JP2022181511A - Article management server and article management method - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide information necessary for each of a lease/rental company, a service business company, and a service user (end user) in a required format in a lump.SOLUTION: An article management server executes: processing to identify the number of articles for rental from information registered on a database; processing to generate information on recommended articles to be purchased of a lease/rental company and information on recommended articles for lease/rental of a service business company, based on the information on the number of articles for rental; and processing, in response to a request to refer to recommendation information on an article received from a computer (first computer) of the lease/rental company or a computer (second computer) of the service business company, to transmit the information on the recommended articles to be purchased to the first computer and transmit the information on the recommended articles for lease/rental to the second computer.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present disclosure relates to an article management server and an article management method.

Information management (management of goods, contract details, etc.) regarding leases and rentals of goods is normally performed between two parties, such as between a lease/rental company and a service business company, or between a service business company and a service user. For example, Patent Literature 1 discloses that "when selling multiple types of subscription products, it is possible to sell multiple types of subscription products with different contract information associated with each product. manages product information related to subscription products, and when one of multiple types of subscription products is specified, obtains product information related to the specified subscription product, and provides subscription contract information according to the subscription product shall be managed in association with the relevant product information.”

JP 2020-67777 A

However, in the above-mentioned information management between two parties, the relationship between the three parties is analyzed comprehensively by the information of the three parties of the leasing/rental company, the service business company, and the service user (end user). Reflected information (for example, recommended information) cannot be created and presented.

In view of such circumstances, the present disclosure proposes a technique for collectively providing necessary information in a necessary form for each of three parties: a leasing/rental company, a service business company, and a service user (end user). .

In order to solve the above problems, as an example, the present disclosure manages information on goods provided to users as a predetermined service, and provides leasing/rental companies, service companies, and users based on information on goods. An article management server that provides generated processing information and includes a sensor that detects information related to the use of the article and a transmission unit that transmits the information detected by the sensor, owns the article, and provides services The first computer of the leasing/rental company that leases/rents the goods to the business company, the second computer of the service business company that leases/rents the goods from the leasing/rental company and provides services related to the goods to the user, and the user's a third computer for communicating with a third computer; The information to be provided includes information on the usage history of the article, and the processor receives information related to the use of the article transmitted from the article to a database that registers and manages information on multiple types of articles, and stores the information in the database. , processing to grasp the number of rentals of the target goods from the information registered in the database, information on recommended goods to be purchased by the leasing/rental company, and service business companies based on the information on the number of rentals of the target goods and a purchase recommendation to the first computer via the communication unit in response to a reference request for recommendation information on the article received from the first computer or the second computer. An item management server is proposed for transmitting information on items and transmitting information on recommended lease/rental items to a second computer.

Further features related to the present disclosure will become apparent from the description of the specification and the accompanying drawings. In addition, the aspects of the present disclosure will be achieved and attained by means of the elements and combinations of various elements and aspects of the detailed description that follows and the claims that follow. It should be understood that the description herein is merely exemplary and is not intended to limit the scope or application of this disclosure in any way.

According to the technology of the present disclosure, it is possible to realize decision-making on whether to hire human resources based on uniform and high-level evaluation, and to improve the decision-making ability of people who are inexperienced in hiring people (education for unskilled people). It becomes possible to

It is a figure which shows the structural example of the goods information management system 10 by this embodiment. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a sequence example of processing executed from the purchase of goods by a leasing/rental company to the start of use of a service by a service user according to the present embodiment; FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a sequence example of processing executed while a service user is using a service according to the present embodiment; FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a sequence example of processing executed from expiration of a service user's service contract period to renewal of the contract, according to the present embodiment; FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a sequence of processing executed from user's service cancellation (contract termination) to lease/rental termination according to the present embodiment; FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a sequence example of a purchase recommendation presentation process for a leasing/rental company or a service business company according to the present embodiment; 3 is a diagram showing contents (example) of a database 105 managed by an article management server 104 according to the present embodiment; FIG. FIG. 7A is a diagram showing a configuration example of the article master database 1051. As shown in FIG. FIG. 7B is a diagram showing a configuration example of the article information database 1052. As shown in FIG. 10 is a flowchart for explaining the details of processing (SQ403) for presenting a recommended contract plan from article management server 104 to service user computer 103. FIG. 6 is a flow chart for explaining the process of presenting recommended lease/rental items from item management server 104 to service business company computer 101 (SQ603) or presenting recommended purchase items to lease/rental company computer 102 (SQ602).

In this embodiment, a leasing/rental company that leases or rents goods (for example, automobiles, bicycles, office equipment, business copiers, etc.) to service business companies, and a service that lends goods to end users. Articles and information related to the articles (of articles (including usage history, maintenance history, etc.) is managed and analyzed to provide necessary information (recommended information obtained as a result of analysis) to each of the above three parties.

Hereinafter, this embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. The same configuration will be described with the same reference numerals. It should be noted that the following embodiments do not limit the technology of the present disclosure, and not all combinations of features described in the embodiments are essential for solving the above problems.

<Configuration example of article information management system>
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of an article information management system 10 according to this embodiment.

The article information management system 10 includes, for example, a computer 101 of a service business company, a computer 102 of a leasing/rental company, a computer 103 of a service user, an article management server 104, a database 105, and a data transmission function. , which are connected via a network (for example, the Internet) 107 .

The leasing/rental company, service provider, and service user computers 102, 103, and 104, respectively, consist of conventional computers (including processors, storage devices, communication devices, displays, input devices, etc.) and Browser units 111 , 112 and 113 are provided for referring to information received from the management server 104 . Computers 102, 103, and 104 of the leasing/rental company, service business company, and service user, respectively, use communication devices to access article management server 104 via network 107, transmit requests and the like, It is configured to receive a reply (information) corresponding to the request from the article management server 104 .

In addition to the function of the item itself, the item 106 has a usage history measuring unit (for example, counter, clock, sensor, etc.) 121 that measures the usage history of the item 106, and usage history data measured by the usage history measuring unit 121. to the article management server 104 (for example, a communication device capable of only transmission) 120 .

The article management server 104 can be configured by, for example, a normal computer (including processors, storage devices, communication devices, displays, input devices, etc.). The processor of the product management server 104 reads various programs from the storage device, and stores the lease/rental company side HTTP display/input unit 114, the usage history reception unit 115, the product purchase recommendation processing unit 116, the contract A plan recommendation processing unit 117, an HTTP display/input unit 118 on the service company side, and an HTTP display/input unit 119 on the service user side are constructed. Also, the article management server 104 is connected to, for example, an external database 105 (the database 105 may be provided in a storage device inside the server). The leasing/rental company side HTTP display/input unit 114 responds to an access (request) from the browser unit 112 of the computer 102 of the leasing/rental company, and displays predetermined data (required by the leasing/rental company) corresponding to the request. (useful information or useful information) is generated and transmitted to the lease/rental company's browser unit 112 using a communication device (not shown) of the article management server 104 . Further, the service company side HTTP display/input unit 118 responds to an access (request) from the browser unit 111 of the computer 101 of the service company, and responds to the request with predetermined data (required by the service company). (information or useful information) is generated and transmitted to the browser unit 111 of the service provider using a communication device (not shown) of the article management server 104 . Further, the service user side HTTP display/input unit 119 responds to an access (request) from the browser unit 113 of the service user's computer 103, and responds to predetermined data corresponding to the request (information required or useful for the service user). information) is generated and transmitted to the service user's browser unit 113 using a communication device (not shown) of the article management server 104 . The usage history reception unit 115 receives usage history data transmitted from the usage history transmission unit 120 of the article 106 via the network 107 . The product purchase recommendation processing unit 116 generates product purchase recommendation information for presenting recommended products (candidates) to be purchased/leased/rented to leasing/rental companies and service companies based on the usage history. generated and transmitted to the lease/rental company or service provider computer 102 or 101 using a communication device (not shown). A contract plan recommendation processing unit 117 generates contract plan recommendation information for presenting a recommended contract plan (candidate) when renewing a product lending service contract between a service business company and a service user, and sets a communication device (not shown). to the service user's computer 103. The database 105 holds usage history of each item, maintenance history of each item, characteristics of each item, and the like. Details of the information held by the database 105 will be described later (see FIG. 7).

<Sequence of Processing Executed from Purchase of Goods by Lease/Rental Company to Start of Use of Service by Service User>
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a sequence example of processing executed from the purchase of goods by a leasing/rental company to the start of service use by a service user according to this embodiment. In FIG. 2, the sequence is indicated by "SQ".

(i) SQ201
A person in charge A of the leasing/rental company (hereafter, an employee of the leasing/rental company will be referred to as “person in charge A”) displays a newly purchased item or an already owned item in the browser section 112 of the computer 102 . A registration application page for registration in the management server 104 is displayed. Specifically, the browser unit 112 transmits, for example, the item registration application request input by the person in charge A to the item management server 104, and in response thereto, the lease/rental company side HTTP display/input unit 114 transmits the request. The article registration page received is displayed on the screen of the computer 102 .

(ii) SQ202
The browser unit 112 uses a communication device (not shown) to retrieve information such as product information (product name, product number, product model number, manufacturer name, etc.) input by the person in charge A on the product registration page. and transmits it to the article management server 104 . The leasing/rental company side HTTP display/input unit 114 of the item management server 104 stores the information on newly purchased items received from the leasing/rental company computer 102 (browser unit 112) in the database 105 (item information DB (Fig. 7))).

(iii) SQ203
The browser unit 112 of the computer 102 receives the lease/rental contract plan information (information on the contract period (monthly or yearly) and amount of money for the registered goods) input by the person in charge A, and stores it in a communication device (not shown). ) to the article management server 104 . The leasing/rental company side HTTP display/input unit 114 of the item management server 104 receives the lease/rental contract plan information of the purchased items received from the leasing/rental company computer 102 (browser unit 112) and stores it in the database 105 (items Register in the information DB (see FIG. 7).

(iv) SQ204
A person in charge B of the service company (hereafter, an employee of the service company is referred to as "person in charge B") uses the browser unit 111 of the computer 101 to prepare the service to be provided to the service user. Register a contract plan. Specifically, the browser unit 111 receives the service contract plan information (type of goods, contract period (contract unit), amount, etc.) input by the person in charge B (on the service contract plan input form) through a communication device (not shown). ) to the article management server 104 . The HTTP display/input unit 118 on the service company side of the article management server 104 receives the service contract plan information from the computer 101 (browser unit 111) of the service company and stores it in the database 105 (article information DB (see FIG. 7)). to register.

(v) SQ205
The browser unit 111 acquires a list of items owned by the lease/rental company and their lease/rental contract plans from the HTTP display/input unit 118 on the service company side of the item management server 104, and displays the list on the screen of the computer 101. . The browser unit 111 then transmits to the article management server 104 the lease/rental contract application entered (selected) by the person in charge B with reference to the list of articles and their lease/rental contract plans.

(vi) SQ206
The HTTP display/input unit 118 on the service company side and the HTTP display/input unit 114 on the lease/rental company side of the article management server 104 cooperate to transmit the article lease/rental request to the computer 102 of the lease/rental company.

(vii) SQ207
The browser unit 112 of the computer 102 of the leasing/rental company displays the item leasing/rental request received from the item management server 104 (including information on the item and the contract, and information specifying the requester's service business company) on the screen of the computer 102. display above. Upon seeing this, the person in charge A confirms the article to be applied for and the content of the contract, contacts the person in charge B of the service business company, and actually delivers the article.

(viii) SQ208
The browser unit 113 of the service user computer 103 acquires a list of services (rental items and contract details) provided by the service business company from the item management server 104 in response to the service user's instruction, and displays the list on the computer 103 screen. display above. The browser unit 113 also transmits the service content selected by the service user from the service list to the article management server 104 .

(ix) SQ209
The service user side HTTP display/input unit 119 generates an article lending request, and cooperates with the service business company side HTTP display/input unit 118 to transmit the article lending request to the service business company's computer 101. 101.

(x) SQ210
The browser unit 111 of the computer 101 of the service company displays on the screen of the computer 101 the article lending request (including information on the article and contract, and information specifying the service user) received from the article management server 104 . Upon seeing this, the person in charge B confirms the item to be borrowed and the content of the contract, contacts the service user, and actually delivers the item.

(xi) SQ211
The computer 101 of the service business company transmits information necessary to start using the service (for example, user ID, password, encryption key, etc.) and contract confirmation information of the service to the computer 103 of the service user (depending on the item to be rented, (In some cases, the information necessary to start using the service may not be necessary.) Also, the computer 101 may periodically or irregularly transmit privilege information (for example, discount coupons) to the computer 103 .

<Sequence of processing executed while the service user is using the service>
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a sequence example of processing executed while the service user is using the service according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 3, as in FIG. 2, the sequence is indicated by "SQ".

(i) SQ301
The usage history measuring unit 121 (sensor) provided in the item 106 measures the number of times the item is used by the service user (frequency of use within a predetermined period), the time of use (for example, the running time in the case of a PC, etc.). ), usage time period, usage distance (for example, in the case of automobiles and bicycles), accident information, failure information, maintenance information, etc. are measured. The usage history transmission unit 120 transmits the usage history data measured by the usage history measurement unit 121 to the article management server 104 periodically, irregularly, or each time the usage history is acquired. When the usage history receiving unit 115 of the article management server 104 receives usage history data from the article 106 , it stores the data in the database 105 .

(ii) SQ302 and SQ303
When the service user uses the browser unit 113 to send a request to refer to the usage history to the article management server 104, the service user side HTTP display/input unit 119 of the article management server 104 acquires the usage history data of the target user from the database 105. and transmits it to the computer 103 of the service user who issued the usage history reference request using a communication device (not shown). The browser unit 113 of the service user computer 103 displays the usage history data received from the article management server on the screen. Note that SQ302 and SQ303 are not a sequence that is always executed, but are executed in response to a request from the service user.

(iii) SQ304 and SQ305
When the person in charge B of the service company uses the browser unit 111 to send a request for referring to the usage history of a specific service user (at least some users among the customers of the service company) to the product management server 104, the product management The service company side HTTP display/input unit 118 of the server 104 acquires the target user's usage history data from the database 105, and uses a communication device (not shown) to use the service company's request to refer to the usage history. Send to computer 101 . The browser unit 111 of the service company computer 101 displays the usage history data received from the article management server 104 on the screen. It should be noted that SQ304 and SQ305 are not sequences that are always executed, but are executed in response to requests from operating companies.

(iv) SQ306
In response to the usage history reference request from the service company, the service company side HTTP display/input unit 118 of the article management server 104 further sends the service user (target user) who requested the usage history reference in SQ304. obtains the accumulated usage history (usage history of the target user and previous users) including the present and past from the database 105 and transmits it to the computer 101 of the service business company. The browser unit 111 of the operating company computer 101 displays the cumulative usage history data received from the article management server 104 on the screen.

(v) SQ307 and SQ308
When the person in charge A of the leasing/rental company uses the browser unit 112 to send a request to the item management server 104 to refer to the service company's usage history of the item currently being leased/rented, the lease/rental of the item management server 104 is sent. The company-side HTTP display/input unit 114 acquires the usage history data of the target article from the database 105, and uses a communication device (not shown) to transmit the usage history reference request to the lease/rental company computer 102. do. The browser section 112 of the lease/rental company computer 102 displays the usage history data received from the article management server 104 on the screen. Note that SQ307 and SQ308 are not sequences that are always executed, but are executed in response to requests from operating companies.

(vi) SQ309
In response to the usage history reference request from the leasing/rental company, the leasing/rental company side HTTP display/input unit 114 of the article management server 104 further transmits the lease to the service business company that requested the usage history reference in SQ307. / Acquire from the database 105 a cumulative usage history including the current and past (use history of leased/rented items by the target service company and previous service companies) regarding the rented item, and lease/ It is transmitted to the computer 102 of the rental company. The browser unit 112 of the lease/rental company computer 102 displays on the screen the accumulated usage history data received from the article management server.

<Sequence of Processing Executed from User's Service Contract Period Expiration to Contract Renewal>
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a sequence example of processing executed from expiration of the service user's service contract period to renewal of the contract according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 4, as in FIG. 2, the sequence is indicated by "SQ".

(i) SQ401
The service user side HTTP display/input unit 119 of the article management server 104 transmits a service period expiration notification to the service user computer 103 a predetermined period before the expiration of the article rental contract. Upon receiving the service period expiration notification, the browser unit 113 displays the service period expiration notification (year, month, day, and day when the service period expires) and a GUI for service update (service update GUIUI) on the screen. indicate.

(ii) SQ402
When the service user views the service update GUI displayed on the screen of the service user computer 103 and enters a request for service update (for example, clicks the service update button on the GUI), the browser unit 113 accesses the communication device ( (not shown) to send a service update request to the item management server 104 .

(iii) SQ403
When the article management server 104 receives the service update request, the service user side HTTP display/input unit 119 creates a recommended contract plan ( Create any plan that is more profitable than the current contract) and send it to the service user computer 103 using a communication device (not shown). The details of the recommended contract plan creation process will be described later (see FIG. 8).

(iv) SQ404
When the service user computer 103 receives the recommended plan information from the product management server 104, the browser unit 113 displays the recommended plan on the GUI. Then, when the user selects whether to accept the recommended plan or the previous (current) service contract plan (for example, either one can be selected on the GUI), the browser unit 113 performs communication A device (not shown) is used to transmit the service contract information to be renewed to the item management server 104 . It should be noted that the service user does not have to select either the recommended plan or the current service contract plan, and it is possible to select neither. At this time, the service contract is not renewed (the service contract is terminated due to expiration of the term).

<Sequence of Processing Executed from Service Cancellation (Termination of Contract) by User to End of Lease/Rental>
FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a sequence example of processing executed from user's service cancellation (contract termination) to lease/rental termination according to the present embodiment. In FIG. 5, as in FIG. 2, the sequence is indicated by "SQ".

(i) SQ501
When the service user wants to cancel the service or does not renew the service contract due to the expiration of the contract period, the browser part 113 displays a contract termination GUI on the screen in response to the instruction to start the contract termination procedure. The browser unit 113 then notifies the article management server 104 of the service user's intention to terminate the contract.

(ii) SQ502
The service user actually returns the lent item to the service business company (by mail, home delivery, or by bringing the item).

(iii) SQ503
The service company maintains the returned articles. At this time, data on the contents and results of the maintenance inspection may be stored in a storage device (not shown) of the service company computer 101 .

(iv) SQ504
The browser unit 111 of the service company computer 101, in response to the maintenance history registration instruction input by the person in charge B, acquires data on the details and results of the maintenance inspection from a storage device (not shown), and registers the maintenance history. to the article management server 104 together with the request for The HTTP display/input unit 118 on the service company side of the article management server 104 stores the received content and result data of the maintenance inspection in the database 105 . If maintenance history data is stored in the article 106 , the maintenance history data may be transmitted from the article 106 to the article management server 104 .

(v) SQ505
The browser section 112 of the lease/rental company computer 102 transmits a maintenance history reference request to the article management server 104 in response to the input instruction of the person in charge A of the lease/rental company.

(vi) SQ506
The leasing/rental company side HTTP display/input unit 114 of the article management server 104 responds to the maintenance history reference request, acquires maintenance history data relating to the article from the database 105, and converts it into a predetermined format for lease/rental. Send to company computer 102 .

(vii) SQ507
When the HTTP display/input unit 118 on the service company side of the article management server 104 receives a service cancellation (contract termination) notice from the service user and maintenance history registration from the service company, the article is sent to the leasing/rental company. A request for returning the item (item lease/rental return request) is sent to the service business company computer 101 .

(viii) SQ508
When the browser unit 111 of the service company computer 101 receives the item lease/rental return request, it displays the requested content (item related information such as item ID, item name, return destination, etc.) on the screen. The person in charge B of the service business company who sees it returns the item to the leasing/rental company (item leasing/rental return: mailing, home delivery, return by bringing the item, etc.).

<Sequence of purchase recommendation presentation processing for leasing/rental company or service business company>
FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a sequence example of purchase recommendation presentation processing for a leasing/rental company or a service business company according to this embodiment. In FIG. 6, as in FIG. 2, the sequence is indicated by "SQ".

(i) SQ601
A person in charge A of the leasing/rental company operates the leasing/rental company computer 102 and uses the browser unit 112 to transmit a reference request for recommended purchase item recommendation information introducing items to be purchased to the item management server 104. .

(ii) SQ602
When the article management server 104 receives a reference request for purchase recommended article recommendation information from the lease/rental company computer 102, the lease/rental company side HTTP display/input unit 114 displays a purchase recommendation suitable for the target lease/rental company. Generate product information, or if it has already been generated, obtain information on the corresponding recommended purchase product from the database 105 and send it to the leasing/rental company computer 102 using a communication device (not shown). do. When the leasing/rental company computer 102 receives the information on the recommended purchase item, the browser section 112 displays the received information on the recommended purchase item on the screen. Then, the person in charge A can determine the goods to be purchased in the future by referring to the recommended purchase goods.

(iii) SQ603
Person in charge B of the service company operates the service company computer 101 and uses the browser unit 111 to send a reference request to the item management server 104 for recommended lease/rental item recommendation information introducing items to be leased/rented. Send.

(iv) SQ604
When the article management server 104 receives a reference request for recommended lease/rental article recommendation information from the service business company computer 101, the HTTP display/input unit 118 on the service business company side displays recommended lease/rental articles suitable for the target service business company. or, if it has already been generated, acquires the information on the corresponding lease/rental recommended item from the database 105 and transmits it to the service business company computer 101 using a communication device (not shown). . When the service company computer 101 receives the information on the recommended lease/rental item, the browser unit 111 displays the received information on the recommended lease/rental item on the screen. Then, the person in charge B can determine the goods to be purchased in the future by referring to the lease/rental recommended goods.

<Contents of database 105 (example)>
FIG. 7 is a diagram showing the contents (example) of the database 105 managed by the article management server 104 according to this embodiment.

(i) Configuration Example of Article Master Database FIG. 7A is a diagram showing a configuration example of the article master database 1051. As shown in FIG. The item information included in the item master database 1051 is information registered in the database 105 by the item registration sequence (SQ201) when the leasing/rental company purchases new items.

The article master database 1051 contains an ID (identification information) 701 for uniquely identifying and specifying an article, an article name 702 indicating the name of the article to be registered, a purchase price 703 indicating the purchase price of the article, and The product features 704, which are information on the functions and uses of the product, are included as configuration items. Note that the article master database 1051 may include other information (for example, information such as lease/rental contract unit price, delivery or return method, etc.).

(ii) Configuration Example of Article Information Database FIG. 7B is a diagram showing a configuration example of the article information database 1052. As shown in FIG. The article information database 1052 contains an ID (identification information) 701 for uniquely identifying and specifying an article, an article name 702, a leasing/rental company 710 that owns the article, and a specification indicating when the article was purchased. The entry time 711, the service business company 712 to which the item is leased/rented, the lease/rental period 713, the service user 714 to whom the service business company lent the item, the service contract period 715, and the service user's A usage history 716 indicating a usage history of the item and a maintenance history 717 of the item are included as configuration items.

The information of the service business company 712 and the lease/rental period 713 is stored at the time when the target article is actually leased/rented from the lease/rental company to the service business company (after the lease/rental contract is concluded). Information on the service user 714 and the service contract period 715 is stored at the time when the target article is actually lent to the service user from the service business company (after the service contract is concluded). Note that the service company 712 and the service user 714 may include information not only on the service company and the service user currently under contract, but also on the service company and the service user who have made a contract in the past.

The usage history 716 includes not only the current service user, but also the usage history by all or part of the past service users, and the service user who is currently contracting (using) is appropriately (periodically) using the target product. or sequentially) updated information (information stored by the sequence (SQ301) for automatically transmitting the usage history from the article). The maintenance and inspection history is information registered in the maintenance history registration sequence (SQ504) performed by the service company, and information related to all or part of past maintenance (maintenance date and time, repaired location, repair cost, etc.). including.

<Process of presenting the recommended contract plan to the service user>
FIG. 8 is a flow chart for explaining the details of the process (SQ403) for presenting the recommended contract plan from the article management server 104 to the service user computer 103. As shown in FIG. This processing is executed when the article management server 104 receives a service update request from the service user computer 103 .

(i) Step 801
Person in charge B of the service company uses browser section 111 of service company computer 101 to transmit a service contract update request to article management server 104 .

(ii) step 802
When the product management server 104 receives a service contract update request from the service company computer 101, the contract plan recommendation processing unit 117 acquires the information of the usage history 716 included in the product information database 1052 (see FIG. 7B), The user calculates the usage amount of the target article during the period of the previous contract (expired/latest expired contract).

(iii) Step 803
The contract plan recommendation processing unit 117 acquires from the database 105 all the contract plan information provided by the service business company for the service (goods) for which the service contract renewal request has been made. Steps 804 to 806 are repeatedly executed for all contract plans.

(iv) Step 804
The contract plan recommendation processing unit 117 selects one of the contract plans extracted in step 803, and selects a new contract based on the amount of usage of the service user during the previous contract period (expired/expired latest contract period). Calculate the excess usage fee (excess fee) from the basic fee when the plan (selected contract plan) is applied.

(v) Step 805
The contract plan recommendation processing unit 117 calculates the expected charge for the new contract plan from the basic charge of the new contract plan and the excess charge calculated in step 804 .

(vi) step 806
The contract plan recommendation processing unit 117 determines whether the expected fee for the new contract plan is the lowest price. If the expected fee is the lowest price (Yes in step 805), the process proceeds to step 806. On the other hand, if the expected fee is not the lowest price (No in step 805), the next contract plan is selected, and the process proceeds to step 804. If all the new contract plans become more expensive than the previous (most recent) contract plan (in step 805, if the judgment for all the new contract plans is No),

(vii) Step 807
The contract plan recommendation processing unit 117 holds a new contract plan (information specifying the new contract plan such as contract plan ID and contract plan details) that provides the lowest price (provisional price) in step 806 .

(viii) Step 808
The contract plan recommendation processing unit 117 determines the contract plan that is finally determined to provide the lowest price as the recommended contract plan, and uses the service user side HTTP display/input unit 119 and communication device (not shown) to make the recommendation. Send the contract plan to the service user computer 103 . The service user computer 103 that has received the recommended contract plan uses the browser unit 113 to display the contents of the recommended contract plan on the screen.

<Processing of presenting recommended purchase items to a lease rental company or service business company>
FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining the process of presenting recommended lease/rental items from item management server 104 to service business company computer 101 (SQ603) or presenting recommended purchase items to lease/rental company computer 102 (SQ602). It is a flow chart.

(i) Step 901
In response to an instruction to send a recommendation information reference request input by the person in charge A of the leasing/rental company or the person in charge B of the service business company, the browser unit 112 of the lease/rental company computer 102 or the browser of the service business company computer 101 The unit 111 transmits a recommendation reference request (purchased article recommendation reference request from the leasing/rental company computer 102, lease/rental article recommendation reference request from the service business company computer 101) to the article management server 104 (SQ601 or SQ603).

(ii) step 902
When the article management server 104 receives the recommendation reference request, the article purchase recommendation processing unit 116 refers to the database 105 and acquires data on the number of new rentals in the same month in the past.

(iii) Step 903
The merchandise purchase recommendation processing unit 116 compares the number of new rentals last year and the number of new rentals the year before last, and generates data indicating the increase/decrease trend of the number of new rentals. Further, it is also possible to go back in time and grasp the increase/decrease trend over a period of several years.

(iv) Step 904
The product purchase recommendation processing unit 116 calculates the predicted number of future new rentals from the number of new rentals in the same month in the past and the increase/decrease trend in the number of new rentals acquired in step 903 (for example, using linear prediction).

(v) Step 905
The article purchase recommendation processing unit 116 acquires information on the current number of articles in stock from the database 105 (article master database 1051).

(vi) Step 906
The product purchase recommendation processing unit 116 acquires data on the number of items scheduled to be returned in the same month (this month) from the product information database 1052, checks the product maintenance history of the product, and calculates the number of items that can be rented again. . For example, the number of items that can be rented again can be calculated by calculating the number of items that cannot be rented again by calculating the number of items currently in stock + the number of items scheduled to be returned - the number of items that cannot be rented again.

(vii) Step 907
The product purchase recommendation processing unit 116 determines whether the evaluation value≧0, where the evaluation value is (predicted number of newly rented items−(number of items in stock+number of items that can be rented again)). If the evaluation value is 0 or more (Yes in step 907), the process proceeds to step 908. On the other hand, if the evaluation value is a negative value (No in step 907), the process ends.

(viii) Step 908
The product purchase recommendation processing unit 116 searches the product master database 1051 for products having similar characteristics, and grasps the type and number of each of the products that are in short supply because they are actually rented. If there are multiple types of similar items, the processing from step 909 to step 913 below is repeated for each type of similar item. For example, if there are three types of similar articles, the processing from step 909 to step 913 is repeated three times.

(ix) Step 909
The product purchase recommendation processing unit 116 selects a first similar product and determines whether the purchase price or lease/rental cost of the similar product is lower than that of the missing product. If the similar item is cheaper (Yes at step 909), the process moves to step 910; On the other hand, if the similar item is more expensive (No in step 909), the process proceeds to step 911.

(x) Step 910
The product purchase recommendation processing unit 116 adds the similar product to the list (recommended purchase product list or recommended lease/rental product list) as a recommended purchase product or recommended lease/rental product.

(xi) step 911
The product purchase recommendation processing unit 116 acquires the product maintenance history data of the similar product from the product information database 1052, and calculates the cost per maintenance and the maintenance interval.

(xii) step 912
The product purchase recommendation processing unit 116 determines whether the similar product has a lower maintenance cost per unit period than the shortage product. Here, the maintenance cost can be calculated by calculating the maintenance cost/regular maintenance period. If the similar product is cheaper in maintenance cost per unit period (Yes in step 912 ), the process proceeds to step 913 . On the other hand, if the similar product is more expensive in terms of maintenance cost per unit period (No in step 913), the process proceeds to step 909 for the next similar product.

(xiii) Step 913
The product purchase recommendation processing unit 116 adds the similar product to the list as a recommended purchase product or a recommended lease/rental product.

(xiv) step 914
The product purchase recommendation processing unit 116 uses a communication device (not shown) to transmit the recommended purchase product list generated in step 910 or step 913 to the leasing/rental company computer 102 or the service business company computer 101. . When the leasing/rental company computer 102 or the service business company computer 101 receives the list of recommended items to purchase from the item management server 104, the browser unit 111 or 112 displays the corresponding list on the display screen of the computer 101 or 102. indicate.

<Summary>
(i) Examples of information that can be provided to each person from the article management server 104 Even if the information is the same, the range of necessary information varies depending on the standpoint. Therefore, in this embodiment, information is centrally managed, and appropriate information is provided according to each standpoint (lease/rental company's standpoint, service business company's standpoint, service user's standpoint).

(Information that can be provided to leasing/rental companies)
For example, if the article is an automobile, if the article management server 104 can acquire information such as the cumulative travel distance and travel time since the leasing/rental company acquired the article, the leasing/rental company can It becomes easier to schedule maintenance for the item. In addition, the item management server 104 can provide the leasing/rental company with data that can be used for analysis and measurement to calculate the profit obtained from the item. The article management server 104 can also provide the leasing/rental company with information indicating how much profit can be obtained by leasing/renting the articles currently owned by the same company to which service business company. can.

(Information that can be provided to service companies)
The article management server 104 provides information (numerical value) on how long the service business company has used an article (for example, an automobile) from a leasing/rental company (usage history). Companies will be able to plan maintenance and estimate payments to leasing/rental companies. In addition, since the service business company lends the goods to the service user, by acquiring information such as the amount of use by the service user from the goods management server 104, it is possible to determine how much profit the service user will receive. You will be able to know if you can get it, and you will be able to make a future business plan based on that.

(Information that can be provided to service users)
The article management server 104 can provide the service user with numerical information indicating the usage amount of the loaned article. The end user can estimate the fee to be paid to the operating company from this figure, and can also calculate usage estimates (future usage time, usage frequency, usage distance, etc.) to keep the cost within a predetermined value. .

(ii) The article management server manages information on articles provided to service users as a predetermined service, and provides processed information ( various recommendation information). The article provided (for example, lent) to the service user by the predetermined service includes a sensor that detects information related to the use of the article and a transmission unit that transmits the information detected by the sensor. A usage history (use start/end date and time, usage time, usage distance (for vehicles), usage frequency, etc.) is sent to the server as usage-related information. The goods management server, through a network, provides goods, a computer (first computer) of a leasing/rental company that leases/rents the goods to a service business company, leases/rents goods from the leasing/rental company, and sends goods to users. It communicates with a computer (second computer) of a service business company that provides services related to and a user's computer (third computer). The article management server receives usage-related information of the article transmitted from the article in a database that registers and manages information on multiple types of articles, and stores the information in the database. In addition, the goods management server grasps the number of rentals of the target goods from the information registered in the database, and based on the information of the number of rentals of the target goods, information on recommended goods to be purchased by the leasing/rental company, and information on the service business. Generate information on company lease/rental recommendations. Then, in response to a reference request for recommendation information on goods received from the first computer or the second computer, the goods management server transmits information on the recommended goods to be purchased to the first computer and lease information to the second computer. / Send information on recommended rental items. In this way, information from leasing/rental companies, information from service business companies, usage-related information from goods (including usage history), and information from service users are centrally managed, It is possible to generate and provide different processed information from different standpoints from the information (not available).

When the predicted number of newly rented items calculated based on the increase/decrease trend of the number of items rented from the data of the number of items lent out is equal to or greater than the sum of the number of items that can be rented again and the number of items in stock, the item management server obtains from a database information on at least one type of similar article having characteristics similar to those of the target article, and at least one Try to include similar products of the type in the list of recommended products. By doing so, it is possible to recommend products that follow market trends (popularity trends, etc.) and are less expensive. In addition, the article management server acquires information on maintenance costs and maintenance intervals of the target article and at least one type of similar article from the database, and if at least one type of similar article has a lower maintenance cost per unit period include at least one similar product in the recommended product list. As a result, it becomes possible to recommend an article by considering not only the price of the article but also the maintenance cost of the article.

Furthermore, when the service contract for goods between the service user and the service business company is terminated, the goods management server responds to a service contract update request from the service user, and provides a plurality of contracts that can be provided for the services of the terminated service contract. The plans are acquired from the database, and the contract plan showing the lowest price among the plurality of contract plans is provided to the service user as a recommended plan. This allows service users to learn more favorable terms and conditions.

(iii) The functions of the present embodiment can also be realized by software program code. In this case, a storage medium recording the program code is provided to the system or device, and the computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or device reads the program code stored in the storage medium. In this case, the program code itself read from the storage medium implements the functions of the above-described embodiments, and the program code itself and the storage medium storing it constitute the present disclosure. Storage media for supplying such program code include, for example, flexible disks, CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, hard disks, optical disks, magneto-optical disks, CD-Rs, magnetic tapes, non-volatile memory cards, and ROMs. etc. are used.

Also, based on the instructions of the program code, the OS (operating system) running on the computer performs part or all of the actual processing, and the processing implements the functions of the above-described embodiments. may Furthermore, after the program code read from the storage medium is written in the memory of the computer, the CPU of the computer performs part or all of the actual processing based on the instructions of the program code. may implement the functions of the above-described embodiment.

Furthermore, by distributing the program code of the software that realizes the functions of the embodiment via a network, it can be transferred to storage means such as the hard disk and memory of the system or device, or storage media such as CD-RW and CD-R. , and the computer (or CPU or MPU) of the system or device may read and execute the program code stored in the storage means or the storage medium at the time of use.

Finally, the processes and techniques described herein are not inherently related to any particular apparatus and can be implemented by any suitable combination of components. Moreover, various types of general-purpose devices can be used in the present embodiment. Also, various techniques can be formed by appropriately combining a plurality of constituent elements disclosed in the embodiments. For example, some constituent elements may be deleted from all the constituent elements shown in the embodiments, or different constituent elements may be combined as appropriate. Although this disclosure has been described with reference to specific examples, these are intended in all respects to be merely illustrative of the techniques of this disclosure and not limiting. Those skilled in the art will be able to identify numerous combinations of hardware, software, and firmware suitable for implementing the present disclosure. For example, the described software can be implemented in a wide variety of programming or scripting languages, such as assembler, C/C++, perl, Shell, PHP, Java, and the like.

Furthermore, in the above-described embodiments, the control lines and information lines are those considered necessary for explanation, and not all the control lines and information lines are necessarily shown on the product. All configurations may be interconnected.

10 Item Information Management System 101 Service Business Company Computer 102 Lease/Rental Company Computer 103 Service User Computer 104 Item Management Server 105 Database 106 Item 107 Networks 111, 112, 113 Browser Part 114 Lease/Rental Company Side HTTP Display/Input Part 115 Usage History receiving unit 116 Goods purchase recommendation processing unit 117 Contract plan recommendation processing unit 118 Service business company side HTTP display/input unit 119 Service user side HTTP display/input unit 120 Usage history transmission unit 121 Usage history measurement unit

Claims (6)

An article management server that manages information on articles provided to users as a predetermined service and provides processing information generated based on the article information to leasing/rental companies, service business companies, and users. ,
An article that includes a sensor that detects information related to the use of the article and a transmission unit that transmits the information detected by the sensor, and a leasing/rental company that owns the article and leases/rents the article to a service business company a first computer of the above, a second computer of a service business company that leases/rents the goods from the leasing/rental company and provides services related to the goods to the user, and a communication unit that communicates with the third computer of the user ,
a processor that generates the processing information based on information related to the use of the item acquired from the item and data on the rental status of the item;
The information related to the use of the item includes information on the use history of the item,
The processor
a process of receiving information related to the use of the article transmitted from the article, and storing information on multiple types of articles in a database for registration and management;
A process of grasping the number of rentals of the target article from the information registered in the database;
a process of generating information on the recommended purchase goods of the leasing/rental company and information on the leasing/rental recommended goods of the service business company based on the information on the number of rentals of the target goods;
In response to a reference request for recommended information on the item received from the first computer or the second computer, information on recommended items to purchase is transmitted to the first computer via the communication unit, and the second a process of transmitting information on recommended items for lease/rental to a computer;
, the goods management server. In claim 1,
The processor
If the predicted number of new rentals calculated based on the trend of increase and decrease in the number of rentals from the data of the number of rentals of the target goods is greater than or equal to the sum of the number of the target goods that can be re-lent and the inventory of the target goods, obtaining information from the database of at least one type of similar item having characteristics similar to those of the target item;
a process of including the at least one type of similar item in a list of recommended items if the purchase price or lease/rental cost of the at least one type of similar item is lower than the target item;
, the goods management server. In claim 2,
The processor obtains information on maintenance costs and maintenance intervals of the target article and the at least one type of similar article from the database, and the at least one type of similar article has a lower maintenance cost per unit period. an item management server that executes processing for including the at least one type of similar item in the recommended item list if the case is the case. In any one of claims 1 to 3,
The processor further
a process of receiving from the second computer the maintenance information of the specific article leased/rented by the leasing/rental company to the service business company and registering it in the database;
obtaining the maintenance information of the specific product from the database in response to the maintenance history reference request of the specific product received from the first computer, generating maintenance history information, and transmitting the maintenance history information to the first computer; and the process of sending to
, the goods management server. In claim 1,
The processor is responsive to a service contract renewal request received from the third computer upon termination of the service contract for the goods between the user and the service provider to provide services related to the terminated service contract. An article management server that acquires a plurality of contract plans from the database and transmits a contract plan showing the lowest price among the plurality of contract plans as a recommended plan to the third computer. An article management method for managing information on an article provided to a user as a predetermined service, and providing processing information generated based on the information on the article to a leasing/rental company, a service business company, and the user. ,
An item management server receives item usage-related information including usage history information of the item from an item that includes a sensor that detects information related to the use of the item and a transmission unit that transmits the information detected by the sensor. and storing information on multiple types of goods in a database for registration and management;
the article management server receiving information on an article to be leased/rented from a first computer of a leasing/rental company that leases/rents the article to a service business company, and registers the information in the database;
The article management server leases/rents the article from the leasing/rental company, and a plurality of contract plans for services that can be provided to the user from a second computer of a service business company that provides the user with services related to the article. receiving and registering in the database the information of
the article management server grasping the number of rentals of the target article from the information registered in the database;
The article management server generates information on recommended purchase articles from the leasing/rental company and information on recommended leasing/rental articles from the service business company based on the information on the number of rentals of the target articles;
The article management server, in response to a reference request for recommendation information on the article received from the first computer or the second computer, transmits information on recommended articles to purchase to the first computer, and to send information on recommended items for lease/rental to
Goods management method, including;

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