JP4343935B2 - Service providing order changing method, service providing apparatus, and service providing program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a service order change method, a service order change apparatus, and a service order change program.

  When a service provider cannot provide a service to a large number of customers at the same time, it is necessary to provide the service in a certain order. Usually, the order is the order in which the customer requested the service provision window to provide the service. For example, if you want to receive a deposit withdrawal service at a bank counter, you can receive the service when you take a numbered number tag near the counter and call your number. it can. Or, in a system that sends questions over the network and obtains the answers, if the questions are entered in the question entry form displayed on the web browser and sent to the server, the answers are created in the order of the received date of the questions. To send. In this way, it is possible to provide services without confusing customers.

  By the way, there is a case where it is desired to receive service preferentially over other customers due to customer circumstances. As a method of meeting such needs, for example, if you want to receive an answer service to a question, you can pay a special charge so that you can receive answers in preference to customers who do not pay a special charge. .

  As described above, the method in which priority is given to the order in which services are provided by payment of a special fee allows the person who paid the fee to receive the service provision more preferentially than the person who does not pay. However, those who paid a special fee are not superior or inferior, and if customers who paid a special fee of the same amount were given a service preferentially to a specific person, it could give an unfair feeling to other customers. Absent.

  It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for changing the order of service provision so as not to give an unfair feeling to a customer.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the present invention 1 provides a service provision order changing method executed by a service provision terminal connected to a plurality of user terminals including a first user terminal and a second user terminal via a network. . The method includes the following steps.
A service request transmitted from the plurality of user terminals is received, a service provision order is determined in the order in which the service requests are received, and an identifier, an order, and a point for identifying the service request transmission source user terminal are recorded in one record Service request recording step for storing in the storage means as
A providing step of providing the requested service to the user terminal based on the order stored in the storage means;
Receiving an order change request including a priority indicating an order variation value from the first user terminal, referring to the first order included in the same record as the identifier of the first user terminal in the storage means, and A target specifying step of calculating a second order which is a new order based on one order and the priority, and specifying a second record including the second order;
An inquiry step of transmitting an inquiry about whether or not the order can be changed and receiving an answer to the second user terminal specified by the identifier in the second record specified in the target specifying step;
• If the answer to the inquiry is modifiable, Reorder to change the first order of the first in the record is changed to the second order, the second order in the second record in the first order Step,
· Before Symbol subtracting a point from points included in the priority corresponding to the first record, point updating step of adding the priority corresponding points of the points included in the second record.

The present invention 2 provides a service providing terminal connected to a plurality of user terminals including a first user terminal and a second user terminal via a network. This terminal includes the following means.
A service request transmitted from the plurality of user terminals is received, a service provision order is determined in the order in which the service requests are received, and an identifier, an order, and a point for identifying the service request transmission source user terminal are recorded in one record Service request recording means for storing in the storage means as
Providing means for providing the requested service to the user terminal based on the order stored in the storage means;
Receiving an order change request including a priority indicating an order variation value from the first user terminal, referring to the first order included in the same record as the identifier of the first user terminal in the storage means, and A target specifying means for calculating a second order which is a new order based on one order and the priority, and specifying a second record including the second order;
Inquiry means for transmitting an inquiry about whether or not the order can be changed and receiving an answer to the second user terminal specified by the identifier in the second record specified by the target specifying means;
• If the answer to the inquiry is modifiable, Reorder to change the first order of the first in the record is changed to the second order, the second order in the second record in the first order means,
· Before Symbol points from points included in the priority corresponding to the first record is subtracted, point update means for adding said priority corresponding points of the points included in the second record.

The present invention 3 provides a service providing program executed by a computer connected to a plurality of user terminals including a first user terminal and a second user terminal via a network. This program causes the computer to function as the following means.
A service request transmitted from the plurality of user terminals is received, a service provision order is determined in the order in which the service requests are received, and an identifier, an order, and a point for identifying the service request transmission source user terminal are recorded in one record Service request recording means for storing in the storage means as
Providing means for providing the requested service to the user terminal based on the order stored in the storage means;
Receiving an order change request including a priority indicating an order variation value from the first user terminal, referring to the first order included in the same record as the identifier of the first user terminal in the storage means, and A target specifying means for calculating a second order which is a new order based on one order and the priority, and specifying a second record including the second order;
Inquiry means for transmitting an inquiry about whether or not the order can be changed and receiving an answer to the second user terminal specified by the identifier in the second record specified by the target specifying means;
• If the answer to the inquiry is modifiable, Reorder to change the first order of the first in the record is changed to the second order, the second order in the second record in the first order means,
· Before Symbol points from points included in the priority corresponding to the first record is subtracted, point update means for adding said priority corresponding points of the points included in the second record.

  In the present invention, the order of service provision can be changed according to the will of the parties receiving the service provision, and the order of service provision can be changed so as not to give unfairness to the customer.

<First Embodiment>
[Constitution]
FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a question reception system according to the first embodiment. In this system, the question management server 1, the questioner terminals 2a and 2b (hereinafter referred to as the questioner terminal 2), and the respondent terminal 3 are connected by a network 4 such as the Internet or an intranet.

  The question management server 1 includes a mail server 11, a question registration unit 12, an order management unit 13, a question DB 14, a point management unit 15, a question processing unit 16, a Web server 17, and a notification unit 18. is doing. The mail server 11 is, for example, a known Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) server, and transmits an e-mail including the contents illustrated in FIGS. 8, 10, 12, 14, and 17 to the questioner terminal 2. The notification unit 18 instructs the mail server 11 to send an e-mail to the questioner terminal 2. The question registration unit 12 provides a question input screen illustrated in FIG. 7 to the questioner terminal 2 to accept input of questions, and groups the inputted questions and registers them in the question database (DB) 14. Moreover, the question registration part 12 mentions later about grouping. When the “priority change” button is clicked on the menu screen illustrated in FIG. 6, the question registration unit 12 provides the questioner terminal 2 with the priority change screen illustrated in FIG. 13. In this screen, when the priority is designated and the “change” button is clicked, the question registration unit 12 accepts a change in the priority for the question already input. The priority change screen may display the current waiting number in real time. By using this screen, the questioner can check the order of the already registered questions and the degree of stay of the entire question. Moreover, the priority of the question already registered can be changed as needed. When the priority registration is received, the question registration unit 12 transmits a priority change notification, which is an e-mail including the contents illustrated in FIG. 14, to the questioner terminal 2. The question DB 14 accumulates questions. The order management unit 13 changes the order of answers to the questions stored in the question DB 14 in accordance with the input on the change request screen and the order change inquiry screen illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 11, respectively, or by the order change process described later. To do.

  The point management unit 15 adds or subtracts predetermined points to the questioner whose answer order has been changed, and instructs the mail server 11 to notify the contents of the point adjustment illustrated in FIGS. 10 and 12. Here, the point is a numerical value having a certain benefit and exchangeability, for example, if a certain person has a predetermined number of points, the price for purchasing a certain product is discounted by a predetermined rate. For exchanging points and benefits, for example, the point management unit 15 and a POS system of a merchandise dealer (not shown) are connected via a LAN or the like, and the discount rate of the merchandise according to the current point of the questioner is not shown for each questioner. When the product is registered / updated in the POS host and the questioner purchases the product at the product sales store, the product is sold by discounting the price by the discount rate registered from the product price at the POS terminal. As compensation for discount sales of product prices, for example, when the administrator of the question management server 1 also serves as a product manufacturer, the purchase price is the total discount price at the time of product purchase settlement from the product manufacturer to the product seller. It can also be deducted from.

The question processing unit 16 presents the questions registered in the question DB 14 to the respondent terminal 3 in order and requests input of answers. The web server 17 transmits web pages illustrated in FIGS. 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15, and 16 in response to a request from the questioner terminal 2 or the respondent terminal 3.
The interrogator terminal 2 has a web browser 21 and a mailer 22. The Web browser 21 requests the Web server 17 to display the transmission of the Web pages illustrated in FIGS. 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, and 13, and displays information and commands input to these Web pages as necessary. Are transmitted to the Web server 17. The mailer 22 receives and displays the electronic mail transmitted from the mail server 11.

The respondent terminal 3 has a web browser 31. The web browser 31 requests and displays the transmission of the web page illustrated in FIGS. 15 and 16 from the web server 17, and transmits information and commands input to these web pages to the web server 17 as necessary. .
FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing data stored in the question DB 14 in a table format. The question DB 14 has fields of “order”, “acceptance date / time”, “questioner”, “question content”, “current point”, “priority”, “order change”, and “group”. “Order” indicates the order in which answers to questions are created. “Reception date and time” is the date and time when the question was accepted. “Questioner” is the name of the questioner who made the question. Here, it is assumed that the name of the questioner is unique in the question DB 14. In the “questioner”, an identifier such as an ID number of the questioner may be accumulated. “Question content” indicates the content of the question. “Current point” is a point currently held by the questioner. The “priority” is designated by the questioner when the question is transmitted. Here, when the priority is positive, it indicates that the order of the questions is raised, and when the priority is negative, it indicates that the order of the questions can be lowered. “Change order” is a flag indicating whether or not the order has been changed by the order change process described later. “Done” indicates that the order has been changed, and “Not” indicates that the order has not been changed. Accumulated. “Group” indicates a group to which each record stored in the question DB 14 belongs. Here, in the “group” field, “1, 2”,. For example, in the queue composed of records A, B, C, D, E, F,... Illustrated in FIG. 18A, the top three records are grouped in order. 18B, records A, B, and C belong to group 1, records D, E, and F belong to group 2,.

[Process flow]
(1) Process Flow in Entire System Next, the process performed in the question management server 1 will be outlined with reference to FIGS. 3 to 17. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing the flow of processing in the entire system. In this system, a question input from the questioner terminal 2 is transmitted to the respondent terminal 3 via the question management server 1 and an answer is input. Then, the input answer is transmitted to the questioner terminal 2 via the question management server 1.

  First, a question input screen is transmitted from the question management server 1 to the questioner terminal 2a (# 1). The transmission of the question input screen is performed as follows, for example. First, a login screen as shown in FIG. 5 is displayed on the Web browser 21a of the questioner terminal 2a, and the menu screen illustrated in FIG. 6 is displayed by inputting the member number and password on this screen. When the “question input” button is clicked, the question input screen illustrated in FIG. 7 is transmitted to the questioner terminal 2a (# 1).

  The question content is entered in the “question content” text box of this question input screen. The priority is specified by pressing the “high” or “low” radio button and scrolling and selecting a numerical value in the list box. On this screen, a numerical value below the current point of the questioner can be designated as the priority. Here, when priority n (n is an arbitrary integer) is specified, the record is changed to an n-order higher or lower order as described later, and at the same time, -n points are added to the questioner. It is also possible to make the numerical value of the points added with the change other than the above. And the questioner who asks a question using the questioner terminal 2a shall designate the negative priority. When the question and priority are input and the “OK” button is pressed, the question data Q1 including the question content, priority, membership number and other information is transmitted to the question management server 1 (# 2). The transmitted question data Q1 is registered with the lowest order and group in the question DB 14. When the question data Q1 is registered, the mail server 11 transmits a question acceptance completion notification, which is an e-mail notifying that the question has been accepted, to the questioner terminal 2a (# 3).

  Similarly, a log-in screen illustrated in FIG. 5 is displayed on the Web browser 21b of the questioner terminal 2b, and the menu screen in FIG. 6 is displayed when the member number and password are input on this screen. When the “question input” button is clicked, the question input screen illustrated in FIG. 7 is transmitted to the questioner terminal 2b (# 4). Similarly to the above, when the question and priority are input and the “OK” button is pressed, the question data Q2 including the question content, priority, member number and other information is transmitted to the question management server 1 (# 5). The transmitted question data Q2 is registered in the question DB 14 with the lowest order and group in the question DB 14, and the order is after the question data Q1. When the question data Q2 is registered in the question DB 14, the mail server 11 transmits a question acceptance completion notification, which is an electronic mail including the contents illustrated in FIG. 8, to the questioner terminal 2a (# 6).

  When the “change request” button is clicked on the menu screen illustrated in FIG. 6, the change request screen illustrated in FIG. 9 is displayed. The order change request for changing the order of the question data Q2 in the question DB 14 to the higher order by selecting the priority with the priority radio button and list box at the bottom of the screen and clicking the “change request” button is a question. Is transmitted from the person management terminal 2b to the question management server 1 (# 7). Here, a numerical value below the displayed current point can be designated as the priority. And the questioner who asks a question using the questioner terminal 2b desires to change the current order of 14th place to 9th place instead of providing 5 points, and sets the priority “high” to “5”. It shall be specified. When receiving the order change request, the question management server 1 makes an order change inquiry to the questioner terminal 2a according to the priority of the question data Q1 and the question data Q2 (# 8). The inquiry is made, for example, by sending an e-mail with the contents as shown in FIG.

  For example, a hyperlink is embedded in the e-mail, and when the hyperlink is clicked, a screen illustrated in FIG. 11 is transmitted from the web server 17 and displayed by the web browser 21a. When the “Yes” button is clicked on this screen, a notification that the order change is permitted is transmitted to the question management server 1 (# 9). Upon receiving this notification, the question management server 1 changes the order of the records by changing the order of the record including the question data Q1 and the record including the question data Q2 in the question DB 14, and indicates that the order has been changed. 2b is notified (# 10). This notification is performed by transmitting an e-mail in which the contents illustrated in FIG. 12 are described. Note that the processing of steps # 7 to # 10 may be omitted and the order of the questions may be changed by only the order change processing described later, but in the processing of steps # 7 to # 10, depending on the negotiation between the questioners, It is convenient for the questioner who can quickly give an answer because the order can be listed at the top.

  The question management server 1 transmits an answer input screen S2 to the respondent terminal 3 (# 11). This screen is transmitted when the “Reply” button is clicked on the respondent homepage (HP) displayed by the Web browser 31 of the respondent terminal 3 as illustrated in FIG. In this answerer HP, the question content included in the question data Q2 to be answered next by the answerer is displayed. FIG. 16 is an example of an answer input screen. The question content included in the question data Q2 is displayed at the top of the screen. In the “answer field” at the bottom of the screen, an answer A2 for this question can be entered. Furthermore, a point to be added to the current point of the questioner can be designated in the “currently acquired points” at the bottom of the screen. Here, 0 is designated as the current acquisition point for an answer to a question whose order has been raised by changing the order. When the “Send” button is pressed, the answer input screen S2 is closed and the answerer home page is returned, and the answer A2 is sent to the question management server 1 (# 12). The content of the question included in the question data Q1 to be answered next is displayed on the respondent home page displayed again. The question management server 1 transmits the answer A2 to the questioner terminal 2b (# 13). The reply A2 is transmitted by, for example, transmitting an e-mail in which the contents shown in FIG. 17 are described.

  Next, when the “Yes” button is clicked again on the respondent home page, an answer input screen S1 similar to FIG. 16 is transmitted to the respondent terminal 3 (# 14). Unlike the answer input screen S2, the question content included in the question data Q1 to be answered next is displayed on the upper part of the answer input screen S1. In the “answer field” at the bottom of the screen, an answer A1 to the question content of the question data Q1 is input. Furthermore, an arbitrary point to be added to the current point of the questioner can be designated in the “currently acquired points” at the bottom of the screen. The designated point is added to the current point of the questioner by the point management unit 15. Here, if you specify a positive number as the “Acquired Points” in the answer to a question whose order has been lowered by changing the order, the questioner who gave up the order will be given the merit of adding points. The order can be changed without causing unfairness among the persons. In addition, since designation of points is arbitrary, it is possible to designate 0 or a relatively small positive number as “acquired points of this time”, and change the order of questions after asking questions for the purpose of simply obtaining points. It is also possible not to give points to the questioner who accepted it. Accordingly, there is a possibility that a question may be asked only for the purpose of acquiring points because points are added to a question whose order has been moved down by the order changing process described later. The questioner is not given points using the answer input screen shown in FIG. 16, and such a problem can be prevented.

  When the “Send” button is pressed, the answer input screen S1 is closed and the answerer home page is returned, and the answer A1 is sent to the question management server 1 (# 15). On the respondent home page displayed again, the questions in the order after the question data Q1 in the question DB 14 are displayed. The question management server 1 transmits the answer A1 to the questioner terminal 2a (# 16). The answer A1 is transmitted, for example, by transmitting an e-mail.

It should be noted that a plurality of respondent terminals 3 may be provided, and the top question among the questions registered in the question DB 14 may be answered sequentially from the respondent terminal 3 that has completed one answer. By doing so, as in the case of a counter service in a bank or the like, even if there are a plurality of respondent terminals 3, it is possible to receive answers from questioners whose order in the question DB 14 is higher.
(2) Process Flow in Question Management Server Next, the flow of the order change process performed in the question management server 1 will be described. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the flow of the order change process. In this process, the order of the records with high priority is changed every predetermined time with the order of the records with low priority among the records belonging to a group different from that record. This process is performed by the order management unit 13.

Step S1: The order management unit 13 determines whether or not a predetermined time T1, for example, 1 hour has elapsed. If it has elapsed, the process goes to step S2. If not, the above determination is repeated until T1 has elapsed.
Step S2: The order management unit 13 sets the “change order” field of all the records in the question DB 14 to “not yet”.

  Step S3: The order management unit 13 determines whether there is a group whose order is not compared (hereinafter referred to as an uncompared group). Here, the uncompared group is a group in which all the order change fields of all the records belonging to the group are “not yet”. If an uncompared group exists, the process proceeds to step S4. If there is no uncompared group, the process returns to step S1.

Step S4: The order management unit 13 acquires all records belonging to the highest uncompared group in a DRAM (not shown) of the question management server 1 or the like.
Step S5: The order management unit 13 determines whether there is a record that does not compare the order of the records acquired in Step S4 (hereinafter referred to as an uncompared record). Here, an uncompared record is a record whose record order change field is “unknown”. When there is an uncompared record, the process proceeds to step S6. If there is no uncompared record, the process returns to step S3.

Step S6: The order management unit 13 acquires one uncompared record from the question DB 14 to a DRAM (not shown) included in the question management server 1 or the like.
Step S7: The order management unit 13 determines whether the priority of the uncompared record acquired in step S6 is a positive numerical value. If the priority is positive, the process proceeds to step S8. If the priority is not positive, the process returns to step S5.

Step S8: The order management unit 13 acquires one record (hereinafter referred to as an upper record) belonging to a group (hereinafter referred to as an upper group) having a smaller numerical value in the “group” field than the group acquired in Step S4.
Step S9: The order management unit 13 determines whether or not the priority P1 of the uncompared record> the priority P2 of the upper record. If P1> P2, the process proceeds to step S10. In the case of P1 ≦ P2, the process returns to step S8, and the records that have not yet been acquired among the records included in the upper group are acquired as upper records.

Step S10: The order management unit 13 determines whether or not the order change field of the upper record is “completed”. If completed, the process proceeds to step S11. If not, the process proceeds to step S12.
Step S11: The order management unit 13 determines whether or not steps S8 to S10 have been performed for all the upper records. If so, the process returns to step S5. If not, the process returns to step S8, and steps S8 to S10 are performed for the upper group that has not been performed yet.

  Step S12: The order management unit 13 replaces the order and group of the uncompared record and the upper record, and sets the order change field of the uncompared record and the upper record to “Done”. By providing an order change field, it is possible to prevent the order from changing more than once within the predetermined time T1, and by frequently changing the order, a relatively low-priority question can be answered at any time. It is possible to prevent the situation that cannot be done.

Step S13: The order management unit 13 decrements the current point of the record moved to the upper level by a predetermined number, for example, 1 point. Next, the current point of the record moved downward is increased by a predetermined number, for example, 1 point. And it returns to step S5 and performs the process of step S5-S13 about the high-order record which has not yet performed the process of step S5-S13.
By the process # 7 to # 10 of FIG. 3 or the order change process of FIG. 3, the order of the records with high priority is the order of the records existing in the higher order of the question DB 14 and every predetermined time or according to the request of the questioner. In order to switch, it is possible to obtain answers preferentially by setting a high priority on the question input screen of FIG. 7 or the priority change screen of FIG. On the other hand, since points are added when the order of answers is given to other questions, a person who asks a question that does not require urgent matters can obtain points by giving his or her order to others. The acquired points can be exchanged for various benefits such as discounts on products using a POS system or a credit card payment system connected to the system. Further, as shown in FIGS. 7, 9 and 13, since the priority can be set to an arbitrary value according to the number of points owned by itself, the order change width can be increased or decreased as necessary. Even if the “group” field does not exist in the question DB 14, the order of answers can be determined by the value of the “order” field, and the order can be changed by comparing questions between groups as in step S8 described above. It is also possible to compare individual questions alone. However, when questions with high priority are continuously present in the question DB 14, there arises a problem that an answer to a question at a lower level cannot be obtained indefinitely. Therefore, since the order is changed between the groups when the priorities of the questions between the groups are compared, it is possible to prevent such a problem.

Second Embodiment
FIG. 19 is an overall configuration diagram of a question reception system according to the second embodiment. In this system, the question management server 1, the questioner terminal 2, and the respondent terminal 3 are connected by a network 4 as in the question reception system according to the first embodiment. The configurations and functions of the questioner terminal 2 and the respondent terminal 3 are the same as those in the first embodiment. Similar to the question management server 1 according to the first embodiment, the question management server 1 is a mail server 11, a question registration unit 12, an order management unit 13, a question DB 14, a point management unit 15, and a question processing unit 16. A web server 17 and a notification unit 18. And it has further the waiting time calculation part 19. FIG. The functions of the mail server 11, the question registration unit 12, the order management unit 13, the question DB 14, the point management unit 15, the question processing unit 16, the Web server 17, and the notification unit 18 are the same as those in the first embodiment.

The waiting time calculation unit 19 calculates the points necessary for this in a case where it is desired that the answerer terminal 3 prepares and transmits an answer to the question from the questioner terminal 2 and calculates the necessary points. The calculation result is transmitted to the server 17. Examples of functions realized by the waiting time calculation unit 19 are shown below. For example, a question input screen as shown in FIG. 20 is displayed by the Web browser 21 instead of FIG. 7 of the first embodiment. In the upper part of this screen, there is a text box for inputting the question contents, as in the question input screen of FIG. At the bottom of the screen, there are a “specify response time limit” check box and a list box for selecting a response time limit. After inputting the contents of the question, check the check box to select the desired time and press the “OK” button. The waiting time calculation unit 19 calculates the points necessary to obtain an answer within the specified time. Is done. The calculation result is transmitted from the time calculation unit 19 to the Web server 17, and a screen as shown in FIG. Here, as a calculation method of the necessary points,
Coefficient * {(Average waiting time per person * Number of records in question DB 14)-(Response deadline)} / (Average waiting time per person * Points required to move up the order)
You can ask for it. Here, the order of a certain waiting record is less likely to rise if there are a large number of waiting records with high priority at the top of the waiting record, so the coefficient becomes a value larger than 1. That is, the coefficient is determined empirically based on points and priorities necessary for providing the service within the specified service deadline.

In this way, since the points necessary for obtaining the answer within the designated time are displayed, the questioner can confirm in advance the points necessary for obtaining the answer within the desired time. The priority can be set according to the answer deadline on the illustrated question acceptance completion screen.
<Third Embodiment>
[Constitution]
FIG. 22 is an overall configuration diagram of a question reception system according to the third embodiment. In this system, the question management server 1, the questioner terminal 2, and the respondent terminal 3 are connected by a network 4 as in the question reception system according to the first embodiment. The configurations and functions of the questioner terminal 2 and the respondent terminal 3 are the same as those in the first embodiment. Similar to the question management server 1 according to the first embodiment, the question management server 1 is a mail server 11, a question registration unit 12, an order management unit 13, a question DB 14, a point management unit 15, and a question processing unit 16. A web server 17 and a notification unit 18. And it further has the respondent expansion part 20. FIG. The functions of the mail server 11, the question registration unit 12, the order management unit 13, the question DB 14, the point management unit 15, the question processing unit 16, the Web server 17, and the notification unit 18 are the same as those in the first embodiment.

  The respondent expansion unit 20 performs respondent expansion processing described later. In this process, it is determined whether or not points according to the number of respondents arbitrarily determined can be collected from the questioner. If the points can be collected, the number of questioner terminals 3 to which answers can be input is increased. to approve. In this system, it is assumed that an administrator of the question management server 1 can exchange points collected by the question management server 1 for some consideration.

[Process flow]
FIG. 23 is a flowchart showing the flow of the respondent addition process.
Step S21: The respondent expansion unit 20 determines whether or not a predetermined time T2, for example, 1 hour has elapsed. If it has elapsed, the process proceeds to step S22. If not, the above determination is repeated until it has elapsed.

Step S22: The respondent expansion unit 20 receives an input of the number of respondent terminals 3 that answer the questions in the question DB 14 using a keyboard (not shown) or the like (hereinafter referred to as the total number of respondents). The total number of respondents is, for example, the number of respondent terminals 3 that can be used and the number of persons who can operate the respondent terminals 3.
Step S23: The respondent expansion unit 20 uses a queue (hereinafter referred to as a temporary queue) where the total number of respondents is the total number of respondents from a queue (hereinafter referred to as a current queue) formed by records currently registered in the question DB 14. Create a queue). The provisional queue is created as follows. For example, assume that the current queue is queue 1 in FIG. Assume that the total number of respondents is two. Temporary queue 2 is created by extracting the questions with the positive priority from the second and subsequent questions of queue 1 in order from the top, so that the total number of queues in each temporary queue is almost the same. Is done. The remaining question obtained by extracting the question of the temporary queue 2 from the queue is the temporary queue 1. FIG. 24B shows the temporary queues 1 and 2 created as described above. FIG. 24C shows temporary queues 1 ′, 2 ′, and 3 ′ that are temporary queues created as described above when the total number of respondents is three.

  Step S24: The respondent addition unit 20 calculates points that can be collected from the questioner (hereinafter referred to as collection points P1) when the queue is changed from the current queue to the temporary queue. The collection points are points that are reduced from the question moved to the upper level, for example, as in step S13 of the order changing process of the first embodiment. In this case, since the questions of priority level 2 and priority level 3 have moved to the next higher order from the temporary queue of FIG. 24B, for example, 2 points can be collected from each question, and a total of 4 points can be collected. . On the other hand, since the question of priority 2 has moved from the temporary queue of FIG. 24 (c) to the second higher order, 2 points are collected from that question, and question of priority 3 has moved to the third higher order. 3 points can be collected from this and a total of 5 points can be collected.

Step S25: The respondent expansion unit 20 calculates necessary points (hereinafter referred to as necessary points P2) according to the total number of respondents. Here, the necessary points are, for example, the number of points obtained by multiplying the number of points equivalent to the cost necessary for answering one question by the total number of questions. Instead of calculating the necessary points, it may be input with a keyboard or the like.
Step S26: The respondent expansion unit 20 determines whether P1 ≧ P2. When P1 ≧ P2, the process proceeds to step S17. If P1 <P2, the number of respondents is not increased and the process ends.

Step S27: The respondent addition unit 20 permits the Web server 17 to access the respondent terminals 3 for the total number of respondents input in Step S12.
Step S28: The respondent expansion unit 20 registers the temporary queue as a current queue in the question DB 14. For example, queue registration is performed by creating and storing a plurality of tables similar to FIG. 2 for each queue. In this case, it is possible to perform the order change process of the first embodiment for each of a plurality of registered queues.

If the above processing is performed, unlike the case where the question is simply processed by the plurality of respondent terminals 3, it is possible to collect points suitable for creating the answers by the plurality of respondent terminals 3.
<Other embodiments>
(A) The said 1st-3rd embodiment has illustrated the case where this invention is applied to a question reception system. However, the present invention can be applied to other service providing systems. For example, in a credit card application processing system, online sales system, order sales system, etc., after a customer applies for service or product provision to a service or product provider, the service or product provider reviews the application contents. The application content is effective after some work, etc., but it usually takes time to review each application. Therefore, when it is necessary to change the order of this work for the convenience of the customer, by applying the present invention to these systems, the credit card issuance order, merchandise shipping order, order receiving order, etc. can be changed. And can be changed so as not to give unfairness to the product buyer.

  (B) In the first to third embodiments, the current point is accumulated in the question DB 14. However, as illustrated in FIG. 25, the current points may be stored in a storage medium different from the question DB 14, such as a POS terminal, a POS host, a credit card payment system, or other DRAM provided in another service providing system. . The question reception system illustrated in FIG. 25 further includes a point management server 5 in the question reception system according to the first embodiment. The point management server 5 includes a point management unit 51 and a point processing unit 52. The point management unit 51 is, for example, a DRAM or a hard disk, and stores the customer's current points. The point processing unit 52 issues a point card or the like, and updates the current points stored in the point management unit 51 when the customer pays for the service price or the purchase price of the product. The point management server 5 can be composed of a known POS register. Unlike the question management server 1 according to the first embodiment, the question management server 1 does not have the point management unit 15 but has a point cooperation unit 40 instead. The point cooperation unit 40 connects the question management server 1 and the point management server 5, and enables the question management server 1 to read and write the current point of the point management server 5. In this way, the points accumulated by using other service providing systems can be used to increase the order of records when using the question receiving system. Alternatively, the points can be accumulated in another service providing system by using the question reception system, and the accumulated points can be used in the other service providing systems. In other words, the role as a currency that can be exchanged for some consideration can be given to the point, which leads to promotion of use of the service providing system.

(C) A computer-readable recording medium in which a program for performing the order changing process of the first to third embodiments is recorded is also included in the present invention. Here, examples of the recording medium include a computer-readable flexible disk, semiconductor memory, CD-ROM, DVD, MO, and the like.
<Appendix>
(Appendix 1)
A service request accepting step for accepting a service request that is a request for receiving a predetermined service and a designation of a priority for receiving the service preferentially;
A first storage step of storing a queue including a wait record having an identifier of a service requester who is a person making the service request, the priority, and an order of receiving the service request;
An order change step for changing the order of the waiting records according to the priority and the points of the service requester;
An update step of updating the point of the service requester whose order has been changed;
Service provision order change method including.

  Here, a service request and designation of priority are accepted. The priority is, for example, two values of “high” or “low”, and an arbitrary integer such as “+3” and “−2”. A queue including a wait record having an identifier of a service requester who is a service requester, a priority, and an order in which the service requests are received is stored. The order of the waiting records is changed according to the designated priority and the points possessed by the service requester. For example, if the service requester has “5” points and designates “high” as the priority, the order can be changed up to a maximum of five. Alternatively, if the service requester designates the priority as “low”, the order in the queue can be changed to the lower order. Here, the point is a numerical value that can be exchanged for some consideration given to the service requester. For example, the same points may be given to all service requesters at the time of the first service request, or points may be given according to the point purchase price paid by the service requesters. The points are stored in, for example, a storage medium different from the storage medium in which the waiting records are stored, such as a DRAM of a POS terminal, a POS host, etc., and the points of the service requester whose order of waiting records has been changed Is updated.

  For example, when the order of the waiting records is changed to three higher, the points are updated by subtracting 3 points from the service requester. Alternatively, for a service requester whose order has been changed to a lower order in accordance with a higher order change in the order of a certain service requester, for example, when the order is changed one order lower, one point is added and the point is updated. If it is recognized that the service request is made simply for the purpose of acquiring points, points may not be added.

As described above, the order of the waiting records can be changed to a higher order in accordance with the designation of the priority, and it is possible to meet the needs of those who rush to provide services. Moreover, since the point of the service requester is changed at that time, the order can be changed without causing an unfair feeling among the service requesters.
(Appendix 2)
Further comprising a grouping step of grouping the waiting records;
The order changing step is performed by changing the order of waiting records belonging to different groups according to the priority and the points.
The service provision order changing method according to attachment 1.

Here, the waiting records are grouped. The grouping is performed, for example, by assigning the waiting records to the first group, the second group,. The order changing step is performed by changing the order of the waiting records belonging to different groups according to the priority and the points.
In this way, because the order of the waiting records belonging to different groups is switched here, even if waiting records with high priority continue, service provision for the waiting records in the lower order will not be performed forever. Can be prevented.

(Appendix 3)
The service provision order changing method according to appendix 1 or 2, wherein the order changing step is performed every predetermined time.
Here, the order changing step is performed every predetermined time. In this way, the order of waiting records is changed every time a predetermined time elapses.

(Appendix 4)
An order change request receiving step for receiving a request for changing the order of the waiting records;
A specifying step for identifying a waiting record whose order is to be changed with the waiting record of the order change requester according to the priority and the priority held by the order change requester that is the requester of the order change;
An inquiry step for inquiring whether or not to accept the change of order to the service requester of the specified waiting record;
An acceptance step for accepting the consent;
Further including
The service provision order changing method according to appendix 1 or 2, wherein the changing step changes the order according to the consent.

  Here, a request for changing the order is accepted by a request input screen displayed on the Web browser. A wait record to be reordered is identified according to the points held by the order change requester and the designated priority. For example, when the order change requester designates the priority as “high” and the number of points held is 5, the upper five waiting records are specified as replacement targets. The order change requester may be able to specify the points used for exchanging waiting records within the range of points held. For example, when the number of points held is 5, it is specified that up to 3 points can be used as points required for replacement. An inquiry about whether or not to accept the change of order to the service requester of the specified waiting record is made by e-mail or the like. The consent for replacement is accepted on the consent screen displayed on the Web browser, for example. When the acceptance is accepted, the order of the waiting record of the accepted service requester and the waiting record of the order change requester is switched.

As described above, the order of service provision can be changed according to the will of the parties.
(Appendix 5)
A time specification step for accepting specification of a service deadline, which is the time to receive service,
A calculation step of calculating and outputting points and / or priorities necessary for obtaining a service before the service deadline;
The service provision order changing method according to any one of appendices 1 to 4, further comprising:

Here, when a service deadline is specified, the necessary points and predicted values of priority are calculated. For example, coefficient * {(average waiting time per person * number of waiting records) − (service deadline)} / (average waiting time per person * 1 points necessary for ordering up)
Can be calculated. Here, the order of a certain waiting record is less likely to rise if there are a large number of waiting records with high priority at the top of the waiting record, so the coefficient becomes a value larger than 1. That is, the coefficient is determined empirically based on points and priorities necessary for providing the service within the specified service deadline.

In this way, it is possible to confirm from the calculation result whether or not the service can be received within the time specified according to the owned points and priority.
(Appendix 6)
6. The service provision order changing method according to any one of appendices 1 to 5, further comprising a point storing step of storing points possessed by each service requester.

  Here, the points possessed by each service requester are stored. The points may be stored in a storage medium such as a RAM or a hard disk of a computer in which the wait record is stored, but may be stored in a computer other than the storage medium in which the wait record is stored, such as a POS terminal or a POS host. May be. In this case, the POS terminal is accessed via a network or the like from a computer or the like in which a waiting record is stored, and the points possessed by each service requester are stored in the POS terminal. When a service requester purchases a certain product or service, the product is discounted and sold at the POS terminal according to the stored points. By doing so, it is possible to give the service requester a price corresponding to the points by storing the points possessed by each service requester.

(Appendix 7)
A distributing step of distributing the waiting records to a plurality of queues;
A second storage step for storing the plurality of queues;
The service provision order changing method according to any one of appendices 1 to 6, further comprising:
Here, the waiting records are distributed to a plurality of queues. The distribution is performed by, for example, extracting the queued records in the higher order in order so that the total number of queued records distributed to each queue is substantially the same, and distributing the queued records to each queue. A plurality of queues are stored. Storage of a plurality of queues is performed, for example, by creating a table for storing distributed wait records for each queue. In this case, it is also possible to perform an order change step in each queue.

  As described above, a plurality of service providing windows are provided for each of the plurality of queues to provide the service, and the service can be provided quickly. Furthermore, the service provider can collect points from the service requester of the waiting record whose order has been raised higher than the previous order by the distribution step. For example, in the distribution step, the service provider collects 3 points from the service requester whose order of waiting records has increased by three. If this point can be accumulated by the service provider and exchanged for other considerations, for example, it can be used for expenses when a service provider is added. It is possible to speed up service provision without giving a sense of fairness.

(Appendix 8)
The service provision order changing method according to any one of appendices 1 to 7, further comprising a limiting step of limiting the number of execution times of the order changing step for each waiting record.
Here, the number of executions of the sequence change step for each waiting record is limited. The number of times can be limited, for example, by setting a reordered flag to the waiting record whose order has been changed once in the order changing step, and changing the order changing step to the waiting record with this flag set until a predetermined time, for example, 1 hour elapses. Do not do it. Then, when a predetermined time elapses, this flag is cleared. In this way, it is possible to prevent the order from being changed more than once within a predetermined time, and the service requester in the lower order can receive service even if the order is changed extremely frequently. The situation where it is not possible can be prevented.

(Appendix 9)
A service request that is a request for receiving a predetermined service, and a service request receiving unit that receives designation of a priority for receiving the service preferentially;
First storage means for storing a queue including a wait record having an identifier of a service requester who is a person making the service request, the priority, and an order of receiving the service request;
Order changing means for changing the order of the waiting records according to the priority and the points of the service requester;
Updating means for updating the point of the service requester whose order has been changed;
Service provision order changing device including:

(Appendix 10)
A service request accepting means for accepting a service request that is a request for receiving a predetermined service and a priority designation for receiving the service preferentially;
First storage means for storing a queue including a wait record having an identifier of a service requester who is a person making the service request, the priority, and an order in which the service requests are received;
Order changing means for changing the order of the waiting records according to the priority and the points of the service requester; and updating means for updating the points of the service requester whose order has been changed;
Service provision order change program for functioning as a computer.

  The present invention is widely applicable to the field of providing services to a plurality of customers.

The whole block diagram of the question reception system which concerns on 1st Embodiment. The conceptual explanatory drawing of the information accumulate | stored in question DB. The flowchart of the flow of a process in the whole system. The flowchart of an order change process. An example of a login screen. An example of a menu screen. An example of a question input screen. An example of a question reception completion notification. An example of a change request screen. An example of a change request inquiry email. An example of an order change inquiry screen. An example of an order change notification. An example of a priority change screen. An example of a priority change notification. An example of a respondent homepage. An example of an answer input screen. An example of a reply email. An example of queue grouping. The whole block diagram of the question reception system which concerns on 2nd Embodiment. An example of a question input screen. An example of a question acceptance completion screen. The whole block diagram of the question reception system which concerns on 3rd Embodiment. The flowchart of a respondent expansion process. An example of a current queue and a temporary queue. The whole block diagram which shows an example of the question reception system which concerns on other embodiment.

Explanation of symbols

1: Question management server 2: Questioner terminal 3: Respondent terminal 5: Point management server

Claims (3)

A service provision order changing method executed by a service provision terminal connected via a network to a plurality of user terminals including a first user terminal and a second user terminal,
The service requests transmitted from the plurality of user terminals are received, the service provision order is determined in the order in which the service requests are received, and the identifier, order, and point for identifying the user terminal that has transmitted the service requests are set as one record. A service request recording step for storing in the storage means;
Providing a requested service to the user terminal based on the order stored in the storage means;
An order change request including a priority indicating a change value of the order is received from the first user terminal, the first order included in the same record as the identifier of the first user terminal in the storage means is referred to, and the first A target specifying step of calculating a second order which is a new order based on the order and the priority, and specifying a second record including the second order;
An inquiry step of transmitting an inquiry about whether or not the order can be changed and receiving an answer to the second user terminal specified by the identifier in the second record specified in the target specifying step;
If the answer to the inquiry is modifiable, wherein the first order change in the second order, the order changing step of changing the second order in the second record in the first sequence in the first record When,
And point updating step before Symbol subtracting a point from points included in the priority corresponding to the first record, adds the priority corresponding points of the points included in the second record,
Service provision order change method including. A service providing terminal connected via a network to a plurality of user terminals including a first user terminal and a second user terminal,
The service requests transmitted from the plurality of user terminals are received, the service provision order is determined in the order in which the service requests are received, and the identifier, order, and point for identifying the user terminal that has transmitted the service requests are set as one record. Service request recording means for storing in the storage means;
Providing means for providing the requested service to the user terminal based on the order stored in the storage means;
An order change request including a priority indicating a change value of the order is received from the first user terminal, the first order included in the same record as the identifier of the first user terminal in the storage means is referred to, and the first A target specifying means for calculating a second order which is a new order based on the order and the priority, and for specifying a second record including the second order;
Inquiry means for sending an inquiry about whether or not the order can be changed and receiving an answer to the second user terminal specified by the identifier in the second record specified by the target specifying means;
If the answer to the inquiry is changeable, the said first order in the first record change to the second order, the order changing means for changing the second order in the second record in the first order When,
A point update means for pre SL by subtracting a point from points included in the priority corresponding to the first record, adds the priority corresponding points of the points included in the second record,
Service providing terminal including. A service providing program executed by a computer connected to a plurality of user terminals including a first user terminal and a second user terminal via a network,
The service requests transmitted from the plurality of user terminals are received, the service provision order is determined in the order in which the service requests are received, and the identifier, order, and point for identifying the user terminal that has transmitted the service requests are set as one record. Service request recording means for storing in the storage means;
Providing means for providing the requested service to the user terminal based on the order stored in the storage means;
An order change request including a priority indicating a change value of the order is received from the first user terminal, the first order included in the same record as the identifier of the first user terminal in the storage means is referred to, and the first A target specifying means for calculating a second order which is a new order based on the order and the priority, and specifying a second record including the second order;
Inquiry means for sending an inquiry about whether or not the order can be changed to the second user terminal specified by the identifier in the second record specified by the target specifying means, and receiving an answer;
If the answer to the inquiry is changeable, the said first order in the first record change to the second order, the order changing means for changing the second order in the second record in the first order ,as well as
Before SL points from points included in the priority corresponding to the first record is subtracted, point update means for adding said priority corresponding points of the points included in the second record,
A service providing program for causing the computer to function as:

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