JP2002207796A - Seat reservation system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve a problem that many vacant seats of a short section are generated depending on an order of reservation and an isolated vacant seat is generated by cancellation because a seat is fixed at a time of acceptance of a reservation in a conventional seat reservation system. SOLUTION: A reservation system 1010 performs an optimization process 1030 of allocating a seat to all of reservation information on every acceptance of a new reservation and cancellation, and holds an optimum seat allocation result at that time. Weighting to each optimization target and the number of operating rolling stocks are sequentially changed depending on the number of reservations and content of the reservations 1040. On receiving a request for fixing the seat from a user or a seat operation manager, the number of the seat is fixed by using the latest seat allocation result, and the number is written in a reservation information housing means 1060 of the user.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a seat reservation system for allocating a limited number of seats such as transportation means to users, and more particularly to a seat reservation system such as a railway where the use section differs for each user. The present invention also relates to a seat reservation method using the seat reservation system.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A conventional seat reservation system searches for vacant seats in accordance with a preset search order, and issues a ticket printed with a seat number as soon as an available seat is found. In addition, the search order of vacant seats and the number of operating vehicles have been determined in advance based on demand forecasts before starting reservation acceptance.

[0003]

In the conventional seat reservation system, since the seat positions are determined in the order in which the reservations are accepted, the use sections of the users assigned to the same seat are discontinuous or the reservation is canceled. In some cases, a large number of vacant seats in a short section occurred. Since these vacant seats cannot be effectively used when assigning users in long sections, there is a problem in that the seat use efficiency is reduced. Recently,
`` Seat designation device and seat designation method '' (JP-A-11-213181)
As disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2000-254, a method has been proposed to improve this problem by changing the seat number after reservation, but there are some problems in realizing this method.

First, no method has been proposed for determining whether a new reservation can be accepted in a state where a user is not assigned to a seat. Since it is expected that a vacant seat inquiry from a user will be a large amount of transactions, it is not possible to judge vacant seats while sequentially allocating seats.
For this reason, a method of instantaneously determining vacant seats from only the reservation data is required.

Second, in addition to the above-mentioned problems, in the conventional reservation system, there is a problem that the seats of group passengers are dispersed due to the occurrence of spatially isolated vacant seats, and the passengers on the window side and the passengers on the aisle side when getting on and off. However, there has been a problem that intermingling occurs between them, but no method has been proposed for improving the convenience of these users.

Third, no reservation method has been proposed in which a user who determines a seat position at the time of reservation and a user whose seat position is undetermined at the time of reservation are mixed. It is expected that some users will want to determine the seat position at the time of reservation, so it is necessary to make a reservation system that takes these users into consideration.

Fourth, a method of modifying a seat / vehicle operation plan corresponding to various reservation situations such as a busy season and a quiet season has not been proposed. In the conventional reservation method, the search order of vacant seats and the number of operating vehicles are determined in advance based on demand forecasts, so when actually accepting reservations, passengers are biased to specific vehicles or large numbers of vacant seats occur. However, there has been no proposal for a method for improving these problems.

A first object of the present invention is to provide a seat reservation which optimizes a seat allocation to improve a seat operation efficiency and a user's convenience while processing a large number of vacant seat inquiry transactions particularly occurring in the Internet reservation. It is to provide a system. A second object of the present invention is to provide a seat reservation system for modifying a seat operation plan or a vehicle operation plan according to a reservation situation.

A third object of the present invention is to coexist a reservation system for fixing a seat position at the time of reservation and a reservation system for not fixing a seat position at the time of reservation, and to promote the use of a reservation system without fixing a seat position. Is to do.

A fourth object of the present invention is to provide a method for realizing a reservation procedure in a reservation system in which a seat position is not fixed at the time of reservation without impairing user's convenience.

[0011]

In order to achieve the first object, according to the present invention, when a new reservation is accepted, the presence or absence of a vacant seat is determined at a high speed using only the accepted reservation information, and the reception is made at the rear. The seat allocation optimization process is performed on the completed reservation. As a result, it is possible to optimize the seat allocation to improve the seat occupancy and the user convenience while processing a large number of vacant seat inquiry transactions in Internet reservation at high speed.

Further, in order to achieve the second object,
According to the present invention, the seat allocation plan and the vehicle operation plan are modified at an arbitrary time using the reservation information. This makes it possible to change the allocation method and vehicle operation according to the actual reservation status.

Further, in order to achieve the third object,
The present invention determines a seat position at an arbitrary time based on a seat number determination request from a user, and prefers a selling price to a user who does not determine a seat position at the time of reservation. is there. This makes it possible to use the conventional reservation method that determines the seat position at the time of reservation, promotes the use of the method that does not determine the seat position at the time of reservation, and improves the efficiency of correcting the seat / vehicle operation plan. It becomes possible.

In order to achieve the fourth object,
According to the present invention, transmission and reception of information between a reservation information storage means held by a user and a reservation system are performed using a communication function. As a result, the user can perform a plurality of procedures required by the reservation method in which the seat position is not fixed at the time of reservation without going to the window.

[0015]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The contents of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 12 by taking a train seat reservation system as an embodiment of the present invention as an example.

FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of a train seat reservation system. The seat reservation system 1010 has four functions of vacancy determination 1020, seat allocation optimization 1030, optimization target correction 1040, and vehicle operation plan correction 1050, and reservation information 1060 for storing reservation contents from users as usage data. , A seat allocation table 1070 storing the latest seat allocation optimization processing result, and vehicle information 1080 storing the number of vehicles and vehicle configuration information. The reservation system is connected to a wireless communication network 1100 via a communication device 1090, and accesses a portable communication terminal 1110 held by the user via the communication system 1090.

FIG. 2 shows the internal configuration of the portable communication terminal held by the user. The mobile communication terminal 2010 includes a storage device 2020 for storing reservation information, an arithmetic device 2030, and a communication device 2040 for communicating with the reservation system. In the storage device, train reservation information 2050 and settlement information 2060 are stored.
Window side designation 2130, seat confirmation request 2140, train number 2150, reservation
The ID 2160 and the seat number 2170 are stored. Further, a credit card number 2180 is stored in the settlement information.

The train number and the reservation ID are received and stored from the reservation system at the time of train reservation. The seat number is received from the reservation system and stored when the seat number determination processing is performed.

A series of processing flow from reservation to seat determination will be described below with reference to FIGS. FIG. 3 is a processing flow of train seat reservation. When making a reservation, the user operates the mobile communication terminal to create train reservation information in which items from the departure date to the seat confirmation request are set, and transmit the information to the reservation system. In step 3010, the reservation system that has received the reservation request from the user's mobile communication terminal first determines in step 3020 whether there is a vacant seat that satisfies the user's use conditions. If there is no vacant seat that satisfies the condition in step 3030, a notification that the reservation cannot be accepted is sent to the user's portable communication terminal in step 3040. If there is a vacant seat that satisfies the condition, the train number and the reservation ID are transmitted to the user's mobile communication terminal in step 3050, and the train number and the reservation ID are stored in the storage device of the mobile communication terminal. In the reservation system, in step 3060, the reservation contents of the reservation are registered in the reservation information.

FIG. 4 shows the data structure of the reservation information. The reservation information for each train number 4010 has a reservation ID of 4
020, reservation date 4030, reservation time 4040, boarding station 4050, getting off station 4
It is composed of 060, number of users 4070, non-smoking designation 4080, window designation 4090, and seat number 4100.

Next, in step 3070, a price is calculated based on the reservation information transmitted from the user. FIG. 5 is a calculation rule of the price discount rate. Set a discount rate 5020 according to the reservation conditions 5010, 5% for 5030 if there is no seat confirmation request at the time of reservation, 3% for 5040 if there is no window side designation, 3% for 5050 if there is no non-smoking designation, Each is subtracted from the base price. Based on the price calculated by this processing, the payment is made in step 3080 using the credit card number.

Next, in step 3090, the vehicle operation plan is corrected based on the number of reservations received up to the time, and the vehicle information is updated based on the correction result.

FIG. 6 is a processing flow of the vehicle operation plan correction processing. In step 6010, if the current number of vehicles is less than the maximum number of vehicles, and furthermore, in step 6020, if the number of empty seats in all sections is less than 20% of the total number of seats, Number one
Increase the number of vehicles. Next, in step 6040, the total number of vehicles is calculated. In step 6050, if the number of vehicles is smaller than the maximum number of vehicles, in step 6060, the number of free seat vehicles is recalculated. Finally, in step 6070, the total number of vehicles is recalculated, and in step 6080, the vehicle information is updated.

FIG. 7 shows a data structure of vehicle information. Vehicle information is train number 7010, departure date 7020, departure time 7030,
Number of operating vehicles 7040, reserved seat number 7050, unreserved seat number
7060 and an optimization pattern 7070.

Next, in step 3100, the optimization pattern of the seat allocation is corrected based on the number of reservations received up to the time. FIG. 8 is a description of two types of optimization patterns and a processing flow of optimization target correction processing. Two types of optimization evaluation value calculation formulas 8020 are prepared as the optimization pattern 8010, and the weights for the two optimization targets are changed according to the train reservation status. In the optimization pattern A, allocation is performed with emphasis on passenger comfort, and in the optimization pattern B, allocation is performed with emphasis on seat operation efficiency. In step 8030, the current optimization pattern is A, and step 8
In 040, the number of vehicles is the maximum number of vehicles, and step 8
In 050, if the number of vacant seats in all sections is 5% or less of the total number of seats, the optimization pattern is changed to B in step 8060.

Based on the optimization pattern, a step
At 3110, the seat allocation is optimized. The seat allocation optimizing process includes two processes, a process of maximizing seat operation efficiency and a process of maximizing passenger comfort.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of a processing method of the seat operation efficiency maximizing process in the seat allocation optimizing process. In the process of maximizing the seat operation efficiency, all reservations are sorted using the boarding station as the first key and the getting off station as the second key, and combinations 9020 and 9030 of users occupying one seat are created in this order.
With this processing, it is possible to allocate consecutive users in the use section to the same seat, reduce the occurrence of short vacant sections, and maximize the seat operation efficiency.

Next, FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a processing method of the passenger comfort maximizing processing. In the passenger comfort maximization processing 10010, group passenger adjacent allocation processing 10020, passenger crossover minimization processing 10030, and seat equal arrangement processing 10040 are performed. In the group customer adjacent allocation process, the seat position is determined in consideration of the combination of the number of users of each user. In the passenger intersection minimization process, the combinations of users created in the process of maximizing seating efficiency are rearranged according to the number of passengers getting on and off (replacement), and the combinations 10040 and 10050 of users who get on and off frequently are placed on the aisle side. , The combinations 10060 and 10070 with a small number of getting on and off are assigned to the window side. This processing makes it possible to reduce the number of times that the passenger on the window side gets on and off the passenger on the aisle side. In the seat equalizing process, empty seat rows are evenly arranged in the vehicle.

The seat allocation is optimized according to this processing method, and the allocation result is stored in a seat allocation table in step 3120. FIG. 11 shows the data structure of the seat assignment table.
The seat allocation table is a table storing, for each train number 11010, a reservation ID of a user who occupies a seat of each seat number 11020 in each section 11030.

The user can request a seat number confirmation at any time from the reception of the reservation to the boarding time using the reservation ID received at the time of reservation. Alternatively, the seat operator issues a seat determination request to the reservation system in order to determine the seat numbers of all users immediately before the train departs.

FIG. 12 is a processing flow of the seat number determination processing. In step 12020, the reservation system that has received the seat number determination request in step 12010 determines the seat number of the reservation ID based on the latest seat allocation table. Further, in step 12030, the seat number of the reservation in the reservation information is written, and in step 12040,
The seat number is transmitted to the user's mobile communication terminal. The portable communication terminal of the user who has received the seat number stores the number in the item of the seat number in the train reservation information in the storage device.

[0032]

According to the present invention, it is possible to optimize the seat allocation to improve the operational efficiency of the seat and the convenience of the user while processing a large number of vacant seat inquiry transactions in Internet reservation and the like. .

Further, according to the present invention, it becomes possible to modify the seat operation plan and the vehicle operation plan according to the reservation situation.

Further, according to the present invention, it is possible to use a reservation method for fixing a seat position at the time of reservation and a reservation method for not fixing a seat position at the time of reservation, and to promote the use of a reservation method without fixing a seat position. It becomes possible.

Further, according to the present invention, a reservation procedure in a reservation system in which a seat position is not fixed at the time of reservation can be realized with high user convenience. According to the effects of these inventions, it is possible to improve the convenience of passengers and improve the operation efficiency of seats and vehicles as compared with the conventional seat reservation system.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration of a seat reservation system.

FIG. 2 is an internal configuration of a portable communication terminal of a user.

FIG. 3 is a processing flow at the time of accepting a reservation.

FIG. 4 is a data structure of reservation information.

FIG. 5 is a calculation rule of a price discount rate.

FIG. 6 is a processing flow of a vehicle operation plan correct processing.

FIG. 7 is a data structure of vehicle information.

FIG. 8 is a processing flow of an explanation of an optimization pattern and an optimization target correction processing.

FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram of a processing method of a seat operation efficiency maximizing process.

FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram of a processing method of a passenger comfort maximizing process.

FIG. 11 is a data structure of a seat assignment table.

FIG. 12 is a process flow of a seat number determination process.

[Explanation of symbols]

1010: seat reservation system, 1020: vacant seat determination processing, 1030: seat allocation optimization processing, 1040: optimization target correction processing, 1050: vehicle operation plan correction processing,
1060: reservation information database, 1070: seat assignment table database, 1080: vehicle information database, 1
090: communication device, 1100: wireless communication network,
1110: Portable communication terminal.

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A seat specification system for reserving a seat of a transportation facility in response to a reservation request from a user, wherein: a means for receiving a reservation request from the user; Means for determining the presence or absence of a vacant seat that satisfies the use condition indicated by the reservation request, using the reservation information indicated by the reservation request. Means for controlling the storage, and when the user or the operator of the seat specification system requests a seat determination, the seat position is determined based on the seat allocation result based on the reservation status at the requested time. A seat designation system comprising means for performing 2. The seat specification system according to claim 1, wherein the means for receiving the reservation request receives the reservation request transmitted from a terminal device connected to the reservation specification system via a network. Seat designation system. 3. The seat designation system according to claim 2, further comprising: means for presenting said determined seat position to said terminal device via said network.