JP7408932B2 - Resource reservation system, terminal setting method, program, usage system, information processing device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a resource reservation system, a terminal setting method, a program, a usage system, and an information processing device.

There are cases where an information processing terminal is registered with an information processing device on a network. For example, if the information processing terminal is a printing device, a worker may register the printing device with the information processing device in order for the information processing device to monitor the status of the printing device, the remaining amount of consumables, etc. be.

Techniques have been devised to reduce the burden of such work (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Patent Document 1 discloses a registration method in which a mobile terminal reads a code printed on a packaging box of a relay device, communicates with an information processing device, and when authentication is successful, the information processing device registers the relay device.

However, the technique described in Patent Document 1 has a problem in that it is not described that an information processing terminal placed in a resource such as a conference room acquires reservation information. For example, in order for an information processing terminal placed in a conference room to cooperate with an information processing device, reservation information is required, but the prior art does not describe acquiring resource reservation information.

In view of the above-mentioned problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a resource reservation system that allows an information processing terminal placed in a resource such as a conference room to acquire reservation information.

In view of the above problems, the present invention provides a resource reservation system including an information processing device that manages resource reservation information, and an information processing terminal that acquires the reservation information from the information processing device, wherein the information processing device , providing means for providing communication setting information for acquiring the reservation information of the resource,
The information processing terminal includes a receiving means for receiving the communication setting information provided by the providing means, and performs initial settings to enable acquisition of the reservation information by storing the communication setting information in a storage unit. a settings acquisition unit, the initial settings make it possible to acquire the reservation information from the information processing device using the communication settings information, and the receiving means determines whether the initial settings are successful or unsuccessful in the information processing. When the providing means is notified of the success of the initial setting , the providing means records identification information of the resource for which the initial setting was successful.

It is possible to provide a resource reservation system that allows an information processing terminal placed in a resource such as a conference room to acquire reservation information.

1 is an example of a diagram illustrating an outline of the overall operation of the resource reservation system. FIG. 2 is an example of a diagram illustrating the outline of initial settings of a conference room terminal using an image code. 1 is an example of a system configuration diagram of a resource reservation system. 1 is an example of a hardware configuration diagram of a conference management server. FIG. 2 is a hardware configuration diagram of an example of a conference room terminal. It is an example of a functional block diagram showing the functions of a reservation management server, a chat server, a conference management server, and a registration terminal in a block form. It is an example of the functional block diagram which shows the function of a terminal device and a conference room terminal in block form. 2 is an example of a functional block diagram showing the functions of an initial setting section in a block form. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the setting screen displayed by a registration terminal. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a setting screen on which image codes are displayed in a superimposed manner. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed by a terminal application of a conference room terminal. It is a figure which shows an example of a conference room terminal setting screen. FIG. 12 is a diagram showing an example of a conference room terminal setting screen displayed in FIG. 11(f) after the image code is read. FIG. 3 is an example of a sequence diagram illustrating a procedure for initial setting of a conference room terminal in the resource reservation system. FIG. 3 is an example of a sequence diagram illustrating processing until a conference room terminal acquires reservation information. FIG. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of a standby screen I displayed by a conference room terminal when the conference room is currently vacant. 12 is a diagram illustrating an example of a standby screen II displayed by a conference room terminal when the conference room is currently vacant but the next conference start time is within a predetermined time. FIG. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a standby screen III displayed by a conference room terminal when the conference room is currently in use. FIG. 7 is an example of a flowchart in which the terminal ID verification unit of the conference management server determines whether the number of terminal IDs exceeds the number of registrable conference room terminals. FIG. It is a figure which shows the example of a terminal ID recorded 10 times in the past. FIG. 2 is an example of a diagram illustrating the outline of initial settings of a conference room terminal using an image code. It is an example of the functional block diagram which shows the function of a terminal device and a conference room terminal in block form. 2 is an example of a functional block diagram showing the functions of an initial setting section in a block form. FIG. It is a figure which shows an example of the setting screen displayed by a registration terminal. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a setting screen on which image codes are displayed in a superimposed manner. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of management information. It is a figure which shows an example of server holding information. FIG. 3 is an example of a sequence diagram illustrating a procedure for initial setting of a conference room terminal in the resource reservation system. FIG. 3 is an example of a sequence diagram (Part 2) illustrating the initial setting procedure of a conference room terminal in the resource reservation system. FIG. 7 is a diagram illustrating an example of a message displayed on a conference room terminal setting screen when initial settings are completed. FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically showing a queue held by the overall control unit. FIG. 3 is an example of a sequence diagram illustrating processing until a conference room terminal acquires reservation information. FIG.

Hereinafter, as an example of a mode for carrying out the present invention, a resource reservation system 100 and a terminal setting method performed by the resource reservation system 100 will be described using the drawings.

<Outline of resource reservation system>
First, the outline of the resource reservation system 100 will be explained using FIG. FIG. 1 is an example of a diagram illustrating an overview of the overall operation of the resource reservation system 100.

A. The person making the reservation operates his or her own terminal device to communicate with the reservation management server 20 and reserve a conference room. The reservation management server 20 is a general-purpose cloud service (Office365, G Suite (both registered trademarks), etc.), and conference rooms owned by organizations such as companies to which the reservation person belongs are registered.

B. The conference management server 30 is a server that controls the entire resource reservation system 100 based on the reservation status of conference rooms. Since the conference management server 30 appropriately communicates with the reservation management server 20 to obtain reservation information, the reservation information is synchronized with the reservation management server 20.

C. The administrator of the resource reservation system 100 or the organization side can register users and perform various settings on the conference management server 30. User registration refers to registering users who are the targets of various notifications using the chat server 10 (slack, Line, Microsoft Teams (all registered trademarks), etc.). Further, since the notification is performed via a bot that sends a message as the conference management server 30, a bot provided by the chat server is also registered. Various settings include registration of the conference room terminal 90 (initial settings described later), reminder timing settings, and the like.

D. The conference management server 30 reminds the person making the reservation to hold the conference at a certain time before the conference start time in the reservation information. This suppresses empty reservations of conference rooms. Further, the conference management server 30 notifies the user of the invitation code as necessary. By receiving the reminder, the person who reserved the conference stores information (conference identification information) for checking into the conference room in the terminal device 60. Check-in means to start using the conference room.

E. A conference room terminal 90 is arranged in each conference room 6, and the conference room terminal 90 periodically downloads reservation information for a conference to be held in this conference room. The conference room terminal 90 can display the schedule of the current day or the most recent conference so that participants in the conference can confirm the schedule. Shortly before the start time of the conference, the person who reserved the conference room goes to conference room 6 and checks in. For example, the conference identification information is input into the conference room terminal 90, or the terminal device 60 is held over the conference identification information (to read the conference identification information, to communicate, etc.).

F. Since the conference room terminal 90 transmits a check-in request to the conference management server 30, if the conference identification information can be authenticated, the conference room terminal 90 receives a response from the conference management server 30 indicating that the check-in was successful. The conference room terminal 90 displays that it is in use (during a conference). If the start of use notification informing check-in cannot be confirmed by the predetermined time relative to the start time of the conference, the conference management server 30 cancels the reservation for the conference room 6 (cancels the reservation information if the conference room is not used for a predetermined time) ) and transmits "canceled" to the conference room terminal 90 as the status included in the reservation information. In this case, since the conference room terminal 90 displays that the room is vacant, any user can use the conference room 6.

G. The conference room terminal 90 controls the electronic device 70 based on a request from the conference management server 30. For example, the power is turned on at the start time of the conference and turned off at the end time of the conference. By doing so, it is possible to improve the convenience when conference participants operate the electronic device 70.

H. For example, when the electronic device 70 has a video conference function, it can communicate with the electronic device (such as the video conference terminal 70x) of another base 4 and hold a conference with the other base. Note that the PC 70y on which the application operates can also communicate with the electronic device 70. The reservation information includes in advance destination information (communication ID of the destination) indicating another base, and the electronic device 70 can automatically communicate with the video conference terminal 70x and the PC 70y.

I. When the person making the reservation ends the meeting, he or she presses a button on the conference room terminal 90 to check out, so the conference room terminal 90 displays the next reservation status. This allows any user to grasp the reservation status of a conference room.

<Initial settings for conference room terminals>
As shown in FIG. 1, a conference room terminal 90 is arranged in the conference room. In the resource reservation system 100 in which a dedicated conference room terminal 90 is prepared for each conference room, the initial settings of the conference room terminal 90 are performed at the time of shipment from the factory, and the initial settings of the conference room terminal 90 are not performed by an administrator or the like. It may be unnecessary or minimal. However, when a dedicated conference room terminal 90 is prepared, a general-purpose information processing terminal cannot be used as the conference room terminal 90.

In recent years, there has been a usage form of information processing terminals called BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), and many users want to easily realize the resource reservation system 100 at low cost by using their own smart devices as the conference room terminals 90. . However, in this case, initial settings are required to register the user's smart device as the conference room terminal 90 in the conference management server 30, but if the initial settings are complicated, the work burden on the user will be heavy.

Therefore, in this embodiment, a resource reservation system 100 that enables initial settings by capturing image data such as an image code with a conference room terminal 90 will be described as follows. Note that the conference room terminal 90 and the information processing terminal are the same, and are the information processing terminal before the initial setting and the conference room terminal 90 after the initial setting. Hereinafter, for convenience of explanation, it will be referred to as a conference room terminal 90. Note that even if the terminal is a dedicated conference room terminal, the present invention can be applied to a terminal that requires setting to cooperate with a server after shipping or initial setting.

FIG. 2 is an example of a diagram illustrating the outline of initial settings of the conference room terminal 90 using an image code.

(1) The provider of the resource reservation system 100 has previously made various settings regarding the customer's conference room on the conference management server 30. A customer is a company that introduces the resource reservation system 100 or the like. The various settings include the conference room name, conference room ID, URL of the conference management server 30, and the like. Further, the conference management server 30 has reservation information for each conference room, which is synchronized with the reservation management server 20.

(2) In order to use the information processing terminal as the conference room terminal 90, the administrator K performs initial settings on the information processing terminal. Initial settings may include several tasks, but include, for example, at least enabling the conference room terminal 90 to communicate with the conference management server 30. Since communication is preferably performed by specifying a conference room, the initial settings include registering the conference room terminal 90 in the conference management server 30 in association with the conference room in which it is placed. The administrator K who performs the initial settings may be a person in charge at the provider side or a person in charge of the system at the customer side.

Administrator K uses the registration terminal 50 to log in to the conference management server 30 and start communication. The location where the administrator K works may be any location that can communicate with the conference management server 30. Therefore, it does not have to be a conference room. The administrator displays an administrator setting screen for making various settings. The administrator specifies the conference room in which the conference room terminal 90 is registered and requests communication setting information from the conference management server 30. Thereby, the registration terminal 50 receives the communication setting information. Communication setting information is encoded in the image code.

(3) Manager K captures an image of the image code 110 displayed by the registration terminal 50 using the conference room terminal 90. A terminal application is installed on the conference room terminal 90, and the conference room terminal 90 decodes the image code to obtain communication setting information. This enables the conference room terminal 90 to communicate with the conference management server 30, and a conference room ID is set in the conference room terminal 90. That is, the conference room terminal 90 is registered in the conference management server 30 in association with the conference room in which it is placed.

(4) The conference room terminal 90 starts communicating with the conference management server 30 using the communication setting information. The conference room terminal 90 periodically starts acquiring reservation information. Acquisition of reservation information is repeated without being concerned with the state of the conference management server 30.

(5) Since the conference room terminal 90 transmits the set conference room ID, the conference management server 30 transmits the reservation information associated with the conference room ID to the conference room terminal 90. The conference room terminal 90 displays reservation information.

In this way, the resource reservation system 100 of this embodiment allows the customer side to use its own information processing terminal as the conference room terminal 90. In addition, by using the image code, initial settings can be easily made on the customer side. Further, since the conference room terminal 90 automatically downloads the reservation information according to the initial settings, the conference room terminal 90 can start cooperation with the conference management server 30. For example, conference room terminal 90 can display conference room reservation information, and customer users can check in from conference room terminal 90.

<About terms>
Resource means resource. A conference room, equipment, equipment, people (reception), mechanisms, etc. that can be used in the conference room can be resources. Resources that are difficult to move are called equipment. In this embodiment, for convenience of explanation, the term conference room is used as an example of a resource.

Initial settings refer to a person making some settings so that the device can perform at least the minimum functions. For example, settings related to communication, etc. Information for necessary communication is information set by initial settings.

The providing means may provide the information by any method that allows the registered terminal to receive the information. An image (visual information) such as an image code, a radio wave, or a sound wave may be selected as appropriate. An example of the image code is a QR code (registered trademark), but the present invention is not limited to this, and may be another two-dimensional image code or a one-dimensional barcode. In addition, the providing means may be implemented by an image code printed for each resource, an NFC tag provided for each resource, or communication such as wireless communication with a terminal.

Similarly, any method for receiving information from the registered terminal may be used as long as the conference room terminal can receive the information. In addition to the camera of the conference room terminal, it may be realized by an NFC tag reading means of the conference room terminal or a communication means of the conference room terminal.

Being able to acquire reservation information does not require the acquisition of reservation information; all that is required is preparation for acquiring reservation information. Reservation information may be acquired when a predetermined timing arrives or when a user operation occurs.

The reservation person is a person who has reserved a conference room, and the participant is a person who participates in the conference. The person who made the reservation is often included in the participants, but does not have to be included. In this embodiment, the work performed by the reservation holder may be performed by the participant. Collectively, those who use the conference room are simply referred to as users.

In order for the conference room terminal 90 to start communication with the conference management server 30, the conference room terminal 90 needs to store communication setting information based on initial settings by the administrator. This starts periodically requesting reservation information, but whether or not the request information can be obtained depends on the settings of the conference management server 30.

When a management start flag, which will be described later, of the conference management server 30 is set to True, the conference management server 30 is ready to manage the conference room. When the management start flag is True and the conference management server 30 receives a request for reservation information from the conference room terminal 90, it starts managing the conference room. As a result, transmission of reservation information is started when there is a request from the conference room terminal 90.

When the conference room terminal 90 acquires the reservation information from the conference management server 30, the conference room terminal 90 starts cooperation with the conference management server 30. Therefore, the start of cooperation and the start of management are triggered by the related processes of requesting reservation information and transmitting reservation information.

The following processes are performed when collaboration or management starts.
・Display reservation information (check-in, check-out, extension, use now)
・Control of electronic devices linked to check-in and check-out ・Automatic cancellation of reservations Note that "extension" refers to a participant extending a reservation beyond the end time of the conference room reservation, and "use now" refers to the use of an empty conference room by any user without reservation.

<System configuration example>
FIG. 3 is an example of a system configuration diagram of the resource reservation system 100. The resource reservation system 100 can be mainly divided into an external network N2 and an internal network N1. The internal network N1 refers to a network inside the firewall 73, and the external network N2 is a network such as the Internet, through which an unspecified number of communications are transmitted.

A reservation management server 20, a conference management server 30, and one or more chat servers 10 are connected to the external network N2, and each server can communicate with each other as necessary. A terminal device 60 operated by a conference participant may be connected to the external network N2 as necessary.

The reservation management server 20 is realized by one or more information processing devices (computer systems) equipped with a general server OS or the like. A system related to reservations for equipment provided by the reservation management server 20 is referred to as a reservation management system. The reservation management server 20 has a calendar system and provides a web application for managing various schedules. Specifically, it has the following functions, for example.
- Accepts appointment registrations and allows reservation holders to check anytime and anywhere - Notifies you via email at a set date and time, such as 30 minutes before the appointment - One person can manage appointments on multiple calendars (work, home, etc.) Possible - Share a calendar with people in the same group The reservation management server 20 manages users by account. An account is a user's right to use a service. In many systems, users log into the system using accounts. Therefore, the account has a function for the system to uniquely identify the user (a function of identification information). In this embodiment, the reservation management server 20 transmits reservation information of an account (domain) registered in advance to the conference management server 30. Alternatively, the conference management server 30 can acquire the reservation information of the conference room 6 from the reservation management server 20 by specifying the account of the reservation management server 20 and requesting the reservation information. Note that the account may be any information that can uniquely identify the user, such as e-mail, ID, or telephone number.

In this embodiment, what is managed as a schedule is the reservation for the conference room 6, but the reservation management server 20 is not limited to the conference room 6 and can manage various schedules. In addition to conference room 6, we also provide various facilities such as rental of various electronic devices, parking reservations, rental offices, rental studios, rental bicycles, rental cars, accommodation facilities such as hotels, and rental spaces such as event halls and lockers. Available for reservations.

Note that G Suite (registered trademark), Office365 (registered trademark), and the like are known as reservation management systems, but any reservation management system that has the functions described in this embodiment may be used.

Further, in this embodiment, information regarding the conference room 6 of the in-house network N1 is registered in advance in the reservation management server 20. That is, the reservation management server uses the conference room name, conference room ID, reservation available time, capacity of each conference room 6, reservation unit, etc. of each conference room 6 in the internal network of the company using the resource reservation system 100. 20 web apps are customized. Therefore, the conference room 6 of the company using the resource reservation system 100 and the reservation information are linked.

The chat server 10 can be realized by one or more information processing devices (computer systems) equipped with a general server OS or the like. A real-time sharing system for information such as text, audio, and video among multiple users provided by the chat server 10 is referred to as a chat system. The chat server 10 notifies the terminal device 60 of information regarding the reservation of the conference room 6. In this embodiment, a plurality of chat servers 10 operated by different operators may be included.

The information to be shared includes images, audio, etc., and is not limited to text; however, for convenience of explanation, in this embodiment, text is mainly used for notifications. For example, a chat system may provide voice calling functionality between groups. The voice call may be one-to-one or one-to-N (≧2). Therefore, in this embodiment, when the chat system notifies information regarding the reservation of the conference room 6, it may output a voice message in addition to displaying text. Note that chat systems such as LINE (registered trademark, hereinafter omitted), slack, and Microsoft Teams (registered trademark, hereinafter omitted) are known, but bots (which perform predetermined processing) Any chat system may be used as long as it is possible to notify one or more users from an executed program.

The chat server 10 similarly manages users using an account (different from the account on the reservation management server 20), but in principle, the conference management server 30 does not need to be aware of the account on the chat server 10. However, the conference management server 30 can specify and notify any account of the chat server 10.

The conference management server 30 can be realized by one or more information processing devices (computer systems) equipped with a general server OS or the like. As a process related to the external network N2, the conference management server 30 acquires the reservation information of the conference room 6 from the reservation management server 20, acquires the scheduled participants set in the reservation information, and selects the scheduled participants at the set timing. A notification is sent to the group (or individual person such as the reservation holder) of the chat server 10 associated with the . Further, as processing related to the in-house network N1, check-in and check-out to the conference room 6 is managed, and the power supply of the electronic device 70 is controlled based on the reservation information of the conference room 6 obtained from the reservation management server 20. do.

The internal network N1 includes a conference room 6, a work place 101 for prospective participants, a work place 102 for an administrator, etc., and prospective participants can access the external network N2 from various locations via the internal network N1. The in-house network N1 is, for example, a LAN (Local Area Network). The conference room 6, the work place 101 of the prospective participant, and the work place 102 of the administrator are not necessarily on a LAN within the same company.

A conference room terminal 90 and an electronic device 70 are arranged in the conference room 6. The conference room terminal 90 and the electronic device 70 can communicate via a small LAN or a dedicated line. The electronic device can be connected to the internal network N1 and the external network N2 without going through the conference room terminal 90. The conference room terminal 90 and the electronic device 70 may communicate wirelessly or by wire. Note that since the internal network N1 is located inside the firewall 73, direct communication from the external network N2 to the internal network N1 is difficult.

The conference room terminal 90 is an information processing device operated by a conference participant such as a person who makes a reservation using the conference room 6 . This is a reception terminal that accepts requests for use of the conference room. The conference room terminal 90 is placed on a desk in the conference room 6 or at the entrance of the conference room 6. A plurality of conference room terminals 90 may be arranged in one conference room 6. The conference room terminal 90 can be realized by one or more information processing devices (computer systems) equipped with a general OS or the like.

The conference room terminal 90 transmits the conference room ID to the conference management server 30, and displays reservation information for the conference room 6 for the current day. Further, control information such as power ON/OFF of the electronic device 70 is acquired from the conference management server 30 . Thereby, the conference room terminal 90 turns on and off the power of the electronic device 70.

Further, the conference room terminal 90 displays a standby screen for check-in, check-out, etc., and communicates with the conference management server 30 to notify the conference management server 30 of check-in or check-out. At the time of check-in, the conference room terminal 90 transmits the conference identification information input by the reservation person and the pre-held conference room ID to the conference management server 30, so the conference management server 30 uses the conference identification information and the conference room ID. It can be confirmed that the person who reserved the conference room 6 will use the reserved conference room 6.

The electronic equipment 70 is various office equipment that can be used in the conference room 6. For example, electronic whiteboards, multifunction peripherals, projectors, digital signage, digital cameras, etc. An electronic blackboard has a large display with a touch panel, detects the coordinates of the board specified by the user, connects the coordinates, and displays strokes. In addition, it is possible to display images from a connected PC, and to synchronize strokes by communicating with electronic whiteboards at other locations. Note that the electronic blackboard is sometimes called an electronic information board or an electronic whiteboard.

Multifunction peripherals have functions such as copiers, scanners, printers, and fax transmission/reception, and are used to print materials during meetings, copy materials, digitize materials, and send materials. A projector is a device that projects an image. For example, images displayed on a display by the terminal device 60 may be projected onto a screen or the like, thereby allowing them to be shared among participants. Digital signage is a large display used to display any still or moving image. Digital cameras will be used by each participant to capture and save images of paper materials and materials displayed on the electronic blackboard.

A terminal device 60 that can be connected to the company network N1 is arranged at the work place 101 of the prospective participant. The terminal device 60 may communicate by wire or wirelessly. The terminal device 60 is an information processing device used when prospective participants (including those making reservations) reserve a conference room, but it is also assumed that the terminal device 60 is brought into the conference room. This is an information processing device carried by prospective participants.

The terminal device 60 can be realized by one or more information processing devices (computer systems) equipped with a general OS or the like. The terminal device 60 is, for example, a smartphone, a tablet terminal, a PC (Personal Computer), a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a wearable PC (sunglasses type, wristwatch type, etc.). However, it is only necessary to have a communication function and operate browser software or application software dedicated to the chat server 10 or the reservation management server 20. For example, a car navigation system, a game machine, a television receiver, etc. can also serve as the terminal device 60.

In the terminal device 60, application software (hereinafter referred to as a chat application) dedicated to the chat server 10 runs, and further, application software dedicated to the resource reservation system 100 (hereinafter referred to as a conference application) runs. However, these may be replaced by browser software.

A registration terminal 50 that can be connected to the in-house network N1 is arranged at the administrator's work place 102. The registration terminal 50 may communicate by wire or wirelessly. The registration terminal 50 is a display terminal (user terminal) used by the administrator to initialize the conference room terminal 90.

The registration terminal 50 may also be an information processing device similar to the terminal device 60. However, since it is mainly used for settings by the administrator in the conference management server 30, the chat application and the conference application may not be provided. The registration terminal 50 mainly communicates with the conference management server 30 using browser software and displays a web page.

<Hardware configuration>
<<Hardware configuration of conference management server>>
FIG. 4 is an example of a hardware configuration diagram of the conference management server 30. 3 is an example of a schematic hardware configuration diagram of the conference management server 30. FIG. The conference management server 30 includes a CPU 201 and a memory 202 that enables high-speed access to data used by the CPU 201. The CPU 201 and memory 202 are connected to other devices or drivers of the conference management server 30, such as a graphics driver 204 and a network driver (NIC) 205, via a system bus 203.

The graphics driver 204 is connected to an LCD (an example of a display) 206 via a bus, and monitors the results of processing by the CPU 201 . Further, the network driver 205 connects the conference management server 30 to the external network N2 at the transport layer level and the physical layer level to establish sessions with other devices.

An I/O bus bridge 207 is further connected to the system bus 203. On the downstream side of the I/O bus bridge 207, a storage device such as an HDD (hard disk drive) 209 is connected via an I/O bus 208 such as PCI via IDE, ATA, ATAP80I, serial ATA, SCSI, USB, etc. is connected. The HDD 209 stores a program 209p that controls the entire conference management server 30. The HDD 209 may be an SSD (Solid State Drive). The program 209p may be distributed while being stored in a storage medium, or may be distributed from a program distribution server.

Further, an input device 210 such as a keyboard and a mouse (referred to as a pointing device) is connected to the I/O bus 208 via a bus such as a USB, and receives input and commands from an operator such as a system administrator. There is.

Note that the illustrated hardware configuration of the conference management server 30 indicates hardware elements that the conference management server 30 preferably includes.

The hardware configuration diagram of the reservation management server 20, chat server 10, registration terminal 50, and terminal device 60 is the same as that of the conference management server 30, or even if it is different, it is not the same as the description of the resource reservation system 100 of this embodiment. It is assumed that there will be no problem. Furthermore, since the conference management server 30, reservation management server 20, and chat server 10 are compatible with cloud computing, their hardware configurations allow hardware resources to be dynamically connected and disconnected depending on the load. It may be composed of Note that cloud computing refers to a usage form in which resources on a network are used without being aware of specific hardware resources.

<<Conference room terminal>>
FIG. 5 is a hardware configuration diagram of an example of the conference room terminal 90. FIG. 5 shows two examples of hardware configurations of the conference room terminal 90. Note that the conference room terminal 90 in FIG. 5 is assumed to be a tablet device. The conference room terminal 90 in FIG. 5A includes a CPU 601, a ROM 602, a RAM 603, an EEPROM 604, a CMOS sensor 605, an acceleration/direction sensor 606, and a media drive 608.

The CPU 601 controls the entire operation of the conference room terminal 90. ROM 602 stores basic input/output programs. RAM 603 is used as a work area for CPU 601. The EEPROM 604 reads or writes data under the control of the CPU 601. The CMOS sensor 605 images a subject and obtains image data under the control of the CPU 601. The acceleration/direction sensor 606 is an electronic magnetic compass, a gyro compass, an acceleration sensor, etc. that detects earth's magnetism.

A media drive 608 controls reading or writing (storage) of data to a medium 607 such as a flash memory. The media drive 608 is configured to be capable of attaching and detaching a medium 607 from which previously recorded data is read or new data is written and stored.

Note that the EEPROM 604 stores a program 604p executed by the CPU 601. The program 604p is application software, an OS, etc. for executing various processes in the embodiment. The program 604p may be distributed while being stored in a medium 607 or the like, or may be distributed from a server for program distribution.

Further, the CMOS sensor 605 is a charge-coupled device that converts light into electric charge to digitize an image of a subject. The CMOS sensor 605 may be a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) sensor, for example, as long as it can image a subject. The CMOS sensor 605 can read barcodes and two-dimensional barcodes.

Further, the conference room terminal 90 includes an RF tag reader/writer 622, an antenna I/F 623, and a vibration actuator 624. The RF tag reader/writer 622 communicates according to a standard such as NFC (Near Field Communication).

The vibration actuator 624 is a motor that vibrates the conference room terminal 90. For example, when the end time of a conference approaches, the conference room terminal 90 can vibrate to notify participants.

Further, the conference room terminal 90 includes an audio input section 609, an audio output section 610, an antenna 611, a communication section 612, a wireless LAN communication section 613, a short-range wireless communication antenna 614, a short-range wireless communication section 615, a display 616, and a touch panel 617. and a bus line 619.

The audio input unit 609 converts audio into an audio signal. The audio output unit 610 converts the audio signal into audio. The communication unit 612 uses the antenna 611 to communicate with the nearest base station device by wireless communication signals. The wireless LAN communication unit 613 performs wireless LAN communication based on the IEEE802.11 standard.

The short-range wireless communication unit 615 is a communication device that uses the short-range wireless communication antenna 614 and complies with, for example, the Bluetooth (registered trademark) or Bluetooth Low Energy (registered trademark) communication standard.

The display 616 is a liquid crystal, organic EL, or the like that displays images of the subject, various icons, and the like. The touch panel 617 is placed on the display 616 and is configured with a pressure-sensitive or electrostatic panel, and detects a touch position on the display 616 by touching with a finger, a touch pen, or the like. The bus line 619 is an address bus, a data bus, etc. for electrically connecting each of the above sections.

Further, the conference room terminal 90 includes a dedicated battery 618 and can be driven by either the battery 618 or a commercial power source. Note that the audio input unit 609 includes a microphone for inputting audio. The audio output unit 610 includes a speaker that outputs audio.

FIG. 5B is also an example of a hardware configuration diagram of the conference room terminal 90. As shown in FIG. 5(b), the conference room terminal 90 includes a CPU 701, ROM 702, RAM 703, EEPROM 704, CMOS sensor 705, image sensor I/F 706, acceleration/direction sensor 707, media I/F 709, GPS reception 711.

Among these, the CPU 701 controls the operation of the conference room terminal 90 as a whole. The ROM 702 stores the CPU 701 and programs used to drive the CPU 701 such as IPL. RAM 703 is used as a work area for CPU 701. The EEPROM 704 reads or writes various data such as applications under the control of the CPU 701. A CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor) sensor 705 is a type of built-in imaging means that images a subject (mainly a self-portrait) and obtains image data under the control of the CPU 701. Note that instead of a CMOS sensor, an imaging means such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) sensor may be used. The image sensor I/F 706 is a circuit that controls driving of the CMOS sensor 705. The acceleration/azimuth sensor 707 is a variety of sensors such as an electronic magnetic compass, a gyro compass, and an acceleration sensor that detect geomagnetism. A media I/F 709 controls reading or writing (storage) of data to a recording medium 708 such as a flash memory. GPS receiving section 711 receives GPS signals from GPS satellites.

The conference room terminal 90 also includes a long-distance communication circuit 712, a CMOS sensor 713, an image sensor I/F 714, a microphone 715, a speaker 716, a sound input/output I/F 717, a display 718, and an external device connection I/F (Interface) 719. , a short-range communication circuit 720, an antenna 720a of the short-range communication circuit 720, and a touch panel 721.

Among these, the long distance communication circuit 712 is a circuit that communicates with other devices via a communication network. The CMOS sensor 713 is a type of built-in imaging means that images a subject and obtains image data under the control of the CPU 701. The image sensor I/F 714 is a circuit that controls driving of the CMOS sensor 713. Microphone 715 is a built-in circuit that converts sound into electrical signals. The speaker 716 is a built-in circuit that converts electrical signals into physical vibrations to produce sounds such as music and voice. The sound input/output I/F 717 is a circuit that processes input/output of sound signals between the microphone 715 and the speaker 716 under the control of the CPU 701 . The display 718 is a type of display means such as a liquid crystal or organic EL (Electro Luminescence) that displays an image of a subject, various icons, and the like. The external device connection I/F 719 is an interface for connecting various external devices. The near field communication circuit 720 is a communication circuit such as NFC (Near Field Communication) or Bluetooth (registered trademark). The touch panel 721 is a type of input means by which the user operates the conference room terminal 90 by pressing the display 718.

The conference room terminal 90 also includes a bus line 710. The bus line 710 is an address bus, a data bus, etc. for electrically connecting each component such as the CPU 701 shown in FIG. 4.

<About functions>
FIG. 6 is an example of a functional block diagram showing the functions of the reservation management server 20, chat server 10, conference management server 30, and registration terminal 50 in a block form.

<<Reservation management server>>
The reservation management server 20 includes a communication section 21 and a reservation information management section 22. Each of these functional units included in the reservation management server 20 is realized by one of the components shown in FIG. It is a function or means to

The communication unit 21 transmits and receives various information to and from the conference management server 30 and the terminal device 60. The communication unit 21 transmits screen information of a reservation setting screen to the terminal device 60 and receives reservation settings from the terminal device 60. Further, reservation information is transmitted to the conference management server 30. The communication unit 21 is realized by the CPU 201 in FIG. 4 executing the program 209p and controlling the network driver 205.

The reservation information management unit 22 manages reservation information registered by the user. The reservation information management section 22 reads the reservation information for the conference room 6 requested by the conference management server 30 from the reservation information DB 291 and transmits it to the conference management server 30 via the communication section 21 . Alternatively, once the reservation information is registered (or changed), the reservation information is transmitted to the conference management server 30 even without a request. It is assumed that a general web application is used as a method for a reservation person to reserve a conference room 6 on the reservation management server 20. The reservation information management unit 22 is realized by the CPU 201 in FIG. 4 executing the program 209p.

The reservation management server 20 has a storage section 29 . The storage unit 29 is realized by the memory 202, HDD 209, etc. in FIG. 4. The storage unit 29 stores a reservation information DB 291 (Data Base), a constraint DB 292, and a requirement DB 293.

表１は予約情報ＤＢ２９１に記憶されている予約情報の一例を示す。予約情報は会議室６の予約状況を管理するための情報である。予約情報には、予約ＩＤに対応付けて予約者アカウント、会議名、会議室ＩＤ、開始時刻、終了時刻、及び、参加予定者アカウントの各項目が登録されている。予約ＩＤは予約情報の１レコードを識別する識別情報である。ＩＤはIdentificationの略であり識別子や識別情報という意味である。ＩＤは複数の対象から、ある特定の対象を一意的に区別するために用いられる名称、符号、文字列、数値又はこれらのうち１つ以上の組み合わせをいう。予約ＩＤ以外のＩＤについても同様である。予約者アカウントは会議室６を予約した参加予定者のアカウントである。会議名は参加予定者が任意に付与した会議の名称である。会議室ＩＤは社内ネットワークにある会議室６を識別する識別情報である。開始時刻は会議室６が予約された時間帯の始期（会議が開始される時刻）であり、終了時刻は会議室６が予約された時間帯の終期（会議が終わる時刻）である。参加予定者アカウントは会議に参加する予定の参加予定者のアカウントである。なお、表１のアカウントはいずれも予約管理サーバ２０が発行したアカウントである。

Table 1 shows an example of reservation information stored in the reservation information DB 291. The reservation information is information for managing the reservation status of the conference room 6. In the reservation information, the following items are registered in association with the reservation ID: reservation person account, conference name, conference room ID, start time, end time, and prospective participant account. The reservation ID is identification information that identifies one record of reservation information. ID is an abbreviation for Identification and means an identifier or identification information. ID refers to a name, code, character string, numerical value, or a combination of one or more of these used to uniquely distinguish a specific object from a plurality of objects. The same applies to IDs other than the reservation ID. The reservation person account is an account of a prospective participant who has reserved the conference room 6. The conference name is the name of the conference arbitrarily assigned by the prospective participants. The conference room ID is identification information that identifies the conference room 6 in the company network. The start time is the beginning of the time slot in which the conference room 6 is reserved (the time at which the conference starts), and the end time is the end of the time slot in which the conference room 6 is reserved (the time at which the conference ends). The prospective participant account is an account of a prospective participant who is scheduled to participate in the conference. Note that all the accounts in Table 1 are accounts issued by the reservation management server 20.

<<Chat server>>
The chat server 10 includes a communication section 11 and a text processing section 12. Each of these functional units of the chat server 10 is realized by one of the configuration categories shown in FIG. 4 operating in response to an instruction from the CPU 201 according to the program 209p expanded from the HDD 209 to the memory 202. It is a function or means.

The communication unit 11 transmits and receives various information to and from the conference management server 30. In this embodiment, information regarding the reservation of a conference room, information identifying a bot (such as a token to be described later), and information identifying a group to be notified are received from the conference management server 30. Information identifying this bot is notified in advance as bot identification information from the chat server 10 when the bot for the conference management server 30 is created. Furthermore, an account of an individual such as the person making the reservation may be specified. The communication unit 11 also transmits to the conference management server 30 a notification that the prospective participant has already read the information regarding the conference room reservation, or a response from the prospective participant to the displayed information regarding the conference room reservation. The communication unit 11 is realized by the CPU 201 in FIG. 4 executing the program 209p and controlling the network driver 205.

Based on the information that identifies the bot and the information that specifies the notification destination group notified from the conference management server 30, the text processing unit 12 reserves the conference room 6 for prospective participants belonging to the group as information to be spoken by the bot. Send information about. Therefore, notifications may be sent to as many people as the number of scheduled participants, or only to those who made reservations or notification destination users. Further, information regarding the reservation of the conference room 6 is transmitted only to a specific notification destination.

The text processing unit 12 can perform so-called push notifications. Examples of mechanisms include the following. The chat application 60a receives an ID (token) for push notification from a server operated by an OS (Operating System) manufacturer. This server associates the token with the device (terminal device 60). The chat application 60a registers the token and the chat application 60a account in the chat server 10. When the chat server 10 sends a push notification, the account of the chat application 60a is specified, so the linked token can be specified. The chat system specifies the token and sends the notification contents to the server operated by the OS manufacturer. This server sends a push notification to the device (terminal device 60) linked to the token.

The chat server 10 also includes a storage section 19 . The storage unit 19 is realized by the memory 202, HDD 209, etc. in FIG. 4. A group information DB 191 is stored in the storage unit 19 .

表２はグループ情報ＤＢ１９１に記憶されているグループ情報の一例を示す。グループ情報は同じグループに属するメンバのアカウントが登録された情報である。グループ情報には、ワークスペースとチャンネルに対応付けて、メンバアカウント１～ｎ（表２ではｎ＝４）、及び、ボットアカウントが登録されている。

Table 2 shows an example of group information stored in the group information DB 191. Group information is information in which accounts of members belonging to the same group are registered. In the group information, member accounts 1 to n (n=4 in Table 2) and bot accounts are registered in association with workspaces and channels.

A workspace is identification information for identifying an organization such as a company or a department. In this embodiment, a plurality of members belong to a workspace (for example, company A). The workspace is, for example, a URL, but only needs to be unique. Furthermore, the workspace has multiple channels depending on the purpose of chatting. A channel is a collection of members, such as a group for product A and a group for product B, with which common information is exchanged. One of the members belonging to the workspace belongs to the channel. In other words, notification destinations are identified by workspace and channel. However, since the method of specifying the notification destination differs depending on the chat system, if there is identification information that can uniquely specify the group, the group may be specified using only that information, or may be specified using three or more pieces of information.

Channels are guaranteed to be unique. Member accounts 1 to n are accounts of members of the channel, and these accounts are issued by the chat server 10. In this embodiment, a bot is registered as a member for notifying information regarding the reservation of the conference room 6. The bot can be said to be a proxy or a fictitious member of the conference management server 30. The bot's remarks (text) are transmitted to the terminal devices 60 of member accounts 1 to n.

The workspace and channel are managed by the conference management server 30 and serve as information for identifying groups to which participants belong.

<<Conference management server>>
The conference management server 30 includes a communication section 31 , an information association section 32 , a reservation information acquisition section 33 , a notification judgment section 34 , a control information generation section 35 , a control information response section 36 , a conference information notification section 37 , and a check-in management section 38 , an initial setting section 39, an authentication section 40, an authentication key verification section 41, a management control section 42, a terminal ID verification section 43, and a reservation information transmission section 44. Each of these functional units included in the conference management server 30 is realized by one of the configuration categories shown in FIG. It is a function or means to This program 209p is distributed from a program distribution server or stored in a storage medium.

The communication unit 31 transmits and receives various information to and from the reservation management server 20, the chat server 10, the registration terminal 50, and the terminal device 60. The communication section 31 has a transmitting section 31a and a receiving section 31b. The receiving unit 31b receives reservation information from the reservation management server 20 and receives a request for reservation information from the conference room terminal 90. Further, the receiving unit 31b receives a check-in request from the conference room terminal 90. Further, the receiving unit 31b receives correspondence between groups of the chat system and accounts from the registration terminal 50 operated by the administrator. The transmitter 31a transmits information regarding the reservation of a conference room to the chat server 10, and transmits reservation information to the conference room terminal 90. The communication unit 31 is realized by the CPU 201 in FIG. 4 executing the program 209p and controlling the network driver 205.

The information association unit 32 mainly performs processing related to pre-registration work. That is, domain registration is received from the registration terminal 50 etc. operated by the administrator, registered in the customer domain DB 495, and the workspace and channel of the chat system sent from the registration terminal 50 etc. are associated with the account on the reservation management server 20. It is registered in the correspondence information DB 491. The information association unit 32 is realized by the CPU 201 in FIG. 4 executing the program 209p.

The reservation information acquisition unit 33 specifies the account of the customer who uses the resource reservation system 100, acquires reservation information from the reservation management server 20, and registers it in the conference management information DB 493 as conference management information. Or receive changed reservation information. Therefore, at least part of the reservation information of the reservation management server 20 is stored in the conference management information DB 493. The reservation information acquisition unit 33 acquires reservation information for a predetermined period in the future from the present among the reservation information held by the reservation management server 20. The predetermined period is determined by how far into the future the conference room 6 reservation information is to be notified. The reservation information acquisition unit 33 is realized by the CPU 201 in FIG. 4 executing the program 209p.

The notification determination unit 34 determines whether there is a reservation for a start time that satisfies notification conditions in the conference management information. For example, with reference to the notification setting DB 496, it is determined that the notification will be sent at the set date and time by counting backwards from the reservation start time. Note that if bots are divided by role, such as a bot for reminders and a bot for reservation reception, the bots are identified according to the processing. The notification determination unit 34 is realized by the CPU 201 in FIG. 4 executing the program 209p.

When the notification determination unit 34 determines to notify, the conference information notification unit 37 specifies information that identifies the bot (for example, a token in Slack) and information that specifies the group to be notified, and notifies information regarding the reservation of the conference room 6. request the chat server 10 to do so. Note that although the notification is divided into several times, the conference identification information is included in at least one of the notifications. The conference identification information is information for the conference management server 30 to confirm that the participant has the right to use the reserved conference room 6 during the reserved time slot. The conference information notification unit 37 generates conference identification information at least before final notification. Note that the conference identification information is registered in the conference identification information DB 494. The conference information notification unit 37 is realized by the CPU 201 in FIG. 4 executing the program 209p.

The control information generation unit 35 generates control information for the electronic device 70 with reference to the conference management information, and registers the control information in the control information DB 497. For example, control information for turning on the electronic device 70 several minutes before the start time of a conference is generated, and control information for turning off the power for the electronic device 70 when a checkout is detected is generated. The control information is stored in the control information DB 497. The control information generation unit 35 is realized by the CPU 201 in FIG. 4 executing the program 209p.

The control information response unit 36 receives an inquiry from the conference room terminal 90 of the conference room 6 as to whether there is control information, refers to the control information DB 497, and transmits control information corresponding to the conference room 6 to the conference room terminal 90. . The control information response unit 36 is realized by the CPU 201 in FIG. 4 executing the program 209p.

The check-in management section 38 manages check-in and check-out to the conference room. Further, the status of the conference mainly associated with check-in/check-out is registered in the conference management information DB 493. Check-in is permitted 5 to 10 minutes before the start time of the conference specified by the reservation ID. Then, check-in is permitted when the combination of the conference room ID and conference identification information transmitted by the conference room terminal 90 is registered in the conference identification information DB 494. The check-in management unit 38 is realized by the CPU 201 in FIG. 4 executing the program 209p.

The initial setting unit 39 performs processing related to initial setting of the conference room terminal 90. For example, a list of conference rooms (setting screen to be described later) is provided to the registration terminal 50 of the administrator of the resource reservation system 100, and the conference room ID and name of the conference room selected by the administrator of the resource reservation system 100 are specified. Then, it generates an authentication key and transmits the URL (Uniform Resource Locator; address information of the conference management server 30 ) of the conference management server 30 to the registration terminal 50 . The check-in management unit 38 is realized by the CPU 201 in FIG. 4 executing the program 209p. The functions of the initial setting section 39 will be explained in detail with reference to FIG.

The authentication unit 40 authenticates the administrator based on the login password and user ID of the login information DB 499.

The authentication key verification unit 41 authenticates the conference room terminal 90 depending on whether the authentication key transmitted from the conference room terminal matches the one registered in the conference room setting information DB 498. Therefore, only conference room terminals that have the correct authentication key can acquire reservation information.

The management control unit 42 checks for each conference room whether the management start flag registered in the conference room setting information DB 498 is True and whether or not acquisition of reservation information has been requested. As will be described later, the management start flag is a flag indicating whether or not management of the conference room can be started.

The terminal ID verification unit 43 verifies whether a predetermined number or more of conference room terminals are registered in one conference room based on the terminal ID.

The reservation information transmitter 44 transmits reservation information (conference management information) stored in the conference management information DB 493 in response to a request from the conference room terminal 90. However, authentication using the authentication key must be successful and the management start flag must be set to True. The reservation information transmitter 44 may transmit in JSON format, XML format, CVS (Comma-Separated Values) format, or the like. Since reservation information is repeatedly transmitted, a format with a small capacity is advantageous.

The conference management server 30 also has a storage section 49 . The storage unit 49 is realized by the memory 202, HDD 209, etc. in FIG. 4. The storage unit 49 stores a correspondence information DB 491, a conference management information DB 493, a conference identification information DB 494, a customer domain DB 495, a notification setting DB 496, a control information DB 497, a conference room setting information DB 498, and a login information DB 499.

表３は対応付情報ＤＢ４９１に記憶されている対応付情報の一例を示す。対応付情報は予約管理システムのアカウントとチャットシステムのグループを対応付ける情報である。対応付情報は、ワークスペース、チャンネル及びメンバアカウント１～ｎ（表ではｎ＝４）の各項目を有する。ワークスペースとチャンネルは上記のとおりである。メンバアカウント１～ｎには予約管理サーバ２０が発行した各参加者のアカウントが登録される。また、表３に示すようにチャットシステムのアカウントが登録されてよい。グループに対して通知を行うためには予約管理サーバ２０に対して会議を予約したユーザの予約管理サーバ２０のアカウントと通知先のグループ及びチャンネルを特定するための情報（本実施形態ではワークスペースとチャンネル名）があればよく、必ずしもグループに所属するすべてのメンバのアカウントが登録されている必要はない。ただし、個人ユーザ宛に通知する場合、それぞれのチャットシステムのアカウント情報が必要なため、表３のように登録されていてもよい。

Table 3 shows an example of the association information stored in the association information DB 491. The association information is information that associates an account in the reservation management system with a group in the chat system. The correspondence information includes items of workspace, channel, and member accounts 1 to n (n=4 in the table). Workspace and channels are as above. Each participant's account issued by the reservation management server 20 is registered in member accounts 1 to n. Additionally, a chat system account may be registered as shown in Table 3. In order to notify a group, information for specifying the reservation management server 20 account of the user who reserved the conference, the notification destination group and channel (in this embodiment, the workspace and (channel name) is sufficient, and it is not necessarily necessary that the accounts of all members belonging to the group are registered. However, when notifying individual users, account information for each chat system is required, so the information may be registered as shown in Table 3.

表４は会議管理サーバ３０の会議管理情報ＤＢ４９３が記憶する会議管理情報の一例を示す。会議管理情報ＤＢ４９３には予約情報が記憶されるので、表４では表１の予約情報ＤＢ２９１との相違を説明する。表４の会議管理情報はステータスの項目を有する。ステータスは、予約の状況を意味する。例えば、会議室６の予約に関する情報の通知済み、利用確定、チェックイン済み、チェックアウト、又は、キャンセル（取り消し）等の状況が登録される。

Table 4 shows an example of conference management information stored in the conference management information DB 493 of the conference management server 30. Since reservation information is stored in the conference management information DB 493, Table 4 will explain the differences from the reservation information DB 291 in Table 1. The conference management information in Table 4 has a status item. Status means the status of the reservation. For example, the status of information regarding the reservation of the conference room 6, such as notified, usage confirmed, checked in, checked out, or canceled, is registered.

表５は会議識別情報ＤＢ４９４に記憶されている会議識別情報管理情報の一例を示す。会議識別情報管理情報は会議室６の予約ごとに会議識別情報を管理する情報である。会議識別情報管理情報は、予約ＩＤ、会議室ＩＤ、及び、会議識別情報の各項目を有する。これらについてはステータスを除き予約情報と同じであり（予約管理サーバ２０から受信した予約情報）、既出であるため説明は省略する。なお、予約ＩＤが登録されているのは、同じ会議室６の予約を識別するためである。ステータスは、予約の状況を意味する。例えば、会議室の予約に関する情報の通知済み、利用確定、チェックイン済み、チェックアウト、又は、キャンセル（取り消し）等の状況が登録される。

Table 5 shows an example of conference identification information management information stored in the conference identification information DB 494. The conference identification information management information is information for managing conference identification information for each reservation of the conference room 6. The conference identification information management information includes the following items: reservation ID, conference room ID, and conference identification information. These are the same as the reservation information except for the status (reservation information received from the reservation management server 20), and since they have already been mentioned, their explanation will be omitted. Note that the reason why the reservation ID is registered is to identify reservations for the same conference room 6. Status means the status of the reservation. For example, the status of information regarding the reservation of a conference room, such as notified, confirmation of use, checked-in, checked-out, or cancellation (cancellation), is registered.

表６は顧客ドメインＤＢ４９５に記憶されている顧客ドメイン情報の一例を示す。顧客ドメイン情報は顧客のドメインと顧客の管理者のアカウントを管理する情報である。顧客ドメイン情報には顧客のドメイン名と顧客の管理者アカウントが対応付けて登録されている。表６の顧客のドメインは予約管理サーバ２０が発行したアカウント（メールアドレス）のドメインである。また、管理者アカウントは、顧客の管理者（代表する）のアカウントである。なお、表６のアカウントは予約管理サーバ２０が発行したものである。

Table 6 shows an example of customer domain information stored in the customer domain DB 495. Customer domain information is information for managing the customer's domain and the customer's administrator account. In the customer domain information, the customer's domain name and the customer's administrator account are registered in association with each other. The customer domain in Table 6 is the domain of the account (email address) issued by the reservation management server 20. Further, the administrator account is an account of a customer's administrator (representative). Note that the accounts in Table 6 are those issued by the reservation management server 20.

表７は通知設定ＤＢ４９６に記憶されている通知設定情報の一例を示す。通知設定情報は顧客ごとに通知に関する設定を保持する。通知設定情報には、顧客ドメイン名と通知設定が対応付けて登録されている。通知設定には、会議の開始時刻のどのくらい前に、会議室６の予約に関する情報を通知するかのタイミングが設定されている。あるいは決まった日時が設定されていてもよい。また、タイミングは１つである必要はなく、１つの顧客に複数回の通知設定が登録されていてもよい。

Table 7 shows an example of notification setting information stored in the notification setting DB 496. The notification setting information holds notification-related settings for each customer. In the notification setting information, customer domain names and notification settings are registered in association with each other. In the notification settings, the timing of how far in advance of the start time of the conference the information regarding the reservation of the conference room 6 is to be notified is set. Alternatively, a fixed date and time may be set. Further, the timing does not need to be one, and multiple notification settings may be registered for one customer.

表８は制御情報ＤＢ４９７に記憶されている制御情報の一例を示す。制御情報は会議室６の電子機器７０を制御するための情報である。制御情報は、会議室ＩＤ、及び、制御内容の各項目を有する。制御内容は、電子機器７０の具体的な制御方法である。会議管理サーバ３０は電子機器７０ごとに詳細な制御内容を設定できる。また、制御する時刻が登録されないのは、社外ネットワークの会議管理サーバ３０から会議室端末９０に送信することが困難であり、会議室端末９０が会議管理サーバ３０にアクセスし、この時、制御情報が生成されていれば制御内容を送信するからである。

Table 8 shows an example of control information stored in the control information DB 497. The control information is information for controlling the electronic equipment 70 in the conference room 6. The control information includes each item of conference room ID and control content. The control content is a specific control method for the electronic device 70. The conference management server 30 can set detailed control contents for each electronic device 70. Furthermore, the reason why the control time is not registered is that it is difficult to transmit the control information from the conference management server 30 of the external network to the conference room terminal 90, and when the conference room terminal 90 accesses the conference management server 30, This is because if the control information is generated, the control contents will be transmitted.

表９は、会議室設定情報ＤＢ４９８に記憶されている会議室設定情報の一例を示す。会議室設定情報は会議室ごとの設定に関する情報である。会議室設定情報は、顧客ＩＤに対応付けて、会議室名称、会議室ＩＤ、会議室端末の状態、認証キー、管理開始フラグ、及び、登録できる会議室端末の数の各項目を有する。
・会議室名称は会議の参加者が認識している会議室の一般的な名称であり、例えば会議室の入り口に提示されているものをいう。
・会議室ＩＤは上記のように会議室を一意に識別する識別情報である。簡易的には、会議室ＩＤは予約管理サーバ２０と共通とすることができる。また、変換テーブルを設けることで、予約管理サーバ２０と別に管理者が設定することもできる。
・会議室端末の状態は会議室端末９０の初期設定が終了したか、通信が可能か等を示す。
接続中：一定期間内に通信が確認できている状態
セットアップ前：初期設定の前
接続断：一定期間以上、通信がない状態
・認証キーは会議管理サーバ３０が会議室端末９０を認証するための認証情報となる。初期設定により認証キーが会議室端末９０に送信される。認証キーは総当たり方式で特定できない程度に長い桁数の数字、アルファベット、記号などの組み合わせである。認証キーは会議管理サーバ３０が決定しても管理者が決定してもよい。
・管理開始フラグは、会議室端末９０の初期設定が終わった後に、会議室の管理を会議管理サーバ３０が開始するか否かを示すフラグ（True：開始する False：開始しない）である。管理開始フラグがあることで、初期設定が完了してから会議室端末９０の配置までのタイムラグで生じる不都合を抑制できる。詳細は後述される。
・登録できる会議室端末の数は、１つの会議室に対応付けられることができる会議室端末の数である。会議室端末９０は１つの会議室に１つあれば支障がないが、会議室端末９０に異常が生じた場合、修理する間の会議室へのチェックインが困難になる。このため、管理者が複数の会議室端末９０を１つの会議室に対応付けたい場合がある。したがって、認証キーが外部に漏れても、端末ＩＤが一致してかつその数が決まっているので、予約情報が外部に漏れることなどを抑制できる。初期値は１でもよいし複数でもよい。

Table 9 shows an example of conference room setting information stored in the conference room setting information DB 498. The conference room setting information is information regarding settings for each conference room. The conference room setting information includes items such as conference room name, conference room ID, conference room terminal status, authentication key, management start flag, and number of conference room terminals that can be registered, in association with the customer ID.
- The conference room name is the general name of the conference room that is recognized by the participants of the conference, for example, the name displayed at the entrance of the conference room.
- The conference room ID is identification information that uniquely identifies the conference room as described above. For simplicity, the conference room ID can be the same as that of the reservation management server 20. Further, by providing a conversion table, the administrator can set it separately from the reservation management server 20.
- The status of the conference room terminal indicates whether the initial settings of the conference room terminal 90 have been completed, whether communication is possible, etc.
Connected: Communication has been confirmed within a certain period of time Before setup: Before initial settings Connection disconnected: There has been no communication for a certain period of time - The authentication key is used by the conference management server 30 to authenticate the conference room terminal 90. Authentication information. An authentication key is sent to the conference room terminal 90 by initial setting. The authentication key is a combination of numbers, alphabets, symbols, etc. with a long number of digits that cannot be determined using a brute force method. The authentication key may be determined by the conference management server 30 or by the administrator.
- The management start flag is a flag indicating whether or not the conference management server 30 starts managing the conference room after the initial setting of the conference room terminal 90 is completed (True: starts, False: does not start). With the management start flag, it is possible to suppress inconveniences caused by a time lag between the completion of initial settings and the placement of conference room terminals 90. Details will be described later.
- The number of conference room terminals that can be registered is the number of conference room terminals that can be associated with one conference room. There is no problem if there is only one conference room terminal 90 in one conference room, but if an abnormality occurs in the conference room terminal 90, it will be difficult to check in to the conference room while it is being repaired. Therefore, the administrator may want to associate a plurality of conference room terminals 90 with one conference room. Therefore, even if the authentication key is leaked to the outside, since the terminal IDs match and the number is fixed, it is possible to prevent the reservation information from leaking to the outside. The initial value may be 1 or may be multiple.

The conference room name and conference room ID are predetermined or can be set by the administrator. The one sent from the reservation management server 20 may be used. The initial state of the conference room terminal (immediately after provider settings) is before setup, but it changes depending on the communication status. The authentication key is numbered and set by, for example, the conference management server 30 at the time of initial setting. The management start flag is set by the administrator from a setting screen, which will be described later. Similarly, the number of conference room terminals that can be registered can be set by the administrator. The number of conference room terminals that can be registered is often one or more. When set to 1, only one conference room terminal 90 can be registered in one conference room.

表１０はログイン情報ＤＢ４９９に記憶されているログイン情報の一例を示す。ログイン情報は管理者が会議管理サーバ３０にログインするための情報である。ログイン情報は、顧客ＩＤ、ログインパスワード、ユーザＩＤ、及び、サーバＵＲＬの各項目を有する。管理者がログインパスワード、及び、ユーザＩＤで会議管理サーバ３０にログインし、登録端末５０に後述する設定画面を表示させる。ログインにより管理者が会議室端末９０を配置する会議室がある顧客が特定される。また、ログイン情報ＤＢ４９９には顧客に割り当てられたサーバＵＲＬが登録されており、顧客の会議室端末９０が会議管理サーバ３０と通信できる。サーバＵＲＬは会議管理サーバ３０のうち顧客に割り当てられたＵＲＬであり、会議室端末９０がサーバＵＲＬにアクセスすることで顧客の予約情報を取得できる。ただし、サーバＵＲＬは複数の顧客に共通でもよい。

Table 10 shows an example of login information stored in the login information DB 499. The login information is information for the administrator to log into the conference management server 30. The login information includes the following items: customer ID, login password, user ID, and server URL. The administrator logs in to the conference management server 30 using a login password and user ID, and causes the registration terminal 50 to display a setting screen to be described later. By logging in, the customer in which the conference room in which the administrator places the conference room terminal 90 is located is specified. Further, the server URL assigned to the customer is registered in the login information DB 499, and the customer's conference room terminal 90 can communicate with the conference management server 30. The server URL is a URL assigned to the customer in the conference management server 30, and the conference room terminal 90 can acquire the customer's reservation information by accessing the server URL. However, the server URL may be common to multiple customers.

<<Registered terminal>>
The registration terminal 50 includes a communication section 51, an operation reception section 52, and a display control section 53. Each of these functional units included in the registration terminal 50 is realized by one of the components shown in FIG. It is a function or means. This program 209p is distributed from a program distribution server or stored in a storage medium.

The registration terminal 50 is a terminal used by the administrator to perform various settings regarding the conference room via a web page provided by the conference management server. One of these settings is the initial setting. Note that the terminal device 60 may be used for the initial settings. The functions of the communication section 51, operation reception section 52, and display control section 53 included in the registration terminal 50 are the same as those of the terminal device 60, and the details will be explained together with the terminal device 60.

<<Terminal device>>
FIG. 7 is an example of a functional block diagram showing the functions of the terminal device 60 and the conference room terminal 90 in a block form. The functions of the electronic device 70 will be explained as necessary.

The terminal device 60 includes a communication section 61a, an operation reception section 61b, a display control section 61c, a chat communication section 62, a text display section 63, an application communication section 64, a server communication section 65, a display control section 66, an application communication section 67, and , and a terminal communication section 68. Each of these functional units included in the terminal device 60 is realized by one of the configuration categories shown in FIG. It is a function or means. This program 209p is distributed from a program distribution server or stored in a storage medium. Since the chat application 60a and the conference application 60b are running on the terminal device 60, the program 209p includes the chat application 60a and the conference application 60b.

The communication unit 61a transmits and receives various information to and from the conference management server 30 and the reservation management server 20. The communication unit 61a is realized by the CPU 201 in FIG. 4 executing the program 209p and controlling the network driver 205.

The operation accepting unit 61b accepts various operations performed by participants on the terminal device 60. The operation reception unit 61b is realized by the CPU 201 in FIG. 4 executing the program 209p and controlling the input device 210.

The display control unit 61c interprets screen information of various screens and displays it on the LCD 206. The operation reception unit 61b and the display control unit 61c have, for example, a browser function and can execute a web application. For example, the reservation setting screen received from the reservation management server 20 is displayed, and the operation reception unit 61b receives reservation information set by the reservation person.

The chat communication unit 62 of the chat application 60a sends and receives various information to and from the chat server 10. In this embodiment, the information regarding the reservation of the conference room 6 is received from the chat server 10, and the chat server 10 is notified of whether the reservation of the conference room 6 has been read, whether the conference room 6 will be used or canceled, etc. The chat communication unit 62 is realized by the CPU 201 in FIG. 4 executing the program 209p and controlling the network driver 205.

The text display section 63 of the chat application 60a displays the text (information regarding the reservation of the conference room 6) sent from the chat server 10. For example, the source of the message is a bot, and the text is displayed as if it were input by the bot. The text display section 63 is realized by the CPU 201 in FIG. 4 executing the chat application 60a.

The application communication unit 64 of the chat application 60a calls the conference application 60b and transmits conference identification information to the conference application 60b. When the chat server 10 notifies information regarding the reservation of the conference room 6, it sends information identifying the conference application 60b to the terminal device 60, so the chat application 60a specifies the conference application 60b to the OS and performs conference identification. Request information notifications. The OS can launch the conference application 60b. The application communication unit 64 is realized by the CPU 201 in FIG. 4 executing the chat application 60a.

The server communication unit 65 of the conference application 60b communicates with the conference management server 30. For example, an image code including conference identification information is acquired from the conference management server 30. The server communication unit 65 is realized by the CPU 201 in FIG. 4 executing the conference application 60b. The image code is used for authentication at check-in. It may also be a several-digit number for authentication.

The display control unit 66 of the conference application 60b displays an image code and the like including conference identification information on the LCD 206. The display control unit 66 is realized by the CPU 201 in FIG. 4 executing the conference application 60b and controlling the graphics driver.

The application communication unit 67 of the conference application 60b acquires various information (conference identification information included in information regarding reservation of the conference room 6, etc.) from the chat application 60a via the OS. The application communication unit 67 is realized by the CPU 201 in FIG. 4 executing the conference application 60b.

The terminal communication unit 68 communicates with the conference room terminal 90 and transmits conference identification information and the like. The terminal communication unit 68 detects the presence of the conference room terminal 90 using short-range wireless communication such as Bluetooth (registered trademark), and upon detecting the conference room terminal 90, transmits conference identification information. It also provides the conference room terminal 90 with a function to display an image code. The terminal communication unit 68 is realized by the CPU 201 in FIG. 4 executing the conference application 60b.

<<Conference room terminal>>
The conference room terminal 90 includes a server communication section 91, a terminal device communication section 92, an operation reception section 93, a display control section 94, an electronic device communication section 95, a terminal authentication section 96, an imaging section 97, a decoding section 98, a setting recording section 98- 2, and a reservation information request section 98-3. Each of these functional units included in the conference room terminal 90 is realized by operating one of the configuration categories shown in FIG. It is a function or means. This program 604p is distributed from a program distribution server or stored in a storage medium.

The server communication unit 91 communicates with the conference management server 30 using the server URL 993 as the destination. Since the conference room terminal 90 exists in the in-house network, it is difficult for the conference management server 30 to communicate with the conference room terminal 90. For this reason, the server communication unit 91 communicates with the conference management server 30 using communication techniques such as polling (communicating with the conference management server 30 periodically) and WebSocket. If there is no communication from the server communication unit 91, disconnection is registered in the conference room setting information DB 498. The server communication unit 91 may communicate using a communication protocol such as HTTP, and the communication protocol is not particularly limited.

The server communication unit 91 of this embodiment receives the reservation information, and at check-in, transmits the conference identification information received by the terminal device communication unit 92 from the terminal device 60 or the conference identification information input manually to the conference management server 30. do. Additionally, the server communication unit 91 receives control information from the conference management server 30. The server communication unit 91 is realized by the CPU 601 in FIG. 5 executing the program 604p and controlling the wireless LAN communication unit 613.

The terminal device communication section 92 communicates with the terminal device 60. In this embodiment, conference identification information and the like are received. The terminal device communication unit 92 is realized by the CPU 601 in FIG. 5 executing the program 604p and controlling the short-range wireless communication unit 615 or the RF tag reader/writer 622.

Electronic device communication section 95 communicates with electronic device 70 . In this embodiment, the control information received by the server communication unit 91 is transmitted to the electronic device 70. The electronic device communication unit 95 is realized by the CPU 601 in FIG. 5 executing the program 604p and controlling the wireless LAN communication unit 613.

The display control unit 94 displays a screen generated by the terminal application 90a on the display 616. This screen is a standby screen where check-in, check-out, etc. can be performed. The display control unit 94 is realized by the CPU 601 in FIG. 5 executing the program 604p and controlling the display 616.

The operation reception unit 93 accepts various operations on the conference room terminal 90. The operation reception unit 93 is realized by the CPU 601 in FIG. 5 executing the program 604p and controlling the touch panel 617.

The terminal authentication unit 96 authenticates the administrator's login to the terminal application based on whether the input administrator password is correct. This is because the conference room terminal 90 placed in the conference room can be operated by unspecified participants, so if there is no authentication function, there is a risk that the initial settings will be changed.

The image capturing section 97 mainly captures images of image codes. When the administrator operates the conference room terminal 90 so that the image code falls within the field of view of the CMOS sensor 605, the imaging unit 97 recognizes the image code and automatically generates image data. The decoding unit 98 decodes the image code captured by the imaging unit 97 to restore communication setting information.

The setting recording unit 98-2 causes the storage unit 99 to store the communication setting information (conference room ID, authentication key, server URL, conference room name) decoded by the decoding unit 98.

Further, the conference room terminal 90 has a storage section 99. The storage unit 99 is realized by the ROM 602, EEPROM 604, etc. in FIG. The storage unit 99 stores a conference room ID 991, an authentication key 992, a server URL 993, a conference room name 994, a terminal ID 995, an administrator password 996, and an IP address 997 of the electronic device 70.

The reservation information requesting section 98-3 repeatedly transmits the conference room ID and authentication key to the conference management server 30 via the server communication section 91 at regular timings for acquiring reservation information. In response to this, the reservation information request section 98-3 obtains reservation information via the server communication section 91. Reservation information only needs to be acquired when there is a change. The timing is every few seconds to every few minutes. The shorter the cycle, the earlier the reservation information can be updated, but the communication load will also be higher, so it is determined by taking both into consideration. In this embodiment, it is set to 30 seconds, for example. Further, it is possible to receive at least conference management information (reservation information) for the conference room 6 on that day through the server communication unit 91 .

The terminal ID 995 is identification information of the conference room terminal 90. The terminal ID is used by the conference management server 30 to identify the conference room terminals 90 in order to prevent more than a predetermined number of conference room terminals 90 from connecting to the conference management server 30 in one conference room. The terminal ID may be, for example, a UUID (Universally Unique Identifier) of a terminal application, a MAC address, or the like, as long as it is unique. UUID is a unique identifier that no two or more items in the world have the same value even without specific management.

The administrator password 996 is set by the administrator when installing the terminal application 90a or when starting it for the first time. The IP address 997 of the electronic device 70 is set by the administrator as necessary.

<About the initial settings section of the conference management server>
FIG. 8 is an example of a functional block diagram showing the functions of the initial setting section 39 in a block form. The initial setting section 39 includes a setting screen generation section 391, an authentication key generation section 392, an encryption section 393, an image code generation section 394, and an information management section 395. Further, the storage section 49 is the same as that shown in FIG. The initial setting unit 39 controls each function to perform necessary processing.

The information management unit 395 reads various types of information stored in the storage unit 49 and provides functions that require information (setting screen generation unit 391, authentication key generation unit 392, encryption unit 393, image code generation unit 394). Send to.

The setting screen generation unit 391 generates screen information of a setting screen and transmits it to the registration terminal 50 via the communication unit 31. The screen information is created using HTML, CSS (Cascade Style Sheet), JavaScript (registered trademark), and the like. A setting screen is provided by JavaScript (registered trademark) as one screen of a Web application running on a browser.

The encryption unit 393 encrypts the communication setting information that the information management unit 395 has acquired from the storage unit 49 . The image code generation unit 394 encodes the encrypted communication setting information into an image code. To put it simply, the communication setting information is information necessary for the conference room terminal 90 to communicate with the conference management server 30. The server URL is information for specifying the communication destination, the authentication key is information for receiving authentication, and the conference room ID is information for notifying which conference room the communication is from. Since the conference room name is information for display by the conference room terminal 90, there is no problem even if it is not included in the communication setting information.

<About the settings screen>
FIG. 9 shows an example of a setting screen 501 displayed by the registration terminal 50. The administrator logs in to the conference management server 30 from the registration terminal 50 using a login password and user ID. In this embodiment, in order to perform initial settings, the administrator displays a settings screen 501 shown as an example in FIG. 9.

The settings screen 501 includes a check mark field 502, a conference room name field 503, a conference room ID field 504, a conference room terminal connection status field 505, an operation group field 506, an image code field 507, and a number of terminals that can be registered field 508. Each column is displayed. The contents of the columns are information stored in the conference room setting information DB 498 in Table 9, except for the operation group. The operation group is a group that determines the operation policy of the conference room. Conference rooms include conference rooms used by general employees, conference rooms used by executives, reception rooms, training rooms, etc., and operational policies may need to be changed depending on the group. For example, in a general conference room, the automatic cancellation timing may be set to the meeting start time, but in a reception room, the automatic cancellation timing may be delayed in consideration of the possibility that guests will be late. Additionally, you may want to set the timing of the reminder to be different between the training room (to prepare for training earlier) and the general conference room.

Among the items shown in FIG. 9, in this embodiment, at least the conference room name field 503 and the image code field 507 may be displayed. However, the administrator can check the status (operation status) of the conference room terminals in each conference room using the conference room terminal connection status column 505. For example, if there is a disconnection, it will be possible to take immediate action such as checking the situation.

The check mark column 502 corresponds to the management start flag in the conference room setting information DB 498 in Table 9. A check mark column 502 is a reception button that accepts a setting requesting the start of conference room management. Checked is True, unchecked is False. The presence of the check mark field 502 prevents the conference management server 30 from starting conference room management, especially automatic cancellation, even after initial settings are completed. For example, if the administrator's work place 102 is far from the conference room, it takes time for the administrator to initialize the conference room terminal 90 and then set it in the conference room. If the cancellation time of the meeting passes during the time from initial setup to setting up the conference room, the conference room reservation will be canceled even though there are participants, the conference room will be double booked, or someone else will come in. Such adverse effects may occur.

Furthermore, when the administrator initializes a large number of conference room terminals 90, it takes time for the administrator to initialize the first conference room terminal 90 and the last conference room terminal 90. If the cancellation time of the conference passes during this time, the reservation of the conference room will be canceled even though there are participants, which may cause problems such as someone else coming in.

Furthermore, depending on the operation, it is also effective when it is desired to start management of conference rooms in each conference room at almost the same time.

If the check mark field 502 is checked and the conference room terminal 90 starts requesting to obtain reservation information after capturing the image code, the conference management server 30 starts management by transmitting the reservation information to the conference room terminal 90, Then, if the conference room is not used for a predetermined period of time, a cancellation process (cancellation) of the reservation information is started.

The image code field 507 shown in FIG. 9 can accept presses from the administrator, and when the administrator presses the image code column 507 of any conference room, the operation reception unit 52 of the registration terminal 50 accepts the press. The registration terminal 50 requests the conference management server 30 for an image code. Thereby, the communication unit 51 can receive the image code including the communication setting information.

Administrators can freely set the number of devices that can be registered. However, since it is preferable that at least one conference room terminal 90 be placed in the conference room, it is preferable that the setting screen 501 not accept 0 (zero).

The number of terminals column 508 accepts input (setting) of the upper limit number of conference room terminals 90 that can be registered in one conference room.

Although a plurality of conference rooms are displayed in FIG. 9, if the provider of the resource reservation system 100 has not made various settings regarding the customer's conference rooms in the conference management server 30, none of them may be displayed. There is.

FIG. 10 shows a setting screen 501 on which image codes are displayed in a superimposed manner. When "image code display" in the image code field 507 is pressed, the display control unit 53 of the registration terminal 50 pops up the image code 110 on the setting screen 501, as shown in FIG. The conference room name and conference room ID may be displayed together with the image code 110. This allows the administrator to know which conference room the image code is for the initial settings.

Instead of displaying the image code 110 as a pop-up, it may be displayed as a separate web page, or may be downloaded as a single file. The administrator images this image code using the conference room terminal 90 that is the target of initial settings.

<Screen transition of conference room terminal>
Next, transitions of screens displayed by the terminal application of the conference room terminal 90 will be described using FIG. 11. FIG. 11 shows an example of a screen displayed by the terminal application of the conference room terminal 90.

First, when the administrator starts the terminal application of the conference room terminal 90, an initial screen 510 shown in FIG. 11(a) is displayed. The initial screen 510 has a registration button 511, and when the administrator presses the registration button 511, the operation reception unit 93 accepts the press of the registration button 511. The registration button 511 is a button for registering the conference room terminal 90 in the conference management server 30 (for initial setting).

By pressing the registration button 511, the display control unit 94 of the conference room terminal 90 displays a password input screen 520, as shown in FIG. 11(b). The password input screen 520 has a password input field 521 and an OK button 522. The administrator enters the administrator password stored in the storage unit 99 into the password input field 521 and presses the OK button 522. The operation reception unit 93 accepts these operations. The terminal authentication unit 96 compares the input administrator password with the administrator password stored in the storage unit 99 and determines whether authentication is successful or unsuccessful. This can prevent general users from arbitrarily changing the settings of the conference room terminal 90 placed in the conference room where general users come and go.

If the authentication using the administrator password is successful, a conference room terminal setting screen 525 is displayed as shown in FIG. 11(c). Details of the conference room terminal setting screen 525 will be explained with reference to FIG. When the administrator presses a setting button 403, which will be described later, the imaging unit 97 of the conference room terminal 90 is activated as shown in FIG. 11(d). FIG. 11(d) shows the startup screen 530. When the administrator operates the conference room terminal 90 so that the image code shown in FIG. 10 falls within the field of view of the CMOS sensor 605, the imaging unit 97 images the image code.

During image capture, the display control unit 94 of the conference room terminal 90 displays the captured image code (an example of information to be provided) on the display 616 (display) as shown in FIG. (Example of method) to display it like a video. FIG. 11(e) shows a screen 540 during imaging. The decoding unit 98 decodes the captured image code and restores communication setting information.

If the communication setting information can be restored by decoding the image code, the conference room terminal setting screen 525 is displayed again as shown in FIG. 11(f). The conference room name of the communication setting information is automatically displayed on the conference room terminal setting screen 525. When the administrator presses the setting completion button 417, the conference room terminal 90 starts acquiring reservation information. After pressing the setting completion button 417, a standby screen appears with no reservation information.

The server communication unit 91 of the conference room terminal 90 can communicate with the conference management server 30 using communication setting information. If the authentication using the authentication key and the confirmation of the management start flag are successful, the conference room terminal 90 can acquire the reservation information.

As described above, when the initial settings of the conference room terminal 90 are completed and the management start flag becomes True, the conference room terminal 90 starts downloading the reservation information. FIG. 11(g) shows a display screen (standby screen) 550 of downloaded reservation information. Display examples of the standby screen will be explained with reference to FIGS. 16 to 18.

FIG. 12 shows an example of the conference room terminal setting screen 525. Note that some setting items, such as proxy server settings, are omitted. The conference room terminal setting screen 525 includes a conference room name field 401, an electronic device cooperation field 404, an external service cooperation field 411, and an automatic return field 415. The conference room name is displayed in the conference room name field. The conference room name 402 is automatically displayed by reading the image code. A setting button 403 is a button for starting a camera for capturing an image code.

The electronic device cooperation field 404 is a field for setting whether to perform cooperation with an electronic device. Cooperation with the electronic device 70 includes, for example, the conference room terminal 90 turning on the electronic device 70 (or returning from sleep) in conjunction with check-in (or at the same time), and in conjunction with check-out (at the same time). This refers to the conference room terminal 90 turning off the power to the electronic device 70 (or transitioning to sleep). The electronic device cooperation field 404 has a switch button 409, a connection destination field 406, a user name field 407, a password field 408, and a connection confirmation button 410. A switch button 409 is a button for switching whether or not to cooperate with the electronic device 70. The connection destination field 406 is a field for specifying the electronic device to be connected to, such as the IP address and computer name of the electronic device. A user name field 407 and a password field 408 are provided for the conference room terminal 90 to log in to the electronic device 70 (to protect the electronic device 70). The connection confirmation button 410 is a button that causes the conference room terminal 90 to communicate with the electronic device 70 on a trial basis.

The external service cooperation column 411 includes a switching button 412, a simple information notification destination URL column 413, and a detailed information notification destination URL column 414. Cooperation with external services refers to passing check-in and check-out timings and reservation information set by the reservation person at the time of reservation to external applications (various applications that operate on the electronic device 70). Specifically, the following cooperation is possible.
- Collaborate with remote conference services to start remote conferences at the same time as check-in. The communication ID of the destination to be remotely connected is input at the time of reservation (included in the reservation information).
- In cooperation with the whiteboard service, the whiteboard is initialized (erases writing) at the same time as check-in, and information such as the person making the reservation, participants, meeting name, meeting date and time, etc. is sent to the whiteboard app and displayed. Along with the reservation ID included in the reservation information, the screen data (handwritten data, projected materials) displayed on the whiteboard at the meeting is started to be stored in the reservation management server at the same time as check-in.
・In collaboration with the automatic minutes creation service, the automatic minutes creation service starts at the same time as check-in. It ends at the same time as checkout.

The switch button 412 is a button for switching whether or not to cooperate with an external service. In the simple information notification destination URL field 413, the URL of the notification destination to which simple information is to be notified is set. For example, the simple information has the following contents.
・Status changes (check-in detected (including use now), check-out detected, reservation time extended)
・Meeting name ・Meeting start time, end time ・Conference room information (conference room ID, conference room name)
In the detailed information notification destination URL column 414, the URL of the notification destination to which detailed information is to be notified is set. For example, the detailed information is as follows.
・Meeting name ・Meeting start time, end time ・Conference room information (conference room ID, conference room name)
・Reservator's name, address, and icon image URL (also displayed on the standby screen)
・Name, address, and icon image URL of each participant
The automatic return column 415 has a switching button 416. Automatic return is when the terminal application 90a returns to the front when the general user closes the terminal application 90a and tries to operate another application, or when the terminal application 90a runs in the background and returns to the home screen. If it is not displayed, the terminal application 90a restarts itself and displays it in the foreground.

Further, the conference room terminal setting screen 525 has a setting completion button 417. A settings completion button 417 is a button for completing the settings shown in FIG. 12 and displaying the standby screen.

FIG. 13 shows the conference room terminal setting screen 525 displayed in FIG. 11(f) after the image code is read. The conference room name "Conference Room A" included in the image code is automatically displayed in the conference room name 402.

<Initial setting process steps>
Next, a procedure for the administrator to initialize the conference room terminal 90 will be explained using FIG. 14. FIG. 14 is an example of a sequence diagram illustrating the initial setting procedure of the conference room terminal 90 in the resource reservation system 100. Note that it is assumed that a terminal application is installed on the conference room terminal 90. It is also assumed that the registration terminal 50 is displaying a login screen for logging into the conference management server 30.

S1: The reservation information acquisition unit 33 of the conference management server 30 transmits a resource list request to the reservation management server at a predetermined frequency. The resource list request refers to requesting a list of customer resources registered in the reservation management server. Since conference rooms are treated as resources in the resource reservation system 100, the conference management server 30 can obtain a list of conference rooms to be displayed on the setting screen 501 in response to a resource list request. The predetermined frequency may be a relatively low frequency, such as once a day. Resources include electronic equipment 70 in addition to conference rooms.

S2: The reservation information acquisition unit 33 of the conference management server 30 repeatedly transmits a reservation information acquisition request to the reservation management server. A reservation information acquisition request is a request for reservation information of a reservation user who specifies a domain and has this domain in his/her account. Thereby, the conference management server 30 can acquire reservation information for a fixed period. The frequency of repetition is preferably relatively high, such as every few minutes, every 30 minutes, or every hour. Furthermore, regarding reservation information, newly registered or changed reservation information may be automatically transmitted from the reservation management server 20.

S3: Meanwhile, the administrator performs a login operation on the registration terminal 50. That is, input the login password and user ID. The operation reception unit 52 of the registration terminal 50 accepts a login operation.

S4: The communication unit 51 of the registration terminal 50 transmits a login request (login password and user ID) to the conference management server 30. Such an authentication destination server may exist separately from the conference management server 30.

S5: The authentication unit 40 of the conference management server 30 performs authentication depending on whether the login password and user ID are registered in the login information DB 499. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the authentication is successful. The communication unit 31 of the conference management server 30 transmits the authentication result to the registration terminal 50.

S6: The administrator performs an operation to display a resource list on the registration terminal 50. Displaying the resource list means displaying the setting screen 501 in FIG. 9. The operation accepting unit 52 of the registration terminal 50 accepts an operation for displaying a resource list. Note that the setting screen 501 may be automatically displayed upon authentication. Furthermore, since the administrator is logged in, the customer ID of the customer for whom the administrator is attempting to initialize the conference room terminal 90 has been specified.

S7: The communication unit 51 of the registration terminal 50 transmits a resource list request to the conference management server 30.

S8: The communication unit 31 of the conference management server 30 receives the resource list request, and the setting screen generation unit 391 acquires the conference room setting information specified by the customer ID from the conference room setting information DB 498, and acquires the conference room setting information of the customer ( A settings screen 501 having a list of resources) is generated. Note that the resources include electronic devices 70 other than conference rooms. The communication unit 31 of the conference management server 30 transmits the screen information of the setting screen 501 to the registration terminal 50.

S9: The communication unit 51 of the registration terminal 50 receives the screen information of the setting screen 501, and the display control unit 53 displays the setting screen 501 as shown in FIG.

S10: Next, the administrator specifies the conference room in which the conference room terminal 90 is to be registered and performs an operation to display the image code. That is, the user presses the image code column 507. The operation accepting unit 52 of the registration terminal 50 accepts an operation to display an image code.

S11: The communication unit 51 of the registration terminal 50 specifies the conference room ID and transmits an image code display request to the conference management server 30.

S12: The communication unit 31 of the conference management server 30 receives the image code display request, and first, the information management unit 395 acquires communication setting information from the storage unit 49. The information management unit 395 acquires the server URL associated with the customer ID from the login information DB 499. Further, the conference room name and authentication key associated with the conference room ID transmitted from the conference room terminal 90 are acquired from the conference room setting information DB 498. The authentication key generation unit 392 may generate an authentication key for the conference room terminal 90 at this timing. The encryption unit 393 encrypts the above communication setting information.

S13: Next, the image code generation unit 394 encodes the communication setting information and generates an image code. In this way, the conference management server 30 provides communication setting information upon receiving a request for communication setting information.

S14: The communication unit 31 of the conference management server 30 transmits the image code to the registration terminal 50.

S15: The communication unit 51 of the registration terminal 50 receives the image code, and the display control unit 53 displays the image code on the display 616 as shown in FIG.

S16: Next, the administrator presses the registration button 511 on the conference room terminal 90 and inputs the administrator password. That is, the user presses the registration button 511 on the initial screen 510 shown in FIG. 11(a), and inputs the administrator password on the password input screen 520 shown in FIG. 11(b). The operation reception unit 93 of the conference room terminal 90 accepts these operations.

S17: The terminal authentication unit 96 of the conference room terminal 90 determines that the authentication is successful if the administrator password input by the administrator matches the administrator password stored in the storage unit 99, and if the administrator password does not match, the terminal authentication unit 96 determines that the authentication is successful. Determine that authentication has failed.

S18: If the authentication is successful, the administrator presses the setting button 403 on the conference room terminal setting screen 525 to start the camera, as shown in FIG. 11(c).

S19: As shown in FIG. 11(d), the imaging unit 97 of the conference room terminal 90 is activated.

S20: When the administrator operates the conference room terminal 90 so that the image code is included in the field of view of the CMOS sensor 605, the imaging unit 97 recognizes the image code and automatically sends the image data as shown in FIG. 11(e). generate.

S21: The decoding unit 98 decodes the image code captured by the imaging unit 97 to restore communication setting information. As a result, the conference room terminal setting screen 525 is displayed again as shown in FIG. 11(f).

S22: The setting recording section 98-2 stores the communication setting information in the storage section 99. Therefore, the storage unit 99 stores the conference room ID, server URL, authentication key, and conference room name, and communication with the conference management server 30 becomes possible. Reservation information can be acquired depending on the state of the management start flag. In this way, the conference room terminal 90 automatically starts communication with the conference management server 30 by recording the communication setting information.

<<Obtain reservation information, start collaboration, start management>>
Next, the process by which the conference room terminal 90 acquires reservation information will be described using FIG. 15. FIG. 15 is an example of a sequence diagram illustrating processing until the conference room terminal 90 acquires reservation information. It is assumed that the administrator is displaying the settings screen 501.

S31: First, the administrator turns on the check mark column 502 of a predetermined conference room on the setting screen 501. This operation corresponds to the operation of starting management (actually, management is started by requesting reservation information). The operation reception unit 52 of the registration terminal 50 accepts this operation.

S32: The communication unit 51 of the registration terminal 50 sends a management start request to the conference management server 30 by setting the management start flag to True and specifying the conference room ID.

S33: The communication unit 31 of the conference management server 30 receives the management start request. As a result, the information management unit 395 sets the management start flag of the conference room setting information specified by the conference room ID to True. This allows the conference management server 30 to transmit reservation information when reservation information is requested.

S34: The reservation information request unit 98-3 of the conference room terminal 90 periodically communicates with the conference management server 30 via the server communication unit 91. That is, the server URL of the storage unit 99 is specified as the conference room ID and the authentication key, and reservation information is requested (for example, every 30 seconds). Transmission of the terminal ID is not essential, but may be transmitted in order for the conference management server 30 to verify the number of conference room terminals that can be registered.

Regarding the mechanism by which the reservation information requesting section 98-3 continues to acquire reservation information, in addition to the method of requesting the conference management server 30 at regular intervals, the method of requesting the reservation information to the conference management server 30 when the information of the conference room is changed is known. 30 may notify the conference room terminal 90 of the change, and the conference room terminal 90 may request the conference management server 30 only when notified. Any method that allows the conference room terminal 90 to obtain changes in reservation information may be used.

S35: The communication unit 31 of the conference management server 30 receives the request for reservation information, and the authentication key verification unit 41 verifies the authentication key. That is, the authentication key specified by the conference room ID is acquired from the conference room setting information DB 498, and it is determined whether it matches the authentication key transmitted from the conference room terminal 90. When the two authentication keys match, the initial setting unit 39 changes the status of the conference room terminal in the conference room setting information DB 498 to connected.

S36: If the two authentication keys match, the management control unit 42 checks whether the management start flag is True and whether acquisition of reservation information has been requested. That is, the management start flag specified by the conference room ID is acquired from the conference room setting information DB 498, and it is determined whether it is True or not. If the conference room terminal 90 requests reservation information from the conference management server 30 at least once (and the authentication keys match) and the management start flag is True, the management control unit 42 starts managing the conference room. Therefore, first, the reservation information transmitter 44 of the conference management server 30 transmits reservation information. Automatically cancel conference room reservations if no check-in is detected.

If the authentication keys match but the management start flag is False, the management control unit 42 does not start managing the conference room. The reservation information transmitter 44 does not transmit reservation information. However, even if management of the conference room is not started, the reservation information requesting unit 98-3 of the conference room terminal 90 continues to request reservation information. This is because it is difficult to access the conference room terminal 90 from the external network, so it is not possible to notify that the management start flag has become True, and it is preferable to communicate from the conference room terminal 90.

S37: The reservation information transmitting unit 44 of the conference management server 30 transmits reservation information or an error (the authentication keys do not match or the management start flag is False) to the conference room terminal 90 via the communication unit 31. If the authentication key can be confirmed and the management start flag is True, reservation information will be sent.

S38: The server communication unit 91 of the conference room terminal 90 receives the reservation information or error. When the reservation information is transmitted, the conference room terminal 90 starts cooperation with the conference management server 30. If the authentication key cannot be confirmed or the management start flag is False, an error will be sent. In this case, collaboration will not start.

In this way, management starts when both the management start flag is set to True and a request to obtain reservation information is detected, and cooperation starts, so the conference room whose initial settings have been completed Management and cooperation can be started after the terminal 90 is placed in the conference room. If only a reservation information acquisition request is detected, the problem of automatic cancellation as described above will occur, and if only the management start flag is set to True, automatic cancellation will occur if the initial settings of the conference room terminal 90 are not completed. The inconvenience of putting it away can occur.

S39: When the reservation information requesting unit 98-3 of the conference room terminal 90 acquires the reservation information, the display control unit 94 displays the reservation information. When an error is received, the display control unit 94 displays, for example, that the reservation information cannot be displayed and the reason thereof.

S40: Since the terminal ID is transmitted together with the authentication information request, the terminal ID verification unit 43 of the conference management server 30 can determine whether the number of terminal IDs exceeds the number of registrable conference room terminals. This process will be explained with reference to FIG.

<Example of reservation information displayed by conference room terminal>
The reservation information displayed by the conference room terminal 90 will be explained using FIGS. 16 to 18.
FIG. 16 shows an example of a standby screen I displayed by the conference room terminal 90 when the conference room is currently vacant. The standby screen I in FIG. 16 includes a current status field 561, a conference room name field 562, a conference name field 563, a start time field 564, an end time field 565, a start use button 566, and a subsequent reservation field 567. etc. are displayed.

The current status column 561 indicates the current status of the conference room. The display control unit 94 of the conference room terminal 90 displays the status of reservation information in the current status column 561. If there is no reservation information reserved at the current time, the display control unit 94 displays the current status column 561 as either "vacant" (until check-in for the next reservation becomes possible) or "waiting for entry" (until the next reservation becomes available). (after the reservation is available for check-in).

In the conference room name column 562, conference room names stored in the storage section 99 are displayed. The conference name column 563 displays the conference name included in the reservation information. The display control unit 94 displays "No reservation" in the conference name column 563 until check-in for the next reservation becomes possible.

The start time column 564 and the end time column 565 display the start time and end time included in the reservation information, respectively. In FIG. 16, the standby screen is for a time slot when there is no reservation, so the start time of the next meeting from the end time of the last meeting is displayed in the start time column 564 and the end time column 565.

The subsequent reservation column 567 displays the start time and end time of each conference scheduled for later than the current one, according to the reservation information. The start use button 566 is displayed when the current status column 561 is "vacant". Even if the conference room has not been reserved, the user can start using the conference room by pressing the start use button 566. Pressing this button is transmitted to the conference management server 30 and the reservation management server 20, and the status of this conference room in the reservation information is changed. The change in status is also reflected on the standby screen when the conference room terminal 90 receives the reservation information.

FIG. 17 shows an example of a standby screen II displayed by the conference room terminal 90 when the conference room is currently vacant but the next conference start time is within a predetermined time. In the standby screen II of FIG. 17, "Waiting for entry" is displayed in the current status column 561, and an entry button 568 is displayed. Further, the person making the reservation is displayed in the person making the reservation column 570. When the status of the reservation information changes to "check-in possible" or the like, the display control unit 94 displays "waiting for entry" and displays the entry button 568.

For example, 10 minutes before the start time, the status changes to "Check-in allowed", etc., so the display control unit 94 displays "Waiting for entry" and permits check-in. In other words, those who made reservations will be able to check-in. Furthermore, if the conference room terminal 90 does not send a check-in request by a predetermined time, the check-in management unit 38 of the conference management server 30 determines that no check-in is detected and automatically cancels the check-in request. Therefore, the display control unit 94 automatically counts down the time 569 until cancellation and displays it in the current status column 561. The automatic cancellation time is, for example, 10 minutes after the start time.

The room entry button 568 is a button for the user to check in. By pressing this button, the person making the reservation can enter conference identification information. The reservation person information is displayed in the reservation person name field 570. This reservation person may be an account included in the reservation information, or the name or nickname of the reservation person may be transmitted from the conference management server 30. Further, a photo of the person making the reservation or a character representing the person making the reservation may be displayed.

FIG. 18 shows an example of a standby screen III displayed by the conference room terminal 90 when the conference room is currently in use. In the standby screen III of FIG. 18, "in use" is displayed in the current status column 561, and an exit button 571 is displayed. When the reservation person checks in, the status of the conference management information DB 493 becomes "checked in". When the conference room terminal 90 receives the reservation information, the display control unit 94 detects that the status has changed to checked-in. The display control unit 94 displays "in use" in the current status column 561 and displays the exit button 571 until the user checks out. Further, the display control unit 94 counts down the time until the end time and displays it in the current status column 561. The exit button 571 is a button for the reservation holder to check out. When this button is pressed, a check-out request is sent to the conference management server 30, and the check-in management unit 38 of the conference management server 30 updates the status of the conference management information DB 493 to "checked out". When the conference room terminal 90 receives the reservation information, the display control unit 94 displays "vacant room" or "waiting for entry" in the current status column 561.

Note that the information displayed in FIGS. 16 to 18 may be generated by the conference management server 30 and displayed by the conference room terminal 90 instead of being generated by the conference room terminal 90 based on the reservation information. In this case, the conference management server 30 can control the entire standby screen of the conference room terminal 90 by executing the browser software on the conference room terminal 90.

<Verification of the number of conference room terminals that can be registered>
FIG. 19 is an example of a flowchart in which the terminal ID verification unit 43 of the conference management server 30 determines whether the number of terminal IDs exceeds the number of registrable conference room terminals. FIG. 20 shows an example of terminal IDs recorded 10 times in the past.

First, as described with reference to FIG. 10, the communication unit 31 of the conference management server 30 receives a reservation information request (conference room ID, authentication key, terminal ID) (S101).

The terminal ID verification unit 43 records N terminal IDs in association with the conference room ID (S102). That is, N terminal IDs are recorded in the order in which they are received. Terminal IDs older than N may be discarded.

The terminal ID verification unit 43 determines whether there is a different terminal ID among the N records (S103). If the determination in step S103 is No, only one conference room terminal 90 requests reservation information for one conference room, so it is determined that the verification is successful (S107). In this case, you don't need to do anything.

If the determination in step S103 is Yes, the terminal ID verification unit 43 counts the number of different terminal IDs among the N (S104). Since the conference room terminal 90 periodically transmits reservation information requests, the number is counted to avoid duplication. In the example of FIG. 20, there are seven T-001s and three T-002s, but the number of terminal IDs is two.

The terminal ID verification unit 43 determines whether the number of different terminal IDs is greater than the number of registrable conference room terminals (S105). That is, the number of registrable conference room terminals associated with the conference room ID is acquired from the conference room setting information DB 498 and compared with the number of different terminal IDs. If the determination in step S105 is No, it is determined that the verification is successful (S107).

If the determination in step S105 is Yes, the terminal ID verification unit 43 determines that verification has failed (S106). For example, an email may be sent to the administrator stating that more conference room terminals 90 are registered than the number of conference room terminals that can be registered. Alternatively, the terminal ID verification unit 43 may display an alert in association with the conference room on the setting screen 501. By doing so, it is possible to prevent the content of the reservation information from being easily leaked due to the registration of many conference room terminals 90.

With the method shown in FIG. 19, the number of conference room terminals that can be registered cannot be verified at the time of initial setting of the conference room terminal 90. However, the initial setting work can be made easier. Additionally, the number of conference room terminals that can be registered at the time of initial setup may be verified. In this case, the conference room terminal 90 may transmit the terminal ID to the conference management server 30 at the time of initial setting, assuming that the terminal ID is also recorded. Alternatively, there is a method in which the terminal ID registered for each conference room is registered in the conference room setting information DB 498.

<Summary>
As explained above, the resource reservation system 100 of this embodiment allows the customer side to use its own information processing terminal as the conference room terminal 90. In addition, by using the image code, initial settings can be easily made on the customer side. Further, since the conference room terminal 90 automatically downloads the reservation information according to the initial settings, the conference room terminal 90 can start cooperation with the conference management server 30. For example, conference room terminal 90 can display reservation information and customer users can check in from conference room terminal 90.

In the first embodiment, the administrator K initialized the conference room terminals 90 one by one, but in this embodiment, a resource reservation system that can initialize a plurality of conference room terminals 90 at once will be described.

FIG. 21 is an example of a diagram illustrating the outline of initial settings of the conference room terminal 90 using an image code.

(1) The provider of the resource reservation system 100 has previously made various settings regarding the customer's conference room on the conference management server 30. A customer is a company that introduces the resource reservation system 100 or the like. The various settings include settings such as a conference room name, conference room ID, and URL of the conference management server 30. Further, the conference management server 30 has reservation information for each conference room, which is synchronized with the reservation management server 20.

(2) In order to use the information processing terminal as the conference room terminal 90, the administrator K performs initial settings on the information processing terminal. Initial settings may include several tasks, but include, for example, at least enabling the conference room terminal 90 to communicate with the conference management server 30. Since communication is preferably performed by specifying a conference room, the initial settings include registering the conference room terminal 90 in the conference management server 30 in association with the conference room in which it is placed. The administrator K who performs the initial settings may be a person in charge at the provider side or a person in charge of the system at the customer side.

Administrator K uses the registration terminal 50 to log in to the conference management server 30 and start communication. The location where the administrator K works may be any location that can communicate with the conference management server 30. Therefore, it does not have to be a conference room. The administrator displays an administrator setting screen for making various settings. Specifying the conference room in which the conference room terminal 90 is registered, the administrator requests management information (request destination URL and management ID) from the conference management server 30. Thereby, the registration terminal 50 receives the management information encoded in the image code. In this embodiment, the administrator K can select a plurality of conference rooms, and the management information may be associated with a plurality of conference rooms.

(3) Manager K uses the conference room terminal 90 to capture an image of the image code 110 that the registration terminal 50 displays on the display. A terminal application is installed on the conference room terminal 90, and the conference room terminal 90 decodes the image code and displays the management ID and request destination URL ( example of connection information).

(4) The conference room terminal 90 sends the management ID to the conference management server 30 with the request destination URL as the destination.

(5) Thereby, the conference management server 30 transmits conference room information (conference room name + room URL) of one or more conference rooms associated with the management ID to the conference room terminal 90. The room URL is a URL that provides communication setting information for each conference room, and is prepared for each conference room.

(6) The conference room terminal 90 requests communication setting information from the conference management server 30 using the room URL as the destination.

(7) The conference management server 30 transmits communication setting information of the conference room specified by the room URL to the conference room terminal 90. The communication setting information is stored in the conference room terminal 90, and the conference room terminal 90 becomes able to communicate with the conference management server 30. That is, the conference room terminal 90 is linked to the conference room where it is placed.

(8) The conference room terminal 90 starts periodically acquiring reservation information from the conference management server 30 using the communication setting information. Acquisition of reservation information is repeated without being concerned with the state of the conference management server 30. Since the conference room terminal 90 transmits the conference room ID set in the communication setting information, the conference management server 30 transmits the reservation information associated with the conference room ID to the conference room terminal 90. The conference room terminal 90 displays reservation information.

The second and subsequent conference room terminals 90 also perform the processes (3) to (8). The conference management server 30 transmits communication setting information for one or more conference rooms associated with the management ID to the conference room terminal 90 without duplication. Since the conference management server 30 controls the transmission of communication setting information to each conference room terminal 90, the initial settings of a plurality of conference room terminals 90 can be performed in parallel.

In this way, the resource reservation system 100 of this embodiment allows the customer side to use its own information processing terminal as the conference room terminal 90. In addition, by using the image code, initial settings can be easily made on the customer side. Further, since the conference room terminal 90 automatically downloads the reservation information according to the initial settings, the conference room terminal 90 can start cooperation with the conference management server 30. For example, conference room terminal 90 can display conference room reservation information, and customer users can check in from conference room terminal 90. Furthermore, when performing initial settings for a plurality of conference room terminals 90, work efficiency can be improved.

Note that this embodiment will be described on the assumption that the system configuration example in FIG. 3, the hardware configuration examples in FIGS. 4 and 5, and the functional block diagram in FIG. 6 can be used.

<Functions of terminal devices and conference room terminals>
FIG. 22 is an example of a functional block diagram showing in block form the functions of the terminal device and conference room terminal of this embodiment. In this embodiment, components with the same reference numerals in FIG. 7 perform similar functions, so only the main components of this embodiment will be mainly described in some cases.

The conference room terminal 90 of this embodiment has a setting acquisition section 98-4. The setting acquisition unit 98-4 acquires conference management information and communication setting information based on the management information, and stores the communication setting information (conference room ID, authentication key, server URL, conference room name) in the storage unit 99.

<About the initial setting section of the conference management server 30>
FIG. 23 is an example of a functional block diagram showing the functions of the initial setting section 39 in a block form. The initial setting section 39 includes a setting screen generation section 391, an authentication key generation section 392, an encryption section 393, an image code generation section 394, an overall control section 390, a management information creation section 396, a conference room information creation section 397, and a management ID conference room. It has a correspondence section 398 and a communication setting information transmitting section 399. Further, the storage section 49 is the same as that shown in FIG.

The overall control unit 390 controls the entire initial setting unit 39 to control a series of processes related to initial settings of one or more conference room terminals 90 .

The setting screen generation unit 391 generates screen information of a setting screen and transmits it to the registration terminal 50 via the communication unit 31. The screen information is created using HTML, CSS (Cascade Style Sheet), JavaScript (registered trademark), and the like. A setting screen is provided by JavaScript (registered trademark) as one screen of a Web application running on a browser.

When the registration terminal 50 requests an image code for initial settings of the conference room terminal 90 placed in one or more conference rooms, the management information creation unit 396 generates management information (management information) that manages processing related to initial settings. ID, request destination URL). The image code generation unit 394 encodes the management information into an image code.

The conference room information creation unit 397 creates conference room information (conference room name, room URL) by associating the conference room name and room URL of the conference to be initialized. Communication setting information unique to the conference room is specified by the room URL.

The management ID conference room correspondence unit 398 creates server-held information that associates the management ID with one or more conference room information. It also manages which of the one or more conference rooms (conference room terminals 90) the initial settings have been completed and which conference rooms (conference room terminals 90) have not yet completed the initial settings.

The authentication key generation unit 392 generates an authentication key for the conference room terminal 90 to be authenticated by the conference management server 30. The encryption unit 393 encrypts the communication setting information acquired from the storage unit 49. To put it simply, the communication setting information is information necessary for the conference room terminal 90 to communicate with the conference management server 30. The server URL is information for specifying the communication destination, the authentication key is information for receiving authentication, and the conference room ID is information for notifying which conference room the communication is from. Since the conference room name is information for display by the conference room terminal 90, there is no problem even if it is not included in the communication setting information.

The communication setting information transmitting section 399 transmits the encrypted communication setting information to the conference room terminal 90 via the transmitting section 31a.

<About the settings screen>
FIG. 24 shows an example of a setting screen 501 displayed by the registration terminal 50. Note that in the explanation of FIG. 24, differences from FIG. 9 of the first embodiment will be mainly explained.

The setting screen 501 of this embodiment has an image code generation button 509. When the administrator presses the image code generation button 509, the operation reception unit 52 of the registration terminal 50 accepts the press, and the registration terminal 50 specifies the conference room ID and requests the conference management server 30 for an image code. Taking this as an opportunity, the communication unit 51 can receive the image code including the management information. An administrator can select one or more conference rooms and request image code generation.

FIG. 25 shows a setting screen 501 on which image codes are displayed in a superimposed manner. As shown in FIG. 25, the display control unit 53 of the registration terminal 50 pops up the image code 110 on the setting screen 501. The conference room name and conference room ID may be displayed together with the image code 110. This allows the administrator to know which conference room the image code is for the initial settings.

Instead of displaying the image code 110 as a pop-up, it may be displayed as a separate web page, or may be downloaded as a single file. The administrator images this image code using the conference room terminal 90 that is the target of initial settings.

In the first embodiment, communication setting information was encoded in the image code 110, but this embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that management information is encoded in the image code 110 of this embodiment.

<Management information, server retention information>
Next, management information will be explained using FIG. 26. FIG. 26 is a diagram showing an example of management information. The management information includes a request destination URL and a management ID. The request destination URL is the URL to which the setting acquisition unit 98-4 of the conference room terminal 90 first connects (the destination URL) during the initial settings of the conference room terminal 90. By transmitting the management ID to this request destination URL and connecting, the initial setting unit 39 of the conference management server 30 performs initial settings for each conference room specified by the administrator on the setting screen 501. The management ID is identification information that specifies or identifies one or more conference rooms (resources) selected on the setting screen (information for managing resources). The initial setting unit 39 of the conference management server 30 determines one or more conference rooms selected on the setting screen 501 based on the management ID, and determines which conference room information should be returned.

Note that the format of the management information only needs to be that attributes and values (keys and values) are recorded in correspondence, and can be read in a format such as json or xml, for example.

FIG. 27 is a diagram showing an example of server held information. Server-held information is information created by the initial setting unit 39 (mainly management ID conference room correspondence unit 398) of the conference management server 30 when management information is created, and is information that the overall control unit 390 creates when multiple conference rooms are created. used to control a set of initial settings.

The server held information includes a result URL 1502, the number of conference rooms 1503, the number of ends i 1504, and conference room information 1505 for the number of conference rooms, which are associated with the management ID 1501. It is associated with management information by management ID 1501.
- The result URL 1502 is a URL for transmitting the results of the initial settings in the conference room terminal 90.
- The number of conference rooms 1503 is the number of conference rooms selected by the administrator on the setting screen 501.
- The number of completions i1504 is the number of conference room terminals 90 (conference rooms) that have been notified that the initial setting was successful using the result URL as the destination. In other words, it shows how many conference room terminals 90 initial settings have been completed. The initial value is zero.
- Conference room information 1505 includes a conference room name and room URL. The conference room name is displayed on the settings screen 501, and the room URL is a URL that provides communication setting information associated with the conference room. FIG. 27 shows four conference room information. File name of the room URL (for example, kaigiAxxxx.xxxx indicates a file in which communication setting information is compressed or a program that performs compression processing).

The overall control unit 390 of the conference management server 30 uses the server-held information shown in FIG. 27 to return conference room information associated with the management ID to the conference room terminal 90 in response to a request from the conference room terminal 90. . Each conference room terminal 90 can perform a plurality of initial settings using the same image code.

When the initial settings of all conference room terminals 90 are completed, there will be no conference room information to be returned to the server-held information shown in FIG. A notification is sent that the initial settings for the conference room terminal 90 in the room have been completed.

Note that since there may be a plurality of conference room information 1505 and there is a possibility that the conference room information 1505 may be dynamically changed, the data may be held in a nested manner instead of having a parallel structure as shown in FIG. Furthermore, information other than the "meeting room name" and "room URL" may be attached as the meeting room information.

<Initial setting process steps>
Next, a procedure for the administrator to initialize the conference room terminal 90 will be explained using FIG. 28. FIG. 28 is an example of a sequence diagram illustrating the initial setting procedure of the conference room terminal 90 in the resource reservation system 100. Note that it is assumed that a terminal application is installed on the conference room terminal 90. It is also assumed that the registration terminal 50 is displaying a login screen for logging into the conference management server 30.

S1: The reservation information acquisition unit 33 of the conference management server 30 transmits a resource list request to the reservation management server at a predetermined frequency. The resource list request refers to requesting a list of customer resources registered in the reservation management server. Since conference rooms are treated as resources in the resource reservation system 100, the conference management server 30 can obtain a list of conference rooms to be displayed on the setting screen 501 in response to a resource list request. The predetermined frequency may be a relatively low frequency, such as once a day. The resources include electronic equipment 70 in addition to the conference room.

S2: The reservation information acquisition unit 33 of the conference management server 30 repeatedly transmits a reservation information acquisition request to the reservation management server. A reservation information acquisition request is a request for reservation information of a reservation user who specifies a domain and has this domain in his/her account. Thereby, the conference management server 30 can acquire reservation information for a fixed period. The frequency of repetition is preferably relatively high, such as every few minutes, every 30 minutes, or every hour. Furthermore, regarding reservation information, newly registered or changed reservation information may be automatically transmitted from the reservation management server 20.

S3: Meanwhile, the administrator performs a login operation on the registration terminal 50. That is, input the login password and user ID. The operation reception unit 52 of the registration terminal 50 accepts a login operation.

S4: The communication unit 51 of the registration terminal 50 transmits a login request (login password and user ID) to the conference management server 30. Such an authentication destination server may exist separately from the conference management server 30.

S5: The authentication unit 40 of the conference management server 30 performs authentication depending on whether the login password and user ID are registered in the login information DB 499. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the authentication is successful. The communication unit 31 of the conference management server 30 transmits the authentication result to the registration terminal 50.

S6: The administrator performs an operation to display a resource list on the registration terminal 50. Displaying the resource list means displaying the settings screen 501 in FIG. 24. The operation accepting unit 52 of the registration terminal 50 accepts an operation for displaying a resource list. Note that the setting screen 501 may be automatically displayed upon authentication. Furthermore, since the administrator is logged in, the customer ID of the customer for whom the administrator is attempting to initialize the conference room terminal 90 has been specified.

S7: The communication unit 51 of the registration terminal 50 transmits a resource list request to the conference management server 30.

S8: The communication unit 31 of the conference management server 30 receives the resource list request, and the setting screen generation unit 391 acquires the conference room setting information specified by the customer ID from the conference room setting information DB 498, and acquires the conference room setting information of the customer ( A settings screen 501 having a list of resources) is generated. Note that the resources include electronic devices 70 other than conference rooms. The communication unit 31 of the conference management server 30 transmits the screen information of the setting screen 501 to the registration terminal 50.

S9: The communication unit 51 of the registration terminal 50 receives the screen information of the setting screen 501, and the display control unit 53 displays the setting screen 501 as shown in FIG.

S10: Next, the administrator specifies the conference room in which the conference room terminal 90 is to be registered and performs an operation to display the image code. That is, one or more conference rooms are selected in the image code generation target column 513, and the image code generation button 509 is pressed. The operation accepting unit 52 of the registration terminal 50 accepts an operation to display an image code.

S11: The communication unit 51 of the registration terminal 50 specifies one or more conference room IDs and transmits an image code display request to the conference management server 30.

S12: The communication unit 31 of the conference management server 30 receives the image code display request and sends the conference room ID to the initial setting unit 39. The overall control unit 390 causes the management information creation unit 396 to create management information. As a result, the management information shown in FIG. 26 is created. The overall control unit 390 also causes the conference room information creation unit 397 to create conference room information for each conference room specified by the conference room ID. Further, the overall control unit 390 causes the management ID conference room correspondence unit 398 to create server-held information. As a result, the server held information shown in FIG. 27 is created. Note that the management ID, request destination URL, and result URL may be created so as not to overlap. The number of conference rooms is the number of conference rooms selected on the setting screen 501. The initial value of the ending number i is 0. The conference room information of each conference room is a room URL that does not overlap with the conference room name, but the file name included in the room URL indicates a file of communication setting information specific to the conference room or a file creation process.

S13: Next, the image code generation unit 394 encodes the management information and generates an image code.

S14: The communication unit 31 of the conference management server 30 transmits the image code to the registration terminal 50.

FIG. 29 is an example of a sequence diagram illustrating the initial setting procedure of the conference room terminal 90 in the resource reservation system 100 (part 2). The process in FIG. 29 is executed subsequent to that in FIG.

S15: The communication unit 51 of the registration terminal 50 receives the image code, and the display control unit 53 displays the image code on the LCD 206 (an example of a display means) as shown in FIG.

S16: Next, the administrator presses the registration button 511 on the conference room terminal 90 and inputs the administrator password. That is, the user presses the registration button 511 on the initial screen 510 shown in FIG. 11(a), and inputs the administrator password on the password input screen 520 shown in FIG. 11(b). The operation reception unit 93 of the conference room terminal 90 accepts these operations.

S17: The terminal authentication unit 96 of the conference room terminal 90 determines that the authentication is successful if the administrator password input by the administrator matches the administrator password stored in the storage unit 99, and if the administrator password does not match, the terminal authentication unit 96 determines that the authentication is successful. Determine that authentication has failed.

S18: If the authentication is successful, the administrator presses the setting button 403 on the conference room terminal setting screen 525 to start the camera, as shown in FIG. 11(c).

S19: As shown in FIG. 11(d), the imaging unit 97 of the conference room terminal 90 is activated.

S20: When the administrator operates the conference room terminal 90 so that the image code is included in the field of view of the CMOS sensor 605, the imaging unit 97 recognizes the image code and automatically sends the image data as shown in FIG. 11(e). generate.

S21: The decoding unit 98 decodes the image code captured by the imaging unit 97 and restores the management information. As a result, the setting acquisition unit 98-4 of the conference room terminal 90 receives the management information and starts acquiring communication setting information using the management information.

S22: The setting acquisition unit 98-4 of the conference room terminal 90 connects to the request destination URL included in the management information and transmits the management ID.

S23: The receiving unit 31b of the conference management server 30 receives the management ID. The overall control unit 390 of the initial setting unit 39 obtains the server held information associated with the management ID transmitted from the conference room terminal 90 from the management ID conference room association unit 398, and determines the current number of terminations i. If the end number i is the same as the number of conference rooms, a message is returned to the conference room terminal 90 that the initial settings are complete.

S24: If the end number i is smaller than the number of conference rooms, the overall control unit 390 acquires the i+1th conference room information and result URL from the server-held information.

S25: The overall control unit 390 transmits the conference room information and result URL to the conference room terminal 90 via the transmitting unit 31a.

S26: The server communication unit 91 of the conference room terminal 90 receives the conference room information and result URL, and the setting acquisition unit 98-4 connects to the room URL and requests communication setting information.

S27: The receiving unit 31b of the conference management server 30 receives a request for communication setting information for the room URL. The communication setting information transmitting unit 399 of the initial setting unit 39 receives this request and transmits the file (communication setting information) specified by the room URL to the conference room terminal 90.

S28: The server communication unit 91 of the conference room terminal 90 receives communication setting information. The setting acquisition section 98-4 causes the storage section 99 to store the communication setting information. Therefore, the storage unit 99 stores the conference room ID, server URL, authentication key, and conference room name, and communication with the conference management server 30 becomes possible. Reservation information can be acquired depending on the state of the management start flag. In this way, the conference room terminal 90 automatically starts communication with the conference management server 30 by recording the communication setting information.

S29: The setting acquisition unit 98-4 of the conference room terminal 90 transmits the success/failure of the initial setting to the result URL. This is to confirm whether or not the setting of the communication setting information has been completed, rather than just sending the communication setting information by the conference management server 30. It is assumed here that it was successful.

S30: The receiving unit 31b of the conference management server 30 receives success/failure of initial setting. When success is received, the overall control unit 390 of the initial setting unit 39 causes the management ID conference room association unit 398 to increase the end number i by one. Since the end number i indicates the order of conference room information in the server-held information, the end number i becomes information that records the conference rooms or conference room terminals 90 whose initial settings have been completed. The conference room ID itself for which initial settings have been completed may be recorded. Thereby, when another conference room terminal 90 connects to the request destination URL to perform initial settings, the conference room terminal 90 can associate itself with another conference room.

S31: After updating the end number i, the transmitter 31a of the conference management server 30 transmits a process success message to the conference room terminal 90. Thereby, it can be confirmed that the initial settings of the conference room terminal 90 have also been completed. Therefore, if some error occurs in the conference management server 30 and the completion number i cannot be increased by one, it can be assumed that the conference room terminal 90 has also failed in initialization. In this case, the completion number i does not increase in step S30 and the initialization of the conference room terminal 90 is not completed, so the conference room terminal 90 can read the image code again and perform initialization.

S32: The reservation information requesting unit 98-3 of the conference room terminal 90 starts requesting reservation information.

S33: The reservation information transmitting unit 44 of the conference management server 30 transmits reservation information on the condition that the management start flag is set to True.

The process from S16 onward in FIG. 29 is repeated for the number of conference rooms set by the administrator on the setting screen 501 using each conference room terminal 90. Therefore, the settings of each conference room terminal 90 are performed one after another using the one image code displayed in S15. Since the process in FIG. 29 is controlled by the conference management server 30 based on the completion number i, a plurality of conference room terminals 90 can perform initial settings in parallel. Therefore, the administrator can divide up the initial settings of a plurality of conference room terminals 90, thereby improving work efficiency. In this case, the administrator may print out the image code and distribute it to other administrators or send it by e-mail. If the process does not end normally due to network trouble, the administrator can simply read the same image code again and the conference management server 30 can return the same communication setting information to the conference room terminal 90 again, so the settings can be changed. be able to continue.

FIG. 30 shows an example of a message displayed on the conference room terminal setting screen 525 at the end of initial settings. For the sake of explanation, it is assumed that the number of conference room terminals 90 that is initially set is four. FIG. 30(a) shows a message displayed by the conference room terminal 90 when the first initial setting is completed (when the process success and the number of remaining conference rooms are transmitted). In FIG. 30(a), a message 531 saying "3 items left" is displayed. The administrator can grasp how many conference room terminals 90 remain to be initialized.

FIG. 30(b) shows a message displayed by the conference room terminal 90 when the fourth initial setting is completed (when a message indicating that the process was successful and that the initial settings of all terminals have been completed is transmitted). In FIG. 30(b), a message 532 saying "Initial settings for all terminals have been completed" is displayed. The administrator can know that the initial settings of all conference room terminals 90 have been completed.

Note that a message 532 similar to that in FIG. 18(b) may also be displayed if it is determined in step S23 of FIG. 29 that the number of ends i is the same as the number of conference rooms.

<Response to when multiple administrators capture image codes at the same time>
In this embodiment, a plurality of managers can take an image of one image code and perform initial settings of the conference room terminal 90 in parallel. However, when two conference room terminals 90 that capture one image code at the same time connect to the conference management server 30, the conference management server 30 sends the same conference room communication setting information to each of them for the same end number i. . In this case, two conference room terminals 90 will be associated with the same conference room. On the other hand, the end number i increases by two. Therefore, even if the end number i of server-held information and the number of conference rooms become equal, there is a possibility that some conference room terminals 90 that have not been initialized remain.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 31, it is conceivable to manage the management ID in a queue. FIG. 31 schematically shows the queues held by the overall control section 390. The overall control unit 390 of the conference management server 30 registers the management ID in the queue 533 when the management ID is transmitted in step S22 of FIG. In FIG. 31, management IDs are registered in the order of management IDs "001", "002", "002", and "003". Since there are two management IDs "002", two managers take an image of one image code and perform initial settings of the conference room terminal 90 in parallel.

In this way, when the same management ID is registered in the queue 533, the overall control unit 390 first transmits communication setting information to the conference room terminal 90 that transmitted the management ID registered in the queue earlier in time. Then, the overall control unit 390 does not transmit communication setting information to the conference room terminal 90 to which the management ID was transmitted later in time, until it transmits the processing success or processing failure to the conference room terminal 90. By doing this, the above problem can be solved.

<Obtaining reservation information>
<<Obtain reservation information, start collaboration, start management>>
Next, the process by which the conference room terminal 90 acquires reservation information will be described using FIG. 32. FIG. 32 is an example of a sequence diagram illustrating processing until the conference room terminal 90 acquires reservation information. It is assumed that the administrator is displaying the settings screen 501.

S41: First, the administrator turns on the check mark column 502 of a predetermined conference room on the setting screen 501. This operation corresponds to the operation of starting management (actually, management is started by requesting reservation information). The operation reception unit 52 of the registration terminal 50 accepts this operation.

S42: The communication unit 51 of the registration terminal 50 sends a management start request to the conference management server 30 by setting the management start flag to True and specifying the conference room ID.

S43: The communication unit 31 of the conference management server 30 receives the management start request. As a result, the initial setting unit 39 sets the management start flag of the conference room setting information specified by the conference room ID to True. This allows the conference management server 30 to transmit reservation information when reservation information is requested.

S44: The reservation information request unit 98-3 of the conference room terminal 90 periodically communicates with the conference management server 30 via the server communication unit 91. That is, the server URL of the storage unit 99 is specified as the conference room ID and the authentication key, and reservation information is requested (for example, every 30 seconds). Transmission of the terminal ID is not essential, but may be transmitted in order for the conference management server 30 to verify the number of conference room terminals that can be registered.

Regarding the mechanism by which the reservation information requesting section 98-3 continues to acquire reservation information, in addition to the method of requesting the conference management server 30 at regular intervals, the method of requesting the reservation information to the conference management server 30 when the information of the conference room is changed is known. 30 may notify the conference room terminal 90 of the change, and the conference room terminal 90 may request the conference management server 30 only when notified. Any method that allows the conference room terminal 90 to obtain changes in reservation information may be used.

S45: The communication unit 31 of the conference management server 30 receives the request for reservation information, and the authentication key verification unit 41 verifies the authentication key. That is, the authentication key specified by the conference room ID is acquired from the conference room setting information DB 498, and it is determined whether it matches the authentication key transmitted from the conference room terminal 90. When the two authentication keys match, the initial setting unit 39 changes the status of the conference room terminal in the conference room setting information DB 498 to connected.

S46: If the two authentication keys match, the management control unit 42 checks whether the management start flag is True and whether acquisition of reservation information has been requested. That is, the management start flag specified by the conference room ID is acquired from the conference room setting information DB 498, and it is determined whether it is True or not. If the conference room terminal 90 requests reservation information from the conference management server 30 at least once (and the authentication keys match) and the management start flag is True, the management control unit 42 starts managing the conference room. Therefore, first, the reservation information transmitter 44 of the conference management server 30 transmits reservation information. Automatically cancel conference room reservations if no check-in is detected.

If the authentication keys match but the management start flag is False, the management control unit 42 does not start managing the conference room. The reservation information transmitter 44 does not transmit reservation information. However, even if management of the conference room is not started, the reservation information requesting unit 98-3 of the conference room terminal 90 continues to request reservation information. This is because it is difficult to access the conference room terminal 90 from the external network, so it is not possible to notify that the management start flag has become True, and it is preferable to communicate from the conference room terminal 90.

S47: The reservation information transmitting unit 44 of the conference management server 30 transmits reservation information or an error (the authentication keys do not match or the management start flag is False) to the conference room terminal 90 via the communication unit 31. If the authentication key can be confirmed and the management start flag is True, reservation information will be sent.

S48: The server communication unit 91 of the conference room terminal 90 receives the reservation information or error. When the reservation information is transmitted, the conference room terminal 90 starts cooperation with the conference management server 30. If the authentication key cannot be confirmed or the management start flag is False, an error will be sent. In this case, collaboration will not start.

In this way, management starts when both the management start flag is set to True and a request to obtain reservation information is detected, and cooperation starts, so the conference room whose initial settings have been completed Management and cooperation can be started after the terminal 90 is placed in the conference room. If only a reservation information acquisition request is detected, the problem of automatic cancellation as described above will occur, and if only the management start flag is set to True, automatic cancellation will occur if the initial settings of the conference room terminal 90 are not completed. The inconvenience of putting it away can occur.

S49: When the reservation information requesting unit 98-3 of the conference room terminal 90 acquires the reservation information, the display control unit 94 displays the reservation information. When an error is received, the display control unit 94 displays, for example, that the reservation information cannot be displayed and the reason thereof.

S50: Since the terminal ID is transmitted together with the authentication information request, the terminal ID verification unit 43 of the conference management server 30 can determine whether the number of terminal IDs exceeds the number of registrable conference room terminals.

<Summary>
As explained above, the resource reservation system 100 of this embodiment allows the customer side to use its own information processing terminal as the conference room terminal 90. In addition, by using the image code, initial settings can be easily made on the customer side. Further, since the conference room terminal 90 automatically downloads the reservation information according to the initial settings, the conference room terminal 90 can start cooperation with the conference management server 30. For example, conference room terminal 90 can display conference room reservation information, and customer users can check in from conference room terminal 90. Furthermore, when performing initial settings for a plurality of conference room terminals 90, work efficiency can be improved.

<Other application examples>
Although the best mode for carrying out the present invention has been described above using examples, the present invention is not limited to these examples in any way, and various modifications can be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. and substitutions can be added.

For example, instead of the registration terminal 50 displaying the image code, a display connected to the conference management server 30 may display the image code. The terminal that displays the image code does not have to be the registration terminal 50.

For example, although the communication setting information is encoded into an image code in this embodiment, the communication setting information may be transmitted from the registration terminal 50 to the conference room terminal 90 by one-to-one short-range wireless communication. For example, the information may be transmitted using Bluetooth (registered trademark), NFC (Near Filed Communication), infrared communication, visible light communication, or the like.

Note that a plurality of conference management servers 30 may exist, and the functions of the conference management server 30 may be distributed among a plurality of servers. Further, the reservation management server 20 and the conference management server 30 may be integrated.

Further, the resource reservation system 100 of this embodiment can also be referred to as a web service. Web services are various services provided by applying Internet-related technology. Examples include conference room rental services and various rental services. A system that uses Web services is called a usage system.

Furthermore, the configuration examples shown in FIGS. 6 and 7 in the above embodiments are divided according to main functions in order to facilitate understanding of the processing of the resource reservation system 100. However, the present invention is not limited by the division method or name of each processing unit. The resource reservation system 100 can also be divided into more processing units depending on the processing content. Furthermore, one processing unit can be divided to include more processing.

Each function of the embodiments described above can be realized by one or more processing circuits. Here, the term "processing circuit" as used herein refers to a processor programmed to execute each function by software, such as a processor implemented by an electronic circuit, or a processor designed to execute each function explained above. This includes devices such as ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuits), DSPs (digital signal processors), FPGAs (field programmable gate arrays), and conventional circuit modules.

Note that the image code generation section 394 is an example of a providing means, the imaging section 97 is an example of a receiving means, the reservation information requesting section 98-3 is an example of a reservation information acquisition means, and the encryption section 393 is an example of an encrypting means. The terminal authentication unit 96 is an example of an authentication unit, the setting screen generation unit 391 is an example of a reception unit, and the management control unit 42 is an example of a management unit.

6 Conference room 10 Chat server 20 Reservation management server 30 Conference management server 60 Terminal device 70 Electronic device 90 Conference room terminal 100 Resource reservation system

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-350884

Claims (31)

A resource reservation system comprising an information processing device that manages resource reservation information, and an information processing terminal that acquires the reservation information from the information processing device,
The information processing device includes:
providing means for providing communication setting information for acquiring the reservation information of the resource;
The information processing terminal is
receiving means for receiving the communication setting information provided by the providing means;
a settings acquisition unit that performs initial settings to enable acquisition of the reservation information by storing the communication settings information in a storage unit;
The initial settings make it possible to obtain the reservation information from the information processing device using the communication setting information,
The receiving means transmits success or failure of the initial setting to the information processing device,
The resource reservation system is characterized in that, when the provision means is notified of the success of the initial setting , it records identification information of the resource for which the initial setting was successful. The resource reservation system further includes display means for displaying at least the communication setting information provided by the provision means,
2. The resource reservation system according to claim 1, wherein the information processing terminal receives the communication setting information displayed on the display means by the receiving means. The resource reservation system further includes a registration terminal that displays a web page of the information processing device,
The registration terminal includes the display means,
3. The resource reservation system according to claim 2, wherein the information processing terminal receives, by the receiving means, the communication setting information displayed on the display means of the registration terminal. The information processing terminal is
4. The resource reservation system according to claim 1, further comprising reservation information acquisition means for acquiring the reservation information from the information processing device using the communication setting information. The communication setting information provided by the providing means includes address information of the information processing device, authentication information for the information processing device to authenticate the information processing terminal, identification information of the resource, and name of the resource. The resource reservation system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the resource reservation system includes at least one. 4. The resource reservation system according to claim 3, wherein the providing means converts the communication setting information into an image code and provides the image code. The information processing device includes an encryption means for encrypting the communication setting information,
7. The resource reservation system according to claim 1, wherein the providing means provides the communication setting information encrypted by the encrypting means. The information processing device receives a request to provide the communication setting information for a specific resource from the registration terminal that accepts a request to designate the resource and provide the communication setting information.
7. The resource reservation system according to claim 6, wherein the providing means converts the communication setting information into the image code and provides the image code. The information processing terminal is
It has an authentication means to authenticate the user,
9. The resource reservation system according to claim 8, wherein when the user authentication by the authentication means is successful, the receiving means receives the communication setting information from the registration terminal. The information processing device includes:
reception means for accepting a setting requesting start of management of the resource from the registration terminal;
a management unit that allows transmission of the reservation information to the information processing terminal when the reception unit receives a setting requesting start of management of the resource;
The resource reservation system according to claim 8 or 9, comprising: The information processing device cancels the reservation of the resource if it does not receive a notification to start using the resource from the information processing terminal by a time based on the start time of the reservation of the resource,
When the reception means receives a setting requesting the start of management of the resource from the registration terminal, and further requests the reservation information from the information processing terminal, the management means cancels the reservation of the resource. 11. The resource reservation system according to claim 10, wherein the resource reservation system starts management regarding the resource reservation system. The information processing device includes:
When the information processing terminal requests the reservation information together with the identification information of the information processing terminal, the number of the information processing terminals is counted based on the identification information of the information processing terminal, and the number of the information processing terminals is determined. The resource reservation system according to any one of claims 1 to 11, wherein if the number is greater than a predetermined number, a message to that effect is output. 13. The resource reservation system according to claim 12, wherein the information processing device receives settings for the predetermined number of the information processing terminals. the resource includes at least a conference room;
The information processing device is a conference management server that manages conference room reservation information,
The information processing terminal is a conference room terminal provided in each conference room and having an application for acquiring the reservation information from the conference management server,
The providing means of the information processing device provides the communication setting information in an image code,
The receiving means of the information processing terminal is at least a camera that captures the displayed image code,
After the image code is captured by the camera, the conference room terminal decodes the communication setting information from the captured image code, and starts requesting the conference management server to obtain the reservation information,
14. The resource reservation system according to claim 1, wherein the acquisition request sent from the conference room terminal to the conference management server is made continuously at predetermined time intervals. The registration terminal that displays the web page of the information processing device is a display terminal that displays the web page of the conference management server,
The web page displays a reception button for each conference room to accept a setting requesting the start of management of the conference room,
When the press of the reception button is accepted and the conference room terminal starts requesting the acquisition of the reservation information after capturing the image code, the conference management server starts the management of the reservation information. The resource reservation system according to claim 14, wherein the resource reservation system starts processing of transmitting the reservation information to a conference room terminal and canceling the reservation information when the conference room is not used for a predetermined period of time. The providing means provides information including a URL to which the information processing terminal is connected and a management ID for managing resources;
The receiving means receives the URL and management ID of the connection destination included in the information,
3. The resource reservation system according to claim 1, wherein the management ID is transmitted to the URL of the connection destination, and the communication setting information associated with the management ID is acquired. The providing means receives designation of one or more resources from which the information processing terminal can acquire the reservation information,
The providing means provides the information processing terminal with a result URL for the information processing terminal to notify of success or failure of the initial setting , according to the management ID transmitted to the URL of the connection destination. ,
The receiving means transmits the success or failure of the initial setting to the result URL,
17. The providing means, when notified of the success of the initial setting , records identification information of the resource for which the initial setting was successful among the one or more resources for which designation was accepted. The resource reservation system described in . When receiving the management ID for the connection destination URL,
The resource according to claim 17, wherein the providing means provides the communication setting information of a resource that does not record success in the initial setting among the one or more resources for which designation has been accepted. Reservation system. 19. The resource reservation system according to claim 17 or 18, wherein the providing means transmits to the information processing terminal a notification to the effect that identification information of the resource for which the initial setting has been successfully performed is recorded. When transmitting to the information processing terminal a notification that the identification information of the resource that has been successfully initialized is recorded;
The providing means transmits to the information processing terminal the number of resources for which the initial setting has not yet been successfully performed among the one or more resources for which the designation has been accepted;
20. The resource reservation system according to claim 19, wherein the information processing terminal has a display that displays the number of resources for which the initial setting has not been successful. The providing means records that the initial setting was successful for all of the one or more resources for which the designation was accepted, but when the management ID for the connection destination URL is received, the providing means records that the process has been completed. transmitting it to the information processing terminal;
21. The resource reservation system according to claim 20, wherein the display indicates that the process has been completed. 22. The resource reservation system according to claim 16, wherein the providing means converts the information into an image code and provides the information. Upon receiving the designation of one or more of the resources from a registration terminal that requests the information processing device to designate the resources and provide the information, the information processing device
23. The resource reservation system according to claim 22, wherein the providing means converts the information into the image code and provides the image code. The information processing device includes:
reception means for accepting a setting requesting start of management of the resource from the registration terminal;
24. A management means for permitting transmission of the reservation information to the information processing terminal when the reception means receives a setting requesting start of management of the resource. resource reservation system. The web page acquired by the registration terminal from the information processing device and displayed on the display means displays a reception button for each conference room to accept a setting requesting the start of resource management;
When the press of the reception button is accepted and the information processing terminal starts requesting to obtain the reservation information, the information processing device transmits the reservation information to the information processing terminal and the resource is used for a predetermined period of time. 25. The resource reservation system according to claim 24, wherein the resource reservation system starts processing for canceling the reservation information when the use is not started. The information processing device is a conference management server that manages the reservation information of a plurality of conference rooms,
The information processing terminal is a reception terminal that acquires and displays the reservation information from the conference management server and receives from a user of the conference room the start of use of the conference room reserved using the reservation information,
The registration terminal is a user terminal that connects to the information processing device and displays a setting screen for the operational status of the plurality of information processing terminals respectively corresponding to the plurality of conference rooms,
The image code provided by the providing means is an image code including the information for acquiring the reservation information from the conference management server,
The information processing terminal uses the information obtained by capturing the image code displayed on the registration terminal using the camera of the information processing terminal to obtain the reservation information from the conference management server. start things,
The image code is one image code, and the plurality of information processing terminals acquire the reservation information of the plurality of conference rooms by respectively capturing images of the one image code with the plurality of information processing terminals. The resource reservation system according to any one of claims 23 to 25. A terminal setting method performed by a resource reservation system having an information processing device that manages resource reservation information and an information processing terminal that acquires the reservation information from the information processing device, the method comprising:
The information processing device includes:
providing communication setting information for obtaining the reservation information of the resource;
The information processing terminal is
receiving the communication setting information provided by the information processing device;
a step in which the settings acquisition unit performs initial settings to enable acquisition of the reservation information by storing the communication settings information in a storage unit;
The initial settings make it possible to obtain the reservation information from the information processing device using the communication setting information,
In the receiving step, the success or failure of the initial setting is transmitted to the information processing device;
In the terminal setting method, in the step of providing, when the success of the initial setting is notified, identification information of the resource for which the initial setting has been successfully performed is recorded. An information processing terminal that has a providing means for providing communication setting information for acquiring resource reservation information and communicates with an information processing device that manages the reservation information,
receiving means for receiving the communication setting information provided by the providing means;
functioning as a settings acquisition unit that performs initial settings to enable acquisition of the reservation information by storing the communication settings information in a storage unit ;
The initial settings make it possible to obtain the reservation information from the information processing device using the communication setting information,
The receiving means transmits success or failure of the initial setting to the information processing device,
The program characterized in that, when the providing means is notified of the success of the initial setting , the providing means records identification information of the resource for which the initial setting was successful. A usage system that provides a web service using the resource reservation system according to any one of claims 1 to 26. A resource reservation system comprising: an information processing device that manages resource reservation information; and a program that is installed on an information processing terminal and acquires the reservation information from the information processing device;
The information processing device includes:
providing means for providing communication setting information for acquiring the reservation information of the resource;
The program installed on the information processing terminal is
receiving means for receiving the communication setting information provided by the providing means;
causing the information processing terminal to function as a settings acquisition unit that performs initial settings to enable acquisition of the reservation information by storing the communication settings information in a storage unit ;
The initial settings make it possible to obtain the reservation information from the information processing device using the communication setting information,
The receiving means transmits success or failure of the initial setting to the information processing device,
The resource reservation system is characterized in that, when the provision means is notified of the success of the initial setting , it records identification information of the resource for which the initial setting was successful. a receiving means for receiving communication setting information provided by a providing means included in the information processing device;
a settings acquisition unit that performs initial settings to enable acquisition of resource reservation information by storing the communication settings information in a storage unit;
The initial settings make it possible to obtain the reservation information from the information processing device using the communication setting information,
The receiving means is an information processing device connected via a network to an information processing terminal that transmits the success or failure of the initial setting to the information processing device,
the providing means for providing communication setting information for acquiring the reservation information of the resource,
The information processing apparatus is characterized in that, when the provision means is notified of the success of the initial setting , it records identification information of the resource for which the initial setting was successful.

Images