JP2022190174A - Sanitary item providing device, method, program, and sanitary item provision management server - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a sanitary item providing device for providing a sanitary item, which can prevent the unlimited provision of the sanitary item so as to surely provide a user who desires to use the sanitary item with the sanitary item.

SOLUTION: A sanitary item providing device includes: a dispenser for holding and providing sanitary items; an inventory management section for managing the inventory status of the sanitary items held in the dispenser; a user management section for managing the provision history of the sanitary items provided from the dispenser to a user; a determination section for determining whether or not it is acceptable to provide a sanitary item to the user on the basis of the provision history according to a provision request from the user requesting provision of the sanitary item; and a discharge permitting section for permitting the dispenser to discharge the held sanitary item if the inventory status managed by the inventory management section indicates the sanitary item is in stock when the determination section determines that provision is acceptable.

SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

COPYRIGHT: (C)2023,JPO&INPIT

Description

The present invention relates to a sanitary product provision device, method, program, and sanitary product provision management server for providing sanitary products from a dispenser provided in, for example, a restroom.

Women's social advancement has greatly changed women's lifestyles, and there are also adverse effects caused by this. One of them is a problem related to menstruation, which is a physical phenomenon peculiar to women.

During menstruation, women use sanitary products such as napkins and tampons to prevent leakage of menstrual blood. Therefore, women generally carry these sanitary products with them as their period approaches.

The amount of menstrual blood varies from day to day, and if a sanitary product with menstrual blood is left for a long period of time, it may cause bacteria to grow, and may cause stuffiness and odor. Therefore, during the menstrual period, it is usually necessary to replace the sanitary product once every 2 to 3 hours.

Therefore, for example, in restaurants and hotels, for female customers who do not have sanitary products because their menstruation has come earlier than planned, they are placed in a basket in the women's restroom (for example, next to the washbasin). Some places have sanitary products. Those who wish can freely take out sanitary products from the basket and use them.

This is ideal, but the good thing is that you can take it out at will, even if you don't need it. In extreme cases, a person who is not menstruating can take it all away. This is a regrettable act that spoils the goodwill of the person who placed the item (for example, a restaurant or hotel), and may lead to the ironic result that even if there are people who actually want to use it, they cannot use it. .

On the other hand, some people hesitate to use sanitary napkins that are simply placed in a basket because they can be touched by anyone. Especially in the current corona crisis, it is very uneasy to touch something that you don't know who touched it.

On the other hand, as a means of providing sanitary products to women who need them while dispelling such anxiety, there is a dispenser containing sanitary products as described in Non-Patent Document 1.

In fact, as part of welfare programs, such dispensers are installed in private rooms in women's restrooms so that female employees who do not have sanitary products because their periods come earlier than planned can freely use sanitary products. Some companies are doing so.

As a result, the sanitary napkins are normally stored inside the dispenser, and when the sanitary napkins are taken out, they are discharged one by one from the inside, so that the sanitary napkins are not touched by an unspecified number of people. . Therefore, the user can use the sanitary product without any discomfort.

https://www.goauntflow.com/ (searched on October 15, 2020) https://apps.apple.com/jp/app/clue/id657189652 (searched on November 16, 2020)

However, from this type of dispenser, sanitary products are discharged one by one by the user's operation, but there is no limit to the number of sanitary products. Therefore, by repeating the operation many times, any number of sanitary products can be taken out.

Moreover, the dispenser is not equipped with a communication function or the like, and is not managed from the outside.

In this extreme case, a person who is not menstruating can take out all sanitary products stored in the dispenser and take them home, so it cannot be said that the above-mentioned problem can be solved.

In addition, as described above, conventional dispensers are not equipped with a communication function, so the inventory status is not managed in real time. , on demand, or in response to user requests for replenishment.

Therefore, even if the dispenser runs out of sanitary napkins, it takes a considerable amount of time to replenish the inventory. In addition, even if the stock is replenished, there is a risk that the stock will soon run out due to the above-mentioned unscrupulous acts of a person, and the lack of stock will become the norm. This could lead to a vicious cycle in which even if there are people who actually need sanitary products in an emergency, they will not be able to use them because they are out of stock.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and provides a sanitary product capable of preventing unlimited supply of sanitary products so as to reliably provide sanitary products to users who desire to use them. To provide a sanitary product provision device, method, program, and sanitary product provision management server for

In order to achieve the above objects, the present invention takes the following measures.

That is, the invention of claim 1 comprises a dispenser that holds and provides sanitary products, an inventory management unit that manages the inventory status of the sanitary products held in the dispenser, and a supply system in which the sanitary products are provided from the dispenser to the user. A user management unit that manages history, a determination unit that determines whether sanitary products can be provided to the user based on the supply history in response to a provision request from a user requesting the provision of sanitary products, and provision by the determination unit. a discharge permitting unit that permits the dispenser to discharge the sanitary napkin held therein if the inventory status managed by the inventory management unit indicates that the sanitary napkin is in stock when determined to be acceptable, A sanitary product delivery device.

According to the invention of claim 2, there are a plurality of dispensers, each of which is installed at a different location, and the inventory management unit, the user management unit, the determination unit, and the discharge permission unit are provided in common for the plurality of dispensers. Item 2. A sanitary product providing device according to Item 1.

The invention according to claim 3 is the sanitary product providing device according to claim 2, wherein the plurality of dispensers are installed in individual toilet rooms.

In the invention of claim 4, the supply request is transmitted from the user terminal of the user and includes user identification information that identifies the user and dispenser identification information that identifies the dispenser from which the user is requesting the supply of sanitary products, The user is identified based on the user identification information included in the provision request transmitted from the user terminal, and the dispenser requested by the user to provide sanitary products is identified based on the dispenser identification information included in the provision request. 4. A sanitary product delivery device according to claim 2 or 3, further comprising an identification part.

The invention of claim 5 is provided in each of the plurality of dispensers, further comprising a first transmission unit that transmits the dispenser identification information of the corresponding dispenser to the user terminal so that it can be included in the provision request. 2. The sanitary product delivery device according to .

The invention of claim 6 is provided in each of the plurality of dispensers, and further includes an encryption unit that encrypts the dispenser identification information before the dispenser identification information is transmitted by the first transmission unit. 10 is a sanitary product delivery device as described.

According to a seventh aspect of the present invention, the dispenser includes a storage section for storing sanitary products, and a discharge signal including dispenser identification information when the sanitary products stored in the storage section are discharged in response to discharge permission from the discharge permission section. and a second transmission unit for transmitting the discharge signal generated by the discharge signal generation unit, and the user management unit, based on the dispenser identification information included in the transmitted discharge signal The inventory management unit identifies the dispenser that has transmitted the discharge signal, and the inventory management unit updates the discharge history of the sanitary products for each of the plurality of dispensers based on the dispenser identification result by the user management unit. 7. The sanitary product delivery device according to any one of claims 4 to 6, which manages inventory status.

The invention of claim 8 is the sanitary product providing device according to any one of claims 4 to 7, wherein the user management unit manages the provision history for each user.

In the ninth aspect of the invention, the determination unit determines whether or not the user is in menstruation based on the user's provision history, and determines that the provision is possible when it is determined that the user is in menstruation. 9. A sanitary product delivery device according to claim 8.

According to the invention of claim 10, the determination unit determines whether or not the user is in menstruation based on the user's provision history, and further determines that the user is in menstruation. 9. The sanitary product providing device according to claim 8, which determines that the sanitary product can be provided when a predetermined time or more has passed since the most recent provision time of the sanitary product based on.

According to the invention of claim 11, the determination unit determines whether or not the user is in menstruation based on the user's provision history, and if it is determined that the user is in menstruation, the user's provision history 9. The sanitary product providing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the sanitary product providing device determines that the sanitary product can be provided when the number of sanitary products provided to the user during the menstrual period does not reach a predetermined number based on the above.

According to the invention of claim 12, the determination unit determines whether or not the user is in the menstrual period based on the menstrual cycle transmitted from the user terminal instead of the user's provision history. The sanitary product providing device according to any one of the above.

According to the invention of claim 13, the dispenser further comprises a display screen displaying an advertisement, and the sanitary napkin is purchased with income obtained from the advertisement displayed from the display screen. 2. A sanitary product delivery device according to claim 1.

According to a fourteenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a server for managing the provision of sanitary products, comprising: an inventory management unit for managing the inventory status of sanitary products stored in dispensers; A user management unit that manages history, a determination unit that determines whether sanitary products can be provided to the user based on the supply history in response to a provision request from a user requesting the provision of sanitary products, and provision by the determination unit. a discharge permitting unit that permits the dispenser to discharge the stored sanitary napkin if the inventory status managed by the inventory management unit indicates that the sanitary napkin is in stock when it is determined to be acceptable, It is a sanitary product provision management server.

According to a fifteenth aspect of the present invention, a computer comprises an inventory management unit for managing the inventory status of sanitary products stored in a dispenser, a user management unit for managing the supply history of sanitary products provided from the dispenser to the user, and a sanitary product. In response to a provision request from a user requesting the provision of a sanitary product, the determination unit determines whether or not the sanitary product can be provided to the user based on the provision history, and if the determination unit determines that the sanitary product can be provided, the inventory management unit manages This is a program for causing the dispenser to function as a discharge permitting unit that permits the discharge of the sanitary napkins stored therein if the received inventory status indicates that the sanitary napkins are in stock.

The invention of claim 16 comprises a dispenser that stores sanitary products and a server that manages the dispenser. When the server receives a request for provision of sanitary products from a user requesting provision of sanitary products, the server responds to the request for provision of sanitary products. is a sanitary product providing device that judges whether or not it is possible to provide sanitary products, and when it is determined that it is possible to provide sanitary products, it sends a permission signal to the dispenser to permit discharge of the sanitary products, and the dispenser discharges the sanitary products in response to the permission signal. .

According to a seventeenth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a sanitary product providing method implemented by a dispenser that stores sanitary products and a server that manages the dispenser, wherein the server receives a provision request from a user requesting provision of sanitary products. In response to the provision request, it is determined whether or not the sanitary product can be provided, and if it is determined that the sanitary product can be provided, a permission signal is sent to the dispenser to permit discharge of the sanitary product, and the dispenser dispenses the sanitary product in response to the permission signal. Discharging sanitary product providing method.

According to the apparatus, method, program, and management server for providing sanitary products of the present invention, unlimited provision of sanitary products can be prevented, so sanitary products can be reliably provided to users who wish to use them. It becomes possible to

FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a network environment for realizing a sanitary product providing device and method according to a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an outline view showing a configuration example of a dispenser installed in a private room of a toilet. FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the internal structure of the dispenser. FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an electronic circuit configuration example of the dispenser in the first embodiment. FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an electronic circuit configuration example of the sanitary product provision management server according to the first embodiment. FIG. 6 is a data configuration diagram showing an example of a dispenser installation location data table included in the dispenser installation location database. FIG. 7 is a data configuration diagram showing an example of a user-provided history data table included in the user-provided history database. FIG. 8 is a data configuration diagram showing an example of an inventory status data table included in the inventory status database. FIG. 9 is a processing flow diagram illustrating an operation example of the sanitary product delivery device and method according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 10A is a flowchart (1/3) illustrating an operation example of the sanitary product delivery device and method according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 10B is a flow chart (2/3) illustrating an operation example of the sanitary product delivery device and method according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 10C is a flow chart (3/3) illustrating an operation example of the sanitary product delivery device and method according to the first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing the flow of inventory replenishment operation. FIG. 12 is a front view showing an example of a dispenser in which an inventory sensor is arranged; FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing an example electronic circuit configuration of a dispenser when an inventory sensor is applied. FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing an electronic circuit configuration example of a sanitary product provision management server according to the second embodiment. FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing an electronic circuit configuration example of a dispenser according to the second embodiment. FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing an electronic circuit configuration example of a sanitary product provision management server according to the third embodiment. FIG. 17 is a block diagram showing an electronic circuit configuration example of a dispenser according to the second embodiment.

Each embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(First embodiment)
FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram showing an example of a network environment for realizing a sanitary product providing device and method according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the sanitary product provision device 1 is arranged in a sanitary product provision management server 10 connected to a communication network 200 such as the Internet, and in each private room of a restroom, for example, a women’s restroom. It is implemented by a plurality of dispensers 60 . 1, dispensers 60-1, 60-2, . . . 60-n (n is an integer of 3 or more) are illustrated as the plurality of dispensers 60. The present invention is established even if there are one or two.

Note that the network environment illustrated in FIG. 1 may include a LAN such as Ethernet (registered trademark), or a WAN in which multiple LANs are connected via a public line or a dedicated line. In the case of LAN, it is composed of a large number of subnets via routers as required. Also, in the case of WAN, a firewall or the like is appropriately provided for connection to a public line, but illustration and detailed description thereof are omitted here.

FIG. 2 is an outline view showing a configuration example of a dispenser installed in a private room of a toilet.

A dispenser 60 is thus installed in each compartment of the women's restroom. Dispenser identification information (hereinafter referred to as "dispenser ID") is assigned in advance to each dispenser 60 as information specific to the dispenser, and is stored in a built-in storage device (storage device 90 described later).

FIG. 3 is a conceptual diagram for explaining the internal structure of the dispenser.

The dispenser 60 holds therein sanitary products S such as napkins and tampons, for example, and in response to a provision request from a user via a user terminal 100 such as a user's smart phone, the sanitary product provision management server 10 discharges one of the sanitary products S that it is holding when there is permission from .

Normally, the front door 64 is locked 65 as shown in FIG. The user can obtain the sanitary product S that has fallen into the outlet 62 . In order to prevent the sanitary napkin S stored inside from being stolen, the dispenser 60 is provided with an anti-theft mechanism (not shown) that prevents access to the inside of the dispenser 60 through the outlet 62 .

When maintaining the dispenser 60 or replenishing the stock of sanitary products S, the lock 65 is unlocked as shown in FIG. 3(b) and the front door 64 is opened as shown in FIG. 3(c). Thus, the inventory replenishment worker can replenish the storage unit 61 with sanitary products S.

The dispenser 60 has a display screen 63 such as a digital signage on a front door 64 . A human sensor (not shown) is provided in the private room of the toilet, and the human sensor senses that the user is in the private room of the toilet. In conjunction with such detection by the human sensor, display of an advertisement image (still image, moving image, etc.) or the like from the display screen 63 is started.

The advertisement video may be streamed or installed locally for each dispenser 60 . The display time is about two minutes each time the user enters the private toilet room, and the display is not longer than that. This prevents the user from lingering in the restroom after staring at the advertisement video. In order to effectively display an advertisement for two minutes, for example, one or two advertisement images of about 15 seconds are repeatedly displayed for two minutes.

Providers who provide services through the sanitary product providing device 1 solicit advertising sponsors and obtain advertising revenue by displaying advertisements from the display screen 63 in this way and/or from the user terminal 10 as will be described later. By repeating the cycle of purchasing sanitary products S with part of the income and replenishing the dispenser 60, it is possible to implement a business model in which the sanitary products S are provided free of charge to the user.

Next, the electronic circuit configuration of dispenser 60 will be described.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing an example electronic circuit configuration of the dispenser.

The dispenser 60 discharges one sanitary product S held in the storage unit 61 in response to a supply request from the user via the user terminal 100 when permitted by the sanitary product provision management server 10. perform the action to be performed. Therefore, as an electronic circuit for communicating with the user terminal 100 and the sanitary product provision management server 10 and for operating based on instructions from the sanitary product provision management server 10, the CPU 72 and the recording medium reading device are connected to each other by the bus 71. A unit 74 , a communication unit 75 , a beacon transmission unit 76 , a memory 80 , a storage device 90 and a display screen 63 are provided.

The memory 80 stores an encryption program 81 , an ejection mechanism control program 82 and an ejection signal generation program 83 .

These programs 81 to 83 may be pre-stored in the memory 80, or may be read from an external recording medium 73 such as a memory card via the recording medium reading section 74 and stored in the memory 80. good. These programs 81 to 83 cannot be rewritten.

The memory 80 secures a writable data area 89 as an area for storing rewritable data in addition to such a user-unrewritable area.

The CPU 72 is a computer, and controls the operation of each circuit part according to each program 81 to 83 stored in the memory 80 .

The storage device 90 is, for example, an SSD (Solid State Drive) or HDD (Hard Disk Drive), and stores a dispenser ID storage section 91 , an advertisement video data storage section 92 and a shared key storage section 93 .

The dispenser ID storage unit 91 stores dispenser IDs.

The advertisement image data storage unit 92 stores data for advertisement images (hereinafter referred to as "advertisement image data"). As previously mentioned, the advertisement video may be streamed or installed locally for each dispenser 60 . The advertisement image data storage unit 92 is an area for storing advertisement image data when the advertisement image data is locally installed. When installing the advertisement image data locally, the advertisement image data recorded on the external recording medium 73 is read by the recording medium reading unit 74 and written to the advertisement image data storage unit 92 for storage.

Shared key storage unit 93 stores shared key K used in encryption program 81 . This shared key K is unique to each dispenser 60 .

Next, the dedicated application will be explained.

A user needs to install a dedicated application on the user terminal 100 in order to receive sanitary products S from the dispenser 60 . The dedicated application is installed using a QR code (registered trademark) 66 or a barcode (not shown) attached to the housing of the dispenser 60 (for example, the front door 64) with a sticker or the like or printed (for example, , photographing) and accessing the dedicated address from the user terminal 100.

Alternatively, instead of this, the QR code 66 or barcode image is displayed from the display screen 63, and the displayed QR code 66 or barcode is used (for example, photographed) to access the dedicated address from the user terminal 100. It can also be implemented by

After installing the dedicated application, the user can register a user ID, password, etc. using the dedicated application. When the user inputs user information including a user ID, password, etc. according to the dedicated application, the dedicated application transmits the user information to the sanitary product provision management server 10 . In response, the sanitary product provision management server 10 stores the user information in the user registration information database 35, which will be described later. This completes the user registration and allows the user to request the supply of the sanitary product S from the dispenser 60 using the dedicated application.

Moreover, the sanitary product provision management server 10 can display the above-described advertisement not only from the display screen 63 of the dispenser 60 but also from the user terminal 10 on which the dedicated application is installed. In this case, the timing of displaying the advertisement from the user terminal 10 is not particularly limited. For example, the display may be started at the timing when the dedicated application is activated, or may be displayed only between user actions by the dedicated application. Alternatively, even when the dedicated application is not activated, it may be displayed by sending a push notification to the user terminal 10 at any timing.

When the user requests the supply of the sanitary product S from the dispenser 60 provided in the private room of the toilet where the user is, the user brings the user terminal 100 close to the dispenser 60 by, for example, holding it over the dispenser 60 while the dedicated application is activated. .

On the other hand, in the dispenser 60, the encryption program 81 uses the shared key K stored in the shared key storage unit 93 to use the current time to the minute (for example, if it is 23:04 on January 2, 2020, , “202001022304”), and encrypts the dispenser ID every minute to generate a beacon signal A and output it to the beacon transmission unit 76 .

In response to this, the beacon transmission unit 76 constantly transmits the beacon signal A whose data is switched every minute, for example, by BLE or NFC communication.

Therefore, the user terminal 100 can receive the beacon signal A transmitted from the beacon transmitter 76 when the user terminal 100 is brought close to the dispenser 60 .

When the beacon signal A transmitted from the beacon transmission unit 76 is received by the user terminal 100, the dedicated application determines whether the strength of the beacon signal A is equal to or greater than a predetermined strength. When the dedicated application determines that the intensity of the beacon signal A is equal to or higher than a predetermined intensity, the dedicated application generates a provision request B for requesting provision of the sanitary product S. The dedicated application also includes the user ID in the provision request B. The dedicated application further includes the beacon signal A in the provision request B and transmits the provision request B to the sanitary product provision management server 10 via the communication network 200 .

Thus, the provision request B includes the user ID, the dispenser ID of the dispenser 60 installed in the private room where the user is, and the beacon signal A. FIG. Since the beacon signal A is a hash of the shared key K and the current time, the provision request B includes the user ID and the dispenser ID.

In the sanitary product provision management server 10, the shared key K that is the same as the shared key K stored in the shared key storage unit 93 of each dispenser 60 is linked to the dispenser ID of each dispenser 60 and stored in the shared key database 36. It is

Therefore, when the provision request B including the dispenser ID is transmitted to the sanitary product provision management server 10, the sanitary product provision management server 10 receives one of the shared keys K of the dispensers 60, the current time up to the minute, and the is used to compute the hash in the same way as the beacon signal A. If the calculated hash is the same as the beacon signal A, it can be determined that the provision request B is correct. Strictly speaking, the current time encrypted by the encryption program 81 and the current time decrypted by the sanitary product provision management server 10 do not coincide, but they do not differ by more than one minute. Therefore, if the current time is in minutes, the sanitary product provision management server 10 can measure the same time as the current time encrypted by the encryption program 81. A hash can be calculated on the management server 10 . If this hash and the beacon signal A have the same content, it can be determined that the provision request B is not unauthorized data. Rarely, the current time when encrypted by the encryption program 81 is, for example, 23:04:59 on January 2, 2020, and the sanitary product provision management server 10 decrypts it on January 2, 2020. When clocking 23:05:00, the current time used for encryption by the encryption program 81 is "202001022304", and the current time used for decryption by the sanitary product provision management server 10 is "202001022305". ” and may not match. In such a case, the dedicated application may be requested to regenerate and transmit provision request B. FIG.

If the calculated hash and the beacon signal A are the same, the sanitary product provision server 10 determines that the provision request B is genuine. On the other hand, if there is a discrepancy between the calculated hash and the beacon signal A, the provision request B is determined to be illegal, and the sanitary product provision management server 10 ignores the provision request B. FIG. In this way, the sanitary product provision management server 10 accepts only genuine provision requests B, so that it is not subject to cyberattacks or the like caused by fraudulent provision requests B, for example.

As a modification, the user can omit the encryption program 81 and the shared key storage unit 93 from the dispenser 60 by inputting the dispenser ID into the dedicated application via the user terminal 100 .

In this case, it is necessary to inform the user of the dispenser ID by printing the dispenser ID on the housing of the dispenser 60, attaching a printed seal, or displaying the dispenser ID on the display screen 63. .

In the dispenser 60, even when the encryption program 81 and the shared key storage unit 93 are omitted, the beacon transmission unit 76 always transmits the beacon signal A', but the encryption program 81 and the shared key storage unit 93 are If omitted, this beacon signal A' does not include the encrypted dispenser ID. However, the user can include the dispenser ID in the provision request B by inputting the dispenser ID from the user terminal 100 .

Note that even if the encryption program 81 and the shared key storage unit 93 are omitted, when the user terminal 100 receives the beacon signal A′ transmitted from the beacon transmission unit 76, the dedicated application uses the beacon It is determined whether or not the intensity of signal A' is greater than or equal to a predetermined intensity. Then, when the dedicated application determines that the intensity of the beacon signal A' is equal to or higher than the predetermined intensity, it generates a provision request B requesting provision of the sanitary product S, and furthermore, the dispenser ID input by the user in the provision request B. , is transmitted to the sanitary product provision management server 10 via the communication network 200 .

In this way, even if the encryption program 81 and the shared key storage unit 93 are omitted from the dispenser 60, the provision request B including the dispenser ID can be transmitted to the sanitary product provision management server 10. The server 10 can determine whether or not the provision request B is genuine by checking whether or not the correct dispenser ID is included in the transmitted provision request B.

The reason why the dedicated application generates the provision request B only when the strength of the beacon signal A (or beacon signal A') is equal to or higher than a predetermined strength is that the private room next to the same toilet This is because the provision request B is not generated by the beacon signal A transmitted from the beacon transmission unit 76 of the dispenser 60 .

As will be described later, when receiving a provision request B from the user terminal 100 , the sanitary product provision management server 10 determines whether or not the sanitary product S can be provided for each dispenser 60 . Therefore, for example, the user terminal 100 receives the beacon signal A transmitted from the dispenser 60 in the adjacent private room, not from the dispenser 60 provided in the private room where the user is, and generates the provision request B, When it is transmitted to the sanitary product provision management server 10, even if the sanitary product provision management server 10 determines that it can be provided, it is determined that it can be provided from the dispenser 60 in the adjacent private room. Therefore, the sanitary product S is not discharged from the dispenser 60 provided in the private room where the user is. In order to avoid such a problem, the dedicated application generates the provision request B only when the strength of the beacon signal A (or beacon signal A') is equal to or greater than a predetermined strength.

When the sanitary product provision management server 10 permits discharge of the sanitary product S in response to the provision request B, the sanitary product provision management server 10 sends a permission signal C to the dispenser 60 via the communication network 200 . sent.

The communication unit 75 receives this permission signal C and outputs it to the memory 80 .

Memory 80 sends this permission signal C to ejection mechanism control program 82 . Then, the ejection mechanism control program 82 instructs the ejection mechanism (not shown) of the storage portion 61 to eject one sanitary product S stored in the storage portion 61 in response to the permission signal C. do. Although not shown, the ejecting mechanism can be realized by a plurality of claws (first claw and second claw) that prevent the sanitary napkin S from falling in the storage portion 61 . Normally, the first nail supports the lower side of the sanitary product S in the lowest layer in the storage part 61, and the second nail supports the lower side of the sanitary product S in the second layer from the bottom. When an ejection instruction is given by the ejection mechanism control program 82, one sanitary product S can be ejected from the storage part 61 to the ejection port 62 by releasing only the support by the first claw.

The discharge signal generation program 83 generates the discharge signal D including the dispenser ID according to the discharge operation of the discharge mechanism, and outputs the discharge signal D to the communication section 75 .

Instead of generating the discharge signal D according to the discharge operation of the discharge mechanism, a discharge sensor (not shown) for detecting the discharge of the sanitary product S is provided inside the storage part 61, and this discharge sensor detects the discharge. The discharge signal generation program 83 may generate the discharge signal D upon detection.

The communication unit 75 transmits the discharge signal D to the sanitary product provision management server 10 via the communication network 200 .

Next, the configuration of the sanitary product provision management server 10 will be described.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing an electronic circuit configuration example of the sanitary product provision management server according to the first embodiment.

The sanitary product provision management server 10 is a device that manages the provision of the sanitary products S from each dispenser 60 to the user. 15 , a memory 20 and a storage device 30 .

The memory 20 stores an inventory management program 21, a user management program 22, a specific program 23, a determination program 24, and a discharge permission program 25. These programs 21 to 25 may be pre-stored in the memory 20, or may be read from an external recording medium 13 such as a memory card via the recording medium reading section 14 and stored in the memory 20. good. These programs 21 to 25 cannot be rewritten.

The memory 20 also secures a writable data area 29 as an area for storing rewritable data in addition to such a user-unrewritable area.

The CPU 12 is a computer and controls the operation of each circuit according to each program 21 to 25 stored in the memory 20 .

The storage device 30 includes, for example, an SSD (Solid State Drive), HDD (Hard Disk Drive), etc., and includes an inventory status database 31, a user provision history database 32, a judgment condition database 33, a dispenser installation location database 34, and a user registration information database 35. , and a shared key database 36 .

The inventory status database 31 includes an inventory status data table 41 that stores information regarding the inventory status of each dispenser 60 .

The user provision history database 32 includes a user provision history data table 42 that stores information on the provision history of the sanitary product S for each user who received the sanitary product S from the sanitary product provision device 1 in the past. .

The determination condition database 33 stores an estimation formula for estimating the user's menstrual period and menstrual cycle from information related to the provision history of the sanitary product S stored in the user provision history data table 42, and an estimation formula for estimating the user's menstrual period and the determination program 24 to the user. This is a database that stores determination conditions used to determine whether sanitary products can be provided.

The dispenser location database 34 includes a dispenser location data table 44 that stores information about the location of each dispenser 60 .

The user registration information database 35 is a database that stores user information including user information and passwords.

The communication unit 15 communicates with each dispenser 60, the user terminal 100, etc. via the communication network 200, and outputs the received information to the memory 20 in order to provide it to one of the programs 21 to 25. . Also, information output from any one of the programs 21 to 25 is transmitted to each corresponding dispenser 60, the user terminal 100, and the like.

The user registration information database 35 stores user information including user information and passwords. The user information is input by the user at the time of registration, and is transmitted to the sanitary product provision management server 10 by the dedicated application. In the sanitary product provision management server 10 , the communication section 15 receives this user information and outputs it to the memory 20 . After the user information is output to the memory 20 in this manner, the user management program 22 writes the user information to the user registration information database 35 . This completes the user registration.

The shared key database 36 stores the shared key K stored in the shared key storage unit 93 of each dispenser 60 in association with the corresponding dispenser ID.

When the provision request B is transmitted from the user terminal 100, the specific program 23 receives the provision request B from the communication unit 15, and uses one of the shared keys stored in the shared key database 36 and the time information up to the minute unit. to decrypt the provision request B.

Strictly speaking, the current time when encrypted by the encryption program 81 and the current time when the specific program 23 decrypts the data do not match, but they do not deviate by more than one minute. Therefore, if the current time is in minutes, the sanitary product provision management server 10 can measure the same time as the current time encrypted by the encryption program 81, so the specific program 23 uses this time information. The hash can be calculated on the sanitary product provision management server 10 by If this hash and the beacon signal A have the same content, it can be determined that the provision request B is not unauthorized data. Rarely, the current time when encrypted by the encryption program 81 is, for example, 23:04:59 on January 2, 2020, and when the specific program 23 decrypts, the sanitary product provision management server 10 When clocking 23:05:00 on January 2, 2020, the current time used for encryption in the encryption program 81 is "202001022304", and the current time used for decryption by the specific program 23 is It may be "202001022305" and may not match. In such a case, the dedicated application may be requested to regenerate and transmit provision request B. FIG.

If decryption is performed using such time information and the correct shared key K, the specific program 23 successfully decrypts the provision request B. FIG. If the calculated hash and the beacon signal A are the same, the specific program 23 can determine that the provision request B is genuine. On the other hand, if there is a discrepancy between the calculated hash and the beacon signal A, the specific program 23 ignores this provision request B. FIG.

When it is determined that the provision request B is genuine, the identification program 23 further identifies the user based on the user ID obtained by decoding the provision request B, and further identifies the dispenser based on the dispenser ID. From the installation location database 34, the dispenser 60 installed at the location where the user is, that is, the dispenser 60 for which the user is requesting the provision of the sanitary product S is specified.

FIG. 6 is a data configuration diagram showing an example of a dispenser installation location data table included in the dispenser installation location database.

The dispenser installation location database 34 has a dispenser installation location data table 44 having a data configuration as shown in FIG.

The dispenser installation location data table 44 is a database that stores information about the installation location of each dispenser 60. For each dispenser ID of the dispenser 60, for example, latitude and longitude information, address information, and installation location information corresponding to the installation location are stored. I am recording. Therefore, the dispenser installation location data table 44 includes a dispenser ID column a for writing a dispenser ID, a latitude and longitude information column i for writing latitude and longitude information, an address information column j for writing address information, and installation location information. Each item is provided with an installation location information column k for writing.

The determination program 24 determines whether or not the sanitary product S can be provided to the user identified by the identification program 23 .

For this determination, the determination program 24 first accesses the user-provided history database 32 , refers to the user-provided history data table 42 of the user identified by the identification program 23 , and estimates stored in the determination condition database 33 . Formulas are used to estimate the user's menstrual period and cycle.

FIG. 7 is a data configuration diagram showing an example of a user-provided history data table included in the user-provided history database.

The user-provided history database 32 includes user-provided history data tables 42-1, 42-2, . . . 42-n (n is an integer of 3 or more) provided for each user. Note that the number of user-provided history data tables 42 is not limited to three or more, and is one when the number of users is one, and two when the number of users is two. Even so, the present invention is established.

The user-provided history data table 42 is provided for each user ID, and as illustrated in FIG. 7, each user-provided history data table 42 has a user ID field f for writing the user ID and a user ID field f for writing time information. time information field c, dispenser ID field a for writing the dispenser ID, and sanitary product type field g for writing the type of sanitary product.

The time information is information indicating the time when the sanitary product S was taken out, the dispenser ID is the identification information of the dispenser 60 from which the sanitary product S was taken out, and the sanitary product type is the type of the sanitary product S taken out. indicates

Each such user-provided history data table 42 is updated by the inventory management program 21 as described later.

The determination condition database 33 stores estimation formulas for estimating the menstrual period and the menstrual cycle from the time information stored in the user-provided history data table 42 .

The determination program 24 uses the user-provided history data table 42 of the user identified by the identification program 23 and estimation formulas stored in the determination condition database 33 to estimate the user's menstrual period and menstrual cycle. It should be noted that the term "menstrual period" as used herein means a period during which the sanitary product S may be provided, not the actual menstrual period. Therefore, in consideration of the deviation of the actual menstrual period, a longer period is set on the safe side.

The determination program 24 determines whether or not the user is currently menstruating based on these estimation results. Then, when it is determined that the user is currently in menstrual period, it can be determined that the provision is possible. In addition to the fact that the user is in the menstruation period, the determination program 23 further determines a predetermined time (for example, Two hours or more) may be determined, and if it has elapsed, it may be determined that the sanitary product S can be provided to the user. Alternatively, in addition to the fact that the user is in her menstrual period, the maximum number of sanitary products S that can be provided to the user during her period is determined. You may do so.

For this reason, the determination condition database 33 further stores determination conditions such as the predetermined time (for example, two hours or longer) and the maximum number.

Thus, the determination program 24 determines whether or not the sanitary product S can be provided to the user. Based on such a determination, it is possible to limit the provision of sanitary products S to users who are not in their menstrual period. In addition, even if the user is in her period, it is possible to restrict the user from providing sanitary products S more than necessary.

In addition, a system is adopted in which an estimation formula necessary for estimating the user's menstrual period and menstrual cycle and a judgment condition necessary for judging whether or not the sanitary product S can be provided to the user are stored in the judgment condition database 33. Therefore, even if there is a change or addition to the estimation formula or the determination condition, it can be easily reflected by updating the estimation formula or the determination condition stored in the determination condition database 33 .

In the above description, the user's menstrual period and menstrual cycle are estimated from the information about the provision history of the sanitary product S stored in the user provision history data table 42, and the estimation result is used by the determination program 24 to provide the sanitary product S. An example used to determine acceptance has been described. However, as the user's menstrual period, it is also possible to use the menstrual period declared by the user instead of such an estimated value. Similarly, for the menstrual cycle, the menstrual cycle declared by the user can be used instead of the estimated value.

In this case, the dedicated application prompts the user to input the menstrual period and/or the menstrual cycle, and the user inputs the menstrual period and/or the menstrual cycle from the user terminal 100 accordingly. As a result, the input menstrual period and/or menstrual cycle are transmitted to the sanitary product provision management server 10 and used by the determination program 24 to determine whether or not the sanitary product S can be provided.

At this time, the user may input the obtained menstrual period and menstrual cycle using the application disclosed in Non-Patent Document 2, for example. Alternatively, by linking the dedicated application with the application disclosed in Non-Patent Document 2, the user's input operation to the dedicated application is eliminated, and the dedicated application is changed from the application disclosed in Non-Patent Document 2, The menstrual period and menstrual cycle may be obtained automatically.

If the user has not received the sanitary product S in the past, the user provision history data table 42 for the user has not been generated, so the menstrual period and menstrual cycle cannot be estimated. Therefore, in this case, the processing by the determination program 24 for determining whether or not the user is currently menstruating is skipped.

The discharge permission program 25 permits the discharge of one sanitary product S if the dispenser 60 that sent the supply request B has the sanitary product S in stock when the determination program 24 determines that the product can be provided. Generate signal C.

Discharge permission program 25 checks the stock of dispenser 60, which is the sender of supply request B, in the stock status database 31, in order to confirm whether or not sanitary product S is in stock. Refer to the situation data table 41 .

FIG. 8 is a data configuration diagram showing an example of an inventory status data table included in the inventory status database.

The inventory status database 31 includes inventory status data tables 41-1, 41-2, . . . 41-n ( n is an integer of 3 or more).

The inventory status data table 41 includes a dispenser ID column a for writing dispenser IDs, an event information column b for writing event information, a time information column c for writing time information, and a column for writing inventory fluctuations. It has items consisting of an inventory change number column d, an inventory number column e for writing the inventory quantity, a user ID column f for writing the user ID, and a sanitary product type column g for writing the type of sanitary product.

The inventory status data table 41 is updated by the inventory management program 21, as will be described later, in accordance with the discharge of the sanitary products S from the dispenser 60 and the restocking of the sanitary products S to the dispenser 60. FIG.

When "0" (zero) is written in the latest record in the inventory quantity column d, it indicates that the sanitary product S is out of stock.

Therefore, if "0" (zero) is not written in the latest record of the inventory quantity column d of the inventory status data table 41 of the dispenser 60 that sent the supply request B, the discharge permission program 25 A permission signal C is generated and output to the communication unit 15 . On the other hand, if "0" (zero) is written in the latest record in the inventory quantity column d of the inventory status data table 41 of the dispenser 60 that sent the supply request B, the permission signal C for this dispenser 60 is not generated. .

The communication unit 15 transmits the permission signal C to the dispenser 60 which is the transmission source of the provision request B via the communication network 200 .

In the dispenser 60 , the communication section 75 receives the permission signal C and outputs it to the memory 80 .

Memory 80 sends a grant signal C to ejection mechanism control program 82 . Then, the ejection mechanism control program 82 instructs the ejection mechanism (not shown) of the storage portion 61 to eject one sanitary product S stored in the storage portion 61 in response to the permission signal C. do.

In response to this, the ejection mechanism operates, and one sanitary product S is ejected from the storage portion 61 to the ejection port 62 .

The discharge signal generation program 83 includes a dispenser ID, event information indicating a discharge event, time information indicating the time when the sanitary napkin S was discharged, and a user ID in accordance with the discharge operation of the discharge mechanism. A discharge signal D is generated and output to the communication unit 75 .

Instead of generating the discharge signal D according to the discharge operation of the discharge mechanism in this way, a discharge sensor (not shown) for detecting discharge of the sanitary product S is provided inside the storage part 61, and this discharge sensor The discharge signal generation program 83 may generate the discharge signal D when D detects discharge.

The communication unit 75 transmits the discharge signal D to the sanitary product provision management server 10 via the communication network 200 .

In the sanitary product provision management server 10 , the communication section 15 receives the discharge signal D and outputs it to the memory 20 . In addition, memory 20 sends a discharge signal D to inventory management program 21 and user management program 22 .

The user management program 22 accesses the corresponding user-provided history data table 42 based on the user ID included in the discharge signal D, and stores the time information and dispenser ID included in the discharge signal D in the time information column c and By writing in the dispenser ID column a, the history of sanitary products S provided from each dispenser 60 to each user is updated.

The inventory management program 21 accesses the corresponding inventory status data table 41 based on the dispenser ID included in the discharge signal D, and writes " Discharge", and the time information and user ID included in the discharge signal D are written in the time information field c and the user ID field f, thereby updating the inventory of sanitary products S in each dispenser 60. FIG.

When the inventory management program 21 writes "discharge" in the event information column b of the inventory status data table 41, it enters the numerical value "-1" in the inventory change number column d, and further enters the inventory change number column d. Based on the obtained numerical value, a calculation for updating the stock quantity (that is, a calculation for subtracting 1 from the current stock quantity) is performed, and the result is written in the stock quantity column e. For example, in the example of the inventory status data table 41-1 in FIG. Due to the discharge signal D transmitted at 23:41, the stock quantity becomes 11 by subtracting 1 from 12, so that ``11'' is written in the stock quantity column e.

Also, the type of sanitary product S written in the sanitary product type column g of the stock status data table 41 (for example, “α1”) is written into the sanitary product type column g of the user provision history data table 42 of the corresponding user. .

In this manner, the inventory management program 21 manages the inventory status of the sanitary products S stored in each dispenser 60 by updating the inventory status data table 41 of each dispenser 60 included in the inventory status database 31 . Then, when there is a dispenser 60 whose inventory quantity has fallen below a predetermined number or has disappeared (the inventory quantity column e has become "0" (zero)), the terminal of the inventory replenishment worker (hereinafter referred to as " A message to replenish the sanitary napkins S is sent to the terminal for replenishing the stock, together with the dispenser ID of the corresponding dispenser 60 .

In response to this, the stock replenishment worker goes to the corresponding dispenser 60 and replenishes the storage section 61 with the sanitary product S. When the replenishment work is completed, the inventory replenisher terminal 150 such as a smart phone or tablet of the inventory replenisher generates an inventory replenishment signal E and transmits it to the sanitary product provision management server 10 via the communication network 200 . .

The stock replenishment signal E includes the dispenser ID of the dispenser 60 for which the inventory has been replenished, event information indicating an inventory replenishment event, time information indicating the time when the inventory was replenished, number information indicating the number after the inventory replenishment, and physiological information. product type information (eg, product name);

In the sanitary product provision management server 10 , the communication section 15 receives this stock replenishment signal E and outputs it to the memory 20 . In addition, memory 20 sends an inventory replenishment signal E to inventory control program 21 .

The inventory management program 21 accesses the corresponding inventory status data table 41 (for example, inventory status data table 41-1) based on the dispenser ID included in the inventory replenishment signal E, and performs the inventory replenishment included in the inventory replenishment signal E. "Replenishment" is written in the event information column b, the time information included in the inventory replenishment signal E is written in the time information column c, and the number information included in the inventory replenishment signal E is written as the inventory number The type of the supplemented sanitary product S is written in the column e, and the type of sanitary product S is written in the sanitary product type column g.

When the event information column b of the inventory status data table 41 is written with "replenishment", the inventory management program 21 invalidates the input to the inventory change number column d and the user ID column f. For example, in the example of the inventory status data table 41-1 in FIG. Since "replenishment" is written in the event information column b by the signal E, the input in the inventory change number column d and the user ID column f is invalidated, and "NA" is displayed. Also, based on the quantity information contained in the stock replenishment signal E, "25" is written in the inventory quantity field e, and "β1", which is the type of the replenished sanitary product S, is written in the sanitary product type field g. .

In this manner, the inventory control program 21 updates the inventory status data table 41 based on not only the discharge signal D transmitted from each dispenser 60 but also the inventory replenishment signal E transmitted from the inventory replenisher terminal 150 during inventory replenishment. By doing so, the inventory status of each dispenser 60 is managed.

In the above example, the discharge signal D and stock replenishment signal E contain time information. That is, the clocks of the dispenser 60 and the replenishment worker terminal 150 keep time and generate time information.

However, the dispenser 60 and replenishment operator terminal 150 can also transmit the discharge signal D and the inventory replenishment signal E without time information. In this case, when the communication unit 15 receives the discharge signal D and the inventory replenishment signal E, the reception time is attached and output to the memory 20 . The inventory management program 21 then writes this reception time into the time information column c of the inventory status data table 41 . By doing so, the dispenser 60 and the replenishment worker terminal 150 do not need to include the time information when transmitting the discharge signal D and the inventory replenishment signal E, so the amount of data transmission can be reduced. There is a slight time difference between the time measured by the dispenser 60 and the replenishment operator terminal 150 and the time received by the communication unit 15. there is no problem in doing so.

Further, the dispenser 60 and the replenishment worker terminal 150 may appropriately encrypt and transmit the discharge signal D and the inventory replenishment signal E when transmitting. Since a known technique can be used for encryption, the detailed description of encryption is omitted.

Also, the inventory status management method is not limited to the method using the inventory status data table 41 as described above. For example, each dispenser 60 is provided with a count sensor (not shown) that counts the number of sanitary napkins S stored in the storage section 61, and from the count sensor, the counted number of stocks is displayed together with the dispenser ID. , may be transmitted to the sanitary product provision management server 10 . With such a configuration, the inventory management program 21 can grasp the inventory status of each dispenser 60 as well.

In this manner, the inventory management program 21 can manage the inventory status of the sanitary napkins S stored in each dispenser 60 . Then, the inventory information Z indicating the inventory quantity of each dispenser 60 is generated, the dispenser ID of the corresponding dispenser 60 is added to the generated inventory information Z, and the generated inventory information Z is output to the communication unit 15 . In response, the communication unit 15 recognizes the dispenser 60 as the transmission destination from the given dispenser ID, and transmits the inventory information Z to the recognized dispenser 60 .

In response, the destination dispenser 60 receives the inventory information Z in the communication unit 75 and stores the inventory information Z in the storage device 90 or the writable data area 89 . The dispenser 60 can display the stored inventory information Z from the display screen 63 in response to an operation by an inventory replenishment worker (for example, a touch panel operation from the display screen 63), as will be described later.

Next, I will supplement the function of the dedicated application.

Since the user terminal 100 such as a smartphone is often equipped with a positioning function such as GPS as standard, the dedicated application can grasp the position of the user terminal 100 using this function. can.

The dedicated application grasps the position of the user terminal 100 in this way, accesses the dispenser installation location data table 44 of the dispenser installation location database 34, and obtains the position of the user terminal 100 and the latitude written in the latitude and longitude information column i. By comparing with the longitude information, the locations of the dispensers 60 installed near the user terminal 100 (for example, within a radius of 100 m) can be displayed on the map from the user terminal 100 .

The dedicated application also displays the address, installation location, etc. near the dispenser 60 displayed on the map by referring to the address information column j and the installation location information column k of the dispenser installation location data table 44. can also

The dedicated application further accesses the inventory status data table 41 of the inventory status database 31, and refers to the inventory quantity column e and the sanitary product type column g to locate dispensers 60 near the dispensers 60 displayed on the map. The stock quantity and types of sanitary products S stored can be displayed as character information.

Furthermore, when the dedicated application receives a beacon signal A from the dispenser 60 provided in the private room of the toilet where the user is, the dedicated application identifies the dispenser ID from the beacon signal A, and stores the corresponding dispenser ID inventory status data table 41 (for example, By accessing the inventory status data table 41-1) and referring to the inventory quantity column e and the sanitary product type column g, the inventory quantity and type of sanitary products S stored in the dispenser 60 are displayed as character information. can do.

The dedicated application also accesses the user-provided history data table 42 included in the user-provided history database 32, and refers to the time information column c and the sanitary product type column g to determine whether the user has used the sanitary product from the dispenser 60 in the past. The user terminal 100 can display history information such as time information when the sanitary product S was obtained and the type of the sanitary product S obtained.

With the functions of these dedicated applications, the user can confirm, from the user terminal 100, where the dispensers 60 are installed nearby and the number and type of sanitary napkins S stored in each dispenser 60 . In addition, the user can check history information such as time information when he or she obtained the sanitary product S from the dispenser 60 in the past and the type of the sanitary product S obtained in the past from the user terminal 100 .

Next, an operation example of the sanitary product providing device and method according to the first embodiment of the present invention configured as described above will be described.

FIG. 9 is a processing flow diagram illustrating an operation example of the sanitary product delivery device and method according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

10A-10C are flow charts illustrating exemplary operations of the sanitary product delivery device and method according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

The user needs to install a dedicated application on the user terminal 100 in order to request the dispenser 60 to provide the sanitary product S. Installation of the dedicated application is performed using a QR code 66 or a bar code that is affixed to the housing of the dispenser 60 (for example, the front door 64) with a sticker or the like, printed, or displayed from the display screen 63 (for example, , photographing) and accessing the dedicated address from the user terminal 100 (S1).

Alternatively, the application may be installed in advance by accessing a dedicated address using a search site in advance and downloading the dedicated application from there. (S1').

After installation, the user performs user registration. In user registration, the user uses the input function of the user terminal 100 to enter user information such as a user ID and password according to a dedicated application, and the entered user information is sent to the sanitary product provision management server 10 by the dedicated application. It is completed by being transmitted and written in the user registration information database 35 (S2).

This enables the user to use the dedicated application and to request the supply of sanitary products S from the dispenser 60 installed in the private room. In addition, for example, it is possible to confirm, from the user terminal 100, where the dispensers 60 are installed nearby and the number and type of sanitary napkins S stored in each dispenser 60 . Also, it is possible to check history information such as time information when the sanitary product S was obtained from the dispenser 60 by the user in the past and the type of the sanitary product S obtained in the past from the user terminal 100 .

When the user wants to receive the sanitary products S from the dispenser 60, the user enters the private room of the restroom and brings the user terminal 100 close to (holds) the dispenser 60 while the dedicated application is activated (S3).

In the dispenser 60 , the beacon signal A is generated by the encryption program 81 and is constantly transmitted from the beacon transmission section 76 . For example, in the encryption program 81, the shared key K stored in the shared key storage unit 93 is used, time-based hash calculation based on the current time is performed, and the dispenser ID of the dispenser 60 is encrypted every minute, for example. A beacon signal A is generated by converting the As a result, the beacon transmission unit 76 constantly transmits the beacon signal A whose data is switched every minute.

By bringing the user terminal 100 close to the dispenser 60, the beacon signal A transmitted from the beacon transmitting unit 76 is received by the user terminal 100 (S4). It is determined whether or not (S5).

Then, when the dedicated application determines that the intensity of the beacon signal A is equal to or higher than the predetermined intensity (S5: Yes), the dedicated application generates a provision request B for requesting provision of the sanitary product S (S6). Further, the provision request B is sent to the sanitary product provision management server 10 via the communication network 200 after the user ID and the beacon signal A are included by the dedicated application.

As described above, the provision request B is not generated when the strength of the beacon signal A is not equal to or greater than the predetermined strength (S5: No). A provision request B is not generated by the beacon signal A transmitted from the .

The provision request B transmitted to the sanitary product provision management server 10 is received by the communication unit 15 , output to the memory 20 , and further sent from the memory 20 to the specific program 23 .

The specific program 23 decrypts the provision request B using one of the shared keys stored in the shared key database 36 and the time information. If the correct shared key K is used, the offer request B is successfully decrypted. If the calculated hash and the beacon signal A are the same, the specific program 23 determines that the provision request B is genuine. On the other hand, if there is a discrepancy between the calculated hash and the beacon signal A, the provision request B is ignored by the specific program 23 . When the provision request B is determined to be genuine, the identification program 23 further identifies the user based on the user ID obtained from the decoding result of the provision request B, further based on the dispenser ID, From the dispenser installation location database 34, the dispenser 60 installed at the user's location, that is, the dispenser 60 requested by the user to provide the sanitary product S is specified (S7).

The determination program 24 determines whether or not the sanitary product S can be provided to the user identified by the identification program 23 .

For this determination, the determination program 24 uses the user-provided history data table 42 of the user identified by the identification program 23 and the estimation formula stored in the determination condition database 33 to determine the user's menstrual period and A menstrual cycle is estimated (S8). It should be noted that the term "menstrual period" as used herein means a period during which the sanitary product S may be provided, not the actual menstrual period. Therefore, it is estimated to be longer in consideration of the deviation of the actual menstrual period.

Further, the determination program 24 determines whether or not the user is currently in his or her menstrual period based on these estimation results (S9). When it is determined that the user is currently in the period of menstruation (S9: Yes), based on the user provision history data table 42 and the determination condition database 33, the most recent time at which the sanitary product S was provided is determined. It is determined whether or not a predetermined period of time (for example, two hours or more) has passed from the time (S10). ). Alternatively, or additionally, a maximum number of sanitary products S that can be provided to the user during the menstrual period can be determined, and if this value is not reached, it can be determined that the sanitary products can be provided.

Since these determination conditions are stored in the determination condition database 33 together with the above-described estimation formula, even if the estimation formula or determination conditions are changed or added, they are stored in the determination condition database 33. By updating the existing estimation formulas and determination conditions, it is possible to easily perform estimation and determination based on new estimation formulas and determination conditions.

If it is not determined that the person is in the menstrual period (S9: No), or if a predetermined period of time has not passed since the most recent time when the sanitary product S was provided (S10: No), the sanitary product S is provided. It is determined that it is not possible (S12).

In this manner, the determination program 24 determines whether or not the sanitary product S can be provided to the user. Such determination restricts the provision of the sanitary product S to the user who is not in her menstrual period. In addition, even if the user is menstruating, the user is restricted from providing sanitary products S more than necessary.

When performing the processing of steps S9 and S10, instead of using the menstrual period and menstrual cycle estimated from the information on the supply history of the sanitary product S stored in the user-provided history data table 42, the user himself/herself declares it. It is also possible to use the menstrual period specified by the user or the menstrual cycle declared by the user himself/herself.

When the user himself/herself declares, the dedicated application prompts the user to input the menstrual period and/or the menstrual cycle, and the user inputs the menstrual period and/or the menstrual cycle from the user terminal 100 accordingly. Then, the input menstrual period and/or menstrual cycle are transmitted from the user terminal 100 to the sanitary product provision management server 10 and used by the determination program 24 to determine whether or not the sanitary product S can be provided.

At this time, the user can also input the menstrual period and menstrual cycle obtained using the application disclosed in Non-Patent Document 2, for example. Alternatively, by linking the dedicated application with the application disclosed in Non-Patent Document 2, the user's input operation to the dedicated application is eliminated, and the dedicated application is changed from the application disclosed in Non-Patent Document 2, The menstrual period and menstrual cycle may be automatically acquired and transmitted to the sanitary product provision management server 10 .

It is also possible to omit the process of step S10 and determine whether or not the sanitary product S can be provided by only the process of step S9. Note that if the user has not received the sanitary product S in the past, the user provision history data table 42 for this user has not been generated, and the menstrual period and menstrual cycle cannot be estimated. The processing from step S8 to step S12 is skipped.

If it is determined that the supply is possible in step S11, the discharge permission program 25 refers to the inventory status data table 41 of the dispenser 60 that sent the supply request B, and the dispenser 60 has the sanitary product S in stock (S13). : Yes), the discharge permission program 25 generates a permission signal C for permitting the discharge of one sanitary product S to the dispenser 60 (S14). to the dispenser 60. On the other hand, if the sanitary product S is out of stock in the dispenser 60 (S13: No), stock replenishment work (see FIG. 11) is carried out after shifting to step S22 described later (S30).

The permission signal C sent to the dispenser 60 is received by the communication section 75, output from the communication section 75 to the memory 80, and further sent to the ejection mechanism control program 82 (S15). In response to this permission signal C, the discharge mechanism control program 82 instructs the discharge mechanism of the storage section 61 to discharge one sanitary product S stored in the storage section 61 (S16). ).

According to this ejection instruction, one sanitary product S is ejected from the storage portion 61 to the ejection port 62 (S17). The user can take out the sanitary product S from the outlet 62 and use it.

On the other hand, in response to the discharge operation in step S17, the discharge signal generation program 83 generates a discharge signal D including the dispenser ID, and the communication unit 75 transmits it to the sanitary product provision management server 10 via the communication network 200. (S18).

In the sanitary product provision management server 10 , the discharge signal D is received by the communication section 15 , output from the communication section 15 to the memory 20 , and further sent to the inventory management program 21 and the user management program 22 .

In the user management program 22, based on the user ID included in the ejection signal D, the contents of the corresponding user provided history data table 42 are updated (S19).

Further, in the inventory management program 21, based on the dispenser ID included in the discharge signal D, the contents of the corresponding inventory status data table 41 are updated (S20).

In this manner, the inventory status of the sanitary napkins S stored in each dispenser 60 is managed by updating the inventory status data table 41 by the inventory management program 21 . Then, if there is a dispenser 60 whose inventory quantity has fallen below a predetermined number or has disappeared (the inventory quantity column e has become "0" (zero)) (S21: Yes), the inventory management program 21 , a message to replenish the sanitary napkins S is sent to the stock replenisher's terminal together with the dispenser ID of the dispenser 60 concerned (S22), prompting the replenishment work, and the inventory as shown in FIG. Replenishment work is started (S30).

Next, an operation example of inventory replenishment work will be described.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart showing the flow of inventory replenishment operation.

In the above-described step S22, the message is sent to the terminal 150 of the stock replenisher, and the stock replenishment worker grasps the dispenser 60 out of stock of sanitary napkins S from the dispenser ID sent with the message. (S31).

In response to this, the stock replenisher goes to the relevant dispenser 60 and replenishes the sanitary napkins S in the storage section 61 (S32). When the replenishment work is completed, the dispenser ID of the dispenser 60 that replenished the inventory, the event information indicating the inventory replenishment event, the time information indicating the time when the inventory was replenished, the stock number indicating the number after the inventory replenishment, and the physiological An inventory replenishment signal E including type information (for example, product name) of the product S is generated, and transmitted from the inventory replenisher terminal 150 to the sanitary product provision management server 10 via the communication network 200 (S33).

In the sanitary product provision management server 10 , the stock replenishment signal E is received by the communication unit 15 , output to the memory 20 , and further sent to the inventory management program 21 .

Then, in the inventory control program 21, based on the dispenser ID included in the inventory replenishment signal E, the corresponding inventory status data table 41 (for example, inventory status data table 41-1) is accessed and included in the inventory replenishment signal E. Based on the event information indicating stock replenishment, "replenishment" is written in the event information field b, the time information included in the stock replenishment signal E is written in the time information field c, and the stock quantity included in the stock replenishment signal E. is written in the stock quantity field e, and the type of replenished sanitary product S is written in the sanitary product type field g.

In this manner, the inventory management program 21 updates the inventory status data table 41 based on the inventory replenishment signal E (S34), and the inventory status of each dispenser 60 is managed.

As described above, according to the sanitary product provision device and method according to the first embodiment of the present invention, when the user makes a request B for provision of the sanitary product S, the user can Based on whether or not the user is in the menstruation period, the supply history of the sanitary product S to the user, and the stock status of the requested sanitary product S in the dispenser 60, it is determined whether or not the product can be provided. Article S can be provided.

In addition, since the inventory of the sanitary napkins S stored in the dispenser 60 is constantly managed by updating the inventory status data table 41, the inventory of the dispenser 60 that has run out or is about to run out can be replenished. can be quickly instructed to the inventory replenishment worker.

These not only prevent the unlimited supply of sanitary products S, but also make it possible to always keep the sanitary products in stock. Therefore, the sanitary product S can be reliably provided.

In addition, since the dispenser 60 is provided with a display screen 63, advertisement income is obtained by soliciting advertising sponsors and displaying advertisements from the display screen 63, and part of the income is used to purchase the sanitary napkins S, which are used by the dispenser. By storing the sanitary products S in the 60, it is possible to provide the sanitary products S free of charge to the user, which is an excellent welfare service for women.

Furthermore, the fact that the sanitary product S is discharged from the dispenser 60 is also an important merit because it can give the woman a great sense of security. For example, some restaurants and hotels place baskets of sanitary products next to the sink in the women's restroom. In such a case, the desired person can freely take out the sanitary product from the basket and use it. However, it is not known who touched the sanitary napkins that were simply placed in the basket. Especially in the current corona crisis, some people hesitate to use it because it is very uneasy to touch something that you don't know who touched it.

However, in the sanitary product delivery device and method according to the first embodiment of the present invention, the sanitary products S are housed in the dispenser 60 and are discharged one by one when used, so that the sanitary products S , and cannot be touched by an unspecified number of people. Therefore, the user can use the sanitary product S with peace of mind without feeling uneasy as described above.

Thus, the sanitary product delivery device and method according to the first embodiment of the present invention can also provide the user with a sense of security.

In the above-described embodiment, the inventory management program 21 updates the inventory status data table 41 to accurately grasp the inventory quantity of each dispenser 60, thereby managing the inventory of the sanitary napkins S. , the inventory management performed by the inventory management program 21 is not limited to an embodiment in which an accurate inventory count is grasped, for example, without using the inventory status data table 41 as follows, It is also possible to carry out a modification in which a rough inventory count is grasped.

When inventory management is performed without using the inventory status data table 41, each dispenser 60 is equipped with a plurality of inventory sensors. The inventory sensor may be, by way of example and not limitation, an optical sensor. A case where an optical sensor is applied as an inventory sensor will be described with reference to FIGS. 12 and 13. FIG.

FIG. 12 is a front view showing an example of a dispenser in which an inventory sensor is arranged;

FIG. 13 is a block diagram showing an example electronic circuit configuration of a dispenser when an inventory sensor is applied.

In this example, four pairs of inventory sensors 67 (# 1 ) to (# 4 ) are arranged in the storage section 61 of the dispenser 60 .

That is, a pair of inventory sensors 67 (#1L) and 67 (#1R) are located near the top in the storage section 61 (#1) on the right side, and a pair of inventory sensors 67 (#1R) are located near the middle height in the storage section 61 (#1). A pair of inventory sensors 67 (#3L) and 67 (#3R) are located near the top of the storage section 61 (#2) on the left side. A pair of inventory sensors 67 (#4L) and 67 (#4R) are arranged near the middle height in (#2).

A pair of inventory sensors 67 are arranged facing each other at the same height in each storage section 61, one being a light emitting section and the other a light receiving section. For example, in the case of a pair of inventory sensors 67 (#1L) and 67 (#1R), one inventory sensor 67 (#1L) is the light emitter and the other inventory sensor 67 (#1R) is the light receiver. . The light emitting section is adjusted to emit light toward the light receiving section, and the light receiving section is adjusted to receive light from the light emitting section. The light receiving section outputs a detection signal F when receiving the light from the light emitting section.

For example, in the example shown in FIG. 12(a), the light emitted by the inventory sensor 67 (1#L), which is the light emitting unit, is received by the inventory sensor 67 (1#R), which is the light receiving unit, and the inventory sensor 67 ( 1#R) outputs the detection signal F(#1). On the other hand, in the case of the inventory sensor 67 (#2), the light emitted by the inventory sensor 67 (#2L), which is the light-emitting portion, is blocked by the sanitary product S, so the inventory sensor 67 (#2R), which is the light receiving portion, not received. Therefore, detection signal F (#2) is not output from inventory sensor 67 (#2R). Similarly, in the case of the inventory sensor 67 (#3) and the inventory sensor 67 (#4), the sanitary product S blocks the light emitted by the inventory sensor 67 (#3L) and (#4L), which are light-emitting portions. Therefore, the light is not received by the stock sensors 67 (#3R) and (#4R), which are light receiving units. Therefore, detection signals F (#3) and (#4) are not output from the inventory sensors 67 (#3R) and (#4R).

The communication unit 75 adds the dispenser ID to the detection signal F and transmits it to the sanitary product provision management server 10 .

In the example shown in FIG. 12(a), only the inventory sensor 67 (1#R) outputs the detection signal F(#1). Therefore, the communication unit 75 adds the dispenser ID to the detection signal F(#1) and transmits it to the sanitary product provision management server 10 .

On the other hand, when the inventory decreases a little and becomes lower than the height of the inventory sensor 67 (#2) as shown in FIG. 12(b), the inventory sensor 67 (#2R) also outputs the detection signal F (#2). become. In this case, the communication unit 75 adds the dispenser ID to the two detection signals F, that is, the detection signal F(#1) and the detection signal F(#2), and transmits them to the sanitary product provision management server 10. do.

In the sanitary product provision management server 10 , the communication section 15 receives the detection signal F to which the dispenser ID is added and outputs it to the inventory management program 21 .

The inventory management program 21 identifies the corresponding dispenser 60 based on the dispenser ID. Furthermore, according to the detection signal F, the inventory of the dispenser 60 is grasped, and the grasped result is linked to the dispenser ID and written to the inventory status database 31 .

As shown in FIG. 12(a), the detection signal F (#1) is the first detection signal to be transmitted after the stock has decreased. When only the detection signal F(#1) is received, the inventory control program 21 can grasp that the inventory is 3/4 or more, that is, 75% or more.

As shown in FIG. 12(b), when the inventory is further reduced, the detection signal (#2) is also transmitted in addition to the detection signal F (#1). When the detection signal (#2) is received in addition to the detection signal F (#1), the inventory management program 21 grasps that the inventory is 2/4 or more and 3/4 or less, that is, 50% or more and 75% or less. can do.

Although not shown, the inventory is further reduced, the sanitary products S stored in the storage portion 61 (#1) are exhausted, and the sanitary products S stored in the storage portion 61 (#2) are discharged. Then, the detection signal F(#3) is also transmitted. When the detection signal (#3) is received in addition to the detection signals F (#1) and (#2), the inventory control program 21 determines that the inventory is 1/4 or more and 2/4 or less, that is, 25% or more and 50%. % or less.

When the inventory decreases further and becomes lower than the height of the inventory sensor 67 (#4), the inventory sensor 67 (#4R) also outputs the detection signal F (#4). When the inventory control program 21 receives the detection signal (#4) in addition to the detection signals F (#1), (#2), and (#3), the inventory is 1/4 or less, that is, 25% or less. can be understood.

As described above, in this modification, it is possible to roughly grasp the stock quantity for each dispenser 60 without using the stock status database 31 .

Moreover, when replenishing the inventory, the following inventory replenishment method can be adopted in this modified example.

When the inventory management program 21 detects a dispenser 60 whose inventory is 25% or less, for example, the inventory replenisher terminal 150 receives a message to replenish the sanitary napkin S together with the dispenser ID of the corresponding dispenser 60. Send.

In response to this, the inventory replenishment worker dispatches to replenish the inventory for the dispenser 60 concerned.

However, when the presence or absence of inventory replenishment is determined by focusing on one dispenser 60 in this way, even if the inventory of other dispensers 60 is not so reduced, only one dispenser 60 If the inventory decrease is drastic, the inventory replenishment worker will be dispatched to replenish the inventory. Inventory cannot be replenished in one dispatch, and the efficiency of inventory replenishment work is poor.

For this reason, the inventory management program 21 may determine the presence or absence of inventory replenishment according to the inventory quantity of each group consisting of a plurality of dispensers 60 instead of focusing on one dispenser 60 . In this case, the group can be, for example, a neighborhood or within the same facility.

For example, in facility T, m (here, m is an integer of 2 or more) dispensers 60 (#1) to 60 (#m) are installed, and these m dispensers 60 (#1 ) to 60(#m), if a total of 100 sanitary napkins S have been delivered, this is considered as the stock quantity of the facility T as a whole.

Then, when one sanitary product S is used in a certain dispenser 60 (here, dispenser 60 (#1)) installed in facility T, the inventory management program 21 In addition to recognizing that the inventory has decreased by one, the total inventory of all m dispensers 60 (#1) to 60 (#m) installed in facility T has decreased by one from 100. Then, it is determined that the number of sheets has reached 99.

With such an inventory management mechanism, it is possible to grasp not only the inventory status of individual dispensers 60 but also the inventory status of the facility T as a whole. In other words, since real-time inventory management of the entire facility T becomes possible, for example, when the inventory quantity of the sanitary napkins S in the entire facility T falls below a predetermined quantity, the inventory program 21 returns the preset quantity. The sanitary product S can be automatically ordered from outside through the sanitary product provision management server 10 .

As a result, it becomes possible to automatically order the sanitary napkins S, so that the efficiency of inventory ordering work can be improved.

In the above description, the sanitary product provision management server 10 notifies the inventory replenisher terminal 150 when inventory replenishment becomes necessary. By accessing the inventory status database 31 from the terminal 150, the inventory of each dispenser 60 can be voluntarily grasped. As a result, it is possible to know in advance which dispenser 60 should be preferentially stocked or how much stock should be prepared.

Further, as described above, since the inventory information Z can be displayed from the display screen 63 of each dispenser 60, the inventory replenishment worker can display the inventory information Z from the display screen 63 by, for example, operating the touch panel on the display screen 63 at the site. is displayed, and the inventory quantity of the dispensers 60 in front of the user can be grasped.

(Second embodiment)
Next, a sanitary product providing device and method according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described.

The sanitary product delivery device and method according to the second embodiment are modifications of the sanitary product delivery device and method according to the first embodiment. Therefore, in the following description of the second embodiment, the same reference numerals are used for the same parts as in the first embodiment, so as to avoid duplication of description and different points will be described.

FIG. 14 is a block diagram showing an electronic circuit configuration example of the sanitary product provision management server 10A in the second embodiment.

The sanitary product provision management server 10A shown in FIG. 14 differs from the sanitary product provision management server 10 shown in FIG. 5 in that the encryption program 26 is stored in the memory 20 .

FIG. 15 is a block diagram showing an electronic circuit configuration example of the dispenser 60A in the second embodiment.

The dispenser 60A shown in FIG. 15 has a configuration in which a decoding program 84 is stored in a memory 80, a Bluetooth (registered trademark) communication unit 77 is connected to a bus 71, and a communication unit 75 is not provided. different from

In the first embodiment, as shown in step S14 in FIG. , is transmitted to the dispenser 60 via the communication network 200 . The transmitted permission signal C is then received by the dispenser 60 as shown in step S15 of FIG. 10C. Note that the permission signal C is not encrypted.

In contrast, the present embodiment differs from the first embodiment as outlined below.

First, in the sanitary product provision management server 10A, when the discharge permission program 25 generates the permission signal C, the encryption program 26 uses the shared key K linked to the dispenser ID stored in the shared key database 36. to encrypt the authorization signal C. The encryption program 26 then transmits the encrypted permission signal C from the communication unit 15 via the communication network 200 to the user terminal 100 instead of the dispenser 60A. Then, upon receiving this encrypted permission signal C, the user terminal 100 transmits it to the dispenser 60A.

Details of the difference between the present embodiment as described above and the first embodiment will be described below.

First, encryption will be explained.

As described in the first embodiment, permission signal C is generated in response to provision request B transmitted from user terminal 100 to sanitary product provision management server 10 . The provision request B includes a user ID, a dispenser ID, and a beacon signal A. Further, the shared key K stored in the shared key storage unit 93 of each dispenser 60 is stored in the shared key database 36 in association with the corresponding dispenser ID.

Therefore, the encryption program 26 extracts the dispenser ID from the supply request B. FIG. Then, the shared key K stored in association with this dispenser ID is obtained from the shared key storage unit 93 . Then, using this shared key K, the permission signal C is encrypted.

Then, the encryption program 26 causes the communication unit 15 to transmit the encrypted permission signal C to the user terminal 100 that sent the provision request B, instead of the dispenser 60A, via the communication network 200 .

In the user terminal 100 that is the transmission source of the provision request B, a dedicated application is activated. The dedicated application receives the encrypted authorization signal C using the communication function of the user terminal 100 .

When the encrypted permission signal C is received by the user terminal 100, the dedicated application uses the Bluetooth (registered trademark) function of the user terminal 100 to establish a connection with the dispenser 60A.

After the connection, when Bluetooth communication becomes possible between the Bluetooth communication unit 77 and the user terminal 100, the dedicated application sends an encrypted permission signal C to the Bluetooth communication unit using the Bluetooth function of the user terminal 100. 77.

Bluetooth communication unit 77 receives encrypted permission signal C and outputs it to memory 80 via bus 71 .

When encrypted permission signal C is output to memory 80 , decryption program 84 decrypts encrypted permission signal C using shared key K stored in shared key storage unit 93 . Since this shared key K is the same as the shared key K used for encryption by the encryption program 26 of the sanitary product provision management server 10A, the decryption program 84 converts the encrypted permission signal C into The permission signal C can be obtained by decrypting using this shared key K. FIG.

After that, the dispenser 60A operates in the same manner as the dispenser 60 as shown in steps S15 to S17 in the flowchart of FIG. Then, an instruction to discharge one sanitary product S stored in the storage part 61 is given, and the discharge mechanism of the storage part 61 is operated according to this discharge instruction, and the sanitary product S is discharged. Thereby, the user can take out the sanitary product S from the outlet 62 and use it.

Further, according to this discharge operation, the dispenser 60A operates as shown in step S18 in the flowchart of FIG. 10C, and the discharge signal generation program 83 generates the discharge signal D including the dispenser ID. The generated discharge signal D is transmitted from the communication unit 75 to the sanitary product provision management server 10 by the discharge signal generation program 83 in the first embodiment. function is used to transmit to the connected user terminal 100 .

The dedicated application running on the user terminal 100 receives the transmitted ejection signal D using the Bluetooth function of the user terminal 100 . When the user terminal 100 receives the discharge signal D, the dedicated application uses the communication function of the user terminal 100 to transmit the discharge signal D to the sanitary product provision management server 10A via the communication network 200. FIG.

In the sanitary product provision management server 10</b>A, the communication section 15 receives the discharge signal D and outputs it to the memory 20 via the bus 11 .

After that, the sanitary product provision management server 10A operates similarly to the sanitary product provision management server 10 as shown in steps S19 to S22 in the flowchart of FIG. 10C to perform user management and inventory management.

As described above, the sanitary product delivery device and method according to the second embodiment of the present invention can achieve the same functions as the sanitary product delivery device and method according to the first embodiment, but Communication between the provision management server 10A and the dispenser 60A is not made directly, but is made through the user terminal 100. FIG.

Therefore, the dispenser 60A does not need to be provided with the communication section 75 that the dispenser 60 is provided with, so that the configuration can be simplified and the cost can be reduced.

Note that when communication between the sanitary product provision management server 10A and the dispenser 60A is performed via the user terminal 100, in particular, the user terminal 100 receives the permission signal C from the sanitary product provision management server 10A, When transmitting the received authorization signal C to the dispenser 60A, if the authorization signal C is not encrypted, the authorization signal C may be illegally rewritten in the user terminal 100 and the dispenser 60A may be used illegally. However, in this embodiment, since the encrypted permission signal C is transmitted from the sanitary product provision management server 10A to the dispenser 60A, the permission signal C is not illegally rewritten, thereby preventing unauthorized use of the dispenser 60A. be able to.

If there is no need to consider the prevention of unauthorized use, the encryption program 26 is removed from the sanitary product provision management server 10A, and the authorization signal C is not encrypted. 100 is also possible.

In this case, since there is no need to decode the permission signal C, it is possible to eliminate the decoding program 84 from the dispenser 60A.

(Third Embodiment)
Next, a sanitary product providing device and method according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described. The sanitary product delivery device and method according to the third embodiment are modifications of the sanitary product delivery device and method according to the second embodiment. Therefore, in the following description of the third embodiment, the same reference numerals are used for the same parts as those in the first and second embodiments, so as to avoid duplication of description and different points will be described.

FIG. 16 is a block diagram showing an electronic circuit configuration example of the sanitary product provision management server 10B in the third embodiment.

The configuration of the sanitary product provision management server 10B shown in FIG. Different from 10A.

FIG. 17 is a block diagram showing an electronic circuit configuration example of the dispenser 60B in the third embodiment.

Dispenser 60B shown in FIG. 17 differs from dispenser 60A shown in FIG. 15 in that decryption program 84 is not stored in memory 80 and hash verification unit 85 is stored.

In the first embodiment, as shown in step S14 in FIG. , is transmitted to the dispenser 60 via the communication network 200 . The transmitted permission signal C is then received by the dispenser 60 as shown in step S15 of FIG. 10C. Note that the permission signal C is not encrypted.

In contrast, the present embodiment differs from the first embodiment as outlined below.

First, in this embodiment, in the sanitary product provision management server 10B, when the discharge permission program 25 generates the permission signal C, the time-based hash generation unit 27 associates it with the dispenser ID stored in the shared key database 36. A time-based hash H is generated using the obtained shared key K. Then, the time-based hash generation unit 27 transmits the time-based hash H together with the permission signal C from the communication unit 15 to the user terminal 100 that sent the provision request B via the communication network 200 .

In the user terminal 100 that is the transmission source of the provision request B, a dedicated application is activated. The dedicated application receives the time base hash H together with the permission signal C using the communication function of the user terminal 100 .

The user terminal 100 and the dispenser 60B are connected by Bluetooth as described in the second embodiment.

When the time base hash H and permission signal C are received by the user terminal 100, the dedicated application transmits the time base hash H and permission signal C to the Bluetooth communication unit 77 using the Bluetooth function.

Bluetooth communication unit 77 receives time base hash H and authorization signal C, and outputs them to memory 80 via bus 71 .

On the other hand, as described in the first embodiment, the encryption program 81 performs time-based hash calculation.

When the time-based hash H and the permission signal C are output to the memory 80, the hash verification unit 85 determines whether the time-based hash H output to the memory 80 is the same as the time-based hash calculated by the encryption program 81. verify the gender.

When the hash verification unit 85 confirms that they are the same, the hash verification unit 85 sends the permission signal C output to the memory 80 to the discharge mechanism control program 82 .

After that, the dispenser 60B operates in the same manner as the dispenser 60 as shown in steps S15 to S17 in the flowchart of FIG. Then, an instruction to discharge one sanitary product S stored in the storage part 61 is given, and the discharge mechanism of the storage part 61 is operated according to this discharge instruction, and the sanitary product S is discharged. Thereby, the user can take out the sanitary product S from the outlet 62 and use it.

Further, in response to this discharge operation, the dispenser 60B operates in the same manner as the dispenser 60A in the second embodiment, and the sanitary product provision management server 10B transmits the discharge signal D transmitted from the user terminal 100 to the communication unit 15. receives and outputs to memory 20 .

After that, the sanitary product provision management server 10B operates like the sanitary product provision management server 10, as shown in steps S19 to S22 in the flowchart of FIG. 10C, and performs user management and inventory management.

As described above, in the sanitary product provision device and method according to the third embodiment of the present invention, as in the second embodiment, communication between the sanitary product provision management server 10B and the dispenser 60B is performed by the user. Even if the terminal 100 relays, unauthorized use of the dispenser 60B can be prevented.

However, this can be achieved without encrypting the authorization signal C by generating the time-based hash H in the sanitary product provision management server 10B and verifying its identity with the time-based hash generated in the dispenser 60B. This point is different from the second embodiment.

Although the best mode for carrying out the present invention has been described above with reference to the accompanying drawings, the present invention is not limited to such a configuration. Within the scope of the invented technical idea of the claims, those skilled in the art can conceive of various modifications and modifications, and these modifications and modifications are also within the technical scope of the present invention. be understood to belong to

1 sanitary product provision device 10, 10A, 10B sanitary product provision management server 11 bus 12 CPU
13 External recording medium 14 Recording medium reading unit 15 Communication unit 20 Memory 21 Inventory management program 22 User management program 23 Specific program 24 Judgment program 25 Discharge permission program 26 Encryption program 27 Time base hash generation unit 29 Writable data area 30 Storage Device 31 Inventory status database 32 User provision history database 33 Judgment condition database 34 Dispenser installation location database 35 User registration information database 36 Shared key database 41 Inventory status data table 42 User provision history data table 44 Dispenser installation location data table 60, 60A, 60B Dispenser 61 Storage unit 62 Discharge port 63 Display screen 64 Front door 65 Lock 66 QR code 67 Inventory sensor 71 Bus 72 CPU
73 External recording medium 74 Recording medium reading unit 75 Communication unit 76 Beacon transmission unit 77 Bluetooth reception unit 80 Memory 81 Encryption program 82 Ejection mechanism control program 83 Ejection signal generation program 84 Decryption program 85 Hash verification unit 89 Writable data area 90 Storage device 91 Storage unit 92 Advertisement image data storage unit 93 Shared key storage unit 100 User terminal 150 Inventory replenisher terminal 200 Communication network

Claims (17)

a dispenser for holding and providing a sanitary product;
an inventory management unit that manages an inventory status of the sanitary napkins held in the dispenser;
a user management unit that manages a history of provision of the sanitary product from the dispenser to the user;
a determination unit that determines whether or not to provide the sanitary product to the user based on the provision history in response to a provision request from the user requesting provision of the sanitary product;
If the determination unit determines that the sanitary napkin can be provided, and if the inventory status managed by the inventory management unit indicates that the sanitary napkin is in stock, the dispenser is permitted to discharge the sanitary napkin. and a discharge permitting unit. There are a plurality of the dispensers, each installed at a different location,
2. The sanitary product providing device according to claim 1, wherein said inventory management unit, said user management unit, said determination unit, and said discharge permission unit are provided in common for said plurality of dispensers. 3. The sanitary product delivery device according to claim 2, wherein each of said plurality of dispensers is installed in a toilet cubicle. The provision request is transmitted from the user terminal of the user and includes user identification information that identifies the user and dispenser identification information that identifies the dispenser for which the user is requesting provision of the sanitary product;
The user is identified based on the user identification information included in the provision request transmitted from the user terminal, and the user requests provision of the sanitary product based on the dispenser identification information included in the provision request. 4. The sanitary product delivery device according to claim 2 or 3, further comprising an identification unit that identifies the dispenser that is being used. 5. The apparatus according to claim 4, further comprising a first transmission unit provided in each of the plurality of dispensers and configured to transmit the dispenser identification information of the corresponding dispenser to the user terminal so as to be included in the provision request. sanitary product delivery device. 6. The physiology according to claim 5, further comprising an encryption unit provided in each of the plurality of dispensers and encrypting the dispenser identification information before the dispenser identification information is transmitted by the first transmission unit. Goods supply device. The dispenser is
a storage unit for storing the sanitary product;
a discharge signal generation unit configured to generate a discharge signal including the dispenser identification information when the sanitary product stored in the storage unit is discharged in response to discharge permission from the discharge permission unit;
a second transmission unit that transmits the ejection signal generated by the ejection signal generation unit;
The user management unit identifies the dispenser that transmitted the discharge signal based on the dispenser identification information included in the transmitted discharge signal,
The inventory management unit manages the inventory status of the sanitary products by updating the discharge history of the sanitary products for each of the plurality of dispensers based on the identification result of the dispenser by the user management unit. 7. A sanitary product delivery device according to any one of claims 4-6. 8. The sanitary product providing device according to any one of claims 4 to 7, wherein said user management unit manages said provision history for each user. The determination unit determines whether or not the user is in menstruation based on the provision history of the user, and determines that provision is possible when it is determined that the user is in menstruation. Item 9. The sanitary product providing device according to Item 8. The determination unit determines whether or not the user is in the menstrual period based on the provision history of the user, and if it is determined that the user is in the menstrual period, the last provision of the sanitary product is further performed. 9. The sanitary product providing device according to claim 8, which determines that the sanitary product can be provided when a predetermined time or more has passed from the time.
The determination unit determines whether or not the user is in menstruation based on the provision history of the user, and if it is determined that the user is in menstruation, the determination unit further determines that the provision history of the user 9. The sanitary product providing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the sanitary product providing device according to claim 8 determines that the sanitary product can be provided when the number of sanitary products provided to the user during the menstrual period does not reach a predetermined number based on the above. 12. Any one of claims 9 to 11, wherein the determining unit determines whether the user is in a menstrual period based on a menstrual cycle transmitted from the user terminal instead of the user's provision history. 1. The sanitary product providing device according to claim 1. The dispenser further comprises a display screen for displaying advertisements,
11. The sanitary product delivery device according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein said sanitary product is purchased with income obtained from advertisements displayed from said display screen. A server that manages the provision of sanitary products,
an inventory management unit that manages the inventory status of the sanitary napkins stored in the dispenser;
a user management unit that manages a history of provision of the sanitary product from the dispenser to the user;
a determination unit that determines whether or not to provide the sanitary product to the user based on the provision history in response to a provision request from the user requesting provision of the sanitary product;
If the determining unit determines that the sanitary napkin can be provided, and if the inventory status managed by the inventory management unit indicates that the sanitary napkin is in stock, the dispenser is permitted to discharge the sanitary napkin. a sanitary product provision management server, comprising a discharge permitting unit. the computer,
an inventory management unit that manages the inventory status of the sanitary napkins stored in the dispenser;
a user management unit that manages a history of provision of the sanitary product from the dispenser to the user;
a determination unit that determines whether or not to provide the sanitary product to the user based on the provision history in response to a provision request from the user requesting provision of the sanitary product;
If the determining unit determines that the sanitary napkin can be provided, and if the inventory status managed by the inventory management unit indicates that the sanitary napkin is in stock, the dispenser is permitted to discharge the sanitary napkin. Discharge Permit Department to
A program to function as a dispenser for storing sanitary products;
A server that manages the dispenser,
The server is
Upon receiving a provision request from a user requesting provision of the sanitary product, determining whether or not to provide the sanitary product in accordance with the provision request,
When it is determined that the sanitary product can be provided, a permission signal is sent to the dispenser to permit discharge of the sanitary product;
The dispenser is
A sanitary product providing device that discharges the sanitary product in response to the permission signal. A method for providing sanitary products realized by a dispenser that stores sanitary products and a server that manages the dispenser,
The server is
Upon receiving a provision request from a user requesting provision of the sanitary product, determining whether or not to provide the sanitary product in accordance with the provision request,
When it is determined that the sanitary product can be provided, a permission signal is sent to the dispenser to permit discharge of the sanitary product;
The dispenser is
A sanitary product providing method, wherein the sanitary product is discharged in response to the permission signal.

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