Position information system and dispatch supporting system

• US 7,054,647 B2
• Filed: 09/26/2001
• Issued: 05/30/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: ARKRAY, Inc
• Original Assignee: ARKRAY, Inc
• Inventors: Inaba, Minoru, Nakanishi, Kosuke
• Primary Examiner(s): Cumming, William D.
• Application Number:
  US10/381,348
• Publication Number:
  US 20040054647A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,707 Days
• Field of Search: 455/457, 455/456.1
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2201/38 Displays
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/6018 Subscriber or terminal logon/logoff
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2207/18 wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2242/30 Determination of the location of a subscriber
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42 Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers specially adapted for wireless communication networks H04W4/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42042 Notifying the called party of information on the calling party details within substation equipment H04M1/57, signalling details H04Q3/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42059 Making use of the calling party identifier
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42093 Notifying the calling party of information on the called or connected party
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42365 Presence services providing information on the willingness to communicate or the ability to communicate in terms of media capability or network connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/51 Centralised call answering arrangements requiring operator intervention , e.g. call or contact centers for telemarketing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A position information system (101) obtains position information (latitude and longitude) of a dispatch location from a telephone number/address DB (113) or an address/position information DB (114) based on the sender telephone number of a telephone (103) of a customer or the like requesting the dispatch. A display control portion (132) obtains map images of the vicinity of the dispatch location from a map DB (138) based on the position information, and displays these on a display (136) with the display location in the center. Also, position information and the current status of each dispatch staff member is obtained at any time from portable terminals (104) of the dispatch staff members, and based on this information, markings representing the dispatch staff members in the vicinity of the dispatch location are displayed on the map, allowing a staff member to be dispatched to be quickly and appropriately selected.

Claims

1. A dispatch support system comprising terminal devices carried by dispatch staff members and a management device for supporting dispatch of the dispatch staff members,

wherein the terminal devices comprise:

a position information obtaining portion for obtaining information on its location from a positioning system;

an input portion for the dispatch staff members to input status data expressing their status; and

a communications portion for transmitting position information obtained by the position information obtaining portion and status data input through the input portion, to the management device;

wherein the management device comprises;

a communications portion that communicates with the terminal devices;

a dispatch staff member information storage portion storing dispatch staff member information on each dispatch staff member, including position information and status data received from the terminal devices; and

a support processing portion that, when there is a request for dispatch, performs a process for supporting selection of a staff member to dispatch to a dispatch location based on dispatch location information including position information on the dispatch location and dispatch staff member information on the dispatch staff members that is obtained from the dispatch staff member information storage portion,

wherein the support processing portion in the management device includes a display and a display control portion, and

wherein the display control portion, when there is a dispatch request, displays a map of the area surrounding the dispatch location on a display in such a manner that the dispatch location is located in a screen center portion based on the position information of that dispatch location, and also displays markings representing dispatch staff members in the area surrounding the dispatch location at the locations of the dispatch staff members in the map that is displayed on the display based on the position information of the dispatch staff members included in the dispatch staff member information.

2. The dispatch support system according to claim 1, wherein the management device further comprises:

a telephone number obtaining portion for obtaining the sender telephone number when a telephone call is received, and

a position information obtaining portion for obtaining position information on the sender telephone using a database with which the telephone number and a location where the telephone is installed can be specified; and

wherein the support processing portion uses position information obtained by the position information obtaining portion as position information on the dispatch location.

3. The dispatch support system according to claim 2, wherein the display control portion sets the markings representing the dispatch staff members in the area surrounding the dispatch location to a display condition corresponding to a status of the dispatch staff members based on status data of the dispatch staff members, which are included in the dispatch staff member information.

4. The dispatch support system according to claim 1, wherein the support processing portion in the management device further comprises a selection portion for selecting an appropriate staff member to be dispatched to the dispatch location from the dispatch staff members in the area surrounding the dispatch location based on the dispatch staff member information on each dispatch staff member, which is obtained from the dispatch staff member information storage portion.

5. The dispatch support system according to claim 1, wherein the management device further comprises an information provision portion for transmitting dispatch staff member support information to the terminal devices of the dispatch staff members via the communications portion.

6. The dispatch support system according to claim 5, wherein the dispatch staff member support information includes information relating to service cases at that dispatch location.

7. The dispatch support system according to claim 5, wherein the dispatch staff member support information includes information relating to identical cases.