Server apparatus, information processing apparatus, and information processing method

Abstract

A server apparatus includes: a trend leader detecting portion that acquires purchaser identifying information for identifying a purchaser who purchased the product at an early stage satisfying a predetermined time condition, from at least two pieces of purchase history information; a recommended product acquiring portion that acquires at least one piece of product identifying information for identifying a product purchased by at least one purchaser identified with at least one piece of purchaser identifying information that has been acquired by the trend leader detecting portion; and a recommended product transmitting portion that transmits the at least one piece of product identifying information that has been acquired by the recommended product acquiring portion, to an information output apparatus. With this server apparatus, recommendation of a product can be provided based on the behavior in which a trend leader purchases a product.

1 . A server apparatus, comprising:
 a purchase history information storage portion in which at least two pieces of purchase history information of at least two purchasers are stored, the purchase history information being information indicating purchase history of a product etc. that is a product or service, and having purchaser identifying information for identifying a purchaser, product etc. identifying information for identifying a product etc., and purchase time information indicating a purchase time of a product etc.;   a trend leader detecting portion that reads at least two pieces of purchase history information from the purchase history information storage portion, detects purchaser identifying information for identifying a trend leader who purchased at least one product etc. at an early stage satisfying a predetermined time condition, from the at least two pieces of product etc. identifying information and purchase time information contained in the at least two pieces of purchase history information, acquires the purchaser identifying information from the at least two pieces of purchase history information, and stores the purchaser identifying information in a storage medium;   a recommended product etc. acquiring portion that acquires at least one piece of product etc. identifying information for identifying a product etc. purchased by at least one purchaser identified with the at least one piece of purchaser identifying information that has been acquired by the trend leader detecting portion, from the purchase history information storage portion, and stores the product etc. identifying information in a storage medium; and   a recommended product etc. transmitting portion that transmits the at least one piece of product etc. identifying information that has been acquired by the recommended product etc. acquiring portion, to an information output apparatus.   
     
     
         2 . The server apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising a trendy product etc. selecting portion that reads the at least two pieces of purchase history information, selects at least one piece of product etc. identifying information for identifying a trendy product etc., which is a product etc. purchased at a predetermined or higher degree of a trend, and stores the product etc. identifying information in a storage medium,
 wherein the trend leader detecting portion acquires purchaser identifying information for identifying a purchaser who purchased the trendy product etc. identified with the at least one piece of product etc. identifying information that has been selected by the trendy product etc. selecting portion and who purchased the trendy product etc. at an early stage satisfying a predetermined time condition, from the at least two pieces of purchase history information, and stores the purchaser identifying information in a storage medium.   
     
     
         3 . The server apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the trend leader detecting portion comprises:
 a directed graph information constituting unit that reads at least two pieces of purchase history information from the purchase history information storage portion, acquires the purchaser identifying information and the purchase time information corresponding to the product etc. identifying information indicating each of at least one product etc., and constitutes information of a directed graph in which the at least two pieces of purchaser identifying information are linked in the order of the purchase time according to the at least two pieces of purchase time information that have been acquired;   a trend leader degree calculating unit that calculates, for each piece of purchaser identifying information, a trend leader degree, which is information indicating a degree of being a link origin and a degree of being a trend source, from the directed graph information that has been constituted by the directed graph information constituting unit, and stores the trend leader degree in a storage medium; and   a purchaser identifying information acquiring unit that acquires purchaser identifying information for identifying a trend leader having a high degree of being the trend source, using the trend leader degree of each piece of purchaser identifying information that has been calculated by the trend leader degree calculating unit, from the at least two pieces of purchase history information, and stores the purchaser identifying information in a storage medium.   
     
     
         4 . The server apparatus according to  claim 3 , further comprising a user identifying information storage portion in which purchaser identifying information for identifying a user of the information output apparatus is stored,
 wherein the trend leader detecting portion further comprises a trend follower degree calculating unit that calculates, for each piece of purchaser identifying information, a trend follower degree, which is information indicating a degree of following a link origin and a degree of following a trend, from the directed graph information that has been constituted by the directed graph information constituting unit, and stores the trend follower degree in a storage medium, and   the purchaser identifying information acquiring unit acquires purchaser identifying information for identifying a trend leader having a high degree of being the trend source, using the trend leader degree of each piece of purchaser identifying information that has been calculated by the trend leader degree calculating unit and the trend follower degree of each piece of purchaser identifying information that has been calculated by the trend follower degree calculating unit, from the at least two pieces of purchase history information, and stores the purchaser identifying information in a storage medium.   
     
     
         5 . The server apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising a user identifying information storage portion in which purchaser identifying information for identifying a user of the information output apparatus is stored,
 wherein the recommended product etc. acquiring portion reads the purchaser identifying information stored in the user identifying information storage portion, thereby acquiring at least one piece of product etc. identifying information for identifying a product etc. that has not been purchased by the user identified with the purchaser identifying information, among product etc. identifying information for identifying a product etc. that has been purchased by at least one purchaser identified with the at least one piece of purchaser identifying information that has been acquired by the trend leader detecting portion, and stores the product etc. identifying information in a storage medium.   
     
     
         6 . The server apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a product etc. information storage portion in which at least two pieces of product etc. information having product etc. identifying information and at least one attribute value of a product etc. identified with the product etc. identifying information are stored;   a purchase information receiving portion that receives purchase information, which is information indicating a purchase of a product etc. by a user of the information output apparatus, and which has purchaser identifying information for identifying the user and product etc. identifying information for identifying the product etc., from the information output apparatus; and   a purchase history information accumulating portion that constitutes purchase history information, using the purchase information that has been received by the purchase information receiving portion, and accumulates the purchase history information in the purchase history information storage portion,   wherein the recommended product etc. acquiring portion acquires at least one attribute value paired with the product etc. identifying information contained in the purchase information that has been received by the purchase information receiving portion, and acquires product etc. identifying information of a product etc. having at least one attribute value having a predetermined relationship with the at least one attribute value, the product etc. identifying information being for identifying a product etc. purchased by at least one purchaser identified with the at least one piece of purchaser identifying information that has been acquired by the trend leader detecting portion.   
     
     
         7 . The server apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising:
 an input information receiving portion that receives at least two pairs of input information, which is information input to the information output apparatus by a purchaser, and purchaser identifying information;   an input information accumulating portion that accumulates the input information and the purchaser identifying information that have been received by the input information receiving portion, in a storage medium; and   a purchaser classifying portion that classifies, using the at least two pieces of input information that have been accumulated by the input information accumulating portion, the purchaser identifying information paired with each piece of input information, and manages the purchaser identifying information in such a manner that a group to which each piece of purchaser identifying information belongs can be identified,   wherein the trend leader detecting portion reads at least two pieces of purchase history information having at least one piece of purchaser identifying information belonging to a group to which the purchaser identifying information stored in the user identifying information storage portion belongs, from the purchase history information storage portion, detects purchaser identifying information for identifying a trend leader who purchased at least one product etc. at an early stage satisfying a predetermined time condition, from the at least two pieces of product etc. identifying information and purchase time information contained in the at least two pieces of purchase history information, acquires the purchaser identifying information from the at least two pieces of purchase history information, and stores the purchaser identifying information in a storage medium.   
     
     
         8 . The server apparatus according to  claim 7 , wherein the purchaser classifying portion reads the input information and the purchaser identifying information that have been accumulated by the input information accumulating portion, analyzes preference of each purchaser using the input information and the purchaser identifying information, classifies at least two pieces of purchaser identifying information based on the preference, and manages the purchaser identifying information in such a manner that a group to which each piece of purchaser identifying information belongs can be identified. 
     
     
         9 . The server apparatus according to  claim 8 ,
 wherein the input information that has been received by the input information receiving portion has product etc. identifying information for identifying a product etc. purchased by a purchaser identified with the purchaser identifying information,   the input information accumulating portion accumulates the purchase history information having the product etc. identifying information that has been received by the input information receiving portion, the purchaser identifying information, and the purchase time information, in the purchase history information storage portion, and   the purchaser classifying portion classifies at least two pieces of purchaser identifying information, using the at least two pieces of purchase history information that have been accumulated by the input information accumulating portion, and manages the purchaser identifying information in such a manner that a group to which each piece of purchaser identifying information belongs can be identified.   
     
     
         10 . A server apparatus, comprising:
 a purchase history information storage portion in which at least two pieces of purchase history information of at least two purchasers are stored, the purchase history information being information indicating purchase history of a product etc. that is a product or service, and having purchaser identifying information for identifying a purchaser, product etc. identifying information for identifying a product etc., and purchase time information indicating a purchase time of a product etc.;   a trend leader detecting portion that reads at least two pieces of purchase history information from the purchase history information storage portion, detects purchaser identifying information for identifying a trend leader who purchased at least one product etc. at an early stage satisfying a predetermined time condition, from the at least two pieces of product etc. identifying information and purchase time information contained in the at least two pieces of purchase history information, acquires the purchaser identifying information from the at least two pieces of purchase history information, and stores the purchaser identifying information in a storage medium;   a recommended product etc. acquiring portion that acquires product etc. identifying information paired with the purchaser identifying information that has been acquired by the trend leader detecting portion, from the purchase history information storage portion;   a purchase information receiving portion that receives purchase information, which is information indicating a purchase of a product etc. by a user of an information output apparatus, and which has purchaser identifying information for identifying the user and product etc. identifying information for identifying the product etc., from the information output apparatus;   a judging portion that judges whether or not the purchaser identifying information that has been received by the purchase information receiving portion is contained in the purchaser identifying information that has been acquired by the trend leader detecting portion; and   a recommended product etc. transmitting portion that transmits the product etc. identifying information that has been received by the purchase information receiving portion, if the judging portion judges that the purchaser identifying information that has been received by the purchase information receiving portion is contained in the purchaser identifying information that has been acquired by the trend leader detecting portion.   
     
     
         11 . The server apparatus according to  claim 1  or  10 , further comprising a trend leader output portion that outputs information to the effect that a purchaser identified with the purchaser identifying information that has been acquired by the trend leader detecting portion is the trend leader. 
     
     
         12 . An information processing method for recommending a product etc., using a trend leader detecting portion, a recommended product etc. acquiring portion, and a recommended product etc. transmitting portion, comprising:
 a trend leader detecting step using the trend leader detecting portion, of reading at least two pieces of purchase history information from a purchase history information storage portion in which at least two pieces of purchase history information of at least two purchasers are stored, the purchase history information being information indicating purchase history of a product etc. that is a product or service, and having purchaser identifying information for identifying a purchaser, product etc. identifying information for identifying a product etc., and purchase time information indicating a purchase time of a product etc., detecting purchaser identifying information for identifying a trend leader who purchased at least one product etc. at an early stage satisfying a predetermined time condition, from the at least two pieces of product etc. identifying information and purchase time information contained in the at least two pieces of purchase history information, acquiring the purchaser identifying information from the at least two pieces of purchase history information, and storing the purchaser identifying information in a storage medium;   a recommended product etc. acquiring step using the recommended product etc. acquiring portion, of acquiring at least one piece of product etc. identifying information for identifying a product etc. purchased by at least one purchaser identified with the at least one piece of purchaser identifying information that has been acquired by the trend leader detecting portion, from the purchase history information storage portion, and storing the product etc. identifying information in a storage medium; and   a recommended product etc. transmitting step using the recommended product etc. transmitting portion, of transmitting the at least one piece of product etc. identifying information that has been acquired by the recommended product etc. acquiring portion, to an information output apparatus.   
     
     
         13 . The information processing method according to  claim 12 , wherein the trend leader detecting step comprises:
 a directed graph information constituting step of reading at least two pieces of purchase history information from the purchase history information storage portion, acquiring the purchaser identifying information and the purchase time information corresponding to the product etc. identifying information indicating each of at least one product etc., and constituting information of a directed graph in which the at least two pieces of purchaser identifying information are linked in the order of the purchase time according to the at least two pieces of purchase time information that have been acquired;   a trend leader degree calculating step of calculating, for each piece of purchaser identifying information, a trend leader degree, which is information indicating a degree of being a link origin and a degree of being a trend source, from the directed graph information that has been constituted in the directed graph information constituting step, and storing the trend leader degree in a storage medium; and   a purchaser identifying information acquiring step of acquiring purchaser identifying information for identifying a trend leader having a high degree of being the trend source, using the trend leader degree of each piece of purchaser identifying information that has been calculated in the trend leader degree calculating step, from the at least two pieces of purchase history information, and storing the purchaser identifying information in a storage medium.   
     
     
         14 . The information processing method according to  claim 13 ,
 wherein the trend leader detecting step further comprises a trend follower degree calculating step of calculating, for each piece of purchaser identifying information, a trend follower degree, which is information indicating a degree of following a link origin and a degree of following a trend, from the directed graph information that has been constituted in the directed graph information constituting step, and storing the trend follower degree in a storage medium, and   in the purchaser identifying information acquiring step, purchaser identifying information for identifying a trend leader having a high degree of being the trend source is acquired using the trend leader degree of each piece of purchaser identifying information that has been calculated in the trend leader degree calculating step and the trend follower degree of each piece of purchaser identifying information that has been calculated in the trend follower degree calculating step, from the at least two pieces of purchase history information, and stored in a storage medium.   
     
     
         15 . The information processing method according to  claim 12 , for recommending a product etc., using the trend leader detecting portion, the recommended product etc. acquiring portion, the recommended product etc. transmitting portion, an input information receiving portion, an input information accumulating portion, and a purchaser classifying portion, further comprising:
 an input information receiving step using the input information receiving portion, of receiving at least two pairs of input information, which is information input to the information output apparatus by a purchaser, and purchaser identifying information;   an input information accumulating step using the input information accumulating portion, of accumulating the input information and the purchaser identifying information that have been received in the input information receiving step, in a storage medium; and   a purchaser classifying step using the purchaser classifying portion, of classifying, using the at least two pieces of input information that have been accumulated in the input information accumulating step, the purchaser identifying information paired with each piece of input information, and managing the purchaser identifying information in such a manner that a group to which each piece of purchaser identifying information belongs can be identified,   wherein in the trend leader detecting step, at least two pieces of purchase history information having at least one piece of purchaser identifying information belonging to a group to which the purchaser identifying information stored in the storage medium belongs are read, purchaser identifying information for identifying a trend leader who purchased at least one product etc. at an early stage satisfying a predetermined time condition is detected from the at least two pieces of product etc. identifying information and purchase time information contained in the at least two pieces of purchase history information, and the purchaser identifying information is acquired from the at least two pieces of purchase history information.   
     
     
         16 . An information processing apparatus, comprising:
 a behavior information storage portion in which at least two pieces of behavior information are stored, the behavior information being information indicating a history of events in which a target is processed by a user performing a behavior on the target, and having user identifying information for identifying a user, target identifying information for identifying a target, and time information indicating when a behavior occurred;   a behavior order information acquiring portion that reads at least two pieces of behavior information from the behavior information storage portion, and acquires, from the target identifying information and the time information contained in the at least two pieces of behavior information, behavior order information, which is information regarding the order of a behavior performed by at least two users on a target identified with the target identifying information;   a leading degree information calculating portion that calculates leading degree information, which is information regarding a leading degree or delaying degree of a user, using the behavior order information that has been acquired by the behavior order information acquiring portion; and   a leading degree information output portion that outputs the leading degree information.   
     
     
         17 . The information processing apparatus according to  claim 16 ,
 wherein the leading degree information calculating portion comprises:
 a trend leader degree calculating unit that calculates, for each of at least two users, trend leader degree, which is information indicating a degree of being an origin of a behavior performed on the same target by multiple users and a degree of being a trend source, from at least two pieces of behavior order information that have been acquired by the behavior order information acquiring portion; and 
 a trend follower degree calculating unit that calculates, for each of at least two users, trend follower degree, which is information indicating a degree of following an origin of a behavior performed on the same target by multiple users and a degree of following a trend, from at least two pieces of behavior order information that have been acquired by the behavior order information acquiring portion, and 
   the leading degree information output portion outputs at least one of the trend leader degree and the trend follower degree.   
     
     
         18 . The information processing apparatus according to  claim 16 , further comprising:
 a trend leader acquiring portion that accepts the leading degree information that has been output by the leading degree information output portion, and acquires user identifying information for identifying a trend leader, which is a user who performs a behavior at an early stage satisfying a predetermined time condition, using the leading degree information; and   a trend leader output portion that outputs the user identifying information that has been acquired by the trend leader acquiring portion.   
     
     
         19 . An information processing apparatus, comprising:
 a behavior information storage portion in which at least two pieces of behavior information are stored, the behavior information being information indicating history of a behavior performed by a user on a target, and having user identifying information for identifying a user, target identifying information for identifying a target, and time information indicating when a behavior occurred;   a processing order information acquiring portion that reads at least two pieces of behavior information from the behavior information storage portion, and acquires, from the user identifying information and the time information contained in the at least two pieces of behavior information, processing order information, which is information regarding the order of processing performed on at least two targets by a user identified with the user identifying information;   a leading degree information calculating portion that calculates target leading degree information, which is information regarding a leading degree or delaying degree of a target, using the processing order information that has been acquired by the processing order information acquiring portion; and   a target leading degree information output portion that outputs the target leading degree information.   
     
     
         20 . The information processing apparatus according to  claim 19 ,
 wherein the target leading degree information output portion comprises:
 a source item degree calculating unit that calculates, for each of at least two targets, a source item degree, which is information indicating a degree of a target being an origin of a behavior performed by the same user on multiple targets and a degree of the target being a hub, from at least two pieces of processing order information that have been acquired by the processing order information acquiring portion; and 
 a derived item degree calculating unit that calculates, for each of at least two targets, a derived item degree, which is a degree of following a target that serves as an origin of a behavior performed by the same user on multiple targets, from at least two pieces of processing order information that have been acquired by the processing order information acquiring portion, and 
   the target leading degree information output portion outputs at least one of the source item degree and the derived item degree.   
     
     
         21 . The information processing apparatus according to  claim 19 , further comprising:
 a trend shift information acquiring portion that accepts the target leading degree information that has been output by the target leading degree information output portion, and acquires trend shift information, which is information of trend shift as a flow of a behavior performed on targets, using the target leading degree information; and   a trend shift information output portion that outputs the trend shift information that has been acquired by the trend shift information acquiring portion.   
     
     
         22 . An information processing method for outputting leading degree information, using a behavior order information acquiring portion, a leading degree information calculating portion, and a leading degree information output portion, comprising:
 a behavior order information acquiring step using the behavior order information acquiring portion, of reading at least two pieces of behavior information stored in a storage medium, and acquiring, from target identifying information and time information contained in the at least two pieces of behavior information, behavior order information, which is information regarding the order of a behavior performed by at least two users on a target identified with the target identifying information;   a leading degree information calculating step of calculating leading degree information, which is information regarding a leading degree or delaying degree of a user, through a predetermined formula, using the behavior order information that has been acquired in the behavior order information acquiring step; and   a leading degree information output step of outputting the leading degree information.   
     
     
         23 . An information processing method for outputting target leading degree information, using a processing order information acquiring portion, a leading degree information calculating portion, and a target leading degree information output portion, comprising:
 a processing order information acquiring step of reading at least two pieces of behavior information stored in a storage medium, and acquiring, from user identifying information and time information contained in the at least two pieces of behavior information, processing order information, which is information regarding the order of processing performed on at least two targets by a user identified with the user identifying information;   a leading degree information calculating step of calculating target leading degree information, which is information regarding a leading degree or delaying degree of a target, through a predetermined formula, using the processing order information that has been acquired in the processing order information acquiring step; and   a target leading degree information output step of outputting the target leading degree information.