Program, method, and system

Abstract

A program, method, and system are provided that enable measures to be taken against the load caused by the entry of a specific user. [Solution] When a specified situation occurs that can be established in response to multiple types of actions including entry into the virtual space by a user who does not satisfy certain conditions and that changes the settings of the virtual space providing unit, processing can be executed to change the settings of the virtual space providing unit to a continuous provision state so that the virtual space can be continuously provided to the user, and processing can be executed to change the settings of the virtual space providing unit to the continuous provision state so that the virtual space can be continuously provided to the user in response to entry into the virtual space among actions by a user who satisfies certain conditions, even if the specified situation would not be established even if a user who does not satisfy certain conditions entered the virtual space.

Description

[Technical field]

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

[0002] 2. Description of the Related Art Systems are known that provide a virtual space to a user via a network, enabling the user to interact with other users in the virtual space.

[0003] Also, when the load on a server increases due to concentrated access to the server, measures to reduce the load on the server are taken by setting an auto-scaling function in advance to increase the number of servers or improve the CPU and memory specifications to improve the processing capacity of the entire server (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Furthermore, attempts have been made to reduce the server load by performing a process for reducing the amount of communication with user terminals (see, for example, Patent Document 2) when the server load increases. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] JP2017-111664A [Patent Document 2] JP2014-230798A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] In a system that provides the aforementioned virtual space, for example, when a famous user enters the virtual space, there is a risk that access from fan users who follow the famous user and try to enter the virtual space will suddenly increase. However, with a conventional auto-scaling function, when access to the virtual space suddenly increases, the number of servers is increased after the load increases, and users will have to wait due to delays in server processing. In addition, a sudden load on the server may cause a server failure, which may require the system that provides the virtual space to stop functioning.

[0006] The present invention has been devised in view of the above circumstances, and provides a program, method, and system that enable measures to be taken to deal with the load caused by the entry of a specific user into a room. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] (1) A program according to an aspect of the present invention is a program executed by a computer (e.g., a distribution server 100) that controls a virtual space providing unit (e.g., a control unit 130, a login authentication API server, a room server, etc.) for providing a virtual space to a user, The computer, a first setting change means for executing a process (e.g., steps S301 to S302 in FIG. 18, steps S401 to S403 in FIG. 19, etc.) for changing the setting of the virtual space provision unit to a continuous provision state for enabling the virtual space to be continuously provided to the user when a situation that may occur depending on a plurality of types of actions (e.g., entry by logging in, entry into a room, action action in the virtual space, etc.) including entry into the virtual space by a user who does not satisfy a specific condition (e.g., a general user with a user attribute number of "1" in FIG. 7(A) or a user with a negative evaluation index, etc.) occurs and a predetermined situation for changing the setting of the virtual space provision unit occurs (e.g., when the load on the distribution server 100 exceeds a threshold value or when the upper limit number of people that can be associated with a room is reached); In response to an action of a user who satisfies the specific condition (e.g., a talent or famous person with user attribute numbers "2", "3", or "5" in FIG. 7(A) or a user with a positive evaluation index), who enters the virtual space (e.g., entering by logging in or entering a room), the second setting change means is made to function as being capable of executing a process for changing the setting of the virtual space providing unit to the continuous provision state (e.g., steps S303 to S304 in FIG. 18, steps S404 to S406 in FIG. 19) even in a situation in which the specified situation cannot be established even if a user who does not satisfy the specific condition enters the virtual space (e.g., NO in step S301 in FIG. 18, NO in step S401 in FIG. 19, the load on the distribution server 100 does not exceed a threshold, or a situation in which the upper limit of the number of people that can be associated with a room has not been reached).

[0008] According to this configuration, when a user who satisfies certain conditions enters the virtual space, the settings of the virtual space providing unit can be changed in advance to the settings for the continuous provision state, making it possible to take measures in advance against the load that may be caused by the entry of a user who satisfies certain conditions into the virtual space.

[0009] (2) In (1) above, the continuous provision state includes a state in which the resources functioning as the virtual space provision unit are increased (for example, a state in which the distribution server 100 is scaled out or scaled up in steps S302 and S304 of FIG. 18, a state in which the distribution server 100 can withstand the load, and a state in which the user waiting time can be reduced).

[0010] With such a configuration, the resources functioning as the virtual space providing section are increased, improving the processing power of the virtual space providing section and enabling it to withstand the load, making it possible to continuously provide virtual space to users.

[0011] (3) In (2) above, the process for changing the settings of the virtual space providing unit to the continuous provision state includes a process for increasing the number of resources functioning as the virtual space providing unit (for example, scaling out the distribution server 100 (increasing the number of servers), a process in which the server management device 105 in Figures 16 and 17 increases the number of servers 101c, 101d of the login authentication device 101, etc.).

[0012] With such a configuration, the number of resources functioning as a virtual space providing section increases, improving the processing power of the virtual space providing section and enabling it to withstand the load, making it possible to continuously provide virtual space to users.

[0013] (4) In (2) above, the process for changing the settings of the virtual space providing unit to the continuous provision state includes a process for improving the performance of the resources functioning as the virtual space providing unit (for example, scaling up the distribution server (increasing the specifications of the server's CPU and memory)).

[0014] With such a configuration, the performance of the resources functioning as the virtual space providing unit is improved, improving the processing power of the virtual space providing unit and enabling it to withstand the load, making it possible to continuously provide virtual space to users.

[0015] (5) In (1) above, the continuous provision state includes a state in which the amount of information delivered to the user's user terminal in order to provide a virtual space from the virtual space providing unit is reduced (for example, a state in which the load can be withstood due to a reduction in the number of synchronizations between the distribution server 100 and the user terminal, or a reduction in the amount of information itself when delivered from the distribution server 100 to the user terminal, due to steps S402, S403, S405 and S406 in FIG. 19).

[0016] With this configuration, the amount of information delivered from the virtual space providing unit to the user terminal is reduced, thereby reducing the processing burden on the virtual space providing unit and making it able to withstand the load, making it possible to continuously provide the virtual space to the user.

[0017] (6) In (5) above, the process for changing the setting of the virtual space providing unit to the continuous provision state includes a process for delivering request information to the user terminal for reducing the amount of information delivered from the virtual space providing unit in response to a request from the user terminal (for example, a process for sending information for reducing the number of times a synchronization signal is transmitted from the user terminal, such as steps S402 and S405 in FIG. 19, and a process for sending information for reducing the amount of requested drawing information).

[0018] With this configuration, the amount of information requested from the user terminal is reduced, thereby reducing the amount of information delivered from the virtual space providing unit to the user terminal, thereby reducing the processing burden on the virtual space providing unit and making it able to withstand the load, making it possible to continuously provide the virtual space to the user.

[0019] (7) In (5) above, the process for changing the settings of the virtual space providing unit to the continuous provision state includes a process for reducing the amount of information delivered to display the virtual space (for example, a process for reducing the amount of information delivered from the distribution server 100 to the user terminal, such as steps S403 and S406 in FIG. 19, and a process for reducing the number of synchronizations from the distribution server 100 to the user terminal).

[0020] With this configuration, the display information for displaying the virtual space on the user terminal is lighter, reducing the processing burden on the virtual space providing unit and making it able to withstand the load, making it possible to continuously provide the virtual space to the user.

[0021] (8) In (1) above, the specified situation includes a situation that may occur when the load on the virtual space providing unit exceeds a predetermined threshold (for example, the load on the distribution server 100 exceeds a predetermined threshold).

[0022] According to this configuration, even if the virtual space providing unit is subjected to a load exceeding a predetermined threshold, which may cause the virtual space to be unable to be continuously provided to the user, it is possible to change the setting of the virtual space providing unit to a continuous provision state, thereby enabling the virtual space to be continuously provided to the user.

[0023] (9) In the above (8), the action of the user includes a motion action in the virtual space (e.g., the user's movement in the virtual space, the use of an item, etc.), The specified situation includes a situation that may occur when the frequency of the motion action in the virtual space increases and the load on the virtual space providing unit exceeds a predetermined threshold.

[0024] With this configuration, even if an increase in the frequency of user actions places a load on the virtual space providing unit that exceeds a predetermined threshold, making it possible to prevent the virtual space from being continuously provided to the user, it is possible to change the settings of the virtual space providing unit to a continuous provision state, thereby making it possible to continuously provide the virtual space to the user.

[0025] (10) In (8) above, the specified situation includes a situation that may occur when the load on the virtual space providing unit exceeds a predetermined threshold depending on the number of users entering the virtual space (for example, a situation in which the load on a login authentication API server, etc. increases due to a large number of users making login requests to the virtual space in a short period of time).

[0026] With this configuration, even if an increase in the number of users entering the virtual space places a load on the virtual space providing unit that exceeds a predetermined threshold, which may cause the virtual space to be unable to be continuously provided to users, it is possible to change the settings of the virtual space providing unit to a continuous provision state, thereby making it possible to continuously provide the virtual space to users.

[0027] (11) In (1) above, the specified situation includes a situation that may occur when the number of users who have entered the virtual space reaches the upper limit of the number of users that are allowed to be associated with the virtual space providing unit (for example, the occurrence of a waiting time due to a number of users requesting entry that exceeds the number of people allowed to enter the room).

[0028] With this configuration, even if there is a risk that the virtual space cannot be continuously provided to users because the number of users entering the virtual space reaches the upper limit allowed, it is possible to change the setting of the virtual space providing unit to a continuous provision state, thereby making it possible to continuously provide the virtual space to users.

[0029] (12) In (1) above, the specific condition includes a condition that is satisfied when the user who has entered the virtual space is a predetermined special user (for example, a talent or famous person with user attribute types of “2”, “3”, or “5” in FIG. 7, a user with which an increased number of servers is pre-associated, or a user with which an evaluation index is pre-assigned by the operator (see the modified example (Regarding user attribute numbers and evaluation indexes))).

[0030] With this configuration, it is possible to change the settings of the virtual space providing unit to a continuous provision state when a predetermined situation occurs in response to a predetermined special user entering the virtual space.

[0031] (13) In the above (12), the special user belongs to any one of a plurality of types; As the continuous provision state, a plurality of types of continuous provision states having different degrees of fluctuation are defined for each type of the special user, The second setting variation means is capable of executing processing for varying the setting of the virtual space providing unit to a continuous provision state with a degree of variation according to the type of special user who has entered the virtual space.

[0032] With this configuration, the settings of the virtual space provision unit can be changed to a continuous provision state with a degree of variation according to the type of special user, making it possible to avoid excessive or insufficient provision of virtual space.

[0033] (14) In the above (1), an evaluation value (e.g., an evaluation index in FIG. 7(A)) is set for the user, the evaluation value varying depending on an external evaluation, which is an evaluation from a person other than the user, The specific condition includes a condition that is satisfied when the evaluation value of the user who has entered the virtual space becomes equal to or greater than a predetermined value (for example, a positive value).

[0034] With this configuration, when a user whose evaluation value is equal to or greater than a predetermined value enters the virtual space, it becomes possible to change the settings of the virtual space providing unit to a continuous provision state in the event that a predetermined situation occurs.

[0035] (15) In the above (14), as the continuous provision state, a plurality of types of continuous provision states are defined, the degree of fluctuation of which varies depending on the evaluation value of the user who satisfies the specific condition (for example, an example of increasing the number of servers according to the evaluation index in FIG. 8 ); The second setting variation means is capable of executing processing for varying the setting of the virtual space providing unit to a continuous provision state with a degree of variation corresponding to the evaluation value of the user who has entered the virtual space.

[0036] According to this configuration, since the setting of the virtual space providing unit can be changed to a continuous provision state with a degree of fluctuation corresponding to the user's evaluation value such that the evaluation value is equal to or greater than a predetermined value, it is possible to avoid an excessive or insufficient provision of virtual space. This makes it possible to continuously provide virtual space to the user while eliminating wasteful processing by the virtual space providing unit.

[0037] (16) In the above (1), the virtual space includes a plurality of types of spaces (areas, rooms, etc.) corresponding to a plurality of types of content (e.g., game content, chat-only content, etc.) provided by the virtual space, which may have different processing loads on the virtual space providing unit; The second setting change motion The means performs processing to change the settings of the virtual space providing unit depending on the type of virtual space entered by a user who satisfies the specific conditions (for example, see the modified example (regarding setting change processing depending on content load)).

[0038] According to this configuration, the settings of the virtual space providing unit can be changed according to the processing load of the virtual space providing unit for each piece of content, making it possible to avoid an excessive or insufficient provision of virtual space. This makes it possible to continuously provide virtual space to the user while eliminating wasteful processing on the virtual space providing unit.

[0039] (17) In the above (16), the second setting change motion When a user who satisfies the specific condition moves to a space within the virtual space that has a different type of processing load, the means performs processing to change the settings of the virtual space providing unit according to the space to which the user has moved (for example, see the modified example (regarding setting change processing according to content load)).

[0040] With this configuration, even if a user who satisfies certain conditions moves through the virtual space, the settings of the virtual space providing unit can be changed according to the processing load of the virtual space providing unit for each piece of content, making it possible to avoid an excessive or insufficient provision of virtual space. This makes it possible to continuously provide virtual space to the user while eliminating wasteful processing on the virtual space providing unit.

[0041] (18) In the above (2), an evaluation value is set for the user that varies depending on an external evaluation, which is an evaluation from a person other than the user, The specific condition includes a condition that is satisfied when the evaluation value of the user who has entered the virtual space is equal to or greater than a predetermined value (for example, the evaluation index in FIG. 7A is a positive value), The computer, A first evaluation value that satisfies the specific condition The first A second evaluation value that satisfies the specific condition in a situation where one user has already entered the virtual space. The first When two users enter the virtual space, the device functions as a means for calculating the degree to which resources are increased based on a combined evaluation value based on not only the second evaluation value but also the first evaluation value (for example, see the modified example (when multiple specific users log in)).

[0042] With this configuration, even if multiple users whose evaluation value is equal to or greater than a predetermined value enter the virtual space, the resources are increased to an appropriate extent, making it possible to avoid resource surpluses or deficiencies. This makes it possible to continuously provide the virtual space to users while eliminating wasteful processing by the virtual space providing unit.

[0043] (19) In the above (5), an evaluation value is set for the user that varies depending on an external evaluation, which is an evaluation from a person other than the user, The specific condition includes a condition that is satisfied when the evaluation value of the user who has entered the virtual space is equal to or greater than a predetermined value (for example, the evaluation index in FIG. 7A is a positive value), The computer, A first evaluation value that satisfies the specific condition The first A second evaluation value that satisfies the specific condition in a situation where one user has already entered the virtual space. The first When two users enter the virtual space, the device functions as a means for calculating the amount of information to be reduced according to a combined evaluation value based on not only the second evaluation value but also the first evaluation value (for example, see the modified example (when multiple specific users log in)).

[0044] According to this configuration, the amount of information delivered from the virtual space providing unit to the user terminal is reduced, so the processing burden on the virtual space providing unit is reduced and the virtual space providing unit can withstand the load, and the virtual space can be continuously provided to the user. Even if multiple users with evaluation values ​​above a predetermined value enter the virtual space, the amount of information delivered to the user terminal is appropriate, making it possible to avoid an increase in load due to an excessive amount of information or a decrease in user satisfaction due to an insufficient amount of information. This makes it possible to continuously provide the virtual space to the user while eliminating wasteful processing on the virtual space providing unit.

[0045] (20) In the above (2), the virtual space providing unit is a container that is a virtualized server, the process for varying the setting of the virtual space providing unit includes a process for outputting a command signal for increasing the number of the containers being executed to a container management unit that manages the execution of the containers; The continuous provision state includes a state in which the amount of resources of the virtual space providing unit increases as the number of containers increases (see, for example, the modification (server example)).

[0046] According to this configuration, by increasing the number of containers, the processing power of the virtual space providing unit is improved and it becomes able to withstand the load, making it possible to continuously provide virtual space to users.

[0047] (21) In the above (1), entering the virtual space includes logging in to the virtual space.

[0048] With this configuration, the settings of the virtual space providing unit can be changed to a sustainable state when a user who meets certain conditions logs in, so that the virtual space providing unit can quickly be put into a state where it can withstand the load.

[0049] (22) In (21) above, The virtual space providing unit includes a login information processing unit (e.g., a login authentication API server, a server corresponding to the login authentication device 101 in FIG. 16, or the entry / exit processing unit 134) for authenticating whether the user has successfully logged in, The second setting variation means performs processing for increasing resources of the login information processing unit when a user who satisfies the specific condition logs into the virtual space.

[0050] With such a configuration, the resources of the login information processing unit are increased, so that even if a load is placed on the login information processing unit due to another user logging in after a user who meets certain conditions has logged in, the login information processing unit can be kept in a state where it can withstand the load.

[0051] (23) A computer control method according to an aspect of the present invention is a method for controlling a computer that controls a virtual space providing unit for providing a virtual space to a user, comprising: a first step of executing a process for changing a setting of the virtual space providing unit to a continuous provision state so as to enable the virtual space to be continuously provided to the user when a predetermined situation occurs that may occur in response to a plurality of types of actions including entry of the virtual space by a user not satisfying a specific condition and that changes the setting of the virtual space providing unit; and a second step of executing a process for changing the setting of the virtual space providing unit to the continuous provision state in response to an action of a user who satisfies the specific condition entering the virtual space, even if the specified situation would not be established even if a user who does not satisfy the specific condition enters the virtual space.

[0052] According to this configuration, when a user who satisfies certain conditions enters the virtual space, the settings of the virtual space providing unit can be changed in advance to the settings for the continuous provision state, making it possible to take measures in advance against the load that may be caused by the entry of a user who satisfies certain conditions into the virtual space.

[0053] (24) A system according to an aspect of the present invention is a system including a computer that controls a virtual space providing unit for providing a virtual space to a user, a first setting change means for executing a process for changing the setting of the virtual space provision unit to a continuous provision state so as to be able to continuously provide the virtual space to the user when a predetermined situation occurs that can be established according to a plurality of types of actions including entry into the virtual space by a user who does not satisfy a specific condition and that changes the setting of the virtual space provision unit; and a second setting change means for executing a process to change the setting of the virtual space providing unit to the continuous provision state in response to an action of a user who satisfies the specific condition entering the virtual space, even if the specified situation would not be established even if a user who does not satisfy the specific condition enters the virtual space.

[0054] According to this configuration, when a user who satisfies certain conditions enters the virtual space, the settings of the virtual space providing unit can be changed in advance to the settings for the continuous provision state, making it possible to take measures in advance against the load that may be caused by the entry of a user who satisfies certain conditions into the virtual space. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0055] [Figure 1] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a communication system. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the concept of an overall image of a virtual space provided by a distribution server. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the configuration of a distribution server. [Figure 4] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of an administrator terminal. [Diagram 5] 11 is a diagram for explaining a configuration of a specific user information medium management server. FIG. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining in detail the configuration of a user terminal (user terminal and broadcasting user terminal). [Figure 7] 4 is a diagram showing an example of user information etc. stored in a storage unit of a distribution server. FIG. [Figure 8] 11 is a diagram showing an example of a relationship between users' evaluation indexes and servers stored in a storage unit of a distribution server. FIG. [Figure 9] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a screen of a user terminal when entering a virtual space in the present embodiment. [Figure 10] 11 is a diagram showing an example of a notification screen displayed on a user terminal in the present embodiment. FIG. [Figure 11] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing another example of a notification screen displayed on a user terminal in the present embodiment. [Figure 12] 11 is a diagram for explaining a flowchart of an example of an entry notification process of the distribution server in the present embodiment. FIG. [Figure 13] 11 is a diagram for explaining a flowchart of an example of an entrance notification process of a specific user information medium management server in the present embodiment. FIG. [Figure 14] 13 is a diagram for explaining a flowchart of another example of the entry notification process of the distribution server in the present embodiment. FIG. [Figure 15] 13 is a diagram for explaining a flowchart of another example of the entry notification process of the distribution server in the present embodiment. FIG. [Figure 16] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a system configuration of a distribution server according to the present embodiment. [Figure 17] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a system configuration of a distribution server according to the present embodiment. [Figure 18] 11 is a diagram for explaining a flowchart of an example of a virtual space providing server reinforcement process in the present embodiment. FIG. [Figure 19] 11 is a diagram for explaining a flowchart of an example of a distribution information amount change process according to the present embodiment. FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0056] The outline of the present invention will be described below. The virtual space (metaverse space) in this embodiment is used by multiple users. The multiple users can be roughly divided into specific users (also called special users) and other users. The specific users include, for example, talents and famous people. Talent, etc. may have fans. Therefore, for fans, for example, if they can quickly obtain information that a talent, etc. has entered a virtual space and follow the talent, etc. and enter the same virtual space, their fan activities will be enriched. Therefore, in this embodiment, it is possible to notify other users that a specific user has entered a virtual space. This makes the fan activities of fan users who support a specific user more fulfilling.

[0057] Furthermore, when a specific user enters a virtual space, it is considered that the number of other users entering the virtual space will increase, and therefore it is considered that the load on the distribution server that provides the virtual space to the user will increase due to the entry behavior of the specific user. Therefore, in this embodiment, it is possible to change the resources of the server that provides the virtual space in advance on the condition that the specific user has entered the virtual space (including logging in). Also, on the condition that the specific user has entered the virtual space, it is possible to perform processing for reducing (alleviating) the amount of information distributed from the distribution server that provides the virtual space to the user terminal. These processes of changing the resources of the server and reducing the amount of information enable the distribution server to withstand the increase in load expected due to the specific user entering the virtual space. In this way, by taking measures against the load on the distribution server in advance, it is possible to smoothly perform the entry processing and distribution processing of users who attempt to enter the virtual space following the specific user, thereby improving user satisfaction.

[0058] Hereinafter, an embodiment of a communication system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the following examples, but is indicated by the claims, and it is intended that all modifications within the meaning and scope equivalent to the claims are included in the present invention. In the following description, the same elements in the description of the drawings are given the same reference numerals, and redundant descriptions will not be repeated.

[0059] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration of a communication system 1. The communication system 1 includes a distribution server 100, an administrator terminal 200, a plurality of user terminals 300a, 300b, 300c, etc., a plurality of broadcast user terminals 400a, 400b, 400c, etc., and a specific user information medium management server 500. The plurality of user terminals 300a, 300b, 300c, etc. are terminals owned by each of a plurality of users, and are collectively referred to as user terminals 300 below. The plurality of broadcast user terminals 400a, 400b, 400c, etc. are terminals owned by each of a plurality of broadcast users who are users who can independently broadcast content, and are collectively referred to as broadcast user terminals 400 below. The user terminals 300 and broadcast user terminals 400 are both used by users, and are collectively referred to as user terminals below.

[0060] The distribution server 100, the administrator terminal 200, the user terminal 300, the distribution user terminal 400, and the specific user information media management server 500 can each be connected to a network 2 for communication and can transmit and receive information (data) in both directions. The network 2 is, for example, the Internet, and is composed of access networks such as a LAN (Local Area Network), a WAN (Wide Area Network), a mobile communication network (for example, 5G, wireless network, etc.), a wired telephone network, FTTH (Fiber To The Home), and a CATV (Cable Television) network.

[0061] The distribution server 100 is, for example, a computer such as a workstation or a personal computer having a communication function. The distribution server 100 manages a plurality of virtual spaces (for example, also called metaverse spaces) which are virtual worlds constructed on a computer, and provides a service (content) using a virtual space selected by a user via the network 2.

[0062] In this embodiment, the user can participate in a virtual space provided by the distribution server 100 in response to an operation on the user terminal, and can be active, act, speak, etc. through a user character, etc. In addition, the user in this embodiment includes consumers who are general consumers, talents, celebrities, etc. Talent includes celebrities of various genres, such as talents belonging to a service providing company (operating company), entertainers, actors / actresses, comedians, multi-talents, presenters, news anchors, singers, musicians, models, and other influencers. Celebrities include celebrities of various genres, such as famous company managers or employees, athletes, e-sports athletes, famous scholars / cultural figures / cram school instructors, and famous students. In addition, there are cases where a person is determined to be an influencer and processed according to the number of followers of the follow function in the virtual space provided by the distribution server 100.

[0063] The content provided using the virtual space is managed and set for each type of content. The content that can be provided includes, but is not limited to, content that allows users to watch and experience games, live shows, events, and programs, and content that allows users to interact and communicate with each other using chats and emotes. Users can seamlessly participate in (roam) the content by accessing the distribution server 100 using the user terminal 300 or the distribution user terminal 400 and selecting the desired content, and can watch and experience the virtual space corresponding to the content.

[0064] The virtual space includes three-dimensional space (space constructed based on three-dimensional data) generated by CG (Computer Graphics) and two-dimensional space (space constructed based on two-dimensional data) depending on the type of content. In addition, virtual characters (avatar objects), objects showing backgrounds and virtual objects depending on the type of content, menu objects selectable by the user, etc. are placed in the virtual space. The virtual characters placed in the virtual space include user characters that are set in advance corresponding to each user participating in the virtual space and can act according to operations from the user, and non-player characters that act based on a program.

[0065] As an example of objects to be placed in the virtual space, in the case of game content, an item object corresponding to the game, a character object corresponding to the game, a user character of a user playing the game content (hereinafter also referred to as a user avatar), etc. are placed on a field object corresponding to the game field. In the case of live content, for example, a stage object, an audience seat object, a lighting object, etc. are placed, and a user character of a talent who is performing live is placed on the stage object, and a user character of a participating user is placed on the audience seat object. In the case of content that aims for communication, for example, a user character of each of a plurality of participating users and an item object that can be used for communication are placed. In addition, a space that imitates a town may be provided, and it is possible to arrange objects such as signs and bulletin boards, not limited to those that enable communication between users, and to enable users to obtain and view information inside and outside the virtual space.

[0066] The distribution server 100 stores information for displaying images in a plurality of virtual spaces corresponding to the distributable contents on a user terminal and sound information for outputting sounds in the storage unit 120. In addition, the distribution server 100 provides contents (services) to users by distributing content data including display information for displaying images in the virtual space of the corresponding contents and sound information for outputting sounds in response to access from the user terminal.

[0067] The content data includes, for example, information on objects to be placed in the virtual space (e.g., type of object, placement position, orientation, posture, mode, etc.), information on user characters of each user participating in the virtual space (e.g., type of user character, placement position, orientation, posture, mode, motion data, voice data, etc.), objects showing backgrounds and virtual objects according to the type of content, and information on menu objects selected by the user. The amount of information on objects and user characters is increased or decreased by the data distribution unit 132 of the distribution server 100 or by an arbitrary setting operation by the user on the user terminal. An increase or decrease in the amount of displayed information may include, for example, an increase or decrease in the number of user avatars that can be displayed in the virtual space, an increase or decrease in the number of objects, an increase or decrease in image resolution, etc.

[0068] The posture, position, and expression of objects in the virtual space change according to operations from the user terminal, and the state of the objects arranged changes according to the passage of time. Therefore, the content data is distributed at predetermined time intervals (for example, every 0.016 seconds, which is about 60 fps), so that images in the virtual space that change from moment to moment can be displayed on the user terminal. The content data distributed at predetermined time intervals may be distributed in response to the distribution server 100 receiving a signal requesting synchronization transmitted from the user terminal, and the timing of the predetermined time intervals may be changed according to the load on the distribution server 100. For example, the number of synchronizations per second is gradually decreased from six times to three times, once, and so on, as the load becomes heavier. Note that the distribution server 100 may transmit information (request information) to the user terminal for performing a process in the user terminal to reduce the frequency of transmission of a signal requesting synchronization, and even if there is a request for content data from the user terminal, the interval between the timing of the distribution server 100 responding to the request may become longer as the load becomes heavier.

[0069] The distribution server 100 also manages programs and data that enable the user terminal to progress (play) content such as live events and games. For example, when a game content is selected by a user, the distribution server 100 distributes to the user terminal a program and data for providing a service using the virtual space of the game content. Note that the timing of distribution of the program and data for progressing through the content from the distribution server 100 is not limited to when the content is selected by the user, but may be when the user logs into the distribution server 100 or when a predetermined achievement condition is met.

[0070] The administrator terminal 200 is used by the operator of the service provider. The administrator terminal 200 is, for example, a computer having an operation input function and a communication function such as a personal computer. The administrator creates, builds, modifies, and updates the content and images in the virtual space managed in the storage unit 120 of the distribution server 100 through the administrator terminal 200. For example, new content and images in the virtual space are generated and built, and existing content and images in the virtual space are changed and modified. The administrator also sets and updates the information managed in the storage unit 120 of the distribution server 100 through the administrator terminal 200. For example, the administrator sets and updates the evaluation index (evaluation value) and attributes (for example, attribute type, attribute number) associated with each user of the user information managed in the storage unit 120 of the distribution server 100. The administrator terminal 200 may also create, build, modifies, and updates the content managed in the storage unit 520 of the specific user information media management server 500. The administrator sets and updates the information managed in the storage unit 520 of the specific user information media management server 500 via the administrator terminal 200 .

[0071] The specific user information medium management server 500 is, for example, a computer such as a workstation or a personal computer having a communication function. The specific user information medium is a fan community application related to a specific user (for example, a talent) or a WEB site where information about the specific user can be viewed. The administrator (subject) who operates the specific user information medium may be the same as the administrator or operator of the distribution server 100 or the administrator terminal 200, or may be a different person. The specific user information medium management server 500 may, for example, manage a plurality of contents that can be provided to users and manage a community to which the contents are provided. The specific user information medium management server 500 provides the content in response to a request from a user via the network 2.

[0072] The contents provided by the specific user information media management server 500 are managed and set by type. The contents inform the viewer of certain information, and include information such as video, audio, and text. The certain information includes information about the specific user. The information about the specific user managed by the specific user information media management server 500 includes, for example, news and announcements by the operator (manager), user posts, posted information such as streaming videos related to the specific user provided by external web services obtained by using a Web API, schedule information of streaming videos related to the specific user, and trend information of the specific user including information on entry and exit of the specific user to the virtual space. The content can be provided to the user by displaying it on the user terminal via a medium such as a WEB browser or a dedicated application on a smartphone or the like.

[0073] The specific user information medium management server 500 stores information for displaying text, images, etc. corresponding to content that can be provided to the user on the user terminal and sound information for outputting sound in the storage unit 520. In addition, the distribution server 100 provides content (services) to the user by distributing content data including display information for displaying the text, images, etc. of the corresponding content and sound information for outputting sound in response to access from the user terminal.

[0074] In this embodiment, the distribution server 100, the administrator terminal 200, and the specific user information media management server 500 are each independent computers (devices), but they may be realized by a single computer, or the functions of one of these computers (e.g., the distribution server 100, the specific user information media management server 500) may be realized by multiple computers (e.g., multiple servers).

[0075] The user terminal 300 is used by a user who wants to view and experience the content. The user terminal 300 may be, for example, a computer having an operation input function and a communication function, such as a personal computer, a tablet terminal, or a smartphone. The user terminal 300 may have a motion capture function for capturing the user's movements, similar to the broadcasting user terminal 400 described later.

[0076] The user terminal 300 communicates with the distribution server 100 and the specific user information medium management server 500 in response to an operation on the terminal, and receives content data of the content selected by the user. Based on the content data received from the distribution server 100, the user terminal 300 constructs a virtual space of the content selected by the user from among the virtual spaces constructed in the distribution server 100 in the storage area of ​​the user terminal 300, and displays images in the virtual space and outputs sounds. This makes it possible to view and experience the virtual space of the content via the user terminal 300.

[0077] Furthermore, the user terminal 300 constructs information on the content selected by the user from among the contents (e.g., articles and schedule information) managed by the specific user information media management server 500 in the storage area of ​​the user terminal 300 based on the content data received from the specific user information media management server 500, and displays images and text of the content. This enables the user to identify and recognize the content information (including information on the specific user) via the user terminal 300.

[0078] Furthermore, the user terminal 300 accepts operations on the displayed virtual space and objects, various icon selection operations, content selection operations, character input operations, etc. The user terminal 300 transmits information corresponding to the operations on the terminal to the distribution server 100, and can cause the user character of the user to act, move, etc. in the virtual space of the participating content. As described above, based on the content data transmitted from the distribution server 100 at predetermined time intervals, the movement, etc. of the user character can be reflected (synchronized) in the virtual space of each user terminal 300 of the users participating in the same content.

[0079] Furthermore, the user terminal 300 allows the user to view and experience the virtual space of the content, and can post a comment including an arbitrary message as an example of an action for the virtual space of the content in which the user is participating, in response to an operation on the terminal. By posting a comment, the comment can be reflected on each user terminal 300 so that the user participating in the content can confirm the comment.

[0080] Furthermore, the user terminal 300 stores a program and data distributed from the distribution server 100 when a content is selected by the user, and based on the program and data, displays a virtual space corresponding to the selected content, and is able to progress (play) the content. For example, when the user selects area Y, a space simulating a city, on the title screen, data including a program for displaying the space of area Y is received and stored, and the space of area Y is displayed on the display unit of the user terminal 300 based on the data. Furthermore, when a specific game content is selected within the virtual space of any area (or the area itself may be a space that provides game content), data including a program for playing the game content is received and stored, and the game content can be played.

[0081] The broadcasting user terminal 400 is used by a broadcasting user who can broadcast content. The broadcasting user terminal 400 has a motion capture function that captures the broadcasting user's movements, in addition to an operation input function and a communication function (for example, a head-mounted device (HMD), a device equipped with an imaging device and analyzing the user's movements from images captured by the imaging device). The HMD is worn on the user's head, and the user holding a controller capable of communicating with the HMD can operate the displayed virtual space and virtual characters by moving the head or hand or by operating buttons on the controller.

[0082] The broadcast user terminal 400 acquires motion information for identifying the broadcast user's head or hand movements and controller operations, and audio information for identifying the broadcast user's voice, and transmits them to the broadcast server 100, thereby reflecting the movements and audio of the broadcast user's user character in the participating virtual space. This allows the broadcast user's user character to operate in the virtual space as if it were an alter-ego of the broadcast user. As described above, based on the content data transmitted from the broadcast server 100 at predetermined time intervals, the movements and audio of the broadcast user's user character in the virtual space in each user terminal of the users (including the broadcast user) participating in the virtual space can be reflected (synchronized).

[0083] In addition, a broadcast user may be a general user (simple viewer / participant) who uses a terminal with the same configuration as the broadcast user terminal 400 as the user terminal 300 to view and experience the broadcast content, or may be a general user who uses a separate terminal with a different configuration from the broadcast user terminal 400 as the user terminal 300. The broadcast user terminal 400 and the user terminal 300 may be terminals with the same configuration or different terminals. Also, a broadcast user may participate in a virtual space in the position of a broadcaster who broadcasts content, or in the position of a general user (simple viewer / participant) rather than in the position of a broadcaster. For this reason, a broadcast user is included in the user. A broadcast user can select or change which position he / she is in at a specific timing (for example, when logging in, when starting content broadcasting, when displaying the broadcast user's user character in the broadcast content, etc.).

[0084] <Overall image of virtual space> FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the concept of the overall image of the virtual space provided by the system 1 of this embodiment. The virtual space ER of this embodiment includes a plurality of types of spatial areas ER (spatial area ER1, spatial area ER2, etc.). In each spatial area ER, it is possible to provide content of different genres and types. The plurality of types of spatial areas ER are areas selected from a title screen displayed after a user logs into the virtual space ER, and areas corresponding to various contents such as an entrance, a live venue, game content, and an exhibition hall are provided. For example, an event venue where live content is held is constructed in the entirety of a predetermined spatial area ER, or in a part of a predetermined spatial area ER.

[0085] Each spatial area ER has a plurality of rooms in which the same content is provided. Each room has a set upper limit on the number of people that can enter the room, and can accommodate up to 200 people, for example. Each room is managed by, for example, a real-time synchronization server. Users who enter the same room can see each other's user avatars and communicate with each other. For example, they can play games together or have conversations by chatting. For example, if the spatial area ER1 is a space that imitates a city, the same city-imitating space is provided to the users in the rooms ER1a, ER1b, etc. corresponding to the spatial area ER1, but the only avatars that can be displayed in the space are user avatars corresponding to users associated with the same room. For example, the user avatar 1 of a user associated with the room ER1a is not displayed on the user screen of a user associated with the room ER1b. However, it is possible to exceptionally display the user avatar of a special user (for example, a celebrity) not only in the room that the user actually enters, but also in other rooms.

[0086] The movement between each spatial area ER may be such that the user cannot move to another spatial area ER without passing through a spatial area ER that is defined as an area (for example, an entrance) that provides specific content after logging in to the virtual space, or may be such that the user can move between the spatial areas. For example, the user may not be able to move from the spatial area ER2 to the spatial area ER3 without passing through the spatial area ER1, or may be able to move directly between the spatial area ER2 and the spatial area ER3 without passing through the spatial area ER1. In addition, when moving between spatial areas ER, a switching performance may be performed. For example, when moving to another spatial area ER, the display screen may be switched to black (for example, a screen in which a message such as "Loading..." is displayed on a black screen). In addition, the user's access to each spatial area ER may be such that the user first enters the entrance area after logging in, or the user can select and enter a spatial area ER of his / her choice without passing through the entrance area, or the user may transition to a spatial area ER that is randomly determined by lottery. Regarding each room, the user may select a room of his / her choice and enter the room, or may enter a room randomly determined by lottery. Hereinafter, the virtual space ER is also simply referred to as a virtual space.

[0087] In this embodiment, entering a virtual space includes logging in to the virtual space and entering a room.

[0088] <Distribution server configuration> Next, the configuration of the distribution server 100 will be described. As shown in Fig. 3, the distribution server 100 includes a communication unit 110 that communicates with other computers, a storage unit 120 that stores various data, and a control unit 130 that controls the entire computer. The communication unit 110, the storage unit 120, and the control unit 130 are connected to each other by a bus line. Note that each function may be defined as a server (container) on the virtualized server and executed as a server.

[0089] The communication unit 110 is a communication interface equipped with a NIC (Network Interface Card controller) for wired or wireless communication. The communication unit 110 communicates with other computers via the network 2. For example, it functions as an interface for allowing other computers to acquire part of the information stored in the storage unit 120 (for example, the entry and exit status of each user in the virtual space, an evaluation index, an attribute number, etc.).

[0090] The storage unit 120 is composed of a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a flash memory, a HDD (Hard Disk Drive), etc. The storage unit 120 stores programs for executing various control processes (for example, a program for managing and providing content using a virtual space), various data, etc. The various data stored in the storage unit 120 include information for identifying an image of the virtual space provided for each type of content, user information 121 relating to the user, etc. The information for identifying an image of the virtual space includes, for example, object data 122.

[0091] The control unit 130 is configured with a CPU (Central Processing Unit) etc. The control unit 130 executes a program stored in the storage unit 120 to control the overall operation of the distribution server 100 and perform various calculations etc.

[0092] The following describes the functional configuration of the control unit 130. The control unit 130 functions as at least a content management unit 131, a data distribution unit 132, a user management unit 133, an entrance / exit processing unit 134, a notification management unit 135, and a scale management unit 136. The various functions may be performed by a separate server, or, for example, a plurality of functions may be executed on one server (for example, a virtual server).

[0093] The content management unit 131 stores and updates information for identifying an image in a virtual space according to a content set by the administrator terminal 200 in the storage unit 120 via the communication unit 110. The content management unit 131 stores, for example, information for identifying the type of content set by the administrator terminal 200, information for identifying an image in a virtual space for each content, and information for identifying the date and time of distribution for content such as a live show or program distributed at a predetermined date and time in the storage unit 120. The information for identifying an image in a virtual space includes information on objects arranged in the virtual space and user characters corresponding to users participating in the virtual space. The information for identifying the type of content includes information for identifying an area in the virtual space that can be provided to a user, event information to be held, and the like.

[0094] Furthermore, the content management unit 131 performs a process of providing and associating content and rooms to the user in response to a request from the user terminal via the communication unit 110. For example, in response to a request to acquire content information from the user terminal 300, the content management unit 131 transmits information for identifying content information that can be provided to the user at the user terminal. For example, this is information related to areas of a virtual space and rooms. Based on the content information, it becomes possible to display areas X to Z and rooms corresponding to each area on the title screen exemplified in FIG. 9(C) on the display unit of the user terminal 300. The content management unit 131 performs a process of associating and storing the area and room ID selected by the user as user information 121.

[0095] The data delivery unit 132 delivers content data for displaying images in the virtual space of the content selected in each terminal and managed by the content management unit 131 to the access source user terminal at predetermined time intervals. In addition, the data delivery unit 132 performs an information amount change process for increasing or decreasing the resolution of the texture of the image displayed on the user terminal, increasing or decreasing the number of objects that can be displayed, or changing the number of synchronizations with the user terminal when the administrator manually operates the administrator terminal 200 or when a preset condition is met. For example, when the computer resource usage rate exceeds a predetermined threshold due to a heavy server load (for example, when it exceeds a certain threshold by referring to the current metrics or the metrics of the past few times), or when a condition set assuming that the server load will become heavy is met (for example, login of a specific user), the data delivery unit 132 performs a process for reducing (alleviating) the amount of information (amount of data) for displaying and outputting the virtual space that can be delivered to the user terminal via the communication unit 110.

[0096] The process of reducing (alleviating) the amount of information to the user terminal by the data delivery unit 132 includes reducing the amount of information itself to be transmitted from the data delivery unit 132 to the user terminal before distributing it, reducing the number of times synchronization is performed from the data delivery unit 132 to the user terminal, or transmitting a signal from the data delivery unit 132 to the user terminal to cause the user terminal to reduce the amount of information itself requested from the user terminal to the distribution server 100. For example, when the number of users entering the virtual space increases, causing the virtual space to become congested and the load to become heavy, congestion information can be transmitted to the user terminal. When the user terminal receives the congestion information, a setting is made to reduce the amount of information requested from the distribution server 100 (for example, by a program stored in the storage unit of the user terminal), so that the amount of information to be distributed in response to a request from the user terminal can be reduced. For example, the amount of information itself, such as image resolution, may be reduced, or the number of times a signal requesting synchronization is transmitted from the user terminal to the distribution server 100 may be reduced to reduce the overall amount of information to be distributed to the user terminal. In addition, the congestion information may be congestion information sent when the entire virtual space becomes congested, or it may be congestion information sent when the room in which the user is present becomes congested (when the maximum number of people in the room is reached, or when a certain number of people is reached before the maximum number of people is reached).

[0097] The user management unit 133 stores and updates user information related to the user in the storage unit 120. For example, the user information is stored in a database as user information 121. The user information related to the user includes, for example, an ID for identifying the user, a user name, an evaluation index and attribute number for each user, and information on the entry and exit status of the virtual space for each user. The evaluation index and attribute number may be values ​​previously determined by the administrator, and may be variable depending on the user's behavior, the number of followers on SNS or in the virtual space, and the like. The information on the entry and exit status of the virtual space for each user includes entry and exit information for logging in and out of the virtual space, and entry and exit information for identifying the area and room to which the user is entering. For example, it can be specified that the area X is entering room ID 001 to which the area X is provided. In addition, the user's behavior history in the virtual space is acquired and stored in the storage unit 120. The behavior history includes, for example, location information in the virtual space, participation content history (participation event history), and the like. The user management unit 133 can calculate the degree of relationship with other users (for example, the degree of intimacy or the amount of tipping to other users) according to the behavioral history, and can perform association with other users.

[0098] The entry / exit processing unit 134 performs processing of a user's entry / exit into the virtual space in response to an access from a user terminal via the communication unit 110. The entry of a user detected by the entry / exit processing unit 134 includes login into the virtual space and entry into a room in the virtual space after login. For example, it includes a function to detect a user's login by the login authentication API server and a function to manage the entry / exit information of a user's room by the user authentication unit of the real-time synchronization server. The login authentication API server may authenticate that a user has logged in when the distribution server 100 receives information of a normal login in another authentication system (for example, a single sign-on system). When the entry / exit processing unit 134 detects a user's entry (including login) into the virtual space, the control unit 130 may perform processing related to changing server settings and informing other users.

[0099] When the entry / exit processing unit 134 detects that a user has entered (logged in) into the virtual space, the notification management unit 135 issues a notification (notification) via the communication unit 110 so that other users, including the administrator, are notified of the entry if the entering user is a specific user who satisfies a predetermined condition. In addition, if the user terminal allows the selection of whether or not to notify other users of the entry, when a selection is made not to notify other users (a selection is not made to notify other users), control is performed so that other users are not notified even if a specific user who satisfies a predetermined condition has entered the room.

[0100] Examples of the notification mode via the communication unit 110 include notification (notification) to the administrator terminal 200 operated by the administrator, notification to a user terminal via a notification function (such as push notification) of an application for displaying a virtual space provided by the distribution server 100 or a community application managed by the specific user information medium management server 500, or notification to other users by making information about the entry status (for example, as information about a specific user) available for download in response to a request (viewing request) from a user. By making information about the entry status available for download in response to a request (viewing request) from a user, for example, a WEB page (which may be a predetermined page in an application) capable of displaying a list of users' entry statuses can be made to acquire the entry status of a specific user from another computer using an API, and the information can be displayed when there is available information, or the entry status of the user can be displayed on a bulletin board object or the like capable of checking the entry status of the user in the virtual space.

[0101] A viewing request is a request from a user terminal to the distribution server 100 or the specific user information media management server 500 for information to display a WEB page (or a specific page in an application (e.g., a community application)) or a specific image in a virtual space (e.g., information displayed on a bulletin board object, etc.) on the user terminal. For example, a viewing request is made (sent) from the user terminal to the server by accessing a specific WEB page, selecting a specific icon in an application, or selecting a specific object in a virtual space (or moving to a specific location, etc.). In addition, the information on the user's entry status may be updated and stored in the storage unit 120 so that it can be downloaded in response to a request from the user. For example, it is updated as information of a specific user. In the following, a spontaneous notification from the server to the user (e.g., a push notification) regardless of whether or not a viewing request has been made by the user may also be referred to as a notification.

[0102] The scale management unit 136 performs resource increase / decrease processing (scaling) of the distribution server 100. The resource increase / decrease processing includes scale-out, which horizontally scales resources to increase the number of servers (also referred to as increasing the number of resources), scale-up, which vertically scales resources to increase the performance of the CPU and memory of the server, scale-in, which reduces the number of servers, and scale-down, which reduces the performance of the server. The resource increase / decrease processing is performed by a manual operation by the administrator from the administrator terminal 200 or when a preset condition is met. For example, the resource increase / decrease processing is performed when the computer resource usage rate exceeds a predetermined threshold due to an increase in server load (for example, when the threshold is exceeded by referring to the current metrics or the metrics for the past few times) or when a condition is met assuming that the server load will increase (for example, when a specific user logs in).

[0103] Furthermore, in the case where an upper limit number of people (the number of users that can be associated with one room) is set in a room, the resource increase / decrease process may be performed by increasing resources to increase the number of rooms when the upper limit number of people in the room is reached due to users entering the room (for example, when the upper limit number of people is reached, or when a predetermined number of people is reached just before the upper limit number is reached). For example, if one room is defined for one server, the number of servers may be increased, or multiple rooms may be defined for one server, and processing may be performed to improve the processing performance of one server to create a resource state that can handle an increase in rooms. Note that the servers of the distribution server 100 may be configured to perform load balancing processing at any time in conjunction with scaling.

[0104] The servers whose scale is managed by the scale management unit 136 include, for example, a login authentication API server that functions as the entry / exit processing unit 134, a lobby API server that functions as the content management unit 131 that allows users to obtain information such as a list of areas and rooms, or a server corresponding to a room. Note that one server may have one room or multiple rooms defined therefor.

[0105] <Administrator terminal configuration> Next, the configuration of the administrator terminal 200 will be described. As shown in Fig. 4, the administrator terminal 200 includes a communication unit 210 that communicates with other computers, a storage unit 220 that stores various data, an input unit 230 for inputting operations, etc., an output unit 240 for outputting images, sounds, etc., and a control unit 250 that controls the entire computer. The communication unit 210, the storage unit 220, the input unit 230, the output unit 240, and the control unit 250 are connected to each other by a bus line.

[0106] The communication unit 210 is a communication interface equipped with a NIC for performing wired or wireless communication. The communication unit 210 mainly communicates with the distribution server 100 and the specific user information medium management server 500 via the network 2. The storage unit 220 is composed of a RAM, a ROM, and the like. The storage unit 220 stores programs for executing various control processes (for example, programs for managing content using a virtual space), various data, and the like.

[0107] The input unit 230 includes an input device (e.g., a touch panel, a touch pad, a pointing device such as a mouse, a keyboard, etc.) for receiving an input operation from the administrator. The output unit 240 includes an output device (a display, a speaker, etc.) for presenting information to the administrator.

[0108] The control unit 250 is configured with a CPU, etc. The control unit 250 controls the overall operation of the administrator terminal 200 by executing the programs stored in the storage unit 220.

[0109] The following describes the functional configuration of the control unit 250. The control unit 250 functions as at least a content setting unit 251, a user setting unit 252, and a distribution server management unit 253.

[0110] The content setting unit 251 stores and updates information related to the content and virtual space managed by the content management unit 131 of the distribution server 100 in response to operations on the administrator terminal 200. This allows, for example, information for specifying content, information for specifying an image in the virtual space for each piece of content, information for setting and specifying information for specifying the date and time of distribution, and the like to be stored and updated in the storage unit 120. Furthermore, the information that the content setting unit 251 can store and update in the storage unit 120 can be set for each area and room.

[0111] Furthermore, the content setting unit 251 stores and updates information related to the content managed by the content management unit 531 of the specific user information media management server 500 in response to an operation on the administrator terminal 200. This allows, for example, information for specifying the content (for example, articles about a specific user, trend information, etc.) to be stored and updated in the storage unit 520.

[0112] The user setting unit 252 sets user information on users managed by the user management unit 134 of the distribution server 100 or the user management unit 533 of the specific user information medium management server 500 in response to an operation on the administrator terminal 200. The setting of user information includes, for example, setting of an evaluation index for each user. The setting of the evaluation index includes setting of an evaluation index for each user shown in FIG. 7 described later, setting of a criterion for calculating (computing) the evaluation index, setting of an attribute number and type for each user, and the like. For example, the administrator who operates the administrator terminal 200 can assign or change an attribute number in advance to a specific user so that a general user can be distinguished from a specific user different from a general user. The specific user is, for example, a talent or a famous person. For example, a talent who is a support target in a fan community app is a specific user, and a fan user who supports the specific user in the community is a general user.

[0113] The distribution server management unit 253 performs processing for making settings related to the scaling of the distribution server 100 and settings related to the amount of information distributed from the distribution server 100 to a user terminal. For example, the distribution server management unit 253 stores and updates in the storage unit 120 a program for increasing or decreasing the resources (scaling) in the scale management unit 136, and a program for information amount variation processing for increasing or decreasing the resolution and the number of objects for displaying the virtual space distributed by the data distribution unit 132 of the distribution server 100. In addition, the storage unit 120 stores and updates the conditions of a specific user included in the conditions for varying the information amount variation processing and scale-related settings of the distribution server 100.

[0114] <Configuration of specific user information media management server> Next, the configuration of the specific user information medium management server 500 will be described. As shown in Fig. 5, the specific user information medium management server 500 includes a communication unit 510 that communicates with other computers, a storage unit 520 that stores various data, and a control unit 530 that controls the entire computer. The communication unit 510, the storage unit 520, and the control unit 530 are connected to each other by a bus line. Note that each function may be defined as a server (container) on a virtualized server and executed as a server.

[0115] The communication unit 510 is a communication interface including a network interface card controller (NIC) for performing wired or wireless communication. The communication unit 510 communicates with other computers via the network 2.

[0116] The storage unit 520 is composed of a RAM (Random Access Memory), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a flash memory, a HDD (Hard Disk Drive), and the like. The storage unit 520 stores programs for executing various control processes (for example, programs for managing and providing content, and the like), various data, and the like. The various data stored in the storage unit 520 include posting information and trend information provided for each type of content, and user information related to users. The information related to users includes the ID of the user in the specific user information medium, the attribute number for each user, the evaluation index, information for identifying a specific user selected in advance by the user for each user (also called selected as a favorite), and the user ID of the user information 122 stored in the storage unit 120 of the distribution server 100. For example, based on the information related to the user stored in the storage unit 520, the user ID in the distribution server 100 can be associated with the user ID in the specific user information medium management server 500 for the same user. The user ID in the distribution server 100 and the user ID in the specific user information medium management server 500 may be the same ID.

[0117] The control unit 530 is configured with a CPU (Central Processing Unit) etc. The control unit 530 controls the overall operation of the specific user information medium management server 500 by executing a program stored in the storage unit 520.

[0118] The following describes the functional configuration of the control unit 530. The control unit 530 functions as at least a content management unit 531, a data transmission / reception unit 532, a user management unit 533, and an entry / exit status acquisition management unit 534.

[0119] The content management unit 531 stores and updates information for identifying text, images, etc. corresponding to content posted by the administrator terminal 200 or a user terminal in the storage unit 520 via the communication unit 510. The content management unit 531 stores information on attributes that can be associated with content to be provided to a user (for example, a group to which a specific user belongs, or the specific user itself) in the storage unit 520. The content management unit 531 stores and updates information for identifying information such as the category and poster of content posted by the administrator terminal 200 or a user terminal, and attributes associated with each content, in the storage unit 520.

[0120] The data transmission / reception unit 532 receives various information transmitted from the user terminal via the communication unit 510, and transmits (distributes) various information to the user terminal. The data transmission / reception unit 532 refers to various management tables stored in the storage unit 520 to perform distribution to the user terminal. Alternatively, the data transmission / reception unit 532 distributes data stored in another computer as a result of calling an API via the communication unit 510 by the entry / exit status acquisition unit 534 or the like so that the data can be viewed on the user terminal. The various information transmitted and received by the data transmission / reception unit 532 includes, for example, information on the content managed in the content management unit 531, various notification information, and information based on the user information 122 stored in the storage unit 120 of the distribution server 100. The transmission of various information includes, for example, push notification (including desktop notification), in-app notification, or distribution of entry / exit information of a specific user to a virtual space provided by the distribution server 100 as information on a specific user in response to a request from the user terminal. The push notification, etc. may be notified when the user terminal has given permission (set to ON) in advance.

[0121] The entry / exit status acquisition management unit 534 acquires information on users who have entered the virtual space provided by the distribution server 100 via the communication unit 510, and causes the entry / exit information of a specific user into the virtual space to be distributed to the user terminal by the data transmission / reception unit 532. The user information may be received from the distribution server 100 and stored in the storage unit 520 of the specific user information medium management server 500, or the result of calling an API of the user entry / exit status of the distribution server 100 may be acquired. In addition, based on the user information acquired by the entry / exit status acquisition management unit 534 and the user information (including information for determining the specific user) stored in the storage unit 520 of the specific user information medium management server 500, if a specific user has entered the virtual space, the data transmission / reception unit 532 can notify the user terminal of the information that the specific user has entered the virtual space.

[0122] <User terminal configuration> Next, the configuration of the user terminal (user terminal 300 and broadcasting user terminal 400) will be described in detail. As shown in Fig. 6, the user terminal includes a communication unit 310 that communicates with other computers including the broadcasting server 100, a storage unit 320 that stores various data, an input unit 330 for inputting operations, etc., an output unit 340 for outputting images, etc., and a control unit 350 that controls the entire computer. The communication unit 310, storage unit 320, input unit 330, output unit 340, and control unit 350 are connected to each other by a bus line.

[0123] The communication unit 310 is a communication interface equipped with a NIC for performing wired or wireless communication. The communication unit 310 communicates with other computers including the distribution server 100 and the specific user information medium management server 500 via the network 2. The storage unit 320 is composed of a RAM, a ROM, and the like. The storage unit 320 stores programs for executing various control processes (for example, a program for viewing content using a virtual space, a program for distributing content using a virtual space via the distribution server 100 in a distribution user terminal, etc.), various data, and the like.

[0124] The input unit 330 includes an input device (for example, a touch panel, a touch pad, a pointing device such as a mouse, a keyboard, a microphone, etc.) for receiving input operations and voices from the user. The broadcasting user terminal 400 includes an input device such as an HMD with a motion capture function, and includes a motion input unit that acquires the user's actions as motion information as the input unit 330. In this way, the broadcasting user terminal 400 used by the broadcasting user for content distribution has different hardware and functions from the user terminal 300 used for participating as a general user. The user operation in this embodiment refers to the operation from the user on these input units 330. For example, touch operations, slide operations, flick operations on the touch panel, button operations, drag (swipe) operations, operations on icons displayed on the display unit of the user terminal 300, operations on a pointing device, a keyboard, voice input to a microphone, etc. are included.

[0125] The output unit 340 includes an output device (a display unit such as a display, a speaker, etc.) for presenting and outputting information (text, images, sounds, etc.) to the user. The control unit 350 is composed of a CPU, etc. The control unit 350 controls the overall operation of the user terminal 300 by executing a program stored in the storage unit 320.

[0126] The following describes the functional configuration of the control unit 350. The control unit 350 functions as an information acquisition unit 351, a virtual camera control unit 352, a display control unit 353, an audio output control unit 354, and an input information transmission unit 355.

[0127] The information acquisition unit 351 acquires content data and comment information from the distribution server 100 via the communication unit 310, and stores in the storage unit 320 information for displaying an image in a virtual space in which various objects are arranged based on the content data, and stores in the storage unit 320 information for displaying comments posted based on the comment information. The information acquisition unit 351 also acquires content data from the specific user information medium management server 500, and stores in the storage unit 320 information for displaying text and images related to the content (posted information, trend information, etc.) based on the content data.

[0128] Virtual camera control unit 352 is placed in the virtual space stored in storage unit 320 and controls a virtual camera for specifying an area (visible area) of an image in the virtual space to be displayed on user terminal 300. Virtual camera control unit 352 controls the position, direction, inclination, etc. of the virtual camera in response to an operation on input unit 330.

[0129] The display control unit 353 displays on the display unit (such as a display) an image corresponding to a field of view area, which is a field of view from a virtual camera, in the virtual space stored in the storage unit 320 based on the content data acquired by the information acquisition unit 351. That is, the user can change the position, direction, inclination, etc. of the virtual camera arranged in the virtual space in response to an operation on the input unit 330, and can visually confirm an image in the field of view area of ​​the virtual camera among images in the virtual space by displaying it on the user terminal 300. In addition, the image data displayed by the display control unit 353 can change the resolution setting and the display amount of object data by a user's arbitrary setting on the input unit 330. In addition, the information acquisition unit 351 displays content information (e.g., a headline of an article of the content) related to the content stored in the storage unit 320 based on the content data acquired from the specific user information medium management server 500 so that the user can identify it. For example, by displaying a headline such as a distribution schedule of a specific user such as a talent on the user terminal 300, the user can recognize that the content is a distribution schedule related to the talent.

[0130] In this embodiment, an example has been shown in which information for displaying an image in a virtual space based on content data is stored in memory unit 320, a virtual camera is placed in the virtual space stored in memory unit 320, and the field of view displayed on user terminal 300 is varied by controlling the virtual camera. However, this is not limited to this, and for example, a virtual camera of the user may be placed in a virtual space stored in memory unit 120 of distribution server 100, the virtual camera may be controlled by virtual camera control unit 352 to vary the field of view of the virtual camera, and data for identifying an image within the field of view may be received and displayed on user terminal 300.

[0131] Furthermore, the display control unit 353 causes the display unit (such as a display) to display the posted comment history stored in the storage unit 320 based on the comment information acquired by the information acquisition unit 351. The audio output control unit 354 causes the audio output unit (such as a speaker) to output audio based on the content data acquired by the information acquisition unit 351.

[0132] In addition, the display control unit 353 displays a UI (User Interface) image (including, for example, a menu image selectable by the user and an operation image for accepting an operation) in a manner corresponding to the content being distributed based on the program stored in the storage unit 320. In this embodiment, different UI images may be displayed on the user terminal 300 used to participate as a general user and the distributor user terminal 400 used by the distributor user for content distribution. For example, a UI image for posting a comment may be displayed on the user terminal 300 (when the program is executed when viewing / experienced) but not on the distributor user terminal 400 (when the program is executed when distributing content) for mainly communicating by voice. In addition, since the menu items required during viewing / experienced and during content distribution are different, the UI image for selecting a menu may be different between the user terminal 300 (when the program is executed when viewing / experienced) and the distributor user terminal 400 (when the program is executed when distributing content).

[0133] The input information transmitting unit 355 transmits voice information, operation input information, and the like acquired by the input unit 330 to the distribution server 100. The operation input information includes various information such as information on the user's entry and exit into the virtual space, operation information for specifying an operation on an object in the displayed virtual space or a user character placed in the virtual space (including, for example, motion information acquired by the motion input unit 260 (such as an HMD)). The information on the user's entry and exit into the virtual space includes information such as the user's login information (a request to log in to the virtual space), logout information, and information on the area of ​​each virtual space and room movement.

[0134] <Overview of the relationship between specific users and server processing> In this embodiment, the distribution server 100 performs an entry notification process for notifying other users that a specific user has entered the virtual space in response to the specific user's entry into the virtual space. In addition, the distribution server 100 performs a setting change process for changing the resource settings of the distribution server 100 (also called a virtual space providing unit) and the setting of the amount of information for providing the virtual space to be distributed to the user terminal in response to the specific user's entry into the virtual space.

[0135] <Types of users in virtual space> (Example of a user data table) With reference to FIG. 7, a user to whom a virtual space is provided in this embodiment and a specific user who may affect the behavior of other users will be described. FIG. 7(A) is an example of a data table related to users stored in the user information 121 of the distribution server 100. Each user is associated with a "user ID" (u1, u2, u3, etc.), a "user attribute number", an "evaluation index", and an "entry status". The distribution server 100 in this embodiment judges whether or not the user is a specific user according to the "user attribute number" or "evaluation index", and performs processing to change the settings of the distribution server 100 and to notify other users of the entry information.

[0136] The "entry status" is associated with the entry status of each user to the virtual space. For example, if the user is logged in to the virtual space, "entering the room" is associated, and if the user is logged out, "leaving the room" is associated. In addition, the entry status of the user (area, room ID, etc.) may also be associated.

[0137] FIG. 7B is a diagram for explaining an example of the types of "user attribute numbers." A "user attribute" is an identification ID for classifying users according to attribute types. For example, a user who is a general user is given a user attribute number "1." If the user is a talent, the talent can be further classified according to the group to which the talent belongs. A talent who belongs to group A is given a user attribute number "2," and a talent who belongs to group B is given a user attribute number "3." An administrator who manages and operates the virtual space is given a user attribute number "4." Other celebrities, such as people who are considered to have influence in the virtual space, are given a user attribute number "5." These attribute type items are managed, for example, by the administrator terminal 200, and can be added or changed as appropriate by the administrator who operates the administrator terminal 200. It is possible to grant special authority in the virtual space according to the user's attribute type.

[0138] In this embodiment, the specific user is a user whose user attribute type is a celebrity or a famous person. A celebrity or famous person is assigned a user attribute number of "2," "3," or "5." Therefore, when a user associated with a user attribute number of "2," "3," or "5" enters a virtual space, the specific user is considered to have entered the virtual space.

[0139] For example, the user IDs "u1", "u5", and "u6" in FIG. 7(A) have an attribute number of "1" and an attribute type of general user, and therefore are not considered to be specific users. The user ID "u4" has an attribute number of "4" and an attribute type of manager, and therefore is not considered to be a specific user. On the other hand, the user IDs "u2" and "u7" have an attribute number of "2" and an attribute type of talent in group A, and therefore are considered to be specific users. The user IDs "u3" and "u8" have an attribute number of "3" and an attribute type of talent in group B, and therefore are considered to be specific users. The user ID "u10" has an attribute number of "5" and an attribute type of celebrity, and therefore is considered to be a specific user.

[0140] FIG. 7(C) is an example of a numerical value used to set the "evaluation index." The evaluation index is a value that varies depending on external evaluation, which is evaluation from other than the user himself / herself. For example, the numerical value may be set in advance by the administrator, or may be a value according to the number of followers of SNS or the like different from the virtual space, or may be a value according to the number of followers in the metaverse space by providing a mutual follow function in the virtual space (metaverse space) in this embodiment. For example, when game content is provided in the virtual space, a follow function for the game content may be provided and the number of game followers in the virtual space may be used. Note that the number of followers may be a value that is an index of popularity, such as the number of users registered in favorites. Users with a certain number of followers or more are treated as specific users (such as influencers) who have influence over other users. For example, different processing may be performed depending on the number of followers themselves.

[0141] Alternatively, the "evaluation index" may be a value calculated using a predetermined formula for a value that is an index of a predetermined popularity, such as the number of followers. For example, the evaluation index may be determined using a predetermined formula based on the number of followers, and a user who has a positive value using the formula may be regarded as a specific user. The predetermined formula may be, for example, "[number of followers - 1,000,000] / specified value = evaluation index (may be rounded up to the first decimal place)", but is not limited to this.

[0142] The evaluation index in FIG. 7(A) is an example of a case where the evaluation index is determined using a predetermined calculation formula for a value that is an index of popularity. User IDs "u1", "u4", and "u5" are not considered to be specific users because their evaluation indexes are negative. User IDs "u2", "u3", and the like are considered to be specific users because their evaluation indexes are positive values. Here, even if a user is not considered to be a specific user in either the above-mentioned user attribute number or the evaluation index, if the user is considered to be a specific user in either one of them, the distribution server 100 performs processing assuming that the user is a specific user. For example, user ID "u6" is a general user with a user attribute number of "1", but is highly popular in the game in the metaverse, so that the evaluation index is a positive value and the user is processed assuming that the user is a specific user.

[0143] (Relationship between evaluation index and server expansion) In this embodiment, the setting change process of the distribution server 100 can be configured to execute different processes for each specific user. FIG. 8 is an example showing the number of servers to be increased according to each evaluation index when a scale-out process is performed as the setting change process of the distribution server 100 to increase the number of servers in response to a specific user entering the virtual space. As shown in FIG. 8, there are multiple types of servers with different processing capabilities. A normal server, a high-spec server with higher performance than the normal server, and a maximum-spec server with even higher performance than the high-spec server are provided. The number of these servers to be increased is predetermined according to the evaluation index. For example, if the user ID "u2" in FIG. 7(A) logs in, one normal server and one high-spec server are added because the evaluation index is 5. If the user ID "u7" logs in, five high-spec servers and four maximum-spec servers are added because the evaluation index is 20. Note that, when a scale-up process is performed as the setting change process, the scale-up stage for increasing the resource performance (the specification value of the CPU and memory) may be different according to the evaluation index for each user.

[0144] Also, the amount of resources (the number of servers, or the value of CPU or memory) may be determined for each attribute number. In this case, the setting change process is performed according to the amount of resources for each attribute number determined in advance. For example, if the user's attribute number is "2", five servers may be added, and if the user's attribute number is "5", three servers may be added. Also, even if the attribute type is the same, multiple attribute numbers may be set according to the amount of resources to be changed. For example, even if the type is the same "talent of group A" as exemplified in FIG. 7(B), attribute numbers such as "2", "6", and "7" may be set according to the number of servers to be increased, and if a talent of group A with attribute number "2" enters the room, three servers may be added, if a talent of group A with attribute number "6" enters the room, five servers may be added, and if a talent of group A with attribute number "7" enters the room, ten servers may be added.

[0145] <Example of display screen on user device> With reference to Figs. 9 to 11, an example of a display screen of a user terminal in this embodiment will be described. Fig. 9 is an example of a screen displayed on a user terminal when entering a virtual space. Fig. 9(A) is a login screen after starting an application or the like for displaying a virtual space provided by the distribution server 100. The application or the like for displaying a virtual space includes a WEB application operated on a WEB browser, a desktop application, a smartphone application, and the like. Hereinafter, these may be referred to as an application or various applications. When the START icon 21 in Fig. 9(A) is selected, login request information is transmitted from the user terminal to the distribution server 100. If the user who transmitted the login request information is a specific user, the distribution server 100 determines that the user who requested the login is a specific user based on the login request information, and performs processing for displaying the screen of Fig. 9(B).

[0146] 9(B) is a screen that allows a user to select whether or not to notify other users that he or she has logged in. For example, by selecting the "Yes" icon 22Y or the "No" icon 22N that is displayed together with the message "Would you like to be notified that you have logged in?", the notification availability information is transmitted to the distribution server 100. For example, when the "Yes" icon 22Y is selected, the notification management unit 135 performs a process for notifying other users that he or she has logged in based on the notification availability information. When the "No" icon 22N is selected, the notification management unit 135 prevents other users from being notified that he or she has logged in based on the notification availability information, even if he or she has logged in to the virtual space.

[0147] 9(C) is an example of a title screen displayed after login authentication processing to the virtual space has been performed. An area list corresponding to each content that can be provided by the content management unit 131 is displayed on the screen of the user terminal of the user who has been authenticated to login to the virtual space by the entry / exit processing unit 134. An area bar 23, a room icon display area 24, a room list display icon 25, an update icon 26, a room ID input area 27, etc. are displayed on the title screen.

[0148] The area bar 23 is displayed to indicate areas (contents) that can currently be provided to the user by the content management unit 131. In Fig. 9(C), the area bars 23a to 23c indicate that areas X to Z are respectively available.

[0149] The room icon display area 24 is an area that displays icons that indicate rooms for entering various available areas displayed by the area bar 23. The user can enter a room by selecting a room icon displayed in the various room icon display area 24, and each area is provided within the room. In FIG. 9(C), a room icon display area 24a for a room in which area X is provided, a room icon display area 24b for a room in which area Y is provided, and a room icon display area 24c for a room in which area Z is provided are displayed. In this way, the user can enter each room by selecting the room icon of any room.

[0150] Also, each room icon displayed in the room icon display area 24 may display a room ID, and may be displayed in a manner that allows users to recognize the situation, such as "comfortable," "crowded," or "full," depending on the degree of congestion (for example, the number of users who have entered the room), and may display the entry status (presence or absence of entry) of a specific user, a following user, or a friend user. For example, the user may be able to recognize the congestion situation by changes in text information, face mark icons (a smiling face indicates comfortable, a sad face indicates crowded, etc.), color patterns, etc. Also, the entry status of a specific user, a following user, a friend user, etc. may be displayed in a manner that allows the user to identify who is in the room, and instead of or in addition to this, an icon indicating that a friend, etc., is in the room may be displayed without being displayed until someone can be identified.

[0151] In Fig. 9(C), the room icon display area 24a displaying the rooms in area X displays a room with room ID 001, a room with room ID 002, and a room with room ID 003. The congestion status of room ID 001 is "comfortable", while the congestion status of room ID 002 is "crowded". "Comfortable" means that there is still some room before the room's maximum number of people is reached, "crowded" means that there is not much room left before the room's maximum number of people is reached (for example, the maximum number of people is reached with 10 people remaining), and "full" means that the maximum number of people has been reached and no new users can enter the room.

[0152] By selecting a room icon, a confirmation pop-up screen before entering the room may be displayed, and the user may select to enter the room or cancel along with a message such as "Do you want to enter the room?". For example, only the room ID may be displayed in the room icon display area 24, and other information such as congestion information may be displayed on the pop-up screen.

[0153] The room list display icon 25 is an icon for displaying all icons displaying rooms for entering various available areas displayed by the area bar 23 by performing a selection operation. Even if there are rooms not displayed in the room icon display area 24, all of the rooms can be displayed. For example, there are six rooms in which the area X is provided, but even if the number of rooms displayed on one screen is reduced due to the layout of the display screen (to reduce the number of rooms displayed and increase the area displayed on one screen, etc.), or if the display priority of rooms that are full and cannot be entered or crowded rooms is lowered, and rooms with a comfortable crowded situation are given priority and displayed in the room icon display area 24, all of the rooms can be displayed. In FIG. 9(C), room list display icons 25a to 25c are displayed so as to correspond to the area bars 23a to 23c.

[0154] The update icon 26 is an icon for updating (reloading) the title screen by sending a request to the distribution server 100 to reacquire list data of accessible areas and rooms when selected. This causes, for example, the rooms displayed in the room icon display area 24 to be updated.

[0155] The room ID input area 27 is a search area that displays rooms by directly inputting and specifying a room ID. For example, if the user knows the ID of a room that a friend user is in, the user can directly input the room ID into the room ID input area 27 to directly specify the room and attempt to enter the room. For example, inputting the room ID may cause a confirmation pop-up screen to be displayed before entering the room, which is displayed when a room icon is selected.

[0156] FIG. 10 is an example of a display screen of a user terminal, and is an example of a display screen of a push notification by an application downloaded to the user terminal or a specific page within the application. Note that, although an example screen of a smartphone is illustrated, the screen may be a screen of another computer device. The application downloaded to the user terminal is an application for enabling the virtual space provided by the distribution server 100 to be provided on the user terminal (an application that allows entry to the virtual space by opening the application) or an application managed by the specific user information medium management server 500. Below, an example will be described in which the talent BBB is the talent corresponding to the user ID "u2" in FIG. 7(A).

[0157] FIG. 10(A) is an example of a screen when a push notification is made on a user terminal to notify that a specific user has entered a room. The push notification screen 30 displays a message such as "BBB has logged in to the metaverse!", notifying that the celebrity BBB has logged in to the virtual space. The push notification screen may also notify the area or room ID that the specific user has entered (for example, "BBB has entered room ID 0001!"). In addition, the push notification may be configured so that the user can turn the notification on or off. Therefore, if the user has set the push notification to be off (not permitted), the push notification screen will not be displayed on the user terminal.

[0158] FIG. 10(B) is an example of a display screen of a fan community app for a talent that is provided to a user by the specific user information media management server 500 and includes the talent BBB as a talent to be supported. FIG. 10(B) is a page where information about a specific user can be viewed. For example, it is a page where a schedule related to a talent can be viewed, and a page where past (most recent, etc.), current, and future video distributions and trends of the talent can be viewed. The page where a schedule related to a talent can be viewed displays a period selection area 41, a group selection area 42, a date and time display 43, a content heading 40, an account 48, a related talent 44, a favorite filter 45, and the like. In addition, a schedule icon 18, a notification icon 15, and the like are displayed at the bottom of the screen. In the community app, a talent schedule screen may be displayed by selecting the schedule icon 18, and the like. In addition, a list of notifications that have been pushed in FIG. 10(A) may be confirmed by selecting the notification icon 15.

[0159] The favorite filter 45 is an icon that, when a user in a fan community has previously selected and stored a favorite talent (favorite talent), can be extracted and displayed by performing a selection operation so that only information about the favorite talent (favorite talent) that has been previously selected and stored is displayed.

[0160] In the period selection area 41, icons of periods such as "past", "present", and "future schedule" are displayed. By selecting the "past" icon, for example, the celebrity's most recent video distribution history and the history of entry into the virtual space (logged out history) are displayed. When the "present" icon is selected, information such as the video currently being distributed and the current entry status into the virtual space are displayed. When the "future schedule" is selected, future distributions and the schedule of entry into the virtual space are displayed. Note that a schedule of events (such as live performances) in the virtual space related to a specific user may be displayed, and an area or room ID to which a specific user has entered may be displayed. For example, when the "present" icon is selected, information on a live event currently being held in the virtual space in which the celebrity appears is displayed.

[0161] In the group selection area 42, for example, when the talent can be divided into groups to which the talent belongs, an icon that displays information for each group is displayed by a selection operation. The content heading 40 divides the display area into individual contents (such as distribution and information on entering a virtual space). The account 48 displayed in the content heading 40 displays icons such as a distribution channel account for a video and a user account in a virtual space. The related talent 44 displayed in the content heading 40 displays talents related to the content displayed in the various content headings 40 in association with the content heading 40. For example, icons of talents appearing in a distributed video (for example, collaboration partners) and icons of talents who have entered a virtual space are displayed. In this way, since related talents are associated with each content, by selecting the recommended filter 45, it is possible to extract and display only the content to which the previously selected talent is associated as a related talent. Note that the related talents are automatically associated, for example, when posting the content or creating the content heading 40, based on the operation of the poster, or based on information acquired by the API.

[0162] Also, in the push notification exemplified in FIG. 10(A), only the entry information of the favorite talent that the user has selected and stored in advance may be push-notified. The information for identifying the specific user (talent) that the user has selected and stored in advance is stored in the storage unit 520 of the specific user information medium management server 500. The specific user information medium management server 500 distributes information for identifying the user that the user has selected in advance (information for identifying whether or not the user has been selected) for each user together with information including information on other specific users. The user terminal receives the information distributed from the specific user information medium management server 500 and performs a process of extracting the specific user that has been selected in advance, thereby making it possible to display information about the user that has been selected in advance (such as information about the favorite talent extracted when the favorite filter 45 is on).

[0163] In FIG. 10(B), the "Current" icon is selected in the period selection area 41, and group A is selected in the group selection area 42, with the favorite filter 45 turned on. Therefore, the information related to the current group A, which is associated with the talent previously selected and stored by the user as the related talent, is extracted and displayed. For example, FIG. 10(B) is an example screen of a user who previously selected and stored talent BBB as a favorite talent, so that a content heading 40a in which the content of the distributed video associated with talent BBB is displayed, and a content heading 40b which is the entry information of talent BBB into the virtual space, etc. are displayed. For example, an image portion of each content heading 40 may be selected to transition to another screen. For example, when the image of the content heading 40a is selected, transition to a distributed video (such as video distribution in an external web service) may be made, and when the image of the content heading 40b is selected, transition to the virtual space may be made. For example, a virtual space app may be started, a login screen may be launched, or transition to a room in which the talent is present may be made. When a talent logs out, information indicating the logout may be displayed together with the past distribution history in history information displayed by a past icon that allows past information to be viewed, instead of in the current tab. Alternatively, the display itself may be deleted from the list. In other words, the content heading 40 itself may be deleted.

[0164] FIG. 11 is an example of an image of a virtual space provided by the distribution server 100 and displayed on a user terminal. For example, it is an example of a screen displayed by launching a desktop application, a smartphone application, a web browser, or the like. FIG. 11 is a display image of a room corresponding to a spatial area ER1 in which an entrance space (entrance content) is provided. At the entrance, a bulletin board object O that allows viewing of information in the virtual space (metaverse) is displayed. On the bulletin board object O, information about a specific user, event information, various other news, breaking news, and the like are displayed based on information stored in the storage unit 120. As an example of information about a specific user, the name of a specific user who entered (logged in, etc.) the virtual space, the time, information about the area entered, and the like are displayed.

[0165] Bulletin board object O in FIG. 11 displays breaking news and current event information. The breaking news displays a message at 10:00 that reads, "BBB has logged into the Metaverse!" and a message at 10:01 that reads, "BBB has entered Area Y!". This displays information that a specific user, a celebrity BBB, has logged into the virtual space, and which area of ​​the virtual space she has entered. Other examples of information about special user actions in the virtual space include the breaking news display at 8:15 that reads, "P has climbed onto the stage in Area Y!" and current event information that reads, "A mini live show is currently taking place in Area Z!".

[0166] A user who has entered the room is displayed as a user avatar U, and can move within the virtual space or change the viewpoint by operating the user avatar U. The image of the virtual space may be an image looking down on the user avatar U as exemplified in Fig. 11, or may be an image seen from the viewpoint of the user avatar U operated by the user himself without displaying the user avatar U. Also, the bulletin board object O may be configured to display an image in the bulletin board as a large pop-up on the screen of the user terminal or to be displayed on the entire screen by bringing the user avatar U close and selecting the bulletin board object O.

[0167] As a result, when a user wants to obtain information about a specific user, the user can view the information about the specific user by, for example, moving to a location in the virtual space where a bulletin board or the like is located and obtaining display information for the bulletin board from the distribution server 100. That is, the information about the specific user can be obtained at the user's request. Note that even in a page that displays information (schedule, etc.) about a talent to be supported in a fan community app such as FIG. 10(B), if the user satisfies a predetermined condition (such as a celebrity in FIG. 7(B)), information about the entry of a user who is not a talent and the actions taken in the virtual space may be displayed.

[0168] Furthermore, the information on the specific user is not limited to being displayed as an image in a virtual space, but may be a notification (notification) within the app, as in the in-app notification bar 50 in Fig. 11. The in-app notification bar 50 displays a message saying "BBB has logged in to the metaverse!" as a notice. The in-app notification bar 50 and information on BBB's login within the bulletin board object O can be displayed by the entry / exit processing unit 134 performing login authentication processing for BBB (e.g., a specific user of user "u2"), and the notification management unit 135 performing distribution processing.

[0169] <Regarding entry notification processing> Hereinafter, with reference to Figs. 12 to 15, a notification process for notifying other users that a specific user has logged in to a virtual space provided to a user by the distribution server 100 will be described. In this embodiment, the manner in which information about a specific user (for example, a celebrity) is notified includes receiving a push notification about the information about the specific user, or receiving and displaying response information distributed (transmitted) to a user terminal based on a viewing request from the user terminal (a request signal transmitted from the user terminal) to a server that allows a user to view information about a specific user in response to a viewing request from the user terminal (transmission of a request signal (request)). The server that allows a user to view information about a specific user includes, for example, a server that manages a smartphone app related to a specific user, a server that manages a WEB site that displays information about a specific user (specific user information medium management server 500), or the distribution server 100 that provides a virtual space into which a specific user has logged in. A specific user information media management server 500 (such as a server that manages smartphone apps or a server that manages websites) obtains information on whether a specific user is logged in to the virtual space using an entry status API that enables the user's entry status (for example, the user information data table in Figure 7(A)) stored in the memory unit 120 of the distribution server 100 to be obtained via the communication unit 110.

[0170] (Entry notification process 1) The entry notification process 1 is a process for notifying other users of information about the entry of a specific user when the specific user enters (logs in) the virtual space (for example, by push notification or by displaying the information on the entry on a user terminal in response to a viewing request from the user). The entry notification process 1 will be described below with reference to the flowchart in FIG. 12. The entry notification process 1 is repeatedly executed at predetermined time intervals by the control unit 130 in the distribution server 100 when a user logs in to the virtual space. The distribution server 100 performs various processes including the entry notification process 1 based on a program stored in the storage unit 120. Note that an example will be described in which the determination as to whether or not the user is a specific user is made based on the user attribute number in FIG. 7(A).

[0171] First, in step S101, it is determined whether or not a user has logged in to the virtual space. If it is not determined that a user has logged in, the process proceeds to step S107. On the other hand, if it is determined that a user has logged in, the process proceeds to step S102, where it is determined whether or not the logged-in user is a specific user. For example, the entry / exit processing unit 134 (for example, the login authentication device 101 described later with reference to FIG. 16) determines whether or not the logged-in user is a specific user when performing login authentication processing based on a login request from a user. The user's login request is transmitted to the distribution server 100 by, for example, selecting the START icon 21 in FIG. 9(A). For example, if the logged-in user is, for example, user ID "u1" in FIG. 7(A), the user is a general user with a user attribute number of 1, and is therefore not determined to be a specific user. On the other hand, if the logged-in user is, for example, user ID "u2", the user is a talent in group A with a user attribute number of 2, and is therefore determined to be a specific user. If it is not determined to be a specific user in step S102, the process proceeds to step S107.

[0172] On the other hand, when it is determined in step S102 that the user is a specific user, the process proceeds to step S103. In step S103, display information for displaying a selection screen for notifying other users of the fact that the user has logged in is distributed (transmitted) to the user terminal of the specific user who has logged in. At this time, the distribution server 100 performs processing for displaying the title screen after login illustrated in FIG. 9(C) on the user terminal of the user who has logged in. For example, if the user who has logged in is a specific user with a user ID "u2", the control unit 130 transmits display information for displaying the selection screen of FIG. 9(B) on the user terminal of "u2" to the user terminal of the specific user who has logged in. This allows the specific user "u2" to select whether or not to notify other users of the fact that the user has logged in by selecting the "Yes" icon 22Y or the "No" icon 22N in FIG. 9(B). When either the "Yes" icon 22Y or the "No" icon 22N is selected, notification availability information is transmitted to the distribution server 100.

[0173] In step S104, whether or not the specific user who is determined to have logged in in steps S101 and S102 has permitted to be notified of the fact that he or she has logged in is determined based on the notification possibility information transmitted from the user terminal of the specific user. If it is determined that permission has not been granted, the process proceeds to step S107. For example, if the specific user logs in by selecting the "No" icon 22N on the screen illustrated in Fig. 9(B), the notification management unit 135 (for example, the notification device 104 described later with reference to Fig. 16) restricts the process of notifying the fact that the specific user has logged in based on the received notification possibility information.

[0174] On the other hand, when it is determined in step S104 that permission has been granted, the process proceeds to step S105, where notification information for notifying the user terminal that the specific user has logged in is distributed. The destinations to which the notification information is distributed from the distribution server 100 are the user terminal and the specific user information medium management server 500. For example, when the "Yes" icon 22Y is selected and logged in on the screen in FIG. 9(B), it is determined that permission has been granted to be notified to other users based on the notification availability information received in the notification management unit 135. When the notification information is distributed from the distribution server 100, for example, a push notification as exemplified in FIG. 10(A) or an in-app notification as exemplified in the in-app notification 50 in FIG. 11 is provided in the user terminal based on the information received from the distribution server 100.

[0175] The administrator terminal 200 may also be notified, and even if a specific user has not permitted other users to be notified, the administrator terminal 200 may be notified. For example, even if the "No" icon 22N is selected on the screen of Fig. 9(B), the other user terminals are not notified, but the administrator terminal 200 operated by the administrator may be notified.

[0176] In step S106, a process is performed to update the information on the user's entry status so that the information indicating that the specific user, who has been determined to have been allowed to be notified in step S104, has logged in can be viewed as information on the specific user in response to a request (viewing request) from the user. For example, the notification management unit 135 updates the user's entry status and stores it in the storage unit 120 (which may be user information 121). As a result, another server (for example, the specific user information medium management server 500) that acquires the user's entry status by the user's entry / exit status API can acquire information on the login of the specific user in steps S101 to S104, and the application in FIG. 10(B) and a WEB browser that displays information on the specific user will display information on the login of the specific user, including the specific user in steps S101 to S104. In addition, by updating the entry status, information on the specific user can be displayed in the virtual space, and the login of the specific user can be displayed in the bulletin board object O illustrated in FIG. 11. After receiving the notifiable information, the distribution server 100 performs a process for displaying the post-login title screen shown in FIG. 9C on the user terminal of the logged-in user.

[0177] In step S107, it is determined whether or not there has been a request to view information about the specific user (a request from the user). If there has been no request to view, the process is terminated. If it is determined in step S107 that there has been a request to view, the process proceeds to step S108, where information about the specific user including information indicating that the specific user has logged in is distributed to the user terminal, and the process is terminated. For example, as a request to view, there has been a request from the user terminal to display a bulletin board object O in the virtual space exemplified in FIG. 11 (for example, a request to obtain information for displaying the space in which the bulletin board object O is placed, or a request to obtain information on the bulletin board object O by selecting and operating the bulletin board object O), and thus a message indicating that the specific user has logged in is displayed on the user screen of the user terminal. For example, the most recent predetermined period (for example, the past three hours) may be displayed.

[0178] (Entry notification process 2) The entry notification process 2 is a process executed in the specific user information medium management server 500, and is a process for notifying a user terminal of information that a specific user has entered a virtual space based on information received from the distribution server 100 in the entry notification process 1 described in FIG. 12 (for example, by push notification or by displaying the information of the entry on the user terminal in response to a browsing request from the user). The entry notification process 2 will be described below with reference to the flowchart in FIG. 13. The entry notification process 2 is repeatedly executed at predetermined time intervals by the control unit 530 of the specific user information medium management server 500. The specific user information medium management server 500 performs various processes including the entry notification process 2 based on a program stored in the storage unit 520.

[0179] First, in step S201, it is determined whether or not notification information for notifying the user terminal that a specific user has logged in has been received. If it is determined that the notification information has not been received, the process proceeds to step S203. On the other hand, if it is determined in step S201 that the notification information has been received, in step S202, a process is performed to notify (report) the user terminal of the information that the specific user has logged in based on the received notification information. For example, when celebrity BBB logs in, notification information is transmitted from the distribution server 100 in step S105 of FIG. 12, and when the notification information is received by the specific user information medium management server 500, a push notification is sent to the user terminal that celebrity BBB, as exemplified in FIG. 10(A), has logged in to the virtual space.

[0180] In step S203, the user entry status is acquired from the distribution server 100. For example, a user entry status list stored in the storage unit 120 updated in step S106 of Fig. 12 is acquired using a user entry status API of the distribution server 100. The acquired information on the user entry status may be stored in the storage unit 520 of the specific user information medium management server 500.

[0181] In step S204, it is determined whether or not there is a request (a request from the user) from the user terminal to view information about the specific user. If it is determined that there is no request to view information about the specific user, the process is terminated. On the other hand, if it is determined that there is a request to view information about the specific user, in step S205, information about the specific user including the login information of the specific user acquired in step S203 is delivered to the user terminal, and the process is terminated. For example, when a request to display a screen displaying the schedule of the specific user in FIG. 10(B) is made as a viewing request, content heading 40a which is video distribution information of the specific user and content heading 40b which is login information to the virtual space of the specific user are displayed on the user screen.

[0182] (Entry notification process 3) The entry notification process 3 is a process for delivering notification information to notify (notify) the user terminal of a user who is not in the virtual space that a specific user has entered (logged in). The entry notification process 3 is different from the entry notification process 1 described with reference to FIG. 12 in terms of the user terminal to which the notification information is delivered. In the entry notification process 1, the user is notified regardless of whether the user is in the virtual space or not (user terminals of users whose entry status in FIG. 7(A) is "entering" are also included in the notification destinations), whereas in the entry notification process 3, users who are not in the virtual space are notified. The entry notification process 3 will be described below with reference to the flowchart in FIG. 14. The entry notification process 3 is different from the entry notification process 1 in steps S105A and S105B enclosed by dotted lines. Hereinafter, the description of the processes that overlap with the entry notification process 1 will be omitted. The entry notification process 3 is repeatedly executed at predetermined time intervals by the control unit 130 of the distribution server 100. The distribution server 100 performs various processes including the entrance notification process 3 based on the programs stored in the storage unit 120 .

[0183] When it is determined in step S104 that the specific user has permitted other users to be notified that the specific user has logged in, the process proceeds to step S105A, where users who have not entered the virtual space are extracted. In step S105B, notification information for notifying the user terminal that the specific user has logged in is delivered to the user terminal of the user who has not entered the virtual space. For example, the notification management unit 135 refers to the user information 122, and extracts users who are not currently in the virtual space and are in a logged-out state. In step S105B, notification information is delivered (such as a push notification) to the user terminal of the user extracted in step S105A. For example, the notification information is delivered to user IDs "u3", "u5", "u7", etc., whose entry status in FIG. 7(A) is "leaving the room". Note that the push notification may be sent only to terminals of general users, for example.

[0184] As a result, in step S105 in Fig. 12, a notification is sent regardless of whether the notification destination user has entered the virtual space or not, but in the entry notification process 3 in Fig. 14, it is possible to extract and send a notification to users who have not entered the virtual space and are likely not aware that a specific user has entered the virtual space. Also, it is possible to prevent users who have already entered the virtual space and are aware that a specific user has entered the virtual space from being notified.

[0185] (Entry notification process 4) The entry notification process 4 is a process for distributing notification information for notifying (informing) the fact that a specific user has entered (logged in) to the user terminals of users other than the users who have entered the virtual space under a predetermined situation. The entry notification process 4 is different from the entry notification process 1 described with reference to FIG. 12 in that the user terminals to which the notification information is distributed are different, and the user is notified regardless of the entry situation in the virtual space (for example, whether the user is participating in an event or has entered the virtual space in a situation where he or she is scheduled to participate in an event in advance), whereas the entry notification process 4 notifies users (including users who have not entered the virtual space) other than the users who have entered the virtual space under a predetermined situation. The entry notification process 4 will be described below with reference to the flowchart of FIG. 15. The entry notification process 4 is different from the entry notification process 1 in steps S105C and S105D enclosed by dotted lines. Hereinafter, the description of the processes overlapping with the entry notification process 1 will be omitted. The entry notification process 4 is repeatedly executed at predetermined time intervals by the control unit 130 of the distribution server 100. The distribution server 100 performs various processes including the entrance notification process 4 based on the programs stored in the storage unit 120 .

[0186] When it is determined in step S104 that the specific user has permitted other users to be notified of the fact that the specific user has logged in, the process proceeds to step S105C, where users are extracted excluding users who have entered the virtual space under a predetermined situation. In step S105D, notification information for notifying the user terminal of the fact that the specific user has logged in in step S104 is distributed to the user terminals of users excluding users who have entered the virtual space under a predetermined situation.

[0187] The predetermined situation is, for example, a situation in which the user is participating in a predetermined content in a virtual space, and includes a situation in which the user is participating in a live event held in a virtual space, a situation in which the user is participating in a fan meeting, or a situation in which the user is participating in a highly immersive content, such as a situation in which the user is participating in a game. For example, the notification may not be given in a game that requires immediate operation, such as a battle game, but may be given in a game in which operation is relatively rarely required, such as a building game. In this way, the notification may not be given in a situation in which the user may be disadvantaged by being distracted by the notification or in which the user may lose a sense of immersion.

[0188] In addition, the predetermined situation may include a predetermined period before an event that the user is planning to participate in, or a predetermined period before an event that is scheduled to be held in the virtual space (for example, one hour before the event start time). This is because when a predetermined event is held, the information about a specific user's entry into the virtual space may already be known.

[0189] As described above, information that a specific user has entered a virtual space can be notified to a user terminal. This allows users to feel closer to the specific user more quickly, which can enrich fan activities, enjoy various content (activities) with the specific user through the virtual space, and anticipate the possibility of an event being held due to the specific user's entry into the virtual space (for example, a guerrilla live performance by a celebrity, etc.), thereby improving the interest of the user experience through the virtual space.

[0190] <About setting change processing> 16 to 19, a process of changing the setting of the distribution server 100 to a continuous provision state that can be changed according to user actions including entry into a virtual space will be described. In the control unit 130 of the distribution server 100 in this embodiment, a process of changing the setting of the distribution server 100 to a continuous provision state in which the distribution server 100 can continuously provide a virtual space to a user can be performed by a manual operation by an administrator from the administrator terminal 200 or when a preset condition is satisfied. A state in which continuous provision is not possible (a state not in a continuous provision state) is a state in which, when the distribution server 100 provides a virtual space to a user, a waiting time or a failure occurs due to the processing capacity (number of activated servers, specifications, etc.) of the distribution server 100, and therefore it is difficult to smoothly and continuously provide the virtual space or there is a risk of the virtual space being temporarily interrupted. On the other hand, a continuous provision state is a state in which there is no or an extremely low risk of such a situation.

[0191] The following are examples of user behaviors that are assumed to make it difficult for distribution server 100 to smoothly and continuously provide the virtual space to the user (maintaining a state of continuous provision) or that may be temporarily interrupted. (1) A situation in which the load on the distribution server 100 increases due to a large number of users making requests to log in (enter) the virtual space in a short period of time (concentrated) (such as a situation in which the CPU usage rate of the distribution server 100 remains high for a certain period of time). (2) A situation in which a waiting time occurs to start a new room due to a number of users requesting entry that exceeds the predetermined upper limit of the number of people that can be associated (enter) a room (for example, the upper limit of the number of users that can be associated with one server). (3) A situation in which the load on the distribution server 100 increases due to an increase in the behavioral actions of users who are already in the virtual space. Note that a motion action is, for example, an action that is considered to increase the amount of communication between the user terminal and the distribution server 100, such as a user's movement in a virtual space, the use of an item, chat, etc. For example, the amount and frequency of information to be synchronized with other user terminals, such as synchronization of the position information of a user avatar and synchronization of performance information due to the use of an item, increases, and this increases the processing load on the distribution server 100.

[0192] In the conventional system, when the load on the distribution server 100 increases or the number of users exceeds the allowable number due to user behavior that is assumed to make it difficult to maintain the above-mentioned continuous provision state, a process of increasing the server resources of the distribution server 100 (server augmentation process) or a process of reducing (lightening) the information distributed to the user terminal is performed as a setting change process to keep the distribution server 100 in a continuous provision state. However, if the process is performed after the load increases, the processing of the distribution server 100 takes more time by the amount of the increased load, and the user experiences a waiting time compared to when the load does not increase. In other words, when the load on the distribution server 100 increases, the processing of the distribution server 100 becomes slower than usual, and it takes time to process the user to enter the virtual space and to distribute data to the user terminal. In particular, in this embodiment, when a specific user enters the virtual space, it may affect the behavior of other users, and the load on the distribution server 100 may increase. Furthermore, if the fact that a specific user has entered the virtual space is notified to other users, it is considered that this will affect the behavior of the other users, which may result in longer waiting times for processing or more likely server failures. Therefore, in this embodiment, the fact that a specific user has entered the virtual space is used as a trigger to perform processing for reducing the load on the distribution server 100 in advance. This makes it possible to maintain the continuous provision state even if there is a user behavior that is expected to make it difficult to maintain the above-mentioned continuous provision state.

[0193] The process of increasing the resources of the distribution server 100 (increasing the processing capacity of the server) in this embodiment includes the following aspects. (1) The process of increasing the number of servers used to provide a virtual space (scaling out). (2) Processing (scaling up) to increase the performance of servers that provide virtual space.

[0194] Moreover, in this embodiment, the process of reducing (alleviating) the amount of information distributed from distribution server 100 to user terminals includes the following aspects. (1) The overall amount of information is reduced by reducing the number of times that the distribution server 100 and the user terminal are synchronized. (2) The amount of information itself delivered from the delivery server 100 to the user terminal is reduced. These processes may be realized by sending a signal from the distribution server 100 to the user terminal to reduce the number of synchronization requests from the user terminal or the amount of information requested from the user terminal, or the number of times synchronization is performed from the distribution user 100 to the user terminal or the amount of information to be transmitted may be suppressed. For example, the distribution server 100 periodically distributes a signal regarding congestion information of the server to the user, and transmits a signal of congestion information of the server generated when the server load increases to the user terminal, so that the user terminal that receives the signal of congestion information performs a process of reducing the number of times a signal requesting synchronization is transmitted or reducing the amount of information requested from the user terminal. The amount of information requested is, for example, drawing information, and includes the amount of display of objects (including user avatars) in the virtual space, image resolution, etc. This reduces the processing load caused by frequent input and output of data in the distribution server 100 to read information to be distributed to the user terminal and by reading heavy data.

[0195] (Example of system configuration and process) FIG. 16 shows an example of the system configuration and processing process of the distribution server 100. As an example of the configuration, the distribution server 100 is composed of a login authentication device 101, a lobby management device 102, a real-time synchronization device 103, a notification management device 104, and a server management device 105. Each device may be composed of one or more servers (communication infrastructure). For example, the login authentication device 101 may be an API server for performing login authentication, and the lobby management device 102 may be a lobby API server for providing information on areas and rooms of a virtual space to a user terminal. For example, the login authentication device 101 is composed of multiple servers such as server 101a, server 101b, etc., and the lobby management device 102 is composed of multiple servers such as server 102a, server 102b, etc.

[0196] The login authentication device 101 is a computer having a function of performing processing for user login authentication, which is executed by the entrance / exit processing unit 134 and the like. The login authentication device 101 receives login information from a user terminal, determines whether login is permitted, and transitions the user to a logged-in state when authentication is complete. For example, authentication is performed by referring to user information included in the login information and a user data table stored in the user information 121.

[0197] When the user who has performed the login authentication process in the login authentication device 101 is a specific user, the login authentication device 101 transmits predetermined information to the notification device 104 and the server management device 105. Information specifying that a specific user has logged in is transmitted to the notification device 104. A request for processing to increase server resources is transmitted to the server management device 105.

[0198] The notification management device 104 is a computer that performs a process executed by the notification management unit 135 or the like to notify (notify) a user terminal or the like that a specific user has logged in. For example, when the notification management device 104 receives information that a specific user has logged in (which may include information on whether entry is notifiable) from the login authentication device 101, the notification management device 104 performs a process to transmit a push notification to a user terminal or an administrator terminal 200. The information on the login of a specific user may include information on whether entry is notifiable transmitted from the user terminal of the specific user. Alternatively, the notification management device 104 may be an entry status API server that acquires the entry status of a user into a virtual space in response to a request from another server. Note that the login authentication device 101 may perform a process to notify (notify) the administrator terminal 200 itself or the user terminal itself of information on the login of a specific user.

[0199] The server management device 105 is a computer that performs processing for varying the resource settings of the servers, which is executed by the scale management unit 136 or the like. The login authentication device 101 and the lobby management device 102 are examples of servers for which the server management device 105 increases resources. When the server management device 105 performs processing for increasing the number of servers as processing for increasing resources, as illustrated in Fig. 17, servers 101c and 101d are added as servers of the login authentication device 101, and servers 102c and 102d are added as servers of the lobby management device 102.

[0200] Increasing the number of servers in the login authentication device 101 enables the login authentication device 101 to withstand the load caused by login requests (accesses) from a large number of users in a short period of time, thereby reducing the risk of users having to wait, and enabling a state in which a virtual space can be continuously provided to users. Also, increasing the number of servers in the lobby management device 102 enables the lobby management device 102 to withstand the load caused by requests for virtual space information such as area and room information from a large number of users in a short period of time, thereby reducing the risk of users having to wait, and enabling a state in which a virtual space can be continuously provided to users.

[0201] The lobby management device 102 is a computer having a function executed by the content management unit 131 to provide a user with information about areas of the virtual space and a list of rooms related to the areas that can be entered. The user terminal of the user who has been logged in by the login authentication device 101 requests information about areas and rooms from the lobby management device 102, and based on the information acquired in response to the request, displays on the display unit of the user terminal a screen showing information about areas of the virtual space that can be entered and various rooms, for example, as shown in Fig. 9(C).

[0202] The real-time synchronization device 103 is a computer that performs real-time synchronous communication within a room or between rooms, which is executed by the content management unit 131 and the scale management unit 136. It is also possible to set an upper limit on the number of users that can be associated with (enter) each room (for example, an upper limit of 200 people). The real-time synchronization device 103 is composed of, for example, a room management device 1031, a room server 103a, a room server 103b, and so on. The room management device 1031 performs communication control related to rooms. As communication control, the room management device 1031 allocates rooms in response to a communication request from a user terminal. For example, in response to a request to enter any room from the user terminal based on information acquired by the lobby management device 105, connection information to the room is acquired from the room management device 1031, and entry to the room becomes possible.

[0203] Furthermore, the room management device 1031 can vary the resources of the room server according to the load on the room server or the number of people entering the room. For example, the room server can be scaled out or scaled up. When a user who has entered a room is a specific user, the room management device 1031 may be configured to increase the number of rooms in which content (e.g., a specific area, specific content within the area, etc.) corresponding to the room in which the specific user has entered is provided. For example, in multiple rooms corresponding to each area, only the user avatars of users who have entered the same room are displayed in principle, but the user avatars of the specific user can be mirrored and reflected in rooms of the same type in which the same content is provided, even if the specific user has not entered the same room. Therefore, it is possible to provide users of other rooms with an experience of entering the same room as the specific user. Therefore, since it is considered that the number of users who wish to enter the same type of room in which the same content is provided will increase, a process of increasing the number of rooms in advance is performed.

[0204] In this embodiment, the room management device 1031 may be configured to vary the amount of information of the virtual space provided to the user by the room server. For example, the amount of drawing information in a room where content corresponding to a room entered by a specific user is provided may be reduced. The server management device 105 may perform a process of reducing the amount of drawing information in the room.

[0205] In addition, when the login authentication device 101 authenticates the login of a specific user, the room management device 1031 may change the resources of the room server or the amount of information provided to the user. For example, when the login authentication of a specific user is performed, multiple rooms may be started and put on standby, and after the specific user enters a room, the room server put on standby may provide content corresponding to the content the specific user has entered. Also, the amount of information may be reduced only for the room the specific user has entered. In addition, without being limited to this, the change in the resources of the room server may be performed regardless of the area (content) the specific user enters.

[0206] (Virtual space provision server expansion processing) FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating a virtual space providing server reinforcement process for fluctuating server resources, which is one of the setting variation processes of the distribution server 100 executed in the distribution server 100. The virtual space providing server reinforcement process is repeatedly executed at predetermined time intervals by the control unit 130 of the distribution server 100. The distribution server 100 performs various processes including the virtual space providing server reinforcement process based on a program stored in the storage unit 120. An example will be described in which the determination of whether or not a user is a specific user is made based on the evaluation index in FIG. 7(A). In the virtual space providing server reinforcement process, a time when the server load becomes heavy or a time just before (before) the server load becomes heavy is referred to as a specified situation.

[0207] First, in step S301, it is determined whether a predetermined situation has occurred. If it is determined in step S301 that the predetermined situation has occurred, the process proceeds to step S302, where server resource increase processing is performed according to the predetermined situation, the server is placed in a continuous provision state, and the process ends. For example, if a predetermined situation occurs in which the server load becomes heavy due to factors including user behavior (e.g., entry by logging in, entry into a room, or an action action), the scale management unit 136 increases the number of servers as a process for increasing server resources.

[0208] On the other hand, when it is not determined in step S301 that the predetermined situation has occurred, it is determined in step S303 whether or not a specific user has logged in. When it is not determined that a specific user has logged in, the process is terminated. On the other hand, when it is determined that a specific user has logged in, the process proceeds to step S304. For example, when the entry / exit processing unit 134 (e.g., the login authentication device 101) performs login authentication processing based on a login request from a user, it determines whether or not the user who has logged in is a specific user. For example, if the user who has logged in is user ID "u1" in FIG. 7(A), the evaluation index is negative, so it is not determined that a specific user has logged in, and the process is terminated. On the other hand, if the user who has logged in is user ID "u2", the evaluation index is a positive value, so it is determined that a specific user has logged in.

[0209] In step S304, server resource increase processing is performed according to the specific user who logged in, and the server is put into a continuous provision state and processing is terminated. For example, in a case where the type and number of servers to be increased according to the evaluation index are determined, if the user who logged in has user ID "u2", the evaluation index is 5, so the scale management unit 136 (e.g., server management device 105) executes processing to increase the number of normal servers and high-spec servers by one each. If the user who logged in has user ID "u3", the evaluation index is 18, so the scale management unit 136 executes processing to increase the number of high-spec servers by four and the number of highest-spec servers by three. As a result, the number of servers is increased according to the influence of each specific user, improving the processing capacity of the distribution server 100.

[0210] As a result, even when the situation is not yet a specified situation and the server load is not increasing, the server can be reinforced in advance when a specific user logs in, before the specified situation is reached.

[0211] The process of increasing server resources may be a scale-up process that improves server performance. The predetermined situation may also include a case where the room exceeds the upper limit of the number of people (when the room is full, or when a certain number of people is reached just before the room is full). When the room exceeds the upper limit of the number of people, the number of servers may be increased to increase the number of rooms, or the server performance may be improved to increase the number of rooms provided in one server.

[0212] (Distribution information volume change processing) FIG. 19 is a flowchart illustrating a distribution information amount variation process for varying the amount of information distributed from the distribution server 100 to a user terminal, among the setting variation processes of the distribution server 100 executed in the distribution server 100. The distribution information amount variation process is repeatedly executed at predetermined time intervals by the control unit 130 of the distribution server 100. The distribution server 100 performs various processes including the distribution information amount variation process based on a program stored in the storage unit 120. An example will be described in which the determination of whether or not a user is a specific user is performed based on the evaluation index in FIG. 7(A). In the distribution information amount variation process, a time when the server load becomes heavy or a time immediately before (before) the server load becomes heavy is referred to as a predetermined situation.

[0213] First, in step S401, it is determined whether a predetermined situation has occurred. If it is determined in step S401 that a predetermined situation has occurred, the process proceeds to step S402, where the server is set to a continuous provision state by transmitting information to the user terminal for reducing the number of times that a synchronization signal is transmitted in accordance with the predetermined situation (load situation). For example, if a predetermined situation occurs in which the server load becomes heavy due to factors including user behavior (e.g., entry by logging in, entry into a room, or an action action), information indicating that the server is in a congested state is transmitted from the data distribution unit 132 to the user terminal to reduce the number of times that synchronization is performed from the user terminal, thereby reducing the amount of information distributed from the distribution server 100 to the user terminal.

[0214] In step S403, the amount of information (amount of information itself) delivered from the delivery server 100 to the user terminal is reduced according to a predetermined situation, and the server is placed in a continuous provision state, and the process ends. For example, a process is performed to change the setting so that the rendering information (amount of rendering load) of the virtual space delivered from the data delivery unit 132 to the user terminal is reduced before being delivered to the user terminal. For example, when a predetermined situation occurs in which the server load becomes heavy due to factors including the user's behavior, a process is performed to reduce the amount of objects (including user avatars) displayed and the amount of rendering information such as image resolution delivered from the server.

[0215] On the other hand, when it is not determined in step S401 that the predetermined situation has occurred, it is determined in step S404 whether or not a specific user has logged in. When it is not determined that a specific user has logged in, the process is terminated. On the other hand, when it is determined that a specific user has logged in, the process proceeds to step S405. For example, when the entry / exit processing unit 134 (e.g., the login authentication device 101) performs login authentication processing based on a login request from a user, it determines whether or not the user who has logged in is a specific user. For example, if the user who has logged in to the room is user ID "u1" in FIG. 7(A), since the evaluation index is negative, it is not determined that a specific user has logged in, and the process is terminated. On the other hand, if the user who has logged in is user ID "u2", since the evaluation index is a positive value, it is determined that a specific user has logged in.

[0216] In step S405, the server is set to a continuous provision state by transmitting information to the user terminal for reducing the number of synchronization signal transmissions according to the specific user. For example, by transmitting information that the server is congested from the data distribution unit 132 to the user terminal to reduce the number of synchronizations from the user terminal, the amount of information distributed from the distribution server 100 to the user terminal is reduced. For example, the number of synchronizations is changed according to the evaluation index, and for a user with an evaluation index of 1 to 5, the number of synchronizations is controlled to be 3 times per second instead of the usual 6 times, and for a user with an evaluation index of 6 or more, the number of synchronizations is controlled to be 1 time per second.

[0217] In step S406, the amount of information distributed from distribution server 100 to the user terminal is reduced according to the specific user, and the server is placed in a continuous provision state, and the process is terminated. For example, a process is performed to change the settings so that the rendering information (rendering load) of the virtual space distributed from data distribution unit 132 to the user terminal is reduced before being distributed to the user terminal. Also, different processes may be performed according to specific users. For example, the amount of information may be reduced so that the number of objects displayed in the virtual space is reduced when a user with an evaluation index of 11 or more enters the room compared to when a user with an evaluation index of 1 to 10 enters the room.

[0218] As a result, even when the specified situation has not been reached and there is no increase in the server load, etc., processing can be performed in advance to reduce the amount of information delivered from the delivery server 100 to the user terminal when a specific user logs in, before the specified situation is reached.

[0219] The processing in steps S402 and S405 is not limited to transmitting information for reducing the number of times a synchronization signal is transmitted to the user terminal, but may be a setting change (reduced synchronization count setting) for reducing the number of times synchronization is performed from data distribution unit 132 to the user terminal, and the server may be placed in a continuous provision state by processing for reducing the number of times synchronization is performed between distribution server 100 and the user terminal. Also, the processing in steps S403 and S406 may be, for example, by transmitting information that the server is in a congested state from data distribution unit 132 to the user terminal, thereby reducing the amount of rendering information of the virtual space requested by the user terminal, thereby placing the server in a continuous provision state.

[0220] The predetermined situation may also include a situation where the room exceeds the upper limit of the number of people (when the room becomes full, or when a predetermined number of people is reached just before the room becomes full). When the room exceeds the upper limit of the number of people, a process may be performed to reduce the amount of information distributed to the distribution server 100 and the user terminal. This allows a process to set the server to a continuous provision state in advance, since an increase in the number of people in the room may increase the amount of information when updating (synchronizing) information in the virtual space, which may increase the server load, for example.

[0221] <Examples of specific configurations and effects>

[0222] (1-1) In the above-described embodiment, when a predetermined situation occurs, such as when the load on the distribution server 100 exceeds a threshold or when the maximum number of people that can be associated with a room is reached, depending on factors including multiple types of actions by the user (for example, entry by logging in, entry into a room, action actions in the virtual space, etc.), the server reinforcement process of steps S301 to S302 in FIG. 18 or the distribution information amount change process of steps S401 to S403 in FIG. 19 is executed to set the virtual space to a continuous provision state so that it can be continuously provided to the user. However, even in a situation where the load on the distribution server 100 does not exceed a threshold value, or where the maximum number of people that can be associated with a room is not reached, and other situations that are not predetermined situations, when a specific user, such as a celebrity or famous person with user attribute numbers "2", "3", or "5" in FIG. 7(A) or a positive evaluation index, enters the virtual space, the server reinforcement process in steps S303 to S304 in FIG. 18 and the distribution information amount change process in steps S404 to S406 in FIG. 19 are executed to set the distribution server 100 to a continuous provision state. This allows the setting of the virtual space providing unit to be changed in advance to a continuous provision state setting when the specific user enters the virtual space. This makes it possible to take measures in advance against the load that may occur when the specific user enters the virtual space.

[0223] (1-2) In the above-described embodiment, as a process for setting the virtual space providing unit to a continuous provision state, server augmentation process (process for increasing resources) of distribution server 100 is performed in steps S302 and S304 in Fig. 18. As a server augmentation process, server management device 105 in Figs. 16 and 17 scales out distribution server 100 (increases the number of servers) such as by increasing servers 101c and 101d of login authentication device 101, or scales up distribution server (increases the CPU and memory specifications of the servers). As a result, the resources functioning as distribution server 100 are increased, improving the processing power of distribution server 100 and enabling it to withstand the load, making it possible to continuously provide virtual space to users.

[0224] (1-3) In the above-described embodiment, as a process for setting distribution server 100 to a continuous provision state, a distribution information amount change process for reducing the overall amount of information distributed from distribution server 100 to a user terminal is performed, such as steps S402, S403, S405, and S406 in Fig. 19. As the distribution information amount change process, a process for transmitting information for reducing the number of times a synchronization signal is transmitted from the user terminal, such as steps S402 and S405 in Fig. 19, a process for transmitting information for reducing the amount of requested drawing information to reduce the number of times synchronization is performed between distribution server 100 and the user terminal, or a process for reducing the amount of information distributed from distribution server 100 to the user terminal, such as steps S403 and S406 in Fig. 19, or a process for reducing the number of times synchronization is performed from distribution server 100 to the user terminal to reduce the amount of information itself when distributed from distribution server 100 to the user terminal. This reduces the amount of information distributed from distribution server 100 to user terminals, reducing the processing load on distribution server 100 and enabling it to withstand the load, making it possible to continuously provide the virtual space to users.

[0225] (1-4) In the above-described embodiment, a setting change process is performed to change the setting of the distribution server 100 to a continuous provision state in preparation for a possibility that a predetermined situation will occur when a specific user enters the virtual space or when a specific user enters the virtual space. The predetermined situation includes a situation in which the load on the distribution server 100 exceeds a predetermined threshold due to a user's entry into the virtual space, a user's movement in the virtual space, an action action such as the use of an item, and the like, and a situation in which a waiting time occurs due to a number of users making entry requests that exceed the number of people that can enter the room. By performing the setting change process in this embodiment, even if there is a possibility that the virtual space cannot be continuously provided to the user due to a load on the distribution server 100 exceeding a predetermined threshold, it is possible to change the setting of the distribution server 100 to a continuous provision state. This makes it possible to continuously provide the virtual space to the user.

[0226] (1-5) In the above-described embodiment, in response to a specific user, such as a celebrity or famous person with user attribute types "2", "3", or "5" in Fig. 7 or a user with a positive evaluation index, entering the virtual space, the setting change process of the distribution server 100 in Fig. 18 and Fig. 19 is executed so as to become a process according to the evaluation index, etc., of the specific user. This makes it possible to change the setting of the distribution server 100 to a continuous provision state for when a predetermined situation occurs in response to a user who is considered to have an influence on the behavior of other users by entering the virtual space entering the virtual space.

[0227] (1-6) In the above-described embodiment, entry into a virtual space includes entry by logging into the virtual space, and the setting change process of the distribution server 100 is performed in response to the login of a specific user. In addition, in step S304 of the server augmentation process in Fig. 18, it is possible to increase the resources of the server corresponding to the login authentication API server for authenticating (processing) whether the user's login has been successful, the login authentication device 101 in Fig. 16, the entry / exit processing unit 134, etc. As a result, even if a load is placed on the server performing login authentication processing due to another user logging in after a specific user logs in, it is possible to maintain the server in a state capable of withstanding the load.

[0228] (2-1) In the above-described embodiment, when a specific user in Fig. 7(A) has a positive evaluation index that varies depending on external evaluations, which are evaluations from sources other than the user, or a specific user such as a celebrity or famous person with user attribute numbers "2", "3", or "5", enters a virtual space, an entry notification process is executed to notify (notify) other users that the specific user has entered the virtual space, as shown in Fig. 12 to Fig. 15. This makes it possible to notify other users that the specific user has entered the virtual space, making it easier for other users to obtain information about the specific user, thereby promoting the development of the virtual space.

[0229] (2-2) In the above-described embodiment, the users of the user terminals to which the notification information is delivered in step S105 in Fig. 12 include users whose entry status in Fig. 7 is "entering." This allows a notification that a specific user has entered the virtual space, so that it is possible to avoid a situation in which a specific user remains unaware of their entry even when they are in the virtual space.

[0230] (2-3) In the above-described embodiment, in steps S105A and S105B of the entry notification process 3 in Fig. 14, the users of the user terminals to be notified (notified) that a specific user has entered the room do not include users whose entry status in Fig. 7 is "entering," but include users who have not entered the virtual space whose entry status in Fig. 7 is "leaving." This prevents users who have entered the virtual space from being notified that a specific user has entered the space, thereby reducing the risk of the notification disrupting the sense of immersion in the virtual space.

[0231] (2-4) In the above-described embodiment, the push notification in FIG. 10(A), the page displaying information about a specific user in FIG. 10(B), and the contents of the bulletin board object O in FIG. 11 can include information about the area (e.g., "Entered area X!") or room (e.g., "Entered room ID 0001") that the specific user has entered. This allows other users who have received the push notification or other users who have viewed the information on the bulletin board object O to identify the virtual space that the specific user has entered. This makes it easier for other users to subsequently enter the same space (e.g., the same area or the same room), which can promote the development of the virtual space.

[0232] (2-5) In the above-mentioned embodiment, in a fan community application such as that illustrated in FIG. 10(B), a user can select and store a favorite user as a favorite talent from among the talents who are specific users. In addition, when a pre-selected talent (specific user) enters a virtual space, a push notification of the talent's entry into the virtual space can be sent as shown in FIG. 10(A). In addition, by selecting the favorite filter 45 on a predetermined page in the application that displays information about the specific user in FIG. 10(B), information about the pre-selected talent's entry into the virtual space can be extracted and displayed. This allows the information of the specific user to be reported as a favorite user, thereby improving satisfaction with the reported information.

[0233] (3-1) In the above-described embodiment, when a specific user enters a virtual space, information about the specific user's entry can be displayed in response to a viewing request from the user in steps S105 to S107 in Fig. 12 and steps S203 to S205 in Fig. 13 on the talent schedule information of a community application such as Fig. 10(B) that allows users to view information about a specific user, or on a bulletin board object O arranged in a virtual space such as Fig. 11. This allows other users to view the fact that the specific user has entered the virtual space as information about the specific user, thereby improving convenience for users who seek information about the specific user.

[0234] (3-2) In the above-described embodiment, information about a specific user can be displayed in a specific area in the virtual space, such as the bulletin board object O in Fig. 11. This allows a user to view information about a specific user even when the user is in the virtual space, which increases convenience for a user who desires information about a specific user.

[0235] (4-1) In the above-described embodiment, when a specific user logs in by steps S102 and S103 in Fig. 12, a screen that allows the specific user to select whether or not to notify other users of the login can be displayed on the screen of the specific user's user terminal in Fig. 9(B). When the setting state is set to permit other users to log in by selecting the "Yes" icon 22Y in Fig. 9(B), it becomes possible to notify other users of their entry by steps S105 and S106. This allows the specific user to set whether or not to notify other users when the specific user enters a room, taking into account the specific user's preferences, situation, and the like, thereby improving the convenience of the specific user.

[0236] (4-2) In the above-described embodiment, when a specific user enters a virtual space, a selection to permit, such as by selecting the "Yes" icon 22Y on a screen in Fig. 9(B) that allows the user to select whether or not to notify other users of the user's login, is made, which triggers notification of the user's entry to other users in steps S105 and S106 in Fig. 12. As a result, the specific user can select to notify other users of the user's entry when entering the virtual space, and therefore the specific user can effectively notify other users according to the situation at the time of entry.

[0237] (5-1) In the above-described embodiment, in the entry notification process 4 steps S105C and S105D in Fig. 15, the entry of a specific user is notified (notified) to the user terminals of users other than users who have entered the virtual space under a specific situation, such as when participating in a specific content such as a live event. This makes it possible to avoid notifying a specific user that they have entered the virtual space even when there is little need to do so because the user has entered the virtual space under a specific situation. In addition, since the user is not notified when participating in a specific event, it is possible to prevent the user's immersion in the event from being disturbed.

[0238] <Modification> Modifications to the above-described embodiment are listed below.

[0239] <Other examples of specific users and setting change processing> (About attribute numbers and server augmentation processing) In the above embodiment, an example has been described in which, when executing the server augmentation process described with reference to Fig. 18, if a user with a positive evaluation index logs in in step S303, it is determined that a specific user has logged in. However, this is not limiting, and if a user who is a celebrity or a famous person with an attribute number such as "2", "3", or "5" logs in, it may be determined that a specific user has logged in, and resources may be increased according to the attribute number.

[0240] (Relationship between evaluation index, attribute number and amount of information delivered) In the above-described embodiment, with reference to FIG. 8, an example has been described in which server resources (number of units, CPU and memory specification values) to be changed for each evaluation index are determined, and the server resources are changed according to the evaluation index of a specific user. Similarly, for the amount of information to be distributed, the number of synchronizations between the distribution server 100 and the user terminal may be changed, or the amount of information to be reduced and distributed from the distribution server 100 may be adjusted according to the evaluation index. For example, when a user with an evaluation index of 1 to 5 enters the room, the number of synchronizations may be set to three, and when a user with an evaluation index of 6 or more enters the room, the number of synchronizations may be set to one. In addition, the number of objects displayed in the virtual space may be reduced when a user with an evaluation index of 11 or more enters the room compared to when a user with an evaluation index of 1 to 10 enters the room.

[0241] The amount of information to be distributed may be adjusted for each attribute number. For example, when a specific user associated with the attribute number "2" in FIG. 7B enters the room, the number of synchronizations per second may be set to one, and when a specific user associated with the attribute number "5" enters the room, the number of synchronizations per second may be set to three.

[0242] (Regarding evaluation index and entry notification processing) In the above embodiment, the determination as to whether or not a user is a specific user in step S102 of Fig. 12 is made according to an attribute number associated with the user, but the determination as to whether or not a user is a specific user may be made according to an evaluation index. For example, if a user has an evaluation index of a positive value, the user is determined to be a specific user, and therefore a process for notifying other users that the user has entered the virtual space is executed, whereas if a user has an evaluation index of a negative value, the user is not determined to be a specific user, and therefore a process for notifying other users that the user has entered the virtual space may not be executed.

[0243] (About user attribute numbers and evaluation indices) In the above embodiment, an example in which a user attribute number and a user evaluation index are associated with each user has been described with reference to Fig. 7. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and only one of the "user attribute number" and the "evaluation index" may be defined.

[0244] Furthermore, when a user account is created (when a user ID is created), the default attribute number "1" for a general user may be assigned in advance. The administrator may arbitrarily change and store the attribute number of an already created user account. Alternatively, the administrator may assign an attribute number in advance and then add the user to the data table of the user information 121. The attribute number is not limited to a default number or one assigned arbitrarily by the administrator, but may vary depending on other factors. For example, depending on the "evaluation index," a user whose "evaluation index" exceeds a predetermined value may be assigned a user attribute number "5" as a celebrity.

[0245] In the above embodiment, an example was described with reference to Fig. 8 etc. in which the degree of variation (resource amount, distribution amount, etc.) of the setting variation process of the distribution server 100 is predetermined for each evaluation index or attribute number, but in addition to this, a predetermined number of servers may be associated with each user ID. For example, it can be determined that there are three servers for user ID "u2" and ten servers for user ID "u7", and when "u2" logs in, the number of servers is increased by three, and when "u7" logs in, the number of servers is increased by ten.

[0246] Alternatively, the administrator may predetermine an evaluation index for each user corresponding to the desired number of servers, etc., so that each user will have the desired number of servers, etc. For example, if the administrator wishes to increase the number of normal servers and high-spec servers by one when user ID "u2" enters the room, the administrator may predetermine the evaluation index for user ID "u2" to be "5."

[0247] (Another example of determining a specific user (special user)) In the above embodiment, an example was described in which it is determined whether or not a user is a specific user based on an attribute number or an evaluation index. However, as exemplified by the user ID "u6" in FIG. 7(A), when both the attribute number and the evaluation index are set, if the user is a specific user in either case, the user may be determined to be a specific user and processed. However, without being limited to this, when both the attribute number and the evaluation index are set, if the user is not considered to be a specific user in either the user attribute number or the evaluation index, the user may not be processed as a specific user. For example, regardless of whether the user has an attribute number of a specific user (for example, 2, 3, 5 in FIG. 7(B)), if the evaluation index is not a positive value, the user may not be determined to be a specific user.

[0248] Alternatively, when both the attribute number and the evaluation index are determined, the criterion to be referred to when determining whether a user is a specific user may be determined in advance as either the attribute number or the evaluation index depending on the processing content, such as the entry notification processing or the setting change processing of the distribution server 100, and the criterion to be referred to when determining whether a user is a specific user may differ depending on the processing content. For example, when performing the entry notification processing to notify other users that they have entered a virtual space, the attribute number of the user who has entered may be referenced and the notification processing may be executed when the user is determined to be a specific user, and the setting change processing of the distribution server 100 may be performed by referring to the evaluation index of the user who has entered and depending on whether the user is determined to be a specific user.

[0249] <Regarding entry notification processing> (Choice of whether to notify other users) In the above-described embodiment, an example was described in which, for example, in step S104 in FIG. 12, when the "No" icon 22N in FIG. 9(B) is selected and a specific user does not permit other users to be notified when logging in, the specific user's login is not notified. The notification permission method is not limited to the screen in FIG. 9(B) being displayed each time a login is performed, and instead of or in addition to the screen in FIG. 9(B) being displayed, the notification may be selected to be on or off in advance on a setting screen. Alternatively, either notification on or notification off may be set as a default, and the user may be able to select on or off each time a login is performed. In addition, the specific user may be able to select the content of the information to be notified, such as whether or not to notify entry into a room and whether or not to notify the room ID.

[0250] In the above-described embodiment, an example has been described in which, after a login request is transmitted to the distribution server 100 in Fig. 9(A) in step S101 in Fig. 12, when it is determined in step S102 that the user is a specific user, a screen in Fig. 9(B) that allows the user to select whether or not to notify other users is displayed. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the user terminal may be a dedicated terminal for a specific user, and the selection screen in Fig. 9(B) may be displayed before the login request is transmitted to the distribution server 100. When the "Yes" icon 22Y or the "No" icon 22N is selected in Fig. 9(B), the login request may be transmitted to the distribution server 100 together with information permitting or not permitting notification to other users.

[0251] (About push notifications) In the above-described embodiment, a push notification has been exemplified with reference to FIG. 10(A) as an example of a mode of informing (notifying) other users that a specific user has entered a room. The push notification may be configured to transition to a virtual space that the specific user has entered by performing a selection operation on the push notification displayed on the user terminal. For example, a login screen for the virtual space may be displayed by performing an operation on the push notification. Alternatively, it may be configured to allow entry to a room in which the specific user has entered, or a room in which an area corresponding to a room in which the specific user has entered is provided.

[0252] Also, the push notification may include privilege granting information for granting a privilege. For example, a serial code may be displayed in the push notification message together with login information of a specific user, and the user may be granted a privilege by inputting the serial code when entering the virtual space. This can further encourage the user to enter the virtual space via the push notification. Also, an expiration date may be set for the serial code, and the privilege will not be granted unless the serial code is input within a predetermined period (for example, within 3 hours) after the serial code is notified. Also, the serial code may be input not only at the time of entering the virtual space, but also in a predetermined area in the virtual space, an item shop, or the like.

[0253] (Example of where to display information about a specific user) In the above embodiment, with reference to FIG. 10(B), a page on which information on a specific user provided by the specific user information media management server 500 can be viewed is described by exemplifying the display in a fan community app. Not limited to this, information on a specific user that can be displayed on the display screen of a user terminal may be notified to a screen of a WEB site that can be viewed by the user via a WEB browser. For example, if the specific user is a talent, video distribution information of the talent on a video distribution site and entry status into the virtual space may be displayed. The information page of the WEB site uses an API to acquire distribution by the talent's account on the video distribution site and handles in the summary section to display appearance information, etc. In addition, by using an entry status API of users in the virtual space, when the account of a talent who is a specific user is included among the users who have entered the virtual space, the entry information is displayed on a WEB page together with the icon of the talent, for example, as illustrated in FIG. 10(B). When the talent logs out, the entry information may be deleted or changed to a display indicating that the talent has left the room. When the user terminal accesses the website, the web page is displayed on the web browser of the user terminal, and the user can obtain information about the talent. Also, the user may be able to transition to a virtual space based on the entry information.

[0254] (Other examples of users who will be notified to other users) In the above embodiment, as described with reference to FIG. 10(B), for example, in a fan community app, by selecting the favorite filter icon 45. Since it is possible to extract and display (or send a push notification) information on a talent or the like that the user has selected as a favorite in advance, an example has been described in which information on a specific user that the user has selected in advance among specific users that has entered a virtual space can be notified. In the entry notification process, not only when the specific user has been selected in advance as a favorite in the fan community app, but also when the specific user has been selected in advance by the user, only information on the entry of the specific user that the user selected in advance has entered may be notified. For example, this may be performed for a user that has been selected in advance in the virtual space, and only information on the entry of a specific user that the user follows in the virtual space or a specific user that the user has selected in advance from a list of specific users (for example, a list of talents, etc.) may be notified. These can be done by storing the user that has been selected in advance by the user in the storage unit 120 of the distribution server 100 or in the user terminal 320, so that when a login of the specific user is detected, the information can be notified on the user terminal of the user who has selected the specific user in advance.

[0255] In the above embodiment, the information for identifying a user selected in advance by a user (information for identifying whether or not the user has been selected) stored in the storage unit 520 of the specific user information medium management server 500 is transmitted from the specific user information medium management server 500 for each user together with information including information of other specific users, and a process for extracting the specific user selected in advance is performed in a user terminal that receives the transmitted information. However, a similar process may also be performed in the distribution server 100. For example, the information for identifying a user selected in advance by a user (information for identifying whether or not the user has been selected) stored in the storage unit 120 of the distribution server 100 may be transmitted from the distribution server 100 for each user together with information of other specific users, and a process for extracting the specific user selected in advance may be performed in a user terminal. Alternatively, the specific user selected in advance by a user may be extracted based on information stored in the storage units 120 and 520 of the distribution server 100 or the specific user information medium management server 500, and only information on the entry of the extracted specific user may be distributed to the user terminal.

[0256] Also, an engagement index may be calculated between users based on the behavior history of the users in the virtual space, and a user who has an engagement index with a specific user who has entered the virtual space equal to or greater than a predetermined value may be notified that the specific user has entered the virtual space. The engagement index is calculated by the control unit 130 according to behavior history such as the number of times a specific user has participated in an event, the amount of charges related to the specific user (e.g., tipping, purchasing goods, etc.), or the number of times the specific user and the user have been in the same room (which may be the same area). Also, the calculation of the engagement index may not be limited to a period for calculation, or may be limited to a period for calculation and calculated based on the amount of charges during a predetermined period.

[0257] In the above embodiment, an example was described in which the subject of notification to other users is information regarding the entry of a specific user. However, in addition to this, if there is a user who has performed a specific action in the virtual space, even if the user is not a specific user, the presence of the user who performed the specific action may be notified to other users. For example, this includes detection of a user's movement to a position corresponding to a specific area in the virtual space. The specific area is, for example, a platform for holding an event, and is an area in which the presence of a user who has moved to the specific area suggests that the event will start. When a user who has climbed onto the platform is detected, a notification such as "Mr. P has climbed onto the platform in area Y!" is issued, as exemplified by the bulletin board object O in FIG. 11.

[0258] (Information about a specific user) In the above embodiment, as illustrated with reference to Fig. 10(B) and Fig. 11, the information on a specific user that can be viewed in response to a viewing request from a user includes information other than the entry information of the specific user into the virtual space (for example, video distribution information, event information in the virtual space, etc.). However, without being limited to this, the information may be a page in an app where only the information on the entry of a specific user into the virtual space can be viewed, or an object in the virtual space, etc.

[0259] (Regarding entry notification processing) In the above-described embodiment, in Fig. 12 to Fig. 15, an example in which the entry notification process is performed in response to a specific user logging in to a virtual space has been described. However, instead of or in addition to this, for example, in step S101 of Fig. 12, it may be determined whether or not the specific user has entered a room in the virtual space, and other users may be notified of the specific user's entry into any room. In addition, other users may be notified of which room the specific user has entered. For example, in response to the specific user's entry into area Y, a push notification or the like may be sent along with information on the area the specific user has entered.

[0260] Alternatively, as exemplified by the bulletin board object O in Fig. 11, the timing at which a specific user logs in and the fact that the specific user has entered a specific area may be notified in stages. Also, instead of or in addition to the area information, the room ID of the room that the specific user has entered may be notified.

[0261] Also, when a specific user moves to a room different from the room in which the specific user was present, a process may be performed to notify the user that the specific user has moved each time the user moves.

[0262] Furthermore, even if a specific user enters a virtual space, if a predetermined time has not passed since the previous entry, no notification may be sent. For example, the predetermined time may be 10 minutes, and even if a specific user logs in, if 10 minutes have not passed since the previous login, no notification of the subsequent (current) login may be sent. Similarly, no notification may be sent if the user enters the same room again within a predetermined time after the previous entry into the same room. This can prevent push notifications from being sent multiple times due to a specific user accidentally logging out.

[0263] (Regarding entry notification process 2) In the above embodiment, in step S201 of Fig. 13, when the specific user information medium management server 500 receives the notification information distributed from the distribution server 100 in step S105 of Fig. 12, the information on the login of the specific user is notified to the user terminal. That is, an example has been described in which the specific user who has newly logged in and is the subject of notification to other users is specified by the distribution server 100. However, without being limited to this, the specific user information medium management server 500 may specify the specific user who has newly logged in based on the user entry status acquired in step S203, and it may be determined whether the specific user who has newly logged in is included in the user entry status acquired in step S203, and when the specific user who has newly logged in is included, a push notification or the like may be sent spontaneously from the specific user information medium management server 500 to the user terminal.

[0264] In the above embodiment, an example has been described in which the entry status is acquired by using the user entry status API of the distribution server 100 in step S203 of Fig. 13. However, this is not limiting, and when a specific user logs in, the latest information on the user entry status may be distributed (transmitted) to the specific user information medium management server 500 by the distribution server 100.

[0265] (Regarding entry notification process 3) In the above embodiment, an example was described in which the distribution server 100 notifies (notifies) users who have not entered (logged in) into the virtual space that a specific user has entered (logged in) into the virtual space by steps S105A and S105B in Fig. 14, but the specific user information medium management server 500 may also perform a similar process. For example, the storage unit 520 of the specific user information medium management server 500 may associate a user ID in the specific user information medium management server with a user ID in the virtual space provided by the distribution server 100 in advance, or the same ID may be used for both user IDs. In this way, a notification may be made to the user terminals of users not included in the user entry status acquired in step S203 in Fig. 13.

[0266] In the above-described embodiment, in steps S105A and S105B of FIG. 14, an example has been described in which users who have not entered (logged in) into the virtual space are notified (notified) that a specific user has entered (logged in) into the virtual space. However, a notification may also be sent to users who have logged in to the virtual space but have not entered a room in the same area as the area entered by the specific user (or the same room as the specific user).

[0267] In addition, in the entry notification process 3, for users who are not logged in to the virtual space extracted in step S105A, the information about the specific user delivered in step S108 may include information indicating that the specific user has logged in, and the information delivered to users who are logged in to the virtual space may not include information indicating that the specific user has logged in.

[0268] (Regarding entry notification process 4) In the above embodiment, an example was described in which the distribution server 100 notifies (notifies) users other than users who have entered the virtual space under a predetermined situation that a specific user has entered (logged in) into the virtual space by steps S105C and S105D in Fig. 15, but similar to the above description (regarding entry notification process 3), the specific user information medium management server 500 may also perform a similar process. For example, the user entry status acquired in step S203 in Fig. 12 may include information on the content in which each user is participating, and based on the acquired user entry status, a notification may not be sent to the user terminal of the user who has entered the virtual space under a predetermined situation.

[0269] In the above embodiment, an example has been described in which a user who has entered under a predetermined situation is not notified (notified) that a specific user has entered (logged in). However, the present invention is not limited to this, and when a specific user enters under a predetermined situation, the specific user may not be notified that the specific user has entered. For example, the specific user may enter under a predetermined situation to hold or carry out a pre-planned event in a virtual space. If the specific user is a celebrity and enters for a pre-planned live event in which the celebrity plays a leading role, the specific user may not be notified that the specific user has entered. In this case, when the distribution server 100 determines that the specific user has logged in and that it is during a predetermined event period, the process of notifying other users may not be performed.

[0270] In addition, when a specific user logs in under a predetermined situation, the information about the specific user distributed in response to a browsing request from the user in step S107 in FIG. 12 and step S204 in FIG. 13 may not include the login information of the specific user who logged in under the predetermined situation. For example, when the user can predict in advance that the specific user will log in or the login time, or when the user knows in advance that the specific user will enter the room, it is possible to prevent the notification. For example, by notifying the user of the entry information and event information scheduled in advance as the information about the specific user exemplified in FIG. 10(B) and FIG. 11, the user can obtain information that the specific user may enter the room in advance. In addition, when a large-scale event is scheduled and a large number of specific users are scheduled to participate, it is possible to prevent the amount of information to be notified from becoming too large. In this way, depending on whether the entry of the specific user is scheduled in advance or not, if the entry is scheduled in advance, it is possible to prevent other users from being notified.

[0271] In addition, in the entry notification process 4, for users other than the users who have entered the virtual space extracted in step S105C under specified circumstances, the information about the specific user delivered in step S108 may include information indicating that a specific user has logged in, and the information delivered to users who have logged in to the virtual space under specified circumstances may not include information indicating that a specific user has logged in.

[0272] <About the setting change process of the distribution server 100> (Regarding entry into the virtual space) In the above-mentioned embodiment, an example has been described in which it is determined whether or not a specific user has logged in at step S303 in FIG. 18 and step S404 in FIG. 19. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and it may be determined whether or not a specific user has entered the virtual space at the timing of entering the room, not by logging in to the virtual space, and processing may be performed. For example, if it is determined in step S303 in FIG. 18 or step S404 in FIG. 19 that a specific user has entered a specific room in the virtual space, a resource increase process of the server may be performed in step S304, or the amount of information in steps S405 and S406 may be reduced. The server whose resources change may be a server (for example, a login authentication API server) corresponding to the entry / exit processing unit 134 that performs login authentication, or may be a server having a function for providing a user with information about an area of ​​the virtual space, a list of rooms that can be entered related to the area, or may be a server corresponding to a room. 19 may be performed on the user terminals of all users who have entered the virtual space, or may be executed on the user terminals of some of the users. The "some" includes, for example, users who have entered a room in the same area as the area entered by a specific user, or users who will enter the same room as the room entered by a specific user.

[0273] (Example of when not changing) In the above embodiment, an example was described in which, if the user who entered the room is a specific user in step S303 in Fig. 18 and step S404 in Fig. 19, setting change processing is performed. However, if the desired resource level or information volume level is already reached, processing may not be performed even if a specific user enters the room. For example, in Fig. 8, an increased number of operating servers is set, but a maximum number of operating servers may be set, and if the number of servers is already at the maximum number of operating servers, no increase may be performed even if a specific user logs in.

[0274] (Regarding the degree of setting fluctuation in setting fluctuation processing) In the above embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 8, step S304 in FIG. 18, step S405 and step S406 in FIG. 19, an example of varying the resource level (such as the number of servers) and the amount of information (such as the number of synchronizations) as a predetermined degree of variation of the settings according to a specific user has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the degree of variation of the settings performed when a specific user enters the room may be uniform. In other words, a certain process may be performed for a specific user regardless of the associated evaluation index or attribute number. For example, the number of servers to be increased may be three when the user ID "u2" in FIG. 7(A) logs in or when the user ID "u7" logs in. Alternatively, the number of synchronizations may be three regardless of whether "u2" or "u7" logs in.

[0275] Alternatively, the degree of change in the settings for a specific user may be calculated each time the specific user enters the room. For example, the degree of change may be calculated each time using a predetermined formula that defines the evaluation index of the specific user at the time of entering the room and the current resource usage rate as variables.

[0276] (When multiple specific users are logged in) In the above-described embodiment, when a plurality of specific users enter the room, the setting change degree of the resources and the amount of information may be calculated based on the setting change degree of the specific users who have already entered the room and the setting change degree of the specific users who entered later, and the control unit 130 may perform processing according to the calculation result in response to the entry of the specific users. For example, if the user ID "u2" in FIG. 7 enters the virtual space and then the user ID "u8" enters the room, the degree of change may be calculated using a criterion that combines the evaluation indexes "5" and "3" of each user. For example, the degree of resources or the degree of information may be determined according to the evaluation index obtained by adding up the evaluation indexes, or the degree of resources or the degree of information may be determined according to the higher evaluation index. For example, if a user with an evaluation index of "3" has already entered the room and then a user with an evaluation index of "5" enters the room, the setting change process has already been performed according to the evaluation index of "3", but the setting change process according to the evaluation index of "5" (for example, the number of servers may be increased from the maximum number of operating servers according to the evaluation index of "3" to the maximum number of operating servers according to the evaluation index of "5") may be performed. Also, for example, if a user with an evaluation index of "5" has already entered the room and then a user with an evaluation index of "3" lower than "5" enters the room, the setting change process has already been performed according to the evaluation index of "5", so it is possible not to change the settings again. Alternatively, the degree of resources or the degree of information may be determined according to the evaluation index obtained by adding half of the lower evaluation index to the higher evaluation index, or the degree of change may be calculated using each evaluation index as a variable in a predetermined calculation formula.

[0277] (Regarding setting change processing according to content load) The setting variation process in the above-described embodiment may be performed according to the load for each content provided by distribution server 100. For example, the degree of increase in resources and the degree of decrease in distribution amount may be greater when a specific user enters a room in which game content that is considered to have a high load is provided than when the specific user enters a room in which chat-only content that has a relatively light load is provided.

[0278] Also, in the virtual space, the settings may be changed according to the movement of a specific user to a room. For example, in the case of a server augmentation process, a process may be performed so that the server resources corresponding to the game content are increased according to the movement of a specific user from a room in which chat-only content is provided (the server resources may have already been increased according to the room in which the chat-only content is provided) to a room in which game content is provided. Also, the server resources of the room in which the user entered before the movement and in which chat-only content is provided may be reduced. Alternatively, when the user moves from a room in which game content is provided to a room in which chat-only content is provided, the server resources of the room in which the user entered before the movement and in which game content is provided may be reduced. The room includes a room corresponding to an area, a room to which a transition can be made by selecting content or the like from within the area, a room to which a transition can be made from within the area via a portal, a room provided regardless of the area, and the like.

[0279] Furthermore, in the case of the distribution information amount variation process, for example, when a specific user moves from a room where chat-only content is provided to a room where game content is provided and the load is high, a process for reducing the amount of information distributed from the distribution server 100 to the user terminal may be performed. For example, since the processing load is relatively light in a room where chat-only content is provided, the setting variation process may not be performed, but when the user moves to a room with content that has a high load, the setting variation process may be performed.

[0280] (Regarding the relationship between areas and rooms) The relationship between the areas and rooms in the virtual space in the above-mentioned embodiment is not limited to one type of room being defined for each area, but multiple types of rooms with different contents provided within the area may be defined. For example, in an area simulating a city, a transition may be made between a room simulating a city and a room providing different contents via a portal provided within the room or by an operation of selecting game contents.

[0281] In the above-mentioned embodiment, an example in which the number of servers may be increased in steps S302 and S304 to increase the number of rooms has been described with reference to FIG. 18. The rooms to be increased may be, for example, automatically assigned to each room by a load balancing function when the user enters the room (for example, the room to enter is automatically determined if the user selects only the area on the screen of FIG. 9(C)), and the entry process may be performed so that the number of people in each room is distributed without being biased to one room. In addition, when the number of people in a room exceeds the upper limit (when the room is full, or when the room reaches a predetermined number just before the room is full), the number of servers may be increased to increase the number of rooms. Even if the room is automatically assigned, the room ID may be entered by inputting the room ID in the room ID input area 27.

[0282] (Server example) The server in the above-described embodiment may be anything that has a function as a server, and may include, for example, a physical server and a server configured by virtualization technology. Servers configured by virtualization technology include, for example, host OS-type virtualization, hypervisor-type virtualization, and container-type virtualization. In addition, all or part of the various servers may be configured on a cloud service (cloud system) that is an infrastructure configured by virtualization technology. For example, different servers may be defined for each function or content.

[0283] For example, in the case of a container-type virtualized server, one container or multiple containers are defined as one server, and control is performed to increase the number of servers being executed. For example, when the login authentication device 101 detects that a specific user, a talent, has logged in, it transmits a command to the server management device 105 to increase the number of containers being executed by the login authentication device 101. This increases the number of containers (servers) functioning as the login authentication device 101 (increasing the amount of CPU and memory allocated, which are computer resources), and improves the processing performance of the server.

[0284] (Regarding fluctuations in the amount of information delivered) In the above-described embodiment, an example of reducing the drawing information of the virtual space has been described with respect to the reduction in the amount of information itself when distributed from the distribution server 100 to the user terminal, as described in steps S403 and S404 of FIG. 19. The drawing information to be reduced includes, for example, reducing the number of user avatars. For example, in a room, user avatars located at a predetermined distance from the user avatar being operated are displayed, but user avatars located farther than the predetermined distance are not displayed. However, specific users such as celebrities and user avatars such as friends (for example, users being followed) may be displayed even if they are farther than the predetermined distance.

[0285] Note that distribution server 100 may transmit to the user terminal information for each user (information specifying whether or not a user has been selected) that specifies the users the user has selected in advance and that is stored in distribution server 100, and a list of users who are in the same room including information for specifying the specific user, and the user terminal may extract the IDs of the following users and the specific user, and request distribution server 100 to display only the avatars of the extracted users as other user avatars. This reduces the processing load on both distribution server 100 and the user terminal.

[0286] In addition, in the distribution information amount change process, the process for reducing the information requested from the user terminal (e.g., the process of transmitting information for reducing the number of times of transmitting a synchronization signal in step S402 and step S405 in FIG. 19) and the setting of reducing the amount of information itself distributed to the user terminal (e.g., step S403 and step S406 in FIG. 19) may be executed first, or may be executed simultaneously. In addition, it is not limited to executing both, and they may be executed step by step according to the load situation or a specific user. For example, if the load is at a relatively light stage even in a heavy load state, or if a user with a relatively low evaluation index among specific users logs in, a process of reducing the number of synchronizations is executed, and if the load is at a heavy stage exceeding a predetermined threshold even in a heavy load state, or if a user with a high evaluation index among specific users logs in, in addition to the process of reducing the number of synchronizations, the amount of information itself distributed from the distribution server 100 to the user terminal may be reduced.

[0287] <About user devices> The user terminal operated by the specific user in the above-mentioned embodiment may be the user terminal 300 or the broadcast user terminal 400. In addition, the specific user may enter the virtual space from a dedicated application different from the applications installed on the user terminals of other users.

[0288] <About the room you will be entering> In the above-described embodiment, an example has been described in which a user can enter a room by selecting a room corresponding to each area from a screen such as that of Fig. 9(C) after logging in to the virtual space from, for example, the screen of Fig. 9(A) or (B). However, this is not limiting, and a room may be automatically assigned (associated) when the user logs in to the virtual space. Alternatively, in Fig. 9(C), a room may be automatically assigned by a load balancing function when an area is selected.

[0289] <Example of execution sequence of entry notification process and setting change process> The entry notification process of Fig. 12 etc. in the above-mentioned embodiment and the setting change process of distribution server 100 of Fig. 18 and Fig. 19 may be performed either first or simultaneously. For example, when login authentication device 101 illustrated in Fig. 16 performs login authentication process for a specific user, login authentication device 101 may first transmit a command to execute the process to server management device 105, and then transmit information for notifying notification management device 104 that the specific user has logged in.

[0290] In addition, only one of the setting change processes, the virtual space providing server augmentation process and the distribution information amount change process, may be executed, or both may be executed depending on the load situation or the specific user who has entered the room. Alternatively, one may be executed preferentially, and both may be executed depending on the load situation or the specific user who has entered the room. For example, the setting change process of the distribution server 100 may be executed when a specific user logs in, and the entry notification process may be performed when the specific user enters any room.

[0291] [Software implementation example] The various control blocks of the control unit of a computer such as a server or a terminal in the above-mentioned embodiment may be realized by a logic circuit (hardware) formed in an integrated circuit (IC chip) or the like, or may be realized by software using a CPU (Central Processing Unit). In the case where the control block is realized by software using a CPU, the computer equipped with the control unit includes a CPU that executes instructions of a program, which is software that realizes each function, a ROM (Read Only Memory) or a storage device (these are referred to as "recording medium") in which the program and various data are recorded so as to be readable by the computer (or CPU), and a RAM (Random Access Memory) in which the program is expanded. The object of the present invention is achieved by the computer (or CPU) reading and executing the program from the recording medium. As the recording medium, a "non-transient tangible medium", for example, a tape, a disk, a card, a semiconductor memory, a programmable logic circuit, etc., can be used. The program may be supplied to the computer via any transmission medium (such as a communication network or a broadcast wave) capable of transmitting the program. Note that one aspect of the present invention may also be realized in the form of a data signal embedded in a carrier wave in which the program is embodied by electronic transmission.

[0292] The embodiments disclosed herein should be considered to be illustrative and not restrictive in all respects. The scope of the present invention is defined by the claims, not the above description, and is intended to include all modifications within the meaning and scope of the claims. [Explanation of symbols]

[0293] 1 communication system, 2 network, 100 distribution server, 200 administrator terminal, 300 user terminal, 400 distribution user terminal, 500 specific user information media management server

Claims

1. A program executed by a computer that controls a virtual space providing unit for providing a virtual space to a user, The computer, a first setting change means for executing a process for changing the setting of the virtual space provision unit to a continuous provision state so as to be able to continuously provide the virtual space to the user when a predetermined situation occurs that can be established in response to a plurality of types of actions including entry into the virtual space by a user who does not satisfy a specific condition and that changes the setting of the virtual space provision unit; The program functions as a second setting change means that can execute a process to change the setting of the virtual space providing unit to the continued provision state in response to an action of a user who satisfies the specific condition, that is, entering the virtual space, even if the specified situation would not be established if a user who does not satisfy the specific condition enters the virtual space.

2. The program according to claim 1 , wherein the continuous provision state includes a state in which resources functioning as the virtual space provision unit are increased.

3. The program according to claim 2 , wherein the process for changing the setting of the virtual space providing unit to the continuous provision state includes a process for increasing a number of resources functioning as the virtual space providing unit.

4. The program according to claim 2 , wherein the process for changing the setting of the virtual space providing section to the continuous provision state includes a process for improving the performance of a resource functioning as the virtual space providing section.

5. The program according to claim 1 , wherein the continuous provision state includes a state in which an amount of information delivered to the user terminal of the user in order to provide the virtual space from the virtual space providing unit is reduced.

6. The program described in claim 5, wherein the processing for changing the settings of the virtual space providing unit to the continuous provision state includes processing for delivering request information to a user terminal for reducing the amount of information delivered from the virtual space providing unit in response to a request from the user terminal.

7. The program according to claim 5 , wherein the process for changing the settings of the virtual space providing unit to the continuous provision state includes a process for reducing the amount of information delivered to display the virtual space.

8. The program according to claim 1 , wherein the predetermined situation includes a situation that can occur when a load on the virtual space providing unit exceeds a predetermined threshold.

9. The action from the user includes a motion action in the virtual space; The program according to claim 8 , wherein the specified situation includes a situation that may occur when the frequency of the action in the virtual space increases and the load on the virtual space providing unit exceeds a predetermined threshold.

10. The program according to claim 8 , wherein the specified situation includes a situation that can occur when the load on the virtual space providing unit exceeds a predetermined threshold depending on the number of users entering the virtual space.

11. The program according to claim 1 , wherein the predetermined situation includes a situation that can occur when the number of users who have entered the virtual space reaches an upper limit number of users that are allowed to be associated with the virtual space providing unit.

12. The program according to claim 1 , wherein the specific condition includes a condition that is satisfied when the user who has entered the virtual space is a predetermined special user.

13. The special user belongs to one of a plurality of types, As the continuous provision state, a plurality of types of continuous provision states having different degrees of fluctuation are defined for each type of the special user, The program described in claim 12, wherein the second setting variation means is capable of executing a process for varying the settings of the virtual space providing unit to a continuous provision state with a degree of variation according to the type of special user who has entered the virtual space.

14. An evaluation value is set for the user, the evaluation value being changed depending on an external evaluation, which is an evaluation from a person other than the user; The program according to claim 1 , wherein the specific condition includes a condition that is satisfied when the evaluation value of the user who has entered the virtual space becomes equal to or greater than a predetermined value.

15. As the continuous provision state, a plurality of types of continuous provision states are defined, the degree of fluctuation of which differs according to the evaluation value of the user who satisfies the specific condition, The program described in claim 14, wherein the second setting variation means is capable of executing a process for varying the settings of the virtual space provision unit to a continuous provision state with a degree of variation corresponding to the evaluation value of the user who has entered the virtual space.

16. the virtual space includes a plurality of types of spaces corresponding to a plurality of types of content provided by the virtual space, the plurality of types of spaces being different in processing load on the virtual space providing unit; The program according to claim 1 , wherein the second setting variation means performs processing for varying a setting of the virtual space providing unit depending on the type of virtual space entered by the user who satisfies the specific condition.

17. The program described in claim 16, wherein the second setting variation means performs processing to vary the settings of the virtual space providing unit according to the space to which the user who satisfies the specific condition moves to a space of a different type having a different processing burden within the virtual space.

18. An evaluation value is set for the user, the evaluation value being changed depending on an external evaluation, which is an evaluation from a person other than the user; the specific condition includes a condition that is satisfied when the evaluation value of the user who has entered the virtual space becomes equal to or greater than a predetermined value; The computer, The program described in claim 2 functions as a means for calculating a degree of increase in resources when a first user having a first evaluation value that satisfies the specific condition has already entered a virtual space and a second user having a second evaluation value that satisfies the specific condition enters the virtual space, the degree being based not only on the second evaluation value but also on a combined evaluation value based on the first evaluation value.

19. An evaluation value is set for the user, the evaluation value being changed depending on an external evaluation, which is an evaluation from a person other than the user; the specific condition includes a condition that is satisfied when the evaluation value of the user who has entered the virtual space becomes equal to or greater than a predetermined value; The computer, The program described in claim 5, which functions as a means for calculating an amount of information to be reduced when a first user having a first evaluation value that satisfies the specific condition has already entered a virtual space and a second user having a second evaluation value that satisfies the specific condition enters the virtual space, based on not only the second evaluation value but also a combined evaluation value based on the first evaluation value.

20. the virtual space providing unit is a container which is a virtualized server, the process for varying the setting of the virtual space providing unit includes a process for outputting a command signal for increasing the number of the containers being executed to a container management unit that manages the execution of the containers; The program according to claim 2 , wherein the continuous provision state includes a state in which an amount of resources of the virtual space provision unit increases as a result of an increase in the number of the containers.

21. The program according to claim 1 , wherein said entering the virtual space includes logging in to the virtual space.

22. the virtual space providing unit includes a login information processing unit for authenticating whether a user has successfully logged in; 22. The program according to claim 21, wherein the second setting variation means performs processing for increasing resources of the login information processing unit when a user who satisfies the specific condition logs into the virtual space.

23. A method for controlling a computer that controls a virtual space providing unit for providing a virtual space to a user, comprising: a first step of executing a process for changing a setting of the virtual space provision unit to a continuous provision state so as to be able to continuously provide the virtual space to a user when a predetermined situation occurs that can be established in response to a plurality of types of actions including entry into the virtual space by a user who does not satisfy a specific condition and that changes the setting of the virtual space provision unit; and a second step of executing a process for changing the setting of the virtual space providing unit to the continuous provision state in response to an action of a user who satisfies the specific condition, that is, entering the virtual space, even in a situation in which the specified situation cannot be established even if a user who does not satisfy the specific condition enters the virtual space.

24. A system including a computer that controls a virtual space providing unit for providing a virtual space to a user, a first setting change means for executing a process for changing the setting of the virtual space provision unit to a continuous provision state so as to be able to continuously provide the virtual space to the user when a predetermined situation occurs that can be established in response to a plurality of types of actions including entry into the virtual space by a user who does not satisfy a specific condition and that changes the setting of the virtual space provision unit; and a second setting change means for executing a process to change the setting of the virtual space providing unit to the continued provision state in response to an action of a user who satisfies the specific condition, that is, entering the virtual space, even if the specified situation would not be established even if a user who does not satisfy the specific condition enters the virtual space.

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