Information providing method

1. An information providing method for generating and providing information, the information providing method comprising:

(a) forecasting, by a processor, demand for a particular item or a particular service at a particular place, in accordance with (i) a plurality of pieces of lifestyle information respectively corresponding to a plurality of users, each of the pieces of lifestyle information being obtained by a lifestyle information obtaining unit from a first device including a household device belonging to the corresponding user and including information on a state of operation of the first device and (ii) a plurality of pieces of location information respectively corresponding to the plurality of users, each of the pieces of the location information being obtained by a location information obtaining unit from a mobile device belonging to the corresponding user;

(b) generating information to be provided based on a result of forecasting the demand in step (a), wherein

in step (a), the demand is forecasted based on the number of users, from among the plurality of users, who are predicted to be at the particular place in the future and whose likelihood of being in need for the particular item or the particular service is equal to or above a certain baseline, the particular place being different from a place where the first device is installed, the particular place being identified from historical information, the historical information being a history of the obtained pieces of location information, and

the number of users is obtained by, for each of the plurality of users:

estimating a habit of the user that the user conducts a specific behavior at a particular time from the state of operation of the first device included with obtained pieces of lifestyle information corresponding to the user, the habit of the user being an estimate that the user uses the first device belonging to the user in a specific time slot;

predicting a likelihood that the user is in need for the particular item or the particular service, corresponding to the specific behavior, at a time in the future based on a mismatch between (i) the specific behavior at the particular time indicated by the habit and (ii) behavior of the user at the particular time in the past, and (iii) an estimated location of the user at the particular time, the behavior being estimated from the obtained pieces of lifestyle information corresponding to the user; and

predicting a location of the user in the future from the obtained pieces of location information corresponding to the user,

(c) generating control information and providing the control information to a second device when the location of the user is the predicted location which is the same as the location of the second device, the control information controlling an operation of the second device based on the generated information in step (b).

2. The information providing method according to claim 1 ,

wherein the first device has a function of providing an item that has a same attribute as the particular item or a service that has a same attribute as the particular service, and

for each of the plurality of users, the likelihood that the user is in need for the particular item or the particular service in the future is predicted in step (a), based on historical lifestyle information of the user obtained by the lifestyle information obtaining unit, the historical lifestyle information being stored in a storage medium for accumulating the plurality of pieces of lifestyle information.

3. The information providing method according to claim 2 , further comprising

(d) attempting, for each of the plurality of users, to obtain consent from the user to obtain the pieces of lifestyle information from the first device belonging to the user before the lifestyle information obtaining unit obtains the pieces of lifestyle information.

4. The information providing method according to claim 3 ,

wherein in step (b),

the information to be provided is generated for each of the plurality of users, and

the information is generated, distinguishing between users to whom the information is to be provided, so that the information provided to a user from which the consent is obtained in step (d), from among the plurality of users, includes more content than the information provided to a user from which the consent is not obtained in step (d).

5. The information providing method according to claim 1 ,

wherein in step (a), the demand is forecasted in accordance with a plurality of pieces of biometric information respectively corresponding to the plurality of users, each of the pieces of biometric information being obtained by a biometric information obtaining unit from a biometric measuring device belonging to the corresponding user.

6. The information providing method according to claim 1 ,

wherein the location information obtaining unit successively obtains the plurality of pieces of location information, and

the demand is successively forecasted in step (a).

7. The information providing method according to claim 1 ,

wherein in step (b), as the information to be provided, information representing a volume of the demand is generated as a result of forecasting the demand in step (a).

8. The information providing method according to claim 1 ,

wherein a user condition is estimated for each of the plurality of users, in accordance with the plurality of pieces of lifestyle information obtained by the lifestyle information obtaining unit and the plurality of pieces of location information obtained by the location information obtaining unit, and information indicating on a map a location of a user, from among the plurality of users, who is estimated to be in a particular condition is generated and provided.

9. The information providing method according to claim 1 ,

wherein a user condition is estimated for each of the plurality of users, based on the plurality of pieces of lifestyle information obtained by the lifestyle information obtaining unit, and information is generated and provided distinguishing between the user conditions.

10. The information providing method according to claim 1 , wherein

the location of the user in the future predicted in step (b) includes a location of the user at the time in the future.

11. The information providing method according to claim 1 , wherein the first device and the second device are different devices.

12. A server comprising:

a lifestyle information obtaining unit configured to obtain a plurality of pieces of lifestyle information respectively corresponding to a plurality of users, each of the pieces of lifestyle information being obtained from a first device including a household device belonging to the corresponding user and including information on a state of operation of the first device;

a location information obtaining unit configured to obtain a plurality of pieces of location information respectively corresponding to the plurality of users, each of the pieces of the location information being obtained from a mobile device belonging to the corresponding user; and

an information generation unit configured to (i) forecast, using a processor, demand for a particular item or a particular service at a particular place, in accordance with the plurality of pieces of lifestyle information obtained by the lifestyle information obtaining unit and the plurality of pieces of location information obtained by the location information obtaining unit, (ii) generate information to be provided, based on a result of forecasting the demand, wherein

the information generation unit forecasts the demand based on the number of users, from among the plurality of users, who are predicted to be at the particular place in the future and whose likelihood of being in need for the particular item or the particular service is equal to or above a certain baseline, the particular place being different from a place where the first device is installed, the particular place being identified from historical information, the historical information being a history of the obtained pieces of location information, and

the information generation unit obtains the number of users by, for each of the plurality of users:

estimating a habit of the user that the user conducts specific behavior at a particular time from the state of operation of the first device included with obtained pieces of lifestyle information corresponding to the user, the habit of the user being an estimate that the user uses the first device belonging to the user in a specific time slot;

predicting a likelihood that the user is in need for the particular item or the particular service, corresponding to the specific behavior, at a time in the future based on a mismatch between (i) the specific behavior at the particular time indicated by the habit and (ii) behavior of the user at the particular time in the past, and (iii) an estimated location of the user at the particular time, the behavior being estimated from the obtained pieces of lifestyle information corresponding to the user; and

predicting a location of the user in the future from the obtained pieces of location information corresponding to the user,

(iii) generate control information and provide the control information to a second device when the predicted location of the user is a location which is the same as the location of the second device, the control information controlling an operation of the second device based on the generated information in step (ii).

13. The server according to claim 12 , wherein

the location of the user in the future predicted by the information generation unit includes a location of the user at the time in the future.

14. The server according to claim 12 , wherein the first device and the second device are different devices.