Information processing apparatus, information processing system and information processing method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11580583-B2
Application number	US-202017117850-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 10, 2020
Priority date	Dec 25, 2019
Publication date	Feb 14, 2023
Grant date	Feb 14, 2023

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a technique that enables customization of a vehicle. In an information processing apparatus, a controller presents vehicle units extracted from among a plurality of types of under units each of which is provided with a driving mechanism configured to cause wheels to rotate and a plurality of types of upper units to be loaded on any of the under units to a user, the vehicle units being combinable as a vehicle. Furthermore, the controller executes: accepting selection by a user from among the presented vehicle units; and calculating a fee in the case of providing the selected vehicle units.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An information processing apparatus comprising a controller and a storage coupled to the controller configured to execute:
presenting a plurality of vehicle units extracted from among a plurality of types of under units each of which is provided with a driving mechanism configured to cause wheels to rotate and a plurality of types of upper units to be loaded on any of the under units, the plurality of vehicle units being combinable with a vehicle owned by a user, to the user;
accepting selection by the user from among the plurality of vehicle units; and
calculating a fee in the case of providing one or more selected vehicle units; and
the storage configured to register unit information indicating the vehicle units and fee information about the vehicle units,
wherein
each of the under units and the upper units is provided with a part tag in which unit information is recorded,
the vehicle owned by the user is provided with one of the vehicle units that is either one of the under units or one of the upper units beforehand and a vehicle control apparatus being provided with a reader for an owner part tag in which vehicle unit information is recorded,
the reader transmits a radio wave for reading the vehicle unit information to the owner part tag,
the reader receives a radio wave transmitted by the owner part tag using the radio wave transmitted by the reader,
the reader reads the vehicle unit information recorded in the owner part tag from the received radio wave,
the controller receives the vehicle unit information read by the reader via a communication interface,
the controller extracts the plurality of vehicle units that are combinable with the vehicle owned by the user, based on the vehicle unit information read by the reader and the unit information registered in the storage,
the controller presents the extracted plurality of vehicle units,
the controller calculates the fee in the case of providing the one or more selected vehicle units by reading out the fee information about the one or more selected vehicle units from the storage,
the controller causes the vehicle to be assembled with the one or more selected vehicle units, and causes the assembled vehicle to move to a use starting point.

2. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the controller presents the plurality of vehicle units that is combinable with the vehicle, based on at least one of a destination location, the number of passengers and a load weight input by the user.

3. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the controller presents the plurality of vehicle units based on a use purpose of the vehicle specified by the user.

4. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the controller outputs setting information for setting a travel condition to the vehicle based on combination of the vehicle units selected by the user.

5. The information processing apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the travel condition is at least one of an upper speed limit, a setting for suspensions, a jerk at the time of starting and a jerk at the time of stopping.

6. The information processing apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein, when the vehicle units are rented, the controller calculates the fee based on a period of use from start to end of rental of the vehicle units.

7. An information processing system comprising:
a vehicle control apparatus mounted on an under unit or an upper unit of a vehicle configured by combining the under unit and the upper unit, the under unit comprising a driving mechanism configured to cause wheels to rotate, and the upper unit to be loaded on the under unit; and
an information processing apparatus configured to perform a process for providing a vehicle unit that is the under unit or the upper unit, wherein
the information processing apparatus comprises a controller and a storage coupled to the controller configured to execute:
presenting a plurality of vehicle units that is combinable with a vehicle owned by a user, among a plurality of types of the vehicle units, to the user, each of the plurality of types of the vehicle units being the above vehicle unit;
accepting selection by the user from among the plurality of vehicle units; and
calculating a fee in the case of providing one or more selected vehicle units; and
the storage configured to register unit information indicating the vehicle units and fee information about the vehicle units,
wherein
each of the under units and the upper units is provided with part tag in which the unit information is recorded,
the vehicle owned by the user is provided with one of the vehicle units that is either one of the under units or one of the upper units beforehand and a vehicle control apparatus being provided with a reader for an owner part tag in which vehicle unit information is recorded,
the reader transmits a radio wave for reading the vehicle unit information to the owner part tag,
the reader receives a radio wave transmitted by the owner part tag using the radio wave transmitted by the reader,
the reader reads the vehicle unit information recorded in the owner part tag from the received radio wave,
the controller receives the vehicle unit information read by the reader via a communication interface,
the controller extracts the plurality of vehicle units that are combinable with the vehicle owned by the user, based on the vehicle unit information read by the reader and the unit information registered in the storage,
the controller presents the extracted plurality of vehicle units, and
the controller calculates the fee in the case of providing the one or more selected vehicle units by reading out the fee information about the one or more selected vehicle units from the storage.

8. The information processing system according to claim 7 , wherein the controller presents the plurality of vehicle units that is combinable with the vehicle owned by the user, based on at least one of a destination location, the number of passengers and a load weight input by the user.

9. The information processing system according to claim 7 , wherein the controller presents the plurality of vehicle units based on a use purpose of the vehicle owned by the user specified by the user.

10. The information processing system according to claim 7 , wherein the controller outputs setting information for setting a travel condition to the vehicle owned by the user based on combination of the vehicle units selected by the user.

11. The information processing system according to claim 10 , wherein the travel condition is at least one of an upper speed limit, a setting for suspensions, a jerk at the time of starting and a jerk at the time of stopping.

12. The information processing system according to claim 7 , wherein, when the vehicle units are rented, the controller calculates the fee based on a period of use from start to end of rental of the vehicle units.

13. An information processing method wherein a computer executes:
presenting a plurality of vehicle units extracted from among a plurality of types of under units each of which is provided with a driving mechanism configured to cause wheels to rotate and a plurality of types of upper units to be loaded on any of the under units, the plurality of vehicle units being combinable with a vehicle owned by a user, to the user;
accepting selection by the user from among the plurality of vehicle units; and
calculating a fee in the case of providing one or more selected vehicle units; and
registering unit information indicating the vehicle units and fee information about the vehicle

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Yabushita Hiroki
• Kondo Keiichi
• Takahashi Kaori
• Xin Jin
• Mizushima Daisuke
• Ando Satoru
• Murakami Takeshi
• Yamanouchi Yuchi
• Miyahara Kenta
• Yoshikawa Katsuhisa
• Suzuki Yuji
• Yamazaki Keita
• Matsumoto Kei
• Ito Hiroyuki
• Ogawa Takashi
• Sugiyama Yukiya
• Ando Masaru
• Sawahira So
• Mukai Rina
• Nakagame Azusa
• Toyama Erina
• Fujiwara Yasushi

Classifications

• G06Q30/0621 Primary

  by configuring or customising goods or services · CPC title

• G06Q30/0603

  Catalogue creation or management · CPC title

• G06Q30/0631

  Recommending goods or services · CPC title

• G06Q30/0283

  Price estimation or determination · CPC title

• G06Q30/0645

  Rental transactions; Leasing transactions · CPC title