Information processing device, method, and program

Abstract

To assist in increasing efficiency related to schedule determination.SOLUTION: Provided is an information processing device comprising: an acquisition unit for acquiring, for each of one or two areas, and for each of one or two dates, accommodation vacancy information indicating the vacancy state of a lodging facility and conference room vacancy information indicating the vacancy state of conference rooms; and a display control unit for generating a status display screen to indicate, for each of the one or two areas, and for each of the one or two dates, the vacancy states of the lodging facility and the conference rooms on the basis of the accommodation vacancy information and the conference room vacancy information.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 8

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to an information processing device, method, and program. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, many companies have offices in multiple areas. In a company, multiple employees with different work locations may gather in one of the areas to hold a meeting. Depending on the area in which the meeting is held, employees may need to stay overnight. Regarding accommodation, for example, Patent Document 1 describes a technology for determining candidate accommodations based on conditions set by a user, such as the area of ​​the accommodation location, the date of stay, the number of guests, and the price. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2019-109570 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] An employee who is planning to hold a meeting can decide the date and location of the meeting, taking into account the availability of each participant and the availability of meeting rooms. However, if accommodation cannot be secured on the decided date and in the decided area, it will be a hassle to reschedule the meeting.

[0005] Therefore, the present invention has been made in consideration of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a technique capable of supporting efficiency in determining schedules. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to solve the above problem, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided an information processing device comprising: an acquisition unit that acquires accommodation availability information indicating the availability of accommodation facilities and conference room availability information indicating the availability of conference rooms for each of one or more areas and for each of one or more dates; and a display control unit that generates, based on the accommodation availability information and the conference room availability information, an availability display screen that indicates the availability of the accommodation facilities and the conference rooms for each of the one or more areas and for each of the one or more dates.

[0007] The accommodation availability information may include information indicating the prices for each of the one or more areas of the accommodation facility and for each of the one or more dates, and the display control unit may generate the availability display screen further indicating the prices of the accommodation facility.

[0008] The display control unit may distinguish the display manner of each availability status of the accommodation facilities on the availability status display screen according to the size of the availability or the price of the accommodation facilities.

[0009] The display control unit may distinguish a display mode of each availability status of the conference rooms on the availability display screen according to the size of the availability of the conference room.

[0010] The display control unit may distinguish the display mode of each availability status of the accommodation facilities by distinguishing the colors of the areas indicating each availability status of the accommodation facilities, and may distinguish the display mode of each availability status of the conference rooms by distinguishing the colors of the areas indicating each availability status of the conference rooms.

[0011] The information processing device may further include an input unit into which a user inputs an area and a date, and the acquisition unit may acquire the accommodation availability information and the conference room availability information based on the area and date input into the input unit.

[0012] The input unit may further receive information indicating participants, and the acquisition unit may acquire the conference room availability information without acquiring the accommodation availability information when, for all participants inputted to the input unit, an area associated with the participant and the one or more areas satisfy a specified relationship.

[0013] The accommodation availability information may include availability information of accommodations in the one or more areas for the day before the date input by the user.

[0014] The information processing device may further include an input unit into which participants are input by a user, and the acquisition unit may select the one or more areas based on an area associated with each participant input into the input unit.

[0015] In addition, according to another aspect of the present invention to solve the above problem, there is provided a computer-executable method including obtaining accommodation availability information indicating the availability of accommodation facilities and conference room availability information indicating the availability of conference rooms for one or more areas and for one or more dates, and generating, based on the accommodation availability information and the conference room availability information, an availability display screen indicating the availability of the accommodation facilities and the conference rooms for the one or more areas and for the one or more dates.

[0016] In addition, according to another aspect of the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a program is provided to cause a computer to function as an acquisition unit that acquires accommodation availability information indicating the availability of accommodation facilities and conference room availability information indicating the availability of conference rooms for one or more areas and one or more dates, and a display control unit that generates, based on the accommodation availability information and the conference room availability information, an availability display screen that indicates the availability of the accommodation facilities and the conference rooms for the one or more areas and the one or more dates. Effect of the Invention

[0017] According to the present invention as described above, it is possible to support the improvement of efficiency in determining schedules. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0018] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram illustrating an information processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Diagram 2] 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the configurations of an in-house information server 10 and an external server 20. FIG. [Diagram 3] FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of employee information. [Figure 4] FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of conference room availability information. [Diagram 5] FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of company accommodation information. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of an accommodation information server 30 according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 7] FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of accommodation availability information. [Figure 8] FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a configuration of a client terminal 40 according to an embodiment of the present invention. [Figure 9] FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of an input screen 80. [Figure 10] FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of an availability status display screen. [Figure 11] FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation of the accommodation information server 30 at the stage of collecting information. [Figure 12] FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation at the stage where the client terminal 40 displays an availability status display screen. [Figure 13] FIG. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing an input screen 90 according to a modified example. [Figure 14] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration 90. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0019] Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In this specification and the drawings, components having substantially the same functional configurations are denoted by the same reference numerals, and duplicated explanations will be omitted.

[0020] An embodiment of the present invention relates to an information processing system that supports a user in improving the efficiency of schedule determination. The information processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention is used, for example, to determine the date and location of a meeting in a company. First, an overview of the information processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

[0021] <1. Overview of the information processing system> 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an information processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the information processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an in-house information server 10, an external server 20, an accommodation information server 30, and a client terminal 40.

[0022] The in-house information server 10, the external server 20, the accommodation information server 30, and the client terminal 40 are communicatively connected via a network 12. The network 12 is a wired or wireless transmission path for information transmitted from devices connected to the network 12. For example, the network 12 may include public line networks such as the Internet, a telephone line network, and a satellite communication network, as well as various types of LANs (Local Area Networks) including Ethernet (registered trademark), and WANs (Wide Area Networks). The network 12 may also include a dedicated line network such as an IP-VPN (Internet Protocol-Virtual Private Network).

[0023] (Internal Information Server 10) The in-house information server 10 is a server operated by a certain company. The in-house information server 10 stores the in-house information of the company, and transmits the in-house information to the accommodation information server 30 or the client terminal 40 in response to a request for the in-house information from the accommodation information server 30 or the client terminal 40. The in-house information may include employee information, company accommodation information, and conference room availability information showing the availability of each conference room.

[0024] (External Server 20) The external server 20 is a server operated by an external company different from the company that operates the in-house information server 10. The external server 20 provides a reservation service for public accommodation facilities (public accommodation facilities) such as hotels and inns. In response to a request for vacancy information of public accommodation facilities from the accommodation information server 30, the external server 20 transmits vacancy information of public accommodation facilities to the accommodation information server 30.

[0025] (Accommodation information server 30) The accommodation information server 30 is a server operated by the same company as the in-house information server 10. The accommodation information server 30 stores accommodation availability information indicating the availability of each accommodation facility for one or more areas where a conference may be held in the company. The accommodation information server 30 transmits the accommodation availability information to the client terminal 40 in response to a request for accommodation availability information from the client terminal 40.

[0026] (Client terminal 40) The client terminal 40 is a terminal used by a user, an employee of the company. The client terminal 40 acquires accommodation availability information and conference room availability information for each candidate schedule and each candidate area input by the user, and displays an availability display screen showing the availability of accommodation facilities and conference rooms for each candidate schedule and each candidate area. Such a client terminal 40 may be an information processing device such as a smartphone or a PC.

[0027] The outline of the information processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention has been described above. Next, the configuration of the information processing system according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in more detail.

[0028] <2. Internal information server configuration> 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the configurations of the in-house information server 10 and the external server 20. As shown in FIG. 2, the in-house information server 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention has an in-house information request receiving unit 110, an in-house information storage unit 120, and an in-house information response unit 130.

[0029] (In-house information request receiving unit 110) The in-house information request receiving unit 110 receives requests for in-house information from the accommodation information server 30 and the client terminal 40. For example, the in-house information request receiving unit 110 receives a request for employee information from the accommodation information server 30 and receives a request for conference room availability information from the client terminal 40.

[0030] (In-house information storage unit 120) The company information storage unit 120 stores company information. The company information includes employee information, conference room availability information, and company accommodation information. Below, a specific example of employee information will be described with reference to FIG. 3, a specific example of conference room availability information will be described with reference to FIG. 4, and a specific example of company accommodation information will be described with reference to FIG. 5.

[0031] FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of employee information. In the employee information, the employee's name and place of work are associated with each other. In the illustrated example, the name "Okiyama Taro" is associated with the place of work "Area A." Also, in the illustrated example, the name "Okikawa Hanako" is associated with the place of work "B Area." Although not shown in FIG. 3, the employee information may also include other personal information such as age, date of birth, place of residence, and telephone number. The employee information is updated in response to employees joining, leaving, and being transferred.

[0032] FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of conference room availability information. In the conference room availability information, available conference rooms and available time slots are associated with each date and area. In the illustrated example, "10:00-12:00 A1 conference room, 14:00-18:00 A3 conference room" are associated with the date "2023 / 11 / 23" and area A. In addition, no conference room is associated with the date "2023 / 11 / 23" and area B, which indicates that there are no available conference rooms on the date "2023 / 11 / 23" and area B. The conference room availability information may be information that is updated by the in-house information server 10 at any time according to the reservation of the conference room.

[0033] FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of corporate accommodation information. In the corporate accommodation information, corporate accommodation, a one-night rate, and a basic number of people that can stay are associated with each other. Corporate accommodation can be accommodation owned by a company, accommodation rented by a company, accommodation rented jointly by a company and another company, etc. The basic number of people that can stay may be the result of subtracting the number of people who will be using the corporate accommodation for a long period of time from the maximum number of people that can stay at the corporate accommodation. Long-term use is use that lasts for a specified length of time, such as one month.

[0034] In the illustrated example, the company accommodation "Area A Dormitory" is associated with a nightly rate of "1,000 yen" and a basic number of people that can stay "5 people". In the illustrated example, the company accommodation "B Area Weekly" is associated with a nightly rate of "2,000 yen" and a basic number of people that can stay "10 people". In the illustrated example, the company accommodation "C Area Corporate Housing" is associated with a nightly rate of "2,000 yen" and a basic number of people that can stay "3 people". The company accommodation information may be manually updated by a maintenance person in response to the addition of company accommodation, the elimination of company accommodation, a change in the number of long-term users, etc.

[0035] The company information storage unit 120 also stores availability information for company accommodations. Availability information for company accommodations is information indicating the number of guests that can be accommodated for each company accommodation and for each date. The number of guests that can be accommodated for a certain company accommodation on a certain date may be the result of subtracting the number of people who have reserved the company accommodation for short-term use (use for less than a specified length) on that date from the basic number of guests that can be accommodated for that company accommodation. When company accommodations are booked systematically, availability information for company accommodations is automatically updated by the system. When company accommodations are booked manually, availability information for company accommodations may be manually updated by a maintenance staff member.

[0036] (Internal Information Response Unit 130) The internal information response unit 130 transmits internal information in response to a request for internal information being received by the internal information request receiving unit 110. For example, the internal information response unit 130 reads employee information from the internal information storage unit 120 and transmits the employee information to the accommodation information server 30 based on the internal information request receiving unit 110 receiving a request for employee information from the accommodation information server 30. In addition, the internal information response unit 130 reads availability information of company accommodation from the internal information storage unit 120 in response to the internal information request receiving unit 110 receiving a request for availability information of company accommodation from the accommodation information server 30, and transmits the availability information of company accommodation to the accommodation information server 30. In addition, the internal information response unit 130 reads conference room availability information for one or more specified dates and one or more areas from the internal information storage unit 120 in response to the internal information request receiving unit 110 receiving a request for conference room availability information from the client terminal 40, and transmits the read conference room availability information to the client terminal 40.

[0037] <3. External server configuration> The above describes the configuration of the in-house information server 10. Next, the configuration of the external server 20 will be described.

[0038] As shown in FIG. 2, the external server 20 includes an availability information request receiving unit 210, an availability information storage unit 220, and an availability information response unit 230.

[0039] (Availability information request receiving unit 210) The vacancy information request receiving unit 210 receives a request for vacancy information of public accommodation facilities from the accommodation information server 30. The request from the accommodation information server 30 includes, for example, a designation of an area.

[0040] (Vacancy information storage unit 220) The vacancy information storage unit 220 stores vacancy information of public accommodation facilities. The vacancy information of public accommodation facilities indicates the number of guests that can be accommodated for each public accommodation facility and for each date. The number of guests that can be accommodated is an example of accommodation vacancy information that indicates the availability. The accommodation vacancy information may be information indicating the number of available rooms and the capacity of each available room.

[0041] (Availability information response unit 230) Based on the request for vacancy information of public accommodation facilities received by the vacancy information request receiving unit 210 from the accommodation information server 30, the vacancy information response unit 230 reads out vacancy information of public accommodation facilities in the specified area from the vacancy information storage unit 220 and transmits the read vacancy information of public accommodation facilities to the accommodation information server 30.

[0042] <4. Accommodation information server> Next, a configuration of the accommodation information server 30 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

[0043] 6 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of the accommodation information server 30 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 6, the accommodation information server 30 according to an embodiment of the present invention has an in-house information request sending unit 310, a storage unit 320, an in-house information receiving unit 330, an availability information request sending unit 340, an availability information receiving unit 350, a client request receiving unit 360, and a client response unit 370.

[0044] (In-house information request sending unit 310) The internal company information request sending unit 310 sends a request for internal company information to the internal company information server 10. For example, the internal company information request sending unit 310 sends a request for employee information and a request for availability information of company accommodation to the internal company information server 10. The internal company information request sending unit 310 periodically sends the request for availability information of company accommodation at a frequency of once an hour, once a day, or the like.

[0045] (Storage unit 320) The storage unit 320 stores various information used in the operation of the accommodation information server 30. For example, the storage unit 320 stores vacancy information of company accommodations received by the in-house information receiving unit 330 from the in-house information server 10, vacancy information of public accommodations received by the vacancy information receiving unit 350 from the external server 20, and the like.

[0046] (Internal information receiving unit 330) The in-house information receiving unit 330 receives in-house information transmitted from the in-house information server 10 in response to a request for in-house information transmitted from the in-house information request transmitting unit 310. For example, the in-house information receiving unit 330 receives vacancy information of company accommodation facilities from the in-house information server 10, and stores the vacancy information of company accommodation facilities in the storage unit 320.

[0047] Furthermore, the internal information receiving unit 330 receives employee information from the internal information server 10, extracts workplace information from the employee information, and deletes duplicate information to create a workplace master, which is a list of workplaces. The workplace master includes, for example, areas A, B, and C. The internal information receiving unit 330 stores the workplace master in the storage unit 320. Note that, since an employee's workplace rarely increases, the internal information request sending unit 310 requests employee information and the internal information receiving unit 330 creates the workplace master less frequently than the frequency of requesting and receiving information on available company accommodations, such as once a month or once a year.

[0048] (Availability information request sending unit 340) The vacancy information request sending unit 340 sends a request for vacancy information of public accommodation facilities to the external server 20. For example, the vacancy information request sending unit 340 reads out the workplace master from the storage unit 320, and specifies an area included in the workplace master as the target of the vacancy information request. The vacancy information request sending unit 340 periodically sends the request for vacancy information of public accommodation facilities, such as once an hour or once a day.

[0049] (Vacancy information receiving unit 350) The vacancy information receiving unit 350 receives vacancy information of public accommodation facilities in a specified area transmitted from the external server 20 in response to a request for vacancy information of public accommodation facilities from the vacancy information request transmitting unit 340, and stores the vacancy information of the public accommodation facilities in the memory unit 320. The vacancy information of public accommodation facilities and the vacancy information of company accommodation facilities stored in the memory unit 320 constitute accommodation vacancy information.

[0050] FIG. 7 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of accommodation availability information. As shown in FIG. 7, in the accommodation availability information, a date, an accommodation facility, a one-night fee, and a number of people that can stay are associated. For example, the date "2023 / 11 / 22", the public accommodation facility "Area H1 Hotel", the one-night fee "¥5,000", and the number of people that can stay "10 people" are associated. In the illustrated example, the date "2023 / 11 / 22", the company accommodation facility "Area Dormitory", the one-night fee "¥1,000", and the number of people that can stay "3 people" are associated.

[0051] (Client request receiving unit 360) The client request receiving unit 360 receives a request transmitted from the client terminal 40. The client request receiving unit 360 receives, for example, from the client terminal 40, a request for accommodation availability information including designation of one or more dates and one or more areas.

[0052] (Client response section 370) Based on receipt of a request for available accommodation information by the client request receiving unit 360, the client response unit 370 reads out available accommodation information for one or more specified dates and one or more specified areas from the memory unit 320, and transmits the read available accommodation information to the client terminal 40.

[0053] <5. Client terminal> The configuration of the accommodation information server 30 according to an embodiment of the present invention has been described above. Next, the configuration of the client terminal 40 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

[0054] 8 is an explanatory diagram showing the configuration of a client terminal 40 according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 8, the client terminal 40 according to an embodiment of the present invention has an operation display unit 410, an in-house information request sending unit 420, an in-house information receiving unit 430, an accommodation information request sending unit 440, an accommodation information receiving unit 450, and a display control unit 470.

[0055] (Operation display section 410) The operation display unit 410 has a function as a display unit that displays various display screens, and an input unit to which information is input by a user's operation. For example, the operation display unit 410 displays an input screen for inputting candidates such as a schedule and an area under the control of the display control unit 470.

[0056] 9 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of the input screen 80. In the example shown in FIG.

[0057] The names of one or more employees scheduled to attend the meeting are entered in the participant input field 81. One or more candidate dates for the meeting are entered in the schedule input field 82. One or more candidate areas are entered in the area input field 84. The contents entered in the participant input field 81, schedule input field 82, and area input field 84 are confirmed by selecting the OK button 85.

[0058] Such an input screen 80 may be a screen displayed by an application already installed in the client terminal 40, or may be a screen displayed by a browser function.

[0059] (In-house information request sending unit 420) The in-house information request sending unit 420 sends a request for conference room availability information to the in-house information server 10. In the request for conference room availability information, the in-house information request sending unit 420 specifies one or more dates and one or more areas inputted to the input screen 80 as the request targets.

[0060] (Internal Information Receiving Unit 430) The in-house information receiving unit 430 receives conference room availability information transmitted in response to a request for conference room availability information from the in-house information server 10. The in-house information receiving unit 430, together with the in-house information request transmitting unit 420, functions as an acquisition unit that acquires conference room availability information.

[0061] (Accommodation information request sending unit 440) The accommodation information request sending unit 440 sends a request for available accommodation information to the accommodation information server 30. In the request for available accommodation information, the accommodation information request sending unit 440 specifies one or more dates and one or more areas entered in the input screen 80 as the requested targets. Furthermore, since there is also an option for employees to stay overnight on the day before a conference, the accommodation information request sending unit 440 also specifies the day before the one or more dates entered in the input screen 80 and one or more areas as the requested targets in the request for available accommodation information.

[0062] (Accommodation information receiving unit 450) The accommodation information receiving unit 450 receives available accommodation information transmitted in response to a request for available accommodation information from the accommodation information server 30. The accommodation information receiving unit 450, together with the accommodation information request transmitting unit 440, functions as an acquisition unit that acquires available accommodation information.

[0063] (Display control unit 470) The display control unit 470 controls the display of the display screen by the operation display unit 410. For example, the display control unit 470 generates the input screen 80 described with reference to Fig. 9, and causes the input screen 80 to be displayed on the operation display unit 410. The display control unit 470 also generates an availability display screen that shows availability of accommodation facilities and conference rooms by date and by area, and causes the operation display unit 410 to display the availability display screen.

[0064] The availability display screen includes a display showing the overnight rate of accommodations with availability. The display control unit 470 distinguishes the display mode of each availability of accommodations by area and by date on the availability display screen according to the amount of availability of the accommodations or the price. Furthermore, the display control unit 470 distinguishes the display mode of each availability of conference rooms by area and by date on the availability display screen according to the amount of availability of the conference rooms. A specific example of such an availability display screen will be described with reference to FIG. 10.

[0065] Fig. 10 is an explanatory diagram showing a specific example of an availability display screen. Fig. 10 shows an example of an availability display screen that is displayed when "2023 / 11 / 23-2023 / 11 / 25" is entered in the schedule input field 82 of the input screen 80 and "Area A, Area B, Area C" is entered in the area input field 84.

[0066] As shown in FIG. 10, the availability display screen shows the availability of conference rooms and accommodation facilities by area and date. Specifically, the names of available conference rooms and available time slots are displayed in each conference room area divided by area and date. Additionally, the names of available accommodation facilities, the nightly rate for the accommodation facilities, and the number of guests that can stay are displayed in each accommodation area divided by area and date. Conference room areas and accommodation facilities areas that correspond to the same area and the same date are arranged side by side.

[0067] In the example shown in FIG. 10, each area for the conference room and each area for the accommodation facility are colored according to the size of the vacancy. For example, the area corresponding to the date and area where there is no vacancy may be colored with the same color different from the other areas. In the example shown in FIG. 10, there is no vacancy in the accommodation facility in the B area on 2023 / 11 / 22, the conference room in the B area on 2023 / 11 / 23, the accommodation facility in the A area on 2023 / 11 / 24, the conference room in the C area on 2023 / 11 / 25, and the accommodation facilities in the A and B areas on 2023 / 11 / 25. Therefore, these areas are colored with the same color different from the other areas.

[0068] In addition, the area corresponding to the date and area where the availability is below a predetermined standard (for example, the number of people who can stay is two or less), and the area corresponding to the date and area where the minimum amount of the overnight rate is above a predetermined amount (for example, 10,000 yen) may be given a different color from other areas. In the example shown in FIG. 10, the minimum amount of the overnight rate for accommodation in the C area on 2023 / 11 / 22 is 12,000 yen, and the number of people who can stay at accommodation in the A area on 2023 / 11 / 23, the C area on 2023 / 11 / 24, and the C area on 2023 / 11 / 25 is two or less. For this reason, these areas are given a different color from other areas. Note that the predetermined standard for availability may be a fixed number of people, or may be set according to the number of participants entered in the participant input field 81 of the input screen 80. For example, the predetermined standard may be that the number of people who can stay is half or less of the number of participants entered in the participant input field 81 of the input screen 80.

[0069] 10 shows an example in which the conference room and accommodation areas corresponding to the same date and the same area are separated, but the conference room and accommodation areas corresponding to the same date and the same area do not have to be separated. In this case, the display mode of each area is determined taking into account the availability of both the conference room and the accommodation, the overnight rate of the accommodation, etc.

[0070] In addition, although an example of distinguishing the display mode of each area by color has been described in Fig. 10, other methods may be applied to distinguish the display mode. For example, the display mode may be distinguished by font, character size, character thickness, character darkness, character color, etc.

[0071] Also, within or outside the availability display screen, a display showing the work area or residential area of ​​each participant inputted on the input screen 80 may be arranged. With such a configuration, the user can easily grasp the work area or residential area of ​​each participant and determine the number of people requiring accommodation based on the positional relationship between each participant's work area or residential area and each candidate area.

[0072] <6. Operation> The configuration of each element of the information processing system according to one embodiment of the present invention has been described above. Next, the operation of the information processing system according to one embodiment of the present invention will be summarized with reference to Figs.

[0073] 11 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation at the stage where the accommodation information server 30 collects information. First, when the in-house information request sending unit 310 of the accommodation information server 30 sends a request for employee information to the in-house information server 10 (S204), the in-house information response unit 130 of the in-house information server 10 sends the employee information to the accommodation information server 30 (S208). Then, the in-house information receiving unit 330 of the accommodation information server 30 receives the employee information, creates a workplace master from the employee information, and stores the workplace master in the storage unit 320 (S212).

[0074] Next, the availability information request sending unit 340 of the accommodation information server 30 sends a request for availability information of public accommodation facilities to the external server 20 (S216). At this time, the availability information request sending unit 340 reads the workplace master from the storage unit 320 and specifies the area included in the workplace master as the area for which availability information is requested. Based on the request for availability information of public accommodation facilities received from the accommodation information server 30 by the availability information request receiving unit 210, the availability information response unit 230 of the external server 20 reads availability information of public accommodation facilities in the specified area from the availability information storage unit 220 and sends the read availability information of public accommodation facilities to the accommodation information server 30 (S220). When the availability information receiving unit 350 receives the availability information of public accommodation facilities from the external server 20, it stores the availability information of public accommodation facilities in the storage unit 320 (S224).

[0075] Furthermore, the in-house information request sending unit 310 of the accommodation information server 30 sends a request for availability information of company accommodations to the in-house information server 10 (S228), and the in-house information response unit 130 of the in-house information server 10 reads the availability information of company accommodations from the in-house information storage unit 120 and sends it to the accommodation information server 30 (S232). Upon receiving the availability information of company accommodations from the in-house information server 10, the in-house information receiving unit 330 of the accommodation information server 30 stores the availability information of company accommodations in the storage unit 320 (S236).

[0076] 12 is an explanatory diagram showing the operation at the stage where the client terminal 40 displays the availability display screen. The inputter inputs the participants of the meeting, the candidate dates, and the area on the input screen 80 displayed on the client terminal 40 (S304). Then, when the OK button 85 is selected on the input screen 80, the in-house information request sending unit 420 sends a request for conference room availability information to the in-house information server 10 (S308), and the accommodation information request sending unit 440 sends a request for accommodation availability information to the accommodation information server 30 (S312).

[0077] Then, the accommodation information receiving unit 450 of the client terminal 40 receives accommodation availability information from the accommodation information server 30 (S316), and the in-house information receiving unit 430 of the client terminal 40 receives conference room availability information from the in-house information server 10 (S320). After that, the display control unit 470 generates an availability display screen based on the accommodation availability information received in S316 and the conference room availability information received in S320, and causes the operation display unit 410 to display the availability display screen (S324).

[0078] <7. Effects> According to the embodiment of the present invention described above, various operational effects can be obtained. For example, according to the embodiment of the present invention, as described with reference to FIG. 10, an availability display screen showing availability of conference rooms and accommodation facilities for each area and each date is displayed. This configuration allows the user to decide on a schedule more efficiently. After deciding on a schedule, the user can access the in-house information server 10 or the external server 20 to make reservations for accommodation facilities and conference rooms.

[0079] For example, in the availability display screen shown in Fig. 10, in area B on November 24, 2023, there is a conference room available and six people can stay at the accommodation. Therefore, if there are three participants who need accommodation, the user can easily understand that they can make a schedule in area B on November 24, 2023.

[0080] In addition, in area A on November 23, 2023, there is a vacant conference room and two people can stay in the accommodation. If there are three participants who need accommodation, accommodation is not available in area A on November 23, 2023, but the user can easily understand that they can stay the night before in area A on November 22, 2023 and hold the meeting in area A in the morning on November 23, 2023.

[0081] Furthermore, the availability display screen according to one embodiment of the present invention displays the nightly rate of each accommodation facility. With this configuration, the user can easily grasp the nightly rate of each accommodation facility and make plans taking the nightly rate of each accommodation facility into consideration.

[0082] In addition, in the availability display screen according to one embodiment of the present invention, the display mode of the availability of accommodation facilities by area and by date is differentiated according to the size of the availability of accommodation facilities and the overnight rate. With this configuration, the user can visually and easily grasp the amount of availability of accommodation facilities in which area and on which date, and the overnight rate for that area and on that date.

[0083] In addition, in the availability display screen according to an embodiment of the present invention, the display mode of the availability of conference rooms by area and by date is differentiated according to the amount of availability of the conference rooms. With this configuration, the user can visually and easily grasp the amount of availability of conference rooms in which area and on which date.

[0084] Furthermore, according to one embodiment of the present invention, the client terminal 40 acquires accommodation availability information and conference room availability information based on the area and date input by the user. Here, the accommodation availability information includes accommodation availability information for the day before the date input by the user. With this configuration, as described with reference to FIG. 10, accommodation availability information for the day before the candidate date for the conference is also displayed on the availability display screen. This makes it easier for the user to decide on a plan that includes options for not only staying the night after the conference, but also staying the night before.

[0085] <8. Variations> An embodiment of the present invention has been described above. In the following, some modified examples of the above-described embodiment will be described. Note that each modified example described below may be applied alone to the above-described embodiment, or may be applied in combination to the above-described embodiment. Also, each modified example may be applied in place of the configuration of the above-described embodiment, or may be applied in addition to the configuration of the above-described embodiment.

[0086] (First Modification) In the above, an example has been described in which the accommodation information request sending unit 440 sends a request for accommodation availability information for the date and area entered on the input screen 80 to the accommodation information server 30. However, if certain conditions are met, the accommodation information request sending unit 440 does not need to send the request for accommodation availability information to the accommodation information server 30. In this case, the availability display screen will not include a display showing the availability information of accommodations.

[0087] The above-mentioned certain condition may be that, for all participants input on the input screen 80, the area associated with the participant and one or more areas input on the input screen 80 satisfy a predetermined relationship. The area associated with the participant may be, for example, the area of ​​the participant's workplace or the area of ​​the participant's residence. The predetermined relationship may be that the distance or travel time is equal to or less than a threshold. If the distance between the workplace or residence of all participants and all areas of the one or more candidate areas is equal to or less than a threshold, it is possible that all participants do not require accommodation, and therefore, as described above, sending a request for available accommodation information can be omitted.

[0088] (Second Modification) In the above, an example has been described in which the necessity of requesting the availability information of accommodations is automatically determined, but the necessity of requesting the availability information of accommodations may be determined by an explicit operation by the user. This point will be described with reference to FIG.

[0089] Fig. 13 is an explanatory diagram showing an input screen 90 according to a modified example. As shown in Fig. 13, the input screen 90 according to the modified example includes a participant input field 81, a schedule input field 82, an area input field 84, and an OK button 85, as well as an accommodation necessity check field 91 and a conference room necessity check field 92.

[0090] If any of the participants require lodging, the user checks an accommodation necessity check box 91. Furthermore, if the user requires the reservation of a conference room, the user checks a conference room necessity check box 92.

[0091] The accommodation information request sending unit 440 of the client terminal 40 sends a request for available accommodation information to the accommodation information server 30 when the accommodation necessity check box 91 is checked. On the other hand, when the accommodation necessity check box 91 is not checked, the accommodation information request sending unit 440 does not send a request for available accommodation information to the accommodation information server 30. Similarly, the internal company information request sending unit 420 of the client terminal 40 sends a request for available conference room information to the internal company information server 10 when the conference room necessity check box 92 is checked. On the other hand, the internal company information request sending unit 420 does not send a request for available conference room information to the internal company information server 10 when the conference room necessity check box 92 is not checked.

[0092] According to the second modified example, it is possible to avoid unnecessary communication for accommodation availability information or conference room availability information.

[0093] (Third Modification) In the above, an example has been described in which the accommodation information server 30 periodically collects accommodation availability information, and the client terminal 40 receives the accommodation availability information from the accommodation information server 30. However, the client terminal 40 may obtain accommodation availability information in real time from the in-house information server 10 and the external server 20 at the time when the user inputs information into the input screen 80. In this case, the accommodation information server 30 does not need to be implemented in the information processing system.

[0094] (Fourth Modification) In the above, an example in which the user inputs candidate areas on the input screen 80 has been described. As a fourth modified example, the internal information request sending unit 420 or the accommodation information request sending unit 440 may select candidate areas. For example, the internal information request sending unit 420 may select one or more areas based on the areas associated with each participant input on the input screen 80. The areas associated with each participant may be the area of ​​the participant's place of work or the area of ​​the participant's place of residence, as described above. As a specific example, the internal information request sending unit 420 may select an area associated with at least one of the participants as a candidate area. Alternatively, the internal information request sending unit 420 may select a predetermined number of areas as candidate areas in descending order of the number of participants associated with the area. With this configuration, it is possible to reduce the user's effort in determining and inputting areas.

[0095] <9. Hardware Configuration> An embodiment of the present invention has been described above. The above-mentioned information processing such as information request and display control is realized by cooperation between software and hardware. Below, an example of a hardware configuration that can be applied to the in-house information server 10, the external servers 20 and 30, the client terminal 40, etc. will be described.

[0096] 14 is a block diagram showing an example of a hardware configuration 90. The hardware configuration 90 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 901, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 902, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 903, and a host bus 904. The hardware configuration 90 also includes a bridge 905, an external bus 906, an interface 907, an input device 908, a display device 909, an audio output device 910, a storage device (HDD) 911, a drive 912, and a network interface 915.

[0097] The CPU 901 functions as an arithmetic processing unit and a control unit, and controls the overall operation according to various programs. The CPU 901 may also be a microprocessor. The ROM 902 stores programs and arithmetic parameters used by the CPU 901. The RAM 903 temporarily stores programs used in the execution of the CPU 901 and parameters that change appropriately during the execution. These are connected to each other by a host bus 904 that is composed of a CPU bus etc. By cooperation of the CPU 901, ROM 902, and RAM 903 with software, functions such as the internal company information request receiving unit 110 and the internal company information response unit 130 of the internal company information server 10, the availability information request receiving unit 210 and the availability information response unit 230 of the external server 20, the internal company information request sending unit 310, the internal company information receiving unit 330, the availability information request sending unit 340, the availability information receiving unit 350, the client request receiving unit 360, and the client response unit 370 of the accommodation information server 30, the internal company information request sending unit 420, the internal company information receiving unit 430, the accommodation information request sending unit 440, the accommodation information receiving unit 450, and the display control unit 470 of the client terminal 40 can be realized.

[0098] The host bus 904 is connected to an external bus 906, such as a PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect / Interface) bus, via a bridge 905. It is not necessary to configure the host bus 904, bridge 905, and external bus 906 separately, and these functions may be implemented in a single bus.

[0099] The input device 908 is composed of input means for the user to input information, such as a mouse, keyboard, touch panel, button, microphone, sensor, switch, and lever, and an input control circuit that generates an input signal based on the user's input and outputs it to the CPU 901. The user can input various data and instruct processing operations by operating the input device 908.

[0100] The display device 909 includes, for example, a display device such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) device, a projector device, an OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) device, a lamp, etc. Furthermore, the audio output device 910 includes an audio output device such as a speaker and a headphone.

[0101] The storage device 911 is a device for storing data configured as an example of a storage unit according to this embodiment. The storage device 911 may include a storage medium, a recording device for recording data in the storage medium, a reading device for reading data from the storage medium, and a deleting device for deleting data recorded in the storage medium. The storage device 911 is configured, for example, with a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid state drive (SSD), or a memory having equivalent functions. This storage device 911 drives the storage and stores the programs executed by the CPU 901 and various data.

[0102] The drive 912 is a reader / writer for a storage medium, and is built into or externally attached to the hardware configuration 90. The drive 912 reads out information recorded in a removable storage medium 84, such as an attached magnetic disk, optical disk, magneto-optical disk, or semiconductor memory, and outputs the information to the RAM 903 or the storage device 911. The drive 912 can also write information to the removable storage medium 84.

[0103] The network interface 915 is, for example, a communication interface configured with a communication device for connecting to the network 12. The network interface 915 may be a communication device compatible with a wireless LAN (Local Area Network), or a wired communication device that performs wired communication.

[0104] <10. Supplementary Information> Although the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described in detail above with reference to the accompanying drawings, the present invention is not limited to such an example. It is clear that a person having ordinary knowledge in the technical field to which the present invention pertains can conceive of various modified or altered examples within the scope of the technical ideas described in the claims, and it is understood that these also naturally belong to the technical scope of the present invention.

[0105] For example, the steps in the processing of the in-house information server 10, the external server 20, the accommodation information server 30, and the client terminal 40 in this specification do not necessarily have to be processed in chronological order according to the order depicted in the sequence diagram. For example, the steps in the processing of the in-house information server 10, the external server 20, the accommodation information server 30, and the client terminal 40 may be processed in an order different from the order depicted in the sequence diagram, or may be processed in parallel.

[0106] It is also possible to create a computer program for causing hardware such as the CPU, ROM, and RAM built into the in-house information server 10, the external server 20, the accommodation information server 30, and the client terminal 40 to perform functions equivalent to those of the above-mentioned in-house information server 10, the external server 20, the accommodation information server 30, and the client terminal 40. A non-transitory storage medium on which the computer program is stored is also provided. [Explanation of symbols]

[0107] 10 In-house information server 110 Internal Information Request Reception Department 12 Network 120 Internal Information Storage Unit 130 Internal Information Response Department 20 External Server 210 Vacancy information request receiving unit 220 Vacancy information storage unit 230 Vacancy Information Response Section 30 Accommodation information server 310 Internal Information Request Transmission Department 320 Storage section 330 Internal Information Receiving Department 340 Vacancy information request transmission unit 350 Vacancy Information Receiving Unit 360 Client Request Receiver 370 Client Response Part 40 Client terminals 410 Operation display section 420 Internal Information Request Transmission Department 430 Internal Information Receiving Department 440 Accommodation Information Request Transmission Unit 450 Accommodation Information Receiving Department 470 Display control unit

Claims

1. An acquisition unit that acquires accommodation availability information indicating availability of accommodations and conference room availability information indicating availability of conference rooms for one or more areas and one or more dates; a display control unit that generates an availability display screen showing availability of the accommodation facility and the conference room for each of the one or more areas and for each of the one or more dates based on the accommodation availability information and the conference room availability information; An information processing device comprising:

2. The accommodation availability information includes information indicating a price for each of the one or more areas of the accommodation facility and for each of the one or more dates, The information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the display control unit generates the availability display screen further indicating a price of the accommodation facility.

3. The information processing device according to claim 2 , wherein the display control unit distinguishes a display mode of each availability of the accommodation facilities on the availability display screen according to a size of the availability of the accommodation facilities or a price.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the display control unit distinguishes a display mode of each availability of the conference rooms on the availability display screen according to the size of the availability of the conference room.

5. The information processing device of claim 4, wherein the display control unit distinguishes the display mode of each availability status of the accommodation facilities by distinguishing the color of the area indicating each availability status of the accommodation facilities, and distinguishes the display mode of each availability status of the conference rooms by distinguishing the color of the area indicating each availability status of the conference rooms.

6. The information processing device includes: An input unit is further provided for a user to input an area and a date, The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the acquisition unit acquires the accommodation availability information and the conference room availability information based on an area and a date inputted to the input unit.

7. The input unit further receives information indicating participants, The information processing device according to claim 6, wherein the acquisition unit does not acquire the accommodation availability information but acquires the conference room availability information when, for all participants inputted into the input unit, the area associated with the participant and the one or more areas satisfy a predetermined relationship.

8. The information processing device according to claim 6 , wherein the accommodation availability information includes availability information of accommodation facilities in the one or more areas for the day before the date input by the user.

9. The information processing device further includes an input unit through which a user inputs participants. The information processing device according to claim 1 , wherein the acquisition unit selects the one or more areas based on an area associated with each participant input to the input unit.

10. Acquiring accommodation availability information indicating availability of accommodation facilities and conference room availability information indicating availability of conference rooms for each of one or more areas and each of one or more dates; generating an availability display screen showing availability of the accommodations and the conference rooms for each of the one or more areas and for each of the one or more dates based on the accommodation availability information and the conference room availability information; A computer-implemented method comprising:

11. Computer, An acquisition unit that acquires accommodation availability information indicating availability of accommodations and conference room availability information indicating availability of conference rooms for one or more areas and one or more dates; a display control unit that generates an availability display screen showing availability of the accommodation facility and the conference room for each of the one or more areas and for each of the one or more dates based on the accommodation availability information and the conference room availability information; A program to function as a

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