JP2003067796A - Method for reserving seat in ticket examination, system therefor, and ticket examination machine used therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system allowing a person to receive the reservation of the nearest train having empty seats in ticket examination. SOLUTION: This system 100 for reserving seat in ticket examination comprises an automatic ticket examination machine 120 for receiving a use ticket 900 having the right of receiving a reservation to perform the ticket examination processing, and performing the seat reservation of a specified train or the change of seat reservation; an a seat-reservable train display board 140 for displaying the specified train that is the subject of a reservation processing service and displaying the automatic ticket examination machine 120 performing the reservation processing service for the displayed specified train. The automated ticket examination machine 120 and the seat-reservable train display board 140 are connected to a seat reservation management system 130 for performing the management of seat reservation through a communication means and performs the delivery of data in real time.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a system for handling designation of seats and the like in transportation such as trains, and in particular, designation of seats and the like capable of responding to designation and change of seats at ticket gates. Related to the technology of handling.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Generally, in transportation such as railways,
Designated management of seats, sleepers, private rooms, etc. is prepared for each train, reservation can be reserved in advance, management of seats, sleepers, private rooms, etc. (hereinafter simply called reserved seats) is linked to the operation schedule. It is processed by a database that stores the designated status of designated seats and a computer that manages input / output to and from the database. The designated acceptance process is handled at a station ticket issuing window, a travel agency window, an automatic ticket issuing machine, or the like. For this reason,
In order to receive the seat designation, the customer needs to go through a predetermined procedure at a counter, an automatic ticket issuing machine, or the like.

Recently, there is a ticket to which a right to receive seat designation is added to a ticket. Although such a ticket has confirmed the boarding station and the exiting station, the boarding train has not been specified. Therefore, it is possible to receive the designation of available trains at any time, and it becomes possible to use the reserved seat for the train that is the first train at that time, just before boarding.
Therefore, it is used by busy business customers. In addition, even if the seats have been designated in advance, there are cases where it is desired to change to a train at an earlier time. In either case of receiving a seat designation or changing the seat designation, it is necessary to obtain a designated seat designation for the train by a ticket issuing window or an automatic ticket issuing machine before boarding.

[0004]

Problems to be solved by the Invention When a seat is designated just before the departure of a vehicle, there are the following problems in reality. That is, the window and the automatic ticket issuing machine do not always exist in the immediate vicinity of the ticket gate. Also, it is crowded and there is the possibility of waiting. Therefore, even if it is a free seat, even if it is a boarding time, when receiving a designation, it is unavoidable that the designation of the train at the departure time should be given in consideration of the need to have some time margin. This point remains unsatisfactory for passengers who want to use the first train. On the other hand, as a railway company, by prioritizing the vacant seats of reserved seats by prioritizing trains, more vacant seats of reserved seats will be left for later trains that have time to spare, increasing sales opportunities, It is preferable in terms of improving the utilization rate of reserved seats.

Due to such a situation, there is a demand for a means capable of promptly receiving seat designation by a simple method until immediately before departure.

By the way, there is a technique described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-76352 as a system relating to a system in which the details of the seat position are determined immediately before departure and are assigned by an automatic ticket gate. However, JP-A-2000-76352
In the technique described in the publication, the train needs to be specified in advance. As described above, when the designation is not received at all or when the designation is desired to be changed, it cannot be dealt with.

[0007] An object of the present invention is to provide a technique which, at the time of ticket examination, can receive the designation of the nearest train with an empty seat and can change the designation.

[0008]

The present invention relates to a seat designating system for designating a seat, which relates to communication means for exchanging information with a designation processing device for designating a seat and utilization of the seat. A means for detecting a use ticket including information, and when the use ticket is detected, the information regarding the use of the seat is read from the use ticket and transmitted to the designated processing device through the communication means, and the communication means is operated. There is provided a seat designation system characterized by having a ticket gate designation processing means for outputting information indicating designation of a seat when the information indicating designation of a seat is acquired from the designation processing device. Here, an automatic ticket gate may be provided in the seat designation system, and the automatic ticket gate may be provided with a communication means, a means for detecting a use ticket, and a ticket gate designation processing means.

Further, the seat designating system according to the present invention is
A seat designation management system that manages seat designation, a seat designation, or a ticket that has the right to receive a change in seat designation is accepted, and the information read from the ticket is transmitted to the seat designation management system. One or more automatic ticket gates that can make seat assignments or seat assignments for specific trains by outputting information about seat assignments or seat assignment changes received from the seat assignment management system , A seat that displays a specific train for which seats are to be changed or seats are to be changed, and a seat is displayed for the specific trains that are displayed or an automatic ticket gate that changes seats is displayed. A train display board that can be designated can also be provided.

[0010]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. In the following embodiments, it is assumed that a train having reserved seats is operated and one or more automatic ticket gates are installed in a station where the train can be boarded. The present embodiment is realized by one or more automatic ticket gates installed and a seat assignment management system that manages seat assignment. Further, in the present embodiment, a case will be described as an example where a paper piece having a magnetic recording material coated on the back surface and having a function as a magnetic recording medium is used as the designated ticket. Of course, the designated ticket is not limited to this piece of paper. For example, as will be described later, an ID card or an IC card can be used as the designated ticket.

Hereinafter, in the present embodiment, a system including an automatic ticket gate 120 installed at the train using station and a seat designation management system 130 installed at a railway company on a line operated at a high operation density will be described. This will be explained as an example. Here, the designation is for the seat. In case of seat reservation, there are many trains that can do it.
In addition, since the number of seats is large, it is convenient for exhibiting the effect of the present invention that seats can be secured and boarded when desired. Therefore, in this specification,
The notation “seat designation” is also used in the names of the systems and subsystems that make up this embodiment. However, it does not mean that the bed, the private room, etc. are excluded. The present invention can be applied to these as well. Also, seats generally have different grades. For this,
Except when there is a change to change the grade, the concept of seat designation is common, so in the following example, for ease of explanation, the grade of the seat will be described without distinction. Of course, it goes without saying that the present invention can be applied to receiving or changing seat designation by changing grades.

Further, in the present specification, for convenience of description, in the description of the embodiment, a ticket having a right to receive a seat designation, a ticket having a seat designation already given, etc. A designated ticket, a limited express ticket that has a seat designation, and a designated ticket that has the right to receive a seat designation but no train designation.
Limited express tickets, etc. that have the right to be assigned seats are collectively called use tickets. The above-mentioned various types of tickets are merely examples, and the present invention is not limited to these.
The use ticket is issued at a station window, a travel agency window, an automatic ticket issuing machine installed at the station, or the like. Of course, it is not limited to this.

In this embodiment, one train with a seat designation is assigned to the automatic ticket gate. With this configuration, depending on which automatic ticket gate the passenger selects,
It is now possible to identify the trains that passengers wish to receive seats for. Further, as described above, since the object of the present invention is to provide a means for promptly receiving a seat designation by a simple method immediately before departure, in the present embodiment, a seat can be assigned to an automatic ticket gate. Trains are assigned at a predetermined time before the departure time of the train,
For example, the time period is from 30 minutes to 5 minutes before the departure time of the train. The time to start the allocation can be determined based on the seat selection situation on the day, and the time to cancel the allocation is, for example, the normal time it takes to get on the train after passing the ticket gate at the station. Is set in consideration of the above.

FIG. 1 shows an overall view of a seat designating system in which the ticket designating seat designating system in this embodiment is used.

The seat designating system in which the present embodiment is used is a seat sales system and a seat designating system 10 at the ticket gate for designating seats or changing seats just before the departure of a train.
It consists of 0 and. The seat sales system has a window terminal 151,
A ticket issuing machine 150 capable of issuing a ticket for use such as the automatic ticket issuing machine 152 and the portable terminal 153, and further performing a seat designation and a change of seat designation; and a seat designation management system 130 for managing seat designation. Consists of. The ticket gate seat designation system 100 includes a seat designation management system 130, an automatic ticket gate 120, and a seat assignable train display board 140.

In this embodiment, the same system is used for the seat management system used in the seat sales system and the seat reservation management system 130 used in the seat reservation system 100 at the ticket gate. There is.
Considering that there is a request from the window of a station, etc. for the remaining vacant seats at the ticket gate, it is not possible to use the same system.
This is preferable to avoid duplicate issuance. Of course, another system may be used as long as duplicate issuing can be avoided. For example, it is possible to deal with the situation by allocating a vacant seat for the designation at the time of the ticket gate in advance and separating it from the designation request from the window.

The ticket gate seat designating system 100 accepts the use ticket 900, performs the ticket screening process, and designates one or more automatic ticket gates 120 for designating a seat of a specific train or changing the seat designation, and a designation processing service. And a seat-designable train display board 140 that displays a specific train to be processed and that displays an automatic ticket gate 120 that performs a specified processing service for the specific train to be displayed.
In this embodiment, a plurality of automatic ticket gates 120 are set. Here, all the automatic ticket gates at the ticket gates can be the automatic ticket gates 120 of this embodiment. In this case, all the automatic ticket gates 120 can be provided with the designated processing service. In addition, some of them can be made to function as a normal ticket gate.
Of course, a part of the automatic ticket gate group installed at the ticket gate may be the automatic ticket gate 120 of this embodiment.

The seat designation management system 130 has a seat information management file 132 in which seat information of each train is stored.
And a central processing unit 135, and a timetable database 133 in which operating times and operating conditions of each train are stored.

As shown in FIG. 2A, the automatic ticket gate 120 is a slot for a ticket to be used, which is provided in a normal automatic ticket gate 121.
a, a ticket transport system 121 having a transport section 121b and a return port 121c, a gate 128 capable of blocking passengers from passing through, a control section 122 controlling the processing of the automatic ticket gate 120, and a ticket used. And a data reading unit 124 for reading data. In addition, the automatic ticket gate 120
Is transmitted from the seat management system 130, the communication unit 123 that exchanges data with the seat designation management system 130, the data writing unit 125 that magnetically writes the seat designation data transmitted from the seat management system to the ticket. The data printing unit 126 prints the data relating to the seat designation on the ticket in a format that is easy for the passenger to see, and the data display unit 127 that displays the data relating to the seat designation transmitted from the seat designation management system 130. Control unit 1
22 has a CPU 122a and a memory 122b,
An automatic ticket gate ID for identifying the automatic ticket gate is held in the memory 122b.

The seat-designable train display board 140 is capable of receiving trains at the present time and, since there are vacant seats, information on trains whose seats can be designated and seat designations of those trains can be received. Information for identifying possible automatic ticket gates is received and displayed in real time from the seat designation management system 130. Seat displayable train display board 1
As shown in FIG. 2B, reference numeral 40 denotes a control unit 142 that controls display on the display board 140, a display panel 149 that displays information, and a display panel 149 based on display data output from the control unit 142. It has a display drive device 148 that is driven to display information, and a communication unit 143 that exchanges data with the seat designation management system 130. The control unit 142 has a CPU 142a and a memory 142b, and holds a display board ID that identifies the display board in the memory 142b. The display panel 149 is
For example, it can be configured by an electronic bulletin board in which light emitting elements are arranged. Also, a panel display such as a liquid crystal or plasma display can be used. Further, the dial can be rotated to have a rotating dial structure for performing a desired display.

The seat-designable train display board 140 is installed above the ticket gate. The display mode is a notation identifying the automatic ticket gate that can receive the designated processing service,
Also, the structure is almost the same as that of a general ticket gate, except that the notation indicating the seat-designable range is included. For example, as shown in FIG. 3, train name 149a, destination 149
b, departure time 149c at the station, departure line 149
d, the corresponding automatic ticket gate 149e, the name of the stop station on the way and the arrival time 149f at each stop station, and the seat specifiable range 1
Display 49g. The train name 149a is described by the train number in the case of FIG. Of course, it is not limited to this. It may be displayed by the nickname of the train, or by displaying both the nickname and the train number. Here, the seat specifiable range shown in the seat specifiable range 149g is a section that can receive a designation from the station. In the example shown in Fig. 3, train No. 113 "Tokyo to Hakata"
Seats cannot be reserved for all sections from "Tokyo" to "Hakata", but "Hiroshima" will be displayed if the section from "Tokyo" to "Hiroshima" can be assigned. . Also, on the 115 train from Tokyo to Hiroshima,
Seats cannot be assigned to all sections from "Tokyo" to "Hiroshima", but if seats can be assigned to sections from "Tokyo" to "Shin-Osaka", "Shin-Osaka" is displayed. The passenger can specify the seat designation range 1 displayed on the display board 140.
By checking the information displayed on 49g, it is possible to know the trains for which seats can be specified, and the automatic ticket gate 149e
By checking the information displayed in, you can know the automatic ticket gates that can accept seat reservations for the train.

As shown in FIG. 4, the central processing unit 135 of the seat designation management system 130 according to this embodiment has a seat designation / cancellation processing unit 136 as its functions.
The automatic ticket gate management unit 137 and a communication unit 138 for exchanging data with the outside are provided. Although not shown,
The central processing unit 135 includes a central processing unit (CPU), a memory and the like in order to realize these functions. Then, various functions are realized by executing the program loaded in the memory. Also, in the memory,
A train / automatic ticket gate correspondence table 1370 is provided.

The seat designation / cancel processing unit 136 designates a seat or a seat from the ticket issuing machine 150 such as the window terminal 151, the automatic ticket issuing machine 152, the portable terminal 153 and the automatic ticket gate 120 via the communication unit 138. A cancellation request is accepted, the seat information management file 132 is searched accordingly, and processing for seat designation or seat designation cancellation is performed. In addition, the seat designation / cancellation processing unit 136 also has a function of notifying the automatic ticket gate management unit 137 when all the seats that can be designated for the train are exhausted as a result of the seat designation process. The use ticket issuing machine 150, the automatic ticket gate 120, and the seat designation / cancellation processing unit 136 are configured to be able to exchange data in real time via the communication unit 138.

The automatic ticket gate management unit 137 is provided for the automatic ticket gate 1
Control of the allocation of trains to 20 and the display of the seat-designable train display board 140 is performed. Automatic ticket gate management unit 13
7 reads the departure time data of each train from the timetable database 133, and at the time when the allocation of the train to the automatic ticket gate 120 is started, the vacant seat information of the train in the seat information management file 132 is searched. Here, the time to start the allocation is set in advance in consideration of the operating status of the train, the number of automatic ticket gates, the vacant seat status, and the like. For example, it can be fixedly set according to the train operation interval or dynamically set according to the seat availability. As a result of the search, if there is an empty seat, the train is assigned to the automatic ticket gate 120 to which no train is assigned at that time, and the assigned information is displayed on the seat assignable train display board 140. After that, when it is time to cancel the allocation, or when the seat designation / cancellation processing unit 136 receives a notification that the train has no seats left, the allocation of the train to the automatic ticket gate 120 is canceled, and The display on the train display board 140 that can specify seats is updated.

Assignment of trains to the automatic ticket gates 120 by the automatic ticket gate management unit 137 is performed by the automatic ticket gate management unit 13
Train / Automatic ticket gate support table 137 that 7 has inside
It is done by registering to 0 and deleting. The train / automatic ticket gate correspondence table 1370 is, for example, as shown in FIG.
The automatic ticket gate ID 1371 is associated with the train name 1372. When it is time to start the allocation, and when it is found that there is a vacant seat in the train, the automatic ticket gate management unit 137 searches the train / automatic ticket gate correspondence table 1370, and searches for a ticket gate with no train allocation. By storing the train number of the train in the train name column, a train that newly performs the designated processing service is assigned to the automatic ticket gate. In addition, after starting the seat designation at the automatic ticket gate 120, it is time to release the allocation, or when the seat designation / cancellation processing unit 136 notifies that there are no more vacant seats, the automatic ticket gate management unit 137. Is the train / automatic ticket gate support table 13
70 is searched, and the train is deleted from the train name 1372 column of the automatic ticket gate column 1371 to which the train is assigned, thereby canceling the assignment of the train that performs the designated processing service for the automatic ticket gate.

When the seat designation / cancellation processing unit 136 receives a seat designation request or a seat designation change request from the automatic ticket gate 120, the train of the automatic ticket gate management unit 137 is trained based on the automatic ticket gate ID transmitted at the same time.・ By referring to the automatic ticket gate support table 1370, seat designation or
It is possible to specify the train whose seat designation is to be changed.

As shown in FIG. 6, the seat information management file 132 stores the seat designation status of the seats of all trains for which seats can be designated. That is, the seat information management file 13
In the data stored in 2, the train name 132b is registered for each date 132a, and the train section 1 for each train is registered.
The data of 32c is registered. Also,
Equipment, vacant seat information, presence / absence of passage through an automatic ticket gate, etc. are registered for each boarding section. The vacant seat information includes data on the number of seats that can be designated (vacant seat number). Seat information management file 1
The data stored in 32 stores the vacant seat number data of each train for each operating date, and this vacant seat number data is decremented by the number of seats designated each time the seat designation process is performed. Every time the seat designation cancellation process is performed, the number of seats subjected to the cancellation process is increased.
The seat designation / cancellation processing unit 136 confirms this vacant seat number data every time the seat designation or the seat designation cancellation process is performed, and when it is 0, the automatic ticket gate indicates that the vacant seat has become 0. Notify the management unit 137.

Next, a rough processing flow of the ticket gate seat designating system in this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

The central processing unit 135 first functions as the automatic ticket gate management section 137, and performs automatic ticket gate allocation processing (step S71). In addition, the central processing unit 135
Functions as the seat designation / cancellation processing unit 136,
A seat designation is accepted from the automatic ticket gate 120 and a seat designation process is performed (step S72). After that, the automatic ticket gate management unit 137 performs an automatic ticket gate assignment canceling process (step S73).

The detailed flow of each process will be described below.

The automatic ticket gate allocation processing by the automatic ticket gate management unit 137 will be described with reference to FIG. The automatic ticket gate allocation processing is started each time the allocation start time comes. Here, the start time is the automatic ticket gate management unit 1
37 searches by searching the timetable database 133. For example, it can be known by periodically checking whether it is a predetermined time, for example, 30 minutes before the time at each station.

The automatic ticket gate management section 137 first searches the seat information management file 132 to see if there is a vacant seat inventory for the train at the allocation start time (step S81). If there is a vacant seat, the train / automatic ticket gate correspondence table 1370 is searched, the train is assigned to the automatic ticket gate of the station to which the train is not assigned, and the train / automatic ticket gate correspondence table 1370 is updated (step S8).
3). Then, the assigned information is displayed on the seat-designable train display board 140 together with the information of the timetable database 133 and the seat information management file 132 (step S84).

After the trains are assigned to the automatic ticket gates in this way, the seat designation / cancellation processing unit 136
A flow of processing when receiving a seat designation request from the automatic ticket gate 120 and performing seat designation processing will be described with reference to FIG. 10, including processing in the automatic ticket gate 120.

The automatic ticket gate 120 allows passengers to use a ticket 900
Is prompted to be inserted from the slot, and the data recorded in the magnetic recording unit of the ticket 900 inserted in the data reading unit 124 is read (steps S101 and S10).
2). The control unit 122 of the automatic ticket gate 120, together with the automatic ticket gate ID for identifying the automatic ticket gate 120, reads the data read from the ticket and the central processing unit 135 of the seat designation management system 130 via the communication unit 123. It is transmitted to the seat designation / cancellation processing unit 136 as seat designation request data (step S103).

In the seat designation / cancellation processing unit 136,
It is determined whether or not the data of the sent ticket is valid (step S202). Here, among the data of the sent ticket, the ticketing process of information about the boarding ticket and the process of determining whether the ticket is valid or not are performed. Here, the validity of the voucher determined is related to whether or not the information including the right to receive the seat designation is included or the information including the right to receive the seat designation change is included. . The right to change the seat designation means that, for example, when the change can be made only once, there is information indicating that the change has not been made yet. Ticket processing for tickets is performed,
If the data of the ticket is valid, step S20
Go to 3. If it is judged that either or both of the ticket processing is not performed or the ticket data is not valid, the process proceeds to step S211, and the automatic ticket gate that has transmitted the seat designation request. 120
The data that the seat cannot be designated is transmitted to. Upon receiving the data, the automatic ticket gate 120 displays the data that the seat cannot be designated on the data display unit 127 and closes the gate 128 (step S105).

Next, the seat designation / cancellation processing unit 136
Determines whether the transmitted usage ticket has already received a seat designation (step S203). If the seat is not designated, the process proceeds to step S207, the seat designation process is performed (step S207), and the process proceeds to step S208. If the seat is already designated, it is determined whether the contents of the seat can be changed (step S2).
04). Here, the changeable seat designation means the seat designation of a train that is a late train from the train assigned to the automatic ticket gate 120 that has transmitted this data. this is,
Normally, this is a procedure based on the promise that a change in seat selection will not be accepted if the departure time of the train for which seat selection has already passed. On the other hand, if multiple automatic ticket gates are operating as automatic ticket gates that allow seats to be specified and changed, seats have already been assigned by mistakenly passing through a ticket gate that is providing a designated processing service for later trains. There is also a meaning to prevent the situation where the train being received is changed to a later train. If the seat is not changeable, the process proceeds to step S211. If the seat designation is changeable, seat designation processing is performed (step S20).
5) Cancel the original seat designation (step S20)
6) and proceeds to step S208. In step S208, the vacant seat number data in the seat information management file 132 after the seat designation process is confirmed. When the number of vacant seats data becomes 0, it is notified to the automatic ticket gate management unit 137 (step S209), and the process proceeds to step S210. Number of vacant seats is 1
In the above case, the process proceeds to step S210 as it is, and the obtained data regarding seat designation is transmitted to the automatic ticket gate 120 which has transmitted the request for seat designation.

The control unit 122 of the automatic ticket gate 120, via the communication unit 123, the seat designation / cancellation processing unit 136.
When the data regarding the seat designation is received from the data writing unit 125, the data is written in the magnetic recording unit of the ticket, and the data printing unit 126 writes the data on the ticket.
Printing is performed in a format that is easy for passengers to see (step S107). Then, the usage ticket is returned from the return opening 121c (step S108). In the present embodiment, FIG. 11 shows an example of a mode of printing a usage ticket when a passenger passes through the automatic ticket gate 120 and the seat designation is changed.

As shown in FIG. 11, in the case where the use ticket is the coupon ticket 910 that has already been designated, the information 911 regarding the designation of the canceled train is clearly indicated by the double line 913. There is. Further, information 912 regarding the designation of the newly designated train is printed again. Note that, here, the old display of the boarding section is erased and newly displayed. However, when the boarding section does not change, the boarding section may be left without being erased. By doing so, it becomes possible to effectively utilize a small print area.

In this embodiment, it is premised that the gate 128 of the automatic ticket gate 120 is opened during normal use. Automatic ticket gate 1 during normal use
In the case of the configuration in which the gate 128 of 20 is closed, in the above process flow, the process of opening the gate is added before returning the passenger ticket for which seat designation or seat designation change processing has been completed to the passenger. it can.

Next, the automatic ticket gate assignment canceling processing by the automatic ticket gate management section 137 will be described with reference to FIG. The automatic ticket gate assignment canceling process is performed in response to a predetermined time to cancel the assigning or when the seat designation / cancellation processing unit 136 notifies that the number of vacant seats has become zero. To start. First, the gate 12 of the automatic ticket gate 120 to prevent passengers from passing through.
8 is closed (step S91). Next, train
The train is deleted from the automatic ticket gate correspondence table 1370 (step S92), and the display on the seat assignable train display board 140 is updated (step S93).

As described above, in the present embodiment, if a ticket that can be assigned a seat is purchased in advance, the seat of the desired train can be easily and simply passed through a predetermined automatic ticket gate. You can receive a designation or change your seat designation.

Further, when the seat reservation is changed, the seats of the later trains that have been previously reserved are canceled, so that the number of seats that can be reserved for the latter train increases, and passengers can specify the seats. There will be more opportunities to secure seats, and for railway companies, there will be more opportunities to sell late train seats.

An example of using an ID card as a ticket is
A second embodiment will be described below. The second embodiment is an example of using an ID card as a usage ticket.
The block diagram is shown in FIG.

In the present embodiment, the ID card 980 has registered therein a personal management ID for identifying a passenger. The seat designation management system further includes a personal information management file 134 in addition to the first embodiment.

The personal information management file 134 is, as shown in FIG. 13, a personal management I for storing an ID for identifying an individual.
D storage section 134a, personal information storage section 134b in which personal information such as address and name is stored, and ticket information storage in which information regarding tickets purchased by passengers and information regarding seat designation received by passengers are stored. And a portion 134c. As for the data stored in the personal information management file 134, personal information such as an address and a name is registered in the personal information storage section 134b for each personal management ID, and after each passenger, the ticket purchased by the passenger is received. Information such as seat designation is registered in the ticket information storage unit 134c. As a result, when an ID for identifying an individual is designated, it is possible to obtain data regarding the corresponding usage ticket.

A passenger presents an ID card when purchasing a ticket at a ticket issuing machine 150 such as a window or an automatic ticket issuing machine. The operator of the use ticket issuing machine 150 inputs the information about the purchased use ticket and the personal management ID registered in the ID card from the input device. The input information is stored in the ticket information storage unit 134c corresponding to the personal management ID of the personal information management file 134.

In this embodiment, the automatic ticket gate 120
Is the personal management I from the ID card 980 presented by the passenger.
D is read and the read personal management ID is transmitted to the seat designation management system 130. The seat designation management system 130 that has received the personal management ID searches the personal information management file 134 based on the personal management ID and obtains the passenger ticket information of the passenger. The flow of processing after the seat designation management system 130 obtains the use ticket information is the same as that in the first embodiment. However, seat selection processing,
The result of the seat designation cancellation process and the like is transmitted to the automatic ticket gate 120 and stored in the ticket information storage unit 134c of the personal information management file 134.

Upon receiving the seat designation data transmitted from the seat designation management system 130, the control unit 122 of the automatic ticket gate 120, if the ID card 980 presented by the passenger has a printable area for direct printing, Print in the print area. When there is no print area that can be directly printed, the automatic ticket gate 120 is provided with a printer function, and the received seat designation data is printed on a piece of paper or the like and provided to passengers.

The processing in the automatic ticket gate management section 137 of the seat designation management system 130 is the same as in the first embodiment.

As a third embodiment, an IC is used as a usage ticket.
An example using a card will be described. FIG. 14 shows an overall configuration diagram of the third embodiment.

Since the IC card 990 has a large storage capacity, information other than the personal management ID can be stored in the card itself. For this reason, in the present embodiment, the IC card 990 itself stores the personal information and the information about the purchased ticket, which was stored in the personal information management file 134 in the second embodiment.

The data stored in the IC card 990 is, as shown in FIG. 15, an ID for specifying an individual and an address,
Personal information storage unit 1 that stores personal information such as name
34d, and a ticket information storage unit 134c in which information about tickets purchased by passengers, information about seat designation received, and the like are stored. In this embodiment, the seat designation management system 130 may have a personal information management file 134 that stores data having the same content as the information stored in this IC card.

In this embodiment, the passenger presents the IC card 300 at the ticket issuing machine 150 such as a window or an automatic ticket issuing machine when purchasing the ticket. Data such as purchase information such as boarding tickets and coupon tickets, and received seat designation information are stored in the IC card here.

In this embodiment, the automatic ticket gate 120
Reads the usage ticket information from the IC card 990 presented by the passenger, and transmits the read information to the seat designation management system 130. The seat designation management system 130 that has received the usage ticket information executes the processing described in the processing flow of FIG. 10 in the first embodiment. Further, the automatic ticket gate 120 stores the received information regarding the seat designation,
Write to IC card 990. The seat designation information written in the IC card 990 can be confirmed with an IC card viewer or the like. In this case, IC card 990
The automatic ticket gate 120 may be provided with a printer function and printed on a piece of paper or the like so that the passengers can easily understand the received seat designation information as well as the information written in. .

The processing in the automatic ticket gate management section 137 of the seat designation management system 130 in this embodiment is as follows.
This is similar to the first embodiment.

A fourth embodiment of the present invention is shown in FIG.

In this embodiment, the seat displayable train display board 140 and the automatic ticket gate 120 are the ticket gate system 1
Make up 10. The exchange between the ticket gate system 110 and the seat designation management system 130 is performed via the seat assignable train display board 140. With this configuration, the seat assignment management system 1 installed in the railway company
30 and the ticket gate system 110 installed in the train using station exchange data via one communication unit. Therefore, the processing of each station, for example, allocation and cancellation of automatic ticket gates, is handled by the control unit 142 of the seat-designable train display board 140, and the load on the central processing unit of the seat-designation management system 130 is reduced. can do. In this case, the data on the train departure time at the station, the train / automatic ticket gate correspondence table, etc.
It is provided in the memory 142b of the control unit 142. Control unit 14
At the time when the allocation of the automatic ticket gate is started for a specific train, 2 requests the seat assignment management system 130 to search for the availability of vacant seats in the train. Further, the seat designation / cancellation processing unit 1 of the seat designation management system 130.
When there are no more vacant seats on the train, 36 notifies the control unit 142 of the information.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a passenger with a seat designation for a train having a vacant seat at the ticket gate until just before the departure time. Further, when there are remaining vacant seats, for example, the portable terminal 1 carried by the conductor is as follows.
You can also use the 53, etc. to sell the vacant seats on the train.

Next, with reference to FIG. 17, a flow of sales processing by the portable terminal 153 will be described.

In response to the request from the passengers, the terminal operator inputs information such as the date, train name, and boarding section of the train for which the seat is to be sold. The mobile terminal 153 accepts the input of these pieces of information by the operator and transmits these pieces of information to the seat designation management system 130 (step S171). Information on the available seats is received from the seat designation management system 130 (step S172). If there is a seat available for sale, the information is displayed to the operator. After that, the information is recorded on the ticket according to the instruction of the operator (step S
175).

In the first, second, third and fourth embodiments, one train with a seat designation is assigned to the automatic ticket gate, but a plurality of trains can be assigned to one automatic ticket gate. Is also possible. This is the case when the boarding train can be clearly distinguished by the boarding ticket data recorded in the use ticket, for example, the case of an up train and a down train.
In addition, the automatic ticket gate is equipped with a mechanism that allows passengers to select a train for which they wish to reserve seats, so that multiple trains can be
It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which it is assigned to the automatic ticket gate.

[0062]

According to the present invention, since it is possible to receive the designation of the nearest train having an empty seat at the time of the ticket gate, the utilization rate of the reserved seat is improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an outline of a configuration of a seat designating system of the present invention.

FIG. 2A is a functional block diagram of the automatic ticket gate of the present invention. FIG. 2B is a functional block diagram of a trainable seat display board of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a display example of a train display board on which seats can be designated according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a functional block diagram of a central processing unit of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a view showing the structure of a train / automatic ticket gate correspondence table of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a data structure of a seat information management file of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing the operation of the entire ticket gate seat design system of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart showing an operation of automatic ticket gate allocation processing of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing the operation of the automatic ticket gate assignment cancellation processing of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a flowchart showing the operation of seat designation / cancellation processing of the present invention.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of printing a usage ticket of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram showing the outline of the configuration of a second embodiment of the seat designating system of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a data structure of a personal information management file of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing the outline of the configuration of a third embodiment of the seat designating system of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a diagram showing a data structure of the IC card of the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing an outline of the configuration of a fourth embodiment of the seat designating system of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a flowchart showing an operation of a selling process by the mobile terminal of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

100 ... Ticket designation system at ticket gate, 120 ... Automatic ticket gate, 121 ... Ticket transport system, 121a ... Entry slot, 121b
... Conveying unit, 121c ... Return port, 122 ... Control unit, 1
22a ... CPU, 122b ... Memory, 123 ... Communication unit, 124 ... Data reading unit, 125 ... Data writing unit,
126 ... Data printing unit, 127 ... Data display unit, 128
・ ・ ・ Gate, 130 ・ ・ ・ Seat assignment management system, 132 ・
..Seat information management file, 133 ... Timetable database, 134 ... Personal information management file, 135 ... Central processing unit, 136 ... Seat designation / cancellation processing unit, 137
・ ・ ・ Automatic ticket gate management section, 1370 ・ ・ ・ Train / Automatic ticket gate correspondence table, 1371 ・ ・ ・ Ticket ID, 1372 ・ ・ ・ Train name, 138 ・ ・ ・ Communication section, 140 ・ ・ ・ Seat designation possible Train display version, 142 ... Control unit, 142a ... CPU, 142b ...
Memory, 143 ... Communication unit, 148 ... Display drive device, 14
9 ... Display panel, 150 ... Ticket issuing machine, 151 ...
· Counter terminal, 152 ... Automatic ticket issuing machine, 153 ... Mobile terminal, 134a ... Personal management ID storage section, 134b ... Personal information storage section, 134c ... Ticket information storage section, 900. ..Vouchers

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A method of designating a reserved seat at a ticket gate of a train that can be boarded at a station equipped with an automatic ticket gate and has a reserved seat, wherein the reserved seat of the train has an empty seat. In this case, the train is assigned to an automatic ticket gate for each time slot, and a record in which information indicating that the train can be designated as a reserved seat is recorded within the time slot assigned to the automatic ticket gate. When the automatic ticket gate detects the medium,
A method of designating a reserved seat at a ticket gate, comprising performing a process of designating a reserved seat of the train and outputting a result of the designated processing. 2. A ticket gate for a ticket gate, a communication means for exchanging information with a designation processing device for designating a seat, and a means for detecting a usage ticket including information on seat usage. When the use ticket is detected, the information regarding the use of the seat is read from the use ticket, transmitted to the designated processing device through the communication means, and the seat is designated from the designated processing device through the communication means. A ticket gate designating means for outputting the information indicating the seat designation when the indicated information is acquired. 3. The ticket gate according to claim 2, wherein: A ticket gate characterized in that the usage ticket is an IC card. 4. A seat designation system for designating seats when passing through a ticket gate, a communication means for exchanging information with a designation processing device for designating seats, and a utilization ticket including information regarding utilization of seats. And a means for detecting the use ticket, the information regarding the use of the seat is read from the use ticket, transmitted to the designation processing device through the communication means, and the designation processing is performed through the communication means. A seat designating system comprising: a ticket gate designating means for outputting information designating a seat when the information designating the seat is acquired from the device. 5. The seat designating system according to claim 4, wherein the use ticket is an IC card. 6. A seat designation processing method, which receives a seat designation processing request from a terminal device that obtains information regarding seat designation, performs seat designation processing, and transmits the result to the request source, which is for a specific train. When there is a vacant seat that can be boarded at a particular station, a request from one or more particular terminal devices is accepted only within a certain time immediately before the departure time of the train at the station. . 7. A seat designation processing device that receives a seat designation processing request from a terminal device that obtains information related to seat designation, performs seat designation processing, and transmits the result to a request source, which is for a specific train. Means for determining whether or not there is an available seat at a specific station, and means for accepting a seat designation request from one or more specific terminal devices only within a certain time immediately before the departure time of the train at the station. A seat designation processing device comprising: