Patent Application
20210304117
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2020-061907, filed Mar. 31, 2020, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The present invention relates to a management device, a management method, and a storage medium.
An invention for an unmanned delivery system that delivers luggage using an autonomous mobile device that can move autonomously and a server system that operates in conjunction with the autonomous mobile device has been disclosed (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2018-058656).
The conventional technology simply delivers luggage to a delivery destination, and thus the convenience is not sufficient.
The present invention has been made in consideration of such circumstances, and one of the objects of the present invention is to provide a management device, a management method, and a storage medium that can improve convenience.
The management device, the management method, and the storage medium according to the present invention have adopted the following configuration.
(1): A management device according to one aspect of the present invention is a management device that manages an operation of a luggage transportation vehicle which travels autonomously on a road without a driver getting on a vehicle and has luggage storages shielded by openable doors, and includes a storage device configured to store a program, and a hardware processor, in which the hardware processor executes the program, thereby receiving application information related to transportation of luggage with a designated delivery point, determining an operation of the luggage transportation vehicle based on at least the application information, and bringing, when a predetermined condition regarding a positional relationship between the luggage transportation vehicle and a recipient of the luggage is satisfied, the luggage transportation vehicle close to the recipient, and causing the luggage transportation vehicle to perform an operation for allowing the recipient to receive the luggage at a point different from the delivery point before the luggage transportation vehicle reaches the delivery point at the time of determining the operation.
(2): In the aspect of (1) described above, the predetermined condition is that a terminal device of the recipient and a communication device mounted in the luggage transportation vehicle are able to communicate with each other without going through another device.
(3): In the aspect of (1) described above, the predetermined condition is that a position of the terminal device of the recipient and a position of the luggage transportation vehicle are within a predetermined range.
(4): In the aspect of (1) described above, when a size of the luggage is larger than a reference, the hardware processor causes the luggage transportation vehicle to move to the delivery point, and causes the luggage transportation vehicle to perform an operation for allowing the recipient to receive the luggage at the delivery point even if the positional relationship between the luggage transportation vehicle and the recipient satisfies a predetermined condition.
(5): In the aspect of (1) described above, when the hardware processor acquires content of an operation performed on a terminal device of the recipient or an operation device mounted in the luggage transportation vehicle by the recipient and the recipient desires to receive luggage at the delivery point, even if the positional relationship between the luggage transportation vehicle and the recipient satisfies a predetermined condition, the hardware processor causes the luggage transportation vehicle to move to the delivery point and causes the luggage transportation vehicle to perform an operation for allowing the recipient to receive the luggage at the delivery point.
(6): In the aspect of (5) described above, when the recipient desires to receive luggage at the delivery point and the hardware processor causes the luggage transportation vehicle to move to the delivery point and causes the luggage transportation vehicle to perform an operation for allowing the recipient to receive the luggage at the delivery point even if the positional relationship between the luggage transportation vehicle and the recipient satisfies a predetermined condition, the hardware processor causes the luggage transportation vehicle to move to the delivery point according to a pace of the recipient of the luggage.
(7): In the aspect of (1) described above, the hardware processor monitors a home status of the recipient, determines a delivery schedule of the luggage, and, when the luggage transportation vehicle is transporting luggage to a first recipient and the monitor determines that a second recipient who is scheduled to receive a delivery of luggage after the first recipient is at home, increases a delivery priority of the second recipient at the time of determining the schedule.
(8): In the aspect of (7) described above, the hardware processor monitors a home status of the recipient by acquiring security data of a security company.
(9): In the aspect of (7) described above, the hardware processor collects images of a person captured by cameras mounted in a plurality of the luggage transportation vehicles, and determines that the recipient is not at home when an image whose characteristics match the recipient is collected during a delivery of the luggage to the recipient.
(10): In the aspect of (7) described above, the hardware processor accumulates past home statuses in a storage, derives a probability of being at home for each time zone based on the accumulated home statuses, and determines whether the recipient is at home based on the probability of being at home.
(11): In the aspect of (7) described above, the hardware processor transmits information indicating that a delivery of the luggage to a terminal device of the recipient who is determined not to be at home will be skipped.
(12): A management method according to another aspect of the present invention includes, by a management device that manages an operation of a luggage transportation vehicle which travels autonomously on a road without a driver getting on a vehicle and has luggage storages shielded by openable doors, receiving application information related to transportation of the luggage with a designated delivery point, determining an operation of the luggage transportation vehicle based on at least the application information, and bringing, when a predetermined condition regarding a positional relationship between the luggage transportation vehicle and a recipient of the luggage is satisfied, the luggage transportation vehicle close to the recipient, and causing the luggage transportation vehicle to perform an operation for allowing the recipient to receive the luggage at a point different from the delivery point before the luggage transportation vehicle reaches the delivery point at the time of determining the operation.
(13): A storage medium according to still another aspect of the present invention is a computer-readable non-transitory storage medium that stores a program causing a processor of a management device that manages an operation of a luggage transportation vehicle which travels autonomously on a road without a driver getting on a vehicle and has luggage storages shielded by openable doors to execute receiving application information related to transportation of the luggage with a designated delivery point, determining an operation of the luggage transportation vehicle based on at least the application information, and bringing, when a predetermined condition regarding a positional relationship between the luggage transportation vehicle and a recipient of the luggage is satisfied, the luggage transportation vehicle close to the recipient, and causing the luggage transportation vehicle to perform an operation for allowing the recipient to receive the luggage at a point different from the delivery point before the luggage transportation vehicle reaches the delivery point at the time of determining the operation.
According to the aspects of (1) to (13), it is possible to improve convenience.
Hereinafter, embodiments of the management device, the management method, and the storage medium of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. A luggage transportation vehicle managed by the management device can autonomously travel on a road without a driver getting on the vehicle and has luggage storages that are shielded by doors that can be opened and closed.
A luggage transportation vehicle moves on a road to avoid obstacles on the road while recognizing a situation outside the vehicle according to a monitoring unit such as a camera, a radar device, and light detection and ranging (LIDAR), and, in principle, following a route instructed by the management device. The luggage transportation vehicle has wheels driven by, for example, a motor and moves on a road at a speed of about 10 [km]. A storage unit of the luggage transportation vehicle forms, for example, a space (a storage) for loading a plurality of pieces of luggage, which is separated from other spaces, and a plurality of users can load (carry in) each luggage therein.
The management device manages (controls) an operation of the luggage transportation vehicle. The management device is a device placed in a place different from the luggage transportation vehicle, and may communicates with the luggage transportation vehicle via a network, or some or all of the functions may be mounted in the luggage transportation vehicle. The management device generates transportation schedule information based on, for example, application information acquired by communication from a terminal device of the user. Then, the management device instructs the luggage transportation vehicle about a route and a stop place of the luggage transportation vehicle, an open/closed state of a door of the storage, and the like based on the transportation schedule information.
In the following description, the management device is a device placed in a place different from the luggage transportation vehicle (for example, a device in the form called a cloud server), and realizes the functions described above by communicating with the terminal device of the user or the luggage transportation vehicle via the network.
[Overall Configuration]
The user U transmits the application information for requesting transportation of luggage P to the management device 300 using the terminal device 100. On the luggage P, identification information of the luggage P and/or the user U is described, or a label L stored in an embedded IC tag or the like is attached thereto. “Being attached” means, for example, being affixed by a sticker.
The terminal device 100 is, for example, a smartphone, a tablet terminal, a personal computer, or the like. In the terminal device 100, an application program, a browser, or the like for using the service described above is activated to support a service to be described below. In the following description, it is assumed that the terminal device 100 is a smartphone and an application program (a transportation service application) for receiving a service is activated. In particular, the terminal device 100 needs to be a portable terminal device in a part related to a positional relationship between the luggage transportation vehicle and the recipient. The terminal device 100 has a GNSS receiver similar to that of the luggage transportation vehicle 200, and acquires positional information thereof. The transportation service application communicates with the management device 300 according to an operation of a user, sends application information from the user to the management device 300, or provides information based on the information received from the management device 300. The transportation service application uploads the positional information of the terminal device 100 to the management device 300. The application information is electronic information that requires the luggage transportation vehicle 200 to transport the luggage P over a designated section. The terminal device 100 may include a communication device for short-range wireless communication such as Bluetooth (a registered trademark). Short-range wireless communication is communication performed without going through other devices such as routers and base stations, and Wi-Fi may also be included therein. The recipient U also holds a terminal device 100 having a similar configuration.
[Luggage Transportation Vehicle]
The luggage transportation vehicle 200 includes a monitoring unit 210 such as a camera, a radar device, and LIDAR, and autonomously travels on a road as described above. The luggage transportation vehicle 200 may be provided with a display device 212. The display device 212 may have a touch panel function, or may have an embedded function of communicating with a non-contact type IC card.
The communication device 214 is, for example, a wireless communication module for connecting to the network NW or directly communicating with another vehicle or a terminal device of a pedestrian. The communication device 214 performs wireless communication based on Wi-Fi, Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC), Bluetooth, and other communication standards. As the communication device 214, a plurality of communication devices 214 according to purposes of use may be prepared.
The GNSS receiver 216 positions its own device (the luggage transportation vehicle 200) based on radio waves arriving from a GNSS satellite (for example, a GPS satellite). The GNSS receiver 216 outputs a result of the positioning to the control device 270.
The authentication device 218 is a device for confirming that a user who intends to carry the luggage P into the luggage transportation vehicle 200 is a legitimate user (authenticating the user). A legitimate user is a user who has made an agreement (reservation) regarding the transportation of luggage with the management device 300. The authentication device 218 may be any device as long as it has an authentication function, such as a short-range wireless communication device, a biometric authentication device, and a password input device. The authentication device 218 outputs a result of the authentication to the control device 270.
The opening/closing mechanism 236 is provided for each door 230, and includes a motor, an arm, and the like. The opening/closing mechanism 236 opens and closes the door 230 individually. For example, a switch for detecting that the door 230 has been manually closed is attached to the door 230. A locking mechanism may be provided instead of (or in addition to) the opening/closing mechanism 236. In this case, a door of a storage 240 used by the user U is unlocked, an indicator 232 (to be described below) lights up, and the user U manually opens and closes the door 230.
An autonomous traveling mechanism 250 includes wheels, a driving force source such as a motor, an energy accumulation device such as a battery, and a steering mechanism. The autonomous traveling mechanism 250 moves the luggage transportation vehicle 200 in an arbitrary direction according to an instruction from the control device 270.
The control device 270 includes, for example, a communication controller 272, a traveling controller 274, and a carry-in/out controller 276. These components are realized by, for example, a hardware processor such as a central processing unit (CPU) executing a program (software). Some or all of these components may be realized by hardware (a circuit unit; including circuitry) such as large scale integration (LSI), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), and a graphics processing unit (GPU), or may be realized by cooperation of software and hardware. The program may be stored in advance in a storage device such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a flash memory (a storage device having a non-transitory storage medium), or may be stored in a removable storage medium (a non-transitory storage medium) such as a DVD or a CD-ROM and installed in the storage device by the storage medium being mounted in a drive device. The control device 270 has a storage 280 that stores map information 282. The storage 280 is an HDD, a flash memory, a ROM, a random access memory (RAM), or the like.
The communication controller 272 acquires information on a route from the management device 300 via the communication device 214 and outputs it to the traveling controller 274. The communication controller 272 uploads positional information indicating a position positioned by the GNSS receiver 216 to the management device 300 by using the communication device 214. The positional information is uploaded periodically, for example, in milliseconds to seconds.
The traveling controller 274 controls the autonomous traveling mechanism 250 such that the luggage transportation vehicle 200 travels on a route designated by the management device 300. For example, the traveling controller 274 matches the route acquired from the management device 300 with the map information 282 and an output of the monitoring unit 210, and determines a detailed route to be traveled by the luggage transportation vehicle 200. The traveling controller 274 causes the luggage transportation vehicle 200 to autonomously travel to avoid a contact with objects (including guardrails and curbs) whose position and speed are input from the monitoring unit 210, while traveling on the route in principle.
The traveling controller 274 causes the luggage transportation vehicle 200 to stop when it receives a stop instruction from the management device 300. Instead of this, when the route information includes information on a stop position, the traveling controller 274 may cause the luggage transportation vehicle 200 to stop when the result of the positioning of the GNSS receiver 216 and the stop position match. That is, the management device 300 gives a stop instruction or the information on a stop position to the traveling controller 274, and the traveling controller 274 causes the luggage transportation vehicle 200 to stop according to them. A position at which the luggage transportation vehicle 200 is caused to stop includes a position on a road. In particular, when the user U carries the luggage P into the storage 240 of the luggage transportation vehicle 200, the luggage transportation vehicle 200 stops on a road or in a parking lot.
The carry-in/out controller 276 drives, for example, the indicator 232 and the opening/closing mechanism 236 at a timing instructed by the management device 300.
[Management Device]
The communicator 310 is, for example, a network card for connecting to the network NW. The communicator 310 communicates with the terminal device 100 and the vehicle 200 via the network NW.
The receiver 320 acquires (receives) application information issued from the terminal device 100 of a user via the communicator 310, and adds it to the application information list 394.
The storage designation information is determined by, for example, the schedule determiner 330. When the schedule determiner 330 determines the storage designation information in response to application information received from the user U, the schedule determiner 330 transmits details of the determination to the terminal device 100 of a user. The terminal device 100 displays information indicating the details of the determination. As a result, the user U can recognize in advance a position of the storage 240 to store the luggage P.
When a record of new application information is added to the application information list 394, the schedule determiner 330 refers to a list of the luggage transportation vehicles 200 (not shown) and the movement schedule information 396, and selects a luggage transportation vehicle 200 to be used by the user U related to application information among the plurality of luggage transportation vehicles 200. Then, the storage designation information is determined as described above, and is transmitted to the terminal device 100 of the user U.
The operation determiner 340 transmits an operation instruction to the luggage transportation vehicle 200 using a communicator 310 based on the movement schedule information 396 as described above. That is, the operation determiner 340 determines an operation of the luggage transportation vehicle 200 based on the movement schedule information 396 generated based on application information received by the receiver 320. The operation of the luggage transportation vehicle 200 determined by the operation determiner 340 includes a stop instruction at a route, a carrying-in point or a delivery point (a stop timing may be instructed, or a point may be instructed mainly depending on determination by the luggage transportation vehicle 200), and content such as which storage 240 to be made empty at a carrying-in point or a delivery point.
As shown in
The luggage P may be transported via a collection center during the transportation.
Then, at the collection center 400 that is a destination of the transportation, the luggage P is carried into the luggage transportation vehicle 200 and transported to a delivery destination. A carrying-in point and a carrying-out point in the movement schedule information 396 may be the collection center 400. In particular, the luggage P whose luggage IDs are A012, A264, and A654 is carried in at the event (1) of
The information provider 350 causes the terminal device 100 of the user U to provide positional information and route information of the luggage transportation vehicle 200. The information provider 350 transmits the positional information uploaded using the communication device 214 by the communication controller 272 of the luggage transportation vehicle 200 and the route information described in the movement schedule information 396 to the terminal device 100 using the communicator 310. The information provider 350 transmits, for example, information for displaying an image indicating the positional information and route information by superimposing the image on a map image to the terminal device 100. The information provider 350 transmits information indicating that the delivery of the luggage P to the terminal device 100 of a recipient determined not to be at home by the monitor 360 to be described below will be skipped.
Functions of the monitor 360 will be described below.
The payment processor 370 performs processing for collecting charges from the user U. For example, the payment processor 370 cooperates with a credit card or electronic money management server to collect charges from the user U.
[Processing at the Time of Recognizing Recipient]
Hereinafter, processing when the luggage transportation vehicle 200 and the recipient of the luggage P approach each other on the way to the delivery point will be described. The operation determiner 340 brings the luggage transportation vehicle 200 close to the recipient and causes the luggage transportation vehicle 200 to perform an operation for allowing the recipient to receive the luggage P at a point different from the delivery point when a predetermined condition regarding the positional relationship between the luggage transportation vehicle 200 and the recipient of the luggage P is satisfied before the luggage transportation vehicle 200 reaches the delivery point. Hereinafter, the “operation for bringing the luggage transportation vehicle 200 close to the recipient and allowing the recipient to receive the luggage P at a point different from the delivery point” is referred to as a “direct delivery operation.” To provide such a function, the terminal device 100 of the recipient is provided with a function of a recipient menu among functions provided by a transportation service application, and realizes various services to be described below.
The predetermined condition is either or both of the following condition 1 and condition 2. That is, the operation determiner 340 may cause the luggage transportation vehicle 200 to perform the direct delivery operation on an assumption that the predetermined condition is satisfied only when the condition 1 is satisfied, may cause the luggage transportation vehicle 200 to perform the direct delivery operation on an assumption that the predetermined condition is satisfied only when the condition 2 is satisfied, and may cause the luggage transportation vehicle 200 to perform the direct delivery operation on an assumption that the predetermined condition is satisfied only when any one of the condition 1 and the condition 2 is satisfied.
(Condition 1)
The terminal device 100 of the recipient and the communication device 214 mounted in the luggage transportation vehicle 200 can communicate with each other without going through another device (by short-range wireless communication).
(Condition 2)
The position of the terminal device 100 of the recipient and the position of the luggage transportation vehicle 200 are within a predetermined range.
Regarding the condition 1, for example, when a search signal is periodically transmitted from the luggage transportation vehicle 200 and there is a reply from a luggage transportation application of the terminal device 100 of the recipient, information indicating that there is a reply is transmitted from the luggage transportation vehicle 200 to the management device 300. The operation determiner 340 determines that the condition 1 is satisfied by receiving the information.
Regarding the condition 2, the predetermined range may mean that an absolute distance between the position of the recipient and the position of the luggage transportation vehicle 200 is within a predetermined distance, or may mean that a road distance when applied to the map information is within a predetermined distance. The position of the recipient is ascertained based on the positional information uploaded from the terminal device 100 of the recipient, and the position of the luggage transportation vehicle 200 is ascertained based on the positional information uploaded from the luggage transportation vehicle 200.
However, the operation determiner 340 does not cause the luggage transportation vehicle 200 to perform the direct delivery operation even when a predetermined condition is satisfied when the following exceptional event occurs.
(Exceptional event 1)
The size of the luggage P ascertained from the “luggage type” obtained by referring to the application information list 394 is larger than a reference. In this case, it is difficult for the recipient to carry the luggage P and move to his or her home.
(Exceptional event 2)
Referring to content of an operation performed by the recipient on an operation device mounted on the terminal device 100 or the luggage transportation vehicle 200 (not shown, a touch panel of the display device 212 may function as the operation device as described above), the recipient desires to receive luggage at the delivery point.
When it is decided to cause the luggage transportation vehicle 200 to perform the direct delivery operation, the operation determiner 340 first determines whether it is possible to cause the luggage transportation vehicle 200 to stop at the point where the recipient is, changes a destination of the luggage transportation vehicle 200 to the point if possible or to a stoppable place near the recipient if not possible, and regenerates a route of the luggage transportation vehicle 200. The stoppable place is a place that satisfies a condition for vehicle stopping, such as a place on a road having a width enough for both a vehicle and a pedestrian to pass through when the luggage transportation vehicle 200 is stopped. Then, when the recipient is recognized by the monitoring unit 210 or the communication device 214 while communicating with the luggage transportation vehicle 200, the luggage transportation vehicle 200 is moved to a vicinity of the recognized recipient and stopped, and the door 230 of a storage 240 in which the luggage P for the recipient is stored is opened or unlocked. As a result, the direct delivery operation is realized.
First, the operation determiner 340 determines whether the luggage transportation vehicle 200 has reached the delivery point (step S1). When it is determined that the luggage transportation vehicle 200 has reached the delivery point, the operation determiner 340 causes the luggage transportation vehicle 200 to stop at the delivery point and opens or unlocks the door 230 (step S2).
If it is not determined that the luggage transportation vehicle 200 has reached the delivery point, the operation determiner 340 determines whether the “predetermined condition” described above is satisfied (step S3). When it is determined that the predetermined condition is satisfied, the operation determiner 340 determines whether the luggage type of the luggage P related to the delivery point is the specified type (step S4). The specified type is a luggage type whose size is equal to or larger than a reference.
When the predetermined condition is not satisfied, or when the luggage type is the specified type, the processing is returned to step S1. When the predetermined condition is satisfied and the luggage type is not the specified type, the operation determiner 340 notifies the terminal device 100 of information indicating that a direct delivery is possible (step S5;
By such processing, the management device 300 can improve the convenience especially for the recipient. In this type of service, it is not possible to designate a detailed delivery time, or, even if a detailed delivery time can be designated, the delivery time is generally shifted according to a road condition, and it is assumed that the luggage transportation vehicle 200 has arrived and the service is treated as being absent while the recipient is out for a little business. If the service is treated as absence, there is a need for a re-delivery, which will increase a burden on a service provider side. On the other hand, according to the processing of the embodiment, when the luggage transportation vehicle 200 passes near the recipient, delivery can be completed on the spot unless the luggage P is large, and thus there is a great advantage for both parties.
[About Function and Usage of Monitor]
Hereinafter, the monitor 360 will be described. The monitor 360 monitors a home status of a recipient. The monitor 360 monitors the home status of a recipient by, for example, any of the following methods.
(Monitoring method 1)
The monitor 360 acquires, for example, security data of a security company via a network NW, and monitors the home status of a recipient based on the acquired security data. Since the security data includes data indicating a presence/absence for each time zone described as, for example, “0:00 to 0:00: Absence, during security,” the monitor 360 determines that the recipient is at home when a current time does not correspond to the time zone of absence.
(Monitoring method 2)
The monitor 360 collects images of a person captured by cameras mounted in the plurality of luggage transportation vehicles 200, and determines that the recipient is not at home when an image matching the characteristics of the recipient is collected during a delivery of the luggage P to the recipient. Since various methods are known for characteristics extraction of person images, description thereof will be omitted.
The monitor 360 may accumulate the past home statuses determined as described above in the storage 390, derive a probability of being at home for each time zone based on the accumulated home statuses, and determine (estimate) whether the recipient is at home based on the probability of being at home. A known statistical method may be used in the processing.
Then, when the luggage transportation vehicle 200 is transporting luggage to a first recipient, and a second recipient who is scheduled to receive a delivery of luggage after the first recipient is determined to be at home by the monitor 360, the schedule determiner 330 increases a delivery priority of the second recipient. “Increasing the delivery priority” means, for example, advancing a delivery order to perform a delivery first.
The information provider 350 transmits information indicating that the delivery of the luggage P to the terminal device 100 of a recipient (a recipient who is scheduled to receive a delivery of the luggage P next) determined not to be at home by the monitor 360 will be skipped.
These types of processing can reduce a probability of cases of being treated as absent, and can bring benefits to both a recipient and a service provider.
According to the embodiment described above, it is possible to improve convenience.
The embodiment described above can be expressed as follows.
A management device is a management device that manages an operation of a luggage transportation vehicle which travels autonomously on a road without a driver getting on a vehicle and has luggage storages shielded by openable doors, and includes a storage device configured to store a program, and a hardware processor, the hardware processor executes the program, thereby receiving application information related to transportation of the luggage with a designated delivery point, determining an operation of the luggage transportation vehicle based on at least the application information, and bringing, when a predetermined condition regarding a positional relationship between the luggage transportation vehicle and a recipient of the luggage is satisfied, the luggage transportation vehicle close to the recipient, and causing the luggage transportation vehicle to perform an operation for allowing the recipient to receive the luggage at a point different from the delivery point before the luggage transportation vehicle reaches the delivery point at the time of determining the operation.
Although the embodiments for carrying out the present invention have been described above using the embodiments, the present invention is not limited to these embodiments, and various modifications and substitutions are made within a range not departing from the gist of the present invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020-061907 | Mar 2020 | JP | national |
