JP2006209341A - Method for managing reservation - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for making a computer allocate proper reservations during a reservation process for a plurality of facilities shared by a plurality of users. <P>SOLUTION: The method includes a first acceptance step for accepting information about the utilization time of the facilities as reservation application information; a second acceptance step for accepting expectancy information about the utilization time; and an allocation step for determining, based on the expectancy information recorded in association with the facilities already reserved, which of the plurality of facilities is allocated to the reservation application information accepted in the first acceptance step. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a facility reservation management method that is shared by a plurality of users.

In recent years, lockers for storing parcels delivered to home have been used as a method for receiving parcels delivered to individuals even when they are absent. These lockers have a plurality of hangars, and some of them have a hangar for each individual. In addition, if the hangar is shared by multiple users, the locker has the function of electrically locking and unlocking, and the management center connected to the locker manages the availability of each hangar and accepts reservations. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).
JP 2002008130 A

  When a user uses such a locker, it is necessary to reserve a hangar for storing the luggage prior to the delivery company carrying the luggage. However, since these lockers are shared by a plurality of users, other users do not know when the user who is the recipient of the package takes out the stored package. Depending on the user, there may be a case where the luggage is not taken out even after the usage time has passed, and the hangar is not empty after the reservation end time has passed.

  Therefore, a user who wants to reserve a new hangar will consider whether the hangar is likely to be free on time, considering the reservation status of the hangar in the previous time, even if there is an empty hangar at the time to reserve. It was necessary to make a reservation by predicting the situation by yourself.

  In view of such a situation, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for causing a computer to perform appropriate reservation allocation in a reservation process for a plurality of facilities shared by a plurality of users.

  Therefore, in order to solve the above-described problem, the present invention provides, as reservation application information, a first reception step for receiving information on a facility usage time, a second reception step for receiving expected information on the usage time, Allocation for deciding which facility of the plurality of facilities to be allocated to the reservation application information received in one reception step based on at least the expected information recorded in association with the already reserved facility Steps.

  As described above, in the reservation management method of the present invention, the expected information about the usage time is received together with the usage time of the facility, and at the time of reservation allocation, the next information is based on the expected information of the facility already reserved at the time immediately before the reservation should be made. Because it is decided which facility should be assigned to the reservation, it is less likely that the previous user is still occupying the facility when using the facility, and the reservation to use the facility more accurately and efficiently The allocation process can be performed by a computer.

  In addition, the user of the computer system to which the present invention is applied does not need to consider the reservation status of other users who have been reserved before the time of use.

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described based on the following examples. In the following embodiments, a server is exemplified as an example of a computer for realizing the present invention, and a user terminal is used as a computer used by a user, and these server and user terminal are connected via a network. There may be a plurality of user terminals. In addition, each program and data held by the server may be held in another computer connected to the server via a network, and the server may read the data from the other computer and perform processing.

  In FIG. 1, as a reservation target facility, a locker that can be locked and unlocked electrically and provided with a communication function is taken as an example, but this is not limited to a locker. For example, a conference room or an accommodation facility The present invention can be applied to a facility that is used by a plurality of users, such as a play facility such as a karaoke, a rental car, and a parking lot, and that has a plurality of facilities having equivalent functions.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment for realizing a reservation management method according to the present invention by a computer. The reservation management system of FIG. 1 includes a server 1 that performs processing of the present invention, a user terminal 4 that is a computer used by a user who makes a reservation, and a locker 5 that is a facility that the user makes a reservation for. And a network 3 that connects the courier terminal 6 that is a computer used by the courier, the server 1, the user terminal 4, the locker 5, and the courier terminal 6 so that they can communicate with each other.

  The server 1 is a computer, and the transmission / reception program 11, the table management program 12, the reservation allocation program 13, and the locker management program 14 are used as programs for executing processing, and locker management is performed as data files used when the processing is executed. A table 21, a user management table 22, and a locker master table 23 are held in the storage means. Further, an input device 18 for receiving an operation directly from an operator and an output means 19 for outputting information are provided.

  The transmission / reception program 11 is a program for the server 1 to transmit / receive data to / from other terminals via the network 3. The transmission / reception program 11 allows the server 1 to accept reservation application information from the user terminal 4.

  The table management program 12 is a program for updating the locker management table 21 and the user management table 22 in accordance with data obtained as a result of reception or processing by the server 1.

  The reservation allocation program 13 is a program for deciding which hangar of the lockers 5 is allocated according to the reservation application information transmitted from the user terminal 4.

  The locker management program 14 is a program for managing the vacant space of the locker 5 and for instructing the locker 5 to unlock and lock each storage.

  The locker management table 21 is a data file for managing information related to reservations assigned to each hangar provided in the locker.

  The user management table 22 is a data file for managing information about users who use lockers.

  The locker master table 23 is a master file for managing hangar information held by the locker.

  The network 3 is a communication network such as the Internet or wireless, and connects the server 1 and each terminal so that they can communicate with each other. The network 3 may be any form of network as long as the connected computers can communicate with each other.

  The user terminal 4 transmits the facility reservation application information input by the user who operates the user terminal 4 to the server 1 or receives and outputs the information regarding the reservation allocation transmitted from the server 1. Computer. It may be a mobile terminal or a mobile phone as long as it has an equivalent function.

  The locker 5 is a locker provided with a plurality of hangars. The locker 5 has a function of communicating with other computers via the network 3 and a function of electrically locking and unlocking in accordance with reception of instructions from other computers or input from an input device provided in the locker. It is equipped with.

  The courier terminal 6 is a computer operated by the courier that receives and outputs information on reservation allocation from the server. It may be a mobile terminal or a mobile phone as long as it has an equivalent function.

  The server 1 has the following hardware configuration (not shown). That is, it is configured to include an input device, an output device, a drive device, an auxiliary storage device, a memory device, an arithmetic processing device, and an interface device that are mutually connected by a bus. Note that the various devices constituting the computer may be accommodated in a single casing or may be distributed and accommodated in a plurality of casings.

  The input device is composed of, for example, a keyboard and a mouse, and is used for inputting various operation instructions to the computer. The output device is composed of, for example, a display or a printer, and outputs various windows and data necessary for operation. The interface device is an interface for connecting to the network 3 and includes, for example, a modem or a router.

  The program for controlling these computers can also be provided by a recording medium such as a CD-ROM. The recording medium on which the program is recorded is set in the drive device, and the program is installed in the auxiliary storage device via the drive device. As a recording medium on which the program is recorded, for example, a recording medium for recording information optically, electrically or magnetically such as a CD-ROM, a flexible disk, a magneto-optical disk (MO), or a ROM, a flash memory, etc. Various types of recording media, such as a semiconductor memory that electrically records information, can be used.

  The program also includes a program recorded on a recording medium of another computer connected via the interface device. A program recorded in a recording medium or the like of another computer is downloaded via an interface device and installed in an auxiliary storage device. The auxiliary storage device stores the installed program and various files necessary for processing the program. The memory device reads and stores the program from the auxiliary storage device at the time of activation. The arithmetic processing unit implements processing to be performed by the server 1 in various processes according to a program stored in the memory device.

  2A and 2B show examples of data files held by the server 1. FIG. 2A shows the locker management table 21, FIG. 2B shows the user management table 22, and FIG. 2C shows the locker master. It is an example of a table.

  The locker management table 21 in FIG. 2A is a reception ID that is a number for uniquely identifying each reservation information in order to manage information related to the reservations assigned to the storage provided in the locker. The user ID that is the identifier of the user who made the reservation, the storage ID that is the identifier of the reserved storage, the reservation start date and time and the reservation end date and time, and the actual use end time is the reservation end date and time Expected information, which is information regarding the likelihood that a position change is likely to occur, is stored in association with each other. Corresponding to these information, the key information for locking and unlocking the locker, the identifier of the courier that stores the package in the hangar, the date and time when the package was actually stored in the hangar, and the user stored The receipt date and time when the hangar is unlocked in order to receive the packaged goods may be recorded.

  For example, as the first reservation information in FIG. 2A, reservation information with a reception ID of 001 is recorded, and a reservation with a reception ID of 001 is recorded based on the information recorded in the locker management table 21. Is reserved by a user whose user ID is 001, and the storage in the locker to which the reservation is assigned is A101, and the reservation is made from 18:00 to 20:00 on January 4, 2005. It can be seen that the expected use end time by the user with the user ID 001 is “0”.

  Here, the expected information is expressed as minus if the use is expected to end earlier than the reservation end date and time, plus if the use end is delayed, and 1 hour is expressed as “1” for the fluctuation from the reservation end time. . Since the expected information is “0”, the user ID 001 indicates that the use of the storage A101 is expected to be completed by 20:00.

  For example, since the expected information is “−1” for the reservation with the reception ID 003, the user with the user ID U003 making this reservation is one hour before 20 o'clock, that is, 19 This indicates that the use of the storage A103 is expected to end by the time.

  Note that the expected information may be any data as long as it indicates whether the actual use ends earlier or later than the reservation end date and time.

  Moreover, in this example, although the table regarding one locker provided with a plurality of hangars is illustrated, such a table can also be provided for each locker, and if a plurality of locker management tables are used, for example, It becomes possible to manage each locker provided in each place at the same time.

  By using such a locker management table 21, the server 1 can manage which hangar is reserved by which user at which time, what kind of expected information regarding the reservation is, and the like. .

  The user management table 22 in FIG. 2B communicates with a user ID, which is a user identifier, a user name, and a user in order to manage information about the user who uses the locker. Address information, reliability that indicates how reliable the expected information set by the user is, the hangar ID of the hangar currently reserved by the user, the number of past uses, etc. It is attached and stored.

  For example, as the first user information in FIG. 2B, the user whose user ID is U001 is Mr. Yamada, the reliability of the expected information is “1.0”, and the hangar currently reserved Is a hangar of A101, and it can be seen that it has been used five times in the past.

  Here, as the reliability, the ratio of the number of times the use is completed according to the expected information with respect to the number of times the expected information is set is used as a numerical value obtained from the past usage record. Therefore, the reliability is 1.0 is the highest, and the reliability with respect to the expected time decreases as the numerical value decreases. Note that the reliability may be any data as long as the information indicates how much the expected information should be emphasized.

  By using such a user management table 22, the server 1 reserves the hangar with information on how reliable the expected information set according to the hangar reservation is. Can be managed in association with a person.

  The locker master table 23 in FIG. 2C stores the locker ID, which is the identifier of the locker, and the hangar ID, which is the identifier of the hangar, in order to manage the information of the hangar held by each locker. Yes. For example, as information on the first locker in FIG. 2C, it can be seen that the locker A has four hangars A101, A102, A103, and A104.

  By using such a locker master table 23, the server 1 can manage each locker in association with the hangar held by the locker.

  Next, the reservation management method of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing an outline of the overall processing flow when the computer system of FIG. 1 is applied to a delivery locker. In this example, by receiving an input from a user who has ordered a certain item through online shopping, a locker reservation process is performed to receive the item with a locker, and the result of reservation allocation is delivered to the user and the item. It shows a series of flows to inform the courier.

  Prior to step S11, it is assumed that the user has operated the user terminal 4 and has already finished ordering goods. In step S11, the server 1 accepts reservation application information from the user terminal 4 as a locker reservation request. In step S12, the server 1 determines which hangar in the locker should be assigned a reservation based on the received reservation application information. In step S13, the server 1 notifies the reservation information of the assigned storage to the user terminal 4 of the user who made the reservation and the delivery company terminal 6 of the delivery company that delivers the goods. Of these, the reservation management method of the present invention is applied to step S12.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart when the computer executes the reservation management method of the present invention. The same processing steps as those in the flow of FIG.

  First, in step S <b> 11, the transmission / reception program 11 of the server 1 receives reservation application information from the user terminal 4 via the network 3. Here, data including at least the use start date and time and the end date and time of the facility is received as the minimum necessary information for determining the reservation allocation. In addition, a user ID and a delivery company ID for delivering an item may be received together. In addition, when there are a plurality of lockers to be managed, information for designating which locker may be received together.

  Subsequently, in step S22, it is confirmed whether or not the corresponding time is available at the facility corresponding to the reservation application information. Here, the table management program 12 refers to what kind of hangar the locker has from the locker master table 23, and for each hangar, from the locker management table 21, the use start date / time and end date / time indicated in the reservation application information To check whether there is a hangar that has not been reserved for the usage time indicated in the reservation application information.

  Next, in step S23, the reservation allocation program 13 determines whether there are a plurality of corresponding facilities obtained in step S22.

  For example, when the transmission / reception program 11 receives data as shown in FIG. 5A as reservation application information in step S11, in step S22, the table management program 12 first starts from the locker master table 23 and locker A starts from A101. The information that the four hangars of A104 are obtained is obtained, and further, the reservation information related to the hangars A101 to A104 is used from 20:00 on January 4, 2005, which is the use date and time indicated in the reservation application information. With reference to whether or not the reservation is recorded in the locker management table 21, information is obtained that all of the storages A101 to A104 have no reservation after 20:00 and are free. Then, the reservation allocation program 13 sets “YES” in step S23.

  If there is no facility that can be allocated to the reservation time in step S22, the reservation allocation program 13 determines “NO” and proceeds to step S31 to make a reservation application indicating that the reservation is impossible. The user terminal 4 that has transmitted the information is notified.

  If there is only one facility that can be allocated to the reservation time in step S23, the reservation allocation program 13 determines "NO" and proceeds to step S32, and applies the reservation application received in S11 to the corresponding facility. assign.

  If there are a plurality of facilities that can be reserved, the reservation allocation program 13 determines the priority of each facility based on the expected information and the reliability in step S24.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the current reservation status of storages A101 to A104. From the information obtained up to step S23, it is understood that the storages A101 to A104 have already been assigned reservations as shown in FIG. In such a situation, the reservation allocation program 13 first refers to the expected information for the reservation registered immediately before the use start date and time included in the reservation application information from the locker management table 21 in the reservation of each hangar. Get an order that you can guess that the use of will end early. In this example, the expected information of the hangar A101 is “0”, A102 is “0.5”, A103 is “−1”, and A104 is “−1”. Then, the order of A101 and then A102 is determined.

  Further, the user management table 22 refers to the reliability recorded in association with the user ID making the reservation. The reliability of the user of U003 who reserves A103 is “0.8” and the reliability of the user of U004 who reserves A104 is “0.3”. It can be determined that it is high. Accordingly, the reservation allocation program 13 determines the priority order of reservation allocation of the hangar as A103, then A104, then A101, and then A102.

  In step S25, the reservation allocation program 13 determines A103, which has the highest priority order obtained in step S24, as a reservation allocation target, and allocates the reservation application received in step S11 to A103.

  When the allocation of the reservation is completed, next, in step S26, the input of the expected information for the reservation is accepted from the user terminal 4 by the input of the user who is the transmission source of the reservation application information, and further in step S27 the locker management program 14 generates key information for unlocking the reserved allocation storage.

  In step S28, the table management program 12 registers and updates the locker management table 21 based on reservation allocation information and key information.

  In step S <b> 13, the transmission / reception program 11 transmits, for example, data as shown in FIG. 5B as reservation allocation information to the user terminal 4. By transmitting such information, the user of the user terminal 4 can determine the hangar to which the item he / she wants to receive is delivered, key information for unlocking the hangar, etc. You can know information about. Further, similarly to the transmission to the user terminal 4, the information of the reserved and allocated storage can be transmitted to the delivery company terminal 6. By sending such information, the courier using the courier terminal 6 should deliver the item he / she wants to deliver to which hangar, key information for unlocking the hangar, etc. You can know information about.

  The locker management program 14 instructs the hangar that has reached the reservation start date and time according to the contents of the locker management table 21 updated by the above processing, receives the key information input by the courier or user from the locker 5, and When the corresponding key information stored in the management table 21 can be collated, an instruction to unlock the hangar key is issued. In addition, the time when the hangar after the reservation start date and time is locked is unlocked for the first time, that is, the time when the courier company deposited the baggage is set as the storage date and time, that is, the time when the user unlocks The time when the package is received may be recorded in the corresponding column of the locker management table 21 as the reception date and time. Further, when the receipt date and time are received, it is determined that the use of the hangar has ended, and the hangar state may be empty.

  If the user terminal 4 is a mobile terminal or mobile phone, the key information transmitted from the server 1 is stored in step S13, and the user terminal 4 and the locker are unlocked when the user unlocks the package from the hangar. 5 can communicate directly with each other to exchange key information.

  The table management program 12 calculates the reliability at a predetermined timing and updates the user management table 22. For example, at the timing when it is detected that the receipt date / time field of the locker management table 21 has been updated, the reservation end date / time is compared with the receipt date / time and the expected information, and the expected completion time at the reservation time indicated by the expected information is the receipt date / time. It is calculated whether it is later than.

  For example, regarding the reservation of the storage A101 with the reception ID 001 shown in FIG. 2A, if 19:50 on January 4, 2005 is registered as the reception date and time, the reservation end time is 20:00 and the expected information is “0”. That is, since the use is expected to end by 20:00, it is understood that the reception date is earlier than the time indicated by the expected information. If the date and time of receipt is earlier than the time indicated by the expected information, it is considered that the use has been completed according to the expected information.

  Then, referring to the usage count column and the reliability column corresponding to the user ID U001 of the user management table 22, the usage count is “5” and the reliability is “1.0”. Since it can be seen that the number of times the use is completed according to the expected information out of 5 times, 1 is added to each of the number of times used and the number of times the use is completed according to the expected information, and the number of times when the expected information is set 6 “1.0” is calculated as the ratio of the number of times the use has been completed according to the expected information for the times. Then, the usage count and reliability columns of the user management table 21 are updated.

  Further, for example, regarding the reservation of the storage A 104 with the reception ID 004 shown in FIG. 2A, if 20:15 on January 4, 2005 is registered as the reception date and time, the reservation time indicated by the expected information “−1” Since it is later than 19:00, which is the expected completion time, it is determined that the use has not been completed as expected information. The user management table 22 indicates that the number of uses is “10”, the reliability is “0.3”, and out of the past 10 use times, it is found that the number of use ends as expected information is 3 times. Then, 1 is added to the number of times of use to obtain 11, and the number of times of end of use as expected information is assumed to be 3, and the reliability “0.27” is calculated. Then, the usage count and reliability columns of the user management table 21 are updated.

  The diagram shown in FIG. 1 is an example, and may not match the actual program module configuration. Furthermore, as for the data holding method shown in FIGS. 2A to 2C, other methods may be used as long as similar data can be managed.

  The present invention may have the following configurations as described below.

(Appendix 1)
A method for allowing a computer to manage reservations for multiple facilities shared by multiple users,
As a reservation application information, a first reception step for receiving information on facility use time,
A second accepting step for accepting expected information related to the usage time;
Decide which facility of the plurality of facilities to be assigned to the reservation application information received in the first receiving step based on at least the expected information recorded in association with the already reserved facility A reservation management method comprising: an assigning step.

(Appendix 2)
The reservation management method, wherein the expected information is information on how much the actual use end time of the facility is likely to fluctuate than the end time of the use time received as the reservation application information.

(Appendix 3)
Furthermore, it comprises a step of recording information on reliability for each user who has input the reservation application information,
The allocation step is based on at least the expected information recorded in association with the already reserved facility and the reliability recorded in association with the user who has input the reservation application information of the facility, A reservation management method characterized by assigning any of the plurality of facilities.

(Appendix 4)
A program that allows a computer to manage reservations for multiple facilities shared by multiple users.
As a reservation application information, a reception step for receiving information on the usage time of the facility and expected information on the usage time;
An allocation step for determining which of the plurality of facilities to be allocated based on the expected information recorded in association with the already reserved facilities at least for the received reservation application information A program characterized by letting

It is a block diagram of one Example of the reservation management system by this invention. It is a data example of the data file of this invention. It is a processing flow at the time of applying this invention to a delivery locker. It is a flowchart of the reservation process by this invention. It is an example of the transmission / reception data of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the reservation allocation process by this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Server 3 Network 4 User terminal 5 Locker 6 Delivery agent terminal 11 Transmission / reception program 12 Table management program 13 Reservation allocation program 14 Locker management program 18 Input means 19 Output means 21 Locker management table 22 User management table 23 Locker master table

Claims (3)

A method for allowing a computer to manage reservations for multiple facilities shared by multiple users,
As a reservation application information, a first reception step for receiving information on facility use time,
A second accepting step for accepting expected information related to the usage time;
Decide which facility of the plurality of facilities to be assigned to the reservation application information received in the first receiving step based on at least the expected information recorded in association with the already reserved facility A reservation management method comprising: an assigning step.   The reservation management method, wherein the expected information is information on how much the actual use end time of the facility is likely to fluctuate than the end time of the use time received as the reservation application information. Furthermore, it comprises a step of recording information on reliability for each user who has input the reservation application information,
The allocation step is based on at least the expected information recorded in association with the already reserved facility and the reliability recorded in association with the user who has input the reservation application information of the facility, A reservation management method characterized by assigning any of the plurality of facilities.

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