JP2001027060A - Key keeping device for electrically assisted bicycle sharing system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce the size and to improve the convenience of a key keeping device, by providing keys of objects for rent and lamps each indicating the charged state of an electrically assisted bicycles, on a front panel of the device. SOLUTION: A key keeping device 10 is placed separately from a bicycle parking lot, and the charged state of an electrically assisted bicycle is received by air. A plurality of key holder insertion ports K1,... are formed in a front panel of the device 10 for holding keys, and lamps 6a,... each indicating the charged state of a battery are formed on the panel at respective portions immediately above the insertion ports. Each lamp is consecutively lighted in green when the battery is charged, or in red when it is under charging. When a share group member has noticed a breakdown of the bicycle, if he operates a predetermined key of a key input portion 1, the device 10 allows a relevant lamp to flicker, to thereby notify that rental of the bicycle is suspended. Further, rental charges, etc., are displayed on a display section 5, and a bill, etc., are printed out from a printing section 8 by a caretaker or the like. Thus, usable keys, charged states, and breakdowns can be easily kept under control, and downsizing of the device and cost reduction of the same can be realized.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a key management device applied to an electric power assisted bicycle sharing system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Recently, a common use system such as a bicycle and a power-assisted bicycle has become widespread for apartment houses and other condominiums. This shared use system aims to eliminate problems such as shortage of bicycle parking lots such as apartments, abandoned bicycles and theft, and to reduce the burden on individuals due to shared use. JP-A-10-306630, JP-A-306631, JP-A-307952 related to the earlier application of the present applicant.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2005-115139 discloses a key management system and a battery supply device in a bicycle sharing system including a battery detachable electric assist bicycle.

According to the key management system and the battery supply device of the prior application, a key supply device and a battery supply device are installed at one corner of a bicycle parking lot. When a user who wants to use the key supply device reads the user certificate for shared use, the key supply device checks the validity of the user certificate and then lends it to the user. The rentable electric assist bicycles and batteries are displayed on the touch panel display device from the key management system side. Further, the co-user who has borrowed the key causes the key supply device to read the user ID after use, and then returns the key and the battery.

[0004]

In the key management system of the prior application, the key to be lent is stored in the key box, so that the joint user can determine which key is lent when selecting the key. It cannot be distinguished from the appearance, and must rely on information on a guide screen displayed on a relatively large display device. In addition, in the battery supply device of the prior application, when renting a battery, a battery that is fully charged and can be lent and a battery that is being lent or not fully charged are displayed in a list that can be identified by color coding or the like. You.

[0005] As a result, the key management system and the battery supply device of the prior application require a relatively large display device to provide guide information on usable vehicles and batteries to the co-users. There is a problem that not only the space is increased, but also the cost for building and maintaining the system is increased. In addition, there is a possibility that a borrowing request may be made to a key that is already lent or a key different from the desired one may be borrowed due to an error in the display screen.

[0006] Further, if the vehicle body and the battery of the electrically assisted bicycle are separated from each other as in the system of the prior application, the joint user must rent and return the both separately, which doubles the labor and time. There's a problem. further,
Recently, there has been an increasing demand for installing a key management device called a key box for managing a key to be rented at a location away from a bicycle parking lot.

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an economical key management device that does not require a large and expensive display device in an electric assisted bicycle shared use system, and as a result, occupies a small space and is economical. Sometimes.

Another object of the present invention is to reduce the amount of work and time on the user side and the system side involved in separately lending the vehicle body and the battery, thereby reducing the size and economy of the key management device. It is to realize.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide a key management device most suitable for a shared use system in which the key management device is installed at a location away from the storage location of the electric assist bicycle to be rented. is there.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In order to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art, an electric assisted bicycle sharing system using a key management device according to the present invention is characterized in that a battery is charged at a storage location of an electric assisted bicycle to be rented. Is performed. Then, the key management device of the present invention is arranged on the front panel, a plurality of key holding mechanisms for holding the keys to be rented in a visible state from the outside, and the front panel in close proximity to each of these key holding mechanisms. By providing a lamp that displays the state of charge of the electric assist bicycle, it is possible to reduce the size by eliminating the need for a large and expensive display device.
At the same time as achieving economy, it is configured to reduce the labor and time of the user and improve the convenience.

[0011]

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the lamp for indicating the state of charge also serves as a lamp for indicating that the corresponding electric assist bicycle is out of order. The display in the middle is performed prior to the display of the state of charge. As a result, the number of components such as display lamps is reduced, and a more compact and inexpensive key management device is provided.

According to another preferred embodiment of the present invention,
The state of charge is indicated by successive lighting of different colors, and the unusable state is indicated by blinking of one of these colors.

According to still another preferred embodiment of the present invention, a display panel for displaying usage fee and other information is provided on a front panel of the key management device.

According to still another preferred embodiment of the present invention, a signal notifying the charging state of each electrically assisted bicycle is periodically transmitted from a transmitter installed in a storage place away from the key management device. The key management device includes a signal receiving unit for receiving a signal for notifying the state of charge.

[0015]

FIG. 3 shows an example of one of a plurality of electrically assisted bicycles stored in a bicycle parking lot installed at a location remote from a key management device according to an embodiment of the present invention during storage. FIG. This electric assist bicycle 3
Reference numeral 0 denotes a vehicle body portion 31 and a battery 32 fixed to the vehicle body portion inside a cage attached to the vehicle body portion.
It is composed of A storage pole 40 is fixed to the storage location, and the front wheel of the electric assist bicycle 30 is attached to the storage pole 40 via a theft prevention bicycle parking device 42 that is opened and closed by remote control from a key management device.

The battery 32 is not removed from the vehicle body part 31 during storage in the bicycle parking lot. The battery 41 is charged in the bicycle parking area by connecting the cable 41 pulled out through the storage pole 40 to the battery 31. The cable 41 pulled out from the pole 40 is
The battery is connected to a charger (not shown), and charging is started at the same time when the cable 41 is connected to the battery 32.
When the battery reaches a fully charged state, charging is automatically stopped. A status signal indicating whether the battery is being charged or has been charged is transmitted to the key management device of the above embodiment via a wireless transmitter (not shown).

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the appearance of a key management device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention used in the above-mentioned electric assisted bicycle shared use system. As described above, the key management device 10 of this embodiment is not installed in a bicycle parking lot of an apartment house or the like or in one corner thereof, unlike the one described in the patent application of the earlier application. It is installed at the meeting place of a multi-family house or a manager's office away from such a bicycle parking lot.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing a functional configuration of the key management device 10. 1 and 2, 1 is a digital processor, 2 is a data memory, 3 is a card reader, 4 is a key lock / release unit,
Reference numeral 5 denotes a display unit, 6 (6a, 6b, 6c... 6j) denotes a lamp, 7 denotes a key input unit, 8 denotes a print output unit, 9 denotes a wireless transmitting / receiving unit, 11 denotes a telephone automatic calling unit, and 12 denotes a housing. , 13 are ID card insertion ports, and k1, k2, k3... K10 are key key holder insertion ports.

First, referring to the external view of FIG. 1, a front panel of a housing 12 accommodating the key management device 10 of this embodiment has ten key holder insertion openings k1, k2, k3,.
.. K10 are formed, and a rectangular plate-shaped key holder with a key attached to the tip is inserted into each key holder insertion opening, and is held in a locked state. As described above, since the key to be rented is held on the front panel of the device so that it can be seen from the outside, the co-user can determine which key can be borrowed without relying on the guidance screen of the display device or the like. You can judge at a glance.

Immediately above each of the key holder insertion openings k1 to k10, a rectangular lamp 6 indicating the state of charge of a battery fixed to an electric assist bicycle using this key is used.
a, 6b, 6c... 6j are installed. Lamp 6
Each of a to 6j is continuously lit in green when the battery of the corresponding electrically assisted bicycle is charged, and in red when the battery is being charged. Above each of the lamps 6a to 6j, the number of the key to be lent is displayed as an arithmetic numeral, and the corresponding arithmetic numeral is also displayed on the key holder of each key.

The lamps 6a to 6j arranged on the front panel
Is also used to indicate that the corresponding electric assist bicycle is out of order. That is, if a failure such as a puncture, a malfunction of the brake, or a failure to turn on the lamp occurs in the corresponding electric assist bicycle, the co-user who has noticed the failure can use a predetermined key of the key input unit 7 to recognize the occurrence of the failure. The operation is notified to the digital processor 1.

The digital processor 1 which has received the notification blinks the corresponding lamp in red irrespective of the state of charging, thereby indicating that the corresponding electric-assisted bicycle is in a lending suspended state. Notify co-users. The digital processor 1 cancels the rental stop state and, at the same time, returns the corresponding lamp to the display mode of the state of charge of the battery of the corresponding electric assist bicycle.

A co-user who wants to borrow a key or return a borrowed key first inserts his or her ID card, which is composed of a magnetic card or a non-contact type IC card, into the ID card insertion slot 13. By inserting the card and moving it up and down (costle) in the case of a magnetic card, the key management apparatus 10 reads the identifier, and recognizes that it is a legitimate joint user. Let it.

The digital processor 1 stores the ID of the ID card read by the card reader 7 in the data memory 2.
The validity of the operator of the key management device 10 is checked by determining whether or not the identifier matches one of the identifiers of the co-users stored in the key management device 10. After confirming the validity of the operator, the digital processor 1 locks / releases the key in response to a key lending request or return request from the co-user issued by key input from the key input unit 7 or the like. A command is issued to the unit 4 to release the locked state of each key holder. The co-user borrows a key from the locked key holder insertion slot or returns the borrowed key. At the time of lending, the locked state is not released for a charging or malfunctioning one, and the request is rejected.

The digital processor 1 records the key lending and returning status on a data memory. The digital processor 1 calculates the usage fee when the key is returned, updates the total amount of the fee details, and displays the current usage fee on the display unit 5 composed of a liquid crystal panel, etc. And are displayed. Invoices regularly distributed to each joint user are printed out from the print output unit 8 together with usage history information for each joint use by a manager of the system.

When the number of failed electric assist bicycles managed in the data memory 2 reaches a predetermined value, the digital processor 1 activates the telephone automatic calling unit 11 and sends a message notifying the fact to the system. Automatic transfer to a specified destination such as a person or a repair shop.

As described above, unlike the case of displaying a list of stock vehicles and the like as in the system of the earlier application, the display unit 5 only needs to display small-capacity information such as money used. It may be small enough to be installed on a part of the front panel of the device.

In the above, a configuration is shown in which a lamp for displaying the charging status, lending is stopped, or the like is arranged at the holding position of the key to be lent on the front panel of the key management device. Various displays can be added, such as attaching a sticker or a photograph indicating the type and appearance of the assisted bicycle.

Also, the configuration in which the state of charge is displayed in two stages, that is, charged and charged, has been exemplified. The progress of charging is indicated by a bar graph or the like. The electric assist bicycle may be lent out even if it is not in the state.

Further, the key management device according to the present invention has been described with reference to an example of a shared use system in which only electric assist bicycles are lent. However, such battery-assisted bicycles do not have batteries,
Other vehicles such as an automobile can also be mixed.
In this case, for a vehicle without a battery, a lamp for indicating the state of charge can be used for other purposes, such as for indicating that the vehicle type is different from the electric assist bicycle.

[0031]

As described in detail above, the key management device of the present invention allows the user to hold the key to be rented on the front panel of the device in a state where the key can be seen from the outside, so that the user can display the key on the display device. At a glance, you can tell which keys are available without relying on the guide screen.

Even if the key to be rented is present on the front panel of the key management device, it cannot be borrowed unless the battery has been charged. However, information on this charge is located adjacent to the key storage area. It is displayed in a straightforward manner by a lamp or the like that is arranged in a vertical direction.

In addition, the electric assist bicycle that is out of order is
Although it cannot be used irrespective of the state of charge, this is also displayed directly by blinking a lamp that originally indicates the state of charge by adopting the preferred embodiment of the present invention. In other words, the co-user can directly obtain all the information necessary for borrowing just by selecting one front panel of the key management device.

Further, the electric assisted bicycle shared use system using the key management device of the present invention is configured such that the body of the electric assisted bicycle and the battery are connected without being separated, and the battery is charged in the bicycle parking lot. Therefore, when renting or returning a key, the labor and time of the joint user are greatly reduced, and the convenience is improved. In addition, the key management device is small and inexpensive.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an external appearance of a key management device of an electric assisted bicycle shared use system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram showing a functional configuration of a key management device of the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a state in which a power-assisted bicycle to be rented, which is stored in a bicycle parking lot remote from the key management device of the embodiment, is being stored.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Key management device 1 Digital processor 2 Data memory 3 Card reader 6a to 6j Charging status indicator lamp k1 to K10 Key key holder insertion hole 30 Electric assist bicycle 31 Body 32 Battery 33 Charging cord

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing on the front page (72) Koji Arinami 2-1-1 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Shigeru Yamamoto 2-1-1 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo No. F term in Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (reference) 2E250 AA15 AA21 BB08 BB09 CC23 DD03 DD06 FF28 FF44 HH00 3E048 AA10

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A key management device for a shared use system of an electric assist bicycle in which a battery is charged in a storage place of the electric assist bicycle, wherein the key is arranged on a front panel of the key management device and is a key to be rented. A plurality of key holding mechanisms for holding the keys in a state visible from the outside, and a lamp arranged on the front panel in close proximity to each of the key holding mechanisms and displaying a charge state of the electrically assisted bicycle. Key management device for a shared electric assist bicycle sharing system. 2. The lamp according to claim 1, wherein the lamp indicating the state of charge also serves as a lamp indicating that the corresponding electric assist bicycle is out of order, and the display indicating that the state of failure is a display of the state of charge. A key management device for an electric assisted bicycle shared use system, which is performed with priority. 3. The device according to claim 2, wherein the state of charge is indicated by continuous lighting of different colors, and the malfunction is indicated by blinking of one of these colors. A key management device for the electric power assisted bicycle sharing system. 4. A key management device for an electric assisted bicycle sharing system according to claim 1, wherein a display panel for displaying a usage fee and other information is installed on said front panel. . 5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a signal for notifying a charging state of each of said electric assist bicycles is periodically transmitted from a transmitter installed in a storage place remote from said key management device. The key management device of the electric assisted bicycle shared use system, wherein the key management device includes a signal receiving unit for receiving the signal for notifying the charging state.