CN111754064A

CN111754064A - Scheduling management system, mobile object, computer-readable recording medium, and method

Info

Publication number: CN111754064A
Application number: CN202010128713.1A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 德永和典; 小关真冬; 山田隆司; 鹰野聪明; 小野寺圣
Original assignee: Honda Motor Co Ltd
Current assignee: Honda Motor Co Ltd
Priority date: 2019-03-29
Filing date: 2020-02-28
Publication date: 2020-10-09
Also published as: JP6964617B2; JP2020166760A

Abstract

The present invention relates to a scheduling management system, a mobile body, a computer-readable recording medium, and a method for solving a problem in which the operation efficiency of a vehicle is greatly reduced due to maintenance. The scheduling management system of the present invention includes a mobile management unit for managing scheduling of a mobile; a necessity determining unit for determining whether maintenance of the mobile body is necessary; and a working time estimating unit for estimating a working time for maintenance of the mobile body. The mobile body management unit includes a working-enabled period extraction unit that extracts a working-enabled period in which the working time estimated by the working time estimation unit can be secured, with reference to a mobile body schedule storage unit that stores predetermined information indicating the mobile body, when it is determined that maintenance of the mobile body is necessary. The mobile unit management unit stores information indicating that maintenance of the mobile unit is scheduled in a period of time during which the mobile unit can be operated in the mobile unit schedule storage unit.

Description

Scheduling management system, mobile object, computer-readable recording medium, and method

Technical Field

The invention relates to a scheduling management system, a mobile body, a computer-readable recording medium, and a method.

Background

There is known a vehicle operation management system that realizes sharing of information between an operation management center and a maintenance center and improves operation efficiency of the maintenance center (for example, see patent document 1).

Patent document 1: japanese patent laid-open publication No. 2006-073019

Disclosure of Invention

However, in the conventional vehicle operation management system, in order to improve the operation efficiency of the maintenance center, the schedule of maintenance is set. Therefore, the operation efficiency of the vehicle may be greatly reduced by the maintenance.

In the 1 st aspect of the present invention, there is provided a schedule management system. The schedule management system is a system for managing a schedule of a mobile body used for transporting a transport target, for example. The schedule management system includes, for example, a mobile management unit that manages scheduling of mobile units. The scheduling management system described above includes, for example, a necessity determining unit that determines whether maintenance of the mobile body is necessary. The schedule management system described above includes, for example, a work time estimation unit that estimates a work time for maintenance of the mobile body. In the above-described schedule management system, the mobile unit management unit includes, for example, a workable period extraction unit, and when it is determined that maintenance of the mobile unit is necessary, the mobile unit management unit refers to a mobile unit schedule storage unit that stores predetermined information indicating the mobile unit, and extracts a workable period in which the working time estimated by the working time estimation unit can be secured. In the above-described schedule management system, the mobile unit manager stores, in the mobile unit schedule storage unit, information indicating that maintenance of the mobile unit is scheduled in a period of a job possible period, for example.

In the above-described schedule management system, the mobile unit management unit may include a job schedule acquisition unit that acquires information indicating a schedule of a job agent that maintains the mobile unit. In the above-described schedule management system, the mobile body management unit may include a schedule adjustment unit configured to determine a job timing for performing maintenance of the mobile body, based on the information indicating the one or more job possible periods extracted by the job possible period extraction unit and the information acquired by the job schedule acquisition unit. In the above-described schedule management system, the mobile unit management unit may store, in the mobile unit schedule storage unit, information indicating that maintenance of the mobile unit is scheduled to be performed within the working period, when the working enabled period is extracted and the working period is determined.

In the above-described schedule management system, the mobile body management unit may include a job site extraction unit that extracts a job site capable of accepting maintenance of the mobile body in at least one of the one or more job possible periods, with reference to a job schedule storage unit that stores (i) information indicating a position of a job site where a job body that maintains the mobile body can perform maintenance and (ii) information indicating a schedule of the job body in association with each other.

In the above-described schedule management system, the mobile unit management unit may include a position determination unit that determines the position of the mobile unit in at least one of the one or more workable periods extracted by the workable period extraction unit with reference to the mobile unit schedule storage unit. In the above-described schedule management system, the mobile body management unit may include a work site extraction unit that refers to a work schedule storage unit that stores (i) information indicating positions of work sites where a work body that maintains the mobile body can perform maintenance and (ii) information indicating schedules of the work body in association with each other, and extracts (i) a work site where the positional relationship with the position of the mobile body determined by the position determination unit satisfies a predetermined position condition and (ii) maintenance of the mobile body can be accepted in at least one of one or more possible work periods. In the schedule management system described above, the position condition may be a condition relating to a spatial distance or a temporal distance of the positional relationship.

In the above-described scheduling management system, the mobile body management unit may include a scheduling adjustment unit that determines a work timing and a work site for performing maintenance of the mobile body, based on the extraction result of the work site extraction unit. In the above-described schedule management system, when the work site extraction unit extracts a plurality of work sites, the schedule adjustment unit may determine a work site at which maintenance of the mobile body is to be performed, based on at least one of (i) a scheduled end time of maintenance of the mobile body, (ii) an interval between the scheduled end time of maintenance of the mobile body and a scheduled start time of next scheduled start of the mobile body, (iii) a position of the mobile body at the scheduled start time of next scheduled start of the mobile body, and (iv) an amount of energy consumed by the mobile body when the mobile body moves to the position of the mobile body at the scheduled start time of next scheduled start of the mobile body via each work site. In the above-described schedule management system, the mobile unit manager may store, in the mobile unit schedule storage unit, information indicating that maintenance of the mobile unit is to be performed at the job timing and the job place determined by the schedule adjuster.

The scheduling management system may further include a job scheduling generation unit configured to store, in the job scheduling storage unit, information (i) indicating the job location determined by the scheduling adjustment unit and information (ii) indicating that maintenance of the mobile body is performed at the job location at the job timing determined by the scheduling adjustment unit in association with each other. In the above-described schedule management system, the job schedule storage unit may store, in association with each other, at least one of (i) information indicating a position of the job site, (ii) information indicating a type of maintenance performed at the job site, and (iii) information indicating a receivable period of maintenance at the job site and a job amount of maintenance in each receivable period. In the scheduling management system, the information indicating at least one of the receivable period of the maintenance at the work site and the amount of the maintenance work in each receivable period may include information indicating at least one of the receivable period and the amount of the maintenance work for each type of the maintenance.

In the above-described schedule management system, the information indicating the schedule of the job agent may include information indicating at least one of a schedule of an operator who performs maintenance of the mobile body and a schedule of a job device used for maintenance of the mobile body. In the schedule management system, the operable period extracting unit may extract, as the operable period, a period during which the operating time estimated by the operating time estimating unit can be continuously secured and which is predetermined that the moving object does not carry the carrying target.

In the above-described schedule management system, the necessity determining unit may determine the type of maintenance to be performed during the maintenance of the mobile object. In the above-described schedule management system, the operation time estimation unit may acquire information indicating a standard operation time set in advance for each type of maintenance. In the scheduling management system, the work time estimating unit may estimate the work time for maintenance of the mobile unit based on the type of maintenance performed during maintenance of the mobile unit and a standard work time for each type of maintenance. In the dispatch management system, the maintenance may include at least one of cleaning of the mobile body, inspection of the mobile body, maintenance or repair of the mobile body, and energy or energy supplement to the mobile body.

In the schedule management system described above, the mobile body can be used to transport the transport object based on the contract. The scheduling management system may further include a reservation deciding unit that decides, when the mobile unit fulfills the contract, which of the execution of the contract and the execution of the maintenance is to be prioritized, if the operation time and the operation point at which the maintenance of the mobile unit is to be executed cannot be decided. The schedule management system may further include an alternative determination unit that determines to fulfill the contract using another mobile unit instead of the mobile unit when the schedule determination unit determines to prioritize the execution of the maintenance over the fulfillment of the contract.

In the 2 nd aspect of the present invention, a method is provided. The above-described method is a method for managing scheduling of a moving body used for transporting a transport target, for example. The above-described method includes, for example, a mobile management step of managing scheduling of mobile. The above-described method includes, for example, a necessity determination step of determining whether maintenance of the mobile body is necessary. The above-described method includes, for example, a work time estimation step of estimating a work time for maintenance of the mobile body. In the above method, the mobile body management step includes, for example, a working-enabled period extraction step of, when it is determined that maintenance of the mobile body is necessary, extracting a working-enabled period in which the working time estimated in the working time estimation step can be secured, with reference to a mobile body schedule storage device that stores predetermined information indicating the mobile body. In the above method, the mobile unit managing step includes, for example, a reservation storing step of storing information indicating that maintenance of the mobile unit is scheduled to be performed in a period of a workable period in the mobile unit scheduling storage device.

In the 3 rd aspect of the present invention, a program is provided. A non-volatile computer readable medium storing the above-described program may also be provided. The program may be a program for causing a computer to function as the schedule management system according to the above-described aspect 1. The program may be a program for causing a computer to execute the method according to claim 2.

In the 4 th aspect of the present invention, a mobile body is provided. The mobile unit includes, for example, the schedule management system according to the above-described first aspect.

In addition, the summary of the present invention does not list all necessary features of the present invention. In addition, sub-combinations of these feature groups can also be inventions.

Drawings

Fig. 1 schematically shows an example of a system configuration of the management system 100.

Fig. 2 schematically shows an example of a car dispatch instruction by the management server 110.

Fig. 3 schematically shows an example of the system configuration of the management server 110.

Fig. 4 schematically shows an example of the internal configuration of the vehicle management unit 332.

Fig. 5 schematically shows an example of the internal configuration of the maintenance management unit 460.

Fig. 6 schematically shows an example of the system configuration of the computer 3000.

Detailed Description

The present invention will be described below with reference to embodiments thereof, but the following embodiments do not limit the invention according to the claims. In addition, a combination of all the features described in the embodiments is not necessarily essential to the solution of the invention. In the drawings, the same or similar components are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description thereof may be omitted.

[ overview of management System 100 ]

Fig. 1 schematically shows an example of a system configuration of the management system 100. In the present embodiment, the management system 100 includes a management server 110. The management system 100 may be provided with one or more (sometimes simply referred to as more than one) vehicles 120. The management system 100 may include one or more communication terminals 22 used by the owners 20 of the vehicles 120. The management system 100 may include a communication terminal 32 disposed at a maintenance point 130 operated by a maintenance manufacturer 30. The management system 100 may include a communication terminal 42 used by the user 40 who temporarily uses the vehicle 120. The units of the management system 100 can transmit and receive information to and from each other via the communication network 10.

The management system 100 may include one or more communication terminals 22 used by one or more owners 20. The management system 100 may include one or more communication terminals 32 respectively disposed at one or more maintenance points 130. The management system 100 may include one or more communication terminals 42 used by one or more users 40.

In the present embodiment, the management system 100 manages one or more vehicles 120. The management system 100 may manage the respective operations of more than one vehicle 120. The management system 100 may also manage the respective schedules of more than one vehicle 120. The schedule of the vehicle 120 is determined by, for example, information indicating a time or a period and predetermined information indicating the vehicle 120 at the time or the period. The reservation of the vehicle 120 includes (i) a standby at a specific point or area, (ii) a movement to a point specified by a dispatch request from the owner 20 or the user 40, (iii) a use by the owner 20 or the user 40, and (iv) maintenance.

In one embodiment, the management system 100 manages a dispatch plan for each of the one or more vehicles 120. The dispatch plan may be information indicating the next destination for the vehicle 120. The dispatch plan may contain information indicative of one or more reservations related to the movement of the vehicle 120. The information indicating one or more predetermined items may include information indicating the time or period when the vehicle 120 is dispatched and information indicating the location where the vehicle 120 is dispatched. The information indicating one or more reservations may include information indicating the predetermined duration, the predetermined end time, or predicted values thereof. The information indicating one or more predetermined times may include information indicating the position of the vehicle 120 at the predetermined end time.

In other embodiments, management system 100 manages maintenance schedules for more than one vehicle 120. The maintenance plan may be information indicating a time period for which maintenance of the vehicle 120 is performed. The maintenance plan may be information indicating the time and location at which maintenance of vehicle 120 is performed. The maintenance plan may also include information indicating the type of maintenance to be performed. The maintenance plan may also include information indicating the type and extent of maintenance performed.

[ overview of units of the management system 100 ]

In the present embodiment, the communication network 10 transmits information between the units of the management system 100. The communication network 10 may be a transmission route of wired communication, a transmission route of wireless communication, or a combination thereof. The communication network 10 may comprise a wireless packet communication network, the internet, a P2P network, a private line, a VPN, a wire line communication line, an inter-vehicle communication network, a road-to-vehicle communication network, an inter-road communication network, or the like.

The communication method in the wireless communication network may be a mobile communication method or a wireless data communication method. As the mobile communication system, a communication system such as a 3G system, an LTE system, a 4G system, or a 5G system is exemplified. Examples of the wireless data communication method include (i) a short-range wireless method such as RFID using Bluetooth (registered trademark), Zigbee (registered trademark), nfc (near field communication), or the like, infrared communication, visible light communication, or communication using sound waves or ultrasonic waves, (ii) a wireless LAN method such as WiFi (registered trademark), (iii) a wireless MAN method such as WiMAX (registered trademark), and (iv) a wireless WAN method.

In the present embodiment, the owner 20 uses, for example, a vehicle 120 to transport a person or an object to a specific location (sometimes referred to as a destination). The owner 20 may use the vehicle 120 when transporting the owner 20 itself, or may use the vehicle 120 when transporting a person (sometimes referred to as a person related to the owner 20) or an object other than the owner 20. The object being transported by vehicle 120 may be the cargo of owner 20 or the cargo of a person associated with owner 20.

Owner 20 may also utilize vehicle 120 to transport a person or object to a destination based on a contract. In this case, the owner 20 may drive the vehicle 120 by himself, may instruct a person instructed by the owner 20 to drive the vehicle 120, or may request a third person to drive the vehicle 120.

Owner 20 may also have other people temporarily utilize vehicle 120. Owner 20 may also have others utilize vehicle 120 based on a contract. For example, the owner 20 loans the vehicle 120 to another person.

The owner 20 may be the owner of the vehicle 120, the owner having a right to earn the use of the vehicle 120, or the owner having a right to allow the use right of the vehicle 120 to others. Owner 20 may also be an owner utilizing vehicle 120 based on a rental contract. The owner 20 may be an individual, a legal person, or a group.

Owner 20 may utilize vehicle 120, at least temporarily, for taxi, chariot, or shared vehicle purposes. Owner 20 may also utilize vehicle 120 at least temporarily for car rental or car sharing purposes.

In the present embodiment, the communication terminal 22 is, for example, a communication terminal used by the owner 20. The communication terminal 22 may be a communication terminal utilized by a person performing a service for the owner 20. Examples of the person who performs the service for the owner 20 include a relative, a worker, a member, a person who requested the service, and a relative, a worker, and a member of the person who requested the service.

In the present embodiment, the communication terminal 22 transmits and receives various information to and from the units of the management system 100 via the communication network 10. The communication terminal 22 has an input device and an output device and can be utilized as a user interface of the management system 100.

The communication terminal 22 may be an information processing device having a communication function, and the details thereof are not particularly limited. The communication terminal 22 is exemplified by a personal computer, a portable terminal, and the like. Examples of the portable terminal include a mobile phone, a smartphone, a PDA, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a laptop computer, and a wearable computer.

In the present embodiment, the maintenance manufacturer 30 provides a maintenance service for the vehicle 120, for example, at a maintenance point 130. The maintenance manufacturer 30 may be an individual, a corporate or a group.

The maintenance of vehicle 120 includes at least one of (i) cleaning of vehicle 120, (ii) inspection of vehicle 120, (iii) maintenance or repair of vehicle 120, and (iv) energy or energy supply to vehicle 120. Examples of the cleaning include cleaning inside a vehicle and cleaning outside the vehicle. Examples of the maintenance or repair of vehicle 120 include (i) repair, adjustment, or replacement of components or consumables, and (ii) replenishment of consumables. Examples of the energy or energy source include electricity, gasoline, light oil, alcohol, natural gas, propane gas, and hydrogen.

In the present embodiment, the communication terminal 32 is, for example, a communication terminal used by the maintenance manufacturer 30. The communication terminal 32 may be a communication terminal used by a person who provides a service to the maintenance manufacturer 30. The person who provides the service to the maintenance manufacturer 30 may be, for example, family, relatives, staff, constituent staff, and a person who requested the service, or family, relatives, staff, and constituent staff of a person who requested the service.

In the present embodiment, the communication terminal 32 transmits and receives various information to and from the units of the management system 100 via the communication network 10. The communication terminal 32 has an input device and an output device and can be utilized as a user interface of the management system 100.

The communication terminal 32 may be an information processing device having a communication function, and the details thereof are not particularly limited. The communication terminal 22 is exemplified by a personal computer, a portable terminal, and the like. Examples of the portable terminal include a mobile phone, a smartphone, a PDA, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a portable computer, and a wearable computer.

In the present embodiment, work person in charge 34 may be a person in charge who performs maintenance of vehicle 120. In the present embodiment, the maintenance device 36 may be a device used in maintenance of the vehicle 120.

In the present embodiment, the user 40 temporarily utilizes the vehicle 120. The user 40 can acquire the right to temporarily use the vehicle 120 of the owner 20 based on the contract with the owner 20. In the case where the owner 20 is a person having the right to earn the use of the vehicle 120, the period during which the user 40 has the right to use the vehicle 120 may be set shorter than the period during which the owner 20 has the right to earn the use of the vehicle 120.

The above-described contract may be mediated by the management server 110. The user 40 can acquire the information on the contract described above from the management server 110 by using the communication terminal 42. The user 40 may be an individual, a legal person, or a group. In addition, the owner 20 may use the vehicle 120 as the user 40.

In one embodiment, user 40 utilizes vehicle 120 to transport a person or thing to a destination, for example, based on a transport contract with owner 20. In other embodiments, the user 40 utilizes the vehicle 120 to transport the person or thing to the destination, for example, based on a loan contract with the owner 20. The person transported by the vehicle 120 may be the user 40 or a person other than the user 40 (sometimes referred to as a person related to the user 40). The items transported by vehicle 120 may be the cargo of user 40 or the cargo of the person associated with user 40.

In the present embodiment, the communication terminal 42 is, for example, a communication terminal used by the user 40. The communication terminal 42 may be a communication terminal used by a person performing a service for the user 40. The person who performs the service for the user 40 includes family, relatives, staff, constituent persons, and persons who have requested the service, family, relatives, staff, and constituent persons of the person who has requested the service, and the like.

In the present embodiment, the communication terminal 42 transmits and receives various information to and from the units of the management system 100 via the communication network 10. The communication terminal 42 has an input device and an output device and can be utilized as a user interface of the management system 100.

The communication terminal 42 may be an information processing device having a communication function, and the details thereof are not particularly limited. The communication terminal 42 is exemplified by a personal computer, a portable terminal, and the like. Examples of the portable terminal include a mobile phone, a smartphone, a PDA, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a laptop computer, and a wearable computer.

In the present embodiment, the management server 110 manages one or more vehicles 120. Management server 110 may manage the operation of each of more than one vehicle 120. The management server 110 may manage the respective schedules of more than one vehicle 120.

The management server 110 may instruct the setting of the destination to a specific vehicle 120. For example, the management server 110 first determines the destination of a particular vehicle. Next, the management server 110 transmits to the specific vehicle 120 (i) information indicating the position of the determined destination and (ii) a command for causing the computer of the specific vehicle 120 to execute a flow for setting the destination of the specific vehicle 120.

In one embodiment, the management server 110 determines the next destination based on the usage pattern of the vehicle 120. More specifically, management server 110 determines the next destination of vehicle 120 after the end of period 1 based on the usage pattern of vehicle 120 in a period in which user 40 can use vehicle 120 under contract (sometimes referred to as period 1).

As the usage mode of the vehicle 120, at least one of the attribute of the user 40 of the vehicle 120 and the usage mode of the user 40 using the vehicle 120 is exemplified. The usage pattern of vehicle 120 may be a usage pattern of vehicle 120 at a time point when user 40 reserves usage of vehicle 120, or may be a usage pattern of vehicle 120 during a period when user 40 uses vehicle 120.

The attribute of the user 40 includes at least one of driving ability, health state, wakefulness state, age or age classification, and whether or not to smoke. The driving ability includes a driving history, a driving experience, a driving technique, and the like. The health state includes fever, disease, and degree of vision. Examples of age groups include adults, children, infants, children, primary school students, middle school students, senior high school students, college students, adults, and the elderly.

The usage pattern of the vehicle 120 by the user 40 includes at least one of the usage purpose or the usage of the vehicle 120 by the user 40, the length of the 1 st period, the attribute of the travel route of the vehicle 120 in the 1 st period, the weather condition of the travel route in the 1 st period, and the load amount of the vehicle 120 in the 1 st period. The movement route may include at least one of a departure point and a destination.

The purpose of use or application includes an attribute of a transportation object, an action or a predetermined length of a movement distance of the user 40 at the destination, and the like. The attributes of the transportation object include the presence or absence of a passenger boarding, whether or not a passenger smokes, a relationship between the user 40 and the passenger boarding, an age or age classification of the passenger boarding, the presence or absence of an infant, the presence or absence of a child, and the form of a cargo. Specific examples of the purpose or use include long-distance transportation, short-distance transportation, moving home, home travel, travel with friends, business, tool transportation, camping, sea bathing, fishing, sea hunting, skiing, and mountain climbing.

The attribute of the travel route includes an attribute of a departure point, an attribute of a destination, an attribute of a predetermined route from the departure point to the destination, and an attribute of an actual travel route. The attribute of the route includes the presence or absence of asphalt, the type of asphalt, the amount of traffic, and the attribute of the region where the route is located. The attribute of the region may be, for example, an urban region, a factory region, a mountain region, a coastal region, or a coastal region. The attribute of the route may be a proportion of the length of the roads located within the region having the specific attribute with respect to the full length of the route. Other examples of the attribute of the route include the total length of the route, the length of a road on which no asphalt is laid, the proportion of the length of a road on which no asphalt is laid to the total length of the route, the length of a road on which a gradient exceeds a predetermined value, the proportion of the length of a road on which a gradient exceeds a predetermined value to the total length of the route, the length of a road having a radius of curvature smaller than a predetermined value, and the proportion of the length of a road on which a gradient is smaller than a predetermined value to the total length of the route.

The weather condition of the moving route may be a weather condition of a region in which the moving route is located. The weather condition of the movement route may be a weather condition on a part of the movement route. The load amount of the vehicle 120 includes the number or weight of objects to be transported, the frequency of rapid acceleration or rapid deceleration, the frequency or degree of operation of safety devices or driving assistance devices, and the amount of energy or energy consumption.

In the case where the contract is a contract related to the loan of the vehicle 120, the 1 st period may be a period from when the vehicle 120 is lent to the user 40 to when it is returned, or may be a period defined by the contract. In the case where the contract is a contract relating to the transportation of a person or an object, the 1 st period may be a period from when the vehicle 120 carries the person or the object to when the person or the object is transported to the destination, or may be a period defined by the contract.

For example, in the period 1, when the vehicle 120 travels on a mountain road for a long time, the vehicle body of the vehicle 120 may be dirty. Thus, by performing a car wash or check of the vehicle 120 before the vehicle 120 provides a service to the next user 40, the satisfaction of the next user 40 can be improved, and the evaluation of the owner 20 can also be improved.

In order to automatically detect the degree of dirtying of the interior or exterior of vehicle 120, it is considered to provide a camera for photographing the interior or exterior of vehicle 120, for example. However, in order to detect the stain of the vehicle 120 with high accuracy, an appropriate number of cameras need to be provided at appropriate positions, and the cost of the vehicle 120 increases. In particular, providing a camera that is not useful for the function of vehicle 120 in order to sufficiently capture the appearance of vehicle 120 significantly increases the cost of vehicle 120.

In contrast, according to the present embodiment, the usage pattern of vehicle 120 is analyzed, and whether or not washing or inspection is necessary is determined based on the analysis result. Thus, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to determine whether or not vehicle 120 requires maintenance while suppressing an increase in the cost of the vehicle body. In addition, the information processing is simple, the processing time is short, and the computer load is small.

In addition, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to determine whether or not maintenance is necessary without actually checking the current state of vehicle 120, and therefore, it is particularly useful, for example, in a case where vehicle 120 is a vehicle having an automatic driving function. In the case where the vehicle 120 has the automatic driving function, when the management server 110 does not have the function of determining whether the vehicle 120 requires maintenance, the vehicle 120 returns to the vehicle base to be checked every time the user 40 is provided with a service. In contrast, according to the present embodiment, management server 110 can determine whether or not vehicle 120 requires maintenance based on the usage pattern of vehicle 120. As a result, the operation time or operation efficiency of vehicle 120 is improved.

In other embodiments, management server 110 determines the maintenance timing for vehicle 120. The management server 110 may determine the maintenance timing and the maintenance location of the vehicle 120. Specifically, when it is determined that maintenance of vehicle 120 is necessary, management server 110 refers to the schedule of vehicle 120 and updates the schedule of vehicle 120 so that maintenance is performed during the idle time of vehicle 120. Thus, management server 110 can perform maintenance of vehicle 120 while suppressing a decrease in the operating time or operating efficiency of vehicle 120.

In the present embodiment, the vehicle 120 is used for the user 40 to transport the transport object. Vehicle 120 provides the services described above to user 40, for example, based on a contract between owner 20 and user 40. The object to be transported may be a human or an object. The delivery object may be the user 40 or a person other than the user 40. In addition, the owner 20 may use the vehicle 120 as the user 40.

For example, the vehicle 120 starts from a location corresponding to the request of the user 40 and transports a person or an object to the location corresponding to the request of the user 40. The vehicle 120 may return to the departure point or move to a point different from the departure point after transporting the person or object to the point corresponding to the request of the user 40. The vehicle 120 can move to a location designated by a dispatch instruction (sometimes referred to as a dispatch instruction) in accordance with the instruction from the management server 110.

Vehicle 120 may be an autonomous, unmanned, or remotely driven vehicle, or may be a manned vehicle. Examples of the vehicle 120 include a bicycle, an automobile, a motorcycle, and an electric train. Examples of the vehicle include an engine vehicle, an electric vehicle, a fuel cell vehicle, a hybrid vehicle, and a work vehicle. Examples of the motorcycle include (i) a motorcycle, (ii) a three-wheeled motorcycle, and (iii) a stand-up motorcycle or a three-wheeled vehicle with a power unit.

In the present embodiment, the communication unit 122 transmits and receives information to and from each unit of the management system 100. The communication unit 122 can correspond to a plurality of communication methods. For example, the communication unit 122 transmits and receives information to and from the management server 110 by mobile communication. The communication unit 122 may transmit and receive information to and from at least one of the communication terminal 22, the communication terminal 32, and the communication terminal 42 by mobile communication. The communication unit 122 may transmit and receive information to and from the communication terminal 42 of the user 40 riding on the vehicle 120 by a short-range wireless communication method.

In the present embodiment, the driving unit 124 drives the vehicle 120. In the present embodiment, the control unit 126 controls the operation of the driving unit 124. The control unit 126 can control the operation of the driving unit 124 based on an instruction from the management server 110. Thereby, the vehicle 120 can move to an arbitrary destination.

In the present embodiment, the maintenance point 130 is located at a specific place. Further, at maintenance point 130, resources such as work person in charge 34 and maintenance equipment 36 are arranged, and maintenance of vehicle 120 is performed. The operating condition or shortage condition of the resources at the maintenance point 130 can be provided to the management server 110 via the communication terminal 32. Thus, management server 110 can determine the maintenance timing of vehicle 120. Further, management server 110 can select a suitable maintenance point 130 for performing maintenance on vehicle 120 from among a plurality of maintenance points 130.

[ concrete constitution of units of the management system 100 ]

The units of the management system 100 may be implemented by hardware, software, or both. At least a part of each unit of the management system 100 may be implemented by a single server or may be implemented by a plurality of servers. For the elements of the management system 100, at least a portion thereof may be implemented on a virtual server or on a cloud system. At least a part of each unit of the management system 100 may be implemented by a personal computer or a portable terminal. Examples of the mobile terminal include a mobile phone, a smartphone, a PDA, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a mobile computer, and a wearable computer. The units of the management system 100 may also store information using a decentralized billing technique such as a blockchain or a decentralized network.

When at least a part of the components constituting the management system 100 is realized by software, the components realized by the software can be realized by starting a program that defines operations related to the components in an information processing apparatus having a normal configuration. The information processing apparatus of the above-described general configuration may include (i) a data processing apparatus having a processor such as a CPU or a GPU, a ROM, a RAM, a communication interface, and the like, (ii) an input apparatus such as a keyboard, a pointing device, a touch panel, a camera, a voice input apparatus, a gesture input apparatus, various sensors, and a GPS receiver, (iii) an output apparatus such as a display apparatus, a voice output apparatus, and a vibration apparatus, (iv) a memory such as a memory, an HDD, and an SSD (including an external storage apparatus).

In the information processing apparatus of the above-described general configuration, the data processing apparatus or the storage apparatus may store the program. The program is executed by a processor, and the information processing apparatus executes an operation defined by the program. The program described above may also be stored in a nonvolatile computer-readable recording medium. The program may be stored in a computer-readable medium such as a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, a memory, or a hard disk, or may be stored in a storage device connected to a network.

The program may be a program for causing a computer to function as the management system 100 or a part thereof. The program may include a module that defines operations of the units of the management system 100. These programs and modules drive the data processing device, the input device, the output device, the storage device, and the like, cause the computer to function as each unit of the management system 100, or cause the computer to execute the information processing method in each unit of the management system 100.

The above-described program may be installed from a computer-readable medium or a storage device connected to a network into a computer constituting at least a part of the management system 100. By executing the program, the computer can function as at least a part of each unit of the management system 100. The information processing described in the above-described program functions as a specific means for cooperating software related to the program with various hardware resources of the management system 100 or a part thereof by reading the program into a computer. By realizing calculation or processing of information corresponding to the purpose of use of the computer in the present embodiment by the above-described specific means, the management system 100 corresponding to the purpose of use is constructed.

The program may be a program for causing a computer to function as the management server 110. The program described above may be a program for causing a computer to execute the information processing method in the management server 110. The program may be a program for causing a computer to function as the control unit 126. The program may be a program for causing a computer to execute the information processing method in the control unit 126.

The information processing method described above may be a method for managing scheduling of a moving body used for transporting a transport target. The above-described method may have a mobile body management step of managing scheduling of a mobile body. The above method may have a necessity determining step of determining whether maintenance of the mobile body is necessary. The above method may further include a working time estimating step of estimating a working time for maintenance of the mobile body. The mobile body management step may include a working period extraction step of, when it is determined that maintenance of the mobile body is necessary, extracting a working period that can secure the working period estimated in the working period estimation step, with reference to a mobile body schedule storage device that stores predetermined information indicating the mobile body in association with each other. The mobile unit managing step may include a reservation storing step of storing information indicating that maintenance of the mobile unit is scheduled in a period of a workable period in the mobile unit schedule storing apparatus.

The management system 100 may be an example of a dispatch management system. The management server 110 may be an example of a schedule management system. The vehicle 120 may be an example of a mobile body. The owner 20 may be an example of a shipping object. The relationship of the owner 20 may be an example of the transportation object. The cargo of the owner 20 or a relationship of the owner 20 may be an example of the transportation object. The maintenance manufacturer 30 may be an example of a job agent. The job master 34 may be an example of a job main body and a worker. The maintenance device 36 may be an example of a working device. The user 40 may be an example of a shipping object. The relatedness of the user 40 may be an example of a shipping object. The goods of the user 40 or a related person of the user 40 may be an example of a shipping object.

In the present embodiment, an example of the management system 100 will be described, taking as an example a case where the management server 110 executes information processing for managing the operation of the vehicle 120. In the present embodiment, the management server 110 manages the operation of the vehicle 120 via the communication network 10 including a wireless communication network. However, the management system 100 is not limited to this embodiment. In another embodiment, the control unit 126 of the vehicle 120 may execute at least a part of the information processing in the management server 110 according to the present embodiment. In this case, the control unit 126 may be an example of a schedule management system.

The control unit 126 mounted on one vehicle 120 can acquire at least one of information on the owner 20, information on the user 40, information on another vehicle 120, and information on the maintenance point 130 via the management server 110. The control unit 126 mounted on one vehicle 120 may acquire at least one of information about the owner 20, information about the user 40, information about another vehicle 120, and information about the maintenance point 130 from at least one of the communication terminal 22, the communication terminal 32, and the communication terminal 42 without passing through the management server 110. The information about the maintenance point 130 may include information about at least one of the maintenance vendor 30, the job master 34, and the maintenance equipment 36.

In the present embodiment, an example of the management system 100 will be described, taking as an example a case where the vehicle 120 is used to transport a transport object to a destination. However, the management system 100 is not limited to this embodiment. In another embodiment, an arbitrary moving body may be used to transport the transport object to the destination.

Examples of the moving body include a vehicle, a ship, and a flying object. Examples of the vehicle include a bicycle, an automobile, a motorcycle, and an electric train. Examples of the vessel include ships, hovercraft, water-borne motorcycles, diving ships, submarines, and water scooters. The flying object may be an airplane, an airship, a hot air balloon, a helicopter, an unmanned aerial vehicle, or the like.

In the present embodiment, for the purpose of simplifying the description, details of the maintenance service provided by the maintenance manufacturer 30 will be described by taking as an example a case where the maintenance point 130 is located at a specific point and does not move. However, the maintenance service provided by the maintenance manufacturer 30 is not limited to this embodiment.

In other embodiments, the maintenance vendor 30 may provide mobile maintenance services. At this time, the maintenance manufacturer 30 dispatches at least one of the job master 34 and the maintenance equipment 36 to the designated maintenance location at the designated time. The maintenance location may be specified in a contract made between the maintenance vendor 30 and the owner 20 or user 40. The above-described contract may be mediated by the management server 110. The maintenance manufacturer 30 can acquire the information on the contract described above from the management server 110 by using the communication terminal 32.

[ overview of vehicle dispatch instructions based on management server 110 ]

Fig. 2 schematically shows an example of a car dispatch instruction by the management server 110. In the present embodiment, the vehicle 120 transports the 1 st user 40 from the departure point 212 to the destination 214 based on the contract 210 between the owner 20 and the 1 st user 40. The contract 210 is established when the management server 110 receives a request for dispatch from the 1 st user 40, for example. According to the present embodiment, the period defined by the contract 210 ends at the point in time when the vehicle 120 delivers the 1 st customer 40 to the destination 214.

The management server 110 determines the next destination of the vehicle 120 after the end of the period specified by the contract 210. The next destination includes a departure point 222, a return point 230, a standby point 240, a maintenance point 250, and the like designated by the next contract 220.

In this embodiment, the contract 220 may be a contract 220 between the owner 20 and the 2 nd user 40. The vehicle 120 is used, for example, to transport the 2 nd user 40 from the origin 212 to the destination 224 based on the contract 220.

The contract 220 is established when the management server 110 receives a request for dispatch from the 2 nd user 40, for example. When the management server 110 receives a vehicle dispatch request, the management server 110 selects at least 1 vehicle 120 from the vehicles 120 capable of vehicle dispatch, and assigns the vehicle dispatch request to the selected vehicle 120. The management server 110 instructs the vehicle 120 to which the vehicle dispatching request relating to the contract 220 is assigned to move to the location (that is, the departure location 222) specified by the vehicle dispatching request at the time specified by the vehicle dispatching request.

In the present embodiment, the return point 230 may be a place where the vehicle 120 is stored when the vehicle 120 does not receive a vehicle dispatch instruction. The return point 230 may be a parking lot or a vehicle base. In the case where the owner 20 of the vehicle 120 is an individual, the return location 230 may be a parking lot owned by the owner 20, or a parking lot with which the owner 20 has entered into a contract. In the case where the owner 20 of the vehicle 120 is a law or a group, or the owner 20 of the vehicle 120 is an individual who has been entrusted with the transportation service by the law or the group, the return location 230 may be a vehicle base owned by the law or the group, or a vehicle base with which the law or the group has contracted to use.

In the present embodiment, the waiting place 240 may be a place where the vehicle 120 in an empty state is parked or stopped before receiving the next vehicle dispatching instruction. The parking place may be a place provided for waiting for parking or stopping of the vehicle 120 in response to the vehicle dispatch instruction from the management server 110, or may be a parking lot located on the street. The standby place 240 may be a specific place or a place selected at each time.

In the present embodiment, maintenance site 250 may be a site where maintenance of vehicle 120 is performed. In one embodiment, the maintenance site 250 may be a maintenance point 130 selected by the management server 110 from among more than one maintenance point 130. In other embodiments, the maintenance site 250 may be a maintenance site 130 that is preset for each vehicle 120. The maintenance site 250 may be a maintenance site 130 selected by the management server 110 from among a plurality of maintenance sites 130 preset for each vehicle 120.

In other embodiments, the maintenance site 250 may be a location designated by a maintenance manufacturer 30 that provides mobile maintenance services. The maintenance site 250 may be a site designated by the management server 110 to the maintenance manufacturer 30 who provides the mobile maintenance service.

In one embodiment, the management server 110 determines the next destination before the vehicle 120 departs from the departure point 212. For example, the management server 110 determines the usage manner of the vehicle 120 during the contract period of the contract 210 based on the content of the contract 210. When the usage pattern of vehicle 120 satisfies a predetermined condition, management server 110 determines the next destination based on the usage pattern.

In another embodiment, the management server 110 determines the next destination before the vehicle 120 arrives at the destination 214 after the vehicle 120 departs from the departure point 212. For example, the management server 110 monitors the usage pattern of the moving vehicle 120. When the usage pattern of the vehicle 120 satisfies a predetermined condition, the management server 110 determines the next destination based on the usage pattern.

In another embodiment, the management server 110 determines the next destination after the vehicle 120 reaches the destination 214. For example, the management server 110 monitors the usage pattern of the moving vehicle 120. The management server 110 determines the next destination based on the usage pattern of the vehicle 120.

For example, when it is determined that the maintenance of the vehicle 120 is not necessary at the time point when the period defined by the contract 210 ends, the management server 110 determines at least one of the departure point 222, the return point 230, and the standby point 240 as the next destination of the vehicle 120. On the other hand, when it is determined that the maintenance of the vehicle 120 is necessary at the time point when the period defined by the contract 210 ends, the management server 110 determines the maintenance point 250 as the next destination of the vehicle 120.

The 1 st user 40 may be an example of a delivery object. The 2 nd user 40 may be an example of a delivery object. Contract 210 may be an example of a contract. The person or thing that the vehicle 120 carries during the contract period of the contract 210 may be an example of a carrying object. The contract 220 may be an example of a contract. The person or thing that vehicle 120 transports during the contract period of contract 220 may be an example of a transport object. The maintenance site 250 may be an example of a work site.

Fig. 3 schematically shows an example of the system configuration of the management server 110. In the present embodiment, the management server 110 includes a vehicle information collection unit 322, a resource information collection unit 324, a vehicle management unit 332, a resource management unit 334, and a storage unit 340. In the present embodiment, the storage unit 340 includes a vehicle information storage unit 342, a resource information storage unit 344, a dispatch plan storage unit 346, and a maintenance plan storage unit 348.

In the present embodiment, the vehicle information collection unit 322 collects various information on one or more vehicles 120 managed by the management server 110. For example, the vehicle information collection unit 322 acquires information indicating the current position of each of the vehicles 120 from one or more of the vehicles 120. Vehicle information collection unit 322 acquires information indicating the outputs of various sensors disposed in vehicle 120 from each of one or more vehicles 120. Examples of the information indicating the outputs of the various sensors include information indicating the energy of vehicle 120 or the remaining amount of energy, information related to acceleration or deceleration of vehicle 120, information related to the operation of vehicle 120, information related to the inter-vehicle distance to another vehicle 120, and image data of an image captured by an in-vehicle camera provided in vehicle 120.

In the present embodiment, the resource information collection unit 324 collects various kinds of information on resources for maintenance owned by one or more maintenance vendors 30 or maintenance points 130 managed by the management server 110. As the information related to the resources for maintenance, information indicating the type of the job that can be performed by each of the one or more job managers 34, information indicating the degree of the job that can be performed by each of the one or more job managers 34, information indicating the job speed of each of the one or more job managers 34, information indicating the job schedule of each of the one or more job managers 34, information indicating the type of the job that can be performed by each of the one or more maintenance facilities 36, information indicating the degree of the job that can be performed by each of the one or more maintenance facilities 36, information indicating the job speed of each of the one or more maintenance facilities 36, information indicating the job schedule of each of the one or more maintenance facilities 36, and the like are exemplified.

The information indicating the job schedule of each of the one or more job managers 34 includes information indicating the work schedule of each of the one or more job managers 34, information indicating the status of the job assigned to each of the one or more job managers 34, and information indicating the free time of each of the one or more job managers 34. The information indicating the job schedule of each of the one or more maintenance devices 36 includes, for example, information indicating the warranty check schedule of each of the one or more maintenance devices 36, information indicating the status of a job assigned to each of the one or more maintenance devices 36, and information indicating the idle time of each of the one or more maintenance devices 36.

The resource information collection unit 324 may collect information indicating a point (sometimes referred to as a work point) where maintenance can be performed for each maintenance manufacturer 30 or maintenance point 130. The resource information collection unit 324 may collect information indicating the types of maintenance that can be performed at each work site for each maintenance manufacturer 30 or each maintenance point 130. The resource information collection unit 324 may collect information indicating the degree of maintenance that can be performed at each work site for each maintenance manufacturer 30 or each maintenance point 130. The resource information collection unit 324 may collect information indicating a period (which may be referred to as a receivable period) during which maintenance can be received at each work site, for each maintenance manufacturer 30 or each maintenance site 130. The resource information collection unit 324 may collect information indicating the amount of work that can be performed during each receivable period for each maintenance manufacturer 30 or each maintenance point 130.

In the present embodiment, the vehicle management unit 332 manages one or more vehicles 120. The vehicle management unit 332 may manage the operation of each of the one or more vehicles 120. The vehicle management unit 332 may manage the schedule of each of the one or more vehicles 120. The details of the vehicle management unit 332 will be described later.

In the present embodiment, the resource management unit 334 manages resources for maintenance at one or more maintenance vendors 30 or maintenance points 130. The resource management unit 334 may manage scheduling of resources for maintenance by one or more maintenance vendors 30 or maintenance points 130. The resource management unit 334 may manage the operating status or the free status of resources for maintenance at one or more maintenance vendors 30 or maintenance points 130.

In the present embodiment, the storage unit 340 stores various information used for information processing in the management server 110. For example, the storage unit 340 stores information related to various initial settings and user settings. The storage unit 340 may store various information generated in the information processing of the management server 110.

In the present embodiment, the vehicle information storage unit 342 stores various information relating to each of the one or more vehicles 120. For example, the vehicle information storage unit 342 stores the information collected by the vehicle information collection unit 322. The vehicle information storage unit 342 may store identification information (which may be referred to as a vehicle ID) of each of the one or more vehicles 120 in association with information of the vehicle.

The vehicle information storage unit 342 may store the vehicle ID of each vehicle in association with information indicating the maintenance manufacturer 30 or the maintenance point 130 registered in advance as a maintenance manufacturer or a maintenance point for performing maintenance of the vehicle. The vehicle information storage unit 342 may store the vehicle ID of each vehicle, information indicating at least one of the type and degree of maintenance, and information indicating the maintenance manufacturer 30 or the maintenance point 130 registered in advance as the maintenance manufacturer or the maintenance point performing the maintenance of the vehicle in association with each other.

In the present embodiment, the resource information storage unit 344 stores various information on one or more maintenance vendors 30 or maintenance points 130. For example, the resource information storage unit 344 stores the information collected by the resource information collection unit 324. The resource information storage unit 344 may store the identification information (sometimes referred to as operator ID or business office ID) of each of one or more maintenance vendors 30 and maintenance points 130 in association with information on the maintenance vendor or maintenance point.

The resource information storage unit 344 may store the operator ID or the office ID of each operator or office in association with information indicating the type of work that can be handled by each operator or office. The resource information storage unit 344 may store the operator ID or the office ID of each operator or office in association with information indicating the degree of work that can be handled by each operator or office.

The resource information storage unit 344 may store information indicating the position of a work site where maintenance is performed in association with information relating to scheduling of maintenance performed at the work site. The resource information storage unit 344 may store information indicating the position of a work site where maintenance is performed, information related to scheduling of maintenance performed at the work site, and an operator ID of the maintenance manufacturer 30 performing maintenance at the work site in association with each other.

The resource information storage unit 344 may store, in association with each other, at least one of (i) information indicating a position of a work site, (ii) information indicating a type of maintenance performed at the work site, and (iii) receivable periods indicating maintenance at the work site and a work amount of maintenance in each receivable period. The information indicating at least one of the receivable period of the maintenance at the work site and the work amount of the maintenance in each receivable period may include information indicating at least one of the receivable period and the work amount for each maintenance type.

In the present embodiment, the dispatch plan storage unit 346 stores information indicating a dispatch plan for each of the one or more vehicles 120. For example, the dispatch plan storage unit 346 stores (i) information indicating the time or the period and (ii) predetermined information indicating the vehicle 120 in association with each other.

In the present embodiment, maintenance schedule storage unit 348 stores information indicating a maintenance schedule for each of one or more vehicles 120. For example, maintenance schedule storage unit 348 stores (i) information indicating a time or a period and (ii) information indicating that maintenance of vehicle 120 is to be performed at the time or the period in association with each other.

The vehicle management unit 332 may be an example of a schedule management system. The vehicle information storage unit 342 may be an example of a moving object schedule storage unit. The resource information storage section 344 may be an example of a job schedule storage section. The dispatch plan storage unit 346 may be an example of a mobile scheduling storage unit. The maintenance schedule storage unit 348 may be an example of a mobile object schedule storage unit. The schedule of the vehicle 120 may be a predetermined example of a mobile body.

Fig. 4 schematically shows an example of the internal configuration of the vehicle management unit 332. In the present embodiment, the vehicle management unit 332 includes a determination unit 420, a dispatch management unit 440, a dispatch instruction unit 442, a maintenance management unit 460, and a resource reservation unit 462. In the present embodiment, the determination unit 420 includes a dispatch instructing unit 442, a necessity determining unit 424, an execution determining unit 426, and a fulfillment determining unit 428.

In the present embodiment, the determination unit 420 executes various determination processes. The determination unit 420 outputs information indicating the determination result to, for example, the dispatch management unit 440.

In the present embodiment, usage pattern determination unit 422 determines the usage pattern of vehicle 120 in a period in which user 40 can use vehicle 120 (which may be referred to as "1 st period" as described above) based on a specific contract (which may be referred to as "1 st contract"). More specifically, first, usage mode determination unit 422 determines the usage mode of vehicle 120 in period 1.

In one embodiment, usage mode determination unit 422 determines the usage mode of vehicle 120 in period 1 based on the content of contract 1. In another embodiment, usage pattern determination unit 422 determines the usage pattern of vehicle 120 in period 1 based on the state of vehicle 120 in period 1.

Next, usage pattern determination unit 422 determines whether or not the usage pattern of vehicle 120 in period 1 satisfies preset condition 1. Thereby, the usage pattern of vehicle 120 in period 1 is determined.

The 1 st condition may be a condition that the content of the usage pattern described above matches a preset content. The 1 st condition includes (i) a condition that the driving ability, the health state, or the wakefulness state of the user 40 does not satisfy a predetermined reference, (ii) a condition that the usage purpose or the usage of the vehicle 120, and the amount of load applied to the vehicle 120 exceed a predetermined reference, (iii) a condition that the degree of contamination risk of the vehicle 120 determined according to the usage purpose or the usage of the vehicle 120 exceeds a predetermined reference, (iv) a condition that the length of the 1 st period is longer than a predetermined threshold value, (v) a condition that the degree of contamination risk of the vehicle 120 determined according to the attribute of the travel route or the weather condition exceeds a predetermined reference, and (vi) a condition that the amount of load of the vehicle 120 exceeds a predetermined reference.

The usage pattern determination unit 422 may determine whether or not the usage pattern of the vehicle 120 in the 1 st period satisfies the 1 st condition for each of a plurality of 1 st conditions having different contents. Thereby, the type of the usage pattern of vehicle 120 in period 1 is determined.

The usage mode determination unit 422 may output information indicating the determination result to the necessity determination unit 424. The usage mode determination unit 422 may output information indicating the determination result to the dispatch management unit 440. The information indicating the determination result may include (i) information indicating that the 1 st condition is not satisfied, (ii) information indicating that a specific 1 st condition among the plurality of 1 st conditions is not satisfied, (iii) information indicating that at least one 1 st condition is satisfied, and (iv) identification information of the 1 st condition that is satisfied among the one or more 1 st conditions.

In the present embodiment, necessity determining unit 424 determines whether or not maintenance of vehicle 120 is necessary. For example, necessity determining unit 424 determines whether or not maintenance of vehicle 120 is necessary based on the usage pattern of vehicle 120 in period 1 determined by usage pattern determining unit 422.

The necessity determining unit 424 may determine whether or not maintenance of the vehicle 120 is necessary based on other arbitrary determination criteria. For example, the necessity determining unit 424 determines whether or not maintenance of the vehicle 120 is necessary based on the usage pattern of the vehicle 120.

The necessity determining unit 424 may determine the type of maintenance to be performed during maintenance of the vehicle 120. The necessity determining unit 424 may determine the type of maintenance based on the usage mode of the vehicle 120 in the 1 st period determined by the usage mode determining unit 422, for example. The necessity determining unit 424 may determine whether or not maintenance of the type is necessary for each type of maintenance.

The maintenance includes an inspection operation, a maintenance operation (sometimes referred to as a maintenance operation), an outside-vehicle cleaning operation, and an inside-vehicle cleaning operation. The cleaning operation outside the vehicle may be a car washing operation. The necessity determining unit 424 may output information indicating the determination result to the implementation determining unit 426. The necessity determining unit 424 may output information indicating the determination result to the dispatch managing unit 440.

In one embodiment, necessity determining unit 424 determines whether or not the usage pattern of vehicle 120 in period 1 satisfies preset condition 2. The 2 nd condition may be a condition that the content of the usage pattern described above matches a preset content. The necessity determining unit 424 may determine that maintenance of the vehicle 120 is necessary when the usage pattern of the vehicle 120 in the 1 st period satisfies the 2 nd condition. The 2 nd condition may be a condition different from the 1 st condition. The 2 nd condition may be the same condition as the 1 st condition. The 2 nd condition may include one or more specific examples of the 1 st condition described above. The criterion under the 1 st condition and the criterion under the 2 nd condition may be the same or different.

The necessity determining unit 424 may determine that a specific type of maintenance is necessary when determining that the usage pattern of the vehicle 120 in the 1 st period satisfies the 2 nd condition. In one embodiment, the necessity determining unit 424 determines that the inspection work or the warranty work is necessary when at least one of (i) a condition that the driving ability, the health state, or the wakefulness state of the user 40 does not satisfy a predetermined reference, (ii) a condition that the usage purpose or the usage of the vehicle 120 applies an amount of load to the vehicle 120 exceeding the predetermined reference, (iii) a condition that the degree of contamination risk of the vehicle 120 determined according to the usage purpose or the usage of the vehicle 120 exceeds the predetermined reference, (iv) a condition that the length of the 1 st period is larger than a predetermined threshold value, (v) a condition that the degree of contamination risk of the vehicle 120 determined according to the attribute of the travel route or the weather condition exceeds the predetermined reference, and (vi) a condition that the amount of load of the vehicle 120 exceeds the predetermined reference is satisfied.

In another embodiment, the necessity determining unit 424 determines that the cleaning operation outside the vehicle is necessary when at least one of (i) a condition that the degree of contamination risk of the vehicle 120 determined according to the purpose of use or the application of the vehicle 120 exceeds a predetermined reference and (ii) a condition that the degree of contamination risk of the vehicle 120 determined according to the attribute of the travel route or the weather condition exceeds a predetermined reference is satisfied. In another embodiment, the necessity determining unit 424 determines that the in-vehicle cleaning operation is necessary when a condition that at least one of the user 40 and the conveyance target has a predetermined attribute is satisfied. Examples of the attributes include children, smokers, animals, garbage, and amnesia.

In another embodiment, the necessity determining unit 424 determines that maintenance of the vehicle 120 is necessary when determining that the usage pattern of the vehicle 120 in the 1 st period satisfies the 1 st condition. The necessity determining unit 424 may determine that maintenance of the vehicle 120 is necessary when determining that the usage pattern of the vehicle 120 in the 1 st period satisfies a specific 1 st condition among the plurality of 1 st conditions. The necessity determining unit 424 may determine that a specific type of maintenance is necessary when determining that the usage pattern of the vehicle 120 in the 1 st period satisfies a specific 1 st condition among the plurality of 1 st conditions.

In the present embodiment, the implementation determination unit 426 determines whether or not maintenance of the vehicle 120 is possible during a free time (sometimes referred to as an empty time) of the vehicle 120. When the 1 st contract and the 2 nd contract different from the 1 st contract are sequentially and continuously allocated to the same vehicle 120, the implementation determination unit 426 may determine whether or not the maintenance of the vehicle 120 is implementable in an idle time (sometimes referred to as the 3 rd period) from the end time of the 1 st period to the start time of a period (sometimes referred to as the 2 nd period) in which the user 40 can use the vehicle 120 based on the 2 nd contract.

For example, the execution determination unit 426 determines the type of maintenance to be executed based on the determination result of the necessity determination unit 424. The type and extent of maintenance performed may also be determined. Next, the execution determination unit 426 acquires information indicating a preset standard operation time for each maintenance type. Next, execution determination unit 426 estimates the operation time for maintenance of vehicle 120 based on the type of maintenance to be executed and the standard operation time for each type of maintenance.

Next, the implementation determination unit 426 estimates the movement time of the 2 points as the minimum value of the movement time of the vehicle 120, for example, based on the position of the vehicle 120 at the end time of the 1 st period and the position of the vehicle 120 at the start time of the 2 nd period. Next, execution determination unit 426 determines that maintenance of vehicle 120 is possible when the difference between the sum of the estimated value of the operation time for maintenance of vehicle 120 and the estimated value of the travel time of vehicle 120 and the length of period 3 described above satisfies a predetermined condition. The preset condition may be, for example, a condition that the difference is larger than a preset value, or a condition that a ratio of the difference to a length of the idle time is larger than a preset value.

In the present embodiment, the fulfillment determination unit 428 determines whether the vehicle 120 can fulfill the 2 nd contract described above. The fulfillment determination unit 428 may output information indicating the above determination result to the dispatch management unit 440.

For example, in a case where the necessity of a specific kind of maintenance is urgent, there is a possibility that the maintenance must be carried out between the 2 nd contracts. For example, if the schedule of the vehicle 120 or the schedule of the maintenance manufacturer 30 or the maintenance point 130 cannot be adjusted, the operation timing and the operation point of the maintenance may not be determined.

If vehicle 120 fulfills contract No. 2, fulfillment determination unit 428 may determine which of the 2 reservations for fulfillment of contract No. 2 and for maintenance cannot be performed, to prioritize. If vehicle 120 fulfills contract No. 2, fulfillment determination unit 428 may determine to perform a part of maintenance during period No. 3 and may perform the rest of maintenance later, if it is not possible to perform all maintenance of vehicle 120.

For example, fulfillment determination unit 428 first determines whether it is appropriate to perform maintenance of vehicle 120 after the end time of period 2. Further, the fulfillment determination unit 428 determines whether the vehicle 120 can reach the departure point defined by the 2 nd contract before the start time of the 2 nd period. The fulfillment determination unit 428 may determine whether the vehicle 120 can reach the departure point defined by the 2 nd contract before the start time of the 2 nd period, using the determination result of the implementation determination unit 426.

In a case where it is determined that maintenance of the vehicle 120 is not suitably performed after the end time of the 2 nd period, and the vehicle 120 hardly reaches the departure place specified by the 2 nd contract before the start time of the 2 nd period, the fulfillment determination portion 428 determines that the vehicle 120 cannot fulfill the 2 nd contract. At this time, according to one embodiment, the fulfillment determination section 428 determines the implementation of the maintenance with priority over the fulfillment of the 2 nd contract.

According to another embodiment, fulfillment determination unit 428 extracts a job that is not suitable for execution after the end time of period 2, from among a plurality of jobs included in maintenance of vehicle 120. Next, assuming that the extracted job is executed in the 3 rd period and the remaining job is delayed to the next opportunity, the fulfillment determination unit 428 determines whether the vehicle 120 can reach the departure point defined by the 2 nd contract before the start time of the 2 nd period. Based on the above assumption, when it is determined that vehicle 120 can reach the departure point defined by the 2 nd contract before the start time of the 2 nd period, fulfillment determination unit 428 determines to perform only a part of the work in the 3 rd period.

In the present embodiment, dispatch management unit 440 manages the dispatch of one or more vehicles 120. The dispatch management unit 440 may generate a dispatch plan for each of the one or more vehicles 120. The dispatch management unit 440 may store information indicating the generated dispatch plan in the dispatch plan storage unit 346.

The dispatch manager 440 may generate a maintenance plan for each of the one or more vehicles 120. The dispatch management unit 440 may output information indicating the generated maintenance plan to the maintenance management unit 460.

The maintenance schedule may be information in which information indicating a timing at which each maintenance is performed (sometimes referred to as a work timing) and information indicating a location at which each maintenance is performed (sometimes referred to as a work location) are associated with each other. The maintenance plan may be information in which identification information of the target vehicle for each maintenance, identification information of a subject (sometimes referred to as a work subject) for which each maintenance is performed, information indicating a timing (sometimes referred to as a work timing) for which each maintenance is performed, and information indicating a location (sometimes referred to as a work location) for which each maintenance is performed are associated with each other.

In the present embodiment, dispatch management unit 440 determines the next destination for vehicle 120 after the end of period 1 based on the usage pattern of vehicle 120 during period 1. For example, dispatch management unit 440 determines the attribute of the next destination of vehicle 120 after the end of period 1 based on the usage pattern of vehicle 120 during period 1. The dispatch management unit 440 refers to the information indicating the attributes of each of the plurality of spots and extracts a spot matching the attribute of the next destination. For example, when a database in which information indicating the location of each facility and information indicating the attribute of the facility are associated with each other is stored in the storage unit 340 for each of a plurality of facilities, the dispatch management unit 440 refers to the database with the attribute of the facility as a key, and extracts the facility or the location of the facility matching the attribute of the next destination. The dispatch management unit 440 may determine one of the extracted points as a next destination of the vehicle 120 after the end of the 1 st period.

In the present embodiment, the correspondence relationship between the usage pattern of the vehicle 120 in the 1 st period and the attribute of the next destination of the vehicle 120 after the 1 st period ends may be set in advance. For example, when the usage pattern of vehicle 120 in period 1 satisfies a predetermined condition, dispatch management unit 440 may determine a location having an attribute predetermined in accordance with the usage pattern as a destination next to vehicle 120 after period 1 ends. The dispatch management unit 440 may select a point to be the next destination from among points having predetermined attributes corresponding to the usage patterns. The above-mentioned condition may be one or more of the specific examples of the above-mentioned condition 1, and may be one or more of the specific examples of the above-mentioned condition 2. Examples of the point having the preset attribute include a point where maintenance of vehicle 120 can be performed, a point where maintenance of a preset type according to the above condition can be performed, and the like.

In the present embodiment, when the attribute of the user 40 satisfies the predetermined condition, the dispatch management unit 440 may determine a location where maintenance of the vehicle 120 used by the user 40 can be performed as a next destination of the vehicle 120 after the end of the 1 st period. When the attribute of the user 40 satisfies a predetermined condition, the dispatch management unit 440 may determine a location where maintenance of a predetermined type corresponding to the condition can be performed as a next destination of the vehicle 120 after the end of the 1 st period. The above-mentioned condition may be one or more of the specific examples of the above-mentioned condition 1, and may be one or more of the specific examples of the above-mentioned condition 2.

In the present embodiment, when the usage pattern of the user 40 using the vehicle 120 satisfies a predetermined condition, the dispatch management unit 440 may determine a location where maintenance of the vehicle 120 can be performed as a next destination of the vehicle 120 after the end of the 1 st period. When the usage pattern of the user 40 using the vehicle 120 satisfies a predetermined condition, the dispatch management unit 440 may determine a location where the predetermined type of maintenance can be performed in association with the condition as a next destination of the vehicle 120 after the end of the 1 st period. The above-mentioned condition may be one or more of the specific examples of the above-mentioned condition 1, and may be one or more of the specific examples of the above-mentioned condition 2.

In one embodiment, dispatch management unit 440 determines the next destination of vehicle 120 after the end of period 1 based on the determination result of usage determination unit 422 regarding the usage of vehicle 120 during period 1. For example, when the usage pattern of the vehicle 120 in the 1 st period satisfies the preset 1 st condition, the dispatch management unit 440 determines a point preset as the destination of the vehicle 120 when the 1 st condition is satisfied as the next destination of the vehicle 120.

Specifically, the dispatch management unit 440 determines, as the next destination of the vehicle 120, a location designated by a maintenance manufacturer 30 registered in advance as a maintenance manufacturer 30 who performs maintenance of the vehicle 120, for example. The location designated by the maintenance manufacturer 30 may be the maintenance point 130, or may be a location other than the maintenance point 130.

In another embodiment, dispatch management unit 440 determines the next destination of vehicle 120 after the end of period 1 based on the determination result of execution determination unit 426. For example, when it is determined that the maintenance of vehicle 120 in period 3 can be performed, dispatch management unit 440 determines a preset location as the next destination. The predetermined place may be a place designated by a maintenance manufacturer 30 registered in advance as a maintenance manufacturer 30 who performs maintenance of the vehicle 120.

On the other hand, when it is determined that the maintenance of the vehicle 120 in the 3 rd period cannot be performed, the dispatch management unit 440 sets the departure point defined by the 2 nd contract as the next destination. At this time, the delivery management unit 440 may determine to fulfill the 2 nd contract with another vehicle 120 instead of the vehicle 120 described above, at the same time as the fulfillment determination unit 428 determines that the vehicle 120 cannot fulfill the 2 nd contract.

In another embodiment, dispatch management unit 440 determines the next destination of vehicle 120 after the end of period 1 based on the determination result of necessity determining unit 424. For example, when it is determined that maintenance of the vehicle 120 is necessary, the dispatch management unit 440 first selects one of one or more maintenance vendors 30 registered in advance. Next, the dispatch management unit 440 determines the work site where the maintenance is performed by the selected maintenance manufacturer 30 as the next destination.

In another embodiment, dispatch management unit 440 determines the next destination of vehicle 120 after the end of period 1 based on the determination result of necessity determining unit 424. For example, when it is determined that maintenance of vehicle 120 is necessary, dispatch management unit 440 first selects one of one or more maintenance points 130 registered in advance. The dispatch manager 440 may set the selected maintenance point 130 as the next destination.

In these embodiments, when a plurality of work sites are extracted as candidates for the next destination, the dispatch management unit 440 may determine one of the plurality of work sites as the next destination based on an arbitrary reference. For example, dispatch management unit 440 determines a work site at which maintenance of vehicle 120 is to be performed based on at least one of (i) a scheduled end time of maintenance of vehicle 120, (ii) an interval between the scheduled end time of maintenance of vehicle 120 and a scheduled start time next to vehicle 120, (iii) a position of vehicle 120 at the scheduled start time next to vehicle 120, and (iv) an amount of energy consumed by vehicle 120 when preceding vehicle 120 moves to the position of vehicle 120 at the scheduled start time next to vehicle 120 via each work site.

In the present embodiment, when the dispatch management unit 440 determines or sets the next destination of the vehicle 120, the dispatch instructing unit 442 transmits information indicating the location of the next destination to the communication terminal of the driver of the vehicle 120 or the vehicle 120. When the next destination is the departure point of the 2 nd contract, the dispatch instructing unit 442 may transmit information indicating the arrival time at the departure point to the communication terminal of the vehicle 120 or the driver of the vehicle 120.

In a case where the dispatch management section 440 decides to fulfill the 2 nd contract with another vehicle 120 instead of the vehicle 120 scheduled to fulfill the 2 nd contract, the dispatch instructing section 442 may notify various messages to the above-mentioned other vehicle 120 or the communication terminal of the driver of the other vehicle 120. For example, the dispatch instructing unit 442 may transmit a message including information indicating the position of the departure point of the 2 nd contract and information indicating the arrival time at the departure point.

The dispatch instructing section 442 may transmit a message containing information on the maintenance condition of the specific vehicle 120 to the communication terminal of the contractor of the 2 nd contract. The contractor for contract 2 may be the user 40 or may be the owner 20 of the user 40.

For example, when the necessity determining unit 424 determines that the required maintenance is relatively minor, the dispatch managing unit 440 may determine not to perform the maintenance. For example, even when the necessity determining unit 424 determines that the vehicle 120 needs to be washed, the dispatch managing unit 440 determines not to perform the maintenance when it is expected that rain is present on a part of the route of the 2 nd contract. Thus, the dispatch instructing unit 442 can present a message indicating that maintenance is not to be performed to the contractor under contract No. 2, when the dispatch managing unit 440 determines that maintenance is not to be performed, regardless of whether the need determining unit 424 determines that maintenance is required. The dispatch instructing unit 442 may recommend the contractor of the contract 2 to reduce the usage charge, issue a coupon, or the like.

In the present embodiment, maintenance management unit 460 manages information related to maintenance of each of one or more vehicles 120. Maintenance management unit 460 manages information indicating the free time for each of one or more vehicles 120. Maintenance management unit 460 manages a period for performing maintenance for each of one or more vehicles 120. Maintenance management unit 460 manages a point at which maintenance is performed for each of one or more vehicles 120. Details of the maintenance managing unit 460 will be described later.

In the present embodiment, the resource reservation unit 462 acquires information indicating a maintenance schedule for each of the one or more vehicles 120 from the dispatch management unit 440. The resource reservation unit 462 requests the maintenance manufacturer 30 who performs the maintenance of the vehicle 120 to reserve the maintenance.

The implementation determination unit 426 may be an example of a working time estimation unit. The fulfillment determination unit 428 may be an example of the reservation determination unit. The dispatch management unit 440 may be an example of a moving body management unit. The maintenance management unit 460 may be an example of a mobile unit management unit and a job schedule generation unit.

In the present embodiment, an example of the management system 100 is described, taking as an example a case where the management server 110 executes information processing for managing scheduling of the vehicle 120. However, as described above, the management system 100 is not limited to the present embodiment. In another embodiment, the control unit 126 of the vehicle 120 may execute at least a part of the information processing in the management server 110 according to the present embodiment. For example, vehicle management unit 332 or a part thereof is mounted on vehicle 120. More specifically, the control unit 126 includes the vehicle management unit 332 or a part thereof, and the control unit 126 accesses the storage unit 340 via the communication network 10 to execute information processing similar to that in the vehicle management unit 332 or a part thereof according to the present embodiment.

Fig. 5 schematically shows an example of the internal configuration of the maintenance management unit 460. In the present embodiment, the maintenance management unit 460 includes an empty time extraction unit 522, a vehicle position determination unit 524, a maintenance point extraction unit 526, and a maintenance plan generation unit 530.

In the present embodiment, the empty time extracting unit 522 acquires information indicating the determination result of the necessity determining unit 424. When it is determined that maintenance of vehicle 120 is necessary, empty time extracting unit 522 refers to dispatch plan storing unit 346 and extracts an empty time (which may be referred to as a maintainable period) during which maintenance of vehicle 120 can be performed, from among the empty times of vehicle 120.

More specifically, the empty time extracting unit 522 extracts the maintainable period according to the following procedure. First, empty time extracting unit 522 acquires information indicating an estimated value of the operation time for maintenance of vehicle 120 from execution determining unit 426. As described above, the dispatch plan storage unit 346 stores, for example, information indicating the time or the period in association with predetermined information indicating the vehicle 120. Then, the empty time extracting unit 522 refers to the information stored in the dispatch plan storing unit 346, and extracts an empty time period longer than the estimated value period of the work time for maintenance of the vehicle 120 among the empty time periods of the vehicle 120. Thus, the empty time extracting unit 522 can extract a period in which the working time estimated by the execution determining unit 426 can be continuously ensured, as a maintainable period.

In the present embodiment, the vehicle position determination unit 524 acquires information indicating each of the one or more maintainable periods from the empty time extraction unit 522. The vehicle position determination unit 524 determines the position of the vehicle 120 in at least one maintainable period of one or more periods, for example, by referring to the information stored in the dispatch plan storage unit 346. For example, when maintenance of vehicle 120 is performed at an arbitrary timing after the end of the 1 st period described above, vehicle position determination unit 524 determines the position of vehicle 120 for a maintainable period in which (i) the start time of the maintainable period is a time after the end time of the 1 st period, and (ii) the length of the period between the end time of the 1 st period and the start time of the maintainable period is smaller than a preset value, among one or more maintainable periods, for example.

In the present embodiment, the maintenance point extraction unit 526 acquires information indicating each period of one or more maintainable periods from the empty time extraction unit 522. For example, the maintenance manufacturer 30 or the maintenance point 130 that can accept maintenance of the vehicle 120 for at least one period of the one or more maintainable periods is extracted from the one or more maintenance manufacturers 30 or the maintenance points 130 with reference to the information stored in the resource information storage unit 344.

The maintenance point extracting unit 526 may further narrow down the range of the candidates for the maintenance manufacturer 30 or the maintenance point 130 that receives the maintenance of the vehicle 120, using the information indicating the position of the vehicle 120 determined by the vehicle position determining unit 524. For example, the maintenance site extracting unit 526 extracts, from one or more sites or one or more maintenance points 130 at which one or more maintenance manufacturers 30 can perform maintenance, the maintenance manufacturers 30 or the maintenance points 130 that (i) satisfy a predetermined positional condition in the positional relationship between the position of the site or the maintenance point 130 and the position of the vehicle 120 determined by the vehicle position determining unit 524, and (ii) can receive maintenance for the vehicle 120 during at least one of one or more maintainable periods.

The positional condition may be a condition relating to a spatial distance or a temporal distance of the above-described positional relationship. The position condition includes a condition that the statistical value of the distance between the position of the point or maintenance point 130 and the position of the vehicle 120 determined by the vehicle position determination unit 524 falls within a preset numerical range, a condition that the statistical value of the travel time between the position of the point or maintenance point 130 and the position of the vehicle 120 determined by the vehicle position determination unit 524 falls within a preset numerical range, and the like. The statistical value may include a minimum value, a maximum value, an intermediate value, and an average value.

In the present embodiment, maintenance schedule generation unit 530 generates a maintenance schedule for each of one or more vehicles 120. The maintenance schedule of the vehicle 120 may contain information about a period during which maintenance of the vehicle 120 is scheduled. The maintenance schedule for vehicle 120 may include information indicating that maintenance of vehicle 120 is scheduled for a period during which maintenance is available. The maintenance plan of vehicle 120 includes, for example, a vehicle ID of vehicle 120, information indicating a period during which maintenance is performed, information indicating a point at which maintenance is performed, and information related to the work content of maintenance.

The maintenance plan generating unit 530 may store information indicating the generated maintenance plan in the maintenance plan storing unit 348. The maintenance schedule generating unit 530 may output information indicating the generated maintenance schedule to the resource reserving unit 462.

According to one embodiment, maintenance schedule generation unit 530 generates a maintenance schedule for vehicle 120 according to the following procedure. When the empty time extracting unit 522 extracts one or more maintainable periods, the maintenance plan generating unit 530 acquires information indicating the one or more maintainable periods. Maintenance plan generating unit 530 associates information indicating one of the one or more maintainable periods with information indicating that maintenance of vehicle 120 is to be performed during the period, thereby generating a maintenance plan relating to vehicle 120. The maintenance schedule generating unit 530 may select one maintainable period from one or more maintainable periods based on an arbitrary determination criterion.

The maintenance plan generator 530 stores information indicating the generated maintenance plan in the maintenance plan storage 348. The maintenance plan generating unit 530 may store the vehicle ID of the vehicle 120, information indicating a maintenance possible period, and information indicating that maintenance of the vehicle 120 is to be performed during the period in the maintenance plan storage unit 348 in association with each other.

According to another embodiment, maintenance schedule generation unit 530 generates a maintenance schedule for vehicle 120 according to the following procedure. First, the maintenance plan generating unit 530 refers to the resource information storage unit 344, for example, and acquires information indicating scheduling of the maintenance manufacturer 30, the job master 34, or the maintenance equipment 36. The maintenance plan generating unit 530 may acquire, as the information indicating the scheduling of the maintenance manufacturer 30, the job master 34, or the maintenance equipment 36, (i) information indicating the position of a job site where maintenance is performed by the maintenance manufacturer 30, the job master 34, or the maintenance equipment 36, and (ii) information related to the scheduling of the job performed at the job site.

Next, maintenance plan generating unit 530 determines a timing (sometimes referred to as a work timing) for performing maintenance on vehicle 120 based on the information indicating the one or more maintainable periods extracted by empty time extracting unit 522 and the information indicating the scheduling of maintenance manufacturer 30, work person 34, or maintenance equipment 36. The maintenance schedule generating unit 530 may determine the operation timing based on an arbitrary determination criterion. After one or more maintainable periods are extracted and the operation timing is determined, maintenance plan generating unit 530 associates information indicating the operation timing with information indicating that maintenance of vehicle 120 is to be performed at the operation timing, and generates a maintenance plan related to vehicle 120.

The maintenance plan generator 530 stores information indicating the generated maintenance plan in the maintenance plan storage 348. Maintenance schedule generating unit 530 may store the vehicle ID of vehicle 120, the information indicating the operation timing, and the information indicating that maintenance of vehicle 120 is to be performed at the operation timing in maintenance schedule storage unit 348 in association with each other. Maintenance plan generating unit 530 may store information indicating the location of maintenance manufacturer 30 who performs maintenance, the location where maintenance is performed by maintenance manufacturer 30, or maintenance point 130 where maintenance is performed, in maintenance plan storage unit 348 in association with information indicating that maintenance of vehicle 120 is performed at the location at the aforementioned operation timing.

In another embodiment, maintenance plan generating unit 530 acquires information indicating a maintenance manufacturer 30 or a maintenance point 130 that can receive maintenance of vehicle 120 during at least one of the one or more maintainable periods, from maintenance point extracting unit 526. The maintenance plan generating unit 530 may acquire, for example, information indicating one or more locations where one or more maintenance manufacturers 30 can perform maintenance, or the position of one or more maintenance points 130, from the maintenance point extracting unit 526.

Maintenance plan generating unit 530 may determine the operation timing and the operation point at which to perform maintenance on vehicle 120 based on the extraction result of maintenance point extracting unit 526. The maintenance schedule generating unit 530 may select one of the plurality of candidates related to the operation timing and the operation point based on an arbitrary determination criterion.

For example, a plurality of work points may be included in the extraction result of the maintenance point extraction unit 526. In such a case, maintenance plan generating unit 530 determines a work site at which to perform maintenance on vehicle 120, for example, based on at least one of (i) a scheduled end time of maintenance on vehicle 120, (ii) an interval between the scheduled end time of maintenance on vehicle 120 and a scheduled start time of vehicle 120, and (iii) a position of the mobile body at the scheduled start time of vehicle 120, and (iv) energy consumed by vehicle 120 when vehicle 120 moves to the position of vehicle 120 at the scheduled start time of vehicle 120 via each work site.

The maintenance schedule generating unit 530 may store the information indicating the operation timing and the operation point in the maintenance schedule storage unit 348 in association with information indicating that maintenance of the vehicle 120 is scheduled. The maintenance plan generating unit 530 may store the vehicle ID of the vehicle 120, the information indicating the operation timing and the operation point, and the information indicating that maintenance of the vehicle 120 is scheduled in the maintenance plan storage unit 348 in association with each other.

The empty time extracting unit 522 may be an example of a workable period extracting unit. The vehicle position determination unit 524 may be an example of the position determination unit. The maintenance point extracting unit 526 may be an example of a work point extracting unit. The maintenance schedule generating section 530 may be an example of a job schedule acquiring section, a schedule adjusting section, a moving body managing section, and a job schedule generating section. The serviceable period may be an example of a serviceable period.

Fig. 6 shows an example of a computer 3000 capable of embodying a plurality of aspects of the present invention in whole or in part. The management system 100 or a part thereof may be implemented by the computer 3000. For example, the management system 100 or a part thereof is implemented by the computer 3000. Vehicle 120 or a portion thereof may be implemented by computer 3000. For example, the control unit 126 or a part thereof is realized by the computer 3000.

The program installed in the computer 3000 enables the computer 3000 to function as an operation related to a device related to an embodiment of the present invention or one or more "units" of the device, or enables the computer 3000 to execute the operation or the one or more "units", and/or enables the computer 3000 to execute a process related to an embodiment of the present invention or a step of the process. Such programs may be executed by the CPU3012 in order to cause the computer 3000 to perform certain operations associated with some or all of the functional blocks of the flowcharts and block diagrams described herein.

The computer 3000 of the present embodiment includes a CPU3012, a RAM3014, a graphic controller 3016, and a display device 3018, which are connected to each other through a main controller 3010. The computer 3000 further includes a communication interface 3022, a hard disk drive 3024, a DVD-ROM drive 3026, and an input/output unit such as an IC card drive, which are connected to the main controller 3010 via the input/output controller 3020. The computer also includes a conventional input/output unit such as a ROM3030 and a keyboard 3042, which are connected to the input/output controller 3020 via an input/output chip 3040.

The CPU3012 operates according to programs stored in the ROM3030 and the RAM3014, thereby controlling the respective units. The graphics controller 3016 acquires image data generated by the CPU3012 in a frame buffer or the like provided in the RAM3014 or itself, and causes the image data to be displayed on the display device 3018.

The communication interface 3022 communicates with other electronic apparatuses via a network. The hard disk drive 3024 stores programs and data used by the CPU3012 in the computer 3000. The DVD-ROM drive 3026 reads programs or data from the DVD-ROM 3001 and supplies the programs or data to the hard disk drive 3024 via the RAM 3014. The IC card driver reads and/or writes a program and data from/to the IC card.

The ROM3030 internally stores a startup program or the like executed by the computer 3000 when activated, and/or a program dependent on hardware of the computer 3000. The input/output chip 3040 may also connect various input/output units with the input/output controller 3020 via a parallel interface, a serial interface, a keyboard interface, a mouse interface, or the like.

The program is provided by a computer-readable storage medium such as a DVD-ROM 3001 or an IC card. The program is read from a computer-readable storage medium, installed to the hard disk drive 3024, the RAM3014, or the ROM3030, which is also an example of the computer-readable storage medium, and executed by the CPU 3012. The information processing described in these programs is read by the computer 3000, and the cooperation between the programs and the various types of hardware resources described above is realized. The apparatus or method may be configured to perform operations or processes on information in accordance with use of the computer 3000.

For example, in the case of performing communication between the computer 3000 and an external device, the CPU3012 may execute a communication program loaded on the RAM3014, and instruct a communication process to the communication interface 3022 based on a process described in the communication program. The communication interface 3022 reads transmission data stored in a transmission buffer area provided in a recording medium such as the RAM3014, the hard disk drive 3024, the DVD-ROM 3001, or the IC card, and transmits the read transmission data to the network, or writes reception data received from the network into a reception buffer area provided in the recording medium, or the like, under the control of the CPU 3012.

In addition, the CPU3012 can cause all or a necessary part of a file or database held in an external recording medium such as a hard disk drive 3024, a DVD-ROM drive 3026 (DVD-ROM 3001), an IC card, or the like to be read into the RAM3014, and perform various types of processing on data on the RAM 3014. The CPU3012 may then write the processed data back to the external recording medium.

Various kinds of information such as various kinds of programs, data, tables, and databases may be saved to a recording medium and applied to information processing. The CPU3012 can execute various processes described in various places in the present disclosure, including various operations specified by an instruction sequence of a program, information processing, condition judgment, conditional branching, unconditional branching, retrieval/replacement of information, and the like, on data read from the RAM3014, and write the result back to the RAM 3014. In addition, the CPU3012 can retrieve information in a file, a database, or the like within the recording medium. For example, when a plurality of items each having an attribute value of the 1 st attribute associated with an attribute value of the 2 nd attribute are stored in the recording medium, the CPU3012 may retrieve an item matching the condition, which specifies an attribute value of the 1 st attribute, from the plurality of items, and read the attribute value of the 2 nd attribute stored in the item, thereby acquiring the attribute value of the 2 nd attribute associated with the 1 st attribute satisfying the preset condition.

The programs or software modules described above may be stored on a computer-readable storage medium on computer 3000 or in the vicinity of computer 3000. A recording medium such as a hard disk or a RAM provided in a server system connected to a dedicated communication network or the internet may be used as a computer-readable storage medium, and the program may be provided to the computer 3000 via a network.

The present invention has been described above with reference to the embodiments, but the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the scope described in the above embodiments. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made to the above-described embodiments. In addition, the matters described with respect to a specific embodiment can be applied to other embodiments within a range not technically contradictory. Each component may have the same feature as another component having the same name but a different reference numeral. Such modifications and improvements can be included in the technical scope of the present invention as apparent from the description of the claims.

Note that the order of execution of the respective processes such as the operation, flow, step, and stage in the apparatus, system, program, and method shown in the claims, the specification, and the drawings is not particularly explicitly indicated as "preceding" or "preceding", and may be realized in any order as long as the output of the preceding process is not used in the subsequent process. Even if the description is made using "first", "next", and the like for convenience in the operation flows in the claims, the description, and the drawings, it does not mean that the operations are necessarily performed in this order.

[ description of reference ]

10 communication network, 20 owner, 22 communication terminal, 30 maintenance manufacturer, 32 communication terminal, 34 job person in charge, 36 maintenance equipment, 40 user, 42 communication terminal, 100 management system, 110 management server, 120 vehicle, 122 communication section, 124 driving section, 126 control section, 130 maintenance point, 210 contract, 212 departure point, 214 destination, 220 contract, 222 departure point, 230 return point, 240 standby point, 250 maintenance point, 322 vehicle information collecting section, 324 resource information collecting section, 332 vehicle management section, 334 resource management section, 340 storing section, 342 vehicle information storing section, 344 resource information storing section, 346 dispatch plan storing section, 348 maintenance plan storing section, 420 determining section, 422 utilization mode determining section, 424 judging section, 426 implementation determining section, 428 fulfillment determining section, 440 dispatch managing section, 442 dispatch instructing section, 460 maintenance managing section, 462 resource reservation section, 522 empty time extraction section, 524 vehicle position determination section, 526 maintenance place extraction section, 530 maintenance plan generation section, 3000 computer, 3001 DVD-ROM, 3010 main controller, 3012CPU, 3014RAM, 3016 graphic controller, 3018 display device, 3020 input output controller, 3022 communication interface, 3024 hard disk drive, 3026 DVD-ROM drive, 3030ROM, 3040 input output chip, 3042 keyboard.

Claims

1. A schedule management system for managing a schedule of a mobile object used for transporting a transport object, the schedule management system comprising:

a mobile body management unit that manages scheduling of the mobile body;

a necessity determination unit that determines whether maintenance of the mobile body is necessary; and

a working time estimating unit that estimates a working time for the maintenance of the mobile body,

the mobile body management unit includes a working period extraction unit that extracts a working period in which the working time estimated by the working time estimation unit can be secured, with reference to a mobile body schedule storage unit that stores predetermined information indicating the mobile body, when it is determined that the maintenance of the mobile body is necessary,

the mobile unit management unit stores, in the mobile unit schedule storage unit, information indicating that the maintenance of the mobile unit is reserved for the period of the job possible period.

2. The schedule management system of claim 1 wherein,

the mobile body management unit further includes:

a job schedule acquisition unit that acquires information indicating a schedule of a job agent that maintains the mobile body; and

a schedule adjustment unit that determines a job timing for performing the maintenance of the mobile body based on information indicating one or more of the job possible periods extracted by the job possible period extraction unit and the information acquired by the job schedule acquisition unit,

when the working enabled period is extracted and the working timing is determined, the mobile unit management unit stores information indicating that the maintenance of the mobile unit is scheduled to be performed within the working timing in the mobile unit schedule storage unit.

3. The schedule management system of claim 1 wherein,

the mobile body management unit further includes a work site extraction unit,

the work site extraction unit extracts a work site capable of accepting maintenance of the mobile body in at least one of one or more possible work periods, with reference to a work schedule storage unit that stores (i) information indicating a position of a work site where a work body that maintains the mobile body can perform maintenance and (ii) information indicating a schedule of the work body in association with each other.

4. The schedule management system of claim 1 wherein,

the mobile unit management unit further includes:

a position determination unit that determines a position of the mobile object in at least one of the one or more working periods extracted by the working period extraction unit, with reference to the mobile object schedule storage unit; and

and a work point extraction unit that extracts a work point at which (i) a positional relationship with the position of the movable body determined by the position determination unit satisfies a predetermined positional condition and (ii) the maintenance of the movable body can be accepted in at least one of the one or more possible work periods, with reference to a work schedule storage unit that stores (i) information indicating a position of a work point at which a work body that maintains the movable body can perform maintenance and (ii) information indicating a schedule of the work body in association with each other.

5. The schedule management system of claim 4 wherein,

the positional condition is a condition relating to a spatial distance or a temporal distance of the positional relationship.

6. The schedule management system according to any of claims 3 through 5,

the mobile body management unit further includes a scheduling adjustment unit that determines a work timing and a work site for performing the maintenance of the mobile body based on an extraction result of the work site extraction unit.

7. The schedule management system of claim 6 wherein,

the scheduling adjustment unit, when the work site extraction unit extracts a plurality of work sites,

the work site at which the maintenance of the mobile body is performed is determined based on at least one of (i) a scheduled end time of the maintenance of the mobile body, (ii) an interval between the scheduled end time of the maintenance of the mobile body and a scheduled start time next to the mobile body, (iii) a position of the mobile body at the scheduled start time next to the mobile body, and (iv) an energy consumed by the mobile body when the mobile body moves to the position of the mobile body at the scheduled start time next to the mobile body via each work site.

8. The schedule management system according to claim 6 or claim 7, wherein,

the mobile body management unit stores, in the mobile body schedule storage unit, information indicating that the maintenance of the mobile body is to be performed at the work timing and the work place determined by the schedule adjustment unit.

9. The schedule management system according to any of claims 6 through 8,

the system further comprises a job schedule generating unit that stores, in the job schedule storing unit, information (i) indicating the job site determined by the schedule adjusting unit and information (ii) indicating that the maintenance of the mobile body is performed at the job site at the job timing determined by the schedule adjusting unit in association with each other.

10. The schedule management system according to any of claims 3 through 9,

the job scheduling storage unit stores, in association with each other, (i) information indicating a position of the job site, (ii) information indicating a type of maintenance performed at the job site, and (iii) information indicating a receivable period of maintenance at the job site and at least one of a job amount of maintenance in each receivable period.

11. The schedule management system of claim 10 wherein,

the information indicating at least one of the receivable period of the maintenance at the work site and the work amount of the maintenance in each receivable period includes information indicating at least one of the receivable period and the work amount for each of the types of the maintenance.

12. The schedule management system according to any of claims 2 through 11,

the information indicating the schedule of the job agent includes information indicating at least one of a schedule of an operator who performs maintenance of the mobile body and a schedule of a job device used for maintenance of the mobile body.

13. The schedule management system according to any of claims 1 through 12,

the working-enabled period extracting unit extracts, as the working-enabled period, a period during which the mobile body does not transport the transport object for a predetermined period and the working time estimated by the working-time estimating unit can be continuously ensured.

14. The schedule management system according to any of claims 1 through 13,

the necessity determining unit determines a type of maintenance to be performed during the maintenance of the movable body,

the working time estimating unit acquires information indicating a standard working time preset for each type of the maintenance,

the operating time estimating unit estimates the operating time for the maintenance of the mobile body based on a type of maintenance performed in the maintenance of the mobile body and a standard operating time for each type of maintenance.

15. The schedule management system according to any of claims 1 through 14,

the maintenance includes at least one of cleaning of the mobile body, inspection of the mobile body, maintenance or repair of the mobile body, and replenishment of energy or energy to the mobile body.

16. The schedule management system according to any of claims 1 through 15, wherein,

the mobile body is used to transport the transport object based on a contract,

the scheduling management system further includes:

a reservation deciding unit that decides which of fulfillment of the contract and implementation of the maintenance is to be prioritized when a work time and a work place at which the maintenance of the mobile body is to be performed cannot be decided when the contract is fulfilled by the mobile body;

and an alternative determination unit that determines to fulfill the contract by using another mobile unit instead of the mobile unit, when the predetermined determination unit determines to prioritize execution of the maintenance over fulfillment of the contract.

17. A moving body in which, in a moving body,

a schedule management system according to any one of claims 1 to 16.

18. A computer-readable storage medium storing a program, characterized in that,

when the program is executed by a processor, a method for managing scheduling of a mobile body used for transporting a transport object is executed,

the method comprises the following steps:

a mobile body management step of managing scheduling of the mobile body;

a necessity determination step of determining whether or not maintenance of the mobile body is necessary;

a working time estimating step of estimating a working time for the maintenance of the mobile body,

the moving body management step includes:

a working-enabled period extracting step of, when it is determined that the maintenance of the mobile body is necessary, extracting a working-enabled period in which the working time estimated in the working time estimating step can be secured, with reference to a mobile body schedule storage device that stores predetermined information indicating the mobile body;

a reservation storing step of storing information indicating that the maintenance of the mobile body is to be performed during the period in which the job possible period is reserved, in the mobile body schedule storing apparatus.

19. A method for managing scheduling of a mobile body used for transporting a transport object, comprising:

a mobile body management step of managing scheduling of the mobile body;

the moving body management step includes:

a working-enabled period extracting step of extracting a working-enabled period in which the working time estimated in the working time estimating step can be secured, with reference to a mobile body schedule storage device that stores predetermined information indicating the mobile body, when it is determined that the maintenance of the mobile body is necessary,