KR20040013259A - Mobile phone reservation service system - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a reservation system using a mobile phone, and more particularly, to a mobile phone reservation system adapted to provide a virtual liner service in a limited area. Conventional virtual liner system is a system using a dedicated terminal, the service is available only in a limited use area, and operating in the form of renting a dedicated terminal, there was a problem that the advanced and maintenance of the terminal is difficult. In addition, having an appropriate number of terminals also has a difficult problem. In view of the above problems, the present invention provides a mobile telephone having a short range communication unit; Mobile phone reservation, which transmits to the mobile phone appropriate text messages informing the user of the progress of the user's reservation through mobile phone information obtained through short-range communication, physical waiting information obtained through external input, and information on the reservation list stored in the database. By providing a mobile phone reservation service system including a station, it is possible not only to configure the entire system at a lower cost, but also to provide a lot of information in a corresponding national language. In addition, since it is possible to configure a compatible system, it is easy to develop and maintain, and there is an effect of easily extending the service usage range.

Description

Mobile phone reservation service system {MOBILE PHONE RESERVATION SERVICE SYSTEM}

The present invention relates to a reservation system using a mobile phone, and more particularly, to a mobile phone reservation system adapted to provide a virtual liner service in a limited area.

Recently, as the use of mobile phones has become more common, the number of mobile phone users is increasing rapidly. Thanks to the generalization of such mobile phones, mobile phones with various additional services and devices are emerging one after another.

The enhancement of the mobile phone includes a wide and colorful screen, easy input, and various communication connections, and various functions are added to integrate the current system with the functions of the mobile phone. The most common and potential development among these additional functions is the incorporation of near field communication means. Depending on the characteristics of mobile phones, inputs, displays, telecommunications and data communications, and high-performance computing devices are already in place, and these mobile phones are widespread in the economically active population. Much can be substituted for terminal devices or portable input systems.

The above functions include functions of a credit card including a transportation card and a storage unit using a short range communication means, and a mobile phone in which such a function is inserted has already been put into practical use. Thus, sooner or later, mobile phones with near field communication means will become commonplace.

While remembering that a cellular phone incorporating the above-mentioned short-range communication means is currently commercially available, a description will be given of a conventional liner system which the present invention intends to improve.

A queue is a process of ordering and waiting for a service to get the desired service, which can be easily found around us. Among these liners, there is a considerable amount of time, such as a liner for rides in an amusement park, a liner in front of a ticket booth in a movie theater, and a liner in front of a box office in various sports venues. This takes Many people wait in line for a few hours in front of an amusement park's rides or sports box office, and even after a few hours of running out of tickets, tickets may be sold out or the equipment may stop working. As a result, several methods were created to make the queues more efficient.

The simplest way is to divide the waiting table and perform a virtual line-up through the waiting table, which allows you to move near and avoid the risk of cutting. However, it is difficult to move over a long distance and check the current status from time to time because you must maintain a basic lineup so that you do not miss your turn.

A further refinement is the Q-bot, supplied by the UK's LO-Q, a system that realizes a virtual queue. In short, it is mainly used in amusement parks, which is similar to a pager, and rents a terminal with infrared communication to the user. After the system is reserved for use, the liner system freely moves within the wireless transmission range, and receives a message indicating that the reservation is imminent to the terminal to use the ride.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a conventional Q-boat terminal, and includes a wireless communication unit 11 for receiving line information from a Q-boat system installed outside, and a Q-boat system provided for each play equipment. Infrared communication unit 12 for providing their information and the number of people to reserve and receive a reservation end signal, a buzzer 13 for the user to recognize the reservation termination and boarding preliminary warning, and vibrate with the buzzer 13 Vibration unit 14 to provide a, a display unit 15 that can display the reservation content and the current status and messages from the Q-boat system, and the control unit 16 that manages all the input and output Is made of. In other words, it is a terminal that integrates a pager function and a contactless neighbor communication function that can be used in a limited range. Of course, although not shown, the Q-boat terminal 10 may include switches for accepting user input and a memory unit for storing the reservation contents.

The Q-boat terminal 10 should be installed and operated in a set with a Q-boat reservation station, and wireless reception is possible in the areas where the Q-boat reservation stations are installed. Then, the Q-boat reservation station will now be described schematically with reference to FIG. 2, which communicates with the Q-boat terminal 10 in close proximity and relates to the self-information of the Q-boat terminal 10 and the number of people to reserve. Infrared communication unit 21 for receiving information and transmitting information such as play equipment information, current waiting number, and reservation completion information to the corresponding Q-boat terminal 10, and for devices currently reserved according to a predetermined time. Input by the operator the wireless communication unit 22 for wirelessly transmitting the number of waiting people, boarding preliminary signals and predetermined messages to the corresponding Q-boat terminal 10, and the number of waiting people and the state of play equipment at predetermined time intervals. An external input interface 23 for receiving, a network section 24 for transmitting corresponding contents to adjacent Q-boat reservation stations 20 and exchanging information with each other, the infrared communication section 21, Analyzing the information input from the sub-input interface 23 and the network unit 24 to manage the waiting list of passengers and to generate a proper boarding preliminary signal and message to the corresponding Q-boat terminal through the wireless communication unit 22 ( And a reservation processing unit 25 for transmitting to 10).

The Q-boat system must be installed at each ride, in addition to the appropriate place, and all must be networked for communication between them. Due to such a network, reservation information of all Q-boat terminals 10 can be shared.

Such a Q-boat reservation system lends its terminals to visitors and allows them to use them, thereby enabling virtual queues. This system allows users to move freely from physical queues, so they can also target targeted advertising to other facilities.

However, since the above-described Q-boat reservation system is configured as an exclusive system, other terminals cannot be used, and a dedicated wireless communication network is used, so the use area is limited according to the communication range. In addition, the maintenance of the Q-boat terminal is difficult, and it is difficult to upscale due to the manufacturing cost. Actually, Q-boat terminal has to check all information through 2-line LCD, so it is difficult to use double-byte characters such as Korean, Japanese, and Chinese.

As described above, the conventional virtual liner system is a system that uses a dedicated terminal, so that services can be provided only in a limited use area, and the terminal is operated in a form of renting a dedicated terminal. In addition, having an appropriate number of terminals also has a difficult problem.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a virtual liner system using a mobile phone that a user is already using.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a virtual liner system that is not limited in scope of use and greatly reduces system installation and operation costs.

1 is a conventional virtual liner terminal.

2 is a station for a conventional virtual liner.

3 is an embodiment of the reservation system of the present invention.

4 is an example message.

* Description of the symbols for the main parts of the drawings *

100: mobile phone 110: short-range communication unit

200: mobile phone reservation station 210: local area communication unit

220: mobile phone recognition unit 230: external input interface

240: reservation list database 250: reservation processing unit

260: screen display unit 270: message service unit

The present invention for achieving the above object is a mobile phone having a short-range communication unit; Mobile phone reservation, which transmits to the mobile phone appropriate text messages informing the user of the progress of the user's reservation through mobile phone information obtained through short-range communication, physical waiting information obtained through external input, and information on the reservation list stored in the database. And a station.

The cellular phone reservation station includes a near field communication unit for near field communication with a cellular phone; A cellular phone recognition unit for analyzing cellular phone information received from the near field communication unit; An external input interface for receiving a current wait state, a service state, and additional service information from an external source; A reservation list database for storing reservation information reserved to date; The subscriber list database is updated based on the cellular phone information through the cellular phone recognition unit and waiting and service related information through the external input interface, and the information of the updated subscriber list database and the information through the input interface are updated. A reservation processing unit for generating a reservation progress message or a screen display content of the reservation to be transmitted to the corresponding subscriber's mobile phone based on the reservation; A screen display unit for displaying the generated screen display contents to the outside; And a message service unit for transmitting the generated transmission message as a text message to a user's cellular phone.

The present invention can be realized without additional costs for the terminal according to the generalization of the mobile phone and the spread of the mobile phone with the short-range wireless means currently in progress, and the mobile phone reservation station can be realized with a simple configuration. The specific embodiments thereof will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Figure 3 shows a simplified block diagram of an embodiment of the present invention, largely the mobile phone 100 with a built-in short-range communication unit 110 and the reservation through the mobile phone 100 to receive the reservation at the appropriate time The mobile phone reservation station 200 informs the mobile phone 100 that the execution of the reservation is imminent. The mobile phone 100 is a model possessed by general users, and a built-in short range communication unit 110 which is a basic short range communication means. The short range communication unit 110 may be a universal Bluetooth or IrDA, and should be able to transmit at least the telephone number of the mobile phone 100. The mobile phone 100 must support a text service, which is a general function, and thus is basically included in a commercially available mobile phone.

The mobile phone 100 already has a high-level input and output unit and a communication unit, and has a keypad capable of various inputs and a large display screen capable of displaying a large amount of characters (particularly, 2-byte characters including Korean characters). In addition, mobile phones have a powerful communication capability to receive text messages wherever they are available.

Users can use the amusement park rides in the order of arrival without using a physical queue using the mobile phone 100, the same purpose can be used in front of the ticket office of the theater. In addition, a virtual liner can be used in a wide range of areas that were difficult to use due to the installation problem of reserved stations having a limited communication area. A representative example is a virtual liner at an athletic event box office. The virtual liner at the sports box office is not limited to the user's area of activity as a sports arena, and after booking the liner, it can travel quite a long distance depending on the waiting time. As the conventional limited use area is widened to the use area of the mobile phone 100, it is possible to receive reservation related messages wherever the user moves.

Looking at the mobile phone reservation station 200 for performing the above service, the short-range communication unit 210 for short-range communication; A mobile phone recognition unit 220 for analyzing mobile phone information received from the short range communication unit 210; An external input interface 230 for receiving appropriate line information from the outside; A reservation list database 240 which stores reservation information reserved to date; A subscriber processor (250) for generating a message to be sent to the subscriber's cellular phone (100) or its own screen display based on the cellular phone information and the liner information; A screen display unit 260 for displaying the generated screen display contents to the outside; And a message service unit 270 which transmits the generated transmission message to the user mobile phone 100 as a text message.

The configuration of the mobile phone reservation station 200 will be described in more detail as follows.

The short range communication unit 210 uses the same type of short range communication method as the short range communication unit 110 to wirelessly communicate with a short distance from the short range communication unit 110 embedded in the mobile phone 100. IrDA, etc. Or you can use them simultaneously.

The mobile phone recognition unit 220 recognizes the phone number of the mobile phone. In addition, the number of subscribers according to the key input of the mobile phone can also be recognized, which is to change the reservation while the mobile phone reservation station 200 exchanges a message with the mobile phone 100 through the local area communication unit 210. Or the number of subscribers may be obtained from the information received. Alternatively, the input of additional information such as a change of reservation or designation of the number of reservation persons may be performed by an input means added to the cellular phone reservation station 200. While these specific embodiments can be variously attempted without departing from the scope of the present invention, the cellular phone reservation station 200 allows the cellular phone 100 by bringing the cellular phone 100 close to the reservation station 200. It should be noted that you can get a phone number for.

The mobile phone reservation station 200 includes a reservation list database 240 for storing a list of reserved reservations so far, and the currently maintained reservation list is continuously updated according to a predetermined time and reorganized according to a reservation situation. . For example, when a reservation is made by using the mobile phone 100, the mobile phone number of the reservation, the contents of the reserved service, and the reservation registration time may be stored. After using the reserved service, the reservation list database ( 240 may be deleted. The stored contents for example may be changed according to the designer's intention.

The external input interface 230 may receive various types of information from the outside, and there are largely information required for a queue, information by a user, and information for providing an additional service. The information required for the queue is information including the current number of waiters and the availability of the current service to provide a balanced service with physically queued users when the mobile phone reservation system is implemented as an auxiliary means. . As described above, the information by the user is information input by the user to modify the reservation or determine the number of reservations while making a reservation. Alternatively, the information may be input after using the reservation service to inform the completion of service use. The information for providing the additional service is additional messages to be transmitted to the subscriber's cellular phone 100.

The mobile phone reservation system does not merely provide a virtual liner service, but may be used for a target advertisement, a guide, a lucky draw, or the like, and may provide traffic information around a system for finding a lost child or operating a system. Messages can be entered by the system operator.

For example, if a child is lost in an amusement park, it can be inserted into a message, and the most idle of the rides can be recommended. If you are a movie ticket office, you can tell the current remaining seat information and the name and time of the quiet movie. If it's an athletic event, it can also tell you the location of the seats and weather information. You can also tell us your reservation number or the number currently being processed.

The external input interface 230 does not simply mean a manual input device such as a keyboard or a switch, but may also include a network with other mobile phone reservation stations or a network with a central server. Through such a network, it is possible to collectively provide common additional information. However, this is not essential and the external input interface 230 of the present invention can be sufficiently used independently.

The reservation processor 250 updates the subscriber list database 240 based on the cellular phone information through the cellular phone recognition unit 220 and the waiting and service related information through the external input interface 230. When the user of the mobile phone 100 makes a reservation, information about the reservation is stored in the reservation list database 240, and the user is notified of the confirmation of the reservation through the screen display unit 260. Essentially, the stored information stores the time or sequence number of the reservation made by the subscriber, thereby considering the current waiting and reservation status and the service usage time (operation time for rides, ticketing speed per person for ticket offices, etc.). Create a reservation related message to send to the appropriate subscribers.

As described above, the external input interface 230 may input additional information to the reservation processing unit 250, and the reservation processing unit 250 may include the additional information in the preliminary message or appropriate subscribers. You can save it as a message to pass to.

The message generated as described above is transmitted to the appropriate mobile phone 100 through the message service unit 270. The message may be updated at predetermined time intervals to periodically transmit a reservation status to the user's mobile phone 100, and may be transmitted only once at a preset reservation imminence point.

When the user sees the message delivered in the above manner, he confirms that his turn has come from the virtual liner that he reserved, and returns to the reservation place to use the service to obtain the reserved service. At this time, if the mobile phone 100 is adjacent to the mobile phone reservation station 200 to confirm the use of the reserved service while using the corresponding service, the mobile phone 100 information is deleted from the reservation list database 240. .

4 is an example message screen in the case of using the present invention in an amusement park, it will be clearly understood that the present invention seeks through this.

As shown in the figure, the name of the device and the reservation number and the estimated waiting time which are reserved, as well as the recommended device name, the information of the occurrence of the missing child and the lucky draw lottery information are displayed on the cellular phone. This is a case of providing a situation periodically, and if only providing preliminary information once, for example, a similar message can be sent to the cellular phone 10 minutes before the expected waiting time.

As described above, the present invention provides a mobile phone reservation system that can provide a virtual liner service and additional information consumption by using a mobile phone that the user already possesses, so that the entire system can be configured at a lower cost. In addition, a great deal of information can be provided in the language of the country. In addition, since it is possible to configure a compatible system, it is easy to develop and maintain, and there is an effect of easily extending the service usage range.

Claims (4)

A mobile telephone having a short range communication unit; Mobile phone reservation, which transmits to the mobile phone appropriate text messages informing the user of the progress of the user's reservation through mobile phone information obtained through short-range communication, physical waiting information obtained through external input, and information on the reservation list stored in the database. A mobile phone reservation service system comprising a station. The mobile telephone reservation station of claim 1, further comprising: a short range communication unit for short range communication with the mobile phone; A cellular phone recognition unit for analyzing cellular phone information received from the near field communication unit; An external input interface for receiving a current wait state, a service state, and additional service information from an external source; A reservation list database for storing reservation information reserved to date; The subscriber list database is updated based on the cellular phone information through the cellular phone recognition unit and waiting and service related information through the external input interface, and the information of the updated subscriber list database and the information through the input interface are updated. A reservation processing unit for generating a reservation progress message or a screen display content of the reservation to be transmitted to the corresponding subscriber's mobile phone based on the reservation; A screen display unit for displaying the generated screen display contents to the outside; And a message service unit which transmits the generated transmission message as a text message to a user's cellular phone. 2. The cellular phone reservation service system of claim 1, wherein the external input via the external input interface includes an additional announcement message, the announcement message being included in the reservation status message. The mobile phone reservation service system according to claim 1, wherein the reservation status message is periodically transmitted to the subscriber's mobile phone.