JP2003099892A - Service management system, service management server, and service management method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technique capable of improving the usability of a user who receives allocation service. SOLUTION: A service management server accepts information on a present position and a destination from a plurality of users who are going to receive the allocation service (S100, S102), and groups the users who can board on a same vehicle to arrive at a destination by referring to the present position and the destination (S104), and calculates a fare on each of the users (S106). Information on a fellow passenger, a vehicle to board, and the fare is transmitted to each of the users and a driver (S108-S112). The driver gets each of the users of the group a ride, and carries to the respective destination (S114). Even when a taxi stand is congested, a passenger can be transported smoothly, and a waiting time until boarding for a user can be contracted.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a service management technique. The present invention particularly relates to a service management system, a service management server, and a service management method that manage a vehicle dispatch service.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a chaotic economic situation, there are many IT companies that are suffering from the growing period, but there is no doubt that the IT industry has the explosive power to carry on the economy of the next generation.
In particular, the industry related to mobile terminals continues to grow rapidly due to the improvement of the communication environment through the development of infrastructure and the emergence of various services using mobile terminals, and will continue to drive the IT industry in the future. It seems to be.

[0003]

Now that the number of owners of mobile terminals has increased dramatically, it is desired to introduce an attractive service that enables more convenient and effective use of mobile terminals. The present inventor has come up with a technology for managing a vehicle dispatch service using mobile terminals in view of the current situation in which a large number of people always carry mobile terminals.

The present invention has been made in view of such a situation, and an object thereof is to provide a highly convenient service management technique.

[0005]

One aspect of the present invention relates to a service support system. The service support system includes a mobile terminal of a user who uses a vehicle dispatch service, and a service management server which manages the vehicle dispatch service, and the mobile terminal transmits information about the user's current position and destination to the service management server. The service management server includes a first transmitting unit that receives information about current positions and destinations from a plurality of users, and a service for each vehicle based on the information about the current positions and destinations. A group generation unit that groups users who can ride together and a second transmission unit that transmits information about the group to each of the grouped users are included.

The information about the group may include, for example, information about other passengers, vehicles to be boarded, fares, and the like. By grouping users heading in the same direction and riding in the same vehicle, it is possible to shorten the waiting time before getting on even if many passengers are concentrated at the taxi rank.

The group generation unit may group users whose destinations are in the same direction. The group generation unit may group users whose current positions are substantially the same. The group generation unit may further group the users by further referring to the attribute information of the users.
The attribute information may be, for example, gender or age.

[0008] The service management server may further include a fare calculation unit for calculating a fare to be charged to each of the grouped users. The fare may be set to be lower than the normal fare charged when the user individually gets to the destination. The total amount of the fares in the group may be set higher than the normal fares charged when the user farthest in the group gets in without using the service management system.

Another aspect of the present invention relates to a terminal. This terminal is a terminal that can be carried by a user, and via a communication unit that controls wireless communication with another terminal, and the communication unit,
A transmitting unit that transmits information regarding the destination of the user of the own terminal to another terminal, a receiving unit that receives information regarding the destination of the user of the terminal from the other terminal via the communication unit, and the own terminal The destination of the user of the other terminal and the destination of the user of the other terminal, to determine whether or not these users can reach the destination by riding in the same vehicle; And a notification unit for notifying the user of the determination result according to.

When the destination of the user of the own terminal and the destination of the user of the other terminal are substantially in the same direction, the determining unit can reach the destination by riding in the same vehicle. You may decide that there is. The terminal may further include a negotiation unit that negotiates boarding conditions including a fare when the determination unit determines that the condition is acceptable.

Yet another aspect of the present invention relates to a service management server. This service management server can accept a vehicle from a plurality of users who want to receive a vehicle dispatch service, and a reception unit that receives information about each current position and destination, and can ride in one vehicle based on the information about the current position and destination. A group generation unit that groups the users, and a transmission unit that transmits information about the group to each of the grouped users.

Yet another aspect of the present invention relates to a service management method. This service management method includes a step of acquiring information about a destination from a plurality of users who intend to receive a vehicle dispatch service via a network, a step of grouping users whose destinations are almost the same direction, and a group of users. And presenting the authorized user to the same vehicle via the network.

It is to be noted that any combination of the above constituent elements, and the expression of the present invention converted between a method, an apparatus, a system, a recording medium, a computer program and the like are also effective as an aspect of the present invention.

[0014]

1 shows the configuration of a service management system 10 according to a first embodiment. In the service management system 10, the mobile terminal 20 used by the user
0a, 200b, and 200c each have a function of connecting to the Internet 20 via a wireless network 30 such as a mobile phone network, and connect to the service management server 100 via these networks. Mobile terminal 2
00a, 200b, and 200c may be portable terminals having a function of connecting to the Internet 20, such as mobile phone terminals, PDA terminals, and notebook personal computers. Mobile terminals 200a, 20
0b and 200c are the wireless network 3
It has a function of directly wirelessly communicating with each other without going through 0.

The service management system 10 of this embodiment
For the convenience of a user who intends to use a vehicle such as a taxi, for example, users who want to head in the same direction are grouped so that they can ride in one vehicle. There is a long line at the taxi stand in front of a station in a metropolitan area, and it may be necessary to wait a long time before getting on a taxi. Can be shortened. At this time, the fare of each user is
By setting the fare lower than the fare when each uses a different vehicle, it is possible to further give a benefit to the user. Also, by setting the total amount of the fare to be charged to the passengers to be higher than the fare when only the farthest user boarded, it is possible to collect higher fare than usual when traveling the same distance, There are also benefits for taxi companies.

The service management server 100 may be operated by a taxi company or a third party. When the service management server 100 is operated by a third party other than a taxi company, a plurality of taxi companies may participate in the system to mediate services between the user and the taxi company. In this embodiment, the service management server 100
The case where the taxi company itself operates is explained.

FIG. 2 describes a series of processes in the service management system 10 as exchanges among the service management server 100, the user A, the user B, and the driver. Details will be described later, and an overview is given here.
Hereinafter, when the term "user" is used, the user himself and the user's terminal are not particularly distinguished. Similarly, when the term "driver" is used, the driver himself and the driver's terminal are not particularly distinguished. Also, the term "taxi company" is used to mean any taxi company, taxi company terminal, or taxi company representative.

The users A and B use the terminal 200 to transmit boarding request information including information about their current position and destination to the service management server 100 (S100 and S102). Service management server 10
In 0, the users whose current positions are almost the same and their destinations are in the same direction are grouped (S104), and the fare of each user is calculated (S106). The service management server 100 notifies each of the grouped users of boarding confirmation information such as fellow passengers, taxis to be boarded, and fares (S108 and S110). The service management server 100 further notifies the driver of the boarding confirmation information (S112). Based on the boarding confirmation information, the driver board each user who composes the group (S
114), carry to each destination and collect the fare from each.

FIG. 3 shows the internal structure of the service management server 100. In terms of hardware components, this configuration is realized by a CPU, memory, a program loaded in the memory, etc. of an arbitrary computer, but here, a functional block realized by the cooperation thereof is drawn. Therefore, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that these functional blocks can be realized in various forms by only hardware, only software, or a combination thereof.

The service management server 100 mainly includes a communication unit 102, a main control unit 104, and a storage device 106. The communication unit 102 controls communication with other devices via the Internet 20. The communication unit 102 includes hardware such as a modem required for communication, and a driver and other programs for controlling communication.

The storage device 106 is the service management server 1.
Stores various databases required for operation 00. The map database 160 holds map information on the business range of taxi companies. The fare table 170 holds information for calculating a fare.

The user database 150 stores the personal information of the user. FIG. 4 shows an example of the configuration, and the user I
A D column 502, a mobile phone number column 504, an e-mail address column 506, a current position column 508, a destination column 510, and an acquisition date / time column 512 are provided. Acquisition date and time column 51
2 stores the date and time when the boarding request information is acquired from the user. The user database 150 may also store user information such as name, address, telephone number, gender, age, and the like, but it is necessary for the function provided by the service management server 100 in consideration of user privacy. It is possible to store only the minimum necessary information. As an example, user ID
The user information of "0001" is as follows: mobile phone number "090-xxxx-xxxx", e-mail address "taro@xx.com", current position "east longitude xx degree xx minute xx".
Seconds, north latitude xx degrees xx minutes xx seconds ", destination" east longitude xx degrees x "
x minutes xx seconds, north latitude xx degrees xx minutes xx seconds ", acquisition date and time" 2
13:00:10, September 25, 001 ”is recorded.

The boarding request information receiving section 110 receives boarding request information transmitted from the user's terminal 200. At this time, the user identification information, the current location, and the information about the destination are acquired. As the user identification information, for example, the mobile phone number notified by the caller number notification function of the mobile phone 200c of the user may be acquired, or the user may use HTTP from the web browser of the mobile terminal 200a.
When the boarding request information is transmitted by a (GET) request of (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) or the like, the terminal identification information included in the header information of the request may be acquired.
Further, when the terminal 200 of the user transmits the vehicle allocation request, the identification information of the user may be explicitly notified. The boarding request information receiving unit 110 uniquely identifies the user based on these pieces of information in order to establish subsequent communication with the user.

The group generation unit 120 refers to the user database 150 and groups the users who are located at substantially the same position and who are going to the substantially same direction. At this time, referring to the map database 160, the users who desire to board the substantially same route are grouped. Even if the boarding positions are different, for example, a user who wants to board a vehicle in the middle of a route desired by a certain user may be allowed to board without significantly changing the route, so these users may be grouped. . The group generation unit 120 may group the users by further considering attribute information of the users, such as gender.

The group generation unit 120 may group the users at predetermined time intervals, or may generate a group for the users when the boarding request information is acquired from the users. When the group generation unit 120 acquires the boarding request information from the user and fails to group the user, the group generation unit 120 may notify the user of that fact. The group generation unit 120 clears the current position column 508, the destination column 510, and the acquisition date / time column 512 of the user database 150 for the users who have been grouped and transmitted the boarding confirmation information. This prevents users from being grouped redundantly. When the group is generated, the acquisition date / time column 512 of the user database 150 is referred to, and the user who has acquired the boarding request before the predetermined time may be excluded from the grouping target. After transmitting the boarding request information, the user who has not been grouped for a predetermined period of time may be in a taxi without waiting for the application of the grouping by the present system. Therefore, when a predetermined time has elapsed from the acquisition of the information request information, the current position column 50 of the user is acquired.
8, the destination column 510 and the acquisition date / time column 512 may be cleared and excluded from the grouping target. Before clearing the information, the user may be asked if he still wants to group.

The fare calculation unit 130 uses the fare table 170.
Calculate the fare of each user by referring to. Fare calculation part 13
0 may set the fare of each user to be lower than the normal fare when each user uses a different vehicle. As a result, it is possible to give an advantage to the user, and in turn, it is possible to promote the use of the own vehicle. In addition, the total amount of the fare to be charged to the user who is on board may be set higher than the normal fare when only the farthest user boarded. As a result, it is possible to collect fares higher than usual when traveling the same distance.

The boarding confirmation information transmitting section 140 provides the grouped users with fellow passengers, vehicles to be boarded,
Send boarding confirmation information such as fares.

FIG. 5 shows the internal structure of the user terminal 200. This configuration can also be realized in various forms by only hardware, only software, or a combination thereof. The user terminal 200 includes a communication unit 210, G
PS receiving unit 220, control unit 230, storage unit 250, input unit 260, display unit 27
0, a microphone 280, and a speaker 290.

The communication unit 210 includes an antenna 212 for transmitting / receiving a signal, a receiving unit 214 for decoding a received signal, and a transmitting unit 2 for modulating and transmitting data.
16 to control communication with other devices via the wireless network 30 and wireless communication with other user terminals 200a. For wireless communication between terminals, wireless communication technology using infrared rays or radio waves in a relatively narrow range may be used. The communication unit 210 may be pre-installed in the user terminal 200, or the user terminal 200.
It may be provided as a card-type unit that is detachably inserted into a slot provided in.

The GPS receiving unit 220 is an antenna 222 for receiving a signal from a GPS satellite, and a GP for calculating a current position information by performing a positioning calculation based on the received signal.
S receiver 224. GPS receiving unit 220
Also, like the communication unit 210, it may be incorporated in the user terminal 200 in advance, or may be configured as a card to be inserted into the card slot of the user terminal 200.

The input unit 260 receives input information from the outside using a keyboard, a mouse, various buttons and the like. The display unit 270 displays text information, image information, and the like. The microphone 280 inputs voice information from the outside. The speaker 290 outputs audio information to the outside.

The storage unit 250 includes a destination information storage unit 252 that stores information regarding the destination of the user.
FIG. 6 is an example of the configuration, and a destination ID column 540, a name column 542, a position information column 544, and an address column 546 are provided. As an example, as the information of the destination ID “01”, the name “home” and the position information “east longitude xx degrees xx minutes xx”
Seconds, north latitude xx degrees xx minutes xx seconds "and address" A city B address "are recorded.

The position information acquisition section 232 is provided for the user terminal 20.
The current position information of 0 is acquired from the GPS receiver 224.
The boarding request information transmission unit 234 receives a boarding request from the user via the input unit 260 or the like, and information regarding the current position acquired by the position information acquisition unit 232 and a destination stored in the destination information storage unit 252. The information and the identification information of the user terminal 200 are transmitted to the service management server 100.

The boarding confirmation information receiving unit 236 acquires boarding confirmation information such as fellow passengers, vehicles to be boarded, and fares from the service management server 100. The boarding confirmation information is notified to the user via the display unit 270, the speaker 290, or the like as necessary. E-mail transmission / reception unit 238
Transmits and receives an e-mail for the user to keep in contact with the service management server 100 or the driver. A telephone call may be used instead of the electronic mail.

FIG. 7 shows a boarding request information transmission screen presented on the user terminal 200. The user terminal 200 is provided with a send button 262 for sending a boarding request. When the user presses the send button 262, the boarding request information transmission unit 234 reads out the information of the destination registered in advance from the destination information storage unit 252, and the display unit 270.
It is presented to the user via and the destination is selected. When the user selects a destination and inputs the number of passengers, the boarding request information transmission unit 234 causes the destination information, the current position information acquired by the position information acquisition unit 232, and the user terminal 200.
And the information such as the number of passengers in the vehicle are transmitted to the service management server 100.

FIG. 8 shows an example of the boarding confirmation information display screen presented on the user terminal 200. On the boarding confirmation information display screen, it is displayed that a taxi with the vehicle number “12” of the taxi company “Company A” should be boarded. Also, there are two other passengers and the fare to your home is "1000 yen".
Is shown. If necessary, each user can communicate with other passengers and drivers with the email sending / receiving unit 2
38 or wireless communication may be used to keep in touch.

With the above configuration and operation, the user
By taking a taxi with another user heading in the same direction, it is possible to shorten the waiting time before getting on. Also, fares are cheaper than usual for individual users,
Since you can set higher than usual when adding up,
There are merits for both users and taxi companies. In the above-described first embodiment, the user is the terminal 200.
The current position of the user himself using the service management server 1
However, the present invention is not limited to this, and an access point or a server is installed at a taxi stand, and communication, for example, using a short-range communication protocol is automatically performed between the access point and the user terminal. With this, the service management server 100 can recognize the current position of the user.

FIG. 9 shows the internal structure of the user terminal 200 in the service management system 10 according to the second embodiment. In the service management system 10 of this embodiment, the service management server 100 is not provided, and the user terminal 2
00 communicates directly with each other. The user terminal 200 of the present embodiment is different from the configuration of the user terminal 200 of the first embodiment shown in FIG. 5 in that the GPS receiving unit 220 and the position information acquisition unit 232 are omitted, and the boarding confirmation information is obtained. Instead of the receiving unit 236, a boarding request information receiving unit 240, a determining unit 242, a notifying unit 244, and a negotiation unit 246 are provided. The operation of the components denoted by the same reference numerals is the same as the operation described in the first embodiment.

Since the user terminal 200 of the present embodiment directly wirelessly communicates with another user terminal 200a in the vicinity to transmit and receive the boarding request information, it is not necessary to notify the other party of the current position information. Therefore, the GPS receiving unit 220
Although the position information acquisition unit 232 is not provided, it goes without saying that these configurations may be added to the user terminal 200 of this embodiment.

The boarding desire information transmitting section 234 transmits the boarding desire information to another user terminal 200. The boarding request information receiving unit 240 acquires boarding request information from another user terminal 200. The determination unit 242 determines whether or not it is possible to get into the same vehicle as the user, by referring to the boarding request information of the user and the boarding request information of other users. When it is determined that the passenger can ride, the notification unit 244 notifies the user of that fact via the display unit 270 or the speaker 290. The negotiation unit 246 negotiates the fare with the user when it is determined that the passenger can board. At this time, a table for calculating the fare may be held.

The service management system 10 of this embodiment
Also, the waiting time for the user to get on the taxi can be shortened. Such a function is particularly effective when there are many taxi users, such as when it is raining or when other transportation such as a train is stopped. Increasing the convenience of users when using taxis will increase the frequency of use of users and will also give people who do not normally use taxis the opportunity to use taxis, which is a great advantage for taxi companies. Become.

The present invention has been described above based on the embodiments. This embodiment is merely an example, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various modifications can be made to the combination of each constituent element and each processing process, and such modifications are also within the scope of the present invention.

Even if the constituent members provided in each terminal or server are provided in a terminal or server different from the illustrated example, the same system may be realized in some cases.
It will be understood by those skilled in the art. For example, the function of the destination information storage unit 252 provided in the user terminal 200 is based on the user database 1 of the service management server 100.
50 may have. In this way, the flexibility of the configuration of this system is high.

[0044]

According to the present invention, it is possible to improve the convenience of a user who receives a vehicle dispatch service.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a service management system according to a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a diagram schematically showing a flow of processing in the service management system.

FIG. 3 is a configuration diagram of a service management server.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing internal data of a user database.

FIG. 5 is a configuration diagram of a user terminal.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing internal data of a destination information storage unit.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a boarding request information transmission screen presented on a user terminal.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of a boarding confirmation information display screen presented on a user terminal.

FIG. 9 is a configuration diagram of a user terminal according to the second embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 service management system, 100 service management server, 110 boarding request information reception section, 120 group generation section, 130 fare calculation section, 140 boarding confirmation information transmission section, 200 user terminal, 210 communication unit, 234 boarding request information transmission section, 236
Boarding confirmation information receiver, 240 Boarding wish information receiver,
242 Judgment section, 244 Notification section, 246 Negotiation section.

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Claims (12)

[Claims] 1. A mobile terminal of a user who uses a vehicle dispatch service, and a service management server which manages the vehicle dispatch service, wherein the mobile terminal sends information about the current location and destination of the user to the service management server. The service management server includes a first transmission unit for receiving information about current positions and destinations from a plurality of users, and a service for a single vehicle based on the information about the current positions and destinations. A service management system comprising: a group generation unit that groups users who can ride together; and a second transmission unit that transmits information about the group to each of the grouped users. 2. The service management system according to claim 1, wherein the group generation unit groups users whose destinations are in substantially the same direction. 3. The service management system according to claim 2, wherein the group generation unit groups users whose current positions are substantially the same. 4. The service management system according to claim 1, wherein the group generation unit groups the users by further referring to the attribute information of the users. 5. The service management system according to claim 1, wherein the service management server further includes a fare calculation unit that calculates a fare to be charged to each of the grouped users. . 6. The service management system according to claim 5, wherein the fare is set to be lower than a normal fare charged when the user individually gets to the destination. 7. The total amount of the fare in the group is set to be higher than the normal fare charged when the user farthest in the group gets on without using the service management system. The service management system according to claim 6, which is characterized in that. 8. A terminal which can be carried by a user and which controls wireless communication with another terminal, and information about the destination of the user of the own terminal to another terminal via the communication section. A transmission unit that transmits, a reception unit that receives information regarding the destination of the user of the terminal from another terminal via the communication unit, a destination of the user of the own terminal, and a purpose of the user of another terminal A determination unit that compares the places and determines whether or not the users can reach the destination by riding in the same vehicle; and a notification unit that notifies the user of the determination result by the determination unit. A terminal characterized by that. 9. The determination unit, when the destination of the user of the own terminal and the destination of the user of another terminal are in substantially the same direction, those users board the same vehicle and reach the destination. The terminal according to claim 8, which is determined to be possible. 10. The terminal according to claim 8, further comprising a negotiating unit for negotiating boarding conditions including a fare when the judging unit judges yes. 11. A reception unit that receives information about a current position and a destination from a plurality of users who want to receive a vehicle dispatch service, and a vehicle that can ride in one vehicle based on the information about the current position and the destination. A service management server comprising: a group generation unit that groups users, and a transmission unit that transmits information about the group to each of the grouped users. 12. A step of acquiring information about a destination from a plurality of users who intend to receive a vehicle dispatch service via a network, a step of grouping users whose destinations are almost the same direction, and a grouping. And a method of suggesting that the same user ride in the same vehicle via a network.