JP2009003619A - Window-calling device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a window-calling device for smoothly guiding a foreign customer to a window capable of responding with a language to be used by the foreign customer and improving the efficiency of customer guidance. <P>SOLUTION: The window-calling device includes: input units 19a, 19b, 19c capable of each registering a response language to be used by a counter clerk for each counter 17a, 17b, 17c; and a language designating means for designating a language to be used by a customer among a plurality of languages. When the language to be used is designated by the designating means, the control unit retrieves the language matching the designated language from among the response languages registered by the input units 19a, 19b, 19c, and when there is a response language matching the language to be used among the response languages registered by the input units 19a, 19b, 19c, makes report units 18a, 18b, 18c perform reporting control for guiding the customer to one of the counters 17a, 17b, 17c with the response languages registered therein. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a window calling device for calling a customer waiting in a waiting space such as a financial institution, a government office, or a hospital.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known a window calling device for sequentially calling customers at a plurality of windows in a financial institution or the like. As this kind of window calling device, for example, a numbered ticket printed with a reference number is issued on the basis of information input on the customer's touch panel, etc., and the reference number is displayed for each window, and the customer is sequentially guided to the window. (For example, refer to Patent Document 1).
JP 2002-007726 A

  By the way, in recent years, foreign users who are not familiar with Japanese often visit financial institutions, government offices and hospitals. Even if such a foreign customer who is unfamiliar with Japanese issues a numbered ticket using the above-described window calling device, there is a case where communication in Japanese cannot be achieved at the window. It is good if you are guided to the window of a customer who can respond in the language used by the foreign customer, but if you are guided to the window of a customer who cannot respond, you can respond in the language used by the foreign customer. It was inefficient because there was a case where it was necessary to wait for a turn at a contact person's window that could be reassigned or to respond again.

  Therefore, the present invention provides a window calling device that can smoothly guide foreign customers to a window that can be used in the language used by the foreign customer and improve the efficiency of customer guidance.

  In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is an operation means (for example, touch panel 13 in the embodiment) operated by a customer, and a numbered ticket (for example, an embodiment) printed with a serial number. The ticket issuing means (for example, the ticket issuing unit 15 in the embodiment) for issuing a numbered ticket 16) and a specific number among a plurality of windows (for example, the counters 17a, 17b, 17c in the embodiment) by informing the reference number Calling means (for example, the notification units 18a, 18b, 18c in the embodiment) for guiding the customer to the window, and controlling the numbered ticketing by the ticketing means based on the operation by the operating means, and by the calling means A window calling device (for example, a form of implementation) having control means (for example, the control unit 24 in the embodiment) for controlling the notification of the reference number. In the window calling device 10), language registration means (for example, the input units 19a, 19b, and 19c, the RAM 21, and the control unit 24 in the embodiment) can be registered for each window. And language designation means (for example, the world map, “ENGLISH” button 35 and “DEUTSCH” in the embodiment) provided in the operation means and capable of designating the language used by the customer from a plurality of languages. Button 36), and when the language designation means designates the language used, the control means selects a language that matches the language used among the available languages registered by the language registration means. And if there is the available language that matches the used language among the available languages registered by the language registration means, the caller And performing a notification control to guide the customer to the counter to which the spoken language is registered by.

  The invention according to claim 2 is the invention according to claim 1, wherein the language designating unit is configured to be capable of designating a plurality of languages used at the same time, and the control unit is capable of responding to the response registered in the language registration unit. Search for a language that matches at least one of the plurality of languages used by the language designating unit from among the languages, and the response that matches at least one of the languages used When there is a language available, notification control for guiding the customer to the window where the available language is registered is performed by the calling means.

  The invention according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the control means is a reservation accepting means for accepting a reservation at a window where the available language that matches the language used is registered (for example, implementation The control means 24 and the RAM 21 in the form of (1) are provided.

  According to a fourth aspect of the invention, there is provided the display according to the third aspect of the invention, wherein the operation means outputs a window guidance information regarding the reserved window based on the reservation information received by the reservation receiving means (for example, The display 12) according to the embodiment is provided.

  The invention according to claim 5 is the invention according to claim 4, wherein the ticket issuing means outputs the window guidance information by printing.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, when the language that matches the language used by the language specifying unit is among the languages that can be registered by the language registration unit, the corresponding language that matches the language used. The customer can be guided to the customer service that can be handled by the customer, so that the foreign customer can be smoothly guided to the customer service that can be handled in the language used by the foreign customer, thus improving the efficiency of customer guidance. There is an effect that can be done.

  According to the second aspect of the invention, if only one use language can be specified by the language specifying means, if there is no available language that matches the specified use language, the use language must be specified again. Since multiple languages can be specified at the same time, it is possible to specify the language used by the language specification means smoothly, and the range of contact windows that meet the conditions is widened, so customer guidance can be conducted more efficiently. There is an effect that can.

  According to the invention of claim 3, since it is possible to make a reservation at the window where the available language that matches the language used is registered, it is possible to reliably guide to the window where the available language is registered. .

  According to the invention of claim 4, since the information output means can output the window guidance information on the window where the reservation is made, the window to be called can be grasped in advance, and as a result, There is an effect that it is possible to go to the window smoothly when it is done.

  According to the invention of claim 5, since the information output means can print out the window guidance information related to the reserved window, the window to be called can be printed and carried around. When it is done, there is an effect that it is possible to go to the window smoothly while looking at the printed matter.

A window calling device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
The window calling device 10 of this embodiment is installed in a financial institution such as a bank, and issues a numbered ticket 16 that is operated by a customer and numbered as shown in FIGS. A numbered ticket issuing unit 11 is provided. The numbered ticket issuing unit 11 has a display operation unit 14 that includes a display 12 disposed on the front surface of the machine body and a touch panel 13 that is an operation unit that is installed on the surface of the display 12 and can determine a contact position. ing. In addition, it is good also as a structure which provides not only the touch panel 13 but a push button etc. as an operation means in places other than on the display 12. FIG.

  The numbered ticket issuing unit 11 further includes a ticket issuing unit 15 below the display operation unit 14 described above. When a predetermined input operation is performed via the display operation unit 14, the ticket issuing unit 15 issues a numbered ticket 16 on which a reference number is printed based on a control command from the control unit 24. The numbered ticket issuing unit 11 is connected via a network to a control unit 24 that performs various controls of the window calling device 10.

  The control unit 24 is connected to notification units 18a to 18c arranged for each of the three counters 17a to 17c via a network. The notification units 18a to 18c notify the customer of the serial number by visual display using a liquid crystal display or the like and sound output by a speaker based on a control command from the control unit 24.

  Further, input units 19a to 19c for performing various input operations by a teller are connected to the control unit 24 via a network. The counter 17a is provided with a notification unit 18a and an input unit 19a, the counter 17b is provided with a notification unit 18b and an input unit 19b, and the counter 17c is provided with a notification unit 18c and an input unit 19c. The notification units 18a to 18c and the input units 19a to 19c are connected to the control unit 24 via a network.

  The input units 19a to 19c are used to register a language that Teller can handle (hereinafter, simply referred to as a “available language”) and to respond to requirements that can be handled by the counters 17a to 17c (hereinafter simply referred to as a “available message”). An input operation or an input operation to the effect that the service for one customer has ended is possible. The input information input to the input units 19a to 19c is transmitted to the control unit 24, respectively.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the controller 24 is connected to a ROM 20 that is a nonvolatile read-only memory and a RAM 21 that is a volatile memory that can be read and written. The ROM 20 stores various programs executed by the control unit 24, while the RAM 21 stores a customer waiting list. In the RAM 21, the reference number transmitted from the numbered ticket issuing unit 11, and input information such as a serviceable language and a supported message are registered. The order waiting list is a list in which the order of receiving reference numbers is registered for each of the counters 17a to 17c. In addition, in the waiting list, counter information that is information input by the input units 19a to 19c described above is also associated and registered for each of the counters 17a to 17c.

Next, the control content by the control part 24 mentioned above with reference to FIGS. 3-6 is demonstrated.
First, when starting the day of work, the control unit 24 reads and executes a program from the ROM 20 as the main power supply of the window calling device 10 is started, and displays an initial screen on the display operation unit 14. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, a screen for designating what kind of business the customer visits the bank is displayed as an initial screen.

  Here, on the initial screen, for example, a “deposit” button 30, a “transfer” button 31, and a “remittance” button 32 are arranged in order from the top, as buttons describing the requirements that can be specified by the customer. Is displayed. In addition to the buttons related to the requirements that can be specified by the customer, the “Foreign Language” button 33 is used as a button for foreign customers, the “deposit” button 30, the “transfer” button 31, And a “Remittance” button 32. The layout of buttons displayed on the initial screen is not limited to the above.

  When each teller in charge of each counter 17a-17c arrives at the counter 17a-17c and starts the business, it registers their available languages via the input units 19a-19c, and responds to the requirements. input. Specifically, information such as “Available Language: English”, “Available Business: Deposit, Transfer” and the like are input via the input units 19a to 19c. The control unit 24 registers the available languages and available items input by the input units 19a to 19c as counter information in the waiting list of the RAM 21.

  When the customer presses any one of the “deposit” button 30, “transfer” button 31, and “remittance” button 32 on the touch panel 13 on the above-described initial screen, the control unit 24 performs the customer designation operation for the customer. A serial number is sequentially assigned to. The customer can then deal with any of the “deposit” button 30, “transfer” button 31, and “remittance” button 32 specified by the touch panel 13 (hereinafter simply referred to as “specified request”). Is searched from the counter information in the RAM 21. As a result of this search, if there is counter information that includes the sent specified message as an actionable message, the customer's message specifying operation is performed at the end of the waiting list of the counter in which this counter information is registered. The number assigned above is registered, and the number is printed on the numbered ticket 16 and issued from the ticket issuing unit 15.

  Here, while the ticket issuing unit 15 issues the numbered ticket 16, the display 12 indicates that the ticket is being issued, or after the ticket is issued, the numbered ticket number is displayed on the display 12. “Please wait until the call is made” may be displayed to prompt the user to wait.

  For example, when the reference number is registered in the counter 17a of the waiting list, the response to the current customer is ended in the counter 17a, and the response to the current customer is ended in the input unit 19a by the teller of the counter 17a. When an input operation is performed, the control unit 24 refers to the order waiting list of the counter 17a stored in the RAM 21, and notifies the customer of the reference number in the next order by the notification unit 18a. And the control part 24 repeats the above-mentioned control, whenever the input operation to the effect that the present customer's reception is complete | finished is made by the teller. In the case of the counters 17b and 17c, the same control as that of the counter 17a is performed individually.

  Next, an example of dealing with foreign customers in a foreign language will be described. For example, when the customer presses the “foreign language” button on the initial screen, the control unit 24 changes the display content of the display 12 to the display content of the next layer, specifically, the language designation. Switch to the screen (language specification means). The language designation screen is, for example, a screen displaying a simplified world map as shown in FIG. On this language designation screen, for example, the customer designates a place corresponding to the country of origin, and the language used in the designated place is designated as the language used by the customer. In this case, the map shown in FIG. 4 is stored in advance in the ROM 20 described above, and the language used in the area is stored in association with each area displayed on the map. Depending on the region, multiple languages may be used. In such a case, display all applicable languages and let the customer specify one or more languages. Should be set.

  Further, as the language designation screen, for example, as shown in FIG. 5, a plurality of buttons each having a plurality of different language names are displayed on the screen, and any one of the buttons in which the language name is described to the customer One or more may be designated. In this case, only the available languages included in the counter information stored in the RAM 21 may be displayed.

  If, for example, the location of the United Kingdom is designated on the screen shown in FIG. 4 or the “ENGLISH” button 35 meaning English is designated on the screen shown in FIG. 5, as shown in FIG. The “deposit” button 30, “transfer” button 31, and “remittance” button 32 displayed on the initial screen are displayed in English. Specifically, a “Deposit” button 30a in which “deposit” is written as “Deposit”, a “Transfer” button 31a in which “Transfer” is written as “Transfer”, and a “Remittance” is written as “Remittance”. "Remittance" button 32a described as "" is displayed on the screen. Similarly, when the location of Germany is specified on the screen shown in FIG. 4 or the “DEUTSCH” button 36 meaning German is specified on the screen shown in FIG. 5, the above button notation is replaced with German. In addition, when the designated language is another language, a button for designating the message in the designated language is described. Note that the “deposit” button 30, “transfer” button 31, and “remittance” button 32 may all be written in English instead of the language.

  In addition, when the “Deposit” button 30a is pressed, information on “deposit” as a designated item and information on “English” as an available language are transmitted from the numbered ticket issuing unit 11 to the control unit 24, respectively. It has become. The control unit 24 determines the presence / absence of counter information including “deposit” as an available item and “English” as an available language among the counter information of the plurality of counters 17 a to 17 b stored in the RAM 21. When it is determined that there is counter information that matches the above condition, the control unit 24 assigns a reference number to the customer's message designation operation, and the reference number is registered in the counter information in which the counter information is registered. Register in the waiting list. Thereby, the reservation to the counter is completed. Then, the control unit 24 controls the ticket issuing unit 15 to print the reference number stored in the waiting list on the numbered ticket 16 to issue the ticket. The controller 24 and the RAM 21 constitute a reservation accepting unit of the present invention.

  Here, when the “Transfer” button 31a is pressed, information indicating that “transfer” has been specified as the specification requirement and information indicating that “English” has been specified as the available language are transmitted to the control unit 24, respectively. Is done. In addition, when the “Remittance” button 32a is designated, information indicating that “remittance” is designated as the designation requirement and information indicating that “English” is designated as the available language are transmitted to the control unit 24, respectively. The Then, similarly to the control described above, the control unit 24 matches the “designated item” transmitted from the numbered ticket issuing unit 11 from the counter information of the counters 17a to 17c stored in the RAM 21. If there is a counter with counter information that includes both information, it is determined whether there is any counter information that includes both “available language” and “available language” that matches “use language”. A reference number is assigned to the item designation operation, and the reference number is registered in the waiting list of the counter in the same manner as in the above-described control to complete the reservation.

  When the above-described reservation is completed, the control unit 24 counts the counter guidance information of the counter that has made the reservation, specifically the counter number, the counter position information, the route to the counter, the scheduled waiting time, etc. Guidance information is displayed on the display 12. Here, when reservations are made for a plurality of counters, all corresponding counter guidance information is displayed on the display 12.

  On the other hand, when it is determined that there is no counter information that includes both “Available language” that matches the “Designated message” sent to the control unit 24 and “Available language” that matches the “Use language” Displays a message prompting the customer to specify another language, and repeats the control process described above. In this case, the displayed language may be displayed in, for example, English instead of the designated language.

  Next, a case where a plurality of languages are simultaneously designated on the language designation screen shown in FIG. 4 or 5 will be described. Here, “designate at the same time” means designating a plurality of languages within a predetermined time or until a completion button (not shown) is operated on the same screen. For convenience of explanation, the counter 17a is referred to as a first counter, the counter 17b is referred to as a second counter, the counter 17c is referred to as a third counter, and a fourth counter (not shown) is provided.

  Both English and German are the languages used by the customer. For example, when both the “ENGLISH” button and the “DEUTSCH” button shown in FIG. 5 are pressed, the control unit 24 is stored in the RAM 21. The counter that includes at least one of the languages “English” and “German” as the available language is searched from the counter information. Here, for example, “1st counter: English”, “2nd counter: English, Urdu”, “3rd counter: French, Germany” In the case of “Language” and “No. 4 counter: Indonesian”, those that include at least one of English and German as an available language are No. 1 to No. 3 counters.

  Then, a message designation screen written in the designated “English” or “German” is displayed on the display 12. In the following, an example of a screen for specifying a business written in “English” will be described.

  When the customer designates the “Deposit” button 30a displayed on the display 12, the control unit 24 selects from the counter information of the 1st to 3rd counters in which the language used corresponds to the available language. Search for items that include “deposits” as applicable requirements. Here, in the case where the correspondence requirement is “No. 1 counter: deposit, transfer, remittance”, “No. 2 counter: deposit, transfer”, “No. 3 counter: remittance”, among the above No. 1 to No. 3 counters, The first counter and the second counter that include “deposit” in the counter information as a corresponding requirement are searched.

  Then, the control unit 24 assigns a reference number to the customer's message designation operation, registers the reference number on the waiting list of the first counter and the second counter of the RAM 21, and completes the reservation. On the other hand, when the corresponding counter is not searched, the language designation screen is displayed again, and a message indicating that the input again after changing the language condition is necessary is displayed.

  In the above example, because the designated language and the available language match, and the counter for which the designated item and the available item match, that is, both the first counter and the second counter described above are reserved, The customer will be guided to the counter that is available first, either the first counter or the second counter. For example, if the second previous customer is guided to the first counter and the first previous customer is guided to the second counter, if the second counter is freed first, the notification unit 18b of the second counter The reference number will be notified and guided. When the reference number is notified by either the first counter or the second counter, the same reference number in the other waiting list is deleted. In addition, when the turn reaches the first counter and the second counter at the same time, only one of the reference numbers is notified.

  Therefore, according to the above-described embodiment, when the language that matches the language used specified by the display operation unit 14 is among the languages that can be registered in the RAM 21, the language that matches the language used is available. Since the customer can be guided to the registered counter, the foreign customer can be smoothly guided to the counter that is available in the foreign customer's language, thereby improving the efficiency of the customer guidance. Can do.

  In addition, if only one language can be specified and there is no available language that matches the language used, the language must be specified again, but multiple languages can be specified at the same time. The use language can be specified smoothly by means, and the number of counters that have available languages that match the specified use language may increase, so customer guidance can be conducted more efficiently. There is an effect that can.

Furthermore, since it is possible to make a reservation to a counter in which an available language that matches the language used is registered, it is possible to guide the counter to a counter that can be reliably handled in a language that can be used by the customer.
Further, since it is possible to make a reservation for a plurality of counters at the same time, it is possible to guide to the counter that is vacant earliest and guide customers to the counter more efficiently.

  Since the numbered ticket issuing unit 11 can output the guide information regarding the counter for which the reservation has been completed, the counter to be guided can be grasped in advance, and as a result, the reference number is notified to the notification units 18a to 18a. When done by 18c, the customer can go to the counter smoothly.

  Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. For example, a counter number, reservation information, counter guidance information, etc., for which reservation has been completed may be displayed on the display 12 in a language designated by the customer. . Here, the display of the counter number and the reservation information is, for example, “No. 1 counter, English, waiting time 15 minutes”, “No. 2 counter, English, waiting time 20 minutes”, “No. 3 counter, French, waiting time” "5 minutes" can be displayed. The counter guidance information may be configured to display a map up to the counter or display directions. Further, the above display content may be output by voice.

  In the above-described embodiment, the case where the teller registers the available language via the input units 19a to 19c has been described. However, the available language may be determined in advance for each counter. In this case, a teller who can respond in each language arrives at the counters 17a to 17c for which the language that can be handled is determined. With this configuration, it is possible to reduce the burden on the teller, especially by omitting the registration work of the available language at the start of business.

In the above-described embodiment, the case where three counters are provided has been described, but the number of counters is not limited to this.
Furthermore, the case where reservation is made for a counter that includes both the available language that matches the language used and the available message that matches the specified message in the counter information has been described. For example, a counter that satisfies only the language used You may comprise so that it may guide to.

  The case where the counter guidance information of the reserved counter is displayed on the display 12 of the numbered ticket issuing unit 11 has been described. However, the counter guidance information is printed on the numbered ticket 16 or a separate printing unit is provided to separately provide the counter guidance information. Information may be printed out. With this configuration, the counter guidance information of the counter to be called can be carried around, so that when the reference number is notified, it is possible to smoothly go to the counter while viewing the printed matter.

  Furthermore, although the case where the numbered ticket issuing unit 11 in which the display operation unit 14 and the ticket issuing unit 15 are integrally configured has been described, the display operation unit 14 and the ticket issuing unit 15 may be configured separately.

  Moreover, although the case where the numbered ticket issuing unit 11 and the control unit 24 are provided separately has been described, the control unit 24 may be provided in the numbered ticket issuing unit 11. By comprising in this way, since the control part 24 is provided in the numbered ticket issuing unit 11, since a part of power supply line or a communication line can be shared, it becomes advantageous at the point of arrangement space.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of a window calling device according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a block diagram of the window calling device of one embodiment of the present invention. It is a front view of the initial screen of the display of the window calling device of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a front view of the language specification screen of the display of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a front view of the language designation screen of the display in the other aspect of one Embodiment of this invention. FIG. 6 is a front view of a message designation screen displayed when “ENGLISH” is designated in FIG. 5.

Explanation of symbols

10 Window calling device 13 Touch panel (operating means)
15 Ticketing department (ticketing means)
16 Numbered tickets 17a, 17b, 17c Counter (window)
18a, 18b, 18c Notification unit (calling means)
19a, 19b, 19c Input section (language registration means)
21 RAM (language registration means and reservation acceptance means)
24 control unit (control means, language registration means and reservation accepting means)
35 “ENGLISH” button (language specification means)
36 “DEUTSCH” button (language specification means)

Claims (5)

Operation means operated by the customer;
A ticket issuing means for issuing a numbered ticket printed with a reference number;
Calling means for informing the customer of the reference number and directing the customer to a specific window among the windows,
In the window calling device having a control means for controlling the issuing of the numbered ticket by the calling means and controlling the notification of the numbered number by the calling means based on the operation by the operating means,
Language registration means for registering the languages available to the person in charge at each window;
Provided in the operation means, comprising a language designation means capable of designating a customer's language from a plurality of languages;
When the language is specified by the language specifying unit, the control unit searches the language that matches the used language from the available languages registered by the language registration unit, and the language registration unit If there is the available language that matches the language used in the available language registered in (1), the calling means performs notification control for guiding the customer to the window where the available language is registered. A window calling device characterized by that. The language designation means is configured to be able to designate a plurality of languages used simultaneously,
The control means searches for a language that matches at least one of a plurality of use languages designated by the language designation means from the available languages registered in the language registration means, and the plurality of use languages When there is the available language that matches at least one of the languages, the call means performs notification control for guiding the customer to the window where the available language is registered. The window calling device according to claim 1.   3. The window calling device according to claim 1, wherein the control section includes a reservation receiving section that receives a reservation for a window in which the available language that matches the language used is registered.   4. The window calling device according to claim 3, further comprising a display for outputting window guidance information relating to a reserved window based on the reservation information received by the reservation receiving means.   5. The window calling device according to claim 4, wherein the ticket issuing means outputs the window guidance information by printing.

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