JP7547802B2 - Resource reservation system, information display method - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a resource reservation system and an information display method.

There is a known technology in which an information processing terminal placed in a conference room displays information regarding reservations for resources such as conference rooms. When a user starts using a conference room, he or she can input a start of use into the information processing terminal, and when the user finishes using the conference room, he or she can input an end of use.

Technology has been devised for collecting information using this information processing terminal (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Patent Document 1 discloses an information processing terminal that displays information related to the reservation of a conference room and conducts a survey of questions related to the content of the conference to be held in the reserved conference room.

However, conventional technology has the problem that one information processing terminal is required for each resource. For example, if one information processing terminal is required for each conference room, when there are many conference rooms, inconveniences such as a lack of power sources, a lack of LAN line connection interfaces, increased costs, or difficulty in securing installation space may occur.

In view of the above problems, the present invention aims to provide a resource reservation system that provides an information processing terminal that is shared by multiple resources.

In view of the above problem, the present invention provides a resource reservation system having an information processing device that associates one or more resources with a group and retains information regarding reservations of the resources, and an information processing terminal, the information processing terminal having a display control unit that displays information regarding the reservations of each resource received from the information processing device, and an operation receiving unit that receives input for each resource , the information processing device provides a list of the resources to a registration terminal, receives identification information of the one or more resources selected by the registration terminal and associates the received one or more resources with the group, the information processing device receives a group name input by the registration terminal and associates the received group name with the group, the information processing device transmits an image code including the identification information of the group to the registration terminal, the information processing terminal captures the image code displayed by the registration terminal and stores the identification information of the group included in the image code, and when the information processing terminal specifies the identification information of the group and requests information regarding the reservations of each resource, the information processing device transmits information regarding the reservations of the one or more resources associated with the identification information of the group to the information processing terminal .

It is possible to provide a resource reservation system that provides an information processing terminal that is shared by multiple resources.

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining an example of an outline of the overall operation of a resource reservation system. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the arrangement of a plurality of conference rooms and the arrangement of reception terminals. 1 is a diagram for explaining an example of an outline of initial settings of a reception terminal using an image code; FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a system configuration of a resource reservation system. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hardware configuration of a conference management server. FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a hardware configuration of an example of a reception terminal. 2 is an example of a functional block diagram illustrating functions of a reservation management server, a chat server, a conference management server, and a registration terminal in block form. FIG. 2 is an example of a functional block diagram illustrating functions of a terminal device, a conference room terminal, and a reception terminal in block form. FIG. 2 is an example of a functional block diagram illustrating functions of an initial setting unit in a block form. 11 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of a process in which a reception terminal stores a group ID. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a login screen displayed by the registration terminal. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of an initial screen displayed by the registration terminal. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a group list screen displayed on the registration terminal. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a new group creation screen displayed on the registration terminal. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a conference room list screen displayed on the registration terminal. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a group registration confirmation screen displayed on the registration terminal. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a group list screen displayed on the registration terminal. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of an image code display screen displayed by the registration terminal. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a start-up screen displayed by the reception terminal. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a group setting screen displayed by the reception terminal. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a standby screen displayed by the reception terminal; 13 is an example of a standby screen on which an input field for conference identification information is displayed. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a standby screen in which a status item is in use. 13 is an example of a standby screen that is displayed when the "Use Now" button is pressed for a vacant room. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of an exit confirmation screen that is displayed when the "Exit" button is pressed. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a room exit confirmation screen on which an input field for conference identification information is displayed. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a standby screen after an exit process has been performed. 11 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of a process in which a reception terminal stores a group ID. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a URL display screen displayed by the registration terminal. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a URL input screen displayed by the reception terminal. FIG. 2 is an example of a functional block diagram illustrating functions of a terminal device, a conference room terminal, and a reception terminal in block form. 11 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of a process in which a reception terminal stores a conference room ID. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a conference room list screen displayed on the registration terminal. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of an image code display screen displayed by the registration terminal. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a start-up screen displayed by the reception terminal. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a standby screen displayed by the reception terminal; 11 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a procedure for the reception terminal to store a conference room ID. FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating an example of a conference room list screen. FIG. 13 illustrates an example of a batch edit screen. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a standby screen. 11 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of a process in which a reception terminal stores a conference room ID. FIG. 13 is a functional block diagram illustrating functions of a terminal device, a conference room terminal, and a reception terminal in a block form (third embodiment); 11 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of a process in which a reception terminal stores a group ID. FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of an image code display screen displayed by a web browser. 11 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of a process in which a reception terminal stores a group ID. FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a download screen displayed by a web browser. FIG. 13 is a functional block diagram illustrating functions of a terminal device, a conference room terminal, and a reception terminal in a block form (Fourth Embodiment); 13 is a sequence diagram illustrating an example of a process in which the reception terminal 7 stores a group ID and displays reservation information.

Below, a resource reservation system and a method of displaying information performed by the resource reservation system will be described with reference to the drawings as an example of a form for implementing the present invention.

<Outline of resource reservation system>
First, an overview of a resource reservation system 100 will be described with reference to Fig. 1. Fig. 1 is an example of a diagram for explaining an overview of the overall operation of the resource reservation system 100.

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

B. The conference management server 30 is a server that controls the entire resource reservation system 100 based on the reservation status of the conference rooms. The conference management server 30 communicates with the reservation management server 20 as appropriate to obtain reservation information, and therefore synchronizes the reservation information with the reservation management server 20.

C. The resource reservation system 100 or an administrator on the organization side can register users and perform various settings on the conference management server 30. Registering a user means registering a user who will be the target of various notifications using the chat server 10 (Slack, Line, Microsoft Teams (all registered trademarks), etc.). In addition, since notifications are performed via a bot that sends messages as the conference management server 30, a bot provided by the chat server is also registered. Various settings include registering the conference room terminal 90 (initial settings described below) and setting the timing of reminders.

D. The conference management server 30 reminds the person who made the reservation that the conference will be held a certain amount of time before the start time of the conference in the reservation information. This prevents empty reservations of the conference room. The conference management server 30 also notifies the user of an invitation code as necessary. When the person who made the reservation receives the reminder, the person saves information (conference identification information) for checking in to the conference room in the terminal device 60. Checking in means starting to use the conference room.

E. A conference room terminal 90 is placed in each conference room 6 (although in this embodiment, the conference room terminal 90 may not be placed), and the conference room terminal 90 periodically downloads reservation information for conferences to be held in this conference room. The conference room terminal 90 can display the schedule for the day or upcoming conferences, allowing conference participants to check their schedules. Shortly before the start time of the conference, the person reserving the conference room goes to the conference room 6 and checks in. For example, the person inputs the conference room identification information into the conference room terminal 90, or holds the terminal device 60 over the conference identification information (allowing the conference identification information to be read, communicated, etc.).

F. The conference room terminal 90 sends a check-in request to the conference management server 30, and if authentication can be performed using the conference identification information, a response is received from the conference management server 30 indicating that check-in has been successful. The conference room terminal 90 displays that it is in use (during a conference). If a usage start notification informing check-in is not confirmed by the specified time for the start of the conference, the conference management server 30 cancels the reservation of the conference room 6 (cancelling the reservation information if the conference room does not begin to be used within a specified time) and sends a status of "cancelled" included in the reservation information to the conference room terminal 90. In this case, the conference room terminal 90 displays that the room is vacant, allowing any user to use the conference room 6.

G. The conference room terminal 90 controls the electronic device 70 in response to a request from the conference management server 30. For example, the power is turned ON at the conference start time and turned OFF at the conference end time. This improves the convenience of the conference participants when operating the electronic device 70.

H. For example, if the electronic device 70 has a video conference function, it can communicate with an electronic device (such as a video conference terminal 70x) at another location 4 to hold a conference with the other location. The PC 70y on which the app runs can also communicate with the electronic device 70. The reservation information includes destination information (destination communication ID) indicating the other location, and the electronic device 70 can automatically communicate with the video conference terminal 70x and the PC 70y.

I. When the person who made the reservation finishes the conference, they press a button on the conference room terminal 90 to check out, and the conference room terminal 90 displays the next reservation status. This allows any user to know the reservation status of the conference room.

<An example of a case where there are many conference rooms>
2 is a diagram showing an example of the layout of multiple conference rooms 6 and the layout of the reception terminals 7. When many conference rooms 6 are crowded together as shown in Fig. 2, it may be difficult to place conference room terminals 90 at the entrances of each conference room 6 due to reasons such as a lack of power sources, a lack of LAN line connection interfaces, increased costs, or difficulty in securing installation space.

In this embodiment, therefore, as shown in FIG. 2, a common reception terminal 7 is arranged in multiple conference rooms 6. The reception terminal 7 is used in common by one or more conference rooms 6. There is no particular upper limit to the number of conference rooms 6 that can be shared by one reception terminal 7, but in FIG. 2, one reception terminal 7 can handle the reception of requests for use of 14 conference rooms 6. In this way, it is possible to provide a reception terminal 7 that can be shared by multiple conference rooms. Not only can this solve the above-mentioned inconvenience, but it also allows users to use the conference room 6 by operating the same reception terminal 7 regardless of the conference room they are using.

The reception terminal 7, like the conference room terminal 90 shown in FIG. 1, displays reservation information for each conference room and accepts check-ins (start of use) and check-outs (end of use) for each conference room. It can also accept "extension" or "immediate use," as described below. In addition, as described below, the reception terminal 7 accepts initial settings for the group of conference rooms 6 for which the reception terminal 7 accepts check-ins and check-outs in response to operations by the administrator.

Note that while only one reception terminal 7 is shown in FIG. 2, if multiple reception terminals 7 are installed, multiple reception terminals 7 can accept check-in or check-out for the same conference room 6. For example, if the floor is large, the user can operate a nearby reception terminal 7 to input check-in or check-out.

The appearance of the reception terminal 7 is merely an example, and a large display, electronic whiteboard, projector, etc. may also be used. In the case of a projector, a method of receiving input using a laser pointer, etc. may be used.

<Initial settings of the reception terminal>
There are two types of reception terminals 7: one dedicated to the resource reservation system 100 of this embodiment, and one that is realized by running an app on a general-purpose information processing terminal. In the resource reservation system 100 in which a dedicated reception terminal 7 is provided in a conference room, the reception terminal 7 is initially set up at the time of shipment from the factory, and it is unnecessary or necessary to minimize the initial setting of the reception terminal 7 by an administrator, etc. However, the dedicated reception terminal 7 cannot be used for other purposes.

In recent years, there has been a trend towards using information processing terminals in the form of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device), and many users would like to realize the resource reservation system 100 easily and at low cost by using their own smart device as the reception terminal 7. Therefore, in this embodiment, we will explain the resource reservation system 100 that enables initial setup by capturing image data such as a QR code (registered trademark, hereafter referred to as an image code) with the reception terminal 7 as follows.

Figure 3 is an example diagram outlining the initial settings of the reception terminal 7 using an image code.

(1) The provider of the resource reservation system 100 registers the client's conference rooms in advance in the reservation management server 20. The reservation management server 20 accepts reservations for the registered conference rooms from users and stores the reservation information. The conference management server 30 communicates with the reservation management server 20, and receives a list of conference rooms from the reservation management server. In addition, when reservation information is registered or updated, it receives reservation information for each conference room.

(2) Manager K groups the reception terminals 7 as one of the initial settings of the reception terminals 7. To do this, the manager first operates the registration terminal 50 to display a list of conference rooms obtained from the conference management server 30 and decides which conference rooms will belong to the group. Only one conference room may be decided. A group is a collection of one or more conference rooms. The conference management server 30 assigns a group ID and sends it to the registration terminal 50. The group ID is identification information for this group. The group ID may be sent in the form of an image code, or in the form of a URL as described below. The initial setting of the reception terminal 7 may include several other tasks, for example, the reception terminal 7 storing this group ID.

(3) The administrator K captures the image code 110 displayed by the registration terminal 50 with the reception terminal 7. The reception terminal 7 has a reception app installed, and decodes the image code to obtain the group ID. The reception terminal 7 also stores the group ID.

(4) The registration terminal 50 sends the group ID to the conference management server 30 to obtain reservation information for the conference rooms that belong to this group.

(5) The conference management server 30 sends the reservation information for the conference room 6 identified by the group ID to the reception terminal 7. The reception terminal 7 displays the reservation information for one or more conference rooms belonging to the group. In this way, one reception terminal 7 can display reservation information for multiple conference rooms. Thereafter, the reception terminal 7 periodically sends the group ID to repeatedly obtain and display the latest reservation information. It also accepts the start of use (check-in) and the end of use (check-out) of each conference room.

In this way, the resource reservation system 100 of this embodiment can use a general-purpose information processing terminal as the reception terminal 7. In addition, by using an image code, the administrator can easily perform initial configuration. The reception terminal 7 can display reservation information for multiple conference rooms, and the client's users can check in and out of each conference room from a single reception terminal 7.

<Terminology>
Resources refer to resources. Conference rooms, as well as equipment, devices, people (reception), and mechanisms that can be used in conference rooms can be resources. Resources that are difficult to move are called facilities. For the sake of convenience, this embodiment uses the term conference room as an example of a resource.

Initial configuration refers to a person making some settings so that the device can perform at least the minimum functions. For example, settings related to communication. The information required for communication is the information that is set by the initial configuration.

The reserver is the person who reserves the conference room, and the participant is the person attending the conference. The reserver is often included in the participants, but this does not have to be the case. In this embodiment, the tasks performed by the reserver may be performed by the participants. Collectively, those who use the conference room are simply called users.

For the conference room terminal 90 to start communication with the conference management server 30, the conference room terminal 90 must store communication setting information through initial settings by the administrator. In addition, the reception terminal 7 must store the group ID. This will start periodically requesting reservation information, but whether the requested information can be obtained depends on the settings of the conference management server 30.

When the management start flag of the conference management server 30, which will be described later, is set to True, the conference management server 30 is ready to manage the conference room. When the management start flag is True and the conference management server 30 receives a request for reservation information from the conference room terminal 90 or the reception terminal 7, it starts managing the conference room. As a result, it starts sending reservation information when there is a request from the conference room terminal 90 or the reception terminal 7.

When the conference room terminal 90 or the reception terminal 7 acquires reservation information from the conference management server 30, the conference room terminal 90 or the reception terminal 7 starts cooperation with the conference management server 30. Therefore, the start of cooperation and the start of management are triggered by the related processes of requesting reservation information and sending the reservation information.

The following processing is performed when collaboration or management is started.
- Display reservation information (check-in, check-out, extension, use now)
- Control of electronic devices linked to check-in and check-out - Automatic cancellation of reservations Note that "extension" refers to a participant extending a reservation beyond the end time of the conference room reservation, and "use now" refers to any user using an available conference room without making a reservation.

When the conference room terminal 90 or the reception terminal 7 displays the reservation information, it can accept input. The type of input accepted automatically changes depending on the status of the conference room. As described above, input for check-in, check-out, extension, or immediate use is accepted.

Figure 4 is an example of a system configuration diagram of the resource reservation system 100. The resource reservation system 100 can be mainly divided into an external network N2 and an internal network N1. The internal network N1 refers to a network inside the firewall 73, and the external network N2 is a network such as the Internet over which an unspecified number of communications are transmitted.

The reservation management server 20, the conference management server 30, and one or more chat servers 10 are connected to the external network N2, and each server can communicate as necessary. Terminal devices 60 operated by conference participants may be connected to the external network N2 as necessary.

The reservation management server 20 is realized by one or more information processing devices (computer systems) equipped with a general server OS or the like. A system related to facility reservations provided by the reservation management server 20 is called a reservation management system. The reservation management server 20 has a calendar system and provides web applications that provide various reservation services. Specifically, the reservation management server 20 has the following functions, for example:
・Accepts schedule registration and allows reservation users to check it anytime, anywhere ・Notifies by email at a set date and time, such as 30 minutes before the schedule ・Each person can manage schedules on multiple calendars (work, home, etc.) ・Shares calendars with people in the same group The reservation management server 20 manages users with accounts. An account is the right of a user to use a service. In many systems, users log into the system using an account. For this reason, the account has a function (identification information function) that allows the system to uniquely identify the user. In this embodiment, the reservation management server 20 transmits reservation information of a pre-registered account (domain) to the conference management server 30. Alternatively, the conference management server 30 can obtain reservation information of the conference room 6 from the reservation management server 20 by specifying the account of the reservation management server 20 and having the conference management server 30 request the reservation information. Note that the account may be any information that can uniquely identify the user, such as an email address, ID, or phone number.

In this embodiment, the reservation that is managed as a schedule is the reservation of the conference room 6, but the reservation management server 20 can manage various schedules other than the conference room 6. In addition to the conference room 6, it can be used to reserve various facilities such as rental of various electronic devices, reservations for parking, rental offices, rental studios, rental bicycles, rental cars, accommodation facilities such as hotels, rental spaces such as event venues and lockers, etc.

Note that, although G Suite (registered trademark), Office365 (registered trademark), etc. are known as reservation management systems, any reservation management system having the functions described in this embodiment will suffice.

In addition, in this embodiment, information about the conference rooms 6 in the internal network N1 is preregistered in the reservation management server 20. That is, the web application of the reservation management server 20 is customized according to the conference room name, conference room ID, reservation time, capacity of each conference room 6, reservation unit, etc. of each conference room 6 in the internal network of the company using the resource reservation system 100. Therefore, the conference rooms 6 of the company using the resource reservation system 100 are linked to the reservation information.

The chat server 10 can be realized by one or more information processing devices (computer systems) equipped with a general server OS or the like. A real-time sharing system of information such as text, audio, and video among multiple users provided by the chat server 10 is called a chat system. The chat server 10 notifies the terminal device 60 of information related to reservations for the conference room 6. In this embodiment, multiple chat servers 10 operated by different entities may be included.

The information to be shared can be images, audio, etc., and is not limited to text, but for the sake of convenience, in this embodiment, it is described that text is mainly used for notifications. For example, the chat system may provide a voice call function between groups. Voice calls may be one-to-one or one-to-N (≧2). Therefore, in this embodiment, when the chat system notifies information regarding the reservation of the conference room 6, it may output a voice message in addition to displaying text. Note that, although LINE (registered trademark, omitted below), Slack, Microsoft Teams (registered trademark, omitted below), etc. are known as chat systems, any chat system that can notify one or multiple users from a bot (a program that executes a predetermined process) will suffice.

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

The conference management server 30 can be realized by one or more information processing devices (computer systems) equipped with a general server OS or the like. As part of the processing related to the external network N2, the conference management server 30 obtains reservation information for the conference room 6 from the reservation management server 20, obtains the expected participants set in the reservation information, and sends notifications to the chat server 10 group (or individual persons such as the reservation holder) associated with the expected participants at the set timing. As part of the processing related to the internal network N1, the conference management server 30 manages check-in and check-out to the conference room 6, and controls the power supply of the electronic device 70 based on the reservation information for the conference room 6 obtained from the reservation management server 20.

The internal network N1 includes a conference room 6, a work place 101 for the prospective participants, and a work place 102 for the administrator, and the prospective participants can access the external network N2 from various locations via the internal network N1. The internal network N1 is, for example, a LAN (Local Area Network). The conference room 6, the work place 101 for the prospective participants, and the work place 102 for the administrator are not necessarily LANs within the same company.

A conference room terminal 90 and electronic devices 70 are placed in the conference room 6. The conference room terminal 90 and electronic devices 70 can communicate with each other via a small LAN or a dedicated line. The electronic devices can connect to the in-house network N1 and the external network N2 without going through the conference room terminal 90. The conference room terminal 90 and electronic devices 70 can communicate with each other wirelessly or wired. Note that since the in-house network N1 is inside the firewall 73, direct communication from the external network N2 to the in-house network N1 is difficult.

The conference room terminal 90 is an information processing device operated by a conference participant, such as a person who makes a reservation to use the conference room 6. It serves as a reception terminal 7 that accepts the use of the conference room. The conference room terminal 90 is placed on a desk in the conference room 6 or at the entrance to the conference room 6. Multiple conference room terminals 90 may be placed in one conference room 6. The conference room terminal 90 can be realized by one or more information processing devices (computer systems) equipped with a general OS or the like.

The conference room terminal 90 sends the conference room ID to the conference room management server 30 and displays reservation information for the conference room 6 for the day. It also obtains control information such as power ON/OFF for the electronic device 70 from the conference management server 30. In response to this, the conference room terminal 90 turns the power of the electronic device 70 ON and OFF.

The conference room terminal 90 also displays a standby screen for check-in, check-out, etc., and communicates with the conference management server 30 to notify the conference management server 30 of check-in or check-out. When checking in, the conference room terminal 90 transmits the conference identification information entered by the person who made the reservation and the conference room ID stored in advance to the conference management server 30, so that the conference management server 30 can confirm from the conference identification information and conference room ID that the person who made the reservation for the conference room 6 will be using the reserved conference room 6.

The electronic devices 70 are various office devices that can be used in the conference room 6. For example, they are electronic whiteboards, multifunction printers, projectors, digital signage, digital cameras, etc. An electronic whiteboard has a large display with a touch panel, detects the coordinates of the board surface indicated by the user, and displays strokes by connecting the coordinates. In addition, it can display images from a connected PC and communicate with electronic whiteboards at other locations to synchronize strokes. Note that electronic whiteboards are sometimes called electronic information boards or electronic whiteboards.

Multifunction devices have functions such as a copier, scanner, printer, and fax sender/receive, and are used to print and copy materials during a meeting, digitize materials, and send materials. A projector is a device that projects images. For example, it allows participants to share an image displayed on a terminal device 60 by projecting it onto a screen or the like. Digital signage is a large display that is used to display any still image or video. Digital cameras are used by each participant to capture and save images of paper materials or materials displayed on an electronic whiteboard.

A reception terminal 7 is connected to the internal network N1. The reception terminal 7 is provided in common for one or more conference rooms. Multiple reception terminals 7 may be connected to the internal network N1. The functions of the reception terminal 7 may be the same as those of the conference room terminal 90. In other words, it displays reservation information, accepts check-ins and check-outs, etc.

A terminal device 60 that can connect to the in-house network N1 is placed at the work place 101 of the prospective participant. The terminal device 60 may communicate either wired or wirelessly. The terminal device 60 is an information processing device used by the prospective participant (including the person making the reservation) when reserving the conference room, but it is also assumed that the terminal device 60 will be brought into the conference room. It is an information processing device carried by the prospective participant.

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

In the terminal device 60, dedicated application software for the chat server 10 (hereafter referred to as a chat app) runs, and further dedicated application software for the resource reservation system 100 (hereafter referred to as a conference app) runs. However, these may be substituted with browser software.

A registration terminal 50 that can be connected to the in-house network N1 is placed in the manager's work place 102. The registration terminal 50 may communicate either wired or wirelessly. The registration terminal 50 is a display terminal that the manager uses to make initial settings on the conference room terminal 90 and the reception terminal 7.

The registration terminal 50 may be an information processing device similar to the terminal device 60. However, since it is mainly used by the administrator to configure the conference management server 30, it does not need to have a chat app or conference app. The registration terminal 50 mainly communicates with the conference management server 30 using browser software and displays web pages.

<Hardware Configuration>
<<Conference management server hardware configuration>>
Fig. 5 is an example of a hardware configuration diagram of the conference management server 30. Fig. 5 is an example of a schematic hardware configuration diagram of the conference management server 30. The conference management server 30 is constructed by a computer, and as shown in Fig. 5, includes a CPU 501, a ROM 502, a RAM 503, a HD 504, a HDD controller 505 (Hard Disk Drive), a display 506, an external device connection I/F (Interface) 508, a network I/F 509, a bus line 510, a keyboard 511, a pointing device 512, a DVD-RW drive 514 (Digital Versatile Disk Rewritable), and a media I/F 516.

Of these, the CPU 501 controls the operation of the entire server 5. The ROM 502 stores programs used to drive the CPU 501, such as IPL. The RAM 503 is used as a work area for the CPU 501. The HD 504 stores various data such as programs. The HDD controller 505 controls the reading or writing of various data from the HD 504 according to the control of the CPU 501. The display 506 displays various information such as a cursor, menu, window, character, or image. The external device connection I/F 508 is an interface for connecting various external devices. In this case, the external device is, for example, a USB (Universal Serial Bus) memory or a printer. The network I/F 509 is an interface for data communication using a communication network. The bus line 510 is an address bus, a data bus, or the like for electrically connecting each component such as the CPU 501 shown in FIG. 5.

The keyboard 511 is a type of input means equipped with multiple keys for inputting characters, numbers, various instructions, etc. The pointing device 512 is a type of input means for selecting and executing various instructions, selecting a processing target, moving the cursor, etc. The DVD-RW drive 514 controls the reading and writing of various data from the DVD-RW 513, which is an example of a removable recording medium. Note that this is not limited to a DVD-RW, and may be a DVD-R, etc. The media I/F 516 controls the reading and writing (storing) of data from the recording medium 515, such as a flash memory.

<<Reception terminal>>
Fig. 6 is a hardware configuration diagram of an example of the reception terminal 7. The hardware configuration diagram of the conference room terminal 90 is the same as that of Fig. 6. As shown in Fig. 6, the reception terminal 7 includes a CPU 701, a ROM 702, a RAM 703, an EEPROM 704, a CMOS sensor 705 (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor), an image sensor I/F 706, an acceleration/direction sensor 707, a media I/F 709, and a GPS receiver 711.

Of these, the CPU 701 controls the operation of the entire reception terminal 7. The ROM 702 stores the programs used to drive the CPU 701, such as the CPU 701 and the IPL. The RAM 703 is used as a work area for the CPU 701. The EEPROM 704 reads or writes various data such as applications under the control of the CPU 701. The CMOS sensor 705 is a type of built-in imaging means that captures an image of a subject (mainly a self-portrait) and obtains image data under the control of the CPU 701. Note that instead of a CMOS sensor, an imaging means such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) sensor may also be used. The imaging element I/F 706 is a circuit that controls the operation of the CMOS sensor 705. The acceleration/direction sensor 707 is various sensors such as an electronic magnetic compass or gyrocompass that detects geomagnetism, and an acceleration sensor. The media I/F 709 controls the reading or writing (storing) of data from a recording medium 708 such as a flash memory. The GPS receiver 711 receives GPS signals from GPS satellites.

The reception terminal 7 also includes a long-distance communication circuit 712, a CMOS sensor 713, an image sensor I/F 714, a microphone 715, a speaker 716, an audio input/output I/F 717, a display 718, an external device connection I/F 719, a short-distance communication circuit 720, an antenna 720a of the short-distance communication circuit 720, and a touch panel 721.

Among these, the long-distance communication circuit 712 is a circuit that communicates with other devices via a communication network. The CMOS sensor 713 is a type of built-in imaging means that captures an image of a subject and obtains image data under the control of the CPU 701. The imaging element I/F 714 is a circuit that controls the driving of the CMOS sensor 713. The microphone 715 is a built-in circuit that converts sound into an electrical signal. The speaker 716 is a built-in circuit that converts an electrical signal into physical vibrations to generate sounds such as music and voice. The sound input/output I/F 717 is a circuit that processes the input and output of sound signals between the microphone 715 and the speaker 716 under the control of the CPU 701. The display 718 is a type of display means such as liquid crystal or organic EL (Electro Luminescence) that displays images of subjects and various icons. The external device connection I/F 719 is an interface for connecting various external devices. The short-distance communication circuit 720 is a communication circuit such as NFC (Near Field Communication) or Bluetooth (registered trademark). The touch panel 721 is a type of input means that allows the user to operate the reception terminal 7 by pressing the display 718.

The reception terminal 7 also includes a bus line 710. The bus line 710 is an address bus, a data bus, etc., for electrically connecting each component such as the CPU 701 shown in FIG. 6.

<About the function>
FIG. 7 is an example of a functional block diagram showing the functions of the reservation management server 20, the chat server 10, the conference management server 30, and the registration terminal 50 in blocks.

<<Reservation management server>>
The reservation management server 20 has a communication unit 21 and a reservation information management unit 22. Each of these functional units of the reservation management server 20 is a function or means realized when any of the components shown in Fig. 5 operates in response to an instruction from the CPU 501 in accordance with a program loaded from the HD 504 to the RAM 503.

The communication unit 21 transmits and receives various information to and from the conference management server 30 and the terminal device 60. The communication unit 21 transmits screen information of the reservation setting screen to the terminal device 60, and receives reservation settings from the terminal device 60. The communication unit 21 also transmits reservation information to the conference management server 30.

The reservation information management unit 22 manages reservation information registered by the user. The reservation information management unit 22 reads reservation information for the conference room 6 requested by the conference management server 30 from the reservation information DB 291, and transmits it to the conference management server 30 via the communication unit 21. Alternatively, when reservation information is registered (or changed), the reservation information is transmitted to the conference management server 30 even without a request. It is assumed that a general web application is used as a method for a person making a reservation to reserve the conference room 6 on the reservation management server 20.

The reservation management server 20 has a memory unit 29. The memory unit 29 is realized by the RAM 503 and HD 504 in FIG. 5, etc. The memory unit 29 stores a reservation information DB 291 (Data Base).

表１は予約情報ＤＢ２９１に記憶されている予約情報の一例を示す。予約情報は会議室６の予約状況を管理するための情報である。予約情報には、予約ＩＤに対応付けて予約者アカウント、会議名、会議室ＩＤ、開始時刻、終了時刻、及び、参加予定者アカウントの各項目が登録されている。予約ＩＤは予約情報の１レコードを識別する識別情報である。ＩＤはIdentificationの略であり識別子や識別情報という意味である。ＩＤは複数の対象から、ある特定の対象を一意的に区別するために用いられる名称、符号、文字列、数値又はこれらのうち１つ以上の組み合わせをいう。予約ＩＤ以外のＩＤについても同様である。予約者アカウントは会議室６を予約した参加予定者のアカウントである。会議名は参加予定者が任意に付与した会議の名称である。会議室ＩＤは社内ネットワークにある会議室６を識別する識別情報である。開始時刻は会議室６が予約された時間帯の始期（会議が開始される時刻）であり、終了時刻は会議室６が予約された時間帯の終期（会議が終わる時刻）である。参加予定者アカウントは会議に参加する予定の参加予定者のアカウントである。なお、表１のアカウントはいずれも予約管理サーバ２０が発行したアカウントである。

Table 1 shows an example of reservation information stored in the reservation information DB 291. The reservation information is information for managing the reservation status of the conference room 6. In the reservation information, the following items are registered in association with the reservation ID: the reservation account, the conference name, the conference room ID, the start time, the end time, and the prospective participant account. The reservation ID is identification information for identifying one record of the reservation information. ID is an abbreviation of Identification, meaning an identifier or identification information. The ID refers to a name, a code, a character string, a number, or a combination of one or more of these, which are used to uniquely distinguish a specific object from multiple objects. The same applies to IDs other than the reservation ID. The reservation account is the account of a prospective participant who has reserved the conference room 6. The conference name is the name of the conference arbitrarily given by the prospective participant. The conference room ID is identification information for identifying the conference room 6 in the internal network. The start time is the start of the time period for which the conference room 6 is reserved (the time when the conference starts), and the end time is the end of the time period for which the conference room 6 is reserved (the time when the conference ends). The prospective participant account is the account of a prospective participant who plans to participate in the conference. All of the accounts in Table 1 are accounts issued by the reservation management server 20.

<<Chat Server>>
Chat server 10 has a communication unit 11 and a text processing unit 12. Each of these functional units of chat server 10 is a function or means realized when any of the constituent categories shown in Fig. 5 operates in response to an instruction from CPU 501 in accordance with a program loaded from HD 504 to RAM 503.

The communication unit 11 transmits and receives various information to and from the conference management server 30. In this embodiment, it receives information about the reservation of the conference room, information for identifying the bot (such as a token described below), and information for identifying the group to be notified from the conference management server 30. This information for identifying the bot is notified in advance from the chat server 10 as the bot's identification information when the bot of the conference management server 30 is created. Furthermore, an individual account, such as that of the person making the reservation, may also be specified. The communication unit 11 also transmits to the conference management server 30 a message indicating that the prospective participant has read the information about the reservation of the conference room, or a response from the prospective participant to the displayed information about the reservation of the conference room.

The text processing unit 12 transmits information about the reservation of the conference room 6 to the prospective participants who belong to the group as information to be spoken by the bot, based on information identifying the bot and information specifying the group to be notified, which have been notified by the conference management server 30. Therefore, notifications may be sent to the number of prospective participants, or only to the person who made the reservation or the user to be notified. Furthermore, information about the reservation of the conference room 6 is sent only to specific recipients.

The text processing unit 12 can perform so-called push notifications. For example, the mechanism is as follows: The chat application 60a receives an ID (token) for push notifications from a server operated by the OS (Operating System) manufacturer. This server associates the token with the device (terminal device 60). The chat application 60a registers the token and the chat application 60a's account in the chat server 10. When the chat server 10 performs a push notification, it identifies the chat application 60a's account and can therefore identify the associated token. The chat system specifies the token and sends the notification contents to a server operated by the OS manufacturer. This server sends a push notification to the device (terminal device 60) associated with the token.

The chat server 10 also has a memory unit 19. The memory unit 19 is realized by the RAM 503 and HD 504 in FIG. 5, etc. The memory unit 19 stores a group information DB 191.

表２はグループ情報ＤＢ１９１に記憶されているグループ情報の一例を示す。グループ情報は同じグループに属するメンバのアカウントが登録された情報である。グループ情報には、ワークスペースとチャンネルに対応付けて、メンバアカウント１～ｎ（表２ではｎ＝４）、及び、ボットアカウントが登録されている。

Table 2 shows an example of group information stored in the group information DB 191. The group information is information in which the accounts of members belonging to the same group are registered. In the group information, member accounts 1 to n (n=4 in Table 2) and bot accounts are registered in association with workspaces and channels.

A workspace is identification information for identifying an organization such as a company or department. In this embodiment, multiple members belong to a workspace (for example, Company A). A workspace is, for example, a URL, but it need only be unique. Furthermore, a workspace has multiple channels according to the purpose of the chat, etc. A channel is a collection of members who exchange common information, such as a group for product A and a group for product B. Any of the members who belong to the workspace belong to a channel. In other words, the notification destination is specified by the workspace and the channel. However, since the method of specifying the notification destination differs depending on the chat system, if there is identification information that can uniquely identify the group, that information alone may be used, or it may be specified by three or more pieces of information.

The uniqueness of a channel is guaranteed. Member accounts 1 to n are the accounts of channel members, and these accounts are issued by the chat server 10. In this embodiment, a bot is registered as a member for notifying information related to reservations for the conference room 6. The bot can be said to be a proxy or fictitious member of the conference management server 30. The bot's comments (text) are sent to the terminal devices 60 of member accounts 1 to n.

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

<<Conference management server>>
The conference management server 30 has a communication unit 31, an information association unit 32, a reservation information acquisition unit 33, a notification judgment unit 34, a control information generation unit 35, a control information response unit 36, a conference information notification unit 37, a check-in management unit 38, an initial setting unit 39, an authentication unit 40, an authentication key verification unit 41, a management control unit 42, and a reservation information transmission unit 44. Each of these functional units of the conference management server 30 is a function or means realized by operating any of the constituent categories shown in Fig. 5 in response to an instruction from the CPU 501 in accordance with a program loaded from the HD 504 to the RAM 503. This program is distributed from a server for program distribution or distributed in a state stored in a storage medium.

The communication unit 31 transmits and receives various information to and from the reservation management server 20, the chat server 10, the registration terminal 50, and the terminal device 60. The communication unit 31 has a transmission unit 31a and a reception unit 31b. The reception unit 31b receives reservation information from the reservation management server 20, and receives a request for reservation information from the conference room terminal 90 or the reception terminal 7. The reception unit 31b also receives a check-in request from the conference room terminal 90 or the reception terminal 7. The reception unit 31b also accepts association of groups and accounts in the chat system from the registration terminal 50 operated by the administrator. The transmission unit 31a transmits information related to conference room reservations to the chat server 10, and transmits reservation information to the conference room terminal 90 or the reception terminal 7.

The information association unit 32 mainly performs processing related to advance registration work. That is, it accepts domain registrations from the registration terminal 50 or the like operated by the administrator, registers them in the customer domain DB 495, and associates the workspace and channel of the chat system transmitted from the registration terminal 50 or the like with an account on the reservation management server 20, and registers them in the association information DB 491.

The reservation information acquisition unit 33 specifies the account of a customer using the resource reservation system 100, acquires reservation information from the reservation management server 20, and registers it as conference management information in the conference management information DB 493. Alternatively, it receives reservation information that has been changed. Therefore, at least a portion of the reservation information in the reservation management server 20 is stored in the conference management information DB 493. The reservation information acquisition unit 33 acquires reservation information for a specified period from the present from the reservation information held by the reservation management server 20. The specified period is determined by how far into the future information regarding the reservation of the conference room 6 is to be notified.

The notification determination unit 34 determines whether there is a reservation with a start time that satisfies the conditions for notification in the conference management information. For example, it refers to the notification setting DB 496 and determines that notification will be sent when the set date and time is reached by counting backwards from the start time of the reservation. Note that if bots are divided by role, such as a bot for reminders and a bot for accepting reservations, the bot is identified according to the process.

When the notification determination unit 34 determines to notify, the conference information notification unit 37 requests the chat server 10 to notify information related to the reservation of the conference room 6 by specifying information identifying the bot (for example, a token in Slack) and information identifying the group to be notified. The notification is performed in several batches, but at least one of the notifications includes the conference identification information. The conference identification information is information that allows the conference management server 30 to confirm that the participant has the right to use the reserved conference room 6 during the reserved time period. The conference information notification unit 37 generates the conference identification information at least before the final notification. The conference identification information is registered in the conference identification information DB 494.

The control information generation unit 35 generates control information for the electronic device 70 by referring to the conference management information, and registers the control information in the control information DB 497. For example, control information is generated to turn on the power of the electronic device 70 a few minutes before the start time of the conference, and control information is generated to turn off the power of the electronic device 70 when check-out is detected. The control information is stored in the control information DB 497.

The control information response unit 36 receives an inquiry from the conference room terminal 90 in the conference room 6 as to whether there is any control information, refers to the control information DB 497, and transmits the control information corresponding to the conference room 6 to the conference room terminal 90.

The check-in management unit 38 manages check-in and check-out to the conference room. It also registers the status of the conference, mainly related to check-in and check-out, in the conference management information DB 493. Check-in is permitted 5 to 10 minutes (this time can be changed by settings) before the start time of the conference specified by the reservation ID. Then, check-in is permitted if the combination of the conference room ID and conference identification information sent by the conference room terminal 90 is registered in the conference identification information DB 494.

The initial setting unit 39 performs processing related to the initial setting of the conference room terminal 90 or the reception terminal 7. For example, for the initial setting of the conference room terminal 90, it provides a list of conference rooms to the registration terminal 50 of the administrator of the resource reservation system 100, identifies the conference room ID and conference room name of the conference room selected by the administrator of the resource reservation system 100, generates an authentication key, and transmits the URL (Uniform Resource Locator, address information of the conference room management server 30) of the registration terminal 50 (transmits communication setting information). For the initial setting of the reception terminal 7, the conference room specified by the administrator is made to belong to a group. Similarly, it transmits the authentication key and the URL of the conference room management server 30 to the registration terminal 50 for each conference room. The initial setting unit 39 also transmits the group ID to the registration terminal 50 and registers it in association with the conference room in the conference room setting information DB 498.

The authentication unit 40 authenticates the administrator based on the login password and user ID in the login information DB 499.

The authentication key verification unit 41 authenticates the conference room terminal 90 based on whether the authentication key sent from the conference room terminal 90 matches the one registered in the conference room setting information DB 498. Therefore, only conference room terminals 90 that have a correct authentication key can obtain reservation information.

For each conference room, the management control unit 42 checks whether the management start flag registered in the conference room setting information DB 498 is True and whether a request to obtain reservation information has been made. As described below, the management start flag is a flag that indicates whether management of the conference room may be started.

In response to a request from the conference room terminal 90, the reservation information transmission unit 44 transmits reservation information (conference management information) stored in the conference management information DB 493. However, authentication using the authentication key must be successful and the management start flag must be set to True. The reservation information transmission unit 44 may transmit information in JSON format, XML format, CVS (Comma-Separated Values) format, or the like. Since reservation information is transmitted repeatedly, a format with a small capacity is advantageous.

The conference management server 30 also has a memory unit 49. The memory unit 49 is realized by the RAM 503 and HD 504 in FIG. 5, etc. The memory unit 49 stores a correspondence information DB 491, a conference management information DB 493, a conference identification information DB 494, a customer domain DB 495, a notification setting DB 496, a control information DB 497, a conference room setting information DB 498, and a login information DB 499.

表３は対応付情報ＤＢ４９１に記憶されている対応付情報の一例を示す。対応付情報は予約管理システムのアカウントとチャットシステムのグループを対応付ける情報である。対応付情報は、ワークスペース、チャンネル及びメンバアカウント１～ｎ（表ではｎ＝４）の各項目を有する。ワークスペースとチャンネルは上記のとおりである。メンバアカウント１～ｎには予約管理サーバ２０が発行した各参加者のアカウントが登録される。また、表３に示すようにチャットシステムのアカウントが登録されてよい。グループに対して通知を行うためには予約管理サーバ２０に対して会議を予約したユーザの予約管理サーバ２０のアカウントと通知先のグループ及びチャンネルを特定するための情報（本実施形態ではワークスペースとチャンネル名）があればよく、必ずしもグループに所属するすべてのメンバのアカウントが登録されている必要はない。ただし、個人ユーザ宛に通知する場合、それぞれのチャットシステムのアカウント情報が必要なため、表３のように登録されていてもよい。

Table 3 shows an example of the correspondence information stored in the correspondence information DB 491. The correspondence information is information that associates an account of the reservation management system with a group of the chat system. The correspondence information has each item of workspace, channel, and member account 1 to n (n=4 in the table). The workspace and channel are as described above. The account of each participant issued by the reservation management server 20 is registered in the member accounts 1 to n. Also, an account of the chat system may be registered as shown in Table 3. In order to notify a group, all that is required is the account of the reservation management server 20 of the user who has booked the conference with the reservation management server 20 and information for identifying the group and channel to be notified (workspace and channel name in this embodiment), and it is not necessary to register the accounts of all members belonging to the group. However, when notifying an individual user, account information of each chat system is required, so it may be registered as shown in Table 3.

表４は会議管理サーバ３０の会議管理情報ＤＢ４９３が記憶する会議管理情報の一例を示す。会議管理情報ＤＢ４９３には予約情報が記憶されるので、表４では表１の予約情報ＤＢ２９１との相違を説明する。表４の会議管理情報はステータスの項目を有する。ステータスは、予約の状況を意味する。例えば、会議室６の予約に関する情報の通知済み、利用確定、チェックイン待ち、チェックイン済み、チェックアウト済み、又は、キャンセル（取り消し）等の状況が登録される。

Table 4 shows an example of conference management information stored in the conference management information DB 493 of the conference management server 30. Since the conference management information DB 493 stores reservation information, Table 4 explains the differences from the reservation information DB 291 of Table 1. The conference management information of Table 4 has a status item. Status means the status of the reservation. For example, statuses such as notified of information regarding the reservation of conference room 6, confirmed use, waiting for check-in, checked in, checked out, or canceled (canceled) are registered.

表５は会議識別情報ＤＢ４９４に記憶されている会議識別情報管理情報の一例を示す。会議識別情報管理情報は会議室６の予約ごとに会議識別情報を管理する情報である。会議識別情報管理情報は、予約ＩＤ、会議室ＩＤ、及び、会議識別情報の各項目を有する。これらについてはステータスを除き予約情報と同じであり（予約管理サーバ２０から受信した予約情報）、既出であるため説明は省略する。なお、予約ＩＤが登録されているのは、同じ会議室６の予約を識別するためである。ステータスは、予約の状況を意味する。例えば、会議室の予約に関する情報の通知済み、利用確定、チェックイン済み、チェックアウト、又は、キャンセル（取り消し）等の状況が登録される。

Table 5 shows an example of conference identification information management information stored in the conference identification information DB 494. The conference identification information management information is information that manages the conference identification information for each reservation of the conference room 6. The conference identification information management information has the following fields: reservation ID, conference room ID, and conference identification information. These are the same as the reservation information except for the status (reservation information received from the reservation management server 20), and as they have already been mentioned, their explanation will be omitted. The reservation ID is registered in order to identify reservations of the same conference room 6. The status means the status of the reservation. For example, the status registered may include information about the conference room reservation that has been notified, that use has been confirmed, that has been checked in, that has been checked out, or that has been canceled (canceled).

表６は顧客ドメインＤＢ４９５に記憶されている顧客ドメイン情報の一例を示す。顧客ドメイン情報は顧客のドメインと顧客の管理者のアカウントを管理する情報である。顧客ドメイン情報には顧客のドメイン名と顧客の管理者アカウントが対応付けて登録されている。表６の顧客のドメインは予約管理サーバ２０が発行したアカウント（メールアドレス）のドメインである。また、管理者アカウントは、顧客の管理者（代表する）のアカウントである。なお、表６のアカウントは予約管理サーバ２０が発行したものである。

Table 6 shows an example of customer domain information stored in customer domain DB 495. Customer domain information is information for managing a customer's domain and the customer's administrator's account. The customer's domain name and the customer's administrator's account are registered in correspondence with each other in the customer domain information. The customer's domain in Table 6 is the domain of the account (email address) issued by the reservation management server 20. The administrator account is the account of the customer's administrator (representative). The accounts in Table 6 are issued by the reservation management server 20.

表７は通知設定ＤＢ４９６に記憶されている通知設定情報の一例を示す。通知設定情報は顧客ごとに通知に関する設定を保持する。通知設定情報には、顧客ドメイン名と通知設定が対応付けて登録されている。通知設定には、会議の開始時刻のどのくらい前に、会議室６の予約に関する情報を通知するかのタイミングが設定されている。あるいは決まった日時が設定されていてもよい。また、タイミングは１つである必要はなく、１つの顧客に複数回の通知設定が登録されていてもよい。

Table 7 shows an example of notification setting information stored in the notification setting DB 496. The notification setting information holds notification settings for each customer. The notification setting information is registered in association with the customer domain name and the notification setting. The notification setting specifies the timing of how long before the start time of the conference to notify information related to the reservation of the conference room 6. Alternatively, a fixed date and time may be set. Also, there does not have to be just one timing, and multiple notification settings may be registered for one customer.

表８は制御情報ＤＢ４９７に記憶されている制御情報の一例を示す。制御情報は会議室６の電子機器７０を制御するための情報である。制御情報は、会議室ＩＤ、及び、制御内容の各項目を有する。制御内容は、電子機器７０の具体的な制御方法である。会議管理サーバ３０は電子機器７０ごとに詳細な制御内容を設定できる。また、制御する時刻が登録されないのは、社外ネットワークの会議管理サーバ３０から会議室端末９０に送信することが困難であり、会議室端末９０が会議管理サーバ３０にアクセスし、この時、制御情報が生成されていれば制御内容を送信するからである。

Table 8 shows an example of control information stored in the control information DB 497. The control information is information for controlling the electronic device 70 in the conference room 6. The control information has items of conference room ID and control content. The control content is a specific control method for the electronic device 70. The conference management server 30 can set detailed control content for each electronic device 70. In addition, the reason why the time of control is not registered is that it is difficult to transmit the control content from the conference management server 30 on the external network to the conference room terminal 90, and the conference room terminal 90 accesses the conference management server 30, and transmits the control content if the control information is generated at this time.

表９は、会議室設定情報ＤＢ４９８に記憶されている会議室設定情報の一例を示す。会議室設定情報は会議室ごとの設定に関する情報である。会議室設定情報は、顧客ＩＤに対応付けて、会議室名称、会議室ＩＤ、会議室の状態、認証キー、管理開始フラグ、リソースグループ、運用ルール、グループＩＤ、及び、グループ名の各項目を有する。
・会議室名称は会議の参加者が認識している会議室の一般的な名称であり、例えば会議室の入り口に提示されているものをいう。
・会議室ＩＤは上記のように会議室を一意に識別する識別情報である。簡易的には、会議室ＩＤは予約管理サーバ２０と共通とすることができる。また、変換テーブルを設けることで、予約管理サーバ２０と別に管理者が設定することもできる。
・会議室の状態は会議室端末９０又は受付端末７の初期設定が終了したか、通信が可能か等を示す。
接続中：一定期間内に通信が確認できている状態
セットアップ前：初期設定の前
接続断：一定期間以上、通信がない状態
・認証キーは会議管理サーバ３０が会議室端末９０又は受付端末７を認証するための認証情報となる。初期設定により認証キーが会議室端末９０又は受付端末７に設定される。認証キーは総当たり方式で特定できない程度に長い桁数の数字、アルファベット、記号などの組み合わせである。認証キーは会議管理サーバ３０が決定しても管理者が決定してもよい。
・管理開始フラグは、会議室端末９０又は受付端末７の初期設定が終わった後に、会議室の管理を会議管理サーバ３０が開始するか否かを示すフラグ（True：開始する False：開始しない）である。管理開始フラグがあることで、初期設定が完了してから会議室端末９０の配置までのタイムラグで生じる不都合（予約が自動的にキャンセルされてしまう）を抑制できる。
・リソースグループは、会議室の管理上のグループであり、会議室が存在する例えば事業所や棟の違いを表す。必ずしも必須ではない。
・運用ルールは、チェックインが可能となる時間、自動キャンセル時間、又は、電子機器の自動起動をするかしないかなど、会議室の運用に関するどのルールを適用するかを示す。例えば、Defaultは社員用のルールを、Guestは来客者のルールを、Executiveは役員用のルールを示す。
・グループＩＤの項目には、管理者がグループ化した複数の会議室が所属するグループの識別情報が設定される。例えば、B－1からB－3の会議室はG－001にグループ化されていることが分かる。グループに所属しない会議室ではグループＩＤの項目が設定されない。
・グループ名の項目には、管理者が入力したグループ名が設定される。グループに所属しない会議室ではグループの項目が設定されない。

Table 9 shows an example of conference room setting information stored in the conference room setting information DB 498. The conference room setting information is information about the settings for each conference room. The conference room setting information includes the following items in association with a customer ID: conference room name, conference room ID, conference room status, authentication key, management start flag, resource group, operation rule, group ID, and group name.
The conference room name is the general name of the conference room that is recognized by the conference participants, for example, the one displayed at the entrance to the conference room.
The conference room ID is identification information that uniquely identifies the conference room as described above. For simplicity, the conference room ID can be the same as the reservation management server 20. Also, by providing a conversion table, the administrator can set the conference room ID separately from the reservation management server 20.
The status of the conference room indicates whether the initial settings of the conference room terminal 90 or the reception terminal 7 have been completed, whether communication is possible, etc.
Connected: A state in which communication has been confirmed within a certain period of time Pre-setup: Before initial setting Disconnected: A state in which there has been no communication for a certain period of time or more The authentication key is authentication information used by the conference room terminal 90 or the reception terminal 7 by the conference room terminal 90 or the reception terminal 7 by initial setting. The authentication key is a combination of numbers, letters, symbols, etc. with a long number of digits that cannot be identified by a brute force method. The authentication key may be determined by the conference room management server 30 or by the administrator.
The management start flag is a flag (True: start, False: do not start) that indicates whether the conference room management server 30 starts managing the conference room after the initial settings of the conference room terminal 90 or the reception terminal 7 are completed. The management start flag can prevent inconveniences (such as a reservation being automatically canceled) that occur due to a time lag between the completion of the initial settings and the placement of the conference room terminal 90.
A resource group is an administrative group of conference rooms, and indicates, for example, the difference between the offices or buildings in which the conference rooms are located.
- Operation rules indicate which rules are applied to the operation of the conference room, such as the time when check-in is possible, the automatic cancellation time, whether to automatically start electronic devices, etc. For example, Default indicates the rules for employees, Guest indicates the rules for visitors, and Executive indicates the rules for executives.
- The Group ID field is set to identify the group to which multiple conference rooms that have been grouped by the administrator belong. For example, it can be seen that conference rooms B-1 to B-3 are grouped into G-001. The Group ID field is not set for conference rooms that do not belong to a group.
- The group name entered by the administrator will be set in the group name field. For conference rooms that do not belong to a group, the group field will not be set.

Of the items, the conference room name, conference room ID, management start flag (initial value is False), resource group, and operation group may be sent from the reservation management server 20. Alternatively, the administrator can set them in the conference management server 30. The initial state of the conference room (immediately after being set by the provider) is "before setup", but this state transitions depending on the communication situation. The authentication key is numbered and set, for example, by the conference management server 30 during initial setup. The management start flag is set by the administrator. The group ID item is set by the conference management server 30 when the administrator groups the groups, and the group name item is set by the administrator.

表１０はログイン情報ＤＢ４９９に記憶されているログイン情報の一例を示す。ログイン情報は管理者が会議管理サーバ３０にログインするための情報である。ログイン情報は、顧客ＩＤ、ログインパスワード、ユーザＩＤ、及び、サーバＵＲＬの各項目を有する。管理者がログインパスワード、及び、ユーザＩＤで会議管理サーバ３０にログインし、登録端末５０に各種の画面を表示させる。ログインにより管理者が会議室端末９０又は受付端末７を配置する会議室がある顧客が特定される。また、ログイン情報ＤＢ４９９には顧客に割り当てられたサーバＵＲＬが登録されており、顧客の会議室端末９０又は受付端末７が会議管理サーバ３０と通信できる。サーバＵＲＬは会議管理サーバ３０のうち顧客に割り当てられたＵＲＬであり、会議室端末９０がサーバＵＲＬにアクセスすることで顧客の予約情報を取得できる。ただし、サーバＵＲＬは複数の顧客に共通でもよい。

Table 10 shows an example of login information stored in the login information DB 499. The login information is information for the administrator to log in to the conference management server 30. The login information has the following items: customer ID, login password, user ID, and server URL. The administrator logs in to the conference management server 30 with the login password and user ID, and displays various screens on the registration terminal 50. The administrator identifies a customer who has a conference room in which the conference room terminal 90 or reception terminal 7 is located by logging in. In addition, the login information DB 499 registers a server URL assigned to the customer, and the conference room terminal 90 or reception terminal 7 of the customer can communicate with the conference management server 30. The server URL is a URL assigned to the customer in the conference management server 30, and the conference room terminal 90 can obtain the reservation information of the customer by accessing the server URL. However, the server URL may be common to multiple customers.

<<Registered device>>
The registration terminal 50 has a communication unit 51, an operation reception unit 52, and a display control unit 53. Each of these functional units of the registration terminal 50 is a function or means realized by any of the components shown in Fig. 5 operating in response to an instruction from the CPU 501 in accordance with a program loaded from the HD 504 to the RAM 503. This program (e.g., a browser) is distributed from a server for program distribution or is distributed in a state of being stored in a storage medium.

The registration terminal 50 is a terminal that allows the administrator to configure various settings related to the conference room via a web page provided by the conference management server. One of these settings is the initial settings. Note that the terminal device 60 may be used for the initial settings.

The communication unit 51 transmits and receives various information to and from the conference management server 30 and the reservation management server 20. In this embodiment, it transmits information regarding grouping of conference rooms to the conference management server 30.

The operation reception unit 52 receives various operations from participants on the registration terminal 50. The display control unit 53 interprets screen information of various screens and displays it on the display 506. The operation reception unit 52 and the display control unit 53 have, for example, a browser function and can execute a web application. For example, a screen is displayed based on the screen information received from the conference management server 30, and the operation reception unit 52 receives the conference rooms to be grouped.

<<Terminal Device>>
8 is an example of a functional block diagram showing the functions of the terminal device 60, the conference room terminal 90, and the reception terminal 7. The functions of the electronic device 70 will be described as necessary.

The terminal device 60 has a communication unit 61a, an operation reception unit 61b, a display control unit 61c, a chat communication unit 62, a text display unit 63, an application communication unit 64, a server communication unit 65, a display control unit 66, an application communication unit 67, and a terminal communication unit 68. Each of these functional units of the terminal device 60 is a function or means realized when any of the constituent categories shown in FIG. 5 operates in response to an instruction from the CPU in accordance with a program expanded from the HD 504 to the RAM 503. This program is distributed from a server for program distribution or is distributed in a state stored in a storage medium. Since the chat application 60a and the conference application 60b are operating in the terminal device 60, the program includes the chat application 60a and the conference application 60b.

The communication unit 61a transmits and receives various information to and from the conference management server 30 and the reservation management server 20. The operation reception unit 61b receives various operations from participants on the terminal device 60. The display control unit 61c interprets screen information of various screens and displays it on the display 506. The operation reception unit 61b and the display control unit 61c have, for example, a browser function and can execute a web application. For example, a reservation setting screen received from the reservation management server 20 is displayed, and the operation reception unit 61b receives reservation information set by the reservation user.

The chat communication unit 62 of the chat application 60a transmits and receives various information to and from the chat server 10. In this embodiment, it receives information about the reservation of the conference room 6 from the chat server 10, and notifies the chat server 10 that the information has been read, whether the conference room 6 is being used or canceled, etc.

The text display unit 63 of the chat application 60a displays the text (information about the reservation of the conference room 6) sent from the chat server 10. For example, if the comment originates from a bot, the text is displayed as if it was entered by the bot.

The app communication unit 64 of the chat app 60a calls the conference app 60b and sends the conference identification information to the conference app 60b. When notifying the terminal device 60 of information related to the reservation of the conference room 6, the chat server 10 sends information for identifying the conference app 60b, so the chat app 60a specifies the conference app 60b to the OS and requests notification of the conference identification information. The OS can then start the conference app 60b.

The server communication unit 65 of the conference app 60b communicates with the conference management server 30. It performs tasks such as obtaining an image code including conference identification information from the conference management server 30. The server communication unit 65 is realized by the CPU 501 in FIG. 5 executing the conference app 60b. The image code is used for authentication at check-in. It may be a several-digit number for authentication.

The display control unit 66 of the conference app 60b displays an image code or the like including the conference identification information on the display 506. The app communication unit 67 of the conference app 60b acquires various information (such as the conference identification information included in the information related to the reservation of the conference room 6) from the chat app 60a via the OS.

The terminal communication unit 68 communicates with the conference room terminal 90 and transmits conference identification information and the like. The terminal communication unit 68 detects the presence of the conference room terminal 90 by short-range wireless communication such as Bluetooth (registered trademark), and transmits conference identification information when it detects the conference room terminal 90. It also provides the function of displaying an image code on the conference room terminal 90.

<<Conference room terminal>>
The conference room terminal 90 has a server communication unit 91, a terminal device communication unit 92, an operation reception unit 93, a display control unit 94, an electronic device communication unit 95, a terminal authentication unit 96, an imaging unit 97, a decoding unit 98, a setting recording unit 98-2, and a reservation information request unit 98-3. Each of these functional units of the conference room terminal 90 is a function or means realized by operating any of the configuration categories shown in Fig. 6 by an instruction from the CPU 701 according to a program loaded from the EEPROM 704 to the RAM 703. This program is distributed from a server for program distribution or distributed in a state stored in a storage medium.

The server communication unit 91 communicates with the conference management server 30, using server URL 993 as the destination. Because the conference room terminal 90 is located on an internal network, it is difficult for the conference room terminal 90 to be communicated with from the conference room management server 30. For this reason, the server communication unit 91 communicates with the conference room management server 30 using communication techniques such as polling (periodically communicating with the conference room management server 30) or WebSocket. If there is no communication from the server communication unit 91, a disconnection is registered in the conference room setting information DB 498. The server communication unit 91 only needs to communicate using a communication protocol such as HTTP, and there are no particular restrictions on the communication protocol.

In this embodiment, the server communication unit 91 receives reservation information, and at the time of check-in, the terminal device communication unit 92 transmits the conference identification information received from the terminal device 60 or the conference identification information manually input to the conference management server 30. The server communication unit 91 also receives control information from the conference management server 30.

The terminal device communication unit 92 communicates with the terminal device 60. In this embodiment, it receives conference identification information, etc. The electronic device communication unit 95 communicates with the electronic device 70. In this embodiment, it transmits control information received by the server communication unit 91 to the electronic device 70.

The display control unit 94 displays a screen generated by the terminal application 90a on the display 718. This screen is a standby screen on which check-in, check-out, etc. can be performed. The operation reception unit 93 receives various operations for the conference room terminal 90.

The terminal authentication unit 96 authenticates the administrator's login to the terminal app based on whether the entered administrator password is correct. The conference room terminal 90 placed in the conference room can be operated by unspecified participants, and if there is no authentication function, there is a risk that the initial settings will be changed.

The imaging unit 97 mainly captures the image code. When the administrator operates the conference room terminal 90 so that the image code is within the angle of view of the CMOS sensor 705, the imaging unit 97 recognizes the image code and automatically generates image data. The decoding unit 98 decodes the image code captured by the imaging unit 97 and restores the communication setting information.

The setting recording unit 98-2 stores the communication setting information (conference room ID, authentication key, server URL, and conference room name) decoded by the decoding unit 98 in the memory unit 99.

The reservation information request unit 98-3 repeatedly transmits the conference room ID and authentication key to the conference management server 30 via the server communication unit 91 at the regular timing for obtaining reservation information. In response, the reservation information request unit 98-3 obtains reservation information via the server communication unit 91. Reservation information only needs to be obtained when there is a change. The timing is a cycle of several seconds to several minutes. A shorter cycle allows the reservation information to be updated earlier, but also increases the communication load, so the cycle is determined by taking both into consideration. In this embodiment, the cycle is set to 30 seconds, for example. In addition, conference management information (reservation information) for at least the current day for conference room 6 can be received via the server communication unit 91.

The conference room terminal 90 also has a memory unit 99. The memory unit 99 is realized by the ROM 702 and EEPROM 704 in FIG. 6, etc. The memory unit 99 stores a conference room ID 991, an authentication key 992, a server URL 993, a conference room name 994, an application ID 995, an administrator password 996, and an IP address 997 of the electronic device 70.

The conference room ID 991, authentication key 992, server URL 993, and conference room name 994 are stored by default. The application ID 995 is identification information for the terminal application 90a running on the conference room terminal 90. The application ID is used to inform the conference management server 30 of the type of information processing terminal (e.g., conference room terminal 90 or reception terminal 7). The application ID is a number unique to the terminal application 90a or includes a unique number as part of it. The application ID may be, for example, the UUID (Universally Unique Identifier) of the terminal application. The UUID is a unique identifier such that no two or more items in the world have the same value even without specific management.

The administrator password 996 is set by the administrator when the terminal app 90a is installed or launched for the first time. The IP address 997 of the electronic device 70 is set by the administrator as necessary.

<<Reception terminal>>
The reception terminal 7 has a server communication unit 91b, an operation reception unit 93b, a display control unit 94b, a terminal authentication unit 96b, an imaging unit 97b, a decoding unit 98b, a setting recording unit 98-2b, and a reservation information request unit 98-3b. Each of these functional units of the reception terminal 7 is a function or means realized by operating any of the configuration categories shown in FIG. 6 by an instruction from the CPU 701 according to the program expanded from the EEPROM 704 to the RAM 703. This program (reception application) is distributed from a server for program distribution or distributed in a state stored in a storage medium. Moreover, since these functions of the reception terminal 7 are equivalent to the functions of the terminal application, a description thereof will be omitted.

The reception terminal 7 also has a memory unit 99b. The memory unit 99b is realized by the ROM 702 and EEPROM 704 in FIG. 6, etc. The memory unit 99b stores a group ID 998b, one or more authentication keys 992b, a server URL 993b, an application ID 995b, an administrator password 996b, and a group name 999b. In other words, the reception terminal 7 stores the group ID 998 and group name instead of the conference room ID and conference room name, and does not have an electronic device IP address.

<Initial settings of the conference management server>
Fig. 9 is an example of a functional block diagram showing functions of the initial setting unit 39 in a block form. The initial setting unit 39 has a setting screen generation unit 391, an authentication key generation unit 392, an encryption unit 393, an image code generation unit 394, a URL generation unit 396, and an information management unit 395. The memory unit 49 is the same as the memory unit 49 in Fig. 7. The initial setting unit 39 controls each function to perform necessary processing.

The information management unit 395 reads out various information stored in the memory unit 49 and sends it to functions that require the information (the setting screen generation unit 391, the authentication key generation unit 392, the encryption unit 393, the image code generation unit 394, and the URL generation unit 396).

The setting screen generation unit 391 generates screen information for various screens and transmits it to the registration terminal 50 via the communication unit 31. The screen information is created using HTML, CSS (Cascade Style Sheet), JavaScript (registered trademark), etc. The screen is provided as one screen of a web application running on a browser using JavaScript (registered trademark).

The encryption unit 393 encrypts the communication setting information in the initial settings of the conference room terminal 90, and encrypts the group ID and group name (which may include the authentication key and server URL) in the initial settings of the reception terminal 7. However, encryption is not essential.

The image code generator 394 encodes the encrypted information into an image code. The URL generator 396 creates a URL that includes the group ID, or creates a URL associated with the group ID.

Simply put, the communication setting information (conference room ID, authentication key, server URL, conference room name) is information necessary for the conference room terminal 90 to communicate with the conference management server 30. Of these, the server URL is information for identifying the communication destination, the authentication key is information for receiving authentication, and the conference room ID is information for notifying which conference room the communication is from. The conference room name is information to be displayed by the conference room terminal 90, so there is no problem if it is not included in the communication setting information. The server URL is not necessary as long as it is set in the terminal app or reception app.

<Processing and screen transitions until the reception terminal saves the group ID>
Next, the process and screen transitions until the reception terminal 7 saves the group ID will be described with reference to Fig. 10 to Fig. 28. Fig. 10 is an example of a sequence diagram illustrating the process in which the reception terminal 7 saves the group ID.

S1, S2: The reservation information acquisition unit 33 of the conference management server 30 acquires in advance information on all conference rooms for each client from the reservation management server 20. This causes the acquired information to be registered in the conference room setting information DB 498. Conference room information does not change frequently, so it is sufficient to acquire it infrequently, such as once a day. In addition, the reservation information acquisition unit 33 acquires reservation information from the reservation management server 20 periodically or when the reservation information is updated.

S3: The administrator who initially configures the reception terminal 7 starts the browser of the registration terminal 50 (or a dedicated app) and inputs operations to log in to the conference management server 30. An example of the login screen is shown in FIG. 11. For example, a user ID and password are input as authentication information.

S4: The operation reception unit 52 of the registration terminal 50 receives the input of authentication information, and the communication unit 51 designates the authentication information and sends a login request to the conference management server 30. The authentication unit 40 of the conference management server 30 authenticates the administrator based on the login password and user ID in the login information DB 499. Here, it is assumed that the authentication is successful. This causes the registration terminal 50 to display an initial screen. An example of the initial screen is shown in FIG. 12.

S5: Next, the administrator inputs an operation to display a list of groups on the registration terminal 50. Displaying a list of groups means displaying a list of groups registered on the conference management server 30.

S6: The operation reception unit 52 of the registration terminal 50 receives the operation, and the communication unit 51 sends a group list display request to the conference management server 30.

S7: The receiving unit 31b of the conference management server 30 receives the group list display request, and the setting screen generating unit 391 references the conference room setting information DB 498 to generate screen information for the group list screen.

S8: The transmission unit 31a of the conference management server 30 transmits the screen information of the group list screen to the registration terminal 50. The communication unit 51 of the registration terminal 50 receives the screen information of the group list screen, and the display control unit 53 displays the group list screen. An example of the group list screen 410 is shown in FIG. 13.

S9: The administrator inputs an operation to create a new group on the group list screen 410. Creating a new group means creating a new group.

S10: The operation reception unit 52 of the registration terminal 50 receives the operation, and the communication unit 51 sends a request to create a new group to the conference management server 30.

S11: The receiving unit 31b of the conference management server 30 receives the request to create a new group, and the setting screen generating unit 391 generates screen information for the new group creation screen.

S12: The transmission unit 31a of the conference management server 30 transmits screen information of the new group creation screen to the registration terminal 50. The communication unit 51 of the registration terminal 50 receives the screen information of the new group creation screen, and the display control unit 53 displays the new group creation screen. An example of the new group creation screen 420 is shown in FIG. 14.

S13: The administrator inputs a group name on the new group creation screen 420 and starts selecting conference rooms. This causes the setting screen generation unit 391 to refer to the conference room setting information DB 498 and generate screen information for the conference room list screen, and the registration terminal 50 displays the conference room list screen. An example of the conference room list screen 430 is shown in FIG. 15. On the conference room list screen 430, the administrator inputs an operation to select the conference rooms to belong to the group. In other words, multiple conference rooms are grouped.

S14, S15: The operation reception unit 52 of the registration terminal 50 receives the operation, and the communication unit 51 sends the group target resource (e.g., the conference room ID) to the conference management server 30. The reception unit 31b of the conference management server 30 receives the conference room ID and the information management unit 395 stores it, and the transmission unit 31a sends a save OK to the registration terminal 50. Steps S13 to S15 are repeated for the number of conference rooms. Alternatively, the administrator may specify multiple conference rooms at one time. During steps S13 to S15, the registration terminal 50 sends the group name to the conference management server 30.

S16: When the administrator has finished selecting the conference rooms to be grouped, he or she inputs a selection completion on the conference room list screen. This causes the registration terminal 50 to display a group registration confirmation screen. An example of the group registration confirmation screen 440 is shown in FIG. 16. When the administrator confirms the conference rooms to be registered in the group on the group registration confirmation screen 440, he or she inputs an operation to save the group information in order to register the group information. The group information includes the group name, group ID, and conference room ID.

S17: The operation reception unit 52 of the registration terminal 50 receives the operation, and the communication unit 51 transmits a group information storage request including the group name to the conference management server 30. The group name may be transmitted during steps S9 to S17.

S18: The receiving unit 31b of the conference management server 30 receives the group information save request including the group name, and the information management unit 395 saves the group information. That is, a group ID is assigned, and in the conference room setting information DB 498, the group ID and group name are registered with the conference room ID sent in steps S13 and S14. Note that if a conference room for which an authentication key has not been generated in the conference room setting information DB 498 is selected, an authentication key is also generated.

S19: The image code generation unit 394 also generates an image code including the group ID and group name. The image code generation unit 394 associates the image code with the group ID. Although not shown in the sequence diagram, the image code includes authentication keys for the number of conference rooms and one server URL. The authentication key may be common to all conference rooms. The server URL may be omitted if it is registered in the reception app.

S20: The sending unit 31a of the conference management server 30 sends a save OK to the registration terminal 50. Together with the save OK, the setting screen generating unit 391 references the conference room setting information DB 498 to generate screen information for the group list screen and sends it to the registration terminal 50, so that the registration terminal 50 again displays the group list screen acquired from the conference management server 30. An example of the group list screen 450 is shown in FIG. 17.

S21: The administrator inputs an operation to display an image code by specifying a group on the group list screen 450 at the registration terminal 50. In some cases, the image code/URL on the group list screen 450 allows the user to selectively press an image code or URL, and in other cases, allows the user to press both together. Here, we will explain the cases where both are pressed together or where the image code is pressed.

S22: The operation reception unit 52 of the registration terminal 50 receives the operation, and the communication unit 51 specifies the group ID and sends an image code display request to the conference management server 30.

S23: The receiving unit 31b of the conference management server 30 receives the image code display request, and the setting screen generating unit 391 generates screen information for an image code display screen that displays the image code associated with the group ID. The image code generating unit 394 may generate an image code at this timing. This allows an image code to be generated for the changed group name and conference room even if there are changes to the group name, conference room, etc.

S24: The transmission unit 31a of the conference management server 30 transmits the screen information of the image code display screen to the registration terminal 50. The communication unit 51 of the registration terminal 50 receives the screen information of the image code display screen, and the display control unit 53 displays the image code display screen. An example of the image code display screen 460 is shown in FIG. 18.

S25: Next, the administrator operates the reception terminal 7 to start up the reception app in order to connect the reception terminal 7 to the server URL (if the reception app is already running, no start-up operation is required). There is no need to log in to the reception terminal 7. This is because when the administrator displays the image code, he or she has already been authenticated by the conference management server 30. However, authentication using an administrator password is also possible. Figure 19 shows an example of a reception app start-up screen 470. The administrator also operates the reception terminal 7 to start up the camera in order to have the reception terminal 7 capture an image of the image code.

S26: The camera on reception terminal 7 starts up and imaging becomes possible.

S27: Next, the administrator causes the reception terminal 7 to capture an image of the image code. For example, the administrator holds the registration terminal 50 so that it is within the field of view of the CMOS sensor 713.

S28: The imaging unit 97b of the reception terminal 7 captures images like a video, so it automatically detects the image code. The decoding unit 98b decodes the detected image code and obtains the group ID and group name (which may include an authentication key and server URL). This causes the display control unit 94b of the reception terminal 7 to display a group setting screen. An example of the group setting screen 480 is shown in FIG. 20.

S29: The setting recording unit 98-2b of the reception terminal 7 also stores the group ID, group name, authentication key, and server URL in the memory unit 99b. This allows the reception terminal 7 to acquire reservation information by specifying the group ID. Note that if a group ID or the like has already been stored, it may be overwritten. This allows the administrator to allocate a new reception terminal 7. Also, if a conference room ID has been stored, it may be overwritten. The conference room terminal 90 can be repurposed as the reception terminal 7. The reception terminal 7 may display a dialog box to accept whether or not to overwrite, and control whether or not to overwrite depending on the user's response. If multiple group IDs are stored, reservation information is acquired based on each of them.

S30: When the group ID is stored, the reservation information request unit 98-3b of the reception terminal 7 requests reservation information from the conference management server 30 specified by the server URL, specifying the group ID and authentication key. After that, it periodically requests reservation information.

S31: When the receiving unit 31b of the conference management server 30 receives a request for reservation information, the authentication key verification unit 41 verifies the authentication key. That is, the authentication key identified by the conference room ID is obtained from the conference room setting information DB 498, and it is determined whether it matches the authentication key sent from the conference room terminal 90. If the authentication key verification is successful, the initial setting unit 39 changes the state of the conference room terminal in the conference room setting information DB 498 to connected. Next, if the management start flag is True, the reservation information sending unit 44 obtains the conference room ID associated with the group ID from the conference room setting information DB 498, and obtains the reservation information associated with this conference room ID from the conference management information DB 493. The sending unit 31a of the conference management server 30 sends the reservation information to the reception terminal 7.

S32: The server communication unit 91b of the reception terminal 7 receives the reservation information, and the display control unit 94b displays the reservation information on the standby screen. An example of the standby screen 490 is shown in FIG. 21.

S33: When the status 732a on the standby screen 490 becomes "Waiting to enter", the user can specify a conference room and input the start of use (check-in) to the reception terminal 7. The operation reception unit 93b of the reception terminal 7 accepts the input. For example, the user presses "Waiting to enter" for the conference room that he or she has reserved. The reception terminal 7 displays an input screen for conference identification information, and the user enters the conference identification information.

S34: The operation reception unit 93b of the reception terminal 7 receives the input of the conference identification information, and the server communication unit 91b specifies the conference room ID and the conference identification information and sends a usage start request to the conference management server 30.

S35: The receiving unit 31b of the conference management server 30 receives the request to start using the conference room, and if the conference room ID and conference identification information sent by the reception terminal 7 are registered in the conference identification information DB 494, the check-in management unit 38 permits use. The check-in management unit 38 changes the status in the conference management information DB 493 to "checked in". It also deletes the automatic cancellation task. The transmitting unit 31a sends the updated reservation information to the reception terminal 7.

S36: The server communication unit 91b of the reception terminal 7 receives the reservation information, and since the status is "checked in", the display control unit 94b changes the status 732a to "in use". "In use" means that the device is in use.

In this way, the administrator groups conference rooms and the reception terminal 7 stores the group ID, and the reception terminal 7 retrieves reservation information by group ID, so that a single reception terminal 7 can accept the start (check-in) and end (check-out) of use of multiple conference rooms.

<<Screen example>>
Fig. 11 shows an example of a login screen 530 displayed by the registration terminal 50. The login screen 530 has an email address field 531 and a Next button 532. When the administrator enters an email address (corresponding to a user ID) in the email address field 531 and presses the Next button 532, a password entry screen is displayed. If the administrator enters the correct password, he or she can log in. If the login is successful, the initial screen 540 in Fig. 12 is displayed.

Figure 12 is an example of an initial screen 540 displayed by the registration terminal 50. The initial screen 540 has a menu column 411 and a status column 541. Several buttons are displayed in the menu column 411, and the initial screen 540 displays a state in which the dashboard 544 is selected. The dashboard 544 is originally an "instrument panel" of a car, but in this embodiment, it refers to a list display of important information. For example, the status column 541 displays information 542 of a conference room where a disconnection has occurred, and information 543 of a conference room where the authority (license) to obtain reservation information has not been set. When the group management button 413 in the menu column 411 is pressed, the group list screen of Figure 13 is displayed.

Figure 13 shows an example of a group list screen 410 displayed by the registration terminal 50. The group list screen 410 has a menu section 411, a group display section 412, and a new creation button 415. When the group management button 413 is pressed, a list of groups is displayed in the group display section 412. The group display section 412 displays a list 414 of groups that have already been registered in the conference room setting information DB 498 of the conference management server 30.

The group list 414 has the following items: group name 414a, number of conference rooms 414b, image code/URL 414c, edit button 414d, and delete button 414e. The group name 414a and number of conference rooms 414b (the number of conference rooms associated with the same group ID) are sent from the conference management server 30. The image code/URL 414c is an input button that allows the administrator to select whether to obtain the group ID by image code or URL. The edit button 414d is a button that allows the administrator to edit (delete, add) conference rooms that belong to an already created group. The delete button 414e is a button that allows the administrator to delete a group.

When the administrator presses the Create New button 415, the group list screen transitions to the new group creation screen 420 shown in Figure 14.

Figure 14 is an example of a new group creation screen 420 displayed by the registration terminal 50. The new group creation screen 420 has a menu field 411 and a group name field 421. The group name field 421 also has a group name input field 422, an add conference room button 423, a save button 424, and a cancel button 425. The group name input field 422 is a field where the administrator enters the group name. The add conference room button 423 is a button where the administrator adds a conference room to a group (grouping). The save button 424 is a button for saving the group information. The cancel button 425 is a button for canceling grouping.

When the administrator presses the add conference room button 423, the new group creation screen 420 transitions to the conference room list screen 430 shown in Figure 15.

Figure 15 is an example of the conference room list screen 430 displayed by the registration terminal 50. The conference room list screen has a menu column 411 and a conference room list column 431. The conference room list column 431 has a filter section 432, a conference room list table 433, a selection completion button 434, and a cancel button 435. The filter section 432 accepts settings to filter the conference rooms to be displayed in the conference room list table 433. The filter section 432 has a search column 432a, a resource group column 432b, an operation rule column 432c, and an operation status column 432e, which the administrator can use to narrow down the conference rooms to be displayed in the conference room list table 433. The filter settings correspond to the items in the conference room setting information DB 498.

The conference room list table 433 has the items of check box 433a, conference room 433b, resource group 433c, operation rule 433d, and operation status 433e. The administrator selects the conference room to be included in the group using check box 433a. The other items are information registered in conference room setting information DB 498. Additionally, the operation status displays the conference room status item in conference room setting information DB 498. If it is "Connected", this means that the initial settings have already been completed (the conference room terminal 90 has been placed or registered in another group), but this does not cause any problems.

The selection complete button 434 is a button that allows the administrator to input that the selection of the conference room is complete. The cancel button 435 is a button that allows the administrator to cancel the selection of the conference room and return to the new group creation screen.

When the administrator presses the selection completion button 434, the new group creation screen 420 transitions to the group registration confirmation screen 440 shown in Figure 16.

Figure 16 shows an example of a group registration confirmation screen 440 displayed by the registration terminal 50. The group registration confirmation screen 440 has a menu field 411 and a selected conference room display field 441. The selected conference room display field 441 has a group name input field 442, a conference room list 443, an add conference room button 444, a save button 455, and a cancel button 446. The group name input field 442, the add conference room button 444, the save button 445, and the cancel button 446 are the same as those in the new group creation screen 420 of Figure 14. The conference room list 443 displays the conference room (conference room name or conference room ID) selected on the new group creation screen 420 of Figure 15.

When the administrator presses the Save button 445, the group registration confirmation screen 440 transitions to the group list screen 450 shown in Figure 17.

Figure 17 shows an example of a group list screen 450 displayed by the registration terminal 50. The group list screen 450 in Figure 17 has the same configuration as the group list screen 410 in Figure 13, but the group name entered in the group name input field 422 in Figure 14 is displayed in the group name 414a field. In this way, the administrator can register a group.

When the administrator presses image code/URL 414c, the group list screen 450 transitions to the image code display screen 460 shown in Figure 18.

18A is an example of an image code display screen 460 displayed by the registration terminal 50. The image code display screen 460 displays an image code 461, a message 462 saying "Please read the image code using [Shoot] in the centralized management terminal app", and a URL 463. As described above, the image code 461 includes the group ID and the group name (and may also include an authentication key and a server URL for each conference room). The URL 463 is a connection destination (address) for the conference management server 30 to identify the group ID when the reception terminal 7 connects. For example, the group ID is included as a URL query parameter. Alternatively, the conference management server 30 holds the URL and the group ID in association with each other. When the reception terminal 7 specifies the URL and connects to the conference management server 30, the reception terminal 7 can obtain the authentication key and server URL associated with the group ID from the conference management server 30. By attaching the URL 463, initial setting is possible even if the reception terminal 7 does not have a camera.

Figure 18 (b) is also an example of an image code display screen 460. In Figure 18 (b), only the image code 461 is displayed. For example, if the administrator explicitly requests only the image code (only the URL of the image code/URL 414c is pressed), the registration terminal 50 can display only the image code in this manner.

Figure 19 is an example of a start-up screen 470 displayed by the reception terminal 7. The start-up screen 470 has a setting button 471 and displays a message 472 saying "Please capture the image code from the setting button." The display control unit 94b of the reception terminal 7 displays this message 472, for example, if a group ID is not stored in the memory unit 99b. The administrator can see that it is necessary to capture the image code by looking at the message 472. If a group ID is already stored in the memory unit 99b, the display control unit 94b displays a message, for example, saying "If you want to reconfigure or add a group, please capture the image code from the setting button." The administrator can see that it is necessary to capture the image code by looking at the message 472.

When the administrator presses the settings button 471, the start-up screen 470 transitions to the group settings screen 480 shown in Figure 20.

Figure 20 shows an example of a group setting screen 480 displayed by the reception terminal 7. The group setting screen 480 has a group name field 481, a URL setting field 482, a capture button 483, a setting completion button 484, and a cancel button 485. The group name field 481 is blank immediately after the group setting screen 480 is displayed, and when an image code is captured, the decoded group name is displayed. The URL setting field 482 is a field where the administrator inputs a URL. The capture button 483 is a button for causing the reception terminal 7 to capture an image of the image code. The setting completion button 484 is a button for causing the reception terminal 7 to store the group ID, etc. in the memory unit 99b. The cancel button 485 is a button for returning to the start-up screen 470.

When the administrator presses the setting completion button 484, the reception terminal 7 stores the group ID and other information in the storage unit 99b, and acquires the reservation information for the conference room associated with the specified group ID. This causes the standby screen 490 in FIG. 21 to be displayed.

Figure 21 shows an example of the standby screen 490 displayed by the reception terminal 7. The standby screen 490 has a group name 731 and a reservation information column 732 for each conference room. The group name 731 is stored in the memory unit 99b. The reservation information is sent from the conference management server 30. One row in the reservation information column 732 is reservation information for one conference room. The reservation information has the following items: status 732a, conference room name 732b, reservation time 732c, reservation person 732d, and operation button 732e. The status 732a item displays the status (vacant, waiting to enter, in use) according to the status of the conference management information DB 493. The display control unit 94b of the reception terminal 7 updates the displayed status according to the status. An available room is neither waiting to enter nor in use. Waiting to enter is a status where check-in is possible (from a specified time before the start time until the automatic cancellation time). In use is a status where the user has checked in and has not yet checked out.

The reservation information includes the conference room name 732b, reservation time 732c (start time, end time), and reservation person 732d. The operation button 732e item displays a button according to the status 732a. The display control unit 94b displays the "Use now" button 733 if the room is vacant, displays the "Enter" button 734 if waiting to enter, and displays the "Extend" button 735 and "Exit" button 736 if the room is in use. If extension is not possible (if there is less than a certain amount of time until the start time of the next reservation), the "Extend" button 735 is not displayed. When the "Use now" button 733 is pressed, the reception terminal 7 notifies the conference management server 30 of this, and the conference management server 30 reserves the conference room for a certain amount of time to the reservation management server 20 with the authority of the conference management server 30. According to the reservation information, that time should be available, so the conference management server 30 receives a notification that the reservation is complete, and sends the checked-in status along with the conference room ID to the reception terminal 7, so the reception terminal 7 displays the status 732a "in use." When the "Enter" button 734 is pressed, an input field for the conference identification information notified to the person who made the reservation is displayed.

Figure 22 shows an example of the standby screen 490 on which an input field 550 for conference identification information is displayed. A numeric keypad 551 is displayed in the input field 550, and the user can operate the numeric keypad 551 to input conference identification information. If the conference identification information is incorrect, it can be corrected by pressing the delete button 552. If the user has not input any conference identification information, the delete button 552 becomes a cancel button. Once the input of, for example, four-digit conference identification information is completed, the conference room ID and the conference identification information are sent to the conference management server 30.

If the verification of the conference identification information and conference room ID is successful, the status in the conference management information DB 493 becomes checked in. Therefore, the item in status 732a becomes in use. In this way, it is possible to prevent a user from entering the room by mistake.

Figure 23 is an example of the standby screen 490 where the status 732a item is in use. The status 732a item for "B102" is in use, and the "Exit" button 736 is displayed.

When the "Extend" button 735 in FIG. 21 is pressed, the conference room is reserved for a certain period of time, similar to the "Use now" button 733. When the "Leave" button 736 is pressed, the reception terminal 7 sends a check-out request to the conference management server 30. This causes the status in the conference management information DB 493 to become checked out. This status is sent to the reception terminal 7 along with the conference room ID, so the reception terminal 7 displays "Vacant" or "Waiting to enter" in the status 732a. It is also advisable for the reception terminal 7 to display some kind of confirmation screen when the "Leave" button 736 is pressed. This can reduce the risk of a user accidentally pressing the "Leave" button 736 for a conference room that they did not use. For example, a screen for inputting conference identification information may be displayed.

Figures 24 to 27 are diagrams explaining the screen transitions of the standby screen 490. Figure 24 shows the standby screen 490 that is displayed when the user presses the "Use now" button for a vacant room in Figure 23. When the user presses the "Use now" button 733 for "B101," which was vacant in Figure 23, the status 732a changes to "In use," and the user can immediately use the conference room.

Figure 25 shows an example of an exit confirmation screen 560 that is displayed when the "Exit" button 736 in Figure 24 is pressed. The exit confirmation screen 560 has reservation information 561, a message 562 asking "Do you want to leave?", a "Exit" button 563, and a cancel button 564. The user looks at the reservation information 561 to determine whether or not to leave the room, and presses the "Exit" button 563 or the cancel button 564. When the cancel button 564 is pressed, the screen returns to the original standby screen without any change to the status 732a. When the "Exit" button 563 is pressed, an input field for conference identification information may be displayed.

Figure 26 shows an example of an exit confirmation screen 560 that displays an input field 570 for conference identification information. By having the reception terminal 7 request input of conference identification information (information for authentication) even when leaving the room, the conference management server 30 can be prevented from performing exit processing even if the user accidentally presses the "Exit" button 563 for another conference room.

Figure 27 is an example of the standby screen 490 after an exit process has been performed on the standby screen 490 in Figure 24. In Figure 24, the status 732a of "B103" was "in use", but now it is "vacant". In addition, the "Use now" button 733 is displayed, so that other users can use the room.

<When the administrator enters the URL into the reception terminal and saves the group ID>
10, the case where the administrator captures an image of an image code on the reception terminal 7 has been mainly described, but the case where the administrator inputs a URL into the reception terminal 7 and the reception terminal 7 stores the group ID will be supplemented. Such a method is effective when the reception terminal 7 does not have a camera.

Figure 28 is an example of a sequence diagram explaining the process in which the reception terminal 7 saves a group ID. Note that the explanation of Figure 28 will mainly focus on the differences from Figure 10. First, the process of steps S1 to S18-2 is the same as in Figure 10.

S19-2: The URL generation unit 396 creates a URL that includes the group ID, or creates a URL that is associated with the group ID. Therefore, when the reception terminal 7 connects to the URL, the conference management server 30 can identify the group ID.

S20-2: When saving is OK, the setting screen generation unit 391 refers to the conference room setting information DB 498 to generate screen information for the group list screen and transmits it to the registration terminal 50, so that the registration terminal 50 displays the group list screen 450 obtained from the conference management server 30 (Figure 17).

S21-2: The administrator inputs an operation to display a URL code by specifying a group on the group list screen 450 into the registration terminal 50. For example, on the group list screen 450 in FIG. 17, the administrator presses the URL for the image code/URL.

S22-2: The operation reception unit 52 of the registration terminal 50 receives the operation, and the communication unit 51 specifies the group ID and sends a URL display request to the conference management server 30.

S23-2: The receiving unit 31b of the conference management server 30 receives the URL display request, and the setting screen generating unit 391 generates screen information for a URL display screen that displays the URL associated with the group ID. The URL generating unit 396 may generate a URL at this timing. This allows a URL to be generated for the changed group name and conference room even if the group name, conference room, etc., is changed.

S24-2: The transmission unit 31a of the conference management server 30 transmits the screen information of the URL display screen to the registration terminal 50. The communication unit 51 of the registration terminal 50 receives the screen information of the URL display screen, and the display control unit 53 displays the URL display screen. An example of the URL display screen 600 is shown in FIG. 29.

S25-2: Next, the administrator operates the reception terminal 7 to start up the reception app in order to connect the reception terminal 7 to the server URL (if the app is already running, no start-up operation is required). There is no need to log in to the reception terminal 7. This is because the administrator has already been authenticated by the conference management server 30 when displaying the URL. However, authentication using the administrator password is also possible. The administrator then starts up the browser on the reception terminal 7.

S26-2: This causes the reception terminal 7 to display a start-up screen. The start-up screen of the reception app may be similar to that shown in FIG. 19. The administrator operates the reception app to display the URL input screen. An example of the URL input screen 610 is shown in FIG. 30.

S27-2: Next, the administrator enters the URL into the URL input screen 610 displayed by the reception terminal 7.

S28-2: The server communication unit 91b of the reception terminal 7 connects to the conference management server 30 using the URL as the destination, and the URL generation unit 396 of the conference management server 30 identifies the group ID based on the URL. The transmission unit 31a of the conference management server 30 transmits the group ID and group name registered in the conference room setting information DB 498 to the reception terminal 7 (which may include an authentication key and the URL of the conference management server).

S29-2: The server communication unit 91b of the reception terminal 7 receives the group ID and group name (authentication key and URL of the conference management server), and the setting recording unit 98-2b stores them in the memory unit 99b. As a result, the display control unit 94b of the reception terminal 7 displays the group name on the URL input screen 610. The subsequent processing is the same as in FIG. 10.

In this way, even if the reception terminal 7 does not have a camera, the administrator can group conference rooms and have the reception terminal 7 store the group ID, and the reception terminal 7 acquires reservation information by group ID, so that a single reception terminal 7 can accept the start of use (check-in) and end of use (check-out) of multiple conference rooms. Note that if the reception terminal 7 has a camera, the group ID may be stored using a URL.

<<Screen transition example>>
29 is an example of a URL display screen 600 displayed by the registration terminal 50. The URL display screen 600 has a message 601 saying "Please enter the following in [URL setting]" and a URL 602. The administrator can input the URL 602 into the reception terminal 7 by looking at the message 601.

Figure 30 is an example of a URL input screen 610 displayed by the reception terminal 7. The URL input screen 610 may have the same configuration as the group setting screen 480 in Figure 20. The URL input screen 610 has a group name field 481, a URL setting field 482, an image capture button 483, a setting completion button 484, and a cancel button 485. The group name field 481 is blank immediately after the URL input screen 610 is displayed, and when the reception terminal 7 connects to the URL entered in the URL setting field 482, the group name transmitted from the conference management server 30 is displayed. The URL setting field 482 is a field for the administrator to enter a URL. The image capture button 483 is a button for causing the reception terminal 7 to capture an image of the image code. Therefore, the image code can also be captured. The setting completion button 484 is a button for causing the reception terminal 7 to store the group ID, etc. in the memory unit 99b. The cancel button 485 is a button for returning to the start screen.

<Major Effects>
As described above, the resource reservation system 100 of this embodiment can use a general-purpose information processing device as the reception terminal 7. In addition, the administrator can easily perform initial configuration by using an image code or a URL. It is possible to provide a reception terminal 7 that can be shared by multiple conference rooms. The reception terminal 7 can display reservation information for multiple conference rooms, and a customer's user can check in and check out of multiple conference rooms from a single reception terminal 7.

In the first embodiment, the conference management server 30 managed conference rooms by associating them with groups. In this embodiment, however, the conference management server 30 does not perform such association, and the reception terminal 7 can display reservation information for multiple conference rooms, and a resource reservation system 100 is described that allows check-in and check-out to multiple conference rooms.

In this embodiment, the hardware configuration diagrams in Figures 5 and 6 and the functional block diagrams in Figures 7 to 9 described in the above embodiments can be used, and the differences will be mainly described.

<About the function>
Fig. 31 is an example of a functional block diagram showing the functions of the terminal device 60, the conference room terminal 90, and the reception terminal 7 in a block form. The functions of the electronic device 70 will be explained as necessary. In the explanation of Fig. 31, components with the same reference numerals as those in Fig. 8 perform similar functions, so that in the explanation of Fig. 31, only the main components of this embodiment may be mainly explained.

In this embodiment, the information stored in the memory unit 99b of the reception terminal 7 is different. That is, the memory unit 99b stores one or more conference room IDs 991b, server URLs 993b, administrator passwords 996b, authentication keys 992b for each conference room, app IDs 995b, conference room names 994b for each conference room, and terminal names 989b. In other words, there is no concept of groups, and information is stored for each conference room. The terminal names 989b are used when displaying what type of terminal the reception terminal 7 is.

For this reason, the information stored in the conference room setting information DB 498 held by the conference management server 30 is different. Table 11 shows a schematic diagram of the information stored in the conference room setting information DB 498.

表１１に示すように、本実施例ではグループＩＤとグループ名の項目が不要である。会議管理サーバ３０の予約情報送信部４４は要求された会議室の予約情報を返せばよい。

As shown in Table 11, in this embodiment, the items of group ID and group name are not necessary. The reservation information transmitting unit 44 of the conference management server 30 only needs to return the reservation information of the requested conference room.

<Processing and screen transitions until the reception terminal saves the conference room ID>
Next, the process and screen transitions until the reception terminal 7 stores the conference room ID will be described with reference to Fig. 32 to Fig. 40. Fig. 32 is an example of a sequence diagram illustrating the process in which the reception terminal 7 stores the conference room ID.

S1, S2: Same as Figure 10.

S41: The administrator who initializes the reception terminal 7 starts the browser of the registration terminal 50 (or a dedicated app) and inputs operations to log in to the conference management server 30. For example, the administrator inputs a user ID and password as authentication information.

S42: The operation reception unit 52 of the registration terminal 50 receives the input of authentication information, and the communication unit 51 designates the authentication information and sends a login request to the conference management server 30. The authentication unit 40 of the conference management server 30 authenticates the administrator based on the login password and user ID in the login information DB 499. Here, it is assumed that the authentication is successful. This causes the registration terminal 50 to display the initial screen (Figure 12).

S43: Next, the administrator inputs an operation to display a list of conference rooms into the registration terminal 50. Displaying a list of conference rooms means displaying a list of conference rooms registered in the conference room setting information DB 498 of the conference management server 30.

S44: The operation reception unit 52 of the registration terminal 50 receives the operation, and the communication unit 51 sends a request to display the conference room list to the conference management server 30.

S45: The receiving unit 31b of the conference management server 30 receives the conference room list display request, and the setting screen generating unit 391 references the conference room setting information DB 498 to generate screen information for the conference room list screen.

S46: The transmission unit 31a of the conference management server 30 transmits the screen information of the conference room list screen to the registration terminal 50. The communication unit 51 of the registration terminal 50 receives the screen information of the conference room list screen, and the display control unit 53 displays the conference room list screen. An example of the conference room list screen 620 is shown in FIG. 33.

S47: On the conference room list screen 620, the administrator selects the conference room that he or she wants to register on the reception terminal 7. One or more conference rooms can be selected at the same time.

S48: Once the selection is complete, the administrator inputs an operation to display the image code on the conference room list screen 620. In the image code/URL 433f on the conference room list screen 620, there are cases where the image code or URL can be selected and cases where both can be pressed together. Here, we will explain the cases where both are pressed together or the image code is pressed.

S49: The operation reception unit 52 of the registration terminal 50 receives the operation, and the communication unit 51 specifies the conference room ID and sends an image code display request to the conference management server 30.

S50: The receiving unit 31b of the conference management server 30 receives the image code display request, and the image code generating unit 394 generates an image code including communication setting information (conference room ID, authentication key, server URL, conference room name) including the conference room ID. Communication setting information is generated for each conference room.

S51: Next, the setting screen generation unit 391 generates screen information for an image code display screen that displays the image code.

S52: The transmission unit 31a of the conference management server 30 transmits the screen information of the image code display screen to the registration terminal 50. The communication unit 51 of the registration terminal 50 receives the screen information of the image code display screen, and the display control unit 53 displays the image code display screen. An example of the image code display screen 630 is shown in FIG. 34.

S53: Next, the administrator operates the reception terminal 7 to start up the reception app in order to connect the reception terminal 7 to the server URL (if the reception app is already running, no start-up operation is required). There is no need to log in to the reception terminal 7. This is because when the administrator displays the image code, he or she has already been authenticated by the conference management server 30. However, authentication using an administrator password is also possible. Figure 35 shows an example of a reception app start-up screen 640. The administrator also operates the reception terminal 7 to start up the camera in order to have the reception terminal 7 capture an image of the image code.

S54: The camera on the reception terminal 7 starts up and images can be taken.

S55: Next, the administrator causes the reception terminal 7 to capture an image of the image code. For example, the administrator holds the terminal device so that it is within the field of view of the CMOS sensor 713.

S56: The imaging unit 97b of the reception terminal 7 captures images like a video, so it automatically detects the image code. The decoding unit 98b decodes the detected image code and obtains the communication setting information.

S57: The setting recording unit 98-2b of the reception terminal 7 also stores the communication setting information in the storage unit 99b. This allows the reception terminal 7 to acquire reservation information by specifying a conference room ID. Note that since a group ID or conference room ID may already be stored, the decoding unit 98b determines whether to overwrite or add. This determination will be described later.

S58: Once the conference room ID is stored, the reservation information request unit 98-3b of the reception terminal 7 requests reservation information from the conference room management server 30 specified by the server URL, specifying the conference room ID and authentication key. Thereafter, it periodically requests reservation information. Note that the reservation information request unit can request reservation information by specifying one conference room ID at a time, or by specifying multiple conference room IDs at once. In other words, multiple conference room IDs can be included in one HTTP request. This makes it possible to suppress communication overhead and reduce communication volume. Note that in this case, the conference management server 30 has an API (Application Interface) that supports multiple conference room IDs.

S59: The receiving unit 31b of the conference management server 30 receives the request for reservation information. If authentication of the authentication key is successful and the management start flag in the conference room setting information DB 498 is True, the reservation information sending unit 44 obtains the reservation information associated with each of the multiple conference room IDs from the conference management information DB 493. The sending unit 31a of the conference management server 30 sends the reservation information for each conference room to the reception terminal 7.

S60: The server communication unit 91b of the reception terminal 7 receives the reservation information, and the display control unit 94b displays the reservation information on the standby screen. An example of the standby screen 650 is shown in FIG. 36. Subsequent processing may be the same as that shown in FIG. 10.

In this way, the administrator does not need to group conference rooms; the reception terminal 7 simply specifies one or more conference room IDs to obtain reservation information, allowing a single reception terminal 7 to accept the start (check-in) and end (check-out) of use of multiple conference rooms.

<<Screen example>>
FIG. 33 shows an example of a conference room list screen 620 displayed by the registration terminal 50. The conference room list screen 620 has a menu section 411 and a conference room list section 431. When the conference room management 439 in the menu section 411 is pressed, the conference room list section 431 is displayed. The conference room list section 431 has a filter section 432 and a conference room list table 433. The filter section 432 may be the same as the conference room list screen 430 in FIG. 15. The conference room list table 433 has items such as a check box 433a, a conference room 433b, a resource group 433c, an operation rule 433d, an operation status 433e, an image code/URL 433f, an edit button 433g, and a delete button 433h. The administrator selects the conference room for which an image code is to be generated by checking the check box 433a. The conference room 433b, the resource group 433c, and the operation rule 433d are information registered in the conference room setting information DB 498.

Image code/URL 433f is an input button that allows the administrator to select whether to obtain the conference room ID by image code or URL. Edit button 433g is a button that allows the administrator to edit (delete, add) information about the conference room. Delete button 433h is a button that allows the administrator to delete information about the conference room.

When the administrator presses image code/URL 433f, the conference room list screen transitions to the image code display screen 630 in Figure 34.

Figure 34 (a) is an example of an image code display screen 630 displayed by the registration terminal 50. The image code display screen 630 has an image code 631 and a message 632 saying "Please use [Photo] in the conference room reception app to read the image code." The image code 631 contains communication setting information. The conference room ID is displayed below the image code 631.

Figure 34 (b) is also an example of an image code display screen 630. In Figure 34 (b), an image code 631 and a URL 633 are displayed. For example, if the administrator explicitly requests the image code 631 and the URL 633, the registration terminal 50 can display the image code 631 and the URL 633 in this manner.

Figure 35 is an example of a start-up screen 640 displayed by the reception terminal 7. The start-up screen 640 has a terminal name input field 641 and a setting button 471, and displays a message 642 saying "Enter the terminal name and capture the image code from the setting button." Since the terminal name (corresponding to the group name in Example 1) is not registered in the conference management server 30, the administrator inputs the terminal name in the terminal name input field 641. The display control unit 94b of the reception terminal 7 displays this message 642, for example, when the terminal name 989b is not stored in the memory unit 99b. The administrator can see the message 642 and understand that it is necessary to capture the image code. If the terminal name 989b is already stored in the memory unit 99b, the display control unit 94b displays a message, for example, "When adding or overwriting a conference room, capture the image code from the setting button." The administrator can see the message and understand that it is necessary to capture the image code.

When the administrator presses the setting button 471 to capture the image code, the reception terminal 7 saves the terminal name and communication setting information. The reception terminal 7 displays the reservation information obtained from the conference management server 30.

Figure 36 shows an example of a standby screen 650 displayed by the reception terminal 7. The standby screen 650 has a terminal name 651 and a reservation information field 732 for each conference room. The terminal name 651 is stored in the memory unit 99b. The reservation information field 732 may be the same as in Figure 21.

<Decision on adding or overwriting a conference room ID>
A general-purpose information processing terminal may be used as a conference room terminal 90 or as a reception terminal 7. However, since the conference room terminal 90 is dedicated to one conference room, it is preferable for it to store only one conference room ID, whereas the reception terminal 7 must store multiple conference room IDs since it is shared by multiple conference rooms. Therefore, in this embodiment, the information processing terminal determines whether it is a reception terminal 7 or a conference room terminal 90 depending on whether the application running on the information processing terminal is a reception application or a terminal application.

Figure 37 is an example of a flowchart showing the procedure for the reception terminal 7 to store the conference room ID. The process in Figure 37 is executed in step S56 in Figure 32.

The decoding unit 98b of the reception terminal 7 obtains the conference room ID from the image code (S101). The conference room ID may also be obtained from the conference management server 30 based on the URL.

The decoding unit 98b judges whether the app ID 995b stored in the memory unit 99b is a receiving app (S102). If the beginning, end or part of the app ID contains one or more fixed numbers or letters, it is judged to be a receiving app, and if not, it is judged to be a terminal app. In addition to being based on the app ID, the judgment may also be based on a name or flag indicating that it is a receiving app or a terminal app.

If the reception app is running on the reception terminal 7, the decoding unit 98b additionally stores the conference room ID in the memory unit 99b (S103).

If the terminal app is running on the conference room terminal 90, the decoding unit 98b overwrites and saves the conference room ID in the memory unit 99 (S104).

By this process, the conference room terminal 90 can store only one conference room ID, and the reception terminal 7 can store multiple conference room IDs.

<Screen transition when adding a conference room ID>
The screen transition when a conference room ID is added will be described with reference to Fig. 38 to Fig. 40. Fig. 38 is an example of a conference room list screen 620, Fig. 39 is an example of a batch edit screen 660, and Fig. 40 is an example of a standby screen 650.

The conference room list screen 620 in Figure 38 is similar to Figure 33, so the differences will be explained below. When an administrator selects multiple conference rooms on the conference room list screen 620, the display control unit 94b displays a bulk edit button 622. In Figure 38, two conference rooms have been selected. The bulk edit button 622 is a button that allows an administrator to edit the settings for multiple conference rooms all at once. When the bulk edit button 622 is pressed, the conference room list screen 620 displays a bulk edit screen 660.

The batch edit screen 660 in FIG. 39 has an operation rule 661, an operation status 662, an image code 663, a URL 664, a save button 665, and a cancel button 666. The operation rule 661 is an item for changing the operation rule in a batch, and the operation status 662 is an item for changing the operation status in a batch. The image code 663 is generated by the conference management server 30. This image code contains communication setting information for the number of conference rooms. The URL 664 is sent by the conference management server 30, and is associated with multiple conference room IDs in the conference management server 30 as described below. The save button 665 is a button for storing the communication setting information in the storage unit 99b. The cancel button 666 is a button for returning to the conference room list screen 620. When the save button 665 is pressed and the reception terminal 7 receives the reservation information for each conference room, the reception terminal 7 can display the standby screen 650 in FIG. 40.

The standby screen 650 in FIG. 40 has the same configuration as FIG. 36, but it can be seen that two conference rooms have been added compared to FIG. 36. In this way, the reception terminal 7 of this embodiment can register multiple additional conference rooms in its own device and obtain reservation information.

<When the administrator inputs the URL into the reception terminal 7 and saves the conference room ID>
28 mainly describes the case where the administrator makes the reception terminal 7 capture an image of an image code, but we will supplement this with a case where the administrator inputs a URL into the reception terminal 7 and the reception terminal 7 stores the conference room ID. This method is effective when the reception terminal 7 does not have a camera.

Figure 41 is an example of a sequence diagram that explains the process in which the reception terminal 7 saves the conference room ID. Note that the explanation of Figure 41 will mainly focus on the differences from Figure 32.

S1, S2: May be the same as in FIG. 32. Also, steps S41-2 to S47-2 may be the same as steps S41 to S47 in FIG. 32.

S48-2: After selecting the conference rooms, the administrator inputs an operation to display the image code on the conference room list screen 620 (for example, pressing the bulk edit button 622). Here, we will explain the case where at least a URL is specified.

S49-2: The operation reception unit 52 of the registration terminal 50 receives the operation, and the communication unit 51 specifies the conference room ID and sends a URL display request to the conference management server 30.

S50-2: The receiving unit 31b of the conference management server 30 receives the URL display request, and the URL generating unit 396 provisionally groups one or more conference room IDs, assigns a group ID, and associates the group ID with one or more conference room IDs. The URL generating unit 396 also associates this group ID with a URL. Alternatively, the group ID is included in the URL.

S51-2: Next, the setting screen generation unit 391 generates screen information for the batch editing screen 660 (Figure 39) that displays the URL.

S52-2: The transmission unit 31a of the conference management server 30 transmits the screen information of the collective editing screen 660 to the registration terminal 50. The communication unit 51 of the registration terminal 50 receives the screen information of the collective editing screen 660, and the display control unit 53 displays the collective editing screen 660.

S53-2, S54-2: Next, the administrator starts the browser on reception terminal 7. The administrator enters the terminal name on the startup screen.

S55-2: Next, the administrator operates the reception app to display a URL input screen 610, for example, as shown in FIG. 30, and the administrator enters a URL into the URL input screen 610.

S56-2: The server communication unit 91b of the reception terminal 7 connects to the conference management server 30 using the URL as the destination, and the conference management server 30 identifies the temporary group ID based on the URL. The transmission unit 31a of the conference management server 30 transmits one or more pieces of communication setting information including the conference room ID associated with the temporary group ID to the reception terminal 7. The URL generation unit 396 discards the temporary group ID that is no longer needed.

S57-2: The server communication unit 91b of the reception terminal 7 receives the communication setting information, and the setting recording unit 98-2b stores it in the memory unit 99b. The storage process was described in FIG. 37. Subsequent processes are the same as those in FIG. 32.

<Major Effects>
In this way, even if the administrator does not group the conference rooms, the reception terminal 7 specifies one or more conference room IDs to obtain reservation information, so that the start (check-in) and end (check-out) of use of multiple conference rooms can be accepted at a single reception terminal 7.

In the first and second embodiments, the administrator K operates the registration terminal 50 to perform the initial settings of the reception terminal 7. In this embodiment, the registration terminal 50 is replaced by the reception terminal 7, and a case will be described in which the administrator K operates the reception terminal 7 to perform the initial settings. In other words, the reception terminal 7 is used as the reception terminal after the initial settings. According to this embodiment, the registration terminal 50 can be eliminated.

In this embodiment, the hardware configuration diagrams in Figures 5 and 6 and the functional block diagrams in Figures 7 to 9 described in the above embodiments can be used, and the differences will be mainly described.

<About the function>
Fig. 42 is an example of a functional block diagram showing the functions of the terminal device 60, the conference room terminal 90, and the reception terminal 7 in a block form. The functions of the electronic device 70 will be explained as necessary. Among the functions in Fig. 42, components with the same reference numerals as in Fig. 8 perform similar functions, so in some cases only the main components of this embodiment will be mainly explained.

In this embodiment, the reception terminal 7 has a web browser 200 in addition to the reception app 300. The web browser 200 is software that analyzes screen information such as HTML, XML, CSS, and JavaScript (registered trademark) sent from a web server to display the screen of a website and execute a program written in JavaScript (registered trademark). An application executed by the web browser 200 is called a web application. The web browser 200 of the reception terminal 7 is used to communicate with the conference management server 30 instead of the registration terminal 50. Therefore, the registration terminal 50 in FIG. 7 is not necessary.

The web browser 200 has a communication unit 201, a display control unit 202, an operation reception unit 203, a launch unit 204, and a decoding unit 205. The communication unit 201 mainly communicates with the conference management server 30, and transmits and receives information necessary for the initial settings described in the first embodiment. The display control unit 202 analyzes and displays various screen information transmitted as web pages from the conference management server 30. The operation reception unit 203 accepts user operations and information input on these screens. The launch unit 204 launches the reception app 300 and notifies it of the information necessary for the initial settings. The decoding unit 205 decodes the image code and obtains the coded information.

<Processing until the reception terminal saves the conference room ID>
Next, the process up to when the reception terminal 7 stores the conference room ID will be described with reference to Figs. 43 and 44.
(1) A method in which the reception terminal 7 displays an image code reading button (described later) and receives an image code or a URL of a destination where the image code is saved by pressing the image code reading button.
(2) A method in which the reception terminal 7 displays a download button (described later) and receives the group ID, group name, etc. by pressing the download button.
First, the method (1) will be explained with reference to FIG.

Figure 43 is an example of a sequence diagram illustrating the process in which the reception terminal 7 stores a group ID.

S71, S72: Same as steps S1 and S2 in Figure 10.

S73, S74: The administrator who initializes the reception terminal 7 starts the web browser 200 of the reception terminal 7.

S75-79: When the web browser 200 connects to the conference management server 30, the display control unit 202 displays a login screen. The manager inputs an operation to log in to the conference management server 30. An example of the login screen is shown in FIG. 11. For example, a user ID and password are input as authentication information. The operation acceptance unit 203 of the web browser 200 accepts the input of the authentication information, and the communication unit 201 specifies the authentication information and sends a login request to the conference management server 30. The authentication unit 40 of the conference management server 30 authenticates the manager based on the login password and user ID in the login information DB 499. Here, it is assumed that the authentication was successful. This causes the display control unit 202 of the web browser 200 to display an initial screen. An example of the initial screen is shown in FIG. 12.

S80: Next, the administrator inputs an operation to display a list of groups on the initial screen. Displaying a list of groups means displaying a list of groups registered on the conference management server 30.

S81: The operation reception unit 203 of the web browser 200 receives the operation, and the communication unit 201 sends a group list display request to the conference management server 30.

S82: The receiving unit 31b of the conference management server 30 receives the group list display request, and the setting screen generating unit 391 references the conference room setting information DB 498 to generate screen information for the group list screen.

S83: The transmission unit 31a of the conference management server 30 transmits the screen information of the group list screen to the reception terminal 7.

S84: The communication unit 201 of the web browser 200 receives the screen information of the group list screen, and the display control unit 202 displays the group list screen. An example of the group list screen 410 is shown in FIG. 13.

S85: The administrator inputs an operation to create a new group on the group list screen 410. Creating a new group means creating a new group.

S86: The operation reception unit 203 of the web browser 200 receives the operation, and the communication unit 201 sends a request to create a new group to the conference management server 30.

S87: The receiving unit 31b of the conference management server 30 receives the request to create a new group, and the setting screen generating unit 391 generates screen information for the new group creation screen.

S88: The transmission unit 31a of the conference management server 30 transmits the screen information of the new group creation screen to the reception terminal 7.

S89: The communication unit 201 of the web browser 200 receives the screen information of the new group creation screen, and the display control unit 202 displays the new group creation screen. An example of the new group creation screen 420 is shown in FIG. 14.

S90: The administrator inputs a group name on the new group creation screen 420 and starts selecting conference rooms. This causes the setting screen generation unit 391 to refer to the conference room setting information DB 498 and generate screen information for the conference room list screen, and the display control unit 202 of the web browser 200 displays the conference room list screen. An example of the conference room list screen 430 is shown in FIG. 15. On the conference room list screen 430, the administrator inputs an operation to select the conference rooms to belong to the group. In other words, multiple conference rooms are grouped.

S91: The operation reception unit 203 of the web browser 200 receives the operation, and the communication unit 201 transmits the group target resource (e.g., the conference room ID) to the conference management server 30. The reception unit 31b of the conference management server 30 receives the conference room ID, and the information management unit 395 stores it.

S92: The transmission unit 31a of the conference management server 30 sends a save OK to the reception terminal 7.

S93: The communication unit 201 of the web browser 200 receives the save OK, and the display control unit 202 displays the save OK. Steps S90 to S93 are repeated the number of times equal to the number of conference rooms. Alternatively, the administrator may specify multiple conference rooms at once. During steps S90 to S93, the reception terminal 7 transmits the group name to the conference management server 30.

S94: When the administrator has finished selecting the conference rooms to be grouped, he or she inputs a selection completion on the conference room list screen. This causes the display control unit 202 of the web browser 200 to display a group registration confirmation screen. An example of the group registration confirmation screen 440 is shown in FIG. 16. When the administrator confirms the conference rooms to be registered in the group on the group registration confirmation screen 440, he or she inputs an operation to save the group information in order to register the group information. The group information includes the group name, group ID, and conference room ID.

S95: The operation reception unit 203 of the web browser 200 receives the operation, and the communication unit 201 sends a group information save request including the group name to the conference management server 30. The group name may be sent after the group name is entered.

S96: The receiving unit 31b of the conference management server 30 receives the group information save request including the group name, and the information management unit 395 saves the group information. That is, a group ID is assigned, and in the conference room setting information DB 498, the group ID and group name are registered to the conference room ID sent in step S95. Note that if a conference room for which an authentication key has not been generated in the conference room setting information DB 498 is selected, an authentication key is also generated.

S97: The image code generation unit 394 also generates an image code including the group ID and group name. The image code generation unit 394 associates the image code with the group ID. Although not shown in the sequence diagram, the image code includes authentication keys for the number of conference rooms and one server URL. The authentication key may be common to all conference rooms. The server URL may be omitted if it is registered in the reception app.

S98: The transmission unit 31a of the conference management server 30 sends a save OK to the reception terminal 7, and the setting screen generation unit 391 sends the screen information of the group list screen created by referring to the conference room setting information DB 498 to the reception terminal 7.

S99: The communication unit 201 of the web browser 200 receives the save OK and the screen information of the group list screen, and the display control unit 202 again displays the group list screen acquired from the conference management server 30. An example of the group list screen 450 is shown in FIG. 17.

S100: The administrator inputs an operation to display an image code by specifying a group on the group list screen 450 at the reception terminal 7. In some cases, the image code/URL on the group list screen 450 allows the user to selectively press either the image code or the URL, and in other cases, allows the user to press both together. Here, we will explain the cases where both are pressed together or where the image code is pressed.

S101: The operation reception unit 203 of the web browser 200 receives an operation, and the communication unit 201 specifies the group ID and sends an image code display request to the conference management server 30.

S102: The receiving unit 31b of the conference management server 30 receives the image code display request, and the setting screen generating unit 391 generates screen information for an image code display screen that displays the image code associated with the group ID and an image code read button. The image code generating unit 394 may generate an image code at this timing. This allows an image code to be generated with the changed conference room, group name, etc. even if the group name, conference room, etc. are changed. The image code read button has a URL of the location where the image code is saved.

S103: The transmission unit 31a of the conference management server 30 transmits the screen information of the image code display screen (with the group ID selected by the administrator attached) to the reception terminal 7.

S104: The communication unit 201 of the web browser 200 receives the screen information of the image code display screen, and the display control unit 202 displays the image code display screen. An example of the image code display screen is shown in FIG. 44.

S105: The administrator presses the image code read button on the image code display screen. The operation reception unit 203 of the web browser 200 accepts the press.

S106: The communication unit 201 of the web browser 200 specifies the group ID of the image code reading button and requests the image code from the conference management server 30.

S107: The receiving unit 31b of the conference management server 30 receives the request for the image code, and the transmitting unit 31a transmits the image code associated with the group ID or the URL of the storage location of the image code to the reception terminal 7 along with a request to launch the reception app.

S108: The communication unit 201 of the web browser 200 receives the image code or the URL of the location where the image code is saved. When the web browser 200 receives the URL of the location where the image code is saved, the communication unit 201 of the web browser 200 connects to the URL of the location where the image code is saved and acquires the image code. When the reception app 300 receives the image code, it may be left as is. The decoding unit 205 analyzes the image code and acquires the group ID and group name (which may include the authentication key and server URL). Note that the image code may be decoded by the reception app 300.

S109: The launch unit 204 of the web browser 200 launches the reception app 300 in response to a launch request from the conference management server 30 or in response to pressing the image code reading button. The launch and the method of passing information to the reception app 300 are performed using a method provided by the OS of the reception terminal 7. Therefore, the order of launching the reception app 300, passing the image code, etc., or saving the group ID may be reversed.

One method of launching the reception application 300 is a custom URI scheme provided by the OS. A custom URI scheme is a customized URI scheme. A URI scheme is the first part of a URI (or it can be a URL) that indicates the location of a resource on the Internet, and is a notation that indicates the means for reaching the resource. Normally, reserved words such as http, file, and mailto are specified as the URI. In contrast, a custom URI scheme can represent a resource with any URI.

subapp://filepath?id=/foo/bar/001/groupeid.txt
The first "subapp" specifies the receiving app, and the "id=/foo/bar/001/groupeid.txt" following "filepath" indicates that the information to be sent to the receiving app is included in the variable "filepath". Specify that the variable value is "/foo/bar/001/groupeid.txt". groupeid.txt is the group ID. Send other information such as the group name, authentication key, and server URL as well. will be done.

The procedure in which the Web browser 200 uses the custom URI scheme to launch the reception application and notify the file path is as follows.
(1) The custom URI scheme of the web browser 200 is notified to the OS.
(2) The OS searches for the application specified by “subapp” of the custom URI scheme from the manifest of each application (a list of applications registered in the OS) and identifies the reception application 300 .
(3) When the reception application 300 is identified, the OS executes the execution file of the reception application to start the reception application.
(4) When the reception application 300 is started, the reception application 300 performs a process of acquiring a custom URI scheme from the OS.
(5) The reception application 300 then obtains the file path under the “id” of the custom URI scheme.

S110: The reception app 300 receives the group ID and the like from the OS, and the setting recording unit 98-2b stores the group ID, group name, authentication key, and server URL in the storage unit 99b. This allows the reception terminal 7 to specify the group ID and obtain reservation information. Note that if a group ID and the like has already been stored, it may be overwritten. This allows the administrator to allocate a new reception terminal 7. Also, if a conference room ID has been stored, it may be overwritten. The conference room terminal 90 can be converted into the reception terminal 7. The reception terminal 7 may display a dialog box accepting whether or not to overwrite, and control whether or not to overwrite depending on the user's response. If multiple group IDs are stored, reservation information is obtained based on each of them.

S111: When the group ID is stored, the reservation information request unit 98-3b of the reception app 300 requests reservation information from the conference management server 30 specified by the server URL, specifying the group ID and authentication key. After that, the reservation information is requested periodically.

S112: When the receiving unit 31b of the conference management server 30 receives a request for reservation information, the authentication key verification unit 41 verifies the authentication key. That is, the authentication key identified by the conference room ID is obtained from the conference room setting information DB 498, and it is determined whether it matches the authentication key sent from the conference room terminal 90. If the authentication key verification is successful, the initial setting unit 39 changes the state of the conference room terminal in the conference room setting information DB 498 to connected. Next, if the management start flag is True, the reservation information sending unit 44 obtains the conference room ID associated with the group ID from the conference room setting information DB 498, and obtains the reservation information associated with this conference room ID from the conference management information DB 493. The sending unit 31a of the conference management server 30 sends the reservation information to the reception terminal 7.

S113: The server communication unit 91b of the reception app 300 receives the reservation information, and the display control unit 94b displays the reservation information on the standby screen. An example of the standby screen 490 is shown in FIG. 21.

In this way, in this embodiment, the reception terminal 7 acquires the image code instead of the registration terminal 50, the reception terminal 7 stores the group ID, and the reception terminal 7 can acquire reservation information using the group ID.

<<Screen example>>
Fig. 44 shows an example of an image code display screen 800 displayed by the web browser 200. In Fig. 44, differences from the image code display screen in Fig. 18 will be mainly explained. The image code display screen 800 in Fig. 44 displays the image code 461, a message 801 saying "If you want to read the image code into the centralized terminal application, please press 'Read image code'", and an image code read button 802. When the image code read button 802 is pressed, the reception terminal 7 obtains the image code or the URL of the destination where the image code is saved, and the reception application 300 is started. Note that the image code 461 may be pressable instead of the image code read button 802.

The image code 461 is not necessary, but if the image code display screen 800 as shown in FIG. 44 is displayed on the registration terminal 50, the administrator can perform the initial settings as described in the first embodiment. If the reception terminal 7 displays it, the administrator can perform the initial settings even if the registration terminal 50 is not present.

<When the reception terminal displays the download button>
Next, the method (2) will be described with reference to Fig. 45. Fig. 45 is an example of a sequence diagram illustrating the process in which the reception terminal 7 stores the group ID. The explanation of Fig. 45 will mainly focus on the differences from Fig. 43. The processes in steps S71 to S96 may be the same as those in Fig. 43.

S127: The image code generation unit 394 generates screen information for a download screen that allows the group ID and other information to be downloaded for each group. For example, a group ID is associated with each group name.

S128: The transmission unit 31a of the conference management server 30 transmits the screen information of the download screen to the reception terminal 7.

S129: The communication unit 201 of the web browser 200 receives the screen information of the download screen, and the display control unit 202 displays the download screen. An example of the download screen is shown in FIG. 46.

S130: On the download screen, the administrator presses the download button for the group for which they want to download the group ID, etc.

S131: The operation reception unit 203 of the web browser 200 receives the operation, and the communication unit 201 specifies the group ID and sends a download request for the group ID, etc. to the conference management server 30.

S132: The receiving unit 31b of the conference management server 30 receives the download request, and the information management unit 395 obtains the authentication key, group name, etc. associated with the group ID from the conference room setting information 498 (also obtains the server URL stored in the login information DB 499). The transmitting unit 31a of the conference management server 30 transmits the group ID, group name, authentication key, server URL, etc. to the reception terminal 7 together with a request to start the reception app 300.

S133: The communication unit 201 of the web browser 200 receives a request to start the reception app 300 and the group ID, etc. The start-up unit 204 of the web browser 200 starts the reception app 300 in response to the reception of the start-up request or the pressing of the download button as an event. The start-up method may be the same as the custom URI scheme described in FIG. 43. Therefore, the reception app 300 receives the group ID, etc. from the web browser 200.

S134: The setting recording unit 98-2b of the reception app 300 stores the group ID, group name, authentication key, and server URL in the memory unit 99b. This allows the reception terminal 7 to specify the group ID and obtain reservation information.

S135 to S137: Subsequent processing can be the same as steps S111 to S113 in Figure 42.

In this way, in this embodiment, the reception terminal 7 acquires the group ID and the like instead of the registration terminal 50, the reception terminal 7 stores the group ID, and the reception terminal 7 can acquire reservation information by the group ID.

<<Screen example>>
Fig. 46 shows an example of a download screen 810 displayed by the web browser 200. In Fig. 46, differences from the group list screen 410 in Fig. 13 will be mainly explained. The download screen 810 in Fig. 46 has a download button 811 associated with a group name. Pressing the download button 811 allows the reception terminal 7 to obtain the group ID etc. from the conference management server 30.

<Major Effects>
According to the resource reservation system 100 of this embodiment, the reception terminal 7 communicates with the conference management server 30 via the Web browser 200 and launches the reception application 300, eliminating the need for the registration terminal 50. Therefore, for example, a user or administrator can use only the reception terminal 7 in a location close to the conference rooms, such as a conference room area away from the registration terminal 50, to select the conference rooms to be included in a group while viewing the conference rooms, and perform a series of operations from selecting the conference rooms to completing the installation of their own device all at once.

In the third embodiment, the reception application displayed reservation information separately from the web browser 200. In this embodiment, a case will be described in which the reception terminal 7 performs initial settings using the web browser 200 and then displays reservation information. According to this embodiment, the registration terminal 50 can be eliminated.

In this embodiment, the hardware configuration diagrams in Figures 5 and 6 and the functional block diagrams in Figures 7 to 9 described in the above embodiments can be used, and the differences will be mainly described.

<About the function>
Fig. 47 is an example of a functional block diagram showing the functions of the terminal device 60, the conference room terminal 90, and the reception terminal 7 in a block form. The functions of the electronic device 70 will be explained as necessary. Since the components with the same reference numerals in Fig. 8 perform similar functions, the functions of Fig. 47 may mainly only explain the main components of this embodiment.

The reception terminal 7 of this embodiment has a web browser 200 instead of a reception app. Also, since the reception terminal 7 of this embodiment does not decode image codes, the decoding unit 98b and the imaging unit 97b are not necessary. The web browser 200 of the reception terminal 7 communicates with the conference management server 30 instead of the registration terminal 50 and is used to display reservation information.

<Processing until the reception terminal saves the conference room ID>
Next, the process from when the reception terminal 7 stores the conference room ID to when the reservation information is displayed will be described with reference to Fig. 48. Fig. 48 is an example of a sequence diagram explaining the process from when the reception terminal 7 stores the group ID to when the reservation information is displayed. The explanation of Fig. 48 will mainly focus on the differences from Fig. 43. First, steps S71 to S96 may be the same as Fig. 43.

S141: The reservation information sending unit 44 of the conference management server 30 obtains reservation information for each conference room identified by the group ID from the conference management information DB 493. The reservation information sending unit 44 also generates screen information for a standby screen on which the reservation information is displayed as in standby screen 490 of FIG. 21. That is, in Examples 1 to 3, the screen was formed (designed) by the reception app, but in this example, the web browser 200 displays the standby screen. For this reason, the reservation information sending unit 44 generates screen information for the standby screen for displaying the reservation information in HTML or the like.

S142: The transmission unit 31a of the conference management server 30 transmits the screen information of the standby screen, and the group ID, group name, authentication key, server URL, etc. of each conference room obtained from the conference room setting information DB 498 and the login information DB 499 to the reception terminal 7.

S143: The server communication unit 91b of the Web browser 200 receives the screen information of the standby screen and the group ID, etc. The display control unit 94b displays the standby screen. An example of the standby screen is shown in FIG. 21. The conference management server 30 may send a URL for displaying the standby screen to the reception terminal 7, rather than directly sending the screen information of the standby screen. The reception terminal 7 can display the standby screen in an existing tab or a new tab by redirecting to the URL, or by the administrator inputting it into the Web browser 200. If displayed in a new tab, the reception terminal 7 will continue to display the conference room list screen 430, so it is recommended that the reception terminal 7 delete the original tab.

The reception terminal 7 may also operate in kiosk mode to prevent the user from changing the standby screen to another screen or turning off the power or screen. Kiosk mode refers to an operating mode in which the information processing terminal is set to operate only for specific purposes.

The setting recording unit 98-2b of the reception terminal 7 stores the group ID, group name, authentication key, and server URL in the storage unit 99b. The storage unit 99b is a local storage that the web browser 200 can access. This allows the reception terminal 7 to acquire reservation information by specifying the group ID. If a group ID or the like is already stored, it may be overwritten. This allows the administrator to newly allocate the reception terminal 7. Also, if a conference room ID has been stored, it may be overwritten. The conference room terminal 90 can be repurposed as the reception terminal 7. The reception terminal 7 may display a dialog box to accept whether or not to overwrite, and control whether or not to overwrite depending on the user's response. If multiple group IDs are stored, reservation information is acquired based on each of them.

S144 to S146: Same as steps S111 to S113 in Figure 43.

<Major Effects>
In this manner, in this embodiment, the reception terminal 7 can receive and display reservation information on the Web browser 200 .

<Other application examples>
The above describes the best mode for carrying out the present invention using examples, but the present invention is not limited to these examples in any way, and various modifications and substitutions can be made within the scope that does not deviate from the gist of the present invention.

For example, instead of the registration terminal 50 displaying the image code, a display connected to the conference management server 30 may display the image code. The terminal that displays the image code does not have to be the registration terminal 50. The image code may be sent to the administrator by email.

For example, in this embodiment, the group ID and communication setting information are encoded into an image code, but the group ID and communication setting information may be transmitted from the registration terminal 50 to the conference room terminal 90 by one-to-one short-range wireless communication. For example, they may be transmitted by Bluetooth (registered trademark), NFC (Near Field Communication), infrared communication, visible light communication, or the like.

Note that there may be multiple conference management servers 30, or the functions of the conference management server 30 may be distributed among multiple servers. In addition, the reservation management server 20 and the conference management server 30 may be integrated.

The devices described in this embodiment are merely illustrative of one of multiple computing environments for implementing the embodiments disclosed herein. In one embodiment, the conference management server 30 includes multiple computing devices, such as a server cluster. The multiple computing devices are configured to communicate with each other over any type of communication link, including a network, shared memory, etc., and perform the processing disclosed herein. Similarly, the reception terminal 7 may include multiple computing devices configured to communicate with each other.

The resource reservation system 100 of this embodiment can also be called a Web service. Web services are various services provided by applying Internet-related technologies. Examples include conference room rental services and various rental services. A system that uses a Web service is called a utilization system.

The configuration examples shown in the above embodiments, such as those shown in Figures 7 to 9, are divided according to the main functions in order to make it easier to understand the processing of the resource reservation system 100. However, the present invention is not limited by the manner in which each processing unit is divided or the names of each processing unit. The resource reservation system 100 can also be divided into even more processing units depending on the processing content. It can also be divided so that one processing unit includes even more processing.

Each function of the embodiments described above can be realized by one or more processing circuits. Here, the term "processing circuit" in this specification includes a processor programmed to execute each function by software, such as a processor implemented by an electronic circuit, and devices such as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), DSP (digital signal processor), FPGA (field programmable gate array), and conventional circuit modules designed to execute each function described above.

Reference Signs List 6 Conference room 7 Reception terminal 10 Chat server 20 Reservation management server 30 Conference management server 60 Terminal device 70 Electronic device 90 Conference room terminal 100 Resource reservation system

JP 2018-190414 A

Claims (18)

A resource reservation system including an information processing device that associates one or more resources with a group and that retains information relating to the reservation of the resources, and an information processing terminal,
a display control unit that displays information regarding the reservation of each resource received from the information processing device;
an operation receiving unit that receives an input for each resource;
The information processing device includes:
providing a list of the resources to a registration terminal, receiving identification information of one or more of the resources selected by the registration terminal, and associating the received one or more resources with the group;
the information processing device receives the group name input by the registration terminal, and associates the received group name with the group;
the information processing device transmits an image code including group identification information to the registration terminal;
the information processing terminal captures the image code displayed by the registration terminal and stores group identification information included in the image code;
The information processing device includes:
when the information processing terminal requests information regarding reservation of each resource by specifying the identification information of the group, the information processing terminal transmits information regarding reservation of one or more resources associated with the identification information of the group;
A resource reservation system comprising: the image code includes the group name;
2. The resource reservation system according to claim 1 , wherein the information processing terminal captures an image of the image code and displays the group name contained in the image code. The information processing device transmits a URL associated with the identification information of the group to the registration terminal;
The registration terminal displays the URL,
2. The resource reservation system according to claim 1, wherein the information processing terminal connects to the URL that has been input and stores the identification information of the group associated with the URL acquired from the information processing device. 4. The resource reservation system according to claim 3 , wherein the information processing terminal connects to the URL that has been input and displays the group name acquired from the information processing device. the information processing terminal stores identification information of a plurality of resources;
The resource reservation system according to claim 1, characterized in that when the information processing device is requested by the information processing terminal by specifying identification information of each resource and information regarding the reservation of each resource, it transmits information regarding the reservation of each resource to the information processing terminal. The information processing device provides a list of resources to the registration terminal, receives identification information of one or more of the resources selected by the registration terminal, and
The information processing device transmits an image code including identification information of one or more of the resources to the registration terminal;
The registration terminal displays the image code;
6. The resource reservation system according to claim 5 , wherein the information processing terminal captures an image of the image code and stores identification information of one or more of the resources contained in the image code. The information processing device provides a list of resources to the registration terminal, receives identification information of one or more of the resources selected by the registration terminal, and
Identification information of one or more of the resources is associated with a URL;
The information processing device transmits the URL to the registration terminal,
The registration terminal displays the URL,
The resource reservation system according to claim 5 , characterized in that the information processing terminal connects to the URL that has been input and stores identification information of one or more of the resources associated with the URL obtained from the information processing device. The resource reservation system described in claim 6 or 7, characterized in that when the information processing terminal obtains identification information of one or more of the resources from the information processing device, the information processing terminal switches between whether to add the identification information of the one or more resources to the identification information already stored and save it, or to overwrite it, depending on the type of the information processing terminal itself . the information processing device provides a list of resources to the information processing terminal, receives identification information of one or more resources selected by a Web browser of the information processing terminal, and associates the received one or more resources with a group;
the information processing device transmits an image code including group identification information to the information processing terminal;
The Web browser of the information processing terminal passes the identification information of the group obtained by analyzing the image code to an application running on the information processing terminal, or the application receiving the image code from the Web browser analyzes the image code,
The resource reservation system according to claim 1 , wherein the application stores identification information of the group. the information processing device provides a list of resources to the information processing terminal, receives identification information of one or more resources selected by a Web browser of the information processing terminal, and associates the received one or more resources with a group;
the information processing device transmits group identification information to the information processing terminal;
the web browser of the information processing terminal passes the group identification information to an application running on the information processing terminal;
The resource reservation system according to claim 1 , wherein the application stores identification information of the group. the information processing device provides a list of resources to the information processing terminal, receives identification information of one or more resources selected by a Web browser of the information processing terminal, and associates the received one or more resources with a group;
the information processing device transmits group identification information to the information processing terminal;
2. The resource reservation system according to claim 1 , wherein the Web browser of said information processing terminal stores said group identification information. 12. The resource reservation system according to claim 1, wherein the display control unit displays a message indicating a status of utilization of each resource received from the information processing device. When the operation reception unit receives an input to a resource,
the information processing terminal transmits to the information processing device a notification that the input to the resource has been accepted, and receives the status of the resource from the information processing device;
The resource reservation system according to claim 12 , wherein the display control unit updates the displayed status with the status received from the information processing device. 14. The resource reservation system according to claim 13 , wherein the display control unit updates the status indicating that the reserved resource is available to be used to the status indicating that the reserved resource is being used. When the operation receiving unit receives an input to the resource while the display control unit is displaying the status indicating that the reserved resource is available,
15. The resource reservation system according to claim 14 , wherein the display control unit displays an input screen for authentication information. When the display control unit is displaying the status indicating a vacant room for which a resource is not reserved, the operation reception unit receives an input to the resource,
the information processing terminal transmits to the information processing device a notification that the input to the resource has been accepted, the information processing device reserves the resource with a reservation service, and receives from the information processing device a notification of the reservation;
The resource reservation system according to claim 12 or 13 , characterized in that the display control unit updates the status indicating vacant rooms being displayed with the status indicating in use. When the display control unit is displaying the status indicating that the resource is being used, the operation reception unit receives an input indicating that the resource is to be used.
17. The resource reservation system according to claim 12, wherein the display control unit displays a confirmation screen. 1. An information display method performed by a resource reservation system having an information processing device that associates one or more resources with a group and holds information related to the reservation of the resources, and an information processing terminal, comprising:
a step of displaying information regarding the reservation of each resource received from the information processing device by the information processing terminal;
accepting input for each resource;
The information processing device,
providing the list of resources to a registration terminal, receiving identification information of one or more of the resources selected by the registration terminal, and associating the received one or more resources with the group;
a step in which the information processing device receives a group name input by the registration terminal and associates the received group name with a group;
a step of transmitting an image code including group identification information to the registration terminal by the information processing device;
a step of the information processing terminal capturing an image of the image code displayed by the registration terminal and storing group identification information included in the image code;
a step of transmitting information regarding reservation of one or more resources associated with the group identification information to the information processing terminal when the information processing device is requested by the information processing terminal to provide information regarding reservation of each resource by specifying the group identification information;
13. An information display method comprising:

Images