JPWO2004079618A1 - Reservation processing method and distributed reservation system - Google Patents

Abstract

A reservation system is arranged for each facility, the reservation system receives individual reservations and adjusts so that the facility is not crowded, avoiding duplicate reservations by the same visitor at the same time zone on the visitor side, and visiting There is provided a reservation processing method of a distributed reservation system in which a person can make reservations for a plurality of facilities. In the distributed reservation system, when reservations related to a plurality of facilities are input from the visitor agent 100, a reservation request is sent to the facility agent 200 of each facility as a resource request profile indicating the facility and its use time zone. The facility agent 200 of each facility adjusts reservations from a plurality of visitors based on the resource request profile, and the adjustment result is returned to the visitor agent 100. The visitor agent 100 checks the overlap of the adjustment result with the desired visit time of the other facilities, and if there is an overlap, it is presented by the display device, and the reservation is adjusted again in response to the input for eliminating the overlap. .

Description

      The present invention relates to a reservation processing method and a distributed reservation system for alleviating “congestion / waiting” in society. For example, for a visitor such as an amusement park, the congestion of facilities is reduced and In order to promote effective use of time, it can be applied to a system for presenting an appropriate visit time to each facility that a user plans to visit, and can be efficiently applied to a large number of users. The present invention relates to a reservation processing method and a distributed reservation system that can be guided to each facility.

Due to the rapid progress in performance improvement and price reduction of computers, various sensors and wireless communication devices, the arrival of ubiquitous information society with information devices with information transmission / reception functions everywhere in society is approaching. is there. However, in contrast to the rapid advancement of hardware technology as described above, there are no proposals that can be called “killer applications” for software and new services. It is.
For example, a system currently proposed as a typical example of “information service based on location information” automatically explains a picture or the like that exists on the spot based on information on the current location of a viewer in a museum. The information is transmitted to the information terminal of each viewer. If information such as a visitor's hobby and nationality is recorded on the information terminal on the viewer side, an individual will be guided to the exhibition location of the favorite work of the viewer nearby, and explanations will be given in their native language. Appropriate information provision services can also be realized.
Such a service is a useful service for individuals in the ubiquitous information environment, but nothing is taken into consideration regarding the relationship with other people who are present there. For example, in the above example, a large number of people with the same preference may be guided to a booth with the same work at a time, which may cause a lot of congestion.
Therefore, in the ubiquitous information environment, in addition to the above-mentioned personally-oriented services as described above, a social adjustment function that guides people's actions to eliminate “congestion / waiting” that occurs on the spot Is expected as a new service oriented to the convenience of the group.
An example of eliminating such “congestion / waiting” will be described. FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining an example of a conventional distributed reservation system. The system of FIG. 1 is a reservation system for a visitor who visits each facility of a theme park having a plurality of facilities to visit each facility efficiently. For example, the system introduced in Non-Patent Document 1 It is.
Referring to FIG. 1, first, a theme park visitor visits a facility 10 of interest and makes a visit reservation through the reservation system 40. The reservation system 40 calculates a reservation time from the load status of the current facility, and presents the calculated reservation time to the visitor. If you do not agree with the proposed reservation time, the visitor will line up at the facility's non-reservation entrance 30 or visit the facility at this point, Move to another facility 11.
A visitor who agrees with the presented reservation time makes a reservation with the reservation system 40 of the facility, and then visits another facility 11. If the facility 11 is empty, the entrance for the non-reservation person of the facility If the facility 11 is used in line at 31 and cannot be used at that time, a reservation is similarly made to the reservation system 41 of the facility 11. When the reservation time comes, the facility 10 that has been reserved in advance is revisited and entered through the reservation person entrance 20. Until the reservation time, visitors can freely visit other facilities.
Further, as a publicly known document related to this kind of facility reservation system, there is a proposal of an “in-venue facility reservation system” for an attraction facility described in Patent Document 1. In this system, the reservation management server manages the reservation information of each attraction, and each user communicates with the management server using the mobile communication terminal and sets the reservation time on a first-come-first-served basis. The reservation server detects and notifies the user when there is a reservation registration for different facilities at the same time from the same portable information terminal.
For reservation of accommodation facilities, the proposal of “Reservation Method Using Network” described in Patent Document 2 can be referred to. In this proposed reservation method, a reservation request and permission information are exchanged between a reservation applicant computer and a reservation database computer connected to a network to make a reservation. Reservation applicants can prioritize and register a plurality of reservation requests, and the reservation request with the highest priority that is available on a first-come-first-served basis is reserved.
In addition, the “online reservation system” described in Patent Document 3 uses a reservation status database that manages the reservation status of a plurality of facilities, and when the reservation server receives a reservation cancellation from the user, the use is waiting for cancellation. A reservation canceled with priority is assigned to a user who has set a high priority.
http: // www. Tokyodisneyresort. co. jp / tdl / japanes / j_topics / index_fpass JP 2001-344491 A JP 2002-334252 A JP 2003-242265 A

By using the reservation system as described above, the theme park visitors can visit many facilities more efficiently in some time than when such a system does not exist. However, according to the conventional technology, the reservation systems 40 and 41 of each facility operate independently, and information is not shared between the facilities 10 and 11, so that a visitor is assigned to a plurality of reservation systems 40 and 41. On the other hand, reservations with overlapping time zones can be made, and the problem of overlapping reservation times cannot be avoided. Moreover, the trouble that the visitor of a facility must make a reservation with respect to the reservation system 40 installed in the place for every facility to visit also arises.
For example, as described in Patent Documents 1 to 3, reservation information about each facility is managed by a reservation management server or a reservation database server, so that information among facilities can be shared. It is conceivable that the reservation system is integrated into a single reservation system. In such a system, regardless of the user's reservation time setting, the user who made the reservation registration first has priority. It is impossible to prevent a time zone in which reservations are concentrated from occurring. For this reason, there is a limit to improving the facility utilization rate. In addition, since visitors (users) make reservations for multiple facilities, as the number of visitors increases for each facility, a system that integrates and reserves multiple facilities increases the load on the reservation system and increases efficiency. In the worst case, there is a risk that the system will be down (stopped).
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to arrange a reservation system for each facility, the reservation system receives individual reservations, accepts reservations by making adjustments so that the facilities are not congested as much as possible, and the same visitor by the same visitor of the facility An object of the present invention is to provide a reservation processing method and a distributed reservation system that allow a visitor to make a reservation for a plurality of facilities in a lump while avoiding overlapping reservations in the time zone.
Another object of the present invention is that when a user makes reservations for a plurality of facilities, a server for managing the reservations for those facilities is not required, and each user can set his or her own desired time. An object is to provide a reservation processing method and a distributed reservation system in which a user can make a reservation appropriately even when the facility can make a reservation and each facility is operated independently.
As a first aspect, the present invention provides a reservation processing method according to the present invention, in which a plurality of portable terminals and a plurality of facility reservation systems are coupled by a wireless or wired network, and the plurality of portable terminals and the plurality of facilities are combined. A reservation processing method in a distributed reservation system for executing reservation processing with a reservation system of the user, the step of inputting the reservation information of the facility name and its use time zone by the portable terminal, and the portable terminal Generating a resource request profile expressed as a distribution of facility request degrees for each unit time corresponding to the use time of the facility to be reserved from the input reservation information; and the resource for each facility generated by the portable terminal Transmitting a request profile to a reservation system of each corresponding facility, and each of the transmitted by the reservation system Receiving a resource request profile of about information, and generating a self-facility request profile of a distribution of facility request degrees for each unit time of the facility by summing the plurality of received resource request profiles by the reservation system; A reservation information reservation based on an individual resource request profile based on the self-facility request profile generated by the reservation system, and an allocation allocation reservation; and the portable system that transmits the reservation information to the allocation reservation by the reservation system. When there is an overlap in usage time in the allocation reservation received by the portable terminal and the step of replying to the terminal, the overlapping allocation reservation is displayed, and the reservation information is updated by accepting input to eliminate the duplication And for each facility from the updated reservation information by the portable terminal Update the resource request profile, it is characterized in performing the process of the step of retransmitting the reservation system of each corresponding facilities.
In addition, as a second aspect, the present invention provides a portable terminal used in the reservation processing method according to the present invention, in which a plurality of portable terminals and a plurality of facility reservation systems are coupled by a wireless or wired network. A portable terminal used in a reservation processing method in a distributed reservation system that executes reservation processing between a terminal for use and a reservation system for a plurality of facilities, and for inputting reservation information for the facility name and its use time zone Reservation information generating means for generating a resource request profile expressed as a distribution of the facility request degree of each unit time corresponding to the use time of the facility to be reserved from the input reservation information, and the generated resource request for each facility Transmitting means for transmitting the profile to the reservation system of each corresponding facility, and receiving means for receiving the allocation reservation for the reservation information from the reservation system; When there is an overlap in usage time in the received allocation reservation, a reservation information update means for displaying an overlapping allocation reservation, accepting input for resolving the overlap and updating the reservation information, and updated reservation information Retransmission means for updating the resource request profile for each facility and retransmitting it to the reservation system of each corresponding facility is provided.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, as a third aspect, a program for executing a reservation process for a portable terminal used in the reservation processing method according to the present invention is a network in which a plurality of portable terminals and a plurality of facility reservation systems are wireless or wired. A program for executing a reservation process in a portable terminal used in a reservation processing method in a distributed reservation system that executes a reservation process between a plurality of portable terminals and a reservation system of a plurality of facilities, A resource request profile expressed as a distribution of the facility request degree of each unit time corresponding to the use time of the facility to be reserved is input from the input reservation information and the step of inputting the reservation information of the name and its use time zone Transmitting the generated resource requirement profile for each facility to the reservation system of each corresponding facility; The step of receiving the allocation reservation for the reservation information from the system and when the received allocation reservation has overlapping usage time, the overlapping allocation reservation is displayed, and the reservation information is updated by accepting the input to eliminate the duplication And a step of updating the resource request profile for each facility from the updated reservation information and retransmitting the resource request profile to the reservation system of each corresponding facility. It is.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a reservation system used in the reservation processing method according to the present invention, wherein a plurality of portable terminals and a plurality of facility reservation systems are coupled by a wireless or wired network. A reservation system used in a reservation processing method in a distributed reservation system that executes a reservation process between a terminal for a facility and a reservation system for a plurality of facilities, the resource request profile of each reservation information transmitted from the portable terminal Receiving means for receiving, facility request degree generating means for generating a distribution of the facility request degree distribution for each unit time of the facility by totaling the plurality of received resource request profiles, and the generated own facility An allocation means for assigning reservations for reservation information according to individual resource request profiles based on the request profile, It is characterized in further comprising a transmitting means for returning the allocated reserve portable terminal having transmitted the reservation information.
Further, according to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program for executing a reservation process of a reservation system used in the reservation processing method according to the present invention, wherein a plurality of portable terminals and a plurality of facility reservation systems are wireless or wired networks. A program for executing reservation processing in a reservation system used in a reservation processing method in a distributed reservation system that executes reservation processing between a plurality of portable terminals and a reservation system of a plurality of facilities, Receiving the resource request profile of each reservation information transmitted from the terminal for use, and generating the own facility request profile of the distribution of the facility request degree of each unit time of the facility by summing up the plurality of received resource request profiles And an individual resource request profile based on the generated own facility request profile And a step of returning the reservation reservation to the portable terminal that has transmitted the reservation information, and a process for executing the processing by a computer. .
According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a distributed reservation system used in the reservation processing method according to the present invention, wherein a plurality of portable terminals and a plurality of facility reservation systems are coupled by a wireless or wired network. Is a distributed reservation system that executes a reservation process between a portable terminal and a reservation system for a plurality of facilities, and is provided in the portable terminal for inputting reservation information of a facility name and its use time zone And a reservation information generating means for generating a resource request profile expressed as a distribution of facility request degrees for each unit time corresponding to the use time of the facility to be reserved from the reservation information provided and input to the portable terminal Transmission means for transmitting the resource request profile for each facility provided in the portable terminal to the reservation system for each corresponding facility, and the reservation system A receiving means for receiving the resource request profile of each reservation information provided in the reservation system and transmitted from the transmitting means; and a plurality of resource request profiles received in the reservation system for totaling each unit time of the facility A facility request level generation means for generating a self-facility request profile having a distribution of the facility request degrees of the facility, and reservation information reservation by an individual resource request profile provided in the reservation system based on the generated self-facility request profile Allocation means for making allocation allocation reservation, transmission means provided in the reservation system for returning the allocation reservation to a portable terminal that has transmitted the reservation information, allocation provided for reservation information from the reservation system provided in the portable terminal A receiving means for receiving a reservation; and a time for use in the received allocation reservation provided in the portable terminal. If there are duplicates, the allocation reservation with duplicates is displayed, the reservation information update means for receiving the input for resolving the duplicates and updating the reservation information, and the updated reservation information provided in the portable terminal Retransmission means for updating the resource request profile for each facility and retransmitting it to the reservation system of each corresponding facility is provided.
According to the reservation processing method and the distributed reservation system of the present invention, since the user's reservation is adjusted based on the resource request profile, there is a limit to the capacity and processing capacity of the facility that can be used by the user. Even in an environment where the demand for is fluctuating greatly (for example, large-scale attraction facilities), it is possible to accurately grasp the state of demand, and based on the information on the degree of congestion of facilities, The time to use can be set appropriately, and the demand for facilities can be processed efficiently. In addition, since the portable terminal prevents duplication of time zones for reservation applications, a reservation system can be provided independently for each facility. This makes it possible to adjust the time zone for visiting a facility in consideration of the degree of congestion of the user's facility even for facilities distributed in each region.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining an example of a conventional distributed reservation system.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a distributed reservation system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a reservation process for allocating time for visiting visitors to the facility.
FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a process for creating a resource request profile.
FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining the outline of processing for assigning facility use time to a visitor.
FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram for explaining reservation adjustment processing.
FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the contents of the duplicate check process in the visitor agent.

DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a distributed reservation system according to an embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in FIG. 2, in the distributed reservation system, a portable communication terminal 100 such as a PDA or a mobile phone owned by each user and an information processing system 200 installed in each facility are wirelessly or wired. A system is configured by being connected by a communication network (not shown). In the following description, in this embodiment, a subsystem (processing module) for performing a part of the reservation process performed by the portable communication terminal 100 is called a visitor agent, and the reservation process performed by the information processing system 200 A subsystem (processing module) for performing the remaining processes is called a facility agent. The reservation processing in the distributed reservation system is executed by the processing related to the interaction between the visitor agent and the facility agent.
Part of the reservation process by the visitor agent is performed by using the input device 110, the display device 120, the control device 130, the storage device 140, and the communication device 150 included in the portable communication terminal 100. It is executed by processing of a program that controls
For example, a user (visitor of each facility) inputs various information (reservation time zone information, reserved facility name information) for making a reservation from the input device 110 using a keyboard or a pen.
For example, a liquid crystal display device can be used as the display device 120, and information input from the input device 110 and information sent from the information processing system 200 that executes facility agent reservation processing are displayed. In the following, when no confusion occurs, both the visitor agent (processing module) and the portable terminal are referred to by the same reference number 100, and the facility agent (processing module) and the information processing system are referred to by the same reference number 200. To explain.
The control device 130 includes a CPU and a memory, and the control device 130 controls devices in the visitor agent 100. It is the main part that performs reservation processing by visitor agents by program processing. It also performs information processing related to visitors' guidance.
As the storage device 140, for example, an IC memory can be used, and various information is stored. A reservation processing program for the visitor agent is stored.
The communication device 150 of the visitor agent performs wireless communication with the communication device 230 controlled by the facility agent 200. For communication between the visitor agent communication device 150 and the facility agent communication device 230, a communication device such as a wireless LAN (such as IEEE 802.11b) or Bluetooth can be used.
A commercially available computer system can be used for the information processing system 200 that executes the facility agent reservation process. The facility agent 200 is provided with a control device 210, a storage device 220, and a communication device 230. The control device 210 has a CPU and a memory, and controls the entire device. In addition, the control device 210 executes reservation processing in the distributed reservation system according to the present invention by program processing by a computer, and is applied by a visitor agent 100 from a visitor. The reservation is adjusted based on the resource request profile, and a reservation process is performed in which the visitors are guided so that the visitors do not concentrate on the facility during a specific time period. This process will be described in detail later.
A large capacity storage device such as a hard disk can be used for the storage device 220. The storage device 220 saves and stores information such as the reserved time adjusted and the identification information of the visitor agent 100 applied by the visitor. In addition, a reservation processing program in the facility agent is stored.
The facility agent communication device 230 communicates with the communication device 150 of the visitor agent 100 wirelessly.
FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of a reservation process for allocating time for visiting visitors to the facility. The operation of the reservation process will be described with reference to FIG.
First, the visitor starts the process by activating the visitor agent in the portable terminal 100 owned by the visitor. In this process, first, the facility information indicating the facility that the user wants to visit by the input device 110, the time zone information (the earliest use start time and the latest use completion time) indicating the time zone that the facility wants to visit, and the facility A preference value (value from 0 to 1) indicating the importance is input. If input of information such as a time zone and a preference value is omitted, the control device 130 sets a predetermined default value (the time zone is the closing time from the current time, and the preference value is 1.0) ( Step S100).
The visitor agent (control device 130) normalizes the preference value for the facility that the visitor wants to visit from the input information (step S110). The purpose of this is to correct the unfairness that occurs between visitors who want to visit many facilities and those who do not plan to visit too many facilities.
P′ij = Pij / ΣPi
Where Pij is the preference value for the facility i of the visitor i, ΣPi is the sum of the preference values for all the facilities of the visitor i, and P′ij is the normalized preference value for the facility j of the visitor i It is. That is, in the normalization process, as shown in the above formula, the preference value of each facility is divided by the sum of the preference values of all the facilities to be visited. As a result, the fairness of the reservation between visitors who visit many facilities and visitors who visit a few facilities is attempted.
Next, the visitor agent creates a resource request profile for each facility indicated by the facility information from the input information (step S120), and transmits it to the facility agent for each response (step S130).
Next, the resource request profile creation process will be specifically described. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a resource request profile creation process. First, in this example, the accuracy of the time presented to the visitors is 10 minutes, and the visitor visits a certain facility with a preference value of 0.6 from 9:00 to 9:50. Suppose you have a desire to do. Further assume that the time required for the attraction at this facility is 30 minutes.
Under such conditions, the time zone during which visitors participate in the attraction at the facility is (from 9 to 9:30), as shown by the three patterns of tiles in FIG. 4 (from 9:10 to 9). Time 40 minutes) and (9:20 to 9:50). Furthermore, as can be seen from Fig. 4, the time zone from 9:20 to 9:30 is included in all three patterns, so visitors will visit this facility during the desired time zone. In some cases, visitors must be at this facility during the 9:20 to 9:30 hours.
Since the preference value of the visitor for this facility is 0.6, the probability that the visitor is in this facility during the above time zone is assumed to be 0.6, and the probabilities for other time zones are determined in advance accordingly. When calculated according to a certain mathematical expression, the contents that the visitor wishes to use the facility under the above-mentioned assumed condition can be expressed as a probability graph as shown in the lower part of FIG. For this reason, the data indicating this graph is used as data for making a reservation request as a resource request profile for the facility of the visitor. Reservation processing is executed based on this resource request profile.
Such a resource request profile is created for each facility that a visitor inputs as he / she wants to visit based on the input information, and is transmitted to each facility agent. In other words, the visitor agent 100 communicates the resource request profile information created by the visitor to the facility to the facility agent 200 of each facility that the visitor has entered to visit based on the input information. It transmits to each from the apparatus 150 (step S130).
Information input from the input device 110 and the created resource request profile are temporarily stored in the storage device 140.
In each facility agent 200, the control device 210 receives the resource request profile from each visitor agent 100 periodically (for example, every 10 minutes) via the communication device 230 (step S140). The received resource request profile information is totaled in the storage device 220. In this case, in the processing of the facility agent 200, the aggregated demands of all visitors who wish to make a reservation for the facility are summed up using the aggregated resource request profile (step S150). Subsequently, on the basis of the total information, an allocation process for allocating the time for visiting the facility to each visitor (step S160).
This allocation process will be specifically described. FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a process of assigning facility usage time to each visitor. In the following, assuming that this facility and its usage time are collectively referred to as resources, the process of assigning the facility usage time to each visitor is a resource allocation process.
In the resource allocation process, as shown in FIG. 5, for example, the facility agent 200 receives the resource request profile of each visitor from three visitor agents, visitor 1, visitor 2, and visitor 3. The resource requirement profile is aggregated to create a comprehensive resource requirement profile for the facility. The comprehensive resource requirement profile represents the time fluctuation of the total demand of the facility, and is shown in a shaded pattern in the time zone corresponding to the peak (here, it is called a competitive peak). Is the time zone in which the facility is expected to be most crowded.
Therefore, in the facility agent 200, when the competition peak is calculated in the total demand processing (step S150), the time zone is determined, the resource request profile of each visitor is referred to, and the demand in the competition peak time zone is determined. Look for the visitor with the highest volume (i.e., the visitor with the highest probability value in that time zone of the resource request profile). In the example of FIG. 5, the resource request profile of the visitor 3 corresponds to that, and each time of the probability (preference value) included in the resource request profile of the visitor 3 for the visitor 3. Allocate the time zone with the smallest value in the comprehensive resource requirement profile. That is, a process is performed in which a time zone with as little competition as possible with other visitors is assigned as a candidate value for the visit time of the visitor. For the resource request profiles of other visitors, the assignable time is assigned except for the already assigned time zone (step S160).
The facility agent 200 transmits facility information indicating a time zone for guiding a visit and its own facility via the communication device 230 to the visitor agent 100 of the visitor who assigned the candidate value of the visit time ( Step S170).
Referring to FIG. 3 again, each facility agent 200 transmits time zone information of candidate values for the visit time to the previously transmitted resource request profile (steps S170 and S180). The visitor agent 100 that has received the time zone information of the candidate value of the visit time assigned from one or a plurality of facility agents 200 finds information with overlapping time zones from the received time zone information and facility information. If there is a time zone for overlapping use, the contents are displayed (step S190). That is, in this process, for example, the display device 120 displays how the visit time affects visit plans for other facilities planned by the visitor, and visits the facility during that time zone. In order to confirm whether or not to accept, the acceptance or rejection input is accepted, the preference value is adjusted according to the input, and the contents of the changed resource request profile are updated (steps S200 to S220). Then, it transmits again to each facility agent (step S230), and waits for reception of allocation information corresponding to the contents of the updated resource request profile thereafter.
The specific processing contents will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram for explaining reservation adjustment processing. In FIG. 6, visitors are planning to visit three facilities (first facility, second facility, and third facility), and the resource requirement profile for these facilities is shown in the left part of FIG. It is shown. As shown in the left part of Fig. 6, when the facility agent of the third facility assigns the hatched hatched time zone to the visitor as the visit time, the result is the other facility's result. The right part of FIG. 6 shows how the influence propagates to the visit plan.
First, for the third facility, since it is determined that the visit will be made during the allocated time zone, the resource requirement profile of the third facility is changed as shown on the right side of FIG. 6 and hatched with diagonal lines. Only part. Further, since the visitor cannot visit other facilities during that time period, the resource request profile for that time period (the resource request profile for the second facility) is changed. As a result, in this case, the resource requirement profile of the second facility is modified as shown on the right side of FIG.
As a result, in the example shown in FIG. 6, as a result of the influence propagation by the allocation result of the third facility, the visitor has the peak value (1.0 in the same time zone for the first facility and the second facility). ) Is a resource requirement profile, and it should be noted that a visit to either the first facility or the second facility must be abandoned (visiting multiple facilities at the same time) Is not possible). In this way, the control device 130 finds an overlapping reservation (in this example, the scheduled visit time zones of the first facility and the second facility overlap).
The visitor agent 100 displays on the display device 120 the result calculated by the control device 130 of the visitor agent 100 on the influence of the visit time allocation result on the visit schedule to other facilities. Thereafter, a determination as to whether or not the visit time allocation can be accepted is input from the input device 110 of the visitor agent 100.
In the example of Fig. 6, as a result of time allocation to the third facility, the visitor of either the first facility or the second facility has to be abandoned. If the time allocation to the allocated facility is accepted and the visit to the first facility and the second facility is prioritized over the third facility, the acceptance is rejected. In that case, the preference value for each facility is changed.
When the determination result of acceptance or rejection (including time zone information to be changed) by the visitor is input from the input device 110 of the visitor agent 100, the visitor agent 100 visits the visiting facility based on the result. In order to prevent excessive unfairness among visitors in relation to the allocation of visitors, the preference value of visitors is adjusted. That is, in the example of FIG. 6, when the allocation to the third facility is accepted, the facility whose priority is lowered among the first facility and the second facility (the second facility in this example). ) (For example, −10%). If the allocation to the third facility is rejected, the preference value for the third facility is lowered, and the visitor's preference value for the first facility and the second facility is increased (for example, + 10%). By making such adjustments, the preference value can be kept fair among all visitors. Further, after making such adjustment, the visitor agent again adjusts the preference value by normalizing the value with respect to the preference value for all the facilities of the visitor by the control device 130 (step S210).
Thereafter, the visitor agent 100 (control device 130) updates the visitor's resource request profile based on the new preference value, and transmits the result to each facility agent 200 via the communication device 150 (step S220 → S230). If the visit reservation for all the facilities of the visitor is confirmed, an empty (that is, no newly assigned visit) resource request profile is transmitted.
When the control device 220 of the facility agent 200 receives the updated resource request profile via the communication device 230, if the content of the resource request profile is not empty (that is, there is no newly assigned visit), the updated resource request profile is displayed. Based on the profile, the visit time for the visitors is allocated, and the above-described processing is repeatedly executed (steps S240 → S250 → S150). On the other hand, if the resource request profile is empty, the control device 220 determines that the reservation application has been completed, and disconnects the communication of the visitor agent that has made the reservation application (steps S240 → S250 → end).
As described above, individual facility agents (reservation systems) 200 adjust visit time zones. As a result, even if visit time zones to a plurality of facilities overlap, the visitor agents 100 overlap. Encourage visitors to adjust priorities for the facilities they visit. As a result, it becomes impossible for visitors to apply for reservations for a plurality of facilities in the same manner as in the past. Visitors visit facilities so that visitors can visit the facilities efficiently and do not create an unfair feeling among visitors, depending on the preference value of the visitors and the degree of congestion of the facilities. The time to do is assigned.
(Other embodiments)
1) In the embodiment, the visitor agent is set for each visitor, but it may be set so that the reservation process is performed by one visitor agent for the visitors who came in the group. .
2) In the above embodiment, the visitor time is allocated to all the facilities that the visitor plans to visit. However, as in the conventional example (FIG. 1), for the reservation person By providing entrances and entrances for non-reserved persons, the visit time is assigned only to facilities that are expected to be congested using this system, and for other facilities, visit time is assigned without assigning the visit time. You may make it mix the form visited.
3) In the above-mentioned embodiment, the explanation was given for the case of the visitors to the attraction facility in the theme park amusement park. However, it was closed such as guidance to the exhibition booth at the trade fair hall, traffic inflow control within a certain section, etc. The present invention can be similarly applied to a case where a large amount of demand (such as visitors) is efficiently allocated in real time to a plurality of resources (exhibition booths, attractions, roads, etc.) in the environment.
4) In the above-described embodiment, when there are two time zone information with overlapping time zones, the duplication is resolved by urging the visitor to adjust the priority. The control device may automatically delete reservations for facilities with low preference values. In addition, the system designer may appropriately determine which reservation is to be deleted.
Since the deduplication processing executed by the visitor agent is related to the present invention, an example will be introduced. FIG. 7 shows a processing procedure executed by the control device 130 for this purpose. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the contents of the duplicate check process in the visitor agent.
In FIG. 7, upon receiving facility information and time zone information from one or more facility agents 200, the control device 130 determines whether or not the number of data sets (time zone information) is plural (two or more). (Step S1000). When the facility information and the time zone information are one set, there is no duplication, so the process jumps to step S1050 to set the received facility information and time zone information in the storage device 140 as an accepted reservation.
On the other hand, if there are a plurality of sets of received data, there is a possibility of duplication, so the procedure proceeds from step S1000 to step S1010. The control device 130 extracts the first and second time zone information from the received time zone information (step S1010) and determines whether or not the time zones indicated by the two time zone information overlap (step S1010). S1020). When the start time or end time of the other time zone exists between the start time and the end time of one time zone, and the probabilities in the resource request profile in the overlapping time zone are both 1.0 It is determined that the two time zones overlap.
When the overlap is determined, the facility information and the time zone information whose reception time is later are deleted from the comparison target in this form (step S1030).
In this way, two of the received time zone information are selected, and the above processing is repeated, and one set is deleted for the two sets of time zones that have been compared, with duplicates. Therefore, the facility information and the time zone information remaining at the time when all the comparisons are completed are not duplicated.
As a result, the procedure proceeds from step S1040 to step S1050, and the facility information and time zone information remaining after the deduplication processing is performed are set in the storage device 140 as a reservation for acceptance. The set facility information and time zone information are displayed on the display device 120, and the processing procedure of FIG. 7 ends. 5) In the communication between the facility agent 200 and the visitor agent 100, the facility information indicates the communication address of the facility agent. What is necessary is just to use, and it is good to use the facility information of a character form for the display on the display apparatus 120 and the input from the input device 110. FIG. A conversion table may be used for the facility information with the communication address from the facility information in the character form. In the conversion table, the correspondence table between the facility information in the form of characters and the communication address is described.
6) In the above-described embodiment, after the facility information and the time zone information overlapping in the time zone are excluded in the visitor agent 100, nothing is notified to the facility agent 200, but the facility that has been excluded (deleted) The facility agent 200 corresponding to the information may be notified of the cancellation of the reservation to the facility agent 200. In response to this notification, the facility agent 200 deletes the information related to the corresponding visitor agent 100 from the reservation application so far.
INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION FIELD The reservation processing method and distributed reservation system according to the present invention are suitably used in an environment (for example, a large-scale attraction facility) where the resource capacity and processing capacity are limited and the demand for resources greatly fluctuates. The Based on the information on the degree of resource congestion, it is possible to appropriately set the time for using the resource in response to the reservation request (demand), and it is possible to process the demand for the resource efficiently and fairly. Since a reservation system is provided for each facility and reservation processing is performed, and the portable terminal side can be a system that prevents duplication of time zones for reservation applications, the system configuration is simplified. In addition, it is possible to adjust the time zone for visiting the facility in consideration of the degree of preference of the facility for the visitor.

  The present invention relates to a reservation processing method and a distributed reservation system for alleviating “congestion / waiting” in society. For example, for a visitor such as an amusement park, the congestion of facilities is reduced and In order to promote effective use of time, it can be applied to a system for presenting an appropriate visit time to each facility that a user plans to visit, and can be efficiently applied to a large number of users. The present invention relates to a reservation processing method and a distributed reservation system that can be guided to each facility.

  Due to the rapid progress in performance improvement and price reduction of computers, various sensors and wireless communication devices, the arrival of ubiquitous information society with information devices with information transmission / reception functions everywhere in society is approaching. is there. However, in contrast to the rapid advancement of hardware technology as described above, there are no proposals that can be called “killer applications” for software and new services. It is.

  For example, a system currently proposed as a typical example of “information service based on location information” automatically explains a picture or the like that exists on the spot based on information on the current location of a viewer in a museum. The information is transmitted to the information terminal of each viewer. If information such as a visitor's hobby and nationality is recorded on the information terminal on the viewer side, an individual will be guided to the exhibition location of the favorite work of the viewer nearby, and explanations will be given in their native language. Appropriate information provision services can also be realized.

  Such a service is a useful service for individuals in the ubiquitous information environment, but nothing is taken into consideration regarding the relationship with other people who are present there. For example, in the above example, a large number of people with the same preference may be guided to a booth with the same work at a time, which may cause a lot of congestion.

  Therefore, in the ubiquitous information environment, in addition to the above-mentioned personally-oriented services as described above, a social adjustment function that guides people's actions to eliminate “congestion / waiting” that occurs on the spot Is expected as a new service oriented to the convenience of the group.

  An example of eliminating such “congestion / waiting” will be described. FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a conventional distributed reservation system. The system of FIG. 1 is a reservation system for a visitor who visits each facility of a theme park having a plurality of facilities to visit each facility efficiently. is there.

  Referring to FIG. 1, first, a theme park visitor visits a facility 10 of interest and makes a reservation for a visit through a reservation system 40. The reservation system 40 calculates a reservation time from the load status of the current facility, and presents the calculated reservation time to the visitor. If you do not agree with the proposed reservation time, the visitor will line up at the facility's non-reservation entrance 30 or visit the facility at this point, Move to another facility 11.

  A visitor who agrees with the presented reservation time makes a reservation with the reservation system 40 of the facility, and then visits another facility 11. If the facility 11 is empty, the entrance for the non-reservation person of the facility If the facility 11 is used in line at 31 and cannot be used at that time, a reservation is similarly made to the reservation system 41 of the facility 11. When the reservation time comes, the facility 10 that has been reserved in advance is revisited and entered through the reservation person entrance 20. Until the reservation time, visitors can freely visit other facilities.

  Further, as a publicly known document related to this kind of facility reservation system, there is a proposal of an “in-venue facility reservation system” for an attraction facility described in Patent Document 1. In this system, the reservation management server manages the reservation information of each attraction, and each user communicates with the management server using the mobile communication terminal and sets the reservation time on a first-come-first-served basis. The reservation server detects and notifies the user when there is a reservation registration for different facilities at the same time from the same portable information terminal.

  For reservation of accommodation facilities, the proposal of “Reservation Method Using Network” described in Patent Document 2 can be referred to. In this proposed reservation method, a reservation request and permission information are exchanged between a reservation applicant computer and a reservation database computer connected to a network to make a reservation. Reservation applicants can prioritize and register a plurality of reservation requests, and the reservation request with the highest priority that is available on a first-come-first-served basis is reserved.

In addition, the “online reservation system” described in Patent Document 3 uses a reservation status database that manages the reservation status of a plurality of facilities, and when the reservation server receives a reservation cancellation from the user, the use is waiting for cancellation. A reservation canceled with priority is assigned to a user who has set a high priority.
http: // www. Tokyodisneyresort. co. jp / tdl / japanes / j_topics / index_fpass JP 2001-344491 A JP 2002-334252 A JP 2003-242265 A

  By using the reservation system as described above, the theme park visitors can visit many facilities more efficiently in some time than when such a system does not exist. However, according to the conventional technology, the reservation systems 40 and 41 of each facility operate independently, and information is not shared between the facilities 10 and 11, so that a visitor is assigned to a plurality of reservation systems 40 and 41. On the other hand, reservations with overlapping time zones can be made, and the problem of overlapping reservation times cannot be avoided. Moreover, the trouble that the visitor of a facility must make a reservation with respect to the reservation system 40 installed in the place for every facility to visit also arises.

  For example, as described in Patent Documents 1 to 3, reservation information about each facility is managed by a reservation management server or a reservation database server, so that information among facilities can be shared. It is conceivable that the reservation system is integrated into a single reservation system. In such a system, regardless of the user's reservation time setting, the user who made the reservation registration first has priority. It is impossible to prevent a time zone in which reservations are concentrated from occurring. For this reason, there is a limit to improving the facility utilization rate. In addition, since visitors (users) make reservations for multiple facilities, as the number of visitors increases for each facility, a system that integrates and reserves multiple facilities increases the load on the reservation system and increases efficiency. In the worst case, there is a risk that the system will be down (stopped).

  Therefore, an object of the present invention is to arrange a reservation system for each facility, the reservation system receives individual reservations, accepts reservations by making adjustments so that the facilities are not congested as much as possible, and the same visitor by the same visitor of the facility An object of the present invention is to provide a reservation processing method and a distributed reservation system that allow a visitor to make a reservation for a plurality of facilities in a lump while avoiding overlapping reservations in the time zone.

  Another object of the present invention is that when a user makes reservations for a plurality of facilities, a server for managing the reservations for those facilities is not required, and each user can set his or her own desired time. An object of the present invention is to provide a reservation processing method and a distributed reservation system in which a user can appropriately reserve a facility even when the facility can be reserved and each facility is operated independently.

  As a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a reservation processing method according to the present invention in which a plurality of portable terminal computers and a plurality of facility reservation system computers are coupled by a wireless or wired network. A reservation processing method in a distributed reservation system for performing reservation processing by performing data communication between a computer of the above and a computer of a reservation system of a plurality of facilities, wherein the portable terminal computer uses the facility and the user A step of accepting reservation information of a time zone, and a resource request profile for instructing a facility request level per predetermined unit time corresponding to a use time zone of a facility used for each facility by the computer of the portable terminal from the reservation information Generating data, and the resource request program generated by the computer of the portable terminal. Transmitting file data to each corresponding facility reservation system computer; receiving resource request profile data transmitted from a plurality of portable terminal computers at each facility reservation system computer; and Each facility reservation system computer totals the resource request profile data transmitted from the received portable terminal computer, and generates its own facility request profile data instructing the facility request level for each predetermined unit time of the facility. A step of assigning a reservation of reservation information in which individual resource request profile data is generated based on the generated own facility request profile data to make an allocation reservation; and Reservation system for each facility A step in which the computer returns the allocation reservation to the computer of the portable terminal that has transmitted the reservation information; and a step in which the computer of the portable terminal receives the allocation reservation for the reservation information from the computer of the reservation system of each facility; When there is a duplication of usage time in the allocation reservation received from the computer of the reservation system of each facility by the computer of the portable terminal, the allocation information with duplication is displayed, and the reservation information is received by receiving input for the elimination of duplication And updating the resource request profile data for each facility from the updated reservation information and retransmitting it to the computer of the reservation system at each facility. It is characterized by.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a portable terminal used in the reservation processing method according to the present invention, in which a plurality of portable terminal computers and a plurality of facility reservation system computers are coupled by a wireless or wired network. A portable terminal used in a reservation processing method in a distributed reservation system that performs data communication between a plurality of portable terminal computers and a plurality of facility reservation system computers, and is used by the computer Input means for receiving reservation information on facilities and use time zones used by the person, and instructing the facility request level for each predetermined unit time corresponding to the use time zones of the facilities used for each facility from the reservation information by the computer Generating means for generating resource request profile data, and the resource generated by the computer; Transmitting means for transmitting the requested profile data to the computers of the reservation system of the corresponding facilities, receiving means for receiving the allocation reservation for the reservation information from the computers of the reservation system of each facility by the computer, and for each of the facilities by the computer When there is a duplication of usage time in the allocation reservation received from the computer of the reservation system, the allocation reservation with duplication is displayed, the update means for receiving the input for resolving the duplication and updating the reservation information, and the computer Retransmission means for updating resource request profile data for each facility from the updated reservation information and retransmitting it to the computer of the reservation system of each facility is provided.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program for executing a reservation process in a portable terminal used in the reservation processing method according to the present invention, wherein a plurality of portable terminal computers and a plurality of facility reservation system computers are wirelessly connected. Alternatively, a portable terminal used in a reservation processing method in a distributed reservation system that is connected by a wired network and performs data communication between a plurality of portable terminal computers and a plurality of facility reservation system computers. A program for executing reservation processing by the computer, input means for receiving the reservation information of the facility and the use time zone used from the user by the computer, and the use time zone of the facility used for each facility from the reservation information by the computer Instruct the facility request level per unit time corresponding to Generation means for generating resource request profile data, transmission means for transmitting the generated resource request profile data to a computer of the corresponding facility reservation system by a computer, and reservation from the computer of the reservation system of each facility by a computer When there is an overlap in usage time between the receiving means for receiving the allocation reservation for the information and the allocation reservation received from the computer of the reservation system of each facility by the computer, the overlapping allocation reservation is displayed for the purpose of eliminating the duplication An update unit that accepts an input and updates the reservation information; and a resource request profile data for each facility that is updated by the computer from the updated reservation information and functions as a retransmission unit that resends to the computer of the reservation system of each facility Also characterized by It is.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a reservation system used in the reservation processing method according to the present invention, wherein a plurality of portable terminal computers and a plurality of facility reservation system computers are connected by a wireless or wired network. A reservation system for each facility used in a reservation processing method in a distributed reservation system for performing reservation processing by performing data communication between a plurality of portable terminal computers and a plurality of facility reservation system computers, Receiving means for receiving resource request profile data transmitted from computers of a plurality of portable terminals, and the resource request profile data transmitted from the computers of portable terminals received by the computer are summed up to a predetermined unit of the facility Own facility request professional who instructs facility request level every hour Generation means for generating file data, allocation means for allocating reservations for reservation information in which individual resource request profile data is generated based on the own facility request profile data generated by a computer, The facility reservation system computer includes transmission means for returning the allocation reservation to the portable terminal computer that has transmitted the reservation information.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a program for executing a reservation process in a reservation system used in the reservation processing method according to the present invention, wherein a plurality of portable terminal computers and a plurality of facility reservation system computers are wirelessly connected. Alternatively, reservation of each facility used in a reservation processing method in a distributed reservation system that is connected by a wired network and performs data communication between a computer of a plurality of portable terminals and a computer of a reservation system of a plurality of facilities A program for executing a reservation process in a system, wherein the computer receives a resource request profile data transmitted from a plurality of portable terminal computers, and the computer transmits the received portable terminal computer from the received portable terminal computer Total resource request profile data Generating means for generating own facility request profile data for instructing a facility request level for each predetermined unit time of the facility, and individual resource request profile data based on the own facility request profile data generated by a computer. An allocation unit that allocates a reservation of the generated reservation information to make an allocation reservation, and a computer of the reservation system of each facility functions as a transmission unit that returns the allocation reservation to the computer of the portable terminal that has transmitted the reservation information It is characterized by.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a distributed reservation system used in the reservation processing method according to the present invention, wherein a plurality of portable terminal computers and a plurality of facility reservation system computers are connected by a wireless or wired network. A distributed reservation system which is combined and performs data communication between a plurality of portable terminal computers and a plurality of facility reservation system computers, and executes reservation processing, and is provided in the portable terminal computer for use Input means for receiving reservation information on facilities and use time zones used by a person, and a predetermined unit time corresponding to a use time zone of facilities provided for each facility from the reservation information provided in the computer of the portable terminal Reservation information generating means for generating resource request profile data for instructing the facility request level for each, and the portable terminal Transmitting means for transmitting the generated resource request profile data to the computer of the reservation system of the corresponding facility, and computers of a plurality of portable terminals provided to the computer of the reservation system of each facility Receiving means for receiving the resource request profile data transmitted from the computer, and the resource request profile data transmitted from the received portable terminal computer provided in the computer of the reservation system of each facility, Generating means for generating own facility request profile data for instructing a facility request level for each predetermined unit time; and provided on a computer of the reservation system of each facility, and individually generated based on the generated own facility request profile data The resource request profile data has been generated Allocating means for allocating an information reservation to make an allocation reservation; a transmission means provided in a computer of the reservation system of each facility; for transmitting the allocation reservation to a computer of a portable terminal that has transmitted the reservation information; Receiving means provided in the terminal computer for receiving the allocation reservation for the reservation information from the computer of the reservation system of each facility; and the allocation provided in the computer of the portable terminal provided for the computer of the reservation system of each facility When there is an overlap in use time in the reservation, an update means for displaying the assigned reservation with overlap, accepting an input for resolving the overlap and updating the reservation information, and provided in the computer of the portable terminal, The resource request profile data for each facility is updated from the updated reservation information, and the reservation system of each facility is updated. And a retransmission means for retransmitting to the computer.

  According to the reservation processing method and the distributed reservation system of the present invention having such features, a predetermined unit corresponding to the use time zone of the facility for which the user's reservation is used for each facility from the inputted reservation information. Because adjustments are made based on resource requirement profile data that indicates the degree of facility request for each hour, there is a limit to the capacity and processing capacity of facilities that users can use, and environments where demand for facilities fluctuates greatly (for example, large attractions) Even if it is a facility), it is possible to accurately grasp the state of demand, and based on information on the degree of congestion of the facility, it is possible to appropriately set the time for each user to use the facility for the demand. It is possible to process the demand for facilities. In addition, since the portable terminal prevents duplication of time zones for reservation applications, a reservation system can be provided independently for each facility. This makes it possible to adjust the time zone for visiting a facility in consideration of the degree of congestion of the user's facility even for facilities distributed in each region.

  DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a distributed reservation system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  As shown in FIG. 2, in the distributed reservation system, a portable communication terminal 100 such as a PDA or a mobile phone possessed by each user and an information processing system 200 installed in each facility communicate wirelessly or by wire. The system is configured by being connected by a network (not shown). In the following description, in this embodiment, a subsystem (processing module) for performing a part of the reservation process performed by the portable communication terminal 100 is called a visitor agent, and the reservation process performed by the information processing system 200 A subsystem (processing module) for performing the remaining processes is called a facility agent. The reservation processing in the distributed reservation system is executed by the processing related to the interaction between the visitor agent and the facility agent.

  Part of the reservation process by the visitor agent is performed by using the input device 110, the display device 120, the control device 130, the storage device 140, and the communication device 150 included in the portable communication terminal 100. It is executed by processing of a program that controls

  For example, a user (visitor of each facility) inputs various information (reservation time zone information, reserved facility name information) for making a reservation from the input device 110 using a keyboard or a pen.

  As the display device 120, for example, a liquid crystal display device can be used, and the reservation information input from the input device 110 and the information sent from the information processing system 200 that executes the reservation processing of the facility agent are displayed. . In the following, when no confusion occurs, both the visitor agent (processing module) and the portable terminal are referred to by the same reference number 100, and the facility agent (processing module) and the information processing system are referred to by the same reference number 200. I will explain.

  The control device 130 has a CPU and a memory (computer), and the control device 130 controls devices in the visitor agent 100. It is a main part that performs reservation processing by the visitor agent 100 by program processing. In addition, information processing related to visitor guidance is performed.

  As the storage device 140, for example, an IC memory can be used, and various information is stored. A reservation processing program for the visitor agent is stored.

  The communication device 150 of the visitor agent 100 performs wireless communication with the communication device 230 controlled by the facility agent 200. For communication between the visitor agent communication device 150 and the facility agent communication device 230, a communication device such as a wireless LAN (such as IEEE 802.11b) or Bluetooth can be used.

  A commercially available computer system can be used for the information processing system for executing the reservation process of the facility agent 200. The facility agent 200 is provided with a control device 210, a storage device 220, and a communication device 230. The control device 210 has a CPU and a memory (computer), and controls the entire device. In addition, the control device 210 executes reservation processing in the distributed reservation system according to the present invention by program processing by a computer, and a visitor agent 100 receives from a visitor. The applied reservation is adjusted based on resource request profile data (to be described later), and a reservation process is performed in which visitors are guided so that they do not concentrate in the facility during a specific time period. This process will be described in detail later.

  A large capacity storage device such as a hard disk can be used for the storage device 220. The storage device 220 saves and stores information such as the identification information of the visitor agent 100 together with the reservation time applied by the visitor and the adjusted reservation time, that is, the reservation information input via the visitor agent 100. In addition, a reservation processing program in the facility agent is stored.

  The communication device 230 of the facility agent 200 communicates with the communication device 150 of the visitor agent 100 wirelessly.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a processing procedure of reservation processing for allocating time for visiting visitors to the facility. The operation of the reservation process will be described with reference to FIG.

  First, the visitor starts the process by activating the visitor agent in the portable terminal 100 owned by the visitor. In this process, first, as the reservation information by the input device 110, facility information indicating a facility that the user wants to visit, and time zone information (the earliest use start time and the latest use completion time) indicating the time zone in which the user wants to visit the facility, The preference value (value from 0 to 1) indicating the importance for the facility is input. If input of information such as a time zone and a preference value is omitted, the control device 130 sets a predetermined default value (the time zone is the closing time from the current time, and the preference value is 1.0) ( Step S100).

In the visitor agent (control device 130), the preference value for the facility that the visitor wants to visit is normalized from the inputted reservation information (step S110). The purpose of this is to correct the unfairness that occurs between visitors who want to visit many facilities and those who do not plan to visit too many facilities.
P′ij = Pij / ΣPi
Where Pij is the preference value for the facility i of the visitor i, ΣPi is the sum of the preference values for all the facilities of the visitor i, and P′ij is the normalized preference value for the facility j of the visitor i It is. That is, in the normalization process, as shown in the above formula, the preference value of each facility is divided by the sum of the preference values of all the facilities to be visited. As a result, the fairness of the reservation between visitors who visit many facilities and visitors who visit a few facilities is attempted.

  Next, the visitor agent 100, from the input reservation information, resource request profile data (instructing a facility request level for each predetermined unit time corresponding to the facility use time zone for each facility indicated by the facility information) Hereinafter, the resource request profile is abbreviated (step S120), and each response is transmitted to the facility agent (step S130).

  Next, the resource request profile creation process will be specifically described. FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a resource request profile creation process. First, as an example of this, it is assumed that the accuracy of the time presented to visitors is 10 minutes, and a visitor visits a certain facility with a preference value of 0.6 from 9:00 to 9:50. Suppose you have a desire to do. Further assume that the time required for the attraction at this facility is 30 minutes.

  Under such conditions, the time period for visitors to participate in the attraction at the facility is (from 9 o'clock to 9:30), as shown by the three patterns of tiles in FIG. 40 minutes) and (9:20 to 9:50). Furthermore, as can be seen from Fig. 4, the time zone from 9:20 to 9:30 is included in all three patterns, so the visitor visits this facility during the desired time zone By the way, visitors must be at this facility during the 9:20 to 9:30 hours.

  Since the preference value of the visitor for this facility is 0.6, the probability that the visitor is in this facility during the above time zone is assumed to be 0.6, and the probabilities for other time zones are determined in advance accordingly. When calculated according to a certain mathematical expression, the contents that the visitor desires to use the facility under the above-mentioned assumed condition can be expressed as a probability graph as shown in the lower part of FIG. For this reason, the data indicating this graph is used as data for making a reservation request as a resource request profile for the facility of the visitor. Reservation processing is executed based on this resource request profile.

  Such a resource request profile is created for each facility that a visitor inputs as he / she wants to visit based on the input reservation information, and is transmitted to each facility agent. In other words, based on the input information, the visitor agent 100 sends the resource request profile created from the reservation information of the visitor for the facility to the facility agent 200 of each facility that the visitor has input to visit. Information is transmitted to each from the communication device 150 (step S130).

  In addition, the reservation information input from the input device 110 and the created resource request profile are temporarily stored in the storage device 140.

  In each facility agent 200, the control device 210 receives the resource request profile from each visitor agent 100 periodically (for example, every 10 minutes) via the communication device 230 (step S140). The received resource request profile information is totaled in the storage device 220. In this case, in the processing of the facility agent 200, the aggregated demands of all visitors who wish to make a reservation for the facility are summed up using the aggregated resource request profile (step S150). Subsequently, on the basis of the total information, an allocation process for allocating time for visiting the facility is performed for each visitor (step S160).

  This allocation process will be specifically described. FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a process of assigning facility usage time to each visitor. In the following, assuming that this facility and its usage time are collectively referred to as resources, the process of assigning the facility usage time to each visitor is a resource allocation process.

  In the resource allocation process, as shown in FIG. 5, for example, the facility agent 200 receives the resource request profile of each visitor from the three visitor agents, visitor 1, visitor 2, and visitor 3. The resource request profile is aggregated to create a comprehensive resource request profile (own facility request profile data) for the facility. The comprehensive resource requirement profile represents the time variation of the facility's total demand, that is, indicates the facility requirement level for the facility at a given hour, and its peak (here (Referred to as a competing peak) is the time zone in which the facility is expected to be most crowded (in FIG. 5, the time zone indicated by the shaded pattern corresponds to it).

  Therefore, in the facility agent 200, when the competition peak is calculated in the total demand processing (step S150), the time zone is determined, the resource request profile of each visitor is referred to, and the demand in the competition peak time zone is determined. Look for the visitor with the highest volume (ie, the visitor with the highest probability value for that time zone in the resource request profile). In the example of FIG. 5, the resource request profile of the visitor 3 corresponds to this, and each time zone of the probability (preference value) included in the resource request profile of the visitor 3 for the visitor 3. Of the comprehensive resource request profile is assigned to the time period in which the value is the smallest. That is, a process is performed in which a time zone with as little contention as possible with other visitors is assigned as a candidate value for the visit time of the visitor. For the resource request profiles of other visitors, the assignable time is assigned except for the already assigned time zone (step S160).

  The facility agent 200 transmits facility information indicating a time zone for guiding a visit and its own facility via the communication device 230 to the visitor agent 100 of the visitor who assigned the candidate value of the visit time ( Step S170).

  Referring to FIG. 3 again, each facility agent 200 transmits the time zone information of the candidate value of the visit time to the previously transmitted resource request profile (step S170, step S180). The visitor agent 100 that has received time zone information of candidate visit time values assigned from one or a plurality of facility agents 200 finds information in which time zones overlap among the received time zone information and facility information. If there is a time zone for overlapping use, the contents are displayed (step S190). That is, in this process, for example, the display device 120 displays how the visit time affects visit plans for other facilities planned by the visitor, and visits the facility during that time zone. In order to confirm whether or not to accept, the acceptance or rejection input is accepted, the preference value is adjusted according to the input, and the contents of the changed resource request profile are updated (steps S200 to S220). Then, it transmits again to each facility agent (step S230), and waits for reception of allocation information corresponding to the contents of the updated resource request profile thereafter.

  The specific processing content will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a reservation adjustment process. In FIG. 6, visitors are scheduled to visit three facilities (first facility, second facility, and third facility), and the resource requirement profiles for these facilities are shown in the left part of FIG. ing. Now, as shown in the left part of Fig. 6, the facility agent of the third facility uses the hatched time zone as the visit time and assigns it to the visitors. The right part of FIG. 6 shows how the influence propagates to the plan.

  First, for the third facility, since it is determined that the visit will be made during the allocated time zone, the resource requirement profile of the third facility is changed as shown on the right side of FIG. It becomes only. Further, since the visitor cannot visit other facilities during that time period, the resource request profile for that time period (the resource request profile for the second facility) is changed. As a result, in this case, the resource requirement profile of the second facility is modified as shown on the right side of FIG.

  As a result, in the example shown in FIG. 6, as a result of the influence propagation by the allocation result of the third facility, the visitor has the peak value (1.0) in the same time zone with respect to the first facility and the second facility. The point to note is that you have to give up visiting either the first facility or the second facility (you cannot visit multiple facilities at the same time) ) Point. In this way, the control device 130 finds an overlapping reservation (in this example, the scheduled visit time zones of the first facility and the second facility overlap).

  The visitor agent 100 displays on the display device 120 the result calculated by the control device 130 of the visitor agent 100 on the influence of the visit time allocation result on the visit schedule to other facilities. Thereafter, a determination as to whether or not the visit time allocation can be accepted is input from the input device 110 of the visitor agent 100.

  In the example of FIG. 6, as a result of time allocation to the third facility, the visit of either the first facility or the second facility has to be abandoned. If the time allocation to the allocated facility is accepted and it is desired to prioritize the visit to the first facility and the second facility over the third facility, the acceptance is rejected. In that case, the preference value for each facility is changed.

  When the determination result of acceptance or rejection (including time zone information to be changed) by the visitor is input from the input device 110 of the visitor agent 100, the visitor agent 100 visits the visiting facility based on the result. In order to prevent excessive unfairness among visitors in relation to the allocation of visitors, the preference value of visitors is adjusted. That is, in the example of FIG. 6, when the allocation to the third facility is accepted, the facility whose priority is lowered among the first facility and the second facility (the second facility in this example). Lower the preference value of visitors to (for example, -10%). When the allocation to the third facility is rejected, the preference value for the third facility is lowered, and the visitor's preference value for the first facility and the second facility is increased (for example, + 10%). By making such adjustments, the preference value can be kept fair among all visitors. Furthermore, after making such an adjustment, the visitor agent 100 again uses the control device 130 to adjust the preference value by normalizing the values for the preference values for all the facilities of the visitor (step S210).

  Thereafter, the visitor agent 100 (control device 130) updates the visitor's resource request profile based on the new preference value, and transmits the result to each facility agent 200 via the communication device 150 (step S220 → S230). If the visit reservation for all the facilities of the visitor is confirmed, an empty (that is, no newly assigned visit) resource request profile is transmitted.

  When the control device 220 of the facility agent 200 receives the updated resource request profile via the communication device 230, if the content of the resource request profile is not empty (that is, there is no newly assigned visit), the updated resource request profile is displayed. Based on the profile, the visit time for the visitors is allocated, and the above-described processing is repeatedly executed (steps S240 → S250 → S150). On the other hand, if the resource request profile is empty, the control device 220 determines that the reservation application has been completed, and disconnects the communication of the visitor agent that has made the reservation application (steps S240 → S250 → end).

  As described above, individual facility agents (reservation systems) 200 adjust visit time zones. As a result, even if visit time zones to a plurality of facilities overlap, the visitor agents 100 overlap. Encourage visitors to adjust priorities for the facilities they visit. As a result, it becomes impossible for visitors to apply for reservations for a plurality of facilities in the same manner as in the past. Visitors visit facilities so that visitors can visit the facilities efficiently and do not create an unfair feeling among visitors, depending on the preference value of the visitors and the degree of congestion of the facilities. The time to do is assigned.

(Other embodiments)
1) In the embodiment, the visitor agent is set for each visitor, but it may be set so that the reservation process is performed by one visitor agent for the visitors who came in the group. .
2) In the above embodiment, the visitor time is allocated to all the facilities that the visitor plans to visit. However, as in the conventional example (FIG. 1), the entrance for the reservation person By assigning a non-reservation entrance, etc., the visit time is assigned only to facilities that are expected to be congested using this system. You may make it mix the form to visit.
3) In the above-mentioned embodiment, the explanation was given for the case of the visitors to the attraction facility in the theme park amusement park. However, it was closed such as guidance to the exhibition booth at the trade fair hall, traffic inflow control within a certain section, etc. The present invention can be similarly applied to a case where a large amount of demand (such as visitors) is efficiently allocated in real time to a plurality of resources (exhibition booths, attractions, roads, etc.) in the environment.
4) In the above-described embodiment, when there are two time zone information with overlapping time zones, the duplication is resolved by urging the visitor to adjust the priority. The control device may automatically delete reservations for facilities with low preference values. In addition, the system designer may appropriately determine which reservation is to be deleted.

  Since the deduplication processing executed by the visitor agent is related to the present invention, an example will be introduced. A processing procedure executed by the control device 130 for this purpose is shown in FIG. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the processing contents of the duplication check in the visitor agent.

  In FIG. 7, when the control device 130 receives facility information and time zone information from one or more facility agents 200, the control device 130 determines whether or not the number of data sets (time zone information) is plural (two or more). (Step S1000). When the facility information and the time zone information are one set, there is no duplication, so the process jumps to step S1050 to set the received facility information and time zone information in the storage device 140 as an accepted reservation.

  On the other hand, if there are a plurality of sets of received data, there is a possibility of duplication, so the procedure proceeds from step S1000 to step S1010. The control device 130 extracts the first and second time zone information from the received time zone information (step S1010) and determines whether or not the time zones indicated by the two time zone information overlap (step S1010). S1020). When the start time or end time of the other time zone exists between the start time and the end time of one time zone, and the probabilities in the resource request profile in the overlapping time zone are both 1.0 It is determined that the two time zones overlap.

  When the overlap is determined, the facility information and the time zone information whose reception time is later are deleted from the comparison target in this form (step S1030).

  In this way, two out of all received time zone information are selected and the above process is repeated, and one set is deleted for the two sets of time zones that are compared and which are duplicated. Therefore, the facility information and the time zone information remaining at the time when all the comparisons are completed are not duplicated.

  As a result, the procedure proceeds from step S1040 to step S1050, and the facility information and time zone information remaining after the deduplication processing is performed are set in the storage device 140 as a reservation for acceptance. The set facility information and time zone information are displayed on the display device 120, and the processing procedure of FIG.

5) In the communication between the facility agent 200 and the visitor agent 100, the facility information may use the communication address of the facility agent, and the facility information in a character form is used for display on the display device 120 or input from the input device 110. Should be used. A conversion table may be used for the facility information with the communication address from the facility information in the character form. In the conversion table, the correspondence table between the facility information in the form of characters and the communication address is described.
6) In the above-described embodiment, after the facility information and the time zone information overlapping in the time zone are excluded in the visitor agent 100, nothing is notified to the facility agent 200, but the facility that has been excluded (deleted) The facility agent 200 corresponding to the information may be notified of the cancellation of the reservation to the facility agent 200. In response to this notification, the facility agent 200 deletes the information related to the corresponding visitor agent 100 from the reservation application so far.

  The reservation processing method and the distributed reservation system according to the present invention are preferably used in an environment (for example, a large-scale attraction facility) in which the resource capacity and processing capacity are limited and the demand for resources greatly fluctuates. Based on the information on the degree of resource congestion, it is possible to appropriately set the time for using the resource in response to the reservation request (demand), and it is possible to process the demand for the resource efficiently and fairly. Since a reservation system is provided for each facility and reservation processing is performed, and the portable terminal side can be a system that prevents duplication of time zones for reservation applications, the system configuration is simplified. In addition, it is possible to adjust the time zone for visiting the facility in consideration of the degree of preference of the facility for the visitor.

It is a block diagram explaining an example of the conventional distributed reservation system. 1 is a diagram showing an overall configuration of a distributed reservation system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows the process sequence of the reservation process which allocates the time to visit a facility with respect to a visitor. It is explanatory drawing explaining the creation process of a resource request profile. It is a figure explaining the outline | summary of the process which allocates the utilization time of a facility to a visitor. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the adjustment process of a reservation. It is a flowchart which shows the processing content of the duplication check in a visitor agent.

Claims (6)

Reservation in a distributed reservation system in which a plurality of portable terminals and a plurality of facility reservation systems are coupled by a wireless or wired network, and reservation processing is executed between the plurality of portable terminals and the plurality of facility reservation systems. A processing method,
Inputting reservation information of the facility name and its use time zone by the portable terminal;
Generating a resource request profile expressed as a distribution of the facility request degree of each unit time corresponding to the use time of the facility reserved from the reservation information input by the portable terminal;
Transmitting the resource request profile for each facility generated by the portable terminal to a reservation system for each corresponding facility;
Receiving a resource request profile for each of the reservation information transmitted by the reservation system;
A total of the plurality of resource request profiles received by the reservation system to generate a self-facility request profile of a distribution of facility request degrees for each unit time of the facility;
Reserving reservation information by an individual resource request profile based on the self-facility request profile generated by the reservation system as an allocation reservation;
Returning the allocation reservation by the reservation system to a portable terminal that has transmitted reservation information;
When there is an overlap in usage time in the received allocation reservation by the portable terminal, displaying an overlapping allocation reservation, accepting an input for resolving the duplication, and updating the reservation information;
In the distributed reservation system, the resource request profile for each facility is updated from the updated reservation information by the portable terminal, and the process is retransmitted to the reservation system of each corresponding facility Reservation processing method. Reservation in a distributed reservation system in which a plurality of portable terminals and a plurality of facility reservation systems are coupled by a wireless or wired network, and reservation processing is executed between the plurality of portable terminals and the plurality of facility reservation systems. A portable terminal used in a processing method,
An input means for entering the reservation information of the facility name and its usage time,
Reservation information generating means for generating a resource request profile expressed as a distribution of facility request degrees for each unit time corresponding to the use time of the facility to be reserved from the input reservation information;
A transmission means for transmitting the generated resource request profile for each facility to the reservation system of each corresponding facility;
Receiving means for receiving an allocation reservation for the reservation information from the reservation system;
Reservation information updating means for displaying an allocation reservation with duplication and receiving input for resolving duplication and updating the reservation information when there is an overlap in use time in the received allocation reservation;
A portable terminal comprising: a retransmission unit that updates a resource request profile for each facility from the updated reservation information and retransmits the resource request profile to a reservation system of each corresponding facility. Reservation in a distributed reservation system in which a plurality of portable terminals and a plurality of facility reservation systems are coupled by a wireless or wired network, and reservation processing is executed between the plurality of portable terminals and the plurality of facility reservation systems. A program for executing a reservation process in a portable terminal used in a processing method,
Entering the reservation information for the facility name and its usage time,
Generating a resource request profile expressed as a distribution of the facility request degree of each unit time corresponding to the use time of the facility to be reserved from the input reservation information;
Transmitting the generated resource request profile for each facility to the reservation system of each corresponding facility;
Receiving an allocation reservation for the reservation information from the reservation system;
When there is a usage time overlap in the received allocation reservation, displaying the allocation reservation with the overlap, receiving the input for resolving the duplication and updating the reservation information;
Updating the resource request profile for each facility from the updated reservation information and resending it to the reservation system of each corresponding facility;
A program that executes the process in a computer. Reservation in a distributed reservation system in which a plurality of portable terminals and a plurality of facility reservation systems are coupled by a wireless or wired network, and reservation processing is executed between the plurality of portable terminals and the plurality of facility reservation systems. A reservation system used in a processing method,
Receiving means for receiving resource request profiles of the respective reservation information transmitted from the portable terminal;
A facility request level generation means for generating a self-facility request profile of a distribution of facility request degrees for each unit time of the facility by totaling the plurality of received resource request profiles;
Allocation means for assigning reservation information for reservation information based on the individual resource request profile based on the generated own facility request profile;
A reservation system comprising: transmission means for returning the allocation reservation to a portable terminal that has transmitted reservation information. Reservation in a distributed reservation system in which a plurality of portable terminals and a plurality of facility reservation systems are coupled by a wireless or wired network, and reservation processing is executed between the plurality of portable terminals and the plurality of facility reservation systems. A program for executing a reservation process in a reservation system used in a processing method,
Receiving a resource request profile of each reservation information transmitted from the portable terminal;
Generating a self-facility request profile of the distribution of the degree of facility request for each unit time of the facility by totaling the plurality of received resource request profiles;
Reserving reservation information by an individual resource request profile based on the generated own facility request profile as an allocation reservation;
The program which performs the process with the step of returning the said allocation reservation to the portable terminal which transmitted reservation information with a computer. A distributed reservation system in which a plurality of portable terminals and a plurality of facility reservation systems are coupled by a wireless or wired network, and reservation processing is executed between the plurality of portable terminals and the plurality of facility reservation systems. And
An input means provided on the portable terminal for inputting reservation information of a facility name and its use time zone;
Reservation information generating means for generating a resource request profile expressed as a distribution of facility request degrees for each unit time corresponding to the use time of the facility to be reserved from the reservation information provided and input to the portable terminal;
A transmission means for transmitting a resource request profile for each facility provided and generated in the portable terminal to a reservation system for each corresponding facility;
Receiving means provided in the reservation system for receiving resource request profiles of the respective reservation information transmitted from the transmitting means;
A facility request level generating means for generating a self-facility request profile of the distribution of the facility request degree of each unit time of the facility by totaling a plurality of resource request profiles provided and received in the reservation system;
Allocation means provided in the reservation system as an allocation allocation reservation for reservation information reservation by an individual resource request profile based on the generated own facility request profile;
A transmission means provided in the reservation system for returning the allocation reservation to a portable terminal that has transmitted the reservation information;
A receiving means provided in the portable terminal for receiving an allocation reservation for reservation information from a reservation system;
Reservation information update that is provided in the portable terminal and displays the reserved reservation with duplication and receives the input for resolving duplication and updates the reservation information when there is an overlap in usage time in the received allocation reservation Means,
A distributed reservation system comprising: a re-transmission unit configured to update a resource request profile for each facility from the updated reservation information provided in the portable terminal and retransmit the resource request profile to the corresponding facility reservation system .

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