Private information storage device and private information management device

• US 8,069,170 B2
• Filed: 10/12/2004
• Issued: 11/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/10/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Suginuma, Koji, Matsuyama, Shinako, Akagiri, Kenzo
• Primary Examiner(s): Wassum; Luke S
• Application Number:
  US10/963,433
• Publication Number:
  US 20050131949A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,604 Days
• Field of Search: 707/10, 707/104.1
• US Class Current: 707/733
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9538 Presentation of query results

Abstract

The events experienced are stored automatically, so that the information of higher utility for a user may be taken out with responsiveness and efficiency higher than is possible with a technique of keyword retrieval over a network. An information registration unit 10 includes an information acquisition unit 11, for acquiring the empirical information, a private information adding unit 12, for adding the private information, a data recognition processing unit 13, for recognizing the acquired information, a data definition processing unit 14, for classifying the recognized data in accordance with the preset definitions, a data storage unit 15 for storage of the classified data, and a data processing unit 22 for generating the predictive information inferable from the empirical information and the private information. The information exploitation unit 30 includes an information acquisition unit 31, for acquiring the current state, a retrieval inputting unit 32, supplied with the retrieval conditions, a data recognition processing unit 33, for recognizing the acquired information, a retrieving unit 34, for extracting the information fitted to the retrieval conditions or the analogous information from the data storage unit 15, and an information presenting unit 35 for presenting the extracted information to the user.

Claims

1. A private information storage device comprising:

at least one information acquisition component of the private information storage device comprising at least a camera for acquiring image information on an environment around a user experiencing an event and a microphone for acquiring audible information on the environment around the user experiencing the event;

at least one data recognition component for processing at least the image information and the audible information to obtain experience information pertinent to the event;

at least one private information adding component of the private information storage device for adding by the user private information, privately needed by the user, to said experience information, wherein the private information includes at least one evaluation value of a plurality of evaluation values assigned by the user to the experience information pertinent to the event experienced by the user and reflecting a degree of satisfaction of the user with the event;

at least one information inferring component of the private information storage device for generating predictive information inferable from said experience information and said private information comprising the at least one evaluation value; and

at least one storage component in memory of the private information storage device for putting the experience information, the private information and the predictive information into order and for storing the experience information, the private information and the predictive information in a manner which enables retrieval of the experience information, the private information and the predictive information.

2. The private information storage device as defined in claim 1 wherein:

said at least one information inferring component affords a predicted value of said at least one evaluation value in case a condition for said at least one evaluation value has changed.

3. The private information storage device as defined in claim 1 wherein:

said at least one information acquisition component includes at least one speech data acquisition component for acquiring outside speech data and at least one speech recognition component for recognizing a pronunciation of a specific word from said outside speech data; and

said at least one storage component puts into order and stores a result of recognition by said at least one speech recognition component, said experience information, said private information and said predictive information in a manner which enables retrieval of the result of recognition by said at least one speech recognition component, said experience information, said private information and said predictive information.

4. The private information storage device as defined in claim 1 wherein:

said at least one information acquisition component includes at least one image data acquisition component for acquiring outside image data and at least one image recognition component for recognizing a specific image from said outside image data; and

said at least one storage component puts into order and stores a result of recognition by said at least one image recognition component, said experience information, said private information and said predictive information in a manner which enables retrieval of the result of recognition by said at least one image recognition component, said experience information, said private information and said predictive information.

5. The private information storage device as defined in claim 1 wherein:

said at least one information acquisition component includes at least one sentence data acquisition component for acquiring sentence data and at least one sentence recognition component for extracting a specific word from the sentence data; and

said at least one storage component puts into order and stores a result of recognition by said at least one sentence recognition component, said experience information, said private information and said predictive information in a manner which enables retrieval of the result of recognition by said at least one sentence recognition component, said experience information, said private information and said predictive information.

6. The private information storage device according to claim 1, wherein the experience information comprises at least one of a weather, an atmospheric temperature, and a humidity.

7. The private information storage device according to claim 1, further comprising at least one of a temperature sensor and a humidity sensor.

8. The private information storage device according to claim 1, wherein the event comprises visiting a restaurant by the user.

9. The private information storage device according to claim 1, wherein the event comprises visiting a store by the user.

10. The private information storage device according to claim 1, wherein the at least one image data acquisition component comprises a charge coupled device.

11. A method for storing private information comprising:

in response to a predetermined trigger, acquiring information on an environment around a user experiencing an event to obtain experience information pertinent to the event;

receiving user input for adding private information privately needed by the user to the experience information, wherein adding the private information comprises assigning at least one evaluation value of a plurality of evaluation values to the experience information pertinent to the event experienced by the user, and wherein the at least one evaluation value reflects a degree of satisfaction of the user with the event;

generating predictive information inferable from said experience information and said private information comprising the at least one evaluation value;

putting said experience information, said private information and said predictive information into order; and

storing said experience information, said private information and said predictive information in a manner which enables retrieval of said experience information, said private information and said predictive information.

12. The method for storing private information according to claim 11, wherein adding the private information privately needed by the user comprises receiving user input from the user providing the private information.

13. The method for storing private information according to claim 11, wherein acquiring the information on the environment around the user comprises acquiring the information using at least a global positioning system and a charge coupled device.

14. A private information management device comprising:

at least one information acquisition component comprising at least a camera and a microphone of the private information management device for acquiring, upon an audible trigger received from an environment, information on the environment around a user experiencing an event;

at least one data recognition component for processing the information on the environment to obtain experience information pertinent to the event;

at least one private information adding component of the private information management device for adding private information, privately needed by a user, to said experience information, wherein the private information includes at least one evaluation value of a plurality of evaluation values assigned by the user to the experience information pertinent to the event experienced by the user and reflecting a degree of satisfaction of the user with the event;

at least one information inferring component of the private information management device for generating predictive information inferable from said experience information and said private information;

at least one storage component in memory of the private information management device for putting said experience information, said private information and said predictive information into order and for storing the information in a manner which enables retrieval of said experience information, said private information and said predictive information;

at least one retrieval inputting component of the private information management device for inputting a retrieval condition by said user;

at least one information presenting component of the private information management device for presenting information to said user; and

at least one information retrieval presentation controlling component of the private information management device for retrieving fitting information from said experience information, said private information and said predictive information, based on the retrieval condition, and for presenting the fitting information to said at least one information presenting component.

15. The private information management device according to claim 14 wherein:

said at least one information inferring component imparts a predicted value of the at least one evaluation value in case a condition for said at least one evaluation value has been changed.

16. The private information management device according to claim 14 wherein:

said at least one information acquisition component includes at least one speech data acquisition component for acquiring outside speech data and at least one speech recognition component for recognizing a pronunciation of a specific word from the outside speech data; and

said at least one storage component puts into order and stores a result of recognition by said at least one speech recognition component, said experience information, said private information and said predictive information in a manner which enables retrieval of the result of recognition by said at least one speech recognition component, said experience information, said private information and said predictive information.

17. The private information management device according to claim 14 wherein:

said at least one information acquisition component includes at least one image data acquisition component for acquiring outside image data and at least one image recognition component for recognizing a specific image from the outside image data; and

said at least one storage component puts into order and stores a result of recognition by said at least one image recognition component, said experience information, said private information and said predictive information in a manner which enables retrieval of the result of recognition by said at least one image recognition component, said experience information, said private information and said predictive information.

18. The private information management device according to claim 14 wherein:

said at least one information acquisition component includes at least one sentence data acquisition component for acquiring sentence data and at least one sentence recognition component for extracting a specific word from the sentence data; and

said at least one storage component puts into order and stores a result of recognition by said at least one sentence recognition component, said experience information, said private information and said predictive information in a manner which enables retrieval of the result of recognition by said at least one sentence recognition component, said experience information, said private information and said predictive information.

19. A private information management method comprising:

in response to a predetermined trigger, acquiring information on an environment around a user experiencing an event to obtain experience information pertinent to the event;

receiving user input for adding private information, privately needed by the user, to the experience information, wherein adding the private information comprises assigning at least one evaluation value of a plurality of evaluation values to the experience information, and wherein the at least one evaluation value is pertinent to the event experienced by the user and reflects a degree of satisfaction of the user with the event;

generating predictive information inferable from said experience information and said private information comprising the at least one evaluation value;

putting the experience information, the private information and the predictive information into order;

storing the experience information, the private information and the predictive information in a manner which enables retrieval of the experience information, the private information and the predictive information; and

retrieving fitting information from the experience information, the private information and the predictive information, based on a retrieval condition input by said user.