Event presentation system and event presentation method

Abstract

In an event presentation system 100, a product storage unit 64 stores information on purchase purposes input by past purchasers of exercise-related products. An event storage unit 68 stores exercise-related event schedule information and information on participation purposes input by past participants of exercise-related events. A purchase information acquisition unit 55 acquires information indicating purchase of a product by an interested buyer. A purpose acquisition unit 57 acquires information on a purpose of purchasing the product by the interested buyer. A relation analysis unit 56 determines, as a recommended event, an exercise-related event corresponding to a participation purpose related to the purchase purpose of the interested buyer. An event presentation unit 58 presents, to the interested buyer, the determined recommended event as an exercise-related event related to the purchase purpose of the interested buyer.

Description

Event presentation system and event presentation method

[0001] The present disclosure relates to an event presentation system and an event presentation method.

[0002] A technology for a sales promotion system that promotes sales of services to railway users is known (for example, Patent Document 1).

[0003] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2022-137424

[0004] In recent years, there has been a search for ways to provide useful product-specific suggestions to purchasers of exercise-related products.

[0005] The present disclosure has been made in light of these circumstances, and its purpose is to provide a technology that allows purchasers of exercise-related products to receive useful suggestions specific to the products.

[0006] In order to solve the above problems, an event presentation system according to one aspect of the present disclosure includes a product memory unit that stores information regarding purchase purposes entered by past purchasers of sports-related products; an event memory unit that stores information regarding upcoming sports-related events and information regarding participation purposes entered by past participants in the sports-related events; a purchase information acquisition unit that acquires information indicating product purchases by prospective purchasers; a purpose acquisition unit that acquires information regarding the purchase purpose of the products by prospective purchasers; an association analysis unit that determines, as recommended events, sports-related events that correspond to participation purposes related to the purchase purpose of the prospective purchaser; and an event presentation unit that presents the determined recommended events to the prospective purchaser as sports-related events related to the purchase purpose of the prospective purchaser.

[0007] Another aspect of the present disclosure is an event presentation method, comprising the steps of: acquiring, via a network, information indicating a product purchase by a prospective purchaser and information regarding the prospective purchaser's purpose for purchasing the product; reading information from an area storing information regarding the purchase purpose entered by past purchasers of sports-related products; reading information from an area storing information regarding upcoming sports-related events and information regarding the participation purposes entered by past participants in the sports-related events; determining, as a recommended event, an sports-related event corresponding to a participation purpose related to the prospective purchaser's purpose for purchasing; and presenting, via the network, the determined recommended event to the prospective purchaser as an sports-related event related to the prospective purchaser's purpose for purchasing.

[0008] In addition, any combination of the above components, or mutual substitution of the components or expressions of the present disclosure between methods, devices, programs, temporary or non-temporary recording media on which programs are recorded, systems, etc., are also valid aspects of the present disclosure.

[0009] According to the present disclosure, it is possible to provide a technology that makes useful suggestions specific to a purchaser of an exercise-related product.

[0010] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the basic configuration of an event presentation system. FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing each component of an event presentation server. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a schematic example of a sales screen for exercise-related products. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a schematic example of a recommendation presentation screen for exercise-related events. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the process of presenting recommended events to a person who wishes to purchase a product. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing the basic configuration of an event presentation system in a second embodiment. FIG. 7 is a functional block diagram showing each component of a product sales server.

[0011] Hereinafter, the embodiments will be described with reference to the drawings. In the embodiments and modifications, the same or equivalent components will be denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant descriptions will be omitted where appropriate.

[0012] First Embodiment When a person purchases a product related to exercise (hereinafter referred to as "exercise-related product"), such as running shoes or running wear, the purpose is usually to use it while exercising. In particular, when such an exercise-related product is purchased, it is often the moment when the person's motivation to exercise using the product is at its highest. By suggesting an exercise-related event (hereinafter referred to as "exercise-related event") at the moment when the person's motivation to exercise is highest, the purchaser can obtain useful information that will boost their motivation, and the event organizer can have an opportunity to attract highly motivated users.

[0013] Depending on the type of exercise, events such as races, competitions, lessons, and gatherings may be held. The types of exercise include races such as marathons and trail running, tournaments such as soccer, tennis, and golf, lessons such as walking, dancing, and yoga, and a wide range of other athletic events. Lessons include practice sessions and seminars. Various events may include gatherings in the virtual world as well as gatherings in the real world.

[0014] In the first embodiment, purchase purpose information is acquired from a purchaser or prospective purchaser of an athletic-related product, and athletic-related events corresponding to participation objectives related to the purchase purpose are presented as recommended events. The term "prospective purchaser" as used herein includes those who are planning to purchase an athletic-related product or those who have actually completed the purchase process, as well as those who receive related information after the purchase process. In other words, the term "prospective purchaser" is merely used to distinguish from "past purchasers" whose past purchase history has been accumulated, and does not strictly refer to whether or not a purchase has been made. Furthermore, the athletic-related event information referred to here may include athletic events such as races, tournaments, and lessons related to the athletic-related product, as well as information on groups of people related to the athletic-related product and information on facilities related to the athletic-related product. Groups of people related to the athletic-related product may include, for example, teams of athletes or enthusiasts of the sport, groups of participants in lessons, etc. The athletic-related facilities may include places or buildings where exercise is performed, such as athletic tracks, soccer fields, swimming pools, and golf courses.

[0015] Exercise-related products include shoes and clothing worn when exercising, equipment used for exercise, food and beverages consumed during exercise, supplements, accessories and bags carried during exercise, and various other related products used during, before, and after exercise.

[0016] To find correlations between exercise-related products and exercise-related events, various pieces of information, such as the purpose of purchasing the exercise-related product, the type of exercise, the purchaser's personal information, and the location and time of the exercise-related event, are used as analytical parameters, and this information is stored on a server. Based on the relationships between these analytical parameters, exercise-related events highly relevant to the exercise-related product being purchased are presented as recommended events to the potential purchaser. Specific examples of analytical parameters are as follows: User-related parameters: age, gender, residential area, past exercise history, and sports of interest Product-related parameters: product category (shoes, apparel, equipment, etc.), sports (running, tennis, soccer, etc.), price range, time of purchase Event-related parameters: event type (tournament, trial session, training session, class, etc.), sports, location, time of event, participation fee, difficulty level By combining these parameters, the following relationships can be analyzed. - Associating events with exercise-related products purchased by specific age groups or genders - Recommending events based on residential area - Predicting sports of interest from the type of product purchased and recommending those events - Recommending event timing based on when the product was purchased - Recommending events with appropriate participation costs based on price range - Recommending events of an appropriate level based on past exercise history and difficulty By inputting these parameters into a machine learning model and using techniques such as pattern recognition and clustering, it is possible to recommend the most suitable event for each user.

[0017] Those who wish to purchase exercise-related products are not only required to select the product they wish to purchase, but also to enter information about the purpose of the purchase, their own personal information, etc. Information about the purchased exercise-related product, the purpose of the purchase, and the purchaser's personal information are stored on a server and managed in a linked manner.

[0018] For a prospective purchaser, relevant exercise-related events are extracted based on the type of exercise-related product to be purchased and the purpose of the purchase, and are presented as recommended events. The relevance between the exercise-related product and the exercise-related event is determined primarily based on the relevance between the purpose of purchasing the exercise-related product and the purpose of participating in the exercise-related event. Specifically, when the prospective purchaser selects one of multiple recommended events, the user's attribute data, product data purchased by the prospective purchaser, and their history are stored on the server, relevant features are selected, and the selected features are vectorized using techniques such as one-hot encoding or TF-IDF. The relationship between the exercise-related product and the exercise-related event is learned, along with the relationship between the purpose of purchase and the purpose of participation. This learning result is referenced when extracting subsequent exercise-related events. The more learning results are accumulated in this way, the easier it is to utilize them as big data. A predictive model can be created that learns the correlation between information such as exercise-related products, their purchase purposes, and exercise-related events, and a list of exercise-related products to be purchased and exercise-related events that are strongly related to the prospective purchaser can be created and presented based on the predictive model.

[0019] FIG. 1 shows the basic configuration of an event presentation system 100. The event presentation system 100 mainly includes a user terminal 10 and an event presentation server 50. The event presentation server 50 has functions to process procedures for a product sales site that sells exercise-related products online and to present recommended exercise-related events. The product sales site may be a site operated by a product manufacturer for direct sales. Alternatively, it may be a site of an electronic commerce (EC) mall that specializes in online product sales intermediation. As an alternative, the function to process procedures for the product sales site may be implemented as a server separate from the event presentation server 50 and included in the event presentation system 100. The event presentation system 100 may further include a partner server 90 that processes registration procedures for exercise-related events and that can query personal information associated with services such as event registration.

[0020] The event presentation server 50 and the partner server 90 are server computers connected to multiple user terminals 10 via a network 80, such as the Internet or a local area network (LAN). The event presentation server 50 may be configured as a single server computer or a combination of multiple server computers. Some or all of the functions of the event presentation server 50 and the partner server 90 may be integrated into a single server computer. The user terminal 10 is a terminal operated by a user and may be an information terminal such as a smartphone or tablet terminal owned by the user, or may be a personal computer. The user terminal 10 is configured as a combination of hardware, such as a microprocessor, a touch panel, a memory, and a communication module.

[0021] The term "event presentation system" in the claims may refer to the entire event presentation system 100 or only the event presentation server 50. Alternatively, it may refer to a combination of the event presentation server 50 and at least one of the user terminal 10 and the partner server 90. Alternatively, the event presentation system may be realized by distributing or duplicating characteristic functions and storage functions for characteristic information such as personal information among at least one of the event presentation server 50, the user terminal 10, and the partner server 90.

[0022] A user who wishes to purchase an exercise-related product operates the user terminal 10 to access a product sales site built on the event presentation server 50 and register an account to purchase the product, or a registered user logs in with their own account. During the account registration process, information identifying the user and information necessary for product delivery are entered. At this time, exercise-related events corresponding to the participation objectives related to the purchase objective of the exercise-related product by the purchaser are presented to the user as recommended events. Note that the information identifying the user and the information necessary for product delivery may be obtained by querying personal information of the user recorded on another server, such as membership information recorded for other services such as event participation registration procedures, from that server. The event presentation server 50 stores information on the purchase objectives of past purchasers of exercise-related products, information on exercise-related events and their participation objectives, and information on the selection history of exercise-related events by past purchasers of exercise-related products. Based on the exercise-related product the user wishes to purchase and its purchase objective, relevant exercise-related events are extracted and a recommended event is determined. The user can select one or more of the presented recommended events and apply to participate in the selected event.

[0023] By further entering information indicating the region where the user lives and information about their exercise history, the system will present recommended events that are more suitable for the user based on their region, exercise experience, and athletic level.

[0024] 2 is a functional block diagram showing each component of the event presentation server 50. In FIG. 2, functional blocks realized by cooperation of various hardware and software configurations are depicted for the event presentation server 50. Therefore, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that these functional blocks can be realized in various forms using only hardware, only software, or a combination thereof.

[0025] The event presentation server 50 is configured with a combination of hardware, such as a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a GPU (Graphics Processing Unit), memory, large-capacity storage such as an SSD (Solid State Drive) or a hard disk, and a communication module. While these indicate that a general-purpose hardware configuration may be used as a server computer, the configuration is not limited to these. The event presentation server 50 may also be realized in the form of a cloud server, which is a virtual server built on the Internet. Similarly, the other servers described in this specification may also use general-purpose hardware configurations or cloud servers as their server computers.

[0026] A program having the following functions runs on the event presentation server 50. The event presentation server 50 includes, as its functions, a communication unit 52, an input acquisition unit 54, an association analysis unit 56, an event presentation unit 58, an output unit 60, a model generation unit 61, and a memory unit 62. The user terminal 10 and the communication unit 52 of the event presentation server 50 are connected via a network 80. The memory unit 62 includes a product memory unit 64, a registration memory unit 66, an event memory unit 68, and a model memory unit 69.

[0027] The input acquisition unit 54 includes a purchase information acquisition unit 55, a purpose acquisition unit 57, and a region acquisition unit 59. The purchase information acquisition unit 55 acquires input of information indicating a product purchase, such as the selection and order of an exercise-related product by a user as a prospective purchaser, from the user terminal 10 on the network 80 via the communication unit 52. The purpose acquisition unit 57 acquires input of information indicating the user himself / herself, information indicating the purpose of purchasing the exercise-related product, information on the user's exercise history, etc. from the user terminal 10. The region acquisition unit 59 acquires information indicating the region to which the user belongs from the user terminal 10 as personal information of the user as a prospective purchaser. The history acquisition unit 53 acquires information indicating the exercise history entered by the user as a prospective purchaser from the user terminal 10.

[0028] The product storage unit 64 stores product information 70 including details of exercise-related products. The product information 70 includes information such as the type of exercise-related product, the product name, the exercise category, and the purchase purpose entered by past purchasers. For example, if the exercise-related product is running shoes, the type includes information such as "running shoes," the product name "AAA Company SU-4," and the exercise category "marathon," "running," and "jogging." If the exercise-related product is a running shirt, the type includes information such as "running wear," the product name "AAA Company Running Short Sleeve Shirt RUN-A," and the exercise category "running" and "trail running." The product information 70 mainly includes information provided by the manufacturer of the exercise-related product or the operator of the product sales site, and information entered by past purchasers of the exercise-related product.

[0029] The registration storage unit 66 stores purchase information 72 for exercise-related products and purchaser information 74, including personal information of the purchaser. The purchase information 72 records information about the purchaser of each exercise-related product and information indicating the purchaser's purpose for purchasing the product. The purchaser information 74 includes account information and personal information of the user who is the purchaser. The user's account information includes information necessary for logging in to the product sales site, such as a user ID and password. The user's account information is generated based on information entered during the account registration process when the user first uses the product sales site or the event presentation server 50, or information obtained by querying another server. The information obtained from another server may be personal information recorded on another server, such as the affiliate server 90, linked to membership information for another service, such as the registration process for participating in an exercise-related event.

[0030] The user's personal information includes information such as name, nickname, address, contact information, attribute information such as age and gender, information on the team or organization to which the user belongs, product purchase history information, event participation registration history information, and information indicating exercise history. The personal information may include information indicating the user's area of ​​residence or area selected by the user, such as areas where the user frequently stays for commuting, going to school, or business trips, in addition to address or residence. The product purchase history information may be information indicating the user's past purchase history of exercise-related products on the event presentation server 50, which serves as a site selling exercise-related products.

[0031] The event participation registration history information may be information indicating a history of past registrations for exercise-related events by a user on the partner server 90, which serves as a site that mediates the exercise-related event registration procedures. If the exercise-related event previously participated in is a race or competition, information regarding the results of that race or competition may also be included. For example, if the exercise-related event is a marathon or trail running race, information regarding the completion time may be included in the event participation registration history information. For example, if the exercise-related event is golf, score information may be included in the event participation registration history information.

[0032] For example, in the case of marathons or running, the information indicating the exercise history may be running log data measured by the user using a watch or smartphone with a positioning function, i.e., log data recording the date and time of running, running distance, running time, location information, etc. For example, in the case of golf, the information may be log data recording the date, time, location, score, etc. of the round. The user's competitive level, such as running ability, is determined and recorded through analysis based on this log data. For example, in the case of marathons or running, monthly running distance, monthly running time, weekly running frequency, etc. may be calculated to estimate running ability and competitive level. The information indicating the exercise history may also include vital sign information. Specifically, the information indicating the exercise history may include one or more of body temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, arterial oxygen saturation (SpO2), and maximum oxygen uptake (VO2Max).

[0033] The event storage unit 68 stores event information 76, which records event details including information about upcoming exercise-related events, along with accompanying information 77, which includes information indicating the purpose of participating in the exercise-related event and evaluation information entered by past participants. The information about the purpose of participating in the exercise-related event indicates the target range of participants for the exercise-related event, the goals that can be achieved by participating in the event, and possible motivations for participating in the event. The information about the purpose of participating in the exercise-related event may be information defined by the event organizer, or may be content entered by past participants as their own purpose for participating.

[0034] For example, if the exercise-related event is a marathon or trail running race, the participation purpose may be associated with competitive purposes such as "finish the race," "improve my personal record," "run a marathon in under four hours," "run a marathon in under 3.5 hours," or "run a marathon in under three hours," as well as less competitive purposes such as "maintain health," "get over a lack of exercise," or "self-improvement." For example, if the exercise-related event is a marathon training session, the participation purpose may be associated with purposes indicating the level range of participants, such as "beginner," "intermediate," "advanced," "goal: run a marathon in under four hours," "goal: run a marathon in under 3.5 hours," or "goal: run a marathon in under three hours." Alternatively, the participation purpose may be associated with purposes that could be considered as motivations for participation, such as "I want to aim to compete in a marathon" or "I want to continue running." For example, if the exercise-related event is a fun run event, the participation purpose may be associated with purposes that motivate people to start exercising, such as "I want to start running" or "I want to make running a habit."

[0035] The event storage unit 68 further stores related selection information 78. When a user who is a purchaser of an exercise-related product selects one of a plurality of recommended events presented to the user as an object of participation intention or interest, the recommended event selected by the user and the exercise-related product are deemed to be related, and this correspondence is recorded in the related selection information 78. The more frequently a correspondence is recorded in the related selection information 78, the stronger the association is considered to be between a combination of an exercise-related product and an exercise-related event, and the related selection information 78 is referenced so as to give a higher priority to the event recommendation to that product purchaser. The relationship between the user's purpose for participating in the recommended event selected by the user and the purpose for purchasing the exercise-related product is also recorded in the related selection information 78 and is referenced when recommending the event.

[0036] The model storage unit 69 stores a prediction model 79 for extracting exercise-related events corresponding to the participation purpose related to the user's purpose for purchasing an exercise-related product, based on correlations between the product information 70, purchase information 72, purchaser information 74, event information 76, accompanying information 77, and related selection information 78. The prediction model 79 is a model that analyzes correlations between multiple pieces of data included in the product information 70, purchase information 72, purchaser information 74, event information 76, accompanying information 77, and related selection information 78 using a statistical method, such as principal component analysis or multiple regression analysis. Alternatively, the prediction model 79 may be a model using machine learning (e.g., deep learning). The model generation unit 61 generates the prediction model 79 using statistical analysis or machine learning (e.g., deep learning) using multiple pieces of data included in the product information 70, purchase information 72, purchaser information 74, event information 76, accompanying information 77, and related selection information 78. The prediction model 79 may be a model obtained by fine-tuning an existing large-scale language model using information such as the product information 70, the purchase information 72, the purchaser information 74, the event information 76, the accompanying information 77, and the related selection information 78. Alternatively, the prediction model 79 may be a rule-based model that is artificially defined in advance using a large amount of data included in each of the product information 70, the purchase information 72, the purchaser information 74, the event information 76, the accompanying information 77, and the related selection information 78.

[0037] The association analysis unit 56 extracts exercise-related events corresponding to participation objectives related to the user's purpose for purchasing an exercise-related product from the event storage unit 68 based on the prediction model 79. That is, the association analysis unit 56 uses the prediction model 79 to analyze the associations between detailed information about the exercise-related product included in the product information 70, information about the purpose for purchasing the exercise-related product included in the purchaser information 74, and the exercise-related events and their participation objectives, and extracts the most suitable exercise-related event. The association analysis unit 56 determines the extracted exercise-related event as a recommended event. As a result, the association analysis unit 56 can extract exercise-related events related to the exercise-related product based on each of the following elements.

[0038] (Relevance Based on Region) When the purchaser information 74 includes information indicating the region to which the user who intends to purchase belongs or the region selected by the user, the prediction model 79 is formed so that recommended events can be determined according to priorities based on the region information included in the purchaser information 74. This allows the relevance analysis unit 56 to preferentially determine, as recommended events, exercise-related events held in the region indicated in the purchaser information 74 or in its vicinity.

[0039] (Relevance Based on Timing) The prediction model 79 is formed so that recommended events can be determined according to priorities based on information about the type and timing of the exercise-related event included in the event information 76. For example, if the type of exercise-related event is a lesson or a low-level competitive event, the prediction model 79 is formed so that events that are held close to the purchase date are preferentially extracted. Furthermore, if the type of exercise-related event is a race such as a marathon, the prediction model 79 is formed so that events that are held several months to six months in the future, which is necessary for training and preparation, are preferentially extracted. This allows the relevance analysis unit 56 to preferentially determine, as recommended events, exercise-related events that are held at appropriate times in line with the timing and purpose of purchasing the exercise-related product.

[0040] (Relevance Based on Exercise History) When purchaser information 74 includes information on the exercise history of the user who intends to purchase, prediction model 79 is formed so that recommended events can be determined according to priorities based on the exercise history included in purchaser information 74. This allows association analysis unit 56 to preferentially determine, as recommended events, exercise-related events that are appropriate for the user's exercise experience level and competitive level based on the exercise history included in purchaser information 74.

[0041] (Relationship Based on Selection History) When related selection information 78 is recorded corresponding to at least some of the exercise-related events included in event information 76, prediction model 79 is formed so that recommended events can be determined according to priorities based on the correspondence between each exercise-related event and the exercise-related product recorded in related selection information 78. This allows association analysis unit 56 to preferentially determine, as recommended events, exercise-related events that have been selected by the user in the past in relation to exercise-related products.

[0042] (Relevance Based on Rating) When accompanying information 77 is associated with at least some of the exercise-related events included in event information 76, prediction model 79 is formed so that recommended events can be determined according to priorities based on the ratings of each exercise-related event included in accompanying information 77. This allows association analysis unit 56 to preferentially determine highly rated exercise-related events as recommended events.

[0043] (Relevance Based on Past Participation History) If exercise-related events in which a prospective purchaser has previously registered for participation are recorded in the purchaser information 74, the prediction model 79 may be configured to give higher priority to exercise-related events that are similar to the exercise-related events that each user has previously participated in and their purpose for participating. This allows the relevance analysis unit 56 to preferentially determine, as recommended events, exercise-related events that match the user's preferences and exercise level.

[0044] (Relevance Based on Recent Participation History) If exercise-related events recently participated in by a prospective purchaser are recorded in the purchaser information 74, the prediction model 79 may be configured to particularly prioritize exercise-related events that are similar to the user's recently participated exercise-related events and their purpose for participating. This allows the relevance analysis unit 56 to preferentially determine, as recommended events, exercise-related events that match the user's recent preferences and exercise level.

[0045] (Relevance Based on Previously Entered Ratings) When ratings entered by users who are potential purchasers regarding exercise-related events that they have previously participated in are recorded in the accompanying information 77, the prediction model 79 may be configured to determine recommended events according to a priority based on the level of the ratings entered by the users. This allows the relevance analysis unit 56 to preferentially determine, as recommended events, exercise-related events that have received high ratings based on the rating information for each user.

[0046] The event presentation unit 58 presents the determined recommended events to the user who intends to purchase via the output unit 60. The event presentation unit 58 may include information on the purpose of participation, the reason for recommendation, and the degree of recommendation for each recommended event in the output content to be presented to the user, along with the recommended events. The output unit 60 presents the recommended events to the user by transmitting the output content presenting the recommended events generated by the event presentation unit 58 to the user terminal 10 via the communication unit 52 and the network 80.

[0047] 3 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a sales screen for exercise-related products. Product sales screen 300, which is a screen for online sales of running shoes, an exercise-related product, displays text indicating product name 301, product type 302, and product category 303, as well as product images, prices, a size selection button, an order button, and the like. Product type 302 indicates the type of exercise-related product, such as "running shoes." Product category 303 is information indicating further subdivided categories of exercise-related products, uses, target audiences, and the like. If product category 303 is "4-hour marathon," this indicates that the product is primarily targeted at people who can complete a marathon in about 4 hours, or people who aim to complete a marathon in about 4 hours.

[0048] The product sales screen 300 further displays a purchase purpose field 304. The purchase purpose field 304 is an input field in which the purpose for purchasing an exercise-related product can be selected from multiple options. The displayed options for the purpose of purchasing running shoes include "first marathon," "complete a marathon," "run a marathon in under four hours," "jogging," and "getting rid of a lack of exercise." If the prospective purchaser does not select any option in the purchase purpose field 304, the purchase purpose may be inferred from the product category 303, for example, if the prospective purchaser selects a product in that category. For example, if the product category 303 is "four-hour marathon," it may be inferred that the prospective purchaser is aiming to complete the marathon in four hours. Multiple options may be selectable as the purchase purpose.

[0049] 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a recommended display screen for exercise-related events. The event display screen 310 displays recommended exercise-related events. The event display screen 310 is a page generated by the event display unit 58, and displays recommended events determined by the association analysis unit 56 to the user, allowing the user to select from these recommended events. The event display screen 310 displays three recommended events: a first recommended event 311, a second recommended event 312, and a third recommended event 313.

[0050] The first recommended event 311 is displayed in the form of a link, presenting a marathon race called "ABC Marathon," an exercise-related event, as a recommended event. The first recommended event 311 displays a character string indicating a high recommendation level, such as "Recommendation Level: A," as the recommendation level 314, indicating a strong association with the exercise-related product "running shoes" and its purchasing purpose, "a marathon run under four hours." The first recommended event 311 displays a character string such as "For those aiming to run a marathon under four hours" as the corresponding participation purpose 315, indicating a strong association with the exercise-related product "running shoes" and its purchasing purpose, "a marathon run under four hours." This indicates that one of the purposes or target participants of the exercise-related event "ABC Marathon" is people aiming to run a marathon under four hours. The race date, "November 19, 2023," the race summary, "Time limit: 7 hours," and the application period, "May 1 to May 31, 2023," are displayed. The race summary or recommendation reason, "The flat course makes it popular with beginners and elite runners alike," are also displayed. The location of the event, "ABC City," is the area to which the user, who purchased the sports-related product, belongs or a nearby area. From the link of the first recommended event 311, the user can access the race registration site of the partner server 90 to check details and apply for participation.

[0051] The second recommended event 312 is displayed in the form of a link, presenting a training session titled "Marathon Training Session," an exercise-related event, as a recommended event. The recommendation level 316 of the second recommended event 312 also displays a string indicating a high recommendation level, such as "Recommendation Level: A," indicating a strong association with the exercise-related product "Running Shoes" and its purchase purpose "Running a Marathon in Under Four Hours." The second recommended event 312 also displays a string such as "For those aiming to run a marathon in under four hours" as its corresponding participation purpose 317, indicating a strong association with the purchase purpose of the exercise-related product "Running Shoes," "Running a Marathon in Under Four Hours." The training session's date is displayed as "July 1, 2023," its venue and time as "ABC Athletics Stadium, 9:00 AM," and its application period is displayed as "Until June 30, 2023." The event summary or reason for recommendation also displays "Recommended for those aiming to complete the ABC Marathon." The event location, "ABC Athletics Stadium," is located in the area where the user who purchased the exercise-related product lives or in a nearby area. From the link of the second recommended event 312, the event participation registration site of the partner server 90 can be opened to check the details and apply for participation.

[0052] The third recommended event 313 is displayed in the form of a link, presenting the exercise-related event "Enjoy 5K Run" as a recommended event. The third recommended event 313 displays a character string indicating a medium recommendation level, such as "Recommendation Level: B," as the recommendation level 318, indicating a strong association with the exercise-related product "Running Shoes" and its purchasing purpose "Jogging." The third recommended event 313 displays a character string such as "For Fun Runners" as the corresponding participation purpose 315, indicating a strong association with the purchasing purpose "Jogging" for the exercise-related product "Running Shoes." This indicates that one of the intended participants or target audiences for the exercise-related event "Enjoy 5K Run" is people with the purpose of "jogging." The date of this training session is displayed as "May 1, 2023," the location and time as "M-PARK 10:00," and the application period as "until April 30, 2023." The event summary or reason for recommendation is displayed as "Enjoyable at a leisurely pace, not competitive, for everyone from adults to children." The event location, "M-PARK," is the area where the user who purchased the sports-related product lives or a nearby area. From the link of the third recommended event 313, the user can access the event participation registration site of the partner server 90 to check details or apply for participation.

[0053] FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing the process of presenting recommended events to a prospective purchaser of a product. A user who wishes to purchase an exercise-related product selects the product they wish to purchase (S10), enters necessary information, such as purchaser information and purchase purpose, and places an order (S12). Using a prediction model 79, the association analysis unit 56 analyzes the association between detailed information (such as the type, product name, exercise type, and purpose) included in the product information 70, purchase purpose information included in the purchase information 72, and athletic level information included in the purchaser information 74, and the exercise type and participation purpose of the exercise-related event (S13). The association analysis unit 56 extracts, from the event storage unit 68, an exercise-related event that corresponds to the participation purpose related to the user's purchase purpose of the exercise-related product based on the analysis results of the prediction model 79 (S14), determines the event as a recommended event, and generates output content (S15). The event presentation unit 58 presents output content including the determined recommended event to the user (S16). The user selects one of the recommended events and views a linked page for the exercise-related event (S17). The user may then register to participate in the recommended exercise-related events as appropriate (S18).

[0054] Second Embodiment Fig. 6 shows the basic configuration of an event presentation system 100 in a second embodiment. The second embodiment differs from the event presentation system 100 of the first embodiment in that the event presentation system 100 further includes a product sales server 92, which processes procedures such as order processing for online sales of exercise-related products. The other points are the same as those in the first embodiment. The following description will focus on the differences from the first embodiment, and a description of the points in common will be omitted.

[0055] 7 is a functional block diagram showing the components of the product sales server 92. The product sales server 92 includes a communication unit 252, an input acquisition unit 254, and a storage unit 262. The communication unit 252 corresponds to the communication unit 52 of the event presentation server 50. The input acquisition unit 254 corresponds to the input acquisition unit 54 of the event presentation server 50. The storage unit 262 corresponds to the storage unit 62 of the event presentation server 50.

[0056] The storage unit 262 includes a product storage unit 264 that stores product information 270, and a registration storage unit 266 that stores purchase information 272 and purchaser information 274. The product storage unit 264 corresponds to the product storage unit 64 in the event presentation server 50. The registration storage unit 266 corresponds to the registration storage unit 66 in the event presentation server 50.

[0057] In the second embodiment, the product sales server 92 also has at least the functions of the input acquisition unit 54, product storage unit 64, and registration storage unit 66, which are included in the functions of the event presentation server 50 in the first embodiment. Product information 270, purchase information 272, and purchaser information 274 registered in the storage unit 262 are transmitted from the product sales server 92 to the event presentation server 50. As a result, in the second embodiment, the functions of the event presentation server 50 in the first embodiment are distributed or overlapped between the event presentation server 50 and the product sales server 92.

[0058] In the second embodiment, many of the characteristic functions included in the "event presentation" recited in the claims are provided in the event presentation server 50 or the product sales server 92. Therefore, the event presentation server 50 or the combination of the event presentation server 50 and the product sales server 92 essentially corresponds to the "event presentation." However, the characteristic functions of the "event presentation" may be distributed or overlapped between the event presentation server 50 and the product sales server 92, or may be realized by having many of the functions provided in the event presentation server 50. Alternatively, the term may refer to the entire event presentation system 100. Alternatively, the term may refer to only the event presentation server 50. Alternatively, the term may refer to the combination of the event presentation server 50 and at least one of the user terminal 10, the partner server 90, and the product sales server 92. Alternatively, the term may refer to the characteristic functions distributed or overlapped between the event presentation server 50, the product sales server 92, and the user terminal 10.

[0059] The above is a description of an embodiment. This embodiment is merely an example, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications are possible in the combination of each component and each treatment process, and that such modifications are also within the scope of the present invention. Furthermore, the above-described embodiment can be generalized to provide the following aspects.

[0060] The event presentation system according to the first aspect includes a product memory unit that stores information regarding purchase purposes entered by past purchasers of sports-related products; an event memory unit that stores information regarding upcoming sports-related events and information regarding participation purposes entered by past participants in the sports-related events; a purchase information acquisition unit that acquires information indicating product purchases by prospective purchasers; a purpose acquisition unit that acquires information regarding the purchase purposes of the products by prospective purchasers; an association analysis unit that determines, as recommended events, sports-related events that correspond to participation purposes related to the purchase purposes of the prospective purchaser; and an event presentation unit that presents the determined recommended events to the prospective purchaser as sports-related events related to the purchase purposes of the prospective purchaser.

[0061] According to this embodiment, by proposing an exercise-related event in a timely manner to a purchaser who is thought to be in a state of heightened motivation to exercise at the time of purchasing an exercise-related product, not only can the purchaser's motivation be boosted, but also people who are likely to register to participate can be introduced to the event organizer.

[0062] The event presentation system according to the second aspect may further include a region acquisition unit that acquires information indicating a region to which the potential purchaser belongs. The event storage unit may further store information indicating a region in which an exercise-related event is being held, and the association analysis unit may determine, as the recommended event, an exercise-related event in a host region related to the region to which the potential purchaser belongs.

[0063] According to this aspect, by suggesting exercise-related events in the area in which a purchaser lives in a timely manner, who is thought to be in a state of heightened motivation to exercise at the time of purchasing an exercise-related product, not only can the purchaser's motivation be boosted, but also event organizers can be introduced to people who are likely to register to participate.

[0064] In the event presentation system of the third aspect, in the event presentation system of the first or second aspect, the event memory unit may further store information indicating the timing of the exercise-related event, and the related analysis unit may determine, as the recommended event, an exercise-related event that is held at a time that corresponds to the purchase timing and purpose of the prospective purchaser.

[0065] According to this aspect, by suggesting exercise-related events to be held at appropriate times in line with the purchaser's exercise goals in a timely manner to a purchaser who is thought to be in a state of heightened motivation to exercise at the time of purchasing an exercise-related product, not only can the purchaser's motivation be boosted, but also event organizers can be introduced to people who are likely to register to participate.

[0066] The event presentation system according to a fourth aspect may be the event presentation system according to any one of the first to third aspects, further including a history acquisition unit that acquires an exercise history of the prospective purchaser. The association analysis unit may determine, as the recommended event, an exercise-related event that corresponds to the prospective purchaser's exercise history and purchase purpose.

[0067] According to this aspect, by suggesting appropriate exercise-related events in a timely manner that are suited to the exercise level of a purchaser who is thought to be in a state of heightened motivation to exercise at the time of purchasing an exercise-related product, not only can the motivation of the purchaser be boosted, but also event organizers can be introduced to people who are likely to register to participate.

[0068] The event presentation method of the fifth aspect includes the steps of: acquiring, via a network, information indicating a product purchase by a prospective purchaser and information regarding the prospective purchaser's purpose for purchasing the product; reading information from an area storing information regarding the purchase purpose entered by past purchasers of sports-related products; reading information from an area storing information regarding upcoming sports-related events and information regarding the participation purpose entered by past participants in the sports-related events; determining, as a recommended event, an sports-related event that corresponds to the participation purpose related to the prospective purchaser's purpose for purchasing; and presenting, via the network, the determined recommended event to the prospective purchaser as an sports-related event related to the prospective purchaser's purpose for purchasing.

[0069] According to this embodiment, by proposing an exercise-related event in a timely manner to a purchaser who is thought to be in a state of heightened motivation to exercise at the time of purchasing an exercise-related product, not only can the purchaser's motivation be boosted, but also people who are likely to register to participate can be introduced to the event organizer.

[0070] The present disclosure relates to an event presentation system and an event presentation method.

[0071] 50 Event presentation server, 54 Input acquisition unit, 56 Association analysis unit, 58 Event presentation unit, 60 Output unit, 61 Model generation unit, 62 Memory unit, 64 Product memory unit, 66 Registration memory unit, 68 Event memory unit, 69 Model memory unit, 70 Product information, 72 Purchase information, 74 Purchaser information, 76 Event information, 77 Associated information, 78 Association selection information, 79 Prediction model, 90 Partner server, 92 Product sales server, 100 Event presentation system.

Claims

1. An event presentation system comprising: a product memory unit that stores information regarding purchase purposes entered by past purchasers of sports-related products; an event memory unit that stores information regarding upcoming sports-related events and information regarding participation purposes entered by past participants in the sports-related events; a purchase information acquisition unit that acquires information indicating product purchases by potential purchasers; a purpose acquisition unit that acquires information regarding the purchase purpose of the product by the potential purchaser; an association analysis unit that determines, as a recommended event, an exercise-related event that corresponds to a participation purpose related to the purchase purpose of the potential purchaser; and an event presentation unit that presents the determined recommended event to the potential purchaser as an exercise-related event related to the purchase purpose of the potential purchaser.

2. The event presentation system of claim 1, further comprising a region acquisition unit that acquires information indicating the region to which the desired purchaser belongs, wherein the event memory unit further stores information indicating the region in which the exercise-related event is held, and the related analysis unit determines, as the recommended event, an exercise-related event whose holding region is related to the region to which the desired purchaser belongs.

3. The event presentation system of claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the event memory unit further stores information indicating the timing of the exercise-related event, and the related analysis unit determines as the recommended event an exercise-related event whose timing corresponds to the purchase time of the prospective purchaser and the purchase purpose.

4. An event presentation system as described in any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising a history acquisition unit that acquires the exercise history of the intended purchaser, and wherein the related analysis unit determines an exercise-related event that corresponds to the exercise history of the intended purchaser and the purchase purpose as the recommended event.

5. A method executed by a computer that can access a product memory unit and an event memory unit, comprising the steps of: acquiring, via a network, information indicating a product purchase by a potential purchaser and information regarding the potential purchaser's purpose for purchasing the product; reading information from a memory in which information regarding the purchase purpose entered by past purchasers of sports-related products is stored; reading information from a memory in which information regarding scheduled sports-related events and information regarding the participation purposes entered by past participants in the sports-related events is stored; determining, as a recommended event, an sports-related event that corresponds to a participation purpose related to the potential purchaser's purpose for purchasing; and presenting, via the network, the recommended event to the potential purchaser as an sports-related event related to the potential purchaser's purpose for purchasing.

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