WO2009084599A1

WO2009084599A1 - Presence-at-home information acquisition system

Info

Publication number: WO2009084599A1
Application number: PCT/JP2008/073642
Authority: WO
Inventors: Masafumi Watanabe
Original assignee: Nec Corporation
Priority date: 2007-12-28
Filing date: 2008-12-25
Publication date: 2009-07-09
Also published as: JP5109652B2; JP2009157890A

Abstract

A presence-at-home information acquisition system is provided with an information selecting means and a presence-at-home information distribution control means. Presence-at-home information representing whether or not a recipient can answer the door and alternative information representing whether or not alternatives enabling reception at home are available are stored in a presence-at-home information storage means. The information selecting means selects at least either the presence-at-home information or the alternative information and outputs the selected information. The presence-at-home information distribution control means acquires the outputted information.

Description

Home information acquisition system

The present invention relates to a home information acquisition system, method, and program, and more particularly, a home information acquisition system for notifying a deliverer whether or not a recipient can receive a package in a package delivery service, The present invention relates to a method and a program.

In the home delivery system, the efficiency of home delivery services using the receiver's home information is being improved. (For example, see Patent Documents 1 to 5). Since the status of whether the recipient is at home or not is information related to privacy, disclosure to the driver must be kept to the minimum necessary. In this regard, for example, a system is known that, when a delivery truck approaches within a certain distance of a delivery destination, acquires whether or not the recipient is at home by an automatic telephone (see Patent Document 2).
JP 2002-135445 A Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-231402 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-255306 JP 2006-244401 A JP 2007-094641 A

However, the following issues remain in improving the efficiency of home delivery systems using home information. That is, even if the recipient is not at home, the recipient may be able to receive the package by an alternative means such as a receiving box. In addition, home information indicating whether or not the recipient is at home may not be disclosed, but information on whether or not the receiving box is usable may be disclosed. However, in each of the related technologies described above, even when there is an alternative means that can be used by the recipient, the driver does not disclose whether the alternative means can be used. It is not preferable for the recipient to disclose at-home information to the driver more than necessary. In each of the related technologies, the receiver's home information is always disclosed to the driver, and the number of times and time at which the home information is disclosed cannot be reduced.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a home information acquisition system, method, and program capable of solving the problems of the related technology and suppressing reference to home information when there is an alternative means available to the recipient. Objective.

In order to achieve the above object, the home information acquisition system according to the present invention includes: home information indicating whether or not the recipient can handle visits; and one or more alternative means capable of receiving home delivery. Information selection means for outputting at least one of the at-home information and the alternative means information from home information storage means for storing alternative means information indicating whether or not the information can be used, and information output by the information selection means. It is characterized by comprising at-home information distribution control means for acquiring.

A home information providing method according to the present invention is a method for providing home information indicating whether a recipient can respond to a visit using a computer, and whether the computer is capable of visiting a recipient. The home information and the alternatives from home information storage means for storing alternative means information indicating whether or not the alternative means can be used for one or more alternative means capable of home delivery A step of outputting at least one of the means information.

The program of the present invention is a program for causing a computer to execute processing for providing at-home information indicating whether or not a recipient can respond to a visit, and whether or not the recipient can accommodate a visit. The home information and the alternatives from home information storage means for storing alternative means information indicating whether or not the alternative means can be used for one or more alternative means capable of home delivery A process for outputting at least one of the means information is executed.

In the home information acquisition system, method, and program of the present invention, reference to home information can be suppressed when there are alternative means available to the recipient.

The above and other objects, features, and benefits of the present invention will become apparent from the following description with reference to the drawings.

The block diagram of the home information acquisition system of 1st Embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the specific example of an information selection rule. The flowchart which shows the operation | movement procedure at the time of home information acquisition. The block diagram of the home information acquisition system of 2nd Embodiment of this invention. The figure which shows the specific example of an identifier table. The flowchart which shows the operation | movement procedure at the time of package information input. The flowchart which shows the operation | movement procedure in the case of home information display. The flowchart which shows the operation | movement procedure at the time of package receipt. The block diagram which shows the modification of 2nd Embodiment.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, like elements are given like reference numerals throughout the drawings. FIG. 1 shows the configuration of a home information acquisition system according to the first embodiment of the present invention. The home information acquisition system includes a home delivery truck terminal 10, a home information server 20, and a recipient terminal 30. The home delivery truck terminal 10 is installed in a home delivery truck used for home delivery business, and the recipient terminal 30 is installed in a package recipient home. Alternatively, these terminals may be portable terminals carried by drivers or recipients. The home information server 20 is installed in a center such as a luggage collection / delivery office. Each function of the delivery truck terminal 10, the home information server 20, and the recipient terminal 30 is realized by executing a predetermined program on a computer, for example.

The home delivery truck terminal 10 has a home information display means (unit) 11. The home information display unit 11 includes an input device such as a button or a touch panel, and receives a home information display request from a driver (deliverer) using the input device. Upon receiving the home information display request from the driver, the home information display means 11 transmits a recipient identifier to the home information server 20 and requests acquisition of the home information of the package recipient corresponding to the transmitted recipient identifier. To do. When the home information display means 11 acquires the home information from the home information server 20, the home information display means 11 presents the acquired home information to the driver by an output device such as a liquid crystal display.

The home information server 20 includes home information distribution control means 21, information selection means 22, home information storage means 23, and information selection rule storage means 24. The home information storage means 23 stores the home information and the receiving box information of the recipient identified by the recipient identifier. The at-home information includes information indicating whether or not the recipient can respond to the visit. The receiving box information includes information indicating whether or not an alternative means (receiving box) that can be used by the recipient to receive the package is available.

In this embodiment, home information and receiving box information are generalized and referred to as attributes. The attribute includes an attribute name and an attribute value. The attribute name represents the information type. Here, an attribute name “receiving-box” is assigned to the at-home information, and “receiving-box” is assigned to the receiving box information. The attribute value indicates whether or not a visit can be handled or whether or not a receiving box is available. Here, it is assumed that the attribute value is “available” when the recipient is ready to visit the home information and when the receiving box is available. Further, let the attribute value be “not-available” when the recipient is in a state incapable of visiting and when the receiving box is not present or unavailable.

The information selection rule storage unit 24 stores zero or more information selection rules. The information selection rule is a rule that regulates which information is given priority when information is acquired from the at-home information storage unit 23. That is, it is a rule that regulates which is prioritized when selecting home information or receiving box information. The information selection rule includes an attribute name and an attribute value. A specific example of the information selection rule is shown in FIG. The candidate number indicates the priority of the information selection rule. In FIG. 2, the information selection rule of the first candidate has the attribute name “receiving-box” and the attribute value “available”. This information selection rule means that if the receiving box is available, the receiving box information is selected. The information selection rule of the second candidate has the attribute name “receiver” and the attribute value “*”. This information selection rule means that home information is selected regardless of the attribute value. The information selection rules are read in order from the candidate with the smallest number, and the rule with the candidate with the smallest number is prioritized. In the example of FIG. 2, the first candidate (attribute name “receiving-box”, attribute value “available”) stored in the information selection rule storage unit 24 is the second candidate (attribute name “receiver”), attribute value “*”. ”).

The home information distribution control unit 21 receives a home information display request from the home information display unit 11. Upon receiving the home information display request, the home information distribution control means 21 passes the recipient identifier to the information selection means 22 and requests acquisition of the home information or the receiving box information of the recipient identified by the recipient identifier. . Upon receipt of the recipient identifier from the home information distribution control unit 21, the information selection unit 22 refers to the home information storage unit 23 and the information selection rule storage unit 24 to change the home information or the receiving box to the home information distribution control. Passed to means 21. More specifically, the information selection means 22 sequentially acquires information selection rules from the information selection rule storage means 24 from the first candidate side. Further, with reference to the home information storage unit 23, the attribute value corresponding to the attribute name included in the information selection rule is acquired for the recipient identified by the recipient identifier received from the home information distribution control unit 21. The information selection unit 22 determines whether or not the acquired attribute value matches the attribute value included in the information selection rule. If the attribute value matches, the attribute name and the attribute value acquired from the home information storage unit 23 are determined. Is transferred to the at-home information distribution control means 21. Upon receiving home information or receiving box information from the information selection unit 22, the home information distribution control unit 21 returns the received information to the home information display unit 11.

The recipient terminal 30 has at-home information input means 31, receiving box information input means 32, and information selection rule input means 33. The home information input unit 31 receives the home information in the home information storage unit 23 in the home information server 20 when the receiver inputs home information, that is, information indicating whether or not the visit can be handled. Store with identifier. The home information is input using, for example, an input device that can switch home / absent each time a button is pressed. A recipient may input home information by operating a keyboard of a personal computer or the like. Alternatively, a sensor or the like may be installed, and information indicating home / absence may be input depending on whether a person is detected by the sensor. In that case, sensors may be installed at several locations in the house, and detailed information indicating where in the house is added to the at-home information. In this case, even when the recipient is at home, for example, when bathing, for example, information indicating that the visit cannot be handled may be registered in the home information storage unit 23. If the home information of the recipient identified by the recipient identifier is already stored in the home information storage unit 23, the home information input unit 31 updates the home information input unit 31 with the newly entered home information.

The receiving box information input means 32 includes an input device such as a sensor installed in the receiving box, and inputs the receiving box information using the input device. The receipt box information input unit 32 stores the delivery box information in the home information storage unit 23 in the home information server 20. The receipt box information input means 32, for example, when the input device detects that no package is already in the delivery box, the delivery box of the recipient identified by the recipient identifier is stored in the home information storage means 23. Information indicating that the delivery box can be used is registered as information. When the parcel is in the parcel delivery box, the home information storage means 23 is updated with parcel box information indicating that the parcel delivery box is unusable.

The information selection rule input means 33 includes an output device such as a liquid crystal display and an input device such as a keyboard and a mouse. The information selection rule input means 33 displays the information selection rule acquired from the information selection rule storage means 24 to the recipient by the output device. The recipient inputs information selection rules using the input device. When the recipient inputs the information selection rule, the information selection rule input unit 33 additionally registers the input information selection rule in the information selection rule storage unit 24. Alternatively, the information selection rule stored in the information selection rule storage unit 24 is replaced with the information selection rule input by the recipient. The information selection rule input unit 33 deletes the corresponding information selection rule from the information selection rule storage unit 24 when the recipient instructs the deletion of the information selection rule stored in the information selection rule storage unit 24. . When there are a plurality of alternative means that the recipient can use, the recipient registers the attribute names corresponding to the plurality of alternative means in the information selection rule.

Hereinafter, the operation procedure of this embodiment will be described. FIG. 3 shows an operation procedure for displaying at-home information. The driver generates a home information display request (acquisition request) indicating whether or not the recipient is at home at an arbitrary timing. The at-home information display means 11 receives a display request for at-home information from the driver using the input device (step A1). When the driver inputs a home information display request using the input device, the home information display unit 11 passes the recipient identifier to the home information distribution control unit 21 in the home information server 20.

The home information distribution control means 21 passes the recipient identifier to the information selection means 22 and requests an attribute name and attribute value corresponding to the recipient identifier (step A2). Upon receipt of the recipient identifier, the information selection means 22 initializes the variable n to 1 (step A3), and acquires the nth candidate information selection rule from the information selection rule storage means 24 (step A4). The information selection unit 22 acquires the attribute value corresponding to the attribute name included in the information selection rule acquired in step A4 for the recipient identified by the recipient identifier received in step A1 from the home information storage unit 23. (Step A5).

The information selection means 22 determines whether or not the attribute value acquired in step A5 matches the attribute value included in the information selection rule acquired in step A4 (step A6). Or the information selection means 22 determines whether two attribute values satisfy | fill a specific relationship. For example, when the first candidate of the information selection rule shown in FIG. 2 has been acquired in step A4, the information selection unit 22 obtains the attribute name “receiving-box” from the home information storage unit 23 in step A5. The attribute value “available” or “not-available” is acquired. The information selection unit 22 determines whether or not the acquired attribute value matches the attribute value “available” defined by the first candidate. If the information selection means 22 determines that they do not match in step A6, it adds 1 to the variable n (step A7), and then returns to step A4 to acquire the next candidate information selection rule.

If the information selection means 22 determines that they match in step A6, it passes the attribute name and attribute value to the at-home information distribution control means 21 (step A8). Upon receiving the attribute name and attribute value from the information selection unit 22, the home information distribution control unit 21 transmits the received attribute name and attribute value to the home information display unit 11 of the delivery truck terminal 10. When the home information display means 11 receives the attribute name and attribute value from the home information distribution control means 21, the home information display means 11 outputs the attribute name and attribute value using an output device, and the driver's home information or Present the inbox information.

In this embodiment, the information selection unit 22 determines whether or not each alternative unit can be used in accordance with the information selection rule stored in the information selection rule storage unit 24 in response to the acquisition request for at-home information. If there is substitute information in the home information storage means 23, the substitute information is returned. In this way, if there is an alternative receiving means such as a receiving box, the driver can be notified of the availability of the alternative means, and the number and time of the recipient's home information being disclosed can be reduced. it can.

Further, in the present embodiment, the contents of the information selection rule storage means 24 can be rewritten by the recipient. Accordingly, there is an effect that information to be prioritized can be changed according to the recipient. Further, there is an effect that the recipient can change the priority information depending on the package type and the like depending on the situation. For example, the recipient stores information selection rules for selecting at-home information in the information selection rule storage unit 24 for packages that need to be refrigerated, regardless of whether the at-home information is available or not-available. Thereby, it can prevent that the package which needs refrigeration preservation | save into the delivery box is put. Further, even when the package is heavy, an information selection rule for selecting at-home information is stored. In this case, the recipient does not need to carry heavy objects from the delivery box to the house.

Subsequently, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described. FIG. 4 shows a home information acquisition system according to the second embodiment of the present invention. The difference from the configuration of the first embodiment (FIG. 1) is that the truck terminal 10a further includes package information input means (deliverer-side package information input means) 12, and the home information server 20a includes identifier table storage means. 25. Further, the recipient terminal 30a further includes a package information confirmation unit 34, an identifier table update unit 35, and a package information input unit (recipient side package information input unit) 36.

The package information input means 12 includes an input device such as a barcode reader or an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) reader. A sticker on which a barcode is printed, an RFID tag, or the like is attached to the package. The driver inputs the package information about the package to be delivered to the package information input means 12 using the input device. The package information includes a package identifier, the name of the sender, the name of the recipient, and the contact information of the recipient. In this specification, “package” is not limited to a narrow package, and a sealed letter and other articles are also included in the concept of “package”.

When the package information is input, the package information input unit 12 passes the input package information to the at-home information display unit 11. The package information input means 12 refers to the contact information of the recipient and transmits a confirmation request. The confirmation request includes a package identifier and information on the package, for example, information on the package sender. For example, when an e-mail address is used as the recipient's contact information, the package information input means 12 extracts the recipient's e-mail address from the package information and transmits a confirmation request e-mail to the e-mail address. Instead of electronic mail, communication means such as instant message may be used.

The home information display means 11 receives the package information from the package information input means 12, and stores the received package information in the storage device. The home information display unit 11 includes an input device such as a button or a touch panel, and receives a home information display request from a driver (deliverer) using the input device. Upon receipt of the home information display request from the driver, the home information display means 11 transmits the package identifier included in the stored package information to the home information server 20a, and the package recipient corresponding to the transmitted package identifier. Request acquisition of home information. When the home information display means 11 acquires the home information from the home information server 20a, the home information display means 11 presents the acquired home information to the driver by an output device such as a liquid crystal display.

The identifier table storage means 25 stores an identifier table indicating the correspondence between the package identifier and the recipient identifier. FIG. 5 shows a specific example of the identifier table. Upon receiving the package identifier from the home information display unit 11, the home information distribution control unit 21 refers to the identifier table storage unit 25 and determines whether or not the received package identifier is registered in the identifier table storage unit 25. To do. When the package identifier corresponding to the identifier table storage means 25 is registered, the recipient identifier registered corresponding to the package identifier is acquired. Thereafter, the acquired recipient identifier is passed to the information selection means 22. When the package identifier received from the home information display unit 11 is not registered in the identifier table storage unit 25, the at-home information distribution control unit 21 cannot acquire the package recipient identifier corresponding to the package identifier. Error information is returned to the home information display means 11.

The package information confirmation means 34 receives the confirmation request e-mail from the package information input means 12, and shows information related to the package included in the confirmation request e-mail to the recipient on an output device such as a liquid crystal display. Further, the recipient is prompted to input a confirmation result as to whether or not the recipient's home information can be disclosed to the driver regarding delivery of the package corresponding to the package identifier included in the confirmation request e-mail. The package information confirmation unit 34 includes an input device such as a button. When the recipient inputs the confirmation result by operating the input device, the package information confirmation unit 34 passes the confirmation result and the package identifier to the identifier table update unit 35. The identifier table update unit 35 receives the confirmation result and the package identifier from the package information confirmation unit 34. The identifier table updating unit 35 additionally registers the recipient identifier and the package identifier in the identifier table storage unit 25 in the home information server 20a when the confirmation result allows the disclosure of the home information.

The package information input means 36 includes an input device such as a barcode reader or an RFID tag reader. When the recipient inputs the package identifier of the package received using the input device, the package information input unit 36 passes the input package identifier to the identifier table update unit 35. When the identifier table update unit 35 receives the package identifier from the package information input unit 36, the identifier table update unit 35 deletes the set of the package identifier and the recipient identifier corresponding to the package identifier from the identifier table storage unit 25.

Hereinafter, the operation procedure of this embodiment will be described. First, the operation when inputting package information will be described. The package information is input, for example, when the driver of the delivery truck packs the package into the delivery truck at the luggage collection center. FIG. 6 shows an operation procedure when inputting package information. The driver inputs the package information using the package information input means 12 (step B1). The package information input unit 12 passes the input package information to the at-home information display unit 11. The at-home information display means 11 stores the received package information (step B2). The package information input means 12 transmits a confirmation request e-mail to the e-mail address included in the package information input in step B1 (step B3).

The package information confirmation means 34 of the recipient terminal 30a receives the confirmation request mail transmitted in step B3. The package information confirmation unit 34 uses the output device to show the recipient information about the package included in the confirmation request mail. The package information confirmation unit 34 requests the recipient to confirm whether or not the recipient's home information may be disclosed to the driver regarding the delivery of the package (step B4). The recipient confirms the name of the sender of the package and determines whether or not to permit disclosure of the at-home information. Thereafter, using the input device of the home information input means 31, either home information disclosure permission / non-permission is input in response to the confirmation request.

When the recipient inputs the confirmation result, the package information confirmation unit 34 passes the input confirmation result and the package identifier to the identifier table update unit 35. Upon receiving the confirmation result and the package identifier from the package information confirmation unit 34, the identifier table update unit 35 determines whether or not the confirmation result allows the disclosure of the at-home information. When the recipient recognizes the home information, the identifier table updating unit 35 additionally registers the set of the recipient identifier and the package identifier in the identifier table storage unit 25 in the home information server 20a (step B5). . When the recipient does not allow the home information to be disclosed, the identifier table update unit 35 does not register the identifier table storage unit 25.

Next, an operation procedure when the driver displays home information using the delivery truck terminal 10a will be described. FIG. 7 shows an operation procedure for displaying at-home information. The driver inputs a home information display request (acquisition request) indicating whether or not the recipient is at home to the home information display means 11 at an arbitrary timing after inputting the package information. The home information display request may be made for all packages at once, or may be made individually for individual packages. The at-home information display means 11 receives a display request for at-home information from the driver using the input device (step C1). When the driver inputs a home information display request using the input device, the home information display means 11 is included in the package information stored in step B2 of FIG. 6 in the home information distribution control means 21 in the home information server 20a. Pass the package identifier. When receiving the package identifier from the home information display unit 11, the home information distribution control unit 21 refers to the identifier table storage unit 25 and determines whether or not the received package identifier is registered (step C2).

When the package identifier received from the home information display unit 11 is stored in the identifier table storage unit 25, the home information distribution control unit 21 is registered in association with the package identifier from the identifier table storage unit 25. Get the recipient identifier. The home information distribution control unit 21 passes the acquired recipient identifier to the information selection unit 22. The information selection unit 22 refers to the home information storage unit 23 and the information selection rule storage unit 24, acquires home information or receiving box information, and passes the acquired information to the home information distribution control unit 21 (step C3). . The operation related to the acquisition of the at-home information or the receiving box information in Step C3 is realized by the operations from Step A2 to Step A6 in FIG. When the home information distribution control unit 21 receives the information from the information selection unit 22, it passes the received information to the home information display unit 11.

The at-home information display means 11 displays the at-home information or the receiving box information received from the at-home information distribution control means 21 by the output device, and indicates to the driver whether or not the recipient of the package can be visited. Information and information indicating whether or not the receiving box is available are presented (step C4). When the home table information distribution control unit 21 does not store the package identifier received from the home information display unit 11 in the identifier table storage unit 25, the home information distribution control unit 21 gives an error indicating that the home information could not be acquired to the home information display unit 11. return. In this case, the at-home information display means 11 displays error information by the output device (step C5). Alternatively, a message that home information cannot be acquired is displayed.

Next, we will explain the operation procedure when the recipient receives the package. FIG. 8 shows an operation procedure when a package is received. When the recipient receives the package, the recipient inputs the package identifier of the package into the package information input means 36 using the input device (step D1). The package information input unit 36 passes the input package identifier to the identifier table update unit 35. When receiving the package identifier, the identifier table updating unit 35 deletes the set of the package identifier and the recipient identifier corresponding to the package identifier from the identifier table storage unit 25 in the home information server 20a (step D2).

In this embodiment, when the recipient inputs that the disclosure of information to the driver is permitted, the identifier table storage means 25 stores the package identifier and the recipient identifier in association with each other. When a home information display request from the driver is generated, the home information distribution control unit 21 refers to the identifier table storage unit 25 to acquire a recipient identifier, and uses the acquired recipient identifier to use the home information storage unit 23. To obtain at-home information of the recipient. In other words, in this embodiment, the home information distribution control unit 21 uses the identifier table storage unit 25 to link the home information of the recipient and the identifier of the package to be delivered, so that the driver can refer to the home information of the recipient. Control access. In this embodiment, since it is not necessary to pass the recipient identifier to the driver, the privacy of the recipient can be protected.

Further, in this embodiment, when permitting disclosure of at-home information or receiving box information, the identifier table storage means 25 stores a set of a package identifier and a recipient identifier. When the recipient registers the recipient identifier in the identifier table storage means 25 using the recipient terminal 30a, the driver can access the home information or the receiving box information. Therefore, the recipient can control permission / denial of disclosure of the home information or the receiving box information by his / her own intention. Furthermore, since the present embodiment adopts a method of controlling reference access to home information or receiving box information based on a set of a package identifier and a recipient identifier, the recipient can use the home information or receiving box for a certain package. Disclosure of information can be permitted, and disclosure of home information or receiving box information can be refused for other packages. That is, the recipient can set permission / rejection of disclosure of at-home information or receiving box information for each package to be received. At that time, the recipient does not need to input home information or receiving box information for each package. Therefore, the work load on the recipient side does not increase.

By the way, when disclosing at-home information, it is desirable to prevent a situation in which the driver knows whether the recipient is at home by intentionally shipping the package. It is also desirable to prevent a situation where the driver knows whether the recipient is at home or not by illegally inputting the package information. In the present embodiment, using a confirmation request e-mail, the recipient indicates the information about the package to be received by the recipient, and inputs permission / non-permission of disclosure of at-home information or receiving box information for the package. . Recipients can refuse to disclose home information and receiving box information to drivers by not registering package identifiers for packages that they do not remember or that are sent from unknown senders. . Therefore, even if the driver intentionally ships the package, or illegally inputs the package information and tries to acquire the recipient's home information or receiving box information illegally, the disclosure of the information can be prevented. it can.

In this embodiment, after receiving the package, the recipient deletes the set of the recipient identifier and the package identifier of the received package from the identifier table storage unit 25. Even if the driver requests the display of at-home information after deleting the package identifier, an error is returned because the package identifier is not registered in the identifier table storage means 25, and the receiver's home information or receiving box information is returned to the driver. Will not be notified. When the driver adopts a configuration for registering / deleting a package identifier, it is possible for the driver not to delete the package identifier even after the delivery is completed. Can be referred to forever. In this embodiment, since the recipient deletes the package identifier from the identifier table storage unit 25 after the package is received, it is possible to prevent the recipient's home information from being disclosed to the driver regarding the package after delivery is completed. . Other effects are the same as those of the first embodiment.

Each embodiment can be variously modified. For example, in FIG. 4, a configuration in which the package information input means 12 arranged in the delivery truck terminal 10a is arranged outside the delivery truck terminal 10a is also possible. The configuration in this case is shown in FIG. The difference from the configuration shown in FIG. 4 is that the package information input means 12 is arranged in a package information server 40 installed in a distribution center of a delivery company. When such a configuration is adopted, it is possible to prevent the driver from entering illegal package information.

In the first embodiment, a combination of an attribute name and an attribute value is used for the information selection rule. However, the configuration of the information selection rule is not limited to this. For example, an attribute name may be used as the information selection rule, and the attribute value may be omitted. In this case, the attribute name having the attribute “available” is sequentially searched from the first candidate side, and when the “available” is found, the home information or alternative means information indicated by the attribute name is the home information. What is necessary is just to pass to the delivery control means 21. Also, a plurality of information selection rules may be prepared corresponding to the type of luggage (refrigerated goods, frozen goods, heavy goods, etc.). In that case, an information selection rule to be used may be acquired using information indicating the package type, and the recipient's home information or alternative means information may be acquired from the home information storage unit 23 according to the acquired information selection rule.

In the first embodiment, the information selection unit 22 refers to the information selection rule storage unit 24 and selects information to be acquired from the at-home information storage unit 23. However, the information selection rule storage unit 24 may not be used. is there. In this case, the information selection unit 22 may select information acquired from the home information storage unit 23 in a fixed priority order. An advantage of using the information selection rule storage means 24 is that it can flexibly cope with the addition of alternative means by the recipient. In the second embodiment, either one of the home information and the receiving box information is selected and output from the information selecting unit 22, but the present invention is not limited to this. From the information selection means 22, you may output both at-home information and receiving box information.

In each of the above embodiments, the home delivery truck terminal acquires home information from the home information server for the purpose of displaying the home information of the recipient on the home information display means 11. However, in the present invention, the usage of the acquired home information is not limited to the presentation to the driver. For example, the acquired at-home information of the recipient can be used as information for route calculation without being presented to the driver.

Although the invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to illustrative embodiments, the invention is not limited to these embodiments and variations thereof. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications can be made to the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

This application is based on and claims the priority of Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-338887 filed on Dec. 28, 2007, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. join.

Claims

Home information indicating whether or not the recipient can handle visits, and home information for storing alternative means information indicating whether or not the alternative means can be used for one or more alternative means capable of receiving delivery. Information selection means for outputting at least one of the at-home information and the alternative means information from an information storage means;
A home information acquisition system comprising home information distribution control means for acquiring information output by the information selection means.
The information selection means acquires an information selection rule from an information selection rule storage means for storing an information selection rule defining an information selection rule, and based on the acquired information selection rule, the home information and the alternative means information The at-home information acquisition system according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the two is output.
The information selection rule includes an attribute name and an attribute value describing an information type, and the information selection unit acquires information of the information type indicated by the attribute name of the information selection rule from the at-home information storage unit. The home information acquisition system according to claim 2, wherein the acquired information content is compared with the attribute value of the information selection rule, and when the two match, the information of the information type is output.
The information selection rule includes a plurality of condition candidates with priorities set, and the information selection means sequentially acquires the condition candidates from the information selection rule storage means one by one in descending order of priority, 4. The home information acquisition system according to claim 3, wherein the information content acquired from the home information storage means is compared with the attribute values of the condition candidates.
A method of providing at-home information indicating whether a recipient can handle a visit using a computer,
At-home information indicating whether or not the recipient can respond to a visit, and alternative means information indicating whether or not the alternative means can be used for one or more alternative means capable of receiving delivery. A home information providing method comprising a step of outputting at least one of the home information and the alternative means information from a home information storage means for storing.
The computer further includes a step of acquiring an information selection rule from an information selection rule storage unit that stores an information selection rule that defines an information selection rule, and the outputting step is based on the acquired information selection rule. The at-home information providing method according to claim 5, wherein at least one of the at-home information and the alternative means information is output.
A program for causing a computer to execute processing for providing at-home information indicating whether or not a recipient can be visited,
Home information indicating whether or not the recipient can handle visits, and home information for storing alternative means information indicating whether or not the alternative means can be used for one or more alternative means capable of receiving delivery. A program for executing a process of outputting at least one of the at-home information and the alternative means information from an information storage means.
Causing the computer to further execute a process of acquiring an information selection rule from an information selection rule storage unit that stores an information selection rule that defines an information selection rule, and in the process of outputting, based on the acquired information selection rule The program according to claim 7, wherein at least one of the at-home information or the alternative means information is output.