JP2002183486A - Information providing system and reservation system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system providing real time information from a service provider to a service user via a network such as the Internet and a reservation system providing positive reservations for usage of various services. SOLUTION: A server provides a communicable state between the service user and the service provider via the Internet, it sends information desired by the service user to the service provider searched on the basis of real time information sent from the service user, and it provides the service user with the real time information sent from the service provider in correspondence. In the reservation system, the server receives information of a reservation from the service user and sends it to the service provider.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a system for providing necessary information to providers and users of various services via a network such as the Internet.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art
2. Description of the Related Art Systems that connect a mobile phone to the Internet to perform information search and receive distribution of the searched information have been put to practical use. For example, when an operation for searching for a specific type of restaurant near a specific station is performed, a map indicating the operation is distributed on the display of the mobile phone. However, even if the user arrives at the destination based on such information, the person often ends up in vain due to cases such as not being able to fill the seats, not meeting the budget, or not being open for business hours. Real-time information, including the current status of the store, can prevent such failures,
A system for providing such real-time information via the Internet has not been proposed yet.

In view of the above-mentioned conventional problems, the present invention realizes a system for providing service users with real-time information from a service provider via a network such as the Internet. Aim. It is another object of the present invention to provide a reservation system capable of reliably performing reservation of use of various services in addition to realizing the system.

[0004]

An information providing system according to the present invention has an information terminal of a service user, an information terminal of a service provider, and information on a plurality of service providers. And a server that can communicate with the service provider based on real-time information transmitted from the information terminal by the service user, and communicates with the service provider to provide the service. The present invention is characterized in that real-time information regarding service provision obtained from a user within a predetermined time is provided to the service user (claim 1). In such an information providing system, the server communicates with the service provider selected based on the real-time information transmitted by the service user, and transmits real-time information regarding service provision obtained from the service provider within a predetermined time. Provide to the service user.

Further, the information providing system of the present invention has an information terminal of a service user, an information terminal of a service provider, and information on a plurality of service providers, and communicates with each of the information terminals via a network. A server capable of selecting a service provider based on real-time information transmitted from the information terminal by the service user and including information enabling communication to the service user. May be provided to the service provider (claim 2). In such an information providing system, the server provides predetermined information including information enabling communication from the service provider selected based on the real-time information transmitted by the service user to the service user. To provide.

Further, the reservation system of the present invention holds an information terminal of a service user, an information terminal of a service provider, and information on a plurality of service providers, and can communicate with each of the information terminals via a network. A service provider that receives a desired service and real-time information about the service user transmitted from the information terminal of the service user, and provides a service based on the information. And immediately transmits the information to the service provider, receives information on the service that can be provided from the service provider within a predetermined time, and transmits the information to the service user immediately after the predetermined time has elapsed. Receiving reservation information from the service user and transmitting the information to the corresponding service provider. Those (claim 3). In such a reservation system, the server provides the service provider with real-time information of the service user, searches the service user for a service provider that provides a desired service, and receives the service provider from the service provider. To provide real-time information. In this way, the server mediates information exchange of service provision and use between the service provider and the service user, and supports establishment of a reservation.

In the reservation system (claim 3), the server transmits reservation information to a corresponding service provider, receives reservation confirmation information from the service provider, and transmits the reservation confirmation information to the service user. (Claim 4). In this case, by transmitting the reservation confirmation information to the service user, the service user can confirm that the reservation has been established.

[0008]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An information providing system according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a diagram schematically illustrating a hardware configuration of a reservation system that is an example of an information providing system. In the figure, a server 1 is a computer on which software of the reservation system is installed, and is owned by a provider of the reservation system. The mobile phone 2 as a service user's information terminal in the reservation system is of a type equipped with a simple browser and capable of connecting to the Internet, and displays character information and image information on a display 2a. On the other hand, the personal computer 3 is an information terminal of a service provider who has previously made a contract with the administrator of the server 1 to participate in the operation of the reservation system, and includes various stores (from small-scale private business stores to companies). ). Although the number of personal computers 3 shown in the figure is one, there are actually as many as the number of stores. The information terminal of the service provider is not limited to a personal computer, and may be a mobile phone similar to the mobile phone 2. The server 1 is connected to the Internet 4
Can communicate with the mobile phone 2 and the personal computer 3 via the PC.

[0009] Various kinds of information on the stores, such as names, addresses, telephone numbers, mail addresses, business types, service provision items, business days, business hours, and the like, are registered in the server 1 in advance. In addition, information on bulletin boards provided by each store for PR of the store is also registered in the server 1 in advance. Server 1
Has established a system in which information can be searched according to conditions based on such information. For example, the first condition is a region,
Information can be searched using a local name such as "Kyoto", "Osaka", "Kobe" as a search condition. The second condition is a major category of service, and information can be searched using “eat”, “drink”, “play”, and the like as search conditions.
The third condition is the middle category of the service, and when “eating” is selected as the major category, information can be searched using “Japanese food”, “Western food”, “Chinese”, etc. as search conditions. it can.

FIG. 2 shows the server 1, the service user (mobile phone 2), and the service provider (personal computer 3).
It is a figure which shows the flow of a process of the reservation system performed among three persons. 3 to 9 show screens displayed on the display 2a of the mobile phone 2 in the order of operation. Hereinafter, an example of software processing of the reservation system will be described with reference to FIGS. Note that this example
Hereinafter, it is referred to as “direct access”. In the following, the direct access processing will be described,
The description of the other parts is omitted.

First, in FIG. 2, the server 2 provides a home page for the reservation system (preliminary step S0). The service user connects to the Internet from the mobile phone 2 and opens the above homepage. This allows
The screen of FIG. 3A is displayed on the display 2 a of the mobile phone 2. Here, the service user selects “1. direct access” and proceeds to the next step. Next, FIG.
Is displayed, and the service user inputs his / her own e-mail address. This e-mail address is used only between the service user and the server (mainly used in the server to issue an ID number or a membership number), and is not notified to the service provider. This is also displayed on the screen.

When an operation of proceeding to the next step is performed by inputting a mail address, a screen shown in FIG. 4A is displayed. Here, the service user inputs his / her current location. There are predetermined candidates, and the above-described first condition, that is, “Kyoto”, “Osaka”, “Kobe”, etc., is input. When the user enters the current location and proceeds to the next step, the screen shown in FIG. 4B is displayed, and the service user selects a genre. This corresponds to the above-described second and third conditions, in which the service user first selects a large category (for example, “eats”),
Further, selection of a middle category (for example, “China”) is performed.

After selecting the above genre and proceeding to the next,
The screen of FIG. 5A is displayed, and the service user selects information use. Here, the service user selects “1. direct access”. When this is selected and the process proceeds to the next, “your bulletin board” shown on the screen of FIG. 5B is displayed. Here, the service user inputs the reservation name, the number of people, the budget, the current location, and the time slot as required items (direct input or selection from predetermined candidates), and inputs comments as optional input items (FIG. Step 2 of U
1). Enter an appropriate temporary name (nickname, etc.) for the reserved name. By inputting necessary items and performing a “send” operation, real-time information written on the bulletin board and the first to third
Is transmitted to the server 1 (step U2 in FIG. 2). After the transmission, the screen is in a normal standby state as shown in the screen of FIG. In addition, in the bulletin board of FIG. 5B, columns of “direct telephone call: YES NO” and “telephone number:” are provided in addition to the above input items, which will be described later.

On the other hand, the server 1 receives the mail from the service user in step S1 of FIG. The server 1 having received the e-mail requests the service user based on the first to third conditions entered by the service user, the items written on the bulletin board, and the information of the service provider registered in advance. A search is made for a service provider (store) that may satisfy the conditions and items to be performed (step S2). Then, the mail is immediately transmitted to the service provider extracted by the search (Step S).
3). The content transmitted at this time is only the content written on the bulletin board, and the mail address of the service user is not notified. That is, the server transmits only the information necessary for using and providing the service without leaking the mail address, which is the personal information of the service user, to the service provider. However, the server arbitrarily creates an ID number of the service user and assigns the ID number to the outgoing mail in order to associate the outgoing mail with the service user.

The mail is received by the service provider (step O1). Based on the content of the e-mail, the service provider determines whether the service user can easily visit the store from the current location, there is no problem with the usage time, whether the desired number of people can be included, or whether the service can be provided according to the budget, Consider while considering the current state of the store. Then, if acceptable, an e-mail reply is sent to the server (step O2). To create and send this response email,
This is performed by the service provider inputting a message into a form of a bulletin board prepared in advance on the server side for each service provider. The message might be, for example, "Thank you for your email. We are waiting for your reservation on your budget." The server processes this message in the form of a bulletin board to create a bulletin board with the message. That is, the message is real-time information answered by the service provider in consideration of the current state of the store. If the service is unacceptable due to full capacity or other reasons, the service provider will not send a reply e-mail,
Send an e-mail with a content like "You can make a reservation in XX minutes." The server waits for a response e-mail from each service provider for a predetermined time (for example, 10 minutes) after the e-mail transmission in step S3, and sequentially receives and prepares a bulletin board with a message (step S3).
4).

Immediately after the lapse of the predetermined time, the server sends the service user an e-mail containing bulletin board information of all the service providers who have visited the service (step S5). As a result, an incoming mail message is displayed on the mobile phone 2 of the service user, for example, as shown in the screen of FIG. The received mail list is shown in FIG.
(It is assumed that there are five received mails). Here, when the service user selects the direct call 1, the screen of FIG. 7B is displayed, and the address of the bulletin board of the store is displayed. When the service user selects this address, the Internet connection is automatically established, and the above-described bulletin board screen shown in FIG. 8A is displayed. When the scroll operation is performed downward from the screen of (a), the screen of (b) is displayed. Here, items 1 to 3 and 5 are fixed information prepared in advance for store PR, while item 4 includes the above-described message as real-time information.

The service user sees these pieces of information and determines whether or not to make a reservation. When item 5 is clicked, the screen shown in FIG. 9 is displayed, and the location of the shop can be confirmed. When making a reservation, the user clicks "Reserve Now" on the screen shown in FIG. Thereby, the reservation mail is transmitted from the service user to the server (step U4). The reservation mail is also provided with the ID number (or member number, hereinafter the same) of the service provider corresponding to the bulletin board. The server receives the reservation mail (step S6) and identifies the corresponding service provider from the ID number. Then, the reservation mail is transmitted to the identified service provider (step S7). Also at this time, the service user's mail address and the like are not notified, but an ID number corresponding to the service user is assigned to the outgoing mail as in the case described above. If the reservation mail is not transmitted within a predetermined time (for example, within 30 minutes), the server may delete the message on the bulletin board assuming that the service user does not intend to make a reservation.

The service provider receiving the reservation mail in step O3 confirms this and transmits a reservation reception mail (step O4). At this time, the ID number of the service user is also returned together with the reservation reception mail. The server receives this mail (step S8),
The corresponding service user is identified from the ID number, and a reservation acceptance completion mail is transmitted immediately (step S9). Then, the service user receives this mail (step U5), and the reservation process is completed. After that, it can be confirmed by the reservation name (nickname or the like) that the service user who has arrived at the service provider's shop is the person who made the reservation.

As described above, the server provides the service provider with real-time information of the service user via the Internet, and searches the service user for a service provider that provides a desired service. Communicate
The real-time information received from the service provider is provided to the service user. In other words, the server mediates information exchange of service provision and use between the service provider and the service user, and supports establishment of a reservation. Also, since personal information such as the mail address of the service user is not notified to the service provider, the privacy of the service user can be protected.

On the other hand, in the bulletin board of FIG. 5B, columns of "direct telephone call: YES NO" and "telephone number:" are provided in addition to the above-mentioned input items. For example, in the column of "direct telephone call: YES NO", the default is set to NO, and in this case, the column of "telephone number:" is inactively displayed. Therefore, normally, it is not necessary to input in these fields. However, if the service user is willing to let his or her telephone number be known to the service provider, and wishes to have the service provider make a direct call, the user may select "direct call: YES. "NO" column is changed to YES. As a result, the field of "telephone number:" changes to the active display, and the service user inputs his / her own telephone number here. When the "transmit" operation is performed by inputting a telephone number in this manner, a request for a direct telephone call and the telephone number are transmitted to the service provider via the server. The service provider who sees this can make a reservation directly by calling the service user instead of replying the response mail to the server. Note that inputting a telephone number as described above is merely an example, and an e-mail address may be input. In short, for the service provider selected by the server, information enabling communication to the service user is
It may be provided together with other information. In this case, if the service provider provides the service user with not only audio but also images (including moving images), it is possible to effectively introduce the shop, which is convenient.

Although the above embodiment has been described with reference to a reservation system as an example, a system in which a server mediates information exchange of service provision and use between a service provider and a service user uses a reservation system. The present invention can be similarly applied to an unattended service form. In the above embodiment, the information terminal owned by the service user is described as a mobile phone, but may be a PHS or a mobile personal computer having equivalent functions. The information of the service user may be transmitted not only from the mobile information terminal but also from a personal computer at home or office, or a television capable of two-way communication (cable television, BS digital television, etc.).
Similarly, the service provider can use such a television. Further, although the above-described embodiment shows a system used on the Internet, the present invention can be similarly applied to other networks such as an intranet.

[0022]

The present invention configured as described above has the following effects. According to the information providing system of claim 1,
The server communicates with the service provider selected based on the real-time information transmitted by the service user, and provides the service user with real-time information on service provision obtained within a predetermined time from the service provider. Can be.

According to the information providing system of the second aspect, the server includes a predetermined information including information enabling communication from the service provider selected based on the real-time information transmitted by the service user to the service user. Is provided to the service provider, so that a state in which the service provider can provide real-time information to the service user can be realized.

According to the reservation system of the third aspect, the server provides the service provider with real-time information of the service user, and searches the service user for a service provider that provides a desired service. Provide real-time information received from the service provider. In this way, the server mediates information exchange of service provision and use between the service provider and the service user, and supports the establishment of the reservation, so that the use reservation of various services can be reliably performed. .

According to the reservation system of the fourth aspect, the reservation confirmation information is transmitted to the service user, so that the service user can confirm that the reservation has been made, so that the user is safe.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an outline of a hardware configuration in a reservation system which is an example of an information providing system of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a flow of processing executed among a server, a service user, and a service provider of the reservation system.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an initial screen and a mail address input screen displayed on a service user's information terminal in the reservation system.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a current location and genre input screen displayed on an information terminal of a service user in the reservation system.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a selection of information use displayed on an information terminal of the service user and a bulletin board screen of the service user in the reservation system.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a standby screen and an incoming mail screen displayed on an information terminal of a service user in the reservation system.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a received mail list displayed on an information terminal of a service user in the reservation system and a screen for selecting one of the received mail lists.

FIG. 8 is a view showing a screen of a bulletin board of the service provider displayed on the information terminal of the service user in the reservation system.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a map screen of service provider bulletin board information displayed on the service user information terminal in the reservation system.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 server 2 mobile phone (service user) 3 personal computer (service provider) 4 internet

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An information terminal of a service user, an information terminal of a service provider, and a server having information on a plurality of service providers and capable of communicating with each of the information terminals via a network, The server selects a service provider based on real-time information transmitted from the information terminal by the service user, communicates with the service provider, and provides real-time information on service provision obtained within a predetermined time from the service provider. An information providing system for providing important information to the service user. 2. An information terminal of a service user, an information terminal of a service provider, and a server having information on a plurality of service providers and capable of communicating with each of the information terminals via a network, The server selects a service provider based on real-time information transmitted from the information terminal by the service user, and sends predetermined information including information enabling communication to the service user to the service provider. An information providing system characterized by providing. 3. An information terminal of a service user, an information terminal of a service provider, and a server having information on a plurality of service providers and capable of communicating with each of the information terminals via a network, The server receives the desired service transmitted from the information terminal of the service user and real-time information on the service user, searches for a service provider suitable for providing the service based on the information, and immediately searches for the service. Transmitting information to a service provider, receiving real-time information on a service that can be provided from the service provider within a predetermined time, and transmitting the information to the service user immediately after the predetermined time elapses; A reservation system for receiving reservation information from a service provider and transmitting the information to a corresponding service provider. 4. The server according to claim 3, wherein the server transmits the reservation information to a corresponding service provider, receives reservation confirmation information from the service provider, and transmits the information to the service user. Reservation system.