JP2002342878A - Car sharing management system - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a car sharing management system for sharing an automobile by a plurality of users. SOLUTION: The car sharing management system provides a car sharing management web site for sharing a vehicle by the plurality of the users on a network, and includes a server having a database for storing information on reservation of the vehicle, and a terminal installed on a part of each of the users and connected to the network. The server transmits a form for inputting the reservation of the vehicle in response to an access to the web site from the terminal, stores the information on the reservation of the vehicle inputted in the form in response to return of the form from the terminal, and provides a page for presenting the information on the reservation on the web site.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a car sharing management system for a plurality of users to use a car jointly.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, automobiles have become so popular that they are indispensable in society. But especially in urban areas,
Many people hesitate to buy and own a car due to lack of parking space, expensive parking fees, or limited opportunities to use the car. Also, in order to reduce the burden on the environment such as air pollution and traffic congestion due to an increase in the number of vehicles, a concept of car sharing in which one vehicle is used by a plurality of people has been proposed.

[0003]

Although car sharing is one of the effective means for solving the above-mentioned various problems, as a practical matter, it is planned to use a car between individuals having different life patterns. Adjusting is complicated and time consuming.

Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a system that can easily adjust the use schedule of a vehicle, such as an automobile, that is owned by multiple owners.

[0005]

According to one aspect of the present invention, a database is provided on a network for providing a car sharing management website for a plurality of users to use a vehicle jointly, and stores information on reservation of the vehicle. And a terminal installed at each user and connected to the network, wherein the server reserves the vehicle according to access to the website from the terminal. Is transmitted to the terminal, and in response to the reply of the form from the terminal, the vehicle reservation information entered in the form is stored in the database and the reservation information is displayed. A car sharing management system is provided that is programmed to provide pages on the website.

According to this embodiment, the use schedule of the vehicle jointly owned by a plurality of owners can be easily adjusted, so that the vehicle can be used at a mutually convenient date and time.

[0007] In another aspect of the present invention, the terminal stores a time point at which a predetermined point is consumed every time the user makes a reservation for a vehicle. It is configured to determine whether or not the time point stored in the terminal is left, and if not, programmed to reject the reservation of the vehicle.

According to this embodiment, points are allocated in advance in consideration of the charge sharing ratio, the tendency of each user to use the vehicle, and the like, so that a situation in which one user occupies the vehicle can be avoided.

[0009] In still another embodiment of the present invention, the predetermined points to be consumed are different for each day of the week or for each time zone when the vehicle is reserved.

[0010] According to this aspect, when each user uses the vehicle outside of a preset time zone in consideration of his or her daily behavior pattern, a lot of points are consumed so that the required time is reduced. Use other than a band can be suppressed.

[0011] In still another embodiment of the present invention, when the form in which the information of the reservation is input by the first user is returned, the server may make an advance reservation by the second user near the reservation. It is determined by searching the database whether or not there is, and if there is a preceding reservation, an electronic notifying the terminal of the second user that a subsequent reservation has been made by the first user. Takes a configuration that is programmed to send mail.

According to this aspect, if another user has made a reservation earlier in the time slot before the time slot reserved by the user, the reservation is newly entered in the terminal of the other user in a later time slot. Alerts the user by sending an e-mail notifying that the user has made a reservation earlier. A situation in which the shared vehicle is used can be prevented beforehand.

[0013] In still another embodiment of the present invention, when the form in which the information of the reservation has been input by the first user is returned, the server precedes the reservation by the second user. When the first user fails to make a reservation, the second user sends the earlier reservation cancellation information, and the first user makes the earlier reservation. Has been programmed to send an email notifying that it has been revoked.

According to this embodiment, even if there is a prior contract at the date and time when the user wants to make a reservation, the server can request the cancellation and if the second user sends a cancellation, the server sends the request to the second user. As a result, an e-mail notifying that the cancellation has been made is transmitted to the first user, so that it is not necessary to visit the website many times to check the reservation status. Further, in this case, the first user who has received the notification can preferentially reserve the canceled time zone.

[0015]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the overall configuration of an embodiment of a car sharing management system according to the present invention. The server 10 is configured by a personal computer, a workstation, or the like. The server 10 is connected to a network 11 such as the Internet, and provides a car sharing management website for sharing one or more vehicles with a plurality of users.

The server 10 is installed, for example, under a management company that operates and manages a car sharing system. Alternatively, it may be installed in a sales company that sells or leases vehicles such as automobiles used jointly, or in a car maintenance shop.

The server 10 has a database. The database includes information such as names, user IDs, passwords, mail addresses, etc. of users who jointly use the vehicle, and the start date and time and end date and time of the reservation for each vehicle. (Reservation time zone) information is stored.

Each user who uses the vehicle jointly has:
Terminals 12 and 13 which are personal computers and mobile terminals 14 and 15 such as PDAs and mobile phones are arranged. The user can access the car sharing management website provided by the server 10 via the network 11 using the browsers installed on the terminals 12 and 13 and the mobile terminals 14 and 15, respectively. In addition, mailers are installed in the terminals 12 and 13 and the mobile terminals 14 and 15 so that electronic mail can be transmitted and received.

Each of the terminals 12 and 13 is provided with a display unit such as a display and an input unit such as a keyboard and a mouse. Each mobile terminal 14 and 15 has a display unit such as a liquid crystal screen,
And an input unit such as a button, a dial, or a stick. Hereinafter, the term “terminal” includes both a terminal and a portable terminal.

Each page included in the car sharing management website provided by the server 10 (hereinafter, simply referred to as “website”) is described in HTML and compact terminal compatible HTML such as HTML. The server 10 transmits the HTML of each page to the user terminal according to the URL address requested from the browser of the user terminal. The browser on the user's terminal
The transmitted HTML is analyzed and each page is displayed on the display unit of the terminal. The server 10 also has an HTM transmitted to the terminal.
A program such as a CGI program started based on the description of L is installed, and can perform predetermined processing such as searching a database and sending an e-mail.

The user has previously formed a sharing group for managing and using one vehicle jointly (car sharing) on a website or in accordance with the mediation of a car sales company by several persons. Vehicles are purchased or rented from a sales company or the like for each shared group. Hereinafter, this vehicle is referred to as a shared vehicle.

In the present embodiment, it is assumed that there are a plurality of general households that live in a nearby area as a user and do not own a vehicle such as an automobile due to various circumstances. But,
In another aspect, the car sharing management system of the present invention can be used in a case where a plurality of business vehicles are owned by an office or a factory and a plurality of employees use the business operator jointly. .

Each user is assigned a user ID, and each user sets a password in advance. The set user ID and password are stored in the server 10
Stored in the database. The user ID and password may be set on a website.

The shared vehicle is stored in a parking lot of a predetermined user or a parking lot shared by a shared group. A user who has made a reservation for a shared vehicle on the website goes to the parking lot on the date and time of the reservation and uses the shared vehicle. The key of the shared vehicle is owned by each user, or is kept by a parking lot manager or the like. After using the shared vehicle, each user may be obliged to move to a location specified by the next user.

In this embodiment, one vehicle is owned by each shared group. However, a plurality of kitchens may be provided. In this case, it is possible to use the vehicle properly according to the usage mode. That is, it is also possible to jointly own a mini car for short-distance travel, a RV for leisure, a minivan for multi-people travel, and use them according to the needs of each household.

The shared group can also conclude a contract for the maintenance of the shared vehicle with a car maintenance shop.
When the maintenance of the shared vehicle is to be performed, the maintenance shop accesses the car sharing management website from its own terminal and makes a reservation at the date and time when the maintenance is performed. At this time, the shared vehicle cannot be used, but the maintenance shop may prepare a substitute vehicle so that the reservation can be made on the website.

The basic operation of the server 10 for providing a car sharing management website is that when a user makes a reservation for a shared vehicle, the information is provided on the website, and the user is notified at a desired time. If there is a reservation, the later reservation is not accepted.

When a user accesses a website using his / her own terminal, the server 10 sends a home page to the terminal. This home page includes a description page of the car sharing management system according to the present invention, a guide page for building a sharing group that uses cars together, an advertisement page for a car sales company that sells or rents shared vehicles,
A link is provided to each page such as a reservation status confirmation page for confirming the reservation status of the shared vehicle and making a reservation, so that the user can move to each page in accordance with the selection of the user.

The user making the reservation moves from the home page to the reservation status confirmation page. Before displaying this page, a user ID and a password may be input. In response to the HTML of this page being requested from the browser of the user's terminal, a program such as a CGI program installed in the server 10 is started, and the server 10 searches the database for information on the shared vehicle reservation status from the database. HTML to reflect the searched information
And sends it to the user's terminal.

FIG. 2 shows an example of a reservation status confirmation page.
On page 20, change the buttons 21, 22, 23, 24, the current point of use 25 of the accessing user, the tables 26, 27, 28 showing the shared vehicle reservation status, and the date displayed on the screen Buttons 29 and 30 are displayed.

Tables 26, 27, and 28 show the reservation status of shared vehicles every day. The dates displayed on the left side of each of the tables 26, 27, and 28 in the figure represent the dates on which reservations have been made, and the upper part of the tables represents time. Each table 26, 27,
In FIG. 28, the colored portions indicate the time zones that have already been reserved by other users. The time zone is delimited, for example, every hour. A, B and C mean the names of the users who made the reservation. In this example, the reservation is made by the user A from 10:00 to 14:00 on May 20, the reservation is made by the user C from 6:00 to 10:00 on May 21, and the reservation is made from 14:00 to 21:00. Until the time, it means that the reservation has been made by the user B. Also, from 9:00 to 24:00 on May 22, this means that a reservation for performing a vehicle inspection of the shared vehicle is made by a maintenance shop contracted by the shared group. Thus, table 26,
By referring to 27 and 28, it is possible to easily know the time zone in which the shared vehicle is reserved and the name of the user who made the reservation.

"Previous date" button 29 and "Next date"
By clicking the button 30, the reservation status of the shared vehicle other than the displayed date can be referred to. In response to the click of the button 29 or 30, the server 10 searches the database for the information on the reservation status of the corresponding day, creates HTML so as to reflect the searched information, and transmits it to the user terminal.

A user who intends to make a reservation inputs "reservation input".
When the button 21 is clicked, the server 10 transmits an input form 31 as shown in FIG. 3 to the user's terminal. The user looks at the tables 26, 27 and 28 on the page 20, and inputs his / her desired time zone from the available time zones.
To enter. Each input item 32 allows the user to select a month, day, and time to be input from a pull-down menu that is developed by clicking a button at the right end.

It is also possible to input a memo in the field 33. The memo should state the purpose and destination of the shared vehicle, and what should be contacted by other users in the group. Items described in the field 33 are shown in FIG.
Are displayed in each of the tables 26, 27, and 28 when the pointer is moved over a reserved time slot.

When a predetermined input item is input to the input form 31 and a "send" button 34 is clicked, the input information is transmitted to the server 10 and a program such as a CGI program installed on the server 10 is started. Is done. If the input reservation time slot is vacant, the server 10 updates the HTML to reflect the reservation and transmits it to the user terminal. If the reserved time slot is not vacant, a message to that effect is transmitted. To cancel the reservation input, click the "Cancel" button 35,
Return to page 20.

When canceling the already reserved time slot, clicking the "cancel" button 22 shown in FIG. 2 causes the server 10 to cancel the reservation by specifying the same date and time slot as in FIG. And send the form to the user's terminal.

FIG. 2 further shows a “usage status” button 23. The user who has finished using the reserved shared vehicle or cannot use it as reserved for some reason clicks the button to move to a vehicle usage status input page and input the usage status. Details of this process will be described later with reference to FIGS.

When the "maintenance information" button 24 is clicked, it is possible to move to a page indicating a maintenance schedule to be received by the shared vehicle. This page also includes information provided by car companies, local event information,
The campaign information of the store is displayed.

In the current use point 25, the current use point of the accessing user is displayed. The user
Reservations for shared vehicles can only be made within this point range. That is, use points are allocated to each user in advance in consideration of the share of the fund for purchasing the shared vehicle, the tendency of each user to use the vehicle, and the like. This use point is configured such that, for example, 100 points are provided to each user every month, and each point is consumed one time each time the shared vehicle is used for one hour. The used points may be set on a weekly or daily basis, and the number of consumed points may be different depending on the day of the week or time zone. In addition, when the user uses the joint vehicle outside of a preset time zone in consideration of his / her daily behavior pattern, by setting the points to be consumed more than usual, the user can use the joint vehicle outside of the necessary time zone. Use can also be suppressed.

The use point is retrieved from the database of the server 10 when the user accesses the reservation status confirmation page for the first time, and is transmitted to the user terminal as a cookie, for example, and stored. The Cookie information is also transmitted to the server 10 simultaneously with the transmission of the reservation input form.
The number of used points corresponding to the time reserved by the CGI program or the like is subtracted and transmitted to the terminal again.

FIGS. 2 and 3 show examples of pages displayed on the display units of the terminals 12 and 13 which are personal computers. The user accesses the website using the mobile terminals 14 and 15. In this case, each page configured for the mobile terminal is transmitted from the server 10 to the mobile terminals 14 and 15 according to the URL address.

Next, the processing procedure of the server 10 when setting a reservation will be described in detail with reference to the flowchart shown in FIG. Hereinafter, a description will be given on the assumption that the user A accesses the website and makes a reservation for the shared vehicle.

In step 41, the server 10 transmits a reservation status confirmation page to the user A's terminal in response to the user A accessing the website using the terminal and moving to the reservation status confirmation page. In step 42, a reservation input form is transmitted to the terminal in response to the operation of the user A. User A
Enters the desired time in the reservation input form and submits it.
The server 10 acquires the information (Step 43).

In step 44, it is confirmed whether or not the user's point of use recorded in the cookie remains. If there are no reservations, the reservation cannot be made, so this process ends. If there are, go to step 45.

In step 45, the server 10 searches the database to determine whether or not the desired reservation time of the user A has exceeded the preset use limit time. The use time limit is set in advance so that the shared vehicle is not occupied for an unduly long time. If it exceeds, go to step 56. If such a usage time limit has not been set, this step is ignored.

If there is no problem with the use time limit, in step 46, the database is searched to determine whether there is any advance contract in the time slot for which reservation is desired. When the reservation has not been made, the server 10 updates the database to put the reservation of the user A in the time slot, and transmits a page displaying a message notifying that the reservation has been completed to the terminal of the user A. (Step 47). At this time, it is preferable to issue a reservation number and notify it at the same time for the convenience of inputting the usage status described later.

Subsequently, a point corresponding to the reserved time is subtracted from the used point, a Cookie in which the point is recorded is transmitted to the user A's terminal, and a page displaying a message notifying the remaining used point is displayed on the terminal. (Step 48).

In step 49, the server 10 searches the database to determine whether a reservation by another user has been made within a predetermined period (for example, one hour) after the reservation made by the user A. If there is no reservation, the process proceeds to step 51. If there is a reservation, a page is displayed on the terminal of the user A indicating that "there is a reservation later, so please return on time" (step 50).

Subsequently, in step 51, the server 10 searches the database to determine whether a reservation by another user has been made within a predetermined period (for example, one hour) before the reservation made by the user A. If there is no reservation, the process ends. If another reservation has been made by the user B before the reservation, an e-mail notifying that a reservation has been newly made is transmitted to the terminal of the user B (step 52), and this process ends. Thus, it is possible to prevent a situation in which the user B who has made a reservation earlier assumes that the reservation has not been made later and uses the shared vehicle for an excessive amount of time.

If it is determined in step 46 that there is an advance contract by the user B, the process proceeds to step 53, where the terminal of the user A has an advance contract in the desired time zone. A page is displayed on the display for confirming whether or not to execute. On this page, when the user clicks a “Yes” or “No” button, it is possible to select whether or not the user wants to wait for the cancellation and to transmit it to the server 10. Then step
At 54, the server 10 determines whether the user A has selected the cancel wait.

If the cancel wait is selected, the server 10 transmits a page indicating that the state has entered the cancel wait monitoring state to the terminal of the user A (step 55), and ends this process. Thereafter, the server 10 monitors the cancellation of the user B who made the reservation earlier. Specifically, when a cancellation is transmitted from the user B, the server 10
An e-mail notifying that the user B has canceled the desired reservation time zone is transmitted to the terminal of the user A. In this case, the canceled time zone is the user A for a predetermined period.
Can be configured to be reserved on a priority basis. When the cancellation is not performed by the user B by the reserved time zone, the server 10 does nothing.

If the user A does not select the wait for cancellation in step 54, the process proceeds to step 56, where a page for selecting whether or not to make a reservation at another date and time is transmitted to the terminal of the user A. On this page, the user clicks the “Yes” or “No” button to select whether or not to make a reservation at another date and time.
Can be sent to

In step 57, the server 10 determines whether the user A makes a reservation at another date and time. If no reservation is made, the process ends. When another reservation is made, the process returns to step 42, and a series of processing is performed from the beginning.

When the user who has made a reservation by the above-described process has actually finished using the shared vehicle during the reserved time, or cannot return the shared vehicle according to the reservation for some reason, the terminal is used. Go to the website and enter its usage. In this case, the terminal is preferably a mobile terminal such as the mobile phone shown in FIG. 5 so as to cope with an unexpected situation of the user.
After returning, the usage status may be input using a personal computer at home.

When the user accesses the website using the terminal and clicks the “usage status” button 23 on the reservation status confirmation page (FIG. 2), the server 10 first specifies the reservation made by user A. Send the reservation number input page.

FIG. 5 is an example of a reservation number input page.
Although FIG. 5 shows the mobile phone 60 as a terminal, the form of the terminal is not limited to this, and the terminals 12 and 13 which are personal computers can also display the page. The screen 61 displays a message prompting the user to enter a reservation number. By operating the button 62, a reservation number can be input.

On this page, by inputting the reservation number issued from the server 10 in step 47 of FIG. 4, the reservation for which the user intends to input the usage status is specified. As an alternative, the reservation can be specified by re-entering the reserved time slot. When the input is completed, the server 10 transmits a vehicle usage status input page to the terminal 60.

FIG. 6 shows an example of the vehicle usage status input page. On the screen 61, four menus of "return", "early arrival", "impossible to return in time", and "failure" are displayed together with the first number, and the number can be input by the button 62 or not shown. By operating a dial, a stick, or the like, it is possible to select the usage status of the vehicle corresponding to each menu.

If the user returns within the reserved time, the user selects “return”. In response to this selection, the server 10
Indicates that the reservation is completed, for example, by changing the color of the reserved time zone in the table on the reservation status confirmation page (FIG. 2). If there is another user who has made a reservation later, an email notifying that the user has returned in time may be sent to the terminal of the user.

If you arrive earlier than the reservation time, for example, 10
If you plan to use it until 6:00 p.m.,
The user selects “early arrival”. In response to this selection, the server 10 updates the database so as to cancel the reservation after the early arrival time in the reserved time zone, and reflects it on the reservation status confirmation page. By doing so, it is possible to shorten the period in which the shared vehicle is reserved even though it is not being used, and to use that period more effectively for another user.

If it is not possible to return at the scheduled time due to traffic congestion or the like, the user selects "cannot return within a fixed time". In response to this selection, the server 10 searches the database and sends an e-mail notifying the user to the terminal of another user who has made a reservation after the reservation time. In this way, it is possible to prevent a situation in which there is no shared vehicle even if another user goes to the parking lot at the reserved time. In this case, it may be configured to reduce the use points of the users who cannot return on time due to violation of the rules.

When the shared vehicle cannot be used due to a failure or the like, the user selects “failure”. In response to this selection, the server 10 notifies the terminal of another user who makes a reservation thereafter by e-mail, and transmits the same e-mail to the terminal of the contracted maintenance company. . By doing so, not only is another user notified immediately when a failure of the shared vehicle occurs, but also the maintenance contractor can promptly prepare a substitute vehicle and the effect thereof can be minimized.

As described above, according to the car sharing management system of the present invention, each user of the shared group can easily and relatively easily grasp the use status of the shared vehicle.

Although the present invention has been described with reference to specific embodiments and examples, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various modifications that can be easily made by those skilled in the art are also included in the scope of the present invention. It is.

[0065]

According to the present invention, the reservation of the shared vehicle and the adjustment thereof can be easily performed using the network, so that a plurality of users can use the automobile jointly.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an entire configuration of a car sharing system according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a reservation status confirmation page.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a reservation input form.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating processing of a server.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a reservation number input page.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a vehicle usage status input page.

[Explanation of symbols]

 10 Server 11 Network 12, 13 Terminal 14, 15 Mobile terminal

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Makoto Asakura 2-1-1 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo Inside Honda Giken Kogyo Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Shigeru Yusa 2-1-1 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Taku Motohashi 2-1-1 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo Honda Motor Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 5H180 AA20 BB05 BB15 EE02 EE10 FF01

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A server for providing a car sharing management website on a network for a plurality of users to use a vehicle jointly on a network, the server having a database for storing information on the reservation of the vehicle, and a server installed at each user. And a terminal connected to the network, wherein the server transmits a form for inputting a reservation for the vehicle to the terminal in response to access to the website from the terminal. In addition, in response to the form reply from the terminal, the program stores the vehicle reservation information entered in the form in the database and provides a page displaying the reservation information on the website. Is a car sharing management system. 2. The terminal stores a time point at which a predetermined point is consumed every time the user makes a reservation for a vehicle, and the server stores the time point when the form is returned. To determine if any time points remain
The car sharing management system according to claim 1, wherein the system is programmed to reject the reservation of the vehicle if not left. 3. The car sharing management system according to claim 2, wherein the predetermined points consumed are different for each day of the week or for each time zone when the vehicle is reserved. 4. The server, when the form in which reservation information is input by the first user is returned,
It is determined whether or not there is a preceding reservation by the second user in the vicinity of the reservation by searching the database. If there is a preceding reservation, the first user is connected to the terminal of the second user. 3. The car sharing management system according to claim 1, wherein the system is programmed to send an e-mail notifying that a subsequent reservation has been made by a user. 5. The server, when the form in which reservation information is input by the first user is returned,
When the reservation by the second user is earlier and the reservation by the first user cannot be made, in response to the transmission of the information of cancellation of the earlier reservation by the second user, 5. The car sharing management system according to claim 4, wherein the system is programmed to send an e-mail notifying the first user that the previous reservation has been cancelled.