JP2018165853A - Locker management device and locker management method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a locker reservation management device and a reservation management method considering the convenience of a user who uses a locker without a reservation.SOLUTION: A reservation management part 12a of a control part 12 allocates a specific locker among a locker group 3 to a user related to a use reservation and notifies the user of information of the allocated locker on the day before a use start scheduled date. On the other hand, when a difference between the number V of vacant lockers of the locker group 3 and the number R of use reservations is less than a margin value, a newly deposit management part 12b of the control part 12 disables a newly deposit operation.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

  The present invention relates to a locker management device and a locker management method for managing a locker such as a coin locker installed in a station or the like.

  For example, coin lockers are provided in the railway station to temporarily store baggage. In the case of a conventional coin locker, a user goes to the spot and searches for a vacant locker, uses it, and pays a usage fee.

  In the coin locker as described above, a system has been proposed in which a reservation is made in advance so that the coin locker can be used reliably at a desired time.

  For example, Patent Document 1 describes that the reservation person is charged for the time from the reservation time of the locker to the scheduled use start time.

JP 2011-34238 A

  In the case of a system such as Patent Document 1, charging is started by securing a specific locker to be used when a reservation is made. For this reason, a locker group composed of a plurality of lockers installed at a predetermined position such as a station is filled with a reservation, and a user who uses it for temporary storage or the like without making a reservation may not be able to use it.

  In view of the above problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a locker reservation management apparatus and a reservation management method that take into account the convenience of a user who uses without making a reservation.

  The invention according to claim 1, which has been made to solve the above problem, is a locker management device that manages a locker group of a predetermined unit, and accepts a use reservation of a locker that specifies a scheduled start date of use via a computer network. A reservation management unit, and a new deposit management unit that manages a new deposit of the locker group without a reservation, and the reservation management unit provides a user related to the use reservation before a predetermined day before the scheduled use start date. Allocating a specific locker in the locker group, notifying the user of information related to the allocated locker, the new deposit management unit, the difference between the number of empty lockers in the locker group and the number of reserved reservations is less than a first threshold In this case, the locker management device is characterized in that new deposits are not allowed.

The invention according to claim 2 is the invention according to claim 1, wherein the predetermined unit has a lower layer, and the use reservation includes designation of acceptability of others or acceptance of others, In the case of non-acceptance of others, the designation of the lower layer is included, the reservation management unit,
In the case of a use reservation in which the acceptance of other persons is not permitted, the user confirms the lower layer specified by the user related to the use reservation, and the new deposit management unit determines the number of free lockers in the lower layer of the locker group. When the difference between the number of reserved reservations that specify the lower layer is less than the second threshold value, new deposits for the locker group related to the lower layer are disabled.

  The invention according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the number of use reservations does not include use reservations after a predetermined number of days from the present scheduled start date of use. .

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the case of a use reservation in which the acceptance of others is specified, the reservation management unit determines a reservation fee until a specific locker is assigned from a case in which the acceptance of others is not specified. Is also cheaper.

  Invention of Claim 5 is the reservation management method performed with the locker reservation management apparatus which manages the reservation condition of a locker, Comprising: The acquisition process which acquires the reservation information which shows a user's reservation content, The said acquisition process A reservation control step for making a reservation for a locker based on the reservation information acquired in step (b), wherein the reservation information includes information indicating a scheduled start date of use of the user, and within a reservation period of a predetermined period from the reservation date. Includes acceptance information indicating acceptance or non-acceptance of the use of another person, and the reservation control step determines use of the other person within the reservation period for the reservation when the acceptance information is acceptable for use by another person. This is a reservation management method characterized by permitting.

  As described above, according to the invention described in claim 1, the reservation management unit allocates a specific locker in the locker group to the user related to the use reservation before the predetermined date of the scheduled use start date, and Notify information about the allocated lockers. On the other hand, the new deposit management unit prohibits new deposits when the difference between the number of empty lockers in the locker group and the number of reserved reservations becomes less than the first threshold. By doing this, the locker to be used is not specified until a predetermined day before the scheduled start date of use, so it is possible to respond flexibly to other people's use, etc., and consider the convenience of users who do not make a reservation be able to. Therefore, the operation rate per locker can be increased.

  According to the second aspect of the present invention, for example, when a locker group is installed in a plurality of areas as a lower layer in a facility such as a station as a predetermined unit, it is designated that no other person can be accepted at the time of reservation. In this case, the lower layer (area) can be determined, and the convenience of the reservation can be ensured. In addition, since it is possible to determine whether or not new deposits can be made for each lower layer (area), more flexible management is possible than when management is performed on a facility basis.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, reservations with a long period until the scheduled start date of use are not included in the use reservations. Therefore, it is possible to increase the profits of these portions as much as the number of installed lockers.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, a reservation in which the acceptance of others can be specified can be reserved at a discount. Therefore, if the number of reservations for accepting others increases, even if there is a reservation, the occupancy rate can be maintained and the profitability can be increased.

  According to the invention described in claim 5, since the locker to be used is not specified until a predetermined day before the scheduled use start date, it is possible to flexibly deal with the use of others and the convenience of the user to use without making a reservation Can be considered. Therefore, the operation rate per locker can be increased.

It is a block diagram of the system which has the locker reservation management apparatus concerning 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a functional block diagram of the locker reservation management apparatus shown by FIG. It is a flowchart of the reservation reception operation | movement of the locker reservation management apparatus shown by FIG. It is explanatory drawing about a reservation period. It is a flowchart of the new deposit management operation | movement of the locker reservation management apparatus shown by FIG. It is explanatory drawing about the X day shown by FIG. It is a flowchart of the reservation reservation locker securing operation | movement of the locker reservation management apparatus shown by FIG. It is a block diagram of the system which has the locker reservation management apparatus concerning 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart of the new deposit management operation | movement of the locker reservation management apparatus shown by FIG. It is a flowchart of the reservation reservation locker securing operation | movement of the locker reservation management apparatus shown by FIG.

(First embodiment)
DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, a first embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram having a locker management device according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

  The system shown in FIG. 1 includes a locker management device 1, a management device 2, and a locker group 3. The locker management device 1 can be accessed from a PC (personal computer) 4 via the Internet 5, and can be accessed from the mobile phone 6 via the mobile phone network 7, the gateway 8, and the Internet 5.

  The terminal that the user accesses to the locker management device 1 is not limited to the PC 4 or the mobile phone 6 but may be a mobile terminal such as a smartphone, a dedicated terminal, or the like. The management device 2 and the locker group 3 are installed in a predetermined facility such as a station. In FIG. 1, the management device 2 and the locker group 3 are installed at stations A and B as an example of a predetermined facility (predetermined unit), but may be installed at a commercial facility or the like.

  The locker management device 1 is composed of, for example, a known server computer and manages the reservation status of a locker, new deposits, and the like. The locker management device 1 includes a communication unit 11, a control unit 12, and a reservation management database (DB) 13 as shown in FIG.

  The communication unit 11 communicates with the PC 4 and the mobile phone 6 via the Internet 5 and communicates with the management device 2 described later. In FIG. 1, the management device 2 does not go through the Internet 5 but may communicate via the Internet 5. The communication unit 11 functions as a network interface of a server computer, for example.

  The control unit 12 includes a reservation management unit 12a and a new deposit management unit 12b. The reservation management unit 12a performs reservation reception from a reservation person (PC user) who makes a locker reservation using the PC 4 or a reservation person (mobile user) who makes a locker reservation using the mobile phone 6. The new deposit management unit 12b determines whether or not new deposits can be made. For example, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) of a server computer functions as the reservation management unit 12a and the new deposit management unit 12b.

  The reservation management database 13 stores reservation information indicating the details of reservations made by PC users or mobile users. The reservation information includes the scheduled start date of use, whether or not other people's use can be accepted within the reservation period, the name of the facility (station name) where the locker you want to use is installed, the size of the locker you want to use, etc. The reservation management database 13 functions as a storage device such as a hard disk of a server computer.

  The management device 2 manages the usage status of the locker group 3, authenticates the reservation person, locks / unlocks each locker, and the like. Note that one management device 2 may manage a plurality of locker groups 3.

  The locker group 3 includes a plurality of lockers. The number of lockers included in the locker group 3 may be arbitrary, and the size of each locker may be different.

  Next, operation | movement of the locker management apparatus 1 of the structure mentioned above is demonstrated. FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the reservation acceptance operation. This flowchart is executed by the reservation management unit 12a of the control unit 12. First, an application for use reservation from a reservation user such as a PC user or a portable user is accepted (step S11). When applying for this reservation, make reservations such as the scheduled start date, the name of the facility where the locker you want to use (station name), the size of the locker you want to use, the payment method for the reservation or use (credit card number), etc. Information is transmitted from the PC 4, mobile phone 6, etc., received by the communication unit 11, and output to the control unit 12.

  Next, a selection of whether or not others can be accepted is accepted (step S12). “Acceptance / non-acceptance of others” is information indicating whether or not the use of others is accepted within the reservation period, and is acceptance information. Here, as shown in FIG. 4, the reservation period refers to the period from the reservation date (the date when the reservation is accepted according to the flowchart of FIG. 3) to the date when the locker to be used in the facility is determined. In this embodiment, during the reservation period, for example, a reservation for use of a locker installed at station A is accepted, but a specific locker in the locker group 3 is not specifically determined. That is, if the number of use reservations and the number of vacant lockers are managed, there is no need to disable a specific locker during the reservation period. Therefore, in this embodiment, other people can use during the reservation period, and the user is allowed to select whether or not others can accept. Therefore, it is possible to make the reservation and use per locker overlap.

  In addition, during this reservation period, a user who has selected acceptance of others is made cheaper than the case where the acceptance of others is not accepted.

  Next, if there is a locker vacancy more than a predetermined reference value in the facility designated by the reservation person (step S13: Yes), the locker reservation is accepted (step S14), and if there is no locker (step S13: No), the reservation is not possible. (Step S15). When a reservation is accepted, the reservation information is stored in the reservation management database 13 in association with a user name (any information such as an ID can be identified). Information about accepting reservations or not being able to make reservations is transmitted to the PC 4 or the mobile phone 6 to notify the reservation person.

  The reference value in step S13 is for securing the number of users who use without making a reservation for use, and may be determined by, for example, the ratio or number of lockers 3. Further, the reference value may be different for each facility.

  Next, the new deposit management operation will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. This flowchart manages deposits by users who visit the facility directly without using a reservation and use the locker in the locker group 3 in a predetermined facility. This flowchart is executed by the new deposit management unit 12b of the control unit 12.

  First, the number V of free lockers in the locker group 3 in a predetermined facility is acquired from the management device 2 (step S21). The use reservation number R at the facility is acquired from the reservation management database 13 (step S22).

  The use reservation number R acquired in step S22 excludes reservations that start X days from now. In other words, the number of use reservations R does not include use reservations after the number of days that the scheduled use start date is determined in advance from the present. The X day will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 6, the usage reservation number R to be acquired in step S <b> 22 covers only the usage reservations within X days (for example, 5 days) from the current date to the scheduled use start date, and the number of days beyond that. There are no reservations for certain use reservations. In addition, what is necessary is just to determine this X day based on the maximum days etc. which a user can utilize.

  Next, when the number of free lockers V−the number of reserved reservations R is less than the predetermined margin value as the first threshold (step S23: Yes), it is determined that new deposits cannot be made for the facility (step S24). It transmits to the management apparatus 2 which manages a facility. On the other hand, if it is equal to or greater than the predetermined margin value (step S23: No), the facility can be newly deposited (step S25), and the fact is transmitted to the management device 2 that manages the facility.

  This margin value is a margin value for a user who uses a locker without making a reservation. By setting this margin value to a value larger than at least “0”, it is possible to prevent all lockers from being filled with reservations.

  Next, the acceptable reservation locker securing operation will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. This flowchart determines the locker to be used for the reservation accepted in the flowchart of FIG. This flowchart is executed by the reservation management unit 12a of the control unit 12.

  First, referring to the scheduled start date for accepting other people (step S31), if the current date is the day before the scheduled start date (step S32: Yes), use it based on the size desired by the reservation The locker to be performed is determined (step S33). After confirmation, the locker is treated as being used, not reserved. The date determined in step S32 is not limited to the day before the scheduled use start date, and may be another date.

  Then, the user is notified of information regarding the confirmed locker such as the position and number of the confirmed locker. As a notification method, for example, information regarding a contact address such as an e-mail address may be registered at the time of reservation, and the e-mail address may be notified. Of course, other means such as SNS (Social Networking Service) may be used instead of the email. Further, the position of the locker may be shown on a map, a station premises map, or the like, or may be only character information such as “A station north exit locker”. That is, a specific locker in the locker group 3 is assigned to the user related to the use reservation on a predetermined day before the scheduled use start date, and information on the locker assigned to the user is notified.

  As is apparent from the flowcharts of FIGS. 3, 5, and 7 described above, the communication unit 11 functions as a reservation management unit, and the control unit 12 functions as a reservation management unit and a new deposit management unit. 3 and 7 function as a reservation management process, and FIG. 5 functions as a new deposit management process.

  According to the present embodiment, the reservation management unit 12a of the control unit 12 assigns a specific locker in the locker group 3 to the user related to the use reservation on the day before the scheduled use start date, and the locker assigned to the user. Notify information about. On the other hand, the new deposit management unit 12b of the control unit 12 prohibits new deposits when the difference between the number V of free lockers in the locker group 3 and the number R of reserved reservations is less than the margin value. By doing this, the locker to be used is not specified until the day before the scheduled start date of use, so it is possible to respond flexibly to other people's use, etc., taking into account the convenience of users who do not make a reservation be able to. Therefore, the operation rate per locker can be increased.

  In addition, the number of use reservations R does not include use reservations for which the scheduled use start date is after a predetermined date from the present. By doing so, reservations with a long period until the scheduled start date of use are not included in the use reservations, and thus it is possible to increase the profits of these portions as much as the number of installed lockers.

  Further, the control unit 12 makes the reservation fee until the specific locker is assigned cheaper than the case where the other person acceptance is designated in the case of the use reservation designated to accept others. By doing in this way, reservations for which acceptance of others can be specified can be reserved at a discount. Therefore, if the number of reservations for accepting others increases, even if there is a reservation, the occupancy rate can be maintained and the profitability can be increased.

  In this embodiment, the locker management device 1 functions as a new deposit management unit, but the management device 2 may function as a new deposit management unit.

(Second Embodiment)
Next, a locker reservation management apparatus according to the second embodiment of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. Note that the same parts as those in the first embodiment described above are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.

  In this embodiment, the management apparatus 2 and the locker group 3 installed in the facility are installed in a plurality of areas. In the case of FIG. 8, the station A is installed in the A1 area and the A2 area. At B station, it is installed in B1 area and B2 area. That is, a station as a predetermined unit has a plurality of areas as lower layers, and a locker group 3 is installed in each area.

  In the configuration of FIG. 8, it is possible to specify up to an area for the facility name of the reservation information that the reservation person is making. Therefore, if it is determined in the flowchart shown in FIG. 3 that no other person can be accepted, the area desired by the reservation person is determined at the time of reservation. On the other hand, when accepting others, it will be confirmed to the facility at the time of reservation. In other words, in the present embodiment, the preference of the reservation person is given priority when other people cannot be accepted. On the other hand, when accepting others, priority is given to the deposit (operation rate) of others. However, the reservation fee can be reduced by accepting others.

  FIG. 9 is a flowchart of the new deposit operation in the present embodiment. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, the locker group 3 is installed in a plurality of areas in one facility. Therefore, the number of empty lockers is obtained for each area, and the margin value is determined.

  First, the number of free lockers Vn in the locker group 3 for each area n is acquired from the management device 2 (step S41). The reservation management database 13 acquires the number of reservations accepted (ROK) that is the number of reservations that can be accepted by others at the facility and the number of reservations that cannot be accepted (RNGn) that is the number of reservations that cannot be accepted by others for each area n. (Step S42).

  Next, when the number of free lockers Vn−the number of reservations RNGn that cannot accept others is less than a predetermined margin value as the second threshold (step S43: Yes), it is considered that all lockers in the area including the reserved portion are in use. In the meantime, it is impossible to make a new deposit in the area n (step S44). On the other hand, if it is equal to or greater than the predetermined margin value (step S43: No), step S44 is not executed. Note that step S43 is determined for each area. Further, the margin value determined in step S43 may be the same value as the margin value in FIG. 5 or a different value.

  Next, if the number of vacant lockers in all areas of the facility (ΣVn) −the total number of reservations that can be accepted and the number of reservations that cannot be accepted (ROK + ΣRNGn) of the facility is less than a predetermined margin value (step S45: Yes), Assuming that all the lockers in the facility are in use, including the reserved portion, it is determined that the facility cannot be newly deposited (step S46), and the fact is transmitted to the management device 2 that manages the locker group 3. On the other hand, if it is equal to or greater than the predetermined margin value (step S45: No), areas other than those that are considered to be in use can all be used, and areas other than areas that cannot be newly deposited are allowed to be newly deposited (step S47), to that effect is transmitted to the management device 2 that manages the locker group 3.

  FIG. 10 is a flowchart of the acceptable reservation locker securing operation in the present embodiment. In this flowchart, step S33 is changed to step S33 'with respect to the flowchart shown in FIG. In step S33 ', a locker having a size or the like desired by the reservation person is assigned from among the locker group 3 installed in the same facility if another person can accept the locker to be confirmed. On the other hand, when others cannot be accepted, a locker having a size desired by the reservation person is assigned from among the locker groups 3 installed in the same area.

  According to this embodiment, when the locker group 3 is installed in a plurality of areas per facility, the reservation management unit 12a of the control unit 12 uses the use in the case of a use reservation in which the acceptance of others cannot be accepted at the time of reservation. The area specified by the user related to the reservation is finalized. Further, the new deposit management unit 12b of the control unit 12 determines that the difference between the number of free lockers Vn of the locker group 3 installed in the area and the number of unacceptable reservations RNGn designating the area is less than the margin value. New deposits cannot be made for the locker group 3 in the area. In this way, if the locker group 3 is installed in multiple areas of a facility such as a station, and if it is specified that other people cannot be accepted at the time of reservation, the area can be confirmed. The convenience of the reservation person can be ensured. In addition, since it is possible to determine whether or not new deposits can be made for each area, it is possible to perform management more flexibly than management in units of facilities.

  In the two embodiments described above, the method for collecting (settling) the reservation fee and the usage fee is not particularly limited. For example, a reservation fee or a usage fee may be settled at the end of use, or a scheduled use end date may be input at the time of reservation, and payment may be made at the completion of the reservation. Alternatively, only the reservation fee may be settled at the time of reservation, and the usage fee may be settled at the time of use.

  The present invention is not limited to the above embodiment. That is, those skilled in the art can implement various modifications in accordance with conventionally known knowledge without departing from the scope of the present invention. Of course, such modifications are included in the scope of the present invention as long as the configuration of the locker management apparatus of the present invention is provided.

1 locker management device 2 management device 3 locker group 11 communication unit (reservation management unit)
12 Control Unit 12a Reservation Management Unit 12b New Deposit Management Unit 13 Reservation Management DB

Claims (5)

A locker management device for managing a predetermined group of lockers,
A reservation management unit that accepts a reservation for use of a locker that specifies a scheduled start date of use via a computer network;
A new deposit management unit that manages new deposits of the lockers without reservation,
The reservation management unit
Assign a specific locker in the locker group to the user related to the use reservation, on a predetermined day before the scheduled use start date, and notify the user about the locker assigned to the user,
The new deposit management department
When the difference between the number of free lockers in the locker group and the number of reserved reservations is less than the first threshold, new deposits are not allowed.
A locker management device characterized by that. The predetermined unit has a lower layer,
The use reservation includes designation of accepting others or not accepting others, and if not accepting others, includes designation of the lower layer,
The reservation management unit
In the case of a use reservation in which the acceptance of other persons is not permitted, the user is determined up to the lower layer specified by the user related to the use reservation,
The new deposit management department
When the difference between the number of empty lockers in the lower layer of the locker group and the number of reserved reservations specifying the lower layer is less than the second threshold, new deposits for the locker group related to the lower layer are prohibited. ,
The locker management apparatus according to claim 1.   The locker management device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the number of use reservations does not include a use reservation after a predetermined number of days from the present scheduled start date of use.   The reservation management unit, in the case of a use reservation in which the acceptance of another person is specified, makes the reservation fee until a specific locker is allocated is cheaper than the case in which the acceptance of the other person is not specified. The locker reservation management apparatus according to claim 2 or 3. A locker management method executed by a locker management device that manages a locker group of a predetermined unit,
A reservation management process for accepting a reservation for use of a locker that specifies a scheduled start date of use via a computer network;
A new deposit management process for managing new deposits of the lockers without reservation,
The reservation management process includes:
Assign a specific locker in the locker group to the user related to the use reservation, on a predetermined day before the scheduled use start date, and notify the user about the locker assigned to the user,
The new deposit management process includes:
When the difference between the number of free lockers in the locker group and the number of reserved reservations is less than the first threshold, new deposits are not allowed.
A locker management method characterized by that.

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