JP2002041562A - Content evaluation method - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] [Problem] To accurately obtain a degree of interest in a content of a user without forcing a user to perform a special operation. SOLUTION: An interest level evaluation table 62 is filled with names of contents viewed by a user, and evaluation items include a viewing time rate, the number of operations during viewing, the presence or absence of volume adjustment operations during viewing, and the content ending time. The presence or absence of a content switching operation for two minutes before and after is set. By adopting items other than the viewing time rate as evaluation items, the viewer is not interested in watching, but somehow the television receiver that is powered on is just This prevents content from being evaluated as content of high interest. For each evaluation item, an evaluation function for quantifying the evaluation item and “weight” for each evaluation item are prepared.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a content evaluation method, and more particularly, to a content evaluation method capable of accurately determining a degree of interest in a content of a user without forcing the user to perform a special operation.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, in addition to terrestrial broadcasting, BS (Broadc
asting Satellite broadcast and CS (Communication Sa)
Tellite) broadcasting is becoming widespread, and an extremely large number of programs (contents) have been broadcasted compared to the case of terrestrial broadcasting. However, with the increase in the number of channels, it is considered that it becomes difficult for viewers to search for a content that matches their own preference from a very large number of programs being broadcast. Therefore, there is a need for a technology that supports selection of content to be viewed or recorded based on viewer preference information.

[0003] In order to provide various services to the user by using the preference information of the user who watches the program to be broadcast, it is first necessary to determine whether the user who views the program is interested in the content. Alternatively, it is necessary to find out what points the user is interested in in the content being viewed.

Conventionally, to check whether a user who watches a program is interested in the content,
2. Description of the Related Art It has been proposed to allow a user to input whether or not he or she is interested in content in some way, or to recognize content that has been sufficiently viewed in time as content that the user is interested in.

[0005]

However, it is hard to say that this method is convenient for a user who is forced to perform an input operation when the user is required to input whether or not he / she is interested in the content.

[0006] Further, when the user's interest is the content viewing time, the user is not forced to perform an input operation.
For example, if the user is interested in multiple contents that are broadcast during the same time zone, and frequently switches channels to view each content even a little, There is a possibility that the degree of interest of the user and the viewing time of the content do not coincide with each other, for example, when the television is simply kept turned on during the non-broadcast time zone.

[0007] The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and without forcing a user to perform a special operation,
This is to enable the degree of interest in the content of the user to be obtained with high accuracy.

[0008]

According to the content evaluation method of the present invention, a first obtaining step of obtaining first information indicating the content of a user operation and a second information of a content to be operated are obtained. A second acquisition step, and first information acquired by the processing of the first acquisition step,
A first recording control step of controlling the recording of the first information and the second information so that the second information acquired by the processing of the second acquiring step is recorded in association with the first information; A digitizing step of digitizing a user's operation content for each content based on a predetermined evaluation item based on the first information and the second information whose recording is controlled by the processing of the first recording control step; And a second recording control step of controlling the recording of the digitized result by the processing of the digitizing step.

In the process of the digitizing step, the operation contents of the user for each evaluation item can be digitized using a predetermined function defined for each evaluation item.

In the process of the digitizing step, the operation contents of the user can be digitized using a predetermined coefficient determined based on the importance of the evaluation item.

[0011] The evaluation item can include the number of operations during viewing of the content.

[0012] The evaluation item can include the presence or absence of volume adjustment during viewing of the content.

The evaluation item can include the presence or absence of an operation at a predetermined time including the end time of the content.

[0014] The evaluation item can include the presence or absence of a recording operation for the content.

[0015] The evaluation item can include the presence or absence of a pause operation during content viewing.

[0016] The method may further include a calculating step of calculating a viewing time rate with respect to the entire broadcast time of the content based on the first information and the second information whose recording has been controlled by the processing of the first recording control step. The evaluation item can include the viewing time rate calculated by the processing of the calculation step.

[0017] A calculation step of calculating a content viewing time based on the first information and the second information whose recording has been controlled by the processing of the first recording control step can be further included. Can include the viewing time calculated by the processing of the calculation step.

In the content evaluation method of the present invention,
First information indicating the operation content of the user is obtained, second information regarding the content to be operated is obtained,
The first information and the second information are recorded in association with each other, and based on the recorded first information and the second information, the operation content of the user is quantified for each content based on a predetermined evaluation item. The recording of the digitized result is controlled.

[0019]

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

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of the hard disk recorder 1. The hard disk recorder 1 is capable of recording a large number of images on an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 27 having a huge storage capacity. The hard disk recorder 1 can be implemented as an AV device, and can be configured integrally with a television receiver such as a set-top box (STB).

A broadcast wave received by an antenna (not shown) is supplied to a tuner 11. The broadcast wave is based on a predetermined format, for example, EPG (Electronic
Program Guide) data may be included. The broadcast wave is not particularly limited to a satellite broadcast wave, a terrestrial wave, a cable, or a wireless.

The tuner 11 tunes a broadcast wave of a predetermined channel, that is, selects a channel under the control of the CPU 22, and outputs received data to the demodulation unit 12. Note that the configuration of the tuner 11 can be changed or expanded as appropriate depending on whether the transmitted broadcast wave is analog or digital. The demodulation unit 12
Demodulates the digitally modulated received data, and separates
Output to 3.

For example, when the received broadcast is a digital satellite broadcast, the digital data received by the tuner 11 and demodulated by the demodulation unit 12 is multiplexed with AV data compressed by the MPEG2 system and broadcast data. Transport stream. The former AV data is video data and audio data constituting a broadcast content main body, and the latter broadcast data includes content description data (eg, EPG data) attached to the broadcast content main body.

The separating section 13 separates, from the demodulated received data, content description data, such as EPG data, associated with the content and AV data. A
The V data is output to the decoder 14. The content description data is sent to the interest information generation unit 28 via the bus 20.
Is input to the HDD 2 via the bus 20 and the HDD interface (I / F (Interface)) 26.
7 is stored in the content description data storage unit 63 (FIG. 2) inside.

When the user instructs real-time output of the received content, the decoder 14 converts the AV data supplied from the separating unit 13 into compressed video data in accordance with a control signal input from the CPU 22. And compressed audio data. The separated audio data is PCM (Pulse Code Modulation)
After being decoded, it is output to the speaker 32 via the mixer (MUX) 16. The separated video data is supplied to the composer 18 after being decompressed.

When the user instructs recording of the received content in the HDD 27 (ie, instructs recording of the content), the decoder 14 outputs
The AV data is output to the HDD 27 via the bus 20 and the HDD interface 26 according to the control signal input from the PU 22.

Further, the decoder 14 is operated by the user to set H
When the reproduction of the content recorded in the DD 27 is instructed, AV data is input from the HDD 27 via the HDD interface 26 and the bus 20 in accordance with the control signal input from the CPU 22, and the compressed video data and the compressed audio data are received. The data is separated into data and output to the composer 18 or the mixer 16, respectively.

The RAM (Random Access Memory) 15
The work data performed by the decoder 14 can be stored.

The composer 18 combines the video data input from the decoder 14 and the image data input from the graphic processing controller 19 as necessary, and outputs the synthesized data to the display 33. Display 33
Displays (reproduces) the video signal supplied from the composer 18. The speaker 32 outputs the audio signal supplied from the mixer 16.

The U / I (user interface) control unit 17 is a module for processing an input operation from the user. For example, when the user operates a remote commander 31 composed of operation buttons or switches, An operation signal (IR signal) emitted from an infrared light emitting unit (not shown) is received by the light receiving unit 17a,
Via the CPU 22.

The CPU 22 is a hard disk recorder 1
A main controller that controls the entire operation, and executes various applications on a platform provided by an operating system (OS). C
The PU 22 includes, for example, the U / I control unit 17 and the bus 20.
, A demodulation unit 12, a separation unit 1 based on an operation signal input from the remote commander 31 via the
3. Recording or reproduction of the content is executed by controlling the decoder 14, the HDD 27, and the like.

The HDD 27 is a storage device that can store programs, data, and the like in a file format of a predetermined format and that can be accessed at random. For example, the HDD 27 has a large capacity of about several tens of GB (or 100 GB or more). I have. The HDD 27 also has an HDD interface.
Connected to the bus 20 via the
4. While receiving broadcast content or content description data from the interest information generation unit 28 or the communication control unit 21 and recording such information,
Output the recorded data as necessary.

The HDD 27 has a content description data storage unit 63 (FIG. 2) therein, and records the input content description data. The content description data stored in the content description data storage unit 63 is read into the CPU 22 or the interest degree information generation unit 28 via the bus 20 as necessary.

The graphic processing controller 19 is a dedicated controller for generating image data.
SVGA (Super Video Graphic Array) or XGA (eXte
ndedGraphic Array) is provided with a high-definition drawing function. The graphic processing controller 19 includes, for example,
A GUI (Graph) that allows the user to enter various settings
hical User Interface) Generates data such as operation screens.

The communication control section 21 controls wired or wireless communication using a telephone line or a cable. By communicating with a server system (not shown) via the communication control unit 21, broadcast contents or EP
G data is exchanged. The broadcast content input to the communication control unit 21 is input to the separation unit 13 via the bus 20, and is processed in the same manner as the broadcast data input via the tuner 11 and the demodulation unit 12.

Further, by communicating with an external device via the communication control unit 21, for example, it is possible to receive input of content description data relating to content not including EPG data such as terrestrial broadcast. Communication control unit 2
The content description data input to 1 is input to the interest information generating unit 28 via the bus 20, and necessary keywords are extracted. The extracted keywords are
0 and the HDD interface 26, the HDD
The content description data storage unit 63 stores the content description data.

A RAM (Random Access Memory) 23
It is a writable volatile memory used to load an execution program of the CPU 22 and write work data of the execution program. ROM (Read Only Me)
mory) 24 is a read-only memory for storing a self-diagnosis / initialization program executed when the power of the hard disk recorder 1 is turned on, a control code for hardware operation, and the like.

IEEE (The Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers) 1394 interface (I /
F) 25 is a serial high-speed interface capable of transmitting and receiving data of about several tens MBps. IEEE1394 port 2
A video camera 34 compatible with IEEE1394 is connected to 5a.

The interest information generation unit 28 converts content description data, which is input from the decoder 14 or the communication control unit 21 via the bus 20 and is described later with reference to FIG.
A necessary keyword or the like is extracted, and the extracted keyword is output to the content description data storage unit 63 of the HDD 27 via the bus 20. In addition, the interest information generation unit 2
8 receives an input of a signal indicating the operation content of the user from the U / I control unit 17 via the bus 20, obtains information on the content being viewed by the user from the content description data storage unit 63, The degree of interest for each content is calculated based on the operation content, and the calculation result is recorded.

The timer 29 is provided for the hard disk recorder 1
For example, the interest level information generation unit 28 executes a process described below with reference to FIG. 7 every time a predetermined time elapses by referring to the timer 29.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the configuration of the interest level information generating section 28 of FIG. It should be noted that, although data is actually transmitted / received via the bus 20 in the data transmission / reception of each section, the bus 20 is omitted in FIG.

The U / I control unit 1
For example, based on the signal indicating the operation of the user input from 7, a signal indicating the channel that the user is viewing is output to the keyword extraction unit 53, and the name of the content that the user is viewing, A request for output of information (for example, broadcast time) related to the content is made, and a signal indicating a user's action (for example, volume adjustment or channel switching, etc.) is sent to the user action recording section 52 together with the data input from the keyword extraction section 53. Output to

The keyword extraction unit 53 extracts a keyword from the content description data input from the separation unit 13 or the communication control unit 21 and registers the keyword in the content description data storage unit 63 of the HDD 27.
In accordance with a signal input from the user action detection unit 51, necessary data is read from the content description data storage unit 63 and output to the user action detection unit 51.

As shown in FIG. 3, for example, the content description data describes various keywords related to the content. <TVProgram data-id =
“1”> indicates that the content ID is 1. <ShortTitle> indicates the title of the content, and <longTitle> indicates the subtitle of the content. <Description> describes a description of the content. <Category> is, for example, drama,
It indicates a program type of the content, such as documentary or variety. The keyword indicating the material of the content includes, for example, <character> indicating the performer and <place indicating the place where the program is set.
> And so on. All other keywords are <othe
r>.

The user action recording section 52 receives a signal indicating a user operation input from the user action detection section 51 based on the signal.
The user action table 61 shown in FIG. 4 is created. The user action table 61 records all user operations from a power-on operation to a power-off operation. The user action table 61 records, for example, an action ID, an operation time, an operation content, a viewing content before the operation, and a viewing content after the operation, which are assigned in the order in which the actions are recorded.

For example, the user action table 61 shown in FIG.
In, as the action ID 1002, the power ON operation,
The operation time and the viewed content after the operation are described. Since this operation is a power-on operation, there is no data corresponding to the viewing content before the operation. Next, as the action ID 1003, a channel switching operation, the operation time, “Monday drama” as the viewing content before the operation, and “fashion communication” as the viewing content after the operation are described. As the action ID 1003, a volume up operation, an operation time thereof, “fashion communication” as viewing content before the operation, and “fashion communication” as viewing content after the operation are described.
Since this operation is a volume up operation, the viewing content before and after the operation is the same. Hereinafter, similarly, in the user action table 61, operations up to the power OFF operation of the action ID 1014 are described.

The interest level evaluation table updating section 54 receives a signal indicating a user's power-off operation from the U / I control section 17 or monitors the timer 29 for a predetermined time (for example, 10 minutes). , 30 minutes, etc.)
When the progress is detected, the user behavior table 61 of the user behavior recording unit 52 is read, and the interest evaluation table 62 recorded in the interest evaluation table recording unit 55 is read by the processing described later with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9. Update.

The interest level evaluation table recording unit 55 stores the interest level evaluation table 62. The evaluation item values described in the interest level evaluation table 62 are updated according to a signal input from the interest level evaluation table update unit 54.

FIG. 5 shows an example of the interest degree evaluation table. The interest level evaluation table 62 is designed so that evaluation item values can be described for each content. In the interest degree evaluation table 62, the name of the content that the user has watched is entered by the processing of step S4 in FIG. 7 described later, and as the evaluation item, for example,
There are a viewing time rate, the number of operations during viewing, the presence or absence of a volume adjustment operation during viewing, and the presence or absence of a content switching operation for two minutes before and after the content end time. Assume that the initial value of the evaluation item value of “the number of operations during viewing” in the interest evaluation table 62 is 0.

Here, items other than the viewing time rate were also adopted as the evaluation items because the viewer is not interested in watching the content, but in a television receiver that is powered on somehow. The purpose is to prevent the content in the flowing state from being evaluated as content having a high degree of interest.

That is, when the volume is adjusted during viewing, it is considered that the viewer is consciously watching the content, not just playing the corresponding content. When performing an operation (so-called zapping) to switch to another channel in the content that is being viewed, for example, when a commercial starts, the viewer is consciously watching the content instead of just streaming the corresponding content. It is thought that there is. Even if the content switching operation is performed for two minutes before or after the end time of the content, the viewer is consciously watching the content, rather than just playing the content, so the end of the content (or the end of the content soon) ) Is confirmed, and an operation to switch to another channel is performed at a time near the end of the content.

Also, whether or not the user has recorded the corresponding content, or whether or not the user has performed a pause operation while viewing the content, depends on the behavior of the user who is considered to be conscious of the content. Because there is, it can be added to the evaluation item.

As the evaluation item, the total viewing time of the corresponding content may be set instead of the viewing time rate.

For each evaluation item, an evaluation function shown in FIG. 6 and “weight” for each evaluation item are prepared. The evaluation function is a function for quantifying the evaluation item values described in the interest degree evaluation table 62.

For example, the evaluation function F corresponding to the broadcast time rate
₁ is F ₁ = 0 when the evaluation item value is less than 20, and when the evaluation item value is 20 or more and less than 40, F ₁ =
When the evaluation item value is 40 or more and less than 60, F ₁ = 60. When the evaluation item value is 60 or more and less than 80, F ₁ = 80. When the evaluation item value is 80 or more, F 1. ₁ = 100. The evaluation function F ₂ corresponding to the number of operations is F ₂ = 0 when the evaluation item value is 0, and F ₂ = 20 when the evaluation item value is 0 or more and less than 3.
When the evaluation item value is 3 or more and less than 10, F ₂
= 60, and when the evaluation item value is 10 or more, F ₂
= 100. Evaluation function F for volume adjustment operation
₃ is F ₃ = 0 when the evaluation item value is 0 (no volume adjustment operation), and F ₃ = 100 when the evaluation item value is 1 (with a volume adjustment operation). Further, the evaluation function F ₄ for the content switching operation for two minutes before and after the content end time becomes F ₄ = 0 when the evaluation item value is 0 (there is no operation about two minutes before and after the content end time),
When the evaluation item value is 1 (there is an operation with a content end time of about 2 minutes), F ₄ = 100.

As the evaluation function, a different function may be prepared as needed. For example, by preparing an evaluation function with more detailed settings, it is possible to more finely evaluate the user's operation. You may be able to do.

Evaluation items not shown in the example of FIG. 5 (for example, the total viewing time of the corresponding content, whether the user has recorded the corresponding content, or whether the user has performed a pause operation while viewing the content) ) Is set, an appropriate evaluation function is set for each.

The "weight" set for each evaluation item is determined based on the importance of each evaluation item. In the present embodiment, for example, “the number of operations during viewing” and “the presence or absence of volume adjustment operation during viewing” are set as relatively insignificant evaluation items.
1 is set. The “weight switching” of “the content switching operation for two minutes before and after the content end time”, which is set as a more important evaluation item than “the number of operations during viewing” and “whether or not there is a volume adjustment operation during viewing”, is 0.3. In the “viewing time rate” set as an important evaluation item, the “weight” is set to 0.5.

The set value of the “weight” of each evaluation item is not limited to this, and evaluation items not shown in the example of FIG. 5 (for example, the total viewing time of the corresponding content, whether the user has recorded the corresponding content, No, or whether or not a pause operation was performed during content viewing) is set, and the “weight” based on the importance of each evaluation item is appropriately set.

The interest degree calculating section 56 calculates the degree of interest for each content based on the evaluation item value, the evaluation function, and the weight of the interest degree evaluation table 62, and outputs the calculated degree of interest to the interest degree recording section 57. The interest level recording unit 57 records the calculated interest level for each content. The degree of interest recorded in the degree-of-interest recording unit 57 can be read by the CPU 22 as necessary, and can be used, for example, when performing automatic recording of content that matches the user's preference, and the like. It is.

With reference to the flowchart of FIG. 7, a process until the degree of interest is recorded in the degree-of-interest recording unit 57 based on the user's behavior (operation content) recorded in the user behavior table 61 will be described.

In step S 1, the interest level evaluation table updating unit 54 refers to the timer 29, and determines whether the processing time of the previous step S 2 has been performed or a predetermined time since the power-on operation (for example, 10 minutes, 30 minutes, etc.). ) Has elapsed, or based on a signal input from the U / I control unit 17, whether or not a power OFF operation has been performed. If it is determined in step S1 that the predetermined time has not elapsed and the power-off operation has not been performed, the process proceeds to step S1 until the predetermined time has elapsed or it is determined that the power-off operation has been performed. The process is repeated.

If it is determined in step S1 that a predetermined time has elapsed or that the power-off operation has been performed, in step S2, the interest level evaluation table updating unit 5
4 reads the user behavior table 61 from the user behavior recording unit 52.

In step S3, the interest level evaluation table updating unit 54 determines whether or not new content has been viewed from the user action table 61 read in step S2. If it is determined in step S3 that the new content has not been viewed, the process proceeds to step S3.
Proceed to 5.

If it is determined in step S3 that the new content has been viewed, in step S4, the interest level evaluation table updating unit 54 determines the content name (or content ID) of the newly viewed content.
Is written in the interest degree evaluation table 62 of the interest degree evaluation table recording unit 55.

If it is determined in step S3 that the new content has not been viewed, or after the process of step S4 is completed, in step S5, the interest level evaluation table updating unit 54 executes the process shown in FIGS. An interest level evaluation table evaluation item value update process, which will be described later, is executed.

In step S6, the interest level evaluation table recording unit 55 determines that the broadcast or reproduction of the content is completed and the interest level is lower than the content of all the evaluation item values in the interest level evaluation table 62. It is determined whether there is any content for which calculation has not been performed. If it is determined in step S6 that the broadcasting or reproduction of the content has ended and there is no content for which the degree of interest has not been calculated, the process returns to step S1, and the subsequent processes are repeated.

If it is determined in step S6 that the broadcasting or reproduction of the content has ended and there is a content for which the degree of interest has not been calculated, the process proceeds to step S6.
In 7, the interest level evaluation table recording unit 55 outputs the data described in the interest level evaluation table 62 of the corresponding content to the interest level calculation unit 56. The interest level calculation unit 56 calculates the interest level of the corresponding content based on the data of the input interest level evaluation table 62.

For example, the degree of interest calculation unit 56 sets the degree of interest to Y, and sets the evaluation item value of each evaluation item described with reference to FIG.
_n , and the weight of each evaluation item described with reference to FIG. 5 is X _n , and the degree of interest in the content is calculated according to the following equation (1).

[0070]

(Equation 1) ... (1)

For example, in the interest degree evaluation table 62 described with reference to FIG. 5, the user views 50% of the entire broadcast time for a certain content and performs five operations during viewing.
No volume adjustment during viewing, before and after the content end time 2
It is assumed that data indicating that the content switching operation has been performed for a minute has been recorded. In this case, F ₁ = 60, F ₂ = 60, F ₃ = 0, F ₄ =
Since 100 is obtained for each evaluation item, the following equation (2) is used.
, The sum of the values of the weights of each evaluation item integrated,
It can be obtained as a numerical value indicating the degree of interest of the corresponding content.

Y = 60 × 0.5 + 60 × 0.1 + 0 × 0.1 + 100 × 0.3 = 66 (2)

In step S8, the interest degree calculating section 56
Writes the calculated degree of interest in the degree of interest recording unit 57, and the process ends.

Here, in the content that has been broadcast or reproduced, the degree of interest of the content is calculated, and the degree of interest is recorded in the degree of interest recording unit 57. Instead, at predetermined time intervals, the degree of interest of all contents described in the degree of interest evaluation table 62 is calculated, and even if the content is being broadcast or being reproduced, the calculated value of the degree of interest at that time is calculated. You may make it record in the interest degree recording part 57.

By executing such processing, the degree of interest in the content of the user is quantified based on the behavior of the user including factors other than the viewing time, and the quantified degree of interest is recorded. Thus, for example, in the case of performing automatic recording of content that matches the user's preference, it is possible to select and record content that better matches the user's preference.

With reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 8 and 9, the process of updating the evaluation item value of the interest degree evaluation table executed in step S5 will be described.

In step S11, the interest level evaluation table updating unit 54 determines whether or not there is new user behavior data in the user behavior table 61 read in step S2 of FIG. If it is determined in step S11 that there is no new user action data in the user action table 61, the process proceeds to step S6 in FIG.

At step S11, the user action table 6
1, when it is determined that there is new user behavior data, in step S12, the interest level evaluation table updating unit 54
Extracts all new user behavior data.

In step S13, the interest level evaluation table updating unit 54 obtains the number of user action data for each content from the user action data extracted in step S12. For example, the user action table 6 described with reference to FIG.
In step 1, if the new user action data extracted in step S12 is data after the action ID 1007, there is no new user action data for the content "Monday drama" and the number of user action data is 0;
The user action data for the content “fashion communication” is action IDs 1009, 1011, and 1012.
Thus, the number of user action data is 3. Hereinafter, the number of user action data is similarly obtained for other contents.

In step S 14, the interest level evaluation table updating unit 54 updates the number of user action data obtained in step S 13 with the corresponding content of the interest level evaluation table 62 recorded in the interest level evaluation table recording unit 55. Number of operations during viewing ". For example, if “the number of operations during viewing” of the content “fashion communication” is 2 in the previous update process, 3 which is the number of user action data calculated in step S13 is added. "Number of operations during viewing" of fashion communication is 5
Becomes

In step S 15, the interest level evaluation table updating section 54 refers to the interest level evaluation table 62 recorded in the evaluation table recording section 55, and determines “whether or not there is a volume adjustment operation during viewing” of the corresponding content. It is determined whether it is 1. If it is determined in step S15 that the “presence / absence of volume adjustment operation during viewing” of the corresponding content is 1,
Since it is not necessary to update “the presence or absence of volume adjustment operation during viewing” of the corresponding content in the interest level evaluation table 62, the process proceeds to step S19.

If it is determined in step S15 that “the presence / absence of volume adjustment operation during viewing” of the corresponding content is not 1, in step S16, the interest level evaluation table updating unit 54 is extracted in step S12. It is determined whether or not there is a volume adjustment in the user action data.

If it is determined in step S16 that the extracted user action data has a volume adjustment, in step S17, the interest level evaluation table updating unit 54 is recorded in the interest level evaluation table recording unit 55. Interest Rating Table 6
"1" is set to "presence / absence of volume adjustment operation during viewing" of the corresponding content of 2. For example, in the user action table 61 described with reference to FIG. 4, since the action ID 1004 is a volume adjustment operation, the interest level evaluation table updating unit 54 sets the “viewing and listening” of the content “fashion communication” in the interest level evaluation table 62. The evaluation item value of “Presence or absence of middle volume adjustment operation” is set to 1.

If it is determined in step S16 that there is no volume adjustment in the extracted user behavior data, in step S18, the interest level evaluation table updating unit 54 is recorded in the interest level evaluation table recording unit 55. Interest Rating Table 6
The evaluation item value of “whether or not there is a volume adjustment operation during viewing” of item 2 is 0
To

If it is determined in step S15 that "the presence / absence of volume adjustment operation during viewing" of the corresponding content is 1, after the end of step S17 or the end of step S18, in step S19, the degree of interest is determined. The evaluation table updating unit 54 determines whether there is any content whose broadcasting or reproduction has been completed, based on the user behavior data extracted in step S12. Step S
In 19, if it is determined that there is no content whose broadcasting or reproduction has been completed, the process proceeds to step S6 in FIG.

If it is determined in step S19 that there is any content whose broadcasting or reproduction has been completed,
In step S20, the interest level evaluation table updating unit 54
For content that has finished broadcasting or playback,
A content viewing time rate calculation process described later with reference to FIG. 10 is executed.

In step S 21, the interest level evaluation table updating unit 54 writes the content viewing time rate calculated in step S 20 in the interest level evaluation table 62 recorded in the interest level evaluation table recording unit 55.

In step S22, based on the user behavior data extracted in step S12, the interest level evaluation table updating unit 54 executes
It is determined whether or not there is any content that has elapsed for more than minutes. If it is determined in step S22 that there is no content for which two minutes or more have elapsed since the end of the broadcast or reproduction, the process proceeds to step S6 in FIG.

If it is determined in step S22 that there is a content that has passed two minutes or more since the end of the broadcast or reproduction, the interest level evaluation table updating unit 54 determines in step S23 that the end time of the corresponding content has been reached. The user behavior data for two minutes before and after is extracted, and step S2
In 4, it is determined whether or not there is a content switching operation of the corresponding content in the extracted user behavior data.

If it is determined in step S24 that there is a content switching operation of the corresponding content in the extracted user action data, step S25 is performed.
In the interest level evaluation table updating unit 54, the interest level evaluation table 62 recorded in the interest level evaluation table recording unit 55 evaluates the "content presence / absence operation for two minutes before and after the content end time" of the corresponding content. The item value is set to 1 and the process proceeds to step S6 in FIG.

If it is determined in step S24 that there is no content switching operation of the corresponding content in the extracted user behavior data, step S26 is performed.
In the interest level evaluation table updating unit 54, the interest level evaluation table 62 recorded in the interest level evaluation table recording unit 55 sets 0 to the evaluation item value of “whether or not there is a content switching operation for two minutes before and after the content end time”. After entry, the process proceeds to step S6 in FIG.

The interest level evaluation table 62 recorded in the interest level evaluation table recording unit 55 is updated by the above described interest level evaluation table item value updating process. In step S6 in FIG. When it is determined that the content has been completed and there is a content for which the degree of interest has not been calculated, the degree of interest of the corresponding content is calculated using the updated evaluation item value of the degree of interest evaluation table 62. .

Note that the total viewing time of the corresponding content,
In the case where the evaluation item is whether or not the user has recorded the corresponding content, or whether or not the user has performed a pause operation while viewing the content, the evaluation item value is displayed in the interest degree evaluation table 62 by the same processing. Is entered, and the degree of interest in the content is calculated using a predetermined evaluation function and weight.

Next, the content viewing time rate calculation processing executed in step S20 will be described with reference to the flowchart in FIG. Here, in step S19 in FIG. 9, it is assumed that the broadcast of the content “fashion communication” recorded in the user action table 61 described with reference to FIG. The case where the viewing time rate of “fashion communication” is calculated will be described.

The interest degree evaluation table recording unit 55 determines in step S3
In step S1, the viewing time T of the content “fashion communication” is set to T = 0, and in step S32, a switching operation from another content to the corresponding content (operation
An). That is, in step S32, the action ID 1003 (content "Monday drama"
From, switching operation of the content "fashion communication") are extracted as the operation A _1.

[0096] In step S33, the interest rating table recording unit 55 generates the next operation A _n, the switching operation from the corresponding content to another content (operation B
n) or extract the end of the corresponding content.
That is, in step S33, the action ID of FIG.
1005 (operation for switching from the content “fashion communication” to the content “super TV”) is the operation B
Extracted as ₁ .

In step S34, the interest level evaluation table recording unit 55 calculates the time from the operation time of the operation An to the operation time of the operation Bn or the end time of the corresponding content. In other words, the operation A ₁ operation time 22:01:
35: from 986 (1 min 35.986 sec at 22), the operation time of the operation B ₁ 22: 13: 15: 334 (22 o'clock 13
11 minutes 39.348 minutes)
Seconds are calculated.

The interest level evaluation table recording unit 55 determines in step S3
In 5, the calculation result in step S34 is added to the viewing time T, and in step S36, it is determined whether or not there is another switching operation to the corresponding content. If it is determined in step S36 that there is another switching operation to the corresponding content, the process proceeds to step S3
2 and the subsequent processing is repeated.

That is, in the user action table 61 of FIG. 4, since the action ID 1008 is an operation for switching to the content “fashion communication”, the processing is performed in step S
32, the subsequent processing is repeated, the viewing time T is added, and the action ID 1010 is also a switching operation to the corresponding content. Therefore, the processing returns to step S32 again, and the subsequent processing is performed. Are repeated, and the viewing time T is added. Thereby, the total viewing time T of the content “fashion communication” can be obtained.

If it is determined in step S36 that there is no other switching operation to the corresponding content, the interest level evaluation table recording unit 55 calculates the viewing time rate from “viewing time T ÷ content length”. Then, the process proceeds to step S21 in FIG.

Although the content viewing time rate is used as the evaluation item here, the total viewing time of the content obtained in step S35 may be used as the evaluation item.

By the processing described above, the user's actions are recorded, and the degree of interest in the content is quantified based on the recorded information. Further, the behavior of the user referred to in order to obtain the degree of interest in the content of the user is not limited to the viewing time of the content. For this reason, it was very difficult to separate, "I'm not watching, but I'm just broadcasting (recording / playing) content", and "Conscious, broadcasting (recording / playing)" It is possible to calculate the degree of interest of the user in the content in consideration of the state of “viewing the content being played”.

The above-described series of processing is performed by the CPU 22.
It is also possible to execute as the processing of. In this case, the interest level information generation unit 28 described with reference to FIG.
The processing described with reference to FIG. 7 to FIG.
22 executes. Information recorded in the user action recording unit 52, the interest degree evaluation table recording unit 55, and the interest degree recording unit 57 are recorded in the HDD 27 or the RAM 23, and
The processing described with reference to FIGS. 7 to 10 is executed by exchanging information with the CPU 22 through the CPU 0.

[0104]

According to the content evaluation method of the present invention,
First information indicating the operation content of the user is obtained, second information regarding the content to be operated is obtained, and the first information is obtained.
And the second information are recorded in association with each other, and based on the recorded first information and the second information, the operation contents of the user are digitized for each content based on predetermined evaluation items, Since the recording of the conversion result is controlled, the degree of interest in the content of the user can be accurately obtained without forcing the user to perform a special operation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a hard disk recorder to which the present invention has been applied.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of an interest information generation unit in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of content description data.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a user action table.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining an interest degree evaluation table.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining an evaluation function.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a process performed by an interest level information generation unit.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an interest level evaluation table evaluation item value update process.

FIG. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an interest level evaluation table evaluation item value update process.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a content viewing time rate calculation process.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 hard disk recorder, 13 separation unit, 17
U / I control section, 19 graphic processing controller, 22 CPU, 27 HDD, 28 interest level information generation section, 51 user action detection section, 52 user action recording section, 53 keyword extraction section, 54 interest level evaluation table update section, 55 Interest Rating Table Recorder, 56
Interest level calculation section, 57 Interest level recording section, 61 User action table, 62 Interest level evaluation table, 63 Content description data storage section

Claims (10)

[Claims] A first obtaining step of obtaining first information indicating a content of a user operation; a second obtaining step of obtaining second information relating to the content to be operated; The first information acquired by the processing of the acquiring step and the second information acquired by the processing of the second acquiring step so that the first information is recorded in association with the first information. A first recording control step of controlling recording of the second information; and a predetermined recording control step based on the first information and the second information of which recording is controlled by the processing of the first recording control step. A digitizing step of digitizing the content of the user's operation for each of the contents based on the evaluation item, and a second recording control step of controlling recording of the digitized result by the processing of the digitizing step Content evaluation method characterized by including the. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein in the processing of the digitizing step, the user's operation content for each of the evaluation items is digitized using a predetermined function defined for each of the evaluation items. Content evaluation method described. 3. The operation of the user according to claim 1, wherein in the processing of the digitizing step, the user's operation content is digitized using a predetermined coefficient determined based on the importance of the evaluation item. Content evaluation method. 4. The evaluation item according to claim 1, wherein the number of operations during viewing of the content is included.
Content evaluation method described in. 5. The content evaluation method according to claim 1, wherein the evaluation item includes a presence or absence of volume adjustment during viewing of the content. 6. The content evaluation method according to claim 1, wherein the evaluation item includes the presence or absence of an operation at a predetermined time including an end time of the content. 7. The content evaluation method according to claim 1, wherein the evaluation item includes whether or not a recording operation has been performed on the content. 8. The content evaluation method according to claim 1, wherein the evaluation item includes the presence / absence of a pause operation while viewing the content. 9. A calculating step of calculating, based on the first information and the second information, the recording of which has been controlled by the processing of the first recording control step, a viewing time rate with respect to a total broadcast time of the content. The content evaluation method according to claim 1, wherein the evaluation item includes a viewing time rate calculated by the processing of the calculation step. 10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: calculating a viewing time of the content based on the first information and the second information whose recording has been controlled by the processing of the first recording control step. The content evaluation method according to claim 1, wherein the evaluation item includes a viewing time calculated by the processing of the calculation step.