Shared vehicle management device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10360518-B2
Application number	US-201515126933-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 29, 2015
Priority date	Mar 19, 2014
Publication date	Jul 23, 2019
Grant date	Jul 23, 2019

Abstract

A shared vehicle management device for managing shared vehicles used by users, including a rental request acquisition unit configured to acquire a rental request by the user, a vehicle state acquisition unit configured to acquire state information of the shared vehicle, a rental determination unit configured to determine a necessity level of maintenance of the shared vehicle on a basis of the state information of the shared vehicle, and determine whether to prohibit or permit a rental of the shared vehicle with the state information of the shared vehicle and the rental request by the user, and a recommended destination selection unit configured to determine that the shared vehicle needs maintenance upon a determination that the necessity level of maintenance of the shared vehicle is higher than a predetermined reference value when the rental determination unit determines whether to prohibit or permit the rental of the shared vehicle.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A shared vehicle management device that communicates with a user terminal device and an operator terminal device in an electronic shared vehicle management system for managing shared vehicles used by users, comprising:
a communication device that receives an electronic rental request from the user terminal device, the request made by a user of the users; and
a processor, wherein the processor processes a rental request acquisition based on the electronic rental request,
wherein the communication device further acquires state information of a shared vehicle of the shared vehicles, wherein the state information comprises Global Positioning System (GPS) data acquired from a GPS receiver in the shared vehicle,
wherein the processor further processes a rental determination that:
determines a necessity level of maintenance of the shared vehicle on a basis of the state information of the shared vehicle, and
determines whether to prohibit or permit a rental of the shared vehicle with the state information of the shared vehicle and the electronic rental request by the user;
wherein the processor further processes a recommended destination selection that:
determines that the shared vehicle needs maintenance upon a determination that the necessity level of maintenance of the shared vehicle is higher than a predetermined reference value when the rental determination determines whether to prohibit or permit the rental of the shared vehicle;
acquires a management information comprising a location of a maintenance facility and an availability of the maintenance facility; and
uses the communication device to transmit a recommended destination presentation to the user terminal device that presents a recommended destination selected by the recommended destination selection to the user,
wherein the recommended destination is selected based on the GPS data, the management information, and a predetermined wait time period,
wherein the rental determination permits the rental of the shared vehicle when the user accepts the presented recommended destination as a destination for the shared vehicle, and
wherein the processor further processes a transporting work management that, when the user does not accept the selected recommended destination as a destination for the shared vehicle:
refers to the management information that further includes a schedule for an operator who transports the shared vehicle;
selects the operator to perform transportation work for the shared vehicle; and
transmits, using the communication device, a command to transport the shared vehicle to an operator terminal device carried by the operator, resulting in the shared vehicle being transported.

2. The shared vehicle management device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the state information includes a remaining amount of energy that is used to drive the shared vehicle;
wherein the rental determination determines that the necessity level of maintenance of the shared vehicle is higher than the predetermined reference value when the remaining amount of energy of the shared vehicle is less than a predetermined remaining amount threshold; and
wherein the recommended destination selection selects an energy supply facility for supplying energy to the shared vehicle as the recommended destination when a determination is made that the necessity level of maintenance of the shared vehicle is higher than the predetermined reference value.

3. The shared vehicle management device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the state information includes condition information of the shared vehicle;
wherein the rental determination determines that the necessity level of maintenance of the shared vehicle is higher than the predetermined reference value when the condition information of the shared vehicle is not within a predefined appropriate range; and
wherein the recommended destination selection selects a maintenance facility for restoring the condition of the shared vehicle so that the condition information falls within the appropriate range as the recommended destination when a determination is made that the necessity level of maintenance of the shared vehicle is higher than the predetermined reference value.

4. The shared vehicle management device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the state information includes a first remaining amount of energy, at a time of renting the shared vehicle, that is used to drive the shared vehicle;
wherein the rental determination estimates a second remaining amount of energy, at a time of returning the shared vehicle, on a basis of the first remaining amount of energy and determines that the necessity level of maintenance of the shared vehicle at the time of returning is higher than the predetermined reference value when the estimated second remaining amount of energy at the time of returning is less than a predetermined remaining amount threshold; and
wherein the recommended destination selection selects an energy supply facility for supplying energy to the shared vehicle as the recommended destination when a determination is made that the necessity level of maintenance of the shared vehicle at the time of returning is higher than the predetermined reference value.

5. The shared vehicle management device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the state information includes condition information of the shared vehicle;
wherein the rental determination estimates the condition information at a time of returning the shared vehicle on a basis of the condition information at a time of renting the shared vehicle and determines that the necessity level of maintenance of the shared vehicle at the time of returning is higher than the predetermined reference value when the estimated condition information at the time of returning is not within a predefined appropriate range; and
wherein the recommended destination selection selects a maintenance facility for restoring the condition of the shared vehicle so that the condition information falls within the appropriate range as the recommended destination when a determination is made that the necessity level of maintenance of the shared vehicle at the time of returning is higher than the predetermined reference value.

6. The shared vehicle management device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the recommended destination is a point other than a point that is predetermined as a return space for the shared vehicle and is able to be designated as a destination for the shared vehicle.

7. The shared vehicle management device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the recommended destination selection refers to management information and selects a location of a facility that is available as the recommended destination, the management information including an operation state of the facility that is the recommended destination.

8. The shared vehicle management device according to claim 7 ,
wherein the recommended destination selection further:
refers to the management information; and
selects the location of the maintenance facility as the recommended destination when an available time for using the maintenance facility is before an estimated arrival time at which the shared vehicle is estimated to arrive at the recommended destination or a time difference between an available time for using the maintenance facility and the estimated arrival time at which the shared vehicle is estimated to arrive at the recommended destination is within a predetermined time period.

9. The shared vehicle management device according to claim 1 ,
wherein the transporting work management refers to the management information and determines whether or not the operator starts to transport the shared vehicle;
wherein the recommended des

Assignees

• Nissan Motor

Inventors

• Hirose Satoru
• Chinomi Satoshi
• Nagai Yukiko
• Kuno Masaki

Classifications

• G06Q10/20

  Administration of product repair or maintenance · CPC title

• G06Q30/0645

  Rental transactions; Leasing transactions · CPC title

• G06Q10/02 Primary

  Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events · CPC title

• G06Q50/30

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06Q50/40

  Business processes related to the transportation industry (shipping G06Q10/083) · CPC title