Patent ID: 7117518

Claim:
An information retrieval method, comprising the steps of: forming a specific user's specific user model based on general user selection taste data comprising classification items and information contents on the basis of a general user group classified according to a user attribute and/or the state of information utilization, and based on the basic information selection taste data of said specific user; registering said specific user model formed for each of plural users so as to correspond to respective users; retrieving the information suiting one or more specific user model(s) based on said one or more specific user model(s) among a plurality of specific user models; and forming a group user model on the basis of said plurality of specific user models and retrieving information based on priority order tables located in the group user model, wherein said group user model is employed to retrieve information in accordance with one of a plurality of user-selectable modes, wherein said plurality of user-selectable modes includes a maximum value mode, a minimum value mode, and an average value mode, wherein retrieval based on the maximum value mode is based on one specific user model and retrieval based on the minimum value mode and the average value mode are based on each of said plurality of user-selectable modes, wherein, when the maximum value mode is selected, retrieval is a function of a highest preference of one user model among the plurality of specific use models, wherein, when the minimum value mode is selected, retrieval is a function of a number of complaints by the plurality of specific user models, and wherein a determination of the information retrieval method is based on the priority order tables.