Patent ID: 7571248

Claim:
An operation history utilization system which utilizes a user's operation history on a plurality of devices, and provides the user with a service, the system comprising: a plurality of devices that transmit operation data that describes a user's operation details on said plurality of devices; and a service provision apparatus that (i) accumulates the operation data transmitted from said plurality of devices as operation history data in chronological order, (ii) specifies a frequent operation pattern which is a sequence of frequent operation history patterns based on the accumulated operation history data and (iii) provides a service according to the user's behavior predicted from the specified frequent operation pattern included in the accumulated operation history data, wherein said service provision apparatus includes: an operation history reception unit that receives the operation history data transmitted from said plurality of devices; an operation history database unit that accumulates the received operation history data; a pattern extraction unit that extracts the frequent operation pattern from the operation history data accumulated in said operation history database unit; a pattern database unit that stores the extracted frequent operation pattern, the frequent operation pattern including operation history data that is classified into a group and accumulated for the plurality of devices during a predetermined time interval; a pattern monitor unit that monitors whether or not a sequence of operation history data newly received by said operation history reception unit corresponds to the frequent operation pattern stored in said pattern database unit; a service provision unit that provides the service according to the user's behavior predicted from a result of the monitoring performed by said pattern monitor unit; and a function database unit that stores a predetermined relationship between operations performed by said plurality of devices and a function provided to the user in response to the operations, wherein said pattern extraction unit compares the operation history data accumulated in said operation history database unit with a predetermined relationship in said function database unit, converts the operation history data into a sequence of functions, extracts a frequent function pattern from the sequence of functions, and stores the extracted frequent function pattern into said pattern database unit, said service provision unit provides the service relating to said plurality of devices according to the user's behavior predicted from the result of monitoring performed by said pattern monitoring unit, and the function provided to the user is a main function associated with a names of said plurality of devices.