JP7091978B2 - Equipment reservation system, equipment reservation method, reservation management device - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an equipment reservation system, an equipment reservation method, and a reservation management device.

Equipment reservation systems such as conference rooms are known. A person who reserves equipment such as a conference room can make a reservation for a conference room by communicating the terminal device with a reservation management server and using a browser operated by the terminal device. When reserving the equipment, the resources used in the equipment may also be reserved, and in this case, the reservation person can also reserve the resources desired to be used in the equipment from the terminal device.

A technique for reducing the burden on the reservation person regarding reservation of equipment and resources is known (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Patent Document 1 discloses an information processing apparatus that allocates an object to be allocated to a resource based on an allocation condition.

However, the conventional technique has a problem that resources that are difficult to use in combination with equipment may be selected. For example, a relatively small conference room and a projector (resource) are reserved, but when a participant participates in the conference, the conference room may be too small to use the projector. Alternatively, there may be a situation where the resource cannot be used because the network environment required by the resource is not prepared in the conference room. In addition, the conference room may have functions that are not desirable in terms of resource usage.

In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide an equipment reservation system capable of reducing the selection of resources that are difficult to use in combination with equipment.

In view of the above problems, the present invention is an equipment reservation system including a reservation management device that accepts reservations for equipment and a terminal device that sets reservations for the equipment in the reservation management device, and uses resources in the equipment. A constraint condition storage unit that stores constraint conditions that constrain The display control means for displaying a screen on the display device, the operation receiving means for accepting the selection of the equipment, and the operation receiving means not satisfying the constraint condition of the selected equipment when the operation receiving means accepts the selection of the equipment. It is characterized by having a resource determination means for excluding the resource having a required condition from the reservation candidates on the reservation setting screen.

It is possible to provide an equipment reservation system that can reduce the selection of resources that are difficult to use in combination with equipment.

It is an example of the figure explaining the outline of the overall operation of the equipment reservation system. It is a figure which shows the display example of the resource which a terminal device displays at the time of reservation of a conference room. This is an example of the system configuration diagram of the equipment reservation system. It is a hardware configuration diagram of an example of a conference management server. It is a hardware configuration diagram of an example of a conference room terminal. This is an example of a functional block diagram showing the functions of a reservation management server, a chat server, a conference management server, and a terminal device in a block shape. This is an example of a functional block diagram showing the functions of the terminal device and the conference room terminal in a block shape. It is a figure which shows an example of a reservation setting screen. This is an example of a sequence diagram showing a procedure for the terminal device to display the reservation setting screen. It is an example of the figure explaining the method of determining the availability of another resource using the constraint condition of the already selected resource. It is an example of the figure explaining the outline of the operation of the equipment reservation system (Example 2). This is an example of a functional block diagram showing the functions of the reservation management server and the conference management server in a block shape (Example 2). This is an example of a sequence diagram showing a procedure for the conference management server to determine resources that cannot be used in a conference room. It is a figure which shows the display example of the message which the chat application of a terminal device displays on the terminal device of a reservation person.

Hereinafter, as an example of the embodiment for carrying out the present invention, the equipment reservation system and the equipment reservation method performed by the equipment reservation system will be described with reference to the drawings.

<Outline of equipment reservation system>
First, the outline of the equipment reservation system will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 1 is an example of a diagram illustrating an outline of the overall operation of the equipment reservation system 100.

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

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

C. The equipment reservation system or the administrator on the organization side can register users and make various settings on the conference management server 30. User registration means registering a user who is the target of various notifications using the chat server 10 (slack, Line, Microsoft Teams (all registered trademarks), etc.). Further, since the notification is performed via the bot that sends a message as the conference management server 30, the bot provided by the chat server is also registered. Various settings include registration of the conference room terminal 90, setting of remind timing, and the like.

D. The conference management server 30 reminds the reservation person to hold the conference when a certain time before the start time of the conference in the reservation information. As a result, the empty reservation of the conference room is suppressed. Further, the conference management server 30 notifies the user of the invitation code as needed. The person who booked the conference stores the information (meeting identification information) for checking in to the conference room by receiving the reminder in the terminal device 60.

E. A conference room terminal 90 is arranged in each conference room 6, and the conference room terminal 90 downloads reservation information for a conference held in this conference room on a regular basis. The conference room terminal 90 can display the schedule of the current day or the latest conference and have the participants confirm the schedule. Shortly before the start time of the meeting, the person who reserved the meeting room goes to the meeting room 6 to check in. For example, the conference identification information is input to the conference room terminal 90, or the terminal device 60 is held over the conference identification information (the conference identification information is read, communicated, etc.).

F. Since the conference room terminal 90 sends a check-in request to the conference management server 30, if the conference identification information can be authenticated, a response to the effect that the check-in has been completed is received from the conference management server 30. The conference room terminal 90 displays that the conference is in progress (in use). If the check-in cannot be confirmed by the fixed time with respect to the start time of the conference, the conference management server 30 cancels the reservation of the conference room 6 and sends the canceled status to the conference room terminal 90 as the status included in the reservation information. .. In this case, since the conference room terminal 90 displays that the room is vacant, any user can use the conference room 6.

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

H. When the electronic device 70 has, for example, a video conference function, it can communicate with an electronic device (video conference terminal 70x or the like) of another base 4 to hold a conference with another base. The PC 70y on which the application operates can also communicate with the electronic device 70. The reservation information includes destination information (destination communication ID) indicating another base in advance, and the electronic device 70 can automatically communicate with the video conference terminal 70x and the PC 70y.

I. When the reservation person ends the conference, he / she presses the button of the conference room terminal 90 to check out, so that the conference room terminal 90 displays the next reservation status. As a result, any user can grasp the reservation status of the conference room.

<Display of resources that are difficult to use in the conference room>
A schematic feature of the resource reservation method will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a display example of resources displayed by the terminal device when reserving a conference room. The terminal device communicates with the reservation management server and displays the reservation setting screen 501 as shown in the figure. The reservation setting screen 501 has a place selection field 502 and a resource field 503. The reservation person can select a conference room to be pulled down in the place selection field 502, and can select a resource in the resource field 503.

When the reservation person selects a conference room, the resources that can be used in this conference room are determined by the size of the conference room and other factors. The terminal device 60 excludes resources that cannot be used in the conference room selected by the reservation person from the reservation candidates and displays them. In FIG. 2, the strikethrough 510 is superimposed and displayed on the resource (projector) that cannot be used.

As described above, the equipment reservation system of the present embodiment can suppress the selection of resources that are difficult to use in combination with the conference room by determining whether or not the combination of the conference room and the resource is appropriate. ..

<Terminology>
A resource is a resource. Equipment, equipment, people (reception), mechanisms, etc. that can be used in the conference room can be resources. Of the resources, those that are difficult to move are called equipment. The conference room is an example of equipment. The conference room is also a resource, but for convenience of explanation, the conference room will be referred to as a facility or a conference room.

Reserving a resource also includes post-reserving modifications of the resource. In addition to accepting selection from the list of equipment, the selection of equipment also includes inputting the equipment name and ID.

Excluding from the reservation candidates means making it difficult to reserve resources. However, it may be allowed for the reservation person to reserve a resource that is excluded from the reservation candidates with the consent.

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

A reservation management server 20, a conference management server 30, and a chat server 10 are connected to the external network N2, and each server can communicate as needed. The terminal device 60 operated by the participants of the conference may be connected to the external network N2 as needed.

The reservation management server 20 is realized by one or more information processing devices (an example of a reservation management device) equipped with a general server OS or the like. The system related to the reservation of equipment provided by the reservation management server 20 is called a reservation management system. The reservation management server 20 has a calendar system and provides a Web application for managing various schedules. Specifically, it has the following functions, for example.
・ Reservation can be confirmed anytime and anywhere by accepting schedule registration ・ Notify by e-mail at the set date and time, such as 30 minutes before the schedule ・ One person manages the schedule with multiple calendars (work, home, etc.) Yes-The reservation management server 20 that shares the calendar with people in the same group manages users by account. An account is a user's right to use a service. On many systems, users use an account to log in to the system. Therefore, the account has a function (identification information function) in which the system uniquely identifies the user. In the present embodiment, the reservation management server 20 transmits the reservation information of the account (domain) registered in advance to the conference management server 30. Alternatively, by designating an account of the reservation management server 20 and requesting the reservation information by the conference management server 30, the conference management server 30 can acquire the reservation information of the conference room 6 from the reservation management server 20. The account may be any information that can uniquely identify the user, such as e-mail, ID, and telephone number.

In the present embodiment, the reservation of the conference room 6 is managed as a schedule, but the reservation management server 20 is not limited to the conference room 6 and can manage various schedules. In addition to the conference room 6, reservations for various facilities such as rental offices, rental studios, rental cars, rental bicycles, accommodation facilities such as hotels, rental spaces such as entertainment venues and lockers, rental of various electronic devices, reservations for parking lots, etc. Can be used for.

As the reservation management system, G Suite (registered trademark), Office365 (registered trademark) and the like are known, but the reservation management server 20 having the function described in the present embodiment may be used.

Further, in the present embodiment, information about the conference room 6 of the in-house network N1 is registered in advance in the reservation management server 20. That is, the reservation management server according to the conference room name, conference room ID, reservation available time, capacity of each conference room 6, reservation unit, etc. of each conference room 6 in the company's internal network using the equipment reservation system 100. Twenty web apps have been customized. Therefore, the reservation information is linked to the conference room 6 of the company that uses the equipment reservation system 100.

The chat server 10 can be realized by one or more information processing devices (computer systems) equipped with a general server OS or the like. A real-time sharing system of information such as text, voice, and video among a plurality of users provided by the chat server 10 is called a chat system. The chat server 10 notifies the terminal device 60 of information regarding the reservation of the conference room 6 (reservation date and time, conference room name, etc.).

The information to be shared includes images, sounds, and the like and is not limited to text, but in the present embodiment, for convenience of explanation, it is described that text is mainly used for notification. For example, a chat system may provide voice call functionality between groups. The voice call may be one-to-one or one-to-N (≧ 2). Therefore, when the chat system notifies the information regarding the reservation of the conference room 6 in the present embodiment, it may output a voice message in addition to displaying the text. As a chat system, LINE (registered trademark), Slack (registered trademark), Microsoft Teams (registered trademark), etc. are known, but one or more from a bot (a program that executes a predetermined process). Any chat system that can notify the user of is sufficient.

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

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

There are a conference room 6 and the current location 5 of the prospective participants in the company, and the prospective participants can access the external network N2 from each place via the internal network N1. The in-house network N1 is, for example, a LAN (Local Area Network).

An access point 72 connected to the in-house network N1 is arranged in the conference room 6. The conference room terminal 90 and the electronic device 70 are connected to the in-house network N1 via the access point 72. The conference room terminal 90 and the electronic device 70 can communicate with each other via the access point 72 as needed.

The access point 72 is a base station for the conference room terminal 90 and the electronic device 70 to communicate with each other by wireless LAN. The access point 72 may have a router function, and the access point 72 determines whether the destination is the external network N2 or the internal network N1 based on the destination IP address of the communication, and switches the transfer destination of the communication. Since the internal network N1 is inside the firewall 73, it is difficult to directly communicate from the external network N2 to the internal network N1.

The conference room terminal 90 is an information processing device (equipment terminal) operated by a participant who uses the conference room 6. The conference room terminal 90 is arranged on the desk of the conference room 6 or is arranged at the entrance of the conference room 6. A plurality of conference room terminals 90 may be arranged in one conference room 6. The conference room terminal 90 can be realized by one or more information processing devices (computer systems) equipped with a general OS or the like.

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

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

The electronic device 70 is various office devices that can be used in the conference room 6. For example, a remote conference system, an electronic blackboard (whiteboard), a multifunction device, a projector, a digital signage, a digital camera, and the like. The electronic device 70 corresponds to the resource of this embodiment. In the equipment reservation system, the conference room also corresponds to a resource, but in the present embodiment, for convenience of explanation, the equipment and the like arranged in the conference room are referred to as resources.

The electronic blackboard has a large display with a touch panel, detects the coordinates of the board surface instructed by the user, connects the coordinates, and displays the stroke. In addition, it is possible to display the image of the connected PC and synchronize the stroke by communicating with the electronic blackboard of another base. The electronic blackboard may be called an electronic information board or an electronic whiteboard.

The multifunction device has functions such as a copier, a scanner, a printer, and fax transmission / reception, and is used for printing materials during a meeting, copying materials, digitizing materials, and transmitting materials. A projector is a device that projects an image. For example, the image displayed on the display by the terminal device 60 can be shared among the participants by projecting it on a screen or the like. Digital signage is a large display used to display any still image or moving image. Digital cameras are used by each participant to capture and store paper materials and materials displayed on electronic blackboards.

There is an access point 71 at the current location 5 of the prospective participant, and the terminal device 60 connects to the in-house network N1 via the access point 71. The terminal device 60 may communicate by wire.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The hardware configuration of the conference management server 30 shown in the figure shows a hardware element that is preferably provided in the conference management server 30.

The hardware configuration diagrams of the reservation management server 20, the chat server 10, and the terminal device 60 are the same as those of the conference management server 30, or even if they are different, there is a problem in the explanation of the equipment reservation system 100 of the present embodiment. Suppose there is no. Further, since the conference management server 30, the reservation management server 20, and the chat server 10 support cloud computing, hardware resources are dynamically connected / disconnected according to the load in these hardware configurations. May consist of. Note that cloud computing refers to a usage mode in which resources on a network are used without being aware of specific hardware resources.

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

The CPU 601 controls the overall operation of the conference room terminal 90. ROM 602 stores a basic input / output program. The RAM 603 is used as a work area for the CPU 601. The EEPROM 604 reads or writes data according to the control of the CPU 601. The CMOS sensor 605 captures a subject and obtains image data under the control of the CPU 601. The acceleration / orientation sensor 606 is an electronic magnetic compass, a gyro compass, an acceleration sensor, etc. that detect the geomagnetism.

The media drive 608 controls reading or writing (storage) of data to the media 607 such as a flash memory. The media drive 608 has a structure in which the media 607 from which already recorded data is read out or new data is newly written and stored is detachable.

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

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

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

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

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

The voice input unit 609 converts the voice into a voice signal. The voice output unit 610 converts a voice signal into voice. The communication unit 612 uses the antenna 611 to communicate with the nearest base station device by a wireless communication signal. The wireless LAN communication unit 613 performs wireless LAN communication conforming to the 802.11 standard.

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

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

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

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

<< Reservation Management Server >>
The reservation management server 20 has a communication unit 21, a reservation screen generation unit 22, a reservation unit 23, and a reservation content determination unit 24. Each of these functional units possessed by the reservation management server 20 is realized by operating any of the components shown in FIG. 4 by an instruction from the CPU 201 according to the program 209p expanded from the HDD 209 to the memory 202. Function or means.

The communication unit 21 transmits and receives various information to and from the conference management server 30 and the terminal device 60. The communication unit 21 has a transmission unit 21a and a reception unit 21b. The transmission unit 21a transmits the screen information of the reservation setting screen to the terminal device 60. The receiving unit 21b receives the reservation setting from the terminal device 60. In addition, the reservation information is transmitted to the conference management server 30. The communication unit 21 is realized by the CPU 201 of FIG. 4 executing the program 209p to control the network driver 205 and the like.

The reservation screen generation unit 22 generates screen information of the reservation setting screen 501 and transmits it to the terminal device 60 via the communication unit 21. The screen information is created by HTML, CSS (Cascade Style Sheet), JavaScript (registered trademark), and the like. The reservation setting screen 501 is provided as one screen of a Web application that operates on a browser by JavaScript (registered trademark).

The reservation information set by the reservation person for the reservation screen generation unit 22 is sent to the reservation unit 23 via the communication unit 21. The reservation unit 23 sends the reservation information to the reservation content determination unit 24 to determine whether or not there is an inconsistency in the combination of the conference room and the resource. The reservation content determination unit 24 refers to the constraint condition DB 292 and the requirement condition DB 293, and notifies the reservation unit 23 of the resources that cannot be used in combination with the conference.

Since the reservation unit 23 notifies the reservation screen generation unit 22 of the resource determined to be unusable, the reservation screen generation unit 22 generates the reservation setting screen 501 in which the notified resource is excluded from the reservation candidates. The reservation unit 23 registers the reservation information of the conference room and the resource reserved from the reservation setting screen 501 in the reservation information DB 291.

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

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

Table 1 shows an example of the reservation information stored in the reservation information DB 291. The reservation information is information for managing the reservation status of the conference room. In the reservation information, each item of the reservation person account, the conference name, the conference room ID, the start time, the end time, the prospective participant account, and the resource is registered in association with the reservation ID. The reservation ID is identification information that identifies one record of the reservation information. ID is an abbreviation for Identification and means an identifier or identification information. An ID refers to a name, a code, a character string, a numerical value, or a combination thereof used to uniquely distinguish a specific object from a plurality of objects. The same applies to IDs other than the reserved ID. The reservation person account is the account of the prospective participant who reserved the conference room. The meeting name is the name of the meeting arbitrarily given by the prospective participants. The conference room ID is identification information that identifies a conference room in the company network. The start time is the beginning of the time zone in which the conference room is reserved (the time when the conference is started), and the end time is the end of the time zone in which the conference room is reserved (the time when the conference ends). The prospective attendee account is the account of the prospective attendee who will attend the conference. The accounts in Table 1 are all accounts issued by the reservation management server 20. Resources reserved for use in the conference room are registered in the resource item. This resource is a resource that has been determined to be available for use in the conference room.

表２は制約条件ＤＢ２９２に記憶されている制約条件の一例を示す。制約条件ＤＢ２９２には会議室がリソースの使用を制約する１つ以上の制約条件が登録されている。表２では、会議室のサイズとその会議室で使用可能なネットワーク環境が登録されている。会議室のサイズとネットワーク環境の少なくとも一方が登録されていればよい。ただし、会議室のサイズとネットワーク環境は一例に過ぎない。

Table 2 shows an example of the constraint condition stored in the constraint condition DB 292. In the constraint condition DB 292, one or more constraint conditions for restricting the use of resources by the conference room are registered. In Table 2, the size of the conference room and the network environment that can be used in the conference room are registered. At least one of the conference room size and the network environment needs to be registered. However, the size of the conference room and the network environment are just examples.

The reservation content determination unit 24 of the reservation management server 20 can determine the resources that can be used in the conference room from the size of the conference room. The network environment indicates the network to which the resource can connect. "Corporate-LAN" means an in-house LAN to which employees connect, and "Guest-LAN" means a LAN to which guests can connect, not employees. The reservation content determination unit 24 of the reservation management server 20 can determine the resources that can be used in the conference room depending on whether or not there is a network to which the resources can be connected.

表３は要求条件ＤＢ２９３に記憶されている要求条件の一例を示す。要求条件ＤＢ２９３には、リソースの会議室での使用時に会議室に要求される要求条件が登録されている。リソースは会議室で使用できる資源や備品、などである。表３では一例として、遠隔会議システム、ホワイトボード（電子黒板に相当）、及び、プロジェクタなどが示されている。この他、上記した電子機器７０はリソースである。

Table 3 shows an example of the requirement conditions stored in the requirement condition DB 293. In the requirement condition DB293, the requirement condition required for the conference room when the resource is used in the conference room is registered. Resources are resources and equipment that can be used in the conference room. Table 3 shows, as an example, a remote conference system, a whiteboard (corresponding to an electronic blackboard), a projector, and the like. In addition, the above-mentioned electronic device 70 is a resource.

As an example of the requirement condition, the size and network environment are registered for each resource. The size and network environment required by the resource are examples, but at least one of the size and network environment needs to be registered. Note that specific values may not be registered for items that do not have specific requirements. In the example of Table 3, the remote conference system requires a conference room that can be connected to a network called "Corporate-LAN", and the whiteboard and the projector require a conference room size of a certain level or more. It should be noted that although it is determined that the size needs to satisfy the required information with all the lengths of the three sides, it may be determined that one side should be satisfied.

When the reservation person selects a conference room on the reservation setting screen 501, the constraint condition of this conference room is determined. Therefore, the reservation screen generation unit 22 sets a requirement condition that does not satisfy the constraint condition from the resource column 503 of the reservation setting screen 501. Exclude the resources you have from the selection candidates. In Table 3, when the reservation person selects the conference room of "Meeting Room A on the 5th floor", the projectors that require a size larger than the size of the conference room are excluded from the reservation candidates. If the reservation person selects the conference room of "Reception Room B on the 6th floor", the remote conference system that requires connection to "Corporate-LAN" is excluded from the reservation candidates.

また、表４に示すように、要求条件が、会議室が満たすべきでない条件を要求してもよい。表４は会議室が有さないことを要求する要求条件の一例を示す。この要求条件は、リソースが使用できない会議室の条件を示す。選択された会議室の制約条件がリソースの要求条件を含む場合、予約内容判断部２４はそのリソースを会議室で使用できないと判断する。例えば、表４の例では、遠隔会議システムの要求条件でネットワーク種類が「Guest－LANが使えないこと」となっているので、「５階 会議室Ａ」が選択された場合、遠隔会議システムは使用できないと判断される。なお、リソースが使用できない会議室の条件を非適合条件と称してもよい。

Further, as shown in Table 4, the requirements may require conditions that the conference room should not meet. Table 4 shows an example of the requirements that the conference room does not have. This requirement indicates the condition of the conference room where the resource is unavailable. If the constraint condition of the selected conference room includes the requirement condition of the resource, the reservation content determination unit 24 determines that the resource cannot be used in the conference room. For example, in the example of Table 4, the network type is "Guest-LAN cannot be used" in the requirement condition of the remote conference system, so if "5th floor conference room A" is selected, the remote conference system will be It is judged that it cannot be used. The condition of the conference room where the resource cannot be used may be referred to as a nonconforming condition.

Although Table 4 is shown separately from Table 3, the requirements of Table 3 and the requirements of Table 4 may be mixed in one resource. That is, both the conditions that the conference room should and should not meet can be the requirements for one resource. This makes it possible to make a detailed judgment as to whether or not the product can be used.

<< Chat Server >>
The chat server 10 has a communication unit 11 and a text processing unit 12. Each of these functional units included in the chat server 10 is realized by operating any of the components shown in FIG. 4 by an instruction from the CPU 201 according to the program 209p expanded from the HDD 209 to the memory 202. A function or means.

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

The text processing unit 12 reserves the conference room 6 for prospective participants belonging to the group as information spoken by the bot based on the information for identifying the bot notified from the conference management server 30 and the information for specifying the group to be notified. Send information about. When the account to be notified is further specified by the conference management server 30, information regarding the reservation of the conference room 6 is transmitted to one of the prospective participants belonging to the group. Therefore, the notification may be given as many as the number of prospective participants, or may be given only to any user such as a reservation person.

The text processing unit 12 can perform so-called push notification. As a mechanism, for example, there are the following. The chat application 60a (described later) receives an ID (token) for push notification from a server operated by an OS (Operating System) maker. In this server, the token and the device (terminal device 60) are associated with each other. The chat application 60a registers the token and the account of the chat application 60a in the chat server 10. When the chat server 10 performs push notification, the account of the chat application 60a is specified, so that the associated token can be specified. The chat system specifies a token and sends the notification content to the server operated by the OS maker. This server gives a push notification to the device (terminal device 60) associated with the token.

Further, the chat server 10 has a storage unit 19. The storage unit 19 is realized by the memory 202 and the HDD 209 of FIG. The group information DB 191 is stored in the storage unit 19.

表５はグループ情報ＤＢ１９１に記憶されているグループ情報の一例を示す。グループ情報は同じグループに属するメンバのアカウントが登録された情報である。グループ情報には、ワークスペースとチャンネルに対応付けて、メンバアカウント１～ｎ（表５ではｎ＝４）、及び、ボットアカウントが登録されている。

Table 5 shows an example of the group information stored in the group information DB 191. Group information is information in which the accounts of members belonging to the same group are registered. In the group information, member accounts 1 to n (n = 4 in Table 5) and bot accounts are registered in association with the workspace and the channel.

A workspace is identification information for identifying an organization such as a company or a department. In this embodiment, a plurality of members belong to the workspace (for example, company A). The workspace is, for example, a URL, but it may be unique. Further, the workspace has a plurality of channels according to the purpose of chat and the like. A channel is a group of members with which common information is exchanged, such as a group for product A and a group for product B. One of the members belonging to the workspace belongs to the channel. That is, the notification destination is specified by the workspace and the channel. However, since the method of specifying the notification destination differs depending on the chat system, if there is identification information that can uniquely identify the group, only that information may be used, or the notification destination may be specified by three or more pieces of information.

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

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

<< Meeting Management Server >>
The conference management server 30 includes a communication unit 31, an information support unit 32, a reservation information acquisition unit 33, a notification determination unit 34, a control information generation unit 35, a control information response unit 36, a conference information notification unit 37, and check-in management. It has a portion 38. Each of these functional units included in the conference management server 30 is realized by operating any of the components shown in FIG. 4 by an instruction from the CPU 201 according to the program 209p expanded from the HDD 209 to the memory 202. Function or means. This program 209p is distributed from a server for program distribution or in a state of being stored in a storage medium.

The communication unit 31 transmits and receives various information to and from the reservation management server 20, the chat server 10, and the terminal device 60. The communication unit 31 has a transmission unit 31a and a reception unit 31b. The receiving unit 31b receives the reservation information from the reservation management server 20, and receives the request for the reservation information from the conference room terminal 90. In addition, the receiving unit 31b receives the check-in request from the conference room terminal 90. Further, the receiving unit 31b accepts the correspondence between the chat system group and the account from any terminal operated by the administrator. The transmission unit 31a transmits information regarding the reservation of the conference room to the chat server 10, and transmits the reservation information to the conference room terminal 90. The communication unit 31 is realized by the CPU 201 of FIG. 4 executing the program 209p to control the network driver 205 and the like.

The information handling unit 32 mainly performs processing related to prior registration work. That is, the domain registration is received from the terminal or the like operated by the administrator and registered in the customer domain DB 495, and the chat system group transmitted from the terminal or the like is associated with the account of the reservation management server 20 and registered in the corresponding information DB 491. .. The information correspondence unit 32 is realized by the CPU 201 of FIG. 4 executing the program 209p or the like.

The reservation information acquisition unit 33 specifies a customer account that uses the equipment reservation system 100, acquires reservation information from the reservation management server 20, and registers it in the conference management information DB 493 as conference management information. Alternatively, the reserved information that has been changed is received. Therefore, at least a part of the reservation information of the reservation management server 20 is stored in the conference management information DB 493. The reservation information acquisition unit 33 acquires the reservation information from the present to the future for a predetermined period among the reservation information held by the reservation management server 20. The predetermined period is determined by how long the meeting ahead will be notified of the information regarding the reservation of the conference room 6. The reservation information acquisition unit 33 is realized by the CPU 201 of FIG. 4 executing the program 209p or the like.

The notification determination unit 34 determines whether or not there is a reservation for a start time satisfying the condition to be notified in the reservation information. For example, the notification setting DB 496 is referred to, and it is determined that the notification is made when the set date and time is reached by calculating back from the reservation start time. When bots are divided according to roles, such as bots for reminders and bots for accepting reservations, the bots are specified according to the processing. The notification determination unit 34 is realized by the CPU 201 of FIG. 4 executing the program 209p or the like.

When the conference information notification unit 37 determines that the notification determination unit 34 notifies, the chat server 10 is notified of the information regarding the reservation of the conference room by designating the information for identifying the bot and the information for specifying the notification destination group. Request. The notification is divided into several times, and the conference identification information is included in at least one of the notifications. The conference identification information is information for the conference management server 30 to confirm that the participants have the right to use the reserved conference room during the reserved time zone. The conference information notification unit 37 generates conference identification information at least before the final notification. The conference identification information is registered in the conference identification information DB 494. The conference information notification unit 37 is realized by the CPU 201 of FIG. 4 executing the program 209p or the like.

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

The control information response unit 36 receives an inquiry as to whether or not there is control information from the conference room terminal 90 of the conference room, refers to the control information DB 497, and transmits the control information corresponding to the conference room to the conference room terminal 90. The control information response unit 36 is realized by the CPU 201 of FIG. 4 executing the program 209p or the like.

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

Further, the conference management server 30 has a storage unit 49. The storage unit 49 is realized by the memory 202 and the HDD 209 of FIG. Corresponding information DB 491, conference management information DB 493, conference identification information DB 494, customer domain DB 495, notification setting DB 494, and control information DB 497 are stored in the storage unit 49.

表６は対応付情報ＤＢ４９１に記憶されている対応付情報の一例を示す。対応付情報は予約管理システムのアカウントとチャットシステムのグループを対応付ける情報である。対応付情報は、ワークスペース、チャンネル及びメンバアカウント１～ｎ（図ではｎ＝４）の各項目を有する。ワークスペースとチャンネルは上記のとおりである。メンバアカウント１～ｎには予約管理サーバ２０が発行した各参加者のアカウントが登録される。また、表６に示すようにチャットシステムのアカウントが登録されてよい。グループに対して通知を行うためには予約管理サーバ２０に対して会議を予約したユーザの予約管理サーバ２０のアカウントと通知先のグループ及びチャンネルを特定するための情報（本実施形態ではワークスペースとチャンネル名）があればよく、必ずしもグループに所属するすべてのメンバのアカウントが登録されている必要はない。ただし、個人ユーザ宛に通知する場合、それぞれのチャットシステムのアカウント情報が必要なため、表６のように登録されていてもよい。

Table 6 shows an example of the correspondence information stored in the correspondence information DB 491. Correspondence information is information that associates an account of a reservation management system with a group of a chat system. Corresponding information has each item of workspace, channel and member accounts 1 to n (n = 4 in the figure). The workspaces and channels are as described above. The account of each participant issued by the reservation management server 20 is registered in the member accounts 1 to n. Further, as shown in Table 6, a chat system account may be registered. In order to notify the group, the account of the user who reserved the conference to the reservation management server 20 and the information for specifying the group and channel of the notification destination (in this embodiment, the workspace and the information). It is only necessary to have the channel name), and the accounts of all the members belonging to the group do not necessarily have to be registered. However, when notifying an individual user, the account information of each chat system is required, so it may be registered as shown in Table 6.

表７は会議識別情報ＤＢ４９４に記憶されている会議識別情報管理情報の一例を示す。会議識別情報管理情報は会議室６の予約ごとに会議識別情報を管理する情報である。会議識別情報管理情報は、予約ＩＤ、会議室ＩＤ、及び、会議識別情報の各項目を有する。これらについてはステータスを除き予約情報と同じであり（予約管理サーバ２０から受信した予約情報）、既出であるため説明は省略する。なお、予約ＩＤが登録されているのは、同じ会議室６の予約を識別するためである。ステータスは、予約の状況を意味する。例えば、会議室の予約に関する情報の通知済み、利用確定、チェックイン済み、チェックアウト、又は、キャンセル（取り消し）等の状況が登録される。

Table 7 shows an example of the conference identification information management information stored in the conference identification information DB 494. The conference identification information management information is information for managing the conference identification information for each reservation of the conference room 6. The conference identification information management information has each item of the reservation ID, the conference room ID, and the conference identification information. These are the same as the reservation information except for the status (reservation information received from the reservation management server 20), and since they have already been published, the description thereof will be omitted. The reservation ID is registered in order to identify the reservation of the same conference room 6. Status means the status of the reservation. For example, the status such as notification of information regarding the reservation of the conference room, confirmation of use, check-in, check-out, or cancellation (cancellation) is registered.

表８は会議識別情報ＤＢ４９４に記憶されている会議識別情報管理情報の一例を示す。会議識別情報管理情報は会議室の予約ごとに会議識別情報を管理する情報である。会議識別情報管理情報は、予約ＩＤ、会議室ＩＤ、及び、会議識別情報の各項目を有する。これらについては既出であるため説明は省略する。なお、予約ＩＤが登録されているのは、同じ会議室の予約を識別するためである。

Table 8 shows an example of the conference identification information management information stored in the conference identification information DB 494. The conference identification information management information is information for managing the conference identification information for each reservation of the conference room. The conference identification information management information has each item of the reservation ID, the conference room ID, and the conference identification information. Since these have already been mentioned, the description thereof will be omitted. The reservation ID is registered in order to identify the reservation of the same conference room.

表９は顧客ドメインＤＢ４９５に記憶されている顧客ドメイン情報の一例を示す。顧客ドメイン情報は顧客のドメインと顧客の管理者のアカウントを管理する情報である。顧客ドメイン情報には顧客のドメイン名と顧客の管理者アカウントが対応付けて登録されている。表９の顧客のドメインは予約管理サーバ２０が発行したアカウント（メールアドレス）のドメインである。また、管理者アカウントは、顧客の管理者（代表する）のアカウントである。なお、表９のアカウントは予約管理サーバ２０が発行したものである。

Table 9 shows an example of the customer domain information stored in the customer domain DB 495. Customer domain information is information that manages the customer's domain and the account of the customer's administrator. In the customer domain information, the customer's domain name and the customer's administrator account are registered in association with each other. The customer domain in Table 9 is the domain of the account (email address) issued by the reservation management server 20. The administrator account is an account of the customer's administrator (representative). The account in Table 9 is issued by the reservation management server 20.

表１０は通知設定ＤＢ４９６に記憶されている通知設定情報の一例を示す。通知設定情報は顧客ごとに通知に関する設定を保持する。通知設定情報には、顧客ドメイン名と通知設定が対応付けて登録されている。通知設定には、会議の開始時刻のどのくらい前に、会議室の予約に関する情報を通知するかのタイミングが設定されている。あるいは決まった日時が設定されていてもよい。また、タイミングは１つである必要はなく、１つの顧客に複数回の通知設定が登録されていてもよい。

Table 10 shows an example of the notification setting information stored in the notification setting DB 496. Notification setting information retains settings related to notification for each customer. In the notification setting information, the customer domain name and the notification setting are registered in association with each other. In the notification setting, the timing of notifying the information about the reservation of the conference room is set before the start time of the conference. Alternatively, a fixed date and time may be set. Further, the timing does not have to be one, and a plurality of notification settings may be registered for one customer.

表１１は制御情報ＤＢ４９７に記憶されている制御情報の一例を示す。制御情報は会議室の電子機器７０を制御するための情報である。制御情報は、会議室ＩＤ、及び、制御内容の各項目を有する。制御内容は、電子機器７０の具体的な制御方法である。会議管理サーバ３０は電子機器７０ごとに詳細な制御内容を設定できる。また、制御する時刻が登録されないのは、社外ネットワークの会議管理サーバ３０から会議室端末９０に送信することが困難であり、会議室端末９０が会議管理サーバ３０にアクセスし、この時、制御情報が生成されていれば制御内容を送信するからである。

Table 11 shows an example of the control information stored in the control information DB 497. The control information is information for controlling the electronic device 70 in the conference room. The control information includes the conference room ID and each item of the control content. The control content is a specific control method for the electronic device 70. The conference management server 30 can set detailed control contents for each electronic device 70. Further, it is difficult to transmit the time to be controlled from the conference management server 30 of the external network to the conference room terminal 90 because the time to be controlled is not registered, and the conference room terminal 90 accesses the conference management server 30 at this time. This is because the control content is transmitted if is generated.

<< Terminal equipment >>
FIG. 7 is an example of a functional block diagram showing the functions of the terminal device 60 and the conference room terminal 90 in a block shape.

The terminal device 60 includes a communication unit 61a, an operation reception unit 61b, a display control unit 61c, a chat communication unit 62, a text display unit 63, an application communication unit 64, a server communication unit 65, a display control unit 66, an application communication unit 67, and the like. , Has a terminal communication unit 68. Each of these functional units included in the terminal device 60 is realized by operating any of the components shown in FIG. 4 by an instruction from the CPU 201 according to the program 209p expanded from the HDD 209 to the memory 202. A function or means. This program 209p is distributed from a server for program distribution or in a state of being stored in a storage medium. Since the chat application 60a and the conference application 60b are operating on the terminal device 60, the program 209p includes the chat application 60a and the conference application 60b.

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

The operation reception unit 61b receives various operations such as participants for the terminal device 60. The operation receiving unit 61b is realized by the CPU 201 of FIG. 4 executing the program 209p to control the input device 210 and the like.

The display control unit 61c interprets the screen information of the reservation setting screen 501 received from the reservation management server 20 and displays it on the LCD 206. The operation reception unit 61b and the display control unit 61c have, for example, a browser function, execute a Web application, and receive reservation information set by the reservation person.

The chat communication unit 62 of the chat application 60a sends and receives various information to and from the chat server 10. In the present embodiment, information regarding the reservation of the conference room is received from the chat server 10, and the chat server 10 is notified whether the conference room is used or canceled. The chat communication unit 62 is realized by the CPU 201 of FIG. 4 executing the program 209p to control the network driver 205 and the like.

The text display unit 63 of the chat application 60a displays the text (information regarding the reservation of the conference room) transmitted from the chat server 10. For example, the source is a bot and the text is displayed as if the bot had typed it. The text display unit 63 is realized by the CPU 201 of FIG. 4 executing the chat application 60a or the like.

The application communication unit 64 of the chat application 60a calls the conference application 60b and transmits the conference identification information to the conference application 60b. Since the chat server 10 transmits information for identifying the conference application 60b to the terminal device 60 when notifying the information regarding the reservation of the conference room, the chat application 60a designates the conference application 60b to the OS and the conference identification information. Request notification of. The OS can start the conference application 60b. The application communication unit 64 is realized by the CPU 201 of FIG. 4 executing the chat application 60a or the like.

The server communication unit 65 of the conference application 60b communicates with the conference management server 30. In the present embodiment, the two-dimensional code including the conference identification information is acquired from the conference management server 30. The server communication unit 65 is realized by the CPU 201 of FIG. 4 executing the conference application 60b or the like.

The display control unit 66 of the conference application 60b displays the above-mentioned two-dimensional code or the like notified from the conference management server 30 on the LCD 206. The display control unit 66 is realized by the CPU 201 of FIG. 4 executing the conference application 60b and controlling the graphics driver.

The application communication unit 67 of the conference application 60b acquires various information (conference identification information and the like included in the information related to the reservation of the conference room) from the chat application 60a via the OS. The application communication unit 67 is realized by the CPU 201 of FIG. 4 executing the conference application 60b or the like.

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

<< Meeting room terminal >>
The conference room terminal 90 has a server communication unit 91, a terminal device communication unit 92, an operation reception unit 93, a display control unit 94, and an electronic device communication unit 95. Each of these functional units included in the conference room terminal 90 is realized by operating any of the components shown in FIG. 5 by an instruction from the CPU 601 according to the program 604p expanded from the EEPROM 604 to the RAM 603. A function or means. This program 604p is distributed from a server for program distribution or in a state of being stored in a storage medium.

The server communication unit 91 of the present embodiment periodically receives the reservation information if there is a change in the reservation information. Further, at the time of check-in, the terminal device communication unit 92 transmits the conference identification information received from the terminal device 60 or the conference identification information manually input to the conference management server 30. Further, the server communication unit 91 receives control information from the conference management server 30.

The timing for receiving the reservation information on a regular basis is a cycle of several seconds to several minutes. The shorter the cycle, the earlier the reservation information can be updated, but the communication load also increases, so the decision is made by considering both. The server communication unit 91 can receive at least the conference management information (reservation information) of the conference room 6 on the day. The server communication unit 91 is realized by the CPU 601 in FIG. 5 executing the program 604p and controlling the wireless LAN communication unit 613.

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

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

The display control unit 94 displays the screen generated by the terminal application 90a on the display 616. Menus such as check-in and check-out are displayed on this screen. The display control unit 94 is realized by the CPU 601 of FIG. 5 executing the program 604p to control the display 616 and the like.

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

Further, the conference room terminal 90 has a storage unit 99. The storage unit 99 is realized by the ROM 602, EEPROM 604, and the like shown in FIG. The conference room ID and the IP address of the electronic device 70 are stored in the storage unit 99.

<Reservation setting screen>
FIG. 8 is a diagram showing an example of the reservation setting screen 501. FIG. 8A shows the state before the selection of the conference room, and FIG. 8B shows the state after the selection of the conference room. The reservation setting screen 501 has a conference name input field 504, a place selection field 502, a start date / time field 505, an end date / time field 506, and a resource field 503. The reservation person can arbitrarily input the conference name (agenda, etc.) in the conference name input field 504. The place selection field 502 displays one or more conference room names in a pull-down manner. The reservation person can select the desired conference room name. In the start date and time column 505 and the end date and time column 506, the reservation person can select the date and time from icons imitating a calendar or a clock.

The resource column 503 displays shared resources that are not provided in the conference room and can be used regardless of which conference room is reserved. Therefore, all available resources are displayed until you select a conference room.

When the reservation person selects a conference room, the communication unit 61a of the terminal device 60 transmits the conference room name to the reservation management server 20. The reservation content determination unit 24 of the reservation management server 20 determines the resources that can be used in the conference room, and the reservation screen generation unit 22 generates the reservation setting screen 501 that excludes the unusable resources from the reservation candidates. The example of FIG. 8B is a display example when it is determined that the selected conference room (“5th floor conference room A”) is narrow and projection by a projector is difficult.

The terminal device 60 may change the reservation setting screen 501 of FIGS. 8A to 8B. In this case, the screen information includes the functions of the reservation content determination unit 24, the constraint condition DB 292, and the requirement condition DB 293, and the display control unit 61c of the terminal device 60 is used in the conference room according to the selected conference room. Determine the resources that can be used and exclude the resources that cannot be used from the reservation candidates. That is, the terminal device 60 can execute the Web application based on the screen information and execute the same processing as the reservation management server 20.

The display control unit 61c may change the display mode of the resource before and after the operation reception unit 61b accepts the selection of the conference room. Displaying the strikethrough 510 on an unusable resource as shown in FIG. 8B is only an example, and the display control unit 61c of the terminal device 60 may make the brightness of the unusable resource smaller than that of the usable resource. .. Further, the resources that cannot be used may be hidden from the reservation setting screen 501. The background of unavailable resources may be grayed out.

<Display procedure of reservation setting screen>
FIG. 9 is an example of a sequence diagram showing a procedure in which the terminal device 60 displays the reservation setting screen 501. The process of FIG. 9 starts from the state where the terminal device 60 displays the reservation setting screen 501 of FIG. 8 (a). That is, the transmission unit 21a of the reservation management server 20 is in a state of transmitting the screen information of the reservation setting screen 501 to the terminal device 60.

S1: The reservation person selects a conference room from the reservation setting screen 501. The operation reception unit 61b of the terminal device 60 accepts the selection of the conference room. The communication unit 61a of the terminal device 60 transmits the conference room identification information such as the conference room name to the reservation management server 20. Information such as the conference name, the start date and time, and the end date and time entered by the reservation person on the reservation setting screen 501 may be transmitted to the conference management server 30.

S2: The receiving unit 21b of the communication unit 21 of the reservation management server 20 receives at least the identification information of the conference room. The reservation screen generation unit 22 sets the selected conference room in the selected state. That is, the selected conference room name is set in the place selection field 502 of the reservation setting screen 501.

S3: Next, the reservation content determination unit 24 acquires the constraint condition of the selected conference room from the constraint condition DB 292.

S4: Further, the reservation content determination unit 24 acquires the requirement conditions of all the resources from the requirement condition DB 293, and determines whether or not the resource is a requirement condition resource that does not satisfy the constraint condition of the conference room selected for each resource. ..

S5: The reservation screen generation unit 22 excludes the resource determined to be unusable from the reservation candidates on the reservation setting screen 501.

By the above processing, since the reservation setting screen 501 is displayed in such a manner that only the resources that can be used in the conference room can be selected, it is possible to suppress the situation that the reservation person has selected the resources but cannot use them in the conference room.

<Determining the availability of another resource using the constraints of the already selected resource>
Whether or not a resource can be used may be determined using the constraints of the already selected resource. In this case, the resource has constraints as well as requirements.

FIG. 10 is an example of a diagram illustrating a method of determining the availability of another resource using the constraint condition of the resource already selected.

(1) First, as shown in FIG. 10A, it is assumed that the reservation person has selected "6th floor drawing room B". There is "Guest-LAN" as a constraint condition of "6th floor reception room B", but since the remote conference system requires "Corporate-LAN", it is judged that the remote conference system cannot be used.

(2) Next, it is assumed that the reservation person selects the whiteboard as shown in FIG. 10 (b). The whiteboard has constraints and is "Corporate-LAN can be built". "Corporate-LAN can be built" means that a whiteboard can be used as an access point to build a LAN even if there is no Corporate-LAN in the conference room. The teleconferencing system requires "Corporate-LAN", but since this is satisfied by selecting the whiteboard, it is judged that the teleconferencing system can be used. Therefore, it is possible to determine the availability of resources more accurately.

In addition, the size of the resource may be considered. For large equipment such as whiteboards, the conference room will be smaller by the size required. For example, the size of "6th floor drawing room B" is
Since it is 1500 × 600 × 300, when the whiteboard is selected, the reservation content determination unit 24 subtracts the required condition (size) of the whiteboard.
(1500-250) x (600-50) x (300-150)
= 1250 x 550 x 150
The requirement condition of the resource selected after the whiteboard is determined whether or not it can be used with the size of the conference room from which the size of the whiteboard is subtracted as a constraint condition. By doing this, it is possible to determine the availability of resources more accurately.

In the first embodiment, the resource that cannot be directly used by the reservation management server 20 is excluded from the reservation candidates, and the terminal device 60 displays the resource. However, there may be cases where the reservation management server 20 does not have a function for determining resources that cannot be used in the conference room.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the equipment reservation system 100 in which the conference management server 30 notifies the reservation person that a resource that cannot be used in the conference room is selected will be described.

FIG. 11 is an example of a diagram illustrating an outline of the operation of the equipment reservation system 100 of this embodiment.
(1) First, the reservation person reserves a conference room and resources for the reservation management server 20. At this point, the reservation management server 20 does not determine the resources that cannot be used in the conference room.
(2) The conference management server 30 requests the reservation information from the reservation management server 20 and receives the reservation information.
(3) The conference management server 30 transmits a reminder of information about the conference to the reservation person at a predetermined timing. A chat system is used for reminders.

The conference management server 30 is a server that is not provided by the reservation management server 20 and performs check-in / check-out management, automatic cancellation of unused conference rooms, etc., but the conference management server 30 uses resources that cannot be used in the conference room. By making a judgment, the function of the reservation management server 20 can be supplemented.

<About functions>
FIG. 12 is an example of a functional block diagram showing the functions of the reservation management server 20 and the conference management server 30 of this embodiment in a block shape. In the present embodiment, the components having the same reference numerals in FIG. 6 perform the same function, and therefore, only the main components of the present embodiment may be mainly described.

<< Reservation Management Server >>
The reservation management server 20 of this embodiment newly has a reservation change notification unit 25. In addition, it does not have a reservation content determination unit 24. The reservation change notification unit 25 is notified by the reservation unit 23 that the reservation information has been changed, such as that new reservation information has been saved, edited, or deleted. The reservation change notification unit 25 notifies the conference management server 30 of the change of the reservation information. As a result, the conference management server 30 can manage the reservation contents in cooperation with the reservation management server 20.

<< Meeting Management Server >>
The conference management server 30 of this embodiment has a reservation content determination unit 24 and a reservation content change unit 39. Further, the constraint condition DB 292 and the requirement condition DB 293 are stored in the storage unit 49. The functions of the reservation content determination unit 24, the constraint condition DB 292, and the requirement condition DB 293 may be the same as those in the first embodiment.

As described above, the reservation information is received from the reservation management server 20 with which the reservation information acquisition unit 33 is linked. The reservation content determination unit 24 determines whether or not a resource that cannot be used in the conference room is reserved for this reservation information. The reservation information is stored in the conference management information DB 493 as the conference management information.

The conference information notification unit 37 notifies the reservation person of information regarding the reservation of the conference room as a reminder based on the reservation information when a certain time before the conference is held. Using this reminder mechanism, the conference information notification unit 37 notifies the reservation person that a resource that cannot be used in the conference room is reserved via the chat server 10.

When the reservation person changes the reservation information such as canceling the reservation of the resource, the conference management server 30 is notified via the chat server 10. Therefore, the reservation content changing unit 39 requests the reservation management server 20 to change the reservation information. .. Changes to the reservation information include canceling the reservation of resources that cannot be used in the conference room, or deleting the reservation information (in this case, the reservation person reserves the conference room again).

<Operation procedure when the conference management server determines resources that cannot be used in the conference room>
FIG. 13 is an example of a sequence diagram showing a procedure for the conference management server 30 to determine resources that cannot be used in the conference room.

S11: As described with reference to FIG. 8, the reservation person reserves the conference room and the resources used in the conference room to the reservation management server 20. The operation reception unit 61b of the terminal device 60 accepts the operation, and the communication unit 61a transmits the reservation information to the reservation management server 20 according to the set contents.

S12: The receiving unit 21b of the communication unit 21 of the reservation management server 20 receives the reservation information, and the reservation unit 23 stores the reservation information in the reservation information DB 291. As a result, the reservation content change unit 39 notifies the conference management server 30 of the change of the reservation information. In order to specify the reservation information, the reservation ID or the information for specifying the reservation information such as the conference room and the reservation time zone is specified.

S13: The receiving unit 31b of the communication unit 31 of the conference management server 30 receives the change of the reservation information, and the reservation information acquisition unit 33 specifies the information for specifying the reservation information and requests the reservation information from the reservation management server 20.

S14: The transmission unit 21a of the communication unit 21 of the reservation management server 20 transmits the designated reservation information to the conference management server 30. If the reservation information is transmitted in step S12, steps S13 and S14 are unnecessary.

S15: The reservation content determination unit 24 of the conference management server 30 determines whether or not a resource that cannot be used in the conference room is included based on the reservation information. The determination method may be the same as that of the first embodiment.

S16: If the reservation information contains resources that cannot be used in the selected conference room, the conference information notification unit 37 notifies the reservation person to that effect. Although the chat server 10 is omitted in FIG. 13, the conference management server 30 notifies the terminal device 60 via the chat server 10 that the reservation information includes resources that cannot be used in the conference room. At the time of notification, the conference information notification unit 37 refers to the conference management information DB 493 and identifies the reservation person account of the reservation information specified by the reservation ID. Next, with reference to the corresponding information DB 491, the workspace and channel in which the reservation person account is registered, and the account in the reservation person's chat system are specified. The conference information notification unit 37 notifies the chat server 10 of the pre-assigned bot account (token) in order to use the (bot) for authentication. In addition, a message is sent to the chat server 10 by designating the account of the reservation person to be notified and the workspace and channel for designating the group. The text processing unit 12 of the chat server 10 notifies the account of the reservation person in the group specified by the workspace and the channel to the destination in the form of a bot speaking.

FIG. 14 shows a display example of a message displayed on the terminal device 60 of the reservation person by the chat application 60a of the terminal device 60. The source "robo" 511 is a bot that notifies the speech of the conference management server 30. The reservation information includes resources that cannot be used in the conference room by displaying the message 512 that the bot has reserved resources that cannot be used in the conference room. The projector cannot be used in conference room A on the 5th floor. Notify the reservation person to that effect.

In addition, the bot displays a message 513 "Do you want to cancel the resource reservation?" And a "Cancel" button 514. In addition, the message 515 "Do you want to cancel the reservation of the conference room?" And the "Cancel" button 516 are displayed. By pressing the "cancel" button 514, the reservation person can cancel the reservation of the resource that cannot be used. In addition, by pressing the "cancel" button 516, it is possible to cancel the reservation of the conference room where the resource cannot be used.

The release button 514 is associated with information to specify the resource and a reservation ID to cancel the reservation of the resource. This "associated" may be referred to as "embedded" or "linked". The button 516 for canceling is associated with the fact that the reservation for the conference room is canceled and the reservation ID. The chat communication unit 62 of the terminal device 60 sends these information to the chat server 10 with the bot as the destination. Upon receiving these, the communication unit 11 of the chat server 10 transmits to the bot that the resource reservation is canceled, the information for designating the resource and the reservation ID, or the conference room reservation cancellation and the reservation ID. Since the bot is an agent of the conference management server 30, the conference management server 30 can acquire the operation contents of the reservation person.

S17: Returning to FIG. 13, the explanation will be given. With the above mechanism, when the operation reception unit 61b of the terminal device 60 accepts the pressing of the buttons 514 and 516 to be released, the chat communication unit 62 transmits the operation content to the conference management server 30.

S18: When the reservation person cancels the reservation of the resource, the reservation content changing unit 39 of the conference management server 30 specifies information for specifying the reservation information such as the reservation ID, and reserves the cancellation of the reservation of the reserved resource. Send to the management server 20. When the reservation person cancels the reservation of the conference room, the reservation content changing unit 39 of the conference management server 30 specifies information for specifying the reservation information such as the reservation ID, and reserves the cancellation of the reservation of the reserved conference room. Send to the management server 20. By such a process, the reservation person can cancel the reservation of the resource or the conference room by a simple operation of responding to the notification. The reservation of the resource or the reservation of the conference room may be canceled by the reservation person directly to the reservation management server 20.

S19: When the reservation of the conference room is not canceled, the conference information notification unit 37 of the conference management server 30 notifies (reminds) the reservation person that the conference is about to start when a certain time before the conference is reached.

<Summary>
As described above, in the equipment reservation system 100 of the present embodiment, resources that are difficult to use in combination with the conference room are selected by determining whether or not the combination of the conference room and the resource is appropriate. Can be suppressed. Even if the reservation management server 20 cannot determine the combination of the conference room and the resource, the conference management server 30 can determine the combination of the conference room and the resource and notify by the same mechanism as the reminding of the reservation of the equipment.

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

A plurality of conference management servers 30 may exist, or the functions of the conference management server 30 may be distributed to a plurality of servers. Further, the reservation management server 20 and the conference management server 30 may be integrated.

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

Each function of the embodiment described above can be realized by one or more processing circuits. Here, the "processing circuit" as used herein is a processor programmed to perform each function by software, such as a processor implemented by an electronic circuit, or a processor designed to execute each function described above. It shall include devices such as ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), DSP (digital signal processor), FPGA (field programmable gate array) and conventional circuit modules.

The constraint condition DB 292 is an example of the constraint condition storage unit, the requirement condition DB 293 is an example of the requirement condition storage unit, the display control unit 61c is an example of the display control means, and the operation reception unit 61b is an operation reception unit. As an example, the reservation content determination unit 24 is an example of resource determination means, the chat communication unit 62 is an example of reception means, the text display unit 63 is an example of display processing means, and the conference information notification unit 37 notifies. The reservation screen generation unit 22 is an example of the generation means, the transmission unit 21a is an example of the transmission means, and the reception unit 21b is an example of the reception means.

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

Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2009-163378

Claims (12)

An equipment reservation system including a reservation management device that accepts reservations for equipment and a terminal device that sets reservations for the equipment in the reservation management device.
A constraint condition storage unit that stores constraint conditions that restrict the use of resources in the equipment, and
A requirement storage unit that stores the requirements required for the equipment for the use of resources, and a requirement storage unit.
A display control means for displaying a reservation setting screen for accepting reservations for the equipment and resources on a display device, and
An operation receiving means for accepting the selection of the equipment and
When the operation receiving means accepts the selection of the equipment, the resource determining means for excluding the resource having the required condition that does not satisfy the constraint condition of the selected equipment from the reservation candidates on the reservation setting screen. ,
A facility reservation system characterized by having. The equipment reservation according to claim 1, wherein the display control means changes the display mode of the resource excluded from the reservation candidates before and after the operation reception means accepts the selection of the equipment. system. The equipment reservation system according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the constraint condition is a condition relating to at least one of the size of the equipment and the network environment. The equipment reservation system according to claim 3, wherein the requirement is a condition relating to at least one of the equipment size and the network environment required when the resource is used. The equipment reservation system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the required condition is a condition that the equipment must satisfy in order to use the resource. The equipment reservation system according to claim 5, wherein the requirement is a condition that the equipment should not meet in order to use the resource. The requirement condition is associated with the constraint condition satisfied by the resource.
When the equipment and the resource are selected, the resource determining means uses the resource that does not satisfy the constraint condition of the equipment and has the requirement condition that satisfies the constraint condition associated with the resource. The equipment reservation system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein it is determined that the equipment can be used in the above. An equipment reservation system having an information processing device that acquires equipment reservation information from a reservation management device that accepts equipment reservations and a terminal device that communicates with the information processing device.
A constraint condition storage unit that stores the constraint conditions that the equipment satisfies regarding the use of resources, and
A constraint condition storage unit that stores constraint conditions that restrict the use of resources in the equipment, and
A requirement storage unit that stores the requirements required for the equipment for the use of resources, and a requirement storage unit.
A resource determination means for determining whether or not the resource having the requirement condition that does not satisfy the constraint condition of the equipment selected in the reservation information is selected, and a resource determination means.
When the resource determination means determines that a resource that cannot be used in the equipment is selected, the terminal device is notified that the resource that cannot be used in the equipment is selected, and the notification means.
A facility reservation system characterized by having. The terminal device is
A receiving means for receiving that a resource that cannot be used by the equipment is selected, and
A display processing means for displaying on the screen that a resource that cannot be used by the equipment is selected, and
An operation receiving means for accepting cancellation of the reservation of the resource or cancellation of the equipment, and
8. The equipment reservation system according to claim 8. The notification means notifies that a resource that cannot be used by the equipment is selected via the chat system.
8. Equipment reservation system described in. It is an equipment reservation method performed by an equipment reservation system having a reservation management device that accepts equipment reservations and a terminal device that sets reservations for the equipment in the reservation management device.
A step in which the display control means displays a reservation setting screen for accepting reservations for the equipment and resources in the equipment on the display device, and
The step in which the operation receiving means accepts the selection of the equipment, and
Refer to the constraint condition storage unit in which the constraint conditions for restricting the use of resources in the equipment are stored and the requirement condition storage unit in which the requirement conditions required for the equipment for the use of resources are stored.
When the operation receiving means accepts the selection of the equipment, the resource determining means excludes the resource having the required condition that does not satisfy the constraint condition of the selected equipment from the reservation candidates on the reservation setting screen. Steps to do and
A facility reservation method characterized by having. A reservation management device that accepts equipment reservation settings from a terminal device.
A constraint condition storage unit that stores constraint conditions that restrict the use of resources in the equipment, and
A requirement storage unit that stores the requirements required for the equipment for the use of resources, and a requirement storage unit.
A generation means for generating a reservation setting screen for accepting reservations for the equipment and resources, and
A transmission means for transmitting screen information of the reservation setting screen to the terminal device, and
A receiving means for receiving information about the equipment selected from the terminal device, and
A resource determination means for excluding the resource having the requirement condition that does not satisfy the constraint condition of the selected equipment from the reservation candidates on the reservation setting screen, and
A reservation management device characterized by having.

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