JP2009140051A - Information processing apparatus, information processing system, recommendation apparatus, information processing method, and storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

An information processing apparatus capable of controlling disclosure of each item of user profile information is provided.
In a storage unit, personal profile information including a plurality of items is stored with a privacy level indicating the degree to which each item may be disclosed. The public level setting means 106 sets a public level indicating a level at which the personal profile information is permitted to be disclosed according to the privacy level. The extraction unit 107 extracts from the profile information stored in the storage unit a public profile information part that is permitted by the privacy level of the public level set by the public level setting unit 106. The recommendation unit 105 uses the public profile information part extracted by the extraction unit 107 to select a recommendation target and notify the user.
[Selection] Figure 4

Description

  In the present invention, content information such as movies and music, products, and other recommended objects are recommended using profile information including personal information, preference information, viewing history information, product purchase history information, etc. The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing system, a recommendation apparatus, an information processing method, and a storage medium that are suitable for use.

  Using the user's personal profile information, including personal information such as the user's individual age, gender, birthday, etc., preference information about food and clothes, history information such as TV viewing history and product purchase areas, etc. A television program is recommended for a user in a television receiver, or video or music content or a product is recommended in Internet shopping.

  For example, in Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-290886), program content is selected from EPG (Electronic Programming Guide) data according to condition information set in a user profile stored in advance. The contents information table is generated by arranging the selected contents in chronological order and presented to the user.

  In addition, on specific sites on the Internet, related content (books, movies, music, etc.) is recommended based on user profiles such as user purchase history or search history.

The above-mentioned patent documents are as follows.
JP 2002-290886 A

  The improvement of content recommendation and usability using the user profile information as described above is expected to expand in the future. In addition, the user profile information may be used not only in the specific site but also in other sites and home appliances, and is expected to be used in various situations.

  However, releasing all user profile information in all environments means that the environment for receiving recommendations for content, products, etc. is not only for individuals but also for friends and other people. In a situation where the environment is shared, the privacy may not be preferable. In addition, when all the information is disclosed, a profile that the user does not want to disclose or a profile that does not need to be disclosed is also disclosed.

  However, conventionally, there has not been provided a method for controlling whether to disclose each item of a profile including a plurality of items.

  In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an information processing apparatus and method capable of performing public control of each item of user profile information.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides:
Storage means for storing personal profile information consisting of a plurality of items with a privacy level indicating the degree to which each of the items may be disclosed;
About the personal profile information, a public level setting means for setting a public level to be disclosed according to the privacy level;
Obtaining means for obtaining, from the profile information stored in the storage means, the public profile information portion allowed by the privacy level of the public level set by the public level setting means;
Using the public profile information part acquired by the acquisition means, recommending means for recommending a recommendation object;
An information processing apparatus is provided.

  In the information processing apparatus configured as described above, each item of the personal profile information is stored with a privacy level as a public level indicating the degree to which the personal profile information may be disclosed. Therefore, it is possible to control the profile to be disclosed using the assigned privacy level.

  For example, this public level is set so that even a high privacy level item may be disclosed if the usage environment is only the individual user, and in a usage environment where there are multiple people, a low privacy level is set. Privacy can be protected by setting only items to be public.

  According to the present invention, since each item of the personal profile information is set with a privacy level as a public level indicating the degree to which the personal profile information may be disclosed, the privacy level as the public level is set according to the use environment. It is possible to set the profile information, which can be disclosed while protecting the privacy.

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

[First Embodiment-Embodiment of Information Processing System of the Invention]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overview of a first embodiment which is an embodiment of an information processing system according to the present invention. The information processing system according to the first embodiment is configured by a so-called home LAN (Local Area Network).

  In other words, in the example of FIG. 1, the server device 5 and a plurality of information processing devices that respectively constitute examples of recommendation devices are connected to the LAN 6 to configure a home LAN. In the example of FIG. 1, as an example of a recommendation device, for example, television receivers 1 and 2 installed in each room of a dwelling unit, a hard disk recording / reproducing device 3, a personal computer (abbreviated as a personal computer) 4 and Are connected to the LAN 6.

  In this embodiment, the server device 5 includes a profile storage unit 5M in which user profile (hereinafter simply referred to as profile) information of each family member is stored in association with individual identification information of each family member. ing. The profile storage unit 5M can be configured by, for example, a hard disk device (HDD device).

  In this example, personal identification information is set and registered in advance so that each person can be uniquely identified by using a name, an identification number, a series, a symbol, a combination thereof, and the like.

  FIG. 2 shows an example of the contents stored in the profile storage unit 5M. The example of FIG. 2 is an example in the case where there are five family members: “father”, “mother”, “eldest son”, “eldest daughter”, and “second daughter”. As shown in FIG. 2, for each family member, profile information is stored in association with personal identification information.

  In this example, as will be described later, the profile information is sent to the server device 5 through the LAN 6 through any of the recommended devices. The server device 5 receives the profile information and associates it with the personal identification information. And stored in the profile storage unit 5M.

  Furthermore, history information such as viewing history, merchandise / content purchase history, action history, and the like is stored in the profile storage unit 5M in association with personal identification information for each family member.

  As will be described later, the viewing history information of the history information is the television broadcast program content received, recorded and / or reproduced content in the television receivers 1 and 2, the hard disk recording / reproducing apparatus 3, and the personal computer 4, or Since it is sent to the server device 5 as viewing history information of the content downloaded and viewed from the Internet, the server device 5 receives it and stores it in the profile storage unit 5M in association with the personal identification information. Like that.

  Further, a purchase history (product name, purchase site information, etc.) of a product purchased through the Internet is sent from the personal computer 4 to the server device 5 through the LAN 6. Further, the purchase history can be sent from the personal computer 4 to the server device 5 by the user inputting the purchased product through the personal computer 4. The server device 5 receives the purchase history information and stores it in the profile storage unit 5M in association with the personal identification information.

  In addition, action history information such as so-called net surfing action history information on the Internet (for example, URL (Uniform Resource Locator) and site name), and a site that is frequently viewed every time zone, for example, is transmitted from the personal computer 4 to the LAN 6. And sent to the server device 5. Also, the user's action history information (location name, etc.) obtained by the user writing through, for example, a blog through the personal computer 4 can be sent from the personal computer 4 to the server device 5. The server device 5 receives the behavior history information, and stores it in the profile storage unit 5M in association with the personal identification information.

  In this embodiment, as will be described later, the server device 5 extracts profile item candidates from these history information, presents them to the user, and adds them as profile items according to the user's registration instruction. You can register.

  FIG. 3 is an example of personal profile information. In the example of FIG. 3, the profile information is composed of personal information, information about preferences, and information about history. The profile information is not limited to that shown in FIG. 3, and any item information can be handled as profile information as long as it is item information having a character as attribute information belonging to an individual.

  In the example of FIG. 3, the personal information includes information on each item (detailed item) of name, gender, date of birth, address, and credit number.

  Preference information includes major categories such as food, drinks, clothes / shoes, movies, books, television (TV), sports, etc. The categories, tastes, brands, Middle classification items such as price, genre, actor, performer are listed. Then, as a lower hierarchy of these middle category items, there are detailed items as shown in FIG. 3 which are specific profile items. And depending on the case, a fine subitem may be further mentioned as a hierarchy under those subitems.

  In this example, three history genres of purchase, viewing, and action are registered as information about the history.

  Then, the privacy level is given by the user to the subordinate items of the profile item indicated by “*” in FIG. 3 below the classification item, as will be described later. This privacy level indicates the degree (level) at which the user can disclose his / her profile information, and a plurality of levels such as five levels can be given.

  For example, when the privacy level can be set to five levels, any one of level 1, level 2,..., Level 5 can be set for the fine items of each profile item. Here, in this example, it is assumed that the lower the level number, the higher the degree of disclosure (higher sharing), and the higher the level number, the lower the level of disclosure (higher confidentiality).

  The television receiver 1, the television receiver 2, the hard disk recording / reproducing device 3, and the personal computer 4 constitute a recommendation device in the information processing system of this embodiment. These television receiver 1, television receiver 2, hard disk recording / reproducing apparatus 3, and personal computer 4 are provided with camera units 1 CAM, 2 CAM, 3 CAM and 4 CAM for acquiring imaging information for personal identification, respectively, and personal identification Microphones 1MC, 2MC, 3MC and 4MC for acquiring voice information for use.

  In this embodiment, each of the television receiver 1, the television receiver 2, the hard disk recording / reproducing device 3 and the personal computer 4 constituting the recommendation device has, in addition to the original television reception display function, recording / reproducing function, and information processing function, A registration function for registering the profile information of the user (user) of each recommended device in the server device 5 with a privacy level, and an acquisition function for acquiring the profile information of the user (user) of each recommended device from the server device 5 And a public level setting function for setting a public level, which is a level allowing the public of the user's profile information, by a privacy level, and a public level switching function for changing and switching the set public level.

  In this embodiment, the server device 5 responds to registration requests for profile information with privacy levels from the television receiver 1, television receiver 2, hard disk recording / reproducing device 3, and personal computer 4 constituting the recommendation device. Correspondingly, the function of storing the profile information with the privacy level for each user received from each recommendation device in association with the personal identification information of the user in the profile storage unit 5M, and the user from each recommendation device A function of transmitting profile information with privacy level for each user to the requesting recommendation device in response to a request for acquiring profile information for each user.

[Configuration Example of Recommendation Device of Embodiment]
A configuration example of the recommendation device will be described by taking the case of the television receiver 1 as an example. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the television receiver 1, and includes the original functional unit 10 as the television receiver and the above-described functional unit 100 of the recommendation device of this embodiment.

  The original functional unit 10 includes a television signal reception display system and a control system. The television receiver 1 of this example has a configuration of a digital terrestrial television broadcast receiver. The television signal reception display system includes a front end unit 11, a demultiplexer 12, a video processing unit 13, an audio processing unit 14, and the like. , An addition unit 15, an OSD (On Screen Display) unit 16, a monitor display 17, and a speaker 18.

  The control system is configured by connecting I / O ports 22 to 25 and a user interface 26 via a system bus 21 to a control unit 20 constituted by a microcomputer. The user interface 26 includes instruction operation means using a remote controller.

  The front end unit 11 receives a control signal from the control unit 20 through the I / O port 22, extracts a data portion of the broadcast program content selected and specified through the user interface 26 from the received signal, and supplies the data portion to the demultiplexer 12. To do.

  The demultiplexer 12 separates video data, audio data, and EPG data from the data portion of the designated broadcast program content, and supplies the video data to the video processing unit 13 and the audio data to the audio processing unit 14. At the same time, the EPG data is sent to the control unit 20 through the I / O port 23. The control unit 20 uses this EPG data for storing, for example, viewing history information.

  The video processing unit 13 decodes the video data from the demultiplexer 12 to generate a display video signal, supplies it to the monitor display 17 through the synthesizing unit 15, and an image of the broadcast program content selected and specified through the user interface 26. Is displayed on the screen of the display 17. Display information to be displayed superimposed on the broadcast program content video from the OSD unit 16 is supplied to the synthesis unit 15 and synthesized with the display video signal from the video processing unit 13.

  The audio processing unit 14 decodes the audio data from the demultiplexer 12 to generate an audio signal, and supplies the audio signal to the speaker 18 so that the audio of the broadcast program content is reproduced.

  The video processing unit 13 and the audio processing unit 14 are supplied with control signals from the control unit 20 through the I / O ports 24 and 25, respectively, and perform image quality adjustment, sound quality adjustment, and the like.

  The above is the processing operation of the functional unit that the television receiver 1 originally has. Next, the functional unit 100 as the recommendation device of this embodiment will be described.

  In this example, the function unit 100 as the recommendation device includes a control unit 20, a camera unit 1CAM, a microphone 1MC, a communication interface 101, a family identification information storage unit 102, a captured image data processing unit 103, and a voice. A component in which a data processing unit 104, a content recommendation unit 105, a disclosure level setting unit 106, a disclosure profile information part extraction unit 107, a pattern storage unit 108, and a pattern matching unit 109 are connected through the system bus 21. It consists of

  Here, the camera unit 1 CAM is connected to the system bus 21 through the camera interface 110. The audio signal from the microphone 1MC is supplied to the A / D converter 112 through the audio amplifier 111 to be a digital audio signal, and the digital audio signal is supplied to the system bus 21 through the I / O port 113. Has been.

  The communication interface 101 is for connecting to the LAN 6 to which the server device 5 and other recommended devices are connected.

  In this example, the family identification information storage unit 102 stores the face image information of each member of the family member captured and acquired by the camera unit 1CAM and the voice information of each member of the family member collected by the microphone 1MC. Is previously registered and stored in association with the personal identification information shown in FIG. FIG. 5 shows an example of information stored in the family identification information storage unit 102.

  In the television receiver 1 of this embodiment, the family identification information storage unit 102 is configured to detect the television receiver 1 based on face image information captured by the camera unit 1CAM and / or human voice information collected by the microphone 1MC. It is provided to have a function of automatically recognizing who is the viewer (including the case of multiple users).

  Details of the registration processing of face image information and voice information in the family identification information recording unit 102 are omitted, but a brief description is as follows. Each member of the family defines their own personal identification information and registers it in the family identification information storage unit 102 in advance. Next, the camera unit 1CAM is caused to capture an image of its own face, and face image information that is the imaging output is written and registered in the family identification information storage unit 102 in association with the registered personal identification information. Similarly, the microphone 1MC collects his / her voice, and the collected voice information is written and registered in the family identification information storage unit 102 in association with the registered personal identification information.

  In this example, the captured image data processing unit 103 performs image recognition processing on captured image data transmitted from the camera unit 1CAM through the camera interface 109 and the system bus 21. In this image recognition processing, matching processing is performed between the face image of the family member registered in the family identification information storage unit 102 and the face image included in the captured image, and the face image of the family member is captured image. Personal recognition processing for recognizing whether the image is included in the image, and ambient environment status recognition processing for determining whether the television receiver 1 has one or more viewers based on the number of face images included in the captured image. included.

  When the captured image data processing unit 103 recognizes that the face image of the family member is included in the captured image as the processing result of the personal recognition processing, the personal identification information registered in the family identification information storage unit 102 Is output.

  Further, the captured image data processing unit 103 outputs number information indicating whether the viewer of the television receiver 1 is one person or plural persons as a processing result of the surrounding environment state recognition process.

  The voice data processing unit 104 performs voice recognition processing on voice data of voice information collected by the microphone 1MC sent through the I / O port 112 and the system bus 21. In this voice recognition process, the voice information of the family member registered in the family identification information storage unit 102 is matched with the voice information included in the voice data, and the voice of the family member is converted into the voice data. A personal recognition process for recognizing whether or not it is included, and a surrounding environment situation recognition process for determining whether the television receiver 1 has one or more viewers based on the number recognized as different voices included in the audio data And are included.

  When the voice data processing unit 104 recognizes that the voice information of the family member is included in the voice data as the processing result of the personal recognition processing, the voice data processing unit 104 displays the personal identification information registered in the family identification information storage unit 102. Output.

  In addition, the audio data processing unit 104 outputs the number information indicating whether the viewer of the television receiver 1 is one person or plural persons as a processing result of the surrounding environment state recognition process.

  As will be described later, the content recommendation unit 105 uses, for example, EPG data to be broadcasted or scheduled to be broadcast using the public profile information portion determined to be public among the profile information acquired from the server device 5. One or a plurality of television broadcast program contents that are determined to be preferable to the viewer who is viewing the content are recommended from the plurality of television broadcast program contents.

  Various methods for recommending television broadcast program content in the content recommendation unit 105 have been proposed in the past, and these proposed methods can be used. In the present invention, since there is no feature in the method of recommending TV broadcast program content, a detailed description of the recommendation method is omitted.

  The public level setting unit 106, as will be described later, is used for specifying the public profile information part used by the content recommendation unit 105 that is determined to be public among the profile information acquired from the server device 5. The level is set according to the privacy level described above.

  For example, if the disclosure level is set to “up to privacy level 2”, it means that the profile items with the added privacy level of level 1 and level 2 are set as items that can be disclosed. To do. Further, when the disclosure level is set to “privacy level level 3”, it means that only the profile item having the added privacy level of level 3 is set as an item that can be disclosed.

  In the present embodiment, the setting of the public level in the public level setting unit 106 is automatically performed according to the surrounding environment condition (viewing environment condition) of the viewer of the television receiver 1 as described later. To set. For example, in this embodiment, the disclosure level is automatically set depending on whether the environment is viewed by one person or the environment viewed by a plurality of persons.

  For example, in this embodiment, when the public level setting unit 106 determines that the broadcast program content of the television receiver is an environment for the user to watch alone, the public level is set to “up to privacy level 5”. The public level is set so as to allow the recommendation of broadcast program content using all profile items up to the highest privacy level.

  Further, when the public level setting unit 106 determines that the environment is such that, for example, the user does not watch the broadcast program content of the television receiver alone, but the multiple users watch the content, the public level is set to “privacy level”. “Up to level 2”, the public level is set so as to permit the recommendation of broadcast program content using profile items excluding profile items with high confidentiality.

  The public profile information partial extraction unit 107 includes a storage unit (not shown) that temporarily stores profile information acquired from the server device 5, and uses the public level set by the public level setting unit 106 to store in the storage unit. From the temporarily stored profile information, a public profile information part permitted to be published is extracted and transferred to the content recommendation unit 105. Note that after the content recommendation process is completed, the profile information and the public profile information part acquired from the server device 5 are deleted from the temporary storage unit.

  In this embodiment, as will be described later, the public level automatically set by the public level setting unit 106 as described above is switched according to the input of the viewer's gesture or the spoken word spoken by the viewer. It is configured so that it can be changed.

This is because it is desirable that the disclosure level can be easily changed according to the situation. Here, the assumed situation is, for example, viewing a TV broadcast program as an example.
a) Viewing in the living room with a family b) Viewing in an individual room (one person) c) Viewing with a friend d) Viewing with a lover.

  In each situation, the level at which the user himself / herself can disclose profile information is different. For example, in the case of the above a), it is possible to give priority to the preference of a child who publishes profile information of a higher public level by setting only the privacy level 1 as the public level.

  In addition, in cases such as c) and d), when it is desired to receive a recommendation of a program according to a common preference, it is made public to a level that may be known to the other party, while protecting each other's privacy. Thus, it is possible to receive a recommendation of broadcast program content based on the merged profile information.

  The pattern storage unit 108 and the disclosure level switching determination unit 109 are processing units used for setting the switching change of the disclosure level.

  The pattern storage unit 108 includes a switching control pattern dictionary storage area for storing a switching control pattern for switching the public level for each of the personal identification information registered in the family identification information storage unit 102, and the switching control pattern. A storage area for storing an element pattern to be created is provided. In this example, the switching control pattern can be created by each user as a unique one for each user by combining the element patterns registered by the user and registered in the switching control pattern dictionary. ing. The switching control pattern can be registered as one of element patterns, or a combination of a plurality of element patterns can be registered.

  As an element pattern, a user's gesture pattern and a spoken word (referred to as a spoken word) uttered by the user can be registered as image information obtained by photographing the user's action (gesture) with the camera unit 1CAM. User spoken word patterns that can be picked up by 1MC and registered as speech information can be used in this embodiment.

  Examples of element patterns are shown in FIGS. The example of FIG. 6 is an example of the gesture pattern of the user, and in this example, various gesture patterns expressed by the operation of one hand or both hands are shown. FIG. 7 shows an example of a user's spoken word pattern, which can be composed of not only words but also phrases (phrase and clause) composed of a plurality of words.

  FIG. 8 shows an example of a switching control pattern composed of a combination of element patterns registered in the switching control pattern dictionary for a certain user, and is set for each switching control pattern. The meaning contents of the level are registered in association with each other.

  The switching control pattern 1 is an example of a switching control pattern composed of a combination of two types of gesture patterns, and as its corresponding meaning content, it is set to permit only the profile item of the privacy level level 5 to be disclosed. .

  The switching control pattern 2 is an example of a switching control pattern composed of a combination of a spoken word pattern and a gesture pattern, and as its corresponding meaning content, it is set to permit only the profile item of the privacy level level 5 to be disclosed. ing. Thus, in this example, a plurality of switching control patterns having the same meaning content can be registered in the dictionary.

  The switching control pattern 3 is an example of a switching control pattern made up of a combination of three types of gesture patterns, and the corresponding semantic content is set to permit the disclosure of profile items from the privacy level 3 to the level 5. ing.

  The switching control pattern shown in FIG. 8 is only an example, and a switching control pattern composed of a combination of various element patterns can be registered. As described above, in this example, the element pattern for each member of the family member and the switching control pattern dictionary are stored in the pattern storage unit 108 in association with each other by the personal identification information. Yes.

  The public level switching determination unit 109 has a pattern matching processing function, and includes a gesture pattern included in a captured image captured from the camera unit 1CAM, a spoken word pattern included in a sound collected by the microphone 1MC, and a pattern storage unit A pattern matching process with the switching control pattern registered in the switching control pattern dictionary 107 is performed to determine whether or not the switching control pattern has been input by the user.

  The public level switching determination unit 109 switches the gesture pattern included in the captured image captured from the camera unit 1CAM and the spoken word pattern included in the voice collected by the microphone 1MC registered in the switching control pattern dictionary. When it is determined that it matches any of the control patterns, the control unit 20 is notified through the system bus 21 of the change of the public level and the public level after the change of the change.

  Upon receiving this notification, the control unit 20 transfers the public level after the change of switching to the public profile extraction unit 107. When the public profile extraction unit 107 receives the public level after the change of switching, the public profile extraction unit 107 uses the public level after the change of switching to publish from the profile information temporarily stored in the storage unit at the public level after the change of switching. The process also extracts the public profile information part that is permitted to be passed to the content recommendation unit 105.

  In response to this, the content recommendation unit 105 performs new content recommendation using the public profile information part after the change of switching.

  The above is the description of the configuration of the television receiver 1 as an example of a recommendation device. The television receiver 2, the hard disk recording / reproducing device 3, and the personal computer 4 as examples of other recommendation devices are also included in their original functional parts. In addition, the functional unit 100 as the recommendation device of the television receiver 1 described above is provided.

  Each of the imaging data processing unit 103, the audio data processing unit 104, the content recommendation unit 105, the public level setting unit 106, the public profile extraction unit 107, and the public level switching determination unit 109 is partially or entirely a software program. It is possible to replace with the processing function means.

  Next, an example of main processing operations of the functional unit 100 as a recommendation device will be described. These processing operations will also be described as the case of the television receiver 1 shown in FIG.

[Profile information registration process]
<Registration of profile information by the user through the television receiver 1>
FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining an example of a process in which a user, for example, a family member registers profile information accompanied with a privacy level setting in the server device 5 through the television receiver 1. In the example of FIG. 9, the control unit 20 of the television receiver 1 executes the processing of each step. The processing routine of FIG. 9 starts when the user selects registration of profile information from the operation menu.

  First, the control unit 20 identifies an individual user who registers profile information (step S1). In this identification process, the registered user's face is photographed by the camera unit 1 CAM, the photographed image is compared with the face image (registered face image) registered in the family identification information storage unit 102, and matching registration is performed. When a face image is determined and a matching registered face image is recognized, corresponding personal identification information is acquired. Alternatively, the registered user's voice is picked up by the microphone 1MC, and the collected uttered voice is compared with the voice voice (registered voice voice) registered in the family identification information storage unit 102 to match the registered voice. When the voice is determined and the matching registered voice is recognized, the corresponding personal identification information is acquired. The determination of whether or not they match may be a match of only the face image, or a match of only the voice and voice, or may be based on a match of both the face image and the voice and voice.

  Next, the control unit 20 prompts the user to input profile information, for example, by voice or display on the screen of the monitor display 17, and waits for the user to receive profile information (step S2). For the input of the profile information, it is assumed that, for example, personal information such as a user's name, date of birth, and sex, as well as preference information and history information are directly input.

  When it is determined in step S2 that the input of profile information from the user has been received, the control unit 20 displays the received profile information item on the screen of the monitor display 17 to confirm and notify the user (step S3). ).

  Next, the control unit 20 uses a voice message from the speaker 18 or a text message to be superimposed on the screen through the OSD 16 as a text message prompting the user to input a privacy level setting for the received profile information item. The user is notified (step S4).

  In response to this, the user inputs a privacy level setting, so the control unit 20 waits for this privacy level setting input (step S5). When it is determined that there is a privacy level setting input, the received profile information And the privacy level assigned thereto are transmitted as registration information to the server device 5 through the LAN 6 together with the personal identification information recognized in step S1 (step S6). The server device 5 receives the registration information transmitted in step S6, and stores the received profile information with privacy level in the profile storage unit 5M in association with personal identification information as will be described later. To.

  After step S6, the process returns to step S2, and the processes after step S2 are repeated.

  If it is determined in step S2 that there is no profile information acceptance input from the user, the control unit 20 determines whether or not the user is viewing the program content (step S7). For example, the process returns to step S2 to wait for the user's input of profile information.

  When it is determined in step S7 that the user is viewing the program content, the control unit 20 records, for example, history data extracted from the EPG data for the program content together with the personal identification information acquired in step S1. Then, the data is sent to the server device 5 through the LAN 6 (step S8). The server device 5 receives this viewing history information and stores it in the profile storage unit 5M.

  After step S8, the process returns to step S2, and the processes after step S2 are repeated.

  The example of FIG. 9 is an example of a television receiver, so that only viewing history information is sent to the server device 5. However, if the recommendation device is a personal computer, purchase history and behavior history information is also stored in the server. It can be sent to the device 5.

<Granting and changing privacy level>
The example of FIG. 9 is an example of profile information registration processing when it is assumed that the user manually inputs profile information. In this embodiment, the server device 5 can extract item items that can be items of profile information from the collected viewing history information, purchase history information, and action history information.

  In this embodiment, the server device 5 is configured to be able to present the profile information item candidates extracted from the history information to the user through the recommendation device. Then, the recommendation device allows the user to determine whether or not to adopt the item candidate as a profile item, and when it is a profile item, the recommendation device can set the privacy level to the profile item and register it in the server device. It is configured.

  In this embodiment, the user can change the set privacy level.

  FIG. 10 and FIG. 11 are flowcharts for explaining an example of the processing operation of presenting candidate profile information items, registering the profile items, and changing the privacy level. In the example of FIGS. 10 and 11, the control unit 20 of the television receiver 1 executes the process of each step. The processing routines of FIGS. 10 and 11 are started when the user selects the setting / change of the privacy level from the operation menu.

  First, the control unit 20 acquires personal identification information as a result of performing a process of identifying a user who registers profile information in the same manner as in step S1 of FIG. 9 described above (step S11).

  Next, the control unit 20 sends an unprocessed profile information item candidate reception request to the server device 5 in accordance with a user instruction (step S12).

  In response to this request, if there is an unprocessed profile information item candidate, the server device 5 sends it to the requested recommendation device. If there is no unprocessed profile information item candidate, the server device 5 sends information to that effect to the requesting recommendation device.

  Therefore, the control unit 20 receives information sent from the server device 5 in response to a request for receiving an item candidate for unprocessed profile information (step S13), analyzes the received information, and performs unprocessed processing. It is determined whether there is an item candidate for the profile information (step S14).

  When it is determined that there is an unprocessed profile information item candidate, the control unit 20 displays the first unprocessed profile information item candidate, for example, on the screen of the monitor display 17 and presents it to the user. (Step S14). On the item candidate presentation screen, an instruction icon for the user to select and instruct whether or not to register the item candidate is also displayed. The user instructs whether to register through this instruction icon.

  In response to a user instruction, the control unit 20 determines whether or not to register the item candidate (step S16). When it is determined that the item candidate is registered, the control unit 20 prompts the user to input a privacy level setting for the item candidate. The message is notified to the user by voice from the speaker 18 or as a text message to be superimposed on the screen through the OSD 16 (step S17).

  In response to this, the user inputs a privacy level setting. Therefore, the control unit 20 waits for this privacy level setting input (step S18). When it is determined that there is a privacy level setting input, the received profile information And the privacy level assigned thereto are transmitted as registration information to the server device 5 through the LAN 6 together with the personal identification information recognized in step S11 (step S19). The server device 5 receives the registration information transmitted in step S19, and stores and registers the received profile information with privacy level in the profile storage unit 5M in association with the personal identification information as will be described later. To.

  Next, the control unit 20 determines whether or not the above processing has been completed for all unprocessed item candidates (step S20). When it is determined that there are still unprocessed item candidates, The unprocessed item candidates are displayed on the screen of the monitor display 17 and presented to the user, and an instruction icon for the user to select and instruct whether or not to register the item candidate is also displayed. (Step S14). Then, it returns to step S16 and repeats the process after step S16 mentioned above.

  When it is determined in step S16 that the presented unprocessed item candidates are not registered, the control unit 20 jumps to step S20 to determine whether or not the above-described processing for all unprocessed item candidates has been completed. Is determined. And the process after step S20 mentioned above is repeated.

  Further, when the information received from the server device 5 in step S14 indicates that there are no unprocessed item candidates, and in step S20, steps S16 to S16 for all unprocessed item candidates. When it is determined that the processing up to step S19 has been completed, the control unit 20 notifies the user through the monitor display 17 and the speaker 18 that there are no unprocessed item candidates (step S22 in FIG. 11).

  Then, the control unit 20 determines whether or not there has been a privacy level change registration request instruction from the user (step S23), and when determining that there is no privacy level change registration request instruction, the user executes the processing routine. It is determined whether or not an instruction to end is issued (step S29). When it is determined that an instruction to end is issued, this processing routine is ended. If it is determined that the user has not instructed to end, the process returns to step S23.

  When it is determined in step S23 that the user has instructed the privacy level change registration request, the control unit 20 sends to the server device 1 a request for acquiring profile information including the personal identification information acquired in step S11. (Step S24).

  In response to the profile information acquisition request, the server device 5 reads from the profile storage unit 5M the profile information to which the privacy level registered corresponding to the personal identification information included in the acquisition request is assigned. And send it to the requesting recommendation device.

  Therefore, the control unit 20 receives the profile information with the privacy level from the server device 5, and presents the received profile information to the user by displaying it on the screen of the monitor display 17 (step S25). On this presentation screen, the user can select and instruct an item of profile information whose privacy level is to be changed, and can input a change in privacy level for the item of profile information that has been selected and instructed.

  The control unit 20 receives an instruction to select a profile information item for changing a privacy level and a privacy level change input for the selected profile information item from the user, and holds the received change input information. (Step S26).

  Next, the control unit 20 determines whether or not there has been a privacy level change registration end instruction from the user (step S27). When it is determined that there has not been a change registration end instruction, the process returns to step S25, and this step S25 The subsequent steps are repeated, and an instruction to select an item of profile information whose privacy level is to be changed next and a change input of the privacy level for the item are received, and the received change input information is held.

  In step S27, when it is determined that there is an instruction to end registration of the privacy level change from the user, the profile information with the changed privacy level that reflects the change input that has been held, together with the personal identification information, The data is sent back to the server device 5 (step S28).

  Then, the control unit 20 determines whether or not the user has instructed to end the processing routine (step S29), and when it is determined that the user has not instructed to end, the process returns to step S23. The processes after S23 are repeated. When it is determined that the user has given an instruction to end, the control unit 20 ends the processing routine.

<Registration processing of profile information in server device 5>
An example of the processing operation in the server device 5 corresponding to the registration processing of the profile information of the recommendation device and the registration change processing described above is shown in the flowchart of FIG.

  First, the server device 5 determines whether or not an acquisition request for an unprocessed profile information item candidate has been received (step S31). When determining that it has been received, the server device 5 uses the personal identification information included in the acquisition request to identify the individual user. And the unprocessed item candidate is extracted from the identified user history information and transmitted to the requesting recommendation device (step S32).

  Then, the server device 5 determines whether or not the registration information of the profile information to which the privacy level is given from the recommending device has been received (step S33), and when it is determined that it has been received, the received profile information with the privacy level is received. Is written and registered in the profile storage unit 5M (step S34). Then, the process returns to step S31.

  Moreover, also when it determines with having received registration information of the profile information to which the privacy level was provided in step S33, it returns to step S31.

  If it is determined in step S31 that an unprocessed profile information item candidate acquisition request has not been received, the server device 5 determines whether or not a profile information acquisition request has been received (step S35). If it is determined that it has been received, the profile information of the user specified by the personal identification information included in the acquisition request is transmitted together with the personal identification information to the recommending device that has made the acquisition request (step S36). And it progresses to step S33 and repeats the process after this step S33.

  If it is determined in step S35 that a profile information acquisition request has not been received, the server device 5 determines whether or not history information has been received (step S37). If it is determined in step S37 that history information has been received, the server device 5 stores the received history information in the profile storage unit 5M (step S38), and then proceeds to step S33. The subsequent processing is repeated. Also, when it is determined in step S37 that the history information has not been received, the process proceeds to step S63, and the processes after step S33 are repeated. This completes the registration process in the server device 5.

  A description will be added to the presentation of item candidates of profile information extracted from the history information to the user. However, the example described below is slightly different from the above-described example, and the history information sent from the server device 5 includes not only an unprocessed (unregistered) profile item (history item) but also a profile. Items registered as items are also included, and information indicating whether or not each profile item (history item) has been registered is added.

  When the history information is, for example, viewing history information of television broadcast program content, the item candidates of profile information extracted from the viewing history are displayed on the screen of the monitor display 17 of the television receiver 1 as shown in FIG. It is displayed and presented to the user. The example of FIG. 13 is a case where the genre of TV broadcast program content is presented as an item candidate of profile information, and the diameter of each item candidate (history item) circle is displayed according to the viewing time. It is a case.

  In the example of FIG. 13, the history item that is already a profile item and the history item that is not yet a profile item are, for example, changing the color of the item name character portion, or lighting and blinking (still a profile item History items that are not marked as blinking), history items that are already profile items are halftone, history items that are not yet profile items are darkly displayed, etc. To do. In FIG. 13, the history item characters shown with shadow lines are history items that are already profile items, and those that are not shaded are history items that are not yet profile items. ing.

  In the example of FIG. 13, the genre of sports is presented as an unprocessed item candidate, and “soccer”, “baseball”, and “pro-wrestling” are displayed as unprocessed item candidates (fine items) below the genre of the sport. The item candidates are presented as being included.

  The user can make a profile information item to be newly registered by, for example, clicking a character notation portion of an item candidate that is not yet a profile item.

  FIG. 14 shows an example in which all unprocessed item candidates in FIG. 13 are selected as registration information, and a privacy level is set for each history item. In the example of FIG. 14, from the viewing history of FIG. 13, the user watches “pro-wrestling” for a longer time than “baseball”, but does not want to handle the shared information. Is given.

  In FIG. 13, the length of the viewing time is taken up as the axis of viewing history, but the viewing time (spring, summer, autumn, winter, month, etc.), time zone, etc. are taken as the axis of the profile item. Of course, it is possible to use a theme (genre) or the like (morning, noon, night, etc.).

  In addition, each of the viewed program content may be presented as a viewing history profile item, and the user may set a privacy level for each program content of the profile item. . In addition, the present invention is not limited to the examples shown in FIGS. 13 and 14, and various other changes can be made.

  Further, not only the viewing history but also the purchase history and the action history can be presented in the same manner so that item candidates can be presented and registered as profile information.

<Registration of element pattern and switching control pattern>
Next, FIGS. 15 and 16 are flowcharts of an example of registration processing of element patterns and switching control patterns for switching privacy levels in the recommendation device. 15 and 16 is the case where the recommendation device is the television receiver 1 as in the above-described example, and each step is mainly executed by the control unit 20. The processing routines of FIGS. 15 and 16 start when the user selects pattern registration from the operation menu.

  First, the control unit 20 acquires personal identification information as a result of performing the process of identifying the user who registers the profile information in the same manner as in step S1 of FIG. 9 described above (step S41).

  Next, the control unit 20 displays two types of pattern registration menus of element pattern registration and switching control pattern on the screen of the monitor display 17 to allow the user to select one (step S42). ).

  In step S42, the control unit 20 determines whether or not element pattern registration has been selected (step S43). If it is determined that the element pattern registration is to be performed, the control unit 20 uses the captured image data from the camera unit 1CAM and the microphone 1MC. Is received, and element patterns based on the image pattern and the voice pattern as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 are acquired (step S44).

  Then, the control unit 20 writes and registers the acquired element pattern in the element pattern storage area of the pattern storage unit 108 in association with the personal identification information acquired in step S41 (step S45).

  Next, the control unit 20 determines whether to end or continue the registration of the element pattern based on, for example, whether there is a user's end instruction or a continuation instruction (step S46), and determines that the element pattern registration is continued. If so, the process returns to step S44 to capture the next element pattern.

  When it is determined in step S46 that the registration of the element pattern is to be ended, the control unit 20 determines whether or not the registration of the public level switching control pattern is selected (step S51 in FIG. 16). When it is determined in step S43 in FIG. 15 that the element pattern registration is not selected, the process jumps to step S51 to determine whether or not the switching control pattern registration is selected.

  When it is determined in step S51 that registration of the switching control pattern is selected, the control unit 20 reads the element pattern from the element pattern storage area of the pattern storage unit 108 and displays it on the screen of the monitor display 17 or a speaker. The sound is reproduced from 18 and presented to the user (step S52).

  Then, as shown in FIG. 8, the control unit 20 accepts a setting input of the switching control pattern as a combination of one or a plurality of presented element patterns (step S53).

  Next, the control unit 20 writes and registers the set switching control pattern as a switching control dictionary pattern in the switching control pattern dictionary area of the pattern storage unit 108 in association with the personal identification information acquired in step S41. (Step S54).

  Next, the control unit 20 determines whether or not to end the pattern registration processing routine by inquiring of the user by displaying a message on the screen of the monitor display 17 (step S55), and does not end the pattern registration. When it is determined that the user has answered, the process returns to step S42 in FIG. 15, and the processes after step S42 are repeated. If it is determined in step S55 that the user has answered that the pattern registration is to end, the control unit 20 ends the pattern registration processing routine.

<Recommendation process-including initial automatic setting and switching of disclosure level>
Next, a recommendation target recommendation process using profile information in the recommendation device will be described. In the first embodiment, a public profile information portion used by a recommendation device to set a public level for profile information automatically or in response to a user's public level switching operation and used for recommendation recommendation. And recommending a recommendation object using the determined public profile information part.

  17 to 21 are flowcharts for explaining an example of recommendation processing in the first embodiment. The example of FIGS. 17 to 21 is a case where the recommendation device is the television receiver 1 and the recommendation target is the television broadcast program content. The processing of each step S in the examples of FIGS. 17 to 21 includes the control unit 20 of the television receiver 1, the public level setting unit 106, the public profile information partial extraction unit 107, the public level switching determination unit 109, The content recommendation unit 105 executes in cooperation with each other. The processing routines of FIGS. 17 to 21 are started when the user selects the recommendation of the television broadcast program content from the operation menu.

  First, the control unit 20 instructs the public level setting unit 106 to investigate the viewing environment state in order to set the public level (step S61). In this example, as described above, the public level setting unit 106 collects the viewing environment image of the viewer captured by the camera unit 1CAM from the captured image data processing unit 103 and the microphone 1MC from the audio data processing unit 104. It is determined from the voice of the sound in the viewing environment that the television receiver 1 has one or more viewers.

  Then, as a result of the determination, the disclosure level setting unit 106 determines whether or not the user is watching alone (step S62). When determining that the user is alone, the disclosure level of the profile information is set to the privacy level in this example. All levels up to the highest level (level 5 in this embodiment) are set to the public level La (step S63). The set public level is sent to the public profile information partial extraction unit 107.

  After the setting of the public level, the control unit 20 acquires personal identification information as a result of performing the process of identifying the individual viewing user as in step S1 of FIG. 9 described above (step S64).

  Next, the control unit 20 sends an acquisition request for the profile information of the viewing user including the acquired personal identification information to the server device 5 via the LAN 6 (step S65). In response to this, since the profile information of the viewing user is sent from the server device 5, the control unit 20 receives it and stores it in the profile information temporary storage unit provided in the public profile information partial extraction unit 107. Store and instruct the public profile information part extraction unit 107 to extract the public profile information part (step S66).

  The public profile information part extraction unit 107 recognizes the privacy level that is permitted to be published based on the publication level La set in step S63, and the profile information part to which the privacy level that allows the publication is given. Is extracted as a public profile information part, and the extracted public profile information part is passed to the content recommendation unit 105 (step S67).

  The content recommendation unit 105 uses the received public profile information part to execute a recommendation process for the television broadcast program content, for example, by displaying the broadcast program content to be recommended on the screen of the monitor display 17 (FIG. 18). Step S71).

  Next, according to an instruction from the control unit 20, the public level switching determination unit 109 performs the following operation on the captured data of the camera unit 1 CAM from the captured image data processing unit 103 and the collected sound data of the microphone 1 MC from the audio data processing unit 104. Pattern matching with the dictionary data of the switching control pattern dictionary in the pattern storage unit 108 is performed (step S72).

  Then, the public level switching determination unit 109 determines whether or not a switching control pattern that matches the dictionary pattern registered in the switching control pattern dictionary has been input (step S73), and that there is an input of the matching switching control pattern. When it is determined, the public level stored in the switching control pattern dictionary of the pattern storage unit 108 corresponding to the matched dictionary pattern is read out, switched to the public level, and is set in the public profile information part extracting unit 107. Notification is made (step S74).

  The public profile information part extraction unit 107 re-extracts the public profile information part based on the public level set for the switching, and sends the re-extracted public profile information part to the content recommendation unit 105 (step S75).

  The control unit 20 returns to step S71 after step S75, and the content recommendation unit 105 uses the re-extracted public profile information part based on the control instruction of the control unit 20 to determine the broadcast program content. Re-recommend.

  In step S73, when the public level switching determination unit 109 determines that there is no input of the matching switching control pattern, the control unit 20 determines whether there is an instruction input from the viewing user to end the recommendation process ( In step S76), when there is no end instruction input, the process returns to step S72 to continue monitoring the input of the switching control pattern, and when there is an end instruction input, this processing routine is ended.

  Next, when it is determined in step S62 that the environment is being viewed by a plurality of people, the public level setting unit 104 executes personal recognition of the plurality of people by the above-described face image recognition and voice recognition (see FIG. 19 step S81).

  Then, the public level setting unit 104 determines how many viewing users have been able to recognize individuals (step S82). As a result of the determination in step S82, when it is determined that there is no viewing user who can be recognized personally (0 users), this is sent to the content recommendation unit 105.

  Although omitted in the above description, the content recommendation unit 105 stores general-purpose profile information assuming a general user, assuming such a case, and using this general-purpose profile information, the television broadcast program content is stored. The recommendation process is executed (step S83). Then, the recommendation processing routine ends.

  Further, when it is determined as a result of the determination in step S82 that only one viewing user has been able to recognize the individual, the public level setting unit 106 determines that the viewing user has a different viewing user than the family member. Even if only one person is determined to be in the viewing environment, the public level Lb, which is a level lower than the set public level La in step S63, for example, the level up to level 2 is set to a public level, and the set public release is set. The level Lb is passed to the public profile information partial extraction unit 107 (step S84).

  Next, the control unit 20 sends a request for acquiring the profile information of the viewing user including the personal identification information acquired by personal recognition to the server device 5 via the LAN 6 (step S85). In response to this, since the profile information of the viewing user is sent from the server device 5, the control unit 20 receives it and stores it in the profile information temporary storage unit provided in the public profile information partial extraction unit 107. Store and instruct the public profile information part extraction unit 107 to extract the public profile information part (step S86).

  The public profile information part extraction unit 107 recognizes a privacy level that is allowed to be released based on the release level Lb set in step S84, and a profile information part that is given a privacy level that allows the release. Is extracted as a public profile information part, and the extracted public profile information part is passed to the content recommendation unit 105 (step S87).

  Next, the control unit 20 gives a control instruction to proceed to step S71 in FIG. 18, and the content recommendation unit 105 executes a recommendation process of the television broadcast program content using the received public profile information part, and recommends the recommendation. For example, the recommended broadcast program content as the processing result is displayed on the screen of the monitor display 17. Then, after that, the processes after step S72 are repeated.

  As a result of the determination in step S82, when it is determined that a plurality of persons can be recognized as individuals, the public level setting unit 106 determines whether or not all the viewing users of the plurality of persons have been recognized as individuals. (Step S91 in FIG. 20).

  When it is determined in step S91 that all viewing users have been recognized individually, the public level setting unit 106 determines that the viewing users are only family members. In this example, the setting in step S63 is performed. A public level Lc that is lower than the public level La but higher than the public level Lb in step S84 is set to a level for publicizing up to level 3, for example, and the set public level Lc is set as a public profile information partial extraction unit. It passes to 107 (step S92).

  Next, the control unit 20 sends an acquisition request for profile information including personal identification information of a plurality of viewing users who can be recognized by personal recognition to the server device 5 via the LAN 6 (step S93). In response to this, since the profile information of the plurality of viewing users is sent from the server device 5, the control unit 20 receives the profile information and the profile information temporary storage unit provided in the public profile information partial extraction unit 107 And the public profile information part extracting unit 107 is instructed to extract the public profile information part (step S94).

  The public profile information part extraction unit 107 recognizes the privacy level that is permitted to be published based on the publication level Lc set in step S92, and the profile information part to which the privacy level that allows the publication is given. Are extracted from each of a plurality of viewing users, their public profile information parts are merged, and passed to the content recommendation unit 105 as a public profile information part (step S98).

  The content recommendation unit 105 uses the received public profile information part to execute a recommendation process for television broadcast program content (step S101 in FIG. 21).

  When it is determined in step S91 that all viewing users have not been recognized individually, the public level setting unit 106 determines that the viewing user is not only a family member, and in this example, in step S63. The public disclosure level Ld lower than the public disclosure level Lc in step S92 and the public disclosure level Ld lower than the public disclosure level Lc in step S92, for example, the level up to level 2 is set to the public disclosure level. The data is passed to the extraction unit 107 (step S95).

  Next, the control unit 20 sends an acquisition request for profile information including personal identification information of a plurality of viewing users who can be recognized by personal recognition to the server device 5 via the LAN 6 (step S96). In response to this, since the profile information of the plurality of viewing users is sent from the server device 5, the control unit 20 receives the profile information and the profile information temporary storage unit provided in the public profile information partial extraction unit 107 And the public profile information part extracting unit 107 is instructed to extract the public profile information part (step S97).

  The public profile information part extraction unit 107 recognizes the privacy level that is permitted to be published based on the publication level Ld set in step S95, and the profile information part to which the privacy level that allows the publication is given. Are extracted from each of a plurality of viewing users, their public profile information parts are merged, and passed to the content recommendation unit 105 as a public profile information part (step S98).

  The content recommendation unit 105 uses the received public profile information part to execute a recommendation process for television broadcast program content (step S101 in FIG. 21).

  Next, according to an instruction from the control unit 20, the public level switching determination unit 109 performs the following operation on the captured data of the camera unit 1 CAM from the captured image data processing unit 103 and the collected sound data of the microphone 1 MC from the audio data processing unit 104. Pattern matching with the dictionary data of the switching control pattern dictionary in the pattern storage unit 108 is performed (step S102). In this case, the switching control pattern dictionary referred to in the pattern matching is a plurality of switching control pattern dictionaries corresponding to a plurality of viewing users who are individually recognized.

  Then, the public level switching determination unit 109 determines whether or not a switching control pattern that matches the dictionary pattern registered in the switching control pattern dictionary has been input (step S103), and that there is an input of the matching switching control pattern. When it is determined, the viewing user corresponding to the matched switching control pattern dictionary is recognized (step S104).

  Then, the disclosure level switching determination unit 109 reads the disclosure level corresponding to the matching switching control pattern with reference to the switching control pattern dictionary for the recognized viewing user, and reads the disclosure level for the viewing user. The public level is switched to and notified to the public profile information partial extraction unit 107 (step S105).

  The public profile information part extraction unit 107 re-extracts the public profile information part for the viewing user based on the public level with respect to the profile information for the user who has been switched and sets the re-extracted public profile information part. The other viewing users are re-merged with the extracted public profile information portion and sent to the content recommendation unit 105 (step S106).

  The control unit 20 returns to step S101 after step S106, and the content recommendation unit 105 uses the re-merged public profile information portion based on the control instruction of the control unit 20 to transmit the broadcast program content. Re-recommend.

  In step S103, when the disclosure level switching determination unit 109 determines that there is no input of the matching switching control pattern, the control unit 20 determines whether or not there is an instruction input from the viewing user to end the recommendation process ( In step S107), when there is no end instruction input, the process returns to step S102 to continue monitoring the input of the switching control pattern, and when there is an end instruction input, this processing routine is ended.

  Here, the merging of the public profile information part in step S98 and step S106 will be described.

  As a method of merging the public profile information parts of a plurality of viewing users, a method of setting a union (OR) of the plurality of public profile information parts, and a method of setting a product set (AND) of the plurality of public profile information parts Any of the merging methods can be adopted.

  FIG. 22 shows an example of the public profile information part in the case of merge by union. In the example of FIG. 22, the public level of Mr. A is level 1 of the privacy level, and the public profile information P_A is “J League game”, “Serie A game”, “Premier League game” of the soccer genre. It consists of. In addition, Mr. B's public level is privacy level 3, and his public profile information P_B consists only of a “Spanish League game”.

  Therefore, as a result of the merge, the public profile information portion sent to the content recommendation unit 105 is composed of “J League game”, “Serie A game”, “Premier League game”, and “Spanish League game”. Then, the content recommendation unit 105 recommends broadcast program content that conforms to the public profile information part and can be acquired in the viewing time zone.

  Needless to say, the LAN 6 in the first embodiment described above may be a wireless LAN instead of a wired LAN.

[Second Embodiment-Information Processing System of the Invention]
Since the first embodiment described above is a configuration of an information processing system using a home LAN, the server device is connected to the LAN 6, but the server device is connected to the Internet. Can also be configured.

  FIG. 23 shows an outline of an example of an information processing system according to the second embodiment of the present invention configured using the Internet.

  The example of FIG. 23 is configured by connecting a server device 30 and a plurality of recommendation devices, in this example, a product recommendation device 41, a content recommendation device 42, a plan recommendation device 43, a store recommendation device 44, and the like through the Internet 31. Has been.

  In the profile storage unit 30M of the server device 30, as in the first embodiment described above, profile information associated with personal identification information and assigned with a privacy level is stored for a plurality of users. This profile information is, for example, for the user to upload to the server device 30 through the Internet in advance.

  Although not shown, each recommendation device 41, 42, 43, 44 includes the functional unit 100 as the recommendation device of the television receiver 1 of the first embodiment described above, and also includes a camera unit and a microphone. It is.

  The product recommendation device 41 is arranged, for example, in a product sales store, and associates face image information and voice information for personal identification of a user registered as a member in advance with the personal identification information. A user identification information storage unit. This corresponds to the family identification information storage unit of the television receiver 1 described above.

  In addition, the recommended product information is registered in the recommended product device 41, and product recommendation using the public profile information portion is performed from the registered product information instead of the content recommendation unit 105 described above. The product recommendation section is provided.

  Then, for example, the product recommendation device 41 acquires personal identification information from the image data captured by the camera unit or the sound data collected by the microphone for the member user. Then, in the same manner as in the first embodiment, a profile information acquisition request including the personal identification information is sent to the server device 30 to acquire the profile information of the member user.

  Then, the product recommendation device 41 extracts the public profile information part from the acquired profile information based on the public level that is automatically set or switched, as in the first embodiment. The product recommendation process can be performed. Registration and change of profile information can be performed in the same manner as in the first embodiment.

  The content recommendation device 42 is the same as the personal computer in the first embodiment described above, and the recommendation target is image content, music content, book content, or the like. The registration and change of profile information to the server device 30, the acquisition of profile information from the server device 30, the setting of the disclosure level, the switching change and the recommendation process are the same as those of the product recommendation device 41.

  The plan recommendation device 43 is different from other recommendation devices in that the recommendation target is a plan such as a travel plan, a bridal plan, etc., and registration and change of profile information in the server device 30 and profile information from the server device 30 Acquisition, setting of the disclosure level, switching change, and recommendation processing are the same as those of the product recommendation device 41.

  The store recommendation device 44 also registers and changes profile information in the server device 30, acquires profile information from the server device 30, and disclosure level, only by recommending store information such as canteens, restaurants, and sporting goods stores. The setting, switching change and recommendation processing are the same as those of the product recommendation device 41.

[Third Embodiment-Information Processing System Embodiment of the Invention]
In the first embodiment and the second embodiment described above, the recommendation device includes the public profile information partial extraction unit. However, the public profile information partial extraction unit may be provided in the server device. As described above, the information processing system having the configuration in which the public profile information partial extraction unit is provided in the server apparatus is referred to as a third embodiment.

  In the third embodiment, for example, when applied to the first embodiment, the disclosure level set by the disclosure level setting unit 106 and the disclosure level switched and set by the disclosure level switching determination unit are personal identification. Along with the information, it is sent to the server device 5. In other words, not only the personal identification information but also the profile information acquisition request including the set public level is sent to the server device 5.

  The server device 5 reads out the user profile information of the personal identification information from the profile storage unit 5M using the personal identification information included in the profile information acquisition request, and extracts the public profile information portion provided in the server device 5 Forward to department. Then, the public profile information part extraction unit extracts a public profile information part consisting only of profile items of a privacy level permitted at the public level included in the profile information acquisition request. Then, the server device 5 sends the extracted public profile information part to the recommendation device that has requested acquisition.

  According to the third embodiment, only the public profile information part is transmitted from the server device 5 or the server device 30, and profile information with a high privacy level that is unnecessarily confidential and rides on the transmission route. There is nothing. For this reason, the protection of personal information becomes thicker than in the case of the first embodiment or the second embodiment.

[Fourth Embodiment-Embodiment of Information Processing System of the Invention]
The fourth embodiment is an example of an information processing system that can further simplify the configuration of the recommendation device. That is, in the fourth embodiment, the server device is provided with each unit excluding the content recommendation unit 105 out of the functional unit 100 as the recommendation device of the television receiver 1 of the first embodiment shown in FIG. It is a configuration.

  However, the camera unit 1CAM, the microphone 1MC, the captured image data processing unit 102, and the audio data processing unit 104 are provided on the recommendation device side.

  FIG. 24 shows a block diagram of a configuration example of the server device 5 when the fourth embodiment is applied to the information processing system of the first embodiment. That is, the server device 5 of the fourth embodiment includes a control unit 50, a communication interface 201, a family identification information storage unit 202, a captured image data processing unit 203, an audio data processing unit 204, and a public level setting unit. 206, public profile information partial extraction unit 207, pattern storage unit 208, and pattern matching unit 209 are connected through system bus 51. The profile storage 5M is connected to the system bus 51.

  As in the case of the first embodiment, the public level setting unit 106, the public profile information part extracting unit 107, and the pattern matching unit 109 may be configured as software function means units using software programs. It can be done.

  On the other hand, although not shown, in the recommendation device according to the fourth embodiment, for example, the television receiver 1 of FIG. 4 is taken as an example, the family identification information storage unit 102, the disclosure level setting unit 106, and the disclosure The profile information partial extraction unit 107, the pattern storage unit 108, and the pattern matching unit 109 are not provided.

  FIG. 25 shows a flowchart of a processing operation example during the recommendation process in the recommendation device according to the fourth embodiment. The example of FIG. 25 is a case where the recommendation device is the television receiver 1 in the case of the first embodiment described above.

  In the fourth embodiment, the control unit 20 of the television receiver 1 performs imaging data processing on the captured image data of the viewing environment situation captured by the camera unit 1CAM and the audio data of the viewing environment situation collected by the microphone 1MC, respectively. The unit 102 and the audio data processing unit 103 perform appropriate processing for transmission, and then transmit to the server device 5 (step S111).

  As will be described later, the server device 5 investigates the viewing environment status based on the captured image data and audio data to determine how many viewing users are included and whether the registered viewing users (family members in the above example) are included. The server device 5 sends a notification as to whether or not the registered viewing user is included.

  Therefore, the control unit 20 receives the notification and determines whether or not the viewing environment status includes the registered viewing user (step S112). If not, the control unit 20 sends the notification from the server device 5. The general-purpose profile information about the user is received (step S113), and the received general-purpose profile information is transferred to the content recommendation unit 105.

  The content recommendation unit 105 executes a process of recommending broadcast program content using the general profile information (step S114). Then, this processing routine ends.

  When it is determined in step S112 that the viewing environment situation includes the registered viewing user, the control unit 20 receives the public profile information part sent from the server device 5 (step S115), and the received public profile information part Is transferred to the content recommendation unit 105. In response, the content recommendation unit 105 executes a process of recommending broadcast program content using the received public profile information portion (step S116).

  Next, the control unit 20 transmits to the server device 5 image data and audio data including a gesture pattern of the viewing user captured by the camera unit 1CAM and a spoken word pattern based on the speech of the viewing user collected by the microphone 1MC. (Step S117).

  When the server device 5 performs pattern matching between the gesture pattern or the spoken word pattern and the switching control pattern registered in the switching control pattern dictionary and determines that there is a matching pattern, the profile is set as described later. The public level of information is switched and a new public profile information part is sent.

  Therefore, the control unit 20 determines whether or not a new public profile information portion has been received from the server device 5 (step S118). When determining that it has been received, the control unit 20 returns to step S116 and newly receives the public profile information. The recommendation process of the broadcast program content is executed again using the portion. And the process after this step S116 is continued.

  If it is determined in step S118 that a new public profile information portion from the server device 5 has not been received, the control unit 20 determines whether or not a recommendation process end instruction has been received from the viewing user (step S119). When it is determined that there is no data, the process returns to step S117, and the transmission of the captured image data and the audio data to the server device 5 is continued, and the processes after step S117 are repeated.

  If it is determined in step S119 that an end instruction has been given, the control unit 20 ends the recommendation processing routine.

  Next, an example of the processing operation in the server device 5 in the fourth embodiment will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. The processing operation of each step in FIGS. 26 and 27 is executed by each unit shown in FIG. 24 under the control of the control unit 50. 26 and 27 show the case where the information is received from the television receiver 1, and thus the processing operation is for the viewing environment, but it can be applied to other recommended devices in the same manner. Not even.

  First, the control unit 50 of the server device 5 receives the viewing user's face image information and voice information from the recommendation device (in this example, a television receiver is assumed) (step S121), and the received images. As for the information, the image recognition process in the captured image data processing unit 203 and the sound data processing unit 204 and the sound recognition process for the sound information are performed in the same manner as in the recommendation device in the above-described example. Personal recognition is executed (step S122).

  The personal recognition processing is performed by performing recognition processing in the captured image data processing unit 203 and the voice data processing unit 204 while referring to information stored in the family identification information recording unit 202.

  By the personal recognition processing in step S122, it is determined whether or not the viewing user of the recommendation device includes the registered viewing user stored in the family recognition information storage unit 202 (step S123).

  As a result of the determination in step S123, when it is determined that the viewing user of the recommendation device does not include the registered viewing user, the control unit 50 notifies the recommendation device that the registered viewing user is not included (step S124), and the profile The general profile information stored in the storage unit 5M is read out, and the general profile information is transmitted to the recommendation device (step S125). Then, the control unit 50 ends this processing routine.

  When it is determined in step S123 that the registered viewing user is included, the control unit 50 notifies the recommendation device to that effect (step S126), and then notifies the public level setting unit 206 of the viewing environment status detected in step S122. From the result of the investigation, for example, whether the number of viewers is only one or a plurality of viewers, the disclosure level is automatically set according to the viewing environment state in the same manner as in the above example (step S127).

  Then, the public level set by the public level setting unit 206 is sent to the public profile information part extracting unit 207, and the public profile information part extracting unit 206 having received the public level is registered recognized by the personal recognition in step S122. A public profile information portion consisting only of profile information to which a privacy level permitted to be released according to the public level is extracted from the profile information of the viewing user (stored in the profile storage unit 5M) (step S128). .

  Then, the public profile information part extraction unit 207 determines whether or not there is only one registered viewing user detected by personal identification (step S129). If it is determined that there is only one person, the extracted public profile information part is recommended. Transmit to the apparatus (step S130).

  If it is determined in step S129 that there are a plurality of registered viewing users detected by personal identification, the public profile information portion extracting unit 207 extracts the public profile information portions for the extracted registered viewing users. Are merged (step S131), and the merged public profile information part is transmitted to the recommendation device (step S132).

  After step S130 and after step S132, the control unit 50 receives captured image data and audio data from the recommendation device (step S141 in FIG. 27), and discloses the received captured image data and audio data. The data is transferred to the level switching determination unit 209.

  The public level switching determination unit 209 performs pattern matching on the received captured image data and audio data with the dictionary data of the switching control pattern dictionary in the pattern storage unit 208 (step S142).

  Then, the public level switching determination unit 209 determines whether or not a switching control pattern that matches the dictionary pattern registered in the switching control pattern dictionary has been input (step S143), and that a matching switching control pattern has been input. When it is determined, the public level stored in the switching control pattern dictionary of the pattern storage unit 208 corresponding to the matched dictionary pattern is read out, set to the public level, and is set in the public profile information part extracting unit 207. Notification is made (step S144).

  The public profile information part extraction unit 207 re-extracts the public profile information part based on the public level set for the switching (step S145), and sends the re-extracted public profile information part to the recommendation device (step S146). . And it returns to step S141 and repeats the process after this step S141.

  When the disclosure level switching determination unit 209 determines in step S143 that no matching switching control pattern is input, the control unit 50 determines whether or not end instruction information has been sent from the recommendation device (step S143). S147) When it is determined that the end instruction information has not been sent, the process returns to step S141 so that the monitoring of the switching control pattern is continued. When it is determined that the reception of the end instruction information is detected, this processing routine is executed. Exit.

[Fifth Embodiment: Embodiment of Information Processing Apparatus]
In the first to fourth embodiments described above, the profile storage unit is an information processing system that exists in an external server device connected to the recommendation device via a LAN or the Internet. It can also be set as the structure of the information processing apparatus with which.

  Although not shown, the fifth embodiment is an embodiment of the information processing apparatus. As an example of the hardware configuration, for example, when applied to a television receiver, the profile shown in FIG. It becomes a structure provided with a storage part. That is, in the fifth embodiment, since the profile information of the user (viewing user or the like) exists in the profile storage unit in the information processing apparatus, only the information processing apparatus will be described in the above first embodiment. All the processes can be executed.

[Sixth Embodiment: Information Processing System as Modification of Fifth Embodiment]
In the information processing apparatus of the fifth embodiment, when the storage unit built in the apparatus such as a hard disk apparatus is used as the profile storage unit, the profile information cannot be shared by a plurality of information processing apparatuses.

  However, the function of copying the profile information of each user stored in the profile storage unit to a removable storage medium such as a memory card, and the function of capturing the profile information stored in the removable storage medium, By providing the information processing apparatus, the profile information of each user can be used in another information processing apparatus having the same function as that of the sixth embodiment.

  FIG. 28 shows, for example, a front panel portion of a television receiver 60 as an information processing apparatus of the sixth embodiment when a memory card 61 is used as a removable storage medium. As shown in FIG. 28, the television receiver 60 as the information processing apparatus of the sixth embodiment includes a loading unit 62 for a memory card 61 on the front panel.

  When the memory card 61 is inserted into the loading unit 62, as shown in FIG. 28, “1. Export” means that the profile information is copied to the removable storage medium, in this example, the memory card 61, on the screen 60D. , “2. Import”, which means that the profile information stored in the removable storage medium, in this example the memory card 61, is taken into the television receiver 60 as an information processing device is displayed. Let them be selected.

  When “1. export” is selected, the television receiver 60 uses the information stored in the family identification information storage unit 102 to use the face image captured by the camera unit or the voice sound collected by the microphone. The user is personally recognized from the voice, the personal identification information of the user stored in the family identification information storage unit 102 is acquired, stored in the profile storage unit in association with the acquired personal identification information Current profile information is written to the memory card 61.

  In addition, the face image information, voice information, and personal identification information of the personally recognized user stored in the family identification information storage unit 102 are also written in the memory card 61 in association with the profile information. Further, the dictionary information of the user's switching control pattern stored in the switching control pattern dictionary area of the pattern storage unit 108 is also written in the memory card 61.

  When “2. Import” is selected, the television receiver 60 captures the user's face image information, voice information, and personal identification information stored in the memory card 61 to store the family identification information storage unit. The profile information is taken in and stored in 102 and written in the profile storage unit in association with the personal identification information. Further, the dictionary information of the user switching control pattern is taken from the memory card 61 and written into the pattern storage unit 108.

  Then, the television receiver 60 executes recommendation processing such as content recommendation using the captured profile information, and uses the switching control pattern dictionary information written in the pattern storage unit 108 to disclose the level of the user. Switch.

  After the memory card 61 is removed from the loading unit 62, the captured profile information, face image information, voice information, personal identification information, and switching control pattern information are stored in the profile storage unit, family identification information storage unit, Delete from the storage unit. Further, when there is an explicit instruction from the user, it may be stored and held as it is in the profile storage unit, the family identification information storage unit, or the pattern storage unit without being deleted.

  FIG. 29 shows a television receiver 60 as an example of an information processing apparatus according to the sixth embodiment in which a storage unit of a mobile terminal, for example, a mobile phone terminal 63, is used instead of the memory card 61.

  In the case of the example of FIG. 29, the television receiver 60 is provided with, for example, a wireless communication transmitting / receiving unit 64 using a short-range wireless communication function provided in the mobile phone terminal 63. As the short-range wireless communication function, a device that performs wireless communication using infrared rays, a device that performs wireless communication using radio waves (for example, Bluetooth (registered trademark)), or the like is used.

  The example of FIG. 29 can be configured to perform exactly the same processing operation as the example of FIG. 28 described above except that the mobile phone terminal 63 and the television receiver 60 exchange with each other by wireless communication. it can.

  In the sixth embodiment described above, the storage information is always written in the profile storage unit, the pattern storage unit, and the family identification information storage unit in the television receiver as the information processing device (recommendation device). Has been.

  However, user profile information, face information and voice information for personal identification, switching control pattern dictionary information, and the like only exist when recommendation processing for a recommendation target is performed. Therefore, when the information is taken in from the memory card 61, it is configured to be held in the profile storage unit, the pattern storage unit, and the family identification information storage unit until the power of the recommendation device is turned off. The information such as the profile information can be held, and the recommendation process and the public level switching process can be performed using the held information.

  In that case, the television receiver as the information processing device (recommended device) does not always need to store stored information in the profile storage unit, the pattern storage unit, and the family identification information storage unit. Sometimes, all may be deleted.

  Instead of the mobile phone terminal 63, a mobile terminal such as PDA (Personal Digital Assistants) may be used.

[Seventh Embodiment-Embodiment of Information Processing System]
In the sixth embodiment shown in FIG. 29, only the storage unit of a mobile terminal such as the mobile phone terminal 63 is used. However, this portable terminal can also have the same function as the server device of the fourth embodiment. In that case, as in the fourth embodiment, the television receiver or the like can be a recommendation device having a function of recommending a recommendation target using profile information. The portable terminal can be a profile information providing device (or information processing device) that transmits the public profile information portion to the recommendation device. The information processing system of the seventh embodiment is an example in that case.

  FIG. 30 shows a configuration example of the information processing system according to the seventh embodiment. In the case where the recommendation device is the television receiver 7 and the mobile terminal as the profile information providing device is the mobile phone terminal 8. It is. In the case of the seventh embodiment, as shown in FIG. 30, the television receiver 7 is provided with a receiving unit 71 of a short-range wireless communication unit for performing short-range wireless communication with the mobile phone terminal 8. It is done.

  An example of the hardware configuration of the television receiver 7 in the seventh embodiment is shown in FIG. In FIG. 31, the same components as those of the television receiver 1 of the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.

  That is, in the television receiver 7 according to the seventh embodiment, the original functional unit 10 as the television receiver is exactly the same as the television receiver 1 according to the first embodiment. On the other hand, out of the functional unit 100 as the recommendation device of the television receiver 1, the television receiver 7 has only the content recommendation unit 105, and no other processing unit is provided. That is, the television receiver 7 includes a camera unit 1CAM, a microphone 1MC, a communication interface 101, a family identification information storage unit 102, a captured image data processing unit 103, an audio data processing unit 104, and a public level setting unit 106. The public profile information partial extraction unit 107, the pattern storage unit 108, and the pattern matching unit 109 are not included.

  Instead, the short-range wireless communication unit 114 including the above-described receiving unit 71 is connected to the system bus 21.

  FIG. 32 shows a hardware configuration example of the mobile phone terminal 8 as an example of the profile information providing terminal.

  As shown in FIG. 32, in the mobile phone terminal 8, a wireless telephone communication unit 81, a call voice processing unit 82, and a user interface 89 as original functional units are controlled by a microcomputer via a system bus 301. 300 is connected. The display 90 is connected to the system bus 301 through the display interface 91, and the camera unit 92 is connected to the system bus 301 through the camera interface 93.

  The other party's call voice information received by the radio telephone communication unit 81 is supplied to the D / A converter 83 through the call voice processing unit 82 and converted into an analog voice signal, and is supplied to the receiving speaker 85 through the amplifier 84. Sound is played back. The transmitted voice is picked up by the microphone 86, converted into a digital signal by the A / D converter 88 through the amplifier 87, supplied to the wireless telephone communication unit 81 through the call voice processing unit 82, and transmitted to the other party. The

  The cellular phone terminal 8 of this embodiment includes a profile storage unit 302, a public profile information part extraction unit 303, a captured image data processing unit 304, and an audio data processing unit 305 as functional units of the profile information providing apparatus. A public level setting unit 306, a pattern storage unit 307, a public level switching determination unit 308, and a short-range wireless communication unit 309 are provided connected to the system bus 301.

  Further, the mobile phone terminal 8 includes a microphone 8MC for picking up sound of the surrounding environment, and a sound signal picked up by the microphone 8MC is supplied to the A / D converter 311 through the amplifier 310 to be digital sound. The signal is converted into a signal and supplied to the system bus 301 through the I / O port 312.

  Each of the profile storage unit 302, the public profile information partial extraction unit 303, the captured image data processing unit 304, the audio data processing unit 305, the public level setting unit 306, the pattern storage unit 307, and the public level switching determination unit 308 is described above. Each of the profile storage unit 5M, the public profile information partial extraction unit 107, the captured image data processing unit 103, the audio data processing unit 104, the public level setting unit 106, the pattern storage unit 108, and the public level switching determination unit 109 according to the first embodiment. And having the same configuration, the processing operation as described above can be performed.

  However, only the profile information of the user who uses the mobile phone terminal 8 is stored in the profile storage unit 302.

  It should be noted that each of the public profile information partial extraction unit 303, the captured image data processing unit 304, the audio data processing unit 305, the public level setting unit 306, and the public level switching determination unit 308 is processed by a software program as in the above example. It can also be configured as a functional unit.

  In the seventh embodiment, since the public profile information part of the user is provided to the recommendation device from the mobile phone terminal 8 owned by the user as in the above example, the personal identification function of the user Is unnecessary. However, in order to identify the public profile information part from a plurality of users, it is necessary to distinguish the public profile information part of each user. Number) and identification information registered in advance by the user.

  FIG. 33 shows a flowchart of an example of processing operation for generating the public profile information portion in the mobile phone terminal 8 and transmitting it to the recommendation device. Each step of the flowchart in FIG. 33 is executed by each functional unit as the profile information providing apparatus described above under the control of the control unit 300.

  First, the control unit 300 performs image recognition processing and voice recognition processing on the picked-up image data processing unit 304 and the voice data processing unit 305 for the picked-up image data from the camera unit 92 and the sound data collected by the microphone 8MC. Thus, it is investigated whether the surrounding environment is the situation of one user or a plurality of users, and the result of the investigation is notified to the public level setting unit 306 (step S151).

  The public level setting unit 306 receives the survey result of the ambient environment situation survey to determine whether or not the environment is for viewing alone (step S152). Is set to a level LA for public viewing, for example, up to the highest privacy level (level 5 in the above example), and the set public level LA is passed to the public profile information partial extraction unit 303 ( Step S153).

  Further, when the public level setting unit 306 determines in step S152 that the environment is a situation where a plurality of people view, for example, the public level is set to a level LB lower than the level LA, for example, a level of privacy level, for viewing the plurality of people. 2 is set as a public level, and the set public level LB is passed to the public profile information partial extraction unit 303 (step S154).

  The public profile information partial extraction unit 303 recognizes a privacy level that is allowed to be released based on the release level LA or LB set in step S153, and a profile that is given a privacy level that allows the release. The information part is extracted from the profile information stored in the profile storage unit 302 to generate a public profile information part (step S155).

  Then, the control unit 300 transmits the public profile information part generated by the public profile information part extraction unit 303 to the television receiver 7 as a recommendation device through the short-range wireless communication unit 309 (step S156).

  Next, an example of the public profile information partial change processing by the change switching setting of the public level in the mobile phone terminal 8 will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  The control unit 300 instructs the disclosure level switching determination unit 308 to determine whether or not the disclosure level switching operation by the user has been performed (step S161). Here, the switching operation of the public level by the user is a speech input of a gesture or a spoken word pattern registered as a switching control pattern in the switching control pattern dictionary of the pattern storage unit 307 as described above.

  In the seventh embodiment, since the public level can be switched on the mobile terminal, the public level switching operation using the operation buttons provided on the mobile terminal is used instead of using these gestures and spoken word patterns. It can also be.

  If the disclosure level switching determination unit 308 determines in step S161 that there is no disclosure level switching, this processing routine ends. Also, in step S161, when it is determined that the disclosure level has been switched due to the detection of the disclosure level switching control pattern, the disclosure level switching determination unit 308 refers to the switching control pattern dictionary in the pattern storage unit 307. The public level LC corresponding to the detected switching control pattern is acquired as the public level after switching, and is notified to the public profile information partial extracting unit 303 (step S162).

  The public profile information part extraction unit 303 recognizes the privacy level that is permitted to be published based on the publication level LC set in step S162, and the profile information part to which the privacy level that allows the publication is given. Is extracted from the profile information stored in the profile storage unit 302, and the public profile information part is regenerated (step S163).

  Then, the control unit 300 transmits the public profile information part regenerated by the public profile information part extraction unit 303 to the television receiver 7 as a recommendation device through the short-range wireless communication unit 309 (step S164).

  Next, an example of handling processing on the television receiver 7 side will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.

  The control unit 20 of the television receiver 7 receives the public profile information part from the mobile phone terminal 8, and temporarily stores the received public profile information part in the public profile information part temporarily stored in the content recommendation unit 105. (Step S171).

  Next, the content recommendation unit 105 determines whether or not the public profile information portion of a plurality of people has been received and stored in the temporary storage unit (step S172). The parts are merged as described above (step S173), and then the process proceeds to step S174.

  If it is determined in step S172 that the public profile information part of the temporary storage unit is only for one person, the process proceeds to step S174 as it is.

  In step S174, the content recommendation unit 105 executes a process of recommending broadcast program content using the public profile information portion (step S174).

  Next, the control unit 300 newly determines whether or not a public profile information part has been received (step S175). When it is determined that the public profile information part has been received, the control unit 300 updates the public profile information part used to recommend broadcast program content (Step S176).

  In the update processing of the public profile information part in step S176, when the public profile information part of the user already received is updated with the one changed by the change of the public level, another user is updated. This includes the case where the received public profile information part is merged with the received public profile information part and updated.

  After step S176, the process returns to step S174, and the content recommendation unit 105 executes the broadcast program content recommendation process again using the updated public profile information part. And the process after this step S174 is repeated.

  When it is determined in step S175 that a new public profile information part has not been received, the control unit 300 determines whether or not an instruction to end the recommendation process has been issued by the user (step S177). If it is determined that there is not, the process returns to step S175, and step S175 and subsequent steps are repeated. Further, when it is determined in step S177 that an end instruction has been issued by the user, the control unit 300 ends this processing routine.

  According to the seventh embodiment, the user simply carries around a portable terminal having a function as a profile information providing apparatus, such as the portable telephone terminal 8, and includes a recommendation processing unit similar to the television receiver 7 described above. The recommendation device can receive a recommendation of the recommendation object. In this case, there is an effect that the user can receive the recommended recommendation service while concealing the profile information that the user wants to conceal.

  That is, in the first embodiment described above, a user whose profile information is not registered in the server device cannot receive content recommendation. However, as in the seventh embodiment, the profile personally owned by the user By using the information providing means, content recommendation can be received by passing the profile information to an electronic device having a recommendation function anytime and anywhere.

  In the above description of the first embodiment, the switching control pattern is used for switching the automatically set public level. However, in the seventh embodiment, the switching control pattern described above is used. The pattern can also be used as a means for setting an initial public level.

  In addition, the mobile terminal as an example of the profile information providing apparatus is not limited to the above-described mobile phone terminal, and the PDA may be provided with the above-described profile information providing function. You may comprise with a portable terminal.

[Effect of the above-described embodiment]
In the above-described embodiment, by setting the privacy level in the user profile information and setting the disclosure level using this privacy level, the profile information according to the situation can be disclosed. It can be used in various environments.

  Also, the privacy level as the public level can be switched by a combination of natural actions such as gestures and utterances of registered word patterns, thereby improving usability.

  In addition, each user can create a switching control pattern based on a combination of gestures and registered word patterns as element patterns, and a plurality of switching control patterns can be provided for switching control of the same content level. Since it can be registered, it is possible to respond to the situation more flexibly.

  In addition, since the switching control pattern is a user's own registration, when sharing a profile in an environment where there are a plurality of people, it is possible to set the level without knowing the level disclosed by other people. It becomes possible.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, it is possible to generate a profile in consideration of the preference within each privacy level by merging the profile information released by a plurality of persons. Various recommendations can be made based on the merged profile information.

[Other Embodiments or Modifications]
In the above-described embodiment, the disclosure level is automatically set according to the surrounding environment of the user in the initial stage. However, the initial disclosure level may be registered in advance. . Of course, the user may set and input the disclosure level.

  In particular, in the case of an embodiment of a profile providing apparatus (information processing apparatus) that provides profile information to the recommendation apparatus as in the seventh embodiment, it is easy for the user to set the disclosure level manually. However, even if there are other people around, it is possible to set and input the public level so that they are not noticed.

  Further, in the above-described embodiment, the environment level is investigated from the captured image data and the collected sound data to determine whether the user is one or a plurality of users, and the public level is automatically set based on the determination. However, the situation that can be determined from the captured image data and the collected sound data is not limited to such a situation of the number of people.

  For example, from the captured image, face orientation, line of sight, blinking, posture, body movement, behavior, etc. can be read. It is possible to determine whether the situation is better because it is nervous and it is better to lower the public level, or if it is relaxed and the public level may be higher. Then, it is possible to automatically set the disclosure level from the determination result.

  In addition, the volume, tone, and fluctuations of the voice can be read from the sound collected by the microphone. Based on these, the user's situation or the situation of the user's surrounding environment can be grasped and the disclosure level can be automatically set. Can be set. Here, sound fluctuation is information obtained by detecting regularity and irregularity of sound from voice data collected continuously in time.

  Moreover, a user is equipped with a biometric sensor, and biometric information such as the user's pulse, sweating, and body temperature is acquired by the biometric sensor. It is also possible to determine the disclosure level and set the disclosure level. In particular, in the case of the embodiment of the profile information providing apparatus of the seventh embodiment described above, a biosensor is provided at a part where the user holds the profile information providing apparatus as a mobile terminal by hand, and the user's Biometric information can be easily acquired.

It is a figure for demonstrating the outline | summary of 1st Embodiment of the information processing system by this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the example of the storage information of the profile storage part in the server apparatus of the information processing system of embodiment of FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of profile information. It is a block diagram which shows the hardware structural example of the television receiver as an example of the recommendation apparatus which comprises the information processing system of embodiment of FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the example of the memory content of the family identification information storage part of the television receiver of FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the example of the memory content of the pattern memory | storage part of the television receiver of FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the example of the memory content of the pattern memory | storage part of the television receiver of FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the example of the memory content of the pattern memory | storage part of the television receiver of FIG. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the processing operation in the television receiver as an example of the recommendation apparatus which comprises the information processing system of embodiment of FIG. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the processing operation in the television receiver as an example of the recommendation apparatus which comprises the information processing system of embodiment of FIG. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the processing operation in the television receiver as an example of the recommendation apparatus which comprises the information processing system of embodiment of FIG. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the processing operation in the server apparatus which comprises the information processing system of embodiment of FIG. It is a figure for demonstrating the item candidate of profile information. It is a figure for demonstrating profile information and its privacy level. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the processing operation in the television receiver as an example of the recommendation apparatus which comprises the information processing system of embodiment of FIG. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the processing operation in the television receiver as an example of the recommendation apparatus which comprises the information processing system of embodiment of FIG. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the processing operation in the television receiver as an example of the recommendation apparatus which comprises the information processing system of embodiment of FIG. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the processing operation in the television receiver as an example of the recommendation apparatus which comprises the information processing system of embodiment of FIG. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the processing operation in the television receiver as an example of the recommendation apparatus which comprises the information processing system of embodiment of FIG. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the processing operation in the television receiver as an example of the recommendation apparatus which comprises the information processing system of embodiment of FIG. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the processing operation in the television receiver as an example of the recommendation apparatus which comprises the information processing system of embodiment of FIG. In the embodiment of the present invention, it is a diagram for explaining a public profile information portion used for recommendation. It is a figure for demonstrating the outline | summary of 2nd Embodiment of the information processing system by this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the hardware structural example of the server apparatus which comprises 4th Embodiment of the information processing system by this invention. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the processing operation of the television receiver as an example of the recommendation apparatus which comprises 4th Embodiment of the information processing system by this invention. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the processing operation of the server apparatus which comprises 4th Embodiment of the information processing system by this invention. It is a flowchart for demonstrating the processing operation of the server apparatus which comprises 4th Embodiment of the information processing system by this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the outline | summary of 6th Embodiment of the information processing system by this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the outline | summary of the other example of 6th Embodiment of the information processing system by this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the outline | summary of 7th Embodiment of the information processing system by this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the hardware structural example of the television receiver as an example of the recommendation apparatus which comprises 6th Embodiment of the information processing system by this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the hardware structural example of the mobile telephone terminal as an example of the profile information provision apparatus which comprises 6th Embodiment of the information processing system by this invention. FIG. 33 is a flowchart for explaining a processing operation in the mobile phone terminal of FIG. 32. FIG. FIG. 33 is a flowchart for explaining a processing operation in the mobile phone terminal of FIG. 32. FIG. 32 is a flowchart for explaining a processing operation in the television receiver of FIG. 31.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Television receiver, 5 ... Server apparatus, 5M ... Profile storage part, 105 ... Content recommendation part, 106 ... Public level setting part, 107 ... Public profile information partial extraction part, 108 ... Pattern storage part, 109 ... Public level switching Judgment unit, 1CAM ... Camera unit, 1MC ... Microphone

Claims (27)

Storage means for storing personal profile information consisting of a plurality of items with a privacy level indicating the degree to which each of the items may be disclosed;
About the personal profile information, a public level setting means for setting a public level indicating a level at which disclosure is permitted according to the privacy level;
Extracting means for extracting from the profile information stored in the storage means, the public profile information part allowed by the privacy level of the public level set by the public level setting means;
Using the public profile information part extracted by the extraction means, recommending means for recommending a recommendation object;
An information processing apparatus comprising: The information processing apparatus according to claim 1,
The public level setting means determines a situation when the recommendation means recommends the recommendation object to the user, and automatically sets a privacy level as the public level according to the determined situation. Information processing apparatus. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2,
Imaging means;
A microphone,
With
The public level setting means, as the situation, determines the ambient environment situation of the user from imaging data obtained by imaging by the imaging means and / or voice data collected by the microphone. Information processing apparatus. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3.
Whether the public level setting means is an environment where only the user exists based on the imaging data obtained by imaging by the imaging means and / or audio data collected by a microphone. Judging whether the environment is a multi-person environment, and depending on the result of the judgment, the environment where only the user exists and the multi-person environment have different privacy levels as the public level. An information processing apparatus characterized by being set to The information processing apparatus according to claim 1,
Comprising biometric information acquisition means for acquiring biometric information of the user,
The information disclosure apparatus, wherein the disclosure level setting unit sets a privacy level as the disclosure level based on the user's biometric information acquired by the biometric information acquisition unit. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1,
Pattern dictionary means for registering and storing in advance the privacy level as the public level and the user's gesture pattern and / or spoken word pattern in association with each other;
Imaging means;
A microphone,
An image pattern obtained from imaging data obtained by imaging by the imaging means and / or a speech word pattern obtained from voice data collected by the microphone, the gesture pattern stored in the pattern dictionary means, and Switching means for switching the public level to the public level corresponding to the matched pattern when there is a matched pattern when compared with the speech word pattern;
An information processing apparatus comprising: The information processing apparatus according to claim 1,
The storage means uses a removable storage medium as a storage element,
An information processing apparatus comprising a loading unit for the removable storage medium. An information processing system comprising a server device and a recommendation device connected to the server device in a wired or wireless manner,
The server device
A storage unit in which personal profile information consisting of a plurality of items is stored with a privacy level indicating the degree to which each of the items may be disclosed;
Means for transmitting the profile information to the recommendation means in response to an acquisition request from the recommendation device;
With
The recommendation device is:
An acquisition means for transmitting the acquisition request to the server device and acquiring the profile information from the server device;
About the personal profile information, a public level setting means for setting a public level indicating a level at which disclosure is permitted according to the privacy level;
Extraction means for extracting, from the profile information acquired by the acquisition means, the public profile information part allowed by the privacy level of the public level set by the public level setting means;
Using the public profile information part extracted by the extraction means, recommending means for recommending a recommendation object;
An information processing system comprising: An information processing device comprising a server device and a recommendation device connected to the server device in a wired or wireless manner,
The server device
A storage unit that stores a personal profile information composed of a plurality of items with a privacy level indicating a degree to which each of the items may be disclosed; and
In response to an acquisition request including the privacy level as a disclosure level indicating a level allowing disclosure from the recommendation device, a disclosure profile information portion of a privacy level permitted by the disclosure level is obtained from the profile information of the storage unit. Means for extracting and transmitting to the recommendation means;
With
The recommendation device is:
For the personal profile information, a public level setting means for setting the public level according to the privacy level;
Means for sending an acquisition request including the privacy level set as the disclosure level to the server device;
Receiving means for receiving the public profile information part from the server device;
Using the public profile information portion received by the receiving means, recommending means for recommending a recommendation target;
An information processing system comprising: In the information processing system according to claim 8 or 9,
The information processing system, wherein the server device is connected to the recommendation device through a local area network. In the information processing system according to claim 8 or 9,
The information processing system, wherein the server device is connected to the recommendation device through the Internet. In the information processing system according to claim 8 or 9,
The disclosure level setting means of the recommendation device judges an ambient environment situation of the recommendation device, and automatically sets a privacy level as the disclosure level according to the judged ambient environment situation. system. In the information processing system according to claim 8 or 9,
The recommendation device is:
Pattern dictionary means for registering and storing in advance the privacy level as the public level and the user's gesture pattern and / or spoken word pattern in association with each other;
Imaging means;
A microphone,
An image pattern obtained from imaging data obtained by imaging by the imaging means and / or a speech word pattern obtained from voice data collected by the microphone, the gesture pattern stored in the pattern dictionary means, and And / or switching means for switching to the public level to the public level corresponding to the matched pattern when there is a matched pattern by comparing with the spoken word pattern;
An information processing system comprising: An information processing system comprising a server device and a recommendation device connected to the server device in a wired or wireless manner,
The server device
A storage unit that stores a personal profile information composed of a plurality of items with a privacy level indicating a degree to which each of the items may be disclosed; and
Information for analyzing the environment surrounding the recommended device from the recommended device is analyzed, and based on the analysis result, a disclosure level indicating a level at which disclosure is permitted is set according to the privacy level. Level setting means;
Means for extracting a public profile information part of a privacy level permitted by a public level set by the public level setting means from profile information in the storage unit and transmitting the profile information to the recommendation means;
With
The recommendation device is:
Means for collecting the information for analyzing the surrounding environment of the recommendation device and transmitting it to the server device;
Receiving means for receiving the public profile information part from the server device;
Using the public profile information part received by the receiving means, recommending means for selecting a recommendation target and notifying a user;
An information processing system comprising: The information processing system according to claim 14,
The recommendation device is:
Imaging means;
A microphone,
Means for transmitting captured image data obtained by imaging by the imaging means and / or voice data collected by the microphone to the server device;
With
The server device
Pattern dictionary means for registering and storing in advance the privacy level as the public level and the user's gesture pattern and / or spoken word pattern in association with each other;
Means for receiving the captured image data and / or the audio data from the recommendation device;
A speech word pattern obtained from an image pattern obtained from the imaging data and / or speech data collected by the microphone is compared with the gesture pattern and / or speech word pattern stored in the pattern dictionary means. A public level switching means for changing a privacy level as the public level corresponding to the matched pattern when there is a matched pattern;
A change profile transmitting unit that extracts a public profile information part of a privacy level permitted by the public level changed by the public level switching unit, from the profile information of the storage unit, and transmits the profile information to the recommendation unit;
An information processing system comprising: An information processing system comprising a profile information providing device and a recommendation device,
The profile information providing device includes:
A storage unit in which personal profile information is stored with a privacy level indicating the degree to which each profile item may be disclosed;
About the personal profile information, a public level setting means for setting a public level to be disclosed according to the privacy level;
Transmitting means for reading the profile information allowed by the privacy level of the public level set by the public level setting means from the storage unit, and transmitting the read profile information to the recommendation device;
With
The recommendation device is:
Receiving means for receiving profile information from the profile information providing device;
Using the profile information received by the receiving means, recommending means for selecting a recommendation target and informing the user;
An information processing system comprising: The information processing system according to claim 16,
The disclosure level setting means of the profile information providing device determines an ambient environment situation of the recommendation device, and automatically sets a privacy level as the disclosure level according to the determined ambient environment situation. Information processing system. The information processing system according to claim 16,
The profile information providing device includes:
Pattern dictionary means for registering and storing in advance the privacy level as the public level and the user's gesture pattern and / or spoken word pattern in association with each other;
Imaging means;
A microphone,
With
The public level setting means stores in the pattern dictionary means an image pattern obtained from image data obtained by imaging by the imaging means and / or a speech word pattern obtained from voice data collected by the microphone. And comparing the gesture pattern and / or the spoken word pattern, and when there is a matched pattern, a privacy level is set as the public level corresponding to the matched pattern. system. A storage unit in which personal profile information is stored with a privacy level indicating the degree to which each profile item may be disclosed;
About the personal profile information, a public level setting means for setting a public level to be disclosed according to the privacy level;
Output means for reading out the profile information allowed by the privacy level of the public level set by the public level setting means from the storage unit and outputting the read profile information;
An information processing apparatus comprising: The information processing apparatus according to claim 19,
The information disclosure apparatus, wherein the disclosure level setting means determines an ambient environment situation of the recommendation device, and automatically sets a privacy level as the disclosure level according to the determined ambient environment situation. The information processing apparatus according to claim 19,
Pattern dictionary means for registering and storing in advance the privacy level as the public level and the user's gesture pattern and / or spoken word pattern in association with each other;
Imaging means;
A microphone,
With
The public level setting means stores in the pattern dictionary means an image pattern obtained from image data obtained by imaging by the imaging means and / or a speech word pattern obtained from voice data collected by the microphone. And comparing the gesture pattern and / or the spoken word pattern, and when there is a matched pattern, a privacy level is set as the public level corresponding to the matched pattern. apparatus. The information processing apparatus according to claim 19,
The information processing apparatus characterized in that the storage means uses a removable storage medium as a storage element. Receiving means for receiving personal profile information sent in a state where a privacy level indicating a degree to which the item may be disclosed is provided for each of the items.
For the personal profile information, a public level setting means for setting the public level according to the privacy level;
Extraction means for extracting from the profile information received by the receiving means, the public profile information portion allowed by the privacy level of the public level set by the public level setting means;
Using the public profile information part extracted by the extraction means, a recommendation means for selecting a recommendation target and notifying a user;
A recommendation device comprising: The recommendation device according to claim 23, wherein
The recommendation level setting unit determines a surrounding environment state of the recommendation device, and automatically sets a privacy level as the disclosure level according to the determined surrounding environment state. The information processing apparatus according to claim 23,
Pattern dictionary means for registering and storing in advance the privacy level as the public level and the user's gesture pattern and / or spoken word pattern in association with each other;
Imaging means;
A microphone,
With
The public level setting means stores in the pattern dictionary means an image pattern obtained from image data obtained by imaging by the imaging means and / or a speech word pattern obtained from voice data collected by the microphone. A recommendation device that compares the gesture pattern and / or the spoken word pattern, and sets a privacy level as the public level corresponding to the matched pattern when there is a matched pattern. . An information processing method in an information processing apparatus comprising a storage means, a public level setting means, an acquisition means, and a recommendation means,
A storage step in which the storage means stores personal profile information composed of a plurality of items with a privacy level indicating a degree to which each of the items may be disclosed, and
A disclosure level setting step in which the disclosure level setting means sets a disclosure level to be disclosed for the personal profile information according to the privacy level;
The obtaining unit obtains, from the profile information stored in the storing step, the public profile information part allowed by the privacy level of the public level set in the public level setting step;
A recommendation step in which the recommendation means uses the public profile information part acquired in the acquisition step to select a recommendation target and notify the user;
An information processing method comprising:   A storage medium in which personal profile information including a plurality of items is stored with a privacy level indicating the degree to which each of the items may be disclosed.

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