Worker selection system, worker selection method, and worker selection program

Abstract

To dispatch an operator from an appropriate area.SOLUTION: An operator selection system selects an operator who performs operations to restore an apparatus in which a failure occurs, and comprises: a failure information receiving unit that receives failure information including information on the details of the failure and information on identification of the apparatus; an operator information storage unit that stores operator information including information on the ability of the operator to cope with a failure and information on the position of the operator; an area information storage unit that stores area information on a setting area that changes according to settings, the area including the position of the apparatus; and an operator selection unit that, based on the operator information and the area information, selects an operator who can cope with the failure and is present in the setting area as a dispatch candidate.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical field]

[0001] The present invention relates to a worker selection system that selects workers to perform recovery work for failed equipment, a worker selection method that selects workers to perform recovery work for failed equipment, and a worker selection program that causes a computer to select workers to perform recovery work for failed equipment. [Background technology]

[0002] Conventionally, systems that dispatch workers to equipment where a fault has occurred have been known. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technology that determines a worker by taking into consideration the distance between the location of the worker and the location of the work base where the equipment where a fault has occurred, as well as the experience of the worker, and instructs the worker to perform the work so that the customer's trouble can be resolved as quickly as possible. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] JP 2006-106861 A Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] In recent years, from the perspective of infectious disease prevention, for example, crossing prefectural borders is sometimes considered undesirable. In such a situation, the user of the faulty equipment may dislike workers being dispatched from a specific area. In addition, not only from the perspective of infectious disease prevention, but also from the perspective of equipment manufacturers, there are cases where they want to manage the areas from which workers are dispatched. However, conventional worker selection systems did not take such issues into consideration. [Means for solving the problem]

[0005] In order to solve the above problems, the worker selection system of the present invention is a worker selection system that selects a worker to perform recovery work for equipment that has experienced a failure, and is characterized by comprising a fault information receiving unit that receives fault information including information on the content of the failure and information on the identification of the equipment, a worker information storage unit that stores worker information including information on the worker's ability to respond to a failure and information on the location of the worker, a region information storage unit that stores region information on a set region that includes the location of the equipment and that changes depending on the settings, and a worker selection unit that selects, based on the worker information and the region information, a worker who is capable of responding to the failure and who is located within the set region as a candidate for dispatch.

[0006] The worker selection method of the present invention is a worker selection method for selecting a worker to perform recovery work for equipment that has experienced a failure, and is characterized in that it receives fault information including information on the content of the fault and information on the identification of the equipment, and selects, as dispatch candidates, a worker who is capable of responding to the fault and who is present within the set area based on worker information including information on the worker's ability to respond to the fault and information on the worker's location, and area information on a set area that changes depending on the setting and includes the location of the equipment.

[0007] Furthermore, the worker selection program of the present invention is a worker selection program that causes a computer to select a worker to perform recovery work for equipment that has experienced a failure, and is characterized in that it causes the computer to execute the following steps: receiving fault information including information on the content of the failure and information on the identification of the equipment; and selecting, as a dispatch candidate, a worker who is capable of responding to the failure and who is present within a set area, based on worker information including information on the worker's ability to respond to the failure and information on the worker's location, and area information on a set area that includes the location of the equipment and that changes depending on the setting. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a worker selection system. [Diagram 2] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a failure recovery condition table. [Diagram 3] 4A to 4C are diagrams showing examples of a worker basic table, a worker capability table, and a current status table. [Figure 4] FIG. 13 is a diagram showing an example of a set region table. [Diagram 5] 11 is a flowchart showing a process performed by a failure analysis unit in a user device. [Figure 6] 11 is a flowchart showing a process performed by a response determining unit in the manufacturer management server. [Figure 7] 11 is a flowchart showing a process performed by a worker selection unit in the worker selection server. [Figure 8] FIG. 13 is a diagram conceptually showing the positional relationship between a faulty device and a selected worker. [Figure 9] FIG. 13 is a diagram conceptually showing the positional relationship between a faulty device and a selected worker. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0009] The present invention will now be briefly described. The worker selection system of the first aspect is a worker selection system that selects a worker to perform recovery work for equipment that has experienced a failure, and is characterized in that it includes a fault information receiving unit that receives fault information including information on the content of the failure and information on the identification of the equipment, a worker information storage unit that stores worker information including information on the worker's ability to respond to a failure and information on the location of the worker, a region information storage unit that stores region information on a set region that includes the location of the equipment and that changes depending on the settings, and a worker selection unit that selects, as a dispatch candidate, a worker who is capable of responding to the failure and who is located within the set region based on the worker information and the region information.

[0010] According to this aspect, the worker selection system selects as dispatch candidates workers who are capable of responding to the fault and who are located within a set area based on worker information, which includes information on the worker's ability to respond to a fault and information on the worker's location, and area information on a set area that includes the location of the equipment where a fault has occurred and which changes depending on the settings.This makes it possible to prevent the worker from being dispatched from an area that is undesirable for the user or manufacturer of the equipment, etc., and makes it possible to dispatch a suitable worker.

[0011] The second aspect is characterized in that, in the first aspect, the workers include manufacturer workers who belong to the manufacturer of the equipment and non-manufacturer workers who do not belong to the manufacturer of the equipment. According to this aspect, the workers include manufacturer workers who belong to the manufacturer of the equipment and non-manufacturer workers who do not belong to the manufacturer of the equipment, so that dispatch candidates can be selected from a larger number of workers, and as a result, more appropriate workers can be selected.

[0012] A third aspect is characterized in that, in the second aspect, the worker selection unit selects a non-manufacturer worker present in the set area as a candidate for dispatch if the non-manufacturer worker can respond to the problem with remote support. According to this aspect, if a non-maker worker present within the set area is able to respond to the fault with remote support, the worker selection unit selects the non-maker worker as the dispatch candidate. Therefore, by compensating for the non-maker worker's ability to respond to faults, the non-maker worker can be made a dispatch candidate, thereby expanding the range of worker selection.

[0013] The fourth aspect is characterized in that, in the third aspect, the worker selection server equipped with the worker selection unit is capable of transmitting information regarding the worker selected as the dispatch candidate to an information terminal of a user who is the user of the equipment, and the information regarding the worker transmitted to the information terminal of the user includes information that the worker will receive remote support.

[0014] When the worker receives remote support, the worker may use a camera to capture images of the surroundings of the device, which may be undesirable from a security perspective for the user of the device. However, according to this aspect, the information about the worker that the worker selection server transmits to the user's information terminal includes information indicating that the worker will receive remote support, so that users who do not like remote support can be informed of this, which is convenient for the users.

[0015] A fifth aspect is characterized in that in any one of the first to fourth aspects, the set area is an area set as part of an infectious disease countermeasure. According to this aspect, since the set area is an area set for infectious disease countermeasures, it is possible to select the worker who is appropriate from the perspective of infectious disease countermeasures.

[0016] A sixth aspect of the worker selection method is a worker selection method for selecting a worker to perform recovery work for equipment that has experienced a failure, which is characterized in that it receives fault information including information on the content of the fault and information on the identification of the equipment, and selects, as dispatch candidates, a worker who is capable of responding to the fault and who is present in a set area based on worker information including information on the worker's ability to respond to the fault and information on the worker's location, and area information on a set area that changes depending on the setting and includes the location of the equipment.

[0017] According to the present aspect, the worker selection method selects, as a dispatch candidate, a worker who is capable of responding to the fault and who is located within a set area based on worker information including information on the worker's ability to respond to a fault and information on the location of the worker, and area information on a set area that includes the location of the equipment where the fault has occurred and that changes depending on the setting.Therefore, it is possible to prevent the worker from being dispatched from an area that is undesirable for the user of the equipment, and to dispatch a worker who is suitable for the user of the equipment.

[0018] A worker selection program according to a seventh aspect is a worker selection program that causes a computer to select a worker to perform recovery work for equipment that has experienced a failure, and is characterized in that the program causes the computer to execute the following steps: receiving fault information including information on the content of the failure and information on the identification of the equipment; and selecting, as a dispatch candidate, a worker who is capable of responding to the failure and who is present within a set area, based on worker information including information on the worker's ability to respond to the failure and information on the worker's location, and area information on a set area that includes the location of the equipment and that changes depending on the setting.

[0019] According to this aspect, the worker selection program selects, as dispatch candidates, workers who are capable of responding to the fault and who are located within a set area based on worker information including information on the worker's ability to respond to a fault and information on the worker's location, and area information on a set area that includes the location of the equipment where the fault has occurred and that changes depending on the settings.This prevents the worker from being dispatched from an area that is undesirable for the user of the equipment, and makes it possible to dispatch a worker who is suitable for the user of the equipment.

[0020] The present invention will be specifically described below. In the following, as one embodiment of the present invention, a recording device 1 is taken as the device on which recovery work is to be performed, and a worker selection system 50 is described that selects a worker who will perform recovery work for the recording device 1 when a fault occurs in the recording device 1. An example of the recording device 1 is an inkjet printer that performs recording by ejecting ink, which is an example of a liquid, onto recording paper, which is an example of a medium. The worker selection system 50 according to this embodiment is configured to include a manufacturer management server 10 and a worker selection server 20. Of course, the worker selection system 50 is not limited to this configuration, and for example, the manufacturer management server 10 and the worker selection server 20 may be the same server, and the worker data 25 and area information data 26 provided in the worker selection server 20 may be provided in another server. Such modified examples will be explained later.

[0021] In order to explain the functions of the worker selection system 50, the following describes the recording device 1, the user terminal 40, and the worker terminal 30 in addition to the worker selection system 50. The recording device 1, the manufacturer management server 10, the worker selection server 20, the user terminal 40, and the worker terminal 30 are all connected to a network 100 such as the Internet, and information can be sent and received between any of the devices. The configuration of each device will be described below.

[0022] [Recording device] The recording device 1 includes a recording mechanism unit 5. The recording mechanism unit 5 includes an ink ejection head (not shown) that ejects ink and a conveying means (not shown) that conveys recording paper. The recording device 1 also includes a control unit 2, a display unit 3, an input unit 4, and a storage unit 6. The control unit 2 includes a CPU, a volatile memory, a communication module, and the like, which are not shown. The control unit 2 executes various control programs stored in the storage unit 6 to control each part of the recording device 1, including the recording mechanism unit 5, and also transmits and receives information to and from external devices. The storage unit 6 is composed of a non-volatile memory such as a flash memory. The fault analysis unit 7 is one of the programs stored in the storage unit 6, and is executed by the control unit 2. The fault analysis unit 7 will be described later. The display unit 3 is made up of a liquid crystal panel and displays various information. The input unit 4 is made up of various setting buttons and the user sets various operations of the recording device 1 via the input unit 4.

[0023] [Manufacturer management server] The manufacturer management server 10 is a computer terminal equipped with a control unit 11, a display unit 12, an input unit 13, and a memory unit 14. As an example, the manufacturer management server 10 is a computer terminal owned and managed by company A, the manufacturer of the recording device 1. The control unit 11 is equipped with a CPU, a volatile memory, a communication module, etc., which are not shown. The control unit 11 executes various programs stored in the memory unit 14, and transmits and receives information to and from external devices. The memory unit 14 is composed of a storage device such as a hard disk. The response determination unit 16 is one of the programs stored in the memory unit 14, and is executed by the control unit 11. In addition, the memory unit 14 stores recovery condition data 15. The response determination unit 16 and the recovery condition data 15 will be explained again later. The display unit 12 is made up of a liquid crystal display and displays various information. The input unit 13 is made up of a keyboard and mouse (not shown), and an operator belonging to manufacturer A can input various information via the input unit 13.

[0024] [Worker selection server] The worker selection server 20 is a computer terminal equipped with a control unit 21, a display unit 22, an input unit 23, and a memory unit 24. As an example, the worker selection server 20 is a computer terminal owned and managed by worker dispatching company D. Worker dispatching company D is a different company from manufacturer A. However, it goes without saying that the worker selection server 20 may also be a computer terminal owned and managed by manufacturer A of the recording device 1.

[0025] The control unit 21 includes a CPU, a volatile memory, a communication module, etc. (not shown). The control unit 21 executes various programs stored in the storage unit 24, and transmits and receives information to and from external devices. The storage unit 24 is configured with a storage device such as a hard disk. The worker selection unit 27 is one of the programs stored in the storage unit 24, and is executed by the control unit 11. The storage unit 24 also stores worker data 25 and area information data 26. The worker selection unit 27, the worker data 25, and the area information data 26 will be described later. The display unit 22 is composed of a liquid crystal display and displays various information. The input unit 23 is composed of a keyboard and a mouse (not shown), and an operator belonging to worker dispatching company D can input various information via the input unit 23.

[0026] [Worker terminal] The worker terminal 30 is a mobile information terminal, such as a smartphone, equipped with a control unit 31 and a touch panel 32. The control unit 31 is equipped with a CPU, a volatile memory, a non-volatile memory, a communication module, etc. (not shown). The control unit 31 executes various programs stored in the non-volatile memory, and transmits and receives information to and from external devices. The touch panel 32 displays various information and accepts various input operations. For convenience of illustration, only one worker terminal 30 is shown in FIG. 1, but in reality, a plurality of workers each have one worker terminal 30.

[0027] [User device] The user terminal 40 is a mobile information terminal, such as a smartphone, equipped with a control unit 41 and a touch panel 42, and is a terminal carried by the user of the recording device 1. The control unit 41 is equipped with a CPU, a volatile memory, a non-volatile memory, a communication module, etc., which are not shown. The control unit 41 executes various programs stored in the non-volatile memory, and transmits and receives information to and from external devices. The touch panel 42 displays various information and accepts various input operations.

[0028] [Processing of recording device in case of failure] Next, the process performed by the recording device 1 when a fault occurs in the recording device 1 will be described with reference to Fig. 5. Fig. 5 shows the flow of the process performed when the control unit 2 of the recording device 1 executes the fault analysis unit 7. When a fault occurs in the recording device 1, the control unit 2 of the recording device 1 analyzes the details of the fault and obtains a corresponding error code (step S101). The memory unit 6 of the recording device 1 stores the details of the fault and the corresponding error code as data, and the control unit 2 references this data to obtain the error code. The fault is analyzed using various sensors provided in the recording device 1 as necessary. The error code is linked to a flag indicating whether the fault is one that the user can handle and a flag indicating whether remote support by an operator for the user or dispatch of a worker is required, and these flags are stored in the memory unit 6. The error codes also include ones that correspond to cases where the details of the fault are unknown, i.e., could not be analyzed, and at least in this case, remote support by an operator for the user or dispatch of a worker is required.

[0029] Next, if the content of the fault can be handled by the user (Yes in step S102), for example if it is determined that the fault is due to an out of paper or ink problem, the control unit 2 causes the display unit 3 of the recording device 1 to display a user interface (hereinafter referred to as "UI") that provides information about the fault and how to resolve it (step S107). On the other hand, if the content of the fault is not resolvable by the user (No in step S102), for example, if it can be determined that there is a malfunction in the electrical system or that a part has reached the end of its life, the process proceeds to step S103. In step S103, it is determined whether the content of the fault requires action by an operator of manufacturer A. An example of a case in which action by an operator of manufacturer A is one in which the content of the fault cannot be determined in step S101 and further information needs to be obtained by directly hearing about the status of the fault from the user in order to dispatch a worker.

[0030] If it is determined that operator assistance is necessary (Yes in step S103), the control unit 2 causes the display unit 3 of the recording device 1 to display a UI recommending interaction with an operator (step S108). This UI can display a message such as "A problem has occurred. An operator will contact you to resolve the problem. Is this OK? (Y / N)." If the user approves this request (Yes in step S109), the control unit 2 of the recording device 1 sends the problem information to the manufacturer's management server 10 (step S106). The fault information includes at least the model number, serial number, error code, and date and time of the fault occurrence of the recording device 1. The error code and date and time of the fault occurrence are examples of information relating to the content of the fault, and the model number and serial number of the recording device 1 are examples of information relating to identifying the device.

[0031] An operator at manufacturer A receives this, refers to its own database, calls the telephone number registered as the contact information for the user of recording device 1, and asks the user of recording device 1 for information about the fault. The operator then determines whether or not a worker needs to be dispatched to fix the fault, and if a worker needs to be dispatched, the capabilities of the worker required to fix the fault, and transmits this information to the worker selection server 20. This corresponds to an operator at manufacturer A performing the process performed by the response decision unit 16, which will be described later.

[0032] Returning to step S103, if it is determined that no operator action is required (No in step S103), that is, if the nature of the fault is clear and dispatch of an operator is required, the control unit 2 displays a UI for dispatching an operator on the display unit 3 of the recording device 1 (step S104). This UI can display a message such as "A fault has occurred. An operator is required to resolve the fault. Would you like to dispatch an operator? (Y / N)". If the user approves this request (Yes in step S105), the control unit 2 of the recording device 1 sends the fault information to the manufacturer's management server 10 (step S106). If the user does not approve in step S105, the process proceeds to step S108.

[0033] [Processing on manufacturer's management server] The control unit 11 of the manufacturer's server 10 functions as a failure information receiving unit that receives failure information including information on the content of the failure and information on the device identification. Fig. 6 shows the flow of processing when the control unit 11 of the manufacturer's server 10 executes the response decision unit 16. When the control unit 11 receives the fault information (step S201), it obtains information relating to identifying the device from the fault information, i.e., the model number and serial number of the recording device 1 (step S202), and then obtains the error code from the fault information (step S203). The control unit 11 then refers to the recovery condition data 15 to obtain the fault recovery condition corresponding to the error code (step S204), and sends a request for selecting a worker to the worker selection server 20 (step S205). The request that the control unit 11 sends to the worker selection server 20 includes the model number, serial number, error code, date and time of the fault occurrence, the location where the recording device 1 is installed, and the fault recovery condition.

[0034] Here, the acquisition of failure recovery conditions (step S204) will be described with reference to FIG. 2 showing a failure recovery condition table T1, which is an example of the recovery condition data 15. The failure recovery condition table T1 shown in FIG. 2 is set for each model number of the recording device 1, and for each error code, the necessary tools, necessary items, necessary skills, etc. for recovering from a failure are set as shown. The basic tool set in the necessary tools includes tools such as a screwdriver and pliers. Examples of special tools include a star-shaped screwdriver and a tester. Examples of necessary items include grease, screw locking agent, adhesive, and replacement parts for the recording device 1. Examples of necessary skills include qualifications such as a chief electrical engineer. As an example, in the case of error code A1004, it is shown that a set of basic tools and special tool B are required as required tools, replacement parts a and b are required as required goods, and no specific skills are required. Such a recovery condition table T1 can be modified and supplemented by an operator of manufacturer A as appropriate.

[0035] The fault recovery condition table T1 also includes information on whether a non-manufacturer worker can respond, and whether a non-manufacturer worker can respond with remote support. In this embodiment, the workers include workers belonging to manufacturer A, i.e., manufacturer workers who have specialized knowledge about the recording device 1, and workers not belonging to manufacturer A, i.e., non-manufacturer workers who do not necessarily have specialized knowledge about the recording device 1. If the difficulty of fault recovery is low, even non-manufacturer workers can respond to the fault, and this embodiment is based on the premise that non-manufacturer workers are included as workers. This increases the freedom of worker selection, and workers can be dispatched to the location of the fault more quickly. In addition, as a rule, work that requires part replacement can only be performed by the manufacturer's personnel. Also, in cases where disassembly of equipment is required, this can often only be done by the manufacturer's personnel. Other work, such as on-site inspection, cleaning, adjustment, etc., can often be done by non-manufacturer personnel as well.

[0036] Even if a non-manufacturer worker is unable to respond, there are cases where the non-manufacturer worker can respond by receiving remote support from a manufacturer worker. For example, in the case of error code A1003, the non-manufacturer worker cannot perform failure recovery alone, but can perform failure recovery by receiving remote support from a manufacturer worker. Examples of remote support include text-based support via email, facsimile, etc., voice-based support via telephone, and voice and video-based support via video calls, etc. In addition, if the non-manufacturer worker has so-called smart glasses, AR (Augmented Reality) technology can be used to provide information necessary for failure recovery work to the field of vision of the non-manufacturer worker. Which method of remote support is used depends solely on the equipment possessed by the non-manufacturer worker, and is included in the worker data 25 described later.

[0037] [Processing on the worker selection server] Next, the control unit 21 of the worker selection server 20 functions as a request information receiving unit that receives request information, specifically, the model number, serial number, error code, date and time of the failure, the location where the recording device 1 is installed, and failure recovery conditions, of the recording device 1 from the manufacturer management server 10. Figure 7 shows the flow of processing when the control unit 21 of the worker selection server 20 executes the worker selection unit 27. 7, the worker data 25 and area information data 26 stored in the storage unit 24 of the worker server 20 will be described. The storage unit 24 of the worker server 20 functions as a worker information storage unit that stores worker information including information on the worker's ability to respond to a fault and information on the worker's location. The storage unit 24 also functions as an area information storage unit that stores area information on a set area that includes the location of a device in which a fault has occurred and that changes depending on the settings.

[0038] 3 is an example of worker data 25, and shows a worker basic table T2, a worker ability table T3, and a current status table T4 that constitute the worker data 25. Of these, the worker ability table T3 includes information on the fault response capabilities of workers, and the worker basic table T2 includes information on the locations of workers. First, basic information about workers is registered in the worker basic table T2. Specifically, the worker ID, worker name, company, place of affiliation (work place), and contact information are registered as shown in the figure. The contact information includes the telephone number as well as address information for sending information to the worker terminal 30. In addition, in the worker ability table T3, the worker's tools, items, whether or not remote support is available, work history, and qualifications are registered as shown in the figure, linked to the worker ID. Even if a manufacturer's worker receives remote support from his or her own company, information on whether or not remote support is available is registered.

[0039] In addition, the current status table T4 registers the worker's current location, operating status, and available date and time for accepting new requests, linked to the worker ID, as shown in the figure. The current location of a worker, operating status, and available dates and times for accepting new requests are updated as needed by the worker inputting information into the worker terminal 30 he owns and transmitting the information from the worker terminal 30 to the worker server 20. However, the current location information can also be automatically and periodically transmitted to the worker server 20 by the worker terminal 30 using a satellite-based positioning system.

[0040] Next, Fig. 4 shows a set region table T5, which is an example of the region information data 26. In the set region table T5, set regions corresponding to the location of the equipment in which the failure has occurred are registered. For example, if the location of the equipment in which the failure has occurred is X prefecture, the set regions are X prefecture, Y prefecture, and Z prefecture, and therefore workers in X prefecture, Y prefecture, and Z prefecture are selected as dispatch candidates. Also, if the location of the equipment in which the failure has occurred is V prefecture, the set region is V prefecture, and therefore workers in V prefecture are selected as dispatch candidates. This set region table T5 is updated as appropriate by an operator of manufacturer A or an operator of worker dispatching company D. For example, when the set region table T5 is set from the perspective of infectious disease countermeasures, it is updated as appropriate based on requests for self-restraint regarding travel issued by the national or local governments depending on the spread of the infectious disease.

[0041] Next, the flow of processing when the control unit 21 of the worker selection server 20 executes the worker selection unit 27 will be described with reference to FIG. When the control unit 21 of the worker server 20 receives a request for worker selection from the manufacturer management server 10 (step S301), it selects a worker who is present in the set area and satisfies the failure recovery conditions (step S302). In this selection, as an example, regardless of the current situation of the worker grasped from the current status table T4 (see FIG. 3), a worker who satisfies the failure recovery conditions is selected based on the worker's place of affiliation grasped from the worker basic table T2 (see FIG. 3) and the worker's failure response ability grasped from the worker ability table T3 (see FIG. 3). However, instead of the worker's place of affiliation grasped from the worker basic table T2 (see FIG. 3), the current location of the worker grasped from the current status table T4 (see FIG. 3) may be used.

[0042] Next, the control unit 21 of the worker server 20 creates a dispatch candidate list by sorting the selected workers in order of the shortest expected time to reach the equipment where the problem has occurred based on the current status of the workers ascertained from the current status table T4 (see FIG. 3) (step S303). The control unit 21 calculates the expected time to reach the equipment where the problem has occurred based on the date and time when the worker can accept a new request ascertained from the current status table T4 (see FIG. 3), and further takes into account the standard time required to travel by car from the current location of the worker to the location of the equipment where the problem has occurred.

[0043] The standard required time can be obtained, for example, by using a known route search system. In this embodiment, the transportation means of the workers is limited to automobiles from the viewpoint of infectious disease prevention measures. However, this is not limited to this when public transportation is permitted. In this case, the transportation means of the workers may be registered in the worker basic table T2 (see FIG. 3), and the standard required time may be calculated based on the transportation means. When public transportation is used, the standard required time can be obtained, for example, by using a known route search system. Then, control unit 21 transmits the created dispatch candidate list to user terminal 40 (step S304).

[0044] The control unit 41 of the user terminal 40 displays the received dispatch candidate list on the touch panel 42. The information displayed on the user terminal 40 includes the worker's company, place of affiliation, expected visit time, and information on whether the worker will receive remote support. The user of the recording device 1 selects a desired worker from the list of candidates for dispatch displayed on the user terminal 40. In response to this, the user terminal 40 transmits worker selection information to the worker selection server 20.

[0045] When the control unit 21 of the worker server 20 receives the worker selection information (Yes in step S305), it transmits necessary information to the worker terminal 30 owned by the corresponding worker (step S306). This necessary information includes information such as a request for failure recovery work, the model number of the recording device 1, the serial number, the error code, the date and time of the failure, the location where the recording device 1 is installed, and user contact information.

[0046] The control unit 31 of the worker terminal 30 displays the received necessary information on the touch panel 32. The control unit 31 of the worker terminal 30 also transmits a notification to the worker server 20 that the necessary information has been received. In this embodiment, the worker is basically considered to have accepted the work when the worker terminal 30 receives the necessary information, but the worker may also be considered to have accepted the work when he or she inputs an acceptance of the work into the worker terminal 30 and sends this to the worker server 20.

[0047] [Effects of the worker selection system] 8 and 9 are diagrams conceptually showing the positional relationship between the worker selected by the worker selection system 50 according to this embodiment and the faulty equipment, and the symbol As indicates a set area including the location of the faulty equipment. In Figure 8, both worker A and worker B satisfy the failure recovery conditions, and worker A is closer to the location of the failed equipment than worker B. However, since worker A is outside the set area As, he is not selected as a candidate for dispatch, and worker B, who is inside the set area As, is selected as a candidate for dispatch.

[0048] In Fig. 9, both worker A and worker B satisfy the failure recovery conditions, worker A has the skills to perform failure recovery independently, while worker B requires remote support from the manufacturer's support staff. Worker A is closer to the location of the failed equipment than worker B, but since worker A is outside the set area As, he is not selected as a dispatch candidate, and worker B, who is inside the set area As, is selected as a dispatch candidate.

[0049] As described above, the worker selection system 50 is a worker selection system that selects workers to perform recovery work for equipment that has experienced a failure, and includes a fault information receiving unit (control unit 11 of the manufacturer management server 10) that receives fault information including information on the content of the fault and information on the identification of the equipment, a worker information storage unit (storage unit 24 of the worker selection server 20) that stores worker information including information on the worker's ability to respond to a fault (worker ability table T3) and information on the worker's location (worker basic table T2), a region information storage unit (storage unit 24 of the worker selection server 20) that stores region information (set region table T5) on a set region that includes the location of the equipment and that changes depending on the settings, and a worker selection unit (worker selection unit 27) that selects, as dispatch candidates, workers who are able to respond to the fault and who are present in the set region based on the worker information and the region information.

[0050] The worker selection method in the worker selection system 50 also includes a step of receiving fault information including information on the content of the fault and information on the identification of the equipment (step S301 in FIG. 7), and a step of selecting, as a dispatch candidate, a worker who is capable of responding to the fault and who is present in a set area based on worker information including information on the worker's ability to respond to a fault (worker ability table T3) and information on the location of the worker (worker basic table T2), and area information on a set area (set area table T5) that includes the location of the equipment and changes depending on the setting (set area table T5) (step S302 in FIG. 7).

[0051] The worker selection unit 27, which is a worker selection program, is a worker selection program that causes the worker selection server 20 to select a worker who will perform recovery work for equipment in which a fault has occurred, and includes a step of receiving fault information including information on the content of the fault and information on the identification of the equipment (step S301 in FIG. 7), and a step of selecting, as a dispatch candidate, a worker who is capable of responding to the fault and who is present in a set area, based on worker information including information on the worker's fault response ability (worker ability table T3) and information on the worker's location (worker basic table T2), and area information on a set area that includes the location of the equipment and changes depending on the setting (set area table T5) (step S302 in FIG. 7).

[0052] As described above, the worker selection system 50 can prevent workers from being dispatched from areas that are undesirable for the user of the faulty equipment or the manufacturer of the faulty equipment, and can dispatch suitable workers.

[0053] In this embodiment, the workers include both manufacturer workers who belong to the manufacturer of the equipment to be restored and non-manufacturer workers who do not belong to the manufacturer of the equipment. This makes it possible to select candidates for dispatch from a larger number of workers, and as a result, more appropriate workers can be selected.

[0054] Furthermore, if a non-maker worker present in the set area can respond to the fault with remote support, the worker selection unit 27 selects the non-maker worker as a candidate for dispatch. Therefore, by supplementing the fault response ability of the non-maker worker, the non-maker worker can be made a candidate for dispatch, thereby expanding the range of worker selection.

[0055] In addition, when a non-manufacturer worker receives remote support, the non-manufacturer worker may use a camera to take pictures of the surroundings of the equipment, which may be undesirable from a security perspective for the user of the equipment. However, according to this embodiment, the information about the worker that the worker selection server 20 transmits to the user terminal 40 includes information that the worker will receive remote support, so that users who do not like remote support can be informed of this, which is convenient for users.

[0056] In the above embodiment, the set area is an area set for infectious disease countermeasures, so that appropriate workers can be selected from the perspective of infectious disease countermeasures.

[0057] [Variations] The above embodiment can be modified as follows: (1) The manufacturer management server 10 and the worker selection server 20 may be the same server, in which case one server constitutes the worker selection system. In addition, both the manufacturer management server 10 and the worker selection server 20 may be owned and managed by manufacturer A. The recovery condition data 15 stored in the manufacturer's server 10 may be stored in another server. In that case, the control unit 11 of the manufacturer's server 10 obtains the recovery condition data 15 from the other server. Either or both of the worker data 25 and the area information data 26 provided in the worker selection server 20 may be provided in the manufacturer management server 10 or another server. In this case, the control unit 21 of the worker selection server 20 acquires the worker data 25 and the area information data 26 from the other server.

[0058] (2) The worker data 25 may be divided into data on manufacturer workers and data on non-manufacturer workers. In this case, the data on manufacturer workers may be stored in the manufacturer management server 10 or another server, and the data on non-manufacturer workers may be stored in the worker selection server 20 or another server. In this case, the control unit 21 of the worker selection server 20 acquires the data on manufacturer workers and the data on non-manufacturer workers separately.

[0059] (3) In the above embodiment, the set area is an area set for infectious disease countermeasures, but it is not limited to this and may be set for customer management reasons or to level out the load on work centers. More specifically, the set area may be defined so that the number of customers handled by one work center is as uniform as possible. The set area may also be set by the user himself. In this case, the recording device 1 may store information about the set area and transmit it to the manufacturer management server 10 when a failure occurs.

[0060] (4) The list of candidates for dispatch displayed on the touch panel 42 of the user terminal 40 may be configured to display information such as the qualifications possessed and whether or not the same problem as the currently occurring problem has been solved in the past, based on the worker data 25. In addition, the gender of the worker, the user's evaluation of past work, etc. may be stored as the worker data 25, and displayed on the touch panel 42 of the user terminal 40.

[0061] (5) With regard to the list of dispatch candidates displayed on the touch panel 42 of the user terminal 40, the costs incurred for each worker may be calculated and presented to the user. For example, the costs may be set higher for workers dispatched from farther away, and the costs may be set higher for workers with more advanced skills.

[0062] (6) With regard to the selection of workers to be dispatched, the user may be able to disable the selection of workers based on the set area. In this case, the worker to be dispatched may be selected based on factors prioritized by the user, such as the worker's arrival time.

[0063] (7) If the user of the equipment does not have a user terminal 40, the control unit 21 of the worker selection server 20 may send a list of candidates to be dispatched to the manufacturer management server 10. In this case, the operator of manufacturer A and the user of the equipment exchange information using a communication means such as a telephone to determine the worker to be dispatched.

[0064] (8) In the above embodiment, a recording device 1 was given as an example of an apparatus, but the present invention is not limited to this and can of course be applied to failure recovery work for other apparatuses. Furthermore, the present invention can be applied to other work, not just recovery work for a failed apparatus.

[0065] Furthermore, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications are possible within the scope of the invention described in the claims, and of course these are also included in the scope of the present invention. [Explanation of symbols]

[0066] 1...recording device, 2...control unit, 3...display unit, 4...input unit, 5...recording mechanism unit, 6...storage unit, 7...fault analysis unit, 10...manufacturer management server, 11...control unit, 12...display unit, 13...input unit, 14...storage unit, 15...recovery condition data, 16...response decision unit, 20...worker selection server, 21...control unit, 22...display unit, 23...input unit, 24...storage unit, 25...worker data, 26...regional information data, 27...worker selection unit, 30...worker terminal, 31...control unit, 32...touch panel, 40...user terminal, 41...control unit, 42...touch panel, 50...worker selection system, 100...network

Claims

1. A worker selection system for selecting a worker to perform recovery work for a failed device, a fault information receiving unit for receiving fault information including information regarding the content of the fault and information regarding the identification of the device; a worker information storage unit that stores worker information including information about the worker's fault response capability and information about the worker's location; a region information storage unit that stores region information relating to a set region that includes the location of the device and that changes depending on a setting; a worker selection unit that selects, as a dispatch candidate, a worker who is capable of responding to the fault and who is present in the set area, based on the worker information and the area information; A worker selection system equipped with

2. In the worker selection system according to claim 1, the workers include manufacturer workers who belong to a manufacturer of the equipment and non-manufacturer workers who do not belong to a manufacturer of the equipment. A worker selection system comprising:

3. In the worker selection system according to claim 2, when the non-manufacturer worker present in the set area can respond to the fault by receiving remote support, the worker selection unit selects the non-manufacturer worker as the dispatch candidate. A worker selection system comprising:

4. In the worker selection system according to claim 3, the worker selection server including the worker selection unit is capable of transmitting information about the worker selected as the dispatch candidate to an information terminal of a user who uses the device, The information about the worker transmitted to the user's information terminal includes information that the worker will receive remote support. A worker selection system comprising:

5. In the worker selection system according to claim 4, the non-manufacturer worker receives remote assistance using a camera. A worker selection system comprising:

6. 6. The worker selection system according to claim 1, wherein the set area is an area set for infectious disease countermeasures. A worker selection system comprising:

7. In the worker selection system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, the worker's place of affiliation is used as the information regarding the worker's location. A worker selection system comprising:

8. In the worker selection system according to any one of claims 1 to 6, a current location of the worker is used as information regarding the location of the worker. A worker selection system comprising:

9. A worker selection method in a worker selection system that selects a worker to perform recovery work for a failed device, comprising: receiving fault information including information regarding the content of the fault and information regarding the identification of the device; selecting, as a dispatch candidate, a worker who is capable of responding to the failure and who is present in a set area based on worker information including information regarding the worker's ability to respond to a failure and information regarding the location of the worker, and on area information regarding a set area including the location of the equipment and which changes depending on a setting; A worker selection method including:

10. A worker selection program that causes a computer to select a worker who will perform recovery work for a failed device, receiving fault information including information regarding the content of the fault and information regarding the identification of the device; selecting, as a dispatch candidate, a worker who is capable of responding to the failure and who is present in a set area based on worker information including information on the worker's ability to respond to a failure and information on the location of the worker, and on area information on a set area including the location of the equipment and which varies depending on a setting; The worker selection program is characterized by causing the computer to execute the above steps.

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