JP7204244B2 - Gas supply management system, gas supply management method, and program - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a gas supply management system, a gas supply management method, and a program, and more particularly to a gas supply management system and program for supplying gas purchased with prepaid on demand.

In addition to the generally adopted deferred payment method, a prepaid method is known as a method of settling gas usage charges. Patent Document 1 describes a prepaid gas supply technology that allows gas users to use the amount of gas charged with their smartphone while maintaining a gas rate system that combines a general basic rate and a metered rate. Proposed.

JP 2020-2173684 A

However, in the above patent document, since the basic gas charge and the metered charge are managed separately, the user does not know the amount of gas that can be used for the amount of money purchased, and cannot use too much gas. There was a problem that it was difficult to decide the amount of money to buy and the anxiety of losing it.

Therefore, in consideration of the above facts, the present invention visualizes and presents the amount of gas that the user can use at the time of gas purchase, and supplies the gas purchased by the user with prepaid money to gas appliances on demand. The purpose is to provide a management system and program.

(1) A gas supply management system in which gas can be purchased at a prepaid rate, in which a fixed charge is associated with the number of times of use or the usage time calculated based on the amount of gas purchased at the fixed charge for the gas appliance to be used. In response to the user's selection of a predetermined flat rate, a terminal for online payment of the selected fixed rate, and the amount of gas purchased at the fixed rate paid online at the terminal. There is provided a gas supply management system comprising a gas management server that notifies, and a gas supply device that receives the notification and supplies the notified gas purchase amount to the gas appliance.

(2) In the gas supply management system of (1), the gas management server receives a purchase request access from the terminal, and sends the associated flat rate and number of times of use or time of use to the user. To provide a gas supply management system that can selectably display

(3) In the gas supply management system of (1) or (2), when displaying the associated flat rate and the number of times of use or the time of use in a selectable manner to the user, Based on this, a gas supply management system is provided that varies and displays the number of times of use or the time of use.

(4) A gas supply management method executed by a gas supply management system in which gas can be purchased at a prepaid rate, and the number of times of use is calculated based on a fixed charge and the amount of gas purchased for the gas appliance to be used at the fixed charge. or the usage time is associated with the terminal, in response to the user's selection of the predetermined flat-rate charge, performing online payment for the selected flat-rate charge; and the gas supply device receiving the notification and supplying the notified gas purchase amount to the gas appliance. A gas supply management method is provided.

(5) A gas supply management system in which a fixed charge is associated with the number of times of use or the usage time calculated based on the amount of gas purchased at the fixed charge for the gas appliance to be used, and gas can be purchased at a prepaid rate. a step in which the terminal makes an online payment for the selected flat rate in response to the user's selection of the predetermined fixed rate; and providing a program for causing a gas supply device to receive the notification and supply the notified gas purchase amount to the gas appliance.

According to the present invention, a prepaid gas supply management system that visualizes and presents the amount of gas that a user can use when purchasing gas, and supplies the gas that the user has purchased with prepaid money to gas appliances on demand; program can be provided.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of a gas supply management system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram of gas management server 20 according to the embodiment of the present invention; FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the purchase plan data table which concerns on embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows an example of the gas appliance data table which concerns on embodiment of this invention. 3 is a functional block diagram of the gas supply device 30 according to the embodiment of the invention; FIG. 4 is a gas purchase flow of the gas supply management system 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention; 4 is a gas supply flow of the gas supply management system 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention;

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Note that these are merely examples, and the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to these.

A gas supply management system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS. 1 to 7. FIG.

FIG. 1 is an overall configuration diagram of a gas supply management system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The gas supply management system 1 presents the user with a fixed charge and the number of times or hours of use of the gas appliance 40 corresponding to the fixed charge, and allows the user to purchase gas prepaid at the fixed charge by online payment, and pays for the fixed charge. It is a system that makes gas available to gas appliances 40 on demand.

The gas supply management system 1 can visualize and present the purchase amount of gas that can be purchased at a fixed rate to the user at the time of purchase, thereby making it easier for the user to decide the amount of gas to purchase, and allowing the user to use the gas. You can eliminate the anxiety of overspending and also improve your awareness of saving. In addition, the gas supply management system 1 allows the user to use the gas appliance 40 immediately after purchase by performing online payment.

As shown in FIG. 1, the gas supply management system 1 includes a user terminal 10, a gas management server 20, a gas supply device 30, gas appliances 40, and an online payment business server 50. FIG. The user terminal 10, the gas management server 20, the gas supply device 30, and the online payment business server 50 are capable of data communication with each other via a network including the Internet. The gas supply device 30 is connected to a gas appliance 40 and a gas supply source via a gas supply path 50 . In FIG. 1, data flows are indicated by solid line arrows, and gas flows are indicated by broken line arrows.

The user terminal 10 is owned by the user of the gas appliance 40 and is preferably portable, such as a smart phone or tablet. The user terminal 10 is a terminal capable of online payment with the online payment business server 50 via a dedicated application or web browser. Online payment may be any online payment such as credit card payment, online bank payment, carrier payment, ID payment, and electronic money payment.

When the user purchases gas for the gas appliance 40, the user photographs the QR code (registered trademark) 100 attached to the gas appliance 40 with a camera (not shown) provided in the user terminal 10. . When the user selects the photographed QR code 100 displayed on the display unit 11 of the user terminal 10, a purchase request is transmitted to the gas management server 20 based on the information of the QR code 100 (S1).

Gas management server 20 transmits Web page 110 including a purchase plan menu in response to a purchase request from user terminal 10 (S2). The transmitted web page 110 is displayed on the display unit 11 of the user terminal 10 .

A purchase plan menu 111 and an online payment button 112 are displayed on the web page 110 . The purchase plan menu 111 lists the purchase plans provided by the gas supplier. Each purchase plan includes a fixed charge 113, the number of uses 114 corresponding to the fixed charge 113 for the gas appliance 40, and a charge per use of the gas appliance 40. usage fee 115. In addition, the number of purchase plans may be one or plural.

By visualizing the purchase amount of gas that can be purchased at a fixed rate 113 in the purchase plan, that is, by presenting the number of times of use 114 according to the fixed rate 113, the user can use the number of times of use 114 of the gas appliance 40 as a criterion for selecting the fixed rate 113. can be used. In addition, the user can increase his or her awareness of saving by grasping the number of times 114 of using the gas appliance 40 for the flat rate paid.

Note that the number of times of use 114 may be the time of use. In addition, the purchase plan 111 only needs to include at least a flat fee 113 and the number of times of use 114, and the usage fee 115 per use is a criterion for raising the user's awareness of saving and for selecting the flat fee 113. It may further include information that can be used as.

After returning to the web page 110, the user checks the selection buttons 116a to 116c of the purchase plan that the user has decided to purchase, and then presses the online payment button 112. A payment screen (not shown) appears on the user terminal 10. When the user selects an online payment method (online payment operator) on the displayed payment screen, payment processing for the fixed fee of the purchase plan selected by the user is performed with the online payment operator server 50 (S3). .

When the online payment is completed, the user terminal 10 transmits a purchase completion notice including the fixed fee that has been paid to the gas management server 20 (S4). The gas management server 20 transmits to the gas supply device 30 the amount of gas that can be purchased at the fixed price received from the user terminal 10 (S5).

Based on the gas purchase amount received from the gas management server 20, the gas supply device 30 supplies gas when the gas appliance 40 starts operating. Here, the gas supply device 30 is a so-called gas meter installed in a gas supply line 50 that supplies gas from a gas supply source to the gas appliance 40 . The gas appliances 40 are appliances that use gas as fuel and are installed in houses, apartments, etc., and include, for example, gas dryers, gas fan heaters, gas stoves, and the like. In this embodiment, one gas supply device 30 is installed for 401 gas appliances.

FIG. 2 is a functional block diagram of the gas management server 20 according to the embodiment of the invention. As shown in FIG. 2 , the gas management server 20 includes a communication section 21 , a storage section 22 , a display processing section 23 , a gas supply processing section 24 and an update section 25 .

The communication unit 21 communicates with the user terminal 10 and the gas supply device 30 via the network.

The storage unit 22 stores information relating to gas supply management, and is composed of, for example, a hard disk. The storage unit 22 specifically includes a gas unit price DB 221, a purchase plan DB 222, and a gas appliance DB 223, and an example of each data table will be described.

The gas unit price data table of the gas unit price DB 221 stores the gas price per cubic meter (gas unit price). The gas unit price may be updated each time the purchase cost of gas changes due to fluctuations in raw material prices, exchange rates, and the like. In that case, the gas unit price data table may store update dates and update histories.

As shown in FIG. 3, the purchase plan data table of the purchase plan DB 222 stores purchase plan IDs, purchase plan names, fixed charges, and gas purchase amounts. The purchase plan ID is an ID for identifying a purchase plan when purchasing gas with prepaid. The purchase plan name is the name of the purchase plan when purchasing gas with prepaid. The flat rate is the flat rate of the purchase plan. Note that the flat rate may be a rate that allows gas to be purchased prepaid for a certain period of time, such as a monthly fee. The gas purchase amount is the gas purchase amount that can be purchased at a fixed rate. The purchase plan data table is updated by the updating unit 25, which will be described later. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the purchase plan data table stores only purchase plans to be presented to the user.

As shown in FIG. 4, the gas appliance data table of the gas appliance DB 223 stores appliance IDs, supply device IDs, and unit usage amounts. The appliance ID is an ID that identifies the gas appliance 40 . The supply device ID is an ID that identifies the gas supply device 30 connected to the gas appliance 40 . The unit usage amount is the average amount of gas (m3/time) used in one operation of the gas appliance 40 . Note that the unit usage amount is the average gas amount (m3/hour) supplied to the gas appliance 40 in one hour when the usage time is presented in the purchase plan menu 111 shown in FIG.

The display processing unit 23 presents a web page including a purchase plan menu in response to a purchase request from the user terminal 10 . Specifically, the purchase request from the user terminal 10 includes the appliance ID of the gas appliance 40 , and the display processing unit 23 retrieves the unit usage amount from the gas appliance DB 223 based on the appliance ID received from the user terminal 10 . get the quantity. Next, the display processing unit 23 acquires the information of the all purchase plan data table from the purchase plan DB 222, and determines the number of times the gas appliance 40 can be used at a flat rate for each purchase plan based on the gas purchase amount and the unit usage amount. Calculate the number of times of use, which is a guideline.

Then, the display processing unit 23 transmits to the user terminal 10 a Web page including a purchase plan menu displaying the purchase plan name and flat fee acquired from the purchase plan DB 222 and the calculated number of times of use.

The gas supply processing unit 24 transmits the amount of gas purchased according to the flat rate to the gas supply device 30 in response to receiving a purchase completion notification including the settled flat rate from the user terminal 10 . Specifically, the gas supply processing unit 24 acquires the gas purchase amount from the purchase plan DB 222 based on the flat rate received from the user terminal 10 . Then, the gas supply processing unit 24 acquires the supply device ID from the gas appliance DB 223 based on the appliance ID acquired at the time of the purchase request from the user terminal 10, and sends the gas supply device 30 based on the acquired supply device ID. Send gas purchase amount.

The update unit 25 updates the purchase plan DB 222 in accordance with the update of the gas unit price DB 221 . Specifically, when the gas unit price in the gas unit price data table is updated, the updating unit 25 updates the purchase plan data with the new gas purchase amount calculated by dividing the flat rate in the purchase plan data table by the new gas unit price. Update the table. As a result, fluctuations in the gas unit price can be reflected in the amount of gas purchased by the user.

FIG. 5 is a functional block diagram of the gas supply device 30 according to the embodiment of the invention. The gas supply device 30 includes a metering section 31 , a shutoff valve 32 , a communication section 33 and a supply control section 34 . In addition, although not shown, a power supply unit that supplies power to the weighing unit 31, the cutoff valve 32, the communication unit 33, and the supply control unit 34 is also provided.

The measuring unit 31 measures the gas flow rate flowing through the gas appliance 40 and notifies the supply control unit 34 of the result. The shutoff valve 32 is controlled by the supply control unit 34, and has a function of shutting off gas supply in response to a valve closing instruction from the supply control unit 34, and a function of restoring gas supply in response to a valve opening instruction from the supply control unit 34. and functions. The communication unit 33 communicates with the gas management server 20 via the network.

The supply control unit 34 controls the supply of the purchased amount of gas received from the gas management server 20 to the gas appliances 40 . Specifically, when the gas purchase amount is received from the gas management server 20, the supply control unit 34 first adds it to the suppliable gas amount stored in itself and stores it as a new suppliable gas amount. In this way, if gas supply capacity remains, it can be carried forward. If the supply control unit 34 does not store the gas supply amount, the gas purchase amount received from the gas management server 20 is used as the gas supply amount. Then, the supply control unit 34 gives an opening instruction to the cutoff valve 32 . Note that this is not performed when the cutoff valve 32 is already open.

When the gas appliance 40 starts to be used, the supply control unit 34 acquires the gas flow rate from the measuring unit 31 and subtracts the acquired gas flow rate from the gas supply amount to calculate a new gas supply amount. When the use of the gas appliance 40 ends, the amount of gas that can be supplied at that time is stored. Further, the supply control unit 34 instructs the shutoff valve 32 to close when the suppliable amount of gas becomes equal to or less than a predetermined value. Here, the predetermined value is set in advance and may be 0 or an arbitrary numerical value.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a gas purchase flow of the gas supply management system 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention. This processing starts when the user selects the QR code 100 obtained through the camera of the user terminal 10 and displayed on the display unit 11 .

First, the user terminal 10 transmits a purchase request including the appliance ID to the gas management device 20 (S10).

The gas management server 20 acquires the unit usage amount from the gas appliance DB 223 based on the appliance ID received from the user terminal 10, acquires all purchase plan table data from the purchase plan DB 222, and uses the gas purchase amount of each purchase plan as a unit usage. By dividing by the quantity, the number of times the gas appliance 40 is used in each purchase plan is calculated (S11). The gas management server 20 creates a purchase plan menu based on the number of times of use calculated in S11 and the purchase plan table data acquired in S11 (step S12). It is transmitted to the terminal 10 (step S13).

The user terminal 10 displays the Web page received from the gas management server 20 on the display unit 11 (S14), and when the user selects a purchase plan from the purchase plan menu on the Web page and then selects online payment, a payment screen is displayed. is displayed (S15). When the user selects an online payment method (online payment operator) on the payment screen, the user terminal 10 executes online payment processing for the fixed fee of the purchase plan selected in S15 with the online payment operator server 50. (S16). The user terminal 10 transmits to the gas management device 20 a purchase completion notification including the flat rate charged online in S16 (S17).

The gas management terminal 20 acquires the gas purchase amount from the purchase plan DB 222 based on the flat rate received from the user terminal 10 (S18), and acquires the supply device ID from the gas appliance DB 223 based on the appliance ID acquired in S11. Based on the acquired supply device ID, the gas purchase amount acquired in S18 is transmitted to the gas supply device 30 (S19).

When the gas supply device 30 receives the gas purchase amount from the gas management terminal 20, and if there is a gas supply amount, the gas supply apparatus 30 adds up the gas supply amount and the received gas purchase amount to obtain a new gas supply amount. On the other hand, if there is no gas supply amount, the received gas purchase amount is stored as the gas supply amount (S20).

Next, the gas supply flow of the gas supply management system 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described using FIG. This process starts when the gas appliance 40 starts operating.

First, the gas supply device 30 checks whether or not the stored gas suppliable amount is equal to or less than a predetermined value (S31). If the stored gas suppliable amount is equal to or less than the predetermined value (YES), the gas supply device 30 closes the cutoff valve 32 (S32) and ends the process. At this time, gas is not supplied to the gas appliance 40, so the operation is stopped.

On the other hand, when the gas suppliable amount is equal to or greater than the predetermined value (NO), the gas supply device 30 supplies gas to the gas appliance 40, acquires the gas flow rate from the measuring unit 31, and determines whether the gas flow rate is 0 or not. is confirmed (S33). When the gas flow rate obtained from the measuring unit 31 is 0, the gas supply device 30 determines that the operation of the gas appliance 40 has stopped, stores the gas suppliable amount (S34), and ends the process. On the other hand, if the gas flow rate obtained from the measuring unit 31 is not 0, it is determined that the gas appliance 40 continues to operate, and a new gas supply capacity is calculated by subtracting the gas flow rate from the gas supply capacity. (S35), and the process returns to step S31.

As described above, the gas supply management system 1 can visualize and present to the user, at the time of purchase, the amount of gas that can be purchased at a fixed rate based on the number of times the user uses the gas appliance or the usage time. , it is possible to make it easier for the user to decide the amount of money to purchase, eliminate the user's anxiety about using too much gas, and further improve the saving consciousness. In addition, the gas supply management system 1 allows the user to use the gas appliance 40 immediately after purchase by performing online settlement for the purchase of gas. Furthermore, when the purchase cost of gas changes, the gas supply management system 1 does not change the flat rate but changes the amount of gas purchased, i. It is a user-friendly system.

<Other embodiments>
The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, and can be modified in various ways without departing from the scope of the invention.

In the present embodiment, the user terminal 10 directly communicates with the online payment company server 50 to perform online payment processing. may be performed.

In the present embodiment, the user terminal 10 has a camera and obtains a QR code to connect to the gas management server 20. However, the user terminal 10 can connect to the gas management server 20 by searching the Internet or directly entering a URL. may In this case, the user inputs the appliance ID. The user terminal 10 may also include a computer program (dedicated application) for purchasing gas in cooperation with the gas management server 20 .

In this embodiment, the storage unit 22 of the gas management server 20 may be provided with a gas purchase history DB that stores gas purchase history of users. By managing the user's gas purchase history, it is possible to present an appropriate purchase plan to the user and guide gas purchase at an appropriate timing.

In the present embodiment, the purchase plan data table of the purchase plan DB 222 stores the gas purchase amount according to the flat rate, but the purchase plan data table does not store the gas purchase amount according to the flat rate. is required, the gas unit price DB 221 may be used for calculation. In this case, since it is not necessary to update the purchase plan data table of the purchase plan DB 222 in accordance with the update of the gas unit price DB 221, the updating unit 225 is unnecessary.

In this embodiment, each function of the gas management server 20 is realized by one computer, but may be realized by a plurality of computers like a cloud computer.

In this embodiment, one gas appliance 40 is connected to the gas supply device 30, but multiple appliances may be used.

The processing of the gas supply management system 1 is recorded in a recording medium readable by a computer system, and the program recorded in this recording medium is read by each device constituting the gas supply management system 1 and executed. The gas supply management system 1 of the present invention can be realized. The computer system here includes hardware such as an OS and peripheral devices.

Also, the "computer system" includes a home page providing environment (or display environment) if the WWW (World Wide Web) system is used. Further, the above program may be transmitted from a computer system storing this program in a storage device or the like to another computer system via a transmission medium or by a transmission wave in a transmission medium. Here, the "transmission medium" for transmitting the program refers to a medium having a function of transmitting information, such as a network (communication network) such as the Internet or a communication line (communication line) such as a telephone line.

Further, the program may be for realizing part of the functions described above. Furthermore, it may be a so-called difference file (difference program) that can realize the above-described functions in combination with a program already recorded in the computer system.

1 gas supply management system 10 user terminal 20 gas management server 21 communication unit 22 storage unit 23 display processing unit 24 gas supply processing unit 25 update unit 30 gas supply device 31 measurement unit 32 cutoff valve 33 communication unit 34 supply control unit 40 gas appliance 50 Online payment provider server

Claims (5)

A gas supply management system capable of prepaid gas purchase,
A fixed charge is associated with the number of times of use or the usage time calculated based on the amount of gas purchased at the fixed charge for the gas appliance to be used, and
a terminal for performing online payment for the selected flat-rate charge in response to the user's selection of the predetermined flat-rate charge;
a gas management server that notifies the amount of gas purchased at a flat rate that is settled online at the terminal;
a gas supply device that receives the notification and supplies the notified gas purchase amount to a gas appliance;
gas supply management system. The gas management server is
2. The gas supply management system according to claim 1, wherein upon receipt of a purchase request accessed from said terminal, said associated flat rate and number of times of use or time of use are displayed to said user in a selectable manner. 2. When displaying the associated flat fee and the number of times of use or the time of use in a selectable manner to the user, the number of times of use or the time of use is changed and displayed based on the purchase cost of gas; The gas supply management system according to claim 2. A gas supply management method executed by a gas supply management system capable of prepaid gas purchase, comprising:
A fixed charge is associated with the number of times of use or the usage time calculated based on the amount of gas purchased at the fixed charge for the gas appliance to be used, and
a step in which the terminal performs online payment for the selected flat-rate charge in response to the user's selection of the predetermined flat-rate charge;
a step in which the gas management server notifies the amount of gas purchased at a flat rate that is settled online at the terminal;
a step in which the gas supply device receives the notification and supplies the notified gas purchase amount to the gas appliance;
gas supply management methods, including; A gas supply management system in which a flat rate is associated with the number of uses or hours of use calculated based on the amount of gas that can be purchased at the fixed rate for gas appliances to be used, and gas can be purchased at a prepaid rate,
a step in which the terminal performs online payment for the selected flat-rate charge in response to the user's selection of the predetermined flat-rate charge;
a step in which the gas management server notifies the amount of gas purchased at a flat rate that is settled online at the terminal;
a step in which the gas supply device receives the notification and supplies the notified gas purchase amount to the gas appliance;
program to run the

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