JP4123822B2 - Rental vehicle management server - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a rental vehicle management apparatus. The vehicle here is a collective term for vehicles that run on their own, and includes special vehicles such as passenger cars, commercial vehicles, trucks, buses, and crane vehicles.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Rental vehicle management companies usually have multiple sales offices. When renting a rental vehicle, a return office is promised with the return time, and it is promised that an excess fee will be added if the return time is delayed. In addition, it is promised that a drop-off fee will be added if returned to a sales office other than the return office.
If the schedule does not proceed as planned and it is returned to the promised sales office, the excess fee may increase significantly with a delay. On the other hand, if it is returned to another sales office, the excess fee will be added even if a drop-off fee is added. There is a possibility that the total additional fee may be reduced because it is not done or is small.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-89577 shows an in-vehicle device that calculates and displays an estimated total additional charge for a plurality of sales offices existing around the current location of a rental vehicle in the above case. Yes. Using this in-vehicle device, the user can select a change that requires a small additional fee.
[0003]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
In the technique described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-89577, the vehicle cannot be rationally operated in order to apply the uniformly determined excess charge and drop-off charge. For example, if you return to sales office A, it will be calculated that it is cheaper to return to sales office B if you apply a uniform excess charge and drop-off charge even though you can rent again from sales office A. Sometimes. In this case, it is necessary for the rental vehicle management company to transfer the cost from the sales office B to the sales office A, and the cost is ultimately borne by the user. The technique described in JP-A-9-89577 does not induce a return that is easy to reuse from the viewpoint of reuse after return.
In the present invention, a technology has been created that allows a rental vehicle having many types of vehicles to be easily managed and reused.
[0004]
[Means and Actions for Solving the Problems]
The present invention relates to a rental vehicle management server. The server of the present invention includes a vehicle type designation reservation data storage means including “vehicle type”, “rental sales office”, “rental time” , “return sales office”, and “return time” , “rental sales office” and “rental”. time "and" return sales office "includes a" return time ", and the storage means of the vehicle type non-specific reservation data, including the" genre "instead of" model ", of" lending offices "in the" lending time " Inventory quantity acquisition means to acquire the inventory quantity by "vehicle type" and the "vehicle type" inventory of the vehicle type designation reservation data at the "rental office" of the car type designation reservation data at the "lending time" indicated by the car type designation reservation data If there is no, "return time" is before "lending time" of the models specified reservation data, "returning office" is Ri "lending office" der of the vehicle type specified reservation data, the in "genre" No vehicle type to which the “vehicle type” in the vehicle type designation reservation data belongs If the reserved reservation data is extracted, and there is an inventory of the "vehicle type" of the specified vehicle type reservation data in the "rental office" of the specified reservation type data of the vehicle at the "rental time" of the extracted reservation data of the specified vehicle type, Vehicle type correspondence means for associating the “vehicle type” of the vehicle type designation reservation data with the vehicle type non-designation reservation data is provided.
The vehicle type correspondence means means that if there is no inventory of the “vehicle type” of the vehicle type designation reservation data at the “rental office” of the vehicle type designation reservation data at the “rental time” of the extracted vehicle type designation reservation data, “Return time” is before “rental time” of the unspecified reservation data of the relevant vehicle, “Return office” is “rental office” of the unspecified reservation data of the relevant vehicle, and the “model” is designated as the reservation of the relevant vehicle type. The data of the “car type” in the data is extracted retroactively from the other unspecified reservation data of the other car type, and the “rental operation” of the other unspecified reservation data of the other car type is extracted at the “rental time” of the extracted unspecified reservation data of the other car type. If there is an inventory of “vehicle type” of the vehicle type designation reservation data at “location”, the “vehicle type” of the vehicle type designation reservation data is associated with each of the vehicle type designation reservation data and the other vehicle type designation reservation data.
The vehicle type association means repeats the process of retroactively extracting the vehicle type non-designated reservation data until the vehicle type non-designated reservation data associated with the “vehicle type” of the vehicle type designated reservation data is extracted.
[0005]
The above management server allows a reservation that does not designate a vehicle type ( reservation not designated by vehicle type) . If reservations that do not specify the vehicle type are allowed, the possibility of vehicle operation that is easy to reuse is greatly expanded. If a reservation that does not specify a vehicle type is not permitted, for example, even if there is a reservation that is returned to sales office C at 11:00 and the next lending is 12:00, the returned vehicle type and the type of vehicle to be rented are Often they cannot be reused because they do not match.
Since the management server of the present invention allows a reservation without specifying a vehicle type, a vehicle type unspecified reservation to be returned at 11:00 to the sales office C where the next rental is 12:00 is included. If there is, it becomes possible to associate the vehicle type lent out at 12:00 with the unspecified reservation of the vehicle type, and the vehicle operation that is easy to reuse becomes possible. The labor and cost of forwarding the vehicle returned to the return business office to the next rental business office can be saved, so that the operation cost of the vehicle can be reduced, and as a result, the user's usage fee can be reduced.
[0006]
In the management server of the rental vehicle, the car species association means, extracted models of unspecified reservation data in the "lending time" of the vehicle type unspecified reservation data to the "lending office" of the models specified reservation data If there is no “vehicle type” inventory, the “return time” is before the “lending time” of the unspecified reservation data for the relevant vehicle, and the “return office” is the “loaning office” for the unspecified reservation data for that vehicle. Oh is, to extract the other models not specified reservation data "model" belongs of the vehicle type specified reservation data to the "genre", the other models in the "lending time" of the extracted the other models unspecified reservation data has been If there is an inventory of the “car type” of the relevant model designation data in the “loaning office” of the undesignated reservation data, the relevant model designation reservation data for each of the relevant designation designation data for the relevant car type and the other designation designation data for the other car type of Associate a model ". The vehicle type association means repeats the process of retroactively extracting the vehicle type designation reservation data as described above until the vehicle type designation reservation data associated with the “vehicle type” of the vehicle type designation reservation data is extracted. Even if it is not possible to associate the vehicle type with the extracted unspecified reservation data, it is possible to associate the vehicle types that do not require extra costs by retroactively extracting other unspecified reservation data. .
[0007]
The management server of the rental vehicle, the in models correlating means, the vehicle type when the vehicle type not specified reservation data associated with "model" of the designated reservation data is not extracted, indicated by the vehicle type specifying reservation data "model the "" "discounted rental fee information that is applied with you returned to until the lending time" of the models specified reservation data to the lending office "" of the models specified reservation data ", sales office terminal, user terminal or It is preferable to further include means for displaying on the in-vehicle terminal.
In this case, use without waste in the chain of return and rental is induced, and the operation cost of the vehicle is further reduced.
[0009]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
First, the main forms of the technology shown in the examples are listed.
(Mode 1) A rental vehicle management server stores reservation data specifying a genre of a vehicle instead of a vehicle type. The genre is determined by the vehicle usage such as the number of passengers and the loading capacity, and a plurality of vehicle types belong to the same genre. The rental vehicle management server associates vehicle types within genre restrictions.
(Mode 2) The in-vehicle terminal displays the discounted rental fee information until the time when the rental vehicle management company has to start the work of dispatching the vehicle to the rental office indicated by the vehicle type designation reservation data by the rental time. .
(Form 3)
When the vehicle type unspecified reservation data that satisfies the condition is not extracted, the chain of “return → rental” is extracted retrospectively. For example, consider the following case.
(1) There is a vehicle type designation reservation in which the vehicle type B is rented from the sales office C1 at 12:00.
(2) There is an unspecified reservation for the vehicle type that will be returned at 11:00 at sales office C1.
(3) The unspecified reservation for the vehicle type is C2 at the rental office and D2 at the rental time.
(4) The vehicle type B does not exist in the stock vehicle type at the rental time D2 of the rental office C2.
(5) Instead, there is an unspecified reservation for a vehicle type that is returned to the rental office C2 before the rental time D2.
(6) The vehicle type B can be associated with the non-model-specific reservation.
In this case, retroactive reservation for the vehicle type is made retroactive, and the designated vehicle type is associated when possible, so that there is no waste in the chain of subsequent return and lending.
In order to enable the above-mentioned retroactive association, the vehicle type non-designated reservation data satisfying the conditions is not extracted in the server of claim 1, and instead, other vehicle type non-designated with the rental business office as the return business office is designated. When reservation data exists, it is preferable to add means for associating the specified vehicle type with the other non-model specified reservation data.
If the above means is added, it is possible to retrofit the non-designated reservation data of the vehicle type in multiple stages, and to associate the vehicle type with no waste in the subsequent return and lending chain.
[0010]
【Example】
FIG. 1 shows an overall system in which the management server 12 of this embodiment and the in-vehicle terminals 16, 18, and 20 are used. The management server 12 includes a terminal 4 installed at the sales office C1 of the vehicle rental service provider, a terminal 6 installed at the sales office C2, a terminal 8 used by the user G1, and a terminal 10 used by the user G2. The wireless base 14 for wireless communication with the vehicle-mounted devices 16, 18, and 20 is connected to the network 2. The salesperson terminal, the user terminal, the radio base, and the in-vehicle terminal are only partly illustrated, and there are actually many. The in-vehicle terminal is specified by the ID number in the same vehicle type as the information on the installed vehicle type.
[0011]
The management server 12 is provided with means 22 for storing reservation data specifying a vehicle type and means 24 for storing reservation data not specifying a vehicle type. The vehicle type designation reservation data storage means 22 stores vehicle type, rental business office, rental time, return sales office, and return time data. The vehicle type unspecified reservation data storage means 24 stores data on rental offices, rental times, return offices, and return times. The car model is not remembered. The genre is stored instead of the car model. The genre is determined by the use of the vehicle, such as the number of passengers and the loading capacity, and a plurality of vehicle types belong to the same genre.
FIG. 2 shows an example of reservation data. For example, the third column exemplifies that the vehicle type B3 is rented from the sales office C3 at time D3 and is reserved to the sales office C4 at time E3. ing. The second column exemplifies that a genre A2 vehicle is rented from the sales office C2 at time D2 and is reserved for return to the sales office C3 at time E2. In this case, any vehicle type belonging to the genre A2 can be associated.
[0012]
The management server 12 is provided with means 26 for associating a vehicle type with an unspecified reservation for vehicle type, and for the processing, means 28 is provided for calculating the number of vehicle types in stock at each sales office over time. . Furthermore, a means 30 for calculating a discount fee is provided in order to guide the use that enables reuse without incurring extra costs for vehicle operation.
[0013]
The vehicle type association means 26 pays attention to the “rental office and rental time” of the vehicle type designation reservation data, and extracts the vehicle type non-designation reservation data that can be reused without incurring extra costs for vehicle operation. .
Specifically, as shown in step S2 of FIG. 4, “a vehicle type unspecified reservation that is returned to the rental office of the vehicle type designated reservation before the rental time, and has a vehicle type designated vehicle type within the genre. Unspecified reservation is extracted.
FIG. 3 shows an extraction result for the reservation illustrated in FIG. For the vehicle type designated reservation that the vehicle type B3 is rented from the business office C3 at the time D3, it is illustrated that the vehicle type unspecified reservation to be returned to the business office C3 at the time E2 is extracted. Here, the return time E2 is earlier than the lending time D3, and the vehicle type B3 belongs to the genre A2.
In this case, if the model B3 is associated with the unspecified reservation to be returned to the sales office C3 at the time E2, the model B3 lent out at the time D3 from the sales office C3 should be allocated, so that no extra cost is required. It is.
[0014]
However, in order to associate the vehicle type B3 with the unspecified reservation of the vehicle type returned to the business office C3 at time E2, the vehicle type B3 must be in stock at the business office C2 at the rental time D2 of the business office C2 where the vehicle is rented. I must. In step S4 of FIG. 4, it is determined whether or not the specified vehicle type (in this case B3) is in stock in the extracted stock at the rental time of the rental business office of unspecified reservation. If the vehicle is in stock, the vehicle type B3 is allocated by associating the specified vehicle type (in this case, B3) with the extracted unspecified reservation of the vehicle type (in this case, the reservation rented from the sales office C2 at time D2). This completes the association of vehicle types that does not require extra costs (step S6). 26a of FIG. 1 illustrates that there is a vehicle type non-designated reservation in time for the vehicle type designated reservation, and the vehicle type designated by the vehicle type designated reservation was available at the time of lending the vehicle type non-designated reservation.
In this embodiment, the server 12 is provided with means 28 for calculating the number of vehicle-type inventory at each business office over time so that the server 12 calculates the stock at the rental time of the business office. Here, every time the vehicle type corresponds to the reservation without specifying the vehicle type, the time-dependent change in the number of stocks by vehicle type at each sales office is recalculated. In the previous example, after a decision is made to associate the vehicle type B3 with the unspecified reservation for the vehicle type that is rented from the sales office C2 at the time D2, a change in the number of stocks after the vehicle is allocated is calculated.
[0015]
In step S4, if the specified vehicle type (in this case B3) is not in stock in the inventory at the rental time of the extracted rental office of the unspecified reservation (in this case, time D2 of the sales office C2), Furthermore, the reservation without specifying the vehicle type is retroactively extracted (step S8).
FIG. 3 shows that the model B3 is not in stock at the time D2 of the sales office C2, and as a result of further retroactive extraction, the time E1 is given to the sales office C2 prior to the reservation rented from the sales office C2 at the time D2. The case where the unspecified reservation of the vehicle type returned to is extracted is illustrated. In this case, step S4 is executed again, and it is designated as the inventory at the lending time of the lending office (in this case, the time D1 of the sales office C1) where the unspecified reservation of the vehicle type returned to the sales office C2 at the time E1 is lent. It is determined whether or not the vehicle type being used (in this case B3) is in stock. If the vehicle is in stock, the vehicle type (B3 in this case) specified in the extracted unspecified reservation for the vehicle type (in this case, the reservation rented from the sales office C1 at time D1) is associated. As a result, the vehicle type B3 is moved from the sales office C1 to C2, and the association of the vehicle types moving from the sales office C2 to C3 is completed, and extra cost is required to allocate the vehicle type B3 to the sales office C3. Correspondence of unnecessary car models is completed. In the retroactive order of FIG. 2, the order of proceeding with the examination is described.
If the designated vehicle type is not in stock at the rental time of the rental office of the unspecified reservation for the vehicle type extracted retroactively, the process of extracting the non-specific reservation for the vehicle type further is repeated (step S8). If this association is repeated, if there is a vehicle type association that does not require extra vehicle allocation costs if it is successfully associated, it is searched. If a search is made, the vehicle type designated in the vehicle type designation reservation is associated with the searched vehicle type non-designation reservation (step S6).
[0016]
When a vehicle type unspecified reservation that satisfies the conditions is not extracted (when it cannot be extracted at step S2 or S8), or when it is extracted but a necessary vehicle type cannot be associated due to the inventory relationship (when it does not exist at step S4) There is no vehicle type mapping that does not cost extra.
In this case, proceed to step S10 to display a discount fee applied when returning to the rental office of the designated vehicle reservation before the rental time, so that there is no extra cost for dispatching. Induce. In order to calculate this discount fee, the server 12 is provided with a discount fee calculation means 30. The calculation means 30 calculates a discount fee in consideration of the cost required for the vehicle rental service provider to deliver the vehicle. The calculated discount fee is displayed on the sales office terminals 4 and 6 and the user terminals 8 and 10. The user can use it cheaply by referring to the discount information and changing the departure time or changing the destination. Vehicle rental service providers do not need to pay extra for dispatch.
[0017]
If a reservation that does not require extra costs for dispatch is not made (NO in step S12), the process proceeds to step S14, where it is mounted on the vehicle type designated in the vehicle type designation reservation (in this case, B3). The discount rate applied when returning to the rental office specified in the vehicle type designation reservation before the rental time is displayed on the in-vehicle terminal, and the use that does not require extra cost for dispatching is induced .
In order to display the discount information on the in-vehicle terminal, even when the vehicle type designation reservation is reserved after the vehicle is rented, it is possible to induce the use that does not require extra cost for the vehicle allocation.
The discount rate applied when returning to the rental office designated by the vehicle type designation reservation before the lending time is displayed on the in-vehicle terminal installed in the vehicle type designated by the vehicle type designation reservation (in this case B3) The user can select whether or not to change the schedule accordingly, for example, whether the schedule is returned early or whether the discount is applied by changing the return office You will be able to choose.
[0018]
The server 12 calculates a final time when the vehicle rental service provider does not start arrangements for vehicle allocation, and the vehicle type specified in the vehicle type designation reservation cannot be allocated to the rental office by the rental time, and discounts to that final time Charges are displayed (steps S18 and S20). If there is no offer to change the schedule even when the final time is reached, the presentation of the discounted charge is terminated, and dispatch is arranged (step S22).
[0019]
【The invention's effect】
According to the server of claim 1, if there is an association of vehicle types that can be allocated without extra vehicle allocation costs if the association is successful, it is searched. Since reservations that do not specify the vehicle type are allowed, there are many opportunities for dispatching without extra costs.
As in the server of claim 2, when priority is given to extracting the unspecified reservation data of the vehicle type that matches the rental business office and the return business office, more opportunities for dispatching without extra costs are extracted. .
If the "discounted rental fee information" is displayed on the server of claim 3, it is possible to induce the use that does not require extra cost for dispatching.
If “discounted rental fee information” is displayed on a vehicle-mounted terminal as in the vehicle-mounted terminal according to claim 4, an extra cost is added to the vehicle allocation for the vehicle type designation reservation reserved after the vehicle is rented. You can induce unnecessary use.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an overall system in which a rental vehicle management server and an in-vehicle terminal are used in an embodiment;
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating reservation data.
FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining a state in which unspecified reservation data for a vehicle type is extracted.
FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a processing procedure for associating a vehicle type with an unspecified reservation for a vehicle type and inducing usage that does not require extra costs for dispatching vehicles.
[Explanation of symbols]
4, 6: Sales office terminal 8, 10: User terminal 12: Management server 14: Wireless base 16, 18, 20: In-vehicle terminal 22: Vehicle type designation reservation data storage means 24: Vehicle type non-designation reservation data storage means 26: Vehicle type Corresponding means 28: Means for calculating the number of stocks by vehicle type at each sales office 30: Discount charge calculating means

Claims (2)

It is a server for rental vehicle management,
Vehicle type designation reservation data storage means including “vehicle type”, “rental office”, “rental time” , “return office”, and “return time” ;
"Lending business office", "Lending time", "Return business office" and "Return time" are included, and storage means for unspecified reservation data of vehicle type including "Genre" instead of " Car model",
Inventory quantity acquisition means for acquiring the inventory quantity by "vehicle type" of "rental office" at "lending time";
If there is no inventory of the "vehicle type" of the vehicle type designation reservation data at the "rental office" of the vehicle type designation reservation data at the "lending time" indicated by the vehicle type designation reservation data,
"Return time" is before "lending time" of the models specified reservation data, "returning office" is Ri "lending office" der of the vehicle type specified reservation data, "genre" in of the vehicle type specified reservation data Extract unspecified reservation data of the model to which the “model” belongs ,
If there is an inventory of the “model” of the specified car model reservation data at the “rental office” of the specified car model reservation data at the “rental time” of the extracted unspecified car model reservation data, Vehicle type correspondence means for associating the “vehicle type” of the vehicle type designation reservation data ,
If there is no inventory of the “model” of the specified car reservation data in the “rental office” of the specified car model reservation data at the “rental time” of the extracted unspecified car model reservation data,
“Return time” is before “rental time” of the unspecified reservation data of the relevant vehicle, “Return office” is “rental office” of the unspecified reservation data of the relevant vehicle, and the “model” is designated as the reservation of the relevant vehicle type. Retroactively extract unspecified reservation data for other vehicle types to which the “vehicle type” of the data belongs,
If there is an inventory of “vehicle type” of the specified model reservation data at the “rental office” of the specified reservation data of the other vehicle type at the “lending time” of the extracted reservation data of the other model type of the extracted car, Each of the unspecified reservation data and the other unspecified reservation data of the vehicle type is associated with the “vehicle type” of the specified model reservation data,
The rental characterized in that the vehicle type association means repeats the process of retroactively extracting the vehicle type non-designated reservation data until the vehicle type non-designated reservation data associated with the “vehicle type” of the vehicle type designated reservation data is extracted. Vehicle management server. In the vehicle type association means, when the vehicle type unspecified reservation data associated with the “vehicle type” of the vehicle type designation reservation data is not extracted, the “vehicle type” indicated by the vehicle type designation reservation data is “rented” of the vehicle type designation reservation data. It further comprises means for displaying on the sales office terminal, user terminal or in-vehicle terminal the “discounted rental fee information” applied when returning to the “sales office” by the “rental time” of the vehicle type designation reservation data. The rental vehicle management server according to claim 1.

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