Shared vehicle management device

• US 10,360,518 B2
• Filed: 01/29/2015
• Issued: 07/23/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/19/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.
• Inventors: Hirose, Satoru, Chinomi, Satoshi, Nagai, Yukiko, Kuno, Masaki
• Primary Examiner(s): Flynn, Kevin H
• Assistant Examiner(s): Zeroual, Omar
• Application Number:
  US15/126,933
• Publication Number:
  US 20170098176A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,636 Days
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0645 Rental transactions; Leasing transactions
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/40 Business processes related to the transportation industry shipping G06Q10/083

Abstract

A shared vehicle management device for managing shared vehicles used by users, including a rental request acquisition unit configured to acquire a rental request by the user, a vehicle state acquisition unit configured to acquire state information of the shared vehicle, a rental determination unit configured to determine a necessity level of maintenance of the shared vehicle on a basis of the state information of the shared vehicle, and determine whether to prohibit or permit a rental of the shared vehicle with the state information of the shared vehicle and the rental request by the user, and a recommended destination selection unit configured to determine that the shared vehicle needs maintenance upon a determination that the necessity level of maintenance of the shared vehicle is higher than a predetermined reference value when the rental determination unit determines whether to prohibit or permit the rental of the shared vehicle.

Claims

1. A shared vehicle management device that communicates with a user terminal device and an operator terminal device in an electronic shared vehicle management system for managing shared vehicles used by users, comprising:

a communication device that receives an electronic rental request from the user terminal device, the request made by a user of the users; and

a processor, wherein the processor processes a rental request acquisition based on the electronic rental request,

wherein the communication device further acquires state information of a shared vehicle of the shared vehicles, wherein the state information comprises Global Positioning System (GPS) data acquired from a GPS receiver in the shared vehicle,

wherein the processor further processes a rental determination that;

determines a necessity level of maintenance of the shared vehicle on a basis of the state information of the shared vehicle, and

determines whether to prohibit or permit a rental of the shared vehicle with the state information of the shared vehicle and the electronic rental request by the user;

wherein the processor further processes a recommended destination selection that;

determines that the shared vehicle needs maintenance upon a determination that the necessity level of maintenance of the shared vehicle is higher than a predetermined reference value when the rental determination determines whether to prohibit or permit the rental of the shared vehicle;

acquires a management information comprising a location of a maintenance facility and an availability of the maintenance facility; and

uses the communication device to transmit a recommended destination presentation to the user terminal device that presents a recommended destination selected by the recommended destination selection to the user,

wherein the recommended destination is selected based on the GPS data, the management information, and a predetermined wait time period,

wherein the rental determination permits the rental of the shared vehicle when the user accepts the presented recommended destination as a destination for the shared vehicle, and

wherein the processor further processes a transporting work management that, when the user does not accept the selected recommended destination as a destination for the shared vehicle;

refers to the management information that further includes a schedule for an operator who transports the shared vehicle;

selects the operator to perform transportation work for the shared vehicle; and

transmits, using the communication device, a command to transport the shared vehicle to an operator terminal device carried by the operator, resulting in the shared vehicle being transported.

2. The shared vehicle management device according to claim 1,

wherein the state information includes a remaining amount of energy that is used to drive the shared vehicle;

wherein the rental determination determines that the necessity level of maintenance of the shared vehicle is higher than the predetermined reference value when the remaining amount of energy of the shared vehicle is less than a predetermined remaining amount threshold; and

wherein the recommended destination selection selects an energy supply facility for supplying energy to the shared vehicle as the recommended destination when a determination is made that the necessity level of maintenance of the shared vehicle is higher than the predetermined reference value.

3. The shared vehicle management device according to claim 1,

wherein the state information includes condition information of the shared vehicle;

wherein the rental determination determines that the necessity level of maintenance of the shared vehicle is higher than the predetermined reference value when the condition information of the shared vehicle is not within a predefined appropriate range; and

wherein the recommended destination selection selects a maintenance facility for restoring the condition of the shared vehicle so that the condition information falls within the appropriate range as the recommended destination when a determination is made that the necessity level of maintenance of the shared vehicle is higher than the predetermined reference value.

4. The shared vehicle management device according to claim 1,

wherein the state information includes a first remaining amount of energy, at a time of renting the shared vehicle, that is used to drive the shared vehicle;

wherein the rental determination estimates a second remaining amount of energy, at a time of returning the shared vehicle, on a basis of the first remaining amount of energy and determines that the necessity level of maintenance of the shared vehicle at the time of returning is higher than the predetermined reference value when the estimated second remaining amount of energy at the time of returning is less than a predetermined remaining amount threshold; and

wherein the recommended destination selection selects an energy supply facility for supplying energy to the shared vehicle as the recommended destination when a determination is made that the necessity level of maintenance of the shared vehicle at the time of returning is higher than the predetermined reference value.

5. The shared vehicle management device according to claim 1,

wherein the state information includes condition information of the shared vehicle;

wherein the rental determination estimates the condition information at a time of returning the shared vehicle on a basis of the condition information at a time of renting the shared vehicle and determines that the necessity level of maintenance of the shared vehicle at the time of returning is higher than the predetermined reference value when the estimated condition information at the time of returning is not within a predefined appropriate range; and

wherein the recommended destination selection selects a maintenance facility for restoring the condition of the shared vehicle so that the condition information falls within the appropriate range as the recommended destination when a determination is made that the necessity level of maintenance of the shared vehicle at the time of returning is higher than the predetermined reference value.

6. The shared vehicle management device according to claim 1,

wherein the recommended destination is a point other than a point that is predetermined as a return space for the shared vehicle and is able to be designated as a destination for the shared vehicle.

7. The shared vehicle management device according to claim 1,

wherein the recommended destination selection refers to management information and selects a location of a facility that is available as the recommended destination, the management information including an operation state of the facility that is the recommended destination.

8. The shared vehicle management device according to claim 7,

wherein the recommended destination selection further:

refers to the management information; and

selects the location of the maintenance facility as the recommended destination when an available time for using the maintenance facility is before an estimated arrival time at which the shared vehicle is estimated to arrive at the recommended destination or a time difference between an available time for using the maintenance facility and the estimated arrival time at which the shared vehicle is estimated to arrive at the recommended destination is within a predetermined time period.

9. The shared vehicle management device according to claim 1,

wherein the transporting work management refers to the management information and determines whether or not the operator starts to transport the shared vehicle;

wherein the recommended destination selection selects the recommended destination in accordance with the state information of the shared vehicle before the transporting work management determines that the operator starts to transport the shared vehicle; and

wherein the recommended destination presentation presents the recommended destination to the user who desires to use the shared vehicle.

10. The shared vehicle management device according to claim 1,

wherein the management information includes an operation rate of the shared vehicle allocated to each station, and

wherein the transporting work management further:

refers to the management information; and

transmits a command, using the communication device, to make the operator preferentially transport the shared vehicle of which an operation rate is high, to the operator terminal device carried by the operator.

11. The shared vehicle management device according to claim 1,

wherein the management information includes an operation state of a facility as the recommended destination, and

wherein, when the recommended destination selection refers to the management information and determines that the facility as the selected, recommended destination is not available for a predetermined time period or more:

the recommended destination selection selects a station within a predetermined distance from the recommended destination as a second recommended destination.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions executable by a computer to perform a method of electronically managing shared vehicles, comprising:

acquiring, using a communication device, an electronic rental request by a user using a user terminal device;

acquiring, using the communication device, state information from a shared vehicle;

determining a necessity level of maintenance of the shared vehicle on a basis of the state information of the shared vehicle, wherein the state information comprises Global Positioning System (GPS) data acquired from a GPS receiver in the shared vehicle;

determining whether to prohibit or permit a rental of the shared vehicle on the basis of the state information of the shared vehicle and the electronic rental request by the user;

selecting a facility comprising necessary equipment for maintenance of the shared vehicle as a recommended destination when based on a determination that the necessity level of maintenance of the shared vehicle is higher than a predetermined reference value;

acquiring a management information comprising a location of a maintenance facility and an availability of the maintenance facility;

presenting, using the communication device and transmitting to the user terminal device, the recommended destination to the user, wherein the recommended destination is selected based on the GPS data, the management information, and a predetermined wait time period;

based on a determination that the user accepts the presented, recommended destination as a destination for the shared vehicle;

determining to permit the rental of the shared vehicle; and

based on a determination that the user does not accept the presented, recommended destination for the shared vehicle;

determining to prohibit the rental of the shared vehicle;

referring to the management information that includes a schedule for an operator who transports the shared vehicle;

selecting the operator for transporting the shared vehicle; and

transmitting, using the communication device, a command to transport the shared vehicle to a terminal device carried by the operator, resulting in the shared vehicle being transported.