Patent Application
20190362435
The present invention relates to a travel purpose determination method, a travel purpose determination apparatus, and a travel purpose determination system, for determination of a purpose of travel from travel history.
The style of commuting has been changing in accordance with the diversification of choices in forms of employment. It is considered that the spread of telework and office sharing will reduce commuters who commute to the same places daily, in the future. In that case, companies will review allowances for “commutation passes” premised on commuting to the same places daily. Commutation passes allow users to use only fixed specific means of transport, and thus commutation passes are unsuitable for the reality of travel.
Meanwhile, one-stop service called Mobility as a Service (MaaS) enabling searching, reserving, and payment for various means of transport, such as railways, buses, and taxies, has been spreading. For MaaS, a package combining a plurality of means of transport or a gradual charging system responsive to a usage level has been examined.
Note that, in order to practically use service such as MaaS, companies need to distinguish travel necessary on business and the rest travel from the daily travel of employees that is not fixed for destinations and means of transport.
For the need, Japanese Patent Application No. 2016-81101 describes “on the basis of: a transport expense application including a date, an expenditure, an entry station, and an exit station acquired from a storage medium enabling payment for a railway fare; and candidate routes and fares acquired on search conditions including the entry station as a departure station, the exit station as an arrival station, and the date, approval or disapproval of the transport expense application is determined in accordance with whether the expenditure agrees with at least one of the candidates”.
JP 2014-49076 A describes “previously setting of transport expense rules in a transport expense rule DB, determination of whether a retrieved route meets the transport expense rules, display of information regarding the retrieved route and a determined result, presentation of a suitable route candidate, and application of a transport expense meeting the transport expense rules”.
According to Japanese Patent Application No. 2016-81101 (Publication No. JP2017-191494A), the travel route of the user is created from information regarding, for example, the entry station and the exit station recorded in the storage medium, such as an IC card. The transport expense application is allowed on the basis of the travel route. When the fare of the created route agrees with any one of the fares of the candidate routes included in the route search result, the transport expense application is approved. However, according to Japanese Patent Application No. 2016-81101, because the determination is based on only the fare of the route, no determination of whether the travel is the purpose of business is made.
JP 2014-49076 A describes automatic determination of whether the applied route agrees with the transport expense rules, with allowable means of transport registered in the transport expense rule DB. For approval of the transport expense application with the technique, first, destinations on business are previously registered in the transport expense rule DB. Then, collation of the application content with the destinations determines whether the transport expense application is necessary on business. However, in this case, because all destinations on business require previously registering, the load of addition or deletion of destinations is large.
Thus, an object of the present invention is to determine traveling necessary for the conduct of business and a destination, with the usage history of means of transport and location information, to automatically determine whether the traveling is usage for the purpose of business, from the usage history of the transport system.
In order to achieve the object, according to a representative aspect of the present invention, provided is a travel purpose determination method employing a travel purpose determination apparatus including a charging management device, a determination device, and a schedule management server in connection through a network, the travel purpose determination apparatus including a history acquisition unit, a schedule acquisition unit, a determination unit, and a determination rule database, the travel purpose determination method including: acquiring usage history including usage date and time indicating usage record of a transport system, location information, and user identification information, from the charging management device through the history acquisition unit; acquiring a schedule of a user from the schedule management server through the schedule acquisition unit, based on the user identification information and the usage date and time; and determining whether a purpose of travel is usage on business, from the usage history and the schedule of the user, through the determination unit, based on a determination rule stored in the determination rule database.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, determination of traveling necessary for the conduct of business and a destination, with the usage history of means of transport and location information, enables extraction of the traveling corresponding to usage for the purpose of business, from the usage history of the transport system. This arrangement enables a considerable reduction in the burden of travel management for a company or a user, so that billing/allowances to transport usage can be processed easier than ever before.
Objects, configurations, and effects other than the above will be clear in the descriptions of the following embodiments.
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. Note that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments. For description of the drawings, the same constituents are denoted with the same reference signs.
[Configuration of Travel Purpose Determination System]
First, the configuration of hardware for achievement of an aspect of the present invention will be described with reference to
The charging management device 1 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 12, a communication interface (hereinafter, also referred to as a “communication I/F”) 13, a charging management program 100, and a charging management database 150. The charging management database 150 stores a usage statement 310, an account 630, and a contract plan 640. The charging management program 100 includes a history acquisition unit 101 and a statement creation unit 102.
The determination device 2 includes a CPU 12, a communication I/F 13, a determination program 200, and a determination database 250. The determination database 250 stores a determination rule 610 and an approved destination list 620. The determination program 200 includes a schedule acquisition unit 103, a presence acquisition unit 104, a metadata acquisition unit 105, and a determination unit 106.
The user terminal 4 includes a CPU 12, a communication I/F 13, and a user application 400. The user application 400 includes: a ticket storage unit 401 that records an electronic ticket acquired from the charging management device 1; a travel history transmission unit 402 that stores the usage history of a transport system with the ticket and transmits the usage history to the charging management device 1; and a location information transmission unit 403 that transmits location information, such as latitude and longitude.
The administrator terminal 5 includes a CPU 12, a communication I/F 13, and an administrator application 500. The administrator application 500 includes: a statement transmission and reception unit 501 that transmits and receives data regarding the usage statement of the transport system, in cooperation with the determination program 200; and a determination unit 502 for an administrator to determine the usage purpose of the transport system in the usage statement.
Next, the respective operations of the constituent elements will be described in outline. First, the history acquisition unit 101 of the charging management program 100 in the charging management device 1 receives data of usage history and location information, from the user application 400 in the user terminal 4 through the communication I/F 13. Then, the statement creation unit 102 of the charging management program 100 creates a usage statement from the received usage history and location information, and stores the usage statement as the usage statement 310 into the charging management database 150.
Next, the determination program 200 in the determination device 2 acquires the usage statement 310 from the charging management database 150 in the charging management device 1, and extracts the user ID identifying a user and the usage date and time from the usage statement 310. Then, the schedule acquisition unit 103 of the determination program 200 acquires schedule information regarding an employee having the user ID (namely, the user) at the usage date and time, from a schedule management serve (not exemplified in
Note that the aspect in which the data acquisition and the data determination are performed with the programs, has been described. However, the functions may be achieved by dedicated hardware or may be achieved by a module of software.
In a case where the usage statement 310 is determined as the purpose of business, the charging management program 100 in the charging management device 1 adds the usage for the transport system in the statement, to the account 630 of the company. The charging management program 100 determines a bill to the company, on the basis of the usage level of the transport system included in the account.
Next, the respective operations of the constituent elements in a case where the user uses the transport system, will be described in outline.
The user (e.g., an employee of the company) uses the transport system with the electronic ticket stored in the user application 400 that operates on the user terminal 4. Here, the electronic ticket presents the right of use of transport service to a terminal of a transport operator, such as a ticket gate, and saves the usage history of usage of transport service, therein, through means such as near field communication (NFC). After the usage of the transport system, the travel history transmission unit 402 of the user application 400 transmits the travel history to the charging management program 100 in the charging management device 1. Then, the charging management program 100 in the charging management device 1 acquires the travel history from the user terminal 4, creates a transport expense statement (e.g., the usage statement 310), and transmits the transport expense statement to the determination program 200 in the determination device 2. The travel history includes usage history and location information.
Next, the determination program 200 in the determination device 2 that has received the usage statement 310, acquires Global Positioning System (GPS) location information and a Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) maker detected by the user application 400, from the usage statement 310, and further acquires office access information during a stay time at a travel destination (namely, presence information). Then, the determination program 200 determines the usage on business or the usage on non-business with collation with the determination rule 610. The detail of the determination rule 610 will be described later. For example, in a case where in-house office access information or in-house Wi-Fi connection information regarding the user has been acquired (namely, the stay of the user at a place regarded as being for business), the determination program 200 determines that the travel recorded in the usage statement 310 is the usage on business. In a case where the location information corresponds to location information previously registered in the approved destination list 620, the travel recorded in the usage statement 310 is determined as the usage on business. In this manner, according to the present embodiment, because of use of the access information regarding the user in determination processing, for example, even when the user travels, on a holiday, to a destination registered in the approved destination list 620, the travel is not determined as the purpose of business.
Next, in a case where the usage statement 310 is not determined as the usage on business, the determination program 200 transmits the usage statement 310 to the administrator application 500 in the administrator terminal 5. Then, the administrator determines the purpose of the usage statement 310 (namely, either the usage on business or the usage on non-business), and sends this determined result back to the determination program 200 in the determination device 2. Here, in a case where the administrator has approved the usage statement 310, the determination program 200 adds the destination recorded in the usage statement 310, to the approved destination list 620. After that, when a user belonging to the same organization (the same employee or a different employee) travels to the approved destination within a certain period, use of the approved destination list 620 enables the travel to be automatically regarded as the usage on business.
The processing causes separation of the usage history of the transport system into the travel necessary for the conduct of business and the rest travel, so that the company can be billed only for the expense of the travel necessary for the conduct of business.
Next, information that the charging management device 1 and the determination device 2 store, will be described with reference to
As illustrated in
Next, a usage statement according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
The usage statement 310 includes: travel order 311 indicating the order of travel; location information 312 indicating the geographical coordinates of the place of stay of the user; transport route information 313 indicating the transport route used by the user; entry information 314 indicating the entry place of entry of the user into the transport route; exit information 315 indicating the exit place of exit of the user from the transport route; entry date and time 316 indicating the entry time of entry of the user into the transport route (e.g., the time of passage through the ticket gate of the entry station); exit date and time 317 indicating the exit time of exit of the user from the transport route; place code 318 indicating the place code uniquely identifying the travel destination, acquired at the travel destination (e.g., the URL corresponding to the ucode or the BLE maker); and determined result 319 indicating the determination status for the usage on business (e.g., the usage on business, the usage on non-business, or undetermined).
Note that, here, for the travel due to the usage of the transport system, no location information is present (e.g., orders 1, 2, 4, and 5). For the location information regarding the travel destination, no transport route information 313, no entry information 314 regarding the transport route, and no exit information 315 regarding the transport route are present (e.g., order 3).
Next, a determination rule and an approved destination list according to the embodiment of the present invention, will be described with reference to
Next, a specific example of the determination rule 610 will be described. The date and time condition 612 specifying a specific period, such as “from Apr. 1, 2017 to Mar. 31, 2018” or a day and a period of time, such as “a weekday and from 7 to 22 o'clock”, is intended for verification of whether the date and time 214 in the usage history 210 agrees with the specification. The schedule condition 613 specifying a work schedule, is intended for verification of whether the schedule 302 in the schedule information 300 illustrated in
Next, an account and a contract plan according to the embodiment of the present invention, will be described with reference to
Next, a system configuration according to the embodiment of the present invention, will be described with reference to
The charging management device 701 transmits an electronic ticket to the user application 400 operating in the terminal retained by the employee of the client company (e.g., the user terminal 4 of
The determination device 702 issues an inquiry with, as a key, the place code 318 included in the usage statement 310, to the external metadata distribution server, and acquires the metadata regarding the place. For example, the place code may be a ucode issued through Bluetooth (registered trademark) communication at an event site. Issuing an inquiry with the place code to the metadata distribution server 706, enables acquisition of location information, such as the latitude and the longitude of the place, information regarding an event, and the URL of the event.
Use of the system configuration illustrated in
Note that, here, the aspect in which the usage history and the location information are acquired from the user application 400 operating in the user terminal that has received the electronic ticket from the charging management device 701, has been described, but the embodiment of the present invention is not limited to this. For example, an aspect in which the user terminal 704 has no user application 400, can be provided. In this case, a public transport company (not exemplified) used in traveling of the user, acquires the usage history of the user, and directly transmits the usage history of the user to the charging management device 701 (namely, data such as the usage history, is exchanged between the public transport company and the MaaS operator). This arrangement enables a further reduction in the burden of travel management for the contract company or the user.
Next, a user application screen according to the embodiment of the present invention, will be described with reference to
In a case where there is a stop-off site because of a private reason of the user, the user selects the corresponding stop-off site in the travel history display area 810 and presses a private setting button 820, so that the user application 400 can transmit the usage history 210 and the location information 220 from which information regarding the stop-off site is deleted.
Next, the entirety of a determination flow according to the embodiment of the present invention, will be described with reference to
Subsequently, the metadata acquisition unit 105 issues a search request with, as a key, the place code 318 acquired at the stay time, to the metadata distribution server, and acquires the place of the destination and the URL of the event as the metadata (S104). Then, the determination unit 106 collates the information with the determination rule 610, to determine whether the travel in the usage statement is the purpose of business (S105). The determination processing will be described later with reference to
Next, the detail of the determination flow according to the embodiment of the present invention, will be described with reference to
Subsequently, the presence acquisition unit 104 of the determination program 200 acquires the presence information during the stay time at the destination in the usage statement, from the access management server of the company (e.g., the in-house access management server 705 of
In a case where the location information in the usage statement disagrees with the location information in the approved destination list at S204, the determination unit 106 compares the URL of the destination metadata included in the schedule information, to the URL acquired with, as a key, the place code of the destination from the metadata distribution server (e.g., the metadata distribution server 706 illustrated in
Note that the Wi-Fi station ID 225 illustrated in
The determination processing in this manner results in a considerable reduction in the burden of travel management for the company or the user. Thus, billing/allowances to transport usage can be managed easier than ever before.
Next, an addition flow of the approved destination list according to the embodiment of the present invention, will be described with reference to
According to the present embodiment, the determination program 200 records the destination determined as the purpose of business by the administrator and the location corresponding to the destination, for use as the approved destination. With this arrangement, in a case where the user specifies this destination as the destination in a usage statement, because this destination has been once approved, this destination can be determined as the purpose of business.
Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to
Note that, the second embodiment is similar to the first embodiment except for real-time update of the schedule information stored in the schedule management server by a remote operation of the user, and thus the descriptions of the elements above will be omitted here.
Specifically, as illustrated in
Note that the in-house scheduler 703 may add a flag of “unverified” to the updated schedule information, and may transmit the notification to an administrator application (e.g., the administrator application 500 operating in the administrator terminal 5 of
In this manner, the schedule information regarding the user stored in the in-house scheduler 703 can be updated in real time by a remote operation of the user. Thus, determination error can be inhibited in the determination processing, so that the travel purpose of the user can be determined more accurately. For example, generally, in a case where the route of travel or the date and time deviates from the schedule previously input in the in-house scheduler 703, by reason of a meeting person or a transport system, the travel of the user being out is likely to be determined as the purpose of non-business.
Note that, as described in the present embodiment, even when the user is being out, use of the user application enables real-time update of the schedule information regarding the user stored in the in-house scheduler 703, based on the change of the route of travel or the date and time. Thus, the latest schedule information can be used in the travel purpose determination processing, resulting in an effect that the travel purpose determination accuracy improves.
The embodiments of the present invention have been described above, but are just exemplary for description of the present invention. Thus, the scope of the present invention is not limited to the embodiments. Various modes may be made for the present invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-097792 | May 2018 | JP | national |
