Remaining amount management device, remaining amount management system, remaining amount management method and program

Abstract

To provide a remaining amount management device, remaining amount management system, remaining amount management method, and program that can improve the convenience for users while preventing out-of-stock of consumable materials.SOLUTION: A cloud server 1 includes: a rice cooked amount estimation unit 112 that estimates an amount of rice cooked used in one rice cooking process with a rice cooker 2; a remaining amount determination unit 115 that determines whether or not a remaining amount of rice after the elapse of a preset reference period is equal to or less than a preset reference remaining amount on the basis of the remaining amount of rice after the rice cooker 2 has performed one cooking process and history of the amount of rice cooked used in one cooking process by the rice cooker 2 in the past; and a notification unit 116 that transmits information about ordering of rice to a terminal device 3 when the remaining amount determination unit 115 determines that the remaining amount of rice after the elapse of the reference period is equal to or less than the reference remaining amount.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 4

Description

[Technical field]

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

[0002] An ordering system has been proposed that includes a measuring instrument that measures the total weight of consumables stored in a warehouse and transmits information indicating the measured weight value to a server via the Internet, and a server that executes an ordering process for consumables when the weight value indicated by the information received from the measuring instrument falls below a preset weight value (see, for example, Patent Document 1). [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2017-084020 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] However, in the case of the ordering system described in Patent Document 1, the weight of all consumables needs to be constantly measured, and therefore all consumables need to be stored in a storage unit installed on a measuring device at all times. This means that, for example, it is not possible to store consumables in separate locations, which may impair user convenience.

[0005] The present disclosure has been made in consideration of the above-mentioned reasons, and aims to provide a remaining amount management device, a remaining amount management system, a remaining amount management method, and a program that can prevent consumable goods from running out of stock while increasing convenience for users. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] In order to achieve the above object, the remaining amount management device according to the present disclosure comprises: A remaining amount management device for managing a remaining amount of a consumable product to be processed by a device, a consumable product processing amount estimation unit that estimates a processing amount of the consumable product used by the device in at least one processing; a remaining amount determination unit that determines whether an estimated remaining amount of the consumable product after a predetermined reference period has elapsed will be equal to or less than a predetermined reference remaining amount, based on the remaining amount of the consumable product after the device has performed one processing and a history of the processing amount of the consumable product used in one processing by the device in the past; a purchase notification acquisition unit that acquires purchase notification information including device identification information of the device corresponding to the user who purchased the consumable product from a management server that manages the consumable product and purchase amount information indicating a purchase amount of the consumable product; an inventory management unit that, when the purchase notification acquisition unit acquires the purchase notification information, generates new remaining amount information indicating an amount obtained by adding an amount equivalent to the purchase amount indicated by the purchase amount information to a remaining amount of the consumable product corresponding to the device identification information, based on the device identification information and the purchase amount information included in the purchase notification information; The system further includes a notification unit that, when the remaining amount determination unit determines that the estimated remaining amount of the consumable product after the reference period has elapsed will be equal to or less than the reference remaining amount, transmits information regarding an order for the consumable product to a terminal device. Effect of the Invention

[0007] According to the present disclosure, the remaining amount determination unit determines whether the estimated remaining amount of the consumable material after a reference period has elapsed will be equal to or less than the reference remaining amount, based on the remaining amount of the consumable material after the device has performed one process and the history of the processing amount of the consumable material used by the device in one process in the past. Then, when the remaining amount determination unit determines that the estimated remaining amount of the consumable material after the reference period has elapsed will be equal to or less than the reference remaining amount, the notification unit transmits information regarding ordering the consumable material to the terminal device. This eliminates the need for the user to store the consumable material in one place, and even if the consumable material is stored in a dispersed manner, the user can check information regarding ordering the consumable material via the terminal device before the remaining amount of the consumable material falls below the reference remaining amount. This makes it possible to prevent the consumable material from running out of stock while improving user convenience. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] 1 is a schematic diagram of a remaining amount management system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure; FIG. [Diagram 2] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of a user database managed by a management server according to an embodiment; [Diagram 3]FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a remaining amount management system according to an embodiment. [Figure 4] FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a functional configuration of a remaining amount management device according to an embodiment. [Diagram 5] FIG. 1A is a diagram showing an example of information stored in an inventory storage unit according to an embodiment; FIG. 1B is a diagram showing an example of information stored in a cooked rice amount history storage unit according to an embodiment; [Figure 6] FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of information stored in a user information storage unit according to an embodiment; [Figure 7] FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the operation of the remaining amount management system according to the embodiment. [Figure 8] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of an operation screen image displayed on a display unit of a terminal device according to an embodiment; [Figure 9] FIG. 1A is a diagram showing an example of an EC site proposal screen image displayed on a display unit of a terminal device according to an embodiment; FIG. 1B is a diagram showing another example of another EC site proposal screen image displayed on a display unit of a terminal device according to an embodiment; [Figure 10] FIG. 1A is a diagram showing an example of an EC site proposal screen image displayed on a display unit of a terminal device according to an embodiment; FIG. 1B is a diagram showing another example of another operation screen image displayed on a display unit of a terminal device according to an embodiment; [Figure 11] FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the operation of the remaining amount management system according to the embodiment. [Figure 12] FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the operation of the remaining amount management system according to the embodiment. [Figure 13] FIG. 1A is a diagram showing an example of an operation screen image displayed on a display unit of a terminal device according to an embodiment; FIG. 1B is a diagram showing another example of another operation screen image displayed on a display unit of a terminal device according to an embodiment; [Figure 14] FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the operation of the remaining amount management system according to the embodiment. [Figure 15] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of an operation screen image displayed on a display unit of a terminal device according to an embodiment; [Figure 16] FIG. 11 is a sequence diagram showing an example of the operation of the remaining amount management system according to the embodiment. [Figure 17] 1 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of a remaining amount management process executed by a cloud server according to an embodiment. [Figure 18] 1 is a flowchart showing an example of the flow of a remaining amount management process executed by a cloud server according to an embodiment. [Figure 19] FIG. 11 is a diagram showing an example of information stored in a cooked rice amount history storage unit according to a modified example; DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] A remaining amount management device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to the drawings. The remaining amount management device according to the present embodiment is a remaining amount management device that manages the remaining amount of rice, which is a consumable material to be cooked in a rice cooker. This remaining amount management device includes a cooked rice amount estimation unit, a remaining amount determination unit, and a notification unit. Here, the cooked rice amount estimation unit is a consumable material processing amount estimation unit that estimates the cooked rice amount of rice used by the rice cooker in one cooking process. The remaining amount determination unit determines whether the remaining amount of rice after a preset reference period has elapsed will be equal to or less than a preset reference remaining amount based on the remaining amount of rice after the rice cooker has performed one cooking process and the history of the cooked rice amount used by the rice cooker in one cooking process in the past. When the remaining amount determination unit determines that the remaining amount of rice after the reference period has elapsed will be equal to or less than the reference remaining amount, the notification unit transmits information regarding ordering rice to a terminal device.

[0010] The remaining amount management system according to the present embodiment includes a rice cooker 2 arranged in a house H, a terminal device 3 carried by a user of the rice cooker 2, and a cloud server 1, as shown in FIG. 1. A broadband router (hereinafter referred to as "BBR") 6 capable of communicating with the rice cooker 2 via a local network NW2 is installed in the house H. The BBR 6 is connected to a wide area network NW1 such as the Internet. The local network NW2 is a wireless LAN (Local Area Network) or a wired LAN. The terminal device 3 and the cloud server 1 are capable of communicating with each other via the wide area network NW1. In addition, management servers 91 and 92 are connected to the wide area network NW1.

[0011] The management servers 91 and 92 are servers for operating EC (Electronic Commerce) sites for rice sellers to conduct commercial transactions of rice. Here, the management server 91 is a first management server that supports a process of automatically ordering rice without notifying a user when it is expected that the remaining amount of rice of the user will be insufficient, and the management server 92 is a second management server that does not support the process of automatically ordering rice. In this case, when the management server 91 acquires order information for ordering rice from the rice seller from the cloud server 1 via the wide area network NW1, it generates order slip information including personal information such as the name and address of the ordering user and information indicating the amount of rice ordered based on the acquired order information and transmits it to a terminal device (not shown) possessed by the seller. The terminal device possessed by the seller is a general-purpose personal computer, a smartphone, etc. On the other hand, when the management server 92 acquires order information from the terminal device 3 via the wide area network NW1, it generates order slip information based on the acquired order information and transmits it to the terminal device possessed by the seller. Furthermore, when the terminal device possessed by the seller acquires the order slip information from the management servers 91, 92, the terminal device executes a process of notifying the seller possessing the information that new order slip information has been acquired. The seller then dispatches the ordered rice to the ordering user based on the contents of the notified order slip information. After the seller dispatches the ordered rice to the user, the seller performs an operation on the terminal device to notify the management servers 91, 92 of the dispatch, and the terminal device transmits to the management servers 91, 92 dispatch completion notification information notifying that the dispatch of the ordered rice has been completed. Meanwhile, when the management servers 91, 92 acquire the dispatch completion notification information from the terminal device possessed by the seller, the management servers 91, 92 generate purchase notification information notifying that the corresponding user has purchased rice in response to the dispatch and transmit the purchase notification information to the cloud server 1. Here, the purchase notification information includes the device identification information of the rice cooker 2 corresponding to the user who purchased the rice, and information indicating the amount of rice purchased by the user.

[0012] The management servers 91 and 92 also include a user database 931 for managing users of the rice cooker 2, as shown in Fig. 2, for example. In the user database 931, name information indicating the name of the user, address information indicating the address of the user, product information indicating the product name of the rice purchased by the user, terminal identification information of the terminal device 3 held by the user, and device identification information of the rice cooker 2 used by the user are registered in association with each other. When the management servers 91 and 92 acquire user information transmitted from the terminal device 3, including the name information, address information, and product information input by the user, the management servers 91 and 92 extract the name information, address information, and product information contained in the acquired user information, and the terminal identification information of the terminal device 3 that transmitted the information. The management servers 91 and 92 then register the extracted name information, address information, product information, and terminal identification information in the user database 931 in association with each other. Then, the management servers 91, 92 acquire the device identification information of the rice cooker 2 from the cloud server 1 by transmitting device identification information request information to the cloud server 1, which requests the cloud server 1 to transmit the device identification information of the rice cooker 2. At this time, the management servers 91, 92 register the acquired device identification information in the user database 931 in association with the terminal identification information. The management servers 91, 92 also generate registration notification information notifying that the device identification information of the rice cooker 2 has been registered in the user database 931, and transmit this to the cloud server 1. Here, the registration notification information includes EC site type information, device identification information, and terminal identification information of the EC site managed by the management servers 91, 92.

[0013] 3, the rice cooker 2 includes an inner pot (not shown) into which rice to be cooked is placed, a heating unit 21 that heats the inner pot, a timing unit 22 that measures the time elapsed after heating begins, a temperature measuring unit 23 that measures the temperature inside the inner pot, a rice cooker control unit 24 that controls the heating unit 21, the timing unit 22, and the temperature measuring unit 23, and a communication adapter 29. Each time the rice cooker control unit 24 drives the heating unit 21 to perform rice cooking processing, the rice cooker control unit 24 generates parameter information that indicates a time profile of the temperature inside the inner pot measured by the temperature measuring unit 23, and outputs the generated parameter information to the communication adapter 29. The communication adapter 29 transmits the parameter information input from the rice cooker control unit 24 to the cloud server 1 via the local network NW2, BBR6, and wide area network NW1.

[0014] The terminal device 3 is, for example, a smartphone, and includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 301, a main memory unit 302, an auxiliary memory unit 303, a display unit 304, an input unit 305, a wide area communication unit 306, and a bus 309 connecting each unit, and is operated by a user of the rice cooker 2. The main memory unit 302 is, for example, a volatile memory such as a RAM (Random Access Memory), and is used as a working area for the CPU 301. The auxiliary memory unit 303 is, for example, a non-volatile memory such as a ROM (Read Only Memory) or a semiconductor flash memory, and stores programs for realizing various functions of the terminal device 3. The display unit 304 is, for example, a liquid crystal display, an organic EL (Electro-luminescence) display, or the like, and displays various information. The input unit 305 is, for example, a transparent touch pad arranged over the display unit 304, and receives various operation information according to operations by the user of the terminal device 3, and outputs the received operation information to the CPU 301. The wide area communication unit 306 has an interface for connecting to the wide area network NW1.

[0015] When the user performs a rice cooker registration operation to register the rice cooker 2 used by the user in the cloud server 1 via the input unit 305, the terminal device 3 generates registration information including the device identification information of the rice cooker 2 and the terminal identification information of the terminal device 3 and transmits it to the cloud server 1. When the terminal device 3 acquires EC site proposal information including information for proposing to the user a plurality of types of EC sites that the user can use, which is transmitted from the cloud server 1, the terminal device 3 displays an operation screen image including information on the plurality of types of EC sites on the display unit 304 based on the acquired EC site proposal information. Furthermore, when the user performs an EC site registration operation to register as a user in the management servers 91 and 92 that manage the EC sites via the input unit 305, the terminal device 3 generates user information including the name information, address information, and product information input by the user in the EC site registration operation. Then, the terminal device 3 transmits the terminal identification information of the terminal device 3 to the cloud server 1 and transmits the above-mentioned user information to the management servers 91 and 92.

[0016] The cloud server 1 is connected to the rice cooker 2 via the local network NW2, BBR6, and wide area network NW1, and functions as a remaining amount management device that manages the remaining amount of rice to be cooked in the rice cooker 2. The cloud server 1 is, for example, a computer for server use, and includes a CPU 101, a main memory unit 102, an auxiliary memory unit 103, a wide area communication unit 106, and a bus 109 that connects each unit. The CPU 101 is, for example, a multi-core processor. The main memory unit 102 is a volatile memory, and is used as a working area for the CPU 101. The auxiliary memory unit 103 has a non-volatile memory, functions as a ROM and storage, and stores programs for realizing various functions of the cloud server 1. The wide area communication unit 106 communicates with the rice cooker 2 via the wide area network NW1 and BBR6.

[0017] The CPU 101 reads out the programs stored in the auxiliary storage unit 103 into the main storage unit 102 and executes them, thereby functioning as a parameter acquisition unit 111, a cooked rice amount estimation unit 112, an inventory acquisition unit 113, a remaining amount estimation unit 114, a remaining amount determination unit 115, a notification unit 116, a purchase notification acquisition unit 117, an inventory management unit 118, and a user information setting unit 119, as shown in Fig. 4. The auxiliary storage unit 103 shown in Fig. 3 also has a parameter storage unit 131, an inventory storage unit 132, a cooked rice amount history storage unit 133, a determination criterion storage unit 134, and a user information storage unit 135, as shown in Fig. 4.

[0018] The parameter storage unit 131 stores the parameter information transmitted from the rice cooker 2 in association with device identification information that identifies the rice cooker 2. The inventory amount storage unit 132 stores product information about rice managed by the user and remaining amount information indicating the remaining amount of rice in association with the device identification information of the rice cooker 2 owned by the user, as shown in Fig. 5(A) for example. The cooked rice amount history storage unit 133 stores cooked rice date information indicating the day rice was cooked and cooked rice amount information indicating the amount of rice cooked on that day in association with the device identification information of the rice cooker 2, as shown in Fig. 5(B) for example.

[0019] Returning to Fig. 4, the judgment criteria storage unit 134 stores information indicating a preset reference remaining amount that serves as a criterion for judging whether or not to transmit information regarding the rice order to the terminal device 3 and to transmit the order information to the management servers 91, 92. Here, the information regarding the rice order includes automatic order notification information indicating that order information for automatically ordering rice from a rice seller without prior notice to the user has been transmitted to the management server 91, or purchase promotion information encouraging the user to order rice, as shown in Fig. 6. The user information storage unit 135 stores the terminal identification information of the terminal device 3 possessed by the user who uses the rice cooker 2 in association with the device identification information of the rice cooker 2 possessed by the user, EC site address information indicating the address in the wide area network NW1 of the EC site used by the user, and EC site type information, as shown in Fig. 6. Here, the EC site type information is flag information indicating whether or not the EC site used by the user supports so-called automatic ordering, which automatically orders rice without prior contacting the user when the estimated remaining amount of rice after a preset reference period has elapsed since the end of the rice cooking process in rice cooker 2 falls below the aforementioned reference remaining amount, and is set to "F1" if it supports automatic ordering.

[0020] Returning to FIG. 4, the parameter acquisition unit 111 acquires parameter information transmitted from the rice cooker 2, and stores the acquired parameter information in the parameter storage unit 131 in association with the device identification information of the rice cooker 2 that transmitted the parameter information. The cooked rice amount estimation unit 112 is a consumables processing amount estimation unit that estimates the cooked rice amount used by the rice cooker 2 in at least one cooking process in one day. The cooked rice amount estimation unit 112 calculates a temperature change amount per unit time set in advance based on the temperature profile inside the inner pot of the rice cooker 2 indicated by the parameter information, and estimates the cooked rice amount from the calculated temperature change amount. In addition, the cooked rice amount estimation unit 112 updates the cooked rice amount information for that day with information indicating the cooked rice amount obtained by adding the estimated cooked rice amount to the cooked rice amount indicated by the cooked rice amount information corresponding to the day on which the cooked rice amount was estimated, which is stored in the cooked rice amount history storage unit 133.

[0021] The inventory acquisition unit 113 acquires inventory information transmitted from the terminal device 3, and stores the acquired inventory information in the inventory storage unit 132 in association with the device identification information of the rice cooker 2 included in the inventory information. Each time the cooked rice amount estimation unit 112 estimates the cooked rice amount, the remaining amount estimation unit 114 calculates a new remaining amount by subtracting the estimated cooked rice amount from the remaining amount of rice indicated by the remaining amount information stored in the inventory storage unit 132, and updates the remaining amount information stored in the inventory storage unit 132 with the remaining amount information indicating the calculated new remaining amount. In addition, the remaining amount estimation unit 114 estimates the remaining amount of rice at a point in time when a preset reference period has elapsed since the end of the rice cooking process in the rice cooker 2. Specifically, the remaining amount estimation unit 114 first calculates the average amount of cooked rice per day in the rice cooker 2 from a point in time a calculation target period in the past for calculating a preset amount of cooked rice from the point in time after the rice cooker 2 finishes cooking the rice to the point in time after the rice cooker 2 finishes cooking the rice. Next, the remaining amount estimation unit 114 calculates an estimated remaining amount after the reference period has elapsed from the point in time after the rice cooker 2 finishes cooking the rice, which is obtained by subtracting an amount equivalent to the product of the number of days included in the aforementioned reference period and the calculated average amount of cooked rice from the remaining amount of rice after the rice cooker 2 finishes cooking the rice once. Then, the remaining amount estimation unit 114 notifies the remaining amount determination unit 115 of information indicating the calculated estimated remaining amount.

[0022] The remaining amount determination unit 115 determines whether the remaining amount of rice after the reference period has elapsed since the time when the rice cooker 2 finished cooking the rice will be equal to or less than a preset reference remaining amount, based on the amount of rice remaining after the rice cooker 2 has cooked the rice once and the history of the amount of cooked rice used by the rice cooker 2 in at least one cooking process in the past. Specifically, the remaining amount determination unit 115 determines whether the estimated remaining amount indicated by the information notified by the remaining amount estimation unit 114 will be equal to or less than the reference remaining amount. When the remaining amount determination unit 115 determines that the estimated remaining amount of rice after the reference period has elapsed since the time when the rice cooker 2 finished cooking the rice will be equal to or less than the reference remaining amount, it notifies the notification unit 116 of insufficient remaining amount information notifying that the estimated remaining amount will be equal to or less than the reference remaining amount.

[0023] When the notification unit 116 is notified of the insufficient remaining amount information by the remaining amount determination unit 115, the notification unit 116 determines whether or not the EC site type information corresponding to the device identification information of the target rice cooker 2 stored in the user information storage unit 135 indicates that the EC site is compatible with automatic ordering. If the EC site type information corresponding to the device identification information of the target rice cooker 2 indicates that the EC site is compatible with automatic ordering, the notification unit 116 transmits order information to the management server 91 and transmits automatic order notification information to the terminal device 3 to notify the user that the automatic order has been executed. On the other hand, if the EC site type information corresponding to the device identification information of the target rice cooker 2 indicates that the EC site is not compatible with automatic ordering, the notification unit 116 transmits the above-mentioned purchase promotion information to the terminal device 3.

[0024] The purchase notification acquisition unit 117 acquires purchase notification information including device identification information of the rice cooker 2 corresponding to the user who purchased rice from the management servers 91, 92 and purchase amount information indicating the purchased amount of rice. Then, when the purchase notification acquisition unit 117 acquires the purchase notification information transmitted from the management servers 91, 92, the purchase notification acquisition unit 117 extracts information indicating the amount of rice purchased and device identification information of the corresponding rice cooker 2 from the acquired purchase notification information and notifies the inventory management unit 118. When the purchase notification acquisition unit 117 acquires the purchase notification information, the inventory management unit 118 generates remaining amount information indicating the amount obtained by adding the remaining amount of rice corresponding to the device identification information to the amount equivalent to the purchase amount indicated by the purchase amount information, based on the device identification information and purchase amount information included in the purchase notification information. Specifically, the inventory management unit 118 first identifies the remaining amount information corresponding to the device identification information notified from the purchase notification acquisition unit 117, which is stored in the inventory amount storage unit 132. Then, the inventory management unit 118 generates new remaining amount information indicating the amount obtained by adding the amount of rice purchased by the user as indicated by the information notified from the purchase notification acquisition unit 117 to the remaining amount indicated by the identified remaining amount information, and updates the remaining amount information stored in the inventory amount memory unit 132 using the generated remaining amount information.

[0025] When the user information setting unit 119 acquires the above-mentioned registration information from the terminal device 3, it transmits to the rice cooker 2 response request information that requests the rice cooker 2 identified by the device identification information included in the acquired registration information to transmit response information. Then, when the user information setting unit 119 acquires the response information from the rice cooker 2, it stores the device identification information included in the acquired response information in the user information storage unit 135 in association with the terminal identification information of the terminal device 3 that is the transmission source of the registration information. In addition, the user information setting unit 119 generates EC site proposal information for displaying on the terminal device 3 an operation screen image for the user to select an EC site to be used, and transmits the EC site proposal information to the terminal device 3. Furthermore, when the user information setting unit 119 acquires the above-mentioned registration notification information from the management servers 91 and 92, it extracts EC site type information, device identification information, and terminal identification information from the acquired registration notification information. Then, the user information setting unit 119 updates the EC site type information, device identification information, and terminal identification information stored in the user information storage unit 135 using the extracted EC site type information, device identification information, and terminal identification information. At this time, the user information setting unit 119 secures an area in the inventory amount storage unit 132 for storing the remaining amount information and the product information corresponding to the extracted device identification information.

[0026] Next, the operation of the remaining amount management system according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 7 to FIG. 16. First, as shown in FIG. 7, it is assumed that the user performs a rice cooker registration operation to register the rice cooker 2 used by the user to the cloud server 1 via the input unit 305. Here, the terminal device 3 displays an operation screen image GA10 on the display unit 304, for example, as shown in FIG. 8. This operation screen image GA10 includes an input field B11 for inputting the MAC address information of the rice cooker 2, an input field B12 for inputting the identification number of the rice cooker 2, and a button image BU10 selected when the user decides the input contents. Then, it is assumed that, after inputting the MAC address information and the identification number while the terminal device 3 displays the operation screen image GA10 as shown in FIG. 8 on the display unit 304, the part corresponding to the button image BU10 on the input unit 305 is touched. In this case, the terminal device 3 generates registration information including the device identification information of the rice cooker 2 and the terminal identification information of the terminal device 3, as shown in FIG. 7 (step S1). Next, the generated registration information is transmitted from the terminal device 3 to the cloud server 1 (step S2). Meanwhile, when the cloud server 1 acquires the registration information transmitted from the terminal device 3, the aforementioned response request information is transmitted from the cloud server 1 to the rice cooker 2 (step S3). Meanwhile, when the rice cooker 2 acquires the response request information, in response to this, the aforementioned response information is transmitted from the rice cooker 2 to the cloud server 1 (step S4). Next, when the cloud server 1 acquires the response information, it associates the device identification information included in the acquired response information with the terminal identification information of the terminal device 3 that transmitted the registration information, and stores them in the user information storage unit 135 (step S5).

[0027] Thereafter, the cloud server 1 generates EC site proposal information for displaying on the terminal device 3 an operation screen image for the user to select an EC site to use (step S6). Next, the generated EC site proposal information is transmitted from the cloud server 1 to the terminal device 3 (step S7). Meanwhile, when the terminal device 3 acquires the EC site proposal information transmitted from the cloud server 1, which includes information for suggesting to the user multiple types of EC sites that the user can use, it causes the display unit 304 to display an EC site proposal screen image including information related to the multiple types of EC sites, based on the acquired EC site proposal information (step S8).

[0028] Here, the terminal device 3 displays an EC site proposal screen image GA11 on the display unit 304, for example, as shown in Fig. 9(A). This EC site proposal screen image GA11 includes button images BU11 and BU12 corresponding to a plurality of types of EC sites, respectively, and a button image BU13 that is selected when a user registers an EC site other than the EC site corresponding to the button images BU11 and BU12. Here, the EC site (site A) corresponding to the button image BU11 is a first EC site where rice can be automatically ordered when the estimated remaining amount of rice falls below a reference remaining amount. Also, the EC site (site B) corresponding to the button image BU12 is a second EC site where a process is performed in which purchase promotion information is notified to the user in advance to encourage the user to purchase rice when the estimated remaining amount of rice falls below a reference remaining amount. When the user touches a portion of the input unit 305 of the terminal device 3 corresponding to the button image BU11 or button image BU12, the terminal device 3 displays, for example, an EC site proposal screen image GA12 as shown in Fig. 9(B) on the display unit 304. This operation screen image GA12 is an image in which a pop-up image PG12 including a message for confirming with the user whether or not to register a purchase site, a button image BU21 indicating "OK", and a button image BU22 indicating "Cancel" are combined. When the user touches a portion of the input unit 305 of the terminal device 3 corresponding to the button image BU13, the terminal device 3 displays, for example, an EC site proposal screen image GA13 as shown in Fig. 10(A) on the display unit 304. This operation screen image GA13 is an image that combines input fields B11, B12 where the user enters the name and URL (Uniform Resource Locator) of the purchasing site, and a pop-up image PG13 that includes a button image BU31 indicating "OK" and a button image BU32 indicating "Cancel."

[0029] Then, assume that the part of the input unit 305 corresponding to the button image BU21 is touched while the terminal device 3 is displaying an operation screen image GA12 as shown in FIG. 9(B) on the display unit 304, or the part of the input unit 305 corresponding to the button image BU31 is touched while the terminal device 3 is displaying an operation screen image GA13 as shown in FIG. 10(A) on the display unit 304. In this case, as shown in FIG. 7, the terminal device 3 generates user information including the name information, address information, and product information input by the user in the EC site registration operation (step S9). Next, the terminal identification information of the terminal device 3 is transmitted from the terminal device 3 to the cloud server 1 (step S10), and the above-mentioned user information is transmitted from the terminal device 3 to the management servers 91 and 92 (step S11). On the other hand, when the cloud server 1 acquires the terminal identification information transmitted from the terminal device 3, it identifies the device identification information corresponding to the acquired terminal identification information from the device identification information stored in the user information storage unit 135 (step S12).

[0030] Furthermore, when the management servers 91 and 92 acquire the user information transmitted from the terminal device 3, they extract the name information, address information, product information, and terminal identification information from the user information (step S13). Thereafter, as shown in FIG. 11, the management servers 91 and 92 register the extracted name information, address information, product information, and terminal identification information in the user database 931 in association with each other (step S14). Next, device identification information request information that requests the cloud server 1 to transmit device identification information is transmitted from the management servers 91 and 92 to the cloud server 1 (step S15). This device identification information request information includes the terminal identification information of the terminal device 3. On the other hand, when the cloud server 1 acquires the device identification information request information transmitted from the management servers 91 and 92, it extracts the terminal identification information contained in the device identification information request information, and determines that the extracted terminal identification information matches the terminal identification information corresponding to the identified device identification information (step S16). In this case, the device identification information identified by the cloud server 1 is transmitted from the cloud server 1 to the management servers 91 and 92 (step S17). On the other hand, when management servers 91 and 92 acquire the device identification information transmitted from cloud server 1, they register the acquired device identification information in the user database in association with the terminal identification information (step S18).

[0031] Next, the management servers 91 and 92 generate registration notification information notifying that the device identification information and the terminal identification information have been registered in the user database (step S19). Here, the registration notification information includes the device identification information and the terminal identification information registered in the user database, and the EC site type information of the EC site managed by the management servers 91 and 92. The generated registration notification information is then transmitted from the management servers 91 and 92 to the cloud server 1 (step S20). On the other hand, when the cloud server 1 acquires the registration notification information, it extracts the EC site type information, the device identification information, and the terminal identification information from the acquired registration notification information, and updates the device identification information and the terminal identification information stored in the user information storage unit 135 using the extracted EC site type information, the device identification information, and the terminal identification information (step S21). At this time, the cloud server 1 secures an area in the inventory storage unit 132 for storing the remaining amount information and the product information corresponding to the extracted device identification information. The registration notification information is also transmitted from the management servers 91 and 92 to the terminal device 3 (step S22).

[0032] On the other hand, when the terminal device 3 acquires the registration notification information, it displays the stock amount setting screen image GA14 on the display unit 304 (step S23). Here, the terminal device 3 displays the stock amount setting screen image GA14 on the display unit 304, for example, as shown in FIG. 10(B). This stock amount setting screen image GA14 is an image in which a pop-up image PG14 including a message image M41 prompting input of an initial value of the remaining amount of rice, a slide button image SB41 for setting the initial value of the remaining amount of rice, a button image BU41 indicating "input", and a button image BU42 indicating "cancel" is synthesized. Here, when the terminal device 3 displays the stock amount setting screen image GA14 on the display unit 304 as shown in FIG. 7(B), if the user touches the part corresponding to the slide button image SB41 in the input unit 305 with his / her finger and slides it in the direction indicated by the arrow AR14, the initial value of the remaining amount of rice can be changed. Then, when the user touches a portion of the input unit 305 corresponding to the button image BU41 after determining the initial value of the remaining amount of rice, the terminal device 3 generates inventory information including product information indicating the type of rice, remaining amount information indicating the remaining amount of rice, and device identification information of the rice cooker 2 owned by the user (step S24), as shown in FIG. 11. Next, the generated inventory information is transmitted from the terminal device 3 to the cloud server 1 (step S25). Meanwhile, when the cloud server 1 acquires the inventory information, it extracts the remaining amount information, product information, and device identification information of the rice cooker 2 included in the acquired inventory information, and stores the extracted remaining amount information, product information, and device identification information in the inventory storage unit 132 in association with each other (step S26). Next, as shown in FIG. 12, inventory setting completion notification information notifying the user that the setting of the initial value of the rice inventory amount has been completed is transmitted from the cloud server 1 to the terminal device 3 (step S27).

[0033] On the other hand, when the terminal device 3 acquires the above-mentioned inventory setting completion notification information, it displays an inventory notification screen image on the display unit 304 (step S28). Here, the terminal device 3 displays an inventory notification screen image GA15 on the display unit 304, for example, as shown in FIG. 13(A). This inventory notification screen image GA15 includes a consumable goods image GR imitating rice indicating the remaining amount of rice, a numerical image M51 indicating the remaining amount of rice, button images BU51 and BU52 indicating switching buttons for switching the numerical unit indicating the remaining amount of rice, and a button image BU53 selected when switching to the inventory setting screen image GA14. Then, when the button image BU51 is selected, as shown in FIG. 13(A), the button image BU51 is displayed in a darker display color than the button image BU52, and a numerical image M51 indicating the remaining amount of rice in "kg" is displayed. Here, when the user touches a portion of the input unit 305 corresponding to the button image BU52, the terminal device 3 causes the display unit 304 to display an operation screen image GA16 as shown in Fig. 13(B). In this operation screen image GA16, the button image BU52 is displayed in a darker color than the button image BU51, and a numerical image M52 expressing the remaining amount of rice as a "combined number" is displayed. In addition, when the user touches a portion of the input unit 305 corresponding to the button image BU53 while the stock amount notification screen image GA15, GA16 as shown in Fig. 13(A) or (B) is displayed on the display unit 304, the terminal device 3 causes the display unit 304 to display a stock amount setting screen image GA14 as shown in Fig. 10(B).

[0034] Returning to FIG. 12, it is assumed that an operation to start cooking rice is then performed in the rice cooker 2. In this case, the rice cooker 2 executes the rice cooking process (step S29). Here, during the rice cooking process, the rice cooker 2 measures the temperature inside the inner pot at preset unit time intervals using the temperature measurement unit 23. Then, when the rice cooking process is completed, the rice cooker 2 generates parameter information indicating a time profile of the temperature inside the inner pot (step S30). This parameter information includes device identification information of the rice cooker 2. Next, the generated parameter information is transmitted from the rice cooker 2 to the cloud server 1 (step S31).

[0035] Next, when the cloud server 1 acquires the parameter information, it calculates a temperature change amount per unit time set in advance based on the time profile of the temperature inside the inner pot of the rice cooker 2 indicated by the acquired parameter information, and estimates the amount of cooked rice from the calculated temperature change amount (step S32). After that, the cloud server 1 updates the cooked rice amount information of the day with information indicating the cooked rice amount obtained by adding the estimated cooked rice amount to the cooked rice amount indicated by the cooked rice amount information corresponding to the day on which the cooked rice amount was estimated, which is stored in the cooked rice amount history storage unit 133 (step S33). Next, the cloud server 1 refers to the remaining amount information corresponding to the device identification information included in the parameter information stored in the inventory amount storage unit 132, and calculates the remaining amount of rice at the time after the rice cooking process in the rice cooker 2 by subtracting the cooked rice amount from the remaining amount of rice indicated by the remaining amount information. Then, the cloud server 1 updates the remaining amount information stored in the inventory amount storage unit 132 with the remaining amount information indicating the calculated new remaining amount (step S34). Next, the cloud server 1 calculates the average amount of cooked rice per day in the rice cooker 2 from a point in time a calculation period in the past for calculating a preset amount of cooked rice from the point in time after the rice cooker 2 ends cooking processing to the point in time after the rice cooker 2 ends cooking processing (step S35). After that, the cloud server 1 calculates an estimated remaining amount after a reference period has elapsed since the point in time after the rice cooker 2 ends cooking processing, based on the remaining amount of rice after the rice cooker 2 has performed one cooking processing and the calculated average amount of cooked rice (step S36).

[0036] Next, the cloud server 1 determines that the amount of rice remaining after the rice cooker 2 has cooked rice once and the amount of rice used by the rice cooker 2 in at least one cooking process is equal to or less than a preset reference amount (step S37). Then, as shown in FIG. 14, the cloud server 1 determines that the user has registered an EC site that supports automatic ordering and is managed by the management server 91, based on the EC site type information stored in the user information storage unit 135 (step S38). That is, in step S8, the terminal device 3 is displaying the EC site proposal screen image GA11 on the display unit 304, and the user touches a portion of the input unit 305 of the terminal device 3 that corresponds to the button image BU11. In this case, the cloud server 1 generates order information for ordering rice from the rice seller (step S39). Next, the generated order information is transmitted from the cloud server 1 to the management server 91 (step S40). From these, it can be said that the button image BU11 included in the EC site proposal screen image GA11 indicates the EC site corresponding to the management server 91 that acquires the order information sent by the cloud server 1. Here, when the management server 91 acquires the order information, it generates order slip information including personal information such as the name and address of the user who placed the order and information indicating the amount of rice ordered based on the acquired order information, and transmits the order slip information to a terminal device (not shown) possessed by the seller. Meanwhile, when the terminal device possessed by the seller acquires the order slip information from the management server 91, it executes a process to notify that new order slip information has been acquired.

[0037] In addition, automatic order notification information that notifies the user that rice has been automatically ordered without contacting the user in advance is transmitted from the cloud server 1 to the terminal device 3 (step S41). On the other hand, when the terminal device 3 acquires the automatic order notification information, it displays an automatic order notification screen on the display unit 304 (step S42). Here, the terminal device 3 displays an automatic order notification screen image GA17, for example, as shown in FIG. 15, on the display unit 304. This automatic order notification screen image GA17 is an image in which a message image M71 for notifying the user that rice has been automatically ordered and a pop-up image PG17 including a button image BU7 displaying "Close" are combined. Then, when the user touches a portion of the input unit 305 corresponding to the button image BU7 while the automatic order notification screen image GA17 is displayed on the display unit 304, the terminal device 3 erases the pop-up image PG17 from the display unit 304.

[0038] Returning to FIG. 14, it is assumed that the rice seller subsequently completes the shipment of the ordered rice to the ordering user based on the contents of the order slip information. At this time, after the rice seller has shipped the ordered rice to the user, the rice seller performs an operation on the terminal device to notify the management server 91 of the shipment, and the terminal device transmits to the management server 91 shipment completion notification information notifying the completion of the shipment of the ordered rice. Meanwhile, when the management server 91 acquires the shipment completion notification information from the terminal device possessed by the seller, it generates purchase notification information notifying the corresponding user that they have purchased rice. Then, the generated purchase notification information is transmitted from the management server 91 to the cloud server 1 (step S43). Meanwhile, when the cloud server 1 acquires the purchase notification information, it extracts purchase amount information indicating the amount of rice purchased by the user, which is included in the acquired purchase notification information. Then, the cloud server 1 generates new remaining quantity information indicating the amount obtained by adding the amount of rice indicated by the extracted purchase quantity information to the remaining quantity indicated by the remaining quantity information stored in the inventory quantity memory unit 132, and updates the remaining quantity information stored in the inventory quantity memory unit 132 using the generated remaining quantity information (step S44).

[0039] Also, after the cloud server 1 determines that the amount of rice remaining after the reference period has elapsed since the rice cooking process in the rice cooker 2 is equal to or less than the preset reference amount (step S35), it determines that the user has registered an EC site that does not support automatic ordering managed by the management server 92 based on the EC site type information stored in the user information storage unit 135 (step S45). That is, in a state in which the terminal device 3 is displaying the EC site proposal screen image GA11 on the display unit 304 in step S8, the user touches a portion of the input unit 305 of the terminal device 3 that corresponds to the button image BU12. In this case, the cloud server 1 generates purchase prompting information that prompts the user to purchase rice (step S46). Next, the generated purchase prompting information is transmitted from the cloud server 1 to the terminal device 3 (step S47). On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 16, when the terminal device 3 acquires the purchase prompt information, it displays a purchase prompt screen on the display unit 304 to prompt the user to purchase rice based on the purchase prompt information (step S48). When the user performs an ordering operation to order rice on the input unit 305 of the terminal device 3, the ordering information is transmitted from the terminal device 3 to the management server 92 (step S49). From these facts, it can be said that the button image BU12 included in the EC site proposal screen image GA11 indicates the EC site corresponding to the management server 92 that acquires the ordering information transmitted by the terminal device 3. Here, when the management server 92 acquires the ordering information, it generates the above-mentioned order slip information based on the acquired ordering information and transmits it to a terminal device (not shown) possessed by the seller. On the other hand, when the terminal device possessed by the seller acquires the order slip information from the management server 91, it executes a process of notifying that new order slip information has been acquired.

[0040] Thereafter, it is assumed that the rice seller has completed the shipment of the ordered rice to the ordering user based on the contents of the above-mentioned order slip information. At this time, after the rice seller has shipped the ordered rice to the user, the rice seller performs an operation on the terminal device to notify the management server 92 of the shipment, and the terminal device transmits to the management server 92 shipment completion notification information notifying the completion of the shipment of the ordered rice. Meanwhile, when the management server 92 acquires the shipment completion notification information from the terminal device possessed by the seller, it generates purchase notification information notifying the corresponding user that the user has purchased rice. Then, the generated purchase notification information is transmitted from the management server 92 to the cloud server 1 (step S50). Meanwhile, when the cloud server 1 acquires the purchase notification information, it extracts purchase amount information indicating the amount of rice purchased by the user, which is included in the acquired purchase notification information. Then, the cloud server 1 generates new remaining quantity information indicating the amount obtained by adding the amount of rice indicated by the extracted purchase quantity information to the remaining quantity indicated by the remaining quantity information stored in the inventory quantity memory unit 132, and updates the remaining quantity information stored in the inventory quantity memory unit 132 using the generated remaining quantity information (step S51).

[0041] Next, the remaining amount management process executed by the cloud server 1 according to the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 17 and FIG. 18. This remaining amount management process is started when a program for executing the remaining amount management process is started in the cloud server 1. First, as shown in FIG. 17, the user information setting unit 119 judges whether or not the registration information transmitted from the terminal device 3 has been acquired (step S101). If the user information setting unit 119 judges that the registration information has not been acquired (step S101: No), the process of step S106 described later is executed. On the other hand, if the user information setting unit 119 judges that the registration information has been acquired (step S101: Yes), the user information setting unit 119 transmits the above-mentioned response request information to the rice cooker 2 (step S102) to acquire the response information transmitted from the rice cooker 2 (step S103). Next, the user information setting unit 119 associates the device identification information included in the acquired response information with the terminal identification information of the terminal device 3 that is the transmission source of the registration information, and stores them in the user information storage unit 135 (step S104). Next, the user information setting unit 119 generates the above-mentioned EC site proposal information and transmits it to the terminal device 3 (step S105).

[0042] Thereafter, the user information setting unit 119 judges whether or not the terminal identification information transmitted from the terminal device 3 has been acquired (step S106). When the user information setting unit 119 judges that the terminal identification information has not been acquired from the terminal device 3 (step S106: No), the process of step S111 described later is executed. On the other hand, when the user information setting unit 119 judges that the terminal identification information has been acquired from the terminal device 3 (step S106: Yes), the user information setting unit 119 specifies the device identification information corresponding to the acquired terminal identification information from the device identification information stored in the user information storage unit 135 (step S107). Next, the user information setting unit 119 judges whether or not the device identification information request information transmitted from the management servers 91, 92 has been acquired within a preset waiting time after the terminal identification information has been acquired (step S108). When the user information setting unit 119 judges that the device identification information request information has not been acquired within the aforementioned waiting time (step S108: No), the process of step S111 described later is executed. On the other hand, when the user information setting unit 119 determines that the device identification information request information has been acquired (step S108: No), it extracts the terminal identification information included in the device identification information request information and determines whether the extracted terminal identification information matches the terminal identification information corresponding to the identified device identification information (step S109). When the user information setting unit 119 determines that the extracted terminal identification information does not match the terminal identification information corresponding to the identified device identification information (step S109: No), the process of step S111 described below is executed. On the other hand, when the user information setting unit 119 determines that the extracted terminal identification information matches the terminal identification information corresponding to the identified device identification information (step S109: Yes), it transmits the identified device identification information to the management servers 91 and 92 (step S110).

[0043] Next, the user information setting unit 119 judges whether or not the above-mentioned registration notification information transmitted from the management servers 91 and 92 has been acquired (step S111). If the user information setting unit 119 judges that the registration notification information has not been acquired (step S111: No), the process of step S113 described below is executed. On the other hand, if the user information setting unit 119 judges that the registration notification information has been acquired (step S111: Yes), the user information setting unit 119 extracts the device identification information and the terminal identification information from the acquired registration notification information, and updates the device identification information and the terminal identification information stored in the user information storage unit 135 using the extracted device identification information and the terminal identification information (step S112). At this time, the user information setting unit 119 secures an area in the inventory amount storage unit 132 for storing the remaining amount information and the product information corresponding to the extracted device identification information.

[0044] Next, the inventory amount acquiring unit 113 judges whether or not the inventory amount information transmitted from the terminal device 3 has been acquired (step S113). If the inventory amount acquiring unit 113 judges that the inventory amount information has not been acquired (step S113: No), the process of step S116 described later is executed. On the other hand, it is assumed that the inventory amount acquiring unit 113 judges that the inventory amount information has been acquired (step S113: Yes). In this case, the inventory amount acquiring unit 113 extracts the remaining amount information, the product information, and the device identification information of the rice cooker 2 included in the acquired inventory amount information, and stores the extracted remaining amount information, the product information, and the device identification information in the inventory amount storage unit 132 in association with each other (step S114). Next, the inventory amount acquiring unit 113 transmits inventory amount setting completion notification information to the terminal device 3 to notify the user that the setting of the initial value of the rice inventory amount has been completed (step S115).

[0045] After that, as shown in FIG. 18, the parameter acquisition unit 111 judges whether or not the parameter information transmitted from the rice cooker 2 has been acquired (step S116). Here, if the parameter acquisition unit 111 judges that the parameter information has not been acquired (step S116: No), the process of step S101 is executed again. On the other hand, if the parameter acquisition unit 111 judges that the parameter information has been acquired (step S116: Yes), the parameter acquisition unit 111 stores the acquired parameter information in the parameter storage unit 131 in association with the device identification information of the rice cooker 2 added to the parameter information. Then, the cooked rice amount estimation unit 112 calculates a temperature change amount per unit time set in advance based on the time profile of the temperature inside the inner pot of the rice cooker 2 indicated by the parameter information stored in the parameter storage unit 131, and estimates the cooked rice amount from the calculated temperature change amount (step S117).

[0046] Next, the cooked rice amount estimation unit 112 updates the cooked rice amount information for that day with information indicating the cooked rice amount obtained by adding the estimated cooked rice amount to the cooked rice amount indicated by the cooked rice amount information corresponding to the day on which the cooked rice amount was estimated, stored in the cooked rice amount history storage unit 133 (step S118). Next, the remaining amount estimation unit 114 refers to the remaining amount information corresponding to the device identification information included in the parameter information stored in the inventory amount storage unit 132, and calculates the remaining amount of rice at the time after the rice cooking process in the rice cooker 2 by subtracting the estimated cooked rice amount from the remaining amount of rice indicated by the remaining amount information. Then, the remaining amount estimation unit 114 updates the remaining amount information stored in the inventory amount storage unit 132 with the remaining amount information indicating the calculated new remaining amount (step S119). Thereafter, the remaining amount estimation unit 114 calculates the average amount of cooked rice per day in the rice cooker 2 from a point in time that is a calculation target period in the past for calculating a preset amount of cooked rice from the point in time after the rice cooker 2 ends cooking processing to the point in time after the rice cooker 2 ends cooking processing (step S120). Next, the remaining amount estimation unit 114 calculates an estimated remaining amount after a reference period has elapsed since the point in time after the rice cooker 2 ends cooking processing, based on the remaining amount of rice after the rice cooker 2 has performed one cooking processing and the calculated average amount of cooked rice (step S121). At this time, the remaining amount estimation unit 114 notifies the remaining amount determination unit 115 of information indicating the calculated estimated remaining amount.

[0047] Next, remaining amount determination unit 115 determines whether the estimated remaining amount of rice indicated by the information notified from remaining amount estimation unit 114 will be equal to or less than the aforementioned reference remaining amount (step S122). If remaining amount determination unit 115 determines that the estimated remaining amount of rice is greater than the reference remaining amount (step S122: No), the process of step S101 is executed again. On the other hand, if remaining amount determination unit 115 determines that the estimated remaining amount of rice will be equal to or less than the reference remaining amount (step S122: Yes), it notifies notifying unit 116 of remaining amount insufficiency information notifying that the estimated remaining amount will be equal to or less than the reference remaining amount.

[0048] Thereafter, the notification unit 116 determines whether or not the user of the rice cooker 2 that is the source of the parameter information has registered an EC site that supports automatic ordering, based on the EC site type information stored in the user information storage unit 135 (step S123). When the notification unit 116 determines that the user who owns the terminal device 3 that is the source of the parameter information has registered an EC site that supports automatic ordering (step S123: Yes), it generates order information for placing the above-mentioned order for rice and transmits it to the management server 91 (step S124). Next, the notification unit 116 transmits the order information that has generated the above-mentioned automatic order notification information to the terminal device 3 owned by the user of the rice cooker 2 that is the source of the parameter information (step S125). Then, the process of step S117 described below is executed.

[0049] On the other hand, when the notification unit 116 determines that the user who owns the terminal device 3 that is the source of the parameter information has registered an EC site that does not support automatic ordering (step S123: No), the notification unit 116 generates purchase promotion information that encourages the user to order rice and transmits it to the terminal device 3 of the user of the rice cooker 2 that is the source of the parameter information (step S126). After that, the purchase notification acquisition unit 117 determines whether or not the purchase notification information has been acquired from the management servers 91 and 92 (step S127). Here, when the purchase notification acquisition unit 117 determines that the purchase notification information has not been acquired (step S127: No), the process of step S101 is executed again. On the other hand, when the purchase notification acquisition unit 117 determines that the purchase notification information has been acquired (step S127: Yes), the inventory management unit 118 extracts the purchase amount information from the acquired purchase notification information (step S128). Next, the inventory management unit 118 generates new remaining amount information indicating the amount obtained by adding the amount of rice indicated by the extracted purchase amount information to the remaining amount indicated by the remaining amount information stored in the inventory amount storage unit 132, and updates the remaining amount information stored in the inventory amount storage unit 132 using the generated remaining amount information (step S129). Then, the process of step S101 is executed again.

[0050] As described above, according to the cloud server 1 of the present embodiment, the remaining amount determination unit 115 determines whether the estimated remaining amount of rice after the reference period has elapsed will be equal to or less than the reference remaining amount, based on the remaining amount of rice after the rice cooker 2 has performed one cooking process and the history of the amount of cooked rice used by the rice cooker 2 in one day's process in the past. Then, when the remaining amount determination unit 115 determines that the estimated remaining amount of rice after the reference period has elapsed will be equal to or less than the reference remaining amount, the notification unit 116 transmits order information to the management server 91 or transmits purchase promotion information to the terminal device 3. This eliminates the need for the user to store the rice to be used in one place, and even if the rice is stored in a dispersed manner, the user can order rice or check the purchase promotion information on the terminal device 3 before the remaining amount of rice becomes equal to or less than the reference remaining amount. This makes it possible to prevent rice from running out of stock while improving user convenience.

[0051] Furthermore, the purchase notification acquisition unit 117 according to this embodiment acquires purchase notification information including device identification information of the rice cooker 2 corresponding to the user who purchased rice from the management servers 91, 92, and purchase amount information indicating the amount of rice purchased. Then, based on the device identification information and purchase amount information included in the purchase notification information, the inventory management unit 118 generates new remaining amount information indicating the remaining amount of rice corresponding to the device identification information plus an amount equivalent to the purchase amount indicated by the purchase amount information, and stores this in the inventory amount storage unit 132. As a result, the remaining amount information stored in the inventory amount storage unit 132 is automatically updated every time the user purchases rice, reducing the burden on the user of managing the remaining amount information.

[0052] Furthermore, the remaining amount estimation unit 114 according to this embodiment calculates the average amount of cooked rice per day in the rice cooker 2 from a point in time that is the aforementioned cooked rice amount calculation period in the past before the point in time after the rice cooker 2 finishes cooking rice to the point in time after the rice cooker 2 finishes cooking rice. The remaining amount estimation unit 114 then calculates an estimated remaining amount by subtracting an amount equivalent to the product of the number of days included in the aforementioned reference period and the average amount of cooked rice from the remaining amount of rice after the rice cooker 2 has finished cooking rice once. This allows the user to recognize in advance that the remaining amount of rice is decreasing at a point in time the reference period before the rice will run out of stock in the future, thereby reducing the occurrence of rice running out of stock.

[0053] Furthermore, if the user has registered an EC site that supports automatic ordering, when the remaining amount determination unit 115 determines that the estimated remaining amount of rice after the aforementioned reference period has elapsed will be equal to or less than the reference remaining amount, the notification unit 116 according to this embodiment automatically transmits order information to the management server 91. This prevents rice from running out of stock due to the user forgetting to place an order.

[0054] Furthermore, the terminal device 3 according to this embodiment displays, on the display unit 304, a consumable goods image GR resembling rice indicating the amount of remaining rice, as well as numerical images M51 and M61 indicating the amount of remaining rice, as shown in, for example, Figures 9(A) and (B). Then, the terminal device 3 switches and displays the units of the numerical values ​​indicating the amount of remaining rice in response to an operation by the user via the input unit 305. This makes it possible to display the remaining amount in a way that is easy for the user to understand, according to the user's selection, thereby improving user convenience.

[0055] Although the embodiment of the present disclosure has been described above, the present disclosure is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment. For example, the cloud server may include a cooked rice amount history storage unit 2133 that stores cooked rice date and time information indicating the date and time of cooking and cooked rice amount information indicating the amount of cooked rice in one cooking process at that date and time in association with the device identification information of the rice cooker 2, as shown in FIG. 19. In this case, the remaining amount estimation unit 114 may estimate the remaining amount of rice after cooking rice is cooked a predetermined reference number of times from the time after the rice cooking process in the rice cooker 2. Specifically, the remaining amount estimation unit 114 first calculates the average amount of cooked rice in one cooking process in the rice cooker 2 from a time point that is the calculation target period before the time after the rice cooking process in the rice cooker 2 to a time point after the rice cooking process in the rice cooker 2. Next, the remaining amount estimation unit 114 may calculate an estimated remaining amount after the rice cooker 2 has performed the rice cooking process the reference number of times from the time when the rice cooker 2 performed the rice cooking process, which is obtained by subtracting an amount equivalent to the product of the aforementioned reference number of times and the calculated average amount of cooked rice from the amount of rice remaining after the rice cooker 2 has performed one cooking process.The remaining amount determination unit 115 may then determine whether the estimated remaining amount estimated by the remaining amount estimation unit 114 is equal to or less than the aforementioned reference remaining amount.

[0056] In the embodiment, the rice cooker 2 generates parameter information indicating the time profile of the temperature inside the inner pot and transmits it to the cloud server 1, and the cooked rice amount estimating unit 112 of the cloud server 1 estimates the cooked rice amount based on the temperature profile inside the inner pot of the rice cooker 2 indicated by the parameter information transmitted from the rice cooker 2. However, this is not limited to the above, and for example, the rice cooker 2 may be equipped with a weight sensor that measures the weight of the inner pot and the rice put into the inner pot, and the rice cooker control unit 24 may transmit parameter information indicating the weight measured by the weight sensor to the cloud server 1. In this case, the cooked rice amount estimating unit 112 of the cloud server 1 may estimate the cooked rice amount based on the weight obtained by subtracting the weight of the inner pot from the weight of the inner pot of the rice cooker 2 and the rice put into the inner pot indicated by the parameter information transmitted from the rice cooker 2.

[0057] In the embodiment, an example has been described in which the consumable product is rice, but for example, instead of the rice cooker 2, a coffee maker equipped with a communication adapter capable of communicating with the cloud server 1 may be connected to the local network NW2 and manage the remaining amount of coffee. In this case, the coffee maker may be equipped with, for example, a weight sensor that measures the weight of the coffee poured in, and transmit weight information indicating the weight of the coffee used in one coffee extraction process to the cloud server 1. Then, the cloud server 1 may calculate the amount of coffee used in one coffee extraction process based on the weight information transmitted from the coffee maker.

[0058] In addition, the various functions of the cloud server 1 according to the present disclosure may be realized by software, firmware, or a combination of software and firmware. In this case, the software or firmware may be written as a program, and the program may be stored and distributed in a computer-readable recording medium such as a flexible disk, a CD-ROM (Compact Disc Read Only Memory), a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), and an MO (Magneto-Optical Disc), and the program may be read and installed in a computer to configure a computer capable of realizing each of the above-mentioned functions. In addition, when each function is realized by sharing the work between an OS (Operating System) and an application, or by cooperation between the OS and an application, only the parts other than the OS may be stored in the recording medium.

[0059] Furthermore, each program can be superimposed on a carrier wave and distributed via a network. For example, the program can be posted on a bulletin board (BBS, Bulletin Board System) on the network and distributed via the network. These programs can then be started and run under the control of the OS in the same way as other application programs, thereby enabling the above-mentioned processing to be performed. [Industrial Applicability]

[0060] The present disclosure is suitable as a system for managing remaining amounts of consumables such as rice. [Explanation of symbols]

[0061] 1 Cloud server, 2 Rice cooker, 3 Terminal device, 4 Electrical equipment, 6 BBR, 21 Heating section, 22 Timer, 23 Temperature measurement section, 24 Rice cooker control section, 29 Communication adapter, 91, 92 Management server, 101, 301 CPU, 102, 302 Main memory section, 103, 303 Auxiliary memory section, 106, 306 Wide area communication section, 109, 309 Bus, 111 Parameter acquisition section, 112 Cooked rice amount estimation section, 113 Stock amount acquisition section, 114 Remaining amount estimation section, 115 Remaining amount determination section, 116 Notification section, 117 Purchase notification acquisition section, 118 Inventory management section, 119 User information setting section, 131 Parameter storage section, 132 Stock amount storage section, 133, 2133 Cooked rice amount history storage section, 134 Judgment criteria storage unit, 135 user information storage unit, 304 display unit, 305 input unit, B11, B12 input field, BU7, BU11, BU12, BU13, BU21, BU22, BU31, BU32, BU41, BU42, BU51, BU52, BU53 button image, GA10 operation screen image, GA11, GA12, GA13 EC site proposal screen image, GA14 inventory setting screen image, GA15, GA16 inventory notification screen image, GA17 automatic order notification screen image, GR consumer goods image, H housing, M41 message image, M51, M61 numerical image, NW1 wide area network, NW2 local network, PG12, PG13, PG14, PG17 pop-up image, SB41 slide button image

Claims

1. A remaining amount management device for managing a remaining amount of a consumable product to be processed by a device, a consumable product processing amount estimating unit that estimates a processing amount of the consumable product used by the device in at least one processing; a remaining amount determination unit that determines whether an estimated remaining amount of the consumable product after a predetermined reference period has elapsed will be equal to or less than a predetermined reference remaining amount, based on the remaining amount of the consumable product after the device has performed one processing and a history of the processing amount of the consumable product used in one processing by the device in the past; a purchase notification acquisition unit that acquires purchase notification information including device identification information of the device corresponding to the user who purchased the consumable product from a management server that manages the consumable product and purchase amount information indicating a purchase amount of the consumable product; an inventory management unit that, when the purchase notification acquisition unit acquires the purchase notification information, generates new remaining amount information indicating an amount obtained by adding an amount equivalent to the purchase amount indicated by the purchase amount information to a remaining amount of the consumable product corresponding to the device identification information, based on the device identification information and the purchase amount information included in the purchase notification information; a notification unit that transmits information regarding an order for the consumable product to a terminal device when the remaining amount determination unit determines that the estimated remaining amount of the consumable product after the reference period has elapsed will be equal to or less than the reference remaining amount, Residual quantity management device.

2. a remaining amount estimating unit that calculates an average value of the amount of the consumable product processed by the device per day from a point in time that is a calculation target period in the past for calculating the amount of the consumable product processed that is set in advance of the point in time after the processing by the device to the point in time after the processing by the device, and notifies the remaining amount determining unit of an estimated remaining amount obtained by subtracting an amount equivalent to the product of the number of days included in the reference period and the average amount of the consumable product processed from the remaining amount of the consumable product after the device has performed one processing, the remaining amount determination unit determines whether the estimated remaining amount is equal to or less than the reference remaining amount. The remaining amount management device according to claim 1 .

3. the notification unit transmits, when the remaining amount determination unit determines that the remaining amount of the consumable product after the reference period has elapsed will be equal to or less than the reference remaining amount, to the management server, order information for ordering the consumable product. The remaining amount management device according to claim 1 or 2.

4. Equipment and a remaining amount management device for managing a remaining amount of the consumable material to be processed by the device; a terminal device capable of communicating with the remaining amount management device, The remaining amount management device is a consumable product processing amount estimating unit that estimates a processing amount of the consumable product used by the device in at least one processing; a remaining amount determination unit that determines whether an estimated remaining amount of the consumable product after a predetermined reference period has elapsed will be equal to or less than a predetermined reference remaining amount, based on the remaining amount of the consumable product after the device has performed one processing and a history of the processing amount of the consumable product used in one processing by the device in the past; a purchase notification acquisition unit that acquires purchase notification information including device identification information of the device corresponding to the user who purchased the consumable product from a management server that manages the consumable product and purchase amount information indicating a purchase amount of the consumable product; an inventory management unit that, when the purchase notification acquisition unit acquires the purchase notification information, generates new remaining amount information indicating an amount obtained by adding an amount equivalent to the purchase amount indicated by the purchase amount information to a remaining amount of the consumable product corresponding to the device identification information, based on the device identification information and the purchase amount information included in the purchase notification information; a notification unit that transmits information regarding an order for the consumable product to the terminal device when the remaining amount determination unit determines that the estimated remaining amount of the consumable product after the reference period has elapsed will be equal to or less than the reference remaining amount, Remaining amount management system.

5. the terminal device has a display unit and an input unit, causes the display unit to display a consumable product image imitating the consumable product indicating a remaining amount of the consumable product, and displays a numerical value indicating the remaining amount of the consumable product, and switches the unit of the numerical value indicating the remaining amount of the consumable product in response to an operation by a user via the input unit. The remaining amount management system according to claim 4.

6. The terminal device has a display unit, and displays on the display unit an EC site proposal screen image including an image showing a first EC site corresponding to a first management server that manages the consumable goods and acquires order information for ordering the consumable goods transmitted from the remaining amount management device, and an image showing a second EC site corresponding to a second management server that manages the consumable goods and acquires the order information transmitted from the terminal device. The remaining amount management system according to claim 4 or 5.

7. the terminal device, after receiving registration notification information transmitted by a management server that manages the consumable goods and notifying that the terminal device and the device have been registered in the management server, causes the display unit to display a consumable goods image that imitates the consumable goods and indicates a remaining amount of the consumable goods; The remaining amount management system according to claim 5 .

8. A remaining amount management device estimates a processing amount of the consumable material used by the device in at least one processing; a step of the remaining amount management device determining whether or not the remaining amount of the consumable product after a predetermined reference period has elapsed will be equal to or less than a predetermined reference remaining amount, based on the remaining amount of the consumable product after the device has performed one processing and a history of the processing amount of the consumable product used in one processing by the device in the past; a step of the remaining amount management device acquiring purchase notification information from a management server that manages the consumable goods, the purchase notification information including device identification information of the device corresponding to the user who purchased the consumable goods and purchase amount information indicating a purchase amount of the consumable goods; a step of generating new remaining amount information indicating a remaining amount of the consumable product corresponding to the device identification information by adding an amount equivalent to the purchase amount indicated by the purchase amount information based on the device identification information and the purchase amount information included in the purchase notification information when the remaining amount management device acquires the purchase notification information; and when it is determined that the remaining amount of the consumable product after the reference period has elapsed will be equal to or less than the reference remaining amount, the remaining amount management device transmits information regarding an order for the consumable product to a terminal device. How to manage remaining amount.

9. Computer, a consumable product processing amount estimation unit that estimates a processing amount of the consumable product used by the device in one processing; a remaining amount determination unit that determines whether or not the remaining amount of the consumable product after a predetermined reference period has elapsed will be equal to or less than a predetermined reference remaining amount, based on the remaining amount of the consumable product after the device has performed one processing and a history of the processing amount of the consumable product used in one processing by the device in the past; a purchase notification acquisition unit that acquires, from a management server that manages the consumable goods, purchase notification information including device identification information of the device corresponding to the user who purchased the consumable goods and purchase amount information indicating a purchase amount of the consumable goods; an inventory management unit that, when the purchase notification acquisition unit acquires the purchase notification information, generates new remaining amount information indicating an amount obtained by adding an amount equivalent to the purchase amount indicated by the purchase amount information to a remaining amount of the consumable product corresponding to the device identification information, based on the device identification information and the purchase amount information included in the purchase notification information; a notification unit that transmits information regarding an order for the consumable product to a terminal device when the remaining amount determination unit determines that the remaining amount of the consumable product after the reference period has elapsed will be equal to or less than the reference remaining amount; A program to function as a

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