JP7285142B2 - Shared equipment management system - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a shared equipment management system that manages lending/returning of shared equipment based on reservations made by users.

Regarding a shared equipment management system that manages lending/returning of shared equipment based on a user's reservation, there is, for example, the following prior art (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In Patent Document 1, only the user who has made the reservation is allowed to rent/return shared equipment from a locked management box. Furthermore, Patent Literature 1 makes the lending/returning status visible from the outside to enhance management of shared equipment.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-182540

However, the prior art has the following problems.
In a conventional management system, an identification number is registered for each piece of common equipment managed in a management box, and a user reserves a loan based on the identification number. Here, when receiving a loan, if there are a plurality of shared equipment of the same kind, it takes time and effort to search for the shared equipment with the reserved identification number from among the plurality of shared equipment. Furthermore, if shared equipment with an identification number different from the reserved identification number is taken out by mistake, an alarm will sound.

The present invention has been made to solve the above-described problems, and when one of a plurality of shared equipment of the same kind is lent out, any shared equipment among the plurality of shared equipment of the same kind An object of the present invention is to obtain a management system for common equipment that can be rented out.

The shared equipment management system of the present invention includes a storage unit storing user information for identifying users who are permitted to reserve shared equipment, and a rental equipment name set by the user's operation input. A shared equipment management system comprising a management computer having a management computer having a reservation control unit that generates reservation information specifying a user and a rental time period for each shared equipment according to input information including rental time and return time The reservation control unit groups and manages a plurality of specific shared equipment of the same kind, enables the name of rental equipment to be registered as a group name, and allows users who wish to rent out a plurality of specific shared equipment When an operation input is performed using a group name, it is determined that any one of the plurality of grouped shared equipment can be rented.

The management system for shared equipment according to the present invention has the configuration described above, so that when one of the plurality of shared equipment of the same kind is borrowed, any shared equipment among the plurality of shared equipment of the same kind can be borrowed. It is possible to realize a system that enables the lending of

1 is an outline view of a shared equipment management system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a system configuration diagram of a shared equipment management system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention; FIG. FIG. 2 is a front view showing the internal state of the management box according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention; FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a reservation status confirmation screen when the reservation system managed by the management computer is activated in Embodiment 1 of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of an input screen when making a new reservation for shared equipment using the reservation system in Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail based on the drawings.

Embodiment 1.
FIG. 1 is an outline view of a shared equipment management system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a system configuration diagram of a shared equipment management system according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The management box 1 is a box in which shared equipment is stored. An opening/closing door 1a provided on the front surface of the management box 1 is locked by an electric lock 1b provided inside, except when lending/returning shared equipment. That is, the management box 1 is configured such that the opening/closing door 1a can be locked/unlocked by controlling the electric lock 1b.

As an example, on the upper side of the management box 1, a card reader 3 for reading user attributes from an ID card 2 possessed by a user who is permitted to reserve shared equipment, and a usage status of the management box 1 are displayed. An indicator light 4 is provided for displaying the .

The management computer 20 manages shared equipment information, user information, etc., stored in the management box 1 . Furthermore, the management computer 20 uses the reservation system 20a to manage the reservation information regarding shared equipment set by the user's input operation by the control section 20b, and the management box 1 via the communication section 20c. Reservation information is transmitted to the provided controller 5. - 特許庁

The control unit 20b updates the information necessary for management along with the management processing, and stores it in the storage unit 20d. Details of the controller 5 will be described later. Also, a configuration including the reservation system 20a and the control section 20b corresponds to a reservation control section.

FIG. 3 is a front view showing the internal state of management box 1 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. 3, illustration of the opening/closing door 1a is omitted. In the management box 1, notebook computers 10a and 10b and portable terminals 11a and 11b are stored on a shelf 1c as shared equipment.

Furthermore, in the management box 1, USB memories 12a, 12b, and 12c, which are storage devices, are stored as other shared equipment. A unique RFID tag 6 is attached to each of these shared fixtures. In order to read the tag information stored in the RFID tag 6, an antenna 7 is provided at the upper part of each stage inside the management box 1. As shown in FIG.

Also, the management box 1 is provided with a controller 5 for receiving reservation information from an external management computer 20 . When the user attribute input from the card reader 3 matches the received reservation information, the controller 5 issues an unlock command to the electric lock 1b.

Here, the controller 5 has a control section 5b, a communication section 5c, and a storage section 5d as shown in FIG.

The operation of the shared equipment management system according to the first embodiment configured as described above will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. FIG. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a reservation status confirmation screen when the reservation system 20a managed by the management computer 20 is activated in Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

This reservation system 20 a can be started from the management computer 20 . Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the reservation system 20a can be started from a user personal computer 30 which is connected to the management computer 20 via a LAN and in which user information is registered.

Here, as shown in FIG. 2, the user personal computer 30 has a control section 30b and a communication section 30c.

Furthermore, the reservation system 20a can be started from the notebook computer 10 by providing the notebook computers 10 (10a, 10b), which are shared equipment, with the same functions as the user's personal computer 30. FIG. That is, when the notebook computer 10 as shared equipment is being rented, the user of this notebook computer 10 activates the reservation system 20a to use the rented notebook computer 10, for example, at the return time. can also be changed.

The reservation status confirmation screen shown in FIG. 4 exemplifies the status of a specific management box 1 on a specific day. In this screen, two mobile terminals 11a and 11b set and registered in advance are grouped to form a mobile terminal 11, and three USB memories 12a, 12b, and 12c are grouped to form a USB memory 12. FIG.

In other words, the shared equipment management system according to the first embodiment groups and manages a plurality of specific shared equipment of the same kind, and allows the names of rental equipment to be registered as group names. Furthermore, in the shared equipment management system according to the first embodiment, when a user who wishes to rent a plurality of specific shared equipment performs an operation input using a group name, the grouped multiple shared equipment It is judged that any of the above can be borrowed.

Therefore, for example, when the user wants to borrow any one of the three USB memories 12a, 12b, and 12c corresponding to a plurality of specific shared equipment of the same kind, the user can select "USB memory ” can be set as the rental equipment name. By making such settings, the user can borrow any USB memory among the three USB memories 12a, 12b, and 12c.

In FIG. 4, the shared equipment notebook computer 10a has been reserved by User A from 12:00 to 14:00, and two of the grouped shared equipment USB memories 12 have been reserved from 10:00 to 15:00. It shows that the reservation has been completed by the user B until the time. In this example, the notebook computer 10a and the notebook computer 10b are individually managed, but like the portable terminal 11 and the USB memory 12, they can be grouped as a plurality of specific shared equipment of the same kind.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of an input screen when making a new reservation for shared equipment using the reservation system 20a in Embodiment 1 of the present invention. The reservation screen shown in FIG. 5 is displayed by clicking an unreserved portion on the reservation status confirmation screen in FIG. 4 or pressing the reservation button shown in the lower right of FIG.

A user who makes a reservation for shared equipment inputs the name of the rental equipment desired to be rented, the number of rentals, the rental time, the return time, and the user information as input information on the input screen shown in FIG. Press the reservation registration button. Here, the user information included in the input information corresponds to user setting items, and multiple users who actually borrow shared equipment can be entered. The reason for this is that the person who registers the reservation and the person who actually lends/returns the shared equipment may differ. This is to keep

Here, in the reservation status of FIG. 4, a case will be described in which the user X newly clicks the bottom column of the USB memory with no all-day reservation and makes a reservation on the input screen of FIG. If the number of units set as the number of rentals is 1, and the rental time period, which is the time period from the rental time to the return time, overlaps with the already reserved 10:00 to 15:00, the reservation is registered at the bottom. be done.

On the other hand, if the rental time period does not overlap with the already reserved 10:00 to 15:00, for example, if the rental time is 16:00 and the return time is 18:00, the reservation is registered at the top. By performing such reservation allocation, even if there is a new user who wants to reserve a USB memory for the whole day, it becomes possible to make a reservation, and the utilization efficiency of shared equipment can be improved.

Next, the operation on the management box 1 side will be described. The controller 5 installed in the management box 1 receives managed user information and reservation information from the management computer 20, and stores them in the internal storage unit 5d.

The card reader 3 allows the user who made the reservation or the user registered in the user setting item column at the time of reservation to hold the ID card 2 held over the card reader 3 in order to receive a loan. , to read user attributes. Identification information corresponding to the user attributes read by the card reader 3 is transmitted to the controller 5 .

The controller 5 compares the user attribute received from the card reader 3 with the user attribute in the reservation information stored in the storage section 5d. Furthermore, the controller 5 compares the current time with the reservation time period (from the rental time to the return time) in the reservation information, and if the user attributes match and the current time is included in the reservation time period If it is to be unlocked, it outputs an unlocking command to the electric lock 1b. This allows the user to open the opening/closing door 1a.

The controller 5 reads information from the RFID tag 6 via the antenna 7 at predetermined time intervals. The controller 5 can determine that the shared equipment has been taken out by the user when the information on the RFID tag 6 attached to the shared rental equipment in the reservation information cannot be read. After determining that the shared equipment has been taken out, the controller 5 confirms that the detection switch for detecting the closed state of the opening/closing door 1a has been turned on, and then outputs a locking command to the electric lock 1b.

Next, the controller 5 transmits information on all the RFID tags 6 in the management box 1 read from the antenna 7 to the management computer 20 . As a result, the management computer 20 can generate rental information indicating whether or not each piece of common equipment is stored in the management box based on the information of the RFID tag 6. You can manage the current lending situation of

The tag information for a plurality of grouped shared equipment includes group tag information for identifying a common group. For example, the tag information for each of the three USB memories 12a, 12b, and 12c includes group tag information for identifying the USB memories as a common group. Therefore, the controller 5 and the management computer 20 can manage the lending status of a plurality of specific shared fixtures of the same kind based on the lending information generated based on the group tag information.

The operation when the user who made the reservation or the user registered in the column of the user setting items at the time of reservation returns the device is the same as the above-described operation when renting the device. At the time of return, the controller 5 can determine that the shared equipment has been returned by confirming that the information on the RFID tag 6 has changed from an unreadable state to a readable state.

Here, the controller 5 lights or blinks the indicator lamp 4 when the comparison result between the reservation information and the information of the RFID tag 6 attached to the actually rented/returned common equipment does not match. As a result, the user can confirm on the spot that he/she is going to rent/return the shared equipment that is different from the reservation.

Note that the controller 5 uses group tag information for identifying a common group when judging whether or not the comparison results match for a plurality of grouped shared fixtures. .

Next, a detailed description will be given of the processing when the rented shared equipment is not returned by the return time. When a predetermined period of time has elapsed after the return time, the management computer 20 notifies the user personal computer 30 corresponding to the user who made the reservation that the return time has passed by e-mail or the like. As a result, it is possible to call attention to the case where the user carelessly forgets to return the item.

Furthermore, the management computer 20 sends a command to the controller 5 to turn on or blink the indicator lamp 4 . As a result, the manager of the management box 1 can visually recognize the delay in returning shared equipment.

Next, a specific configuration for each shared equipment stored in the management box 1 will be described in detail. Inside the management box 1, as shown in FIG. 3, a power outlet 9 and a LAN cable 14 for LAN connection are provided. If the shared equipment is the notebook computer 10, the built-in battery can be charged by inserting the power plug of the notebook computer 10 into the power outlet 9 when the notebook computer 10 is returned.

Furthermore, when the laptop computer 10 is returned, the LAN cable 14 is connected to enable remote activation via the LAN cable 14 . Here, when the management computer 20 obtains the program update information regarding the internal program of the notebook computer 10, it activates the notebook computer 10 via the LAN cable 14 and updates the internal program. good too. By adopting such a configuration, the program of the notebook computer 10 as shared equipment can be kept up-to-date.

In addition, a stored information erasing device 8 may be provided in the management box 1 in order to erase the stored information when the storage device such as the USB memory 12 and the SD card (not shown) is returned.

When the device is returned, the stored information can be erased by storing the USB memory 12, the SD card, etc. in the stored information erasing device 8. FIG. As a result, even if the stored information is forgotten to be erased when the shared storage device is returned, it is automatically erased, and the information can be prevented from leaking to others.

In the above description, an example of one management box 1 is shown, but the number of management boxes 1 is not limited to one, and multiple units can be applied. The management computer 20 can easily manage a plurality of management boxes 1 by managing each management box 1 with a different number.

Also, the card reader 3 is an example of an identification information acquisition device that reads identification information for specifying a user, and is not limited to the card reader 3 as long as it can read identification information.

Moreover, the indicator light 4 only needs to be able to display the usage state of the management box 1 or to make an alarm announcement.

As described above, according to the shared equipment management system according to the first embodiment, the following effects can be obtained.
- The reservation control unit groups and manages a plurality of specific shared fixtures of the same kind, and can register rental fixture names as group names. As a result, when a user who wishes to rent a plurality of specific shared equipment performs an operation input using a group name, it is determined that any of the plurality of grouped shared equipment can be rented. be able to.

・As input information, it is equipped with a configuration that allows setting of the number of rentals related to a plurality of specific shared equipment. As a result, when the group name and the number of rental items are set as the input information, the reservation control unit determines that the number of units corresponding to the number of rental items can be rented out of the plurality of grouped shared equipment. can be done.

・As input information, it is equipped with a configuration in which multiple users who actually use multiple specific shared equipment can be set. As a result, the reservation control unit can determine that the set user is the person who actually lends and returns the specified plurality of shared equipment.

1 management box 1a opening and closing door 1b electric lock 2 ID card 3 card reader 4 indicator light 5 controller 6 RFID tag 7 antenna 8 stored information erasing device 9 power outlet 10, 10a, 10b notebook personal computer, 11, 11a, 11b portable terminal, 12, 12a, 12b, 12c USB memory, 14 LAN cable, 20 management computer, 20a reservation system.

Claims (7)

a storage unit storing user information for identifying users who are permitted to reserve shared equipment;
a reservation control unit that generates reservation information that identifies the user and the rental time period for each shared equipment according to the input information including the rental equipment name, rental time, and return time set by the user's operation input; A shared equipment management system comprising a management computer having
The reservation control unit
Grouping and managing a plurality of specific shared fixtures of the same kind, making it possible to register the names of the rental fixtures as group names;
When the user who desires to rent out the plurality of specific shared equipment performs the operation input using the group name, any of the plurality of grouped shared equipment can be rented. Judge Shared equipment management system. The input information includes the number of loans related to the plurality of specific shared equipment,
The reservation control unit
1. When the group name and the number of rentals are set as the input information, it is determined that the number of units corresponding to the number of rentals can be rented out of the plurality of grouped shared equipment. The management system for shared equipment described in . The input information includes user setting items for setting a plurality of users who actually use the plurality of specific shared equipment,
The shared equipment according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the reservation control unit determines that the user set in the user setting item is the person who actually lends and returns the plurality of specific shared equipment. management system. a management box having an opening/closing door that is locked/unlocked by an electric lock, in which shared equipment corresponding to the name of the rental equipment is stored;
an antenna installed in the management box for reading tag information attached to the shared equipment while the shared equipment is stored in the management box;
an identification information acquisition device that reads identification information possessed by a user of the management box;
generating rental information indicating whether or not each shared equipment is stored in the management box based on the tag information transmitted from the antenna, and the reservation information generated by the reservation control unit; a controller that locks and unlocks the electric lock based on a result of comparison with the identification information read by the identification information acquisition device;
further comprising
The tag information for the plurality of grouped shared equipment includes group tag information for identifying a common group,
The controller is
When the user takes out the shared equipment reserved in advance from the management box, the shared equipment corresponding to the tag information that cannot be read by the antenna due to being taken out by the user is the reservation information. If it is different from the shared equipment reserved in advance for the user, output an alarm,
When the plurality of grouped shared fixtures are taken out as the pre-reserved shared fixtures, shared fixtures corresponding to group tag information contained in tag information that cannot be read by the antenna. 4. The management system for shared equipment according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein an alarm is output when the shared equipment is different from the shared equipment reserved in advance for the user according to the reservation information. 5. The shared equipment according to claim 4, wherein when the shared equipment is a storage device, a stored information erasing device for erasing the stored information of the storage device by housing the storage device is installed in the management box. Equipment management system. 6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein when the shared equipment is a notebook computer, the notebook computer has a function to activate the reservation control section of the management computer. Management system for shared equipment. 7. The management of shared equipment according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein, when the shared equipment is a notebook computer, the management computer has a function of transmitting program update information of the notebook computer to the notebook computer. system.

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