Information processing device, action recommendation method, and program

Abstract

To provide a technique for improving operability of a user in a virtual space.SOLUTION: An aspect of the present disclosure relates to an information processing device including an acquisition unit configured to acquire a view image of a user in a virtual space, an extraction unit configured to extract attribute information of the user, and a presentation unit configured to present an action candidate to be recommended to the user in the virtual space based on the view image and the attribute information.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 7

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to an information processing device, an action recommendation method, and a program. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, virtual spaces often referred to as metaverses have become popular for a variety of purposes. Users can enjoy various services and experience various objects in computer-generated metaverse spaces. In such metaverse spaces, each user can view the metaverse from their own perspective and exist within it as an avatar.

[0003] Various technologies have been proposed to realize such interaction between a virtual space and a user. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2023-065783 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] In virtual space, users have a high degree of freedom in their actions, but they are required to perform many operations, which can place a heavy burden on users until they become familiar with the operation methods and can operate as they wish.In addition, even if users have a desired action deep down in their minds, there may be situations where they do not know what operations will enable them to achieve it.

[0006] In view of the above problems, an object of the present disclosure is to provide a technology for improving user operability in a virtual space. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] One aspect of the present disclosure relates to an information processing device having an acquisition unit that acquires a view image of a user in a virtual space, an extraction unit that extracts attribute information of the user, and a presentation unit that presents candidate actions recommended to the user in the virtual space based on the view image and the attribute information. [Effects of the Invention]

[0008] According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a technique for improving user operability in a virtual space. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0009] [Figure 1] 1A and 1B are schematic diagrams illustrating an activity recommendation process according to one embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of an information processing device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating a functional configuration of an information processing device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 4] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating behavior history information according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 5] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating input history information according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 6] FIG. 6 is a heat map diagram illustrating stay history information according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 7] FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an action recommendation process according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0010] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0011] In the following embodiment, an information processing device that recommends candidate actions to a user in a virtual space is disclosed.

[0012] [overview] First, an action recommendation process according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described. Figures 1A and 1B are schematic diagrams illustrating the action recommendation process according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0013] The information processing device 100 may be a server that provides a virtual space to a user, and displays a view screen from a certain position in the virtual space on a user terminal. For example, if the virtual space includes a room space such as a living room or dining room, the information processing device 100 displays a view image of the room space from the user's current position in the virtual space, as shown in FIG. 1A. Typically, the user can operate the user terminal to move the user position and adjust the view direction to display a view image of the surroundings of the user position.

[0014] In an embodiment described later, the information processing device 100 recommends candidate actions to a user in a virtual space. Specifically, the information processing device 100 extracts attribute information of the user (for example, the user's behavior history, input history, stay history, etc. in the virtual space) from a database or the like, and superimposes candidate actions recommended to the user on a view image in the virtual space based on a view image from the current position of the user who has logged in to the virtual space and the attribute information extracted from the database.

[0015] For example, when the user is in the position and orientation shown in Fig. 1A in the virtual space, the information processing device 100 may superimpose candidate actions shown in Fig. 1B on the view image based on the user's view image and attribute information. The candidate actions may be, for example, as shown in the figure, user movement, object editing, interaction, etc. in the virtual space, such as "change the color of the sofa," "move to the dining room," "move the living room table next to the sofa," and "replace the living room table."

[0016] For example, when the user selects "move to dining room," the information processing device 100 moves the user to the dining space in the virtual space. This allows the user to move to the dining space within the virtual space without having to perform an operation to move from the current location to the dining space.

[0017] Alternatively, when the user selects "swap living room table," the information processing device 100 replaces the living room table object in the virtual space with another living room table object. This allows the user to replace the currently displayed living room table with another living room table without having to perform any operation to exchange objects.

[0018] Here, the information processing device 100 may have, for example, a hardware configuration as shown in Fig. 2. That is, the information processing device 100 has a storage device 101, a memory device 102, a processor 103, and a communication device 104, which are interconnected via a bus B.

[0019] Programs and / or data that realize various functions and processes in the information processing device 100 are downloaded to the storage device 101 or memory device 102 via the communication device 104 from an external device and / or a network.

[0020] The storage device 101 is realized by a nonvolatile memory or the like, and stores installed or downloaded programs or data (for example, files, etc.).

[0021] The memory device 102 is realized by a random access memory, a static memory, or the like, and when a program or instruction is activated, reads and stores the program, instruction, data, or the like from the storage device 101. The storage device 101, the memory device 102, and the removable storage medium may be collectively referred to as a non-transitory storage medium.

[0022] The processor 103 may be realized by one or more CPUs (Central Processing Units), GPUs (Graphics Processing Units), processing circuitry, etc., which may be composed of one or more processor cores, and performs various functions and processes of the information processing device 100 in accordance with programs, instructions, data such as parameters required to execute the programs or instructions, etc. stored in the memory device 102.

[0023] The communication device 104 is realized by various communication circuits that execute wired and / or wireless communication processing with external devices, the Internet, a LAN (Local Area Network), a cellular network, or other communication networks.

[0024] However, the above-described hardware configuration is merely an example, and the information processing device 100 according to the present disclosure may be realized by any other appropriate hardware configuration.

[0025] [Information processing device] Next, an information processing device 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described. Fig. 3 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of the information processing device 100 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Fig. 3, the information processing device 100 includes an acquisition unit 110, an extraction unit 120, and a presentation unit 130. Each of the functional units of the acquisition unit 110, the extraction unit 120, and the presentation unit 130 can be realized by the processor 103 of the information processing device 100 executing a program stored in the memory device 102.

[0026] The acquisition unit 110 acquires a view image of the user in the virtual space. Specifically, the acquisition unit 110 acquires a view image that shows the user's field of view at the user's current position in the virtual space. When the user moves in the virtual space or when the user's field of view changes in the up, down, left, or right directions, the view image may also change.

[0027] For example, the information processing device 100 that provides a virtual space to users can hold information about the location and direction of each user in the virtual space at each time. Such information is sequentially stored in a database.

[0028] The acquisition unit 110 passes the acquired user's view image to the presentation unit 130. Note that the acquisition unit 110 may provide the view image itself to the presentation unit 130, or may provide the current position and orientation of the user. The user's view image may be identified based on the user's position and orientation.

[0029] The extraction unit 120 extracts attribute information of the user. For example, the attribute information may indicate the user's behavior history in the virtual space. Specifically, the behavior history may be indicated by behavior history information indicating a timestamp, a position, an orientation, an object, and an action, as shown in FIG. 4. Here, the timestamp indicates the date and time, the position indicates the user's position in the virtual space at each time, and the orientation indicates the user's orientation in the virtual space at each time. Furthermore, the object and action indicate what action the user performed on which object at each time. The illustrated example indicates that the user opened the living room door at position P1 and orientation O1 at 14:00 on April 10, 2024.

[0030] The attribute information may also indicate the user's input history in the virtual space. Specifically, the input history may be indicated by input history information indicating a log ID, an object, and an action, as shown in FIG. 5. Here, the log ID is an ID indicating the user's input history, the object indicates the input object by the user, and the action indicates the input action by the user. In the illustrated example, the log ID "240101001" indicates that the user performed an operation to change the color of the sofa in the virtual space to red.

[0031] The attribute information may also indicate the user's stay history in the virtual space. Specifically, the stay history may be stay history information in the form of a heat map indicating the stay time at each location in the virtual space. In the stay history information in the form of a heat map, as shown in FIG. 6, locations where the user stayed for a long time are colored darker, and locations where the user stayed for a short time are colored lighter.

[0032] The extraction unit 120 passes the extracted attribute information of the user to the presentation unit 130. Note that the attribute information is not limited to the above-mentioned information, and may include any other information related to the user in the virtual space.

[0033] The presentation unit 130 presents candidate actions recommended to the user in the virtual space based on the view image and the attribute information. Specifically, the presentation unit 130 identifies the user's current position and / or orientation in the virtual space based on the view image acquired from the acquisition unit 110. The presentation unit 130 may then refer to the user's attribute information acquired from the extraction unit 120 to identify candidate actions to recommend to the user based on the user's current position and / or orientation in the virtual space, and present the candidate actions to the user. At this time, the candidate actions may be superimposed on the view image displayed to the user in a selectable format, as shown in FIG. 1B. The candidate actions may relate to, for example, movement, object editing, or interaction in the virtual space.

[0034] For example, when the user is sitting on the sofa at position P3, the presentation unit 130 may present, for example, a candidate behavior of "using a remote control." That is, the presentation unit 130 may determine, based on the acquired behavior history information, that the user sitting on the sofa at position P3 has used a remote control, and present the candidate behavior of "using a remote control" to the user.

[0035] Furthermore, when the user is sitting on the sofa at position P3, the presentation unit 130 may present, for example, a candidate action of "changing the color of the sofa." That is, the presentation unit 130 may determine, based on the acquired input history information, that the user sitting on the sofa at position P3 has input an action to change the color of the sofa, and present the candidate action of "changing the color of the sofa" to the user.

[0036] Furthermore, when the user opens the door at the base position of P1, the presentation unit 130 may present candidate actions such as "move to the living room" or "move to the dining room." That is, the presentation unit 130 may determine, based on the acquired stay history information, that the user who opened the door at the position of P1 is likely to move to the living room or dining room, and present the candidate actions such as "move to the living room" or "move to the dining room" to the user.

[0037] According to the information processing device 100 described above, candidate actions determined based on the user's current location and attribute information in the virtual space are presented to the user, and the user can realize the desired action in the virtual space simply by selecting the desired candidate action from the candidate actions.

[0038] [Action recommendation processing] Next, an action recommendation process according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described. The action recommendation process can be realized by the information processing device 100, more specifically, by the processor 103 of the information processing device 100 executing a program stored in the memory device 102. Fig. 7 is a flowchart showing the action recommendation process according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0039] 7, in step S101, the information processing device 100 acquires a user's view image in a virtual space. For example, the information processing device 100 may acquire the user's view image periodically or at any other timing.

[0040] In step S102, the information processing device 100 extracts attribute information of the user. For example, the information processing device 100 may extract attribute information of the user in the virtual space (for example, behavior history, input history, stay time, etc.) from a database. In such a database, for example, records indicating the behavior, input, stay location, etc. of each user logged in to the virtual space at each time are provided to the database from the information processing device 100 that operates the virtual space and stored in the database.

[0041] In step S103, the information processing device 100 presents candidate actions recommended to the user based on the view image and the attribute information. Specifically, the information processing device 100 identifies the user's current location from the view image, and identifies objects and / or actions related to the user's current location in the virtual space based on the attribute information. Then, the information processing device 100 presents candidate actions to the user based on the identified objects and / or actions. For example, the candidate actions may be superimposed on the view screen in a user-selectable format, as shown in FIG. 1B. The user can specify a desired candidate action on the view screen.

[0042] In step S104, the information processing device 100 presents a virtual space according to the selected candidate action. For example, when the user selects "move to dining room" in FIG. 1B, the information processing device 100 moves the user to the dining space and redisplays a view image showing the user's field of view at the destination position.

[0043] According to the above-described behavior recommendation process, candidate behaviors determined based on the user's current location and attribute information in the virtual space are presented to the user, and the user can realize the desired behavior in the virtual space simply by selecting the desired candidate behavior from the candidate behaviors.

[0044] In the above-described embodiment, the information processing device 100 is realized by a server that manages and operates the virtual space, but the present disclosure is not limited to this. For example, some or all of the functions of the above-described information processing device 100 and / or the behavior recommendation processing may be realized by a virtual space application installed on a user terminal.

[0045] Although the examples of the present disclosure have been described in detail above, the present disclosure is not limited to the specific embodiments described above, and various modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the gist of the present disclosure as set forth in the claims. [Explanation of symbols]

[0046] 100 Information processing device 110 Acquisition Department 120 Extraction part 130 Presentation section

Claims

1. an acquisition unit that acquires a user's view image in a virtual space; an extraction unit that extracts attribute information of the user; a presentation unit that presents candidate actions recommended to the user in the virtual space based on the view image and the attribute information; An information processing device having the above.

2. The information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the presentation unit presents the candidate actions in a format selectable by the user, and presents the virtual space to the user in accordance with the candidate action selected by the user.

3. The information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the attribute information includes one or more of a behavior history, an input history, and a stay history of the user in the virtual space.

4. The information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the candidate actions relate to movement, object editing, or interaction in the virtual space.

5. Obtaining a user's view image in a virtual space; extracting attribute information of the user; presenting candidate actions recommended to the user in the virtual space based on the view image and the attribute information; The method for recommending actions is executed by one or more computers.

6. Obtaining a user's view image in a virtual space; extracting attribute information of the user; presenting candidate actions recommended to the user in the virtual space based on the view image and the attribute information; A program that causes one or more computers to execute the following.

Images