Information processing device, application proposal method, and program

Abstract

The goal is to balance suggesting pre-installed applications with improving the user experience. [Solution] The information processing device 1 includes a data acquisition unit 21 that acquires usage status information including at least one of OS setting information and user input operations; a skill level identification unit 23 that identifies the user's PC operation skill level based on the usage status information; an application management unit 24 that selects an application according to the user's skill level using suggestion condition information that associates pre-installed applications with skill levels; and a notification unit 25 that notifies the user of a message suggesting the selected application.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an application proposal method, and a program.

Background Art

[0002] When an information processing apparatus such as a notebook PC, a tablet terminal, or a smartphone wants to give some notification to a user about an application or service operating in the background, it has a notification function to display a notification message (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

[0003] In addition, these information processing apparatuses have applications recommended by the manufacturer to the user (such as security software, etc.) pre-installed. In order to promote the use and purchase of these pre-installed applications, an operation is carried out in which a proposal message is displayed at a predetermined timing.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] Messages for promoting the use of pre-installed applications are uniformly displayed to all users at a preset timing. For this reason, the same messages may be displayed to users who have already used or purchased the proposed application, or users who are not interested. Such displays may, in some cases, cause annoyance or discomfort and may reduce the user experience.

[0006] This invention has been made in view of these circumstances, and aims to provide an information processing device, an application suggestion method, and a program that can achieve both the suggestion of pre-installed applications and the improvement of the user experience. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] One aspect of the present invention is an information processing device comprising: a data acquisition unit that acquires usage information including at least one of OS setting information and user input operations; a skill level identification unit that identifies the user's PC operation skill level based on the usage information; an application management unit that selects an application according to the user's skill level using suggestion condition information that associates pre-installed applications with skill levels; and a notification unit that notifies the user of a message suggesting the selected application.

[0008] One aspect of the present invention is an application suggestion method in which a computer performs the following steps: a data acquisition step of acquiring usage information including at least one of OS setting information and user input operations; a skill level identification step of identifying the user's PC operation skill level based on the usage information; an application management step of selecting an application according to the user's skill level using suggestion condition information that associates pre-installed applications with skill levels; and a notification step of notifying the user of a message suggesting the selected application.

[0009] One aspect of the present invention is a program for causing a computer to execute an application-proposed method. [Effects of the Invention]

[0010] According to the present invention, it is possible to achieve both the suggestion of pre-installed applications and the improvement of the user experience. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0011] [Figure 1] This is a schematic external view of an information processing device according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 2] This is a schematic diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of an information processing device according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 3] This is a functional configuration diagram showing an example of the functions provided by an information processing device according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 4] This is a functional configuration diagram showing an example of the functions provided by the application management unit according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 5] This figure shows an example of proposed conditions information related to one embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 6] This flowchart shows an example of the processing procedure for an application proposal method according to one embodiment of the present invention. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0012] The following describes an information processing device, an application proposal method, and a program according to one embodiment of the present invention with reference to the drawings. Examples of information processing devices include notebook PCs, desktop PCs, tablet terminals, and smartphones. For the sake of convenience, the following description will use a notebook PC as an example of information processing device 1.

[0013] Figure 1 is a schematic external view of an information processing device 1 according to one embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Figure 1, the information processing device 1 includes, for example, a main unit housing 2 and a display housing 3. The main unit housing 2 and the display housing 3 can be opened and closed by, for example, a plurality of connecting members. The main unit housing 2 is equipped with an input device 4. The input device 4 is a user interface for the user to perform input operations. Examples of input devices 4 include a keyboard, touchpad, and pointing device. Examples of pointing devices include a mouse, trackpad, and trackball.

[0014] The display-side housing 3 includes a display 5. Examples of the display 5 include touch panel displays such as LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) and OLED (Electroluminescence) displays.

[0015] Next, the hardware configuration of the information processing device 1 according to this embodiment will be described with reference to Figure 2. Figure 2 is a schematic configuration diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of the information processing device 1 according to this embodiment. As shown in Figure 2, in addition to the input device 4 and display 5 described above, the information processing device 1 includes, for example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit: processor) 11, main memory 12, secondary storage (memory) 13, an external interface 14, a communication interface 15, etc. These parts are connected to each other directly or indirectly via the bus 18 and work together to perform various processes.

[0016] The CPU 11 controls the entire information processing device 1 using an OS (Operating System) 30 (see Figure 3) stored in a secondary storage device 13 connected via a bus 18, and performs various processes by executing various programs stored in the secondary storage device 13. One or more CPUs 11 may be provided and may cooperate with each other to achieve processing.

[0017] The main memory 12 consists of writable memory such as cache memory and RAM (Random Access Memory), and is used as a work area for reading the CPU 11's executable program and writing processing data by the executable program.

[0018] The secondary storage device 13 is a non-transitory computer readable storage medium. The secondary storage device 13 is, for example, a magnetic disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, a semiconductor memory, or the like. Examples of the secondary storage device 13 include a ROM (Read Only Memory), a HDD (Hard Disk Drive), a SSD (Solid State Drive) flash memory, and the like. The secondary storage device 13 stores, for example, an OS for controlling the entire information processing device such as Windows (registered trademark), iOS (registered trademark), Android (registered trademark), a BIOS (Basic Input / Output System), various device drivers for hardware operation of peripheral devices, various application software, and various data and files. Further, the secondary storage device 13 stores a program for realizing various processes and various data required for realizing various processes. A plurality of secondary storage devices 13 may be provided, and the programs and data as described above may be divided and stored in each secondary storage device 13.

[0019] The external interface 14 is an interface for connecting to an external device. Examples of the external device include an external monitor, a USB memory, an external HDD, an external camera, and the like. In the example shown in FIG. 2, only one external interface is illustrated, but a plurality of external interfaces may be provided.

[0020] The communication interface 15 functions as an interface for connecting to a network, communicating with other devices, and transmitting and receiving information. For example, the communication interface 15 communicates with other devices by wire or wirelessly. Examples of wireless communication include communication through lines such as Bluetooth (registered trademark), Wi-Fi, a mobile communication system (3G, 4G, 5G, 6G, LTE, etc.), and a wireless LAN. An example of wired communication includes communication through a line such as a wired LAN (Local Area Network).

[0021] FIG. 3 is a functional configuration diagram showing an example of the functions provided in the information processing apparatus 1. As shown in FIG. 3, the information processing apparatus 1 includes an application proposal system 20. The application proposal system 20 includes, for example, a data acquisition unit 21, a usage information storage unit 22, a skill level identification unit 23, an application management unit 24, and a notification unit 25.

[0022] A series of processes for realizing various functions provided in the application proposal system 20 are stored, as an example, in a secondary storage device 13 or the like in the form of a program. The CPU (processor) 11 reads this program into the main storage device 12 and executes information processing and arithmetic operations, thereby realizing various functions. Note that the program may be in a form pre-installed in the secondary storage device 13, a form provided in a state stored in a non-temporary computer-readable storage medium, a form distributed via wired or wireless communication means, or the like. Examples of the non-temporary computer-readable storage medium include a magnetic disk, a magneto-optical disk, a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, and a semiconductor memory.

[0023] The data acquisition unit 21 acquires usage information including at least one of OS setting information and user input operations. The usage information may include the cumulative usage time of the information processing apparatus 1 (hereinafter referred to as "PC cumulative usage time"). The usage information may also include the number of times of use of pre-installed applications.

[0024] To acquire this information, the data acquisition unit 21 includes, for example, an OS setting acquisition unit 31, an application information acquisition unit 32, a user operation acquisition unit 33, and a cumulative usage time acquisition unit 34. The OS setting acquisition unit 31 acquires setting information from the OS 30. The setting information includes, for example, system settings such as wallpaper (desktop background) and icons. The setting information also includes language settings and the like.

[0025] The application information acquisition unit 32 acquires information about the launched application when the application is launched by user input. For example, it acquires information such as the name of the running application and the menu being used. This makes it possible to track the number of times the application has been used.

[0026] The user operation acquisition unit 33 monitors the user's operation of the input device 4 and acquires input operation information related to the user's input operations. The input operation information includes, for example, at least one of the following: the time or frequency of mouse use, the time or frequency of keyboard use, and the number or frequency of shortcut key use.

[0027] Furthermore, when the user operation acquisition unit 33 acquires an input operation for the application from the input device 4, it outputs information corresponding to that input operation to the application. As a result, the application executes processing based on the operation information input from the user operation acquisition unit 33.

[0028] The cumulative usage time acquisition unit 34 acquires the cumulative PC usage time from the OS 30. These various pieces of information acquired by the data acquisition unit 21 are stored in the usage status information storage unit 22 as usage status information.

[0029] The skill level identification unit 23 identifies the user's PC operation skill level based on the usage information stored in the usage information storage unit 22. For example, the skill level identification unit 23 identifies the skill level using at least one of the OS setting information and the user's input operations. For example, the skill level identification unit 23 has in advance an algorithm or conditions for determining the level from the OS setting information and the user's input operations, and identifies the skill level according to this algorithm.

[0030] For example, the skill level identification unit 23 has skill determination information that registers conditions for identifying the skill level, such as whether or not the OS system settings have been changed, the time required for system settings, the user's mouse usage time, and the number of times shortcut keys have been used, and uses this skill determination information to identify the skill level. The skill level identification unit 23 also has a conversion formula to quantify this information and a level evaluation calculation formula to identify the level using these values, and may identify the level based on the result of this calculation. The levels can be divided into three stages, for example, beginner, intermediate, and advanced, but are not limited to this, and may have multiple levels.

[0031] As shown in Figure 4, the application management unit 24 includes a proposed condition information acquisition unit 36, a selection unit 37, a determination unit 38, and a feedback unit 39. The proposed condition information acquisition unit 36, for example, accesses the server 40 and acquires the proposed condition information from the server 40. In this embodiment, the proposed condition information is acquired from the server, but this is not the only way. For example, it may be stored in advance in a predetermined storage unit of the information processing device 1.

[0032] The selection unit 37 uses suggestion condition information, which associates pre-installed applications with skill levels, to select an application that matches the user's skill level. This suggestion condition information may include conditions related to the cumulative usage time of the information processing device and conditions related to the number of times the pre-installed applications have been used.

[0033] Figure 5 shows an example of proposed condition information. As shown in Figure 5, the proposed condition information associates, for example, skill level, number of times the application has been used, and cumulative PC usage time for each pre-installed application (target application). In addition, additional acquisition information may be associated with the proposed condition information. Examples of pre-installed applications include applications that provide comprehensive support such as operation instructions and troubleshooting after PC purchase, applications that provide functions to easily share data and operate devices in cooperation with other devices, applications that help users easily find and use useful applications, applications that can change the background and mouse cursor all at once, and applications that automatically perform initial settings that are considered necessary for the user, such as registering security software.

[0034] The selection unit 37 selects an application from the suggested conditions information that matches the usage information stored in the usage information storage unit 22 and the skill level identified by the skill level identification unit 23. The determination unit 38 determines whether or not the proposed application has been launched by the user when a notification is sent by the notification unit 25, which will be described later, proposing an application. The feedback unit 39 feeds back the determination result from the determination unit 38 to the server 40 for updating the proposed condition information. This allows the server 40 to evaluate whether the application proposal was effective, or in other words, whether the current proposed condition information is appropriate, by receiving feedback on the application proposal from multiple information processing devices 1. Furthermore, if the evaluation shows that a certain level of effectiveness has not been achieved, the server 40 can update the proposed condition information based on the feedback information.

[0035] Furthermore, the application proposal system 20 may, for example, generate a UUID and conduct A / B testing of the application proposal using this UUID in order to effectively propose applications. By reporting the results of this A / B testing to the server 40, further improvement of the proposal condition information can be expected.

[0036] The notification unit 25 notifies the user of a message suggesting the selected application. For example, the notification unit 25 displays a message suggesting the selected application on the display 5. For example, the notification unit 25 displays a message according to the purpose of suggesting the application. For example, in the case of an application intended to promote usage, it displays a message suggesting the promotion of usage of that application. In the case of an application intended to promote purchase, it displays a message suggesting the purchase of that application.

[0037] Next, the application suggestion method executed by the information processing device 1 will be described with reference to Figure 6. Figure 6 is a flowchart showing an example of the processing procedure for the application suggestion method according to one embodiment of the present invention. This process starts, for example, when the information processing device 1 is started or when the application software that controls the application suggestion system 20 is started, and ends when the information processing device 1 is shut down or when the application software that controls the application suggestion system 20 is terminated.

[0038] The application suggestion system 20 acquires usage information (SA1). This acquires information such as OS setting information, information on launched applications, input operation information, and cumulative PC usage time, and stores it in the usage information storage unit 22.

[0039] Next, the application suggestion system 20 identifies the user's PC operation skill level based on the usage information stored in the usage information storage unit 22 (SA2). Then, it selects an application from the suggestion condition information that corresponds to the identified skill level and usage information (SA3). If no suitable application is found (SA4: NO), the system returns to step SA1. On the other hand, if a suitable application is found (SA4: YES), a message suggesting the suitable application is displayed on the display 5 (SA5). Next, the system determines whether the suggested application was launched or not, feeds the result back to the server 40 (SA6), and returns to step SA1.

[0040] As described above, the information processing device 1, the proposed application method, and the program according to this embodiment provide the following effects. The application suggestion system 20 of the information processing device 1 includes a data acquisition unit 21 that acquires usage status information including at least one of OS setting information and user input operations; a skill level identification unit 23 that identifies the user's PC operation skill level based on the usage status information; an application management unit 24 that selects an application according to the user's skill level using suggestion condition information that associates pre-installed applications with skill levels; and a notification unit 25 that notifies the user of a message suggesting the selected application.

[0041] This allows for the suggestion of applications tailored to the user's skill level. For example, advanced users familiar with PC operation will not be shown applications providing basic support. This eliminates the annoyance of being notified of unnecessary applications and prevents a decline in the user experience. Furthermore, beginners unfamiliar with PC operation can be shown applications that support PC operation and other related tasks. This encourages the use and purchase of pre-installed applications. Thus, this embodiment makes it possible to achieve both the suggestion of pre-installed applications and an improvement in the user experience.

[0042] Although the present invention has been described above using the above embodiments, the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the scope described in the above embodiments. Various modifications or improvements can be made to the above embodiments without departing from the spirit of the invention, and such modified or improved forms are also included in the technical scope of the present invention. Furthermore, the above embodiments may be combined as appropriate. Furthermore, the processing procedure according to the above embodiment is merely an example, and unnecessary processing steps may be deleted, new processing steps added, or processing steps rearranged without departing from the spirit of the present invention. [Explanation of Symbols]

[0043] 1: Information Processing Device 2: Main unit casing 3: Display-side enclosure 4: Input devices 5: Display 11: CPU 12: Main memory 13:Secondary storage device 14: External Interface 15: Communication Interface 18: Bus 20: Application Proposal System 21: Data Acquisition Unit 22: Usage status information storage unit 23: Skill Level Identification Department 24: App Management Department 25:Notification section 31 :OS settings acquisition part 32: App Information Acquisition Unit 33: User operation acquisition unit 34:Accumulated usage time acquisition part 36: Proposal condition information acquisition section 37: Selection Section 38: Judgment section 39: Feedback Department 40: Server

Claims

1. A data acquisition unit that acquires usage status information including at least one of OS setting information and user input operations, Based on the aforementioned usage information, a skill level identification unit identifies the user's PC operation skill level, An application management unit selects an application according to the user's skill level using suggestion condition information that associates pre-installed applications with skill levels. A notification unit that notifies the user of a message suggesting the selected application, and An information processing device equipped with the following features.

2. The aforementioned usage information includes the cumulative usage time of the information processing device. The aforementioned proposed conditions information includes conditions relating to the cumulative usage time of the information processing device. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the application management unit selects an application that matches the user's usage information from the proposed conditions information.

3. The aforementioned usage information includes the number of times pre-installed applications have been used. The aforementioned proposed conditions information includes conditions regarding the number of times pre-installed applications are used. The information processing device according to claim 1, wherein the application management unit selects an application that matches the user's usage information from the proposed conditions information.

4. The aforementioned application management department, A proposal condition information acquisition unit that obtains proposal condition information from the server, A determination unit that determines whether the application proposed by the notification unit has been launched by the user, A feedback unit that feeds back the determination result from the determination unit to the server for updating the proposed condition information. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, comprising:

5. A data acquisition step to acquire usage information including at least one of OS setting information and user input operations, Based on the aforementioned usage information, a skill level identification step is performed to identify the user's PC operation skill level, An application management process that selects an application according to the user's skill level using suggestion condition information that associates pre-installed applications with skill levels, A notification step of notifying the user of a message suggesting the selected application, and A method for suggesting applications that a computer will execute.

6. A program for causing a computer to execute the application proposed method described in claim 5.

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