Information providing device, system and method

Abstract

To provide an information provision device, system, and method which allow for guiding appropriate visiting hours for a specified spot according to a preset user attribute.SOLUTION: An information provision device 10 of the present invention comprises a video selection unit 14 for selecting a video related to a pre-specified spot from among videos delivered via a network, a person detection unit 15 configured to detect persons included in the selected video, an attribute estimation unit 16 configured to estimate attributes of the detected persons, an attribute trend determination unit 17 configured to determine an attribute trend of persons visiting the specified spot for each hour of the day based on the estimated attributes of the persons and a preset user attribute, and a guidance processing unit 18 configured to notify a user of the time the user should visit the specified spot based on the determined attribute tend and the preset user attribute.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

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

[0002] In recent years, with the spread of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet devices, SNS (Social Networking Services) are being used frequently. Information posted on SNS is used, for example, in navigation systems that provide route information and systems that provide destination information.

[0003] A technology is disclosed that relates to a navigation service that provides users with the degree of congestion at a destination based on information posted on a social networking service. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses a technology that provides users with information about changes in the degree of congestion at a facility at a destination. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] JP 2020-177418 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] The technology disclosed in Patent Document 1 can grasp the degree of congestion at a destination over time, but cannot grasp detailed conditions such as what attributes of people are most prevalent. Some facilities also use the Web to distribute information such as the degree of congestion, but the distributed information often differs from the actual situation due to a large time difference. For example, even in facilities with a large number of families, depending on the time of day or events, there may be many couples and it may not be appropriate for families to visit.

[0006] In view of the above, an object of the present disclosure is to provide an information providing device, system, and method capable of providing guidance on an appropriate visiting time period in accordance with user attributes set at a specified location. [Means for solving the problem]

[0007] The information providing device of the present invention includes an image selection unit that selects an image relating to a pre-specified location from images distributed over a network, a person detection unit that detects a person included in the selected image, an attribute estimation unit that estimates attributes of the detected person, and an attribute tendency determination unit that determines attribute tendencies for each time period regarding people visiting the specified location based on the estimated person attributes and predetermined user attributes.

[0008] The information provision system of the present invention comprises an image selection means for selecting an image relating to a pre-specified location from images distributed over a network, a person detection means for detecting a person included in the selected image, an attribute estimation means for estimating attributes of the detected person, and an attribute tendency determination means for determining attribute tendencies for each time period regarding people visiting the specified location based on the estimated person attributes and pre-set user attributes.

[0009] The information provision method of the present invention includes the steps of selecting video relating to a pre-specified location from among videos distributed over a network, detecting a person included in the selected video, estimating attributes of the detected person, and determining attribute trends for each time period for people visiting the specified location based on the estimated attributes of the person and pre-set user attributes. Effect of the Invention

[0010] According to the information providing device and method of the present invention, it is possible to provide information on an appropriate visiting time period for a specified location according to the set user attributes. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] 1 is a configuration diagram of an information providing device according to a first embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of guidance on an appropriate visiting time period at a specified location according to the first embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 3] FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of a process performed by the information providing device according to the first embodiment of the present invention to provide information about an appropriate visiting time period at a specified location. [Figure 4] FIG. 11 is a configuration diagram of an information providing system according to a second embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0012] Hereinafter, the embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the drawings are simplified, and the technical scope of the embodiments should not be interpreted narrowly based on the description in the drawings. Also, the same elements are given the same reference numerals, and duplicated explanations will be omitted.

[0013] In the following embodiments, when necessary for convenience, the description will be divided into multiple sections or embodiments. However, unless otherwise specified, they are not unrelated to each other, and one is a partial or complete modification, application example, detailed explanation, supplementary explanation, etc. of the other. Furthermore, in the following embodiments, when the number of elements, etc. (including the number, numerical value, amount, range, etc.) is mentioned, it is not limited to the specific number, and may be more or less than the specific number, unless otherwise specified or when it is clearly limited to a specific number in principle.

[0014] Furthermore, in the following embodiments, the components (including operation steps, etc.) are not necessarily essential unless otherwise specified or considered to be clearly essential in principle. Similarly, in the following embodiments, when referring to the shape, positional relationship, etc. of components, etc., it is intended to include those that are substantially similar or similar to the shape, etc., unless otherwise specified or considered to be clearly not essential in principle. The same applies to the above numbers, etc. (including numbers, values, amounts, ranges, etc.).

[0015] <Embodiment 1> The configuration of the information providing device 10 in this embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 1. Fig. 1 is a configuration diagram of the information providing device 10 in this embodiment.

[0016] The information providing device 10 can communicate with the SNS server 20. The SNS server 20 may be a server provided on a network capable of communicating with the information providing device 10, or may be a server of an official website of each facility. The SNS server 20 may be one or more.

[0017] The information providing device 10 includes an input unit 11, a location designation unit 12, a user attribute acquisition unit 13, an image selection unit 14, a person detection unit 15, an attribute estimation unit 16, an attribute tendency determination unit 17, and a guidance processing unit 18.

[0018] The information providing device 10 may be provided as a navigation device that provides a destination and a travel route to a user. The information providing device 10 may be a single server, or may use multiple servers to distribute the functions of each unit.

[0019] The input unit 11 issues operational instructions to the location designation unit 12 and the user attribute acquisition unit 13. The operational instructions may be input by character input using a keyboard, a touch panel, or the like, or may be input by voice using a microphone, or the like.

[0020] The point designation unit 12 designates a point based on information input by the user from the input unit 11. The input information may be various information such as latitude and longitude information of the destination point and the name of a facility. The information providing device 10 may include a map DB (not shown) that includes map data. At this time, the designated point may be configured to be selected on the map.

[0021] The user attribute acquisition unit 13 specifies the user's attributes based on the information input by the user from the input unit 11. The attributes may be various attributes such as, but not limited to, one person, a family with children, a couple, a group of men and women, a group of men and a group of women, etc. The attributes may be specified by inputting them from the input unit 11 each time, or by registering them in advance. In the case of registering them in advance, the information providing device 10 may be provided with a storage unit (not shown), and the user's attributes may be registered in the storage unit.

[0022] The video selection unit 14 searches and selects from the SNS server 20 videos having location information that matches or is similar to a location previously specified by the location designation unit 12, from among videos delivered via the network and having location information such as information on location names and facility names and latitude and longitude added as, for example, tag information. When the video contains latitude and longitude information, the video selection unit 14 searches and selects videos showing latitude and longitude information within a predetermined range from the latitude and longitude of the specified location. The "within the predetermined range" may be arbitrarily set according to the attributes of the specified location, such as within 100 m from the specified location.

[0023] The video selection unit 14 selects, from the selected videos, a video of a predetermined period from the time when the location was designated. The video of the predetermined period may be arbitrarily set according to the attributes of the designated location, such as within one hour from the time of designation, during the day, within one week, etc. The video to be selected may be a still image or a moving image.

[0024] The video selected by the video selection unit 14 may be selected from, for example, news content, blogs, etc. provided on the official website of each facility. The video selected by the video selection unit 14 may also be based on real-time video from a fixed camera or the like connected to a network. That is, the SNS server 20 may be a server provided in each facility or a server that distributes video from a fixed camera. Note that the SNS information targeted in this embodiment is preferably a large amount of searchable information.

[0025] The person detection unit 15 detects people included in the video selected by the video selection unit 14. When multiple people are included in the video, the person detection unit 15 may detect the multiple people. Of the videos selected by the video selection unit 14, videos that do not include people may be excluded from targets for person attribute estimation in the processing by the attribute estimation unit 16 described below, based on the detection result of the person detection unit 15.

[0026] The attribute estimation unit 16 estimates the attributes of the person detected by the person detection unit 15. The attribute estimation is performed by estimating the attributes of a single person or multiple people detected by the person detection unit 15. The attribute estimation may be performed by estimating the attributes of a person from the feature amount of an image of a person detected by the person detection unit 14 using artificial intelligence that has learned various states of people (for example, gender such as male or female, age such as child, young, old, etc.). The attribute estimation unit 16 may estimate the attributes of the detected individual person and may also estimate the attributes of the organization to which the detected person belongs. The attribute estimation unit 16 may estimate the attributes of the organization, such as whether the person is a single person, a couple, or an organization, from, for example, the distance between each person, whether they are talking, their line of sight, the direction of their face, etc. The attributes may be various attributes, such as gender such as male or female, age such as child, young, old, etc. Furthermore, the attributes of the organization to which the person belongs may be various organizations, such as, for example, a single person, a family with children, a couple, a group of men and women, a group of men, and a group of women.

[0027] The attribute tendency determination unit 17 determines the attribute tendency for each time period of people visiting the specified location based on the person's attributes estimated by the attribute estimation unit 16 from multiple videos. That is, the attribute tendency determination unit 17 determines the attribute tendency using the ratio of the person's attributes detected from the video. The person attribute tendency may be various tendencies such as many families, many couples, many young couples, many groups, etc. The attribute tendency determination unit 17 may learn the attribute tendency of people at the specified location by artificial intelligence and accumulate attribute tendency information for each time period at the specified location.

[0028] The guidance processing unit 18 is a notification unit that notifies the user of the time to visit a specified location based on the attribute tendency determined by the attribute tendency determination unit 17 and the user attribute previously set by the user. For example, assume that the previously set user attribute is "family" and the guidance processing unit 18 determines that the user should "visit" when the family exceeds 50%. Also assume that the attribute tendencies of people visiting the specified location are 60%, 30%, and 10% for family, young couple, and others, respectively. In this case, the guidance processing unit 18 determines that the user should "visit" the specified location.

[0029] The time to visit notified by the guidance processing unit 18 may be various times, such as a specific time period or a season. The notification by the guidance processing unit 18 may be in a form of displaying the current position on a map and the attribute tendency at the destination on the screen. In this case, the current position may be obtained using a positioning system such as a GPS (Global Positioning System). An example of a notification of the attribute tendency is shown in FIG. 2, but the notification method is not limited to this.

[0030] For example, if the user is a family with children, the guidance processing unit 18 may guide the user to a time period when there are many families with children, or a time period that avoids time periods when there are many couples or groups. In this case, the guidance processing unit 18 may provide guidance in various forms, such as text information such as "There are many families with children during this time period," or "It is predicted that there will be many couples today, but from tomorrow onwards there will be many families with children."

[0031] The guidance processing unit 18 may also have a function of outputting voice information. In this case, the guidance processing unit 18 may create voice information notifying the user of the visiting time period based on the user's attributes and the information indicating the tendency determined by the attribute tendency determination unit 17. Furthermore, the guidance processing unit 18 may calculate the expected time required to reach the specified location, and may also provide information on the departure schedule for arriving at the specified location at an appropriate time period.

[0032] Here, the flow of the process performed by the information providing device 10 will be described with reference to Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a flow diagram of the process performed by the information providing device 10 in this embodiment to notify of an appropriate visiting time period for a specified location.

[0033] First, the user attribute acquisition unit 13 specifies the user's attributes based on the information input by the user from the input unit 11 (step 101). The location designation unit 12 specifies a location based on the information input by the user from the input unit 11 (step 102). The video selection unit 14 selects a video of a predetermined period of the location designated by the location designation unit 12 from the SNS server 20 (step 103). The person detection unit 15 detects a person included in the video selected by the video selection unit 14 (step 104). The attribute estimation unit 16 estimates the attributes of the person detected by the person detection unit 15 at the designated location (step 105). The attribute tendency determination unit 17 determines the attribute tendency for each time period regarding the person visiting the designated location based on the person's attributes estimated by the attribute estimation unit 16 from multiple videos and the user attributes set in advance by the user (step 106). The guidance processing unit 18 notifies the user of the time to visit the designated location based on the attribute tendency determined by the attribute tendency determining unit 17 (step 107).

[0034] As described above, the information providing device 10 in this embodiment acquires still images and moving images for a predetermined period related to a location specified by the user from the SNS server 20. The person detection unit 15 detects people from the acquired still images and moving images, and the attribute estimation unit 16 estimates the attributes of the people. The guidance processing unit 18 provides the user with guidance on appropriate visiting time periods based on the preset user attributes and the estimated person attributes.

[0035] Therefore, the information providing device 10 can provide information on visiting time periods appropriate for the user attributes set at the specified location. For example, if the user is a family with children, the information providing device 10 can provide information on time periods when there are many families with children, or time periods that avoid time periods when there are many couples or groups.

[0036] <Embodiment 2> The configuration of the information providing system 1 in this embodiment will be described with reference to Fig. 4. Fig. 4 is a configuration diagram of the information providing system 1 according to this embodiment. The information providing system 1 includes a processing device 10a, a terminal device 10b, and an SNS server 20. The processing device 10a and the terminal device 10b are capable of communicating with each other. The processing device 10a and the SNS server 20 are also capable of communicating with each other.

[0037] The terminal device 10b includes an input unit 11, a location designation unit 12, a user attribute acquisition unit 13, and a guidance processing unit 18. The processing device 10a includes a video selection unit 14, a person detection unit 15, an attribute estimation unit 16, and an attribute tendency determination unit 17. The functions of each unit are the same as those in the first embodiment, so detailed explanations are omitted. The processing device 10a may be an information providing device such as a server owned by a commercial facility or a business entity. The terminal device 10b may be a communication terminal such as a smartphone used by a user, but is not limited to this and may be various terminal devices.

[0038] According to the information providing system 1 of this embodiment, a user can use the terminal device 10b to obtain information such as a visiting time period appropriate to the user attributes set at a specified location, regardless of time or place, and the degree of congestion at that time.

[0039] <Other embodiments> The information providing device 10 of the present invention has an embodiment as an information providing method, for example. That is, the information providing method includes a step of selecting a video related to a pre-specified location from videos distributed through a network, a step of detecting a person included in the selected video, a step of estimating attributes of the detected person, and a step of determining attribute trends for each time period related to people visiting the specified location based on the estimated attributes of the person and a pre-specified user attribute.

[0040] The above describes in detail the embodiments of the present disclosure with reference to the drawings. However, the specific configuration is not limited to the above, and various design changes and the like are possible within the scope that does not deviate from the gist of the present disclosure. [Explanation of symbols]

[0041] 1 Information provision system 10 Information provision device 11 Input section 12 Location designation section 13 User attribute acquisition unit 14 Video selection section 15 Person detection section 16 Attribute estimation part 17 Attribute trend determination section 18 Guidance processing section 20 Social Networking Server

Claims

1. a video selection unit that selects a video relating to a pre-specified location from among videos distributed through a network; a person detection unit that detects a person included in the selected video; an attribute estimation unit that estimates attributes of the detected person; an attribute tendency determination unit that determines an attribute tendency for each time period regarding a person who visits the specified location based on the estimated attribute of the person; a guidance processing unit that notifies the user of a time when the designated location should be visited based on the determined attribute tendency and a preset user attribute; An information providing device comprising:

2. The guidance processing unit is notifying the user of the time to visit the specified location by text information or voice information based on the attribute tendency determined by the attribute tendency determination unit; 2. The information providing device according to claim 1.

3. The guidance processing unit calculates an expected time required to reach the specified location.

3. The information providing device according to claim 1 or 2.

4. an image selection means for selecting an image relating to a pre-specified location from among images distributed through a network; A person detection means for detecting a person included in the selected video; An attribute estimation means for estimating an attribute of the detected person; an attribute tendency determining means for determining an attribute tendency for each time period regarding a person visiting the specified location based on the estimated attribute of the person; a guidance processing means for notifying a user of a time when the user should visit the designated location based on the determined attribute tendency and a preset user attribute; An information provision system equipped with:

5. selecting an image relating to a pre-specified location from among images distributed via a network; detecting a person included in the selected video; estimating attributes of the detected person; determining attribute trends for each time period regarding people visiting the specified location based on the estimated attributes of the people; notifying the user of a time to visit the specified location based on the determined attribute tendency and a preset user attribute; A method of providing information that includes the following:

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