JP7470428B2 - Information management server, information management method, and information management system for providing environmental contribution information through use of clothing sharing service - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an information management server, an information management method, and an information management system for providing environmental contribution information through the use of a clothing sharing service.

In the fashion industry, attention has been focused on measures to address the environmental burden caused by mass production and disposal of clothing in order to realize a sustainable society (see, for example, Non-Patent Document 1). One solution to this mass production and disposal that has attracted attention in various fields is the shared use of items, such as sharing and rental, which does not require ownership of items. It is expected that the spread of shared services such as sharing and rental for the use of clothing will reduce the amount of production and disposal, thereby contributing to a reduction in the environmental burden.

On the other hand, examples of inventions disclosed in relation to clothing rental services include an invention relating to a system that utilizes the Internet to expand the range of lenders and borrowers and promote matching (see Patent Documents 1 and 2), and an invention relating to a recycling event goods rental system that reuses shirts and other items worn at events by replacing printed marks on them (see Patent Document 3).

JP 2010-267123 A JP 2009-104294 A JP 2011-253508 A

Ministry of the Environment website "SUSTAINABLE FASHION: Making fashion sustainable in the future" [Retrieved August 16, 2021], Internet <URL: https://www.env.go.jp/policy/sustainable_fashion/>

According to these prior art technologies, it is expected that encouraging the use of rental services will have the effect of reducing the amount of clothing produced and disposed of, but what is particularly needed these days is a mechanism to raise consumer awareness of the environmental problems caused by the mass production and disposal of clothing, and to make visible the contributions of consumers who are interested in these issues to reducing the environmental burden, encouraging them to become more actively involved.

In addition to reducing the total amount of clothing produced and disposed of, what is important for reducing the environmental impact of the clothing sector is to take measures that also consider the qualitative aspect, such as reducing the use of resources that should be avoided, such as high-environmental-load materials that are considered to have a large impact on the environment, and replacing them with environmentally friendly materials such as unused resources and renewable resources. When visualizing environmental contributions, it is preferable to include a perspective on such materials.

The present invention has been made to solve these problems, and aims to provide an information management server, an information management method, and an information management system for providing information on environmental contributions made through the use of clothing sharing services.

The present invention, which solves such problems, is an information management server that includes a storage means for storing product information including product identification information for each product used by a user in a clothing sharing service, a recording means for receiving information including the identification information of a product delivered for use by the user from a first terminal installed at a location where the clothing to be shared is provided, and recording predetermined information including the product identification information as usage information of the product, and a transmission means for receiving the product identification information read from the product from the first terminal or a second terminal operated by the user, and transmitting to the first terminal or the second terminal environmental contribution information resulting from the use of the product, the information including the reduction amount of a predetermined avoided resource that is to be avoided by the use of the product, calculated using the number of uses of the product identified from the usage information including the product identification information, and the consumption amount of a predetermined environmental contribution resource that contributes to reducing the environmental load consumed by the use of the product.

According to the present invention, when each clothing product shared by a user is handed over to the user through loan or the like, the usage information is recorded on the server. When the user transmits the product identification information to the server, environmental contribution information including the amount of avoided resource reduction and the amount of environmentally contributing resources consumed, calculated according to the number of times each product specified by the usage information is used, can be viewed on the user's terminal, etc., so that the service user's contribution to reducing environmental load can be visualized, and awareness of environmental issues can be promoted.

The clothing sharing service that is the subject of the present invention is a service in which the same product is used jointly by multiple users, and there are no particular limitations on the name of the service, such as sharing or rental, or on the form of ownership (whether the service provider owns the target product and rents it to the user, or whether the user is a joint owner of the target product, etc.). The location where the shared clothing is provided is not limited to a brick-and-mortar store where the user visits to receive the product, but also includes a distribution center where the product is delivered to the user by a home delivery service. The type of the first terminal installed at the clothing providing location is also not particularly limited. The second terminal that is operated by the user and transmits environmental contribution information can be a terminal that can be connected to a network, such as a smartphone, a personal computer, or a tablet terminal.

The specific avoided resources, the use of which is to be avoided and reduced through the use of the product, included in the environmental contribution information provided by the present invention are assumed to be, for example, materials with a high environmental load such as polyester, but the type is not particularly limited. In addition, the specific environmental contribution resources that contribute to reducing the environmental load consumed through the use of the product can be unused resources that are currently discarded without being used, or renewable resources such as biomass, for example, bagasse, which is the residue left over from straining sugar cane.

In the case of a rental service, the number of times a product is used to calculate the amount of avoided resources and the amount of environmentally-contributing resources consumed can be the number of times the target product has been rented out. This number of times can be any number that reflects the frequency of use of the product. For example, the number of times the product has been used can be counted in units of the number of days it has been rented out, taking into account the length of the rental period.

The present invention can also be characterized in that for each product whose product information is stored in the storage means, an expected number of uses is set based on the general number of uses of the product, and the amount of reduction in the avoided resources included in the environmental contribution information transmitted by the transmission means increases until the number of uses of the product reaches the expected number of uses set for the product, and increases with the increase in the number of uses even after the expected number of uses is exceeded, whereas the amount of consumption of the environmental contribution resources included in the environmental contribution information increases until the number of uses of the product reaches the expected number of uses set for the product, and the value when the expected number of uses is reached is set as an upper limit, and the number of uses after the expected number of uses is exceeded is not reflected in the calculation of the consumption amount.

The amount of avoided resource reduction in this invention increases as the number of uses increases, without setting an upper limit, because the more times the target product is used, the fewer opportunities there are to use the avoided resource. In contrast, the amount of environmental contribution resource consumed cannot exceed the weight actually used in the product, so it is desirable to set a certain upper limit even in cases where the number of uses increases. With the above configuration, it becomes possible to provide users with environmental contribution information that accurately reflects the properties of each of these resources.

The present invention can also be characterized in that the product information stored in the storage means is associated with purchasing information regarding the purchase of raw materials, including the content of the environmentally contributing resources used in the manufacture of each product, and the consumption amount of the environmentally contributing resources included in the environmentally contributing information transmitted by the transmission means is calculated using the content of the environmentally contributing resources contained in the product calculated from the content of the environmentally contributing resources included in the purchasing information associated with the product whose identification information has been received.

When clothing is the subject of the present invention, the amount of resources contained in each product is determined by the purchase of raw materials, so by configuring it as described above, it becomes possible to accurately calculate the consumption of environmentally contributing resources.

The present invention can also be characterized in that the usage information recorded by the recording means includes identification information of the user who uses the delivered product, and when the transmission means receives the user's identification information from the first terminal or the second terminal, it transmits to the first terminal or the second terminal environmental contribution information resulting from the user's use of the clothing sharing service, the information including the amount of avoided resource reduction resulting from the user's use of the clothing sharing service and the amount of environmental contribution resource consumption resulting from the user's use of the clothing sharing service, calculated using the number of times the user has used one or more products identified from the usage information including the user's identification information.

In the above configuration, each product whose product information is stored in the storage means is set with an expected number of uses based on the general number of uses of the product, and in calculating the amount of reduction in avoided resources and the amount of consumption of the environmental contribution resources contained in the environmental contribution information transmitted by the transmission means, the number of uses of the product by the user after the number of uses of the product exceeds the expected number of uses set for the product may be reflected in the amount of reduction in avoided resources and not reflected in the amount of consumption of the environmental contribution resources.

With the above configuration, it becomes possible to provide users with environmental contribution information per user based on their past use of shared services, rather than per product used by the user. It is preferable to configure the environmental contribution information per user to provide accurate information by setting a certain upper limit for the calculation of the consumption of environmental contribution resources.

The present invention can also be specified as an information management method executed by the information management server according to the present invention.

The information management method according to the present invention is characterized in that it comprises a recording step in which an information management server equipped with a storage means for storing product information including product identification information for each product used by a user in a clothing sharing service receives information including the identification information of a product delivered for use by the user from a first terminal installed at a clothing provision location to be shared, and records predetermined information including the product identification information as usage information of the product; and a transmission step in which, when the information management server receives the product identification information read from the product from the first terminal or a second terminal operated by the user, transmits to the first terminal or the second terminal environmental contribution information resulting from the use of the product, the information including the reduction amount of a predetermined avoided use resource that is to be avoided by the use of the product, calculated using the number of uses of the product identified from the usage information including the product identification information, and the consumption amount of a predetermined environmental contribution resource that contributes to the reduction of the environmental load consumed by the use of the product, to the first terminal or the second terminal.

The information management method according to the present invention can also be specified as an information management method executed by each configuration of the information management server according to the present invention described above.

The present invention can also be specified as an information management system that includes an information management server according to the present invention.

The information management system according to the present invention is characterized by comprising: products used by users in a clothing sharing service capable of reading an identification number that identifies the product; a first terminal installed at a location where the clothing to be shared is provided and equipped with a function for reading the identification number from the product; a storage means for storing product information including product identification information for each of the products; a recording means for receiving information including the identification information of a product delivered for use by the user from the first terminal and recording predetermined information including the product identification information as usage information of the product; and an information management server equipped with a transmission means for transmitting to the first terminal or the second terminal, upon receiving the product identification information read from the product from the first terminal or a second terminal operated by the user, environmental contribution information resulting from the use of the product including the reduction amount of a predetermined avoided use resource that is to be avoided by the use of the product, calculated using the number of uses of the product specified from the usage information including the product identification information, and the consumption amount of a predetermined environmental contribution resource that contributes to the reduction of the environmental load consumed by the use of the product.

The information management system according to the present invention can also be specified as an information management system that includes each of the configurations of the information management server according to the present invention described above.

According to the present invention, users of clothing sharing and rental services can visualize the contributions they make to reducing the environmental impact of the products they use, or the services they have used to date. This is expected to raise consumer awareness of the environmental problems caused by the mass production and disposal of clothing, and encourage consumers who are interested in these issues to become more actively involved.

In addition, the contribution to reducing the environmental burden is visualized as the amount of resources avoided and the amount of resources that contribute to the environment that are consumed, so it is expected that this will encourage awareness of caring for the environment from a qualitative perspective, by limiting the use of materials that are considered to have a large environmental burden and replacing them with environmentally friendly materials such as unused resources and renewable resources.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an overview of an embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a clothing rental information management server corresponding to the information management server according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of purchase information stored in the clothing rental information management server 10 of FIG. 2. 3 is a diagram showing an example of product information stored in the clothing rental information management server 10 of FIG. 2. 3 is a diagram showing an example of user information stored in the clothing rental information management server 10 of FIG. 2. 3 is a diagram showing an example of rental information stored in the clothing rental information management server 10 of FIG. 2. 3 is a diagram showing an example of environmental contribution information for the entire service displayed on the screen of the user terminal 40 of FIG. 2. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of environmental contribution information for each product displayed on the screen of the user terminal 40 of FIG. 2. FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of environmental contribution information for each user displayed on the screen of the user terminal 40 of FIG. 2. FIG. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing the relationship between the amount of avoided resources (environmentally-loading materials) reduced, which is displayed as environmental contribution information in the present invention, and the number of times the product is used. FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the relationship between the consumption amount of environmentally-contributing resources (bagasse) displayed as environmental contribution information in the present invention and the number of times a product is used. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of a process flow in which the information management server (clothing rental information management server 30) transmits environmental contribution information to a second terminal (user terminal 40) in the present invention.

The following describes in detail the embodiment of the present invention with reference to the drawings. In the following description, the present invention is applied to a clothing rental service, and the amount of reduction in avoided resources displayed as environmental contribution information is the amount of reduction in high environmental load materials, and the amount of consumption of bagasse (unused sugarcane waste) is used as the amount of environmental contribution resources consumed. However, the following description, including these, shows an example of an embodiment of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to the embodiment exemplified below.

Figure 1 illustrates an outline of an embodiment of the present invention. In this example, the main users are assumed to be tourists and business travelers visiting Okinawa, and the service targets "kariyushi wear" made from fabric made of bagasse (sugar cane waste), an unused resource that is generally treated as waste and that contributes to reducing carbon dioxide emissions by carbonizing it rather than incinerating it when disposed of. A clothing rental information management server 10, which is operated by a service provider and corresponds to the information management server of the present invention, is connected via the Internet to an administrator terminal 20 operated by the service administrator, a rental terminal 30 installed at a rental store where the product (kariyushi wear) is handed over to the user, and a user terminal 40 such as a smartphone operated by the user.

The purchasing information entered into the administrator terminal 20 by the service administrator regarding the purchase of raw materials used to manufacture the clothing used in the rental service, and the product information regarding each product (each piece of Kariyushi wear) manufactured from those raw materials and used in the rental service are each stored in the database of the clothing rental information management server 10. A product ID that identifies each product is assigned to the product information, and an IC tag with an identification code corresponding to this product ID written therein is attached to each product. Note that the type of IC tag used here is not particularly limited, and other means such as a two-dimensional code may be used as long as it is possible to read an identification code that identifies an individual product from the product.

The products (kariyushi wear) used in the rental service are stored at rental stores such as clothing stores, hotels, souvenir shops, etc., which serve as the contact points through which users receive the products, and users visit the rental store to receive the products they are renting. A rental terminal 30 connected to the Internet, such as a personal computer, is installed in the rental store, and when renting a product, staff at the rental store reads the product identification code from the IC tag attached to the product to be rented using an IC card reader or the like, and transmits information regarding the rental of the product together with the user ID that identifies the user (which may be read from a membership card or smartphone app held by the user) from the rental terminal 30 to the clothing rental information management server 10.

Note that, although the example shown here shows a user visiting a brick-and-mortar store such as a clothing retailer to rent a product, a delivery method in which the user specifies the product they wish to rent using a smartphone app or the like and the product is delivered by a home delivery service may also be adopted, in which case the rental terminal 30 would be installed in a distribution center or the like that dispatches the product specified by the user.

The rental information sent from the rental terminal 30 is stored in the database of the clothing rental information management server 10 as usage information in a specified format that includes the product ID of the rented product and the user ID of the user who rented the product. In this way, the clothing rental information management server 10 accumulates usage information that can identify the number of times each product or each user has been used.

Users of the rental service can check the environmental contribution information by using the rental service using a user terminal 40 that can connect to the Internet, such as a smartphone, by following the steps below.

If a user wishes to check the environmental contribution of a rented product, the user reads an identification code (such as NFCID) that identifies the individual product from the IC tag attached to the product using the NFC function of the user terminal 40 (if the user terminal 40 is a smartphone, the generally installed NFC function can be used, if the user terminal 40 has an RFID tag reading function, an RFID tag can be used, or if a two-dimensional code is attached to the product, a two-dimensional code reading function using the camera of the user terminal 40 can be used), and transmits this code from the user terminal 40 to the clothing rental information management server 10.

The clothing rental information management server 10 searches for usage information using the product ID identified from the received identification code as a key, and identifies the number of times the product has been used. Using the number of times of use identified in this way, the amount of avoided resources (in the following example, "high environmental load materials" such as polyester) that should be avoided through the use of the product and the amount of environmental contribution resources (in the following example, "bagasse") that contribute to reducing the environmental load consumed through the use of the product are calculated. Environmental contribution information resulting from the use of the product, including the calculated amount of avoided resources reduced and the amount of environmental contribution resources consumed, is sent to the user terminal 40 and output on the screen of the user terminal 40.

When a user wishes to check the environmental contributions made through the use of the rental service, the user sends a user ID that identifies the user from the user terminal 40 to the clothing rental information management server 10 by logging in to their personal page, etc.

The clothing rental information management server 10 searches for the usage information of the user in the past using the received user ID as a key, and identifies the number of times the user has used one or more products. Using the number of times the rental service has been used by the user identified in this way, the amount of reduction in avoided resources (in the following example, "high environmental load materials" such as polyester) that should be avoided due to the user's use of the rental service and the amount of consumption of environmentally contributing resources (in the following example, "bagasse") that contribute to reducing the environmental load consumed due to the user's use of the rental service are calculated. The environmental contribution information resulting from the user's use of the rental service, including the calculated amount of reduction in avoided resources and the amount of consumption of environmentally contributing resources, is sent to the user terminal 40 and output on the screen of the user terminal 40.

The terminal capable of viewing such environmental contribution information is not limited to the user terminal 40 operated by the user himself/herself. The configuration may be such that when an identification key read from a product or a user ID of a user visiting a store is transmitted from a rental terminal 30 operated by a staff member of the rental store to the clothing rental information management server 10, the rental terminal 30 can output information similar to that of the user terminal 40.

The block diagram in Figure 2 shows an example of the configuration of a clothing rental information management server 10 corresponding to the information management server of the present invention. The clothing rental information management server 10 is connected to an administrator terminal 20, a rental terminal 30, and a user terminal 40 via a network such as the Internet.

The clothing rental information management server 10 is a server computer connected to the Internet and is equipped with a CPU, main memory, and auxiliary storage devices such as a HDD. In the clothing rental information management server 10, a program stored in the auxiliary storage device is read into the main memory, and the CPU executes arithmetic processing to realize a specified function.

The physical configuration of the computer constituting the clothing rental information management server 10 is not particularly limited, and functions other than the functions necessary for providing the environmental contribution information of the present invention may be provided in the same computer. Furthermore, each function necessary for the present invention may be realized physically by a single computer, or may be realized by multiple computers working together.

The user information recording unit 15, purchase information recording unit 16, product information recording unit 17, usage information recording unit 18, and environmental contribution information providing unit 19 of the clothing rental information management server 10, as well as the avoided resource reduction amount calculation unit 191 and environmental contribution resource consumption amount calculation unit 192 contained therein, are all functionally specified, and the programs corresponding to the functions of each unit stored in an auxiliary storage device such as an HDD are read into the main memory, and the functions corresponding to each unit are realized by executing arithmetic processing by the CPU.

The user information storage unit 11, purchase information storage unit 12, product information storage unit 13, and usage information storage unit 14 of the clothing rental information management server 10 are assigned predetermined storage areas of an auxiliary storage device such as an HDD. These storage areas do not necessarily have to be physically located on one computer, but may be located on multiple computers such as computers that make up a database server.

The administrator terminal 20 is a network terminal that can connect to the clothing rental information management server 10 via a network such as the Internet and input and output data, but the type of terminal is not particularly limited and can be, for example, a personal computer.

The rental terminal 30 is also a network terminal that can connect to the clothing rental information management server 10 via a network such as the Internet and input and output data. There is no particular limit to the type of terminal, and a personal computer or the like can be used, but it is necessary that the terminal has the function of reading the product identification code from an IC tag or the like attached to the product (kariyushi wear), or that it is a terminal that can be connected to a peripheral device such as an IC card reader to realize such a function.

The user terminal 40 is also a network terminal that can connect to the clothing rental information management server 10 via a network such as the Internet and input and output data, and although there is no particular limitation on the type, it is preferable to use a smartphone or tablet terminal that can run a web browser or dedicated application software. The user terminal 40 also needs to be a terminal that has the function of reading product identification codes from IC tags or the like attached to products, or a terminal that can be connected to peripheral devices such as IC card readers to realize such functions.

Based on the above configuration, we will explain the premise and processing flow for the clothing rental information management server 10 to output environmental contribution information to the user terminal 40 according to the present invention, using the data and screen examples shown in Figure 3-12 and a flowchart.

When providing a rental service using the clothing rental information management server 10, the following basic information related to the products to be rented to users in this invention is input from the administrator terminal 20 to the clothing rental information management server 10.

First, when raw materials (fabrics) to be used in manufacturing clothing for the rental service are purchased, specific information about the purchased raw materials is entered into the administrator terminal 20 and transmitted to the clothing rental information management server 10. When the clothing rental information management server 10 receives this information, the purchase information recording unit 16 is activated, and the newly stored purchase information is recorded in a specific format in the purchase information storage unit 12.

Figure 3 shows an example of purchasing information stored in the purchasing information storage unit 12. Each piece of purchasing information is assigned a purchasing ID that identifies the purchased raw material (fabric), and includes information such as the purchase date and the amount of bagasse (sugar cane residue), an environmentally friendly resource, contained in the raw material.

Next, when a product (kariyushi wear) is manufactured from the purchased raw materials (fabric), the administrator inputs specific information about the manufactured product into the administrator terminal 20 and transmits it to the clothing rental information management server 10. When the clothing rental information management server 10 receives this information, the product information recording unit 17 is activated, and the newly stored product information is recorded in a specific format in the product information storage unit 13.

Figure 4 shows an example of product information stored in the product information storage unit 13. Each piece of product information is assigned a product ID that identifies the manufactured product, and is recorded in association with an NFCID (identification code) that can be read from an IC tag attached to the corresponding product. In addition to information such as the manufacturing date and size, each piece of product information also includes a purchase ID that identifies the raw materials used to manufacture the product.

When searching for product information using this purchase ID as a key, it is possible to identify how many products were produced from the raw materials purchased at one time, and in the example of FIG. 3, each purchase information record has the number of products produced from the raw materials purchased. Once the number of products produced from the raw materials purchased at one time has been identified, it is possible to calculate the bagasse content per product by dividing the bagasse content contained in the raw materials by the number of products. In the examples of FIG. 3 and FIG. 4, the purchase information records that 12 products were produced from the raw materials with purchase ID "1", so the bagasse content of product ID "101" produced using the raw materials is "1 kg", which is 12 kg divided by 12 (points). For example, such calculations can be performed by the product information recording unit 17 when recording product information in FIG. 2. However, the method of calculating the amount of bagasse used in a product (weight of environmentally contributing resources) is not limited to the method using such purchasing information; for example, the amount of bagasse used in each product identified by other methods may be entered into the administrator terminal 20 and recorded directly in the product information.

It is preferable for users who use the rental service using the clothing rental information management server 10 to register before starting to use the service. The user accesses a specific web page provided by the clothing rental information management server 10 from the user terminal 40, or starts a specific application software on the user terminal 40, causing the user terminal 40 to display a user registration screen, enters specific information such as the user's name, and sends it to the clothing rental information management server 10. When the clothing rental information management server 10 receives this information, the user information recording unit 15 is started, and the newly stored user information is recorded in the user information storage unit 11 in a specific format.

Figure 5 shows an example of user information stored in the user information storage unit 11. Each piece of user information is assigned a user ID that identifies the user, and includes information such as the user's name and date of joining. An authentication key such as a password used for identity authentication when accessing My Page may also be included here.

When a rental service using the clothing rental information management server 10 is started and products are rented out at rental stores, information regarding the rental of the products is sent from the rental terminal 30 to the clothing rental information management server 10 when the products are rented out.

Specifically, the products (kariyushi wear) used in the rental service are fitted with IC tags containing an NFCID corresponding to the product ID that identifies each product, and the NFCID is read from the IC tag attached to the product to be rented out, and together with the user ID that identifies the user renting the product (which can be read from a membership card or smartphone app held by the user), specific information relating to the rental of the product is sent from the rental terminal 30 to the clothing rental information management server 10. When the clothing rental information management server 10 receives this information, the usage information recording unit 18 is activated, and the newly stored usage information is recorded in the usage information storage unit 14 in a specific format.

Figure 6 shows an example of usage information stored in the usage information storage unit 14. Each piece of usage information is assigned a usage ID that identifies each product rental, and includes information such as the product ID of the rented product, the user ID of the user who rented the product, and the rental and return dates. In this way, the usage information storage unit 14 of the clothing rental information management server 10 accumulates usage information that can identify the number of times each product or user has been used.

As described above, when the purchasing information, product information, user information, and usage information are stored in each section of the clothing rental information management server 10, and the user accesses a specific web page provided by the clothing rental information management server 10 from the user terminal 40, or starts a specific application software on the user terminal 40, the processing flow shown in the flowchart of Figure 12 is executed to output environmental contribution information to the user terminal 40.

When a user accesses the clothing rental information management server 10 by opening a specific web page in the browser of the user terminal 40 or by starting a specific application on the user terminal 40, a request is made to call up a top page of information on the rental service. The clothing rental information management server 10 starts the environmental contribution information providing unit 19, and transmits to the user terminal 40 (S1) a top page that displays environmental contribution information for the entire service, etc., calculated by the avoided resource reduction amount calculation unit 191 and the environmental contribution resource consumption amount calculation unit 192, and the transmitted information is output to the user terminal 40.

Figure 7 shows an example of a top page screen that displays environmental contribution information for the entire service, output to the user terminal 40. In this example, the weight of "high environmental load materials reduced so far" is displayed as a resource to be avoided that has been reduced in total for the rental service, and the weight of "bagasse consumed so far" is displayed as an environmental contribution resource that contributes to reducing the environmental load consumed in total for the rental service. In addition, the total number of people who have used the service for the entire rental service is displayed as "number of people who have used it so far."

The "number of people who have used the service" does not refer to the number of registered users or the actual number of users who have used the service, but rather to the total number of people who have used the service. This can be determined from the number of pieces of usage information stored in the usage information storage unit 14 (total number of times the service has been used), and in this example, it is "400 people" (equivalent to 400 uses).

The weight of "high environmental load materials reduced so far" displays the total weight of high environmental load materials reduced by the use of all products that are used in the rental service and are stored in the product information storage unit 13. The calculation of this value, which is performed by the avoided resource reduction amount calculation unit 191, uses the number of times all products are used, but the method of setting the weight of high environmental load materials reduced per use that is multiplied by the number of times the product is used is not particularly limited.

The weight of the environmentally-impact material that is reduced is not the weight of the material actually used in the manufacture of the product, but the theoretical value of the weight that is estimated to be reduced, so a value determined in some way can be adopted as a value specific to each product or a value common to multiple products. In the example of Figure 7-9, the weight of the environmentally-impact material used per unit of general kariyushi wear is estimated to be 1 kg, and the weight of the environmentally-impact material used per unit of kariyushi wear made from bagasse used in the rental service is estimated to be 0.1 kg (0 kg if no environmentally-impact material is used at all), and the weight of the environmentally-impact material reduced per unit of kariyushi wear is calculated by subtracting 0.1 kg from 1 kg to obtain 0.9 kg, and this weight is divided by 20 times, which is set as the expected number of times the product is used (the average number of times the kariyushi wear purchased by a consumer is worn), and the weight of the environmentally-impact material reduced per use, 0.045 kg, is adopted as the estimated value common to all products. In this example, it is assumed that the weight of the high environmental load material reduced per use of the product is a fixed value, but if the weight of the high environmental load material reduced increases as the number of times the product is used increases, a variable value (for example, 0.04 kg for the 1st to 10th uses, 0.05 kg for the 11th to 20th uses, and 0.06 kg from the 21st use onwards) may be used for the weight of the high environmental load material reduced per use.

In the example of Figure 7, the total number of times the service has been used (here 400 times, which is the same as the total number of people using the service as a whole, as explained above) that can be determined from the number of usage information items stored in the usage information storage unit 14 is multiplied by the weight of high environmental load materials reduced per usage (0.045 kg) to get "18 kg", which is displayed as the weight of "high environmental load materials reduced so far".

The weight of "bagasse consumed so far" displays the total weight of bagasse consumed by the use of all products that are used in the rental service and are stored in the product information storage unit 13. The number of times each product is used is used to calculate this value, which is performed by the environmentally contributing resource consumption calculation unit 192, but there is no particular limitation on the method of setting the weight of bagasse consumed per use that is multiplied by the number of times the product is used.

The weight of bagasse consumed for a product is limited to the weight of bagasse actually used in the manufacture of that product, so the weight of bagasse used in the manufacture of a product can be divided by the expected number of uses of the product (the average number of times the kariyushi wear purchased by a consumer will be worn) to calculate the weight of bagasse consumed per use. For example, in the example of Figure 4, the weight of bagasse used in the manufacture of the product identified by product ID "101" is 1 kg, so this is divided by the expected number of uses, 20 (times), to get 0.05 kg, which is the weight of bagasse consumed per use of the product identified by product ID "101". In this example, it is assumed that the weight of bagasse consumed per use of the product is a fixed value, but if the weight of bagasse consumed increases as the number of times the product is used increases and becomes the same as the weight of bagasse actually used when the expected number of uses is reached, a variable value (for example, 0.04 kg for the 1st to 10th uses, 0.06 kg for the 11th to 20th uses, etc.) may be used for the weight of bagasse consumed per use.

In the example of Figure 7, the number of times each product has been used is identified from all the usage information stored in the usage information storage unit 14, and for products that have been lent out more than the expected number of times, the number of times that has exceeded the expected number of times is excluded, and for products that have been lent out less than the expected number of times, only the number of times that they have actually been lent out is considered (the bagasse consumption for that product is less than the weight of the bagasse actually used), and the value obtained by multiplying the number of times of use corresponding to the consumption of bagasse by the weight of bagasse consumed per use, in this example "24 kg", is displayed as the weight of "bagasse consumed so far".

After the top page as shown in the example of FIG. 7 is displayed, the user can view various pages related to the rental service (the processes related to these are omitted from the flowchart of FIG. 12), but when the user is not logged in to his/her personal page (S2 is No), the NFCID is read from the IC tag attached to the product the user is renting using the user terminal 40 and transmitted to the clothing rental information management server 10. In the clothing rental information management server 10 that receives the NFCID (S3 is Yes), the environmental contribution information providing unit 19 is activated, and a page is transmitted to the user terminal 40 (S4) that displays the environmental contribution information for each product related to the product rented by the user, calculated by the avoided resource reduction amount calculation unit 191 and the environmental contribution resource consumption amount calculation unit 192, and the transmitted information is output to the user terminal 40.

Figure 8 shows an example of a screen displaying environmental contribution information for the product with product ID "101" in Figures 4 and 6, as displayed on a page output to the user terminal 40 that displays environmental contribution information for each product. Product ID "101" can be identified from the product information with NFCID "00010001" received from the user terminal 40. In this example, the weight of "high environmental load materials reduced thus far" is displayed as a resource that has been avoided by lending out the target product, and the weight of "bagasse consumed thus far" is displayed as an environmental contribution resource that has been consumed by lending out the target product. In addition, the number of times the target product has been used is displayed as "product turnover", and the total number of people who have used the service for the entire lending service is displayed as "number of people who have used it thus far".

As with the example in Figure 7, the "number of people who have used the service" field displays the total number of people who have used the rental service, and is set to "400 people," determined from the number of usage records stored in the usage information storage unit 14 (total number of times the service has been used).

For "product rotation count," the usage information stored in the usage information storage unit 14 is searched for using the product ID as a key, and the "product rotation count," which is the number of times the product has been used, is identified and displayed from the number of relevant usage information items. In the example of Figure 8, the product rotation count is "30 times," which exceeds the expected number of times of use (20 times).

The weight of "environmentally burdensome materials reduced to date" displays the weight of the environmentally burdensome materials reduced by using the product identified by product ID "101". As with the example described in FIG. 7, assuming that the weight of the environmentally burdensome materials reduced per use of the product is set to 0.045 kg as a common value for all products, this is multiplied by 30 (times), which is the number of times the product identified by product ID "101" has been used, resulting in "1.35 kg", which is displayed as the weight of "environmentally burdensome materials reduced to date".

Figure 10 illustrates the relationship between the amount of high environmental load materials that can be avoided and the number of times a product is used. The weight of the high environmental load materials that is reduced here is not the weight of the materials actually used in the manufacture of the product, but the weight that is estimated to be theoretically reduced, and it is believed that the more times the target product is used, the more opportunities there are to use high environmental load materials. Therefore, there is no need to set an upper limit on the amount of reduction in high environmental load materials, and it is sufficient to calculate it so that it increases as the number of times of use is added, as shown in the example of Figure 10. Note that the reduction amount corresponding to use after the expected number of uses has been exceeded can also be considered an excess effect that occurs due to a scheme in which the materials are shared by multiple users rather than owned by individual users.

The weight of "bagasse consumed so far" displays the weight of bagasse consumed through the use of the product identified by product ID "101". In the explanation of FIG. 7, it was explained that the weight of bagasse consumed per use of the product identified by product ID "101" is calculated to be 0.05 kg from the weight of bagasse used to manufacture the product identified by product ID "101" (1 kg) and the set expected number of uses (20 times). However, this is multiplied by the expected number of uses (20 times) of the product identified by product ID "101" (not 30 times), which is the number of uses), and the result "1 kg" is displayed as the weight of "bagasse consumed so far".

Figure 11 shows an example of the relationship between the consumption of bagasse, an environmentally-friendly resource, and the number of times a product is used. Since the weight of bagasse consumed here cannot exceed the weight of bagasse actually used in the production of the product, it is necessary to set a certain upper limit and establish a rule that the upper limit will not be exceeded even if the number of uses increases. To achieve this, the amount of bagasse consumed increases with the number of uses so that it reaches the upper limit, which is the weight of bagasse actually used (1 kg) when the expected number of uses (20 times), which is the average number of uses of the product, is reached, and no new bagasse consumption occurs from uses after the expected number of uses is exceeded (the amount of bagasse consumed does not increase beyond the weight of bagasse actually used).

In the example screen shown in FIG. 8, in the case of product ID "201" in FIG. 4 and FIG. 6, if the "product rotation count" is 20 times, the same as the expected number of uses, the weight of "high environmental load material reduced so far" is displayed as "0.9 kg", which is calculated by multiplying 0.045 kg, the weight of high environmental load material reduced per use of the product, by 20 (times), which is the number of uses. The weight of "bagasse consumed so far" is displayed as "0.9 kg", which is calculated by dividing the weight of bagasse used in the production of the product identified by product ID "201" (0.9 kg) by the expected number of uses (20 times), and multiplying this by 20 (times), which is the number of uses.

In the example screen shown in FIG. 8, if the product ID "301" in FIG. 4 and FIG. 6 is the target, and the "product rotation count" is 10 times, which is less than the expected number of uses, the weight of "high environmental load material reduced so far" is displayed as "0.45 kg", which is the weight of the high environmental load material reduced per use of the product (0.045 kg) multiplied by 10 (times), which is the number of uses. The weight of "bagasse consumed so far" is displayed as "0.55 kg", which is the weight of bagasse used to manufacture the product identified by product ID "301" (1.1 kg) divided by the expected number of uses (20 times), which is 0.055 kg, multiplied by 10 (times), which is the number of uses.

Even if the user continues to view various pages related to the rental service after viewing the page displaying the environmental contribution information on a product-by-product basis without logging in to My Page (the processing related to these is omitted in the flowchart of FIG. 12), when logging in to My Page, the user ID that identifies the user is transmitted from the user terminal 40 to the clothing rental information management server 10. When the clothing rental information management server 10 accepts the login request and the user ID and performs the processing required for login after authenticating the user (Yes in S2), the environmental contribution information providing unit 19 is started, and the My Page that displays the environmental contribution information on a user-by-user basis for the user identified by the user ID calculated by the avoided resource reduction amount calculation unit 191 and the environmental contribution resource consumption amount calculation unit 192 is transmitted to the user terminal 40 (S6), and the transmitted information is output to the user terminal 40.

Figure 9 shows an example of a screen displaying environmental contribution information, etc. for the user with user ID "U01" in Figures 5 and 6, for the My Page that displays environmental contribution information, etc., on a per-user basis, output to the user terminal 40. In this example, the weight of "high environmental load materials reduced so far" is displayed as a resource that has been avoided through the use of the rental service by the user identified by user ID "U01", the weight of "bagasse consumed so far" is displayed as an environmental contribution resource that has been consumed through the use of the rental service by that user, and the total number of people who have used the service for the entire rental service is displayed as the "number of people who have used so far".

As with the examples in Figures 7 and 8, the "number of people who have used the service" field displays the total number of people who have used the rental service, and is set to "400 people," determined from the number of usage information items stored in the usage information storage unit 14 (total number of times the service has been used).

The weight of "environmentally-burdensome materials reduced to date" displays the weight of environmentally-burdensome materials reduced by the use of the rental service by the user identified by user ID "U01". As with the example described in FIG. 7, assuming that the weight of environmentally-burdensome materials reduced per use of the product is set to 0.045 kg, this is multiplied by the number of times the rental service has been used by the user identified by user ID "U01", which in the example of FIG. 6 is 5 (times) determined from the number of usage information records in which user ID "U01" is recorded, resulting in "0.225 kg" being displayed as the weight of "environmentally-burdensome materials reduced to date".

The weight of "Bagasse consumed so far" displays the weight of bagasse consumed by the user identified by user ID "U01" through the use of the rental service. In the explanation of Figures 7 and 8, it was explained that the weight of bagasse consumed per use of the product identified by product ID "101" is calculated to be 0.05 kg, and the weight of bagasse consumed per use of the product identified by product ID "201" is calculated to be 0.045 kg. However, when multiplying these by the number of times that the user identified by user ID "U01" has used the products identified by product IDs "101" and "201", which are 4 times and 1 time, respectively, the weight of bagasse consumed by the user identified by user ID "U01" through the use of the rental service is calculated to be 0.045 kg. The weight of bagasse consumed by the user's use of the rental service is calculated, but in this case, if the fourth use of product ID "101" was after the expected number of uses (20 times) had been exceeded, the bagasse consumption for product ID "101" would be 0.05 kg x 3 (times) = 0.15 kg, and the bagasse consumption for product ID "201" would be 0.045 kg x 1 (time) = 0.045 kg, and the sum of these, "0.195 kg," is displayed as the weight of "bagasse consumed so far."

In the screen shown in FIG. 9, if the user ID "U02" in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 is the target, the weight of "high environmental load material reduced so far" is displayed as "0.135 kg" obtained by multiplying the weight of the high environmental load material reduced per use of the product (0.045 kg) by 3 (times) determined from the number of usage information records in FIG. 6 in which the user ID "U02" is recorded. As for the weight of "bagasse consumed so far," as explained in the explanation of FIG. 8, the weight of bagasse consumed per use of the product identified by the product ID "301" is calculated as 0.055 kg. However, since the number of times the user identified by the user ID "U02" has used the product identified by the product ID "301" is 3 (the number of times the product ID "301" has been used does not exceed the expected number of times, so all of the times are within the range of the expected number of times), 0.055 kg x 3 (times) = "0.165 kg" is displayed.

In the screen shown as an example in Figure 9, if the user ID "U03" in Figures 5 and 6 is the target, the weight of "high environmental load materials reduced so far" will be displayed as "0.135 kg", which is calculated by multiplying the weight of high environmental load materials reduced per use of the product (0.045 kg) by 3 (times), which is determined from the number of usage information records for user ID "U03" in Figure 6. As explained above, the weight of bagasse consumed so far is 0.05 kg, 0.045 kg, and 0.055 kg per use of the products identified by product IDs "101," "201," and "301." Since the user identified by user ID "U03" has used each product once (the number of uses of product IDs "201" and "301" has not exceeded the expected number of uses, and product ID "101" has also been used within the range of the expected number of uses), 0.05 kg x 1 (times) + 0.045 kg x 1 (times) + 0.055 kg x 1 (times) = "0.15 kg."

After My Page is displayed, if the NFCID is read from the IC tag attached to the product rented by the user using the user terminal 40 and transmitted to the clothing rental information management server 10, a page displaying environmental contribution information for each product related to the product rented by the user is output to the user terminal 40 by processing similar to that performed when not logged in (S3 is Yes-S4) (S7 is Yes-S8). After that, the user can view various pages related to the rental service (processing related to these is omitted from the flowchart in FIG. 12), but the series of processes ends when the user logs out of My Page (S9 is Yes) and the application is closed (S5 is Yes).

In the explanation so far, the number of uses used to calculate the reduction in high environmental load materials and the consumption of bagasse is counted as the number of usage information stored in the usage information storage unit 14, i.e., the number of times the product has been lent out. However, instead of counting one loan as one unit, for example, one day of loan can be counted as one unit (if the loan period is two days, the number of uses can be counted as two), and this can be used to calculate the reduction in high environmental load materials and the consumption of bagasse.

Reference Signs List 10 Clothing rental information management server 11 User information storage unit 12 Purchase information storage unit 13 Product information storage unit 14 Usage information storage unit 15 User information recording unit 16 Purchase information recording unit 17 Product information recording unit 18 Usage information recording unit 19 Environmental contribution information providing unit 191 Avoided resource reduction amount calculation unit 192 Environmental contribution resource consumption amount calculation unit 20 Administrator terminal 30 Rental terminal 40 User terminal

Claims (7)

A storage means for storing product information including product identification information for each product used by a user in the clothing sharing service;
a recording means for receiving information including identification information of a product delivered for use by a user from a first terminal installed at a location where the clothing to be shared is provided, and for recording predetermined information including the identification information of the product as usage information of the product;
a transmitting means for receiving, from the first terminal or a second terminal operated by the user, identification information of the product read from a product, and transmitting to the first terminal or the second terminal, environmental contribution information resulting from use of the product, the information including a reduction amount of a predetermined avoided resource whose use is to be avoided and which is calculated using a number of uses of the product specified from usage information including the identification information of the product, and a consumption amount of a predetermined environmental contribution resource that contributes to reducing the environmental load consumed by the use of the product;
An information management server comprising: An estimated number of uses is set for each product whose product information is stored in the storage means, based on the general number of uses of the product;
The information management server according to claim 1, characterized in that the reduction amount of the avoided resources included in the environmental contribution information transmitted by the transmitting means increases until the number of times the product is used reaches the estimated number of times of use set for the product, and increases as the number of times of use increases even after the estimated number of times of use has been exceeded, whereas the consumption amount of the environmental contribution resources included in the environmental contribution information increases until the number of times the product is used reaches the estimated number of times of use set for the product, with the value when the estimated number of times of use is reached set as an upper limit value, and the number of times of use after the estimated number of times of use has been exceeded is not reflected in the calculation of the consumption amount. The product information stored in the storage means is associated with purchase information regarding the purchase of raw materials used in the production of each product, the purchase information including the content of the environmentally contributing resource,
An information management server as described in claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the consumption amount of the environmental contribution resource included in the environmental contribution information transmitted by the transmitting means is calculated using the content amount of the environmental contribution resource contained in the product calculated from the content amount of the environmental contribution resource included in the purchasing information associated with the product for which identification information has been received. The usage information recorded by the recording means includes identification information of a user who uses the delivered product,
An information management server as described in any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that when the transmitting means receives user identification information from the first terminal or the second terminal, it transmits to the first terminal or the second terminal environmental contribution information resulting from the user's use of the clothing sharing service, the information including the amount of avoided resources reduced by the user's use of the clothing sharing service and the amount of environmental contribution resources consumed by the user's use of the clothing sharing service, calculated using the number of times the user uses one or more products identified from usage information including the user's identification information. An estimated number of uses is set for each product whose product information is stored in the storage means, based on the general number of uses of the product;
5. The information management server according to claim 4, characterized in that, in calculating the amount of reduction in the avoided resources and the amount of consumption of the environmental contribution resources included in the environmental contribution information transmitted by the transmitting means, the number of times the product is used by the user after the number of times the product is used exceeds an expected number of times set for the product is reflected in the amount of reduction in the avoided resources and is not reflected in the amount of consumption of the environmental contribution resources. a recording step in which an information management server having a storage means for storing product information including product identification information for each product used by a user in the clothing sharing service receives information including product identification information to be delivered for use by the user from a first terminal installed at a clothing providing location to be shared, and records predetermined information including the product identification information as product usage information;
a transmission step in which, when the information management server receives, from the first terminal or the second terminal operated by the user, identification information of the product read from the product, the information management server transmits to the first terminal or the second terminal environmental contribution information resulting from the use of the product, the information including a reduction amount of a predetermined avoided resource whose use is to be avoided and which is calculated using a number of uses of the product specified from usage information including the identification information of the product, and a consumption amount of a predetermined environmental contribution resource that contributes to the reduction of the environmental load consumed by the use of the product;
13. An information management method comprising: A product used by a user in a clothing sharing service in which an identification number for identifying the product can be read;
A first terminal installed at a location where clothing items to be shared are provided, the first terminal having a function of reading the identification number from the product;
an information management server including: a storage means for storing product information including product identification information for each of the products; a recording means for receiving from the first terminal information including the identification information of a product delivered for use by a user and recording predetermined information including the product identification information as usage information of the product; and a transmission means for receiving from the first terminal or a second terminal operated by the user the product identification information read from the product and transmitting to the first terminal or the second terminal environmental contribution information resulting from the use of the product, the information including a reduction amount of a predetermined avoided use resource which is to be avoided by the use of the product, calculated using the number of uses of the product specified from the usage information including the product identification information, and a consumption amount of a predetermined environmental contribution resource which contributes to the reduction of environmental load consumed by the use of the product;
13. An information management system comprising: