TW202401332A - Method and apparatus for providing information on delivery fee - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed is a method of providing information on a delivery fee in a service server, the method including determining first fee information of a geographical area, acquiring information on a delivery task in the geographical area, determining second fee information of the delivery task based on the information on the delivery task, determining a delivery fee for the delivery task based on the first fee information and the second fee information, and providing a worker terminal with the information on the delivery task including the determined delivery fee.

Description

Methods and devices for providing shipping cost information

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing information about a shipping fee.

With the popularity of the Internet, e-commerce has developed. Specifically, as infectious diseases spread, the proportion of dining in a restaurant is declining and the proportion of ordering food for delivery through a smartphone application associated with a food delivery agency service is rapidly increasing.

For a food delivery agency service, it is necessary to provide a fast delivery and set a low delivery fee to improve competitiveness. To this end, changes in delivery demand over time and distance can be accurately monitored and predicted, and a reasonable cost that can satisfy a delivery worker can be determined.

In order to determine a reasonable shipping cost, various factors related to a shipment may be considered. However, taking all factors into account can be computationally expensive and change shipping costs unduly. Therefore, it may be difficult for a service provider or a delivery worker to predict delivery costs. Therefore, it is necessary to calculate a predetermined fee in advance based on a data-based formula prediction in one model for determining the transportation fee, determine a changing fee using a real-time situation in another model for determining the transportation fee, and combine the two The models are decoupled from each other to reduce one calculation complexity and improve the accuracy of forecasting shipping costs.

In this regard, reference can be made to previous document KR102252774B1 (published on May 17, 2021).

[Technical Target]

One aspect of the present invention determines first cost information for a geographical area, determines second cost information based on information about a delivery task, and determines the delivery cost and direction of the delivery task based on the first cost information and the second cost information. A worker terminal provides the determined shipping cost to simplify a shipping cost determination procedure and determine a reasonable shipping cost. [Technical solutions]

According to one aspect, a method for providing information on a shipping cost at a service server is provided. The method includes: determining first cost information in a geographical area, and obtaining information on a shipping task in the geographical area, Determine the second cost information of the delivery task based on the information about the delivery task, determine the delivery cost of the delivery task based on the first cost information and the second cost information, and provide a worker terminal including the determined The shipping cost is the information about the shipping task.

According to one aspect, determining the first cost information includes identifying record information associated with a shipment in the geographic area and determining the first cost information based on the record information.

According to one aspect, the record information includes information about the demand for a shipment and the supply of a worker in a first cycle, and the determination of the first cost information includes determining the cost based on the record information in the first cycle. The first cost information in a second period after the first period.

According to one aspect, the first cost information includes information about a base cost by time zone, a cost by distance, and an hourly cost in the geographic area.

According to one aspect, the second cost information includes an additional cost of the delivery task, and the determination of the second cost information includes: predicting whether the worker accepts the delivery task by using a prediction model; and based on the prediction The additional cost is determined, and the prediction model is configured to predict whether the worker accepts the delivery task based on the delivery cost of the delivery task and a delivery difficulty level.

According to one aspect, the determination of the second cost information further includes setting the additional cost to zero when the worker is predicted to accept the delivery task or setting the additional cost to zero when the worker is predicted not to accept the delivery task. a third fee.

According to one aspect, the third fee is determined based on a level of difficulty of shipping in the geographic area.

According to one aspect, the method further includes receiving an acceptance response or a rejection response to the delivery task from the worker terminal, responding to the acceptance response, assigning the delivery task to the worker and responding to the rejection response, Provide the information about the delivery task to another worker, and repeatedly provide the information about the delivery task to the other worker until the service server receives the accept response for the delivery task.

According to one aspect, when the number of rejection responses exceeds a predetermined number, the shipping fee is determined by adding a fourth fee to the shipping fee.

According to one aspect, the predetermined number is determined based on information about the immediate supply of transportation workers in the geographic area.

According to one aspect, determining the second cost information includes detecting a surge in shipping demand in the geographic area and increasing the second cost in response to the detection.

According to another aspect, a service server for providing information about a shipping fee is also provided, the service server including: a transceiver configured to transmit information to and receive information from another device information; and a processor configured to control the transceiver, and the processor is configured to determine first cost information for a geographic area, obtain information about a delivery task in the geographic area, based on The information of the transportation task determines the second cost information of the transportation task, determines the transportation cost of the transportation task based on the first cost information and the second cost information, and provides a worker terminal with information including the determined transportation The information of the cost of the delivery task.

According to yet another aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium is also provided, comprising a medium configured to store computer-readable instructions that, when executed by a processor, allow the computer-readable instructions to The processor executes a method for providing information about a shipping cost at a service server. The method includes: determining first cost information in a geographical area, obtaining information about a shipping task in the geographical area, based on the information about the geographical area. The information of the transportation task determines the second cost information of the transportation task, determines the transportation cost of the transportation task based on the first cost information and the second cost information, and provides a worker terminal with a transportation fee including the determined transportation cost. This information about the delivery task. [Effect]

According to example embodiments, a service server may decouple and determine first cost information predetermined before a predetermined period of time and second cost information determined immediately. Thus, the service server can simplify a shipping fee determination process, consider various situations related to a shipment to calculate a reasonable shipping fee, and encourage a consumer to continuously use a shipping agency service and a shipping worker to actively participate in shipping.

Hereinafter, example embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In describing example embodiments, descriptions of technical contents that are well known in the art to which the present invention belongs and are not directly related to this specification will be omitted. This is intended to convey more clearly by omitting unnecessary description without obscuring the subject matter of this specification.

For the same reason, in the drawings, some components are exaggerated, omitted, or schematically illustrated. In addition, the size of each component does not fully reflect the actual size. Identical or corresponding components in the various drawings are given the same reference numerals.

Advantages and features of the present invention and methods of achieving them will be apparent from the following example embodiments, which will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, it should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the following example embodiments, and may be implemented in various forms. Therefore, the example embodiments are provided solely for the purpose of disclosing the invention and enabling those skilled in the art to understand the nature of the invention. In the drawings, embodiments of the invention are not limited to the specific examples provided herein and are exaggerated for clarity. Throughout this specification, the same symbol or the same reference number refers to the same element.

At this point, it will be understood that the blocks of the flowchart illustrations, and combinations of the flowchart illustrations, can be executed by computer program instructions. Because these computer program instructions can be installed on a processor of a general-purpose computer, special-purpose computer, or other programmable data processing equipment, the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing equipment can create A component that performs the function described in the flowchart block. Such computer program instructions may be stored in a computer-usable or computer-readable memory, which may be directed to a computer or other programmable data processing equipment to perform functions in a specific manner, and thus stored in a computer-usable or computer-readable memory. read in memory. The instructions stored therein may also produce an artifact containing instruction components for performing the functions described in the flowchart blocks. Computer program instructions may also be installed on a computer or other programmable data processing equipment so that a series of operating steps can be performed on the computer or other programmable data processing equipment to create a computer-implemented program to create a computer or other programmable data. Instructions for executing the processing equipment may also provide steps for performing the functions described in the flowchart blocks.

Additionally, each block may represent a portion of a module, fragment, or code that contains one or more executable instructions for performing a specified logical function. It should also be noted that in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the blocks may occur out of the order in which they occur. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially simultaneously, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending on the corresponding function.

At this point, the term "portion" in example embodiments performs a specific role and refers to a software component or a hardware component, such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) . However, parts are not limited to software or hardware. Portions may be in a storage medium that is executable to address or operate one or more processors. Thus, for example, some include components such as software components, object-oriented software components, class components, and task components, programs, functions, properties, procedures, subroutines, code segments, drivers, firmware, microcode, circuits , data, databases, data structures, tables, arrays and variables. Functionality provided in components and parts may be combined in fewer components and parts or separated in additional components and additional parts. Additionally, components and portions may be implemented to operate one or more central processing units (CPUs) in a device or a secure multimedia card.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system for providing information about a shipping fee, according to an example embodiment.

Referring to FIG. 1 , an information providing system according to an example embodiment of the present invention includes a user terminal 110 and a service server 120 . In an example embodiment, service server 120 may process information related to an operation of a service and provide the information to a user.

An e-commerce user can connect to the service server 120 by using the user terminal 110 . An e-commerce or food delivery agency application may be installed in the user terminal 110 . The user terminal 110 can connect to the service server 120 through an application and provide an e-commerce or food delivery agency service to the user based on the information exchanged with the service server 120 . Depending on which user is using the application, the e-commerce or food delivery agent application may include an application for a buyer, an application for a seller, an application for a delivery worker, or the like. The user terminal 110 may be a mobile device such as a smartphone and a tablet PC or a static device such as a desktop PC, and a device in which an e-commerce or shipping agent application is installed and executed may be used as the user terminal 110 without restriction. In an example embodiment, the user of the user terminal 110 may include a user who orders food through a food delivery agency service and receives a food delivery. In an example embodiment, the user of the user terminal 110 may include an owner of a store that sells and delivers food through a food delivery agency service. In an example embodiment, the user of the user terminal 110 may include a worker (in other words, a delivery worker) for delivering food ordered by a customer through a food delivery agency service. The worker can identify a restaurant, a restaurant address, a delivery destination address, a delivery distance, a delivery distance, and a delivery associated with a delivery assigned to the worker through information exchange performed between the user terminal 110 and the service server 120 Shipping charges or the like.

The service server 120 communicates with the user terminal 110 and provides the user terminal 110 with information related to e-commerce or food delivery agency services. The service server may provide a list of items or restaurants as a search result in a database or provide detailed information about each of the items or a menu of each restaurant stored in the database. For items shipped directly from one of the e-commerce companies, an entity associated with a service operated by a server can purchase the item and manage a shipment. For an item shipped by another shipping company, purchase information and shipping address information about the item purchased by the user may be transmitted to a server of the other shipping company.

In an example embodiment, the service server 120 may provide a shipping agency service between a supplier, such as a restaurant selling food, and a delivery worker who delivers the food to a customer ordering the food. When the service server 120 receives an order from a customer to a store associated with a supplier, the service server 120 may calculate the shipping cost considering a shipping distance of the order, a shipping time, a shipping difficulty level, or the like, The calculated fare is then provided to a delivery worker terminal through the delivery agent application. After identifying the order information and the calculated cost of the order through the shipping agent application, the shipping worker can respond by accepting or rejecting the order. When a shipping worker accepts an order, the shipping associated with the order can be assigned to the shipping worker. Therefore, a method of determining the shipping cost of an order in a service server and providing the determined shipping cost information to workers related to shipping will be described below with reference to FIG. 2 .

2 is a sequence diagram illustrating information exchange performed in each node associated with a method and corresponding operations for providing information about a shipping fee, according to an example embodiment.

FIG. 2 illustrates information exchange between a user terminal and a service server and an operation method executed in each node according to an example embodiment of the present invention.

In operation 205, the service server may determine first cost information for a geographical area. A geographical area may be an area divided by an administrative region within the entire area in which a delivery service is provided, or may be an area defined by the service server itself taking into account a delivery attribute such as distribution information of a supplier (e.g., a restaurant), A region is divided according to a transportation requirement, a transportation cost, and a transportation distance). The first cost information may be calculated differently depending on the shipping attributes of the geographic area. In an example embodiment, to facilitate determining the first cost information, each geographical area may be adaptively changed based on information about the repositioning of suppliers and a customer, a policy, a development plan, or the like. By.

In an example embodiment, the first cost information may include information on a base cost by time zone, a cost by distance, and an hourly cost in a geographic area. In an example embodiment, the base fee, distance-based fee, and hourly fee may vary depending on the time of day. For example, the base rate, the rate by distance, and the hourly rate may be determined to be high because delivery demand is high during a peak time, such as a lunch hour or a dinner hour.

In one example embodiment, the service server may identify logged information related to shipping in a geographic area and determine first cost information based on the logged information. Shipping-related record information may include information associated with a geographic area regarding shipping demand, delivery worker supply, delivery costs, a delivery worker preference, a residential or restaurant density, an average delivery distance, an average pick-up distance, or Similar statistical information (such as an average). For example, when residential areas and restaurants are relatively dense and the average delivery distance or average pick-up distance is short, the supply of delivery workers may be higher than the supply of delivery workers in other areas. In this case, the base fee included in the first fee information may be calculated to be lower. Conversely, when delivery demand is high due to high density of residential areas and delivery distances are relatively long due to a long distance between residential areas and restaurants, delivery worker preferences may be lower and, therefore, the base cost Can be calculated higher.

In an example embodiment, the recorded information related to shipping may include information about the demand for shipping and the supply of a worker in a first period (eg, one week), and the first cost information may be determined by the service server. Including determining the first cost information in the second period in the future based on the record information in the first period. For example, the service server may use a database to identify delivery demand and worker supply data for each day of the previous week. In this example, the service server may determine a first fee by forecasting next week's shipping demand and worker supply based on the identified data. The first period is set to be equal to the second period or to be a multiple of the second period (eg, two or three times) so that the service server can identify a larger amount of data to more accurately predict demand in the second period and supply.

In one example embodiment, the service server may set a target value for revenue per utilization hour (EPUH) and predict transportation demand and transportation worker supply in a future predetermined period based on recorded data in a previous period. to achieve the target value. Through this prediction, the first cost information for achieving the target value within a predetermined time period can be determined, which can be obtained by defining a prediction model as a cost objective function (COF) and obtaining one of the cost objective functions for minimizing execute the optimal solution. The hourly cost can be calculated by applying an offset to an opportunity cost based on the target EPUH. The cost-by-distance may be calculated by applying a compensation to at least some of a driving cost, a policy, a fuel cost, and an insurance. The base fee can be calculated by applying an offset to a minimum fixed overhead.

In operation 210, the service server may obtain information about a delivery task in the geographical area. In an example embodiment, when a consumer (eg, a customer) orders a food delivery from a predetermined supplier (eg, a restaurant) in an application installed in one of the consumer's terminals associated with a food delivery agency service , information about the delivery task can be transmitted to the service server. Information about the shipping task may include location information of the consumer and a location of the supplier corresponding to the consumer's order. When at least one of a location of the consumer and a location of the supplier associated with the delivery task is included in the geographical area, the delivery task may refer to a delivery task in the geographical area or a delivery task related to the geographical area. In addition to customer and restaurant address information, information about the delivery task may include at least one of a food type in the order, a food preparation time at the restaurant, a delivery time, and a pickup waiting time.

In operation 215, the service server may determine second cost information of the shipping task based on the information about the shipping task. In one example embodiment, the first cost information may be predetermined a predetermined time period in advance by a prediction based on logged information related to shipping in a geographic area. On the contrary, the second cost can be determined instantly based on the information about the shipping task of the current order, taking into account various factors, such as the real-time situation of the shipping task, the difficulty level of the shipping task, and the prediction of whether the shipping worker accepts the shipping task. information.

In an example embodiment, the second cost information may include an additional cost of the shipping task. In this example, determining the second cost information in the service server may include predicting whether the worker accepts the delivery task by using a prediction model, and determining the additional cost based on the prediction.

In an example embodiment, a predictive model may be configured to predict whether a worker accepts a delivery task based on the delivery cost and delivery attributes of the delivery task. The delivery attributes may include a delivery difficulty level determined by considering various factors, such as delivery distance, a pick-up distance, pick-up waiting time, a weight of the delivered food, and one of the delivery destinations or the pick-up destinations of the delivery task. properties. The predictive model can use the following equation to output an expected value of the shipping cost based on the probability of acceptance by the shipping worker.

E(cost)=E(cost|accept)P(accept)+E(cost|reject)P(reject)

In the above equation, P(accept) and P(reject) respectively indicate the probability of acceptance by the delivery worker and the probability of rejection by the delivery worker. Can be based on information about the delivery worker (e.g., a delivery career record, an average acceptance probability, a preferred area, an average distance, hourly earnings, EPUH, a work time, a cumulative work time, average earnings, and day earnings) and information about the order (for example, pickup distance, delivery distance, and estimated time of arrival (ETA)) to calculate the probability of acceptance by the delivery worker. As an example, when applying for a registration service through a transportation agent, a transportation worker can select one or more preferred areas, and then the probability of accepting a delivery task in a predetermined area can be calculated based on the area data selected by a plurality of transportation workers. . As another example, when a worker with a high probability of accepting a delivery task is exhausted due to long working hours that day, or when the worker has earned enough income, the probability of accepting a delivery task may be reduced. As yet another example, when a restaurant is located in a building with a complex structure, such as a shopping mall, the delivery acceptance probability may be low since the pickup distance and pickup time may increase. As yet another example, since a cooking time can be long depending on the type of food, when the pickup wait time is long, the delivery acceptance probability may be low despite the worker being close to the restaurant associated with the delivery task. The predictive model may include a machine learning model that performs learning based on this data and is trained on the data to minimize prediction errors regarding worker acceptance probabilities.

In an example embodiment, determining the second cost information in the service server further includes setting the additional cost to zero when the prediction worker accepts the delivery task or setting the additional cost to a first cost when the prediction worker does not accept the delivery task. Three fees (e.g. 500 won). As described above, the service server may determine whether to add the additional fee to the first fee information based on the predicted probability of acceptance by the worker.

In an example embodiment, the third fee may be determined based on the level of difficulty of shipping in the geographic area. For example, the level of delivery difficulty may be determined based on the density of customer residences and restaurants in a geographic area. In this example, when customer residences and restaurants are densely packed in a geographical area, since the delivery difficulty level can be low, the service server can set the additional third fee low to avoid unnecessary charges. In addition, when customer residential areas and restaurants are not densely populated in a geographical area, the pickup distance and delivery distance can be relatively long. Accordingly, the service server may determine that the delivery difficulty level is high, and then accordingly set the additional third fee high to encourage delivery workers to accept and reduce the time it takes to assign delivery workers to tasks. In an example embodiment, the service server may set a cap on the additional charges to prevent a long tail associated with shipping charges.

In an example embodiment, determining the second fee information in the service server may include detecting a surge in shipping demand in the geographic area and adding a second fee in response to the detection. For example, when an infectious disease spreads, weather conditions deteriorate, or an event is held (eg, an international football match), transportation demand can surge rapidly, and the current supply of transportation workers may not be able to meet the demand. In this case, the service server may calculate a promotional fee as the second fee information by applying a real-time market condition. Through this, the service server can effectively induce workers who are not currently involved in delivery to participate in delivery and alleviate a backlog of delivery tasks. In one example embodiment, detecting a surge in shipping demand may include detecting that a ratio of demand to supply exceeds a threshold. In an example embodiment, the increase amount of the second fee due to the surge may be determined based on a trade-off between a cost per order (CPO) and a reliability cost.

In operation 220, the service server may determine the shipping cost of the shipping task based on the first cost information and the second cost information. In an example embodiment, the service server may obtain an amount by multiplying the base fee included in the first fee information by multiplying the fee by the distance included in the first fee information and a total transportation distance, and A first fee is calculated by adding at least one of an amount obtained by multiplying the hourly fee included in the first fee information by a total time spent. In an example embodiment, the service server may calculate an additional fee included in the second fee information determined based on at least one of a task difficulty level and a surge in shipping demand as the second fee. The service server may determine the sum of the first fee and the second fee calculated as above as the transportation fee of the transportation task.

Therefore, the service server can predict the delivery demand and delivery worker supply in a predetermined time period in the future based on the recorded data related to delivery in the geographical area, determine the first cost information in advance, and take into account the immediately received delivery tasks. The second cost information is determined based on each person's shipping attributes, difficulty level and real-time market conditions. The service server can decouple and determine the first fee information predetermined before a predetermined time period and the second fee information determined in real time. As a result, the service server can simplify a shipping cost determination process, consider various shipping-related situations to calculate reasonable shipping costs, and encourage consumers to continuously use shipping agency services and shipping workers to actively participate in shipping.

In operation 225, the service server may provide information about the shipping task including the determined shipping fee to the user terminal. Information about the delivery task may be displayed on the user terminal together with the delivery cost as a message requesting execution of the delivery task. The user terminal may be a terminal carried by a worker performing a delivery task, and the worker may utilize a delivery agent service application installed in the terminal to identify information regarding the delivery task transmitted from the service server. The worker can identify the shipping cost of the shipping task displayed on the terminal, determine whether to accept the currently proposed shipping task, and enter an acceptance response or a rejection response. A procedure for receiving an acceptance response or a rejection response from a worker will be described later with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4 .

In one example embodiment, the worker who receives information from the service server regarding a shipping job that includes shipping costs may be any worker selected from a plurality of workers located in a geographic area associated with the shipping job. In one example embodiment, a worker who receives information from a service server regarding a delivery job that includes delivery charges may select from a plurality of workers located a predetermined distance from the supplier (eg, restaurant) associated with the delivery job or It can be the worker closest to the supplier among multiple workers. In one example embodiment, the service server may identify task preferences stored in a database, prioritize a worker with preferences related to the delivery task, and provide information about the delivery task.

In an example embodiment, a transportation worker may set the transportation agent service application in the user terminal to indicate "on" or "off" regarding whether the worker is currently likely to participate in a transportation task. In this example embodiment, the service server may provide information about a delivery task to a delivery worker whose application is configured to indicate "ON" as to whether participation in the delivery mission is possible. Meanwhile, in an example embodiment, when a surge in shipping demand is detected, the service server may provide information about shipping to some workers whose applications are set to indicate "off" regarding possible participation in shipping. Therefore, a shipping accumulation can be solved by inducing workers to participate.

In an example embodiment, the service server may select a worker to receive information about a delivery task based on an average delivery task acceptance rate. For example, when the current delivery demand is high and therefore delivery tasks need to be assigned to workers quickly, workers with a high delivery acceptance rate can be given priority in providing information about delivery tasks to prevent an allocation due to a refusal to respond to several delivery requests. delay. However, since when a delivery request is frequently prioritized only to workers with high delivery acceptance, smooth allocation of delivery tasks and delivery worker supply predictions can be disrupted, so when delivery demand is higher than worker supply by a predetermined When standard, the service server can prioritize workers with high delivery acceptance rates.

Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating operations corresponding to an acceptance response from a worker to a delivery task, according to an example embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 illustrates information exchange between a worker terminal and a service server and an operation method in each node according to an example embodiment of the present invention. In addition, the worker terminal of FIG. 3 may include the user terminal illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2 .

In operation 305, the service server may provide information about a shipping task including the determined shipping fee to the worker terminal. This operation may correspond to operation 225 of Figure 2, and redundant description will be omitted.

In operation 310, the worker terminal may transmit an acceptance response to one of the delivery tasks to the service server. A worker can send an acceptance response to the service server through the worker terminal.

In operation 315, in response to accepting the response, the service server may assign the shipping task to the worker.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating operations corresponding to a rejection response from a worker to a delivery task, according to an example embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 illustrates information exchange between a worker terminal and a service server and an operation method in each node according to an example embodiment of the present invention. The first worker terminal and the second worker terminal in FIG. 4 may include the user terminals shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 .

In operation 405, the service server may provide information about a shipping task including a shipping fee to the first worker terminal. This operation may correspond to operation 225 of Figure 2, and redundant description will be omitted.

In operation 410, the first worker terminal may transmit a rejection response to the delivery task to the service server. A worker can send a rejection response to the service server through the worker terminal.

In operation 415, in response to the rejection response, the service server may determine whether to increase the shipping fee. Since a worker can reject a shipping task after deeming that the shipping fee is insufficient, the service server can determine whether to increase the shipping fee before transmitting a shipping task request to another worker. A procedure for determining whether to increase the shipping fee will be described later with reference to FIG. 5 .

In operation 420, the service server may provide the second worker terminal with information regarding the shipping task determined in operation 415 that includes the shipping fee. Depending on an acceptance response or a rejection response input to the second worker terminal, one of the operations illustrated in Figure 3 or Figure 4 can be performed identically. Information about a delivery task can be repeatedly provided to another worker until the service server receives an acceptance response for the delivery task.

In an example embodiment, after operation 405, when the service server does not receive any input from the worker terminal within a predetermined period of time (eg, thirty seconds), the service server may regard this situation as a failure to transport The task rejects the response, and operation 420 is then performed. However, in this case, the service server may perform operation 420 instead of operation 415 because the worker did not respond, largely for reasons other than a high shipping fee.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a worker allocation and additional cost determination procedure according to an example embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 5 illustrates a process for determining a delivery cost through prediction of whether a worker accepts a delivery task and adding a cost depending on the cumulative number of rejections to the determined delivery cost from the worker. However, the amount, number of times and a worker selection method shown in Figure 5 are only one example, and those skilled in the art will understand that in addition to one of the depicted elements, another element may be selected instead. Restricted.

In operation 501, a service server may select a worker considering the worker's task preferences, and the service server may transmit a request for a delivery task to the worker. One of the basic costs of the current delivery task may be one of the costs determined to be the first cost information (for example, from 2,000 won to 5,000 won). The service server can pre-store the task preferences of multiple workers in a database. Additionally, the service server may consider a restaurant associated with the delivery task, a customer address, a delivery route, a delivery time, a delivery difficulty level, or the like to select workers with appropriate task preferences.

In operation 502, the service server may count the number of rejection responses from the worker and identify whether the number of rejection responses exceeds three. When the number of rejection responses has not exceeded three times, the service server moves to operation 503.

In operation 503, the service server may predict whether the worker accepts the shipping task with the currently calculated shipping fee. The prediction of whether a worker accepts a delivery task can be performed by using the prediction model described above. As a result of prediction by using the prediction model, when the prediction worker accepts the shipping task, in operation 504, an additional fee may be set to zero. When the prediction worker does not accept the delivery task, in operation 505, the additional fee may be set to 500 won.

In operation 506, the service server may propose the shipping fee set in operation 504 or 505 to the worker. In an example embodiment, the service server may transmit the request to accept the delivery task as a message to a worker terminal.

In operation 507, the service server may identify whether the worker accepts the delivery task. When the worker accepts the shipping task, in operation 508, the service server may assign the shipping task to the worker. When the worker does not accept the shipping task, in other words, the worker rejects the shipping task, the service server can return to operation 501 and select a new worker to which the service server can transmit the shipping task request.

Again in operation 502, when the cumulative number of rejection responses is less than or equal to a predetermined number of times (three times in one example shown in FIG. 5), the service server may repeat operation 503. When the cumulative number of rejected responses exceeds three times, the service server may determine to add a fourth fee (for example, 500 won) to the shipping fee. Adding the fourth fee to the shipping fee will be described later by operations 508 to 522. In an example embodiment, the fourth fee may be determined based on the level of difficulty of shipping within a geographic area.

When the number of rejected responses exceeds three times, operations 509, 516 or 520 may be performed respectively depending on the number of rejected responses exceeding three, six or nine times.

In operation 509, when the number of rejection responses exceeds three times, the service server may perform operation 510. In operation 510, the service server may identify whether one of the rejections from the worker is a fourth rejection. When the rejection is the fourth rejection, the service server may move to operation 511 and determine to add an additional fee (eg, a fourth fee of 500 won) to a latest fee (or a current fee). In operation 510, when the service server identifies that the rejection from the worker is not the fourth rejection, in other words, the number of rejection responses is identified as five or six times, then in operation 512, the shipping fee may be determined so that no Additional charges will be further added to the latest charges.

In operation 513, the service server may propose the shipping fee determined in operation 511 or 512 to the worker.

In operation 514, the service server may identify whether the worker accepts the delivery task. When the worker accepts the shipping task, in operation 515, the service server may assign the shipping task to the worker. When the worker does not accept the shipping task, in other words, the worker rejects the shipping task, the service server can return to operation 501 and select a new worker to which the service server can transmit the shipping task request.

In operation 516, when the number of rejection responses exceeds six times, the service server may perform operation 517. In operation 517, the service server may identify whether one of the rejections from the worker is a seventh rejection. When the rejection is the seventh rejection, the service server may move to operation 518 and determine to add an additional fee (eg, a fourth fee of 500 won) to the most recent fee (or current fee). In operation 517, when the service server identifies that the rejection from the worker is not the seventh rejection, in other words, the number of rejection responses is identified as eight or nine times, then in operation 519, the shipping fee may be determined, so that no Additional charges will be further added to the latest charges.

In operation 520, when the number of rejection responses exceeds nine times, the service server may perform operation 521. In operation 521, the service server may identify whether one of the rejections from the worker is a tenth rejection. When the rejection is the tenth rejection, the service server may move to operation 522 and determine to add an additional fee (eg, a fourth fee of 500 won) to the latest fee (or current fee). In operation 521, when the service server recognizes that the rejection from the worker is not the tenth rejection, in other words, the number of rejection responses is recognized to be greater than ten, then the shipping cost may be determined in operation 523, so that the additional cost is not Further added to latest charges.

When the number of rejections is identified as greater than ten, as indicated in the example illustrated in Figure 5, the service server may set one of the shipping fees by determining the additional fee to be a total of 1,500 won and determining the shipping fee cap so that no further additional charges are added.

In an example embodiment, the service server may adaptively determine a predetermined number of times, such as three, six, or nine times in the example shown in Figure 5, for determining whether to add additional fees to the shipping fee. For example, the number of reservations may be determined based on information provided by real-time delivery workers in the geographic area. When the delivery worker supply is identified as relatively high considering a real-time market situation, the service server may set a larger number of times (eg, ten, twenty, or thirty times) to prevent one of the delivery charges from being inconsistent. Necessary increase and one customer complaint caused by a high shipping fee.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hierarchical structure for determining a first fee and a second fee according to an example embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 6 , an exemplary conceptual diagram shows the first cost information 601 predetermined one week ago and the second cost information 602 determined immediately.

A service server may predetermine first cost information by predicting delivery demand and delivery worker supply for a predetermined period in the future based on recorded data associated with a delivery in a geographical area and taking into account each delivery being received in real time The second cost information is determined based on the transportation attribute of the task, the difficulty level and the real-time market conditions. The first cost information may include a one-hour fee, a fee based on distance, and a basic fee for a delivery task. The service server may determine a task level increase based on determined base income and a prediction of whether a worker will accept a delivery task. The second cost information may include a task level fee based on a real-time task level or difficulty level determination, and a surge fee based on a detected surge in shipping demand. Surge charges can be triggered when the supply of delivery workers is limited compared to delivery demand. Therefore, the service server can decouple and determine the first fee information predetermined before a predetermined time period and the second fee information determined immediately. Therefore, the service server can simplify a shipping fee determination process, consider various situations related to shipping to calculate reasonable shipping fees, and encourage a consumer to continuously use a shipping agency service and shipping workers to actively participate in shipping.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a method of providing information about a shipping fee according to an example embodiment of the present invention. The operations illustrated in FIG. 7 may be performed by the service server 120 illustrated in FIG. 1 or the service server illustrated in FIG. 2, and redundant descriptions similar to the above descriptions will be omitted.

In operation S710, the service server may determine first cost information of a geographical area. A geographical area may be an area divided by an administrative region within an overall area in which a delivery service is provided, or may be considered by the service server itself as a delivery attribute (such as distribution information of a supplier (e.g., a restaurant), a An area is divided by transportation requirements, transportation costs, and transportation distance). The first cost information may be calculated differently depending on the shipping attributes of the geographic area. In an example embodiment, to facilitate determining the first cost information, each geographical area may be adaptively changed based on information about the repositioning of suppliers and a customer, a policy, a development plan, or the like. By.

In operation S720, the service server may obtain information about a delivery task in the geographical area. In an example embodiment, when a consumer (eg, a customer) orders a food delivery from a predetermined supplier (eg, a restaurant) in an application installed in one of the consumer's terminals associated with a food delivery agency service , information about the delivery task can be transmitted to the service server. Information about the shipping task may include location information of the consumer and a location of the supplier corresponding to the consumer's order. When at least one of a location of the consumer and a location of the supplier associated with the delivery task is included in the geographical area, the delivery task may refer to a delivery task in the geographical area or a delivery task related to the geographical area. In addition to customer and restaurant address information, information about the delivery task may include at least one of a food type in the order, a food preparation time at the restaurant, a delivery time, and a pickup waiting time.

In operation S730, the service server may determine the second cost information of the shipping task based on the information about the shipping task. In an example embodiment, the first cost information may be predetermined a predetermined time period through a prediction based on recorded information related to shipping in the geographic area. In contrast, the second cost information may be based on information about the shipping task of the current order, taking into account various factors, such as the real-time situation of the shipping task, the difficulty level of the shipping task, and the prediction of whether a shipping worker will accept the shipping task. for immediate judgment.

In operation S740, the service server may determine the shipping cost of the shipping task based on the first cost information and the second cost information. In an example embodiment, the service server may sum up a basic fee included in the first fee information, an amount obtained by multiplying a fee by a distance included in the first fee information and a total transportation distance. and calculating a first fee by multiplying an hourly fee included in the first fee information by at least one of an amount obtained by a total time spent. In an example embodiment, the service server may calculate an additional fee included in the second fee information determined based on at least one of a task difficulty level and a surge in shipping demand as a second fee. The service server may determine the sum of the first fee and the second fee calculated as above as the transportation fee of the transportation task.

In operation S750, the service server may provide information about the transportation task including the determined transportation fee to a worker terminal. Information about the delivery task may be displayed on a user terminal together with the delivery cost as a message requesting execution of the delivery task. The user terminal may be a terminal carried by a worker who performs a delivery task, and the worker may identify information about the delivery task transmitted from the service server through a delivery agent service application installed in the terminal. The worker can identify the shipping cost of the shipping task displayed on the terminal, determine whether to accept the currently proposed shipping task, and enter an acceptance response or a rejection response.

8 is a block diagram illustrating a portion of components in a system for providing information about a shipping fee, according to an example embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 illustrates a system for providing information according to an example embodiment of the present invention, and the system includes a user terminal 810 and a service server 820 for communicating with each other.

The user terminal 810 can execute an e-commerce server program or a food delivery service program and includes a transceiver 812, a controller 814, an input part 816 and a display 818.

The transceiver 812 can perform information transmission and reception with other nodes including the service server 820 . The transceiver 812 may communicate with one of various types of external devices depending on the various types of communication methods. The transceiver 812 may include at least one of a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) chip, a Bluetooth chip, a wireless communication chip, and a near field communication (NFC) chip. The Wi-Fi chip and the Bluetooth chip can communicate in a Wi-Fi based method and a Bluetooth based method respectively. When the transceiver 812 uses a Wi-Fi chip or a Bluetooth chip, the transceiver 812 can transmit and receive various connection information, such as a service set identifier (SSID) and a session key, by using the connection information to perform communication connections. And then transmit and receive various information. Wireless communication chips are used for communication based on one of the communication standards such as Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standards, ZigBee, 3rd Generation (3G), 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and Long Term Evolution (LTE) wafer. NFC chips use 13.56 MHz of various radio frequency identification (RF-ID) frequency bands, such as one of 135 kilohertz (kHz), 13.56 MHz, 433 MHz, 860 to 960 MHz or 2.45 gigahertz (GHz). A frequency band operates a chip in an NFC method.

The input portion 816 can receive an input from a user and includes a touch screen, a microphone, and a button. The input portion 816 may receive input of one of various instructions from the user. The input portion 816 can be implemented in various ways using a key or a touch panel. The key may include a key of various types, such as a mechanical button or a scroll wheel disposed on various areas such as a front surface portion, a side surface portion, or a rear surface portion. The touch panel can detect a touch input from a user and output a touch event value corresponding to a detected touch signal. When the touch panel is coupled to a display panel to form a touch screen, the touch screen can be implemented by one of various types of touch sensors, such as a capacitive touch sensor, a resistive touch sensor, or A piezoelectric touch sensor. Capacitive touch sensors use a method of calculating a touch coordinate using a dielectric material covering the surface of a touch screen. In this method, when a part of the human body touches the touch screen surface, coordinates are calculated by detecting microcurrents from one of the user's human body. A resistive touch sensor includes two electrode panels disposed in a touch screen and is used to calculate a touch by detecting a current caused by contact of an upper electrode panel and a lower electrode panel at a touch point. One method of coordinates. A touch event on a touch screen can be generated by a person's finger or a conductive substance that allows capacitance to change.

The display 818 may display information related to an operation of the user terminal 810 and a page including the information described in the example embodiment. In an example embodiment, display 818 may include various forms, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD) or an organic light emitting diode (OLED). In an example embodiment, the display 818 may be in the form of a wired or wireless connection to an internal component in the user terminal 810 through a transceiver 812 included in the user terminal 810 .

The controller 814 can control the user terminal 810 to perform the operations described in the example embodiments. Additionally, the controller 814 may include at least one processor configured to perform operations of the user terminal 810 .

The processor may include at least one of a random access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), a central processing unit (CPU), a graphics processing unit (GPU), and a bus. RAM, ROM, CPU, GPU and the like can be connected to each other via a bus. The CPU accesses a memory and starts a system by using an operating system (O/S) stored in the memory. Then, the CPU performs various operations by using various programs, content, data, or the like stored in the memory. The ROM stores a set of instructions for booting the system or the like. For example, when a turn-on command is input to the user terminal 810 and power is supplied, the CPU copies the OS stored in the memory to the RAM according to an instruction stored in the ROM, executes the OS, and starts the system. After the system is started, the CPU copies various programs stored in the memory to the RAM, executes the copied programs, and then performs various operations. After the user terminal 810 is started, the GPU displays a user interface (UI) screen on an area of the display 818 . Specifically, the GPU can generate a screen on which an electronic document including various objects such as a content, an icon, and a menu is displayed. The GPU can calculate an attribute value, such as a coordinate value, a shape, a size, and a color, each of which is displayed according to a layout of the screen. In addition, the GPU can generate various screens including the layout of objects based on the calculated attribute values. The screen generated by the GPU is provided to display 818 and may be displayed on each of the areas of display 818 .

In addition, the user terminal 810 may further include a speaker for outputting an event. The user terminal may further include a storage portion (not shown) for storing at least a portion of operating information of the user terminal 810 and information transmitted and received through the transceiver 812 .

The service server 820 may be a device on which an e-commerce server program or a food delivery service program is executed, and includes a transceiver 822 , a controller 824 and a storage portion 826 .

The transceiver 822 can perform information transmission and reception with other nodes including the user terminal 810 .

The controller 824 may control the service server 820 to perform one of the operations described in the example embodiments. Additionally, controller 824 may include at least one processor.

Service server 820 may include a storage portion 826 for storing information used for the operation of service server 820 and at least a portion of information transmitted and received through transceiver 822 .

The specification and drawings have been described with reference to example embodiments of the invention. Although specific terms are used, they are used in a general sense only to easily explain the technical content of the present invention and to assist in understanding the present invention, and are not intended to limit the scope of the specification. Those skilled in the art will understand that, in addition to the embodiments disclosed herein, other modifications based on the technical spirit of the present invention can be implemented.

110:User terminal 120:Service server 205:Operation 210:Operation 215:Operation 220:Operation 225:Operation 305: Operation 310: Operation 315: Operation 405: Operation 410: Operation 415:Operation 420: Operation 501: Operation 502: Operation 503: Operation 504: Operation 505: Operation 506: Operation 507: Operation 508: Operation 509: Operation 510: Operation 511:Operation 512:Operation 513: Operation 514: Operation 515:Operation 516:Operation 517: Operation 518:Operation 519: Operation 520: Operation 521: Operation 522: Operation 523: Operation 601:First cost information 602: Second cost information 810: User terminal 812:Transceiver 814:Controller 816:Input part 818:Display 820:Service server 822:Transceiver 824:Controller 826:Storage part S710: Operation S720: Operation S730: Operation S740: Operation S750: Operation

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system for providing information about a shipping fee according to an example embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sequence diagram illustrating information exchange performed in each node associated with a method and corresponding operations for providing information about a shipping fee according to an example embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating operations corresponding to an acceptance response from a worker to a delivery task, according to an example embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating operations corresponding to a rejection response from a worker to a delivery task, according to an example embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating a worker allocation and additional cost determination procedure according to an example embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a hierarchical structure for determining a first fee and a second fee according to an example embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating a method of providing information about a shipping fee according to an example embodiment of the present invention.

8 is a block diagram illustrating a portion of components in a system for providing information about a shipping fee, according to an example embodiment of the present invention.

205:Operation

210:Operation

215:Operation

220:Operation

225:Operation

Claims (13)

A method of providing information about a shipping fee at a service server, the method comprising: Determine first cost information for a geographical area; Get information about a delivery mission in this geographical area, Determine the second cost information for the delivery task based on the information about the delivery task, Determine a delivery cost of the delivery task based on the first cost information and the second cost information, and The information about the delivery task including the determined delivery cost is provided to a worker terminal. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the first cost information includes: Identify recorded information related to a shipment in that geographic area; and The first cost information is determined based on the record information. The method of claim 2, wherein the record information includes information about the demand for a shipment and the supply of a worker in a first cycle, and The determining the first cost information includes determining the first cost information in a second cycle in a future time based on the record information in the first cycle. The method of claim 1, wherein the first fee information includes information about a basic fee by time zone, a fee by distance and an hourly fee in the geographical area. For example, the method of claim 1, wherein the second cost information includes an additional cost of the delivery task, The determination of the second cost information includes: Predict whether the worker will accept the delivery task by using a predictive model; and determine the additional cost based on the forecast, and The prediction model is configured to predict whether the worker accepts the delivery task based on the delivery cost of the delivery task and a delivery difficulty level. As claimed in claim 5, the determination of the second cost information further includes setting the additional cost to zero when the worker is predicted to accept the delivery task or setting the additional cost to zero when the worker is predicted not to accept the delivery task. The fee is set to a third fee. The method of claim 6, wherein the third fee is determined based on a level of difficulty of shipping in the geographic area. The method of claim 1 further includes: Receive from the worker terminal one of the acceptance responses or a rejection response to the delivery task; In response to the acceptance response, assign the delivery task to the worker; and in response to the refusal, provide the information about the delivery to another worker, The information about the delivery task is repeatedly provided to another worker until the service server receives the acceptance response for the delivery task. The method of claim 8, wherein when the number of rejection responses exceeds a predetermined number, the shipping fee is determined by adding a fourth fee to the shipping fee. The method of claim 9, wherein the predetermined number is determined based on information about the availability of instant delivery workers in the geographic area. The method of claim 1, wherein the determination of the second cost information includes: Detect a surge in shipping demand in that geographic area; and In response to the detection, the second cost is increased. A service server for providing information about a shipping fee. The service server includes: a transceiver configured to transmit information to and receive information from another device; and a processor configured to control the transceiver, where the processor is configured to: Determine first cost information for a geographical area; Obtain information about a delivery mission in the geographical area; Determine the second cost information of the transportation task based on the information about the transportation task; Determine the delivery cost of the delivery task based on the first cost information and the second cost information; and The information about the delivery task including the determined delivery cost is provided to a worker terminal. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including a medium configured to store computer-readable instructions, When executed by a processor, the computer-readable instructions allow the processor to execute a method of providing information about a shipping fee at a service server, the method including: Determine first cost information for a geographical area; Get information about a delivery mission in this geographical area, Determine the second cost information for the delivery task based on the information about the delivery task, Determine a delivery cost of the delivery task based on the first cost information and the second cost information, and The information about the delivery task including the determined delivery cost is provided to a worker terminal.