Data display server, data display method and program thereof

• US 20050177584A1
• Filed: 01/05/2005
• Published: 08/11/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Kamachi, Teruhisa, Naito, Taketo
• Granted Patent: US 7,734,650 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/38 Retrieval characterised by using metadata, e.g. metadata not derived from the content or metadata generated manually
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9038 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/01 Social networking

Abstract

The present invention relates to recommendation of items to a user for providing items more satisfying a user'"'"'s request on the basis of new association. The present invention provides a data display server connected to a user terminal, which includes a posting database for storing posting data posted through the user terminal, a reference data base for storing reference data, relational metadata generating means which generates relational metadata making association between two pieces of reference data, and a relational database for storing the relational metadata. According to the arrangement, tight linking between reference data is made possible so that items more suitable for a user'"'"'s preference can be recommended.

Claims

1. A data display server connected to a user terminal to display prescribed data in response to a request through said user terminal, said data display server comprising:

a posting database which holds posting data having been posted through said user terminal;

a reference database which holds reference data specified by a reference data ID contained in said posting data;

relational metadata generating means which extracts the reference data ID one by one from each posting data according to a relationship between two posting data to generate relational metadata with two extracted reference data IDs contained;

a relational database which holds said generated relational metadata; and

relational data juxtaposing means which juxtaposes and displaying, on a display of said user terminal in response to a reference data browsing request from the user, said reference data and relational data associated with said reference data by said relational metadata.

2. The data display server according to claim 1, wherein said relational metadata has a parameter on a degree of relevancy, and sets the degree of relevancy high depending on the number of pieces of relational metadata containing two reference data IDs equal to each other.

3. The data display server according to claim 1, further comprising relation counting means which counts the relational metadata containing two reference data IDs equal to each other.

4. The data display server according to claim 1, wherein said relational data juxtaposing means displays the above relational data preferentially in descending order of the degree of relevancy representing how strong said relational data bears a relationship with said reference data.

5. The data display server according to claim 4, further comprising a user database in which user data specified as personal information of the user, wherein:

a display order of said relational data is changed by making use of said user data.

6. The data display server according to claim 1, wherein:

said relational data juxtaposing means displays said relational data in an order suited to a type of relationship to said reference data.

7. The data display server according to claim 6, wherein said type of relationship to said reference data is one or more relationships selected from a group comprising a way to use the reference data, a function, an effect, a combination, similarity and a purchase history.

8. A program for causing a computer connected to a user terminal to display prescribed data in response to a request through said user terminal functioning as:

a posting database which holds posting data having been posted through said user terminal;

a reference database which holds reference data specified by a reference data ID contained in said posting data;

relational metadata generating means which extracts the reference data ID one by one from each posting data according to a relationship between two posting data to generate relational metadata with two extracted reference data IDs contained;

a relational database which holds said generated relational metadata; and

relational data juxtaposing means which juxtaposes and displaying, on a display of said user terminal in response to a reference data browsing request from the user, said reference data and relational data associated with said reference data by said relational metadata.

9. A data display server connected to a user terminal to display prescribed data in response to a request through the user terminal, said data display server comprising:

a reference database that holds reference data capable of being referred to by a user;

message creating means of permitting the user to create, through the user terminal, a message to be posted;

keyword input means of permitting the user to input, through the user terminal, a keyword of reference data about contents of the message;

reference data retrieving means of retrieving the reference data from the reference database by the keyword;

reference data juxtaposing means of juxtaposing and displaying, on a display of the user terminal, one or more pieces of reference data resulting from the retrieval;

reference data selecting means of permitting the user to select, through the user terminal, the reference data attached to posting data from the displayed reference data;

posting means of permitting the user to post, through the user terminal, the posting data containing a reference data ID of the reference data selected by the reference data selecting means;

a posting database that holds the posting data having been posted through the user terminal; and

posting browsing means of displaying, on the display of the user terminal in response to a posting data browsing request from the user, the posting data and the reference data specified by the reference data ID contained in the posting data.

10. The data display server according to claim 9, further comprising:

reference data display means which displays the reference data selected by said reference data selecting means on a part of a posting display of said user terminal.

11. The data display server according to claim 9, wherein:

said reference data is one or more pieces of information selected from a group comprising a reference data ID, a reference data name, an alias reference data name, a model number, a manufacturer name, a category, a descriptive text, an image URL, a price and a release date.

12. The data display server according to claim 9, wherein said reference data is data of an item or service.

13. The data display server according to claim 9, further comprising:

relational metadata generating means which extracts the reference data ID one by one from each posting data according to a relationship between two posting data to generate relational metadata with two extracted reference data IDs contained; and

a relational database which holds said generated relational metadata.

14. The data display server according to claim 13, wherein said reference data is data of an item or service.

15. The data display server according to claim 13, wherein said relational metadata has a parameter on a degree of relevancy, and sets the degree of relevancy high depending on the number of pieces of relational metadata containing two reference data IDs equal to each other.

16. The data display server according to claim 13, further comprising relation counting means which counts the relational metadata containing two reference data IDs equal to each other.

17. The data display server according to claim 13, further comprising:

relational data juxtaposing means which juxtaposes and displaying, on a display of said user terminal in response to a reference data browsing request from the user, said reference data and relational data associated with said reference data by said relational metadata.

18. The data display server according to claim 17, wherein said relational data is displayed in a descending order of a degree of relevancy representing how strong said relational data bears a relationship with said reference data.

19. The data display server according to claim 18, further comprising a user database in which user data specified as personal information of the user, wherein:

a display order of said relational data is changed by making use of said user data.

20. The data display server according to claim 19, wherein:

said relational data is displayed in an order suited to a type of relationship to said reference data.

21. The data display server according to claim 20, wherein said type of relationship to said reference data includes one or more relationships selected from a group comprising a way to use the reference data, a function, an effect, a combination, similarity and a purchase history.

22. The data display server according to claim 9, wherein said reference database also stores category data indicating a category of said reference data.

23. The data display server according to claim 9, having a function of a bulletin board on which a plurality of users carry out information exchange via a network.

24. A program for causing a computer connected to a user terminal to display prescribed data in response to a request through said user terminal functioning as:

a reference database that holds reference data capable of being referred to by a user;

message creating means of permitting the user to create, through the user terminal, a message to be posted;

keyword input means of permitting the user to input, through the user terminal, a keyword of reference data about contents of the message;

reference data retrieving means of retrieving the reference data from the reference database by the keyword;

reference data juxtaposing means of juxtaposing and displaying, on a display of the user terminal, one or more pieces of reference data resulting from the retrieval;

reference data selecting means of permitting the user to select, through the user terminal, the reference data attached to posting data from the displayed reference data;

posting means of permitting the user to post, through the user terminal, the posting data containing a reference data ID of the reference data selected by the reference data selecting means;

a posting database that holds the posting data having been posted through the user terminal; and

posting browsing means of displaying, on the display of the user terminal in response to a posting data browsing request from the user, the posting data and the reference data specified by the reference data ID contained in the posting data.

25. A data display method making use of a user terminal and a data display server connected to a network to display prescribed data in response to a request from said user terminal, said method comprising the steps of:

a relational metadata generating step in which, when posting data having a reference data ID specifying reference data regarding contents of a posting message attached thereto is posted by said user terminal and responsive posting data to which the reference data ID is attached is posted in response thereto, said data display server extracts a reference data ID one by one from the posting data and the responsive posting data according to a relationship between said posting data and said responsive posting data to generate relational metadata with said two extracted reference data IDs contained; and

a relational data juxtaposing step in which said data display server juxtaposes and displays displaying, on a display of said user terminal, said reference data and relational data associated with said reference data by said relational metadata, in response to a reference data browsing request from the user.

26. The data display method according to claim 25, wherein, in said relational metadata generating step, a degree of relevancy of said relational metadata is set high depending on the number of pieces of relational metadata containing two reference data IDs equal to each other.

27. The data display method according to claim 25, wherein said relational metadata represents a relational strength with a degree of relevancy based on the number of pieces of relational metadata, and a value obtained by counting the relational metadata having two reference data Ids equal to each other is defined as the degree of relevancy.

28. The data display method according to claim 25, wherein said relational data is displayed in a descending order of the degree of relevancy indicating a relational strength to said reference data.

29. The data display method according to claim 25, wherein said relational data is displayed in an order suited to a type of relationship to said reference data.

30. A data display method making use of a user terminal and a data display server connected to a network to display prescribed data in response to a request from said user terminal, said method comprising the steps, performed by said data display server, of:

a message creating step of permitting a user to create, through said user terminal, a message to be posted;

a keyword inputting step of permitting the user to input, through said user terminal, a keyword of reference data about contents of said message;

a reference data retrieving step of retrieving said reference data from said keyword;

a reference data juxtaposing step of juxtaposing and displaying, on a display of the user terminal, one or more pieces of reference data resulting from said retrieval;

a reference data selecting step of permitting the user to select, through said user terminal, reference data to be attached to posting data from said displayed reference data;

a posting step of permitting the user to post, through said user terminal, posting data containing a reference data ID of the reference data selected in said reference data selecting step; and

a posting browsing step of displaying, on the display of said user terminal in response to a posting data browsing request from the user, said posting data and reference data specified by a reference data ID contained in said posting data.

31. The data display method according to claim 30, further comprising:

a reference data displaying step of displaying the reference data selected in said reference data selecting step on a part of a posting display of said user terminal.

32. The data display method according to claim 30, further comprising:

a relational metadata generating step in which said data display server, when responsive posting data being a reply to said posting data posted in said data display server exists, extracts a reference data ID one by one from said posting data and said responsive posting data in accordance with a relationship between the posting data and the responsive posting data to generate relational metadata with said two extracted reference data IDs contained.

33. The data display method according to claim 32, wherein:

in said relational metadata generating step, the degree of relevancy is set high depending on the number of pieces of relational metadata containing two reference data IDs equal to each other.

34. The data display method according to claim 32, wherein:

said relational metadata represents a relational strength with a degree of relevancy based on the number of pieces of relational metadata, and a value obtained by counting the relational metadata having two reference data Ids equal to each other is defined as the degree of relevancy.

35. The data display method according to claim 32, further comprising:

a relational data juxtaposing step in which said data display server juxtaposes and displays displaying, on a display of said user terminal, said reference data and relational data associated with said reference data by said relational metadata, in response to a reference data browsing request from the user.

36. The data display method according to claim 35, wherein said relational data is displayed in a descending order of the degree of relevancy indicating a relational strength to said reference data.

37. The data display method according to claim 35, wherein said relational data is displayed in an order suited to a type of relationship to said reference data.