CONTENT RECOMMENDATION SYSTEM, CONTENT RECOMMENDATION DEVICE, AND CONTENT RECOMMENDATION METHOD

• US 20110302240A1
• Filed: 05/26/2011
• Published: 12/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: SAITO, Katsu, Sakamoto, Takayuki, Onogi, Wataru, Koyanagi, Masaaki
• Granted Patent: US 9,536,246 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/203
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9035 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/612 for unicast

Abstract

A content recommendation system includes: a client terminal operated by a user; and a content recommendation server that recommends content to the terminal through a network and includes a preference discrimination information storage section accumulating and storing preference discrimination information in which information related to evaluation of content input to the terminal by a user and identification information of the user are associated with each other, a content feature information storage section storing content feature information in which data indicating features of content are associated with identification information of content, a preference information creation section creating preference information of each user by integrating evaluation for content with the feature of the content for each user based on the preference discrimination information and the content feature information, and a recommended content list providing section transmitting a list of recommended content, extracted by evaluating the degree of similarity of features with the preference information based on the content feature information, to the terminal.

Claims

1. A content recommendation system comprising:

a client terminal operated by a user; and

a content recommendation server that recommends content to the client terminal through a network,

wherein the content recommendation server includes

a preference discrimination information storage section that accumulates and stores preference discrimination information in which information related to evaluation of content input to the client terminal by a user and identification information of the user are associated with each other,

a content feature information storage section that stores content feature information in which data indicating features of content are associated with identification information of content,

a preference information creation section that creates preference information of each user by integrating evaluation for content with the feature of the content for each user on the basis of the preference discrimination information and the content feature information, and

a recommended content list providing section that transmits a list of recommended content, extracted by evaluating the degree of similarity of features with the preference information on the basis of the content feature information, to the client terminal.

2. The content recommendation system according to claim 1, wherein the recommended content list providing section transmits a list of recommended content, based on preference information of a user different from a user operating a client terminal which is a destination of a list of recommended content, to the client terminal, and

the client terminal includes a preference information creation condition setting section that receives an input for designating conditions of extraction for the different user from the user operating the client terminal, and transmits the input to the recommendation server.

3. The content recommendation system according to claim 2, wherein the preference information creation section further creates preference information of a user set including a plurality of users extracted by the conditions transmitted from the client terminal by integrating preference information of the plurality of users.

4. The content recommendation system according to claim 1, wherein the preference information creation section further creates preference information of each user set by integrating preference information of users belonging to a user set clustered in accordance with a predetermined rule.

5. The content recommendation system according to claim 1, wherein the content feature information storage section stores content feature information of many types of content having different reproduction formats, and

the recommended content list providing section additionally sets the type of content, different from the type of content evaluated by a user operating a client terminal which is a destination, to recommended content.

6. The content recommendation system according to claim 1, wherein the recommendation server further includes a preference information providing section that transmits preference information created by the preference information creation section to the client terminal,

the client terminal further includes a request data transmission section that generates request data obtained by adding filtering conditions to the preference information acquired from the recommendation server and transmits the request data to the recommendation server, and

the recommended content list providing section performs filtering under the filtering conditions designated to the request data at the time of extraction of a list of the recommended content.

7. The content recommendation system according to claim 6, wherein the preference information providing section transmits the preference information in a format which makes content unreadable by a user to the client terminal.

8. The content recommendation system according to claim 1, wherein information related to evaluation of content included in the preference discrimination information includes the evaluation date and time,

the client terminal includes a preference information creation condition setting section that receives an input for designating an evaluation time slot as conditions of creation of preference information from a user operating the client terminal, and transmits the input to the recommendation server, and

the preference information creation section in the recommendation server creates preference information used to limit a time slot on the basis of the content feature information and the preference discrimination information evaluated at a time slot which is designated by a user.

9. The content recommendation system according to claim 1, wherein information related to evaluation of content included in the preference discrimination information includes an evaluated place,

the client terminal includes a preference information creation condition setting section that receives an input for designating an evaluated area as conditions of creation of preference information from a user operating the client terminal, and transmits the input to the recommendation server, and

the preference information creation section in the recommendation server creates preference information used to limit an evaluation area on the basis of the content feature information and the preference discrimination information evaluated within an area which is designated by a user.

10. The content recommendation system according to claim 1, wherein the recommended content list providing section compares combinations of content to be evaluated by the same user for each user with reference to the preference discrimination information, evaluates the level of relevance between content items of the combination by the number of users evaluating the same combination, and when the degree of similarity of features of content with the preference information is evaluated, and performs weighting on the degree of similarity in accordance with the level of relevance.

11. A content recommendation device, connected to a plurality of client terminals through a network, that recommends content to each client terminal, comprising:

a preference discrimination information storage section that accumulates and stores preference discrimination information in which information related to evaluation of content input to the client terminal by a user and identification information of the user are associated with each other; and

a recommended content list providing section that compares combinations of content to be evaluated by the same user for each user with reference to the preference discrimination information, evaluates the level of relevance between content items of the combination by the number of users evaluating the same combination, then creates a list of recommended content by reflecting the evaluation result to extraction processing of recommend content, and transmits the list to the client terminal.

12. The content recommendation device according to claim 11, wherein the recommended content list providing section additionally sets the type of content, different from the type of content evaluated by a user operating a client terminal which is a destination, to recommended content.

13. A content recommendation method of allowing a recommendation server to recommend content to a client terminal operated by a user through a network, comprising:

accumulating preference discrimination information, in which information related to evaluation of content input to the client terminal by a user and identification information of the user are associated with each other, in the recommendation server, and storing the preference discrimination information in a memory;

referring to content feature information, in which data indicating features of content are associated with identification information of content, from a database that stores the content feature information;

creating preference information of each user by integrating evaluation for content in the preference discrimination information and features of the content in the content feature information for each user; and

transmitting a list of recommended content, extracted by evaluating the degree of similarity of features with the preference information on the basis of the content feature information, to the client terminal.

14. A computer program that causes a recommendation server to realize a function of recommending content to a client terminal operated by a user through a network, the function comprising:

a function of accumulating preference discrimination information in which information related to evaluation of content input to the client terminal by a user and identification information of the user are associated with each other, and storing the preference discrimination information in a memory;

a function of referring to content feature information, in which data indicating features of content are associated with identification information of content, from a database that stores the content feature information;

a function of creating preference information for each user by integrating evaluation for content in the preference discrimination information and the features of the content in the content feature information for each user; and

a function of transmitting a list of recommended content, extracted by evaluating the degree of similarity of features with the preference information on the basis of the content feature information, to the client terminal.