JP2008130017A - On-board ticket examination system and relay device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To distribute new reserved seat information as early as possible after recovery when reserved seat information cannot be distributed to a crew terminal due to occurrence of the failure in an on-board ticket examination system. <P>SOLUTION: In this on-board ticket examination system, a railway station is installed with: automatic ticket examination machines 10; and a relay device 20 receiving and temporarily storing the reserved seat information acquired by all the automatic ticket examination machines 10 of the station. The relay device 20 of each the station is connected to a center server 30 via a communication network 50, and the relay device 20 of each the station transmits the temporarily stored reserved seat information to the center server 30. The center server 30 consolidates the reserved seat information received from the relay device 20 of each the station, and distributes the reserved seat information consolidated to the crew mobile terminal 40 of a conductor on a train. The relay device 20 sequentially transmits the reserved seat information stored in a storage part 23 to the center server 30 from the new reserved seat information. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2008,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an in-vehicle ticket gate system for supporting an in-vehicle ticket gate service, and a relay device used in the in-vehicle ticket gate system.

  For the purpose of supporting in-car ticketing work, a system is known in which the sales status of seat reservation tickets for a train is sent and displayed on a mobile terminal of a crew member on the train (see, for example, Patent Document 1). ).

JP 2005-18307 A

  In the in-vehicle ticket gate system as described above, not only the seat reservation ticket sales status, but also the reserved seat information obtained from the seat reserved ticket inserted in the automatic ticket gate at the station and distributed to the mobile terminal of the conductor Has also been put to practical use.

  By the way, in the in-car ticketing service, as reserved seat information, the reserved seat information of a train that has already arrived at the destination or the train just before arriving at the destination is less important. Information on reserved seats on trains is important. Therefore, for example, in a situation where a problem occurs in the in-car ticket gate system and the reserved seat information cannot be distributed to the conductor's portable terminal, it is required to be able to distribute the new reserved seat information as soon as possible after the restoration.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above points. In the situation where the ticket gate system has a problem and the seat information cannot be distributed to the crew terminal, the new seat information is restored after the restoration. The purpose is to be able to deliver as soon as possible.

An in-vehicle ticket gate system according to the present invention includes an automatic ticket gate that acquires reserved seat information, a relay device that receives the reserved seat information from the automatic ticket checker and stores it in a storage means, and receives the reserved seat information from the relay device. A management device that stores the information in the storage means and distributes the information to the crew terminal, wherein the relay device sequentially transmits the new reserved seat information from the reserved seat information stored in the storage means to the management device. It is characterized by.
The relay device according to the present invention includes a receiving means for receiving the reserved seat information acquired by the automatic ticket checker from the automatic ticket checker, a storage means for storing the reserved seat information received by the receiving means, and a storage in the storage means. Among the reserved seat information, a transmission means for sequentially transmitting new reserved seat information to the management device is provided.

  According to the present invention, in the situation where the ticket gate system has a problem and the reserved seat information cannot be distributed to the crew terminal, after the recovery, the new reserved seat information stored in the storage means of the relay device is restored. Sequential seat information is sequentially transmitted to the management device. This makes it possible to distribute new reserved seat information that is highly necessary to the portable terminal for crew members at an early stage after the restoration of the in-vehicle ticket gate system.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of an in-vehicle ticket gate system according to the present embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, an automatic ticket gate 10 is installed at each railway station (for example, A station, B station, etc. of the Shinkansen).

  Moreover, the relay apparatus 20 is installed in each station. The relay device 20 receives and temporarily stores the reserved seat information acquired by all the automatic ticket gates 10 of the station. That is, the relay device 20 at the A station receives and temporarily stores the reserved seat information acquired by all the automatic ticket gates 10 at the A station, and the relay device 20 at the B station is received by all the automatic ticket gates 10 at the B station. Receive the reserved seat information and temporarily store it.

  The relay device 20 of each station is connected to the center server 30 via the communication network 50, and the relay device 20 of each station transmits the reserved seat information temporarily stored to the center server 30, and the center server 30 transmits the relay device 20 of each station. Manages reserved seat information received from. The reserved seat information collectively managed by the center server 30 is distributed via the Dopa network (registered trademark) to the portable terminal 40 for the crew member of the conductor who gets on the train.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of each part of the in-vehicle ticket gate system according to the present embodiment. In the automatic ticket gate 10, a designated seat information acquisition unit 11 reads the designated seat information from the magnetic seat designation ticket 60 inserted in the automatic ticket gate 10. The reserved seat information includes information on the train used, the riding section, and the seat position. Reference numeral 12 denotes a transmission unit that sequentially transmits the reserved seat information acquired by the specified seat information acquiring unit 11 to the relay device 20. Although the automatic ticket gate 10 for reading the designated seat information from the magnetic seat designated ticket 60 has been described here, the designated seat information recorded on a non-contact IC card such as Suica (registered trademark) or a portable terminal such as a cellular phone. May be acquired by wireless communication.

  In the relay device 20, reference numeral 21 denotes a receiving unit that receives reserved seat information from all automatic ticket gates 10 at stations where the relay device 20 is installed. Reference numeral 22 denotes a time information adding unit. When the designated seat information is received from the automatic ticket gate 10 (or when stored in the storage unit 23 described later), the reception time information (or stored time information) is added to the designated seat information. ) Is added. Reference numeral 23 denotes a storage unit which stores reserved seat information and temporarily stores it. The storage unit 23 has a storage capacity sufficient to store reserved seat information for several hours to several days, for example. Reference numeral 24 denotes a transmission unit that transmits the reserved seat information stored in the storage unit 23 to the center server 30.

  When transmitting the reserved seat information to the center server 30, the relay device 20 sequentially transmits the reserved seat information stored in the storage unit 23 to the center server 30 sequentially from the newly reserved seat information. That is, when the reserved seat information is stored in the storage unit 23 in the order of “0103A, 0402B, 0503A, 0211D, 1213C,... , 0211D, 0503A, 0402B, 0103A,... The relay device 20 is normally configured to transmit the reserved seat information stored in the storage unit 23 to the center server 30 during a certain interval, for example, every minute. Of the stored reserved seat information, the new reserved seat information is sequentially transmitted to the center server 30. In addition, in response to an operation on the relay device 20, the reserved seat information for the specified period among the reserved seat information stored in the storage unit 23 can be sequentially transmitted to the center server 30 from the newly specified reserved seat information. It is configured as follows.

  Note that the method of transmitting from the new reserved seat information in terms of time may be such that when the reserved seat information is read from the storage unit 23, the new reserved seat information may be read and transmitted, or the reserved seat information is stored in the storage unit 23. The reserved seat information may be rearranged so as to be read from the new reserved seat information when stored. Furthermore, the reserved seat information may be read from the storage unit 23 to another memory, and the reserved seat information may be rearranged and transmitted there.

  In the center server 30, reference numeral 31 denotes a receiving unit that receives reserved seat information from the relay device 20 of each station. A storage unit 32 stores reserved seat information. Reference numeral 33 denotes a request reception unit that receives a request including train information from the crew terminal 40. Reference numeral 34 denotes a search unit that searches the storage unit 32 for reserved seat information of a train specified based on train information included in a request from the portable terminal 40 for crew members. A distribution unit 35 distributes the reserved seat information searched by the search unit 34 to the crew terminal 40 as a response to the request. In the present embodiment, the center server 30 corresponds to the management device referred to in the present invention.

  In the crew portable terminal 40, 41 is a request unit that sends a request including train information to the center server 30. Reference numeral 42 denotes a receiving unit that receives the reserved seat information distributed from the center server 30 as a response to the request. A display unit 43 displays reserved seat information distributed from the center server 30. In addition, although the portable terminal was demonstrated as a crew member's terminal here, the terminal device permanently installed in the train may be sufficient.

  According to the in-car ticket gate system described above, the conductor can grasp the passenger using the reserved seat of the train on which he / she gets on the passenger terminal 40 through the automatic ticket gate 10. . Thereby, a part of the in-vehicle ticket gate can be omitted, and it becomes possible to improve the service and simplify the operation of the conductor.

  In addition, it is not necessary to exchange information between the conductors at the time of taking over due to the change of the conductor. For example, the reserved seat information may be received from the center server 30 by the crew terminal 40 carried by each person.

  Moreover, since the relay device 20 extracts the reserved seat information from the reserved seat information stored in the storage unit 23 and transmits it to the center server 30 in the newly stored order, it transmits the latest reserved seat information to the center server 30 quickly. Can do. In particular, in a situation where a problem occurs in the ticket gate system in the vehicle and the designated seat information cannot be transmitted from the relay device 20 to the center server 30 for a long time, after the restoration, the latest new designated seat information is sequentially transmitted to the center server 30. can do. As a result, it becomes possible to distribute the reserved seat information new to the crew terminal 40 in time, which is highly necessary in the in-car ticketing service, at an early stage after the restoration.

  As an example, it is assumed that a problem has occurred in the center server 30 and has been restored after 90 minutes. After the restoration, the relay device 20 is operated so as to transmit the reserved seat information up to 90 minutes before the present time to the center server 30.

  In this case, if the relay device 20 transmits the reserved seat information for the past 90 minutes from the current time to the center server 30 in the order stored in the storage unit 23, first, the reserved seat information 90 minutes before (sent to the center server 30 due to a malfunction). The oldest reserved seat information that has not been searched) is searched, and then the reserved seat information that is later in time is sequentially transmitted to the center server 30.

  However, as described above, the reserved seat information stored in the relay device 20 during the failure is temporally older, such as reserved seat information with low importance, such as a train or destination that has already arrived at the destination. Contains the reserved seat information of the train just before arrival. When it is transmitted from the reserved seat information with low importance in this way, until the reserved seat information that is new in time, that is, the reserved seat information of the train before departure or the train that has just departed, is transmitted to the center server 30. Takes time.

  In addition, since it is necessary to search for reserved seat information 90 minutes before, the processing in the relay device 20 becomes complicated.

  On the other hand, in the present embodiment, the relay device 20 sequentially transmits the new reserved seat information from the current 90-minute reserved seat information to the center server 30 in the past 90 minutes from the current time, The transmission may be stopped when the oldest reserved seat information (not transmitted to the server 30) is reached.

  In this way, since the new reserved seat information can be sequentially transmitted to the center server 30 after the recovery of the in-car ticket gate system, the new reserved seat information is temporally transmitted to the crew terminal 40 at an early stage after the recovery. It becomes possible to deliver.

  In addition, since it is not necessary to perform a search first, the processing in the relay device 20 can be simplified.

  FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a computer system that can configure the relay device 20 described above. In FIG. 3, reference numeral 300 denotes a computer (PC). The PC 300 includes a CPU 301, executes device control software stored in a ROM 302 or a hard disk (HD) 311, or supplied from a flexible disk drive (FD) 312, and collectively manages each device connected to the system bus 304. To control. Each functional unit of the present embodiment is configured by a program stored in the CPU 301, the ROM 302, or the hard disk (HD) 311 of the PC 300.

  A RAM 303 functions as a main memory, work area, and the like for the CPU 301. Reference numeral 305 denotes a keyboard controller (KBC) which controls to input a signal input from the keyboard (KB) 309 into the system main body. A display controller (CRTC) 306 performs display control on the display device (CRT) 310. A disk controller (DKC) 307 stores a boot program (startup program: a program for starting execution (operation) of hardware and software of a personal computer), a plurality of applications, an edit file, a user file, a network management program, and the like. Access to the hard disk (HD) 311 and the flexible disk (FD) 312 is controlled. Reference numeral 308 denotes a network interface card (NIC), which performs bidirectional data exchange with other network devices or other PCs via the LAN 313.

  As mentioned above, although this invention was demonstrated with various embodiment, this invention is not limited only to these embodiment, A change etc. are possible within the scope of the present invention. For example, in the above embodiment, the time information addition unit 22 of the relay device 20 adds the reception time information to the designated seat information received from the automatic ticket gate 10, but further adds the received seat information to the center server 30. Transmission time information may be added.

  In the above embodiment, the example in which the relay device 20 is operated so as to transmit the reserved seat information up to a certain time going back from the present time to the center server 30 has been described. However, the past desired period (○ month × day □ The designated seat information may be transmitted to the center server 30 by designating a time (hour to time). In addition to directly operating the relay device 20, the relay device 20 may transmit the reserved seat information to the center server 30 in accordance with an instruction from the center server 30 side.

  Moreover, although the said embodiment demonstrated the railway as an example, this invention can also be applied to transportation systems, such as a ship and an airplane.

It is a figure which shows the whole structure of the in-vehicle ticket gate system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the function structure of each part of the in-vehicle ticket gate system which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows an example of the computer system which can comprise a relay apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Automatic ticket gate 11 Reserved seat information acquisition part 12 Transmission part 20 Relay apparatus 21 Reception part 22 Time information addition part 23 Storage part 24 Transmission part 30 Center server 31 Reception part 32 Storage part 33 Request reception part 34 Search part 35 Distribution part 40 Crew terminal 41 Request unit 42 Reception unit 43 Display unit 50 Communication network 60 Magnetic seat designation ticket

Claims (4)

An automatic ticket gate that acquires reserved seat information,
A relay device for receiving reserved seat information from the automatic ticket gate and storing it in a storage means;
A management device that receives the reserved seat information from the relay device, stores it in the storage means, and distributes it to the crew terminal;
The relay device sequentially transmits new reserved seat information from the reserved seat information stored in the storage means to the management device.   The relay device is configured such that, among the reserved seat information stored in the storage unit, specified seat information for a specified period can be sequentially transmitted from the new specified seat information to the management device. The in-car ticket gate system according to 1.   The in-vehicle ticket gate system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the relay device includes time information adding means for adding time information to reserved seat information received from the automatic ticket gate. A receiving means for receiving the reserved seat information acquired by the automatic ticket gate from the automatic ticket gate;
Storage means for storing reserved seat information received by the receiving means;
A relay apparatus comprising: a transmission unit that sequentially transmits new reserved seat information from the specified seat information stored in the storage unit to the management device.

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