JP2005284755A - Machine parts replacement service system and method thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a machine parts replacement service system which suppresses the quantity of stock for replacement and reduces transport costs of apparatus to suppress costs for apparatus replacement as the whole. <P>SOLUTION: The machine parts replacement service system performs processing of replacing faulty apparatus with replacement apparatus and manages delivery of replacement apparatus to stock/replacement places and has; a user database wherein personal information of users having apparatus is stored; a delivery information extraction part for extracting delivery information required for delivery of replacement apparatus from personal information of a user requesting replacement of an apparatus, from the user database; a replacement user database wherein delivery information extracted by the delivery information extraction part is stored; a replacement apparatus stock database wherein the numbers of stocked replacement apparatus of a plurality of machine types are stored with respect to each of replacement apparatus warehouses provided in prescribed regions; and a replacement apparatus warehouse extraction part for extracting a replacement apparatus warehouse which is in neighborhood of user's address and has a required replacement apparatus, from the replacement apparatus warehouse database in accordance with delivery information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a device replacement service system and method for delivering a replacement device and collecting a failed device in response to a replacement of a device from a user.

In recent years, many personal computers and peripheral devices have been used in offices and homes.
When these devices break down, it is necessary to make an inquiry to the manufacturer that manufactured or sold the device and ask the person in charge of the manufacturer to repair the device.
In response to this request, a person in charge of repair from a manufacturer and a company acting on behalf of a repair company will go to repair service, and if a failure that cannot be repaired on the spot or parts are ordered, Once the failed device is picked up, it is taken back to the company for repair (see Patent Document 1).
JP 2002-352021 A

However, in the equipment custody repair method shown in Patent Document 1, when viewed from the user side, while the failed equipment is being repaired, the corresponding equipment cannot be used, so the business process cannot be performed, There is a problem of suffering damage.
On the other hand, in the above-mentioned equipment custody repair method, from the maker's side, if a person goes out to repair the failed equipment, personnel costs will be incurred for the person in charge of dispatch, and it may not be possible to request the user depending on the failure status. There is a problem of suffering damage.

In order to restore the processing environment without hindering business processing, and to reduce the labor costs that the person in charge goes to the user, it is possible to replace the equipment with another equipment without repairing each equipment. It is done.
However, if a device is simply replaced, it is necessary to have an excessive inventory of devices for replacement, which may result in excessive inventory.
Further, when exchanging the equipment, even if the labor cost of the repair person is suppressed, the transportation cost for the delivery of the equipment to be exchanged and the collection of the exchanged equipment is still incurred, so that the transportation cost needs to be reduced.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and suppresses the inventory amount for replacement, reduces the transportation cost of the device, and suppresses the cost for device replacement as a whole. Provide a possible equipment exchange service system and method.

  The device exchange service system of the present invention performs processing for exchanging a failed device with a replacement device, and manages the inventory of the replacement device and the delivery to the replacement place. A delivery information extraction unit for extracting delivery information necessary for delivering the exchange device to the user from the user database storing the information and the personal information of the user who requested the exchange of the device; and An exchange user database for storing the extracted delivery information, an exchange equipment inventory database in which the number of stocks of each of plural types of exchange equipment is stored for each exchange equipment warehouse provided in a predetermined area, and the exchange equipment inventory database From the delivery information, an exchange equipment warehouse extraction unit that extracts an exchange equipment warehouse that is close to the user's address and in which the stock of the exchange equipment to be exchanged exists. Characterized in that it.

  The device replacement service method of the present invention performs processing for replacing a failed device with a replacement device, and manages the delivery of the replacement device to the inventory and the replacement place. A process of storing information in a user database, a process of extracting delivery information necessary for delivering an exchange device to the user from the personal information of the user who requested the exchange of the device, and the extracted delivery information A process of storing in the exchange user database, a process of storing the number of stocks of each of a plurality of types of exchange equipment in the exchange equipment inventory database for each exchange equipment warehouse provided in a predetermined area, and from the exchange equipment inventory database And a process of extracting an exchange equipment warehouse that is close to the user's address and has a stock of exchange equipment to be exchanged from the delivery information.

The device replacement service program of the present invention is a program for performing a process of replacing a failed device with a replacement device, and managing the inventory of the replacement device and delivery to the replacement place. A process of storing information in a user database, a process of extracting delivery information necessary for delivering an exchange device to the user from the personal information of the user who requested the exchange of the device, and the extracted delivery information A process of storing in the replacement user database, a process of storing the number of stocks of each of a plurality of types of replacement equipment in the replacement equipment inventory database for each replacement equipment warehouse provided in a predetermined area, and And a process of extracting a replacement equipment warehouse that is close to the user's address and has a stock of replacement equipment to be replaced from the delivery information. Computers that is a viable program.
As a result, the present invention can extract the exchange equipment warehouse that is close to the user who desires the exchange and has the exchange equipment inventory necessary for the exchange, so that the delivery distance for delivering the exchange equipment can be shortened. It becomes possible, and it becomes possible to reduce the transportation cost concerning delivery of the apparatus to be replaced, and collection of the replaced apparatus.

The apparatus exchange service system of the present invention includes a trader database storing delivery conditions including the size, weight, and delivery date and time of delivery items, and the address and user of the exchange equipment warehouse extracted by the warehouse extraction unit. A delivery distance extraction unit for extracting a delivery company with the lowest delivery charge from the supplier database based on a delivery charge based on the delivery distance, a delivery charge for each area, and an additional charge based on the delivery conditions. It is characterized by having.
The apparatus replacement service method of the present invention includes a process of storing delivery conditions including the size, weight, and delivery date and time of a delivery item for each delivery company in the supplier database, and the address and user of the extracted exchange equipment warehouse. A delivery distance based on the delivery distance, a delivery fee based on the delivery distance, a delivery fee for each region, and an additional fee according to the delivery conditions, and extracting a delivery agent with the lowest delivery fee from the supplier database. Features.

The program according to the present invention includes, for each delivery company, a process for storing delivery conditions including the size, weight, and delivery date and time of delivery items in a trader database, and the extracted address of the exchange equipment warehouse and the user's address. Processing for obtaining a delivery distance, and extracting a delivery company with the lowest delivery charge from the supplier database based on a delivery charge based on the delivery distance, a delivery charge for each region, and an additional charge based on the delivery conditions. A computer executable program.
As a result, the present invention extracts not only the delivery fee based on the delivery distance but also the delivery fee for each region and the additional fee according to the delivery conditions, so that the cheapest delivery agent is extracted. Can be selected, and the transportation cost can be reduced.

The device exchange service system of the present invention rewrites the serial number of the failed device with the serial number of the exchanged replacement device for each user stored in the replacement user database, and the user in the user database every predetermined period. It has a history adding unit for adding the serial number of the replacement device as a history next to the serial number of the failed device.
The device exchange service system of the present invention obtains the number of exchanges for each device in each exchange device warehouse at a certain period from the history of device exchange of each user in the corresponding area of the exchange device warehouse, It has an inventory adjustment part which adjusts.
As a result, the present invention can obtain the number of replacements for each device in the area in charge of each replacement device warehouse for each predetermined period by taking a history of replacement of each user's device. It is possible to adjust the inventory of replacement equipment in the warehouse to an appropriate number.

The present invention is a device replacement service system that performs processing for replacing a failed device with a replacement device, and manages the inventory of the replacement device and the delivery to the replacement location. Here, the exchange device refers to a device that is prepared for replacement. Therefore, the exchange device is the same model as the failed device and is a product used by the user.
Hereinafter, a device exchange service system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a configuration example of a device exchange service system according to the embodiment.

In this figure, the customer management server 1 stores in the user database 3 personal information of a user who has been registered by the user registration of the device, which is performed by the user via the user terminal 2 and the network I.
Here, the personal information of the user includes ID, password, name, date of birth, gender, family structure, e-mail address, postal code, address, company name, department name, product used, and use thereof. . The information communication network I includes a public data network, a dedicated data network, the Internet, and the like.

The exchange device management server 4 is a server that provides a device exchange service system, and includes a delivery information extraction unit 5, a exchange device warehouse extraction unit 6, a delivery company extraction unit 7, a history addition unit 8, and an inventory adjustment unit 9. Yes.
The delivery information extraction unit 5 retrieves the personal information of the user who has requested replacement of the device from the user database 3 in which the personal information is recorded, and delivers the replacement device to the user when the device is replaced with a failed device. For this purpose, delivery information necessary for this purpose is extracted, and the extracted delivery information is stored in the exchange user database 10.
Here, the delivery information is information necessary for delivering the exchange device, such as the type of the exchange device, the user's name, address, and telephone number.

The replacement equipment warehouse extraction unit 6 extracts from the replacement equipment inventory database 11 an exchange equipment warehouse that is close to the user's address included in the delivery information and in which there is a stock of replacement equipment to be exchanged.
The exchange equipment inventory database 11 stores the number of stocks of a plurality of types of exchange equipment corresponding to each exchange equipment warehouse provided in a predetermined area.
For example, the exchange equipment warehouse is divided into a plurality of regions in each prefecture and is provided in the vicinity of a place where the delivery distribution density is high in these regions according to the distribution of the delivered devices.

The delivery company extraction unit 8 obtains a delivery distance from the address of the exchange equipment warehouse extracted by the exchange equipment warehouse extraction unit 6 and the user's address, and for each delivery company 13, a delivery fee based on this delivery distance and a delivery by region The total delivery charge is obtained by accumulating the charge and the additional charge according to the delivery conditions, and the delivery company 13 with the lowest obtained overall delivery charge is extracted from the trader database 12.
The merchant database 12 stores information on a plurality of delivery companies. For each delivery company 13, the delivery fee based on the delivery distance, the delivery fee by region, the size, weight, and delivery date and time of the delivery are shown. The additional charge corresponding to the delivery condition is included.

The history adding unit 8 rewrites the serial number of the failed device with the serial number of the replaced replacement device for each user stored in the replacement user database 10.
In addition, the history adding unit 8 performs the replacement of the replacement device in the user data area in the user database 3 next to the serial number of the failed device every predetermined period (for example, one day or one week). Add serial number as history.
The inventory adjustment unit 9 accumulates the history of each user's device replacement in the user database 3 for each region corresponding to each replacement device warehouse for a certain period, thereby replacing each device in each replacement device warehouse. Find the number and adjust the inventory of replacement equipment.

At this time, the inventory adjustment unit 9 uses the number of sales of each model for a certain period in the region as a coefficient for obtaining the inventory quantity.
For example, for each model, add the number of units sold in the region for a certain period to the number of previous models, and divide the result of the addition by the number of previous models, and multiply this number by the coefficient. The new inventory quantity may be obtained and the inventory quantity may be adjusted.

Next, the operation of the embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. FIG. 2 is a flowchart for explaining an operation example of the device exchange service system of FIG. In the following description, the device is described as a printer, but it is easy to use the present invention for correspondence with a personal computer, a copying machine, a scanner, and the like.
When a device replacement request is input from the user via the user terminal 2 (step S1), the customer management server 1 searches the user database 3 to determine whether or not the user who requested the replacement request has already been registered. If the user information is not registered, the user is requested to input necessary personal information, and the returned personal information is stored in the user database 3 for user registration (step 2).

Then, the customer management server 1 transmits a plurality of questions regarding the failure of the equipment requested to be replaced and data indicating the coping method corresponding to this question, and the failure (service call error , Paper jam, etc.) is determined (step S3).
At this time, for example, the response from the user uses “OK” or “NO” as the determination as to whether or not the problem has been resolved with respect to the result of the coping method with respect to the question. It is made to detect whether or not the problem is resolved.
Here, when the customer management server 1 inputs that the “OK” response has been input, the customer management server 1 detects that the problem has been solved and it is not necessary to replace the device, and ends the process. If it is input that a “NO” response has been input, the failure is not resolved and it is detected that the device needs to be replaced, and the process proceeds to the next step S5 (step S4).

Next, the customer management server 1 notifies the exchange device management server of the used product name indicating the type of the device to be exchanged and the user identification number together with the control signal for performing the device exchange process.
As a result, the delivery information extraction unit 5 searches the user database 3 with the identification number via the customer management server 1, extracts the delivery information from the personal information of the corresponding user, and corresponds the delivery information to the identification number. The stored product name and serial number are stored together, and the user's delivery information is transferred (step S5).

Then, the replacement device warehouse extraction unit 6 searches the replacement device inventory database 11 from the user's address (device delivery destination) and the used product name included in the delivery information, and is close to the user's address and includes the product used. The exchange equipment warehouse with the stock of the exchange equipment is extracted (step S6).
At this time, the exchange equipment warehouse extraction unit 6 extracts, for example, five exchange equipment warehouses in order from the user's address, and exchange equipment for the equipment of the used product name for which an exchange request has been made from the exchange equipment warehouse. Is extracted, and the replacement equipment warehouse closest to the user's address is selected from the replacement equipment warehouse in stock.

Next, based on the address of the exchange equipment warehouse, the delivery trader extraction unit 7 searches the trader database 12 for a plurality of delivery traders (or delivery traders close to the delivery place) near the exchange equipment warehouse, for example, close to the exchange equipment warehouse. Five delivery companies 13 are extracted in order.
Then, the delivery company extraction unit 7 obtains a delivery distance from the address of the exchange equipment warehouse and the address of the user to deliver, and in each of the extracted delivery companies 13, a delivery fee corresponding to this delivery distance, and a delivery area The area-specific delivery area and the additional charge according to the delivery conditions are integrated, the integrated total delivery charge is obtained, and the delivery company 13 having the lowest total delivery charge is selected (step S7).

Then, the delivery company extraction unit 7 permits the selected delivery company 13 to access the delivery information of only the user who delivers the exchange device that replaces the failed device in the exchange user database 10.
At this time, for example, the delivery company extraction unit 7 transmits an encryption key to the selected delivery company 13 together with information on the exchange equipment warehouse that receives the exchange equipment to be delivered, and delivers the exchange equipment using this encryption key. Only make delivery information accessible.

Thereby, the delivery company 13 accesses the exchange user database 10 via the information communication network I and the exchange device management server 4 from a predetermined terminal using the encryption key, and acquires delivery information.
Further, the delivery company extraction unit 7 first notifies the exchange equipment warehouse of which delivery company 13 will receive which type of exchange equipment.
As a result, the delivery company 13 does not need extra time for searching for replacement equipment in the replacement equipment warehouse, and can shorten the delivery time for the user.
Next, the delivery company 13 receives the exchange equipment at the exchange equipment warehouse designated by the delivery company extraction unit 7, delivers the exchange equipment to the user address indicated by the delivery information, collects the failed equipment, and replaces it. The recovered faulty equipment is delivered to the exchange equipment warehouse that has received the equipment (step S8).

Then, the person in charge of the exchange equipment warehouse updates the serial number of the target equipment (product used) for each corresponding user in the exchange user database 10 from the predetermined terminal at the time of collecting the failed equipment. In other words, the person in charge at the exchange equipment warehouse rewrites the serial number of the collected faulty equipment to the serial number of the exchange equipment (step S9).
Next, the history adding unit 8 detects the user whose serial number has been changed from the exchange user database 10 every predetermined period, and stores the detected user corresponding to the personal information in the user database 3. The usage history of the existing device is rewritten (step S10).

  That is, for example, the history adding unit 8 is stored in the user database 3 in units of models (use products) owned by each user and stored in the format shown in FIG. 3 corresponding to each user. The serial number of the device (exchange device) used so far is stored as a use history together with the replacement date, and the serial number of the new replacement device is added after the immediately preceding device.

Further, the inventory adjustment unit 9 accesses the user database 3 and statistically processes the data of the users in the area corresponding to the exchange of each exchange equipment warehouse, that is, the model owned by each user in this area. It is possible to obtain an average inventory amount of each exchanged device in a certain period in each exchange model warehouse by performing an accumulation of how long the exchange is required every time.
As a result, the exchange equipment service system of the present invention can always keep the number of stock of each exchange equipment in an appropriate amount in each exchange equipment warehouse, thereby reducing the cost of inventory.

The faulty equipment collected in the exchange equipment warehouse is sent to the faulty equipment management warehouse, and is classified into the following three items according to the type of equipment and the use history stored in the memory or the like.
(A) Repair and place it in the exchange equipment warehouse as an exchange equipment. (B) Since the exchange equipment cannot be used due to its durability, it is sold as a used product. (C) It cannot be used and cannot be reused. Remove after removing

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to extract a replacement device warehouse that is close to a user who desires replacement and has a replacement device inventory necessary for replacement. Can reduce the transportation cost for delivery of replacement equipment and collection of replacement equipment, shorten the time to deliver replacement equipment to the user, and suppress deterioration of work efficiency due to failure It becomes possible to do.
Further, according to the present invention, since the number of devices replaced in a predetermined period can be obtained by keeping a history of replaced devices, the inventory amount of each device for replacement in the replacement device warehouse Can be adjusted appropriately.

  1 is recorded on a computer-readable recording medium, and the program recorded on the recording medium is read into a computer system and executed. Exchange service processing may be performed. Here, the “computer system” includes an OS and hardware such as peripheral devices. The “computer system” includes a WWW system having a homepage providing environment (or display environment). The “computer-readable recording medium” refers to a storage device such as a flexible medium, a magneto-optical disk, a portable medium such as a ROM and a CD-ROM, and a hard disk incorporated in a computer system. Further, the “computer-readable recording medium” refers to a volatile memory (RAM) in a computer system that becomes a server or a client when a program is transmitted via a network such as the Internet or a communication line such as a telephone line. In addition, those holding programs for a certain period of time are also included.

  The program may be transmitted from a computer system storing the program in a storage device or the like to another computer system via a transmission medium or by a transmission wave in the transmission medium. Here, the “transmission medium” for transmitting the program refers to a medium having a function of transmitting information, such as a network (communication network) such as the Internet or a communication line (communication line) such as a telephone line. The program may be for realizing a part of the functions described above. Furthermore, what can implement | achieve the function mentioned above in combination with the program already recorded on the computer system, and what is called a difference file (difference program) may be sufficient.

It is a block diagram which shows the structural example of the exchange equipment service system of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart explaining the operation example of the exchange equipment service system of FIG. It is a conceptual diagram which shows the storage format of the data of the user's personal information and exchange history memorize | stored in the user database.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Customer management server 2 ... User terminal 3 ... User database 4 ... Exchange equipment management server 5 ... Delivery information extraction part 6 ... Exchange equipment warehouse extraction part 7 ... Delivery trader extraction part 8 ... History addition part 9 ... Inventory adjustment part 10 ... Exchange user database 11 ... Exchange equipment inventory database 12 ... Contractor database I ... Information communication network

Claims (8)

It is a device replacement service system that performs a process of replacing a failed device with a replacement device, and manages the inventory of the replacement device and the delivery to the replacement place.
A user database that stores personal information of users who own the device;
A delivery information extracting unit for extracting delivery information necessary for delivering the exchange device to the user from the personal information of the user who requested the exchange of the device;
An exchange user database for storing the delivery information extracted by the delivery information extraction unit;
For each exchange equipment warehouse set up in a given area, an exchange equipment inventory database storing the number of stocks of each type of exchange equipment, and
A replacement device warehouse extracting unit that extracts a replacement device warehouse that is close to the user's address from the delivery information and has a stock of replacement devices to be replaced, from the replacement information inventory database. system. For each delivery company, a trader database that stores delivery conditions including the size, weight, and delivery date and time of deliverables,
The delivery distance is obtained from the address of the exchange equipment warehouse extracted by the warehouse extraction unit and the user's address, and the delivery fee based on the delivery distance, the delivery fee by region, and the additional fee according to the delivery condition are used to obtain the delivery fee from the supplier database. The apparatus replacement service system according to claim 1, further comprising: a distributor extraction unit that extracts the cheapest distributor.   For each user stored in the replacement user database, the serial number of the failed device is rewritten with the serial number of the replaced replacement device, and the serial number of the user's failed device in the user database is updated after a predetermined period. The apparatus replacement service system according to claim 1, further comprising a history adding unit that adds a serial number of the exchange apparatus as a history.   According to the device replacement history of each user in the corresponding area of the exchange equipment warehouse, the inventory adjustment section for obtaining the number of exchanges for each equipment in each exchange equipment warehouse and adjusting the stock quantity of the exchange equipment at regular intervals. The device exchange service system according to claim 3. It is a device replacement service method that performs processing to replace a failed device with a replacement device, and manages the inventory of the replacement device and the delivery to the replacement place.
Storing personal information of the user who owns the device in the user database;
Extracting the delivery information necessary for delivering the exchange device to the user from the personal information of the user who requested the exchange of the device;
Storing the extracted delivery information in the exchange user database;
For each exchange equipment warehouse set up in a given area, the process of storing the stock quantity of each of multiple types of exchange equipment in the exchange equipment inventory database;
And a method of extracting from the exchange equipment inventory database an exchange equipment warehouse that is close to the user's address and has a stock of exchange equipment to be exchanged from the delivery information. For each delivery company, the process of storing the delivery conditions including the size, weight and delivery date and time of delivery in the trader database;
The delivery distance is obtained from the address of the exchange equipment warehouse extracted and the user's address, and the delivery charge based on this delivery distance, the delivery charge by region, and the additional charge according to the delivery condition are used to obtain the lowest delivery charge from the supplier database. 6. The device exchange service method according to claim 5, further comprising the step of extracting a delivery company. It is a device replacement service program that performs processing to replace a failed device with a replacement device, and manages the inventory of the replacement device and the delivery to the replacement place.
A process of storing personal information of a user who owns the device in a user database;
A process of extracting delivery information necessary for delivering the exchange device to the user from the personal information of the user who requested the exchange of the device;
Processing for storing the extracted delivery information in the exchange user database;
For each exchange equipment warehouse set up in a given area, a process for storing the number of stocks of exchange equipment of multiple models in the exchange equipment inventory database;
A computer-executable program comprising: extracting from the exchange equipment inventory database an exchange equipment warehouse that is close to a user's address and has a stock of exchange equipment to be exchanged from the delivery information. For each delivery company, processing for storing delivery conditions including the size, weight, and delivery date and time of delivery items in the trader database;
The delivery distance is obtained from the address of the exchange equipment warehouse extracted and the user's address, and the delivery charge based on this delivery distance, the delivery charge by region, and the additional charge according to the delivery condition are used to obtain the lowest delivery charge from the supplier database. The computer-executable program according to claim 7, further comprising: a process of extracting a delivery company.

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