ITEM LIST PROVIDING SYSTEM, SERVER, TERMINAL, ITEM LIST PROVIDING METHOD, AND PROGRAM

Abstract

In an item list providing system (100) having a server (10) and a terminal (20), a list is generated in which a plurality of items are arranged in order of recommendation to a user, and items included in the generated list are presented to the user according to the order in the list. When the user performs an unnecessary selection operation to designate an unnecessary item from the presented items, low-interest items that are similar to the unnecessary items and have not yet been presented to the user are identified from among the items in the list, and the server (10) and the terminal (20) work together to execute a process of lowering the order of the low-interest items in the list.

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an item list providing system, a server, a terminal, an item list providing method, and a program. [Background technology]

[0002] 2. Description of the Related Art In a store or the like established on the Internet, a technique has been proposed for displaying a plurality of products related to a product in which a user has shown interest in a recommended product section (for example, Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2008-282098 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] When recommending items such as products to a user, it is desirable to reduce the possibility that an item that is expected to have little interest to the user will be brought to the user's attention.

[0005] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned circumstances, and has an object to provide an item list providing system and the like that can suitably recommend items to a user. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to achieve the above object, the item list providing system of the present invention comprises: An item list providing system including a server and a terminal, Generate a ranked list of multiple items to recommend to the user, presenting the items included in the generated list to the user according to the order in which the items are arranged in the list; When the user performs an unnecessary selection operation to specify an unnecessary item from the presented items, a low-interest item similar to the unnecessary item and not yet presented to the user is identified from among the items arranged in the list; The server and the terminal cooperate to execute a process of lowering the rank of the less interesting items in the list.

[0007] The server of the present invention comprises: A generator that generates a list in which a plurality of items are arranged in an order in which they are to be recommended to a user; a providing unit that provides the items included in the generated list to a terminal in accordance with the order of the items in the list and displays the items on a screen of the terminal; a receiving unit that receives from the terminal a report indicating that an unnecessary selection operation has been performed to designate an unnecessary item from among the items displayed on the screen of the terminal; an identification unit that identifies low-interest items among the items in the list, which are similar items to the unnecessary items and are non-display items that have not yet been displayed on the screen; an updater for demoting the less interesting items in the list; Equipped with.

[0008] the report further includes display information indicating which of the items included in the list are displayed on a screen of the terminal; An item that is not shown in the display information may be set as the non-display item.

[0009] An item that has not yet been provided to the terminal may be set as the hidden item.

[0010] recommending new items that are not similar to the unwanted items and are not included in the list; The new item may be added to the list between a rank of items already provided to the terminal and a rank of items of less interest.

[0011] The terminal of the present invention comprises: an acquisition unit that acquires from a server a list in which a plurality of items are arranged in order of recommendation; a display unit that displays the acquired list on a screen in a scrollable manner; a reception unit that receives an unnecessary selection operation for designating an unnecessary item from among the items arranged in the list and displayed on the screen; an identification unit that identifies low-interest items among the items in the list, which are similar items to the unnecessary items and are non-display items that have not yet been displayed on the screen; an updater for demoting the less interesting items in the list; Equipped with.

[0012] Reporting the unwanted items to the server may cause the server to lower the priority of recommending the reported items.

[0013] By reporting the unwanted item to the server, the server may be caused to identify items in the list that are similar to the unwanted item.

[0014] Obtaining from the server a table of similarities between items in the list together with the list; The similarity between each of the non-display items and the unnecessary items may be calculated from the table.

[0015] obtaining from the server the list along with a feature vector for each item in the list; A similarity between each of the non-display items and the unnecessary item may be calculated based on the feature vector.

[0016] The similar items may be identified by comparing the determined similarity with a predetermined threshold, or a predetermined number or percentage of items with the highest determined similarity may be identified as the similar items and the items of low interest.

[0017] having the server newly recommend new items that are not similar to the unwanted items; The new items may be added to the list in a higher order than the items of less interest.

[0018] The method for providing an item list of the present invention includes the steps of: An item list providing method in an item list providing system including a server and a terminal, Generate a ranked list of multiple items to recommend to the user, presenting the items included in the generated list to the user according to the order in which the items are arranged in the list; When the user performs an unnecessary selection operation to specify an unnecessary item from the presented items, a low-interest item similar to the unnecessary item and not yet presented to the user is identified from among the items arranged in the list; The server and the terminal cooperate to execute a process of lowering the rank of the less interesting items in the list.

[0019] The program of the present invention comprises: Computer, A generator for generating a list in which a plurality of items are recommended to a user in an order; a providing unit that provides the items included in the generated list to a terminal in accordance with the order of the items in the list and displays the items on a screen of the terminal; a receiving unit that receives from the terminal a report indicating that an unnecessary selection operation has been performed to designate an unnecessary item from among the items displayed on the screen of the terminal; an identification unit that identifies low-interest items among the items in the list, which are similar items to the unnecessary items and non-display items that have not yet been displayed on the screen; an updater for demoting the less interesting items in the list; Function as.

[0020] Another program of the present invention is Computer, an acquisition unit for acquiring a list of a plurality of items in order of recommendation; a display unit that displays the acquired list on a screen in a scrollable manner; a reception unit that receives an unnecessary selection operation for designating an unnecessary item from among the items arranged in the list and displayed on the screen; an identification unit that identifies low-interest items among the items in the list, which are similar items to the unnecessary items and non-display items that have not yet been displayed on the screen; an updater for demoting the less interesting items in the list; Function as. Effect of the Invention

[0021] According to the present invention, items can be appropriately recommended to a user. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0022] [Figure 1] 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an item list providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of an information processing device that constitutes an item list providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 3] 13 is a flowchart showing an example of a recommendation list presentation process in the first embodiment. [Figure 4] 13 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a recommendation list generating process. [Diagram 5]11A and 11B are diagrams showing examples of display of item information and a recommendation list. [Figure 6] 13A to 13D are diagrams showing examples of displaying a recommendation list. [Figure 7] 13 is a flowchart showing an example of a recommendation list providing process in the second embodiment. [Figure 8] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a method for managing a recommendation list in the second embodiment. [Figure 9] 13(A) to 13(F) are diagrams showing examples of updating recommendation rankings in a recommendation list in embodiment 2. FIG. [Figure 10] 13 is a flowchart showing an example of a recommendation list display process in the third embodiment. [Figure 11] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a method for managing a recommendation list in the third embodiment. [Figure 12] 13(A) to 13(F) are diagrams showing examples of updating recommendation rankings in a recommendation list in embodiment 3. FIG. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0023] Hereinafter, an item list providing system 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. Note that the same or corresponding parts in the drawings are given the same reference numerals.

[0024] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of an item list providing system 100 according to this embodiment. The item list providing system 100 is a system that presents and provides a recommendation list, which is a list of recommended items, to a user. The item list providing system 100 is composed of a server 10 and a terminal 20. The server 10 and the terminal 20 are connected via a communication network 30 such as the Internet or a mobile communication network. The server 10 and the terminal 20 transmit and receive information via the communication network 30.

[0025] The server 10 stores a plurality of pieces of information about a specific item, generates a recommendation list (recommended item list) in which the items are arranged in a recommendation order, which is an order in which the items are recommended to the user, and provides the list to the terminal 20 via a communication network. For example, the server 10 provides item information of a specified item in response to a browsing request from the terminal 20 in which a specific item is specified or a browsing request in which a search condition is specified. In this way, the server 10 also functions as a web server that provides a website whose content is item information. The server 10 provides the terminal 20 with a recommendation list in which, for example, items similar to the item are arranged in order of recommendation, together with the item information. This makes it possible to provide the user of the terminal 20 with useful information, since it is possible to provide the user with a recommendation list of items recommended based on the specified item in addition to the item information of the specified item. Note that items recommended to the user by the recommendation list may also be called recommended items.

[0026] Thus, in this embodiment, the server 10 provides the recommendation list in response to a request to view items from the terminal 20, but the recommendation list may be provided to the user in response to other triggers, such as access to a specific website, a request to acquire the recommendation list itself specifying conditions, etc. Also, the server 10 may generate a recommendation list (a list of products, etc. recommended to the user) and provide it to the terminal 20 as an advertisement on a website or SNS (Social Networking Service).

[0027] An item may be any information that a user may view. For example, an item may be information about products, services, used cars, delivery services, digital content such as books, comics, music, and videos, accommodations, transportation (trains, buses, airplanes, etc.), travel, tours, restaurants, recipes, real estate, beauty facilities (beauty salons, estheticians, etc.), golf courses, leisure facilities such as campsites and fishing boats, sporting events, etc., or information about the purchase or reservation of such items.

[0028] The server 10 is configured with, for example, a communication-enabled information processing device such as a personal computer (PC) or a workstation. The server 10 may be a dedicated device. Although one server 10 is shown in Fig. 1, for example, multiple servers 10 may be provided for each item to be stored and managed.

[0029] The terminal 20 is an information processing device having a communication function, such as a smartphone, tablet, or PC used by a user. The terminal 20 transmits an item viewing request to the server 10 via the communication network 30 based on the user's operation. Then, the terminal 20 acquires item information and a recommendation list corresponding to the viewing request transmitted from the server 10 based on the item viewing request. The acquired item information is displayed on the screen of the terminal 20. In addition, the acquired recommendation list is displayed in a scrollable manner on the screen of the terminal 20, so that the items in the list can be viewed one by one. This allows the user to view the requested item information and the recommendation list, which is a list of items recommended based on the request. Although one terminal 20 is shown in FIG. 1, the number of terminals 20 may be arbitrary.

[0030] 2 is a diagram showing an example of the hardware configuration of an information processing device constituting the server 10 and the terminal 20. The server 10 has a processor 11 such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit) or a GPU (Graphical Processing Unit), a storage device 12 such as a memory, an HDD and / or an SSD, a communication interface 13 for wired or wireless communication, an input device 14 for accepting input operations, and an output device 15 for outputting information. The input device 14 is, for example, a keyboard, a touch panel, a camera, a mouse and / or a microphone. The output device 15 is, for example, a display and / or a speaker.

[0031] The storage device 12 of the server 10 stores information on a plurality of items to be managed. It also stores information (unnecessary item information, recommendation priority order information) for each user accessed by the terminal 20. At least a part of the information on the users may be stored in the storage device 22 of the terminal 20.

[0032] Similarly, the terminal 20 includes a processor 21, a storage device 22, a communication interface 23, an input device 24, and an output device 25. Note that unnecessary components in the server 10 and the terminal 20 may be omitted as appropriate, and other components may be added.

[0033] In addition, the item list providing system 100 of this embodiment can accept an unnecessary selection operation from the user to specify an unnecessary item from among the items included in the recommendation list presented to the user. The item list providing system 100 is configured to specify a low-interest item that is similar to the specified unnecessary item and has not yet been presented to the user, and to lower the recommendation rank of the low-interest item in the recommendation list in cooperation with the server 10 and the terminal 20. In this embodiment, the recommendation list can sequentially present items included in the list by scrolling or the like, and the list is presented part by part. By lowering the recommendation rank (specifically, the display order of the list) of a low-interest item that is similar to an unnecessary item based on the user's unnecessary selection operation and has not yet been presented to the user, the order of presentation to the user by scrolling or the like is made later, so that the low-interest item is less likely to be seen by the user. This makes it possible to present a suitable recommendation list according to the user's unnecessary selection operation.

[0034] (Embodiment 1) In the following, first, a description will be given of a first embodiment, which is an example of a case in which the server 10 and the terminal 20 work together to manage a recommendation list in the entire item list providing system 100 and execute a process of lowering the recommendation rank of a less-interesting item in the recommendation list. In the first embodiment, it is expressed that the item list providing system 100 "presents" the recommendation list.

[0035] 3 is a flowchart showing an example of a recommendation list presentation process executed by the item list providing system 100 of the first embodiment. The recommendation list presentation process is executed by the processor 11 of the server 10 and the processor 21 of the terminal 20 in cooperation with each other. Specifically, the process is executed by the processor 11 that has read a program stored in the storage device 12, and the processor 21 that has read a program stored in the storage device 22. Among the processes in FIG. 3, those that do not specify a particular subject may be executed by at least either the server 10 or the terminal 20.

[0036] In the recommendation list presentation process, the item list providing system 100 first determines whether or not there is a user request to view items related to the server 10 (step S11). The user request to view items is, for example, an item viewing operation by the terminal 20. If there is no user request to view items (step S11; No), the recommendation list presentation process ends.

[0037] If a user makes a request to view an item (step S11; Yes), the item list providing system 100 executes a recommendation list generating process for generating a recommendation list to be presented to the user who has made the item viewing request (step S12).

[0038] FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of a recommendation list generation process. The recommendation list generation process is executed by the processor 11 of the server 10. In the recommendation list generation process, the processor 11 first extracts items similar to an item related to a user's item viewing request (step S121). In step S121, for example, a predetermined number of items having attribute information (category, manufacturer, condition, size, color, region, price range, etc.) similar to the item specified in the viewing request are extracted. Specifically, a plurality of other items (for example, different colors, different manufacturers, etc.) belonging to the same category as the item requested to be viewed are listed. Note that any algorithm may be adopted as the algorithm for extracting similar items.

[0039] Next, the processor 11 acquires recommendation priority order information of the user who has requested to view the item (step S122).

[0040] Then, the processor 11 generates a recommendation list in which the items extracted in step S121 are arranged in the order of recommendation to the user based on the recommendation priority information acquired in step S122 (step S123). Then, the recommendation list generation process ends.

[0041] The recommendation priority information is information indicating the recommendation priority of items for each user, and is stored in the storage device 12 of the server 10 in association with the user's identification information, for example. When the user performs an unnecessary selection operation in the recommendation list presented to the user, the recommendation priority information is updated to lower the recommendation rank of an item selected as an unnecessary item. The recommendation priority information may store at least information on unnecessary items that have been selected as unnecessary. Also, for example, the recommendation priority information is updated to raise the priority of a specific item when the user performs a viewing operation on that item.

[0042] The recommendation priority information is referred to when a new recommendation list is generated in step S123. For example, the items extracted in step S121 are arranged in the recommendation list in descending order of priority. In addition, the recommendation list may be generated by not including unnecessary items based on the user's past unnecessary selection operation in the recommendation list, or by lowering the recommendation order. This allows the generation of a recommendation list suited to the user.

[0043] It should be noted that the user's browsing history of items may be stored together with the recommendation priority order information, and the recommendation list may be generated by referring to the browsing history of items.

[0044] For items with no difference in recommendation priority order based on recommendation priority order information, the recommendation order in the recommendation list may be determined randomly, or the recommendation list may be generated by determining the recommendation order based on information about the item itself, such as the popularity of the item, how recent the information is, the number of items in stock, or other information. When referring to the user's item viewing history, the recommendation order may be increased for items that have been viewed in the past or items that have been viewed frequently.

[0045] In addition, for example, the recommendation list generation process may refer to the trends of products that the user has viewed and purchased in the past, the user's own attributes (age, gender, preferences, etc.), and the trends of products that other users who have attributes in common with the user's own attributes have viewed and purchased, and generate a list that is expected to be purchased or viewed based on, for example, machine learning.

[0046] 3, when the recommendation list generation process is completed, the item list providing system 100 presents the recommendation list generated in step S12 to the user together with item information corresponding to the viewing request (step S13). If the viewing request is a viewing request specifying a specific item, the item information corresponding to the viewing request may be information on the specific item (e.g., product overview, price information, etc.), and if the viewing request is a viewing request specifying search conditions for items, it may be item search results (a list of items matching the search conditions, overview, etc.).

[0047] FIG. 5 is a display example of item information and a recommendation list presented by the item list providing system 100. FIG. 5 shows an example of a case where a user accesses an item search site by using a web browser 110 installed in the terminal 20 and performs a browsing operation of a specific item, resulting in a web page including item information and a recommendation list of a specific item being displayed on the web browser 110. As shown in FIG. 5, the web browser 110 displays item information such as an item name 111 and detailed information 112 of the item according to the browsing operation (browsing request) of the item. In addition, a recommendation list 113 is displayed together with the item information. The recommendation list 113 shown in FIG. 5 displays the top three items in the recommendation ranking, such as items RI1, RI2, and RI3, as recommended items recommended to the user. In this way, in the display example shown in FIG. 5, three items are displayed in each of the recommendation lists generated by the item list providing system 100. For example, an overview of each item RI1, RI2, and RI3 is displayed, and the overview is a link to detailed information of each item. Also, a scroll button 114 is displayed for scrolling the items displayed in the recommendation list 113. Although three items are displayed in the recommendation list 113 in Fig. 5, a recommendation list generated by the item list providing system 100 includes four or more items, and by operating the scroll button 114, the items are scrolled one by one in order according to the arrangement order (recommended ranking) of the item list.

[0048] Next, the item list providing system 100 determines whether or not the user has performed an unnecessary selection operation specifying an unnecessary item in the recommendation list presented to the user (step S14).

[0049] If the user performs an unnecessary selection operation (step S14; Yes), the item list providing system 100 sets the selected unnecessary item to not be displayed in the recommendation list (step S15). This prevents the user from continuing to see the unnecessary item. At this time, the item selected as unnecessary is stored as an unnecessary item in the recommendation priority information according to the user (for example, the unnecessary item selected as unnecessary is reported to the server 10 from the terminal 20, and the unnecessary item is stored in the recommendation priority information). Therefore, it is possible to make the unnecessary item less likely to be recommended to the user in the future, or to prevent it from being recommended at all.

[0050] An unnecessary selection button ds is displayed for each of the items RI1, RI2, and RI3 shown in FIG. 5. When the unnecessary selection button ds is operated, the item is selected as unnecessary, and the selected item is hidden. For example, FIG. 6 is a display example of a recommendation list. For example, as shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6(A), in a state in which the top three items RI1, RI2, and RI3 in the recommendation ranking are displayed as default display items in the recommendation list 113, when the unnecessary selection button ds of the item RI2 is selected (unnecessary selection operation), the item RI2 is hidden as shown in FIG. 6(B), and a deleted item DI is displayed in the place where the item RI2 was displayed. Note that an undo button rs is displayed for the deleted item DI, and when this undo button rs is operated, the unnecessary selection operation is canceled, and the item RI2 is redisplayed. This allows the operation to be canceled when the unnecessary selection button ds is operated by mistake. In this case, the subsequent low interest item identification process is not executed. Note that the deleted item DI may be displayed in a manner that allows the item before deletion to be identified. For example, the pre-deletion item RI2 may be displayed dimly or darkly against the background of the deleted item DI.

[0051] Then, the item list providing system 100 executes a low interest item identification process to identify low interest items that are similar to the unnecessary items selected by the user and have not been presented to the user from the items included in the recommendation list (step S16).

[0052] In the low interest item identification process, for example, an unnecessary item is compared with other items included in the recommendation list that have not been presented to the user, and an item similar to the unnecessary item included in the recommendation list is identified as an item of low interest.

[0053] The method of determining similar items may be, for example, based on the degree of commonality of attribute information (category, manufacturer, condition, size, color, region, price range, etc.), or based on a similarity table that classifies the similarity of each item prepared in advance. Also, feature vectors and feature amounts of elements (image data, text data, etc.) of each item may be obtained, and similar items may be determined based on the similarity of the feature vectors and feature amounts. In other words, similar items may be specified by any method.

[0054] Also, items included in the recommendation list may be compared with unnecessary items to obtain similarities, and items whose similarities are within a predetermined threshold value may be extracted as similar items (items of low interest).Also, a predetermined number or a predetermined percentage of items whose similarities are found to be the top may be extracted as similar items (items of low interest).

[0055] Whether or not the item has not yet been presented in the recommendation list may be determined by acquiring a browsing status such as scrolling the recommendation list on the terminal 20, or by determining whether or not the item has already been provided from the server 10 to the terminal 20, or the like.

[0056] When a low interest item is identified, the item list providing system 100 lowers the recommendation rank of the low interest item in the recommendation list (step S18). In this way, the recommendation rank of the low interest item that has not yet been presented to the user is lowered in the recommendation list, so that it is possible to reduce the possibility that an item that is expected to have low interest in the user will be seen by the user when the user sequentially browses the recommended items.

[0057] Then, the item list providing system 100 updates the recommendation list by adding new recommended items according to the number of low interest items in the recommendation list (step S19). For example, the recommendation order of the low interest items in the recommendation list is lowered to the lowest, and new recommended items, the same number as the low interest items, are added to the recommendation list at a higher order than the low interest items. In other words, the item list providing system 100 adds the newly recommended items between the order of the items already presented and the order of the low interest items. This allows new items to be added to the recommendation list according to the number of low interest items, and the new items can be recommended at a higher order than the low interest items. The method of extracting the recommended items to be added may use the same algorithm as that used when generating the recommendation list. For example, the recommended items may be added as items that are not included in the initially generated recommendation list, are the next most recommended items, and are not equivalent to low interest items.

[0058] The number of recommended items to be replenished is not limited to the same number as the low interest items, but may be a predetermined ratio of the number of low interest items, or may be more or less than the low interest items. Furthermore, the order in which new recommended items are replenished may be any order.

[0059] After the process of step S19 or when the user has not performed an unnecessary selection operation (step S14; No), the item list providing system 100 determines whether or not the user has performed a scroll operation on the recommendation list (step S20).

[0060] When the user performs a scroll operation (step S20; Yes), the item list providing system 100 scrolls and displays the items in the recommendation list according to the recommendation rank of the recommendation list in accordance with the content of the scroll operation (step S21).

[0061] For example, as shown in FIG. 6(B), when two items RI1 and RI3 and a deleted item DI are displayed in the recommendation list 113, if the scroll button 114 is operated twice, the recommendation order of the recommendation list 113 shifts by two steps to display items RI3, RI4, and RI5, as shown in FIG. 6(C). Furthermore, if the scroll button 114 is operated three times, the recommendation order of the recommendation list 113 shifts by three steps to display items RI6, RI8, and RI9, as shown in FIG. 6(D). At this time, for example, item 7 corresponding to item RI7 is determined to be a low-interest item similar to item 2 corresponding to item RI2 selected as unnecessary, and the recommendation order is lowered to the bottom. Therefore, item RI7, which is an overview of item 7, is not displayed in FIG. 6(D). Furthermore, when the recommendation list 113 is scrolled from the default state, a scroll button 115 for scrolling the recommendation list 113 in the reverse direction is displayed, as shown in FIGS. 6(C) and 6(D).

[0062] In this embodiment, the recommendation list scrolls in response to the operation of the scroll buttons 114 and 115, but the recommendation list may be automatically scrolled (updated) in response to a viewing operation of the recommendation list, such as a screen scroll operation. In the example shown in Fig. 5 and Fig. 6, the recommendation list scrolls in the left-right direction, but it may also scroll in the up-down direction or up-down and left-right directions.

[0063] After the process of step S21 or if the user has not performed a scroll operation on the recommendation list (step S20; No), the item list providing system 100 judges whether or not the user has performed another operation on the presented item information and recommendation list (step S22). If the user has performed another operation (step S22; Yes), control according to the operation (for example, display control of item information of the selected recommended item, etc.) is executed (step S23). If the user has not performed another operation (step S22; No) or after the process of step S23, the process returns to the process of step S14.

[0064] As described above, according to the item list providing system 100 of embodiment 1, the item list providing system 100 includes a server 10 and a terminal 20, and generates a list in which a number of items are arranged in the order in which they are recommended to the user. The items included in the generated list are presented to the user according to the recommendation order in the recommendation list. When the user performs an unnecessary selection operation to specify an unnecessary item from the presented items, the server 10 and the terminal 20 work together to identify low interest items from the items in the recommendation list that are similar to the unnecessary items and have not yet been presented to the user, and to lower the recommendation order of the low interest items in the recommendation list.

[0065] This lowers the recommendation rank (display order) of items in the recommendation list that are expected to have little interest to the user based on the unnecessary items selected by the user, thereby reducing the possibility that items that are expected to have little interest to the user will come into view as the user sequentially browses the recommended items.

[0066] In addition, since the recommendation ranking of low-interest items is lowered, other items are displayed preferentially in the recommendation list. As a result, other items are relatively more likely to be seen by the user, so a recommendation list containing items that are expected to be of high interest to the user can be presented.

[0067] Furthermore, since the recommendation order in the recommendation list is changed within the range of items not yet presented to the user, the order in the recommendation list can be changed without the user realizing it.

[0068] (Embodiment 2) Next, a second embodiment will be described, which is an example in which the server 10 in the item list providing system 100 manages the recommendation list and executes a process of lowering the recommendation rank of an item of low interest in the recommendation list. In the second embodiment, it is expressed that the server 10 "provides" the recommendation list to the terminal 20.

[0069] The server 10 of the second embodiment generates a recommendation list in which a plurality of items are arranged in the order of recommendation to the user. The server 10 provides the items included in the generated list to the terminal 20 according to the recommendation order arranged in the recommendation list, and displays them on the screen of the terminal 20. The server 10 receives a report from the terminal 20 indicating that an unnecessary selection operation has been performed to designate an unnecessary item from among the items displayed on the screen of the terminal 20. The server 10 then identifies low interest items among the items arranged in the recommended items, which are similar items to the unnecessary items and are hidden items that have not yet been displayed on the screen of the terminal 20. Furthermore, the server 10 updates the recommendation list by lowering the display priority of the low interest items in the recommendation list.

[0070] 7 is a flowchart showing an example of a recommendation list providing process executed by the server 10 of embodiment 2. The recommendation list providing process is executed by the processor 11 of the server 10 reading a program stored in the storage device 12.

[0071] In the recommendation list providing process, the server 10 first determines whether or not a user request to view an item related to the server 10 has been received from the terminal 20 (step S51). The user request to view an item is transmitted in response to, for example, an item viewing operation by the terminal 20. If the request to view an item has not been received (step S51; No), the recommendation list providing process is terminated.

[0072] If an item browsing request has been received (step S51; Yes), the server 10 executes a recommendation list generation process for generating a recommendation list to be provided to the terminal 20 of the user who made the item browsing request (step S52). The recommendation list generation process may be the same as the process of the first embodiment shown in Fig. 4. The process of step S52 corresponds to the generation unit of the server 10.

[0073] Upon completion of the recommendation list generation process, the server 10 provides the recommendation list generated in step S52 to the user's terminal 20 together with item information in response to the viewing request (step S53). The server 10 transmits to the terminal 20, for example, web page data including the item information and recommendation list as shown in FIG. 5. The content of the item information in response to the viewing request may be information on a specific item or a search result for items, as in the first embodiment. The process of step S53 corresponds to the providing section of the server 10.

[0074] In the second embodiment, the server 10 provides the terminal 20 with the recommended items included in the recommendation list generated by the server 10 one by one. The server 10 generates a recommendation list including a predetermined number of items in the recommendation list generation process in step S52. The predetermined number may be any number and may differ depending on the number of similar items extracted in the recommendation list generation process. The server 10 then provides the terminal 20 with the recommended items included in the generated recommendation list one by one. The number of items provided one by one may be any number as long as it is equal to or less than the predetermined number. It may be a predetermined percentage of the predetermined number (e.g., 30%). When the terminal 20 performs a scroll operation on the recommendation list and all the provided items have been viewed, the server 10 provides the subsequent items from the recommendation list.

[0075] Fig. 8 is a diagram showing a method for managing a recommendation list in the server 10. As shown in Fig. 8, the server 10 generates a recommendation list in response to a request to view an item from the terminal 20. The recommendation list shown in Fig. 8 includes 12 items. First, the server 10 manages the status of all items included in the generated recommendation list as "not provided" (not provided to the terminal 20) (Fig. 8(1)).

[0076] Then, the server 10 provides some of the items included in this recommendation list to the terminal 20. In Fig. 8, items 1 to 5, which are the top five items recommended in the recommendation list, are provided to the terminal 20. The server 10 updates the status of these items to "provided" (provided to the terminal 20) (Fig. 8(2)).

[0077] Next, the server 10 judges whether or not it has received from the terminal 20 unnecessary selection operation information indicating that the user has performed an unnecessary selection operation specifying an unnecessary item in the recommendation list provided to the user (step S54). The unnecessary selection operation information is a report from the terminal 20 indicating that an unnecessary selection operation has been performed. The process of step S54 corresponds to the receiving unit of the server 10.

[0078] When the server 10 receives the unnecessary selection operation information from the terminal 20 (step S54; Yes), the server 10 sets the selected unnecessary item to hidden in the recommendation list (step S55). For example, the server 10 transmits to the terminal 20 data of a web page in which the part in which the unnecessary item was displayed has been updated to hidden (for example, deleted item DI shown in FIG. 6(B)), and updates the recommendation list displayed on the terminal 20.

[0079] This makes it possible to prevent the user from continuously viewing the items that are not needed by the user. At this time, the items selected as unnecessary are stored in the storage device 12 of the server 10. Specifically, the items are stored and updated as unnecessary items in the recommendation priority order information according to the user. Therefore, it is possible to make it difficult for the unnecessary items to be recommended to the user thereafter, or to prevent them from being recommended at all.

[0080] Then, the server 10 executes a low interest item identification process to identify low interest items that are similar to the unnecessary items selected by the user and have not been provided to the user from the items included in the recommendation list (step S56). The process of step S56 corresponds to the identification unit of the server 10.

[0081] In the low interest item identification process, for example, the server 10 compares the unwanted item with other items included in the recommendation list to identify items similar to the unwanted item included in the recommendation list.

[0082] The method of determining similar items may be, for example, based on the degree of commonality of attribute information (category, manufacturer, condition, size, color, region, price range, etc.), or based on a similarity table that classifies the similarity of each item prepared in advance. Also, feature vectors and feature amounts of elements (image data, text data, etc.) of each item may be obtained, and similar items may be determined based on the similarity of the feature vectors and feature amounts. In other words, similar items may be specified by any method.

[0083] The server 10 may also compare the items included in the recommendation list with unnecessary items to obtain similarities, and extract items whose similarities are within a predetermined threshold as similar items (items of low interest). Also, a predetermined number or a predetermined percentage of items with the highest obtained similarities may be extracted as similar items (items of low interest).

[0084] An item that has not been provided from the server 10 to the terminal 20 is not displayed on the terminal 20, and has not yet been viewed by the user. Therefore, in step S56, the unprovided item is approximated to an undisplayed item, and an item of low interest is identified from the unprovided item. This eliminates the need for the server 10 to obtain the viewing status of the recommended item from the terminal 20, thereby reducing the processing load.

[0085] On the other hand, it is also assumed that the number of recommended items provided from the server 10 to the terminal 20 at one time is not the same as the number of recommended items displayed at one time on the terminal 20. For example, if the number of recommended items that can be displayed at one time on the terminal 20 is smaller than the number of recommended items provided from the server 10 to the terminal 20 at one time, there will be items that have been provided but not yet displayed. In this case, display information indicating whether or not an item has actually been displayed on the terminal 20 may be obtained, and items of low interest may be identified from among the items that have not been displayed based on the display information. In this case, if an item that has been provided to the terminal 20 but has not yet been displayed is an item of low interest, and the recommendation list for that portion is updated, the updated recommendation list may be transmitted to the terminal 20.

[0086] When the low interest item is identified, the server 10 lowers the recommendation rank of the low interest item in the recommendation list (step S58). Then, the server 10 updates the recommendation list by adding newly recommended items according to the number of low interest items in the recommendation list (step S59). The server 10 adds the newly recommended item between the rank of the already presented items and the rank of the low interest items. Note that the processing of steps S58 and S59 is similar to steps S18 and S19 in the first embodiment. The processing of steps S58 and S59 corresponds to the update unit of the server 10.

[0087] For example, as shown in FIG. 8(2), when the server 10 provides the terminal 20 with items 1 to 5 included in the recommendation list, if the terminal 20 transmits unnecessary selection operation information for the third item to the server 10, the server 10 identifies an item similar to the third item from the items 6 to 12 that have not been provided in the recommendation list as an item of low interest. Then, the server 10 lowers the recommendation rank of the identified low interest item to the lowest. At this time, the server 10 supplements the same number of recommended items as the low interest items with a higher rank than the low interest items (for example, one rank higher than the low interest items). In this way, the server 10 can update the recommendation list in response to the user's unnecessary selection operation, and can sequentially provide the user with a recommended list suitable for the user. The server 10 also updates the status of the third item selected as unnecessary to "delete" and updates the status of the low interest item to "low interest item" (FIG. 8(3)).

[0088] After the processing of step S59 or if unnecessary selection operation information has not been received from the terminal 20 (step S54; No), the server 10 determines whether or not scrolling operation information indicating that the user has performed a scrolling operation on the recommendation list has been received from the terminal 20 (step S60).

[0089] When the server 10 receives the scroll operation information from the terminal 20 (step S60; Yes), the server 10 scrolls and displays the items in the recommendation list displayed on the screen of the terminal 20 according to the recommendation order of the recommendation list in accordance with the contents of the scroll operation information (step S61). For example, the server 10 transmits data of a web page updated by scrolling the recommendation list according to the recommendation order to the terminal 20, and updates the recommendation list displayed on the terminal 20.

[0090] For example, as shown in FIG. 8(3), when the server 10 is providing the terminal 20 with items 1 to 5 included in the recommendation list, if the server 10 receives scroll operation information from the terminal 20 regarding the sixth and subsequent items, the server 10 provides the terminal 20 with items 6 to 10, which are ranked sixth to tenth in the recommendation order. In this way, the server 10 can sequentially provide recommended items to the terminal 20. The server 10 updates the status of these newly provided items to "provided" (provided to the terminal 20) (FIG. 8(4)).

[0091] After the process of step S61 or when the server 10 has not received any operation information of scrolling the recommendation list from the terminal 20 (step S60; No), the server 10 judges whether or not the server 10 has received any other operation information from the terminal 20 indicating that the user has performed another operation on the provided item information and the recommendation list (step S62). If the server 10 has received any other operation information from the terminal 20 (step S62; Yes), the server 10 executes control according to the operation information (for example, display control of the item information of the selected recommended item, update control of the web page, etc.) (step S63). If the server 10 has not received any other operation information from the terminal 20 (step S62; No) or when the server 10 has not received any other operation information from the terminal 20 (step S62; No), the server 10 returns to the process of step S54 after the process of step S63.

[0092] FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an example of updating the recommendation ranking of a recommendation list generated in the server 10. For example, a description will be given of a case where a recommendation list consisting of items 1 to 12 is generated in the server 10. The server 10 provides, for example, five recommended items. Immediately after generating the recommendation list, items 1 to 5 have been provided to the terminal 20 as shown in FIG. 9(A). When three items are displayed at a time on the terminal 20, items 1 to 3 have been displayed to the user, and items 4 and 5 have not been displayed, as shown in FIG. 9(A).

[0093] Thereafter, for example, when the user scrolls the recommendation list by one step, item 4 is displayed as shown in FIG. 9(B).

[0094] Here, for example, if the user performs an operation to select item 3 as unnecessary, item 3 is deleted and becomes an unnecessary item, as shown in FIG. 9(C).

[0095] Then, from items 6 to 12, which are not provided yet, items similar to the unnecessary item selected as unnecessary are identified, and for example, as shown in FIG. 9(D), the identified item 7 is extracted as an item of low interest.

[0096] Then, as shown in Figure 9(E), items 13, the same number as the extracted low interest items, are added as recommended items in the position just before the low interest items, and as shown in Figure 9(F), item 7, which is an item of low interest, is moved to the bottom of the recommendation list.

[0097] In this way, the recommendation list is dynamically updated in the server 10 in response to operations on the recommendation list in the terminal 20. The updated recommendation list is supplied to the terminal 20 by an operation to acquire new items, such as a scroll operation on the terminal 20. This makes it possible to suitably supply recommended items to the user when the user sequentially browses the recommended items. Specifically, it is possible to reduce the possibility that an item that is expected to be of little interest will come to the user's eye.

[0098] As described above, according to the server 10 of the second embodiment, a recommendation list is generated in which a number of items are arranged in the order in which they are recommended to the user, the items included in the generated recommendation list are provided to the terminal 20 according to the recommendation order in the recommendation list and displayed on the screen of the terminal 20, a report is received from the terminal indicating that an unnecessary selection operation has been performed to designate an unnecessary item from the items displayed on the screen of the terminal 20, low interest items are identified from among the items arranged in the recommendation list that are similar to the unnecessary items and are hidden items that have not yet been displayed on the screen, and the order of the low interest items is lowered in the recommendation list.

[0099] As a result, the server 10 can take the initiative to lower the recommendation rank (display order) of items in the recommendation list that are expected to have little interest to the user based on the unnecessary items selected by the user, and provide recommended items from the recommendation list to the terminal 20. This can reduce the possibility that items that are expected to have little interest to the user will be seen by the user when the user sequentially browses the recommended items.

[0100] In addition, since the recommendation ranking of low-interest items is lowered, other items are displayed preferentially in the recommendation list, which makes it easier for the user to see other items. This makes it possible to provide a recommendation list that includes items that are expected to be of high interest to the user.

[0101] Furthermore, since the recommendation order in the recommendation list is changed within the range of items not yet provided to the user, the order in the recommendation list can be changed without the user noticing.

[0102] (Embodiment 3) Next, a third embodiment will be described, which is an example of a case where the terminal 20 in the item list providing system 100 manages the recommendation list and executes a process of lowering the recommendation rank of an item of low interest in the recommendation list. In the second embodiment, it is expressed that the terminal 20 "displays" the recommendation list on the screen.

[0103] The terminal 20 of the third embodiment acquires, in a lump, from the server 10, a recommendation list in which a plurality of items generated by the server 10 are arranged in order of recommendation. The terminal 20 displays the acquired list on the screen in a scrollable manner. The terminal 20 accepts an unnecessary selection operation for designating unnecessary items from among the items arranged in the recommendation list and displayed on the screen. Among the items arranged in the recommendation list, low interest items are identified, which are similar items to the unnecessary items and non-display items that have not yet been displayed on the screen. The terminal 20 updates the recommendation list by lowering the order of the low interest items in the recommendation list.

[0104] 10 is a flowchart showing an example of a recommendation list display process executed by the terminal 20 of embodiment 3. The recommendation list display process is executed by the processor 21 of the terminal 20 reading a program stored in the storage device 22.

[0105] In the recommendation list display process, the terminal 20 first determines whether or not a user's item browsing operation is detected (step S71). The user's item browsing operation is, for example, browsing of items provided by the server 10, access to a website for searching, selection operation of item information on the website, search operation, etc. If an item browsing operation is not detected (step S71; No), the recommendation list display process is terminated.

[0106] If an item viewing operation is detected (step S71; Yes), the terminal 20 transmits an item viewing request corresponding to the user's viewing operation to the server (step S72). Then, the terminal 20 waits until it receives item information corresponding to the item viewing request and an associated recommendation list from the server 10 (step S73). The recommendation list is generated by the server 10 executing the recommendation list generation process shown in FIG. 4, etc. The process of step S73 corresponds to the acquisition section of the terminal 20.

[0107] When the item information and the recommendation list are received from the server (step S73; Yes), the terminal 20 displays the received item information and the recommendation list on the screen (step S74). The terminal 20 displays, for example, web page data including the item information and the recommendation list as shown in FIG. 5. The content of the item information may be information on a specific item or a search result for an item, as in the first embodiment. The process of step S74 corresponds to the display unit of the terminal 20.

[0108] In the third embodiment, the terminal 20 is configured to display, one by one, the recommended items included in the recommendation list received in a lump from the server 10. The server 10 generates a recommendation list including a predetermined number of items, which is an arbitrary number. The terminal 20 then displays, one by one, the items included in the received recommendation list on the terminal 20. The number of items to be partially displayed may be any number, as long as it is equal to or less than the predetermined number. It may also be a predetermined percentage of the predetermined number (e.g., 30%). Then, when a scroll operation of the recommendation list is performed on the terminal 20 and all the displayed items have been viewed, the terminal 20 displays the subsequent items from the recommendation list.

[0109] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing a method of managing a recommendation list in the terminal 20. As shown in FIG. 11, the terminal 20 transmits an item viewing request to the server 10 in response to an item viewing operation by a user. In response to the viewing request, the server 10 generates a recommendation list and transmits the generated recommendation list to the terminal 20 in a lump. At this time, the server 10 judges the similarity between the recommended items included in the recommendation list, and also transmits the similarity information between the recommended items, which is the judgment result. The method of judging the similarity between the recommended items may be based on the similarity of attribute information, the feature vector, the similarity of feature amounts, etc., as in the above embodiment. Therefore, the similarity information may be a similarity table in which the similarity of each item is classified, or may be information representing the feature vector of each item. By transmitting the similarity information in advance in this way, it becomes unnecessary to calculate the similarity between the recommended items on the terminal 20 side, and the processing load of the terminal 20 can be reduced, and the processing speed can be increased.

[0110] The recommendation list transmitted from the server 10 shown in FIG. 11 includes 12 items. The terminal 20 displays some of the items included in this recommendation list (for example, three items each) on the terminal 20. In FIG. 11, items 1 to 3, which are the top three items recommended in the recommendation list, are displayed. The terminal 20 manages the status of the displayed items as "displayed" (displayed on the terminal 20) and the other items as "not displayed" (not displayed on the terminal 20) (FIG. 11(1)).

[0111] Next, the terminal 20 determines whether or not it has received a user's selection operation of specifying an unnecessary item in the displayed recommendation list (step S75). The process of step S75 corresponds to the reception unit of the terminal 20.

[0112] When the unnecessary selection operation is received (step S75; Yes), the terminal 20 sets the selected unnecessary item to hidden in the recommendation list (step S76). For example, the terminal 20 updates the recommendation list by hiding the part where the unnecessary item was displayed (for example, deleted item DI shown in FIG. 6(B)). This makes it possible to prevent the user from continuously seeing the unnecessary item. At this time, the item selected as unnecessary is stored in the storage device 22 of the terminal 20. Specifically, the item is stored and updated as an unnecessary item in the recommendation priority information according to the user. Therefore, it is possible to make it difficult for the unnecessary item to be recommended to the user thereafter, or to prevent it from being recommended at all.

[0113] Then, the terminal 20 executes a low interest item identification process to identify low interest items that are similar to the unnecessary items selected by the user and have not been displayed to the user from the items included in the recommendation list (step S77). The process of step S77 corresponds to the identification unit of the terminal 20.

[0114] In the low interest item identification process, for example, the terminal 20 compares the unnecessary item with other items included in the recommendation list that have not been displayed to the user, and identifies items similar to the unnecessary item included in the recommendation list as low interest items.

[0115] The similar items to the unnecessary item may be identified based on similarity information (similarity table, feature vector, etc.) received from the server 10 together with the recommendation list. For example, based on the similarity information, the items included in the recommendation list may be compared with the unnecessary item to obtain a similarity, and items whose similarity is within a predetermined threshold value may be extracted as similar items (items of low interest). Also, a predetermined number or a predetermined percentage of items with the highest obtained similarity may be extracted as similar items (items of low interest).

[0116] When the terminal 20 detects an unnecessary selection operation, information on the selected unnecessary item may be transmitted to the server 10, and the server 10 may execute similar item identification and low interest item identification. The method of determining similar items in the server may be, for example, the method of the second embodiment. In this case, it is not necessary to obtain similarity information from the server 10 in advance.

[0117] In addition, in the case where the similarity information is not received in advance, the terminal 20 may acquire the similarity information between the recommended items when it detects an unnecessary selection operation. Also, the similarity table may be acquired at a timing other than when the recommendation list is acquired.

[0118] An item that is not displayed on the terminal 20 is one that the user has not yet viewed. In this embodiment, in order to change the recommendation order of such a recommendation list that has not been viewed by the user, in step S77, an item of low interest is identified from the undisplayed items.

[0119] When the low interest item is identified, the terminal 20 lowers the recommendation rank of the low interest item in the recommendation list (step S79). The process of step S79 is the same as step S18 in the first embodiment. Step S79 corresponds to an update unit of the terminal 20.

[0120] Then, the terminal 20 transmits to the server 10 unnecessary item information, which is information on the selected unnecessary items, and an item replenishment request, which requests that items to be newly recommended be replenished according to the number of low-interest items in the recommendation list (step S80). By transmitting the unnecessary item information to the server 10, the server 10 can update the recommendation priority information for each user based on the unnecessary item information. The unnecessary selection operation information is a report of unnecessary items from the terminal 20 to the server 10. The recommendation priority information is referred to when the server 10 generates a new recommendation list, and the recommendation list is generated by lowering the recommendation order of unnecessary items based on the user's past unnecessary selection operation, so that a recommendation list suitable for the user can be generated. That is, the report of unnecessary items from the terminal 20 can cause the server 10 to lower the priority of recommending the reported items.

[0121] Thereafter, the terminal 20 waits until it receives replenishment item information in response to the item replenishment request from the server 10 (step S81). The item replenishment request includes, for example, information that can specify the recommendation list and the number of low interest items.

[0122] When the server 10 receives an item replenishment request from the terminal 20, it extracts recommended items to be newly replenished to the recommendation list, and transmits item information of the extracted recommended items to the terminal 20. For example, the server 10 may extract new recommended items in the same number as the low interest items. The method of extracting the items to be replenished may use the same algorithm as that used when generating the recommendation list. For example, it may replenish recommended items that are not included in the initially generated recommendation list, are the next most recommended items, and do not correspond to low interest items.

[0123] When receiving replenishment item information from the server 10 in response to an item replenishment request (step S81; Yes), the terminal 20 updates the recommendation list by replenishing the items corresponding to the received replenishment item information as newly recommended items (step S82). In step S82, for example, the recommendation rank of the low interest item in the recommendation list is lowered to the lowest, and the new recommended item is added to the recommendation list at a rank higher than the low interest item. In other words, the terminal 20 adds the newly recommended item between the rank of the already presented item and the rank of the low interest item. This makes it possible to replenish the recommendation list with new items according to the number of low interest items, and to recommend the new items at a rank higher than the low interest items.

[0124] After the process of step S82 or when the unnecessary selection operation has not been received (step S75; No), the terminal 20 determines whether or not it has detected that the user has performed a scroll operation on the recommendation list (step S83).

[0125] When a scroll operation is detected (step S83; Yes), the terminal 20 scrolls and displays the items in the recommendation list displayed on the screen of the terminal 20 according to the recommendation order of the recommendation list in accordance with the content of the scroll operation (step S84). For example, the terminal 20 scrolls the recommendation list according to the recommendation order to display updated web page data, and updates the recommendation list displayed on the terminal 20.

[0126] After the process of step S84 or when a scroll operation of the recommendation list is not detected (step S83; No), the terminal 20 judges whether or not it has detected that the user has performed another operation on the displayed item information and recommendation list (step S85). If another operation is detected (step S85; Yes), the terminal 20 executes control according to the detected operation (for example, display control of item information of the selected recommended item, update control of a web page, etc.) (step S86). If another operation is not detected (step S85; No) or after the process of step S86, the process returns to the process of step S75.

[0127] In the third embodiment, as shown in Fig. 11(1), when items 1 to 3 included in the recommendation list are displayed on the terminal 20, if a scroll operation is performed on the terminal 20 to view, for example, the fourth item, the terminal 20 updates the status of the displayed item to "displayed" (displayed on the terminal 20) (Fig. 11(2)). Note that in this embodiment, as shown in Fig. 5, since items in the recommendation list are displayed in groups of three, items 2 to 4 are displayed on the terminal 20 after the scroll operation.

[0128] Also, for example, as shown in FIG. 11(2), when items 2 to 4 included in the recommendation list are displayed on terminal 20, if an operation to select the third item as unnecessary is performed, the third item is hidden on terminal 20, and the status of the third item selected as unnecessary is updated to “deleted”.

[0129] When an unnecessary selection operation is performed on terminal 20, unnecessary item information and an item replenishment request are transmitted to server 10. Terminal 20 also identifies an item similar to the third item from the fifth to twelfth items not yet displayed in the recommendation list as an item of low interest. Terminal 20 updates the status of the identified low interest item to "item of low interest" (FIG. 11(4)). In FIG. 11(4), the fifth and eighth items are identified as items of low interest.

[0130] Then, the terminal 20 updates the recommendation list by lowering the recommendation rank of the identified low interest item to the lowest, and replenishing the items (here, two items) corresponding to the replenishment item information received from the server 10 at a higher rank than the low interest item (for example, one rank higher than the low interest item) (FIGS. 11(5) and (6)). Thus, in the third embodiment, the recommendation list can be updated on the terminal 20 side in response to the user's unnecessary selection operation, and a recommendation list suitable for the user can be displayed in sequence.

[0131] Fig. 12 is a diagram showing an example of updating the recommendation ranking of a recommendation list in terminal 20. For example, a case will be described where a recommendation list consisting of items 1 to 12 is generated in terminal 20. Terminal 20 displays, for example, three recommended items at a time. Immediately after receiving the recommendation list all at once from server 10, items 1 to 3 are displayed on terminal 20, and items 4 to 12 are not displayed, as shown in Fig. 12(A).

[0132] Thereafter, for example, when the user scrolls the recommendation list by one step, item 4 is displayed as shown in FIG. 12(B).

[0133] Here, for example, if the user performs an operation to select item 3 as unnecessary, item 3 is deleted and becomes an unnecessary item, as shown in FIG. 12(C).

[0134] Then, from among the undisplayed items 5 to 12, items similar to the unnecessary item selected as unnecessary are identified, and for example, as shown in FIG. 12(D), the identified items 5 and 7 are extracted as low interest items.

[0135] Then, as shown in FIG. 12(E), items 13 and 14, the same number as the extracted items of low interest, are added by server 10 as recommended items in the position just before the items of low interest, and as shown in FIG. 12(F), items 5 and 7, which are items of low interest, are moved to the bottom of the recommendation list.

[0136] In this way, the recommendation list is dynamically updated in the terminal 20 in response to operations on the recommendation list in the terminal 20. The updated recommendation list is displayed sequentially by a display operation of new items, such as a scroll operation in the terminal 20. This makes it possible to provide the user with recommended items in an appropriate manner when the user sequentially browses the recommended items. Specifically, it is possible to reduce the possibility that an item that is expected to be of little interest will come to the user's eye.

[0137] As described above, according to the terminal 20 of embodiment 3, a recommendation list in which multiple items are arranged in the order in which they are recommended is acquired from the server 10 in a lump sum, the acquired recommendation list is displayed on the screen in a scrollable manner, an unnecessary selection operation is accepted to specify unnecessary items from the items arranged in the recommendation list and displayed on the screen, low interest items are identified from among the items arranged in the recommendation list that are similar to the unnecessary items and are hidden items that have not yet been displayed on the screen, and the ranking of the low interest items is updated by lowering the ranking in the list.

[0138] This allows the terminal 20 to take the initiative in lowering the recommendation rank (display order) of items in the recommendation list that are expected to have little interest to the user based on the unnecessary items selected by the user, and display recommended items from the recommendation list on the terminal 20. This reduces the possibility that items that are expected to have little interest to the user will be seen by the user when the user sequentially browses the recommended items.

[0139] In addition, since the recommendation ranking of low-interest items is lowered, other items are displayed preferentially in the recommendation list, which makes it easier for the user to see other items. This makes it possible to provide a recommendation list that includes items that are expected to be of high interest to the user.

[0140] Furthermore, since the recommendation order in the recommendation list is changed within the range of items not yet displayed to the user, the order in the recommendation list can be changed without the user noticing.

[0141] (Modification) The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications and applications are possible. For example, some of the above-described embodiment may be omitted or replaced, or any configuration may be added.

[0142] Also, instead of changing the order of recommendation of low interest items in the recommendation list, the display format of the low interest items may be changed. For example, the display format of the recommendation list may be changed so that the low interest items are less noticeable. For example, the display size of the low interest items in the list may be reduced, or the items may be removed from the recommendation list. This also reduces the possibility that an item that is expected to be of low interest to the user will be seen by the user when the user sequentially browses the recommended items.

[0143] When a user performs a viewing operation (e.g., touching or clicking a link to detailed information) of an item included in a recommendation list, it is inferred that the user has a high interest in that item, so that an unpresented (undisplayed) high interest item in the recommendation list that is similar to the item may be identified, and the recommendation ranking of the high interest item in the recommendation list may be raised. In this way, items of high interest are more likely to be seen by the user in the recommendation list, and items of relatively low interest are less likely to be seen by the user, so that items can be appropriately recommended to the user.

[0144] In the above embodiments, when an unnecessary item is selected, a new recommended item is added when lowering the recommended rank of the unnecessary item. This is not limited to the above, and the recommended rank of the unnecessary item may be lowered without adding a new recommended item. That is, the process of adding a new recommended item may be omitted in step S19 in FIG. 3, step S59 in FIG. 7, and step S82 in FIG. 10.

[0145] The process of adding new recommended items to the recommendation list may be executed at different times. For example, new recommended items may be added to the recommendation list when a user scrolls the recommendation list. In this way, recommended items can be added sequentially as the user browses the recommendation list, so that the recommended items can be supplied without running out.

[0146] The server 10 and the terminal 20 can be realized by using a normal computer, not by a dedicated device. For example, the server 10 and the terminal 20 that execute the above-mentioned processes may be configured by installing a program for executing the above-mentioned functions on a computer from a recording medium storing the program. Also, one server 10 may be configured by multiple computers operating in cooperation with each other.

[0147] Furthermore, the method for supplying the program to the computer is arbitrary. For example, the program may be supplied via a communication line, a communication network, a communication system, etc. For example, a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing the program for executing the above-mentioned functions may be distributed.

[0148] Furthermore, in the case where an OS (Operating System) provides some of the above-mentioned functions, the functions other than those provided by the OS may be provided by a program.

[0149] The above-described embodiments are intended to facilitate understanding of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the present invention. The flow charts, sequences, elements included in the embodiments, and their arrangements, materials, conditions, shapes, sizes, etc. are not limited to those illustrated, and can be changed as appropriate. In addition, configurations shown in different embodiments can be partially substituted or combined with each other.

[0150] (Invention realized by this embodiment) As described above, the present embodiment realizes the following inventions.

[0151] (Appendix 1) An item list providing system including a server and a terminal, Generate a ranked list of multiple items to recommend to the user, presenting the items included in the generated list to the user according to the order in which the items are arranged in the list; When the user performs an unnecessary selection operation to specify an unnecessary item from the presented items, a low-interest item similar to the unnecessary item and not yet presented to the user is identified from among the items arranged in the list; The server and the terminal cooperate to execute a process of lowering the rank of the low interest item in the list. Item list providing system.

[0152] (Appendix 2) A generator that generates a list in which a plurality of items are arranged in an order in which they are to be recommended to a user; a providing unit that provides the items included in the generated list to a terminal in accordance with the order of the items in the list and displays the items on a screen of the terminal; a receiving unit that receives from the terminal a report indicating that an unnecessary selection operation has been performed to designate an unnecessary item from among the items displayed on the screen of the terminal; an identification unit that identifies low-interest items among the items in the list, which are similar items to the unnecessary items and are non-display items that have not yet been displayed on the screen; an updater for demoting the less interesting items in the list; A server comprising:

[0153] (Appendix 3) the report further includes display information indicating which of the items included in the list are displayed on a screen of the terminal; An item not shown in the display information is regarded as a hidden item. The server described in Appendix 2.

[0154] (Appendix 4) An item that has not yet been provided to the terminal is regarded as a hidden item. 2. A server as described in Appendix 2 or 3.

[0155] (Appendix 5) recommending new items that are not similar to the unwanted items and are not included in the list; Add the new item to the list between the items already provided to the terminal and the items of least interest. 5. A server according to any one of claims 2 to 4.

[0156] (Appendix 6) an acquisition unit that acquires from a server a list in which a plurality of items are arranged in order of recommendation; a display unit that displays the acquired list on a screen in a scrollable manner; a reception unit that receives an unnecessary selection operation for designating an unnecessary item from among the items arranged in the list and displayed on the screen; an identification unit that identifies low-interest items among the items in the list, which are similar items to the unnecessary items and are non-display items that have not yet been displayed on the screen; an updater for demoting the less interesting items in the list; A terminal comprising:

[0157] (Appendix 7) Reporting the unwanted items to the server causes the server to lower the priority of recommending the reported items. The device described in Appendix 6.

[0158] (Appendix 8) By reporting the unnecessary item to the server, the server is allowed to identify similar items that are similar to the unnecessary item among the items in the list. 8. A device as described in Appendix 6 or 7.

[0159] (Appendix 9) Obtaining from the server a table of similarities between items in the list together with the list; The similarity between each of the non-display items and the unnecessary items is calculated from the table. 9. A terminal according to any one of appendix 6 to 8.

[0160] (Appendix 10) obtaining from the server the list along with a feature vector for each item in the list; A similarity between each of the non-display items and the unnecessary items is calculated based on the feature vector. 10. A terminal according to any one of appendix 6 to 9.

[0161] (Appendix 11) Comparing the determined similarity with a predetermined threshold to identify the similar items, or identifying a predetermined number or a predetermined percentage of items with the highest determined similarity as the similar items and the items of low interest. 11. A terminal as described in claim 9 or 10.

[0162] (Appendix 12) having the server newly recommend new items that are not similar to the unwanted items; Add the new item to the list in a higher order than the items of less interest. 11. A terminal according to any one of appendix 6 to 10.

[0163] (Appendix 13) An item list providing method in an item list providing system including a server and a terminal, Generate a ranked list of multiple items to recommend to the user, presenting the items included in the generated list to the user according to the order in which the items are arranged in the list; When the user performs an unnecessary selection operation to specify an unnecessary item from the presented items, a low-interest item similar to the unnecessary item and not yet presented to the user is identified from among the items arranged in the list; The server and the terminal cooperate to execute a process of lowering the rank of the low interest item in the list. How to provide an item list.

[0164] (Appendix 14) Computer, A generator for generating a list in which a plurality of items are recommended to a user in an order; a providing unit that provides the items included in the generated list to a terminal in accordance with the order of the items in the list and displays the items on a screen of the terminal; a receiving unit that receives from the terminal a report indicating that an unnecessary selection operation has been performed to designate an unnecessary item from among the items displayed on the screen of the terminal; an identification unit that identifies low-interest items among the items in the list, which are similar items to the unnecessary items and non-display items that have not yet been displayed on the screen; an updater for demoting the less interesting items in the list; A program that functions as a

[0165] (Appendix 15) Computer, an acquisition unit for acquiring a list of a plurality of items in order of recommendation; a display unit that displays the acquired list on a screen in a scrollable manner; a reception unit that receives an unnecessary selection operation for designating an unnecessary item from among the items arranged in the list and displayed on the screen; an identification unit that identifies low-interest items among the items in the list, which are similar items to the unnecessary items and non-display items that have not yet been displayed on the screen; an updater for demoting the less interesting items in the list; A program that functions as a [Industrial Applicability]

[0166] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an item list providing system, a server, a terminal, an item list providing method, and a program that can appropriately recommend items to a user. [Explanation of symbols]

[0167] 10 Server 20 Terminals 30 Communication Network 100 Item List Providing System 11, 21 processor 12, 22 Storage device 13, 23 Communication Interface 14, 24 Input Devices 15, 25 output devices 110 Web Browser 111 Item Name Detailed information on 112 items 113 Recommendation List 114, 115 Scroll button RI1, RI2, RI3, RI4, RI5, RI6, RI8, RI9 items (recommended items) DI Deleted Items ds Unnecessary selection button rs Undo button

Claims

1. An item list providing system including a server and a terminal, extracting a plurality of items in response to a user's item browsing request, and generating a list in which the extracted plurality of items are arranged in an order in which they are to be recommended to the user based on priority information for each user; presenting the items included in the generated list to the user in a manner that the items are displayed one by one on the screen of the terminal by scrolling the screen of the terminal in accordance with the order of the items in the list; When the user performs an unnecessary selection operation to specify an unnecessary item from the presented items, an item that has not yet been presented to the user is identified based on a browsing status of the list on the terminal, and an item of low interest that is similar to the unnecessary item and has not yet been presented to the user is identified from among the items in the list; performing a process of demoting the less interesting items in the list; Item list providing system.

2. A generating unit that extracts a plurality of items in response to a user's item viewing request, and generates a list in which the extracted plurality of items are arranged in an order in which they are to be recommended to the user based on priority information for each user; a providing unit that provides the items included in the generated list to the terminal so that the items are displayed one by one on a screen of the terminal by scrolling the screen of the terminal in accordance with the order of the items in the list; a receiving unit that receives from the terminal a report indicating that an unnecessary selection operation has been performed to designate an unnecessary item from among the items displayed on the screen of the terminal; an identification unit that identifies low-interest items among the items in the list, which are similar items to the unnecessary items and are non-display items that have not yet been displayed on the screen; an update unit for lowering the rank of the less-interested item in the list; the report further includes display information indicating which of the items included in the list are displayed on a screen of the terminal; An item not shown in the display information is regarded as a hidden item. server.

3. A generating unit that extracts a plurality of items in response to a user's item viewing request, and generates a list in which the extracted plurality of items are arranged in an order in which they are to be recommended to the user based on priority information for each user; a providing unit that provides the items included in the generated list to the terminal so that the items are displayed one by one on a screen of the terminal by scrolling the screen of the terminal in accordance with the order of the items in the list; a receiving unit that receives from the terminal a report indicating that an unnecessary selection operation has been performed to designate an unnecessary item from among the items displayed on the screen of the terminal; an identification unit that identifies low-interest items among the items in the list, which are similar items to the unnecessary items and are non-display items that have not yet been displayed on the screen; an update unit for lowering the rank of the less-interested item in the list; An item that has not yet been provided to the terminal is regarded as a hidden item. server.

4. recommending new items that are not similar to the unwanted items and are not included in the list; Add the new item to the list between the items already provided to the terminal and the items of least interest. The server according to claim 2 or 3.

5. an acquisition unit that acquires from a server a list in which a plurality of items are arranged in order of recommendation; a display unit that displays the acquired list on a screen in a scrollable manner; a reception unit that receives an unnecessary selection operation for designating an unnecessary item from among the items arranged in the list and displayed on the screen; an identification unit that identifies hidden items that have not yet been displayed on the screen based on a scroll state of the list, and identifies low-interest items that are similar to the unnecessary items and are the hidden items among the items arranged in the list; an updater for demoting the less interesting items in the list; A terminal comprising:

6. Reporting the unwanted item to the server causes the server to lower the priority of recommending the reported item. The terminal according to claim 5.

7. By reporting the unnecessary item to the server, the server is allowed to identify similar items that are similar to the unnecessary item among the items in the list. The terminal according to claim 5.

8. Obtaining from the server a table of similarities between items in the list together with the list; The similarity between each of the non-display items and the unnecessary items is calculated from the table. The terminal according to claim 5.

9. obtaining from the server the list along with a feature vector for each item in the list; A similarity between each of the non-display items and the unnecessary items is calculated based on the feature vector. The terminal according to claim 5.

10. Comparing the determined similarity with a predetermined threshold to identify the similar items, or identifying a predetermined number or a predetermined percentage of items with the highest determined similarity as the similar items and the items of low interest. A terminal according to claim 8 or 9.

11. having the server newly recommend new items that are not similar to the unwanted items; Add the new item to the list in a higher order than the items of less interest. A terminal according to any one of claims 5 to 9.

12. An item list providing method in an item list providing system including a server and a terminal, extracting a plurality of items in response to a user's item browsing request, and generating a list in which the extracted plurality of items are arranged in an order in which they are to be recommended to the user based on priority information for each user; presenting the items included in the generated list to the user in a manner that the items are displayed one by one on the screen of the terminal by scrolling the screen of the terminal in accordance with the order of the items in the list; When the user performs an unnecessary selection operation to specify an unnecessary item from the presented items, an item that has not yet been presented to the user is identified based on a browsing status of the list on the terminal, and an item of low interest that is similar to the unnecessary item and has not yet been presented to the user is identified from among the items in the list; performing a process of demoting the less interesting items in the list; How to provide an item list.

13. Computer, a generating unit that extracts a plurality of items in response to a user's item browsing request, and generates a list in which the extracted plurality of items are arranged in an order in which they are to be recommended to the user based on priority order information for each user; a providing unit that provides the items included in the generated list to the terminal so that the items are displayed one by one on a screen of the terminal by scrolling the screen of the terminal in accordance with the order of the items in the list; a receiving unit that receives from the terminal a report indicating that an unnecessary selection operation has been performed to designate an unnecessary item from among the items displayed on the screen of the terminal; an identification unit that identifies low-interest items among the items in the list, which are similar items to the unnecessary items and non-display items that have not yet been displayed on the screen; an updater for down-ranking the less-interested items in the list; the report further includes display information indicating which of the items included in the list are displayed on a screen of the terminal; An item not shown in the display information is regarded as a hidden item. program.

14. A computer comprising: a generating unit that extracts a plurality of items in response to a user's item browsing request, and generates a list in which the extracted plurality of items are arranged in an order in which they are to be recommended to the user based on priority order information for each user; a providing unit that provides the items included in the generated list to the terminal so that the items are displayed one by one on a screen of the terminal by scrolling the screen of the terminal in accordance with the order of the items in the list; a receiving unit that receives from the terminal a report indicating that an unnecessary selection operation has been performed to designate an unnecessary item from among the items displayed on the screen of the terminal; an identification unit that identifies low-interest items among the items in the list, which are similar items to the unnecessary items and non-display items that have not yet been displayed on the screen; an updater for down-ranking the less-interested items in the list; An item that has not yet been provided to the terminal is regarded as a hidden item. program.

15. Computer, an acquisition unit for acquiring a list of a plurality of items in order of recommendation; a display unit that displays the acquired list on a screen in a scrollable manner; a reception unit that receives an unnecessary selection operation for designating an unnecessary item from among the items arranged in the list and displayed on the screen; an identification unit that identifies hidden items that have not yet been displayed on the screen based on a scroll state of the list, and identifies, from among the items in the list, low-interest items that are similar to the unnecessary items and are also hidden items; an updater for demoting the less interesting items in the list; A program that functions as a