JP6720957B2 - Method of providing contents to user, information processing apparatus, and computer-readable recording medium - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing device and an information processing method.

In recent years, various contents such as photographs, moving images, and music have come to be used as digital contents. On the other hand, with the increase in capacity of storage media and the increase in bandwidth of communication lines, we are now able to handle a large amount of content.

When the user selects a desired content from a plurality of contents, for example, a method of visually selecting from a list showing the details of the content and a search using the metadata attached to the digital content There are methods such as However, in the former case, when the number of contents is large, it is difficult to reach the desired contents. Further, in the latter case, since only the result that follows the keyword that the user has come up with can be derived, the user may eventually select only the same content. Therefore, for example, a method of selecting content to be recommended to the user by using the user's preference information and history information has been proposed.

However, the conventional method of selecting content recommended to the user is based on the assumption that the user himself/herself wants to reproduce a specific type of content such as music. Therefore, there is a problem that only the content selected by using a single algorithm is provided from the same type of content.

In particular, for example, in an application that handles multimedia such as music, video, and photos, it is possible to provide recommended content groups to users one after another using various algorithms from various content. Then, for example, the user launches the application with the motivation that "there may be something to enjoy" without having a clear purpose such as "listen to music" or "let's see a picture". It is conceivable to use a new usage completely different from the conventional one.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to create using a variety of algorithms, it is possible to provide a content group including a variety of content, It is to provide a new and improved information processing apparatus and information processing method.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to an aspect of the present invention, a processor creates two or more content groups that can be selected by a user and that are displayed by images, and at least one of the content groups has two types. The processor provides the user with a screen showing two or more content groups including the above content, and also provides two or more types of content included in the content group, and the user selects the content included in the content group. In this case, a method of providing content to a user is provided, which controls to display information related to the selected content.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to another aspect of the present invention, there are two or more content groups that can be selected by the user and are displayed by images, and at least one of the content groups has two types. A content group creation control unit that creates a content group including the above content, and an output control unit that provides the user with a screen showing two or more content groups and provides two or more types of content included in the content group. An information processing apparatus is provided, wherein the output control unit controls to display information related to the selected content when the user selects the content included in the content group.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, according to still another aspect of the present invention, two or more content groups displayed by images, which can be selected by a user, are created in a computer, and at least one of the content groups is created. One provides a user with a screen showing two or more content groups including two or more types of content, and provides two or more types of content included in the content group, so that the content included in the content group by the user is There is provided a computer-readable recording medium having a computer-readable program recorded thereon for executing a method of controlling to display information related to selected content when selected.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a content group including various kinds of contents created using various algorithms.

It is explanatory drawing which shows schematic structure of the information processing system which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention. 3 is a block diagram showing an internal functional configuration of the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment. FIG. It is explanatory drawing which shows the hardware constitutions of the information processing apparatus which concerns on the same embodiment. It is explanatory drawing which shows an example of the home screen which the information processing apparatus which concerns on the same embodiment displays. It is explanatory drawing which shows another example of the home screen which the information processing apparatus which concerns on the same embodiment displays. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation when the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment displays a home screen. It is an explanatory view showing an example of a player screen displayed by the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment. 7 is a flowchart showing an operation when the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment displays a player screen.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In this specification and the drawings, constituent elements having substantially the same functional configuration are designated by the same reference numerals, and a duplicate description will be omitted.

The description will be given in the following order.
1. Information processing system overview 2. Functional configuration of information processing apparatus 3. Hardware configuration of information processing device 4. 4. Operation on home screen display of information processing device Operation of player screen display of information processing device

<1. Overview of information processing system>
First, a schematic configuration of an information processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of an information processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

An information processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention mainly includes an information processing device 10, a home server 20, and an external content providing server 30, and each device is connected by a home network 40 or a communication network 50. Has been done.

The information processing device 10 is a device having a function of reproducing contents such as photographs, moving images, and music. For example, as one example thereof, a PC (Personal Computer) is shown in FIG. The information processing device 10 is connected to the home server 20 via the home network 40. Further, it is also connected to an external content providing server 30 via a communication network 50 such as the Internet.

Here, the home server 20 is a device that is connected to the home network 40, has a storage unit that stores contents such as photos, moving images, and music, and has a function as a server. For example, the recorder 20a, the PC 20b, the television 20c, the audio player 20d, and the like are given as examples. Although it functions as a server here, it may have a function as a client at the same time.

The content providing server 30 is a device that is connected to the communication network 50 and provides content such as photo content, moving image content, music content, news content, and product information content.

The home network 40 is a network closed in units such as at home. For example, it may be a network configured according to DLNA (Digital Living Network Alliance).

The communication network 50 is a wired or wireless transmission path. For example, a telephone line network, a satellite communication network, a public line network such as the Internet, various LANs (Local Area Networks) including Ethernet (registered trademark), WANs (Wide Area Networks), and IP-VPNs (Internet Protocol-Virtual Private Networks). ) Etc. may be included.

<2. Functional configuration of information processing device>
Next, the internal functional configuration of the information processing device 10 will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an internal functional configuration of the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment.

The information processing device 10 mainly includes a communication unit 102, an input unit 103, an output unit 104, a content storage unit 106, a preference analysis database 108, and a control unit 110.

The communication unit 102 is a communication interface having a function of connecting to an external device via a network. In the present embodiment, the communication unit 102 has a function of connecting to the home network 40 and the communication network 50 and communicating with the home server 20 and the content providing server 30.

The input unit 103 is a functional unit that allows the user to perform an input operation on the information processing apparatus 10. For example, it is composed of an input device such as a mouse and a keyboard, and an input control circuit that generates an input signal based on a user input and outputs the input signal to the control unit 110. When the input device is an external device, the input device may include a connection interface with the input device and an input control circuit. By performing various operations using the input unit 103, the user can input data and instruct processing operations.

The output unit 104 may be a display device, an audio output device, or the like, or may be configured by an output interface to the display device, the audio output device, or the like, a data conversion circuit, or the like. In the present embodiment, the output unit 104 displays information or outputs a voice to the user under the control of the output control unit 1104 of the control unit 110.

The content storage unit 106 is a storage unit that stores content data such as photo content, video content, and music content, for example. The content storage unit 106 may be a storage medium such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive) or a flash memory, for example.

The preference analysis database 108 is a database that accumulates user preference information. Information indicating the tendency of the content the user likes from the content selected by the user is accumulated. Further, for example, search history information on the Internet or the like may be used. In the present embodiment, the information on the reproduced content is reflected in the preference analysis database 108.

The control unit 110 has a function of controlling overall operations in the information processing device 10 according to various programs. In the present embodiment, it has a function of controlling the operations of the communication unit 102, the input unit 103, the output unit 104, the content storage unit 106, and the preference analysis database 108. The control unit 110 mainly includes a content collection unit 1101, a basic data acquisition unit 1102, a content group creation control unit 1103, an output control unit 1104, and a feedback control unit 1105. These functional units are only divided for convenience of description, and the operations of a plurality of functional units may be described in the same program, or may be different as a matter of course. You can do it.

The content collection unit 1101 has a function of collecting a plurality of types of content provided to the user. The content collection unit 1101 may collect the content from the content storage unit 106, and may also collect various contents stored in the home server 20 via the communication unit 102 and the home network 40. The content collection unit 1101 may collect the content stored in the content providing server 30 via the communication unit 102 and the communication network 50. At this time, the content collection unit 1101 may collect the content only from the preset content providing server 30, or may search for and collect the collectable content providing server 30.

The basic data acquisition unit 1102 has a function of acquiring basic data for setting the creation logic. The basic data acquisition unit 1102 may acquire necessary basic data according to the scene. Here, examples of the basic data include date and time information, preference information stored in the preference analysis database 108, metadata of content collected by the content collection unit 1101, metadata of content being reproduced, and the like.

The content group creation control unit 1103 creates a content group in which the content recommended by the user is collected from the plurality of contents collected by the content collection unit 1101. At this time, the content group creation control unit 1103 refers to the basic data acquired by the basic data acquisition unit 1102 and sets an algorithm and a creation logic for creating the content group. Then, the content group creation control unit 1103 creates a content group including a plurality of types of content from the plurality of collected contents, using the set algorithm based on the set creation logic.

When setting the creation logic, the content group creation control unit 1103 sets the creation logic so that the creation logic changes randomly for each content group creation when only one content group is provided to the user at a time. .. In this case, the content group creation control unit 1103 may store the history of the creation logic for several times, and use this information to set the creation logic so that the creation logic changes at random. Further, the content group creation control unit 1103 may set the creation logic by using an existing algorithm for random selection.

When providing a plurality of content groups to the user at one time, the content group creation control unit 1103 further creates another content group from among the plurality of content groups provided at one time for each content group creation. The creation logic and algorithm may be set in consideration of the logic. For example, the content group creation control unit 1103 sets the creation logic so that the creation logics of a plurality of content groups displayed at one time do not overlap.

Furthermore, when the content group creation control unit 1103 detects that the user has input a content group re-creating instruction using the input unit 103, the content group creation control unit 1103 sets the algorithm and the creation logic again, and creates the content group.

The output control unit 1104 controls, for example, image output to the display device and audio output to the audio output device. The output control unit 1104 may also control the reproduction (decoding) process for outputting, if necessary. Here, the display device and the audio output device may be built in the information processing device 10, or may be an external device connected to the information processing device 10.

The feedback control unit 1105 has a function of feeding back user input information to preference information. For example, when the user performs an operation of selecting a content group to be reproduced from the displayed content groups, the information of the selected operation is converted into data in a format that can be stored in the preference information analysis database 108, and the preference information analysis is performed. It is stored in the database 108.

<3. Hardware configuration of information processing device>
The functional configuration of the information processing device 10 according to the present embodiment has been described above. Next, here, an example of a hardware configuration for realizing each function of the information processing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration example of the information processing apparatus 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

The information processing device 10 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 802, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 804, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 806, and a host bus 808a. Further, these devices include a bridge 808, an external bus 808b, an interface 810, an input device 812, an output device 814, a storage device (HDD) 816, a drive 818, a connection port 820, and a communication device 822. Have and.

The CPU 802 functions as an arithmetic processing unit and a control unit, and controls the overall operation inside the device according to various programs. Further, the CPU 802 may be a microprocessor. The ROM 804 stores programs used by the CPU 802, calculation parameters, and the like. The RAM 806 temporarily stores a program used in the execution of the CPU 802, parameters that appropriately change in the execution, and the like. These are mutually connected by a host bus 808a composed of a CPU bus and the like. The CPU 802 executes the programs stored in the ROM 804, the storage device 816, and the like to execute the processes performed in the blocks of FIGS. 6 and 8, for example. The CPU 802 corresponds to the control unit 110 in FIG.

The host bus 808a is connected to an external bus 808b such as a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect/Interface) bus via a bridge 808. The host bus 808a, the bridge 808, and the external bus 808b do not necessarily have to be separately configured, and these functions may be mounted on one bus.

The input device 812 is, for example, a mouse, a keyboard, a touch panel, a button, a microphone, a switch or a lever, and other input means for the user to input information, and generates an input signal based on the input by the user and outputs it to the CPU 802. It is composed of an input control circuit and the like. By performing various operations on the input device 812, various data can be input and processing operations can be instructed. The input device 812 corresponds to the input unit 103 in FIG.

The output device 814 includes, for example, a display device such as a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) display device, a liquid crystal display (LCD) device, an OLED (Organic Light Emitting Display) device and a lamp, and a voice output device such as a speaker and headphones. It The output device 814 outputs the reproduced content, for example. Specifically, the display device displays various information such as reproduced video data in text or image. On the other hand, the audio output device converts reproduced audio data and the like into audio and outputs the audio. The output device 814 corresponds to the output unit 104 in FIG.

The storage device 816 is composed of, for example, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive). The storage device 816 drives an HDD and stores programs executed by the CPU 802 and various data. Further, the storage device 816 may include a storage medium, a recording device that records data in the storage medium, a reading device that reads data from the storage medium, a deletion device that deletes data recorded in the storage medium, and the like. The storage device 816 may correspond to the content storage unit 106 and the preference analysis database 108 of FIG.

The drive 818 is a reader/writer for a storage medium, and is incorporated or externally attached. The drive 818 can read/write data from/in a removable recording medium such as a mounted magnetic disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, or semiconductor memory. The content storage unit 106 and the preference analysis database 108 shown in FIG. 2 may be realized as a removable recording medium in which data is read and written by the drive 818.

The connection port 820 is an interface connected to an external device, and may be, for example, a connection port to an external device capable of data transmission by HDMI (registered trademark) or the like.

The communication device 822 is, for example, a communication interface including a communication device for connecting to the home network 40 and the communication network 50. The communication device 822 may be a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) compatible communication device, a wireless USB compatible communication device, or a wire communication device that performs wired communication. The communication device 822 realizes the communication function of the communication unit 102 in FIG.

<4. Operation of home screen display of information processing device>
Next, the operation of the information processing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment when displaying the home screen will be described with reference to FIGS. 4 to 6. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a home screen displayed by the information processing device 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing another example of the home screen displayed by the information processing apparatus 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing an operation when the information processing apparatus 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention displays a home screen.

First, the configuration of an example of a home screen displayed by the information processing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. The home screen 2000 is a screen displayed by launching an application installed in the information processing device 10. On the background of the home screen 2000, the photo content stored in any of the content storage unit 106, the home server 20, and the content providing server 30 is displayed. The photo content displayed on this background is randomly changed. For example, the photo content displayed in the background may be changed each time the user performs an operation, or the photo content displayed may be changed every predetermined time.

Further, on the home screen 2000, a content group 220 created by the content group creation control unit 1103 collecting content recommended for the user is displayed. When a plurality of content groups 220 are displayed, the plurality of content groups are randomly arranged and displayed so that the display position of the content groups 220 does not affect the content group selection action of the user. The content group 220 in this embodiment includes various types of content and is created using various algorithms. In this way, by arranging so that the display positions do not give priority to each other, it is possible to fairly and transparently recommend the content group 220 having different attributes to the user as described above, and thus the selection behavior of the user can be changed. This has the effect of increasing the degree of freedom.

When the user inputs a content group re-creation instruction by pressing the next recommended button 212, all of the content groups 220 displayed on the home screen 2000 are re-created and re-displayed. Be done. As a result, the user can display the next candidate even if the desired content group 220 does not exist in the recommended content group 220, which increases the degree of freedom of the user's selection. effective.

Further, the home screen 2000 is provided with buttons for switching the screen on the top thereof, and for example, a home button 202, a photo/video button 204, a music button 206, a player button 208, and a menu button 210 are displayed. When the home button 202 is pressed, the home screen is displayed. Further, when the photograph and video button 204 is pressed, the screen changes to a list display screen (not shown) of photograph contents and moving image contents. When the music button 206 is pressed, a music content list display screen (not shown) is displayed. When the player button 208 is pressed, the player screen shown in FIG. 7 is displayed later. Also, when the user selects a content group, the screen changes to the player screen. Further, by pressing the menu button 210, the screen changes to a menu screen (not shown).

Next, another example of the home screen displayed by the information processing device 10 will be described with reference to FIG. Since the home screen 2000 shown in FIG. 4 and the home screen 2100 shown in FIG. 5 differ only in the method of displaying the content group 220, description of common items is omitted.

The home screen 2100 is displayed by performing an operation of aligning the content group 220 from the home screen 2000 shown in FIG. Although the content group 220 is randomly displayed on the home screen 2000, the user sometimes wants to view the content group 220 side by side. When the user performs an operation of aligning the content groups 220 in the situation where the home screen 2000 in which the content groups 220 are randomly displayed is displayed, the content groups 220 are aligned and displayed as shown in the home screen 2100. To be done. For each content group 220, a thumbnail image and a creation logic below the thumbnail image are displayed.

Next, the operation of the information processing device 10 when displaying the home screen 2000 of FIG. 4 will be described using the flowchart of FIG. In the description, the functional units of the information processing device 10 will be described using the reference numerals in FIG.

First, the basic data acquisition unit 1102 acquires basic data for setting the content group creation logic (S102). The basic data is date and time information, preference information, and the like. Next, the content collection unit 1101 collects content (S104). The content collection unit 1101 collects the content stored in the content storage unit 106, the home server 20, and the content providing server 30.

Next, the content group creation control unit 1103 sets an algorithm and a creation logic for creating the content group (S106). Here, the creation logic is described below the thumbnail image of each content group 220 in FIG. 5, for example. Here, the content group creation control unit 1103 may set the creation logic using the basic data acquired by the basic data acquisition unit 1102. For example, a creation logic such as “photo and video of August 2009” is set from the current date and time. Further, a creation logic such as “recently recommended artist” may be set based on the preference information. At this time, when the content group 220 is created based on the creation logic “photos and videos of August 2009”, for example, a content metadata analysis algorithm is used. Further, when the content group 220 is created based on the creation logic of “recently recommended artist”, for example, a preference information analysis algorithm is used. In addition to this, for example, when using a creation logic “a song recommended in the morning”, the data itself may be analyzed using a tone analysis algorithm (12-tone analysis).

Then, the content group creation control unit 1103 creates a content group using the set algorithm based on the set creation logic (S108). For example, when it is set to provide the user with nine content groups as shown in FIG. 4, the content group creation control unit 1103 determines whether or not to further create a content group (S110). ). This determination may be made based on, for example, whether or not the content group has been created a predetermined number of times. When further creating the content group 220, the process returns to step S106, and the content group creation control unit 1103 repeats the processing from step S106 to step S108.

When it is determined in step S110 that the predetermined number of times has been reached and no more content groups are created, the output control unit 1104 displays the content group 220 created up to that point on the home screen (S112).

Then, the user can select the provided content group 220. In addition, by pressing the next recommended button 212, if the content group 220 desired to be reproduced does not exist in the provided content group 220, the content group can be recreated.

Here, the content group creation control unit 1103 determines whether or not the user has input the content group recreating instruction by pressing the next recommended button 212 (S114), and the content group recreating instruction is input. In that case, the content group creation control unit 1103 returns to step S106 and executes the processing of steps S106 to S112 again. If the user has not pressed the next recommended button 212, it is next determined whether or not there is a selection input of a content group (S116). The home screen 2000 remains displayed while the user does not select and input the content group. Then, when the user selects a specific content group from the provided content groups, the output control unit 1104 reproduces the selected content group (S118). At this time, the output control unit 1104 causes the display device to display the player screen 3000 shown in FIG. 7, for example.

On the other hand, the feedback control unit 1105 updates the preference analysis database 108 based on the information of the reproduced content (S120).

As described above, the information processing apparatus 10 provides a content group in which content recommended for the user when displaying the home screen 2000 is collected. Since this content group includes a plurality of types of content, there is an effect that the excavation of the content proceeds more dynamically.

<5. Operation of player screen display of information processing device>
Next, the operation when the information processing device 10 displays the player screen will be described with reference to FIGS. 7 and 8. FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a player screen displayed by the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention. Further, FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an operation when the information processing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention displays a player screen.

First, an example of the player screen displayed by the information processing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 7. Note that the menu for switching the upper screen is common to that in FIG. 4, and therefore, the description thereof will be omitted by giving the same reference numerals.

FIG. 7 is assumed to be a scene in which the user selects one content group 220c (see the reference numeral in FIG. 5) from the content group 220 displayed on the home screen 2000 in FIG.

At this time, on the player screen 3000, the photograph content 302, which is the main content, is displayed in a slide show. Also, music content is played as BGM as sub-contents. Here, the main content is content that the user mainly views. For example, it may be content that is played back by being selected by the user. Further, for example, the content may be defined as a content that occupies a main part on the screen display. Further, the sub-content is a content provided to the user at the same time as the main content, and is a type of content different from the main content.

Now, the music content group 304 is being reproduced as the sub content. At this time, in the related content column on the right end, a content group 320 related to the photo content 302 which is the main content and a content group 320 related to the content “Title A” being reproduced in the music content group 304 which is the sub content. And are mixedly displayed.

Here, when the reproduction of the “title A” in the music content group 304 is finished and then the reproduction of the “title B” is started, the plurality of content groups 320 displayed as related contents are the music content “title” being reproduced. It is changed to the one including the content group related to "B". Also, for example, when the reproduced content is changed by a user operation, similarly, the plurality of content groups 320 displayed as the related content are changed to those including the content group related to the content being reproduced.

Here, the plurality of content groups 320 displayed as the related content are each created based on the creation logic set at the time of creation. For example, the content group 320a is a content group created based on a creation logic of “photos and videos taken in the year when BGM was released”. In other words, this creation logic is “photographs and videos whose shooting date is 2005”. The user may listen to the music played by the BGM while looking at the photograph, which is the main content, and suddenly remember the time when the music was playing in the city. At that time, you might be interested in displaying related photos and videos taken at the time you remembered them. Therefore, a content group created by using a creation logic related to the sub-content is provided as related content.

The content group 320b is a content group created based on the creation logic "photos and videos of the month close to the main content". If this creation logic is further embodied, it becomes “a photograph and video taken in July 2009”.

As described above, the creation logic may be related to the main content or the sub-content. Further, the content to be selected may be, for example, photo content, music content, video content, news content, product information content, or the like. By thus recommending the content in multiple lines, there is an effect that the user is more likely to reach the desired content. Also, by proposing it as one package called a content group, the possibility that the user can further reach the desired content is increased.

Next, the operation of the information processing device 10 when displaying the player screen 3000 of FIG. 7 will be described with reference to FIG. In the description, the functional units of the information processing device 10 will be described using the reference numerals in FIG.

First, as a premise, it is assumed that the process of the flowchart of FIG. 6 is executed and the content or content group to be collected and reproduced is selected.

First, the basic data acquisition unit 1102 acquires basic data (S202). For example, the basic data is date and time information, preference information, and metadata of the content being reproduced.

Then, the content group creation control unit 1103 sets an algorithm and a creation logic for creating the content group (S204). The creation logic here may be related to the main content. The creation logic may also be related to the sub-content. Further, as shown in FIG. 7, when a plurality of content groups 320 are provided at one time, a content group created based on a creation logic related to the main content in the plurality of content groups 320, The content group creation control unit 1103 sets the creation logic so as to include the content group created based on the creation logic related to the sub content. Regarding the algorithm, as described in the operation at the time of displaying the home screen 2000, various algorithms such as a metadata analysis algorithm, a preference information analysis algorithm, and a musical tone analysis algorithm can be used.

Then, the content group creation control unit 1103 creates a content group using the set algorithm based on the set creation logic (S206). For example, as shown in FIG. 7, when six content groups are set to be provided to the user as the related content, the content group creation control unit 1103 determines whether to further create the content group. A determination is made (S208). When further creating a content group, the process returns to step S204, and the content group creation control unit 1103 repeats the processing from step S204 to step S206.

When it is determined in step S208 that the content group has been created a predetermined number of times and no more content groups are created, the output control unit 1104 displays the content groups created up to that time on the player screen 3000 (S210).

Through the above processing, the content group 320 is displayed as related content on the player screen 3000 as shown in FIG. In this state, when the music content reproduced as BGM moves to the next music piece and the reproduced content changes, or when the reproduced content changes according to a user operation, the content group creation control unit 1103 Then, it is determined whether or not the reproduced content has changed (S212), and when the reproduced content has changed due to the above reasons, the process returns to step S202 again. Then, the processing from step S202 to step S210 is repeated again. At this time, in the basic data acquisition step of step S202, the basic data acquisition unit acquires the metadata of the changed reproduced content.

Then, in step S212, when the reproduced content remains unchanged, the output control unit 1104 determines whether or not the user has selectively input the content group (S214), and the user has selectively input the content group. When this is detected, the output control unit 1104 reproduces the selected content group (S216). On the other hand, the feedback control unit 1105 updates the preference analysis database 108 based on the information of the reproduced content (S218).

As described above, the information processing apparatus 10 according to the present embodiment treats a plurality of different types of content equally, selects an optimal algorithm from a plurality of types of algorithms, and selects a plurality of types of contents. The content is provided to the user in the form of a package that is a collection of contents recommended by the user. At this time, the content group includes a plurality of types of content. Therefore, there is an effect that the degree of freedom of selection by the user is increased. At this time, the content group may be displayed on the screen together with the thumbnail image of the content group and the characters indicating the logic for creating the content group to be provided to the user. The user can know the contents of the content group by looking at the characters and images showing the creation logic.

Also, on the player screen, a content group related to both the main content and the sub-content is provided as related content. Conventionally, even when the main content and the sub-content are provided at the same time, only the content related to the main content is provided. However, the user may be potentially interested in content that is potentially related to the sub-content, and meets that need.

The preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the present invention is not limited to these examples. It is obvious that a person having ordinary knowledge in the technical field to which the present invention pertains can come up with various changes or modifications within the scope of the technical idea described in the claims. Of course, it is understood that these also belong to the technical scope of the present invention.

For example, in the above-described embodiment, the main content is the photo content and the sub-content is the music content, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the main content may be music content and the sub-content may be photo content. It is also possible that the main content is moving image content and the sub content is photo content.

Further, for example, in the above embodiment, when the content acquired from the content providing server 30 is played back, the content is played back on the same player screen, but the present invention is not limited to this example. For example, with respect to the content acquired from the content providing server 30, a browser may be separately started up and reproduced.

In the present specification, the steps described in the flowcharts are not limited to the processing performed in time series according to the order described, but may be performed in parallel or individually even if not necessarily performed in time series. It also includes processing that is performed. It is needless to say that the order of the steps processed in time series can be appropriately changed depending on the case.

10 information processing device 20 home server 30 content providing server 102 communication unit 103 input unit 104 output unit 106 content storage unit 108 preference analysis database 110 control unit 1101 content collection unit 1102 basic data acquisition unit 1103 content group creation control unit 1104 output control unit

Claims (18)

The processor creates two or more image-displayed content groups, each selectable by the user,
At least one of the content groups includes two or more types of content,
The processor provides the user with a screen showing the two or more content groups, and provides the two or more types of content included in the content groups,
When content included in the content group is selected by the user, it is controlled to display information related to the selected content,
The processor displays the two or more content groups on the screen by a first method and a second method different from the first method, and the first method is operated by the user. And switching the display by the second method ,
The two or more content groups include at least two types of content groups among a photo content group, a video content group, a news content group, a music content group, and a product information content group,
At least one of the content groups includes content acquired from an external network,
How to provide content to users. The content providing method for a user according to claim 1, wherein the first method is a random display in which the two or more content groups are randomly arranged and displayed on the screen. The method for providing contents to a user according to claim 1, wherein the second method is an alignment display for aligning and displaying the two or more content groups on the screen. The method for providing content to a user according to claim 1, wherein the processor recreates the two or more content groups according to a user operation. The method for providing content to a user according to claim 1, wherein the processor creates the two or more content groups by different creation logics. The processor according to claim 1, wherein when the user selects content included in the content group, the processor displays at least one item information content related to the selected content as the selected content. Method of providing content to other users. A content group creation control unit that creates two or more content groups, each of which is selectable by a user, and in which at least one of the content groups includes two or more types of content;
An output control unit that provides the user with a screen showing the two or more content groups, and provides the two or more types of content included in the content groups,
The output control unit,
When content included in the content group is selected by the user, control is performed to display information related to the selected content,
The two or more content groups are displayed on the screen by a first method and a second method different from the first method, and the first method and the second method are operated by the user. Switching the display by and
The two or more content groups include at least two types of content groups among a photo content group, a video content group, a news content group, a music content group, and a product information content group,
At least one of the content groups includes content acquired from an external network,
Information processing device. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the first method is a random display in which the two or more content groups are randomly arranged and displayed on the screen. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the second method is an alignment display for aligning and displaying the two or more content groups on the screen. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the content group creation control unit recreates the two or more content groups according to a user operation. The information processing apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the content group creation control unit creates the two or more content groups by different creation logics. 8. The output control unit displays at least one item information content related to the selected content as the selected content, when the user selects content included in the content group. The information processing device according to 1. To the computer
Two or more content groups that can be selected by the user and are displayed by images are created, and at least one of the content groups includes two or more types of content, and a screen showing the two or more content groups is displayed to the user. And providing the two or more types of contents included in the contents group, and displaying information related to the selected contents when the contents included in the contents group are selected by the user. To display the two or more content groups on the screen by a first method and a second method different from the first method, and perform the first method by the user's operation. And switching the display by the second method ,
The two or more content groups include at least two types of content groups among a photo content group, a video content group, a news content group, a music content group, and a product information content group,
At least one of the content groups includes a content obtained from an external network , recorded a computer-readable program for performing the method,
Computer-readable recording medium. The computer-readable recording medium according to claim 13, wherein the first method is a random display in which the two or more content groups are randomly arranged and displayed on the screen. The computer-readable recording medium according to claim 13, wherein the second method is an alignment display for aligning and displaying the two or more content groups on the screen. The computer-readable recording medium according to claim 13, wherein the program causes the computer to recreate the two or more content groups according to a user operation. The computer-readable recording medium according to claim 13, wherein the program causes the computer to create the two or more content groups by different creation logics. The program causes the computer to display at least one item information content related to the selected content as the selected content when the content included in the content group is selected by the user. The computer-readable recording medium according to claim 13.

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