Travel plan proposal device and travel plan proposal method

Abstract

To make it possible to easily carry out complicated operations including reservation and purchase by accessing various kinds of business entrepreneurs' sites and to allow a business entrepreneur to present a travel plan suitable for preference of a user and to carry out efficient analysis work of preference trends of the user by efficiently utilizing a small amount of information of the user.SOLUTION: A travel plan proposal apparatus includes: a user structure storing unit for storing user record units for receiving a travel plan proposal; a spot structure storing unit for storing spot record units; a movement means structure storing unit for storing a movement means record; and a proposal information processing unit for calculating, for each sport record unit, similarity between a data group of specific user record units stored in the user structure storing unit and a data group stored in the spot structure storing unit so as to generate a proposal screen for use in proposing, to the user, as a candidate for the travel plan, a spot record unit having the high similarity and the movement means record associated with the spot record unit having the high similarity.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 14

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a travel plan proposal device, a travel plan proposal system, and a travel plan proposal method that link a user with a travel plan proposal that matches the user's taste trends and enable the user to perform reservations and purchase operations. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, research has been conducted on technology for estimating user preferences based on behavioral histories such as access history of accessing websites and purchase history of products purchased through online shopping. For example, it is considered possible to present products that are of high interest to a user using such technology for estimating user preferences. However, with the above-mentioned conventional technology, it is difficult to predict changes in a user's preferences. Specifically, the above-mentioned conventional technology only vaguely estimates a user's preferences based on behavioral histories that indicate the user's past information, and therefore it is difficult to estimate the fields of products, services, etc. that the user will be interested in in the future.

[0003] To address the above-mentioned problem, JP 2013-171500 A (Patent Document 1) is available. This Patent Document 1 states that "the analysis device according to the embodiment has an extraction unit, a calculation unit, and a prediction unit. The extraction unit extracts interest information related to a field in which a user is interested from user attribute information related to the user or history information of content being transmitted and received by the user terminal, and extracts flow information indicating the relationship between the user terminals between which the content was transmitted and received. The calculation unit calculates, for each user terminal, a transmission probability that related content related to the received content will be transmitted from the user terminal to another user terminal based on the flow information."

[0004] The prediction unit predicts the propagation probability of the related content of the specified content to the specified user terminal based on the transmission probability, and predicts the user's degree of interest in the related content based on the interest information of the specified user.'' [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0005] [Patent Document 1] JP 2013-171500 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0006] The technology shown in Patent Document 1 discloses an operation for improving the accuracy of content recommendations by calculating similarities between users from their content usage history, performing grouping, and creating a usage transition prediction flow (tree diagram) of users. In order to accurately calculate such similarities between users, it is assumed that a certain amount of user history needs to be accumulated. On the other hand, when there are few service users, such as immediately after the start of a service, it may be difficult to obtain sufficient history information and perform accurate analysis.

[0007] In particular, when considering a procedure for obtaining information from multiple industries and making a reservation or purchase, such as creating a travel plan, it is necessary to access the websites of businesses from multiple industries separately and make the reservation or purchase, which requires very complicated operations.

[0008] In addition, in order for each business operator to understand the trends of users' preferences, they must refer to the operation history of each user on their own website at the stage where the usage history of many users has been collected, analyze the trends of users' preferences from the referred information, and consider the public information to be provided from their own website. Analyzing the operation of each user on their own website is extremely difficult.

[0009] The objective of the present invention is to provide a travel plan proposal device, a travel plan proposal system, and a travel plan proposal method that can easily perform the complicated operations of accessing a wide variety of business sites and making reservations and purchases, efficiently utilizes limited user information, presents travel plans that suit the user's preferences, and enables business operators to efficiently analyze user preference trends. [Means for solving the problem]

[0010] In order to solve the above problem, an example of a travel plan proposal device has a configuration including a user structure memory unit in which user setting information set by a user receiving a proposed travel plan and a user characteristic tag indicating the user's preference tendency are stored as user record units in correspondence with the user's identification information; a spot structure memory unit in which spot setting information regarding candidate spots for the travel plan obtained from an external site and a spot characteristic tag indicating the preference tendency of the spot are stored as spot record units in correspondence with the identification information of the spot; a transportation means structure memory unit in which transportation means associated with the location of the spot setting information and related spots near the location are stored as transportation means record units in correspondence with the identification information of the transportation means; and a proposal information processing unit that calculates the similarity for each spot record unit of a data group of a specific user record unit receiving the proposed travel plan stored in the user structure memory unit and the data group stored in the spot structure memory unit, and generates a proposal screen that proposes to the user spot record units with high similarity and the transportation means record units associated with the spot record units with high similarity as candidates for the travel plan. Effect of the Invention

[0011] According to the present invention, the complicated operations of accessing a wide variety of business sites and making reservations and purchases can be easily performed, limited user information can be efficiently utilized, travel plans suited to the user's preferences can be presented, and businesses can efficiently analyze user preferences. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0012] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a travel plan proposal system 1000 according to a first embodiment. [Diagram 2]1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a travel plan proposal system 1000 according to a first embodiment. [Diagram 3] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a user setting screen 3000 of the travel plan proposal device 1100 in the first embodiment. [Figure 4] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a structure storage form in a user feature DB 1111 in the first embodiment. [Diagram 5] 4 illustrates a spot setting screen 4000 of the travel plan proposal device 1100 in the first embodiment. [Figure 6] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a structure storage form in a spot feature DB 1112 in the first embodiment. [Figure 7] 11 is a diagram showing a structure storage form in a tag dictionary DB 1114 in the first embodiment. FIG. [Figure 8] FIG. 60 is a diagram showing a spot characteristic tag editing screen 6000 in the first embodiment. [Figure 9] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a structure storage form in a transportation means characteristics DB 1113 in the first embodiment. [Figure 10] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an overall processing flow of the travel plan proposal system 1000 in the first embodiment. [Figure 11A] FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a user-side proposal screen 8000 in the first embodiment. [Figure 11B] FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a detour suggestion screen 8080 in the first embodiment. [Figure 12] 13 is a flowchart of updating a user characteristic DB / spot characteristic DB by a DB management unit 1119 in the first embodiment. [Figure 13] 11 is a flowchart of a tag sharing process performed by a tag sharing processor 1116 in the first embodiment. [Figure 14] 11 is a flowchart of a proposal process performed by a proposal information processing unit 1115 in the first embodiment. [Figure 15] FIG. 18 is a block diagram of a travel plan proposal system 1800 according to a second embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0013] In the following, examples of the travel plan proposal device, the travel plan proposal system, and the travel plan proposal method according to the present embodiment will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. Note that the travel plan proposal device, the travel plan proposal system, and the travel plan proposal method according to the present embodiment are not limited to these examples. EXAMPLES

[0014] In Example 1, an example of a travel plan proposal system 1000 is described that analyzes historical information presumed to be similar to that of a user U of the travel plan proposal device, determines the relevance based on the similarity between characteristic information indicating the user U's preference trends and characteristic information of destinations (hereinafter referred to as spots S) in the travel plan, and proposes a travel plan suitable for the characteristic information of user U.

[0015] 1 is a block diagram of a travel plan proposal system 1000 in the embodiment 1. The travel plan proposal system 1000 shows a block diagram in which a plurality of user terminals 1300 and business site 1200, 1210, 1220, 1230 are connected to a travel plan proposal device 1100 via networks 1400 and 1500, respectively.

[0016] The travel plan proposal device 1100 searches for matching between characteristic information of many users U through access from the user terminal 1300 and characteristic information of spots S and characteristic information related to means of transportation provided by the business operators' sites 1200, 1210, 1220, and 1230, and proposes and displays an appropriate travel plan based on the search results and the preferences of the user U. This proposal encourages the purchase of tickets to spots S included in the travel plan, and the user U can plan the travel plan efficiently and without stress, without having to collect information about the travel plan separately from restaurant sites, accommodation sites, sightseeing destination sites, transportation sites, etc., and can proceed smoothly.

[0017] On the other hand, businesses operating business websites can understand user preferences for their company by referring to the characteristic information in the database within the travel plan proposal device, and can further customize the spot information they provide so as to provide spot information that better matches users' usage trends.

[0018] The user terminal 1300 is a terminal through which the user U receives the services provided by the travel plan proposal device 1100. The user U can obtain information on potential spots and detours at any time during the trip by previously initializing or inputting characteristic information such as age, sex, and preferences, the purpose of the trip, and items that the user wants to prioritize as the user's registration information, and can also use this information to make reservations for spot S.

[0019] The user terminal 1300 is mainly assumed to be a personal computer or a mobile terminal, but may also be a ticket purchasing machine or ticket issuing machine installed in a convenience store, a public facility, etc. Also, tickets and reservation information may be printed by a multifunction machine installed in a convenience store, a public facility, etc. Also, the travel plan proposal device 1100 may have an operation unit (not shown) so that the user U can directly operate the travel plan proposal device 1100.

[0020] The business site 1200-1230 is a site maintained and managed by business operators who operate and manage tourist spots, restaurants, lodging facilities, mobility, etc., and provides service information provided by each business operator to the user U, and issues ticket reservation information and purchase information according to the service information selected by the user U. For example, in the first embodiment, the business site 1200 indicates restaurant sites for Japanese restaurants, Western restaurants, and coffee shops. The business site 1210 indicates accommodation sites for hotels, inns, and log houses. The business site 1220 indicates tourist sites for amusement parks, museums, and art galleries. The business site 1230 indicates transportation sites for railway companies, bus companies, and rental car companies. In this way, information communication is performed with sites of various types of businesses. The business site is not limited to the above-mentioned businesses, and may target a wider variety of businesses.

[0021] The following describes each functional unit of the travel plan proposal device 1100. In FIG.

[0022] The tag generation engine unit 1110 includes a user characteristic DB 1111, a spot characteristic DB 1112, a transportation means characteristic DB 1113, a tag dictionary DB 1114, a DB management unit 1119, a tag sharing processing unit 1116, a proposed information processing unit 1115, a tag setting management unit 1117, and a similarity calculation unit 1118. The user characteristic DB 1111, the spot characteristic DB 1112, the transportation means characteristic DB 1113, and the tag dictionary DB 1114 are databases that accumulate and store setting portions and characteristic tags, respectively, and the functions and operations of each unit will be described in detail later.

[0023] The user characteristic DB 1111 is a database that stores user setting information such as the age, sex, and travel purpose of each user U in association with user characteristic tags that describe spot information that has many similar items to the user setting information, and the data in the database is updated and managed as needed. The database stores user characteristic tags that are assigned by the tag sharing processor 1116 and the proposed information processor 1115 in association with the initial settings or input settings in advance on the user setting screen described later.

[0024] The spot characteristic DB 1112 is a database that stores spot setting information, such as the purpose of visit and location of each spot S, in association with spot characteristic tags that describe user information that has many similar items to the spot setting information, and the data in the database is updated and managed as needed. The database stores setting values ​​that are initially set or input in advance on a spot setting screen (described later) in association with spot characteristic tags assigned by a tag sharing processing unit 1116 and a proposed information processing unit 1115. The congestion status of each spot S is obtained from each business operator's site 1200 to 1220 and updated in real time.

[0025] The transportation feature DB 1113 is a database that stores and updates feature information of transportation means such as public transportation and rental cars in association with each other. The feature information is presented in a travel plan proposed on the user-side proposal screen by the proposal information processing unit 1115, which will be described later. The travel time and congestion status of transportation means are obtained from the transportation site 1230 and updated in real time.

[0026] The tag dictionary DB 1114 is a database that defines derivatives and synonyms of words defined in the spot setting information of spot S provided by the business sites 1200, 1210, and 1220, and prevents oversights when searching for travel plans, as there are subtle differences in expression for similar concepts. It is a thesaurus for searching for associations between user U and feature information of spot S, including essential meanings, not just superficial word matches or similarities. The configuration of each database will be described in detail later.

[0027] The tag setting management unit 1117 is configured to enable editing of feature information of spots S managed by businesses at the business sites 1200, 1210, 1220, and 1230 on the travel plan proposal device 1100, but the tag setting management unit 1117 may be provided on the business sites 1200, 1210, 1220, and 1230 side and set within the business site. In this case, the feature information set within the business site is transmitted to the travel plan proposal device 1100, and updates the corresponding spot information in the spot feature DB 1112. Also, in addition to setting the initial feature information by the business, automatic editing may be performed based on feature information additionally added by a tag sharing process of the travel plan proposal device described later.

[0028] Furthermore, the tag setting management unit 1117 has a function of analyzing the preference trends of the user feature tags 3080 and the spot feature tags 4080 in the database, which enables the business operator to grasp the preference trends of users and reflect them in the description and configuration of their own website. As for the analysis method, if it is possible to perform histogram creation, time series data analysis, statistical analysis, etc. by specifying the analysis items, it is more effective in analyzing user preferences.

[0029] The tag sharing processor 1116 enables a search for feature information that more closely matches the features of the user feature DB 1111 and the spot feature DB 1112 by sharing data in the database between them. The tag sharing processor 1116 executes the tag sharing process flow, which will be described in detail later.

[0030] The similarity calculation unit 1118 has a function of calculating the similarity between the record of the corresponding user U in the user feature DB 1111 and each record in the spot feature DB. Regarding the method of calculating the similarity, a method of judging whether or not there is a matching item in the record and calculating it as a comprehensive judgment value of each presence or absence is conceivable. For example, it can be calculated by various methods such as the Euclidean distance calculation method calculated by the square root of the sum of squares of each judgment item, the Mahalanobis distance calculation method calculating a statistical distance, Pearson's product moment correlation coefficient, cosine similarity, etc. Since these calculation methods are well known technologies, their explanations are omitted here. As an example, when calculating the similarity by the Euclidean distance calculation method, if it is assumed that the presence of an item is judged as 0 and the absence of an item is judged as 1 for n judgment items, the similarity is 0 when all items are identical and the similarity is √n when all items are mismatched, and the lower the value, the higher the similarity index.

[0031] The proposed information processing unit 1115 extracts travel plan candidates based on the similarity calculated by the similarity calculation unit 1118 described above, generates a proposal screen to propose to the user, and presents it to the user U. Furthermore, when a proposed travel plan is selected, a tag permanence process is executed to raise the priority of the feature information as a plan that more closely matches the user U's taste trends. The tag permanence process flow will be described in detail later. The proposal screen may be displayed by transmitting proposal screen data to the user terminal 1300 for display, or may be displayed on a display unit (not shown) of the travel plan proposal device 1100. The DB management unit 1119 adds new data to each of the above-mentioned databases, and also calculates the weights of the feature tags to perform update management.

[0032] The right information storage unit 1120 stores right information related to ticket information selected from the travel plan proposed in the first embodiment and purchased or reserved. It also stores right information related to purchased or reserved ticket information obtained by directly accessing each business site. The right information related to the purchased or reserved ticket information may be transmitted to a mobile terminal, which is an example of the user terminal 1300 of the user U, and presented to the business when using the spot S, thereby enabling the spot S to be used.

[0033] In addition, when presented at the time of using spot S, the user terminal 1300 manages the right information related to the purchased or reserved ticket information before and after use. After use, the right information is erased and the right information is managed so that it cannot be used twice. Furthermore, it is also possible to notify the travel plan proposal device 1100 of a visit to spot S and receive a secondary service that is added to the presented travel plan.

[0034] The user terminal I / F 1130 is an interface that handles information exchange between the travel plan proposal device 1100 and the user terminal 1300. It transmits user information from the user terminal 1300 to the travel plan proposal device 1100, and also provides user-oriented proposal information from the travel plan proposal device 1100 to the user terminal 1300. If the user terminal I / F 1130 is located remotely from the travel plan proposal device 1100, a public line is used as the network 1500, and if it is located within the same facility as the travel plan proposal device 1100, a local area network (LAN) is used. Wireless LAN or near field communication (NFC) may also be used.

[0035] The business operator management I / F 1140 is an interface that manages information exchange between the travel plan proposal device 1100 and each of the business operator sites 1200 to 1230. Since the business operator management I / F 1140 connects the travel plan proposal device 1100 with a large number of business operator sites, it is assumed that the network 1400 uses a public line, but other communication means as described above may also be used.

[0036] Fig. 2 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a travel plan proposal system 1000 in Example 1. The travel plan proposal device 1100 in Fig. 2 includes a central processing unit 2002, a main memory device 2003, an internal bus 2004, a bus I / F 2005, an external bus 2006, a screen output device I / F 2007, a user input device I / F 2008, a mass storage device I / F 2009, a communication device I / F 2010, and an input / output device I / F 2011.

[0037] The central processing unit 2002 executes programs for tag sharing processing, proposed information processing, similarity calculation, etc., which will be described later, performs calculations, and controls the overall operation of the travel plan proposal device 1100 .

[0038] The main memory device 2003 is used as a processing area when executing programs for tag sharing processing, proposal information processing, similarity calculation, etc., which will be described later, and as a temporary storage area for basic programs such as an OS (Operating system).

[0039] The central processing unit 2002 and the main memory device 2003 are connected by an internal bus 2004 , and the internal bus 2004 is connected to an external bus 2006 via a bus I / F 2005 .

[0040] The external bus 2006 is connected to a screen output device I / F 2007, a user input device I / F 2008, a mass storage device I / F 2009, a communication device I / F 2010, and an input / output device I / F 2011, and data input / output between these I / Fs and the central processing unit 2002 and main memory device 2003 is performed using a bus I / F 2005 and an internal bus 2004.

[0041] The screen output device I / F 2007 is an I / F for connecting to the display 2100, and outputs information obtained through the external bus 2006 to the display 2100. The display 2100 is a device capable of displaying, for example, a setting screen or a proposal screen of the travel plan proposal device 1100 in the first embodiment, and can also display other information for operating the basic program.

[0042] The user input device I / F 2008 is an I / F for connecting to the user input device 2200, and outputs information input from the user input device to the external bus 2006. The user input device is a device for receiving input from a user, such as a keyboard or a mouse, and the information input from the user input device is stored in the main memory device 2003 or the mass storage device 2300 via the user input device I / F 2008 and is used when the above programs are executed by the central processing unit 2002.

[0043] The mass storage device I / F 2009 is an I / F for connecting to the mass storage device 2300, and mediates data input / output from the mass storage device 2300 to the external bus 2006. The mass storage device 2300 is a device such as an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), and holds data such as temporary storage information and rights information when the above-mentioned program is executed, and also creates databases including a user characteristic DB 1111, a spot characteristic DB 1112, a means of transportation characteristic DB 1113, and a tag dictionary DB 1114 to hold data.

[0044] The communication device I / F 2010 is an I / F for connecting to the communication device 2400, and mediates data input / output from the communication device to the external bus 2006. The communication device is a device for connecting to each of the business sites 1200, 1210, 1220, the user terminal 1300, etc. via, for example, Ethernet (registered trademark), and performs communication and data exchange by connecting.

[0045] The input / output device I / F 2011 is an I / F for connecting to the input / output device 2500, and mediates data input / output from the input / output device 2500 to the external bus 2006. The input / output device 2500 is a drive device capable of reading and writing data from / to a portable storage medium, an IC card reader for user authentication, a fingerprint authentication device, or the like.

[0046] When executing a series of processes of the travel plan proposal device 1100 in the first embodiment, the data in each database of the travel plan proposal device 1100 stored in the mass storage device 2300 and a series of processing programs are called up into the main memory device 2003, and the central processing unit 2002 executes processing operations, thereby virtually constructing each functional unit shown in FIG. 1 on the main memory device 2003 and executing each function.

[0047] The configuration of the setting screen and the database will be described in detail below. Fig. 3 is a diagram showing a user setting screen 3000 of the travel plan proposal device 1100 in the first embodiment. A user U performs initial settings or input settings in advance using the user setting screen 3000. The user setting screen 3000 has a persona setting field 3010, a travel purpose field 3020, a history call button 3030, and a setting completion button 3040.

[0048] The persona setting field 3010 is a setting for inputting basic information such as the age and gender of the user U. In addition, individual preference information can be input as "preferences (free words)". In the first embodiment, a control example in which only age and gender are treated as characteristic information will be described. The input of the age and gender can be made by displaying multiple options based on age and gender in a pull-down menu and allowing selection from the pull-down menu, which improves operability for the user.

[0049] The trip purpose field 3020 is a setting for inputting the main purpose and the trip purpose such as the items to be emphasized. In addition, additional information can be input as "items to be emphasized (free words)". In the first embodiment, a control example in which only the main purpose is treated as characteristic information will be described. The input of the main purpose may be made by displaying multiple options based on the main purpose in a pull-down menu and allowing the user to select from the pull-down menu, which improves operability for the user.

[0050] The history call button 3030 is a button for calling up previously set history information, and in addition to items set by the user, it may also call up characteristic information automatically set by the travel plan proposal device 1100. The setting completion button 3040 is a button for finalizing the information input on the user setting screen 3000 and storing it in the user characteristic DB 1111 or performing an update process.

[0051] In addition, each item set on the user setting screen 3000 may be an operation in which the information is pre-initialized or input into the user terminal 1300 and references information in the user characteristics DB 1111, spot characteristics DB 1112, and tag dictionary DB 1114 upon accessing the travel plan proposal device 1100, or may be an operation that is set at the time of access.

[0052] 4 is a diagram showing a structure and storage form in the user feature DB 1111 in the embodiment 1. The user feature DB 1111 is composed of user setting information 1111a including a user ID 3050, a persona setting 3060, and a trip purpose 3070, a user feature tag 3080, and a weight 3090.

[0053] The user characteristic DB1111 is a database that stores characteristic information such as the age, sex, travel purpose, and taste tendency of the user U in association with each other, and the data in the database is updated and managed as needed. The user characteristic DB1111 is a user structure storage unit that stores user setting information 1111a that stores setting values ​​that are initially set or input in advance on the above-mentioned user setting screen 3000, user characteristic tags 3080 that aggregate taste characteristics related to the user, and weights 3090 that aggregate the user characteristic tags 3080 as user record units UR in association with the user ID 3050.

[0054] User ID 3050 is identification information for identifying an individual user U, and user U is specified by being authenticated by an authentication unit (not shown) in travel plan proposal device 1100. User ID 3050 can be set not only for a single user, but also for a group such as a family or employee. If the user ID 3050 to be authenticated does not exist in user characteristic DB 1111, a new user ID 3050 is created. Details of creating a new user ID 3050 will be described later.

[0055] The user setting information 1111a is composed of a persona setting 3060 and a travel purpose 3070. The persona setting 3060 is an item for storing basic information such as the age and gender of the user U set in the persona setting field 3010 of the user setting screen 3000 of FIG. 3. The travel purpose 3070 is an item for storing information set in the travel purpose field 3020 of the user setting screen 3000 of FIG. 3. The travel purpose 3070 is an item for describing the purpose of each trip, and describes purposes that change depending on the situation even for an individual user, such as a private family trip or business trip. This information allows for cases where personal characteristics change depending on the purpose and situation.

[0056] The user feature tag 3080 is an item for storing spot feature information transcribed by the tag sharing process described later. The user feature tag 3080 is feature information that shares the features of the visited spot and the features of the means of transportation, and by referring to this information, information on other users who have similar tastes and tendencies and visited the visited spot can also be shared.

[0057] Weight 3090 is an item that aggregates and stores tag-shared information in user feature tag 3080. Weight 3090 is a numerical value calculated by DB management unit 1119 shown in FIG. 1. The weight is calculated by counting the same spot IDs stored in user feature tag 3080 after executing tag sharing processing. Furthermore, the counted numerical value is normalized by the total number of spots. In the data shown in FIG. 4, the calculated weights are spot S03: 0.1, S01: 0.1, and spot S02: 0.3, and the similarity is calculated taking into account the calculated weights.

[0058] Fig. 5 shows a spot setting screen 4000 of the travel plan proposal device 1100 in the first embodiment. As shown in Fig. 5, an operator inputs settings using the spot setting screen 4000, thereby executing initial settings or updates of the corresponding spot in the spot feature DB 1112. In addition, the operator may be able to edit the feature tags added by the travel plan proposal device 1100 in a tag sharing process described later. The spot setting screen 4000 has a purpose of visit field 4010, a tag dictionary usage setting 4020, and a setting completion button 4030. In addition, a free input setting menu may be provided as an optional setting.

[0059] The purpose of visit field 4010 is classified into category 1 and category 2, and the characteristics of the spot are registered in the spot characteristic DB 1112 by inputting basic information of the spot S such as the business type and business style. The tag dictionary usage setting 4020 is an item for specifying which category defined in the tag dictionary DB 1114 described later is to be used. The tag dictionary usage setting 4020 indicates a definition for expanding the characteristics of the spot S such as the business type and business style of the spot S provided by the business site 1200, 1210, 1220, 1230, and specifies the expansion to categories 3 and 4 of the tag dictionary DB 1114. The input of the purpose of visit field 4010 and the tag dictionary usage setting 4020 may be made by displaying multiple options based on the purpose of visit and the tag dictionary usage setting in a pull-down menu and allowing selection from the pull-down menu, which improves operability for the business.

[0060] The option setting is an item for freely adding tags. The option setting allows the input of content other than the registration items defined in the tag dictionary DB 1114. If electronic information about the spot S is available on the Internet or the like, the option setting may be provided with a function for automatically inputting tag information using the electronic information.

[0061] The setting completion button 4030 is a button for confirming the information input on the spot setting screen 4000 and storing it in the spot characteristic DB 1112 or performing an update process.

[0062] 6 is a diagram showing a structure and storage form in the spot feature DB 1112 in the embodiment 1. The spot feature DB 1112 is composed of the following items: spot ID 4040, purpose of visit 4050, location 4060, spot real-time tag 4070, spot feature tag 4080, and weight 4090.

[0063] The spot feature DB 1112 is a database that stores feature information of each spot S in association with each other, and data within the database is updated and managed as needed. The spot feature DB 1112 is a spot structure storage unit that stores, as spot record units SR, spot setting information 1112a that stores setting values ​​that are initially set or input in advance on the spot setting screen 4000 shown in Fig. 5, a spot real-time tag 4070 that acquires real-time information on the spot, a spot feature tag 4080 that aggregates preference features related to the spot, and a weight 4090 that aggregates the spot feature tag 4080 in association with a spot ID 4040.

[0064] The spot setting information 1112a is composed of a spot ID 4040, a purpose of visit 4050, and a location 4060. The spot ID 4040 is identification information for identifying each individual spot S, and is assigned when the initial setting or input setting is made in advance on the spot setting screen 4000, and identifies the spot S. If the corresponding spot ID 4040 does not exist in the spot characteristic DB 1112, a new spot ID 4040 may be created. Details of creating a new spot ID 4040 will be described later.

[0065] The purpose of visit 4050 represents the characteristics of the spot S, and is determined in advance by the manager of the spot S mainly by referring to categories in the tag dictionary DB 1114 described later. Furthermore, among the characteristics of the visiting user, those that are highly likely to represent the characteristics of the spot well, particularly depending on the user's selection, may be added by the travel plan proposal device 1100.

[0066] The location 4060 is location information of the spot S, and each business operator acquires in advance information that has been input and set on the business operator's website. The spot real-time tag 4070 acquires information such as the congestion status and waiting time of the spot S from each business operator's website in advance and updates it in real time. It is assumed that the user U may select a spot S by looking at the information displayed on the spot real-time tag 4070. For example, it can be interpreted as preference information, such as liking popular spots with many people or quiet places.

[0067] The spot characteristic tag 4080 is an item obtained as a result of sharing user preference trends through a tag sharing process or a tag permanence process, which will be described later. The spot characteristic tag 4080 may include preference trends that have not been seen until now as characteristics of spots.

[0068] The weight 4090 is an item that aggregates and stores feature information shared by the spot feature tag 4080. The weight 4090 is a numerical value calculated by the DB management unit 1119 shown in FIG. 1. The weight is calculated by counting the same user IDs stored in the spot feature tag 4080 after executing the tag sharing process. Furthermore, the counted numerical value is normalized by the total number of users. For the data shown in FIG. 6, the weights are calculated as user U03: 0.1, user U03: 0.1, and user U03: 0.3, and the similarity is calculated taking into account the calculated weights.

[0069] 7 is a diagram showing a structure storage form in the tag dictionary DB 1114 in the first embodiment. The tag dictionary DB 1114 has a data structure of categories 1 to 4, which are indicated by the reference characters 7001, 7002, 7003, and 7004, respectively. The tag dictionary DB 1114 has a data structure in which category 1 corresponds to a major classification, and the data structure transitions from category 1 to minor classifications as one moves to the right. Therefore, the contents of category 4, which is a minor classification, are actual proper names such as shrines, campsites, natural parks, store D, and store E.

[0070] FIG. 7 is an example of the tag dictionary DB 1114, which holds input setting values ​​of the initial setting values ​​in the above-mentioned user setting screen 3000 and spot setting screen 4000. By using the tag dictionary DB 1114, when various users and businesses set characteristic information, it is possible to avoid a situation in which similar concepts are expressed with different words and phrases, narrowing the range of travel plan proposals. The tag dictionary DB 1114 describes characteristic information for each category, and characteristic information can be set according to the category. In addition, the administrator of the travel plan proposal device 1100 may be able to edit the tag dictionary DB 1114.

[0071] As an actual operation example, by specifying categories 3 and 4 in tag dictionary usage setting 4020 on spot setting screen 4000 shown in FIG. 5, it becomes possible to search for travel plans by specifying more specific information than categories 1 and 2.

[0072] 8 is a diagram showing a spot characteristic tag editing screen 6000 in the embodiment 1. The spot characteristic tag editing screen 6000 is made up of a tag setting status 6010 and a visit tag analysis 6020.

[0073] The tag setting status 6010 is for editing the feature information recorded in the spot feature DB 1112 and the transportation means feature DB 1113, and the feature information set as a permanent tag (described later) corresponding to the spot and transportation means is displayed, and can be edited by the administrator of each business site. Businesses that manage spots and transportation means can use this screen to edit tags as necessary. By editing the spot feature tags provided by the business site, the administrator of the business site can provide users with spot feature information while better understanding the user's preferences.

[0074] Visit tag analysis 6020 analyzes and displays the commonality of tags due to user reservations or purchases, and shows common spots, means of transportation, and common tag items in the user's itinerary. The administrator of each business site can edit the tag setting status 6010 by referring to the analysis information of visit tag analysis 6020.

[0075] The display function and editing function of the spot setting screen 4000 shown in Fig. 5 and the spot characteristic tag editing screen 6000 shown in Fig. 8 are executed by the tag setting management unit 1117 shown in Fig. 1. It is assumed that the administrator of the business site accesses the travel plan proposal device 1100 and executes the editing, but it is also possible that the administrator of the business site transmits a setting file, which is automatically set upon reception.

[0076] 9 is a diagram showing a structure storage form in the transportation feature DB 1113 in the embodiment 1. The transportation feature DB 1113 is a database that acquires feature information of transportation such as public transport facilities and rental cars from the transportation site 1230, stores the information in association with each other, and updates the information as needed. The transportation feature DB 1113 is a transportation structure storage unit that stores an organization name 7020, a route real-time tag 7030, and an associated spot 7040 in association with a route ID 7010 as a transportation record unit.

[0077] The route ID 7010 is identification information indicating a route to the destination spot S. The transportation facility name 7020 is information indicating a transportation facility such as a train or a bus, and rental car reservation information, road information, etc. may be collected.

[0078] The route real-time tag 7030 is information indicating the travel time, congestion status, etc. of the facility name 7020, and is updated in real time by acquiring information such as the travel time and congestion status in real time from the transportation site 1230. The related spot 7040 is information acquired such as the spot ID and name at the arrival point of the route ID 7010.

[0079] For example, since spot ID02 "Food: Western food" is a location in City B, the route real-time tag 7030 of route ID: M01 to City B in the transportation mode characteristics DB 1113 in Fig. 9 is obtained as congestion: 80%, and the information is entered into the spot real-time tag 4070 of spot ID02 in Fig. 6, and the information stored in the spot record of spot ID02 is presented in a travel plan proposed on a user-side proposal screen 8000 by the proposal information processing unit 1115 described later. Also, the information stored in the related spot 7040 is presented in a travel plan proposed on a detour proposal screen 8080 described later.

[0080] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the overall processing flow of the travel plan proposal system 1000 in the first embodiment. The user terminal 1300 inputs the ID and setting information of the travel plan proposal device 1100 set on the user setting screen 3000, which indicates the operation of the travel plan proposal device 1100 in the system configuration diagram. FIG. 11A is a diagram showing an example of a user-side proposal screen 8000 in the first embodiment. The user-side proposal screen 8000 in FIG. 11A has a condition selection field 8010, a trip purpose field 8020, a purpose-specific suppression ON button 8025, a setting completion button 8030, a proposal candidate field 8040, a waiting time display field 8045, a reservation button 8050, a detour button 8060, and an extraction condition change button 8070.

[0081] The operation of the travel plan proposal system 1000 will be described below with reference to Fig. 10. The user terminal 1300 transmits user U's ID, age, gender, and other persona settings 3060, travel purpose 3070, and additional setting information to the travel plan proposal device 1100 (step 100).

[0082] After authentication is performed by an authentication unit (not shown) inside the travel plan proposal device 1100, the user can access and use the travel plan proposal device 1100. It is determined whether or not the user setting information 1111a of the user ID 3050, persona setting 3060, and travel purpose 3070 transmitted by the user terminal 1300 exists in the user characteristic DB 1111, and the user characteristic DB 1111 is updated based on the determination (step 101).

[0083] Furthermore, by selecting the condition selection information selected in the trip purpose field 8020 of the condition selection field 8010 in FIG. 11A and the purpose-specific suppression ON button 8025, and pressing the setting completion button 8030, the above condition selection information is sent to the travel plan proposal device 1100 (step 102).

[0084] If the travel plan proposal device 1100 determines that the selected spot setting information is not stored in its own spot characteristic DB 1112, it refers to the tag dictionary DB 1114 (step 103). It updates the spot characteristic DB 1112 by referring to each category of the tag dictionary DB 1114 shown in Fig. 7 (step 104). The database updates of the user characteristic DB 1111 and the spot characteristic DB 1112 will be described in detail later with reference to Fig. 12.

[0085] Next, tag sharing processing is executed for the updated user characteristic tag 3080 in the user characteristic DB 1111 and the spot characteristic tag 4080 in the spot characteristic DB 1112 (step 105). Furthermore, a weight for each spot is calculated from the contents of the user characteristic tag 3080 in the user characteristic DB 1111. Also, a weight for each user is calculated from the contents of the spot characteristic tag 4080 in the spot characteristic DB 1112. The tag sharing processing and weight calculation will be described in detail later with reference to FIG. 13.

[0086] Next, the similarity between the record of the relevant user in the user characteristic DB 1111 and each record in the spot characteristic DB 1112 is calculated, and two places are selected as proposal candidates from the spot information with high similarity (step 106). The proposal process including the calculation of similarity will be described in detail later with reference to FIG.

[0087] The spot information of the selected proposal candidates is transmitted to the user terminal 1300 (step 107). The spot information transmitted in the above step 107 is displayed on the user terminal 1300 as a user-side proposal screen 8000 as shown in FIG. 11A.

[0088] If the user U decides to adopt the contents of the proposal candidate field 8040 on the displayed user-side proposal screen 8000, he or she presses a reservation button 8050, which sends reservation instruction information to the travel plan proposal device 1100 (step 108). Based on the reservation instruction information, the travel plan proposal device 1100 communicates with each business site of the proposed candidate spots and executes reservation processing or purchase processing. Note that the details and procedures of the reservation processing or purchase processing are omitted in this embodiment.

[0089] Furthermore, it is determined that the transmitted reservation instruction information is highly relevant to the current user U, and tag permanence processing is executed (step 109). The tag permanence processing will be described in detail later.

[0090] Furthermore, the proposal candidate field 8040 displays candidates for travel plans extracted by the proposal process described below. The proposal candidate field 8040 includes a waiting time display field 8045, a reservation button 8050, and a detour button 8060. The waiting time display field 8045 acquires and displays information from the spot real-time tag 4070 in the spot characteristics DB 1112 or the route real-time tag 7030 in the transportation means characteristics DB 1113.

[0091] The reservation button 8050 is an instruction button for executing reservation processing by the user U selecting a proposed candidate and pressing it. The reservation processing is executed by communicating information with the business site 1200 to 1230 of the reservation target. The rights information of the user who has undergone reservation processing is stored in the rights information storage unit 1120 shown in Fig. 1. After being stored in the rights information storage unit 1120, it may be transmitted to the user terminal 1300 that executed the reservation processing, and the user U may be notified and encouraged to use it.

[0092] Moreover, when it is desired to display the proposed detour candidates, by pressing the detour button 8060 in Fig. 11A, the screen transitions to a detour proposal screen 8080 as shown in Fig. 11B. Fig. 11B is a diagram showing an example of the detour proposal screen 8080 in the first embodiment. In Fig. 11B, when it is desired to make a reservation including a detour, it becomes possible to make a lump-sum reservation including the detour by pressing the reservation including detour button 8090 in Fig. 11B.

[0093] A print instruction button (not shown) may be provided on the user-side proposal screen 8000 to enable the proposal contents, reservation information, or purchase information to be printed via a network. In this case, a barcode may be printed and brought to the spot, where it may be used as a substitute for a ticket by having the barcode read.

[0094] 11A, if a proposal candidate other than the one displayed in the proposal candidate column 8040 is desired, it is possible to change the extraction conditions from the viewpoints of "avoiding crowds," "wide," and "natural scenery" by pressing the extraction condition change button 8070, and to instruct re-extraction of the proposal candidates. The operation of changing the extraction conditions will be described later with reference to the flowchart in FIG.

[0095] Next, a detailed description will be given of a database update flow by the DB management unit 1119 shown in steps 101 to 104 in Fig. 10. Fig. 12 is a flowchart showing an update of the user characteristic DB / spot characteristic DB by the DB management unit 1119 in the first embodiment.

[0096] When the travel plan proposal device 1100 is accessed from the user terminal 1300, it is determined whether the accessed user ID exists in the user characteristics DB 1111 (step 200). If the user ID exists, the travel purpose column 8020 in FIG. 11A acquired from the user terminal 1300 and the setting of purpose-specific suppression ON 8025 are referenced (step 201). If purpose-specific suppression ON 8025 is not checked, the target spot is searched for from the records of user U stored in the user characteristics DB 1111 (step 202). If purpose-specific suppression ON 8025 is checked, the records are limited to those matching the travel purpose column 8020 (step 203). The target spot is searched for from the limited records of user U stored in the user characteristics DB 1111 (step 202).

[0097] In addition, in step 202, if there is advance reservation information or stay information for user U, the location information of user U is obtained based on location 4060 in spot characteristic DB 1112, and by limiting the search targets, it is possible to extract target spots that better match user U's purpose of use.

[0098] In step 200, if the user ID does not exist, a new user ID is created (step 204). Based on the persona setting field 3010 and the travel purpose field 3020 input from the user terminal 1300, records are searched for in the spot characteristics DB 1112 (step 205). By executing the above step 202 or step 205, a preliminary search for the target spot is performed.

[0099] As a result of the processing in step 202 or step 205 above, it is determined whether or not there is a target spot ID (step 206). If there is a target spot ID, the process proceeds to step 209. On the other hand, if there is no target spot ID, the process proceeds to step 207. The tag dictionary DB 1114 is referenced to re-search for records in the spot feature DB 1112 (step 207). A new spot ID is created based on the search results (step 208).

[0100] As a result of the processing of the above steps 200 to 208, the user setting information 1111a in the user characteristic DB 1111 and the spot setting information 1112a in the spot characteristic DB 1112 are updated, and the target spot ID is acquired (step 209). At this point, a large number of target spot IDs (e.g., three or more) may be acquired.

[0101] Next, the tag sharing process will be described in detail. The tag sharing process is executed based on the target spot ID acquired in the database update flow described in Fig. 12, and the feature tag and weight in the database are updated. Fig. 13 is a flowchart of the tag sharing process by the tag sharing processing unit 1116 in the first embodiment.

[0102] First, the target spot ID obtained in the database update flow is obtained (step 300). Next, the user record unit UR in the user characteristic DB 1111 is transferred to the spot characteristic tag 4080 corresponding to the target spot ID in the spot characteristic DB 1112 (step 301). At the same time, the spot record unit SR corresponding to the target spot ID in the spot characteristic DB 1112 is transferred to the user characteristic tag 3080 in the user characteristic DB 1111 (step 302).

[0103] Next, the weight of each spot ID is calculated (step 303) based on the data of the user feature tag 3080 in the user feature DB 1111. The DB management unit 1119 counts the number of identical spot IDs stored in the user feature tag 3080. Furthermore, the counted numerical value is normalized by the total number of spots.

[0104] Next, the weight of each user ID is calculated based on the data of the spot feature tag 4080 in the spot feature DB 1112 (step 304). The DB management unit 1119 counts the same user ID stored in the spot feature tag 4080. Furthermore, the counted numerical value is normalized by the total number of users. The user feature DB 1111 and the spot feature DB 1112 are updated to include the spot weight calculated in step 303 and the user weight calculated in step 304 (step 305).

[0105] Next, the travel plan proposal process will be described in detail with reference to FIG 14. The travel plan proposal process is a flowchart of the proposal information processing unit 1115 in the first embodiment.

[0106] A similarity calculation is performed between a user record unit UR corresponding to a user ID in the user feature DB 1111 and each spot record unit SR in the spot feature DB 1112 (step 400). The similarity calculation unit 1118 shown in FIG. 1 calculates the similarity of the records.

[0107] A conceivable method is to determine whether or not there are matching items in the records of the user feature DB 1111 and the spot feature DB 1112, and calculate the overall presence / absence value of each. Furthermore, a calculation method that considers weights rather than dividing the presence / absence of items equally is also possible. By using the spot weights and user weights calculated in steps 303 and 304 of the tag sharing processing flow shown in Fig. 13, it is possible to aggregate records with a large amount of past information and calculate the similarity.

[0108] It is preferable to calculate the similarity in step 400 for all records in the spot feature DB 1112. However, if the similarity is calculated only for the target spots for which a preliminary search was performed in step 209 of FIG. 12, the search range will be limited, but the processing time will be reduced.

[0109] From the similarity calculation results, two records of spot IDs with high similarity are extracted (step 401). The spot information of the two extracted records is used as proposal candidates, and the user-side proposal screen 8000 shown in Fig. 11A is generated and displayed (step 402). At this time, the waiting time display field 8045 acquires and displays information of the spot real-time tag 4070 from the spot characteristics DB 1112 and the route real-time tag 7030 from the transportation means characteristics DB 1113.

[0110] Furthermore, it is determined whether or not the extraction condition change button 8070 has been pressed (step 403). If the extraction condition change button 8070 has been pressed, the process proceeds to step 404, where the conditions input to the extraction condition change button 8070 are added to the user record unit UR, and the process returns to the similarity calculation of step 400. If the extraction condition change button 8070 has not been pressed, it is determined whether or not the detour button 8060 on the user-side proposal screen 8000 has been pressed (step 405). If the detour button 8060 has been pressed, it is determined that a detour request has been made, the process proceeds to step 406, where detour candidates are searched for, and the extracted detour candidates are generated and displayed on the detour proposal screen 8080 of FIG. 11B (step 406). The search for detour candidates refers to the related spots 7040 of the corresponding route ID in the transportation means characteristics DB 1113, and the referenced contents are displayed on the detour proposal screen 8080.

[0111] Thereafter, the process proceeds to step 407, and it is determined whether or not the reservation button 8050 on the user side proposal screen 8000 or the reservation with detours button 8090 on the detour proposal screen 8080 has been pressed (step 407).

[0112] When either the reservation button 8050 or the reservation with detour button 8090 is pressed, the process proceeds to step 408, where the reservation process is executed by exchanging information with each of the business sites 1200 to 1230, and the record of the spot feature DB 1112 for which the reservation process has been executed is transcribed to a record corresponding to the user ID, thereby executing a tag permanent process (step 408). The tag permanent process is a process of transcribing to the user setting information 1111a so that the user U's preference tendency can be constantly searched when accessing the travel plan proposal device 1100 from the next time onwards. As an example, the permanent tag 3100 is automatically input to the persona setting 3060 of the user feature DB 1111 as in FIG. 4. Therefore, the next time the user U04 receives a proposal for a travel plan, the permanent tag 3100 is added as a part of the user record unit UR during the similarity calculation. Such a tag permanent process may be applied to the spot S. That is, the purpose of visit 4050 is transferred so that it can be regularly searched as a preference trend for the spot S. As an example, like the permanent tag 3200 in Fig. 6, it is automatically input to the purpose of visit 4050 of the spot feature DB 1112. Therefore, the next time the spot S03 is proposed as a travel plan, the permanent tag 3200 may be added as part of the spot record SR during the similarity calculation.

[0113] Finally, the data of the user characteristic tag 3080 and the spot characteristic tag 4080 are reset (step 409). The timing of this reset process may be set arbitrarily by the business operator. Furthermore, the tag information may not be reset every time the travel plan proposal device 1100 is accessed, but the user may select to reset the tag information when finished. Furthermore, the tag information may remain transcribed until the next reservation process is performed.

[0114] By repeating the database update flow in Figure 12 and the tag sharing processing flow in Figure 13, first-time users or users who have used the service infrequently can obtain travel plan proposal information that matches their own preferences based on the information of other users accumulated in the user characteristics DB1111 and the spot characteristics DB1112.

[0115] On the other hand, businesses can grasp the information on popular spots and means of transportation in the user feature DB 1111 and spot feature DB 1112 of the travel plan proposal device 1100, and use the spot setting screen 4000 in Figure 5 and the spot feature tag editing screen 6000 in Figure 8 to match the information provided on their own website to better match the user's preferences, thereby achieving a greater customer attraction effect.

[0116] According to the first embodiment, a user feature DB1111 that stores user preference trends as a database and a spot feature DB1112 that stores spot feature information as a database are constructed, and associated records from each database are shared as feature tags. Records with high similarity between each database are proposed as travel plans. This makes it possible to easily perform the complicated operations of accessing a wide variety of business operators' sites and making reservations and purchases, efficiently utilizes limited user information, and presents travel plans that suit the user's preferences while enabling businesses to efficiently analyze user preference trends. EXAMPLES

[0117] The second embodiment will be described in detail below. In the first embodiment, the information obtained from each of the business operators' sites 1200-1230 is uniformly handled on the travel plan proposal device 1100. In this case, the information on each of the business operators' sites is handled as public information on the travel plan proposal device. If business operators in different industries or business operators that are direct competitors in the same industry handle their own company's information as public information to other companies, this may cause a problem in terms of protecting corporate confidentiality.

[0118] In the second embodiment, a travel plan proposal system 1800 having a security management function that enables information on a certain business site to be kept secret from other business operators will be described.

[0119] Fig. 15 is a block diagram of a travel plan proposal system 1800 in Example 2. Fig. 15 shows a travel plan proposal system 1800 configured with a network including a travel plan proposal device 1600, a W city tourism department site 1660, and a plurality of user terminals 1670, and a network including a travel plan proposal device 1700, a Y city tourism department site 1760, and a plurality of user terminals 1770.

[0120] The travel plan proposal device 1600 and the travel plan proposal device 1700 have the same configuration and functions, so the configuration and functions will be described only for the travel plan proposal device 1600. The travel plan proposal device 1600 is composed of a tag generation engine unit 1610, a rights information storage unit 1620, a user terminal I / F 1630, a business management I / F 1640, and a business cooperation I / F 1650. The tag generation engine unit 1610, the rights information storage unit 1620, the user terminal I / F 1630, and the business management I / F 1640 have the same functions as the tag generation engine unit 1110, the rights information storage unit 1120, the user terminal I / F 1630, and the business management I / F 1640 shown in FIG. 1 in the first embodiment.

[0121] As in the first embodiment, by accessing the travel plan proposal device 1600 from a user terminal 1670, in FIG. 15, spot information provided from the W City Tourism Department site 1660 is used as the search target, and the spot information in the search result is provided to the user.

[0122] On the other hand, by accessing the travel plan proposal device 1700 from a user terminal 1770, in FIG. 15, spot information provided from the Y City Tourism Department site 1760 is used as the search target, and spot information as a search result is provided to the user.

[0123] In the second embodiment, the operator of the W City Tourism Department site 1660 and the operator of the Y City Tourism Department site 1760 have information that they wish to keep secret from each other, and therefore wish to implement security management of the spot information to be provided to the travel plan proposal device even when the user wishes to receive proposals on the travel plan proposal device.

[0124] In this case, the business collaboration I / F 1650 selects public and private information about the spot information provided by businesses on the W City Tourism Department site 1660, and then executes a travel plan proposal service on the travel plan proposal device 1600.

[0125] Meanwhile, the business cooperation I / F 1750 selects public information and private information of the spot information provided by businesses on the Y city tourism department site 1760 , and then executes a travel plan proposal service on the travel plan proposal device 1700 .

[0126] As described above, the business cooperation I / F 1650 and the business cooperation I / F 1750 are business cooperation units that have a function of setting security management of information provided from business sites, and further select public information and secret information of spot information based on the set security management. In a state where security is managed by the business cooperation I / F 1650 and the business cooperation I / F 1750, the user terminal 1670 and the user terminal 1770 refer to the spot characteristic information of both the W city tourism department site 1660 and the Y city tourism department site 1760, respectively, and then provide a travel plan proposal service from each travel plan proposal device.

[0127] According to the second embodiment, when the tag generation engine unit 1610 and the tag generation engine unit 1710 each perform the database update process and proposal process as described in the first embodiment, they mutually provide information in the database, select public information and private information for spot information, and then provide a travel plan providing system that provides users with a seamless travel plan proposal service without any gap between operators.

[0128] In the travel plan proposal device 1100 in Example 1, each functional unit is configured with a rights information memory unit 1120, a user terminal I / F 1630, an operator management I / F 1640, a user characteristic DB 1111, a spot characteristic DB 1112, a transportation means characteristic DB 1113, a tag dictionary DB 1114, a DB management unit 1119, a tag sharing processing unit 1116, a proposal information processing unit 1115, a tag setting management unit 1117, and a similarity calculation unit 1118 as basic components, but a functional unit that combines multiple functions may be provided.

[0129] As described in the explanation of FIG. 2, the travel plan proposal program is read out on the central processing unit 2002, and the above-mentioned functional units are virtually constructed, thereby enabling the functions and operations of this embodiment to be realized.

[0130] Note that the configuration and operation of the travel plan proposal device has been described in Example 1, and the configuration and operation of the travel plan proposal system have been described in Example 2. However, the proposal services described in Examples 1 and 2 can be used as a product proposal system for a wide variety of online shopping, not limited to travel plan proposals, from the viewpoint of providing a proposal service that matches the user's taste trends even when there is little user information. [Explanation of symbols]

[0131] 1000, 1800: Travel plan suggestion system 1100, 1600, 1700: Travel plan suggestion device 1200~1230: Business website 1300, 1670, 1770: User terminals 1110, 1610, 1710: Tag generation engine 1111: User characteristics DB 1111a: User setting information 3080: User feature tag 3090: User weight 1112: Spot feature DB 1112a: Spot setting information 4070: Spot real-time tag 4080: Spot feature tag 4090: Spot weight 1113: Transportation Features DB 7030: Route Realtime Tags 1114: Tag Dictionary DB 1115: Proposal information processing unit 1116: Tag sharing processing section 1117: Tag Settings Management 1118: Similarity calculation unit 1119:DB management department 1120: Rights information storage unit 1650, 1750: Business collaboration I / F

Claims

1. a user structure storage unit that stores user setting information set by a user who receives a proposed travel plan and a user characteristic tag indicating the user's preference tendency as a user record unit in association with the user's identification information; a spot structure storage unit that stores, as a spot record unit, spot setting information regarding candidate spots for the travel plan acquired from an external site and a spot characteristic tag indicating a preference tendency of the spot in association with identification information of the spot; a transportation structure storage unit that stores transportation facilities associated with the location of the spot setting information and related spots near the location as transportation facility record units in association with identification information of the transportation facilities; a tag sharing processing unit that transcribes a specific spot record unit stored in the spot structure storage unit to the user feature tag, calculates a user weight from the user feature tag, and transcribes a specific user record unit stored in the user structure storage unit to the spot feature tag, and calculates a spot weight from the spot feature tag; a proposal information processing unit that calculates a similarity between a user record unit of the user stored in the user structure storage unit and a spot record unit stored in the spot structure storage unit, taking into consideration the user weight and the spot weight, for a user who receives a proposal of the travel plan, and generates a proposal screen that proposes the spot record unit with a high similarity and the transportation means record unit associated with the spot record unit with a high similarity as candidates for the travel plan, The travel plan proposal device is characterized in that the tag sharing processing unit calculates the user weight by counting the number of identical users in the user characteristic tag and normalizing it by the total number of users, and calculates the spot weight by counting the number of identical spots in the spot characteristic tag and normalizing it by the total number of spots.

2. The travel plan proposal device described in claim 1, characterized in that when user setting information contained in the user record unit for which the similarity was calculated is changed, the proposed information processing unit recalculates the similarity based on the changed user setting information and re-proposes it as a candidate for the travel plan when the user setting information contained in the user record unit for which the similarity was calculated is changed.

3. A tag setting management unit having a statistical analysis function that refers to a data group in units of spot records stored in the spot structure storage unit, 2. The travel plan proposal device according to claim 1, wherein the tag setting management unit enables editing of the data group on a spot record basis.

4. The transportation means structure storage unit further stores the required time of the transportation means in association with identification information of the transportation means, 2. The travel plan proposal device according to claim 1, wherein the proposal information processing unit generates the proposal screen including the required times of the means of transportation.

5. 2. The travel plan proposal device according to claim 1, wherein the proposal information processing section generates, within the proposal screen, a reservation instruction section for instructing a reservation process for the spot displayed on the proposal screen.

6. 2. The travel plan proposal device according to claim 1, wherein the proposal information processing unit generates a detour proposal screen that proposes a detour near a spot displayed on the proposal screen.

7. A tag dictionary structure storage unit that stores synonyms and derivatives of the spot setting information in a plurality of hierarchical layers, 2. The travel plan suggestion device according to claim 1, further comprising: a tag dictionary structure storage unit that stores a tag dictionary structure for storing a travel plan of a particular travel destination;

8. a user structure storage unit that stores user setting information set by a user who receives a proposed travel plan and a user characteristic tag indicating the user's preference tendency as a user record unit in association with the user's identification information; a spot structure storage unit that stores, as a spot record unit, spot setting information regarding candidate spots for the travel plan acquired from an external site and a spot characteristic tag indicating a preference tendency of the spot in association with identification information of the spot; a tag sharing processing unit that transcribes a specific spot record unit stored in the spot structure storage unit to the user feature tag, calculates a user weight from the user feature tag, and transcribes a specific user record unit stored in the user structure storage unit to the spot feature tag, and calculates a spot weight from the spot feature tag; a transportation structure storage unit that stores transportation facilities associated with the spot setting information and related spots located near the spots as transportation facility record units in association with identification information of the transportation facilities; a weight calculation step of calculating the user weight by counting the number of identical users in the user characteristic tag and normalizing the number of identical users by the total number of users, and calculating the spot weight by counting the number of identical spots in the spot characteristic tag and normalizing the number of identical spots by the total number of spots, by the tag sharing processing unit; a similarity calculation step of calculating a similarity between a user record unit of the user stored in the user structure storage unit and a spot record unit stored in the spot structure storage unit, for the user who receives the proposed travel plan, taking into consideration the user weight and the spot weight; a proposal information processing step of generating a proposal screen that proposes the highly similar spot record units and the transportation means record units associated with the highly similar spot record units as candidates for the travel plan to the user; A travel plan suggestion method comprising the steps of:

Images