U.S. patent application number 13/905543 was filed with the patent office on 2013-12-12 for information processing apparatus, computer program, and terminal apparatus.
The applicant listed for this patent is SONY CORPORATION. Invention is credited to Masako KADOBAYASHI, Kyohei TAKANO, Akira TANGE, Masahito YOKOYAMA.
Application Number | 20130332530 13/905543 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 49716165 |
Filed Date | 2013-12-12 |
United States Patent
Application |
20130332530 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
YOKOYAMA; Masahito ; et
al. |
December 12, 2013 |
INFORMATION PROCESSING APPARATUS, COMPUTER PROGRAM, AND TERMINAL
APPARATUS
Abstract
There is provided an information processing apparatus including
a condition determining unit that changes, when information of a
first user and information of a second user satisfy a predetermined
condition, a state from a first state in which information sharing
on a communication network is disabled between a first terminal
apparatus used by the first user and a second terminal apparatus
used by the second user to a second state in which the information
sharing is enabled, and a restricting unit that restricts the
change of the state from the first state to the second state, on
the basis of restriction information that is acquired from the
first terminal apparatus and is used to restrict the change of the
state from the first state to the second state.
Inventors: |
YOKOYAMA; Masahito; (Tokyo,
JP) ; TANGE; Akira; (Tokyo, JP) ; KADOBAYASHI;
Masako; (Tokyo, JP) ; TAKANO; Kyohei; (Tokyo,
JP) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
SONY CORPORATION |
Tokyo |
|
JP |
|
|
Family ID: |
49716165 |
Appl. No.: |
13/905543 |
Filed: |
May 30, 2013 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
709/204 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04L 65/403 20130101;
H04W 4/023 20130101; H04L 51/20 20130101; G06Q 50/01 20130101; H04L
51/32 20130101; H04L 51/043 20130101; G06Q 30/0201 20130101; G06Q
10/10 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
709/204 |
International
Class: |
H04L 29/06 20060101
H04L029/06 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Jun 6, 2012 |
JP |
2012128771 |
Claims
1. An information processing apparatus comprising: a condition
determining unit that changes, when information of a first user and
information of a second user satisfy a predetermined condition, a
state from a first state in which information sharing on a
communication network is disabled between a first terminal
apparatus used by the first user and a second terminal apparatus
used by the second user to a second state in which the information
sharing is enabled; and a restricting unit that restricts the
change of the state from the first state to the second state, on
the basis of restriction information that is acquired from the
first terminal apparatus and is used to restrict the change of the
state from the first state to the second state.
2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1,
wherein the restricting unit determines whether or not to change
the state to the first state, using the information of the second
user acquired from the second terminal apparatus and the
restriction information acquired from the first terminal
apparatus.
3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2,
wherein the restricting unit acquires evaluation information with
respect to information of each of the first user and the second
user.
4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3,
wherein the restricting unit changes weighting applied to the
information of the second user, according to the evaluation
information, when the restricting determines whether or not to
change the state to the first state.
5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4,
wherein the restricting unit changes the weighting according to
information regarding a user who has input the evaluation
information.
6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 5,
wherein the restricting unit changes the weighting, according to an
evaluation made by another user with respect to the user who has
input the evaluation information as the information regarding the
user who has input the evaluation information.
7. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3,
wherein, when the second user and a user who has input the
evaluation information satisfy the predetermined condition, the
restricting unit evaluates the information of the second user by
using the evaluation information.
8. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3,
wherein, when the information of the second user is changed, the
restricting unit requests a user who has input the evaluation
information to evaluate the information of the second user
again.
9. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1,
further comprising: an updating unit that automatically updates the
information of each of the first user and the second user, on the
basis of an action history of each of the first user and the second
user.
10. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1,
further comprising: a release setting unit that sets whether an
item of the information of each of the first user and the second
user is able to be released.
11. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1,
wherein the restriction information that is acquired by the
restricting unit includes biological information.
12. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1,
wherein the restriction information that is acquired by the
restricting unit includes information of a specific user and
information showing whether or not to change the state to the first
state.
13. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1,
wherein the restriction information that is acquired by the
restricting unit is automatically generated from an operation
history in each of the first terminal apparatus and the second
terminal apparatus.
14. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1,
wherein the restricting unit changes the state to a plurality of
states of different degrees to which information sharing is enabled
between the first terminal apparatus and the second terminal
apparatus, according to at least one of the restriction information
and the information of each of the first user and the second
user.
15. The information processing apparatus according to claim 14,
wherein the restricting unit changes the state to a state in which
more information is able to be shared between the first terminal
apparatus and the second terminal apparatus with decrease in a
restriction degree based on the restriction information.
16. The information processing apparatus according to claim 14,
wherein the restricting unit changes a disclosure degree of the
information of each of the first user and the second user,
according to into which state of the plurality of states the state
is changed.
17. A computer program for causing a computer to execute: changing,
when information of a first user and information of a second user
satisfy a predetermined condition, a state from a first state in
which information sharing on a communication network is disabled
between a first terminal apparatus used by the first user and a
second terminal apparatus used by the second user to a second state
in which the information sharing is enabled; and restricting the
change of the state from the first state to the second state, on
the basis of restriction information that is acquired from the
first terminal apparatus and is used to restrict the change of the
state from the first state to the second state.
18. A terminal apparatus comprising: an input unit that, when
information of a first user and information of a second user
satisfy a predetermined condition and a state changes from a first
state in which information sharing on a communication network is
disabled between a first terminal apparatus used by the first user
and a second terminal apparatus used by the second user to a second
state in which the information sharing is enabled, inputs the
information of the first user and restriction information to
restrict the change of the first state.
19. The terminal apparatus according to claim 18, wherein the input
unit inputs an evaluation with respect to information of another
user.
20. The terminal apparatus according to claim 19, wherein the input
unit inputs an evaluation with respect to the information of the
other user who satisfies the predetermined condition.
Description
BACKGROUND
[0001] The present disclosure relates to an information processing
apparatus, a computer program, and a terminal apparatus.
[0002] Recently, a social networking site such as a social
networking service or a social media service to be a service for
constructing a social connection between a person and a person and
between a person and a company on the Internet has been widely
spread. In the social networking service, if connections between
users are enabled, information can be shared between the users.
[0003] In the social networking service, the user directly finds
out partners having the same alma mater or hobby that the user
hopes for connections as friends with and makes friend application
for the partners, so that the user can have the connections as the
friends with the partners. However, when the user manually finds
out the partners having the same alma mater or hobby that the user
hopes for the connections as the friends with, it troubles the
user.
[0004] Therefore, in the social networking service, technologies
for automatically providing users having actions, hobbies, and
tastes matched with an action, a hobby, and a taste of a user to
the user or grouping the users have been disclosed (for example,
refer to JP 2010-211287A, JP 2004-127196A, JP 2004-62812A, and JP
2008-123233A and JP 2008-517402T). In recent years, a service
called an elastic network, that is, a service for automatically
grouping a plurality of users satisfying predetermined condition
and enabling information to be shared in a corresponding group has
been provided.
SUMMARY
[0005] However, if the users are automatically grouped or the
connections between the users are automatically constructed,
partners that the user does not hope for connections with may be
automatically connected with the user, when the partners satisfy a
condition. If the user is connected to the partners that the user
does not hope for the connections as the friends with as the
friends automatically, the user has trouble to cancel the
connections and consider the partners whose connections with the
user are canceled.
[0006] It is desirable to provide an information processing
apparatus, a computer program, and a terminal apparatus that can
prevent a user from being automatically connected to partners that
the user does not hope for connections as friends with as the
friends, in a service for constructing social connections on the
Internet.
[0007] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there
is provided an information processing apparatus including a
condition determining unit that changes, when information of a
first user and information of a second user satisfy a predetermined
condition, a state from a first state in which information sharing
on a communication network is disabled between a first terminal
apparatus used by the first user and a second terminal apparatus
used by the second user to a second state in which the information
sharing is enabled, and a restricting unit that restricts the
change of the state from the first state to the second state, on
the basis of restriction information that is acquired from the
first terminal apparatus and is used to restrict the change of the
state from the first state to the second state.
[0008] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there
is provided a computer program for causing a computer to execute
changing, when information of a first user and information of a
second user satisfy a predetermined condition, a state from a first
state in which information sharing on a communication network is
disabled between a first, terminal apparatus used by the first user
and a second terminal apparatus used by the second user to a second
state in which the information sharing is enabled, and restricting
the change of the state from the first state to the second state,
on the basis of restriction information that is acquired from the
first terminal apparatus and is used to restrict the change of the
state from the first state to the second state.
[0009] According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, there
is provided a terminal apparatus including an input unit that, when
information of a first user and information of a second user
satisfy a predetermined condition and a state changes from a first
state in which information sharing on a communication network is
disabled between a first terminal apparatus used by the first user
and a second terminal apparatus used by the second user to a second
state in which the information sharing is enabled, inputs the
information of the first user and restriction information to
restrict the change of the first state.
[0010] According to the embodiments of the present disclosure
described above, an information processing apparatus, a computer
program, and a terminal apparatus that can prevent a user from
being automatically connected to partners that the user does not
hope for connections as friends with as the friends, in a service
for constructing social connections on the Internet, can be
provided.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0011] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of
an information processing system 1 according to an embodiment of
the present disclosure;
[0012] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of
a server apparatus 100 according to an embodiment of the present
disclosure;
[0013] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of
a terminal apparatus 200a according to an embodiment of the present
disclosure;
[0014] FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an outline of an operation
of an information processing system 1 according to an embodiment of
the present disclosure;
[0015] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of information
that is stored in an information storage unit 140 of a server
apparatus 100 and is input by each user using each terminal
apparatus;
[0016] FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a user
interface that is displayed on a display unit 212 of a terminal
apparatus 200 and is used to register information with respect to a
service;
[0017] FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of a
server apparatus 100;
[0018] FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of a
server apparatus 100;
[0019] FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating automatic relationship
construction processing;
[0020] FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of
a server apparatus 100;
[0021] FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of
a server apparatus 100;
[0022] FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of
an information processing system 1 according to an embodiment of
the present disclosure;
[0023] FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of
a server apparatus 100;
[0024] FIG. 14 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of
a server apparatus 100;
[0025] FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example: of an image of
a predetermined object designated by a user;
[0026] FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of
a server apparatus 100;
[0027] FIG. 17 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of
a server apparatus 100;
[0028] FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of
server apparatus 100;
[0029] FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating an example of restriction
information or a connection rank set by a user;
[0030] FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of
an information processing system 1;
[0031] FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of
an information processing system 1;
[0032] FIG. 22 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of
an information processing system 1;
[0033] FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating an example of a user list
displayed on a terminal apparatus;
[0034] FIG. 24 is a diagram illustrating an example of a user list
displayed on a terminal apparatus;
[0035] FIG. 25 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of
an information processing system 1;
[0036] FIG. 26 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of
an information processing system 1;
[0037] FIG. 27 is a diagram illustrating an example of a user list
displayed on a terminal apparatus; and
[0038] FIG. 28 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of
an information processing system 1.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENT(S)
[0039] Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present disclosure
will be described in detail with reference to the appended
drawings. Note that, in this specification and the appended
drawings, structural elements that have substantially the same
function and structure are denoted with the same reference
numerals, and repeated explanation of these structural elements is
omitted.
[0040] The following description will be made in the order
described below.
<1. Embodiment of Present Disclosure>
[Configuration Example of System]
[Configuration Example of Server Apparatus]
[Configuration Example of Terminal Apparatus]
[Operation Example of System]
<2. Conclusion>
1. EMBODIMENT OF PRESENT DISCLOSURE
Configuration Example of System
[0041] First, a configuration example of an information processing
system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be
described. FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example
of an information processing system 1 according to the embodiment
of the present disclosure. Hereinafter, the configuration example
of the information processing system 1 according to the embodiment
of the present disclosure will be described using FIG. 1.
[0042] The information processing system 1 illustrated in FIG. 1 is
a system for providing a service for constructing social
connections between users on a network, which is represented by a
social networking service. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the
information processing system 1 according to the embodiment of the
present disclosure includes a server apparatus 100 and terminal
apparatuses 200a, 200b, 200c, and 200d. The server apparatus 100
and the terminal apparatuses 200a, 200b, 200c, and 200d are
mutually connected through the Internet or other networks 10.
[0043] Each of the terminal apparatuses 200a, 200b, 200c, and 200d
is a terminal that is used by the user. In the following
explanation, a user who uses the terminal apparatus 200a is called
a user A, a user who uses the terminal apparatus 200b is called a
user B, a user who uses the terminal apparatus 200c is called a
user C, and a user who uses the terminal apparatus 200d is called a
user D. The number of terminal apparatuses is not limited to the
above example and changes according to the number of users who use
the information processing system 1.
[0044] The server apparatus 100 manages a variety of information
that is generated by the terminal apparatuses 200a, 200b, 200c, and
200d and is transmitted from the terminal apparatuses 200a, 200b,
200c, and 200d through the network 10. In this embodiment, the
server apparatus 100 provides a service for realizing construction
of social connections between the users. The server apparatus 100
constructs the social connections between the users and enables
information to be shared between the users.
[0045] In this embodiment, the server apparatus 100 provides a
service for automatically registering users satisfying a
predetermined condition as friends and enabling information to be
shared between the users making friends with each other, to the
users. However, as described above, if the users satisfying the
predetermined condition are registered as the friends unlimitedly,
partners that the user does not hope for connections with may be
automatically connected to the user, when the partners satisfy the
condition. If the user is automatically connected to the partners
that the user does not hope for the connections with, the user has
trouble to cancel the connections and consider the partners whose
connections with the user are canceled.
[0046] Therefore, in this embodiment, the server apparatus 100
executes processing for preventing the user from being
automatically connected to the partners that the user does not hope
for the connections with and prevents the above-described problem
from occurring. The processing for preventing the user from being
automatically connected to the partners that the user does not hope
for the connections with, which is executed by the server apparatus
100, will be described in detail below.
[0047] FIG. 1 illustrates only one server apparatus 100. However,
the present disclosure is not limited to the above example. For
example, a plurality of server apparatuses may be provided,
processing may be distributed to or executed by the plurality of
server apparatuses, and a configuration of the server apparatus 100
to be described below may be realized.
[0048] The configuration example of the information processing
system 1 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure has
been described using FIG. 1. Next, a configuration example of the
sever apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present
disclosure will be described.
Configuration Example of Server Apparatus
[0049] FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the configuration example
of the server apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the
present disclosure. Hereinafter, the configuration example of the
server apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present
disclosure will be described using FIG. 2.
[0050] As illustrated in FIG. 2, the server apparatus 100 according
to the embodiment of the present disclosure includes a control unit
110, a receiving unit 120, a communication unit 130, and an
information storage unit 140.
[0051] The control unit 110 controls an operation of the server
apparatus 100. The control unit 110 wholly executes processing for
providing a service for constructing social connections between
users on the network, such as the social networking service. For
example, the control unit 110 executes processing for automatically
registering users satisfying a predetermined condition as friends.
When the control unit 110 executes the processing for automatically
registering the users satisfying the predetermined condition as the
friends, the control unit 110 executes processing for preventing
the user from being automatically connected to partners that the
user does not hope for connections with.
[0052] As illustrated in FIG. 2, the control unit 110 includes a
condition determining unit 111, a restricting unit 112, an updating
unit 113, and a release setting unit 114. When information of a
certain user and information of a different user satisfy the
predetermined condition, the condition determining unit 111
executes processing for changing a state from a state (first state)
in which information sharing between the users is disabled to a
state (second state) in which the information between the users is
enabled. When the state changes from the first state in which the
information sharing between the users is disabled to the second
state in which the information sharing between the users is
enabled, the restricting unit 112 executes processing for
restricting the change of the state from the first state to the
second state, on the basis of user information and restriction
information acquired from each terminal apparatus by the receiving
unit 120 to be described below.
[0053] The updating unit 113 automatically updates information of
each user transmitted from each user, on the basis of an action
history of each user. The release setting unit 114 sets whether or
not to release each item of information of each user.
[0054] The condition determining unit 111 and the restricting unit
112 are illustrated as different blocks in FIG. 2. However, the
present disclosure is not limited to the above example. For
example, the condition determining unit 111 and the restricting
unit 112 are not configured as the different blocks and may be
integrated in the control unit 110 or may be realized in a program
executed by the control unit 110. That is, the condition
determining unit 111 and the restricting unit 112 may be configured
as one processing program.
[0055] Similar to the condition determining unit 111 and the
restricting unit 112, the updating unit 113 and the release setting
unit 114 may be configured as different processing blocks as
illustrated in FIG. 2 or may be integrated in the control unit
110.
[0056] The receiving unit 120 acquires a variety of information
that is received from each terminal apparatus by the communication
unit 130. Specifically, the receiving unit 120 acquires information
(private information) of the user and information (restriction
information) regarding the partners that the user does not hope for
the connections with, from each terminal apparatus. The receiving
unit 120 supplies the acquired information to the control unit 110
or stores the acquired information in the information storage unit
140 according to necessity.
[0057] The communication unit 130 executes communication processing
with other apparatuses (for example, the terminal apparatuses 200a,
200b, 200c, and 200d) through the network 10. By the communication
processing executed by the communication unit 130, the server
apparatus 100 can acquire information from other apparatuses (for
example, the terminal apparatuses 200a, 200b, 200c, and 200d)
through the network 10 or transmit information to other apparatuses
through the network 10.
[0058] The information storage unit 140 stores and holds a variety
of information and is configured using storage media such as a ROM,
a RAM, and an HDD. In this embodiment, the information storage unit
140 stores information that is transmitted from each terminal
apparatus. The information that is stored by the information
storage unit 140 includes information (private information) of each
user who uses each terminal apparatus and information (restriction
information) regarding partners that the user does not hope for
connections with.
[0059] The server apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the
present disclosure has the configuration illustrated in FIG. 2,
executes the processing for preventing the user from being
automatically connected to the partners that the user does not hope
for the connections with, and can prevent the above-described
problem from occurring.
[0060] The configuration example of the server apparatus 100
according to the embodiment of the present disclosure has been
described. Next, a configuration example of each terminal apparatus
according to the embodiment of the present disclosure will be
described.
Configuration Example of Terminal Apparatus
[0061] FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a configuration example of
the terminal apparatus 200a according to the embodiment of the
present disclosure. In FIG. 3, only the configuration example of
the terminal apparatus 200a is described, because other terminal
apparatuses 200b, 200c, and 200d have the same configuration as
that of the terminal apparatus 200a in this embodiment.
Hereinafter, the configuration example of the terminal apparatus
200a according to the embodiment of the present disclosure will be
described using FIG. 3.
[0062] As illustrated in FIG. 3, the terminal apparatus 200a
according to the embodiment of the present disclosure includes a
communication unit 211, a display unit 212, a control unit 213, a
location acquiring unit 214, a speech communication unit 215, a
memory 216, and an operation unit 217.
[0063] The communication unit 211 performs communication with
another apparatus (for example, the server apparatus 100) through
the network 10. The display unit 212 displays information received
by the communication unit 211 or information according to an
operation of the user with respect to the operation unit 217. For
example, the display unit 212 is configured using a flat-plate-type
image display panel such as a liquid crystal display and an organic
EL display. In this embodiment, a touch panel may be provided in
the display unit 212.
[0064] The control unit 213 controls various operations of the
terminal apparatus 200a. For example, the control unit 213 executes
a program stored in the memory 216 and controls the operations of
the terminal apparatus 200a. As the control of the operations of
the terminal apparatus 200a performed by the control unit 213,
communication control with respect to the communication unit 211
and display control of information with respect to the display unit
212 are exemplified.
[0065] The location acquiring unit 214 acquires a current location
of the terminal apparatus 200a. In order to acquire the current
location of the terminal apparatus 200a, the location acquiring
unit 214 may be a GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver and may
be an element that has a function of acquiring the current location
from an access point of a wireless LAN. The speech communication
unit 215 is configured using a speaker or a microphone and performs
voice communication with another terminal apparatus or a telephone.
The memory 216 is configured using a ROM and a RAM and is used to
store a program for controlling the operation of the terminal
apparatus 200a. The operation unit 217 is configured using a button
to operate the terminal apparatus 200a. According to the operation
of the operation unit 217, the operation of the terminal apparatus
200a is controlled by the control unit 213. If a touch panel is
provided in the display unit 212, the touch panel also functions as
the operation unit 217.
[0066] The terminal apparatus 200a may further include a sensor
218. The sensor 218 is a biological sensor such as a myoelectric
sensor that acquires biological information (for example, a pulse
is a heart rate and the like) of the user. When the biological
information of the user is acquired by the sensor 218, the terminal
apparatus 200a preferably includes a sensor of a wristwatch type or
a glasses type that directly contacts a body of the user.
[0067] The configuration example of the terminal apparatus 200a
according to the embodiment of the present disclosure has been
described using FIG. 3. Next, an operation example of the
information processing system 1 according to the embodiment of the
present disclosure will be described.
Operation Example of System
[0068] After describing an outline of an operation of the
information processing system 1 according to the embodiment of the
present disclosure, an operation of each apparatus that forms the
information processing system 1 will be described in detail. FIG. 4
is a diagram illustrating the outline of the operation of the
information processing system 1 according to the embodiment of the
present disclosure. Hereinafter, the outline of the operation of
the information processing system 1 according to the embodiment of
the present disclosure will be described using FIG. 4.
[0069] As described above, in this embodiment, the user who uses
the terminal apparatus 200a is called the user A, the user who uses
the terminal apparatus 200b is called the user B, the user who uses
the terminal apparatus 200c is called the user C, and the user who
uses the terminal apparatus 200d is called the user D. Each user
previously performs user registration to use the service, with
respect to the server apparatus 100, using each terminal apparatus.
Each user inputs user information to be information of each user,
restriction information to be information regarding partners that
the user does not hope for automatic connections with, and
evaluation information to be information to evaluate user
information of other users, with respect to the service, using each
terminal apparatus. Each terminal apparatus transmits the
information input by each user to the server apparatus 100 through
the network 10.
[0070] In FIG. 4, the user information, the restriction
information, and the evaluation information input by the user A are
illustrated as user information 1, restriction information 1, and
evaluation information 1, respectively. Likewise, the user
information, the restriction information, and the evaluation
information input by the user B are illustrated as user information
2, restriction information 2, and evaluation information 2,
respectively, the user information, the restriction information,
and the evaluation information input by the user C are illustrated
as user information 3, restriction information 3, and evaluation
information 3, respectively, and the user information, the
restriction information, and the evaluation information input by
the user D are illustrated as user information 4, restriction
information 4, and evaluation information 4, respectively.
[0071] FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating an example of information
that is stored in the information storage unit 140 of the server
apparatus 100 and is input by each user using each terminal
apparatus. As illustrated in FIG. 5, the information storage unit
140 of the server apparatus 100 stores the information input by
each user using each terminal apparatus, for each user. The
information that is stored in the information storage unit 140 is
referred to by the control unit 110 on occasion.
[0072] FIG. 5 illustrates items of user information, restriction
information, evaluation information, and evaluated information. The
evaluated information is evaluation information from other users,
with respect to the evaluation information input by each user. By
the evaluated information, accuracy of the evaluation information
that is input by each user is secured. A use example of the
evaluated information will be described below.
[0073] FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a user
interface that is displayed on the display unit 212 of the terminal
apparatus 200 and is used to register information with respect to a
service. FIG. 6 illustrates an example of the case in which a user
information display region 220 to input and display user
information, a restriction information display region 230 to input
and display restriction information, and a friend information
display region 240 to display user information of users registered
as friends are displayed on the display unit 212. FIG. 6
illustrates an example of the case in which editing buttons 221,
231, and 241 to edit each information are displayed on the display
unit 212. The user can input the user information, the restriction
information, and the evaluation information from the operation unit
217, using the user interface illustrated in FIG. 6. Therefore, the
operation unit 217 that allows the user to input the restriction
information and the evaluation information is an example of an
input unit according to the present disclosure.
[0074] Each user has at least two states, that is, a state (first
state) in which information sharing with other users is disabled
and a state (second state) in which the information sharing with
other users is enabled, on the service. The server apparatus 100
changes a state between the two states for each user.
[0075] When it is determined that the users satisfy the
predetermined condition, on the basis of the information input by
each terminal apparatus, the server apparatus 100 executes
processing for automatically registering the users as the friends.
The execution of the processing for automatically registering the
users as the friends means that it is not necessary to make friend
application manually or permit the end application manually, on the
service. By automatically registering the users as the friends, a
state of each user changes from the first state to the second
state, on the service. In this case, the predetermined condition
includes the case in which a distance between the terminal
apparatuses possessed by the users approaches a predetermined
distance or less, the case in which the number of times of
approaching the predetermined distance or less is more than the
predetermined number of times, and the case in which the number of
times of exchanging e-mails is more than the predetermined number
of times. The server apparatus 100 may execute the processing for
automatically registering the users as the friends, when the users
satisfy other conditions.
[0076] The server apparatus 100 receives user information of each
user registered from each user by the receiving unit 120. The user
information that is received from each user by the server apparatus
100 may include private information such as a career, a hobby, and
a taste of each user. The private information may include a place
of employment, an age, an affiliated college, a sphere of action, a
yearly income, a face, a similar entertainer, a height, religion, a
weight, favorite or hateful people or a character, and
measurements. The server apparatus 100 may automatically update the
user information received from each user by the server apparatus
100 by the updating unit 113, on the basis of an action history of
the user. The action history of the user may include a sphere of
action obtained from the location acquiring unit 214 of the
terminal apparatus or a purchase history of products obtained from
the terminal apparatus.
[0077] The server apparatus 100 may set a release range and a
non-release range of the user information for each item by the
release setting unit 114, with respect to each user. The server
apparatus 100 may set the release range of the user information by
the release setting unit 114, on the basis of connection degrees of
the partners registered as the friends to be described below.
[0078] The server apparatus 100 receives the restriction
information to be the information regarding the partners that the
user does not hope for automatic connections with, from each
terminal apparatus. When the users are automatically registered as
the friends, the server apparatus 100 performs control with respect
to whether or not to perform friend registration, on the basis of
the restriction information, using the restricting unit 112.
[0079] In an example illustrated in FIG. 4, when the users A and B
satisfy the predetermined condition, the server apparatus 100
performs control such that the user A is automatically registered
as the friends with the user B to be an object user of the friend
registration. At this time, the server apparatus 100 compares the
restriction information 1 input by the user A and the user
information 2 input by the user B to be the object user of the
friend registration, by the restricting unit 112. If the friend
registration using the user information 2 input by the user B is
not disturbed by the restriction information 1 input by the user A,
the automatic friend registration of the users A and B is not
restricted. Meanwhile, if the friend registration using the user
information 2 input by the user B to be the object user of the
friend registration is disturbed by the restriction information 1
input by the user A, the restricting unit 112 restricts the
automatic friend restriction of the users A and B.
[0080] In this case, an example of the restriction information that
is input by each user using each terminal apparatus will be
described. The restriction information may include a type of a face
of a partner that the user hopes for friend registration with or
does not hope for the friend registration with, an educational
background (whether a deviation value of a user is equal to or more
than a predetermined deviation value or not or whether the user is
graduated from a certain school or not), information showing
whether a user believes in certain religion (or the user does not
believe in the certain religion), information showing whether the
user has a certain hobby (or does not have the certain hobby),
information showing whether a score of a qualifying test of the
user is equal to or less than a predetermined score (or is equal to
or more than the predetermined score), information showing whether
the user maintains a direct or indirect friend relationship with a
certain person or not, and information showing whether the number
of registered friends is equal to or less than the predetermined
number (or is equal to or more than the predetermined number).
Further, each user may register an entertainer and a celebrity
using each terminal apparatus as the type of the face of the
partner that the user hopes for the friend registration with or
does not hope for the friend registration with and the server
apparatus 100 may use a similar degree with the face of the
registered person as the restriction information.
[0081] For example, if information showing that the user A does not
hope for the automatic connections as the friends with the users of
which the score of the qualifying test is equal to or less than the
predetermined score is included in the restriction information 1
input by the user A, the server apparatus 100 compares the
predetermined score included in the restriction information 1 input
by the user A and the score of the qualifying test included in the
user information 2 input by the user B to be the object user of the
friend registration, by the restricting unit 112. As the comparison
result of the scores by the restricting unit 112, if the score
included in the restriction information 1 is more than the score
included in the user information 2, the server apparatus 100
restricts the automatic friend registration of the user A and the
user B to be the object user of the friend registration.
[0082] As such, the server apparatus 100 can execute the processing
for preventing the user from being automatically connected to the
partners that the user does not hope for the connections with, on
the service, by using the restriction information input by each
user using each terminal apparatus.
[0083] The example of the case in which each user inputs the
restriction information using each terminal apparatus has been
described. However, the restriction information may be generated
automatically by the server apparatus 100. That is, the server
apparatus 100 may automatically generate the restriction
information of the user possessing each terminal apparatus by the
control unit 110, on the basis of the operation history in each
terminal apparatus.
[0084] For example, the tendency of the people whom the user
registers as the friends may be automatically determined by the
control unit 110 of the server apparatus 100, on the basis of the
user information of the people whom the user registers as the
friends on the service, and the restriction information may be
automatically generated on the basis of the determination result.
As an example of the tendency of the people whom the user registers
as the friends, most people have faces that have high similar
degrees with a face of a predetermined entertainer X or most people
are graduated from a university of which a deviation value is equal
to more than the predetermined deviation value. When the user
registers only the people having the faces having the high similar
degrees with the face of the predetermined entertainer X as the
friends, the server apparatus 100 may automatically generate
information showing that the similar degree with the face of the
predetermined entertainer X is less than the predetermined value as
the restriction information. When the user registers only the
people graduated from universities of which deviation values are
equal to or more than the predetermined deviation value as the
friends, the server apparatus 100 may automatically generate
information showing that the people are not graduated from the
universities of which the deviation values are equal to or more
than the predetermined deviation value as the restriction
information, by the control unit 110.
[0085] For example, the server apparatus 100 may compare a sphere
of action of the user obtained by the location acquiring unit 214
of each terminal apparatus possessed by the user and information of
an address or a range of activity registered in user information of
a person registered as the friend and automatically generate
restriction information by the control unit 110, on the basis of
the comparison result.
[0086] For example, the server apparatus 100 may compare a purchase
history of products based on an NFC tag mounted on each terminal
apparatus possessed by the user or a credit card number and a
purchase history or a taste of a person registered as the friend
and automatically generate restriction information by the control
unit 110, on the basis of the comparison result.
[0087] For example, the server apparatus 100 may automatically
restriction information to restrict automatic friend registration
for a time other than a predetermined time by the control unit 110,
from an action history of the user obtained from each terminal
apparatus possessed by the user. For example, the server apparatus
100 may automatically generate restriction information to restrict
automatic friend registration during a time period of commuting and
attending school or restrict the automatic friend registration
during a time period other than a time period of a drinking session
and a party by the control unit 110, from the action history of the
user obtained from each terminal apparatus possessed by the
user.
[0088] As such, even when the users satisfy the predetermined
condition, the server apparatus 100 determines whether or not to
automatically register the users as the friends, using the user
information registered by the user and the restriction information
registered by other users. However, if the user information
registered by the user is basically information input by the user
and false content is included in input content, the corresponding
user may be automatically registered as the friends, with the user
in which it is necessary to restrict the automatic registration of
a friend relationship.
[0089] For example, in the case in which the user A sets
restriction information not to automatically register a user as a
friend when the corresponding user is not a user of which a score
of a certain test is equal to or more than X, if the user B who is
an object user of the friend registration registers the score of
the test as Z (X<Z) in the user information, regardless of the
score of the test being Y (X>Y), the users A and B may be
automatically registered as the friends, in spite that it is
necessary to restrict the automatic registration of the friend
relationship of the users A and B.
[0090] Therefore, user information that is registered by a certain
user may be evaluated by other users and accuracy of the user
information may be secured. At this time, necessary information is
the evaluation information described above. For example, it is
assumed that the user B registers "height: 180 cm" as the user
information. However, it is not possible to know whether the height
of the user B is actually 180 cm or not by only the registered user
information. For this reason, other users (for example, users
already registered as the friends with the user B, on the service)
may evaluate the user information of the user B to secure accuracy
of the user information of the user B.
[0091] When the evaluation information with respect to the user
information is input, a user interface illustrated in FIG. 6 may be
used. FIG. 6 illustrates an evaluation button 242 to evaluate user
information of a corresponding friend displayed in the friend
information display region 240. Each user can evaluate the user
information of the friend by operating the evaluation button 242.
In an example illustrated in FIG. 6, credibility of a university
from which the user B is graduated is high, credibility of the
height of the user B is intermediate, and credibility of a score of
a test of the user B is low.
[0092] When it is determined whether or not to perform the
automatic friend registration, the restricting unit 112 acquires
evaluation information input by another user (for example, the user
C) with respect to user information of a certain user (for example,
the user B). The restricting unit 112 may change the weighting with
respect to the user information, according to the acquired
evaluation information.
[0093] For example, when the user B registers "height: 180 cm" as
the user information, but another user (for example, the user C)
registered as the friend with the user B determines that weight
information of the user information registered by the user B is
false information, the user C selects credibility of the user
information regarding the weight on the service as "low". When a
plurality of other users determine that the credibility of the
weight information of the user B is "low", the restricting unit 112
may perform control such that the information is updated, if the
credibility of the weight information of the user B is low.
[0094] When one or more other users determine that the credibility
of the user information is "low", the restricting unit 12 may
perform control such that an item of the user information
determined as the information having the low credibility is not
considered when the automatic friend registration is set. For
example, when one or more other users determine that the
credibility of the height information of the user B is "low", the
restricting unit 112 can perform control such that the weight
information of the user B to be the object user of the friend
registration is not considered when the automatic friend
registration is set.
[0095] As such, the server apparatus 100 causes other users to
evaluate the user information input by each user, so that accuracy
of the user information input by each user can be secured.
[0096] The restricting unit 112 may not restrict timing when the
user information input by each user is evaluated by other users, to
specific timing. For example, the restricting unit 112 may cause an
evaluator to evaluate user information of an evaluated person at
timing when the evaluator is registered as friends with the
evaluated person or cause the evaluator to evaluate the user
information of the evaluate person at timing when an evaluation
request is transmitted from the evaluated person to the evaluator.
With respect to a friend of which a connection rank to be described
below is a predetermined rank or more, the restricting unit 112 may
automatically request the evaluator to evaluate the user
information.
[0097] Each user can change the user information at any timing.
Therefore, when the evaluated person updates/changes the user
information, the restricting unit 112 may request the evaluator to
evaluate the user information again. As such, the restricting unit
112 requests the evaluator to evaluate the user information again
at change/update timing of the user information, so that the server
apparatus 100 can secure the credibility of the user information at
all times.
[0098] However, if the user information is evaluated by other
users, another problem may occur. The problem occurs when the user
who evaluates the user information intentionally inputs a false
evaluation. That is, the problem occurs when the user B having only
the height of 165 cm registers "height: 180 cm" as the user
information and the user C intentionally evaluates the credibility
of the user information regarding the weight "high". If the false
evaluation is given by other users, the corresponding user may be
automatically registered as the friends with the user in which it
is necessary to restrict the automatic registration of the friend
relationship by the restricting unit 112.
[0099] Therefore, the restricting unit 112 may change the weighting
of the evaluation information, according to the information
regarding the evaluator who evaluates the user information. In the
example illustrated in FIG. 4, when the user information 2 of the
user B is evaluated by the user C and the evaluation information 3
is generated, the restricting unit 112 performs the weighting of
the evaluated information 3 of the user C, on the basis of
evaluations of the users other than the user C, with respect to the
user C. For example, the restricting unit 112 performs the
weighting of the evaluated information 3 of the user C, using the
evaluation information 1 including the evaluation of the user A
with respect to the user information of the user C or the
evaluation information 4 including the evaluation of the user D
with respect to the user information of the user C. The restricting
unit 112 performs the weighting of the evaluation information 3 of
the user C, using the evaluated information 3 of the user C.
[0100] For example, if a plurality of users evaluate the
credibility of the user information of the user C high, the
restricting unit 112 may increase the weighting the evaluated
information 3 of the user C. The restricting unit 112 may increase
the weighting of the evaluation information 3 of the user C, using
the evaluated information 3 of the user C of which the weighting
has been increased. Meanwhile, when the plurality of users evaluate
the credibility of the user information of the user C low, the
restricting unit 112 may decrease the weighting of the evaluated
information 3 of the user C. The restricting unit 112 may decrease
the weighting of the evaluation information 3 of the user C, using
the evaluated information 3 of the user C of which the weighting
has been decreased.
[0101] Here, in the case in which a relationship of the user of
which the user information is evaluated and the user who evaluates
the user information is strong, the restricting unit 112 may
increase an influence degree of evaluation input content of the
evaluator on the user information. The case in which the
relationship is strong corresponds to when the users are graduated
from the same public school, the same junior high school, or the
same senior high school and have a plurality of common hobbies and
a plurality of items of the user information are common to the
users or when the users have the same hobby, go to the same school,
or work for the same company at the present time. The restricting
unit 112 may change the weighting such that an evaluation result of
one evaluator having a high influence degree and a plurality of
evaluation results of a plurality of evaluators having low
influence degrees equally affect the user information.
[0102] The server apparatus 100 may cause the user to input an
evaluation with respect to the credibility of the user information
of other users, on the service. The restricting unit 12 may
determine the credibility of the credibility, on the basis of the
evaluation with respect to the credibility. For example, the
restricting unit 112 may determine the credibility of the
evaluation of the evaluator who obtains evaluations of the
predetermined number or more showing that the credibility is high
from other users, high. In addition, the restricting unit 112 may
determine the credibility of the evaluation of the evaluator who
obtains evaluations of the predetermined number or more showing
that the credibility is low from other users, low.
[0103] In this case, the processing that has been described with
reference to the drawings will be described again. FIG. 7 is a
flowchart illustrating an operation of the server apparatus 100
according to the embodiment of the present disclosure. The
flowchart of FIG. 7 illustrates the operation of the server
apparatus 100 when the user A and the user B to be the object user
of the friend registration are automatically registered as the
friends, on the service provided by the server apparatus 100.
Hereinafter, the operation of the server apparatus 100 according to
the embodiment of the present disclosure will be described using
FIG. 7.
[0104] First, the server apparatus 100 determines whether a state
of the user A and a state of the user B satisfy the predetermined
condition, by the condition determining unit 111 (step S101). As
the determination result of step S101, if the state of the user A
and the state of the user B do not satisfy the predetermined
condition, the processing of the server apparatus 100 returns to
step S101. Meanwhile, as the determination result of step S101, if
the state of the user A and the state of the user B satisfy the
predetermined condition, the server apparatus 100 determines
whether the friend registration of the users A and B is accepted,
on the basis of the restriction information set by the user A, by
the restricting unit 112 (step S102).
[0105] If it is determined whether the friend registration of the
users A and B is accepted, on the basis of the restriction
information set by the user A, by the restricting unit 112, the
server apparatus 100 determines whether the users A and B can be
registered as the friends, by the condition determining unit 111
(step S103).
[0106] As the determination result of step S103, when the users A
and B can be registered as the friends, the server apparatus 100
automatically registers the users A and B as the friends, by the
control unit 110 (step S104). Meanwhile, as the determination
result of step S103, when the users A and B may not be registered
as the friends, the server apparatus 100 blocks the automatic
friend registration of the users A and B, by the control unit 110
(step S105).
[0107] By executing the processing illustrated in FIG. 7, the
server apparatus 100 can prevent the user from being automatically
connected to the partners that the user does not hope for the
connections with, on the service.
[0108] In the above description, it is assumed that the server
apparatus 100 executes the determination on whether or not to
perform the friend registration. However, the present disclosure is
not limited to the above example. For example, the server apparatus
100 may provide three or more steps with respect to a status of the
friend registration on the service.
[0109] For example, the server apparatus 100 divides the status of
the friend registration into three steps of a "close friend", a
"common friend", and a "non-close friend", on the service. The
server apparatus 100 may change an information sharing degree
between the users according to the status of the friend
registration, by the release setting unit 114. For example, in the
case of the "close friend", the server apparatus 100 may set the
release of all of the user information by the release setting unit
114. Meanwhile, in the case of the "common friend", the server
apparatus 100 may set the release of only a part of the user
information (for example, information other than specific user
information designated by the user) by the release setting unit 114
and in the case of the "non-close friend", the server apparatus 100
may set the release of only limited information (for example, only
the specific user information designated by the user) of an amount
smaller than the amount of the released information in the case of
the "common friend" by the release setting unit 114.
[0110] In this case, the restricting unit 112 may change the step
of the status of the friend registration, according to at least one
of the restriction information and the user information. For
example, it is assumed that a certain user registers a score of a
certain qualifying test to be 800 or more as the restriction
information. When the score of the qualifying test to be 750 is
registered as user information of a first other user and the score
of the qualifying test to be 200 is registered as user information
of a second other user, the restricting unit 112 may cause the user
to be registered as the "close friend" with the first other user
and cause all of the information to be shared between the user and
the first other user. Meanwhile, the restricting unit 112 may cause
the user to be registered as the "non-close friend" with the second
other user and cause only limited partial information to be shared
between the user and the second other user. As such, the
restricting unit 112 changes the step of the status of the friend
registration according to the restriction information and/or the
user information, so that the server apparatus 100 enables
information of a step-wise appropriate amount according to the
restriction information and/or the user information to be shared
between the users.
[0111] The server apparatus 100 changes the step of the status of
the friend registration according to the restriction information
and/or the user information, so that the server apparatus 100 can
change release content of the user information according to a
connection method between the users. For example, the server
apparatus 100 may set a range of the release content of the user
information widely with respect to the user connected by a common
hobby and set the range of the release content of the user
information narrowly with respect to the user who has a connection
of a company relation, but does not have a common hobby.
[0112] The outline of the processing for restricting the automatic
friend registration of the user with respect to the partners that
the user does not hope for the connections with, which is executed
by the server apparatus 100, has been described. Hereinafter, the
processing described above will be described on the basis of a
detailed specific example.
[0113] For example, the server apparatus 100 may execute the
restriction processing (filtering) of the friend registration based
on the taste of each user. It is assumed that the user B registers
a certain genre of a movie as the restriction information. When the
user B and the different user A are automatically registered as the
friends, the server apparatus 100 may compare the genre of the
movie registered as the restriction information by the user B and a
genre of a movie registered as a favorite movie by the user A and
determine whether or not to automatically register the users A and
Bas the friends.
[0114] FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the
server apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present
disclosure. The flowchart of FIG. 8 illustrates the operation of
the server apparatus 100 when automatic relationship construction
processing for automatically constructing a friend relationship
between the user A and other users is executed, on a service
provided by the server apparatus 100. In the following explanation,
it is assumed that the users A and B satisfy a condition to
automatically perform friend registration. Hereinafter, the
operation of the server apparatus 100 according to the embodiment
of the present disclosure will be described using FIG. 8.
[0115] First, the server apparatus 100 determines whether the user
A turns on setting for performing filtering based on a preference,
by the condition determining unit ill (step S111). As the
determination result of step S111, if the user A turns on the
setting for performing the filtering based on the preference, the
server apparatus 100 acquires a status of a relationship
construction candidate to construct a friend relationship with the
user A, from the user information of the user B, by the condition
determining unit 111 (step S112). Next, the server apparatus 100
compares the status of the relationship construction candidate
acquired by step S112 and setting completed restriction information
registered by the user A, by the condition determining unit 111
(step S113).
[0116] Next, the server apparatus 100 determines whether the users
A and B conform to a relationship construction condition (or do not
conform to a relationship non-construction condition), from the
comparison result of step S113, by the condition determining unit
111 (step S114).
[0117] As the determination result of step S114, when the users A
and B conform to the relationship construction condition (or do not
conform to the relationship non-construction condition), the server
apparatus 100 automatically registers the users A and B as the
friends (step S115). Meanwhile, as the determination result of step
S114, when the users A and B do not conform to the relationship
construction condition (or conform to the relationship
non-construction condition), the server apparatus 100 blocks the
automatic relationship registration of the users A and B as the
friends, by the restricting unit 112. That is, when the users A and
B do not conform to the relationship construction condition (or
conform to the relationship non-construction condition), the server
apparatus 100 skips the processing of step S115.
[0118] Next, the server apparatus 100 determines whether or not to
continuously execute the automatic relationship construction
processing of the user A, by the condition determining unit 111
(step S116). If there is a user who satisfies the automatic friend
registration condition, the server apparatus MO returns to the
processing of step S111. Meanwhile, if there is no user who
satisfies the automatic friend registration condition, the server
apparatus 100 ends the automatic relationship construction
processing of the user A.
[0119] FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating the automatic relationship
construction processing that is executed by the server apparatus
100. The server apparatus 100 acquires information of a favorite
movie that is registered in the user information of the user B. If
the server apparatus 100 acquires information of the favorite movie
of the user B, the sever apparatus 100 collates a genre of the
favorite movie and information registered in the information
storage unit 140 and specifies the genre.
[0120] The sever apparatus 100 collates the genre of the favorite
movie of the user B and a genre of a movie registered in the
restriction information of the user A and determines whether or not
to automatically register the users A and B as the friends. When
the server apparatus 100 collates the genre of the favorite movie
of the user B and the genre of the movie registered in the
restriction information of the user A and the genres are matched
with each other, the restricting unit 112 blocks the automatic
friend registration of the users A and B.
[0121] In FIG. 9, the explanation is given using the movie as the
example. However, the present disclosure is not limited to the
above example. The server apparatus 100 can apply the
above-described processing to music, sports, a book, a TV program,
and a game, in addition to the movie.
[0122] In the service such as the social networking service for
constructing the social connections of the users on the network,
the user information is registered or the action histories of the
users are accumulated and demands of the users can be disclosed. In
this service, it is generally performed to provide a service in
connection with a consumer company. For example, in the service
such as the social networking service, it is very useful to provide
a coupon that allows the user to purchase a product cheaply. In
this case, the server apparatus 100 applies the restriction
processing of the automatic friend registration according to the
embodiment of the present disclosure to provision of the coupon and
useful provision is enabled.
[0123] For example, when a certain user sets "movie viewing" as a
hobby in a parameter of the user information, it can be guessed
that the user is deeply interested in the movie. Therefore, it is
effective that the server device 100 provides a coupon that allows
the user to view the movie cheaply in the service. When the user
sets a "horror movie" as the restriction information, it is guessed
that the user dislikes the horror movie. Therefore, when the coupon
is provided, the server apparatus 100 may provide the coupon that
allows the user to view movies other than the horror movie cheaply.
As such, the server apparatus 100 provides a service in which the
restriction information as well as the user information is
reflected, so that the server apparatus 100 can provide a service
adapted to the demand of the user.
[0124] When the server apparatus 100 provides a service such as the
coupon, the server apparatus 100 may use information set as other
restriction information as well as a parameter becoming a provision
object of the service. The server apparatus 100 provides a service
using a plurality of restriction information, so that the server
apparatus 100 can improve quality when the service is provided. For
example, when a certain user sets a yearly income as the
restriction information, the server apparatus 100 may provide a
coupon relating to a high-quality brand-name product to a user who
restricts the yearly income high and provide a coupon relating to a
low-quality brand-name product to a user who restricts the yearly
income low.
[0125] The server apparatus 100 may execute restriction processing
(filtering) of the friend registration based on a certain time. For
example, it is assumed that the user B registers information
showing that the automatic friend registration is restricted during
a time period other than a certain time period for the automatic
friend registration is executed during only the certain time
period) as the restriction information. When the user B and the
different user A are automatically registered as the friends, the
server apparatus 100 may refer to time information registered as
the restriction information by the user B and determine whether or
not to automatically register the users A and B as the friends.
[0126] FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the
server apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present
disclosure. The flowchart of FIG. 10 illustrates the operation of
the server apparatus 100 when automatic relationship construction
processing for automatically constructing a friend relationship
between the user A and the user B to be the object user of the
friend registration is executed, on the service provided by the
server apparatus 100. In the following explanation, it is assumed
that the users A and B satisfy a condition to automatically perform
friend registration. Hereinafter, the operation of the server
apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure
will be described using FIG. 10.
[0127] The server apparatus 100 determines whether a current time
is in a desired time period for relationship construction for
relationship non-construction) registered as the restriction
information by the user B (step S121). The desired time period may
be a specific date and time or a regular date and time (for
example, every Friday at 18:00 to 21:00). When the user B does not
set time information as the restriction information, the server
apparatus 100 executes the automatic relationship construction
processing with respect to the user B at all times.
[0128] Next, as the determination result of step S121, when the
current time is in the desired time period for the relationship
construction (or the relationship non-construction) registered as
the restriction information by the user B, the server apparatus 100
automatically registers the users A and B as the friends (step
S122). Meanwhile, as the determination result of step S121, when
the current time is not in the desired time period for the
relationship construction (or the relationship non-construction)
registered as the restriction information by the user B, the server
apparatus 100 blocks the automatic relationship registration of the
users A and B as the friends, by the restricting unit 112. That is,
when the current time is not in the desired time period for the
relationship construction (or the relationship non-construction)
registered as the restriction information by the user B, the server
apparatus 100 skips the processing of step S122 described
above.
[0129] Next, the server apparatus 100 determines whether or not to
continuously execute the automatic relationship construction
processing of the user A, by the condition determining unit 111
(step S123). If there is a user who satisfies the automatic friend
registration condition, the server apparatus 100 returns to the
processing of step S121. Meanwhile, if there is no user who
satisfies the automatic friend registration condition, the server
apparatus 100 ends the automatic relationship construction
processing of the user A.
[0130] In the example illustrated in FIG. 10, the desired time
period for the relationship construction (or the relationship
non-construction) registered as the restriction information and the
execution time of the automatic relationship construction
processing has been only collated. However, the present disclosure
is not limited to the above example. For example, the server
apparatus 100 may restrict the automatic friend registration, using
a past time base history (time base information).
[0131] FIG. 11 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the
server apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present
disclosure. The flowchart of FIG. 11 illustrates the operation of
the server apparatus 100 when automatic relationship construction
processing for automatically constructing a friend relationship
between the user A and the user B to be the object user of the
friend registration is executed, on a service provided by the
server apparatus 100. In the following explanation, it is assumed
that the users A and B satisfy a condition to automatically perform
friend registration. Hereinafter, the operation of the server
apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure
will be described using FIG. 11.
[0132] The server apparatus 100 determines whether the user A turns
on setting for performing filtering based on time series, by the
condition determining unit 111 (step S131). As the determination
result of step S131, if the user A turns on the setting for
performing the filtering based on the time series, the server
apparatus 100 acquires a status of a relationship construction
candidate to construct a friend relationship with the user A, from
the user information of the user B, by the condition determining
unit 111 (step S132).
[0133] Next, the server apparatus 100 acquires time base
information of the user B from the user information acquired by
step S132, compares the time base information of the user B and the
restriction information registered by the user A, and determines
whether the users A and B conform to the relationship construction
condition (or do not conform to the relationship non-construction
condition), by the condition determining unit 111 (step S133).
[0134] As the determination result of step S133, when the users A
and B conform to the relationship construction condition (or do not
conform to the relationship non-construction condition), the server
apparatus 100 automatically registers the users A and B as the
friends (step S134). Meanwhile, as the determination result of step
S133, when the users A and B do not conform to the relationship
construction condition (or conform to the relationship
non-construction condition), the server apparatus 100 blocks the
automatic relationship registration of the users A and B as the
friends, by the restricting unit 112. That is, when the users A and
B do not conform to the relationship construction condition (or
conform to the relationship non-construction condition), the server
apparatus 100 skips the processing of step S134.
[0135] The automatic relationship construction processing using the
specific time base information is exemplified. For example, the
server apparatus 100 may determine the friend registration using a
time when the users have had a predetermined relationship as a
base. Specifically, the server apparatus 100 may collate a career
such as an educational background and a professional background of
the user of the determination object of the friend registration and
a career such as an educational background and a professional
background of the user of the processing object and determine which
community the friend belongs to, by the condition determining unit
111. For example, if the user A does not hope for connections with
friends of a public school because of bitter experience of public
school days and registers the friends of the public school as the
restriction information, the server apparatus 100 determines
whether the user B goes to the same public school as the user A,
from the career of the user B. If the user B goes to the same
public school as the user A, the server apparatus 100 blocks the
friend registration of the user B by the restricting unit 112, such
that the user B is not registered as the friend. For example, if
the user A does not hope for connections with users who go to a
school in which the user has failed an entrance examination or are
graduated from the school and registers the corresponding users as
the restriction information, when the users to be automatically
registered as the friends go to the school or are graduated from
the school, the server apparatus 100 blocks the friend registration
of the users by the restricting unit 112, such that the users are
not registered as the friends.
[0136] For example, the server apparatus 100 may determine the
friend registration using a past activity history on the service as
a base. Specifically, the server apparatus 100 may determine
personality of the user on the service from a time when the user
has participated in the service or the contribution frequency, by
the condition determining unit 111. For example, if the user A does
not hope for a connection with a core user who is active on the
service and registers the core user as the restriction information,
the server apparatus 100 determines whether the user B is the core
user, from the past activity history of the user B on the service.
If the user B is determined as the core user, the server apparatus
100 blocks the friend registration by the restricting unit 112,
such that the users A and B are not automatically registered as the
friends. In this case, the server apparatus 100 may determine
whether the user is the core user or not, using the login frequency
with respect to the service and the contribution frequency with
respect to the service. The server apparatus 100 may determine
whether the user is the core user or not, according to whether the
login frequency or the contribution frequency is more than a
predetermined threshold value or not.
[0137] For example, the server apparatus 100 my determine the
friend registration using a past activity history in the real
world, not on the service, as a base. Specifically, the server
apparatus 100 may calculate information regarding the length of a
time period during which the user of the processing object and the
user of the determination object of the friend registration are in
the same place, on the basis of location information of each user,
and determine the length of the time period during which the user
of the processing object and the user of the determination object
of the friend registration are in the same place, by the condition
determining unit 111. For example, if the user A does not hope for
a connection with a user (for example, a co-worker of a company or
a classmate of a school) who is typically in the same place on
weekdays and registers the corresponding user as the restriction
information, the server apparatus 100 determines whether the user B
is the user who is typically in the same place on weekdays, from
the location information of the user B. When it is determined that
the user B is the user who is typically in the same place on
weekdays, the server apparatus 100 blocks the friend registration
by the restricting unit 112, such that the users A and B are not
registered as the friends. The server apparatus 100 may use the
number of times of check-in at the same place in the past in the
service provided by the server apparatus 100 as the past activity
history in the real world. In this case, the check-in means the
contribution action by the user when the user visits a restaurant,
a shop, or an institution.
[0138] In this case, an example of a configuration to determine the
length of the time period during which the user of the processing
object and the user of the determination object of the friend
registration are in the same place will be described. FIG. 12 is a
diagram illustrating a configuration example of the information
processing system 1 according to the embodiment of the present
disclosure. FIG. 12 illustrates an aspect where each of the
terminal apparatus 200a used by the user A and the terminal
apparatus 200b used by the user B regularly transmits information
of a current location acquired by the location acquiring unit 214
to the server apparatus 100. The sever apparatus 100 constructs a
database in the information storage unit 140, using the information
of the current location transmitted from the terminal apparatuses
200a and 200b. The database that is constructed by the server
apparatus 100 is a database using presence or absence of the friend
relationship and using a time period during which the users are in
the same place (time period during which the terminal apparatuses
200a and 200b are in a predetermined range) as a base.
[0139] The server apparatus 100 acquires the information of the
current location from the terminal apparatus used by each user and
constructs the database using the information of the current
location, so that the server apparatus 100 can determine the length
of the time period during which the user of the object of the
automatic friend registration processing and the user of the
determination object of the friend registration are in the same
place. The configuration to determine the length of the time period
during which the user of the processing object and the user of the
determination object of the friend registration are in the same
place is not limited to the example illustrated in FIG. 12. In the
example illustrated in FIG. 12, the database is constructed by the
server apparatus 100 executing the service. However, the database
may be constructed by another apparatus.
[0140] The server apparatus 100 can block the friend registration
by the restricting unit 112, such that the users that the user does
not hope for the automatic friend registration with are not
automatically registered as the friends. In this case, the server
apparatus 100 may generate a list of users in which the friend
registration has been restricted, by the restricting unit 112, and
cause list information to be readable anytime. Each user may select
the user whom each user does not want to restrict, from the list of
users generated by the server apparatus 100, using each terminal
apparatus, and release the restriction of the user. With respect to
the restriction processing such as the restriction based on the
past time history in which a condition is not uniform, the server
apparatus 100 may learn the release of the restriction performed
manually by the user and improve precision.
[0141] As described above, when the automatic friend registration
is performed, the server apparatus 100 may determine whether the
automatic friend registration is accepted, by a comparison with a
face image registered by the user in advance. The determination
processing on whether the automatic friend registration is accepted
using the face image registered by the user in advance will be
described in detail below.
[0142] FIG. 13 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of
the server apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present
disclosure. The flowchart of FIG. 13 illustrates the operation
example when the server apparatus 100 determines whether the
automatic friend registration is accepted, by the comparison with
the face image registered by the user in advance. Hereinafter, the
operation example of the server apparatus 100 according to the
embodiment of the present disclosure will be described using FIG.
13.
[0143] The server apparatus 100 registers a favorite face image
designated by the user as the restriction information of the user
in the information storage unit 140 (step S141). Next, when a
certain user (user A) and a different second user (user B) satisfy
the condition of the automatic friend registration, first, the
server apparatus 100 acquires the face image registered as the user
information of the user B in the information storage unit 140, by
the condition determining unit 111 (step S142). Next, the server
apparatus 100 compares the favorite face image registered by step
S141 and designated by the user and the face image acquired by step
S142 and registered by the user B, by the condition determining
unit 111 (step S143).
[0144] The server apparatus 100 performs the comparison of the face
images in the condition determining unit 111 as follows. The server
apparatus 100 analyzes the registered face images, digitizes
features, associates the features, and stores the association
result in the information storage unit 140. Examples of the
features of the face images include a distance between a left eye
and a right eye, sizes of the eyes, a distance from the eyes to the
top of a nose, a position of a mouth, and a size of the mouth. In
this case, the distance and the size may be normalized on the basis
of the distance between the eyes.
[0145] The server apparatus 100 determines whether the favorite
face image registered by step S141 and designated by the user and
the face image acquired by step S142 and registered by the user B
are similar by a predetermined value or more, by the condition
determining unit 111 (step S144). The sever apparatus 100 may use a
mean square of the difference as the determination standard of the
similarity in step S144.
[0146] As the determination result of step S144, if the two face
images are similar by the threshold value or more, the server
apparatus 100 automatically registers the users A and B as the
friends, by the condition determining unit 111 (step S145).
Meanwhile, as the determination result of step S144, if the two
face images are not similar by the threshold value or more, the
processing of step S145 is skipped. That is, if the two face images
are not similar by the threshold value or more, the server
apparatus 100 blocks the automatic registration of the friend
relationship of the users A and B, by the restricting unit 112.
[0147] The server apparatus 100 operates as described above and can
execute the automatic registration of the friend relationship with
respect to only the users having the faces similar to the favorite
face of the user, even when the users satisfy the condition of the
automatic friend registration. That is, the server apparatus 100
can restrict the automatic relationship of the friend relationship
with respect to the users having the faces different from the
favorite face of the user.
[0148] In the example described above, the server apparatus 100
determines whether or not to restrict the automatic registration of
the friend relationship by comparing the entire face images.
However, the server apparatus 100 may determine whether or not to
restrict the automatic registration of the friend relationship by
comparing images of parts of the favorite face of the user (for
example, eye images, a nose image, and a mouth image), not the
entire face images. The server apparatus 100 may cause the user to
register an image of a least favorite face in advance and restrict
the automatic registration of the friend relationship, when an
image of a face is similar to the image of the face registered as
the least favorite face by a predetermined threshold value or
more.
[0149] The server apparatus 100 may compare the face image of the
user registered by the user in advance and a face image of a
different user and determine whether or not to restrict the
automatic registration of the friend relationship. The server
apparatus 100 can restrict people whose faces are similar to the
face of the user and restrict the automatic registration of the
friend relationship with users whose faces are similar to the face
of the user, such as a family or relatives. In contrast, the server
apparatus 100 can restrict the automatic registration of the friend
relationship with users whose faces are not similar to the face of
the user.
[0150] If the face image of the user registered by the user in
advance and an image including a plurality of persons including the
corresponding user are registered on the service, the server
apparatus 100 may restrict the automatic registration of the friend
relationship using the images of the plurality of persons. For
example, the server apparatus 100 may determine persons who are
apart from the face of the certain user A by a predetermined
distance or more in a group photo including the plurality of
persons, as users who are not so close to the user A, and restrict
the automatic registration of the friend relationship with the user
A. When a distance of the face of the certain user A and a face of
a different user is calculated, the server apparatus 100 may
normalize the distance between the faces with the size of the face
of the user A.
[0151] The server apparatus 100 may restrict the automatic
registration of the friend relationship by analysis of an image of
an object, in addition to analysis of the face image. FIG. 14 is a
flowchart illustrating an operation example of the server apparatus
100 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure. The
flowchart of FIG. 14 illustrates the operation example when the
server apparatus 100 determines whether the automatic friend
registration is accepted, by comparison with the image of the
object registered by the user in advance. Hereinafter, the
operation example of the server apparatus 100 according to the
embodiment of the present disclosure will be described using FIG.
14.
[0152] The server apparatus 100 registers an image of a
predetermined object (a signboard, a building, and scenery)
designated by the user as restriction information of the
corresponding user in the information storage unit 110 (step S151).
Next, when a certain user (user A) and a different second user
(user B) satisfy the condition of the automatic friend
registration, first, the server apparatus 100 acquires the image
registered as the user information of the user B in the information
storage unit 140, by the condition determining unit 111 (step
S152). Next, the server apparatus 100 compares the image of the
predetermined object registered by step S151 and designated by the
user A and the image acquired by step S152 and registered by the
user B, by the condition determining unit 111 (step S153).
[0153] FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating an example of the image of
the predetermined object designated by the user A. In the image
illustrated in FIG. 15, a region A1 where a name of an event is
written to a signboard exists. The sever apparatus 100 sets the
region A1 as a comparison object and executes the comparison
processing of step S153.
[0154] The server apparatus 100 determines whether the image of the
predetermined object registered by step S151 and designated by the
user A and the image acquired by step S152 and registered by the
user B are similar by a predetermined threshold value or more, by
the condition determining unit 111 (step S154). When the images are
compared, the condition determining unit 111 may compare histograms
of brightness or shape patterns and determine a similar degree of
the two images.
[0155] As the determination result of step S154, if the two images
are similar by the threshold value or more, the server apparatus
100 automatically registers the users A and B as the friends, by
the condition determining unit 111 (step S155). Meanwhile, as the
determination result of step S154, if the two images are not
similar by the threshold value or more, the processing of step S155
is skipped. That is, if the two images are not similar by the
threshold value or more, the server apparatus 100 blocks the
automatic registration of the friend relationship of the users A
and B, by the restricting unit 112. If the two images are not
similar by the threshold value or more, the server apparatus 100
may perform the automatic registration of the friend relationship
of the users A and B by the condition determining unit 111 and if
the two images are similar by the threshold value or more, the
server apparatus 100 may block the automatic registration of the
friend relationship of the users A and B, by the restricting unit
112.
[0156] The server apparatus 100 operates as described above and can
perform control such that the users participated in the same place
or event are automatically registered as the friends or are not
automatically registered as the friends. In this case, when the
image registered as the restriction information by step S151 is an
image of a peripheral portion of a home of the user, the server
apparatus 100 can block the automatic block of the friend
relationship with respect to users who have registered images
similar to the image in the server apparatus 100. Thereby, the
server apparatus 100 can block the automatic registration of the
friend relationship with respect to users who live around the home
of the user.
[0157] When each terminal apparatus can acquire biological
information of the user using a sensor 218, the server apparatus
100 may restrict the automatic registration of the friend
relationship using the biological information as the restriction
information. FIG. 16 is a flowchart illustrating an operation
example of the server apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of
the present disclosure. The flowchart of FIG. 16 illustrates the
operation example when the server apparatus 100 determines whether
the automatic friend registration is accepted, by comparison with
the biological information registered by the user in advance.
Hereinafter, the operation example of the server apparatus 100
according to the embodiment of the present disclosure will be
described using FIG. 16.
[0158] When the user A designates information of a heart rate (for
example, the heart rate is 120 or more) as the restriction
information, the server apparatus 100 registers the information of
the heart rate as the restriction information of the user A in the
information storage unit 140 (step S161). Next, the server
apparatus 100 first acquires the biological information (heart
rate) of the user B acquired by the sensor 218 of the terminal
apparatus of the user B as the user information of the second user
(user B), by the condition determining unit 111 (step S162). Next,
the server apparatus 100 compares the information registered by
step S161 and set as the restriction information and the radio
field intensity from the terminal apparatus of the user B and the
biological information of the user B acquired by step S162, by the
condition determining unit 111 (step S163). For example, a
predetermined signal may be transmitted from the terminal apparatus
of the user B and the distance between the users A and B may be
measured by the radio field intensity of the signal.
[0159] When the distance between the two users becomes shorter than
a predetermined distance, the server apparatus 100 determines
whether the heart rate of the user B becomes equal to or more than
the predetermined heart rate registered by step S161 (step S164).
As the determination result of step S164, if the heart rate of the
user B is equal to or more than the predetermined heart rate
registered by step S161, the server apparatus 100 automatically
registers the users A and B as the friends, by the condition
determining unit 111 (step S165). Meanwhile, as the determination
result of step S164, if the heart rate of the user B is less than
the predetermined heart rate registered by step S161, the
processing of step S165 is skipped. That is, if the heart rate of
the user B is less than the predetermined heart rate registered by
step S161, the server apparatus 100 blocks the automatic
registration of the friend relationship of the users A and B by the
restricting unit 112.
[0160] By the above-described operation, when the user A comes
close to the user B and the heart rate of the user B increases, the
server apparatus 100 determines that the user B is favorable to the
user A or is interested in the user A and can automatically
register the users A and B as the friends. Meanwhile, when the user
A comes close to the user B and the heart rate of the user B does
not increase, the server apparatus 100 determines that the user B
is not interested in the user A and can block the friend
relationship of the users A and B, such that the users A and B are
not automatically registered as the friends.
[0161] In the example described above, the sever apparatus 100
determines whether the automatic relationship registration is
accepted, using the biological information obtained from the sensor
provided in the terminal apparatus. However, when the biological
information is not obtained, the server apparatus 100 may determine
whether the automatic friend registration is accepted, using the
information registered in the server apparatus 100 by each user.
For example, when the user uses the service to search for a
girlfriend, the friend application to the users having the same sex
is meaningless. Therefore, the server apparatus 100 may restrict
the automatic friend registration with respect to the users having
the same sex. For example, if the preference of the user is a woman
younger than 30 years, the server apparatus 100 may restrict the
automatic friend registration with respect to a female user, when
the female user is older than 30 years. For example, if the user
uses the service to share a trouble with people troubled with a
specific disease, the friend relationship with people who do not
have a medical history of the certain disease is meaningless.
Therefore, the server apparatus 100 may restrict the automatic
friend registration with respect to such users.
[0162] The server apparatus 100 may restrict the automatic
registration of the friend relationship using language-related
information such as sentences registered on the service. FIG. 17 is
a flowchart illustrating an operation example of the server
apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present
disclosure. The flowchart of FIG. 17 illustrates the operation
example when the server apparatus 100 determines whether the
automatic friend registration is accepted, by analyzing the
language-related information such as the sentences registered on
the service. Hereinafter, the operation example of the server
apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure
will be described using FIG. 17.
[0163] The server apparatus 100 registers a predetermined
restriction phrase designated by the user as restriction
information of the user in the information storage unit 140 (step
S171). For example, a user who is not interested in a railroad can
register a route name of the railroad or a pet name of a passenger
train of the railroad as the restriction phrase in the server
apparatus 100 to prevent the user from being automatically
registered as the friends with a user who is interested in the
railroad.
[0164] Next, when a certain user (user A) and a different second
user (user B) satisfy the condition of the automatic friend
registration, first, the server apparatus 100 acquires document
information registered as user information of the user B in the
information storage unit 140, by the condition determining unit 111
(step S172). As the document information registered in the
information storage unit 140, for example, content of an e-mail
transmitted by the user B, content of a sentence contributed to a
signboard, a blog, and a short sentence contribution site by the
user B, and information obtained by digitizing a telephone signal
may be included.
[0165] Next, the server apparatus 100 compares the predetermined
restriction phrase registered by step S171 and designated by the
user and the document information acquired by step S172 and
registered by the user B, by the condition determining unit 111
(step S173). As the comparison result of the predetermined
restriction phrase registered by step S171 and designated by the
user and the document information acquired by step S172 and
registered by the user B, the server apparatus 100 determines
whether the restriction phrase appears in the document information
registered by the user B by the predetermined frequency or more, by
the condition determining unit 111 (step S174).
[0166] As the determination result of step S174, if the appearance
frequency of the restriction phrase in the document information
registered by the user B is equal to or less than a predetermined
threshold value, the server apparatus 100 automatically registers
the users A and B as the friends, by the condition determining unit
111 (step S175). Meanwhile, as the determination result of step
S174, if the appearance frequency of the restriction phrase in the
document information registered by the user B is more than a
predetermined threshold value, the processing of step S175 is
skipped. That is, the server apparatus 100 blocks the automatic
registration of the friend relationship of the users A and B by the
restricting unit 112.
[0167] The server apparatus 100 may use obscene words or rude words
as the restriction phrase. By using the obscene words or the rude
words as the restriction phrase, the server apparatus 100 can
restrict the friend registration to prevent the automatic
registration as the friends with users using such words for young
users in particular.
[0168] The server apparatus 100 may specify participating in the
same event from the document information registered by the user and
restrict the friend registration, such that the corresponding user
is not automatically registered as the friends (or registered as
the friends) with users who participate in the same event.
[0169] The server apparatus 100 may register a reply history of an
e-mail of the user or the number of characters in the e-mail as the
restriction information. The server apparatus 100 can specify users
who receive an e-mail but, rarely reply to the e-mail or return an
e-mail including the small number of characters even though the
users reply to the e-mail, from a history of the e-mail, and
restrict the friend registration, such that the corresponding user
is not automatically registered as the friends with such users.
[0170] If a chatting function is provided in the service, the
server apparatus 100 may acquire chatting content as document
information. At this time, the server apparatus 100 may restrict
the friend registration, such that the user is not automatically
registered as the friends with users, in a unit of group, not a
unit of user. For example, the server apparatus 100 may acquire a
restriction phrase registered by the user in advance and content
remarked by a user to be registered as the friend and all remark
content of chatting performed in a group to which the corresponding
user belongs and determine whether to perform the automatic friend
registration or restrict the automatic friend registration in a
unit of group.
[0171] Next, an operation example of the server apparatus 100 when
the users are temporarily registered as the friends will be
described. For example, during only a period of time in which a
user participates in a predetermined event such as an exhibition, a
company briefing session, and a drinking session, the server
apparatus 100 may temporarily register the user as friends with
users participating in the same event. This operation mode of the
server apparatus 100 is called a "temporary connection mode". A
mode that is not the "temporary connection mode" is called a
"normal mode". The server apparatus 100 can temporarily register
the users participating in the same event as the friends to be used
in a realistic connection between the users such as business card
exchange or a real friend application.
[0172] When the users are temporarily registered as the friends,
the server apparatus 100 may set the rank of the connection. That
is, if there is a friend common to a certain user and a user
temporarily registered as a friend, the server apparatus 100 may
set the rank of the connection of the user temporarily registered
as the friend high. If there is no friend common to the certain
user and the user temporarily registered as the friend, the server
apparatus 100 may set the rank of the connection of the user
temporarily registered as the friend low.
[0173] FIG. 18 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of
the server apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present
disclosure. The flowchart of FIG. 18 illustrates the operation
example when the server apparatus 100 operates in the temporary
connection mode. Hereinafter, the operation example of the server
apparatus 100 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure
will be described using FIG. 18.
[0174] The server apparatus 100 sets a predetermined condition of
temporary "restriction" or "connection rank", on the basis of an
instruction from the user (step S181). In this case, the condition
that is set by the server apparatus 100 may be changed according to
an event in which the user participates. The condition that is set
by the server apparatus 100 may be changed at timing when the user
participates in the event or may be downloaded from a near field
communication (NFC) terminal at an event site.
[0175] For example, in the case of an event such as a party, the
server apparatus 100 may set a yearly income, a sex, and a native
place as the restriction information for each user. In the case of
an event such as a job fair, the server apparatus 100 may set a
language test score, a desired type of job, and qualifications that
the user has as the restriction information for each user.
[0176] The server apparatus 100 operates in the temporary
connection mode with respect to only the users who have
participated in the event described above and operates in the
normal mode with respect to the other users.
[0177] FIG. 19 is a diagram illustrating an example of the
restriction information or the connection rank set by the user,
when the server apparatus 100 operates in the temporary connection
mode. In FIG. 19, an example of the case in which the automatic
registration as the friend is temporarily restricted when the user
is male and a registration state as the friend is controlled by
three connection ranks when the user is female is illustrated. In
FIG. 19, the connection rank 1 shows a user in which the friend
registration has been completed, the connection rank 2 shows a user
who is registered as a friend of the friend or belongs to a
specific group or company, and the connection rank 3 shows the
other users.
[0178] FIG. 19 illustrates disclosure restriction of
self-information and a display item of a user list to be described
below. In the case of the connection rank 1, all information is
disclosed to a partner and a name is displayed in the user list. In
the case of the connection rank 2, basic information and
contribution content to the service are disclosed to the partner
and a name, a community, and a common friend are displayed in the
user list. For example, the basic information refers to a name, a
sex, and a community. In the case of the connection rank 3, only
the basic information is disclosed to the partner and a name and a
community are displayed in the user list.
[0179] In step S181, if the server apparatus 100 sets the
predetermined condition of the temporary "restriction" or the
"connection rank", on the basis of the instruction from the user,
the server apparatus 100 registers the location information
transmitted from each user using the terminal apparatus (step
S182). Next, the sever apparatus 100 starts the operation in the
temporary connection mode, automatically on the basis of the
registration of the location information or on the basis of the
instruction from the user (step S183). When the server apparatus
100 operates in the temporary connection mode, the server apparatus
100 may operate in the normal mode in parallel to the temporary
connection mode and stop the operation in the normal mode.
[0180] FIG. 20 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of
the information processing system 1 according to the embodiment of
the present disclosure. The flowchart of FIG. 20 illustrates an
exchange operation of information between the users, when the
server apparatus 100 operates in the temporary connection mode.
Hereinafter, the operation example of the information processing
system 1 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure will
be described using FIG. 20.
[0181] When the server apparatus 100 operates in the temporary
connection mode, the setting condition such as the previously set
restriction information is transmitted from the terminal apparatus
200a used by the user A to the terminal apparatus 200b used by the
user B through the server apparatus 100 (step S191).
[0182] The terminal apparatus 200b that is used by the user B
determines whether the user information of the user B satisfies the
predetermined condition of the condition set by the user A (step
S192). As the determination result of step S192, if the user
information of the user B satisfies the predetermined condition of
the condition set by the user A, the terminal apparatus 200b
transmits the user information of the user B for the user list to
the terminal apparatus 200a through the server apparatus 100 (step
S193). The user information of the user B for the user list may not
be held in the terminal apparatus 200b. When the user information
of the user B for the user list is not held in the terminal
apparatus 200b, the user information of the user B for the user
list is directly transmitted from the server apparatus 100 to the
terminal apparatus 200a. The terminal apparatus 200a receives the
user information of the user B for the user list that is
transmitted from the terminal apparatus 200b through the server
apparatus 100 (step S194).
[0183] Next, the terminal apparatus 200a determines whether the
user information of the user B satisfies the predetermined
condition of the condition set by the user A (step S195). As the
determination result of step S195, if the user information of the
user B satisfies the predetermined condition of the condition set
by the user A, the terminal apparatus 200a transmits the user
information of the user A for the user list to the terminal
apparatus 200b through the server apparatus 100 (step S196). The
user information of the user A for the user list may not be held in
the terminal apparatus 200a. When the user information of the user
A for the user list is not held in the terminal apparatus 200a, the
user information of the user A for the user list is directly
transmitted from the server apparatus 100 to the terminal apparatus
200b. The terminal apparatus 200b receives the user information of
the user A for the user list that is transmitted from the terminal
apparatus 200a through the server apparatus 100 (step S197).
[0184] As the determination result of step S192, if the user
information of the user B does not satisfy the predetermined
condition of the condition set by the user A, the terminal
apparatus 200b ends the processing without replying to the terminal
apparatus 200a. Likewise, as the determination result of step S195,
if the user information of the user B does not satisfy the
predetermined condition of the condition set by the user A, the
terminal apparatus 200a ends the processing without replying to the
terminal apparatus 200b.
[0185] FIG. 21 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of
the information processing system 1 according to the embodiment of
the present disclosure. The flowchart of FIG. 21 is a continuation
of the flowchart of FIG. 20 and illustrates an exchange operation
of information between the users, when the server apparatus 100
operates in the temporary connection mode. Hereinafter, the
operation example of the information processing system 1 according
to the embodiment of the present disclosure will be described using
FIG. 21.
[0186] The terminal apparatus 200a determines whether a request for
detailed information is transmitted from the user B, after the
users A and B exchange the user information for the user list (step
S201). As the determination result of step S201, when the request
for the detailed is transmitted from the user B, the terminal
apparatus 200a transmits the detailed information according to the
predetermined condition of the setting condition to the terminal
apparatus 200b through the server apparatus 100 (step S202). The
detailed information of the user B may not be held in the terminal
apparatus 200b. When the detailed information of the user B is not
held in the terminal apparatus 200b, the detailed information of
the user B is directly transmitted from the server apparatus 100 to
the terminal apparatus 200a.
[0187] The kind of the information that is transmitted by step S202
is selected according to the connection rank. A disclosure range of
the detailed information is defined by the "disclosure restriction
of the self-information" in the setting condition illustrated in
FIG. 19. The processing of step S202 is automatically executed even
when there is no selection operation of the user. However, a log
showing that the detailed information has been transmitted may be
stored in the server apparatus 100.
[0188] Meanwhile, as the determination result of step S201, if the
request for the detailed information is not transmitted from the
user B, the terminal apparatus 200a skips the processing of step
S202.
[0189] As such, the information processing system 1 according to
the embodiment of the present disclosure executes the information
acquisition processing of the two steps including the acquisition
processing of the user information for making the user list and the
acquisition processing of the detailed information, so that the
information processing system 1 can suppress an amount of
communication when the user information is exchanged.
[0190] Next, an example of display processing of the user list in
the temporary connection mode will be described. FIG. 22 is a
flowchart illustrating an operation example of the information
processing system 1 according to the embodiment of the present
disclosure. The flowchart of FIG. 22 illustrates an example of the
display processing of the user list in the terminal apparatus, when
the server apparatus 100 operates in the temporary connection mode.
The user list is a list of users who have exchanged the user
information for the user list. Information regarding the users who
have exchanged the user information for the user list is held in
the server apparatus 100. Hereinafter, the operation example of the
information processing system 1 according to the embodiment of the
present disclosure will be described using FIG. 22.
[0191] The processing of steps S191 and S194 illustrated in FIG. 20
is executed by the terminal apparatus 200a of the user A and it is
determined in step S195 whether the user information of another
user satisfies the predetermined condition. When the user
information of the user B satisfies the predetermined condition,
the terminal apparatus 200a executes the display processing of the
user list according to the predetermined condition (step S203). The
processing of step S203 is executed according to the connection
rank.
[0192] FIG. 23 is a diagram illustrating an example of a user list
displayed on the terminal apparatus 200a. In FIG. 23, an example of
a user list showing information of four users (users B, C, D, and
E) is disclosed. That is, FIG. 23 illustrates the case in which the
user A exchanges the user information for the user list with the
four users. FIG. 23 illustrates an example of the case in which
information of a connection rank, a community, and a common friend
of each user is displayed as the user list. In FIG. 23, when viewed
from the user A, the connection rank of each of the users B and C
is 1, the connection rank of the user D is 2, and the connection
rank of the user E is 3. In FIG. 23, a community and a common
friend of the user D are illustrated as for the user D and only a
community of the user E is illustrated as for the user E.
[0193] The display example of the user list in the terminal
apparatus 200a is not limited to the above example. For example,
the terminal apparatus 200a may overlap the user information to an
image, using AR (augmented reality) technology. FIG. 24 is a
diagram illustrating an example of a user list that is displayed on
the terminal apparatus 200a. The terminal apparatus 200a may
display the user list illustrated in FIG. 24, on the basis of
location information or acceleration information. When the terminal
apparatus 200a overlaps the user information to the image using the
AR technology, only the user information displayed on a screen is
displayed. When the connection rank is the predetermined rank, the
terminal apparatus 200a may emphasize and display the corresponding
user. For example, when the connection rank of the user reaches the
predetermined rank, the terminal apparatus 200a may perform display
surrounding the corresponding user, as shown by reference numerals
B1 and B2. When the connection rank is the predetermined rank, the
terminal apparatus 200a may cause any display item (in the example
illustrated in FIG. 24, information of a community of the user) to
be displayed with respect to the user.
[0194] Next, an example of acquisition processing of detailed user
information in the temporary connection mode will be described.
FIG. 25 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of the
information processing system 1 according to the embodiment of the
present disclosure. The flowchart of FIG. 25 illustrates an example
of the acquisition processing of the detailed user information in
the terminal apparatus, when the server apparatus 100 operates in
the temporary connection mode. Hereinafter, the operation example
of the information processing system 1 according to the embodiment
of the present disclosure will be described using FIG. 25.
[0195] After the display processing of the user list is executed by
the terminal apparatus 200a, if another desired user is selected
from the user list by the user A (step S211), the terminal
apparatus 200a inquires of the server apparatus 100 for detailed
information of another user selected by the user A (step S212).
[0196] The server apparatus 100 transmits the detailed information
of another user selected by the user A to the terminal apparatus
200a in response to the inquiry and the terminal apparatus 200a
receives the detailed information of another user selected by the
user A from the server apparatus 100 and displays the detailed
information (step S213).
[0197] Next, the terminal apparatus 200a causes the user A to
determine whether or not to register another user whose detailed
information has been acquired as a friend (step S214). When the
user A selects friend registration of another user whose detailed
information has been acquired, the terminal apparatus 200a applies
to another user whose detailed information has been acquired for a
friend relationship, on the basis of the selection of the user A
(step S215). The server apparatus 100 registers the user A and
another user as the friends, on the basis of the friend application
from the terminal apparatus 200a. Meanwhile, when the user A does
not select the friend registration of another user whose detailed
information has been acquired, the terminal apparatus 200a skips
the processing of step S215, on the basis of the selection of the
user A.
[0198] In the example illustrated in FIG. 25, the terminal
apparatus 200a causes the user A to determine whether or not to
apply to another user whose detailed information has been acquired
for a friend relationship. However, the present disclosure is not
limited to the above example. For example, the server apparatus 100
may execute processing such that another user whose detailed
information has been acquired by the user A is automatically
registered as the friend with the user A.
[0199] When the server apparatus 100 operates in the temporary
connection mode, if a certain user (for example, the user A)
transmits detailed information to another user, a terminal
apparatus (for example, the terminal apparatus 200a used by the
user A) may update information showing whether the detailed
information has been completely transmitted, in the user list.
[0200] FIG. 26 is a flowchart illustrating an operation example of
the information processing system 1 according to the embodiment of
the present disclosure. The flowchart of FIG. 26 illustrates
processing executed subsequent to processing illustrated in FIG. 22
and illustrates an example of update processing of the user list in
the terminal apparatus, when the server apparatus 100 operates in
the temporary connection mode. Hereinafter, the operation example
of the information processing system 1 according to the embodiment
of the present disclosure will be described using FIG. 26.
[0201] The terminal apparatus 200a that is used by the user A
determines whether or not to transmit detailed information of the
user A to other users (step S216). When the detailed information of
the user A is transmitted to other users, the terminal apparatus
200a updates the user list (step S217). Specifically, the terminal
apparatus 200a updates information showing that the detailed
information of the user A has been transmitted to other users, in
the user list.
[0202] FIG. 27 is a diagram illustrating an example of the user
list that is displayed on the terminal apparatus 200a. In FIG. 27,
an example of a user list showing information of four users (users
B, C, D, and E) is disclosed. FIG. 27 illustrates an example of the
case in which information of a connection rank, a community, and a
common friend of each user is displayed as the user list.
[0203] FIG. 27 illustrates an example of a state in which
information showing whether or not to transmit detailed information
is updated in the user list. In the example illustrated in FIG. 27,
because the users B and C are already registered as the friends, it
can be known that the detailed information of the user A is
disclosed to the users B and C. Because there is an inquiry of the
detailed information from the user D, it can be known that the user
A responds to the inquiry. Further, it can be known that there is
no inquiry of the detailed information from the user E.
[0204] Next, end processing of the temporary connection mode will
be described. FIG. 28 is a flowchart illustrating an operation
example of the information processing system 1 according to the
embodiment of the present disclosure. The flowchart of FIG. 28
illustrates processing executed subsequent to the processing
illustrated in FIG. 21 and illustrates an example of the end
processing of the temporary connection mode. Hereinafter, the
operation example of the information processing system 1 according
to the embodiment of the present disclosure will be described using
FIG. 28.
[0205] The server apparatus 100 determines whether the user leaves
a previously registered location where the temporary connection
mode is executed (step S221). The server apparatus 100 may
determine whether the user leaves the location, on the basis of
whether check-out processing is executed by the terminal apparatus
possessed by the user or not or information of a current location
acquired by the terminal apparatus.
[0206] As the determination result of step S22 if the user leaves
the previously registered location where the temporary connection
mode is executed, the server apparatus 100 resets the operation in
the temporary connection mode for the corresponding user (step
S222). Meanwhile, as the determination result of step S221, if the
user does not leave the previously registered location where the
temporary connection mode is executed, the server apparatus 100
continuously executes the operation in the temporary connection
mode for the corresponding user.
[0207] The server apparatus 100 changes the operation mode to the
normal mode, for the user for which the operation in the temporary
connection mode has been reset. When the operation is performed in
the temporary connection mode in parallel to the normal mode, the
server apparatus 100 continuously executes the operation in the
normal mode, for the user for which the operation in the temporary
connection mode has been reset.
[0208] Even when the server apparatus 100 uses any restriction
information described above, the server apparatus 100 may block the
friend registration by the restricting unit 112, such that the
users that the corresponding user does not hope for the automatic
friend registration with are not automatically registered as the
friends. In this case, the server apparatus 100 may generate a list
of users in which the friend registration has been restricted, by
the restricting unit 112, and cause list information to be readable
anytime. Each user may select the users whom each user does not
want to restrict, from the list generated by the server apparatus
100, using each terminal apparatus, and release the restriction of
the users. With respect to the restriction processing such as the
restriction based on the past time history or the restriction based
on the favorite face image, in which the condition is not uniform,
the server apparatus 100 may learn the release of the restriction
performed manually by the user and improve precision.
[0209] The operation example of the server apparatus 100 when the
users are temporarily registered as the friends has been described.
By executing the operation described above, the server apparatus
100 can register the users who participate in the specific event as
the friends temporarily. When the server apparatus 100 registers
the user and the certain user as the friends temporarily, the
server apparatus 100 can set the rank of the friend according to
the state of the user to be registered as the friend.
2. CONCLUSION
[0210] As described above, according to the embodiment of the
present disclosure, the server apparatus 100 realizes construction
of connections between the users. The server apparatus 100
constructs the connections between the users and enables
information to be shared between the users. In this embodiment, the
server apparatus 100 provides a service for automatically
registering the users who have satisfied the predetermined
condition as the friends and enabling information to be shared
between the users who have made a friendship with each other, to
the users.
[0211] According to the embodiment of the present disclosure, when
the server apparatus 100 automatically registers the users who have
satisfied the predetermined condition as the friends, the server
apparatus 100 compares the user information of the user to be
registered as the friend and the restriction information registered
by the user in advance. If the information matched with the
restriction information registered by the user in advance and
adapted to the condition exists in the user information of the user
to be registered as the friend, the server apparatus 100 restricts
the automatic registration of the user as the friend, even though
the user satisfies the predetermined condition for the automatic
registration as the friend.
[0212] According to the embodiment of the present disclosure, the
user can be prevented from being automatically connected to the
partners that the user does not hope for the connections with, in
the service for constructing the social connections on the
Internet.
[0213] In addition, each step in a process executed by each unit of
the present specification is not necessarily performed along the
order described in a sequence diagram of a flowchart, for example,
in a time series manner. Each of the steps in a is process executed
by each unit may be performed, for example, in an order different
from the order described in the flowchart, or performed in
parallel.
[0214] In addition, in hardware including a CPU, a ROM, RAM, and
the like that is installed in each device, a computer program for
exhibiting the same functions as those of each device can also be
stored. In addition, a storage medium which the computer program is
stored can be provided. In addition, by configuring each functional
block shown in the functional block diagram as hardware, a series
of processes can be realized in hardware.
[0215] It should be understood by those skilled in the art that
various modifications, combinations, sub-combinations and
alterations may occur depending on design requirements and other
factors insofar as they are within the scope of the appended claims
or the equivalents thereof.
[0216] Additionally, the present technology may also be configured
as below.
(1) An information processing apparatus including:
[0217] a condition determining unit that changes, when information
of a first user and information of a second user satisfy a
predetermined condition, a state from a first state in which
information sharing on a communication network is disabled between
a first terminal apparatus used by the first user and a second
terminal apparatus used by the second user to a second state in
which the information sharing is enabled; and
[0218] a restricting unit, that restricts the change of the state
from the first state to the second state, on the basis of
restriction information that is acquired from the first terminal
apparatus and is used to restrict the change of the state from the
first state to the second state.
(2) The information processing apparatus according to (1),
[0219] wherein the restricting unit determines whether or not to
change the state to the first state, using the information of the
second user acquired from the second terminal apparatus and the
restriction information acquired from the first terminal
apparatus.
(3) The information processing apparatus according to (2),
[0220] wherein the restricting unit acquires evaluation information
with respect to information of each of the first user and the
second user.
(4) The information processing apparatus according to (3),
[0221] wherein the restricting unit changes weighting applied to
the information of the second user, according to the evaluation
information, when the restricting unit determines whether or not to
change the state to the first state.
(5) The information processing apparatus according to (4),
[0222] wherein the restricting unit changes the weighting according
to information regarding a user who has input the evaluation
information.
(6) The information processing apparatus according to (5),
[0223] wherein the restricting unit changes the weighting,
according to an evaluation made by another user with respect to the
user who has input the evaluation information as the information
regarding the user who has input the evaluation information.
(7) The information processing apparatus according to any one of 3)
to (6),
[0224] wherein, when the second user and a user who has input the
evaluation information satisfy the predetermined condition, the
restricting unit evaluates the information of the second user by
using the evaluation information.
(8) The information processing apparatus according to any one of
(3) to (7),
[0225] wherein, when the information of the second user is changed,
the restricting unit requests a user who has input the evaluation
information to evaluate the information of the second user
again.
(9) The information processing apparatus according to any one of
(1) to (8), further including:
[0226] an updating unit that automatically updates the information
of each of the first user and the second user, on the basis of an
action history of each of the first user and the second user.
(10) The information processing apparatus according to any one of
(1) to (9), further including:
[0227] a release setting unit that sets whether an item of the
information of each of the first user and the second user is able
to be released.
(11) The information processing apparatus according to any one of
(1) to (10),
[0228] wherein the restriction information that is acquired by the
restricting unit includes biological information.
(12) The information processing apparatus according to any one of
(1) to (11),
[0229] wherein the restriction information that is acquired by the
restricting unit includes information of a specific user and
information showing whether or not to change the state to the first
state.
(13) The information processing apparatus according to any one of
(1) to (12),
[0230] wherein the restriction information that is acquired by the
restricting unit is automatically generated from an operation
history in each of the first terminal apparatus and the second
terminal apparatus.
(14) The information processing apparatus according to any one of
(1) to (13),
[0231] wherein the restricting unit changes the state to a
plurality of states of different degrees to which information
sharing is enabled between the first terminal apparatus and the
second terminal apparatus, according to at least one of the
restriction information and the information of each of the first
user and the second user.
(15) The information processing apparatus according to (14),
[0232] wherein the restricting unit changes the state to a state in
which more information is able to be shared between the first
terminal apparatus and the second terminal apparatus with decrease
in a restriction degree based on the restriction information.
(16) The information processing apparatus according to (14) or
(15),
[0233] wherein the restricting unit changes a disclosure degree of
the information of each of the first user and the second user,
according to into which state of the plurality of states the state
is changed.
(17) A computer program for causing a computer to execute:
[0234] changing, when information of a first user and information
of a second user satisfy a predetermined condition, a state from a
first state in which information sharing on a communication network
is disabled between a first terminal apparatus used by the first
user and a second terminal apparatus used by the second user to a
second state in which the information sharing is enabled; and
[0235] restricting the change of the state from the first state to
the second state, on the basis of restriction information that is
acquired from the first terminal apparatus and is used to restrict
the change of the state from the first state to the second
state.
(18) A terminal apparatus including:
[0236] an input unit that, when information of a first user and
information of a second user satisfy a predetermined condition and
a state changes from a first state in which information sharing on
a communication network is disabled between a first terminal
apparatus used by the first user and a second terminal apparatus
used by the second user to a second state in which the information
sharing is enabled, inputs the information of the first user and
restriction information to restrict the change of the first
state.
(19) The terminal apparatus according to (18),
[0237] wherein the input unit inputs an evaluation with respect to
information of another user.
(20) The terminal apparatus according to (19),
[0238] wherein the input unit inputs an evaluation with respect to
the information of the other user who satisfies the predetermined
condition.
[0239] The present disclosure contains subject matter related to
that disclosed in Japanese Priority Patent Application JP
2012-128771 filed in the Japan Patent Office on Jun. 6, 2012, the
entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
* * * * *