# US 2022/0036485 A1 · Information providing apparatus, information providing system, non-transitory computer readable medium, and information providing method > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2022/0036485 A1 - Document ID: US20220036485A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 17/388,713 - Filed: 2021-07-29 - Published: 2022-02-03 - Earliest claimed: 2020-08-03 - Assignees: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha - Applicants: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha - Inventors: Tae Sugimura; Kenta Miyahara; Shin Sakurada; Tim Wang - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20220036485A1 ## CPC - G06Q 30/0255: {based on user history} - G06Q 50/14: Travel agencies - G06Q 10/02: Reservations, e.g. for tickets, services or events - G06Q 10/0285: {for lodging} - G06Q 30/0259: {based on store location} - G06Q 30/0266: {based on the position of the vehicle} - G06Q 30/0267: {Wireless devices} - G06Q 30/0631: {Recommending goods or services} - G06Q 50/40: Business processes related to the transportation industry (shipping G06Q10/083) - G06Q: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY [ICT] SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES; SYSTEMS OR METHODS SPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR ADMINISTRATIVE, COMMERCIAL, FINANCIAL, MANAGERIAL OR SUPERVISORY PURPOSES, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR ## Abstract An information providing apparatus includes: a communication interface configured to communicate with a terminal apparatus; and a controller configured to: select either one of a food-serving facility and an accommodation facility as a facility to be recommended to a user, according to an arrival time slot in which the user is to arrive at a destination; refer to, when selecting a food-serving facility, first profile data indicating preference of the user for food to select at least one of a plurality of food-serving facility candidates; refer to, when selecting an accommodation facility, second profile data indicating preference of the user for accommodation services to select at least one of a plurality of accommodation facility candidates; and transmit, regardless of which of a food-serving facility and an accommodation facility has been selected, facility data indicating a selected candidate, to the terminal apparatus via the communication interface. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An information providing apparatus, comprising: a communication interface configured to communicate with a terminal apparatus; and a controller configured to: select either one of a food-serving facility and an accommodation facility as a facility to be recommended to a user, according to an arrival time slot in which the user is to arrive at a destination; refer to, when selecting the food-serving facility, first profile data indicating preference of the user for food to select at least one of a plurality of food-serving facility candidates; and refer to, when selecting the accommodation facility, second profile data indicating preference of the user for accommodation services to select at least one of a plurality of accommodation facility candidates; and transmit, regardless of which of the food-serving facility and the accommodation facility has been selected, facility data indicating a selected candidate, to the terminal apparatus via the communication interface. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The information providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller selects the food-serving facility when the arrival time slot is a first time slot, and selects the accommodation facility when the arrival time slot is a second time slot that is later than the first time slot, as the facility to be recommended to the user. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The information providing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the first time slot is a time slot including 12:00 and the second time slot is a time slot including 24:00. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The information providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller predicts an arrival time at which the user is to arrive at the destination, based on a departure time at which the user departs from a departure point and a distance or time required to travel from the departure point to the destination, and determines a time slot including the predicted arrival time as the arrival time slot. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The information providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller acquires positional data indicating a position of the user, predicts an arrival time at which the user is to arrive at the destination based on a time at which the positional data was acquired and a distance or time required to travel from the position indicated by the positional data to the destination, and determines a time slot including the predicted arrival time as the arrival time slot. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The information providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller further refers to, in selecting the facility to be recommended to the user, positional data for a vehicle carrying the user. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The information providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller further refers to, in selecting the facility to be recommended to the user, data indicating a travel history of a vehicle carrying the user. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The information providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller further refers to, in selecting the facility to be recommended to the user, data indicating a search history in which the user searched for food-serving facilities or accommodation facilities. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The information providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller further refers to, in selecting the facility to be recommended to the user, data indicating a number of occupants on a vehicle carrying the user. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The information providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller further refers to, in selecting the facility to be recommended to the user, biometric data for the user. ### Claim 11 (depends on 1) The information providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the controller further refers to, in selecting the facility to be recommended to the user, data indicating weather around the destination in the arrival time slot. ### Claim 12 (depends on 1) The information providing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein, when the facility selected as the facility to be recommended to the user is designated by the user, the controller transmits reservation data for reserving the designated facility or arrival data for notifying arrival of the user to a control apparatus installed in the designated facility via the communication interface when a distance from a position of the user to the designated facility is less than a first threshold. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The information providing apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the controller transmits the reservation data when the distance from the position of the user to the designated facility is less than the first threshold and equal to or greater than a second threshold smaller than the first threshold, and transmits the arrival data when the distance from the position of the user to the designated facility is less than the second threshold. ### Claim 14 (depends on 1) An information providing system comprising: the information providing apparatus according to claim 1; and a terminal apparatus configured to receive the facility data from the information providing apparatus. ### Claim 15 (depends on 14) The information providing system according to claim 14, wherein the terminal apparatus is provided in a vehicle. ### Claim 16 A non-transitory computer readable medium storing an information providing program for causing a computer to execute operations, the operations comprising: receiving, from a terminal apparatus that has accepted an operation made by a user to select a destination, data indicating the destination; selecting either one of a food-serving facility and an accommodation facility as a facility to be recommended to the user, according to an arrival time slot in which the user is to arrive at the destination; referring to, when selecting the food-serving facility, first profile data indicating preference of the user for food to select at least one of a plurality of food-serving facility candidates; referring to, when selecting the accommodation facility, second profile data indicating preference of the user for accommodation services to select at least one of a plurality of accommodation facility candidates; and transmitting, regardless of which of the food-serving facility and the accommodation facility has been selected, facility data indicating a selected candidate, to the terminal apparatus. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 16, wherein the selecting of the facility to be recommended to the user comprises selecting the food-serving facility when the arrival time slot is a first time slot, and selecting the accommodation facility when the arrival time slot is a second time slot that is later than the first time slot. ### Claim 18 An information providing method, comprising: accepting, by a terminal apparatus, an operation made by a user to input a destination; transmitting, by the terminal apparatus, destination data indicating the destination input by the user to an information providing apparatus; selecting, by the information providing apparatus, either one of a food-serving facility and an accommodation facility as a facility to be recommended to the user, according to an arrival time slot in which the user is to arrive at the destination, referring to, when selecting the food-serving facility, first profile data indicating preference of the user for food to select at least one of a plurality of food-serving facility candidates, and referring to, when selecting the accommodation facility, second profile data indicating preference of the user for accommodation services to select at least one of a plurality of accommodation facility candidates; transmitting, regardless of which of the food-serving facility and the accommodation facility has been selected, facility data indicating a selected candidate, to the terminal apparatus; receiving, by the terminal apparatus, the facility data from the information providing apparatus; and presenting, by the terminal apparatus, the facility data to the user. ### Claim 19 (depends on 18) The information providing method according to claim 18, wherein the selecting of the facility to be recommended to the user comprises selecting the food-serving facility when the arrival time slot is a first time slot and selecting the accommodation facility when the arrival time slot is a second time slot that is later than the first time slot. ### Claim 20 (depends on 18) The information providing method according to claim 18, further comprising: predicting, by the information providing apparatus, an arrival time at which the user is to arrive at the destination based on a departure time at which the user departs from a departure point and a distance or time required to travel from the departure point to the destination, to determine, as the arrival time slot, a time slot including the predicted arrival time.