Delivery Support System

Abstract

To provide a system that increases the possibility of identifying a delivery destination store that has received a notice. [Solution] The system includes an acquisition unit that acquires a delivery plan including delivery times, an indication information acquisition unit that acquires indication information including indications at delivery destination stores and the time the indications occurred, and an identification unit that identifies the delivery destination store where the indication occurred based on the time included in the delivery plan and the time the indications occurred, and associates the content of the indication with the identified delivery destination store.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a delivery assistance system. [Background technology]

[0002] A system for supporting delivery by a vehicle has been known in the past. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a configuration in which a display unit displays work details for each customer (such as instructions and precautions regarding the location of delivery items) when a delivery person works at a delivery destination. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2015-224958 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The above-mentioned customer-specific comments are manually recorded by the delivery person who receives the comment and then displayed on the display unit based on the record. However, when comments are manually recorded in this way, the content of the comment may be incomplete or unclear. For example, it may be unclear which delivery destination store the comment is directed to.

[0005] The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned problems, and aims to provide a system that increases the possibility of identifying the delivery destination store that has received the indication. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to achieve the above-mentioned objective, the delivery support system comprises an acquisition unit that acquires a delivery plan including delivery times, an indication information acquisition unit that acquires indication information including indications at delivery destination stores and the time the indications occurred, and an identification unit that identifies the delivery destination store where the indication occurred based on the time included in the delivery plan and the time the indications occurred, and associates the content of the indication with the identified delivery destination store.

[0007] In other words, the delivery support system identifies the delivery destination store where the issue occurred based on the delivery time included in the delivery plan and the time the issue occurred at the delivery destination store, and associates the content of the issue with the identified delivery destination store. This increases the possibility of identifying the delivery destination store even if the delivery destination store where the issue occurred is unknown. Furthermore, by being able to identify the delivery destination store where the issue occurred in this way, it becomes possible to provide the delivery person with the issue associated with the delivery destination store when guiding them to the delivery destination store. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a delivery support system. [Figure 2] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of delivery plan information. [Figure 3] FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of indication information. [Figure 4] 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a delivery support process. [Figure 5] 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a notification process. [Figure 6] FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an example of a display for guiding a user to a problem; DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0009] Here, the embodiments of the present invention will be described in the following order. (1) System configuration: (1-1) Administrator terminal configuration: (1-2) Configuration of the deliverer terminal: (1-3) Delivery support system configuration: (2) Delivery support processing: (3) Other embodiments:

[0010] (1) System configuration: FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a delivery support system 10 according to the present invention. In this embodiment, an administrator belonging to a management company that manages multiple vehicles (e.g., delivery vehicles such as trucks) creates a delivery plan for each delivery vehicle and presents the created delivery plan to the delivery vehicles. In this embodiment, each delivery vehicle travels according to a planned driving route included in delivery plan information that indicates the delivery plan. A deliverer (the driver of the delivery vehicle) loads multiple packages onto the delivery vehicle at a departure point. The deliverer also drives the delivery vehicle to a delivery destination store (hereinafter referred to as the delivery destination store) in the arrival order determined in the delivery plan information, and delivers the packages to a shipper (consignee) at the delivery destination store. In this embodiment, there may be multiple deliverers who are vehicle drivers and multiple delivery vehicles, but the example described below will mainly focus on one deliverer and one delivery vehicle.

[0011] As shown in FIG. 1, in this embodiment, the delivery support system 10 cooperates with a deliverer terminal 100 and an administrator terminal 200 via communication. The deliverer terminal 100 is a terminal used by a deliverer (i.e., a driver) who drives a delivery vehicle. In this embodiment, the deliverer terminal 100 may be portable or mounted on the delivery vehicle, and may take any form. In this embodiment, the delivery vehicles driven by each of the multiple deliverers are determined in advance, as are the delivery destination stores to be visited by each delivery vehicle and the order in which they should be visited, and the packages to be delivered to each delivery destination store. The administrator terminal 200 is a terminal used by an administrator who manages delivery plans. The administrator creates a delivery plan using the administrator terminal 200, and the deliverer terminal 100 provides guidance for making deliveries in accordance with the delivery plan. The deliverer terminal 100 periodically transmits the current location of the delivery vehicle to the delivery support system 10.

[0012] (1-1) Administrator terminal configuration: The administrator terminal 200 is a terminal used by an administrator who manages the operation of multiple vehicles. The administrator terminal 200 includes a control unit 210 having a CPU, RAM, ROM, etc., and a communication unit 220 for communicating with other devices. The administrator terminal 200 also includes a user I / F unit 230 for providing various information to the administrator and accepting input from the administrator. The user I / F unit 230 accepts input from the administrator and also includes a display unit such as a touch panel (not shown), an input unit such as switches, and an audio output unit such as a speaker, all of which are used to provide various information to the administrator.

[0013] In this embodiment, the control unit 210 can communicate with the delivery support system 10 via the communication unit 220. The control unit 210 can execute a program recorded on a recording medium (not shown). The program includes a program for generating delivery plan information indicating a delivery plan for each vehicle.

[0014] FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of delivery plan information in this embodiment. Delivery plan information is information indicating a delivery plan for each of multiple delivery vehicles, and, for example, an administrator generates a delivery plan using the administrator terminal 200. FIG. 2 shows delivery plan information for a vehicle ID (e.g., "1001") among multiple delivery vehicles. Each delivery vehicle is also pre-assigned a temperature range for the products to be delivered (i.e., delivery items). Possible temperature ranges include, for example, room temperature, chilled, frozen, etc. In the example shown in FIG. 2, the target temperature range for the delivery vehicle with vehicle ID "1001" is frozen. In other words, this delivery vehicle is a vehicle that delivers, for example, ice cream, frozen foods, ice, etc.

[0015] In this embodiment, the departure point S and the final destination G are the same point, and these points are bases where cargo is loaded onto the vehicle. In the example shown in Figure 2, a deliverer making delivery by vehicle moves the vehicle from the departure point S to the delivery destination stores G1, G2, G3, G4, and G5, and then to the final destination G. In other words, the order of arrival at the delivery destination stores is G1, G2, G3, G4, and G5, in order of earliest arrival.

[0016] Each delivery destination store is associated with its identification information (location name in this embodiment). Each delivery destination store is also associated with identification information (D1, etc.) of the cargo to be unloaded. Furthermore, each delivery destination store is associated with an estimated arrival time, which is the estimated time of arrival at each delivery destination store, and an estimated departure time, which is the estimated time of departure from each delivery destination store.

[0017] The delivery plan information also associates the arrival time, which is the time when the delivery vehicle actually arrives at each delivery destination store, with the departure time, which is the time when the delivery vehicle actually departs from each delivery destination store. As described above, the delivery plan information is primarily generated by the administrator terminal 200, and the generated delivery plan information is transmitted to the delivery support system 10. The arrival and departure times of the delivery vehicle are recorded when the delivery vehicle actually arrives at and departs from each delivery destination store, and the arrival and departure times are recorded, for example, by the delivery support system 10. Specifically, for example, information on the current location of the delivery vehicle is periodically transmitted from the deliverer terminal 100 to the delivery support system 10. The delivery support system 10 determines from the current location information that the delivery vehicle has arrived at and departed from a delivery destination store, and records the respective arrival and departure times in the delivery plan information. The example shown in FIG. 2 illustrates a state in which there are records of arrival and departure for stores a, b, and c.

[0018] Furthermore, the delivery plan information includes a planned driving route. The planned driving route is a route obtained by searching for a route with each delivery destination store as the destination based on map information (not shown) in the administrator terminal 200. FIG. 2 shows an example in which the planned driving route is a permutation of nodes (nodes are Nx (x is a number indicating a node)). Of course, the planned driving route may be defined in various ways, such as a permutation of links. The arrival time may be determined based on the planned driving route.

[0019] In this embodiment, an administrator uses administrator terminal 200 to specify destination stores, the order in which the vehicles will arrive at each destination store, and the packages to be handled at each destination store. When the specification is made, administrator terminal 200 searches for a planned driving route based on map information (not shown) and obtains the arrival time to generate delivery plan information. The generated delivery plan information is transmitted to delivery support system 10. Note that such generation of delivery plan information is one example; for example, at least a portion of the information in FIG. 2 may be generated by administrator terminal 200, and the remaining information, including the arrival time and departure time, may be generated by delivery support system 10. Furthermore, the delivery plan information may be generated, for example, by identifying a delivery order by solving a delivery plan problem using various algorithms, and then identifying a planned driving route for reaching the destination store according to the delivery order to generate the delivery plan information.

[0020] (1-2) Configuration of the deliverer terminal: The deliverer terminal 100 is a terminal used by each deliverer, and in this embodiment is mounted on a vehicle. The deliverer terminal 100 is equipped with a control unit 110 equipped with a CPU, RAM, ROM, etc., a communication unit 120, a user I / F unit 130, and a recording medium 140. The user I / F unit 130 is an interface unit for inputting instructions from the deliverer and providing various information to the deliverer, and is equipped with a display unit consisting of a touch panel display (not shown), an input unit such as switches, and an audio output unit such as a speaker.

[0021] The communication unit 120 is a device for communicating with other devices. In this embodiment, the control unit 110 can communicate with the delivery support system 10 via the communication unit 120. The control unit 110 can execute a program (not shown). In this embodiment, information indicating a delivery plan transmitted from the delivery support system 10 is displayed on the display of the user I / F unit 130. Details of the contents of the displayed screen will be described later.

[0022] Various types of information can be recorded on the recording medium 140. In this embodiment, delivery plan information 140a and map information 140b are recorded. The delivery plan information 140a is part of the delivery plan information generated by the above-mentioned manager terminal 200. In other words, the delivery plan information generated by the manager terminal 200 is transmitted to and recorded in the delivery support system 10. The delivery support system 10 extracts information for each vehicle from the recorded delivery plan information and transmits it to each vehicle. The delivery plan information 140a recorded on the recording medium 140 is a delivery plan for a vehicle equipped with a deliverer terminal 100 equipped with the recording medium 140. In other words, the delivery plan information 140a only needs to indicate the delivery plan for each delivery vehicle, and does not need to include delivery plans for other delivery vehicles.

[0023] In addition, the delivery plan information 140a for the work day may be obtained in bulk from the delivery support system 10 before the vehicle departs, or the necessary information may be transmitted sequentially from the delivery support system 10 when it becomes necessary.

[0024] The map information 140b is information used to search for routes and identify the vehicle's position, and includes node data indicating the positions of nodes set on the roads on which the vehicle travels, shape interpolation point data indicating the positions of shape interpolation points for identifying the shape of the roads between the nodes, link data indicating the connections between nodes, and facility data indicating the positions and attributes of facilities on and around the roads. The facility data includes facilities that can be delivery destination stores. In this embodiment, the map information 140b also includes information for drawing the facilities indicated by each facility data, the road sections indicated by the link data, and the roads indicated by the node data.

[0025] The control unit 110 can realize various functions by executing a program (not shown) recorded on the recording medium 140. In this embodiment, the control unit 110 acquires the current position of the delivery vehicle and provides route guidance using a program (not shown). The control unit 110 periodically acquires the current position of the delivery vehicle based on the output of a GNSS receiving unit (not shown), and transmits the acquired current position information to the delivery support system 10 via the communication unit 120. The control unit 110 then acquires, from the delivery support system 10, instructions for the delivery destination store (described below) and a map on which the planned driving route is superimposed, and provides route guidance by displaying the acquired map on the display unit of the user I / F unit 130.

[0026] (1-3) Delivery support system configuration: The delivery support system 10 comprises a control unit 20 equipped with a CPU, RAM, ROM, etc., a recording medium 30, and a communication unit 40. The communication unit 40 comprises a circuit for sending and receiving information with the deliverer terminal 100 and the administrator terminal 200. The control unit 20 can communicate with the deliverer terminal 100 and the administrator terminal 200 via the communication unit 40.

[0027] Recorded on the recording medium 30 are indication information 30a, map information 30b, and delivery plan information 30c. The indication information 30a indicates indications made to the delivery destination store. This indication includes indications from employees of the delivery destination store, indications from residents in the vicinity of the delivery destination store, and other indications directed at the delivery destination store. Figure 3 shows an example of indication information 30a, which records the content of the indication, the type of indication, the time the indication was made, and the store where the indication was made.

[0028] The content of the indication indicates the content of the indication from employees of the delivery destination store, local residents, etc., and is expected to be, for example, "the ice cream is melting," "the delivery work is noisy," "parking on the street is prohibited," etc. Such indications are input, for example, by the deliverer operating the user I / F unit 130 (for example, by text input, voice input, etc.), and the control unit 110 of the deliverer terminal 100 associates the input information with the time of indication occurrence, which will be described later, and transmits it to the delivery support system 10. The transmitted information of the indication is then recorded as part of the indication information 30a on the recording medium 30. Note that the indication information 30a may also be recorded on the recording medium 30 by being transmitted to the delivery support system 10 from an external center (not shown) that accepts indications.

[0029] The type of indication defines the type of the above-mentioned "indication" (i.e., the category of the indication). For example, for indications such as "the ice cream is melting," "the ice is melting," or "smelts like XX," "temperature control" is defined as the type of indication. Furthermore, for indications such as "the delivery work is noisy," "quiet," or "noisy," "noisy" is defined as the type of indication. Furthermore, for indications such as "no parking on the street," "car obstruction," or "impassable," "no parking" is defined as the type of indication. The type of indication is identified by the control unit 20, for example, based on a table (not shown) in which keywords such as "melting" or "smelt" that can be predicted as indications are associated with each type of indication, such as "temperature control." The control unit 20 may also identify the type of indication using a machine learning model such as Word2Vec. The identified type of indication is then recorded by the control unit 20 as part of the indication information 30a.

[0030] The time of indication occurrence indicates the time when the indication occurred, and is, for example, the time when the deliverer inputs the content of the indication by operating the user I / F unit 130. The time of input here may include the time when the deliverer actually inputs the information or the time when the deliverer receives the indication.

[0031] The "notified store" indicates the delivery destination store where the notice was issued. This notified store may or may not be recorded in the notice information 30a. Normally, the deliverer operates the user I / F unit 130 to input information about the delivery destination store where the notice was issued. However, for example, the deliverer may forget to enter the information about the delivery destination store or may enter it by voice input, and the information may become unknown. In this way, if the delivery destination store where the notice was issued is unknown, the information about the notified store will not be recorded. In the example shown in FIG. 3, the stores where the notices for "melted ice cream" and "no illegal parking" were issued are unknown. In this way, if the notice-issued store is unknown, the notice-issued store is identified by the process described in the flowchart below. Note that when the deliverer inputs the notified store, the control unit 110 of the deliverer terminal 100 associates the input information with the content of the notice and the time the notice was issued and transmits the input information to the delivery support system 10. The transmitted information is recorded on the recording medium 30 as part of the notice information 30a.

[0032] The map information 30b includes node data indicating the positions of nodes, shape interpolation point data indicating the positions of shape interpolation points for specifying the shapes of roads between nodes, link data indicating the connections between nodes, facility data indicating the positions and attributes of facilities on and around roads, etc. The link data includes information on the road width of each link and information indicating the road attributes (expressway, general road, narrow street, etc.) of the road section indicated by the link data.

[0033] The delivery plan information 30c is delivery plan information generated by the above-mentioned administrator terminal 200, and is recorded on the recording medium 30 by being transmitted from the administrator terminal 200 to the delivery support system 10. As described above, the arrival time and departure time included in the delivery plan information are generated by the delivery support system 10 when the delivery vehicle arrives at (or departs from) the delivery destination store. For example, the control unit 20 in the delivery support system 10 identifies the current location of the delivery vehicle transmitted from the deliverer terminal 100. The control unit 20 also identifies the location of the delivery destination store included in the delivery plan based on the map information 30b. Then, when the current location of the delivery vehicle and the location of the delivery destination store are within a predetermined distance, the control unit 20 determines that the delivery vehicle has arrived at the delivery destination store, and sets the current time at that time as the arrival time.

[0034] The control unit 20 can execute programs stored in the recording medium 30 or ROM. In this embodiment, the control unit 20 can execute a delivery assistance program 21 and a guidance program (navigation program) (not shown) as these programs. The guidance program has a function of guiding the delivery person of the delivery vehicle along the planned driving route to the delivery destination store and providing guidance on the delivery destination store, which is the destination. That is, when the guidance program is executed, the control unit 20 periodically acquires the current location of the delivery vehicle from the deliverer terminal 100. Furthermore, the control unit 20 draws a map including the current location of the delivery vehicle based on the map information 30b and displays the map on the display unit of the user I / F unit 130. Furthermore, the control unit 20 identifies the planned driving route to the delivery destination store, which is the next destination from the current location of the delivery vehicle, and the content of the guidance on the delivery destination store, based on the delivery plan information 30c and the map information 30b, and displays them superimposed on the map displayed on the display unit.

[0035] In this way, the display unit displays the content of the warning from the delivery destination store, which is the destination, but as described above, the delivery person records the content of the warning by operating the user I / F unit 130, and the content of the warning is displayed on the display unit based on that record. Therefore, for example, as explained in the warning information 30a in Fig. 3, if the information of the store where the warning occurred is unknown, it may be unclear which delivery destination store the received warning is directed to.

[0036] Therefore, in this embodiment, when the store where the problem occurred is unknown, the system is configured to be able to identify the store where the problem occurred. The delivery support program 21 is a program for identifying the store where the problem occurred. When the delivery support program 21 is executed, the control unit 20 functions as an acquisition unit 21a, a problem information acquisition unit 21b, an identification unit 21c, and a guidance control unit 21d. Note that, below, the processes described as being performed by the acquisition unit 21a, the problem information acquisition unit 21b, the identification unit 21c, and the guidance control unit 21d are processes realized by the control unit 20.

[0037] The acquisition unit 21a has a function of acquiring a delivery plan that includes delivery times. That is, the control unit 20 acquires delivery times by referring to the delivery plan information 30c using the function of the acquisition unit 21a. This delivery time is acquired in order to identify the store where the issue occurred. As shown in the delivery plan information in FIG. 2, the delivery times include the estimated arrival time at each delivery destination store, the estimated departure time, the arrival time which is the time when the delivery vehicle actually arrives, and the departure time which is the time when the delivery vehicle actually departs.

[0038] The indication information acquisition unit 21b has a function of acquiring indication information including an indication given to a delivery destination store and the time when the indication occurred. That is, the control unit 20 acquires indication information including the content of the indication and the time when the indication occurred by referring to the indication information 30a using the function of the indication information acquisition unit 21b.

[0039] The identification unit 21c is a function that identifies a delivery destination store where a warning has been issued based on the time included in the delivery plan and the time the warning was issued, and associates the content of the warning with the identified delivery destination store. That is, when the delivery destination store where a warning has been issued is unknown, the control unit 20 uses the function of the identification unit 21c to identify the delivery destination store where the warning has been issued based on the delivery-related time acquired by the function of the acquisition unit 21a and the time the warning was issued (and the content of the warning) acquired by the function of the warning information acquisition unit 21b. In the example of FIG. 3, the delivery destination stores where the warnings "ice cream is melting" and "no parking on the road" have been issued are unknown. Therefore, the control unit 20 identifies the delivery destination store where these warnings have been issued based on the delivery-related time and the time the warning was issued. Note that, as described above, the delivery-related time includes the estimated arrival time, estimated departure time, arrival time, and departure time of the delivery vehicle. However, in order to identify the delivery destination store where a warning has been issued, it is preferable that the time be the time closest to the time the warning was issued. Since the estimated arrival time and estimated departure time are times predicted when the delivery plan is generated, delays may occur depending on actual road conditions, unloading status, etc. Therefore, the delivery time is likely to be the arrival time or departure time, which indicates the actual arrival and departure times of the delivery vehicle. This is because these arrival and departure times are likely to be closest to the time the issue was raised. Whether the delivery time is the arrival time or the departure time may vary depending on when the deliverer operates the user I / F unit 130 to input the time the issue was raised. In this embodiment, however, it is assumed that the input is made before departure from the delivery destination store. In such a case, the arrival time is assumed to be closer to the time the issue was raised than the departure time, and therefore the arrival time is used. Then, once the control unit 20 identifies the delivery destination store where the issue was raised, it associates the issue with the identified delivery destination store and updates the issue information 30a. Specific aspects will be described later in the flow chart.

[0040] The guidance control unit 21d has a function to notify the delivery person of the contents of the warnings. That is, the control unit 20, using the function of the guidance control unit 21d, provides guidance on the planned driving route to the delivery destination store, which is the destination, and provides guidance on the contents of the warnings at the delivery destination store. Specifically, the control unit 20 provides guidance on the planned driving route to the next delivery destination store based on the delivery plan information 30c, and if a warning is associated with the delivery destination store, provides guidance on the contents of the warnings. Guidance on the planned driving route and guidance on the contents of the warnings are performed, for example, as follows. For example, the control unit 20 references the warning information 30a, map information 30b, and delivery plan information 30c, and superimposes the location of the delivery destination store and the contents of the warnings on a map, and draws the surrounding area, etc., and transmits this information to the delivery person terminal 100, and displays it on the display unit of the user I / F unit 130 of the delivery person terminal 100. A specific example will be described later using a flowchart.

[0041] With the above configuration, even if the delivery destination store that received the warning is unknown, it is possible to increase the possibility of identifying the delivery destination store based on the time of delivery and the time the warning was issued. By being able to identify the delivery destination store where the warning was issued in this way, it is possible to provide the delivery person with the warning associated with the delivery destination store when guiding them to the delivery destination store.

[0042] (2) Delivery support processing: Next, the delivery support process executed by the control unit 20 will be described. This delivery support process is a process for identifying a delivery destination store where a warning has been issued and associating the warning with the delivery destination store, thereby providing delivery support to a deliverer who references the warning information. FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing an example of the delivery support process. This process is executed, for example, each time a warning is received from a delivery destination store or the like. That is, when a deliverer receives a warning from a delivery destination store or the like (e.g., a complaint that the ice cream has melted) and inputs the warning, the warning information is transmitted to the delivery support system 10. The transmitted warning information is received by the delivery support system 10 and recorded as part of the warning information 30a on the recording medium 30. Note that, since this delivery support process is executed each time a warning is issued as described above, the control unit 20 executes the process described below using the warning information 30a acquired at this timing.

[0043] When the delivery support process is started, the control unit 20 first determines whether the delivery destination store where the indication was issued is clear (step S1). Specifically, the control unit 20, using the function of the indication information acquisition unit 21b, references the indication information 30a to acquire the content of the indication and determines whether the store where the indication was issued is clear. That is, the control unit 20 references the indication information 30a to determine whether the content of the indication corresponds to the store where the indication was issued. If the content of the indication corresponds to the store where the indication was issued, a positive determination is made in step S1. Conversely, if the content of the indication does not correspond to the store where the indication was issued, a negative determination is made in step S1. For example, suppose the content of the indication is "the ice cream is melting." In this case, referring to the indication information 30a shown in FIG. 3, the delivery destination store where the indication of "the ice cream is melting" was issued is unknown, and therefore the control unit 20 determines that the delivery destination store where the indication was issued is unclear. In the following description, unless otherwise specified, the content of the indication will be described as "the ice cream is melting." If the control unit 20 makes a negative determination in step S1, the process proceeds to step S2.

[0044] In step S2, the control unit 20 identifies the target temperature range from the content of the indication. This process is a process for providing guidance according to the temperature range of the product delivered by the delivery vehicle when providing guidance associated with the delivery destination store on the display unit, etc. of the deliverer terminal 100 in the indication guidance process (FIG. 5), which is a process for providing guidance on indications described later. In other words, when providing guidance, it is meaningless to provide guidance on frozen products to a delivery vehicle delivering room-temperature products (i.e., the information is irrelevant to room-temperature deliveries). Therefore, in step S2, the target temperature range is identified from the content of the indication. Specifically, the control unit 20, using the function of the indication information acquisition unit 21b, refers to the indication information 30a to identify the content of the indication, performs a process to extract products with predetermined words from the identified content of the indication, and if the product with the word is extracted, determines whether the product is previously associated with a specific temperature range. For example, in the indication information 30a in FIG. 3, if the control unit 20 identifies the content of the indication as "the ice cream is melting," it extracts a predetermined product word, such as "ice cream." Since the extracted ice cream is a frozen product, it can be assumed that frozen is associated with the temperature range. In this way, the control unit 20 identifies the target temperature range, frozen, from the content of the indication, "The ice cream is melting." If the control unit 20 determines that the extracted product is not pre-defined to a specific temperature range, it identifies the content of the indication as targeting all temperature ranges (i.e., all temperature ranges, including room temperature, chilled, and frozen). After the control unit 20 identifies the target temperature range from the content of the indication, the process proceeds to step S3.

[0045] In step S3, the control unit 20 uses the function of the identification unit 21c to identify the delivery destination store where the indication occurred based on the time the indication occurred and the delivery-related time. Specifically, the control unit 20 refers to the delivery plan information 30c and the indication information 30a, and identifies the delivery destination store by identifying the time related to delivery included in the delivery plan that is closest to the time the indication occurred. Here, as described above, the delivery-related time includes the estimated arrival time, estimated departure time, (actual) arrival time, and (actual) departure time at each delivery destination store. Of these times, it is preferable that the control unit 20 particularly identifies the arrival time at each delivery destination store that is closest to the time the indication occurred. This is because the estimated arrival time and estimated departure time are estimated times, and therefore may deviate significantly from the estimated times depending on road conditions, unloading status, etc. In addition, regarding whether to use the departure time or the arrival time, when a delivery person receives a notice, the delivery person usually inputs the contents of the notice before departing from the delivery destination store, and it can be assumed that the input information is sent from the delivery person terminal 100 to the delivery support system 10, and it is expected that the arrival time will often be closer to the time the notice was issued.

[0046] For example, in the example shown in Figure 3, the time when the indication "The ice cream is melting" occurred is "8:40", and by referring to the delivery plan information in Figure 2, the arrival time closest to the time of occurrence is "8:35", and it can be identified that the delivery destination store at that arrival time is store a. Therefore, the control unit 20 identifies store a as the delivery destination store where the indication occurred. In this way, once the control unit 20 has identified the delivery destination store where the indication occurred, the process proceeds to step S4.

[0047] In step S4, the control unit 20 associates the indication with the identified delivery destination store. That is, the control unit 20 associates the indication with the delivery destination store identified in step S3 using the function of the identification unit 21c. For example, for the content and type of indication, words associated with the delivery destination store are predetermined and organized into a table (not shown). The table is then recorded on the recording medium 30. For example, the content of the indication "ice cream is melting" and the type of indication "temperature control" are associated with words such as "be careful with temperature control as this is an XX product." Note that "XX" is replaced with a word corresponding to the temperature range identified in step S2. The control unit 20 refers to the table in the recording medium 30 in which the words of the indication are associated, and associates the indication with the delivery destination store identified in step S3. In this embodiment, as described above, "ice cream is melting" is described as the content of the indication, so the control unit 20 associates the indication "be careful with temperature control as this is a frozen product" with the delivery destination store identified in step S3 (i.e., store A). Then, the control unit 20 records (that is, updates) the associated information in the indication information 30a.

[0048] If the determination in step S1 above is affirmative, i.e., if the delivery destination store where the notice was issued is clear, the control unit 20 proceeds to step S4. For example, if the content of the notice in the example of FIG. 3 is "delivery work is noisy," referring to the notice information 30a, it is clear that the store where the notice was issued is store b. Therefore, the control unit 20 proceeds to step S4 from step S1 and associates the notice with store b. For example, a table is created in advance in which the content of the notice, "delivery work is noisy," the type of notice, "noise," and other words, such as "be careful of noise during delivery work," are associated with each other. The control unit 20 refers to the table and associates the notice, "be careful of noise during delivery work," with store b, and records the associated notice in the notice information 30a.

[0049] When a delivery plan is executed with the instructions associated with the delivery destination store in this manner, when guidance is given to the next delivery destination store, the instructions associated with the delivery destination store are displayed on the display unit along with the planned driving route. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of an instruction guidance process for providing guidance on a planned driving route including the instructions associated with the delivery destination store. Specifically, first, the control unit 20 references the delivery plan information 30c and acquires the delivery plan information 30c (step S10). Note that, as described above, the delivery plan information is mainly generated by the administrator terminal 200, so the control unit 20 acquires the delivery plan information from the administrator terminal 200 via the communication unit 40 as a prerequisite. The control unit 20 then records the acquired delivery plan information on the recording medium 30. After acquiring the delivery plan information 30c, the control unit 20 proceeds to step S11.

[0050] In step S11, the control unit 20 provides route guidance along the planned driving route. Specifically, the control unit 20 identifies the current location of the delivery vehicle transmitted from the deliverer terminal 100. Furthermore, the control unit 20 references the delivery plan information 30c and identifies the delivery destination store, which is the next destination, from the current location of the delivery vehicle. Furthermore, the control unit 20 references the delivery plan information 30c and map information 30b and draws a map including the current location of the delivery vehicle and the planned driving route. Then, the control unit 20 transmits the drawn image data to the deliverer terminal 100 and causes the display unit of the user I / F unit 130 to display the map. As a result, for example, a screen (not shown) showing the entire route guidance is displayed on the display unit of the user I / F unit 130.

[0051] Next, the control unit 20 determines whether the delivery vehicle has arrived in the vicinity of the delivery destination store (step S12). Specifically, the control unit 20 determines whether the distance between the current location of the delivery vehicle and the delivery destination store (for example, store A) is within a predetermined distance. That is, the control unit 20 identifies the current location of the delivery vehicle transmitted from the deliverer terminal 100. The control unit 20 also acquires the distance between the delivery destination store and the vehicle's current location based on the delivery plan information 30c and map information 30b. If the distance is within the predetermined distance, the control unit 20 determines that the delivery vehicle has arrived in the vicinity of the delivery destination store. If the control unit 20 determines in step S12 that the delivery vehicle has arrived in the vicinity of the delivery destination store, it proceeds to step S13. If it is determined that the delivery vehicle has not yet arrived in the vicinity of the delivery destination store, it repeats the process until a positive determination is made in step S12.

[0052] In step S13, the control unit 20 displays a map of the area around the delivery destination store. That is, having determined in step S12 that the delivery vehicle has arrived in the area around the delivery destination store, the control unit 20 adjusts the scale of the map displayed on the display unit of the user I / F unit 130 so that the delivery destination store and the current location of the vehicle are displayed on the screen of the display unit, and displays a map of the area around the delivery destination store on the display unit. That is, the display of the map showing the entire route guidance is changed to the display of a map showing the area around the delivery destination store.

[0053] Next, the control unit 20 displays the indication associated with the delivery destination store on the map (step S14). That is, the control unit 20, using the function of the guidance control unit 21d, refers to the indication information 30a, identifies the indication associated with the delivery destination store (store a in this case), and displays the indication superimposed on the map displayed in step S13.

[0054] FIG. 6 is a diagram showing an example of guidance for a planned driving route to a delivery destination store (store a) and guidance for warnings associated with the store a. As described in the flowchart of FIG. 4 above, a warning "Frozen products, be careful to manage temperature" is associated with store a. Therefore, when the delivery vehicle approaches store a, the control unit 20 displays a message such as "Frozen products, be careful to manage temperature" as shown in FIG. 6. This makes it possible to notify the delivery person of warnings for store a. In FIG. 6, polygons of facilities such as delivery destination stores are illustrated as gray rectangles. Symbol C indicates the current location of the delivery vehicle, and the bold arrow indicates the route to store a. Then, the control unit 20 refers to the delivery plan information 30c. If a delivery destination store that is a next destination exists, the control unit 20 returns the process to step S11 after the delivery vehicle departs from the current delivery location. Conversely, if a delivery destination store that is a next destination does not exist, the control unit 20 ends the process in FIG. 5.

[0055] Next, the effects of this embodiment will be described. As described above, the delivery support system 10 of this embodiment identifies a delivery destination store based on the time of delivery and the time the warning was issued, and associates the content of the warning with the identified delivery destination store. Therefore, even if the delivery destination store where the warning was issued is unknown, it is possible to increase the possibility of identifying the delivery destination store based on the time of delivery and the time the warning was issued. Furthermore, by being able to identify the delivery destination store where the warning was issued in this way, it becomes possible to provide the delivery person with the warning associated with the delivery destination store when guiding them to the delivery destination store.

[0056] Furthermore, in this embodiment, the arrival time, which is the time when the delivery vehicle arrives at the delivery destination store, is used as the delivery-related time when identifying the delivery destination store. That is, the control unit 20 identifies the delivery destination store using the arrival time as the delivery-related time. The arrival time is more likely to be the time closest to the time when the issue occurred than, for example, the estimated arrival time (or estimated departure time) predicted when the delivery plan was generated. Furthermore, when the delivery person or the like inputs indication information including the time when the indication occurred, it is expected that the arrival time will be closer to the time when the indication occurred than the departure time. In this way, in this embodiment, by using the time closest to the time when the indication occurred as the delivery-related time, the accuracy of identifying (in other words, clarifying) the delivery destination store can be improved.

[0057] Furthermore, if the delivery destination store is not identified based on the delivery time and the time the notice was issued, as described above, and the delivery destination store where the notice was issued is unknown, the deliverer who received the notice would have to recollect the contents of the notice and associate it with the store, which would be time-consuming. Furthermore, if a notice is issued to the deliverer without being associated with any delivery destination store, for example, even if the notice states, "Frozen products, be careful to control the temperature," the deliverer may perform tasks such as unloading without knowing the notice. In contrast, in this embodiment, even if the delivery destination store where the notice was issued is unknown, the delivery destination store can be identified, thereby reducing the possibility of such inconvenience. That is, when performing tasks such as unloading at the notified delivery destination store, the deliverer can perform the tasks knowing, for example, that "Frozen products, be careful to control the temperature." In other words, timely recording of notices allows the deliverer to be accurately informed of the notice, which reduces the possibility of errors occurring during delivery and unloading.

[0058] (3) Other embodiments: The above embodiment is an example for carrying out the present invention, and various other embodiments can be adopted. In the above embodiment, "the ice cream is melting" was used as an example of the content of the warning, but the content of the warning may be, for example, "the delivery work is noisy" or "no parking on the street" as shown in FIG. 3. In this case, too, the control unit 20 identifies the delivery destination store where the warning was made based on the time when the warning, such as "the delivery work is noisy" or "no parking on the street," was made and the time related to the delivery, and associates the content of the warning with the delivery destination store.

[0059] In the above embodiment, it is preferable to use the arrival time as the time related to delivery, but the time related to delivery may be the departure time instead of the arrival time. For example, depending on the timing at which the delivery person inputs the content of the warning, the departure time may be closer to the time the warning was issued than the arrival time.

[0060] The indication information 30a may further include location information of the delivery destination store. The location information of the delivery destination store may be identified, for example, by the deliverer operating the deliverer terminal 100 and selecting a location on a map. Alternatively, if the deliverer inputs the content of the indication from inside the delivery vehicle, the current location of the delivery vehicle may be considered the location of the delivery destination store. The location information of the delivery destination store identified in this manner is transmitted from the deliverer terminal 100 to the delivery support system 10 and recorded as part of the indication information 30a. When identifying a delivery destination store for which an indication has been issued, the control unit 20 uses the function of the identification unit 21c to refer to the indication information 30a and map information 30b to identify the delivery destination store. In the above-described embodiment, the delivery destination store was identified based on the time the indication was issued and the time related to the delivery. However, because these times are fluid, the accuracy of identifying the delivery destination store may be poor (in other words, there is room for improvement). Therefore, if the location information of the delivery destination store is recorded in the indication information 30a, the control unit 20 can further use the location information to identify the delivery destination store, thereby improving the accuracy in identifying the delivery destination store.

[0061] Furthermore, the control unit 20 may use the function of the identification unit 21c to identify a delivery destination store where a warning has been issued and associate the content of the warning with the identified delivery destination store. The control unit 20 may then identify the type of warning from among multiple types based on the warning and associate the content of the warning. Specifically, the control unit 20 references the warning information 30a and identifies the type of warning based on the warning issued (for example, in the example of FIG. 3, if the content of the warning is "ice cream melted," the type of warning is "temperature control"). Then, the control unit 20 associates the content of the warning, i.e., associates the warning "frozen product, pay attention to temperature control." Identifying the type of warning in advance in this way may make it easier to generate a word for the warning to be associated, compared to, for example, generating a word for the warning without specifying the type of warning. In other words, in the above example, it would be easier to generate the word "frozen product, pay attention to temperature control" from the identified type of warning "temperature control."

[0062] Furthermore, in the content of the above-mentioned indication, for example, if the time period when the indication "the ice cream is melting" was received was daytime (for example, 10:00 to 16:00), the control unit 20 may identify the indication as a daytime indication and associate this information with the delivery destination store. In other words, in this case, the indication to be displayed on the display unit may be, for example, "Pay attention to temperature control for frozen products during the daytime." In addition, for example, if the time period when the indication "the delivery work is noisy" was received was night or late at night (for example, 20:00 to 5:00) or early in the morning (for example, 5:00 to 8:00), the control unit 20 may identify the indication as a late-night or early-morning indication and associate this information with the delivery destination store. In other words, in this case, the indication to be displayed on the display unit may be, for example, "Pay attention to noise during late-night deliveries."

[0063] Furthermore, each system constituting the above-described embodiment may be configured with fewer devices that share functions. An example of such a configuration is one in which at least one system shown in FIG. 1 is configured with the same device as one or more other systems. For example, the delivery support system 10 and the deliverer terminal 100 may be configured as an integrated device, or the delivery support system 10 and the administrator terminal 200 may be configured as an integrated device, or the administrator terminal 200 and the deliverer terminal 100 may be configured as an integrated device. Furthermore, only some of the functions of the delivery support system 10 (at least some of the acquisition unit 21a, the indication information acquisition unit 21b, the identification unit 21c, and the guidance control unit 21d) may be realized by the delivery support system 10. Furthermore, the system shown in FIG. 1 may be configured with more systems. For example, at least some of the delivery support system 10, the administrator terminal 200, and the deliverer terminal 100 may be configured as a cloud server.

[0064] In addition, at least some of the components (acquisition unit 21a, indication information acquisition unit 21b, identification unit 21c, guidance control unit 21d) constituting the delivery support system 10 may be separated into multiple devices. Furthermore, configurations in which some of the components of the above-described embodiments are omitted, or configurations in which processing is changed or omitted, may also be envisioned.

[0065] Furthermore, the techniques of the present invention can also be applied as programs or methods. The above-described systems, programs, and methods may be realized as standalone devices or may be realized using components shared with various parts of a vehicle, and thus include various aspects. They can also be modified as appropriate, such as being partly software and partly hardware. Furthermore, the invention can also be realized as a recording medium for a program that controls the system. Of course, the recording medium for the program may be a magnetic recording medium or a semiconductor memory, and any recording medium developed in the future can be considered in the same way. [Explanation of symbols]

[0066] 10...Delivery support system, 20...Control unit, 21...Delivery support program, 21a...Acquisition unit, 21b...Indication information acquisition unit, 21c...Identification unit, 21d...Guidance control unit, 30...Recording medium, 30a...Indication information, 30b...Map information, 30c...Delivery plan information, 40...Communication unit, 100...Delivery person terminal, 110...Control unit, 120...Communication unit, 130...User I / F unit, 140...Recording medium, 140a...Delivery plan information, 140b...Map information, 200...Administrator terminal, 210...Control unit, 220...Communication unit, 230...User I / F unit.

Claims

1. an acquisition unit that acquires a delivery plan including delivery times; an indication information acquisition unit that acquires indication information including an indication at a delivery destination store and the time when the indication occurred; an identification unit that identifies the delivery destination store where the indication occurred based on the time included in the delivery plan and the time when the indication occurred, and associates the content of the indication with the identified delivery destination store, Delivery support system.

2. The time is the time when a delivery vehicle that delivers the delivery item arrives at the delivery destination store. The delivery support system according to claim 1 .

3. The indication information further includes location information of the delivery destination store where the indication occurred, The identification unit identifies the delivery destination store based on the location information. The delivery support system according to claim 1 .

4. The identification unit Identifying the type of the indication from among a plurality of types based on the indication; The delivery support system according to claim 1 .

5. The identification unit further associating time zone information with the content of the indication associated with the delivery destination store based on the time of occurrence in the indication; The delivery support system according to claim 1 .

Images