JP7549207B2 - Information processing system, information processing method, and program - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to an information processing system, information processing method, and program that can search for information related to service facilities such as restaurants and transmit the search results to a user terminal.

Conventionally, in systems that search for service facilities such as restaurants that can be used (reserved) on the web, the search is performed by having the user specify search conditions such as the area of the service facility, the date of use (reservation), and the genre. When the date of use is used as a search condition, it is common to have the user select the date.

Patent Document 1 below discloses a restaurant information search system that displays information about available seats at restaurants on the search date in the search results for restaurant information, even if the date of use is not included in the search conditions.

JP 2018-073396 A

However, some users may search for facilities with the intention of using them on any day this week, not just the search date. However, with the technology described in Patent Document 1, if the date of use is not specified, only available seating information for the searched restaurant on that day is displayed, so the user cannot know whether the facility is available on other days.

In view of the above circumstances, the object of the present invention is to provide an information processing system, information processing method, and program capable of providing a user with information on service facilities that are available on a day that the user is likely to wish to use, regardless of the date on which the search is performed.

To achieve the above object, an information processing system according to one embodiment of the present invention has a storage unit, a communication unit, and a control unit. The storage unit stores service facility information related to service facilities, including reservation availability information for each day. The communication unit is capable of communicating with a user terminal. When the control unit receives a search request for service facilities from the user terminal that does not specify a date and time as a search condition, the control unit searches for reservable service facilities using the closest specific day of the week after the date on which the search request was received as a search condition, and transmits information indicating the search results to the user terminal.

This allows the information processing system to provide the user with information about service facilities that can be reserved for the upcoming day of the week that the user is likely to actually want to use, regardless of the date on which the search is performed. The information processing system can be made up of one or more information processing devices. Here, specific days of the week include, but are not limited to, Fridays, when stores are generally the busiest, Saturdays, when families often go out to eat, and Sundays, when many stores are closed. In addition, "after the day the search request is received" is a concept that includes the day the search request is received.

The control unit may further search for service facilities that can be reserved using the date on which the search request was received as a search criterion.

This allows the information processing system to provide the user with information about service facilities that can be reserved on the day the search is performed, in addition to information about service facilities that can be reserved on a specific day of the week, giving the user a wider range of choices.

The control unit may distinguish between information indicating the search results of a search using the date on which the search request was received as a search condition and information indicating the search results of a search using the specific day of the week as a search condition and transmit the information to the user terminal.

This allows the information processing system to distinguish between search results based on the date the search was performed and search results based on a specific day of the week, and present these results to the user, thereby improving user convenience.

The control unit may transmit to the user terminal information indicating service facilities that are included in both the search results of a search using the date on which the search request was received as a search criterion and the search results of a search using the specific day of the week as a search criterion.

This allows the information processing system to provide useful information to users who are considering using a service facility on either or both the day the search is performed and a specific day of the week.

If the day on which the search request was received is the specific day of the week, the control unit may not need to perform a search using the day on which the search request was received as a search criterion.

This allows the information processing system to prevent duplicate searches from increasing the processing load.

If the time when the search request is received is after a predetermined time, the control unit may execute the search using the day following the day when the search request was received as the search criteria instead of the day when the search request was received.

This allows the information processing system to set as search conditions the day the search is performed and the day following that the user is likely to use the service, depending on the time the search is performed. The specified time is, for example, 7:00 p.m., 8:00 p.m., 9:00 p.m., 10:00 p.m., etc., times that are past dinner time on that day, or times after that time on the day when it is considered unlikely that a reservation will be made for a service facility.

An information processing system according to another embodiment of the present invention has a storage unit, a communication unit, and a control unit. The storage unit stores service facility information related to service facilities, including holiday information. The communication unit is capable of communicating with a user terminal. When the control unit receives a search request for service facilities from the user terminal that does not specify a date and time as a search condition, the control unit searches for service facilities that are open using the closest specific day of the week after the date on which the search request was received as a search condition, and transmits information indicating the search results to the user terminal.

This allows the information processing system to provide the user with information about service facilities that are open on the upcoming days of the week that the user is likely to actually want to use, regardless of the date the search is performed. Here, the information processing system can be composed of one or more information processing devices.

An information processing method according to another aspect of the present invention includes:
storing service facility information regarding the service facility including reservation availability information for each day;
When a search request for service facilities that does not specify a date and time as a search condition is received from a user terminal, a search is performed for service facilities that can be reserved using a specific day of the week immediately after the date on which the search request is received as a search condition, and information indicating the search results is transmitted to the user terminal.

An information processing method according to another aspect of the present invention includes:
storing service facility information regarding the service facility, including holiday information;
When a search request for service facilities that does not specify a date and time as a search condition is received from a user terminal, a search is made for service facilities that are open using the most recent specific day of the week after the date on which the search request was received as a search condition, and information showing the search results is transmitted to the user terminal.

A program according to another aspect of the present invention includes:
storing service facility information regarding the service facility including reservation availability information for each day;
When a search request for service facilities that does not specify a date and time as a search condition is received from a user terminal, the system executes a step of searching for service facilities that can be reserved using the closest specific day of the week after the date on which the search request is received as a search condition, and transmitting information showing the search results to the user terminal.

A program according to another aspect of the present invention includes:
storing service facility information regarding the service facility including holiday information;
When a search request for service facilities that does not specify a date and time as a search condition is received from a user terminal, the system executes a step of searching for service facilities that are open using the closest specific day of the week after the date on which the search request is received as a search condition, and transmitting information showing the search results to the user terminal.

As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to provide a user with information about service facilities that are available on a day that the user is likely to want to use, regardless of the date on which the search is performed. However, this effect does not limit the present invention.

1 is a diagram showing a configuration of a restaurant information providing system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of a restaurant information providing server according to an embodiment of the present invention. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of a database included in a restaurant information providing server according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 11 is a flowchart showing a flow of a restaurant search result providing process performed by a restaurant information providing server according to an embodiment of the present invention. 11 is a diagram showing an example of a restaurant search result page displayed on a user terminal in one embodiment of the present invention. FIG.

The following describes an embodiment of the present invention with reference to the drawings.

[System Configuration]
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a restaurant information providing system according to this embodiment.

As shown in the figure, the system includes a restaurant information server 100 on the Internet 50, multiple user terminals 200, and multiple restaurant terminals 300.

The restaurant information providing server 100 is a web server that operates a portal site that lists information about restaurants. The restaurant information providing server 100 is connected to a plurality of user terminals 200 and restaurant terminals 300 of a plurality of restaurants via the Internet 50.

The restaurant information providing server 100 provides a restaurant information search system for users of user terminals 200 on the portal site. Specifically, the restaurant information providing server 100 searches for restaurant information that matches search criteria based on a search request from the user terminal 200, generates a web page listing the search results, and transmits it to the user terminal 200. The restaurant information providing server 100 also handles reservation acceptance processing for any restaurant from the user terminal 200 of the user who viewed the restaurant information.

The restaurant information providing server 100 can generate a list display screen that displays a list of information about the restaurants found as a result of the search, as well as a map display screen that displays icons indicating the locations of the restaurants found on a map.

The user terminal 200 (200A, 200B, 200C...) is a terminal used by a user, such as a smartphone, a mobile phone, a tablet PC (Personal Computer), a notebook PC, a desktop PC, etc. The user terminal 200 accesses the restaurant information providing server 100, receives the above-mentioned web page, and displays it on a screen using a browser or the like.

The user terminal 200 determines search conditions for restaurants that can be reserved (or are open) based on the user's operation, sends a restaurant search request based on the search conditions to the restaurant information providing server 100 via the portal site or a corresponding application, receives the web page of the search results or the web page (restaurant information page) of the desired restaurant from the search results, and displays it on a screen using a browser or the like. The user terminal 200 can also send a reservation request for any of the restaurants displayed as a search result for restaurants that can be reserved to the restaurant information providing server 100 based on the user's operation.

On the other hand, the restaurant information server 100 provides a restaurant information management screen (web page) for restaurants (affiliated restaurants) listed on the portal site. A user of the restaurant terminal 300 can use the management screen to edit and update restaurant information (content) and vacant seating information for the restaurant on the web page provided to general users as the search results, and upload the web page to the portal site.

The restaurant terminals 300 (300A, 300B, 300C...) are terminals installed in each restaurant, and are tablet PCs, notebook PCs, desktop PCs, etc. Based on the operation of the administrator, the restaurant terminals 300 can execute processes related to their own restaurant information, such as editing and updating the restaurant information, by communicating with the restaurant information providing server 100.

The search conditions for restaurants that can be reserved include, for example, date and time, number of people, area (nearest station), genre, price range, etc. In this embodiment, when the restaurant information providing server 100 receives a search request from the user terminal 200 that does not specify a date and time as the search condition, it searches for restaurants that can be reserved using a specific day of the week as a search condition, and transmits information showing the search results to the user terminal 200 for display. The restaurant search result providing process will be described in detail later.

[Hardware configuration of restaurant information server]
2 is a diagram showing a hardware configuration of the restaurant information providing server 100. As shown in the figure, the restaurant information providing server 100 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 11, a ROM (Read Only Memory) 12, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 13, an input/output interface 15, and a bus 14 connecting these to each other.

The CPU 11 accesses the RAM 13 etc. as necessary and performs various calculation processes while controlling all the blocks of the restaurant information providing server 100. The ROM 12 is a non-volatile memory in which firmware such as the OS, programs and various parameters to be executed by the CPU 11 are permanently stored. The RAM 13 is used as a working area for the CPU 11 and temporarily stores the OS, various applications being executed, and various data being processed.

The input/output interface 15 is connected to a display unit 16, an operation reception unit 17, a memory unit 18, a communication unit 19, etc.

The display unit 16 is a display device that uses, for example, an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), an OELD (Organic ElectroLuminescence Display), a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube), etc.

The operation reception unit 17 is, for example, a pointing device such as a mouse, a keyboard, a touch panel, or other input device. If the operation reception unit 17 is a touch panel, the touch panel may be integrated with the display unit 16.

The storage unit 18 is a non-volatile memory such as a hard disk drive (HDD), a flash memory (SSD; solid state drive), or other solid-state memory. The storage unit 18 stores the OS, various applications, and various data.

In particular, in this embodiment, the storage unit 18 stores restaurant information for each restaurant, user information for the user of each user terminal 200, and the like, and also stores applications and other programs that allow the restaurant information providing server 100 to execute a restaurant search result providing process using this data. As will be described later, the storage unit 18 has a restaurant information database, a user information database, and a reservation information database as databases that contain such data.

The communication unit 19 is, for example, a NIC (Network Interface Card) for Ethernet or various modules for wireless communication such as a wireless LAN, and is responsible for communication processing with the user terminal 200.

Although not shown, the hardware configurations of the user terminal 200 and the restaurant terminal 300 are similar to that of the restaurant information providing server 100. In addition, the user terminal 200 may have an application installed thereon for connecting to the restaurant information providing server 100 and executing restaurant search processing.

[Database configuration of restaurant information server]
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing the configuration of a database included in the restaurant information providing server 100. As shown in FIG.

As shown in the figure, the restaurant information providing server 100 has a restaurant information database 31, a user information database 32, and a reservation information database 33 in the memory unit 18.

For each restaurant, the restaurant information database 31 stores information such as the restaurant's name and location (latitude and longitude), an ID (facility ID) that identifies the restaurant, as well as the restaurant's business type and service category information, content introducing the restaurant, i.e., information indicating the characteristics of the service facility such as promotional text for the service facility, event information held by the restaurant, area information in which the restaurant is located, the restaurant's address, telephone number, image data related to the restaurant (introducing the restaurant), menu information related to the menu offered by the restaurant, business hours, holidays (regular holidays), website URL, etc.

The menu information corresponds to the menus posted on the websites of each restaurant on the portal site, and stores the names of multiple menus that each restaurant can provide for each restaurant. The menu information may be stored for each menu category, such as appetizer/main course, lunch/dinner/course, etc. Furthermore, if the image data corresponds to a menu, the image data is stored in association with the menu information.

The area information is, for example, in prefecture units, but information may also be stored in narrower units such as cities, wards, towns, and villages. The category information may include main categories such as Japanese, Chinese, Italian, French, and yakiniku, as well as more detailed subcategories such as yakitori and tempura in Japanese cuisine, and pasta and pizza in Italian cuisine.

The restaurant information database 31 also stores reservation availability information (information on the number of available seats) for each restaurant by day and time period.

The user information database 32 stores information about users who own user terminals 200 and are users (members) of the restaurant information service provided by the restaurant information server 100 via the portal site. Specifically, the user information database 42 stores information such as user ID, password, name, email address, telephone number, address, age (group), gender, and date of birth for each user.

The reservation information database 33 stores the reservation information (e.g., restaurant name, name of person making reservation, reservation time, number of people using the meal, course served, etc.; also called reservation ledger information) included in the reservation request for each restaurant received from the user terminal 200 for each restaurant.

These databases are mutually referenced and used as necessary in the restaurant search result provision process by the restaurant information provision server 100, which will be described later.

In addition, the restaurant information server 100 also stores calendar information in order to search for restaurants that can be reserved using a specific day of the week as a search criterion, as described below.

[Operation of Restaurant Information Providing Server]
Next, an operation of the restaurant information providing server 100 configured as above will be described. The operation is executed by the hardware of the restaurant information providing server 100, such as the CPU 11 and the communication unit 19, in cooperation with the software stored in the storage unit 18. In the following description, for convenience, the CPU 11 is the subject of the operation.

Figure 4 is a flowchart showing the flow of the restaurant search result provision process by the restaurant information provision server 100.

As shown in the figure, the CPU 11 of the restaurant information providing server 100 first determines whether or not a restaurant search request based on the current location of the user terminal 200 has been received from the user terminal 200, for example, via an application (step 41). This request is sent when the user, for example, specifies a mode for searching for restaurants from the current location and presses a search button.

If it is determined that the search request has been received (Yes), the CPU 11 determines whether the date and time are not specified as search conditions included in the search request (step 42). Even if the date and time are not specified as search conditions, it is assumed that some other search conditions, such as area, genre, or number of people, are included in the search request.

If it is determined that no date and time are specified as a search condition (Yes), the CPU 11 identifies a specific day of the week immediately after the date on which the search request was received from the calendar information, adds the specific day of the week to the search conditions as a reservation date and time, and searches for restaurants that can be reserved using the search conditions based on the restaurant information database 31 (step 43).

The specific days of the week here include, but are not limited to, Fridays when stores are generally busiest, Saturdays when families often go out to eat, and Sundays when many stores are closed.

If the most recent specific day of the week (happens to be) the day on which the search request is received, that day is added to the search conditions, but the CPU 11 does not determine whether that day is the current day (today) or not; it simply adds the most recent specific day of the week to the search conditions.

The CPU 11 also adds the day on which the search request is received as a search condition for reservation date and time, and searches for restaurants that can be reserved using the search conditions (step 44). However, if the day on which the search request is received is the specific day of the week, the CPU 11 does not execute a search using the day as a search condition. This makes it possible to prevent duplicate searches from being executed, which would increase the processing load.

Next, the CPU 11 generates a search result webpage that lists restaurant search results using the specific day of the week as a search criterion and restaurant search results using the current day on which the search request was received as a search criterion (step 45).

If the search criteria in step 42 include a date and time (No), the CPU 11 searches for restaurants according to the search criteria including the date and time, and generates a search result webpage that lists the search results (step 46).

The CPU 11 then transmits the generated search result web page to the user terminal 200 for display (step 47).

Figure 5 shows an example of a search result page generated by the restaurant information providing server 100 and displayed on the user terminal 200.

As shown in the figure, the restaurant search results page includes a list of restaurant information display columns (store cassettes) 52 for each searched restaurant. Only one store cassette 52 is provided for each restaurant in the list, and multiple store cassettes 52 are not provided for the same restaurant in the list.

In addition, for example, at the top of the list of the store cassettes 52, a search condition setting field 51 including a search condition input box and a search button is provided. This search condition setting field 51 is also displayed on a search request screen (not shown) when the user terminal 200 sends a search request to the restaurant information providing server 100, and is reflected as is on the search result page.

The example in the figure is an example of a search result page when "Ginza" is entered as the area/station name, "Italian" is entered as the genre on the search request screen, and a search request is sent using the search button 53 without specifying a date and time.

Each store cassette 52 contains information such as the restaurant name, access information to the restaurant, average budget information, preference information, the latest information, and images introducing the restaurant.

In addition, each store cassette 52 itself, or each restaurant name within the store cassette 52, is set with a hyperlink to a detailed page of restaurant information for each restaurant, and when the store cassette 52 (a blank space within it) or the restaurant name is tapped on the user terminal 200, the page transitions to the detailed page for each restaurant.

As shown in the figure, on this search result page, a list of search results in which restaurants are searched for by adding Friday as the nearest specific day of the week as a search criterion, and a list of search results in which restaurants are searched for by adding the day the search request was received as a search criterion, are displayed in a switchable manner, distinguished by, for example, tabs 53 and 54.

[summary]
As described above, according to this embodiment, the restaurant information providing server 100 can provide the user with information about restaurants that can be reserved on a specific upcoming day of the week (such as Friday) that the user is likely to actually want to use, regardless of the date the search is performed.

[Modification]
The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

In the above embodiment, the restaurant information providing server 100 can switch between search results using tabs to display search results using a specific day of the week as a search condition and search results using the current day the search request was received as a search condition, but other methods may be used to display both search results on the search result page in a distinguishable manner. For example, the restaurant information providing server 100 may display one of the two search results at the top of a scrollable screen and the other at the bottom, or may display one of the search results on a page and display a hyperlink to a page showing the other search result on that page. The restaurant information providing server 100 may also display both search results without distinguishing between them. In other words, it may search for restaurants that can be reserved using the "or" search conditions of a specific day of the week and the current day the search request was received, and generate a single list of the search results.

In the above embodiment, the restaurant information providing server 100 distinguishes between the list showing the search results of a search using the date when the search request was received as a search condition and the list showing the search results of a search using a specific day of the week as a search condition, and posts them on the search result page. Alternatively or in addition to this, the restaurant information providing server 100 may generate a search result page for information showing restaurants included in both the search results using the date when the search request was received as a search condition and the search results using the specific day of the week as a search condition, and send it to the user terminal 200. In other words, the restaurant information providing server 100 may extract restaurants that can be reserved on both the specific day of the week and the search execution date, and provide information on the restaurants to the user. In this case, the search results may be posted separately in addition to the search results on the search request reception date and the specific day of the week, or may be posted alone, by using tabs or hyperlinks as shown in FIG. 5 above. This provides useful information to users who are planning to use a restaurant on either or both the search execution date and the specific day of the week.

In the above embodiment, if the time when the search request is received is after a predetermined time, the restaurant information providing server 100 may execute a search by adding the day following the day when the search request is received as a search criterion instead of the day when the search request is received. This allows the restaurant information providing server 100 to set the day when the search is executed and the following day that is likely to be used by the user as a search criterion according to the time when the search is executed. The predetermined time is, for example, 7:00 p.m., 8:00 p.m., 9:00 p.m., 10:00 p.m., etc., which is after the dinner time of that day, or a time when it is considered that the possibility of reserving a service facility after that time on that day is low.

In the above embodiment, the restaurant information providing server 100 displayed on the search result page both search results using a specific day of the week as a search criterion and search results using the day on which the search request was received as a search criterion. However, the restaurant information providing server 100 may execute a search by adding only a specific day of the week as a search criterion, without adding the day on which the search request was received as a search criterion, and transmit the search result page to the user terminal 200.

In the above embodiment, the restaurant information providing server 100 searches for restaurants that meet the search criteria and that can be reserved in response to a request from the user terminal 200. However, the restaurant information providing server 100 may also search for restaurants that are open, rather than restaurants that can be reserved, in response to a request from the user terminal 200. Specifically, when the restaurant information providing server 100 receives a restaurant search request from the user terminal 200 that does not specify a date and time as a search criterion, it may search for restaurants that are open on a specific day of the week (e.g., Sunday) (regardless of whether reservations are available), and may also search for restaurants that are open on the day the search request is received, and the results of both searches may be displayed on the search result page with distinction. In this case, the holiday information for each restaurant stored in the restaurant information database 31 is referenced.

In the above embodiment, the restaurant information server 100 generated a list display screen consisting of a list of multiple restaurant information columns (store cassettes 52) that match the search criteria as a web page showing the restaurant search results, as shown in FIG. 5. However, the present invention can also be applied to a case where a map display screen is instead generated in which icons indicating the locations of restaurants that match the search criteria are placed on a map image.

The restaurant information providing server 100 shown in the above embodiment may be configured as a system whose functions are distributed across multiple servers or information processing devices.

In the above embodiment, restaurants are given as an example of service facilities, but service facilities are not limited to restaurants. The present invention can be similarly applied to various service facilities, such as accommodation facilities such as hotels and inns, various sports facilities such as tennis, basketball, and golf, entertainment facilities such as karaoke and bowling, beauty salons, and treatment facilities such as massage and esthetics. In this case, instead of the restaurant information providing server 100, a server corresponding to each service facility other than restaurants executes the search process in the same way as the restaurant information providing server 100.

Of the inventions described in the claims of this application, the invention described as an "information processing method" has each step performed automatically by at least one device such as a computer through software-based information processing, and is not performed by a human using a device such as a computer. In other words, the "information processing method" is an information processing method using computer software, and is not a method in which a human operates a computing tool such as a computer.

11...CPU
18: Storage unit 19: Communication unit 31: Restaurant information database 32: User information database 33: Reservation information database 100: Restaurant information providing server 200: User terminal 300: Restaurant terminal

Claims (7)

A storage unit that stores service facility information related to the service facility including reservation availability information for each day;
A communication unit capable of communicating with a user terminal;
and a control unit that, when receiving from the user terminal a search request for service facilities that does not specify a date and time as a search condition, searches for service facilities that can be reserved using a specific day of the week immediately after the date on which the search request was received as a search condition, and transmits information indicating the search results to the user terminal. 2. The information processing system according to claim 1,
The control unit further searches for service facilities for which reservations can be made, using the date on which the search request was received as a search condition. a storage unit for storing service facility information regarding the service facility including holiday information;
A communication unit capable of communicating with a user terminal;
and a control unit that, when receiving from the user terminal a search request for service facilities that does not specify a date and time as a search condition, searches for service facilities that are open using a specific day of the week immediately after the date on which the search request was received as a search condition, and transmits information indicating the search results to the user terminal. storing service facility information regarding the service facility including reservation availability information for each day;
when receiving a search request for service facilities from a user terminal that does not specify a date and time as a search condition, searching for service facilities that can be reserved using a specific day of the week immediately after the date on which the search request was received as a search condition, and transmitting information indicating the search results to the user terminal ;
A computer implemented information processing method. storing service facility information regarding the service facility, including holiday information;
when a search request for service facilities is received from a user terminal without specifying a date and time as a search condition, a search is performed for service facilities that are open, using a specific day of the week immediately following the date on which the search request was received as a search condition, and information showing the search results is transmitted to the user terminal ;
A computer implemented information processing method. In the information processing device,
storing service facility information regarding the service facility including reservation availability information for each day;
and when a search request for service facilities that does not specify a date and time as a search condition is received from a user terminal, searching for service facilities that can be reserved using a specific day of the week immediately after the date on which the search request was received as a search condition, and transmitting information indicating the search results to the user terminal. In the information processing device,
storing service facility information regarding the service facility including holiday information;
and when a search request for service facilities that does not specify a date and time as a search condition is received from a user terminal, searching for service facilities that are open using a specific day of the week immediately following the date on which the search request was received as a search condition, and transmitting information indicating the search results to the user terminal.

Images