Visit Schedule Creation Using Priority-Based Reassignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
The increasing demand for home visits due to a growing elderly population, combined with a shortage of carers and nurses, complicates the creation of visit schedules, leading to higher calculation costs.
Innovation Solution
A method and device that assign visited persons to visitors based on location information, calculate priority levels, and reassign visits to optimize scheduling, reducing conflicts and calculation costs by using an assignment unit, calculation unit, and reassignment unit.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If the number of visited persons increases due to aging population, then the demand for home visit care increases, but the calculation cost for creating visit schedules increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the schedule creation process into two distinct phases: initial assignment based on location information, and priority-based reassignment for conflict resolution. This segmentation allows the system to handle large numbers of visited persons efficiently by performing simple location-based assignments first, then applying priority rules only when conflicts arise, thereby reducing overall calculation cost while maintaining comprehensive care coverage.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary assignment of visited persons to visitors based solely on location information before considering priority conflicts. This preliminary action establishes a baseline schedule that can be quickly generated for large datasets, and only requires additional calculation when conflicts need resolution through priority-based reassignment, thus reducing the computational burden compared to evaluating all possibilities simultaneously.
2Quantity of substance
If the number of carers and nurses decreases, then the shortage of service providers increases, but the visit schedule becomes more complicated
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the schedule creation process into two distinct phases: initial assignment based on location information, and priority-based reassignment for conflict resolution. This segmentation allows the system to handle large numbers of visited persons efficiently by performing simple location-based assignments first, then applying priority rules only when conflicts arise, thereby reducing overall calculation cost while maintaining comprehensive care coverage.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the parameter used for assignment from complex multi-factor evaluation to simple location-based criteria in the initial phase, then applies priority rules as a secondary adjustment mechanism. This parameter change simplifies the overall schedule creation process by using location information as the primary assignment driver, reducing the complexity that would otherwise result from trying to optimize for multiple competing factors simultaneously.
3Productivity
If location information is used for assignment, then the efficiency of visit scheduling improves, but conflicts may arise that require additional calculation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the schedule creation process into two distinct phases: initial assignment based on location information, and priority-based reassignment for conflict resolution. This segmentation allows the system to handle large numbers of visited persons efficiently by performing simple location-based assignments first, then applying priority rules only when conflicts arise, thereby reducing overall calculation cost while maintaining comprehensive care coverage.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the priority calculation unit identifies conflicts in the initially assigned schedule and triggers reassignment only for those specific conflicts. This feedback-based approach maintains the efficiency benefits of location-based assignment while correcting issues through targeted priority-based adjustments, reducing unnecessary calculation costs compared to complete schedule optimization.
Data Source
AI summary
A visit schedule creation device 100 of the present invention includes an assignment unit 121 that, on the basis of location information of a visitor and a visited person, creates a visit schedule in which the visited person, to be visited by the visitor, is assigned to the visitor; a calculation unit 122 that calculates priority representing a level of priority of the visited person assigned to the visitor, on the basis of the location information; and a reassignment unit 123 that creates the visit schedule in which assignment of the visited person to the visitor is changed, on the basis of the priority.