Abstract: An information providing method includes: when door information indicating whether a door of the refrigerator is open or closed and information indicating a change in the amount of an item in the refrigerator indicate that there is no change in the amount of the item between the door of the refrigerator being opened and closed, generating first information indicating that a user opened the door of the refrigerator but an item the user wanted was not in the refrigerator; obtaining, from a second information processing apparatus connected to a first information processing apparatus, information indicating first request content over a network; and when content of the first information is included in the first request content, outputting, to the second information processing apparatus, second information including information for identifying the user or the home, using the first information generated.

Abstract: An information providing method includes: generating first information indicating there is an item that has been stored in a storage for a long time when (i) a length of a stored period of the item is a first threshold amount of time or longer and (ii) an amount of time from the current time to a statistical time is a second threshold amount of time or less; obtaining, from a second information processing apparatus connected to a first information processing apparatus, information indicating first request content over a network; and when content of the first information is included in the first request content, outputting, to the second information processing apparatus, second information including information for identifying a user or a space, using the first information generated.

Abstract: An information providing method includes: generating first information indicating that a friendly gathering is occurring in a home when (i) a threshold amount of time or longer has elapsed from a start time of food preparation by a user and (ii) the volume of sound in a dining space is a first threshold volume or greater; obtaining, from a second information processing apparatus connected to a first information processing apparatus, information indicating first request content over a network; and when content of the first information is included in the first request content, outputting, to the second information processing apparatus, second information including information for identifying the user or the home, using the first information generated.

Abstract: An information providing method includes: generating first information indicating a high probability that a user is tired when (i) a second return time, indicating when the user returned home in a past second period, is later than a first return time, indicating when a user returned home in a past, longer first period, by a first threshold or longer, and (ii) movement information indicates the user has not moved in the home for a second threshold amount of time or longer; obtaining, from a second information processing apparatus connected to a first information processing apparatus, information indicating first request content over a network; and when the first information content is included in the first request content, outputting, to the second information processing apparatus, second information including information for identifying the user or the home, using the generated first information.

Abstract: An information providing method includes: generating first information indicating that a user is interested in the type of content corresponding to first content information output by an information device in the past and second content information currently being output by the information device when the type of content of the first and second content information is the same; obtaining, from a second information processing apparatus connected to the first information processing apparatus, information indicating first request content over a network; and when content of the first information is included in the first request content, outputting, to the second information processing apparatus, second information including information for identifying the user or the home, using the generated first information.

Abstract: An information providing method includes: generating first information indicating that a user who is interested in first content is relaxing, when (i) a current behavior of the user includes a predefined behavior and (ii) the first content included in information on communication content and second content included in information indicating a shopping history are the same content; obtaining, from a second information processing apparatus connected to a first information processing apparatus, information indicating first request content over a network; and when content of the first information is included in the first request content, outputting, to the second information processing apparatus, second information including information for identifying the user or a space, using the generated first information.

Abstract: An information providing method includes: generating first information indicating that a user has performed a predefined activity when (i) information indicating an activity of the user includes information indicating the predefined activity and (ii) movement of an object corresponding to the predefined activity is detected by a second sensor after a first sensor detects the activity of the user; obtaining, from a second information processing apparatus connected to a first information processing apparatus, information indicating first request content over a network; and when content of the first information is included in the first request content, outputting, to the second information processing apparatus, second information including information for identifying the user or a space, using the first information generated.

Abstract: Provided is a method of providing an advertisement in an indoor space using a system including a processor and a memory storing information about a content of each of advertisements including a first advertisement. The method includes: (a) calculating a base fee of the first advertisement from a content of the first advertisement stored in the memory based on a first criterion determined in advance based on a viewer's impression of each advertisement; (b) calculating an additional fee of the first advertisement from the content of the first advertisement based on a second criterion determined in advance to determine whether to be an advertisement improper to the system; (c) selecting an advertisement to be provided from among the plurality of advertisements based on a sum of the base fee calculated and the additional fee calculated; and (d) outputting an instruction to provide, to the indoor space, the advertisement selected.

Abstract: A translation information providing apparatus includes a forward translator that generates a first translation by translating a first original sentence in a first language into a second language, a back translator that generates a first back translation by back-translating the first translation into the first language, and a translation result outputter that outputs at least either the first original sentence or the first translation and, as the first back translation, a back translation that semantically matches or is semantically similar to the first original sentence.

Abstract: A bilingual-corpus generating method includes: acquiring a first clause in the first language, a first translated clause obtained by translating the first clause into a second language, a second clause in the first language, a second translated clause obtained by translating the second clause into the second language; and generating, as a translated clause of a third clause obtained by constructing the first clause and the second clause as one sentence by using a first conjunction in the first language, a third translated clause obtained by constructing the first translated clause and the second translated clause as one sentence by using a second conjunction in the second language.

Abstract: A control method for an information processing apparatus including a processor includes: obtaining information about an amount of an item stored in a storage structure; determining whether the information about the amount of the item satisfies a first condition or not, the first condition indicating that the amount of the item is less than or equal to a given amount; and, when the first condition is satisfied, displaying, on a display, a screen including: information about the item; information related to the amount of the item, indicating that the amount of the item is less than or equal to the given amount; and a purchase suggestion for a product corresponding to the item.

Abstract: A processing method includes acquiring first parallel text data which is a pair of a first text described in a first language and a first translation of the first text into a second language; evaluating whether the first parallel text data has a possibility of mistranslation on the basis of words included in the first text and the first translation; and outputting information based on the evaluation result. It is evaluated whether the first parallel text data has a possibility of mistranslation on the basis of results of (1) a first determination as to whether the first text includes either or both of a word with a first meaning and an antonym of the word and (2) a second determination as to whether the first translation includes either or both of a translation word with the first meaning and an antonym of the translation word.

Abstract: A third sentence obtained by replacing a first phrase of a first sentence with a second phrase is input, and it is judged whether a third phrase is included in a first database including at least a phrase used in written text. If the third phrase is not included, a first evaluation value in the first database is calculated for a seventh phrase obtained by replacing the second phrase of the third phrase with a sixth phrase. It is judged whether the third phrase is included in a second database including at least a phrase used in spoken text and whether a second evaluation value calculated from the first evaluation value satisfies a predetermined condition. If the third phrase is included, and the second evaluation value satisfies the predetermined condition, the third sentence and the second sentence as a pair are added to a bilingual corpus.

Abstract: A method for providing a translation, including: acquiring a first sentence in a first language via a user terminal; determining whether the first sentence is in a database including sentences in the first language and corresponding translations in a second language; if the first sentence is not in the database, generating second sentences by replacing one or more words in the first sentence, based on a predetermined rule; calculating respective degrees of coincidence for syntax between the second sentences and sentences in the first language included in the database; extracting third sentences in the first language which are included in the database and for which the calculated degree of coincidence is at least a threshold value; and displaying fourth sentences in the second language which are corresponding translations for the third sentences in the database, on the user terminal as corresponding translation references for the first sentence.

Abstract: A paraphrase generation method according to the present disclosure generates one or more paraphrases of an original text by paraphrasing, within an acceptable limit for accepting paraphrasing, one or more of a plurality of fragments included in the original text into another expression in the language of the original text, the plurality of fragments being obtained by dividing the original text in accordance with a predetermined rule.

Abstract: A machine translation method is provided, in which a plurality of different forward-translated sentences is generated resulting from translation of a received translation-source sentence in a first language into a second language. A plurality of backward-translated sentences is generated resulting from backward translation of the plurality of different forward-translated sentences into the first language. As translation-source sentence, voice information or text information is received. The voice information is received via a microphone that receives a voice input performed by a user. The text information is received via a text input device that receives a text input performed by a user. An output form of the forward-translated sentence corresponding to the selected backward-translated sentence is changed in accordance with which of the voice information and the text information is received as the translation-source sentence.

Abstract: In a method of creating similar sentences from an entered original, one or more second phrases having the same meaning as a first phrase, which is part of the original, are extracted from a first database; an N-gram value is calculated according to a context dependence value, in a second database, corresponding to the one or more second phrases; one or more contiguous third phrases that include a number of second phrases equivalent to the N-gram value are extracted from one or more sentences obtained by replacing, in the original, the first phrase with the one or more second phrases; the appearance frequency of the one or more third phrases in a third database is calculated; and if the calculated appearance frequency is determined to be larger than or equal to a threshold, the one or more sentences are used as similar sentences of the original and are externally output.

Abstract: A processing method includes acquiring first parallel text data which is a pair of a first text described in a first language and a first translation of the first text into a second language; evaluating whether the first parallel text data has a possibility of mistranslation on the basis of words included in the first text and the first translation; and outputting information based on the evaluation result. It is evaluated whether the first parallel text data has a possibility of mistranslation on the basis of results of (1) a first determination as to whether the first text includes either or both of a word with a first meaning and an antonym of the word and (2) a second determination as to whether the first translation includes either or both of a translation word with the first meaning and an antonym of the translation word.

Abstract: A translation information providing apparatus includes a forward translator that generates a first translation by translating a first original sentence in a first language into a second language, a back translator that generates a first back translation by back-translating the first translation into the first language, and a translation result outputter that outputs at least either the first original sentence or the first translation and, as the first back translation, a back translation that semantically matches or is semantically similar to the first original sentence.

Abstract: A bilingual-corpus generating method includes: acquiring a first clause in the first language, a first translated clause obtained by translating the first clause into a second language, a second clause in the first language, a second translated clause obtained by translating the second clause into the second language; and generating, as a translated clause of a third clause obtained by constructing the first clause and the second clause as one sentence by using a first conjunction in the first language, a third translated clause obtained by constructing the first translated clause and the second translated clause as one sentence by using a second conjunction in the second language.