JP2003085248A - Delivery service confirming method, delivery task managing server, its program and recording medium - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the convenience of a receiver in the delivery service of a package. SOLUTION: A delivery task managing server 30 stores delivery relevant information to be transmitted from receiving terminals 70a-70d, and generates a delivery information mail for informing a receiver of the delivery relevant information, and transmits the mail to a portable telephone set 10b of the receiver. Also, the delivery task managing server 30 updates the delivery relevant information stored by itself according to the described contents of an electronic mail to be transmitted from the portable telephone set 10b of the receiver. When the delivery relevant information is updated, a delivery agent delivers a package according to the contents of the updated destination or date of delivery. Also, it is possible to update the delivery relevant information only when the change of the delivery relevant information is instructed through a reply mail to the delivery information mail to the destination of the receiver.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to, for example, a package delivery service, and more particularly to a delivery service confirmation method, a delivery service management server, a program, and a recording medium for improving the convenience of a package recipient.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Package delivery services have become widespread. This delivery service accepts packages requested by the sender at the collection / delivery points of delivery companies scattered around the world,
It is a service that delivers the received package to the address of the recipient specified by the sender.

[0003]

In this type of delivery service, there are inconveniences to the recipient in the following points. Generally, the recipient does not understand the fact that the package addressed to himself will be delivered until the package is actually delivered. This is because the delivery request is made only to the delivery company by the sender. Therefore, damage such as maliciously sending a product that the recipient does not consent to receive has also occurred.

Usually, the address of the recipient is designated as the delivery destination of the package by the sender, but once the delivery destination is designated, the receiving location actually changes due to the convenience of the recipient. Is quite difficult to do. The reason for this is that moving from a delivery station where the package has already arrived to a different delivery station causes an increase in cost, and there is no established means for easily paying for the increased cost. Therefore, for example, it is conceivable to have the recipient confirm the receiving place before delivery, but for the delivery company, it is troublesome to check the enormous number of recipients by phone or the like. . Further, at this time, no means has been established for surely and efficiently confirming the identity of the recipient.

There are also so-called freight collectable packages, but in this case, the recipient cannot receive the packages unless he or she prepares money or a credit card commensurate with the delivery charge.

The present invention has been made under such a background, and an object thereof is to provide a mechanism capable of enhancing the convenience of the recipient.

[0007]

In order to solve the above problems, according to the present invention, a delivery service management server sends a delivery notification mail in which delivery related information related to delivery of a package is described, to a recipient of the package. Notification mail sending step for sending to the communication terminal, the notification mail receiving step for the communication terminal to receive the sent delivery notification mail, and the communication terminal for displaying the description content of the received delivery notification mail. A display step, a response mail generation step in which the communication terminal generates a response mail for responding to the description content of the delivery notification mail in response to an operation of the recipient,
A response mail transmitting step of the communication terminal transmitting the generated response email to the delivery operation management server; a response email receiving step of the delivery operation management server receiving the transmitted response email; The management server determines whether the received reply mail is a reply mail to the delivery notification mail sent in the notification mail sending step, and in the judgment step, the reply mail responds to the delivery notification mail. If it is judged that it is a reply mail,
The delivery service management server provides a delivery service confirmation method including an acceptance step of accepting a response content by the received response mail.

According to this delivery service confirmation method, a delivery notification mail in which delivery-related information related to delivery of a package is described is transmitted to the communication terminal of the recipient of the package, thereby delivering the delivery-related information to the recipient. Information is presented. Furthermore, when it is determined that the response mail described by the recipient is a reply mail to the delivery notification mail, the response content of the response mail is accepted.

Further, according to the present invention, a notification mail transmitting means for transmitting a delivery notification mail in which delivery related information related to delivery of a package is described, to a communication terminal of a recipient of the package, and the notification email transmitting means. A response mail receiving means for receiving a reply mail for responding to the contents described in the delivery notification mail, and whether the received reply mail is a reply mail to the delivery notification mail sent by the notification mail sending means. A delivery operation management server comprising: a determining unit that determines whether or not the response mail is a reply mail to the delivery notification mail, and a receiving unit that accepts a response content of the received response mail. Is provided.

According to this delivery operation management server, a delivery notification mail in which delivery-related information related to delivery of a package is described is transmitted to the communication terminal of the recipient of the package to deliver the delivery-related information to the recipient. Information is presented. Furthermore, when it is determined that the response mail described by the recipient is a reply mail to the delivery notification mail, the response content of the response mail is accepted.

Further, the present invention provides a computer with a notification mail sending function for sending a delivery notification mail in which delivery-related information related to delivery of a package is described to a communication terminal of a recipient of the package, and the communication terminal. And a response mail receiving function for receiving a response mail for responding to the description content of the delivery notification mail, and the received response mail is a reply mail to the delivery notification mail sent by the notification mail sending means. And a acceptance function that accepts the response content of the received response mail when the determination means determines that the response mail is a reply mail to the delivery notification mail. It provides a program for.

[0012] According to this program, the delivery notification mail in which the delivery related information related to the delivery of the package is described is transmitted to the communication terminal of the recipient of the package to present the delivery related information to the recipient. To be done. Furthermore, when it is determined that the response mail described by the recipient is a reply mail to the delivery notification mail, the response content of the response mail is accepted.

[0013]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to such an embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the technical idea thereof. A: Configuration First, the configuration of this embodiment will be described. (1) Overall System Configuration FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, this system includes mobile phones 10a and 10b, base stations 21a,
21b and a mobile phone network 20 accommodating an exchange (not shown),
WAN (Wide) accommodating the delivery service management server 30, the positioning server 40, and the billing server 50, which are respectively connected to the mobile telephone network 20 via a router (not shown), and the delivery service management server 30 and a plurality of reception terminals 70a to 70d. Area Ne
a delivery business network 60, which is a two rk), and a financial institution system 8 connected to the charging server 50 by a dedicated line.
It has 0 and. In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the sender who requests the delivery company to deliver the package has the mobile phone 10a, and the recipient who receives the package delivered by the delivery company has the mobile phone 10b. To do.

The mobile phone 10a performs wireless communication with a base station 21a which controls a wireless cell in which the mobile phone is located, and receives a call service and a data communication service provided by the mobile phone network 20. Similarly, the mobile phone 10b performs wireless communication with the base station 21b that manages the wireless cell in which the mobile phone 10b is located, and receives the call service and the data communication service provided by the mobile phone network 20. In FIG. 1, the mobile phones 10a and 10b and the base stations 21a and 21b are shown.
Shows only two in order to avoid complicated drawings, but there are actually many more.
These mobile phones 10a and 10b each have a CPU (Central Processing Unit) for controlling the entire phone and various memories, an antenna for wireless communication with the base stations 21a and 21b, a wireless communication circuit, and a user to input various instructions. A keypad, a liquid crystal display for displaying various kinds of information, a microphone and a speaker (not shown) for a user to make a voice call, and the like.
A mailer for sending and receiving electronic mail as a mail client is stored in the memories of the mobile phones 10a and 10b. CPU of mobile phones 10a and 10b
Can read and execute the mailer stored in the memory to send and receive e-mails via the mobile phone network 20.

Each of the reception terminals 70a to 70d is installed at a place for receiving a delivery request from a sender. Here, the place for accepting the delivery request includes a collection / delivery office or a sales office in each place operated by a delivery company, or a store or the like that handles delivery operations such as a convenience store or a store.
These are collectively referred to as a collection / delivery station. Reception terminals 70a-70
d is a CPU for controlling the entire terminal and various memories, operation keys and a bar code reader for an operator to input various instructions, a liquid crystal display for displaying various information, a delivery operation management server 30 and delivery operations. A communication control circuit (all not shown) for performing data communication via the network 60 is provided. Reception terminal 70a-
Upon accepting the delivery request from the sender, the operator 70d sends various types of information (hereinafter referred to as delivery-related information) related to the delivery business, such as the delivery destination of the package, the delivery date, and the delivery charge, to the reception terminals 70a to 70d. input. The delivery-related information input in this way is delivered from the reception terminals 70a to 70d via the delivery service network 60 to the delivery service management server 3
It is sent to 0.

The delivery service management server 30 includes a reception terminal 70.
The delivery-related information transmitted from a to 70d is accumulated, and an electronic mail (hereinafter, delivery notification email) for notifying the recipient of the delivery-related information is generated, and this is sent to the recipient's mobile phone. It is designed to be sent to 10b. Further, the delivery business management server 30 updates the delivery-related information stored by itself in accordance with the description content of the electronic mail transmitted from the recipient's mobile phone 10b. When the delivery-related information is updated, the delivery company delivers the package in accordance with the updated delivery destination and delivery date. However, the delivery-related information can be updated only when the delivery-related information is instructed to be changed by the reply mail to the delivery notification mail addressed to the recipient. Specifically, SMTP (Simple
In the Mail Transfer Protocol), Message-ID is defined as the identification information for identifying the email generated by the sender of the email, but the Message-ID of the email that is the reply target is included in the reply email. It is supposed to be added. Therefore, the delivery business management server 30
Can refer to the Message-ID of the e-mail to be returned, which is added to the header of the received e-mail, to determine whether or not it is a reply to the e-mail generated by itself. Further, the delivery service management server 30 stores the location and business hours of the above-mentioned collection point (hereinafter referred to as collection point information), and the mobile phone 1
0a and 10b are searched for collection point information corresponding to the collection point (hereinafter referred to as collection point search), and the collection point information obtained as a result of the search is transmitted via the mobile phone network 20 to the mobile phone 10a. It is designed to be sent to 10b. As a result, the recipient who is, for example, the user of the mobile phone 10b can know the collection point and the business hours in the vicinity of the recipient, and thus designates one of these collection points as the place to receive the package. It becomes possible.

The positioning server 40 includes mobile phones 10a, 1
Base station 21a which controls the wireless cell in which 0b is located,
Based on the position of 21b, the mobile phones 10a, 10
The position information indicating the position of b is generated.
Specifically, this positioning server 40 is used for all base stations 21
It has a database in which the base station IDs assigned to a and 21b and the address indicating the position of the base station are stored in association with each other, and the positioning request transmitted from the mobile phones 10a and 10b via the mobile phone network 20. When the signal is received, the contents stored in the database and the base station ID received from the mobile phones 10a and 10b are accordingly received.
Based on the above, the position information indicating the positions of the mobile phones 10a and 10b is calculated in the address notation. The position information generated in this way is transmitted from the positioning server 40 to the delivery service management server 30 via the mobile phone network 20, and is used by the delivery service management server 30 for the above-mentioned collection and delivery point search. Has become.

The billing server 50 stores billing information corresponding to a delivery service provided by a delivery company, in addition to billing information corresponding to a call service and a data communication service provided by a communication carrier of the mobile phone network 20. Financial institution system 8
Based on the billing information transmitted from the billing server 50 via the leased line, 0 will deduct the designated amount from the designated bank account or transfer the designated amount to this bank account. Has become.

(2) Configuration of Delivery Service Management Server 30 Next, the configuration of the delivery service management server 30 will be described in detail with reference to the block diagram of FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, the delivery service management server 30 has a CPU 3
1, ROM (ReadOnly Memory) 32, RAM (Random
An access memory 33, a communication unit 34, a hard disk device 35, an operation unit 36, a display unit 37, and a bus 38 that connects these components to each other. ROM 32 has an IPL
A control program such as (Initial Program Loader) is stored. The CPU 31 reads various programs from the ROM 32 and the hard disk device 35 and executes them. The RAM 33 is used as a work area of the CPU 31, and for example, a program executed by the CPU 31 is expanded and various data used when the program is executed are temporarily stored. Communication unit 34
Has a connection interface and a modem for connecting to the mobile phone network 20, and performs data communication with various communication devices via the mobile phone network 20. The operation unit 36 includes a keyboard and a mouse, receives an input operation by an operator, and outputs a signal corresponding to this operation to the CPU via the bus 38.
Supply to 31. The display unit 37 is composed of a CRT display or a liquid crystal display and displays various information under the control of the CPU 31. The hard disk device 35 stores a delivery operation management program 35a for managing delivery operations, and a delivery related information storage area 35 for storing the delivery related information described above.
b and a collection / delivery information storage area 35c for storing collection / delivery information such as the location of the collection / delivery office. CPU
By executing the above delivery business program, 31 generates an electronic mail to send and receive the electronic mail, confirms the legitimacy of the electronic mail transmitted from the recipient's mobile phone 10b, and pays the delivery fee. For example, calculate the charge amount related to.

(2-1) Storage Content of Delivery-Related Information Storage Area 35b Here, the content of the delivery-related information stored in the delivery-related information storage area 35b described above will be described with reference to the format diagram of FIG. To do. As shown in FIG. 3, in the delivery-related information storage area 35b, "sender name",
"Sender's address", "Sender's email address", "Shipping request reception / collection office", "Recipient's name", "Recipient's address",
"Recipient email address", "Delivery office", "Delivery destination", "Delivery date", "Delivery time", "Package content", "Size", "Weight", "Shipping fee" , "Message-ID of delivery notification mail", and "whether cash on delivery or payment" are described in association with each other. In the example shown in FIG.
The name of the sender is "△△ □□", and the address is "1-1, Y town, X city.
-1 ", the email address is" aaa@ggg.co.jp ",
This means that the package requested by this sender has been accepted at the "X city collection and delivery office". In addition, the name of the recipient of this package is "XXXXX", and the address is "1-2
3 ”, the email address is“ bbb@ggg.co.jp ”, the delivery delivery center for packages addressed to this recipient is the“ A city No. 1 delivery office ”, and the delivery address is the recipient's address. "A City B Town 1
-2-3 ", the contents of the package is" clothing ", and the shipping fee is" 20 ".
00 yen ", Message-ID of delivery notification mail is" M000
1 ”, which means that the delivery fee is“ payment ”. Although illustration is omitted, in addition to the above-mentioned examples, for example, if the information is related to delivery such as the size, weight, delivery time zone of the delivery of the package, etc. Can be included in the category of relevant information. The delivery-related information other than the above "Message-ID of delivery notification mail" is transmitted to the delivery service management server 30 after being input by the operator at each of the reception terminals 70a to 70d, and stored in the delivery-related information storage area 35b. It has become so. When the delivery related information other than the "Message-ID of the delivery notification email" is stored in the delivery related information storage area 35b, the delivery operation management server 30 generates a delivery notification email for notifying the recipient of the delivery related information. Then, the generated delivery notification mail is transmitted to the mobile phone 10b according to the recipient's mail address. When the delivery notification mail is generated, a Message-ID for uniquely identifying the mail is generated, and this Message-ID is described in the header field of the delivery notification mail and stored in the delivery-related information storage area 35b. "Delivery notification email Messag
It is designed to be written in the "e-ID" field.

(2-2) Storage Contents of Delivery Office Information Storage Area 35c Next, with reference to the format diagram of FIG. 4, the content of the delivery office information stored in the delivery office information storage area 35c will be described. To do. As shown in FIG. 4, in the collection / delivery information storage area 35c, addresses classified by a predetermined standard are associated with the names and business hours of one or more collection / delivery centers located near the addresses. Remembered These collection / delivery point information is stored in the collection / delivery point information storage area 35c by being input in advance by the delivery company. In the example shown in FIG. 4, in the vicinity of “A city B town”, there are “A city 1st delivery office”, “A city 2nd delivery office”, and “convenience store B town shop” as delivery agent delivery offices. There are three locations, and these business hours are "9: 00-17: 00",
It means "9:30 to 18:00" and "24 hours".

(3) Contents of Billing Information Stored by Billing Server 50 Next, the contents of billing information stored by the above-mentioned billing server 50 will be described with reference to the format diagram of FIG. As shown in FIG. 5, the charging server 50
Stores “mobile phone ID”, “subscriber name”, “bank account used”, “communication charge”, and “delivery charge” in association with each other. In this embodiment, the telephone numbers of the mobile phones 10a and 10b are used as mobile phone IDs. In the example shown in FIG. 5, for example, the mobile phone ID “090
The name of the subscriber of the mobile phone 10 corresponding to "11111111" (this is the mobile phone ID of the mobile phone 10b) is "XXXXX", and the monthly communication charge for this subscriber is "7600 yen." Is charged, and "-100 yen" is charged as the monthly amount of the delivery charge. Here, the delivery fee is negative because at the time of delivery request it was supposed to deliver to the address of the recipient "XXXXX", but then, to the desired collection point according to the recipient's instruction This means that the difference due to the change of the delivery destination will be deducted from the delivery fee paid at the time of the delivery request because the user has to go to pick up the package. That is, instead of having the recipient deliver to the recipient's address, the recipient goes to the collection point to pick up the package, so 100 yen, which is equivalent to the delivery burden of the delivery company, is reduced. Is due to the recipient's action burden,
The payee is paid. Therefore, in the example shown in FIG. 5, the communication charge "7600 yen" is deducted from the use bank account "T bank H branch savings account number 1000101", and the reduction of the delivery charge "100 yen" is applied to the use account. Will be transferred. of course,
In this case, the difference between "7600 yen" and "100 yen" is "75
"00 yen" may be withdrawn from the used bank account. The delivery address will be changed according to the recipient's instructions.
As a result, the shipping fee paid by the sender may be further increased. For example, this is the case when the recipient designates a place farther than the delivery destination designated by the sender. In this case, in addition to the communication fee, the increased delivery fee will be deducted from the recipient's used bank account. Also, if you want to deliver your luggage by freight collect,
The freight collect fee itself will be charged to the recipient as the delivery charge.

The billing server 50 transmits these billing information to the financial institution system 80 via a dedicated line every predetermined period such as once a month, and the financial institution system 80 based on the transmitted billing information. It carries out processing such as deducting communication charges and delivery charges from the bank account in use, and transferring reduced delivery charges to the bank account in use. The financial institution system 80 will debit the financial institution system 80 if the debit process cannot be performed due to a shortage of the balance in the used bank account designated by the billing server 50 or the suspension of the settlement transaction due to the credit shortage of the recipient. The charging server 50 is notified of the failure and the reason. In response to this notification, the billing server 50 generates an e-mail stating that the withdrawal was not possible and the reason, and transmits this e-mail to the recipient's mobile phone 10b. By performing such processing, the billing server 50 can prompt the recipient to pay the communication fee and the delivery fee.
The above is the configuration of the present embodiment.

B: Operation Next, referring to the sequences shown in FIGS. 6 and 7,
The operation of the embodiment having the above configuration will be described. When the delivery request from the sender is received at the collection point, the operator of this collection point inputs the delivery-related information to the reception terminal (here, the reception terminal 70a) based on the items described in the delivery request slip. Go. The delivery-related information entered here includes the sender's name, address, mail address of the sender's mobile phone 10a, recipient's name, address, recipient's mobile phone 10b's mail address, as well as delivery request reception and collection. It is delivery-related information other than Message-ID, such as an office, a delivery collection point, a delivery destination, a delivery date, a delivery time zone, a package content, a size, a weight, a delivery charge, and cash on delivery or payment. The reception terminal 70a receives this input operation (step S11), and transmits the input delivery-related information to the delivery service management server 30 via the delivery service network 60 (step S12).

The delivery service management server 30 constantly executes the delivery service management program 35a described above, and when receiving the delivery-related information, executes the delivery service management program 35a.
5 is stored in the delivery-related information storage area 35b (step S13), whereby the storage content of the delivery-related information storage area 35b becomes the state shown in FIG. However, at this point, the Message-ID of the delivery notification mail is not described, and the field corresponding to the Message-ID is blank.

Next, the delivery business management server 30 generates a delivery notification mail addressed to the recipient based on the contents stored in the delivery related information storage area 35b (step S1).
4). FIG. 8 is a format diagram showing the contents described in the header field of this delivery notification mail. As shown in FIG. 8, in the header field of this delivery notification email, the sender email address of the delivery notification email is "From: Ta".
kuhai@ttt.co.jp ”and the destination email address“ To: bbb @ gg
“Message-ID: M0001” is described along with “g.co.jp” and the like. At this point, the delivery operation management server 30 determines that “Message-ID: M0001” is the delivery-related information storage area 35b.
Written in. In addition, in the body field of this delivery notification mail, it is described what kind of package is to be delivered when, where, who to whom.

The delivery service management server 30 sends the delivery notification mail thus generated to the mobile phone 10b in accordance with the corresponding destination email address "bbb@ggg.co.jp" (step S15).

When the mobile phone 10b receives the delivery notification mail, it displays the fact that the mail has been received on the liquid crystal display,
According to the opening operation of the recipient who is the user, the received delivery notification mail is displayed (step S16). Here, in the delivery notification mail displayed by the mobile phone 10b, as shown in the schematic diagram of FIG. 9, a package addressed to the recipient "○○ XX" from the sender "△△ □□" is delivered. It is described that the product is delivered to the delivery address "1-2-3, B-cho, A city" on "July 1st".

In order to make a response to the contents notified by the delivery notification mail, the recipient needs to present the response contents by the reply mail to the delivery notification mail. This response includes not only a response indicating that the notification content of the delivery notification mail is desired to be changed, but also a response for accepting the notification content without changing the notification content and a response for rejecting the delivery itself. Here, for example, when the delivery destination is desired to be changed to the nearest delivery office, the recipient can search for the delivery office existing in the vicinity thereof. In this case, it suffices to select and operate the soft button SB1 described as "collection point search" in the delivery notification mail shown in FIG. The soft button SB1 is associated with the network address of the positioning server 40 and a command indicating a positioning request in advance, and the mobile phone 1
0b receives the above selection operation (step S1).
7) In response, a positioning request signal is transmitted to the positioning server 50 (step S18). At this time, the mobile phone 10b adds the base station ID received from the base station 21b that manages the wireless cell in which it is located to the positioning request signal and transmits it.

When the positioning server 40 receives the positioning request signal, the positioning server 40 extracts the base station ID included in the request signal, searches the database with the base station ID as a key, and the corresponding position information in the address notation. Is acquired (step S19). Then, the positioning server 40 transmits the acquired position information to the delivery service management server 30 via the mobile phone network 20 (step S20).

The delivery business management server 30 is a mobile telephone 1.
When the position information of 0b is received, the collection place information storage area 35c is searched based on this position information, and the corresponding collection place name and business hours (that is, collection place information) are extracted (step S21).

Next, the delivery service management server 30 returns the extracted collection and delivery point information to the positioning server 40 (step S22). In response to this, the positioning server 40 transfers the received collection and delivery point information to the mobile phone 10b (step S).
23).

The mobile phone 10b displays the received collection and delivery point information in a list on the liquid crystal display as illustrated in FIG. 10 (step S24). This allows the recipient to confirm the nearest pick-up point and the business hours.

When the recipient who confirms the collection / delivery point that can receive the money operates the keypad of the mobile phone 10b to instruct to reply to the delivery notification mail, the mobile phone 10b responds to the operation by the format of the reply mail. Is displayed (step S25). In the header field of this reply mail, as shown in FIG. 11, "In-Reply-To: M0001"
Is described, and it is indicated that the e-mail indicated by "Message-ID: M0001" is a reply mail that is the reply target. The recipient describes in the text of this reply mail that the contents described in the delivery notification mail described above are acceptable, that the contents described in the delivery notification mail are to be changed, and the changed contents. In the example shown in FIG. 12, the delivery date is “July 2
It is described that the user wants to change the date to "day" and the delivery destination to "convenience store B town store". Mobile phone 10
In response to the recipient's instruction to send the mail, b sends the reply mail to the delivery service management server 30 (step S26).

When the delivery business management server 30 receives this reply mail, it first describes "From: bbb@ggg.co.jp" and "In-Repl" described in the header field of this mail.
y-To: M0001 "and refer to the M
essage-ID "M0001" is the recipient's email address "bbb @ gg
It is determined whether or not the information is stored in the delivery-related information storage area 35b corresponding to "g.co.jp" (step S27). Here, if the Message-ID "M0001" is not stored in correspondence with "bbb@ggg.co.jp", the delivery operation management server 30
Judges that the content described in the received reply mail is not the instruction content by the legitimate recipient, and displays on the display unit 37 that the instruction content is not accepted (step S2).
Along with 8), an e-mail is generated to the effect that the instruction is not accepted to the sender of the reply mail, and this e-mail is sent, and the process ends.

On the other hand, the Message-ID "M0001" is "bbb@ggg.c
If it is stored in correspondence with "o.jp", the delivery operation management server 30 determines that the content described in the received reply mail is the content of the instruction by the legitimate recipient, and accepts the content of the instruction. The effect is displayed on the display unit 37 (step S28). Next, the delivery business management server 30 stores the delivery-related information storage area 35b according to the description content of the reply mail.
The content stored in is updated (step S29).
More specifically, the operator inputs the description content of the reply mail using the operation unit 36, and the delivery operation management server 30
Overwrites the input content in the delivery related information storage area 35b.

Next, the delivery business management server 30 generates an electronic mail describing the updated contents (step S
30), and transmits this to both the recipient's mobile phone 10b and the sender's mobile phone 10a (steps S31, S).
32). FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing the description contents of an electronic mail addressed to the recipient's mobile phone 10b. As shown in FIG. 13, in this e-mail, the delivery date is changed to "July 2", the delivery destination is changed to "Convenience store B town store", and the delivery fee is 100 yen due to this change. It is stated that the amount has been reduced. The e-mail may not be sent to both the recipient's mobile phone 10b and the sender's mobile phone 10a, but may be sent to only one of them.

Next, when the delivery charge is changed due to the change of the delivery-related information, the delivery service management server 30 extracts the difference of the delivery charges related to the change from the delivery-related information storage area 35b (step S33). ), And transmits this to the billing server 50 (step S34). In response to this, the charging server 50 updates the delivery charge stored in itself (step S35). As a result, the billing server 50 stores the contents as shown in FIG. 5 described above.

In the above operation example, the case of instructing to change the delivery contents has been described as an example, but the delivery contents may be accepted as they are or the delivery itself may be rejected. When accepting the delivery content as it is, the recipient describes it in the reply mail, and the delivery business management server 30 only confirms the description content and does not need to update the delivery related information. In the case of rejecting the delivery itself, the recipient describes the fact in the reply mail, and the delivery business management server 30 confirms the content of the description and suspends the delivery business corresponding to the recipient. Then, the operator may inquire the recipient by telephone or the like of the circumstances, and thereafter make an appropriate response by making an inquiry to the sender.

In the case of cash on delivery, the shipping fee stored in the shipping service management server 30 is transmitted to the billing server 50, whereby the cash on delivery shipping fee can be deducted from the recipient's bank account.

Further, as described above, when the financial institution system 80 cannot perform the withdrawal process requested by the billing server 50, the reason and the reason are indicated to the billing server 5.
In response to the notification, the billing server 50 generates an e-mail stating that the withdrawal could not be made and the reason thereof, and the e-mail is sent to the recipient's mobile phone 10b.
Process to send to.

According to the embodiment described above, the recipient can know the contents of the delivery in advance by the delivery notification mail and can also instruct the delivery change by the electronic mail. In this case, since the change can be made only by the reply mail of the delivery notification mail, it can be surely confirmed that the contents are the instruction contents of the recipient.
Further, when the delivery charge is changed, the change charge can be charged together with the communication charge, which saves the labor of both the delivery company and the recipient.

C: Modification Examples As described above, the present invention can be variously modified without departing from the spirit thereof. Examples of this modification include the following.

(1) Alternative Device for Mobile Phones 10a, 10b In the embodiment, the case where the mobile phones 10a, 10b are used as communication terminals used by the recipient and the sender has been described. However, this communication terminal is not limited to a mobile phone, and may be any terminal that can send and receive electronic mail. For example, a PDA (Personal Digital A) capable of performing data communication via the mobile phone network 20.
ssistant) or mobile computer, PHS (Personal Handyphone System: registered trademark)
It may be a terminal. Further, the mobile communication terminal is not limited to a mobile communication terminal such as a mobile phone, and may be a fixed communication terminal such as a fixed telephone or a personal computer equipped with an electronic mail transmission / reception function.

(2) Installation Mode of Delivery Service Management Server 30 In the embodiment, the delivery service management server 30 was directly connected to the mobile phone network 20, but the delivery service management server 30 is not limited to this. It may be connected to the mobile phone network 20.

(3) Automatic Update of Delivery-Related Information In the embodiment, the operator inputs the description content of the reply mail into the delivery service management server 30 according to the description content. However, not limited to this, if the format of the body of the reply mail is specified in advance, the description content of the reply mail can be reflected in its own stored content only by the delivery operation management server 30. For example, if it is specified that the recipient's desired “delivery date, delivery location” is described in order from the beginning of the reply mail, the delivery operation management server 30 itself opens the reply mail and refers to the text. The text information forming the text is grasped as "delivery date, delivery place", and the delivery-related information may be updated according to the grasped contents.

(4) Position Detecting Means In the embodiment, the base station ID is used as the position detecting means of the mobile phone 10b, but the present invention is not limited to this, and other position detecting means such as GPS may be used. Of course. Further, when a fixed communication terminal equipped with an e-mail transmission / reception function is used instead of the mobile phone, the communication network accommodating the fixed communication terminal has identification information of each fixed terminal (for example, a mail assigned to each fixed terminal). address)
It is sufficient to provide a database in which the positions of the fixed terminals are stored in association with each other, and the position of the fixed terminal of the sender of the electronic mail may be detected by referring to this database.

(5) Update Timing of Delivery-Related Information In the embodiment, the update timing of the delivery-related information was immediately after receiving the reply mail (step S29 in FIG. 7), but it is not necessarily limited to this. For example, in step S31 of FIG.
Although the e-mail describing the updated contents is transmitted to the recipient's mobile phone 10b, the delivery-related information may be updated according to the description contents of the reply mail to this e-mail. That is, as shown in FIG. 13, the e-mail describes that the delivery date is “July 2”, the delivery destination is “Convenience store B town store”, and the delivery charge has been reduced by 100 yen. However, the recipient is notified by a reply mail to the above-mentioned e-mail whether or not the contents are acceptable. The delivery business management server 30 may confirm this reply mail by the same method as in step S27, and update the delivery-related information only when it is confirmed. By doing so, the delivery-related information can be updated after the recipient has been approved to change the delivery-related information (particularly the delivery charge). Therefore, for example, when the delivery charge is increased due to the change of the delivery destination, the recipient can actually change the delivery destination after confirming the increased amount.

(6) Billing destination for difference in delivery charge In the embodiment, the billing destination for difference in delivery charge is used as the recipient, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a parent (sender) may be a child (receiver). If it is assumed that the parent will pay all shipping charges when sending packages to (people),
The difference may be charged together with the communication charge of the mobile phone 10a. In this case, the delivery service management server 30 notifies the billing server 50 of the difference together with the telephone number of the sender's mobile phone 10a, and the billing server 50 deducts the difference from the sender's bank account according to this notification. Should be done.

(7) Delivery Date Change when Changing Delivery Address In the embodiment, when the recipient changes the delivery address by the reply mail, the delivery date is also designated. However, the recipient may specify only the delivery destination and the delivery date may be any time. In such a case, the recipient describes only the delivery destination in the reply mail, and the delivery operation management server 30 calculates the delivery date and delivery time zone at which the package can be delivered to the designated delivery destination, and the delivery date and delivery time zone are calculated by the electronic mail. It may be described in a mail and sent to the recipient's mobile phone 10b.

(8) Form of Program The program executed by the delivery service management server 30 to perform the above-described processing can be installed in the delivery service management server 30 as an application program. For example, the CP of the delivery business management server 30
It can be provided by recording on a recording medium such as a magnetic recording medium, an optical recording medium, or a ROM that can be read using U31. Further, it is of course possible to provide such a program to the delivery business management server 30 via a network such as the mobile phone network 20 or the Internet.

(9) Embodiment of E-mail In the embodiment, an example in which an e-mail conforming to SMTP is used has been described, but the e-mail protocol and specifications are not limited to the above example, and for example, SMS (Short Message Serv
It may be in the form of ice) or short mail (registered trademark). However, similar to the above-mentioned SMTP, it is necessary to have a mechanism for identifying the mail to be returned.

[0053]

As described above, according to the present invention, a delivery notification mail in which delivery-related information related to delivery of a package is described is transmitted to the recipient's communication terminal of the package, so that the recipient can receive the package. Delivery-related information can be presented. Further, when it is determined that the reply mail described by the recipient is a reply mail to the delivery notification mail, the reply content by the reply mail is accepted, so that the content desired by the recipient is received. You can confirm that there is, and this can improve security.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an overall configuration of a system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a configuration of a delivery service management server according to the embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a format diagram illustrating an example of contents stored in a delivery related information storage area of the delivery service management server according to the embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a format diagram showing an example of contents stored in a collection / delivery information storage area of the delivery service management server according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a format diagram illustrating contents stored by a billing server according to the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a sequence diagram showing an operation example of the entire system according to the same embodiment.

FIG. 7 is a sequence diagram showing an operation example of the entire system according to the same embodiment.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing description contents of a header field of a delivery notification mail used in the same embodiment.

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a description content of a delivery notification mail used in the same embodiment.

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing the contents of a collection / delivery list used in the embodiment.

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing description contents of a header field of a reply mail used in the same embodiment.

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing description contents of a reply mail used in the same embodiment.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing description contents of an electronic mail used in the same embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

10a, 10b ... mobile phone (communication terminal, mobile communication terminal), 20 ... mobile phone network (mobile communication network), 21 ...
..Base station (mobile communication network), 30 ... Delivery business management server (delivery business management server), 31 ... CPU (notification mail transmission means, response mail reception means, determination means, acceptance means, extraction means, Charge calculation means, charge notification mail generation means, charge notification mail transmission means, calculation means, difference notification means, charge notification means, mail transmission means, charge response mail reception means, cash on delivery charge notification means), 32 ... ROM, 3
3 ... RAM, 34 ... Communication unit (notification mail transmission means, response mail reception means, charge notification mail transmission means, difference notification means, charge notification means, mail transmission means, charge response mail reception means, cash on delivery charge notification Means), 35 ... Hard disk device (delivery related information storage means, receiving place storage means), 35a ... Delivery business program, 35b.
..Delivery related information storage area, 35c ... Collection point information storage area, 36 ... Operation section, 37 ... Display section, 40
..Positioning server (mobile communication network), 50 ... Billing server (communications carrier billing server), 60 ... Delivery business network, 70a to 70d ... Reception terminal, 80 ...
Financial institution system.

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Hiroyuki Yamamoto             2-11-1, Nagatacho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Stock             Ceremony company NTT Docomo (72) Inventor Murata Victory             2-11-1, Nagatacho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo Stock             Ceremony company NTT Docomo

Claims (28)

[Claims] 1. A notification mail transmitting step for a delivery business management server to transmit a delivery notification email in which delivery-related information related to delivery of a package is described, to a communication terminal of a recipient of the package, the communication terminal A notification mail receiving step of receiving the sent delivery notification mail, a display step of causing the communication terminal to display the description content of the received delivery notification mail, and the communication terminal according to an operation of the recipient. A response mail generation step of generating a response mail for responding to the description content of the delivery notification mail; a response mail transmission step of the communication terminal transmitting the generated response mail to the delivery operation management server; The delivery business management server receives the transmitted response mail, a response mail receiving step, the delivery business management server, A judgment step of judging whether or not the received reply mail is a reply mail to the delivery notification mail sent in the notification mail sending step, and the reply mail in the judgment step is a reply mail to the delivery notification mail The delivery service confirmation method, wherein the delivery service management server includes an acceptance step of accepting the response content by the received response mail when determined. 2. The delivery service confirmation method according to claim 1, wherein in the notification email transmitting step, the delivery operation management server includes the mail identification information assigned to the delivery notification email in the delivery notification email. When the communication terminal generates the response mail as a reply mail to the delivery notification mail received by itself in the response mail generation step, the mail identification included in the delivery notification mail. Information is generated by including it in the response mail as mail identification information indicating an email to be returned, and in the determination step, the delivery operation management server includes the mail identification information assigned to the delivery notification email and the response. You can compare it with the email identification information that indicates the email you want to reply to in the email. A delivery service confirmation method, characterized in that the above determination is made by 3. The delivery service confirmation method according to claim 1, wherein the response content is an instruction to change delivery-related information described in the delivery notification mail, and delivery-related information described in the delivery notification mail. Is one of the contents that the recipient has accepted the above, or the content that the recipient refuses to deliver the package based on the delivery-related information described in the delivery notification mail. A delivery service confirmation method characterized by the following. 4. The delivery service confirmation method according to claim 1, wherein when the response content by the response mail is content instructing a change of the delivery related information, the delivery operation management server accepts by the acceptance step. A delivery service confirmation method comprising: an updating step of updating delivery-related information stored in advance in accordance with the response content. 5. The delivery service confirmation method according to claim 4, wherein at least one of the recipient's communication terminal and the package sender's communication terminal sends an e-mail describing the delivery-related information updated in the updating step. A delivery service confirmation method comprising a step of sending an email to either one. 6. The delivery service confirmation method according to claim 1, wherein when the response content by the response mail is content for instructing a change of the delivery related information, the delivery operation management server accepts at the accepting step. A change notification mail generating step of generating a change notification mail in which delivery related information to be changed is described according to the received response content; and a change notification in which the delivery operation management server sends the change notification email to the communication terminal. An email sending step; a change notification email receiving step in which the communication terminal receives the sent change notification email; a display step in which the communication terminal displays description contents of the received change notification email; In response to the operation of the recipient, the terminal responds to the description contents of the change notification mail by sending a change response message. A change response mail generation step for generating a change response mail for transmitting the generated change response mail to the delivery operation management server, and the delivery operation management server for transmitting the change response mail A change response mail receiving step of receiving an email, and the delivery business management server determining whether or not the received change response email is a reply mail to the change notification email transmitted in the change notification email transmitting step A step of accepting the response content of the received change response mail when the change response mail is determined to be a reply mail to the change notification mail in the determination step; Depending on the contents of the received response, A delivery service confirmation method comprising an updating step of updating transmission related information. 7. The delivery service confirmation method according to claim 1, wherein a communication network accommodating the communication terminal detects a position of the communication terminal, and the communication network detects the detected position. A position notifying step of notifying the location information shown to the delivery business management server; and the delivery business management server extracting a predetermined receiving location of the package within a predetermined range of the location shown by the notified location information. And a receiving location transmitting step in which the delivery business management server transmits the extracted information indicating the receiving location to the communication terminal, and a receiving step in which the communication terminal receives the transmitted information indicating the receiving location A location receiving step; and a receiving location displaying step in which the communication terminal displays information indicating the received receiving location, In the forming step, the communication terminal generates the response mail by describing the receiving place input by the recipient, and the delivery service confirmation method. 8. The delivery service confirmation method according to claim 1, wherein when the response content by the response mail is content instructing to change the delivery destination of the package, the delivery operation management server is changed. A fee calculation step of calculating a delivery fee required to deliver the parcel to a delivery destination; a fee notification email generation step of causing the delivery operation management server to generate a fee notification email describing the calculated delivery fee; A delivery operation management server, a fee notification email transmitting step of transmitting the generated fee notification email to the communication terminal, a fee notification email receiving step of the communication terminal receiving the transmitted fee notification email, the communication A delivery service, wherein the terminal includes a fee notification email display step for displaying the received fee notification email. Screw confirmation method. 9. The delivery service confirmation method according to claim 8, wherein the communication terminal describes whether or not delivery is required at the delivery charge described in the charge notification mail according to the operation of the recipient. A fee response mail generating step of generating a fee response mail; a fee response email transmitting step of causing the communication terminal to transmit the generated fee response email to the delivery operation management server; A charge response mail receiving step of receiving the charge response mail, and the delivery operation management server updates the delivery-related information stored in advance in accordance with the necessity of delivery described in the received charge response email. A delivery service confirmation method comprising an updating step. 10. The delivery service confirmation method according to claim 8, wherein the scheduled delivery date and time is changed due to the change of the delivery destination,
In the charge notification mail generation step, the delivery service management server describes the changed delivery scheduled date and time in a charge notification mail in addition to the delivery charge. 11. The delivery service confirmation method according to claim 1, wherein when the response content by the response mail is content instructing to change the delivery destination of the package, the delivery operation management server is changed. A calculation step of calculating a delivery charge required for delivering the package to a delivery destination; the delivery operation management server calculates a difference between the calculated delivery fee and a delivery fee paid when the package is delivered. A difference notification step of notifying a charging server of a communication carrier that provides a communication service to the communication terminal, and the charging server of the communication carrier sets the notified difference to a communication charge that is a consideration for the communication service. And a billing step for performing a process for billing the payee. 12. The delivery service confirmation method according to claim 1, wherein when the response content by the response mail is content instructing to change the delivery destination of the package, the delivery operation management server is changed. A calculation step of calculating a delivery charge required for delivering the package to a delivery destination; the delivery operation management server calculates a difference between the calculated delivery fee and a delivery fee paid when the package is delivered. A difference notification step of notifying a charge server of a communication carrier that provides a communication service to a communication terminal of the sender of the parcel, and the charge server of the communication carrier notifies the difference of the notified difference of the communication service. A delivery service confirmation method, which comprises a charging step of performing processing for charging the sender together with a communication charge as a consideration. 13. The delivery service confirmation method according to claim 1, wherein, in the notification mail transmitting step, if the recipient pays a cash on delivery delivery charge, the delivery service management server performs a cash on delivery delivery. A delivery notification email stating that is sent to the communication terminal, and when the delivery business management server has a response content by the response email accepted in the acceptance step that affirms the cash on delivery delivery, A cash-on-delivery charge notification step of notifying a cash-on-delivery delivery charge required for the cash-on-delivery delivery to a billing server of a telecommunications carrier that provides a communication service to the communication terminal; and the billing server of the telecommunications carrier, A process for charging the delivery fee together with the communication fee, which is the consideration for the communication service, to the recipient. A delivery service confirmation method comprising: a payment step. 14. Notification mail sending means for sending a delivery notification mail in which delivery related information related to delivery of a package is described to a communication terminal of a recipient of the package, and the delivery notification transmitted from the communication terminal. Response mail receiving means for receiving a response mail for responding to the description content of the mail, and judgment for judging whether the received response mail is a reply mail to the delivery notification mail sent by the notification mail sending means And a acceptance unit that accepts the response content of the received reply mail when the reply mail is judged to be a reply mail to the delivery notification mail by the judging unit. server. 15. The delivery service management server according to claim 14, wherein the notification email sending unit includes the email identification information assigned to the delivery notification email in the delivery notification email and sends the delivery notification email to the communication terminal, The determination means makes the determination by comparing the mail identification information assigned to the delivery notification mail with the mail identification information indicating the reply target electronic mail included in the response mail. Business management server. 16. The delivery service management server according to claim 14, wherein the response content is an instruction to change delivery-related information described in the delivery notification mail, and delivery-related information described in the delivery notification mail. Is one of the contents that the recipient has accepted the above, or the content that the recipient refuses to deliver the package based on the delivery-related information described in the delivery notification mail. A delivery business management server characterized by the above. 17. The delivery service management server according to claim 14, wherein delivery-related information storage means for storing the delivery-related information, and contents of the response by the response mail are contents for instructing to change the delivery-related information. And a updating means for updating the delivery-related information stored by the delivery-related information storage means according to the response content received by the receiving means. 18. The delivery service management server according to claim 14, wherein at least one of the recipient's communication terminal and the package sender's communication terminal sends an e-mail describing the delivery-related information updated by the updating means. A delivery service management server, characterized in that it comprises a mail sending means for sending to one of them. 19. The delivery operation management server according to claim 14, wherein the delivery-related information storage unit that stores the delivery-related information, and the content of the response by the response mail are contents that instruct to change the delivery-related information. Further, according to the content of the response accepted by the accepting means, a change notification mail generating means for generating a change notification mail in which delivery-related information to be changed is described, and the generated change notification mail is transmitted to the communication terminal. Change notification mail transmitting means, change response mail receiving means for receiving a change response mail transmitted by the communication terminal and responding to the change notification mail, and the received change response mail transmitted by the change notification mail transmitting means And a judgment means for judging whether or not the change notification mail is a reply mail. When the change response mail is determined to be a reply mail to the change notification mail, an acceptance unit that accepts the response content of the received change response mail, and the delivery related information according to the accepted response content A delivery operation management server, comprising: an updating unit that updates the delivery-related information stored in the storage unit. 20. The delivery service management server according to claim 14, wherein a receiving location storage unit that stores in advance a receiving location where the package can be received, and the communication terminal notified by a communication network that accommodates the communication terminal. And a storage unit for extracting the package receiving location within the predetermined range of the position of the communication terminal based on the storage content of the receiving location storage unit, and information indicating the extracted receiving location. A delivery service management server comprising: a receiving location transmitting means for transmitting to a communication terminal. 21. The delivery service management server according to claim 14, wherein when the response content by the response mail is content for instructing a change of the delivery destination of the package, the delivery of the package up to the changed delivery destination is performed. Charge calculation means for calculating a delivery charge required for delivery, charge notification mail generation means for generating a charge notification email describing the calculated delivery charge, and charge notification for transmitting the generated charge notification email to the communication terminal A delivery service management server, comprising: a mail transmission unit. 22. The delivery service management server according to claim 21, wherein a charge response mail transmitted from the communication terminal and describing whether or not delivery at the delivery charge described in the charge notification mail is required is received. And a delivery response management server for updating the delivery-related information stored in advance according to the necessity of delivery described in the received fee response email. . 23. The delivery service management server according to claim 21, wherein the scheduled delivery date and time is changed due to the change of the delivery destination,
The delivery operation management server, wherein the charge notification mail means describes the changed scheduled delivery date and time in the charge notification mail in addition to the delivery charge. 24. The delivery service management server according to claim 14, wherein when the response content by the response mail is a content for instructing a change of the delivery destination of the package, the delivery of the package up to the changed delivery destination is performed. A calculating means for calculating a delivery charge required for delivery, a telecommunications carrier that provides a communication service to the communication terminal, the difference between the calculated delivery charge and the delivery charge paid when the package is requested for delivery. And a difference notification means for notifying the billing server. 25. The delivery service management server according to claim 14, wherein when the response content by the response mail is content instructing to change the delivery destination of the package, the delivery of the package up to the changed delivery destination is performed. A calculation means for calculating a delivery charge required for delivery, a difference between the calculated delivery charge and the delivery charge paid at the time of requesting the delivery of the package, the communication service to the communication terminal of the sender of the package. A delivery service management server, comprising: a difference notification unit for notifying a charging server of a communication carrier to be provided. 26. The delivery service management server according to claim 14, wherein when the notification mail transmission means is a cash on delivery delivery service, the recipient pays a delivery fee, and the delivery service management server performs a cash on delivery service. A delivery notification email stating that is sent to the communication terminal, and when the response content by the response email received by the receiving means is content affirming the cash on delivery delivery, the cash on delivery delivery required for the cash on delivery delivery. A delivery service management server comprising: a freight collect fee notification means for notifying a charge to a charging server of a communication carrier that provides a communication service to the communication terminal. 27. A notification mail sending function for sending to a computer a delivery notification mail in which delivery related information related to delivery of a package is described, to a communication terminal of a recipient of the package, and a transmission from the communication terminal, A response mail receiving function for receiving a response mail for responding to the description content of the delivery notification mail, and whether or not the received response mail is a reply mail to the delivery notification mail transmitted by the notification mail transmitting means. A program for realizing a judgment function of judging, and an accepting function of accepting a response content by the received reply mail when the reply mail is judged to be a reply mail to the delivery notification mail by the judging means. 28. A computer-readable recording medium in which the program according to claim 27 is recorded.