User Preference Interring Apparatus, User Profile Interring Apparatus, and Robot

• US 20080234862A1
• Filed: 05/19/2005
• Published: 09/25/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/19/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Ishiguro, Shin, Funada, Jun-ichi
• Granted Patent: US 8,340,816 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/246
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to infer a user'"'"'s preference or profile with a good precision.

A user preference inferring apparatus 100 includes a receiving means 2 which receives information related to an article from a tag attached to the article, an article name determining means 3 obtaining an article name of the article on the basis of the information related to the article received by the receiving means 2, and a preference determining means 4 which infers a user'"'"'s preference on the basis of the information related to the article received by the receiving means 2. On the basis of the article name obtained by the article name determining means 3, the preference determining means 4 obtains preference information corresponding to the article name from a database that stores the article name and the preference information corresponding to the article name, and determines the user'"'"'s preference.

Claims

1. A user preference inferring apparatus comprising:

a receiving unit which receives information related to an article from a tag attached to the article; and

a preference determining unit which infers a user'"'"'s preference on the basis of the information related to said article received by said receiving unit.

2. The user preference inferring apparatus as set forth in claim 1, further comprising an article name obtaining unit which obtains an article name of the article on the basis of the information related to said article received by said receiving unit,

wherein, on the basis of the article name obtained by said article name obtaining unit, said preference determining unit obtains preference information corresponding to said article name from a database that stores the article name and the preference information corresponding to the article name.

3. The user preference inferring apparatus as set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

an article name obtaining unit which obtains an article name of the article on the basis of the information related to said article received by said receiving unit, and

an article category obtaining unit which obtains, on the basis of the article name obtained by said article name obtaining unit, a category corresponding to said article name from a database that stores the article name and the category corresponding to the article name,

wherein, on the basis of said category obtained by said article category obtaining unit, said preference determining unit obtains preference information corresponding to said category from a database that stores the category and the preference information corresponding to the category.

4. The user preference inferring apparatus as set forth in claim 2, further comprising a threshold value storing unit which stores a threshold value for inferring said user'"'"'s preference,

wherein said preference determining unit infers said user'"'"'s preference on the basis of comparison between an accumulated sum of said preference information obtained from said database and said threshold value.

5. The user preference inferring apparatus as set forth in claim 4, wherein said preference determining unit obtains a weighting coefficient defined for each article together with said preference information from said database, and

said preference determining unit calculates said accumulated sum considering also said weighting coefficient, and infers said user'"'"'s preference on the basis of comparison between the accumulated sum and said threshold value.

6. The user preference inferring apparatus as set forth in claim 1,

wherein said preference determining unit further comprises an owner inferring unit which infers, for each article, an owner of the article and, for each owner inferred by said owner inferring unit, said preference determining unit infers the preference of the owner.

7. The user preference inferring apparatus as set forth in claim 6, further comprising:

a presentation processing unit which presents information to the user, and

an input receiving unit which receives input of information from the user,

wherein said owner inferring unit infers the owner of said article by presenting information that inquires to said presentation processing unit on the owner and by receiving a reply to said inquiring information via said input receiving unit.

8. The user preference inferring apparatus as set forth in claim 1, further comprising a clustering processing unit which clusters, according to a predetermined standard, a plurality of said articles on which said receiving unit has received information related to said articles,

wherein said preference determining unit infers, for each cluster divided by said clustering processing unit, the preference of the owner of the articles contained in the cluster.

9. The user preference inferring apparatus as set forth in claim 8, further comprising a position information obtaining unit which obtains position information of a plurality of said articles on which said receiving unit has read out information identifying said articles,

wherein said clustering processing unit clusters said articles in accordance with relative position among the articles on the basis of the position information of said articles obtained by said position information obtaining unit.

10. The user preference inferring apparatus as set forth in claim 1,

wherein the information related to said articles is information identifying said articles.

11. The user preference inferring apparatus as set forth in claim 1, further comprising:

a presentation processing unit which presents information to the user, and

an input receiving unit which receives input of information from the user,

wherein said preference determining unit determines said user'"'"'s preference by allowing said presentation processing unit to present candidates of determination results and allowing said input receiving unit to receive selection of a correct determination result from among said candidates of determination results.

13. A robot that moves spontaneously, comprising:

a user preference inferring apparatus as set forth in claim 1;

a moving unit that moves said user preference inferring apparatus; and

an operation controlling unit controlling said moving unit.

14. A robot comprising:

a user preference inferring apparatus as set forth in claim 1; and

an operation controlling unit that operates to the user on the basis of said user'"'"'s preference inferred by said user preference inferring apparatus.

12. The user preference inferring apparatus as set forth in further comprising a moving unit for moving spontaneously.

15. A user profile inferring apparatus comprising:

an information obtaining unit which obtains information related to an article from a tag attached to the article; and

a profile inferring unit which infers a user'"'"'s profile on the basis of the information related to said article read out by said information obtaining unit.

16. The user profile inferring apparatus as set forth in claim 15, further comprising an owner inferring unit which infers, for each article, an owner of the article,

wherein, for each owner inferred by said owner inferring unit, said profile inferring unit infers the profile of the owner.

17. The user profile inferring apparatus as set forth in claim 16, further comprising a position information obtaining unit which obtains position information of said article on which said information obtaining unit has read out information related to said article,

wherein said owner inferring unit infers the owner of said article in accordance with relative position among articles on the basis of the position information of said article obtained by said position information obtaining unit.

18. The user profile inferring apparatus as set forth in claim 15, further comprising a history storing unit which stores the time at which said information obtaining unit has obtained information related to said article in correspondence with information showing the article,

wherein said profile inferring unit infers said user'"'"'s profile on the basis of the information showing said article and the time corresponding thereto stored by said history storing unit.

19. A robot that moves spontaneously, comprising:

a user profile inferring apparatus as set forth in claim 15;

a moving unit that moves said user profile inferring apparatus; and

an operation controlling unit that controls said moving unit.

20. A robot comprising:

a user profile inferring apparatus as set forth in claim 15; and

an operation controlling unit that operates to the user on the basis of said user'"'"'s profile inferred by said user profile inferring apparatus.

21. A user preference inferring method comprising:

receiving information related to an article from a tag attached to the article; and

inferring a user'"'"'s preference on the basis of the information related to said article received in said receiving information related to the article.

22. The user preference inferring method as set forth in claim 21, further comprising obtaining an article name of the article on the basis of the information related to said article received in said receiving information related to the article,

wherein, on the basis of said article name obtained in said obtaining the article name, said inferring the user'"'"'s preference includes obtaining preference information corresponding to said article name from a database that stores the article name and the preference information corresponding to the article name.

23. A user profile inferring method comprising:

obtaining information related to an article from a tag attached to the article; and

inferring a user'"'"'s profile on the basis of the information related to said article obtained in said obtaining information related to the article.

24. A user preference inferring program that allows a computer to function as:

receiving means for receiving information related to an article from a tag attached to the article; and

preference determining means for inferring a user'"'"'s preference on the basis of the information related to said article received by said receiving means.

25. A robot controlling program that allows a robot having a moving unit to move spontaneously by allowing a computer contained in said robot to function as:

receiving means for receiving information related to an article from a tag attached to the article;

preference determining means for inferring a user'"'"'s preference on the basis of the information related to said article received by said receiving means; and

operation controlling means for controlling said moving unit.