JP2003187011A - Vehicle inspection information providing method and vehicle inspection information providing system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technology for easily and accurately providing a customer with replacement time prediction and periodic maintenance and inspection timing of a part on a vehicle such as an automobile. <P>SOLUTION: Upon inspection or maintenance of the vehicle, vehicle information such as a travel distance at inspection and maintenance time, and a replacing part history or an execution day in the vehicle is accepted, and an inspection and maintenance execution scheduled day is calculated from the vehicle information and inspection and maintenance scheduling information such as the travel distance and the number of hours up to executing inspection and maintenance. A calculating result is informed to a user to urge warehousing. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to the provision of information to customers during inspection and maintenance of vehicles.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, the following method has been used as a vehicle inspection information providing method of this type.

At the maintenance shop, a record of the date of registration of the vehicle and the date of the previous regular inspection execution is stored for the vehicle that has entered, and the next scheduled inspection execution date is calculated based on the record, and the customer I was sending a direct mail to urgently ask for.

[0004]

By the way, the work carried out in the maintenance factory is not limited to the regular maintenance inspections such as the above-mentioned legal inspection and vehicle inspection, but also the normal consumption of oils and fats such as engine oil, brake pads and batteries. Work to replace parts is also included.

However, usually, the above-mentioned replacement record of oils and fats and consumable parts is left in the maintenance record book on the vehicle side, or a sticker showing the replacement record of parts is attached to a part of the vehicle such as in the engine room. It was done by either method. For this reason, the replacement records of the oils and fats and the consumable parts are not left in the maintenance factory.

For this reason, conventionally, the parts which are periodically replaced have been treated as merely actual data.

Further, conventionally, the method of checking the condition of parts at the time of warehousing of the vehicle and replacing them if necessary is the main method. In this case, the customer may have an unexpected replacement of parts. In addition, the delivery date may be uncertain due to the parts inventory status at the maintenance shop.

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a technique for easily and accurately providing a customer with a predicted replacement time of parts and a scheduled maintenance inspection time for a vehicle such as an automobile. And

[0009]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention has the following means.

That is, at the time of inspecting or servicing a vehicle, vehicle information such as the mileage at the time of inspecting and servicing of the vehicle, the history of replacement parts, or the date of implementation is received, and the vehicle information and the mileage or time until inspection and maintenance are performed The scheduled maintenance date is calculated based on the scheduled maintenance information such as the number and the like, and the calculated result is notified to the user to prompt the user to enter the warehouse.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings. A vehicle maintenance information providing method and a vehicle maintenance information providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5. The "vehicle maintenance information" here means maintenance history information,
It mainly includes vehicle history information, and also includes general information such as customer vehicle information, maintenance work information, maintenance fee information, and maintenance factory information.

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a network 3 to which a web server 1 (hereinafter referred to as a server 1) in a vehicle maintenance information providing system is connected. A server 1 provided in a maintenance factory 8 that carries out inspection and maintenance of vehicles brought in by customers uses a network 3 such as WWW (World Wide Web) to provide a web terminal 2 provided at the customer's home 9 or the like. Connected with. Also, the server 1
GPS (Global Pos) installed in the vehicle 18
It is also connected to the car navigation system 19 via the network 3. Further, the server 1 is also connected to a mobile terminal 20 having a communication function such as a mobile phone via the network 3.

The configuration of FIG. 1 is not intended to be limited to this, and instead of providing the server 1 in the maintenance factory, instead of installing the service center, a service center that supervises many maintenance factory is installed. A server 1 may be provided in the vehicle to manage vehicle information and provide information.

In this embodiment, assuming that the customer and the maintenance shop have a maintenance management contract as an example, the maintenance work of the vehicle by the maintenance shop is the main task, and therefore the regular inspection, vehicle inspection, and other vehicle maintenance are performed. It is important to deal with customers on maintenance services such as. Specifically, it includes the deadline management of various vehicle maintenance, contact with the customer on the deadline date, guidance of the vehicle maintenance content in the next vehicle maintenance at that time, response to inquiries from the customer regarding various vehicle maintenance information, and the like. In FIG. 1, for example, when a customer makes an inquiry about vehicle maintenance information to the maintenance factory 8, the person in charge of the maintenance factory 8 accesses the web terminal 2 or the like of the customer's home 9 from the server 1 through the network 3 to access the vehicle of the customer. Inquire maintenance information. The details will be described later.

Next, the server 1 according to the present embodiment.
The schematic configuration of the hardware will be described with reference to FIG. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 5 is a display device for displaying information represented by characters, still images, moving images, etc. to the user. The display device 5 includes a cathode ray tube display (CRT = Cathode-Ray).
Tube Display, Liquid Crystal Display (LCD = Liquid C)
rystal display), light emitting diode (LED = Light Emi)
tting diode) or the like. Reference numeral 6 is an input device for inputting various information including a keyboard and a mouse. 7
Is an output device such as a printer for printing various information stored in the server 1 such as screen information of the display device 5 as necessary.

As the internal structure of the server 1, a large-capacity external storage medium such as a hard disk device 4 or a CPU (Central
Processing unit) 11 and main memory 12, information processing unit 10 or ROM (Read-Only Memory)
y) 13 are connected to each other via a bus 17. Further, the hard disk device 4 is constructed with each database that stores necessary information for each information processing.

The hard disk device (storage means) 4 stores software for information processing. As the software, an operating system (O
S) and application software (analysis program 23,
An information processing program) is stored. Further, the hard disk device 4 creates a database of the maintenance work information corresponding to each vehicle information in the storage area. The following databases are provided in the database area in the hard disk device 4.

The hard disk device 4 is provided with a customer database 24 for storing personal information such as a name of a customer who uses the server 1, and a customer vehicle for storing information about the customer's vehicle such as a vehicle name. A database 25 is provided. Also, a maintenance factory database 26 including information on the maintenance factory 8 using the server 1 is stored. Further, the hard disk device 4 stores a replacement result database 27 that stores a history of past parts replacement relating to the vehicle 18 that uses the server 1, and a replacement standard that stores determination criteria such as the time when the parts are replaced. A database 28 is stored.

The communication control section 14 is a communication control program for connecting to a network for communication and a modem 15
And an interface circuit with the net control device 16. The modem 15 is a low speed modem (V2
1) High speed modem (V27ter, V) for sending and receiving image information
29, V33, V17, etc.) and a DTMF (Dual Tone Multi-Frequency = PB signal) transmission / reception function. The network control device 16 is a telephone network or ISDN (Integrated Services Digital).
Network) is an interface circuit with the line and is equipped with an automatic call-in / out function. The bus 17 is for transferring data between each circuit in the server 1.

A vehicle inspection information transmitting unit 21 for transmitting information for prompting the customer to inspect the vehicle is connected to the server 1 via a bus 17. The vehicle inspection information transmission unit 21 is also connected to the communication control unit 14 and is arranged so as to transmit vehicle inspection information via the network 3.

A route information transmission unit 22 for transmitting information on a route from the customer's home 9 to the maintenance shop 8 in order to prompt the customer to inspect the vehicle is connected to the server 1 via a bus 17. . The route information transmission unit 22 is also connected to the communication control unit 14 and is arranged so as to transmit the information of the route via the network 3.

Next, the procedure of providing vehicle inspection information to the customer in the present embodiment will be described with reference to the flow charts shown in FIGS.

First, the server 1 registers the replacement record of each consumable part in the maintenance plant 8 such as the period until the replacement or the working time in the replacement plant database 27 based on the input from the person in charge of the maintenance plant 8. (Step 101 in FIG. 4, hereinafter omitted as S101).

The server 1 is suitable for each consumable part when it is replaced by a parts manufacturer or automobile manufacturer that manufactures and sells consumable parts or the like after a certain number of days has passed, or when it is replaced by the mileage. The update of information such as a proper exchange time is accepted via the network 3 or a storage medium such as a floppy (registered trademark) disk and stored in the exchange standard database 28 (S10).
2).

The server 1 creates a list of customer information from the customer database 24 in the hard disk device 4,
It is presented (S103).

The server 1 retrieves customer vehicle information corresponding to the vehicle from the customer information from the customer vehicle database 25 (S104).

The server 1 finds the monthly average mileage of the vehicle from the customer vehicle information and compares the monthly average mileage with the exchange standard in the exchange standard database 28 (S105).

The server 1 uses the exchange result database 2
The date when the parts are replaced in the vehicle stored in 7 is searched as the replacement record date, and the period from the replacement record date is compared with the replacement reference (S106).

Based on the analysis program 23, the server 1 compares the customer vehicle information with the replacement standard and predicts replacement of the relevant part (step 107 in FIG. 5,
Hereinafter, it is omitted as in S107).

The server 1 automatically calculates a predicted replacement date based on the replacement prediction based on the analysis program 23 (S108).

The server 1 retrieves the work schedule of the maintenance factory 8 from the maintenance factory database 26 on the basis of the predicted replacement date and determines the scheduled vehicle inspection date corresponding to the work schedule (S109).

The server 1 uses the vehicle inspection information transmission unit 21 to provide the customer with information about the vehicle inspection schedule via the network 3, the web terminal 2 in the customer's home 9 or the car navigation provided in the vehicle 18. It is transmitted to the system 19 or the mobile terminal 20 (S110).

FIG. 3 shows a screen display example of the vehicle inspection schedule guide transmitted to the customer. In FIG. 3, the web screen 29 is displayed on the display device of each terminal on the customer side. A web page 30 on the web screen 29 is provided with a maintenance factory information column 31 for displaying information such as the company name and location of the maintenance factory or contact information. Further, in the web page 30, the customer vehicle information column 3 in which information about the customer such as the customer's name, vehicle registration number, and vehicle name is described.
Two are provided. Further, the web page 30 is provided with a vehicle inspection information column 33 in which a schedule of parts replacement and inspection based on the replacement prediction is described. further,
The web page 30 shows that the customer
When it is necessary to guide the route from the customer's home 9 to the maintenance factory 8 when bringing in 8, the guide button column 36 is instructed to receive the route information to the nearest maintenance factory 8. be able to. In addition to the above, the web page 30 is provided with a service information column 34 in which the business information and the like of the maintenance factory 8 is described, and a service detail column 35 in which more detailed information of the service information column 34 can be viewed. ing.

Then, the server 1 determines whether or not the customer instructs the guide button column 36 to request the provision of route information to the maintenance factory 8 (S111).

The server 1 receives the location information of the nearest maintenance factory 8 and the route information from the customer to the maintenance factory 8 from the maintenance factory database 26 and the route information transmission section 22 via the network 3. Information is provided (S112).

The work status management system of the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned illustrated examples, and it goes without saying that various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0037]

As described above, the vehicle inspection information providing method of the present invention provides a technique for easily and accurately providing a customer with a predicted replacement time and a scheduled maintenance inspection time for parts of a vehicle such as an automobile. It can have an excellent effect of providing.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a network in a vehicle inspection information providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a control block diagram of a web server in the vehicle inspection information providing system according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing a configuration example of a web screen distributed by a server in the vehicle inspection information providing system according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing execution steps of the vehicle inspection information providing method according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing execution steps of the vehicle inspection information providing method according to the embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 (web) server 2 Web terminal 2'web terminal 3 network 4 Hard disk drive (HD) 5 Display device 6 Input device 7 Output device 8 maintenance factories 9 customers 10 Information processing section 11 CPU (Central Processing Unit) 12 main memory 13 ROM (Read-Only Memory) 14 Communication control unit 15 modem 16 Net control device 17 bus 18 Customer vehicles 19 Car navigation system 20 mobile terminals 21 Vehicle inspection information transmission section 22 Route Information Transmission Department 23 Analysis program 24 Customer database 25 Customer Vehicle Database 26 Maintenance Factory Database 27 Exchange results database 28 Exchange Standard Database 29 Web screen 30 web pages 31 Maintenance factory information column 32 Customer vehicle information column 33 Vehicle inspection information column 34 Service information column 35 Service details column 36 Guide button column

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Yoshiki Tsubakihara             2-25-14 Kameido, Koto-ku, Tokyo Tsubasa             Inside Tem Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 3D026 BA02 BA28 BA29

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A method of providing information to a customer at the time of inspection or maintenance of a vehicle by a computer, wherein the computer provides vehicle information such as mileage at the time of inspection and maintenance of the vehicle, history of replacement parts, and date of implementation. And a step of calculating a scheduled inspection and maintenance execution date from the vehicle information and inspection and maintenance schedule information such as mileage and number of hours until the inspection and maintenance are performed, and a step of outputting the calculation result. A method for providing vehicle inspection information, which executes. 2. The vehicle inspection information providing method according to claim 1, wherein the vehicle inspection information providing method transmits and receives the information and the calculation result via a network. 3. A program for providing information to a customer by means of a computer when inspecting or servicing a vehicle, wherein the computer provides vehicle information such as mileage, replacement part history, date of implementation, etc. of the vehicle during inspection and maintenance. And a step of calculating a scheduled inspection and maintenance execution date from the vehicle information and inspection and maintenance schedule information such as mileage and number of hours until the inspection and maintenance are performed, and a step of outputting the calculation result. A computer inspection program that can be executed by a computer. 4. The vehicle inspection information providing program according to claim 3, wherein the vehicle inspection information providing program sends and receives the information and the calculation result via a network. 5. A system for providing information to a customer at the time of inspecting or servicing a vehicle, and means for receiving vehicle information such as a mileage, a replacement part history, an implementation date, etc. at the time of inspecting and servicing the vehicle. Vehicle inspection comprising means for calculating an inspection and maintenance scheduled date based on the vehicle information and inspection and maintenance schedule information such as mileage and number of hours until inspection and maintenance, and means for outputting the calculation result. Information provision system. 6. The vehicle inspection information providing system according to claim 5, wherein the vehicle inspection information providing system transmits and receives the information and the calculation result via a network.