Order management device, order management method, and program

Abstract

Provided are a sequence management device, a sequence management method, and a program capable of accurately performing sequence management. 【Solution means】The sequence management device receives a sequence confirmation request from the information terminal of a customer who has registered for waiting in line, and notifies the information terminal of sequence information including the customer's sequence and the status of a predecessor who is waiting in line ahead of the customer. Then, it determines whether or not a condition for sending a reminder notification indicating that the customer's sequence is approaching is satisfied, and sends a reminder notification to the customer's information terminal according to the determination result. The sequence information includes, as the status of the predecessor, reminder post-confirmation request information indicating whether or not a sequence confirmation request has been received from the information terminal of the predecessor after sending a reminder notification to the information terminal of the predecessor.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a turn management device, a turn management method, and a program.

Background Art

[0002] In order to manage the waiting turns of customers waiting for services in restaurants, amusement facilities, hospitals, banks, government offices, etc., various turn management systems have been proposed. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a turn management system that grasps the status of users at the timing of calling and efficiently optimizes turn management.

Prior Art Documents

Patent Documents

[0003]

Patent Document 1

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0004] However, in the above turn management system, the content of the waiting turn list is updated based on the content of the reply regarding the current status of the user. Therefore, when there is no reply from the user, the content of the waiting turn list is not updated, and there is still room for improvement in terms of accurately performing turn management.

[0005] The present invention solves the above problems, and an object thereof is to provide a turn management device, a turn management method, and a program capable of accurately performing turn management.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0006] The turn management device according to the first aspect of the present invention a turn confirmation request receiving unit that receives a turn confirmation request from an information terminal of a customer who has registered for waiting in line; A queue notification unit that notifies the information terminal of queue information including the order of the customer and the status of a predecessor who is waiting in line ahead of the customer; A reminder determination unit that determines whether a condition for transmitting a reminder notification indicating that the customer's turn is approaching is satisfied; A reminder notification unit that transmits the reminder notification to the information terminal of the customer according to the determination result by the reminder determination unit, and is provided with; The queue information includes, as the status of the predecessor, reminder post-check request information indicating whether a check request for the queue has been received from the information terminal of the predecessor after the reminder notification is transmitted to the information terminal of the predecessor. It is characterized by that.

[0007] Also, in the queue management device according to the above aspect, The queue information further includes reminder pre-check request information indicating whether a check request for the queue has been received from the information terminal of the predecessor before the reminder notification is transmitted to the information terminal of the predecessor, as the status of the predecessor. It is characterized by that.

[0008] Also, in the queue management device according to the above aspect, The reminder determination unit determines whether a condition for transmitting the reminder notification is satisfied based on the reminder post-check request information. It is characterized by that.

[0009] Also, in the queue management device according to the above aspect, A cancellation instruction receiving unit that receives a cancellation instruction for canceling the queue; A waiting time estimation unit that estimates a waiting time corresponding to the order of the customer, and is further provided with; The waiting time estimation unit calculates the probability that the predecessor cancels the waiting in line based on the number of times the confirmation request for the order is received from the predecessor after sending the reminder notification to the predecessor and whether or not a cancellation instruction is received, and estimates the waiting time from the average of the past waiting times of the predecessor and the probability. When the waiting time is less than a predetermined threshold, the reminder determination unit determines that the condition for sending the reminder notification is satisfied. It is characterized by this.

[0010] Also, in the order management device according to the above aspect, The order notification unit displays the status of the predecessor indicated by the confirmation request information after the reminder in a display mode that allows visual recognition. It is characterized by this.

[0011] Also, in the order management device according to the above aspect, The order notification unit displays the status of the predecessor indicated by the confirmation request information before the reminder and the confirmation request information after the reminder in different modes in a display mode that allows visual recognition. It is characterized by this.

[0012] The order management method according to the second aspect of the present invention is An order management method by an order management device, An order confirmation request reception step of receiving an order confirmation request from the information terminal of a customer who has registered waiting in line, An order notification step of notifying the information terminal of order information including the order of the customer and the status of a predecessor who is a customer waiting in line ahead of the customer, A reminder determination step of determining whether or not the condition for sending a reminder notification notifying that the order of the customer is approaching is satisfied, A reminder notification step of sending the reminder notification to the information terminal of the customer according to the determination result of the reminder determination step. The order information includes, as the situation of the predecessor, reminder post - confirmation request information indicating whether or not a confirmation request for the order has been received from the information terminal of the predecessor after the reminder notification has been sent to the information terminal of the predecessor. It is characterized by this.

[0013] The program according to the third aspect of the present invention causes a computer to function as an order confirmation request receiving unit that receives an order confirmation request from the information terminal of a customer who has registered for waiting in line, an order notification unit that notifies the information terminal of the order information including the order of the customer and the situation of the predecessor who is a customer waiting in line ahead of the customer, a reminder determination unit that determines whether or not a condition for sending a reminder notification informing that the order of the customer is approaching is satisfied, and a reminder notification unit that sends the reminder notification to the information terminal of the customer according to the determination result by the reminder determination unit. The order information includes, as the situation of the predecessor, reminder post - confirmation request information indicating whether or not a confirmation request for the order has been received from the information terminal of the predecessor after the reminder notification has been sent to the information terminal of the predecessor. It is characterized by this.

[0014] The above program may be recorded on a non-transitory recording medium. The non-transitory recording medium can be distributed and sold independently of the computer. Here, the non-transitory recording medium refers to a tangible recording medium. The non-transitory recording medium is, for example, a compact disk, a flexible disk, a hard disk, a magneto-optical disk, a digital video disk, a magnetic tape, a semiconductor memory, etc. Also, the transitory recording medium refers to the transmission medium (propagating signal) itself. The transitory recording medium is, for example, an electrical signal, an optical signal, an electromagnetic wave, etc. Note that the temporary memory area is an area for temporarily storing data and programs, and is, for example, a volatile memory such as RAM (Random Access Memory).

Advantages of the Invention

[0015] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a sequence management device, a sequence management method, and a program capable of accurately performing sequence management.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0016]

Figure 1

Figure 2

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Figure 8

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Figure 10

Figure 11

Figure 12

Figure 13

Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0017] (Overall Configuration) A sequential management device, a sequential management method, and a program according to an embodiment for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. In the drawings, the same or corresponding parts are denoted by the same reference numerals. As shown in FIG. 1, a sequential management system 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a sequential management device 100 and an information terminal 200, which are communicably connected via a computer communication network 400 such as the Internet. In this embodiment, for ease of understanding, the case of online waiting for a turn in a restaurant will be taken as an example and described below.

[0018] The sequential management device 100 is a computer such as a server, and can communicate with the information terminal 200 via the computer communication network 400. The sequential management device 100 has various functions for managing the order, such as a function of providing a registration screen for waiting for a turn in response to various requests from the information terminal 200, a function of registering the waiting for a turn, a function of providing order information indicating the current waiting situation for a turn, and a function of performing a reminder notification to inform the customer that the turn is approaching.

[0019] The information terminal 200 is an information terminal (so-called computer) such as a smartphone, tablet, or PC (Personal Computer) owned by a customer who wishes to wait in line, and can communicate with the queue management device 100 via the computer communication network 400. The information terminal 200 has functions such as submitting a queue waiting application to the queue management device 100 and sending a queue confirmation request for checking the current queue waiting status based on the operation of the user who is the customer.

[0020] (Functional configuration of the queue management device) Next, with reference to FIG. 2, the configuration of the queue management device 100 will be described.

[0021] As shown in FIG. 2, the queue management device 100 includes a storage unit 110, a control unit 120, an input / output unit 130, a communication unit 140, and a system bus (not shown) that connects these to each other.

[0022] The storage unit 110 includes a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), etc. The ROM stores a program 111 executed by the control unit 120, various types of data (not shown) necessary in advance for executing the program 111, queue waiting customer information 112, and history information 113.

[0023] The program 111 is a program that executes a queue waiting registration process, a queue management process, and a queue update process, which will be described later, and is stored in the storage unit 110 in advance.

[0024] The waiting customer information 112 is a list of customers waiting in line. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, the waiting customer information 112 includes at least the order indicating the waiting order, the customer ID for identifying the customer, the presence or absence of a pre-reminder confirmation request indicating whether a confirmation request for the current waiting order status has been received before sending the reminder notification, the reminder notification information indicating whether the reminder notification has been sent, the presence or absence of a post-reminder confirmation request indicating whether a confirmation request for the current waiting order status has been received after sending the reminder notification, and the cancellation presence or absence information indicating whether a cancellation has been made by the customer.

[0025] The waiting customer information 112 has its content newly added when the waiting registration process described below is performed. Also, when the order update process described below is performed, the content is shifted to the history information 113, and the list of customers waiting in line is updated. That is, the content of the waiting customer information 112 is updated in each process so that the number of customers waiting in line increases when the waiting registration process is performed and decreases when the order update process is performed.

[0026] Returning to FIG. 2, the history information 113 is a list showing the history of customers who have waited in line so far. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 4, in addition to the content included in the waiting customer information 112 shown in FIG. 3, the history information 113 includes store visit information indicating whether the customer has visited the store. When the customer visits the store or when a cancellation is made, the corresponding information is shifted from the waiting customer information 112 and newly added to the history information 113. Although not shown in the figure, the history information 113 includes information on the time elapsed from when the customer started waiting in line until they visited the store, that is, the waiting time information.

[0027] The control unit 120 shown in FIG. 2 is composed of a CPU (Central Processing Unit), an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit), etc. The control unit 120 operates according to the program 111 stored in the storage unit 110 and executes the processing according to the program 111. As the main functional units provided by the program 111 stored in the storage unit 110, the control unit 120 includes a sequence reception unit 121, a sequence confirmation request reception unit 122, a sequence notification unit 123, a reminder determination unit 124, a waiting time estimation unit 125, a reminder notification unit 126, and an information update unit 127.

[0028] The sequence reception unit 121 is a functional unit that receives the queue for a restaurant by a customer. Specifically, the sequence reception unit 121 has a function of providing a registration screen for queuing based on receiving a registration screen request transmitted based on the operation of a user who is a customer. The registration screen includes the current number of people waiting in line, which is obtained by checking the queue customer information 112. In addition, the sequence reception unit 121 has a function of registering the queue by adding the information of the customer to the queue customer information 112 based on a queue registration request transmitted based on the operation of a user who is a customer.

[0029] The order confirmation request receiving unit 122 is a functional unit that receives an order confirmation request transmitted based on the operation of a user who is a customer. Specifically, the order confirmation request receiving unit 122 is a functional unit that receives an order confirmation request, which is a request for confirming the current queuing status, from the information terminal 200 of a customer who is waiting in line. Also, each time the order confirmation request receiving unit 122 receives an order confirmation request transmitted from the information terminal 200, it has a function of updating the content of a request history table (not shown) in the storage unit 110. The request history table is a table showing the reception history of order confirmation requests, and the request history table includes a customer ID and the date and time when an order confirmation request was received from that customer. The order confirmation request receiving unit 122 adds a new record each time it receives an order confirmation request and does not perform overwriting. By searching the request history table with the customer ID as a key, obtaining all the dates and times when requests came, and obtaining the maximum value thereof, the "latest request date and time" can be obtained. The order confirmation request includes at least a customer ID and its transmission date and time.

[0030] The order notification unit 123 is a functional unit that notifies the customer who has sent an order confirmation request of the current order. Specifically, the order notification unit 123 identifies the current order of the customer who has sent the order confirmation request by checking the content of the queuing customer information 112 at the time when the order confirmation request is received, and notifies the order. More specifically, the order notification unit 123 transmits order information including the order of the customer who has sent the order confirmation request and an order display that visually shows the status of the predecessors who are waiting in line before that customer, to the information terminal 200 of the customer who has sent the order confirmation request.

[0031] The reminder determination unit 124 is a functional unit that determines whether or not the conditions for transmitting a reminder notification are satisfied. Specifically, the reminder determination unit 124 determines whether or not any one of a plurality of preset reminder conditions is satisfied. In this embodiment, for example, as shown in conditions 1 to 3 in FIG. 8, three conditions are prepared. Note that the number of set conditions is arbitrary, and for example, a plurality of conditions may be combined, such as combining condition 2 and condition 3.

[0032] Returning to FIG. 2, the waiting time estimation unit 125 is a functional unit that estimates the waiting time of a customer. Specifically, the waiting time estimation unit 125 estimates the waiting time of the customer based on the previous waiting times of a plurality of customers included in the history information 113. The estimation of the waiting time may be performed, for example, using a learning model learned using the history information 113. In addition to the content of the history information 113, information such as the day of the week, weather, and cancellation rate may also be learned by the learning model as input data. The waiting time estimation unit 125 only needs to be able to estimate the probability that a predecessor cancels using the learning model based on the content of the current queuing customer information 112. For the condition 3 shown in FIG. 8, the waiting time estimated by taking into account the cancellation probability estimated by the waiting time estimation unit 125 may be used to determine whether the condition is satisfied. Also, for example, based on the number of times a queuing confirmation request is received after a reminder notification in the history information 113 and the presence or absence of cancellation, the probability that each predecessor waiting in line before oneself cancels may be estimated. Further, based on the waiting time information included in the history information 113, the average time (waiting time) elapsed from when each predecessor started waiting in line until arriving at the store may be calculated, and the waiting time of the customer may be estimated based on the average of the waiting time and the estimated cancellation probability.

[0033] The reminder notification unit 126 is a functional unit that sends reminder notifications based on the determination result of the reminder determination unit 124. Specifically, when the reminder determination unit 124 determines that the reminder condition is satisfied, the reminder notification unit 126 is a functional unit that sends a reminder notification to the customer's information terminal 200 to inform that the turn is approaching. In addition, the reminder notification unit 126 has a function of registering the date and time when the reminder notification was sent in a reminder table (not shown) in the storage unit 110. The reminder table is a table showing the transmission history of reminder notifications, and includes the customer ID and the date and time when the reminder notification was sent to the customer. The reminder notification unit 126 may send reminder notifications multiple times. In that case, a new record may be added each time a reminder notification is sent, and overwriting is not required. By searching the reminder table using the customer ID as a key, obtaining all the dates and times when the reminder was sent, and obtaining the maximum value, the "latest reminder transmission date and time" can be obtained. In addition, the reminder notification unit 126 also has a function of updating the item content of the reminder notification corresponding to the customer to whom the reminder notification was sent for the waiting customer information 112.

[0034] The information update unit 127 is a functional unit that updates the content of the waiting customer information 112 and the content of the history information 113 by deleting the content of the waiting customer information 112 and registering it in the history information 113. Specifically, the information update unit 127 is a functional unit that deletes the content of the waiting customer information 112 corresponding to the customer and registers it in the history information 113 based on the fact that the customer has visited the restaurant or a cancellation has occurred. For example, the arrival of the customer may be determined by inputting a two-dimensional code, a customer ID, a waiting queue code issued at the time of waiting queue registration, etc. into an input device provided in the store. For cancellations, a cancellation request may be sent to the queue management device 100 at the timing when the cancellation is performed by the customer's operation. In addition to this, the arrival of the customer may be determined by the operation of the restaurant staff.

[0035] The input / output unit 130 is a device composed of a keyboard, a mouse, a camera, a microphone, a liquid crystal display, an organic EL (Electro-Luminescence) display, etc., and is used to input and output various data.

[0036] The communication unit 140 is a device for the order management device 100 to communicate with other information terminals such as the information terminal 200 via the computer communication network 400. The above is the configuration of the order management device 100.

[0037] (Operation) Subsequently, the operations of the order management device 100 and the information terminal 200 will be described. FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing an example of the order waiting request process in the information terminal 200 and the order waiting registration process in the order management device 100. The order waiting request process in this embodiment starts when an operation on the information terminal 200 by a user who is a customer is performed. As described above, in this embodiment, the case of waiting in line at a restaurant will be described as an example below.

[0038] When starting the order waiting request process shown in FIG. 5, the information terminal 200 sends an order waiting registration screen request to the order management device 100 (step S11). Specifically, in the process of step S11, the information terminal 200 sends an order waiting registration screen request, which is a request for providing an order waiting registration screen for waiting in line at a desired restaurant based on the operation by the customer, to the order management device 100.

[0039] On the side of the order management device 100, when a registration screen request is received, the waiting list registration process is started. When the waiting list registration process is started, the control unit 120 provides an information terminal 200 with a registration screen including the current number of people waiting in line through the function of the order reception unit 121 (step S12). Specifically, in the process of step S12, the order reception unit 121 obtains the current number of people waiting in line by checking the waiting list customer information 112, generates a registration screen as shown in FIG. 6 including the number of people waiting in line, and provides it to the information terminal 200 which is the transmission source of the registration screen request. When the registration screen is provided, on the side of the information terminal 200, a screen as shown in FIG. 6 is displayed.

[0040] On the side of the information terminal 200, when the registration screen is provided, it is determined whether a waiting list registration request operation has been performed by a user who is a customer (step S13). Specifically, in the process of step S13, the information terminal 200 determines whether the "Register for Waiting List" button shown in FIG. 6 has been tapped by a user who is a customer, that is, whether an operation for sending a waiting list registration request which is a request for performing waiting list registration has been performed.

[0041] If the waiting list registration request operation has not been performed (step S13; No), the information terminal 200 simply ends the waiting list request process. On the other hand, if the waiting list registration request operation has been performed (step S13; Yes), the information terminal 200 sends a waiting list registration request (step S14) and ends the waiting list request process. Specifically, in the process of step S14, the information terminal 200 sends a waiting list registration request for requesting registration in the waiting list, that is, registration in the waiting list customer information 112, to the order management device 100 based on the tapping of the "Register for Waiting List" button.

[0042] On the side of the sequence management device 100, after executing the process of step S12, it is determined whether a registration request for waiting in line has been received (step S15). If a registration request for waiting in line has not been received (step S15; No), the control unit 120 simply ends the registration process for waiting in line. Note that it may be determined that a registration request for waiting in line has not been received if a registration request for waiting in line has not been received within a predetermined valid period after executing the process of step S12.

[0043] If it is determined in the process of step S15 that a registration request for waiting in line has been received (step S15; Yes), the control unit 120 registers the information included in the registration request for waiting in line in the waiting-in-line customer information 112 by the function of the order reception unit 121 (step S16), and ends the registration process for waiting in line. Specifically, in the process of step S16, the order reception unit 121 adds the customer ID included in the registration request for waiting in line as a new customer waiting in line to the waiting-in-line customer information 112. For example, if the content of the current waiting-in-line customer information 112 registers 7 customers, in the process of step S16, the order reception unit 121 registers the customer ID included in the registration request for waiting in line as the 8th customer.

[0044] Next, the sequence management process in the sequence management device 100 will be described. FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing an example of the sequence management process in the sequence management device 100. The sequence management process starts execution when a preset time is reached, and ends execution when the end time of the waiting-in-line reception time is reached or an instruction from the restaurant side is received.

[0045] When starting the sequence management process, first, the control unit 120 determines whether a sequence confirmation request has been received by the function of the sequence confirmation request reception unit 122 (step S21). Specifically, in the process of step S21, the sequence confirmation request reception unit 122 determines whether a sequence confirmation request has been received from the customers registered in the waiting-in-line customer information 112 by the waiting-in-line registration process shown in FIG. 5.

[0046] When it is determined that a turn confirmation request has been received through the process of step S21 (step S21; Yes), the control unit 120 updates the content of the turn-waiting customer information 112 according to whether it is before or after the reminder notification by means of the function of the turn confirmation request receiving unit 122 (step S22). Specifically, in the process of step S22, if it is before the reminder notification, the turn confirmation request receiving unit 122 updates the information on the presence or absence of a pre-reminder confirmation request to "Yes", and if it is after the reminder notification, it updates the information on the presence or absence of a post-reminder confirmation request to "Yes". Also, in the process of step S22, the turn confirmation request receiving unit 122 updates the content of the request history table (not shown) by adding the customer ID included in the turn confirmation request and the date and time when the turn confirmation request was received.

[0047] After executing the process of step S22, the control unit 120 transmits turn information to the information terminal 200 by means of the function of the turn notification unit 123 (step S23). Specifically, in the process of step S23, the turn notification unit 123 checks the content of the turn-waiting customer information 112 at the time when the turn confirmation request was received, identifies the current turn of the customer ID corresponding to the turn confirmation request, and transmits the turn information to the information terminal 200 of the customer. Note that the turn information includes a turn display that displays the state of the customer and the predecessors waiting in turn in front of the customer in a visible manner. By transmitting the turn information through the process of step S22, as shown in FIG. 9, the turn information will be displayed on the information terminal 200. In the illustrated example, "◎", "×", etc. are the turn displays. According to this, the user who is a customer can check the seriousness of the predecessors waiting in turn in front of him / herself, and can reduce the stress on the user's turn waiting. Note that in this embodiment, since it is assumed that the user checks his / her turn after the reminder notification, it is presumed that customers who have not checked their turns after the reminder notification have a low level of seriousness about waiting in turn, that is, the possibility of cancellation cannot be denied.

[0048] Returning to FIG. 7, after executing the process of step S23, or when it is determined in the process of step S21 that a turn confirmation request has not been received (step S21; No), the control unit 120 determines whether a reminder condition is satisfied by the function of the reminder determination unit 124 (step S24). Specifically, in the process of step S24, the reminder determination unit 124 determines whether any of the conditions 1 to 3 shown in FIG. 8 is satisfied based on the content of the current waiting customer information 112. As described above, the number of set conditions is arbitrary, and for example, a plurality of conditions may be combined, such as combining condition 2 and condition 3. Further, for example, when condition 3 is set, the control unit 120 estimates the probability that the predecessor cancels using the learning model based on the content of the current waiting customer information 112 by the function of the waiting time estimation unit 125, and estimates the waiting time based on the estimated cancellation probability. Then, it may be determined whether condition 3 is satisfied using the waiting time estimated by the function of the waiting time estimation unit 125.

[0049] When it is determined in the process of step S24 shown in FIG. 7 that the reminder condition is satisfied (step S24; Yes), the control unit 120 transmits a reminder notification by the function of the reminder notification unit 126 (step S25). Specifically, in the process of step S25, the reminder notification unit 126 transmits a reminder notification to the information terminal 200 of the customer for whom the reminder condition is satisfied, informing that the turn is approaching, as shown in FIG. 10. The reminder notification in this embodiment includes, as shown in FIG. 10, in addition to the display for making the customer visually recognize that the turn is approaching, a confirmation button (the "Confirm Turn" button shown in the figure) for confirming the current turn and the display of a cancel button (the "Cancel Waiting in Line" button shown in the figure) for canceling the waiting in line. Further, in the process of step S25 in FIG. 7, the date and time when the reminder notification was transmitted is registered in the reminder table in the storage unit 110. Specifically, the customer ID and the date and time when the reminder notification was transmitted to that customer are added as a new record to the reminder table.

[0050] After executing the process of step S25, the control unit 120 updates the content of the waiting customer information 112 by the function of the reminder notification unit 126 (step S26). Specifically, in the process of step S26, the reminder notification unit 126 updates the item of the reminder notification corresponding to the customer among the items of the reminder notification in the waiting customer information 112 to "sent".

[0051] After executing the process of step S26, or when it is determined in the process of step S24 that the reminder condition is not satisfied (step S24; No), the control unit 120 determines whether a cancellation request has been received from the customer (step S27). The cancellation request in this embodiment is a request transmitted to the order management device 100 by an operation on the information terminal 200 by the customer, and is a request to cancel the waiting order. Note that the cancellation request can be transmitted at any timing by the customer. When it is determined in the process of step S27 that a cancellation request has been received (step S27; Yes), the control unit 120 updates the content of the waiting customer information 112 (step S28) and returns to the process of step S21. In the process of step S28, among the items of the presence / absence of cancellation in the waiting customer information 112, the item of the presence / absence of cancellation corresponding to the customer ID included in the cancellation request is updated to "yes". On the other hand, when it is determined that no cancellation request has been received (step S27; No), the control unit 120 directly returns to the process of step S21. Note that it may be determined that no cancellation request has been received when no cancellation request has been received within a preset valid period.

[0052] Next, the order update process in the order management device 100 will be described. FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing an example of the order update process in the order management device 100. The order update process starts execution at a preset time and ends execution when it reaches the end time of the waiting order reception time or when an instruction from the restaurant side is received. That is, the order update process is executed in parallel with the order management process.

[0053] When starting the order management process, first, the control unit 120 determines whether a customer has visited the store (step S31). Specifically, in the process of step S31, the control unit 120 determines whether it has received a store visit notification indicating that a customer has visited the store from the restaurant side. The store visit notification may be transmitted, for example, by inputting a two-dimensional code, a customer ID, an order waiting code issued at the time of order waiting registration, etc. into an input device provided in the store.

[0054] If the store visit notification has not been received in the process of step S31 (step S31; No), the control unit 120 determines whether a cancellation request has been received (step S32). Specifically, in the process of step S32, the control unit 120 determines whether it has received a cancellation request transmitted by the customer's operation on the information terminal 200. If the cancellation request has not been received (step S32; No), the control unit 120 returns to the process of step S31.

[0055] When a store arrival notice is received in the process of the process of step S31 (step S31; Yes), or when a cancellation request is received in the process of the process of step S32 (step S32; Yes), the control unit 120 deletes the content of the waiting customer information 112 and registers it in the history information 113 by the function of the information update unit 127, thereby transferring the content of the waiting customer information 112 to the history information 113 (step S33), and ends the order update process. Specifically, in the process of step S33, the information update unit 127, for example, when a customer with the customer ID "172T564" arrives at the store, as shown in FIG. 12, deletes the content of the waiting customer information 112 corresponding to the customer ID "172T564" and registers the content in the history information 113. As a result, the order of the customer with the customer ID "27Za564", which is the next order after the customer ID "172T564", becomes "1" (the orders of the subsequent customers are also incremented by one). The same applies when a cancellation request is received. For example, in the example shown in FIG. 12, since the customer with the customer ID "Ac256TT" whose order is "5" has canceled, in the process of step S33, the information update unit 127 deletes the content of the waiting customer information 112 corresponding to the customer ID "Ac256TT" and registers the content in the history information 113. As a result, the orders of the customers after order "6" are incremented by one.

[0056] The above is the operation of the order management device 100 and the information terminal 200. As described above, according to the order management device 100 in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 9, since the status of the customers waiting in line before oneself can be visually displayed, the order management can be performed with high accuracy. Further, according to the order management device 100 in this embodiment, for example, when the condition 2 shown in FIG. 8 is set, the waiting in line can be managed in consideration of the status after the reminder notification, and the order management can be performed with high accuracy.

[0057] (Modification example) Note that the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various modifications and applications are possible. For example, the order management device 100 and the information terminal 200 according to the above-described embodiments do not necessarily have all the technical features shown above, and may have some of the configurations described in the above embodiments so as to solve at least one problem in the prior art. Also, for each of the following modification examples, at least a part may be combined.

[0058] In the above embodiment, an example was shown in which by transmitting order information in the process of step S23 shown in FIG. 7, as shown in FIG. 9, information of oneself and the predecessor is displayed. However, this is just an example. For example, as shown in FIG. 13, information of customers waiting in line after oneself may also be displayed. According to this, in addition to the seriousness of the predecessors waiting in line before oneself, information of customers waiting in line after oneself can be confirmed, the stress of the user waiting in line can be reduced, and an advantage can be given.

[0059] Also, in the above embodiment, an example was shown in which, as shown in FIG. 9, information of oneself and the predecessor is expressed by a display shape such as "◎" or "×". However, this is just an example. In addition to this, for example, even if it is the same shape, the seriousness of the predecessors waiting in line before oneself may be displayed by the depth of color, the speed of blinking, etc. That is, it is sufficient that the display mode is different depending on the seriousness of the predecessors.

[0060] Also, in the above embodiment, after transmitting the reminder notification, an example was shown in which only the situation of whether or not one's own turn has been confirmed after the reminder notification is visible as shown in FIG. 9. However, this is just an example. Even after the reminder notification, it may be displayed in a display mode that allows the situation before the reminder notification to be recognized. For the leftmost predecessor in the example shown in FIG. 9, for example, both the situation before the reminder notification and the subsequent situation may be visibly displayed as, for example, "○◎".

[0061] Furthermore, after the reminder notification is sent, it may be possible to receive multiple order confirmation requests, and the waiting time of each customer may be estimated according to the number of received order confirmation requests after the reminder notification is sent. In this case, for example, the number of received order confirmation requests after the reminder notification is sent may be obtained from the request history table based on the reminder table, and the waiting time of each customer may be estimated. Regarding the estimation of the waiting time, for example, it may be estimated using a learning model learned based on the information so far.

[0062] In addition, in the above embodiment, the case of online waiting in a restaurant has been described as an example, but this is just an example. It is not limited to restaurants, and the order management device 100 can be applied, for example, in cases of waiting in amusement facilities, hospitals, banks, government offices, online fortune-telling, and consultations with operators.

[0063] In addition, in the above embodiment, as an example of the conditions for sending the reminder notification, three conditions, namely condition 1 to condition 3 shown in FIG. 8, are prepared, but this is just an example. In addition, for example, condition 4 such as the waiting time estimated by the waiting time estimation unit 125 being within 20 minutes may be prepared. Also, as described above, a plurality of these conditions may be combined.

[0064] Note that the order management device 100 and the information terminal 200 according to the above embodiment can be realized not by a dedicated device but by using a normal computer. For example, by installing the program for executing any of the above on a computer from a recording medium storing the program, an order management device 100 that executes the above processing may be configured. Also, one order management device 100 and information terminal 200 may be configured by multiple computers operating in cooperation.

[0065] Also, in the case where the above functions are realized by sharing between the OS (Operating System) and the application, or by the cooperation between the OS and the application, only the part other than the OS may be stored in the medium.

[0066] Also, it is possible to superimpose a program on a carrier wave and distribute it via a communication network. For example, the program may be posted on a bulletin board (BBS, Bulletin Board System) on the communication network, and the program may be distributed via the network. Then, these programs are started and configured to be able to execute the above-described processing by executing them in the same manner as other application programs under the control of an operating system.

[0067] Hereinafter, various aspects of the present disclosure will be collectively described as appendices.

[0068] (Appendix 1) An order confirmation request receiving unit that receives an order confirmation request from an information terminal of a customer who has registered for waiting in line, An order notification unit that notifies the information terminal of order information including the order of the customer and the status of a predecessor who is a customer waiting in line ahead of the customer, A reminder determination unit that determines whether a condition for transmitting a reminder notification for notifying that the order of the customer is approaching is satisfied, A reminder notification unit that transmits the reminder notification to the information terminal of the customer according to a determination result by the reminder determination unit, and the order information includes, as the status of the predecessor, reminder post-confirmation request information indicating whether a confirmation request has been received from the information terminal of the predecessor after the reminder notification has been transmitted to the information terminal of the predecessor, An order management device characterized by the above.

[0069] (Appendix 2) the order information further includes, as the status of the predecessor, reminder pre-confirmation request information indicating whether a confirmation request has been received from the information terminal of the predecessor before the reminder notification is transmitted to the information terminal of the predecessor, The order management device according to Appendix 1, characterized by the above.

[0070] (Appendix 3) The reminder determination unit determines whether or not the condition for transmitting the reminder notification is satisfied based on the post-reminder confirmation request information. The order management device according to Appendix 1 or 2, characterized in that.

[0071] (Appendix 4) A cancellation instruction receiving unit that receives a cancellation instruction for canceling the waiting in line, A waiting time estimation unit that estimates the waiting time corresponding to the customer's order, further comprising: The waiting time estimation unit calculates the probability that the predecessor cancels the waiting in line based on the number of times the order confirmation request is received from the predecessor after transmitting the reminder notification to the predecessor and whether or not the cancellation instruction is received, and estimates the waiting time from the average of the past waiting times of the predecessor and the probability. When the waiting time is less than a predetermined threshold value, the reminder determination unit determines that the condition for transmitting the reminder notification is satisfied. The order management device according to any one of Appendices 1 to 3, characterized in that.

[0072] (Appendix 5) The order notification unit displays the status of the predecessor indicated by the post-reminder confirmation request information in a visible display mode. The order management device according to any one of Appendices 1 to 4, characterized in that.

[0073] (Appendix 6) The order notification unit displays the status of the predecessor indicated by the pre-reminder confirmation request information and the post-reminder confirmation request information in different visible display modes, respectively. The order management device according to Appendix 2, characterized in that.

[0074] (Appendix 7) An order management method by an order management device, An order confirmation request receiving step of receiving an order confirmation request from an information terminal of a customer who has registered for waiting in line; An order notification step of notifying the information terminal with order information including the order of the customer and the status of a predecessor who is a customer waiting in line ahead of the customer; A reminder determination step of determining whether a condition for transmitting a reminder notification notifying that the customer's order is approaching is satisfied; A reminder notification step of transmitting the reminder notification to the information terminal of the customer according to the determination result of the reminder determination step, and comprising: In the order information, as the status of the predecessor, reminder post-check request information indicating whether a post-reminder confirmation request has been received from the information terminal of the predecessor after transmitting the reminder notification to the information terminal of the predecessor is included. An order management method characterized by the above.

[0075] (Supplementary Note 8) A computer, An order confirmation request receiving unit that receives an order confirmation request from an information terminal of a customer who has registered for waiting in line, An order notification unit that notifies the information terminal with order information including the order of the customer and the status of a predecessor who is a customer waiting in line ahead of the customer, A reminder determination unit that determines whether a condition for transmitting a reminder notification notifying that the customer's order is approaching is satisfied, A reminder notification unit that transmits the reminder notification to the information terminal of the customer according to the determination result of the reminder determination unit, and functions as: In the order information, as the status of the predecessor, reminder post-check request information indicating whether a post-reminder confirmation request has been received from the information terminal of the predecessor after transmitting the reminder notification to the information terminal of the predecessor is included. A program characterized by the above.

[0076] The present disclosure can be implemented in various embodiments and variations without departing from the broad spirit and scope of the present disclosure. Further, the above-described embodiments are for explaining this disclosure and do not limit the scope of this disclosure. That is, the scope of the present disclosure is indicated by the claims rather than the embodiments. And various modifications made within the scope of the claims and within the scope of the meaning of the disclosure equivalent thereto are considered to be within the scope of this disclosure.

Industrial Applicability

[0077] According to the present invention, it is possible to provide an order management device, an order management method, and a program capable of accurately performing order management.

Explanation of Signs

[0078] 100 Order management device 110 Storage unit 111 Program 112 Customer information waiting in line 113 History information 120 Control unit 121 Order reception unit 122 Order confirmation request reception unit 123 Order notification unit 124 Reminder determination unit 125 Waiting time estimation unit 126 Reminder notification unit 127 Information update unit 130 Input / output unit 140 Communication unit 200 Information terminal 400 Computer communication network

Claims

1. An order confirmation request receiving unit that receives an order confirmation request from an information terminal of a customer who has registered in a queue; An order notification unit that notifies the information terminal of order information including the order of the customer and the status of a predecessor who is a customer waiting in line ahead of the customer; A reminder determination unit that determines whether a condition for transmitting a reminder notification indicating that the customer's turn is approaching is satisfied; A reminder notification unit that transmits the reminder notification to the information terminal of the customer according to a determination result by the reminder determination unit, and the order information includes, as the status of the predecessor, reminder post-confirmation request information indicating whether a confirmation request for the order has been received from the information terminal of the predecessor after the reminder notification has been transmitted to the information terminal of the predecessor. An order management device characterized by the above.

2. The order information further includes reminder pre-confirmation request information indicating whether a confirmation request for the order has been received from the information terminal of the predecessor before the reminder notification is transmitted to the information terminal of the predecessor, as the status of the predecessor. The order management device according to claim 1, characterized by the above.

3. The reminder determination unit determines whether a condition for transmitting the reminder notification is satisfied based on the reminder post-confirmation request information. The order management device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by the above.

4. A cancellation instruction receiving unit that receives a cancellation instruction to cancel the queue waiting; and A waiting time estimation unit that estimates a waiting time corresponding to the order of the customer, and the waiting time estimation unit calculates a probability that the predecessor cancels the queue waiting based on the number of times a confirmation request for the order is received from the predecessor after the reminder notification is transmitted to the predecessor and the presence or absence of reception of the cancellation instruction, and estimates the waiting time from the average of the past waiting times of the predecessor and the probability. The reminder determination unit determines that the condition for transmitting the reminder notification is satisfied when the waiting time is less than a predetermined threshold. The order management device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by the above.

5. The order notification unit displays the status of the predecessor indicated by the reminder post-confirmation request information in a visible display mode. The order management device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized by the above.

6. The order notification unit displays the status of the predecessors indicated by the pre-reminder confirmation request information and the post-reminder confirmation request information in different display modes in a display mode that allows visual confirmation. The order management device according to claim 2, characterized in that.

7. An order management method by an order management device, comprising: An order confirmation request receiving step of receiving an order confirmation request from an information terminal of a customer who has registered for waiting in line; An order notification step of notifying the information terminal of order information including the order of the customer and the status of a predecessor who is waiting in line ahead of the customer; A reminder determination step of determining whether a condition for transmitting a reminder notification indicating that the customer's turn is approaching is satisfied; A reminder notification step of transmitting the reminder notification to the information terminal of the customer according to the determination result of the reminder determination step, and the order information includes, as the status of the predecessor, post-reminder confirmation request information indicating whether a confirmation request for the order has been received from the information terminal of the predecessor after the reminder notification has been transmitted to the information terminal of the predecessor. The order management method characterized by the above.

8. A computer, An order confirmation request receiving unit that receives an order confirmation request from an information terminal of a customer who has registered for waiting in line; An order notification unit that notifies the information terminal of order information including the order of the customer and the status of a predecessor who is waiting in line ahead of the customer; A reminder determination unit that determines whether a condition for transmitting a reminder notification indicating that the customer's turn is approaching is satisfied; A reminder notification unit that transmits the reminder notification to the information terminal of the customer according to the determination result of the reminder determination unit, and functions as, the order information includes, as the status of the predecessor, post-reminder confirmation request information indicating whether a confirmation request for the order has been received from the information terminal of the predecessor after the reminder notification has been transmitted to the information terminal of the predecessor. The program characterized by the above.

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