Information recommendation apparatus and information recommendation system

• US 7,373,318 B2
• Filed: 05/09/2001
• Issued: 05/13/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2000
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sovereign Peak Ventures, LLC (Dominion Harbor Enterprises, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Matsushita Electric Industrial Company Limited (Panasonic Holdings Corporation)
• Inventors: Naito, Eiichi, Jitousho, Yuumi, Hiratsuka, Tomoyasu, Kutsumi, Hiroshi, Araki, Shouichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Pond; Robert M.
• Application Number:
  US09/851,791
• Publication Number:
  US 20010044759A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,561 Days
• Field of Search: 705/7, 705/10, 705/26, 705/27
• US Class Current: 705/26.7
• CPC Class Codes: A23L 35/00 Food or foodstuffs not provided for in groups A23L5/00 – A23L33/00; Preparation or treatment thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/335 Filtering based on additional data, e.g. user or group profiles filtering in web context G06F16/9535, G06F16/9536
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9536 Search customisation based on social or collaborative filtering
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/02 Marketing; Price estimation or determination; Fundraising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0273 Determination of fees for advertising
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0277 Online advertisement
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0631 Item recommendations

Abstract

An information recommendation apparatus selects and recommends contents coincident with or similar to conditions input. The conditions are represented by predetermined items and attribute values corresponding thereto, from among contents formed of plural pieces of data having plural items and attribute values corresponding thereto and stored in a content database in which the contents are registered, wherein the recommended contents are output to the terminal.

Claims

1. An information recommendation apparatus for a service provider and a plurality of users comprising:

a content database at the service provider for storing a plurality of contents formed of objective plural pieces of data having a plurality of ingredients, each set of ingredients operated on by a differing process;

content registration means of the service provider receiving the registration of new contents from one of the plurality of users and registering said new contents in said content database, the new contents formed of objective plural pieces of data having a plurality of ingredients, each set of ingredients operated on by a differing process;

condition input means of inputting conditions from the one user to the service provider represented by predetermined items and attribute values;

recommendation means of the service provider selecting and recommending contents of said plurality of contents to the one user coincident with or similar to said input conditions by said condition input means from said content database;

access history control means of determining the number of recommendation times and recommendation information of contents recommended by said recommendation means on the basis of the number of times the one user carried out content registration by using said content registration means, and

output means of outputting said recommended contents to the one user determined by said access history control means from the service provider,

wherein the more the one user is incentives to register contents, the more recommended contents are outputted as rewards to the one user to search through and consider,

wherein the one user'"'"'s received recommended contents are in number at least greater than the number of times the one user carried out content registration,

wherein said condition input means is equipped with condition extraction means of extracting input conditions on the basis of the new contents having been registered in the past by the one user who receives recommendation, and

wherein the number of recommendation times and recommendation information of contents recommended by said recommendation means is determined solely on the basis of the number of times the one user carried out content registration by using said content restoration means.

2. An information recommendation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said new contents to be registered by the one user are cooking contents, and items constituting said cooking contents include objective items including at least one data item of cooking time, the number of dishes, calorie, material cost, family structure and atmospheric temperature, and subjective items including at least one data item of tastiness level, satisfaction level, enjoyment level, richness level and refreshment level.

3. An information recommendation apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said new contents to be registered by the one user are cooking contents, and items constituting said cooking contents further have an item of making distinction between a person who cooks and a person who eats.

4. An information recommendation apparatus according to any one of the claims 1, 2, and 3, wherein said condition input means is equipped with condition extraction means of extracting input conditions on the basis of the contents having been recommended in the past to the one user attempting to receive recommendation or the contents recommended to and designated by the one user.

5. An information recommendation apparatus according to claim 4 wherein

said condition input means comprises means of externally inputting conditions, and said condition extraction means, and

said recommendation means selects said contents, coincident with or similar to said conditions extracted by using said condition extraction means, from only said contents conforming to said externally input conditions, and recommends said selected contents.

6. An information recommendation apparatus according to any one of claims 1, 2, and 3, wherein said condition input means is equipped with condition extraction means of extracting input conditions on the basis of the occurrence frequencies of the attribute values corresponding to the items constituting the new contents registered in the past by the one user who receives recommendation.

7. An information recommendation apparatus according to claim 6, wherein said conditions having tendencies opposite to the tendencies of the occurrence frequencies of said contents are extracted as said input conditions.

8. An information recommendation apparatus according to claim 6 wherein

said condition input means comprises means of externally inputting conditions, and said condition extraction means, and

said recommendation means selects said contents, coincident with or similar to said conditions extracted by using said condition extraction means, from only said contents conforming to said externally input conditions, and recommends said selected contents.

9. An information recommendation apparatus according to any one of claims 1, 2, and 3, wherein said condition input means is equipped with the condition extraction means of extracting input conditions on the basis of the occurrence frequencies of the attribute values corresponding to the items constituting the contents having been recommended in the past to the one user attempting to receive recommendation or the occurrence frequencies of the attribute values corresponding to the items constituting the contents recommended to and designated by the one user by using designation means.

10. An information recommendation apparatus according to claim 9, wherein said conditions having tendencies opposite to the tendencies of the occurrence frequencies of said contents are extracted as said input conditions.

11. An information recommendation apparatus according to claim 9 wherein

said condition input means comprises means of externally inputting conditions, and said condition extraction means, and

said recommendation means selects said contents, coincident with or similar to said conditions extracted by using said condition extraction means, from only said contents conforming to said externally input conditions, and recommends said selected contents.

12. An information recommendation apparatus according to any one of claims 1, 2, and 3, wherein said condition input means is equipped with condition extraction means of extracting input conditions on the basis of occurrence frequencies of the words extracted from the texts in the contents registered in the past by the one user who receives recommendation.

13. An information recommendation apparatus according to claim 12, wherein said conditions having tendencies opposite to the tendencies of the occurrence frequencies of said contents are extracted as said input conditions.

14. An information recommendation apparatus according to claim 12 wherein

said condition input means comprises means of externally inputting conditions, and said condition extraction means, and

said recommendation means selects said contents, coincident with or similar to said conditions extracted by using said condition extraction means, from only said contents conforming to said externally input conditions, and recommends said selected contents.

15. An information recommendation apparatus according to any one of claims 1, 2, and 3, wherein said condition input means is equipped with condition extraction means of extracting input conditions on the basis of the occurrence frequencies of the words extracted from the texts in the contents having been recommended in the past to the one user attempting to receive recommendation or the occurrence frequencies of the words extracted from the texts in the contents recommended to and designated by the one user.

16. An information recommendation apparatus according to claim 15 wherein said conditions having tendencies opposite to the tendencies of the occurrence frequencies of said contents are extracted as said input conditions.

17. An information recommendation apparatus according to claim 15 wherein

said condition input means comprises means of externally inputting conditions, and said condition extraction means, and

said recommendation means selects said contents, coincident with or similar to said conditions extracted by using said condition extraction means, from only said contents conforming to said externally input conditions, and recommends said selected contents.

18. An information recommendation apparatus according to claim 1 wherein

said condition input means comprises means of externally inputting conditions, and said condition extraction means, and

said recommendation means selects said contents, coincident with or similar to said conditions extracted by using said condition extraction means, from only said contents conforming to said externally input conditions, and recommends said selected contents.

19. An information recommendation apparatus according to claim 1, comprising:

user characteristic information calculation means of obtaining characteristic information by calculation for each of said items on the basis of the contents registered in the past by the one user who receives recommendation, or the contents recommended to the one user or the contents recommended to and designated by the one user by using designation means, and

a user characteristic information data bas of storing the characteristic information obtained by calculation by using said one user characteristic information calculation means, wherein

in the case of recommendation to a specific user of the plurality of users, said recommendation means specifies other users of the plurality of users whose characteristic information is coincident with or similar to said characteristic information of said specific user on the basis of said characteristic information stored in said one user characteristic information database, and selects and recommends the contents registered in the past by the other users or the contents recommended to and designated by the other users.

20. An information recommendation apparatus according to claim 1, comprising:

user characteristic information by calculation means of obtaining characteristic information by calculation for each of said items on the basis of the contents registered in the past by the user who receives recommendation, or the contents recommended to the user or the contents recommended to and designated by the user by using designation means,

a user characteristic information database of storing the characteristic information obtained by calculation by using said user characteristic information calculation means,

type information calculation means of calculating said characteristic information calculated for each of said items as type information for each of said users, said various characteristics having been input,

type information selection means of selecting said type information of the user attempting to receive the recommendation by comparing said type information calculated by said type information calculation means with said characteristic information of the user attempting to receive the recommendation, and

display means of displaying the user type information selected by using said type information selection means.

21. An information recommendation apparatus according to claim 20, wherein said user characteristic is any one of the place of residence, the distinction of sex, age bracket, occupation and distinction between unmarried and married.

22. An information recommendation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of contents are formed of subjective plural pieces of data having attribute values corresponding to subjective viewpoints of the one user and the new contents are formed of subjective plural pieces of data having attribute values corresponding to subjective viewpoints of the one user.

23. A method of providing a recommendation by a service provider comprising:

receiving conditions input from one user of a plurality of users, the conditions represented by predetermined items and attribute values corresponding thereto, from among a plurality of contents formed of objective plural pieces of data having a plurality of ingredients, each set of ingredients operated on by a differing process and stored in a content database in which new contents are registered by the one user, wherein the new contents are formed of objective plural pieces of data having a plurality of ingredients, each set of ingredients operated on by a differing process;

selecting and recommending contents to the one user coincident with or similar to the conditions input; and

outputting the recommended contents to the one user, wherein a number of times or the content of the recommendation which the one user attempting to receive recommendation receives is determined depending on the number of times said user carried out registration;

wherein the more the one user is incentives to register contents, the more recommended contents are outputted as rewards to the one user to search through and consider,

wherein the one user'"'"'s received recommended contents are in number at least greater than the number of times the one user carried out content registration,

wherein said conditions input are automatically extracted based on contents registered in the past by a user who will receive recommendation, and

wherein the number of times or the content of the recommendation which the one user attempting to receive recommendation receives is determined depending solely on the number of times said user carried out registration.

24. The method according to claim 23 wherein the number of registration times of said one user is determined (a) by checking the access history of said user with respect to registration or (b) by assigning the one user ID of the registrant to said content and by using said one user ID.

25. The method according to claim 23 wherein the conditions input are automatically extracted based on contents recommended in the past to a user who is attempting to receive recommendation or based on contents recommended to and specified by said one user.