JP7545937B2 - Office seat reservation system and office seat reservation method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an office seat reservation system and an office seat reservation method.

In recent years, the spread of teleworking and the diversification of working styles, such as the establishment of multiple offices, has resulted in situations where employees do not come to a fixed office every day. In order to deal with such situations and operate offices efficiently, free address systems, where employees are not assigned to each desk in the office, are gradually becoming more common.

When the seating arrangement for workers in an office is a free address system, the worker selects a seat from among available seats when coming to work. At the seat, the worker performs work using a portable computer device such as a notebook computer that he or she owns, or performs work by logging in to a computer device installed on a desk with his or her own identification code.
Companies that operate offices can provide seats according to the percentage of employees present in the office, thereby saving office space and reducing costs.

Patent document 1 describes a technology that equips an entrance/exit management system with a free address office management function that assigns seats in a free address office, and automatically assigns seats to users (workers) according to preset priority conditions when they enter the free address office.

JP 2020-38552 A

If the office seating is changed to a free address system and each worker is allowed to choose their own seat, the seating arrangement may be unfavorable for carrying out work. For example, if members of the same group who perform the same work sit in different locations in the office, it may become difficult for them to communicate with each other, which may cause problems in carrying out work.
For this reason, as described in Patent Document 1, for example, it has been proposed to present suitable seat candidates to each worker upon entry to the office in accordance with preset priority conditions.

However, if seats are assigned to employees in order of entry to the office as described in Patent Document 1, a situation may arise where appropriate seat candidates cannot be presented if there are few vacant seats in the office. Also, if there are no vacant seats and the office is full when employees arrive at work, they will end up working in a space that is not a seat where they would normally sit. If employees knew in advance that the office would be full on a particular day or that they would not be able to sit near their preferred seat, they could take measures such as shifting their work days or work times, but if they found out when they entered the office, it is highly likely that they would not be able to take any measures.

The present invention aims to provide an office seat reservation system and an office seat reservation method that can appropriately manage seats in a free address office.

In order to solve the above problems, for example, the configurations described in the claims are adopted.
The present application includes multiple means for solving the above-mentioned problems, and one example is an office seat reservation system that includes a reservation reception unit that accepts reservations for seats located in the office from users, a determination unit that refers to a seat reservation database to determine whether the reservation request accepted by the reservation reception unit is possible or not, an output unit that outputs information about seats that the determination unit has determined to be available for reservation, and a selection reception unit that accepts the user's selection of seats output by the output unit.
The seat reservation database has information on the areas of seats arranged in the office, the determination unit determines whether a seat in the area corresponding to the reservation made by the reservation reception unit can be reserved, and the output unit outputs information on the seat in the area that the determination unit determines can be reserved, and when a seat output by the selection reception unit is selected, the reservation of the corresponding seat is registered in the seat reservation database.

According to the present invention, users of a free address office can select the seat they will use from the area they want in advance, and can reserve and use the appropriate seat for their work, etc. In addition, because the seat can be reserved in advance, it is possible to avoid a situation where the office is full and there are no seats available when they arrive at work.
Problems, configurations and effects other than those described above will become apparent from the following description of the embodiments.

1 is a configuration diagram of an office seat reservation system according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of a seat reservation server according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a configuration diagram of an entrance/exit management server according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of data in a reservation database according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of data in an visitor database according to an embodiment of the present invention. 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of a reservation acceptance process by a seat reservation server according to an embodiment of the present invention. 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of reservation registration processing by a seat reservation server according to an embodiment of the present invention. 11 is a flowchart showing the flow of a use start registration process by a seat reservation server according to an embodiment of the present invention. 10 is a flowchart showing the flow of a reservation search process by a seat reservation server according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a reservation screen according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a search screen according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of an office layout when the attendance rate is reduced according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Below, one embodiment of the present invention (hereinafter referred to as "this example") will be described with reference to the attached drawings.

[Overall configuration of the office seat reservation system]
FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of an office seat reservation system according to this embodiment.
The office seat reservation system of this example comprises a seat reservation server 10 and an entrance/exit management server 20. The seat reservation server 10 has a seat reservation database 11a that contains reservation information for office seats managed by the system of this example. The entrance/exit management server 20 has an entrance user database 21a that contains information on the entry and exit of workers in buildings 100 and 200 in which the offices are located. Note that in the drawings, the database is abbreviated to DB.

The seat reservation server 10 and the entrance/exit management server 20 are connected via a network NW to gate devices 50, 60 in the buildings 100, 200 in which the offices are located. The gate devices 50, 60 are devices that control passage through gates installed at the entrances of each building 100, 200, and recognize pre-registered workers as they enter and exit, and register the entry and exit information in the visitor database 21a.

Each gate device 50, 60 is equipped with a control unit 51, 61, and records entry and exit events under the control of the control unit 51, 61. When an employee enters or leaves the gate device 50, 60, various methods can be applied to recognize the employee, such as authentication using a card or terminal carried by the employee, or authentication using a facial image of the employee. Note that information such as the department and position within the company of employees who use the system in this example is registered in the seat reservation database 11a and the entrant database 21a.

Then, an employee U1 who uses the office seat reservation system of this example accesses the seat reservation server 10 via the network NW using a user terminal 40 such as a smartphone owned by the employee U1, and reserves a seat in building 100 or building 200. Note that the user terminal 40 may be a terminal other than the terminal owned by employee U1 himself, as long as the user terminal 40 is a terminal with which employee U1 can properly log in and access the seat reservation server 10. For example, the user terminal 40 may be a computer device used by employee U1 during work hours.

[Example of office seating arrangement]
The offices that can be reserved using the office seat reservation system of this example are divided into areas in advance.
Fig. 1 shows an example of the seating arrangement in an office 100a on a particular floor in a building 100. In Fig. 1, the desks are shown arranged, but in reality, the seats that workers sit at while working are their desks. In the following explanation, when we say "seats," we mean a set of a desk and a seat.

Office 100a has three areas: Sales Division 1 area 101, Sales Division 2 area 102, and Sales Division 3 area 103, with multiple seats in each of areas 101, 102, and 103. For example, Sales Division 1 area 101 has seats 101a, 101b, 101c, etc. Sales Division 2 area 102 has seats 102a, 102b, 102c, etc. Sales Division 3 area 103 has seats 103a, 103b, 103c, etc. These seats are free address seats that employees can freely select and sit at, except for seats that cannot be reserved, which will be described later.

The number of seats in each area 101, 102, 103 is basically determined according to the maximum number of employees in each section on each working day. However, taking into consideration the use of the open area 104 described later, the number of seats may be less than the maximum number of employees.
In addition, in areas 101, 102, and 103 of each section, seats for the managerial staff who supervises the respective section are set in specific positions, and these seats cannot be reserved by the seat reservation system.

In addition to the areas 101, 102, and 103 assigned to the respective sections, the office 100a is also provided with an open area 104. In the open area 104, a plurality of seats 104a, 104b, 104c, . . . are also arranged.
The open area 104 has a variety of seating options, including desks spaced apart from each other and group seating suitable for small group work or meetings.

In addition, office 100a may also have conference rooms with multiple seats and private rooms with only one seat suitable for telephone or online meetings, and these seats may also be made available for reservation using the seat reservation system of this example. Alternatively, conference rooms and private rooms may be made available for reservation using a conference room reservation system separate from the free address seat reservation system of this example.

[Configuration of seat reservation server]
FIG. 2 shows the configuration of the seat reservation server 10.
The seat reservation server 10 includes an external storage device 11, a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 12, a main storage device 13, and a network interface (hereinafter referred to as “network I/F”) 14.
The external storage device 11 stores a seat reservation database 11a.

The main memory device 13 stores a program that realizes the functions of the seat reservation server 10, and various processing function units are configured by executing the program under the control of the CPU 12. The processing function units configured in the main memory device 13 include, for example, a reservation reception unit 13a, a judgment unit 13b, a selection reception unit 13c, and an output unit 13d.

The network I/F 14 is a communication processing unit that connects the seat reservation server 10 to the entrance/exit management server 20, the management terminal 30, the user terminal 40, etc. via the network NW to transfer data.

[Access control server configuration]
FIG. 3 shows the configuration of the entrance/exit management server 20 .
The entrance/exit management server 20 includes an external storage device 21 , a CPU 22 , a main storage device 23 , and a network I/F 24 .
The external storage device 21 stores a visitor database 21a.

The main memory device 23 stores a program that realizes the functions of the entrance/exit management server 20, and various processing function units are configured by executing the program under the control of the CPU 22. The processing function units configured in the main memory device 23 include, for example, an entrance registration unit 23a, an entrance authority confirmation unit 23b, an entrance permitted person information distribution unit 23c, an entrance information receiving unit 23d, and an entrance record transmission unit 23e.

The network I/F 24 is a communication processing unit that connects the entrance/exit management server 20 to the entrance/exit management server 20, each gate device 50, 60, the management terminal 30, etc. via the network NW, and transfers data.

[Example of data in the seat reservation database]
FIG. 4 shows an example of the data structure of the seat reservation database 11 a stored in the external storage device 11 of the seat reservation server 10 .
The seat reservation database 11a includes columns for items such as seat number, building name, floor, area type, reservation start date and time, reservation time, name of the person making the reservation, department of the person making the reservation, and attendance record of the person making the reservation.

The "seat number" column shows the serial number assigned to all the seats in the free address system. In FIG. 4, all the seats are assigned different numbers, but the numbers may be assigned to each building or each floor.
The column of building name indicates the name of the building in which the office having the corresponding number is located.
The floor column indicates the floor on which the seat with the corresponding number is located.
The area type column indicates the area type of the seat with the corresponding number. Specifically, it indicates the names of departments assigned to areas such as the sales division 1 area 101, the sales division 2 area 102, and the sales division 3 area 103 in the office 100a shown in FIG.

The reservation start date and time column indicates the reservation start date and time when a reservation is made for the corresponding seat number. For example, the example of seat number 1 in FIG. 4 indicates that a reservation is made from 9:00 on July 25, 2021.
If the relevant seat is an unavailable seat that cannot be reserved for some reason, "unavailable" is indicated in the reservation start date and time field. This unavailable seat information may be recorded in another field not shown in FIG.
The reservation time column indicates the reservation time from the start time in one-hour units. For example, in the example of seat number 1 in Figure 4, the reservation time is 8 hours. Therefore, this seat number 1 is reserved from 9:00 to 17:00 on July 25, 2021.

The reservation person's name column indicates the name of the worker who made the reservation.
The "reserving department" field shows the name of the department to which the worker who made the reservation belongs. For example, when a worker makes a reservation, the seat reservation server 10 determines this department name by referring to a worker database (not shown) that shows the correspondence between workers and their departments in the company.
The attendance record field of the reserved person records the date and time when the reserved worker actually came to work. This attendance record is recorded by the seat reservation server 10 by acquiring information from the entrance/exit management server 20.
In the seat reservation database shown in Fig. 4, for the sake of simplicity, each seat number shows only one reservation, but in reality, each seat can be reserved for multiple reservations as long as the dates and times do not overlap. It is necessary to determine in advance how many days in advance reservations can be made.
Information on the type of seat or desk may be added to the information on each seat in the seat reservation database 11a. For example, information on a general office desk, a desk with a large display, etc. This additional information on the seat or desk is displayed as the type of seat when the corresponding seat is displayed as a candidate on the user terminal 40.

[Example of visitor database data]
FIG. 5 shows an example of the data structure of the visitor database 21 a stored in the external storage device 21 of the entrance/exit management server 20 .
The visitor database 21a includes columns for the following items: name, building name, department, date of entry, time of entry, and time of exit.

The name column indicates the name of the visitor.
The building column indicates the name of the building into which the visitor entered.
The department column indicates the name of the department to which the visitor belongs. This department name is also determined by referring to a staff database (not shown).

The entry date column indicates the date on which the visitor entered the venue.
The entry time column indicates the entry time when the entry was detected by the gate devices 50 and 60 .
The column "Exit time" indicates the exit time when the exit is detected by the gate devices 50, 60.

[Reservation acceptance process by the seat reservation server]
FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing the flow of reservation acceptance processing by the seat reservation server 10.
This reservation reception process starts when the reservation reception unit 13a of the seat reservation server 10 receives a reservation request from the user terminal 40 (step S11). When receiving this reservation, the seat reservation server 10 acquires the name and department of the worker U1 operating the user terminal 40 based on the code information. The seat reservation server 10 also acquires the date and time for which the seat is desired to be reserved from the user terminal 40.

Then, the judgment unit 13b of the seat reservation server 10 queries the information in the seat reservation database 11a stored in the external storage device 11 (step S12). In querying the information in the seat reservation database 11a, the judgment unit 13b performs a judgment process to determine whether or not there is a vacant seat in the desired time period in the area of the department to which the employee U1 who made the reservation belongs (step S13).

If there is a vacant seat in step S13 (Yes in step S13), the output unit 13d of the seat reservation server 10 returns the vacant seat information to the user terminal 40 (step S18). In step S18, a list of vacant seat numbers in the area of the corresponding department and a graphic screen showing the vacant seats are sent to the user terminal 40, and these are displayed on the user terminal 40.
In addition, the vacant seat information returned in step S18 is preferably a plurality of seats selected by the seat reservation server 10 from vacant seats in the target area as candidates. Alternatively, all vacant seats in the target area may be displayed as candidates. Conversely, the seat reservation server 10 may display only one specific seat from the target area that is optimal for the reserving person.

If there are no vacant seats in step S13 (No in step S13), the determination unit 13b further queries the information in the seat reservation database 11a stored in the external storage device 11 (step S14). The determination unit 13b then determines whether there are vacant seats in the desired time period in an area of another department adjacent to the area of the department to which the employee U1 who made the reservation request belongs (step S15). For example, if the reservation requester belongs to Sales Division 1 and there are no vacant seats in the Sales Division 1 area 101 shown in Figure 1, the determination unit 13b determines whether there are vacant seats in the Sales Division 2 area 102. Alternatively, even if the area is not adjacent to the Sales Division 1 area 101, a nearby area, such as the Sales Division 3 area 103 in the example of Figure 1, may be the adjacent area.

If there are vacant seats in step S15 (Yes in step S15), the output unit 13d of the seat reservation server 10 proceeds to step S18 and performs output processing to return vacant seat information in adjacent areas to the user terminal 40.

If there are no vacant seats in the adjacent area in step S15 (No in step S15), the determination unit 13b further queries the information in the seat reservation database 11a stored in the external storage device 11 (step S16). Then, the determination unit 13b determines whether there are vacant seats in the open area during the desired time slot (step S17).

If there are vacant seats in the open area in step S17 (Yes in step S17), the output unit 13d of the seat reservation server 10 proceeds to step S18 and returns vacant seat information for the open area to the user terminal 40.

Furthermore, if there are no vacant seats in the open area in step S17 (No in step S17), the output unit 13d of the seat reservation server 10 returns information indicating that there are no vacant seats to the user terminal 40 (step S19).

[Reservation registration process flow by the seat reservation server]
FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing the flow of reservation registration processing by the seat reservation server 10.
In the reservation reception process shown in the flowchart of Fig. 6 described above, the user terminal 40 acquires vacant seat information showing one or more candidate seats in step S18. A desired seat is selected by the worker U1 from among the seats shown in the vacant seat information, and the selection reception unit 13c of the seat reservation server 10 acquires a reservation request for the selected seat (step S21).

At this time, the selection reception unit 13c of the seat reservation server 10 judges whether the area of the accepted seat is the area of the department to which the worker U1 belongs (step S22). If the area of the accepted seat is the area of the department to which the worker U1 belongs in step S22 (Yes in step S22), the selection reception unit 13c registers the accepted reservation details for the seat in the area to which the worker U1 belongs in the seat reservation database 11a (step S23).

In step S22, if the area of the accepted seat is not the area of the department to which worker U1 belongs (No in step S22), it is determined whether the area of the accepted seat is adjacent to the area of the department to which worker U1 belongs (step S24). In this step S24, if the area of the accepted seat is adjacent to the area of the department to which worker U1 belongs (Yes in step S24), the selection acceptance unit 13c registers the accepted reservation details for a seat in the corresponding adjacent area in the seat reservation database 11a (step S25).

Furthermore, in step S24, if the area of the accepted seat is not adjacent to the area of the department to which worker U1 belongs (No in step S24), that is, if an open area is selected, the selection acceptance unit 13c registers the accepted reservation details for a seat in the open area in the seat reservation database 11a (step S26).

Then, after the selection reception unit 13c registers the reservation details in steps S23, S25, and S26, the output unit 13d responds to the user terminal 40 with the results of the reservation registration (step S27), and ends the reservation registration process.

[Flow of the seat reservation server's registration process]
FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing the flow of the start-of-use registration process in the seat reservation server 10 when a worker with a reserved seat enters the relevant building and starts using the reserved seat.
First, the seat reservation server 10 receives information about the visitor from the entrance/exit management server 20 (step S31). At this time, the judgment unit 13b of the seat reservation server 10 checks the reservation information in the seat reservation database 11a stored in the external storage device 11 (step S32). Through this inquiry, the judgment unit 13b judges whether or not the visitor has a reservation in the area of the department to which the visitor belongs or in an adjacent area (step S33).

In this step S33, if there is a reservation in the area of the department to which the visitor belongs or in an adjacent area (Yes in step S33), the output unit 13d of the seat reservation server 10 registers the visitor's attendance record in the record column (Figure 4) of the seat reservation database 11a (step S34).

In step S33, if there is no reservation in the area of the department to which the visitor belongs (No in step S33), and after the visit record is registered in step S34, the judgment unit 13b of the seat reservation server 10 further queries the reservation information in the seat reservation database 11a stored in the external storage device 11 (step S35). In this query, the judgment unit 13b judges whether or not the visitor has a reservation in the open area (step S36).
In step S36, if there is a reservation for the open area (Yes in step S36), the output unit 13d registers the admission record of the person in the record column (FIG. 4) of the seat reservation database 11a (step S37).

Then, if there is no reservation in step S36 (No in step S36), and after the entry record is registered in step S37, the start-of-use registration process ends. Note that if there is no reservation in step S36 (No in step S36), the seat reservation server 10 may notify the management terminal 30, etc., that a worker without a seat reservation has entered the facility.

[Reservation search process on the seat reservation server]
When an employee makes a seat reservation using the system of this example, the employee can search for the seat reservation status of other specific employees in the same department and check the reservation status of the area in the same department on the user terminal 40.
FIG. 9 is a flow chart showing the flow of processing when the seat reservation server 10 searches for the seat reservation status of other workers in the same department.

First, the reservation reception unit 13a of the seat reservation server 10 receives a reservation search request from the user terminal 40 (step S41).
When the reservation reception unit 13a receives a reservation search request, the reservation reception unit 13a checks the search authority of the worker U1 who is operating the user terminal 40 (step S42). For example, when the search request is for a worker in the same department as the worker U1, the search authority is set to be valid. Alternatively, the authority may be set according to the position of the worker U1.

Then, within the scope of the authority confirmed in step S42, the determination unit 13b queries the reservation information in the seat reservation database 11a stored in the external storage device 11 (step S43). In this query, the determination unit 13b determines whether there is a reservation in the area of the same department or an adjacent area that has been queried (step S44).

In step S44, if there is a reservation in the same department area or an adjacent area of the worker who made the reservation search request (Yes in step S44), the output unit 13d of the seat reservation server 10 responds to the user terminal 40 that instructed the search for reservation status with the location of the reserved seat, the time period for which the reservation was made, and whether or not the worker is at work (step S45). This responded information is displayed on the user terminal 40.

If there are no reservations in the area of the same department or adjacent area of the worker who made the reservation search request in step S44 (No in step S44), the judgment unit 13b queries the reservation information in the seat reservation database 11a stored in the external storage device 11 within the scope of the authority confirmed in step S42 (step S46). This query of the reservation database in step S46 is performed within the scope of the authority confirmed in step S42 even after the location of reserved seats in the same department area or adjacent areas has been answered in step S45.

In response to the inquiry in step S46, the judgment unit 13b judges whether or not the inquiring worker in the same department has a reservation for the open space (step S47).
In step S47, if there is a reservation for the open space (Yes in step S47), the output unit 13d of the seat reservation server 10 responds to the user terminal 40 that instructed the search for the reservation status with the location of the reserved seat, the time period for which the reservation was made, and whether or not the user is at work (step S48). This responded information is also displayed on the user terminal 40.
If there is no reservation in the open space in step S47 (No in step S47), and after replying about the location of the reserved seats in the open space in step S48, the seat reservation server 10 ends the reservation search process.

[Example of display screen on user terminal]
10 and 11 show examples of display screens on a user terminal 40 that is configured as a smartphone.
FIG. 10 shows an example of a reservation screen when reserving a seat on the user terminal 40.
This reservation screen is an example of a display based on the response from the seat reservation server 10 in step S27 of the flow chart of FIG.

In the example of Figure 10, the user terminal 40 displays the building name, floor name, department area name, reservation date, start time, end time, name of the person who made the reservation, seat number, number of seats and seat (desk) type.
In order to allow the user to know the location of the reserved seat, a floor plan of the relevant area may be displayed and the reserved seat may be indicated on the floor plan.

FIG. 11 shows an example of a search screen displayed when a search for other workers is performed on the user terminal 40. In FIG.
This search screen is an example of a display based on the response from the seat reservation server 10 in step S45 or S48 of the flow chart of FIG.
In the example of Figure 11, the user terminal 40 displays a selection area for the employee name to be searched for and a search button, and displays the search results as the building name where the reserved seat is located, the floor name, the department area name, the seat number, the reservation date, the start time, and the end time.
On this search screen, a floor plan of the relevant area may be displayed so that the location of the relevant seat can be known, and the reserved seat may be indicated on the floor plan.

[Effects of the system according to this embodiment]
According to the office seat reservation system of this embodiment described above, each worker can select the seat he/she will sit at from the desired area before coming to work. Therefore, there is no case that he/she cannot sit at the desired department area when coming to work, and the working environment of each worker in the free address office can be made appropriate.

In addition, if there are no vacant seats in the area of the department to which the employee belongs, the seat reservation server 10 presents areas adjacent to the area of the employee's department as candidates, allowing the employee to reserve a seat in a location adjacent to the desired department, and allowing appropriate seat reservations to be made even when each area is full. Furthermore, if there are no vacant seats in the adjacent areas, vacant seats in the open area, which is an area that can be used commonly by all departments, are presented as candidates, allowing appropriate seat reservations to be made even when each area is full.

In addition, you can search and check the reservation status of seats reserved by other employees in the same department, or seats reserved by other employees who are better off sitting close together when working, so you can prevent employees who would normally prefer to be close to each other from sitting far apart due to the free address system.

In addition, the seat reservation server 10 records the attendance and departure status of employees for whom a seat reservation has been made based on information from the entry/exit management server 20, making it possible to determine from the information in the seat reservation database 11a whether or not a reserved seat is actually being used. This makes it possible to manage whether or not a seat reservation is appropriate using the management server 30, etc.

[Modification]
It should be noted that the embodiment examples described so far have been described in detail in order to explain the present invention in an easily understandable manner, and are not necessarily limited to those having all of the configurations described.
For example, in each of the above-described embodiments, the seat reservation server 10 may set a limit on the seats that can be reserved by the worker in each area, while the worker can freely select seats from among the candidate seats in each area.

FIG. 12 shows an example of a case where restrictions are placed on seats that can be reserved.
12, the seats arranged in the office 100a are reservable with a space between each other, and the seats marked with an "x" are non-reservable. For example, in the Sales Section 1 area 101, the seats 101a, 101c, 101e, 101h, 101j, and 101l are reservable, and the other seats 101b, 101d, 101f, 101g, 101i, and 101k are non-reservable.
Similarly, in the other areas 102, 103 and the open area 104, seats marked with "X" cannot be reserved.

As shown in FIG. 12, by allowing reservations with space between each seat, workers will sit with a certain amount of space between them when working, providing an appropriate work environment that prevents overcrowding in the office. The number of seats that cannot be reserved may be set to a fixed number, or may be set variably based on the predicted number of employees on each work day. For example, on days when a large number of employees are expected to work, such as certain days of the week such as Mondays or at the end of the month, fewer seats may be set as unreservable, and on days when a small number of employees are expected to work, more seats may be set as unreservable, providing an appropriate work environment that prevents overcrowding whether there are a large number of employees or not.

The seat reservation server 10 may initially make reservations with spaced intervals as shown in FIG. 12, and when there are no more reserved seats available, open up the seats marked with an "X" for reservation, avoiding overcrowding only when there are few people in attendance. It is preferable to set these seats as non-reservable by operating the management terminal 30, for example.

Furthermore, when the seat reservation server 10 presents candidates for seats that can be reserved to each worker, it may present specific seats within the area as candidates based on predetermined conditions, rather than simply selecting only an area and presenting candidates from among vacant seats within the area.
For example, when a particular worker always selects a seat in approximately the same place in a particular department area, the seat reservation server 10 may present the seat that the worker normally uses as a candidate with the highest priority.
Conversely, even within the same area, seat options different from the seat the user usually sits in may be presented on a monthly or seasonal basis to encourage regular seat changes.

In addition, when the working hours requested by an employee at the time of reservation include overtime hours or when reserving to work on a holiday, the seat reservation server 10 presents a seat at a specific location within the area of the employee's department, so that the employee's work area during overtime or holiday work can be concentrated in one location, allowing for appropriate use of air conditioning and lighting.

In the above embodiment, the area is the area of the department to which each worker belongs, but the conditions of the worker may be divided in more detail and the candidate areas may correspond to them. For example, for a worker who belongs to a specific group within Sales Division 1, an area for the group to which the worker belongs may be set within the Sales Division 1 area, and that area may be presented as a candidate. Alternatively, instead of setting an area for the group in advance, candidates may be presented for the workers in the relevant group so that they are always seated close to each other within the Sales Division 1 area, resulting in the sitting positions being close to each other within the group.

Furthermore, the seat reservation server 10 may automatically select appropriate candidate seats within an area depending on the position of the employee. For example, the seat of a manager (e.g., a department manager) who oversees the departments in each area may be set at a specific fixed position within the area, and when a person with a position below the department manager, such as a section manager or assistant manager, selects a seat, the seat reservation server 10 may automatically select seats close to the department manager's seat as candidate seats and present them on the user terminal 40.

In addition, if a worker wishes to avoid a seat that the seat reservation server 10 has presented to the user terminal 40 as a reservation candidate for some reason (for example, a seat with strong air conditioning or a seat exposed to direct sunlight through a window), the seat reservation server 10 may be able to re-search for candidate seats excluding that candidate seat, in response to an instruction from the user terminal 40.

In addition, the configuration diagrams shown in Figures 2 and 3 only show control lines and information lines that are considered necessary for explanation, and do not necessarily show all control lines and information lines in the product. In reality, it can be assumed that almost all components are interconnected.

When the office seat reservation system is configured with an information processing device such as a computer, the program that realizes the office seat reservation system may be stored in non-volatile storage or memory within the computer, or may be stored on an external memory, IC card, SD card, optical disk, or other recording medium and transferred.

10...seat reservation server, 11...external storage device, 11a...seat reservation database, 12...CPU, 13...main storage device, 13a...reservation reception unit, 13b...determination unit, 13c...selection reception unit, 13d...output unit, 14...network interface, 20...entrance/exit management server, 21...external storage device, 21a...visitor database, 22...CPU, 23...main storage device, 23a...visitor registration unit, 23b...entry authority confirmation unit, 23c...entry permitted person information distribution unit, 23d...entry information reception unit, 23e...entry record transmission unit, 30...management terminal, 40...user terminal, 50...gate device, 51...control unit, 100, 200...building, 100a...office, 101...sales department 1 area, 102...sales department 2 area, 103...sales department 3 area, U1...employee

Claims (7)

a reservation reception unit that receives reservations from users for seats arranged in the office;
a determination unit that refers to a seat reservation database and determines whether the reservation request accepted by the reservation acceptance unit is possible;
an output unit that outputs information about the seat that the determination unit has determined to be available for reservation;
a selection receiving unit that receives a selection by the user of the seat output by the output unit,
The seat reservation database has information on seat areas arranged in the office,
The determination unit determines whether a seat in an area corresponding to the reservation made by the reservation acceptance unit can be reserved,
The output unit outputs information about seats in the area that the determination unit has determined to be available for reservation,
When a seat selection is output by the selection receiving unit, a reservation for the corresponding seat is registered in the seat reservation database. The seat area information stored in the seat reservation database indicates an area corresponding to an office department,
The reservation reception unit acquires the department to which the user belongs when the reservation is received,
The office seat reservation system according to claim 1 , wherein the determination unit determines whether or not a seat reservation request within an area corresponding to a department of a user who has accepted a reservation is possible. The seat area information stored in the seat reservation database includes an open area that is not associated with a department,
the determination unit determines whether a reservation request for a seat in the open area is possible when a reservation request for a seat in an area corresponding to a department of the user who has accepted the reservation is not possible,
The office seat reservation system according to claim 2 , wherein the output unit outputs information about seats in the open area that the determination unit has determined to be reservable. the determination unit, when it is not possible to request a reservation for a seat in an area corresponding to the department of the user who has accepted the reservation, determines whether or not it is possible to request a reservation for a seat in an area adjacent to the corresponding department or in a nearby area;
The office seat reservation system according to claim 2 , wherein the output unit outputs information about seats in an area that the determination unit has determined to be reservable. The office seat reservation system of claim 2, wherein when the reservation reception unit receives an inquiry about a seat that has already been reserved for a user other than the user, the output unit outputs information about the reserved seat of the corresponding user that is registered in the seat reservation database. The seat reservation database sets the seats that cannot be reserved in the office as fixed or variable,
3. The office seat reservation system according to claim 2, wherein the determination unit determines whether or not the reservation request accepted by the reservation acceptance unit is possible for seats in the seat reservation database excluding seats that cannot be reserved. A reservation acceptance process for accepting reservations of seats arranged in the office from users;
a determination process for determining whether the reservation request accepted in the reservation acceptance process is possible by referring to a seat reservation database;
an output process for outputting information on seats determined to be available for reservation in the determination process;
and a selection receiving process for receiving a selection by the user of the seats output by the output process,
The seat reservation database has information on areas corresponding to departments of seats arranged in the office,
The reservation acceptance process acquires the department to which the user belongs when the reservation is accepted,
The determination process determines whether or not a reservation request for a seat within an area corresponding to a department to which the user belongs that has been accepted by the reservation acceptance process is possible;
The output process outputs information about seats in the area that is determined to be available for reservation in the determination process,
When a seat selection is output in the selection receiving process, a reservation for the corresponding seat is registered in the seat reservation database.

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