WO2017190174A1

WO2017190174A1 - Computer-implemented system for management of hireable entertainment rides

Info

Publication number: WO2017190174A1
Application number: PCT/AU2016/050327
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jon EAVES
Original assignee: Eaves Jon
Priority date: 2016-05-06
Filing date: 2016-05-06
Publication date: 2017-11-09

Abstract

The present invention relates generally to a computer-implemented system for facilitating the management of hireable entertainment rides, wherein the system comprises a list of hireable rides available to be booked from a remote location, timers associated with each currently-active booking or hire and which displays the elapsed time, a calculator for calculating transaction value, and an interface and associated screen for input and display of a record of the customer's transaction.

Description

COMPUTER-IMPLEMENTED SYSTEM FOR MANAGEMENT OF HIREABLE

ENTERTAINMENT RIDES

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates generally to a computer-implemented system for the management of stock. More particularly, the present invention relates to a computer-implemented system for the management of the hiring of entertainment rides.

BACKGROUND ART

Caretakers of young children will often struggle when it becomes necessary for their children to accompany them to large complexes such as shopping centres. Small children can become easily separated from their parents or caretakers and otherwise have difficulty keeping up with them, leading to stress and anxiety.

In other cases, younger children will often become upset during such excursions; this may result in them engaging in activities that are generally considered disruptive to other people within the complex.

The owners and managers of such complexes often seek to introduce programs, shows and other activities so as to provide entertainment and distraction for young children so as to ease the burden placed upon their caretakers. However, these events typically take place at set times, which serves to restrict the times wherein caretakers for young children can visit complexes such as shopping to the times when these events are occurring.

Other facilities have a system for hiring out ride-on vehicles such as pedal- cars and similar. This serves to alleviate the time-based restrictions placed upon children's caretakers by the aforementioned shows and events and further serve to make young children more visible to their caretakers, alleviating stress induced by crowded shopping centres and similar complexes. The aforementioned hireable rides are prone to lacking security measures to prevent damage to or theft of the rides; the persons or companies responsible for their management also often lack measures to accurately record customer details for security and insurance purposes. This results in significant expenditure for the facility hosting the hireable rides in order to replace the damaged or stolen stock.

The present invention seeks to overcome these restrictions and disadvantages, at least in part, by providing a centralised system permitting caretakers to hire a ride for the persons that they are supervising. This provides the advantage of flexibility in a caretaker's schedule. The present invention also provides a centralised and semi-automated process for recording of customer details for loss-prevention and insurance purposes.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

These and other advantages are met with the present invention, which in one broad form concerns a computer-implemented system for facilitating the management of hireable entertainment rides; the system comprises a list of hireable rides available to be booked from a remote location, timers associated with each currently-active booking or hire and which displays the elapsed time, a calculator for calculating transaction value, and an interface and associated screen for input and display of a record of the customer's transaction.

Preferably, the current invention either incorporates or is in communication with a database containing customer profiles, each profile containing customer identification data and data relating to past and/or present hired or booked rides, payment records and any other necessary information, such as digitally-signed waivers or similar.

Preferably, the database associated with an embodiment of the current invention is in communication with the databases associated with other embodiments of the current invention, which may be located within the same facility as the first embodiment or may be located at other facilities. It is a further preference that the databases being in communication permits the sharing of information contained within each database.

Preferably, the timer within the current invention is capable of displaying a visual alarm when the period of time remaining on the associated booking is within a certain range of the booked length of time.

Preferably, the calculator within the current invention will adjust the ultimate payment to be made for a particular booking or hire in response to any timers associated with the particular booking stopping as a result of the hired ride being returned to the hiring point. It is a further preference that the calculator will be able to take into account time remaining or excess time recorded upon the associated timer to alter the payment owed.

Preferably, the calculator within the current invention can associate with the database of the current invention and can locate bookings and hires within a given period of time and within a given operating location and can calculate the total value of all transactions recorded across that period of time.

In this specification, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the term "comprising" has the non-exclusive meaning of the word, in the sense of "including at least" rather than the exclusive meaning in the sense of "consisting only of". The same applies with corresponding grammatical changes to other forms of the word such as "comprise", "comprises" and so on.

In this specification, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, the terms 'booking' and 'hire' are treated as interchangeable and refer to purchase of a period of time within which the person may use the associated hireable ride.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

The invention is now discussed with reference to drawings, where: Figure 1 is a flow chart of the process by which rides are hired; Figure 2 is a flow chart depicting the process by which hired rides are returned;

Figure 3 displays a flow chart depicting how the system processes requests to swap rides;

Figure 4 is a flow chart depicting the operating process to reopen a booking or hire with a given amount of time remaining within the booking;

Figure 5 is a flow chart depicting the procedure through which the calculator performs a float count; and

Figure 6 is a flow chart depicting how the calculator performs the end-of- day calculation .

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Figure 1 depicts how the system processes a request for a ride to be hired. The Timer Screen 100 displays all of the animals operating from the particular point of hire; the timers displayed on the Timer Screen 100 display the length of time for which a hireable ride has been hired out for the current hire period or 00 : 00 otherwise. By selecting a hireable ride 101 that is currently displaying 00 :00 the system initiates the booking procedure and prompts the operator for customer information. The system then conducts a float check 103. In the case of a negative result on the check, the system directs the operator to the Daily Summary Screen 500. A positive result on the float check 103 is followed by an End of Day procedure check 104. A positive result terminates the hiring procedure. A negative result on the End of Day procedure check 104 permits the system to continue the hiring process. The system communicates with the database of the current invention and searches the list of stored customers and associated mobile phone numbers 105. A negative result in the mobile number search 105 causes the system to create a new customer identity within the database and requests the operator to input the necessary customer details 106 and then begins the booking procedure 107. A positive result in the mobile number search 105 bypasses the customer identity and details procedure 106 and proceeds directly to the booking procedure 107. The booking procedure 107 contains internal checks for length of time of hire, payment method and a check for the number of rides being processed within one booking. The booking procedure 107 is capped by a final confirmation of hire 108; a denial at the final confirmation 108 will revert the system back to the initial timer screen 100. A confirmation will lead to the system communicating with the database with reference to the list of currently active bookings and will compare the current customer with the list of active bookings 109. If the active booking check 109 returns a negative result the system creates a new booking record 110 for the customer. If the active booking check 109 is positive then the system opens the relevant active booking for editing. Both results lead to the current hire being added to the active booking and the relevant cost being calculated by the calculator 111 and the customer charged. The hireable ride is now hired and the relevant timer is activated.

Figure 2 depicts how the system processes the return of a hireable ride. From the timer screen 100, the operator selects the actively-hired ride that is being returned and presses the finish button so as to access the option menu. From the option menu the 'Finish' option 201 is selected. The system then performs an active booking check 202 to determine whether there are other currently-hired rides within the same booking. If the active booking check 202 returns a positive result, the return time is recorded against the booking 110. A negative result on the active booking check 202 presents the 'close booking screen' 203 and initiates the booking closure loop 204. The calculator 111 accesses the details of the booking record 110 and calculates the total cost for all rides hired during the current booking. This result is fed into the booking closure loop 204 which permits adjustment of the final value of the transaction 204a depending on whether the ride was returned early, on time or late. The system then requests final confirmation of return 204b, closes the active booking 110 and reverts to the timer screen 100. Figure 3 is a flowchart denoting the method by which one ride can be exchanged for another mid-booking. From the timer screen 100, the operator selects the active ride to be exchanged and selects "Finish" to open the Options menu. From this menu the 'swap' option 301 is selected, which presents the list of available rides 101 which initiates the 'swap' loop 302. The swap loop 302 can be cancelled in case of accidental activation; otherwise, the currently-active ride is deactivated. The relevant timer is then associated with the selected ride; the timer associated with the ride that has been returned for swap is deactivated and reset to zero.

Figure 4 is a flowchart depicting the method by which the system reopens a booking. The Bookings Screen 400 displays a list of bookings. Upon selecting a booking, a "Return Time" check 401 is performed. If less than five minutes of time remains within the booking, the Return Time check 401 disables the ability to reopen a booking. Otherwise, selection of a booking with sufficient time then requires a confirmation check 402 to reopen the booking. An Active Booking Check 403 is performed so as to activate the booking if it is currently inactive. The now-active booking (or already-active booking in the case of a positive result on the Active Booking Check 403) has the returned time value transferred to the associated timer for the hireable ride, which is then reactivated.

Figure 5 depicts the Float Count check. The Daily Summary screen 500 requires input of the float value as determined by the operator. The Float Count Check 501 determines whether this value matches the expected float value and provides alerts as necessary.

Figure 6 depicts the process by which the system carries out the End of Day procedure. From the Daily Summary screen 500, the operator can select the "Finalise End of Day Count" option 601. This initiates the Active Booking Check 602; a positive result resets the End of Day procedure and informs the operator that there are outstanding rides that need to be returned. A negative result records the inputted End of Day value. The system is then considered to be closed for the day. It will be apparent that obvious variations or modifications may be made to the present invention which are in accordance with the spirit of the invention and intended to be part of the invention. Although the invention is described above with reference to specific embodiments, it will be appreciated that it is not limited to those embodiments and may be embodied in other forms.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A computer-implemented system for facilitating the management of hireable entertainment rides, the system comprising :

a list of hireable rides available to be hired for a period of time from a remote location;

a timer associated with each currently-active hire, each timer displaying the amount of time elapsed;

each timer initialised on confirmation of a customer collecting the associated hired ride, and wherein the timer is stopped when the hired ride is returned;

a calculator for calculating transaction value, wherein on receiving a hire order from a customer for one or more rides and times, the calculator calculates the correct value to be paid by the customer; and

an interface and associated screen for input and display of a record of the customer's transaction.

2. The system according to claim 1, including a database of customer profiles; each profile associating a customer's identity with stored information including past and/or presently hired rides, payment records and any other customer data.

3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the display screen can display visual alarms indicating when a timer for a currently-hired ride is approaching the length of time for which the ride has been hired, the amount of remaining time that triggers the visual alarm being configurable.

4. The system according to claim 1, wherein responsive to a timer being stopped the calculator may automatically adjust the final payment owed for the particular hired ride. The system according to any preceding claim, wherein the system is implemented as an app through a tablet or smart device.

The system according to any preceding claim wherein the calculator can further associate with the database to locate hires made across a given period and within a given location and calculate the value of transactions recorded across that period of time.