Information processing system, information processing method, and information processing program

Abstract

A processing circuit of an information processing system according to the present invention is configured to: acquire a mask strength indicating a degree of information coarsening which is set for at least one individual; acquire individual behavior information pertaining to behavior of the individual; generate coarsened information in which the detail level of the individual behavior information is decreased according to the mask strength such that, as the mask strength increases, the detail level of the individual behavior information decreases; and use the coarsened information, instead of the individual behavior information, for prescribed information processing.

Description

Information Processing System, Information Processing Method, and Information Processing Program

[0001] The present disclosure relates to an information processing system, an information processing method, and an information processing program.

[0002] In an information processing system, in order to protect an individual's privacy, privacy settings may be provided for personal setting items (for example, Patent Document 1, etc.).

[0003] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-346293

[0004] When the privacy setting is set to ON, it is possible to appropriately protect the privacy of the individual by preventing the use of information related to the behavior of a specific individual, but it is not possible to perform analysis processing using the information related to the behavior of that individual. On the other hand, when the privacy setting is set to OFF, it is possible to perform analysis processing using the information related to the behavior of a specific individual, but the privacy of that individual cannot be protected, and the degree of freedom of that individual's behavior may decrease. In addition, when the amount of transmission and reception of information related to an individual's behavior or the memory occupancy increases, a decrease in communication speed or a shortage of memory capacity may occur.

[0005] Therefore, one aspect of the present disclosure aims to flexibly and appropriately handle information related to the behavior of a specific individual while using the information related to the behavior of that individual for a predetermined process.

[0006] An information processing system according to one aspect of the present disclosure includes a processing circuit. The processing circuit obtains a mask strength indicating the degree of information coarsening set for at least one individual, obtains individual behavior information related to the behavior of the individual, generates coarsened information by reducing the degree of detail of the individual behavior information according to the mask strength so that the higher the mask strength, the lower the degree of detail of the individual behavior information, and uses the coarsened information instead of the individual behavior information for a predetermined information process.

[0007] An information processing method according to one aspect of the present disclosure includes: obtaining a mask intensity indicating the degree of information coarseness set for a specific individual; obtaining personal behavior information relating to the actions of the individual; generating coarse information obtained by reducing the level of detail of the personal behavior information according to the mask intensity, such that the level of detail of the personal behavior information decreases as the mask intensity increases; and using the coarse information in place of the personal behavior information for a predetermined information processing.

[0008] An information processing program according to one aspect of this disclosure causes at least one processor to execute the method described above. The program may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. The storage medium is a non-transitory and tangible medium. The storage medium may be built into or attached to a computer, such as a portable information terminal, personal computer, or server. The storage medium includes RAM, ROM, EEPROM, etc., and may be, for example, DRAM, SRAM, flash memory, hard disk, etc.

[0009] According to one aspect of this disclosure, information concerning the actions of a specific individual can be used in a predetermined information processing while still being handled flexibly and appropriately.

[0010] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of an information processing system according to an embodiment. Figure 2 is a block diagram of the information processing terminal in Figure 1. Figure 3 is a block diagram of the server in Figure 1. Figure 4 is a sequence diagram illustrating the processing of the information processing system in Figure 1. Figure 5 is a diagram showing the mask setting screen of the information processing terminal in Figure 2. Figure 6 is a diagram showing an example of the roughening process in Figure 4. Figure 7 is a diagram showing the machine learning model of the server in Figure 3. Figure 8 is a sequence diagram illustrating a modified example of the processing of the information processing system in Figure 1.

[0011] The embodiments will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0012] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of an information processing system 1 according to an embodiment. As shown in Figure 1, multiple individuals 3 are present in an indoor facility 2 which is a predetermined area. The indoor facility 2 can be an area such as a hospital, office, factory, train station, airport, commercial facility, underground shopping mall, amusement park, government office, art museum, museum, exhibition hall, factory, logistics warehouse, school, etc. Note that the predetermined area may be outdoors.

[0013] Each individual 3 possesses an information processing terminal 4. The information processing terminal 4 may be, for example, a smartphone, a wearable device, a tablet device, a personal computer, or a dedicated positioning terminal. The information processing terminal 4 moves along with the movement of individual 3. Positioning the information processing terminal 4 means positioning individual 3.

[0014] A wireless LAN is established in indoor facility 2. Multiple wireless access points 5 capable of wireless communication with information processing terminals 4 are distributed and installed in indoor facility 2. The wireless access points 5 are connected to the communication network N in a communication manner. The wireless access points 5 emit radio waves that include their own identification information (e.g., MAC address). The information processing terminal 4 is configured to receive radio waves from the wireless access points 5. The information processing terminal 4 may also be connected to the communication network N via a mobile phone communication network or a satellite communication network.

[0015] The information processing system 1 includes a server 7 connected to a communication network N. The server 7 can communicate with an information processing terminal 4 via the communication network N. The server 7 performs predetermined information processing based on information received from the information processing terminal 4.

[0016] Figure 2 is a block diagram of the information processing terminal 4 shown in Figure 1. As shown in Figure 2, the information processing terminal 4 includes a processing circuit 10, a display 14, an operation interface 15, a radio wave receiver 16, and a communication interface 17. The processing circuit 10 includes a processor 11, a system memory 12, and a storage memory 13.

[0017] The processor 11 may include a CPU (Central Processing Unit). The system memory 12 may include RAM. The storage memory 13 may include ROM. The storage memory 13 may include a hard disk, flash memory, or a combination thereof. The storage memory 13 stores program P1. An example of a processing circuit 10 is a configuration in which the processor 11 executes program P1 read from the system memory 12.

[0018] The display 14 may be, for example, a liquid crystal display or an organic EL display. The operating interface 15 is a user interface operated by the individual 3. The operating interface 15 includes, for example, at least one selected from a touch panel, keyboard, mouse, etc. If the display 14 is a touch panel display, the display 14 also serves as the operating interface 15.

[0019] The radio receiver 16 receives radio waves transmitted by multiple wireless access points 5. The radio receiver 16 receives strong radio waves from nearby wireless access points 5 and weak radio waves from distant wireless access points 5. The radio waves received by the radio receiver 16 contain identification information of the wireless access point 5 that transmitted the radio waves.

[0020] The communication interface 17 is for connecting to the communication network N, and may be, for example, a communication device that connects to a mobile phone network. The communication interface 17 may also connect to the communication network N via a wireless access point 5. That is, the communication interface 17 may also function as a radio receiver 16.

[0021] Figure 3 is a block diagram of the server 7 shown in Figure 1. As shown in Figure 3, the server 7 comprises a processing circuit 20 and a communication interface 24. The processing circuit 20 includes a processor 21, system memory 22, and storage memory 23. The communication interface 24 is a communication interface that connects to the communication network N by wire or wireless.

[0022] The processor 21 may include a CPU (Central Processing Unit). The system memory 22 may include RAM. The storage memory 23 may include a hard disk, flash memory, or a combination thereof. The storage memory 23 stores the information processing program P2. An example of a processing circuit 20 is a configuration in which the processor 21 executes the information processing program P2 read from the storage memory 23 to the system memory 22.

[0023] The storage memory 23 includes an AP location information storage unit 25 and a map storage unit 26. The AP location information storage unit 25 pre-stores an AP location information list that shows the correspondence between the identification information of each wireless access point 5 and the location of each wireless access point 5 in the indoor facility 2. The map storage unit 26 pre-stores map data of the indoor facility 2.

[0024] Figure 4 is a sequence diagram illustrating the processing of the information processing system 1 shown in Figure 1. The processing of the information processing system 1 will be explained below following the flow shown in Figure 4, with reference to Figures 1 through 3 and Figure 5. Multiple individuals 3 can set their own mask strength using their own information processing terminals 4. That is, the server 7 can set the mask strength individually for each of the multiple individuals 3. The following explanation will representatively describe the case where one individual 3 uses their own information processing terminal 4. The processing of the information processing terminal 4 is executed by the processing circuit 10, and the processing of the server 7 is executed by the processing circuit 20.

[0025] The information processing terminal 4 receives input for a mask strength, which indicates the degree to which the personal behavior information is coarsified in the information processing of the server 7 that uses personal behavior information regarding the actions of individual 3 (step S1). When individual 3 inputs a mask strength to the information processing terminal 4, the information processing terminal 4 transmits the input mask strength to the server 7. The data that the information processing terminal 4 transmits to the server 7 is accompanied by identification information of either individual 3 or the information processing terminal 4. The server 7 sets the mask strength for individual 3 (step S2). For example, the server 7 stores the mask strength in association with the identification information of either individual 3 or the information processing terminal 4. Note that the mask strength may be set automatically by the server 7 instead of being set by individual 3.

[0026] Figure 5 is a diagram showing the mask setting screen of the information processing terminal 4 shown in Figure 2. As shown in Figure 5, the display 14 of the information processing terminal 4 is a touch panel display and can display the mask setting screen provided by the server 7. The mask setting screen displays an interface for setting the mask strength, which indicates the degree of information coarseness set for individual 3. For example, the setting screen has a mask setting ON-OFF unit 31 and a mask strength adjustment unit 32.

[0027] The mask setting ON-OFF unit 31 allows individual 3 to select between two settings: an OFF setting which prevents the personal behavior information from being coarsely processed when the personal behavior information of individual 3 is used for information processing by the server 7, and an ON setting which coarses the personal behavior information when the personal behavior information of individual 3 is used for information processing by the server 7.

[0028] The mask strength adjustment unit 32 allows the mask strength value to be continuously increased or decreased by the operation of individual 3. Alternatively, the mask strength adjustment unit 32 may allow the mask strength value to be increased or decreased in steps. For example, the mask strength adjustment unit 32 may allow the user to select one of several stepped strength levels as the mask strength. This makes it possible to finely adjust the degree of protection of personal behavioral information.

[0029] The mask strength may be set for each category of personal behavior information. If the personal behavior information is location information or movement history information of individual 3, multiple mask strengths may be set so that the mask strength differs for each category classified by information related to a specific location indicated by the location information or movement history information. In other words, the mask strength may be set to differ depending on the attributes of the place where individual 3 is located. The location area may be arbitrarily determined by individual 3 using the information processing terminal 4. The category may be the type of place. The type of place may be, for example, home, various areas within a building, a public road, etc. Examples of various areas within a building may be a shop, corridor, toilet, conference room, office, etc.

[0030] In places where a high level of privacy is considered necessary, the mask strength may be set to a high level, and in places where a high level of privacy is not considered necessary, the mask strength may be set to a low level. Examples of places where a high level of privacy is considered necessary include homes and restrooms. Examples of places where a high level of privacy is not considered necessary include shops, areas sufficiently far from homes, offices with multiple desks arranged in a free-address system, and conference rooms.

[0031] The category may be the time range in which individual 3 was present at a specific location indicated by location information or movement history information, which is personal behavior information. In other words, the mask strength may be set differently depending on the time range to which individual 3's actions belong. The time of individual 3's actions may be, for example, the time when the server 7 received information from the information processing terminal 4 in step S4, or the time when the information processing terminal 4 generated personal behavior-related information related to individual 3's actions. For example, the mask strength can be increased when the time range to which the individual's actions belong is working hours, and decreased when the time range to which the individual's actions belong is break time, thereby achieving both increased freedom of individual actions and appropriate processing.

[0032] The category may be the type of action taken by individual 3 when they were in a specific location indicated by location information or movement history information, which is personal behavior information (e.g., stopping, moving, etc.). In other words, the mask strength may be set differently depending on the time of day or the type of action.

[0033] If the personal activity information is search history information showing the history of internet searches by individual 3, it may be possible to set different mask strengths for each search category. These categories may be, for example, religion, finance, sports, business, cooking, etc. For example, the mask strength may be set higher for categories of search words that are considered to require a high level of privacy, and lower for search words that are not considered to require a high level of privacy.

[0034] If the personal behavior information is purchase history information from online sales sites by individual 3, it may be possible to set different mask strengths for each category of purchased product. These categories may be, for example, books, home appliances, stationery, etc. For example, the mask strength may be set higher for product categories where a high level of privacy is considered necessary, and lower for product categories where a high level of privacy is not considered necessary.

[0035] The following describes the case when the mask setting is ON. The information processing terminal 4 transmits personal activity-related information related to the actions of individual 3 to the server 7 (step S3). If the personal activity information is location information, the information processing terminal 4 transmits to the server 7 the strength of each radio wave received by the radio receiver 16 of the information processing terminal 4 from each wireless access point 5, and the identification information of the wireless access point 5 that transmitted each radio wave, as personal activity-related information. The server 7 receives the personal activity-related information (step S4).

[0036] Based on the received personal activity-related information, Server 7 calculates the location information of the information processing terminal 4 as personal activity information (Step S5). Specifically, the location information of the information processing terminal 4 is obtained as follows: Server 7 receives from the information processing terminal 4 the intensity of each radio wave received by the radio receiver 16 of the information processing terminal 4 from each wireless access point 5, and the identification information of the wireless access point 5 that transmitted each radio wave. Server 7 refers to the AP location information list in the AP location information storage unit 25 and identifies the location of the wireless access point 5 corresponding to each radio wave.

[0037] Server 7 calculates the position of information processing terminal 4 as positioning data by calculating the distance from each wireless access point 5 to the information processing terminal 4 based on the strength of each radio wave and the position of the wireless access point 5 corresponding to each radio wave. In other words, the radio wave receiver 16 of information processing terminal 4 acts as a sensor installed on the information processing terminal 4 to acquire the position information of information processing terminal 4.

[0038] Alternatively, instead of the radio receiver 16, a satellite positioning sensor such as a GPS sensor may be used, and the location information calculated by the information processing terminal 4 using satellite positioning technology may be used as personal activity information. Furthermore, the server 7 may calculate the time-series history of the location of the information processing terminal 4 as the movement history of individual 3. Also, if the information processing terminal 4 is capable of calculating personal activity information, the information processing terminal 6 may calculate the personal activity information and transmit it to the server 7.

[0039] Next, Server 7 performs a coarse-grinding process on the calculated personal activity information (step S6). The coarse-grinding process generates coarse-grinding information that reduces the level of detail of the personal activity information. The data format of the coarse-grinding information may be the same as the data format of the personal activity information. The degree of coarsening in the coarse-grinding process is determined according to the mask strength set in step S2. Server 7 reduces the level of detail of the personal activity information as the mask strength increases. In other words, Server 7 increases the degree of coarsening as the mask strength increases. Note that the data format of the coarse-grinding information does not change even if the mask strength changes.

[0040] In the roughening process, roughened information may be generated such that the amount of roughened information is smaller than the amount of personal activity information. After the roughening process, server 7 may delete the personal activity information from storage memory 23 and save the roughened information to storage memory 23. This prevents storage memory 23 from running out of capacity while protecting the privacy of personal activity information.

[0041] The following describes some specific examples of data coarsening. When server 7 calculates or receives location information or movement history information of information processing terminal 4 as personal activity information, data coarsening may be implemented by reducing the resolution of the location indicated by the location information or movement history information.

[0042] FIG. 6 is a drawing showing an example of the coarsening process of FIG. 4. As shown in FIG. 6, as a first example of the coarsening process, for example, when a specific position P indicated by the position information of the information processing terminal 4 indicates specific coordinates, the server 7 generates a region 51A including the specific coordinates, and the server 7 may use the region 51A as the coarsened position information, that is, the coarsening information, of the information processing terminal 4. For example, the server 7 may set a grid 52 that defines a plurality of regions 51 in an area on the map data, and use the region 51A including the specific position P as the position information of the information processing terminal 4. That is, the server 7 regards the region 51A as the position information of the information processing terminal 4 instead of the position P. When the mask intensity is strong, the region 51A may be enlarged, and when the mask intensity is weak, the region 51A may be reduced.

[0043] FIG. 7 is a drawing showing the machine learning model 40 of the server 7 of FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 7, as a second example of the coarsening process, the server 7 may execute a learning process in which personal behavior information is input to the machine learning model 40 and the output from the machine learning model 40 is used as coarsening information. For example, the personal behavior information input to the machine learning model 40 may be the radio wave intensity received by the radio wave receiver 16 of the information processing terminal 4 from each wireless access point 5 and the position of each wireless access point 5 corresponding to each radio wave. Although an example in which each radio wave intensity and the position of the wireless access point 5 are treated as personal behavior-related information has been described above, in the example of FIG. 7, each radio wave intensity and the position of the wireless access point 5 are treated as personal behavior information.

[0044] The coarsening information output from the machine learning model 40 is the position of the information processing terminal 4. In that case, the coarsening information is the position information obtained by reducing the position accuracy when calculating the position of the information processing terminal 4 using the machine learning model 40. The size of the data output by the machine learning model 40 is smaller than the size of the data input to the machine learning model 40.

[0045] This coarsification process can be achieved by reducing the number of parameters in the input layer of the machine learning model 40, or by reducing the number of layers in the hidden layer of the machine learning model 40, compared to when the mask setting is OFF. When the mask strength is strong, the reduction in the number of parameters in the input layer or the number of layers in the hidden layer should be increased, and when the mask strength is weak, the reduction in the number of parameters in the input layer or the number of layers in the hidden layer should be decreased. In this way, the level of detail of the personal behavior information used in machine learning can be easily increased or decreased according to the mask strength.

[0046] As a third example of the coarsening process, when the search history information, which shows the history of searches performed on the internet by the information processing terminal 4, is personal behavior information, the coarsening process may be implemented by reducing the resolution of the information shown in the search history information. For example, the server 7 may generate coarse information by conceptualizing the search words shown in the search history information into higher-level terms according to the mask strength. If the mask strength is strong, the degree of conceptualization should be increased, and if the mask strength is weak, the degree of conceptualization should be decreased. If the search words belong to one of the categories divided into multiple levels in a tree structure, the higher-level conceptualization may use the category to which the search words belong as the coarse information. In that case, the stronger the mask strength, the higher-level category should be used as the coarse information.

[0047] As a fourth example of the coarsening process, if the purchase history information, which shows the history of products purchased on an online sales site by the information processing terminal 4, is personal behavior information, the coarsening process may be implemented by reducing the resolution of the information shown in the purchase history information. For example, the server 7 may generate coarse information by creating higher-level conceptualized product names of the purchased products shown in the purchase history information according to the mask strength. If the mask strength is strong, the degree of higher-level conceptualization should be increased, and if the mask strength is weak, the degree of higher-level conceptualization should be decreased. If the purchased product belongs to one of the categories divided into multiple levels in a tree structure, the higher-level conceptualization may use the category to which the purchased product belongs as the coarse information. In that case, the stronger the mask strength, the higher-level category should be used as the coarse information.

[0048] In each of the above-mentioned coarsening processes, when set for each category of personal behavior information, coarsening information may be generated according to the mask strength set for the category to which the personal behavior information belongs.

[0049] Server 7 performs information processing (step S7). In the information processing, when the mask setting is OFF, personal behavior information is used as input, but when the mask setting is ON, coarsening information is used as input. Here, to explain the case where the mask setting is ON, server 7 performs information processing using the coarsening information generated by the coarsening process instead of the personal behavior information. The coarsening information is used as input data for information processing in its original data format.

[0050] This information processing can be, for example, analysis processing for analyzing the behavior tendency of individual 3. Since coarsening information is used in the analysis processing, while providing information regarding the behavior of individual 3 to the analysis processing, the privacy of individual 3 is protected flexibly and appropriately.

[0051] For example, when the personal behavior information is location information or movement history information, the analysis processing may be processing for obtaining the tendency of popular places or unpopular places based on the personal behavior information of a plurality of individuals 3, or processing for obtaining the tendency of frequently used routes based on the personal behavior information of a plurality of individuals 3.

[0052] When the personal behavior information is search history information, the analysis processing may be processing for obtaining the tendency of popular search targets based on the personal behavior information of a plurality of individuals 3, or processing for obtaining the tendency of the matters preferred by the specific individual based on the personal behavior information of the specific individual 3.

[0053] When the personal behavior information is purchase history information, the analysis processing may be processing for obtaining the tendency of popular products or unpopular products based on the personal behavior information of a plurality of individuals 3, or processing for obtaining the tendency of the products preferred by the specific individual based on the personal behavior information of the specific individual 3.

[0054] The information processing in step S7 may also be a display output generation process that generates output information used for display that can be viewed by others other than individual 3, based on individual 3's personal behavior information. For example, if the personal behavior information is location information, the display output generation process may be a process that displays individual 3's current location on another person's information processing terminal. If the personal behavior information is travel history information, the display output generation process may be a process that displays individual 3's travel route. In this case, the display output generation process may also be a process that displays the travel route along with the time for each location. In this way, information about individual 3's behavior is simplified and used for display that others can see. Therefore, while information about individual 3's behavior is provided to others, individual 3's privacy is protected flexibly and appropriately.

[0055] According to the configuration described above, coarse information obtained by reducing the level of detail of personal behavior information according to the mask strength set for individual 3 is used for predetermined information processing. Therefore, while using information about the behavior of a specific individual 3 in information processing, information about the behavior of said individual 3 can be handled flexibly and appropriately. For example, by flexibly and appropriately protecting the privacy of personal behavior information according to personal settings, the degree of freedom of individual 3's actions can be increased. In addition, by storing coarse information, which has a smaller data volume than personal behavior information, in the storage memory 23, the amount occupied by the storage memory 23 is reduced, and a shortage of storage memory 23 capacity can be prevented.

[0056] Furthermore, a portion of program P1 may be executed by the information processing terminal 4 instead of the server 7. A portion of information processing program P2 may be executed by the information processing terminal 4 instead of the server 7.

[0057] Figure 8 is a sequence diagram illustrating a modified example of the processing of the information processing system 1 in Figure 1. Components common to the previously described embodiments are denoted by the same reference numerals and their descriptions are omitted. As shown in Figure 7, the information processing terminal 4 may perform the roughening process instead of the server 7. Step S11 in Figure 7 is basically the same as step S2 in Figure 4, and step S12 in Figure 7 is basically the same as step S5 in Figure 4.

[0058] The information processing terminal 4 performs a coarse processing on the personal behavior information of individual 3 (step S13). The coarse processing generates coarse information that reduces the level of detail of the personal behavior information. The coarse processing may generate coarse information such that the amount of data of the coarse information is smaller than the amount of data of the personal behavior information. The information processing terminal 4 transmits the generated coarse information to the server 7 (step S14). The server 7 performs information processing using the coarse information received from the information processing terminal 4 (step S15). In this example, since the information transmitted from the information processing terminal 4 to the server 7 is coarse information, the amount of data of the transmitted information is small, and a decrease in communication speed can be prevented. Note that the other configurations are the same as in the embodiment described above, so their explanation is omitted.

[0059] As described above, the embodiments have been explained as examples of the technology disclosed in this application. However, the technology in this disclosure is not limited thereto and can be applied to embodiments that have been modified, replaced, added, or omitted as appropriate. Furthermore, it is possible to combine the components described in the embodiments to create new embodiments. For example, some components or methods in one embodiment may be applied to other embodiments, and some components in an embodiment can be separated from other components in that embodiment and extracted as appropriate. In addition, the components described in the attached drawings and detailed description include not only components that are essential for solving the problem, but also components that are not essential for solving the problem, in order to illustrate the technology.

[0060] The functions of the elements disclosed herein can be performed using circuits or processing circuits, including general-purpose processors, dedicated processors, integrated circuits, ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits), FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), GPUs (Graphics Processing Units), conventional circuits, and / or combinations thereof, configured or programmed to perform the disclosed functions. A processor is considered a processing circuit or circuit because it includes transistors and other circuits. In this disclosure, a circuit, unit, or means is hardware that performs the enumerated functions, or hardware programmed to perform the enumerated functions. The hardware may be hardware disclosed herein, or other known hardware that is programmed or configured to perform the enumerated functions. If the hardware is a processor, which is considered a type of circuit, then the circuit, means, or unit is a combination of hardware and software, and the software is used to configure the hardware and / or the processor.

[0061] [Embodiment] The embodiments described above are specific examples of the following embodiments.

[0062] (Aspect 1) An information processing system comprising a processing circuit, the processing circuit being configured to: acquire a mask intensity indicating the degree of information coarseness set for at least one individual; acquire personal behavior information relating to the actions of the individual; generate coarse information obtained by reducing the level of detail of the personal behavior information according to the mask intensity, such that the level of detail of the personal behavior information decreases as the mask intensity increases; and use the coarse information in place of the personal behavior information for predetermined information processing.

[0063] In this configuration, coarse information obtained by reducing the level of detail of personal behavior information according to the mask strength set for the individual is used for predetermined information processing. Therefore, information about a specific individual's behavior can be used for predetermined information processing while still handling that information flexibly and appropriately. For example, by flexibly and appropriately protecting the privacy of personal behavior information according to personal settings, the degree of freedom of an individual's actions can be increased. Alternatively, by flexibly and appropriately reducing the amount of personal behavior information transmitted or received or the amount of memory occupied according to personal settings, a decrease in communication speed or insufficient memory capacity can be prevented.

[0064] (Aspect 2) The information processing system according to aspect 1, wherein the mask intensity is set for each category of the personal behavior information, and generating the coarse information includes generating the coarse information according to the mask intensity corresponding to the category of the personal behavior information.

[0065] This configuration allows for increased flexibility in simplifying personal behavior information by utilizing categories of personal behavior information. For example, categories could include the type of location of an individual's activity, the time of day of an individual's activity, or the type of individual's activity.

[0066] (Aspect 3) The information processing system according to aspect 1 or 2, wherein the mask intensity is set to differ according to the position range to which the location of the individual's action belongs, the processing circuit is configured to acquire position information indicating the location of the individual's action, and generating the coarse information includes generating the coarse information according to the mask intensity corresponding to the position range to which the position indicated by the position information belongs.

[0067] This configuration allows for increased flexibility in the grading of personal behavior information by utilizing the location range to which an individual's actions belong. For example, by increasing the mask intensity when an individual is near a restroom and decreasing it when an individual is near a store, it is possible to achieve both increased freedom of individual actions and appropriate information processing.

[0068] (Aspect 4) The information processing system according to any one of aspects 1 to 3, wherein the mask intensity is set to differ according to the time range to which the time of the individual's action belongs, the processing circuit is configured to acquire time information indicating the time of the individual's action, and generating the coarse information includes generating the coarse information according to the mask intensity corresponding to the time range to which the time indicated by the time information belongs.

[0069] This configuration allows for increased flexibility in the scrutiny of individual behavior information by utilizing the time range to which an individual's actions belong. For example, by increasing the mask strength when an individual's actions occur during working hours and decreasing it when they occur during breaks, it is possible to achieve both increased flexibility in individual actions and appropriate information processing.

[0070] (Aspect 5) The information processing system according to any one of aspects 1 to 4, wherein the at least one individual includes multiple individuals, and the mask strength is set individually for each individual.

[0071] This configuration can improve the usability of the system.

[0072] (Aspect 6) The information processing system according to any one of aspects 1 to 5, wherein the personal activity information includes at least one selected from the group consisting of the individual's location information, the individual's travel history information, the individual's search history information, and the individual's purchase history information.

[0073] This configuration allows for flexible and appropriate handling of information regarding an individual's location, movement history, search history, or purchase history, depending on the mask strength set for that individual.

[0074] (Aspect 7) The information processing system according to any one of aspects 1 to 6, wherein the information processing includes inputting the coarse information into an analysis process that analyzes the behavioral tendencies of the individual.

[0075] This configuration allows for the flexible and appropriate handling of information regarding an individual's behavior, while simultaneously providing that information for predetermined analytical processes.

[0076] (Aspect 8) The information processing system according to any one of aspects 1 to 7, wherein the information processing includes generating output information used for display that can be seen by a person other than the individual, based on the coarse information.

[0077] This configuration allows for the simplification of information about an individual's behavior before it is displayed to others. Therefore, it is possible to provide information about an individual's behavior to others while simultaneously handling that information flexibly and appropriately.

[0078] (Aspect 9) The information processing system according to any one of aspects 1 to 8, wherein generating the coarse information includes obtaining the output of a predetermined machine learning model into which the personal behavior information has been input, and at least one of the number of layers and the number of parameters of the machine learning model is determined according to the mask strength.

[0079] This configuration allows for easy adjustment of the level of detail in personal behavioral information used for machine learning, depending on the mask strength.

[0080] (Aspect 10) An information processing method comprising: obtaining a mask intensity indicating the degree of information coarseness set for a specific individual; obtaining personal behavior information relating to the actions of the individual; generating coarse information obtained by reducing the level of detail of the personal behavior information according to the mask intensity, such that the level of detail of the personal behavior information decreases as the mask intensity increases; and using the coarse information in place of the personal behavior information for predetermined information processing.

[0081] (Aspect 11) An information processing program that causes at least one processor to execute the method described in Aspect 10.

[0082] 1 Information processing system 3 Individual 4 Information processing terminal 7 Server 10 Processing circuit 11 Processor 20 Processing circuit 21 Processor 40 Machine learning model P1, P2 Program

Claims

1. An information processing system comprising a processing circuit, the processing circuit being configured to: acquire a mask intensity indicating the degree of information coarseness set for at least one individual; acquire personal behavior information relating to the actions of the individual; generate coarse information obtained by reducing the level of detail of the personal behavior information according to the mask intensity, such that the level of detail of the personal behavior information decreases as the mask intensity increases; and use the coarse information in place of the personal behavior information for predetermined information processing.

2. The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the mask intensity is set for each category of the personal behavior information, and generating the coarse information includes generating the coarse information according to the mask intensity corresponding to the category of the personal behavior information.

3. The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the mask intensity is set to differ according to the position range to which the location of the individual's action belongs, the processing circuit is configured to acquire position information indicating the location of the individual's action, and generating the coarse information includes generating the coarse information according to the mask intensity corresponding to the position range to which the location indicated by the position information belongs.

4. The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the mask intensity is set to differ according to the time range to which the time of the individual's action belongs, the processing circuit is configured to acquire time information indicating the time of the individual's action, and generating the coarse information includes generating the coarse information according to the mask intensity corresponding to the time range to which the time indicated by the time information belongs.

5. The information processing system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one individual includes multiple individuals, and the mask strength is set individually for each individual.

6. The information processing system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the personal activity information includes at least one selected from the group consisting of the individual's location information, the individual's travel history information, the individual's search history information, and the individual's purchase history information.

7. The information processing system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the information processing includes inputting the coarse information into an analysis process that analyzes the behavioral tendencies of the individual.

8. The information processing system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the information processing includes generating output information used for display that can be seen by a person other than the individual, based on the coarse information.

9. The information processing management system according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein generating the coarse information includes obtaining the output of a predetermined machine learning model into which the personal behavior information has been input, and at least one of the number of layers and the number of parameters of the machine learning model is determined according to the mask strength.

10. An information processing method comprising: obtaining a mask intensity indicating the degree of information coarseness set for a specific individual; obtaining personal behavior information relating to the actions of the individual; generating coarse information obtained by reducing the level of detail of the personal behavior information according to the mask intensity, such that the level of detail of the personal behavior information decreases as the mask intensity increases; and using the coarse information in place of the personal behavior information for a predetermined information processing.

11. An information processing program that causes at least one processor to execute the method according to claim 10.

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