Recommendatory information provision system

• US 20060277455A1
• Filed: 01/17/2006
• Published: 12/07/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujifilm Business Innovation Corp. (Fujifilm Holdings Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Fuji Xerox Company Limited (Xerox Holdings Corp.)
• Inventors: Ikeda, Hitoshi, Yoshioka, Takeshi, Shibata, Hirohito, Yamada, Toshiya, Fukui, Motofumi
• Granted Patent: US 7,954,045 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 715/206
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9038 Presentation of query results
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9535 Search customisation based on user profiles and personalisation

Abstract

A recommendatory information provision system includes: a management apparatus; and a user terminal device, wherein: the management apparatus includes: a browsed information acquisition unit for acquiring information of a browsed document; a recommended document retrieval unit for retrieving a recommended document relevant to the browsed document; a recommendation history management unit for storing and managing history information which concerns recommendation of the recommended document; a recommendation history retrieval unit for retrieving from the recommendation history management unit, the history information of the recommended document which has been retrieved by the recommended document retrieval unit; and a recommendatory information provision unit for providing to the user terminal device, the information concerning the recommended document and the history information of the recommended document as have been retrieved; and the user terminal device includes: a display process unit for displaying on a screen, the information.

Claims

1. A recommendatory information provision system comprising:

a management apparatus; and

a user terminal device, wherein;

the management apparatus provides information concerning any recommended document relevant to a document which is being browsed by the user terminal device to the user terminal device;

the management apparatus includes;

a browsed information acquisition unit for acquiring information of the browsed document which is being browsed by the user terminal device;

a recommended document retrieval unit for retrieving the recommended document relevant to the browsed document of the user terminal device, on the basis of the acquired document information;

a recommendation history management unit for storing and managing history information which concerns recommendation of the recommended document;

a recommendation history retrieval unit for retrieving from the recommendation history management unit, the history information of the recommended document which has been retrieved by the recommended document retrieval unit; and

a recommendatory information provision unit for providing to the user terminal device, the information concerning the recommended document and the history information of the recommended document as have been retrieved; and

the user terminal device includes

a display process unit for displaying on a screen, the information concerning the recommended document and the history information of the recommended document as have been provided from the management apparatus.

2. The recommendatory information provision system according to claim 1, wherein:

the management apparatus includes a user management unit for acquiring from the user terminal device, identification information of a user who manipulates the user terminal device;

the recommendation history management unit stores and manages identification information of a user to whom the recommended document was recommended in the past, as the history information of the recommended document; and

the recommendatory information provision unit provides to the user terminal device, the recommended document history information which contains the user identification information.

3. The recommendatory information provision system according to claim 1, wherein:

the recommendation history management unit stores and manages information of a time at which the recommended document was recommended, as the history information concerning the recommended document; and

the recommendatory information provision unit provides to the user terminal device, the recommended document history information which contains the recommendation time information.

4. The recommendatory information provision system according to claim 1, wherein:

the browsed information acquisition unit acquires information on access to the provided recommended document by the user terminal device;

the recommendation history management unit stores and manages history of existence or nonexistence of the access to the recommended document, as the history information concerning the recommended document; and

the recommendatory information provision unit provides to the user terminal device, the recommended document history information which contains the access history information.

5. The recommendatory information provision system according to claim 4, wherein:

the recommendation history management unit stores and manages information of a time of the access to the recommended document, as the history information concerning the recommended document; and

the recommendatory information provision unit provides to the user terminal device, the recommended document history information which contains the access time information.

6. The recommendatory information provision system according to claim 1, wherein:

the recommendation history management unit stores and manages information concerning the past browsed document from which the retrieval of the recommended document originated, as the history information concerning the recommended document; and

the recommendatory information provision unit provides to the user terminal device, the recommended document history information which contains the information concerning the browsed document of the recommendation origin.

7. The recommendatory information provision system according to claim 6, wherein:

the recommendation history management unit stores and manages information concerning the recommended document recommended in the past on the basis of the browsed document of the recommendation origin, as the history information concerning the recommended document; and

the recommendatory information provision unit provides to the user terminal device, the recommended document history information which contains the information concerning the other recommended document recommended in the past on the basis of the browsed document of the recommendation origin.

8. The recommendatory information provision system according to claim 1, wherein:

the recommendatory information provision unit represents the recommended-document history information items by signs differing in accordance with their contents and then provides the history information items to the user terminal device.

9. A recommendatory information management apparatus which provides information concerning any other document relevant to a document which is being browsed by the user terminal device to a user terminal device, comprising:

a browsed information acquisition unit for acquiring information of the browsed document which is being browsed by the user terminal device;

a recommended document retrieval unit for retrieving the recommended document relevant to the browsed document of the user terminal device, on the basis of the acquired document information;

a recommendation history management unit for storing and managing history information which concerns recommendation of the recommended document;

a recommendation history retrieval unit for retrieving from the recommendation history management unit, the history information of the recommended document which has been retrieved by the recommended document retrieval unit; and

a recommendatory information provision unit for providing to the user terminal device, the history information of the recommended document together with the information concerning the retrieved recommended document.

10. A computer program product for enabling a computer to configure a recommendatory information management apparatus that provides information concerning any other document relevant to a document being browsed by the user terminal device to a user terminal device, comprising:

acquiring information of the browsed document which is being browsed by the user terminal device;

retrieving the recommended document relevant to the browsed document of the user terminal device, on the basis of the acquired document information;

storing and managing history information which concerns recommendation of the recommended document;

retrieving the history information of the recommended document which has been retrieved; and

providing to the user terminal device, the information concerning the recommended document and the history information of the recommended document as have been retrieved.

11. A user terminal device which constitutes a recommendatory information provision system, conjointly with a management apparatus which has a browsed information acquisition unit for acquiring information of a browsed document that is being browsed by the user terminal device, a recommended document retrieval unit for retrieving any recommended document relevant to the browsed document of the user terminal device on the basis of the acquired document information, a recommendation history management unit for storing and managing history information that concerns recommendation of the recommended document, a recommendation history retrieval unit for retrieving from the recommendation history management unit, the history information of the recommended document retrieved by the recommended document retrieval unit, and a recommendatory information provision unit for providing to the user terminal device, information concerning the retrieved recommendatory document and the history information of the recommended document, the user terminal device comprising:

a display process unit for displaying on a screen, the information concerning the recommended document and the history information of the recommended document as have been provided from the management apparatus.

12. A recommendatory information provision method wherein a management apparatus provides information concerning any recommended document relevant to a document that is being browsed by the user terminal device to a user terminal device, the method comprising:

acquiring information of the browsed document being browsed by the user terminal device the management apparatus, retrieving the recommended document relevant to the browsed document of the user terminal device on the basis of the acquired document information, retrieving history information concerning recommendation of the recommended document from a recommendation history management unit for storing and managing the history information, and providing information concerning the retrieved recommendatory document and the history information of the recommended document to the user terminal device by the management apparatus; and

displaying on a screen, the information concerning the recommended document and the history information of the recommended document as have been provided from the management apparatus, by the user terminal device.