Delivery system, delivery device, delivery method, and program

Abstract

To provide a delivery system that increases store sales while maximizing an advantage of a curbside pickup order.SOLUTION: A delivery system includes: a management server that acquires order information including license plate information on a vehicle of a customer and information on a product ordered by the customer; storage means that stores, when the license plate information is acquired from a vehicle parked in a parking lot, the license plate information acquired from the vehicle and a parking position in association with each other; estimation means that estimates, when the license plate information acquired by the management server matches the license plate information stored in the storage means, the parking position of the vehicle of the customer to be delivered; and a robot that delivers the product to the parking position estimated by the estimation means.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a delivery system, a delivery device, a delivery method, and a program. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, with the spread of infectious diseases, there has been an increasing demand for curbside pickup ordering, where customers place orders using a terminal in their cars in the store's parking lot, and employees then bring the ordered items to their cars.

[0003] Patent Document 1 describes a system in which a camera is installed in a parking lot, the license plate numbers of vehicles in the parking lot are acquired, and delivery robots deliver parcels to the vehicles in the parking lot. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Publication No. 2023-143183 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] The advantage of curbside pickup orders is that they allow customers to place orders without interacting with a person directly. However, when an employee delivers the product to a car parked in an outside parking lot, the employee must leave their post. This creates a significant burden on the employee and increases the costs incurred by the store. Another problem is that the delivery of the product requires a direct person-to-person interaction, which reduces the benefits of curbside pickup orders. Therefore, there is a desire for stores to maximize the benefits of curbside pickup orders while also increasing their sales. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The delivery system according to the present disclosure comprises a management server that acquires order information including license plate information of a customer's vehicle and information on products ordered by the customer; a storage means that, when license plate information is acquired from a vehicle parked in a parking lot, associates and stores the license plate information acquired from the vehicle with the parking location; an estimation means that, when the license plate information acquired by the management server matches the license plate information stored by the storage means, estimates the parking location of the customer's vehicle that is the delivery target; and a robot that delivers the product to the parking location estimated by the estimation means.

[0007] The delivery device according to the present disclosure receives information from a management server that has acquired order information including license plate information of a customer's vehicle and information on the product ordered by the customer, and is equipped with a storage means that, when license plate information is acquired from a vehicle parked in a parking lot, associates and stores the license plate information acquired from the vehicle with the parking location, an estimation means that, when the license plate information acquired by the management server matches the license plate information stored by the storage means, estimates the parking location of the customer's vehicle that is the delivery target, and an instruction means that instructs a robot to deliver the product to the parking location estimated by the estimation means.

[0008] The delivery method according to the present disclosure comprises an acquisition step by a management server of order information including license plate information of a customer's vehicle and information on a product ordered by the customer; a step in which, when license plate information is acquired from a vehicle parked in a parking lot, a storage means associates the license plate information acquired from the vehicle with the parking location and stores the associated information; a step in which, when the license plate information acquired by the management server matches the license plate information stored by the storage means, an estimation means estimates the parking location of the customer's vehicle, which is the delivery target; and a step in which a robot delivers the product to the parking location estimated by the estimation means.

[0009] The program disclosed herein causes an information processing device to execute the following steps: a management server acquires order information including license plate information of a customer's vehicle and information about a product ordered by the customer; when license plate information is acquired from a vehicle parked in a parking lot, a storage means associates the license plate information acquired from the vehicle with the parking location and stores the associated information; when the license plate information acquired by the management server matches the license plate information stored by the storage means, an estimation means estimates the parking location of the customer's vehicle, which is the delivery target; and a robot delivers the product to the parking location estimated by the estimation means. [Effects of the Invention]

[0010] According to the present disclosure, it is possible to maximize the benefits of curbside pickup orders while increasing store sales. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0011] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a configuration diagram of a delivery system according to the present disclosure. [Figure 2] FIG. 10 is another configuration diagram of a delivery system according to the present disclosure. [Figure 3] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a generated database according to the present disclosure. [Figure 4] 1 is an example of a movement path of a robot moving through a parking lot according to the present disclosure. [Figure 5] 1 is a diagram illustrating a method for calculating the height and position of a vehicle side mirror according to the present disclosure. FIG. [Figure 6A] FIG. 1 is an operational sequence diagram of a delivery system according to the present disclosure. [Figure 6B] FIG. 1 is an operational sequence diagram of a delivery system according to the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0012] Embodiment 1 The following describes an outside-store unmanned delivery system (hereinafter referred to as a delivery system) with reference to the drawings. Figure 1 is a diagram showing a list of the configuration of the outside-store delivery system according to the present disclosure.

[0013] As shown in FIG. 1, the delivery system 1 includes a management server 11, a holding means 12, an estimation means 13, and a robot 14.

[0014] Management server 11 is a server that acquires order information including information on the license plate number of a customer's vehicle and information on the products ordered by the customer. More specifically, management server 11 can receive order information including information on the license plate number of a vehicle and the type and quantity of products entered by the customer into a terminal held by the customer via a communication network. Note that the terminal held by the customer may be described as typically a smartphone. In the following description, the products are described as food products prepared in the store.

[0015] When the storage means 12 acquires license plate information from a vehicle parked in a parking lot, it stores the license plate information acquired from the vehicle in association with the parking location. The storage means 12 can also receive and store order information acquired by the management server 11.

[0016] The estimation means 13 compares the license plate information acquired by the management server 11 with the license plate information acquired from cars parked in the parking lot and stored in the storage means 12. If the license plate information matches, the estimation means 13 estimates the parking location of the customer's car, which is the delivery target, based on the parking location information associated in the storage means 12. Note that in this case, a state in which the license plate information matches means a state in which the numbers written on the respective license plates match.

[0017] The robot 14 delivers the goods to the parking position estimated by the estimation means 13. As an example, the instruction means 15 can cause the robot 14 to operate by giving instructions to the robot 14 based on the content estimated by the estimation means 13.

[0018] This reduces direct person-to-person contact when ordering and receiving products, maximizing the benefits of curbside pickup orders, especially from the perspective of preventing infectious diseases. Furthermore, even if the physical store is full or there are not enough store staff, customers can pick up their products in their cars parked in the parking lot, reducing the burden on store staff and increasing sales.

[0019] The holding means 12, the estimation means 13, and the instruction means 15 can be integrated into a single delivery device. In other words, the delivery device can be configured to include: a holding means 12 that receives information from a management server 11 that has acquired order information including license plate information of a customer's vehicle and information about a product ordered by the customer; a holding means 12 that, when license plate information is acquired from a vehicle parked in a parking lot, associates the license plate information acquired from the vehicle with the parking location and stores the association; an estimation means 13 that, when the license plate information acquired by the management server 11 matches the license plate information stored by the holding means, estimates the parking location of the customer's vehicle that is the delivery target; and an instruction means 15 that instructs a robot 14 to deliver the product to the parking location estimated by the estimation means 13.

[0020] Embodiment 2 2 is a diagram showing a more detailed configuration of the off-site delivery system according to the present disclosure and an example of the flow from when a customer places an order to when the customer receives the product. As shown in FIG. 2, the delivery system 2 includes a management server 21, a holding unit 22, an estimation unit 23, multiple robots 24, an application 25, a camera 26, and a movement path setting unit 27.

[0021] Here, the management server 21 corresponds to the management server 11 shown in embodiment 1, the holding means 22 corresponds to the holding means 12 shown in embodiment 1, the estimation means 23 corresponds to the estimation means 13 shown in embodiment 1, the robot 24 corresponds to the robot 14 shown in embodiment 1, and the movement path setting means 27 corresponds to the instruction means 15 shown in embodiment 1, and some of the explanations of each component will be omitted.

[0022] 2, the following description will be given assuming that the equipment related to the POS (Point of Sale) terminal installed in each store has the functions of the holding means 22, the estimation means 23, and the movement route setting means 27. Here, the equipment related to the POS terminal is the equipment used as at least a part of the POS register or POS system in each store, and will be described below as the POS terminal 31.

[0023] Next, the configuration of each part of the delivery system 2 will be described along with an example of a processing flow.

[0024] Application 25 is a program installed on a terminal held by a customer, and transmits order information, including information on the vehicle license plate number and order information for the product ordered by the customer, to management server 21 via a communication network. The sending of order information by application 25 will be described below as online ordering.

[0025] The management server 21 links online orders made using the application 25 to the POS terminal 31 of each store. The management server 21 can also transmit delivery notifications linked from the POS terminal 31 of each store to the terminal of a customer who has the application 25.

[0026] Multiple cameras 26 are installed in the store's parking lot and capture images of parked cars. Here, each camera 26 is installed for one parking space. Furthermore, each camera 26 is positioned to capture images of the car parked facing forward in the parking space from the front and slightly above, so that the side mirrors and driver's face of the car parked facing forward are included in the capture range. Each parking space is assigned a parking lot number.

[0027] The camera 26 acquires various data about cars parked in the parking lot and transmits the data to the POS terminal 31 of the store. Here, the various data include, but are not limited to, license plate information, measurement values (described later), parking orientation, boarding position, and parking lot number.

[0028] The POS terminal 31 designs a database (DB) based on the online orders and information acquired from the camera 26. Figure 3 shows an example of a DB designed by the POS terminal 31, which generates online order data as data based on the online orders and parking lot data as data of photographs of the parking lot.

[0029] This online order data registers information such as the order number, vehicle license plate number, order date and time, estimated arrival time, cooking time (minutes), delivery robot number, and cooking status. Typically, when setting online order data using the POS terminal 31, the order number is determined as an automatically assigned consecutive number, the order date and time is the date and time the online order was received, the cooking time is determined by calculating the cooking time required to provide the product from the order details received from application 25, the delivery robot number is determined as the number of the robot 24 to be used to deliver the food, and the cooking status can be determined according to the current cooking status.

[0030] Furthermore, the vehicle plate number and the estimated arrival time can be information input by the customer in the application 25, but are not limited to this. For example, the customer can input the vehicle plate number information in the application 25 in advance, or the arrival time can be automatically predicted from current location information using GPS or the like and transmitted from the application 25 to the management server 21.

[0031] Furthermore, the POS terminal 31 can register, in the parking lot data DB, information such as the parking lot number where the camera 26 is installed, the vehicle license plate number acquired by the camera 26, the distance α from the camera 26 to the ground in the direction of the vehicle's side mirror, the distance β from the camera 26 to the vehicle's side mirror, the height of the side mirror calculated from the distances α and β described below, the distance to the side mirror, the parking orientation in the parking space, whether the driver is sitting on the right or left side of the vehicle, etc. As an example, when a vehicle is parked in a parking space, the POS terminal 31 may read the license plate information with the camera 26 and create a record in which the parking lot number and plate information are entered in the parking lot data DB, and add or update data for other items according to the results of calculations and estimations made by the POS terminal 31.

[0032] Furthermore, the POS terminal 31 can use the information in the generated DB to give delivery instructions to each of the multiple robots 24 belonging to the store. Here, the POS terminal 31 has the function of movement route setting means 27 that instructs the robot 24 on the movement route when moving to the customer's car in the parking lot, so when sending delivery instructions to the robot 24, it can set the movement route at the same time. Figure 4 shows an example of the movement route of the robot 24 set by the POS terminal 31.

[0033] The robot 24 receives a delivery instruction from the POS terminal 31, retrieves the information recorded in the DB, and delivers the product to the corresponding vehicle parked in the parking lot. In Fig. 4, the vehicle's movement path is indicated by a thick arrow, and the robot 24's movement path is indicated by a thin arrow. As shown in Fig. 4, it is desirable for the robot 24 to move in a way that does not intersect with the vehicle's movement path.

[0034] The robot 24 is provided with input buttons that allow the customer to input the product order number. When the customer uses the input buttons to input the product order number, the robot 24 can confirm that the product it is holding is the product ordered by that customer and then hand over the product. This allows the delivery system 2 to reliably hand over the product to the customer. The robot 24 can use a touch panel display or the like instead of input buttons.

[0035] Furthermore, the POS terminal 31 calculates the height of the side mirrors of the delivery vehicle based on the measurements taken by the camera 26. This allows the POS terminal 31 to instruct the robot 24 on the height of the product so that a person inside the vehicle can easily pick up the product.

[0036] Figures 5(a) and 5(b) are diagrams showing how the POS terminal 31 calculates, from measurements acquired by the camera 26, the height y of the side mirror relative to the ground and the horizontal distance z to the side mirror relative to the position where the camera 26 is installed, for a car parked in each parking space in the parking lot. Specifically, Figure 5(a) is a schematic diagram showing the state of the car being photographed by the camera 26 from a perspective from the side of the car, and Figure 5(b) is a diagram showing the measurements and calculated values. It is assumed that the parking lot is flat with no gradients.

[0037] First, the height of camera 26 relative to the ground is a fixed value, and is represented by distance x. Also, the distance from camera 26 to the side mirror of a vehicle parked in a parking space is represented by β, and the distance to the ground in the extension of the direction of distance β is represented by α. Here, it is assumed that camera 26 has a distance sensor function that measures the distance from camera 26 to an object.

[0038] In this case, the equation for calculating the height y of the side mirror relative to the ground is

number

[0039] Furthermore, the horizontal distance z to the side mirror based on the position where the camera 26 is installed is

number

[0040] This allows the POS terminal 31 to estimate the position of the side mirror of the vehicle to be delivered parked in the parking space, i.e., the position of the door on the side where someone can receive the product. Therefore, the POS terminal 31 can instruct the robot 24 to move to the vicinity of the side door of the vehicle according to the value of the distance z described above.

[0041] In the delivery system 1, it is assumed that the height of the vehicle's side mirrors is the same as the height of the side windows. Therefore, the POS terminal 31 uses the calculated side mirror height y to instruct the robot 24 to lift the product so that the height of the side mirror is 15 cm. This allows the robot 24 to adjust the height of the product it is holding according to the calculated side mirror height so that a person inside the vehicle can easily open the window and receive the product.

[0042] This can be considered as the estimation means 23 in the POS terminal 31 calculating various values relating to position information such as the position of the car door from the captured image of the car's side mirror.

[0043] Next, we will explain typical operations of the delivery system 2. Figures 6(a) and 6(b) are operation sequence diagrams showing a series of typical operations of the delivery system 2. Note that Figure 6(b) is executed immediately after Figure 6(a).

[0044] First, a customer places an online order using a smartphone and then drives to the store. Alternatively, the customer can place the online order after arriving at the store. When placing the online order, the customer also transmits the license plate information of the car to the management server 21 (S11).

[0045] The management server 21 receives the online order and transmits the online order data to the POS terminal 31 of each store (S12).

[0046] The POS terminal 31 accepts the online order, calculates the cooking time from the order details, and registers it in the online order-based DB of Figure 2. Furthermore, the POS terminal 31 saves the order data by registering not only the cooking time from the order details but also various other information based on the online order data in the DB (S13). At this point, the POS terminal 31 can return a response to the management server 21 indicating that the online order data has been accepted (S14).

[0047] The camera 26 installed in the parking lot captures the license plates of the parked cars and measures the distance to the side mirrors (S15).

[0048] In addition, if the delivery system 2 can recognize the face using a face authentication system (not shown) using the image acquired by the camera 26, it can determine whether the driver is parking facing forward and whether he or she is sitting on the left or right side. In this case, if the delivery system 2 cannot recognize the face, it will determine that the driver is parking facing backward.

[0049] Here, in delivery system 2, if facial recognition is not possible, such as when the parked car is parked backwards, it determines whether the car is domestic or imported through a web search, and if it is a domestic car, it determines that the right side of the car is the driver's side, and if it is a foreign car, it determines that the left side of the car is the driver's side. On the other hand, if delivery system 2 can recognize faces in both the left and right seats, it can basically determine that the delivery will be to the left side (passenger seat), but it can also determine the estimated age from the acquired image, and if the estimated age of the person in the left (passenger seat) is under 15 years old, it can determine that the delivery will be to the right side (driver's seat).

[0050] Camera 26 transmits the acquired data to POS terminal 31. Based on the data transmitted from camera 26, POS terminal 31 calculates the height of the side mirror and the distance to the side mirror, as shown in Fig. 5. POS terminal 31 associates this measurement data and information such as the calculated height, distance, parking orientation, and riding position of the side mirror with the parking lot number photographed by camera 26 and the license plate information of the car photographed by camera 26, and registers this measurement data and information such as the calculated height, distance, parking orientation, and riding position of the car in the parking lot data DB (S16).

[0051] Here, it is assumed that the cooking of the product being prepared in the store is completed in accordance with the online order data (S17).

[0052] Based on the license plate information in the online order data for which cooking has been completed, the POS terminal 31 searches the parking lot data to see if there is information on the same license plate.

[0053] The POS terminal 31 compares the license plate information transmitted from the customer via the network and acquired by the management server 21 with the license plate information acquired from the vehicle parked in the parking lot and stored in the POS terminal 31. If the license plate information matches, the POS terminal 31 estimates the parking location of the customer's vehicle, the delivery target, from the parking lot number associated with the record in the parking lot data DB in which the license plate information is recorded.

[0054] Here, if the license plate information of the delivery target is not found in the parking lot data, the POS terminal 31 assumes that the delivery target vehicle has not yet arrived at the parking lot, and the next time information acquired by the camera 26 is sent to the POS terminal 31, it again determines whether the license plate information of the vehicle acquired in the parking lot matches the license plate information in the online order data. Note that, for example, the next time information is acquired by taking a photograph with the camera 26 may be when a new vehicle is parked in one of the parking spaces in the parking lot. Camera 26 may take photographs at regular intervals if there are no new vehicles parked in the parking lot.

[0055] Furthermore, if the license plate information of the delivery target is found in the parking lot data, the POS terminal 31 searches the database to see if there are any orders that are parked adjacently and can be delivered within a predetermined time frame, based on the estimated arrival time, parking location, and cooking time of other orders. In this case, the predetermined time frame is assumed to be one minute.

[0056] That is, the POS terminal 31 checks whether there are any orders for other vehicles that are parked near the vehicle to be delivered and that can be delivered within one minute. If there is a matching order, the POS terminal 31 sends a delivery request to the robot 24, including that online order (S17). In other words, if the robot 24 can simultaneously hold and deliver the products to a vehicle parked near the vehicle to be delivered, and if it is possible to deliver the products to this nearby parked vehicle within a predetermined time, the POS terminal 31 instructs the robot 24 to make the deliveries all at once.

[0057] On the other hand, if there is no corresponding order, the POS terminal 31 sends a delivery request to the robot 24 for only the online orders that have been cooked.

[0058] Typically, upon receiving a delivery request from the POS terminal 31, the robot 24 checks whether it is in a state where it can make a delivery and sends a data request for information about the vehicle to be delivered to the POS terminal 31 (S18). Then, the POS terminal 31 transmits to the robot 24 information about the vehicle to be delivered, such as the order number, parking lot number, license plate number, side mirror height, distance to the side mirror, parking orientation, and passenger position, i.e., information stored in the parking lot data DB (S19). If there are multiple robots 24, the data is sent to one of them.

[0059] At this time, the POS terminal 31 transmits a delivery notification to the management server 21, informing the customer that the robot 24 will soon begin delivery (S20). The management server 21 then transmits the delivery notification to the customer's terminal using the email address associated with the order number (S21). Here, the management server 21 notifies the customer's terminal of the delivery by sending an email along with the order information to the associated email address, but a message notification to the order app may also be used as a method other than sending an email. The management server 21 then notifies the POS terminal 31 that the delivery has been contacted, such as by sending an email informing the customer that the delivery will be made (S22).

[0060] Returning to the operation after S19, the robot 24 picks up the product in the store whose order number is the same as the order number recognized by the camera and received from the POS terminal 31. The robot 24 then adjusts the height at which it holds the product based on the side mirror of the vehicle to be delivered, and heads off to search for the vehicle to be delivered (S23). Note that the height based on the side mirror of the vehicle to be delivered here is 15 cm higher than the height of the side mirror.

[0061] Typically, during the operation of S23, the robot 24 during delivery does not transmit a data request. Here, the robot 24 drives through the parking lot toward the delivery vehicle based on the data received from the POS terminal 31, particularly by referring to the parking lot number information. If a travel route has been specified, the robot 24 drives according to the specified route.

[0062] At this time, the robot 24 can search for the vehicle to be delivered while checking the license plate using a camera provided on the robot itself and character recognition performed by a calculation unit (S24). More specifically, the robot 24 can refer to the information on the parking lot number, drive toward the vehicle to be delivered, and check whether the vehicle parked at that parking lot number is the vehicle to be delivered based on the information on the license plate. Note that while the robot 24 is driving toward the target parking lot number, i.e., before arriving at the target parking lot number, the robot 24 may or may not perform character recognition on the license plate in the image captured by the camera provided on the robot while it is driving toward the target parking lot number, i.e., before arriving at the target parking lot number.

[0063] It is assumed that the robot 24 finds the vehicle to be delivered based on the license plate information. Based on the information on the distance to the side mirror transmitted from the POS terminal 31, the robot 24 moves along the white lines separating the parking spaces in the parking lot and moves to the side of the customer's vehicle (S25).

[0064] The customer confirms that the robot 24 has arrived, opens the car window (S26), and inputs the order number into the input button provided on the robot 24 (S27). The robot 24 checks whether the input order number matches the order number received from the POS terminal 31 (S28), and if the order numbers match, hands over the product to the customer (S29).

[0065] In addition, when the customer receives the product from the robot 24, the robot 24 displays the order number, and the customer checks the order number. If the order number is correct, the customer can simply touch the "Receive Order" button.

[0066] This means that if there is a customer who wants to pick up their item in the parking lot, the robot can be introduced to drive around the parking lot to deliver the item, reducing the chances of direct contact between people. Therefore, the delivery of items to the parking lot, which was previously done by employees, can now be replaced by a robot, reducing labor costs and resolving labor shortages.

[0067] In addition, if the restaurant serves prepared meals, this system can be used to make it easier for some customers who would otherwise give up on using the restaurant when it is crowded to eat and drink in their cars, thereby making effective use of the parking lot and leading to increased sales.

[0068] Although the present disclosure has been described above with reference to the embodiments, the present disclosure is not limited to the above-described embodiments. Various modifications that can be understood by those skilled in the art can be made to the configuration and details of the present disclosure within the scope of the present disclosure. Furthermore, each embodiment can be combined with other embodiments as appropriate.

[0069] Each drawing is merely an example for describing one or more embodiments. Each drawing may relate not only to one particular embodiment, but also to one or more other embodiments. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, various features or steps described with reference to any one drawing can be combined with features or steps shown in one or more other drawings to create, for example, an embodiment not explicitly shown or described. Not all features or steps shown in any one drawing are necessary to describe an exemplary embodiment, and some features or steps may be omitted. The order of steps described in any drawing may be changed as appropriate.

[0070] Portions of the embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic, or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software that may be executed by a controller, microprocessor, or other computing device.

[0071] Portions of the present disclosure may also provide at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as instructions included in program modules, that execute on a target real or virtual processor or device to perform the processes or methods of the present disclosure. Program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or divided among program modules as desired in various embodiments. The machine-executable instructions of the program modules may be executed in local or distributed devices. In a distributed device, the program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

[0072] The program code for executing the methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. The program code may be provided to a processor or controller of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus. When the program code is executed by the processor or controller, the functions / acts in the flowcharts and / or implementing block diagrams are performed. The program code may be executed entirely on the machine, partly on the machine, as a standalone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine, or entirely on a remote machine or server.

[0073] The program can be stored and provided to a computer using various types of non-transitory computer-readable media. Non-transitory computer-readable media include various types of tangible recording media. Examples of non-transitory computer-readable media include magnetic recording media, magneto-optical recording media, optical disk media, and semiconductor memory. Magnetic recording media include, for example, flexible disks, magnetic tapes, and hard disk drives. Magneto-optical recording media include, for example, magneto-optical disks. Optical disk media include, for example, Blu-ray discs, CD (Compact Disc)-ROMs (Read Only Memory), CD-Rs (Recordable), and CD-RWs (Rewritable). Semiconductor memory includes, for example, solid-state drives, mask ROMs, PROMs (Programmable ROMs), EPROMs (Erasable PROMs), flash ROMs, and RAMs (Random Access Memory). The program may also be provided to a computer by various types of temporary computer-readable media. Examples of temporary computer-readable media include electrical signals, optical signals, and electromagnetic waves. The temporary computer-readable medium can supply the program to the computer via a wired communication path such as an electric wire or an optical fiber, or via a wireless communication path.

[0074] A part or all of the above-described embodiments can be described as, but not limited to, the following supplementary notes. (Appendix 1) a management server that acquires order information including information on the license plate of a customer's car and information on a product ordered by the customer; a storage means for storing, when license plate information is acquired from a vehicle parked in a parking lot, the license plate information acquired from the vehicle and the parking location in association with each other; an estimation means for estimating the parking location of the customer's vehicle, which is the delivery target, when the license plate information acquired by the management server matches the license plate information stored in the storage means; a robot that delivers goods to the parking position estimated by the estimation means, Delivery system. (Appendix 2) It also has a camera that captures license plate information from cars parked in the parking lot. The estimation means If the license plate information transmitted from the customer's terminal to the management server matches the license plate information of the vehicle acquired by the camera in the parking lot, the parking location of the customer's vehicle to be delivered is estimated. 1. A delivery system as described in Appendix 1. (Appendix 3) The robot further includes a route designation means for designating a route to the customer's car. A delivery system as described in Appendix 2. (Appendix 4) It also has POS terminals installed in each store, the POS terminal comprises the storage means, the estimation means, and the routing means; A delivery system as described in Appendix 3. (Appendix 5) The camera photographs the side mirrors of cars parked in the parking lot within its photographing range, the estimation means estimates the position of the door of the delivery vehicle within the parking space of the parking lot based on the side mirror information acquired by the camera; 1. A delivery system as described in Appendix 4. (Appendix 6) The estimation means calculating the height of the side mirror from the side mirror information acquired by the camera; The robot adjusting the height of the product to be held in accordance with the calculated height of the side mirror; 1. A delivery system as described in Appendix 5. (Appendix 7) The POS terminal If it is determined that the license plate information of the customer's car acquired by the management server does not match the license plate information of cars acquired by the camera at the parking lot, the next time information is transmitted from the camera to the POS terminal, it is determined again whether or not there is a match with the license plate information of cars acquired at the parking lot. A delivery system as described in Appendix 6. (Appendix 8) a storage means for receiving information from a management server that has acquired information on the license plate of a customer's vehicle and order information including information on the product ordered by the customer, and for, when acquiring license plate information from a vehicle parked in a parking lot, storing the license plate information acquired from the vehicle in association with the parking location; an estimation means for estimating the parking location of the customer's vehicle, which is the delivery target, when the license plate information acquired by the management server matches the license plate information stored in the storage means; and an instruction means for instructing the robot to deliver the goods to the parking position estimated by the estimation means. Delivery device. (Appendix 9) A management server acquires order information including information on the license plate number of the customer's car and information on the product ordered by the customer; When license plate information is acquired from a vehicle parked in a parking lot, the license plate information acquired from the vehicle and the parking location are associated and stored in a storage means; a step in which, when the license plate information acquired by the management server matches the license plate information stored in the storage means, an estimation means estimates the parking location of the customer's vehicle that is the delivery target; and a step of delivering the goods by the robot to the parking position estimated by the estimation means. Delivery method. (Appendix 10) A step in which the management server acquires order information including information on the license plate of the customer's car and information on the product ordered by the customer; When license plate information is acquired from a vehicle parked in a parking lot, the license plate information acquired from the vehicle and the parking location are associated and stored in a storage means; a step in which, when the license plate information acquired by the management server matches the license plate information stored in the storage means, an estimation means estimates the parking location of the customer's vehicle that is the delivery target; and causing the robot to deliver the product to the parking position estimated by the estimation means. program.

[0075] Some or all of the elements described in Appendices 2 to 7 that are dependent on the delivery system of Appendix 1 may also be dependent on the delivery devices, delivery methods, and programs shown in Appendices 8, 9, and 10 in the same dependent relationship as Appendices 2 to 7. [Explanation of symbols]

[0076] 1. Delivery System 2. Delivery System 11 Management Server 12 Retention means 13 Estimation means 14. Robot 15 Instructions 21 Management Server 22 Holding means 23 Estimation means 24 Robot 25 Applications 26 Camera 27 Travel route setting method 31 POS terminals

Claims

1. a management server that acquires order information including information on the license plate of a customer's car and information on a product ordered by the customer; a storage means for storing, when license plate information is acquired from a vehicle parked in a parking lot, the license plate information acquired from the vehicle and the parking location in association with each other; an estimation means for estimating the parking location of the customer's vehicle, which is the delivery target, when the license plate information acquired by the management server matches the license plate information stored in the storage means; a robot that delivers goods to the parking position estimated by the estimation means, Delivery system.

2. It also has a camera that captures license plate information from cars parked in the parking lot. The estimation means If the license plate information transmitted from the customer's terminal to the management server matches the license plate information of the vehicle acquired by the camera in the parking lot, the parking location of the customer's vehicle to be delivered is estimated. The delivery system of claim 1 .

3. The robot further includes a route designation means for designating a route to the customer's car. The delivery system of claim 2 .

4. Further, a POS terminal is provided in each store, the POS terminal comprises the storage means, the estimation means, and the routing means; The delivery system of claim 3 .

5. The camera photographs the side mirrors of cars parked in the parking lot within its photographing range, The estimation means estimates the riding position of the driver of the delivery vehicle within the parking space of the parking lot based on the side mirror information acquired by the camera.

5. The delivery system of claim 4.

6. The estimation means calculating the height of the side mirror from the side mirror information acquired by the camera; The robot adjusting the height of the product to be held in accordance with the calculated height of the side mirror; 6. The delivery system of claim 5.

7. The POS terminal If it is determined that the license plate information of the customer's car acquired by the management server does not match the license plate information of cars acquired by the camera in the parking lot, the next time information is transmitted from the camera to the POS terminal, it is determined again whether or not there is a match with the license plate information of cars acquired in the parking lot.

7. The delivery system of claim 6.

8. a storage means for receiving information from a management server that has acquired information on the license plate of a customer's vehicle and order information including information on the product ordered by the customer, and for, when acquiring license plate information from a vehicle parked in a parking lot, storing the license plate information acquired from the vehicle in association with the parking location; an estimation means for estimating the parking location of the customer's vehicle, which is the delivery target, when the license plate information acquired by the management server matches the license plate information stored in the storage means; and an instruction means for instructing the robot to deliver the goods to the parking position estimated by the estimation means. Delivery device.

9. A step in which the management server acquires order information including information on the license plate of the customer's car and information on the product ordered by the customer; When license plate information is acquired from a vehicle parked in a parking lot, the license plate information acquired from the vehicle and the parking location are associated and stored in a storage means; a step in which, when the license plate information acquired by the management server matches the license plate information stored in the storage means, an estimation means estimates the parking location of the customer's vehicle that is the delivery target; and a step of delivering the goods by the robot to the parking position estimated by the estimation means. Delivery method.

10. A step in which the management server acquires order information including information on the license plate of the customer's car and information on the product ordered by the customer; When license plate information is acquired from a vehicle parked in a parking lot, the license plate information acquired from the vehicle and the parking location are associated and stored in a storage means; a step in which, when the license plate information acquired by the management server matches the license plate information stored in the storage means, an estimation means estimates the parking location of the customer's vehicle that is the delivery target; and causing the robot to deliver the product to the parking position estimated by the estimation means. program.

Images