Access order determination system

Abstract

To improve the feasibility of determining the order of visits that enables more efficient visiting of a plurality of points.SOLUTION: The present invention comprises: a movement cost acquisition unit for, at a plurality of points, respectively acquiring the costs of movements between points; a movement cost correction unit for correcting the cost of movement between the points the burden of which is greater than or equal to a prescribed level, on the basis of a rest period on the occasion of moving between the points among a plurality of the points whose burden imposed on movement as indicated by the corresponding movement cost is greater than or equal to the prescribed level; and a visiting order determination unit for determining the order of visits to the plurality of the points on the basis of the respective cost of movement between the points.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 6

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to an access order determination system.

Background Art

[0002] When delivering goods to a plurality of delivery destinations, for example, it is common to visit a plurality of locations in order. There are technologies to assist in visiting such a plurality of locations. Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for creating an operation plan for a vehicle visiting a plurality of locations, which is based on statistical values or predicted values of the travel time of the vehicle according to the traffic conditions for each time period such as traffic congestion between two locations.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] The longer it takes to move between the visited locations, the greater the burden of the movement. Therefore, when a certain level or more of burden is imposed in a single movement, it may be recommended to take a break during the movement. In the prior art, the access order of a plurality of locations is determined without considering the break period during the movement between locations. Therefore, when taking a break during the movement between locations, it may not necessarily be an efficient access order. For example, it may be possible to visit each location in a shorter time by visiting the locations in an access order different from the determined access order. The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object thereof is to improve the possibility of determining an access order that enables more efficient access to a plurality of locations.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0005] To achieve the above object, the visit order determination system includes a movement cost acquisition unit that acquires the movement costs between each pair of a plurality of locations at a plurality of locations, and among the plurality of said locations, based on the rest period during movement when moving between said locations where the burden of the movement indicated by the corresponding movement cost is equal to or higher than a predetermined level, a movement cost correction unit that corrects the movement cost between said locations where the burden is equal to or higher than said level, and a visit order determination unit that determines the visit order of the plurality of said locations based on the movement cost between each pair of the plurality of said locations.

[0006] The visit order determination system corrects the movement cost between locations where the burden of movement is equal to or higher than a predetermined level based on the rest period during movement. As a result, the movement cost corrected taking into account the rest period during actual movement becomes a value that more reflects the burden during actual movement. By using the movement cost corrected in this way, the visit order determination system can improve the possibility of determining a more efficient visit order when determining the visit order of each location.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0007]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7

Modes for Carrying Out the Invention

[0008] Here, embodiments of the present invention will be described in the following order. (1) Configuration of the visit order determination system: (2) Visit order determination process: (3) Other embodiments:

[0009] (1) Configuration of the visit order determination system: FIG. 1 is a diagram showing an example of the configuration of a visit order determination system 10 according to the present embodiment. The visit order determination system 10 is a system that determines the visit order when visiting a plurality of locations and determines the route between each location. In the present embodiment, in a delivery service that visits a plurality of delivery destinations and delivers luggage, a case of determining the visit order of a plurality of locations to be visited (the start location of delivery, the end location of delivery, and the delivery destination) will be described as an example. Hereinafter, the vehicle used for delivery will be referred to as a delivery vehicle. In the present embodiment, the visit order determination system 10 is a server arranged at the business office of an operator who provides a delivery service and is a server operated from a manager terminal 100. The manager terminal 100 is a terminal such as a general-purpose computer or a mobile terminal, and includes a display, an operation input unit, and the like. The manager of the visit order determination system 10 can cause the visit order determination system 10 to determine the visit order of a plurality of locations by operating the operation input unit of the manager terminal 100.

[0010] The visit order determination system 10 includes a control unit 20 including a processor, a RAM, a ROM, etc., a recording medium 30, and a communication unit 40. The control unit 20 controls the visit order determination system 10 by executing various programs recorded on the recording medium 30 and the like. The recording medium 30 records various programs such as a visit order determination program 21, position information 30a, map information 30b, a cost table 30c, and the like. The communication unit 40 includes a circuit used for communication with an external device such as the manager terminal 100.

[0011] The location information 30a is information on the locations of the start point of delivery, the end point of delivery, and a plurality of delivery destinations to be visited. Hereinafter, each of the start point of delivery, the end point of delivery, and the plurality of delivery destinations to be visited is referred to as a moving point. In the present embodiment, a plurality of moving points are predetermined. FIG. 2 shows an example of the location information 30a. In the present embodiment, the location information of each moving point indicated by the location information 30a is S * (X*, Y*) and the like, which is information in which the identification information (S * ) of the moving point is associated with the location ((X*, Y*)) of the moving point. Here, * is a subscript indicating which moving point it is, and is one of A, B, C, ···. The map information 30b shows a map of the area including all the moving points. In the present embodiment, the map information 30b includes node data, shape interpolation point data, link data, data indicating the positions of features existing on roads and their surroundings, and the like. Information indicating the moving cost for each road section indicated by the link data is associated with the link data. Here, the moving cost is an index value indicating the degree of burden required for moving in the corresponding section, and in the present embodiment, it is the period required for moving in the section by a predetermined moving body. In the present embodiment, this predetermined moving body is assumed to be a delivery vehicle, but as another example, it may be other moving bodies such as bicycles, pedestrians, and trains.

[0012] The cost table 30c is a table for recording the moving costs between moving points. In the present embodiment, the control unit 20 obtains the moving costs between moving points for all combinations obtained by selecting two points from among the moving points, and records the obtained moving costs in the cost table 30c. FIG. 3 shows an example of the cost table 30c. In the example of FIG. 3, in the cost table 30c, as information on the moving cost, information (S *1 →S *2 ) indicating between which moving points, and the moving cost (C *1*2 ) between the corresponding moving points are recorded. For example, for the section between the moving point S A and the moving point S B , (S A →S B:C AB The information of ") is recorded.

[0013] By executing the access order determination program 21 recorded on the recording medium 30, the control unit 20 functions as a movement cost acquisition unit 21a, a movement cost correction unit 21b, and an access order determination unit 21c. The movement cost acquisition unit 21a has a function of acquiring the movement costs between a plurality of movement points at a plurality of predetermined movement points. In the present embodiment, the control unit 20 selects two movement points from the plurality of movement points by the function of the movement cost acquisition unit 21a. The control unit 20 acquires the positions of the two selected movement points from the position information 30a.

[0014] Then, based on the acquired positions and the map information 20b, the control unit 20 searches for a route between the two selected movement points. The control unit 20 searches for a route from one of the selected movement points to the other by a predetermined route search algorithm, and searches for a route with the lowest movement cost. The control unit 20 acquires the movement costs of each section included in the searched route from the map information 30b. Then, the control unit 20 acquires the sum of the acquired movement costs as the movement cost of this route. The control unit 20 determines whether the acquired movement cost is equal to or greater than a predetermined threshold value. Hereinafter, this threshold value is referred to as a cost threshold value. The cost threshold value is a value indicating the movement cost of a section when the burden of moving in a section is at a predetermined level. In the present embodiment, the cost threshold value is 120 minutes, but as another example, other values such as 90 minutes may also be used. When the control unit 20 determines that the movement cost of the searched route is less than the cost threshold value, it determines that the movement between the two selected movement points only incurs a burden less than the predetermined level and no rest is required on the way. Then, the control unit 20 records the movement cost of the searched route between the two movement points in the cost table 30c in association with the identification information of the two selected movement points.

[0015] Also, when the control unit 20 determines that the movement cost of the searched route is equal to or higher than the cost threshold, it determines that a burden equal to or higher than a predetermined level is imposed on the movement between the two selected movement points, and thus a rest is required during the movement. In this case, the control unit 20 determines a rest place between the two selected movement points. In the present embodiment, the control unit 20 determines one rest place between movement points where the movement cost is equal to or higher than the cost threshold as follows. That is, the control unit 20 searches for a predetermined facility (for example, a parking lot, a service area, a convenience store, etc.) that satisfies the following two conditions as a rest place using the map information 30b. The first condition is that the distance from the searched route between the two selected movement points is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold (for example, 100 m, 300 m, etc.). Hereinafter, this threshold is referred to as a distance threshold. The second condition is that the movement period from the departure point of the movement between these movement points is equal to or more than a predetermined threshold (for example, 40 minutes, 50 minutes, a period that is a predetermined ratio (for example, 30%, 35%, 40%, etc.) of the movement period between these movement points, etc.). Hereinafter, this threshold is referred to as a period threshold. In the present embodiment, the control unit 20 searches for a rest place where the movement period from the departure point is equal to or more than the period threshold when each of the two selected movement points is set as the departure point of the movement between these movement points. In other words, in the present embodiment, the control unit 20 sets one of the two selected movement points as the departure point and the other as the arrival point, and searches for a rest place where the movement from the departure point takes a period equal to or more than the period threshold and the movement to the arrival point also takes a period equal to or more than the period threshold. More specifically, the control unit 20 accumulates the movement periods of the sections of the route between the movement points, and identifies a point where the movement period from the departure point is equal to the period threshold when either one of the movement points is set as the departure point. Also, the control unit 20 identifies a point where the movement period from the departure point is equal to the period threshold when the other of the movement points is set as the departure point. Then, the control unit 20 searches for a predetermined facility from the area sandwiched between the two identified points and conforming to the first condition, and sets the searched facility as the rest place.

[0016] When the control unit 20 determines a rest location, based on the map information 30b, it searches for a route that passes through the rest location from one of the selected movement points to the other by a predetermined route search algorithm, and that has the lowest movement cost.

[0017] Here, the movement cost correction unit 21b will be described. The movement cost correction unit 21b is a function that corrects the movement cost between movement points based on the rest period during movement between movement points where the burden associated with the movement indicated by the corresponding movement cost is at or above a predetermined level. The control unit 20 corrects the movement cost of the route passing through the rest location searched by the function of the movement cost acquisition unit 21a based on the function of the movement cost correction unit 21b and based on a predetermined rest period. In the present embodiment, this rest period is set to 10 minutes, but it may be other periods such as 5 minutes or 15 minutes. In the present embodiment, the control unit 20 corrects this movement cost by adding the value of the predetermined rest period to the movement cost of the route passing through the rest location.

[0018] Returning to the description of the movement cost acquisition unit 21a. When the movement cost is corrected by the function of the movement cost correction unit 21b, the control unit 20 associates the corrected movement cost with the identification information of the two selected movement points and records it in the cost table 30c. Then, the control unit 20 selects a combination of two movement points again from the plurality of movement points and repeats the above processing. In this way, the control unit 20 selects all combinations of two movement points from the plurality of movement points, and for all the selected combinations, acquires the movement cost between the movement points. As a result, in the cost table 30c, the movement costs between the movement points are recorded for all combinations of two movement points.

[0019] The access order determination unit 21c is a function that determines the access order of a plurality of moving points based on the moving costs between each of the plurality of moving points acquired by the moving cost acquisition unit 21a. In the present embodiment, the control unit 20 determines the access order of the plurality of moving points based on the cost table 30c by the function of the access order determination unit 21c. More specifically, the control unit 20 does the following. In the present embodiment, an objective function related to the number of delivery vehicles and the moving costs incurred in moving to visit a plurality of moving points in delivery is set. In the present embodiment, this objective function is a function in which the value increases as the total moving cost of each delivery vehicle in delivery increases. The control unit 20 uses a known algorithm for a given delivery planning problem, based on the moving costs between each of the moving points recorded in the cost table 30c and this objective function, to determine the number of delivery vehicles used in delivery and the access order of the moving points that each delivery vehicle visits for each delivery vehicle. More specifically, the control unit 20 determines the number of delivery vehicles used in delivery and the access order of the moving points that each delivery vehicle visits for each delivery vehicle so as to minimize this objective function. Also, after determining the access order of the moving points for each delivery vehicle, the control unit 20 searches for a route between the moving points based on the map information 30b and determines the route between each of the moving points.

[0020] The control unit 20 may output the access order of the moving points for each delivery vehicle and the information on the route between each of the moving points by a predetermined method. For example, the control unit 20 may output these by displaying them on the display unit, or may output them by transmitting them to an external device such as the administrator terminal 100 via the communication unit 40, or may output them by recording them on a recording medium 30 or the like, or may output them by printing them on a printing medium such as paper.

[0021] As described above, with the configuration of the present embodiment, the visit order determination system 10 acquires the moving costs between moving points at a plurality of moving points, and corrects the moving costs equal to or higher than the cost threshold based on the rest period. Then, the visit order determination system 10 determines the visit order of the plurality of moving points using the corrected moving costs. Thereby, the visit order determination system 10 can improve the possibility of determining a visit order that can visit a plurality of points more efficiently compared to the case where the rest period is not considered. Also, in the present embodiment, for the moving points corresponding to the moving costs equal to or higher than the cost threshold, the visit order determination system 10 searches again for a route passing through a rest place, and corrects the moving cost of the route searched again based on the rest period. That is, the corrected moving cost is a value obtained by correcting the moving cost when moving between the corresponding moving points via the rest place based on the rest period. Thereby, the visit order determination system 10 can make the corrected moving cost closer to the actual moving cost during movement. As a result, the visit order determination system 10 can further improve the possibility of determining a visit order that can visit a plurality of points more efficiently. Also, in the present embodiment, for the moving points corresponding to the moving costs equal to or higher than the cost threshold, the visit order determination system 10 determines, as a rest place satisfying the second condition, a rest place where the moving period from the departure point between the moving points is equal to or longer than the period threshold and the moving period to the arrival point between the moving points is equal to or longer than the period threshold. Therefore, the rest place is determined as a place that requires a movement of a period equal to or longer than the period threshold from each of the corresponding moving points as the departure point. Thereby, when moving between the corresponding moving points, it becomes possible to take a rest after accumulating fatigue from moving for a period equal to or longer than the period threshold. Also, the rest place is determined as a place that requires a movement of a period equal to or longer than the period threshold to the arrival point between the corresponding moving points. Thereby, the occurrence of a situation where a rest is taken near the arrival point is suppressed. In this way, the visit order determination system 10 enables a rest at a timing closer to the desired timing.

[0022] Here, with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, a case will be described where the visit order determination system 10 determines the visit order when visiting movement points A to D using one delivery vehicle. Movement point A is the start point and the end point of the delivery. Movement points B to D are delivery destinations respectively. As shown in FIG. 4, the movement cost (movement period) between movement point A and movement point B is 65 minutes. Also, the movement cost between movement point A and movement point C is 140 minutes. Also, the movement cost between movement point A and movement point D is 55 minutes. Also, the movement cost between movement point B and movement point C is 105 minutes. Also, the movement cost between movement point B and movement point D is 15 minutes. Also, the movement cost between movement point C and movement point D is 95 minutes. Assume that no correction is made to the movement cost for movement points where the movement cost is equal to or greater than the cost threshold. In this case, the visit order with the lowest movement cost is the order of movement point A → movement point D → movement point B → movement point C → movement point A. And when visiting movement points A to D in this order, the movement cost is 55 + 15 + 105 + 140 = 315. That is, it takes 315 minutes to tour these movement points. On the other hand, when visiting movement points A to D in the order of movement point A → movement point B → movement point C → movement point D → movement point A, the movement cost is 65 + 105 + 95 + 55 = 320. It takes 320 minutes to tour these movement points in this order. Therefore, it seems that visiting in the order of movement point A → movement point D → movement point B → movement point C → movement point A is more efficient. Thus, it may be considered to determine the visit order of movement points A → movement point D → movement point B → movement point C → movement point A as the most efficient visit order. However, the movement cost between movement point A and movement point C is equal to or greater than the cost threshold (120 minutes). Therefore, when visiting in this order, actually, it takes 315 minutes + rest period (10 minutes) = 325 minutes, and the movement period becomes longer than when visiting in the order of movement point A → movement point B → movement point C → movement point D → movement point A. Thus, if the visit order of each movement point is determined using the movement cost without considering the rest period, there is a possibility of determining a visit order that actually takes more time.

[0023] In contrast, in the present embodiment, before determining the visiting order of each moving point, the control unit 20 corrects the moving cost between moving point A and moving point C based on the rest period by the function of the moving cost correction unit 21b. Here, the moving cost between moving point A and moving point C after correction is set to 150. Then, when visiting in the order of moving point A → moving point D → moving point B → moving point C → moving point A, the moving cost is 55 + 15 + 105 + 150 = 325. Also, when visiting in the order of moving point A → moving point B → moving point C → moving point D → moving point A, the moving cost is 65 + 105 + 95 + 55 = 320. Therefore, the control unit 20 can determine the order of moving point A → moving point B → moving point C → moving point D → moving point A as the visiting order with the minimum moving cost.

[0024] (2) Visiting order determination process: Using FIGS. 6 and 7, the details of the visiting order determination process executed by the visiting order determination system 10 will be described. The control unit 20 starts the visiting order determination process of FIG. 6 at the timing when instructed to start the process. In step S100, the control unit 20 executes a moving cost acquisition process of acquiring the moving costs between moving points at the departure point of delivery, the end point of delivery, and a plurality of predetermined moving points defined as a plurality of delivery destinations of the delivery by the function of the moving cost acquisition unit 21a. Here, the details of the moving cost acquisition process in step S100 will be described with reference to FIG. 7.

[0025] In step S200, the control unit 20 selects two moving points from the plurality of predetermined moving points by the function of the moving cost acquisition unit 21a. Hereinafter, the two moving points selected in the latest step S200 are referred to as selected points. After completing the process of step S200, the control unit 20 advances the process to step S205. In step S205, the control unit 20 acquires the positions of the two selected points from the position information 30a by the function of the moving cost acquisition unit 21a. Based on the acquired positions and the map information 20b, the control unit 20 searches for a route between the two selected points. After completing the process of step S205, the control unit 20 advances the process to step S210.

[0026] In step S210, the control unit 20 obtains, by the function of the movement cost acquisition unit 21a, the total movement cost of each section included in the path searched in the previous step S205 as the movement cost of this path. After completing the process of step S210, the control unit 20 advances the process to step S215. In step S215, the control unit 20 determines, by the function of the movement cost acquisition unit 21a, whether the movement cost obtained in the previous step S210 is equal to or greater than a predetermined cost threshold. If the control unit 20 determines that the movement cost obtained in the previous step S210 is equal to or greater than the cost threshold, the control unit 20 advances the process to step S225. Also, if the control unit 20 determines that the movement cost obtained in the previous step S210 is less than the cost threshold, the control unit 20 advances the process to step S220.

[0027] In step S220, the control unit 20 records, by the function of the movement cost acquisition unit 21a, the movement cost obtained in the previous step S210 in association with the identification information of the two selected points in the cost table 30c. After completing the process of step S220, the control unit 20 advances the process to step S250. In step S225, the control unit 20 searches, by the function of the movement cost acquisition unit 21a, for a location that satisfies the first condition and the second condition using the map information 30b, and determines the searched location as a rest place between the selected points. After completing the process of step S225, the control unit 20 advances the process to step S230.

[0028] In step S230, the control unit 20 searches, by the function of the movement cost acquisition unit 21a, for the lowest cost among the paths that pass through the rest place determined in step S225 from one of the selected movement points to the other based on the map information 30b by a predetermined path search algorithm. After completing the process of step S230, the control unit 20 advances the process to step S235. In step S235, the control unit 20 obtains, by the function of the movement cost acquisition unit 21a, the total movement cost of each section included in the path searched in the previous step S230 as the movement cost of this path. After completing the process of step S235, the control unit 20 advances the process to step S240.

[0029] In step S240, the control unit 20 corrects the movement cost obtained in step S235 by adding a predetermined rest period to the movement cost, by the function of the movement cost correction unit 21b. After completing the process of step S240, the control unit 20 advances the process to step S245.

[0030] In step S245, the control unit 20 records, by the function of the movement cost acquisition unit 21a, the movement cost corrected in the previous step S240 in association with the identification information of the two selected points in the cost table 30c. After completing the process of step S245, the control unit 20 advances the process to step S250. In step S250, the control unit 20 determines, by the function of the movement cost acquisition unit 21a, whether all combinations of two movement points among the predetermined plurality of movement points have been selected in step S200. When the control unit 20 determines that all combinations of two movement points among the predetermined plurality of movement points have been selected in step S200, it ends the process of FIG. 7 and advances the process to step S105. Also, when the control unit 20 determines that there is a combination that has not been selected in step S200 among the combinations of two movement points among the predetermined plurality of movement points, it advances the process to step S200.

[0031] Return to the description of FIG. 6. In step S105, the control unit 20, by the function of the visit order determination unit 21c, uses a known algorithm for a given delivery planning problem to determine, based on the movement costs between each pair of movement locations recorded in the cost table 30c and a given objective function, the number of delivery vehicles to be used for delivery and the visit order of the movement locations that each delivery vehicle will visit. After completing the process of step S105, the control unit 20 advances the process to step S110. In step S110, the control unit 20, by the function of the visit order determination unit 21c, explores the routes between the movement locations to be visited for each delivery vehicle and determines the routes between each pair of movement locations. However, as another example, the control unit 20 may determine the routes between each pair of movement locations to be the routes explored in S205 or S230.

[0032] (3) Other embodiments: The above embodiments are examples for implementing the present invention, and various other embodiments can also be adopted. For example, an example is cited where the visit order determination system 10 constituting the above-described embodiment is composed of a plurality of devices. In this case, some functions of the visit order determination system 10 may be realized by an external device or the like. For example, among the functions of the movement cost acquisition unit 21a, the function of exploring the routes between movement locations may be realized by an external device.

[0033] Also, the visit order determination system 10 may be arranged in a location different from the above-described embodiments, such as on the cloud, at the offices of the providers of delivery services, data centers, etc. Also, configurations in which some of the components of the above-described embodiments are omitted, or configurations in which the processes are changed or omitted, can also be assumed.

[0034] In the above-described embodiment, the movement cost is the movement period of the corresponding section. However, the movement cost may be other index values. For example, the movement cost may be an index value different from the period required for movement in the corresponding section, and may be an index value that increases as the burden required for movement in the corresponding section increases. For example, it may be a value obtained by multiplying the period required for movement in the section by a predetermined magnification factor (for example, 0.1, 2, etc.). Also, the movement cost may be the distance of the corresponding section. Also, the movement cost may be a value obtained by multiplying the distance of the corresponding section by a predetermined magnification factor (for example, 0.1, 2, etc.).

[0035] Also, the movement cost may be an index value that decreases as the burden required for movement in the corresponding section increases. For example, the movement cost may be the reciprocal of the period required for movement in the corresponding section, or may be a value obtained by multiplying the period required for movement in the corresponding section by -1. Also, the movement cost may be the reciprocal of the distance of the corresponding section, or may be a value obtained by multiplying the distance of the corresponding section by -1. Also, the movement cost may be a value obtained by multiplying these values by a predetermined magnification factor (for example, 0.1, 2, etc.). Thus, when the movement cost is an index value that decreases as the burden required for movement increases, the control unit 20 may correct the movement cost between movement points where the movement cost is less than or equal to the movement cost based on the rest period. Also, when the control unit 20 corrects the movement cost based on the rest period, it may correct the movement cost so that the value of the movement cost decreases. In this case, the control unit 20 determines the order of visits so that the total movement cost is maximized in step S105. Also, the movement cost may be corrected based on traffic information. For example, the movement cost may be corrected based on the degree of congestion of the corresponding route.

[0036] In the above-described embodiment, the movement cost for each section is associated with the map information 30b. The control unit 20 acquires the movement cost between each point to be visited based on the movement cost included in the map information 30b. However, the control unit 20 does not necessarily have to use the movement cost for each section associated with the map information 30b. For example, the control unit 20 may specify the distance of each section acquired from the map information 30b, obtain the period when moving at a predetermined speed (for example, 40 km / h, 60 km / h, etc.), and acquire the obtained period as the movement cost.

[0037] In the above-described embodiment, the first condition is that the distance from the searched route between the moving points is equal to or less than a predetermined distance threshold. However, the first condition may be other conditions. For example, the first condition may be that the movement period from the searched route between the moving points is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold (for example, 1 minute, 3 minutes, etc.).

[0038] In the above-described embodiment, the control unit 20 determines a place that satisfies the second condition as a rest place. However, the control unit 20 may determine the rest place by other methods. For example, instead of the second condition, the control unit 20 may determine a place that satisfies the following third condition as a rest place. Here, let the movement period between the moving points be T, and let a predetermined positive magnification less than 0.5 (for example, 0.1, 0.15, etc.) be α. The third condition is that the movement period from the departure point between the moving points is equal to or greater than (T / 2 - αT) and equal to or less than (T / 2 + αT). That is, the third condition indicates that the period required to move from any of the moving points between the corresponding moving points to the rest place is within a predetermined width (2αT) centered on half of the movement period (T / 2) between the entire moving points.

[0039] Further, in the above-described embodiment, the control unit 20 determines, as a rest place satisfying the second condition, a rest place where the movement period from the corresponding two movement points, each serving as a starting point, is equal to or longer than the period threshold. However, the control unit 20 may determine, as a rest place on the route from the starting point to the arrival point, a facility where the movement period from the starting point is equal to or longer than the period threshold, with one of the corresponding two movement points as the starting point and the other as the arrival point. In that case, the control unit 20 may determine the rest place for both cases: when one of the corresponding two movement points is the starting point and when the other is the starting point. Then, the control unit 20 may obtain both the movement cost of the route when one of the two movement points is the starting point and the movement cost of the route when the other is the starting point, as the movement cost between the two movement points.

[0040] Further, in the above-described embodiment, the control unit 20 determines one rest place between movement points where the movement cost is equal to or higher than the cost threshold. However, the control unit 20 may determine a plurality of rest places between movement points where the movement cost is equal to or higher than the cost threshold. Here, let the number of rest times during the movement between movement points be N. In this case, the control unit 20 determines N rest places between movement points where the movement cost is equal to or higher than the cost threshold. The control unit 20 may determine N rest places that satisfy the first condition and the second condition. Further, the control unit 20 may determine N rest places as follows. Here, let the movement period between movement points be T, and let a predetermined positive magnification factor (for example, 0.1, 0.15, etc.) be α. The control unit 20 may determine, as the k-th (any one of 1 to N) rest place, a place where the period required to move from any of the movement points between the corresponding movement points is equal to or longer than (kT / (N + 1) - αT) and equal to or shorter than (kT / (N + 1) + αT). Thereby, the control unit 20 can set rest places more evenly between movement points.

[0041] Also, in the above-described embodiment, the control unit 20 re-searches for a route via a rest place for movement points where the movement cost is equal to or higher than the cost threshold, and corrects the route via the searched rest place based on the rest period. However, the control unit 20 may correct the movement cost of a route that does not pass through a rest place without re-searching for a route passing through a rest place for movement points where the movement cost is equal to or higher than the cost threshold. For example, the control unit 20 may not execute the processes of steps S225 to S235, and in step S240, correct the movement cost between the selected points acquired in the immediately preceding step S210 based on a preset rest period. Further, in that case, the control unit 20 may correct the movement cost in step S240 by adding not only the rest period but also a period (for example, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, etc.) defined as the period required for a stopover at the rest place to the movement cost.

[0042] Also, in the above-described embodiment, the control unit 20 corrects the movement cost by adding a preset rest period to the movement cost acquired by the function of the movement cost acquisition unit 21a. However, the control unit 20 may correct the movement cost by other methods based on the preset rest period. For example, the control unit 20 may correct the movement cost by multiplying the movement cost acquired by the function of the movement cost acquisition unit 21a by a preset magnification. For example, the control unit 20 may correct the movement cost by multiplying the movement cost by the ratio of the movement period when taking a rest to the movement period when not taking a rest ((rest time + period required for movement between corresponding movement points) / (period required for movement between corresponding movement points)).

[0043] The preset level is an index related to the burden of movement and is an index for determining whether it becomes an excessive burden to be avoided. For example, when there is a rule prohibiting continuous operation exceeding this level, the movement cost corresponding to the maximum continuous time, maximum continuous distance, etc. of continuous operation indicates this level.

[0044] Furthermore, the present invention is also applicable as a program or a method. Also, the above-described system, program, and method may be realized as a single device, or may be realized by using components shared with each part provided in a vehicle, and include various aspects. For example, it is possible to provide a method and a program realized by the above-described system. Also, it can be appropriately changed, such as partly being software and partly being hardware. Furthermore, the invention is also established as a recording medium for a program that controls the device. Of course, the recording medium for the software may be a magnetic recording medium, a semiconductor memory, or any recording medium to be developed in the future, and can be considered in exactly the same way.

Description of Reference Numerals

[0045] 10…Access order determination system, 20…Control unit, 21…Access order determination program, 21a…Moving cost acquisition unit, 21b…Moving cost correction unit, 21c…Access order determination unit, 30…Recording medium, 30a…Location information, 30b…Map information, 30c…Cost table, 40…Communication unit, 100…Administrator terminal

Claims

1. A travel cost acquisition unit that acquires the travel costs between each of a plurality of points at a plurality of points; Based on the rest period during travel between the points for which the burden of travel indicated by the corresponding travel cost is equal to or higher than a predetermined level among the plurality of the points, a travel cost correction unit that corrects the travel cost between the points for which the burden is equal to or higher than the level; An access order determination unit that determines the access order of the plurality of points based on the travel costs between each of the plurality of points; Comprising: An access order determination system in which the travel cost corrected by the travel cost correction unit is the travel cost when traveling between the points via a rest place, and the travel cost is corrected based on the rest period.

2. The access order determination system according to claim 1, wherein the rest place is such that the distance from the route used for travel between the corresponding points is equal to or less than a predetermined threshold value, and the travel period from the departure point of travel between the corresponding points is equal to or more than a predetermined threshold value.

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