JP2007172173A - Information providing method and apparatus, program, and computer-readable recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

An index in which the intensity of interest in an item is within a range is extracted from a user's access history, and it is possible to present information that is popular and of interest to the user.
In the server on the network, a weighting factor representing the strength of the user's interest in the item is set according to the access type, and the number of accesses to each item is obtained from the history information storage means. Then, the sum total weighted by the access type using the weighting coefficient is obtained as the interest intensity, the interest intensity is stored in the interest intensity storage means for each item, and the item and the related information of the item are provided using the interest intensity. .
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an information providing method, apparatus, program, and computer-readable recording medium. In particular, the present invention presents items such as video content and goods on a network, and a user performs various accesses such as viewing and commenting. The present invention relates to an information providing method, apparatus, program, and computer-readable recording medium in an information providing service system.

  In the information provision service system in which items are presented on the network and the user performs various accesses such as viewing and commenting, the item presentation method such as presenting items to the user's high interest level in order to improve access Is often performed, but it is classified into the following two methods as a method for obtaining the user's interest intensity as basic data for controlling the presentation method.

(1) Explicit method:
A method that explicitly inputs information about the level of interest when a user accesses an item, inputs the result of judging the level of interest in the item in about five levels, and makes a vote for recommendations, etc. There is a method of inputting questionnaire results.

(2) Observational method:
This is a method of calculating the intensity of interest in an item from a user's action history.

  Use the access history to the item as an action history, make the total number of accesses the intensity of interest in the item, how to obtain the intensity of interest in the item from the time of accessing a specific item, access There is a method to find it by paying attention to the transition of items. There is also a method for comprehensively analyzing the total number of accesses and the temporal change in the total number of accesses (for example, see Non-Patent Document 1).

Furthermore, as an action history, not only the access history but also a method of using a mouse operation during browsing (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 2), a line of sight detection is performed, and an analysis is performed on what is on the information presentation screen. There is also a method (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 3).
HATASHIMA T, MOTODA T, YAMAMOTO S, “An Interest Index for WWW Servers and CyberRanking.”, IEICE Trans. INF. & SYST. Yoshinori Hijikata, Yoshinori Aoki, Yonosuke Furui, Shu Nakajima, “Verification of text partial extraction method based on mouse behavior and effectiveness of extracted keywords”, Journal of Information Processing Society of Japan, Vol.43, No.2, pp.566-576, 2002 Takehiko Ohno “IMPACT: Document Navigator Based on Reuse of Gaze Information” Information Processing Society of Japan Report 2000-HI-89, pp.7-14, 2000

  However, the above explicit method (1) places a burden on users, and it is difficult to collect information from all users.

  Further, the observation method (2) has the following problems.

  There is a problem that the method of merely analyzing the total number of accesses does not necessarily reflect the strength of interest in the item. Furthermore, in addition to the access history, the method using the action history of the mouse operation can supplement the analysis based only on the access history, but the mouse operation and the strength of the item are always closely related. In other words, the strength of interest in items may not be reflected. The method using gaze detection or the like has a problem that it is necessary to prepare a measuring means in the user's usage environment, and the application range is limited.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and extracts an index reflecting the strength of interest in an item from the access history of the user, and presents information that is popular and highly interested in the user. It is an object to provide an information providing method and apparatus, a program, and a computer-readable recording medium.

  FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining the principle of the present invention.

The present invention (Claim 1) is an information providing method in an information providing service system for a user to perform various accesses such as browsing and commenting on items presented on a network,
On a server on the network
A weighting factor setting unit (step 1) in which a weighting factor setting unit sets a weighting factor representing the strength of interest of the user's item according to the access type;
The interest intensity calculating means obtains the number of accesses to each item from the history information storage means, obtains the sum total weighted by the access type using the weighting coefficient as the interest intensity, and stores the interest intensity for each item in the interest intensity storage means. An interest intensity calculation step (step 2) for storing;
The service providing means performs a service providing step (step 3) of outputting the item and the related information of the item using the interest intensity.

Further, the present invention (Claim 2), in the weight coefficient setting step (Step 1),
When there is a type of “adding comments to an item” in the access type, a comment attached to the item is acquired from the comment information storage unit that accumulates the user's comment information, and weighted using the comment. Set the coefficient.

  FIG. 2 is a principle configuration diagram of the present invention.

The present invention (Claim 3) is an information providing apparatus in an information providing service system for a user to perform various accesses such as browsing and commenting on items presented on a network,
Weighting factor setting means 6 for setting a weighting factor representing the intensity of interest in the user's item according to the access type;
The number of accesses to each item is obtained from the history information storage means 5, the sum weighted by the access type using the weighting coefficient is obtained as the interest intensity, and the interest intensity is stored in the interest intensity storage means 8 for each item Calculating means 7;
Service providing means 2 for outputting items and related information of the items using the interest intensity.

Further, the present invention (Claim 4), in the weight coefficient setting means 6,
If there is a type of “add comment to item” in the access type, the comment attached to the item is acquired from the comment information storage means 4 that accumulates the comment information of the user, and the comment is used. Means for setting a weighting factor;

  The present invention (Claim 5) is an information providing program for causing a computer to function as the information providing apparatus of Claim 3 or 4.

  The present invention (Claim 6) is a computer-readable recording medium storing a program that causes a computer to function as the information providing apparatus according to Claim 3 or 4.

  As described above, according to the present invention, by extracting an index reflecting the strength of interest in an item from the access history of the user, for example, the popularity ranking of the item can be displayed more accurately, Items can be displayed in the order of strongness. Service presentation can be promoted by presenting information in response to such trends.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  In the present invention, a method based on the analysis of the access history in the observation method (2) is effective so that the interest intensity of the entire user can be collected. In the invention, a method for obtaining the interest intensity in consideration of both the quantitative index of the number of accesses and the qualitative index of the intensity of interest in the item will be described.

  When the user can make various accesses to the presented item, it is considered that the intensity of interest of the user differs depending on the access type. For example, in an information provision service that divides a video into scenes and gives comments to each video scene for communication or enjoys video viewing, video scene selection, video scene viewing, comment addition, and others give It is considered that the intensity of interest varies depending on the access type. For example, when a comment is added to a video scene, it is considered that the intensity of interest in the video scene is extremely higher than other access types.

  In the following, a viewer-to-viewer communication service that divides a video into scenes, adds a comment to each video scene, performs communication, and enjoys video viewing will be described as an example.

  FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a server according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  The server 10 shown in the figure is connected to the client terminal 1 via a network.

  The client terminal 1 is a terminal that uses an information providing service on a network, and presents information from the server to the user or transmits a user request to the server 10.

  The server 10 includes a service provision processing unit 2, an item information storage unit 3 by a provider, a user comment storage unit 4, a history information storage unit 5 for each access type, a weighting factor setting unit 6, an interest intensity calculation unit 7, an item profile It comprises a storage unit 8 and a presentation method update unit 9.

  The service provision processing unit 2 captures a user request from the client terminal 1 and outputs corresponding information to the client terminal 1. Also, user comments and user behavior histories are captured, and the user comments are output to the user comment history part 4 and the user behavior histories are output to the history information history part 5 for each access type.

  The item information storage unit 3 by the provider manages information in which information related to items necessary for service provision is registered in advance by the service provider. In the case of the present embodiment, there is video content as an item, scene definition information when each video is divided into scenes, and user information. Information managed in response to a request from the presentation method update unit 9 is output.

  The user comment storage unit 4 manages comments given by the user. A comment managed in response to a request from the weight coefficient setting unit 6 is output.

  The history information storage unit 5 for each access type receives a user access log from the service provision processing unit 2 and manages the history information for each access type. History information managed in response to a request from the interest intensity calculation unit 7 is output.

  The weighting factor setting unit 6 sets a weighting factor for the access type when calculating the interest intensity. The set weight coefficient is output to the interest intensity calculation unit 7. When the case where the weight coefficient is dynamically set from the user comment is included, a comment given to the user by requesting the user comment storage unit 4 is acquired and the weight is set.

  The interest intensity calculation unit 7 reads the access frequency for each access type in a range set in advance for a period, a user, and the like from the history information storage unit 5 for each access type, and sets the weight coefficient setting unit 6 Using the weighting coefficient, the interest intensity for each item is calculated from the weighted sum of the number of accesses with the weight changed according to the access type. The calculated intensity of interest is output to the item profile storage unit 8.

  The item profile storage unit 8 manages the interest intensity for each item received from the interest intensity calculation unit 7 as an item profile. In response to a request from the presentation method update unit 9, the managed item profile is output.

  When the presentation method update unit 9 receives an update request for the presentation content from the service provision processing unit 2, the presentation method update unit 9 acquires necessary information from the item profile storage unit 8 and the item information storage unit 3 by the provider, and responds to the request content. A screen is generated, and the generated screen is output to the service provision processing unit 2.

  Next, a processing procedure in an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  When each user views a video scene using a communication service between viewers or registers a comment, necessary information is exchanged between the client terminal 1 and the service providing processing unit 2, and a comment given by the user is given. Are stored and managed in the user comment storage unit 4 and the access history is stored in the history information storage unit 5 for each access type. Processing when a request for ranking display of video scenes of high interest for all users based on the latest access status is output from the service providing processing unit 2 to the presentation method updating unit 9 after being used for a while The procedure is described below. It is assumed that the item information storage unit 3 by the provider manages video content and scene definition information of each video.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart of processing in one embodiment of the present invention.

  Step 201) The weighting coefficient setting unit 6 sets the weighting coefficient w (k) for the access type k (k = 1, 2,..., K).

  Step 202) The interest intensity calculation unit 7 obtains history information for each access type from the history information storage unit 5 for each access type, and accesses the access type k to the video scene n (n = 1, 2,..., N). The frequency Xn (k) is calculated.

  Step 203) The interest intensity calculation unit 7 calculates the interest intensity Y (n) for the video scene n.

により算出する。算出した関心強度Ｙ（ｎ）を映像シーンｎに対するプロファイルとして、アイテムプロファイル記憶部８に格納する。

Calculated by The calculated interest intensity Y (n) is stored in the item profile storage unit 8 as a profile for the video scene n.

  Step 204) Interest intensity Y (n) (n = 1, 2,..., N) for each video scene stored in the item profile storage unit 8, and video stored in the item information storage unit 3 by the provider A ranking display screen in which video scenes are arranged in descending order of interest intensity is generated from the scene list.

  With the above processing, it is possible to perform ranking display of video scenes of high interest for all users based on the latest access status. Here, in order to improve the accuracy of ranking, it is important to set an appropriate weighting coefficient in step 201.

  Hereinafter, a method for setting an appropriate weighting factor will be described.

  First, two examples in the case where the weighting factor setting unit 6 sets the weighting factor in advance will be described.

(1) Top-down setting method:
When it is easy for the service provider to predict a typical behavior pattern when the user accesses each item (video scene) to be provided, the weight of each access type is based on a typical example. This is a method of setting coefficients in advance. For example, in the inter-viewer communication service, the types of access to video scenes are “video scene selection (k = 1)”, “video scene viewing (k = 2)”, “comment viewing (k = 3)”, “ When five types of “Add comment (k = 4)” and “Register to favorite list (k = 5)” are set, it is more preferable to register to the favorite list than to select a video scene, view a video scene, and view a comment. Considered highly interested. In addition, it is considered that the access of “add comment” is executed when there is a very high interest in the video scene. From the above, the weighting factor w (k) for each access type is

とすればよい。具体的な値として、例えば、w(1)=0.8，w(2)=1.0，w(3)=1.0，w(4)=1.1，w(5)=1.2のように設定することが有効である。

And it is sufficient. As specific values, for example, it is effective to set w (1) = 0.8, w (2) = 1.0, w (3) = 1.0, w (4) = 1.1, w (5) = 1.2 It is.

(2) Setting method by learning data:
This is a method of setting a weighting coefficient as learning data when the strength of interest can be aggregated by a questionnaire or the like during a certain period using a trial period or a monitor member at the time of service provision. An example of obtaining the weighting coefficient of the access type when the measured value of the degree of interest and the usage frequency for each access type at the time of using the service for the N video scenes of the R monitor members is obtained will be described below.

Y ^r (n), the measurement value of the interest intensity for the video scene n of the user r (r = 1, 2,..., R),
Assuming that the access frequency of the access type k for the video scene n of the user r is X ^r n (k), E representing the error between the measurement of the intensity of interest and the estimated value is

となり、このＥを最小にするｗ（ｋ）を求めればよい。これは、重回帰分析により容易に求められる。

Thus, w (k) that minimizes E can be obtained. This is easily determined by multiple regression analysis.

  Next, three examples will be described in which the weighting factor setting unit 6 dynamically sets the weighting factor for the “comment giving” type by reading the user comment from the user comment storage unit 4.

(3) Setting method based on quantitative indicators of comments:
This is a method of setting a weighting coefficient in proportion to the amount of comment registered in one comment based on the hypothesis that the higher the interest regarding an item (video scene), the longer the comment tends to be given.

The weighting factor setting unit 6 analyzes the comments in the user comment storage unit 4, uses the average number of characters of the comments registered in one comment assignment as the comment amount, and associates the comment amount with the weighting factor, It is effective to prepare a correspondence table based on the average comment amount and standard deviation for N video scenes. As shown in FIG. 5, an adjustment coefficient α _n is set according to the comment amount L _n given to the video scene n, and the weight coefficient for the already given comment may be multiplied by α _n .

As a specific example, in the example of the top-down setting method in (1), w (1) = 0.8, w (2) = 1.0, w (3) = 1.0, w (4) = 1.1, w (5) = when 1.2 the set as the weighting factor of the comment attachment for the video scene n, using the adjustment coefficient alpha _n obtained from the comment amount becomes w (5) = 1.2α _n.

(4) Setting method based on qualitative indicators of comments:
Stored in the user comment storage unit 4 based on the hypothesis that the content of comments (for example, simple questions, positive expressions, negative expressions, etc.) given to the items (video scenes) differs depending on the item. This is a method of classifying the comment that has been made according to the content and setting the weighting coefficient according to the classification result.

  The weighting factor setting unit 6 analyzes the comments in the user comment storage unit 4 and, as an example of the comment type classification, the comment registered with one comment is “greeting”, “question about item”, “positive” Categorized into four categories, “Negative claims” and “Negative claims”, scored according to the category, and already determined according to the average score of all comments assigned to the same video scene An effective method is to adjust the weighting factor for adding comments. In the inter-viewer communication service, as shown in FIG. 6A, a processing procedure will be described below by taking as an example a case where a comment is added to a video scene. FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an operation for setting a weighting factor based on a qualitative index for giving a comment according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Step 301) Registration of classification words:
A representative word of each comment type is stored in advance in a memory (not shown) in the weight coefficient setting unit 6 as a classification word. FIG. 6B shows an example of the classification word.

Step 302) Classification of user comments:
Of the comments registered in one comment, the appearance frequency of the classification word is obtained, and the category having the highest total frequency of the classification words belonging to each category is determined. FIG. 6C shows an example of the classification result. If no classification word appears as in “Comment 4”, it does not belong to any word.

Step 303) Calculation of the weight adjustment coefficient β _n :
An average score for the video scene n is obtained from the score of the classification category. In the example of FIG. 6C, it is 0.33. This is the weight adjustment coefficient β _n for the video scene n.

Step 304) Setting the weighting coefficient for the comment assignment type:
The weighting coefficient for the comment assignment type is set using the weight adjustment coefficient βn. As a specific example, in the example of the top-down setting method of (1), the values already set are w (1) = 0.8, w (2) = 1.0, w (3) = 1.0, w ( Since 4) = 1.1 and w (5) = 1.2, the weighting factor for adding a comment for the video scene n shown in FIG.
w (5) = 1.0 * (1 + β _n )
= 1.33
It becomes.

(5) Setting method using important words:
In this method, an important word is extracted from all comments assigned to the same item (video scene) in the user comment storage unit 4, and a weighting factor is set based on the important word.

  Even if comments that indicate a strong interest of each user are given to an item (video scene), the content of each interest varies widely, and the same interest is shared by all users on the same topic. May be strong. This embodiment is effective when it is necessary to increase the interest intensity so that the entire user shows the same interest as in the latter case.

  The weighting factor setting unit 6 analyzes the comments in the user comment storage unit 4 and extracts important words. The extraction of important words can be realized by morphological analysis of comments stored in the user comment storage unit 4 and detecting the most frequently occurring words that do not have the same video scene and the best pair having a high co-occurrence probability. As a method of setting the weighting factor from the extracted important words, if the most frequently occurring word frequency or the co-occurrence probability of the word pair is equal to or higher than a preset threshold, the weighting factor for adding a comment already determined is the highest. A method of adjusting the weighting coefficient to be high according to the frequency of frequent words and the co-occurrence probability of word pairs is effective.

  Heretofore, five examples of setting the weighting factor for the access type have been shown. These methods can be combined.

  Further, the configuration of the server shown in FIG. 3 can be constructed as a program, installed in a computer and executed, or distributed via a network.

  Further, the constructed program can be stored in a portable storage medium such as a hard disk, a flexible disk, or a CD-ROM, and can be installed or distributed in a computer.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications and applications can be made within the scope of the claims.

  The present invention can be applied to a service for presenting items such as video contents and goods on a network and allowing the user to browse and give various accesses such as giving a comment.

It is a figure for demonstrating the principle of this invention. It is a principle block diagram of this invention. It is a block diagram of the server in one embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart of the process in one embodiment of this invention. It is an example of the correspondence of the comment length in one embodiment of this invention, and the adjustment amount of a weighting coefficient. It is an example of the coefficient adjustment by the comment classification | category in one embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart of the operation | movement which sets a weighting coefficient based on the qualitative parameter | index of the comment in one embodiment of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Client terminal 2 Service provision means, Service provision processing part 3 Item information storage part 4 by a provider Comment information storage means, User comment storage part 5 History response storage means, History information storage part 6 for each access type 6 Weight coefficient setting means , Weight coefficient setting unit 7 interest intensity calculating unit, interest intensity calculating unit 8 interest intensity storing unit, item profile storing unit 9 presentation method updating unit 10 server

Claims (6)

An information providing method in an information providing service system for a user to perform various accesses such as viewing and commenting on items presented on a network,
In a server on the network,
A weighting factor setting means for setting a weighting factor that represents the strength of interest in the user's item according to the access type;
The interest intensity calculation means obtains the number of accesses to each item from the history information storage means, obtains the sum of weights according to the access type using the weighting factor as the interest intensity, and calculates the interest intensity for each item. A step of interest intensity calculation stored in the storage means;
A service providing step in which a service providing means outputs an item and related information of the item using the interest intensity;
An information providing method characterized by: In the weighting factor setting step,
If there is a type of “add comment to item” in the access type, the comment attached to the item is acquired from the comment information storage means storing the comment information of the user, and the comment is used. Set the weighting factor,
The information providing method according to claim 1. An information providing apparatus in an information providing service system for a user to perform various accesses such as viewing and commenting on items presented on a network,
A weighting factor setting means for setting a weighting factor representing the intensity of interest in the user's item according to the access type;
The number of accesses to each item is obtained from the history information storage means, the sum weighted by the access type using the weighting factor is obtained as the interest intensity, and the interest intensity is stored in the interest intensity storage means for each item Intensity calculation means;
Service providing means for outputting an item and related information of the item using the interest intensity;
An information providing apparatus comprising: The weighting factor setting means includes
If there is a type of “add comment to item” in the access type, the comment attached to the item is acquired from the comment information storage means storing the comment information of the user, and the comment is used. Including means for setting a weighting factor,
The information providing apparatus according to claim 3. Computer
An information providing program that functions as the information providing apparatus according to claim 3 or 4. Computer
A computer-readable recording medium storing a program that functions as the information providing apparatus according to claim 3.

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