TWI887721B - Method and apparatus for providing delivery supply-demand level information associated with delivery service - Google Patents

Abstract

An information providing method in an electronic device providing delivery service according to an embodiment of the present invention includes the following steps: confirming a target area; confirming statistical information related to delivery to the target area; confirming the latest information corresponding to the current time related to delivery to the target area; confirming the delivery supply and demand level based on the statistical information and the latest information; and providing information related to the delivery supply and demand level.

Description

Method and device for providing distribution supply and demand level information related to distribution services

The present invention relates to a method and device for providing information related to the level of distribution supply and demand. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method and device for confirming the level of distribution supply and demand based on past statistical information of the target area and the latest information corresponding to the current time, and providing information related thereto.

As the use of the Internet becomes more widespread, the e-commerce and food delivery service markets are expanding. In particular, as the spread of infectious diseases has reduced the proportion of people visiting offline restaurants to dine, the proportion of people ordering food through food delivery service-related applications on smartphones is rapidly increasing.

As online ordering and delivery of various items, including food, becomes more common, fulfilling customer orders more quickly and efficiently has become an important factor in determining the reputation of the service.

In this regard, if the assignment delay time from the time when the assignment request for the customer's order is sent to the deliveryman to the time when the deliveryman accepts the delivery order is understood, the demand and supply of the deliveryman can be roughly grasped. For example, when the assignment delay time is long, it can be predicted that the supply is insufficient compared to the demand for deliverymen, and when the assignment delay time is short, it can be predicted that the supply is sufficient to meet the demand for deliverymen. Therefore, based on this assignment delay time, it can be judged whether the demand and supply of deliverymen are properly met. When it is judged that the supply of deliverymen in a specific area is not properly met, the delivery service provider can implement promotions to attract deliverymen to the corresponding area, etc., so as to achieve delivery more quickly, thereby improving customer satisfaction.

However, since the trends of delivery demand and delivery personnel supply may vary according to geographical regions and time periods, there is a problem that it is inefficient to determine whether to implement promotions based solely on the allocation delay time.

For this, please refer to previous documents such as KR 10-2385838 B1 and KR 10-2475253 B1.

The problem that this invention aims to solve is to provide a method and device for providing information related to the distribution supply and demand level to solve the above-mentioned problem.

More specifically, the purpose of the present invention is to use the past statistical information and the latest information of at least one of the target region or the target time period to determine the level of distribution supply and demand, thereby determining whether to implement promotions regardless of the region or time period based on the same criteria, so that delivery personnel can be efficiently assigned.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the information providing method in an electronic device providing delivery service of one embodiment of the present invention is characterized in that it may include the following steps: confirming the target area; confirming the statistical information related to the delivery of the above-mentioned target area; confirming the latest information corresponding to the current time related to the delivery of the above-mentioned target area; based on the above-mentioned statistical information and the above-mentioned latest information, confirming the delivery supply and demand level; and providing information related to the above-mentioned delivery supply and demand level.

In one embodiment, the characteristics of the above-mentioned target area are: a sub-area divided according to administrative regions, or a sub-area divided according to distribution characteristics.

In one embodiment, the characteristics of the above-mentioned distribution characteristics include: distribution of suppliers, distribution demand, distribution costs, distribution distance information, and at least one of the above-mentioned statistical information.

In one embodiment, the above-mentioned recent information is characterized in that it is determined based on the predicted value of the distribution delay time related to the delivery to the above-mentioned target area or the measured value of the distribution delay time of the most recent delivery.

In one embodiment, the above statistical information is characterized by including the mean value (μ) and standard deviation (σ) of the allocation delay time in the past fixed period.

In one embodiment, the above distribution supply and demand levels are characterized by being derived based on a z-score normalization method.

而確定上述配送供需等級(P)，x為上述最近資訊。 In one embodiment, the above information providing method is characterized in that:

To determine the above distribution supply and demand level (P), x is the above latest information.

In one embodiment, the above statistical information is characterized by: including the minimum and maximum values of the distribution delay time related to the delivery of the above target area within a fixed period in the past.

In one embodiment, the above distribution supply and demand levels are characterized by being derived based on a min-max normalization method.

In one embodiment, the above-mentioned information providing method is characterized in that: when the above-mentioned delivery supply and demand level is above the critical value, the delivery fee is determined as the value obtained by adding the basic fee to the additional fee.

In one embodiment, the critical value is characterized in that it is determined based on the statistical information.

In one embodiment, the area that provides the above-mentioned additional fees and the area that does not provide the above-mentioned additional fees are characterized by being displayed in different ways on the delivery person's terminal.

In one embodiment, the above-mentioned additional fee is characterized in that it is determined based on at least one of the above-mentioned critical value or the above-mentioned distribution supply and demand level.

In one embodiment, when the above current time is included in the set time period, the above additional fee is characterized by being determined based on the above distribution supply and demand level and the average value of the distribution delay time related to the distribution of the above target area.

In one embodiment, the above-mentioned information providing method is characterized in that it further includes the following steps: when the above-mentioned delivery supply and demand level of the above-mentioned target area is higher than the delivery supply and demand level of other areas adjacent to the above-mentioned target area, a message is sent to the delivery personnel in the above-mentioned other adjacent areas to move to the above-mentioned target area.

The electronic device providing delivery intermediary service in one embodiment of the present invention is characterized by comprising: a transceiver that transmits and receives information with other devices; and a processor that controls the above transceiver, confirms the target area, confirms the statistical information related to the delivery of the above target area, confirms the latest information corresponding to the current time related to the delivery of the above target area, confirms the delivery supply and demand level based on the above statistical information and the above latest information, and provides information related to the above delivery supply and demand level.

The non-temporary computer-readable storage medium of one embodiment of the present invention is characterized in that it includes a medium configured to store computer-readable commands, and when the computer-readable commands are executed by a processor, the processor is caused to implement an information providing method for an electronic device providing a delivery service, the method comprising the following steps: confirming a target area; confirming statistical information related to delivery in the target area; confirming the latest information corresponding to the current time related to delivery in the target area; confirming the delivery supply and demand level based on the statistical information and the latest information; and providing information related to the delivery supply and demand level.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an electronic device providing delivery services can confirm a delivery supply and demand level having a value within a fixed range regardless of the geographical area or time period based on past statistical information related to delivery in the target area and the latest information corresponding to the current time.

Therefore, if the delivery supply and demand level of the embodiment of the present invention is used, it can be determined based on a fixed benchmark whether to implement a promotion to attract delivery personnel regardless of the geographical area or time period.

Furthermore, according to the embodiments of the present invention, higher additional fees are provided for areas where the delivery supply and demand level is above the critical value, so that factors that cannot be reflected in the basic fee can be reflected in the determination of the additional fee to formulate reasonable delivery fees, and higher additional fees can be used to guide delivery personnel to participate, thereby improving the satisfaction of delivery personnel.

Furthermore, according to the embodiments of the present invention, during a period when the delivery demand increases sharply compared to the delivery personnel supply, a promotion that increases the additional fee by a fixed amount can be applied, and the geographical area where the promotion is applied in the additional fee can be clearly displayed to the delivery personnel, or a relevant message can be sent to the delivery personnel, thereby guiding the delivery personnel to move to an area with a higher delivery supply and demand level to participate in delivery, and the delivery supply and demand level of the corresponding area can be appropriately adjusted.

Furthermore, according to the embodiments of the present invention, when the distribution supply and demand levels have been appropriately adjusted, the distribution delay time of at least one of a specific region or a specific time period can be adjusted to an appropriate value to achieve distribution more quickly, thereby improving customer satisfaction.

110: User terminal

120: Electronic devices

305: Steps

310: Steps

315: Steps

320: Steps

325: Steps

405: Steps

410: Steps

415: Steps

420: Steps

510: Field

521-1,521-2: Geographical Region 1

522-1,522-2: Geographical Region 2

520: Field

530: Message

540: Message

610: User terminal

612: Transceiver

614:Processor

616:Input department

618: Display unit

620: Electronic devices

622: Transceiver

624:Processor

626:Memory

t1: time

t2: time

t3: time

t4: time

t5: time

t6: Time

FIG1 schematically shows an example of an information providing system including an electronic device providing a delivery service.

FIG2 is a flowchart showing the ordering and delivery process in a service that generally orders and delivers food via a terminal.

FIG3 is a sequence diagram showing the process of an information providing method for an electronic device providing a delivery service according to an embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing a process of a method for displaying a page including information related to the delivery supply and demand level based on the information related to the delivery supply and demand level obtained from an electronic device according to an embodiment.

Figures 5a to 5d are diagrams showing examples of pages including information related to the delivery supply and demand levels of an embodiment.

FIG6 is a diagram showing a part of the components of an information providing system of an embodiment.

Below, with reference to the attached drawings, the practical examples of the present invention are described in detail.

When describing the embodiments, the description of the technical contents that are well known in the technical field to which the present invention belongs and are not directly related to the present invention is omitted. The reason is: by omitting redundant descriptions, the main idea of the present invention is clearly conveyed to avoid confusion of the main idea of the present invention.

For the same reason, some components are exaggerated, omitted or roughly represented in the attached drawings. In addition, the size of each component does not fully reflect the actual size. In each figure, the same reference symbol is marked for the same or corresponding components.

With reference to the drawings and the embodiments described in detail below, the advantages and features of the present invention and the methods for achieving the advantages and features will become clear. However, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed below and can be implemented in various forms. The embodiments are provided only to fully disclose the present invention and enable those with common sense in the technical field to which the present invention belongs to fully understand the scope of the invention. The present invention is defined only by the scope of the patent application. Throughout the specification, the same reference symbols represent the same components.

At this point, it is understood that the combination of each block of the process flow chart and the flow chart can be implemented by computer program instructions. Such computer program instructions can be loaded on a processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer or other programmable data processing device, so that such instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing device will produce a method for implementing the functions described in the blocks of the flow chart. In order to implement the functions in a specific manner, such computer program instructions can be stored in a computer-usable or computer-readable memory that can be directed to a computer or other programmable data processing device, so that the instructions stored in the computer-usable or computer-readable memory can also produce a manufactured item containing an instruction method for implementing the functions described in the blocks of the flow chart. Computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device, thereby executing a series of action steps on the computer or other programmable data processing device to generate a process executed by the computer, and the instructions executed by the computer or other programmable data processing device may also provide steps for executing the functions described in the blocks of the flowchart.

Furthermore, each block may represent a module, a fragment, or a portion of code that includes one or more executable instructions for running a specific logical function. Furthermore, it should be noted that in some alternative embodiments, the functions mentioned in the blocks may not be generated in sequence. For example, two blocks represented in succession may actually be executed at the same time, or may occasionally be executed in the opposite order according to the corresponding functions.

At this time, the term "unit" used in this embodiment refers to software, or hardware components such as FPGA (field-programmable gate array) or ASIC (application specific integrated circuit), and the "unit" performs certain functions. Even so, the meaning of "unit" is not limited to hardware and software. The "unit" can be configured in a manner located in an addressable storage medium, or it can be configured in a manner of playing one or more processors. Thus, as an example, "part" includes components such as software components, object-oriented software components, class components, and task components, processors, functions, properties, programs, subroutines, code snippets, drivers, firmware, microcode, circuits, data, databases, data structures, tables, arrays, and variables. Functions provided by components and "parts" can be combined with a smaller number of components and "parts", or can be further separated into additional components and "parts". Moreover, components and "parts" can also be implemented in the form of one or more CPUs (central processing units) in a playback device or a secure multimedia card.

FIG1 schematically shows an example of an information providing system including an electronic device providing a delivery service.

Referring to FIG. 1 , the information providing system of an embodiment of the present invention includes a user terminal 110 and an electronic device 120. In the embodiment, the electronic device 120 can process information related to the operation of the service and provide it to the user.

Using the user terminal 110, the e-commerce or food delivery service user can connect to the electronic device 120. The user terminal 110 can set up an e-commerce or food delivery application, use the application, connect to the electronic device 120, and can utilize the e-commerce or food delivery service based on information exchange with the electronic device 120. Depending on who is using the e-commerce or food delivery application, it may include an orderer application, a seller application, a delivery person application, etc. The user terminal 110 may be a mobile device such as a smart phone or a tablet computer or a stationary device such as a desktop computer. If it is a machine capable of setting up and running an e-commerce or food delivery application, it can be used as the user terminal 110 without limitation.

The electronic device 120 communicates with the user terminal 110, and provides information related to the e-commerce or food delivery service through the user terminal 110. As a result of a database search, a catalog of items/restaurants can be provided, or detailed information of each item stored in the database or a menu of a restaurant can be provided. In the case of direct delivery of items by an e-commerce enterprise, the subject related to the service operated by the electronic device 120 can purchase the goods and manage the delivery. In the case of items delivered by other delivery enterprises, the purchase information and delivery address information of the items purchased by the user can be transmitted through the electronic device 120 of the other delivery enterprise. The electronic device 120 can provide intermediary services between suppliers of restaurants that sell food and orderers who order food and delivery personnel who deliver food.

FIG2 is a flowchart showing the ordering and delivery process in a service that generally orders and delivers food via a terminal.

Referring to FIG. 2, in the service of ordering and delivering food through a terminal, the information sending and receiving process implemented in the electronic device, the terminal of the orderer who orders food, the terminal of the restaurant supplier, and the terminal of the delivery person who delivers food is shown according to the progress of the ordering and delivering food process.

First, at time t1, the orderer requests an order through the orderer terminal. The orderer checks the restaurant information provided by the electronic device and selects the menu and restaurant he/she wants. The selected information is then accepted by the electronic device.

At time t2, the supplier receives the order content from the orderer sent from the electronic device through the supplier terminal and starts cooking food according to the order content.

At time t3, the electronic device sends a delivery request to the delivery person's terminal. At this time, the interval between time t2 and time t3 can be determined by considering the expected cooking time of the food. The expected cooking time of the food can be selected by the supplier, or it can be predicted and calculated in the electronic device based on previous data.

The electronic device can consider the location of the orderer, the location of the supplier, the delivery method of the deliveryman, etc., and send a delivery request to the selected first deliveryman through the deliveryman terminal. When the first deliveryman accepts the delivery request, the corresponding order can be assigned to the first deliveryman, and the process of sending the delivery request to the deliveryman is terminated, so that the deliveryman can be assigned to the corresponding order. When the first deliveryman does not accept or refuses the delivery request within a fixed time, the delivery request can be sent to the next selected second deliveryman. Similarly, when the second deliveryman accepts the delivery, the corresponding order can be assigned to the second deliveryman, and the process of sending the delivery request is terminated. When the second deliveryman does not accept or refuses the delivery within a fixed time, the delivery request can be sent to the third deliveryman. This process is repeated until the deliveryman accepts the delivery request.

At time t4, the courier accepts the delivery request and the corresponding order. If the courier accepts the delivery request, the courier can confirm at least one of the supplier's address, the orderer's address, the order number, or the order details related to the corresponding order through the courier terminal.

At this time, the time from the time t3 when the delivery request is sent to the delivery person's terminal to the time t4 when the delivery person accepts the delivery request and accepts the corresponding order is called "assign delay". The assignment delay time may vary according to the delivery demand and the supply of delivery persons.

Delivery demand may vary according to various factors including time, day of the week, weather, season, and the presence or absence of special events (e.g., if there is a sporting event such as a national football match on the corresponding date, or if there is a socially common anniversary on the corresponding date). For example, delivery demand may be higher at lunch and dinner time than at other times, and delivery demand to restaurants in areas with a high concentration of companies may be greater on weekdays than on weekends. Also, delivery demand may be higher on rainy days than on sunny days, and delivery demand may be higher on dinner days with national football matches than on other days. Generally speaking, there is a trend that when delivery demand increases, the distribution delay time increases accordingly.

Likewise, the supply of couriers may vary based on various factors including the time of day, day of the week, weather, season, special events, etc. For example, a couriers may only start delivering during lunch and dinner hours if they predict that there will be a greater demand for deliveries during lunch and dinner hours. As another example, the supply of couriers may be less than usual when the weather is very hot, rainy, or snowy. Generally speaking, there is a trend that when the supply of couriers increases, the dispatch delay decreases accordingly.

As mentioned above, since the distribution delay time is affected by the delivery demand and the supply of couriers, if the distribution delay time value is understood, the supply and demand of delivery can be roughly grasped. The delivery service provider can implement a plan to achieve delivery more quickly and smoothly based on the supply and demand information of delivery. For example, when the distribution delay time exceeds the set critical value, the delivery service provider can judge that the demand for delivery is greater than the supply of couriers, and formulate a promotional plan, such as providing an additional fee to the delivery fee of the corresponding range, or sending a message to the couriers in the area with lower distribution delay time to move to the area with higher distribution delay time, etc., to attract couriers and reduce the distribution delay time.

However, the demand for delivery and the supply of couriers may exhibit other characteristics depending on at least one of the geographic region or time period, and so may the dispatch delay time, which may have a different range of absolute values depending on at least one of the geographic region or time period. For example, during the lunch rush hour, the demand for delivery orders in a business district increases significantly, and even if the supply of couriers is expected to increase, the dispatch delay time may increase compared to at least one of other geographic regions or time periods due to the limited number of couriers. Conversely, during non-peak hours, the demand for delivery orders decreases, and even if the supply of couriers is expected to decrease, the dispatch delay time may decrease compared to other time periods due to the fact that there are still a sufficient number of couriers performing delivery operations. Therefore, in the case where the distribution delay time exceeds the critical value based on the same critical value regardless of at least one of the geographical area or time period, it may not be efficient to implement a plan that can attract delivery personnel.

Therefore, in the present invention, in order to make a better comparison of the allocation delay time of at least one of the geographical areas or time periods, the following method can be used: normalize the allocation delay time in at least one of each geographical area or each time period to determine a parameter with a fixed range of values. This is described in detail below with reference to Figures 3 to 5d.

At time t5, the deliveryman picks up the food corresponding to the corresponding order from the restaurant. The deliveryman's pickup information is sent to the electronic device, and the electronic device can send a message to the orderer's terminal that the order has been picked up.

At time t6, the deliveryman completes the delivery to the orderer. The deliveryman can input the delivery completion through the deliveryman terminal, and the electronic device can send a message that the delivery of the corresponding order has been completed to the orderer terminal and the supplier terminal. At the same time, the delivery service of the corresponding order is terminated.

FIG3 is a sequence diagram showing the process of an information providing method of an electronic device in one embodiment of the present invention, wherein the electronic device provides information related to the level of supply and demand in a delivery service.

Referring to FIG. 3 , in step 305 , the electronic device can be associated with the order to confirm the target region.

The target region can be determined based on at least one of the location of the orderer or the location of the supplier (e.g., a restaurant). The overall region providing delivery services can be divided into target regions according to each administrative region, or the target region can be divided in the electronic device by considering the distribution of suppliers, the demand for delivery, the delivery cost, the delivery distance, and other information. In addition, the target region can be divided by considering whether the statistical characteristics related to the delivery of the target region are similar. In one embodiment, the target region can be divided by considering whether the change characteristics of the time period of the allocation delay time are similar. For example, a neighboring commercial district where the demand for delivery increases sharply during lunch time can be set as a target region.

In step 310, the electronic device may confirm statistical information related to the delivery to the target area. The statistical information may be information stored in the memory of the electronic device.

In one embodiment, past statistics can be stored in the memory of the electronic device according to regions. In other embodiments, statistics can be stored in the memory of the electronic device according to time periods. In another embodiment, past statistics can be stored in the memory of the electronic device according to both regions and time periods. In this case, it can be considered to divide the time periods based on fixed time intervals, or it can be considered to divide the time periods in the electronic device according to the delivery characteristics of the delivery demand such as the lunch rush hour or the dinner rush hour. On the other hand, in the embodiment, the data can be stored based on at least one of time and region, and the desired data of each time period or region can be obtained by selecting data using at least one of time and region as a key value.

In one embodiment, past statistical information may include the average value (μ) and standard deviation (σ) of the allocation delay time of multiple deliveries in the target area within a fixed period in the past. In other embodiments, the statistical information may include the average value (μ) and standard deviation (σ) of the allocation delay time of multiple deliveries achieved in the same time period in the fixed period in the past. In other embodiments, past statistical information may include the minimum and maximum values of the allocation delay time of multiple deliveries in the target area within the fixed period in the past. In another embodiment, the statistical information may include the minimum and maximum values of the allocation delay time of multiple deliveries achieved in the same time period in the fixed period in the past. In an embodiment, statistical information such as the average, standard deviation, minimum, and maximum values of the allocation delay time can be obtained according to each object region and object time period, and the statistical information corresponding to at least one of the time period and region for which the allocation delay time is to be normalized can be selected for normalization.

In one embodiment, the past fixed period may be the previous year. In one embodiment, the past fixed period may be the previous month. In one embodiment, the past fixed period may be the previous week. Therefore, the past statistical information related to the delivery of the target area may be information updated at a set period and stored in the memory of the electronic device. In addition, the transition of the statistical information changed when updating in the embodiment may be considered to implement the normalization of the distribution delay time.

In step 315, the electronic device may confirm the latest information corresponding to the current time related to the delivery to the target area.

In one embodiment, the latest information may be a predicted value of the distribution delay time associated with the delivery to the target region. The predicted value of the distribution delay time may be determined based on the target region information and the current time information according to past statistical information.

In other embodiments, the latest information may be a measured value of the distribution delay time of the most recent delivery. For example, the latest information may be the distribution delay time value of the most recent delivery item that occurred in the target area. In addition, the predicted value of the distribution delay time may be determined as the average value of the distribution delay time of multiple most recent delivery items that occurred in the target area.

In step 320, the electronic device may confirm the delivery supply and demand level based on statistical information and recent information.

As described above, the absolute size of the distribution delay time can vary greatly depending on the geographic area or time period, so it is difficult to become an objective indicator for confirming the distribution supply and demand of a specific area at the current time. Therefore, in order to make a better comparison of the distribution delay time of the geographic area or time period, it is necessary to normalize the distribution delay time of each geographic area or time period so that it has a fixed range of values. In one embodiment, the distribution delay time can be normalized to have a value between 0 and 1, and the normalized distribution delay time is defined as the "distribution supply and demand level". If the distribution supply and demand level is used, the distribution supply and demand of a specific area at the current time can be more objectively compared with the distribution supply and demand of other adjacent areas.

In one embodiment, the delivery supply and demand level can be derived based on the z-score normalization method. In this method, it is assumed that the distribution delay time associated with the delivery of the target area has a Gaussian distribution. As past statistical information, the average value (μ) and standard deviation (σ) of the distribution delay time of multiple deliveries in the target area within a fixed period in the past are obtained from the memory of the electronic device. At this time, for the latest information (x) confirmed in step 315, the delivery supply and demand level (P) is determined by the following formula:

That is, the delivery supply and demand level refers to the probability value that the distribution delay time extracted at random is less than the latest information. In this way, since the delivery supply and demand level is determined by the probability value, it has nothing to do with the mean value and the standard deviation value and has a value between 0 and 1. In addition, according to the above formula, the larger the value of the latest information (for example, the predicted value or measured value of the distribution delay time of the latest delivery item), the higher the delivery supply and demand level. On the contrary, the smaller the value of the latest information, the lower the delivery supply and demand level. Therefore, the delivery service provider can understand that the higher the confirmed delivery supply and demand level, the larger the distribution delay time value at the current time, and can judge that the delivery personnel are insufficient compared to the delivery demand.

The following is a method for calculating the delivery supply and demand level more simply with reference to Table 1. First, based on the average (μ) and standard deviation (σ) of the distribution delay time of multiple deliveries in the target area within a fixed period in the past obtained from the memory of the electronic device as past statistical information, the z-score can be calculated by the following formula:

At this time, the integer and the first decimal place of the calculated z value are equivalent to the vertical axis in Table 1 , and the two decimal places of the calculated z value are equivalent to the horizontal axis in Table 1. The value at the intersection of each corresponding vertical axis and horizontal axis is the normalized distribution supply and demand level. For example, when the z value is 1.56, the vertical axis is 1.5 and the horizontal axis is 0.06, and the value 0.9406 at the intersection of each corresponding vertical axis and horizontal axis is determined as the distribution supply and demand level.

In one embodiment, the delivery supply and demand level can be derived based on the min-max normalization method. In this method, as past statistical information, the minimum value (min) and the maximum value (max) of the distribution delay time of multiple deliveries in the target area within a fixed period in the past are obtained from the memory of the electronic device. At this time, for the latest information (x) confirmed in step 315, the delivery supply and demand level (P) is determined by the following formula:

Similarly, in this embodiment, the delivery supply and demand level is also independent of the minimum and maximum values of the distribution delay time and has a value between 0 and 1. Moreover, according to the above formula, the larger the value of the recent information (for example, the predicted value or measured value of the distribution delay time of the latest delivery item), the higher the delivery supply and demand level. On the contrary, the smaller the value of the recent information, the lower the delivery supply and demand level. Therefore, the delivery service provider can understand that the higher the confirmed delivery supply and demand level, the larger the distribution delay time value at the current time is compared with the usual value, and can judge that the delivery personnel are insufficient compared with the delivery demand under normal circumstances.

Although the z-score normalization method and the maximum-minimum normalization method are described as methods for deriving the distribution supply and demand levels, the present invention is not limited thereto, and any normalization method that can transform the allocation delay time in a normalized manner may be used.

In step 325, the electronic device may provide information related to the delivery supply and demand levels.

As described above, the delivery supply and demand level can be used as a measure to determine whether the delivery supply and demand for the target area is smoothly realized at the current time. Therefore, in one embodiment, the delivery service provider can determine whether the delivery supply and demand is smoothly realized based on the information related to the delivery supply and demand level provided in the electronic device, and when the delivery supply and demand is not smoothly realized, a solution to solve this problem can be implemented. In addition, through the normalization solution as described above, the current delivery demand and supply situation can be confirmed based on the comparison with the usual allocation delay time in the corresponding area rather than the absolute value of the delay time, so that the current situation can be confirmed based on the characteristics of the region and time period. As mentioned above, by identifying the situation based on the normalized distribution supply and demand levels, more substantial solutions can be proposed to eliminate distribution allocation delays.

FIG. 4 is a sequence diagram showing a process of a method for displaying a page including information related to the delivery supply and demand level based on the information related to the delivery supply and demand level obtained from an electronic device according to an embodiment.

In step 405, information related to the distribution supply and demand level is obtained from the electronic device.

In step 410, the obtained delivery supply and demand level is compared with the set critical value to determine whether to implement countermeasures for adjusting the delivery supply and demand level. When the obtained delivery supply and demand level is less than the set critical value, the delivery service can be provided according to the basic fee without implementing other countermeasures. On the contrary, when the obtained delivery supply and demand level is above the set critical value, countermeasures can be implemented to reduce the delivery supply and demand level to an appropriate level.

At this time, the critical value can be set based on the statistical information related to the delivery of the target area. Therefore, the critical value can be set differently according to each region or each time period. For example, in the case of peak time when the delivery demand increases sharply, the countermeasures used to adjust the delivery supply and demand level can be implemented more quickly by setting a smaller critical value. As a result, the delivery can be implemented more quickly and smoothly by quickly adjusting the delivery supply and demand level, thereby improving customer satisfaction.

In step 415, when the delivery supply and demand level at the current time in a specific area is above a critical value, the delivery service provider can determine that the supply of delivery personnel is insufficient compared to the demand for delivery personnel. Therefore, the delivery service provider can determine the delivery fee for the corresponding area as the value of the basic fee plus the additional fee to guide the supply of more delivery personnel to the corresponding area. When the supply of delivery personnel is further insufficient, the delivery supply and demand level value will further increase, so in one embodiment, the additional fee can be set to be proportional to the delivery supply and demand level. In addition, according to statistical information related to delivery, different critical values are set according to each region or each time period, so the additional fee can be set in consideration of the critical value. As described above, in the electronic device, the delivery supply and demand level is confirmed for at least one of a specific region or a specific time period, and the delivery fee is dynamically adjusted accordingly, thereby providing a factor to ensure delivery personnel when the supply of delivery personnel is insufficient, and reducing the delivery fee when the supply of delivery personnel is sufficient, saving costs.

In addition, during peak lunch or dinner hours, the demand for delivery personnel generally increases rapidly compared to the supply of delivery personnel. As a result, the level of delivery supply and demand will increase rapidly. Even if the additional fee is increased as described above, due to the limited number of delivery personnel, it may be impossible to smoothly realize the supply of delivery personnel. In this case, the additional fee is further increased to ensure that the delivery personnel who are not currently delivering start the delivery operation, or to provide greater attraction to delivery personnel in neighboring areas to move to the corresponding area. For this reason, in one embodiment, in addition to the level of delivery supply and demand, the additional fee can also be determined by considering the average value of the distribution delay time related to the delivery of the target area.

In one embodiment, when the delivery supply and demand level in a specific area at the current time is above a critical value, the delivery service provider can simultaneously assign multiple deliveries in the corresponding area to a delivery person to adjust the delivery supply and demand level. At this time, the number of deliveries assigned to a delivery person can be determined based on the delivery supply and demand level, and the multiple deliveries in the neighborhood assigned at the same time can be determined based on at least one of the location of the orderer or the location of the supplier. As described above, by allowing a delivery person to simultaneously implement multiple deliveries accepted, the problem of insufficient supply of delivery persons can be solved and the delivery supply and demand level can be adjusted to an appropriate level.

In step 420, depending on whether the countermeasures determined based on the confirmed delivery supply and demand level are implemented, a page including the confirmed delivery fee information is sent to the delivery person's terminal.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a page including information related to the distribution supply and demand level of the present invention.

FIG. 5a is a diagram showing the first example of a page displayed on a delivery person's terminal based on information related to the delivery supply and demand level of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5a, an exemplary page 500 showing information on delivery fees according to geographic regions is shown. Page 500 may include field 510 and field 520.

Domain 510 may include an object for inputting whether the delivery person participates in delivery, and the object may include a two-state trigger button. When the first delivery person sets the two-state trigger button of domain 510 to "on", the first delivery person is set to a state where delivery can be assigned, and the electronic device may consider the location information of the first delivery person in the state where delivery can be assigned, and send a delivery request to the delivery person's terminal. When the first delivery person sets the two-state trigger button of domain 510 to "off", the first delivery person is set to no longer be in a state where delivery can be assigned, and the electronic device may stop sending a delivery request to the delivery person's terminal of the first delivery person.

Area 520 may display a map including an administrative area (e.g., Seocho-gu, Gangnam-gu) and subordinate areas included in the administrative area (e.g., Seocho-gu 3, Gangnam-gu 1) and the delivery fee information of each subordinate area. The delivery fee information may be a value determined based on the delivery supply and demand level obtained according to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention. In the example shown in FIG. 5a, in the case of "Seocho-gu 1" and "Seocho-gu 3", the delivery supply and demand level corresponding to the corresponding area is less than the critical value, and the delivery fee may be set to the basic fee. In the case of "Gangnam-gu 3", the delivery supply and demand level corresponding to the corresponding area is above the critical value, so the delivery fee may be set to the value of the basic fee plus the additional fee. In addition, in the case of "Gangnam District 1", the distribution supply and demand level corresponding to the corresponding area is above the critical value and is also higher than the distribution supply and demand level corresponding to "Gangnam District 3", and the additional fee can be set higher than "Gangnam District 3".

In one embodiment, in order to emphasize that the first geographical areas 521-1 and 521-2 can apply additional fees in comparison with the second geographical areas 522-1 and 522-2 that do not apply additional fees at the current time, the delivery fee information related to the first geographical areas 521-1 and 521-2 that apply additional fees can be displayed in a different manner from the second geographical areas 522-1 and 522-2 on the page displayed on the delivery personnel's terminal (for example, it can be displayed in a different color or size, or a specific icon can be displayed around it). In this way, the area where the additional fees are applied can be clearly displayed to the delivery personnel, thereby guiding the delivery personnel to move to the geographical areas where the additional fees are applied to participate in delivery, and providing delivery personnel supply according to the increased delivery demand.

FIG. 5b is a diagram showing a second example of a page displayed on a delivery person's terminal based on information related to the delivery supply and demand level of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5b, an exemplary page 500 is shown that displays information about the delivery supply and demand level in addition to the delivery fee according to the geographical area. The delivery supply and demand level can be displayed as is, as the value confirmed by the above-mentioned normalization method, or as a general delivery supply and demand level (e.g., very high, high, normal, low, etc.).

Similarly, in order to emphasize that the first geographical areas 521-1 and 521-2 have a higher delivery supply and demand level than the second geographical areas 522-1 and 522-2, which have a lower delivery supply and demand level, the first geographical areas 521-1 and 521-2 with a higher delivery supply and demand level can be displayed differently from the second geographical areas 522-1 and 522-2 on the page displayed on the delivery personnel's terminal (for example, they can be displayed in different colors or sizes, or specific icons can be displayed around them). In this way, the delivery personnel can be clearly shown the areas with higher delivery supply and demand levels that require delivery personnel's supply, thereby guiding the delivery personnel to move to the areas that require delivery personnel's supply to participate in delivery, thereby realizing the supply of delivery personnel efficiently.

FIG. 5c is a diagram showing the third example of a page displayed on the delivery person's terminal based on information related to the delivery supply and demand level of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5c, when the delivery supply and demand level of the first geographical area 521-1, 521-2 is higher than the delivery supply and demand level of the second geographical area 522-1, 522-2 adjacent to the first geographical area 521-1, 521-2, the delivery personnel in the second geographical area 522-1, 522-2 can be recommended to move to the first geographical area 521-1, 521-2 with a higher delivery supply and demand level in the terminal. The recommendation can be implemented by displaying the following message 530 on the page displayed on the delivery personnel's terminal: When moving to the first geographical area 521-1, 521-2, the delivery allocation probability can be increased.

Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 5d, a message 540 may be sent to the terminals of the couriers in the second geographical areas 522-1 and 522-2 to move to the first geographical areas 521-1 and 521-2 with higher delivery supply and demand levels. The corresponding message may be sent regardless of whether the delivery supply and demand level is above the critical value, so the couriers who receive the corresponding message 540 may move to the first geographical areas 521-1 and 521-2 where couriers are needed to accept delivery orders. As a result, even when the overall delivery demand is lower than the couriers' supply and the delivery allocation to the couriers cannot be realized better, by moving the couriers to areas with higher delivery supply and demand levels, the delivery allocation to the couriers may be smoother, thereby increasing the couriers' income and satisfaction.

Referring to FIG. 6, an information providing system of an embodiment of the present invention is shown, and the system includes a user terminal 610 and an electronic device 620 that can communicate with each other.

The user terminal 610 can execute an e-commerce client program or a food delivery client program, and may include a transceiver 612, a processor 614, an input unit 616, and a display unit 618.

The transceiver 612 can transmit and receive information with other nodes including the electronic device 620. The transceiver 612 can communicate with different types of external devices according to various types of communication methods. The transceiver 612 can include at least one of a wireless fidelity chip, a Bluetooth chip, a wireless communication chip, and an NFC chip. The wireless fidelity chip and the Bluetooth chip can respectively communicate in a WiFi mode and a Bluetooth mode. When using a wireless fidelity chip or a Bluetooth chip, various connection information such as SSID (Service Set Identifier) and a session key can be first transmitted and received, and various information can be transmitted and received after the communication connection is made. Wireless communication chips refer to chips that operate according to various communication specifications such as IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), ZigBee, 3G (3rd Generation), 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project), LTE (Long Term Evolution), etc. NFC chips refer to chips that operate using NFC (Near Field Communication) in the 13.56MHz band of various RF-ID (Radio Frequency Identification) bands such as 135kHz, 13.56MHz, 433MHz, 860~960MHz, and 2.45GHz.

The input unit 616 can receive input from the user and may include a touch screen, a microphone, and buttons. The input unit 616 can receive various commands from the user. The input unit 616 can be implemented in various ways such as buttons, a touch panel, etc. The buttons may include various types of buttons, such as mechanical buttons, scroll wheels, etc. formed in various areas such as the front surface, side surface, and back surface of the host appearance of the user terminal 610. The touch panel can sense the user's touch input and output a touch event value corresponding to the sensed touch signal. When the touch panel and the display panel are combined to form a touch screen, the touch screen can be configured as various types of touch sensors such as capacitive and pressure-sensitive. The capacitive type uses the dielectric coated on the touch screen surface to sense the micro-electricity caused by the user's body when a part of the user's body touches the touch screen surface to calculate the touch coordinates. The pressure-sensitive type includes two electrode plates built into the touch screen. When the user touches the screen, the upper and lower plates of the touch point are sensed to contact and cause current to flow, thereby calculating the touch coordinates. The touch events on the touch screen are mainly generated by human fingers, but can also be generated by objects made of conductive materials that can apply capacitance changes.

The display unit 618 can display information related to the actions of the user terminal 610, and can display a page including information described in the embodiment. In one embodiment, the display unit 618 can include various types of components such as LCD (Liquid Crystal Display), OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diodes), etc. According to one embodiment, the display unit 618 can be wiredly connected to the internal components of the user terminal 610, or can be wirelessly connected through components such as the transceiver 612 included in the user terminal 610.

The processor 614 can perform control so as to implement the actions of the user terminal 610 described in the embodiment. In addition, the processor 614 may include at least one processor configured in a manner to implement the actions of the user terminal 610.

The processor may include at least one of RAM (Random-access memory), ROM (Read only memory), CPU, GPU (Graphic Processing Unit) and bus. RAM, ROM, CPU and GPU can be connected to each other via bus. CPU accesses memory and uses O/S stored in memory to perform startup. Then, various programs, contents, data, etc. stored in memory are used to perform various actions. ROM stores instruction sets for starting the system. As an example, if the user terminal 610 inputs an open command and supplies power, the CPU can copy the OS (Operating System) stored in the memory to the RAM according to the command stored in the ROM, and execute the OS to start the system. If the startup is completed, the CPU copies various programs stored in the memory to the RAM, and runs the programs copied to the RAM to perform various actions. After the startup of the user terminal 610 is completed, the GPU displays a UI (User Interface) screen in the area of the display unit 618. Specifically, the GPU can generate a screen on which electronic documents including various objects such as content, icons, and menus are displayed. The GPU calculates the coordinate values, shape, size, color and other attribute values of each object display according to the layout of the screen. In addition, the GPU can generate screens including various layouts of objects based on the calculated attribute values. The screens generated in the GPU are provided by the display unit 618 and can be displayed in various areas of the display unit 618.

Furthermore, the user terminal 610 may further include a speaker for event output, and may further include a memory (not shown) for storing at least a portion of the information transmitted and received by the transceiver 612 and information used for the actions of the user terminal 610.

The electronic device 620 is a device for executing an e-commerce electronic device program or a food delivery service program, and may include a transceiver 622, a processor 624, and a memory 626.

The transceiver 622 can transmit and receive information with other nodes including the user terminal 610.

The processor 624 can implement control so as to implement the actions of the electronic device 620 described in the embodiment. In addition, the processor 624 can include at least one processor.

Furthermore, the electronic device 620 may include a memory 626, which stores at least a portion of the information transmitted and received by the transceiver 622 and information used for the operation of the electronic device 620.

On the other hand, although specific terms are used in this specification and the accompanying drawings to describe the preferred embodiments of the present invention, they are only used in a general sense to facilitate the description of the technical content of the present invention and to help understand the invention, rather than to limit the scope of the present invention. In addition to the embodiments disclosed herein, people with common sense in the technical field to which the present invention belongs can also implement other variations based on the technical ideas of the present invention.

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Claims (17)

An information providing method is performed by an electronic device providing a delivery service, comprising the following steps: confirming a target area; confirming statistical information related to the delivery of the target area; confirming a distribution delay time corresponding to the current time related to the delivery of the target area; based on the statistical information and the distribution delay time, confirming the level of supply and demand of delivery personnel by normalizing the distribution delay time; and normalizing the supply and demand of delivery personnel in the target area. The information related to the level is provided to the delivery personnel who are not located in the above-mentioned target area, wherein when the supply and demand level of the above-mentioned delivery personnel is above the critical value, the delivery fee is determined as the value obtained by adding the basic fee to the additional fee, wherein, based on the above-mentioned target area and the above-mentioned statistical information, the above-mentioned critical value is set differently for each of the multiple time periods, wherein the above-mentioned time period includes at least one time period set based on the delivery supply and demand of the above-mentioned target area that changes over time. For example, the information provision method of claim 1, wherein the above-mentioned target area is a sub-area divided according to administrative regions, or a sub-area divided according to distribution characteristics. The information providing method of claim 2, wherein the above-mentioned distribution characteristics include the distribution of suppliers, distribution demand, distribution costs, information on distribution distances, and at least one of the above-mentioned statistical information. The information providing method of claim 1, wherein the above-mentioned distribution delay time is determined based on the predicted value of the distribution delay time related to the delivery to the above-mentioned target area, or the measured value of the distribution delay time of the most recent delivery. The information providing method of claim 4, wherein the above statistical information includes the mean value (μ) and standard deviation (σ) of the allocation delay time in the past fixed period. The information providing method of claim 5, wherein the above-mentioned delivery personnel supply and demand level is derived by normalizing the above-mentioned allocation delay time based on the z-score normalization method. The method for providing information as in claim 6, wherein

And determine the above-mentioned staffing supply and demand level (P), where x is the above-mentioned allocation delay time. The information providing method of claim 4, wherein the statistical information includes the minimum and maximum values of the distribution delay time related to the delivery to the target area in the past fixed period. The information providing method of claim 8, wherein the above-mentioned delivery personnel supply and demand level is derived by normalizing the above-mentioned allocation delay time based on the minimum-maximum normalization method. In the information provision method of claim 1, the area providing the above-mentioned additional fees and the area not providing the above-mentioned additional fees are displayed on the delivery person's terminal in different ways. The information providing method of claim 1, wherein the additional fee is determined based on at least one of the critical value or the supply and demand level of the delivery personnel. In the information provision method of claim 1, when the above current time is included in the set time period, the above additional fee is determined based on the above delivery personnel supply and demand level and the average value of the distribution delay time related to the delivery of the above target area. The information providing method of claim 1 further includes the following steps: when the supply and demand level of the above-mentioned delivery personnel in the above-mentioned target area is higher than the supply and demand level of delivery personnel in other areas adjacent to the above-mentioned target area, a message is sent to the delivery personnel in the above-mentioned other adjacent areas to move to the above-mentioned target area. For example, the information provision method of request item 1, in which when the supply and demand level of the above-mentioned delivery personnel is above the critical value, multiple deliveries in the above-mentioned target area are assigned to one delivery personnel. The information providing method of claim 14, wherein the above-mentioned multiple deliveries are determined based on the above-mentioned delivery personnel supply and demand levels. An electronic device that provides a delivery intermediary service includes: a transceiver that transmits and receives information with other devices; and a processor that controls the transceiver, confirms a target area, confirms statistical information related to delivery to the target area, confirms a distribution delay time corresponding to the current time related to delivery to the target area, and based on the statistical information and the distribution delay time, confirms the supply and demand level of delivery personnel by normalizing the distribution delay time, and sends the distribution delay time to the target area. The above-mentioned information on the supply and demand level of couriers is provided to couriers who are not located in the above-mentioned target area, wherein when the supply and demand level of couriers is above the critical value, the delivery fee is determined as the value obtained by adding the basic fee to the additional fee, wherein, based on the above-mentioned target area and the above-mentioned statistical information, the above-mentioned critical value is set differently for each of multiple time periods, wherein the above-mentioned time period includes at least one time period set based on the delivery supply and demand of the above-mentioned target area that changes over time. A non-temporary computer-readable storage medium, comprising a medium configured to store computer-readable commands, wherein when a processor executes the computer-readable commands, the processor executes an information providing method for an electronic device providing a delivery service, the method comprising the following steps: confirming a target area; confirming statistical information related to the delivery of the target area; confirming a distribution delay time corresponding to a current time related to the delivery of the target area; and determining a distribution delay time based on the statistical information and the distribution delay time by normalizing the distribution delay time. Confirm the level of supply and demand of couriers in the above target area; and provide information related to the level of supply and demand of couriers in the above target area to couriers who are not located in the above target area, Wherein, when the level of supply and demand of couriers is above the critical value, the delivery fee is determined as the value obtained by adding the basic fee to the additional fee, wherein, based on the above target area and the above statistical information, the above critical value is set differently for each of the multiple time periods, wherein the above time period includes at least one time period set based on the delivery supply and demand of the above target area that changes over time.