TWI883431B - Method and service server for providing information on delivery fee and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium - 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

Method and service server and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for providing shipping cost information

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

As the use of the Internet has become more widespread, e-commerce has developed. Specifically, as infectious diseases spread, the proportion of dining in a restaurant is decreasing and the proportion of ordering food for delivery through an application related to a food delivery agency service on a smartphone is increasing rapidly.

For a food delivery agency service, it is necessary to provide a fast delivery and set a low delivery fee to improve competitiveness. For this purpose, the change of delivery demand with time and distance can be accurately monitored and predicted, and a reasonable fee that a delivery worker can be satisfied with 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 may have a large computational overhead and may excessively vary a shipping cost. Therefore, a service provider or a courier may have difficulty predicting shipping costs. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce the complexity of a calculation and improve the accuracy of predicting shipping costs by pre-calculating a predetermined cost based on a data-based forecast in a model for determining shipping costs, determining a variable cost that applies a real-time situation in another model for determining shipping costs, and decoupling the two models from each other.

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

One aspect of the present invention is to simplify a shipping cost determination procedure and determine a reasonable shipping cost by determining first cost information of a geographical area, determining second cost information based on information about a shipping task, determining the shipping cost of the shipping task based on the first cost information and the second cost information, and providing the determined shipping cost to a worker terminal.

According to one aspect, a method for providing information about a shipping fee at a service server is provided, the method comprising: determining first fee information for a geographic area, obtaining information about a shipping task in the geographic area, determining second fee information for the shipping task based on the information about the shipping task, determining a shipping fee for the shipping task based on the first fee information and the second fee information, and providing the information about the shipping task including the determined shipping fee to a worker terminal.

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

According to one aspect, the record information includes information about a demand for a transport and a supply of a worker in a first cycle, and the determining of the first charge information includes determining the first charge information in a second cycle after the first cycle based on the record information in the first cycle.

According to one embodiment, the first fee information includes information about a basic fee by time zone, a fee by distance, and a fee per hour in the geographic area.

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

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

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

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

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

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

According to one aspect, determining the second fee information includes detecting a surge in shipping demand in the geographic area and increasing the second fee 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 comprising: a transceiver configured to transmit information to another device and receive information from another device; and a processor configured to control the transceiver, and the processor is configured to determine first fee information for a geographical area, obtain information about a shipping task in the geographical area, determine second fee information for the shipping task based on the information about the shipping task, determine a shipping fee for the shipping task based on the first fee information and the second fee information, and provide the information about the shipping task including the determined shipping fee to a worker terminal.

According to another aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium is also provided, which includes a medium configured to store computer-readable instructions, and 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 comprising: determining first fee information for a geographic area, obtaining information about a shipping task in the geographic area, determining second fee information for the shipping task based on the information about the shipping task, determining a shipping fee for the shipping task based on the first fee information and the second fee information, and providing the information about the shipping task including the determined shipping fee to a worker terminal.

According to an example embodiment, a service server can decouple and determine the first fee information determined in advance before a predetermined time period and the second fee information determined in real time. Thus, the service server can simplify a shipping fee determination procedure, calculate a reasonable shipping fee by considering various situations related to a shipment, and motivate a consumer to continuously use a shipping agent service and a shipping worker to actively participate in shipping.

110: User terminal

120: Service server

205: Operation

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601: First fee information

602: Second fee information

810: User terminal

812: Transceiver

814: Controller

816: Input part

818:Display

820: Service server

822: Transceiver

824: Controller

826: Storage section

S710: Operation

S720: Operation

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S750: Operation

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

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

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an operation corresponding to an acceptance response from a worker to a transport task according to an example embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an operation corresponding to a rejection response from a worker to a transport task according to an example embodiment of the present invention.

FIG5 is a flow chart showing a worker allocation and additional expense determination procedure according to an example implementation of the present invention.

FIG6 is a diagram showing an example of a hierarchical structure for determining a first fee and a second fee according to an example implementation of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing a method for providing information about a shipping cost according to an example embodiment of the present invention.

FIG8 is a block diagram showing a portion of components in a system for providing information about a shipping charge according to an example embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, an exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

When describing the example implementation, the description of the technical contents that are well known in the field to which the invention belongs and are not directly related to this specification will be omitted. This is to convey more clearly by omitting unnecessary descriptions without blurring the subject matter of this specification.

For the same reason, some components are exaggerated, omitted or schematically shown in the accompanying drawings. In addition, the size of each component does not fully reflect the actual size. The same or corresponding components in each drawing are given the same component symbol.

The advantages and features of the present invention and the methods for achieving the same will be understood 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 can be implemented in various forms. Therefore, the example embodiments are provided only to disclose the present invention and let those skilled in the art know the category of the present invention. In the accompanying drawings, the embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the specific examples provided herein and are exaggerated for clarity. Throughout the specification, the same element symbols or the same reference marks represent the same elements.

At this point, it will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and combinations of the flowchart illustrations can be executed by computer program instructions. Since these computer program instructions can be installed on a processor of a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer or other programmable data processing equipment, those instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing equipment can create a component that performs the functions described in the flowchart blocks. These computer program instructions can be stored in a computer-usable or computer-readable memory, which can be directed to a computer or other programmable data processing equipment to implement the functions in a specific manner, and are therefore stored in a computer-usable or computer-readable memory. The instructions stored therein may also produce an article of manufacture containing instruction components for performing the functions described in the flowchart blocks. The computer program instructions may also be installed on a computer or other programmable data processing device so that a series of operating steps can be executed on the computer or other programmable data processing device to create a computer-implemented program to create a computer or other programmable data. The instructions for executing the processing device may also provide steps for performing the functions described in the flowchart blocks.

In addition, each block may represent a module, segment, or portion of code that includes one or more executable instructions for performing a specified logical function. It should also be noted that in some alternative implementations, the functions mentioned in the blocks may not appear in order. For example, two blocks shown in succession may actually be executed substantially simultaneously, or the blocks may sometimes be executed in reverse order, depending on the corresponding functions.

At this point, a term "portion" in the 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, a portion is not limited to software or hardware. A portion may be in a storage medium that can address or operate one or more processors. Thus, for example, a portion includes components such as software components, object-oriented software components, class components, and task components, programs, functions, properties, procedures, subroutines, program code segments, drivers, firmware, microcode, circuits, data, databases, data structures, tables, arrays, and variables. The functions provided in the components and parts may be combined in fewer components and fewer parts or separated in additional components and additional parts. In addition, the components and parts may be implemented as one or more central processing units (CPUs) in operating a device or a secure multimedia card.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a system for providing information about a shipping charge 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, the service server 120 can 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 agent application can be installed in the user terminal 110. The user terminal 110 can connect to the service server 120 through the application and provide an e-commerce or food delivery agent 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 can 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 smart phone and a tablet PC or a stationary 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 limitation. In an example embodiment, the user of the user terminal 110 may include a user who orders food through a food shipping agent 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 shipping agent 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 shipping agent service. The worker can identify a restaurant, a restaurant address, a delivery destination address, a delivery distance, a delivery fee, or the like associated with a delivery assigned to the worker through information exchange performed between the user terminal 110 and the service server 120.

The service server 120 communicates with the user terminal 110 and provides the user terminal 110 with information related to the e-commerce or food delivery agency service. The service server may provide a list of items or restaurants as a search result in a database or provide detailed information about a menu of each of the items or restaurants stored in the database. For a direct shipment of items from an e-commerce company, an entity associated with a service operated by a server may 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 agent service between a supplier such as a restaurant that sells food and a shipping worker that delivers the food to a customer who ordered the food. When the service server 120 receives an order for a store associated with a supplier from a customer, the service server 120 may calculate the shipping fee considering a shipping distance, a shipping time, a shipping difficulty level, or the like of the order, and then provide the calculated fee to a shipping worker terminal through a shipping agent application. After identifying the order information and the calculated fee of the order through the shipping agent application, the shipping worker may respond to accept or reject the order. When the shipping worker accepts the order, the shipping associated with the order may be assigned to the shipping worker. Therefore, the following will describe a method for determining the shipping cost of an order in a service server and providing the determined shipping cost information to workers related to the shipping with reference to FIG. 2.

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

FIG2 illustrates information exchange between a user terminal and a service server and an operation method executed in each node according to an example implementation of the present invention.

In operation 205, the service server may determine first fee information for a geographic area. The geographic area may be a region divided by an administrative district in a whole area in which a transportation service is provided, or a region divided by the service server itself considering a transportation attribute (e.g., a distribution information of a supplier (e.g., a restaurant), a transportation demand, a transportation fee, a transportation distance). Depending on the transportation attribute of the geographic area, the first fee information may be calculated differently. In an example embodiment, in order to facilitate the determination of the first fee information, each of the geographic areas may be adaptively changed based on information about the relocation of suppliers and a consumer, a policy, a development plan, or the like.

In an example embodiment, the first fare information may include information about a basic fare by time zone, a fare by distance, and an hourly fare in a geographic area. In an example embodiment, the basic fare, the fare by distance, and the hourly fare may vary depending on a time of day. For example, since the demand for transportation is high during a peak time such as a lunch time or a dinner time, the basic fare, the fare by distance, and the hourly fare may be determined to be high.

In an example implementation, the service server may identify record information related to transportation in a geographic area and determine the first fee information based on the record information. The record information related to transportation may include statistical information (e.g., an average value) related to transportation demand, transportation worker supply, transportation costs, a transportation worker preference, a residential area or restaurant density, an average transportation distance, an average pickup distance, or the like associated with the geographic area. For example, when the residential area and restaurants are relatively dense and the average transportation distance or the average pickup distance is short, the transportation worker supply may be higher than the transportation worker supply in other areas. In this case, the basic fee included in the first fee information may be calculated to be lower. In contrast, when the delivery demand is high due to the high density of the residential area and the delivery distance is relatively long due to the long distance between the residential area and the restaurant, the preference of the delivery worker may be lower and therefore, the basic fee may be calculated to be higher.

In an example embodiment, the record information related to transportation may include information about the demand for transportation and the supply of a worker in a first period (e.g., a week), and determining the first fee information by the service server may include determining the first fee information in a second period in the future based on the record information in the first period. For example, the service server may identify the data of the demand for transportation and the supply of workers on each day of the previous week through a database. In this example, the service server may determine a first fee by predicting the demand for transportation and the supply of workers in the next week based on the identified data. The first cycle is set to be equal to the second cycle or to be a multiple (e.g., two or three times) of the second cycle, so that the service server can recognize a larger amount of data to more accurately predict demand and supply in the second cycle.

In an example implementation, a service server may set a target value for revenue per utilized hour (EPUH) and, based on recorded data in a previous period, predict the transportation demand and transportation worker supply in a predetermined future period to achieve the target value. Through this prediction, first cost information for achieving the target value within a predetermined time period may be determined, which may be performed by defining a prediction model as a cost objective function (COF) and obtaining an optimal solution for minimizing the cost objective function. The cost per hour may be calculated by applying a compensation 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 cost can be calculated by applying a compensation to a minimum fixed expense.

In operation 210, the service server may obtain information about a delivery task in the geographic area. In an example embodiment, when a consumer (e.g., a customer) orders a food delivery from a predetermined supplier (e.g., a restaurant) in an application installed in a terminal of the consumer associated with a food delivery agent service, information about the delivery task may be transmitted to the service server. The information about the delivery 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 geographic area, the delivery task may refer to a delivery task in the geographic area or a delivery task associated with the geographic area. In addition to the address information of the customer and the restaurant, the information about the delivery task may include at least one of a food type in the order, a food preparation time of the restaurant, a delivery time, and a pickup waiting time.

In operation 215, the service server may determine the second fee information of the transport task based on the information about the transport task. In an example embodiment, the first fee information may be determined in advance before a predetermined time period by a prediction based on record information related to transport in a geographical area. Conversely, the second fee information may be determined in real time based on the information about the transport task of the current order, taking into account various factors, such as a current situation of the transport task, a transport difficulty level of the transport task, and a prediction of whether the transport worker accepts the transport task.

In an example embodiment, the second fee information may include an additional fee for the transport task. In this example, determining the second fee information in the service server may include using a prediction model to predict whether the worker accepts the transport task, and determining the additional fee based on the prediction.

In an example embodiment, the prediction model can be configured to predict whether a worker will accept a delivery task based on the delivery cost and delivery attributes of the delivery task. The delivery attributes can include a delivery difficulty level determined by considering various factors, such as a delivery distance, a pickup distance, a pickup wait time, a weight of the food being delivered, and an attribute of a delivery destination or a pickup destination of the delivery task. The prediction model can output an expected value of the delivery cost based on a probability of the delivery worker accepting using the following equation.

E(cost)=E(cost|acceptance)P(acceptance)+E(cost|rejection)P(rejection)

In the above equation, P(accept) and P(reject) indicate the probability of acceptance by the courier and the probability of rejection by the courier, respectively. The probability of acceptance by the courier can be calculated based on data about the courier (e.g., a courier 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 daily earnings) and data about orders (e.g., a pickup distance, a delivery distance, and an estimated time of arrival (ETA)). As an example, when applying for a service through a courier agent, the courier can select one or more preferred areas, and then the probability of accepting a courier task in a predetermined area can be calculated based on the area data selected by a plurality of courier 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 sufficient 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 because a pickup distance and a pickup time may increase. As yet another example, since a cooking time may be long depending on the type of food, when the pickup waiting time is long, the delivery acceptance probability may be low even though the worker is close to the restaurant associated with the delivery task. The prediction model may include a machine learning model that performs learning based on the data and minimizes a prediction error with respect to the worker's acceptance probability through data-based training.

In an example embodiment, determining the second fee information in the service server further includes setting the additional fee to zero when the worker is predicted to accept the delivery task or setting the additional fee to a third fee (e.g., 500 Korean Won) when the worker is predicted not to accept the delivery task. As described above, the service server can determine whether to add the additional fee to the first fee information based on the predicted probability of the worker's acceptance.

In an example embodiment, the third fee may be determined based on the level of difficulty in delivery in a geographic area. For example, the level of difficulty in delivery may be determined based on the density of customer residential areas and restaurants in a geographic area. In this example, when customer residential areas and restaurants are dense in a geographic area, since the level of difficulty in delivery may be low, the service server may set the additional third fee low to prevent unnecessary expenses. In addition, when customer residential areas and restaurants are not dense in a geographic area, the pickup distance and delivery distance may be relatively long. Therefore, the service server may determine that the level of difficulty in delivery is high, and then accordingly set the additional third fee high to encourage the delivery worker to accept, and reduce the time it takes to assign the delivery worker to the task. In one example embodiment, the service server may set a cap on the additional charges to prevent a long tail distribution associated with shipping charges.

In an example embodiment, determining the second fee information in the service server may include detecting a surge in transportation demand in a geographic area and increasing a second fee in response to the detection. For example, when an infectious disease spreads, weather conditions deteriorate, or an event (e.g., an international football match) is held, transportation demand may 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 promotion fee as the second fee information by applying a real-time market situation. Through this, the service server can effectively induce workers who are not currently involved in transportation to participate in transportation and relieve a backlog of transportation tasks. In an example embodiment, the detection of a surge in transportation demand may include detecting that a ratio of demand and supply exceeds a critical value. In one example embodiment, the amount of an increase in the second fee due to a surge may be determined based on a tradeoff between a cost per order (CPO) and a reliability cost.

In operation 220, the service server may determine the transportation fee of the transportation task based on the first fee information and the second fee information. In an example embodiment, the service server may calculate a first fee by adding at least one of the basic fee included in the first fee information, the fee multiplied by the distance included in the first fee information and a total transportation distance, and the fee per hour included in the first fee information multiplied by a total time spent. In an example embodiment, the service server may calculate the additional fee included in the second fee information determined based on at least one of the difficulty level of the task and the surge in transportation 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.

Thus, the service server can predict the transportation demand and transportation worker supply in a predetermined time period in the future based on the record data related to transportation in the geographic area, predetermine the first fee information, and determine the second fee information taking into account the transportation attributes, difficulty level and real-time market conditions of each of the transportation tasks received in real time. 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. Thus, the service server can simplify a transportation fee determination procedure, calculate reasonable transportation fees taking into account various situations related to transportation, and motivate consumers to continuously use transportation agency services and transportation workers to actively participate in transportation.

In operation 225, the service server may provide the user terminal with information about the shipping task including the determined shipping fee. The information about the shipping task may be displayed on the user terminal together with the shipping fee as a message requesting the execution of the shipping task. The user terminal may be a terminal carried by a worker who executes the shipping task, and the worker may use the shipping agent service application installed in the terminal to identify the information about the shipping task transmitted from the service server. The worker may identify the shipping fee of the shipping task displayed on the terminal, determine whether to accept the execution of 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 the worker will be described later with reference to Figures 3 and 4.

In an example embodiment, the worker who receives information about a shipping task including shipping costs from a service server may be a worker arbitrarily selected from a plurality of workers located in a geographical area related to the shipping task. In an example embodiment, the worker who receives information about a shipping task including shipping costs from a service server may be arbitrarily selected from a plurality of workers located at a predetermined distance from a supplier (e.g., a restaurant) related to the shipping task or may be a worker closest to the supplier among the plurality of workers. In an example embodiment, the service server may identify task preferences stored in a database, preferentially select a worker having preferences related to the shipping task, and provide information about the shipping task.

In an example embodiment, a shipping worker can set the shipping agent service application in the user terminal to indicate "on" or "off" regarding whether the worker is currently likely to participate in the shipping task. In this example embodiment, the service server can provide a shipping worker with information about the shipping task, and its application is set to indicate "on" regarding whether it is possible to participate in the shipping task. At the same time, in an example embodiment, when a surge in shipping demand is detected, the service server can provide some workers with information about shipping, and its application is set to indicate "off" regarding whether it is possible to participate in shipping. Therefore, a shipping accumulation can be solved by inducing workers to participate.

In an example implementation, the service server may select a worker to receive information about a shipping task based on an average acceptance rate of a shipping task. For example, when the current shipping demand is high and therefore the shipping task needs to be quickly assigned to the worker, the information about the shipping task may be provided to the worker with a high shipping acceptance rate first to prevent a delay in the assignment due to the refusal to respond to a number of shipping requests. However, since the smooth assignment of shipping tasks and the forecast of the supply of shipping workers may be disrupted when a shipping request is frequently and preferentially transmitted only to workers with high shipping acceptance, the service server may prioritize workers with high shipping acceptance rates when the shipping demand is higher than the worker supply by a predetermined standard.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an operation corresponding to an acceptance response from a worker to a transport task according to an example embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 shows 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 shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2.

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

In operation 310, the worker terminal may transmit an acceptance response to the transport task to the service server. A worker may send an acceptance response to the service server via the worker terminal.

In operation 315, in response to the acceptance response, the service server may assign the delivery task to the worker.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an operation corresponding to a rejection response from a worker to a transport task according to an example embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 shows 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. A first worker terminal and a second worker terminal in FIG. 4 may include the user terminals shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2.

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

In operation 410, the first worker terminal may transmit a rejection response to the transport task to the service server. A worker may send a rejection response to the service server via 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 may reject a shipping task after deeming the shipping fee insufficient, the service server may 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 about the shipping task including the shipping fee determined in operation 415. Depending on an acceptance response or a rejection response input to the second worker terminal, an operation shown in FIG. 3 or FIG. 4 may be performed in the same manner. Providing information about the shipping task to another worker may be repeated until the service server receives an acceptance response to the shipping task.

In an example embodiment, after operation 405, when the service server does not receive any input from the worker terminal within a predetermined time period (e.g., thirty seconds), the service server may regard this as a rejection response to the shipping task and then execute operation 420. However, in this case, since the worker did not respond due to reasons other than a high shipping fee, the service server may execute operation 420 instead of operation 415.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a worker allocation and additional expense determination procedure according to an example implementation of the present invention.

FIG. 5 shows a process of determining a shipping fee through a prediction of whether a worker accepts a shipping task and adding a fee depending on the accumulated number of rejections to the determined shipping fee from the worker. However, an amount, number of times, and a worker selection method shown in FIG. 5 are only examples, and those skilled in the art can understand that another element can be selected in addition to the elements shown without limitation.

In operation 501, a service server may select a worker in consideration of the worker's task preference, and the service server may transmit a request for a transport task to the worker. A basic fee of the current transport task may be a fee determined as the first fee information (e.g., from 2,000 won to 5,000 won). The service server may store the task preferences of a plurality of workers in a database in advance. In addition, the service server may select a worker with a suitable task preference in consideration of a restaurant, a customer address, a transport route, a transport time, a transport difficulty level, or the like related to the transport task.

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 times. When the number of rejection responses does not exceed 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 the worker accepts the shipping task may be performed by using the prediction model described above. As a result of the prediction by using the prediction model, when the worker is predicted to accept the shipping task, an additional fee may be set to zero in operation 504. When the worker is predicted not to accept the shipping task, the additional fee may be set to 500 Korean Won in operation 505.

In operation 506, the service server may suggest 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 shipping task as a message to a worker terminal.

In operation 507, the service server may identify whether the worker accepts the shipping 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 may return to operation 501 and select a new worker to which the service server may 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 (three times in an example shown in FIG. 5), the service server may repeat operation 503. When the cumulative number of rejection responses exceeds three times, the service server may determine to add a fourth fee (e.g., 500 Korean 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 shipping difficulty in a geographic area.

When the number of rejections exceeds three, operations 509, 516 or 520 may be performed, depending on whether the number of rejections exceeds 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 a rejection 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 (e.g., 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, the shipping fee may be determined in operation 512 so that the additional fee is not further added to the latest fee.

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

In operation 514, the service server may identify whether the worker accepts the shipping 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 may return to operation 501 and select a new worker to which the service server may 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 a rejection 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 (e.g., a fourth fee of 500 Korean Won) to the latest 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, the shipping fee may be determined in operation 519 so that the additional fee is not further added to the latest fee.

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 a rejection 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 (e.g., a fourth fee of 500 Korean Won) to the latest fee (or current fee). In operation 521, when the service server identifies that the rejection from the worker is not the tenth rejection, in other words, the number of rejection responses is identified as greater than ten times, then in operation 523, the shipping fee may be determined so that the additional fee is not further added to the latest fee.

When the number of rejection responses is identified as being greater than ten times, as indicated in the example shown in FIG. 5 , the service server may set an upper limit on the shipping fee by determining the additional fee to be a total of 1,500 Korean Won and determining the shipping fee so that no further additional fee is 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 FIG. 5, for determining whether to add an additional fee to the shipping fee. For example, the predetermined number of times may be determined based on information on the real-time supply of shipping workers in a geographic area. When the supply of shipping workers is identified as relatively high in view of a real-time market situation, the service server may set a larger number of times (e.g., ten, twenty, or thirty times) to prevent an unnecessary increase in shipping fees and a complaint from a customer caused by a high shipping fee.

FIG6 is a diagram showing an example of a hierarchical structure for determining a first fee and a second fee according to an example implementation of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 6 , an exemplary conceptual diagram shows the first fee information 601 pre-determined a week ago and the second fee information 602 determined in real time.

A service server may predetermine first fee information by predicting a future predetermined period of transportation demand and a supply of transport workers based on record data related to a transport in a geographic area, and determine a second fee information taking into account a transport attribute, a difficulty level, and a real-time market situation for each transport task received in real time. The first fee information may include an hourly fee, a fee by distance, and a basic fee for a transport task. The service server may determine a task level upgrade based on a determined basic income and a prediction of whether a worker accepts a transport task. The second fee information may include a task level fee determined based on a real-time task level or difficulty level, and a surge fee determined based on a surge in detected transport demand. Surge fees may be triggered when the supply of transport workers is limited compared to the transport demand. Therefore, the service server can decouple and determine the first fee information determined in advance before a predetermined time period and the second fee information determined in real time. As a result, the service server can simplify a shipping fee determination procedure, consider various situations related to shipping to calculate a reasonable shipping fee, and motivate a consumer to continuously use a shipping agent service and a shipping worker to actively participate in shipping.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart showing a method for providing information about a shipping fee according to an example embodiment of the present invention. The operation shown in FIG. 7 can be performed by the service server 120 shown in FIG. 1 or the service server shown in FIG. 2, and redundant descriptions similar to the above description will be omitted.

In operation S710, the service server may determine first fee information of a geographical area. The geographical area may be a region divided by an administrative area in a whole area where a transportation service is provided, or a region divided by the service server itself considering a transportation attribute (e.g., a distribution information of a supplier (e.g., a restaurant), a transportation demand, a transportation fee, a transportation distance). The first fee information may be calculated differently depending on the transportation attribute of the geographical area. In an example embodiment, in order to facilitate the determination of the first fee information, each of the geographical areas may be adaptively changed based on information about the relocation of suppliers and a consumer, a policy, a development plan, or the like.

In operation S720, the service server may obtain information about a delivery task in the geographic area. In an example embodiment, when a consumer (e.g., a customer) orders a food delivery from a predetermined supplier (e.g., a restaurant) in an application installed in a terminal of the consumer associated with a food delivery agent service, information about the delivery task may be transmitted to the service server. The information about the delivery 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 geographic area, the delivery task may refer to a delivery task in the geographic area or a delivery task associated with the geographic area. In addition to the address information of the customer and the restaurant, the information about the delivery task may include at least one of a food type in the order, a food preparation time of the restaurant, a delivery time, and a pickup waiting time.

In operation S730, the service server may determine the second cost information of the transport task based on the information about the transport task. In an example embodiment, the first cost information may be pre-determined by a prediction based on record information related to transport in a geographical area before a predetermined time period. In contrast, the second cost information may be determined in real time based on the information about the transport task of the current order, taking into account various factors, such as a real-time situation of the transport task, a transport difficulty level of the transport task, and a prediction of whether a transport worker accepts the transport task.

In operation S740, the service server may determine the transportation fee of the transportation task based on the first fee information and the second fee information. In an example embodiment, the service server may calculate a first fee by adding 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 an amount obtained by multiplying a fee per hour 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 transportation 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 a worker terminal with information about a shipping task including a determined shipping fee. The information about the shipping task may be displayed on a user terminal together with the shipping fee as a message requesting execution of the shipping task. The user terminal may be a terminal carried by a worker who executes the shipping task, and the worker may recognize the information about the shipping task transmitted from the service server through a shipping agent service application installed in the terminal. The worker may recognize the shipping fee of the shipping task displayed on the terminal, determine whether to accept execution of the currently proposed shipping task, and input an acceptance response or a rejection response.

FIG8 is a block diagram showing a portion of components in a system for providing information about a shipping charge according to an example embodiment of the present invention.

FIG8 shows 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 portion 816 and a display 818.

The transceiver 812 may perform information transmission and reception with other nodes including the service server 820. Depending on various types of communication methods, the transceiver 812 may communicate with various types of external devices. 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 may 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 may transmit and receive various connection information, such as a service set identifier (SSID) and a session key, perform a communication connection by using the connection information, and then transmit and receive various information. A wireless communication chip is a chip used for communication according to a communication standard such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standard, ZigBee, third generation (3G), third generation partnership project (3GPP) and long term evolution (LTE). An NFC chip is a chip that operates in an NFC method using a frequency band of 13.56 megahertz (MHz) among various radio frequency identification (RF-ID) bands such as 135 kilohertz (kHz), 13.56 MHz, 433 MHz, 860 to 960 MHz or a frequency band of 2.45 gigahertz (GHz).

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 can receive an input of various commands from the user. The input portion 816 can be implemented in various ways using a key or a touch panel. The key can include various types of keys, 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 the user and output a touch event value corresponding to a detected touch signal. When a touch panel is coupled to a display panel to form a touch screen, the touch screen can be implemented by a touch sensor of various types, 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 substance covering a touch screen surface. In this method, when a part of the human body touches the touch screen surface, the coordinates are calculated by detecting a micro-current from a human body of the user. The resistive touch sensor includes two electrode panels disposed in the touch screen and uses a method of calculating a touch coordinate by detecting a current caused by contact between an upper electrode panel and a lower electrode panel at a touch point. A touch event occurring on the touch screen may be generated by a human finger or a conductive material that allows capacitance to change.

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

The controller 814 may control the user terminal 810 to perform its operations described in the example embodiment. In addition, the controller 814 may include at least one processor configured to perform the 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. The RAM, ROM, CPU, GPU, and the like may 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, contents, data, or the like stored in the memory. The ROM stores an instruction set for starting the system or the like. For example, when a power-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 a copied program, 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 may 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 may generate various screens including the layout of the object based on the calculated attribute values. The screens generated by the GPU are provided to the display 818 and may be displayed on each of the areas of the display 818.

In addition, the user terminal 810 may further include a speaker for an event output. The user terminal may further include a storage portion (not shown) for storing operation information of the user terminal 810 and at least a portion of 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 implementation. In addition, the controller 824 may include at least one processor.

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

This specification and the accompanying drawings have been described with reference to the example embodiments of the present invention. Although specific terms are used, they are only used in a general sense to easily explain the technical content of the present invention and 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 may be implemented.

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Claims (9)

A method for providing information about a shipping fee at a service server, the method comprising: determining first fee information for a geographic area; obtaining information about a shipping task in the geographic area, determining second fee information for the shipping task based on the information about the shipping task, determining a shipping fee for the shipping task based on the first fee information and the second fee information, and providing a worker terminal with information about the shipping fee including the determined shipping fee. The information about the transport task; receiving an acceptance response or a rejection response to the transport task from the worker terminal; in response to the acceptance response, assigning the transport task to the worker; and in response to the rejection response, providing the information about the transport task to another worker, wherein the information about the transport task is repeatedly provided to another worker until the service server receives the acceptance response to the transport task, wherein when a number of the rejection responses is When the number of items exceeds a predetermined number, the shipping fee is determined by adding a fourth fee to the shipping fee, wherein the determination of the second fee information further includes: using a prediction model to predict whether the worker accepts the shipping task; and if the worker is predicted to accept the shipping task, setting the additional fee of the shipping task to zero, and if the worker is predicted not to accept the shipping task, setting the additional fee to a third fee, wherein the prediction The model outputs a probability of the worker's delivery acceptance and an expected value of the delivery fee calculated based on the probability of delivery acceptance, and the prediction model is trained based on the worker's data and the delivery task's data, wherein the worker's data includes information about a delivery career record, a preferred area, a working time, and an average income, and the delivery task's data includes information about a pickup distance, a delivery distance, and an estimated arrival time. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the first fee information includes: identifying record information associated with a shipment in the geographic area; and determining the first fee information based on the record information. The method of claim 2, wherein the record information includes information about a demand for a transport and a supply of a worker in a first cycle, and the determining of the first cost information includes determining the first cost information in a second cycle in the future 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 a fee per hour in the geographical area. The method of claim 1, wherein the third fee is determined based on a shipping difficulty level in the geographic area. The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined number is determined based on information about the immediate supply of delivery workers in the geographic area. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the second fee information includes: detecting a surge in shipping demand in the geographic area; and increasing the second fee in response to the detection. A service server for providing information about a shipping fee, the service server comprising: a transceiver configured to transmit information to another device and receive information from another device; and a processor configured to control the transceiver, wherein the processor is configured to: determine first fee information for a geographic area; obtain information about a shipping task in the geographic area; determine second fee information for the shipping task based on the information about the shipping task; determine the second fee information for the shipping task based on the first fee information; and the second cost information to determine a shipping cost of the shipping task; provide the information about the shipping task including the determined shipping cost to a worker terminal; receive an acceptance response or a rejection response to the shipping task from the worker terminal; in response to the acceptance response, assign the shipping task to the worker; and in response to the rejection response, provide the information about the shipping task to another worker, wherein the information about the shipping task is repeatedly provided to another worker until the service terminal receives the rejection response. The service server receives the acceptance response to the transport task, wherein when a number of the rejection responses exceeds a predetermined number, the transport fee is determined by adding a fourth fee to the transport fee, wherein the determination of the second fee information further includes: using a prediction model to predict whether the worker accepts the transport task; and if the worker is predicted to accept the transport task, setting the additional fee of the transport task to zero, and if the worker is predicted not to accept the transport task, setting the additional fee to zero. The prediction model is set to a third cost, wherein the prediction model outputs a probability of the worker's delivery acceptance and an expected value of the delivery cost calculated based on the probability of delivery acceptance, and the prediction model is trained based on the worker's data and the delivery task's data, wherein the worker's data includes information about a delivery career record, a preferred area, a working time, and an average income, and the delivery task's data includes information about a pickup distance, a delivery distance, and an estimated arrival time. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, comprising a medium configured to store computer-readable instructions, wherein when executed by a processor, the computer-readable instructions allow the processor to execute a method for providing information about a shipping fee at a service server, the method comprising: determining first fee information for a geographic area; obtaining information about a shipping task in the geographic area, determining second fee information for the shipping task based on the information about the shipping task, and determining second fee information for the shipping task based on the first fee. The method comprises the steps of: determining a shipping fee for the shipping task using the information and the second fee information, and providing the information about the shipping task including the determined shipping fee to a worker terminal; receiving an acceptance response or a rejection response to the shipping task from the worker terminal; assigning the shipping task to the worker in response to the acceptance response; and providing the information about the shipping task to another worker in response to the rejection response, wherein the providing of the information about the shipping task to another worker is repeated until the receiving worker receives the rejection response. The service server receives the acceptance response to the transport task, wherein when a number of the rejection responses exceeds a predetermined number, the transport fee is determined by adding a fourth fee to the transport fee, wherein the determination of the second fee information further includes: using a prediction model to predict whether the worker accepts the transport task; and if the worker is predicted to accept the transport task, setting the additional fee of the transport task to zero, and if the worker is predicted not to accept the transport task, setting the additional fee to zero. The prediction model is set to a third cost, wherein the prediction model outputs a probability of the worker's delivery acceptance and an expected value of the delivery cost calculated based on the probability of delivery acceptance, and the prediction model is trained based on the worker's data and the delivery task's data, wherein the worker's data includes information about a delivery career record, a preferred area, a working time, and an average income, and the delivery task's data includes information about a pickup distance, a delivery distance, and an estimated arrival time.