This application is a U.S. National Phase Patent Application and claims priority to and the benefit of International Application Number PCT/JP2017/001047, filed on Jan. 13, 2017, which claims priority of Japanese Patent Application Number 2016-058903, filed on Mar. 23, 2016, the entire contents of all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to a server system, an information system, and an in-vehicle apparatus.
Conventionally, there has been known a system for automatically providing content according to the circumstances of a user who is driving a vehicle by connecting an in-vehicle apparatus and a smartphone with a server system via wireless communication (see PTL 1).
PTL 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2015-52980
The technology described in PTL 1 automatically provides the content according to the circumstances of the user regardless of whether or not the user actually made a demand to do so. Therefore, the content in which the user's demand is reflected appropriately can not always be provided.
According to a first embodiment of the present invention, a server system includes: a related word storage unit that stores information representing a relation between a plurality of registered words; a content storage unit that stores information about a content corresponding to any one of the plurality of words; a communication unit that acquires an input word; a related word search unit that searches for a related word, which is related to the acquired input word, by using the related word storage unit; and a content determination unit that provides a user with any of information about a content corresponding to the input word and information about a content corresponding to the related word.
According to a second embodiment of the present invention, the server system according to the first embodiment should preferably include a related word modification unit that registers the acquired input word in the related word storage unit in a state capable of changing association between the acquired input word and other words when the acquired input word is not registered in the related word storage unit, wherein the related word modification unit registers a word corresponding to content selected by the user, from among information about contents provided by the content determination unit, and the acquired input word in the related word storage unit by associating with each other.
According to a third embodiment of the present invention, it is preferable with the server system according to the second embodiment that when the acquired input word which is registered in the related word storage unit is acquired again, the related word modification unit should change the word associated with the input word in the related word storage unit.
According to a fourth embodiment of the present invention, it is preferable with the server system according to the third embodiment that the related word modification unit should limit the number of times the word associated with the acquired input word can be changed to a specified upper limit number of times or less.
According to a fifth embodiment of the present invention, it is preferable with the server system according to the first embodiment that when the acquired input word is registered in the related word storage unit, the content determination unit should set a priority to each content corresponding to the acquired input word or the related word on the basis of relevance to the acquired input word.
According to a sixth embodiment of the present invention, the server system according to the first embodiment should preferably further include a vehicle status judgment unit that judges a vehicle status; and a vehicle status judgment storage unit that stores a correspondence relationship between the vehicle status and the content, wherein when the acquired input word is not registered in the related word storage unit or the input word is not acquired, the content determination unit should preferably set a priority to each of contents corresponding to words registered in the related word storage unit on the basis of a vehicle status judged by the vehicle status judgment unit by using the vehicle status judgment storage unit.
According to a seventh embodiment of the present invention, an information system includes: a related word storage unit that stores information representing a relation between a plurality of registered words; a content storage unit that stores information about a content corresponding to any one of the plurality of words; an input receiving unit that receives an input from a user; a communication unit that acquires an input word based on the input from the user received by the input receiving unit; a related word search unit that searches for a related word, which is related to the acquired input word, by using the related word storage unit; a content determination unit that provides the user with any of information about a content corresponding to the input word or information about a content corresponding to the related word; and a content display control unit that causes a display monitor to display a content selection screen for selecting either the content corresponding to the acquired input word or the content corresponding to the related word on the basis of information about contents provided by the content determination unit and provides a content selected by the user on the content selection screen.
According to an eighth embodiment of the present invention, an in-vehicle apparatus includes: an input receiving unit that receives an input from a user; a vehicle information acquisition unit that acquires vehicle information about a vehicle status; a communication processing unit that transmits an input word based on the input from the user or the vehicle information and receives priorities which are set respectively to a plurality of contents corresponding to the input word or a related word, which is related to the input word, or a plurality of contents corresponding to the vehicle status; and a content display control unit that causes a display monitor to display a content selection screen for selecting either the plurality of contents corresponding to the input word or the related words or the plurality of contents corresponding to the vehicle status and provides a content selected by the user on the content selection screen.
According to a ninth embodiment of the present invention, it is preferable with the in-vehicle apparatus according to the eighth embodiment that the content selection screen for selecting any one of the plurality of contents corresponding to the vehicle status should display an icon representing the corresponding vehicle status with respect to each of the plurality of contents.
The content in which the user's demand is reflected appropriately can be provided according to the present invention.
The CPU 11 is configured by using, for example, a microprocessor and controls the operation of each of other parts of the in-vehicle apparatus 1. Note that the in-vehicle apparatus 1 may be configured to have a navigation function by enabling the CPU 1 to execute known processing such as map display processing, destination search processing, and route search processing. In this case, the in-vehicle apparatus 1 can acquire information such as a destination setting status by means of the navigation function.
The CAN information acquisition unit 12 acquires various information about the status of a user's vehicle via a CAN (Controller Area Network) provided in the vehicle which is equipped with the in-vehicle apparatus 1 and the user gets on (hereinafter the vehicle being referred to as the user's vehicle). For example, information such as an engine operation status, a travelling speed, and a remaining fuel amount of gasoline or the like can be acquired by the CAN information acquisition unit 12.
The user's vehicle position acquisition unit 13 acquires positional information of the user's vehicle. For example, the positional information of the user's vehicle can be acquired based on a GPS signal transmitted from a GPS satellite.
The communication unit 14 connects to the public network 3 via wireless communication and communicates with the server system 2 via the public network 3. The in-vehicle apparatus 1 can transmit and receive various information described later to and from the server system 2 by means of communication using the communication unit 14. Furthermore, when a navigation apparatus separately from the in-vehicle apparatus 1 is mounted in the user's vehicle, the communication unit 14 may have a function communicating with this navigation apparatus and the information such as the destination setting status may be acquired from the navigation apparatus.
The memory 15 stores various types of information such as programs to be executed by the CPU 11. The CPU 11 can execute various processing by using the information stored in the memory 15.
The touch panel 16 has a function as a display monitor to display various screens as controlled by the CPU 11 and also has a function as a detector for detecting the user's input operation. The content of the user's input operation detected by the touch panel 16 is analyzed by the CPU 11 on the basis of the display screen of the touch panel 16 at that time.
The microphone 17 detects a voice signal when the user speaks. The user's voice signal detected by the microphone 17 is analyzed by the CPU 11 and recognized as some word. Accordingly, an input word from the user is recognized by the in-vehicle apparatus 1.
The CPU 21 is configured by using, for example, a microprocessor and controls the operation of each of other parts of the server system 2.
The related word database 22 stores information indicating the relation between respective words with regard to a plurality of words registered in advance. The server system 2 can search for words which have a high relevance to the input word from the user, as the related words corresponding to the input word on the basis of the information stored in the related word database 22.
The content database 23 stores information of various contents which can be used by the in-vehicle apparatus 1. For example, information relating to the contents such as weather forecasts, traffic information, tourist information, facility information, and news of each local area is stored in the content database 23. The server system 2 can transmit the information of the various contents stored in the content database 23 to the in-vehicle apparatus 1 and provide the user with such information according to the input word from the user and the status of the user's vehicle.
The vehicle status judgment database 24 stores weighting information of each content which is set for each assumed status of the vehicle. The server system 2 can perform weighting according to the current status of the user's vehicle with respect to each content on the basis of the information stored in the vehicle status judgment database 24.
Note that the details of the related word database 22, the content database 23, and the vehicle status judgment database 24 mentioned above will be explained later with reference to
The memory 25 stores various types of information such as programs to be executed by the CPU 21. The CPU 21 can execute various processing by using the information stored in the memory 25.
The communication unit 26 connects to the public network 3 by means of wireless communication and communicates with the in-vehicle apparatus 1 via the public network 3. The server system 2 can transmit and receive various information described later to and from the in-vehicle apparatus 1 by means of communication using the communication unit 26. For example, the server system 2 can acquire the input word by receiving information including the input word from the user, which is recognized by the in-vehicle apparatus 1, from the communication unit 26.
The input receiving unit 101 receives input from the user and outputs an input signal according to the input to the input analysis unit 102. The input receiving unit 101 corresponds to the touch panel 16 and the microphone 17 in
The input analysis unit 102 analyzes the input word from the user on the basis of the input signal from the input receiving unit 101 and outputs the analysis result to the communication processing unit 104. For example, when the input signal from the input receiving unit 101 is a voice signal, the input analysis unit 102 executes well-known voice recognition processing based on the voice signal and thereby identifies a word spoken by the user and recognizes it as an input word. Note that the voice signal may be directly output to the communication processing unit 104 without analyzing the input word from the voice signal. Furthermore, when the input signal from the input receiving unit 101 is a detection signal of the touch panel, the input analysis unit 102 identifies a word input by the user to the tough panel on the basis of the detection signal and recognizes it as the input word. The input analysis unit 102 is implemented by, for example, processing executed by the CPU 11 in
When a vehicle information request is output from the communication processing unit 104, the vehicle information acquisition unit 103 acquires vehicle information about the status of the user's vehicle in response to the vehicle information request and outputs the vehicle information to the communication processing unit 104. The vehicle information acquisition unit 103 corresponds to the CAN information acquisition unit 12, the user's vehicle position acquisition unit 13, and the communication unit 14 in
The communication processing unit 104 transmits the input word output from the input analysis unit 102 and the vehicle information output from the vehicle information acquisition unit 103 to the server system 2. Furthermore, when a content list and a vehicle information request are transmitted from the server system 2 in response to the transmission of the input word and the vehicle information, the communication processing unit 104 receives them and outputs them to the content display control unit 105 and the vehicle information acquisition unit 103. Note that the contest list transmitted from the server system 2 is a list of content information and priorities of the respective contents with respect to the plurality of contents. The communication processing unit 104 corresponds to the communication unit 14 in
When the content list is output from the communication processing unit 104, the content display control unit 105 causes the touch panel 16 to display a content selection screen for selecting any one of the plurality of contents on the basis of the content list. Furthermore, when the user selects any one content on the displayed content selection screen and that content is thereby activated, various images and videos according to the activated content are displayed on the touch panel 16. Accordingly, the content display control unit 105 provides the user with various content. Note that the details of the content selection screen will be explained specifically later. The content display control unit 105 is implemented by, for example, the processing executed by the CPU 11.
When the content is activated as described above, the activated content acquisition unit 106 outputs activated content information for identifying the relevant content to the communication processing unit 104. When the activated content information is output from the activated content acquisition unit 106, the communication processing unit 104 transmits the activated content information to the server system 2. The activated content acquisition unit 106 is implemented by, for example, the processing executed by the CPU 11.
When the user gives an instruction to change the content which is a target to be selected on the aforementioned content selection screen, the output content change unit 107 detects the change instruction and outputs a display request regarding the next content to the content display control unit 105. When the next content display request is output from the output content change unit 107, the content display control unit 105 updates the content selection screen in response to the request. Note that the details of the content change instruction given by the user will be explained specifically later. The output content change unit 107 is implemented by, for example, the processing executed by the CPU 11.
The communication processing unit 201: receives the information of the input word and the activated content information, which have been transmitted from the in-vehicle apparatus 1, and outputs them to the content determination unit 202; and receives the vehicle information transmitted from the in-vehicle apparatus 1 and outputs it to the vehicle status judgment unit 205. Furthermore, when the content list and the vehicle information request are output from the content determination unit 202, the communication processing unit 201 transmits them to the in-vehicle apparatus 1. The communication processing unit 201 corresponds to the communication unit 26 in
When the input word is output from the communication processing unit 201, the content determination unit 202 outputs the input word to the related word search unit 203 and requests a search for related words having a high relevance to the input word. When the search result of the related words according to the input word is output from the related word search unit 203, the content determination unit 202 determines, based on this search result, each of the plurality of contents corresponding to the input word or the related words to be a content information acquisition target.
On the other hand, when the related word search unit 203 fails to search for the related words corresponding to the input word, the content determination unit 202 outputs a vehicle information request to the communication processing unit 201 so that the communication processing unit 201 will transmit the vehicle information request to the in-vehicle apparatus 1. When the vehicle information of the user's vehicle is transmitted from the in-vehicle apparatus 1 in response to this vehicle information request, the vehicle status judgment unit 205 judges the status of the user's vehicle based on the vehicle information, and weighting information of each content according to the judgment result is output from the vehicle status judgment unit 205 to the content determination unit 202. Then, the content determination unit 202 determines, based on this weighting information, each of the plurality of contents corresponding to the status of the user's vehicle to be the content information acquisition target.
When the content which should be the content information acquisition target is determined by any one of the above-described methods, the content determination unit 202 outputs a content request for these contents to the content search unit 204. When content information is output from the content search unit 204 in response to this content request, the content determination unit 202 creates the content list as described above and outputs it to the communication processing unit 201.
Furthermore, when the activated content information is output from the communication processing unit 201, the content determination unit 202 outputs the activated content information together with the corresponding input word to the related word modification unit 206. The content determination unit 202 is implemented by, for example, the processing executed by the CPU 21 in
When the input word is output from the content determination unit 202, the related word search unit 203 searches for the respective words related to any one of the contents, from among the words registered in the related word database 22 in
When a content request is output from the content determination unit 202, the content search unit 204 extracts content information corresponding to the content request from among various pieces of content information stored in the content database 23 in
When the vehicle information is output from the communication processing unit 201, the vehicle status judgment unit 205 judges the status of the user's vehicle on the basis of the vehicle information. The vehicle status judgment unit 205 judges the status of the user's vehicle by judging, for example, whether the user's vehicle is either parked or driving, whether the remaining fuel amount is low or not, whether the destination is set or not, or whether the vehicle is driving through a traffic jam section or not. When the status of the user's vehicle is thus judged, the vehicle status judgment unit 205 searches the information stored in the vehicle status judgment database 24 in
When the input word and the activated content information are output from the content determination unit 202, the related word modification unit 206 changes (or modifies) the association between the input word and other words in the related word database 22 on the basis of these pieces of information.
Next, operations of the information system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be explained with reference to flowcharts in
Firstly, the flowchart in
In step S20, the in-vehicle apparatus 1 causes the input analysis unit 102 to analyze the user's input word corresponding to the input received in step S10.
In step S30, the in-vehicle apparatus 1 judges whether or not the input word has been analyzed successfully in step S20. If the input word has been analyzed successfully, the in-vehicle apparatus 1 causes the processing to proceed to step S40; and if the input word has not been analyzed successfully, the in-vehicle apparatus 1 causes the processing to return to step S10 and receives the input from the user again.
In step S40, the in-vehicle apparatus 1 causes the communication processing unit 104 to transmit the input word from the user, which was analyzed in step S20, to the server system 2. Note that the input word which is transmitted here is received by the communication processing unit 201 of the server system 2 in step S210 in
In step S50, the in-vehicle apparatus 1 judges whether or not a vehicle information request has been received from the server system 2. Note that the server system 2 causes the communication processing unit 201 to transmit the vehicle information request in step S340 in
In step S60, the in-vehicle apparatus 1 causes the vehicle information acquisition unit 103 to acquire the vehicle information according to the current status of the user's vehicle and further causes the communication processing unit 104 to transmit the acquired vehicle information to the server system 2. Note that the vehicle information which is transmitted here is received by the communication processing unit 201 of the server system 2 in step S350 in
In step S70, the in-vehicle apparatus 1 judges whether or not a content list has been received from the server system 2. Note that the server system 2 causes the communication processing unit 201 to transmit the content list in step S260 or S390 in
In step S80, the in-vehicle apparatus 1 causes the content display control unit 105 to set display contents on the content selection screen on the basis of the content list received from the server system 2 in step S70. Under this circumstance, a specified number of contents in descending order of priorities, for example, four contents are set as the display contents on the basis of the priorities of the respective contents included in the content list.
In step S90, the in-vehicle apparatus 1 causes the content display control unit 105 to have the touch panel 16 display the content selection screen for selecting any one of the plurality of contents on the basis of the setting result of the display contents in step S80. Under this circumstance, a screen in which select buttons corresponding to the respective display contents are placed in descending order of the priorities is displayed as the content selection screen.
In step S100, as the user selects the select button corresponding to any one content on the content selection screen displayed on step 90, the in-vehicle apparatus 1 thereby judges whether the relevant content has been activated or not. If the content has been activated, the in-vehicle apparatus 1 causes the processing to proceed to step S110; and if the content has not been activated, the in-vehicle apparatus 1 causes the processing to proceed to step S120.
In step S110, the in-vehicle apparatus 1 causes the activated content acquisition unit 106 to determine the content activated in step S100 and further causes the communication processing unit 104 to transmit the activated content information about the relevant content to the server system 2. Note that the activated content information which is transmitted here is received by the communication processing unit 201 of the server system 2 in step S400 in
In step S120, the in-vehicle apparatus 1 causes the output content change unit 107 to judge whether there is a display request for the next contents or not. If there is the next content display request, the in-vehicle apparatus 1 outputs the next content display request from the output content change unit 107 to the content display control unit 105 and then causes the processing to return to step S80 and reset the display contents. In this case, in step S80, the in-vehicle apparatus 1 causes the content display control unit 105 to reset the display contents by setting a specified number of contents with the second highest priority after the firstly set display contents. After resetting the display contents in step S80, the in-vehicle apparatus 1 causes the touch panel 16 to display the content selection screen according to the reset display contents in the next step S90. On the other hand, if there is no next content display request, the in-vehicle apparatus 1 terminates the processing indicated by the flowchart in
Next, the flowchart in
In step S220, the server system 2 causes the related word search unit 203 to search the related word database 22 for the input word received in step S210.
In step S230, the server system 2 judges whether the input word is registered in the related word database 22 or not, on the basis of the input word search result in step S220. If the input word is registered in the related word database 22, the server system 2 causes the processing to proceed to step S240; and if the input word is not registered in the related word database 22, the server system 2 causes the processing to proceed to step S340. Note that also when no input word has been entered by the user and, therefore, the input word cannot be received in step S210, the server system 2 may make a negative judgment in step S230 and cause the processing to proceed to step S340.
When the processing proceeds from step S230 to step S240, in step S240 the server system 2 causes the related word search unit 203 to search the related word database 22 for related words corresponding to the input word received in step S210. Under this circumstance as described earlier, the respective words each associated with any one content are searched for, as the related words, in descending order of the relevance to the input word from among the words registered in the related word database 22.
In step S250, the server system 2 causes the content search unit 204 to identify the content corresponding to each of the searched related words on the basis of the search result in step S240 and acquires the content information about the relevant content from the content database 23. Under this circumstance, when the input word is directly associated with the content in the related word database 22, the content information of the content corresponding to the input word is also acquired from the content database 23.
In step S260, the server system 2 causes the content determination unit 202 to generate a content list which is information to provide the user with the contents corresponding to the input word on the basis of the search result of the related words in step S240 and the content information acquired in step S250. Under this circumstance, the priorities are set to the respective contents, which correspond to the input word or the related words and for which the content information was acquired in step S250, in descending order of the relevance to the input word. Then, a list of the content information and the set priorities for the respective contents is created, thereby generating the content list. Furthermore, the server system 2 causes the communication processing unit 201 to transmit the generated content list to the in-vehicle apparatus 1. Accordingly, either the content information about the content corresponding to the input word or the content information about the contents corresponding to the related words is provided to the user. Note that the content list which is transmitted here is received by the communication processing unit 104 of the in-vehicle apparatus 1 in step S70 in
In step S270, the server system 2 judges whether or not the activated content information has been received from the in-vehicle apparatus 1. Note that the in-vehicle apparatus 1 causes the communication processing unit 104 to transmit the activated content information in step S110 in
In step S280, the server system 2 causes the related word modification unit 206 to check a registration status of the input word received in step S210. Under this circumstance, whether the registration status of the input word in the related word database 22 is “provisionally registered” or “registered” is checked. Note that “provisionally registered” is a state where the input word is registered in the related word database 22 in a state capable of changing the association with other words as explained later in detail. On the other hand, “registered” is a registration state of the input word which is set after experiencing the above-described provisionally registered state and in which the association with other words can no longer be changed.
In step S290, the server system 2 judges whether the input word is in the provisionally registered state or not, on the basis of the check result in step S280. If the input word is in the provisionally registered state in the related word database 22, the server system 2 causes the processing to proceed to step S300. On the other hand, if the input word is not in the provisionally registered state, that is, if the input word is in the registered state and its association with other words cannot be changed, the server system 2 terminates the processing indicated by the flowchart in
In step S300, the server system 2 causes the related word modification unit 206 to move a registered position of the input word in the related word database 22 in a direction closer to the activated content on the basis of the activated content information received in step S270. Accordingly, after the user enters the input word to the in-vehicle apparatus 1, the association between the input word and other words is changed according to the content provided as a result of the user's selection on the content selection screen displayed according to the input word. Note that a specific processing method to be performed at that time will be explained later in detail with reference to
In step S310, the server system 2 causes the related word modification unit 206 to increase a provisional registration adjustment count of the input word, whose registered position was moved in step S300, by one. Note that the provisional registration adjustment count is a variable for limiting the number of times the association between the input word, which is provisionally registered in the related word database 22, and other words can be changed, to a specified upper limit number of times or less and an initial value of the provisional registration adjustment count is 0. Specifically speaking, the registered position of the input word in the provisionally registered state is moved by executing step 3300; and as a result, every time a word associated with the input word is changed, the provisional registration adjustment count of the input word is counted up from 0 one by one.
In step S320, the server system 2 judges whether or not the provisional registration adjustment count of the input word whose registered position was moved in step S300 is equal to or more than the specified upper limit number of times, for example, equal to or more than three. If the provisional registration adjustment count is equal to or more than the upper limit number of times, in step S330 the server system 2 causes the related word modification unit 206 to change the registration status of the input word from “provisionally registered” to “registered.” Accordingly, the number of times the registered position of the input word can be moved in the related word database 22, that is, the number of times words associated with the input word can be changed is limited to the upper limit number of times or less. After executing step S330, the server system 2 terminates the processing indicated by the flowchart in
When the processing proceeds from step S230 to step S340, the server system 2 causes the communication processing unit 201 to transmit a vehicle information request to the in-vehicle apparatus 1 in step S340. Under this circumstance, the server system 2 outputs the vehicle information request from the content determination unit 202 to the communication processing unit 201 and transmits the vehicle information request from the communication processing unit 201. Note that the vehicle information request which is transmitted here is received by the communication processing unit 104 of the in-vehicle apparatus 1 in step S50 in
In step S350, the server system 2 judges whether the vehicle information has been received from the in-vehicle apparatus 1 or not. Note that the in-vehicle apparatus 1 transmits the vehicle information from the communication processing unit 104 in step S60 in
In step S360, the server system 2 causes the vehicle status judgment unit 205 to judge the current status of the user's vehicle on the basis of the vehicle information received in step S350. Under this circumstance, the vehicle status judgment unit 205 judges the status of the user's vehicle as described earlier by judging, for example, whether the user's vehicle is either parked or driving, whether the remaining fuel amount is low or not, whether the destination is set or not, or whether the vehicle is driving through a traffic jam section or not.
In step S370, the server system 2 causes the vehicle status judgment unit 205 to search the vehicle status judgment database 24 for the weighting information corresponding to the status of the user's vehicle judged in step S360. Under this circumstance, the information stored in the vehicle status judgment database 24 is searched for the weighting information of each content according to the status of the user's vehicle.
In step S380, the server system 2 causes the content search unit 204 to acquire the content information about each content from the content database 23. Under this circumstance, all contents may be content information acquisition targets or only a specified number of contents in descending order of weighting may be the content information acquisition targets on the basis of the search result in step S370.
In step S390, the server system 2 causes the content determination unit 202 to generate a content list according to the status of the user's vehicle on the basis of the weighting information of each content searched in step 3370 and the content information acquired in step S380. Under this circumstance, the priorities are set respectively to the plurality of contents, which corresponds to any one of the words registered in the related word database 22 and for which the content information was acquired in step S380, in descending order of weighting according to the status of the user's vehicle. Then, a list of the content information and the set priorities for the respective contents is created, thereby generating the content list. Furthermore, the server system 2 causes the communication processing unit 201 to transmit the generated content list to the in-vehicle apparatus 1. Note that the content list which is transmitted here is received by the communication processing unit 104 of the in-vehicle apparatus 1 in step S70 in
In step S400, the server system 2 judges whether the activated content information has been received from the in-vehicle apparatus 1 or not. Note that the in-vehicle apparatus 1 transmits the activated content information from the communication processing unit 104 in step S110 in
In step S410, the server system 2 causes the related word modification unit 206 to provisionally register the input word, which was received in step S210, in the related word database 22. Under this circumstance, the registration status of the input word is set as “provisionally registered” as mentioned earlier and the input word is added to the related word database 22. Accordingly, the input word is registered in the related word database 22 in the state capable of changing its association with other words. After executing step S410, the server system 2 terminates the processing indicated by the flowchart in
Next, specific examples of the above-described operations of the information system will be explained below with reference to
The content database 23 has content information of each content of, for example, “traffic information,” “surrounding facilities search,” “gourmet search,” “sport news,” “news,” “weather forecast,” “touring information guide,” and “gas-station search” as illustrated in
The related word search unit 203 in
The vehicle status judgment unit 205 in
For example, when the “weather” is the input word and the information exemplified in
For example, when the status of the user's vehicle corresponds to “driving,” “destination has been set,” “low fuel level,” and “weather: rain” and the information exemplified in
When the input word is registered in the related word database 22, the content display control unit 105 in
The related word modification unit 206 in
Furthermore, after the content list corresponding the above-mentioned respective related words is transmitted from the server system 2 to the in-vehicle apparatus 1, the content selection screen as illustrated in
When the provisionally registered input word is acquired again, the related word search unit 203 in
The related word modification unit 206 in
Note that regarding the above-described example, the movement method has been explained about the case where the word “news” corresponding to the activated content is located adjacent to the word “weather,” which is associated with the input word “travel,” in the related word map. However, the positional relationship between these words is not necessarily as described above and the word corresponding to the activated content and the word associated with the input word may be sometimes located separately from each other. When the registered position of the input word is to be moved in such a case, it is preferable that the registered position of the input word should be moved by only a specified number of routes, for example, by only one route towards the word corresponding to the activated content. By doing so, the registered position of the input word can be adjusted according to the content selected and activated by the user in consideration of the relation between the respective words. Alternatively, the registered position of the input word may be moved so as to directly associate the input word with the word corresponding to the activated content without paying consideration to the relation between the respective words.
The following operations and effects can be achieved according to an embodiment of the present invention described above.
(1) The server system 2 includes: the related word database 22 that stores information indicative of the relation between a plurality of registered words; the content database 23 that stores information about the content corresponding to any one of the plurality of words; the communication unit 26 that acquires the input word; the related word search unit 203; and the content determination unit 202. The related word search unit 203 searches for the related words, which are related to the input word acquired by the communication unit 26, by using the related word database 22 (step S240). The content determination unit 202 generates a content list including either the content information about the content corresponding to the input word or the content information about the content corresponding to the related words found by the search, by using the content database 23 and provides the user with the generated content list (step S260). Accordingly, the content in which the user's demand is reflected appropriately can be provided.
(2) The server system 2 further includes the related word modification unit 206. When the acquired input word is not registered in the related word database 22 (step S230: No), the related word modification unit 206 provisionally registers the acquired input word in the related word database 22 in the state capable of changing the association between the acquired input word and other words (step S410). Accordingly, when a new input word is acquired, the related word database 22 can be updated according to the input word.
(3) When the input word which is provisionally registered in the related word database 22 is acquired again (step S290: Yes), the related word modification unit 206 changes the words associated with the input word in the related word database 22 (step S300). Accordingly, the registered position of the input word in the related word database 22 can be adjusted.
(4) The information stored in the related word database 22 represents a related word map, for example, as illustrated in
(5) The related word modification unit 206 limits the number of times the word associated with the input word is changed to a specified upper limit number of times or less (steps S310 to S330). Accordingly, the number of times the registered position of the input word in the related word database 22 is adjusted can be limited and it is possible to prevent the occurrence of the state in which the registered position of the input word will not be finalized indefinitely.
(6) When the input word is registered in the related word database 22 (step S230: Yes), the content determination unit 202 sets priorities of the respective contents corresponding to the input word or the related words on the basis of the relevance to the input word (step S260). Accordingly, the priority order of the respective contents can be set easily according to the input word.
(7) Furthermore, the server system 2 includes: the vehicle status judgment unit 205 that judges the status of the user's vehicle; and the vehicle status judgment database 24 that stores the correspondence relationship between the status of the user's vehicle and the content. When the input word is not registered in the related word database 22 or the input word has not been entered (step S230: No), the content determination unit 202 sets the priorities to the respective contents corresponding to the words registered in the related word database 22 by using the vehicle status judgment database 24 on the basis of the status of the user's vehicle judged by the vehicle status judgment unit 205 (step S390). Accordingly, even when the input word cannot be used, the priority order of the respective contents can be set easily according to the status of the user's vehicle.
(8) The information system configured of the in-vehicle apparatus 1 and the server system 2 includes the related word database 22, the content database 23, the communication unit 26, the related word search unit 203, and the content determination unit 202 mentioned above as well as the input receiving unit 101 that receives input from the user and the content display control unit 105. The content display control unit 105 causes the touch panel 16, which is a display monitor, to display the content selection screen for selecting either the content corresponding to the input word or the content corresponding to the related words on the basis of the content list generated by the content determination unit 202 (steps S80 and S90), thereby providing the content selected by the user on this content selection screen. Accordingly, the desired content can be easily provided to the user.
(9) The in-vehicle apparatus 1 includes: the input receiving unit 101 that receives the input from the user; the vehicle information acquisition unit 103 that acquires the vehicle information about the status of the user's vehicle; the communication processing unit 104; and the content display control unit 105. The communication processing unit 104 transmits the input word or the vehicle information based on the input from the user (steps S40 and S60) and receives, as the content list, a plurality of contents corresponding to the input word or the related words which are related to the input word, or the priorities which are set respectively to the plurality of contents corresponding to the status of the user's vehicle (step S70). The content display control unit 105 causes the touch panel 16, which is the display monitor, to display the content selection screen as illustrated respectively in
(10) For example, on the content selection screen for selecting any one of the plurality of contents corresponding to the status of the user's vehicle as illustrated in
Note that how the functions of the in-vehicle apparatus 1 and the server system 2 are shared between them may be changed arbitrarily in the embodiment described above. For example, the input word may be analyzed by the server system 2 by providing the server system 2 with the input analysis unit 102 and transmitting an input signal, which is from the input receiving unit 101, from the communication processing unit 104 to the server system 2. Furthermore, all the functions of the server system 2 may be implemented by the in-vehicle apparatus 1. In this case, it is unnecessary to perform communication between the in-vehicle apparatus 1 and the server system 2, so that the communication processing units 104, 201 do not have to be provided. Besides this, various configurations are possible depending on how the functions of the in-vehicle apparatus 1 and the server system 2 are shared between them.
Furthermore, in the embodiment explained above, the content stored in the content database 23 of the server system 2 is provided to the user; however, other content may be provided to the user. For example, the present invention can be also applied when providing the content which is acquired externally or the content such as radio voices which can be provided within the vehicle.
The above-described embodiments and variations are merely examples and the present invention are not limited by the details of these examples unless the features of the invention are impaired. The present invention is not limited to the aforementioned embodiments and examples, but various changes can be made to the present invention within the scope not departing from the gist of the present invention.
The disclosure of the following priority application is herein incorporated by reference: Japanese Patent Application No. 2016-58903 (filed on Mar. 23, 2016).
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2016-058903 | Mar 2016 | JP | national |
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/JP2017/001047 | 1/13/2017 | WO | 00 |
Publishing Document | Publishing Date | Country | Kind |
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WO2017/163551 | 9/28/2017 | WO | A |
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