JP2000268099A - System and method for video rental and recording medium therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To immediately retrieve a desired article out of a lot of rental articles and to surely reserve the rental article without visiting a shop of an entrepreneur. SOLUTION: A video rental system 1 is provided with a member register means 3a for registering the member information of a member to utilize a rental service, an article retrieving means 3b for disclosing lending information and executing the retrieval of the rental article, an article reserving means 3c for registering the reservation of the rental article and a map information output means 3d for outputting map information containing the address of the member on the basis of the said member information when the member performs reservation.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a video rental apparatus using the Internet, a video rental method, and a recording medium on which a video rental program is recorded.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when using a video rental service, it is common practice to go to a video rental store, search for a video to borrow, and apply for rental. Rental video providers provide POS (Point
Of Sales) A terminal device is installed to manage customer information and lending information. The rental video dealers have stores in locations with good location conditions to attract customers, and each store has a large parking lot.

[0003]

However, such a business has the following problems. In one case, when a customer goes to a rental video store, the intended video is sometimes rented and cannot be borrowed. In addition, the video could not be rented without going to a rental video store. In addition, it took time to search for a desired video in a rental video store. Rental companies, on the other hand, need to set up a large store because they need to display all the videos that can be rented, and in some cases have to secure parking for customers.

[0004] The present invention has been made in view of the above points, and provides a video rental apparatus and method capable of implementing a rental service that is convenient for customers and rental companies, and a recording medium therefor.

[0005]

A video rental device according to the present invention is a server connectable to the Internet,
Member registration means for storing customer information of a user who uses the rental service in a storage unit via a network,
It is characterized by comprising a product search means for making the rental information public and executing a search for the rental product information stored in the storage unit, and a product reservation means for storing the reservation information of the rental product in the storage unit. Note that customer information is information for identifying a customer, such as "name", "address",
This is information composed of “contact information”, “member number”, “password” and the like. The lending information is information indicating a lending status of the rental product or the like. The rental product information is information including information for specifying a rental product, and the reservation information is information including information for specifying a rental product to be reserved and information for specifying a customer (member) who makes a reservation. is there.

[0006] The video rental device, when a member reserves a rental product, retrieves and outputs map information including the address of the member from a storage unit storing the map information based on the customer information. It is characterized by further comprising means.

A video rental method using a computer according to the present invention is executed by a computer, and a member registration procedure for storing customer information of a user who uses a rental service in a storage unit, and lending information are made public and stored in the storage unit. It is characterized by including a product search procedure for executing the search for the provided rental product information and a product reservation procedure for storing the rental product reservation information in the storage unit.

The present invention is a recording medium for recording a video rental program in a video rental device,
A member registration procedure for storing the customer information of the user using the rental service in the storage unit, a product search procedure for making the rental information public and executing a search for the rental product information stored in the storage unit, This is a computer-readable recording medium that records a video rental program that causes a computer to execute a product reservation procedure for storing reservation information in a storage unit.

[0009]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a video rental device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0010] The video rental device 1 of the present embodiment comprises:
It is realized by a server that can connect to the Internet,
Customer information DB (Data Base) 2a, rental video information DB 2b, video rental information DB 2c, map information D
A storage unit 2 for storing data including B.2d, and a customer information DB for storing customer information of a user who uses the rental service.
(Data Base) · Member registration unit 3a to be stored in 2a,
A product search unit 3b that publishes the rental information included in the video rental information DB 2c and accesses the rental video information DB 2b to search for rental product information.
And rental information reservation information DB · 2
The basic configuration is a configuration including the processing unit 3 including the product reservation unit 3c stored in the storage unit c. In the present embodiment, the processing unit 3
Further, a map information output unit 3d for extracting and outputting map information including the member's address from the map information DB 2d based on the customer information when making a reservation by the member is further provided.

It is assumed that an input device, an output device, a display device, and the like (all not shown) are connected to the video rental device 1 as peripheral devices. Here, the input device refers to an input device such as a keyboard and a mouse.
The output device refers to an output device such as a printer.
The display device refers to a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube), a liquid crystal display device, or the like. The storage unit 2 is configured by a non-volatile recording device such as a hard disk or a magneto-optical disk. The processing unit 3 includes a memory, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), and the like, and a function (not shown) for realizing each function of the processing unit 3 is loaded into the memory and executed to realize the function. May be done.
Each database stored in the storage unit 2 is not included in the video rental device 1 and is included in another (same or separate) database.
It may be stored in a storage device and used by accessing this storage device.

In this embodiment, a user who uses the video rental service accesses the video rental device 1 via the Internet from a terminal device 4 such as a personal computer owned by the user as shown in FIG. Take the form of use. Therefore, the video rental device 1 further includes a communication interface (not shown).

Next, the operations of the thus configured video rental device 1 of the present embodiment and the terminal device 4 that accesses the video rental device 1 via the Internet will be described.

First, a user who uses the video rental service receives a URL (Uniform Resource) of a video rental company from a terminal device 4 such as a personal computer via the Internet.
Locator) to access the homepage. This homepage is, for example, HTML (Hyper Text Markup La
nguage) The information is stored in the video rental device 1 as a document, and is downloaded from the video rental device 1 to the user's terminal device 4 upon access by the user. As a result of the access, the initial screen of the homepage of the rental company shown in FIG. 7 is displayed on the terminal device 4 of the user by a display function of the browser provided in the terminal device 4 as an example. In this example, "video title search" to search for the video you want to rent
・ 71, “Search by genre” ・ 72, “Ranking search” ・ 73, “Newest work search” ・ 74, “Rental reservation” for registering reservation ・ 75 items, reservation confirmation and reservation "Reservation confirmation" to cancel
There are 76 items and “member registration” / 77 items for member registration, which are hyperlinked to move to the next processing screen. As a result, by clicking any one of the portions denoted by reference numerals 71 to 77, the screen shifts to each processing screen.

Here, the screen transition of the homepage of the video rental company displayed on the terminal device 4 of the user who uses the video rental service will be described with reference to the screen transition diagram shown in FIG.

In the present embodiment, four types of search methods are used. In FIG. 7, "video title search" 71, "genre search" 72, "ranking search" 73, "latest work search" By selecting (clicking) from among the “Video title search screens” (FIG. 1)
0), “Search screen by genre” (FIG. 11), “Ranking search screen” (FIG. 12), “Search screen for latest work” (FIG. 1)
3) is displayed. Next, when data serving as a search condition is input by a member into a search item on the displayed search screen, a “search result screen” (FIG. 14) is displayed. Here, the member designates a video title to be reserved on the search screen and designates a code 14.
When the “reservation” button shown in FIG. 1 is pressed (clicked), a “member number input screen” (FIG. 15) is displayed. When the member inputs the member number and the password, a "reservation information input screen" (FIG. 16) is displayed. When the reservation information is input, a "reservation result confirmation screen" (FIG. 17) is displayed.

When the reservation contents are confirmed, by clicking on the "reservation confirmation" portion of reference numeral 76 in FIG. 7, a "member number input screen" (FIG. 15) is displayed. Next, when necessary items are entered in each item on the “member number input screen” and the send button 151 is pressed (clicked), a “reservation confirmation screen” (FIG. 18) showing the current reservation contents is displayed. . When the user clicks the “cancel reservation” button 181 shown in FIG. 18 and cancels the reservation, the “cancel reservation confirmation result screen” is displayed.
(FIG. 19) is displayed. Figure 7
By clicking the “member registration” portion of the reference numeral 77, a “member registration screen” (FIG. 8) is displayed. When the member inputs registration information and presses (clicks) the registration button 81, a "registration result screen" (FIG. 9) is displayed. The screen transition in the terminal device 4 has been described above.

Next, the operation of the video rental device 1 when a user using the rental service registers as a member will be described. FIG. 4 shows contents input for member registration from the terminal device 4 used by the user of the rental service, display contents of the registration result, contents of the member registration process in the processing unit 3, and a customer information DB in the storage unit 2. 2 indicates registration information stored in 2a.

First, the processing unit 3 receives the designation of the member registration by clicking the "member registration" part of the code 76 on the display screen of the terminal device 4 shown in FIG. 7 by the user of the rental service. With this designation, the member registration unit 3a sends a document hyperlinked to the item “member registration” · 77 to the user terminal device 4. Then, a member registration screen shown in FIG. 8 is displayed on the terminal device 4 as an example. The member registration unit 3a allows the user to enter the terminal device 4
"Customer name", "address", "contact",
Input data of each item of “E-mail” is received as registration information via the Internet (FIG. 4 :).

The member registration section 3a appropriately determines and adds a "member number" and a "password" to the registration information. Then, the registration information is stored in the customer information DB 2a (FIG. 4 :). Then, the member registration unit 3a sends a registration result including the “member number” and the “password” to the terminal device 4 of the user (FIG. 4 :). As an example, a member registration screen shown in FIG. When the user presses (clicks on) the confirmation button 91 on the registration result screen by the user, the member registration section 3a ends the member registration process. Similarly, when the user presses (clicks) the cancel button 92 on the member registration screen and receives a cancellation notification, the registration information including the “member number” and the “password” is deleted from the customer information DB 2a and the member is deleted. The registration processing ends. The details of the operation of the video rental device 1 when performing member registration have been described above.

Next, the operation of the video rental apparatus 1 when a member searches for video information of a rental video will be described. FIG. 5 is a diagram showing contents input for search from the terminal device 4 used by the member, display contents of the search result, contents of the search processing in the processing unit 3, and stored in the rental video information DB 2b in the storage unit 2. Shows rental video information.

First, the processing unit 3 executes a "video title search" of reference numeral 71, a "search by genre" of reference numeral 72, and a reference numeral 7 of the display screen of the terminal device 4 shown in FIG.
By clicking any part of the "ranking search" of No. 3 and the "latest work search" of the reference numeral 74, the search is designated. With this designation, the product search unit 3b sends a document hyperlinked to the designated item to the user terminal device 4. Here "Video title search" 7
When “1” is designated, a video title search screen shown in FIG. 10 is displayed on the terminal device 4 as an example. Then, the product search unit 3b inputs, via the Internet, input data of each item of “number of display items”, “video name”, “director name”, and “actor name”, which are input as search conditions to the terminal device 4 by the user. Will receive it. In the item of “number of displayed items”, the number of items to be displayed at one time on the terminal device 4 is input.
In the item “video name”, a character string included in the video name is input.

When the “search by genre” 72 is specified, a search screen by genre shown in FIG. 11 is displayed on the terminal device 4 as an example. The product search unit 2b receives, via the Internet, input data of items such as “number of display items”, “genre name”, and “video name”, which are input as search conditions to the terminal device 4 by the user. In the item of “genre name”, a genre to be searched is selectively inputted. When “Ranking search” · 73 is designated, a ranking search screen shown in FIG. 12 is displayed on the terminal device 4 as an example. And the product search section 2b
Receives via the Internet the "number of displayed items", which is entered by the user as search conditions into the terminal device 4 and is a condition of whether the ranking is higher or lower and the number of items to be displayed on the terminal device 4 at one time. . When “latest work search” · 74 is designated, the latest work search screen shown in FIG. 13 is displayed on the terminal device 4 as an example. Then, the product search unit 3b receives “number of displays”, “video name”, and “actor name”, which are input as search conditions by the user to the terminal device 4, via the Internet.

The product search section 3b is operated by the member to execute a search button 10 according to a search screen displayed on the terminal device 4.
When any one of 1, 111, 121, and 131 is pressed (clicked), search condition data is received (FIG. 5 :). The product search unit 3b stores the rental video information DB · 2 stored in the storage unit 2 based on the search conditions.
b, Search the video lending information DB 2c to obtain the corresponding “video title”, “video content”, “number of lending available” and the like (FIG. :). Then, the product search unit 3b sends the search result “video title”, “video content”, and “number of borrowable books” to the terminal device 4 of the member (FIG. 5 :), and the search result screen including the search results and the number of displayed items ( 14) is displayed. The details of the operation of the video rental device 1 when performing the video information search have been described above.

Next, the operation of the video rental apparatus 1 in the case where a member makes a reservation registration of a rental video will be described.
FIG. 6 shows the contents input for reservation from the terminal device 4 used by the member and the display contents of the reservation result, the contents of the reservation processing in the processing unit 3, and the customer information DB 2a stored in the storage unit 2. , The rental video information DB 2b, the video rental information DB 2c, and the map-related DB 2d including reservation-related information (customer information, rental video information, video rental information, map information).

The reservation procedure in this embodiment is performed from the search result screen as shown in the screen transition diagram of FIG. First, the product reservation unit 3c operates the reservation button 1 on the search result screen in the terminal device 4 shown in FIG.
When the button 41 is pressed (clicked), the hyperlinked document is sent to the terminal device 4 of the member. As an example, a member number input screen shown in FIG. Here, data as customer information is stored in each of the “member number” and “password” items by the member.
And the send button 15 displayed on the screen
1 is pressed (clicked), the product reservation unit 3
Receives these input data as customer information via the Internet.

The product search unit 3b searches the customer information DB 2a stored in the storage unit 2 based on the member number and verifies whether the password is valid. Here, when the password is confirmed to be valid, a document for inputting reservation information is sent to the terminal device 4 of the member. Then, a reservation information input screen shown in FIG. 16 is displayed on the terminal device 4 as an example. (In this example, it is assumed that “Titanic” (video name) has been selected by video search.)
Is entered or selected by the member from the reservation information input screen of the terminal device 4 "rental period", "Delivery desired", and "Delivery desired time", and the reservation button 151 displayed on the screen is pressed (clicked). ), These input data are received as reservation information via the Internet (FIG. 6 :).

Next, the product search unit 3b searches the video lending information DB · 2 stored in the storage unit 2 from “video title”.
c, and obtains the number of lendable books (FIG. 6 :). If the video (name) entered by the member is available for lending, the "member number" and "rental period" are written in the record of the video lending information DB / 2c corresponding to the "video title", and "lending available" Is subtracted (FIG. 6: this record includes fields in which these items are recorded). The product reservation section 3c further searches the customer information DB 2a from the "member number" and acquires the "address" of the member (FIG. 6 :). Then, the product reservation unit 3c uses the acquired member's "address" to obtain the map information DB
2d is searched to obtain "map information" (FIG. 6 :).
Then, a map is output from the "map information" to an output device such as a printer. The output map is used for home delivery.

Then, the product reservation section 3c sends the reservation result to the terminal device 4 of the member (FIG. 6 :). As a result, the terminal device 4
Confirm customer reservation information including customer name, address, contact information, and video name, rental period, scheduled delivery date, and usage fee. A screen (FIG. 17) is displayed. Then, the content is confirmed by the member and the confirmation button 171 is pressed (clicked), whereby the reservation process is completed. The “scheduled delivery date and time” is displayed only when the member desires home delivery. In the case of home delivery, the usage fee is collected at the time of home delivery, and when rented at a store, it is collected at the counter.

Next, the operation of the video rental device 1 when the member confirms the reservation of the rental video will be described.
First, the processing unit 3 operates the terminal device 4 shown in FIG.
By clicking on the "reservation confirmation" portion of reference numeral 76 on the display screen, the reservation confirmation is designated. In response to this designation, the product reservation unit 3a sends a document hyperlinked to the item of “reservation confirmation” · 76 to the user terminal device 4. Then, as an example, the member number input screen shown in FIG. When the user inputs the items of “member number” and “password” from the terminal device 4, the product reservation unit 3 c receives these input data via the Internet.

Next, the commodity reservation section 3c searches the customer information DB 2a based on the member number and verifies the validity of the password. Then, when the validity is confirmed, the video lending information DB 2c is searched based on the member number and the reservation contents are extracted. Then, the retrieved contents of the reservation are sent to the terminal device 4 of the member. A reservation confirmation screen shown in FIG. 18 is displayed on the terminal device 4 as an example. The commodity reservation section 3c receives the confirmation notice when the member presses (clicks) the confirmation button 182 on the screen, and ends the reservation confirmation processing. When the reservation cancel button 181 is pressed, a reservation cancellation result confirmation screen shown in FIG. 19 is displayed on the terminal device 4, and when the confirmation button 191 is pressed, the video lending information DB 2 is displayed.
The “member number” and the “rental period” recorded in the corresponding record of “c” are deleted, the “rentable number” is added by the number of reservations, and the reservation cancellation processing ends. As above, the details of the operation of the video rental device 1 when performing the reservation registration and the reservation confirmation of the rental video have been described.

In this embodiment, the rental video is described as a rental product. However, the present invention is not limited to the rental video as a rental product, but may include a car, a home delivery pizza, a CD (Compact Disk), a game software, and the like. Any item that can be rented may be used as a rental item. In the above description, the information (data) is "sent" from the video rental device to the terminal device, but this also includes the case where the terminal device downloads information from the video rental device. In addition, the present invention may use a LAN or a dial-up network in addition to the Internet.

Further, a program for realizing the video rental apparatus of the present invention is recorded on a computer-readable recording medium, and the program recorded on the recording medium is read into a computer system and executed to execute the video rental. Service may be provided. That is, this video rental program executes a member registration function of storing the customer information of the user who uses the rental service in the storage unit, publishes the rental information, and searches for the rental product information stored in the storage unit. A computer realizes a product search function and a product reservation function of storing reservation information of rental products in a storage unit. Further, the video rental program has a map information output function for searching and outputting map information including the address of the member from the storage unit storing the map information based on the customer information when the member reserves the rental product. Let the computer do it.

Note that the "computer system" here includes an OS and hardware such as peripheral devices. The “computer system” also includes a homepage providing environment (or a display environment) if a WWW system is used. Also,
"Computer readable recording medium" means a floppy disk, a magneto-optical disk, a ROM, a CD-ROM.
And a storage device such as a hard disk built in a computer system. Further, "computer-readable recording medium" refers to a communication line for transmitting a program through a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line for a short time, such as a communication line.
It also includes those that dynamically hold programs and those that hold programs for a certain period of time, such as volatile memories in computer systems serving as servers and clients in that case. Further, the above-mentioned program may be for realizing a part of the above-mentioned functions, or may be for realizing the above-mentioned functions in combination with a program already recorded in a computer system.

The embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the specific configuration is not limited to this embodiment, and includes a design and the like within a range not departing from the gist of the present invention. It is.

[0036]

As described in detail above, according to the present invention, it is possible to search and reserve rental products based on rental information via a network such as the Internet. Can be searched instantly, and reservations for rental products can be made reliably without going to the dealer's store. This also eliminates the need for the rental company to display rental products that can be rented to the store, so there is no need to set up a large store. Further, according to the present invention, since a means for outputting map information including the member's address is provided, the rental company can take out the map information including the member's address at the same time as making a reservation order from the member. As a result, prompt delivery of rental products becomes possible.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration of a video rental device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a use form of the video rental device of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating information transmitted and received between a terminal device and a video rental device at the time of member registration and the contents of processing;

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining information transmitted and received between a terminal device and a video rental device at the time of video search and the contents of processing;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating information transmitted and received between a terminal device and a video rental device at the time of reservation registration and the contents of processing;

FIG. 6 is a transition diagram of a screen on a terminal device used by a member.

FIG. 7 is an example of an initial screen of a homepage provided by the video rental device of the embodiment.

FIG. 8 is an example of a video title search screen of a homepage provided by the video rental device of the embodiment.

FIG. 9 is an example of a genre-based search screen of a homepage provided by the video rental device of the embodiment.

FIG. 10 is an example of a homepage ranking search screen provided by the video rental device of the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is an example of a latest work search screen of a homepage provided by the video rental device of the embodiment.

FIG. 12 is an example of a search result screen of a homepage provided by the video rental device of the embodiment.

FIG. 13 is an example of a member number input screen of a homepage provided by the video rental device of the embodiment.

FIG. 14 is an example of a reservation information input screen of a homepage provided by the video rental device of the embodiment.

FIG. 15 is an example of a homepage reservation result display screen provided by the video rental device of the embodiment.

FIG. 16 is an example of a homepage reservation confirmation screen provided by the video rental device of the embodiment.

FIG. 17 is an example of a homepage reservation cancellation result display screen provided by the video rental device of the embodiment.

FIG. 18 is an example of a member registration screen of a homepage provided by the video rental device of the embodiment.

FIG. 19 is an example of a member registration result display screen of a homepage provided by the video rental device of the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Video rental apparatus 2 ... Storage part 2a ... Customer information DB 2b ... Rental video information DB 2c ... Video rental information DB 2d ... Map information D
B 3 Processing unit 3a Member registration unit (member registration unit) 3b Product search unit (product search unit) 3c Product reservation unit (product reservation unit) 3d Map information output unit (map information output unit) 4 Terminal apparatus

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Tomoaki Maeda 9-1-1, Konan, Minato-ku, Tokyo Inside NTT Communicationware Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Yasuhiro Okamura Konan-ichi, Minato-ku, Tokyo (No. 9-1, NTT Communicationware Co., Ltd.) (72) Inventor, Yoshiteru Kunishige 1-9-1, Konan, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan 72) Inventor Katsunori Imai 1-9-1, Konan, Minato-ku, Tokyo NTT Communicationware Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Naohiro Uchida 1-9-1, Konan, Minato-ku, Tokyo NTT Communicationware Co., Ltd. F-term within the company (reference) 5B049 AA02 AA04 BB60 CC05 DD01 EE05 FF01 GG02 5B075 KK07 ND20 PP02 PP12 PP22 PQ02 PQ67 UU40

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A server connectable to the Internet, a member registration means for storing customer information of a user who uses a rental service in a storage unit via a network, A video rental apparatus comprising: a product search unit that searches for rental product information stored in a storage unit; and a product reservation unit that stores reservation information of rental products in a storage unit. 2. The video rental apparatus according to claim 1, wherein when the member reserves the rental product, the map information including the address of the member is searched and output from the storage unit storing the map information based on the customer information. The video rental device according to claim 1, further comprising an information output unit. 3. A member registration procedure executed by a computer to store customer information of a user who uses a rental service in a storage unit, and to publish rental information and to search for rental product information stored in the storage unit. A video rental method using a computer, comprising a product search procedure to be executed and a product reservation procedure for storing rental product reservation information in a storage unit. 4. A recording medium for recording a video rental program in a video rental apparatus, wherein a member registration procedure for storing customer information of a user who uses a rental service in a storage unit, and rental information are disclosed and stored. Computer-readable recording medium storing a video rental program for causing a computer to execute a product search procedure for performing a search for rental product information stored in a storage unit and a product reservation procedure for storing rental product reservation information in a storage unit .