Information Processing Apparatus and Information Processing Program

Abstract

To provide an information processing apparatus and an information processing program that can provide provided information matching a user and his or her companion without the need to input information associated with the companion in advance.SOLUTION: An information processing apparatus 14 comprises: a companion specification part 52 which receives, from a portable terminal of interest that a user uses, a request for provided information, the user ID of a user of interest, and communication history information including the user ID of a nearby user who uses a nearby portable terminal having made short-range wireless communication with the portable terminal of interest, and specifies a companion currently accompanying the user of interest based upon the communication history information and the user ID of the user of interest; a provided information selection part 54 which selects provided information based upon the user of interest and the companion; and an information providing part 56 which provides the provided information selected by the provided information selection part 54 for at least one of the user of interest and companion.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and an information processing program.

Background Art

[0002] Conventionally, a system has been proposed that provides information about products or services according to a user.

[0003] For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a shopping support system that identifies specific products similar to or matching keywords pre-registered by a user and displays the specific products on a floor map of a store. Further, Patent Document 2 discloses making recommendations according to a hotel guest and a companion based on information (address, name, nationality, payment method, companion, and hotel stay history, etc.) of the hotel guest pre-registered in a management system of a hotel called PMS (for example, introducing a restaurant that is easy for a family with a child to enter for a hotel guest traveling with a family including a child).

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0004]

Patent Document 1

Patent Document 2

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] By the way, there may be a case where it is desired to provide information to be provided according to a user and a companion of the user to at least one of the user or the companion. In this case, it is conceivable that information indicating the user and the companion is input in advance to an information processing apparatus, and the information processing apparatus selects and provides information to be provided according to the user and the companion based on the information.

[0006] However, in the above-described method, the user has to input in advance information indicating a companion to the information processing apparatus, and there is a problem that the input process is time-consuming. Further, depending on the environment in which the provided information is provided, it may be difficult to input in advance information indicating a companion in the first place.

[0007] An object of the present invention is to provide provided information according to the user and the companion without the need to input in advance information regarding the companion.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0008] The invention according to claim 1 includes a processor, and the processor is communication history information indicating a history of short-range wireless communication of a target mobile terminal used by a target user, and includes a user identifier of a nearby user who uses a nearby mobile terminal that has performed short-range wireless communication with the target mobile terminal, and based on the user identifier of the target user, identifies the target user and a companion who is accompanying the target user, and provides selected provided information to at least one of the target user or the companion and provided information associated with user attribute information or the number-of-accompanying-people condition based on the above. Shi 、 dynamically change the provided information to be provided to at least one of the target user or the accompanying person according to the change of the accompanying person over time An information processing apparatus characterized by this. In the invention according to claim 2, the processor identifies, as the companion, the nearby user determined to have been in the vicinity of the target user during a predetermined time up to the present time, based on the communication history information. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized by this. In the invention according to claim 3, the processor refers to a user database in which related users related to each user are stored, and among the nearby users determined to have been in the vicinity of the target user during a predetermined time up to the present time, identifies the related user related to the target user as the companion. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, characterized by this. According to the invention of claim 4, the processor identifies, as the companion, the nearby user selected based on the number of times the nearby user, who is determined to have been near the target user during a predetermined time up to the present time, has been identified as a past companion of the target user, in the information processing apparatus according to claim 2. According to the invention of claim 5, the processor refers to a user database in which attribute information of each user is stored, and selects the provided information based on the attribute information of at least one of the target user or the companion, in the information processing apparatus according to claim 1. 。 Please Claim 6 According to the invention of claim, the processor selects the provided information based on the attribute information of the nearby user who was determined to be a companion of the target user in the past but is not determined to be a companion of the target user at the present time, based on the communication history information, in the information processing apparatus according to claim 1 described. Claim 7 According to the invention of claim, a computer is caused to perform: communication history information indicating a history of short-range wireless communication of a target mobile terminal used by a target user, the communication history information including user identifiers of nearby users who use nearby mobile terminals that have performed short-range wireless communication with the target mobile terminal; and based on the user identifier of the target user, identify the target user and a companion who is accompanying the target user, and provide the provided information selected based on the target user and the identified companion to at least one of the target user or the companion and provided information associated with user attribute information or the number-of-accompanying-people condition This is an information processing program characterized by make it dynamically change the provided information to be provided to at least one of the target user or the accompanying person according to the change of the accompanying person over time that.

Advantages of the Invention

[0009] According to the invention of claim 1 or 7 According to the invention according to, it is possible to provide provided information corresponding to the user and the companion without the need to pre-enter information regarding the companion. According to the invention according to claim 2, nearby users who were near the target user during a predetermined time up to the present can be identified as companions. According to the invention according to claim 3, among the nearby users, relevant users of the target user can be identified as companions. According to the invention according to claim 4, companions can be identified based on the number of times they have been identified as companions of the target user in the past. According to the invention according to claim 5, provided information can be provided according to the attributes of the target user or companions. 。 Please Claim 6 According to the invention according to claim, provided information can be provided according to the user who separated from the target user midway.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0010]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7

Figure 8

Figure 9

Modes for Carrying Out the Invention

[0011] FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an information processing system 10 according to the present embodiment. The information processing system 10 includes a plurality of mobile terminals 12 used by a plurality of users and an information processing apparatus 14. Each mobile terminal 12 and the information processing apparatus 14 are communicably connected to each other via a communication line 16 such as a LAN (Local Area Network) or the Internet.

[0012] Although details will be described later, the information processing system 10 is a system that provides provision information to a user. In particular, the information processing system 10 is a system that identifies a companion accompanying the user and provides provision information corresponding to the user and the companion. Although not limited thereto, in the present embodiment, the information processing system 10 is a system that is operated in a large commercial facility having a plurality of stores and provides provision information to users who come to the large commercial facility. In this example, the provision information is, for example, an advertisement regarding a product sold in the store or a coupon that can be used in the store.

[0013] FIG. 2 is a schematic configuration diagram of the mobile terminal 12. Although the information processing system 10 has a plurality of mobile terminals 12, each mobile terminal 12 has the same configuration. The mobile terminal 12 is a computer that can be carried and used by a user, and is, for example, a smartphone or a tablet terminal.

[0014] A NIC (Network Interface Card) 20 is a communication adapter for communicating with the information processing apparatus 14 via the communication line 16. In the present embodiment, the NIC 20 is a wireless NIC and can communicate with the information processing apparatus 14 via a wireless LAN or a mobile phone communication line.

[0015] The NFC (Near Field Communication) adapter 22 is a communication adapter for performing short-range wireless communication with other devices (especially other mobile terminals 12) in the vicinity of the mobile terminal 12. The short-range wireless communication method may be any method as long as wireless communication is possible with other devices in the vicinity of the mobile terminal 12. As the short-range wireless communication method, for example, methods such as Bluetooth (registered trademark) and ZigBee (registered trademark) can be used.

[0016] The display 24 is configured to include, for example, a liquid crystal panel. Various screens such as a screen including the provided information sent from the information processing device 14 are displayed on the display 24.

[0017] The input interface 26 is configured to include, for example, a touch panel and buttons. The input interface 26 receives instructions from the user.

[0018] The memory 28 is configured to include, for example, an eMMC (embedded Multi Media Card), a ROM (Read Only Memory), or a RAM (Random Access Memory). A mobile terminal program for operating each part of the mobile terminal 12 is stored in the memory 28. Also, as shown in FIG. 2, the application 30 and the communication history information 32 are stored in the memory 28.

[0019] The application 30 is an application distributed by an information provider that provides provided information to the user. When the user downloads and installs the application 30 on the mobile terminal 12, the application 30 is stored in the memory 28. In this embodiment, the information provider is a large commercial facility, and the application 30 is an application distributed by the large commercial facility. With the application 30, the user can obtain various information about each store included in the large commercial facility.

[0020] When a user installs application 30 on mobile terminal 12, application 30 assigns a user ID as a user identifier that uniquely identifies the user to the user. Also, when the user starts using application 30, the user inputs attribute information regarding the user to application 30. The attribute information includes, but is not limited to, for example, name, address, age, gender, preferences (especially preferences regarding products and services handled at large commercial facilities and preferences regarding food), etc. Also, as the attribute information, the user ID of a related user related to the user and the relationship between the user and the related user may be input. A related user is a user who often accompanies the user, such as a family member, a lover, a friend, etc. The user ID and attribute information of the user are associated with each other and transmitted to information processing device 14.

[0021] Also, application 30 has a function of performing short-range wireless communication with other mobile terminals 12 in the vicinity of mobile terminal 12 on which application 30 is installed. When the mobile terminal 12 on which application 30 is installed comes to the vicinity of a large commercial facility, application 30 causes NFC adapter 22 to start transmitting the user ID of the user. At the same time, application 30 acquires the user ID transmitted from other mobile terminals 12 on which application 30 is installed and received by NFC adapter 22. Application 30 associates the user ID received from other mobile terminals 12 by short-range wireless communication with the reception time and stores it as communication history information 32.

[0022] Short-range wireless communication is literally only possible between nearby mobile terminals 12 and cannot be performed between mobile terminals 12 that are far apart. That is, the fact that a mobile terminal 12 has received a user ID from another mobile terminal 12 by short-range wireless communication means that the other mobile terminal 12 used by the user indicated by the user ID is in the vicinity of the mobile terminal 12 that has received the user ID.

[0023] In the description of this specification, a certain user (the user who sends a request for providing information to the information processing apparatus 14 as described later) is called the target user, and the mobile terminal 12 used by the target user is called the target mobile terminal 12a. Further, the mobile terminal 12 in the vicinity of the target mobile terminal 12a is called the neighboring mobile terminal 12b, and the user who uses the neighboring mobile terminal 12b is called the neighboring user. Note that the target user and the target mobile terminal 12a, and the neighboring user and the neighboring mobile terminal 12b are in a relative relationship. The target user and the target mobile terminal 12a at a certain time may become the neighboring user and the neighboring mobile terminal 12b when another user becomes the target user. Further, when the target mobile terminal 12a and the neighboring mobile terminal 12b are not particularly distinguished, they are collectively simply called the mobile terminal 12. Similarly, when the target user and the neighboring user are not particularly distinguished, they are collectively simply called the user.

[0024] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the content of the communication history information 32 stored in the memory 28 of the mobile terminal 12. The communication history information 32 stored in the memory 28 of the target mobile terminal 12a shows the history of short-range wireless communication of the target mobile terminal 12a, and in particular, is information including the user ID of the neighboring user who uses the neighboring mobile terminal 12b that has performed short-range wireless communication with the target mobile terminal 12a. For example, in the example of FIG. 3, from 9:53 on February 15, 2021 to 10:00 on the same day, the target mobile terminal 12a continuously received the user ID "U0001" from the neighboring mobile terminal 12b, and also continuously received the user ID "U0002" from another neighboring mobile terminal 12b. This means that from 9:53 on February 15, 2021 to 10:00 on the same day, there were a neighboring user indicated by the user ID "U0001" and the neighboring mobile terminal 12b used by the neighboring user, and a neighboring user indicated by the user ID "U0002" and the neighboring mobile terminal 12b used by the neighboring user in the vicinity of the target mobile terminal 12a. That is, it shows that there were a neighboring user indicated by the user ID "U0001" and a neighboring user indicated by the user ID "U0002" in the vicinity of the target user.

[0025] Note that, in the present embodiment, the application 30 stores the user IDs received from other mobile terminals 12 via short-range wireless communication at each predetermined time (every one minute in the example of FIG. 3). However, the method of recording the history of short-range wireless communication with the nearby mobile terminal 12b is not limited to this. For example, every time a user ID of a nearby user is received from the nearby mobile terminal 12b via short-range wireless communication, a method of recording the user ID and the reception time may be used.

[0026] Also, conventionally, in short-range wireless communication, a technique for estimating the distance between a transmitter and a receiver based on the reception strength (RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indication)) of a signal on the receiver side has been proposed. Therefore, the application 30 of the target mobile terminal 12a estimates the distance between the target mobile terminal 12a and the nearby mobile terminal 12b based on the reception strength of the user ID from the nearby mobile terminal 12b, and when the estimated distance is within a predetermined threshold distance, the user ID and the reception time may be stored in the communication history information 32.

[0027] The processor 34 refers to a processor in a broad sense and is configured to include at least one of a general-purpose processor (such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit)) and a dedicated processing device (such as a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), an FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array), or a programmable logic device). The processor 34 may be configured not by one processing device but by the cooperation of a plurality of physically separated processing devices. The processor 34 controls each part of the mobile terminal 12 according to the mobile terminal program stored in the memory 28.

[0028] The processor 34 transmits the user ID of the target user and the communication history information 32 stored in the memory 28 of its own device to the information processing device 14 together with a request for provided information. In the present embodiment, when the processor 34 detects that the target mobile terminal 12a has approached a large commercial facility (i.e., the target user has approached a large commercial facility), it transmits a request for provided information, the user ID of the target user, and the communication history information 32 to the information processing device 14 via the NIC 20. Note that the fact that the target mobile terminal 12a has approached a large commercial facility can be detected based on, for example, the NFC adapter 22 receiving a signal emitted from a beacon installed at the entrance of the large commercial facility or the like. Further, the processor 34 may transmit a request for provided information, the user ID of the target user, and the communication history information 32 to the information processing device 14 in response to an instruction from the target user.

[0029] FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of the information processing device 14. Although the information processing device 14 in the present embodiment is a server computer, the information processing device 14 may be any device as long as it can exhibit the functions described below.

[0030] The communication interface 40 is a communication adapter for communicating with the NIC 20 of each mobile terminal 12 via the communication line 16.

[0031] The memory 42 is configured to include, for example, an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), an SSD (Solid State Drive), an eMMC, a ROM, or a RAM. The memory 42 stores an information processing program for operating each part of the information processing device 14. Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the memory 42 stores a user DB (database) 44, a provided information DB 46, and a co-presence history DB 48.

[0032] FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the user DB 44. In the user DB 44, the user ID of the user using each mobile terminal 12 received from each mobile terminal 12 and the attribute information of the user are stored in association with each other. As described above, the user ID is assigned by the application 30, and the attribute information of the user is input by the user to the mobile terminal 12 at the start of use of the application 30.

[0033] In the provided information DB 46, the provided information provided by the information processing apparatus 14 to the user and the attribute information of the provided information are stored. The provided information stored in the provided information DB 46 is created by an administrator of the information processing system 10 or the like. In the present embodiment, the provided information is an advertisement related to products or services handled in a large commercial facility. Note that the advertisement may be image data displayed on a display or voice data. Further, the advertisement may be a combination of image data and voice data. Further, the provided information is not limited to advertisements, and may be, for example, a coupon that can be used in a store of a large commercial facility.

[0034] FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of the contents of the provided information DB 46. In particular, FIG. 6 shows an example of the attribute information of the provided information. In the example of FIG. 6, as the attribute information of the provided information (advertisement in the present embodiment), an advertisement ID that uniquely identifies the advertisement, the advertisement name of the advertisement, the advertisement store that handles the product or service related to the advertisement, the preference of the advertisement target person indicating the preference of the user suitable for providing the advertisement, the number of accompanying persons condition indicating the number of accompanying persons of the user suitable for providing the advertisement, and information indicating whether the product or service related to the advertisement is for a present are stored in association with each other. The advertisement ID is assigned by the information processing apparatus 14. The advertisement name, the advertisement store, the preference of the advertisement target person, the number of accompanying persons condition, and the information indicating whether it is for a present are set by an administrator of the information processing system 10 or the like.

[0035] The companion history DB 48 will be described together with the processing of the companion identification unit 52 described later.

[0036] The processor 50 refers to a processor in a broad sense and is configured to include at least one of a general-purpose processor (such as a CPU, etc.) and a dedicated processing device (such as a GPU, ASIC, FPGA, or a programmable logic device, etc.). The processor 50 may be constituted not by a single processing device but by the cooperation of a plurality of physically separated processing devices. As shown in FIG. 4, the processor 50 functions as a fellow traveler identification unit 52, a provided information selection unit 54, and an information providing unit 56 in accordance with the information processing program stored in the memory 42.

[0037] When the fellow traveler identification unit 52 receives a request for provided information, the user ID of the target user, and the communication history information 32 from the target mobile terminal 12a, it identifies the fellow travelers currently accompanying the target user based on the communication history information 32 and the user ID of the target user. A fellow traveler is a person who acts together with the target user. Various methods can be adopted as the method for identifying the fellow travelers of the target user based on the communication history information 32. As shown in FIG. 3, the communication history information 32 is a list of combinations of the user IDs of nearby users and the reception times of the user IDs. The fellow traveler identification unit 52 identifies at least the nearby users determined to be in the vicinity of the target user at the latest time (which can be regarded as the current time) among the communication history information 32 as fellow travelers.

[0038] In the present embodiment, the companion identification unit 52 identifies, as companions, the nearby users who are determined to have been in the vicinity of the target user for a predetermined time up to the current time, based on the communication history information 32. As a result, it is possible to identify companions by excluding nearby users who are not actually companions of the target user but happen to be in the vicinity of the target user at the current time. Note that the predetermined time may be appropriately set in advance by an administrator of the information processing system 10 or the like. For example, assume that the predetermined time is 5 minutes and the communication history information 32 is as shown in FIG. 3. In this case, the companion identification unit 52 identifies, as companions of the target user, the nearby user indicated by the user ID "U0001" (hereinafter simply referred to as user "U0001", etc.) and the nearby user "U0002", who have always been in the vicinity of the target user during the 5 minutes up to the current time, that is, from 9:55 to 10:00 on February 15, 2021 (i.e., the current time). In this case, since the nearby user "U1234" who is in the vicinity of the target user at the current time was not in the vicinity of the target user from 9:55 to 9:59 on February 15, 2021, the companion identification unit 52 does not identify the nearby user as a companion of the target user.

[0039] Further, the companion identification unit 52 may refer to the user DB 44 and identify, as companions, the nearby users among those determined to have been in the vicinity of the target user for a predetermined time up to the current time, which are associated as related users of the target user in the user DB 44. For example, in a case where it is necessary to line up to enter a popular large commercial facility, a situation can be considered where a nearby user who is in front of or behind the target user in the line and is not actually a companion of the target user has always been in the vicinity of the target user for a predetermined time up to the current time. Even in such a case, the companion identification unit 52 can identify companions by excluding nearby users who are not actually companions of the target user but happen to have always been in the vicinity of the target user for a predetermined time up to the current time, and only identifying the related users of the target user as companions.

[0040] When the companion identification unit 52 identifies a companion of the target user, it associates the user ID of the target user with the user ID of the identified companion and stores them in the companion history DB 48. Further, for each combination of the user ID of the target user and the user ID of the companion, the companion identification unit 52 counts the number of times the companion has been identified as a companion of the target user, and associates the counted number with the combination of the user ID of the target user and the user ID of the companion and stores them in the companion history DB 48.

[0041] When the companion identification unit 52 identifies a companion of the target user, it determines whether a combination of the user ID of the target user and the user ID of the companion has already been stored in the companion history DB 48. If the combination has not yet been stored in the companion history DB 48, the combination is newly stored in the companion history DB 48, and "1 (time)" is associated as the number of times of companionship. On the other hand, if the combination has already been stored in the companion history DB 48, the number of times of companionship for the combination is incremented by 1.

[0042] FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of the content of the companion history DB 48. According to the companion history DB 48, for each combination of the target user and the companion, the number of times the companion has been identified as a companion of the target user in the past can be grasped.

[0043] The companion identification unit 52 may identify, as companions, the neighboring users selected based on the number of times they have been identified as companions of the target user in the past among the neighboring users determined to have been in the vicinity of the target user during a predetermined time up to the current time, by referring to the companion history DB 48. For example, a threshold number of times may be set in advance by an administrator of the information processing system 10 or the like, and the companion identification unit 52 may identify, as companions, the neighboring users among the neighboring users determined to have been in the vicinity of the target user during a predetermined time up to the current time, for whom the number of times they have been identified as companions of the target user in the past is equal to or greater than the threshold number of times. The possibility that a person who has no relation to the target user at all has been identified as a companion of the target user many times in the past is quite low. On the other hand, neighboring users who have been identified as companions of the target user many times in the past are likely to be the true companions of the target user. Therefore, by identifying companions based on the number of times they have been identified as companions of the target user in the past, it is possible to exclude neighboring users who happened to be in the vicinity of the target user during a predetermined time up to the current time but are not actually companions of the target user, and identify companions.

[0044] The provided information selection unit 54 selects provided information from among the provided information stored in the provided information DB 46 based on the target user and the companions identified by the companion identification unit 52. In the present embodiment, the provided information selection unit 54 selects an advertisement from the provided information DB 46.

[0045] For example, the provided information selection unit 54 can select an advertisement according to the total number of the target user and the companions. Specifically, the provided information selection unit 54 selects an advertisement for which the total number of the target user and the companions satisfies the companion number condition shown in the provided information DB 46. For example, when the total number of the target user and the companions is 3, the provided information selection unit 54 selects an advertisement for which the companion number condition is, for example, "2 or more". On the other hand, in this case, the provided information selection unit 54 does not select an advertisement for which the companion number condition is, for example, "4 or more".

[0046] In addition, the provided information selection unit 54 may refer to the user DB 44 and select the provided information based on the attribute information of at least one of the target user or the accompanying person. For example, assume that the content of the user DB 44 is as shown in FIG. 5, the target user is the user "U0000", and the accompanying persons are the users "U0001" and "U0002". In this case, for example, since "Japanese" is included in the food preferences of all three people, the provided information selection unit 54 selects an advertisement related to a Japanese restaurant. Of course, the method of selecting advertisements based on the attribute information of the target user and the accompanying persons is not limited to this, and the provided information selection unit 54 can select advertisements suitable for the target user and the accompanying persons based on the address, age, gender, preferences, etc. of the target user and the accompanying persons.

[0047] The information providing unit 56 provides the provided information selected by the provided information selection unit 54 to at least one of the target user or the accompanying person. Various methods can be considered as the method of providing the provided information. For example, the information providing unit 56 can transmit an advertisement as the provided information selected by the provided information selection unit 54 to the target mobile terminal 12a or the nearby mobile terminal 12b used by the accompanying person, and display the advertisement on the display 24 of these mobile terminals 12. Note that information regarding the information transmission destination of the mobile terminal 12 used by each user may be stored in the user DB 44.

[0048] In addition, when a plurality of digital signage are provided in a large commercial facility, the information providing unit 56 may transmit and display the advertisement on the digital signage that the target user and the accompanying person approach. Note that the fact that the target user and the accompanying person approach the digital signage can be detected by providing a beacon receiver near each digital signage and the beacon receiver receiving the user ID transmitted by short-range wireless communication from the target mobile terminal 12a or the nearby mobile terminal 12b of the accompanying person.

[0049] As described above, according to the information processing system 10 according to the present embodiment, the companion identification unit 52 identifies the companions of the target user based on the communication history information 32 transmitted from the target mobile terminal 12a. Then, the provided information selection unit 54 identifies the provided information corresponding to the target user and the companions, and the information providing unit 56 provides the provided information to the target user or the companions. That is, the target user can receive the provided information corresponding to the target user and the companions without having to input information indicating his / her companions to the information processing apparatus 14.

[0050] It is also conceivable that a companion who entered a large commercial facility together with the target user separates from the target user and acts on his / her own during the time inside the large commercial facility without accompanying the target user all the time. That is, the companions of the target user can change dynamically according to the passage of time. Therefore, the processor 50 may dynamically change the provided information provided to at least one of the target user or the companions according to the change in the companions of the target user according to the passage of time. Hereinafter, the details of the process for changing the provided information will be described.

[0051] Until the target mobile terminal 12a leaves the large commercial facility, it repeats short-range wireless communication with the nearby mobile terminal 12b in which the application 30 is installed and continues to update the communication history information 32. Then, until the target mobile terminal 12a leaves the large commercial facility, it intermittently transmits a request for provided information, the user ID of the target user, and the latest communication history information 32 to the information processing apparatus 14. In the present embodiment, the target mobile terminal 12a transmits a request for provided information, the user ID of the target user, and the latest communication history information 32 to the information processing apparatus 14 at 5-minute intervals.

[0052] Whenever the companion specific unit 52 receives a request for provided information, the user ID of the target user, and the latest communication history information 32 from the target mobile terminal 12a, it identifies the companions of the target user through the above-described processing. Then, the companion specific unit 52 compares the companions of the target user at the time when an advertisement was previously provided to the target user or their companions (which may be held by the companion specific unit 52 as the companions identified at the time of the previous advertisement provision) with the companions of the target user identified this time, and determines whether there is any change in the companions of the target user.

[0053] If there is a change in the companions of the target user, the provided information selection unit 54 selects an advertisement corresponding to the target user and the companions after the change, and the information providing unit 56 provides the advertisement to the target user or the companions after the change. On the other hand, if there is no change in the companions of the target user, the provided information selection unit 54 does not perform the advertisement selection process, and the information providing unit 56 does not newly provide an advertisement.

[0054] For example, assume that the companion specific unit 52 identifies user "U0001" and user "U0002" as the companions of the target user "U0000", and after an advertisement is provided to the target user or the companion, the latest communication history information 32 stored in the target mobile terminal 12a of the target user becomes the content shown in FIG. 8. In this case, the companion specific unit 52 identifies user "U0001" as the current companion of the target user. Then, the companion specific unit 52 compares user "U0001" and user "U0002", who were the companions of the target user when the advertisement was previously provided, with user "U0001", who is the companion of the target user this time, and determines that there has been a change in the companions of the target user. Specifically, the companion specific unit 52 can determine that the target user has separated from user "U0002" midway.

[0055] In this case, the provided information selection unit 54 newly selects an advertisement corresponding to the target user "U0000" and the current companion user "U0001", and the information providing unit 56 provides the newly selected advertisement to the target user "U0000" or user "U0001".

[0056] As with the user "U0002" in the above example, there are users who were determined to be companions of the target user in the past but are no longer determined to be companions of the target user at present. In other words, when there are users who separated from the target user midway, the provided information selection unit 54 may refer to the user DB 44 and select the provided information based on the attribute information of the users who separated from the target user midway.

[0057] For example, in the above example, the provided information selection unit 54 can select an advertisement related to a present for the user "U0002" who has traveled together so far as an advertisement to be provided to the target user "U0000" or the user "U0001" who is a current companion. In this case, the provided information selection unit 54 refers to, for example, the attribute information of the user "U0002" in the user DB 44 to specify the preferences of the user "U0002", and selects an advertisement for a product or service that matches the preferences of the user "U0002" and is related to a product or service for a present from among the advertisements stored in the provided information DB 46.

[0058] The outline of the information processing system 10 according to this embodiment is as described above. Hereinafter, the processing flow of the information processing apparatus 14 will be described according to the flowchart shown in FIG. 9.

[0059] In step S10, the information processing apparatus 14 receives a request for provided information, the user ID of the target user, and the communication history information 32 from the target mobile terminal 12a.

[0060] In step S12, the companion identification unit 52 identifies the companions of the target user based on the communication history information 32 received in step S10.

[0061] In step S14, the provided information selection unit 54 selects an advertisement from among the advertisements stored in the provided information DB 46 based on the target user and the companions identified in step S12.

[0062] In step S16, the information providing unit 56 provides the advertisement selected in step S14 to the target user or the companion identified in step S12.

[0063] In step S18, the information processing apparatus 14 receives again from the target mobile terminal 12a a request for provided information, the user ID of the target user, and the communication history information 32.

[0064] In step S20, the companion identification unit 52 re-identifies the companions of the target user based on the communication history information 32 received in step S18.

[0065] In step S22, the companion identification unit 52 compares the companion identified when providing the previous advertisement (the companion identified in step S12) with the companion identified this time (the companion identified in step S20), and determines whether there is a change in the companions of the target user. If there is a change, the process proceeds to step S24; if there is no change, the process ends.

[0066] In step S24, the provided information selection unit 54 selects an advertisement from the advertisements stored in the provided information DB 46 based on the target user and the companion identified in step S20 (the companion after the change).

[0067] In step S26, the information providing unit 56 provides the advertisement selected in step S24 to the target user or the companion identified in step S20.

[0068] Thereafter, each time the processor 50 of the information processing apparatus 14 receives from the target mobile terminal 12a a request for provided information, the user ID of the target user, and the communication history information 32, the processes from step S20 to step S26 are repeated.

[0069] As described above, the embodiments according to the present invention have been described. However, the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and various changes are possible without departing from the gist of the present invention.

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0070] 10 Information processing system, 12 Mobile terminal, 12a Target mobile terminal, 12b Proximate mobile terminal, 14 Information processing device, 16 Communication line, 20 NIC, 22 NFC adapter, 24 Display, 26 Input interface, 28, 42 Memory, 30 Application, 32 Communication history information, 34, 50 Processor, 40 Communication interface, 44 User DB, 46 Provided information DB, 48 Co-travel history DB, 52 Co-traveler identification unit, 54 Provided information selection unit, 56 Information provision unit.

Claims

1. Comprising a processor, The processor is Communication history information indicating the history of short-range wireless communication of a target mobile terminal used by a target user, including user identifiers of nearby users who use a nearby mobile terminal that has performed short-range wireless communication with the target mobile terminal, and based on the user identifier of the target user, identifying the target user and companions who are walking with the target user, Providing the provided information selected based on the target user, the identified companions, and provided information associated with user attribute information or the number of companions condition of the user to at least one of the target user or the companions, Dynamically changing the provided information to be provided to at least one of the target user or the companions in response to changes in the companions over time, An information processing apparatus characterized by the above.

2. The processor is Based on the communication history information, identifying the nearby users determined to have been in the vicinity of the target user during a predetermined time up to the current time as the companions, The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized by the above.

3. The processor is For each user, referring to a user database in which related users related to the user are stored, and among the nearby users determined to have been in the vicinity of the target user during a predetermined time up to the current time, identifying the related users related to the target user as the companions, The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, characterized by the above.

4. The processor is Among the nearby users determined to have been in the vicinity of the target user during a predetermined time up to the current time, identifying the nearby user selected based on the number of times identified as the companion of the target user in the past as the companion, The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, characterized by the above.

5. The processor is Referring to a user database in which the attribute information of each user is stored, and selecting the provided information based on the attribute information of at least one of the target user or the companions, The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized by the above.

6. The processor is Based on the communication history information, selecting the provided information based on the attribute information of the nearby users who were determined to be the companions of the target user in the past but are not determined to be the companions of the target user at the current time, The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that...

7. Cause a computer to: Obtain communication history information indicating the history of short-range wireless communication of a target mobile terminal used by a target user, the communication history information including user identifiers of neighboring users who use neighboring mobile terminals that have performed short-range wireless communication with the target mobile terminal, and based on the user identifier of the target user, identify the target user and companions who are accompanying the target user; Provide at least one of the target user or the identified companions with selected provision information selected based on the target user, the identified companions, and provision information associated with user attribute information or the number-of-companions condition of the user and the provision information; Dynamically change the provision information to be provided to at least one of the target user or the companions according to changes in the companions over time. An information processing program, characterized in that...

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