Reservation acceptance system and computer program product

• US 20040181439A1
• Filed: 01/26/2004
• Published: 09/16/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Original Assignee: Fujitsu Limited
• Inventors: Fujimoto, Shingo, Ohno, Takashi, Murakami, Masahiko, Iwakawa, Akinori, Kakuta, Jun, Okada, Sumiyo
• Granted Patent: US 8,082,164 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/5
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/02 Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/025 Coordination of plural reservations, e.g. plural trip segments, transportation combined with accommodation

Abstract

A reservation acceptance system is provided that accepts requests of reservations from customers so that the resources can be used efficiently. The reservation acceptance system includes a reservation request reception portion for accepting a request for providing a service, a position information reception portion for obtaining position information of a customer who made the request, an acceptance condition database for storing area condition information defining a predetermined area around a provision position of the service, an existence decision portion for deciding whether or not the customer is within the predetermined area in accordance with the position information and the area condition information, and a reservation acceptance processing portion that performs a reservation acceptance process of the service when it is decided that the customer is within the predetermined area and does not perform the reservation acceptance process when it is decided that the customer is not within the predetermined area.

Claims

1. A reservation acceptance system comprising:

a request acceptance portion for accepting a request for providing a service;

a current position information obtaining portion for obtaining current position information that indicates a current position of a customer who made the request;

an area information storage portion for storing area information that defines a predetermined area around a provision position of the service;

an existence decision portion for deciding whether or not the customer who made the request is within the predetermined area in accordance with the current position information and the area information; and

a reservation acceptance processing portion that performs a reservation acceptance process for accepting a reservation of the service that relates to the request when it is decided that the customer who made the request is within the predetermined area and does not perform the reservation acceptance process when it is decided that the customer is not within the predetermined area.

2. The reservation acceptance system according to claim 1, further comprising a provided quantity information obtaining portion for obtaining provided quantity information concerning a quantity of the service that can be provided, wherein

the area information has a parameter that indicates the quantity, so that the predetermined area is defined as a larger area as the quantity indicated by the parameter is larger, and

the existence decision portion performs the decision by deciding whether or not the customer who made the request is within an area that is defined in accordance with the quantity indicated by the provided quantity information and the area information.

3. The reservation acceptance system according to claim 1, wherein the request acceptance portion accepts the request together with a designation of a desired time for receiving the service,

the area information has a parameter that indicates a time so that the predetermined area is defined as a larger area as the time indicated by the parameter is longer, and

the existence decision portion performs the decision by deciding whether or not the customer who made the request is within an area that is defined in accordance with the time related to the designation and the area information.

4. The reservation acceptance system according to claim 1, wherein if a request for a temporary reservation is received from the customer after the result of the decision that the customer who made the request is not within the predetermined area is obtained,

the current position information obtaining portion obtains the current position information of the customer newly,

the existence decision portion performs the decision newly in accordance with the newly obtained current position information, and

the reservation acceptance processing portion performs the reservation acceptance process if it is decided by the newly performed decision that the customer is within the predetermined area.

5. The reservation acceptance system according to claim 1, further comprising:

an arrival time forecast portion for forecasting a time of arrival when the customer who made the request for the reservation that was processed by the reservation acceptance process will arrive at the provision position;

an arrival possibility decision portion for deciding whether or not the customer who made the request will arrive by the forecasted time of arrival in accordance with the time of arrival, the present time and the current position information of the customer that was obtained newly after the reservation acceptance process had been performed, and

a cancel processing portion for performing a process for canceling the reservation related to the request when it is decided that the customer who made the request will not arrive by the forecasted time of arrival.

6. A reservation acceptance system for accepting a reservation of a parking lot, comprising:

a request acceptance portion for accepting a request for parking a car in the parking lot;

a current position information obtaining portion for obtaining current position information that indicates a current position of a customer who made the request;

an area information storage portion for storing area information that defines a predetermined area around the parking lot;

an existence decision portion for deciding whether or not the customer who made the request is within the predetermined area in accordance with the current position information and the area information; and

a reservation acceptance processing portion that performs a reservation acceptance process for accepting a reservation of the parking lot for the customer when it is decided that the customer who made the request is within the predetermined area and does not perform the reservation acceptance process when it is decided that the customer is not within the predetermined area.

7. The reservation acceptance system according to claim 6, further comprising:

a traffic information obtaining portion for obtaining traffic information around the parking lot or the customer who made the request, the traffic information being transmitted from an information providing portion; and

a demand forecast portion for forecasting a future demand of the parking lot in accordance with the obtained traffic information, wherein

the area information has a parameter that indicates a quantity of the demand, so that the predetermined area is defined as a larger area as the quantity indicated by the parameter is smaller, and

the existence decision portion performs the decision by deciding whether or not the customer who made the request is within an area that is defined in accordance with the forecasted demand and the area information.

8. A computer program product for use in a computer that performs an acceptance of a reservation, the computer program product comprising:

means for processing an acceptance of a request for providing a service;

means for obtaining current position information that indicates a current position of a customer who made the request;

means for obtaining area information that defines a predetermined area around a provision position of the service from an area information storage portion;

means for deciding whether or not the customer who made the request is within the predetermined area in accordance with the current position information and the area information; and

means for performing a process for accepting a reservation of providing the service that relates to the request when it is decided that the customer who made the request is within the predetermined area.