COMMUNICATION SERVER, COMMUNICATION METHOD, MEMORY MEDIUM AND INTEGRATED CIRCUIT

• US 20130298150A1
• Filed: 03/07/2012
• Published: 11/07/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/23/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sovereign Peak Ventures, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Panasonic Intellectual Property Corporation of America (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Wakai, Ryohei, Fujita, Takahisa, Kawamura, Yuzo
• Granted Patent: US 8,874,474 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 725/14
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/10 Office automation; Time management
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/123 Shopping for digital content
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 20/3224 Transactions dependent on location of M-devices
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0601 Electronic shopping [e-shopping]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0605 Supply or demand aggregation
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0639 Item locations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0641 Shopping interfaces
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/08 Auctions
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 2007/17372 the upstream transmission being initiated or timed by a signal from upstream of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23109 by placing content in organized collections, e.g. EPG data repository details of retrieval of video data and associated meta data in video databases G06F16/739
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25866 Management of end-user data customer care in data networks H04L41/5077
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2747 Remote storage of video programs received via the downstream path, e.g. from the server
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4334 Recording operations recording of a television signal H04N5/76; arrangements for recording or accumulating broadcast information or broadcast-related information H04H60/27
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/44224 Monitoring of user activity on external systems, e.g. Internet browsing
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/47214 for content reservation or setting reminders; for requesting event notification, e.g. of sport results or stock market stock exchange data over packet-switching network H04L12/1804; push services over packet-switching network H04L12/1859; notification of incoming messages in packet switching networks H04L51/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6371 directed to network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/022 with dynamic range variability

Abstract

A communication server 200 acquires a request specifying a desired location for content creation from a requester terminal 310, and provides a notification of the request to an accepter terminal 300 accepting the content creation. The notification history managing unit 206 stores, as notification history, the distance from an accepter terminal to be provided with the notification to the desired recoding location and acceptance information. Upon acquisition of a new request, a request notification terminal selecting unit 203 selects a accepter terminal 300 that is likely to accept the request according to the notification history, and the request notifying unit 204 provides the selected accepter terminal 300 with the notification.

Claims

1-12. -12. (canceled)

13. A communication server comprising:

a request acquiring unit that acquires a request for content creation with specification of a desired location for the content creation;

a terminal location acquiring unit that acquires locations of a plurality of accepter terminals each capable of performing the content creation;

a notifying unit that provides a notification of the request to an accepter terminal selected from among the plurality of accepter terminals;

an acceptance information acquiring unit that acquires acceptance information showing whether or not the selected accepter terminal provided with the notification of the request has accepted the request;

a history managing unit that manages history information showing a history of notifications provided to each of the plurality of accepter terminals by the notifying unit in the past, the history information containing for each notification;

a location at the time of provision of the notification, of the accepter terminal provided with the notification;

a desired location specified in a corresponding request; and

the acceptance information; and

a selecting unit that, upon acquisition of a new request, calculates location tendency values for the plurality of accepter terminals by using current locations of the plurality of accepter terminals and the history information, and selects an accepter terminal to which the notifying unit provides a notification of the new request, according to a desired location specified in the new request and the location tendency values for the plurality of accepter terminals, the current locations showing locations of the plurality of accepter terminals at the time of the acquisition of the new request, and the location tendency values showing request acceptance rates of the plurality of accepter terminals at the current locations.

14. The communication server of claim 13, wherein

when a location at the time of provision of a notification, of an accepter terminal provided with the notification is defined as a notification location,

the selecting unit calculates, with respect to the notifications provided to each of the plurality of accepter terminals in the past, a rate of acceptance of requests associated with notification locations within a predetermined range of a current location of the corresponding accepter terminal, and sets the rate of acceptance as a location tendency value for the corresponding accepter terminal.

15. The communication server of claim 13, wherein

when distances between the current locations and the desired location specified in the new request are defined as current distances,

the selecting unit calculates, upon acquisition of the new request, distance tendency values for the plurality of accepter terminals by using the current distances of the plurality of accepter terminals and the history information, and selects the accepter terminal to be provided with the notification of the new request according to the location tendency values and the distance tendency values, the distance tendency values showing request acceptance rates of the plurality of accepter terminals at the current distances.

16. The communication server of claim 15, wherein

when a distance between the two locations contained in the history information is defined as a notification distance,

the selecting unit calculates, with respect to the notifications provided to each of the plurality of accepter terminals in the past, a rate of acceptance of requests associated with notification distances that are approximations of a current distance of the corresponding accepter terminal, and sets the rate of acceptance as a distance tendency value for the corresponding accepter terminal.

17. The communication server of claim 13, wherein

the history information further contains time of each notification, and

the selecting unit calculates, upon acquisition of the new request, time tendency values for the plurality of accepter terminals by using current time and the history information, and selects the accepter terminal to be provided with the notification of the new request according to the desired location specified in the new request, the location tendency values and the time tendency values, the time tendency values showing request acceptance rates of the plurality of accepter terminals at the current time.

18. The communication server of claim 16, wherein

the selecting unit corrects the distance tendency values according to the current distances, and selects the accepter terminal to be provided with the notification of the new request according to the distance tendency values after the correction.

19. The communication server of claim 13 further comprising:

a location category information managing unit that manages location category information associating locations and categories with each other, wherein

upon acquisition of the new request, the selecting unit calculates category tendency values for the plurality of accepter terminals by using the location category information and the history information, and selects the accepter terminal to be provided with the notification of the new request according to the desired location specified in the new request, the location category information and the category tendency values, the category tendency values showing request acceptance rates of the plurality of accepter terminals with respect to a category associated with the desired location specified in the new request.

20. The communication server of claim 13, wherein

the history information further contains for each notification a user identifier for identifying a user of the accepter terminal provided with the notification, and

upon acquisition of the new request, the selecting unit calculates the location tendency values for users of the plurality of accepter terminals by using the current locations of the plurality of accepter terminals and the history information.

21. A communication method comprising:

a request acquiring step of acquiring a request for content creation with specification of a desired location for the content creation;

a terminal location acquiring step of acquiring locations of a plurality of accepter terminals each capable of performing the content creation;

a notifying step of providing a notification of the request to an accepter terminal selected from among the plurality of accepter terminals;

an acceptance information acquiring step of acquiring acceptance information showing whether or not the selected accepter terminal provided with the notification of the request has accepted the request;

a history managing step of managing history information showing a history of notifications provided to each of the plurality of accepter terminals in the notifying step in the past, the history information containing for each notification;

a location at the time of provision of the notification, of the accepter terminal provided with the notification;

a desired location specified in a corresponding request; and

the acceptance information; and

a selecting step, upon acquisition of a new request, of calculating location tendency values for the plurality of accepter terminals by using current locations of the plurality of accepter terminals and the history information, and selecting an accepter terminal to which a notification of the new request is provided in the notifying step, according to a desired location specified in the new request and the location tendency values for the plurality of accepter terminals, the current locations showing locations of the plurality of accepter terminals at the time of the acquisition of the new request, and the location tendency values showing request acceptance rates of the plurality of accepter terminals at the current locations.

22. A computer-readable non-transitory recording medium on which a program for causing a computer to perform request notification processing is recorded, the request notification processing comprising:

a request acquiring step of acquiring a request for content creation with specification of a desired location for the content creation;

a terminal location acquiring step of acquiring locations of a plurality of accepter terminals each capable of performing the content creation;

a notifying step of providing a notification of the request to an accepter terminal selected from among the plurality of accepter terminals;

an acceptance information acquiring step of acquiring acceptance information showing whether or not the selected accepter terminal provided with the notification of the request has accepted the request;

a history managing step of managing history information showing a history of notifications provided to each of the plurality of accepter terminals in the notifying step in the past, the history information containing for each notification;

a location at the time of provision of the notification, of the accepter terminal provided with the notification;

a desired location specified in a corresponding request; and

the acceptance information; and

a selecting step, upon acquisition of a new request, of calculating location tendency values for the plurality of accepter terminals by using current locations of the plurality of accepter terminals and the history information, and selecting an accepter terminal to which a notification of the new request is provided in the notifying step, according to a desired location specified in the new request and the location tendency values for the plurality of accepter terminals, the current locations showing locations of the plurality of accepter terminals at the time of the acquisition of the new request, and the location tendency values showing request acceptance rates of the plurality of accepter terminals at the current locations.

23. An integrated circuit used in a communication server, comprising:

a request acquiring unit that acquires a request for data creation with specification of a desired location for the data creation from a requester terminal;

a terminal location acquiring unit that acquires locations of a plurality of accepter terminals each capable of performing the data creation;

a notifying unit that provides a notification of the request to an accepter terminal selected from among the plurality of accepter terminals;

an acceptance information acquiring unit that acquires acceptance information showing whether or not the selected accepter terminal provided with the notification of the request has accepted the request;

a history managing unit that manages history information showing a history of notifications provided to each of the plurality of accepter terminals by the notifying unit in the past, the history information containing for each notification;

a location at the time of provision of the notification, of the accepter terminal provided with the notification;

a desired location specified in a corresponding request; and

the acceptance information; and

a selecting unit that, upon acquisition of a new request, calculates location tendency values for the plurality of accepter terminals by using current locations of the plurality of accepter terminals and the history information, and selects an accepter terminal to which the notifying unit provides a notification of the new request, according to a desired location specified in the new request and the location tendency values for the plurality of accepter terminals, the current locations showing locations of the plurality of accepter terminals at the time of the acquisition of the new request, and the location tendency values showing request acceptance rates of the plurality of accepter terminals at the current locations.