JP2006107136A - Information provision device - Google Patents

Abstract

It is possible to reliably provide a user with genre content information having a high degree of necessity.
An information center 200 that stores various content information and an in-vehicle navigation device 100 communicate with each other via a communication terminal 150. The selected genre of content information requested to be acquired from the information center 200 is set, and the in-vehicle navigation device 100 sets the provision priority for each selected genre. Further, when the in-vehicle navigation device 100 acquires the content information of the selected genre from the information center 200, the in-vehicle navigation device 100 provides the user with the content information of the selected genre having a higher provision priority. This makes it possible to reliably provide the user with genre content information having a high degree of necessity.
[Selection] Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to an information providing apparatus.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, an information providing apparatus capable of providing information suitable for a user's preference including information such as new work newly registered in a server has been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1). According to the information providing apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1, for example, the terminal transmits a user ID for identifying the user to the server prior to using the information. The server stores the information ID for identifying the information to be provided, the creator or genre of the information, and the registration date and time of the information, stores the user ID and the information ID when the user uses the information, and the author or genre of the information. Calculate the similarity between users. And the author or genre of the information suitable for the user's preference using a terminal is selected using the similarity between users, and the selected information is preferentially provided to the terminal.
JP 2000-112972 A

  As described above, in the conventional information providing device, when the selected information suitable for the user's preference is information of a plurality of genres, the order in which the information of the plurality of genres is provided to the user is mentioned. Was not. For this reason, the problem that the information of a genre with a low necessity was previously provided with respect to the user rather than the information of a genre with a high necessity might arise.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described points, and an object thereof is to provide an information providing apparatus that can reliably provide a user with content information of a genre having a high degree of necessity.

In order to achieve the above object, an information providing apparatus according to claim 1 is provided.
Communication means for communicating with an information center storing various content information;
A selection means for selecting a genre of content information to be acquired from the information center;
Provision priority setting means for setting provision priority for each selected genre;
Acquisition means for acquiring content information of a genre selected from the information center via the communication means;
And an information providing means for providing the acquired content information based on the set provision priority.

  As described above, in the information providing apparatus according to the first aspect, the genre of the content information requested for acquisition from the information center is selected, and the provision priority is set for each selected genre. When the device acquires the content information of the selected genre from the information center, the device sequentially provides the user with the content information of the set genre having the higher provision priority. This makes it possible to reliably provide the user with genre content information having a high degree of necessity.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided provision ratio setting means for setting a provision ratio for each selected genre, and the provision priority setting means increases the provision priority in the order of the set genres with the highest provision ratio. It is preferable to set. It is conceivable that the user increases the provision ratio of content information of a genre with a high degree of necessity. For this reason, a provision priority is set high in order of a genre with a high provision ratio. For example, when the set ratio for each genre is “news 60%, sports 30%, weather forecast 10%”, the provision priority is set to “news”, “sports”, “weather forecast” in descending order. .

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a provision requesting means for requesting provision of one piece of content information from various content information, and a counting means for counting the number of provision requests for each genre of the requested content information. The means can also select a genre for which the provision request count has been counted at least once by the counting means. The genre of content information requested to be provided by the user is considered to be suitable for the user's preference. Thereby, the said apparatus can select the genre suitable for a user preference.

  As described in claim 4, the provision ratio setting means can set the provision ratio for each genre based on the number of provision requests. Thus, the apparatus can set the provision ratio for each genre based on the number of provision requests. For example, when the number of provision requests for each genre is “news 50 times, stock price 30 times, entertainment 20 times”, the provision ratio is set to “news 50%, stock price 30%, entertainment 20%”.

  As described in claim 5, the information providing means preferably provides an amount of content information corresponding to the set provision ratio in descending order of provision priority. For example, when the provision ratio is set to “News 60%, Sports 40%”, first, six pieces of content information relating to “News” having a high provision priority are provided, and then, “Sports”. Four pieces of content information are provided. Further, for example, in 10 minutes, content information related to “news” having a high provision priority is first provided for 6 minutes, and then content information related to “sports” is provided for 4 minutes. Accordingly, it is possible to efficiently provide the user with content information of a genre with a high degree of necessity.

  The map data storing means for storing the map data including the road shape, the guide route searching means for searching the guide route from the departure place to the destination using the map data, and the guide route as described in claim 6 The information providing means calculates the amount of content information that can be provided within the calculated required time, and calculates the amount of the content information. It is preferable to determine the amount of content information to be provided for each genre in consideration of the provision ratio of each genre. When the apparatus has a guide route search function, content information can be efficiently provided to the user within a limited time required from the departure point to the destination in the guide route.

  As described in claim 7, when the acquired content information includes emergency content information, the information providing means can also provide emergency content information immediately. Thereby, it is possible to reliably provide the user with emergency content information such as typhoon information immediately.

  As described in claim 8, it is preferable that the information providing means provides the content information in order from the latest creation date of the content information. Accordingly, it is possible to reliably provide the user with the latest content information in the selected genre.

(First embodiment)
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the present embodiment, an example in which the information providing apparatus is applied to an in-vehicle navigation apparatus will be described. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a schematic configuration of an in-vehicle navigation device 100 according to the present embodiment. Hereinafter, the in-vehicle navigation device 100 according to the present embodiment will be described in detail.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the in-vehicle navigation device 100 includes a speaker 11, a position detector 12, a map data input unit 13, an operation switch 14, a display unit 15, a navigation ECU 20, and a browser ECU 30. The in-vehicle navigation device 100 performs communication with the information center 200 via the communication terminal 150.

  The information center 200 stores content information of various genres (for example, news, sports, weather forecasts, etc.), and the content information of the genre selected by the user is transmitted to the in-vehicle navigation device 100 via the communication terminal 150 described later. Send to.

  This content information is given a genre ID, which is a unique number for specifying the genre of the content information, and creation date / time data for specifying the creation date / time of the content information. Specifically, for example, as shown in FIG. 5, the genre ID and the genre correspond uniquely. FIG. 5 is a table showing the correspondence between genre IDs and genres. In the example of FIG. 5, the genre ID “ID01” uniquely corresponds to the genre “news”. As an example of the creation date / time data, if the creation date / time of the content information is “September 6, 2004 10:31”, the creation date / time data is “200409090631”.

  The information center 200 may store real-time traffic information and download information such as music as content information of various genres.

  The communication terminal 150 uses a high-speed communication infrastructure. For example, it transmits / receives with the information center 200 via the antenna printed on the windshield of the vehicle, and transfers the content information of the genre selected by the user to the in-vehicle navigation device 100 at a speed of 144 bps. In addition, a mobile phone terminal may be used as the communication terminal 150.

  The speaker 11 outputs various guidance processed by the navigation ECU 20 and content information acquired from the information center 200 by voice.

  The position detector 12 receives a radio wave (GPS signal) from an artificial satellite for a global positioning system (GPS) via a GPS antenna and detects a position, direction, speed, etc. of the vehicle, a GPS receiver 12a, A gyroscope 12b that detects the traveling direction based on the magnitude of the rotational motion applied to the vehicle, and a vehicle speed sensor 12c that includes a vehicle speed sensor, a wheel sensor, and the like and that detects the travel distance of the vehicle are provided. Each of the sensors 12a to 12c has an error of a different property, and is configured to be used while complementing each other. Depending on the accuracy, the sensor may be configured using only a part of the above-described sensors 12a to 12c, or from a geomagnetic sensor for detecting an absolute direction based on geomagnetism, a rotation difference between left and right steering wheels, or the like. You may use the sensor etc. which accumulate | store the steering angle of the vehicle obtained, and obtain | require a direction.

  The map data input unit 13 is a device for inputting so-called map matching data data for improving the accuracy of position detection and various data including road data representing road connections from a storage medium. As a storage medium, a CD-ROM or a DVD is generally used because of the amount of data, but another medium such as a memory card may be used.

  By the way, the format of the road data includes link data, node data, and link connection information. The link data includes a link ID, which is a unique number for identifying a link, a road type (link class) for identifying, for example, an expressway, a toll road, a general road, or an attachment road, and the width of the road. The road width information indicating the number of lanes or the presence of a median, the start and end coordinates of the link, the road length (link length) indicating the link length, link cost, and the like. On the other hand, the node data includes information such as a node ID that is a unique number of nodes connecting the links, prohibition of turning left and right at intersections, presence / absence of traffic lights, and passing costs. In addition, in the link connection information, for example, data indicating whether or not traffic is permitted for reasons such as one-way traffic is set. Even in the case of the same link, for example, in the case of one-way traffic, it is possible to pass from one link but not from another link. Therefore, whether or not traffic is allowed is determined depending on the connection mode between the links.

  As the operation switch 14, a touch switch configured integrally with the display unit 15 and set on the display screen, a mechanical key switch provided around the display unit 15, and the like are used. The touch switch is composed of an infrared sensor arranged indefinitely on the screen of the display unit 15. For example, when the infrared ray is cut off with a finger, a touch pen, etc., the cut off position becomes a two-dimensional coordinate value (X, Y). Thus, a predetermined instruction can be input by directly touching the display screen.

  The operation switch 14 is various switches for operating the vehicle-mounted navigation device 100. Specifically, the operation switch 14 is a switch for switching display contents to be displayed on the display unit 15 or a route (route) to the destination by the user. ) Includes a switch for setting. The operation switch 14 is also used to set a genre (hereinafter referred to as a selected genre) of content information that the user wants to acquire and a provision ratio for each selected genre.

  The genre ID corresponding to the set selected genre and the provision ratio are transmitted via the operation switch 14 to the information control unit 31 described later via the navigation I / F unit 24 described later.

  The display unit 15 is composed of, for example, a liquid crystal display panel, and the screen displays a mark indicating the current location of the vehicle detected by the position detector 12, road data input from the map data input unit 22, and a map. Additional data such as guidance routes, names, and landmarks to be displayed can be displayed in an overlapping manner. In addition, content information acquired from the information center 200 can be displayed.

  The navigation ECU 20 is configured around a known microcomputer including a CPU, a ROM, and a RAM, and includes a route search unit 21, a voice control unit 22, a display control unit 23, and a navigation I / F unit 24.

  The route search unit 21 searches for an optimum guide route from the departure point to the destination. As this route search method, a method such as the Dijkstra method is known. Further, the required time from the departure point to the destination in the searched guidance route is calculated. Specifically, the distance from the departure point to the destination in the searched guidance route is calculated from the map data input unit 13. The required time is obtained by dividing the above distance by a predetermined vehicle speed. Further, the calculated required time is transmitted to the information control unit 31 via the navigation I / F unit 24.

  The voice control unit 22 performs voice guidance such as the traveling direction of the vehicle on the guidance route via the speaker 11 based on the current position of the vehicle. Also, the content information acquired from the information center 200 is read out by voice through the speaker 11.

  The display control unit 23 highlights the guidance route searched by the route search unit 21 on the road data, and displays it on the display unit 15. The content information acquired from the information center 200 is displayed on the display unit 15. The navigation I / F unit 24 is an interface for transmitting and receiving data between the navigation ECU 20 and the browser ECU 30.

  The browser ECU 30 is configured around a known microcomputer including a CPU, a ROM, and a RAM, and includes an information control unit 31, a required time storage unit 32, an information attribute storage unit 33, a communication control unit 34, and a content storage unit 35. It has.

  The information control unit 31 transmits the time required for the vehicle to reach the destination from the departure place to the required time storage unit 32. The required time storage unit 32 stores the received required time. In addition, the information control unit 31 transmits the genre ID and the provision ratio to the information attribute storage unit 33. Furthermore, provision priority is set based on the provision ratio. Specifically, the provision priority is set higher in the order of the selected genre with the higher provision ratio. As an example, provided when the selected genre is “news”, “sports”, “weather forecast” and the provision ratio is “news 60%”, “sports 30%”, “weather forecast 10%” The priority is set higher in the order of “news”, “sports”, and “weather forecast”. Further, the set provision priority is transmitted to the information attribute storage unit 33.

  The information attribute storage unit 33 stores the received genre ID, provision ratio, and provision priority. Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the information attribute storage unit 33 has a configuration in which a genre ID, the genre ID, a provision ratio, and a provision priority are stored in a one-to-one correspondence. In order to indicate the high provision priority, a numerical value “n” is assigned to the selected genre with the nth highest provision priority. In the example of FIG. 6, a numerical value “01” indicating a high provision priority is assigned to the genre ID “ID01” having the highest provision priority.

  In addition, the information control unit 31 extracts the genre ID stored in the information attribute storage unit 33. The extracted genre ID is transmitted to the communication control unit 34.

  The communication control unit 34 transmits the received genre ID to the information center 200 via the communication terminal 150 so that the content information of the selected genre corresponding to the received genre ID can be acquired from the information center 200. In addition, the communication control unit 34 transmits the content information acquired from the information center 200 to the content storage unit 35.

  The content storage unit 35 stores the received content information. Further, as shown in FIG. 7, the content storage unit 35 is configured to store NO indicating the order in which the content information is acquired, genre ID, creation date / time data, text data indicating the content information, and the like. ing.

  Further, the information control unit 31 extracts the required time from the required time storage unit 32. Furthermore, the genre ID, the provision ratio, and the provision priority are extracted from the information attribute storage unit 33. The content information stored in the content storage unit 35 is rearranged based on the extracted required time, genre ID, provision ratio, and provision priority.

  Here, a method for rearranging the content information stored in the content storage unit 35 will be described. First, the number of content information that can be read out by voice within the extracted required time is calculated. In order to calculate the number of pieces of content information, the time required to read out one piece of content information by voice is set to 3 minutes. It should be noted that data indicating the time required to read out by voice is given to each content information in advance, and the number of content information may be calculated using the data. Next, the number of pieces of content information in each selected genre that can be read out by voice according to the provision ratio within a predetermined time is calculated. Finally, the number of pieces of content information corresponding to the provision ratio calculated are rearranged based on the provision priority. At this time, for each genre ID, the creation date and time corresponding to the creation date and time data of the content information is rearranged in order.

  Specifically, for example, the required time is “60 minutes”, and the provision ratio is “news 60%”, “sports 30%”, and “weather forecast 10%”. Further, the content information as shown in FIG. 7 is stored in the content storage unit 35. First, the number of content information that can be read out by voice within the required time of 60 minutes is calculated as “60 ÷ 3 = 20”. Next, within 60 minutes, the number of content information in each selected genre that can be read out by voice in accordance with the provision ratio is “news: 20 × 0.6 = 12,” “sports: 20 × 0.3 = 6 ”and“ weather forecast: 20 × 0.1 = 2 ”. Finally, based on the provision priority, 12 pieces of content information relating to “news”, 6 pieces of content information relating to “sports”, and 2 pieces of content information relating to “weather forecast” are rearranged in this order. For each selected genre, the creation date is rearranged in order from the newest content information. As a result, the content information stored in the content storage unit 35 as shown in the example of FIG. 7 is rearranged as shown in FIG. The rearranged content information is transmitted to the navigation ECU 20 via the navigation I / F unit 24 in order from NO “1”.

  By providing the above-described configuration, the in-vehicle navigation device 100 according to the present embodiment acquires content information of a genre (for example, news, sports, weather forecast, etc.) selected by the user from the information center 200, and provides priority to the user. The content information is provided in order from the most popular genre. The user can set the provision ratio (for example, news 60%, sports 30%, weather forecast 10%) for each selected genre. The provision priority is set higher in the order of the genre having the higher provision ratio. Further, when the in-vehicle navigation device 100 has a route search function, according to the provision ratio in the order of the genre with the high provision priority according to the required time from the current position to the destination in the searched guidance route. Provide content information.

  Next, the process performed in the vehicle-mounted navigation apparatus 100 and the information center 200 is demonstrated using the flowchart of FIG. Note that each step described on the left side of FIG. 2 indicates processing executed in the in-vehicle navigation device 100 that is an in-vehicle device, and the step described on the right side indicates processing executed in the information center 200. As a specific example, the arrival time from the current position to the destination is 30 minutes, the selected genre is “News”, “Sports”, and the provision ratio is “News 70%”, “Sports 30%” ”Will be described.

  First, in step S10 of FIG. 2, the current position of the vehicle is detected. At this time, the position data by the GPS receiver 12a is acquired in the same form as the coordinate data (latitude and longitude) of the road data described above. Further, data on the traveling direction and travel distance of the host vehicle is acquired by a geomagnetic sensor (not shown), gyroscope 12b, and vehicle speed sensor 12c, and the coordinates of the current position are based on the vehicle position calculated or determined in the past. Calculate data (calculation of coordinate data by self-contained navigation). The current position is basically obtained based on coordinate data calculated by self-contained navigation. However, when the position data by the GPS receiver 12a is acquired, the two are compared, and when the difference is equal to or greater than a predetermined distance, the position data by the GPS receiver 12a is adopted as the current position.

  In step S <b> 20, map data of the surrounding map including the current position of the vehicle is read from the map data input unit 13 and displayed on the display unit 15.

  In step S30, the selected genre of content information requested for acquisition from the information center 200 is set. Specifically, for example, a selected genre setting screen 310 as shown in FIG. 3 is displayed on the display unit 15. Here, “news” and “sports” are set as selection genres by selecting the items “news” and “sports”. Then, the genre ID corresponding to the set selected genre is stored in the information attribute storage unit 33 via the navigation I / F unit 24. Here, genre IDs “ID01” and “ID02” (see FIG. 5) corresponding to the selected genres “news” and “sports” are stored in the information attribute storage unit 33.

  In step S40, a provision ratio is set for each selected genre set in step S30. Specifically, for example, a provision ratio setting screen 320 as shown in FIG. 4 is displayed on the display unit 15. On the left side of the provision ratio setting screen 320, numbers from 0 to 9 are displayed, and the provision ratio desired by the user is input via these numbers. Here, the provision ratios are set to “70%” and “30%” for the selected genres “news” and “sports” set in step S50, respectively. The set provision ratio is stored in the information attribute storage unit 33 via the navigation I / F unit 24.

  In step S50, the provision priority is set for each selected genre. Here, the provision priority is set higher in the order of the selected genre with the higher provision ratio, that is, “news” and “sports”. It is conceivable that the user increases the provision ratio of content information of a genre with a high degree of necessity. For this reason, a provision priority is set high in order of a genre with a high provision ratio. The set provision priority is stored in the information attribute storage unit 33 via the navigation I / F unit 24. Here, numerical values “(news) 01” and “(sports) 02” indicating the high provision priority are stored in the information attribute storage unit 33.

  In step S30 to step S50, the set genre ID, provision ratio, and provision priority are stored in the information attribute storage unit 33 in the configuration shown in FIG.

  In step S60, the information control unit 31 extracts the genre ID stored in the information attribute storage unit 33 in step S30, and transmits the extracted genre ID to the communication control unit 34. Here, the genre IDs “ID01” and “ID02” are extracted from the information attribute storage unit 33.

  In step S <b> 70, the communication control unit 34 transmits the received genre ID to the information center 200 via the communication terminal 150. Here, the communication control unit 34 transmits the genre IDs “ID01” and “ID02” to the information center 200 via the communication terminal 150.

  In step S <b> 80, the information center 200 transmits the content information of the genre corresponding to the received genre ID to the communication control unit 34 via the communication terminal 150. Here, the information center 200 transmits the content information of the genres “news” and “sports” corresponding to the genre IDs “ID01” and “ID02” to the communication control unit 34 via the communication terminal 150.

  In step S90, the communication control unit 34 receives the content information transmitted from the information center 200, and stores the received content information in the content storage unit 35.

  In step S100, a destination is set. Specifically, for example, a destination setting menu is displayed on the display unit 15. This destination setting menu includes “search by name”, “search by genre”, “search by phone number”, and the like. The user selects one of the destination setting menus and inputs a search condition corresponding to the selected menu. For example, when the user selects “Search by telephone number”, the telephone number “000-123-4567” of the facility desired by the user is input as a search condition, and the route search unit 22 receives the input telephone number. Search for facility data having a telephone number matching "000-123-4567". A facility corresponding to the retrieved facility data is set as a destination.

  In step S110, the required time from the current position detected in step S10 to the current position set in step S100 is calculated. Specifically, the route search unit 21 searches for a guide route from the current position detected in step S10 to the destination set in step S100. The distance from the current position to the destination in this guidance route is calculated from the map data input unit 13. The required time is obtained by dividing the above distance by a predetermined vehicle speed. Then, the calculated required time is stored in the required time storage unit 32 via the navigation I / F unit 24. Here, the required time “30 minutes” is stored in the required time storage unit 32.

  In step S120, the information control unit 31 extracts the required time stored in the required time storage unit 32 in step S110. Here, the required time “30 minutes” is extracted from the required time storage unit 32.

  In step S130, the information control unit 31 extracts the provision ratio and provision priority stored in the information attribute storage unit 33 in steps S60 and S70. Here, the provision ratios “(news) 70%”, “(sports) 30%”, and provision priorities “(news) 01” and “(sports) 02” are extracted from the information attribute storage unit 33.

  In step S140, the information control unit 31 arranges the content information stored in the content storage unit 35 based on the required time extracted in step S120, the provision ratio extracted in step S130, and the provision priority. Change. Here, since the required time is 30 minutes, the number of content information that can be read out by voice within the required time is “30 ÷ 3 = 10”. Further, the content information is rearranged in the order of seven (= 10 × 0.7) content information related to “news” and three (= 10 × 0.3) content information related to “sports” based on the provision priority. At this time, for each selected genre, the creation date corresponding to the creation date data of the content information is rearranged in order from the newest.

  In step S120, the content information rearranged in step S110 is sequentially provided to the user. Here, the creation date and time related to “news” is provided to the user in order from the latest content information. Specifically, these pieces of content information are read aloud through the speaker 11 and displayed on the display unit 15. Thereby, content information can be efficiently provided to the user within a limited time required from the departure point to the destination in the guidance route. In addition, the latest content information in the selected genre can be reliably provided to the user.

(Modification)
In the first embodiment described above, the set provision ratio may be changed according to a change in the user's preference. Specifically, for example, a provision ratio change screen 330 as shown in FIG. 10 is displayed on the display unit 15. On the right side of the provision ratio change screen 330, the currently selected genre and the current provision ratio of the selected genre are displayed. Also, numbers from 0 to 9 are displayed on the left side of the provision ratio setting screen 330, and the changed provision ratio desired by the user is input via these numbers. In the example of FIG. 10, the current provision ratios are set to “70%” and “30%” for the selected genres “news” and “sports”, respectively. And the provision ratio after the change input through the numbers from 0 to 9 is set to “60%” and “40%”, respectively.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. The in-vehicle navigation device according to the present embodiment has the same configuration as the in-vehicle navigation device 100 according to the second embodiment described above. In addition, regarding the main routine of the control process executed in the in-vehicle navigation device, the in-vehicle navigation device according to the second embodiment performs substantially the same processing as the in-vehicle navigation device 100 according to the first embodiment. Therefore, descriptions of these configurations and main routine processing will be omitted.

  The difference between the in-vehicle navigation device according to the first embodiment and the second embodiment is in the rearrangement of the received content information. In the second embodiment, the destination is set, and the content information is not rearranged according to the provision ratio within the required time to the destination, and the content is set according to the provision ratio without setting the destination. Rearrange information.

  In the first embodiment described above, in order to rearrange the received content information, a destination is set, and a required time in the guide route from the current position to the destination is required. On the other hand, in the second embodiment, the received content information is rearranged without setting the destination. For this reason, as shown in the main routine of FIG. 11, processes corresponding to steps S100 to S120 of FIG. 2 are omitted.

  Here, the rearrangement of the content information stored in the content storage unit 35 in the second embodiment will be described. First, the set provision rate is expressed as a simple ratio. For example, the provision ratio is “news 60%”, “sports 30%”, and “weather forecast 10%”. When these provision ratios are expressed in a simple ratio, “news: sports: weather forecast” = “6: 3: 1”. Next, based on the represented ratio, the content information of the number corresponding to the represented ratio is rearranged in the order of the selected genre with the high provision priority. At this time, as in the first embodiment, the creation date and time corresponding to the creation date and time data of the content information is rearranged in order from the latest for each genre ID. For example, when “news: sports: weather forecast” = “6: 3: 1” is expressed, based on the provision priority, six pieces of content information about “news” and three pieces about “sports” The content information is rearranged in the order of one piece of content information related to “weather forecast”. For each selected genre, the creation date is rearranged in order from the newest content information. As a result, the content information stored in the content storage unit 35 as in the example of FIG. 12 is rearranged as shown in FIG.

  In the above example, since “news: sports: weather forecast” = “6: 3: 1” = “12: 6: 2”, 12 contents related to “news” based on the priority of provision. Information, six pieces of content information related to “sports”, and two pieces of content information related to “weather forecast” may be rearranged in this order.

  Accordingly, it is possible to efficiently provide the user with content information of a genre with a high degree of necessity.

(Modification)
In the second embodiment described above, the example in which the content information is rearranged by expressing the set provision ratio by a simple ratio has been described. However, the content information may be rearranged according to the provision ratio based on the predetermined time. For example, when the provision ratio is set to “news 70%, stock price 30%”, the content information related to the news with high provision priority is first provided for 7 minutes in a predetermined time of 10 minutes, and then Provides content information about stock prices for 3 minutes. Moreover, you may enable it for a user to change the predetermined time mentioned above.

  As described above, according to each embodiment, the genre of content information requested to be acquired from the information center 200 is selected, and the device can set the provision priority for each selected genre. When the device acquires the content information of the selected genre from the information center 200, the device sequentially provides the user with the content information of the genre having the higher provision priority. This makes it possible to reliably provide the user with genre content information having a high degree of necessity.

  The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

  For example, in each of the above-described embodiments, an example has been described in which the user selects a genre requested for acquisition from the information center 200. However, the device may learn a user's preference and select a genre to be acquired from the information center 200. Specifically, for example, a content information list screen 340 as shown in FIG. 14 is displayed on the display unit 15. The content information list screen 340 displays a list of content information that can be provided by the device at the present time. As an example, the user selects the “entertainment A” item from the content information list screen 340 and requests the apparatus to provide content information related to “entertainment A”. As described above, when the user selects content information desired and requests the device to provide the content information, the device requests the user to provide each genre (hereinafter referred to as a provision request count). Count. The genre of content information requested to be provided by the user is considered to be suitable for the user's preference. For this reason, the device selects a genre for which the provision request count is counted at least once, and acquires content information of the selected genre from the information center 200. Thereby, the said apparatus can select the genre suitable for a user preference.

  Moreover, in each embodiment mentioned above, the example which a user sets a provision rate was demonstrated. However, the apparatus may set the provision ratio for each selected genre based on the number of provision requests described above. For example, in the case where the number of provision requests for each genre is “70 news, 30 entertainments”, the device requests the content information to be provided at a ratio of “news: entertainment” = “7: 3”. Can be considered. For this reason, the apparatus sets the provision ratio of the content information provided to the user as “news 70%, entertainment 30%”. Thereby, the said apparatus can set the provision ratio for every genre based on the frequency | count of a provision request.

  Further, in each of the above-described embodiments, when the content information acquired from the information center 200 includes emergency content information, the emergency content information may be provided immediately. For example, it is assumed that the content information acquired from the information center 200 includes emergency content information of typhoon information related to “weather forecast”. At this time, even if the user has not selected “weather forecast” as the selected genre, the apparatus can provide the user with the emergency content information as the selected genre having the highest provision priority. Even when the provision priority of “weather forecast” is the lowest, it can be provided to the user from the emergency content information. Thereby, it is possible to reliably provide the user with emergency content information such as typhoon information immediately.

It is a block diagram which shows schematic structure of the vehicle-mounted navigation apparatus 100 by 1st Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the main routine of the control processing performed in the vehicle-mounted navigation apparatus in 1st Embodiment. It is an image figure which shows the example of a display of the selection genre setting screen 310 in 1st Embodiment. It is an image figure which shows the example of a display of the provision ratio setting screen 320 in 1st Embodiment. It is a table | surface which shows the example of the correspondence of genre ID and a genre in 1st Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the structure of the information attribute storage part 32 in 1st Embodiment using a 1st specific example. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the structure of the content storage part 35 in 1st Embodiment using a specific example. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the structure of the content storage part 35 after content information rearrangement in 1st Embodiment using a specific example. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the structure of the information attribute storage part 32 in 1st Embodiment using a 2nd specific example. It is an image figure which shows the example of a display of the provision ratio change screen 330 in 1st Embodiment. It is a flowchart which shows the main routine of the control processing performed in the vehicle-mounted navigation apparatus in 2nd Embodiment. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the structure of the content storage part 35 in 2nd Embodiment using a specific example. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the structure of the content storage part 35 after content information rearrangement in 2nd Embodiment using a 2nd specific example. It is an image figure which shows the example of a display of the content information list screen 340 in each embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 11 ... Speaker 12 ... Position detector 13 ... Map data input part 14 ... Operation switch 15 ... Display part 20 ... Navi ECU
21 ... Route search unit 22 ... Voice control unit 23 ... Display control unit 24 ... Navigation I / F unit 30 ... Browser ECU
31 ... Information control unit 32 ... Time required storage unit 33 ... Information attribute storage unit 34 ... Communication control unit 35 ... Content storage unit 150 ... Communication terminal 200 ... Information center

Claims (8)

Communication means for communicating with an information center storing various content information;
Selecting means for selecting a genre of content information to be acquired from the information center;
Provision priority setting means for setting provision priority for each of the selected genres;
Obtaining means for obtaining content information of the selected genre from the information center via the communication means;
An information providing apparatus comprising: information providing means for providing the acquired content information based on the set provision priority. Providing ratio setting means for setting a providing ratio for each of the selected genres;
The information providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the provision priority setting unit sets a provision priority in a descending order of the set genres having a high provision ratio. Provision request means for requesting provision of one piece of content information from various pieces of content information;
Counting means for counting the number of provision requests for each genre of the requested content information,
The information providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the selection unit selects a genre in which the number of provision requests is counted at least once by the counting unit.   The information provision apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the provision ratio setting unit sets a provision ratio for each genre based on the number of provision requests.   5. The information provision according to claim 2, wherein the information provision unit provides an amount of content information corresponding to the set provision ratio in descending order of the provision priority. apparatus. Map data storage means for storing map data including road shapes;
Using the map data, a guide route search means for searching a guide route from the departure place to the destination;
A calculating means for calculating a required time from the departure point to the destination in the guide route;
The information providing means calculates the content information amount that can be provided within the calculated required time, and considers the provision ratio of each genre with respect to the content information amount, and the content to be provided for each genre 6. The information providing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein an amount of information is determined.   The emergency information is included in the acquired content information, and the information providing unit provides the emergency content information immediately. Information providing device.   8. The information providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the information providing unit provides the content information in order from the latest creation date of the content information.

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