criteria into the user terminal 5. The user terminal 5 transmits the input search criteria to the map application server 1. The map application server 1 searches for one or more facilities that meet the search criteria, for example, using the facility group DB 14a or facility DB 14b. The map application server 1 transmits the search results to the user terminal 5. The search results may include, for example, the facility name, category name, address, etc. for each searched facility. The user terminal 5 displays the search results on the screen. The user selects a facility from the displayed search results. The user terminal 5 transmits display range information including the location of the selected facility to the map application server 1. The map application server 1 displays a map on the user terminal 5 based on the display range information and displays the facility on the map. In this case, the location of the facility selected by the user becomes the center of the map. At this time, the map application server 1 may store the search log in the search history DB 14f.

Figure 21 is a diagram showing an example of functional blocks of the system control unit 11 of the map application server 1 according to this embodiment. In Figure 21, the same elements as in Figure 7 are assigned the same reference numerals. Figure 21 differs from Figure 7 in that in Figure 21, the system control unit 11 also functions as a search history information acquisition unit 1108.

The search history information acquisition unit 1108 may acquire a facility search history in response to a request from a user of the user terminal 5. For example, the acquired search history may be at least one search log stored in the search history DB 14f that includes the user's user ID. In this case, the search history information acquisition unit 1108 may acquire only the search log with the most recent search date and time. Alternatively, the search history information acquisition unit 1108 may acquire a predetermined number of search logs in descending order of search date and time. Alternatively, the search history information acquisition unit 1108 may acquire one or more search logs whose search date and time are within a predetermined period in the past.

The search history information acquisition unit 1108 may acquire search history for at least one service other than a map service, among the services included in the comprehensive Internet service, from the service server 4 corresponding to that service. In this case, the search history information acquisition unit 1108 may acquire the search history of the user of the user terminal 5 displaying the map. For example, in an online shopping mall, product search history may be recorded. It may be possible to identify the facility that sells the product from the product search history. Also, for example, in a facility reservation service, facility search history may be recorded.

The map display control unit 1106 may determine which facilities to display on the map from among multiple facilities located within the geographical area corresponding to the map displayed on the screen of the user terminal 5, and which belong to the same category as the category to which the facility indicated by the search history acquired by the search history information acquisition unit 1108 belongs. In other words, facilities in the same category as the facility previously searched for become candidates for facilities to be displayed on the map. Therefore, even if a facility is a priority facility or an affiliated service of an unused service, if it does not belong to the same category as the facility previously searched for, that facility will not be displayed on the map. In this way, the facilities displayed on the map are filtered. The category used to filter the displayed facilities may be the same as or different from the type of category used to limit the number of facilities to display.

Figure 22 shows an example of determining candidate facilities to be displayed on a map. As shown in Figure 22, supermarket K and restaurant L are searched for in response to a request from a certain user. The categories of supermarket K and restaurant L, respectively, are supermarket and restaurant. The search log includes supermarket K and restaurant L. The user then displays a map on the user terminal 5. At this time, as shown in Figure 22, hotel M, supermarket N, ramen shop O, convenience store P, restaurant Q, etc. are extracted as facilities located within the geographical area corresponding to the map. The categories of hotel M, supermarket N, ramen shop O, convenience store P, and restaurant Q, respectively, are hotel, supermarket, ramen shop, convenience store, and restaurant. In this case, supermarket N and restaurant Q are candidates for display on the map. Whether these facilities are displayed is determined based on whether they are priority facilities, whether they are affiliated facilities of unused services, and the maximum number of facilities to display per category. Hotel M, ramen shop O, and convenience store P are not displayed.

For example, when facilities located within an area are extracted in step S202 of the map information provision process shown in FIG. 14, the search history information acquisition unit 1108 may acquire, from the search history DB 14f, a search log including the user ID of the user of the user terminal 5 that transmitted the display range information. The map display control unit 1106 may determine facilities to be displayed as candidates, for example, based on the category of the searched facility indicated by the search log and the category of the facility located within the area. Thereafter, the processing from step S203 onwards may be performed for the facilities to be displayed as candidates.

As explained above, this embodiment allows facilities in the category desired by the user to be displayed.

(Supplementary Note 1) A map display control system comprising: acquisition means for acquiring factual information indicating facts related to a terminal user using a terminal device; determination means for determining, based on the acquired factual information, a value corresponding to the likelihood that the terminal user has an attribute whose possession is not indicated as a fact by the fact information, said determination means determining the value for the attribute where there is a correlation between the fact and the probability; usage history information acquisition means for acquiring usage history information indicating the history of facility use by the terminal user; attribute information acquisition means for acquiring, from storage means that associates attribute information indicating attributes related to facilities as user attributes with the facilities and storing the attribute information; and display control means for displaying facilities on the displayed map, which, based on the acquired usage history information and the acquired attribute information, displays priority facilities of the multiple facilities that have not been used by the terminal user and for which the determined value is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, in preference to facilities other than the priority facilities.

(Appendix 2) The map display control system described in Appendix 1 is characterized in that the plurality of facilities may include affiliated facilities affiliated with a predetermined service, and further comprising service usage information acquisition means for acquiring service usage information indicating the usage status of the predetermined service by the terminal user, and the display control means, when the acquired service usage information indicates non-use of the predetermined service and the value determined by the determination means for the attribute related to the affiliated facility is equal to or greater than the predetermined value, displays the affiliated facility in priority over facilities different from both the affiliated facility and the priority facility, regardless of whether the terminal user has not used the affiliated facility.

(Appendix 3) The map display control system described in Appendix 2, wherein the specified service is a mobile communications service, and the affiliated facility is a facility that accepts contract applications for the mobile communications service.

(Appendix 4) The map display control system described in Appendix 2, wherein the specified service is an electronic payment service, and the affiliated facility is a facility where the purchase price of the transaction object provided by the affiliated facility can be paid using the electronic payment service.

(Appendix 5) A map display control system as described in any one of Appendices 1 to 4, characterized in that an upper limit on the number of facilities that can be displayed on the screen is predetermined for each facility category, and the display control means displays a number of facilities for each facility category that is equal to or less than the upper limit.

(Appendix 6) The map display control system described in any one of Appendices 1 to 5 further comprises a search history information acquisition means for acquiring search history information indicating a history of facility searches in response to requests from the terminal user, the search history information indicating searched facilities, and the display control means determines, from among the plurality of facilities, facilities in the same category as the category to which the facility indicated by the acquired search history information belongs, which facility to display on the map.

(Appendix 7) A map display control system according to any one of Appendices 1 to 6, wherein the acquired factual information indicates the degree to which the terminal user has performed a predetermined behavior, and the determination means determines the value according to the probability that the terminal user possesses the predetermined attribute using a model indicating the relationship between the degree of the predetermined behavior and the probability that the user possesses the predetermined attribute.

(Appendix 8) The map display control system described in any one of Appendices 1 to 7, wherein the attribute information stored in the storage means indicates attributes possessed by users of the facility.

(Appendix 9) A map display control method executed by a computer, comprising: an acquisition step of acquiring factual information indicating facts related to a terminal user using a terminal device; a determination step of determining, based on the acquired factual information, a value corresponding to the likelihood that the terminal user has an attribute whose possession is not indicated as a fact by the fact information, wherein the determination step determines the value for the attribute where there is a correlation between the fact and the probability; a usage history information acquisition step of acquiring usage history information indicating the history of facility use by the terminal user; an attribute information acquisition step of acquiring, from a storage means that associates attribute information indicating attributes related to facilities as user attributes with the facilities and stores the attribute information; and a display control step of displaying facilities on the displayed map, wherein, based on the acquired usage history information and the acquired attribute information, a priority facility associated with the attribute that has not been used by the terminal user and for which the determined value is equal to or greater than a predetermined value is displayed in preference to facilities other than the priority facility.

1 Map application server 2 Member information management server 3 Point management server 4 Service server 5 User terminal 11 System control unit 12 System bus 13 Input/output interface 14 Storage unit 14a Facility group DB
14b Facility DB
14c User attribute DB
14d Attribute estimation model DB
14e Location information DB
14f Search history DB
15 Communication Department 21 Member DB
22 Behavioral history DB
1101 Fact information acquisition unit 1102 Attribute estimation model generation unit 1103 Attribute possession probability determination unit 1104 Facility usage history information acquisition unit 1105 Attribute information acquisition unit 1106 Map display control unit 1107 Service usage information acquisition unit 1108 Search history information acquisition unit NW Network S Communication system

Claims (11)

a model generated for each of the one or more second attribute items based on first fact information about a first attribute item of a target attribute that is the target of determining an ownership probability, which is the probability that the user has the attribute item, among the plurality of attribute items, and second fact information about one or more second attribute items among the plurality of attribute items that are different from the first attribute item of the target attribute , wherein, based on a model indicating a relationship between an attribute that the user has as a fact indicated by the second fact information and the ownership probability of the target attribute, a second attribute item among the one or more second attribute items for which a difference between a minimum value and a maximum value of the ownership probability of the target attribute is recognized to be significant is determined as a determination item for determining the ownership probability of the target attribute, and the model generated for the second attribute item determined as the determination item is stored in a predetermined model storage means;
a terminal user fact information acquisition means for acquiring , from the fact information storage means , the second fact information indicating an attribute that a terminal user using a terminal device has with respect to the second attribute item determined as the determination item;
a probability determination means for determining a probability of possession of the target attribute for the terminal user based on the second factual information acquired by the terminal user factual information acquisition means and the model stored in the model storage means for the decision item;
a service usage information acquisition means for acquiring service usage information indicating a usage status of a predetermined service by the terminal user;
a facility -related attribute information acquiring means for acquiring facility-related attribute information associated with each of a plurality of facilities located within a geographical area corresponding to a map displayed on the screen of the terminal device from a facility-related attribute information storage means for storing facility -related attribute information indicating facility -related attributes related to a facility as a user attribute in association with the facility ;
a display control means for displaying facilities on the displayed map based on the acquired service usage information and the acquired facility-related attribute information ;
Equipped with
The plurality of facilities may include affiliated facilities that are affiliated with the predetermined service,
The display control means is characterized in that, when the acquired service usage information indicates that the specified service has not been used and the possession probability of the target attribute determined by the probability determination means for the facility-related attribute related to the affiliated facility is equal to or greater than a specified value, the display control means displays the affiliated facility preferentially among the multiple facilities . The target attribute for which the ownership probability, which is the probability that the user has the attribute, is determined is and storing, for each user, first fact information indicating whether or not the user has the property as a fact. The first factual information acquired for a plurality of users from a factual information storage means, and The behavior history information indicating the behavior history is stored in a behavior history storage means for storing the behavior history information for each user. Based on the behavior history information, one or more behavior items as behavior degree items are taken. The second factual information obtained is the degree of the action taken by each of the plurality of users. , the second factual information indicating the degree of the action of the action item, and A model generated for each of the action items is represented by the second factual information. Based on a model showing the relationship between the degree of behavior as a fact and the probability of possessing the target attribute, Among the one or more behavior items, the minimum and maximum values of the possession probability of the target attribute are The behavioral items for which the difference is deemed significant are used to determine the probability of possessing the target attribute. The decision item is determined, and the row determined for the decision item in the generated model is The model for the moving item is stored in a predetermined model storage means,
The degree of the behavior of the terminal user who uses the terminal device, which is determined in the determination item and storing third fact information indicating the degree of the behavior of the selected behavior item in the behavior history storage means. a terminal user fact information acquisition means for acquiring the fact information based on the collected behavior history information;
The third fact information acquired by the terminal user fact information acquisition means and the decision term Based on the model stored in the model storage means, a probability determination means for determining the possession probability of the target attribute;
a service for acquiring service usage information indicating the usage status of a predetermined service by a terminal user; A means for acquiring service usage information;
Facility-related attribute information indicating facility-related attributes related to the facility as user attributes is stored in the user's database. The map displayed on the screen of the terminal device is stored from the facility-related attribute information storage means. the facility-related attributes associated with each of a plurality of facilities located within a geographic region corresponding to facility-related attribute information acquisition means for acquiring sexual information;
Based on the acquired service usage information and the acquired facility-related attribute information, a display control means for displaying facilities on the displayed map;
Equipped with
The plurality of facilities may include affiliated facilities that are affiliated with the predetermined service,
The display control means displays a message indicating that the predetermined service is not being used based on the acquired service usage information. and the possession probability of the target attribute is displayed on the facility-related attribute related to the affiliated facility. When the possession probability determined by the probability determining means is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, A map display control system characterized in that the affiliated facilities are displayed with priority among a number of facilities. Hmm. a first fact information means for acquiring the first fact information from the fact information storage means;
second fact information means for acquiring the second fact information from the fact information storage means;
The first factual information acquired by the first factual information means and the second factual information means and the second fact information obtained from the one or more second attribute items. a model generation means for generating the model for each of the plurality of objects;
Based on the model generated by the model generation means, the one or more second attribute terms Before the difference between the minimum and maximum values of the possession probability of the target attribute is recognized as significant, an item determining means for determining the second attribute item as the determined item;
Further provided with
The model storage means stores the model generated by the model generation means. a model for the second attribute item determined as the determined item by the item determining means; 2. The map display control system according to claim 1, wherein: a first fact information means for acquiring the first fact information from the fact information storage means;
The second fact information is obtained based on the behavior history information stored in the behavior history storage means. a second fact information means for acquiring the fact information;
The first factual information acquired by the first factual information means and the second factual information means and the second factual information obtained from the a model generation means for generating the model;
Based on the model generated by the model generation means, the one or more action items Among these, the difference between the minimum and maximum values of the ownership probability of the target attribute is deemed significant. an item determination means for determining an action item as the determined item;
Further provided with
The model storage means stores the model generated by the model generation means. A model for the action item determined as the determined item by the item determination means is stored. 3. The map display control system according to claim 2. the predetermined service is a mobile communication service,
The affiliated facility is a facility that accepts applications for a contract for the mobile communication service. 5. A map display control system according to claim 1, wherein: the predetermined service is an electronic payment service,
The affiliated facility may pay the purchase price of the transaction object provided by the affiliated facility through the electronic payment service. The facility according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein payment can be made using the service. The map display control system described herein. an upper limit of the number of facilities that can be displayed on the screen is predetermined for each facility category; The display control means displays the number of facilities for each category of the facilities up to the upper limit. 5. The map display control system according to claim 1, wherein: Search history information indicating a history of searches for facilities in response to requests from the terminal user, The system further comprises a search history information acquisition means for acquiring search history information indicating the searched facilities,
The display control means selects a facility from among the plurality of facilities indicated by the acquired search history information. The facility to be displayed on the map is selected from the facilities in the same category as the facility to be displayed. 5. The map display control system according to claim 1, wherein the map display control system determines a map display setting. Hmm. The facility-related attribute information stored in the facility-related attribute information storage means is 5. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the information processing device indicates an attribute of a user who is a user of the information processing device. Diagram display control system. 1. A computer-implemented map display control method, comprising:
For each of a plurality of attribute items, a user has a fact about the attribute item. The fact information indicating the attributes of a plurality of users is stored in a fact information storage means for storing the fact information for each user. The acquired factual information is a probability that the user has one of the plurality of attribute items. First factual information about a first attribute item of a target attribute for which ownership probability is to be determined; Among the plurality of attribute items, one or more second attribute items different from the first attribute item of the target attribute are selected. and determining the second factual information about the one or more second attribute items based on the second factual information about the one or more second attribute items. The model generated for each of the facts indicated by the second factual information is Based on a model showing the relationship between the attributes possessed by the user and the possession probability of the target attribute, Among one or more second attribute items, the difference between the minimum and maximum values of the possession probability of the target attribute is significant. The second attribute item that is recognized as being meaningful is used as a decision item for determining the possession probability of the target attribute. The second model determined as the determination item is generated. The model for the attribute item is stored in a predetermined model storage means;
A terminal user who uses a terminal device may provide a response to the second attribute item determined as the determination item. The terminal user acquires the second fact information indicating the attribute that the user has from the fact information storage means. The factual information acquisition step;
The second fact information acquired by the terminal user fact information acquisition step and the decision The terminal user performs the following steps based on the model stored in the model storage means for the predetermined item. a probability determination step of determining a possession probability of the target attribute for
a service for acquiring service usage information indicating the usage status of a predetermined service by a terminal user; A step of acquiring service usage information;
Facility-related attribute information indicating facility-related attributes related to the facility as user attributes is stored in the user's database. The map displayed on the screen of the terminal device is stored from the facility-related attribute information storage means. the facility-related attributes associated with each of a plurality of facilities located within a geographic region corresponding to a facility-related attribute information acquisition step for acquiring sexual information;
Based on the acquired service usage information and the acquired facility-related attribute information, a display control step of displaying facilities on the displayed map;
Including,
The plurality of facilities may include affiliated facilities that are affiliated with the predetermined service,
The display control step is configured to display the acquired service usage information based on the predetermined service usage information. The facility-related attribute related to the affiliated facility is used as the possession probability of the target attribute. When the probability of possession determined by the probability determination step is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, A map display system characterized in that the affiliated facility is displayed with priority among the plurality of facilities. Your method. 1. A computer-implemented map display control method, comprising:
The target attribute for which the ownership probability, which is the probability that the user has the attribute, is determined is and storing, for each user, first fact information indicating whether or not the user has the property as a fact. The first factual information acquired for a plurality of users from a factual information storage means, and The behavior history information indicating the behavior history is stored in a behavior history storage means for storing the behavior history information for each user. Based on the behavior history information, one or more behavior items as behavior degree items are taken. The second factual information obtained is the degree of the action taken by each of the plurality of users. , the second factual information indicating the degree of the action of the action item, and A model generated for each of the action items is represented by the second factual information. Based on a model showing the relationship between the degree of behavior as a fact and the probability of possessing the target attribute, Among the one or more behavior items, the minimum and maximum values of the possession probability of the target attribute are The behavioral items for which the difference is deemed significant are used to determine the probability of possessing the target attribute. The decision item is determined, and the row determined for the decision item is included in the generated model. The model for the moving item is stored in a predetermined model storage means,
The degree of the behavior of the terminal user who uses the terminal device, which is determined in the determination item and storing third fact information indicating the degree of the behavior of the selected action item in the behavior history storage means. a terminal user fact information acquisition step for acquiring the terminal user fact information based on the acquired behavior history information;
The third fact information acquired by the terminal user fact information acquisition step and the decision The terminal user performs the following steps based on the model stored in the model storage means for the predetermined item. a probability determination step of determining a possession probability of the target attribute for
a service for acquiring service usage information indicating the usage status of a predetermined service by a terminal user; A step of acquiring service usage information;
Facility-related attribute information indicating facility-related attributes related to the facility as user attributes is stored in the facility-related information storage unit. The map displayed on the screen of the terminal device is stored from the facility-related attribute information storage means. the facility-related attributes associated with each of a plurality of facilities located within a geographic region corresponding to a facility-related attribute information acquisition step for acquiring sexual information;
Based on the acquired service usage information and the acquired facility-related attribute information, a display control step of displaying facilities on the displayed map;
Including,
The plurality of facilities may include affiliated facilities that are affiliated with the predetermined service,
The display control step is configured to display information indicating whether the acquired service usage information is a service that has not yet been used. The facility-related attribute related to the affiliated facility is used as the possession probability of the target attribute. When the probability of possession determined by the probability determination step is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, A map display system characterized in that the affiliated facility is displayed with priority among the plurality of facilities. Your method.