JP7240758B2 - Information processing device, information processing method, and program - Google Patents

Description

The present disclosure relates to an information processing device, an information processing method, and a program.

Conventionally, there is a system that distributes congestion information (vacancy information) of a store to user terminals of users who want to use the store. In Patent Document 1, a full seat switch and an empty seat switch that are communicably connected to a server device are distributed to the store, and the store staff presses down the switch corresponding to the congestion situation in the store, so that the congestion situation of the store is displayed on the server. It shows how to send to the device.

JP 2019-082946 A

However, in the method of transmitting the congestion information of the store to the server device by inputting the congestion information into the terminal by the staff of the store, the latest congestion information may not always be updated due to forgetting to input the congestion information.
Therefore, the present disclosure proposes a technique for suppressing distribution of inaccurate information as the latest store congestion information and providing user terminals with more appropriate store congestion information.

In order to solve the above problems, the present disclosure is an information processing device that manages vacancy information corresponding to a status indicating the availability of facilities, comprising: storage means for storing vacancy information for one or more facilities; search means for searching for a display facility whose vacancy information is to be displayed in response to a request; and output means for outputting the vacancy information of the display facility to the terminal, wherein the output means is stored in the storage means. If the latest vacancy information of the facility can be regarded as vacancy information transmitted during business hours including the current time of the facility, the latest vacancy information stored in the storage means is output, and It is characterized in that vacancy information including the current time of the facility transmitted outside business hours is not output as the vacancy information of the facility.

Further features related to the present disclosure will become apparent from the description of the specification and the accompanying drawings. In addition, the aspects of the present disclosure will be achieved and attained by means of the elements and combinations of various elements and aspects of the detailed description that follows and the claims that follow.
The description herein is merely exemplary and is not intended to limit the scope or application of this disclosure in any way.

According to the technology of the present disclosure, it is possible to provide user terminals with more appropriate information as store congestion information.

It is a figure which shows the structure of the vacant seat management system which concerns on embodiment. It is a figure which shows the hardware constitutions of a vacant seat management server. It is a figure which shows the functional structure of a vacant seat management server. It is a figure which shows a basic information table. It is a figure which shows a vacant information table. 3 is a diagram showing the hardware configuration of a management terminal; FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the functional configuration of a management terminal; FIG. It is a figure which shows the hardware constitutions of a user terminal. 3 is a diagram showing a functional configuration of a user terminal; FIG. FIG. 10 is a sequence diagram regarding management of store information; FIG. 10 is a diagram of a display screen for setting basic information; It is a figure of a display screen for inputting vacancy information. 4 is a flowchart of reset processing executed by the vacant seat management server; 4 is a flowchart of a vacant seat information delivery process executed by a vacant seat management server; 4 is a flowchart of display control processing executed by a user terminal; 10 is a flowchart of display store determination processing. FIG. 10 is a diagram of a display screen for setting default availability information at the start of business; 4 is a flowchart of reset processing executed by the vacant seat management server; 4 is a flowchart of a vacant seat information delivery process executed by a vacant seat management server;

Hereinafter, this embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. The same configuration will be described with the same reference numerals. It should be noted that the following embodiments do not necessarily limit the technology of the present disclosure, and not all combinations of features described in the embodiments are essential for solving the above problems.

[First embodiment]
<Configuration example of vacant seat management system 1>
In the first embodiment, vacancy information indicating vacancy status indicating whether or not there are vacant seats (or vacant tables) available to new customers in a store where seats and tables are installed and food and drink are served is managed. , a system for delivering to user terminals. Note that the availability status is a status that indicates how crowded the store is depending on the number of users, and can also be referred to as a "crowded status."

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing a vacant seat management system 1 according to the first embodiment. The vacant seat management system 1 is a system for managing information (vacancy information) indicating the vacancy status of a store, and includes a vacant seat management server 10 , a management terminal 20 and a user terminal 30 . The management terminal 20 is, for example, a computer device such as a smart phone or tablet operated inside the store 40 . The management terminal 20 is configured so that basic information (store name, address, etc.) about the store 40 can be set, and the vacancy status visually confirmed by the staff of the store 40 can be input. The management terminal 20 is set in advance as a terminal corresponding to the store 40 . The user terminal 30 is, for example, a computer device such as a smart phone or a tablet, and is a user terminal of the service provided by the vacant seat management system 1 .

The vacant seat management server 10 is installed outside the store 40 and is a server that manages vacant seat information received from the management terminal 20 . The vacant seat management server 10 manages the latest vacant seat status for each store 40 on the database by updating the database according to the vacant seat information received from the management terminal 20 . The vacant seat management server 10, management terminal 20 and user terminal 30 are interconnected via a network 50 such as the Internet. Although two stores 40 having management terminals 20 are shown in FIG. 1, the number of these stores may be three or more.

A user who is going to view the vacant seat information of the store 40 can refer to the vacant seat management server 10 for the vacant seat information of the store 40 via the user terminal 30 . The vacant seat management server 10 responds to the inquiry, searches the database for the record regarding the store 40 according to the current location of the user terminal 30 or the location specified by the user on the map, and transmits the vacant information to the user terminal 30. A group is specified, and vacancy information of each store included in the store group is acquired. The vacant seat management server 10 returns the acquired vacant seat information to the user terminal 30 as a response to the inquiry. The user terminal 30 displays the vacant seat information received from the vacant seat management server 10 on a map.

<Configuration example of vacant seat management server 10>
FIG. 2A is a hardware configuration diagram of the vacant seat management server 10. As shown in FIG. The vacant seat management server 10 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11 (information processing device), a ROM (Read Only Memory) 12 , a RAM (Random Access Memory) 13 , a storage device 14 and a communication device 15 . The CPU 11 realizes the functions provided by the vacant seat management server 10 by executing programs described later. The ROM 12 and RAM 13 hold data used by the CPU 11 . The storage device 14 stores programs and databases, which will be described later. The communication device 15 communicates with the management terminal 20 and the user terminals 30 via the network 50 .

FIG. 2B is a functional block diagram of the vacant seat management server 10. As shown in FIG. The vacant seat management server 10 includes a receiving unit 111, a managing unit 112, a searching unit 113, a determining unit 114, and an output unit 115 as software modules executed by the CPU 11 (functions configured by developing various programs in the internal memory of the CPU 11). have For convenience of description, these modules are described below as the main body of operation, but since it is the CPU 11 that actually executes these modules, the CPU 11 can also be the main body of the operation.

The storage device 14 stores a store database 141 as a storage unit. The shop database 141 manages a basic information database 142 containing basic information about shops registered in advance and a vacancy information database 143 containing vacancy information of the shops 40 . The configuration of the store database 141 will be described later.
The receiving unit 111 receives vacancy information from the management terminal 20 of the store 40 via the communication device 15 . In addition, the receiving unit 111 receives an inquiry request for availability information from the user terminal 30 via the communication device 15 . The management unit 112 identifies the store based on the store ID (identification information) transmitted together with the vacancy information received by the reception unit 111 and updates the vacancy information in the store database 141 .

When the search unit 113 receives an inquiry request for store vacancy information and current position information (reference position) from the user terminal 30, the search unit 113 receives the store group to which the vacancy information should be transmitted to the user terminal 30 according to the position information. identify. The inquiry request includes a request based on the current location of the user terminal 30, an inquiry request for shops located in a specific designated location (for example, the user is in the vicinity of Tokyo Station, but in the vicinity of Shibuya Station), and a specific type (for example, Inquiry requests that specify food genres and price ranges such as Japanese and French cuisine), inquiry requests that specify specific stores (in this case, the user wants to know the availability information of a specific store), etc. can also

The output unit 115 transmits the vacancy information of each store in the store group identified by the search unit 113 to the user terminal 30 via the communication device 15 . The user terminal 30 that receives the vacancy information builds a display UI (user interface) and displays the vacancy information.

FIG. 3A is a diagram showing the basic information database 142 stored in the store database 141. As shown in FIG. The basic information database 142 is a data table that manages basic information including attribute information used when a user searches for a store. 1425, latitude and longitude 1426, telephone number 1427, business hours 1428, and management terminal ID 1429 as configuration items. One record of the basic information database 142 manages basic information of one store. The basic information of the store 40 having the management terminal 20 can be registered in the basic information database 142 based on the information input to the management terminal 20, or registered in advance by the service provider of the vacant seat management system 1. You can also

Here, the store ID 1421, management terminal ID 1429, and latitude/longitude 1426 are assumed to be registered in advance by the service provider of the vacant seat management system 1 in advance. The store ID 1421 is identification information for identifying each store within the store database 141 . The latitude and longitude 1426 is data indicating the location of the store by latitude and longitude. Even if the store is on the same floor in the same facility, different latitude and longitude values may be registered if the location of the store is different. The management terminal ID 1429 is information for identifying the management terminal 20 managed by the store 40 .

FIG. 3B is a diagram showing the vacancy information database 143 stored in the store database 141. As shown in FIG. The vacant seat information database 143 is a data table for managing the latest vacant seat status for each store, and has, for example, store ID 1431, vacant seat information 1432, reception date and time 1433, and management terminal ID 1434 as configuration items. One record of the vacant seat information database 143 manages the vacant seat status of one store.

The store ID 1431 is data corresponding to the store ID 1421 of the basic information database 142, and the store ID 1421 and the store ID 1431 of a certain store are the same. The vacancy information 1432 is data indicating the vacancy status transmitted from the management terminal 20 in the store 40 . In this embodiment, the vacancy information 1432 is assumed to be one of the statuses of "available", "slightly congested", or "fully occupied". As another form, the vacancy information 1432 may be indicated numerically, such as "0" if there is a vacant seat, "1" if it is crowded, and "2" if it is full.

The reception date and time 1433 is the date and time when the vacant seat management server 10 received the vacancy information from the management terminal 20 . When the management terminal 20 transmits the vacancy information, it may be transmitted to the vacant seat management server 10 together with the transmission date and time, and the transmission date and time may be stored instead of the reception date and time 1433 . The management terminal ID 1434 is the same as the management terminal ID 1429 of the basic information database 142 .

The store database 141 can be configured by storing data describing the contents of records in the storage device 14, for example. Although the basic information database 142 and the vacancy information database 143 are represented in a table format in this embodiment, they are not limited to this format, and may be constructed in any format as long as each data is linked. . Therefore, it is also possible to simply call it vacant seat management data or vacant seat management information.

<Configuration example of management terminal 20>
FIG. 4A is a hardware configuration diagram of the management terminal 20. As shown in FIG. The management terminal 20 includes a CPU 21 , a display device 22 , an input device 23 and a communication device 24 . The CPU 21 controls each unit included in the management terminal 20 . The communication device 24 communicates with the vacant seat management server 10 via the network 50 and receives a GUI screen for inputting vacant seat information and basic information from the vacant seat management server 10 . The display device 22 displays the GUI screen received from the vacant seat management server 10 . The input device 23 is an interface used by the store clerk to input operation instructions to the management terminal 20 . For example, the display device 22 and the input device 23 can be configured integrally by a touch panel or the like.

FIG. 4B is a functional block diagram of the management terminal 20. As shown in FIG. The management terminal 20 includes a storage unit 211, a communication control unit 212, a setting unit 213, and a display control unit 214 as software modules executed by the CPU 21 (functions configured by expanding various programs in the internal memory of the CPU 21). For convenience of description, these modules are described below as the main body of operation, but since it is the CPU 21 that actually executes these modules, the CPU 21 can also be the main body of the operation.

Storage unit 211 functions as an internal memory of CPU 21 . The communication control unit 212 communicates with the vacant seat management server 10 via the communication device 24 . Specifically, the communication control unit 212 receives a GUI screen from the vacant seat management server 10 . The setting unit 213 receives the vacancy information and basic information input by the store clerk of the store 40 via the input device 23 and the GUI screen. The communication control unit 212 transmits the input vacancy information and basic information and the management terminal ID to the vacant seat management server 10 . The management terminal ID is identification information of the management terminal 20 itself. The display control unit 214 controls display of the display device 22 . Specifically, the display control unit 214 displays the GUI screen received from the vacant seat management server 10 on the display device 22 .

<Configuration example of user terminal 30>
FIG. 5A is a hardware configuration diagram of the user terminal 30. As shown in FIG. The user terminal 30 includes a CPU 31 (information processing device), a display device 32 , an input device 33 and a communication device 34 . The CPU 31 controls each unit included in the user terminal 30 . The communication device 34 communicates with the vacant seat management server 10 via the network 50 , transmits an inquiry request for store vacancy information, and receives vacant seat information from the vacant seat management server 10 . The display device 32 displays the store vacancy information received from the vacant seat management server 10 and a GUI screen (posting screen) for inputting the vacancy information. The input device 33 is an interface used by the user to input operation instructions to the user terminal 30 . For example, the display device 32 and the input device 33 can be configured integrally by a touch panel or the like.

FIG. 5B is a functional block diagram of the user terminal 30. As shown in FIG. The user terminal 30 includes a storage unit 311, a communication control unit 312, a generation unit 313, and a display control unit 314 as software modules executed by the CPU 31 (functions configured by expanding various programs in the internal memory of the CPU 31). In the following description, these modules are described as the main body of operation for convenience of description, but since it is the CPU 31 that actually executes these modules, the CPU 31 can also be the main body of the operation.

Storage unit 311 functions as an internal memory of CPU 31 . The communication control unit 312 communicates with the vacant seat management server 10 via the communication device 34 . Specifically, when the user inputs an instruction to inquire about availability information via the input device 33 , the communication control unit 312 transmits an inquiry request to the vacant seat management server 10 . The communication control unit 312 also receives basic information and vacant information from the vacant seat management server 10 .

The generation unit 313 reads map information (map data) from the storage unit 311 according to the location information of the user terminal 30 and the map enlargement ratio specified by the user. The generation unit 313 also generates text data or mark data corresponding to the vacancy information received from the vacant seat management server 10 (text/mark corresponding to the vacant seat "0", text/mark corresponding to the crowded "1", full seat "2 ) is read from the storage unit 311 and superimposed on the map to generate a display image.

The display control unit 314 controls display of the display device 32 . Specifically, the display control unit 314 displays the display image generated by the generation unit 313 on the display device 32 . The communication control unit 312 transmits an inquiry request for vacant seat information together with position information to the vacant seat management server 10 and acquires vacant seat information of a group of stores from the vacant seat management server 10 .

<Store information registration>
FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram for registering store information (basic store information and vacancy information) transmitted from the management terminal 20 in the vacant seat management server 10. As shown in FIG. In the drawings below, each process (step) is denoted by "S".

In S601, the setting unit 213 of the management terminal 20 accepts input of basic information. A screen (GUI screen) for inputting basic information shown in FIG. 7 is displayed on the management terminal 20 by the display control unit 214 . The store clerk at the store 40 inputs the store name, genre, introductory text, address, telephone number, and business hours (start time and end time) via the GUI screen shown in FIG.

In S602, the communication control unit 212 transmits the input basic information of the shop to the vacant seat management server 10 together with the management terminal ID and m. In S603, the management unit 112 of the vacant seat management server 10 registers the basic information of the store received by the reception unit 111 in the basic information database 142 with reference to the received management terminal ID.

Also, in S604, the setting unit 213 of the management terminal 20 receives input of vacancy information. Here, a GUI screen for inputting vacancy information shown in FIG. 8 is displayed by the display control unit 214 on the management terminal 2-0. When the store clerk of the store 40 visually confirms the usage status of the users in the store and selects (tap) any one of "available", "slightly crowded", and "full", the communication control unit 212 selects (tap) in S605. The vacant seat information obtained is transmitted to the vacant seat management server 10. - 特許庁In S<b>606 , the management unit 112 of the vacant seat management server updates the vacancy information database 143 with the store vacancy information received by the reception unit 111 .

FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram when basic information and availability information are set and registered in order in the management terminal 20, but this does not mean that availability information is transmitted each time basic information is set. . In practice, after the basic information is transmitted, the vacant seat information is repeatedly transmitted to the vacant seat management server 10 as long as the basic information of the restaurant is not changed.

<Reset processing of the vacant seat management server 10>
In this embodiment, the vacant seat management server 10 executes reset processing for deleting the vacant seat information of the store 40 at the timing when the business hours of each store 40 ends. FIG. 9 is a flowchart of reset processing executed by the vacant seat management server 10 . The vacant seat management server 10 reads and executes a program that implements the flowchart shown in FIG.

In S901, when the management unit 112 detects that the current time has reached the closing time of the store 40, the processing proceeds to S902, where the management unit 112 refers to the availability information database 143 and deletes the availability information of the store 40 and the reception date and time. do. As a result, the vacancy information is reset at the end of the business, preventing the vacancy information input during the previous business hours from being taken over after the next business starts.

<Availability information delivery processing of the vacant seat management server 10>
Next, the vacant seat information delivery processing to the user terminal 30 executed by the vacant seat management server 10 will be described. FIG. 10 is a flow chart of the vacant seat management server 10 for distributing vacant seat information. The vacant seat management server 10 reads and executes a program that implements the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, in S<b>1001 , the receiving unit 111 receives an inquiry request for availability information from the user terminal 30 . Here, it is assumed that the inquiry request includes the current location information of the user terminal 30 (for example, latitude and longitude information obtained from GPS).
Next, in S1002, the search unit 113 acquires location information included in the inquiry request. In S1003, the search unit 113 identifies the current position of the user terminal 30 from the position information of the user terminal 30, refers to the latitude and longitude 1426 of the basic information database 142, and sends the user terminal 30 free information according to the position information. Identify a group of stores to which the should be sent. Specifically, the search unit 113 determines a group of shops within a predetermined distance range from the current position of the user terminal 30 (for example, a range with a radius of 5 km from the current position) as the group of displayed shops.

In S1004, the determination unit 114 selects one store to be processed from the display store group determined in S1003. get.
In S1006, the determination unit 114 determines whether or not the current time is within the business hours of the processing target store based on information indicating business hours (business hours information) included in the acquired basic information. If the determination unit 114 determines that the current time is during business hours, the process proceeds to S1007, and if it determines that the current time is not during business hours, the process proceeds to S1008.

In S1007, the determination unit 114 acquires the vacancy information of the processing target store stored in the vacancy information database 143 as the current vacancy information of the processing target store. In S<b>1008 , the determination unit 114 sets “out of business hours” instead of the vacancy information of the processing target store stored in the vacancy information database 143 as the vacancy information indicating the current status of the processing target store. In S1009, the determination unit 114 determines whether or not there is an unprocessed store in the displayed store group. If there is an unprocessed store, the process returns to S1004. move on.

In S1010, the output unit 115 transmits store information including the basic information acquired in S1005 for each store and the store vacancy information set in S1007 or S1008 to the user terminal 30 that transmitted the inquiry request.

<Vacancy Information Processing of User Terminal 30>
FIG. 11 is a flow chart of the display control processing of the vacancy information in the user terminal 30. As shown in FIG. The user terminal 30 executes the operations shown in FIG. 11 by executing a program that implements the flowchart shown in FIG.
In S1101, the generation unit 313 acquires information (position information) indicating the reference position. Here, the generation unit 313 acquires the location information (GPS data) of the user terminal 30 . In S<b>1102 , the generation unit 313 generates an inquiry request including position information and transmits the inquiry request to the vacant seat management server 10 . When receiving the inquiry request, the vacant seat management server 10 executes the above-described processing shown in FIG.

In S1103, the generation unit 313 reads map information (map image) from the storage unit 311 according to the position information acquired in step S1102 and the map enlargement ratio specified by the user. It should be noted that although the map enlargement ratio is designated by the user here, a map with a predetermined enlargement ratio set in advance may be read.

In S<b>1104 , the generation unit 313 acquires store information (basic information and vacancy information) of each store included in the display store group acquired from the vacant seat management server 10 .

In S1103, the generation unit 313 generates a display image based on the vacancy information of each store. First, the generation unit 313 acquires display pin object data stored in the storage unit 311, and generates display pin data according to the vacancy information of each store. For example, display pin data for each store is generated by superimposing text data corresponding to vacancy information on display pin object data (for example, representing an icon image). For example, the icon image of the display pin includes the text "Available", "Somewhat Crowded" or "Full". In another form, without using text data, the color of the pin of the store can be classified according to the vacancy information, or can be represented by a pattern. Furthermore, the generating unit 313 arranges the display pin data of each store on the map image based on the latitude and longitude of each store.

In S1109, the display control unit 314 causes the display screen of the display device 32 to display the display image generated by the generation unit 313 in S1103.

<Example of UI display on the map>
An example of a display image displayed on the display screen of the display device 32 of the user terminal 30 according to the first embodiment will be described. FIG. 12(a) is an example of a display image displayed on the user terminal 30 in this embodiment. In the display image 1200, a pin corresponding to the vacancy information of each store is arranged at the position of each store. However, some stores have a white pin with no text data, neither a status indicating availability information such as "Available", "Somewhat busy", or "Full", nor "Out of business hours". This is a store that is within business hours but does not have information indicating the availability status (one of "available", "slightly crowded", and "full") transmitted from the management terminal 20 of the store 40 during business hours. It is shown that.

In this embodiment, since the availability information is deleted at the end of the business hours, the availability information transmitted during the previous business hours will not be reflected in the next business hours. However, if the vacancy information is not transmitted from the management terminal 20 of the store 40 even when the next business hours including the current time come, the vacancy information of the store 40 stored in the vacancy information database 143 is blank. The vacancy information sent in is blank. In this case, as shown in the display image 1200 of FIG. 12(a), a pin with a different white color and no text is placed.
In this embodiment, the display image is pin-displayed on the map, but the store information including the vacancy information of each store may be displayed in a list format as shown in FIG. 12(b).

As described above, in the present embodiment, in a system in which vacant seat information in a store is manually transmitted to the vacant seat management server 10 when a store clerk notices it, the vacant seat information is reset at the end of business hours. As a result, the availability information submitted during the past business hours will be canceled before the next business hours starts, so the availability information entered during the past business hours will be carried over to the next business hours. It is possible to prevent erroneous vacancy information from being distributed to the user terminal 30.例文帳に追加There is a possibility that the availability situation before the end of the past business hours coincides with the availability situation immediately after the start of the next business hours, but if they are different, wrong information is delivered to the user terminal 20. turn into. In addition, although it is desirable that the clerk sets and registers vacancy information periodically during business hours, unlike the method that automatically detects the vacancy status, the input method by the clerk may forget to set and register the vacancy information. . Therefore, in this embodiment, at the end of the business hours, by temporarily canceling the vacancy information that was in the status indicating the vacancy information of the closed business hours, the user terminal 30 displays the erroneous vacancy information as the current vacancy information of the store. It is possible to reduce the risk of being delivered as

[Second embodiment]
In the first embodiment, a method of canceling store availability information at the end of business has been described. In the second embodiment, a method will be described in which default vacancy information at the start of business is set in advance, and store vacancy information is rewritten to default vacancy information at the end of business. Differences from the first embodiment will be mainly described below.

FIG. 13 is a display screen for inputting basic information displayed on the management terminal 20 of the store 40. As shown in FIG. In this embodiment, it is also possible to set default availability information at the start of business hours. Here, the statuses that can be selected as default vacancy information are the same as the vacancy statuses that the management terminal 20 can transmit to the vacancy management server 10 . By operating the management terminal 20, the clerk of the store can set the vacancy information at the start of business in advance. When the setting unit 213 of the management terminal 20 receives the default status at the start of business hours (hereinafter referred to as initial vacancy information), the communication control unit 212 transmits the initial vacancy information to the vacancy management server 10 . The management unit 112 of the vacant seat management server 10 stores the initial vacant information received by the receiving unit 111 in the basic information database 143 .

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of reset processing of vacant seat information executed by the vacant seat management server 10 in the second embodiment.
In S901, when the management unit 112 detects that the current time has reached the closing time of the shop 40, in S1401 the management unit 112 refers to the basic information database 143 and sets initial vacancy information for the shop 40 being processed. Determine whether or not If YES, the process proceeds to S1402, and if NO, the process proceeds to S1403.

In S1402, the management unit 112 changes the vacancy information of the store 40 being processed stored in the vacancy information database 143 to the set opening time for the store 40 being processed because the default for the store 40 being processed has been set for the start of business. Update with the received date and time according to the default initial availability information. In S1403, the management unit 112 refers to the availability information database 143 and deletes the availability information of the store 40 and the reception date and time, as in S902.

This completes the reset processing of the vacant seat management server 10 in the second embodiment. Thus, in the second embodiment, the vacancy information distributed during business hours including the current time is the vacancy information transmitted from the management terminal 20 of the store 40 after the end of the previous business, or the vacancy information registered in advance. Initial availability information is transmitted to the user terminal 30 . The date and time when the initial availability information is updated is immediately after the end of business hours, not before or after the start of the next business hours. By setting the information in advance, the vacant seat management server 10 can distribute more appropriate vacant information as the latest vacant information of the store instead of the vacant status before the end of the previous business hours. After the store vacancy information is updated to the initial vacancy information, when the vacancy information is transmitted from the management terminal 20 of the store 40 to the vacancy management server 10, the latest vacancy information is delivered to the user terminal 30. It will be.

As described above, according to the processing of the present embodiment, the vacancy information transmitted from the management terminal 20 during the past business hours, not during the business hours including the current time, regarding the store 40 is carried over to the next business hours after the business once ends. Furthermore, even if the salesclerk of the store 40 forgets to distribute the vacancy information before and after the start of the business hours from the management terminal 20, the desired vacancy information more suitable for the current business hours is displayed in real time at the store 40.例文帳に追加It is transmitted to the user terminal 30 as information.

[Third embodiment]
In the above-described embodiment, the vacant seat management server 10 resets the vacant seat information of the store 40 when the store 40 is closed, so that the vacant seat information distributed during the previous business hours becomes the vacant seat information during the current business hours. so that it will not be delivered as In the third embodiment, the vacant seat management server 10 does not perform reset processing at the end of business hours, and when distributing store vacancy information, the vacant seat information stored in the vacancy information database 143 is updated during the current business hours. A method of determining whether or not information is transmitted will be described.

FIG. 15 is a flow chart of the vacant seat management server 10 processing for distributing vacant seats according to the third embodiment. In this embodiment, S1001 to S1006 are the same as in the first embodiment.

If the determination unit 114 determines in S1006 that the current time is within the business hours of the processing target store, the process advances to S1501, and in S1501 the determination unit 114 determines that the processing target store will be processed after the start of business hours including the current time. It is determined whether or not the vacancy information transmitted from the store management terminal 20 is stored in the vacancy information database 143 . The determination unit 114 refers to the availability information database 143 and determines whether or not the reception date and time of the stored availability information is after the business start time including the current time. If it is determined in S1501 that there is vacancy information transmitted after the start of the current business, the process proceeds to S1007, and if it is determined in S1501 that there is no vacancy information transmitted after the start of the business, the process proceeds to S1502.

In S1007, the determination unit 114 acquires the vacancy information of the processing target store stored in the vacancy information database 143 as the current vacancy information of the processing target store. On the other hand, in S1502, the determination unit 114 determines that although the processing target store is open, the vacancy information of the processing target store stored in the vacancy information database 143 was not transmitted during the business hours including the current time, and was past business hours. , and instead of the latest vacancy information of the processing target store stored in the vacancy information database 143, instead of the status indicating the vacancy status, information indicating that it is open is displayed. Set as free information. The processing of S1009 and S1010 is the same as in the first embodiment.

As described above, when the vacant seat management server 10 distributes store vacancy information to the user terminal 30, the latest vacant seat information stored in the vacant seat database 143 is transmitted during business hours including the current time. By determining whether or not the information is information and distributing the latest vacancy information stored in the vacancy information database 143 only when the information is transmitted during business hours including the current time, the reliability is higher. Availability information can be delivered to the user terminal 30 .

<Modified example of the third embodiment>
In the above-described third embodiment, the vacant seat management server 10 determines whether or not the latest vacant seat information stored in the vacant seat information database 143 is information transmitted during business hours including the current time. However, it is not limited to this. For example, as a simpler method, the determining unit 114 in the vacant seat management server 10 determines whether the latest vacant information stored in the vacant seat information database 143 is available within a predetermined time (for example, 30 minutes) from the current time. You may make it determine whether it is the transmitted information. In this case, immediately after the business hours start, the vacant seat management server 10 may distribute the vacant information transmitted during the previous business hours, but the time is kept within a predetermined time at the maximum. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the vacancy information transmitted during the previous business hours from being continuously distributed during the next business hours. Alternatively, as a modification of the third embodiment, the vacant seat management server 19 may omit the function of managing the business hours information of the store and the function of determining whether or not the current time is open. In the third embodiment, since the reset process at the end of business hours is not executed, the business hours information is not an essential configuration, and even if the processing of S1006 and S1008 is omitted, it is transmitted before the business hours start. It is possible to prevent the availability information from being continuously distributed as real-time availability information for a long period of time.

Further, the determination unit 114 of the vacant seat management server 10, for example, determines whether or not the date of reception of the latest vacant information stored in the vacant seat information database 143 is the current date. However, it may be determined whether or not it can be regarded as the availability information transmitted during business hours including the current time. In particular, when the business hours of the store 40 do not include the timing when the date changes, it is only determined whether or not the date on which the vacancy information is received is the date of the current day, and the vacancy information is information sent during the past business hours. It can be determined whether
[Other embodiments]

In the first and second embodiments described above, as an example of registering the business hours information of the store 40, the case of setting one start time and one end time has been described. However, the business hours (start time and end time) for each day of the week and regular holidays may also be set in the vacant seat management server 10 .

In addition, in the first and second embodiments described above, the vacancy information stored in the vacancy information database 143 is deleted or updated. The availability information may be stored together with the date and time. In the above description, the vacancy information database 143 is a database for managing only the latest vacancy information of facilities. is no longer used as current availability information.

In the above-described embodiment, the terminal ID 1437 of the management terminal 20 of the store 40 is previously set by the vacant seat management server 10 as the management terminal 20 of the store 40, and the terminal ID 1437 is updated in conjunction with the vacancy information 1432. It will not be done. For example, the vacancy information may be sent from the management terminal 20 only when the store clerk logs in using the account information of the store 40 before inputting the vacancy information via the GUI screen. In this case, the vacant seat management server 10 does not need to manage account information (for example, e-mail address and password) corresponding to the store 40 and set the terminal ID 1437 in advance. Moreover, when the vacancy information is transmitted using a plurality of management terminals 20, the terminal ID 1437 corresponding to the store 40 is updated each time.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the vacancy information of restaurants has been described as an example, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the technology of this embodiment can be applied to availability information of facilities such as movie theaters, sports stadiums, and parking lots in addition to restaurants. In addition, the vacant seat management system 1 of the present embodiment may manage congestion of users in facilities where seats are not provided but the number of people fluctuates. Specifically, for example, information indicating the congestion status of supermarkets, sports gyms, counters of local governments and banks, hot spring facilities, etc. may be managed. In this case, for example, the vacant seat management server 10 manages and distributes congestion information represented by one of "vacant", "somewhat crowded", and "crowded".

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the status indicating the store vacancy information is selected from three options: "Available", "Slightly Congested", and "Full". However, four or more statuses may be used as options, and statuses such as "waiting for n minutes", "reception completed", and "reserved" may be used as options for availability information.

In the above embodiments, the user terminal 30 does not necessarily have to be a terminal carried by the user. For example, a communication device such as a computer installed at a specific location may be used as the user terminal 30 . For example, the user terminal 30 may be a digital signage terminal that is fixedly installed in a busy place. In this case, the digital signage terminal does not necessarily need to transmit an inquiry request including position information to the vacant seat management server 10, and can always request vacant information of a specific store set in advance.

As described above, the technology of the present disclosure supplies a program that implements one or more functions of the above-described embodiments to a system or device via a network or a storage medium, and executes one or more programs in a computer of the system or device. can be realized by a process in which the processor reads and operates the program. Alternatively, it may be implemented by a circuit that implements one or more functions.

The present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments described above, and includes various modifications. For example, the above-described embodiments have been described in detail in order to explain the present disclosure in an easy-to-understand manner, and do not necessarily include all the configurations described. Also, part of an embodiment can be replaced with the configuration of another embodiment. Moreover, the configuration of another embodiment can be added to the configuration of one embodiment. Moreover, a part of the configuration of each embodiment can be added, deleted or replaced with a part of the configuration of another embodiment.

1 Vacant seat management system 10 Vacant seat management server 20 Management terminal 30 User terminal 40 Store 50 Network

Claims (11)

An information processing device that manages availability information corresponding to a status indicating facility availability,
a storage means for storing vacancy information of one or more facilities;
a search means for searching for a display facility for displaying vacancy information in response to a request from a terminal;
output means for outputting the vacancy information of the display facility to the terminal;
The output means stores the latest vacancy information of the facility stored in the storage means in the storage means when it can be regarded as the vacancy information transmitted during business hours including the current time of the facility. outputting the latest availability information received from the facility, and not outputting the availability information transmitted outside business hours including the current time of the facility as the availability information of the facility. Furthermore, it has a management means for managing the vacancy information of the facility,
the storage means stores business hours information indicating the business hours of the facility;
2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said management unit updates the availability information of said facility based on the business hours information of said facility when the business hours of said facility ends. The storage means stores a default setting of availability information at the start of business hours of the facility;
The management means updates the vacancy information of the facility stored in the storage means to the default setting when the business hours of the facility end,
3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said output means outputs the facility availability information stored in said storage means. 3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein said management means deletes the facility availability information stored in said storage means when the business hours of said facility end. further comprising determination means for determining whether or not the facility availability information stored in the storage means is information transmitted during business hours including the current time;
2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said output means transmits the facility availability information according to the result of said determination means. 6. When the facility availability information stored in the storage means is dated the previous day, the determination means considers the information to be transmitted during business hours that does not include the current time. The information processing device described. further comprising determination means for determining whether or not the facility availability information stored in the storage means was transmitted within a predetermined time period before the current time;
The output means, when the determination means determines that the facility availability information stored in the storage means is not information transmitted within a time period preceding the current time by a predetermined time, the storage means 2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said facility availability information stored in said facility is not transmitted. An information processing device that manages availability information corresponding to a status indicating facility availability,
receiving means for receiving vacancy information transmitted from the first terminal managed by the facility;
storage means for storing information on vacancy of one or more facilities and business hours information including business closing time;
management means for managing the latest vacancy information of the facility based on the vacancy information transmitted from the first terminal;
having output means for outputting facility availability information in response to a request from a second terminal;
The information processing device, wherein the management means refers to the business hours information of the facility, and updates the latest vacancy information of the facility with predetermined vacancy information when the closing time of the facility is reached. A program for causing a computer to function as the information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 8 . An information processing method for storing and managing availability information corresponding to a facility availability status,
searching for a display facility for displaying the vacancy information in response to a request from the terminal;
If the vacancy information can be regarded as being transmitted during the current business hours of the facility, the status indicating the vacancy of the facility is output to the terminal as the vacancy information of the facility, and is transmitted outside the current business hours. an information processing method for not outputting the obtained vacancy information as the vacancy information of the facility. An information processing method for storing vacancy information of one or more facilities and business hours information including business closing time, and managing vacancy information corresponding to a status indicating facility vacancy,
a step of receiving vacancy information transmitted from a first terminal managed by the facility;
a step of managing vacancy information of the facility;
An output step of outputting the facility availability information in response to a request from the second terminal;
The information processing method, wherein in the management step, the operating hours information of the facility is referred to, and when the closing time of the facility is reached, the latest vacancy information of the facility is updated with predetermined vacancy information.

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