JP2003196465A - Article delivery/recovery system and operation server, computer program and computer readable storage medium - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To realize delivery and recovery for articles to a customer by a delivery firm within a reasonable range, and to make the time or distance required for traveling rounds fall in a proper range. <P>SOLUTION: An order for a toner cartridge as an article and request for recovering a used cartridge are reported to a server 200 from the respective customers 100 to 102. The server 200 searches for a shortest traveling route, and determines the route not to exceed the loadings of a carrier vehicle due to delivery and recovery of cartridges in traveling rounds according to each traveling route, and reports the determination result to a terminal 300 to an express company. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an item delivery / collection system, an operation server, a computer program and a computer-readable storage medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, many office automation equipments, especially those having a printing function, use an electrophotographic system. For example, a copying machine, a printer, a FAX, etc. can be mentioned.

Usually, in these OA equipment, a toner cartridge in which a toner as a recording material and a photosensitive drum are integrated has been adopted in order to maintain easy maintenance and maintain high printing quality.

In addition, by collecting and recycling toner cartridges, it is possible to contribute to resource saving and energy saving.

On the other hand, when a customer requests delivery of a toner cartridge, the requested cartridge is also delivered.

[0006]

If the sales company considers that the cartridge ordered by the customer should be delivered to the customer or collected, the number of the cartridges should be considered because of the relation between transportation and time. It is hoped that the above will be organized to some extent.

On the other hand, it can be said that the customer wants even one cartridge to be delivered and to be collected.

[0008] Therefore, it is considered that such a problem can be solved by receiving requests from a plurality of customers and circulating them, but it is far better to perform these at the same time than to separately deliver and collect. Is very efficient.

The inventor of the present application has found a concrete method for efficiently performing the delivery and the collection by the patrol at the same time. That is, the present invention provides an article delivery / collection system and an operation server for improving the efficiency of delivery / collection operation, a computer program, and a computer-readable storage medium.

[0010]

In order to solve this problem, for example, an article delivery / collection system of the present invention has the following configuration. That is, an article delivery / collection system for delivering and collecting articles to a plurality of customers, wherein the plurality of customers access the server that operates the article delivery / collection system to order the articles. And a terminal for requesting collection, and the server includes a database for storing position information of each customer, receiving means for receiving an order request / collection request from each customer, and the receiving means. When there is a received ordered product / collected product, based on the delivered amount based on the ordered product of each customer who requested and the loaded amount of the recovered product, further, based on the position information of the customer who is registered in the database and requested. And a determining means for determining a traveling route.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. As an object to be ordered / collected in the embodiment, a toner cartridge (hereinafter, simply referred to as a cartridge) used in an OA device (copying machine, printer, FAX, etc.) will be described as an example.

<Description of Outline> FIG. 1 shows a block diagram of the entire system in the embodiment. In the figure, 1
00 to 102 are terminals installed in customers (hereinafter referred to as customer terminals), 200 is a server (also serves as a Web server) for ordering / collecting operations, and 300 is terminals installed in a shipping company (hereinafter referred to as transportation). Company terminal). The customer terminals 100 to 102, the server 200, and the transportation company terminal 300 may be any ones as long as they have a function of connecting to the Internet and browsing and a mail function, and are generally composed of personal computers or workstations.

In the above structure, each customer operates his / her own terminal to access the server 200 using a browser, and performs user registration (registration of customer name, address, e-mail address, and OA equipment in use). Kind) do. Server 20
0 issues an ID to the registered user (in the embodiment, notification may be made on the Web, but notification may be made by email).

After this, each user is assigned an ID
Then, the server 200 is accessed to request collection of used cartridges and / or order of cartridges.

The server 200 receives the above-mentioned request from each user, receives and delivers a new cartridge, and further,
A schedule (patrol route) for collecting used cartridges is determined, and the shipping company terminal 300 is notified of the schedule. This notification will be sent by email.

Upon receipt of this notification, the shipping company will load a new cartridge (if any) and deliver and collect it according to the notification schedule. Collected cartridges shall be delivered to a designated warehouse.

<Explanation of User Registration and Order / Collection Request> FIG. 2 is displayed when the server 200 is accessed by the customer terminal in the embodiment and a new user registration is instructed (clicked) on the initial menu (top home page). Shows the screen.

As shown in the figure, it is composed of a customer name (company name, etc.), a mail address, an address, a telephone number, and a field for inputting the OA equipment used. The input of the OA device is performed by selecting a corresponding one from a table prepared in advance in a combo box format,
Other names and e-mail addresses shall be entered directly with the keyboard.

When the user finishes the input and clicks the "register" button, the user registration is completed. When the user registration is completed, the server 200 creates the page shown in FIG. 3 and notifies the user who requested the registration of the ID.

When the user is registered, the server 200 refers to the map DB by using the address entered in the address field as a key, and the coordinate position (x, x,
y) and the coordinate position data is also registered in association with the customer ID (details will be described later).

Although details of the configuration of the server 200 will be described later, a model database (hereinafter simply referred to as DB) and a user DB are provided. The model DB is, for example, as shown in FIG. 4, the model name of the OA device using the cartridge,
The model name of the cartridge to be used and the size (details about the size will be described later). When registering the model name at the time of user registration, the model DB is referred to, the list is displayed in the combo box, and the user can select from the list. In addition, the model name “Copier A” shown in the figure
"0001" indicates that there are four types of cartridges. This indicates that the same model is a color copying machine, and can mount four types of cyan (C), magenta (M), yellow (Y), and black (Bk). In the case of a monochrome printer or the like, normally only one type of black toner cartridge is used.

On the other hand, the user DB has a structure as shown in FIG. 5 and is provided with an area for storing the user ID and the user's location (coordinate position) in addition to the information registered in FIG. The user location is based on the input address (including street address), and the operating company (distributor, etc.) in the embodiment.
The coordinates within the jurisdiction served by the server 20
0 is calculated separately and is registered (the reason will be described later).

<Server Configuration and Outline of Processing> FIG. 6 shows a configuration diagram of the server 200 in the embodiment. Server 2
00 is a CPU 201 and a BIOS that controls the entire apparatus
202 that stores a boot program and OS
And the RAM 203 used for loading a motion processing program and used as a work area.

In the hard disk 204, in addition to the OS and the programs that the server 200 of the embodiment operates as a server, the user DB 204a described above with reference to FIG.
Model DB 204b described using FIG. 4, tour list creation area 204c described later, map DB 204d, request D
B204e and patrol route table 204f exist.

Reference numeral 205 is a network interface for connecting to the Internet. Reference numeral 206 denotes an input device such as a keyboard and a mouse. A display control unit 207 has a video RAM (not shown) incorporated therein, controls the display of images, and outputs the image data expanded in the video RAM to the display device 208 as a video signal.

Of the above, the map DB has a structure as shown in FIG. 21, for example. That is, coordinate data corresponding to an address (including a chome and an address) that can be easily managed by the device are stored in pairs.

The configuration of the server 200 as hardware is generally as described above, and an outline of its operation will be described below.

The main processing of the server 200 is broadly divided into: ordering of cartridges from each registered user (customer terminal) and request for collection of used cartridges, processing of determining the traveling route of the transportation vehicle, and determined traveling route. There is a notification process to the shipping company terminal 300, a data collection process associated with delivery / collection by a worker of the transportation vehicle, and a current status notification process to the customer. Hereinafter, each process will be described.

[Request acceptance process] The customer who has registered as a user must operate his / her terminal to click the order / collection request button (not shown) on the top home page of the server 200 and enter the user ID. You can receive orders for cartridges and requests for collection.

FIG. 7 shows an example of a page that the server 200 sends to the user. The user can confirm that his name is displayed by first inputting the ID. In addition, the user can set the order of cartridges and the collection, respectively, but instead of selecting from all the models registered in the model DB, the model name to be set should be searched for from the models set at the time of user registration. I chose

In the case shown in the figure, "Copier A001" is designated as the model name in "Order", but if the ▽ on the right side of the model name is clicked, the record indicated by the user ID in the user DB. Since then, a list of registered models to be used is displayed.

When the model name is input, the model name is used as a key to refer to the model DB to find out the usable cartridge name. One of the cartridge names is used as the default cartridge name and the "cartridge name" shown in the figure is used. To be displayed. For example, referring to FIG. 4, since the model name "copying machine A001" is a color copying machine, the leading cartridge name "cartridge CT001Bk" is displayed. The user can change the cartridge name by clicking ∇ like this when selecting the model name by looking at this screen. Since there is only one type of cartridge name that can be used for the model name "Printer P020", as shown in the figure, ".gradient." For selecting a cartridge name is displayed to indicate an inoperable state. After that, all you have to do is input this number of orders from the keyboard. Since there may be many types of cartridges to be ordered, a scroll bar 70 is added as shown in the figure.

On the other hand, the input method for "collection" is
Same as "Order", enter the model name, cartridge name, and quantity. Further, as with “ordering”, a large number can be set by operating the scroll bar 71 as needed.
Of course, only the order or the collection may be performed, and the order page and the collection page may be independent.

In this way, when the user clicks the "send" button 72, the setting contents are notified (transmitted) to the server 200. It should be noted that when the "Cancel" button 73 is clicked, the screen returns to the login screen (top home page).

When the "send" button 72 is clicked and the setting contents are notified to the server 200, the server 200 registers the requested data in the request DB 204e, and the reception mark (reception number and its reception number). (With a barcode image showing a number) is created and saved, and a screen indicating that the acceptance is completed having a URL indicating the location of the saved acceptance mark is displayed.

FIG. 8 shows the contents of the request DB 204e. As shown in the figure, each collection and order is accepted as one request, and a receipt number is created by combining the user ID with the number requested by the user as a receipt number. Also,
The difference between ordering and collection is specified by the "type" shown, and the date of acceptance is also stored. Further, at this point, since the work has not been completed for this request, the state is set to "not completed" as shown in the drawing.

A screen showing acceptance completion is as shown in FIG. The figure (a) shows the message displayed when there is a collection request, and the figure (b) shows the message when there is an order, both of which describe the URL indicating the location of the reception mark. . If there are both collection and order, two messages are connected and displayed (however, the second address at the beginning is excluded).

The user sees this message and clicks the displayed URL to obtain the reception mark. The image is, for example, as shown in FIG. The figure (a) shows the collection request reception mark, and the figure (b) shows the order reception mark, both of which include a barcode (receipt number) inside.

Here, the user prints each reception mark in accordance with the message. Regarding the collection mark, the printing result is pasted on the cartridge to be collected. In addition, the order reception mark will be stored by the person who actually delivered the product for the purpose of handing it over.

As will be described in detail later, when the patrol route of the transportation vehicle is determined, which will be described later, the schedule for delivery and collection is separately notified to the user by e-mail. The content of the email is
For example, it is as shown in FIGS. The same figure (a) is an example of a collection schedule notification mail, and the same figure (b)
Indicates an example of a delivery (delivery) schedule notification email.

[Data Collection Process Accompanying Delivery / Recovery by Transport Vehicle Worker] Next, a data collection process associated with delivery / recovery by the transport vehicle worker will be described.

When the patrol route of the transportation vehicle, which will be described later, is determined, the server 200 sends a mail indicating the schedule of the patrol route to the transportation company. FIG. 12 shows the contents of this mail.

The shipping company receives this e-mail, loads the ordered products, then repeats patrols to each customer and delivery and / or collection, and carries out the work of transporting the finally collected cartridges to a predetermined warehouse. It will be.

Each customer has an order reception mark and / or a collection reception mark attached to the used cartridge. Therefore, at least when collecting
It becomes clear which ones should be collected and there is no need to ask each customer, so work can be done smoothly. In any case, the operator (driver and / or assistant of the transport vehicle) reads the barcode of the reception mark with the portable barcode reader and notifies the server 200 of the read barcode data (reception number). Informs the customer that delivery and / or collection has been completed. In response to this, the “state” of the corresponding data in the request DB is set to “completed” and set as a deletion target.

[Current Status Notification Process to Customer] FIG. 13 shows the contents of the patrol route table 204f created when the patrol route determination process of the transportation vehicle, which will be described later, is performed. By performing this patrol route determination processing,
The traveling order of each customer is determined, and the traveling time between the customers is determined by adding the traveling time according to the distance and the working time for visiting and delivering / collecting.

Since it is necessary to load unused cartridges in the warehouse first, the scheduled loading completion time is set at 9:00 at the beginning of the case shown in the figure, and thereafter, the moving distance and the working time are set. By adding, the time of each visiting customer is estimated. This analogy time is the scheduled time notified by the email described above. When the loading in the warehouse is not completed, the initial scheduled time and the actual scheduled time shown in the figure are the same.

There is no time difference between the patrol numbers "1" and "2" because they are the same customer, one shows the delivery of the ordered product, and the other is for collection. (The reason is that the first 6 digits are the customer ID, which is the same in the case shown in the figure).

When the user actually arrives at the warehouse and mounts an unused cartridge, the worker notifies the server 200 of that fact. The notification at this time is performed by reading a bar code prepared in advance indicating that an unused cartridge is mounted (mounted on the vehicle). In the case shown, it is 9
It is shown that loading is completed at 15 minutes and the vehicle moves toward the patrol number “1”. When this notification is received by the server 200, it is found that it is 15 minutes behind the scheduled time, so "9:15" is entered in the "actual scheduled time", and the flag indicating work completion is set to "completed". Set and request DB
The corresponding "state" in 204e is set to complete. Then, the time of the destination after that time is estimated based on the “first scheduled time”, and the “actual scheduled time” is updated. In the illustrated case, since the work for the reception numbers 123555-10 and 123555-11 was completed at 9:44 minutes, this completion flag is also set to “completed”. As a result, the actual scheduled times after the subsequent tour number 3 are updated again based on the first scheduled time.

That is, every time the customer is visited, the delivery / collection is completed, the bar code described above is read, and the result is notified to the server 200, the “completion flag” for the work is set to “complete”. , According to it, the "actual scheduled time" of the destinations to be visited after that will be updated.

As a result, it is possible to update the time to a more probable time that reflects the traffic situation on the day of transportation.

When the registered user operates his / her terminal and clicks the scheduled delivery / collection time (not shown) on the initial screen and inputs the user ID, the latest scheduled time (actual scheduled time) at that time is displayed. .

For example, in the state of FIG. 13, the reception number 123
A user who has made a request for 456-10 (in the embodiment,
The display screen of (stock corporation) is as shown in FIG.

In the above example, the customer positively accesses the server 200 and inquires about the time. However, the server 200 may deliver the mail to the customer one by one.

<Explanation of the processing procedure in the server 200>
The operation processing procedure (program running on the server 200) starting with the order / collection acceptance in the server 200 described above will be described with reference to the flowcharts of FIGS. 15 and 16.

First, the main processing in the server 200 will be described with reference to FIG.

In step S1, it waits for access from the Internet. If you determine that there was access,
Send the top home page to the requester. Since the server 200 in the embodiment functions as a Web server from the viewpoint of the client, this transmission will be performed according to the http protocol. As a result of step S1, the requesting terminal (terminals 100 to 10 in FIG. 1)
The top home page (not shown) of the server 200 is displayed on the display screen (2, etc.).

The client clicks the buttons for user registration, scheduled delivery / collection time, ordering / collection request, etc. on the displayed page to display each page.

In step S3, the content of the operation by this client is determined. For user registration, send a page as shown in Fig. 2, and based on the data sent when the client clicks the "Register" button,
A user ID is issued, registered in the user DB 204a, and a page as shown in FIG. 3 is transmitted to the client as a confirmation item.

In the case of an inquiry about the scheduled delivery / collection time, the process proceeds to step S5, and the delivery time corresponding to the user is found from the "actual scheduled time" in the table of FIG. 13, and it is found as shown in FIG. A new page and display it on the user's terminal.

It is needless to say that if there is an inquiry about the scheduled delivery / collection time, a page for inputting the user ID and password is displayed, and if the authentication is successful, the process of step S5 is performed.

On the other hand, when it is determined that the order / collection request is made, the process proceeds to step S6, and first, the same authentication processing as in step S5 is performed. If it passes, the page shown in FIG. 7 is transmitted and the order is placed. / Display the collection page on the user terminal. The user will enter the data regarding the ordering and withdrawal of the cartridge required here, and will click the "send" button. As a result, since the input data is sent, the process proceeds from step S7 to step S8, and is registered in the request DB 204e based on the requested data, and at step S9, the reception mark (see FIG. 10) is created and saved. After that, a page (see FIG. 9) for notifying acceptance completion is transmitted in step S10.

If it is determined that the request is not an order / collection request, the process proceeds to step S11 and the corresponding process is performed. Although not described in detail in step S11, this includes processes such as addition / deletion of OA devices owned by the user.

The above is the processing that also serves as the Web server. Next, the scheduled processing in the server 200 will be described with reference to FIG. This process is mainly started at a preset time, or started by an operator of the operating company, and tightens the ordered cartridge and the cartridge for which a collection request is made, and determines the traveling route. It is for performing processing and its notification. The processing contents are as follows.

First, in step S21, the request DB
To find out when the oldest unprocessed request is, the volume of the ordered cartridge (a value approximately proportional to the number), and the volume of the cartridge requested to be collected. Then, in step S22, it is determined whether or not there is one that is older than a preset N days (for example, 7 days), or whether or not there is a volume that can be requested to the shipping company. Then, if the requested date is before N days, or if the volume exceeds the set value, the processing unconditionally advances to step S24, but if any of the conditions is not satisfied, further processing is performed. Absent.

In step S24, a process for determining a tour route based on the request DB 204e and the user DB 204a is performed (details will be described later).

When the patrol route is determined, step S2
In step 5, the list of the patrol routes determined for the terminal 300 of the shipping company is notified by e-mail and registered in the patrol route table in step S26. Next, in step S27, an email indicating the date and time of delivery or / and collection is transmitted for each requester.

Next, the operation processing procedure of the server 200 during the patrol of the transportation vehicle will be described with reference to FIG.

Delivering the cartridge and //
Alternatively, it has already been explained that the transport operator reads the bar code printed on the order reception mark or the collection reception mark as shown in FIG. 10 with a dedicated terminal and notifies it to the server 200 when the collection is performed. The processing of FIG. 19 shows the processing procedure of the server 20 when receiving this notification. Note that, for example, a terminal (portable personal computer, etc.) for connecting a barcode reader and a mobile phone (including PHS) to the transportation vehicle.
Is provided, whereby the server 200 is notified wirelessly. The notification route may be the Internet, but the server 200 may be directly dialed up. Rather, the latter is preferable because it can prevent incoming calls from an unspecified large number.

Now, in step S31, it waits for a call from the transport vehicle. When contacted, the process proceeds to step S32, the reception number (information read by the barcode) is received, and the state of the corresponding request data in the request DB is changed to "completed" in step S33 (see FIG. 8). In step S34, the received time (or the time when the worker reads the bar code) is transferred to the column of the actual scheduled time of the corresponding reception number in the patrol route table (see FIG. 13). (Also good) and set the completion flag to "done". Furthermore, the "actual scheduled time" is added to the reception number that will be visited after that.
Is added to the relative time of the “first scheduled time” to rewrite the “actual scheduled time” for an unpaid customer. This completes the update of the patrol route table 204f and waits for the next contact.

Incidentally, the deletion of the data whose status in the request DB 204e is "completed" is assumed to be carried out at an appropriate time or by an instruction of the operator of the operating company, as in the case of FIG. 16, and the explanation thereof is omitted. To do.

The processing contents of the server 200 of the embodiment have been described above. Next, details of the patrol route determination processing (S24 in FIG. 16) will be described.

<Circulating Route Determination Processing> There are the following two conditions for determining the traveling route in the embodiment. First: Make the running distance of the truck as short as possible. Second: Make sure that there is no difficulty in loading and unloading luggage (cartridge in the case of the embodiment).

It can be easily understood that these two conditions contribute to shortening the time required for the patrol, saving fuel costs, and reducing the burden on workers.

The distance between the customers is preferably along the actual road, but in the embodiment, since it is desired to be simple, it is represented by the length of a line segment connecting the customers with a straight line. The travel time of the transport vehicle was determined by multiplying the distance by a predetermined coefficient.

Now, consider that a transportation vehicle patrols three customer destinations A, B, and C. The starting point is the warehouse where the cartridges are loaded. This is shown in FIG.

In the figure, “Note:” is an order volume of an unused cartridge (here, it is considered as the number of cartridges), and “Time:” is a volume of a used cartridge (same).

Therefore, the customer A has ordered that 60 unused cartridges have been ordered and 20 used cartridges have been collected. Further, “-40” for the customer A indicates the degree of increase or decrease in the load capacity of the transportation vehicle. That is, in the case of the customer A, the order is 60 pieces and the collection is 20 pieces, which means that when the customer A is patrolled, a vacant space of 40 pieces is deducted.

Now, it is assumed that the allowable loading (volume) amount (number) of the transport vehicle is 100. In the illustrated case, customers A, B, C
The total number of cartridges ordered by
Since it is 0 (= 60 + 15 + 25), the transport vehicle will be substantially full of cartridges in the warehouse.

The route that can be taken when traveling to three locations is 3! (Factorial) = 3 × 2 × 1 = 6 types exist.
In the embodiment, the above two conditions are taken into consideration in obtaining the optimum solution (or suboptimal solution) among them.

Now, in the state of FIG. 18, the customer C cannot be visited first. This is because when the customer C is visited (already loaded), the loading amount increases from the current value to +5 as shown in the figure, and exceeds the allowable loading amount. The same applies to the customer B.

On the other hand, when the customer A is first patrolled, the load capacity becomes -40, and an empty space is generated. After this, 2
No matter if the customers B and C are the second patrol destination, there is no problem in unloading. Therefore, after that, it is sufficient to use the route with the shortest traveling distance.

The sizes of the cartridges are various and are not uniform. Therefore, in practice, it is desired to make the determination based on the result of multiplying the size of each cartridge by its number. Therefore, as explained earlier,
As shown in FIG. 4, the model DB 204b has data indicating the size for each cartridge type. FIG. 4 shows the relative size of each cartridge when the size of the cartridge of the printer P020 is “1”. The actual loading amount is made to be the actual volume by multiplying this by an appropriate coefficient. The meaning of the volume shown above means this.

Although the number of customers is three in the above, for example, if the number of customers to visit is 50, there are 50! (= 50 × 49 × 48 × ... × 1) ≈3 × 10 ⁶⁴
That's a tremendous number, and if there are 100 customers, it will be impossible to solve even with the current fastest computer. Therefore, in the embodiment, the patrol route is determined as follows.

To simplify the explanation, it is assumed that there is a computer capable of performing calculations within a reasonable time up to a maximum of 10 data items for determining a cyclic route (sorting). Further, it is assumed that the number of customers at the visiting destination is 20 from A to T. Further, as described above, in the embodiment, the position of each customer in the area under the jurisdiction of the operating company is already held in the user DB 204a as coordinate data. FIG. 19
(A) shows an example in which this is plotted according to the coordinates.

Since the number of customers is "20", which exceeds the processing capacity "10" of the computer, it is impossible to find the shortest route as it is.

Therefore, FIG. 10A is divided into blocks of appropriate size. For example, when the figure (a) is divided into vertical 3 blocks and horizontal 4 blocks, it becomes as shown in the figure (b).

Here, one to a plurality of customers included in each block are regarded as one virtual customer (hereinafter, virtual customer). For example, in the same figure (b), since the block in the upper left corner includes customers G, H, and O, this is regarded as one virtual customer X1. It is assumed that the virtual customer X1 is located, for example, at the center of the corresponding block (it may be the barycentric position of the actual customer's coordinate position). Similarly, if you regard a block with other customers as a virtual customer,
As shown, nine customers X1 to X9 can be set. Here, since the computer (server 200) is assumed to have a processing capacity for 10 data, the shortest traveling route for the virtual customers X1 to X9 can be calculated.

When calculating the shortest traveling route,
Add another condition. For example, in the virtual customer X1
The actual customer G's order volume and collection volume
Each V_GT, V_GKAnd the same for customers H and O
V_HT, V_HK, V_OT, V_OKIs defined to virtual customer X1
Delivery volume V_X1T, Recovery volume V_X1KIs VX1T = V_GT+ V_HT+ V_OT VX1K = V_GK+ V_HK+ V_OK Becomes That is, when traveling around the virtual customer X1,
The increasing loading capacity of V _X1K-V_X1TCan be calculated as

Therefore, it is only necessary to find the shortest route in which there is no unavoidable increase in the loading amount during the tour.

In short, the shortest patrol route is Y1 for the warehouse where unused cartridges are loaded and Y for the used warehouse.
2 (Y1, Y2 coordinate positions are registered in advance,
Y1 = Y2 may or may not be set) Y1 → X7 → X4 → ... → X9 → Y2 (first candidate which is the shortest route) Y1 → X7 → X8 → ... → X9 → Y2 (second candidate) ) :: After searching for, and when delivering / collecting on the first candidate route (shortest route), if there is a timing when the load capacity exceeds the allowable capacity of the transportation vehicle, exclude that route and then This was dealt with by repeating the search for the second candidate tour route of, and using the first found tour route as the solution.

When the patrol route for the virtual customer is determined, the shortest route in each block is performed by the same procedure (in the case of two or more). If there are more than the allowed number of customers in the block,
The block may be further divided and similarly obtained.

Further, by increasing the block size, the number of virtual customer patrol routes that can be taken is reduced and the processing time is shortened, but this time the accuracy becomes worse. That is, it can be said that the processing time and the accuracy have a trade-off relationship. Therefore, in the embodiment, the block size at the time of dividing the patrol area is gradually increased, and the block size is determined based on the block size that first becomes less than or equal to the allowable processing capacity of the computer. did.

Summarizing the above processing, the tour route determination processing (S24 in FIG. 16) in the embodiment is performed as shown in FIG.
The processing may be performed according to the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, in step S41, the request DB2
The unprocessed data in 04204e is read, and the coordinate position of each customer is read from the user DB 204a by using the user ID of the read data in the request DB 204e as a key. As a result, it is possible to obtain not only the coordinate position of the customer, but also the number of circulating customers, the volume of the cartridge ordered by each customer, and the volume requested to be collected.

Next, in step S42, an initial value is set in the block size S, the coordinate data of each customer is normalized by the block size set in step S43, and the block in which the customer exists is set as a virtual customer. The number is calculated as the number of virtual customers Nc.

At step S44, it is compared with a preset upper limit calculation number Nmax (which can be optionally set separately) to determine whether Nc ≦ Nmax. When it is determined that Nc> Nmax, the block size S is increased by ΔS in step S45, and the process of step S43 is performed.

In this way, when Nc ≦ Nmax, the number of operations has been reached, and therefore the process proceeds to step S.
Proceed to 46, search for a patrol route for virtual customers,
Build in the order of patrol routes with the smallest distance. At this time,
The coordinates of each virtual customer are treated as being located at the central position of each block, but as described above, it is of course possible to use the barycentric position of the coordinates of the real customer.

Thereafter, in step S47, the variable i is initialized to "1" (the shortest patrol route) as an initial value, and when the patrol is performed in order of the virtual customers forming the i-th patrol route in step S48, the transportation vehicle is allowed. The route is checked by determining whether there is a timing that exceeds the volume (set in advance). NG in step S49
If it is determined that the variable i is incremented by 1 to check the next candidate in step S50, the process returns to step S48.

In this way, the candidates are sequentially checked, and if a reasonable tour route is found, the tour route determined by the virtual customer is determined in step S51, and this processing ends.

In the above processing, the patrol route of the virtual customers is determined. However, in the case where a plurality of real customers exist within one virtual customer, all virtual customers including the plurality of real customers are The same processing as in FIG. 20 is performed, and the processing is repeated until finally one virtual customer = 1 virtual customer (for example, a recursive operation may be realized).

As described above, when the delivery and collection of the cartridge is realized by one transportation vehicle, and the number of customers exceeds the processing capacity of the computer, it is not an ideal route, You will be able to determine a route that is practically problem-free and that is easy to load and unload.

<Other Embodiments> In the above embodiment, when the virtual customer is determined, it is realized by dividing the map into blocks of one size, but it is not always limited to this. is not. For example, focusing on a certain customer, one customer within the distance L from the customer is grouped, and a customer within the distance L is added to the center of gravity position of the group, and a new center of gravity position is set. The above may be repeated to determine the virtual customer. Then, when there are no more customers that can be imported, pay attention to a new unprocessed customer and perform the same processing (as a result, the area occupied by the virtual customer (corresponding to the above block) does not always have the same size. ). In this way, when the number of all virtual customers exceeds the allowable number, the above L is increased by ΔL so as to find one that is equal to or less than the allowable number. After that, arrange the virtual customer's patrol route in ascending order,
It may be decided by considering the loading and unloading.

Further, when the patrol route is determined, the peak of the loading amount is found during the patrol, so that it may be notified to the terminal 300 of the shipping company. As a result, the transportation company can arrange the transportation vehicle with the minimum required loading amount, so that the transportation cost can be reduced.

Further, even if the server 200 of the embodiment is installed, Nmax varies depending on the capacity of the hardware and the available time. Therefore, this Nmax
It is desirable that the user can freely set.

Further, in terms of resource reuse, it is desirable to provide each customer with an environment in which they can easily participate in the collection campaign. Therefore, it is desirable to have an incentive commensurate with the collection.

Therefore, when the cartridge is recovered,
It is desirable to accumulate points corresponding to (the size of) one cartridge and provide a benefit such as a discount when ordering an unused cartridge in accordance with the accumulated points.

In this case, a field for storing and holding the number of points is added to each user data (FIG. 5) of the user DB 204a, and points corresponding to the number of collected points are cumulatively added. Then, for example, on one of the screens shown in FIG. 7, the current point number and the discount rate and the amount of money according to the present point are presented, and a button for selecting whether or not to use it is prepared. If it is decided to use the points, it is necessary to carry out a discount and clear the point field in the user's data when the bill is separately emitted.

The same applies to the shipping company. That is, it is desirable to set the incentive according to the volume of the cartridge to be collected or delivered. .

Further, in the above embodiment, the operator of the transport vehicle reads the reception mark by the bar code when collecting and delivering the goods, but it is not always necessary to use the bar code. In short, any means may be used as long as it notifies the server that delivery and collection are completed. However, if considering the time and effort of the customer and the transportation worker, it is desirable to print the bar code on the reception sign and read it, as described above.

In the embodiment, the toner cartridge has been described as an example of the object to be delivered (ordered) and collected, but the present invention is not limited to this.
That is, it may be the OA device (FAX, printer, etc.) itself or a smaller consumable component (for example, an ink cartridge, etc.). Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to one type, and may be applied to, for example, delivery / collection in which OA equipment and consumables are mixed. Therefore, the present invention generally
It extends to recovery.

Furthermore, as described in the above embodiment, most of the main parts of the embodiment are the server 20.
However, a part of the above processing may be realized by a computer provided separately. In particular, the process of searching for a patrol route imposes a burden on the computer, and it is expected that the response of the Web server will deteriorate when the process is activated. Therefore, some computers may be installed in the operating company and all of them may operate as the server 200 of the embodiment.

Further, as described above, most of the processing in the embodiments is based on the program of the computer, so that the present invention naturally includes the computer program for realizing the processing procedure described in the above embodiments. Is. Further, the computer program is usually stored in a portable computer-readable storage medium such as a floppy (registered trademark) disk or a CDROM, and is realized by setting it in a computer and installing or copying it. Obviously, such computer-readable storage media also fall into the category.

[0113]

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to realize the delivery and collection of the goods to the customer by the delivery company within a reasonable range, and the time or distance required for the patrol is appropriate. It is possible to fit within the range.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a conceptual diagram of an entire system in an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing contents of a user registration screen in the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing contents of notifying completion of user registration in the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing the contents of a model DB in the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the contents of a user DB in the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a specific configuration of a server in the embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the contents of an order / collection request screen in the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing the contents of a request DB in the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing the content of a notification screen of acceptance of order and collection acceptance in the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an order and a collection slip in the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the contents of an order / collection notification mail in the embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a mail indicating a patrol route notified to the transportation company in the embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a traveling route table in the embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a diagram showing the contents of a screen for confirming a scheduled tour time in the embodiment.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart showing main processing of the server in the embodiment.

FIG. 16 is a flowchart showing the contents of scheduled processing in the server in the embodiment.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of the server of the embodiment during patrol of a transportation vehicle.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing a principle of determining a traveling route in the embodiment.

FIG. 19 is a diagram showing the principle of virtual customerization in determining a traveling route in the embodiment.

FIG. 20 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure when determining a traveling route in the embodiment.

FIG. 21 is a diagram showing the contents of a map DB in the embodiment.

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. An article delivery / collection system for delivering and collecting articles to a plurality of customers, wherein the plurality of customers access a server that operates the article delivery / collection system. A terminal is provided for requesting ordering and collection of goods, the server includes a database that stores location information of each customer, and a receiving unit that receives ordering / collection requests for goods from each customer, When there is an ordered article / collected article received by the receiving means, the delivered quantity based on the ordered article of each customer who requested and the loaded quantity of the recovered article, and further, the position information of the customer who is registered in the database and has a request And a determining means for determining a traveling route based on the above. 2. A server for determining a patrol route for delivery and collection of goods requested by a customer, a database for storing position information of each customer, and an order for goods from each customer. Receiving means for receiving the request / collection request, and if there is an ordered article / collected article received by the receiving means, the delivered quantity based on the ordered article of the customer who made the request / the loaded quantity by the collected article and registered in the database And a determining unit that determines a traveling route based on the requested position information. 3. The determining means refers to the database to generate route candidates in ascending order of distance based on the position of a traveling customer, and a first candidate route generated by the generating means. And a means for searching for a traveling route that falls within the allowable load capacity when the difference between the delivered quantity of the goods / the load capacity of the collected goods is added to the allowable load capacity of the delivery vehicle. The server according to claim 2. 4. The determining means determines whether or not the number of customers when generating route candidates at one time exceeds an upper limit value Nmax, and the determining means exceeds the upper limit value Nmax. Virtual customer setting means for setting one virtual customer destination by collecting the customer destinations geographically nearby based on the position information, and the virtual customer destination set by the virtual customer setting means. A virtual customer route generating means for generating route candidates in ascending order of distance based on the above, the search means searches within the virtual customer route candidates generated by the virtual customer route generating means, and a virtual customer destination When a plurality of customer destinations are included in the above, the determination means, the virtual customer setting means, the virtual customer route generation means, and the search means are recursively processed without the virtual customer destination. The server of claim 3 wherein characterized. 5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising means for widening a geographical range where the number of virtual customers exceeds the Nmax until the number of the virtual customers is less than the Nmax. The listed server. 6. The server according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the Nmax is changeable. 7. A server control method for determining a patrol route for delivery and collection of an article requested by a customer, the receiving step of receiving an ordering request / collection request for an article from each customer. And when there is an ordered article / collected article received in the receiving step, the delivery amount based on the ordered article of the customer requested / the loaded quantity of the collected article and the position information of each customer prepared in advance are stored. And a determination step of determining a traveling route based on requested position information in the database. 8. A computer program for a server that determines a patrol route for delivery and collection of goods requested by a customer, and means for searching a database that stores position information of each customer, and Receiving means for receiving an order request / collection request of an article from a customer, and if there is an ordered article / collected article received by the receiving means, a delivery amount based on the ordered article of the customer requested / loading with a collected article A computer program for a server that functions as a determining means for determining a patrol route based on the amount and requested position information registered in the database. 9. A computer-readable storage medium storing the computer program according to claim 8.