Information processing system, information processing method and program

Abstract

To provide an information processing system capable of supporting to provide a coffee suiting a user's preference to the user.SOLUTION: There is provided an information processing system. The information processing system includes a processor capable of executing a program so as to perform subsequent respective steps. An acquisition step acquires taste information on a taste or environment information on a living environment, of a user. A determination step determines an adjustment condition to the user, on the basis of the taste information, the environment information and at least reference information on an adjustment condition of a coffee bean. The adjustment condition includes a condition for selecting or roasting the coffee bean to determine the flavor of the coffee bean.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

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

[0002] For example, Patent Document 1 discloses an "original blend coffee proposing method capable of proposing the taste when a user blends multiple types of coffee beans desired by the user." The original blend coffee proposing method is characterized by including a step (step S5) in which a user uses a user terminal to transmit multiple types of coffee beans, the roasting degree of the multiple types of coffee beans, and the ratio of the multiple types of coffee beans to an original blend coffee proposing server, and a step (step S6) in which the original blend coffee proposing server calculates a numerical value relating to the taste when the multiple types of coffee beans are blended based on the transmitted multiple types of coffee beans, the roasting degree of the multiple types of coffee beans, and the ratio of the multiple types of coffee beans. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2018-028820 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, there is still room for improvement in the functions related to the known technologies including Patent Document 1. In particular, there is a demand for a technology that can assist a user in providing coffee that suits his or her own preferences.

[0005] In view of the above circumstances, the present invention provides an information processing system etc. capable of supporting a user in providing coffee that suits the user's preferences. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing system. The information processing system includes a processor capable of executing a program to perform the following steps: In the acquisition step, preference information related to a user's preferences or environmental information related to a living environment is acquired. In the determination step, adjustment conditions for the user are determined based on the preference information or environmental information and at least reference information related to coffee bean adjustment conditions. The adjustment conditions include conditions for coffee bean sorting or roasting that determine the flavor of the coffee.

[0007] According to the above aspect, it is possible to assist the user in providing coffee that suits his or her preferences. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] 1 is a configuration diagram illustrating an information processing system 1. [Diagram 2] 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of an information processing device 2. FIG. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a user terminal 3. [Figure 4] 2 is a functional block diagram showing functions of an information processing device 2. FIG. [Diagram 5] 2 is an activity diagram showing an example of the flow of information processing executed in the information processing system 1. FIG. [Figure 6] 1 shows an example of a response acceptance screen 6 displayed on the display unit 34 of the consumer terminal 3a for accepting responses to a questionnaire regarding the consumer's preferences as response information IF11. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a flavor management table T1 for managing the correspondence between questions to consumers and information indicating the flavor of coffee in FIG. 6. [Figure 8] FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of a variety information management table T2 for managing the correspondence between coffee bean variety information IF3 and flavors. [Figure 9]FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of a processing condition management table T3 for managing bean processing conditions corresponding to coffee bean variety information IF3 for any flavor. [Figure 10] 1 shows an example of an adjustment instruction screen 7 displayed on the display unit 34 of the consumer terminal 3a. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Various features shown in the following embodiments can be combined with each other.

[0010] Incidentally, the program for realizing the software appearing in this embodiment may be provided as a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium, or may be provided so as to be downloadable from an external server, or may be provided so that the program is started on an external computer and its functions are realized on a client terminal (so-called cloud computing).

[0011] In addition, in this embodiment, the term "unit" may include, for example, a combination of hardware resources implemented by a circuit in the broad sense and software information processing that can be specifically realized by these hardware resources. In addition, in this embodiment, various information is handled, and this information is represented, for example, by physical values ​​of signal values ​​representing voltage and current, high and low signal values ​​as a binary bit collection consisting of 0 or 1, or quantum superposition (so-called quantum bits), and communication and calculation can be performed on the circuit in the broad sense.

[0012] In addition, a circuit in the broad sense is a circuit realized by at least appropriately combining a circuit, circuitry, a processor, a memory, etc. In other words, it includes an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a programmable logic device (e.g., a simple programmable logic device (SPLD), a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), and a field programmable gate array (FPGA)), etc.

[0013] 1. Hardware Configuration This section describes the hardware configuration.

[0014] <Information Processing System 1> FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an information processing system 1. The information processing system 1 includes an information processing device 2 and a user terminal 3. The information processing device 2 and the user terminal 3 are configured to be able to communicate with each other via a telecommunications line. In one embodiment, the information processing system 1 is made up of one or more devices or components. For example, if the information processing system 1 is made up of only the information processing device 2, the information processing system 1 can be the information processing device 2. These components will be described below.

[0015] <Information processing device 2> 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the information processing device 2. The information processing device 2 includes a communication bus 20, a communication unit 21, a storage unit 22, and a processor 23. The communication unit 21, the storage unit 22, and the processor 23 are electrically connected via the communication bus 20 inside the information processing device 2.

[0016] <Communications Division 21> The communication unit 21 is preferably a wired communication means such as USB, IEEE1394, Thunderbolt (registered trademark), wired LAN network communication, etc., but may also include wireless LAN network communication, mobile communication such as 3G / LTE / 5G, BLUETOOTH (registered trademark) communication, etc. as necessary. In other words, it is more preferable to implement it as a collection of multiple communication means. In other words, the information processing device 2 may communicate various information from the outside via the communication unit 21 and the network.

[0017] <Storage section 22> The storage unit 22 stores various information defined by the above description. This can be implemented, for example, as a storage device such as a solid state drive (SSD) that stores various programs and the like related to the information processing device 2 executed by the processor 23, or as a memory such as a random access memory (RAM) that stores temporarily required information (arguments, arrays, etc.) related to the program calculations. The storage unit 22 stores various programs, variables, etc. related to the information processing device 2 executed by the processor 23.

[0018] <Processor 23> The processor 23 processes and controls the overall operations related to the information processing device 2. The processor 23 is, for example, a central processing unit (CPU) not shown. The processor 23 realizes various functions related to the information processing device 2 by reading out a predetermined program stored in the storage unit 22. That is, information processing by software stored in the storage unit 22 can be specifically realized by the processor 23, which is an example of hardware, and executed as each functional unit included in the processor 23. These will be described in more detail in the next section. The processor 23 is not limited to being single, and may be implemented with multiple processors 23 for each function. Also, a combination of these may be used.

[0019] <User terminal 3> The user terminal 3 is a terminal possessed by a user. In this embodiment, as an example, a case will be described in which the user terminal 3 is a terminal operated by a person who receives coffee (hereinafter, referred to as a consumer). The user terminal 3 may be in any form, such as a smartphone, a tablet terminal, a computer, or any other device that can access the information processing device 2 via a telecommunication line.

[0020] 3 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of the user terminal 3. The following describes the user terminal 3 as an example. The user terminal 3 includes a communication bus 30, a communication unit 31, a storage unit 32, a processor 33, a display unit 34, and an input unit 35. The communication unit 31, the storage unit 32, the processor 33, the display unit 34, and the input unit 35 are electrically connected via the communication bus 30 inside the user terminal 3. Descriptions of the communication unit 31, the storage unit 32, and the processor 33 will be omitted because they are similar to the descriptions of the respective units in the information processing device 2.

[0021] <Display section 34> The display unit 34 displays a screen of a graphical user interface (GUI) that can be operated by the user. The display unit 34 may be included in the housing of the user terminal 3, or may be attached externally. Specifically, the display unit 34 may be implemented as a display device such as a CRT display, a liquid crystal display, an organic EL display, or a plasma display. It is preferable that these display devices are implemented by selectively using them according to the type of the user terminal 3.

[0022] <Input section 35> The input unit 35 accepts an operation input made by a user. The operation input is transferred as a command signal to the processor 33 via the communication bus 30. The processor 33 may execute a predetermined control or calculation based on the transferred command signal as necessary. The input unit 35 may be included in the housing of the user terminal 3, or may be externally attached. For example, the input unit 35 may be implemented as a touch panel integrated with the display unit 34. When the input unit 35 is implemented as a touch panel, the user can input a tap operation, a swipe operation, or the like to the input unit 35. As the input unit 35, a switch button, a mouse, a QWERTY keyboard, or the like can be adopted instead of a touch panel.

[0023] 2. Functional configuration In this section, the functional configuration will be described. Fig. 4 is a functional block diagram showing the functions of the information processing device 2. As described above, information processing by software stored in the storage unit 22 can be specifically realized by hardware (specifically, the processor 23) and executed as each functional unit included in the processor 23. In other words, the information processing system 1 includes each functional unit in a program.

[0024] Specifically, the processor 23 includes a reception unit 231, an acquisition unit 232, a determination unit 233, a generation unit 234, and a display control unit 235 as each functional unit.

[0025] The reception unit 231 is configured to receive various information as a reception step. Specifically, the reception unit 231 is configured to receive information via the communication unit 21 or the storage unit 22 and to be able to read the information into the working memory. Preferably, the reception unit 231 receives an input of the user's preference information IF1 via the user terminal 3.

[0026] The acquiring unit 232 is configured to acquire various pieces of information as an acquiring step. The acquiring unit 232 acquires, for example, the preference information IF1 accepted by the accepting unit 231 via the communication unit 21.

[0027] The determination unit 233 is configured to determine various information as a determination step. For example, the determination unit 233 determines bean preparation conditions for coffee that matches the user's preferences based on the user's preference information IF1 and the reference information acquired by the acquisition unit 232. Details will be described later.

[0028] The generating unit 234 is configured to generate various information or control signals as a generating step. For example, the generating unit 234 generates control signals for operating various devices corresponding to the adjustment conditions determined by the determining unit 233.

[0029] As a display control step, the display control unit 235 displays various pieces of information stored in the storage unit 32 in a manner that is visible to the user. For example, the display control unit 235 may display a screen or the like including various pieces of information in a manner that is visible on a terminal such as the user terminal 3. This allows various pieces of information to be presented to various users who operate terminals such as the user terminal 3. Furthermore, the display control unit 235 controls visual information such as a screen, an image, an icon, a message, etc. to be displayed on the display of the terminal. The display control unit 235 may generate only rendering information for displaying the visual information on the terminal.

[0030] 3. Operation of Information Processing System 1 In this section, with reference to the drawings, a flow of an information processing method executed by the information processing system 1 will be described. As shown below, the information processing method includes the following steps. Note that the order of the processes can be changed as appropriate, multiple processes may be executed simultaneously, and some processes may be omitted.

[0031] 3.1. Overview of information processing 5 is an activity diagram showing an example of the flow of information processing executed in the information processing system 1. In this embodiment, as an example, a case will be described in which a consumer (an example of a user) performs processes from bean selection to coffee extraction by himself / herself to produce coffee with a flavor that suits his / her preference.

[0032] First, the receiving unit 231 receives, as a receiving step, a response to a questionnaire about the consumer's own preferences (an example of the response information IF11) from the consumer (activity A101), which will be described in detail later.

[0033] Independently from the process related to activity A101, the acquisition unit 232 acquires information related to the environment (hereinafter referred to as environmental information IF2) corresponding to the location information of the consumer as an acquisition step (activity A102). That is, in activities A101 and A102, the acquisition unit 232 acquires preference information IF1 related to the preferences of the user (consumer in this embodiment; the same applies below) or environmental information IF2 related to the living environment. Here, the location information of the consumer may be information specified by a terminal owned by the consumer (hereinafter referred to as consumer terminal 3a) receiving radio waves from a GPS satellite, a mobile phone base station, a Wi-Fi (registered trademark) access point, or a beacon terminal. In addition, the location information of the consumer may be information specified by personal information registered in advance by the user.

[0034] The acquisition unit 232 may acquire the environmental information IF2 from, for example, a known system (not shown). Also, for example, the acquisition unit 232 may acquire the environmental information IF2 by accepting an input from a consumer via the consumer terminal 3a.

[0035] Here, the environmental information IF2 may be climate information IF21 corresponding to the consumer's location information. The climate information IF21 may be, for example, at least one of the weather, maximum temperature, minimum temperature, humidity, or precipitation at an arbitrary point. The environmental information IF2 may also be information related to the season (an example of timing) corresponding to the consumer's location information. In other words, the environmental information IF2 includes any of the user's location information, climate information IF21 related to the climate corresponding to the location information, or information indicating a predetermined timing. The environmental information IF2 may be information that can be acquired from an arbitrary server (not shown).

[0036] Next, the determination unit 233 determines a coffee flavor that matches the consumer's taste as a determination step (activity A103). That is, the determination unit 233 determines adjustment conditions for the user based on the taste information IF1 or the environmental information IF2 and at least reference information related to the coffee bean adjustment conditions as a determination step. Details will be described later.

[0037] Furthermore, independently of the processes related to activities A101 to A103, the receiving unit 231 receives, as a receiving step, variety information IF3 related to the type of coffee beans from the consumer (activity A104). Here, it is preferable that the receiving unit 231 receives from the consumer an input of variety information IF3 related to the type of coffee beans that the consumer can obtain or already owns.

[0038] Next, as a determination step, the determination unit 233 determines coffee bean selection conditions and roasting conditions (an example of adjustment conditions) based on the coffee flavor determined in activity A103 and the variety information IF3 received in activity A104 (activity A105). In other words, the adjustment conditions include conditions for coffee bean selection or roasting that determine the coffee flavor. That is, in activities A104 and A105, the reception unit 231 receives variety information IF3 related to the type of coffee beans from the user. Furthermore, the determination unit 233 determines adjustment conditions corresponding to the variety information IF3.

[0039] Next, the generating unit 234 generates visual information corresponding to the determined adjustment conditions as a generating step. Furthermore, the display control unit 235 displays the visual information on the display unit 34 of the consumer terminal 3a as a display control step (activity A106). In other words, the display control unit 235 displays the adjustment conditions on the display unit 34 of the consumer terminal 3a so as to be presented to the user in a visually recognizable manner as a display step (one example of a presentation step). Details will be described later.

[0040] In summary, the information processing method executed by the information processing system 1 includes the following steps. In the acquisition step, preference information IF1 relating to the user's preferences or environmental information IF2 relating to the living environment is acquired. In the determination step, adjustment conditions for the user are determined based on the preference information IF1 or the environmental information IF2 and at least reference information relating to the adjustment conditions for coffee beans. The adjustment conditions include conditions for sorting or roasting the coffee beans that determine the flavor of the coffee.

[0041] According to this embodiment, it is possible to provide coffee with a flavor that matches the preferences of the consumer (an example of a user). Furthermore, it is possible to provide coffee with a flavor that matches the preferences of the consumer, taking into account the external environment of the consumer.

[0042] According to this embodiment, coffee with any flavor can be produced from any type of coffee beans. Therefore, coffee with a flavor that better suits the consumer's taste can be prepared from a limited number of types of coffee beans.

[0043] 3.2 Details of data processing The above-mentioned information processing will be described in detail with reference to FIGS.

[0044] (Answer reception screen 6) 6 shows an example of an answer receiving screen 6 displayed on the display unit 34 of the consumer terminal 3a for receiving answers to a questionnaire about consumer preferences as answer information IF11. The answer receiving screen 6 is an example of a screen displayed in activity A101 of FIG. 5. The answer receiving screen 6 includes an area 61, selection buttons 62a to 62d, and an operation button 63.

[0045] The area 61 is an area where questions for the consumer are displayed. The selection buttons 62a to 62d are buttons for receiving inputs from the user of answers to the questions displayed in the area 61. The consumer can answer the questionnaire by operating and inputting an operation on any of the selection buttons 62a to 62d.

[0046] The operation button 63 is a button for displaying an answer acceptance screen for the next question on the display unit 34 of the consumer terminal 3a. For example, the display control unit 235, upon receiving an input from the consumer to the operation button 63, transitions the content displayed on the display unit 34 to an answer acceptance screen corresponding to the next question. As described above, it is preferable that the acceptance unit 231 accepts input of answer information IF11 for one or more questions from the consumer.

[0047] In FIG. 6, the question displayed for the consumer is "When do you usually drink coffee?". The question for the consumer may also be, for example, about the place where the consumer usually drinks coffee. Also, for example, the question for the consumer may be about the consumer's taste preferences, such as the consumer's favorite fruit or favorite type of chocolate. The content of the question is not limited to this. For example, the question for the consumer may be about the consumer's preferences for coffee that the consumer has drunk before. Also, for example, the question for the consumer may be about the consumer's preferences for any coffee that the consumer has tasted.

[0048] In other words, the preference information IF1 may include answer information IF11 related to the answer results of a questionnaire administered to the user. Preferably, the questionnaire may include questions related to the user's mood or questions related to the flavor of a predetermined coffee.

[0049] According to this embodiment, even for a user who finds it difficult to directly answer about his / her preferred flavor, coffee with a flavor that more closely matches the user's preferences can be provided.

[0050] (Flavor Management Table T1) FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a flavor management table T1 for managing the correspondence between questions to the consumer in FIG. 6 and information indicating the flavor of coffee (hereinafter referred to as flavor information IF4). The flavor management table T1 is an example of reference information. The flavor management table T1 stores flavor information IF4 (flavor T11) for each option (A to D) for the question T12 presented to the consumer in FIG. 6. In addition, flavor information IF4 is also stored for the environment (weather, as an example) T13 corresponding to the consumer's location information. As an example, the index indicating the flavor T11 may include flavor T111, richness level T112, and sourness level T113.

[0051] The flavor information IF4 set for each index may be information indicating the degree of suitability to consumer preferences. For example, a case will be described where an input for option A is received from a consumer in question 1 (T121). In this case, in flavor (T111), the score for "fruity" (an example of flavor information IF4) is the highest (score 5), indicating that "fruity flavors tend to best suit consumer preferences." In addition, the score for body level 3 is the highest (score 5), indicating that "medium body levels tend to best suit consumer preferences." The same is true for sourness levels.

[0052] (Product information management table T2) FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a variety information management table T2 for managing the correspondence between coffee bean variety information IF3 and flavors. In the variety information management table T2, flavor information IF4 for each flavor T21 is stored for each coffee bean variety (bean code T22). For example, the row (hereinafter referred to as a record) of the bean code "#001" that identifies the coffee bean variety stores the scores "Fruity: 5", "Nutty: 2", and "Floral: 2" (examples of flavor information IF4). The scores associated with each flavor are information that quantitatively indicates the suitability of the coffee beans for each flavor. For example, the record of the bean code "#001" indicates that "#001 is a bean variety that is most suitable for a flavor with a fruity taste."

[0053] 7 and 8, the reference information manages variety information IF3 and flavor information IF4 indicating the flavor of coffee in association with each other, and also manages preference information IF1 or environmental information IF2 and flavor information IF4 in association with each other. According to this embodiment, it is possible to identify a flavor that suits the consumer from variety information IF3 or preference information IF1.

[0054] (Adjustment condition management table T3) Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of an adjustment condition management table T3 for managing bean adjustment conditions for coffee bean variety information IF3 in an arbitrary flavor. As an example, as shown in Fig. 9, the adjustment condition management table T3 stores coffee bean sorting conditions (one example of adjustment conditions) for each variety information IF3 (bean code T32) in the flavor T31 "fruity". For example, the sorting conditions T33 may include grain size, color (freshness), and shape.

[0055] For example, consider the record of bean code "#001" in Fig. 9. In this case, the record of bean code "#001" indicates that "coffee with a fruity flavor can be produced by selecting beans with a particle size level of 5, a color (freshness) level of 3, and a shape of 4 (for example, an ellipticity within a predetermined range)." Note that it is preferable to separately define the particle size level, color (freshness) level, and shape classification.

[0056] (Method of determining adjustment conditions) Here, a method for determining the preparation conditions for coffee beans in activity A105 in FIG. 5 will be described with reference to FIGS.

[0057] First, the determination unit 233 determines a flavor (hereinafter, referred to as a specific flavor) that matches the consumer's taste based on the flavor management table T1 of Fig. 7. For example, when the determination unit 233 receives a selection of A from the consumer as an answer to question 1 (number T121), the determination unit 233 determines the consumer's flavor information IF4 for the flavor of question 1 as "fruity: 5", "nutty: 3" and "floral: 4". The same is true for the richness level and sourness level. In this way, the determination unit 233 determines the flavor level, richness level and sourness level as flavor information IF4 for each of the consumer's answers (any of A to D).

[0058] Next, the determination unit 233 determines the specific flavor of the consumer based on the flavor management table T1 of FIG. 7. As an example, the determination unit 233 may extract all records of a table corresponding to the answer (any of A to D) selected by the consumer, and may aggregate scores for each field using the columns (hereinafter referred to as fields) of each table as the aggregation axis. For example, from the extracted records, the total scores for each of the "fruity", "nutty", and "floral" flavors T111 are calculated. Next, the determination unit 233 may determine, for example, the flavor of the field with the highest total score among the flavors T111 as the flavor that matches the consumer's taste (hereinafter referred to as the specific flavor). The same applies to the richness level and the sourness level. Hereinafter, the specified richness level will be described as the specific richness level, and the specified sourness level will be described as the specific sourness level. In this embodiment, the case where the specific flavor of the consumer is "fruity" will be described.

[0059] Next, the determination unit 233 determines a coffee bean variety suitable for the specific flavor based on the variety information management table T2 in Fig. 8. As an example, the determination unit 233 extracts records related to variety information IF3 acquired through the consumer's input in activity A104 in Fig. 5 from the records in the variety information management table T2, and determines a bean code related to variety information (hereinafter referred to as specific variety information) that has a high score in the field of the consumer's specific flavor "fruity" from the extracted records. Here, the bean code determined as the specific variety information by the determination unit 233 may be one or more. For example, it is preferable that the determination unit 233 preferentially determines a bean code with a high score for the specific flavor as the specific variety information.

[0060] Next, the determination unit 233 determines sorting conditions (one example of adjustment conditions) for the coffee beans in the specific variety information (bean code) based on the adjustment condition management table T3 in Fig. 9. The determination unit 233 determines sorting conditions for beans corresponding to the specific variety information determined in the variety information management table T2.

[0061] A method for determining roasting conditions for coffee beans will now be described. The determination unit 233 determines the roasting degree (one example of roasting conditions) based on the specific full-bodiedness level and the specific acidity level. As an example of a method for determining the roasting degree, when the specific acidity level is high, the determination unit 233 may lower the roasting degree of the coffee beans. Also, for example, when the specific full-bodiedness level is low, the determination unit 233 may lower the roasting degree of the coffee beans.

[0062] According to such an embodiment, coffee with a flavor that better suits the consumer's preferences can be provided from the varieties of beans available to the consumer, i.e., from a limited number of arbitrary bean varieties.

[0063] (Adjustment instruction screen 7) Fig. 10 shows an example of the adjustment instruction screen 7 displayed on the display unit 34 of the consumer terminal 3a. The adjustment instruction screen 7 is an example of a screen displayed in activity A106 of Fig. 5. The adjustment instruction screen 7 includes areas 71-73.

[0064] Area 71 is an area where a coffee flavor that matches the consumer's preferences is displayed. Area 72 is an area where a specific indicator of the flavor displayed in area 71 is displayed. Area 72 includes areas 721-722 and objects OB1 and OB2.

[0065] The area 721 is an area where the specific sourness level is displayed. The display control unit 235 causes the display unit 34 of the consumer terminal 3a to display the specific sourness level in a manner that is visible to the consumer. Specifically, the display control unit 235 causes the degree of the specific sourness level to be displayed according to the position of the object OB1 displayed in the area 721. As shown in FIG. 10, it is displayed that the sourness level is a strength of 2 out of 5.

[0066] The area 722 is an area where the specific richness level is displayed. The explanation of the area 722 is omitted because it is similar to the explanation of the area 721. As shown in Fig. 10, it is displayed that the specific richness level is a strength of 4 out of 5 levels.

[0067] Area 73 is an area where a coffee bean preparation method is displayed. Area 73 includes areas 731 to 733. Area 731 is an area where specific variety information is displayed. Area 732 is an area where a bean selection method is displayed. Area 732 is an area where, for example, bean selection conditions determined in the preparation condition management table T3 are displayed. Area 733 is an area where a bean roasting level is displayed. Area 733 is an area where, for example, a bean roasting level determined based on a specific full-bodiedness level and a specific acidity level is displayed.

[0068] A consumer can, for example, use coffee beans corresponding to the specific variety information displayed in area 731, select the beans using the method displayed in area 732, and roast the beans to the degree displayed in area 733, thereby adjusting the coffee beans to suit his or her preferences. 4. Second embodiment

[0069] In this section, an information processing system 1 according to a second embodiment (hereinafter, referred to as the present embodiment) will be described. However, descriptions of configurations and functions that are substantially similar to those of the information processing system 1 according to the first embodiment will be omitted.

[0070] In this embodiment, a case will be described in which a person who provides coffee beans to a consumer (an example of a user, hereinafter referred to as the provider) prepares the coffee beans and provides them to the consumer. Specifically, this embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that the preparation instruction screen 7 in FIG. 10 is displayed on a terminal owned by the provider (hereinafter referred to as the provider terminal 3b), and the coffee beans are prepared by the provider. It should be noted that input of questionnaire responses regarding preferences is accepted from the consumer. Also, in activity A104 in FIG. 5, it is preferable that the acquisition unit 232 acquires variety information IF3 relating to beans that the provider has in stock or is available by accepting input from the provider.

[0071] In the present embodiment, an example has been described in which the provider provides prepared coffee beans to the consumer, but this is not limiting. For example, a first provider (an example of a user, such as a bean wholesaler) may prepare coffee beans based on the consumer's preferences and provide them to a second provider (an example of a user, such as a restaurant), and the second provider may make coffee from the coffee beans and provide it to the consumer.

[0072] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the determination unit 233 determines the bean preparation method based on the answer to the questionnaire on the consumer's preference received from the consumer, but this is not limited to the above. For example, the reception unit 231 may receive, from the second provider (restaurant), an input of preference information IF1 related to the demand of the consumer group predicted by the second provider (restaurant), as information for determining the bean preparation method. In this case, the first provider (bean wholesaler, etc.) may prepare the beans based on the preparation conditions determined based on the preference information IF1 received from the second provider (restaurant), and deliver the beans to the second provider. In this case, the specific variety information and preparation conditions determined by the determination unit 233 may include multiple variations.

[0073] 5. Variations The above information processing mode is merely an example and is not limited to this.

[0074] The flavor indicator may further include an indicator specific to the aroma of coffee, for example, the aroma of coffee may include at least one of fruity, floral, chocolate, and caramel.

[0075] For example, the questions for the consumer may include questions quantitatively asking about the degree of sourness and bitterness, the level of richness, etc. For example, the consumer may answer by selecting the degree of sourness and bitterness, or the level of richness from a predetermined numerical range according to a level.

[0076] Furthermore, the consumer's preference information IF1 acquired by the acquisition unit 232 may include information on the type of food the consumer is eating or plans to eat. For example, for the types of food "eel dish" and "sweetness," the flavor type, fullness level, and sourness level shown in Fig. 7 may be associated with each food. According to this embodiment, coffee that matches the food the consumer is eating can be provided.

[0077] Furthermore, the consumer's preference information IF1 acquired by the acquisition unit 232 may include information regarding the consumer's mood. For example, the determination unit 233 may determine the consumer's mood based on a face image of the consumer accepted by the acceptance unit 231. The acceptance unit 231 may accept the face image via, for example, an imaging unit (not shown) of the user terminal 3. According to such an embodiment, it is possible to reduce the burden on the user of inputting the preference information IF1.

[0078] In the above embodiment, the adjustment conditions for coffee beans are determined based on a lookup table as reference information, but this is not limited to the above. The reference information may be a trained model that has previously been trained by machine learning to learn the relationship between the preference information IF1 or the environmental information IF2 and the adjustment conditions. Specifically, the trained model may be a model that has been trained by performing so-called supervised machine learning, learning the preference information IF1 and the environmental information IF2 as inputs (explanatory variables) and the adjustment conditions as outputs (objective variables) as associated teacher data. According to this embodiment, it is possible to provide coffee with a flavor that is more suited to the user's preferences.

[0079] In the above embodiment, the display control unit 235 presents the adjustment conditions to the user in a visually recognizable manner, but this is not a limitation. The generation unit 234 may generate a control signal corresponding to the determined adjustment conditions. Here, the control signal may be a signal for operating a coffee sorter or roaster (not shown) according to the adjustment conditions. The sorter may be a known device for automatically sorting coffee beans according to any shape or size. The roaster may be a known device for roasting coffee beans. The sorter and roaster are not particularly limited.

[0080] In the above embodiment, the preparation method of coffee beans that matches the consumer's preferences is determined from the preference information IF1 and the environmental information IF2, but this is not limited to the above. The determination unit 233 may determine the preparation method based on either the preference information IF1 or the environmental information IF2.

[0081] Also, in activity A104 of Fig. 5, an example has been described in which the acquisition unit 232 acquires bean variety information IF3 by accepting input from a consumer or provider, but this is not limited to the above. The variety information IF3 may be stored in advance in the storage unit 22, for example. The determination unit 233 may determine, from all variety information IF3 stored in the storage unit 22, beans that are most suitable for a flavor that matches the consumer's preferences as the specific variety information. According to this embodiment, it is possible to recommend to the consumer beans that are most suitable for the consumer's preferred flavor.

[0082] It may be provided in any of the following ways:

[0083] (1) An information processing system comprising a processor capable of executing a program to perform each of the following steps: in an acquisition step, preference information relating to a user's preferences or environmental information relating to a living environment is acquired; in a determination step, adjustment conditions for the user are determined based on the preference information or the environmental information and at least reference information relating to adjustment conditions for coffee beans, the adjustment conditions including conditions for sorting or roasting the coffee beans that determine the flavor of the coffee.

[0084] According to this embodiment, it is possible to provide coffee with a flavor that matches the user's preferences.

[0085] (2) In the information processing system described in (1) above, the generation step further comprises generating a control signal corresponding to the determined adjustment conditions, and the control signal operates a coffee sorter or a roaster in accordance with the adjustment conditions.

[0086] (3) The information processing system according to (1) above, further comprising, in the presenting step, presenting the adjustment condition to the user in a visually recognizable manner.

[0087] According to this embodiment, the user can prepare coffee that suits his / her taste.

[0088] (4) The information processing system according to any one of (1) to (3) above, further comprising: in the receiving step, receiving from the user variety information relating to the type of the coffee beans; and in the determining step, determining the adjustment conditions corresponding to the variety information.

[0089] According to this embodiment, coffee with any flavor can be prepared from a specific type of coffee beans. Therefore, coffee with many flavors can be prepared from a small number of types of coffee beans.

[0090] (5) In the information processing system described in (4) above, the reference information manages the variety information and flavor information indicating the flavor of the coffee in association with each other, and further manages the preference information or the environmental information and the flavor information in association with each other.

[0091] According to this embodiment, the flavor can be identified from the variety information or the preference information, etc.

[0092] (6) In the information processing system according to any one of (1) to (5) above, the preference information includes information on types of cuisine.

[0093] According to this embodiment, coffee that matches the dish can be served.

[0094] (7) In the information processing system according to any one of (1) to (5) above, the preference information includes response information regarding a response result to a questionnaire administered to the user.

[0095] According to this embodiment, it is possible to provide coffee with a flavor that is more suited to the user's preferences.

[0096] (8) In the information processing system described in (7) above, the questionnaire includes questions about the user's mood or questions about the flavor of a specified coffee.

[0097] According to this embodiment, even if a user finds it difficult to directly answer about their preferred flavor, coffee with a flavor that matches the user's preferences can be provided.

[0098] (9) In the information processing system described in any one of (1) to (8) above, the environmental information includes any one of location information of the user, climatic information regarding the climate corresponding to the location information, or information indicating a specified timing.

[0099] According to this embodiment, it is possible to provide coffee with a flavor that matches the user's preferences, taking into account the user's external environment.

[0100] (10) In the information processing system described in (1) to (3) above, the reference information is a trained model that has been machine-learned in advance to determine the relationship between the preference information or the environmental information and the adjustment condition.

[0101] According to this embodiment, it is possible to provide coffee with a flavor that is more suited to the user's preferences.

[0102] (11) An information processing method, comprising the steps of the information processing system according to any one of (1) to (10) above.

[0103] (12) A program causing a computer to execute each step in the information processing system according to any one of (1) to (10) above. Of course, this is not the case. [Explanation of symbols]

[0104] 1: Information processing system 2: Information processing equipment 3: User terminal 3a: Consumer terminals 3b: Provider terminal 6: Answer reception screen 7:Adjustment instruction screen 20: Communication bus 21: Communications Department 22: Storage section 23: Processor 30: Communication bus 31: Communications Department 32: Storage section 33: Processor 34: Display section 35: Input section 61 :Area 62a:Select button 62b:Select button 62c:Select button 62d:Select button 63: Operation button 71 :Area 72 :Area 73 :Area 231: Reception 232: Acquisition Department 233: Decision section 234 :Generation part 235: Display control unit IF1: Preference information IF2: Environmental Information IF21: Climate Information IF3: Variety information IF4: Flavor information OB1 : Object OB2 : Object

Claims

1. An information processing system, A processor capable of executing a program to perform the following steps: In the acquisition step, preference information related to the user's preferences or environmental information related to the user's living environment is acquired; In the determination step, the adjustment conditions for the user are determined based on the preference information or the environmental information and at least reference information related to adjustment conditions for coffee beans; The adjustment conditions include conditions for sorting or roasting the coffee beans, which determine the flavor of the coffee; system.

2. 2. The information processing system according to claim 1, Furthermore, in the generating step, a control signal corresponding to the determined adjustment condition is generated; The control signal operates a coffee sorter or a coffee roaster according to the adjustment condition.

3. 2. The information processing system according to claim 1, Furthermore, in the presenting step, the adjustment condition is presented to the user in a visually recognizable manner.

4. 2. The information processing system according to claim 1, Furthermore, in the receiving step, variety information regarding the type of the coffee beans is received from the user, In the determining step, the adjustment condition corresponding to the product type information is determined.

5. 5. The information processing system according to claim 4, The reference information is The variety information is managed in association with flavor information indicating the flavor of the coffee, and The system further manages the preference information or the environmental information and the flavor information in association with each other.

6. 2. The information processing system according to claim 1, The preference information includes information regarding the type of cuisine.

7. 2. The information processing system according to claim 1, The system, wherein the preference information includes response information regarding the results of a questionnaire administered to the user.

8. 8. The information processing system according to claim 7, The questionnaire includes questions about the user's mood or questions about the flavor of a given coffee.

9. 2. The information processing system according to claim 1, The system, wherein the environmental information includes any one of location information of the user, weather information regarding a climate corresponding to the location information, or information indicating a specified timing.

10. 2. The information processing system according to claim 1, The system, wherein the reference information is a trained model that has been machine-learned in advance to determine the relationship between the preference information or the environmental information and the adjustment conditions.

11. 1. An information processing method, comprising: A method comprising the steps of an information processing system according to any one of claims 1 to 10.

12. A program, A program for causing a computer to execute each step in the information processing system according to any one of claims 1 to 10.

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