Wait time avoidance

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018247331-A1
Application number	US-201815906590-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 27, 2018
Priority date	Feb 28, 2017
Publication date	Aug 30, 2018
Grant date	—

Abstract

A system for wait time avoidance may include a video imaging device that captures one or more images of an area and a server that analyzes the captured images to identify that a number of patrons in the area has met a predetermined threshold, categorizes the patrons in the area based on a predetermined set of characteristics, identifies an incentive for at least one category of patrons, and transmits a notification to the active communication device regarding the identified incentive.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A system for wait time avoidance, the system comprising:
a video imaging device configured to capture one or more images of an area; and a server configured to receive the images captured by the video imaging device, the server comprising: a processor configured to execute instructions stored in a computer-readable memory, execution of the instructions causing the processor to perform a method comprising:
analyzing the captured images to identify that a number of patrons in the area has met a predetermined threshold,
categorizing the patrons in the area based on a predetermined set of characteristics, and
identifying an incentive for at least one category of patrons; and
wherein the server transmits a notification regarding the identified incentive to an active communication device, thereby enabling the patrons to redeem the identified incentive.

2 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the categorizing the patrons comprises:
identifying the predetermined set of characteristics of the patrons based on the captured images; and generating patron characteristic data based on the identified set of characteristics of the patrons.

3 . The system according to claim 2 , wherein the predetermined set of characteristics includes at least one of gender, age, facial expression, and identity.

4 . The system according to claim 2 , wherein the identifying the incentive comprises: identifying patron characteristics associated with redeemed incentives to generate incentive acceptance data; and
recommending an incentive to the patrons based on the identified set of characteristics of the patrons and incentive acceptance data.

5 . The system according to claim 4 , wherein the incentive acceptance data further comprises information associated with incentives offered to patrons having a given set of characteristics, and information relating to whether the offered incentives were redeemed.

6 . The system according to claim 4 , wherein the recommending the incentive comprises selecting one or more incentives based on a redemption acceptance rate for a given incentive with respect to the set of characteristics of the patrons to which the given incentive was offered.

7 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the video monitoring device comprises a camera.

8 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises estimating a current wait time associated with the area based on the captured images.

9 . A method for reducing wait time, the method comprising:
analyzing, using a server, one or more images of an area to determine whether a number of patrons in an area has met a predetermined threshold; categorizing, using the server, the patrons in the area based on a predetermined set of characteristics; identifying, using the server, an incentive for at least one category of patrons; and offering, using an active communication device configured to communicate with the server, the identified incentive to the at least one category of patrons, thereby moving the patrons choosing to redeem the offered incentive away from the area to reduce the wait time.

10 . The method of claim 9 , the categorizing the patrons comprises:
identifying a predetermined set of characteristics of the patrons based on the captured images; and generating patron characteristic data based on the identified set of characteristics of the patrons.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the identifying the incentive comprises: identifying patron characteristics associated with redeemed incentives to generate incentive acceptance data; and recommending an incentive to the patrons based on the identified set of characteristics of the patrons and incentive acceptance data.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the recommending the incentive comprises selecting one or more incentives based on a redemption acceptance rate for a given incentive with respect to the set of characteristics of the patrons to which the given incentive was offered.

13 . The method of claim 9 , further comprising estimating a current wait time associated with the area based on the captured images.

Assignees

• Panasonic Ip Man Co Ltd

Inventors

• D'Andrea Michael Glynn

Classifications

• G06Q30/0239 Primary

  Online discounts or incentives · CPC title

• H04N7/183

  for receiving images from a single remote source · CPC title

• G06K9/00362

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06K9/00778

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06Q30/0269

  based on user profile or attribute · CPC title