JP2007179438A - Ticket issuing device and computer program - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a ticket issuing device, capable of improving visibility and operability of a staff who operates the ticket issuing device by displaying all pieces of information for ticket issuing in one screen without scroll of screen or the like. <P>SOLUTION: This device comprises an operation part 110 for displaying ticket issuing information for issuing a ticket and accepting information input operation by the staff, and items for accepting input of ticket information to the operation part 110 include essential items to which input is indispensable and optional items to which input is optional. The operation part 100 displays all essential items on one screen, and displays all optional items by setting the font of the optional items smaller than that of the essential items when the optional item cannot be displayed. Consequently, all the information for ticket issuing can be displayed within one screen without scroll of screen or the like to improve the visibility and operability. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a ticketing device that is installed at a window of a station and issues a ticket, a designated ticket, a commuter pass, etc. In particular, according to the request of a user (customer who purchases a ticket, etc.) The present invention relates to a ticket issuing device and a computer program capable of improving the operability of a staff member when operating a staff member. In the following, a ticket, designated ticket, commuter pass, etc. issued by the ticketing device are simply referred to as a ticket. Also, station staff and window staff who operate the ticket issuing device are simply referred to as staff.

  When issuing a ticket using the clerk operation type ticketing device, the clerk inputs necessary items into the ticketing device while interacting with the user and issues a ticket according to the user's request. On the screen of the ticket issuing device, for example, various information is displayed on the left side of the screen, and an input button for inputting information is displayed on the right side of the screen.

  Depending on the type of ticket purchased by the user, the information to be entered may be very large. For example, when issuing a reserved seat ticket, it is necessary to input various conditions according to the user's request, such as specifying a private room, specifying a seat, and incidental conditions. When many conditions are input in this way, all input items cannot be displayed on one screen and can be displayed by scrolling or switching the screen, but all items can be checked at the same time. There was a problem that the visibility and operability of the staff decreased. In particular, when inputting conditions one after another according to the user's request while interacting with the user, the visibility and operability are significantly reduced.

  In order to improve the visibility and operability of the staff operating the ticket issuing device, a technique for changing the display size of the input button according to the selection ratio of the input button is known (for example, see Patent Document 1). However, this technique cannot solve the above problem.

JP 2003-281604 A

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems of conventional ticketing devices, and the object of the present invention is to display all information for ticketing on a single screen without scrolling the screen. It is possible to provide a new and improved ticket issuing apparatus and computer program that can improve the visibility and operability of a staff member operating the ticket issuing apparatus.

  In order to solve the above-described problems, according to the first aspect of the present invention, a ticket issuing device (clerk operation type ticket issuing device) is provided in which a clerk inputs information based on a user's request and issues a ticket. . The ticket issuing device of the present invention includes a display input unit (for example, an operation unit 110 (FIG. 2) described later) that displays ticket issuing information for issuing a ticket and receives an information input operation by an attendant. The items for accepting the input of ticketing information to the display input unit include essential items that are required to be input and optional items that are optional, and the display input unit is all on one screen. And displaying all the optional items by making the font of the optional items smaller (relatively) than the font of the required items when the optional items cannot be displayed. (Claim 1).

  According to such a configuration, when the clerk operates the display input unit, when more items than the number of items that can be displayed on one screen (essential items + optional items) are added, the font is automatically changed to It is possible to display all items on the screen. At this time, in order to improve the visibility and operability of the staff, the font is changed so that the font of the optional item is relatively smaller than the font of the essential item. This makes it possible to display all of the information for issuing a ticket on a single screen without scrolling the screen, thereby improving the visibility and operability of the staff. In particular, the workability when checking the contents with the user is improved. In addition, essential items, which are particularly important information when issuing tickets, ensure the same visibility as before, so that it is possible to prevent serious mistakes.

  As described above, in the present invention, in order to improve the visibility and operability of the staff, the font is changed so that the font of the optional item is relatively smaller than the font of the essential item. This font change can be performed, for example, as described in (1) and (2) below.

(1) The display input unit may change only the font of the optional item without changing the font of the essential item. For example, when an item is full on the screen, the font of the optional item is made slightly smaller. If there are more items on the screen after that, the font of the optional item is further reduced. In this way, it is possible to display all items on one screen without changing the font of essential items, and it is possible to improve the visibility and operability of the staff.

  Furthermore, the display input unit may not change the length of the character display direction of the arbitrary item when changing (decreasing) the font of the arbitrary item. For example, when the character display direction of the display / input unit is horizontal, the background of the optional item and the horizontal width of the input area can be kept unchanged (the same width as before the reduction). In addition to improving the visibility and operability of the staff, it is possible to easily design the screen layout.

(2) The display input unit may change a font of the essential item (not only the optional item) and the optional item (claim 4). For example, when an item is full on the screen, the font of an arbitrary item is first made smaller. After that, if the optional item becomes a font that is small to some extent, it is possible to make the required item small enough not to be smaller than the optional item. Regarding how to change the font of the optional item and the essential item, it is possible to make a table (algorithmization) of the optimum relationship after confirming the visibility and the like in advance.

  Furthermore, the display input unit may not change the length of the required item and the optional item in the character display direction when changing (reducing) the font of the required item and the optional item. Item 5). For example, when the character display direction of the display input unit is horizontal, the background of the essential items and the horizontal width of the input area can be kept unchanged (the same width as before the reduction). It is preferable that not only the optional items but also the required items do not change the length of the character display direction even if the font is changed. In addition to improving the visibility and operability of the staff, it is possible to easily design the screen layout.

  The display input unit may accept an information input operation by a touch panel method. That is, it is possible to accept an information input operation by touching the display input unit (on the screen).

  According to another aspect of the present invention, there are provided a program for causing a computer to function as the ticket issuing apparatus according to the present invention, and a computer-readable recording medium on which the program is recorded. 7). Here, the program may be described in any programming language. In addition, as a recording medium, for example, a recording medium that is currently used as a recording medium capable of recording a program, such as a CD-ROM, a DVD-ROM, or a flexible disk, or any recording medium that is used in the future should be adopted. Can do.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to display all of the information for issuing a ticket on one screen without scrolling the screen, and the visibility and operability of the staff operating the ticket issuing device. It is possible to improve.

  Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of a ticket issuing apparatus and a computer program according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the present specification and drawings, components having substantially the same functional configuration are denoted by the same reference numerals, and redundant description is omitted.

(Constitution)
FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing a schematic configuration of a ticketing system including a ticketing device according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the ticketing system 10 includes a ticketing device 100 operated by a staff member and a host 200 that manages train information. The automatic ticketing machine 100 and the host 200 are installed at spatially separated positions, and are configured to be able to communicate in some form and exchange information. FIG. 1 shows an example in which the automatic ticketing machine 100 and the host 200 communicate with each other via the communication line 300. These system components are described below.

(Ticketing device 100)
As shown in FIG. 1, the ticket issuing device 100 displays information for issuing a ticket and receives an information input operation by an attendant (an example of a display input unit of the present invention), and the entire device And a ticket issuing unit 130 that records predetermined information on a boarding ticket and issues a ticket based on information input to the operation unit 110 and information managed by the host 200 described later. Has been.

  Note that FIG. 1 shows only the components necessary for the description of the present embodiment, and other configurations are optional. For example, a coin processing unit or banknote processing unit for processing a ticket purchase, a card processing unit for processing a card for processing a ticket purchase, various information and processing programs for issuing a ticket, etc. It is possible to optionally include a storage unit for storing, a communication unit for communicating with the host 200 described later, and the like.

  Below, it demonstrates centering on the operation part 110 which is a component characteristic to this embodiment.

(Operation unit 110)
The operation unit 110 is an example of a display input unit of the present invention, and has a function of displaying information for issuing a ticket and accepting an information input operation by a staff member. FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the operation unit 110. The operation unit 110 includes a display unit 112 with a touch panel and a key input unit 114 as shown in FIG.

  The display unit 112 with a touch panel includes, for example, a CRT display, a liquid crystal display, or a plasma display. For example, in order to issue a ticket, designated ticket, commuter pass, etc., input items, input buttons, input information, etc. indicate. Furthermore, it is possible to detect pressing of various input buttons displayed on the display unit 112 with a touch panel. The clerk can perform an information input operation by touching the touch panel display unit 112 with a finger or the like.

  The key input unit 114 is a key for inputting various types of information. Keys common to various screens displayed on the display unit 112 with a touch panel, keys that are frequently used, and the like are arranged. For example, it is possible to adopt a configuration like a numeric keypad of a computer. Note that the key input unit 114 is not necessarily an essential component, and can be used as an auxiliary role for input operations on the touch panel display unit 112.

  Next, the host 200 and the communication line 300, which are other components of the ticketing system 10, will be described.

(Host 200)
The host 200 is connected to the ticket issuing device 100 via the communication line 300, and manages various information for issuing a ticket. Information managed by the host 200 includes train seat reservation information and vacant seat information. The host 200 has a function of returning train vacant seat information in response to a request from the ticket issuing device 100 and a function of reserving a train seat (such as a designated seat).

(Communication line 300)
The communication line 300 is a network that connects the ticket issuing device 100 and the host 200, and for example, a dedicated line or the like can be used. Alternatively, it is possible to use the Internet via a public line by applying some security means (for example, SSL).

The configuration of the ticketing system 10 according to the present embodiment has been described above.
Next, the operation of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.

(Operation)
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing the operation of the present embodiment. 4-12 is explanatory drawing which shows the information displayed on the display part 112 with a touch panel of the ticket issuing apparatus 100. FIG.

<Required Item Input (Step S110, FIGS. 4 to 6)>
When a user applies for the purchase of a designated ticket at a window, the staff selects the ticket issuing operation business for the designated ticket / non-reserved seat ticket. At this time, the essential item input screen shown in FIG. 4 is displayed. In FIG. 4, an input field (input item) 11 on the screen is an area for inputting information for issuing a ticket. The button 13 is for selecting information to be input to the input field 11. The guide 12 is a button for switching the button 13 to be displayed. In this embodiment, a case will be described in which there are an “essential item” for which information input is essential and an “optional item” for which information input is optional. Then, only the essential items are displayed on the display unit 112 with a touch panel, and then optional items are additionally displayed each time the user requests.

  FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing essential items. The essential item is an item for which information input is essential, that is, an item that is necessary for a staff member to perform a task (in this embodiment, issuing a reserved seat ticket). Indispensable items of this embodiment are items that are necessary at least for issuing a reserved seat ticket. As shown in FIG. 5 as an example, “train name”, “boarding station”, “disembarking station” ”,“ Ride Date ”,“ Adult / Child ”,“ Ticket Type ”,“ Equipment ”,“ No Smoking ”, etc. Mandatory items may vary depending on the work performed by the attendant.

  The user applies for the contents of the designated ticket he / she wants, for example, in the form of a question / answer with an attendant. For example, for the required items, as shown in FIG. 5, “train name” = “Hikari”, “boarding station” = “Mitaka”, “boarding station” = “Mitaka”, “disembarking station” = “Tachikawa” "Boarding date" = "March 7", "Adult" = "2 people", "Children" = "0 people", "Ticket type" = "Designated", "Equipment" = "A sleeper", "No smoking" Apply for hope such as “etc.” = “no smoking”.

  The staff enters the required items according to the user's request. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram illustrating a state in which essential items are input. For the required items, as shown in FIG. 6, “Train name” item L1 = “Hikari”, “Ride station” item L2 = “Mitaka”, “Get off station” item L3 = “Tachikawa”, “Ride date” item L4 = “March 7”, “Adult / Children” item L5 = “2 people / 0 people”, “Ticket type” item L6 = “Designation”, “Equipment” item L7 = “A sleeper”, “No smoking” “Item L8 =“ Non-smoking ”is entered.

<Optional Item Input (Step S120, FIGS. 7 to 10)>
The staff will continue to receive requests for optional items from users in the form of questions and answers. An optional item is an item for which information input is optional, that is, an item that is not necessarily required for an attendant to perform a task (in this embodiment, issuing a reserved seat ticket). As shown in FIG. 7 as an example, the optional items of this embodiment include “private room”, “discount”, “postpay”, “seat”, “payment”, “incidental conditions”, “sales conditions”, and the like. Become. Optional items may vary depending on the work performed by the attendant. FIG. 7 shows an example of a user's request and an example of an outline of items for each arbitrary item.

  And the clerk inputs arbitrary items in order. Optional items are additionally displayed on the screen from the input items.

The clerk first inputs the “private room” item L9 in accordance with the user's request. FIG. 8 is an explanatory diagram showing a screen on which a private room item is input. The staff operation / display procedure is as follows.
(1) Click the “Private Room” button on the right side of the screen.
(2) A “private room” input field is displayed on the left side of the screen.
(3) For items that display “▼” (inverted triangle symbol), touch “▼” to display a pull-down menu, which can be entered by selecting “Two-person room” from the menu. . Alternatively, it is possible to input directly from the key input unit 114 (FIG. 2) after the input field is displayed. If a “two-person room” key is provided on the right side of the screen, it is also possible to display items for which input has been completed by selecting this key (for example, clicking with a pointing device).

<All item input completion determination (step S130)>
Since the optional items are input according to the user's request, it is necessary to determine at which point all the optional items have been input. The staff uses the input completion instruction button of the display unit 112 with a touch panel or the key input unit 114 to instruct input completion. When the input is completed, the process proceeds to the ticket issuing process (step S160). The ticketing process will be further described later.

  Furthermore, when inputting optional items, the staff continues to input optional items according to the user's request. FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a screen on which the “discount” item L10 is input.

  Further, according to the request of the user, the staff member sequentially inputs the “postpay” item L11, the “seat” items L12 and L13, and the “payment” item L14 as shown in FIG.

<Determining whether the screen is full (step S140)>
In the example shown in FIG. 10, the number of lines that can be displayed on the screen is full when the “payment” item L14 is entered. When the screen is full, the following font size change (step S150) is performed. If the screen is not full, arbitrary item input (step S120) and all item input completion determination (step S130) are repeated.

<Font size change (step S150, FIGS. 11 to 12)>
When the clerk further inputs the “incidental condition” item L15 according to the user's request, the item is added after the font size of the input field of the optional item is reduced as shown in FIG. The font size is adjusted by the following algorithm.

(How to change font size)
(1) Register “total number of lines” of items that can be displayed on one screen in normal size. In this embodiment, as an example, “total number of lines” = 14.
(2) “Number of lines of all essential items” is registered. In the present embodiment, as an example, “the number of lines of all essential items” = 8.
(3) “Number of lines” is registered for each arbitrary item. For example, “discount”: 1 line, “incidental conditions”: 1 line, “seat”: 1 line per person, etc. The number of lines can be changed as appropriate. For example, when a lot of incidental conditions are handled, “ancillary conditions” can be set to 2 lines or the like. It is also possible to add a flag for distinguishing required items and optional items to each label and text field.
(4) The “number of lines” and “total number of lines” of all the optional items displayed on the screen are stored as needed, and the “total number of lines” is increased or decreased each time the optional items are increased or decreased. Here, the case where the arbitrary items are reduced is, for example, the case where the items once displayed are canceled and deleted.
(5) When the number of optional items is increased and the “total number of lines” exceeds 14 lines, the input field size of the optional items is reduced. In the properties of the text field and label having the optional item flag, for example, the character / line spacing point is reduced from the normal size (14 points) to the reduced size (12 points). As a result of reducing the input field size, the “total number of lines” that can be displayed on one screen changes from 14 lines (FIG. 12) to 16 lines (FIG. 14).

  However, the field width will not be changed to improve visibility and reduce layout design man-hours. That is, the length of the arbitrary item in the character display direction (the background of the arbitrary item and the horizontal width of the input area) is not changed. The total number of lines and the number of points are just examples.

  When the clerk adds an optional item, as shown in FIG. 12, the “sales condition” item L16, which is an optional item, is added while the font size of the input field is reduced.

  Steps S120 to S150 described above are repeated until input of all arbitrary items is completed. When input of all items is completed in step S130, the process proceeds to the following ticket issuing process.

<Ticketing process (step S160)>
When the input of all items is completed in step S130, the clerk confirms that there is no error in the input contents, and performs ticketing processing. When a ticket issuing instruction button (not shown) is pressed, a ticket is issued from the ticket issuing unit 130 (FIG. 1). When issuing a reserved seat ticket, the host 200 is inquired of a vacant seat, or the host 200 is reserved for a seat. The clerk gives the issued ticket piece to the user in exchange for the price.

  The configuration and operation of the ticket issuing device 100 have been described above. The ticket issuing apparatus 100 can cause the computer to function as the ticket issuing apparatus 100 by incorporating a computer program for realizing the above functions into the computer. Such a computer program can be distributed in the market in a form recorded on a predetermined recording medium (for example, a CD-ROM) or downloaded via an electronic network.

(Effect of this embodiment)
As described above, according to the present embodiment, when the clerk operates the operation terminal, the number of items that can be displayed on one screen (required items + optional items) is automatically added. The number of items that can be displayed on one screen can be increased by lowering the character font size of the item by one step. As a result, it is possible to display all of the information for issuing a ticket on one screen without scrolling the screen, thereby improving the visibility and operability of the staff. In particular, the workability when checking the contents with the user is improved. In addition, essential items, which are particularly important information when issuing tickets, ensure the same visibility as before, so that it is possible to prevent serious mistakes.

  The preferred embodiments of the ticket issuing apparatus and the computer program according to the present invention have been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, but the present invention is not limited to such examples. It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes or modifications can be conceived within the scope of the technical idea described in the claims, and these are naturally within the technical scope of the present invention. It is understood that it belongs.

  For example, in the above-described embodiment, a case has been described in which a font of an arbitrary item is reduced by one step (eg, reduced from a normal size (14 points) to a reduced size (12 points)), but the present invention is not limited to this. If the number of optional items increases, the font of the optional items may be further reduced. This is also clear from the possibility that the process of determining whether the screen is full (step S140) and the font size changing process (step S150) may be repeated a plurality of times in the flowchart shown in FIG.

  In the above embodiment, the case where only the font of the optional item is changed without changing the font of the essential item has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the font of the essential item may be changed. For example, when an item is full on the screen, the font of an arbitrary item is first made smaller. After that, if the optional item becomes a font that is small to some extent, it is possible to make the required item small enough not to be smaller than the optional item. Regarding how to change the font of the optional item and the essential item, it is possible to make a table (algorithmization) of the optimum relationship after confirming the visibility and the like in advance.

  In the above embodiment, the case has been described in which the character display direction in the input field 11 is the horizontal direction, and when the input field size of the optional item is reduced, the horizontal width of the input area of the optional item is not changed. Is not limited to this. For example, the character display direction in the input field 11 may be the vertical direction. Furthermore, in this case, the vertical height may not be changed when the input field size of the optional item is reduced. This is the same even when the font of the required item is changed.

  In the above embodiment, the touch panel type operation unit 110 has been described as an example of the display input unit of the present invention. However, the display input unit of the present invention is not necessarily limited to the touch panel type. For example, in the operation unit 110 shown in FIG. 2, all the information input may be performed by the key input unit 114, and a display unit having only an information display function may be provided instead of the display unit 112 with a touch panel.

  The present invention can be used for a ticket issuing device and a computer program that are installed at a station window or the like to issue a ticket, designated ticket, commuter pass, etc., and in particular, a request from a user (a customer who purchases a ticket, etc.). Therefore, it can be used for a ticket issuing device and a computer program that can improve the operability of the staff when the station staff or the window staff operates.

It is explanatory drawing which shows the structure of a ticketing system. It is explanatory drawing which shows the structure of the operation part of a ticket issuing apparatus. It is a flowchart which shows operation | movement of a ticketing system. It is explanatory drawing which shows an essential item input screen. It is explanatory drawing which shows an essential item. It is explanatory drawing which shows the state in which the essential item was input. It is explanatory drawing which shows an arbitrary item. It is explanatory drawing which shows the screen into which the arbitrary item (private room item) was input. It is explanatory drawing which shows the screen into which the arbitrary item (discount item) was input. It is explanatory drawing which shows the state where the screen became full. It is explanatory drawing which shows the state by which the font size was changed. It is explanatory drawing which shows the state by which the font size was changed.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Ticketing system 100 Ticketing apparatus 110 Operation part 112 Display part with a touch panel 114 Key input part 120 Control part 130 Ticketing part 200 Host 300 Communication line

Claims (7)

A ticketing device in which a clerk inputs information based on a user's request and issues a ticket,
In addition to displaying ticketing information for issuing tickets, it has a display input unit that accepts information input operations by staff.
The items for accepting the input of ticketing information for the display input unit include mandatory items that are required to be input and optional items that are optional.
The display input unit displays all the essential items on one screen, and when the optional items cannot be displayed, reduces the font of the optional items to be smaller than the font of the essential items. A ticket issuing device characterized by displaying arbitrary items.   The ticket issuing apparatus, wherein the display input unit changes only the font of the optional item without changing the font of the essential item.   The ticket issuing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the display input unit does not change the length of the character display direction of the optional item when the font of the optional item is changed.   The ticket issuing apparatus, wherein the display input unit changes a font of the essential item and the optional item.   5. The ticket issuing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the display input unit does not change a length of a character display direction of the required item and the optional item when changing fonts of the required item and the optional item. .   The ticket issuing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display input unit accepts an information input operation by a touch panel method.   A computer program for causing a computer to function as the ticket issuing device according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

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