Information processor, method for processing information, and information processing program

Abstract

To provide an information processor, a method for processing information, and an information processing program which can provide a more convenient content.SOLUTION: The information processor includes a reception unit, a determination unit, and a provision unit. The reception unit receives specification of a highlight display by a user on a part of the first content. The determination unit determines the relation between the letter character string of the part for which highlight display has been received by the reception unit and features of the user. The provision unit provides a second content including the result of determination made by the determination unit.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 3

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing device, an information processing method, and an information processing program. [Background technology]

[0002] 2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there is a technology that accepts a response to a content such as news from a user who provides the content (for example, "like"), and allows other users to see the user's response. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2010-063008 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, the conventional technology has room for improvement in terms of providing more convenient content.

[0005] The present application has been made in consideration of the above, and has an object to provide an information processing device, an information processing method, and an information processing program that are capable of providing content with higher convenience. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The information processing device according to the present application includes a receiving unit, a determining unit, and a providing unit. The receiving unit receives a user's designation for highlighting a part of a first content. The determining unit determines a relationship between a character string in the part for which the designation for highlighting has been received by the receiving unit and a characteristic of the user. The providing unit provides a second content including a result determined by the determining unit. Effect of the Invention

[0007] According to one aspect of the embodiment, it is possible to provide highly convenient content. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of information processing according to an embodiment. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of an information processing system according to the embodiment. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of the configuration of the information processing device according to the embodiment. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a user information table stored in the user information storage unit of the information processing device according to the embodiment. [Diagram 5] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of a content table stored in the content storage unit of the information processing device according to the embodiment. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of an emphasis display information table stored in the emphasis display information storage unit of the information processing device according to the embodiment. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a first content provided by the providing unit of the information processing device according to the embodiment. [Figure 8] FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating an example of the second content provided by the providing unit of the information processing device according to the embodiment. [Figure 9] FIG. 9 is a diagram showing another example of the second content provided by the providing unit of the information processing device according to the embodiment. [Figure 10] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing still another example of the second content provided by the providing unit of the information processing device according to the embodiment. [Figure 11] FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of information processing by the processing unit of the information processing device according to the embodiment. [Figure 12] FIG. 12 is a hardware configuration diagram showing an example of a computer that realizes the functions of the information processing device according to the embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] Hereinafter, the information processing device, the information processing method, and the information processing program according to the present application (hereinafter, referred to as "embodiments") will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that the information processing device, the information processing method, and the information processing program according to the present application are not limited to these embodiments. In addition, each embodiment can be appropriately combined as long as the processing contents are not contradictory. In addition, the same parts in each of the following embodiments are given the same reference numerals, and duplicated explanations will be omitted.

[0010] [1. An example of information processing] First, an example of information processing according to the embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 1. Fig. 1 is a diagram showing an example of information processing according to the embodiment. Fig. 1 shows an operation example of an information processing system 100 including an information processing device 1 according to the embodiment.

[0011] As shown in Fig. 1, an information processing system 100 according to an embodiment includes an information processing device 1, a plurality of terminal devices 2, and a terminal device 3. Each terminal device 2 is a terminal device of a user U to which a first content described later is provided from the information processing device 1. The terminal device 3 is a terminal device of a user O to which a second content described later is provided from the information processing device 1. Note that, although only one terminal device 3 is shown in the example shown in Fig. 1, the information processing system 100 includes a plurality of terminal devices 3.

[0012] As shown in FIG. 1, in the information processing system 100 according to the embodiment, first, the information processing device 1 transmits a first content to the terminal device 2, thereby providing the first content to a user U of the terminal device 2 (step S1).

[0013] In the example shown in Fig. 1, the content of a hometown tax payment intermediary site is provided as an example of the first content, but the first content is not limited to the content of the hometown tax payment intermediary site as long as the user U can partially highlight the content. For example, the first content may be the content of an online shopping mall (e.g., a web page of a transaction target) or other content (e.g., article content such as news).

[0014] The terminal device 2 displays the first content transmitted from the information processing device 1 on the screen, and receives from the user U a designation for highlighting a part of the first content displayed on the screen. FIG. 1 shows an example in which a part of the text included in the first content, specifically, the character string "Furthermore, the fresh air of F Town... please enjoy this exquisite taste." is designated for highlighting. Note that the user U can also designate an image (still image or video) included in the first content as a target for highlighting, in addition to the text.

[0015] In addition, while FIG. 1 shows an example in which a character string is specified on a paragraph-by-paragraph basis, it may also be specified on a character-by-character, word-by-word, phrase-by-phrase, or sentence-by-sentence basis, and specification of multiple locations in one first content may also be performed on a user U-by-user basis.

[0016] When the terminal device 2 receives a designation to highlight a part of the first content, the terminal device 2 highlights the part for which the designation to highlight has been received, and transmits designation information indicating the designation of the highlighting received to the information processing device 1 (step S2).

[0017] The first content includes a script (e.g., JavaScript (registered trademark)) that highlights the portion for which emphasis has been specified, and when emphasis has been specified by the user U, the terminal device 2 highlights the portion for which emphasis has been specified. Note that the highlighting of the portion for which emphasis has been specified is targeted at the first content viewed by the user U who specified the emphasis, but first content viewed by users U other than the user U who specified the emphasis can also be targeted for emphasis.

[0018] Next, the information processing device 1 receives the designation information transmitted from the terminal device 2, and accepts a designation by the user U to highlight a part of the first content based on the received designation information (step S3). The processes of steps S1 to S3 are repeatedly performed.

[0019] 1 shows an example in which a part of the first content specified by the user U is highlighted by underlining, but the highlighting can also be achieved by making the text bold, highlighting it, surrounding it with a frame, etc. Note that instead of using a script included in the first content, the information processing device 1 may receive a designation of highlighting, and then transmit information for highlighting the part designated for highlighting to the terminal device 2, thereby highlighting the part designated for highlighting on the terminal device 2.

[0020] Next, the information processing device 1 determines (step S4) a string-user relationship, which is a relationship between the string of the highlighted portion, which is the portion for which the highlighting designation was accepted in step S3, and the characteristics of the user U. Hereinafter, the string of the highlighted portion may be referred to as a target string.

[0021] The target character string is a part of the character string in the highlighted display portion, for example, a character string indicating a specific term (for example, a proper noun, a technical term, a technical term, etc.). When the highlighted display portion includes a plurality of specific terms different from each other, the target character string is each of the multiple specific terms included in the highlighted display portion, but is not limited to such an example. For example, the target character string may be a phrase-based character string or a sentence-based character string included in the highlighted display portion, or may be all of the character strings in the highlighted display portion.

[0022] Furthermore, the target character string may be, for example, all of the character strings in the emphasis display portion when the emphasis display portion is a portion designated by word unit, or all of the character strings in the emphasis display portion or each word included in the emphasis display portion when the emphasis display portion is a portion designated by phrase unit.

[0023] The characteristics of the user U include, for example, the attributes of the user U, the behavior of the user U, etc. The attributes of the user U are defined by one or a combination of two or more of a plurality of attribute items such as the gender, generation (age), occupation, annual income, family structure, and personality of the user U.

[0024] In addition, the attributes of user U may be defined by one or a combination of two or more of multiple attribute items of psychographic attributes such as user U's interests, values, lifestyle, etc., instead of or in addition to demographic attributes such as user U's gender, generation (age), occupation, annual income, family composition, personality, etc.

[0025] The actions of the user U include, for example, searching for the user U's content, viewing the user U's content, rating the user U's content, and trading the user U's trading target, but are not limited to these examples.

[0026] In step S4, the information processing device 1 determines, as a string-user relationship, a relationship between a target string, which is a string in the highlighted portion, and an attribute of the user U. For example, the information processing device 1 determines a distribution of the target string in units of attributes of the user U as the string-user relationship.

[0027] The attributes of user U are units defined by one or a combination of two or more of a plurality of attribute items such as the gender, generation (age), occupation, annual income, family structure, personality, etc. of user U. The attributes of user U are, for example, teenage female, teenage male, female in 20s, male in 20s, etc.

[0028] In addition, the attribute items of each user U, including user U, may be defined as one or a combination of two or more of multiple attribute items related to psychographic attributes such as user U's interests, values, lifestyle, etc., instead of or in addition to attribute items related to demographic attributes such as user U's gender, generation (age), occupation, annual income, family composition, personality, etc.

[0029] The distribution of the target strings is, for example, a distribution of the number of target strings in the same target string unit, for example, a distribution of a predetermined number of target strings in descending order of the number of target strings. In this case, the information processing device 1 calculates the designated number for each target string in the same target string unit, and identifies the predetermined number of target strings in descending order of the designated number.

[0030] The number of times that a target string is specified is the number of times that highlighting has been specified for a portion containing the target string, but it may also be the total number of identical target strings when highlighting has been specified for a portion containing the same target string.

[0031] The distribution of the target strings may be a distribution of the number of designated target strings per category of the target strings, in which case the distribution of the number of designated target strings is, for example, a distribution of the number of designated target strings of a predetermined number of target strings in descending order of the number of designated target strings among a plurality of target strings belonging to each category. When the first content is an article content, the categories are, for example, politics, economy, international, sports, entertainment, chemistry, technology, health, environment, culture, etc., but are not limited to these examples.

[0032] Furthermore, the information processing device 1 can also determine, as the string-user relationship, a target string difference that is a difference between attributes of the user U in a target string that is a character portion of the first content that has been specified as being highlighted by the user U. The target string difference is, for example, a difference between a target string when the attribute of the user U is a first attribute (e.g., a teenage female) and a target string when the attribute of the user U is a second attribute (e.g., a teenage male).

[0033] Also, for example, assume that the target character string is a word unit and the first content is a study-related content. In this case, the information processing device 1 can analyze, for example, character strings that the first attribute (for example, teenagers) tend to care about and character strings that the second attribute (for example, people in their twenties) tend to care about, and determine the analysis result as the character string-user relationship. The character strings that the user U of the first attribute tends to care about are, for example, character strings that are a part of the number of designations that is greater than the number of designations by the user U of the second attribute (for example, a part that is m times greater).

[0034] The information processing device 1 can also determine the behavior of the user U related to the details of the first content as a character string user relationship as a feature of the user U. The behavior of the user U can be, but is not limited to, browsing the content of an online site, purchasing a transaction object on an online site, searching on an online site, browsing advertisements on an online site, purchasing a transaction object at a physical store, and the like. The transaction object is a product or a service.

[0035] For example, if the first content is the content of a hometown tax donation intermediary site, user U's behavior related to the content of the first content is behavior on another hometown tax donation intermediary site (e.g., browsing the intermediary site or making a hometown tax donation).

[0036] For example, the information processing device 1 can determine the behavior of the user U on another intermediary site for hometown tax donations (for example, information on return gifts viewed or information on return gifts for hometown tax donations made) for each target character string.

[0037] The information on the return gifts viewed by user U is, for example, information on the number of views of each return gift on another hometown tax payment intermediary site by multiple users U who specified highlighting of the portion including the target string.

[0038] For example, if the target character string is "quality," and the number of users U who have specified highlighting for the portion including the target character string "quality" and have viewed return gift K is "4," the number of views of return gift K is "4." This allows the information processing device 1 to determine, as a character string-user relationship, what transaction objects have been viewed in another online shopping mall by user U who specified highlighting for the portion including the target character string "quality" on a certain hometown tax payment intermediary site.

[0039] In addition, the information on the gifts in return for the hometown tax donations made by user U is, for example, information on the number of hometown tax donations made corresponding to each gift on another hometown tax donation intermediary site by multiple users U who have specified highlighting of the portion including the target string.

[0040] For example, if the target character string is "quality," and the number of users U who have specified highlighting for the portion including the target character string "quality" and have made hometown tax donations for return gift K on another hometown tax donation intermediary site is "2," the number of hometown tax donations made in which the return gift is return gift K is "2." This allows the information processing device 1 to determine, as a character string-user relationship, what transaction object the user U who specified highlighting for the portion including the target character string "quality" on a certain hometown tax donation intermediary site has purchased on another online shopping mall.

[0041] Also, for example, if the first content is content in a certain online shopping mall, the behavior of the user U related to the contents of the first content is behavior in another online shopping mall (for example, viewing a transaction object or purchasing the transaction object).

[0042] For example, the information processing device 1 can determine the behavior of the user U in another online shopping mall (e.g., viewing of a transaction object, purchase of a transaction object, etc.) for each target character string. The information on the transaction object viewed by the user U is, for example, information on the number of views of each transaction object in another online shopping mall by multiple users U who have specified highlighting of a portion including a target character string.

[0043] For example, if the target character string is "beautiful room," and a user U who has specified highlighting of a portion including the target character string "beautiful room" and has viewed a transaction object G in another online shopping mall is "6," the number of views of the transaction object G in the other online shopping mall is "6." This allows the information processing device 1 to determine, as a character string-user relationship, what transaction objects the user U who specified highlighting of a portion including the target character string "beautiful room" in the content of a certain online shopping mall has viewed in the other online shopping mall.

[0044] In addition, the information on the trading items purchased by user U in another online shopping mall is, for example, information on the number of trading items purchased in another online shopping mall by multiple users U who specified highlighting of the portion including the target string.

[0045] For example, if the target character string is "beautiful room," and the number of users U who have specified highlighting on the portion including the target character string "beautiful room" and have purchased trading object Y in another online shopping mall is "3," the number of purchases of trading object Y in the other online shopping mall is "3." This enables the information processing device 1 to determine, as a character string-user relationship, what kind of trading object a user U who specified highlighting on the portion including the target character string "beautiful room" in the content of a certain online shopping mall will purchase in another online shopping mall.

[0046] Furthermore, the information processing device 1 can determine, as the string-user relationship, the distribution of the number of attribute-based highlighting designations by the user U for parts including the same target string included in a plurality of first contents. Having attributes in common means, for example, that one or more specific attribute items match, but is not limited to such an example, and may mean, for example, that the similarity between the attributes is equal to or greater than a threshold value.

[0047] For example, when the same target character string included in multiple first contents is "quality", the information processing device 1 calculates the number of designated users, which is the number of users U who designated highlighting of the portion including the target character string "quality", in units of attributes of users U. Then, the information processing device 1 determines the number of designated users in units of attributes of users U for the target character string "quality" as the character string-user relationship.

[0048] The number of designated users by attribute of user U is, for example, "21" for a female user U in her teens, "12" for a male user U in her teens, "15" for a female user U in his twenties, "6" for a male user U in his twenties, etc. This allows the information processing device 1 to determine, as a character string-user relationship, what kind of attribute the user U who designated highlighting of the portion including the target character string "quality" has.

[0049] Furthermore, the information processing device 1 can also determine, as the string-user relationship, the distribution of the number of highlighting designations by the same user U for multiple portions each including a specific target string included in multiple first contents. The specific target string included in multiple first contents is, for example, a string composed of specific symbols, such as the string "!!!" or the string "->", but is not limited to such examples.

[0050] In this case, the information processing device 1 can calculate the number of user designations, which is the number of times the same user U has designated highlighting for a portion including a specific target character string, and determine the calculation result as the character string-user relationship. For example, if a user U has designated highlighting for five portions including the character string "!!!" that are included in different first contents, the number of user designations for the user U is "5." This allows the information processing device 1 to determine, for example, the number of times the same user U has designated highlighting for a portion including a specific target character string, the distribution of the number of times for each user U, and the like, as the character string-user relationship.

[0051] The information processing device 1 can also determine, for example, the behavioral tendency of the user U for each range of the user-designated number for a portion including a specific target character string. This allows the information processing device 1 to determine, for example, the number of times the same user U has designated highlighting for a portion including a specific target character string and the distribution of the number of times for each user U as a character string-user relationship for each attribute.

[0052] Furthermore, the information processing device 1 can also calculate, for each attribute of the user U, an average user designation number that is the average number of highlighting designations by the same user U for a portion including a specific target character string, for example.

[0053] The average number of user designations by attribute unit of user U is, for example, "1.2" for a female user U in his teens, "0.5" for a male user U in his teens, "3.6" for a female user U in his twenties, "0.5" for a male user U in his twenties, etc. In this way, the information processing device 1 can determine, for example, the distribution by attribute unit of user U of the average number of times the same user U has designated highlighting for a portion including a specific target string as the string-user relationship.

[0054] In addition, the information processing device 1 can also determine the distribution of the number of users U who have a common attribute and who have specified highlighting of portions containing specific target strings contained in multiple first contents as the string-user relationship.

[0055] Next, the information processing device 1 transmits the second content including the character string user related information determined in step S4 to the terminal device 3, thereby providing the second content to the user O of the terminal device 3 (step S5). The terminal device 3 receives the second content transmitted from the information processing device 1, and displays the received second content.

[0056] 1, the second content displayed on the terminal device 3 includes information on rankings of target character strings, which are character strings in the parts of the first content on the hometown tax payment intermediary site A that are specified for highlighting by the user U, for each attribute of the user U. The rankings are, for example, in descending order of the number of times that highlighting has been specified.

[0057] For example, in the second content shown in Fig. 1, the ranking of character strings that user U in his 20s is interested in is arranged in descending order of the number of times that the target character strings are specified, as follows: "Experience events," "List of return gifts," "SNS," "Exchange events," and "Return gift evaluations." Also, in the second content shown in Fig. 1, the ranking of character strings that user U in his 30s is interested in is arranged in descending order of the number of times that the target character strings are specified, as follows: "Quality," "Regional development," "Return gift word-of-mouth," "Use of donations," and "Regional growth."

[0058] Furthermore, in step S5, the information processing device 1 can also provide, as the second content, information indicating the relationship between the target character string and the user U in chronological order. The information indicating the relationship between the target character string and the user U in chronological order is, for example, information indicating the above-mentioned transition of rankings for each attribute of the user U.

[0059] In this way, the information processing device 1 accepts a user's designation for highlighting a part of the first content, determines the relationship between the character string of the part for which the designation for highlighting was accepted and the user's characteristics, and provides the second content including the determination result. This allows the information processing device 1 to provide more convenient content.

[0060] The configuration of an information processing system 100 including an information processing device 1 that performs such processing and a plurality of terminal devices 2 and 3 will be described in detail below.

[0061] 2. Configuration of Information Processing System 100 2 is a diagram showing an example of a configuration of an information processing system 100 according to an embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, the information processing system 100 according to the embodiment includes an information processing device 1, a plurality of terminal devices 2, and a plurality of terminal devices 3.

[0062] The multiple terminal devices 2 are used by different users U. The multiple terminal devices 3 are used by different users O. The users U are users of online services provided by the information processing device 1, and various contents including a first content are provided to the users U from the information processing device 1.

[0063] The user O is, for example, a user of an online service provided by the information processing device 1, and various contents including, for example, the second content are provided to the user O from the information processing device 1. The user O is, for example, a content creator or content provider who provides the first content to the information processing device 1, but may also be a content creation assistant who assists in the creation of the first content.

[0064] Each of the terminal devices 2 and 3 is, for example, a notebook PC (Personal Computer), a desktop PC, a smartphone, a tablet PC, or a wearable device. The wearable device is, for example, smart glasses or a smart watch, but is not limited to such examples.

[0065] The information processing device 1, the terminal device 2, and the terminal device 3 are connected to each other so as to be able to communicate with each other by wire or wirelessly via a network N. Note that the information processing system 100 shown in FIG. 2 may include a plurality of information processing devices 1 and the like.

[0066] The network N includes, for example, a Wide Area Network (WAN) such as the Internet and mobile communication networks such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), 4th Generation (4G), and 5th Generation (5G: fifth generation mobile communication system).

[0067] Each of the terminal devices 2 and 3 can connect to the network N via short-range wireless communication such as a mobile communication network, Bluetooth (registered trademark), or a wireless LAN (Local Area Network), and communicate with the information processing device 1.

[0068] 3. Configuration of information processing device 1 3 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of the information processing device 1 according to the embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, the information processing device 1 includes a communication unit 10, a storage unit 11, and a processing unit 12.

[0069] [3.1. Communication unit 10] The communication unit 10 is realized by, for example, a communication module or a NIC (Network Interface Card). The communication unit 10 is connected to a network N by wire or wirelessly, and transmits and receives information to and from various other devices. For example, the communication unit 10 transmits and receives information to and from the terminal device 2 or the terminal device 3 via the network N.

[0070] [3.2. Storage section 11] The storage unit 11 is realized by, for example, a semiconductor memory element such as a random access memory (RAM) or a flash memory, or a storage device such as a hard disk or an optical disk. The storage unit 11 has a user information storage unit 20, a content storage unit 21, and an emphasis display information storage unit 22.

[0071] 3.2.1. User information storage unit 20 The user information storage unit 20 stores various pieces of information related to the user U. Fig. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a user information table stored in the user information storage unit 20 of the information processing device 1 according to the embodiment.

[0072] 4, the user information table stored in the user information storage unit 20 includes information items such as "User ID (Identifier)," "Attribute Information," and "History Information." The "User ID" is an identifier for identifying a user U, and is information assigned to each user U.

[0073] "Attribute information" is attribute information indicating attributes of user U associated with "user ID." The attributes of user U are, for example, demographic attributes, psychographic attributes, etc. Demographic attributes are demographic attributes, and include multiple attribute items such as generation (age), sex, occupation, place of residence, annual income, and family structure.

[0074] The psychographic attributes are psychological attributes, and include, for example, a plurality of attribute items related to lifestyle, values, interests, etc. For example, each of the plurality of attribute items in the psychographic attributes is an object of interest of the user U, such as a car, clothes, travel, games, camping, motorcycle, train, home appliance, or computer.

[0075] The "history information" includes information on the behavior history of the user U associated with the "user ID." The behavior history of the user U includes, for example, search history information, browsing history information, and transaction history information.

[0076] The search history information of the user U includes, for example, information on the search history by the user U in a web search service. The browsing history information of the user U includes, for example, information on the browsing history of content by the user U in an online service. The transaction history information includes, for example, information on the transaction history of products by the user U in an online service.

[0077] 3.2.2. Content storage unit 21 The content storage unit 21 stores various pieces of information related to content. Fig. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a content table stored in the content storage unit 21 of the information processing device 1 according to the embodiment.

[0078] 5, the content table stored in the content storage unit 21 includes information items such as "content ID," "content type," "content," and "link." The "content ID" is an identifier for identifying a content, and is information assigned to each piece of content.

[0079] "Content type" is information indicating the type of content associated with "content ID". The type of content is, for example, a category of the contents of the content, and in the case where the content is article content such as news, the type of content may be, but is not limited to, domestic, international, political, economic, social, scientific and technological, sports, entertainment, lifestyle, etc.

[0080] The "content" is a content associated with the "content ID", and is, for example, various contents including the first content described above. The content associated with the "content ID" is a content for which highlighting is specified by the user U, and the "link" is link information of the content associated with the "content ID", and is, for example, URL (Uniform Resource Locator) information.

[0081] [3.2.3. Highlighting information storage unit 22] The highlighting information storage unit 22 stores highlighting information for a part of the content. Fig. 6 is a diagram showing an example of a highlighting information table stored in the highlighting information storage unit 22 of the information processing device 1 according to the embodiment.

[0082] In the example shown in FIG. 6, the highlighting information table stored in the highlighting information storage unit 22 includes items such as "designated ID," "content ID," "highlighted portion information," and "reaction information."

[0083] The "designated ID" is identification information that identifies a part of the content designated as a target for highlighting. The designated part for highlighting is, for example, a range of paragraphs, sentences, phrases, words, or characters.

[0084] The "content ID" is the content ID of the content including the highlighting designated portion associated with the "designated ID." The content associated with the "designated ID" is, for example, each of a plurality of contents including the first content and the second content described above.

[0085] The "highlighted portion information" is information about the highlighted portion associated with the "designated ID." For example, the information about the highlighted portion includes designated portion information indicating the highlighted portion, designated user information indicating the user U who designated the highlighting, designated date and time information indicating the date and time when the highlighting was designated, and user position information indicating the position of the user U when the highlighting was designated. In the information about the highlighted portion, the designated user information, designated date and time information, and user position information are included for each highlighting designation.

[0086] When the highlighted portion is a range in paragraph units, the designated portion information includes information indicating the range in paragraph units, and when the highlighted portion is a range in sentence units, the designated portion information includes information indicating the range in sentence units.

[0087] The "reaction information" is information indicating the reaction of another user U to the highlighting designated portion associated with the "designated ID." The other user U is a user U different from the user U who designated the highlighting of the highlighting designated portion associated with the "designated ID."

[0088] The reactions of the other users U are reactions such as evaluations of the highlighted portion, comments on the highlighted portion, etc. Evaluations of the highlighted portion include, but are not limited to, positive evaluations (e.g., "good") and negative evaluations (e.g., "bad").

[0089] The "reaction information" includes, for example, information indicating the number of other users U who selected a rating button included in the content, information indicating comments entered by other users U, information indicating the number of other users U who entered comments, information indicating the number of other users U who shared the highlighted portion, etc. The information indicating the number of other users U who selected a rating button includes, for example, information indicating the number of other users U for each type of rating button selected by other users U (for example, positive ratings or negative ratings).

[0090] [3.3. Processing section 12] The processing unit 12 is a controller, and is realized, for example, by a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or an MPU (Micro Processing Unit) executing various programs stored in a storage device inside the information processing device 1 using a RAM as a working area.

[0091] The processing unit 12 may be partially or entirely realized by an integrated circuit such as an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or a field programmable gate array (FPGA).

[0092] 3, the processing unit 12 has an acquisition unit 30, a reception unit 31, a determination unit 32, and a provision unit 33, and realizes or executes the functions and actions of information processing described below. Note that the internal configuration of the processing unit 12 is not limited to the configuration shown in FIG. 3, and may be other configurations as long as they perform the information processing described below.

[0093] [3.3.1. Acquisition part 30] The acquisition unit 30 acquires various pieces of information from an external information processing device, the terminal device 2, the terminal device 3, or the like via the communication unit 10, and stores the acquired information in the storage unit 11.

[0094] For example, the acquisition unit 30 acquires user information, which is information about the user U, from an external information processing device or the terminal device 2 via the communication unit 10, and adds the acquired user information to a user information table in the user information storage unit 20.

[0095] Furthermore, the acquisition unit 30 acquires contents such as the first content from an external information processing device or terminal device 3 via the communication unit 10, and adds the acquired contents to the content table stored in the content storage unit .

[0096] Furthermore, the acquisition unit 30 acquires various types of information from the storage unit 11. For example, the acquisition unit 30 acquires user information, which is information on the user U, from the user information storage unit 20 or the like. The user information acquired by the acquisition unit 30 includes, for example, a part or all of at least one of the above-mentioned attribute information and history information.

[0097] Moreover, the acquisition unit 30 acquires content from the content storage unit 21 or the like. Moreover, the acquisition unit 30 acquires highlighted portion information and reaction information from the highlighting information storage unit 22 or the like.

[0098] [3.3.2. Reception Unit 31] The reception unit 31 receives various requests and information from the terminal device 2 via the communication unit 10.

[0099] For example, the reception unit 31 receives a viewing request from the terminal device 2. The viewing request includes, for example, information identifying a user U of the terminal device 2 (for example, a user ID) and information identifying the content requested by the user U (for example, a content ID or a URL of the content).

[0100] The receiving unit 31 receives a designation for highlighting a part of the content based on designation information indicating a designation for highlighting a part of the content provided to the user U of the terminal device 2 by the providing unit 33. The receiving unit 31 stores a result of the designation for highlighting in the highlighting information storage unit 22.

[0101] The specified information includes, for example, information identifying the user U of the terminal device 2 (for example, a user ID), information indicating the specified location (portion), information indicating the specified type of highlighting, and information indicating the position of the user U. The specified location is, for example, a part of text included in the content, an image (still image or video), etc.

[0102] The specified portion may be, but is not limited to, one or more of a paragraph range, a sentence range, a character range, a word range, a character range, or a phrase range. The type of highlighting may be, but is not limited to, one or more of underline, bold, frame, and highlight.

[0103] The receiving unit 31 also receives evaluations (e.g., positive evaluations and negative evaluations) by other users U regarding the part for which the user U has specified highlighting. The receiving unit 31 stores reaction information including the received evaluation information in the highlighting information storage unit 22 or the like.

[0104] Furthermore, the reception unit 31 receives a request to transmit the second content from the terminal device 3. The request to transmit the second content includes, for example, information indicating the determination made by the determination unit 32 (described later), but the information included in the request to transmit the second content is not limited to this example.

[0105] [3.3.3. Judgment unit 32] The determination unit 32 determines a string-user relationship, which is a relationship between a target string, which is a string of a portion for which the specification of highlighting has been accepted by the acceptance unit 31, and a characteristic of the user U.

[0106] The target character string is a part of the character string in the highlighted display portion, for example, a character string indicating a specific term (for example, a proper noun, a technical term, a technical term, etc.). When the highlighted display portion includes a plurality of specific terms different from each other, the target character string is each of the multiple specific terms included in the highlighted display portion, but is not limited to such an example. For example, the target character string may be a phrase-based character string or a sentence-based character string included in the highlighted display portion, or may be all of the character strings in the highlighted display portion.

[0107] Furthermore, the target character string may be, for example, all of the character strings in the emphasis display portion when the emphasis display portion is a portion designated by word unit, or all of the character strings in the emphasis display portion or each word included in the emphasis display portion when the emphasis display portion is a portion designated by phrase unit.

[0108] The characteristics of the user U include, for example, the attributes of the user U, the behavior of the user U, etc. The attributes of the user U are defined by one or a combination of two or more of a plurality of attribute items such as the gender, generation (age), occupation, annual income, family structure, and personality of the user U.

[0109] In addition, the attributes of user U may be defined by one or a combination of two or more of multiple attribute items of psychographic attributes such as user U's interests, values, lifestyle, etc., instead of or in addition to demographic attributes such as user U's gender, generation (age), occupation, annual income, family composition, personality, etc.

[0110] The actions of the user U include, for example, searching for the user U's content, viewing the user U's content, rating the user U's content, and trading the user U's trading target, but are not limited to these examples.

[0111] The determination unit 32 determines the string-user relationship by considering the attribute of the user U as the feature of the user U. That is, the determination unit 32 determines the relationship between the target string and the attribute of the user U as the string-user relationship. For example, the determination unit 32 determines the distribution of the target string in units of the attribute of the user U as the string-user relationship.

[0112] The attributes of user U are units defined by one or a combination of two or more of a plurality of attribute items such as the gender, generation (age), occupation, annual income, family structure, personality, etc. of user U. The attributes of user U are, for example, teenage female, teenage male, female in 20s, male in 20s, etc.

[0113] In addition, the attribute items of each user U, including user U, may be defined as one or a combination of two or more of multiple attribute items related to psychographic attributes such as user U's interests, values, lifestyle, etc., instead of or in addition to attribute items related to demographic attributes such as user U's gender, generation (age), occupation, annual income, family composition, personality, etc.

[0114] The distribution of the target strings is, for example, a distribution of the number of designations of the target strings in the same target string unit, for example, a distribution of a predetermined number of target strings in descending order of the number of designations of the target strings. In this case, the determination unit 32 calculates the number of designations for each target string in the same target string unit, and identifies the predetermined number of target strings in descending order of the number of designations.

[0115] The number of times that a target string is specified is the number of times that highlighting has been specified for a portion containing the target string, but it may also be the total number of identical target strings when highlighting has been specified for a portion containing the same target string.

[0116] The distribution of the target strings may be a distribution of the number of designated target strings per category of the target strings, in which case the distribution of the number of designated target strings is, for example, a distribution of the number of designated target strings of a predetermined number of target strings in descending order of the number of designated target strings among a plurality of target strings belonging to each category. When the first content is an article content, the categories are, for example, politics, economy, international, sports, entertainment, chemistry, technology, health, environment, culture, etc., but are not limited to these examples.

[0117] The determination unit 32 can also determine, as the string-user relationship, a target string difference, which is a difference between attributes of the user U, of a target string, which is a character portion of the first content for which a designation of highlighting by the user U has been accepted by the acceptance unit 31. The target string difference is, for example, a difference between a target string when the attribute of the user U is a first attribute (e.g., a teenage female) and a target string when the attribute of the user U is a second attribute (e.g., a teenage male).

[0118] Also, for example, assume that the target character string is a word unit and the first content is a study-related content. In this case, the determination unit 32 can analyze, for example, character strings that users of the first attribute (for example, teenagers) tend to care about and character strings that users of the second attribute (for example, people in their twenties) tend to care about, and determine the analysis result as the character string-user relationship. A character string that a user U of the first attribute tends to care about is, for example, a character string that is a part of the number of designations that is greater than the number of designations by a user U of the second attribute (for example, a part that is more than m times greater).

[0119] The determination unit 32 can also determine the behavior of the user U related to the details of the first content as a character string user relationship as a feature of the user U. The behavior of the user U includes, but is not limited to, browsing the content of an online site, purchasing a transaction object on an online site, searching on an online site, browsing advertisements on an online site, and purchasing a transaction object at a physical store. The transaction object is a product or a service.

[0120] For example, if the first content is the content of a hometown tax donation intermediary site, user U's behavior related to the content of the first content is behavior on another hometown tax donation intermediary site (e.g., browsing the intermediary site or making a hometown tax donation).

[0121] For example, the determination unit 32 can determine the behavior of the user U on another intermediary site for hometown tax payment (for example, information on return gifts viewed or information on return gifts for hometown tax payment made) for each target character string.

[0122] The information on the return gifts viewed by user U is, for example, information on the number of views of each return gift on another hometown tax payment intermediary site by multiple users U who specified highlighting of the portion including the target string.

[0123] For example, if the target character string is "quality", and the number of users U who have specified highlighting for the portion including the target character string "quality" and have viewed return gift K is "4", the number of views of return gift K is "4". This allows the determination unit 32 to determine, as a character string-user relationship, what transaction objects have been viewed in another online shopping mall by user U who specified highlighting for the portion including the target character string "quality" on a certain hometown tax payment intermediary site.

[0124] In addition, the information on the gifts in return for the hometown tax donations made by user U is, for example, information on the number of hometown tax donations made corresponding to each gift on another hometown tax donation intermediary site by multiple users U who have specified highlighting of the portion including the target string.

[0125] For example, if the target character string is "quality," and the number of users U who have specified highlighting for the portion including the target character string "quality" and have made hometown tax donations for return gift K on another hometown tax donation intermediary site is "2," the number of hometown tax donations made in which the return gift is return gift K is "2." This allows the determination unit 32 to determine, as a character string-user relationship, what transaction object the user U who specified highlighting for the portion including the target character string "quality" on a certain hometown tax donation intermediary site has purchased on another online shopping mall.

[0126] Also, for example, if the first content is content in a certain online shopping mall, the behavior of the user U related to the contents of the first content is behavior in another online shopping mall (for example, viewing a transaction object or purchasing the transaction object).

[0127] For example, the determination unit 32 can determine the behavior of the user U in another online shopping mall (e.g., viewing of the transaction object, purchase of the transaction object, etc.) for each target character string. The information on the transaction object viewed by the user U is, for example, information on the number of views of each transaction object in another online shopping mall by multiple users U who have specified highlighting of the portion including the target character string.

[0128] For example, if the target character string is "beautiful room," and the number of users U who have specified highlighting on the portion including the target character string "beautiful room" and have viewed a transaction object G in another online shopping mall is "6," the number of views of the transaction object G in the other online shopping mall is "6." This allows the determination unit 32 to determine, as a character string-user relationship, what transaction object the user U who specified highlighting on the portion including the target character string "beautiful room" in the content of a certain online shopping mall has viewed in the other online shopping mall.

[0129] In addition, the information on the trading items purchased by user U in another online shopping mall is, for example, information on the number of trading items purchased in another online shopping mall by multiple users U who specified highlighting of the portion including the target string.

[0130] For example, if the target character string is "beautiful room," and the number of users U who have specified highlighting on the portion including the target character string "beautiful room" and have purchased trading object Y in another online shopping mall is "3," the number of purchases of trading object Y in the other online shopping mall is "3." This allows the determination unit 32 to determine, as a character string-user relationship, what kind of trading object a user U who specified highlighting on the portion including the target character string "beautiful room" in the content of a certain online shopping mall will purchase in another online shopping mall.

[0131] The determination unit 32 can also determine the distribution of the number of attribute-based highlighting designations by the user U for parts including the same target string included in multiple first contents as the string-user relationship. The attribute being common means, for example, that one or more specific attribute items match, but is not limited to such an example, and may mean, for example, that the similarity between the attributes is equal to or greater than a threshold value.

[0132] For example, when the same target character string included in multiple first contents is "quality", the determination unit 32 calculates the number of designated users, which is the number of users U who designated highlighting of the portion including the target character string "quality", for each attribute of the user U. Then, the determination unit 32 determines the number of designated users for the target character string "quality" for each attribute of the user U as the character string-user relationship.

[0133] The number of designated users by attribute of user U is, for example, "21" for a female user U in her teens, "12" for a male user U in her teens, "15" for a female user U in his twenties, "6" for a male user U in his twenties, etc. This allows the determination unit 32 to determine, as a character string-user relationship, what kind of attribute the user U who designated highlighting of the portion including the target character string "quality" has.

[0134] The determination unit 32 can also determine, as the string-user relationship, the distribution of the number of highlighting designations by the same user U for multiple portions each including a specific target string included in multiple first contents. The specific target string included in multiple first contents is, for example, a string composed of specific symbols, such as the string "!!!" or the string "->", but is not limited to such examples.

[0135] In this case, the determination unit 32 can calculate the number of user designations, which is the number of designations of highlighting by the same user U for a portion including a specific target character string, and determine the calculation result as the character string-user relationship.

[0136] For example, if a user U specifies highlighting for five parts that include the character string "!!!" and are included in different first contents, the number of user specifications for the user U is "5." This enables the determination unit 32 to determine, for example, the number of times that the same user U specifies highlighting for parts that include a specific target character string, the distribution of the number of times for each user U, etc., as the character string-user relationship.

[0137] The determination unit 32 can also determine, for example, the tendency of the user U's behavior for each range of the user-designated number for a portion including a specific target character string. This allows the determination unit 32 to determine, for example, the number of times the same user U has designated highlighting for a portion including a specific target character string and the distribution of the number of times for each user U as the string-user relationship for each attribute.

[0138] Furthermore, the determination unit 32 can also calculate, for each attribute of the user U, an average user designation number that is the average number of highlighting designations by the same user U for a portion that includes a specific target character string, for example.

[0139] The average number of user designations by attribute unit of user U is, for example, "1.2" for a female user U in his teens, "0.5" for a male user U in his teens, "3.6" for a female user U in his twenties, "0.5" for a male user U in his twenties, etc. In this way, the determination unit 32 can determine, for example, the distribution by attribute unit of user U of the average number of times the same user U has designated highlighting for a portion including a specific target string as the string-user relationship.

[0140] In addition, the determination unit 32 can also determine, as the string-user relationship, the distribution of the number of users U who have a common attribute and who have specified highlighting of a portion including a specific number of target strings contained in a number of first contents.

[0141] [3.3.4.Providing Department 33] The providing unit 33 provides various information to a user U of the terminal device 2 and a user O of the terminal device 3. For example, the providing unit 33 transmits content to the terminal device 2 and provides the content to the user U. For example, the providing unit 33 transmits the first content for which highlighting has been specified to the terminal device 2 of the user U and provides the content for which highlighting has been specified to the user U.

[0142] The recipients of the first content for which highlighting has been specified are all users U who have requested to view (transmit) the first content, including the user U who specified the highlighting, but are not limited to this example. For example, the recipients of the first content for which highlighting has been specified may be other users U with similar user attributes to the user U who specified the highlighting, or other users U who are interested in the first content for which highlighting has been specified.

[0143] The first content provided to the user U by the providing unit 33 includes, for example, script information for displaying a GUI (Graphical User Interface) that accepts highlighting specifications, and when the user U specifies highlighting for a part of the first content, the specification information is transmitted from the terminal device 2.

[0144] Fig. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a first content provided by the providing unit 33 of the information processing device 1 according to the embodiment. The first content 60 shown in Fig. 7 is a news content, and includes text 61 and highlighting designation information 62a and 62b.

[0145] In the example shown in Figure 7, the highlighting designation information 62a includes the information of the character string "3 people in the spotlight" as information indicating that highlighting has been designated for the character string "As a return gift for hometown tax donations from F town, D prefecture,...known for its exquisite marbled meat" in the first content 60.

[0146] In addition, in the example shown in Figure 7, the highlighting designation information 62b includes the information of the character string "Attention you and 12 others" as information indicating that highlighting has been designated for the part in the first content 60, "Furthermore, the fresh air and pure water of F Town... please enjoy this exquisite taste."

[0147] This allows the user U to easily understand, for example, the parts highlighted by the other user U. Since the parts highlighted by the other user U are parts that the other user U recognizes as important, the providing unit 33 can provide the user U with the first content 60 that is more convenient.

[0148] The user U can specify highlighting of a part of the first content 60 by operating the terminal device 2. The highlighting specification information 62a and 62b shown in Fig. 7 includes specification buttons 621a and 621b.

[0149] By selecting (e.g., clicking or tapping) the designation button 621a, the user U can specify that the character string “As a return gift for hometown tax donations from F town, D prefecture,...is known for its exquisitely marbled meat” be highlighted.

[0150] In addition, by selecting (e.g., clicking or tapping) the designation button 621b, the user U can specify that the character string "Furthermore, the fresh air and pure water of F Town... please enjoy this exquisite taste." be highlighted.

[0151] In the example shown in Fig. 7, highlighting is specified for each paragraph including one or more sentences, but the present invention is not limited to this example. For example, if the first content includes a list of players of the Japanese team participating in the WBC (World Baseball Classic), information on each player's name in the list of players can be the unit for which highlighting can be specified. Also, if the first content includes a list of manga books, information on each manga indicating the title and author of the manga can be the unit for which highlighting can be specified.

[0152] Furthermore, the providing unit 33 provides the second content including the result determined by the determining unit 32. For example, the providing unit 33 transmits the second content including the information on the character string user relationship, which is the result determined by the determining unit 32, to the terminal device 3, thereby providing the second content to the user O of the terminal device 3.

[0153] The terminal device 3 receives the second content transmitted from the information processing device 1 and displays the received second content. Fig. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the second content provided by the providing unit 33 of the information processing device 1 according to the embodiment.

[0154] 8, the second content 70 displayed on the terminal device 3 includes information on rankings of target character strings, which are character strings in the parts of the first content on the hometown tax intermediary site A that the user U has specified to be highlighted, for each attribute of the user U. The rankings are, for example, in descending order of the number of times that the highlighting has been specified.

[0155] For example, in the second content 70, the ranking of character strings that a user U in his twenties is interested in is arranged in descending order of the number of times the target character string is designated, as follows: "Experience event," "List of return gifts," "SNS," "Exchange event," and "Return gift evaluation." In addition, in the second content 70, the ranking of character strings that a user U in his thirties is interested in is arranged in descending order of the number of times the target character string is designated, as follows: "Quality," "Regional development," "Return gift word-of-mouth," "Use of donations," and "Regional growth." This allows the user O to easily understand which character strings are attracting the attention of which users U with which attributes in multiple contents included in the hometown tax intermediary site A.

[0156] Fig. 9 is a diagram showing another example of the second content provided by the providing unit 33 of the information processing device 1 according to the embodiment. In the example shown in Fig. 9, similarly to the example shown in Fig. 8, the second content 70 displayed on the terminal device 3 includes information on rankings of target character strings, which are character strings in the part of the first content on the hometown tax payment intermediary site A that the user U has specified to be highlighted, for each attribute of the user U.

[0157] In the second content 70 shown in Figure 9, the strings that a user U in his 20s is interested in are shown in a pie chart along with the percentage of times they were selected: "experience event," "list of return gifts," "SNS," "social event," and "return gift evaluation."

[0158] 9, the second content 70 shows, in a pie chart, the character strings that the user U in his 30s is interested in, such as "quality," "regional development," "return gift word-of-mouth," "donation use," and "regional growth," along with the percentage of the number of times they are specified. Note that the graph is not limited to a pie chart, and may be, for example, a bar graph or other graph.

[0159] Fig. 10 is a diagram showing yet another example of the second content provided by the providing unit 33 of the information processing device 1 according to the embodiment. In the example shown in Fig. 10, a graph showing the distribution of attributes of a user U who specified highlighting of a portion including a target character string on the hometown tax payment intermediary site A is shown as the second content 70 displayed on the terminal device 3.

[0160] For example, the second content 70 shown in Fig. 10 shows the distribution of attributes of a user U who specified highlighting for a portion including the target character string "experience event" and the distribution of attributes of a user U who specified highlighting for a portion including the target character string "list of return gifts". This allows the user O to easily understand which character strings and which attributes of the users U are paying attention to in the multiple contents included in the hometown tax intermediary site A.

[0161] The providing unit 33 can also provide, as the second content, information indicating the relationship between the target character string and the user U in chronological order. The information indicating the relationship between the target character string and the user U in chronological order is, for example, information in which the above-mentioned rankings or graphs for each predetermined period are arranged in chronological order, but is not limited to such an example.

[0162] In this way, the providing unit 33 can provide as the second content content including, for example, information indicating changes in the ranking of a target string, which is a string of a portion of a plurality of first contents that a user U has specified as being highlighted, and information indicating changes in the distribution of attributes of the user U who has specified as being highlighted a portion including the target string.

[0163] 4. Processing Procedure Next, a procedure of information processing by the processing unit 12 of the information processing device 1 according to the embodiment will be described. Fig. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of information processing by the processing unit 12 of the information processing device 1 according to the embodiment.

[0164] 11, the processing unit 12 of the information processing device 1 determines whether or not there is a viewing request from the terminal device 2 (step S10). When it is determined that there is a viewing request (step S10: Yes), the processing unit 12 transmits content corresponding to the viewing request to the terminal device 2, thereby providing the content corresponding to the viewing request to the user U (step S11).

[0165] When the process of step S11 is completed or when it is determined that there is no viewing request (step S10: No), the processing unit 12 determines whether or not the specific information transmitted from the terminal device 2 has been accepted (step S12). When it is determined that the specific information has been accepted (step S12: Yes), the processing unit 12 stores the accepted specific information in the storage unit 11 (step S13).

[0166] When the processing of step S13 is completed or when it is determined that the designated information has not been received (step S12: No), the processing unit 12 determines whether or not the reaction information transmitted from the terminal device 2 has been received (step S14). When it is determined that the reaction information has been received (step S14: Yes), the processing unit 12 stores the received reaction information in the storage unit 11 (step S15).

[0167] When the process of step S13 is completed or when it is determined that the reaction information has not been received (step S14: No), the processing unit 12 determines whether or not it is time to provide the second content (step S16). The timing to provide the second content is, for example, the timing of receiving a request to transmit the second content from the terminal device 3, or a timing that arrives at every predetermined period, but is not limited to such examples.

[0168] If the processing unit 12 determines that it is time to provide the second content (step S16: Yes), it determines the string-user relationship (step S17) and, based on the determination result, provides the second content to the user O by sending the second content to the terminal device 3 (step S18).

[0169] When the process of step S18 is completed or when it is determined that the timing to provide the second content has not come (step S16: No), the processing unit 12 determines whether or not the operation end timing has come (step S19). The processing unit 12 determines that the operation end timing has come when, for example, the power supply of the information processing device 1 is turned off.

[0170] If the processing unit 12 determines that the operation end time has not arrived (step S19: No), it transitions to step S10, and if it determines that the operation end time has arrived (step S19: Yes), it terminates the processing shown in FIG. 11.

[0171] 5. Modifications When a specific attribute is selected by the user O from the second content including the distribution of attributes of the users U who have specified highlighting for a portion including a target character string in the first content, the providing unit 33 can also provide the second content including a ranking of the designation numbers of the target character strings in the portion specified for highlighting by the users U of the selected attribute to the user O. The ranking of the designation numbers of the target character strings in the portion specified for highlighting by the users U of the selected attribute is determined by the determining unit 32.

[0172] Furthermore, when a specific target string is selected by user O from the second content including a ranking of a designated number of target strings of user U having a certain attribute, the providing unit 33 can also provide the second content including a distribution of attributes of user U who specified highlighting for the portion including the selected target string to user O. The distribution of attributes of user U who specified highlighting for the portion including the selected target string is determined by the determining unit 32.

[0173] In the above example, the providing unit 33 provides the second content to the user O of the terminal device 3, but can also provide the second content to the user U of the terminal device 2. For example, the providing unit 33 can also provide the user U with the second content including information in which the target character strings in the portions designated for highlighting by another user U who has an attribute common to the attribute of the user U of the terminal device 2 are ranked by the designated number of portions that include the target character strings.

[0174] [6. Hardware Configuration] The information processing device 1 according to the embodiment described above is realized by a computer 80 having a configuration as shown in Fig. 12, for example. Fig. 12 is a hardware configuration diagram showing an example of the computer 80 that realizes the functions of the information processing device 1 according to the embodiment. The computer 80 has a CPU 81, a RAM 82, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 83, a HDD (Hard Disk Drive) 84, a communication interface (I / F) 85, an input / output interface (I / F) 86, and a media interface (I / F) 87.

[0175] The CPU 81 operates and controls each part based on a program stored in the ROM 83 or the HDD 84. The ROM 83 stores a boot program executed by the CPU 81 when the computer 80 is started up, and programs that depend on the hardware of the computer 80.

[0176] The HDD 84 stores programs executed by the CPU 81, data used by such programs, etc. The communication interface 85 receives data from other devices via the network N (see FIG. 2) and sends it to the CPU 81, and transmits data generated by the CPU 81 to other devices via the network N.

[0177] The CPU 81 controls output devices such as a display and a printer, and input devices such as a keyboard and a mouse, via the input / output interface 86. The CPU 81 acquires data from the input devices via the input / output interface 86. The CPU 81 also outputs data generated via the input / output interface 86 to the output devices.

[0178] The media interface 87 reads a program or data stored in a recording medium 88 and provides it to the CPU 81 via the RAM 82. The CPU 81 loads the program from the recording medium 88 onto the RAM 82 via the media interface 87 and executes the loaded program. The recording medium 88 is, for example, an optical recording medium such as a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) or a PD (Phase change rewritable Disc), a magneto-optical recording medium such as an MO (Magneto-Optical disk), a tape medium, a magnetic recording medium, or a semiconductor memory.

[0179] For example, when the computer 80 functions as the information processing device 1 according to the embodiment, the CPU 81 of the computer 80 executes a program loaded onto the RAM 82 to realize the function of the processing unit 12. In addition, the HDD 84 stores data in the storage unit 11. The CPU 81 of the computer 80 reads and executes these programs from a recording medium 88, but as another example, these programs may be obtained from another device via the network N.

[0180] [7. Other] In addition, among the processes described in the above embodiments, all or part of the processes described as being performed automatically can be performed manually, or all or part of the processes described as being performed manually can be performed automatically by a known method. In addition, the information including the processing procedures, specific names, various data and parameters shown in the above documents and drawings can be changed arbitrarily unless otherwise specified. For example, the various information shown in each drawing is not limited to the illustrated information.

[0181] In addition, each component of each device shown in the figure is a functional concept, and does not necessarily have to be physically configured as shown in the figure. In other words, the specific form of distribution and integration of each device is not limited to that shown in the figure, and all or part of them can be functionally or physically distributed and integrated in any unit according to various loads, usage conditions, etc.

[0182] For example, the above-mentioned information processing device 1 may be realized by a terminal device and a server computer, or may be realized by multiple server computers. Also, depending on the functions, the configuration can be flexibly changed, such as by calling an external platform using an API (Application Programming Interface) or network computing.

[0183] Furthermore, the above-described embodiments and modifications can be appropriately combined as long as the processing contents are not contradictory.

[0184] 8. Effects As described above, the information processing device 1 according to the embodiment includes the receiving unit 31, the determining unit 32, and the providing unit 33. The receiving unit 31 receives a designation of highlighting by the user U for a part of the first content. The determining unit 32 determines a relationship between the character string of the part for which the designation of highlighting has been received by the receiving unit 31 and the characteristics of the user U. The providing unit 33 provides the second content including the result determined by the determining unit 32. This enables the information processing device 1 to provide content with higher convenience.

[0185] Furthermore, the determination unit 32 determines the relationship by considering the attributes of the user U as the characteristics of the user U. This enables the information processing device 1 to provide content with higher convenience.

[0186] Furthermore, the determination unit 32 determines the distribution of character strings as a relationship in units of attributes of the user U. This enables the information processing device 1 to provide content with higher convenience.

[0187] Furthermore, the determination unit 32 determines, as a relationship, a difference between the attributes of a plurality of users U in the character strings of the portion of the first content for which the designation of highlighting has been accepted by the acceptance unit 31. This enables the information processing device 1 to provide content with higher convenience.

[0188] Furthermore, the determination unit 32 determines the relationship by considering the behavior of the user U related to the details of the first content as a characteristic of the user U. This enables the information processing device 1 to provide content with higher convenience.

[0189] Furthermore, the determination unit 32 determines, as a relationship, the distribution of the number of highlight designations for each attribute of the user U for a portion of a character string for which designation of highlighting has been accepted by the acceptance unit 31 and which includes a specific character string included in the plurality of first contents. This enables the information processing device 1 to provide content with higher convenience.

[0190] Furthermore, the determination unit 32 determines, as a relationship, the number of times that the same user U has specified highlighting for a plurality of portions of the character string for which the specification of highlighting has been accepted by the acceptance unit 31 and which each portion includes a specific character string included in a plurality of first contents. This enables the information processing device 1 to provide content with higher convenience.

[0191] Furthermore, the providing unit 33 provides, as the second content, information indicating, in chronological order, the relationship between the character string of the portion for which the specification of highlighting has been accepted by the accepting unit 31 and the user U. This allows the information processing device 1 to provide more convenient content.

[0192] The above describes the embodiment of the present application in detail based on the drawings, but this is merely an example, and the present invention can be implemented in other forms that include various modifications and improvements based on the knowledge of those skilled in the art, including the forms described in the Disclosure of the Invention section.

[0193] Furthermore, the above-mentioned "section, module, unit" can be read as "means" or "circuit", etc. For example, an acquisition section can be read as an acquisition means or an acquisition circuit. [Explanation of symbols]

[0194] 1. Information processing device 2,3 Terminal Equipment 10. Communications Department 11 Storage section 12 Processing section 20 User information storage unit 21 Content storage unit 22 Highlight information storage section 30 Acquisition Department 31 Reception 32 Judgment section 33 Providing Department 100 Information Processing Systems N Network

Claims

1. a reception unit that receives a user's designation of highlighting a part of the first content; a determination unit that determines a relationship between the character string of the portion for which the designation of highlighting has been accepted by the acceptance unit and a characteristic of the user; a providing unit that provides a second content including a result determined by the determining unit.

23. An information processing apparatus comprising:

2. The determination unit is The relationship is determined by using the attributes of the user as the features of the user.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1,

3. The determination unit is A distribution of the character strings in units of the user attributes is determined as the relationship.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2.

4. The determination unit is A difference between the attributes of the plurality of users in a character string in a portion of the first content for which the designation of highlighting has been accepted by the accepting unit is determined as the relationship.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2.

5. The determination unit is The relationship is determined based on a behavior of the user related to the content of the first content as a characteristic of the user.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information processing apparatus is a computer.

6. The determination unit is The relationship is determined based on a distribution of the number of times that the designation of highlighting is performed for a portion of a character string for which the designation of highlighting is received by the receiving unit and which includes a specific character string included in the plurality of first contents, in units of attributes of the user.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information processing apparatus is a computer.

7. The determination unit is The relationship is determined based on the number of times that the same user has specified highlighting for a plurality of portions of the character string for which the specification of highlighting has been accepted by the accepting unit, the portions including a specific character string included in the plurality of first contents.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information processing apparatus is a computer.

8. The providing unit is providing, as the second content, information indicating a chronological relationship between the character string of the portion for which the designation of highlighting has been accepted by the accepting unit and the user; 5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information processing apparatus is a computer.

9. 1. A computer-implemented information processing method, comprising: a receiving step of receiving a user's designation of highlighting a part of the first content; a determination step of determining a relationship between the character string of the portion for which the designation of highlighting has been accepted in the accepting step and a characteristic of the user; providing a second content including the result determined by the determining step; 23. An information processing method comprising:

10. A receiving step of receiving a user's designation of highlighting a part of the first content; a determination step of determining a relationship between the character string of the portion for which the designation of highlighting has been accepted in the acceptance step and a characteristic of the user; a providing step of providing a second content including a result determined by the determining step.

2. An information processing program comprising:

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