JP2022164351A - Information processing apparatus, rental management program, and rental management method - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a rental management program for facilitating securement and management of inventory for rent, and a rental management method.SOLUTION: In a rental management system comprising a plurality of user terminals, a rental management server, and an EC management server which communicate with each other over a network, the rental management server 1 includes an inventory management unit 111, a reception processing unit 112, and a rental processing unit 113. The inventory management unit 111 acquires external inventory information which indicates inventory of an article managed by the EC management server, and updates rental candidate information of an article to be rented based on the external inventory information. The reception processing unit receives application information indicating an application for renting an article from a user. The rental processing unit sets, based on the application information received by the reception processing unit, a rental article for rent from the inventory of the article indicated by the rental candidate information, and transmits rental setting information indicating that the rental article has been set, to the EC management server.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing device, a rental management program, and a rental management method.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, there has been known a technique for managing items to be rented using an information processing device such as a computer. Patent Document 1 discloses this type of technology.

In Patent Literature 1, a rental management server is configured to manage a first record that associates at least an investor ID, a material ID, and a contract period after renting materials from an investor at a rental company. . Then, after the rental company receives a request to lend the materials from the re-rental destination, the sales management server receives the material ID of the materials to be lent to the re-rental destination, the investor ID of the investor who owns the materials, and the re-rental A storage unit for managing a second record that associates at least a previous re-rental destination ID with a rental period, and after the material is returned from the re-rental destination, the second record related to the returned material is transferred from the storage unit. stated to be deleted.

JP 2020-173863 A

When a business that conducts EC (electronic commerce) runs a rental business, it becomes necessary to secure rental inventory separately from product inventory for sale. It must be made. There is room for improvement in the prior art in terms of securing inventory for rental and facilitating management.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a rental management program and a rental management method capable of facilitating the securing and management of rental inventory.

The present invention includes an inventory management unit that acquires external inventory information indicating the inventory of articles managed by another management device, updates the rental candidate information of the rental candidate article based on the external inventory information, and a reception processing unit that receives application information indicating a rental application for a rental application; and based on the application information received by the reception processing unit, sets a rental item to be rented from the inventory of items indicated by the rental candidate information, and The present invention relates to an information processing device including a rental processing unit that transmits rental setting information indicating that an article has been set to the management device.

According to the rental management program and rental management method of the present invention, it is possible to secure rental inventory and facilitate management.

1 is a schematic diagram showing the overall configuration of a rental management system according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a rental site according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an EC site according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of an information processing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention and a functional configuration for executing each process; FIG. 4 is a flow chart explaining rental processing between an EC site and a rental site in the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating data linkage at the start of rental processing between an EC site and a rental site in the embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating reservation processing in rental processing between an EC site and a rental site in the embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating shipping processing between an EC site and a rental site in the embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating return processing between an EC site and a rental site in the embodiment of the present invention;

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[Overall configuration of rental management system]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the overall configuration of a rental management system S according to this embodiment. A rental management system S shown in FIG. 1 is a system for managing information on rental goods.

The rental management system S of this embodiment includes a rental management server 1 as an information processing device and an EC (Electric Commerce) management server 2 as another management device. In this embodiment, the rental management server 1 and the EC management server 2 are operated by different operating companies. However, the rental management server 1 and the EC management server 2 may be operated by the same operating company.

In the rental management system S, n units (n is an arbitrary integer value of 1 or more) of user terminals 3 serving as clients, a rental management server 1, and an EC management server 2 communicate with each other via a network N. Web service is provided to the user by performing The network N is realized by, for example, a network such as a LAN (Local Area Network), the Internet, a mobile phone network, or a network combining these.

The rental management server 1 is installed, for example, by a rental company that manages the rental management system S. FIG. The rental management server 1 is realized by, for example, a computer having a server function. The rental management server 1 constructs a rental site, which is a website as shown in FIG.

FIG. 2 is an example of a display screen of a rental site according to this embodiment. The display screen of the rental site displays, for example, the product image of the item to be rented, an item description column, rental cost information, a calendar showing available rental dates, and an "add to cart" button 5 for making a rental reservation. In the calendar, "○" is displayed in the column immediately below the display of the date when the product can be rented. The user presses the button 5 after selecting the date marked with "o" on the calendar. After that, the user of the rental site rents the object displayed on the rental site by going through a predetermined procedure. In addition, at the rental site according to the present embodiment, it is possible to purchase second-hand items to be rented.

In addition, the rental management server 1 can communicate with an affiliated warehouse terminal 4 as a rental inventory management device via a network N, as shown in FIG. The affiliated warehouse terminal 4 is used for management of the affiliated warehouse, which is the warehouse of the warehouse company affiliated with the rental company. The rental management server 1 can transmit and receive information about rental with the affiliated warehouse terminal 4 . The affiliated warehouse terminal 4 may be a computer installed in the affiliated warehouse, a computer installed in an office at a location different from the affiliated warehouse, or a smartphone, tablet, or It may be a notebook computer.

The EC management server 2 is installed, for example, by an EC business operator who conducts electronic commerce. The EC management server 2 is realized by, for example, a computer having server functions. The EC management server 2 constructs an EC site, which is a website as shown in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an example of a display screen of an EC site according to this embodiment. The display screen of the EC site includes, for example, the product image of the product to be sold, the product name, the model number, the price, the input field 6 for the number of items to be purchased, the "add to basket" button 7 for making a purchase reservation, and the "rental" button to be described later. ' rental button 8 is displayed. The user can purchase by inputting the desired number in the input field 6, pressing the button 7, and going through a predetermined procedure. Note that the rental button 8 will be described later.

A user terminal 3 is a computer owned by a user. The user terminal 3 is realized by, for example, a general electronic device having an information processing function such as a smart phone or a personal computer.

In this embodiment, the user accesses the EC site built in the EC management server 2 or the rental site built in the rental management server 1 via the user terminal 3, and applies for rental of desired goods or purchases goods. can apply for

In addition, in the drawing, as the n user terminals 3, a user terminal 3-1, a user terminal 3-2, and a user terminal 3-n are illustrated. In addition, when describing these n user terminals 3 without distinguishing them, some reference numerals are omitted and they are simply referred to as "user terminals 3".

[Hardware configuration of rental management server]
Next, the hardware configuration and functional configuration of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. Here, FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the hardware configuration and functional configuration of the rental management server 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 4, the rental management server 1 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 12, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 13, a communication section 14, a storage section 15, An operation unit 16 and a display unit 17 are provided. The rental management server 1 further includes a bus 18 connecting these units. These units are connected via a bus 18 so as to be able to communicate with each other.

The CPU 11 executes various processes based on programs recorded in the ROM 12 or programs loaded from the storage unit 15 to the RAM 13 . In addition to such programs, the RAM 13 also stores data necessary for the CPU 11 to execute various processes.

The communication unit 14 implements communication with another device. Other devices are, for example, the EC management server 2, the user terminal 3, the affiliated warehouse terminal 4, and the like. This communication takes place over network N as described above. Further, this communication may be performed via a relay device, or may be performed directly between devices without via a relay device.

The storage unit 15 is composed of a semiconductor memory such as a DRAM (Dynamic Random Access Memory) and stores various data.

The operation unit 16 includes various buttons and devices such as a keyboard and a mouse that are externally connected, and inputs various information according to user's instruction operations.

The display unit 17 is configured by a display and outputs an image. The display unit 17 may be integrated with the operation unit 16 using a touch panel or the like.

Note that the hardware configuration described above is merely an example, and is not limited to this. For example, the rental management server 1 may include speakers for outputting music, sound effects, and voice. Furthermore, the rental management server 1 also has an interface or the like to which a removable medium made of a semiconductor memory or the like can be attached, and various data may be read from the removable medium via this interface.

[Functional Configuration of Rental Management Server]
Next, a functional configuration of the rental management server 1 will be described with reference to FIG. Each functional configuration described below is a functional configuration for executing rental processing among the functional configurations of the rental management server 1 . Here, the rental process is a series of processes for managing commercial transactions related to goods based on user's request.

When these processes are executed, as shown in FIG. 4, in the CPU 11, an inventory management section 111, a reception processing section 112, and a rental processing section 113 function. These functional blocks perform arithmetic processing necessary for executing each of these processes and transmission/reception of information between functional blocks, as necessary, in addition to those mentioned below.

The functional block is implemented, for example, by an API (Application Programming Interface) set in the rental site. In this embodiment, the EC site is registered in advance with the API of the rental site, and data such as ID is linked. However, the functional block is not limited to the configuration realized by the API. For example, the rental site and the EC site may cooperate with data such as IDs through exchange of data in a CSV (Comma Separated Values) file format.

A management information storage unit 151 is set in one area of the storage unit 15 . The management information storage unit 151 stores management information for managing articles. The details of this management information will be described later when the rental processing unit 113 is described.

The inventory management unit 111 executes a process of acquiring external inventory information indicating the inventory of items managed by the EC management server 2, and a process of updating rental candidate information, which is information related to rental candidate items, based on the external inventory information. do.

The process of acquiring external stock information will be explained. The external inventory information is information on products stored in the warehouse of the EC business operator and includes information on products sold on the EC site and information on the inventory. Information about products is set for each product type, and includes product IDs, product names, stock quantities, and the like. In addition, the information about goods is not restricted to the above-mentioned information.

In addition, information about the inventory of products is set for each product in stock. The information on product inventory includes, for example, an inventory ID assigned to identify each inventory item. However, the information about inventory is not limited to the above information, and part of it may be omitted. At the EC site, commercial transactions are conducted using these external inventory information.

Processing for updating rental candidate information will be described. The inventory management unit 111 updates rental candidate information, which is information about rental candidate articles, based on the external inventory information. The rental candidate information is, for example, information about rental candidates and the inventory. Information about rental candidates is set for each type of rental candidate, and includes a product ID, product name, stock quantity, and the like. Information about rental candidates is not limited to the above information.

In addition, information about the inventory of rental candidates is set for each inventory item. Information about rental candidates includes, for example, inventory IDs assigned to identify each respective inventory. Specifically, in the rental management server 1 according to the present embodiment, the inventory management unit 111 sets an inventory ID as identification information for each item in the rental candidate information.

The reception processing unit 112 acquires application information indicating an article rental application from the user terminal 3 used by the user. The application information includes the specification of the item to be rented, the specification of the rental period (that is, the date of rental and the date of return), the user's name, and information on the payment of the user's usage fee (for example, the user's credit card, electronic payment application, information on payment means such as Web money), the address of the delivery destination of the goods (for example, the user's home), and the like.

The name, address, payment information, and the like included in the application information may be registered in advance as member information so that sending and receiving each time is omitted.

When the reception processing unit 112 acquires the application information from the user terminal 3 of the user, the rental processing unit 113 sets the rental item to be rented from the rental candidate items based on the application information. A rental article indicates an article rented to a user.

When a rental candidate item is set as a rental item, the inventory management unit 111 moves the inventory ID or the like as identification information of the rental candidate item from the rental candidate information to the rental object information. The inventory ID entered in the rental object information is managed separately from the inventory ID of the rental candidate article. In this embodiment, the item moved to the rental target information is treated as a rental item. In the present embodiment, once rented items are treated as items for rental, they may be treated as items for sale of used items.

The rental processing unit 113 also sends rental setting information indicating that the rental item has been set to the EC management server 2 . The rental setting information includes, for example, the product ID and stock ID in the EC site corresponding to the set rental item, the shipping address of the rental applicant, the rental start date, and the like. Note that the rental setting information is not limited to the information described above. Based on the rental setting information, the EC company sends the goods for sale corresponding to the application to the address corresponding to the application at the time corresponding to the application. In other words, the EC company sends the product inventory owned by the EC company to the user as an initial rental inventory.

The shipping company that sends is, for example, a shipping company that carries out transportation such as general parcel delivery service, or a shipping company affiliated with the rental company. In addition, when there is an application for the return of the article sent to the user, a slip for return is created. Information such as the pick-up date (return date), the address of the pick-up destination, the item to be picked up, the address of the warehouse managed by the rental company, and the like are described on the slip for return, for example. The carrier goes to the address of the user who rented the device on the return date according to the slip for return. In addition, the carrier collects the articles and transports them to a warehouse or the like managed by the rental company according to the slip for return.

As described above, items returned from rental have identification information included in the rental object information, and are managed as items for rental. That is, the returned items are stored in the affiliated warehouse as rental item inventory. For this reason, when the inventory management unit 111 accepts the rental of items including the rental target information, the rental processing unit 113 requests the affiliated warehouse terminal 4 corresponding to the affiliated warehouse that stores the inventory of the rental items to place an order. multiply. However, this does not apply if the user applies for the rental of a new product.

In addition, in the present embodiment, the storage location of the inventory of rental items is the affiliated warehouse of the affiliated warehouse company, but the location is not limited to this. For example, the company's own warehouse may be used as a storage location for inventory of rental items. In addition, in the rental management system S according to the present embodiment, it is possible to purchase a rented item by submitting a purchase application at the rental site before the rental deadline.

That is, when the inventory management unit 111 accepts the rental of a rental candidate item in a state in which rental items are stored as inventory in the affiliated warehouse, the rental processing unit 113 sends an order request to the EC management server 2 (rental setting information ). In addition, the rental management server 1 may select rental candidates from the product inventory on the EC management server 2 when there is no rental inventory due to rental.

In this way, at the initial stage when the EC management server 2 and the rental management server 1 cooperate, rental candidates are selected from the product inventory on the EC management server 2 . On the other hand, rental candidates for the second and subsequent times are selected from the rental inventory on the rental management server 1 because the items that have been rented once are in the rental inventory. In this embodiment, the user can rent the item selected in this way while staying at home.

In addition, the rental processing unit 113 updates the management information stored in the management information storage unit 151 based on the external inventory information acquired by the inventory management unit 111 and the content of each application acquired by the reception processing unit 112. . This management information includes a rental slip, which is data having information such as an inventory status indicating the inventory status of each item in the rental management server 1 and a rental status. Note that the rental slip is not limited to electronic data, and may be issued on paper.

The inventory status information in the rental management server 1 includes an inventory status related to rental candidate information and an inventory status related to rental object information. Also, the rental slip is generated for each rental reservation at the timing when the rental reservation is made. A rental slip is generated to share information on the rental status between the operating company and the user.

For the inventory status of the rental management server 1, for example, statuses such as "valid", "reserved", "rented", "moved", "invalid", and "sold" are set.

"Valid" indicates that the inventory data is valid. Valid inventory data means that the user can select inventory data when making a rental reservation. A situation in which inventory data is made "valid" is, for example, a situation in which preparations for rental of goods have been completed.

"Reserved" indicates that the item indicated by the inventory data is reserved for rental. When the user makes a rental reservation, inventory data with an inventory status of "reserved" cannot be selected. An item in the "reserved" state has the right to rent the item only to the user who made the reservation, and no other users have the right to rent or purchase the item.

"Rental" indicates that the item indicated by the inventory data is being rented to the user. Inventory data with an inventory status of "on rent" cannot be selected when another user makes a rental reservation. When an item is in the "rented" state, only the user who is renting the item at that time has the right to use the item, and other users do not have the right to rent or purchase the item.

“Moved” indicates a state in which the identification information of the rental candidate article indicated by the inventory data has been moved from the rental candidate information to the rental target information. In other words, when the rental item is returned by the user, the rental processing unit 113 moves the identification information of the returned rental candidate item to the rental object information, and changes the inventory status to "moved".

"Invalid" indicates that the inventory data is invalid. The "invalid" inventory status is set, for example, when the item indicated by the inventory data is being prepared for the next rental. Again, inventory data with an "invalid" inventory status cannot be selected when the user makes a reservation.

"Sold" indicates that the item indicated by the inventory data of the rental management server 1 has been sold at the EC site or rental site. For example, the inventory status of inventory data indicating items sold at an EC site or a rental site is changed to "sold". Again, the user cannot select inventory data with an inventory status of "sold" when making a rental reservation.

Based on the inventory status described above, the rental processing unit 113 of the rental management server 1 performs rental processing. Also, the inventory status of the rental management server 1 is not limited to these.

In addition, in the rental status of the rental slip, for example, a status indicating the rental status such as "reserving", "renting", "returning", "return completed", "cancelled", and "purchased" is set. .

For example, "under reservation" indicates that the current rental status is from the start of reservation to the time of shipment. "Rental" indicates that the current rental status is from the time of shipment to the rental date. "Returning" indicates that the current rental status is from the start of the return to the completion of the return. "Cancelled" indicates that the current rental status is from the occurrence of cancellation to the completion of preparation for the next rental. "Purchased" indicates that the current rental status is that the item being rented has been purchased by the user.

However, rental status information is not limited to these. In this embodiment, such information is displayed on the EC site and rental site displayed on the display screen of the user terminal 3 .

When the rental status is "reserved", "rented", or "returned", the owner of the article is the EC business operator, and the rental business operator is entrusted with management.

In the management information, in addition to information on the rental status, information on commercial transactions such as information on the owner and user of each item, contents of management request, contents of borrowing application for goods, and contents of purchase application for goods are included in each item. be tied. In addition, for example, image information or the like indicating the appearance of the article is further linked.

Similarly to the inventory status of the rental management server 1, the storage unit of the EC management server 2 also stores management information including the inventory status. The inventory status of the EC management server 2 is set to, for example, "valid", "shipment", and "invalid".

"Valid" indicates that the inventory data is valid. The fact that the inventory data is valid means that the inventory data can be selected when the user purchases the product. A situation in which inventory data is "valid" is, for example, a situation in which goods to be sold have been received and are ready for sale.

"Shipment" indicates a state in which the sale of the inventory data has been decided, or a state in which the item has been decided as a rental item. In this case, when the user purchases the product, the inventory data of the inventory status of "shipment" cannot be selected.

"Invalid" indicates that the inventory data is invalid. The "invalid" inventory status is set when the item indicated by the inventory data is in the process of being received. Again, inventory data with an "invalid" inventory status cannot be selected when the user makes a reservation.

Based on the inventory status described above, the EC management server 2 performs rental processing. However, the inventory status of the EC management server 2 is not limited to these.

Further, in this embodiment, the EC site constructed on the EC management server 2 incorporates a predetermined code, which is a program. The EC management server 2 displays the rental button 8 shown in FIG. 3 on the display screen of the EC site by incorporating the predetermined code. The user terminal 3 switches the access destination from the EC site to the rental site when the user presses the rental button 8 on the display screen. By having the user press the rental button 8, the user terminal 3 switches the access destination from the EC site to the rental site. Furthermore, at the rental site of the switched access destination, the user terminal 3 can input a rental application to the rental management server 1 by the user's operation.

That is, in the present embodiment, the application information is information input at the rental site that is transferred by operating the rental button 8 incorporated in the EC site displayed by the EC management server 2 . It should be noted that the rental management server 1 according to this embodiment starts the rental processing described below immediately after the code is embedded.

<Rental processing>
Next, operations in the rental process executed by the rental management system S will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 to 9. FIG. FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating rental processing according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating data linkage at the start of rental processing between the EC site and the rental site in the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating reservation processing in the rental processing between the EC site and the rental site in the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating shipping processing between the EC site and the rental site in the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram illustrating return processing between the EC site and the rental site in the embodiment of the present invention.

First, as shown in the flowchart of FIG. 5, the inventory management unit 111 of the rental management server 1 acquires the external inventory information of the EC site via the communication unit 14, and based on the acquired external inventory information of the EC site, the rental The site rental candidate information is updated (step S10). That is, the product IDs of the EC site and the rental site are linked to share the stock quantity. However, in the rental management system S according to the present embodiment, it is possible to arbitrarily determine the number of stocks that can be provided as a rental from the number of stocks shared in the rental candidate information. For example, when the EC site has 5 items in stock and the maximum number of items that can be rented is 2 items, the inventory status of the rental candidate information can be set to "valid" for up to 2 items. As a result, in the rental management system S according to the present embodiment, it is possible to prevent the EC site from using all of the five inventory items for rental purposes, and to suppress a situation in which sales cannot be made due to inventory shortage.

As shown in FIG. 6, the EC site has product information such as product IDs, product names, and inventory numbers, and product inventory information such as inventory IDs, inventory names, and inventory statuses. In addition, the inventory status of the inventory data at the top of the inventory data is "valid", indicating that the item indicated by the inventory data at the top is available for purchase or rental. there is In the following description, for the sake of convenience, the number of items in stock at the start of rental processing is assumed to be four.

As with the EC site, the rental site also has, as rental candidate information, product information such as product IDs, product names, and inventory numbers, and product inventory information such as inventory IDs, inventory names, and inventory statuses. In addition, the inventory status of the topmost inventory data of the inventory data is "valid", indicating that the item indicated by the topmost inventory data is in a state in which it can be rented. In step S<b>10 , the inventory management unit 111 updates the number of items in stock on the rental site to four in accordance with the number of items in stock on the EC site.

Next, the user terminal 3 accesses the EC management server 2 via the network N by the user's operation, as shown in FIG. As a result, the user terminal 3 accesses the EC management server 2 and displays the EC site constructed on the EC management server 2 on the display screen. On the EC site, as shown in FIG. 3, when a display screen of items available for rent is displayed, a rental button 8 for switching to the rental site is displayed on the display screen of the item.

The access destination of the user terminal 3 is switched from the EC management server 2 to the rental management server 1 when the user presses the rental button 8 . That is, the user terminal 3 displays the rental site built in the rental management server 1 on the display screen. Thereby, the user can apply for rental by performing operations within the rental site displayed on the display screen of the user terminal 3 . The user terminal 3 transmits rental application information to the rental management server 1 when a rental item is selected from the rental candidate items by the user's operation.

In the rental management server 1, the reception processing unit 112 receives the transmitted application information, as shown in FIG. 5 (step S11). Next, the rental processing unit 113 sets rental items to be rented from the inventory of items indicated by the rental candidate information based on the rental application information, and manages rental setting information indicating that the rental items have been set. It is transmitted to the server 2 (step S12).

At this time, the rental processing unit 113 generates a rental slip as shown in FIG. At this time, the rental status of the rental slip is "reserved". Also, the rental slip describes the product A, indicating that the product A has been reserved. The rental slip indicates the name of the article to be rented and the rental status indicating the rental status. As for the item of the name of the item to be rented, when a plurality of items are rented, the names of a plurality of items may be written on the rental slip.

In addition, the rental processing unit 113 changes the inventory status stored in the management information storage unit 151 to "reserved" when the rental slip is generated. This prevents another user from making a reservation for rental of the rental item set as the rental item.

In addition, the rental processing unit 113 transmits reservation information as rental setting information to the EC site via the communication unit 14 at the same time as generating the above-described rental slip and changing the inventory status. Upon receiving the reservation information, the EC management server 2 updates the external stock information based on the reservation information. That is, the EC management server 2 changes the inventory status of the item set as the rental item to "shipment". This prevents other users from purchasing the item set as the rental item. In addition, the number of products in stock on the EC site is reduced by one and changed from 4 to 3 because the products are treated as shipped.

Next, the rental item is sent to the user by the EC business operator based on the received reservation information. At this time, the rental processing unit 113 accesses the management information storage unit 151 as shown in FIG. 8 and changes the rental status of the rental slip to "renting". Along with this, the rental processing unit 113 also changes the inventory status of the inventory data of the rental management server 1 to "rented" to prevent other users from making rental reservations for the rental item.

After that, the user returns the rental item to the rental company. Specifically, rental items are stored in affiliated warehouses. Also, the storage location of the inventory of rental items is the affiliated warehouse of the affiliated warehouse company, but is not limited to this as described above, and may be the company's own warehouse. At this time, when the rental processing unit 113 acquires the return information from the partner warehouse terminal 4 or the like, the rental processing unit 113 changes the rental status of the rental slip to "return completed" as shown in FIG. In addition, the rental processing unit 113 moves the information such as the ID of the rental item returned due to the change of the rental status from the rental candidate information to the rental object information.

At this time, the rental processing unit 113 updates the product ID information and the like of the rental object information based on the rental candidate information, and changes the inventory data of the rental object information to "valid". As a result, the user can make a rental reservation for the item to be rented. Further, as shown in FIG. 9, the rental processing unit 113 accesses the management information storage unit 151 and changes the inventory status of the rental candidate information to "Moved" so that it is not rented as a new product.

In addition, since one of the rental candidates is a rental item, the inventory number of rental candidate information on the rental site is reduced by one and changed from four to three. On the other hand, as one rental candidate is changed to a rental item, the number of items of rental object information in stock increases by one. That is, the rental management system S according to the present embodiment rents the inventory of the EC site to the user as the initial inventory of the rental site in the first rental, and uses the returned product for rental in the second and subsequent rentals. ing.

As described above, in the rental management system S according to the present embodiment, the product inventory information on the EC site and the product inventory information on the rental site are linked, and the inventory on the EC site and the initial inventory on the rental site are shared. , it is possible to facilitate the securing and management of inventory for rental.

[Non-limiting nature of the present embodiment]
Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, this embodiment is merely an example and does not limit the technical scope of the present invention. The present invention can take various other embodiments, and various modifications such as omissions and substitutions can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, modifications such as those shown below can be made. These embodiments and their modifications are included in the scope and gist of the invention described in this specification and the like, and are included in the scope of the invention described in the claims and equivalents thereof.

<Other Modifications>
Note that in the present embodiment, rental items are managed in inventory at the affiliated warehouse of the warehouse company affiliated with the rental site operator, but this is not the only option. For example, items for rental may be managed in their own warehouse owned by the EC business operator.

In this case, when the reception processing unit 112 receives application information for an item in stock in the rental object information, the rental processing unit 113 sets a rental item out of the items in stock in the rental object information. As a result, in the rental management system S according to this modified example, the EC business operator can perform inventory management of sales items and rental items, thereby making management easier.

In addition, in the rental management system S according to the present embodiment, it is possible to purchase an item rented by a user by submitting a purchase application before the rental deadline. It is okay if there is no mechanism to do so.

In addition, in the rental management system S according to the present embodiment, sales items are stored in the EC company's own warehouse, and rental items are stored in the affiliated warehouse of the warehouse company affiliated with the rental company. , but not limited to this. For example, items for sale may be stored in the affiliated warehouse of a warehouse company affiliated with the EC business, and items for rental may be stored in the company's own warehouse owned by the rental company.

Further, in the rental management system S according to the present embodiment, the EC site embeds the transfer button code, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a link destination to a rental site may be displayed by modifying the EC site program.

The series of processes described above can be executed by hardware or by software. In other words, the functional configuration shown in FIG. 4 is merely an example and is not particularly limited. That is, it is sufficient that the rental management server 1, the EC management server 2, and the user terminal 3 have a function capable of executing the series of processes described above as a whole. What kind of functional block is used to realize this function? is not particularly limited to the example of FIG. In addition, for example, the rental management server 1 may be realized by a single server device, but the rental management server 1 may be realized by cooperation of a plurality of server devices such as a so-called cloud server. good too. Also, one functional block may be composed of hardware alone, software alone, or a combination thereof.

The functional configuration in this embodiment is realized by a processor that executes arithmetic processing, and processors that can be used in this embodiment are composed of various single processing units such as single processors, multiprocessors, and multicore processors. In addition, it includes a combination of these various processing devices and a processing circuit such as ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) or FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array).

When a series of processes is to be executed by software, a program constituting the software is installed in a computer or the like from a network or a recording medium. The computer may be a computer built into dedicated hardware. The computer may also be a computer capable of executing various functions by installing various programs, such as a general-purpose personal computer.

A recording medium containing such a program is not only constituted by a removable medium that is distributed separately from the main body of the device in order to provide the program to the user, but is also provided to the user in a state pre-installed in the main body of the device. It consists of a recording medium, etc. Removable media include, for example, magnetic disks (including floppy disks), optical disks, or magneto-optical disks. Optical discs are composed of, for example, CD-ROMs (Compact Disk-Read Only Memory), DVDs (Digital Versatile Disks), Blu-ray (registered trademark) Discs, and the like. The magneto-optical disk is composed of an MD (Mini-Disk) or the like. Also, the recording medium provided to the user in a state of being pre-installed in the apparatus main body is composed of, for example, the ROM 12 in FIG.

In this specification, the steps of writing a program recorded on a recording medium are not necessarily processed chronologically according to the order, but may be executed in parallel or individually. It also includes the processing to be executed. Also, the steps executed by the program recorded on the recording medium may be executed in any order without departing from the gist of the present invention.

1 rental management server (information processing device)
2 EC management server (management device)
111 inventory management unit 112 reception processing unit 113 rental processing unit

Claims (9)

an inventory management unit that acquires external inventory information indicating inventory of items managed by another management device, and updates rental candidate information of rental candidate items based on the external inventory information;
a reception processing unit that receives application information indicating an application for rental of goods from a user;
Based on the application information received by the reception processing unit, a rental item to be rented is set from the inventory of items indicated by the rental candidate information, and the rental setting information indicating that the rental item is set is managed. a rental processing unit that transmits to the device;
Information processing device. The inventory management unit sets identification information for each item in the rental candidate information,
2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the identification information of the item set as the rental item is moved from the rental candidate information to the rental object information indicating the inventory of the item that has already been rented. 3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein when said reception processing unit receives said application information for an item in stock in said rental object information, said rental processing unit transmits said rental setting information to a rental inventory management device different from said management device. information processing equipment. When the reception processing unit receives the application information for the item in stock in the rental object information, the rental processing unit notifies the management device that the rental item is set as the item in stock in the rental object information. 3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 2, which transmits rental setting information. 5. The information processing apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein said rental setting information includes information on a shipping destination of a rental applicant. 6. The application information according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein said application information is information input at a rental site transferred by operating a rental button incorporated in a sales website displayed by a sales management device for selling said article. information processing equipment. to the computer,
an inventory management function of acquiring external inventory information indicating the inventory of items managed by another management device, and updating rental candidate information of rental candidate items based on the external inventory information;
a reception processing function for receiving application information indicating an application for rental of goods from a user;
Based on the application information received by the reception processing function, a rental item to be rented is set from the inventory of items indicated by the rental candidate information, and the rental setting information indicating that the rental item is set is managed. a rental processing function that sends to the device;
A rental management program that runs a A rental management method executed by a computer, comprising:
an inventory management step of acquiring external inventory information indicating the inventory of items managed by another management device, and updating rental candidate information of rental candidate items based on the external inventory information;
a receiving step of receiving application information indicating an application for rental of goods from a user;
Setting rental items to be rented from inventory of items indicated by the rental candidate information based on the application information received by the receiving step, and sending rental setting information indicating that the rental items have been set to the management device a rental processing step that sends to
Rental management methods including; 9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising an external inventory information processing step of setting the rental item to be shipped to the user from the external inventory information based on the rental setting information transmitted in the rental processing step, and updating the external inventory information. How to manage the rental as described.

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