Content Recommendation Device

• US 20080229360A1
• Filed: 12/15/2005
• Published: 09/18/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sovereign Peak Ventures, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Misaki, Masayuki, Icho, Keiji, Horii, Noriaki
• Granted Patent: US 7,797,710 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/46
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25891 being end-user preferences retrieval of video data in a video database based on user preferences G06F16/739; arrangements for recognizing users' preferences H04H60/46; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4532 involving end-user characteristics, e.g. viewer profile, preferences monitoring of user activities for profile generation for accessing a video database G06F16/739; user profiles in network data switching protocols H04L67/306; processing of user preferences or user profiles in wireless networks H04W8/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/454 Content or additional data filtering, e.g. blocking advertisements

Abstract

Preferences of a user are analyzed with respect to each of a plurality of pieces of content. already viewed by the user, and a piece viewing motivation information that is a combination of attribute entities of the piece of content is generated. A primary viewing motivation-portion and a secondary viewing motivation portion are determined in the generated pieces of viewing, motivation information, and pieces of viewing motivation information having a common primary viewing motivation portion are grouped together. Content having the determined primary viewing motivation portion and secondary viewing motivation portion is selected from content not yet viewed by the user, and content information about the selected content is presented to the user in correspondence with the primary viewing motivation portion and secondary viewing motivation portion.

Claims

1. A content recommendation apparatus, comprising:

a preference analysis unit operable to, with respect to each of a plurality of pieces of content already viewed by a user, analyze a preference of the user, and generate a piece of viewing motivation information that is a combination of attribute entities of the piece of content;

a motivation analysis unit operable to, with respect to each generated piece of viewing motivation information determine a primary viewing motivation portion that shows in the piece of viewing motivation information a portion that particularly motivated the user to view the piece of content and divide the piece of viewing motivation information into the primary viewing motivation portion and a secondary viewing motivation portion;

a hierarchical structuring unit operable to cause a common primary viewing motivation portion of the pieces of viewing motivation information to be shared and arrange a secondary viewing motivation portion below the common primary viewing motivation portion, thereby putting the primary viewing motivation portion and the secondary viewing motivation portion into a hierarchical structure;

a selection unit operable to select one or more pieces of content having a combination of the primary viewing motivation portion and the secondary viewing motivation portion as attribute entities; and

a presentation unit operable to present to the user, content information about the selected one or more pieces of content in correspondence with the primary viewing motivation portion and the secondary viewing motivation portion that have been put into the hierarchical structure.

2. The content recommendation apparatus of claim 1, wherein each piece of viewing motivation information is a combination of attribute entities that, among combinations of attribute entities of the content, appears with a frequency equal to or higher than a predetermined threshold value in the content information of the plurality of pieces of already-viewed content.

3. The content recommendation apparatus of claim 2, wherein

the primary viewing motivation portion is a combination of attribute entities that, among combinations of attribute entities included in the piece of viewing motivation information, are included most frequently in other pieces of viewing motivation information generated by the preference analysis unit, and

the secondary viewing motivation portion is a combination of attribute entities other than the attribute entities determined as the primary viewing motivation portion.

4. The content recommendation apparatus of claim 2, wherein

the primary viewing motivation portion is a combination of attribute entities that are most frequently appearing combinations of attribute entities included in the pieces of viewing motivation information, and

the secondary viewing motivation portion is a combination of attribute entities other than the attribute entities determined as the primary viewing motivation portion.

5. The content recommendation apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

a clock unit operable to clock time,

wherein each one of the plurality of already-viewed pieces of content is in correspondence with a date and time of viewing,

the piece of viewing motivation information for each one of the plurality of already-viewed pieces of content is a combination of, among combinations of attribute entities of content, attribute entities for which, in a predetermined period of time, a ratio of (a) appearance times in the content information of the already-viewed pieces of content and (b) appearance times in content information of all content is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value.

6. The content recommendation apparatus of claim 5 wherein

the primary viewing motivation portion is a combination of attribute entities that, in the pieces of viewing motivation information in the predetermined period of time, are most frequently included in content information of content viewed within a period of time that is longer that the predetermined period of time, and

the secondary viewing motivation portion is a combination of attribute entities other than the attribute entities determined as the primary viewing motivation portion.

7. The content recommendation apparatus of claim 5, wherein

the primary viewing motivation portion is a combination of attribute entities that, in viewing motivation information in the predetermined period of time, are included in content information of a piece of content whose date and time is oldest and is before a predetermined point in time, and

the secondary viewing motivation portion is a combination of attribute entities other than the attribute entities determined as the primary viewing motivation portion.

9. The content recommendation apparatus of claim 1, wherein

the preference analysis unit includes a keyword extraction subunit operable to, based on the generated pieces of viewing motivation information, extract a characteristic keyword from newest information attached to content, or advertisement information.

10. The content recommendation apparatus of claim 1, further comprising:

an information retrieval unit operable to, based on the pieces of viewing motivation information generated by the preference analysis unit, retrieve information via a network,

wherein the selected one or more pieces of content include the information retrieved by the information retrieval unit.

8. (canceled)

11. A content recommendation method, comprising the steps of:

analyzing, with respect to each of a plurality of pieces of content already viewed by a user, a preference of the user;

generating a piece of viewing motivation information that is a combination of attribute entities of the piece of content;

determining, with respect to each generated piece of viewing motivation information, a primary viewing motivation portion that shows, in the piece of viewing motivation information, a portion that particularly motivated the user to view the piece of content;

determining with respect to each generated piece of viewing motivation information a primary viewing motivation portion that shows in the piece of viewing motivation information a portion that particularly motivated the user to view the piece of content;

dividing the piece of viewing motivation information into the primary viewing motivation portion and a secondary viewing motivation portion;

hierarchical structuring to cause a common primary viewing motivation portion of the pieces of viewing motivation information to be shared, and arrange a secondary viewing motivation portion below the common primary viewing motivation portion, thereby putting the primary viewing motivation portion and the secondary viewing motivation portion into a hierarchical structure;

selecting one or more pieces of content having a combination of the primary viewing motivation portion and the secondary viewing motivation portion as attribute entities; and

presenting to the user, content information about the selected one or more pieces of content in correspondence with the primary viewing motivation portion and the secondary viewing motivation portion that have been put into the hierarchical structure.

12. A computer readable program for causing a computer to perform a procedure that comprises:

preference analysis code for, with respect to each of a plurality of pieces of content already viewed by a user, analyze a preference of the user, and generate a piece of viewing motivation information that is a combination of attribute entities of the piece of content;

motivation analysis code for, with respect to each generated piece of viewing motivation information, determine a primary viewing motivation portion that shows, in the piece of viewing motivation information, a portion that particularly motivated the user to view the piece of content, and dividing the piece of viewing motivation information into the primary viewing motivation portion and a secondary viewing motivation portion;

hierarchical structuring code for causing a common primary viewing motivation portion of the pieces of viewing motivation information to be shared and arranging a secondary viewing motivation portion below the common primary viewing motivation portion, thereby putting the primary viewing motivation portion and the secondary viewing motivation portion into a hierarchical structure;

selection code for selecting, one or more pieces of content having a combination of the primary viewing motivation portion and the secondary viewing motivation portion as attribute entities; and

presentation code for presenting, to the user, content information about the selected one or more pieces of content in correspondence with the primary viewing motivation portion and the secondary viewing motivation portion that have been put into hierarchical structure.

13. A content recommendation integrated circuit, comprising:

a preference analysis unit operable to, with respect to each of a plurality of pieces of content already viewed by a user, analyze a preference of the user, and generate a piece of viewing motivation information that is a combination of attribute entities of the piece of content;

a motivation analysis unit operable to, with respect to each generated piece of viewing motivation information, determine a primary viewing motivation portion that shows, in the piece of viewing motivation information, a portion that particularly motivated the user to view the piece of content, and divide the piece of viewing motivation information into the primary viewing motivation portion and a secondary viewing motivation portion;

a hierarchical structuring unit operable to cause a common primary viewing motivation portion of the pieces of viewing motivation information to be shared, and arrange a secondary viewing motivation portion below the common primary viewing motivation portion, thereby putting the primary viewing motivation portion and the secondary viewing motivation portion into a hierarchical structure;

a selection unit operable to select one or more pieces of content having a combination of the primary viewing motivation portion and the secondary viewing motivation portion as attribute entities; and

a presentation unit operable to present, to the user content information about the selected one or more pieces of content in correspondence with the primary viewing motivation portion and the secondary viewing motivation portion that have been put into the hierarchical structure.